Help with a solid gaming rig I want to build in a few months

baddestmofoalive

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Nov 1, 2009
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APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: Anywhere in the next 3-4 months

BUDGET RANGE: Under $2K, but flexible

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: Gaming!!!

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: Starting everything from scratch

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: I have experience with newegg and tigerdirect, but open to suggestions, I also have a Fry's Electronics in my hometown of Las Vegas

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: USA Baby!

PARTS PREFERENCES: I'm leaning to the Intel i5

OVERCLOCKING: Sure

SLI OR CROSSFIRE: Yes, down the road when whatever I start with looses it's "edge"

MONITOR RESOLUTION: What ever monitor I get, but I have a 32" HD LCD TV I can use

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS:
Defiantly wanna try out the Swiftech H20-220 Kit;
Want a good power supply that would handle potentially up to 3 crossfire cards;
Good, fast RAM;
Direct X 11 ready;
Considering a 30-60ish GB(?) Fast SSD RAID Array for the OS, and maybe an additional 1TB drive for storage;
Would like a sleek, clean, elegant looking Mid ATX case that can house and cool all this.... The Panzerbox has caught my eye
Maybe a good BlueRay/HD DVD burner down the road
MoBo with good overclocking ability and Crossfire capability
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I've been out of the computer building/gaming loop for a few years, but have built about 7 computers in the past. I remember my first comp I built in middle school and it was HOTTT thanks to it's sweet Voodoo2 video card! I'm amazed at how far the computer industry has come with affordable ready to go water-cooling kits, pre-modded cases, and LED.... well, LED EVERYTHING!!

Anyhow, I currently find myself deployed to Afghanistan and time in the barracks has re-kindled my past love of gaming! I have decided my coming home gift to myself is going to be a kick-ass gaming rig. I'm due back in the States in about 4 months time and would like to start accumulating parts now so I don't have to drop a 2000 dollar purchase all at once. Hopefully, that time cushion will let a few of the more expensive parts like the new ATI 5xxx series comedown in price, and I can buy them last. I don't have to have absolute top of the line everything, but I do want a computer that won't be outdated the first time I power it up.

I'm open to any suggestions, so lemme have it!

Thanks,
Logan
 

jbakerlent

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Welcome to the forum! Here's a possible build for you to look over:

Intel Core i7 860 Lynnfield 2.8GHz 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1156 95W Quad-Core
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115214

ASUS P7P55D PRO LGA 1156 Intel P55 ATX Intel
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131405&cm_re=p55_motherboards-_-13-131-405-_-Product

OCZ Platinum 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227478

XFX HD-585A-ZNFC Radeon HD 5850 (Cypress Pro) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150442

SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185

Intel X25-M Mainstream SSDSA2MH080G2C1 2.5" 80GB SATA II MLC Internal
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820167016

Antec TruePower New TP-750 750W Continuous Power
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371025

LIAN LI Lancool PC-K62 Black 0.8 mm SECC, Plastic + Mesh ATX Mid Tower
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811112239

Pioneer Black 8X BD-R 2X BD-RE 16X DVD+R 5X DVD-RAM 8X BD-ROM 4MB Cache SATA Internal Blu-ray
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827129037

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

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit 1-Pack for System Builders
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116754

ASUS VW246H Black 24" 2ms(GTG) HDMI Widescreen LCD
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236049

That's still under your budget and certainly qualifies as a "kick-ass gaming rig" ;)

If you have any questions, fire away.
 

baddestmofoalive

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Nov 1, 2009
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Well that does sound like a good option and I will keep it in mind. Are there any new things coming out like new features or new generations of components that I should either:
A. Wait for because I will want to get them?
-or-
B. Wait for because they will drive prices of existing hardware down?
 

jbakerlent

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No, there's no need to wait. Buy the computer when you need it and don't worry about future changes too much (obviously if you don't need it now, hold off til you do). It's way to easy to drop in a $20 PCI card with a bunch of SATA 6 ports on one side and a bunch of USB 3 ports on the other ;)
 

blackhawk1928

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Purchasing parts over a long period time is a very bad Idea. If a defective part comes in, you won't be able to know about until your entire rig is assembled and if it turns out to be defective your return back time might already have expiried leaving you with an expensive but broken part that you can't do anything about. thats why purchasing everything all at once is the best. unless new egg has a very long return back time or something then don't do it.
 

Cades

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Oct 17, 2009
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And by then more DX11/revisioned/oc'd, etc. cards will be out as well

But since you are looking at doing 3x crossfire/sli I would go with an i7 920 personally