$800 Gaming PC.

[andrews013]

Approximate Purchase Date: Earliest: August, Probably September, but definitely before the end of October.

Budget Range: Max $800

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming (to replace Xbox 360), heavy multitasking, editing video and images with CS5.5.

Parts Not Required: keyboard, mouse, monitor, speakers, OS, hdd, disk drives.

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Newegg

[strike]Case - Rosewell CHALLENGER
PSU - RaidMax 630w
Mobo - ASUS M5A87
CPU - FX-8110 (2nd best bulldozer 8 core)
Graphics Card - HIS 2 GB HD 6950
RAM - Patriot Gamer 2 Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3 1600[/strike]

Alright, based on recommendations and an AWESOME deal I found on the egg, I have completely redone my build. New list:

Ubercombo: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Comb [...] mbo.644166

CPU - Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80623I52500K (Model:BX80623I52500K)

Mobo - MSI P67A-C43 (B3) LGA 1155 Intel P67 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard (Model67A-C43 (B3))

Case - Rosewill CHALLENGER Black Gaming ATX Mid Tower Computer Case, comes with Three Fans-1x Front Blue LED 120mm Fan, 1x Top 140mm Fan, 1x Rear 120mm Fan, option Fans-2x Side 120mm Fan (Model:CHALLENGER)

PSU - Antec EarthWatts EA-650 GREEN 650W ATX12V v2.3 SLI Ready CrossFire Certified 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply (Model:EA-650 Green)

RAM - G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL8D-4GBXM (Model:F3-12800CL8D-4GBXM)

HDD - Seagate Barracuda ST31000524AS 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive (Model:ST31000524AS)

Other - BYTECC 6 ft. 18AWG Power Cord w/ 3 Conductor PC Power Connector – Black Model POWERCORD-6K (ModelOWERCORD-6K)

Seperate:

Graphics Card - SAPPHIRE 100312-3SR Radeon HD 6950 Dirt3 Edition 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity

Total: 784.50 before rebates. After shipping: 793 After Rebates final price: 773. Ill spend the extra on a CoolerMaster Hyper 212+ on ebay.

What do you guys think?


Country of Origin: USA

Parts Preferences: Whatever is the best for the money. Mid tower.

Overclocking: Yes

SLI or Crossfire: Almost positively no.

Monitor Resolution: 1680x1050, 1920x1080

Additional Comments: I am a function over form person, but a nice case never hurts.

Lemme know what you would change. Also, sorry if this is the wrong forum, I'm new.

Thanks!

 

[cuecuemore]

If you put that info in this format it's easier for us to help you out:

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/261222-31-build-advice

 

[andrews013]

fixed.

 

[cuecuemore]

Obviously hard to comment on the FX platform at this point, so everything looks good there. As far as the RAM goes, I'm not sure what voltages the FX cpu/870 chipset work with, i.e. if they'll be the same ones as the P67, but can cross that bridge when we come to it.

Would not recommend that PSU, would try this one instead:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371016
It's only a few more $ after rebate and it's a quality unit with plenty of power for your setup since you say "Almost positively no" to SLI/CFX. (Though, if I may, I highly recommend it for the value)

I'm not a big fan of that case, to be honest. I wouldn't trust a case with no top exhaust fan, to me it screams, "I'm not serious about airflow." I've done a couple builds with this case:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147153
and it's a great value. Although I bought a couple of them at once when they were $35 shipped, so that would be a bit more.

The 6950 you selected is not unlockable or highly rated, but this one is both:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102914

 

[andrews013]

Thanks for the advice!

Why do you not like the psu? It's cheap, and highly rated.

I like that case. More so than the one I chose.

I seriously doubt that card will ever be in stock again. I'd love to unlock, but it doesn't look easy. Also it is kinda difficult to find an unlockable card now. maybe I'll find one used.

Thanks again!

 

[cuecuemore]

The Apevia unit won't be able to put out a stable 620w. In fact, it might not even be able to match the output of the 550w Antec. The +12v rails on it are way too weak to be trusted.

EDIT:Not sure how I got mixed up, but for some reason I thought you had linked a 620w Apevia with 13 amp +12v rails. That unit is definitely better than what I was thinking. A 17 amp rail still scares me a bit, but that's up to you. It says it's rated for 530w but it will push 450w(37A x 12v = 444w) at most and that's a fact. With that in mind you'd be pushing it right to the edge if you want a 6950 overclocked. On the other hand, the Antec has a minimum of 22 amps on each of THREE rails, so they give themselves plenty of room to live up to the 550w rating.

