$2000+ Gaming Rig

[Kramer0526]

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: Within this month. BUDGET RANGE: $2,000-$3000.

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: Gaming, surfing the net, watching movies.

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: Keyboard, mouse, monitor, speakers.

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: newegg.com COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: United States

PARTS PREFERENCES: Intel Quad Core, EVGA Mobo and GPU

OVERCLOCKING: Likely, however I am not water cooling, so only slightly. SLI OR CROSSFIRE: Depends on the $$$ left over if I have enough for another card. If not, it's highly probably I will drop a second card in in the coming months.

MONITOR RESOLUTION: 1024x768, 1440x900, 1600x1200

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: I'm looking to build a solid, higher-end system that still uses parts with the biggest bang for the $$$ given the price range and preferences. Below is what I've come up with so far.

EVGA E760 CLASSIFIED "Overclocker's Pick" 3-Way SLI + PhysX 1366 Intel X58 EATX Intel Motherboard

Intel Core i7-920 Bloomfield 2.66GHz 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor

EVGA 012-P3-1472-AR GeForce GTX 470 (Fermi) SuperClocked 1280MB 320-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

CORSAIR DOMINATOR 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Triple Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model TR3X6G1600C8D

CORSAIR HX Series CMPSU-850HX 850W ATX12V 2.3 / EPS12V 2.91 80 PLUS SILVER Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply

Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium Fatal1ty Professional 70SB088600002 7.1 Channels 24-bit 96KHz PCI Express x1 Interface Sound Card

Intel X25-M Mainstream SSDSA2MH080G2R5 2.5" 80GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

COOLER MASTER Intel Core i7 compatible V8 RR-UV8-XBU1-GP 120mm Rifle CPU Cooler

Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit 1-Pack for System Builders – OEM

Corsair Obsidian Series 800D CC800DW Black Aluminum / Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case

There's no optical drives or any of that stuff, but I just wanted to get the guts up since I can get those anytime no problem. So far the total is around $2370, so I might be able to fit in an extra 470 for SLI. Please let me know if I can improve the set up, and most importantly if these parts are compatible! Many thanks in advance!

 

[tecmo34]

Everything will work together but might I make a few suggestions...

1) Get this CPU/MOBO Combo: Intel Core i7 930 & ASUS P6X58D Premium - I know you requested EVGA but they currently don't have a MOBO that supports USB 3.0 or SATA 6.0 Gb/s. The ASUS board is one of the best X58 board out!!

2) I would recommend the G.SKILL PI Series DDR3 1600 Cas7 over the Dominator's but at your budget I would look to go with these... Mushkin 6GB (3x2GB) DDR3 1600 Cas6

3) You don't need a sound card for today's motherboards. The on-board sound is very good. I would recommend to wait to purchase a sound card after your build and you find the sound doesn't meet your needs.

4) I would make the increase to the OCZ Agility 2 100GB SSD for better performance.

5) Drop the V8 cooler. It may look sweet but it doesn't perform any better than the lower priced (better option) Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus.

Additional notes....
■An i7 750 or Phenom II X4 955 will perform equally as well for less money on a gaming build.
■At your resolution, you won't be needing a SLI setup with the GTX 470. You need a monitor resolution of 1920x1080 or higher for the need to SLI the GTX 470.
■Great CASE but you could save a big chunk of money and go with either of these cases.... Antec 1200, Cooler Master HAF 932 or Cooler Master ATCS 840 and get similar cooling performance.

 

[Kramer0526]

Cool..thanks a lot. I've asked around on some other forums and they also recommended the exact same motherboard and CPU, so that combo is looking pretty good. This is what I got now.

Intel Core i7-930 Bloomfield 2.8GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Model BX80601930 and ASUS P6X58D Premium LGA 1366 Intel X58 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

Mushkin Enhanced Redline 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model 998805

EVGA 012-P3-1470-AR GeForce GTX 470 (Fermi) 1280MB 320-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

OCZ Agility 2 OCZSSD2-2AGT100G 2.5" 100GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

CORSAIR CMPSU-850TX 850W ATX12V 2.2 / EPS12V 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready Active PFC Power Supply

Corsair Obsidian Series 800D CC800DW Black Aluminum / Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case

I think I'm gonna stick with that case, just because I really like it's features and it seems like it is built solid (I plan on keeping whatever case I get for several years).

 

[tecmo34]

Solid build...

Don't forget to pickup your heat sink (CM Hyper 212+ ) and look to add a storage hard drive like the Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB or Seagate 7200.12 1TB to relieve storage requirements on the SSD.

 

[Somebody_007]

In that budget I'd go for a d14 or prolimatech megahelems as cooler. They'll give you an extra 200mhz stable frequency.

 

[Kramer0526]

I was looking at that Noctua NH-D14, but my only concern is if the thing will even fit! Based on my case and mobo do you think it'll clear it?

Besides that I was also looking at the Thermalright TRUE with a dual fan setup, and also the Noctua NH-U12P SE1366, which is looking nice since it already comes with the fans and all.

 

[tecmo34]

If you are wanting the best air coolers, you should be looking at one of these three... IMO.

Prolimatech Megahelams
Thermalright Venomous-X
CoGaGe Arrow

 

[Somebody_007]

The d14 fits definately between those 3 coolers. And it should fit in that case no problem it fits in my thermaltake element G nicely.

 

[Kramer0526]

For all these coolers that have radiators but no fans, will just normal case fans clip on? Stupid question..but I'm used to just having my cooler come with the fan and assembly already attached.

The NH-D14 looks really good as far as cooling goes and has the fans and all already attached. But it looks like the venomous and megahalems have similar cooling with a dual fan config, and they are not as humungous. I'm leaning on the megahalems with 2 scythe ultra cazes at this point.

 

[tecmo34]

I would go with the Megahalem and two Scythe Ultra Fans. It will provide outstanding cooling!!!

You are right... Standard 120mm fans will clip on the fans that don't come with them.

 

[Kramer0526]

Update - Last night bought my mobo, cpu, ram, gpu, psu and case. Tonight I'll probably order my CPU cooler, some fans and dust guards, optical drives and SSD and HD. Newegg is out of the OCZ Agility 2 SSD so I think I'm gonna go with the OCZ Vertex LE since it maintains capacity and has similar performance and is also 30 bucks cheaper. For HD I'm gonna get the Western Digital Caviar Blue 160gig since I just need a general purpose drive to store music and media.

Can't wait to put this thing together.

 

[tecmo34]

Why not just the Samsung Spinpoint F3 500GB for a lttle more? It gives you more capacity & a faster drive.

 

[Kramer0526]

Best answer selected by Kramer0526.

 

[Kramer0526]

Update: All the rest of the parts were ordered last night. There's a small problem though..

While researching to plan ahead on how I am going to put this thing together I realized that by nearly all accounts the Prolimatech Megahalems comes with only one set of fan clips, despite Newegg's specs reporting "Two sets of fan clips for a duo-fan installation."

I might get two sets or not, but that doesn't really matter because I'm pretty sure those clips are only suitable for your standard 120 x 120 x 25 mm fans. So, are there any CPU cooler fan clips out there that will suit the Scythe "ULTRA KAZE" 120 x 120 x 38 mm?

Edit: Found Some - http://www.heatsinkfactory.com/prolimatech-120x38mm-fan-clips.html

Kramer