First Gaming Computer (Need Help!)

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Behyadehto

n00b
Joined
Nov 8, 2011
Messages
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Hello everyone. This is my first time attempting to make a custom computer. I have a decent understanding of what I need and I have made a list. I’m shooting for a powerful computer that can run Diablo III/SC2/BF3/Skyrim on the highest settings possible while still maintaining a high framerate. A friend of mine told me to check with this forum before I bought it, since it is a bit expensive, so please leave criticism and recommendations!

- Case: Steel ATX Full Tower
Link: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833189002

- Motherboard: Intel LGA 1366 X58 SATA 6GB
Link: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813121470

- Graphics Card (X2): EVGA GeForce GTX 580 Fermi 1536 MB 384-bit (I plan on running two of these)
Link: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130587

- Power Supply: Corsair Pro Series Gold 850W
Link: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139015

- Processor: Intel Core i7-980 3.33GHz LGA 1366 130W Six-Core
Link: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116402

- RAM: 12GB (3 X 4GB) 240 PIN DDR3 SDRAM 2000 (PC3 16000)
Link: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116402

- Hard Drive: Seagate Cheetah 15K.7 600GB 15000 RPM SAS 6GB/s
Link: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148617

- Monitor: 27’’ LCD Monitor
Link: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824116455

- Disk Space: SATA DVD-ROM Drive Model Ihds118-04
Link: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106276

- Sound Card: HT | Omega Claro Plus+ 7.1 Channels PCI Sound Card
Link: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16829271003

- Network Card: Bigfoot Killer 2100 Gaming Network Card
Link: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833189002


Closing Thoughts:
- Am I missing any essential parts?

- Will I be able to SLI the graphics card?

- Do I have a large enough Power Supply?

- Does the case provide enough cooling fans(size or #) or do I need to buy better one?

- Is it possible for me to use Liquid Cooling with that setup?

- *Biggest question* I had an arguement with my friend over wether small RAM was better or Large, he ended up pointing me to the one I linked. However I originally was going to get a 32 GB RAM, with slower speed, which is better?

Thank you!
 
Last edited:
well a few things that jump out at me are.

Ditch the old LGA 1366 platform. You would be better off with the new Z68 chipset, with a Core i7-2600k for example. That core i7-980 is a beast, but overkill for gaming.

The link to your 27" monitor goes to the hard drive. What is the native resolution of that 27"? If it is only 1920x1080, that entire system will be major overkill for that resolution..
 
your link to your motherboard and case are the same. at this point i wouldn't go with the Intel processor you linked. I would go with a 2600k i7 or 2500k i5.

answer these questions and we can better help you:

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 is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
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?
 
There's no point in LGA1366 socket motherboards for single processor setups anymore. Plus, Intel will be releasing the Ivy Bridge chips on socket 2011 very soon.

Ditch the Bigfoot NIC. You're spending lavishly.
 
* Get a better case (heck, even there are even cheaper better options).
* Like previous posters, get a Z68 board + 2600k
* With that, get a 2x4GB or 4x4GB memory kit. 1600MHz is good enough.
* SAS drive isn't compatible with SATA. Read some SSD reviews and pick one, and get a cheap large storage drive. OR buy a 600GB WD Velociraptor
* Dump the bigfoot card
* Soundcard isn't really needed if you don't have a good audio system. There are better options.
* Get a 24" 1920x1200 monitor, 27" 2560x1400, or 30" 2560x1600 monitor.
 
Lets go down to basics for a gaming build.

First off, let's have a target resolution in mind for your system. Judging by the list of components you've listed, your willing to spend some cash. It doesn't take all that much really to drive a 30" monitor at it's native resolution of 2560x1600.

I just recently picked up a Dell U3011, it's huge and very immersive to game on. Currently going for $1299.

Dell U3011
 
I fixed the links, they should be working now. Sorry if I ask any "dumb" questions but I am quite new to the whole scene.

@sboucher:
- The reso is 1920 x 1080, in retrospect it is a bit low for what this setup can do.

