$1600 Budget, Seeking Expandable Gaming Rig

[Nightbound]

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: Before end of April 2010

BUDGET RANGE: $1600-$1700

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: Gaming (MMO's and RPG's Mostly)

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: Saitek Cyborg Keyboard, MX518 Logitech Mouse, ASUS 25" 1080P Monitor, 7.1 Logitech Speakers

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: CyberpowerPC.com (Reason being, I have zero experience building a computer. Once its up and running, I'm fine, but I'm simply not willing to risk breaking parts, etc... I understand ppl say its easy, however, I'm just not confident in trying.

PARTS PREFERENCES: Prefer ATI Video Cards (Preferably 5800 Series), Coolermaster Storm Sniper Case, Beyond that I'm open to anything, Dont care if its AMD or Intel just care what's best for my needs and my budget, gaming, period.

OVERCLOCKING: No, not very experienced at even trying to overclock so really, I'm just looking for the raw power.

SLI OR CROSSFIRE: Maybe (Not right now, but willing to later)

MONITOR RESOLUTION: 1920x1080

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: I made a post before, but my budget was significantly less (1300) and now with my good fortune of a bonus, I have a few hundred more to spend, so I wanna up the ante. I would like to re-iterate... I'm not wanting to build my PC, i wanna order it, I know that flies in the face of what Alot of people want me to do, but Its a personal choice and comfort level.

 

[coldsleep]

I would like to re-iterate... I'm not wanting to build my PC, i wanna order it, I know that flies in the face of what Alot of people want me to do, but Its a personal choice and comfort level.

Please be aware that this is a homebuilt forum, and most of the answers you get are going to be directed at building it yourself. You are also likely to get many posts telling you to build it yourself. You certainly don't have to, and you can take the recommendations given and attempt to apply them to a pre-built, but it's not always going to fit quite right. The reason regulars on this forum aren't interested in pre-built computers is because typically those businesses cut corners on some of the less-visible parts, such as the power supply, RAM, and hard drives. This doesn't make them bad people, but it does mean that the parts may not be as good as if you bought them yourself and built the computer on your own.

It's unlikely that many people are going to go to the trouble of looking at cyberpowerpc and then tell you how you should configure it. What you're likely to get is a lot of price lists from newegg suggesting what people would build on their own with that amount of money.

With a $1600 budget, you could probably get an i5-750 with a 5970 graphics card, or go with a 5870 and an SSD. If you build it yourself. Buying from cyberpowerpc, you're likely to end up with a 5850 at best, and some low-quaility components.

 

[MadAdmiral]

Agree with everything there. Here's what you can get if you build it yourself:

CPU: i5-750 $200
Mobo: Gigabtye GA-P55A-UD3 $135
RAM: G.Skill Ripjaws 2x2 GB 1600 mhz CAS Latency 7 $115
GPU: HD 5970 $700
HDD: Seagate 7200.12 1 TB $90
PSU: Corsair 750W 80+ $100 after rebate
Case: HAF 922 $90. I'm not sure the 5970 will fit in a Storm Scout. Besides, the HAF is better and cheaper.
Optical: Cheap SATA DVD burner $23
OS: Windows 7 Home 64-bit OEM $105

Total: $1,558

 

[Nightbound]

Firstly, Coldsleep, ty for the reply. I'm understand what ur sayin, and I'm sry if what I posted sounded a little improper. With that said, I did have a build pre-set that I was curious what ppl thought for the price.

Intel Core I7 930 2.8 Ghz 8MB L3 Cache $295

ASUS P6T SE Motherboard (16x Dual Crossfire, Triple Channel Memory) $205

Kingston HyperX 6Gb (3x2gb) DDR3 1600 $187

Coolermaster Storm Sniper Mid-Tower $130

Sapphire ATI 5870 1GB GDDR5 $450

Corsair 850W PSU $140

500GB 16MB Cache 3.0Gb/S HD $80

** To be fair... I just picked a "Average" rated Hard Drive on Newegg, I'm not sure this is exactly what's priced in my build on cyberpower **

LG DVD R/RW Burner $25

Final Price On Newegg: $1717.00 Before Shipping (I rounded hehe, sry if its a buck or two off)
Final Price On Cyberpower: $1694 Before Shipping (There's also a 5% off code I have that its pretty much good all the time i've been told, so the total comes down to $1609)

I hope this helps. Cyberpower's PC also will have a 120mm Asetek 510CC Liquid cooling system on the processor, as well as included in their price is Thermal Compound, Pro-wiring, and the max 120mm fans being installed in the system.

