New $2000 High-end PC, need a build

u4icsmith

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Hey guys,

Nub cheese here, in the market for a new rig.


Approximate Purchase Date: (This week or next, the closer the better)
 
Budget Range: (e.g.: $2000) After Rebates. If I need to go slightly above the 2k mark (see: 2200) that's not a huge issue. I'd like to stay as close to 2k as possible though.
 
System Usage from Most to Least Important: (Gaming, surfing the internet, streaming media from the web)
 
Parts Not Required: A keyboard and mouse will be needed, but does not necessarily need to go above the $200 mark for the combo. I'm not a hardcore, competitive player so something basic will suffice (without having a crappy piece of hardware, mind you, haha) Speakers and monitor are not required *See 'Additional Comments'*
 
Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Anything with Canadian pricing, honestly. I've never shopped for PC parts before, but I do believe Newegg had a Canadian domain as well as TigerDirect.
 
Country of Origin: Ontario, Canada.
 
Parts Preferences: As stated at the beginning, I'm not really on the up-and-up when it comes to PC's. If anything, a nice ASUS motherboard would do well as well as Intel (as opposed to AMD) for the other...part. Full tower would be sweet.
 
Overclocking: No idea cause I don't know how. So let's be safe and say 'Maybe'
 
SLI or Crossfire: I 'think' I know what this is, gonna say 'Yes'.
 
Monitor Resolution: *see Additional Comments*
 
Additional Comments: I'm looking to hook this rig up to my current television w/ surround sound system. I've got a "46 Samsung LCD TV (Model #LN46C750) and a Onkyo 7.1 Surround Sound System (Model #HT-R680). Now, this is what I'm hoping for. Having said that, I'm not sure if this is even an option. If NOT, then a monitor with speakers will be added to this setup...which would suck cause I like what I've got going.
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Help me out here guys! Lookin' for a sick rig to play Battlefield 3 on Super-duper-meltface-wow settings.

Any help would be appreciated!

Cheers!

Mr. Smith
 
These two outfits (Direct Canada & Best Direct) are affiliated (both use the same shipping addy out of Richmond, BC), and both offer FREE SHIPPING.

http://www.bestdirect.ca
http://www.bestdirect.ca/contact/

http://www.directcanada.com
http://www.directcanada.com/contact/

http://www.bestdirect.ca/products/216224/RC-922M-KKN1-GP/COOLERMASTER/ $89.68
Coolermaster Haf 922 Mid Tower ATX Case Black 5X5.25 5X3.5INT Front Audio USB eSATA No PSU

http://www.bestdirect.ca/products/228326/R4-LUS-07AR-GP/COOLERMASTER/ $11.00
Coolermaster Megaflow 200MM Red LED Case Fan 700RPM for HAF932 922 Cosmos S Atcs 840 Storm Sniper

http://www.bestdirect.ca/products/230798/ERV920EWT%20/ENERMAX/ $170.50
Enermax ERV920EWT REVOLUTION85+ 920W ATX12V 24PIN & PCI-E Power Supply

http://www.directcanada.com/products/?sku=10530BD2656&vpn=P8Z68-V&manufacture=ASUS $169.69
ASUS P8Z68-V Z68 LGA1155 ATX 3PCI-E16 2PCI-E1 2PCI HDMI DVI Motherboard

http://www.bestdirect.ca/products/232639/BX80623I52500K/Intel/ $208.79
Intel Core i5 2500K Quad Core Unlocked Processor LGA1155 3.3GHZ Sandy Bridge 6MB

http://www.directcanada.com/products/?sku=11130AC8843&vpn=RR-B10-212P-G1&manufacture=COOLERMASTER $23.69
Coolermaster Hyper 212 Plus Direct Touch 4 Heatpipe Heatsink AM2 AM3 LGA1366 LGA1155 LGA1156 120MM

