New Gaming Build

[Board86]

Hello,

I'm currently looking to build a new desktop computer and was hoping to get some recommendations from those more experienced than myself.

First of all, I don't know anything about overclocking, and therefore probably will not bother attempting it. The sole purpose of this computer will be for gaming. As of right now I mostly play SC2, Mass Effect 2, Dragon Age: Origins, and World of Warcraft. I'd like to get as much as I can out of these games without spending every last dollar I own.

Basically I'm looking for some suggestions. I have an idea of what I'm looking to order, and some opinions would be very helpful. For example: Intel vs AMD CPU? HD6870 vs. EVGA 460 FTW? Case recommendations (I'm really lost when it comes to case selection), etc.

Here is what I currently have planned to order:


ASUS DRW-24B1ST 24X SATA DVD Writer OEM Black $27.99

Antec Six Hundred Mid Tower Gaming Case 600 ATX
3X5.25 6X3.5INT 1 SATA Hot-Swap Bay No PS $89.99

Patriot Viper II Sector 7 6GB 3X2GB DDR3 1600MHZ
PC3-12800 8-8-8-24 1.65V Triple Channel Memory Kit
$104.35

Western Digital Caviar Black 640GB SATA3 6GB/S
7200RPM 64MB Cache 3.5IN Dual Proc Hard Drive OEM
$74.87

Microsoft Wired Desktop 400 English OEM Single Pack
(Random crap keyboard/mouse combo) $18.99


ASUS MS238H 23IN Widescreen Ultra Slim LED LCD Monitor
1920X1080 2MS 10000000:1 HDMI DVI VGA
$201.49



ASUS Sabertooth X58 LGA1366 DDR3
3PCI-E16 2PCI-E1 PCI Motherboard
$219.99



Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium Edition
64BIT DVD OEM
$123.77

OCZ GameXStream 850W ATX12V 24PIN
SLI Ready Active PFC ATX Power Supply 120MM Fans
$119.99



Intel Core i7 950 Quad Core Processor LGA1366
3.06GHZ Bloomfield 8MB LGA1366 4.8GT/S
$349.99


Cyber Acoustics CA-3001 Black 2.1
Speaker System 8W RMS
$23.98


ASUS Radeon HD 6870 913MHZ 1GB 4.2GHZ GDDR5
2XDVI 2XMINI DisplayPort HDMI PCI-E Video Card
$266.67
___________


Total: $1622.07


I'd like to stay within this price range, no more than $1700. If I can save money without really sacrificing performance I'm definitely interested in doing so. I usually tend to run with my computer until it's incapable of playing anything out there, as is the state of this computer, so being prepared for future games is certainly a plus.

I've taken these prices from ++++ (I live in Canada). They do price matching so if you build a cheaper/better machine from a different Canadian website that's fine as well.

Thank you all for taking the time to read my post!

 

[Dangman]

Wow, that's a lot of bad parts there for the money. Well let's get started:

CPU wise, you might want to drop down to the Core i5 750:
The 2.8Ghz Core i7 930 only provides about a 2 to 5FPS difference over the Core i5 750 as shown in this review:
http://www.legionhardware.com/articles_pages/gaming_the_core_debate,1.html

Additional proof: The $1040 3.3Ghz Core i7 975 Extreme Edition CPU is only 15% to 30% faster than the Core i5 750 with only a specific set of games and video cards:
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/cpu/display/cpus-and-games-2010.html

So considering the the i7 975 is faster than the i7 930 and i7 950 and yet only provides 15% to 30% under the most ideal conditions, the Core i7 930/950 is definitely not gonna be that much faster than the i5 750 or i5 760. At least fast enough to justify the higher costs anyway. In addition, there's very little real world difference between triple channel and dual channel RAM in real world apps and games.

So platform wise, you can save around $150 to $200 if you switch to the Core i7 750/760 route and still get very similar performance in games. Dunno about you but $150 to $250 is too high for minimal gains in gaming. It'll only extend the life of your PC by 2 months at most.

So yeah go Core i5 750 plus a P55 motherboard. I recommend gettin an Asus P55 motherboard.

RAM wise, regardless of whether or not you go Core i5, all you need for gaming is 4GB of RAM. Since you're not overclocking at all, DDR3 1333 RAM is all that you need. And no, lower latency doesn't provide that much of a real world performance increase to justify the costs. So basically, you'll be set with any cheap set of 4GB DDR3 1333 RAM rated at 1.5V.

