Rocking Gaming Machine for ~$750 - Check build/advice

[rpf717rpf]

1. What YOUR PC will be used for. That means what types of tasks you'll be performing.
GAMING, PHOTO & VIDEO Editing

2. What YOUR budget is. A price range is acceptable as long as it's not more than a 20% spread –
I don’t really have a hard limit – my philosophy is to spend as much as necessary to get good stuff, but not to buy the stuff that gives you an extra 10% performance but costs 100% more. But I'll spend more than $750 if it makes a decent difference

3. What country YOU will be buying YOUR parts from.
Currently living in Seoul S. Korea, but have an APO address and parents/sliblings in the US who can easily send me stuff

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.
Not really – but have had better luck with nVidia drivers than ATI, but that’s probably not a global phenomenom.

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

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

7. IF YOU plan on overclocking or run the system at default speeds.
Probably a modest overclock. Nothing major

8. What resolution YOU plan on gaming with.
1080p on a 24” dell LCD.

9. WHEN do you plan to build it?
Pretty soon, I definitely want it to be ready by the release of Skyrim. Because I live in Korea, I probably will want to order parts early because it takes a couple (few) weeks to ship here from the US>

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

Here’s what I’m thinking:


Memory: $60 1. G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231428

CPU: $180 - 2500k –
http://www.microcenter.com/single_pr...uct_id=0354589


MB - $60 (AR & AC) Gigabyte GA-Z68MA-D2H-B3 LGA 1155 Z68 mATX Intel Motherboard
http://www.microcenter.com/single_pr...uct_id=0364087

GPU - $205 (AR) EVGA 01G-P3-1561-AR GeForce GTX 560 Ti FPB (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130604

SSD - ~$150 not sure which one yet, but want 96 – 128 gb. Model. Kingston SSD 100+ can be had occasionally for $1/gb.

HDD - $50 – WD blue caviar 500gb (or something else cheap – alternatively I could just use this $50 for a bigger SSD as I have networked server with 7 tb’s of space) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136073

CPU cooler - $30 -COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus RR-B10-212P-G1

Random DVD burner $25

Already have

Antec p180 case midsize

Corsair VX550W - 550 watt PSU – I know some people might go bigger, but I have it and I definitely will not be doing SLI, or adding more HDDs etc.

Total cost ~$760 plus some tax here and there

Thanks for taking your time to look. I appreciate it.

 

[mfenn]

First off, are you planning to have somebody stop by Mictrocenter and pick the stuff up for you? Cause the prices you listed are in-store only.

Beyond that, here are my comments:
- RAM: No real reason to spend $60 on 8GB of DDR3. This $45 G.Skill DDR3 1333 kit will perform within a couple percent.
- CPU: Good
- Mobo: Good
- GPU: $205 for a GTX 560 Ti is kind of meh to me. A 6870 is $155 AR and nearly as fast and a 6950 2GB is $245 AR and a good bit faster.
- SSD : If you want 120GB, I'd stretch the budget to $185 or so that you can avoid the crap SSDs. Check out the Patriot Pyro.
- HDD : Samsung F3 1TB, $60.
- HSF: Good
- DVD : $19

 

[Spikesoldier]

check out the electronics market at yongsan station. its any tech-nerd's wet dream come true.

 

[rpf717rpf]

First off, are you planning to have somebody stop by Mictrocenter and pick the stuff up for you? Cause the prices you listed are in-store only.

Beyond that, here are my comments:
- RAM: No real reason to spend $60 on 8GB of DDR3. This $45 G.Skill DDR3 1333 kit will perform within a couple percent.
- CPU: Good
- Mobo: Good
- GPU: $205 for a GTX 560 Ti is kind of meh to me. A 6870 is $155 AR and nearly as fast and a 6950 2GB is $245 AR and a good bit faster.
- SSD : If you want 120GB, I'd stretch the budget to $185 or so that you can avoid the crap SSDs. Check out the Patriot Pyro.
- HDD : Samsung F3 1TB, $60.
- HSF: Good
- DVD : $19

Yeah, luckily my brother lives 5 minutes from a microcenter in ohio.

Regarding the GPU, I definitely want to nearly max out the settings in Skyrim at 1080p. Do you still think the 6870 would still be the way to go or should I hold out for a 6950?

 

[rpf717rpf]

check out the electronics market at yongsan station. its any tech-nerd's wet dream come true.

Just checked it out last week. More electronics in one place than I could ever imagine. To my HUGE disappointment, the prices seemed to suck.

all the 560-ti's were around 280000 won or about $260. The 2500k was also about the same price.

I was really hoping to be able to get cheap stuff there, but as far as I can tell, it was more expensive than the US. . . .

 

[Spikesoldier]

Just checked it out last week. More electronics in one place than I could ever imagine. To my HUGE disappointment, the prices seemed to suck.

all the 560-ti's were around 280000 won or about $260. The 2500k was also about the same price.

I was really hoping to be able to get cheap stuff there, but as far as I can tell, it was more expensive than the US. . . .

ive noticed that DRAM can be pretty affordable there, and they were fresh! I mean from the factory. the week and year codes for the memory ive got from there always were current of the week i bought them.

agree that things are a little overpriced unless you can haggle well, or the won eases off the dollar more. It has slid a little due to the recent stock market crashes, but cant be competitive with newegg or especially microcenter deals.

 

[Spikesoldier]

Yeah, luckily my brother lives 5 minutes from a microcenter in ohio.

Regarding the GPU, I definitely want to nearly max out the settings in Skyrim at 1080p. Do you still think the 6870 would still be the way to go or should I hold out for a 6950?

i would go with the 6950 2GB for the larger video memory so you can max at 1080. then, if you ever need more graphics horsepower in the future, it would be easy to go CF and drop a second one in there.

 

[Meghan54]

Personally, about the motherboard, I'd look one step up to the Gigabyte Z68MX-UD2H or the Z68X-UD3H.

I know they're more expensive, $20 and $40 respectively, but you gain from both rear USB 3.0 ports (the D2H has none), an eSATA port (again, the D2H has none), and a Display Port output (again, the D2H has none.)

Gigabyte had to cut corners somewhere to get the price down, but the exclusion on the rear panel of the USB 3.0 ports and the eSATA port on the D2H makes the UD2H and/or UD3H better options.....again, just in my opinion.

http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0364086

http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0364085

 

[mfenn]

Yeah, luckily my brother lives 5 minutes from a microcenter in ohio.

Regarding the GPU, I definitely want to nearly max out the settings in Skyrim at 1080p. Do you still think the 6870 would still be the way to go or should I hold out for a 6950?

The 6950 2GB is definitely the higher performance card. I'd go for it if you want to max everything out at high res.