$900 Gaming PC help

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Chris21

Distinguished
Aug 6, 2011
21
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18,510
Approximate Purchase Date: Probably around Christmas

Budget Range: Hopefully $900 or under after rebates

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming, general use

Parts Not Required: keyboard, mouse, monitor, speakers, OS

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: newegg.com

Country of Origin: Canada

Parts Preferences: I lean towards Intel and Nvidia, but it's not set in stone

Overclocking: Maybe

SLI or Crossfire: Maybe, but probably not

Monitor Resolution:, 1920x1080

Additional Comments: I've never built a computer before, so obviously I am no expert on any of this, so I was hoping for help from people who are. I probably won't be buying anything until Christmas time (first semester of college being done then), so this is all just really brainstorming for the moment.

I fiddled around on Newegg for a while and came up with this build:

http://secure.newegg.ca/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=16663652

Which turned out to be $968.07 Canadian after shipping and tax (not including the $60 USD of rebates)

Any opinions and thoughts on a better build for a better price would be awesome!
 
I should have mentioned that I will be using Canadian sites (Newegg.ca, amazon.ca, ect) because of international shipping costs. Sadly, that limits my options to a degree, and means the parts you list there aren't available for anywhere near the same price.
 
Aww.... Well I'll formulate a build using DirectCanada, purchases over $50 is free shipping.

HAF 922 $90
http://www.directcanada.com/products/?sku=11130AC5964&vpn=RC-922M-KKN1-GP&manufacture=COOLERMASTER
G.Skill 8GB DDR3 1600 $51
http://www.directcanada.com/products/?sku=15380BD5211&vpn=F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL&manufacture=G.SKILL
Gigabyte Z68A-D3H-B3 $127
http://www.directcanada.com/products/?sku=11830BD4863&vpn=GA-Z68A-D3H-B3&manufacture=GIGABYTE
i5 2500K $210
http://www.directcanada.com/products/?sku=12200BD1527&vpn=BX80623I52500K&manufacture=INTEL
Sapphire 6950 2GB Dirt3 $273
http://www.directcanada.com/products/?sku=14080BD4250&vpn=11188-05-50G&manufacture=SAPPHIRE
Antec 750 HCG 80+ Brnze $93
http://www.directcanada.com/products/?sku=10370AC9874&vpn=HCG-750&manufacture=ANTEC
Total: $843

Sound like a good deal?
 
Yeah that does sound pretty good (even after our wonderful 12% tax), thanks for the input. What makes you recommend the 6950 over the 560 ti? Actually, if you felt like explaining the shortfalls of my build in general that would be really helpful! Thanks for all the help.
 

He has a better (beefier) psu, a mobo that does both SLI and Xfire, a better case, h/d, etc.. and the reason he was able to do this was he used direct canada where not only do you get free shipping on that build he posted, they don't hose you on the prices like newegg canada does on a regular basis.

 
Ahhh okay, makes sense, thanks for the info. Yeah, the shipping costs on Newegg did seem a little crazy, so thanks for showing me a better option. If you guys had any more advice or tips for a first time building I would be happy to listen.
 
Also, is the 6950 a big enough step up from the 560 ti to justify spending another $60 on it? Most of the reviews I have read have said they are pretty much comparable
 

For a single 1920 x 1080 monitor set up I think I would save the $60 and go with the 560ti. Then later on pick up another one. Direct Canada and Best Direc (both affiliated and both have free shipping) have some killer deals on the 560ti atm.

Look at "Best Direct.ca" for the gigabyte 560ti on sale atm. direct canada has the MSI 560ti on sale now also.
 
Yeah I found a 560 ti for $195 after rebate, which seemed like a good deal to me. Related to that, how important is brand? Would paying an extra $30 for an asus over a gigabyte really show any difference?
 

I don't think so. A lot of those cards are marked up because their factory o/c...which anyone can dl "MSI Afterburner proggy" (it's a free dl), and o/c those cards themselves.
 
I don't think I am quite lazy enough to make that worth it haha. Now I just have to see if I can survive a couple of months without ordering all this. Thanks for all the help and ideas :)
 
Haha well right now I am doing my gaming on a bootcamped Macbook pro, which performs surprisingly well for something not bought with gaming in mind, but it would be nice to see something higher than 30 FPS once in a while. 😛
 

lol....if that's the case, once you get this build put together your going to see what you have been missing.

On another note, those gtx 560ti's o/c better than any other card on the market atm. The 6950 is a major heat producer and is limited in regards to o/c, as to where the 560 can be o/c to the hilt. So the numbers you see that card when it's running at stock settings are nothing compared to when it's pushed.
 

With these 1155 boards, it's a piece of cake these days. Best bet is to read a review of the board you purchase and they usually have a page or two dedicated to o/c. Your going to have to dl a few proggy's to check your temps, stress test it, etc.. while checking said temps...but it's easy.
 
Well that's good to know, because eventually I am going to mess around with o/c, and I like to avoid turning my expensive electronics into paperweights.
 
Not much. The Z68 has a few extras
1. Integrated graphics support
2. Use of Quicksync for video transcoding
3. SSD Caching
But other than that, nothing. It's not worth it.
 
Yeah. Get one with sli support. It doesnt really matter whether its p67 or z68, just make sure its one of the two, or else the 2500k would be pointless.
 
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