Case wise, that Antec 600 case is a poor choice for the money considering that there are significantly better cases around that price range:
$70 - Cooler Master RC-590-KKN1-GP ATX Case
$70 - Cooler Master CM690 II Basic ATX Case
$85 - Cooler Master CM690 II Advance ATX Case
$90 - Cooler Master HAF 922 RC-922M-KKN1-GP ATX Case
$90 - Lian Li PC-7B Plus II ATX Case
$105 - Fractal Design Define R3 Black ATX Case (Fill in the ++++ with "N C I X" without the spaces)
$105 - Fractal Design Define R3 Titanium ATX Case (Fill in the ++++ with "N C I X" without the spaces)
$105 - Fractal Design Define R3 Silver ATX Case (Fill in the ++++ with "N C I X" without the spaces)
$100 - Lian Li Lancool PC-K7B ATX Case

Ditch the PSU. Under real world conditions, that PSU is only capable of providing 500W of power. So basically, it's a shitty PSU. So go for the Corsair 750TX or the Antec Truepower New 750

 

[Board86]

Wow thank you very much for the informed reply! This is the sort of answers I've been looking for actually. Obviously I don't know what I'm doing lol.

Regarding the CPU issue: I've been using this http://www.cpubenchmark.net/high_end_cpus.html
to judge what's best for me. However I admit I'm not totally sure what the benchmark ratings mean. I simply noticed that the i5 750 scores 4222 while the i7 950 scores 6292. That sounded like a large margin to me. I'll have to look into my processor choice a bit more obviously.

I mostly had the 6GB of triple channel because of the i7 paired with the x58 motherboard. I'll for sure drop to your recommendations if I go the i5 route.

As for cases I REALLY needed recommendations there, so thank you for that.

The PSU part I realized after was a bad choice, as mentioned by an ++++ advisor. 80 plus certified is a must I'm told, and I'll try to stick to a good brand name such as Corsair.

So thanks again. Anyone else with some recommendations?

 

[Dangman]

Regarding the CPU issue: I've been using this http://www.cpubenchmark.net/high_end_cpus.html
to judge what's best for me. However I admit I'm not totally sure what the benchmark ratings mean. I simply noticed that the i5 750 scores 4222 while the i7 950 scores 6292. That sounded like a large margin to me. I'll have to look into my processor choice a bit more obviously./QUOTE]

That's a synthetic benchmark. Synthetic Benchmarks like that and 3Dmark Vantage do not reflect at all real world gaming performance. All you have to do is read the reviews I linked and that is explictily clear.

 

[Board86]

Ah okay I should have known...

Well thank you for that. That'll save me a fair chunk of change to start!

 

[Board86]

Okay after getting a lot of recommendations from various people to use an i5 760 CPU with 4GB of DDR3 1333 RAM and doubling up on my video cards with either 2x Radeon 6870 or 2x NVidia 460 GTX (OC'd); I've been trying to select a new motherboard.

I'm having difficulty deciding which is best for me however.

I originally planned to go with the ASUS Sabertooth 55i to match my original choice of the Sabertooth x58. But after looking around I came across a feature on other boards which as far as I know, the Sabertooth lacks. That feature being Auto overclocking.

I have 0 experience with overclocking, and I originally had no intentions of doing so as I was afraid I might fry something on my computer, and I can't afford to be doing that.

BUT... some of the boards seems to have built in OC capabilities that the motherboard takes care of by itself. I assume this auto overclocking is safe to use 24/7; which means I get a faster computer with no risk.

So here are the boards I had been looking at:

MSI P55A Fuzion ATX LGA1156 P55 = $204.06
MSI P55A-GD65 P55 ATX LGA1156 = $149.99
ASUS P7P55D Deluxe LGA1156 P55 = $218.99
ASUS P7P55D Evo LGA1156 P55 = $199.99
ASUS P7P55D-E Pro LGA1156 P55 = $192.30
ASUS Maximus III Gene LGA1156 = $149.99 (micro ATX - I'm not sure if this is an issue or not)
ASUS Sabertooth I55 LGA1156 P55 = $164.44

Prices are based on the ++++ website as that is likely where I will be purchasing my computer seeing as they can build it for me, saving me the hassle of having to return defective parts and ensuring I have a properly built machine.

