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$1500 for a Gaming PC, first-time builder seeking advice

S

seedcow

Junior Member
This is my first time building an entire PC. Have only done basic hardware upgrades in the past.

- Gaming PC / ~$1500 budget

- Purchasing in USA, east coast / no particular brand preferences

- Building from scratch; zero parts/cables lying around

- Mostly researched from this site, bit-tech, and tomshardware.

- Building to run nicely as is, with ability to overclock as needed in the future / 1920 x 1080 resolution

- Hope to build asap

CPU - i5 2500k - ( $220 )
Mobo - P8P67 - ( $200 )
Memory - 2x 4GB 8 CAS G.Skill ( $130 )
Video - GTX 560 ti ( $280 )
HD - Caviar Black 6gb/s 1tb/64mb cache + Sata Cables ( $77 )
Sound - ASUS 7.1 ( $50 )
Case - Cooler Master HAF 912 ( $60 )
DvD - LiteON DVD/CD burn ( $24 )
Power - Corsair 750w ( $120 )
Monitor - ASUS 21.5" 5ms .248 pitch ( $180 )
Mouse - MX518 - ( $37 )
Keyboard - LiteON - ( $7 )
Headset - Cheap Cyber Acoustics - ( $19 )
OS - Win 7 Home OEM - ( $100 )

I picked the CPU and GPU with the assumption they would perform well out of the box, and had room to grow with some cooling and overclocking later on, if needed.

Going to hold off on SSD for a while, hoping the merchandise (and prices) stabilize.

Thank you for any and all feedback/advice.
 
And you also don't need sata cables, the mobo comes with 4 to 6 of them.

There's also apparently no reason to need over 600W PSU unless you plan on adding another GPU in there soon. Some people even argue that 600 is overkill but whatever. I just learned this too as I had a build recently.

Another thing I've learned is that getting a 6gb/s HDD is useless as the mechanics of the HDD can't even max out the 3gb/s connection, so get a good Samsung J3 or something. 6gb/s is useful when looking at SSDs though.

I would also suggest with all the money you *should* save by making the changes mentioned here and above that you really do get at least a 64gig SSD. You don't need the latest and greatest, but it's worth it just to keep the browser and OS on. They're amazingly fast.
 
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With such an overclockable CPU and a desire to overclock, you'd probably want to get a better heatsink/fan.
 
mnewsham said:
You are paying too much.

RAM
PSU
Motherboard
HDD
Monitor
GPU


No sound card is needed, it is a wasted 50 dollars onboard sound is good enough.
Click to expand...

gorcorps said:
And you also don't need sata cables, the mobo comes with 4 to 6 of them.

There's also apparently no reason to need over 600W PSU unless you plan on adding another GPU in there soon. Some people even argue that 600 is overkill but whatever. I just learned this too as I had a build recently.

Another thing I've learned is that getting a 6gb/s HDD is useless as the mechanics of the HDD can't even max out the 3gb/s connection, so get a good Samsung J3 or something. 6gb/s is useful when looking at SSDs though.

I would also suggest with all the money you *should* save by making the changes mentioned here and above that you really do get at least a 64gig SSD. You don't need the latest and greatest, but it's worth it just to keep the browser and OS on. They're amazingly fast.
Click to expand...

What they said.

OP, quick math says that mnewhsam saved you about $200. Take that and get a Mushkin Callisto 120GB SSD. That's pretty much the biggest single upgrade that you can make to your computer IMHO. There really is no reason (IMHO) to spend $1500 on a computer and not get an SSD.
 
seedcow said:
Still thinking about that, and the headset.

Been reading the 570 runs a lot hotter than the 560ti I had picked, maybe not as OC-able?
Click to expand...

At 1920x1080 the 570 will not make too much of a difference over the 560ti, I would go with the 570 personally HOWEVER, the 560ti is still a good GPU at that resolution and will perform admirably.
 
The GTX570s for ~$285 are really good cards for the money. Yes you can get other cards that can do just as well for cheaper for now, it might last a little while longer before deciding you need an upgrade. Just a thought. It still might not be worth the premium but I'm very glad I went that route myself.
 
endlessmike133 said:
Hell why not go with the 5770 it's the best performance/per dollar video card out there along with the GTX 460 amirite?
Click to expand...

You really are shadowing mnewsham, aren't you? 😉

You are correct about performance/dollar, but for a $1500/1080p gaming build paying for the extra of performance of the 560/570/6950 cards makes sense
 
seedcow said:
Still thinking about that, and the headset.

Been reading the 570 runs a lot hotter than the 560ti I had picked, maybe not as OC-able?
Click to expand...

I highly recommend investing in a nicer headset than what you have listed. They completely change a gaming/media session. Look into Sennheiser for a start, but there are others. A $1,500 budget with headsets like yours is like buying a Ferrari and getting $100 tires from Joe's Tire Shop 🙂
 
chalmers said:
I highly recommend investing in a nicer headset than what you have listed. They completely change a gaming/media session. Look into Sennheiser for a start, but there are others. A $1,500 budget with headsets like yours is like buying a Ferrari and getting $100 tires from Joe's Tire Shop 🙂
Click to expand...

I can agree, I've just been using those CA's for years now, I didn't even think about it when I put it together.

Going to try Razer's Carcharias

Thanks again for all the advice, you guys are awesome.
 
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