$1200 Gaming Rig... Does this work?

[thomthoms3]

I wanted to know from the community if what I put together was going to work or not. Based off of what I have researched, all of these parts should work together in happy harmony. My main concern is the PSU. I'm not sure how much wattage I need to power this computer. I have compiled a list of all my parts (including mouse, keyboard, and monitor) for anyone to view. If this setup will work with no issues and the PSU will safely power all the components then Woo-Hoo . However, I'm sure there will have to be something wrong since this is intact my first custom built PC. Let me know what you think. Peace.

My Gaming Rig:
Monitor- ASUS VS Series VS238H-P Black 23" 2ms HDMI LED Backlight Widescreen LCD Monitor

RAM- G.SKILL Sniper Low Voltage Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBSR2

Case- COOLER MASTER HAF 922 RC-922M-KKN1-GP Black Steel + Plastic and Mesh Bezel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

HDD- Seagate Barracuda ST500DM002 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

Mouse- Logitech G9x Black Two modes scroll USB Wired Laser Gaming Mouse

Keyboard- i-Rocks KR-6820E-WH White 104 Key USB Wired Backlit Gaming Keyboard (Blue LED)

Graphics Card- GIGABYTE Ultra Durable VGA Series GV-R685OC-1GD Radeon HD 6850 1GB 256-bit

DVD/CD Drive- LITE-ON Internal 24x DVD-Writer Black SATA Model iHAS324-99

Motherboard- ASUS P8Z68-V LE LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard with UEFI BIOS

Processor- Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 3000

Power Supply- Antec NEO ECO 620C 620W Continuous Power ATX12V v2.3 / EPS12V 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply

Total Price w/ Tax and Shipping: $1252

 

[Why_Me]

It works but that build could be reworked to put you in a better video card. If this is a gaming build that card is going to struggle with newer games at that resolution.

 

[EzioAs]

I agree. A 6870 or above(560ti, 6950 etc) should be better. If you don't want to overclock, you can save by getting an i5-2400, h67 board and get a better card that way

 

[g-unit1111]

RAM- G.SKILL Sniper Low Voltage Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBSR2

Don't mess with low voltage RAM on a Sandy Bridge build - that could be bad news. You need a 1.5V setup - something like this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226095

Mouse- Logitech G9x Black Two modes scroll USB Wired Laser Gaming Mouse

Keyboard- i-Rocks KR-6820E-WH White 104 Key USB Wired Backlit Gaming Keyboard (Blue LED)

Get these last - I really am in the minority here when I say I really don't like spending tons of money on expensive peripherals - put the money you'd be spending here into upgrading to the best GPU you can get for the money - I'd recommend the aforementioned 6950 or a 570TI if you can squeeze it into your budget.

Otherwise everything else looks good. I really am serious when I say to get the peripherals last - put that into the GPU.

 

[kcsmacker]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341018
This power supply is a 700 watt and after MIR is cheaper then The one you have now.

I agree with Gunit. do not mess with low voltage. if you want to stick with the 1600 speed ram go with

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233186 so it is low PROFILE incase you get a CPU cooler for overclocking that would hit taller ram.

For the GPU I also agree with previous posters. Go with atleast a 6870

this one is cheaper at 144 bucks after MIR

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150561

I would stick with a z68 motherboard for compatibility with Ivy Bridge for later down the road.

If you plan to overclock and need a CPU cooler I would suggest these:

Cheaper
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103099

Top of the line and nice and frosty ^_~
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835608018

( even if you do not overclock I would suggest atleast the 212 for better temps)

If you NEVER plan on overclocking then you could step your i5 2500k to a 2500 and save 30ish bucks.

Last suggestion would be to order your CPU from Microcenter If you live close to an outlet. They sell their CPUs at great prices
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0354589

 

[EzioAs]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341018
This power supply is a 700 watt and after MIR is cheaper then The one you have now.

I agree with Gunit. do not mess with low voltage. if you want to stick with the 1600 speed ram go with

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233186 so it is low PROFILE incase you get a CPU cooler for overclocking that would hit taller ram.

