High-end Gaming System (~$2500)

[Steffwiz]

Hey guys, new here and seeking advice on a new system build. It's its my first (real) system I've built.

Purchase Date: I get paid in a few weeks.
Budget: $2500 max before shipping, I can upgrade plenty later.
System usage (most important to least important): Gaming, iTunes Home Theater, iTunes streaming. Surfing, etc..
Parts not required: I own a Logitech Performance MX, and am going to buy a Logitech keyboard later. Have a HP 27" monitor. Speakers are in my monitor for now, I'll buy some later.
Preferred website for parts: Newegg
Country: USA. =]
Parts preference: Can't decide between AMD or Intel, see below. Graphics, I like EVGA or BFG, but I'm no expert..
Overclocking: See below.
SLI/CrossFire: Unsure.
Monitor Resolution: The max my monitor supports is 1920x1080 (want some room for upgrades though)

While my budget is $2500, I can leave some stuff out as long as my computer is functional for time being. For example, I want some form of RAID1, but I can upgrade to that from a single drive in a month or two. Same with graphics cards and SLI/CrossFire.

I would rather buy a very high class motherboard and very large case so I have upgrade room in the future, and i really don't want to buy another CPU, so I need that to start off very good. I want a quad core. As for brand, I'm indecisive. I can't understand how AMD sells the same processor for so much less than Intel. Is it just for the name? Maybe someone can help me understand. And how Intel names their products is confusing. The Intel i7-870 is more than the i7-920, but the i7-920 is a later model? I don't get it.

Some thoughts:

Case: Black would be the best. Throw in some nice blue/red LEDs would perfect it. A window would be cool. A quiet case is pretty important. It has to sit on my desk and look awesome. I really like the PSU on the bottom idea. Aluminum construction would be nice and light. Full Tower?
PSU: Preferably a high-wattage so I have room to upgrade, something with a high 80+ rating would be ideal. Modular is a need. (Needs to power two dual-GPUs, stable)
Motherboard: Something I can quad SLI/Crossfire with, (with a two dual-GPUs). USB 3.0, Sata 6GBPS are nice, but not important. Plenty of I/O ports.
Hard Drive(s): I would like to eventually RAID1 two drives. But for now a 1TB would be good, if not 10,000RPM then a 7,200 is fine. Western Digital is the best brand ever. Sata.
GPU: To set the bar high, I want to play Crysis, with no lag whatsoever. (Max everything..)
Drives: I want to be able to burn Blu-rays as well as read them, same for DVDs and CDs. Maybe two drives, in that case, a way to copy a BD disc.
Cooling: Liquid cooling is awesome, but probably not for me. Stock cooling is probably enough.

I don't plan on overclocking unless someone can walk me through it step by step. I will never forgive myself if I ruin a $500 component by feeding it more voltage. I know that UPS plays kickball with your packages, so I plan to ship Fedex. Don't think I forgot anything, if you have any questions just ask. You can email me at steffwiz@me.com. Thanks for the help everyone!

Current build ideas:

Case:
Undecided.

PSU:
Antec 1200W Modular - $299.99

Processor:
Intel i7-920 - $288.99 - Purchased

Motherboard:
EVGA 960 Classified - $389.99 - Purchased

Disk(s):
Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" - $109.99 - Purchased

GPU:
EVGA GTX 295 Co-op Edition - $569.99 - Purchased

Drive(s):
LG Black SATA Blu-ray Reader - $99.99 - Purchased
Pioneer Black BD Burner - $219.99

RAM:
G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) - $439.99 - Purchased

Other:
D-Link PCI Express Xtreme Desktop Adapter - $54.24

Total (currently) - $2009.92

 

[Aloid]

Ok so my choices for the main components would probibaly be

Case

Antec 1200
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] -_-Product
159.99
or

Cooler Master HAF 932
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] -_-Product
139.99

Motherboard

Asus P6TD Deluxe
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] -_-Product
289.99

Or

Asus P6X58D
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] Tpk=p6x58d
299.99
For 10$ more you get usb 3.0 and Sata 6Gb/s

CPU

i7 920 D0
http://ncix.com/products/?sku=3888 [...] ture=Intel
346.39
Costs a bit extra but overclocks better

