$ 900 to 1350 Gaming PC

16gb 1600mhz ram, i5 2500k, your choice of full size tower, msi GD80 mb, maybe a 120gb ssd, couple TB of hd space, arctic cooling heat sink and a gtx570 would take you right around 1200. your choice of brands and such if you have any brand loyalties but for your budget you can get a very nice comp. the 3d software and hardware for nvidia is around 150 ish

That's a pretty hefty request. But my suggestions,

500gb Western Digital, Caviar Blue HDD.

2x ASUS GTX 460 1gb

4gb Corsair Dominator RAM

ASUS SABERTOOTH P67 (Fantastic Mobo, feel free to go with the version without thermal armor)

Intel Core i5 2300 2.5GHz, 3.1GHz Turbo Boost

AZZA TITAN 1000w PSU

RAIDMAX HELIOS

Corsair H60 CPU Cooler


Grand Total on Newegg, (Before Shipping) : $1,118.00

Believe it or not, I've had experience with every single one of these parts, and loved them.

Best of luck to you, I hope you make a choice that works for you.

Anyone, please correct any mistakes I've made, for I'm very tired at the moment and more than likely overlooked something silly.

~Rothaga

Thanks for your quick reply!
I just wanna ask if ASUS 560 Ti CUII card is somehow close to the 460's preferred 'cause 460s seem to be a bit old and I might add another 560Ti later.

Again thanks for your reply.  

here is what i recomend, higher specs and speed to the previous recomendation. 1,080.00 after rebates. add another SSD and raid it to take the total around 1290 or add the nvidia 3d system.

case (place holder for price, get what you want. i prefer thermaltake but they are around 250.00)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

video 570: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

psu 750: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

ram, 2 sticks 8gigs: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

cpu 2500K: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

heat sink for OC: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

120gb SSD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
(i have heard and experienced issues with ocz ssd's wich is why i chose this one)

MB GD55: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Processor : Intel Core i5 2500K - $220
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

HeatSink : CoolerMaster Hyper 212+ - $30
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Motherboard : ASRock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard - $125
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

RAM : Gskill Ripjaws X Series 8(2x4GB) DDR3 1600 - $52
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Graphics : XFX HD-697A-CNFC Radeon HD 6970 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 - $320
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Power Supply : XFX Core Edition PRO850W (P1-850S-NLB9) 850W - $90
www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E1681720701...

Hard Disk : SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive - $60
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

SSD : OCZ Agility 3 AGT3-25SAT3-60G 2.5" 60GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive - $90
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Case : COOLER MASTER HAF 922 BLUE RC-922M-KWN2-GP Black ATX Mid Tower - $100
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Optical Drive : LG CD/DVD Burner 22X DVD - $17
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Monitor : Acer S231HLbid Black 23" 5ms HDMI LED-Backlight LCD monitor Slim Design - $150
www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E1682400925...

Total : $1246 after rebates

the first suggestion - 4gigs of ram is pretty low, 8gb minimum for todays comps and gaming.

the water cooling heatsink is bulky and not efficient enough for me to recommend.

the 460's are good cards but old tech. the 5XX series have newer rendering tech collapsibility and thus i would recommend getting them over any 4XX. the 2300 is a good mid range cpu but for the extra cash the K series is much better for someone who might be over clocking.

6970 is a strong card, if you do not intend to use 3D i would go with that over the nvidia but if you want to use 3D or 3d rendering programs then i would go nvidia.

Thanks! but if wanna go 2x 570s will the PSU be ok with it?

Relatively, the 460's aren't "old" they're slightly aged. I have two EVGA Superclocked 460's running in a build I made for my buddy, and he's very happy with the results. He let me borrow it for a month, and I must say, I'm jealous at the Bad Co. 2 settings it can run.

Anyway, it's your build. You go ahead and make the executive decision.

Have a great day!
~Rothaga

You may be correct with the 460's but it is a very cheap solution, and you continue to get great quality. There's always overclocking, too.

As for the RAM, it's entirely up the the OP. I will stand by 4gb of Corsair Dominator GT RAM. It's very reliable, and easy to OC. And with 4gb, it's VERY easy to upgrade in the future, if the OP finds that's not meeting his needs.

down side to the 4gigs is the dual 2GB sticks, with 8 you get dual 4 so you can go to 16. maybe im just a heavy ram user but i have 16 gigs and its not uncommon for me to run out of ram. i run with VM disabled.

