Gaming/Research Build - $1400

[rubiconcrossed]

Approximate Purchase Date: Summer 2011


Budget Range: ~$1,400


System Usage from Most to Least Important:
1. Gaming
2. Research - Mostly signal analysis (Filtering/Running FFT's/basically working with long time series). Being able to run routines on software packages like EEGLAB, AFNI and Freesurfer in a reasonable timeframe would be nice as well.


Parts Not Required: OS/mouse


Preferred Website(s) for Parts: newegg.com and microcenter (in-store)


Country of Origin: USA


Parts Preferences: NVIDIA graphics card for CUDA


Overclocking: Yes


SLI or Crossfire: No


Monitor Resolution: 1920x1080


Additional Comments: Would prefer a low-key case like the Antec 300.


====================================================
This is what I've come up with so far, any help would be appreciated!

GIGABYTE GA-Z68X-UD3H-B3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128498
$169.99

Antec Three Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129042
$59.45

MSI N570GTX Twin Frozr II OC GeForce GTX 570 (Fermi) 1280MB 320-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video ...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127564
$354.99

CORSAIR Enthusiast Series CMPSU-550VX 550W ATX12V V2.2 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139004
$89.99

CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233144
$84.99

LITE-ON SK-1788/BS 2-Tone PS/2 Wired Standard Keyboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16823107120
$7.99

ASUS VH238H Black 23" Full HD HDMI LED Backlight LCD Monitor w/Speakers
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236117
$189.99

ASUS DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS Black SATA 24X DVD Burner - Bulk - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135204
$20.99

Crucial M4 CT064M4SSD2 2.5" 64GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148441
$119.99

Core i5 2500K LGA 1155 Boxed Processor
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0354589
$179.99

Samsung Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7,200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive - OEM
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0340562
$59.99

Total:
$1,338.35

 

[grody]

That looks purty. My only thoughts are to get a larger psu if you every want to sli in the future, and, if your budget can take it, I'd look for some 1.5v cas 7 ram.

 

[deoxide]

Yeah if you going to OC as well the psu might need to be bigger than 550. the GTX570 requires atleast a 550.

 

[thegamermojo]

i just bought a 570 and had a 550 watt supply and it was kicking it off just had to upgrade to a 850 watt kingwin razer,also would spend the extra 100 bucks for the 17 2600k its worth it all new games are using the cpu as much as the vid card.

 

[mjmjpfaff]

do those programs need more than 4 cores?

 

[rubiconcrossed]

Thanks for the feedback!, would 650 watts be enough? In the future, I'd rather just upgrade to a better single card then SLI.

CORSAIR Professional Series HX650 (CMPSU-650HX) 650W ATX12V v2.2 / EPS12V 2.91 SLI Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139012
$119.99

More cores help to an extent but I think gpu acceleration (CUDA) is where the field is headed.

 

[grody]

I'm not sure why he's advocating the i7.

Anyway, that psu is fine, but if you're not looking to sli, it's a bit much. You could save yourself some money and get the non-sli version. The main difference is the lower number of PCIe connectors, and possibly a few liberties taken with internal parts.

 

[rubiconcrossed]

Best answer selected by rubiconcrossed.