Gaming PC

[Squishyman]

I'm building a PC that's gonna be mainly used for gaming. I am a noob at this, being my first time building my own PC, but I have done some research on trusted components, so I feel pretty good about these parts. I just am unsure of the overall compatibility and maybe some unnecessarily high-end equipment. I want to play games at their full potential but is there anywhere I can skim off on pricey parts? My build right now sits at $1200 which is OK, but a little lower would be nice. Here are the parts:

$90 Case: Cooler Master HAF 922M ATX Black Mid-Tower Case

$110 Power Supply: Corsair CMPSU-750TX 750-Watt TX Series 80 Plus

$150 Motherboard: ASUS P8P67-M PRO LGA 1155 SATA 6Gbps

$230 Processor: Intel Core i5 Processor i5-2500K 3.3GHz

$25 Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus CPU Cooler

$95 RAM: Corsair Vengeance 8 GB ( 2 x 4 GB ) DDR3 1600 MHz

$90 Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s

$210 Video Card: SAPPHIRE 100314SR Radeon HD 6870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express


I would greatly appreciate any input you guys could give me.

 

[alan0n]

I'm building a PC that's gonna be mainly used for gaming. I am a noob at this, being my first time building my own PC, but I have done some research on trusted components, so I feel pretty good about these parts. I just am unsure of the overall compatibility and maybe some unnecessarily high-end equipment. I want to play games at their full potential but is there anywhere I can skim off on pricey parts? My build right now sits at $1200 which is OK, but a little lower would be nice. Here are the parts:

$90 Case: Cooler Master HAF 922M ATX Black Mid-Tower Case

$110 Power Supply: Corsair CMPSU-750TX 750-Watt TX Series 80 Plus

$150 Motherboard: ASUS P8P67-M PRO LGA 1155 SATA 6Gbps

$230 Processor: Intel Core i5 Processor i5-2500K 3.3GHz

$25 Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus CPU Cooler

$95 RAM: Corsair Vengeance 8 GB ( 2 x 4 GB ) DDR3 1600 MHz

$90 Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s

$210 Video Card: SAPPHIRE 100314SR Radeon HD 6870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express


I would greatly appreciate any input you guys could give me.

Looks pretty decent, however if you are new to the world of system building you may want to go with a i5-2500 or even a i7-2600 instead of the k series. You get a little more base speed from a K cpu but your paying for the core unlock mostly. So basically if you arent comfortable overclocking your system, why pay for the capability to do so? On that same note, if you swap chipsets from the p67 to the x58 you lose the ability to overclock but gain quicksync in the trade off.

Im also an Nvidia guy, as I have had nothing but problems with every AMD product I have ever owned. But if you like ATI and it works for you stick with it.

 

[striker410]

On that same note, if you swap chipsets from the p67 to the x58 you lose the ability to overclock but gain quicksync in the trade off.

^ I'm guessing you meant h67? not to rag on you, but there is a big difference between x58 and h67. x58 uses a totally different socket, the LGA 1366 socket.

 

[alan0n]

H67 would be fine as well but you lose triple channel capabilities, that being why I recomended the x58.

I should have noted that doing so would require a change to a 1366 i7-950 cpu.

Its also worth noting that the i7-950 is kinda pricey, running about $40 USD more than a i5-2500k. If you dont mind being bumped down to two channel memory then go for the H67, as the 1155s are actually priced better than the 1366s.

 

[striker410]

Triple channel memory is a gimmick. I would say go sandy bridge all the way, as x58 is a dead end and the 2500k outperforms the 980X in gaming. With sandy bridge, you will be able to exchange the processor for newer ones in the coming years. Not so with X58.

 

[alan0n]

~20% more memory bandwith isnt really a gimmick IMO and with lga 2011 coming out end of this year 1155 may be dead before your ready to upgrade as well. But thats all opinion and speculation.

 

[striker410]

We disagree, but i'm not going to argue as your opinion is a respectable one. And ivy bridge is going to use LGA 1155, so he has a while until it's outdated.

 

[Squishyman]

Looks pretty decent, however if you are new to the world of system building you may want to go with a i5-2500 or even a i7-2600 instead of the k series. You get a little more base speed from a K cpu but your paying for the core unlock mostly. So basically if you arent comfortable overclocking your system, why pay for the capability to do so? On that same note, if you swap chipsets from the p67 to the x58 you lose the ability to overclock but gain quicksync in the trade off.

Im also an Nvidia guy, as I have had nothing but problems with every AMD product I have ever owned. But if you like ATI and it works for you stick with it.

Ya, I guess I'm very unfamiliar with OverClocking my system so i5 2500 would probably suffice, although I could possibly overclock my cpu once I know what I'm doing. Also, the 2500 is only $15 less than the 2500k. I don't know what quicksyncing is though, if you could enlighten me on it and what the pros of a system with quicksync are. I really am set on Sandy Bridge build though. Also, in regards to Video Card, I appreciate the heads up on AMD problems. I have seen many complaints online especially toward the Radeon HD 6950 which is why I decided to go with the 6870, but maybe I'll just completely change over to Nvidia. Which Nvidia card would you suggest for around the same price?

 

[striker410]

I would suggest this 5850 over the 6870, purely because of price: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102932&cm_re=5850-_-14-102-932-_-Product
AMD has wacked up the names for the 6xxx series, so the 5850 is actually nearly as good as the 6870.
The nearest competitor from Nvidia is the GTX 460, but the 5850 or 6870 are better for the price.

 

[cobra5000]

Dont be afraid of the overclock, its worth it. The overclock is super easy, When you fire up your computer, hit the delete key a few times to get into your bios, go to the option that gets to your frequency multiplier, bump it up a notch or two, save and exit. Bam! Faster computer just like that.
Check your CPU specs to find out where your mulitplier starts at (x15, x17) ect. and just up the multiplier one step at a time and you will be golden. Its a great way to dip your toes in the overclocking pool. Fun!

 

[Squishyman]

Woah its really that easy to overclock? And it sounds like fun! Thx Cobra

And thx striker for the info, I looked at a comparison online and you right, there doesnt seem to be a huge difference, at least not one big enough to pay $70 more for.

 

[striker410]

No problem. Let us know if you need more help.