Son building gaming computer...qc these parts...

1) Check Amazon prices on each part. I can usually find a seller that will beat Newegg's price on parts.

2) drives are cheap and games are bloated. He will want a drive bigger than 1TB for his data drive.

ETA: What about RAM? I recommend at least 16gb

well I think this could fill the bill, provided you can find one....less of course the thrill of the build

LINK

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1) Check Amazon prices on each part. I can usually find a seller that will beat Newegg's price on parts.

2) drives are cheap and games are bloated. He will want a drive bigger than 1TB for his data drive.

ETA: What about RAM? I recommend at least 16gb

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Likewise and I wouldn't speed that much on a video card. Here's a good price/performance comparison: LINK

If I was going to spend that much I would get at GeForce GTX 970: LINK

Just a little bit of ignorance in this thread.

This is not a bad part list at all. It's a well-balanced build, and that's the most important thing. Whether you get a 390 or a GTX 970 is just splitting hairs, unless your son happens to play games that are mostly NVIDIA-gameworks titles. I'm sure I can dig around for equivalent performing parts for better prices. It's helpful if you aren't tied to one vendor, though. And embracing the idea of rebates can help save a good bit, too (or get you more for your budget).

The main things here are the lack of cooler, and the absence of ram of course. He will want something other than the stock cooler that comes with CPU, especially since he's opting for an unlocked CPU and a Z97 motherboard.

But don't forget the RAM, and no, you do not need 16GB for games.

Here's a complete build within the $1000 budget. I configured it using Amazon and Newegg as vendors... except for the PSU because of the nice deal at NCIX.

PCPartPicker part list: LINK
Price breakdown by merchant: LINK /

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($241.98 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($24.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Asus Z97 PRO GAMER ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($132.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($34.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial BX200 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($59.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($54.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon R9 390 8GB Video Card ($293.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair Carbide Series 300R Windowed ATX Mid Tower Case ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA 750W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($43.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $957.88
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-12-27 12:54 EST-0500

I will explain my choices if you return to this thread and ask me, but I don't want to spend a lot of time on that unless you're genuinely interested and didn't already order the parts you listed. And if you did, that's totally fine. My part list above is simply a refined version of your son's to include some RAM, better case, and more SSD space.

If your son would like more personalized advice or has any questions, please have him e-mail me directly -- ILikeLSUToo at gmail.

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will YOU tell me what's wrong with the DELL?

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A gaming PC should always have particular emphasis on the graphics card. A good rule of thumb for gaming builds is to devote about a third of your budget to the graphics card.

That Dell is configured for video editing, autocad, 3d modeling, etc. because it has an i7, a crapload of RAM, and a low-end dedicated GPU to assist with a few GPU-accelerated functions in workstation programs. However, that GPU would be terribly insufficient for gaming. Sure, it might run some games at low settings and low resolution, but it's an $80 GPU that would best fit a very low-budget build. On the other hand, the CPU and RAM in that dell are overkill for gaming in that they don't add any additional performance benefit in virtually all games. There's a couple hundred dollars there that's wasted -- you pull that money out by dropping down to an i5 and 8GB of RAM and put it toward a GPU that would be several times faster than the GTX 745.

Are you local? In BR.

I have GPUs and PSUs for sale exteemly cheap.

You have to have a few of these (by price range) in templates at this point right?

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prices change daily

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True.

Saying the understood, but you're the MVP of this board. The time you spend on help strangers.

For all of them and everyone else who's lurked and gotten helpful info (me included). Thank you.