$2,000 Gaming computer

[dreamagain]

Hey guys, here is what I have picked out so far, I have a few questions about parts. I pretty much want the best possible gaming computer I can get at the moment (within or around $2,000 of course).

What I don't need is anything like OS, Mouse, Keyboard, speakers, etc.. just need everything inside the case.

Will I overclock? yes, probably the CPU and video card a little bit, but not much.

When do I want to purchase? Within a week, maybe 2.

What will I use it for? Gaming, thats it.

Preferred website : Newegg.com

Crossfire: If I can fit it in my budget, and it is the best use of my money, I will do it now, if not, probably later. I game at a 1680x1050 resolution (though at some point IE christmas I might upgrade to 1920x1200)

There are a few things that are "must haves":
I7 processor
Either an EVGA or Asus motherboard
a ATI 58xx vid card
Corsair Powersupply (I'm really picky with my parts, and I know corsair makes some good psu's and I trust them so I probably want them)

So here is what I got so far:

CPU : i7 920
$280

Case: Thermaltake Spedo Advance
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811133072
$200. After reading some reviews I really like the layout and design of this case. It has some really nice features, if anybody has any input on how good this case is I would appreciate it.

Powersupply: Corsair cmpsu-850tx
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139009
$139.99 (Does anybody know the difference between this PSU and the Corsair CMPSU-850hx. Except the fact that the HX is modular, is there any other difference? Here is a link to the HX: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139011 )

Memory: OCZ XMP 6 gig ddr3 1600mhz
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227388
$150 (Out of stock at the moment but I've been recommended this by quite a few people and it seems pretty good)

Video Card: ATI 5870
$380 (I have no idea what brand to get, I have never purchased an ATI card before , any input here would be nice. I've always purchased EVGA nvidia cards)

Motherboard: Asus p6t
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131359
$240 (Here is where I am really not sure what to get. There is the asus p6t Deluxe, Asus p6t SE, the EVGA x58 LE and the EVGA x58 e758-a1 , I have no idea which one best suits my needs)

OS Hard drive: OCZ Vertex Turbo RAID
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227468
$177 x2 (Is this a well spent $350? Does gaming make good use out of SSD hard drives? Do I really need them? If I had to choose between this and Raptors I would certainly choose these, but I could crossfire a 5870 or something instead, I would really appreciate input here)

Storage Hard drive: Samsung f3 1tb
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185
$80

CPU Cooler: Corsair H50
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835181009
$80 (I know some people will probably say not to get this, but from what I've read it performs as good as the top end air coolers, I don't have the money or expertise for a custom WC system, this seems like a decent alternative)

DVD drive: Samsung black dvd burner sata
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827151187
$30 (something simple like this is all I need)

Total : $1,934 (maybe throw in a fan controller like the NZXT sentry http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811992005 and a few extra fans, I am sure there are some newegg combo deals I can use with my parts, and shiping.. it will prob come to $1,950)


So waht you guys think?

Thanks a lot

PS sorry for making 2 threads, i made oine about newegg vs cyberpower earlier, but i decided to go through newegg

 

[jbakerlent]

Looks good, get this RAM instead (lower latencies)
OCZ Platinum 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Low Voltage Desktop
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227381

Also, I personally wouldn't spend that much on a case I like the Lian-Li I recommended on your other thread, or the 1200 obsidian recommended.

Since, it's within your budget you could upgrade to the V2.
Also, just get this HSF imo:
COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus Intel Core i5 & Intel Core i7 compatible RR-B10-212P-GP 120mm "heatpipe direct contact" Long life sleeve
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103065

 

[jbakerlent]

Also about the SSDs, 30gb is not much space after the OS, but it's up to you.

Edit: The HX also has more connectors: 6 versus 4 PCI-e, and 12 versus 8 SATA, which probably doesn't matter unless you're doing some crazy RAID setups or running three GPUs...

 

[dreamagain]

Looks good, get this RAM instead (lower latencies)
OCZ Platinum 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Low Voltage Desktop
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227381

Also, I personally wouldn't spend that much on a case I like the Lian-Li I recommended on your other thread, or the 1200 obsidian recommended.

