1500$ gaming pc

[Darkquanto]

Hello everyone, I am building a new gaming pc but i would like some help or commentary with my setup. My goal is a computer which can play GW2 on max settings and Battlefield 3 on medium-high.

Approximate Purchase Date: Somewhere in july
Budget Range: 1500$ or 1200€
System Usage from Most to Least Important: Mainly gaming
Parts Not Required: Keyboard,mouse,monitor,speakers
Preferred Website(s) for Parts: I dont have a preferred website as i will be buying these in the store. I will check prices at different stores and Eurosys (see most of the links to the components) will be one of them.
Country: Belgium
Parts Preferences:
Case: Corsair 500R-white
Carbide Series™ 500R Mid-Tower Case
CPU: Intel Core i5 2310
Core i5-2310/2.9GHz 6MB LGA1155
Motherboard: Gigabyte, Z77X-UD3H
MB GA-Z77X-UD3H ATX Z77 LGA1155
Memory: 4GB DDR3
Graphics Card: GeForce GTX 670: Gigabyte N670OC-2GD
GIGABYTE GV-N670OC-2GD GeForce GTX 670 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar Blue 3.5" 500GB SATA-600 7200RPM 16MB
Western Digital Caviar Blue 3.5" 500GB SATA-600 7200RPM 16MB
SSD: Agility 3 - 60GB - 2.5inch
Agility 3 - 60GB - 2.5inch
Optical Drive: DVD-RW SAW SATA Gen Black
DVD-RW SAW SATA Gen Black
Sound Card: Hercules Gamesurround Fortissimo II (this is optional)
Power Supply: Enthusiast Series™ Modular TX550M — 80 PLUS® Bronze Certified 550 Watt High Performance Modular Power Supply (corsair)
Modular TX550M — 80 PLUS® Bronze Certified 550 Watt High Performance Modular Power Supply
Overclocking: no, i have no experience in this
SLI or Crossfire: no, i will only be using 1 graphics card
Monitor Resolution: 1.920 x 1.080
23in ST2320L European Full HD WLED Widescreen Monitor (VGA, DVI-D and HDMI)
Additional Comments: I am also not sure if these parts are compatible with eachother, could you tell me where i should look when i want to know this?

 

[paradoxeternal]

i don't know much about that processor, but that motherboard is good for ivy bridge CPUs so i would get something like the i5-3570k if you want to spend the extra money. that CPU you have their right now may bottleneck such a powerful GPU especially in games like BF3, whose multiplayer segment is cpu-intensive.

the caviar blue HDDs are decent quality i think i would personally go with the caviar black mine has served me well.

i have that GPU and i have it paired with a powerful and overclocked CPU. if you want to play BF3 on medium-high you don't need something quite so strong. a 7870 or 7850 would do; my GPU with my CPU plays BF3 at ultra settings and i keep 60FPS with v-sync on, without v-sync it jumps alot between 70-100.

i would keep everything except the CPU and maybe the HDD. depends on your budget but that CPU just seems too weak for those kinds of games.

 

[paradoxeternal]

also definitely get a bigger power supply--at least 650 watts for that GPU, especially for when you upgrade in the future.

 

[Darkquanto]

Thanks allot for your reply, i didnt know about this. you saved me allot of trouble do you have any suggestions for a power supply? i dont want a very cheap one as the pulsations in voltage may destroy my components but i also want to stay within my price range and with the extra cost of the CPU and HDD it may just make me exceed this limit.

 

[TheBigTroll]

550w is enough for the system since you are not overclocking. heres what i would get

the prices and products are from the uk.

http://pcpartpicker.com/uk/p/bep5

its all under 1150 pounds

 

[TheBigTroll]

nice sound card would be a asus dx 7.1 but then i dont know if they have them in Europe.

 

[Darkquanto]

thx for the advice, but someone told me if i don't have dolby surround or equal i dont need a seperate sound card and that the one on the motherboard is good enough? is this true because i dont have a fancy sound system

 

[TheBigTroll]

the 7.1 sound on the motherboard is good enough for most people.

 

[paradoxeternal]

from what i understand about sound cards, only real audiophiles see the need. if you have the extra cash go for it, but most people are fine with high def audio on most modern motherboards.

also, i made a typo in my last post-- better to get an i5 3570 as it doesnt have the k meaning not easily overclocked and therefore cheaper and more suited to your wants.

 

[TheBigTroll]

well if you are not overclocking, switch the motherboard to a p8h77-v from asus

 

[TheBigTroll]

not necessarily. a cheap sound card from asus such as a asus dg 5.1 is about 35 times better than the sound on the motherboard all while costing 30 bucks

 

[Darkquanto]

ok tyvm ill take it in consideration, i might want to overclock in a few years if i think it is needed but i dont like messing in bios and stuff like that so i think ill hold on to the motherboard but i will switch the cpu if not having easy overclocking costs less

 

[asteldian]

All depends on how attuned you are to sound. Me personally for gaming I have been using onboard sound for years, my wife has a soundcard though because she can tell the difference, but for me, well even if a great soundcard cost £5 it would be money wasted.

Either way, a soundcard can very easily be added later, so for now i would focus on money to maximise performance.

If it were me, personally I would be looking at an i5 3570K, as mentioned before, your current CPU is mostly likey going to be the guilty member of the set up.

With a CPU that can Overclock, if you yourself are not comfortable doing it, I would highly recommend an MSI motherboard. Unless things have changed a lot since the last generation, the MSI 'OC Genie' is incredibly good at Overclocking the machine effectively with the push of the button (unlike other autoOCs it tends not to overjuice the Voltage)e. True, it won't hit the numbers that a manual OC will do, but it is also a lot easier to do and a great solution for those not comfortable with playing with BIOS.

I would also look at 8gb RAM instead of 4gb. 4gb tends to be fine for now, but 8gb gives you a lot of room for the future. It's getting to the point now that my 4gb is starting to get very busy, and given the additional cost of RAM it's an inexpensive upgrade.

Finally, I agree that a 650W PSU is a better buy. I like the extra room for OCing and indeed PSU degredation as the years go by.

So, in summary:
i5 3570K CPU
MSI mobo
650W PSU
8gb 1600mhz RAM (optional)

If money is tight, the two things I would change to get the above is lose the soundcard and drop the SSD. I know, SSD lovers will cry at the thought, but honestly, I love an SSD as much as the next guy, but in reality they are a luxory item to indulge in once you are happy with all the real PC parts and have cash leftover.

 

[Darkquanto]

I went to my local computer store and he also advised me to get 8 GB ram so i changed that, i never had a SSD but id love to give it a try cause i have very long loading times now. I also dropped the soundcard and got me a i5 3570K cpu.
The price with building it in the shop is 1800$ its a bit over my price range but i might be able to let someone deduct the taxes on it, this should get me on exactly 1500$.
But then i was thinking, if i can assemble it myself i might save some money but also with this i have little experience, can something burn up or explode if i for example didnt push my gpu in deep enough and do i have to use cooling paste myself then and where would this be needed? Thank you all so far, you have been a great help.