Gaming Rig advise needed 2,000 +/-

[marceson]

I've been reading Tom's forever, never posted here before. I'm pretty much a noob when it comes to parts now a days. I've been a "gamer" for over 20 years, never a tech guy. I think I've pretty much mooshed my brain trying to decide whether to click on the "buy" button. Here's my rundown:

Approximate Purchase Date: Like now

Budget Range: around 2,000 USD more or less, budget not a huge deal, will pay more for significant gains

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming, incl. FPS, RTS, etc... Total war, SWTOR, BF3

Parts Not Required: Keyboard and mouse

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Newegg, Amazon

Country: USofA

Parts Preferences: Quality Non child labor, unless it's real good quality, small fingers maybe has its advantages... I'm also a fan of the quieter parts

Overclocking: Yes, modest

SLI or Crossfire: Yes, was planning on 1 card for now, room to grow is important, so mobo needs space

Monitor Resolution: 1080p is okay for now, may consider future eyefinity when edgeless monitors are available (affordable)


Here is my Shopping cart so far...

SAMSUNG S24A350H ToC Rose Black 24" Full HD HDMI LED BackLight LCD Monitor $199.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824001482

ASRock Z68 Extreme7 Gen3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard $269.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157269

COOLER MASTER CM Storm Series Trooper (SGC-5000-KKN1) Black Steel / Plastic ATX Full Tower Computer Case $149.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119245

SAPPHIRE 11196-02-40G Radeon HD 7950 3GB 384-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card (OC Version) $479.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102963

COOLER MASTER Silent Pro Gold Series RS800-80GAD3-US 800W ATX 12V v2.3 / EPS 12V v2.92 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS $159.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817171057

Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 3000 $229.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115072

CORSAIR Vengeance 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model CMZ16GX3M4A1600C9B $89.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145347

Crucial M4 CT128M4SSD2 2.5" 128GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) $160.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148442

SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive $159.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185

COOLER MASTER V8 RR-UV8-XBU1-GP 120mm Rifle CPU Cooler Intel Core i7 compatible $49.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103055

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-bit - OEM $99.99

Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound - OEM $12.98


Thanks in advance for the input.

 

[bloodymaze]

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/4Gsg

The video card can be swapped out of course, but if you want it to last a bit longer with bleeding performance, go for it. As for the Arctic 5, might not be needed. Hopefully this helps. Play around with the site and see what you come up with.

 

[Silvune]

Motherboard is overkill.
16GB is overkill for a gaming build, altho you never know when the prices will rise.

The CMSPG 800W is going to be fairly quiet. However it has issues with ripple and noise being close to spec on the +12V and +5V rails on full load, which would put me off it.
Clear better choices are also available:
NZXT Hale90 750W 80Plus Gold Modular $140
http://www.amazon.com/HALE90-Power-Supply-Modular-HALE90-750-M/dp/B003YFIUEG/ref=sr_1_95?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1327275462&sr=1-95
Had it's fan on maximum load measured at 890RPM.
Or
Corsair HX 750W 80Plus Silver/Gold Modular $150 ($10 rebate, $6 shipping, 15% off promo code)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139010
The 850W version had it's fan on maximum load measured at ~1370RPM.

Quieter cooler:
Thermalright True Spirit 140 $40 ($13 shipping)
http://www.amazon.com/ThermalRight-100700536-True-Spirit-140/dp/B00629G1PG/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1329151965&sr=1-1

Review:
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2011/11/17/thermalright_true_spirit_cpu_air_cooler_review/

 

[boiler1990]

Everything looks pretty good overall. IMO you're overspending on the motherboard (there are many $150-200 boards that do as good a job), but that's just an opinion.

I'd also say go for the 7970 rather than the 7950 3GB - the large amount of VRAM only helps with multiple monitors or with bigger monitors (i.e. a 30" at higher resolution), and you'll be paying about the same price for better performance.

 

[marceson]

How about this for a mobo?

ASUS Maximus IV Gene-Z/GEN3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard $189.99

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131806

 

[hellfire24]

it's micro-atx.this one is better-
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131792

 

[marceson]

it's micro-atx.this one is better-
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131792

Haha, thanks, didn't notice that... As I said, my brain is moosh at this point.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

I went $13 over at $2,013 .... can drop to he TX850 V2 if ya want to get under.

