Looking at a gaming PC... from the ground up

[gorcorps]

I'm sure you're all tired of answering the same thing, so I'll try to keep it to specific Qs and not just a "what should I get for X amount of money" type thing.

Tax return is ~1500 and that's what I expect to spend with everything including case, PSU, monitor, and kb/m. I have some cheap PC speakers that I plan on using. I know it's a crime to use such awful speakers but I haven't yet decided on speakers vs. headphones yet... so I'm skipping the whole issue for now. I also don't need the OS as I still have a copy of Win 7 64 from MSDAA or w/e it is.

There's lots of threads on this price range already so I've been looking at those and the Qs I have are as follows:

-Is 23" is the sweet spot for monitor size? I personally think ~21 is plenty big, but I do have the room for either. Anything will be an improvement from what I'm used to and a lower res will mean less GPU memory needed... right?

-Sockets... lots of numbers thrown about and I don't know which is what and why one is worth waiting for. This thread brought up 1156 and 1155 for the future. Differences? They say wait for 1155 again if you can, which I don't really have a problem with, but why wait? Am I waiting for just the new processors or will I have to wait for new mobos as well?

-HDDs. I'm still leary about SSDs but they're starting to become popular and get nearly affordable. Is it recommended to get a smaller SSD for the OS and get a large, fast HDD for games and such? I have a 2TB external for music and video storage so those should stay put.

-Headphone... while I mentioned I plan on waiting I might as well ask now. I have a PS3 and 360. It'd be nice to find a set that can give me at least voice chat on the 360 as well as be a good PC set. The PS3 isn't too important as I usually only play single player on that. Surround mode doesn't matter to me as much as longevity, and most importantly a reasonable cost. If I can use this set to listen/chat on PC games as well as chat on the 360 it'd be great.

-Stores. Somebody mentioned there's a Frys down in Indy. I'm up north about 2-3 hours away, but I'd be willing to drive for a single trip if the prices are worth it. If not I can just order online or check for any smaller local places. Seems to me they aren't as price competitive as they used to be so it may not be worth the drive, but I DO have a brand new car so will be having fun driving anyway

-Memory. What's the current bang for your buck brand and speed. Last time I looked at PC hardware DDR3 was brand new, so I'm quite far behind in knowledge.

Goal: I bought Crysis during the steam sale so would like to run that at native resolution, which souldn't be an issue for that price these days. I also am eagerly awaying Diablo 3, but Blizzard optimizes engines quite well so I'm not worried. I want to be reasonably future proof as far as sockets and such go, so I want what will be around in 3-4 years so I can upgrade my GPU/CPU when needed instead of mobo and the rest.

 

[Anomaly1964]

You can basically order everything now except for the MB if you go with socket 1155; I'd wait before I paid a premium price from less than a reputable dealer...

At $1500 you can build a solid rig even with the monitor; mine was just over $1500 w/o monitor but I got the Asus Sabertooth MB, HAF 932 case, 8GB Ram, and GTX 570 OC. If you cut those back just a bit, you should be fine...

 

[Zap]

-Is 23" is the sweet spot for monitor size? I personally think ~21 is plenty big, but I do have the room for either. Anything will be an improvement from what I'm used to and a lower res will mean less GPU memory needed... right?

A monitor is something you will likely use for years, so you can rest assured that money is well spent on it. I'd say go with a monitor that is 1080p resolution in case you watch any videos on it. That is a common resolution for a 24" monitor.

-Sockets... lots of numbers thrown about and I don't know which is what and why one is worth waiting for. This thread brought up 1156 and 1155 for the future. Differences? They say wait for 1155 again if you can, which I don't really have a problem with, but why wait? Am I waiting for just the new processors or will I have to wait for new mobos as well?

The chipsets were recalled, so you'd be waiting for motherboards which should start rolling out hopefully in the next few weeks. Socket 1155 is worth the wait. Just get a Core i5 2500k and your choice of motherboard. All the boards perform the same, they just have different features (such as SLI support, better LAN/audio chipsets, better overclocking).

Is it recommended to get a smaller SSD for the OS and get a large, fast HDD for games and such?

Yes. A popular combo is a small SSD (at least 60GB though) along with a fast 1TB drive like the Samsung F3 or WD Black.

-Headphone...

I don't have any recommendation on that.

-Stores. Somebody mentioned there's a Frys down in Indy. I'm up north about 2-3 hours away, but I'd be willing to drive for a single trip if the prices are worth it.

After the time wasted, gas money and sales tax, won't be worth it. Also, Fry's deals aren't that great these days. Micro Center has the better deals, but only worth it if an easier drive away.

