Looking for a new gaming system for $1200 - $1500

[Stamper19]

Hi All,

I am a long time gamer that has finally gotten fed up with Dell and is looking to purchase something form elsewhere (my 6 year old XPS 720 is crapping out on me). I am fairly tech savy, but have not been able to keep up with all the new hardware in recent years, and so I would greatly appreciate some help in putting together a new system. I simply dont have the time to build one myself, and so it has to be prebuilt. After doing a bit of searching around the internet I saw some good things said about the CyberPower Black Pearl and so I put together the following configuration for $1301:

http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/saved/1ED7RC

Or here if you want to skip the link:

Spoiler

Case: * Azza Genesis 9000 Full Tower Gaming Case w/ 2 x 230mm fans, 4x Easy Swap HDD, Dual Power Supply Support, & front USB 3.0 Port (Black Color)
Laser Engraving: None
Laser Engraving Message:
Internal USB Extension Module: None
Neon Light Upgrade: None
Extra Case Fan Upgrade: Maximum 120MM Case Cooling Fans for your selected case [+9]
Noise Reduction Technology: Sound Absorbing Foam on Side, Top And Bottom panels [+29]
CPU: Intel® Core™ i7-3820 Quad-Core 3.60 GHz 10MB Intel Smart Cache LGA2011 (All Venom OC Certified)
Freebies: None
Performance Tuning Protection Plan by Intel: None
Venom Boost Fast And Efficient Factory Overclocking: No Overclocking
Cooling Fan: Asetek 510LC Liquid Cooling System 120MM Radiator & Fan (Enhanced Cooling Performance + Extreme Silent at 20dBA) (Single Standard 120MM Fan)
Coolant for Cyberpower Xtreme Hydro Water Cooling Kits: Standard Coolant
Motherboard: * (3-Way SLI Support) GIGABYTE X79-UD3 Intel X79 Chipset Quad Channel DDR3 ATX Mainboard w/ UEFI DualBIOS, Dolby Home Theater 7.1 Audio, GbLAN, USB3.0, SATA-III RAID, 4 Gen3 PCIe X16, 2 PCIe X1 & 1 PCI
Freebies: None
Memory: 8GB (2GBx4) DDR3/1600MHz Quad Channel Memory (Corsair or Major Brand)
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670 2GB 16X PCIe 3.0 Video Card [+164] (Major Brand Powered by NVIDIA)
Freebies: [Back-To-School Gameon Sale!] on all EVGA GeForce Video Cards [-50]
Video Card 2: None
Video Card 3: None
Power Supply Upgrade: 800 Watts - Standard Power Supply - SLI/CrossFireX Ready
Hard Drive: 1TB SATA-III 6.0Gb/s 32MB Cache 7200RPM HDD (Single Drive)
Data Hard Drive: None
Hard Drive Cooling Fan: None
External Hard Drive (USB3.0/2.0/eSATA): None
USB Flash Drive: None
Optical Drive: 24X Double Layer Dual Format DVD+-R/+-RW + CD-R/RW Drive (BLACK COLOR)
Optical Drive 2: None
Sound: HIGH DEFINITION ON-BOARD 7.1 AUDIO
3D Vision Glasses: None
LCD Monitor: None
2nd Monitor: None
3rd Monitor: None
Speakers: None
Network: Onboard Gigabit LAN Network
Keyboard: AZZA Multimedia USB Gaming Keyboard
Mouse: AZZA Optical 1600dpi Gaming Mouse with Weight Adjustable Cartridge
Mouse Pad: None
Gaming Gear: None
Extra Thermal Display: None
Wireless 802.11B/G Network Card: None
External Wireless Network Card: None
Wireless 802.11 B/G/N Access Point: None
Bluetooth: None
Flash Media Reader/Writer: INTERNAL 12in1 Flash Media Reader/Writer (BLACK COLOR)
Video Camera: None
Headset: None
Cable: None
Power Protection: None
IEEE1394 Card: None
Internal USB Port: Built-in USB 2.0 Ports
USB Port: None
Operating System: Microsoft® Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit Edition)
Media Center Remote Control & TV Tuner: None
Office Suite: None
Games: None
Ultra Care Option: None
Service: STANDARD WARRANTY: 3-YEAR LIMITED WARRANTY PLUS LIFE-TIME TECHNICAL SUPPORT
Rush Service: NO; READY TO SHIP IN 10~15 BUSINESS DAYS

The price seems pretty good but I just dont feel that I know enough to tell if I am getting good bang for my buck or if some components should be upgraded/downgraded or how good the system Im getting actually is. I am hoping to keep under $1500, but the closer to $1200 the better. Mainly to be used for gaming, but also some work related stuff (mostly microsoft office).

Also, I dont know much about CyberPower, but reliability is important to me. I am totally open to going elsewhere if anyone has a suggestion.

Thanks much for any help!

 

[C12Friedman]

My only suggestions offhand are, 1) dump the "standard" power supply in favor of the Corsair CMPSU-850TXV2 (although 850W is a little overkill, it is the best PSU available for that build). 2) Primary hard drive should be an SSD (you'll thank me later) like the 120GB Corsair Force Series SATA-III and Data Drive should be the 500GB SATA-III 3.0Gb/s 16MB Cache 7200RPM HDD (unless you want bigger).
I realize I'm not saving you anything in my suggestions but I do feel the improvements justify the costs.
CyberpowerPC is a reputable company and best of all, they have a 3year (limited) warranty
One thing to note, that case is huge (it's a full tower) and you do not need the "supports 240mm cooling" cases since your CPU cooler choice is only a 120 rad - you could save some there

 

[Stamper19]

Thanks for the suggestions, C12! Exactly the sort of guidance I was hoping for. Given the choices Cyberpower has for that build, is there a specific case you would recommend?

Thanks again!

 

[allanitomwesh]

Go with with the carbide 300R. Very good case,or the HAF 912 as another choice.

 

[C12Friedman]

Go with with the carbide 300R. Very good case,or the HAF 912 as another choice.

Two solid choices

 

[Stamper19]

Thanks, guys! This is really helpful. Much appreciated.