New Build ($1,600 - $1,800 range)

[Stg-Flame]

What YOUR PC will be used for: Strictly gaming.

What YOUR budget is: Four million zenny... wait a second, I believe I already covered the price in the topic title.

What country YOU will be buying YOUR parts from: America

IF YOU have a brand preference: nVidia, LG, Logitech, Asus, eVGA, Mushkin, Intel (only because they have the better CPUs currently). Also, absolutely no Gigabyte.

If YOU intend on using any of YOUR current parts: I do not. My current rig is headed downstairs to be hooked up to my HD TV once my new one arrives (and is assembled).

IF YOU have searched and/or read similar threads: You mean the two thousand other "$XXXX build help!!!" topics? Yes, I've read them all... Ok, I've only read a few.

IF YOU plan on overclocking or run the system at default speeds: This depends on my case. I won't be going for water cooling, but my current Antec case has amazing air-flow which allowed me to OC some of my hardware.

What resolution YOU plan on gaming with: 1920X1080

WHEN do you plan to build it: The moment the boxes arrive, silly. I plan on ordering the parts immediately as I have a one-week paid vacation coming up in two weeks and I would like to have this before then. I know with Thanksgiving coming up the mail will be slow which is why I'm hoping to get this build going fairly soon.

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

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Case: Still looking

Mobo: ASRock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...&SID=u00000687

CPU: Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...&SID=u00000687

Heatsink: Do I even need one with the i5?

GPU: EVGA SuperClocked GeForce GTX 580
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130590

RAM: Mushkin Enhanced Redline 8GB (2 x 4GB)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820226203

PSU: Undecided. Asus has served me very well so I would be more inclined to pick up another Asus PSU in the future if the price is right.

HDD: Unknown. Like the SSD, I'm looking into the difference between a 7K RPM drive and a 10K RPM drive. I would like something around the 600GB range for storage. I've never really used a 10K RPM drive but I heard they are primarily for gaming. Some insight on this would be appreciated.

SSD: Not entirely sure what a Solid State Drive actually is used for. Made a topic in the HDD section but no replies yet

Optical Drive: Unknown. I'm still using an old $20 Sony NEC DVD drive in my current rig. Does a decent optical drive even make a difference? I use my laptop to burn CDs and I don't really care about making fancy CD/DVD labels.

OS: Windows 7 64-bit.

Mouse: Logitech G500
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16826104318

Keyboard: Undecided. Like I said, this will be a gaming computer, but I don't foresee the need for a gaming keyboard. I am still using a $5 GE keyboard I bought back in 2001. I've looked around but given how many keyboards there are on Newegg, I think I might just take some suggestions from people here and go from there. My buddy is telling me about his "mechanical" keyboard which I've never heard about before, but he swears by it. I cannot find any mechanical keyboards on Newegg (or maybe I'm just not looking in the right place).

Monitor: My monitor and my 1080p 48" TV downstairs are made by LG. I'm incredibly happy with LG products so I am looking for a 24" LG monitor. I would really prefer a non-matte LCD monitor (can't remember what the non-matte screens are called but the screen looks like glass instead of the matte LCD style).

Speakers: I've heard headphones are the way to go, but I love my surround sound (plus I listen to music while doing housework upstairs and headphones would hamper this). Preferably 7.1 Surround Sound. Speakers will come dead last in my order and may not even come within the order at all. If someone has a preference, feel free to post it, but I cannot guarantee that I will add speakers. I'm also buying some speakers for my truck so I might buy the PC speakers then.

I do apologize for this being so lengthy, but like I said, I am trying to get this shipped out very soon and I didn't want to leave anything too vague. I'm open to all suggestions so don't be shy. I'll try to check this as often as I can tonight, but I work in the oilfield and I must be up tomorrow at 1am for work and probably won't be home until 9pm or later so please bare with my hectic schedule.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Ken g6]

Mobo & CPU: Good. Looks like no Micro Center in New Mexico. (They have good deals.)

GPU: 580 costs a lot more than a 570 for very little benefit. You can get 2x6950's for about the same price and power requirements. Also consider that new GPUs will be out within 3 months.

Memory: Pointlessly low CAS delay, and too high voltage. Here's my favorite 1600/1.5v RAM. I haven't looked around to see if there are any cheaper deals lately.

 

[lehtv]

Agree with the above.

Heatsink: Do I even need one with the i5?

If u OC more than mildly then yes

Case: Still looking

Take a look at Corsair 400R, 500R, Fractal Design Arc Midi. These are my current favorites around the $100 range. If you don't want to pay that much, Cooler Master HAF 912 is a good choice.

PSU: Undecided. Asus has served me very well so I would be more inclined to pick up another Asus PSU in the future if the price is right.

Asus makes power supplies...? This is perfect for any high end single-GPU setup, and can handle some dual-GPU setups too http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817207014

Not entirely sure what a Solid State Drive actually is used for.

