Gamer build; $2700

Negative Decibel

Negative Decibel

2[H]4U
Joined
Dec 13, 2005
Messages
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I just landed a new client with an awesome budget... I wanted to see what y'all could come up with...

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
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Straight up gaming rig
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
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$2700 max, including shipping

3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.
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Aiken, SC 29801

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.
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Literally everything; cpu, hsf, mobo, ram, psu, gpu(s), harddrive(s), case, os, keyboard, mouse, lcd,

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
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nothing; completely scratch
6) Will you be overclocking?
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Probably a moderate; yet stable oc
7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
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need to buy... I'm thinking a 27 or 30" lcd

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
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about a week

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.
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Obviously with this budget, I see doing Crossfire or SLI... other than that; no other special features needed.

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
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not yet; need. probably windows 7 home premium 64bit.
 
Nice budget. What kind of games do you intend on playing or are you just going to play them all?

Do you need a cd/dvd/bd drive?

As for the GPUs, for a single monitor multiple GPUs aren't really recommended, but for a 2560x1600 then I can see multiple GPUs. Do you have a specific monitor in mind or are you open to suggestions here? Personally if it were me with a $2700 budget, I'd go with a triple display setup in a heart beat. Gaming on 3 monitors (games that support it at least) is pretty freaking epic and definitely adds to the gaming experience. Something like 3 24" 1080P LCDs is doable with your budget. You could even get a custom mount for it; friend of mine just got the XFX monitor stand that holds his 3 ASUS 24" LCDs in his Eyefinity setup. It's a very, very solid stand/mount but it's a little on the pricey side.

Do know that W7 HP is software limited to 16GB of total RAM. Granted 16GB is more than you'll ever need for gaming at this point; with the budget you're working with you can more than afford more than 16GB of RAM and W7 Pro.
 
With a budget like that you can go all out, here's my thoughts, feel free to correct any errors I'm not perfect:

CASE: Any cheap $50 case with side panel cooling, cable management, motherboard cutout, and USB 3.0 will do.
PSU: Corsair TX 850M V2: Bronze Certified, Modular, Seasonic Design. ~$150 after tax
MOBO: Asus Sabertooth X79: PCIe 3.0, Thermal Armor, 5 Year VIP warranty. ~$350 after tax
CPU: Intel Core i7 3930K: The second best CPU money can buy. ~$610 after tax
RAM: 16GB DDR3 1600: Brand really doesn't matter ~$80 after tax
CPU Cooler: Brand really not that important most 120mm-140mm aftermarket coolers around $50 will suffice.
GPU: 2x EVGA 660ti Superclocked: One of the best cards out there, without the driver issues of the 7950 but with the same power ~$730
HDD: 1TB Western Digital Caviar Blue ~$90 and 128GB Samsung 830 ~110 after tax
Monitor: 27 inch ViewSonic 1080P ~330
OS: Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit ~120

So you save about $30 to $50. Again feel free to correct this.
 
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No point what-so-ever to buy an X79 chipset with the Sandy Bridge E processor. Gaming doesn't take advantage of the Sandy Bridge 2600k, or the Ivy Bridge 3770k, so what makes you think a 3930K would suddenly be the "go to processor" for a gaming rig. The major benefit of the i7 is the hyper threading technology which has been around for years. Games simply do not take advantage of it and I doubt that'll change anytime soon. Hence the reason why the i5 3570k (for overclockers) is the go-to processor for a gaming rig. Granted the SB-E processors have more cores, the added costs isn't worth the extra two cores you'll get when you'll see very little performance gains.

$50 for an aftermarket cooler w/ 120+mm fan is spending too much money when the 212+ is almost half that price.

Not a good hard drive when the faster Hitachi 7k1000.d hdd costs nearly the same. With a $2700 budget, cutting yourself short with a 128GB SSD just isn't spending money wisely. Games take up a LOT of space if you're a gamer; 128GB will be filled up very, very quickly.

With the 1080P monitor you suggested, going with multiple GPUs is a complete waste of money. Doens't matter how big it is, it's 1080P. If it was 1600P or so, I could maybe see multiple GPUs as mentioned in the post before yours. For 1080P GTX 670 is all that's really needed.
 
In addition to what Skillz said, that Corsair is CWT made, not Seasonic made. It's really not all modular and its performance is worse than the TX V2 line. As such it is not worth buying. Also IIRC, PCI-E 3.0 is not enabled for NVIDIA cards on the X79 platform. Ram brand does matter as some brands have 1.65v RAM which have to be avoided for Intel platform.

I am not near a PC now so I won't be able to provide a build list yet.
 
Well this will definitely be an over the top build, but I figured Danny would suggest a high end single monitor gaming rig, this is for a triple display setup;

$229.99 - Intel Core i5-3570K Ivy Bridge 3.4GHz
$149.99 - ASUS P8Z77-V LK LGA 1155
$109.99 - PC Power and Cooling Silencer Mk II 750W High Performance
$69.99 - G.SKILL Ares Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333
$190.99 - SAMSUNG 830 Series MZ-7PC256B/WW 2.5" 256GB
$79.99 - Hitachi GST Deskstar 7K1000.D HDS721010DLE630 (0F13180) 1TB 7200 RPM
$139.99 - Microsoft Windows 7 Professional SP1 64-bit - OEM
$899.98 x2 - EVGA 04G-P4-2673-KR GeForce GTX 670 Superclocked+ w/Backplate 4GB 256-bit
$554.97 x3 - Asus VE248H Black 24" 2ms

Sub total shipped: $2,425.88

This leaves $275 for the rest of the items;

You can pick out your own keyboard & mouse since those will most likely be a personal preference.

