$1000-1500 Gaming Rig Help!

[Fatanarexic]

Im trying to get a pure gaming rig up and running for college. I'm pretty new to the computer building so not really sure how to go about this. Looking through newegg I put some stuff together.

Motherboard= Im thinking Maximus Iv-Gene-Z
Processor= i5-2500K Sandy
Mem= Ripjaws 8GB (2 x4gb) 1600
Case= CM HAF 922 RC
HD=Caviar Black 750gb
Optical=Samsung black 12x BD-ROM internal combo
GPU= EVGA Superclocked GTX 570
PSU= Corsair 800G

What do you think? I heard the 2500k has an internal graphics card already? is this true? should i scrap the 570? or should i get a lower card? also what would be the best chipset for strictly gaming? Z68? P67? also im concered about the motherboard should i stick with the microatx or go to my backup ASRock Z68 Professional Gen3

Any help is greatly appreciated. Trying to keep the budged between 1000-1500

 

[rvilkman]

Z68 is a good chipset to go for. Generally it would be useful to get a motherboard with PCIe Gen3 support.
Several good options for that exist: Asrock Z68 Extreme 4 Gen3, MSI Z68A-GD65 G3, Asus P8Z68-V / Pro Gen3 and also the one you listed.
So overall I think you should just get a regular ATX mobo.

The 570 is a touch expensive, so if you intend to go for bang for buck, I would look for 6950's or 560Ti's. About $100 less and they still tend to run games at very high settings at 1920x1080. Asus DirectCUII TOP 560Ti is nice, and while somewhat pricy the MSI's TwinFrozrIII 6950's are great due to their very nice cooling solutions.
With your budget the 560Ti/6950 would be the way to go.

CPU and memory seems on par with what is good at the moment.

HAF 922 is a nice enough case that should fit your stuff

Optical drive, if you have a use for it then go ahead with the bluray, but generally a DVD writer will do fine for PC's.

PSU: if you go with 6950 or 560Ti's a solid 750W PSU will be able to handle Crossfire or SLI and OC'd CPU.
Corsair TX series is nice, same with XFX Core Pro series.

Also grab an after market cooler for overclocking for you CPU. Cooler Master Hyper 212+/Evo or Scythe mugen 3 for example are nice.
Thermalright True Spirit has gotten nice reviews for having great bang for buck as well.

HDD's are just expensive now, but obviously it is hard to get by without one. Consider also Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB depending on prices. It is faster than the WD.

If you do feel that you have about $100-200 extra bucks to spend, consider getting a 60-120GB SataIII SSD for OS and at least main apps, will make a ton of difference in the responsiveness of the machine.

 

[madchemist83]

Z68 vs P67 for gaming doesn't matter as a built in video
P67 tend to be more stable for OCing CPU ... also some newer Z68 OC pretty good
I would go against HAF 922 for a simple reason of not having any filters except front
Good cases in the same price range with filters - NZXT H2, Corsair Carbide 400R and Cooler Master RC-692
For PSU get at least 750W if u plan on getting second 570.

 

[Fatanarexic]

thanks for the reply! you had some great ideas and some that i actually already put into play haha take a look at my revised setup and let me know what you think

Z68 is a good chipset to go for. Generally it would be useful to get a motherboard with PCIe Gen3 support.
Several good options for that exist: Asrock Z68 Extreme 4 Gen3, MSI Z68A-GD65 G3, Asus P8Z68-V / Pro Gen3 and also the one you listed.
So overall I think you should just get a regular ATX mobo.

The 570 is a touch expensive, so if you intend to go for bang for buck, I would look for 6950's or 560Ti's. About $100 less and they still tend to run games at very high settings at 1920x1080. Asus DirectCUII TOP 560Ti is nice, and while somewhat pricy the MSI's TwinFrozrIII 6950's are great due to their very nice cooling solutions.
With your budget the 560Ti/6950 would be the way to go.

CPU and memory seems on par with what is good at the moment.

HAF 922 is a nice enough case that should fit your stuff

Optical drive, if you have a use for it then go ahead with the bluray, but generally a DVD writer will do fine for PC's.

PSU: if you go with 6950 or 560Ti's a solid 750W PSU will be able to handle Crossfire or SLI and OC'd CPU.
Corsair TX series is nice, same with XFX Core Pro series.

Also grab an after market cooler for overclocking for you CPU. Cooler Master Hyper 212+/Evo or Scythe mugen 3 for example are nice.
Thermalright True Spirit has gotten nice reviews for having great bang for buck as well.