@Marduk77
- Q1: Heavy gaming and if things turn out well some graphic design, but for the most part gaming.
- Q2: My budget is quite high, I have been saving up money for quite awhile and Christmas bonuses are coming up.
- Q3: USA Houston Texas. I do not think I will be taxed on it? Usually internet bought items aren't taxed
- Q4: Well im not really sure of you question, I have no current parts and I had Mac laptop so I have no parts around so I will need "everything" (hehehe sorry). Im essentially starting from step 1 with nothing so I need all parts to make it a functional computer.
- Q5: None.
- Q6: Most definintly, im still trying to understand how it works but I plan on pushing it as far as it can go. Which leads to also needing to find an appropriate cooling system.
- Q7: 1980 x 1080, as stated earlier im going to go find a better one, probably 2560 x 1600
- Q8: This Winter, a few days after Christmas
- Q9: SLI support, no onboard video. For the rest im not sure what they mean, i'll go research it now but for as of now I know I need SLI.
- Q10: Again no OS, im coming from years of Mac.

@J Macker
- I was under the impression the motherboard needed to support the processor? (friend told me this) and also when/what is the Ivy Bridge chips?
- What would be a good/better alternative?

@Colinstu
- What should I be looking for in cases if the one I choose is not right?
- Looking into it right now, still unsure if I want to give up the processor I choose ^.^ it's quite powerful.
- Ok
- Im a bit confused on this, the hard drive isn't compatible with the rest of my parts?
- Seems like a common suggestion, just out of curiosity why is it so poorly rated?
- Definintly something im reconsidering, since my current audio system is "decent" and i'd rather not spend more then I need too.
- Will do

Thank a lot everyone!
 
Now for the star of the show. Video Card!

Those EVGA GTX 580's in SLI are gonna be sweet!

But your going to need a beefy power supply.

Check out the Corsair AX1200 for $299.99. A little expensive I know, but you are going to need good clean power. I'm a big fan of the Corsair Professional grade power supplies, and it's modular!
 
Quick question on the case. It seems a bit expensive, I really don't know the difference between a good vs bad. What justifies its $130+ cost over the original one? Is it design?

Thanks!
 
For storage.

Look no further than the Vertex 3 Max IOPS 240G. Blazing fast SSD on the SATA6 chip. Use this drive for your primary OS drive, and all your installed games / apps.

For storage grab a traditional 2 or 3TB mechanical disc drive depending on your needs. I like the Western Digital Green versions. Doesn't need to be fast, just use it to store your media files / backups.
 
Behyadehto said:
Quick question on the case. It seems a bit expensive, I really don't know the difference between a good vs bad. What justifies its $130+ cost over the original one? Is it design?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Removable motherboard tray, grommeted cable routing holes, lots of room, overall great design. Ever built a system in a shitty case?

Should last you through several upgrades as well.
 
For CPU cooling, I like self contained water coolers.

Something like the Corsair H80 for $90.99, or the H100 for $119.99 if you want to push your overclocking a little further.
 
Just use Integrated networking on the motherboard, no Big Foot Killer NIC necessary.. at all.

For Sound, not sure what you need. I've been eyeing up the Sound Blaster X-FI Titanium HD for my system. Great for headsets like this though.


Well that's all my suggestions anyways, sorry for all the individual posts. At work atm lol.

Good luck with the build, and hope you end up with a great system (with whatever you decide on!)
 
sboucher said:
For storage.

Look no further than the Vertex 3 Max IOPS 240G. Blazing fast SSD on the SATA6 chip. Use this drive for your primary OS drive, and all your installed games / apps.
Click to expand...

I would not trust OCZ Vertex drives. Crucial M4 is the ticket for reliability & performance.

Also, OP, The Ivy Bridge processors are likely to be released on Nov 14, so wait until some reviews & pricing rolls in. It's the die shrink for Sandy Bridge. There's no reason to get committed to a Sandy Bridge now when a new chip is being released.

Yes, the the 980x chip you chose requires a socket 1366 board, but again, it's worth waiting for Ivy Bridge. There's no doubt it will be better than Sandy Bridge and run cooler.
 
Behyadehto said:
@Marduk77
- Q1: Heavy gaming and if things turn out well some graphic design, but for the most part gaming.
- Q2: My budget is quite high, I have been saving up money for quite awhile and Christmas bonuses are coming up.
- Q3: USA Houston Texas. I do not think I will be taxed on it? Usually internet bought items aren't taxed
- Q4: Well im not really sure of you question, I have no current parts and I had Mac laptop so I have no parts around so I will need "everything" (hehehe sorry). Im essentially starting from step 1 with nothing so I need all parts to make it a functional computer.
- Q5: None.
- Q6: Most definintly, im still trying to understand how it works but I plan on pushing it as far as it can go. Which leads to also needing to find an appropriate cooling system.
- Q7: 1980 x 1080, as stated earlier im going to go find a better one, probably 2560 x 1600
- Q8: This Winter, a few days after Christmas
- Q9: SLI support, no onboard video. For the rest im not sure what they mean, i'll go research it now but for as of now I know I need SLI.
- Q10: Again no OS, im coming from years of Mac.
Click to expand...

