Need help on new built, $1100 budget, newbie

[xxcysxx]

hello folks,
i'm getting ready for a new built and i'm on a budget, $1100. i'm actively reading expert reviews and user reviews on parts i need but i would appreciate any expert gurus opinions on this board. my last system built is a conroe e6600, dual x1950 crossfire on a asus p5w deluxe, so i'm quite outdated. i haven't been very enthusiastic about computers over the last five years and i'm quite dull on the subject at the moment.

i'm looking to built this next system for "gaming" intention.
i prefer small size so it will have to be micro atx form factor.
i only need cpu, gpu, main board, ram, and "just the recommended psu power requirement". i have all other components as spares already.
i'm not interested in multi graphic card (crossfire/sli) for simplicity and cost reasons.

about the ram, i see the prices are great for ram nowadays. i paid $300 for two gigs of rams six years ago. so would i make use of all 16 gigs of ram from playing games? i wouldn't mind spending for it, but not if all of it is not going to be used.

i will be using this system on a 1080p 46" samsung LED tv. just "one" single tv.

i will not going to be over clocking anything (lack of experience and time), just stock settings and game. so something fast in stock form is very welcome here.

thank you all for your expert opinions.

 

[jdwii]

hello folks,
i'm getting ready for a new built and i'm on a budget, $1100. i'm actively reading expert reviews and user reviews on parts i need but i would appreciate any expert gurus opinions on this board. my last system built is a conroe e6600, dual x1950 crossfire on a asus p5w deluxe, so i'm quite outdated. i haven't been very enthusiastic about computers over the last five years and i'm quite dull on the subject at the moment.

i'm looking to built this next system for "gaming" intention.
i prefer small size so it will have to be micro atx form factor.
i only need cpu, gpu, main board, ram, and "just the recommended psu power requirement". i have all other components as spares already.
i'm not interested in multi graphic card (crossfire/sli) for simplicity and cost reasons.

about the ram, i see the prices are great for ram nowadays. i paid $300 for two gigs of rams six years ago. so would i make use of all 16 gigs of ram from playing games? i wouldn't mind spending for it, but not if all of it is not going to be used.

i will be using this system on a 1080p 46" samsung LED tv. just "one" single tv.

i will not going to be over clocking anything (lack of experience and time), just stock settings and game. so something fast in stock form is very welcome here.

thank you all for your expert opinions.

Well remember its harder to find high-end graphics cards that will fit into small cases.

 

[xxcysxx]

no worries about cases, i got a dremel and some duct tape right here ready for that. it will fit!

 

[jdwii]

no worries about cases, i got a dremel and some duct tape right here ready for that. it will fit!

Case: 29.99$ (Rosewill R101-P-BK 120mm Fan MicroATX Mid Tower Computer Case)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147112
Power Supply: 94.99$ (Antec High Current Gamer Series HCG-750 750W ATX12V v2.3 / EPS12V v2.91 SLI Certified CrossFire Certified 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371049
MotherBoard: 189.99$ (ASUS Maximus IV Gene-Z/GEN3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131806
Ram: 78.99$ (CORSAIR Vengeance 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model CML16GX3M4A1600C9B)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233198
Processor: 219.99$ (Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 3000 BX80623I52500K)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115072
Video Card: 489.99$ (EVGA SuperClocked 015-P3-1582-AR GeForce GTX 580 (Fermi) 1536MB 384-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130590

Total: 1104$
I'm not sure about the case and you probably don't need 16GB of ram. And the 580 probably wont fit into the case

 

[kingblood69]

x

no worries about cases, i got a dremel and some duct tape right here ready for that. it will fit!

lol

 

[jdwii]

How small of a case do you need?

 

[xxcysxx]

folks, the budget is for only the parts i need. like cpu, gpu, main board, ram, and "just the recommended psu power requirement". i'm "not" going to buy the psu, or the case.

How small of a case do you need?

the smaller the better, i will probably add a shoulder strap to it for portability sake.

 

[jdwii]

folks, the budget is for only the parts i need. like cpu, gpu, main board, ram, and "just the recommended psu power requirement". i'm "not" going to buy the psu, or the case.

