Cyberpower vs homebuilt; very close in price??

ethanw

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I'm looking to spend around $1500 on a gaming centered rig. The thing is, I've priced out what I want on Newegg, tiger direct, etc. Then I tried to "build" it on Cyberpower's website. I've always been under the impression that you save some decent $$$ building yourself, but by the time I buy all the parts, even at good prices, it's not really any cheaper than Cyberpower. Weird?
 
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http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/100?vs=288 <----- i7 950 vs i5 2500K

Here's a build with dual factory over clocked gtx 560's in SLI, after market cpu h/s (thermal paste included), Windows 7, 8 gigs of low voltage RAM, 1TB h/d, etc...

That Asrock mobo down below will be out on the shelves..including newegg within next week or two.

http://www.amazon.com/Corsair-Graphite-Mid-Tower-Gaming-CC600T/dp/B003Y0R1GO/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1300090001&sr=1-1 $144.99 & this item ships for FREE with Super Saver Shipping
Corsair Graphite Series 600T Mid-Tower Gaming Case CC600T

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371025 $89.99 FREE SHIPPING
Antec TruePower New TP-750 750W Continuous Power ATX12V V2.3 /...

ethanw

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I wouldn't say Cyberpower was cheaper. But darn close. This is the cyberpower build. If I could get this performance for less, I'll build it (well, with the help of a friend). I'll be using it for gaming, but also hopefully for Photoshop.


CAS: * Azza Hurrican 2000 Full Tower Gaming Case with 4 Hot Swappable HDD Cage & (4) 230MM Fans
CD: 24X Double Layer Dual Format DVD+-R/+-RW + CD-R/RW Drive (BLACK COLOR)
CPU: Intel® Core™ i7-960 3.20 GHz 8M Intel Smart Cache LGA1366
Maximum 120MM Case Cooling Fans for your selected case [+9]
Asetek 510LC Liquid Cooling System 120MM Radiator & Fan (Enhanced Cooling Performance + Extreme Silent at 20dBA) (Single Standard 120MM Fan)
HDD: 1TB SATA-III 6.0Gb/s 64MB Cache 7200RPM HDD (Single Hard Drive)

MEMORY: 12GB (2GBx6) DDR3/1600MHz Triple Channel Memory Module (Corsair or Major Brand)
MOTHERBOARD: (3-Way SLI Support) MSI X58A-GD45 Intel X58 Chipset SLI/CrossFireX Triple-Channel DDR3 ATX Mainboard w/ 7.1 Audio, eSATA, GbLAN, USB3.0, SATA-III, RAID, IEEE1394a, 3 Gen2 PCIe, 3 PCIe X1 & 1 PCI (All Venom OC Certified)


POWERSUPPLY: * 850 Watts - Corsair CMPSU-850TX 80 Plus Power Supply - Quad SLI Ready
VIDEO: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 1.2GB 16X PCIe Video Card [+183] (EVGA Superclocked [+25])

_PRICE: (+1632)

I'd want to match this closely, unless there's a recommendation of a drastic change in direction. For my case though, I like the Corsair Graphite 600t. Ideally though, I'd lie to get the price to around 1400-1500. I'm not sure I'm ready to get into overclocking, I know that could save me some $$.
 

ethanw

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Oh by the way, sorry I don't really have time to post MY build tonight, but it was almost identical, all from newegg. I wasn't specific about what I want to get out of this system either. Essentially I want to play even demanding games at high/very high quality settings, with AA etc, smoothly on a 22-24" 1920x1080 monitor. Preferably with decent multitasking to rip cd's while working on Photoshop, etc. I'm looking at a $270 Samsung monitor right now, but if I go cheaper than that, I could put a little more into the rig.
 

ethanw

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Fair enough, I'm new to this, what would be better? I won't be overclocking YET. I don't know that I want to go liquid-cooled if it's much more expensive/elaborate than the cooling I listed. I know it can get quite involved. I'm thinking that with my current needs that maybe I could drop that altogether?

When I first started looking to build a system, I looked to see which GPU I wanted, then tried to build around it instead of building a system and then trying to figure out what GPU I could cram into it.
 
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/100?vs=288 <----- i7 950 vs i5 2500K

Here's a build with dual factory over clocked gtx 560's in SLI, after market cpu h/s (thermal paste included), Windows 7, 8 gigs of low voltage RAM, 1TB h/d, etc...

