Need a new gaming box.

[imported_Cota]

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

- Gaming.

2. What YOUR budget is. A price range is acceptable as long as it's not more than a 20% spread

- $1000ish.

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.

- Intel CPU's. ASUS Motherboards. nVidia GPU's.

5. If YOU intend on using any of YOUR current parts, and if so, what those parts are.

- I do not need anything outside the box.

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

- I have read through the first 3 pages of this forum.

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

- Not interested in overclocking.

8. What resolution YOU plan on gaming with.

- 1920x1200

9. WHEN do you plan to build it?

- I'd like to get moving on this in the next couple of weeks.

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

- Ok

Hi. First off, thanks for any help.

I've been using my current box for 3 or 4 years now I think, but haven't been doing much gaming lately. I'd like to get back into it. I like a powerful system, but not bleeding edge. I also value stability.

A couple of things:

A couple of my friends recently upgraded their boxes. They went with a i5 2500k and suggested I start there. I was looking at the ASUS P8P67 motherboards with the above chip. One of those friends went with a P8Z68. I see quite a few mentions of the Z68 around here. Unless you guys have a better idea, I guess I'd start with that and build around it.

I'm using XP now, but have resigned to upgrading to Win7 64. I'd be interested in which version of Win7 64 to get. I'd like to network 2 computers, and share a printer. I'm not going to factor in the cost into my budget.

Case: I keep stumbling here, over a case of all things. I have an Lian-Li PC 6077 in black. I love it to death. It's the best case I've ever used. Aluminum. No windows or lights. Front panel I/O. Removable motherboard tray. I'd buy another in a heartbeat, but they don't make 'em anymore. I'm kinda looking at the Lian-Li PC9F at the moment. I'm open to suggestions though.

Harddrives: Everyone's seems to be going SSD. I'm not completely sold on the idea though, mainly because of the cost. Also, I've always ran two drives. One for the OS and another for games/data/storage. 1 SSD and 1 Mechanical?

Lastly, single GPU's are fine with me.

Oh, and I have a Fry's nearby, I'd probably get what I can there, and get the rest at Newegg.

Thanks for your time,

-Cota

 

[DaveSimmons]

If not overclocking the i5-2500 is cheaper and just as fast, unless you're near a MicroCenter and can get one of their loss leader i5-2500k / motherboard bundles (in-store only).

I just got myself an Antec P280 case but won't be building my system until this weekend. Another popular choice that's cheaper is the Fractal R3. There are reviews of both at SlientPCReview.com

I'm setting up a 3-drive system based on deals posted in the Hot Deals forum: Intel 320 SSD boot / OS drive (SATA-2 but very reliable), Samsung 830 SSD for game installs (SATA-3 speed), and an old 1 TB Samsung spinpoint from the parts bin for backups.

You could go with a single Crucial or Samsung SSD (160 - 256 GB) for the boot and installs drive (reliable brands that are cheaper than Intel), then look for a deal on a platter drive for backups and bulk storage.

 

[mfenn]

Take the build from this thread, drop the case to reuse your existing Lian-Li and you're pretty much set. You'll want to use Win7 HP 64-bit for the OS.

 

[imported_Cota]

Ok, I've spent several more days reading and learning. Let me throw this out and see what you guys think.

Antec P280 Case $139.99
Asus P8Z68-V/Gen3 $189.99
Intel i5-2500K $224.99
EVGA GTX 560 Ti 1GB $249.99
SeaSonic X650 Gold 650W $139.99
Crucial M4 128GB SATA III SSD $169.99
ASUS Black SATA 24X DVD Burner $20.99
G.Skill Ripjaws 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 1600 $46.99

Total: $1,182.92

That's my first draft. All prices are from Newegg today. I haven't bothered shopping around for prices yet. I'll do that if and when I ever finalize the build.

What's important to me: Stability, Power, Price. In that order.

Two questions:

1) Is that right ram? I've seen 1600 and 1333 used alot here.

2) Is 1GB video ram enough for me and my Dell 2407WFP @ 1920X1200? Or should I be looking at 2GB cards?