How small of a case do you need?

the smaller the better, i will probably add a shoulder strap to it for portability sake.

Well then the parts i listed is what i would buy for me. The 2500K+ GTX 580 will play any game maxed out at 1080P without much trouble. You might even want to wait until the Radeon 7000 series comes out. Which will be the 9th

 

[theconsolegamer]

CPU: i5 2500= $210USD
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817121080

MOBO: ASUS P8Z68-M PRO= $120USD
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131786
A Micro ATX MOBO with the z68 chipset

RAM: CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB)= $48USD
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233144
16gb is way too much RAM. If you feel you need more you can buy later as you have 2 DIMMS left.

PSU: KINGWIN Lazer Platinum Series LZP-550 550W= $130USD
92% Efficiency! No SLI right?

GFX Card: EVGA 012-P3-1570-AR GeForce GTX 570 (Fermi) 1280MB= $339USD http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130593

Grand total: $848USD


Edit: I've made some changes to my previous build.

1) I had an ATX MOBO when it was required to be a m-ATX board
2) I've changed the CPU to the i5 2500 because it's a better deal and the Hyper Threading is not really sure if your games will even use it
3) I've changed the PSU from 750w bronce 80+ to a 550w platinum 80+ which it really is a 90+ but such a certification does not exist. The 750w PSU was overkill since you'll not do any overclocking to your GPU nor CPU so why bother?

 

[NeutralEnergy]

Well, well, well... You can do a lot with $1100 if all you need is the cpu, gpu, board, ram, and power supply....

I'd also like to quickly say that, like you saw with the RAM, prices have changed since 5 years ago... a LOT. You might wanna lessen the budget but I'll still recommend extremely high end products.

I'll start with the cpu... If your not interisted in OCing then I would get an i5 2500. They are really great processors. Its part of the Sandy Bridge series, uses 32nm technology, has 8mb of cache and is simply a really, really great processor.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115074

The motherboard... Well, like I said, since your not interested in OCing and you don't want to SLI/CrossFire then you could just go with any Micro ATX motherboard out there. Asus is a top-of-the-line manufacturer so I would recommend them geratly. This is a nice Micro ATX board.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131724

Even with extreme gaming, no one will ever use 16gb of ram. Even 8gb is more than enough but it's a nice amount to have...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131724

Well then, the video card (which has the gpu in it)... The very, very best single-gpu video card out there right now is the gtx 580. You could save yourself about $150 though and get the gtx 570, which only slightly, slightly less powerful. I would really, really recommend the gtx 570 but... it's all up to you. I can tell you that the gtx 570 will manage just about every game on ultra with AA x4 on... But the gtx 580 is about 10% better... Like I said, my advise of the gtx 570 but since your budget is so high you can go ahead and go with the gtx 580 if you want. I would save myself those $150 and get myself a great gaming keyboard/mouse...
gtx 570- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130593
gtx 580- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130590
EVGA is the #1 producer/manufacturer of video cards. They have great customer service and a great step-up program (see here- http://www.evga.com/support/stepup/ ). If you get the gtx 570 and your not satisfied, you could always pay the difference for a gtx 580.

The power supply. All you really need is a nice 500w power supply, although I recommend a 750w for more flexibility in the future. I would get it from Corsair as they are a great psu manufacturing company and you can be rest assured that you have a really good quality power supply. Also, the ones I'm linking are both 80 plus certified which means they are extremely efficient.
500w- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139027
750w- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139030

That's just about it. You'd be spending about $750 if you followed my advise, which is well within the budget. Use the rest on a better tv, or a gaming keyboard/mouse.

Hope this helps and good luck with your build! If there are any more questions I'd be glad to help!

 

[NeutralEnergy]

CPU: i7 2600 = $299USD
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115071
This CPU will last you at least 5 years with it's Hyper-Threading which only Deus Ex uses.

I disagree with that choice of a cpu. That's throwing $100 out the window compared with the i5 2500. They are practically the same thing. Since there's not going to be any overclocking, the only difference is a 0.1 GHz increase in speed...

