New gaming build around $1500

trumpet_king

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Jul 22, 2009
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Just realized I put this under Homebuilt instead of New build. Is there anyway to change this?

So, I'm looking to finally build myself a PC. My last attempt about 2 years ago was ruined when my old laptop died. I'm really looking forward to building a new PC, the market right now seems especially nice. I am new at this so please bare with me. Also if I make any obvious mistakes like in compatible parts or an obvious bottleneck I won't be offended if you are blunt with me.

Approximate Purchase Date: Within the next two weeks.


Budget Range: $1400-$1550


System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming, Multi-tasking, web-browsing, VPCs, programming

Parts Not Required: Speakers, Monitor


Preferred Website(s) for Parts: No strong preference but, I'll probably shop Newegg based on their good customer service and generally good prices.


Country of Origin: USA


Parts Preferences: Any preferences described below.


Overclocking: Yes some moderate overclocking. With the i5 2500k how can you not.


SLI or Crossfire: No but in the future likely yes.

Monitor Resolution: 1920x1200. Likely be using dual screens in the future, both at 1920x1200

Additional Comments: This will be my first build. I would prefer it to be relatively quite, but that shouldn't be a major factor in the decision. Also, I tend to like the ability to turn off any LED lights.


If you want to just straight to my newegg wish list here is the link.

I'm also going to list them below with some additional comments.

CPU: Intel Core i5-2500K This part seems like a clear winner. I don't think it's likely you can convince me to change CPUs but I'm always willing to listen. Overclocking this for sure. $224.99

CPU Cooling Fan: COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus I've only heard good things about this guy. $34.99 -$8 because it combos with CPU.

Motherboard: ASRock P67 EXTREME4 (B3) LGA 1155 Intel P67 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard - Seems to be a great all around motherboard especially for the price. $159.99

Graphics Card:MSI Radeon HD 6950 2GB - This thing is huge!!! (275 x 110 x 38mm or 10.8" x 4.3" x 1.5") Not really sure if it'll fit my case easily or if it'll block half my PCI slot on the motherboard. The Radeon 6950's are selling like hotcakes. They look to be the best card for the money at the moment. If you see another 6950 that's in stock and smaller I would definitely consider going with that instead. Likely overclocking this. I've read that you can get near 6970 performance out of these cards without much risk. $274.99

Case:COOLER MASTER RC-692-KKN2 CM690 II Advanced Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Not really sure if this is the case for me but I've read good things about it. LEDs can be easily turned off, which is a plus for me. Will there be enough room for two graphics cards in the the future? $89.99

Power supplies: CORSAIR Enthusiast Series CMPSU-650TX 650W - Picking power supplies is confusing. I really could use advice here. I just picked this off the best $1000 build march 2011 thread. $89.99

Memory: Already Bought! G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) - I bought this when the promotion code was available for $75

SSD: Crucial RealSSD C300 CTFDDAC128MAG-1G1 2.5" 128GB SATA III MLC After looking around this seems to be the best bang for you buck. I want at least 120GB. $199.99 -$25 because it combos with Windows 7


Secondary Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar Black WD1002FAEX 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" - More expensive than I would think for a 1TB internal drive.$89.99

Optical Drive: ASUS Black 24X - Picked this because of good ratings and in best $1000 build march 2011 thread. $20.99

OS: Windows 7 Professional SP1 OEM $139.99

Keyboard and Mouse: I haven't looked into this yet, but I'm going to need these too. If you have any recommendations let me know, but I'm not too concerned at this point. I'm thinking about getting the Logitech Wireless Anywhere mouse, using that for my laptop and using my current laptop mouse for this build.

Let me know what you think. I'm mostly concerned about:
1) The size of the graphics card in comparison to my case and MoBo.
2) The power supplies.
3) Possible sound card. Is it needed?
4) Horrible oversight on my part.


 
Solution
Check out this tool for help with the power supply http://extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp. Building with a Crossfire build of the ATI HD 6950, the low end on this system is 505 watts, so to build it safe look to around 750 watts to give you coverage. Other than that your build looks great, I think you are going to be very impressed with what the Intel® Core™ I5 2500K can do for you.

Christain Wood
Intel Enthusiast Team

themarin8r

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Mar 16, 2011
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If you get a 700w-800w power supply, that would protect you in the future for going to Crossfire. Your card should fit, however, that HDD slot may be blocked from use. Your motherboard will have the pci slots available, but if you put a second card in, it WILL block the second pci slot down. Sound cards are really not necessary since mobos have surround sound capabilities built in. It seems like you really thought this out and there does not seem to be any oversights
 
Check out this tool for help with the power supply http://extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp. Building with a Crossfire build of the ATI HD 6950, the low end on this system is 505 watts, so to build it safe look to around 750 watts to give you coverage. Other than that your build looks great, I think you are going to be very impressed with what the Intel® Core™ I5 2500K can do for you.

Christain Wood
Intel Enthusiast Team
 
Solution

trumpet_king

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Jul 22, 2009
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Thank you very much for all the valuable feedback. I've looked around some more and made a few changes.

Case: Cool Master just came out with a new case that looks to be an all around improvement plus I like the design better.
COOLER MASTER Storm Enforcer $89.99 - free shipping if I get it through amazon. I pulled this from a build I saw Why_me promoting.

Power supplies: CORSAIR Enthusiast Series TX750 V2 750W - Upgrading my power supplies a bit.

Graphics Card: MSI N560GTX-TI Twin Frozr II/OC GeForce GTX 560 Ti (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 - This one is a pretty tough decision, but I'm seeing a $45+ price difference when in include the $30 immediate price difference, another $10 because it combos with the CPU, and around $8 because this one gets free shipping. 560 Ti has been compared to the 6950 a lot and the 6950 really only barely comes out ahead. The biggest selling point for 6950 right now is that it SLI's better than the 560 Ti, but that's still a far off dream so it's hard to lay down an extra $45 now just because I might SLI in the future.

I'll probably be purchasing this coming Saturday. Any additional comments are appreciated. Thanks again.
 

brandoshido

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Jan 24, 2011
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consider the HAF 932 for your case. It's big, lenty of room, and you wouldn't need to add any fans. It's quiet too.

Also, if you'e hooking up your pc to your home theater system (like me, and to my 55" HDTV), make sure your onboard sound has a DD Live decoder if you want to have 5.1 surround during your games. my MoBo (p67A-gd65 B3) didnt have this, so i got surround from movies and such, but not games. I had to get a creative soundcard that had the ability for DTS/ DD Live.
 

brandoshido

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Jan 24, 2011
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I have an MSI P67A-GD65 and my surround sound is top notch when watching blu-rays or playing games without a sound card. I also use a LG PZ950 HDTV as my monitor! I have 7.1 HD surround sound on even games as old as Oblivion. Perhaps you did not configure the Realtek HD Audio Manager for surround sound?

http://www.totalpowerpc.com/soulreaper.html

you have it hooked up to a home theater system or pc speakers?
 

trumpet_king

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Jul 22, 2009
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Thanks for all the input guys.

One last thing I need to look into... a wireless card. I really don't think I'm going to have my modem or router next to my pc any time soon, so I'm going to need a wireless card. Any suggestions. My routers broadcasting 802.11g right now, I don't plan on upgrading to 802.11n any time soon.

Regards,

~Philip Winstead