An $ 800 Mid-range Gaming Rig

[GothAmKing]

Well I'm going to have a new rig for $ 800 or less.I've posted a thread before and I became puzzled of whatever little I knew.So I'm posting a few questions in a hope that they will clear out my doubts.Also any config on the rig is welcomed provided it's $ 800 or less.My criterion are :─

☺No need of multi monitor gaming.
☺No gaming on a HD TV.
☺No Blu-ray drive required as I get every released game(downloaded by my friends).
☺Strictly 500 GB HDD(7200 rpm),nothing less nothing more.
☺No hardcore OCing to test the limits of my hardware.
☺Want to play Battlefield 3,Mass Effect 3,Syndicate,Brink,Crysis 2 on atleast HIGH settings if not ULTRA.
☺No eye popping 2500x1600 res monitor needed,I'm comfortable on 1280x1024 res.
☺No $ 200 gaming towers required.
_______________________________________________________________
Now my questions :─

☻Is a SSD "really required" for a gaming rig?
☻Is buying a 1 GB GPU a mistake?
☻AMD HD 7850 or nVidia GTX 560 Ti 448 cores-who's the "ultimate" winner at mid-range?
☻A cheap PSU-mistake or not?
☻What's a modular PSU?
☻Can I compensate any cheap mid-tower with 3-4 fans for better cooling during OCing?
☻For OCing is Intel's default heatsink okay or should I opt for Thermaltake?
☻When choosing for a P8P67 mobo from Asus,which one should I opt for(SLI and Crossfire support should be there)?
☻For OCing is Asus's P67 equivalent to it's Z68 leaving out all other xtra features in Z68?
☻If a game stutters a little at High settings,will it vanish if OC?
☻How efficiently are latest games using multi cored AMD processors in FX series?
☻Can PCIe 3.0 be used without Ivy Bridge?
☻How are ASRock LGA 1155 P67 mobos?
☻At 1280x1024 can I xpect every game to run at HIGH settings with a HD 7850 or GTX 560 Ti 448 cores?
☻Is an AMD FX-6100 + HD 7850 much better or equivalent to Intel i5 2500 K + HD 7850?
☻How is Hz rating of monitors related?It's importance?
☻I've 4 GB of Transcend DDR2 RAM installed,but Sys Properties in Win7 show that only 3.24 GB is usable.Why?

Please pardon me for posting questions related to OCing and Cooling in this forum.I wanted to have all questions answered at a single place.Please do take time to post your comments.............

 

[toyota]

the first thing I would get is a better monitor. 1280x1024 is 5:4 which is a bit too claustrophobic to play modern games on and you will miss out on 1/3 of the game's fov. also games that are anamorphic will have massive black bars on a 5:4 screen.

 

[Mopetar]

Now my questions :─

☻Is a SSD "really required" for a gaming rig?

No, but it might be a nice upgrade option as they get cheaper.

☻Is buying a 1 GB GPU a mistake?

Not if you're going to stick to 1280 x 1024, but honestly I'd get something a little more future proof to both handle games over the next several years and in case you want a bigger monitor.

☻AMD HD 7850 or nVidia GTX 560 Ti 448 cores-who's the "ultimate" winner at mid-range?

I'd get the 7850, especially since so many people are getting impressive overclocks from it.

☻A cheap PSU-mistake or not?

In the long run maybe. Getting a more efficient PSU can help save on the electric bill. If you do a lot of gaming this can add up over time.

☻What's a modular PSU?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modular_power_supply_unit
Basically means less of a cable mess.

☻Can I compensate any cheap mid-tower with 3-4 fans for better cooling during OCing?

I don't know about any, but possibly depending on what you get. Honestly if I were you I'd splurge a little more for a nice case that you can continue using when you build your next gaming rig in a few years, but that's just me.

☻For OCing is Intel's default heatsink okay or should I opt for Thermaltake?

Stock cooler should be fine. How much of an OC are you aiming for?

☻When choosing for a P8P67 mobo from Asus,which one should I opt for(SLI and Crossfire support should be there)?
☻For OCing is Asus's P67 equivalent to it's Z68 leaving out all other xtra features in Z68?

Not too sure about these.

☻If a game stutters a little at High settings,will it vanish if OC?

Depends on the cause, really. If you're gaming at 1280x1024 with a modern card I wouldn't worry about it.

☻How efficiently are latest games using multi cored AMD processors in FX series?

