Moderate Gaming Build

Sparktz

n00b
Joined
Feb 14, 2010
Messages
30
*** Update *** See my post below for an album of the build.


1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Gaming, Web Browsing, Spreadsheet Work
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
$2,500 to $3,000 (includiing tax and shipping)
3) Where do you live?
Dallas, Texas
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. Please be very specific.
Everything except the keyboard and mouse.
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
Keyboard and mouse.
6) Will you be overclocking?
No.
7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
Would like to purchase two 24 inch monitors (these are part of the budget).
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
2-6 weeks.
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? etc.
I am flexible on this. RAID might be a nice feature, but not necessary.
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If so, what OS? 32bit or 64bit?
Will need to purchase Windows 7 64 bit, as well as MS Office 2007 Home.


Primarily this computer will be used for playing the various first person shooters as they come out, as well as WoW.

I really would like a dual monitor setup, and I am interested in a SSD boot drive for loading speed.

I have read the various other computer build threads that are currently going, and I am confused about what level of processor/GPUs I will need. Ideally I would like to be able to play two instances of WoW, one on each monitor, at max resolution (let me know if this is not possible on this budget and I can revise my expectations).

Let me know what other questions you may have.

Thanks,
Sparktz
 
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$3,000 for a "moderate" gaming build? I'd hate to see what your definition of high end is! :)

Edit: Oh wait, you want 2 24" monitors and the OS as well.
 
$479 - Intel Core i7 920 CPU + Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R Intel X58 ATX Motherboard
$160 - Corsair CMX6GX3M3A1600C9 3 x 2GB DDR3 1600 RAM
$800 - x XFX HD-587A-ZNF9 Radeon HD 5870 1GB PCI-E Video Card
$260 - 2 x Intel SSDSA2MP040G2R5 2.5" 40GB SSD (for RAID 0)
$90 - Samsung Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive (Should be back in stock by the time you buy)
$26 - LG GH22NS50 DVD Burner
$140 - Corsair 850TX 850W PSU
$105 - Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit OEM
$400 - 2x ASUS VH236H Black 23" 2ms Widescreen LCD Monitor
----
Total: $1,920 plus tax and shipping

Really not much more you can do to improve actual gaming performance as the HD 5870 is the top single GPU card out now. You could probably add another 6GB set of RAM just in case but that increase the total costs to $2,080.

OH and choose your own case. Some recommendations:
$80 - Cooler Master RC-690-KKN1-GP ATX Case
$100 - Lian Li PC-7B Plus II ATX Case
$100 - Lian Li Lancool PC-K7B ATX Case
$100 - Cooler Master HAF 922 RC-922M-KKN1-GP ATX Case
$120 - Thermaltake ElementS VK60001N2Z ATX Case
$130 - Cooler Master Storm Sniper ATX Case
$140 - Lian Li PC-7FN ATX Case
$140 - Antec P183 ATX Case
$140 - Cooler Master HAF 932 RC-932-KKN1-GP ATX Case
$180 - Cooler Master ATCS 840 RC-840-KKN1-GP Full Tower ATX Case
$180 - Lian Li PC-9 ATX Case
$200 - Cooler Master Cosmos S 1000 RC-1100-KSN1-GP Full Tower ATX Case
$220 - Lian Li PC-V1200A Plus II ATX Case
$230 - Silverstone FT01-B ATX Case
$240 - Lian Li PC-A71B ATX Case
$285 - Silverstone TJ09-B Full Tower ATX Case
$320 - Silverstone TJ10-B Full Tower ATX Case

Let me know if any of those links are out of date (not in price though)
 
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OP post has a pretty high budget that he should get a monitor with 1920 x 1200 resolution. The extra 120 pixels in height will come in useful when he does spreadsheets. He can easily get 2 x ASUS 25.5" 1920x1200 displays for $600 ($300/each)
 
OP post has a pretty high budget that he should get a monitor with 1920 x 1200 resolution. The extra 120 pixels in height will come in useful when he does spreadsheets. He can easily get 2 x ASUS 25.5" 1920x1200 displays for $600 ($300/each)

Yeah no problem with that. Still plenty of room in the budget :)
 
Thanks for the suggestions so far, I am very grateful for yall's time.