What is "quite high" for your budget? you link a $275 monitor but if you move to 30" 2560x1600 monitor you're looking at over $1000 right there.
 
Behyadehto, it's way too early to start recommending parts. Anything that is recommended now could be overpriced, obsolete, or out of stock by the time Christmas rolls around. Additionally, we need you to answer more questions before we can make any worthwhile recommendations:

- Give us a set budget. What's the most that you're willing to spend on everything, including shipping and taxes?

- What programs are you using for graphic design?

- Besides gaming and graphic design, what will you use this system for?

- Do you live near a physical Fry's or Micro Center store?

- Since you need everything, including peripherals, which monitor(s) are you considering? Are you thinking about going with a multi-monitor setup?

- Have you also thought about a particular keyboard, mouse, and speaker set? If so, what?

- Do you plan on buying any additional peripherals like a USB hub, a card reader (internal or external), or an external hard drive (or network-attached storage, aka NAS)?
 
Marduk77 said:
What is "quite high" for your budget? you link a $275 monitor but if you move to 30" 2560x1200 monitor you're looking at over $1000 right there.
Click to expand...

Right, but you'll notice I moved him from a $1000 processor to a $300 one as well..
 
J Macker said:
Also, OP, The Ivy Bridge processors are likely to be released on Nov 14, so wait until some reviews & pricing rolls in. It's the die shrink for Sandy Bridge. There's no reason to get committed to a Sandy Bridge now when a new chip is being released.
Click to expand...

Ivy Bridge is not being released next week - Sandy Brdge-E is being released next week. It is the Socket 2011 part, that is more focused on workstation-type environments. No reason to wait for Ivy Bridge, which won't drop until some time next year, or for SB-E, as it doesn't bring anything compelling over the current crop of SB parts.
 
sboucher said:
Right, but you'll notice I moved him from a $1000 processor to a $300 one as well..
Click to expand...

True, but if he goes with the monitor linked he doesn't need 580GTX SLI cards to run 1920x1080p at 60hz. so the OP needs to decide how much he really wants to spend and make a choice on the monitor situation.
 
Forceman said:
Ivy Bridge is not being released next week - Sandy Brdge-E is being released next week. It is the Socket 2011 part, that is more focused on workstation-type environments. No reason to wait for Ivy Bridge, which won't drop until some time next year, or for SB-E, as it doesn't bring anything compelling over the current crop of SB parts.
Click to expand...

Exactly!
 
Marduk77 said:
True, but if he goes with the monitor linked he doesn't need 580GTX SLI cards to run 1920x1080p at 60hz. so the OP needs to decide how much he really wants to spend and make a choice on the monitor situation.
Click to expand...

Precicely why I recommended starting with a target resolution.

Given the overall value of the system he was pricing out from his original list, and the fact he wants a kick ass gaming machine that he can run at max settings. I reasonably concluded that a 30" at 2560 x 1600 would be a great recommendation, and money spent towards the monitor would go much further for him than put towards that 980x..
 
@sboucher
- Thanks for all the great info and recommendations, learned a lot!

@Marduk77
- I would prefer to spend in 3k - 3.3k but willing to go up to 4k-4.3k.

@tiraides
- For a set budget I guess a compromised amount of 3.7k
- Nothing other then gaming and (maybe) graphic design (taking an intro course to see if I like it). I have a 2 year old Macbook pro for most casual uses i.e music, web browsing etc...
- Kind of, Frys and Micro Center are both about a 45 min - 1 hour drive depending on traffic.
- Monitors are lower down my list of needs, no multi-monitor. For other things like mouse/headset/keyboard/audio I have a good friend that gets me discounts at the Razer store so that's what i'll be getting.
- Keyboard = Razer Black Widow. Mouse = Razer Epic Naga Headset = Razer Tiamat(when it comes out) Mousepad = Goliathus.
- The speakers are probably where im lost, not really a audiophile. I was going to go with generic Logitech speakers but would rather have something better.
- No external peripherals.
 
Last question: Are you planning on playing games at a 1920x1080 resolution (most 22" to 27" monitors) or a 2560x1600 resolution (most 30" monitors)?
 
