$800 SC2 Build

[blue892]

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: ASAP, possibly tonight.

BUDGET RANGE: $600-800 after rebates

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: Gaming (SC2 smooth and maxed out is the goal), Movies, general computing

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: Monitor, Mouse

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: Newegg. Not a strong preference but I have used them before and I trust them.

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: USA

PARTS PREFERENCES: Nvidia, Intel. Again, not a strong preference on the Intel but I have used them before and I trust them. I would pretty strongly prefer Nvidia unless there's something truly stellar going on with another GPU.

OVERCLOCKING: No

SLI OR CROSSFIRE: Unlikely, would be nice if I could upgrade to it.

MONITOR RESOLUTION: 1680x1050. Hopefully I can set something up that can run SC2 maxed on a 1680x1050 at 60+ that could handle the same task on a 1920x1080.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: Budget is not unbreakable. If somethings quality is disproportionate to it's cost and it requires me to go a little over-budget, I'll go for it.

There's another build for a ~$650 that I'm keeping a fairly careful eye on. I would just like other opinions. This will also be my first build.

I do need to include the cost of a keyboard and OS in the price of the build.

Edit: Budget changed.

 

[blue892]

After a little more research, I'm leaning towards this GPU:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150477

This keyboard:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16823126043

And some sort of quad core AMD. I guess you can say I've removed my above preferences. Also, if I ordered tonight and upgraded shipping for around another $50, do you think I could be building this weekend (IE does anyone ship saturdays or sundays)?

 

[goalguy876]

UPS does not ship on the weekends. I am positive that they dont on sunday, but im not positive that they dont on saturday. I doubt you can be building this weekend, sorry. Thats also a great video card

 

[lowriderflow]

Actuallly the GTX260 1gb perform better than 5850 in some games, and SC2 is one of them. I'd highly reccomend the MSI cyclone gtx460 - its $235 on newegg and it runs 5-10 degrees Celcius cooler than any other 460.

I'm pretty sure Fedex 2day service does include saturday delivery!

 

[batuchka]

$608AR

 

[blue892]

Wow, that looks like a great build! Couple questions though:

1. Is there a way to get a less ridiculously looking case and stay in a similar price range? It seems that all the cool obelisk-style cases are expensive. I particularly like the look of the nzxt whisper, though it seems like a waste to me to spend much more than the M59 on a case. If it doesn't affect performance (at all) or price (much) I'd prefer a slightly more, uh, rectangular case. Fans and lights are cool though.

2. If I'm not overclocking, does the 5/10 degree difference matter much? It looks like it would increase the cost of my build by approximately one power supply.

3. 2nd day is not overnight is it? Meaning, if it got shipped out tomorrow, it would still arrive Monday?

4. How on earth do you guys check compatibility of parts? Are there some standards somewhere?

5. How upgradeable would the above build be? If, a year or two from now, I wanted to pop a new graphics card in, is that something that would likely be possible or would likely be impossible?

Thanks for all the replies!

Edit: Added 5th question

 

[batuchka]

1. Haha ya i used to think M59 looks weird but having built with it it grows on ya and u can't fault the big GPU capability and cooling options ^^
http://www.nzxt.com/new/products/classic_series/m59

FRONT, 1 x 120mm

SIDE, 1 x 120mm LED fan@1200RPM, 23db/42CFM (included)

TOP, 2 x 140/120mm
REAR, 1 x 120mm, 23db/42CFM (included)

2. If u not OCing i actually advocate learning how to under volt ^^

3. Dun think overnight ^^

4. Experience/knowledge

5. Single GPU set up 600W/80+ good to go

 

[Guest]

Nice 5850 card. I have one similar but I have the "reference cooler" (I think it's the centrifugal style) and Black Edition. Love XFX because they are pretty much local to me, and good price/performance ratio. Having said that I also have love for eVGA and as stated earlier, some games just run better with nVidia. The eVGA GTX 460 Superclocked (768 version) with the part number that ends with AR (lifetime warranty) is actually a good deal and about $70 cheaper. I would go with that and find a board that supports SLI (AMD boards seldom do, but if you look you'll find one.) and get ready to SLI two of those 460's together in the near future.

best of luck on your build!

 

[blue892]

Okay, after some fiddling, I came up with this:

$797 after rebates, but includes windows 7 and a keyboard (both needed). I believe it's SLI ready and has the eVGA card with a lifetime warranty mentioned above. Can anyone offer comments or improvements? Is it actually SLI ready? Is everything compatible?

 

[blue892]

I am particularly concerned about the motherboard. Seems there may be some issues with it.

 

[CoolMoose]

Despite it being quite cheap, this is really a great keyboard, I own it and have zero complaints.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16823107120