Gaming PC build for 900~USD , recommendations

[jrunes]

Hey there, I am building a PC for the the first time after my old intel quad core's psu and motherboard got fried, being my first time i have some queries as to what build would be best for me.
Looking forward to your good advice.

Thank you in advance.


Approximate Purchase Date: as soon as possible

Budget Range: Roughly $900USD. , I'm heading down to Singapore's hardware mega shopping centre on a trip though , here is the price list for those parts in SGD, which the price translates to 1.1k sgd thereabout.

http://assets.hardwarezone.com/pv_obj_cache/pv_obj_id_2E5DEFFD30C6130B16E4260BCBBA975855A50800/filename/PC%20Themes_44.pdf

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Heavy Gaming , Multitasking, Movies, Internet, etc.

Parts Not Required: I'm not sure if my cd drive, dvd writer can be transfered, but if so then those.


Parts Preferences: by brand or type: Whichever performs best for its price

Overclocking:not too sure how to do it,heard that it shortens the lifespan of your computer =\

SLI or Crossfire: I would prefer a single card.

Monitor Resolution: 1680x1080

Additional Comments: Cool , quiet and inexpensive are the most important factors. I do not care about LED lights, windows, etc.

Parts:

CPU: Looking at Amd x6 1090t vs i7 870 , open to other suggestions though (sandy bridge i5 2500k is looking to be VERY attractive now at a price comparable to the 870)

http://assets.hardwarezone.com/pv_obj_cache/pv_obj_id_5DCE26904CC4F68F601EBC3F6A59DE3B04080C00/filename/pricelist090111.pdf

Motherboard: not too sure , heard the p7p motherboards are good, but looking at the price list i have absolutely no idea what those *slashes* mean. Can anyone enlighten me?

RAM: Looking at ddr3 4gb ram, but not too sure which to choose (there are so many on the price list!)

GPU: Right now i'm looking at the sapphire hd 5770 1gb, whats the difference between that version and the vapor-x one?

HDD: looking at a 3.5inch HDD 1tb, not too sure which brand to choose again.

CPU Cooler: just looking at reasonable cooling for system longevity.

PSU: I'm thinking of a 650W psu , perhaps the andyson f650.

Case: I have no preferences here, and the variety of cases out there is overwhelming. Ideally looking for either a mid- or full-size case . Mid would be better as they are apparently cheaper, but I am not sure if it'll do (need advice here)

Sound card : I'm an avid audiophile , but that isnt the most important thing for me in building this pc . (please recommend) , i have a 2 speaker set up if that matters

It would be great if you could look at the price list and pick and choose parts to your recommendation while keeping in mind the budget.

Again, Thanks alot, really appreciate it.

 

[eloric]

Wow, what an education. Some of the prices are comparable or even lower than Newegg in the US, others are much more. This place sounds extremely interesting, yet also intimidating - I have tried to give you choices here so that you can use the information to negotiate.

When you say movies, is that watching them, or rendering? 1090t and 870 are more than you need for gaming, but what you should get if you are producing videos. Get a k series sandybridge if want to overclock.

Let's get overclocking out of the way now; yes, overclocking shortens the life of your CPU, but how much shorter depends on how extreme you push voltages, heat, etc. A reasonable everyday overclock most likely will not reduce the useful lifespan of your processor. It may only last for 6 years instead of 8, but the useful lifespan is really only 3 or 4 years anyway, so go ahead and rev it up, I say! Just get a good guide (come back here when you are ready) and don't do dumb things like leave your stress test runnign for 24 hours at insanely high clock speeds.

So, assuming you are not making movies, the best gaming CPU right now is either the i5-2500K or the i5-760. You can save around $75 between cpu and motherboard if you go with last year's technology, but the new stuff is sexy, and a lot of people are going for it. Prices in SGD look pretty good, so for 1100 SGD you can go either way (I am going to use the $ sign to refer to SGD from here on). If you select the i5-760, put the extra cash into your video card, but also be prepared to upgrade your monitors if you do.

I think the slashes that were confusing you denote a motherboard and CPU combined.

Try either the ASUS P7P55D PRO/i5-760 combination for $513

...or the ASUS P8P67 PRO/i5-2500k combination for $587

After CPU and motherboard, all of the other components are exactly the same.

