New here and trying to build a gaming rig

[SliPaladin]

Hello guys, my name is Dante and I'm new here. The reason that I joined this forum is because I've always wanted to build a custom gaming rig. My goal is run games like Crysis, Metro 2033 and Battlefield 3 completely maxed out on 1080p res and I would like you guys to suggest what parts should I order and how much it's going to cost me. Oh and is it possible to connect my PC with my TV? It's a Sony Bravia 120hz Full HD and I don't really wanna buy another monitor (trying to save as much as possible) I would like to use my TV instead, is that possible?

 

[T101]

Yes, it is possible to use your tv. I cant say prices for your region, but I could put together a suggestion of hardware.

Asus P8P67 Pro or Deluxe (or any other P67 motherboard)
8 GB DDR3 1333Mhz (up to 1600Mhz) 1.5 or 1.65V (Recommend Corsair Vengeance)
Core i5 2500K
GeForce 580 or ATI Radeon 6870
Corsair HX 850 power supply (or any other high quality power supply in that power range).

That is the basics. You add harddrives and case etc as per your preferences. It will run it maxed out

 

[shortylickens]

He's definitely gonna need a powerful video card and CPU for those games to run at max detail.

You are look at a thousand dollars American, probably.
I have know idea what it will cost in Albania.

 

[SliPaladin]

He's definitely gonna need a powerful video card and CPU for those games to run at max detail.

You are look at a thousand dollars American, probably.
I have know idea what it will cost in Albania.

I plan on ordering the parts from Newegg. So far I have a list:
RAM - Corsair Vengeance 8gb (2 x 4gb) - $95
CPU - Intel i5 2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) - $225
GPU - Sapphire Radeon HD6870 1GB - $210
Motherboard - MSI P67A-C43 (B3) - $115
CD/DVD Burner - Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS - $22
HDD - Western Digital Caviar Black WD5002AALX 500GB 7200rpm - $60
PSU - Corsair CMPSU-750TX 750W - $110
Case - NZXT Apollo Black - $60
Mouse - Razer Orochi 4000dpi - $65
Keyboard - Logitech K800 - $80
Total = $1,042
Is this ok to max those games?

 

[JumBie]

Everything looks good except for the video card, i owned a 6870 before and you wont be able to max the new games out and some games that are currently out @ 1080p with that card, especially with all the eye candy. I upgrades to a 580 and now i can max anything out, and hopefully some of the newer titles to. Id say upgrade to at least a 6970 or 570.

 

[Soccerman06]

I plan on ordering the parts from Newegg. So far I have a list:
RAM - Corsair Vengeance 8gb (2 x 4gb) - $95
CPU - Intel i5 2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) - $225
GPU - Sapphire Radeon HD6870 1GB - $210
Motherboard - MSI P67A-C43 (B3) - $115
CD/DVD Burner - Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS - $22
HDD - Western Digital Caviar Black WD5002AALX 500GB 7200rpm - $60
PSU - Corsair CMPSU-750TX 750W - $110
Case - NZXT Apollo Black - $60
Mouse - Razer Orochi 4000dpi - $65
Keyboard - Logitech K800 - $80
Total = $1,042
Is this ok to max those games?

Eh Id definitely get the 6970 over the 6870 if your sticking with a single card solution since its a good 30%+ faster and will keep min frame rates above 30fps for $~330. If you want dual card you can get 2x6870 for $360 or 2x6850 for $300, or 2x460 1gb for $280. All of those will perform much greater than a single 6970 (some will need OC).

A 6870 can barely run metro 2033 at 30fps @ 1920x1200 max settings. In any serious fight the fps will drop lower than 30fps.

Save yourself some money and dont spend that much on a keyboard and mouse, more expensive mouse/keyboard wont make any difference in games. However if you want those for their look thats your call. I firmly believe in going to a store and trying out a mouse before you buy if you can, using a mouse for 8 hours a day thats uncomfortable sucks.

 

[CVSiN]

change to a i7 2600K if I were you.. running mine at 4.5ghz now and its a freight train nothing slows it down.. running a 580 with it as well.

 

[Soccerman06]

change to a i7 2600K if I were you.. running mine at 4.5ghz now and its a freight train nothing slows it down.. running a 580 with it as well.

A 2500k can go just as fast as a 2600k. Only major difference between the two when OCing is the cache and HT, and since HT is mostly useless in games, theres no need in spending the extra $100.

 

[CVSiN]

A 2500k can go just as fast as a 2600k. Only major difference between the two when OCing is the cache and HT, and since HT is mostly useless in games, theres no need in spending the extra $100.

I wasn't just considering a 100% game only use.
the proc is much faster across the board in general usage especially when the cache and HT comes into play. those features and the extra speed gives more CPU longevity if you ask me. (less upgrade cycles in the long run unless the OP is like me and goes through a CPU every single generation.)

 

[Soccerman06]

I wasn't just considering a 100% game only use.
the proc is much faster across the board in general usage especially when the cache and HT comes into play. those features and the extra speed gives more CPU longevity if you ask me. (less upgrade cycles in the long run unless the OP is like me and goes through a CPU every single generation.)

Considering he only mentioned this as using for a gaming rig, HT will SLOW his gaming down as it is a less efficient way to go about doing work. 90% of the games out now (future games who knows) use 2 cores, and 9% use between 2-4, and the 1% that actually use 4+ cores (gta4) wont see a benefit at high res until we get cpu limited in that game (need much more powerful gpu). Since OP will most likely not modify the game files to tell which threads the game to use, the 2500k is better. Most games know to stay on non HT threads, but some dont and will slow down because the game uses these slower threads. As for frequency, the 2500k will go faster if heat is a limitation since HT produces 10+ C more heat than no HT, same as with the 9x0 series chips. Of course the user can disable HT but whats the point in spending $100 more if your going to turn off the main feature of the product? Cache will only make 1-2% difference in cpu limited games, and since he will not be cpu limited in games unless hes playing games from pre 2005. If the OP will use the computer for non gaming applications like media encoding, thats a different, but he never mentioned it so I will assume casual use at best and money saved > time spend encoding.

