Gaming Build $1200 Budget (with monitor)

[Guest]

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: This week.

BUDGET RANGE: $1200

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: Gaming is the primary concern.

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: keyboard, mouse speakers, OS

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: Newegg

OVERCLOCKING: Maybe

SLI OR CROSSFIRE: Yes - Unless a single card solution is more effective

MONITOR RESOLUTION: 920x1200

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: This build is for my sister - she mainly plays online and RPG oriented games. I've built a few systems before and am technically competent, however, I've not kept up with recent technology trends. I'm not sure on the monitor selection as I've left that up to her, although I'm sure it will either be a 22' or 24'.

Any suggestions on how I can improve this build to get the most out of her money would be very much appreciated!

CPU:Intel I5-750 199.99

Motherboard:Gigabyte P55-UD3R 139.99

RAM:G.Skill 4GB DDR3 - PC2000 104.99

The CPU, Motherboard and RAM were a combo deal on Newegg with a $35 discount (not shown in listed prices).

Graphics Card: XFX ATI 4970 144.99 - I plan to get two of these for Crossfire, price after rebate is 124.99.

Hard Drive: WD Caviar Blue 640GB 69.99

Power Supply: Corsair 650W 99.99

Case: Gigabyte Triton 180 64.99

Total Price: 969.92
Total Cost after Rebates: 884.92
I probably need a better cooling solution than the stock fan and will pick up some Artic Silver.

 

[mavanhel]

If you're really interested in doing SLI/Xfire, I would suggest the GIGABYTE GA-P55-UD4P since the second PCI-E port in the UD3 is only X4 bandwidth. As for the rest of it, I think it looks pretty good. You might also look into getting Samsung F3 Spinpoint for the HDD as it seems to be quite fast and reliable.

 

[hunter315]

Hmm, thats a weird combo and hard to beat, normally i would suggest lower latencies over higher speeds however CL9 @ 2000MHz is about the same as CL7 at 1600MHz so thats still really good ram especially for the price.

I would swap the case and PSU out for this combo, for $10 more it provides enough power for crossfire in the future and a much better cooled case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.246591

Swap the HDD for a samsung F3, it will perform better for $20 less
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152181&Tpk=F3%20500gb

I would also swap the GPU out for this one, its dual slot cooler is needed to keep stuff cool since you are running crossfire. Im not sure why newegg no longer carries the dual slot XFX one. It comes out to be $10 more for the pair because you can only use one rebate.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102850

 

[computersss]

If you're really interested in doing SLI/Xfire, I would suggest the GIGABYTE GA-P55-UD4P since the second PCI-E port in the UD3 is only X4 bandwidth. As for the rest of it, I think it looks pretty good. You might also look into getting Samsung F3 Spinpoint for the HDD as it seems to be quite fast and reliable.

+1 and i would get the cooler master 690 for 70$ and corsair 750tx for 120$ as for hunter315 suggestions the antec 300 gets crowded when it has 2 cards so the cooler master 690 is better also the corsair 750 is better and overall by adding both of the 690 and corsair 750tx they come to 190$ only 20$ more than the antec 300 illusion and antec 750W psu also i would get the 5850 card it is under 300$ but it is out of stock at zipzoomfly which seems to be the only online american retailer to sell it the 5850 is future proof even though it has less performance than the 2 4870 but she won't need anything more than 5850 and when she needs you can get her another 5850

 

[computersss]

as for this monitor's price vs performance can't be beaten IMO [ASUS VH236H Black 23" 2ms(GTG) HDMI Widescreen Full HD 1080P LCD Monitor - Retail]

also for the ram yours is good but i would get [G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 2000 (PC3 16000) Desktop Memory Model F3-16000CL9D-4GBRH - Retail] it is better and runs at 1.65V unlike the one you selected which runs at 1.9V

 

[Guest]

Thanks for the responses!

I think I'm going to swap out the WD hard drive for the Samsung F3 - I've seen it recommended in quite a few posts. Also, I'll switch out the case and power supply with one of the items mentioned.

I do have a question regarding my graphics card choice. It looks as if the 5850 will be going for the same price point as two 4870s - would it be more advantageous to purchase the better single card solution? If in the future she needs more power, the prices probably dropping, I can add another 5850 in crossfire. Does that seem like a better path to take?

 

[computersss]

Thanks for the responses!

I think I'm going to swap out the WD hard drive for the Samsung F3 - I've seen it recommended in quite a few posts. Also, I'll switch out the case and power supply with one of the items mentioned.

I do have a question regarding my graphics card choice. It looks as if the 5850 will be going for the same price point as two 4870s - would it be more advantageous to purchase the better single card solution? If in the future she needs more power, the prices probably dropping, I can add another 5850 in crossfire. Does that seem like a better path to take?

well,the 2 4870 would beat the one 5850 now but the 5850 is future proof and it is a DX11 card so if she will want the computer to last her longer and be future proof a 5850 will be a good choice especially that when its price gets cheaper you can get another one and CF the 2

 

[Guest]

I would assume the 4780 in crossfire would not beat the 5850 by much until you start pushing the resolution past 1980x1200. I don't foresee her needing to go beyond that and she's not into games that push new GPUs to the limit - mostly online RPGs and adventure games.

I think I'll order the 5850 and get a PSU and motherboard that will accommodate a crossfire configuration in the future.