 

[vibhas]

Basically, the only brands you can trust fully are xfx, antec, corsair, seasonic.
Others are really on a unit by unit basis, and let me tell you straight, that unit by unit basis leaves over 80% of psu's in the dumpster (Thats a low estimate too).
Just to let you know, corsair did a little bit of testing on a raidmax psu (They didnt tell anyone it was a raidmax tho) and it exploded. Yes, exploded. Much below its 'rated' wattage. My colleague here is right with his calculation btw.. mathematically it wont give what it says due to the amps being insufficient to provide 530w. Someone used some hardcore equipment or w/e to find 0ut it was a raidmax, just from the video...

 

[JackNaylorPE]

I'd suggest re-evaluating your budget if possible and thinking about a Sandy Bridge build. This build would cost you $890 and be a significant performance upgrade. I wouldn't put anything with the Rosewill or Raidmax name on it in any build. Case, PSU & MoBo allow for addition of 2nd GFX card at later date. Cooler and SSD can be added anytime, case has latest features including front USB port.

Case - $120 - Antec 902 V3 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129097
PSU - $100 - XFX 750 W Core Edition PSU http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817207015
MoBo - $380 - ASUS P8P67 Pro http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.660725
CPU - inc - Intel Core i5-2500K included w/ above
RAM - $70 - (2 x 4GB) Corsair CAS 9 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145324
GFX - $220 - EVGA GTX 560 Ti 900 Mhz http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130651

Note....you will have to format your old HD before reinstalling the OS.

 

[andrews013]

I'd suggest re-evaluating your budget if possible and thinking about a Sandy Bridge build. This build would cost you $890 and be a significant performance upgrade. I wouldn't put anything with the Rosewill or Raidmax name on it in any build. Case, PSU & MoBo allow for addition of 2nd GFX card at later date. Cooler and SSD can be added anytime, case has latest features including front USB port.

Case - $120 - Antec 902 V3 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6811129097
PSU - $100 - XFX 750 W Core Edition PSU http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817207015
MoBo - $380 - ASUS P8P67 Pro http://www.newegg.com/Product/Comb [...] mbo.660725
CPU - inc - Intel Core i5-2500K included w/ above
RAM - $70 - (2 x 4GB) Corsair CAS 9 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820145324
GFX - $220 - EVGA GTX 560 Ti 900 Mhz http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814130651

Note....you will have to format your old HD before reinstalling the OS.

Sorry, but I can't see the price to performance on Intel being any good. Also, bulldozer should pwn an i5. Until we get actual specs, I think bulldozer is a much better price to performance ratio. If anyting, my budget will go down slightly. Also, whats up with spending $220 on a case and psu? That's kind of a waste. Especially comparing cases with the Rosewell selected by Cuecuemore.

Basically, the only brands you can trust fully are xfx, antec, corsair, seasonic.
Others are really on a unit by unit basis, and let me tell you straight, that unit by unit basis leaves over 80% of psu's in the dumpster (Thats a low estimate too).
Just to let you know, corsair did a little bit of testing on a raidmax psu (They didnt tell anyone it was a raidmax tho) and it exploded. Yes, exploded. Much below its 'rated' wattage. My colleague here is right with his calculation btw.. mathematically it wont give what it says due to the amps being insufficient to provide 530w. Someone used some hardcore equipment or w/e to find 0ut it was a RaidMax, just from the video...

Honestly, I do not believe a lot of what I read about RaidMax. Unless you have a link to a specific test, I will think of it as hearsay. I somewhat agree on the name brand thing, but there is no way 80% of non name brand stuff is crap.

The Apevia unit won't be able to put out a stable 620w. In fact, it might not even be able to match the output of the 550w Antec. The +12v rails on it are way too weak to be trusted.

EDIT:Not sure how I got mixed up, but for some reason I thought you had linked a 620w Apevia with 13 amp +12v rails. That unit is definitely better than what I was thinking. A 17 amp rail still scares me a bit, but that's up to you. It says it's rated for 530w but it will push 450w(37A x 12v = 444w) at most and that's a fact. With that in mind you'd be pushing it right to the edge if you want a 6950 overclocked. On the other hand, the Antec has a minimum of 22 amps on each of THREE rails, so they give themselves plenty of room to live up to the 550w rating.

