Mid-High budget gaming PC

[Beev]

I made this thread a while back and was told to re-post it when I was closer to being ready to build. I'd like to get everything in less than a month now.

1. What YOUR PC will be used for. That means what types of tasks you'll be performing.
Pretty much just gaming.

2. What YOUR budget is. A price range is acceptable as long as it's not more than a 20% spread
Around $1000 to $1500 or so

3. What country YOU will be buying YOUR parts from.
USA

4. IF YOU have a brand preference. That means, are you an Intel-Fanboy, AMD-Fanboy, ATI-Fanboy, nVidia-Fanboy, Seagate-Fanboy, WD-Fanboy, etc.
None, whatever is the best without being exponentially higher priced.

5. If YOU intend on using any of YOUR current parts, and if so, what those parts are.
A 500gb storage drive and a 1tb storage drive. I'd like an SSD for Windows and games.

6. IF YOU have searched and/or read similar threads.
I have

7. IF YOU plan on overclocking or run the system at default speeds.
Defaults

8. What resolution YOU plan on gaming with.
1920x1080 or higher.

9. WHEN do you plan to build it?
September 2011

10. Don't ask for a build configuration critique or rating if you are thin skinned.
Ok

When I built my last machine AMD and ATI were at the top, but from what I can tell it's completely shifted to nVidia and Intel? I have no loyalty to anyone, so whichever is "best" without being $1000 overpriced is good enough for me.

Should I do SLI video cards?

What's the normal amount of RAM a system has these days? 8GB? Should I go for more?

Anything else I should worry about? Or can I buy generic for stuff like the case and power supply, etc. I'll probably buy the best I can before the price starts to increase exponentially. Should I go with a 64 bit install of Windows 7?

 

[Chinoman]

2500k
6950 2gb
8gb 1333mhz
Corsair 650w
Z68 motherboard
Case of your choosing
Crucial M4 SSD
1tb internal hdd

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

$1000-$1500 is high end IMO. Mid range is usually 700ish.

With that budget 2600k, GTX 570, name brand 650-700w power supply, case I'd say a HAF 932 or HAF X or whatever model they are on now, 8gb ram (speed really not important as the gains are very minimal going from 1333 to 2133)

 

[T_Yamamoto]

2500k
6950 2gb
8gb 1333mhz
Corsair 650w
Z68 motherboard
Case of your choosing
Crucial M4 SSD
1tb internal hdd

Make sure its 1.5 volts (ram)
Case: HAF 912 or 922 or antec 300
PSU: 500~550 watt is enough

 

[Beev]

Looks like I have one vote for ATI and one vote for nVidia . Should I bother doing crossfire or SLI?

 

[T_Yamamoto]

I mean, most people arent going to do it.
if you have money to blow, or if youre a HARDCORE gamer, you proabably will
for the casual user, you wont.
i prefer the 560 ti, but depending on your screen resolution and such all depends on preferance as well. they are relatively the same

 

[Venom20]

Unless you are editing videos or rendering quite abit, I would recommend a single higher-end video card over spending the cash for 2.

 

[Beev]

Thanks guys, no SLI for me. I like to game, but I don't think I want to spend an extra ~$300 when I'll be happy without it.

Edit: Also, is there any new hardware coming "soon" that I should just wait for? Or should I not bother because then I'd just want to wait for the next thing, and the next thing?

Edit2: I'm out of the loop, what's the high end RAM type these days? DDR3 something?

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

I don't see anything coming soon. Nvidia and amd are saying first of next year before new gpu's are available. CPU I don't think ivy bridge is gonna be out til next year and even sandy bridge is way ahead of where pc gaming is at right now. Pc gaming has gotten stagnant due to low sales due to most just going to consoles. You could build a good gaming pc and it could be good for years to come at least until the new consoles come out.

 

[T_Yamamoto]

I don't see anything coming soon. Nvidia and amd are saying first of next year before new gpu's are available. CPU I don't think ivy bridge is gonna be out til next year and even sandy bridge is way ahead of where pc gaming is at right now. Pc gaming has gotten stagnant due to low sales due to most just going to consoles. You could build a good gaming pc and it could be good for years to come at least until the new consoles come out.

true

 

[Beev]

I put this together really quick, how does it look:

Anything I can cut back on? I still need to add RAM.

 

[Gigantopithecus]

If you're not in a hurry to build, we're close enough to the release of Bulldozer that it would likely be worth waiting for. I seriously doubt the performance of the higher-end Bulldozer SKUs will exceed or even match the 2500K's performance, but it might be sufficiently close that at a lower price, it could be a very compelling alternative.

I'll echo the don't bother with SLI/CrossFire crowd. I'll also add that 'high end RAM these days' is mostly just marketing gimmickry.

