<$2000 gaming and programming PC

ashlux

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Jan 10, 2010
4
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18,510
APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: Very soon BUDGET RANGE: 2000-2300

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: Programming/compiling, gaming, virtualization

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: Need everything

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: newegg, amazon (I have free 2 day shipping) COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: USA

PARTS PREFERENCES: Prefer nvidia

OVERCLOCKING: Maybe

SLI OR CROSSFIRE: Maybe

MONITOR RESOLUTION: 1920 x 1080

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: Must play nicely with Linux. Upgrade-ability would be nice. Eventually dual monitors would be nice.

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This is what I've picked out so far:

ASUS VH242H Black 23.6" 5ms HDMI Full 1080P Widescreen LCD Monitor - Retail $199.99 ($10 mail-in rebate) + $8.99 shipping

COOLER MASTER CM690 II Advanced Black Steel body / Plastic + Mesh bezel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail $99.99 + $19.99 shipping

ASRock X58 Extreme LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail $169.99

OCZ StealthXStream OCZ700SXS 700W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready Active PFC Power Supply - Retail $79.99 ($30 mail-in rebate)

OCZ Gold 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 2000 (PC3 16000) Low Voltage Desktop Memory Model OCZ3G2000LV6GK - Retail $189.99 ($20 mail-in rebate)

Intel Core i7-920 Bloomfield 2.66GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80601920 - Retail $288.99

Microsoft Windows 7 Professional 64-bit 1-Pack for System Builders - OEM $139.99

Intel X25-M Mainstream SSDSA2M080G2XXX 2.5" 80GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) - OEM $289.95

SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD502HJ 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive $54.99

Sony Optiarc 24X DVD/CD Rewritable Drive Black SATA Model AD-7240S-0B - OEM - $25.99

Zonet ZEW2500P MINI USB / USB 2.0 Wireless Adapter - Retail $21.99 + $6.29 shipping

Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound - OEM $7.99

EVGA 01G-P3-1180-AR GeForce GTX 285 1GB 512-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP*** $389.99 + $7.56 shipping

Subtotal: $1,959.83

Shipping: $38.30

Total: $1,998.13

* All prices are from newegg and are before mail-in rebates.

*** I'm a bit clueless on what to do about the graphics card since prices have fluctuated since the latest guides that I've seen. So I'm just I'd prefer to stick with nvidia since every attempt to get ATI to play nicely in Linux has been unpleasant. I'd like to keep the GPU under $400 so I just penciled in a video card.
 
Solution
Case / PSU - Antec 1200 / CP-850 id twin GFX cards in your future (alternate HAF 932 w/ Corsair HX-850
With single GFX, Antec 900 w/ EA-650 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129064

MoBo - Best you can afford among these:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Productcompare.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=40000280%201070545356&Description=asus%20motherboard&CompareItemList=N82E16813131365%2CN82E16813131614%2CN82E16813131386&bop=And&ActiveSearchResult=True

Memory - DDR 2000 doesn't do anything for you unless you're planning on 5 Ghz OC's w/ LN2. Invest the money in MoBo , case or PSU. Get the best CAS timings you can afford. The best DDR1600 is the Mushkin 998691 at $245 w/ CAS 6 timings. CAS 7 can be had for $189, CAS8 $129

HD's...
Case / PSU - Antec 1200 / CP-850 id twin GFX cards in your future (alternate HAF 932 w/ Corsair HX-850
With single GFX, Antec 900 w/ EA-650 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129064

MoBo - Best you can afford among these:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Productcompare.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=40000280%201070545356&Description=asus%20motherboard&CompareItemList=N82E16813131365%2CN82E16813131614%2CN82E16813131386&bop=And&ActiveSearchResult=True

Memory - DDR 2000 doesn't do anything for you unless you're planning on 5 Ghz OC's w/ LN2. Invest the money in MoBo , case or PSU. Get the best CAS timings you can afford. The best DDR1600 is the Mushkin 998691 at $245 w/ CAS 6 timings. CAS 7 can be had for $189, CAS8 $129

HD's: Check out the performance charts and pick whatever 500 GB per platter drive performs best under your usage patterns. The WD Black 2 TB is a good choice but at smaller capacities, you are limited to the Seagate 7200.12 or the Spinpoint F3. The 7200.12 excels in gaming, multimedia and pictures whereas the F3 wins at music and movie maker. See the comparisons here (copy past link in manually, link won't work in forum):

(http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/2009-3.5-desktop-hard-drive-charts/compare,1006.html?prod[2371]=on&prod[2770]=on)

