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Build critique gaming rig

W

woolfe9999

Diamond Member
Building a rig for a friend of mine, budget is more or less $950 with a little wiggle room. Don't need monitor, keyboard or mouse.

Below is what I have so far. I want feedback on these choices. Also looking for recommendations for a good chassis in the $80-100 range and an SSD in the $175-$200 range, preferrably over 100gb since he usually has about 10 game installs.

Intel Core I5 2400 Sandy Bridge………………$189
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115074

BIOSTAR TH67B LGA 1155 Intel H67 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s Micro ATX Intel Motherboard...$80
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813138308

G.SKILL Value Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Desktop Memory Model F3-10600CL9D-8GBNT………………………$65
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231311

DIAMOND 6950PE51G Radeon HD 6950 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity……………….$$215 after rebate
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814103185

Western Digital Caviar Blue WD10EALX 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive....$65
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136767

Antec Three Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case..........$60
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...N82E1681112904 2&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-na-_-na-_-na&AID=10440897&PID=3332167&SID=u00000687

OCZ Solid 3 SLD3-25SAT3-120G 2.5" 120GB SATA III MLC......$180
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...&SID=u00000687

Rosewill Green Series RG530-S12 530W Continuous @40°C, 80 PLUS Certified, Single 12V Rail, Active PFC "Compatible with Core i7,i5" Power Supply.....$50
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...&SID=u00000687
 
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$1000 is a good budget, and you can do better, IMHO you are throwing away too money money on the SSD and compromising on the CPU and mobo.
You can spend $50 more on mobo and get a Z68 and $30 more on cpu and get 2500k. Spend close to 100 - 120 on SSD, you cannot install 10 games on SSD simply not enough space. IMO, SSD for OS and caching only and install games on HDD. This should give a good performance boost and leave room for OCing!

For case you can get Antec 300 Illusion + Antec NEO ECO 520 should run around $130 I guess. Or get much cheaper after MIR Antec 300 with 2 less fans
 
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He is telling me he wants space on the SSD for all the games.

Can't I just OC the CPU for him to 2500 speeds?

What benefits are there to a more expensive mainboard? Mainboards are something I haven't been following much lately. I just picked the cheapest one with 4 dimm slots and 2 PCIe to give him expandability since he only gets a new rig about once every 4 years.
 
woolfe9999 said:
He is telling me he wants space on the SSD for all the games.

Can't I just OC the CPU for him to 2500 speeds?

What benefits are there to a more expensive mainboard? Mainboards are something I haven't been following much lately. I just picked the cheapest one with 4 dimm slots and 2 PCIe to give him expandability since he only gets a new rig about once every 4 years.
Click to expand...

Not sure how effectively a 2400 will overclock, I think only the ones with "K" at the end overclock well... but I might be wrong

For all games I think one might be looking at a 200+GB Drive... too expensive... with a Z68 mobo there is something called SRT or SSD caching, that boosts HDD performance by using the SSD as cache.
 
aphelion02 said:
I think this is fine. The SSD will help more than a Z68 + 2500k if he is not going to overclock.
Click to expand...

Very true but for under $200, form a good manufacturer you could get a 60-64 or 80 GB HDD, it wont hold more than 3 or 4 games... with a Z68 and no games on SSD and 10 or more games on HDD, one can [i guess] get better performance than just HDD. It will definitely not be comparable to all SSD but it wont be as bad as only HDD... just a thought...
 
Pretty sure you can get a good 2nd gen 120gb SSD for around $200. Together with steam mover thats no reason to not play all your games off the SSD.
 
aphelion02 said:
Pretty sure you can get a good 2nd gen 120gb SSD for around $200. Together with steam mover thats no reason to not play all your games off the SSD.
Click to expand...

wow! steam mover!! never heard of that before, googled a bit, sounds very interesting and useful!!!
 
Just get a performance HDD for a gaming computer, unless you have a game that needs drive speed.. otherwise its a waste for gaming...

for the longest time i had a WD Black 1Tb drive that i didn't know what to do with... i said the hell with it and made it my boot drive and threw all my games on it. haven't noticed a difference from day one! (had an SSD in game rig before)
 
Mmm, for me the difference was huge (not that much in games but a lot in general OS use). I'd say it was a much more noticeable upgrade than my move from a Q6600 to a 2600k.
 
BTRY B 529th FA BN said:
Just get a performance HDD for a gaming computer, unless you have a game that needs drive speed.. otherwise its a waste for gaming...

for the longest time i had a WD Black 1Tb drive that i didn't know what to do with... i said the hell with it and made it my boot drive and threw all my games on it. haven't noticed a difference from day one! (had an SSD in game rig before)
Click to expand...

Son, you must be blind if you can't notice a difference between an SSD and HDD. I will pray for you to be healed. :awe:

But seriously, a 120GB SSD like this OCZ Solid 3 is enough room for 10 games and assorted apps if you are judicious about how you use your space. That means: don't put any media on the SSD, turn off hibernation, set the page file to some nominal size like 1GB.

As for the case and PSU, I agree that the Three Hundred is a good choice. The XFX Core 550W is a reasonably priced PSU with plenty of power for this build.
 
This build is for a friend. I personally have an SSD in my rig, and I do notice the difference in gaming and for pretty much everything. Especially loading the game and level loads. I have a 64g ssd and wish I had a larger one. Not only can you get all your apps on the larger ones, but they're also faster.

Still interested in recommendations on the chassis/psu in particular.
 
I also like the Antec 300. Reasonably priced and very good all-around.

Both the Antec Neo Eco and XFX Core are good PSUs and made by Seasonic.
 
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