-Memory. What's the current bang for your buck brand and speed. Last time I looked at PC hardware DDR3 was brand new, so I'm quite far behind in knowledge.

For socket 1155 you will want DDR3-1333 or DDR3-1600. There isn't much of a real world performance gain for faster stuff, so usually just go with the cheaper stuff. Go for something that is rated at 1.5v.

 

[gorcorps]

Thanks fellas. I'll probably start poking around online to see what prices are like and adjust accordingly. So the socket issue was the motherboard chipset, and had nothing to do with the processors themselves? That's good news I suppose.

Any specific recommendations for the SSD in particular? I don't want to accidentaly get a bad brand or an older version with the early issues.

I'll also probably go ahead with 8gigs of RAM. It's still one of the cheapter parts of the PC so I might as well.

 

[Anomaly1964]

OCZ Vertex2, window 7 boots in like 40 seconds and games load CRAZY fast!

I got this one...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...7590&cm_re=OCZ_Vertex2-_-20-227-590-_-Product

 

[BoomerD]

No recommendations on the SSD, but the socket 1155 Sandy Bridge boards are (IMO) worth waiting for...the performance increase over the previous generation socket 1156 platform is fairly impressive.

The socket 1366 platform, while VERY good, really isn't aimed at gaming machines...and since they're (for the most part) more expensive, you're spending more than you should for reduced performance.

 

[fffblackmage]

OCZ Vertex2, window 7 boots in like 40 seconds and games load CRAZY fast!

I got this one...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-590-_-Product

Since the transition from 32nm to 22nm flash, performance of Vertex 2 drives changed. Toms' hardware recently did an article about it. here

Amount of usable space also decreased a bit as well. Since 22nm flash cannot withstand as many write cycles, more space was needed for RAISE.

Other than benchmarks, I don't think the performance change really matters much, but doing some research before buying might be a good idea, just so you know what you're getting.

 

[mfenn]

Since the transition from 32nm to 22nm flash, performance of Vertex 2 drives changed. Toms' hardware recently did an article about it. here

Amount of usable space also decreased a bit as well. Since 22nm flash cannot withstand as many write cycles, more space was needed for RAISE.

Other than benchmarks, I don't think the performance change really matters much, but doing some research before buying might be a good idea, just so you know what you're getting.

Yeah, a bummer what they did there. Luckily there are plenty of options in the Sandforce space.

OP, you can definitely do what you want for $1500. Here's a build, no links on the first 2 items for obvious reasons and no rebates since you're waiting for SB:

i5 2500K $225
Reasonable P67 mobo $150
G.Skill DDR3 1333 4GB $40
GTX 570 $335
Corsair Force 120GB $230
Samsung F3 1TB $65
LG DVD Burner $17
Corsair 650TX V2 $90
Antec Three Hundred $60
ASUS 23.6" 1080P $180
Nice kb/mouse of your choice $100
Total: $1492 (Columbus sailed the ocean blue)

You can easily tug at the specs here and there to meet your needs (60v vs. 120GB SSD, 4GB vs. 8GB of RAM) and your final price with likely be lower once you factor in rebates.

 

[gorcorps]

What's the opinion of the video cards currently on sale? I see a GTX570 for ~$288 AR which seems to be a good deal on one of the higher end cards. Keep in mind that while I "technically" have $1500 I am pretty much willing to dump into this thing, if I can get a reasonable rig for less I'd rather do that. There's a 5870 for $180 and a few other cheaper deals. If I don't need a GTX570 to run modern games @ 1080p then it might be worth the money savings. I could then plan an upgrade sooner rather than trying to stretch the 570 out for 4-5 years.

 

[MentalIlness]

Not sure about the Samsung F3 harddrive 1TB. I have one of these, and not long ago, it started making a weird noise. The noise is no longer there right now, but I just wonder if the drive will take a poop on me before long.

The noise was a "clicking" noise.

And I see on Newegg, that some people has had these drives fail.

HOWEVER.....it is a "very" fast drive.

 

[allthatisman]

If you are building a "gaming" PC, most of your money should be put into display and GPU IMO. Given your budget, I would not recommend an SSD. What you should do, is build a PC with the ability to easily upgrade over time without having to replace core components. I.e., don't get a crappy cheap case, don't go too cheap on the motherboard, and buy one decent GPU so that you can always add another one down the road. You can also always add an SSD later on down the road, but for games (other than WoW) they really don't help much and games take up a lot of space.

