Build Advice: $1700 Gaming PC ($2200 Max)

draynoe · Sep 1, 2011

Please tweak/alter

...

Approximate Purchase Date: This week

Budget Range: Before rebates - $2200

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming, Programming, Photoshop etc, Surfing the web

Parts Not Required: Monitor

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Newegg.com

Country of Origin: United States

Parts Preferences: Mid-tower preferred but awesome looking, Name brand parts, good memory like Vengeance

Overclocking: No unless it's super easy

SLI or Crossfire: Maybe if it's worth it at this point - if not I could add a card later

Monitor Resolution: 1680x1050, 1920x1080

Additional Comments: I was originally considering building a maxed out i7 machine but comments led me to the i5 (Post is located at: My i7 gaming computer question. I would like the best gaming PC I can get that will run any game out now at max fps as well as coming games like BF3 and COD:MWF3 while also having a super fast programming machine. I would like 12GB of RAM preferred. I have to use a wireless adapter as I can't drop a line to the PC. I would like a decent wireless keyboard/mouse combo. I would also like some alternate case suggestions. I currently have an older Dell 24" monitor with no HD etc.

Setups I was considering:

*************************

Setup based on some comments from Tomshardware responses in my other thread:

Estimated Cost: $1670

Case:

$100 - Antec Nine Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

CPU:

$220 - Intel Core i5-2500K

Motherboard:

$195 - ASUS P8Z68-V PRO LGA 1155

RAM:

$90 - CORSAIR Vengeance 12GB

Hard Drives:

$170 (Limited time) - 128GB SSD
$100 - 1.5 TB Cavier Black

Video Card:

$490 - EVGA 015-P3-1580-AR GeForce GTX 580

Power Supply:

$154 - KINGWIN Mach 1 ABT-1000MA1S 1000W

DVD Burner:

$21 - ASUS 24X DVD Burner

Water Cooling:

$72 - CORSAIR CWCH50-1

Keyboard/Mouse:

$30 - Logitech Wireless Combo

PCI Wireless Card:

$27.50 PCIe x1: Asus Wireless Network Adapter

Thanks for any build tweaks advice you can give!

draynoe · Sep 1, 2011

Also - Does that motherboard support SLI in case I wanted to add another gtx 580 one day? ... Thanks!

phenom90 · Sep 1, 2011

helo Draynoe... for that kind of budget... antec nine hundred is definitely a good case... but its design started to look abit outdated... as for memory the corsair model that you've listed is triple channel kit... which is more suited for x58 platform... since the build you make is sandy bridge... which utilise dual channel memory... it is better to either opted for dual sticks of ram... or just use 4 altogether... otherwise the stird sticks of your listed corsair memory will run at single channel... it won't run at optimum performance... maybe you can try this list of build...

cpu: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115072
Intel Core i5-2500K - $219.99

mobo: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157271
ASRock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3 - $124.99

ram: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231479
G.SKILL Sniper Series 8GB Low Voltage F3-12800CL9D-8GBSR1 - $59.99

cpu cooler: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835181011
CORSAIR CAFA70 - $26.42 after MIR

case: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811163173
SILVERSTONE RAVEN RV02B-EW - $189.99

graphics card: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814162073
Galaxy 58NLH5HS3PXZ GeForce GTX 580 - $414.99 after MIR

hdd: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185
SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB - $59.99

ssd: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148448
Crucial M4 CT128M4SSD2CCA 2.5" 128GB - $227.99

odd: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827136236
LG DVD Burner 24X GH24NS70 - $20.99

psu: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341045
OCZ ZX Series 1000W Fully-Modular - $169.99 after MIR

total: $1515.33 after MIR (excluding shipping)

since you said you want alternate case suggestions... so i think you might want to try something out of ordinary... this silverstone case has a 90 degree motherboard mounting layout is different than most cases in the market... its primary source of cooling comes from 3x 180mm bottom intake fans.... unusual but user reviews and pro reviews shows it work very well... it is one of the best air-cooled case available... as for motherboard this asrock model is cheaper and it has pcie 3.0 ready which will support future graphics card standard(latest being 2.1 compliant)... as for graphics card i found this is one of the cheapest in newegg and it does come with arctic accelero xtreme cooling.... it runs much cooler than reference cooler... so you have some headroom for overclocking... but mind you this card consumes 2.5 slots... so if you want to get another one for sli in the near future... its better to get the reference model from evga... although it costs more... since you don't intend to overclock... you don't need to buy h50 for cooling... any $20-$30 cooler will do the job well...

draynoe · Sep 1, 2011

epidot · Sep 1, 2011

Most of the stuff on your first list looks ok to me. Only exception would be the Antek 900 case. The 900 was a great case 5-6 years ago. Thats when I bought mine. But it lacks any ability towards cable management and alot of the newer video cards wont fit due to their length. Also it is narrow. Concidering todays massive cpu heatsinks which is absolutely needed to keep things cool, looking at my 900 I doubt any of the tall heatsinks would fit with the side panel on. Or it would be realy tight at best.

