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$1200 Gaming PC First build ever

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Approximate Purchase Date: Most likely right after Christmas.

Budget Range: 1000-1200 Before Rebates

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Watching Movies, Gaming, Light photo editing

Parts Not Required: Will need everything

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Newegg, Tiger Direct I live in Canada so anything with cheaper shipping is a plus.

Country: Canada

Parts Preferences: No preference.

Overclocking: Yes but just light air cooled overclocking (10-20% OC if I can)

SLI or Crossfire: I plan on it.

Monitor Resolution: As long as it can display 1080p I'm happy.

Additional Comments: It will be located in the basement and it's a steady temperature all year (20 Degrees Celsius)
I plan on playing Skyrim, TF2, SC2 and Dragon Age and a few others. I don't play that many FPS (and the ones that I do play are older) I also need to know if it would be worth it to wait for the 7xxx Radeon series and Ivy bridge. I would be willing to push the budget to around 1300 - 1400 for a future proofed system.

Edit: I know it might be overkill but I want it to last a few years.

CPU: I5 2500K ($224.99)

MOBO: BIOSTAR TZ68A+ $119.99

PSU: CORSAIR Professional Series HX750 Silver Certified 750W $149.99
There is also an 850W PSU for $30.00 more is it worth it.

RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB DDR3 1600 $45.49

CASE: Thermaltake V9 BlacX Edition $89.99

HDD: I'm going to wait till the crazy prices on these go down. I'm not spending $200 on a HDD. I might even go SSD if its reasonable.

Mouse/Keyboard: Logitech Wireless Combo MK260 $34.99

Monitor: Hannspree By HannsG SL231DPB $119.99

GPU: SAPPHIRE 100315L Radeon HD 6850 $159.99

OS: WIN 7 $120.00

Grand Total: $1,243.53 (With Shipping and taxes but no HDD)
And all my parts are from newegg canada not the US site. the 13% tax is a killer here for prices.

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Stay away from Biostar motherboards, there's plenty of other, much better brands that are around the same price range. Try Asrock or Gigabyte instead.

I honestly would NOT recommend Ubuntu if your priority is movie watching and games, you need a full Windows license - Steam isn't supported on Ubuntu anyways.

The price of HDs are absolutely ridiculous right now - I agree with that - but I think I'd recommend a mechanical HD over an SSD anyways right now if you have a budget.

Hannspree monitors are decent but they're known to have dead pixel issues - I've owned a couple of them and they have all been the same. Get an Acer monitor instead - they make quality products, my H243 has been running strong and solid for well over two years now with no dead pixel issues.

Try this build instead:

Case: Cooler Master HAF 912 - $59.99
PSU: Corsair Enthusiast Series TX 650 V2 - $89.99
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z68XP-UD3P - $169.99
CPU: 3.30Ghz Intel Core i5-2500K - $219.99
Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus - $25.99
RAM: Kingston Hyper X 8GB (2 x 4GB) 1600MHz 1.5V - $49.99
HD: Seagate Barracuda XT 1TB - $149.99
Optical: LG Super Multi - $79.99
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 6850 1 GB - $149.99
OS: Windows 7 Home Premium OEM - $99.99
Keyboard / Mouse: Logitech MK260 - $25.99
Monitor: Acer GH215PA 21.5" LCD 1080p - $149.99

Total: $1224

+1 to G-unit1111's build parts wise - be wary that that is from newegg.COM. You could probably even get a cheaper motherboard of the same brand.

Check out NCIX, Canada Computers, and DirectCanada.com for better prices than Newegg. NCIX and Canada Computers allow you to price match online and you can do in-store pickups (save on shipping!). Direct Canada has low prices so you can use them as a Price match source. Direct Canada has free ground shipping on orders greater than $50 I think. I have never used them.

Don't forget to factor in Canada's tax rate :p 

ARchamps said:
+1 to G-unit1111's build parts wise - be wary that that is from newegg.COM. You could probably even get a cheaper motherboard of the same brand.


Well there is Newegg.CA - I can't imagine their prices are that different, I could build it using the same parts but I'm not sure the price difference is too dramatic.

As far as Gigabyte goes - they make excellent boards but the only one I could see that's cheaper would be the UD3H - which is $144 on Newegg.
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I did a quick check and the difference added up is approx $80 and the HAF 912 is an addition $15 for shipping. Whether this is material is up to the OP.

As I recommended earlier, check out those sites. My build (in my signature) cost approx $1,200 including 13% HST.

ARchamps said:
I did a quick check and the difference added up is approx $80 and the HAF 912 is an addition $15 for shipping. Whether this is material is up to the OP.

As I recommended earlier, check out those sites. My build (in my signature) cost approx $1,200 including 13% HST.


Ouch. That is quite a steep difference. I've ordered stuff from Canada before and had it shipped to the US, is it possible to do that in reverse? The only thing I'd be concerned about is the PSU - I'm not sure what Canada's power requirements are as opposed to the US.

Yeah, like g-unit said, there are better brands to consider, with myself adding on the possibility of getting an Asus MOBO. Good choice in the CPU though, the i5 2500K is very good for gaming performance. Meanwhile, for a cooler, I too would suggest the Hyper 212, but not the Plus - the EVO, which is the newer version.

And yeah, you want to get Windows 7 as an OS - it will make your desktop experience much better ;)  You can stick with the same graphics card, though you shouldn't really need a PSU bigger than 750W, unless you decide on Crossfire in the near future. 750W is more like overkill for what you are going to have in your system (as you listed).

The price of HDDs are very high at this moment in time, so you should go out and purchase a SSD to use in the meantime. SSDs provide you with fast boot ups, application launches and gaming as well - they are still the same sort of price, so go and invest in one =]

Quote:
Yeah, like g-unit said, there are better brands to consider, with myself adding on the possibility of getting an Asus MOBO. Good choice in the CPU though, the i5 2500K is very good for gaming performance. Meanwhile, for a cooler, I too would suggest the Hyper 212, but not the Plus - the EVO, which is the newer version.


My only thing with Asus is that they're a company that makes so many products that some of them are really excellent, others are just flat-out terrible.

As for cooler the Evo is a good choice, but for that price range I'd also recommend the Corsair A70 since it comes with 8 heat pipes and 2 x 120mm PWM fans.

Quote:
And yeah, you want to get Windows 7 as an OS - it will make your desktop experience much better ;)  You can stick with the same graphics card, though you shouldn't really need a PSU bigger than 750W, unless you decide on Crossfire in the near future. 750W is more like overkill for what you are going to have in your system (as you listed).


Totally agree - Ubuntu is a great system but there's no application support for it. You'll be very disappointed if you go with Ubuntu in the long run - stick with getting a full Windows license. I think a 650 should be able to handle Crossfire provided you're not using the 69xx series.

Quote:
The price of HDDs are very high at this moment in time, so you should go out and purchase a SSD to use in the meantime. SSDs provide you with fast boot ups, application launches and gaming as well - they are still the same sort of price, so go and invest in one =]


Oh I totally agree that HD prices are freakin' ridiculous right now. But the thing is if you don't have the money to spare I wouldn't recommend getting an SSD because of the likely hood that something could go way way wrong. I also know mechanical HDs can be a pain in the initial format and planning but you're far more likely to have fewer headaches in the meantime.
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