First gaming PC ($2,000 budget)

[lonehunter23]

I am planning on building a gaming PC, hopefully by the end of the month. I am willing to spend $2,000 at the most. Monitor, keyboard and mouse will be purchased later. I want to be able to run any current game (Diablo 3, Starcraft 2, WoW, Star Wars: TOR) on max settings.

I will be getting everything from newegg.com.

Would like to run two video cards, just because I want this build to be a beast. I stream/download movies a lot so a nice Blu-Ray burner is needed.

I have an external HD for storage (movies/music) so I don't need a crazy big internal HD, just something that will allow for maximum gaming performance.

I would love to be able to use my TV as a monitor. My TV is a Sylvania LC321SS9 32" LCD HDTV. I'll include the specs of the TV just because I don't know how well the TV would work as a monitor or if I should just buy a new monitor. My monitor is an Acer g215H, 21.5" Widescreen LCD. Monitor price is not included in the $2,000, so no limits there, maybe $500 at the most.

Display Area: 32"
Aspect Ratio: 16:9
Signal Compatibility: 720p
Input Video Signal: ATSC
NTSC
Inputs: VGA (15-Pin D-Sub)
S-Video
Audio
HDMI In
Component
RF Input
Outputs: Digital Audio Out
Audio Ports: 7
Speakers: 2
Power Consumption: 155W
Power Source: 120V AC, 60Hz
Height (inches): 20.4
Height with Stand (inches): 21.4
Width (inches): 30.6
Depth (inches): 4.3
Depth with Stand (inches): 8.7
Unit Weight: 22.8 lbs.

When it comes to parts I don't really have a preference, who ever has the better hardware is all that matters.

Any mid size case works for me. Plenty of ventilation is a must. Prefer black with blue LEDs, but ventilation and space are the most important aspects.

I don't know a lot about overclocking so I don't know if I will or won't be doing it. If anyone can help me out with that it would be a great help.

I think I covered everything, if I missed anything please let me know.

 

[a4mula]

The first thing I'd like to express is that you have a substantial budget for a typical gaming rig. Now, I'm not an advocate of telling people how to spend their money, but I would like to at least point out that for half of your budget you could still purchase a very solid gaming pc. However if as you stated you wanted a beast then by all means, continue reading.

There are those that will advocate the 2500k on Z68 as being the best bang for the buck solution here. I don't deny that. However this isn't a value build. This is a performance build.

There are those that will tell you to wait untl Ivy Bridge ships. This is also a very viable option. It's still flawed however. While IB will certainly out-clock today's chips, they'd have to perform on the scale of 40% greater to match today's premium processors, simply put, it's not going to happen. Of course this is an argument for a total system, not just one designed for gaming, or for budget concerns.

Let's however assume that Z77 + IB does somehow manage to catch the 3930K in total performance. It's still going to be crippled on the 1155 socket which only provides 16 lanes of gpu pci-e, period.

So you want the advice that serious enthusiast builders are considering at these budgets. Quite simply it's the 3930K on X79. LGA2011 is the most current chipset that Intel is offering. It's the replacement for the enthusiast 1366 platform. X79 represents Intel's upper tier chipset. It has native pci-e 3.0 support (as will Z77) but more importantly, it takes the pci-e ondie lanes from 16 to 40. Some will argue that this availability is there for Z68, in the form of NF200. Of course that's if you believe the claim that it doubles the lanes. Of course it doesn't as the lanes are part of the CPU itself, all it does is allow for simultaneous output of data to multiple devices. Which makes it suitable for SLI/Crossfire, not so much however for other pci-e devices like a thunderbolt add-on card, a RAID card, future SSDs ect.

This isn't a problem for X79. You can have 4x gpus in quadfire and still have a full x8 lanes of pci-e 3.0 speed left for any I/O needs.

3930K - $630
Asus Extreme7 2011 - $270
Corsair XMS 4x4GB - $80
AMD 7970 - $550
Seagate 500GB 7200 - $85
OCZ Synapse 64GB - $120
Silverstone Raven RV02B-EW - $180
CM Silent Pro 850w - $130

Total: $2045

The 7970 will handle everything you can throw at it on 1920x1080 60hz at max settings.

 

[e56imfg]

The first thing I'd like to express is that you have a substantial budget for a typical gaming rig. Now, I'm not an advocate of telling people how to spend their money, but I would like to at least point out that for half of your budget you could still purchase a very solid gaming pc. However if as you stated you wanted a beast then by all means, continue reading.

There are those that will advocate the 2500k on Z68 as being the best bang for the buck solution here. I don't deny that. However this isn't a value build. This is a performance build.

There are those that will tell you to wait untl Ivy Bridge ships. This is also a very viable option. It's still flawed however. While IB will certainly out-clock today's chips, they'd have to perform on the scale of 40% greater to match today's premium processors, simply put, it's not going to happen. Of course this is an argument for a total system, not just one designed for gaming, or for budget concerns.

Let's however assume that Z77 + IB does somehow manage to catch the 3930K in total performance. It's still going to be crippled on the 1155 socket which only provides 16 lanes of gpu pci-e, period.

