Building a $1000-1500 Gaming PC

[kotsumu]

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: In the next 3-4 months when HD 5950 and 5970 comes out (Hoping for price drops for older models)
BUDGET RANGE: $1000 - $1,500

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: Gaming

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: Speakers, Sound Card, DVD Drive, Keyboard and Mouse

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: Newegg.com, Amazon.com
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: America

PARTS PREFERENCES: ATI Radeon HD 5870

OVERCLOCKING: No need for overclocking
CROSSFIRE: Will crossfire with another 5870 after another price drop, however this will not account in the PC I'm building.

MONITOR RESOLUTION: Please suggest a good monitor that is a least 17 inches and supplements the HD 5870.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: I don't really understand Mobos much, but I'm looking for one that comes with a sound card and has slots available incase I want 2 5870s. I will be using about 2 SATA II HDs though. I think my DVD reader is also SATA II.

I'm looking for 2 4gb DDR3 RAMs or if there are 2 8gb DDR3...(I'm still not very sure whether or not I should stick with DDR2 or DDR3 due to price diff, I don't think the extra performance is worth the price however I sure hope my Graphics Card won't be bottlenecked if I go for other cheap parts)

CPU, I really want a cheap and competitive i7 core, but if there's none, I can always stick with a Core 2 Quad, Core 2 Extreme, or anything, I just don't want to be bottlenecked.

I need a good case too, last case I had made my 4870 burn. It runs at 60C idle and 90C gaming at 45% fan speed. What a nightmare...

The last Mobo I bought came with a awesome bladed heatsink fan for my CPU so I wasn't really worried about CPU cooling. But I'm not sure what cooling I should get this time....Suggestions?

Thanks to everyone who would reply to this thread.

 

[p55ibexpeak]

LCDs: I'm throwing these out so you can take your pick:

ASUS VW246H Glossy Black 24" 2ms(GTG) Widescreen LCD Monitor Built in Speakers - Retail
Hanns·G HH-241HPB Black 23.6" 5ms HDMI Widescreen LCD Monitor - Retail

CPU: Intel Core i5-750 Lynnfield 2.66GHz LGA 1156 95W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80605I5750 - Retail

MOBO: ASUS P7P55D-E Pro LGA 1156 Intel P55 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail (SLI/CF)

RAM: 2 x OCZ Gold Edition 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1066 (PC3 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model OCZ3G10664GK - Retail

PSU: CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX 650W Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply - Retail

(600 Watt and four 6-pin connectors for ATI CrossFireX™ technology in dual mode)

http://www.amd.com/us/products/desktop/graphics/ati-radeon-hd-5000/hd-5870/Pages/ati-radeon-hd-5870-system-requirements.aspx

HDD: 2 x Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 ST3500418AS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

CASE: The thing is a lot of people can't not buy a mid tower when they need a full tower for their parts. Here you can pick one out:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010090007%201054808289&name=ATX%20Full%20Tower

If you have money left after putting everything in the cart, you might want to dump 1 HDD & get a SSD. It's DAYS & NIGHTS different from HDD in terms of speed.

OCZ Vertex Series OCZSSD2-1VTX30GXXX 2.5" 30GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid state disk (SSD) - Retail

However, don't, under any circumstances, downgrade the GPU for anything else for a gaming pc. It IS gaming that takes precedence.

 

[kotsumu]

Hey, these are the specs I have chosen, can someone please give some comments about it?
I feel like it's a little too pricey wondering where I should cut down on...

CPU: Intel Core i7-920 Bloomfield 2.66GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80601920 - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115202

Motherboard: EVGA 141-BL-E757-TR LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX X58 SLI LE Intel Motherboard - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813188049

RAM: OCZ Gold 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Low Voltage Desktop Memory Model OCZ3G1600LV6GK - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227365

Graphics Card: HIS H587F1GDG Radeon HD 5870 (Cypress XT) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card ... - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161301

Hard Disk: Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136284

PSU: Thermaltake TR2 W0388RU 600W ATX 12V v2.2 Power Supply - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817153114

Case: Thermaltake Xaser VI VG4000BWS Black / Red Aluminum / Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811133052

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

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236049

It all amounts to $1560...Im hoping that after cutting down on some specs it will be like 1300-1500..

What seems like overkill? I'm really worried about the power supply. I don't plan to OC but if Ido will a 600watt be efficient and I do plan to XF with my ATI card. I'm planning to buy another 5870.

I still lack a CD/DVD-RW drive, I don't plan to buy a blu-ray yet...

I'm not sure if my mobo is good or compatible at all...Last mobo I had, it had heatsinks on the whole board so it seemed like it had really good heat dissipation.

I also lack a CPU fan. I really don't want to depend on the provided fan since there is a possibility that I will be OCing.

Comments? Suggestions? Thanks

 

[ErikB]

I'm building a system and someone suggested I look into Spinpoint HDDs; it seems like they outperform Caviar Black for similar or cheaper prices. Just something you might want to check.

Also, you should make sure that your mobo supports 2 16x PCI slots if you are going to go crossfire in the future. The specs on the newegg link make it look like it changes the 2nd slot to 8x in crossfire, which could gimp your second card's performance. You should double check that before you invest (will hurt upgradability later)

 

[kotsumu]

I researched a bit about Spinpoint HDDs, I gathered quite some bad reviews though...something about the quality of the drives. If it's only about $10-20 difference I think I can spare some money for a better drive.

I found another mobo that I'm interested in...
EVGA E758-A1 3-Way SLI (x16/x16/x8) LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813188039

Would I need a mid tower or a full tower to fit my card?