Case - $ 105 - Corsair 500R Black http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811139009
PSU - $ 127 - Corsair HX850 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139011
MoBo - $ 205 - ASUS P8Z68-V PRO/GEN3 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131790
CPU - $ 230 - Intel Core i7-2500K http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115072
Cooler - $ 43 - Hyper 612 PWM http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103103
TIM - $ 5 - Shin Etsu http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835150080
RAM - $ 95 - (4 x 4GB) Corsair Vengeance DDR3-1600 (White) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233197
GFX - $ 230 - Asus GTX 560 900Mhz http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121425
GFX - $ 230 - Asus GTX 560 900Mhz Same
HD - $ 125 - Seagate Barracuda1TB http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148840
SSD - $ 170 - Patriot Wildfire 120 GB http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820220599
DVD Writer - $ 58 - Asus Model BC-12B1ST/BLK/B/AS http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135247
Monitor $ 290 ASUS VG236HE Black 23" 120 Hz Monitor http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236104
Keyboard - - Logitech G510 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16823126100
Mouse - - Logitech G500 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826104318
OS - $ 100 - Win 7-64 Home Premium http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116986
X850 V2

Case - $ 105 - Corsair 500R Black http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811139009
PSU - $ 127 - Corsair HX850 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139011
MoBo - $ 205 - ASUS P8Z68-V PRO/GEN3 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131790
CPU - $ 230 - Intel Core i7-2500K http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115072
Cooler - $ 43 - Hyper 612 PWM http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103103
TIM - $ 5 - Shin Etsu http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835150080
RAM - $ 95 - (4 x 4GB) Corsair Vengeance DDR3-1600 (White) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233197
GFX - $ 230 - Asus GTX 560 900Mhz http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121425
GFX - $ 230 - Asus GTX 560 900Mhz Same
HD - $ 125 - Seagate Barracuda1TB http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148840
SSD - $ 170 - Patriot Wildfire 120 GB http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820220599
DVD Writer - $ 58 - Asus Model BC-12B1ST/BLK/B/AS http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135247
Monitor $ 290 ASUS VG236HE Black 23" 120 Hz Monitor http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236104
Keyboard - - Logitech G510 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16823126100
Mouse - - Logitech G500 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826104318
OS - $ 100 - Win 7-64 Home Premium http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116986

Differences from your build.....

Corsair case gets better reviews
PSU here is 10.0 jonnyguru rated.
MoBo has 3 year warranty
RAM - yours will hit the CPU cooler
SSD - This one is Tier 3, yours Tier 5 - http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ssd-review-benchmark,3115-6.html
Cooler / TIM - The ones here are superior .... AS5 TIM takes 200 hrs to cure.....that's 200 hours of thermal cycling, not running time. See bottom of AS5 home page.

GFX - Guru3D uses the following games in their test suite, COD-MW, Bad Company 2, Dirt 2, Far Cry 2, Metro 2033, Dawn of Discovery, Crysis Warhead. Total fps (summing fps in each game @ 1920 x 1200) for the various options in parenthesis (single card / SL or CF) are tabulated below along with their cost in dollars per frame single card - CF or SLI:

$ 205.00 560 Ti - 900 Mhz (495/862) $ 0.41 - $ 0.48
$ 340.00 570 (524/873) $ 0.65 - $ 0.78
$ 500.00 580 (616/953) $ 0.81 - $ 1.05
$ 450.00 7950 (603/NG*) $ 0.75 - ERR
$ 550.00 7970 (675/NG*) $ 0.81 - ERR

* four of the games in the test suite had issues in CF therefore results and failures prevent inclusion of CF data. This is expected to be fixed in coming months via driver updates.

Look at the cost per frame and see how high ya wanna go.....7950's 75 cents per frame edges out the 580 and 7970's 81 cents per frame, so I like the 7950 over the 580. From where I sit though, the top two cards in each line up just don't have enough "bang for the buck" (cost per frame is too high) for my taste.

Twin 560's get 43 % more fps (862) than the the single 7950 (603) and cost less. I can't make a judgement as yet as to how well the 7950 does in CF but if it scales similar to the 580, then we can expect the same 10% more fps for the 7950's in CF that the 580's get in SLI compared to the 560's. Ten percent performance increase for twice the price is too rich for my blood.

 

[marceson]

I'm trying to go single card (GPU) for now, looking at adding another card as needed in the future, that's kind of why I was going with the 7950.

As far as the other items go:
Thanks for the heads up on the RAM, changes made.
Also changed up the SSD, thanks for the link.
Also like your PSU choice
Changed out the paste, and Mobo

Probably would have been easier if I just cut and paste your system

 

[marceson]

Best answer selected by marceson.

 

[Mousemonkey]

This topic has been closed by Mousemonkey