$2500 for build, suggestions?

[Archer75]

I'm planning on selling my imac and should get about $2500 out of it. Two things the imac has spoiled me on is it's silent and has a nice display. This budget will have to include the shipping costs. I am in the U.S.
Locally I have access to a Fry's and bestbuy for parts. Newegg is just a state away(i'm in Oregon) so shipping costs from them aren't too bad. There is no microcenter here.

Will be used to play SWTOR, BF3, Skyrim, GW2, etc. as well as video encoding and some lightroom/photoshop work. I'm not a hardcore gamer anymore but when I want to play something I want it to look good and play smooth.

I will need case, PSU, CPU, motherboard, RAM, hard drive, bluray reader(not burner) and video card.
A microATX board would be nice to make a smaller system but it's not a requirement.
I won't run RAID but a SSD drive with a secondary mechanical drive would be ideal. I'm concerned about the reliability of the newer generation of SSD's, i've read about many stability issues. I'm not convinced I need a discrete soundcard. I do have a nice 2 channel speakers setup here though.

I already have keyboard, mouse, headset, gamepad and speakers. I'm leaning towards AMD video card(s).

I will not overclock.

Monitors, i'd like either a single nice 27" display at 2560x1440, 3 of those would be nice if it fits within the budget. Otherwise 3 decent 1920x1200 or 1920x1080 displays, 24" or larger. Would be nice to game on all three. I could run them in portrait mode. I like the height it adds but not sure if the edges of the frame closer together is annoying or not.

I'd like to build it within the next two months so if there is a worthwhile technology coming in that time frame I can wait. I'm not opposed to bulldozer if it can top sandy bridge but I haven't seen any numbers as of yet.

Board should have USB 3.0 as well as 6gb/s sata3.

I have a copy of win7 x64.

The system must be silent or close to it. My other PC here is very loud and it drives me nuts.
I have watercooled in the past but really don't want to do that anymore.
Stability is key.

I won't have the opportunity to build another system for the next several years so this one will have to last me.

 

[Xonim]

If you're gonna ask us to build/list a PC for you or seek advice about a build, please answer all of the following questions:

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
6) Will you be overclocking?
7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video? etc.
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?

 

[Archer75]

If you're gonna ask us to build/list a PC for you or seek advice about a build, please answer all of the following questions:

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
6) Will you be overclocking?
7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video? etc.
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?

I did. All of those questions have answers in my original post.

 

[Xonim]

Okay then. In the future, please follow the template stickied on the forum. It helps

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Will be used to play SWTOR, BF3, Skyrim, etc. as well as video encoding and some lightroom/photoshop work. I'm not a hardcore gamer anymore but when I want to play something I want it to look good and play smooth. I won't have the opportunity to build another system for the next several years so this one will have to last me.

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
I'm planning on selling my imac and should get about $2500 out of it. This budget will have to include the shipping costs.

3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.
I am in the U.S. Locally I have access to a Fry's and bestbuy for parts. Newegg is just a state away so shipping costs from them aren't too bad. There is no microcenter here.

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.
I will need case, PSU, CPU, motherboard, RAM, hard drive, bluray reader(not burner) and video card.

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
I already have keyboard, mouse, headset, gamepad and speakers.

6) Will you be overclocking?
I will not overclock.

7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
Monitors, i'd like either a single nice 27" display at 2560x1440, 3 of those would be nice if it fits within the budget. Otherwise 3 decent 1920x1200 or 1920x1080 displays, 24" or larger. Would be nice to game on all three. I could run them in portrait mode. I like the height it adds but not sure if the edges of the frame closer together is annoying or not.

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
I'd like to build it within the next two months so if there is a worthwhile technology coming in that time frame I can wait. I'm not opposed to bulldozer if it can top sandy bridge but I haven't seen any numbers as of yet.