Heat Sink

Thermalright Venomous
http://ncix.com/products/?sku=4826 [...] ermalright
75.99

Video Cards

3xXFX 5850
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150442&cm_re=5850-_-14-150-442-_-Product
929.97

or

XFX 5970
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] -_-Product
669.99

or

2xXFX 5870
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150443&cm_re=5870-_-14-150-443-_-Product
809.98


RAM

Corsair XMS3 CL 7-7-7
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145250&cm_re=corsair_xms3-_-20-145-250-_-Product
179.99

or

Mushkin Redline CL 7-6-7
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226050&cm_re=mushkin_redline-_-20-226-050-_-Product
239.99

PSU

If you go with the Antec 1200 get the CP-850 for sure
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] k=CP%20850
139.99

Otherwise

Corsair HX-850
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] k=hx%20850
179.99

Hard Drive


I still like two of these in Raid 0 they offer great performance
Samsung Spinpoint F3
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] -_-Product
2x54.99

Mabye a Solid state like this for a boot drive and one of those Spinpoints if you want to go that route
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820167023&cm_re=intel_x25-m_g2-_-20-167-023-_-Product






Total cost: Around $2400
If you shop around i'm sure you'll find better prices and NCIX matches anyone

Those are my recomendations

This is a bit of a copy and paste, with a few modifacations, from a post of mine in another thread I hope it helps

A bit of extra info

The i7 920 is older, more tried and true, and better for Crossfire SLI setups still the best choice for high performance rigs

The i7 860 is newer and performs better at stock but i would recomend a i5 750 if you want to go the socket 1156 route

The intel cpu's are definetly the way to go at this budget, although the AMD's are clocked higher they are outperformed by the intels at stock and even more when overclocked

 

[Steffwiz]

Ok so my choices for the main components would probibaly be

Case

Antec 1200
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] -_-Product
159.99
or

Cooler Master HAF 932
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] -_-Product
139.99

Motherboard

Asus P6TD Deluxe
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] -_-Product
289.99

Or

Asus P6X58D
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] Tpk=p6x58d
299.99
For 10$ more you get usb 3.0 and Sata 6Gb/s

CPU

i7 920 D0
http://ncix.com/products/?sku=3888 [...] ture=Intel
346.39
Costs a bit extra but overclocks better

Heat Sink

Thermalright Venomous
http://ncix.com/products/?sku=4826 [...] ermalright
75.99

Video Cards

3xXFX 5850
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150442&cm_re=5850-_-14-150-442-_-Product
929.97

or

XFX 5970
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] -_-Product
669.99

or

2xXFX 5870
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150443&cm_re=5870-_-14-150-443-_-Product
809.98


RAM

Corsair XMS3 CL 7-7-7
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145250&cm_re=corsair_xms3-_-20-145-250-_-Product
179.99

or

Mushkin Redline CL 7-6-7
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226050&cm_re=mushkin_redline-_-20-226-050-_-Product
239.99

PSU

If you go with the Antec 1200 get the CP-850 for sure
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] k=CP%20850
139.99

Otherwise

Corsair HX-850
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] k=hx%20850
179.99

Hard Drive


I still like two of these in Raid 0 they offer great performance
Samsung Spinpoint F3
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] -_-Product
2x54.99

Mabye a Solid state like this for a boot drive and one of those Spinpoints if you want to go that route
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820167023&cm_re=intel_x25-m_g2-_-20-167-023-_-Product






Total cost: Around $2400
If you shop around i'm sure you'll find better prices and NCIX matches anyone

Those are my recomendations

This is a bit of a copy and paste, with a few modifacations, from a post of mine in another thread I hope it helps

A bit of extra info

The i7 920 is older, more tried and true, and better for Crossfire SLI setups still the best choice for high performance rigs

The i7 860 is newer and performs better at stock but i would recomend a i5 750 if you want to go the socket 1156 route

The intel cpu's are definetly the way to go at this budget, although the AMD's are clocked higher they are outperformed by the intels at stock and even more when overclocked

I want to stick in the i7 class, if I am going with Intel, which I think I am. I think I want the x58 chipset and the 1366 (Bloomfield?) socket type. Unless the P55 chipset is better? I think I understand the Bloomfield/Lynnfield difference, it's only a matter of SLI/CrossFire setup? I could be entirely wrong though.

