Hey there
I'm mainly looking for a build that will let me play D3, BF3, Skyrim, SW:TOR, and the 'new' CounterStrike at max/close to max settings @ 1920x1200 res. I will need to buy a monitor/mouse/speakers but for the "guts" of the computer I'd like to keep it around $1000. I would like it to be overclockable, and when I get back (currently deployed) and turn in my travel vouchers I will buy a 2nd GPU and monitor.
Now that that's done with, here is what I have decided on so far.
CPU: Intel Core i5-2500K
Mobo: ASRock Z68 Extreme4
RAM: G.Skill 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 1600
GPU: -
Storage: Corsair Force S3 120GB SATA III SSD
Optical Drive: ASUS 24X DVD Burner
PSU: -
Case: LIAN LI PC-K62
Cooling: CM Hyper 212 Plus
Current Price: $774.93
I left out the GPU/PSU because I haven't been into computer tech since about '05 so I don't know a good GPU to run dual, or a PSU to match them. If there are some parts I could take some off of here and there that'd be nice. I put this list together doing a little research from here, tomshardware, and just looking at stuff on newegg. And if I left any other small things out, or if anyone has some good recommendations/deals on monitors/speakers/keyboards I'm all ears
For the GPU, I'd look into a Geforce GTX 560 Ti 448 Cores, which performs nearly as well as the more expensive GTX 570, but at a more reasonable price. It will handle pretty much any game maxed out at 1920 x 1200. You can add a second one later on without any problem.
PSU wise, I'd look into a XFX XXX 850W:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6817207017
It's well priced, reliable, efficient at 80PLUS Silver and semi-modular, in other words, required cables are attached.
For the CPU Cooler, considering that you'll be overclocking the CPU (going by the fact that you have a Core i5-2500K), the CM Hyper 212+ will be fine for mild overclocking, but if you to push the i5-2500K to 4.5GHz+, without the CPU Cooler being inadequate or too noisy, I'd upgrade to the NZXT Havik 140:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005869XYK/
The case is lovely and solid, I used one myself in my previous workstation, but I doubt that it will be able to handle a SLI setup, cooling wise. I'd look into a case with a large fan on the left side, to feed cool air to the video cards.
Something like this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6811147157
or
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001EPUQAE/ or even better, the
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003S68Q0Y/
For the last one, you can an extra fan (120mm x 38mm) in the GPU duct (fan inside the case, behind the hard drive case, right in front of the video cards) for even better cooling.
Other than that, your build looks solid to me.
Hmm.. looking at the prices, that would throw my price way over $1000. I'm fine going up to about $1100, but even that is a little more than I wanted to spend. Is what I'm looking for possible with this budget? What about the
Antec Twelve Hundred V3 case? With a $150 case added in, the total is roughly $1300. I don't mind downgrading some of the choices in my original post. I should have been more clear, I'm not "decided on" those items. That list was just more of what I had found so far.
I won't be buying before that promo code ends. I'm getting ready to spend $2600 on some engine parts for my Firebird so this will be off my next paycheck (Jan 1st). What do you have to say about AMD products? From what I am reading they are a little more geared towards 'budget' builds. What I am looking for doesn't necessarily have to be a high end system, I've been using a dual core Gateway laptop since 2008 so anything will be an upgrade. I made this post before I started really reading up and I guess I asked too much for that price range. Now that I've done a little more reading/research I'm thinking I'll have to scale back my preferences a little.
Edit: I use to do alot of computer building, and help my friends build theirs... but that was back in my first couple years of college when I was actually going to school for CIT. Now I work on aircraft lol.
AMD CPUs used to offer great value for budget builds, but this isn't the case anymore, as their performance lags behind Intel CPUs considerably, especially when it comes to video games performance and the price on their new FX series isn't competitive at all in my opinion.
In my opinion, I'd forgo the SLI compatibility and focus on a single video card instead. That would allow you to cut back on the cost of the case and power supply. When you feel like getting more performance, you can simply upgrade to a more powerful video card.
You could also wait until January 8th or so, which is when AMD is expected to launch their new Radeon HD 7950 and 7970 video cards, which should be faster than anything on the market.
You can try my build, most of it recommended from MathieuB. Its fairly similar to yours and the cost would be $1203 (Excluding the monitor, keyboard, mouse, and sound card.) including 120 SSD and 1TB HDD. Without the HHD SSD it would cost $901. All depends on the size you get.
Look below~
I may do what you suggest and just run a single video card. If the Geforce GTX 560 Ti 448 Cores performs as well as you said (which from what I read, it does) then I'll just do that. So now that that is decided upon, what would you suggest? Should I move back up to the ASRock Z68 Extreme4 mobo?
