Building a Gaming Computer <$1000

[aodetalla]

Hey guys. I have been educating myself during these past couple of days on computer lingo and technology, and couple that with the fact that I have had Skyrim for 4 months now but unable to play due to my crappy computer now, I want to go ahead and build a newer one that is good now, but will also be good for the foreseeable future, or at least can be easily upgraded.
I have gone through tons of material online and I've come up with some stuff that may or may not work so I'll just throw that out there for you guys to look at also, and I would really appreciate it if you gave me feedback on them and whether I should get something different or not.
I am working with a 23inch monitor and have my own speakers. Currently on a 1680x1050 resolution. I am doing this in New York City. Doing this as soon as possible. As far as overclocking and/or SLI, I might depending on your feedback. Mainly for gaming, but also doing everyday internet surfing and stuff like that.


ASUS P8Z68-V LX Intel Z68 Motherboard - LINK
Intel Core i5-2500K - LINK
Patriot G2 Series 8GB DDR3 (1600 Mhz) - LINK
EVGA GTX 560 Ti 1GB - LINK
Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy 7.1 (maybe?) - LINK
Seagate Barracuda 1TB - LINK
Lite-On Internal DVD Writer - LINK
Cooler Master HAF 912 Mid-Tower - LINK
Ultra LSP650 650-Watt Power Supply - LINK
Logitech G400 Mouse - LINK
Logitech Wireless Keyboard K270 - LINK

Not sure if I would need a CPU cooler so I haven't put too much thought into it. I would really appreciate any advice here. Thanks!

 

[aznshinobi]

Probably not the PSU you'd want personally I wouldn't go Ultra. I'm not the usual brand bias kind of person. But the Ultra's tend not to get very good reviews. Also currently motherboard audio is good enough that you won't need to get a sound card.

So... Check out my $850 build here:
http://www.squidoo.com/electronicandmore
It'll give you a more reliable PSU, a better GPU (after overclock too the 7850 can reach the 580's performance with WAY less power consumption, heat and sound, plus it can CF/SLI with only a 650w).

 

[GeForce6]

Get an Asrock Z77 Extreme4, Pro4 if you can't afford the Extreme
Get an i5 3570k
Corsair Vengeance 8GB
GPU wise, you could either get a mid-range AMD, or do what I'm doing. Run your games around medium settings using the i5 3570k's integrated GPU, and buy a 660 Ti in Q3 when it's released. Or maybe just save up and get a 670 by then. I've read that the i5 3570k can run games like Skyrim and BF3 on medium, and with your resolution that should be fine. It will be well worth the wait, the 660 Ti will be MUCH better than the 560 Ti, or you could at least just get the CPU first, try it out, and decide then.
I don't think you need a soundcard, mobo onboard audio isn't really different, sound cards are only different if you're spending very large amounts of money on them and are using them for proper music editing, I don't think you'll notice any difference at all when gaming. Pretty sure only a select amount of games from around 2007-2008 actually make any use of a sound card whatsoever anyway.
I think WD is better than Seagate, WD Blue or Black if you can afford, never Green though.
Asus 2B3ST is a high-quality reliable disc drive, anything cheaper is probably unreliable.
CM storm enforcer may be a better option, it has USB 3.0 and a cover for your disc drives. There are other benefits too, roomy, cable management, dust filter.
Corsair TX650 PSU
Can't entirely comment on mouse and PSU, personally I'm more of a GTA style gamer so I'm getting a mouse and keyboard that will fit both gaming and normal PC use:
Microsoft X4 keyboard
Razer deathadder black edition mouse

CPU cooler is for if you're overclocking. CPUs with a k on the end can be overclocked, made faster after watching a few youtubes/reading a few guides on how to do it. Buy a cooler in the future if you decide to overclock.

 

[aodetalla]

Thank you guys for your advice. Appreciate it!

Geforce6, I can't find the Asus 2B3ST anywhere though. Can you link me?

 

[dudewitbow]

drop the psu and get a new one is about the most that is NECESSARY to happen. Though if you can push the money, the 7850 will outperform the 560ti, and overclocking makes it perform near a 570 at this price point

 

[aznshinobi]

The i5 3570K doesn't run BF3 on medium solely on the Intel 4000 HD. No way. It completely depends on the resolution. The 660 Ti could be worth the wait, if you don't want to however the 7850 will last for a while, especially being only $240. A solid buy.

The TX650 is a good option, but save $10 and get the EA650 from Antec.
http://www.amazon.com/Antec-EarthWatts-EA-650D-Green-BRONZE/dp/B004NBZAES%3FSubscriptionId%3D19BAZMZQFZJ6G2QYGCG2%26tag%3Dsquid1240995-20%26linkCode%3Dxm2%26camp%3D2025%26creative%3D165953%26creativeASIN%3DB004NBZAES
Same performance but cheaper.

Also the death adder, I'd opt for a different mouse. Like some cheap one would be fine. From what I've heard the life of Razer products is fairly short. I think for the price this Gigabyte will offer enough performance.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826146020

Overclocking the 7850 actually gets it to perform @ the GTX 580's level.

 

[gaurang]

Hi aodetalla:
Its a really nice config , I would recommend the same as i have nearly the same !
Only try to get ASUS HD7850 DCUII 2Gb and change PSU to 80plus >600Watts.

 

[dudewitbow]

you really don't need a psu over 600w if your doing a single card build. an oc 7850 + oc 2500k shouldn't technically bring you close to 500, the extra head room is for any of the other addons you may have on your computer. just be sure to get a quality psu, thats really the sole requirement

 

[gaurang]

ya right !
actually i too am having a 600W Psu

 

[aodetalla]

Thanks guys. The EA650 looks good to me for now. I think I will probably go with the 7850; the summer is the only time I will be able to log 15+ hours a day into Skyrim so I can't wait for the 660ti lol.
Is there an overclocking guide for the 7850? Benchmarks for a game like skyrim? Also, will I need to oc the cpu also? I think I should be good without doing that for the foreseeable future...?

 

[aznshinobi]

Wouldn't suggest going with the GTX 660/660 Ti if you first bought a 7850. Reason? If you already had one 7850, just buy another one. The GTX 660 is expected to be @ about $300, so the 7850 is going to be cheaper. With that said, just buying another 7850 would give you a much larger performance boost than buying a different card.

At first, you shouldn't need to overclock. Overclocking is just easy for the 7850/7870. After downloading the drivers. Just open the in-windows menu and slide the bars to 1GHZ or 1000MHZ.

 

[gaurang]

while i would highly recommend what aznshinobi said above, but if u wana overclock here you go
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?s=3b12ed0fd639b356a76f471f3f5ac59c&t=18389760