 

[MadAdmiral]

Well first, you picked a very expensive set of RAM and GPU. If you were building it yourself, you'd get:

GPU: HD 5870 $390
RAM: Corsair XMS3 3x2 GB 1600 mhz CAS Latency 7 $175

Second, you also picked a slower, expensive HDD. It's also an IDE model, so it's old tech. Here's what you should get:

HDD: Seagate 7200.12 500 GB $55

So the Newegg build price is actually $1,620. You can also get some Bing cashback through Newegg. I think it's usually 2%, brining the total to $$1,587.

Of course, if you went with the build I posted above, you'd have much better gaming performance, at a lower price ($1,527 after cashback)...

 

[Nightbound]

And mad, u always have great input, and ty again for yours here. Just fyi, i have had multiple sites verify that the 5970 will indeed fit in the storm, it has 13 1/2 inches of clearance if it helps for future knowledge

 

[MadAdmiral]

Still doesn't change the HAF recommendation. It's $40 cheaper, bigger, and just plain better.

 

[Nightbound]

Understood

 

[coldsleep]

There's no arguing with aesthetics.

I can't wait until I finally get around to my new build in June or so and you (MadAdmiral) keep telling me "HAF 922, HAF 922." And I repeat: "ugly, ugly, ugly." Heh.

Back to the point of the thread though, assuming you were building it yourself, MadAdmiral's suggestions are great. One thing that he didn't point out is that the memory he selected is actually faster (lower CAS Latency) than the Kingston in the cyberpower build.

 

[MadAdmiral]

I know it's ugly. I didn't choose it for my last build. However, it's worth mentioning that it's better than cases much more expensive than it. So if you're on a tight budget and need a very good, large case, you really cant beat it. You can always hide it behind a desk or something...

 

[Nightbound]

lmao... dun make me seperate ya two... I agree though... HAF 922... U G L Y lol, kinda why i liked the In-Win maelstrom case but i think u screamed at me in the other post for lookin at it mad

 

[MadAdmiral]

In Win isn't very high quality. Cases are really subjective. Suggestions are mostly just to be aware of what you could be getting for what you're paying.

Other great cases in the price range (up to $160) are the Antec 900, Antec 902, Antec 1200, Antec P183, Antec P182, Antec Sonata III, Coolermaster Cosmos, HAF 932, Coolermaster 690, and Coolermaster 690 II. Lian Li also makes high quality cases, but I personally think they're overpriced.

 

[cory1234]

What games are you planning on playing? The 5870 is severely overkill for most mmos not to mention $450 for that card is insane.

The i7 930 is a great choice on cpu. There are several guides on how to overclock your i7. I would recommend an aftermarket cooler with that budget even if you do not plan to overclock.

I don't think you mentioned on whether or not you live near a microcenter? You can get much better prices..if not check out this site: Great community
http://www.overclock.net/main-components/692227-i7-930-240-a.html

On my first i7 overclock I booted into windows @4ghz on my first try. Basically just saying you can easily overclock your processor to probably 3.6ghz without touching any settings except the frequency.
The hyper 212+ is good choice for only $30.

You definitely want a SSD also. It will cut your load time of windows in half. Not to mention instant responsivness.

Check out the Intel X25-M 80GB $209 after instant rebate ends today..excellent deal on one of the best SSDs out there:
http://www.ewiz.com/detail.php?name=X25M-80GB&title=Intel-X25-M-80GB-Mainstream-SATA2-Solid-State-Drive

Edit: I would get a 700-750w psu.. 850 is overkill. You should be fine with a $80-100 psu.

 

[MadAdmiral]

The 5870 isn't $450. It's $390. Big difference. It is overkill for many casual games though.

You don't "definitely" want a SSD. It only helps in loading times. Buy the HD 5970 before you even consider a SSD.

 

[cory1234]

Seriously? Don't waste your money on a 5970 unless you have money to flush down the toilet..they are going for $100+ over retail right now.

MadAdmiral do you even have a SSD? Buying a SSD was the best computer component I've ever purchased imo. It is the biggest noticeable difference in performance.

Normal Hd's have 8-10ms access time. SSDs have .01ms access times. What is wrong with cutting load times in half? Not to mention any program you run on the SSD responds instantly. Simple tasks like browsing the web is noticeably faster. I've probably already saved a couple days of my life with less loading.

 

[MadAdmiral]

I don't have a SSD. I have used them. They are nice, but they don't affect ACTUAL performance. In addition, they are very easy to add in later, meaning that you can wait until the price drops to a reasonable level and get it then. I would rather have something that's going to be harder/more expensive to upgrade later AND actually has an impact on performance than something that's easy to add later and won't.

Also, all the benchmarking shows that SSDs shave about 5-10 seconds off boot times and maybe a second in loading programs. I'm not saying that's not great. I'm saying that's not worth $300.