Help with Gaming Build - SC2 and FF XIV

[trueimage]

edit - new build - mATX, P55 1156 etc... all prices in CDN $


Power Supply - $90.53
Seasonic M12II 620W EPS12V 20/24PIN ATX PFC 80+ Bronze Modular Connectors 6PIN PCI-W *IR-$10*

CPU - $199.99 (cheaper than the 750??)
Intel Core i5 760 Quad Core Processor Lynnfield LGA1156 2.8GHZ 8MB Cache Retail Box

Motherboard - $99.99
Gigabyte P55M-UD2 mATX LGA1156 P55 DDR3 2PCI-E 2PCI SATA2 RAID Sound GLAN Motherboard

Memory - $109.99
Corsair XMS3 TW3X4G1333C9 4GB DDR3 2X2GB DDR3-1333 CL 9-9-9-24 Dual Channel Memory Ki *IR-$10*

Video Card - $229.99
EVGA GeForce GTX 460 Superclocked Fermi 763MHZ 768MB GDDR5 2XDVI-I MINI-HDMI PCI-E DX11 Video Card

HDD (SSD) - $129.99
OCZ Vertex 2 Sandforce 40GB 2.5IN SATA2 Solid State Disk Flash Drive SSD

Case - $94.49
Lian Li PC-V351B Black Aluminum mATX Desktop Cube Case 2X5.25 1X3.5 2X3.5INT No PS USB Audio

Keyboard - $65.14
Logitech G110 Gaming Keyboard USB Programmable RED/BLUE Backlit Keys USB Audio *IR-$25*

Mouse - $72.89
Razer Imperator Ergonomic Laser Gaming Mouse 7 Buttons 5600DPI USB

Optical Drive - $18.99
Samsung SH-S223C 22X DVD Writer SATA Black OEM

Total - $1111.99 + 5% Tax and shipping

------

Please help me make this cheaper. I think I can go to 1156 socket quad core and then the cpu, motherboard and ram will be cheaper (4GB instead of 6GB). I still need to pick a monitor!

Power Supply - $169.99
Seasonic X650 Gold ATX 12V 24PIN 650W Active PFC 80PLUS Gold Modular SLI Ready Power Supply

CPU - $275.60
Intel Core i7 920 D0 Stepping Quad Core Processor LGA1366 2.66GHZ Bloomfield 8MB LGA1366 -SLBEJ-

Motherboard - $215.19
Gigabyte X58A-UD3R ATX LGA1366 X58 DDR3 4PCI-E SATA3 USB3.0 Sound GLAN CrossFireX SLI Motherboard

Memory - $194.99 (after $30 MIR)
Corsair XMS3 Dominator TR3X6G1600C8D 6GB DDR3 3X2GB DDR3-1600 CL 8-8-8-24 Core i7 Memory Kit

Video Card - $274.76
EVGA GeForce GTX 460 Fermi Superclocked EE 763MHZ 1024MB GDDR5 2XDVI Mini-HDMI PCI-E DX11 Video Card

HDD (SSD) - $174.91
Corsair Force Series 60GB 2.5IN SATA2 Solid State Disk Flash Drive SSD Sandforce *3 Year MFR Wrty*

CPU Cooler - $64.43
Corsair Cooling Hydro Series H50 High Performance CPU Cooler System LGA775 LGA1366 LGA1156 AM2 AM3

Case - $119.99
Lian Li PC-7FNB ATX Aluminum Mid Tower Case Black 5X5.25 4X3.5 No PSU

Total - $1519.86 + 5% Tax and shipping

Ok, I need help to trim down this build. The initial goal is to play Starcraft 2 on 1920x180 or 1920x1200 at max everything (Ultra) and maybe 4xAA. The GTX 460 1GB is the center of that. That card is out of stock, maybe there is another I can pick - 1GB is a must, the benchmarks show it a lot higher than the 768MB models.

The rest is up for grabs. I'll do ATX or mATX. Intel or AMD. If Intel, 1366 or 1156.

Also I'll take advice on a good gaming monitor, 22-24" 1080p+ resolution.

