"Up to" $2,000 Gaming PC Advice

[mphartzheim]

I've got a friend of a friend who's asked me to build a PC for them.. and they're going to actually pay me for my time! I can't believe someone's going to pay me for something that I find a lot of fun anyways!

They've given a budget of "up to" $2,000 and have the following requirements:
-- Play Diablo III smoothly "with maxed everything"
-- Primary drive needs to be SSD
-- Additional drive for storage
-- "Lots of RAM"
-- Does *not* need a monitor as he will use his current

Here's the updated list thanks to your suggestions:

Intel i7-860 Lynnfield 2.8Ghz Quad Core CPU $289.99
Self-explanatory. One of the top CPUs right now and should be future proof for a few years at least. Planning to OC it just a little, but the system needs to be completely stable as the buyer won't know what to do if anything fails due to OC'ing.

EVGA GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi) Superclocked 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 $249.99
I chose EVGA just because it's a brand I know and have used before. Other choices at this price range with similar specs are Gigabyte ($229.99) and MSI ($239.99).

G.SKILL 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 1333 RAM $199.99
The guy wanted lots of RAM, so he's getting lots of RAM. G.SKILL is my preferred brand of choice, and this specific set has been recommended in the thread.

Gigabyte Intel P55 Socket 1156 Motherboard $139.99
No opinions on this board. I have no experience with Gigabyte motherboards, but this has the specs I need at a price I can live with.

OCZ Vertex 2 120GB SATA II $309.00
120GB SSD should be big enough in my opinion. I honestly don't know much about SSDs because I've never looked into getting one due to their price/storage ratio. This was a suggested drive so I chose it.

Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB x 2 $139.98 (2x69.99)
Originally only had 1TB of storage, but storage is fairly cheap and this is still well under budget that it was easy to double the storage by adding a 2nd drive. (I didn't see any Spinpoint F3 7200 RPM drives that were 2 TB.)

Antec 900 $99.95
Personally, I think the Antec 900 is too flashy of a case. I prefer the P180, but this isn't a computer for me. It's a solid case with great reviews and I know it will work well for him.

Antec TruePower New 650W PSU $98.99
Recommended PSU from your suggestions. I wasn't sure how much power was needed since the CPU draws 90W and the GPU recommends at least a 550W PSU. Effecient, affordable, and enough power. Good enough for me.

LITE-ON 24X DVD Writer SATA $25.99
It burns DVDs. Need to know anything else?

Windows 7 Home Premium $99.99
I've been told to get the student program copy of Windows 7 for $30, however I don't have a .EDU address available for me to use. If anyone knows anything about how I can get one, please send me a PM.

Total comes to $1,657.72 with taxes and shipping. There's also $60 worth of mail-in-rebates to take off of that price.

Thanks for the opinions so far. Really, really helpful.

What would you change? I'd really like your opinions.

 

[Firsttime]

The only thing that jumps out to me is that RAM is like overkill to the nth degree. I would pick a cheaper 8 gig setup, or a 12 gig set like this for the same price, and get "lots" more RAM haha. 2200 isn't really needed unless you plan on doing some insane OC'ing. Using the savings I would add another drive. 1 tb doesn't really cut it these days on a high end rig.

Other then that it looks good to me, just remember you can't guarantee performance in a game that hasn't come out yet. One would think that would cut it in a Blizzard game. But after SC2 got announced it took like several more years to come out, so who knows.

 

[TheStu]

Are you going to OC? If not, then lose the additional HSF, the stock one with the CPU should be fine.

If the 470 is twice as good as the 460 then sure get it, but since you can get the 460 1GB for around $230 I would say go for that
Get 2*4GB instead of 4*2GB, or even better, just get 1 4GB stick for now. Unless he is doing some crazy RAM gobbling stuff (VMs, PhotoShop, Video Editing) then 8GB is overkill IMO.

Mobo, SSD (make sure you get the gen 2 intel drive) HDD, PSU all look fine to me. I have no opinions on the case, but I know that a lot of people like it.

Also, what resolution is his current monitor? And how long does he intend to keep it?

But yea, that is what I would change. Drop the HSF, halve the RAM, or get 2*4 instead of 4*2, and get the GTX460 instead of the GTX470.

