$800 Gaming Rig - Advice/Approval please

[res1912]

Approximate Purchase Date: this week - this month

Budget Range: ~$800 (before rebates)

System Usage from Most to Least Important: gaming, course work, graphics, etc.

Are you buying a monitor: No (will buy locally)

Do you need to buy OS: No

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: newegg.com/amazon.com (preferred)

Country: USA

Parts Preferences: Intel CPU, Nvidia GPU

Overclocking: Maybe

SLI or Crossfire: Maybe

Your Monitor Resolution: Will upgrade to 1440x900 or 1600x1200

Additional Comments: Would like to have a quiet system. This will be my first time building my own system. However, I am well-versed with pc-related stuff. I would like to play MMORPGs/FPS/RTS games, as well as, be able to use photoshop/gimp for graphic-intensive activities, etc.

And Most Importantly, Why Are You Upgrading: My other systems are slowly becoming obsolete with the current gaming/graphics markets and am having trouble running certain programs.

Currently, I have come to put together this configuration: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/eWwg

Any and all help/advice/suggestions/recommendations are welcome. Thank you.

 

[zulug]

Newegg has a similar bundles deal right now: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboBundleDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.1043154

might be worth checking it out.

 

[Robi_g]

Looks good, good choice with the 560ti, my drivers for AMD keep crashing on W8 release prev and I hear nVidia are better for drivers and stuff

 

[Nw333]

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/eWHe

A bit over budget but provides you with awesome OC capability for both CPU and GPU.

 

[nekulturny]

7850> 560 TI. I know you said you prefer Nvidia GPUs, in that case, I would look at the new 660 TIs then. Seriously, 7850s embarrass 560 TI and overclock well enough to give GTX 570 a headache.

Also, I would switch the PSU. OCZ doesn't really make all that great PSUs, they're okay, but there are better ones in that price range.. Like this one.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139020

 

[res1912]

@zulug: Thanks! I will check that link out. Looks very tempting, as all components are already bundled together. If I am not mistakened, the additional parts mail-in rebate offers add on to the already discounted $860.00, making it $800?

@ROBI_G: That is the main reason why I would like to avoid Radeon 7850 atm.

@nw333: Thanks for the effort, but I would really like to stay within my budget right now.

@nekulturny: Ty for the informative response. I have researched all about 7850, 560ti, and 570s on this site. From what I gathered, the Radeon video cards have very nice overclocking abilities compared to their Nvidia counterparts, however, the Radeon cards have driver issues and makes for some hassle. If it wasnt for the driver issues, I would definitely opt for the 7850 as it seems quite configurable in regards to overclocking and power-consumption.

Additionally, I didnt upgrade to the 570 because I would like to stay within the budget limit atm. However, I may upgrade the 560ti to a better video card in the near future. For now, this should be plentiful to accomplish what I need (ie. gaming GW2/LoL), working on PS/Gimp, and doing coursework-related activities.

Also, thanks for the info on the PSU. I went ahead and reconfigured my PC inventory to account for a better PSU. I read up on PSU-related info on this site and it seems there is a consensus on "not skimping on a quality PSU as it can make or break your system".
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I have reconfigured a new system setup. After reading up on SB and IB cpu chips, it seems that IB doesnt gain much from SB in terms of performance, but rather more efficient power-management (ie. better for portable devices such as laptops). Also, there is limited overclocking ability for IB compared to SB, if I am not mistaken.

Additionally, I have changed my old case (Antec Three Hundred Illusion) to a Rosewill Challenger-U3 as the old one did not allow for USB 3.0 connections(?). The Rosewill Challenger-U3, despite having only 3 fans instead of 4, allows for USB 3.0.

Finally, in regards to the PSU, I opted for a lower watt PSU, since I discovered that SLI/Crossfire is only beneficial with 2-3 top-of-line video cards; otherwise, a single mid-performance video card is better than 2 mediocre cards.

New setup: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/f2bK

Again any suggestions/advice is welcome. Thanks.

 

[Nw333]

If your really staying with the 560Ti, get one from Gigabyte, Asus or MSI. They have better cooling so you can OC alot if you want.

 

[zulug]

yes the 60$ rebates puts it into your budget plus gives a small SSD for your OS which is always nice.