For the GPU I also agree with previous posters. Go with atleast a 6870

this one is cheaper at 144 bucks after MIR

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150561

I would stick with a z68 motherboard for compatibility with Ivy Bridge for later down the road.

If you plan to overclock and need a CPU cooler I would suggest these:

Cheaper
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103099

Top of the line and nice and frosty ^_~
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835608018

( even if you do not overclock I would suggest atleast the 212 for better temps)

If you NEVER plan on overclocking then you could step your i5 2500k to a 2500 and save 30ish bucks.

Last suggestion would be to order your CPU from Microcenter If you live close to an outlet. They sell their CPUs at great prices
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0354589

I agree but rather than a 2500, it's better to get a 2400 since it's cheaper, if no overclocking is involve, that is and the fact that you should at least get a 212+ is also true since intel stock cooler is terrible. Personally though, I wouldn't get OCZ psu based on experience, I'd rather get corsair, seasonic or antec(like the one OP pick)

 

[kcsmacker]

I agree but rather than a 2500, it's better to get a 2400 since it's cheaper, if no overclocking is involve, that is and the fact that you should at least get a 212+ is also true since intel stock cooler is terrible. Personally though, I wouldn't get OCZ psu based on experience, I'd rather get corsair, seasonic or antec(like the one OP pick)

Yea Personally I would go with Corsair this one is 15% off and is 75 bucks before that after mail in rebate. If you can get to a micro center I would still get the 2500 for the extra couple GHz just because you will never be able to overclock it. Good to know OCZ has issues. I was considering it for the price.

 

[thomthoms3]

Thanks for all the replies. You kinda saved me from wasting money on parts. I swapped these out:
PSU: (OCZ ModXStream Pro 700W Modular High Performance Power Supply)

CPU: (Intel Core i5-2500 Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 2000) (and to kcsmacker, there is no Microcenter around my area)

RAM: (Crucial Ballistix sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model )


Now the graphics card is what I'm confused about. This is what I was looking at (GIGABYTE GV-N560UD-1G GeForce GTX 560 Ti (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card) but its only $210 so what am I missing here, why is it dramatically cheaper than all the other 560 TI's and it has 5 "eggs" on reviews? Based on all of your suggestions, I definitely want to go with a more powerful GPU but I'm no expert on picking out what suits me. If this helps at all, I want to be able to run high-end games (Battlefield 3, Skyrim, etc.) at the highest graphics while keeping a high FPS. Please send out your suggestions. Thanks again.

 

[EzioAs]

You probably can't get the highest at 1080p with a 560ti, maybe high on most games with 4XAA and 16XAF, which is still good btw. You'll need a 6970, 570 or higher to max out most games. Since you mention skyrim, I suggest you to get a 2500k and overclock it since skyrim depends a lot on cpu frequency

 

[thomthoms3]

I think I am just going to settle with either a 6950 or a 560. But which one? And why is the (GIGABYTE GV-N560UD-1G GeForce GTX 560 Ti (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card) like $70 cheaper than all the other 560's?

 

[kcsmacker]

crap I forgot to link the corsair psu I was linking to replace the OCZ

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139020

here it is. EzioAs suggested it over the OCZ and truthfully I would pick it over OCZ aswell. If you are wanting to max out games you will need to spend more and get a 6950/70 like Ezio said. ( 6950 can usually be flashed to 6970 to save some money) Personally I have a AMD cpu with a 6850 OCed to a 6870 and I play BF3 on High with some AA with 35-60 FPS depending on maps and player size. Skyrim takes much less to run. You will love that i5 ^_~

 

[EzioAs]

I suppose it's a reference card from nvidia just with a gigabyte sticker on it. I've seen people keep arguing over the 560ti and 6950 long enough that i have one conclusion. The 6950 is a bit faster than the 560ti in most games(Not nvidia optimized games) and uses less power but also costs a bit more, but the difference in performance is not between playable and not playable, they're very similar. So, if you want a cheaper card, get the 560ti, if you want a more power efficient card get the 6950. Personally, I would choose the 560ti for single card system but the 6950 for multi gpu build since it uses less power