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PC Strictly for Gaming

W

Weststar

n00b
Joined
Jan 23, 2009
Messages
9
I got a new job for the summer and I'm highly considering building a dedicated gaming rig within the next couple weeks. The main game I play is Starcraft 2 and will most likely be playing Diablo 3 in the future. I play the occasional Valve titles and what not.

Thanks in advance guys! Best enthusiast forum on the net imo.

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

Strictly gaming. I use my OS X machine for everything else (mainly because of Logic) so I don't really need anything else this computer to do.

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

I don't want to pass $1000 shipped.

3) Where do you live?

SF Bay Area

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.

Case, CPU, RAM, PSU, HDD, motherboard, optical drive, GPU.

6) Will you be overclocking?

Probably not, minimal if anything.

7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?

24-inch @ 1920 x 1080

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

June.

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video? etc.

I would like USB3.0, SATA 3, basically anything that leaves me semi-futureproofed, because I don't really want to upgrade too soon.

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?

W7 64-bit
 
Last edited:
$225 - Intel Core i5-2500K CPU
$130 - MSI P67A-G43 Intel P67 ATX Motherboard
$35 - Patriot PSD34G13332 4GB DDR3 1333 RAM
$240 - XFX HD-695X-ZNFC Radeon HD 6950 1GB PCI-E Video Card
$140 - Crucial RealSSD C300 CTFDDAC064MAG-1G1CCA 2.5" 64GB SSD
$61 - Samsung Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
$24 - Lite-On iHAS-324-98 24X SATA DVD Burner
$90 - Corsair 650TX V2 650W PSU
$90 - Cooler Master CM690 II Advance ATX Case
---
Total: $1035 shipped.

A little over your budget but totally worth every bit of cash. Oh and the SSD is for your OS and critcal apps and the hard drive is for large game installs and data.
 
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Danny Bui said:
$225 - Intel Core i5-2500K CPU
$130 - MSI P67A-G43 Intel P67 ATX Motherboard
$35 - Patriot PSD34G13332 4GB DDR3 1333 RAM
$240 - XFX HD-695X-ZNFC Radeon HD 6950 1GB PCI-E Video Card
$140 - Crucial RealSSD C300 CTFDDAC064MAG-1G1CCA 2.5" 64GB SSD
$61 - Samsung Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
$24 - Lite-On iHAS-324-98 24X SATA DVD Burner
$90 - Corsair 650TX V2 650W PSU
$90 - Cooler Master CM690 II Advance ATX Case
---
Total: $1035 shipped.

A little over your budget but totally worth every bit of cash. Oh and the SSD is for your OS and critcal apps and the hard drive is for large game installs and data.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the suggestions! I have a couple questions:

Is the 2gb 6950 worth the extra cost over the 1gb? Also, what are your thoughts on the ASRock Extreme 4?
 
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Weststar said:
Is the 2gb 6950 worth the extra cost over the 1gb? Also, what are your thoughts on the ASRock Extreme 4?
Click to expand...
As Haiku said, no. As for the AsRock, personally wouldn't get it due to its two year warranty.

Haiku214 said:
Also, look for CPU/mobo bundles. They are cheaper.
Click to expand...

Not in this case. The OP lives in California. So whatever savings he gets from Newegg's CPU + mobo bundles would be effectively negated by the tax. It's cheaper overall for the OP to buy the parts separately from Amazon.com where they don't charge tax to CA residents. Hence why I linked nothing but Amazon.com buy links.
 
Danny Bui said:
It's not from Amazon.com proper so the OP might get charged tax. Not to mention that vendor "Yuan Trade" isn't exactly reputable and such.
Click to expand...

On the right side you can still buy it from amazon.
 
I'm not so sure that I see the point of buying a 2500k over a 2500 if the OP probably won't be overclocking and using a board that really isn't meant for overclcoking and using the stock cooler.
 
The 2GB 6950 (if you do a little research and make sure you get one with the all important BIOS switch) can be unlocked to a 6970 equivalent. So... I'd say it's worthwhile regardless, at 1920x1080. The 1GB cards do not unlock. Price is not /that/ much different.
 
You can unlock a 1GB model too, it's just a bit more risky without the dual bios switch. The difference with the extra shaders is only like a 5% improvement in performance on average so it's not really a huge deal.

silent-circuit said:
Price is not /that/ much different.
Click to expand...

I have got to agree with you there. I would have a hard time not spending the extra $20 for double the vram.
 
Thanks for the help, guys! This is what I have decided on so far:

Gamer_Pic.png


I might go ahead and lay off on the ssd for a while to save some cash because I really want a modular psu for the extra tidiness. Any other suggestions?
 
BababooeyHTJ said:
I would spend the extra money on some dual channel ram personally.
Click to expand...

Not if the 4GB of total RAM is achieved using 2 x 2GB modules. This will leave much less memory expansion capability since the maximum amount of RAM would be effectively reduced to 12GB instead of 16GB. Plus, the OP would have had a much tougher time selling 2GB modules than he would 4GB modules should he decide to add more RAM later on.
 
E4g1e said:
Not if the 4GB of total RAM is achieved using 2 x 2GB modules. This will leave much less memory expansion capability since the maximum amount of RAM would be effectively reduced to 12GB instead of 16GB.
Click to expand...

Dual channel ram also performs better than single channel.

The OP won't be needing more than 4GB or ram anytime soon and if he does need more later on down the road there are another two dimms on that board.
 
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BababooeyHTJ said:
Dual channel ram also performs better than single channel.

The OP won't be needing more than 4GB or ram anytime soon and if he does need more later on down the road there are another two dimms on that board.
Click to expand...

Actually, 2 x 2GB modules are still a relatively poor choice these days because nowadays the cheapest 2 x 2GB kit now costs more than some of the cheaper 4GB modules. Plus, some new games require a minimum of 4GB of RAM just to even run at all although 8GB or more are recommended for those particular titles.

And the memory controller on Intel CPUs are designed such that dual-channel RAM does not provide anywhere close to double the performance (memory bandwidth wise) over single-channel RAM. Real-world performance of dual-channel RAM is less than 3 to 4 percent higher than single-channel RAM.
 
Weststar said:
It looks like many people are getting faulty and/or loud units. I'd rather not take the risk in regards to the power supply.
Click to expand...

Well your money, not mine. So go ahead with the modular Corsair if you want.
 
Weststar said:
I understand. Thanks for the suggestion though! Are XFX PSUs known for their quality? I only keep up with their GPUs.
Click to expand...

All XFX-branded PSUs are manufactured by the very same company that makes your selected Corsair HX 650: SeaSonic. Neither XFX nor Corsair actually manufacture their own PSUs. Instead, they design the PSUs and then subcontract their manufacture to one of the big manufacturers.
 
Weststar said:
I understand. Thanks for the suggestion though! Are XFX PSUs known for their quality? I only keep up with their GPUs.
Click to expand...

They are. XFX PSUs are actually made by the same manufacturer as the Corsair 650TX V2 and the 650HX albeit with some differences: Seasonic.
 
E4g1e said:
All XFX-branded PSUs are manufactured by the very same company that makes your selected Corsair HX 650: SeaSonic. Neither XFX nor Corsair actually manufacture their own PSUs. Instead, they design the PSUs and then subcontract their manufacture to one of the big manufacturers.
Click to expand...

Danny Bui said:
They are. XFX PSUs are actually made by the same manufacturer as the Corsair 650TX V2 and the 650HX albeit with some differences: Seasonic.
Click to expand...

Mind = blown. Thanks for the insight.. Reconsidering my decision now.
 
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