First time builder, long time gamer. $1100-1300

[xinpig]

I recently had my 8800GT die out on me, so I have decided to upgrade from my E8400.

Approximate Purchase Date: In a week or so.

Budget Range: 1100-1300 / After Rebates

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming (what I use my PC for the most), movies

Parts Not Required: keyboard, mouse, monitor, speakers, OS

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: newegg.com will go anywhere else if cheaper, Microcenter within an hour.

Country of Origin: US

Parts Preferences: Intel fanboy for sure. Nvidia works good for me, I am open to AMD and CF if price/performance is better.

Overclocking: Yes

SLI or Crossfire: Yes if it fits in the budget, I am willing to add cards later.

Monitor Resolution: 1920x1080

Current Ideas, i5 2500k and a gtx 570, possibly 6950 CF if the price is good. I also have two hard drives, I was considering an SSD, but I dont know if the benefit is really worth it. Or is it just better to add that money into better parts?

 

[aznshinobi]

http://www.squidoo.com/electronicandmore

Try out the last build, instead of using the 6950 2GB, get two 6950 1GB that should be 500$ and so it'll run you about 1300$ since you can get that 50$ discount by buying at Microcenter. (2500K)

http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/3744/his_radeon_hd_6950_2gb_video_card_in_crossfire/index4.html

Not the 1gb models but perf is pretty close.

Another option would be the CF 6850's suggested in the build those'll give give you enough perf too.

 

[Why_Me]

This build allows you to add another one of those gtx 570's for SLI.

http://www.coolermaster.com/product.php?product_id=6606 <--- more info. on that case.

http://www.madshrimps.be/articles/article/1000116/ASRock-P67-Extreme4-Motherboard-Review/0 <--- Fairly recent review of the ASRock P67 Extreme4 with some o/c tips and great screenies.

http://www.hardwareheaven.com/reviews/1098/pg10/asrock-extreme4-p67-and-fatal1ty-professional-p67-vs-x58-with-core-i7-950-review-overclocking.html <--- Recent yet not so in depth review of that same board.

http://www.asrock.com/MB/download.asp?Model=P67%20Extreme4 <---- make sure you update to the latest bios

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119197 $99.98 FREE SHIPPING
COOLER MASTER HAF 922 RC-922M-KKN1-GP Black Steel + Plastic and Mesh Bezel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817207008 $129.99
XFX Core Edition PRO850W (P1-850S-CAB9) 850W ATX12V v2.2 & ESP12V v2.91 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply

http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0354589 $179.99 (walk-in only)
Core i5 2500K LGA 1155 Boxed Processor

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002G1YPH0/ref=s9_simh_gw_p23_d3_i5?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=1FAKAMHMTDXRY0NCRQVX&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=470938631&pf_rd_i=507846 $27.81 & this item ships for FREE with Super Saver Shipping
Cooler Master RR-B10-212P-G1 Hyper 212 Plus

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157217 $152.99
ASRock P67 Extreme4 LGA 1155 Intel P67 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231428 $109.99 FREE SHIPPING
G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185 $54.99 FREE SHIPPING
SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827118039 $16.99 FREE SHIPPING
Sony Optiarc Black 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 12X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA CD/DVD Burner - OEM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130593 $349.99 FREE SHIPPING
EVGA 012-P3-1570-AR GeForce GTX 570 (Fermi) 1280MB 320-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

Total: $1,122.72 *not including shipping, rebates, etc..

 

[aznshinobi]

Lol that build looks pretty close to mine Nice Why_me XD

 

[xinpig]

Looks pretty good, I am concerned with people reporting top panel problems with the cooler master cases. Ive been looking at the NZXT Phantom. As far as coolers go I've been looking at a noctua D14.

Why the ASRock over the Asus pro?

 

[aznshinobi]

Asrock = basically the same traits as the Pro except no dual lan to my knowledge. Plus Asrock is a division of Asus.

Don't get the D14, As of now because of 32nm, CPUs don't generate as much heat so even cheap stock coolers OC the 2600K to 4.6ghz (or 2500K). So the best cooler would be the Hyper 212+ would be able to OC them to their highest.

The Best place to get it would be Amazon since they offer free shipping, an extra fan, and lower price than NEwegg.