I also bought a Razer Imperator mouse and Logitech G110 gaming keyboard - if I should return those for something else let me know, I have 7 days to return them.

Need to get this cost down

Thanks!

 

[Sp12]

There is absolutely no reason for this to be an X58 build. A P55 with an i5-760 would be faster in games and at least 200$ less, while an AMD platform would be very close in terms of performance for less. I'm also not 100% on the 460 delivering what you want at 1080/1200 resolutions. Do you live by microcenter?

What other jobs will this computer need to do besides gaming (if any?). This is important in terms of which platform is the best.

Realistically, that ram is overpriced and uses a full 1.65 volts. I would grab a set of ripjaws 4gb for 100$. The single highest rated 4gb DDR3 kit on newegg.

You'll also want at least one other mechanical hard drive for mass storage.

You don't have an optical drive listed, are you interested in blu-ray?

I advise strongly against the H50. All water cooling has maintenance, and the H50 only cools as well as the nice air towers, which can be had for ~40$.

I'm not into the case, but that's my personal preferance. I can't find a price for it on newegg though. By the way, I love that PSU.

Here are some links to do with the 3 main monitor types out right now.

http://www.techenclave.com/consumer-...er-130634.html

http://www.pchardwarehelp.com/guides...anel-types.php

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DP7C00BIzH8

 

[trueimage]

There is absolutely no reason for this to be an X58 build. A P55 with an i5-760 would be faster in games and at least 200$ less, while an AMD platform would be very close in terms of performance for less. I'm also not 100% on the 460 delivering what you want at 1080/1200 resolutions. Do you live by microcenter?

What other jobs will this computer need to do besides gaming (if any?). This is important in terms of which platform is the best.

Realistically, that ram is overpriced and uses a full 1.65 volts. I would grab a set of ripjaws 4gb for 100$. The single highest rated 4gb DDR3 kit on newegg.

You'll also want at least one other mechanical hard drive for mass storage.

You don't have an optical drive listed, are you interested in blu-ray?

I advise strongly against the H50. All water cooling has maintenance, and the H50 only cools as well as the nice air towers, which can be had for ~40$.

I'm not into the case, but that's my personal preferance. I can't find a price for it on newegg though. By the way, I love that PSU.

Here are some links to do with the 3 main monitor types out right now.

http://www.techenclave.com/consumer-...er-130634.html

http://www.pchardwarehelp.com/guides...anel-types.php

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DP7C00BIzH8

Take a look at this video re the maxed settings on a GTX 460:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4E-yR2Xb6Pw#t=05m10s

This is going to be a pure gaming pc. I have a QNAP NAS for storage, torrent and usenet downloading and media serving. I use my macbook pro or ipad for surfing, email, etc and the macbook pro for photo editing and excel stuff etc.

I have many many MANY hdds laying around - probably will stick in a 1TB WD Green or connect my 2TB WD Green in USB enclosure if I need some more storage. Basically going to use Windows 7 (or tiny7 with my key) and drivers and sc2 and eventually FF XIV. 60GB on the SSD should be tons.

All the parts are open to suggestion, except maybe the PSU and the GPU (I'll consider other makes, but I want the GTX 460 I'm 99% sure)

Thanks for the suggestions on the RAM. Any suggestions specifically for the cpu, motherboard and CPU Cooler?

Thanks!

 

[wtmjake]

Yeah, go with a P55 build with an i5-760 and something like a Gigabyte P55A-UD3. X58 is overkill for SC2. I second that 4GB Ripjaw kit. If you want to save even more money, you could get an Corsair HX650 PSU and save yourself $70. They're good and they're modular too. Also, you don't have to spend more money for an OC edition of the GTX 460. You could always just get a 1GB vanilla version and overclock it yourself unless you're uncomfortable with that kind of stuff. It's a good idea to look into another hard drive to store your media.

