Building a Gaming Computer, need advice on parts. I'm New at this

[quailpuncher]

Hello, My name is Kelton, and i need some help building a really nice computer, running Battlefield 3 on ultra setting, that kinda computer.
I've got a $2,000 dollar budget, not a cent over, and my friends all tell me buying Pre-built is a rip off. So i need help building one.

PARTS:
I've picked out some stuff on Newegg.com, haven't bought anything, just trying to narrow down the parts i need, suggestions or advice is greatly appreciated.

Hard Drive : Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive - $129.99

Motherboard: ASRock Fatal1ty P67 PROFESSIONAL (B3) LGA 1155 Intel P67 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard - $189.99

Graphics Card: EVGA 015-P3-1580-AR GeForce GTX 580 (Fermi) 1536MB 384-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card - $439.99

Power Supply: CORSAIR Professional Series Gold AX850 (CMPSU-850AX) 850W ATX12V v2.31 / EPS12V v2.92 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply - $189.99

RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBRL - $46.99

Processor: Intel Core i7-2600K Sandy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 3000

DVD Drive: SATA DVD-ROM Drive Model iHDS118-04 - OEM - $18.99

Case: COOLER MASTER HAF X RC-942-KKN1 Black Steel/ Plastic ATX Full Tower Computer Case - $179.99

Cooler: COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus RR-B10-212P-G1 "Heatpipe Direct Contact" Long Life Sleeve 120mm CPU Cooler Compatible Intel - $29.99

The screen, which I already have is a 23" and the Resolution is set at 1920 x 1080. don't know if that matters.

Just thoughts, I don't want to overclock, I want max life span as possible. Like i said, I'm new to this stuff, so i apologize if the item choices seem... stupid.

 

[quailpuncher]

Okay, I got the prices put up, they are straight off of Newegg. Sorry about that.

 

[Ohmybad]

you're going to get barraged with people telling you to go Intel for that kind of budget.

 

[RedChief6]

GET this power supply its rips it up in my system.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371049

 

[quailpuncher]

you're going to get barraged with people telling you to go Intel for that kind of budget.

Should I? like i said i don't know, been saving this money up for a while, once i make the purchase, I'm stuck with it.

 

[mrwhosetheboss]

Get the i5 2500k, its the best price/performance, can be overclocked like a beast, and is about the same as the i7 2600k when it comes to gaming

 

[Wisecracker]

From Toms: Battlefield 3 Performance: 30+ Graphics Cards, Benchmarked

AMD Phenom II X4 980 Black Edition Deneb 3.7GHz: $135 with code EMCNGJG53

CM Hyper 212 Plus CPU Cooler: $30

Radeon HD 7950 3GB 384-bit : $460

Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD5: $180 before $20 rebate

You may want to wait for benchmarks of the Radeon HD 78xx video cards which should be popping up over the next 48 hours. That may save another $100+ on your video card.

 

[Zero_]

Check the $2000 build in my sig. 2x HD7950's.

 

[bennaye]

ehhhhhhhh just get i5 2500k and a higher end z68 mobo from asus or asrock. the intel option will give you a definite upgrade path to IB (if you have the money and appreciate the minor performance boost), as opposed to the amd path which we don't know if it's gonna rip a new one in intel or flop yet.

also, you could probably squeeze in an ssd, which is one of the more major performance boosters in a system. a good ssd to use is the crucial m4. one of the things i would do to reduce unnecessary spending is to cut back on the ram to 8 GB. If you're not editing video or rendering 3D models or anything intensive like that then you will barely use 4 GB, let alone 16 GB. 8 GB is fine for gaming.
also, hdd prices are still somewhat inflated. if you don't actually need the 2tb, then cut it back down to 1tb or even less, although i have no idea on whether you like to rip dvd's or keep a large music library on your comp this will save you quite a bit of money.