 

[betasub]

Nice work - you could become Mr.10% on this one ;-)

The ridiculous super-fast, super-cooled RAM seems overkill: DDR3 1600 should be plenty for an i5/i7 CPU with a high multiplier (20+).

BTW, although the 900 is a great case as it is, you can play to your friend's taste by adding fans (with/without coloured LEDs) or a front panel card reader - small touchs that will make him feel he has got a boutique personalised build.

 

[mphartzheim]

Are you going to OC? If not, then lose the additional HSF, the stock one with the CPU should be fine.

He won't be touching the clocks once I hand the PC over to him. He likes computers, likes gaming, but hates dealing with hardware... which is why he's having me build it.

I always thought AMD stock HSF were suitable but Intel HSF were junk. Has that changed since I last bought a CPU (3 years ago)? Intel now comes with a worthy HSF?

Honestly, I haven't looked at new PC hardware since I did my last round of upgrading (3 years ago), so aside from skimming some reviews today while building this list I'm not sure what's better than what. And like you said, Diablo 3 isn't out yet so no idea what sort of specs or technology it will require to run it at max settings.

Thanks for the input so far.

 

[TheStu]

He won't be touching the clocks once I hand the PC over to him. He likes computers, likes gaming, but hates dealing with hardware... which is why he's having me build it.

I always thought AMD stock HSF were suitable but Intel HSF were junk. Has that changed since I last bought a CPU (3 years ago)? Intel now comes with a worthy HSF?

Honestly, I haven't looked at new PC hardware since I did my last round of upgrading (3 years ago), so aside from skimming some reviews today while building this list I'm not sure what's better than what. And like you said, Diablo 3 isn't out yet so no idea what sort of specs or technology it will require to run it at max settings.

Thanks for the input so far.

My CPU is running OCed to 3.25GHz (up from 2.5GHz) on stock air. It is completely silent (except when I first boot it up) and the fan usually sits at the lowest speed, even when gaming. The stock intel fan is just fine.

Conversely, my friend's stock AMD fan is noisy as all get out. It cools just fine as well, but it is loud.

Also, although you said that HE wouldn't OC it.. will you?

What resolution is his monitor?

 

[darkewaffle]

Admittedly D3 probably won't be an especially demanding game, by today's standards, but trying to build ahead of time often doesn't end well. Especially considering how far off D3 is (I really can't see them cannibalizing the SC2 hype/momentum, which will last for a while; and you might even make the same argument for WoW Cataclysm).

Thirding "What resolution is his monitor".

Switch the Caviar Black to a Spinpoint F3, save $30. 8 GB of RAM is great and more than enough, but dropping 350$ on it is ridiculous. Get Win7 through the student program for $30. I'd say get yourself a better heatsink, at the very least a Hyper 212+ in that price range.

How much space does he want in the primary drive? A 120 or 160 GB SSD might be worth considering with this budget.

 

[jchu14]

Most of the components looks good. Though since the case has a window, I would stick with an aftermarket tower heatsink just for the impressive look factor even if you don't need the performance.

I'll second theStuand betaSub and suggest a GSKILL 2x4gb kit. It's not much more expensive than 4x2gb and you'll have a lot more flexibility. If you're not overclocking, 1333MHz sticks will be good enough. Though 4gb total is enough for gaming right now, you should get 8 just for the idea of 'Lots of RAM'.

I also recommend a 120gb ssd instead of 80gb. A vertex2 or agility2 120gb SSD is only about $300, a little less after rebate. Game install sizes are getting ridiculously large these days and 80gb will feel pretty limiting.

The Earthwatt is a good psu, but the Antec TruePower New series is about the same price and it's a little bit more efficient. I would just get whichever is cheaper or have better combo deals the day you are gonna order the parts. 750 watt is overskill for a single 470 setup. A 650watt is a better size. You should also consider the Corsair TX and HX series.

Nothing wrong with the WD blacks, but an alternative is the Samsung F3, it's a little cheaper and is neck and neck with the WD Blacks in performance.

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

missing for that price (IMHO):

External hard drive and backup software.

 

[mfenn]

Damn, everyone got in here before me...

My thoughts are pretty much in like with jchu's (great minds think alike I suppose), though I question the wisdom of paying $325 for a GTX 470 (big fat 18MHz stock OC!!). This MSI is $280 AR and comes with a pretty good game (Metro 2033).

