It's been a while since I have done this

[runmymouth]

I am looking in the ~$1500 range. I already have a mouse,keyboard,27" monitor, and speakers. What I am needing is a beefy gaming machine. I am only willing to buy parts through new egg due to my previous experience with them. I am deffinitly looking to trim or replace items if there is something better for a similar price point. Also willing to cut things to a lower price point if its not worth the item I am buying.




ASUS DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS Black SATA 24X DVD Burner - Bulk - OEM
Item #: N82E16827135204
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy
Protect Your Investment (expand for options)
$17.99


Antec Nine Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case with Upgraded USB 3.0
Item #: N82E16811129021
Return Policy: Limited Replacement Only Return Policy
-$6.00 Instant
$105.99
$99.99


Western Digital Caviar Black WD1002FAEX 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
Item #: N82E16822136533
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy
Recover Your Data(expand for options)
-$10.00 Instant
$149.99
$139.99


ASUS HD7950-DC2T-3GD5 Radeon HD 7950 3GB 384-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card
Item #: N82E16814121489
Return Policy: VGA Standard Return Policy
Protect Your Investment (expand for options)
$429.99
1


OCZ ZS Series 750W 80PLUS Bronze High Performance Power Supply compatible with Intel Sandy Bridge Core i3 i5 i7 and AMD Phenom
Item #: N82E16817341049
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy
Protect Your Investment (expand for options)
-$20.00 Instant
$25.00 Mail-in Rebate Card
$109.99
$89.99


G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 2133 (PC3 17000) Desktop Memory Model F3-17000CL9D-8GBXM
Item #: N82E16820231476
Return Policy: Memory Standard Return Policy
$139.98
($69.99 each)


ASUS P8Z68-V PRO/GEN3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard with UEFI BIOS
Item #: N82E16813131790
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy
Protect Your Investment (expand for options)
-$10.00 Instant
$20.00 Mail-in Rebate Card
$219.99
$209.99


Intel Core i5-3570K Ivy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo) LGA 1155 77W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 4000 BX80637I53570K
Item #: N82E16819116504
Return Policy: CPU Replacement Only Return Policy
Protect Your Investment (expand for options)
$249.99
1


Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-bit - OEM
Item #: N82E16832116986
Return Policy: Software Standard Return Policy
$99.99
1

Subtotal: $1,477.90

 

[g-unit1111]

Decent choices to start with but if you're relying on Newegg for product reviews - don't. Sure they're a helpful resource but you should not use them as your only source for product information. A lot of the products you're suggesting like the Antec 900 are old and outdated. The 900 was a great case in its' time but there's far better out there now.

It's a good start but for ~$1400 you can do way better. I'd suggest this build:

Case: Corsair Carbide 400R - $99.99 ($10.00 MIR)
PSU: Corsair TX650 V2 - $89.99 ($15.00 MIR)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD3H - $159.99
CPU: 3.30GHz Intel Core i5-3570K - $249.99
Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo - $34.99
RAM: Crucial Ballistix sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 - $42.99
SSD: Crucial M4 CT064M4SSD2 2.5" 64GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) - $80.99
HD: 1TB Samsung Spinpoint F3 - $109.99
Optical: LG DVD Burner - $17.99
Video Card: EVGA Geforce GTX 680 - $499.99

Total: $1,386.99

Add a Windows license and you're good to go - but on a gaming system you want the best GPU you can get for the money - on a $1400 budget with the hardware I'm suggesting you can get the best of the best - the GTX 680 - and not compromise on anything else.

 

[the great randini]

I like your build, I would add an ssd for your os. You will not belive how fast it is. if your budget is 1500, skimp somewere else to fit it in.

I am a mushkin fanboy now, not my fault they are soo goooood.
Mushkin Enhanced Chronos 120 gb
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226236

 

[runmymouth]

I do see a point for going to the GTX 680... Thinking on that one. I have typically gone by the price point of about $250 and kept creeping up. I may go back down to the 7870 again. As for the Antec 900, I love my antec 1200 I currently own it just looks to be a slightly smaller version and slightly lighter. My wife is getting my currently 3 year old machine. There is nothing wrong with it I just want to upgrade. Is the antec 900 a bad case to have these days? If so why? You also recommend 1333 ram, I am going to be running some local servers for work at times here during development stuff. I do want to keep this machine beefy for server stuff to at times. (also not truly limited to a hard $1500 but I would like to keep it at about that level). Is gigabye good these days with motherboards? I have had a lot of sucess with asus in the past is why a lot of my choices were the asus versions.