So basically I'm wondering if this Auto OC feature is worth it for someone who otherwise will probably not be doing any OCing. Or is the Sabertooth 55i still a better board for me regardless of OCing or not?

There could possibly be better boards than any of the boards I've listed here as well; but based on what ++++ has available, and considering price, these seemed to be the best options for me.

Thanks again for any input!

 

[PersonalJ]

Okay after getting a lot of recommendations from various people to use an i5 760 CPU with 4GB of DDR3 1333 RAM and doubling up on my video cards with either 2x Radeon 6870 or 2x NVidia 460 GTX (OC'd); I've been trying to select a new motherboard.

I'm having difficulty deciding which is best for me however.

I originally planned to go with the ASUS Sabertooth 55i to match my original choice of the Sabertooth x58. But after looking around I came across a feature on other boards which as far as I know, the Sabertooth lacks. That feature being Auto overclocking.

I have 0 experience with overclocking, and I originally had no intentions of doing so as I was afraid I might fry something on my computer, and I can't afford to be doing that.

BUT... some of the boards seems to have built in OC capabilities that the motherboard takes care of by itself. I assume this auto overclocking is safe to use 24/7; which means I get a faster computer with no risk.

So here are the boards I had been looking at:

MSI P55A Fuzion ATX LGA1156 P55 = $204.06
MSI P55A-GD65 P55 ATX LGA1156 = $149.99
ASUS P7P55D Deluxe LGA1156 P55 = $218.99
ASUS P7P55D Evo LGA1156 P55 = $199.99
ASUS P7P55D-E Pro LGA1156 P55 = $192.30
ASUS Maximus III Gene LGA1156 = $149.99 (micro ATX - I'm not sure if this is an issue or not)
ASUS Sabertooth I55 LGA1156 P55 = $164.44

Prices are based on the ++++ website as that is likely where I will be purchasing my computer seeing as they can build it for me, saving me the hassle of having to return defective parts and ensuring I have a properly built machine.

So basically I'm wondering if this Auto OC feature is worth it for someone who otherwise will probably not be doing any OCing. Or is the Sabertooth 55i still a better board for me regardless of OCing or not?

There could possibly be better boards than any of the boards I've listed here as well; but based on what ++++ has available, and considering price, these seemed to be the best options for me.

Thanks again for any input!

You can get two Zotac GTX 470 for around $200 each after rebate and promo code on Newegg. A SLI 470 setup should perform much better than a CF 6870 setup and be significantly less. They also overclock better than 6870s. There was also a 5870 on sale for around $240, but 5870 CF doesn't scale as well as the 6870s. The only issue is if you go with an i5 setup generally the best pci-e you can get is 8/8 for dual GPU and not 16/16 like on the i7 boards. The difference is really minimal though.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814500157
use promo code EMCZZYR24
You should pick up a coolermaster hyper 212+ and OC your 760 if you go that route. For $30 it can't be beat.

Stay away from Auto OC features, they aren't good to use. Overclock the CPU yourself. The ++++ pricing is really no where near as good as Newegg, those same components you've already listed are much cheaper on Newegg. You'd save a few hundred dollars by shopping elsewhere and building the PC yourself.

 

[Dangman]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814500157
use promo code EMCZZYR24
You should pick up a coolermaster hyper 212+ and OC your 760 if you go that route. For $30 it can't be beat.

Stay away from Auto OC features, they aren't good to use. Overclock the CPU yourself. The ++++ pricing is really no where near as good as Newegg, those same components you've already listed are much cheaper on Newegg. You'd save a few hundred dollars by shopping elsewhere and building the PC yourself.

That Newegg.com promo code won't work on the Canadian version of the site IIRC.++++ probably means N C I X.

Anyway,OP, stick with the 55i. Despite the advances, auto-OC is still not a trust-worthy or safe feature to use IMO.

 

[Board86]

One more question comes to mind... should I buy a CPU Heatsink or is the stock Heatsink with the i5 760 enough?

 

[Dangman]

One more question comes to mind... should I buy a CPU Heatsink or is the stock Heatsink with the i5 760 enough?

If overclocking and/or living in a hot place, yes
If not overclocking and/or living in a relatively temperate place, no.