Building my first gaming PC

[Sol593]

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: Within the next month or two

BUDGET RANGE: 1500-1800

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: Gaming, Music Editing, Internet use

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: Keyboard and Mouse

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: I've been using Newegg, but since I'm in California Newegg taxes me, so if I could find the same parts for cheaper somewhere else that would be splendid

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: U.S.A.

PARTS PREFERENCES: I7860 Build, GPU that will last a long time

OVERCLOCKING: Maybe if it's easy to do

SLI OR CROSSFIRE: Definitely not now, maybe in the future

MONITOR RESOLUTION: 1920x1080 or 1920x1200

Parts I've got so far are as follows:

Sony Optiarc Black 24X DVD+R: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827118030

XCLIO A380COLOR Fully Black 1.0 mm SECC / ABS Plastic ATX Full Tower Computer Case - Retail: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811103033

SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185

ASUS VW246H Glossy Black 24": http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236049

SAPPHIRE 100281SR Radeon HD 5870: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102856

CORSAIR CMPSU-850TX 850W ATX12V 2.2 / EPS12V 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready Active PFC Power Supply - Retail: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139009

Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound - OEM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835100007

CORSAIR XMS3 6GB (3 x 2GB): http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145258

GIGABYTE GA-P55A-UD3 LGA 1156 Intel P55 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128412

Intel Core i7-860 Lynnfield 2.8GHz 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1156 95W Quad-Core Processor - Retail: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115214

COOLER MASTER Hyper 212: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103065

Current Cost including Tax and shipping is: $1,797.96


Any suggestions, comments, or price saving alternatives are much appreciated.

 

[shortstuff_mt]

The build looks pretty good other than the RAM. The LGA 1156 chips have a dual channel RAM controller. You do not want a triple channel kit. Here's a very nice CAS 7 DDR3 1600 4GB kit:

G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL7D-4GBRM - Retail $114.99

I would also swap out the thermal paste for MX-2. MX-2 cools just as well as Arctic Silver 5, is not conductive, and does not require a cure time.

ARCTIC COOLING MX-2 Thermal Compound - Retail $7.98

Your motherboard runs its second PCI-E 16x slot at 4x speed, so you can't use it for Crossfire. If you want Crossfire support, you'll have to upgrade to a board that runs at 8x speed for both slots. If you don't need/want Crossfire support, you don't need anywhere near 850W. A quality 550W - 600W PSU would be plenty.

Antec TruePower New TP-550 550W 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply $99.99

or

CORSAIR CMPSU-550VX 550W 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply - Retail $89.99 - $10 MIR

 

[Sol593]

Alrighty, I made those changes and the price has dropped a bit, thats always good. So other than those few problems are there any other suggestions for parts I should change?

 

[hundredislandsboy]

Since gaming is your first priority, the i7 860 might be overkill. If I had your budget, I would get the the Phenom II X4 955 with an AM3 mobo. For the GPU i would get the HD 5850. Then I'd overclock the 955 to 3.7, 3.8 Ghz. At that speed, the framerates are near equal if not faster that what i7 860 would push out.

The money I would save would go towards to two additional 23" monitors. You already know what's coming - eyefinity! With that budget, why game on one monitor? Have you seen the eyefinity demos on Youtube?

 

[MadAdmiral]

I wouldn't follow 100Island's suggestion. The 5850 struggles with some games on 1900x resolutions, so it will do even worse with Eyefinity.

However, I do agree that you don't need the i7-860. The i5-750 will perform just as well in games at $80 less.

 

[hundredislandsboy]

I wouldn't follow 100Island's suggestion. The 5850 struggles with some games on 1900x resolutions, so it will do even worse with Eyefinity.

However, I do agree that you don't need the i7-860. The i5-750 will perform just as well in games at $80 less.

Haven't heard about the 5850 struggling with games. Which are are they? If you are correct, then I change my suggestion to 22" monitors in Eyefinity.

 

[MadAdmiral]

Crysis.

It will struggle with more once you hook it up to Eyefinity. And size doesn't matter. Resolution does.

I wouldn't recommend Eyefinity for gaming with any GPU less than the 5970...

 

[Sol593]

I'll look into comparing the I5 and the I7. I would rather have the 5870 than the 5850 though, I'm not really planning on Eyefinity, I'd rather game on one screen.

 

[hundredislandsboy]

What? Lol, what kind of gamers are you guys that you'd rather game on one screen? Eyefinity was made for gamers and you're not interested.

I'll have to do more research sonce MadAdmiral brought up a good point that the 5850 might not be the best GPU for Eyefinity.

 

[Sol593]

I don't have room for two screens and I'd rather not buy a new desk to fit them on. The money I spend on screens could be spent on better graphics cards.

 

[ares1214]

you are all wierd :lol: who ever said i5 750 +1, 860 vs 750 vs 955 vs 920 are all about the same in gaming, so get the cheapest one, 955 or 750, but since the 750 beats the 955 pretty badly in sythetics, and costs like 20$ more, go with the i5 750. how did dual monitors eyefinity get involved in this??? the 5850 is an extremely capable card, but madadmiral is right, it wont be able to handle hd eyefinity crysis, and some others. on a single monitor it kills, so just stick to one monitor.

http://www.guru3d.com/article/core-i5-750-core-i7-860-870-processor-review-test/18

theres showing that a 750 is great on games, and go back a little to see how great it is on everything else. and yep, i would rather play on 1 monitor too, i hate having the bezels in the middle, and its like playing on a tv, i just like my nice 25.5 incher

 

[coldsleep]

I'll have to do more research sonce MadAdmiral brought up a good point that the 5850 might not be the best GPU for Eyefinity.

Eyefinity doesn't exactly lend itself to a budget.

I know that THG has their Best Graphics Cards for the Money list, and that typically suggests resolutions along with the cards. The 5850 gets honorable mention at its price point, and they say that it is exceptional at 1900x1200 and can do 2560x1600 for most titles. You might also take a look at the graphics card charts as well.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

650 watter for single GFX, 850 for twin cards

Antec Earthwatts 650 / TP 850 or Corsair TX 650/850 if not overclocking.

Antec CP-850 if OC'ing and twin cards but you'll need a case upgrade (Antec 1200) .... or Corsair HX850 and your case (tho would go HAF 932 if not the 1200 on twin cards.

The Asus implementation of USB 3 is superior according to THG article.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/usb-3.0-performance,2490-7.html

For X8 x8 dual PCI-E w/ USB 3 and SATA III, ya gotta jump to
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131621

Or give up USB 3 and get multiple PCI-E x 16 lanes
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131594

AS5 has 200 hour cure time ....if that bothers you, see this ranking.
http://www.hwreviewlabs.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=64%3Amega-44-thermal-paste-round-up&catid=32%3Around-ups&Itemid=47&limitstart=3

 

[Sol593]

I'm not really interested in USB 3. Is there a decent priced motherboard I can get that is crossfire capable? The ones you posted are a bit of a price jump.

 

[ares1214]

how about this one?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.338965

 

[Sol593]

Perfect. Thanks for all the help.

 

[MAB1994]

check out this site http://www.hardware-revolution.com/1500-gaming-computer-tons-of-raw-power-ready-for-overclocking-and-future-games/ it has awesome advice and may help you with your decision.

 

[Sol593]

Best answer selected by Sol593.