HDD's are just expensive now, but obviously it is hard to get by without one. Consider also Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB depending on prices. It is faster than the WD.

If you do feel that you have about $100-200 extra bucks to spend, consider getting a 60-120GB SataIII SSD for OS and at least main apps, will make a ton of difference in the responsiveness of the machine.

 

[Fatanarexic]

hey thanks for the reply! you seem to know what your talking about and prior to reading your response i had put in place some of your suggestions let me know what you think about my revised setup haha

Z68 is a good chipset to go for. Generally it would be useful to get a motherboard with PCIe Gen3 support.
Several good options for that exist: Asrock Z68 Extreme 4 Gen3, MSI Z68A-GD65 G3, Asus P8Z68-V / Pro Gen3 and also the one you listed.
So overall I think you should just get a regular ATX mobo.

The 570 is a touch expensive, so if you intend to go for bang for buck, I would look for 6950's or 560Ti's. About $100 less and they still tend to run games at very high settings at 1920x1080. Asus DirectCUII TOP 560Ti is nice, and while somewhat pricy the MSI's TwinFrozrIII 6950's are great due to their very nice cooling solutions.
With your budget the 560Ti/6950 would be the way to go.

CPU and memory seems on par with what is good at the moment.

HAF 922 is a nice enough case that should fit your stuff

Optical drive, if you have a use for it then go ahead with the bluray, but generally a DVD writer will do fine for PC's.

PSU: if you go with 6950 or 560Ti's a solid 750W PSU will be able to handle Crossfire or SLI and OC'd CPU.
Corsair TX series is nice, same with XFX Core Pro series.

Also grab an after market cooler for overclocking for you CPU. Cooler Master Hyper 212+/Evo or Scythe mugen 3 for example are nice.
Thermalright True Spirit has gotten nice reviews for having great bang for buck as well.

HDD's are just expensive now, but obviously it is hard to get by without one. Consider also Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB depending on prices. It is faster than the WD.

If you do feel that you have about $100-200 extra bucks to spend, consider getting a 60-120GB SataIII SSD for OS and at least main apps, will make a ton of difference in the responsiveness of the machine.

 

[Fatanarexic]

ok guys thanks for all the responses! here's my updated setup:

Mobo: ASUS P8Z68-V PRO
PCU: i5-2500k 1155
Mem: Ripjaw 8Gb (2 x4gb) or should i bump it up to 16?
Case: Open to suggestions
HDD: Thinking of the 1TB Samsung Sping
CD: Samsung blu-ray 12x
GPU: Thinking one of these 3. Getting 1 for now then maybe Crossfire 2 when funds are ready: Or would you suggest a different 6850/70?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Productcompare.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007709%2050001314%20600083901%204017%20600031507%20600036708&IsNodeId=1&bop=And&ShowDeactivatedMark=False&CompareItemList=48|14-102-908^14-102-908-TS%2C14-125-357^14-125-357-TS%2C14-125-353^14-125-353-TS

PSU: Corsair 800G Gaming series 800W

 

[Emelth]

Dont bump up to 16 its pointless for gaming, for the Case check out

Here is another 1.5k Build you can look at if you want:
Drop the monitor if you dont need it as well as the SSD and up the GPU/s as much as possible.

Rosewill BLACKHAWK Gaming ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - $100.00
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147107

Intel Core i5-2500K - $215.00
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115072

ASRock Z68 Extreme4 - $175.00
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157250

COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus - $26.00
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103065

MSI N560GTX-TI Twin Frozr II/OC GeForce GTX 560 Ti (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 - $245.00
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127565

Seagate Barracuda 1TB 7200 RPM - $150.00
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148697

LITE-ON DVD Burner - $19.00
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106289&cm_sp=Cat_CD_%26%2347%3b_DVD_Burners_%26%2338%3b_Media-_-72_Hr_Sale-_-27-106-289

Crucial M4 64 GB SSD - $115.00
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148441

G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 - $45.00
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231428

CORSAIR Enthusiast Series TX750 V2 750W ATX12V v2.31/ EPS12V v2.92 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified - $105.00
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139021

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-bit - $100.00
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116986

ASUS VH236H Black 23" 2ms Full HD Widescreen LCD Monitor w/ Speakers - $180.00
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236059

Total: $1475.00 (not including MIRs/Shipping/Tax)

Use the website below to see where the GPU stand against each other
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/GPU11/188

 

[vx53c]

^+1
Just remove money from mobo by buying the extreme3 gen3, put it on a better cooler and use flat low profile memory.