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video? etc.
Two things the imac has spoiled me on is it's silent and has a nice display. I'm leaning towards AMD video card(s). The system must be silent or close to it. My other PC here is very loud and it drives me nuts. I have watercooled in the past but really don't want to do that anymore. Stability is key. A microATX board would be nice to make a smaller system but it's not a requirement. I won't run RAID but a SSD drive with a secondary mechanical drive would be ideal. I'm concerned about the reliability of the newer generation of SSD's, i've read about many stability issues. Board should have USB 3.0 as well as 6gb/s sata3. I'm not convinced I need a discrete soundcard. I do have a nice 2 channel speakers setup here though.

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
I have a copy of win7 x64.

 

[bwang]

3 2560x1600's alone will run over-budget, so you're stuck with 3 1080p's.

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z68XP-UD3 $140
CPU: Core i7-2600K $315
RAM: Corsair Vengeance DDR3-1600 4x4GB kit $105
GPU: MSI R6950 Twin Frozr II x2 $560
SSD: OCZ Vertex Limited Edition 100GB $110 with coupon code hard83011a
HDD: Hitachi Deskstar 7K3000 2TB 7200RPM SATA 3.5" Bare Drive $100
PSU: Corsair TX850 $135
That's $1455 for the core system, leaving you with $1000 to distribute between case, cooling, and monitors as you see fit (depending on how obsessive you are with image quality, quietness, etc).
A sound card is complete overkill unless you are an audiophile.
I'd water cool the CPU...the sealed units are very convenient and pretty cheap these days.
If you are so inclined, you can go with SLI 570's instead of Crossfire 6950's, and you can save $100 going with a i5.
Wait for Danny Bui's advice...he knows the Newegg combos and such.

 

[Forceman]

I'd stay away from OCZ SSDs - just too much history of issues there. Go with an Intel 320 or A Crucial M4. Also, just go with 8GB of RAM and save some money to put elsewhere - for what you intend to use it for 16GB is probably overkill.

 

[eggrock]

3 2560x1600's alone will run over-budget, so you're stuck with 3 1080p's.

CPU: Core i7-2600K $315

Can save $$$ with a non-K 2600 since there's no need to overclock. Too bad there's no Microcenter near the OP.

 

[Deleted member 88227]

Since you are willing, too wait a couple months, you should just come back then and bump this topic. Those games should be out and we should have something from AMD.

 

[bwang]

Can save $$$ with a non-K 2600 since there's no need to overclock. Too bad there's no Microcenter near the OP.

The K is more future-proof; there's always a chance the OP will want to overclock in the future, and I'm sure the K will have better resale value.

 

[Dangman]

I'd like to build it within the next two months so if there is a worthwhile technology coming in that time frame I can wait. I'm not opposed to bulldozer if it can top sandy bridge but I haven't seen any numbers as of yet.

All right, here's the deal: Our recommendations tend to change from month to month due to Newegg combo deals or lack therof and parts pricing and availability. As such, parts we recommend this month may not be the same parts we recommend next month. So if you're planning on building two months from now, we simply can't help you that well. Your best bet if you're planning on building two months from now is to wait until then ask for advice again.

Bulldozer CPUs are rumored to be coming out in October now. There haven't been any official performance numbers yet either. AMD is pretty quiet about this. In addition, AMD's new HD 7xxx series GPUs are supposedly due out in the next few months.

However if you're willing to build within this month and don't want to wait for Bulldozer or the HD 7xxx series GPUs, let us know and we can start planning builds for you.

 

[Archer75]

All right, here's the deal: Our recommendations tend to change from month to month due to Newegg combo deals or lack therof and parts pricing and availability. As such, parts we recommend this month may not be the same parts we recommend next month. So if you're planning on building two months from now, we simply can't help you that well. Your best bet if you're planning on building two months from now is to wait until then ask for advice again.

Bulldozer CPUs are rumored to be coming out in October now. There haven't been any official performance numbers yet either. AMD is pretty quiet about this. In addition, AMD's new HD 7xxx series GPUs are supposedly due out in the next few months.

However if you're willing to build within this month and don't want to wait for Bulldozer or the HD 7xxx series GPUs, let us know and we can start planning builds for you.

Essentially what i'm saying is i'm not in a rush. I can build in two weeks or two months. Doesn't really matter to me.

