3000-3500$ gaming build

[Hairball]

Hello, I'd like advice and recommendations about a gaming build for 3000-3500$.

I'd also like to point out I'm from Israel, so I'll most probably buy the parts here, where the parts are more expensive relatively but I don't have to mess with importing and international warranty.

Info format:

Approximate Purchase Date: sometime in the next two-three weeks.

Budget Range: 3000-3500$ (flexible)

System Usage from Most to Least Important:

1. Gaming, movies, internet usage.

Are you buying a monitor: Yes.

Parts to Upgrade: building from scratch.

Do you need to buy OS: No.

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: http://en.ksp.co.il/
If anyone has a suggestion for a different store in Israel with better prices/parts, I'm more than willing to take a look.
If anyone has a suggestion for a store abroad that ships internationally and has really good deals (despite import taxes of at least 17% of the original price), I might consider the hassle.

Location: A city near Tel-Aviv, Israel.

Parts Preferences: I'd like a CPU from Intel and a GPU from Nvidia.

Overclocking: Maybe.

SLI or Crossfire: Maybe.

Your Monitor Resolution: 1920x1080 or 1920x1200, I'm think I'll go for dual monitors.

Additional Comments:
I'd like the system to be extremely quiet yet cool.

Here's what's in it after help from further down the thread (this is an edit)
Prices are calculated using 1USD=3.9NIS (rounded up) as of November 9th.

CPU - Intel i5-3570k - 297.44$
GPU - Gigabyte GTX670 2GB GDDR5 - 612.82$
RAM - G.Skill 2x8GB Ripjaws-X DDR3 1600Mhz - 171.79$
Cooler - Noctua NH-U9B - 50$
Case - Corsair 500R Carbide - 151.28$
PSU - Corsair TX 650W V2 - 132.05$
SSD - Samsung 830 128GB SSD - 202.56$
HDD - Western Digital Caviar Green 1TB - 119.23$
Monitor - Dell S2330MX Ultra-Slim With LED 23'' 2ms VGA DVI x2 - 476.92$
Writer - LG UH12LS29 DVD±RW Blu-Ray Combo - 75.64$
Headphones - Razer Megalodon 7.1 Surround - 162.82$
Keyboard - Thermaltake Tt eSports Meka G-UNIT - 101.28$
Speakers - Microlab M-500 5.1 - 117.95$

Sum so far = 2671.78$

Motherboard - is there any motherboard with some good/special features anyone can recommend?

Mouse - still contemplating between:
Razer Lachesis 3.5G 5600DPI Laser Mouse - 77.06$
Razer Imperator Ergonomic Laser Gaming Mouse - 76.03$
Logitech Gaming Mouse G500 Retail - 70.87$

 

[Outlander_04]

If you want quiet then use a quiet case like the Antec P280 , or The Fractal design cases

you wont even need a 750 watt psu to run that .

the corsair H60 is not quieter or better than a large air cooler like the Scythe Ninja whch costs far less

The evga ftw has a reference cooler and will be louder than a card like the gigabyte windforce series

 

[g-unit1111]

Don't include the surge protector in your budget (and that's way too much money to spend on one - if you need anything beyond a basic surge protector get yourself an APC battery backup surge protector). If you want to get a gaming controller get an XBOX controller - you can use the wired or wireless, but they're far preferred over any other controller.

For the gaming rig I'd suggest this:

Case: Corsair Carbide 400R - 460 ₪
PSU: Seasonic X860 Gold - 730 ₪
Motherboard: Asus P8Z77-V LX - 840 ₪
CPU: 3.4GHz Intel Core i5-3570K - 1160 ₪
Cooler: Noctua NH-U9B - 195 ₪
RAM: 8GB G.Skill Ares 1600MHz 1.5V - 295 ₪
SSD: 128GB Samsung 830 - 790 ₪
Optical: LG Blu Ray Burner - 115 ₪
Video Card: EVGA Geforce GTX 670 FTW - 2190 ₪
Operating System: Windows 8 OEM Hebrew Edition - 490 ₪
Monitor: Asus VS239N 23'' LED IPS 14ms VGA DVI WideScreen Black - 880 ₪

Total: 8467 ₪ ($2,167.89 USD)

For the Photoshop rig I'd suggest pretty much the same thing but upgrade the CPU to an i7-3770K, and then add another 8GB of RAM and a monitor with a 2560 x 1440 resolution. Maybe also swap the video card in the Photoshop rig for an ATI Fire Pro or NVIDIA Quaddro.

