Planning out a moderate end Gaming rig.

[Gicewiz]

As the title says, I am in the process of saving up money to spend on building up a moderate end gaming rig.
I do computer repair and general building,b ut anything that spans into the gaming world I am pretty much at a loss at. I pretty much need something that will let me run BF3 on High, or more preferably on Medium smoothly. Since I don't need ZOMG Graphics.

Case: Rosewill CHALLENGER Black Gaming ATX Mid Tower Computer Case, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147153. PRIC: $49.99

PSU: XFX Core Edition PRO550W (P1-550S-XXB9) 550W ATX12V 2.2 & ESP12V 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817207013 , Price 74.99

MOBO: ASUS P8Z77-V LK LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard with UEFI BIOS, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131837 Price: 139.99

Processor: Intel Core i5-3450 Ivy Bridge 3.1GHz (3.5GHz Turbo) LGA 1155 77W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 2500 BX80637I53450,http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116506 Price: 199.99

Memory: CORSAIR XMS3 8GB (4 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model CMX8GX3M4A1600C9, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145261 Price: 59.99

Graphics card: SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 6850 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity (100315L ), http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102908 Price: 149.99

Network Card: Doe sit really make a difference in connection speed?

Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-bit - OEM, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116986, Price 99.99

Hard Drive:Seagate Constellation ES ST3500514NS 500GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Enterprise Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148609, Price: 149.99

Optical Drive: ASUS Black 12X BD-ROM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-ROM SATA Internal Blu-ray Drive Model BC-12B1ST/BLK/B/AS - OEM, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135247 Price 54.99

Mouse: RAZER Abyssus Mirror Special Edition Black 3 Buttons 1 x Wheel USB Wired 3500 dpi Mouse, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826153061 Price 34.99

Keyboard: Microsoft SIDEWINDER X4 Keyboard, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16823109191, 47.99

Monitor: N/A as of right now.

Speakers: N/A as of right now


WHat do yall think of that...if its even compatible. x.x

((Still adding stuff to it as I get to it. Feel free to PM me that I am a idiot later

 

[Gicewiz]

Fixed to where its more legible

 

[hunterpostit88]

just buy a main brand name(Corsair, XFX, SeaSonic) PSU. Trash that graphics card for the love of god. A 7770 is the same price and it will kill that thing. A network card is where you can connect wirelessly to your internet instead of through an ethernet wire. Sound card isn't neccessary to me. I use speakers that are plugged into the mobo. A 22 inch monitor is good like this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824009241
But you didn't give us full specs...

 

[hunterpostit88]

You may want to consider 6850 as a graphics card to run on med-high.

 

[Gicewiz]

just buy a main brand name(Corsair, XFX, SeaSonic) PSU. Trash that graphics card for the love of god. A 7770 is the same price and it will kill that thing. A network card is where you can connect wirelessly to your internet instead of through an ethernet wire. Sound card isn't neccessary to me. I use speakers that are plugged into the mobo. A 22 inch monitor is good like this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824009241
But you didn't give us full specs...

The problem is, I do not know *** about ATI, not since AMD took it over and the ATI 2800 card I had..many eons ago.

You may want to consider 6850 as a graphics card to run on med-high.

Same as above.




By the by.. How well does ATI run on Intel chipsets? I head somewhere that it goes liek this , AMD&ATI, Intel&Nvidia.. The reason Im staying with Nvidia is I have followed it abit more closely.

But..If the ATI card will work with what I got out, then I will look into it. I want to get more people's opinions first.

 

[azeem40]

No NVIDIA card out there has the same performance as a 6850. The 550ti is much worse.

 

[Gicewiz]

Ok soooo

6850, 7770, 7750..

Hmm Ill weigh their BF3 benchmarks and other stats to see what will be the better bang for the buck

Nevermind, Answered my own question by forum searching.

 

[azeem40]

7770 is cheaper, but worse, but uses less power. 6850 is only $10 more and performs better.

 

[Gicewiz]

Ill take the 6850 then, Is there a certain Manufacturer one might recommend I ascertain it from? Or is Sapphire fine?

 

[azeem40]

Sapphire is recommended. Good choice. I have a Sapphire Radeon 7950, and OCed to 1150 MHz I can't hear it at all.