Are those Asus monitors good quality for gaming purposes?

Also, would the crossfire setup allow me the capability of doing eyefinty if I were to purchase a third monitor?

Do I need to purchase any special type of CPU heatsink, or am I fine using the one that comes with the processor since I do not plan to overclock?
 
The Asus monitors use TN panels, which offer low refresh rates that make them good for gaming. However, they have horrible viewing angles (if you don't stare directly at them) and poor color reproduction (that makes them bad for photo or graphics editing compared to other, more expensive monitors).

You could use a CrossFire setup -- or the dual-GPU HD5970 -- for Eyefinity.

The stock HSF is fine, since you're not planning on overclocking.
 
Danny, I wanted to clarify on the video card. You did mean to purchase two 5870s and place them in crossfire, right?

Also, when picking a case from your list, do I need to be careful about looking to make sure that the components will fit, or should these components fit into any of those cases?
 
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Danny, I wanted to clarify on the video card. You did mean to purchase two 5870s and place them in crossfire, right?

Also, when picking a case from your list, do I need to be careful about looking to make sure that the components will fit, or should these components fit into any of those cases?

Yes. And those cases should fit all those components.
 
I am actually really close to budget, probably over after taxes and shipping.

Item Cost (PreTax & Shipping)
Case $140.00
Power Supply $140.00
Motherboard $190.01
CPU $288.99
RAM $160.00
Hard Drive 1 (x2) $260.00
Hard Drive 2 $90.00
DVD - Burner $26.00
GPU 1 $400.00
GPU 2 $400.00
Operating System $105.00
MS Office $108.00
Monitor 1 $300.00
Monitor 2 $300.00
Speakers $38.99

Total $2,946.99


I have a question on the RAM. I am not sure if the motherboard from above supports the 1600 RAM?

http://www.gigabyte.us/Products/Motherboard/Products_Spec.aspx?ClassValue=Motherboard&ProductID=3317&ProductName=GA-X58A-UD3R
 
One, which particular components are you considering?

Regarding the RAM, most boards can support DDR3 1600 RAM, but it will be ran at "stock speeds" of DDR3 1066. That is, unless you manually set the RAM speed and timings within the BIOS -- which is really unnecessary if you're not going to be overclocking.
 
2 x Radeon HD 5870s for 1920x1200 res, this is a pretty high end rig.


I am actually really close to budget, probably over after taxes and shipping.

Item Cost (PreTax & Shipping)
Case $140.00
Power Supply $140.00
Motherboard $190.01
CPU $288.99
RAM $160.00
Hard Drive 1 (x2) $260.00
Hard Drive 2 $90.00
DVD - Burner $26.00
GPU 1 $400.00
GPU 2 $400.00
Operating System $105.00
MS Office $108.00
Monitor 1 $300.00
Monitor 2 $300.00
Speakers $38.99

Total $2,946.99


I have a question on the RAM. I am not sure if the motherboard from above supports the 1600 RAM?

http://www.gigabyte.us/Products/Motherboard/Products_Spec.aspx?ClassValue=Motherboard&ProductID=3317&ProductName=GA-X58A-UD3R
 
I like Danny_Bui's build. With a budget like that you may want to take a look at an ASUS P6X58D Premium motherboard. It has SATA 6Gb/s and USB 3.0. Hell, while your at it since you would have dual 5870's grab three monitors and take advantage of eyefinity. I didn't notice it mentioned here before but the I7 920 cpu that was recomended is an excellent overclocker.
 
If I were to go with eyefinity, is there any way to be able to use my existing monitor, for a total of four monitors?

By this I mean that I want to thave three monitors in landscape, then have my old monitor on an arm above the center monitor. Is there any hardware configuration that would allow this? I don't think that two 5870s in crossfire would allow me to do this, correct? I would have the three bottom monitors in an eyefinity group, and the fourth monitor not in eyefinity.

Could I instead get a 5970 (I am assuming this is comparable to two 5870s, is this true?), then get another cheaper card for the second video card slot in the motherboard, to hook up my fourth monitor?
 
Any way for us to view the pictures without registering?

but congrats!
 
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