I personally have been using a Hanns-G 28" LCD @1920x1200 for well over 3 years, and I could never go back to a 24" monitor. Sure it's not the best quality display, but trust me, for games it is really nice to have that much landscape. It's not too big, and just the right size. Plus almost any modern GPU you get will run that resolution with ease. I have a 6950 and I can max out just about any game (save Metro 2033). I personally would build a Sandy Bridge system if you can wait. P55 is not really supported anymore, and X58 while good, is pretty pricey still. SB isn't really a huge leap ahead of either platform, but it is the newer chipset and will likely have a better selection of motherboards for less money than X58.

 

[gorcorps]

If you are building a "gaming" PC, most of your money should be put into display and GPU IMO. Given your budget, I would not recommend an SSD. What you should do, is build a PC with the ability to easily upgrade over time without having to replace core components. I.e., don't get a crappy cheap case, don't go too cheap on the motherboard, and buy one decent GPU so that you can always add another one down the road. You can also always add an SSD later on down the road, but for games (other than WoW) they really don't help much and games take up a lot of space.

I personally have been using a Hanns-G 28" LCD @1920x1200 for well over 3 years, and I could never go back to a 24" monitor. Sure it's not the best quality display, but trust me, for games it is really nice to have that much landscape. It's not too big, and just the right size. Plus almost any modern GPU you get will run that resolution with ease. I have a 6950 and I can max out just about any game (save Metro 2033). I personally would build a Sandy Bridge system if you can wait. P55 is not really supported anymore, and X58 while good, is pretty pricey still. SB isn't really a huge leap ahead of either platform, but it is the newer chipset and will likely have a better selection of motherboards for less money than X58.

I've looked around and I doubt I'll get a very large SSD if I get one at all. It still might be nice to have for the OS and few often used programs, and then games and such on a 2nd large, fast, traditional drive.

As far as the case I don't plan on going too cheap. There's a number of them on newegg that look pretty solid. I'm definitely going for a tool-less design at least.

The display itself is something I don't see going above 24". That already is way larger than anything else I've gamed on, and the lower resolution will help some of my hardware stay relevant a little longer. It's also a cost issue. I don't find the premium of that extra screen size is worth it, so I'll be limiting myself.

 

[dpodblood]

IMO an SSD is not worth it unless you can afford one large enough to put both your OS and games on. Yes it will make the OS snappier, but for a gaming machine it's not going to improve your framerates any.

 

[allthatisman]

I've looked around and I doubt I'll get a very large SSD if I get one at all. It still might be nice to have for the OS and few often used programs, and then games and such on a 2nd large, fast, traditional drive.

As far as the case I don't plan on going too cheap. There's a number of them on newegg that look pretty solid. I'm definitely going for a tool-less design at least.

The display itself is something I don't see going above 24". That already is way larger than anything else I've gamed on, and the lower resolution will help some of my hardware stay relevant a little longer. It's also a cost issue. I don't find the premium of that extra screen size is worth it, so I'll be limiting myself.

Yeah, as a gamer you will only really notice a "snappier" Windows experience. An SSD will do next to nothing for most games, and it will severly dent your budget. But I would think twice about the display... My buddy has the same monitor I have, and next to his LCD is his girlfriend's computer with a 24" monitor that I sometimes play on. Those extra few inches make SUCH a difference, and in no way is a 27-28" display too large. Heck, it even makes surfing the internet nicer, since everything is just bigger. And remember, its at 1920*1200, same as a 24", so things are larger, not smaller like if you were to go to a 30" @ 2560*1900 or whatever that resolution is... My point is, that as a gamer, you need to spend more money in the areas where it will impact you the most, and that my friend is in the display (monitor+GPU). Everything else is rather subjective when it comes to gaming... Don't waste money on pricey keyboards, ultra fast CPU's/RAM... not worth it.

 

[Arglebargle]

Yeah, as a gamer you will only really notice a "snappier" Windows experience. An SSD will do next to nothing for most games, and it will severly dent your budget. But I would think twice about the display... My buddy has the same monitor I have, and next to his LCD is his girlfriend's computer with a 24" monitor that I sometimes play on. Those extra few inches make SUCH a difference, and in no way is a 27-28" display too large. Heck, it even makes surfing the internet nicer, since everything is just bigger. And remember, its at 1920*1200, same as a 24", so things are larger, not smaller like if you were to go to a 30" @ 2560*1900 or whatever that resolution is... My point is, that as a gamer, you need to spend more money in the areas where it will impact you the most, and that my friend is in the display (monitor+GPU). Everything else is rather subjective when it comes to gaming... Don't waste money on pricey keyboards, ultra fast CPU's/RAM... not worth it.

