Finally narrowed down gaming PC to two builds, which would be best?

[caseybrunet]

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I want to hear every thought you have on my selections. If you don't like something please tell me why and suggest what you believe to be an alternative. If you do particularly like something, please tell me because someone else may not and I would like to have both sides to an argument. ~ $2,000 was my limit (which each of these already goes over before tax and shipping, so please keep that in mind). I am building this PC on ibuypower because I do not have the skill, time, or patience to build it myself so any alternatives must be available on ibuypower.com. I will be playing games primarily on my HDTV but will occasionally play on my 24 in monitor. Besides playing games I also edit HD video pretty often along with some photo editing. Both systems will be running Windows 7 Professional.

 

[b1inky]

Option 2 looks better IMO. The Mobo BIOS looks more user friendly to me and that board just looks great. Without pouring over it too much, most of the specs seem identical, just marketed better on their website. The cache size and speed boost of the 4820 along with 1866 mem can't hurt your performance. I am no expert, but faster components are usually pricier for a reason. If you're getting option 2 for a little cheaper, it would be hard for me to turn it down. Hope you get an answer you're searching for and good luck!

 

[danscan11]

Honestly my friend go with the i5-440k its about 100 cheaper and you wont notice any performance lag. If you are looking at upgrading your CPU in the near future anyways. Also dont get that MSI board go for the gigabyte one its WAY more quality I had that MSI board and it was a piece of trash I sent it back the next day. The Gigabyte is a better board and its cheaper. Basically the Intel thing is not what you are going for, it takes your SSD and it becomes a cache for you HDD. 120 GB is too much mem and money for a cache drive. Its supposed to help make your HDD faster. you can double the page file on your HDD and get some extra speed that way if you want. The fan monitor thing is overkill you will have those kind of support apps on your mobo already. Again I would hate to see you waste money on things that you aren't going to ever use or need especially trying to get below 2g's. Also this is your first build and you are already talking upgrading it so save a little money now so you can get some better upgrades later. Like that 290 AMD card holy-moley that thing looks like a monster!!! Not the answer you were wanting but hopefully what you need to hear. Anyways give me a shout if you wanna pick my brain.