Gaming PC for my girlfriend. Is there anything wrong?

[audicted]

Hi guys i'm trying to build a gaming PC for my girlfriend so i kept the major parts above the average and the others economic.

These are the parts I've chosen so far:

INTEL Core i7-2600 3.40 GHz LGA1155
GIGABYTE GA-Z68M-D2H Z68 LGA1155 DDR3-2133
MSI R6950 Twin Frozr II/OC HD6950 2GB GDDR5 256Bit
WESTERN DIGITAL Scorpio Blue (WD5000BPVT) 2.5" 500GB SATA
G.SKILL Sniper (F3-12800CL9D-8GBSR2) 8 GB Dual Kit (2x4GB) DDR3-1600Mhz CL9
SAMSUNG SH-S222AB DVD writer 22X SATA OEM Bulk

TX Sonic (TXCHSONIC730BB) 730W USB Black Case
Windows 7 Home Basic 64 bit
Sound Blaster Audigy 64 Bit

Is the PSU enough for such system? I know that the MSI6950 eats up so much power.
Is the case big enough to contain such huge Graphics Card? It can be replaced with a bigger one.
Is there any part which may/will cause a bottleneck?

It is important for me that everything is in order. Afterall, it's her first desktop PC ever and she is very into gaming I don't wanna be the one who is responsible for a motivation meltdown here

Thanks in advance.

 

[aaab]

Can't you wait for ivy bridge?
If not then I would buy her a low cost i3 CPU and upgrade as soon as ivy bridge comes out.
If not I wouldn't bother getting the i7 it's gaming performance is only slightly better than the i5

Get a better PSU brand

 

[inzone]

The seperate sound card is not neccessary and the i7 2600 is also not neccessary since you can get the same performance from the 2500. 0.1ghz is not worth $90 and you could take the savings and get this;

MSI R6970 Lightning Radeon HD 6970 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card $389.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127581

Now she's going to be impressed with a 6970 right ?

 

[inzone]

High Current Pro HCP-850 850W TX12V v2.3 / EPS12V v2.92 SLI Certified CrossFire Certified 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply
$179.99 and a $10 rebate for $169.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371053

Better power supply and you will never have to worry about something being underpowered.

 

[Outlander_04]

why use a 2.5 inch hard drive in a desk top?

and a computer like this with a single 6950 will draw around 260 - 270 watts and run happily on a 500 watt psu . If you might crossfire then get a 650 watt unit

 

[anti-painkilla]

As inzone said, drop to a 2500/2500k and spend the money on other components. Better PSU's always help. 730 will be heaps for the card. There is a chart for PSU requirements for graphics cards.

http://www.realhardtechx.com/index_archivos/Page362.htm

I would read reviews on the case just to make sure it will fit. Otherwise good luck.

 

[audicted]

Hmm that is a lot of heads up thanks guys.

 

[Outlander_04]

put too high a wattage psu in a computer and it will never run efficiently .

Buy a much higher wattage than you need just wastes money in the purchase and in running costs

 

[JackNaylorPE]

2600k is wasted on gaming, go with 2500k .... you don't need hyperthreading.

Why buying a 2.5" laptop drive ?

Save $7 on RAM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233186

GFX - 560 gets ya a few more fps for less money .... in single card it's close but if considering SLI in future, it's 103 more fps for $50 less money.....it even betas two 6970's in CF

Guru3D uses the following games in their test suite, COD-MW, Bad Company 2, Dirt 2, Far Cry 2, Metro 2033, Dawn of Discovery, Crysis Warhead. Total fps (summing fps in each game @ 1920 x 1200) for the various options in parenthesis (single card / SL or CF) are tabulated below along with their cost in dollars per frame single card - CF or SLI:

$ 240.00 6950 Frozr OC (484/759) $ 0.50 - $ 0.63
$ 215.00 560 Ti - 900 Mhz (495/862) $ 0.43 - $ 0.50
$ 320.00 6970 (526/825) $ 0.61 - $ 0.78

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&Description=900Mhz%20560%20Ti&bop=And&SecondSearch=1&Order=PRICE&PageSize=20

PSU - Id say get a 850 for the two OC'd 560 Ti's ..... but ya MoBo won't do SLI so that would require a mobo change.....looking at teh 2nd tier options, some choices:

$90 - XFX Core Edition (9.5 jonnyguru performance rating)
http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story6&reid=217
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817207011

$125 - Corsair TX850 V2 (9.5 jonnyguru performance rating)
http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story5&reid=218
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139022

$170 Antec High Current Pro HCP-850 (9.0 jonnyguru performance rating)
http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story5&reid=215
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371053

The $90 XFX is the obvious choice...the $60 650 watter if ya sure ya never gonna need a 2nd GFX card

Grab a SLI / CF capable MoBo $190
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131792

No need for sound card

Case I'd use a Corsair 500R
http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=767&Itemid=61

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100006519%2050001459%2040000007&IsNodeId=1&bop=And&ActiveSearchResult=True&SrchInDesc=500R&Page=1&PageSize=20

 

[audicted]

Isn't GIGABYTE GA-Z68M-D2H Z68 CF / SLI supported?

 

[audicted]

The seperate sound card is not neccessary and the i7 2600 is also not neccessary since you can get the same performance from the 2500. 0.1ghz is not worth $90 and you could take the savings and get this;

MSI R6970 Lightning Radeon HD 6970 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card $389.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127581

Now she's going to be impressed with a 6970 right ?

Nah, that is the card that "i" am going to buy not her 6950 is more than enough. And i've changed the CPU with a 2500k.

 

[Guest]

Good choice on the 6950, and 2500k, but as aaab said before, wait for ivy, or get a cheap i3, and upgrade when ivy comes out , if not the 2500k is great

Either way get her an ssd for windows, she will enjoy the startup speeds

Also another issue: she's your gf, and not mine (just had to lol)

Also i dont see why you would get the 2gb version of the card, its just not worth it. Get the 1gb version which will have the same performance (well more cause its oced higher ). http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/331827-33-6950

 

[audicted]

Good choice on the 6950, and 2500k, but as aaab said before, wait for ivy, or get a cheap i3, and upgrade when ivy comes out , if not the 2500k is great

Either way get her an ssd for windows, she will enjoy the startup speeds

Also another issue: she's your gf, and not mine (just had to lol)

Also i dont see why you would get the 2gb version of the card, its just not worth it. Get the 1gb version which will have the same performance (well more cause its oced higher ). http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/331827-33-6950

I think they are going to use this system on a big screen LED TV of some sort... Guess they are going to be playing at high resolutions so i thought extra 1 GB might help?

 

[Guest]

At 1080p theres no need for the extra 1gb, theres no bottleneck at that point.