Yeah, sorry I changed to a modular PSU. Thanks for using real mathematics to determine data. much more accurate. So, If I select the next up raidmax rated at 630w then it will push 550? and then it is still cheaper than the one you selected. here is a link to said psu.

__________________________________________________________________________________________

Another thing is that I am thinking about how much a cpu is worth to me. I mean, Why would I need an 8 core? I am gaming. Really, almost no one needs this. Why dont I just get an unlocked 4 core from and for a lot cheaper? Then spend more on a good psu and a good cooler for OCing.

 

[ownix]

It may be cheaper but the quality is likely still lower, providing worse efficiency and thus more heat and a bigger electrical build. Spending slightly more and being completely confident in your PSU would be worth it.

 

[andrews013]

Yeah but I'd rather get a lower quality psu than get a lower quality anything else.

 

[vibhas]

Yeah but I'd rather get a lower quality psu than get a lower quality anything else.

I'd suggest re-evaluating your budget if possible and thinking about a Sandy Bridge build. This build would cost you $890 and be a significant performance upgrade. I wouldn't put anything with the Rosewill or Raidmax name on it in any build. Case, PSU & MoBo allow for addition of 2nd GFX card at later date. Cooler and SSD can be added anytime, case has latest features including front USB port.

Case - $120 - Antec 902 V3 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6811129097
PSU - $100 - XFX 750 W Core Edition PSU http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817207015
MoBo - $380 - ASUS P8P67 Pro http://www.newegg.com/Product/Comb [...] mbo.660725
CPU - inc - Intel Core i5-2500K included w/ above
RAM - $70 - (2 x 4GB) Corsair CAS 9 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820145324
GFX - $220 - EVGA GTX 560 Ti 900 Mhz http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814130651

Note....you will have to format your old HD before reinstalling the OS.

Sorry, but I can't see the price to performance on Intel being any good. Also, bulldozer should pwn an i5. Until we get actual specs, I think bulldozer is a much better price to performance ratio. If anyting, my budget will go down slightly. Also, whats up with spending $220 on a case and psu? That's kind of a waste. Especially comparing cases with the Rosewell selected by Cuecuemore.

Basically, the only brands you can trust fully are xfx, antec, corsair, seasonic.
Others are really on a unit by unit basis, and let me tell you straight, that unit by unit basis leaves over 80% of psu's in the dumpster (Thats a low estimate too).
Just to let you know, corsair did a little bit of testing on a raidmax psu (They didnt tell anyone it was a raidmax tho) and it exploded. Yes, exploded. Much below its 'rated' wattage. My colleague here is right with his calculation btw.. mathematically it wont give what it says due to the amps being insufficient to provide 530w. Someone used some hardcore equipment or w/e to find 0ut it was a RaidMax, just from the video...

Honestly, I do not believe a lot of what I read about RaidMax. Unless you have a link to a specific test, I will think of it as hearsay. I somewhat agree on the name brand thing, but there is no way 80% of non name brand stuff is crap.

The Apevia unit won't be able to put out a stable 620w. In fact, it might not even be able to match the output of the 550w Antec. The +12v rails on it are way too weak to be trusted.

EDIT:Not sure how I got mixed up, but for some reason I thought you had linked a 620w Apevia with 13 amp +12v rails. That unit is definitely better than what I was thinking. A 17 amp rail still scares me a bit, but that's up to you. It says it's rated for 530w but it will push 450w(37A x 12v = 444w) at most and that's a fact. With that in mind you'd be pushing it right to the edge if you want a 6950 overclocked. On the other hand, the Antec has a minimum of 22 amps on each of THREE rails, so they give themselves plenty of room to live up to the 550w rating.

Yeah, sorry I changed to a modular PSU. Thanks for using real mathematics to determine data. much more accurate. So, If I select the next up raidmax rated at 630w then it will push 550? and then it is still cheaper than the one you selected. here is a link to said psu.

__________________________________________________________________________________________

Another thing is that I am thinking about how much a cpu is worth to me. I mean, Why would I need an 8 core? I am gaming. Really, almost no one needs this. Why dont I just get an unlocked 4 core from and for a lot cheaper? Then spend more on a good psu and a good cooler for OCing.

You can do whatever you want, but right now I'm questioning why you bothered to post here when your mind isn't open to any suggestions.