Heat Sink - For performance and ease of installation, the Prolimatech Megahalems fits both criteria. Here's what I'm putting in new builds Mega w/ IC Diamond TIM and twin Scythe PWMfans (make sure ya MoBo can handle the fan wattage). ($95 for the HS, TIM. two PWM fans and a Y cable splitter))

http://www.frozencpu.com/products/8807/cpu-pro-01/Prolimatech_Megahalems_Rev_B_Intel_CPU_Heatsink_LGA_775_1156_1366_AM2_AM2_AM3_Hot_Item.html
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/7038/thr-41/Innovation_Cooling_Diamond_7_Carat_Thermal_Compound_-_15_Grams.html?id=BZWnrfIC
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/10026/fan-639/Scythe_Slip_Stream_120mm_x_25mm_PWM_Fan_-_SY1225SL12LM-P.html?tl=g36c365s936
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/8418/cab-150/FrozenCPU_PMW_Y_Splitter_Cable.html

If that's a budget breaker, look at the Xigmnatec S1283 or one of the others here:

http://www.silentpcreview.com/Recommended_Heatsinks
http://www.frostytech.com/top5heatsinks.cfm#INTELHEATSINK
http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=371&Itemid=62&limit=1&limitstart=15

The GTX 285 isn't in a good spot right now, price performance wise:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-310-5970,2491.html

Here's the "winners" from THG's latest (December) GFX Roundup
Best Graphics Cards For The Money: December '09

$50 - HD 4650
$65 - HD 4670 / 9600 GSO
$85 - 9600 GT
$95 - 9800 GT / HD 4830
$110 - GTS 250 512 MB
$120 - GTS 250 1 GB
$155 - HD 5770 / GTX 260
$200 - HD 4890
$240 - 2 x GTS 250
$310 - No winner (HD 5850 Honorable Mention)
$330 - 2 x GTX 260 / 2 x HD 5770
$400 - 2 x HD 4890
$410 - No winner (HD 5870 Honorable Mention)
$465 - No winner (GTX 295 Honorable Mention)
$625 - No winner (HD 5970 Honorable Mention)

With most MoBo's the wireless adapter will be redunbdant
 
Solution

ashlux

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Jan 10, 2010
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18,510
Thanks for the input.

I totally agree the GTX 285 isn't good for the price. Problem is, the Dec '09 list of best cards for the money is already outdated. Two GTX 260s would run between $385-410 right now, not the $330 cited by the article. For that price, I might as well go for the HD 4890 if I wasn't trying to avoid ATI.

I'm considering settling on ATI anyhow: SAPPHIRE 100283L Radeon HD 5770 (Juniper XT) 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card - Retail $179.99 x2 = ($359.98)

Last time I went with Mushkin I liked it, so I'm switching in their 998691 for $245.

I don't understand why you say a wireless adapter would be redundant for most mobos. The ASUS mobos you linked do not mention anything about having wifi built-in.
 

restatement3dofted

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Jan 5, 2010
477
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18,790
Are you a college student, or do you know anyone that is? If so, you can get a copy of Windows 7 Professional (either 32- or 64-bit) for $65 (upgrade, so you'll have to have XP or Vista already). Check out http://www.microsoft.com/student/discounts/theultimatesteal-us/default.aspx. Might not be critical, but could save you $75 or so on the OS.
 

blackhawk1928

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You said you need everything...do you need audio, keyboard, mouse?

anyway your budget is very good, so i think we can tweak some things in it to better suit your needs.

-You can save an easy twenty buy getting a 23'' monitor which is .6 inches less.
-I'd get a case like an HAF 922/932
-For your budget a ASUS P6X58D Premium is more of what you want, it has all the latest/greatest.
-That OCZ PSU is good but a Corsair 850HX modular 80+ certified power supply is better.
-Upgrade the gold to the platinum, its god tigher timings which equates to better performance and better overclock.
-And if you can live without a good video card until around march, buy a cheap one like a 9xxx series which should suffice alright for now and once the Nvidia DX11 cards come out, grab one of them :)

-And what CPU cooler are you using, just to let you know the stock cooler already has thermal paste pre-applied so if you're using that then cancel the AS5 order.
I think those parts will still fit your budget but you will get a higher quality of hardware, better performance, better cooling, and more future proofing as with the SATA 3 and USB 3 :)
 

b10n

Distinguished
Apr 16, 2009
45
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18,530
i7 if ur near micro center $200
asus premium usb 3 and sata 6 $300
x25m $280
Corsair 850watt $120
Lancool Pc-k62 $100
5780 $400
Dvd burner- $30
Asus 23.6inch $200
Corsair 6gb dominator $200
Samsung f3 500gb $50
Windows 7 $100
$1980
 


My bad on the wireless.....brain fart ..... was working on laptop thread and copied same comment over. Where I meant to go is that wireless and high performance are generally mutually exclusive.