http://www.bestdirect.ca/products/233999/F3-12800CL9D-8GBSR/G.SKILL/ $50.77
G.SKILL F3-12800CL9D-8GBSR Sniper SE 8GB 2X4GB DDR3-1600 CL9-9-9-24 1.5V Memory Kit

http://www.bestdirect.ca/products/225965/DRW-24B1ST%20Bulk/ASUS/ $16.79
ASUS DRW-24B1ST 24X SATA DVD Writer OEM Black

http://www.bestdirect.ca/products/233111/ST31000524AS/Seagate/ $49.79
Seagate Barracuda ST31000524AS 7200.12 1TB SATA 32MB Cache 3.5IN Internal Hard Drive OEM

http://www.directcanada.com/products/?sku=11610BD3900&vpn=015-P3-1580-AR&manufacture=EVGA $488.70
EVGA GeForce GTX 580 Fermi 772MHZ 1536MB GDDR5 2XDVI Mini-HDMI PCI-E Video Card

http://www.directcanada.com/products/?sku=11610BD3900&vpn=015-P3-1580-AR&manufacture=EVGA $488.70
EVGA GeForce GTX 580 Fermi 772MHZ 1536MB GDDR5 2XDVI Mini-HDMI PCI-E Video Card

http://www.bestdirect.ca/products/222137/GFC-00599/MICROSOFT/ $93.79
Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium Edition 64BIT DVD OEM

Total: $1,861.89

http://www.directcanada.com/products/?sku=11180AC0891&vpn=CA-HS1ANA&manufacture=CORSAIR $59.69
Corsair Gaming Audio Series CA-HS1A Headset 50MM Drivers Circumaural Earcups

http://www.bestdirect.ca/products/224250/920-002232/Logitech/ $68.26
Logitech G110 Gaming Keyboard USB Programmable Backlit Keys USB Audio

http://www.directcanada.com/category/?minorcatid=1373&vendorid=1266 $29.15
Coolermaster CM Storm Spawn 3500DPI Gaming Mouse 7 Button Black Red

or...

http://www.directcanada.com/products/?sku=12660ID2220&vpn=910-001260&manufacture=LOGITECH $59.43
Logitech G500 Laser Gaming Mouse 5700DPI Weight Adjustable USB BLACK/GREY


http://www.bestdirect.ca/products/234805/CT128M4SSD2/CRUCIAL%20TECHNOLOGY/ $202.00
Crucial M4 SSD Micron C400 128GB 2.5IN Solid State Disk Flash Drive SATA3 6Gbps
 

u4icsmith

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Aug 22, 2011
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Solid!

I'll definitely take a look at this!

Appreciate it.
 

u4icsmith

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Aug 22, 2011
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After asking around a few places, I've been told (or laughed at, however you want to put it) with regards to the lack of a(n) SSD with this build. As well as there only being 8 gigs of ram. And that the two gpu's selected is overkill.

It's times like these that I hate being uninformed in the computer "scene"...

I suck :(
 

candlelarbra5212

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Jun 1, 2011
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8GB is plenty of ram, whoever is telling you to put more in is an idiot, the 580s aren't worth it, at most chuck a pair of 6970s or 570s in there (both have close performance to sli'd 580s) I have one 560 and it can max almost every game at 1920x1080 with good frame rates.
SSD is totally your choice but with such a big budget I would defs put one in as HDDs are the biggest bottleneck going around now.
 

That SSD I put in down at the bottom of that build is a good one. Like the other poster noted, dual 560's or dual 570's is a good choice. I'l post a different psu and dual 560's. Cheaper psu, duala 560's in SLI > single 580, and you have money left over for that SSD I posted up above.
 
http://www.bestdirect.ca/products/231687/HCG-750/ANTEC/ $94.51
Antec High Current Gamer 750W 24PIN ATX12V V2.3 Active PFC 80 Plus Bronze SLI Power Supply 135mm Fan

http://www.directcanada.com/products/?sku=11610BD1412&vpn=01G-P3-1561-AR&manufacture=EVGA <--- two of these with that psu up above

or....