Oh, I can search all of these things so it's not a problem, but all your links are broken.

 

[Aloid]

Dang i hate it when that happens but ya personally i would stick with x58 its an extremely solid setup

 

[Steffwiz]

Dang i hate it when that happens but ya personally i would stick with x58 its an extremely solid setup

Alright. What board would you suggest for the x58 chipset?

As for disks, I value my data over performance (I think..) so RAID1 would be more suitable, and RAID10 or RAID01 is just too expensive. SSD's are a definite no, no way I could afford one of those at a high capacity.

 

[Steffwiz]

Dang i hate it when that happens but ya personally i would stick with x58 its an extremely solid setup

What is the difference between the i7-920 on Newegg and the one on NCIX? Big difference in price for the same processor..

 

[ckim2116]

You can get a 120GB SSD to boot the OS and keep a few games on it, and get one or two samsung spinpoint f3's to keep the bulk of your data. People usually recommend the intel x-25m for the ssd.

 

[ckim2116]

What is the difference between the i7-920 on Newegg and the one on NCIX? Big difference in price for the same processor..

It's the same processor; newegg has great prices. Though if you live near a Microcenter, you can get it for $200.

 

[Steffwiz]

You can get a 120GB SSD to boot the OS and keep a few games on it, and get one or two samsung spinpoint f3's to keep the bulk of your data. People usually recommend the intel x-25m for the ssd.

Oh wow, so fast boot times with a SSD, but they are so expensive..

 

[Steffwiz]

It's the same processor; newegg has great prices. Though if you live near a Microcenter, you can get it for $200.

Ah. So the D0 at the end of the name for NCIX is also on Newegg, just not mentioned?

 

[ckim2116]

One more thing, for the graphics card I would stick with an HD 5970. I have an i7-920, Radeon 5970, and a Gigabyte x58-ud3r motherboard and I can run Crysis at the highest settings with no lag.

Also you mentioned that you wanted to do quadfire. DON'T get my motherboard lol. The card is too thick to fit on the second pci express slot.

Just to clarify, the 5970 is the fastest discrete board you can currently buy, and it has dual GPU's so it would be perfect for you to quadfire later. Again, make sure you get a motherboard that can physically fit these cards.

 

[ckim2116]

Ah. So the D0 at the end of the name for NCIX is also on Newegg, just not mentioned?

Actually I'm not totally sure; just get the processor from Newegg. I have the same one and it performs great

 

[ckim2116]

Sorry for the many posts, but a couple of more things:

I have the Coolermaster HAF 932, and it's an awesome case. Incredible airflow, more room for expansion than you'll ever need, and it's nice and solid.

I have a 650W Corsair PSU powering my system, but for dual 5970's you will want at least 850W (although I would recommend more). Be sure to get the best PSU you can; it's one of the most important parts of the build.

 

[Steffwiz]

One more thing, for the graphics card I would stick with an HD 5970. I have an i7-920, Radeon 5970, and a Gigabyte x58-ud3r motherboard and I can run Crysis at the highest settings with no lag.

Also you mentioned that you wanted to do quadfire. DON'T get my motherboard lol. The card is too thick to fit on the second pci express slot.

Just to clarify, the 5970 is the fastest discrete board you can currently buy, and it has dual GPU's so it would be perfect for you to quadfire later. Again, make sure you get a motherboard that can physically fit these cards.

Haha, love the 5970, but can't seem to find it in stock anywhere.. It's all sold out on Newegg. QuadFire, nice term, lol. I would definitely do that later. I like the SSD as the boot drive idea, but I think I'll have a bad experience with installing games and software on a secondary drive. Don't they always want to be installed on a primary drive? Again, I would be entirely wrong.

 

[Steffwiz]

Sorry for the many posts, but a couple of more things:

I have the Coolermaster HAF 932, and it's an awesome case. Incredible airflow, more room for expansion than you'll ever need, and it's nice and solid.

I have a 650W Corsair PSU powering my system, but for dual 5970's you will want at least 850W (although I would recommend more). Be sure to get the best PSU you can; it's one of the most important parts of the build.

