$1000ish gaming computer.

[thaox155]

My last gaming computer was built 3 years ago and I want to build a new one. I want this to be another gaming computer. I usually play RF Online, COD MW2, and in the future, StarCraft 2, Diablo 3 and BattleField BC2

My current gaming computer:

Processor: AMD Athlon 64 x2 6000+ 3.0Ghz
Motherboard: Abit KN9 Ultra
Grapic Card: BFG Nvidia 8600GTS OC
Powersuppply: OCZ 700W GameXstream
Hard Drive: WD 300GB 7200 RPM
CD Drive: Phillips DVD-RW
Case: Cooler Master Centurion 5
Mouse: Logitech G7
Keyboard: Logitech
Moniter: Envision 17" LCD



APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: (e.g.: this week (the closer the better)) BUDGET RANGE: (500-1000)

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: (Gaming)

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: (newegg.com)

OVERCLOCKING: Yes(if I can figure out how) Maybe CROSSFIRE: In the future?

MONITOR RESOLUTION: Any? Recommend me.


PARTS PREFERENCES:
Processor: Intel i7 920. I can get it at microcenter for $230

Motherboard: not sure yet...

Graphic card: Radeon 5750 or 5770 over the 4890 and geforce b/c of directx 11. 5850 is almost double the price..

Power Supply: Corsair CMPSU-750TX
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139006&cm_re=corsair_power_supply-_-17-139-006-_-Product

Ram: corsair dominator dd3 1600?

Hard Drive: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148445&cm_re=Seagate_7200.12-_-22-148-445-_-Product or http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185&Tpk=F3%201TB

Case: antec twelve hundred or nine hundred? Which is better?

Most of these I sorted the list by "best reviews" on newegg.com and see what majority of people buy and I go from there.
I've been looking around and seems like the i7 is a lot better then the i5? What will be better. For the future and for my gaming need. I don't want to speed TOO much on motherboard. i7 920 or i7 860?
Not sure about the motherboard. Depending if I should go i7 860 or 920.
I can use my old powersupply but I can sell it for $60 and add $40 and get the corsair one...seems to have WAY better reviews.

Newegg does have a good deals if you buy something like this but are they good or should I keep with my build?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboBundleDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.329535
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboBundleDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.328623
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboBundleDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.335221
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboBundleDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.328587
Some items I don't like that much are the hard drive which is very VERY big but only at 5900rpm. I don't think I'll need one that big. Not a big fan of the computer case too.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboBundleDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.328156
and go i7, hard drive, and 5850 or 5750. Total will be about $750.

If any advice, let me know. Thanks in advance.

 

[soulbro]

Heya,

The i7-860 combo and the Thermaltake combo are all right, but the others saddle you with either a lousy video card or a lousy PSU.

But I like my i7-920, so, motherboard: ASRock X58 Extreme: $159.99.

From what I've gathered, i7 is better than i5 for non-gaming stuff, and about on par with it for gaming. 1366 (like the i7-920) is better than 1156 (like the i7-860) for crossfire and SLI, although if you only do two cards at a time, it's supposed to be pretty close. Going 1156 also means dual-channel RAM, instead of triple-channel, which means you could save money on that (two sticks vs. three). I dunno, it's your call. I went 1366 and haven't regretted it.

Not sure about the case. I'm sure they're both fine.

If you keep your old PSU, maybe you can talk yourself into a 5850? They are awful nice. If it's too expensive you might really want to consider going AMD instead. Hmm. But your monitor is small too. I'd consider just going AMD and throwing a new monitor in using the savings...

HTH,

-Will

 

[samdsox]

i also think you shoud keep your old psu and get the 5850

 

[soulbro]

Here's a quick little AMD build:

Graphics: XFX HD-585A-ZNBC Radeon HD 5850 (Cypress Pro) 1GB Black Edition 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported ... - Retail (Combo with CPU below: $492.98)
AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition Deneb 3.2GHz Socket AM3 125W Quad-Core Processor Model HDZ955FBGMBOX - Retail
COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus Intel Core i5 & Intel Core i7 compatible RR-B10-212P-G1 120mm "heatpipe direct contact" Long life sleeve CPU Cooler - Retail $29.99
MSI 770-G45 AM3 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard - Retail $79.99
SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD502HJ 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive $54.99
CORSAIR XMS3 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model CMX4GX3M2A1600C8 - Retail $99.99
OCZ Fatal1ty OCZ700FTY 700W Power Supply - Retail $74.99 after MIR
Acer P235Hbmid Black 23" 5ms Widescreen LCD Monitor Built-in Speakers - Retail $179.99

Total price: $1012.92

Maybe use your old case? Or get a case, and use your old PSU...or drop down to a cheaper CPU, like an Athlon II x4, or a Phenom II x3 720...I'd say the above is a good starting point though.

-Will

 

[builderbobftw]

Get an X3 720 or an i5-750 over the 955. The 955/965 are overpriced and i have no love for them. The X3 720 is a good little budget cpu and the i5-750 is a nice midrange cpu. The 955 costs 1.5 times as much as a X3-720, and the preformance gains don't reflect that.

