New Budget Gaming Rig

KINgGh0sT

[H]ard|Gawd
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Sep 11, 2001
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Basically my old AthlonXP has finally died and I am tried of gaming on the Xbox so I need a new computer...

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Gaming

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
500-600

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

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.
CPU - Was thinking AMD FX-8120
MOBO -
PSU - OCZ 700W from NCIX sale...?
SSD
Graphics Card

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
Just bought a Antec One Hundred Gaming Case, Going to buy 700W OCZ PSU Maybe?
Just bought Kingston HyperX Red Limited Ed. 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 1600MHz
Have 2x 1TB WD Drives for Raid...

6) Will you be overclocking?
Eventually

7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
24" 1920x1080

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
ASAP

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.
Raid

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
Win 7 64Bit
 
CPU - Was thinking AMD FX-8120
No not unless you're a huge AMD fan to the point where you like spending more money for less performance.
PSU - OCZ 700W from NCIX sale...?

Going to buy 700W OCZ PSU Maybe?
Which OCZ 700W?

Just bought Kingston HyperX Red Limited Ed. 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 1600MHz
I recommend returning that RAM as its voltage is just too high for Intel CPUs. It has a high chance of killing Intel CPUs. If you don't want to return the RAM, then you're gonna have to go with AMD.
 
No not unless you're a huge AMD fan to the point where you like spending more money for less performance.

Which OCZ 700W?


I recommend returning that RAM as its voltage is just too high for Intel CPUs. It has a high chance of killing Intel CPUs. If you don't want to return the RAM, then you're gonna have to go with AMD.

I am not entirely an AMD Fan, I have liked the company more then intel, but I don't really care

OCZ ModXStream Pro 700W ATX 20/24PIN SLI Ready Modular Cables 135mm Fan 80PLUS Power Supply
From http://www.ncix.com/products/?sku=35456&vpn=OCZ700MXSP&manufacture=OCZ Technology&promoid=1211

Was also thinking of returning my Case and getting this...

http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=70008&promoid=1211
 
$100 CAD Sapphire Radeon Xtreme HD 5850 HOT Price - very low quantities
$80 CAD XFX 750W PRO750W PSU Much better than the OCZ you suggested for $10 more this is also a nice PSU Corsair TX750 V2 750W
$190 CAD AMD Bulldozer FX-8120
$125 CAD Gigabyte GA-990XA-UD3
$95 CAD Crucial M4 SSD 64GB
$590CAD After Rebates

As Danny said above, you would probably be better off with an Intel solution for gaming but without knowing what you will be playing it is hard to know which CPU to suggest. You could very well get better performance at 1080p by bumping you GPU dollars and cutting back on the CPU but it depends on what you intend to play. Do the games you play use more than two cores effectively? More than four? You will almost certainly be better off ignoring the SSD requirement for now and spending more on a GPU for typical gaming.
 
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I could easily drop the SSD as they have been dropping rapidly in price... also that Video Card is OOS.

As for games, I am more looking future proof but Current Games would be BF3, Civ 5, Dead Island etc..

Near Future: Borderlands 2, Diablo 3 when it comes out
 
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I am not entirely an AMD Fan, I have liked the company more then intel, but I don't really care
So will you be returning the RAM or not?
OCZ ModXStream Pro 700W ATX 20/24PIN SLI Ready Modular Cables 135mm Fan 80PLUS Power Supply
From http://www.ncix.com/products/?sku=35456&vpn=OCZ700MXSP&manufacture=OCZ Technology&promoid=1211
Not a good choice unless it was $50 BEFORE rebates.

Was also thinking of returning my Case and getting this...

http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php?sku=70008&promoid=1211
Definitely not this: That PSU was barely capable of 500W of power six years ago. So definitely not a good choice for a PC these days.
 
$80 AR CAD XFX 750W PRO750W PSU $10 more this is also a nice PSU and no waiting on rebatesCorsair TX750 V2 750W
$200 CAD MSI GeForce GTX 560 Ti Twin Frozr II OC
$190 CAD Intel Core i5 2380P Quad Core Processor could subtract $50 for i3 2100 or add $50 for 2500k
$100 CAD Gigabyte GA-Z68AP-D3 many low spec Z68 at $125 or less, this was the cheapest from reliable vendor
$570 CAR After Rebate ($580 with Corsair PSU)

EDIT: I totally forgot about.tigerdirect.ca and Amazon.ca via HardOCP link, so definitely cross shop for better prices. Their 2500k is less than NCIX if you go that route.
$200 Intel Core i5-2400 from Amazon.ca probably worth the extra $10 for the IGP.
 
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Prav's build is good but has one major problem: It's missing compatible/safe RAM. Add this RAM and you'll be fine:
$50 - Kingston Hyper KHX1600C9D3B1K2/8GX 2 x 4GB DDR3 1600 RAM
 
Thank you very much guys, I have two quick questions...

Is this worth getting over that Twin Frozr?

http://www.canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=43_557_559&item_id=046594
The 560Ti Twin Frozr has better performance than that normal 560. If you need to save additional money you can certainly drop down.

The XFX is a much better value and has at least the same if not better performance.
reviews here from the only site I could find which reviewed both:
http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/XFX-750-W-Black-Edition-Power-Supply-Review/933/10
http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/Antec-High-Current-Gamer-750-W-Power-Supply-Review/1141/10
 
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Is having a single 12v rail bad on that PSU?

Thanks again for your help everyone.
 
Is having a single 12v rail bad on that PSU?
No.

Clearly you are having a problem with purchasing the XFX unit despite the fact that it has Seasonic internals and good reviews. I suggest you visit the Power Supply Forum
and sift through recent threads for additional recommendations until you find a brand you are comfortable buying. You will not find a better PSU for $60AR from a Canadian merchant but that is meaningless if you don't want to buy it in the first place.

If you really want an OCZ like you mentioned earlier then just grab this OCZ ZT Series 750W for $75AR. It did manage to receive jonnyguru recommended
 
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no no, I am not having a problem with the brand just want to make sure it is a good choice for the future. I planned on buying it, just making sure everything was okay with only 1 12v rail. I have been out of the computer scene for a while.
 
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