http://www.bestdirect.ca/products/235792/P1850BNLG9/XFX/ $137.35
XFX 850W PRO850W XXX Edition Single Rail ATX 12V 70A 24PIN ATX Modular Power Supply 80PLUS Silver


http://www.directcanada.com/products/?sku=11610BD0290&vpn=012-P3-1570-AR&manufacture=EVGA <----- two of these with that psu up above
 

flong

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Dec 27, 2010
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I agree with other poster's comments that whoever is "laughing" at you is a total idiot concerning quality computer builds. I'm sorry but I don't like arrogant people putting others down!

1. Two ATI 6950s or two GTX 560 Tis will max out any game on a single monitor (unless your are sporting a 30" $2000 monitor)

2. 2 X 4GB DDR3 1866 RAM either CL8 or CL9 provides the most performance for the buck. However, here in the USA 2133 RAM is quickly dropping in price. I just saw a kit of Gskill 2 x 4GB 2133 RAM for $75.00 - on Newegg today. This is very cheap. Keep in mind that you only get a 2-3% performance increase by going above 1866 RAM and up until lately, 2133 RAM pricing was twice as much

3. Going to 12 GB or 16 GB or RAM does little to improve performance for Sandy Bridge CPUs unless you are doing very high resource consuming math calculations or heavy duty video editing

4. Here are some suggestions for your choices:

A. PSU - Corsair HX 850 modular PSU with a 7 - year warranty. Approximately $160 USD on Newegg. I own this PSU and it is amazing. It is the most efficient, highest rated PSU on the market for the buck

B. Corsair 650D computer case - one of the best overall cases available. With the exception of cooling that is about 3C - 5C behind the class-leading cooling cases, it is the most up-to-date and best case available IMO.

C. The Noctua NH-D14 CPU cooler is probably the best air-cooler available. I own it and it keeps my CPU temps under 40C under load (not overclocked) which is amazing. You can regularly pick it up for $75 USD. The D-14 provides massive cooling while remaining quiet

D. Spend the money and get a 120 GB SSD to run your operating system. I just built my first computer using a SSD (Corsair F3 GT 120GB SSD) and the speed difference between a computer with an SSD running its operating system and one without an SSD is unbelievable. I would recommend one of the following:

1. Kingston Extreme Hyper X - it is the fastest 120GB on the market right now

2. OCZ 120 GB Vertex 3 or the Max IOPS Vertex 3 (both are good)

3. Patriot Wildfire - tied for the second fastest 120 GB SSD

4. Mushkin Extreme - tied for the second fastest 120 GB SSD

5. Corsair 120 GB Force 3 GT (note the "GT") - this is the third fastest 120 GB SSD on the market and it is backed by Corsair's legendary customer service

I hope this helps you. Some of my best customers are Canadian
 

u4icsmith

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Aug 22, 2011
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Thanks for all the information guys, I really appreciate it.

You're doing an awesome job :)

And just an FYI, regarding the other places I've asked around, the communities in question are swarming with less than stellar users so I usually take their advice with a grain of salt in most cases - including anything PC related.

I'll stick to the pros here for that :)
 

flong

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Google some of the components that have been recommended and read some of the professional reviews. It will help you to make an informed decision. You will learn a lot about what options are available to you.
 

mjmjpfaff

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+1
2 570's is a good option too. they can also be powered by the hx850 and it will still be very efficient

about the sandforce ssd's....reliability is a problem i recommend the crucial m4 128gb, corsair performance 3 128gb, intel 510 series 120gb, and the Plextor PX-M2 128gb.

for the case i would also look into the silverstone raven series (only the RV03 and the RV02-E) they offers cooling that surpasses the 650d and the HAF X (cheaper than both), amazing cable management, and it is a full tower.

1866mhz cas9 ram is all you will need.

