First build! I need MOBO and GPU advice please

[Martin102690]

Sorry if this is re-posting. Not trying to spam!

Hey all,

I'm new at PC gaming and I really want to build a good quality desktop with my budget intact hah. My budget is around $800-$950. Currently I can't decide which motherboard and gpu to go along with the rest of my build.

Here are the pieces I have been looking at. Not sure which ones to choose. Please let me know if there are "better" choices, or choices that will better fit my computer.

*For GPU: I can't decide between the GTX 560 or 560ti or 550ti.

*For Motherboard:
- MSI P67A-GD65 (B3)
- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130574
- ASUS Maximus IV Gene-Z
- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131759
- ASUS P8P67 (REV 3.1)
- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131770
- ASUS P8Z68-V LE LGA
- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131773

After the computer is done I want a desktop computer that can run Star Wars: The Old Republic, and Battlefield 3 on high.

I am not planning on Overclocking or SL'ing

On a side note what do people mean when they say "that item bottlenecks your computer", or something along those lines?

Anyways, here's what I have so far


SAMSUNG CD/DVD Burner Black SATA Model SH-222AB - OEM
Item #: N82E16827151233
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy
Protect Your Investment (expand for options)
$17.99


COOLER MASTER Storm Scout SGC-2000-KKN1-GP Black Steel / Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
Item #: N82E16811119196
Return Policy: Iron Egg Standard Return Policy
-$30.00 Instant
$10.00 Mail-in Rebate
$99.99
$69.99


Western Digital Caviar Blue WD5000AAKX 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
Item #: N82E16822136769
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy
Protect Your Investment (expand for options)
$99.99


Rosewill RNX-N300 IEEE 802.11b/g/n Wireless-N 2.0 PCI (1T2R) Up to 300Mbps download and 150 Mbps upload Data Rates/ WPA/WPA2 ...
Item #: N82E16833166038
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy
Protect Your Investment (expand for options)
-$10.00 Instant
$24.99
$14.99


Antec High Current Gamer Series HCG-620 620W ATX12V v2.3 / EPS12V v2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified ...
Item #: N82E16817371048
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy
Protect Your Investment (expand for options)
-$15.00 Instant
$89.99
$74.99


Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 3000 ...
Item #: N82E16819115072
Return Policy: Iron Egg Replacement-Only Return Policy
Protect Your Investment (expand for options)
$219.99


LOGISYS Computer IC231PWM 100mm Hydro Bearing Theta 31 CPU Cooler
Item #: N82E16835999040
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy
Protect Your Investment (expand for options)
$15.99

G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBRL
Item #: N82E16820231314
Return Policy: Memory Standard Return Policy
$43.99


Subtotal: $557.92

Like I said previously I am very new to the computer building/gaming world, and any advice will be appreciated!

 

[rvilkman]

The CPU choice will guarantee that you won't get any bottlenecks from that side.

Motherboard: Asus P8Z68-V (or Pro) Gen3 or MSI Z68A-GD65 Gen3 ~$180

CPU cooler: Cooler Master 212 Evo $35 or so, will perform great. ( if you need to save a few bucks then Hyper 212+ is good too )

GPU As long as it fits your budget: GTX560Ti A good model with a good HSF such as Asus DirectCU II TOP or MSI TwinFrozrII or one of the Gigabyte Multi fan models.
Don't think you can get much more to fit your budget. ~$215-225 after rebates.

560Ti should let you run games at 1920x1080 at high settings, at least when you overclock it.

 

[Martin102690]

You said I would have to overclock it? Since I am trying to build this myself I would rather not overclock and mess something up on my end. Which graphics card would let me play the games on High without needing to overclock, or is that basically mandatory for games now-a-days?

Also, I keep seeing people mention running games at "1920x1080". Why is it that everyone has that as a standard?

 

[a4mula]

1920x1080 is the defacto standard for LCD monitors today. That's not to say that it's ideal for gaming, as it isn't. It was a resolution designed for HDTV. The 16:9 ratio creates a screen that is more elongated than the typical 16:10 ratio that's been a gaming staple for years. 16:10 ratios are 1680x1050, 1980x1200, 2650x1600.

As far as "bottleneck" is concerned it means to prevent a part of your computer from reaching its full potential because it's being slowed down by another part. Imagine putting a racing engine on a go-cart frame. While the engine might be capable of reaching hundreds of miles an hour, it's unable to because the frame prevents it. The same can be true of video cards and processors. Typically it's not a major concern with today's systems at normal resolutions.

Overclocking is not needed for gaming. Especially at normal resolutions. It's just that overclocking has become so easy that some motherboards actually offer a button on the board themselves that you just push and you get an overclock, ala the old "turbo" buttons of the 386/486 era. Intels (and perhaps AMD I couldn't say) actually overclock themselves without you having to interfere or being cognizant of it whatsoever. Turboboost technology increases processor speeds as less cores are being used. As long as you stick with a modern processor and operate at normal resolutions you'll have no need to concern yourself with any of this unless you choose to.

 

[rvilkman]

The 560Ti reaches it's full potential when overclocked ( thus why i mentioned the overclocking ), however it is still a great video card as is. And should run your games at 1920x1080 just fine.

 

[Martin102690]

Thanks to both of y'all. Y'all have been too much help.

I am looking at motherboards and there is the Z68-V, and then the Z68-V/Gen3. What are the main differences between the two.

Also, do you think that I will need a mobo that expensive? I have been fighting with myself trying to decide which mobo to get, and whether or not to spend that much on a mobo.

