Using some old parts. $600.00 budget.

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Jonas88

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Oct 4, 2011
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Hello everyone, long time reader here but first time poster.

So I currently have the following:

Monitor - Asus 22.3 inch 1080p monitor
HD - 2 300gb. seagate baracuda 7200rpm 3gb/s
CD/DVD - Just a standard $20.00 drive it's r/rw drive
CASE - Corsair 400r
OS - Windows 7 HP 64bit
PSU - Corsair CS 700watt 80 bronze

So I have recently bought the monitor case and os. I also have a 21 inch acer monitor but I thought since it didn't have the option to use 1080p resolution it was time for a upgrade. I will be ordering parts this Friday and have a $600.00 budge to do so.

Here is what I'm needing CPU, RAM, MB, GC (video card). So I have looked and researched to my hearts content but could use some advice from the community. I'm hoping to use this system for Elder Scrolls: Skyrim, SW:The Old Republic and possibly some other newer games in the future.

My questions are not only what kinda parts do you all recommend but I'm wondering if I should just go a AMD quad core route and save some money or go with something like a i52500k. Is the overclocking on 2500k hard to do? If so I'll probably just go with like a i5-2400 instead. Also what kinda motherboard would you recommend? I'm not a hardcore overclocker but if it's fairly easy then I'll be willing to give it a try. With RAM I'm not really interested in overclocking it but will want at least 1600mhz. What's the difference between like corasair domintor and corsair whatever other name they have? I notice they have a lot of similar ram kits but only differnce I can tell are there fancy names at the end of them. When it comes to video cards I have no idea what I should be looking for. I'm currently using 2 8800gts cards and there hot/loud and are fairly old now.

I'm also thinking that an SSD would be good for a MMORPG or so I'm told. People have said that games with lots of loading screens while your gaming would benefit being put on a SSD drive. I could care less if windows takes 45 seconds to load vs. 25 seconds with a ssd. Looking for raw gaming performacne. Basically best bang for the buck.

I orginally bought a q6600 which I'm running now but since it's running on a old chipset I'll need this upgrade. I really appreciate everyones help in advance. I hope I didn't leave anything out that might help you with helping me. Thanks again.
 
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illfindu

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Ill say this right off the bat in terms of value i strongly don't recommend a SSD as part of you build I have a 60b and its the least I would recommend if you wanna put your boot drive on there which gives the most performance any thing smaller and you will run out space the problem is in general a 60gb drive runs 100+ that's 1/6 of your budget and you don't have a vid,mb,or cpu you will get more gaming performance putting the money in to these things..

When it comes to RAM the market is pretty simple right now get a 2x4 1600 mhz kit from a decent brand like corsair or skill and you will be fine those kits have come way way down in price iv seen them for less then $55

The i5 2500k is really a amazing card for games in terms of value and no its not hard to OC at all. In terms of Vids some thing like a Radeon HD 6850 would be more then enough for MMORPG's and will play most games in the future with at least medium settings some thing like a nivd 460, or 560 will be similar.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131729 MB although there are several very similar 1155 socket boards with the same kinda features around the same price point

Below is what I personally would get but moving things around a little bit for your preference makes sense a cheaper board or a pricier GPU or vice versa is more a personal choice.

I5 2500k Cheapest you can find between Tiger direct, New Egg Micro center your choice.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231428 Ram

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121419 Vid card can be replaced buy earthier a nvid 460,560 or AMD 6870 to your likening and price point.
 
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Jonas88

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Your thinking a z68 vs. a p67 motherboard? I have seen some what appear to be nice gigabye motherboards around the 125 to 140 dollar price point.

What about after market cooling options for the i5-2500k? I know many people recommend the cooler master 212+, but are there any options that would work? I would be willing to spend as much as $50-60 dollars on a cooler if there is a better one available.

Thanks again for your input.
 
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illfindu

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Gigabyte is in my opinion not of the same quality as ASUS and MSI there not bad boards in any imagination just the company's track record isn't as good. The z68 gives you a little more future proofing you get ssd caching with the z68 you don't with he p67. The Cooler master 212+ is a great cooler if you wanna spend some more I would go with http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835118046 its big as a house but they cool systems like a pro and zalman is well known. Keep in mind that my mother board choice was just a starting point as long as you keep things like usb 3 for the future and and proper crossfire/sli support and it has the amount of sata ports you need going a less expensive on the board is a matter of choice.
 
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Jonas88

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Thank you. I will defintely look into it more. I will need some usb 3.0 b/c my case has a front header supporting 2 usb 3.0.

MSI I hear are good boards. Do you have any recommendations for MSI boards?
 
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ScrewySqrl

ScrewySqrl

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my suggestion for $600, since you don't need a case or psu:

i5-2500K: $219.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115072
easy overclock.

AS Rock Extreme 3 Gen 3 Z68 Motherboard: $124.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157271
its has 2 PCIe 3.0 slots in 16x/8x (single cards) or 8x/8x (dual GPU), gold caps, and AS Rock's excellent rep as the best inexpensive mobo maker.

HIS HD 6870 w/ DiRT3: $164.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161389

corsair 8 GB DDR3-1600: $47.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233180

Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO: $34.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103099
 
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Jonas88

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Do you think a 6870 would actually be good for gaming? Any other video card suggestions like a 560 or something? Also if I don't plan on overclocking would a i5-2400 be okay? It would save me about 30 dollars, and I read on toms hardware that you would barley notice the performance difference if at all.
 
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Jonas88

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I was thinking on going with a quad core AMD cpu and going more of a AMD based theme of the computer. I did some caculations and it comes out almost $100.0 cheaper which I could either add to a better gpu or maybe even a ssd drive.

Would a AMD processor be any good for gaming?
 
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Jonas88

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Wow! I will be going sandy bridge. Honestly the bulldozer cpus don't seem like there going to be vastly superior to sandy bridge.

I'll also be looking at that ASrock p67 mb. The price point is nice. If I got that with the i5-2400 I think I could get a TWIN FROZR II 560ti for my gpu. I dunno really. What should I be looking for in a GPU? What specs should I be looking at?

Basically I just want to run Skyrim and star wars the old republic at 1080p with high settings. I don't need ultra. Any help in this area would be great!

Also what is the difference between like gskill ripjaw and gskill sniper? I notice that there almost identical except for the heat spreaders and name.

I really really appreciate all your help. Thanks in advance.
 
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Jonas88

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Looks like a nice card in my price ranger too thank you. You know I'm getting the i5-2400 but I will still place an after market cooler on it b/c I don't like the stock fan. I think it's too loud. I'm trying to limit sound as much as possible. Any coolers anyone could recommend? How is the video card you suggested with sound? I know with my budget I can't have it all however I do intend to replace one of my fans with a low quiet mushkin fan in the near future.

 
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