 

[xinpig]

Hmmm... Its something to think about. What about cases? I have a slight issue with people having many problems with the top panel of coolermaster cases.

would a H50 for 50 bucks be a good cooler? I have seen them really cheap lately.
I REALLY wish I could get a 6950 CF setup for around 1200. lol

 

[batuchka]

I REALLY wish I could get a 6950 CF setup for around 1200. lol

Err had this config for Eyefinity sub $1.1k gamer sent over the email to peeps for a while now ^^

$1065AR


HD 6K: Cayman Crossfire in Eyefinity scaling
http://www.widescreengamingforum.com/wiki/AMD_Radeon_6970_6950_-_Featured_Review_Page_11

 

[JackNaylorPE]

$1,000 ($957) Build:

Case - $70 - Antec 300 Illusion http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129066
PSU - $90 - Antec TP-650 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371021
MoBo - $390 - ASUS P8P67 Pro http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.575884
CPU - incl above - Intel Core i5-2500K
Cooler - - Scythe SCMG 2100 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835185142
TIM - - Shin Etsu http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835150080
RAM - $80 - 2 x (2 x 2GB) Corsair CAS 9 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145260
GFX - $250 - Asus GTX 560 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121424
HD - $55 - Spinpoint F3 1TB 7200 rpm http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185

DVD Writer - $22 - Asus 24X DRW-24B3L w/ LS http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135221

$1,300 ($1221) Build:

Case - $90 - Coolermaster HAF-922 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119197
Case Fans - Later - CM Red 200 mm http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103072
PSU - $100 - XFX Black Edition 750 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817207003
MoBo - $500 - ASUS P8P67 Pro http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.575880
CPU - incl above - Intel Core i5-2600K http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115070
Cooler - $40 - Scythe SCMG 2100 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835185142
TIM - $6 - Shin Etsu http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835150080
RAM - $80 - 2 x (2 x 4GB) Corsair CAS 9 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145260
GFX - $250 - Asus GTX 560 Ti http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121424
GFX - Later - Same
HD - $55 - Spinpoint F3 1TB 7200 rpm http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185
SSD - $100 - OCZ Vertex 2 2.5" 60GB http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227550

Dropping the aftermarket cooler saves $46, dropping the SSD saves $100 and ya have $79 left in ya budget.....that meand the 2nd GFX card will put ya jusr $25 over ya limit. But frankly, I'd keep the $1221 build and save adding that 2nd GFX card for XMas time.

Comparing to the 6950

http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=680&Itemid=72&limit=1&limitstart=16

The GTX 560 Titanium beats ATI's Radeon HD 5870 in Aliens vs Predator and Metro 2033 at the more expensive $280 price point, and then goes on to challenge the next price market segment with success. Priced at $300, the AMD Radeon HD 6950 succumbs to the GTX 560 Ti in 3DMark Vantage New Calico, Crysis Warhead, Battlefield Bad Company 2, BattleForge, Lost Planet 2, and Unigine Heaven 2.1.....

In DirectX 10 game tests, Crysis Warhead kept an average 28 FPS and edged out the much more expensive AMD Radeon 6950 video card. Battlefield: Bad Company 2 used 8x anti-aliasing and 16x anisotropic filtering, and yet the GTX 560 Ti still pushed past 69 FPS and dominated the Radeon HD 6950. DirectX 11 Aliens vs Predator puts the GeForce GTX 560 Ti at 30 FPS on average, matching performance with the Radeon 5870. Lost Planet 2 required 2x AA in order to produce 40 FPS frame rates, but still surpassed the Radeon HD 5870 and 6850 by more than 7 FPS. Metro 2033 isn't a game for mainstream graphics, yet the GTX 560 Ti was still able to play with 23 FPS on average.

 

[aznshinobi]

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/hardware-canucks-reviews/40165-amd-radeon-hd-6950-1gb-review-17.html

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/hardware-canucks-reviews/40165-amd-radeon-hd-6950-1gb-review-14.html

 

[xinpig]

it looks like newegg has pulled all SB chips and motherboards. Whats the thing to do now?

 

[aznshinobi]

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/sandy-bridge-sata-error-sata-3,12112.html

Big bug. UH, Oh. Looks like SB is coming out when BD comes out. Seems as if this is a result of Intel trying to get ahead in the game.

 

[batuchka]

it looks like newegg has pulled all SB chips and motherboards. Whats the thing to do now?

