Gaming System for no more than $1000

[xxgunnerxx]

Approximate Purchase Date: Soon, but can wait till end of May.


Budget Range: No more than $1000.


System Usage from Most to Least Important: School, watching movies, Gaming.


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


Preferred Website(s) for Parts: newegg.ca, canadacomputers.com


Country of Origin: Canada


Parts Preferences: Intel, otherwise doesn't matter. No Asrock (bad experience).


Overclocking: Unlikely - but I've settled on the 2500k which will allow me to overclock if I change my mind.


SLI or Crossfire: No


Monitor Resolution: 1280x1024


Newegg.ca has given me a nice combo of parts:
Core i5-2500K/P67 Gaming SuperCombo

1. I'll start off by saying I have no idea which video card to get. The GTX570 seems good, but the price is a bit steep. As such, what would be a cheaper video card with good price to performance ratio?

2. Any opinions on the power supply? Maybe there's something cheaper? Is 650W enough for GTX570 or any other high end video cards coming out if I were to upgrade in the future?

3. Always had Asus motherboards and they've never let me down. This one is MSI and I haven't been able to find any reviews on it. What is the general opinion on MSI and should I get something else?

4. I think that 4 GB ram would be adequate to run Win7 64bit. Would 8 GB be better? If so which RAM?

5. Opinions on the Seagate?

6. Z68 chipset is coming out on May 11th, is there any reason to wait for it?

7. Just a general question. USB 3.0 is not yet supported by intel yet many motherboards already have it. Will there be difference between third party chipsets and intel's 3.0?

Many Thanks!

 

[jmsellars1]

1. GTX 560Ti has a good price/performance ratio and is cheaper than the GTX 570. I have heard good things about the MSI version of it.

2. 650W is more than enough for that setup plus pretty much any GPU, just dont go SLI. That motherboard isn't suitable for it anyway.

3. I find most motherboard manufacturers pretty decent, only one that has let me down is Abit but that may just be bad luck. Anyway, even so, MSI are well recognised as a decent brand. I wouldnt worry.

4. 4GB should be plenty for Win7 64 Bit and any game for a while, when it isn't it's easy to upgrade anyway.

5. I have the 500GB version of that drive and have always gone with seagate and they have never let me down, theyre rock solid.

6. I dont see any reason why you need to wait for that, the P67 motherboards are fine. There no huge advantage i can think of.

7. I don't know, sorry

 

[crewton]

1. I have the MSI gtx 560 twin frozr. It's perfect for my monitor 1920x1080 should run even better at your 1280x1024. http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Produc...x_560_ti_twin_frozr_ii-_-14-127-565-_-Product
2. 550W is plenty for your build if you don't SLI. I love corsair http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139004 however if you want to save a bit go with a good antec like http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371016

3. MSI boards are perfectly fine. They come with the new EUFI and an easy overclocking tool.

4. Currently its 50 for 4gigs or 75 for 8gigs. Most are going with 8 just for the future proofing.

5. Seagates are good

6. If you do a lot of video transcoding then you should wait for z68 otherwise you won't gain anything from it.

7. Don't even use my USB 3.0 although I probably should...