 

[Hairball]

Thanks for the quick responses guys.

I'll replace the GPU with:
Gigabyte GTX670 2GB GDDR5 DX11 2xDVI HDMI DP PCI-E - 615.98$

The case with:
Antec P280 Mid ATX Tower Black Case (No PSU) - 141.75$

The PSU with:
SeaSonic 850W Gold X-Series Active PFC 12cm Fan Modular PSU X-850 (Retail) - 188.15$

The surge protector with Hyundai HY-EMP601S-ILX2 Surge Protector - 2 Pcs - 20.62$

And the game contoller with an Xbox game controller.

About the cooling, what's better out of your suggestions?
The Scythe Ninja 3 Rev.B CPU Cooler - 50.77$
Or the Noctua NH-U9B SE2 CPU Cooler - 50.26$
Price-wise they're not really different, but the Scythe Ninja is 2x heavier than the Noctua and I don't know how much such weight (1kg) would affect other components connected to it.

Would one of the above CPU coolers and the case's fans be enough to keep the components cool?

g-unit1111, the only 2560 x 1440 resolution screen in that store is:
Dell U2713HM UltraSharp With LED AH-IPS 27 Inch VGA DVI DP HDMI WideScreen - 873.71$
More than twice the price of the original monitor, so I could just get two, wouldn't you agree?
For the first build I'll also stick with the original monitor because of its 2ms response time and I like its look.

Also please explain why the Corsair 400R over the 500R, or now over the antec P280?

and why the 128GB Samsung 830 over the G.Skill Phoenix III 120GB?

Also the writer you linked is a dvd writer, not a blu ray.
The writer I put in the original build is the cheapest writer of blu-ray there.
I'll stay with 2x8 GB RAM, and please don't count the OS in the build.

The second system is not for photoshop.
To be more precise, by rendering and simulation I mean creating a model and testing it in a simulation software, which will probably be heavy on processing load.

I theorized I'd use the first build for such simulation as well as gaming (which is why I put the i7-3770k in it) and the second would be a proccessing unit for the entire house (more on that next), but would you say it'd be better to make the first one a gaming-only build while amping up the second build with the i7-3770k and a powerfull GPU like you suggested?

Furthermore the second build is supposed to be connected to several screens, so I could use it, for example, from the living room using a screen there and then proceed in my bedroom using another screen there.
Is there anything specific needed to enable such mobility?

(I'll add this note to the original post in a few minutes).

 

[g-unit1111]

g-unit1111, the only 2560 x 1440 resolution screen in that store is:
Dell U2713HM UltraSharp With LED AH-IPS 27 Inch VGA DVI DP HDMI WideScreen - 873.71$
More than twice the price of the original monitor, so I could just get two, wouldn't you agree?
For the first build I'll also stick with the original monitor because of its 2ms response time and I like its look.

Yeah that does seem a bit much.

If you look around eBay there's those Korean import monitors they sell with the high resolutions for a fraction of the cost (Yamakasi Catleap, etc).

Also please explain why the Corsair 400R over the 500R, or now over the antec P280?

I'd take either Corsair case over the Antec P280 and that's mainly for cable management purposes. I really like Corsair's system for cable management - it's really easy to work with. I'm not saying the P280 is bad - I like the case, I mainly use cases without doors.

and why the 128GB Samsung 830 over the G.Skill Phoenix III 120GB?

The G.Skill drive uses the out of date Sandforce 2.0 controller - which is known to have freezing and BSOD issues, where the Samsung drive uses the far superior Marvell controller.

To be more precise, by rendering and simulation I mean creating a model and testing it in a simulation software, which will probably be heavy on processing load.

If that's the case I'd probably recommend going X79 and a professional video card like a Fire Pro that can support multiple monitors.

