Building a Gaming PC! First Post. Looking for input/better ideas.

[AutoOrdnance]

First of all, Hello & thanks in advance for any input on my build. I went into this project with a $3k goal and I think I will be close, but over. My hope is that this will be sufficient for a few years to come and easily upgradeable... The i7 990x would have been my first choice but was a budget buster:(

Processor: Intel Core i7-2600K Processor 3.4GHz 8 MB Cache Socket LGA1155 - $308/Amazon

MB: ASUS MAXIMUS IV EXTREME LGA 1155 Rebublic of Gamers Intel P67 DDR3 2400 - $310/Amazon

OS: Windows 7 Professional SP1 64bit (Full) System Builder DVD 1 Pack - $140/Amazon

PSU: Corsair Professional Series Gold 1200-Watt 80 Plus Gold Certified - $288/Amazon

SSD: Crucial 128 GB m4 2.5-Inch Solid State Drive SATA 6Gb/s - $220/Amazon

HDD: Western Digital 2 TB RE4-GP SATA 3 Gb/s Intellipower 64 MB Cache - $250/Amazon

RAM: Corsair Vengeance Blue 16 GB DDR3 SDRAM Dual Channel Memory - $100/Amazon

GPU: GeForce GTX 590 CLASSIFIED Edition Video Card - 3GB, 768-bit GDDR5, PCI-Express 2.0 x16, 3x DL-DVI, Mini DisplayPort, Quad-SLI, DirectX 11, - $750/TigerDirect

Case: Thermaltake Chaser MK-1 USB 3.0 Full Tower Case - $160/Amazon

Cool: Corsair CWCH100 Hydro H100 CPU Liquid Cooler - $120/Amazon

Sound: PCI Express Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Champion Series - $150/Amazon

$2796... not too bad bus still need to add to this list a monitor & dvd/bd rom + keyboard/mouse & Shipping

[RickyTick]

Welcome to the forums. Quite a build you got there. :)

I would recommend this processor instead. It's a little more money, but it's well spent.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115095

I would probably go with a less expensive motherboard and power supply. Unless your planning on a lot of over-clocking, you have a good deal of overkill here

For the build you have listed above, you don't really need a 1200 watt psu. I really like the Corsair AX850.

A motherboard like this provides everything you need for about $100 less.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131791

And to be honest, I'd rather run 2 GTX570's in SLI than have 1 GTX590. Plus, those babies are hard to find.

I'm not trying to talk you out of things, I just like to see money spent wisely. But in the end, it's your money, not mine.

[AutoOrdnance]

Thanks for the advice! That processor definitely seems worth while. I dont know how i missed it. As for the MB & PSU I think I will just kick down the few extra $$ here and be ready for anything. I have to agree with you on the videocard as well... voice of reason is what I needed there. That 590 is sexy though. Thanks again for your thoughts & I will let you know how she turns out. Hopefully I can hit the "Place Order" button by mid Nov., who knows maybe some prices will go down by then also.

[RickyTick]

Sign up for Newegg's newsletter or whatever they call it. They have specials all the time. You can catch a deal here or there. Also don't forget about NCIX. They're trying to make a name for themselves in the US, so they have some good deals too.

Best of luck.

[ARchamps]

That's an awesome build! I didn't even know the 2700K came out. Might as well get, as it is now the top of its class!

[AutoOrdnance]

Just ordered the case.. actually my fiancee bought it for me for my birthday! I went with this: Thermaltake Level 10 GT Super Gaming Modular Tower Computer Case

[RickyTick]

Oh...that's one of those "non-traditional" cases. Looks cool.

Best of luck with your build.

[AutoOrdnance]

MAJOR CHANGES:: all of this amounts to a $25 savings from my original design and I think it would outperform my original also?? :D


MB: ASUS P8Z68 Deluxe LGA 1155 Intel Z68 -- seemed logical to use the most current chipset for the sandy bridge (-$65)

CPU: Intel Core i7-2700K Sandy Bridge 3.5GHz (+$50)

SDD: OCZ Vertex 3 Series – MAX IOPS Edition VTX3MI-25SAT3-120G 2.5" 120GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) -- two of these in RAID 0 (+$10 +cost of mass storage drive if I need one?)

GPU: EVGA SuperClocked GeForce GTX 570 -- two of these in SLI (-$30)

PSU: SILVERSTONE Strider Gold ST1200-G 1200W -- Too much power is OK with me , I hope to eventually run 3x gt580s in triSLI! we shall see. - $290 (+$10)



(ps) I love this forum!

[ARchamps]

Wow! That's a BEAST of the system you will have there. I have read some reviews on that 2700K and it appears to be easier to hit 5 Ghz.

http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1751/
http://www.tomshardware.com/news/Origin-Pc-maingear-Core-i7-2700K-5.2GHz,13844.html

I like EVGA cards (I have the 560 Ti) because of the lifetime warranty and support (good forum on their site). Make sure you get the -AR suffix on the product code. That's the one with lifetime warranty.

I'm looking for an SSD myself, and based on reliability the Cruicials seem to be the better choice. Speed wise, the ones you selected really fast.

Good Luck!

[AutoOrdnance]

Will 2 of these:http://www.amazon.com/performance-ENGTX570-DCII-2DIS-1280MD5/dp/B004MN3HBA

fit on this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131753

thanks in advance

[RickyTick]

Neither link works. :(

OK, I went ahead and fixed your links. And yes, 2 of the GTX570's will work in SLI on that motherboard. Awesome setup.

[AutoOrdnance]

OK, I went ahead and fixed your links. And yes, 2 of the GTX570's will work in SLI on that motherboard. Awesome setup.

First, thanks for fixing the links.. I wasn't sure about two of that particular 570 because of the additional cooling build into them, one of the reviews said it takes up 3 spaces.

As long as I am asking more questions.. Would the extra $260 it would cost me to upgrade to two of the 580s be noticeable? it says on the specs that the 570 is factory oc'd @ 742 & the 580 @ 782... seems minor but I may very well be not seeing the whole picture here.. Money isn't really a concern here I tend to go all out usually without going all the way to the most cutting edge, but I wont get 580s unless there is more than a 40mhz difference


Thanks for all your input.

[RickyTick]

It mostly depends on what resolution monitor you're using. If you're monitor is 24 inches or less, it would be a waste of money running 2 GTX580's in SLI.