 

[rvilkman]

The build looks pretty good, but for OC stability, the Extreme4 is better than the Extreme3.

 

[vx53c]

The build looks pretty good, but for OC stability, the Extreme4 is better than the Extreme3.

From a personal experience i can tell you that the extreme3 is rock solid and in fact has no differences from the extreme4 in that regard.
My chip overclocked to 5ghz easily with 1.35v (the vcore could possibly be lowered but i didn't test it). If you don't mind the elevated temps this kind of aggressive OC would bring (early 70s C with CPU+GPU loads at 100% with a Corsair A70) then you should be good.

 

[calguyhunk]

Ok, so $1500 build without Monitor, peripherals, OS.

CPU: $320 Intel Core i7-2600K

CPU: $225 Intel Core i5-2500K - Cheaper and just 'bout as good for gaming. Won't get you the bragging rights though

Both the above CPU's are compatible with the following components -

Motherboard: $190 ASUS P8Z68-V Gen3 - Gen 3 board for native PCIe 3.0. You should get ~5.0-ish on this one from most of the reviews.

RAM: $90 CORSAIR Vengeance 16GB - Normally you won't need any more than 4GB for gaming alone, but seeing as RAM is so cheap, might as well make your rig a bit more future friendly.

RAM: $45 G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB - Drop down to this kit if you intend to save a few bucks. But personally, at your price point, I'm gonna get myself the 16GB kit.

GPU: $500 EVGA SuperClocked GeForce GTX 580 - Going with anything less at your price range would be a crying shame. You can get a few more frames with a similarly priced 560ti SLI rig, but this will keep your upgrade options open.

SSD: $200 Intel 320 Series 2.5" 120GB - Amongst the most reliable SATA 2 SSDs in the market today. You can go with a SATA 3 drive, but the reliable ones are prohibitively priced.

ODD: $20 SAMSUNG DVD Burner with LightScribe Support - OEM

ODD: $70 LG Black SATA Blue Ray burner Super Multi with LightScribe Support - OEM - Blue Ray burner option. Drop the 20 dollar one if you do choose to go with this one.

PSU: $130 PC Power and Cooling Silencer Mk II 950W

HSF: $26 COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus

Case: $95 Corsair Carbide Series 400R

Total: $1476 After rebates plus shipping with the i5-2500K, 16GB RAM and basic DVD+-RW burner.

If you're not looking to overclock, your rig can get a lot cheaper. The expensive board can go and so can the aftermarket cooler. Either way, your rig will be strong enough not to warrant any major upgrade in the next several years. When the games get more demanding, just adding another 580 will solve the problem for years to come

 

[madchemist83]

@vx53c
Really u got it at 5 Ghz .. stable?
well let me tell u that ur mobo has only 4+1+1 phases I think and tends to be not very stable .. also u r oveheating ur board too much wich will reduce life of the components .. isn't warranty is like 2 years on that ?
also PCI 3.0 will never get saturated in near future so it's pointless and by the time it will ur mobo will be crap and there will be PCI x32 dual GPU video cards

 

[vx53c]

@vx53c
Really u got it at 5 Ghz .. stable?
well let me tell u that ur mobo has only 4+1+1 phases I think and tends to be not very stable .. also u r oveheating ur board too much wich will reduce life of the components .. isn't warranty is like 2 years on that ?
also PCI 3.0 will never get saturated in near future so it's pointless and by the time it will ur mobo will be crap and there will be PCI x32 dual GPU video cards

yup 5ghz stable but 70C on full stress. It has 8+4 phases. I run it at 4.5ghz 24/7 @ 1.27 and early 60 at total stress, normal load use (gaming) at 50, idle at 28 with gpu OC at 900/1500 24/7. Unlike what you might hear it has never been unstable to me.
I agree i will probably never need the gen3 but this motherboard sells less and gives more than it's competitors.
Also notice that all these overclocks are with full C1e,C3,C6 and all the rest energy savers enabled. That is far more than any of the other boards at it's price range can say.

 

[madchemist83]

hm interesting .. good for u
what thermal paste u use?

 

[vx53c]

arctic silver 5. I would have used the one in the A70 but i didn't want to open it since i have leftover AS5.