6 Year Upgrade Gaming Build

[ScottyRotten]

Hello all, I'm upgrading my ~6 year gaming build to a brand spanking new setup. Thanks in advance for any help you may have.

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Gaming, I would like to run Guild Wars 2, Diablo III, DotA2, League of Legends all on the highest settings.

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
~$1000 if its REALLY going to count, but I would prefer to stay around $800. Tax and shipping not included I have an Amazon Prime and am going to try order with that in mind.

3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.
I live in the UK, but am in the military. So I use the APO, AE city and state for my mailing address. (Websites will send me packages in $ since its a valid US address).

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.
Mobo, CPU, RAM, GPU, HD, PS

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
I'm thinking about using my current case http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811112099 but will upgrade if I absolutely have to. 500GB HD. A friend of mine is willing to sell me a EVGA 560ti for $150 if that's the card that I decide to go with.

6) Will you be overclocking?
Not planning on it, I've never done it but if I can do it safely and will see a good performance boost than I would consider it.

7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
22" 1920x1080

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
Within the month.

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video (as a backup or main GPU)? UEFI? etc.
USB 3.0, onboard wifi would be nice, but wouldn't be a breaking point in the least.

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit? Yes 64bit

This is my current build. As you can see its over budget, are there area's where I can scrimp a bit? Does this meet my goals? Is it decently future proofed? I'm considering not buying the SSD now, and picking one up in a few months when I get some extra money.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($240.27 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD3H ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($159.99 @ NCIX US)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Hard Drive: Crucial m4 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($124.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 680 2GB Video Card ($507.55 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair 750W ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($84.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1177.78
(Prices include shipping and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2012-05-02 13:09 EDT-0400)


Once again thanks for the help.

 

[Dangman]

If there's a very good chance that you're willing to OC, then drop the SSD and hope that it's still at a good price later on when you buy it later. Also, DDR3 1600 RAM isn't worth it for Intel SB/IB CPUs. So you can drop the RAM down to this:
$40 - Corsair CMV8GX3M2A1333C9 2 x 4GB DDR3 1333 RAM

If the GTX 680 isn't available when you're buying the PC, go for the HD 7850 2GB, HD 7950 2GB, or HD 7970 2GB. The $150 GTX 560 Ti that your friend is selling to you is a good choice if you're not planning on playing BF3, Skyrim, or Metro 2033 on high to max settings. For the games you mentioned playing, it should be ok for high settings at the least.

If you don't ever plan on overclocking, drop the CPU down to the Core i5 3450 as that'll save you $35. You can also drop the mobo down to this:
http://www.amazon.com/MSI-Computer-...2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1335985210&sr=1-2

 

[ScottyRotten]

If there's a very good chance that you're willing to OC, then drop the SSD and hope that it's still at a good price later on when you buy it later.

If the GTX 680 isn't available when you're buying the PC, go for the HD 7850 2GB, HD 7950 2GB, or HD 7970 2GB. The $150 GTX 560 Ti that your friend is selling to you is a good choice if you're not planning on playing BF3, Skyrim, or Metro 2033 on high to max settings. For the games you mentioned playing, it should be ok for high settings at the least. [/url]

If I were to overclock I would want the SSD?

Are there huge differences between those three graphics cards? Enough to fret the details about?

Thank you so much for the help, you're a true God among builders!

 

[E4g1e]

If I were to overclock I would want the SSD?

Are there huge differences between those three graphics cards? Enough to fret the details about?

Thank you so much for the help, you're a true God among builders!

Actually, you would be forced to omit the SSD if you were to want to overclock because the parts that we normally recommend for overclocking would cost you a decent amount of money that would eat further into your limited budget. As such, you might not have enough money to accommodate both overclocking and an SSD in the same system at the time that you're actually making the purchase.

 

[happyboy]

No, you don't need an SSD to overclock. SSD gives you fast boot up times and allows you to open programs faster than a normal HDD drive. In terms of difference betwen the 7950 and 7970, there isn't much of a difference in terms of FPS. Maybe 5-10% gain in fps that's all. If you are on a budget, I'd suggest getting the PowerColor 7950 and overclock it. Then you will essentially get the same FPS as the 7970. Please ditch the 680. Why? Because nVidia seems to be hiding them from the retailers.

 

[Dangman]

Are there huge differences between those three graphics cards? Enough to fret the details about?!

Yes there are relatively huge performance differences between the three graphics cards. If you're looking for best bang for the buck, that'll probably be the HD 7850 or HD 7950.

 

[ScottyRotten]

Ok I made some tweaks, added in my case and I'm somewhat overbudget but if I get ultra on almost everything then I'm comfortable with the price. I've decided that I'm going to keep the unlocked processor and if I decide to get some more oomph I'll buy the cooling components needed to OC later.

How does this look now?

Would i5-2500k and another mobo be a better option? All the stuff I'm reading says that there isn't really much of an improvement between i5-2500K vs i5-3570k and if planning on doing an OC the 2500k runs much cooler. I could convert the savings there to the materials to OC?

http://amzn.com/w/322Q6WCUDLW13

 

[Dangman]

How does this look now?

http://amzn.com/w/322Q6WCUDLW13

The price of that HD 7950 is too high IMO. Not to mention that it's from XFX, a company whose recent track record for customer support hasn't been that great. Save the $40 and go with this Gigabyte HD 7950:
http://www.amazon.com/Gigabyte-Mini...1QHG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1336079335&sr=8-1

Then use the $40 in savings to grab this HSF:
$25 - Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus HSF for LGA 1366 and LGA 1156

Would i5-2500k and another mobo be a better option? All the stuff I'm reading says that there isn't really much of an improvement between i5-2500K vs i5-3570k and if planning on doing an OC the 2500k runs much cooler. I could convert the savings there to the materials to OC?

IMO, no. The i5 3570K has the slightly better future due to the fact that it comes with extra PCI-E lanes. As such if you ever plan on going with multiple GPUs, the 3570K is the better route. Then there's the faster onboard video which means that should your video card dies, you won't stuck with a really slow onboard video.

 

[ScottyRotten]

Gotcha.

I ended up buying this build. The PSU I originally listed wasn't modular so I swapped it out for a modular one with high ratings. I ended up going with the 1600RAM. The $10 wasn't a big deal to me and I wanted some blue ones to match the mobo. The price ended up being $1250 total. I had to buy a few parts from other places than Amazon due to shipping restrictions. A little over budget, but not by much. Thanks for your help once again Danny!

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($189.99 @ Microcenter)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus 76.8 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($19.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD3H ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($159.99 @ NCIX US)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Hard Drive: Crucial M4 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($116.95 @ B&H)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon HD 7950 3GB Video Card ($399.98 @ NCIX US)
Case: Corsair 300R ATX Mid Tower Case ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair 750W ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($138.98 @ Amazon)
Total: $1145.86
(Prices include shipping and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2012-05-03 18:48 EDT-0400)

 

[Dangman]

Good luck with the build!