I bought a HAF 922 for my upcoming build. Plenty of room in all directions to fit practically any type of hardware and cooling products in with room to spare. And reasonable priced as well.

draynoe · Sep 1, 2011

Why_Me · Sep 1, 2011

That board down below provides a black front bezel w/2 x 3.0 USB ports and a 2.5" SSD bracket that nicely matches that case. Also that board is set up for Ivy Bridge and has the PCI-E 3.0 slots that Ivy Bridge will support not to mention it has the NF200 Bride allowing dual cards to run @ x16 & x16. This build is set up to add another one of those vid cards later on for SLI. That psu is manufactured by Enermax for LEPA and is top of the line.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119197 $99.99 - $89.99 after mail-in rebate FREE SHIPPING
COOLER MASTER HAF 922 RC-922M-KKN1-GP Black Steel + Plastic and Mesh Bezel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103072 $19.99 FREE SHIPPING
COOLER MASTER Megaflow 200 R4-LUS-07AR-GP 200mm Red LED Case Fan

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817194083 $179.99 - $129.99 after mail-in rebate card
LEPA G900-MA 900W SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157269 $289.99
ASRock Z68 Extreme7 Gen3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.726632 $324.98 FREE SHIPPING
Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80623I52500K
CORSAIR Vengeance 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model CML16GX3M4A1600C9

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835181010 $71.37 - $61.37 after mail-in rebate card FREE SHIPPING
CORSAIR CWCH50-1 High Performance CPU Cooler

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185 $59.99 FREE SHIPPING $10 off w/ promo code EMCKBGK32, ends 9/5
SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106334 $19.99 FREE SHIPPING
LITE-ON 24X DVD Writer 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM Black SATA Model iHAS-324-98B

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130731 $479.99 FREE SHIPPING
EVGA 015-P3-1580-TR GeForce GTX 580 (Fermi) 1536MB 384-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=CT128M4SSD $187.99 Free Shipping
Crucial M4 2.5 inch 128GB SATA3 Solid State Drive(MLC) - CT128M4SSD2

Total: $1,546.28 *not including shipping, promo codes and rebates

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824001475 $469.99
SAMSUNG S23A750D Black 23" 2ms Full HD 3D LED BackLight LCD Monitor 250 cd/m2 DCR 1,000,000:1 (1,000:1)

http://www.asrock.com/mb/overview.asp?Model=Z68%20Extreme7%20Gen3 <---- A better look at that board. Scroll down towards the bottom of the page to see the black 2 x 3.0 USB bezel w/2.5" SSD bracket

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ImageGallery.aspx?CurImage=13-157-269-Z05&SpinSet=13-157-269-RS&ISList=13-157-269-Z01%2c13-157-269-Z02%2c13-157-269-Z03%2c13-157-269-Z04%2c13-157-269-Z05&S7ImageFlag=1&Item=N82E16813157269&Depa=0&WaterMark=1&Description=ASRock%20Z68%20Extreme7%20Gen3%20LGA%201155%20Intel%20Z68%20HDMI%20SATA%206Gb%2fs%20USB%203.0%20ATX%20Intel%20Motherboard <----- You can see it on there also.

http://www.asrock.com/microsite/PCIe3/index.html <---- PCI-E 3.0 for Intel Ivy Bridge due out next spring.

http://www.asrock.com/microsite/IntelZ68/index.asp <----- Z68 features

http://www.coolermaster.com/product.php?product_id=6606 <------ A better look at that case

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-geforce-stutter-crossfire,2995.html <---- Toms showed with this review here last week that those boards (NF200 bridge x16 & x16) help to reduce micro stutter

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/crucial-m4-ssd-firmware-update,13314.html <----- Crucial M4 Firmware update

draynoe · Sep 1, 2011

Great information thanks Why_Me!

draynoe · Sep 1, 2011

Best answer selected by Draynoe.