Most aren't and there are still a lot of popular games that don't really utilize more than two cores so Intel is probably the way to go unless you can pick up a cheap Thuban. 2500K or equivalent is probably what I'd aim for.

☻Can PCIe 3.0 be used without Ivy Bridge?

I think only SB-E has PCIe 3.0 support, but I could be wrong.

☻At 1280x1024 can I xpect every game to run at HIGH settings with a HD 7850 or GTX 560 Ti 448 cores?

I can't think of anything that wouldn't. You could probably even expect to get that from a 1920 x 1200 monitor.

☻How is Hz rating of monitors related?It's importance?

Hz is frequency, or cycles per second. For example, a 60 Hz monitor refreshes its image 60 times per second. If you're gaming at 1280 x 1024, either of the cards you wanted will probably generate more frames than you monitor could hope to display. Really though, it depends on you. Some people are fine with 60 Hz monitors, but some people feel that 120 Hz looks better to them. It also depends on the type of games you play to some degree. In general, something like an FPS will get a lot more mileage out of a 120 Hz monitor than a game like Civilization.

If you already have a monitor and it looks good to you, I wouldn't bother upgrading. Maybe go to a computer store and see if they have any that could be demoed.

☻I've 4 GB of Transcend DDR2 RAM installed,but Sys Properties in Win7 show that only 3.24 GB is usable.Why?

I'm guessing you're running 32-bit Windows 7, in which case it can't address all of your memory.

 

[7earitup]

For cheap cases I recommend:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811147160
or
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811129181

I have the REDBONE and it is very nice.

 

[Bman123]

At that Res with either card you should Max out every game. You need a lot of CPU power at that res

 

[Fallengod]

You can get quite big bang 4 buck these days.

CPU: Definitely stay away from AMD, go Intel... I am not sure what CPU you plan on getting but Microcenter has an i7-2600k for $200. You really cant beat that. Either way, I think you find most recommendations are for 2500k or 2600k.

Power supply: Dont go cheap here... If you keep your eyes open and do your homework, you can find decent wattage and quality PSU's for fairly cheap. I got my Antec Neo Eco 620watt for $35AR.... There is an Antec Earthwatts 650 for $50 currently. That is fairly cheap for 650 watts and decent quality unit. The trick is, you just dont want some no name, crap quality unit to save $5-$10.

Video card: I try not to give much advice on vid cards because it depends on many factors. What games you plan on playing, what FPS you want, price, resolution played at, etc..... You can find decent deals lately though. I see 6870's for $130 now. I play at pretty low resolutions myself and my $60 5770 is plenty for what I do.

Monitor: Honestly, do yourself a favor, get 120hz monitor. If you are going to be gaming, dont be dumb and get a crap monitor that runs at 60hz. It makes a difference. This would probably be a good portion of the $800 though. I just purchased my first flat screen 120hz Viewsonic 22" VX2268wm about a month or two ago. Those are only like $210. I like it for what it does. Definitely worth the $210. If you play at low resolutions and looking for a cheap solution for 120hz, might consider that. Its not necessarily the best top end 120hz around though.

Hard Drive: If you value speedy response times and fast game/program loading etc, you should really stay away from 7200rpm drives for the main drive. The very minimum you want imo is a raptor 10k rpm drive. Either raptor or SSD for main, then use whatever you want for storage. Trust me, it makes a difference.... Dont go with some basic shit 7200rpm drive for a main.

 

[IGhzI]

I5 2500k, 7850, 850 psu.. Enough said

 

[toyota]

I5 2500k, 7850, 850 psu.. Enough said

850 watt psu for a system that will use well under 300 watts? even a high quality 650 watt psu will be way more than enough and still allow him to get a much faster gpu later if he chooses,

 

[Mopetar]

850 watt psu for a system that will use well under 300 watts? even a high quality 650 watt psu will be way more than enough and still allow him to get a much faster gpu later if he chooses,

Probably doesn't need a 850 watt psu, but if he does OC, that can increase the power draw by a bit, especially depending on how much of an OC and what components.

 

[toyota]

Probably doesn't need a 850 watt psu, but if he does OC, that can increase the power draw by a bit, especially depending on how much of an OC and what components.

at typical 7850 and 2500k overclocks that system would still not even pull over 350 watts. 850 watts could run 3 oced 7850 cards and oced 2500k without trouble.