It depends, im leaning towards 30'' but not quite there because it seems a bit much to spend 1k on a monitor for a marginal increase in size. But most likely a 30'' 2560 x 1600
 
I just made the upgrade to the 30". I wouldn't say it's marginal. The bump in resolution is a pretty significant improvement and will make a world of difference in visuals and your immersion in games.
 
Let me put it to you this way: If, for argument's sake, you're sticking with a $3,000 budget, a 30" 2560x1600 monitor would eat up over a third of your budget, and that combined with a dual-GPU setup (either an SLI or a CrossFire dual-card setup or one dual-GPU card) would take up well over half of said budget.

sboucher is right in saying that the resolution from a 30" monitor is significant compared to, say, a 27" 1920x1080 monitor. But it also carries a serious price premium. The question is: Are you willing to pay that price for your optimal gaming performance?
 
I am willing, it will just take a bit longer to set aside the money. I have no problem waiting, I want optimal parts.
 
Just curious, but what size monitor do you currently play on? For most people, 1920x1080 is the sweet spot between ridiculously expensive and easily affordable. Also, that resolution would still be fine for a single vidcard setup, if you so choose. While you may have the budget, you have to decide where to stop - we can build $20k systems and actually keep going, but the law of diminishing returns has to kick in somewhere for you.
 
Actually,

1680x1050 = Budget (20-22" 16x10 Aspect Widescreen)
1920x1080 = Mainstream (22"+ 16x9 Aspect Widescreen)
1920x1200 = Sweet Spot (24" 16x10 Aspect Widescreen)
2560x1600 = High End (30" 16x10 Aspect Widescreen)
5040x1050 or higher MultiDisplay = Ultra

But yes, building a system targeted at a lower resolution around 1920x1080 or 1200 would be more affordable. You can easily get away with a single graphics card with anything up to 1920 x 1200. Even at 2560 x 1600 you can do a single graphics card, if you don't mind turning off a bit of eye candy for some games.
 
I put together an example of three different builds at different price points.

I used a Google doc spreadsheet. A link to view it is here.

The first option, which I called Ultra is a very high end build at your maximum budget level. It includes a 30" Widescreen Monitor. I found an HP unit on Newegg that is a little cheaper than what the Dell is going for.

I also put together another option still driving a 30" monitor, but with 2 - 6970 cards in crossfire instead of the 2 - GTX 580's. I've also reduced the primary SSD to a 128G, and gone with a more affordable case (but still high quality), and power supply sized accordingly. I can tell you this system is very similar to the one I am currently running, and it's great! I'm running everything at max settings including BF3 (except MSAA). I'll let you know later this week how Skyrim performs.

Option 3 is a single GPU system driving a 24" monitor, with other compromises as well. I've got with a smaller SSD along with a 1TB drive, I would configure those drives using the new Intel Smart Response Technology. It would treat the two drives as a single primary drive, your most frequently used programs get stored on the SSD for increased performance.

All 3 builds are very capable systems, and is a good example of well balanced builds at different price points.

Hope this helps.
 
@enginurd
- I currently play on a 1920 x 1080 laptop
- Again budget is anywhere from mid 3k's to high 4k's, but monitor is where im most on the fence.

@sboucher
- Thanks for the help, really liking options 1 and 2. First option came out a bit cheaper then I thought.
 
sboucher said:
I used a Google doc spreadsheet. A link to view it is here.
Click to expand...

I have some notes on those proposed setups:

Ultra, Very High, and High Note: More of preference than anything but you can get RAM that performs exactly the same as well has having lower profile heatsinks for $8 less:
$45 - G.Skill Sniper F3-12800CL9D-8GBSR 2 x 4GB DDR3 1600 RAM

Ultra Note: I'd recommend this Antec PSU over that Corsair since it's of higher quality and has better performance than the Corsair while being cheaper:
$280 - Antec High Current Pro HCP-1200 1200W Modular PSU

High Notes:
1) I'd recommend this significantly faster Hitachi drive for $6 more:
$156 - Hitachi Desktar 7K1000.D HDS721010DLE630 1TB SATA 6.0Gb/s Hard Drive

2) That Corsair PSU is no longer a good buy considering that there is a newer and updated model of that PSU available for less:
$105 - Corsair 750TX V2 750W PSU

However I'd recommend neither of those PSUs right now since you can get this higher quality Antec for about the same price as that 750TX V2:
$105 - Antec High Current Gamer Series HCG-750 750W PSU
 
Good call on those Danny. Here's the [H] review on the HCP-1200.

Didn't see one for the 750w, but looks like from the same product series.
 
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