I have noticed several recommenations for a windows boot drive being ssd, does it make that much of a big difference? Would I want to install the primary game of the moment on the ssd or just use the hdd to prevent to many read/writes to the ssd?

Decent choices to start with but if you're relying on Newegg for product reviews - don't. Sure they're a helpful resource but you should not use them as your only source for product information. A lot of the products you're suggesting like the Antec 900 are old and outdated. The 900 was a great case in its' time but there's far better out there now.

It's a good start but for ~$1400 you can do way better. I'd suggest this build:

Case: Corsair Carbide 400R - $99.99 ($10.00 MIR)
PSU: Corsair TX650 V2 - $89.99 ($15.00 MIR)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD3H - $159.99
CPU: 3.30GHz Intel Core i5-3570K - $249.99
Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo - $34.99
RAM: Crucial Ballistix sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 - $42.99
SSD: Crucial M4 CT064M4SSD2 2.5" 64GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) - $80.99
HD: 1TB Samsung Spinpoint F3 - $109.99
Optical: LG DVD Burner - $17.99
Video Card: EVGA Geforce GTX 680 - $499.99

Total: $1,386.99

Add a Windows license and you're good to go - but on a gaming system you want the best GPU you can get for the money - on a $1400 budget with the hardware I'm suggesting you can get the best of the best - the GTX 680 - and not compromise on anything else.

 

[runmymouth]

I like your build, I would add an ssd for your os. You will not belive how fast it is. if your budget is 1500, skimp somewere else to fit it in.

I am a mushkin fanboy now, not my fault they are soo goooood.
Mushkin Enhanced Chronos 120 gb
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226236

Why is the ssd a hard recommendation from everyone these days. I have yet to use one, do you install just your os on it? Install a game or two on that os specifically to have the extra speed boost?

 

[the great randini]

Massive speed boost as important as a good video card or cpu.
i like a standard hdd for my backs up also

 

[the great randini]

i have the os and starwars installed on mine i put every thing else on my 7200 rpm drive

 

[runmymouth]

Ok dropping from 16gigs of ram to 8, putting on one of these babies Mushkin Enhanced Chronos MKNSSDCR120GB 2.5" 120GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) this baby is on a great sale.

 

[g-unit1111]

I like your build, I would add an ssd for your os. You will not belive how fast it is. if your budget is 1500, skimp somewere else to fit it in.

I am a mushkin fanboy now, not my fault they are soo goooood.
Mushkin Enhanced Chronos 120 gb
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226236

I have a 64GB Crucial M4 in the build.

I do see a point for going to the GTX 680... Thinking on that one. I have typically gone by the price point of about $250 and kept creeping up. I may go back down to the 7870 again. As for the Antec 900, I love my antec 1200 I currently own it just looks to be a slightly smaller version and slightly lighter. My wife is getting my currently 3 year old machine. There is nothing wrong with it I just want to upgrade. Is the antec 900 a bad case to have these days? If so why? You also recommend 1333 ram, I am going to be running some local servers for work at times here during development stuff. I do want to keep this machine beefy for server stuff to at times. (also not truly limited to a hard $1500 but I would like to keep it at about that level). Is gigabye good these days with motherboards? I have had a lot of sucess with asus in the past is why a lot of my choices were the asus versions.

If you want to stick with Antec - try the 1100 - it has way better cable management than the 900 does: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129178

As far as is the 900 a bad case to have is - there's two classic rookie mistakes. The first is going on Newegg and choosing every single part that has the highest number of 5-star reviews. The second is buying all products from one manufacturer (people do this a lot with Corsair) without realizing that half the stuff they make is good and the other isn't. Those are two areas I never advise people to tread.

The 7870 is an excellent GPU but if you take into account the suggestions I've made you can get a 680 and still come in way under budget.

1333 RAM is what Intel's RMA guidelines specify - if you run RAM above 1333 or 1600 they will void your warranty due to the design of SB / IB having the memory controller on the CPU instead of the North Bridge.

Both Asus and Gigabyte are excellent board makers - as long as you get something from them you'll be fine. I just got an Asrock board and I've been having nothing but problems with it.

