Advice for new gaming PC

[moonhoplite]

Hi,

Can anyone recommend a good motherboard fitting the specifications below, and good matching 8GB ram?

Budget: $900-1100 AU

Usage: Online competitive play for games like Battlefield 3 at high/ultra settings.

Country: Australia

Intel I7 2600 3.4Ghz
A high-end intel H67 motherboard
1 TB SATA 3 cache 7200 rpm (any brand)
750W PSU with good cooling (any brand)
Gaming case with good cooling (any brand)
DVD optical drive (any brand, at least 2 drives, decent)
8 gb ram (2x4, anything decent)
GTX 570 gigabyte

What would be a cheap place to purchase a custom/prebuilt desktop which could suite this.

Thanks.

 

[AdrianPerry]

Is there any reason you don't want to build your own system? You will generally get much better value for your money.

For gaming, an i5-2500k would be HIGHLY recommended over an i7-2600. H61 motherboard or H67 both eliminate the ability to over-clock your CPU - be aware of this. Z68 would be the motherboard chip-set of choice.

Gaming case - this is pretty much down to your own personal preference, and budget. There are literally hundreds of available options.

RAM - 8GB 1600MHz CL9 or CL8 is generally recommended (1.5v RAM). G.Skill and Corsair are both extremely popular.

GTX 570 - Good choice for gaming, solid performance. Check the difference in price between the 6970 and GTX 570, both perform similar, so go for whichever you can grab the best deal on.

PSU - 650w is plenty for a single card. Recommended brands include: Corsair, SeaSonic, Antec, XFX.

 

[moonhoplite]

I dont understand what it means by "build my own".

Im ordering a custom desktop from the store. Buying parts separately and contructing it myself is unnesscesary. The assembely is free, comes with warrunty, I choose everything.

Thanks for the tip on the motherboard.
Could you also explain the deal with P68 motherboards?

Do most stores cancel warrunty if I overclock?
I dont like doing it too much... getting into BIOS, what if it's not any option in it? I live in a warm climate. Too much stress dealing with getting it safe and right. I know that an idiot can do it

I dont like overclocking, because the standard cooling system might not cover it. A good gamer case is about $100, if i want a super cooler then it might be $200.... excessive.

People recommend 750W min, having 200W spare is "safe".

The way I see it, i5 2500 (without overclocking) is good for gaming. The i7 2600 is excessive, as it probably is good for multitasking and programs non related to games?

I should state that I don't plan to overclock.

Thanks for your help so far.

 

[AdrianPerry]

I wasn't aware any stores did this without charging a fairly hefty fee, but if you can do it then great
It seems fairly hard to believe a shop is prepared to match prices for components from say "Newegg.com", and build the system for you without any extra costs.

I think you mean P67 motherboard? Basically the same as a Z68 motherboard but without any on-board graphics and a few less features (SSD Caching being one of the main ones). Either a P67 or Z68 would be fine for this build.

Over-clocking generally isn't covered by Warranty.

A "super-cooler" isn't necessary for good cooling. Hyper 212+ or 212 EVO are very popular choices, and provide great cooling at a very good price. This tends to be the average over-clockers "cooler-of-choice".

650w is plenty for a single GTX 570 build. 650w is recommended by the GPU manufacturer - the system will actually draw alot less than 650w.

If you don't plan to over-clock then there's no need for after-market CPU cooler, the stock one supplied with the motherboard will be fine.

The i7-2600 is only superior over the i5-2500 in applications that can make use of Hyper-threading technology. The only reason really to pay the extra for the i7 would be if your build was to be primarily used for 3D rendering and video encoding or programs you know for a fact will drastically benefit from hyper-threading.

----------

Consideration:

You can buy the i5-2500 (non-OC-able) for a little less than the i5-2500k (unlocked multiplier). For most people this minor cost difference isn't worth losing the ability to over-clock and pay a few $ extra for the K version anyway. However. If you are 100% certain you will not want to over-clock your system, you can pair the i5-2500 with a H61 or H67 motherboard which works out considerably cheaper than buying an i5-2500k with a P67 or Z68 board.

ONLY choose the i5-2500 and H61/H67 though if you are 100% certain you will not want to over-clock.

 

[moonhoplite]

Newegg isnt avaialble in Australia. Amazon requires shipping and I dont like getting parts wrapped in Chinese news paper from ebay : )

Even with overclocking, 650W is ok? A 700W comes standard in my store, so im happy with that.

For:
i7 2600K
Z68 motherboard of some sort
8 GB RAM DDR3 1333Mhz
SATA 3 7200rpm 6gb/sec
700W PSU
Gaming case with decent cooling
GTX570 1.3GB gigabyte PCIe
Some DVD optical drive
card readers
NO WINDOWS OS

$1250

Dunno if im still getting ripped off. No other stores are different, me thinks.

Thank you for your help.