$6400 budget gaming rig

AdamK47 · Feb 3, 2012

bodan · Feb 3, 2012

A fool and his money are soon parted.

[edit]I guess I'll post something useful as well:

Almost everything you posted is a complete waste of money or just junk - 3960X, tri-7970s? Really? For what games? If you're going to drop this much why wouldn't you just wait for Ivy?

You're best suited with a decent mobo, 2500k, 8GB of RAM, a single 7970 or Xfire 7970 if you must. Honestly with that kind of budget I would be looking heavily into 120Hz 3D gaming, and currently NVIDIA has one of the best out-of-the-box solutions for that (3D Surround). If this is important to you then wait for Kepler to see what happens. Those "gaming" keyboards and the like are made to separate retards with their cash. Just get a good mouse and a COMFORTABLE keyboard. Most people make ZERO use of the macro features and whatever junk is on the "gamer" keyboards. The Vertex 3 HDD is an OK choice, I'm more inclined to the Force GTs as far as Sandforce controllers go.

If you're going big money on a computer what you want is:
A high quality case and PSU
Crossfire/SLI capable motherboard
HIGH quality sound
120Hz & 3D Gaming (they are not the same)

You DON'T need 3 7970s, a $1000 CPU, or any of that other junk.

For sound you're going to be looking at professional studio speakers - that gets into the tens of thousands of dollars. The cheaper route - reference headphones - are more practical. Look at the Denon AH-D5000s. You will need a very good DAC (digital audio converter) with a sound card and integrated headphone amp - the Asus XONAR Essence fulfills these needs - about $200 I believe.

Really, you can build a "dream system" for well under 2K that will do everything you want. It's pointless to blow 6400. A top-of-the-line 2k system now, then a few years later another 2k system, few years later another 2k system, etc. would serve you MUUUCH better than a 6400 system now.

Again, that budget doesn't buy you CPU & GPU power that you need for a high performance gaming machine - that kind of budget is when you want to focus on extremely high fidelity sound and 3D / 120Hz / Eyefinity gaming stuff.

matteos · Feb 3, 2012

All that money and you're gonna get that ugly case?, no dedicated water cooling?

Seithennin · Feb 3, 2012

A 6,400 dollar computer isn't really considered a "budget" computer

for that price you can build a nice mid to high-end pc..

Forceman · Feb 3, 2012

I'm not even going to bother trying to talk you off the ledge, other than to say you can cut that budget in half and still get 95% of the performance, but I'm curious to see where this thread goes.

Edit: I will say that, for spending all that money, why did you cheap out with a 120GB SSD?

tiraides · Feb 3, 2012

OK, I'll bite: Which games? Which resolution?

Melon · Feb 3, 2012

Troll thread? I just can't take your list seriously..

AdamK47 · Feb 3, 2012

These games: http://www.gamespot.com/users/self/games_table?mode=own

2560x1600 whenever possible.

AdamK47 · Feb 3, 2012

Melon said:
Troll thread? I just can't take your list seriously..

Perhaps it's already built... perhaps not.

Melon · Feb 3, 2012

AdamK47 said:
Perhaps it's already built... perhaps not.

If it's built: You wasted a shitload of cash.

If it's not built: You want to waste a shitload of cash.

I've got some headlight fluid that I can sell you, if you're interested?

AdamK47 · Feb 3, 2012

Melon said:
If it's built: You wasted a shitload of cash.

If it's not built: You want to waste a shitload of cash.

I've got some headlight fluid that I can sell you, if you're interested?

Sorry, my cars are already topped off. Thanks anyway!

Melon · Feb 3, 2012

AdamK47 said:
Sorry, my cars are already topped off. Thanks anyway!

But I've got a great deal for you!

AdamK47 · Feb 3, 2012

Sorry, canna do it cap'n.

Fenris_Ulf · Feb 3, 2012

8 years and you're still a n00bie? Oh, BTW, nothing depreciates faster than high end computer gear, except maybe fresh produce. That $6400 computer will be worth very little in a few years (the monitor and headphones will be the most valuable). Save your money, do what bodan said and get 95% of the performance for 1/6 the price, you'll never notice the difference. Partially upgrade every year as needed and save a bundle while reaping the savings. Older you will thank younger you for it.

Unless of course you want to come here to brag about your e-peen. In which case, well done, you're a strong and powerful man, and handsome too. And I'm speaking to your credit card, not you.

Insula Gilliganis · Feb 3, 2012

There better be pics of all $6400 worth of products boxes or your build never happened!

I am nickpicking here but I am assuming you posted all your specs for comment.. or else to gloat!!

