Suggestions for $1000 PC build

[ballarbs]

Hi TH fellows,

I'm looking to put a new PC together by the end of the month to be used mostly for gaming (and also some scientific computing / software development).

Here's what I've got so far:
GPU -- EVGA 015-P3-1480-KR GeForce GTX 480 (Fermi) 1536MB 384-bit GDDR5 $220
CPU -- Intel Core i5-2400 3.1GHz (3.4GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core $190
MB -- BIOSTAR TZ77XE3 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel $110
RAM -- G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 $47
HD -- Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 ST3500413AS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" $90
POWER -- Antec HCG M Series HCG-620M 620W ATX12V / EPS12V $90
MONITOR -- Acer G235HAbd 23'' $140
KEYBOARD -- Logitech G110 Black USB Wired LED Backlighting Gaming Keyboard $62
CASE -- Rosewill CHALLENGER Black Gaming ATX Mid Tower $50
OS -- Windows 7 $100
TOTAL $1099
(try: http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=24219447)


Approximate Purchase Date: By end of June

Budget Range: roughly $1000 (lets say $1100 tops including OS)

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming (primary) and scientific computing

Parts Not Required: speakers, mouse

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: newegg

Country: U.S.

Parts Preferences: Intel and NVIDIA (latter required for using CUDA in my R&D projects)

Overclocking: Maybe (Not priority)

SLI or Crossfire: Maybe (Not priority)

Monitor Resolution: 1920 x 1080 + preferred

Additional Comments: If I can somehow cut costs on power supply, case, keyboard I'd like to look into SSD as well or at least a motherboard which could support this upgrade later if i want.

Any advice on plan, choices, or foreseen issues is appreciated. Thanks!

 

[Merueth]

Do you need a gaming keyboard, or would a typical everyday one be fine?

 

[moornix]

NCIX.us has win 7 for $80 until Wed. Go ahead and buy it now, you'll need it eventually anyway.

Try to get low profile RAM, especially if you ever plan on overclocking so you can ensure an aftermarket cooler will fit.

For GPU, you may want to consider the Radeon 6950, 560 ti, or 7850 in a similar price range.

 

[ballarbs]

Do you need a gaming keyboard, or would a typical everyday one be fine?

I preferred this keyboard actually for the back-lit keys and the custom definable macro keys. These features are appealing to me for more than just gaming uses, but if I came across a good quality yet more affordable keyboard with just the back-lit keys I'd be fine with that too. Logitech is a brand I'm familiar with and trust, but I'm open to suggestions based on others' personal experiences.

 

[moornix]

I preferred this keyboard actually for the back-lit keys and the custom definable macro keys. These features are appealing to me for more than just gaming uses, but if I came across a good quality yet more affordable keyboard with just the back-lit keys I'd be fine with that too. Logitech is a brand I'm familiar with and trust, but I'm open to suggestions based on others' personal experiences.

Wildly googling "Best Gaming Keyboard" came up with this: http://www.squidoo.com/bestgamingkeyboard

Not sure about the reliability of the website, but you can check out any of the models and see if they fit your needs.

 

[ballarbs]

NCIX.us has win 7 for $80 until Wed. Go ahead and buy it now, you'll need it eventually anyway.

Try to get low profile RAM, especially if you ever plan on overclocking so you can ensure an aftermarket cooler will fit.

For GPU, you may want to consider the Radeon 6950, 560 ti, or 7850 in a similar price range.

Nice heads up on the Win.7 deal. As for GPU, as I mentioned in the post I need NVIDIA which eliminates two of your suggestions. The 560 ti is nice though. Since I'm using it some for GPU based computing I liked the 480 for its many CUDA cores. 560 ti has 20% less cores, but the +500MHz effective memory clock could balance out in the multiple ways I'll use the GPU. Thanks for the tips!