$1500 Build for Gaming (1366)

[tsquayle]

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: 3-6 Months out BUDGET RANGE: $1500 or less

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: Gaming, Office stuff, Internet, etc...

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: Monitor, mouse, keyboard, joystick, speakers

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: Newegg COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: USA

PARTS PREFERENCES: Intel CPU, ASUS Mobo (flexible though)

OVERCLOCKING: Maybe SLI OR CROSSFIRE: Yes

MONITOR RESOLUTION: 1600x1200 (SamSung Syncmaster 997DF)

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: Want to last four years. Will upgrade monitor and add 2nd GPU later. Do not want to spend much on disk space but would like quality drive (500BG or less)


CPU Intel i7 920

GPU SAPPHIRE ATI HD5850

RAM OCZ Gold 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (not really sure)

MB ASUS P6T LGA 1366 Intel X58

PSU CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX 650W

HD WD Caviar WD3200AAJS 320GB

Case COOLER MASTER HAF 922

CPU HeatSink COOLER MASTER Hyper 212




Let me hear your comments, please!

My Concerns:
What is the outlook for technology releases in the next six months?
What case is a good value, is cool and wont cause spacing issues with the motherboard?

 

[JackNaylorPE]

5850 is a lotta card for that resolution

I'd get a 500 GB per platter drive such as the Spinpoint F3 or Seagate 7200.12.

 

[tsquayle]

Well my monitor can go up to 2048x1536.

What resolution and decently priced monitor would go good with that card? I need to get a new monitor as well but cannot afford all of these things at one time. I would like an LCD.

 

[mavanhel]

You might be able to save yourself some bucks and go the i5/p55 route. For your purposes I don't think the i7 will be of much benefit to you, but it is a reasonable choice if you want to go with the x58 platform. If you are sure you want to go i7, feel free to ignore me

 

[tsquayle]

When would the i7 be better over the i5?

This chart shows the i7 well above the i5, would it be worth spending the extra few bucks? Or does that not apply?

If I went with the i5, would the PC last as long as with the i7? Whats a good i5 motherboard?

 

[mavanhel]

I'd say that the biggest difference between i5 and i7 is that the i7 has hyperthreading. That means that in effect, it has 8 cores instead of 4, but not many things are that extremely multithreaded, unless you're planning on extreme multi-tasking, video editing, or hardcore photo shop things. Another benefit of the i7 is the x58 platform which may(?) have more upgrade availability, but I have no idea about the future of x58 and p55. Personally I would choose the i5, but if the i7 is within your budget and you're up to it, go for it.

If you did go i5, a great mobo is the ASUS P7P55D-E PRO. It has two PCI-E ports (x8/x8) and has all of the new ports as well (SATA 6, USB 3)

 

[theAnimal]

If you're serious about 2 GPUs, you may want to up the PSU to 750W (or at least one with 4 PCIe connectors).

 

[tsquayle]

Sounds good.

If I go the i7 route, will the P6T be a good motherboard?

 

[mavanhel]

Ya, the p6t looks like a decent mobo, except that it doesn't have SATA 6 or USB 3. They aren't really necessary but are good to have if you're looking into to the future.

This ASUS looks to be a lot like the p6t but has the new ports. It is $310 at newegg.

 

[tsquayle]

Yea Im going to go with the ASUS P6X58D Premium board with the USB 3.0 and SATA 6 for future use. Also going to go with the HX 750 from Corsair for a PSU. Any other thoughts?