RAM: Select a 4 GB , DDR3 dual channel kit (2X2GB sticks)
CORSAIR XMS DDR3 1600 4GB KIT for $98 or
G.SKILL RIPJAWS PC3-1600 4GB KIT CL9 for $103

Video: Prices seem relatively high compared to the states for GPUs. The 5770 card is minimum for a gaming machine, but the prices quickly escalate from there, so my guess is to stick with the low end - maybe buy two of them in crossfire?. The vapor x has better cooling, but that usually is not an issue in a well ventilated case. Stick with the XFX HD 5770 850M 1GB DDR5 for $170 or the Saphire for $171. Other makes are fine too - overclock the card yourself using the manufacturer's utilities, and just buy the cheapest one.

Case: Lian Li Lancool K58 for $98 is a highly rated mid-tower case that is reasonably priced. Cooler Master makes nice cases if you see one you like.

HDD is easy: SAMSUNG 1TB HD103SJ SATA F3 for $72. Make sure it is a Samsung spinpoint f3. Buy 2 of them and put them in a RAID 0 configuration if you want to blow your budget.

PSU: Seasonic S12II 620w for $113, although XFX and Corsair also make very good products. OCZ and Coolermaster are acceptable, cheaper alternatives. Around 600 W should be fine, even if you get the second video card.

Heat Sink: Cooler Master hyper 212 plus for $59 - somewhat overpriced, but still a good deal.

Everyone prety much recommends skipping the sound card these days. Do you need an OS? WINDOWS 7 HOME PREMIUM 64BIT OEM for $115.

That comes out to $1093 for the i5-760 or $1167 for the i5-2500k, without the second video card, hard drive or Win-7 OS (since you did not ask for it).

Good luck, and hope you get good prices.

 

[jrunes]

hey there ,

thanks for the detailed reply, really, really appreciate it.Thought my post was going to go into forum abyss because no one posted.

I'm going there tomorrow to by parts and all. It seems that many of the packages in that place offer a kingston ddr3 4gb ram set. Which seems to differ from the recommendations here. Do you think that the performance of corsair/g.skill would be worth demanding it? Also, since the price difference between the corsair and g.skill are so minute. Which one should I get? The more expensive one? :lol:

Also, what is a raid 0 configuration?

The slashes i was referring to were of the motherboards , for example , in
http://assets.hardwarezone.com/pv_obj_cache/pv_obj_id_2E5DEFFD30C6130B16E4260BCBBA975855A50800/filename/PC%20Themes_44.pdf

such as slash gbl.

What is the difference between p8p67 pro , evo and m?

Finally, ah, so the onboard sound has improved dramatically? Is it still that realtek thing?

Again, thanks for your advice. *thumbs up*

 

[jrunes]

Best answer selected by jrunes.

 

[eloric]

I run Kingston DDR3 in one of my machines. Just make sure you buy a dual channel kit (4GB), not triple channel (6 GB). Geil, Mushkin and Patriot are others that seem to get decent reviews. Memory is almost a commodity.

I gave you multiple choices because you might not be able to find one of the options, and did not want you to get stuck. Buy the cheapest one unless there is some other reason not to.

Raid stands for redundant array of inexpensive disks, and is a way to hook multiple drives together to get better performance and/or reliability. Raid 0 is called striping, and almost doubles read/write performance. I could go on for a very long time here. If you are interested, there is a sticky in the storage forum that explains it much better than I could. Just know that Raid is harder to understand than it is to implement.

The slashes look like a way to cram a lot of information into a text box. Following the ASUS P8P67 PRO description for example, there are the letters P67/DDR3/PCI-E/GBL/2X-USB3.0. P67 is the northbridge on the 1155 board, DDR3 is obviously the type of memory, PCI-E refers to the type of expansion slots and 2X-USB3.0 says that there are 2 of the new 3.0 style usb connections. I do not know what GBL means, but it appears on just about every other motherboard in the list.

Here are the links to newegg for the ASUS P8P67 , the EVO and the M (for micro) versions so that you may compare.


As for sound, the answer is yes to the Realtek.

Oh, and thank you for the best answer selection.

E