PC Build Guide – November 2012

Welcome to the November version of our PC build guides. As with before, we have implemented hard price limits ($500, $800, $1300, $1800) on ourselves and have had to make tough decisions with each build. Your personal budget will likely be flexible, but we hope this article will give you a baseline. You can of course spend more or spend less, but you run into 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.

This month has been relatively quiet when it comes to PC hardware prices. Our Starter and Sweet Spot builds each get a new motherboard, but otherwise remain largely unchanged as we continue to push right up against their respective $500 and $800 price ceilings. The Enthusiast also sees relatively minimal change, but does get a new motherboard and an upgrade to some faster DDR3-1866 memory. Lastly, the Professional sees a new motherboard and faster memory as well, but the biggest news is the welcome upgrade of a 256GB solid state drive, which should have plenty of room for all of your favorite games.

The Starter ($500 maximum)

Part list permalink: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/mBja

CPU: Intel Core i3-2100 ($112.99 @ SuperBiiz)

Motherboard: MSI Z77A-G41 ATX LGA1155 ($87.55 @ Newegg)

Memory: Crucial Ballistix 4GB (1x4GB) DDR3-1600 ($18.98 @ NCIX US)

Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5″ 7200RPM ($69.99 @ NCIX US)

Video Card: MSI Radeon HD 7770 GHz Edition 1GB ($112.99 @ Microcenter)

Case: Cooler Master Elite 430 ATX Mid Tower Case ($39.99 @ SuperBiiz)

Power Supply: Corsair Builder 500W ATX12V ($39.99 @ Newegg)

Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($15.99 @ SuperBiiz)

Total: $498.47

The Sweet Spot ($800 maximum)

Part list permalink: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/mByA

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K ($219.99 @ Amazon)

CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus ($23.99 @ SuperBiiz)

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z77X-D3H ATX LGA1155 ($114.99 @ Newegg)

Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3-1600 ($35.99 @ Newegg)

Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5″ 7200RPM ($69.99 @ NCIX US)

Video Card: MSI Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition 2GB ($224.99 @ Newegg)

Case: Cooler Master HAF 912 ATX Mid Tower Case ($49.49 @ SuperBiiz)

Power Supply: Corsair Builder 500W ATX12V ($39.99 @ Newegg)

Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($15.99 @ SuperBiiz)

Total: $795.41

The Enthusiast ($1300 maximum)

Part list permalink: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/mBwf

CPU: Intel Core i7-3770K ($319.99 @ Amazon)

CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus ($23.99 @ SuperBiiz)

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD3H ATX LGA1155 ($147.86 @ Newegg)

Memory: G.Skill Ares 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3-1866 ($84.99 @ Newegg)

Hard Drive: Crucial M4 128GB 2.5″ SSD ($89.99 @ Microcenter)

Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5″ 7200RPM ($69.99 @ NCIX US)

Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 670 2GB ($369.99 @ NCIX US)

Case: Cooler Master HAF 922 ATX Mid Tower Case ($79.99 @ Newegg)

Power Supply: Corsair 650W ATX12V / EPS12V ($89.99 @ NCIX US)

Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($15.99 @ SuperBiiz)

Total: $1292.77

The Professional ($1800 maximum)

Part list permalink: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/mBBo

CPU: Intel Core i7-3770K ($319.99 @ Amazon)

CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus ($23.99 @ SuperBiiz)

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD3H ATX LGA1155 ($147.86 @ Newegg)

Memory: G.Skill Ares 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3-1866 ($84.99 @ Newegg)

Hard Drive: Crucial M4 256GB 2.5″ Solid State Disk ($164.99 @ Newegg)

Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5″ 7200RPM ($69.99 @ NCIX US)

Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 670 2GB – 2-Way SLI ($369.99 @ NCIX US)

Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 670 2GB – 2-Way SLI ($369.99 @ NCIX US)

Case: NZXT Phantom (White) ATX Full Tower Case ($109.99 @ Newegg)

Power Supply: Corsair 750W ATX12V / EPS12V ($109.99 @ NCIX US)

Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($15.99 @ SuperBiiz)

Total: $1787.76

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