 

[IGhzI]

Its for all the above including the long hall. He may want the eye candy later on you never know. So instead of working around the psu if anything changes hes got more options with gpus etc. Plus if he wants more hdd's, ssd, blu ray and so on. Even tho he stated he didnt want the blu ray. the option is still on the table theres no point going back to the start of the build just to do it all over again. Thats how I started my build but ended up picking up 4 free sata drives (easy to come by). Now Id like to pick up a gtx680 but "i just dont have the power, captain". So I'll have to settle for a 7950 just to keep it under watts and unplugging my dvd drive lmao.. Maybe idk yet.

 

[Mopetar]

at typical 7850 and 2500k overclocks that system would still not even pull over 350 watts. 850 watts could run 3 oced 7850 cards and oced 2500k without trouble.

Probably true for most cases, but he also did ask about Xfire/SLI support, so if he eventually wants to add another card it's probably helpful to get a slightly more powerful PSU. 850 is definitely more than he'd ever need (can you even tri-fire 7850s?) but if you might eventually add another card, it's not a bad idea to leave yourself some leeway.

 

[toyota]

Its for all the above including the long hall. He may want the eye candy later on you never know. So instead of working around the psu if anything changes hes got more options with gpus etc. Plus if he wants more hdd's, ssd, blu ray and so on. Even tho he stated he didnt want the blu ray. the option is still on the table theres no point going back to the start of the build just to do it all over again. Thats how I started my build but ended up picking up 4 free sata drives (easy to come by). Now Id like to pick up a gtx680 but "i just dont have the power, captain". So I'll have to settle for a 7950 just to keep it under watts and unplugging my dvd drive lmao.. Maybe idk yet.

again though even a 650 watt psu would offer TONS of headroom with a 7850 2500k system. an 850 watt psu for a that system is just silly and a waste of money.

and is power really an issue for you or are you just overestimating what you think you actually need? if your psu really is too weak then you should not be buying a $400-500 video card until that is addressed. not to mention that a 7950 uses similar power in games as the gtx680.

 

[BFG10K]

System building threads go into General Hardware - Super Moderator BFG10K.

 

[IGhzI]

Its just a back up thats all for if he crossfires and adds hdds. A 7850 next year will cost 150-180 give or take throwing him higher fps on bf3 because lets face it that game is going to be big for awhile.

As for my system I've been using the calculators from newegg etc. I'm right on the edge from their ratings but I'm going to pick up a 2500k or 2600k later this year. I wont have to worry much after that (Amd User)

 

[Maximilian]

Well I'm going to have a new rig for $ 800 or less.I've posted a thread before and I became puzzled of whatever little I knew.So I'm posting a few questions in a hope that they will clear out my doubts.Also any config on the rig is welcomed provided it's $ 800 or less.My criterion are :─

☺No need of multi monitor gaming.
☺No gaming on a HD TV.
☺No Blu-ray drive required as I get every released game(downloaded by my friends).
☺Strictly 500 GB HDD(7200 rpm),nothing less nothing more.
☺No hardcore OCing to test the limits of my hardware.
☺Want to play Battlefield 3,Mass Effect 3,Syndicate,Brink,Crysis 2 on atleast HIGH settings if not ULTRA.
☺No eye popping 2500x1600 res monitor needed,I'm comfortable on 1280x1024 res.
☺No $ 200 gaming towers required.
_______________________________________________________________
Now my questions :─

☻Is a SSD "really required" for a gaming rig? No
☻Is buying a 1 GB GPU a mistake? No
☻AMD HD 7850 or nVidia GTX 560 Ti 448 cores-who's the "ultimate" winner at mid-range? 7850
☻A cheap PSU-mistake or not? Big mistake, buy quality
☻What's a modular PSU? Has detachable cables
☻Can I compensate any cheap mid-tower with 3-4 fans for better cooling during OCing? A bit, heatsink is more important though
☻For OCing is Intel's default heatsink okay or should I opt for Thermaltake? No its bollocks, get a coolermaster hyper 212+ for a cheapc+ good heatsink
☻When choosing for a P8P67 mobo from Asus,which one should I opt for(SLI and Crossfire support should be there)? No idea, i would get Z68 instead
☻For OCing is Asus's P67 equivalent to it's Z68 leaving out all other xtra features in Z68? ???
☻If a game stutters a little at High settings,will it vanish if OC? Possibly if overclocking the graphics card as well, the game may just be poorly coded i.e. only using 1 core by design.
☻How efficiently are latest games using multi cored AMD processors in FX series? Terribly, few games properly use multicore, the list currently starts and ends with battlefield 3.
☻Can PCIe 3.0 be used without Ivy Bridge? No
☻How are ASRock LGA 1155 P67 mobos? No idea
☻At 1280x1024 can I xpect every game to run at HIGH settings with a HD 7850 or GTX 560 Ti 448 cores? Yes
☻Is an AMD FX-6100 + HD 7850 much better or equivalent to Intel i5 2500 K + HD 7850? Neither, the FX series sucks for gaming
☻How is Hz rating of monitors related?It's importance? No idea
☻I've 4 GB of Transcend DDR2 RAM installed,but Sys Properties in Win7 show that only 3.24 GB is usable.Why? You probably have 32 bit windows 7, upgrade to 64 bit to use all 4GB.