My immediate guess, is no. You should probably go for an 850, maybe 1000.

I could be wrong, it's happened before  

~Rothaga

@ ncc

yeah, GTX 570 is a Nvidia equivalent with better 3D Performance.

Thanks guys! you wear of great help  

So that's what I have on mind now:

intel i5 -2500K
ASUS SABERTOOTH P67
G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB)
SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM

considering PSU I prefer Thermaltake, Antec, or Corsair. If anyone can recommend a decent 700 to 900 W PSU I'll be thankful.  


and what do you guys think of Asus P8Z68 Deluxe?

Forgot to thank you man! thanks  

hahaha okaay  

Anyway, thanks for your advice.

i use this with a dual 5870 eyefinity setup. the most power this system ever uses is about 800W including my 46" monitor. i think a 750 can handle it but a 850 or 1KW dont really cost much more.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

No problem, I hope I helped at least a little. I'm a bit curious as to what graphics card solution you have chosen,though. I didn't see it in your lineup.

~Rothaga

I'll be going with a 560 Ti or a 570 dunno actually. they're new cards so they won't need to be upgraded soon

dual 570's are a decent choice but i worry they may be overkill. still the 570 is a good 40% more performance for 120 less compared to a 590

Guys I am confused again
which is better
Asus P8Z68 Deluxe or P67 Sabertooth?

Z68 is a higher end chipset. p67 is a mid-high range chipset

i personally prefer MSI or evga over asus

really?, I thought ASUS was the best.

The ASRock Gen3 are my choice knowing that they feature PCIe 3.0 slots and capable of SLI/Crossfire at x8/x8.

Asus is just alot more costly.

i dislike teh asus bios screens, i dont care for the onboard audio and ive had a bad experience with there tech support in the past. i also dont like asus color scheme on the board. i much prefer the msi support, bios screens, boot logo, realtek audio, and the blue/black color of the MB (yes the color matters to me a great deal)

ive built 3 system with this board http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168... i use this board on my system: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168... rock solid OC and this board has been to HELL!!. i built this system with no clamps on my LC system, thus i had a few leaks and comp shut downs due to the MB being in a shower of distilled water. ive also accidentally spilt a fruit smoothie in the top of my comp and it drippe over the MB shutting the computer down (pineapple, strawberry, orange, black, blue and ras berries.) when i was first dealig with the over clocking some how the built in OC software i was using upvolted the ram to 4.6V causing a system crash. after all this the comp is still rock solid with no issues to speak of after about a year and a half.

Could you tell me what's the difference between PCIe 3.0 slots and PCIe 2.0 slots cause I've searched and didn't see a big difference?

its just a new standard. right now it does not matter but in the future it will. high bandwidth and pipelines, just like PCI-E X16 vs PCI-E 2.0 and 2.1

my love for MSI started when i was 16, i blew a bios chip on my athlon XP 1700+ system. called them up and they mailed me a new bios chip warped in news paper inside a bubble wrap letter sleeve with a note. "be careful not to bend pins, use bios pulling tool or a bent fork"

do any card run PCI-e 3.0 right now?

hahahaa that's hilarious  

i do not think any cards are up to 3.0 yet but im sure they are in development. to be fair the 2.0 bandwidth is still not maxed out so it will be awhile until the extra bandwidth is needed. just like previous upgrades.

Whatever brand of motherboard you prefer, I would go with a Z68 over a P67. I would recommend this one in the same price range as the Sabertooth P67:

Asus P8Z68-V Pro
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...


As far as the GPUs go, here is how I would break it down:

Single Card, 1080p Gaming: GTX 570
Dual Card, 1080p Gaming: GTX 560 x 2
3D 1080p Gaming: GTX 560 Ti x 2 or GTX 570 x 2


For the PSU:

650 Watts: Single GTX 560, 560 Ti, or 570
750 Watts: Single GTX 570, Dual GTX 560 or 560 Ti
850 Watts: Dual GTX 560, 560 Ti, or 570

Just make sure you get a quality PSU. The generally recommended brands are Corsair, Seasonic, and Antec. Whichever PSU you pick out, just make sure you read a review of it first.

pretty good info on that. im fairly sure you can do a high end 3d gaming on a 570 single. they have lots of headroom to play with. i use roswill PSU's on my systems. i like them alot, plus they come with great carrying cases.

