My entire build

[Aegrus]

I'm new to pc gaming, and I've been doing research to build my first desktop pc, which will hopefully be powerful enough to max Skyrim. Note, I want to max Skyrim without or with very little antialiasing.

The following is a list of all the parts I plan to buy. I have yet to actually purchase anything but the GPU, so I'm open to suggestions. If anyone sees any conflicts, missing parts or mistakes, please let me know.

Radeon HD 6950 2 gb (GPU)

Dark Fleet-85 (case)

8 GB (2x4) 240 Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (RAM)

Samsung SH-S223F 22x DVDR (DVD drive)

HD10351 Samsung Ecogreen F2 1tb 5.4k (Hard Drive)

Intel i5 2500k (cpu)

Asus M4A785TD-V Evo (motherboard)

Corsair Professional Series Hx650 (630 Watt) (psu)

Acer S211HL bd 21.5 Inch Widescreen LED, 1080p (12,000,000:1)(monitor)

Windows 7 Home Premium (OS)

Norton 360 Antivirus Software

The final price, all considered, comes out to about $1380. I think I've cut prices on everything possible. The monitor is incredibly cheap considering the quality. Since it's 1080 p, I shouldn't need much if any antialiasing. The power supply is lower-grade, but very stable, so random fluctuations shouldn't kill my pc as a more unstable, but better and more expensive power supply might. My processor is good- a quad core, which is supposed to be better than even a high grade 2 or 3 core at running Skyrim. Since Skyrim is supposedly CPU heavy, ( as most open world games are) I didn't want to cut that by much. I cut a sound card, as I think most motherboards have pretty good ones built in.

Of course, I'm open to any suggestions to cut prices or change icompatible parts. I originally didn't want to break $1000, so I came in high. This week has been a crash course in pc gaming for me. I've learned a lot, but I still need help finalizing my design.

There is no link here for the GPU.

Case

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811129087

RAM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231311

DVD Drive

http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Drive-.../dp/B002TG3ABE

It seems my hard Drive is temporarily out of stock

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Samsung-EcoG.../dp/B0029MC4PQ

Cpu

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115072

Good go, my planned motherboard is out too. It was there yesterday.

http://www.amazon.com/Asus-M4A785TD-...m/B002IVVB3E/2

PSU

http://www.corsair.com/professional-series-hx650-80-plus-bronze-certified-modular-power-supply.html

Monitor

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16824009261

 

[mnewsham]

Can you give us links to where you are getting everything? That way we can see specs without having to do extra work and we can try and find you a better price on some things as well as suggest alternatives. Also have you bought anything yet?

 

[ElFenix]

you've got an AMD motherboard, which won't work with the intel processor. change it to something like:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131792
or
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813157250


what makes you think the corsair hx650 is a lower-grade power supply?


and you'll want a 7200 rpm hard drive.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...k=samsung%20f3


your dvd burner may not be made anymore (deactivated on newegg). if so:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827151233

 

[stahlhart]

nm

 

[lehtv]

Note, I want to max Skyrim without or with very little antialiasing.

I think you'll want to max it with antialiasing, actually (which a 6950 should handle fine). Jagged edges are easily noticeably on 1080p.

 

[Aegrus]

Edited to include links.

 

[Ken g6]

HD10351 Samsung Ecogreen F2 1tb 5.4k (Hard Drive)

:| HDDs are getting more expensive, [thread=2198560]unfortunately[/thread]. But I'd hesitate to use a "green" drive as a machine's primary drive. At least without an SSD, either as OS drive or as a caching drive.

Norton 360 Antivirus Software

D: Does your company require this or something? Otherwise, just use Microsoft Security Essentials.

 

[mnewsham]

Does your company require this or something? Otherwise, just use Microsoft Security Essentials.

You quoted ME for Norton? ELL OH ELL

 

[Aegrus]

I choose Norton because I find it pretty easy to use, and I haven't had any bad experiences with it.

The ecogreen F2 Hard Drive I chose because I was trying to cut costs, and it was the cheapest 1 tb drive that I could find.

The Corsair 650 watt I thought was low grade beacause of it's cheap price, and because the reviewing site called it low-grade. I can't remember what the site was, but I've heard often that you need about a 730 watt to power a good gaming pc. (In reptrospect, I realize that the people who told me that were always trying to sell a better power supply.)

Hm. . . This is now costing me about $1400 with all the changes considered. That's about $200 too much. Are there any cheaper alternatives to anything other than the GPU?

 

[Ken g6]

You quoted ME for Norton? ELL OH ELL

Aha! I didn't know clicking the wrong "Quote selected text" button would quote somebody else.

- $70 PSU.
- My favorite combo for $27 RAM. Or get your CPU/mobo at a nearby Micro Center, if you have one, and save lots more.
- $45 case AP if you like blue LEDs instead of red, and you buy by tomorrow.

- Edit: This $133 ASRock mobo would be a fine investment, even for SLI and overclocking. About all it lacks is headers for front USB 3.0 ports.

 

[ElFenix]

I choose Norton because I find it pretty easy to use, and I haven't had any bad experiences with it.

The ecogreen F2 Hard Drive I chose because I was trying to cut costs, and it was the cheapest 1 tb drive that I could find.

The Corsair 650 watt I thought was low grade beacause of it's cheap price, and because the reviewing site called it low-grade. I can't remember what the site was, but I've heard often that you need about a 730 watt to power a good gaming pc. (In reptrospect, I realize that the people who told me that were always trying to sell a better power supply.)