Since, it's within your budget you could upgrade to the V2.
Also, just get this HSF imo:
COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus Intel Core i5 & Intel Core i7 compatible RR-B10-212P-GP 120mm "heatpipe direct contact" Long life sleeve
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103065

Alright, thanks ill swap out the ram.

I know Lian Li makes good cases, however, I really want a full-tower case (sorry I should have put that in my "must haves" list. There is the ATCS 840 that I have been eyeballing, which seems good too:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119187 only $20 cheaper than the Thermaltake. I am really drawn to the thermaltake though, it has a lot of nice features that I like.

So what does upgrading to the V2 get me as opposed to the other one?


As far as the heatsink goes, do you think that vs the corsair h50 will give pretty similar temperatures?

Thanks again for all the input.


And it's actually 2 30 gigs in raid, so 60 gig.. which I figure is enough for the OS and my main game or 2. Do you think it is worth it? It is about $350. I could do a few things with that money.. pick up the SSD's or just save the money.. or possibly add another 5870 for crossfire.

edit* nvm i read it wrong "30 gig AFTER the os" yea its probably enough for 1 or 2 games. I might just pick up one intel x25-m 80gig and when those drop in price in a few months pick up another for raid.. do you think that is a better idea?

thanks for all the input.

 

[obsidian86]

actually the h50 doesn like the i7 much get a good air cooler like thermalright ultra 1366 or cogage true or noctua 12u

get the xfx 5870 it might cost a bit more but xfx offer double lifetime warranties

 

[jbakerlent]

I would just stick to a single one, either the OCZ or the Intel, both are great. I don't know anything about the H50, but I do know that the Hyper 212 provides more than sufficient cooling especially since you're only planning on a moderate overclock. The V2 has 16x8x8 CF, while the standard is only 16x16x4, and you could probably overclock higher on the V2, it's not really a necessary upgrade imo...

 

[dreamagain]

If the SSDs are in RAID it will only be 30gb... I would just stick to a single one, either the OCZ or the Intel, both are great. I don't know anything about the H50, but I do know that the Hyper 212 provides more than sufficient cooling especially since you're only planning on a moderate overclock. The V2 has 16x8x8 CF, while the standard is only 16x16x4, and you could probably overclock higher on the V2, it's not really a necessary upgrade imo...

Sorry, am I missing something? If you raid-0 them shouldn't it be 60 gig?

i'll go with an air cooler, thanks.

 

[redgarl]

Go i5 and 5850...

 

[redgarl]

LGA1366 is a huge joke geared toward peoples wanting to waste money. An LGA1156 is a much wiser choice.

At 1680X1050, the 5850 is your wisest choice. If you change your monitor, you could grab another 5850 later, or wait for the 5850X2 from ATI. It should be released in the coming weeks. The 5870 cost too much for now IMO.

 

[jbakerlent]

Sorry, am I missing something? If you raid-0 them shouldn't it be 60 gig?

i'll go with an air cooler, thanks.

In RAID 0 you will have 60gb, RAID 1 - 30

 

[JackNaylorPE]

Does anybody know the difference between this PSU and the Corsair CMPSU-850hx. Except the fact that the HX is modular, is there any other difference?

The HX Series from Corsair is up on par with the Antec Signature series. The Corsair TX / Antec TPQ are next tier down. A 650 watter is more than enough for a single video card.
See http://www.silentpcreview.com/Recommended_PSUs

I have no idea what brand to get, I have never purchased an ATI card before , any input here would be nice. I've always purchased EVGA nvidia cards

If you want one now, get whichever one ya can find in stock. From other users input, it seems sniping at 12:01 on newegg helps Though, if ya can manage, all things being equal, if ya get the Asus P6T, get an Asus vid card.....gives Tech Support dude fits when he can't brush you off and tell you to call the other hardware manufacturer.

I'd look for DDR 1600 RAM w/ lower timings. here's the CAS 6 choices:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010170147%201052429371%201052526967&name=6

And the 7's
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010170147%201052429371%201052528354&name=7

As for MoBo, I'm partial to the Asus P6T Deluxe and , if budget allows, Rampage II Extreme.

