High end gaming build

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WarbNull

Honorable
Feb 25, 2012
10
0
10,510
Approximate Purchase Date: Next 2 weeks or so. Taken advice from others in another post.

Budget Range: Approx 2k (not including monitor)

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming, Streaming Gaming, watching movies (not video or photo editing), office applications

Parts Not Required: keyboard & mouse

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Newegg or Frys

Country: US

Parts Preferences: by brand or type: Would like any intel based system with an nvidia card, but open to suggestions

Overclocking: Thinking about overclocking CPU

SLI or Crossfire: Maybe down the road

Monitor Resolution: 1920x1200

Additional Comments:

Concerned about heat management due to living in an arid environment on the upper levels of an apartment that tends to get warm in the summer.

Also I don't want it to run too noisy.

Thanks for any assistance and advice you provide!



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Case

Fractal Design Arc Midi Black High Performance PC Computer Case w/ USB 3.0 and 3 x Fractal High Performance 140mm fans
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6811352007

Mobo

GIGABYTE GA-Z68XP-UD3P LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128506

Vid Card

EVGA SuperClocked 015-P3-1582-AR GeForce GTX 580 (Fermi) 1536MB 384-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support ...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130590

CPU
Intel Core i7-2600K Sandy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 3000 ...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115070


System Drive
Crucial M4 CT128M4SSD2CCA 2.5" 128GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) with Transfer Kit

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6820148448

Memory
Crucial Ballistix 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1866 (PC3 14900) Desktop Memory Model BLT2KIT4G3D1869DT1TX0

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148560

Storage

Western Digital Caviar Black WD1002FAEX 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136533

Blu ray drive
LG Black Blu-ray Drive SATA Model UH12LS28 OEM LightScribe Support - OEM
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6827136232

Power Supply

ENERMAX ERV1000EWT-G 1000W ATX12V v2.3 / EPS12V v2.92, v2.8 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Modular Active ...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817194101

Cooling:
Coolmaster hyper 212
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103099
 
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Tavo_Nova

Tavo_Nova

Distinguished
Dec 31, 2011
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19,360
i suggest drop to an i5 2500K,

trow that crap psu and go get a seasonic X-1250 1250W 80plus gold or the corsair ax1200 1200w 80PLUS Gold or the corsair HX1000W 80PLUS Silver(i think never had any 80plus silver psu only bronze and gold)

cooling = cooler master hyper 212 EVO is good, for the case try a bigger tower, much better, and you can fit in a noctua nh-d14 cooler which is kick ass.

cases like Haf X or something..

change your mobo into this
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130610

its 229.99$ before rebate and 189.99$ after rebate, just near your giga mobo but better IMHO

change your gpu to msi gtx560ti 448 x2 in sli is good or the gtx560ti 2gb from msi also good but its your call ^_^ but a 580 ain't so bad

btw the corsair ax1200 1200w
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139014
279.99% before rebate and 259.99$ after rebate so its a great deal

then everything else is good
 
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wasupmike

wasupmike

Distinguished
Oct 13, 2010
399
0
18,910
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129178
- Antec Eleven Hundred Black Super Mid Tower: $130 (great airflow, sturdy design, 2 x front USB3.0, all it needs is 2 intake fans...)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103061
- 2 x COOLER MASTER R4-C2R-20AC-GP 120mm Case Fan: $20 ($10 each)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835181016
- CORSAIR H80 (CWCH80) High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler: $90 (easy to setup, great cooling, should have one in a 2K machine)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139031
- CORSAIR Enthusiast Series TX650M 650W 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Modular High Performance: $110

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116986
- Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-bit: $100

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106369
- LITE-ON Black 12X BD-R 2X BD-RE 16X DVD+R 12X DVD-RAM 8X BD-ROM SATA 12X Blu-ray Burner: $80

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820167093
- Intel 520 Series Cherryville 2.5" 120GB SATA III (SSD): $222 (one of the most reliable SSD's)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148840
- Seagate Barracuda ST1000DM003 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s: $125 (start with 1 - if you run out of room - you have tons of space for more to add later)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128506
- GIGABYTE GA-Z68XP-UD3P LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0: $183

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115072
- Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz: $225 (if not for video editing - stick with the one without the hyper-threading)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231445
- G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 CAS8: $75

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150591
- XFX FX-797A-TNBC Radeon HD 7970 Black Edition 3GB (pre-overclocked to 1GHz): $580 -> best single GPU card on the planet - and uses less power than the GTX580

TOTAL: $1,939
 
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Why_Me

Why_Me

Polypheme
Jan 17, 2008
16,357
2,345
69,840

Enermax is a crap psu? LOL? Enermax makes some of the best psu's out there and has so for years as also does PC Power & Cooling and Silverstone. The OP can pick up a XFX 1050w off of Amazon for a lot cheape to run dual 580's...and the XFX psu's are manufactured by Seasonic as are mid and upper tier Corsair psu's.

