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$1200-$1500 Gaming Rig Build need advice

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Hello i am a 1st time builder, i have upgraded my other pc but this is my first built from scratch pc. I would like a build thats gonna be viable for 2-3 yrs maybe. I am into heavy FPS gaming (MW3, BF3, etc...) this is what i got so far. I know intel is superior when it comes to gaming but their prices are crazy compare to AMD. Compatibility issues or ANY advice and suggestions are very appreciated.

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CASE
NZXT Phantom PHAN-001WT White Steel / Plastic Enthusiast ATX Full Tower Computer Case.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

CPU
AMD Phenom II X6 1100T Black Edition Thuban 3.3GHz, 3.7GHz Turbo Socket AM3 125W.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

MOBO
ASUS M5A88-V EVO AM3+ AMD 880G HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

HDD
Western Digital Caviar Black WD1502FAEX 1.5TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

RAM
CORSAIR Vengeance 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800).
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

PSU
KINGWIN Lazer LZ-850 850W Modular 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

GPU
TBD but this is what im looking into. will it run mw3 on ultra without fps loss?
EVGA 025-P3-1579-AR GeForce GTX 570 (Fermi) HD 2560MB 320-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Any and all input and/or suggestions are welcome

More about : 1200 1500 gaming rig build advice

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-At that price range there is no reason not to go with an Intel i5-2500k build.
-16GB of memory is overkill.
-Stick with Antec, Corsair, XFX or Seasonic for a PSU

MB - GIGABYTE GA-Z68A-D3H-B3 - $130
CPU - i5-2500k - $230
CPU Cooler - Hyper 212+ - $30
GPU - EVGA SuperClocked GTX 570 - $360
MEM - Corsair XMS3 8GB DDR3-1600 CL9 - $45 after MIR
HD - Seagate 1TB - $140
OPTICAL - LG Black 12X BD-RW - $65
PSU - XFX PRO850W - $90 after MIR
CASE - Rosewill Challenger - $55
OS - Windows 7 Home Premium x64 - $100

$1245

That's a really good start but these would be my suggestions:

- The 570 will run MW3, BF3, Skyrim, anything you can throw at it without breaking a sweat. And EVGA is one of the best in the business for NVIDIA cards.

- Kingwin is NOT a good PSU maker. You're best to stick with Corsair, Seasonic, Antec, or PC Power & Cooling. Try one of these:
- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

- You don't need 16GB of RAM for a gaming system, you can drop that to 8GB and it will be fine.

- Go for the Intel i5-2500K over the Phenom II X6. You'll also need a good cooler if you want to try overclocking your CPU. Try something like this:

Motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168... - OR - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
Cooler: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

- Drop your HD to a 1TB or a 500GB and then spend the difference on getting a good SSD for boot / load times. Try something like this:
HD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
SSD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

I have seen a couple of i5-2500k builds but my problem with that is if its going to be viable for longterm. i know gaming only requires 4 cores max but im looking for something i wont need to upgrade anytime soon.
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sadams04 said:
-At that price range there is no reason not to go with an Intel i5-2500k build.
-16GB of memory is overkill.
-Stick with Antec, Corsair, XFX or Seasonic for a PSU

MB - GIGABYTE GA-Z68A-D3H-B3 - $130
CPU - i5-2500k - $230
CPU Cooler - Hyper 212+ - $30
GPU - EVGA SuperClocked GTX 570 - $360
MEM - Corsair XMS3 8GB DDR3-1600 CL9 - $45 after MIR
HD - Seagate 1TB - $140
OPTICAL - LG Black 12X BD-RW - $65
PSU - XFX PRO850W - $90 after MIR
CASE - Rosewill Challenger - $55
OS - Windows 7 Home Premium x64 - $100

$1245


^+1, The only thing I would think about is upgrading that case and adding in a boot drive SSD

Smoke420 said:
I have seen a couple of i5-2500k builds but my problem with that is if its going to be viable for longterm. i know gaming only requires 4 cores max but im looking for something i wont need to upgrade anytime soon.


