Opinions and issues on budget gaming/overall build

[zippy55]

Hey! Im planning on building my own desktop (for gaming but also every day use) and this is my first time doing this sooo, i was wondering if this build is good enough to run a 60 fps on crysis 1 on high and if there are any issues with the components ive chosen and what i can improve on, and some questions at the end:

CPU: Intel Core i7-2600 3.4-3.8GHz Turbo 95W 300$
Motherboard: ASRock H61M/U3S3 LGA 1155 Intel H61 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard 75$
RAM: G.SKILL 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3 1333MHz 60$
Graphics Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 6870 175$
Storage: Crucial M4 2.5″ 64GB SATA III Solid State Drive (SSD) 120$
+
Samsung F3 1TB SATA II 3.0Gb/s 53$
Optical Drive: LITE-ON 4X Blu-ray Reader SATA 56$
Power Supply: Antec HCG 520W 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified 55$
Case: NZXT Phantom, in White 140$
Cooling Fans: COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus 30$
+
CORSAIR CAFA70 120mm Dual-Fan 46 $

I Do not need: Monitor (using 47 inch hdtv and an old 18 in monitor), keyboard, mouse, OS(windows 7)

So this totals up to 1110 $. My questions are 1. is my power supply good enough? 2.do i have the right fans? 3. is there anywhere i can save some money? 4. what just doesnt plain work, what am i missing that i absolutely need and what don't i need at all? 5. finally, what performance can i expect out of this rig? could i do better for that money? I appreciate any and all comments, thank you so much!!

 

[z_4]

You can get a much better gaming system for $1100. Here's my suggestion :

Motherboard & RAM :$175-Gigabyte GA Z68X UD3 & GSkill RipjawX 2X 4GB(the motherboard you chose did not allow overclocking)

CPU & Power Supply: $310- i5 2500K & PC Power & Cooling MK II 750 (Great gaming processor & capable PSU)

HDD & Optical Drive: $72- Seagate Barracuda 1TB & LiTeOn

GPU : $460(2X $230) EVGA GTX 560Ti(Will blow most games)

Case: $65- XClio Nighthawk(Decent Case to accomodate everything)

Cooler: $30- CM Hyper 212

Total(Excluding Rebates): 1112 USD

Rebates: 45 USD

If you need to accomodate an SSD(its optional) drop the 2nd card. Also make sure to upgrade the GPU to GTX 570 or Radeon 6970.

 

[zippy55]

So if i need the ssd drop one graaphics card? and is it not worth getting i7? will i5 do me just as well for the next little bit, or should i invest in i 7 if i have the cash? thanks for the help

 

[z_4]

So if i need the ssd drop one graaphics card? and is it not worth getting i7? will i5 do me just as well for the next little bit, or should i invest in i 7 if i have the cash? thanks for the help

i5 is great for gaming . i7 comes in picture when you are into heavy video editing . i7 has hyperthreading which most games don't utilize. So it's better to go for i5.

About SSD: Since you have a budget of $1110. You can have two things :
Dual GPU setup or Single GPU with SSD.

It depends on you as to how much you can sacrifice gaming for SSD.
SSD will allow you to boot faster into windows. make it responsive (a gimmick : will improve Windows Experience Index )

A dual GPU setup will allow to to game on tv /monitor or both will everything turned up. You will not have to compromise on gaming performance.

If you can wait a little. Get an SSD now, and a single GPU. later when you have some more money add a second GPU.

 

[rvilkman]

I doubt you will be playing Crysis 1 on high with a single 6870.Basically if you crossfire the 6870 as in have 2 of them, you would be at 60FPS in crysis 1 with gamer quality, enthusiast shaders and 4xAA. But lets get into your questions and try to find solutions.

1) It is enough, but in the low end of the spectrum. I would consider a 650W PSU such as XFX Core Pro650W or Corsair TX650 V2. Or possibly a larger wattage Antec HCG.
If you go Crossfire / SLI then 750W would be adviced

2) I'm not sure why you have 2 CPU coolers listed, but both are ok. Just pick one.

3) Yes you can downgrade your CPU to i5 2500k, it will be just fine for gaming and your day to day use won't need the hyperthreading from the i7 either.
Also you could get a cheaper case than the NZXT Phantom, but if you have your heart set on the case and it's looks that's difficult to do.
SSD's are expensive and an additional cost that would eat away from the GPU budget.

4) well i listed above that you have 2 CPU coolers so that's an issue, other than that you seem to have the parts.

5) Generally you can expect great gaming performance at 1650x1050, and good performance at 1920x1080. But to get Crysis 1 to 60fps on high, you will need quite a bit more juice on the GPU.

- So pretty much what you should do is switch the mobo to something you can overclock with. So a P67 or Z68 series MB that support SLI/Crossfire.
This will probably eat up most of the money you saved on the CPU switch from i7 2600k to i5 2500k.
- Then you can switch the memory to 1600Mhz model, which is a couple of bucks more maybe.
- The SSD is nice, but if you want to go for gaming performance it's just eating away money from your GPU budget, so basically lose that one.
- get a 750W PSU instead of the 520
- Add a 2nd 6870

I think this would end up being something like $50 more for the PSU, $175 for the GPU, $5 for the memory possibly, might not be any. ~$230
And you should get about $100 from the CPU, $120 from the SSD so between $10-40 bucks more would be needed I would say.
Which could be saved by a difference case selection. ( although if the HSF was counted in twice then it should be about the same budget too ).

And yes the 6870 crossfire beats the GTX580 as well in most benchmarks.

 

[zippy55]

OH sorry i was confused on the fans :S hows this sound?

CPU + psu: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.691431 310$
Motherboard: ????
RAM: ????
Graphics Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 6870 175$ (*2 when i can afford it)
Storage: Crucial M4 2.5″ 64GB SATA III Solid State Drive (SSD) 120$
+
Samsung F3 1TB SATA II 3.0Gb/s 53$
Optical Drive: LITE-ON 4X Blu-ray Reader SATA 56$
Case: NZXT Phantom, in White 140$
Cooling Fans: COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus 30$

can you specify exactly what ram and mobo? and will it all be compatible?

edit: is this deal ok for motherboard and ram? http://api.viglink.com/api/click?format=go&key=984ed3ed6aa9a69986f88d56d10e7616&loc=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tomshardware.com%2Fforum%2F315869-31-opinions-issues-budget-gaming-overall-build%23t2350574&v=1&libid=1310893672003&out=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.newegg.com%2FProduct%2FComboDealDetails.aspx%3FItemList%3DCombo.689147&title=%5BSolved%5D%20Opinions%20and%20issues%20on%20budget%20gaming%2Foverall%20build&txt=Gigabyte%20GA%20Z68X%20UD3%20%26amp%3B%20GSkill%20RipjawX%202X%204GB

 

[zippy55]

Best answer selected by zippy55.

 

[rvilkman]

The CPU + PSU combo will work fine.

The Mobo+memory combo as well.

I think after those changes you are set and when you need more juice on graphics, just get the 2nd 6870.
So looking good.