Sub $750 budget gaming rig build advice

How about an AMD build... from the egg

Thermaltake V3 Black Edition VL80001W2Z Black SECC / Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
Item #: N82E16811133094

Western Digital Caviar Black WD1002FAEX 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
Item #: N82E16822136533

ASRock 890GX PRO3 AM3+ AMD 890GX SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 HDMI ATX AMD Motherboard
Item #: N82E16813157244

MSI N560GTX-Ti Hawk GeForce GTX 560 Ti (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
Item #: N82E16814127578

Rosewill RV2-600 600 W ATX12V v2.2 / EPS12V SLI Ready Power Supply
Item #: N82E16817182039

G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBRL
Item #: N82E16820231314

AMD Phenom II X6 1090T Black Edition Thuban 3.2GHz Socket AM3 125W Six-Core Desktop Processor HDT90ZFBGRBOX
Item #: N82E16819103849

Subtotal: $764.93

nono for Rosewill PSU
also Proximon build will beat funguseater one

Bad idea going for AMD with Bulldozer chips shipping in less than a month. i5 2500k + GTX560Ti is the way to go for that budget.

Check my sig. The $800 build includes OS before rebates. Should cost less than $700 and includes i5 2500k + GTX560 Ti.

Biostar board are not of great quality
I would either go with Asus, Asrock or Gigabyte

Please see my PSU guide. It's linked in my sig. You are going to have to get over your prejudices as the majority of Rosewill PSUs are now at least adequate. The RV "stallion" series is inferior.

There are also several other surprise companies that are selling good PSUs now. Kingwin, Thortech, Superflower.... read actual reviews instead of making blanket calls on brands.

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/881

Check what the above guy said. Biostar makes some decent products.

EDIT: Try reading these as well. The software issue has since been fixed.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Biostar/TZ68A_PLUS/1...
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/z68xp-ud3-dz68db,29...

well he havent write anything so i think he already got the pc. this is not a debate this is a help request stop arguing about brands lol

I'm not making blanket calls. I didn't say anything about Kingwin, Thortech or Superflower beeing bad brands .. they are pretty good and just not popular here in US.
Rosewill on other hand is famous for it's cheap PSU .. and if u read review .. of actual customers, fry rate is pretty big. I have no doubt they stepped up their game and probably releasing decent PSUs. the problem with this one that it's efficiency is borderline 80+ and you can find something else priced in the same range with better efficiency and build quality




I am not talking about software issues, Biostar quality is lower then other major brands.
For instance they use regular MOSFET and those heat up alot comparing to low RDS MOSFET.
Also it has non standard ATX factor that may lead to installation difficulties.
Only 2 USB 2.0 and 2 USB 3.0 ports on the back.
For 20 bucks more u can get far more superior Asrock Gen 3 board with X8/X8 sli/cf, pcie 3.0 and lots of connectors. Also better phase design and overall build

hey guys, thanks for all the great input so far!

Some of my questions might sound noobish because I've been out of the PC component scene forever (i mean 6 years or so).

Is Nvidia the consensus leader nowadays on GPU's? I've had decent success with ATI based cards like the old 9800 back in the day.

On the mobo, Is ASROCK the best bang for the buck? How is it compared to Gigabyte and Asus? Will it allow me to later add an SSD if I wanted to stow the OS on there?

Ati is pretty solid on GPUs now, I'd say in most price ranges it's actually better choice.

Asrock has alot of features for price lower then other major brands, there are some problems with BIOS that getting fixed though. Gigabyte and Asus are pretty solid too, it's mostly what u looking in mobo, what connections and features? And how it reflects in price.
Yes u can add SSD later on, the only thing that u'll have to reinstall everything

OK, what's the ATI equiv to the GTX560Ti? The HD 6870 or the HD 6950?