Thanks again,

-Cota

 

[DaveSimmons]

> 2) Is 1GB video ram enough for me and my Dell 2407WFP @ 1920X1200? Or should I be looking at 2GB cards?

The AMD 7850 will be out before the end of the month, expected to cost around $250 with almost the performance of a GTX 570:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/5625/...-hd-7850-review-rounding-out-southern-islands

If you read through the review, you'll see some games are starting to want more than 1 GB RAM to run at 19x10.

You might want to wait to see the pricing, and see nvidia's response. A GTX 570 price cut would be interesting even if you won't buy AMD.

Edit: also, even without the price cut I'd rather have a $100 motherboard and GTX 570 than a $190 motherboard (with features I won't use) and 560 ti.

 

[lehtv]

Case Good but have you considered Corsair 550D?
Mobo Too expensive. You're building a quiet gaming setup so you'll probably never do SLI/crossfire (not that you probably would otherwise), so you could shave off $80 and buy Asrock Z68 Pro3 Gen3. If it's an issue that you won't be able to utilize front panel USB3.0, then Asus P8Z68-V LE.
CPU Good but you stated you're not going to OC. If that's the case, buy i5-2400 and Intel H67. If you are going to OC, you'll want an aftermarket cooler. I'd buy Thermalright HR-02 macho.
GPU $250 is just too much for 560 Ti. That's 6950/7850 territory. I'd wait for 7850 to be released, but it seems you don't want AMD so apart from that, either get a dual-fan 560 Ti for $200 AR, or a 560 Ti 448 cores for $270 AR.
PSU Only get this if you're looking to eliminate as much noise as possible from all components. If there's even ONE component in your setup making noise, most of the extra $ you pay to get this PSU will go to waste.
SSD Good.
RAM Good.

 

[imported_Cota]

You guys are making good arguments. Thank you.

Case Good but have you considered Corsair 550D?

Yes. Actually, I'm going to be building two (one for mom) systems. I hoped to make them identical (or nearly so) for ease of building and maintenance. One is going to get the P280, the other the 550D.

Mobo Too expensive. You're building a quiet gaming setup so you'll probably never do SLI/crossfire (not that you probably would otherwise), so you could shave off $80 and buy Asrock Z68 Pro3 Gen3. If it's an issue that you won't be able to utilize front panel USB3.0, then Asus P8Z68-V LE.

You're right, it is expensive. I wouldn't mind knocking $50 off the cost of the motherboard. The things I like about that motherboard:
-ASUS. I've been using them for years and they've always performed well. Never had any trouble with them.
-Intel LAN. Better than the Realtek LAN, yeah?
-Front Panel I/O
-UEFI. Never used this before, but it looks great.

CPU Good but you stated you're not going to OC. If that's the case, buy i5-2400 and Intel H67. If you are going to OC, you'll want an aftermarket cooler. I'd buy Thermalright HR-02 macho.

I might waffle on the overclocking. After reading through the forums the last couple of days, it seems pretty easy (and safe?) to over clock this CPU with the right motherboard.
Because of that, I figured I might add a CPU cooler to the list. The Cooler Master Hyper 212 seems to get alot of praise around here. 212 Plus or EVO? The little newegg video says the Plus is quieter at high speeds.

PSU Only get this if you're looking to eliminate as much noise as possible from all components. If there's even ONE component in your setup making noise, most of the extra $ you pay to get this PSU will go to waste.

Took me a minute, but I see what you're saying. I'll give power supplies another look, but I do like what I've read about this one.

SSD Good.
RAM Good.

Yay! I got two right. I'm locking these two down before something changes.

Edit: also, even without the price cut I'd rather have a $100 motherboard and GTX 570 than a $190 motherboard (with features I won't use) and 560 ti.

That's a good argument.

You might want to wait to see the pricing, and see nvidia's response. A GTX 570 price cut would be interesting even if you won't buy AMD.