 

[soulbro]

I agree, if he's mostly/only using the machine for gaming, and/or if he's on a really tight budget. thaox155, if you are on a tight budget, go with the Phenom II x3 720 ($104.99), and maybe some cheaper, slower RAM -- the OCZ Gold 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 ($87.99 after MIR) or OCZ Gold 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 ($81.99 after MIR) would be fine. That'd save you about $30 from my build above. Maybe find a cheaper motherboard too, but make sure it has multiple x16 slots so you can Crossfire effectively later. (I think that's how it works, anyway.)

-Will

 

[thaox155]

what did you mean by "1366 (like the i7-920) is better than 1156 (like the i7-860) for sli and crossfire, although if you only do two cards at a time, it's supposed to be pretty close"? So if i go crossfire with only two they are about the same but if i go three or so then 1366 boards are better?
Should i just go 5850 or crossfire 5770/5750?
How big is the difference between the i5/i5 1156 vs the x3 720 when gaming because 95% of the time i'll be using it for gaming(other 5% school work haha).

 

[builderbobftw]

what did you mean by "1366 (like the i7-920) is better than 1156 (like the i7-860) for sli and crossfire, although if you only do two cards at a time, it's supposed to be pretty close"? So if i go crossfire with only two they are about the same but if i go three or so then 1366 boards are better?
Should i just go 5850 or crossfire 5770/5750?
How big is the difference between the i5/i5 1156 vs the x3 720 when gaming because 95% of the time i'll be using it for gaming(other 5% school work haha).

1. There is a small, 4%, premormance loss when xfireing ona p55. The loss of trifire is way way way to much, if you want to trifire stay away from lga 1156.

2. You're much better of with a 5850 over xfire 5750. Less power usage, less heat Better overall preformance etc etc

3. Like me and Will said, Get either the x3 720 BE or get an i5-750. The x3 720 is proably the better vualue, and lga 1156 has no upgrade path, unlike AM3. Go with the x3 720, but if you are a huge Intel fanboy and have to buy Intell, the i5-750 is the best intell offering to date.

 

[soulbro]

Yeah...among all the processors we've been discussing in this thread, there's damn little difference between them wrt gaming. It's only other stuff that makes extra cores and things like the i7 architecture really nice. For you I'd say go for the x3 720 and splurge on a 5850.

 

[builderbobftw]

Yeh, thats the best option.

 

[thaox155]

Another question. Will it matter that much if I mix and match rams?

 

[thaox155]

I can get this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16813131361 for $100. Great deal right?

 

[thaox155]

and seems like that board is ddr2 and I am currently using 1gbx2 ocz reaper. Should I buy that board, go x3 720, buy 2x2gb more ram, 5850, and use my old psu and case?

 

[soulbro]

That's a good price, but I'd get an AM3 DDR3 board if possible. DDR3 is the way of the future, yo!

It's fine to mix and match RAM brands, but not types -- it's all got to be DDR2, or all DDR3, and that type has to match what the motherboard supports.

I'm actually not sure if you can mix and match sticks with different latencies or clock speeds...I suspect you can, but it'll all end up working at the lowest common speed/highest common latency. Others with more knowledge will probably correct me.

-Will

 

[builderbobftw]

DDR 3 is the Ram of the future, unless you already bought DDR2.

 

[thaox155]

yeah i know you cant mix ddr2 and ddr3. haha. damn..good price for that mobo too. brand new/mint. all this computer part decision is making me crazy.
well i am using ddr2 ocz reaper right and might just buy 4gb more to make it 6gb total instead of buying new ddr3 sticks and selling them.

 

[builderbobftw]

I bought 8gb DDR2 when i was building my system, cuase i know somebody that works in the memory wholesaling industry I got 4x2gb DIMMS for $36 a while ago.
Huge overkill, I've never encountred a game/program that used more than like 4gb.

 

[thaox155]

I bought 8gb DDR2 when i was building my system, cuase i know somebody that works in the memory wholesaling industry I got 4x2gb DIMMS for $36 a while ago.
Huge overkill, I've never encountred a game/program that used more than like 4gb.

if only i can get hooks up like that.

 

[builderbobftw]

if only i can get hooks up like that.

yeh, 9$ a 2gb DIMM was the wholesale price of used DDR2 back then...

 

[thaox155]

should i go for a gtx 285 for $230 or pay an extra $70ish for a 5850?

 

[builderbobftw]

5850. BTW, 230$ is a good price for a gtx 285. Is thast for a used or new one? Cuase if were thiniing about getting a used GTX 285, then you should consider a used 5850 for less than 300$.

 

[thaox155]

Well I found a 285 for 200. $230 shipped. Kinda hard to find a good price for a used 5850. Found a 5870 like new for $300 but the guy hasnt reply in a week.

 

[builderbobftw]

Off Ebay? Craigslist? I get all my stuff from either this guy i know who works in the computer wholsaling indiustry, or if its cutting edge/consumer stuff, he doesnt have it so i buy it off EBay.

 

[thaox155]

Off Ebay? Craigslist? I get all my stuff from either this guy i know who works in the computer wholsaling indiustry, or if its cutting edge/consumer stuff, he doesnt have it so i buy it off EBay.

off craiglist. damn lucky. if only i can get hook up like that

 

[thaox155]

Check this out i bought a home/gaming computer from this site
They had alot of choices to pick from and i found the one a wanted. Im very satisfy with
my computer. http://fathersonwindpcs.ecrater.com/category.php?cid=802820

those are wayy overprice..