Thank you guys for your amazing help! That's what I decided till now. If something's not cool please tell me.
Note: I don't have any experience cooling PCs, so any advice would be great!  

Processor : Intel Core i5 2500K

Motherboard : ASUS P8Z68-V PRO LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard with UEFI BIOS

RAM : Gskill Ripjaws X Series 8(2x4GB) DDR3 1600

Graphics : ASUS ENGTX560 TI DCII/2DI/1GD5 GeForce GTX 560 Ti (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

Hard Disk : SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive

Optical Drive : LG CD/DVD Burner 22X DVD

Power Supply : probably some good 850W

Case : undecided.

Monitor : Samsung 22" Class (21.5" Diag.) 1080p 60Hz LED-LCD HDTV UN22D5000NF
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

make sure you buy a 120hz monitor if you plan to use 3D. use a high end fan heatsink, i prefer arctic cooling and arctic silver MX-4 thermal compound. do not buy liquid cooling, LC should only be used by computer enthusiast's who know and understand how to maintain/build it.

You're spending too much on the motherboard. The ASRock one offers the same features for $75 less.

i agree, take that money from teh MB and put it into buying one step up on the video if you must spend it. a 120.00 MB is all you need for your uses

@ ncc

I second that.

I third that.
Also, for the case, I suggest a full tower if you're going SLI 570's. I had just one in a midtower, and it wasn't getting proper air cooling.

Also, if you can, utilize that 3.1GHz Turbo boost on the i5. And then cool it with one of Corsairs amazing water coolers. Easy to install, great performance, and best of all, great price.

But you should decide on water vs air cooling, after you choose your case.

~Rothaga

The i5 2500K has stock speed of 3.3Ghz and turbo of 3.8Ghz. That much speeds don't require water coolers.

dont get water cooling, you dont need it, its one more thing to fail, those single water cooling kits with a single 120mm fan are a joke. they dont give you anything major oever a high end air cooling system and people put to much faith in to them. if anyone wants to OC a CPU above what is considered average then you NEED to build your self a real LC system not one of these jokes in a box. they dont look very nice in the case, they have fairly low coolant flow... I can not recommend liquid cooling for anyone who is not an enthusiast who understands all the risks and benefits. LC is a great system when you need it but frankly how many of us that run LC truly NEED that high of an OC? its just bragging rights.

do your self a favor and just get a high end good looking air cooled heatsink and stick with it.

on a side note, the i5's have crazy low heat generation anyway

That's funny. I've read that i5's have very high heat generation, especially the 2500k when you OC it to 3.8GHz.

I guess I've been miss-informed. I apologize.


~Rothaga

any cpu generates more heat while OC'd. the i5's compared to a core 2 however remains very cool. the last comp i built with a 2500K was on a MSI MB with a arctic cooling heat sink. the auto oc button on the MB took it to 4.3Ghz with a max load heat of 63C. that leaves a lot of headroom. the comp was for a client so i never tried any manual oc but im sure it would go much higher

I am just doubtful about ASRock, is it a good manufacturer? If you could tell me a good alternative, I'll be thankful cause I may not be able to get the ASRock.

so dont buy a asrock, get a cheaper asus or msi, gigabyte or DFI. you can find a cheaper board with every MFG if you want. feel free to check out reviews online for performance and such but in all honesty the only major differences come in with how many phases the mosfets can switch through, minor power consumption issues, how high the OC ceiling can go and stuff like that. so long as you stick to a good main brand you should be fine. main brands for me are: MSI, Asus, DFI, Evga, Gigabyte. a step down is asrock, biostar. below that i would place ecs and foxcon. i class intel under stability in work stations but not for enthusiast work by gamers. i would place DFI into a category for high level users who want new tech that may or may not work properly.

from my experience in building comps; some of these brands i have not used in a few years

I've read a ton of reviews and can't get an ASUS board. seems like a maze.