Please pardon me for posting questions related to OCing and Cooling in this forum.I wanted to have all questions answered at a single place.Please do take time to post your comments.............

--^

 

[mfenn]

OP, Maximilian has given you a good summary IMHO. To reinforce some points:
- If you're going to OC, you need an aftermarket cooler
- Don't skimp on the power supply, but don't get a stupid expensive one either
- Given the pricing on Z68 boards, there's not much reason to get a P67
- AMD's Bulldozer chip sucks for gaming (and a lot of other things) compared to Intel

 

[GothAmKing]

You can get quite big bang 4 buck these days.

CPU: Definitely stay away from AMD, go Intel... I am not sure what CPU you plan on getting but Microcenter has an i7-2600k for $200.

What am I seeing???????????? On newegg I see it's for $ 315.Now what about i3 2120 @ 3.3 Ghz?? Won't that be enough? Actually I don't have much room in my budget for a $ 200 CPU.
Also, can I overclock only my GPU to unleash it's real power?(say a HD 7850 or a GTX 650,I know it's not launched yet but I can wait 2 months for it.Reason is GTX 680 beats both of the Tahiti s and I can thus xpect GTX 650 or 660 to do same for Cape Verde).

And I think a 650 W PSU is enough for me if I do SLI/Crossfire also.

Hard Drive: If you value speedy response times and fast game/program loading etc, you should really stay away from 7200rpm drives for the main drive. The very minimum you want imo is a raptor 10k rpm drive. Either raptor or SSD for main, then use whatever you want for storage. Trust me, it makes a difference.... Dont go with some basic shit 7200rpm drive for a main.

I will use my current rig for gaming only.So am I not okay with Barracuda??Velociraptor is pricy,but do I get a huge speed and performance benefit from it than a Barracuda??

For cheap cases I recommend:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811147160
or
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811129181

I have the REDBONE and it is very nice.

I really liked those cases but I'm going for the Antec Two Hundred S.See,I'm pretty comfortable in using most of the tools like screw driver,multi meters and etc. etc.,so I don't want a $ 5-8 more pricier tool free tower.Also, I need FRONT FAN MOUNTS for effective air flow.I see Antec Two Hundred S is a great choice for me as looks of the cabinet doesn't matter at all to me,it's only the internal performance related parts I'm worried for.

the first thing I would get is a better monitor. 1280x1024 is 5:4 which is a bit too claustrophobic to play modern games on and you will miss out on 1/3 of the game's fov. also games that are anamorphic will have massive black bars on a 5:4 screen.

Which monitor aspect ratio should I opt for ─ 4:3 or 16:9 ??

At that Res with either card you should Max out every game. You need a lot of CPU power at that res

How much power?Will an i3 2120 do good?

Thanx everyone for there replies and also in advance for the upcoming ones.

But the following remains shrouded in mystery for me:─
►When choosing for a P8P67 mobo from Asus,which one should I opt for(SLI and Crossfire support should be there)?
►For OCing is Asus's P67 equivalent to it's Z68 leaving out all other xtra features in Z68?
►Should I opt for 32-bit or 64-bit architecture?
►Is there any hope for an OCable dual or quad core Ivy Bridge CPU at $ 150 or less?
►How good are ASRock mobos?(like the ASRock P67 Extreme4 Gen3,No enthusiast one)
►Can I only overclock the GPU and not the CPU?How will it affect my gaming performance?
►With a 250 GB internal HDD,and 2-3 xternal ones will I xpect to see mind boggling speeds?

Onething,do I need a UPS?? 'cuz we have quite often loadshedding.A vendor once told me that if I don't take a UPS,if there's a power cut HDD platters get badly affected.is it really?