I have never been a Raptor fan considering their 25% failure rate over at storagereview.com Look at the perofrmance charts here for HD's....dont forget to check sound and temps
http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/2009-3.5-desktop-hard-drive-charts/benchmarks,50.html

Ya Spinpoints are outta stock atm

CPU Cooler - look at the listings here:

http://www.silentpcreview.com/Recommended_Heatsinks
http://www.frostytech.com/top5heatsinks.cfm

The Corsair H50 doesn't make the top ten lists

 

[dreamagain]

LGA1366 is a huge joke geared toward peoples wanting to waste money. An LGA1156 is a much wiser choice.

At 1680X1050, the 5850 is your wisest choice. If you change your monitor, you could grab another 5850 later, or wait for the 5850X2 from ATI. It should be released in the coming weeks. The 5870 cost too much for now IMO.

I thought the 1366 is much more future proff than the 1156??


And yea, i'll be raid-0'ing them.

 

[dreamagain]

Does anybody know the difference between this PSU and the Corsair CMPSU-850hx. Except the fact that the HX is modular, is there any other difference?

The HX Series from Corsair is up on par with the Antec Signature series. The Corsair TX / Antec TPQ are next tier down. A 650 watter is more than enough for a single video card.
See http://www.silentpcreview.com/Recommended_PSUs

I have no idea what brand to get, I have never purchased an ATI card before , any input here would be nice. I've always purchased EVGA nvidia cards

If you want one now, get whichever one ya can find in stock. From other users input, it seems sniping at 12:01 on newegg helps Though, if ya can manage, all things being equal, if ya get the Asus P6T, get an Asus vid card.....gives Tech Support dude fits when he can't brush you off and tell you to call the other hardware manufacturer.

I'd look for DDR 1600 RAM w/ lower timings. here's the CAS 6 choices:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010170147%201052429371%201052526967&name=6

And the 7's
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010170147%201052429371%201052528354&name=7

As for MoBo, I'm partial to the Asus P6T Deluxe and , if budget allows, Rampage II Extreme.

I have never been a Raptor fan considering their 25% failure rate over at storagereview.com Look at the perofrmance charts here for HD's....dont forget to check sound and temps
http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/2009-3.5-desktop-hard-drive-charts/benchmarks,50.html

Ya Spinpoints are outta stock atm

CPU Cooler - look at the listings here:

http://www.silentpcreview.com/Recommended_Heatsinks
http://www.frostytech.com/top5heatsinks.cfm

The Corsair H50 doesn't make the top ten lists

ALright, thanks, I've been reading tons of good things about those megahalems ever since ive been researching parts for a few weeks now.. I think I am gunna have to go with one of them.

And everywhere I go I read about people doing that push/pull set-up , I suppose I should do that too?

 

[ewood]

I thought the 1366 is much more future proff than the 1156??


And yea, i'll be raid-0'ing them.

yeah ignore redgarl. if youre going to spend 2000 get 1366 setup if only for the pcie lanes. the platform will also support future processors 1156 may not. in the end you will be happier with the 1366.

 

[assasin32]

Just my two cents on the solid state discs. If your using this for gaming and want the OS and games on it (even after raid-0) you burn through that space pretty quick most likely, I know I have some of the newer games reaching around 8-10gigs on my HD.

And to be quite honest my WD 640gb Black is quite quick for loading up the OS and games, and the HD you have listed is even faster to my knowledge. And if you wanted something a tad bit smaller in space while still retaining speed the samsung f3 500gb would fit that profile quite nicely (or another $20-30 and throw in another 1tb).

Just wanted to point out my point of view on the raid-0 of the solid state drives (nothing wrong with doing it though, just wanted to show you another point of view). And another little interesting thing to point out is with the little extra dough you can toss that into another GPU which will improve your gaming performance while the SSD may load the game a few seconds faster while doing nothing for the actual gaming performance (nothing is stopping you from doing a raid-0 on 2 normal HD's anyway).