[Solved] This newbler wants to build a $1500 Gaming Desktop

for psu this is a tiny bit cheaper and reliable //www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139006&cm_re=corsair_750w-_-17-139-006-_-Product

and if u wanna max out on graphics go with a ATI 5870 then ,eventually go crossfire mode with two of em like jbak said , and again with this ram just a tad bit cheaper and good and reliable http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] -_-Product ,and heres a really good cheap cpu cooler http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] -_-Product

but honestly other than that jbak's parts are really good

I'd stick to a single GPU for a while. 4gb is plenty for gaming, you won't encounter any problems. Some upgrades available to you are the 5870 and SSDs

ASUS EAH5870/G/2DIS/1GD5/A Radeon HD 5870 (Cypress XT) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814121346

Intel X25-M Mainstream SSDSA2MH080G2C1 2.5" 80GB SATA II MLC Internal
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820167016

I agree with the general setup of the first poster. Without knowing what NVidia is offering I highly recommend building around:

1) 1156 Motherboard with Crossfire
2) Intel i7-860
3) 4GB DDR3 1600MHz
4) ATI HD5850 1GB
5) Windows 7 64-bit OEM (OEM is cheaper, but it can not be transferred to another computer)
6) Quality PSU (750W for this setup)

Other:
1) WD 640GB (or similar) and a second WD 1TB Green drive
2) better CPU heatsink/120mm fan
3) low noise 120mm case fan
4) look for good onboard audio for now and upgrade later if need be. (EAX is phasing out in new games)
5) Quality speakers (M-Audio AV40 2.0 or Logitech Z-2300 2.1)


About the HD5850 1GB:
- 85% the speed of the HD5870 but cheaper and SHORTER card (the HD5870 might cause problems fitting)
- DX11 (it will be a while for really good support)

Monitors:
You get what you pay for (mostly). More expensive IPS panels have much better viewing angles (I hate the LCD fade). However, you can pry my 19" CRT out of my cold, dead hands. No LCD has anywhere near the Contrast Ratio (so movies or game dark scenes look better on my CRT). CRT has superior color range too.

If you can get a good 19" 1600x1200 CRT do so. They are awesome. Most people don't know about DPI scaling. Here's an example for my monitor (or a 1920x1080 or 1920x1200):

1) set Monitor to FULL resolution (i.e. 1600x1200)
2) set DPI scaling to 150%
3) right-click ->Properties "disable DPI.." for applications or games that don't look correct
4) IE8 looks great (if not, change the scaling to 150% in the lower right)
5) Use Cleartype on LCD's and CRT's (may require some fiddling to avoid purple tinges)
6) Firefox has issues with high DPI (it can be worked around with a fix to set things back to default scaling and use the plugin "NoSquint" )

There's probably a dozen build threads on the boards for a $1200 or $1500 PC for gaming. I'd suggest looking at them all.

Some basic considerations:

1. Are you going to do SLI / XFire (twin video cards) either now or in the future ?

a) If Yes, then I'd opt for a Socket 1356, i7 920 system in a full tower case with an upper tier PSU:

Cases: Antec 1200 / HAF 932
PSU: Corsair HX-850 / Antec SG-850 or CP-850*
MoBo: Asus P6T variant

Will need bigger if doing twin double GPU cards like upcoming 5870x2, or twin GTX 295's


b) If No, then I'd opt for a Socket 1156, i7 860 system or an i5 in a mid tower case with an middle tier PSU.

Cases: Antec 902 / HAF 922
PSU: Corsair TX-650 / Antec TP-650
MoBo: Asus P7 variant

Don't forget to check your case specs for the number and size of "optional case fans" .... more cooling is always better than less cooling.