 

[Kudro]

I plan on ordering the parts from Newegg. So far I have a list:
RAM - Corsair Vengeance 8gb (2 x 4gb) - $95
CPU - Intel i5 2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) - $225
GPU - Sapphire Radeon HD6870 1GB - $210
Motherboard - MSI P67A-C43 (B3) - $115
CD/DVD Burner - Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS - $22
HDD - Western Digital Caviar Black WD5002AALX 500GB 7200rpm - $60
PSU - Corsair CMPSU-750TX 750W - $110
Case - NZXT Apollo Black - $60
Mouse - Razer Orochi 4000dpi - $65
Keyboard - Logitech K800 - $80
Total = $1,042
Is this ok to max those games?

SliPaladin,

T101 probably meant the Radeon 6970. The GTX570 and Radeon 6970 are close competitors and excellent graphics cards. The GTX580 is a slight step above those two, but I believe all of them should be able to take care of your needs at 1080p.

 

[SliPaladin]

Ah ok so I'll just scrap the 6870. I've been quite fascinated by the Nvidia PhysX and I was wondering if Radeon GPU's have that? If not I'll just go with an Nvidia card, possibly the GTX 570.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-432-_-Product

 

[AstroManLuca]

No, PhysX is nVidia only.

 

[The Boston Dangler]

Ah ok so I'll just scrap the 6870. I've been quite fascinated by the Nvidia PhysX and I was wondering if Radeon GPU's have that? If not I'll just go with an Nvidia card, possibly the GTX 570.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-432-_-Product

physics processing is extremely overrated. for a video game machine, i would not consider physics processing in my decision making. if it were for a commercial application i think nvidia currently has an advantage, but this does nothing for games.

 

[marmasatt]

All that money and you are not going with an SSD? Pm sent too.

 

[Vanek]

Sorry to jump in but I'm upgrading my computer as well for Battlefield 3 etc, so far I've ordered

XFX 6870x2
i5 2500k
asus p67 pro
4gb corsair vengeancex2

Now I need to look at hard drive solutions, is an SSD worth it and if not what HDD's are good? Thanks.

 

[wuliheron]

Sorry to jump in but I'm upgrading my computer as well for Battlefield 3 etc, so far I've ordered

XFX 6870x2
i5 2500k
asus p67 pro
4gb corsair vengeancex2

Now I need to look at hard drive solutions, is an SSD worth it and if not what HDD's are good? Thanks.

The only advantages to SSDs are fast loading times and, in some games, they help reduce stuttering. With the amount you're spending I'd get at least a 60gb SSD for the operating system and that can be anything from a last generation sandforce to the latest sata 3. Other then minor differences in load times you don't really need the lastest sata 3 SSDs just for gaming.

 

[smartpatrol]

Physx shouldn't factor very highly in your decision process, but it's a neat novelty for the few games that use it. The fog & cloth effects in Batman: Arkham Asylum (and the upcoming Arkham City) look pretty good.

The GTX 570 is a great GPU regardless. Performance is basically identical to the HD6970. Might as well go with the 570 if you are interested in Physx. I'm using a GTX 570 at home and gaming on my 50 in. HDTV. Batman:AA is awesome on the big screen maxed out with Physx

Also consider picking up a wired Xbox 360 controller for emulators or console-ized games (Batman, DMC4, GTA, Dead Rising, etc).

 

[SliPaladin]

I'll think about putting an SSD later on.
@smartpatrol I'll definitely be picking up a controller because I just can't get used to the keyboard controls for gaming. Any suggestions about 3rd party wireless controllers? I'm not really into the wired stuff.

 

[SliPaladin]

Wait, my friend is telling that I need a soundcard in order to have sound in my computer. Is this true?

 

[Raider1284]

Wait, my friend is telling that I need a soundcard in order to have sound in my computer. Is this true?

No. Almost all motherboards now have built in soundcards. If you want really fancy sound then you can get an physical sound card, but for most cases the motherboard sound is just fine

For example the msi motherboard that you are looking at has:

Audio Chipset
Realtek ALC892

Audio Channels
8 Channels

 

[s1njin]

Wait, my friend is telling that I need a soundcard in order to have sound in my computer. Is this true?

Your mobo will likely have onboard sound. Will it get the job done? Yes. Would a 30 dollar ASUS Xonar DG be a worthwhile upgrade over onboard sound? Absolutely.

 

[smartpatrol]

I'll think about putting an SSD later on.
@smartpatrol I'll definitely be picking up a controller because I just can't get used to the keyboard controls for gaming. Any suggestions about 3rd party wireless controllers? I'm not really into the wired stuff.

You can use a wireless 360 controller as well, but you need to get a special receiver for it. That's actually what I'm using currently. I love that controller design.

I haven't had any experience with any other wireless controllers, though.

 

[AstroManLuca]

You can use a wireless 360 controller as well, but you need to get a special receiver for it. That's actually what I'm using currently. I love that controller design.

I haven't had any experience with any other wireless controllers, though.

I would just go for the 360 controller. It is the best supported controller by modern games, and it's pretty easy to set it up for older games as well. Get the one that is wireless and for PC and it will include a USB receiver, like this:

 

[SliPaladin]

Awesome guys, thanks for all the info you're really helping me out.