Gaming build, budget oriented, advice welcome.

[justinco99]

Approximate Purchase Date: this week (Thursday)

Budget Range: <$600 Before Rebates

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming rig, must play Rift on high settings.

Parts Not Required: keyboard, mouse, speakers, hard drive

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: microcenter.com (local pickup)

Country: U.S.

Parts Preferences: Quality, stable

Overclocking: Maybe (future CPU upgrade, GPU not likely)

SLI or Crossfire: No

Monitor Resolution: 1920x1080

Additional Comments: This will be a secondary gaming rig, main requirement is it must play games like Rift on pretty high settings. Parts must be available for local pickup at Microcenter.

Concerns:
-Thermaltake make a decent PSU?
- 500w good enough for the vidcard selection?
- H61 chipset sufficient or should I look for better?
- Vidcard sufficient for my needs?

Also looking for any alternate parts with similar price ranges and performance levels that might be better then what I have. I have been selecting a lot from the Hot Ad deals and rebate items, although that is not a necessity of course.

Here are the parts, and a link to the wish list on microcenter:

[strike]Wishlist, total around $560 with tax, before rebates:[/strike]
Wishlist, total around $617 with tax, before rebates:

https://www.microcenter.com/InsiderAcct/PublicWishList.aspx?WishListID=jqnavXElLwgwL7uweUIDhEsuDKSOmv55&Email=SIjD897Bh7wcJI8DmpJ1BBaGowepqwFp

Gigabyte GA-H61M-DS2 LGA 1155 H61 mATX Intel Motherboard: $54 ($10 rebate)
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0377387

Intel Core i3 2100 LGA 1155 3.1GHz Boxed Processor: $99
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0359809

[strike]Corsair XMS 8GB DDR3-1333 (PC3-10666) CL9 Dual Channel Desktop Memory Kit: $49 ($20 rebate)
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0347304
[/strike]
Crucial 8GB DDR3-1333 (PC3-10600) CL9 U-DIMM Desktop Memory Kit (Two 4GB Memory Modules): $35
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0382099

[strike]Diamond 6770PE51GB AMD Radeon HD 6770 1024MB GDDR5 PCIe 2.1 x16 Video Card: $99 ($20 rebate)
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0381820
[/strike]
Gigabyte ATi Radeon HD 6850 1024MB GDDR5 PCIe 2.1 x16 Video Card GV-R685OC-1GD: $165 ($30 rebate)
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0354216

[strike]Thermaltake TR2 Series 500 Watt ATX Power Supply: $44 ($10 rebate)
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0365237
[/strike]
Corsair Builder Series CMPSU-430CXV2 430 Watt ATX Power Supply: $46
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0361421

Thermaltake V4 Black Edition VM30001W2Z ATX Mid Tower Gaming Computer Case: $39 ($10 rebate)
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0340862

Acer S231HL bid 23" LED Backlight Widescreen LCD Monitor: $114
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0354785

Sony AD-7280S-0B 24x SATA Internal DVD Burner - OEM: $18
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0380574

Thanks!

 

[jmsellars1]

Some Thermaltake PSU's can be OK but I'd generally go with a Seasonic, Corsair or Antec or something. 500W is much more than you need for that system, 400W would still be plenty. At peak load that system will pull around 220-250W assuming you don't have 12 hard drives.

The H61 chipset should be fine for that build.

My advice would be to drop the PSU to around 400W (Corsair CX-430 perhaps) and drop down to 4GB RAM to get a slightly better GPU. See if you can find a version of the HD 6850 which requires 1 x 6 pin PCI-e connector that would be good.

 

[itxgamer]

I'll second what jmsellars1 posted about the power supply. My i5-2500K/HD6850 only pulled 213w from the wall at max load. The full specs and numbers are here. 400w is ideal for the system you want to build.

Even if you cant save enough money on the PSU to afford the HD6850, maybe you can stretch your budget a bit to include it. It's a fantastic card with great performance for the price.

 

[justinco99]

Thanks for the input.

I swapped the PSU for the following:

Corsair Builder Series CMPSU-430CXV2 430 Watt ATX Power Supply
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0361421

Looking at vidcard options to see if I can squeeze in something more powerful.

 

[justinco99]

Also looking at dropping to 4gb of memory, have a few choices that should open some budget for better GPU. What do you think?

Crucial 4GB DDR3-1333 (PC-10666) CL9 Dual Channel Desktop Memory Kit (Two 2GB Memory Modules): $24
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0307440

Or for $1 more some Kingston w/ heatspreaders:
Kingston HyperX blu 4GB DDR3-1333 (PC3-10600) CL9 Dual Channel Desktop Memory Kit (Two 2GB Memory Modules): $25
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0360523

And lastly the really budget, anyone have experience with this memory? Has good reviews: $19
Micro Center 4GB DDR3-1333 (PC3-10666) CL9 Desktop Memory Kit (Two 2GB Memory Modules)
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0353218

 

[SingingThroughTheStorm]

It shouldn't cost you too much to go 8GB of ram.
It is a better value and would probably save you money in the long run.

And good choice on swapping the PSU.

 

[justinco99]

It shouldn't cost you too much to go 8GB of ram.
It is a better value and would probably save you money in the long run.

And good choice on swapping the PSU.

Yea that is what I am thinking too...still looking.

 

[SingingThroughTheStorm]

Yea that is what I am thinking too...still looking.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148476

 

[jmsellars1]

4GB is fine, just get something branded like the Crucial/Kingston stuff and you should be good. I'd get 1x4GB of something, get the heat spreaders if you want but just know that they're only there to look cool.

 

[justinco99]

Ok here is what I got, puts me a little over budget but that's ok, rebates will bring it down a bunch:

Gigabyte ATi Radeon HD 6850 1024MB GDDR5 PCIe 2.1 x16 Video Card GV-R685OC-1GD: $165 ($30 rebate)
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0354216

Crucial 8GB DDR3-1333 (PC3-10600) CL9 U-DIMM Desktop Memory Kit (Two 4GB Memory Modules): $35
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0382099

Brings total to $617 before rebates. Think that should about do it.

 

[justinco99]

Updated the first post to reflect changes, thanks for the input guys! Going to pick this stuff up Thursday...

Justin

 

[SingingThroughTheStorm]

Ok here is what I got, puts me a little over budget but that's ok, rebates will bring it down a bunch:

Gigabyte ATi Radeon HD 6850 1024MB GDDR5 PCIe 2.1 x16 Video Card GV-R685OC-1GD: $165 ($30 rebate)
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0354216

Crucial 8GB DDR3-1333 (PC3-10600) CL9 U-DIMM Desktop Memory Kit (Two 4GB Memory Modules): $35
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0382099

Brings total to $617 before rebates. Think that should about do it.

You can bring the price down on the 6850:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125353

That comes to $120 after coupon and rebate.

 

[justinco99]

You can bring the price down on the 6850:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125353

That comes to $120 after coupon and rebate.

Nice find, but I need to be able to pick this up at my local Microcenter this week