[New Build] 1500$ Gaming PC-Economical

[blayneb]

Approximate Purchase Date: Within one month
Budget Range: 1500$ max I'm thinking.
System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming, Programming, Writing/Drawing, Movies, Surfing
Parts Not Required: Keyboard, Mouse, Monitor(s), Speaker, Headset
Preferred Website(s) for Parts: http://www.microbytes.com/computer/ordinateur/index.php
Country of Origin: Canada
Parts Preferences: Intel, ATI
Overclocking: Maybe
SLI or Crossfire: Maybe
Monitor Resolution: 1920x1200)
Additional Comments:

Here's the parts list me and my friend have come up with, the plan is to purchase this through my friend's dad who is a licensed computer retailer for the company he works for and can get me some sort of deal for the parts and pass the savings onto me, so the prices listed below is my rough estimate from checking online, it is probable that I could get non-trival discount through my friend and lower the price.

MICROSOFT 32533 MS-WIN 7 HOME PREM X64 DVD OEM EN $132.87 //I may be able to get this through my brothers University for free.
INTEL 35109 INTEL CORE I5 760 2.80G/8M/S1156 $246.17 $239.00
ASUS TECHNOLOGIES 34430 S1156 ASUS P7P55D-E LX P55 $149.35 $145.00
KINGSTON 26570 KINGSTON HYPERX 1600MHZ DDR3 2GB KIT CL9 $77.25
$75.00 (2x)// I'm thinking of doubling this to 8GB
SEAGATE 16721 SATA2 1.0TB SEAGATE 7200.12 32M ST31000528AS
$87.55 $85.00 //Might double this as well, I'm running out of room for the anime I dl on my current 1tb hard drive.
Asus ATI Radeon HD 5850 (EAH5850 DirectCU/2DIS/1GD5) 1024MB PCIe Gen 2.1
THERMALTAKE 33634 750W ATX TT TR2 RX TRX-750M $108.15 $105.00
Case!? //I'm told they would pick a case depending on whats on sale with their supplier, usually they get something black/white and utilitarian which suits me just fine.

1330$~rough estimate.
1230$ with HD5770
Doesn't account for possibly doubling up either ram, hd.

I'm thinking of maybe getting a 64gb SSD with this for windows, anyone have any thoughts on how I could improve/optimize this build?

 

[pinaklonkar]

For 1500 dollars, you don't want to build the kind of system you are cooking. Lot of money wasted.

1) Get your OS for free. Settle for basic editions if you can. Save some money for a better hardware.

2) Your CPU is a deal-breaker. Get at least an i7-860 LGA 1156. No questions here - get a good compatible motherboard without any graphics card on it.

3) Get 4 or 8GB of DDR3-1600 RAM. GSkill or OCZ.

4) HD 5850 is good value for money.

5) Get a cheap but big sized case. Graphic cards are long these days.

6) Get a couple of fans to fit into the case if needed.

7) Don't waste money on SSD yet. Save it!

8) No need for a 750W power supply. Get a Corsair 650W one with 5 year warranty. Antec 650W works too.

9) 23" Samsung LCD monitor with 2ms response time.

10) XBOX game controller for PC, logitech natural keyboard and mouse.

11) Get a western digital or hitachi hard disk with at least 32mb cache.

It should all fit under 1400 US dollars. Newegg should give you most of the stuff. Use craigslist.com if you can, but with caution. It can give you a great deal on some components sometimes.

 

[blayneb]

1) I figured as much of course, which is why I'm seeing if my brother can get it from university.

2) I do understand that the i-series of cpus require compatible ram/motherboard but I'm curious about why is the i7 you listed better economically then the i5? My friend's logic if I recall was that I would (with the Intel Core2 Duo 3ghz) with the previous cpu I have notice a performance improvement even with an i3 with most games only ever really making the most use out of a duo core as opposed to quad which very few games can currently get the best use out of yet.

I'm just as curious about the logic behind the suggestions as in the suggestions themselves, I don't just want to know "get x,y,z" I do find it interesting to figure out why its better/more economical.

Doing a quick comparison on the intel site I'm not entire sure what the performance difference is, the i7 you suggested has 8 threads and hyper threading while the i5 doesnt and only 4 threads, what does this mean in game terms?

3) Are GSkill and OCZ brand names ala Kingston/Corsair?

4) Aye, I figured as much, the 5770 will probably frustrate me with the next generation of games I assume?

5) I trust my friend and his dad to get the biggest they can, they build my previous computer for me 4 years ago and well, it lasted 4 years what can I say? And could fit 2 HD3870's.

6) I'll keep this in mind so I don't forget/overlook it.

7) Okay sot the performance boost for Windows isn't quite worth it yet? However I do prefer to partition/use two drives if possible to keep Windows and my storage separate, is there something I could get to speed up/improve system performance in this regard?

8) Is the 650W one cheaper or simply just better quality without needing to go overboard on wattage?

9) I already have 2 monitors, one I'm pretty sure is 24" with 5ms response time, though I read this nifty little article in Maximum PC saying a bunch of the stuff advertised is fairly meaningless marketing mumbo jumbo and what to look for in a monitor.

10) What use the game controller? The only xbox->pc port I've ever played was Halo 2... with the mouse and keyboard... as god intended fps's to be played!

 

[jsrudd]

I have an SSD in my netbook and love it. However I have another computer with a i7 and a WD 1TB Black that seems just as fast.

 

[pinaklonkar]

1) I figured as much of course, which is why I'm seeing if my brother can get it from university.