For the cpu cooler. look into the h60 and putting 2 fans on it (cooler master 120mm 19dba). it will give similar performance to the noctua for less


 

The HX850 cost more than the XFX 850 modular even though they are both manufactured by Seasonic. Second off, make sure that Corsair has good airflow/cooling for the fact Corsair cases in the past have been known as over priced hot boxes and when your running dual cards and o/c that means a lot.
 

mjmjpfaff

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look for the new corsair carbide 500r. there is already a product page for it on amazon (not in stock though). it is 125$ and supposed to be for high airflow.
2 other good psu options- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341044 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341044 (free shipping) or http://www.amazon.com/SilverStone-ATX12V-EPS12V-Silver-ST85F-P/dp/B00307RLZW/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1314335649&sr=1-1

 

flong

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Quick note: I saw 2133 Gskill CL11 RAM on sale at Newegg for $75. The days of 2133 RAM costing twice as much as 1866 RAM seem to be over.

The Raven is a great case for cooling - I think it is even better than the FT02, but if you remove the top HDD cage in the 650D, it is very good at cooling and you still have room for three hard drives and you have the SATA III hot-swap drive bay. In every other way, the 650D is superior to the Raven.
It is easier to build in, it is made of higher quality materials, it has fully tooless build functions that work, it has quick release side panels, it has the Obsidian series good looks and is almost universally praised for its beauty, it has less plastic, easy to clean removable filters and finally it cools well on low fans and is nearly silent (on high fans it is medium loud because it moves a lot of air). It also costs more than the Raven 3. I own the 650D, it is a great case and you have Corsair's legendary customer service standing behind it. The Raven is probably better than the HAF X, but I don't own the Raven. The Silverstone cases have had their problems. Oh, one other point, the Raven is one of the quietest cases available considering its cooling capability which is a great selling point.

So the Raven is a very good choice or the 650D is also an excellent choice or you could look at some cheaper Cooler Master cases like the CM II 692.

While the reliability of the Sandforce drives has been questioned, Intel recently has had problems (the 8GB bug). The Crucial M4 has also had some problems and there is no hard data as to which of these drives is more reliable. The M4 is also slower than the faster 2281 Sandforce drives - the 120GB Patriot Wildfire is faster in nearly every benchmark than the 256 GB M4. Here is a review:

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/hardware-canucks-reviews/45718-crucial-m4-256gb-ssd-review.html

The 256 GB Crucial M4 gets spanked by the 120 GB Patriot Wildfire. The M4 is a good drive, it is just slow compared to the top SSDs.

Right now the Kingston Hyper X is the fastest 120 GB drive out there and it is fairly cheap at around $250. It will probably get cheaper. The Wildfire and the Mushkin Extreme are also very fast and use superior flash memory (NAND). OCZ Vertex 3 Max IOPS deserves mentioning as does the Corsair Force 3 GT (emphasize the GT) which also is very fast. These are the fastest drives out there in the 120GB size and reliability for all of them is unknown. That being said, I do believe that the Intel SSDs are the most reliable, despite their recent problems - but they are pretty slow compared to the Sandforce drives (unless you are dealing with large files and compressed data for most of your work).

I agree that two 570s in SLI are a great choice. The 570 costs more than the 6950 but it has some advantages. It is a very powerful card that runs quiet and cool.

For the slightly higher cost, the HX 850 is by far the better PSU with the better (7-year) warranty. It will run to 6950s or 570s and stay in the Gold efficiency range (90%). It will be nearly silent and it will run cool. It is also modular so it will be MUCH easier to build with. I own the HX 850 and I have never heard it - ever. I have never heard its fans which means it has never gone to high fan with my build because it is so efficient (I have only one 6950). The real deciding factor is that you have Corsair backing it - if you have a problem Corsair will stand behind their product. This is probably the highest rated 850 W PSU available. It reviews in pro reviews better than than the Corsair AX 850 which is gold rated.
 

phenom90

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here is the list of components that i personally highly recommended...