If I can decide on quality parts now, at least some of them, then I can take my time to wait for some killer sales on those very parts. I'm more interested in choosing the right parts, quality parts, and then spend some time eyeing the deal sites for the best prices on those specific parts.

I want to choose the part, not the deal. I don't want to take an inexpensive combo deal with a particular cpu/board if that board isn't of the quality level I want.
If I budget with parts at retail price and then get good deals and come in under that's fine.

 

[Deleted member 88227]

Essentially what i'm saying is i'm not in a rush. I can build in two weeks or two months. Doesn't really matter to me.

If I can decide on quality parts now, at least some of them, then I can take my time to wait for some killer sales on those very parts. I'm more interested in choosing the right parts, quality parts, and then spend some time eyeing the deal sites for the best prices on those specific parts.

Things don't generally work out that way with how fast new technology comes out. Say you wanna get a 6970 for $50 less than what they are now, sure that would be a good deal now, but lets say that deal doesn't come until 2 months from now when it's $50 cheaper, but their is new video cards out causing the price point, when they are reasonably priced making them the better deal at that time.

Which is why; what's recommended right now most likely will not be the same recommendation a month from now. If you want to build this week, then we'll get you the best deal/bang for you buck today; but do not follow that 2 months from now.

 

[Archer75]

Ok, ready to build, lay it on me.

Also, crossfire vs one high end card? One large high resolution monitor vs 3 1920x1200 monitors? Probably up to personal preference i'd imagine.

 

[Deleted member 88227]

Well if you plan on gaming on all three 1080P monitors then you'll want CF/SLI'd cards to handle it.

I've played on triple monitors once and man, I can't wait until I get the money to get two more monitors and a second card so I too can game on three displays. It's pretty killer.

With that being said, you have the budget for a triple display setup which I am going to work on here in just a minute.

 

[Deleted member 88227]

weird, thought i hit the submit button but after coming back it was like nothing happened

 

[Deleted member 88227]

$299.99 - Intel Core i7-2600 Sandy Bridge 3.4GHz
$129.99 - MSI P67A-G43 (B3) LGA 1155 Intel P67
$47.99 - G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333
$279.99 - MSI R6950 Twin Frozr II Radeon HD 6950 2GB (Two of these)
$179.99 - Asus VE248H Black 24" 1920X1080 (Use promo code EMCKAJG28 before the end of today to get the $20 discount, otherwise they'll be $199.99 each and you want three of these.)
$59.99 - SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB
$199.99 - Crucial M4 CT128M4SSD2 2.5" 128GB
$121.50 - CORSAIR Enthusiast Series TX850 V2 850W (Use promo code EMCKAKA24 to get it to this price @ 10% off)
$59.99 - SAMSUNG Black 12X BD-ROM

Subtotal: $2019.39

Choose your own case:
$90 - Cooler Master CM690 II Advance ATX Case
$90 - Lian Li Lancool PC-K7B ATX Case
$100 - Lian Li PC-7B Plus II ATX Case
$100 - Cooler Master HAF 922 RC-922M-KKN1-GP ATX Case
$110 - NZXT Whisper WHI - 001BK ATX Full Tower Case
$100 - Lian Li PC-7FN ATX Case
$110 - Lian Li PC-60FN ATX Case
$113 - Velocity Micro GX2-W Silver Classic Aluminum Case with Side Window
$110 - Fractal Design Arc Mini Tower
$120 - Corsair Carbide Series 400R ATX Case
$130 - Fractal Design Define R3 Black ATX Case
$140 - NZXT Phantom PHAN-001WT White Full Tower ATX Case
$140 - NZXT Phantom PHAN-001BK Black Full Tower ATX Case
$140 - Lian Li PC-9F ATX Case
$140 - Cooler Master HAF 932 RC-932-KKN1-GP ATX Case
$140 - Antec Performance One Series P183 V3 ATX Case
$143 - NZXT Phantom PHAN-002OR Black Finish w/Orange Trim Full Tower ATX Case
$150 - Corsair Graphite Series 600T ATX Case
$160 - Silverstone RV02B-W ATX case
$178 - Silverstone RV02B-EW ATX case
$190 - Corsair Obsidian Series 650D ATX Case

