Custom Built Gaming PC -- Which should I Buy?

[trimspababydnd]

I'm looking to buy a pre-built gaming PC--hopefully, a fairly good one--for under $2000, peripherals excluded. Using TechSpot's gaming guide as a point of departure, I am now looking at the following configs:

CyberPowerPC (Mega Special I)GigaByte GA-870A-UD3 AMD 870/SB850 chipset supportAMD Phenom II X6 1055T Six-Core2X2GB DDR3 1600AMD Radeon HD 6870Integrated 7.180GB X25-M SSD + 1TB SATA-III 64MB CacheLGWH10LS30K Blu-ray burnerCorsair CMPSU-750TXCoolerMaster HAF XWin 7 Home 64 Bit1551

CyberPowerPC (P55 Configurator)Asus P7P55D-E Proi5 760 (2.8 GHz)2X2GB DDR3 1600AMD Radeon HD 6870Integrated 7.180GB X25-M SSD + 1TB SATA-III 64MB CacheLGWH10LS30K Blu-ray burnerCorsair CMPSU-750TXCoolerMaster HAF XWin 7 Home 64 Bit1604

IBUYPOWER (Holiday Special A)Asus P7P55D-E LXi5 760 (2.8 GHz)2X2GB DDR3 1600GeForce GTX 580 1.5GBIntegrated1TB HD12X Blu-ray burnerCorsair CMPSU-750TXCooler Master HAF 932Win 7 Home 64 Bit1792

MainGearAsus P7P55D-E Proi5 760 (2.8 GHz)2X2GB DDR3 1333AMD Radeon HD 6870 1GB7.1+2 Channel HD SS1TB Samsung 32MB Cache10X LG Blu-ray burner750W Silverstone Strider Plus Modular Industrial Power SupplyMAINGEAR F131 ChassisWin 7 Home 64 Bit1820

AlienWarei7 930 (3.36 GHz)6GB DDR3 1333Dual 1 GB Radeon HD 6870Integrated 7.11TB HD24X DVDWin 7 Home 64 Bit1949

The two I listed from CyberPowerPC are identical except the cheaper one is a six-core. Not sure if it's worth spending a few hundred extra bucks for the GTX 580 over the Radeon HD 6870 but I included one. I could probably save a $100+ by not getting a blu-ray burner.

I'd appreciate y'all thoughts on what I've found, given I don't want to build one myself. I listed them in descending order by price.

Thanks.

 

[DominionSeraph]

The Alienware would be fastest with the dual 6870's.

 

[trimspababydnd]

Thank you for responding DominionSeraph. Yeah, the upgrade to the dual HD 6870 wasn't much when I was configuring things at Alienware. Even though I'm a little a anxious about dealing with dual graphic cards, the additional cost didn't seem like much.

Just dunno if I want to spend at least $1900 for Alienware or go for one of the cheaper ones, with the cheapest one from CyberPowerPC at a shade under $1600 (with a six core processor). Is the one of Alienware that much better than the rest?

 

[betasub]

For a gaming PC, the 6-core processor is no big deal. A fast 4-core CPU is ideal. However, the main focus for high-resolution gaming should be the graphics sub-system: the 6870 card is good match for a 1080p screen.

 

[trimspababydnd]

For a gaming PC, the 6-core processor is no big deal. A fast 4-core CPU is ideal. However, the main focus for high-resolution gaming should be the graphics sub-system: the 6870 card is good match for a 1080p screen.

Cool. So it sounds like any of the above systems will be good to go with my 1080p 27" monitor. Unless I want to spend a few extra hundred bucks for a dual 6870, I should opt for either of the two cheapest ones.

I have been tempted to go with a system with a GTX 580, given the few articles I've found comparing the GTX 580 (single card only) to the Radeon cards (in crossfire mode)--similar performance at cooler temperatures and quieter.

 

[DaveSimmons]

I've always preferred single cards to crossfire / SLI even though they are faster, so I'd get a GTX 580 over 2 x 6870.

But I'm less picky than some people -- I'm currently using a single 6850.

 

[mfenn]

I've always preferred single cards to crossfire / SLI even though they are faster, so I'd get a GTX 580 over 2 x 6870.

But I'm less picky than some people -- I'm currently using a single 6850.

:thumbsup:

I'd probably get the iBUYPOWER as it has a GTX 580, i5 760 and is $200 cheaper than the Alienware.

 

[trimspababydnd]

Yeah, I'm leaning to what DaveSimmons said as I probably will not want to hastle with dual cards if I can get a similar performance with a single card.

I haven't decided yet on which build or company to go with. One thing I forgot to mention that I would really like some help with is whether there was anything problematic about the parts I selected (at minimum, I was warned when I needed to upgrade the power supply). I worry a little that certain motherboards would perform better with a GeForce than a Radeon card, for example.

 

[mfenn]

Yeah, I'm leaning to what DaveSimmons said as I probably will not want to hastle with dual cards if I can get a similar performance with a single card.

I haven't decided yet on which build or company to go with. One thing I forgot to mention that I would really like some help with is whether there was anything problematic about the parts I selected (at minimum, I was warned when I needed to upgrade the power supply). I worry a little that certain motherboards would perform better with a GeForce than a Radeon card, for example.

If you buy a complete system, it will come with an appropriately-sized PSU. And no, certain motherboards do not "favor" AMD or Nvidia cards.

 

[trimspababydnd]

Thanks everyone for the comments. I've been reading a lot of your posts in other places in the general hardware section and am learning a lot. I appreciate your knowledge sharing and hopefully will put some good use to it.

I've been reading the CPU Buyer's Guide 2.0 on the Tom's Hardware site and, I thought this was interesting--supporting what BETASUB said in his post--that it sounds like an i5 750 quad core is more preferable as a gaming CPU than the AMD Phenom II 1055T hexacore--something to keep in mind when using the configurators.