 

[xxcysxx]

is there a noticeable difference in gaming performance between 8gb ram and 16gb ram, if assuming both ram capacities have the same brand and specs.

furthermore about ram, lets assume i decide to do 8gb ram, is it "better" if i do four 2gb sticks and fill all the memory banks, or use two 4gb sticks. meaning does the memory access faster and more efficient if i fill all the memory banks?
this is all assuming i will not going to be upgrading or expanding latter. it's built and done.

 

[azeem40]

No, it is faster if you use 2x4 GB RAM for Dual-Channel.

 

[NeutralEnergy]

Like I said, there is no noticeable difference at all when using 8gb vs. 16 gb. And it's quicker to use 2x4 gb RAM in Dual-Channel. All that means is that you're putting the memory into 2 specified slots on your motherboard. There will be more information on that in the manual.

 

[theconsolegamer]

I disagree with that choice of a cpu. That's throwing $100 out the window compared with the i5 2500. They are practically the same thing. Since there's not going to be any overclocking, the only difference is a 0.1 GHz increase in speed...

Deux Ex is using the threading capabilities of CPU's given to it so it's only normal that future games will start to use it too. The i5 2500 is a great CPU too, he won't go wrong with either of them.

 

[theconsolegamer]

is there a noticeable difference in gaming performance between 8gb ram and 16gb ram, if assuming both ram capacities have the same brand and specs.

furthermore about ram, lets assume i decide to do 8gb ram, is it "better" if i do four 2gb sticks and fill all the memory banks, or use two 4gb sticks. meaning does the memory access faster and more efficient if i fill all the memory banks?
this is all assuming i will not going to be upgrading or expanding latter. it's built and done.

The speed of the RAM is not bound to how much quantity it has but by the clock speeds and latency of them. 16gb of RAM won't be any faster than 8gb of RAM if they have the same clock speeds and latency.

 

[xxcysxx]

i was under the impression that ram memory would probably be stripping like how raid 0 is doing, by having more memory modules it would stripe data over four banks and access all four of them at a time and would therefore result in faster performance. but perhaps that's not how it works.

i understand that's how a "single" ssd drives would work, a larger capacity ssd drive is always faster than a smaller capacity ssd drive because data is stripped over the individual flash modules and being accessed in a redundant fashion for best read/write speed performance. a larger capacity ssd would have more flash modules and therefore result in more stripes.

 

[xxcysxx]

what is the "K" at the end of the intel processor for?
all i see is the difference in the intel graphics and the $10-$20 difference in price. but the clock frequency is the same on both.
is there anything else i should know about the difference? should i care about the "K" since i'm going to be using a discrete video card anyway?

 

[theconsolegamer]

what is the "K" at the end of the intel processor for?
all i see is the difference in the intel graphics and the $10-$20 difference in price. but the clock frequency is the same on both.
is there anything else i should know about the difference? should i care about the "K" since i'm going to be using a discrete video card anyway?

The K is for unlocked processor for overclocking, nobody suggested those because you said you won't do any overclocking.

 

[xxcysxx]

how come no one recommended radeon video cards. i see they have a lot of good reviews and great prices. is there something wrong with them?

 

[NeutralEnergy]

Well, they're great and all but the nVidia cards simply perform better in tests. I recommend for you to go ahead and grab an nVidia card... nVidia solely focuses on GPUs while AMD also makes processors. And even so, the Intel processors ARE better (although they DO cost more).

 

[theconsolegamer]

how come no one recommended radeon video cards. i see they have a lot of good reviews and great prices. is there something wrong with them?

Radeon cards are great but the drivers not so much. nVidia drivers kick ass. What games are you looking to play?

 

[xxcysxx]

mostly first person shooter and role playing games. i'm still researching for other solutions for my setup. it seems i keep getting greedy with higher performance parts and thus slowing my decision down.

 

[NeutralEnergy]

Keep in mind that when you get your parts and you don't like the speeds of everything, you can always upgrade.

 

[xxcysxx]

well, isn't that expensive?
i'm a student, i don't have that much loose cash to trial and error parts. why not get it right from the get go so i don't have to worry about upgrades later.