$1000 Build Help

[ekimthegib]

I did a bit of a rough draft of a build (my first build) that I want to do. I just want some suggestions, criticisms, and general advice.

Approximate Purchase Date: Next 1-2 months (buy 1-2 pieces every week)

Budget Range: $1000 +/- 200

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Games, Internet, Movies

Parts Not Required: Mouse/Keyboard

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Amazon, Newegg, TigerDirect, whichever sites have the best price.

Country of Origin: USA

Parts Preferences: Intel i5 2500K seems to be a good bet. Other than that I'm open to suggestions

Overclocking: Yes, even if I don't do it I want the option

SLI or Crossfire: Yes, I definitely want the option

Monitor Resolution: I don't plan on having a huge monitor or multiple montiors.

Additional Comments: Doesn't have to be the best looking thing, just want something that can play games at high settings smoothly. I am looking for that balance between Quality and Cost. My main goal is to be able to play Skyrim on Ultra but I am willing to work up to that gradually.



Some of the parts I came up with-

This is just what I came up with in one night of research. If you have any kind of comments, recommendations, opinions, don't hesitate to post them!

Motherboard: ASRock P67 EXTREME4 (B3) LGA 1155 Intel P67 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard- $160
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157229

Processor: Intel Core i5 2500k- $214
http://www.amazon.com/Intel-i5-2500K-Processor-3-3GHz-LGA1155/dp/B004EBUXHQ/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1320032069&sr=1-1

Graphics Card: I was thinking either 2 HD 6850s or 2 GTX 460s (Each around $150 on various sites). I don't know if I should get two cheaper cards or one expensive card. This is one area I would really appreciate recommendations,opinions, any advice.

SSD: RealSSD C300 Solid State Drive 64G $80 (Used)
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003SV6CIC/sr=1-12/qid=1320031962/ref=olp_product_details?ie=UTF8&me=&qid=1320031962&sr=1-12&seller=

HDD: No prefference at the moment. Around $90

DVD: Would like to have a DVD burner $30-$50

Power: CORSAIR Professional Series HX750 (CMPSU-750HX) 750W ATX12V 2.3 / EPS12V 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS SILVER Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply $137
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139010

Memory: CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 $49.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145345

Case: Probably a Midtower I would like to spend about $50-$120 I don't mind spending on a decent case.

 

[ekimthegib]

If anyone has some suggestions I would be grateful to hear them.

 

[kajabla]

On this budget, go with a single card. Tom's recent investigation of microstuttering concluded that it was a fairly major issue on dual setups below around the 6950 level. At around the price of those cards, you can go 570. This one's $320 after a rebate: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125384
With just that card, you'll be fine on a 600W PSU. Corsair and Seasonic are good choices.

The case is basically your own stylistic choice. Most modern gaming cases have decent airflow and features, so choose by looks and confirm here that your choice isn't going to fall apart. A few common choices are the HAF X (overpriced), the NZXT Phantom and the Cooler Master Storm Scout, but look around Newegg a little. I personally love the look of my In Win Dragon Slayer, which nobody's ever heard of.

The DVD burner definitely doesn't need to be more than $22ish. Just pick something with good Egg reviews.
HDD should be a Samsung Spinpoint F3, at $60/tb, or a Caviar Black for a slight performance increase, but that won't really be important with your OS and a couple of apps on the SSD.

2500K's a no-brainer. That motherboard will be fine, but you'd also be fine with something like a P8P67 LE, which is $30 or $40 cheaper.


Edit: Now I've seen your "want the SLI option" line. If you're sure, stick with most of the parts but get that P67 Extreme and an 850W PSU. This will allow you to easily drop in another 570 in the future.

 

[ekimthegib]

On this budget, go with a single card. Tom's recent investigation of microstuttering concluded that it was a fairly major issue on dual setups below around the 6950 level. At around the price of those cards, you can go 570. This one's $320 after a rebate: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125384
With just that card, you'll be fine on a 600W PSU. Corsair and Seasonic are good choices.

The case is basically your own stylistic choice. Most modern gaming cases have decent airflow and features, so choose by looks and confirm here that your choice isn't going to fall apart. A few common choices are the HAF X (overpriced), the NZXT Phantom and the Cooler Master Storm Scout, but look around Newegg a little. I personally love the look of my In Win Dragon Slayer, which nobody's ever heard of.

The DVD burner definitely doesn't need to be more than $22ish. Just pick something with good Egg reviews.
HDD should be a Samsung Spinpoint F3, at $60/tb, or a Caviar Black for a slight performance increase, but that won't really be important with your OS and a couple of apps on the SSD.

2500K's a no-brainer. That motherboard will be fine, but you'd also be fine with something like a P8P67 LE, which is $30 or $40 cheaper.


