First time build. $1500 Budget

[essdot84]

Approximate Purchase Date: Next Week (Jan. 27)

Budget Range: $1500 Before Rebates

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming, Web Browsing, possible music production in future

Parts Not Required: Keyboard, Mouse, Speakers, Disc Drive.

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Newegg, Tigerdirect.

Country: United States

Parts Preferences: Intel, AMD, Corsair, Asus.

Overclocking: Maybe.

SLI or Crossfire: Possibly in the future. Prefer one card for now though.

Monitor Resolution: 1080p, 1900x1200

Additional Comments: Prefer a case with a side window, Cable routing options, Mid Tower, Color matched components



Hey guys I've been frequenting these forums now for the past 4 months and I've been inspired to build my first PC.
Figured I'd assemble a build and ask this helpful community for some advice. This PC will be used primarily for games
of the MMO persuasion. SWTOR, Diablo3, GW2. Later I plan to delve into music production down the road. So Here
is what I got so far, any help/tips are greatly appreciated



Intel Core i5 2500k 229.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115072

Asus P8P67 Deluxe (Rev. 3.0) 209.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131701

Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) 49.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233196

HIS IceQ Radeon HD 6870 1GB 189.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161393

NZXT Hale90-750-M 750W ATX 80 Plus Gold Certified Modular PSU 159.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817116011

Seagate Momentus XT 500GB 7,200 RPM Hard Drive 149.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148591

Thermaltake Frio Heatsink 54.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835106150

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64 bit - OEM 99.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116986

Thats what I'm looking at so far. Basically im building this for SWTOR and I'm hoping to get at least 40 FPS on high settings.
is this acheivable with this build? Thanks guys

 

[essdot84]

Oh and this comes out to $1,327.89. So I have an extra $100 to play with

 

[g-unit1111]

What are you using for a case? I don't see that listed.

These would be my suggestions:

- If you've got an extra $100 definitely put that into the video card. The 6870 is a good card but for $100 more you can get a 6950 and that is a pretty killer GPU for the money. Although for brand preference I personally like Sapphire better than HIS.

- I don't know much about NZXT PSUs, but they do make some awesome cases (I really like the Phantom). You want to research the OEM behind the manufacturer before you buy and you want to make sure that your PSU is certified and rated.

- The Momentus is actually a laptop-specific hard drive. It's made for laptops where you want to use an SSD but you don't have any extra drive bays for a secondary storage solution. For the price you're better off going with a Samsung Spinpoint.

- I don't think I'd go for the Frio. After the disappointment I've had with gigantic, clunky coolers when smaller and more efficient coolers get the job done for less, that's what I'd go with. Go with the EVGA M020 or the Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo, those are the coolers I've had the best results with.

 

[IntelEnthusiast]

Optical drive? The hard drive that you selected is a 2.5" drive designed for a laptop. So you can change it out or get a 2.5 to 3.5 confersion kit.

I also generally advise the Z68 chipset because of the extra features that it offers. With a Z68 board you can use a small SSD (<64GB) with the Intel SRT (Smart Response Technology) and set it up for as a caching drive.

Other then these 2 issues the build does look good and should work very well as a gaming system for you.

Christian Wood
Intel Enthusiast Team

 

[essdot84]

Corsair white graphite series 600T 169.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811139005

The case I was planning on using. Sorry I forgot to list that.
I've read a lot of good reviews on the samsung spinpoint so I will take your suggestion on that. Thanks
I really didnt like NZXT until there Hale series PSU's came out and those just seem to get great ratings,
as far as the case I'm pretty much stuck on the corsair graphite series, they just look beautiful to me and
look like they have the cable routing options, air circulation and little bling im in to. I'll def look into that
EVGA/CM coolor you suggested tho.
Thanks g-unit!

 

[essdot84]

@Christian
I have an Optical drive in my older dell I was just going to use. I dont think I really need a Bluray drive or anything. I dont burn
cd's and the games I do buy are all digital copies anyway. As far as the HDD Im gonna go ahead and go witht he spinpoint 1TB.
As far as the Z68 chipsets go, is it pretty easy to set up an SSD as a caching drive? Not gonna lie I'm a little afraid of SSDs cuz
it seems like they have a high failure rate...

 

[g-unit1111]

Corsair white graphite series 600T 169.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811139005

The case I was planning on using. Sorry I forgot to list that.
I've read a lot of good reviews on the samsung spinpoint so I will take your suggestion on that. Thanks
I really didnt like NZXT until there Hale series PSU's came out and those just seem to get great ratings,
as far as the case I'm pretty much stuck on the corsair graphite series, they just look beautiful to me and
look like they have the cable routing options, air circulation and little bling im in to. I'll def look into that
EVGA/CM coolor you suggested tho.
Thanks g-unit!

I have that same case and while it's great and all, it is huge, heavy, and not easy to transport. You might want to check out the slimmer Carbide 500R - it's the same design but a lot lighter.

I have an Optical drive in my older dell I was just going to use. I dont think I really need a Bluray drive or anything. I dont burn
cd's and the games I do buy are all digital copies anyway. As far as the HDD Im gonna go ahead and go witht he spinpoint 1TB.
As far as the Z68 chipsets go, is it pretty easy to set up an SSD as a caching drive? Not gonna lie I'm a little afraid of SSDs cuz
it seems like they have a high failure rate...

Definitely reuse any parts you can. I don't really know how to setup an SSD as a cache but SSDs don't always necessarily have higher fail rates. They do have shorter lifespans than a traditional mechanical drive would but if you take the right precautions before hand an SSD can be really beneficial.

 

[essdot84]

Thank you for the input guys, I really appreciate it. Looking forward to purchasing my parts next week