cpu: http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115072
intel core i5 2500k - $219.99

mobo: http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157265
asrock p67 extreme4 gen3 - $199.99

ram: http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820220558
Patriot Gamer 2 Series 8GB PGD38G1600ELK - $37.49 after MIR

power supply: http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341045
OCZ ZX Series 1000W Fully-Modular - $168.99 after MIR

casing: http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811163173
silverstone raven 2 evolution - $199.99

graphics card: http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814134125
2x ECS gtx 570 1280mb - $549.98 after MIR

or

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102951
2x SAPPHIRE Toxic 100312TXSR Radeon HD 6950 2GB - $539.98 after MIR



hdd: http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185
samsung spinpoint f3 1tb - $74.99

ssd: http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227730
OCZ Vertex 3 V3LT-25SAT3-240G - $399.99 after MIR

optical drive - http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827136236
LG DVD Burner 24X GH24NS70 - $17.99

cpu cooler - http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835608018
Noctua NH-D14 - $89.99

total - $1959.39(if paired with gtx 570)
$1949.39(if paired with hd 6950)

both prices are not include shipping... for keyboard and mouse... honestly i don't know which one should i recommended so i skip on those things... sorry man...

the reason why i choose raven 2 over anything else despite its $200 asking price is because it has very good airflow... while not being noisy like antec 1200... it is very suitable for sli/crossfire...

i know the noctua cpu cooler is expensive.. but if you want a cheaper alternative... this...
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103065
plus the push/pull fan
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103069

a good 850watt psu is enough for 6950 crossfire and gtx 570 sli... but why not get something more powerful? the ocz psu that i listed is a fully modular 1kw model while not being too expensive...

one more thing... you don't need those 2133mhz ram or 1866mhz ram... maybe it is drop in price but still expensive than the one that i've listed above... it does nothing to improve your gaming experience... so for mild overclocking... a pair of cheap 8gb 1600mhz is enough to do the job...

120gb ssd? it's going to fill up quickly.. get the 240gb... can store more data...

i hope this helps... so get the best out of your money...
 

flong

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"one more thing... you don't need those 2133mhz ram or 1866mhz ram... maybe it is drop in price but still expensive than the one that i've listed above... it does nothing to improve your gaming experience... so for mild overclocking... a pair of cheap 8gb 1600mhz is enough to do the job... "

Uh, uh, uh, your not correct with this one. There is a noticeable difference between 1600 and 1866 RAM, and an even bigger difference between 1600 and 2133 RAM. Also Newegg had 2 x 4GB Gskill 1866 RAM on sale for $64.99 - just how cheap do you need 1866 RAM to be? Two days ago, Newegg had 2133 Gskill RAM on sale for $75.00 - again your not going to be beating that price a lot by going to 1600 RAM.

I have 1600 RAM and Windows lists it as the slowest part of my system (it is a 7.6 rating). Everything else in my system rates the max 7.9 with the Windows 7 rating system. This shows you that there is noticeable difference with RAM speeds.
 

ozzy702

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Synthetic benchmarks are the only areas you'll see any measurable improvement with faster memory. In large part as long as you're running 1600mhz RAM with 8 8 8 24 timings you're golden at this point. Will expensive memory make a difference? Sure, but it's not worth the added expense for the less than 1% improvement in every real world test . Your money is better spent just about anywhere else, especially since most faster memory has really loose timing.
 

flong

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I understand what you are saying but there are a couple of things you don't quite have right.

1. As I mentioned, RAM prices for 1866 and 2133 RAM have plummeted and you can get it on sale cheap - as I said in my post. So there is not a significant savings by going to 1600 RAM

2. There is a more than 1% difference in performance. It is 3-5% for 1866 and more for 2133. It is a noticeable difference and the high speed RAM will save you time.

It used to be just a couple of months ago that you were correct about the cost difference vs performance benefit buty that has changed - high speed RAM is now very affordable.
 

You're right. With 1866 ram coming at most a $10 premium over 1600 ram, there's no reason not to go with the faster ram. People have to catch onto this.