Advice on $800 Gaming Rig

spartan301

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Jun 30, 2011
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Making a gaming rig for the first time (and thus posting on these forums the first time), with considerable help from a friend. Just wondering if it will work together and if there are better/cheaper(If still reliable) alternatives for the parts. Would prefer that it last a while, my old PC is 10 yrs. old and is only now starting to fail.......

Approximate Purchase Date: July

Budget Range: $750-800

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming (I want to be able to play all of the new games such as GW2, BF3, SWTOR, on max settings on a 1900 x 1200 res)

Parts Not Required: keyboard, mouse, speakers, OS, HD (Scavenging old one), Optical Drive

Case- COOLER MASTER Storm Scout SGC-2000-KKN1-GP Black Steel / Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case- $90 (Sturdier, Easier to move from dorm to dorm)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119196

Processor/Mobo (Combo) - Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80623I52500K/ Mobo- MSI P67A-G43 (B3) LGA 1155 Intel P67 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard (Same as enthusiast build)- $325
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.660241

RAM- G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL- $46
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231277

GPU- EVGA SuperClocked 01G-P3-1563-AR GeForce GTX 560 Ti (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card- $260- Lifetime warranty. recommended in thread.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130610

PSU- CORSAIR Enthusiast Series TX750 V2 750W ATX12V v2.31/ EPS12V v2.92 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC High Performance Power Supply- $110- Also recommended in thread. (Enough power for when I SLI)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139021

Monitor- Hanns-G HW-191APB Black 19" 5ms Widescreen LCD Monitor 300 cd/m2 700:1 Built-in Speakers- $90
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824254023

Before rebates: $831
After rebates: $766
Including Monitor: $856


THANKS FOR THE HELP!
(and sorry about the links)

Edit: Got less ram and a better gpu
Edit2:Major revamp
 
^ Good build,... Here is an alternative build, with combos...

i5 + Rosewill FUTURE Gaming ATX Mid Tower Computer - IMO a very good one with the combo
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.669945

Again a very good combo -
GSKillz 8GB DDR3 + GIGABYTE GA-Z68X-UD3-B3
The only problem might be that if you will go crossfire, the rest of the slots will be blocked else is a very good board
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.674958

XFX HD 6870
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.656810

Corsair 750TX + Samsung F3 1TB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.668399

DVD
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827136238

Total - ~$815
 

z_4

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Apr 21, 2011
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Here's a built slightly above the budget but includes a better graphic card. You can get it for cheaper if you are willing to go for MAIL-IN-REBATES :

CPU & Motherboard : $333- i5-2500K & MSI P67-G45 (Great Processor and dual graphics capable motherboard)

HDD & Power Supply : $120- Samsung Spinpoint 1TB & Corsair Builder Series CX600 (Fast HDD and power supply enough to support a single graphic card)

RAM: $75- Gskill Ripjaw 2X 4GB (Same)

Case : $36- NZXT Gamma Series

Optical Drive : $20- Asus DRW B1ST

Graphic Card: $240- EVGA SuperClocked 560TI (Great card for this price )

Total (Excluding Rebates) : 824 USD

Total Rebates : 45 USD

If you plan on adding a second card you will need a around 750 watts power supply (like Corsair Enthusiast TX750 worth $100 with promo code) you can to step down to 4GB RAM (like Mushkin Enhanced BlackLine for $42) and save $33 and get Seagate Barracuda 1 TB worth $60 to save $5

 

browsingtheworld

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Jun 28, 2011
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Get a cooler now so you won't have to take your motherboard out of the case to mount a backplate.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835233081&Tpk=xigmatek%20loki

Think about a GTX 460 1GB for $150. Same performance as the HD 6850 but cheaper.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814500202&cm_re=gtx_460_zotac-_-14-500-202-_-Product

This is a great PSU and will run 2 460s or 6850s in SLi/CF:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371031&cm_re=neo_eco-_-17-371-031-_-Product
Notice the promo code.
 

spartan301

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Jun 30, 2011
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Thanks for the suggestions everyone!

z_4, does the the 750w power supply that you say is needed for a second card also apply for mine? I was planning on adding another similar graphics card and putting them in crossfire when I upgrade to a new monitor (My current monitor is as old as my old computer). I know that the $1000 enthusiast for June peaked at 400 or so, do I need to worry for my set up? Also, where did you find the EVGA card for 240? I can only find it for 280 (Including shipping). Finally, how is the EVGA card better, it's 1gb, the same as the sapphire card or am I missing something?

Sorry about the attack of the questions......
 

z_4

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It depends on what kind of card you have . High end card lke GTX 580 in SLI need around 900-1000 Watt(even more).
Proof 1 & proof 2 This is the worst case scenario though.
Cards like 5770 or GTS 450 in crossfire/sli may get sufficient power with 600 Watts (Proof look above links)
Older cards require more power as they are less efficient.
Two components that consume most power are CPU and GPU. Overclocking increases it further.

Just digging around at newegg helped me find EVGA 560Ti for $240 (excluding shipping and rebates). Just forgot to give the link.
Generally most cards of same model like 560Ti are same. The difference lies in :
Custom Cooler: like MSI Twin Frozr II having two fans
VRMs : Components that regulate voltage decide how much overclocking can be done
Overclock: Most manufacturers take the reference card and overclock them from the factory and sell them with own stickers and labels

So you have same card 560Ti sold by EVGA, MSI , etc , with certain modifications
Here's link that will talk about 560Ti SLI power consumption.
So if you buy a 600watt power supply now and use 560Ti it will work fine. But problem will start when you add another card.
Then you will have to buy power supply worth atleast $90 AND the second card. That will sure cost you. So my advice if possible get a more capable power supply now
 

spartan301

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Jun 30, 2011
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Sorry, was looking at a different model (with Tom's shopping)..... my mistake.... Thanks for the explanations, I'm not very computer literate (diagnosing and replacing my parts as they fail is about the limit of my knowledge)