$1000 i5 750 / 5850 Gaming PC?

[MarmotFive]

Hiya! Long time reader, first time poster. I recently decided to buy a new PC. I built one myself back in 2002/2003 but I had lots of issues with it (Which in the end turned out to be due to poor wiring by me) and my next PC after that was a prebuilt. I got a quote from a website that I've heard good things about that builds gaming PCs. However before I go that route I want to see if I can do much better by self building. Any and all help is appreciated.

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: 06/17/2010 BUDGET RANGE: $1000~ preferably before rebates.

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: Gaming, Photoshop, Watching Movies.

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: Keyboard, mouse, monitor, speakers, OS

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: newegg.com COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: USA

PARTS PREFERENCES: I would very much like to use an i5 750 and a Radeon HD 5850. Other than that I'm not too picky!

OVERCLOCKING: Maybe SLI OR CROSSFIRE: No

MONITOR RESOLUTION: Current monitor is 1920x1080

And then just for comparison this is what the prebuilt PC website came up with:

Case: PSI CycloneX - Black
Processor: Intel Core i5 750
RAM: 4GB Corsair XMS3 Dominator
Video Card: ATI Radeon HD 5850
Mobo: ASUS P7H55
PSU: Corsair CMPSU 750TX
HDD: 500GB Hard Drive 16M Cache, 7200 RPM, 3.0Gb/s
Optical Drive: 24X Dual Format/Double Layere DVD+R/+RW
$1018.00 + $60 Shipping + (I assume) 8% Sales Tax.

 

[WR2]

Welcome MarmotFive;

The only thing that jumps out at me is the ASUS P7H55 has just 1 PCI-e x16 video card slot but the Corsair 750TX power supply is sized for two HD 5850 video cards. (from iBuyPower?)

If you want to see what's being recommended look at the Recommended Builds by Usage sticky topic at the top of the forum.
They post a suggested Gamer build @ $1,138.89 thats built around Core i5 750 and Radeon HD 5850.
The power supply is the same - but the motherboard will support a future 2nd video card (ex, HD 5850 in Crossfire)
A nice CPU cooler for i5-750 overclocking, a HDD which is probably faster, and a nicer case to keep everything cool.

 

[WR2]

Most of the price difference in the two suggested builds is in the motherboard.
ASUS P7P55D-E Pro ($190) vs ASUS P7H55-M PRO ($110).
A few of the upgraded options the ASUS P7P55D-E Pro offers is the 2nd PCI-e x16 slot, USB 3.0 and SATA 6GB/s.

 

[MarmotFive]

Most of the price difference in the two suggested builds is in the motherboard.
ASUS P7P55D-E Pro ($190) vs ASUS P7H55-M PRO ($110).
A few of the upgraded options the ASUS P7P55D-E Pro offers is the 2nd PCI-e x16 slot, USB 3.0 and SATA 6GB/s.

Oooh thank you. And you were right about which prebuilt store I was thinking of buying from. I'm definitely thinking about going with suggested Gamer build there even though it costs extra. The only thing holding me back is that 1 of the items linked to in that list is "Unavailable" and another is "Out of Stock" but I'm thinking I'll check Newegg again once I'm closer to the date I want to make my purchase. At the very least I've definitely decided to go with the ASUS P7P55D-E Pro over the one that IBuyPower recommended.

 

[WR2]

The guys in the forums can always find good replacement items if it comes down to that.
And the recommendations do change now and then.

 

[MarmotFive]

Best answer selected by MarmotFive.