Some notes:
I chose the 2600 (Non K model) because it will benefit you on your video encoding and photoshop work, but please note you'll see NO performance increase while gaming. So only get this CPU if you want your video encoding to go faster. Otherwise, save the money and go with this instead:
$204.99 - Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (use promo code EMCKAJG23 for the $15 off discount)
Now note that the "K" model of the Intel Sandy Bridge CPUs are the over clockers CPU. I know you said you do not plan to over clock, at all; however it's actually cheaper to get the 2500K instead of the 2500 right now with that promo code, so you aren't spending more money.

Motherboard was chose because it has a 3 year warranty and meets your requirements.

The RAM. You'll see no real world performance increase between DDR3 1333 and DDR3 1600, so we're going with the cheaper DDR3 1333. Depending on how serious you are with Photshop, go with a second set so you'll have a total of 16GB of RAM. RAM is cheap now, so really no reason not to but it's not really needed.

The 6950 is one of the best bang for your buck cards out right now and going with two of them should power your triple display setup while gaming nicely. (Wont know about BF3 as it hasn't come out yet.) We need to go with the 2GB model due to the multiple displays, the VRAM will help. Also it comes with a free game, so that's cool too.

The monitors, using the promo code they are a good buy.

The Samsung F3 is one of, if not the best performing hard disk drive out on the market. It's closet competitor is the WD Caviar Black series which isn't any faster but costs a good bit more.

All of those newer SSDs you mentioned that are having issues are based on the Sandfoce chipset. Stay away from those. I'd also steer away from OCZ right now as we've seen reports of their customer service being rather poor lately. With that being said, that leaves the Crucial M4 and Intel 510 series, IMHO I think the M4 is the better buy.

That 850W PSU will be plenty of power to handle Crossfire 6950s (You could probably get away with a solid 750W unit, but I like to leave a little more room that "right there" so here is a 850W unit)

It's the cheapest Bluray player I could find. I mean, it doesn't do much really.

The cases, compliments of Danny Bui, are all the best bang for your buck cases out there. They provide the best cooling and cable management, plus plenty of room for your components. They'll handle those 6950s with ease. I personally have the CM 690 II Advanced and man, its probably the best case I've ever owned.

 

[DoubleTap]

Your main source of noise is probably your GPU and the second main source could be your case if you are careless in your case or fan selection and setup.

I would recommend you find a motherboard with an extra slot between the GPU slots and go for a pair of quiet, triple slot coolers - usually from Arctic, but I think the Zalman ones are good as well.

If you look at my sig, you will see that I have dual GTX480s which have a reputation of running hot and loud - Thanks to my cooling setup, I often run them significantly overclocked (825-850mhz) and they remain cool and completely inaudible. If you don't get a board with the extra space between video slots, then your only real option for a quiet multiple GPU setup is water cooling.

It's not cheap, but you can shop around. If you go with the Arctic coolers, you need the main HSF unit and then a mounting kit for your type of card. I found that some places discount the HSF and gouge you on the adaptor and some do it the other way - careful shopping let me get 2 full cooler setups for about $120, but $160 is probably more like it:

http://www.arctic.ac/en/p/cooling/vga/18/accelero-xtreme-plus.html?c=2182

Of all the things I have put into my system, I consider these to be the best investment or bang for the buck.

Go for the triple screens - it's a blast, but if you get anything less than dual 6970s (or maybe triple 6950s, but that seems less practical) then I think you will regret it. If you have to cut corners, do the video stuff the right way now and go single screen - there are a lot of games that will run smoother on dual cards and it's not the waste that a lot of people will tell you it is - I had dual 480s for a long time before I got my tri screen set up and as powerful as one card was, two was a noticeable improvement. Get the video first - dual cards and good coolers and then, if you have to, get the triple screens a little later. I recommend my own setup...

ASUS VE258Q - 5 eggs with 83 reviews:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236123&Tpk=ve258q

Chief KTP325
http://www.chiefmfg.com/Products/KTP325B