That Asrock mobo down below will be out on the shelves..including newegg within next week or two.

http://www.amazon.com/Corsair-Graphite-Mid-Tower-Gaming-CC600T/dp/B003Y0R1GO/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1300090001&sr=1-1 $144.99 & this item ships for FREE with Super Saver Shipping
Corsair Graphite Series 600T Mid-Tower Gaming Case CC600T

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371025 $89.99 FREE SHIPPING
Antec TruePower New TP-750 750W Continuous Power ATX12V V2.3 / EPS12V V2.91 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC "compatible with Core i7/Core i5" Power Supply

http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=MB-P67-EX4&title=ASRock-P67-Extreme4-LGA1155-Intel-P67-DDR3-Quad-SLI-Quad-CrossFireX-SATA3-USB3-0-A-GbE-ATX-Motherboard $153.99
ASRock P67 Extreme4 LGA1155/ Intel P67/ DDR3/ Quad SLI & Quad CrossFireX/ SATA3&USB3.0/ A&GbE/ ATX Motherboard - P67 EXTREME4

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.618217 Combo Discount: -$8.00 Combo Price: $241.98
Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80623I52500K
COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus RR-B10-212P-G1 "Heatpipe Direct Contact" Long Life Sleeve 120mm CPU Cooler Compatible Intel ...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.604446 Combo Discount: -$15.00 Combo Price: $304.98
G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL
GIGABYTE GV-N560OC-1GI GeForce GTX 560 Ti (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125363 $244.99
GIGABYTE GV-N560OC-1GI GeForce GTX 560 Ti (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106289 $17.99 FREE SHIPPING
LITE-ON Black 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X 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 - Bulk - OEM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.591429 Combo Discount: -$5.00 Combo Price: $149.98 FREE SHIPPING
SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit 1-Pack for System Builders - OEM

Total: $1,348.89 USD

http://www.asrock.com/news/events/201102ex/warranty.html <----- Look for the B3 Stepping Chipset Logo/Sticker on the new boards

http://www.madshrimps.be/articles/article/1000116#axzz1EqpvWFEN <---Review on that Asrock motherboard after the latest bios update

http://www.hardwareheaven.com/reviews/1098/pg2/asrock-extreme4-p67-and-fatal1ty-professional-p67-vs-x58-with-core-i7-950-review-asrock-p67-extreme4.html <---Review on that Asrock motherboard after the latest bios update

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4080/welcome-to-sandy-bridge-with-the-asrock-p67-extreme4 <--- Review before the latest bios...and it still smoked the Asus and Gigabyte boards :)

http://www.asrock.com/mb/overview.asp?Model=P67%20Extreme4 <----- ASRock P67 Extreme4 Motherboard
 
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asteldian

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Not sure why you would ever want an i7 960 rather than Sandy Bridge i5 2500k or i7 2600k (if you really want hyperthreading).

3 way SLI support is just plain excessive. 6gb/s HDD is pretty pointless (also what brand is cyberpowers HDD?)

Water cooling is really not required. Hell, the $30 Hyper 212+ cooler will get a sandy bridge CPU OC'd to around 4.5ghz and if you want extreme OCing just get a more expensive air cooler.

$1000-$1200 is all you need to spend. A bit more if you really want SLI. Or of course you could get a single 570 or actually a 580 and still be cheaper than CyberPower.
 
+1^. Seems like the OP is spending a lot on parts you don't need. Why an i7 and tri sli board with triple channel memory for a gaming rig you aren't planning on running SLI on? Water cooling, are sure you need that? I mean it is a nice system, but with your budget and the basics of what you are trying to build, you could get the very, very nearly the same gaming performance for under a grand. Are you open to an AMD system?
 

ethanw

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Sweet. After reading some more last night, I did decide to switch gears to th i7 2600 as per another write up on the subject. I think I'll go with this build give or take a couple parts.
 

ethanw

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I haven't been considering AMD. To be honest I decided to go i7 early based on a couple benchmarks of some sort, but now I don't remember why, or what they were!! Persuade me.
 

ethanw

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Oh by the way, what about an SSD thrown in there? What are the real benefits? I've only lightly looked into it, but it seems like in terms of gaming, it only helps the load times?
 

selas

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Hi Ethanw, The parts list given above show higher performance and quality than the ones offered by Cyberpower. Yes, the memory will be best if it is dual channel (and keep an even number of sticks).
 

asteldian

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SSDs are nice for quick loading, if ou ave one you swear by it and never want to go back. However, in terms of gaming you are not going to be getting any real performance gains. If you have a nice big budget that allows you to get one they are a nice indulgence, however, if it means a smaller budget for your CPU or GPU then it is not worth purchasing.

AMD is nice on a budget, but I only go with them if I REALLY need to be tight with money. Given your initial budget and the fact you can get a great Sandy Bridge build for well under it, I would stick with Intel all the way, for now AMD just aren't in the game