I'm looking to build a gaming desktop and have been using Battlefield 3 as my benchmark. I've been doing a ton of research, trying to balance budget with value and longevity should I want to add some additional components down the line. It seems that no matter what I find, there's something better for $50 more or not quite as good for $50 less where you won't notice a performance difference. I have an $800 budget, though I'd like as far below that as possible. Here's what I'm looking at so far -
Sentey Extreme Division GS-6600 - $124.98 Newegg
CORSAIR Enthusiast Series TX650 V2 650W - $64.99 Newegg w/rebate
ASRock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 - $127.86 Newegg
Intel i5-2500K - $169.99 Microcenter
Kingston Technology Hyper X 8GB 1600MHz DDR3 Non-ECC CL9 DIMM (Kit of 2) XMP X2 Grey Series - $52.98 Amazon
XFX Double D HD-695X-CDFC Radeon HD 6950 - $229.99 Newegg w/rebate
A few notes -
1. I'm only looking for the components above. Hard Drive, CD Drive, Monitor, OS, Keyboard, Mouse, etc. are taken care of.
2. I'm not planning to overclock (right now anyway)
3. The case may be overkill in size, but I really like it, so I'll go for it unless I find something better. Plus it has room for future growth.
Questions -
1. Is a 650W power supply sufficient?
2. Is the motherboard a good choice?
3. Does PCI-e 3.0 perform much better than 2.0?
4. Is the graphics card a good choice?
5. Are there any potential bottlenecks?
Appreciate the advice!
Sentey Extreme Division GS-6600 - $124.98 Newegg
CORSAIR Enthusiast Series TX650 V2 650W - $64.99 Newegg w/rebate
ASRock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 - $127.86 Newegg
Intel i5-2500K - $169.99 Microcenter
Kingston Technology Hyper X 8GB 1600MHz DDR3 Non-ECC CL9 DIMM (Kit of 2) XMP X2 Grey Series - $52.98 Amazon
XFX Double D HD-695X-CDFC Radeon HD 6950 - $229.99 Newegg w/rebate
A few notes -
1. I'm only looking for the components above. Hard Drive, CD Drive, Monitor, OS, Keyboard, Mouse, etc. are taken care of.
2. I'm not planning to overclock (right now anyway)
3. The case may be overkill in size, but I really like it, so I'll go for it unless I find something better. Plus it has room for future growth.
Questions -
1. Is a 650W power supply sufficient?
2. Is the motherboard a good choice?
3. Does PCI-e 3.0 perform much better than 2.0?
4. Is the graphics card a good choice?
5. Are there any potential bottlenecks?
Appreciate the advice!