The main purpose of an SSD is to install the OS and programs on it, making them 'snappier' and reducing loading times considerably. You get a much more responsive system

I'd recommend against Logitech G500. While I know a lot of people like that mouse, I don't understand why they do with all the flaws in its design, i.e. sensor front-placed instead of centered, bad thumb button placement, no room for ring finger to be placed comfortably, stiff wheel button. In addition it's quite heavy and hard to lift. IMO you'd be better off with G400 which is a new revision of the popular MX518

 

[ElFenix]

hard drive: just go with a big 7200 rpm drive. the 10k drives aren't that much faster for what you'll be putting on it (media and games). programs and windows go on the SSD because they're much faster than hard drives at random access.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...ies%206gv2

recommended for unreal tournament iii players

 

[dmoney1980]

You can pick up a GTX 570 right now for $290 after rebate- http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814134125

You stated that you game on a 1080p monitor, no need for a 580 card at that resolution. You can build a nice tower for under $1k

 

[fffblackmage]

I'd recommend against Logitech G500. While I know a lot of people like that mouse, I don't understand why they do with all the flaws in its design, i.e. sensor front-placed instead of centered, bad thumb button placement, no room for ring finger to be placed comfortably, stiff wheel button. In addition it's quite heavy and hard to lift. IMO you'd be better off with G400 which is a new revision of the popular MX518

Personal preference. I like my G500, for the most part, anyway.

Admittedly, the thumb button placement is a bit off, but other than that, the other things don't seem to matter to me whatsoever. Sensor location doesn't matter to me. My ring finger is comfortable. I don't mind the stiff wheel button. I added most of the weights to make the mouse heavier.

My largest complaint is a failing right-click button, which isn't good. I used to have a G5, but I had to RMA it because a button died....

SSD: Not entirely sure what a Solid State Drive actually is used for.

It's not all that useful for gaming, except for WoW and maybe a few others. Other than gaming, it makes just about everything else you do faster (magnitudes shorter seek latency and magnitudes faster random IO performance).

At first, it was kinda hard to tell what the SSD was improving on, but once you get used to it, it's pretty hard to go back to using any computer with a conventional HDD. I wasn't planning on it, but now I want to get a new SSD, so I can move my current one to my HTPC (uses a laptop HDD).

 

[Stg-Flame]

I appreciate all of the responses.

Currently, I am using a Logitech MX518 and I have loved the MX500 series. Perfect for gaming so I will check out the 400 series to see how it compares.

As for the SSD, from what I have gathered, I would buy a decent sized version and install my games and my OS on the SSD and leave my HDD for storage? I apologize if this seems like a stupid question but I am new to SSDs and my current rig just hit its third birthday last month, so I have been out of the hardware loop for a while.

I'll make the recommended changes and check out the listed suggestions ASAP. Long day at work so I am moving somewhat slow right now.

 

[lehtv]

Personal preference. I like my G500, for the most part, anyway.

Admittedly, the thumb button placement is a bit off, but other than that, the other things don't seem to matter to me whatsoever. Sensor location doesn't matter to me. My ring finger is comfortable. I don't mind the stiff wheel button. I added most of the weights to make the mouse heavier.

Yeah I did say a lot of people like G500. So I understand where you're coming from. My point was not to say "G500 is a bad mouse period". It was to say there are certain design flaws that may matter to people, such as the bad thumb button placement. This is why I don't recommend G500, G400 is simply a better mouse objectively. It may still be that some people would prefer G500 over G400 for whatever reason, but that doesn't invalidate the design flaws of G500. Perhaps the mouse weights are important to you, I don't really see other reasons for you to prefer it over G400. Have you tried G400?

 

[fffblackmage]

^By saying "flaw," you imply there is something fundamentally wrong with it. I am just pointing out that this is a matter of personal preference.

I suppose the other than the "flaws" you pointed out, the G500 uses a laser-based engine instead. At least in the technical specs, the G500 has a faster image processing speed and higher resolution, though I doubt they're significant. It's hard to describe, but things did feel different, but not necessarily better, when switching from the MX518's optical engine to the G5's laser.

I didn't know Logitech made a G400 until you mentioned it. I'm interested in trying it, since I rather miss the optical engine, but I'm also hesitant at throwing more money at Logitech with my prior G5's and current G500's button problems.

 

[mfenn]

As for the SSD, from what I have gathered, I would buy a decent sized version and install my games and my OS on the SSD and leave my HDD for storage?

That is correct. A 128GB SSD will allow you to install a decent number of games, but it is not sufficient if you're the type that must have every game that he owns installed simultaneously. The M4 128GB is a good deal at $210.

I agree with blackmage and lehtv with regard to the other parts, especially about not wasting money on a GTX 580. If your current ODD is SATA and works fine, you might as well bring it over to the new build. Same for the HDD since prices are a wee bit ridiculous right now.