2. For GFX cards, see where you fit. Do you upgrade GFX cards every 2 years or less ?

a) If you keep 2 years or more and don't care about PhysX, then the ATI DX11 cards are the best option right now. The 5850 seems to be the sweet spot atm, can buy one , now and add XFire later.

b) If you keep GFX cards less than 2 years, DX11 won't be an issue (it might not in 4 years but who knows ?) then little downside to a DX10 card from either ATI or nVidia. See the THG Perfomance charts and "Best GFX cards for the money" articles which you can link to from the THG home page. Of course this anticipates you finding a deal on an older DX10 card....if there's not significant cost savings for the same performance, it's hard to argue against the DX11 cards.

c) If you think you will enjoy PhysX more than DX11, then you are either locked in the nVidia world or you can do a user created "patch" to let you use both a ATI and nVidia cards (win7 only) on the same machine

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/n [...] ,8786.html

To help you decide whether PhysX or DX11 is more important to you, see the following:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_ [...] 11_support
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PhysX
http://www.firingsquad.com/hardwar [...] /page2.asp

3. As approrpriate for your platform, DDR 1600 allows OC'ing room and just look for the best timings you can afford .... 6-7-6-18 for example is better than 9-9-9-24 (lower numbers = better)

1366 platforms - 3 x 2Gb kits
1156 platforms - 2 x 2Gb kits

4. For HD's, I'd suggest looking at the Performance charts, again which can be linked from the THG home page. Make sure to look at sound and temperature charts if you are interested in cool and quiet systems. Also, smaller drives are usually older and slower drives. Consensus choices seem to be the Seagate 7200.12, the Spinpoint F3 and the WD Black (2 TB size only)

5. Heat Sink - Stock Intel is fine if not OC'ing but if looking for more, look at the frostytech site for the top 5 listings that actually list 10 heat sinks .... dunno if I trust their math now

One of the easiest to put on / best performing HS is the Prolimatech Megahalems which I put on using IC Diamond 7 Carat Thermal Compound. It's gonna need one (or two) 120mm fans and there are many of these around (I used the very quiet Enermax Magma)

6. Optical drives are primarily a budget consideration. Then there's the rest of the required doodads and doohickeys ......for example .... will you need a Card Reader, Fan Controller ... best to make the list before you buy ya case so you know you have plenty of room though should not be any issue with any of the above

It will fit, but since I don't have the 5870 or the 300 I don't know whether you'll have any problems positioning the HDD, but I doubt it.

SSDs are very fast and expensive, it would complement the F3. You could put the OS, some games, and some important programs on it.

so in effect, I'd reserve the 80 GB of the SSD for the stuff I want top-level performance on-- games and the OS.

The 500GB spinpoint would be used to hoard music/movies and lesser programs.

that's the gist of it?

why would i want FOUR of them? I'd think I could get by with just one? i dont have THAT much music and video

If their performance comes reasonably close to the SSD, then I could be enticed to buy one of those instead of the SSD or spinpoint, IF its alot faster than the spinpoint. What magic is involved in "if done correctly..." ? Are there software tweaks u must perform or what?

photonboy: I'm too newb to understand what you're discussing, regarding the backup images. it's probably too techie for me to attempt...

I guess I'll just stick with the spinpoint f3 for an HD, cuz the extra $300 for the SSD has me grimacing and you suggested to avoid RAID



I WILL, however, get the 5870 gfx card.

But, I need a case that can hold it. the suggested case, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] -_-Product

^has frivolous lights on it. I want a case without lights. Suggestions folks?

piranha45,

What Acronis TI and similar programs do is to take your ENTIRE partition with Windows and whatever programs you have and make a backup that you can restore.

If your Windows drive failed or the software became corrupted you can RESTORE the Image made back to the hard drive. It's EXACTLY the same.

The backup program can compress the data. I think I had a fresh copy of Windows 7 small enough to fit a single-layer DVD.

Making an Image is very handy in case you run into problems. You can RESTORE in as little as 15 minutes.

Silverstone FT01 will accomodate the 5870, but not sure about your budget...

It really doesn't matter, they're all pretty much the same but I'd go for the XFX on account of the double lifetime warranty.

Those are last generation drives, very good "in their day" but since surpassed. .... and not among the quietest of drives:

With 4 drives, noise and temperature would be a concern for me. Speed is all about areal density and firmware optimizations so, today, I'd be looking for no less than 500GB per platter drives like the 7200.12, Spinpoint F3, WD Caviar Black and WD RE4 families. The RE3 is last generation tech and is outclassed by the RE4's. Price per GB is no bargain either.