$1500 Gaming Rig, 3 weeks

[nuc_Rx]

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: 3 weeks ~ 6MAY. Approx $1500

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: gaming, movies, internet

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: keyboard, mouse, speakers, monitor, w7 OS, XFI Sound Blaster Xtreme Gamer

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: newegg COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: US

PARTS PREFERENCES: i5-750 build, w7

OVERCLOCKING: Yes. SLI OR CROSSFIRE: Maybe

MONITOR RESOLUTION: 1920x1080

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: I want it to be a good gaming rig, capable of playing games like L4D2, MW2, DAO, ME2 at max settings with good framerate. Basically I am posting this to make sure the parts I have picked out are reasonably well matched and that I am not making any egregious errors. If you think a part should be swapped for any reason (too expensive, bottleneck, not enough capability, bad product/manufacturer) please let me know! Also take a close look at that PSU because I am not sure if it is enough power for this rig.

$110. Lian Li Lancool K-62 Case

$160. EVGA P55 SLI 132-LF-E655-KR LGA1156 Intel P55 ATX Motherboard

$200. i5-750 Lynnfield 2.66GHz LGA 1156

$75. Corsair H50 CPU Cooler

$140. G.SKILL Trident 4GB (2x2GB) 240-pin DDR3 2000 (PC3 16000)

$80. WD Caviar Black WD7501AALS 750GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5"

$200. Intel X25-M 80GB SATAII MLC Internal SSD

$420. XFX HD-587X-ZNFC Radeon HD 5870 1GB 256-bit DDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card

$90. CORSAIR CMPSU-650TX 650W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply
-$40 discount from gpu/psu combo

$33. LITE-ON Black CD/DVD Burner

Total: $1468

This is my first build so your help is greatly appreciated!

 

[amk09]

For starters I think your power supply will be more than enough.

Not sure why you picked that cpu cooler though, do you plan on a liquid cooled system? You could get a much cheaper cooler that will get the job done just fine with that processor. (cooler master hyper 212 - $20-$30)

 

[Wired2k]

Is a different cooler even necessary if he doesn't plan on overclocking?
If you really do want a different cooler you could definitely get one for less than that:

COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus $34.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103065

EDIT: I guess the last line of amk09's post didn't quite register when I said this. But here's a link for you anyways!

 

[brennon7]

My suggestion:

i5 750 = $200

Haf 922 = $79
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119197&cm_re=haf_922-_-11-119-197-_-Product

Asus Pro with usb 3.0 and 6gb/s $190
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131621&cm_re=asus_1156_pro-_-13-131-621-_-Product

Hard drive 500gb Spinpoint F3 faster and better $54
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152176&cm_re=spinpon-_-22-152-176-_-Product

PSU antec true power 650w $79
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371021&cm_re=650_psu-_-17-371-021-_-Product

Hyper cooler $40
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103065&cm_re=hyper_212-_-35-103-065-_-Product

GPU 5970 $699
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102887&cm_re=5970-_-14-102-887-_-Product

DVDRW samsung $20
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827151192&cm_re=samsung_dvdrw-_-27-151-192-_-Product

Corsair Ram CL7 $129.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145285&cm_re=i5_ram-_-20-145-285-_-Product

8 pin PCIE adapter
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ImageGallery.aspx?CurImage=12-200-420-S01&SCList=12-200-420-S01,12-200-420-S02,12-200-420-S03&S7ImageFlag=2&Item=N82E16812200420&Depa=0&WaterMark=1&Description=StarTech%20PCIEX68ADAP%20PCI%20Express%206%20pin%20to%208%20pin%20Power%20Adapter%20Cable

Total $1503

Here is why:

SSD overpriced not enough performance gain to justify cost
MOBO better with more future proof tech
HDD faster and better
GPU- the best on the market PERIOD
Ram- better timing faster

 

[amk09]

I agree with brennon except for 1 thing... Save yourself $300 and stay with the 5870 as the 5970 is overkill for anything that you plan on doing now, not the mention the 5870 will max any game out and will continue to max any games in the near future (crysis 2 may be an exception).

Have fun with that extra $300

 

[nuc_Rx]

amk09, i dont plan on liquid cooling atm, although i may later down the road when i learn more about it (and whether i can fit a liquid system in the case i picked). I just kind of thought the corsair h50 looked cool and might give me some experience dealing with rads (baby step into liq cooling), but for the moment it seems like the CM hyper 212 plus is widely recommended so i should probably go with that for now.

wired2k, i do plan on overclocking, although i dont have any experience overclocking cpus yet.

brennon7, thank you for the suggestion, especially with regards to the ram selection. I dont really know how to select good gaming ram, i just assumed that a ddr3 2000 would be better than a ddr3 1600.

 

[nuc_Rx]

also, if i were to add another 5870 down the road for crossfire, what type of PSU would i be looking at?

 

[brennon7]

also, if i were to add another 5870 down the road for crossfire, what type of PSU would i be looking at?

Stick with the 5970 you can add 2 monitors down the road and play most games at high levels with eyefinity.

850w is recommended for two 5870s.

Edit on the ram above

I actually have this ram but it's a bit more- Corsair CL8 1600
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145263&cm_re=corsair_xms3_1600_ddr3-_-20-145-263-_-Product

or this one BETTER reviews G.SKill 1600 CL7
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231303&cm_re=g_skill_ddr3-_-20-231-303-_-Product

 

[nuc_Rx]

On another thread with a similar build to this some users recommended that the guy get a phenom IIx4 955 instead of an i5-750. Should I be considering the AMD CPU? Also they mentioned that AMD x6's are coming out soonish. Maybe I should be waiting for the release of the new AMD cpus and motherboards? What is the earliest I could reasonably get my hands on that new hardware?

 

[brennon7]

Can't hurt to wait and see how the 6 cores perform and pricing. Don't get the 955, i5 750 dominates it all day.

 

[coldsleep]

Can't hurt to wait and see how the 6 cores perform and pricing. Don't get the 955, i5 750 dominates it all day.

Except that it doesn't really matter for gaming at 1920x1080. For the most part, you're GPU-limited at that resolution, not CPU-limited. The i5 might get you a couple percent better FPS, but whether or not it's worth the difference in price at this budget is highly debatable.

OP, get whatever combination of AMD or Intel allows you to buy the biggest graphics card you can afford.

In general, brennon7's build is pretty good.

For an overview of why RAM CAS is more important than the clock speed (MHz), see this wikipedia article (as always, take wikipedia with a grain of salt, etc.).

This G.Skill 4 GB RAM kit has basically the same timings as the Corsair RAM and is $15 cheaper.

Note that the PSU recommended, while good, will be $99 at purchase prior to the $20 MIR, in case that's a problem. If you go with a 5870 and want to CrossFire down the road, I would recommend looking at 850 W PSUs. At that wattage, do not get the Antec CP-850, unless you get one of the 3 cases that it fits in (the Antec 1200/P183/P193)...other than that, it's reported to be a very good PSU. If you're considering going up to that level, you might want to look at 80+ Bronze or Silver (or even Gold), in order to be extra sure of protecting your investment. The XFX 850 W Black Edition is $149 and got an excellent rating from jonnyguru.com. The Corsair HX 850 also did very well at jonnyguru, it's $169.

 

[nuc_Rx]

Best answer selected by nuc_Rx.