 

[farrengottu]

i love AMD but your better off with intel for a gaming processor. even their dual cores do better with most games than anything AMD has.
though i do recommend waiting a month for ivy bridge. its the next gen of intel processors and is 5-15% faster than the 2000 series intel processors, at the same price points.

and it may just be me but i think a motherboard should never cost more than a processor. they all perform the same(with in 3%). the only reason to get one over the other is features and if you dont need a bunch of PCI-e 16x slots or a hundred usb ports, get a cheap one. but make sure it has good reviews.

you wont need more than 8 GB of ram, unless your trying to use photoshop or some movie editing software with a game running and possibly a bluray or something. even then its not needed but would be noticeable. and there is really no decent reason to get ram faster than the processor recommends. going from ddr3 1333 to ddr3 2133 will get you maybe a whole 1% better performance. proof http://www.anandtech.com/show/4503/sandy-bridge-memory-scaling-choosing-the-best-ddr3/6
spend this money towards a second video card.

about the overclocking. my neice has a computer that i used as my gaming computer 5 years ago. it had a 23% overclock and it still runs like a champ. a modest 10% overclock is nearly guaranteed to not make your processor die noticeably sooner. by noticeably i mean you will build a new one long before it dies, well if you cool it properly. after market cooler ftw.

you might want to consider a bigger better monitor i play on 3 27s and its a good size. i would perfer 30s but anything bigger would be too big. you can get 27" monitors for under $250 but good ones are $300-700. if i had to buy my monitors again i would pick this one http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824001481

 

[quailpuncher]

I have a couple words for you to consider... will this computer be used exclusively for gaming in the next couple of years, or will it be incorporated into school or job? Depending on your answer, you may want to choose an i3 or an i7, respectively.



Gaming mostly. get on the internet, maybe type a paper or 2 on word, but i have a cheap laptop for that. so, mostly gaming

 

[quailpuncher]

I have carefully looked at everyone's advice (thank you btw) and i have updated the list of parts, tell me what you think, you guys have already saved me about $300 dollars. I'm open to more advice.

 

[Infikiran]

I like you're configuration for the most part but why are you going with a notebook hard drive?

Get this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136533

It is much faster and a lot cheaper.

 

[bennaye]

^+1

Since this is a desktop, anything less than 7200 rpm is pretty sub-optimal. Also, you picked out a 2.5 inch drive. Desktop SATA hdd's are 3.5 inch, unless you're buying an ssd.
Speaking of which, I still advocate the inclusion of an ssd because it will hugely benefit your start-up time as well as reducing load time of games, which I understand is the primary purpose of this machine

 

[quailpuncher]

I like you're configuration for the most part but why are you going with a notebook hard drive?

Get this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136533

It is much faster and a lot cheaper.

Thank you, i noticed it was really small, and laptops were mentioned a lot in the reviews, i just replaced withe product you suggested.

 

[quailpuncher]

^+1

Since this is a desktop, anything less than 7200 rpm is pretty sub-optimal. Also, you picked out a 2.5 inch drive. Desktop SATA hdd's are 3.5 inch, unless you're buying an ssd.
Speaking of which, I still advocate the inclusion of an ssd because it will hugely benefit your start-up time as well as reducing load time of games, which I understand is the primary purpose of this machine

I just replaced it with this, thank you.
Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

 

[quailpuncher]

So, my final question, if i get all the parts above, and nothing else, will the computer work like i want it to? and do i need the extra fan? the case I'm getting already has 4.

 

[quailpuncher]

You may want to consider the Seasonic Platinum 860w on sale for $187 after coupon - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151111

Here is a review on the 1000w unit that is the same platform:
http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story&reid=264

do i need that? i already have a 850w power supply, the one your suggesting is another hundred dollars. I still have some left in my budget, i was just wondering why i needed the 10 extra watts

 

[quailpuncher]

Um, the AX850 in the OP is $189 before MIR. I was only suggesting the Seasonic 860W Platinum since it was cheaper "out the door" at $187 (this includes the 15% off coupon). It is the newest Seasonic platform and has better performance than the previous generation Seasonic 80 plus Gold units (not just in efficiency). I didn't suggest it for an extra 10 watts, lol...

alright, you know more than i do, guess i will get it, what about the fans, will the 4 keep the PC cool enough, or do i need the extra one? I also have seen videos for "thermal compound" do i need some of that stuff to?

 

[terpsfan726]

alright, you know more than i do, guess i will get it, what about the fans, will the 4 keep the PC cool enough, or do i need the extra one? I also have seen videos for "thermal compound" do i need some of that stuff to?

the hyper 212+ comes with some thermal compound, but if you want some better thermal paste buy some arctic silver 5

 

[quailpuncher]

I would get Arctic Cooling MX4. It performs slightly better than AS5 and it is non conductive. So, if you mess up, you don't have to worry about killing any electronic components.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186038

Thanks, I could see myself frying some components with the conductive paste..