First timers $1300 gaming system

[Captrain]

Hey guys,

Looking to build a new system from scratch. I have a good idea of what I want, but want to see if I have overlooked something. This will be my first computer I have built. I will mostly be using it to game and play around in Photoshop CS5.

Approximate Purchase Date: This week, hopefully today if I get some feedback

Budget Range: $1200-$1300

Parts Required: building a tower from the ground up

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: I have been using tiger direct but open to suggestions

Parts Preferences: I think the i5 is the way to go for the cpu other then that no preferences

Overclocking: Yes

SLI or Crossfire: Maybe if it is in price range

Monitor Resolution: 1440 X 900

This is what I thought would be a good build.

Case: Cooler Master Storm Scout ATX Mid-Tower
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4543058&sku=C283-1221

Motherboard: Intel DP67BGB3
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=40969&sku=I69-2234

Cpu: i5-2500k
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=7073161&sku=I69-2500K

Video Card: Zotac GTX 560 Ti 448
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1705012&sku=Z700-0568

Ram: Corsair Vengeance 16GB
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=7025816&sku=C13-5706

Power supply Corsair 800w power supply
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=6382282&sku=C13-2606

Sound Card: Creative Labs X-fi Xtreme
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2687630&sku=C44-3346

Hard drive Seagate 500GB 7200 rpm
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1083959&sku=TSD-500ST

Cpu cooler: Corsair H40 liguid cooler
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1241960&sku=C13-2140

Once again thanks for any feedback.

 

[azeem40]

RAM: 8 GB Corsair Vengeance. Reason: 16 GB is overkill for gaming.
MOBO: ASUS/GIGABYTE/ASRock. Reason: more reliable.

 

[Captrain]

Sweet, thanks for the advice so the other motherboard I was thinking about was the

ASUS P8Z68-V Intel Z68 Motherboard - ATX, Intel Z68 Express,
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=440723&CatId=7212

I will go with that one!

 

[steadywaters]

^Good choice.

Drop the sound card unless you have a decent sound setup. Try onboard audio first and get sound card if needed.

 

[Captrain]

Not really a good sound system just a small 2.1 setup. And thanks I honestly thought I wouldn't have sound if I didn't get a sound card.

 

[strausd]

I would definitely suggest a different motherboard. Many people like ASUS and I have nothing bad to say about them.

Go with 8GB RAM. 16GB really is not needed for gaming. 8GB can be found for 40-50$.

So does your budget include purchasing Photoshop?

Well it looks like you still have some wiggle room in your budget. You may want to consider bumping the GPU up to a GTX 570 or looking into an SSD as a boot drive. This will make your build feel so much faster and can be the best single upgrade anybody can do.

 

[Captrain]

Thanks for the info. Haven't looked into the SSD too much. Can a hard drive really make the system that much faster?

 

[strausd]

Thanks for the info. Haven't looked into the SSD too much. Can a hard drive really make the system that much faster?

Absolutely! The read speeds of nearly any SSD on the market will kill the read speeds of any mechanical hard drive. The increased read speeds translate to anything in relation to reading data, such as loading a game, loading a large application, or loading the operating system (booting up). This means that with an SSD, all of those aspects will be much much faster.

 

[Captrain]

Huh, I would never have thought the hard drive would boost speeds that much. Thanks!

 

[Captrain]

Best answer selected by Captrain.