First time building a gaming PC...

EricSmall

Distinguished
Oct 23, 2010
1
0
18,510
A good friend of mine recommended getting the opinions of the collected lurkers around here, so I thought I would submit the build I'm intending to create, and let ya'll poke and prod at it, and point out any glaring flaws, ludicrously over-priced selections I've made, or areas for improvement overall.

I'm basically looking to build a pretty monsterous gaming machine, able to easily handle anything that I throw at it with flying colors, without melting down horrifyingly before my eyes. I know little to nothing about safely overclocking, but I'm open to the idea if it won't fry anything, and it will save me some dollars. Upgradability in the future is also of interest to me, considering I'm unlikely to purchase something this expensive for quite a few years, so being able to upgrade a piece at a time would be amazing.

So, yeah. Have at it, as ya'll are clearly much more adept than I am at this. I've included links for everything for easy glancing at detailed specs, if that helps.

Computer Case:

Cooler Master HAF 932 Full Tower Black Case

$139.99

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4146085&Sku=C283-1187

Motherboard:

Intel Desktop Board DP55KG Motherboard - LGA1156, Intel P55, DDR3, Intel DMI, SLI, CrossFireX, RAID

$179.99

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4914879&CatId=4724

CPU:

Intel Core i5 750 BX80605I5750 Processor - 2.66GHz, LGA 1156, 8MB L3 Cache, Quad-Core, Lynnfield, Retail

$199.99

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4959973&pagenumber=3&RSort=1&csid=ITD&recordsPerPage=5&body=#ReviewStart

CPU Cooling:

Corsair CWCH50-1 Hydro H50 CPU Liquid Cooler - 120mm Fan, Copper Cold Plate, Aluminum Radiator, LGA775, LGA1366, LGA1156, AM2/AM3

$79.99

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=5267687&pagenumber=5&RSort=1&csid=ITD&recordsPerPage=5&body=#ReviewStart

Graphics Card:

EVGA 768-P3-1260-TR GeForce GTX 460 Video Card - 768MB GDDR5, PCI-Express 2.0, Dual DVI, Mini HDMI, SLI, DirectX 11, Fermi

$144.99 x 2 (I'd prefer SLI as I've been an nVidia fan for ages, but I'm open to argument for ATI.)

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=6488427&CatId=3670

RAM:

Corsair XMS3 TW3X4G1333C9AG 4GB Dual Channel DDR3 RAM - - PC10666, 1333MHz, 4096 (2x2048MB), 240 Pin, Dual-Channel

$87.99 x 2 (8 GB enough for this beast?)

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4837614&Sku=C13-8220

Power Supply:

Cooler Master RSA00-AMBAJ3-US Silent Pro M 1000W Power Supply - ATX, Modular, 1000 Watt, 80+ Bronze Certified, SLI, 135mm Ultra Silent Fan

$179.99 (Always go higher. Have several HDDs lying around I'm plugging in as well.)

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=5309347&CatId=2535

Sound Card:

Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy SE

$29.99 (Onboard sound sufficient? Not a huge audiophile, but I'd like it to sound nice.)

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4459743&Sku=C44-3400

Speakers:

Logitech X-540 5.1 Speaker System with Surround Sound, 70 Watts (RMS) and 5 1/4-inch Subwoofer

$94.99 (Just to annoy the neighbors)

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2507686&Sku=L23-7250

Monitors:

ViewSonic VA2231x-LED 21.5" Widescreen HD LED Monitor - 1080p, 1920x1080, 16:9, 1000:1 Native, 10000000:1 Dynamic, 5ms, VGA, DVI, Anti-Glare

$149.99 x 3 (Three identical monitors, or one big and two smaller?)

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=6659864&CatId=5469

Operating System:

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64BIT Operating System Software - OEM DVD, English

$99.99

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=5213932&CatId=4622

1919.86 + Shipping (Yar.)


Enjoy picking apart my amateur selections, folks. Will check back daily.

~Eric
 
Drop the sound card, the Audigy SE isnt good and may be a step down in quality compared to a good onboard.

Intel boards arent great as they wont let you OC, i suggest this combo instead, it saves you money and gives you a nice board.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.519627

A very expensive PSU isnt necessarily better. I would go for the XFX 750w unit thats made by seasonic and saves you $50 before MIR and $70 afterwards.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817207003&Tpk=xfx%20750

For gaming more than 4GB wont help since games are usually 32 bit applications and as such can only use at most 2GB of memory. Drop it down to 4GB to save some and you will end up with the same performance.
 
Very good comments, all of them from hunter315.

In addition, consider the 1gb version of the GTX460. It is stronger, and you will need the ram for triple monitors. You will be driving about 6m pixels. Look at benchmarks for 2560 x 1600 and add 50% to see what you need. GTX470's might be better.

Definitely get three IDENTICAL monitors. You don't want size changes when you drag things around.

Liquid cooling is not necessary. A simple oem cooler like the cm hiper 212 @$30 would be fine:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103065

When it comes time to upgrade, the most likely thing would be to replace the graphics cards. The cpu, if you OC to 3.0 or better will last a long time.
 
Hmm looking at the date: HD 6850CF more of a better buy now ..nvm 768/192 GTX 460 @@ and since

$149.99 x 3 (Three identical monitors, or one big and two smaller?)

HD 6k single/CF review
http://www.anandtech.com/show/3987/amds-radeon-6870-6850-renewing-competition-in-the-midrange-market/21

As for the Radeon HD 6850 however, things are much more lopsided in AMD’s favor. It’s give and take depending on the benchmark, but ultimately it’s just as fast as the GTX 460 1GB on average, even though it’s officially $20 cheaper. And at the same time it draws less power and produces less noise than the GTX 460 1GB. In fact unless the GTX 460 1GB was cheaper than the 6850, we really can’t come up with a reason to buy it.