 

[Gigantopithecus]

I put this together really quick, how does it look:

snip

Anything I can cut back on? I still need to add RAM.

That board isn't compatible with your 2600K.

Also, if your machine is mostly going to be used for gaming, the 2600K is a poor investment vs. the 2500K. Most games do not use more than four cores, and very, very few use the Hyper-Threading on the 2600K. See Bench for a comparison - scroll to the gaming performance on the bottom of the page.

Also, I think it would be worth your time to read through the system I discussed here. It's a few months old, but I wouldn't really change much aside from the case (I've been really liking the Fractal 1000 and 3000), and SSD.

 

[Beev]

That board isn't compatible with your 2600K.

Also, if your machine is mostly going to be used for gaming, the 2600K is a poor investment vs. the 2500K. Most games do not use more than four cores, and very, very few use the Hyper-Threading on the 2600K. See Bench for a comparison - scroll to the gaming performance on the bottom of the page.

Also, I think it would be worth your time to read through the system I discussed here. It's a few months old, but I wouldn't really change much aside from the case (I've been really liking the Fractal 1000 and 3000), and SSD.

Thank you. I switched the CPU to the 2500k. Is that mobo compatible? It's just been so long since I built a system that I didn't notice they wouldn't work together. Back when I built my last system there was a clear cut mobo that was just the best, yet priced nicely. Is there one like that these days?

 

[T_Yamamoto]

the x58 doesnt match

you need a 1155 board

 

[Beev]

Could I bump the SSD down to 64gb? I want to put Windows 7 and as many games as possible on it, and then store other items on one of my two other drives. How much space does a Windows install take? (Also, should I go with 64bit or 32bit?)

 

[Blue Shift]

Also, is there any new hardware coming "soon" that I should just wait for? Or should I not bother because then I'd just want to wait for the next thing, and the next thing?

AMD's new high-end processor line will hopefully be coming out in about a month. It will be priced to compete with Sandy Bridge, but no reliable benchmarks have come out yet. Personally, I'm hoping Intel will counter with a small price drop for Sandy Bridge. If that happens, it won't matter if "Bulldozer" is better or worse than SB for gaming; you'd be able to save money regardless.

I'm out of the loop, what's the high end RAM type these days? DDR3 something?

Yes. Most people recommend sticking with 1333 MHz DDR3.

Back when I built my last system there was a clear cut mobo that was just the best, yet priced nicely. Is there one like that these days?

Yes. ASRock Z68 Pro3 for $120. Basically, ASUS's budget wing has finally grown up, and makes rather solid boards.


Edit:

Could I bump the SSD down to 64gb? I want to put Windows 7 and as many games as possible on it, and then store other items on one of my two other drives. How much space does a Windows install take? (Also, should I go with 64bit or 32bit?)

With a 64GB SSD, I'd recommend using it for SSD Caching on a Z68 board. You won't be able to fit a lot of games onto it at the same time as Windows 7, but SRT (Intel Smart Response Technology, aka SSD Caching) will automatically load it up with whatever files you access most frequently... Such as Win 7 and whatever game you've been playing most this week.

 

[DaveSimmons]

Switching to the $120 ASRock and i5-2500K should let you afford a 120 GB SSD. FYI, intel announced a fix for the firmware on their 320 series so it's a good choice again.

Besides you not worrying about space and needing to juggle installs between SSD and platter, SSDs also work better and last longer if they have more unused space.

 

[Beev]

Thanks a bunch, guys. I'm down to $1,339.92. What should I do for the sound card? I have a nice Logitech 5.1 system, and in the past I used Creative's cards. The card in the cart right now is an HT | OMEGA CLARO Plus for $175, and I'd like to not spend that much if possible, but I do enjoy nice, high quality sound.

Also, the PSU I added to the cart at first is: CORSAIR Enthusiast Series CMPSU-650TX 650W ATX12V for $95. I feel like I could lower that too, but would it be worth it to spend the extra $30 or so and just get that one?

 

[T_Yamamoto]

You dont need a sound card

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

You dont need a sound card

Some people do prefer them. It's nice hearing all the sounds clearly instead of a bunch of garbled mess which sometimes you get with onboard audio.
I use a creative x-fi which does a nice job.

 

[Beev]

Really? The onboard sound will provide good 5.1? I do have an optical cable, and that mobo has an optical port built right in, so if that works just as well then that's great.

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

Really? The onboard sound will provide good 5.1?

They've come along some but they still are behind a good sound card IMO.

 

[Beev]

Hmm, I may stick with the onboard audio at first and see what I think. I can always add a sound card later easily.

 

[T_Yamamoto]

well i dont really care lmao