The Corsair memory you listed is cheaper at Newegg.. $105 vs $120 - Why not go with 32GB since I doubt RAM will ever get cheaper than it is now.

why did you cheap out with a 120GB SSD?

I second this.. seems like you should at least get another SSD and RAID them especially if you are going to RAID the hard drives. Also, the HITACHI Deskstar 0S03086 is available at Frys for $280.

Not so sure about the ASUS P9X79 DELUXE.. Newegg reviews aren't very positive.. 31% give it one egg (8 out of 26). Also, Amazon has this for about $14 less.

I don't see the need for Tri-Fire 7970s as I don't think the GPUs scale all that well with 3 especially in Crossfire. The March issue of MaximumPC (pg. 74) just reviewed a dual 580 system that had numbers just barely slower than a Tri-SLI 580 system and concluded "in most games, you won't see a difference". It might be smart of you to wait until NVIDIA has released their new GPUs before paying a boatload of $ on GPUs.

Unless you have enough $ that you can wipe your behind with your pocket change, I would go with the Intel Core i7-3930K since, quoting PCPer.com..

The Core i7-3930K runs at about 100 MHz slower than the Core i7-3960X (I say "about" because depending on the core usage count, Turbo Boost may have that at 0 MHz or 200 MHz in a single case) and the program and application performance seen with that frequency gap is about what you would expect: 2.5% in areas where the CPU performance is a straight bottleneck.

Since the main focus is gaming, you should go with three 24-27" monitors to use Eyefinity for nearly the same total cost as your listed monitor.

I could be nickpicky some more but others are also doing so as well, so I will end. Have fun!

bigdogchris · Feb 3, 2012

If this is a legit thread, I would reconsider your storage options. A 120GB SSD will fill up fast, so go for a 256 GB. You don't want to store games/applications on rotational storage because it's going to slow down that system. You can still grab a TB HD to store data on to save space on the SSD though.

AdamK47 · Feb 4, 2012

The 120GB Vertex 3 was purchased April of last year. I have about 50GB free. All data (games) go to the 6TB array.

Dangman · Feb 4, 2012

AdamK47 said:
Perhaps it's already built... perhaps not.

All right I want straight answers: Which parts have you already bought? If this PC is already built, is this just another gloating thread? I don't want anyone to waste their time trying to suggest alternative parts if you've already built the PC.

In addition, not everyone has a gamespot account. So please list the games you're planning on playing.

AdamK47 · Feb 4, 2012

I have the 120GB Vertex 3 and the Prolimatech Megahalems.

The games list is too large to copy and paste into here. I already tried, it was a mess.

Dangman · Feb 4, 2012

Ok, so you want a balls to wall system at whatever the cost correct? You're willing to spend $600+ for a 1% performance increase correct? Thats how your system is looking anyway.

Just list the top five games.

wand3r3r · Feb 4, 2012

What's with all the issues about the price? I'm sure the OP is aware that he is paying a premium and the gain is marginal, but if you are going 3-4 7970 the only (worthwhile) option is X79 for the x16 PCI express slots. The CPU/GPUs are the best you can get, the only thing I don't anything know about is the monitor. The rest of the components are pretty replaceable/interchangeable as personal preference, a $120 keyboard may not be worth it in some opinions, but if your budget is $6k there's no point nitpicking on things like that anymore.

Melon · Feb 4, 2012

wand3r3r said:
What's with all the issues about the price? I'm sure the OP is aware that he is paying a premium and the gain is marginal, but if you are going 3-4 7970 the only (worthwhile) option is X79 for the x16 PCI express slots. The CPU/GPUs are the best you can get, the only thing I don't anything know about is the monitor. The rest of the components are pretty replaceable/interchangeable as personal preference, a $120 keyboard may not be worth it in some opinions, but if your budget is $6k there's no point nitpicking on things like that anymore.

A $120 keyboard is only worth it if it's the Mechanical variant.

I <3 my Leopold.

c0nfused2 · Feb 6, 2012

damn.. thats a hell of a lot of cash to drop on a pc but i guess if you got it go for it lol

PersonalJ · Feb 6, 2012

If you would like to run a few dozen vmware instances so you can play Eve online with your own botting empire this build would be excellent for that kind of gaming. Anyhow, you shouldn't use 1.65V RAM, I'd get different that's at most 1.5V.

|-Goku-| · Feb 9, 2012

Nice! List looks good. I say if you are going all out like this. Go with the ROG gaming boards from Asus. The Rampage IV Extreme or the Formula would be good

TheWeazmeister · Feb 9, 2012

AdamK47 said:
SSD: OCZ 120GB Vertex 3: $189.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227706

Negatory on the Vertex 120GB. Go Crucial M4 256GB.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148449

Wage · Feb 9, 2012

The trifire 7970s are a complete waste at that resolution. You'd have to go 2x 1600p in order to justify wasting so much money. Either that or be a bitcoin miner or GPGPU user.

fullvietFX · Feb 9, 2012

I'd do two 7970s only. I'd also go for a 512GB SSD at that budget.

