$1200 Gaming Build Feedback

[jordantbro]

Approximate Purchase Date: The next few weeks

Budget Range: $1100 / After Rebates

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming, virtual machines (VMware Workstation), business/productivity, video/audio editing, web development

Parts Not Required: keyboard, mouse, monitors, speakers, OS (Win 7 Ultimate x64), PSU (Corsair HX620),

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: newegg.com

Country: United States

Parts Preferences: Corsair, Gigabyte, Asus, Evga, Mid-tower case

Overclocking: Eventually

SLI or Crossfire: Eventually

Monitor Resolution: dual 1920x1080

Additional Comments: Moderate power, stable, quiet, little bling, somewhat future proof (upgradable, overclockable)

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Games I'll play:
■UT200* Series (I'm old school)
■BF3
■Crysis series (I'll finally have a machine powerful enough to run them)
■Portal 2
■DiRT 3

Parts I already own:
■Power Supply: Corsair HX620w
■Data HDD: 2 x WD15EARS
■Displays: 2 x ASUS VE247H
■Keyboard: Logitech G510
■Mouse: Logitech G700

Build I'm currently considering (prices listed are net rebates, coupons and combos):
■Case - Corsair Carbide Series 300R - $73.49
■Motherboard - GIGABYTE GA-Z68X-UD3H-B3 LGA 1155 - $146.50
■CPU - Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz - $202.50
■CPU Cooler - CORSAIR CWCH60 - $51.99
■GPU - GIGABYTE GV-R785OC-2GD Radeon HD 7850 2GB - $259.99
■RAM - CORSAIR Vengeance 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 - $122.49
■Optical - ASUS Black Blu-ray Drive - $49.99
■Boot Drive (SSD) - CORSAIR Force Series GT 120GB SATA III - $134.99

This build currently prices out at $1,041.94 after a few rebates and a few combo deals. I would be willing to go as high as ~ $1,200 if necessary, given the goals stated above.


Feedback is appreciated.

 

[polishboy1098]

16 gigs of ram is excessive, 8 gigs will do just fine. Also the H60 is a waste a Coolermaster Hyper 212 plus will perform just the same. Use the extra money you save to buy an 7870 or wait for Keplar from Nvidia.

 

[jordantbro]

Great feedback. I'll certainly look into the cooler.

The 16GB is really due to my use of VMware Workstation for various VMs (work related). I neglected to mention that above.

The Keplar GK104 (supposedly the GTX 660 Ti) part looks extremely interesting w/ 1536 CUDA cores at a $299 MSRP. If I do wait around for Keplar, I could also feel out the i5 3750k.

Thanks!

 

[polishboy1098]

Well Ivy Bridge isn't going to be a huge performance boost maybe 10% so IMO i would just get an i5 2500k that would be on sale, and your motherboard is good but the Asrock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3 has the same features but is cheaper, just pointing that out. Alos if you live near a microcenter you can get the i5 2500k for $180 and then get 50 off a Z68 motherboard. Heres there website http://www.microcenter.com/

 

[jordantbro]

Everything should be here Thursday. Final specs:

Case - Corsair Carbide Series 300R
Motherboard - GIGABYTE GA-Z68X-UD3H-B3 LGA 1155
CPU - Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz
GPU - GIGABYTE GV-R787OC-2GD Radeon HD 2GB
RAM - Corsair Vengeance 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600
Optical - ASUS Black Blu-ray Drive
Boot Drive (SSD) - CORSAIR Force Series GT 120GB SATA III
PSU - Corsair HX620w
HDD - WD15EARS

Stayed really close to my sub $1200 goal. Need to do a final tally...

Thanks!