Also, how do we feel about this PSU:

Antec EarthWatts EA-650 GREEN 650W ATX12V v2.3 SLI Ready CrossFire Certified 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply for $49.99 after rebate?

the AMD equal to the 560ti is the HD6950

It goes like this:
GTX 460 = HD 6850
GTX 560 = HD 6870
GTX 560ti =
= HD6950 1GB
GTX 570 = HD 6950 2GB

that PSU is pretty solid but if plan on sli/cf u want 750W

I hadn't planned on it, but I guess I'm not sure if I would need to bump up to 2 GPU's. I don't necessarily need to run the latest greatest games at 1080p. Thoughts?

an overclocked sandy bridge + 2 GTX 560ti draw between 450 and 600W in furmark. and a single 560ti will be at least 60 fps at anything you throw at it in 192-0x1080

OK, I've already got a 1tb Seagate ST310005N1A1AS that I can use for storage. What size is recommended for a SDD to put WIN7 on? 60 or 120GB?

I built a computer for a friend using a 60GB SSD and he's got windows, and a couple games on it and still has about 25GB of space left. 60GB would be fine but if you can swing it, bigger is always better in my opinion when it comes to disk space. But keep in mind you can install programs and games onto the Seagate 1TB you already have and run them just fine even if it's not the Primary Hard drive.

One thing I know is that SSD's do NOT do well when they are at or near capacity. a SSD can't "reallocate data" or in simple terms change a "1" to a "0" like a HDD can.

OK, so I'm kinda settled on the first combo (from proximom) with the exception of the PSU (I will get the Antec Earthwatts EA650 instead.)

Am i safe to say that the i5-2500k is a better performer than the AMD Phenom II 1090T?

yes.

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/146?vs=288

Of course you could pick up a cheapo AMD dual core and wait for an FX chip.. I hear they hit 8.4 GHz in some publicity stunt today. Its a gamble though...

I would probably go for the 2500k system too, just to be safe

8.4 Ghz ?? yeah with liquid nitrogen cooling

OK, lo and behold, my current desktop must have realized that I've been plotting against it, and decided to BSOD (never seen that yet on Win7).

Will get this thing ordered today. The MOBO+RAM combo deal in proximom's config is sold out. Anyone recommend another combo with the same mobo or similar?

They have the same combo with what looks like the previous version of Corsair Vengeance RAM.

Right here:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?Ite...

Mushkin is a fine brand and the specs are the same. Just not so flashy as the Vengeance.

Seagate Barracuda ST31000524AS 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

Galaxy 56NGH6HS4IXZ GeForce GTX 560 Ti (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit DDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

NVIDIA Gift - BATMAN Arkham City Game Coupon

Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80623I52500K

Antec EarthWatts EA-650 GREEN 650W ATX12V v2.3 SLI Ready CrossFire Certified 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply

Rosewill Smart One ATX Mid Tower Computer Case, Black interior, comes with three Fans-1x Front Blue LED 120mm Fan, 1x Rear ...

ASRock Z68 PRO3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

LITE-ON DVD Burner - Bulk 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 12X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM Black SATA Model iHAS124-04 - OEM

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-bit - OEM

CORSAIR Vengeance 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model CMZ16GX3M4A1600C9 This was on shell shocker on Thursday for $84.99
TOTAL: $863 after rebates

I know its $100 over my budget, but I figure the Antec PSU is an upgrade over the Rosewill, and I realized that my old LITE-ON burner was not SATA, had to get Win7, plus I bumped up to 16gb RAM.

Everything but the mobo came in on Friday, one question on mounting the PSU in this case:

The Rosewill case is a bottom mount psu type with vents on the bottom as well. This case is going on carpet, but I can put a couple of blocks under the feet of the case to raise it up an inch. Should I mount the PSU so that the intake fan pulls air from underneath the case, or face the fan up so it will pull air from inside the case?

Thanks everyone for the help on this so far!! Cannot wait to fire it up.

Best answer selected by veereihen6.

face it to pull air from the bottom

... but put something under the case, not blocks of wood but create a solid surface just underneath.

Looks like a good build.