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$2000 gaming PC

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Hi, I've never built a computer before (though I've installed a few components here and there e.g. video cards, disc drives) but need to get a new PC soon (for non-gaming reasons) and don't have the time to learn to build it this time around.

I've searched around a bit and seems like the best website to order from looking at price and reseller ratings seems to be computerlx.com especially since I won't get charged tax (Live in California). They don't quite have all the specifics I'd like on each component on their site but I don't see a good alternative without having to pay tax (approaching 10% here).

I'm looking for a $2000 +/- ~$200 range gaming PC that will last me for approx 4-5 years without any need for major upgrades. Mainly looking to play FPS and games like Starcraft II/Civ 5 but I play games from pretty much every genre (Witcher 2, etc). Not sure what my bottleneck will be on the system I propose below. Also not sure if I'll really get much benefit from doing 2 great vid cards in SLI vs. 1 top of the line card given my situation and accordingly how strong of a power supply I'll need. I think I would want PhysX/Cuda for games so my understanding is ATI is out.

Mainly looking to install the OS (win 7 64-bit) to a SSD and maybe 1-2 games to it and having a 1.5-2 TB conventional HD.


Approximate Purchase Date: this week


Budget Range: $2300 before rebates


System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming >>> Surfing > Watching Movies (don't do photoshop, Auto-CAD, etc)


Parts Not Required: Have a Acer H233H monitor (up to 1920 x 1080p), speakers, good mouse and keyboard, headset, router, cable modem, 2 external 1 TB HDs


Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Again, plan to purchase from a website (probably computerlx.com or may possibly have local place construct it for me due to time constraints on my part). Notably, Newegg charges tax for me.


Country of Origin: USA


Parts Preferences:

# Processor - Intel Core i5 2500K

# Cooling - Corsair HYDRO H60 ENCLOSED WATER COOLING SYSTEM

# Mobo - Asus SABERTOOTH P67 Socket 1155 Rev 3.0

# RAM - 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 1600MHz (Unclear brand on site)

# Primary HD - Crucial/Plextor 64GB Solid State Drive SATA III

# Secondary HD - Hitachi 2TB 7200 RPM 64MB CACHE SATA 6.0Gb/s

# DVD Drive - 10X Blu-ray/DVD-RW combo (unclear brand)

# Video cards - (2X) nVidia GeForce GTX570

# Sound - REALTEK 8-CHANNEL DIGITAL SOUND ONBOARD

# Network - REALTEK 10/100/1000 Gigabit Network Card (onboard)

# Case - CoolerMaster HAF 932

# Extra fans - (3X) THERMALTAKE/ANTEC CASE FAN

# Power supply - Antec 1000W (unclear model#)

# OS - Microsoft Windows 7 Professional 64-bit (I play old games sometimes but I'm not sure if the Win XP mode is really needed or not just be on the safe side)


Not sure if anything else they offer on the site is worth it (I'm guessing no) such as special thermal paste, professional wiring, hard drive coolers, case exhaust fans


Overclocking: Prob not


SLI or Crossfire: Maybe SLI


Monitor Resolution: 1920x1080p


Additional Comments: Kinda like shiny lights but not necessity. Also wondering about a display/control panel on the front of the case.

Thanks a ton!

More about : 2000 gaming

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Custom thermal paste can cool up to 7 degrees(celsius) better.So it's worth it, in my opinion.Also the H60 got bad reviews against same cost air cooling.You either go with a full custom loop or air.Pre-made loops are bad.The Noctua NH-D14 is a top air cooler, not that expensive either.
I never liked the Sabertooth, neither the looks, neither the so called "expert thermal armor".
Also, I recommend a Corsair power supply.Modular for better airflow.
And lastly, drop the two 570.Get a single GTX 590 so you can upgrade in 6 months to dual GTX 590 and still rock on.

~Alex.

Thanks, so which mobo would you recommend?

In terms of thermal paste, the option listed are "standand thermal paste," "OCZ/Arctic Ultra 5+ Silver thermal compound, and ZEROtherm advanced ZT100 thermal grease

For air cooling, they have Zalman copper deluxe edition cooler, and Intel copper heavy duty fan

If need be, I guess I could also buy from cyberpowerpc.com though would get charged tax there but atleast they are more specific about each part on their site.

Those 570s is a Extremely high performance which is a overkill 1920x1080 like nothing at 200FPS+ on any modern game... I Recommend getting a single GTx 570 and a 120GB Vertex 3(Recommend 240GB Vertex 3 unless your installing 1 game and not multiply)
for your CPU, Get a i5-2400 because you wont OC plus you can also OC the 2400 to 4GHz Max and cant go over and also on Stock Heatsink which can cool it down since 2nd Gen isn't hot as these 1st Gen...(Also recommend using Artic Silver 5/Noctua Thermal Paste)... Get Asus P8Z68
MoBO: Best Z68 that i can think of that's the best out of all the Z68 boards...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
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Here's the final specs I'm at, what do you guys think? Spent a little more than I wanted to, but oh well, figure it'll last me good number of years and I can throw in another gtx580 in SLI later when they become cheaper

# Processor - Intel Core i5 2500K

# CPU Cooler - Noctua NH-D14

# Mobo - Asus Maximus IV Extreme P67 (B3)

# RAM - G.Skill 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 1600MHz

# Primary HD - Crucial M4 64GB Solid State Drive SATA III

# Secondary HD - Hitachi 2TB 7200 RPM 64MB CACHE SATA 6.0Gb/s

# DVD Drive - LG 10X Blu-ray Burner

# Video card - EVGA Geforce GTX 580 3GB

# Sound - REALTEK 8-CHANNEL DIGITAL SOUND ONBOARD

# Network - REALTEK 10/100/1000 Gigabit Network Card (onboard)

# Case - CoolerMaster HAF 932 (Blue)

# Power supply - Corsair HX1050 1050W

# OS - Microsoft Windows 7 Professional 64-bit

# Misc - Round cables, zerotherm advanced zt100 thermal paste

jamezuva said:
thanks for the link.

any comments regarding adding the gtx260 to that rig? worth doing?

If you already have that card then a big yes to adding it for the fact the new generation cards are due out sometime around November. No reason to get a new card until those cards come out.

Why_Me said:
If you already have that card then a big yes to adding it for the fact the new generation cards are due out sometime around November. No reason to get a new card until those cards come out.


Not sure If I made the situation clear. So I already bought the above rig (hasn't been shipped to me yet). It will have a gtx 580 in it. Will adding the gtx 260 on top of the 580 accomplish anything?

jamezuva said:
Not sure If I made the situation clear. So I already bought the above rig (hasn't been shipped to me yet). It will have a gtx 580 in it. Will adding the gtx 260 on top of the 580 accomplish anything?

best to use the 260 as PhysX BUT Only worth for FPS in PhysX games.... Waste of power having a High-End Card for a low Resolution which will not drop FPS and keeps up in the 200FPS+... Want to use more power and add 10FPS+ on PhysX which you ain't ganna be playing?
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