Do you know what the names on ATI's cards mean? Hemlock and others.. Also, what is the sole purpose in having more RAM on a graphics card? Seems all nVIDIA's cards have 2GB on the higher levels, not ATI's have 1GB.

I was looking at a 1000W PSU, but it will have to power two 7200RPM drives, a SSD, two 5970's, and once you account for capacitor wear.. I don't think it's going to cut it.

Post as much as you want, lol. Love the help. =]

 

[ckim2116]

Haha, love the 5970, but can't seem to find it in stock anywhere.. It's all sold out on Newegg. QuadFire, nice term, lol. I would definitely do that later. I like the SSD as the boot drive idea, but I think I'll have a bad experience with installing games and software on a secondary drive. Don't they always want to be installed on a primary drive? Again, I would be entirely wrong.

If you don't want to wait for the 5970 to be in stock, you could get a GTX 295, which is also a dual GPU card and is quite easy to find and purchase. Personally I would wait for the Radeon. Another solution would be the 4870x2, but this card doesn't support DirectX11. Again, with a $2500 budget, the 5970 is the way to go.

And installing games should be fine. I actually meant that you could install the OS AND the games on the SSD and store your music, photos, movies etc. on the secondary drive, but if you want just the OS on the SSD, you can go with a 30GB SSD which is a lot cheaper. Either way is fine and you shouldn't have any problems.

 

[Steffwiz]

If you don't want to wait for the 5970 to be in stock, you could get a GTX 295, which is also a dual GPU card and is quite easy to find and purchase. Personally I would wait for the Radeon. Another solution would be the 4870x2, but this card doesn't support DirectX11. Again, with a $2500 budget, the 5970 is the way to go.

And installing games should be fine. I actually meant that you could install the OS AND the games on the SSD and store your music, photos, movies etc. on the secondary drive, but if you want just the OS on the SSD, you can go with a 30GB SSD which is a lot cheaper. Either way is fine and you shouldn't have any problems.

Yea, I have around 300GBs of iTunes data to move, fun. Would transitioning to RAID1 be easy from a single drive? Or would I have to reformat the drives?

I looked at the GTX295, but it seems so old compared to the 5870 and 5970, think I better stick to ATI. I'll try and find the 5970 in stock.

 

[ckim2116]

Do you know what the names on ATI's cards mean? Hemlock and others.. Also, what is the sole purpose in having more RAM on a graphics card? Seems all nVIDIA's cards have 2GB on the higher levels, not ATI's have 1GB.

I was looking at a 1000W PSU, but it will have to power two 7200RPM drives, a SSD, two 5970's, and once you account for capacitor wear.. I don't think it's going to cut it.

Post as much as you want, lol. Love the help. =]

The tree names (Cypress, Hemlock, etc.) are just code names for the different products. Also, RAM doesn't have as much of an effect on graphics cards as the number of stream processors, core clock, etc. As long as you have the recommended amount of RAM for whatever you're trying to do, I believe it doesn't make a difference.

Also, the ATI 5970 has 2048 MB (2GB) of RAM, which is more than the GTX 295

A 1000W PSU should be enough; you should check out a pc power consumption calculator though. ATI recommends 850W for dual 5970's, and adding a few hard drives shouldn't take an extra 150W. Actually, I believe an SSD takes even less power than a mechanical hard drive.

 

[Aloid]

The motherboard I would recomend is the P6X58D it is an excellent mobo, same one I use. Now onto that processor there is a diffrence between the newegg and ncix ones the NCIX one is the D0 Revision which is bassically an improved version and generally will overclock better, I would recomend overclocking, which is not hard and there are many great guides for it and you can do it very safely and get to about 3.6ghz easily. If you consider overclockign at all definetly go with the D0 revision

 

[ckim2116]

Yea, I have around 300GBs of iTunes data to move, fun. Would transitioning to RAID1 be easy from a single drive? Or would I have to reformat the drives?

I looked at the GTX295, but it seems so old compared to the 5870 and 5970, think I better stick to ATI. I'll try and find the 5970 in stock.

Sorry, but I'm not really familiar with RAID

Yes, the GTX 295 is getting old, and of course does not support DirectX 11. I REALLY REALLY recommend trying as hard as you can to get the 5970. I was lucky and snagged one the day after it came out. It's going to be hard to get one online, but I think if you call physical stores periodically to check if they have them in stock, you could get lucky and find one and RUSH over there hahah.