Sandy Bridge chipset flaw to cost Intel $1 billion | ZDNet

All 6-series “Cougar Point” chipsets, including H67 and P67, are affected. The issue is a hardware design problem that causes high number of bit errors eventually device disconnection.
There is no software fix for this issue. All affected systems will need a motherboard replacement.

 

[aznshinobi]

Well the original P5 problem was 475 million and they said it was going to be double that cost which would be 1 billion.

 

[ohiou_grad_06]

Hm. Could be a perfect chance for AMD to break back in.

 

[aznshinobi]

Meh, I agree with that, but Bulldozer will be competing with the Z67 (Enthusiast or higher performing than the P67). We'll see how that goes. But as far as my concern. I think once we get to the 32nm's peak so Z67, P67, and AM3+. That'll be the peak performance needed for a long time. At this point we already are bottlenecking the tech we have now. Small as the bottlenecks, we still haven't utilized the full potential of the PCI Express 16x 2.0 (2.x) slots.

 

[xinpig]

I am exploring alternate builds with the 1090T with Crossfired 6950s, and a i7 950 with a single 570gtx for now. Anyone have a good build to start from?

1090T or X4 965 or 970 for gaming?

 

[aznshinobi]

In my siggy there is a build for the 955 which is good enough, or the 1055T. I think the 1090T isn't worth it, if you go for that I'd rather go for the i5 750 which is lower in price and practically par with performance.

Just wait a few months couldn't hurt. If you buy now, you'll just have old dead technology in about 2 months. AM3 and 1156/1366 is going to be dead platforms as AM3+ and 1155/Z67 move in.

 

[xinpig]

So I have two builds completed.

INTEL
2500k
asus p67 pro
8gb ripjaws X 1600
HX 850 corsair
GTX 570
HAF 932
sony optiarc

AMD
Phenom X4 965
ASrock 890 FX
ripjaws X 1333 4 GB CAS 7
HX850 Corsair
Sapphire 6950 X2
HAF 932
Sony Optiarc

INTEL= 1122
AMD = 1152

What is truly the better build?
I game on a 1920X1080P 32 inch sony monitor.

I usually play
Starcraft 2
Crysis, and warhead
Metro 2033
BFBC2 when I buy it
Farcry 2
F1 2010
Civ 4 and 5

The cooler I left out, because I would buy based on the build I was getting. Also, I dont really need an extra hard drive as I have two, but I would be nice to get a cheap fast one to throw all my steam games on.

Corsair - Hydro Series H50 CPU Cooler 30 bucks for me at bestbuy after RZ certificates. 60 normally. seems like a good choice to me.

LAST EDIT FOR THE NIGHT
So whats the better gaming build? I could add more ram to the AMD, then upgrade the intel to a i7 2600k. Does that also change things?

 

[aznshinobi]

The AMD build would give you the most GPU power but less CPU power, vice versa. I like the 965 build because its more GPU than CPU when you game. But the 2500K is a good chip. Sooo yeah.

Too bad ya gotta wait..

 

[Why_Me]

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/p67-transformer-lga-1155-intel-lynnfield,2815.html <---- here

http://www.asrock.com/mb/overview.asp?Model=P67%20Transformer <--- and here

http://alrightdeals.com/Item.htm?Id=S0_Motherboard_0___MB-P67 $133.76
ASRock P67 Transformer

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.593390 Combo Price: $227.98
Intel Core i5-760 Lynnfield 2.8GHz LGA 1156 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80605I5760
XIGMATEK Gaia SD1283 120mm Long Life Bearing CPU Cooler bracket included I7 i5 775 1155 AMD and dual fan push pull compatible

 

[xinpig]

So which way should I go? Will the 965 bottleneck the two cards?
I wish I could afford a 2500k CF setup. or atleast a i7-950 but the 1366 mobos are so expensive.

 

[aznshinobi]

I would not even trust that alright deals website. IT doesn't look trustable at all... Anyway the 965 shouldn't bottleneck to bad. I think it will maybe a little but not noticeably.

 

[xinpig]

Even with a slight overclock? Or would it be better to go with a 1090t?

Just trying to find a way to get high performance in the newest games.

 

[aznshinobi]

The 1055T is defiantly a good deal if want good budget CPUs. The 1090T isn't worth it at all, if your going to be willing to spend a bit more, you might as well get the 750 w/ the motherboard.

The 1055T and 955 will handle all the newest games just fine. My 955 holds up running BC:BF2 and some heavy strategy games such as Napoleon Total War.