I agree with your proposal for more focus on the monitor, for the reasons you've given: But your advice on keyboards is off, I think, for the same reasons. The monitor, keyboard, and mouse are your user interface. You use them all the time in almost every computer task. They should be given serious consideration, and not just picked up off the '$10 table'. Of course, different people will have different configurations that float their boats, but these are far more important than many give them credit for.

I suspect that SSDs may eventually fall into that category as well, as people who get them seem pretty reluctant to go back. But you don't miss what you haven't used.

 

[gorcorps]

I'll probably be skipping the SSD. I'll take a look into a bigger display, but we'll see. I'll probably get that 570 that's on sale at newegg tonight which will officially commit me to starting the build. From then on we'll see how long it takes me to get everything else.

 

[Weenoman]

Yeah, as a gamer you will only really notice a "snappier" Windows experience. An SSD will do next to nothing for most games, and it will severly dent your budget. But I would think twice about the display... My buddy has the same monitor I have, and next to his LCD is his girlfriend's computer with a 24" monitor that I sometimes play on. Those extra few inches make SUCH a difference, and in no way is a 27-28" display too large. Heck, it even makes surfing the internet nicer, since everything is just bigger. And remember, its at 1920*1200, same as a 24", so things are larger, not smaller like if you were to go to a 30" @ 2560*1900 or whatever that resolution is... My point is, that as a gamer, you need to spend more money in the areas where it will impact you the most, and that my friend is in the display (monitor+GPU). Everything else is rather subjective when it comes to gaming... Don't waste money on pricey keyboards, ultra fast CPU's/RAM... not worth it.

I agree with you on everything except as a registered SSD homer, I must advocate the SSD as it makes load times much shorter for games, and that makes for a much more fluid experience. If you can budget $100 for an 80 gig, you can squeeze 3-4 games onto the drive, and the loads times just cruise by.

 

[mnewsham]

I agree with you on everything except as a registered SSD homer, I must advocate the SSD as it makes load times much shorter for games, and that makes for a much more fluid experience. If you can budget $100 for an 80 gig, you can squeeze 3-4 games onto the drive, and the loads times just cruise by.

Doing that in my laptop this next week before Dragon age 2 comes out, the demo had some long load times and i am hoping the SSD will increase the load times by a good amount

 

[gorcorps]

Alright... I bought the GTX570 that's in hot deals:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814127568
After rebate it'll be ~$285 with free 16gig flash drive, Just Cause 2 and Mafia 2. Seems like a pretty good base to build a system around.

I'll probably wait for the 1155 boards and get the i5 2500k. I'm in no hurry to spend all of this money in one shot. Hopefully they don't take too much longer though. I'm going to keep looking at cases and maybe next weekend order a case, PSU, memory and HDD. Still up in the air about an SSD (which I'm 80% sure I won't be getting) and have to decide on a monitor size. That can be done when I can actually get the CPU + mobo though.

 

[mfenn]

I'll probably be skipping the SSD. I'll take a look into a bigger display, but we'll see. I'll probably get that 570 that's on sale at newegg tonight which will officially commit me to starting the build. From then on we'll see how long it takes me to get everything else.

Building a $1500 PC without an SSD is a travesty IMHO. I can see the argument if you will be using the PC solely for gaming (if you have a laptop or something that you surf with), but you're really doing yourself a disservice if this machine is going to be your primary PC. The improvements in general usage (application launch times, multitasking, searching) are well worth it IMHO.

 

[gorcorps]

Building a $1500 PC without an SSD is a travesty IMHO. I can see the argument if you will be using the PC solely for gaming (if you have a laptop or something that you surf with), but you're really doing yourself a disservice if this machine is going to be your primary PC. The improvements in general usage (application launch times, multitasking, searching) are well worth it IMHO.

I'll look into it, but I do have a laptop that works just fine and I don't plan on getting rid of that. Not saying I won't browse the web on the new box, but it just might not be worth it all.

Anyway, I still think I'm going to stick w/ a 24" monitor. It just won't be worth the price premium to me to go to 27, especially if I go w/ an SSD too. If I ever want to game on a larger screen I'll just plug the PC into the plasma.

 

[gorcorps]

Bought a PSU ($55 AR): http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817153116

looking at this case: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811147153

this memory kit: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820226095

this HDD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822152185

MAYBE this SSD (or something similar price/capacity): http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820148357

monitor: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16824236052

Then I'll top it off with the ASRock P67 board and i5 2500k and I should be good to go.

 

[mfenn]

Thermaltake PSUs are pretty iffy IMHO. If it's still possible to return, I'd do so and go with this XFX 650W for $65 AR.

Everything else looks good though!

 

[gorcorps]

I only ordered it today so I should be able to cancel it. Why are they iffy?

 

[mnewsham]

Just not known for good psu's though YMMV