So you want the advice that serious enthusiast builders are considering at these budgets. Quite simply it's the 3930K on X79. LGA2011 is the most current chipset that Intel is offering. It's the replacement for the enthusiast 1366 platform. X79 represents Intel's upper tier chipset. It has native pci-e 3.0 support (as will Z77) but more importantly, it takes the pci-e ondie lanes from 16 to 40. Some will argue that this availability is there for Z68, in the form of NF200. Of course that's if you believe the claim that it doubles the lanes. Of course it doesn't as the lanes are part of the CPU itself, all it does is allow for simultaneous output of data to multiple devices. Which makes it suitable for SLI/Crossfire, not so much however for other pci-e devices like a thunderbolt add-on card, a RAID card, future SSDs ect.

This isn't a problem for X79. You can have 4x gpus in quadfire and still have a full x8 lanes of pci-e 3.0 speed left for any I/O needs.

3930K - $630
Asus Extreme7 2011 - $270
Corsair XMS 4x4GB - $80
AMD 7970 - $550
Seagate 500GB 7200 - $85
OCZ Synapse 64GB - $120
Silverstone Raven RV02B-EW - $180
CM Silent Pro 850w - $130

Total: $2045

The 7970 will handle everything you can throw at it on 1920x1080 60hz at max settings.

I agree with everything above me but you don't need 16GB of RAM (although it's pretty cheap) and that case is ... ew.
Oh and I would switch the mobo to this Rampage Extreme
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131803
Switch the case to this beast (CM Storm Trooper). This case will rape any other case under $200 and it's on sale
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119245

BTW, NCIX.com has some really good deals from time to time so you should go check them out.

 

[sarinaide]

x79/LGA2011 is smoke and mirrors. Feature reach but severly lack the performance to justify the cost. 4Way SLI/Xfire is a pipe dream for most and will likely cost a lot in the PSU and GPU area which makes it rather much ado about nothing not to mention dual slot cards making 4 way almost impossible, 8 DIMMS with the current pricing on X79 memory is another pipedream. X79 is a bad platform to throw money into with the Ivybridge and Haswell chips due out within the next 3-12months.

You can get a i7 2600K / Z68 build with dual 580's and get far more for far less than a SB-E build. Sorry but SB-E is not worth being called extreme just because Intel dubs it so, I would rather build on $1200-1500 and pocket $500

 

[lonehunter23]

Thanks for the replies. Going to look into what was posted so far. As to my budget, that is just the max I have to spend on parts. If I can get away with a build for $1,500 and save $500 then that's fine.

I just made sure I gave myself enough money to get a nice rig. I've been using the same HP for almost 10 years, so I've been held back a lot in what I can do.

With all the awesome games out/coming out I want to be able to enjoy them at the best.

 

[lonehunter23]

Case: Thermaltake Chaser MK-1 Full Tower Gaming Case W/ Side Panel Window [+59]

CPU: AMD FX-8150 3.60 GHz Eight-Core AM3+ CPU 8MB L2 Cache & Turbo Core

Motherboard: [CrossFireX/SLI] ASRock Fatal1ty 990FX Professional AMD 990FX Chipset DDR3 Socket AM3+ ATX w/ F-stream, UEFI & 7.1 THX TruStudio Audio, eSATA, Dual GbLAN, USB3.0, SATA-III RAID, 3 Gen2 PCIe X16, 2 PCIe X1 & 2 PCI [+101]
Memory: 16GB (4GBx4) DDR3/1333MHz Dual Channel Memory [+35] (Corsair or Major Brand)
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 1.5GB 16X PCIe Video Card [+466] (EVGA Superclocked [+20])

Video Card 2: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580 1.5GB 16X PCIe Video Card [+515] (EVGA Superclocked [+20])

Power Supply Upgrade: 1,000 Watts - Standard Power Supply - SLI/CrossFireX Ready [+89]
Hard Drive: 500GB SATA-II 3.0Gb/s 16MB Cache 7200RPM HDD [-13] (Single Hard Drive)

Optical Drive: 24X Double Layer Dual Format DVD+-R/+-RW + CD-R/RW Drive

Operating System: Microsoft® Windows 7 Professional [+135] (64-bit Edition)

Just made this build on cyberpowerpc.com. Comes out to around $2,300, that's with Windows 7 professional and MS office pre installed.

 

[sarinaide]

cyberpowerpc.com customizer

CASE: Thermaltake Chaker MK I

PSU : Corsair AX850

MOBO: Asus Maximus IV Extreme Z

CPU : i7 2600K (added the overclocking protection plan+Extreme OC 20% which is optional, preferably don't OC, but have the protection for when you try it out) OR if you are not going to overclock then just get a basic i7 2600

Cooling: Thermaltake Frio OCK (Only necessary if you are using a K series chip)

RAM : 8GB (2x4GB) Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600

GPU : AMD RADEON HD7970

HDD : 500GB SATA 3gb/s

SSD : Corsair Force GT 120GB SATA 6gb/s

OPTICALS: 1x DVD/R/RW 1x Blueray RW

$2265

Its pretty much going over the top really, could probably cut that down by a good $600+ on motherboards, GPU's, SSD's etc.

 

[sarinaide]

NEWEGG.COM

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TOTAL: $2208.89

Can probably cut that by a good $500-900 by taking out what is overkill