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Need help with this build

D

DCVL

n00b
Joined
Dec 19, 2007
Messages
59
My budget is right around $800 for a "new" computer. My goal is to have it play skyrim, diablo 3 and BF3 at full graphics without issues on a single monitor in 1920x1080.


These are the items I'm attempting to reuse to keep cost low:

Case http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811133154

Power Supply http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817153039

HD - Western Digital Caviar Black WD5001AALS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

CD/DVD http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827129018


Here's what I'll be upgradeing (I'm using windows 7 64 bit for OS):

mobo http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813121533

cpu http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115072

gpu http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130660

HD (boot drive and w/e games I'm currently playing heavily) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148442

RAM (8gb total) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231277

All of this = about $850. Let me know if there's anything you'd recommend changing and why. If there's a place where cost can be cut without suffering a noticable loss in performance let me know! Thanks.
 
Can you wait until Ivy Bridge arrives next month? If you can't....

You'll also need to replace the optical drive as today's motherboards don't come with IDE ports. Fortunately, a SATA DVD burner should cost you no more than $25. For example:

$16 - Samsung SH-222BB/BEBE SATA DVD burner

Out of curiosity, how old is your PSU? Do you have an OEM version or a retail version of Windows 7?

To save some money right now, I recommend a couple of combo deals (these all expire this Saturday, March 31):

$249 - Intel Core i5-2500K and G.Skill RipjawsX 2x4GB DDR3 combo deal
$300 - Asus P8Z68-V PRO/GEN3 and Crucial M4 128GB SSD combo deal

The motherboard and memory kit that I chose are just as good as the ones you were considering.

You should also consider buying a good third-party CPU cooler now so you have the ability to overclock your processor later:

$30 - Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus

The video card is a concern, as you may struggle in BF3 with it. I would normally recommend either the GTX 560 Ti 448 Core (the "plain" GTX 560 generally isn't enough for most of today's first-person shooters) or the HD 6950 2GB, but the price for both (starting at around $270) is probably more than you're willing to spend at this time.
 
DCVL said:
My budget is right around $800 for a "new" computer. My goal is to have it play skyrim, diablo 3 and BF3 at full graphics without issues on a single monitor in 1920x1080.


These are the items I'm attempting to reuse to keep cost low:

Case http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811133154

Power Supply http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817153039

HD - Western Digital Caviar Black WD5001AALS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

CD/DVD http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827129018


Here's what I'll be upgradeing (I'm using windows 7 64 bit for OS):

mobo http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813121533

cpu http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115072

gpu http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130660

HD (boot drive and w/e games I'm currently playing heavily) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148442

RAM (8gb total) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231277

All of this = about $850. Let me know if there's anything you'd recommend changing and why. If there's a place where cost can be cut without suffering a noticable loss in performance let me know! Thanks.
Click to expand...

I also second tiraides' choices. Especially since very, very few new motherboards have IDE (PATA) ports any more (and most new motherboards have absolutely no IDE ports at all whatsoever), and that (as originally planned) you'd not only be filling up all four DIMM slots on the mobo with a total of only 8GB of RAM, but you'd also be spending $13 more than that same series of RAM would have cost in 2 x 4GB sticks.
 
If your waiting youll want one of the new z77 motherboards as well. They should be available within the next few weeks.
 
DCVL said:
Just curious but is anything more than just 8GB of ram even going to be that useful for gaming?
Click to expand...
Not really unless you plan on leaving a ton of apps and VMs running in the background while you play games. Or if you're planning on running multple MMORPG clients at the same time.

DCVL said:
And yes I can wait for Ivy. I'd totally forgot, so I switched over to this mobo instead. Can't believe I missed that.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157271
Click to expand...
Even if you were sticking wth a SB setup or if you were gonna buy a few months ago, we still wouldn't have recommended that mobo on account of AsRock's short warranty and the fact that AsRock Z68 mobos have not faired well under proper testing:
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2011/11/09/asrock_z68_extreme4_gen3_motherboard_review/
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2011/12/07/asrock_z68_pro3_lga_1155_motherboard_review/

So ditch that mobo and wait for the Z75 and Z77 mobos to come out.

Now please answer tiraides' questions.
 
DCVL said:
Just curious but is anything more than just 8GB of ram even going to be that useful for gaming?
Click to expand...

True. But in this case, filling up all four DIMM slots with a total of just 8GB is penny-foolish at this point: Four 2GB sticks cost all of $60 while two 4GB sticks still cost $45. So, you do want your 8GB in as few sticks as possible.
 
I thought I did but I guess I didn't hit post reply.

The PSU is about 4 years old, and the win 7 was bought at the store. I'd forgotten to mention I already had a zalman after market CPU fan that would work on LGA 1155, but it was a bitch to install and the idea of 2 fans across the CPU's heat sync has definitely sold me on it. I will be going with that heat sync for sure.

I've decided to keep most of the components but change the CPU and mobo to the newer stuff once it comes out.
 
I highly recommend that you follow E4g1e's and Tiraides advice about the RAM: Even if you weren't going past 8GB of RAM, there's no reason to spend MORE money for more DIMMs. $60 of 4 x 2GB of RAM is a poor choice considering that you can get 2 x 4GB for $41. No logical reason to go for the 4 x 2GB if it costs more.

Also video card wise, do not get that particular GTX 560 card as it costs $197 shipped. Not a good choice at all when the faster GTX 560 TI costs $23 more:
$220 - MSI N560GTX-TI Twin Frozr II/OC GTX 560 TI 1GB PCI-E Video Card

The GTX 560 is only worth getting if it's under $190 shipped. Any more than that and you're better off with the GTX 560 Ti from a price to performance standpoint.
 
I fully agree with the TI version of the GPU. I'm going to go with that and replace that mobo and CPU most likely with a z77 and the ivy bridge model. Given those 2 changes, do you think the rest of the components look good (also switching out the memory for 2x4GB sticks). I glanced over them thinking it was the same amount of ram.
 
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