Hm. . . This is now costing me about $1400 with all the changes considered. That's about $200 too much. Are there any cheaper alternatives to anything other than the GPU?

a) hard drive prices are shooting up right now due to flooding in thailand. that samsung drive is a 5400 rpm drive and so is slower than a 7200 rpm unit.


b) for what you've proposed a quality 400 watt power supply would work. the one you've listed is one of the most expensive 650 watt units on the market. instead get something like this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817371048

 

[Aegrus]

I have altered my build a bit based on advice here and in other posts.

My power supply is now an Antec NEO Eco 620c 620w continuous power ATX 12v v2.3.

My case is now the cheaper Cooler Master Haf-912, which will also allow me to overclock more safely.

I have cut Norton, and decided on Microsoft Security Essentials.

 

[DominionSeraph]

I've heard often that you need about a 730 watt to power a good gaming pc.

Nope. A good 700W PSU would just about handle a Bloomfield with GTX 580 SLI, which is WAY over what we're speccing for you.

The Sandy Bridge i5 2500k uses less power than the i7 920 that Anandtech uses for its power testing, and you can see where the entire rig with a 6950 only pulls 292W. You don't need a 650W+ PSU.

 

[Aegrus]

Is this motherboard compatible and capable of overclocking?
It was suggested by another user, and It's within my price range.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...&SID=u00000687

 

[ElFenix]

$1000 computer
edit: didn't see i picked the pro3 gen3 board instead of the extreme3 gen3 board. that adds a couple bucks.
edit2: sometimes you can get combos to improve pricing, for example the ram and cpu combo listed above. prob with combos is that they can't be added to wishlists. so i didn't include any.

 

[lehtv]

Is this motherboard compatible and capable of overclocking?
It was suggested by another user, and It's within my price range.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...&SID=u00000687

That's basically the cheapest Z68 board around. You cannot directly adjust CPU core voltage on it, you have to let the motherboard do that with the "Dynamic Voltage" adjustment but it's still capable of overclocking. I'd expect you to get lower stable voltages with a different motherboard (hence less heat). It also has no USB3 ports. But it's affordable, so it's fine; if you can pay a bit more get the Asrock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3. Or the Pro3 Gen3 above.

 

[DominionSeraph]

$1000 computer

Solid build.
(I am partial to mine, though)
http://forums.anandtech.com/showpost.php?p=32495734&postcount=16

(And damn we need these threads merged)

 

[ElFenix]

Solid build.
(I am partial to mine, though)
http://forums.anandtech.com/showpost.php?p=32495734&postcount=16

(And damn we need these threads merged)

ya looks good. not sure what the OP's budget really is, either $1000 or $1200.

 

[Aegrus]

That's basically the cheapest Z68 board around. You cannot directly adjust CPU core voltage on it, you have to let the motherboard do that with the "Dynamic Voltage" adjustment but it's still capable of overclocking. I'd expect you to get lower stable voltages with a different motherboard (hence less heat). It also has no USB3 ports. But it's affordable, so it's fine; if you can pay a bit more get the Asrock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3. Or the Pro3 Gen3 above.

Huh. Yeah, I think it's a better investment to go with the Asrock Z68 Extreme3, for a price difference of only about $30.

So, my rig would now come in (including monitor, OS, antivirus, mouse, etc,) at a fair $1059.00, excluding the HD, which I will wait to buy until they drop in price. (Will probably cost from 50-100), so I come in at about $1159.

Awesome! That's less than my original $1200. It's still not quite my $1000 goal, but the performance increased, I gained the ability to overclock, and even without overclocking common concensus seems to be that I can max Skyrim with antialiasing.

I officially heart this forum. Thanks for all the help, guys. So here's how my build stands now. I believe it's all compatible.

Radeon HD 6950 2gb (GPU)

8 GB (2x4 gb) 240 Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (RAM)

Samsung SH-S223F 22x DVDR (DVD Drive)

--Skip Hard Drive for now

Intel i5 2500k (cpu)

Acer S211HL bd 21.5 Inch Widescreen LED (12,000,000:1) (monitor)

Windows 7 Home Premium (OS)

Antec NEO Eco 620c 620w Continuous Power ATX 12v V2.3 (PSU)

Cooler Master Haf-912 (Case)

Microsoft Security Essentials

Gigabyte GA-268P-DS3 LGA 1155 Intel 268 HDMI SATA 6 Gb/S ATX Intel (Motherboard)

 

[lehtv]

So you're not getting an SSD at all? Maybe you should either include the HDD in that now, or postpone getting the whole build until they drop in price. Also you said you'd go with the Asrock board but you listed the Gigabyte

 

[Cerb]

I have cut Norton, and decided on Microsoft Security Essentials.

MSSE likes to steal focus, sometimes, so if that turns out to be a problem, consider Avast (free, but requires registration yearly after 30 days). It's silent mode is the reason I use it over MSSE.

You have to get a disk drive of some kind. Windows is picky that way .

Acer S211HL bd 21.5 Inch Widescreen LED (12,000,000:1) (monitor)

I got a good chuckle from the bolded bit . IMO, CCFL is the way to go for cheap monitors. LED backlighting is the trend, but a decent LED monitor will not be near that cheap, and bad LED backlighting can be pretty harsh on the eyes.

+1 to Elfenix's build, too.

 

[lehtv]

I use Avast! Free and it's been awesome so far. Highly recommended

 

[ElFenix]

uh, you can't skip a hard drive.

 

[T_Yamamoto]

Change that mobo to the AsRock one

 

[Aegrus]

uh, you can't skip a hard drive.

I understand I won't be able to use the computer until I have a hard drive. I'm just going to wait for a 1 Tb drive to hopefully drop in price. (They're overpriced now due to flooding and buying on speculation in the stock market.)