$1000 PC mostly for gaming

[bigjohnnyutah]

Approximate Purchase Date:1-2 weeks

Budget Range: $900-1000

System Usage: Mostly gaming and some minor photo editing

Parts Not Required: Keyboard, Mouse, DVD drive

Preferred Website: n/a

Country: US

Parts Preference: intel/nvidia GPU

Plan on Playing BF3 and some others

This is my first build. Feel free to recommend changes. Thanks in advance.

Case - $70 BifFenix Shinobi Window White
https://store.bitfenix.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=57

motherboard: $140 Gigabyte GA-Z68XP-UD3 LGA 1155 Z68 ATX Intel Motherboard
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0366193

CPU: $220 Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115072

GPU: $235 ASUS GTX 560 Ti
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121425

Hard Drive: $65 Western Digital Caviar Black WD7502AAEX 750GB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136794

Power Supply: $70 Antec High Current Gamer Series HCG-750 750W
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371049&Tpk=N82E16817371049

RAM $50 G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1066
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231308

CPU fan: $30
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103065

case fans: $20
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835185060

Total:900

I had some questions on the build as well:
1. How important is Cas Latency in RAM? I picked the 7 latency over a faster speed. Advice?

2. Any other suggestions for graphics cards?

3. I am also looking to get a monitor around 23 inches for under 200. Any suggestions? What are the most important specs when looking for a monitor?

Thanks again!

 

[jmsellars1]

1. 7-7-7-18 seems to be the standard latency at 1066Mhz whereas 9-9-9-24 seems to be the standard at 1333Mhz or 1600Mhz so 7-7-7-18 isn't really low. I think 1333Mhz would be better.

2. GTX 560Ti is probably the best at that budget for single monitors at ~1920x1080. If you want to go with super high res or multi monitors at some point then i'd say go for the HD 6950 2GB instead. Otherwise the GTX 560Ti is great.

3. For a gaming monitor response time is pretty important, 5ms is ok but 2ms is better. Try this one, it has very good reviews:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236049

EDIT: Ill just add, don't worry about contrast ratios. They are pretty irrelevant because everyone measures it in a different way so you can never tell the 'true' ratio.

 

[Guest]

They sell the shinobi at microcenter at a lower price. Its not online but its on the magazine.

Get this hdd instead. cheaper, larger, faster, and cooler.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185

1. Latency 9 is ok. Latency 8 is better but lower is not necessary. Speed I say minimum of 1600. Get this one instead. You don't need low latency. But if you really want it if you get this one you can lower the speed to 1600 from 1866 and tighten the latency to 8. cheaper then buying 1600 with latency 8.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231455

I don't recommend those fans. I bought them because they're cheap in bulk and have high cfm but they are very noisy. some of my fan makes whining noises. I thought it was defective but all 3 fans are the same and another free one they sent me as an rma was the same too. They move a lot of air otherwise. If you don't mind sound buy 2(to get the discount) and complain to skythe that one of them is very noisy and they'll send you a free one no charge.

 

[bigjohnnyutah]

thanks for the help.

the motherboard is ok too?

what fans would you recommend?

 

[iBriian]

Hey there!

I'd strongly recommend also getting a Network Interface Card, so you can use the internet.

 

[clarkjd]

Hey there!

I'd strongly recommend also getting a Network Interface Card, so you can use the internet.

Most motherboards nowadays come with onboard NIC...

 

[iBriian]

Most motherboards nowadays come with onboard NIC...

My bad. I didn't see that his motherboard came with it. My fault for not checking the specs page.

 

[Guest]

Your motherboard is good. I have a similar version(the one without the 'p') and I believe the one you currently have has all the missing features from the non-p one so it should be better.

For fans, I heard yate loons fan were silent and effective. I also heard zalman fans were very good also, although they're not popular. I remember reading a site somewhere with tests. The poster liked the zalman ones. Don't remember which specif model though. The Zalman ones do not have the high cfm as the scythes do but the scythes have terrible static pressure. They suck at sucking through grills.

 

[geofelt]

Good list of parts.

1) If you are near a microcenter, the 2500K is $180 for in store pick up.

2) Latency or speed of ram means little to sandy bridge. Real app performance or FPS will differ only by a couple of percent. Synthetic benchmarks are needed to detect the difference. Don't spend much more for faster ram, lower latencies, or fancy heat spreaders unless you are going for record seeking overclocks.

3) I like the looks of the bitfenix shinobi. Get it if that is what you love. But a simpler, cheaper case like the Antec 300 illusion will probably cool better. No added fans needed.

 

[bigjohnnyutah]

great find on the CPU. just picked it up at a microcenter close by