You're not going to notice any difference really with a couple of extra cores in your CPU. Quad core is the standard and will be for quite some time. The Phenom II is good for a few things but really, Intel will better serve for longevity as Z68 systems will allow you to install an Ivy Bridge chip in them in a few months.

Quote:
^+1, The only thing I would think about is upgrading that case and adding in a boot drive SSD


Go with a Cooler Master HAF 912 or the Corsair Carbide over the Challenger, far better, IMO.

Quote:
OPTICAL - LG Black 12X BD-RW - $65


You don't really need a bare-bones BD-R burner for a gaming system, you can get a cheap optical drive like the Lite-On DVD burner and be perfectly fine.

g-unit1111 said:
Go with a Cooler Master HAF 912 or the Corsair Carbide over the Challenger, far better, IMO.


^I got the 500R for my latest build and I love it, lots of room and keeps my system cool.

Smoke420 said:
I have seen a couple of i5-2500k builds but my problem with that is if its going to be viable for longterm. i know gaming only requires 4 cores max but im looking for something i wont need to upgrade anytime soon.


An overclocked i5-2500k is a LOT of power and is faster than any AMD rig you can build today. You won't need more CPU power than that for gaming for a while to come.

Lokster1 said:
^I got the 500R for my latest build and I love it, lots of room and keeps my system cool.


I use the Graphite 600T and it's amazing, I'd love to get a 500R or an Arc MIDI for my workstation but the last thing I need is more empty cases lying around. :lol: 

COOLER MASTER Elite 430 RC-430-KWN1 Black Steel / Plastic Computer Case $55
GIGABYTE GV-R797D5-3GD-B Radeon HD 7970 3GB 384-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 $550
ASRock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s $122
Western Digital Caviar Blue WD5000AAKX 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive $100
Team Elite 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Desktop Memory Model TED38192M1333HC9DC $36
i5 2500k $210
Antec ECO 620w $60
Crucial M4 CT064M4SSD2 2.5" 64GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive $100

Total: $1233

Running 7970, play games like BF3 ultra max 60+ fps. With a SSD, put your OS and Bf3/games on it and itll load the maps mad quick. Youll be the first to get into these maps.

somekidxd said:
COOLER MASTER Elite 430 RC-430-KWN1 Black Steel / Plastic Computer Case $55
GIGABYTE GV-R797D5-3GD-B Radeon HD 7970 3GB 384-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 $550
ASRock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s $122
Western Digital Caviar Blue WD5000AAKX 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive $100
Team Elite 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Desktop Memory Model TED38192M1333HC9DC $36
i5 2500k $210
Antec ECO 620w $60
Crucial M4 CT064M4SSD2 2.5" 64GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive $100

Total: $1233

Running 7970, play games like BF3 ultra max 60+ fps. With a SSD, put your OS and Bf3/games on it and itll load the maps mad quick. Youll be the first to get into these maps.


But you're also using one of the worst RAM brands on the market, a PSU that's vastly underpowered for the 7970 (600W minimum required) and I'd honestly spend a bit more on the case.

Quote:
If you have extra cash, put 128gb SSD instead, its faster and more memory. If you want, you can change to i7 2600k


2600K - not required for a gaming system and I'd really put a bit more into the secondary HD and get a 1TB instead of a 500GB - you really won't notice much of a difference between using a 64GB and a 120GB.

somekidxd said:
Fine, change the case and ram if you want, and change the ram to Kingston HyperX's.


That would be much better but the PSU is still underpowered. For such a power hungry card the minimum requirements are 600W so you'd want at least a 750W - 850W to be on the safe side. Having more power is always better, having less can actually hurt your system in the long run.

7970 isnt power hungry. Takes alot less power than a 580 gtx.

7970 under load is about 210W, roughly same as 6970, so a 400W for a full system is fine, if its a good brand, 500w no sweat.
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