 

[trueimage]

updated the first post with a mATX, 1156 based i5 build...

added kb and mouse, gonna return the ones I bought locally, save about $50

 

[Sp12]

edit - new build - mATX, P55 1156 etc... all prices in CDN $


Power Supply - $90.53
Seasonic M12II 620W EPS12V 20/24PIN ATX PFC 80+ Bronze Modular Connectors 6PIN PCI-W *IR-$10*

CPU - $199.99 (cheaper than the 750??)
Intel Core i5 760 Quad Core Processor Lynnfield LGA1156 2.8GHZ 8MB Cache Retail Box

Motherboard - $99.99
Gigabyte P55M-UD2 mATX LGA1156 P55 DDR3 2PCI-E 2PCI SATA2 RAID Sound GLAN Motherboard

Memory - $109.99
Corsair XMS3 TW3X4G1333C9 4GB DDR3 2X2GB DDR3-1333 CL 9-9-9-24 Dual Channel Memory Ki *IR-$10*

Video Card - $229.99
EVGA GeForce GTX 460 Superclocked Fermi 763MHZ 768MB GDDR5 2XDVI-I MINI-HDMI PCI-E DX11 Video Card

HDD (SSD) - $129.99
OCZ Vertex 2 Sandforce 40GB 2.5IN SATA2 Solid State Disk Flash Drive SSD

Case - $94.49
Lian Li PC-V351B Black Aluminum mATX Desktop Cube Case 2X5.25 1X3.5 2X3.5INT No PS USB Audio

Keyboard - $65.14
Logitech G110 Gaming Keyboard USB Programmable RED/BLUE Backlit Keys USB Audio *IR-$25*

Mouse - $72.89
Razer Imperator Ergonomic Laser Gaming Mouse 7 Buttons 5600DPI USB

Optical Drive - $18.99
Samsung SH-S223C 22X DVD Writer SATA Black OEM

Total - $1111.99 + 5% Tax and shipping

You could shave 2$ off the ram and move up a step in speed with the ripjaws kit still.

Motherboard choice is excellent if you don't have a need for sata/usb3, or can deal with an add-in card later.

Your vidcards seem overpriced, especially after conversation rates. For 220$ on a 768 460 I'd be looking at a higher-range vidcard. Where are you purchasing from (newegg.ca?)? Regardless, the 768 version is a fair bit behind the 1gb, and the 1gb was hovering at 30FPS (playable) with AA.

Besides that it looks good. I can't vouch for the SSD as that's an area I haven't looked at in detail recently, but it seems competitive from reviews.

 

[mfenn]

You could shave 2$ off the ram and move up a step in speed with the ripjaws kit still.

Motherboard choice is excellent if you don't have a need for sata/usb3, or can deal with an add-in card later.

Your vidcards seem overpriced, especially after conversation rates. For 220$ on a 768 460 I'd be looking at a higher-range vidcard. Where are you purchasing from (newegg.ca?)? Regardless, the 768 version is a fair bit behind the 1gb, and the 1gb was hovering at 30FPS (playable) with AA.

Besides that it looks good. I can't vouch for the SSD as that's an area I haven't looked at in detail recently, but it seems competitive from reviews.

I second the idea of getting a 1GB GTX 460. You can always overclock the GPU once it starts being unable to handle newer games, but you can't add more memory to it.

The Vertex 2 is a good SSD. I hope you have a fast HDD laying around though, because I doubt you're going to fit Windows, SC2, and an MMO into 40GB (that's mostly the MMO's fault though).

 

[trueimage]

What about this one?

http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product...-333-_-Product

GIGABYTE GV-N460OC-1GI GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

$236.99

I am buying at NCIX and pricematching to any store in Canada using www.pricebat.ca

I don't want the whole system coming from over the border, but I can buy the vid card at newegg.

As far as the SSD goes, I might have to abandon the sandforce to get a cheaper/bigger one. I will be using tiny7 (swap in my key), drivers, sc2 is 12gb, ffxiv is 15gb...

 

[mfenn]

Yeah that Gigabyte card looks good.

As for SSD, the 60GB Agility 2 is not much more and should have plenty of capacity. You could also go with the 60GB original agility, but the $20 price difference is not worth the loss of performance IMHO.