$1400 Gaming Rig Challenge

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oldsoulrevival

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APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: this month
SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: Gaming #1, Movies/Music #2, everything else #3
PARTS NOT REQUIRED: keyboard, mouse, monitor, speakers
PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: USA - any sites you trust, although I really like Newegg (i have never used ncix)
PARTS PREFERENCES: Amd or Intel, ATI or Nvidia (i like xfx a lot), Republic Of Gamers
OVERCLOCKING: Sli or Crossfire in the future (not quite yet though), I want to learn how to overclock
MONITOR RESOLUTION: 1920x1080p
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS:
-I get Windows Professional at a Teacher discount, for $90, so you can use that price.
-I want it to be cold
-I want it to be powerful
-I don't want to HAVE to upgrade for 2 more years.
-I want to be able to play games so well that it'll make your soul shiver with fear!


USE THIS FORMAT for posting your recommendations:
Cpu/cost:
Gpu/cost:
Mobo/cost:
Ram/cost:
HD/cost:
Case/cost:
Heatsink/cost:
PSU/cost:
cd,dvd,blueray/cost:

Reasons why:


Thank you so much everyone... I am just trying to get the best system possible for the price.

Cheers! :D
 
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macabre215

macabre215

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You're not going to spend 1400 bucks on a system right now and not have to upgrade something in two years. That's if you want to play every game released from today till 2012 on max settings at your resolution.
 
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macabre215

macabre215

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Also if you live near a microcenter that would help out on the price of the cpu. For example they have the i7 920 for $243 after tax here in michigan, that same cpu is $288 on newegg.
 
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oldsoulrevival

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Wel I get that I would probably have to add another graphics card (which is why i said SLI or Xfire in the future) and more ram someday...

But right now I am looking for the best possible rig for 1400
 
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macabre215

macabre215

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Cpu+mobo combo: $326 X4 965+MSI 790FX
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.322820

Gpu/cost: $399 XFX 5870
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150443

Ram/cost: $119 4GB Mushkin DDR3
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226113

HD/cost: $199 WD 300GB Raptor http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136322 I would pick an SSD but they just aren't there in terms of price to performance, this should work fine for you.
$ 89 Hitachi 1TB for storage http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822145287

Case/cost: $99 CM Scout: picking a case is a matter of personal taste and available room. This one can house two cards easily.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119196

Heatsink/cost: Tell you the truth, the X4 965 can be overclocked with the stock heat sink. I've read plenty about people overclocking to 4.0ghz and the load temp is around 55-60C, the new revision of this cpu lets you do this. Just remember to clean off the thermal paste that is on it and use MX-2. I trust this thermal paste more than AS-5 now because there is not cure time, and best of all its non conductive.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186020

PSU/cost: $139 Corsair 850w psu: They make the best for the money, I trust maybe two other names.

cd,dvd,blueray/cost: This is up to you but most people just need a DVD-RW drive http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106289


Final Cost: $1,417.89
 
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ares1214

ares1214

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Dec 15, 2009
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i for the most part diagree with macabre215, but his build is still good. look into this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.298042

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.320294

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.314451

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233092

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231321

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106333

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103065

final price is 1408.91, and way way better. there is always the i5 path however...hope that helped :D
 
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oldsoulrevival

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I am certainly leaning more towards the Phenom ii x4 965 be... the cost of the components is dramatically lower.

This is what I am lookign at right now
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131392
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150443
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148327
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103727
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119160
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106335
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139005
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136319
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186134
Plus the 90 dollar Windows 7 Pro through my school... comes to a grand total of

$1400.88

how would you compare the two 965 rigs that you and I posteD?
 
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macabre215

macabre215

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I would agree with the SSD myself if I knew that 64GB of space was enough for my system drive. For me its not since I have about four games always installed on my system drive.

That psu is not to be trusted with crossfire 5870s, considering it would be well over 60% load while playing games and its OEM is FSP, scary..... Not to mention the 50A rail split into two theoretical 25amp rails, which shows how bad FSP is at making power supplies. You want something that has a large single 12v rail, like the corsair I picked. Unless you want to turn your new computer parts into smoked silicon links.
 
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oldsoulrevival

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what do you think of this one?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139005
 
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macabre215

macabre215

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I wouldn't go with that psu for crossfire either. Assuming your system is going to be pulling 450w while playing a game, even though that's being generous, 450/650=69% load. For your sake, meaning that you want the psu to last, you want to be between 40-60% of the full load of the psu. I read this from experts who review these types of parts jonnyguru and hardocp. Not to mention guys from corsair themselves saying the same on their forums. Pick out a power supply that you can do crossfire with, since you wanted to in the future.
 
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oldsoulrevival

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Oh I am not even worried about crossfire for awhile... I figure when I crossfire, I will get a new PSU as well. that is a year or two away though
 
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oldsoulrevival

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How do you figure? lol

I put better ram, better MOBO, and a GPU I like more (xfx>sapphire imo... apparently people are having some troubles with sapphire cards these days)

The only thing I see you have me beat on is the HD situation lol
 
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ares1214

ares1214

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errr lets see, my cpu cooler is better, my mobo is better, and has sata 6 and usb 3, my ram is 1.35 volts 1600 MHz 7-8-7-24, yours is 1.65 volts, 1333 MHz, 7-7-7-24, psus are about even, both cases are very good, vid cards are the same, my hdd is far superior, i have an ssd, that said, i would say mine wins... pretty considerably actually...
 
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oldsoulrevival

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touche salesman hahaha. Is your Mobo better for overclocking the CPU and 5870(if need be)?

What about the ram situation? are we really only varying on brand preference?
 
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ares1214

ares1214

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well the mobo can probably do just as well, or better with a decent cooler, and the 5870 should be good, but oc it if you want...with the ram, lower voltage means less heat and power consumption, meaning a much higher oc...mine could make it to 1900 MHz at 1.6 volts, whereas yours could make it to 1650 Mhz at like 1.8 volts, therfore mine is better...and haha im not trying to be mean, i just love to argue...a lot :lol:
 
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macabre215

macabre215

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I noticed the ram you picked out in your list was the black Crucial Tracer over these, which are very ugly turquoise.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148339


 
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macabre215

macabre215

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He's probably not going to be overclocking the ram at all, having an unlocked cpu multiplier.
 
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macabre215

macabre215

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Look up ram speed vs latency, performance difference is trivial in games, but latency would affect it most with DDR3 not speed.
 
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