Furthermore the second build is supposed to be connected to several screens, so I could use it, for example, from the living room using a screen there and then proceed in my bedroom using another screen there.
Is there anything specific needed to enable such mobility?

Good question and I'm not sure what you are looking for exists. I may have to look into this.

Price-wise they're not really different, but the Scythe Ninja is 2x heavier than the Noctua and I don't know how much such weight (1kg) would affect other components connected to it.

It won't as long as you don't put a lot of pressure on your CPU. I'd go for the Noctua myself.

 

[Hairball]

I'd take either Corsair case over the Antec P280 and that's mainly for cable management purposes. I really like Corsair's system for cable management - it's really easy to work with. I'm not saying the P280 is bad - I like the case, I mainly use cases without doors.

Ok, on second thought the door would probably be more opened than closed so the antec 280p is out, and after reading some reviews, I'll go back to the Corsair 500R.

The G.Skill drive uses the out of date Sandforce 2.0 controller - which is known to have freezing and BSOD issues, where the Samsung drive uses the far superior Marvell controller.

Alright, the 128GB Samsung 830 it is.

It won't as long as you don't put a lot of pressure on your CPU. I'd go for the Noctua myself.

Alright, I'll go for the Noctua for the first build and the Scythe Ninja for the second because of the X79 2011 socket.

If that's the case I'd probably recommend going X79 and a professional video card like a Fire Pro that can support multiple monitors.

The only X79 wireless supporting Mobo I found on ksp was this, but it has a 2011 socket, which means I'd have to get a better CPU than the 3770k (1155) like the i7-3930k (2011) right?

But please explain why the X79 over the Z77? what's going to be needed in the second build?

Anyway, the only quadro on ksp is this one (couldn't find an ATI fire pro).

If you look around eBay there's those Korean import monitors they sell with the high resolutions for a fraction of the cost (Yamakasi Catleap, etc).

Good question and I'm not sure what you are looking for exists. I may have to look into this.

I searched around, and it seems the Intel WiDi supports this, but I'd have to either get monitors that support it (Plenty of LG, Toshiba and Samsung monitors on the bottom of the page) or an adapter (three listed on the bottom) which might be a problem concerning distance from the PC, (concrete) walls between the PC and the adapter as well as general lag.

Any thoughts on this?

As for the PSU, for the first build I'll include the Thermaltake Toughpower Gold 650W PSU if it'll be a gaming-only system.

 

[huntrail]

You could attach a cheaper computer to the upstairs monitor and use it to remotely control the one downstairs

 

[g-unit1111]

The only X79 wireless supporting Mobo I found on ksp was this, but it has a 2011 socket, which means I'd have to get a better CPU than the 3770k (1155) like the i7-3930k (2011) right?

Yeah but you don't really need the wireless built in - it just adds to the cost. You can get a full featured X79 board for far less and just get a cheap USB wifi adapter.

But please explain why the X79 over the Z77? what's going to be needed in the second build?

X79 - higher RAM capacities (supports up to 64GB as opposed to 32GB), supports PCI Gen 3, and supports RAM drives, and Intel Smart SSD caching.

I searched around, and it seems the Intel WiDi supports this, but I'd have to either get monitors that support it (Plenty of LG, Toshiba and Samsung monitors on the bottom of the page) or an adapter (three listed on the bottom) which might be a problem concerning distance from the PC, (concrete) walls between the PC and the adapter as well as general lag.

Any thoughts on this?

I don't think the adapters would pose much of a problem.

As for the PSU, for the first build I'll include the Thermaltake Toughpower Gold 650W PSU if it'll be a gaming-only system.

I think I'd advise against that - Thermaltake is not well known as a reliable power supply manufacturer. Corsair, Seasonic, Antec, and PC Power & Cooling are usually the favorites when it comes to power supplies.

 

[Hairball]

OK after a bit of thought I'm dropping the simulation build question and focusing on the gaming one. (thanks for the helpful info though )

I'll edit the thread title and first post in a few minutes.

I think I'd advise against that - Thermaltake is not well known as a reliable power supply manufacturer. Corsair, Seasonic, Antec, and PC Power & Cooling are usually the favorites when it comes to power supplies.

Would the Corsair TX 650W do?