 

[TheStu]

I know that your friend is willing to spend 'up to' $2000, but how much does he care about actually meeting that number?

What I mean is, if you are able to save him money, either to free up funds for better stuff (slightly lesser CPU to free up money to get a better SSD for example) or to just save him money, would have be a good and even welcome thing?

Or is this like a shopping spree thing where he has $2000 to spend, and leftover is gone, like maybe a relative is buying it.

 

[Davidh373]

Ok, here are my recommendations. I apologize but I haven't read everyone else's comments.

I'd recommend 6GB ram. I have 6 and have never noticed using it all. In fact Windows 7 running a game (made after Crysis), Steam, a movie in HD and a web browser normally uses around 4.5GB. (I have dual monitors).

Get him the 80GB SSD and the 1TB SATA.

Get him an x58 motherboard with a 1366 i7. It's like $20-$40 more and you get some great performance.

I like your choice of the 470.

 

[mfenn]

Ok, here are my recommendations. I apologize but I haven't read everyone else's comments.

I'd recommend 6GB ram. I have 6 and have never noticed using it all. In fact Windows 7 running a game (made after Crysis), Steam, a movie in HD and a web browser normally uses around 4.5GB. (I have dual monitors).

Get him the 80GB SSD and the 1TB SATA.

Get him an x58 motherboard with a 1366 i7. It's like $20-$40 more and you get some great performance.

I like your choice of the 470.

Would not bother with the X58 because you're going to be paying $40-80 more for the mobo and more money per GB in RAM.

 

[mphartzheim]

Updated the first post with your suggestions. Changed quite a bit and dropped the price to $1,657.72. I'll shop around for the best prices once I get a hardware list set.

I do plan to OC the system, but not too much. It needs to be stable when I give it to him without much of any chance of failing due to being OC'd. If anything goes wrong due to the OC he won't know how to fix it.

His monitor setup is a dual monitor setup with two 20.1" widescreen monitors (1680x1050). I don't think resolution matters much since any card I would get for him would be able to drive just about any resolution he wanted.

Changelog:
- Changed Video Card to EVGA GTX 460
- Changed RAM to 8GB G.SKILL (2x4GB)
- Changed SSD to OCZ Vertex 2 120GB
- Changed storage drive to Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB (x2)
- Changed PSU to Antec TruePower New 650W

I know that your friend is willing to spend 'up to' $2000, but how much does he care about actually meeting that number?

I specifically mentioned "Up To" (and put it in quotes) because I think of it as an "out there" number that he doesn't really want to spend but is willing to spend. I'd like to get it closer to $1,500-$1,700... an amount that *I'd* be willing to spend on a top of the line computer.

 

[Firsttime]

Looks good to me. You can shave a bit more off if you want by changing the PSU to this.

If it's been awhile since your last build, Antec was probably pretty much the shit then. Corsair is generally considered solid now.

 

[Davidh373]

Good work on the 650W. I still think 8GB is overkill though.

 

[mfenn]

Updated the first post with your suggestions. Changed quite a bit and dropped the price to $1,657.72. I'll shop around for the best prices once I get a hardware list set.

I do plan to OC the system, but not too much. It needs to be stable when I give it to him without much of any chance of failing due to being OC'd. If anything goes wrong due to the OC he won't know how to fix it.

His monitor setup is a dual monitor setup with two 20.1" widescreen monitors (1680x1050). I don't think resolution matters much since any card I would get for him would be able to drive just about any resolution he wanted.

Changelog:
- Changed Video Card to EVGA GTX 460
- Changed RAM to 8GB G.SKILL (2x4GB)
- Changed SSD to OCZ Vertex 2 120GB
- Changed storage drive to Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB (x2)
- Changed PSU to Antec TruePower New 650W



I specifically mentioned "Up To" (and put it in quotes) because I think of it as an "out there" number that he doesn't really want to spend but is willing to spend. I'd like to get it closer to $1,500-$1,700... an amount that *I'd* be willing to spend on a top of the line computer.

Make sure to OC that GTX 460! They were made for it. The new build looks good.

 

[TheStu]

New build definitely looks better. As IHateMyJob pointed out, you really should do something about data protection. Either get another 2*1TB drives to run in a RAID 0+1, or some sort of external option.