$1500-ish build check for gaming and engineering

cjw2211

Honorable
Mar 23, 2012
6
0
10,510
Approximate Purchase Date: in 4-6 weeks

Budget Range: max 1600 after rebates

System Usage from Most to Least Important: gaming, data analysis +spreadsheets, autocad, other modelling programs, misc. multitasking

Parts Not Required: none

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: no preference, can buy from multiple websites

Country: USA

Parts Preferences: none

Overclocking: Nope

SLI or Crossfire: Not sure?

Monitor Resolution: no preference

Additional Comments: Full build below! The only thing I have had trouble with is choosing a case. I would like USB 3.0, and for it to be well-cooled and quiet, and of course there's a part of me that wants it to look really cool, but I can give up the aesthetics part. Looking to spend max $150 on case. Also, having trouble deciding on a monitor. I just picked one that looked reasonable, but any advice on that would be appreciated as well. Thanks in advance!

Motherboard-$170
MSI P67A-GD65 (B3) LGA 1155 Intel P67 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

Video card-$240
EVGA 01G-P3-1561-AR GeForce GTX 560 Ti FPB (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

Ram-$47
G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL

CPU-$220
Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 3000 BX80623I52500K

SSD-$95
Corsair Force Series 3 CSSD-F60GB3A-BK 2.5" 60GB SATA III Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

HDD-$120
SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

cd drive/burner-$20
ASUS 24X DVD Burner - Bulk 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 12X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM Black SATA Model DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS - OEM

PSU-$150
CORSAIR Professional Series HX750 (CMPSU-750HX) 750W ATX12V 2.3 / EPS12V 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS SILVER Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply

Monitor-$160
Acer S231HLbid Black 23" 5ms HDMI LED-Backlight LCD monitor Slim Design 250 cd/m2 ACM 12,000,000:1 (1000:1)

Keyboard-$44
Microsoft SIDEWINDER X4 Keyboard

Mouse-$29
Logitech M305 Black 1 x Wheel USB RF Wireless 1000 dpi Mouse

Total without case: $1295
 

cjw2211

Honorable
Mar 23, 2012
6
0
10,510
Also, forgot to add that I'm wondering if I should wait for ivy bridge, and if I will be able to get better performance for around the same price as above, $220, with an ivy bridge instead of sandy bridge.

edit: thanks frozonic! Those monitors are sick. Is buying a CPU cooler definitely a necessity? I thought CPUs came with a standard factory cooler.
 

normhimself

Honorable
Mar 7, 2012
12
0
10,520
I just built the same computer last weekend. I can report to you my experiences from 2 games. That computer will run Skyrim at ultra settings with no FPS issues. It will run BF3 with a mixture of high and ultra settings between 45-60 FPS, depending on map and how many ppl are in the game. I just have mine set at the preset "High" option and it runs 50+ with no hiccups. If you have any other questions, feel free to ask.
 

ram1009

Distinguished
I predict you will not be happy with the "engineering" performance of the GPU you have selected. I have tried many times to get Solidworks to run well on a gaming GPU and it simply doesn't work. The drivers are complete opposites. Conversly, if you pick a GPU for work stations, you won't be happy with it's gaming ability. This phenomenon is well documented by many users of this forum, not just me.
 

cjw2211

Honorable
Mar 23, 2012
6
0
10,510
...damn. Are there any middle of the road GPUs that might be mediocre at both? Or are there any workarounds you used? I'm looking through forum threads right now but haven't seen any solutions other than getting a second GPU, which is going to be a bit too expensive for me. Would it be worth cutting costs in other areas to afford that though? Thanks for the tip by the way.

Also thanks Normhimself. Good to know skyrim runs well, since that will probably be my first purchase once I build my rig