PC Build Guide – May 2012

It’s the beginning of May, and that means it’s time for a new build guide! As before, we have implemented hard price limits ($800, $1300, $1800) on ourselves and have had to make tough decisions with each build. Your personal budget will likely be flexible, but it is our hope that this article will give you a baseline. You can of course spend more or spend less, but you run in to a case of diminishing returns at either end. Please keep in mind that pricing information is immediate and may not necessarily reflect real prices by the time you have read this article.

The Starter sees few changes this month, as we still find that the combination of a 2500K and a Radeon 7850 provides the best value at this price point. We also found room in the budget to move up to a beefier 500W power supply, which leaves us with a little more breathing room compared to the 430W we had in last month’s build.

Similarly, the Enthusiast sees virtually no change this month, save for the fact that we’re able to move up to a 128GB SSD (compared to last month’s 64GB), thanks to SSD prices finally dropping to under $1/GB.

Lastly, we come to the Professional, which sees the inclusion of the new top-end Ivy Bridge CPU, the 3770K, in place of last month’s 2600K and a new Z77 motherboard from Gigabyte to go along with it. We had a higher capacity SSD in last month’s build (180 GB), but we drop down to 128GB to take advantage of the aforementioned excellent pricing on the Crucial M4 right now. We leave you with a little cash left over to splurge with how you see fit–maybe for one of those badass superclocked 680s if you can ever manage to find one in stock!

The Starter ($800 maximum)

Part list permalink: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/7Sqe

CPU: Intel Core i5-2500K ($199.99 @ NCIX US)

CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus ($19.99 @ Newegg)

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z68A-D3H-B3 ATX LGA1155 ($84.79 @ NCIX US)

Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3-1600 ($46.99 @ Newegg)

Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5″ 7200RPM ($95.98 @ Amazon)

Video Card: PowerColor Radeon HD 7850 2GB ($239.99 @ NCIX US)

Case: Cooler Master HAF 912 ATX Mid Tower Case ($52.99 @ NCIX US)

Power Supply: Cooler Master 500W ATX12V ($39.98 @ Amazon)

Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($17.99 @ SuperBiiz)

Total: $798.69

The Enthusiast ($1300 maximum)

Part list permalink: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/7R2a

CPU: Intel Core i5-2500K ($199.99 @ NCIX US)

CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus ($19.99 @ Newegg)

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z68A-D3H-B3 ATX LGA1155 ($84.79 @ NCIX US)

Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3-1600 ($46.99 @ Newegg)

Hard Drive: Crucial M4 128GB 2.5″ SSD ($116.95 @ B&H)

Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5″ 7200RPM ($89.99 @ Newegg)

Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 680 2GB ($507.55 @ Newegg)

Case: Corsair 400R ATX Mid Tower Case ($74.99 @ Microcenter)

Power Supply: Corsair 750W ATX12V / EPS12V ($138.98 @ Amazon)

Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($17.99 @ SuperBiiz)

Total: $1298.21

The Professional ($1800 maximum)

Part list permalink: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/7R3Q

CPU: Intel Core i7-3770K ($354.48 @ eCost)

CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus ($19.99 @ Newegg)

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD5H ATX LGA1155 ($184.99 @ NCIX US)

Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws Z 16GB (4x4GB) DDR3-1600 ($89.99 @ Newegg)

Hard Drive: Crucial M4 128GB 2.5″ SSD ($116.95 @ B&H)

Hard Drive: WD Caviar Black 1TB 3.5″ 7200RPM ($134.99 @ Newegg)

Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 680 2GB ($507.55 @ Newegg)

Case: Cooler Master HAF X ATX Full Tower Case ($159.99 @ NCIX US)

Power Supply: Corsair 750W ATX12V / EPS12V ($138.98 @ Amazon)

Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($17.99 @ SuperBiiz)

Total: $1725.90

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