Slufa111 · Feb 9, 2012

You can put a down payment on a car, buy a laptop, and build a computer with that kinda cash. But if you need to have the best of the best....fuck it..just post pictures!

J Macker · Feb 9, 2012

shens. troll thread.

Rob Black · Feb 11, 2012

updates?

Jbort1984 · Feb 11, 2012

Problems with this build besides the retarded price tag are
your only gonna fill 4 of your 8 ram slots.
you want 3 7970s with a single display
No dedicated water cooling for all this new hardware
tiny 120gb ssd
Very ugly case '
not so nice heatsink
For $6400 I would think you would go with a mountain mods case with a custom water cooling setup some eyefinity or nvidia 3d display setups. At least fill all your ram slots.

Why try to build a bugatti when nothing out will even stress a corvette

Scuba Steve in VA · Feb 11, 2012

fullvietFX said:
I'd do two 7970s only. I'd also go for a 512GB SSD at that budget.

Seriously. The small SSD, only 16 GB of RAM, the case, and LED fans are what killed it for me. If you are going big, go big...but plus up the RAM and SSD, get a case worthy of the build, and drop the squirrelly LEDs.

$0.02

jreinlie4 · Feb 11, 2012

Jbort1984 said:
Problems with this build besides the retarded price tag are
your only gonna fill 4 of your 8 ram slots.
you want 3 7970s with a single display
No dedicated water cooling for all this new hardware
tiny 120gb ssd
Very ugly case '
not so nice heatsink
For $6400 I would think you would go with a mountain mods case with a custom water cooling setup some eyefinity or nvidia 3d display setups. At least fill all your ram slots.

Why try to build a bugatti when nothing out will even stress a corvette

I could make a Bugatti cry for mercy.

BETA. · Feb 11, 2012

Lol, dropping 6000+ and chose a Haf-X over something along the lines of a Lian-Li. Hell, with that amount of cash, i'd go with LDCooling.

Jbort1984 · Feb 11, 2012

jreinlie4 said:
I could make a Bugatti cry for mercy.

The car yes if you have the open road for it or a demo derby track but the pcs hes building is 100% overkill for anything thats he gonna run on it with a single display. The guys built a bugatti and he lives in nyc nothing like reving it up to 6k and going no were.

Archmage · Feb 11, 2012

It's pretty obvious...but uh, pick up something like the following:

- Dual 7970's, maybe highly overclocked versions (for GPU-binning) with a nice aftermarket heatsink. [H] just reviewed a triple-fan Gigabyte, but there are other options. I hear there will be a 1335mhz version out...

- i7 2600K or 2700K, since you seem to want to spend a lot on a CPU... get an appropriate z68 board, Asus is good this round.

- 8GB of RAM is enough.

- 256gb Crucial M4 (in addition to the 120GB Vertex 3 you already own - You have enough SATA ports, fill them!).

- Your 3tb hard drive plan seems fine.

- Case: I'd get something different... but your plan is fine.

- Heatsink: Thermalright Archon or maybe Silver Arrow... I think these are the best options, if they fit. The included fans are good enough (Thermalright may now use the newer TY-150. I actually prefer the TY-140).

- Sound Card: The Asus Xonar DX is a good alternative. If you want USB (which may be a good idea to clean up the airflow), then your plan seems good.

- Headphones: Just pick up some ~$50 Samson SR-850's... I think the Superlux HD 668B is the same thing. The 681 is similar... Get a Zalman microphone if you need it... - I don't think dedicated Gaming Headphones should be expensive, and these are already pretty good. My rationale is that you're not investing in a music-oriented sound card (and if you were, I bet people would have a bunch of different suggestions).

- PSU: 1000W should be plenty actually. You could go for the Seasonic or Kingwin Platinum... 1200w is fine though (why not? maybe you'll use it some day)... Corsair AX or Antec HCP.

Upgrade path:

- Maybe switch to nvidia 28nm cards...if they're good.
- I'm not sure Ivy Bridge will be much of an upgrade...but that's an option. If not...wait and see.

- Buying and selling equipment frequently can actually be a good deal. It's certainly a better deal than spending $6.4K on a single-display system!

$6400 budget gaming rig

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