For the most part I just want a good quality board that has all sorts of connectivity, and open slots to add stuff with time. I am planning on using this build as my "foundation" desktop. I want to have this desktop until the end of time, so I want a mobo that will not only last, but like I said before, gives me connectivity and open slots to add with time.

Some things that the motherboard MUST have:
*SATA 6Gb/second connection
*Two PCI Express 3.0 slots if I ever decide to SLI (That's the right slot, right?)
*HDMI connection (I think almost all have this)
*Intel processor

Other than those I think anything else on the mobo would count as a plus in my book.

Once again, thank y'all for the help!

 

[rvilkman]

You generally get what you pay for. In this case you pay the extra 40 or so bucks for the Gen3 support and good design on the motherboard to allow expansion.
Also Warranty and Quality in the Asus products is quite good so you should be set for the next couple of years with it.

The main difference between the 2 boards is that one supports the PCIe 3.0 slots and one does not.
Once the Ivy bridge CPU's come out next spring, the PCIe 3.0 will be available on them. So it's an investment in the future.

I think that with your plan to have this machine for a while, you definitely want the PCIe 3.0 support, SataIII support and USB3 support.
And also SLI/Crossfire support.

Unfortunately the Z68-V/Gen3 is about the low end of that spectrum in price.
And depending on what your needs for Storage are, you might even consider the extra cost of the Z68-V Pro/Gen3. Has a few more SataIII ports for example.

 

[a4mula]

Any PCI-E 2.0 16x slot is potentially a PCI-E 3.0 slot assuming the board will support Ivy Bridge, via a bios update. Unless you plan on taking advantage of SSD caching (SRT) there's absolutely no reason to buy Z68. P67 is less expensive and if Z68 supports Ivy Bridge, P67 will also as they're both LGA1155.

PCI-E 3.0 is a marketing gimmick at the point regardless. PCI-e 2.0, even on x8 lanes has yet to be saturated by even dual-gpu monsters like the 590 and 6990.

Seriously, find the cheapest P67 board by a reputable manufacturer. It makes no difference assuming you don't care about SSD Caching.

 

[Martin102690]

Here is what I have pieced together. Let me know what you think. I'm still playing around with the GPU, but I am thinking of changing my range from GTX560 - GTX570, and anything in between.



ASUS DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS Black SATA 24X DVD Burner - Bulk - OEM
Item #: N82E16827135204
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy
Protect Your Investment (expand for options)
$19.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135204

COOLER MASTER Storm Scout SGC-2000-KKN1-GP Black Steel / Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
Item #: N82E16811119196
Return Policy: Iron Egg Standard Return Policy
-$30.00 Instant
$10.00 Mail-in Rebate
$99.99
$69.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119196

Western Digital Caviar Black WD5002AALX 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
Item #: N82E16822136795
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy
$129.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136795

Acer S231HLbid Black 23" 5ms HDMI LED-Backlight LCD monitor Slim Design
Item #: N82E16824009255
Return Policy: Monitor Standard Return Policy
Protect Your Investment (expand for options)
-$40.00 Instant
$199.99
$159.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824009255

ASUS PCE-N15 PCI Express 300/300Mbps Transfer/Receive Rate Wireless Adapter
Item #: N82E16833320074
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy
Protect Your Investment (expand for options)
-$31.00 Instant
$59.99
$28.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833320074

MSI N560GTX-Ti Twin Frozr II 2GD5/OC GeForce GTX 560 Ti (Fermi) 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support ...
Item #: N82E16814127608
Return Policy: VGA Standard Return Policy
Protect Your Investment (expand for options)
-$10.00 Instant
$20.00 Mail-in Rebate Card
$269.99
$259.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127608

MSI Gift - NBA2K11 PC GAME
Item #: N82E16800127010
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy
-$29.99 Saving
$29.99
$0.00


CORSAIR Enthusiast Series TX750 V2 750W ATX12V v2.31/ EPS12V v2.92 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC High Performance Power ...
Item #: N82E16817139021
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy
-$35.00 Instant
$10.00 Mail-in Rebate Card
$139.99
$104.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139021

CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9
Item #: N82E16820233144
Return Policy: Memory Standard Return Policy
-$7.00 Instant
$46.99
$39.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233144

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-bit - OEM
Item #: N82E16832116986
Return Policy: Software Standard Return Policy
$99.99


COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 EVO RR-212E-20PK-R1 Continuous Direct Contact 120mm Sleeve CPU Cooler Compatible with latest Intel ...
Item #: N82E16835103099
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy
Protect Your Investment (expand for options)
$33.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103099

Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 3000 ...
Item #: N82E16819115072
Return Policy: Iron Egg Replacement-Only Return Policy
Protect Your Investment (expand for options)

ASUS P8Z68-V LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
Item #: N82E16813131729
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy
Protect Your Investment (expand for options)
-$10.00 Instant
-$20.00 Combo
$399.98
$369.98

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.777644

Subtotal: $1,317.88

 

[rvilkman]

If you are going that high then consider the 560TI's with 448 cores, they run in the same ballpark at 570's and performance is about equal as well.

 

[Martin102690]

I'm using Newegg.com and I don't see any 560ti's for the same price or lower. The only other ones are more expensive, and this is about as high as I want to go.

Edited:

Wait, just kidding. For some reason it wasn't showing all the 560 ti's. I am looking at them now.

Edited 2:

I went ahead and added this. What do you think? It has gotten very good ratings.

EVGA 012-P3-2068-KR GeForce GTX 560 Ti (Fermi) 448 Cores Classified 1280MB 320-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI ...
Item #: N82E16814130739
Return Policy: VGA Standard Return Policy
Protect Your Investment (expand for options)
$299.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130739