Help building a new gaming pc? $1800-$2500

[Zabombafor]

Approximate Purchase Date: Late September


Budget Range: $1800-$2500


System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming - Movies - Programming - Internet - Microsoft Office


Parts Not Required: N/A


Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Memory Express, There are a couple close by and I've had good experience with them


Country of Origin: Canada (Alberta)


Parts Preferences: Intel and Nvidia, no strong preference but I like those


Overclocking: I'm open to the idea


SLI or Crossfire: If its in the price range and not overkill then i'm open to the idea


Additional Comments: Would prefer to order from somewhere that can put it together for me but if i can't then no big deal

I look forward to the replies and thank you in advance for your help!

 

[Why_Me]

This build is set up to add another one of those factory o/c gtx 580's later on for SLI

http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/PID-MX32711(ME).aspx $109.99
Cooler Master CM 690 II Advanced Nvidia Edition Mid Tower

http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/PID-MX20779(ME).aspx $169.99
Corsair HX 1000W Modular Power Supply w/ Dual +12V

http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/PID-MX33407(ME).aspx $169.99
Asus P8Z68-V w/ Dual DDR3 1600, 7.1 Audio, Gigabit Lan, CrossFireX / SLI

http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/PID-MX31557(ME).aspx $229.99
Intel Core™ i5-2500K Processor, 3.30GHz w/ 6MB Cache

http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/PID-MX25192(ME).aspx $29.99
Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus CPU Cooler

http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/PID-MX33234(ME).aspx $54.99
GSKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB PC3-12800 Dual Channel DDR3 Kit (2 x 4GB)

http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/PID-MX32592(ME).aspx $54.99
Seagate 1TB Barracuda 7200.12 SATA III w/ 32MB Cache

http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/PID-MX27707(ME).aspx $18.99
Asus DRW-24B1ST 24x DVD-RW Drive, SATA, Black, OEM

http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/PID-MX31109(ME).aspx $479.99
eVGA GeForce GTX 580 SuperClocked 1536MB GDDR5 PCI-E w/ Dual DVI, HDMI

http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/PID-MX32996(ME).aspx $119.99
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium x64 (64-bit) SP1 DVD - OEM

http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/PID-MX33599(ME).aspx $179.99
Corsair Force Series 3 Solid State Drive SATA III, 120GB

http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/PID-MX32019(ME).aspx $149.99
Asus VE228H 21.5in Widescreen LED LCD w/ HDMI, Speakers

http://www.memoryexpress.com/Products/PID-MX31906(ME).aspx $64.99
Corsair HS1A Gaming Headset, Analog

 

[lp231]

Case: Corsair Graphite 600T $149.99
CPU: Core i7 2600K $304.99
M/B: Asus P8Z68-V $169.99
RAM: Patriot Gamer 2 8GB $69.99
SSD: Intel 510 120GB $289.99
HDD: WD Blue 1TB $59.99
ODD: Asus DVD-RW $18.99
GPU: Asus HD6950 2GB $299.99
PSU: Antec HCG 620w $74.99
OS: Windows 7 Pro x64 /SP1 OEM $139.99
MON: Samsung 24" $209.99
KY: Logitech G15 v2 $89.99
MS: Logitech G700 $109.99
Labor (build+install) $70.00

Subtotal
$2,088.86

Case, keyboard, and mouse are added just to give you a idea on the cost of a
new build.

 

[danraies]

They're both good builds but in the lp231 build you would want to go with a bigger psu so that you can crossfire later. I'm partial to the 580 (or the 570 if the 580 is too expensive, but the 580 is what you should go with in your price range) over the 6950 but they're similar. I'd recommend a nice 24" monitor for the quality of video card you're looking for because putting $500 in gpu on a crappy monitor is a waste.

Another good idea in this price range is a motherboard that offers two PCIe 2.0 x16 slots in x16/x16 mode. They're closer to the $350 range but again you can afford it in your price range. A good option is the GIGABYTE GA-Z68X-UD7-B3. x16/x16 mode will make your sli/crossfire perform better.

Also the i7-2600K offers no benefit over the i5-2500K in any of the applications you listed, especially gaming. You can afford the 2600K on your budget but if you're not doing heavily multithreaded things like audio/video encoding then save yourself the $100.

 

[Why_Me]

They're both good builds but in the lp231 build you would want to go with a bigger psu so that you can crossfire later. I'm partial to the 580 (or the 570 if the 580 is too expensive, but the 580 is what you should go with in your price range) over the 6950 but they're similar. I'd recommend a nice 24" monitor for the quality of video card you're looking for because putting $500 in gpu on a crappy monitor is a waste.

Another good idea in this price range is a motherboard that offers two PCIe 2.0 x16 slots in x16/x16 mode. They're closer to the $350 range but again you can afford it in your price range. A good option is the GIGABYTE GA-Z68X-UD7-B3. x16/x16 mode will make your sli/crossfire perform better.

Also the i7-2600K offers no benefit over the i5-2500K in any of the applications you listed, especially gaming. You can afford the 2600K on your budget but if you're not doing heavily multithreaded things like audio/video encoding then save yourself the $100.

Agree about the 580, but not so much about the mobo seeing how an NF 200 chip board doesn't really add anything more than allowing for tri vid cards later on. In regards to FPS between x16 and x8 there's no difference.

22" monitor or 24" monitor...if they are the same specs, then the only difference is 2" and nothing else.

 

[danraies]

Agree about the 580, but not so much about the mobo seeing how an NF 200 chip board doesn't really add anything more than allowing for tri vid cards later on. In regards to FPS between x16 and x8 there's no difference.

22" monitor or 24" monitor...if they are the same specs, then the only difference is 2" and nothing else.

You might be right about the motherboards. I know the difference between x8/x8 and x16/x16 isn't much, but I did think there was some difference and x16/x16 cards are within the budget. I don't have x16/x16 so I'm not the best authority.

I didn't mean to imply that 24" was better than 22", I just wanted to mention that a good monitor is an important and sometimes overlooked aspect of quality graphics.

 

[lp231]

The only time you will see the difference is when doing benchmarks. In real world, during game play, you won't spot it at all. Yeah, the system needs to have a larger PSU for CFX, but that build was never made for any dual GPU setups. For multi-GPU, OP will have to get a higher wattage PSU.

 

[Zabombafor]

What about this build?
http://gamingrig.blogspot.com/2011/08/1500-gaming-pc-august-2011.html?showComment=1313327413198#c2025120787409094799

Not my build by the way, got it from a guy on the forums named zero_

 

[Why_Me]

What about this build?
http://gamingrig.blogspot.com/2011/08/1500-gaming-pc-august-2011.html?showComment=1313327413198#c2025120787409094799

Not my build by the way, got it from a guy on the forums named zero_

That's a decent build but it's going to cost more at Memory Express. I'm sure all of us on here could have posted cheaper builds using something like Best Direct Canada, and/or Canada Direct not to mention both of those sites are free shipping.

 

[Zabombafor]

That's a decent build but it's going to cost more at Memory Express. I'm sure all of us on here could have posted cheaper builds using something like Best Direct Canada, and/or Canada Direct not to mention both of those sites are free shipping.

I'm willing to buy from somewhere else
I only said memory express because it was convinient
so you would recommend me buying from best direct canada or canada direct?

 

[Zabombafor]

From what I could see on Best Direct Canada the prices are very similar to or more than the ones posted on the link above, so it'd probably work just fine to buy them from Amazon like that guy does.