Edit: Now I've seen your "want the SLI option" line. If you're sure, stick with most of the parts but get that P67 Extreme and an 850W PSU. This will allow you to easily drop in another 570 in the future.

Thanks for the advice, and that case looks F*****g awesome.

 

[cutebeans]

i5-2500k
-Duh
Asrock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3
- You need this for SSD cache. Never get a P67 when you can always get a z68
Antec High Current Gamer 750w $30 cheaper

You don't have ram
Get a Ripjaws X 8gb DDR3 1600

 

[JackNaylorPE]

I'd suggest the Antec 902 V3

The RAM has good specs but dump the toothy heat sinks .....they are a relic of a bygone age....Under mounting pressure from reviewers and users, Corsair now makes low profile memory w/o the silly toothy things.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233196

The only cooling effect of these big coolers is that they "look cool". While they served a purpose (when they were effective) w/ DDR2, they are absolutely useless on DDR3.

http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=773&Itemid=67&limit=1&limitstart=1

At more than 2" tall in certain areas the Corsair Vengeance could pose a problem for users like me who use large coolers such as the Scythe Mugen 2. I was able to use the Corsair Vengeance only after I mounted the fan on my cooler on the backside. Size is definitely a concern with heat spreaders of this size and therefore I encourage users to check that they will have enough space under their heatsinks before purchasing the Corsair Vengeance kit.

http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=773&Itemid=67&limit=1&limitstart=6

The problem I have with the Corsair Vengeance is the same I have with many kits of RAM on the market. Companies insist on putting large coolers on their RAM and it limits the choice in CPU heatsinks that can be used within users system. DDR3 does not require these elaborate coolers with its lower voltages which translate to lower temperatures then RAM saw during the DDR, and DDR2 era. Corsair is correcting this with low profile versions of its Vengeance line but ultimately I would like to see the average size of coolers drop instead of having to look for specific low profile versions of a memory line.

GFX - I'd get a factory OC'd 900 Hz 560 since they come with over sized coolers and cost the same as the reference models. Add a 2nd one down the line .... though if ya count the to Batman games, (one for you and one for sale to a friend) .... you could figure that $100 off the cost of two ($410) meets ya $300-ish target

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Order=BESTMATCH&N=100006519&isNodeId=1&Description=900MHz+560+Ti&x=0&y=0

HD - Pick the one that is cheapest that day or performs best in your particular apps

http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/2009-3.5-desktop-hard-drive-charts/compare,1015.html?prod%5B2371%5D=on&prod%5B3016%5D=on&prod%5B2365%5D=on

SSD - I wudn't do used.

MoBo - Personally, I won't buy any MoBo whose manufacturer doesn't offer a industry standard 3 year warranty.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131792

Id also wouldn't rule out P67 boards .... like most people, other than GEN3, you will see little advantage from Z68

http://www.ukgamingcomputers.co.uk/difference-between-h67-p67-z68-and-h61-chipsets-a-22.html

Launched 5 months after the P67 and H67 chipset the Z68 chipset combines the advantages of the H67 and P67 Chipset so that overclocking, dual dedicated graphics cards and use of the integrated CPU graphics is available. Whilst on the surface it would seem that this would be the chipset to go for, how many users that have 2 dedicated graphics cards will actually want to use the onboard graphics when they already have 2 more powerful graphics cards in their system anyway?

The only real advantage is for users that wish to access the HD graphics features such as quick sync, but considering it’s only supported by very few transcoding programs and there are not many people out there that need or will want to transcode, it makes it almost pointless to choose Z68 over a P67 chipset.

Same applies to users that want to overclock the CPU but use the onboard graphics card; it’s a very limited market.

Finally, another feature of a Z68 chipset is known as SSD caching which is where it allows the use of a small (say 10 or 20 GB) Solid state hard drive to act as a cache for a larger ‘traditional’ hard disk. If you are already planning the use of a Solid State drive this feature is redundant.

If you can’t afford a decent size SSD (40GB+) then there are more cost effective ways around using a small SSD and SSD cashing like spending less on a motherboard, (H67 chipset or even a P67 chipset) and putting the saved money into a decent size SSD.

 

[kajabla]

i5-2500k
-Duh
Asrock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3
- You need this for SSD cache. Never get a P67 when you can always get a z68
Antec High Current Gamer 750w $30 cheaper

You don't have ram
Get a Ripjaws X 8gb DDR3 1600

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/intel-z68-express-smart-response-technology-ssd-caching,2938-9.html
SSD caching just doesn't work very well. You'll do better by managing your data yourself, putting the OS and some commonly used apps on the SSD. Go Z68 if you can get a better deal or something, but it's not inherently better.

 

[ekimthegib]

Best answer selected by ekimthegib.