Agreed with the CM EVO and a nice case for that price point would be the Corsair 500R. and agree with the MSI gtx 560 ti 448 Core along with either a 750w or 850w psu. Also agree with the 2500K.
 
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W

WarbNull

Honorable
Feb 25, 2012
10
0
10,510
Sounds like everyone agrees I should drop down to an i5 2500k.

Would love some more feedback if anyone else wants to chime in as I'm super OCD when it comes to ordering parts and trying to get the best configuration and synergy with them.

Thanks
 
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N

neal0790

Distinguished
Jan 23, 2012
327
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18,810
Hey man i built a rig similar to yours about 2 months ago and i love it. Havent had any issues since and i highly reccomend everything i bought. (I got everything listed in my sig)

Drop to the i5 2500k, save yourself the money. i7 is great for programs and graphic arts but is not needed for gaming. No games on the market actually use 6 cores.

I have the same card as you and love it. Can max out any game, bf3 stays locked at 60fps and doesnt drop lower than 55. I got everything on max, havent skimped on anything running it at 1080. Card runs about 30-35 idle, and 60-65 underload. plan on picking up a 2nd one down the line when they drop under 300. But honeslty ATM one 580 is all you need, but its nice to be able to chuck another one in a year or 2 down the road.

The case i got is great. Antec 1100 has everything you would possibly need in a case. Wire managment, cooling, up to 9 fans, comes with built in fan filters, ssd slots, plenty of expansion bays, plus its completely tool less. It only comes with 2 fans, but you can pick up more for cheap anyways. I really like the 2 fans on the window. There great for the graphics card. You can tell they put some thought into the placement since it lines up exactly to the graphic card, and right in the middle if you were to do SLI. The case is a little bit bigger than a midsize tower, 1in taller and 2 inches longer, it gives you the space and options of a fullsize tower in a midsize form. I bought 4 extra fans all together, and spent something like 8 bucks each by ordering 4 at once. Just make sure you get a good cfm/noise rations. Can recommend you the ones i got if your interested.

the mobo i got is an ASUS. I had a hard time deciding on a mobo but after using an ASUS for the first time i will never buy another brand. I really couldnt be happier with it. Ive had no problems with anything ive connected to it. It comes with an ASUS suite program which is really impressive. It monitors everything and includes alot of extras that other mobo dont. Like an auto CPU overclock feature and the easiest bios screen ive ever seen. Boards got 3 pci slots, 3.0 capable slots and support for Ivy bridge in the future.

I also have a crucial SSD, mines 64gb but i wish i snagged a 128gb so your making a good choice by going bigger. They fill up quick. Windows loves to throw useless crap onto it. If you look anywhere the m4 is ones of the highest rated SSD out there.

For a psu. It takes 950w to fire up 2 gtx 580's. Over 1000+ once you overclock them. There power hungry cards so make sure you buy a good psu brand. I have the corsair AX1200. One of the best if not the best psu's for high performance rigs. It more than i will ever need but its nice to know whatever you throw into your rig in the future your all set and its a corsair so its very unlikely its going to *** the bed on you anytime soon.

Alot of people will reccomend the new raiden cards. Yes the high grade ones will out perform a 580 for around the same price and not eat up so much power. But you can go wrong with evga card. The gtx 580 comes with a lifetime warrenty, which you wont find with alot of other cards. Plus there usually issue free. Alot of raidens seem to have driver issues. They get fixed up but not as fast as nvidea seems to roll out updates. Plus alot of games when you start them up say "Nvidea" right on the screen so its nice to know there behind a majority of the games you play. But everyone has there own opinion on cards. Kind of like the Intel vs. AMD for cpus. People prefer different things.
 
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wasupmike

wasupmike

Distinguished
Oct 13, 2010
399
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18,910
With a 2k budget - go for the best single gpu you can get. Crossfire/SLI with two lesser cards is always less recommended - as there's always compatability issues, more power, and when a game doesn't work with 2 x GPU's.. Then you using only 1 (weaker), card at the end...

So unless you're trying to break benchmark records, or playing with a multi-monitor setup - stick with 1 card... And the best card today (the 7970), can play anything at highest quality at 1900x1200

It also needs only a 550w PSU - so that Corsiar 650w modular i put there would be more than great

Have another look at the build i put together... It's well balanced.. Got liquid cooling and has the XFX overclocked black edition of the 7970


 
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