So far this is the build (using todays exchange rate of 1USD=3.9NIS rounded up)

CPU - Intel i5-3570k - 297.44$
GPU - Gigabyte GTX670 2GB GDDR5 - 612.82$
RAM - G.Skill 2x8GB Ripjaws-X DDR3 1600Mhz - 171.79$
Cooler - Noctua NH-U9B - 50$
Case - Corsair 500R Carbide - 151.28$
PSU - Corsair TX 650W V2 - 132.05$
SSD - Samsung 830 128GB SSD - 202.56$
HDD - Western Digital Caviar Green 1TB - 119.23$
Monitor - Dell S2330MX Ultra-Slim With LED 23'' 2ms VGA DVI x2 - 476.92$
Writer - LG UH12LS29 DVD±RW Blu-Ray Combo - 75.64$
Headphones - Razer Megalodon 7.1 Surround - 162.82$
Keyboard - Thermaltake Tt eSports Meka G-UNIT - 101.28$
Speakers - Microlab M-500 5.1 - 117.95$

Sum so far = 2671.78$

Motherboard - is there any motherboard with some good/special features anyone can recommend?

Mouse - still contemplating between:
Razer Lachesis 3.5G 5600DPI Laser Mouse - 77.06$
Razer Imperator Ergonomic Laser Gaming Mouse - 76.03$
Logitech Gaming Mouse G500 Retail - 70.87$

 

[g-unit1111]

Would the Corsair TX 650W do?

Yes, good choice. I just got a Carbide 500R as well, I'm going to replace the case on my work PC.

Motherboard - is there any motherboard with some good/special features anyone can recommend?

I'd suggest something like this: http://en.ksp.co.il/?uin=16682

 

[Hairball]

I'd suggest something like this: http://en.ksp.co.il/?uin=16682

I'm thinking of adding another GTX670, in which case it would go on the Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UP4's PCI-E x16 slot that runs at x8, which would limit the actual use of both GPUs, right?

So in that case would it be better to take the Gigabyte G1.Sniper 3 despite the missing thunderbolt connection? (it has 2 x PCI-E x16 slots, running at x16)

But, since the G1.Sniper motherboard is E-ATX, would it still fit in the Carbide 500R, or are the extra 2cm in width not negligible?

 

[steave_01]

g-unit1111, the only 2560 x 1440 resolution screen in that store is:
Dell U2713HM UltraSharp With LED AH-IPS 27 Inch VGA DVI DP HDMI WideScreen - 873.71$
More than twice the price of the original monitor, so I could just get two, wouldn't you agree?
For the first build I'll also stick with the original monitor because of its 2ms response time and I like its look.

Yeah that does seem a bit much.

If you look around eBay there's those Korean import monitors they sell with the high resolutions for a fraction of the cost (Yamakasi Catleap, etc).

Also please explain why the Corsair 400R over the 500R, or now over the antec P280?

I'd take either Corsair case over the Antec P280 and that's mainly for cable management purposes. I really like Corsair's system for cable management - it's really easy to work with. I'm not saying the P280 is bad - I like the case, I mainly use cases without doors.

and why the 128GB Samsung 830 over the G.Skill Phoenix III 120GB?

The G.Skill drive uses the out of date Sandforce 2.0 controller - which is known to have freezing and BSOD issues, where the Samsung drive uses the far superior Marvell controller.

To be more precise, by rendering and simulation I mean creating a model and testing it in a simulation software, which will probably be heavy on processing load.

If that's the case I'd probably recommend going X79 and a professional video card like a Fire Pro that can support multiple monitors.

Furthermore the second build is supposed to be connected to several screens, so I could use it, for example, from the living room using a screen there and then proceed in my bedroom using another screen there.
Is there anything specific needed to enable such mobility?

Good question and I'm not sure what you are looking for exists. I may have to look into this.

Price-wise they're not really different, but the Scythe Ninja is 2x heavier than the Noctua and I don't know how much such weight (1kg) would affect other components connected to it.

It won't as long as you don't put a lot of pressure on your CPU. I'd go for the Noctua myself.

Samsung uses its own controller - not marvell. Looks like your knowledge on SSD's is limited