 

[Gicewiz]

I do not plan on OCing cause I am not knowledgeable enough to do so. If I can RUn BF3 on Mid or High without OCing Ill be happy. ^_^

If I decide to OC, will I need to replace the massive fans on the Rosewill Challenger case or shoudl those provide sufficient heat dissipation? Well for Moderate OCing?

 

[azeem40]

Can on med, not so much high. They will.

 

[Gicewiz]

Medium is decent enough for me. Im not finicky for the 'Top' stuff. If I can play and keeping visually appealing without all the bells and whistles, I am a happy redneck.

If in the event that I want to Crossfire two 6850's, if possible, WHat wattage power supply would you guys recommend?

 

[azeem40]

I don't recommend CFing a GPU of the 6850's low level. Just keep it.

 

[Gicewiz]

Ok, Thank you...

Now all I need to figure out is...A Good power supply and that should be it.

I will work on the monitor, mouse and keyboard later..For now I need to get the beefy stuff done first.

 

[azeem40]

550W XFX PRO550.

 

[Gicewiz]

Got it, My list is complete now, ((Save for monitor)), In your professional opinion, have I chosen the right parts and Mobo so they are compatible with each other, and future upgrades?

 

[azeem40]

Every thing is good. With the current point hardware is at, the CPU and MOBO are going to be needing an upgrade in like 3 years or so.

 

[Gicewiz]

Roger dodger! Thank you so much ^_^!

Is there a Motherboard you might suggest that I can get better use out of, just for curiosity's sake.

 

[azeem40]

ASRock Z77 Extreme4.

 

[Gicewiz]

Now...TO make my credit card cry...Or not to make my credit card cry..

 

[twstd1]

I see a couple of things that you might want to change. First off the Hard drive, for the money you're spending on that drive you could get a 180GB SSD that would greatly improve system performance. You will lose some space but I think that the added speed would be a huge benefit. You can always add a larger storage drive later or bring one from an older PC that you might already have. Here are two links:
Corsair Force Series 3 CSSD-F180GB3-BK 2.5" 180GB SATA III Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) = 149.99
or for more storage and probably the same performance of the drive that you had listed.
Western Digital Caviar Black WD1002FAEX 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive = 109.99 (you'd save a few bucks with this one and get twice the storage capacity with no loss in performance.)

The next issue I have is the Blu-Ray drive, for 10 more bucks you could have a Blu-ray burner. Now I know that you might not really need this right now but in the future you might actually have the need to back-up a large amount of data and being able to burn a Blu-Ray disc would definitively address that issue seeing as disc capacities are 25GB per layer. Also you could go with an LG burner with the MO-disc support for a more permanent solution to data storage (with less capacity though) Here are two drives:
LITE-ON Black 12X BD-R 2X BD-RE 16X DVD+R 12X DVD-RAM 8X BD-ROM SATA 12X Blu-ray Burner with Blu Ray 3D Feature IHBS112-04 - OEM = 64.99
or
LG Black 14X BD-R 2X BD-RE 16X DVD+R 5X DVD-RAM 12X BD-ROM 4MB Cache SATA BDXL Blu-ray Burner,3D Play Back (WH14NS40) - OEM = 69.99
The latter of the two has support for the MO-Disc.

Oh and just by going over the earlier posts I happened to notice your decision about the graphics card. I would just like to throw these last two things out there.

This card will outperform everything you've listed for just 10 bucks more (I think my "just 10 more bucks" is becoming repetitive) lol
HIS H687FN1GD Radeon HD 6870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card = 159.99

And this would Power your new system just perfectly:
Antec NEO ECO 520C 520W Continuous Power ATX12V v2.3 / EPS12V 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply = 59.99

Well I hope that I've been of some help. Just to point it out if you happen to go with the 1TB WD Hard Drive you would save $40 and you could put that toward the more expensive Blu-Ray and some toward a slightly better GPU. My cousin has the XFX version of the HD6870, plays at 1600 X 900 and he loves it. He plays most everything at high with low AA and AF at pretty respectable frame rates. Well, I've never heard him complain anyway.

 

[twstd1]

Oops...

 

[Gicewiz]

Thank you for your insight, I will mull on it and balance out my options, Thank you!!

 

[hunterpostit88]

Wow this is the first time someone has ever gone with my recommendation on this forum...yes! And just to clear your Intel/Nvidia etc. etc. thing. I have an AMD CPU with a GTX 560. GPU's and CPU's aren't related like that.