Danny has a case list that I'm sure he will post with his build; either one of the cases he suggest will work with this setup as well.

I'm just giving you a second option, so wait until he posts a build list before you make any decisions.

Few key points about the build.

I went with the 4GB version of those video cards due to the high resolution for NVSurround gaming. You could probably get away with a single GPU for most games, but newer games like BF3 might require a bit more GPU processing power for three displays. Alternatively, if you do not wish to go with three monitors you can get a single 27" or 30" monitor that's 2560x1600 resolution and go with a single 670 as it will be plenty for that resolution being the 4GB model.

I also didn't include an aftermarket cooler. Just search for the 212+ for like $30 on newegg if you want one. I'd suggest buying the cooler later, get the system running stable and enjoy it before you start twinkering with overclocks. JMHO

I went with W7 Pro so you have the option to have more than 16GB of RAM which is why I've suggested a 16GB kit with 2 8GB sticks. So you can add 16GB later if you so wish.
 
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Good points Skillz, but iirc Hitachi's don't make very reliable hard drives (hence why I chose WD).
Anyway I just got 2 questions:
1. I've never heard of PC power and cooling are they as reputable as Corsair and Seasonic?
2. Why not DDR3 1600, more performance and not much of a price difference?
 
Hitachi's drives are owned by Western Digital.

Yes they make solid PSUs.

The performance difference between DDR3 1333 and DDR3 1600 isn't noticeable at all. Not to mention the RAM will run at 1333 unless it's clocked higher, which is a pain with SB/IB processors. Therefore, no point to spend the extra money, even if it's not much.
 
Danny Bui said:
Was there suppose to be only two monitors? That price is for two of those monitors, not three.
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My fault, I accidently multiplied it by 2 when I was copy/pasting the prices. Fixed it. The total price was correct though. :eek:
 
Skillz said:
Nice budget. What kind of games do you intend on playing or are you just going to play them all?

Do you need a cd/dvd/bd drive?

As for the GPUs, for a single monitor multiple GPUs aren't really recommended, but for a 2560x1600 then I can see multiple GPUs. Do you have a specific monitor in mind or are you open to suggestions here? Personally if it were me with a $2700 budget, I'd go with a triple display setup in a heart beat. Gaming on 3 monitors (games that support it at least) is pretty freaking epic and definitely adds to the gaming experience. Something like 3 24" 1080P LCDs is doable with your budget. You could even get a custom mount for it; friend of mine just got the XFX monitor stand that holds his 3 ASUS 24" LCDs in his Eyefinity setup. It's a very, very solid stand/mount but it's a little on the pricey side.

Do know that W7 HP is software limited to 16GB of total RAM. Granted 16GB is more than you'll ever need for gaming at this point; with the budget you're working with you can more than afford more than 16GB of RAM and W7 Pro.
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All the games.. I'll have to ask the client if he needs an optical drive.. I have not put one in a build since ... over a year... I have not used one in about two.
I'm still on the fence on deciding the cpu... not sure if the 3570K is enough, or should run with the i7... I've never had this big of a budget before; ive dont sever al$2k builds, but the extra 700 is a whole new ballgame.
 
Well it wont change the build, DVD burners are less than $20 these days.
 
Negative Decibel said:
All the games.. I'll have to ask the client if he needs an optical drive.. I have not put one in a build since ... over a year... I have not used one in about two.
I'm still on the fence on deciding the cpu... not sure if the 3570K is enough, or should run with the i7... I've never had this big of a budget before; ive dont sever al$2k builds, but the extra 700 is a whole new ballgame.
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The i5-3570K is more than enough for gaming. No game takes advantage of Hyper-Threading, which is the key difference between the i5-3570K and the i7-3770K.

You mentioned in your first post that you were considering either a 27" or a 30" monitor. Is that still a consideration? A good monitor of that sort can cost upwards of $1000.
 
tiraides said:
The i5-3570K is more than enough for gaming. No game takes advantage of Hyper-Threading, which is the key difference between the i5-3570K and the i7-3770K.

You mentioned in your first post that you were considering either a 27" or a 30" monitor. Is that still a consideration? A good monitor of that sort can cost upwards of $1000.
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What about a 32 Inch TV those work like monitors and cost about $350-$400?
 
What makes the monitors so expensive is their resolution. A TV will have at most 1080P. Not worth it in my honest opinion. If you're gonna get a 27"+ monitor, get one with 2560x1600 resolution.
 
Skillz said:
What makes the monitors so expensive is their resolution. A TV will have at most 1080P. Not worth it in my honest opinion. If you're gonna get a 27"+ monitor, get one with 2560x1440 resolution.
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Fixed. only 30" monitors have the 16:10 1600p resolution.
 
Also that Samsung 830 256GB drive is on sale with a promo code for $160. Use promo code EMCYTZT2359

Also get this RAM kit for $65.

$65 - Kingston HyperX XMP Blu Red Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (use promo code EMCYTZT2357)

If you can't get it for $65, don't worry about it.
 
So, I finally got a chance to talk indirectly with the client (the client is a referral from another client of mine (he's getting a finder fee))... So, the client is interested in playing all the games from WOW to call of duty; and have no problems running any game maxed out.. The client want's it to be "blindingly glowing red"... including a red backlit keyboard... He wants the system to be aesthetically pleasing... I'm thinking a blend of red and black... idk... it sounds like he just as interested in it looking good as well as performance...
 
If he's going to play games that can now get 100+fps with most graphics cards today, I'd get a 120hz monitor.
 
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I hate color theme builds. They are never cost effective. When I get home ill see about putting together a build with a red theme.
 
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