 

[GothAmKing]

Well,Well,Well.I see that going for an Intel build with an i5 2500K is becoming quite outta my budget.So,I've settled on a AMD build as suggested by maui67.Here's the list :-

1.PROCESSOR─ $ 110
☺AMD FX 4100

2.MOBO─ $ 160
☺ASRock 990FX Extreme4 AM3+ AMD 990FX

3.GPU─ $ 250
☺Sapphire HD 7850

4.CASE─ $ 50
☺Frontech Safari

5.PSU─ $ 60
☺CORSAIR Enthusiast Series CMPSU-650TX

6.MONITOR─ $ 160
☺LG 20 inches W2043C LCD

7.RAM─ $ 27
☺4GB Corsair Vengeance CL9 DDR3-1600

8.HDD─ $ 45
☺250 GB Barracuda 7200 rpm

9.MICE─ $ 4
☺Logitech 3 button

10.DVD DRIVE─ $ 15
☺Samsung

Net---------------- $ 882

Still I'm crossing my budget.Should I opt for GTX 560 or a cheaper mobo???
But I'm still confused over the UPS.
I think I should take a 1.1kVA UPS(according to my calculations).Please suggest me a decent UPS which will be okay for my system.
Thanx in advance

 

[toyota]

please dont get an FX 4100 for a gaming pc. they are crap compared to the 2500k. an FX 4100 is already no better than the i3 never mind the i5 and future gpu upgrades will make the FX 4100 look even worse. not too mention the FX chips have known issues with some games especially on Steam.

 

[richaron]

please dont get an FX 4100 for a gaming pc.

Agreed.

I like AMD as a brand, I even like the design philosophy behind Bulldozer. But everyone agrees there are heaps of better choices for gaming.

 

[HURRIC4NE]

Well,Well,Well.I see that going for an Intel build with an i5 2500K is becoming quite outta my budget.So,I've settled on a AMD build as suggested by maui67.Here's the list :-

1.PROCESSOR─ $ 110
☺AMD FX 4100

2.MOBO─ $ 160
☺ASRock 990FX Extreme4 AM3+ AMD 990FX

3.GPU─ $ 250
☺Sapphire HD 7850

4.CASE─ $ 50
☺Frontech Safari

5.PSU─ $ 60
☺CORSAIR Enthusiast Series CMPSU-650TX

6.MONITOR─ $ 160
☺LG 20 inches W2043C LCD

7.RAM─ $ 27
☺4GB Corsair Vengeance CL9 DDR3-1600

8.HDD─ $ 45
☺250 GB Barracuda 7200 rpm

9.MICE─ $ 4
☺Logitech 3 button

10.DVD DRIVE─ $ 15
☺Samsung

Net---------------- $ 882

Still I'm crossing my budget.Should I opt for GTX 560 or a cheaper mobo???
But I'm still confused over the UPS.
I think I should take a 1.1kVA UPS(according to my calculations).Please suggest me a decent UPS which will be okay for my system.
Thanx in advance

i suggest you drop the amd processor for an i3 intel processor.. its not better than amd trust me (TRUST ME MOTHAFF), and i believe you can get a better motherboard with around $100 with intel (much better already! thank you intel!) and use the rest of the money to upgrade your HDD (i recommend a SSD on sata 3 )

 

[lehtv]

Hmmm, let's see where we can pinch pennies while still getting an intel quad core.

i5-2400 $190
Asrock H61M-U3S3 $65
G.Skill 8gb $38
HIS 7850 $240
Samsung 500GB $80
DVD burner $18http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119233
In Win Mana134 $20 AR
Antec EA430D $40
Asus VH238H $150 AR AP

= $841 AR AP
http://redirect.anandtech.com/r?url...duct.aspx?Item=N82E16819115077&user=u00000687

 

[mfenn]

Hmmm, let's see where we can pinch pennies while still getting an intel quad core.

i5-2400 $190
Asrock H61M-U3S3 $65
G.Skill 8gb $38
HIS 7850 $240
Samsung 500GB $80
DVD burner $18
In Win Mana134 $20 AR
Antec EA430D $40
Asus VH238H $150 AR AP

= $841 AR AP

:thumbsup: to this. Much better some dual-core Bulldozer.

 

[GothAmKing]

SSD only helps to load levels in gaming faster,no massive influence over general computing-this was told to me by someone.

It will be useful if anyone can suggest me a cheapest config within my budget of $ 800 with 2 things fixed-
1.i5 2500K
2.HD 7850