Kamab · Sep 1, 2011

Gaming over wireless! I'd recommend getting a different wireless NIC, something like the Bigfoot Killer 1102, as online gaming is going to be highly effected by your connection quality.

draynoe · Sep 1, 2011

Yeah I really don't have an option for a wired connection at this point ...

Will the Bigfoot Killer 1102 work in the ASRock Z68 MB with SLI'd GTX 580's: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157269&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-RSSDailyDeals-_-na-_-na&AID=10521304&PID=4176827&SID=ck89nbay94vn

ttp://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130731&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-RSSDailyDeals-_-na-_-na&AID=10521304&PID=4176827&SID=1fg35k038cztt

I won't have them SLI'd at first but in the future I might get another one etc.

Also, which wireless router would you recommend for Wireless N?

drew_nikel · Sep 1, 2011

Kamab :

that depends on how big his crib is... and how far away his router from his rig is and what type of interfence he has. I live in smaller older 1 story condo with lead pipes in the walls. My router is in my living room and my rig is in my bedroom. I have a bathroom inbetween these rooms, So, Its about 7 feet from my wifi router to my wifi adapter. the cheap $10 wifi usb adapter from microcenter works perfect for me. Gaming for me is flawless and lag free on my end.

Kamab · Sep 1, 2011

Oh sorry, didn't realize they didn't sell an out of the box desktop version of their NICs. You would need a mini pcie to either a desktop pcie x1 of pci slot. I think these exist but might be difficult to find.

Kamab · Sep 1, 2011

Something like this.

http://www.iwantrade.com/desktop/pci-express/other/pci-express-x1-to-pci-express-mini-interface-adapter.html

I was assuming if the router/AP was that close he would just run a wired connection to the computer.

Why_Me · Sep 1, 2011

draynoe :

Dual band routers are the best you can get, unfortunately they don't have any dual band adapters out on the market atm that are worth a crap.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833130081 $39.99 FREE SHIPPING
Zonet ZEW1690 Wireless Adapter with Dual 7dbi Hi-Gain Antenna & Bonus Low-Profile Bracket IEEE 802.11b/g/n PCI Up to 300Mbps Wireless Data Rates WPA/WPA2, 64/128-bit WEP, TKIP/AES, 802.1x, WPS

If you scroll down a bit on that page/link below you can see other options/routers by Linksy's and what they offer. This one down below is on sale atm.

http://www.amazon.com/E2500-Advanced-Simultaneous-Dual-Band-Wireless-N/dp/B004T9RR4A/ref=sr_1_11?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1314909628&sr=1-11 $79.97 & this item ships for FREE with Super Saver Shipping
Linksys E2500 Advanced Simultaneous Dual-Band Wireless-N Router

draynoe · Sep 2, 2011

Thanks for the information everyone ... I'm trying to figure out a way to get an Ethernet wire to the desktop. If I can't I'll look into the adapters etc.

thrakazog · Sep 2, 2011

I would consider a power supply from Corsair, Antec, or Seasonic.

Why_Me · Sep 2, 2011

thrakazog :

You left out Enermax and Silverstone.

Upper tier Antecs made by Seasonic, XFX made by Seasonic, upper tier Corsair made by Seasonic, PC Power & Cooling...made by Seasonic, Enermax...another top of the line psu manufacture makes psu's for themselves and upper tier LEPA. Silverstone ...another top tier psu manufacture makes psu's for themselves.

draynoe · Sep 2, 2011

I was going to get this one: LEPA G900-MA 900W SLI - $180/$130 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817194083

Do you guys think that would be good for two GTX 580's or is there a better option?

Why_Me · Sep 2, 2011

draynoe :

Like I posted before, it's manufactured by Enermax and it's about as good as it gets. Also on that link to that psu there's a mention of johnny guru on there...which is pretty much the word of law to go by in regards to psu reviews. Google that review and check it out.

draynoe · Sep 2, 2011

Will do ...

One more thing if you don't mind ... Would two GTX 580's and that Zonet PCI wireless adapter fit on that motherboard you posted Why_Me? ... Sorry I'm total computer building noob lol ...

Thanks again!

Why_Me · Sep 2, 2011

draynoe :

It will fit with ease. That board has excellent spacing.

draynoe · Sep 2, 2011

Edit: removed a question that I googled hah...

So here's what I think I'm going with... If anyone see's anything that's completely wrong please let me know

Build Advice: $1700 Gaming PC ($2200 Max)

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