Look at newegg, and there are over 130 psu's there with companies that consistently make pathetic psus; you can't make much with $25, unless you majorly skimp on parts.
It's like trying to recreate a ps3; you can't realistically make one with less than a said amount of money, its just not possible. Wattage output is not the only thing - It may 'have' 'xx' amps, but that figure could be a lie, and secondly, it won't provide that at real life temperatures. You could be looking at a 25 amp psu or a 10 amp, if it is at 40 degrees C (reasonably hot, but not exceptionally hot). A quality psu will output at even high temperatures, raidmax is a consistently terrible psu maker, and it won't even pass it's rated wattage, let alone what it mathematically can do in real conditions - Why should you trust a company that calls its psu 620 or w/e it says it is, when it mathematically can do less than 550? Why? I can understand XFX saying 650W when mathematically it can only do 636w, especially since the reading of amps they take is likely to be under worst case scenarios; i.e. a corsair 650W was outputting over 1000w... the amp label may be a lie too, certainly under real conditions.

secondly; AMD's P/P is not better than SB if you consider the cost of the cpu vs the cost of the cpu because you'll get price differences of '50%' or above. i.e. $220 i5 2500k vs $130 phenom ii 955 or w/e is 60%~ difference. The performance difference is under 50%

But considering the cost of your system - $800, the i5 2500k is $80 more, (10% of TOTAL system cost, or $80/$800) for a TOTAL increase in performance of 30-40%.
That gives you a 3.5~% increase in performance for a 1% increase in system cost. That's not bad.

I sincerely doubt bulldozer will catch sandybridge in price/performance at the higher levels anyways; but all you need is a nice GTX 560Ti and an i5, with a reasonable processor.
It's also rather weird you talk of price/performance when you want to buy a 2gb 6950 rather than getting a 1gb version for $20+ less..

"So first off, did you guys check the difference in-between the 1GB and 2GB 6950 versions as well, yeah ... the results are nearly NIL. The added benefit of an extra full GB is excruciatingly hard to measure, even with all games setup with the best image quality settings, hefty shaders and massive textures. The reality is that for 98% of you with today's games 1 GB is absolutely sufficient."

Nearly nil.. if you look, its actually funny; the 1gb 6950's average fps is higher than the 2gbs avg fps. So dropping another $20-30 is funny; your resolution isn't high enough to use any of the extra 1gb anyways..

I don't know what got into your head about proving my results/videos.. raidmax is garbage, search it up in google; they've got your model specifically blowing up lots too...

 

[Zero_]

If you are planning to build in September, I'd suggest waiting till atleast end July to set up a config, because prices change on a daily basis.

In the mean time, take a look at the $800 build in my sig.

 

[andrews013]

Alright, based on recommendations and an AWESOME deal I found on the egg, I have completely redone my build. New list:

Ubercombo: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboBundleDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.644166

CPU - Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80623I52500K (Model:BX80623I52500K)

Mobo - MSI P67A-C43 (B3) LGA 1155 Intel P67 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard (Model67A-C43 (B3))

Case - Rosewill CHALLENGER Black Gaming ATX Mid Tower Computer Case, comes with Three Fans-1x Front Blue LED 120mm Fan, 1x Top 140mm Fan, 1x Rear 120mm Fan, option Fans-2x Side 120mm Fan (Model:CHALLENGER)

PSU - Antec EarthWatts EA-650 GREEN 650W ATX12V v2.3 SLI Ready CrossFire Certified 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply (Model:EA-650 Green)

RAM - G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL8D-4GBXM (Model:F3-12800CL8D-4GBXM)

HDD - Seagate Barracuda ST31000524AS 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive (Model:ST31000524AS)

Other - BYTECC 6 ft. 18AWG Power Cord w/ 3 Conductor PC Power Connector – Black Model POWERCORD-6K (ModelOWERCORD-6K)

Seperate:

Graphics Card - SAPPHIRE 100312-3SR Radeon HD 6950 Dirt3 Edition 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity

Total: 784.50 before rebates. After shipping: 793 After Rebates final price: 773. Ill spend the extra on a CoolerMaster Hyper 212+ on ebay.

What do you guys think?

 

[cuecuemore]

Looks good to me. That might be the first DIY combo I've ever seen on Newegg that has actual high quality parts throughout.

 

[andrews013]

That is why I completely spazzed out when I found it. LOL

 

[andrews013]

Any more opinions?

 

[andrews013]

Best answer selected by andrews013.