 

[blackhawk1928]

Alright, Crysis on 1080p on max details?...a single 5870 i bet would do that job damn well. About your storage configuration, to start you off, all SATA drives are cheap crap that is mostly unreliable and is low quality made. Out of that, i'd probably stick to Seagate or Western Digital becuase from personal expirience of using many HDD's it seems that those are the most reliable. So here is what I recommend. You can get 1 SSD lets say a 64GB or 80GB to install your Operating System and Applications on, buy 2x1TB or 500GB drives (or however much you need) from WD or Seagate and Raid them through a nice high quality hardware managed raid controller. If you want an X58 1366 setup, get a D0 i7 920 or 940. Get the newer Asus boards that have USB 3 (SATA 6GB is not important, dont let it be a deciding factor of a MB becuase many devices still dont support it and no devices in your budget or even a consumer grade level can take advantage of it).

A good modular PSU is a Corsair HX series or a similar level from seasonic, coolermaster and a few others.

CM932 is a very good case, its got a window so you can admire all the parts inside and since the sides of it are mostly caged you can see through the top and sides also, its goot very good cooling and for its price really good quality.

Hope that helps, BTW seriously consider the SSD for the OS+apps, it really does make a difference.

 

[Steffwiz]

The tree names (Cypress, Hemlock, etc.) are just code names for the different products. Also, RAM doesn't have as much of an effect on graphics cards as the number of stream processors, core clock, etc. As long as you have the recommended amount of RAM for whatever you're trying to do, I believe it doesn't make a difference.

Also, the ATI 5970 has 2048 MB (2GB) of RAM, which is more than the GTX 295

A 1000W PSU should be enough; you should check out a pc power consumption calculator though. ATI recommends 850W for dual 5970's, and adding a few hard drives shouldn't take an extra 150W. Actually, I believe an SSD takes even less power than a mechanical hard drive.

Thanks x3 on that post, lol. Think I'm starting to understand some of this stuff. =]

 

[Steffwiz]

The motherboard I would recomend is the P6X58D it is an excellent mobo, same one I use. Now onto that processor there is a diffrence between the newegg and ncix ones the NCIX one is the D0 Revision which is bassically an improved version and generally will overclock better, I would recomend overclocking, which is not hard and there are many great guides for it and you can do it very safely and get to about 3.6ghz easily. If you consider overclockign at all definetly go with the D0 revision

Alright, thanks.

 

[Steffwiz]

Sorry, but I'm not really familiar with RAID

Yes, the GTX 295 is getting old, and of course does not support DirectX 11. I REALLY REALLY recommend trying as hard as you can to get the 5970. I was lucky and snagged one the day after it came out. It's going to be hard to get one online, but I think if you call physical stores periodically to check if they have them in stock, you could get lucky and find one and RUSH over there hahah.

Haha, alright.

 

[Steffwiz]

Alright, Crysis on 1080p on max details?...a single 5870 i bet would do that job damn well. About your storage configuration, to start you off, all SATA drives are cheap crap that is mostly unreliable and is low quality made. Out of that, i'd probably stick to Seagate or Western Digital becuase from personal expirience of using many HDD's it seems that those are the most reliable. So here is what I recommend. You can get 1 SSD lets say a 64GB or 80GB to install your Operating System and Applications on, buy 2x1TB or 500GB drives (or however much you need) from WD or Seagate and Raid them through a nice high quality hardware managed raid controller. If you want an X58 1366 setup, get a D0 i7 920 or 940. Get the newer Asus boards that have USB 3 (SATA 6GB is not important, dont let it be a deciding factor of a MB becuase many devices still dont support it and no devices in your budget or even a consumer grade level can take advantage of it).

A good modular PSU is a Corsair HX series or a similar level from seasonic, coolermaster and a few others.

CM932 is a very good case, its got a window so you can admire all the parts inside and since the sides of it are mostly caged you can see through the top and sides also, its goot very good cooling and for its price really good quality.

Hope that helps, BTW seriously consider the SSD for the OS+apps, it really does make a difference.

Alright. Just worrying though if I run out of space on the SSD.