[Solved] Virgin builder seeking <2k Gaming PC

Approximate Purchase Date:This week of next week

Budget Range: Less than 2,000 After Rebates

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Pretty exclusive to gaming and your typcially web surfing. Gaming would include Battlefield 3, Diablo III, and The Old Republic when they come out.

Parts Not Required: keyboard, mouse, monitor, headset

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: New to this, but NewEgg seems very popular and reasonably priced

Country of Origin: USA

Parts Preferences:I have no allegiance to anyone Video Card Brand

Overclocking: I would like to try it

SLI or Crossfire: I understand this makes for better graphic card performance, so yes

Monitor Resolution: I actually have a Samsung LN32B650 HDTV as my monitor so I think the max resolution is 1920 x 1080? Not exactly sure though.

Additional Comments: I have always bought OEM Dells prior to this point. My computer desk has a built in area for a tower where my current one sits. I did get a liquid cooling Dell prior to this one, although not sure that was really necessary as I did not do any overclocking etc. It does not provide a lot of space for airflow, so should I look at liquid cooling? The built in area is only open in the front, with both sides and back being full wood panels that also serve as desk supports. One side is against the wall as well. Thus, I do not want to cut out large holes in them, not would the side facing the wall benefit from any hole cut into it.. The back does have a small cut out for cables.

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I have been trying to read all about doing this and have read a bunch of forum posts. But please forgive me if my questions appear noobish, as they really are! I am rather excited to build my own and am wanting to do it so I only have to upgrade certain parts down the road instead of the whole computer each time. But I have already ordered a few parts that I thought were a pretty good start. They are as follows:

CORSAIR Professional Series Gold AX1200 (CMPSU-1200AX) 1200W ATX12V v2.31 / EPS12V v2.92 SLI Certified 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply
[url=http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139014]

Thermaltake Level 10 GT (VN10001W2N) Black SECC / Plastic ATX Full Tower Computer Case with Four Fans-1x 200mm Colorshift side fan, 1x 200mm top fan, 1x 200mm front fan and 1x 140mm rear fan
[url=http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811133188]

CORSAIR XMS 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model CMX8GX3M2A1600C9
[url=http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145324]

ASUS P8P67 DELUXE (REV 3.0) LGA 1155 Intel P67 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard with UEFI BIOS
[url=http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131701]

OCZ Vertex 3 VTX3-25SAT3-120G 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive
[url=http://www.buy.com/prod/ocz-vertex-3-vtx3-25sat3-120g-120gb-2-5-solid-state-drive/220307521.html]

After reading some additional forum posts it appears the general conclusion is the Core i5-2500k is just as good as the Core i7-2600k when it comes to gaming? If so, then I can save the $100 and get the Core i5-2500k. Although, CompUSA advertised, in Sunday October 16th paper ad and the online local ad, the Core i7-2600k for $219.99 so I thought why not if they are the same price. However, I went to the store and they told me it was a typo!

I also realize I bought much more power supply then needed, but it was on sale and only $230 after rebates.

So advice needed or just overall confirmation if I am on the right track:

Core I5-2500k or Core I7-2600k? Yes, I would like to try overclocking!

Video Card - It appears dual GTX 580s in SLI mode are outperforming some of the comparable Radeon cards in crossfire mode, but not sure I am ready to put $1,000 on the video cards but can bump the budget if this is a must. At the moment I do not have plans of a multiple monitor set up, but may want to do that down the roads as well. So this is my biggest area of needed advice. I am really not up to speed on all the ins and outs of the tweaked cards like Sapphire or EVGA. Just see that the prices can fluctuate almost $100 between GTX 580 cards. My other question is why is a card like this one:

GIGABYTE GV-N580UD-3GI GeForce GTX 580 (Fermi) 3072MB 384-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
[url=http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125399]

only $580 when it appears to have double the MBs on it? And then if I was to go with the GTX 590, which is dual GTX 580s already, why does it appear you get better performance out of two stand alone GTX 580s in SLI mode? Same question with the Radeon cards 6990 compared to 6970s in crossfire mode.

My other big area of advice is with the cooling. It appears a Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus: [url=http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103065] is highly recommended, but again, since I am new to this I am not sure the area my tower will sit in will allow for enough air flow. See description above. Should I just look to move the tower to a more open area, or is a liquid cooling system easy to install? If so, what type should I look at?


I am not worried about the other parts as they are minor pieces: a DVD drive - $20, Windows 7 - $100, 1 TB HDD - $80, and a quality soundcard like Soundblaster X-FI Titanium HD - $170.

I apologize if I was too descriptive in the advice I am seeking, but am very new to this and do not want to screw up before even attempting to put all the pieces together! Thank you all for your assistance.

The extra RAM on the video card will have no use at all.

GTX 590 is not the same as two 580s. It's more like 2 570s.

Since you already have an overkill PSU you should just grab two GTX 570s.

The case isn't so great. Here's a new one with everything you need including USB 3.0 ports:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6811119245

For the cooler the Hyper 212+ is very good. Cooler Master V8 is a small upgrade if you like.

I really couldn't go beyond the AX 1200. If you're not thinking about SLI'ing a GTX 580, that one's sooo overkill, that it ain't funny.

Anyways, to cut a long story short, this is what I'll get for that price---

CPU: $330(?) Intel Core i7-2700K (Upcoming)

Motherboard: $200 ASUS P8Z68-V PRO

RAM: $100 CORSAIR Vengeance 16GB

GPU: 2X $480 EVGA SuperClocked GeForce GTX 580

HDD: $ 60 SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 1TB

SSD: $205 Intel 320 Series 2.5" 120GB

ODD: $70 LG Black SATA Blue Ray burner Super Multi with LightScribe Support - OEM

PSU: $280 CORSAIR Professional Series Gold AX1200

Case: $162 Corsair Obsidian 650D

LCU: $120 CORSAIR H100 Liquid CPU Cooler

Comes to $2487+ Shipping.

I'll swap out the LCU for the Hyper 212+ if I'm not looking for much beyond 4.0, thereby saving $100.

Check here for a $2k build
Reduce the HDD, RAM, & CD drive to save a couple extra dollars
http://www.tomshardware.com/review [...] ,3031.html

Okay got kinda confused when you posted a build that costed much more then what he stated

Yes, it's a new yet-to-be-released case - COOLER MASTER CM Storm Series Trooper

Review on Bjorn3d.com

Looks like the Obsidian series finally has some competition, even though you've gotta admit, those things still look way cleaner and classier.

yeah, i believe that build is going to crush BF3....