[New Build­­] 1200 to 1300$ Gaming System

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Ggilmann

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Jan 15, 2012
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18,510
Good day!

It's been over ten years since I built my own system so I've been kind of overwhelmed by the variety of parts available. There wasn't as many choices available at that time! Briefly put, I'm hoping to build a system that will support current games, allow me to do some development work and all the other general stuff that computers do (movies, web, text, etc.). The primary focus though, will be games. I'm Canadian so money values will be in Can $. Here are my guidelines :

Approximate Purchase Date: 2-3 days
Budget Range: 1200-1300 Before Rebates, Taxes and shipping included
System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming, Development, General home stuff
Parts Not Required: Keyboard and mouse, sound card, speakers (any suggestions are welcomed though)
Preferred Website(s) for Parts: www.newegg.ca
Country: Canada
Parts Preferences: No preference
Overclocking: No
SLI or Crossfire: Eventually
Monitor Resolution: 1920x1080 or 1920x1200

Additional Comments: Quiet PC, not too flashy

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Sifting through NewEgg, I managed to come up with a list that seems to cover all my needs. I'm hoping you guys will provide me with better alternatives for parts, reasonable parts upgrades, etc. Here's the list :

CPU
Intel Core i5-2500 (3.3GHz LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 2000)

MotherBoard
ASRock Z68 Ext.3 Gen3 (LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard)

RAM
Ripjaws 8GB (2 x 4GB) (240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 PC3 12800)

Video
Gigabyte HD 6850 (Radeon 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support with Eyefinity)

Hard Drive
Western Digital 500GB (7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5")

Case
Cooler Master HAF 912 (Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case)

Power Supply
Cooler Master M700 (700W ATX12V V2.3 SLI and CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply)

CD Drive
ASUS 24X DVD Burner

OS
Windows 7 64-Bit

Monitor
ASUS VW246H (24" 2ms(GTG) HDMI Widescreen LCD Monitor 300 cd/m2 ASCR 20000:1 (1000:1) Built-in Speakers)

Total Price:
almost 1300$ (with taxes and shipping)

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Some questions remain :

Are extra fans worth it?
Is the audio chipset on the ASRock mother board of reasonable quality?
Would 4 sticks of RAM make my build any better?
What will I require in terms of cables and such?

Thank you all for the help. Hopefully, I will get some feedback today so I can send my order this evening.

Ggilmann
 
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sosofm

sosofm

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Feb 25, 2009
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G

Ggilmann

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Jan 15, 2012
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18,510
Thanks for the input!

I had my video card in a combo with my case, so the change to the sapphire card would cost me around 20$, but still it is still acceptable I think. There are some combos with the sapphire card, the most interesting one for me that I see is the one with the Corsair gaming series 700w PSU

Would that PSU fit my coolermaster case?
 
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dish_moose

dish_moose

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Get the i5-2500k and a 212 evo cooler - think about overclocking. If you don't - no problem - not much extra cash and everything will run cool. If you do OC - 4+ GHz speed and many people at Toms to guide you. What a sweet deal.
-Bruce
 
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G

Ggilmann

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Jan 15, 2012
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Yeah, I'm thinking about putting in extra cash for the K-model but I really have zero knowledge when it comes to overclocking so I'm thinking I'll just do my first build standard then, in a year or two, I'll switch CPUs for a k-model.

 
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G

Ggilmann

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Jan 15, 2012
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So that's a cpu cooler that goes directly on the cpu, these are only necessary for overclocking right?

From what I can see, upgrading the CPU and adding a the evo 212 would cost me around 50$ more, then I'd need the thermal paste as well I think. I think I'd rather stay away from overclocking right now. I guess i could however, fork over an additional 10$ for the k-model cpu. That way, I can overclock it next year maybe.

I might just go for the Sapphire 6870 and the additional 200mm fan as another user suggested. Would that be a considerable upgrade?

ETA: Haha, stupid question, you're the user that suggested the upgrade, my guess is that you'll that it is a considerable upgrade! After looking at NewEgg, I see that the Sapphire HD6870 is available in combo with the HAF 922 Case for 260$. Overall, it's only 30$ more than the HAF 912 Case, Gigabyte Ultra HD6850 and the CoolerMaster 200mm Fan.
 
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