I'd love to wait. Every thread I've read here says wait. My dear mother is breathing down my neck to get her new computer together. Her rig is not doing well. Sound Card is Kaput, I can't get the onboard sound to work for some reason. Started to crash when she runs dungeons in WoW. I know if I was in her position I'd want a new system now. I can't think of an interim solution for her. Her current video card is an AGP card I think (yeah, it's that old), so I can't use that. One thing I did learn today though, is about iGPU on the 2500K? Integrated graphics on the CPU these days? I wonder, will that run WoW at all, even if just until the new GPU's come out and the prices settle down?

Speaking of sound. I forgot about that. On board sound is ok for mom, but I like a sound card to go with my Klipsch's. I might canabalize the one out of my current rig. Or I see several of you are using one from ASUS. I'm going to go have a look at that.

Anyways, I appreciate all the feeback and help so far. I think I'm gettin it in the right ballpark now.

-Cota

 

[lehtv]

Actually, I'm going to be building two (one for mom) systems

I'd expect a $1000 rig to be a bit over the top for the regular internet mom. But maybe your mom actually needs a rig like this? In most cases a mom PC shouldn't cost more than $400-500.

-ASUS. I've been using them for years and they've always performed well. Never had any trouble with them.

I find this a rather loose argument. It only works one way IMO - i.e. "I've used brand X several times and it never worked, therefore I won't buy them". But I wouldn't rule out other brands just because of experience with one brand that does the job as advertised.

Intel LAN. Better than the Realtek LAN, yeah?

Yes. If this is important, consider: Intel BOXDH67BLB3 $90 along with i5-2400. No UEFI but that's hardly a big deal, and it should do the job in other respects. Even has 4x RAM slots and 3x SATA 6gb/s. P8Z68-V/Gen3 + 2500K + cooler worth $150 more? OC'ing doesn't give you that much of an edge. Does the P8Z68-V Gen3 have other things that you'd miss?

The Cooler Master Hyper 212 seems to get alot of praise around here. 212 Plus or EVO? The little newegg video says the Plus is quieter at high speeds.

I'd buy whichever is cheaper. They're both pretty quiet at idle, and as it's a gaming rig, your CPU fan will hardly ever spin up without the GPU fan spinning up simultaneously and making more noise. So you don't really need to worry about the load noise. However I'd still buy the Thermalright HR-02 macho, it isn't much more expensive but completely destroys the Hyper 212 in performance and is quieter.

I'll give power supplies another look, but I do like what I've read about this one.

It is indeed an excellent PSU, but many other excellent PSUs cost nearly half. E.g. XFX 550W $58 AR, XFX 650W $74 AR. Both quiet (but not silent) units with excellent power quality, Seasonic made. Not modular.

 

[mfenn]

You're right, it is expensive. I wouldn't mind knocking $50 off the cost of the motherboard. The things I like about that motherboard:
-ASUS. I've been using them for years and they've always performed well. Never had any trouble with them.

I've been using ASRock, Gigabyte, and MSI for years, haven't had a problem with them. Have had problems with ASUS boards though. Not that I think that you shouldn't get an ASUS board is if the price is right, but anecdotal evidence is hardly reason to prefer one brand over another.

-Intel LAN. Better than the Realtek LAN, yeah?

Better in an absolute sense? Yes.
Does it matter one whit for a typical desktop? No.

-Front Panel I/O

All motherboards have this. What port in particular where you looking for?

-UEFI. Never used this before, but it looks great.

Current UEFI implementations are skinned BIOSes. Not worth paying money for.

I might waffle on the overclocking. After reading through the forums the last couple of days, it seems pretty easy (and safe?) to over clock this CPU with the right motherboard.

It's damn easy to OK with any Z68 mobo.

Because of that, I figured I might add a CPU cooler to the list. The Cooler Master Hyper 212 seems to get alot of praise around here. 212 Plus or EVO? The little newegg video says the Plus is quieter at high speeds.

They are basically the same, with the biggest difference being that the EVO's heatpipes are flush the the base of the HSF, making a better thermal contact with the CPU.

One thing I did learn today though, is about iGPU on the 2500K? Integrated graphics on the CPU these days? I wonder, will that run WoW at all, even if just until the new GPU's come out and the prices settle down?

Can it run WoW? Yes. Can it run WoW as good as an AGP card? Probably. Does that mean that it is any good in an absolute sense? No.