New Gaming Computer Build with a 2.2k Budget....

[jones911]

I am wanting to build a new computer to use just for gaming. I have looked at all the processors AMD and Intel offer and decided to go with i7-930. I also plan on using a HAF 932 case since I used this case on my previous build and everything has worked perfect so far. Besides those two parts, I need some friendly advice on getting the most I can out of my budget. I want to find a way to shed a few dollars on this build without losing a lot of ground in my gaming experience. Just an FYI, the first game I plan on loading is FF XIV so I need a pretty strong computer. I also thought about taking the sound card out of the build but nothing is better than quality sound in an MMO. = ) I also considered dropping the ram from 12 GB to 6 GB but I am not sure how much ram games normally use. I even considered using a hard drive running at 7200rpm but I do not want my computer to bottleneck due to the HD.I normally purchase all my parts through newegg but I am more than willing to look at other possible vendors. I know the total cost below is under my budget but there are a few other things I will be purchasing that are not listed like the following: Router, Surge Protector, Thermal Paste, and a monitor. I am still researching these parts but I am sure the total cost for them will be around 400 bucks. I need to find a way to shed around 150-200 bucks. Any suggestions my fellow geeks are willing to share with me will be much appreciated.

Processor: Intel Core i7-930 289.99
Motherboard: ASUS P6X58D Premium LGA 1366 Intel X58 309.99
Video Card: SAPPHIRE Vapor-X 100281VX-2SR Radeon HD 5870 1GB 429.99
RAM: OCZ Reaper Edition 12GB DDR3 SDRAM 1333 299.99
Power Supply: CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W ATX12V 109.99
Hard Drive: WD VelociRaptor 300GB 10000 RPM SATA 3.0Gb 189.99
Case: COOLER MASTER HAF 932 Blue RC-932-KKN3 159.98
DVD Burner: LITE-ON 24X DVD Writer 25.99
CPU Cooler: Thermalright U120eXtrem1366RT 120mm Fluid Dynamic Cooler 59.99
Sound Card: Creative 7.1 Channels Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium 79.99
TOTAL: 1955.89

 

[anonymousdude]

If gaming is your main goal then drop from 12gb of RAM to 6gb. You won't really notice this if you're purely gaming. I wouldn't get the velociraptor. I'd get a samsung f3 1tb or 2 if you want to run RAID. I'd drop the sound card for now and see if the onboard audio is good enough. That should save you around $200 or so depending on which memory kit you decide to get. Even if you get a sound card I wouldn't get creative as other are better now and have actual driver support. I'd get a asus dx/d1everything looks good from there.

 

[coldsleep]

Consider an SSD (the OCZ Vertex 2s are the best choice at most sizes) and a single storage drive (Spinpoint F3 or Seagate 7200.12 at 500 GB or 1 TB offer the best value).

Agree with the rest of anonymousdude's advice.

 

[Lmeow]

If you're purely gaming then the Core i5 760 is enough, and with it I'd get the Asus P7P55D-E Pro. That would already save $200. Also, 4 GB is far more than enough for any game, this kit specifically:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231303

That saves another $195, so $395 total.

That VelociRaptor is old and a anon said the Spinpoint F3s would have overall better performance.
Otherwise the OCZ Vertex 2 50 GB is what I'd go for as a bootup drive:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227528

If you don't feel like buying an SSD this is HDD pretty fast drive as well:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136533

If you bought the HDD only, with more capacity and greater speed you'd save another $95, so $490.

This cooler is better than the old Thermalright Ultra Extreme 120 Extreme, the Thermalright Venomous-X.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136533

I personally wouldn't bother with a sound card but if you feel the price justifies it, then keep it. Otherwise I'd remove it.

You've saved ~ $490 by going the Core i5 760 route. You could use that to invest in this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102887&cm_re=hd_5970-_-14-102-887-_-Product

And even then you'd still have saved $260 compared to your old build, while performance wise it would be much better for gaming.

 

[jones911]

Thankyou for offering me a few suggestions for a cheaper build. I took out the sound card (wasn't sure how onboard audio on this mb is) and I changed the hard drive to a Western Digital Caviar Black WD1002FAEX 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s. I am a little worried about SATA 6 since it is a newer technology and most people seem to have issues with it. Also, will a 7200 RPM HD actually use the increase in speed of SATA 6? I am still a little new to most of this so if my terminalogy is a little off I apologize. I am also considering changing out the 12GB of DDR 3 1333 for 6GB of DDR 1600 ram, it is a little cheaper and runs at a faster speed. If you guys have anymore suggestions please feel free to share. = )

 

[Mr Pizza]

no get the spinpoint f3!!!!!! its faster, sata6 doesnt matter on hard discs, only on SSD get a spinpoint f3, it is way faster


EDIT: with all your extra saving get a 5970 they are 650 bucks a pop now (i am doing a 2.2k build also)

 

[asteldian]

Don't bother with the SATA 6gb/s HDD. The Samsung Spinpoint F3 is cheaper and a great performer. The only real benefit to 6gb/s technology is for SSDs.

I also agree with Lmeow, the extra cost for the i7 build offers no gaming benefit over an i5 760. Games only need 4gb of RAM, so even 6gb is excessive, but with an i7 build you ideally need to go with 6gb

 

[jones911]

I am doing some research now on the i5 760. I am reading parts 1-4 of Building a Balanced Gaming PC and it does seem that is not much advantage for an i7 930 over a i5 760. It also seems I need to stop concetrating on the processor and look at the GPU a little more. My only concern is when the ATI 6000 series (or any new series of GPU's in the future) come out will the i5 760 bottleneck my computer build. I know there isn't a way to answer this question since there will always be a new technology coming out. I also wanted a cpu that used 1366 mb since it is newer and will be a little more future proof (heard some people say that socket 1156 and socket 1366 came out around same time, not sure). I also know that 1156 uses dual channel while 1366 uses tri channel for memory, I am curious to know how much of a benefit tri is over dual. I am thankful all of you are being patient with my post. This is the one shot (due to money) I will have to build a great gaming computer that needs to last me awhile.

 

[coldsleep]

The conclusion I got out of part 4 is that at most reasonable resolutions, almost all modern games are limited by the GPU, not the CPU. I wouldn't expect that to change within one generation of graphics cards.

Both socket 1156 and socket 1366 are being replaced within the next year, neither is more future proof than the other in and of itself.

You're not going to notice the difference in triple-channel vs. dual-channel in day-to-day usage, it's likely to only show up if you were doing high end graphics rendering or audio/video editing. If you're really interested, I'd suggest googling more info, but I wouldn't expect more than a 5-10% difference in long-running renders at most.

 

[asteldian]

In terms of technology and core speeds, the i5 and i7s are very similar. i7 has Hyperthreading, that is pretty much the only thing that sets it apart, and this is worthless for gaming as having a hyperthetical 8 core processor is no use when games don't even make use of 4 cores.
In other words, when the i5 760 starts to bottleneck GPUs, so will the i7

 

[jones911]

Best answer selected by jones911.