 

[runmymouth]

Case swapped. Good reasoning and thanks for the information. I actually look for the most reviews and not necessarily the highest rating. Looking at new egg and all the 680's are sold out at the moment. I could wait but I am thinking about ordering it today.... Going to drop my ram to 1600 then to not void my warranties. Good call. Your recommended ram however was not available so I went to another g skil ram (been sucessfull with them in the past). I also think I am going to drop back to the 7870. I just dont want to spend that much on the video card alone.

I have a 64GB Crucial M4 in the build.

I do see a point for going to the GTX 680... Thinking on that one. I have typically gone by the price point of about $250 and kept creeping up. I may go back down to the 7870 again. As for the Antec 900, I love my antec 1200 I currently own it just looks to be a slightly smaller version and slightly lighter. My wife is getting my currently 3 year old machine. There is nothing wrong with it I just want to upgrade. Is the antec 900 a bad case to have these days? If so why? You also recommend 1333 ram, I am going to be running some local servers for work at times here during development stuff. I do want to keep this machine beefy for server stuff to at times. (also not truly limited to a hard $1500 but I would like to keep it at about that level). Is gigabye good these days with motherboards? I have had a lot of sucess with asus in the past is why a lot of my choices were the asus versions.

If you want to stick with Antec - try the 1100 - it has way better cable management than the 900 does: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129178

As far as is the 900 a bad case to have is - there's two classic rookie mistakes. The first is going on Newegg and choosing every single part that has the highest number of 5-star reviews. The second is buying all products from one manufacturer (people do this a lot with Corsair) without realizing that half the stuff they make is good and the other isn't. Those are two areas I never advise people to tread.

The 7870 is an excellent GPU but if you take into account the suggestions I've made you can get a 680 and still come in way under budget.

1333 RAM is what Intel's RMA guidelines specify - if you run RAM above 1333 or 1600 they will void your warranty due to the design of SB / IB having the memory controller on the CPU instead of the North Bridge.

Both Asus and Gigabyte are excellent board makers - as long as you get something from them you'll be fine. I just got an Asrock board and I've been having nothing but problems with it.

 

[SinisterSalad]

Ok dropping from 16gigs of ram to 8, putting on one of these babies Mushkin Enhanced Chronos MKNSSDCR120GB 2.5" 120GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) this baby is on a great sale.

I picked up that SSD as well. Unfortunately, mine was DOA, so I'm getting a replacement right now. I can't wait!

As far as having an SSD over HDD for OS. Let me put it this way, I just literally this afternoon did a clean install of Win7 in less than 15 minutes! I have a USB drive with the ISO files on it. And that was on a Dell GX520 and a 64GB SSD. That dell is a P4 2.8, lol. That thing flies now.

 

[runmymouth]

Thanks for all the recommendations, ended up buying this setup

 

[g-unit1111]

Case swapped. Good reasoning and thanks for the information. I actually look for the most reviews and not necessarily the highest rating. Looking at new egg and all the 680's are sold out at the moment. I could wait but I am thinking about ordering it today.... Going to drop my ram to 1600 then to not void my warranties. Good call. Your recommended ram however was not available so I went to another g skil ram (been sucessfull with them in the past). I also think I am going to drop back to the 7870. I just dont want to spend that much on the video card alone.

On a gaming build the GPU is the most important part of it and it will often make or break the performance of any given build. The 7870 is an excellent GPU (same one I have) and if you're not going for the 680 you should at least consider the 7950 - it's only $50 more and can be overclocked to 7970 levels with the right card.

G.Skill is fine - I buy their RAM a lot. If you go with G.Skill get the low profile Ares series if you're going to be installing a cooler. Corsair, Crucial, Kingston, and Mushkin are usually what I recommend as well.

 

[SinisterSalad]

Any reason you didn't just go with a Z77 board?

 

[g-unit1111]

I picked up that SSD as well. Unfortunately, mine was DOA, so I'm getting a replacement right now. I can't wait!

As far as having an SSD over HDD for OS. Let me put it this way, I just literally this afternoon did a clean install of Win7 in less than 15 minutes! I have a USB drive with the ISO files on it. And that was on a Dell GX520 and a 64GB SSD. That dell is a P4 2.8, lol. That thing flies now.

I've always been trying to keep my OS separate from my data on all my builds dating back to '06 - '07 - before SSDs were cheap and easily available. I was a bit skeptical when I bought my first SSD but now I won't build a system without 'em.

 

[runmymouth]

No specific reason not to pick the Z77, lack of knowledge maybe?

 

[runmymouth]

Best answer selected by runmymouth.