2) I do understand that the i-series of cpus require compatible ram/motherboard but I'm curious about why is the i7 you listed better economically then the i5? My friend's logic if I recall was that I would (with the Intel Core2 Duo 3ghz) with the previous cpu I have notice a performance improvement even with an i3 with most games only ever really making the most use out of a duo core as opposed to quad which very few games can currently get the best use out of yet.

I'm just as curious about the logic behind the suggestions as in the suggestions themselves, I don't just want to know "get x,y,z" I do find it interesting to figure out why its better/more economical.

Doing a quick comparison on the intel site I'm not entire sure what the performance difference is, the i7 you suggested has 8 threads and hyper threading while the i5 doesnt and only 4 threads, what does this mean in game terms?

- Many games are more CPU intensive than graphics card intensive. More threads and that hyper threading technology comes to help in many such games.

3) Are GSkill and OCZ brand names ala Kingston/Corsair?

- Yes. G-Skill and OCZ are well known RAM brands for gaming.

4) Aye, I figured as much, the 5770 will probably frustrate me with the next generation of games I assume?

- 5770 is out. Get 58xx series. If you really need to break records, get a 5870.

5) I trust my friend and his dad to get the biggest they can, they build my previous computer for me 4 years ago and well, it lasted 4 years what can I say? And could fit 2 HD3870's.

- Good for you.

6) I'll keep this in mind so I don't forget/overlook it.

- Cool.

7) Okay sot the performance boost for Windows isn't quite worth it yet? However I do prefer to partition/use two drives if possible to keep Windows and my storage separate, is there something I could get to speed up/improve system performance in this regard?

- I didn't say that. SSDs are evolving and you are not missing out on anything by not buying them right now. Price to performance ratio today is not optimal. Live with 7200 or 10000 RPM drives for another year.

8) Is the 650W one cheaper or simply just better quality without needing to go overboard on wattage?

- Better quality build because of that 80 plus series efficiency ratings. More cables, more headroom for further expansion component wise.

9) I already have 2 monitors, one I'm pretty sure is 24" with 5ms response time, though I read this nifty little article in Maximum PC saying a bunch of the stuff advertised is fairly meaningless marketing mumbo jumbo and what to look for in a monitor.

- 2 mili second response than 5 milisecond does not make a huge difference. But today if 2ms is available at the same price range, why not? So the suggestion.

10) What use the game controller? The only xbox->pc port I've ever played was Halo 2... with the mouse and keyboard... as god intended fps's to be played!

- FPS are obviously better played with keyboard and mouse (but not always). But racing games and sports titles are favored by game controllers. Of course you will need a good keyboard and mouse. But don't overkill yourself on these components.

 

[blayneb]

Well for a racing game I'ld buy the pedal and steering wheel set, maximum immersion and all that.

 

[pinaklonkar]

Well for a racing game I'ld buy the pedal and steering wheel set, maximum immersion and all that.

- which is also another type of a "game controller" like I said in my first response. XBOX 360 is kind of a one stop shop so people like it. There is no upper limit to how crazy you want to get.

Good luck with your system.

 

[pinaklonkar]

I have an SSD in my netbook and love it. However I have another computer with a i7 and a WD 1TB Black that seems just as fast.

I know you are trying to make a comparison but SSDs is the last thing you should be looking at in a netbook where your motherboard and chipset pretty much decides the performance you are looking for from a netbook in addition to its most important factor of mobility. a 200 dollar netbook isn't worth another 200 making it 400 for a 16 or 32gb SSD regardless of how much performance improvement you squeeze out of it.

For a desktop costing 1200, another 150 for SSD sounds about right. I would still suggest him to wait another year. Read/Write tolerance for these disks isn't at par yet. Let's say you are running your OS on SSD, just imagine how quickly you can accrue thousands of read/writes on that disk. It is an excellent leap forward in storage device technology but not the best value for money yet. "Coolaid" factor exists, though

 

[blayneb]

I just ordered the HD 6870, considering my current machines use 2x HD 3870's this is both a huge boost and a huge savings.

 

[Mr Pizza]

The 6870 is a great choice.

 

[blayneb]

Intel Core i5 650 Dual Core Processor Clarkdale LGA1156 3.2GHZ Hyperthreading 4MB Cache Retail Box

ASUS P7P55D-E LGA1156 P55 DDR3 2PCI-E16 3PCI-E1 2PCI CrossFireX USB3.0 SATA 6GB Motherboard

OCZ Gold OCZ3G1600LV4GK 4GB DDR3 2X2GB DDR3-1600 PC3-12800 CL 8-8-8-24 Dual Channel Memory
Kit Two kits will be included.

Western Digital WD20EARS Caviar Green 2TB SATA2 3GBPS 64MB Cache 3.5IN Hard Drive Oem

Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 1TB SATA2 3.5IN 8.5MS 7200RPM 32MB Hard Drive Oem *3YR Mfr
Warranty*

Coolermaster Storm Scout Black ATX Tower Case 5X5.25 5X3.5INT 120MM & 140MM Red LED Fan No
PSU

OCZ GameXStream 850W ATX12V 24PIN SLI Ready Active PFC ATX Power Supply 120MM Fans

Liteon IHAS124 24X DVD Writer SATA Black OEM

The total cost is $1092 +tax = $1232.00

I will put it together and use your video card and windows 7

I will install Microsoft Anti-virus Security Essentials

1 year warranty. Some items have a longer coverage but you will have to deal with them directly..

Here's what we went with, though maybe I should've spotted the extra 40$ for a slightly faster clock speed on the cpu, but whatever.