Gaming Rig $1300 need help

[AJay1364]

I am looking to build a gaming rig in the the price range of $1300 little more little less makes no difference. The main games i will be playing are World Of Warcraft and COD 5. I would like the build to include the new Core I7. I will be running two 24 inch monitors set up in dual Screen mode. Am very interested in OCing to get the most bang for my buck. I will ordering all the parts with in the next week if for some reason i should be holding out till the new so and so comes out then let me know. Thanks in advance for all of your time and help.

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: Next week or 2
BUDGET RANGE: around 1300
SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: World of Warcraft and COD 5

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: newegg.com
PARTS PREFERENCES: Core I7

OVERCLOCKING: Yes
SLI OR CROSSFIRE: either or none

MONITOR RESOLUTION:2 monitors running at 1920x1200 in dual view mode

PARTS NOT NEEDED: Keyboard, Mouse, OS, and Monitors.

 

[kubes]

Need an OS?

 

[AJay1364]

No OS needed

 

[jay2tall]

What OS will you be using? Just curious. Also, do you need a case, PSU, the works?

$280 - i7 920: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115202
$240 - ASUS P6T mobo: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131359
$90 - 6GB G.Skill DDR3 1600 8-8-8-21 RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231247
$290 - (2) XFX GTS 250 1GB Video Cards in SLI: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150356
$120 - 750W Corsair PSU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139006
$120 - Thermaltake Elements Case: http://www.newegg.com/Shopping/ShoppingItem.aspx?ItemList=N82E16811133077
$70 - CoolerMaster V8 CPU Cooler: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103055
$24 - ASUS DVD Burner: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827135196
$75 - WD Caviar Black 640GB Hard Drive: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136319

TOTAL: $1309

And yes (2) GTS 250's in SLI would just WHOOP ARRRS!

DONE.... This will make anyone CRY ;-)

 

[AJay1364]

going to be using Windows XP for the time being and then switching over to windows 7 as soon as possible.

 

[jay2tall]

Eww. XP? 64 bit by chance? All that memory and it would only see like 3GB.... And NO DX10? OH MY GOSH you are killing me ;-). I'd buy VISTA, it runs everything so buttery smooooth. I was a Vista hater when it first came out until it had the first service pack which fixed alot. You know Windows 7 will have the SAME issues, I don't know why everyone is waiting for 7.. it's just Vista with a few extra goodies and a new splash screen. they have Vista pretty well patched up. Just grab 64bit home premium for $99 and go to 7 is you REALLY want to down the road.

Anyways, the above system with rock your hot totty... I have the same case, cpu,mobo, ram and I'm running 4GHz without much effort. The V8 cooler is just so awesome. And dual 250's would just blow away anything you throw at it. They outpace the 4850's in most areas and you can OC them pretty well.

 

[aevm]

Very neat build there from jay2tall. I'd just replace the two GTS 250 cards with a single GTX 285. Why:

- It can handle two monitors.
- It will do a lot better than GTS 250 SLI in games that don't support SLI properly.
- It may beat them even in the games that do support SLI very well. (The GTX 285 has 240 stream processors, while GTS 250 SLI has 2*128 processors but not used with 100% efficiency in SLI.)
- It lets you add more power later with a second GTX 285. (BTW, a Corsair 850TX would be more suitable for that than the 750TX).
- With two GTS 250 1GB cards in SLI, I think XP 32-bit will choke. It will probably see 2 GB of RAM or close to that, and the rest of the memory address space will be taken by the video cards and SLI drivers.

 

[jay2tall]

^
I had to keep it at $1300 and the GTX 285 is $350 which is a $60 increase in price.

BUT dual 250's DO beat out the 285 in everything, either by a little or a lot!
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/gf-gts250-sli.html

True that it would be easier to upgrade a 2nd 285 later, but I was looking at the best performance bang for the buck. You can also always just sell off both cards, and upgrade. OR buy a 3rd and run Tri-SLI.

WHY would you need 850W these days? 750 is PLENTY for virtually any dual card setup.

 

[jay2tall]

By the way.. that Thermaltake Elements case is the most AWESOME case I have ever used EVER EVER. It is completely black inside and out, including all screws and given screws. It includes an intake and exhaust fan as well as the top 230mm blow out fan. There are openings in the back will clamps to hold wires so you can run EVERYTHING behind the back cover. Did I mention EVERYTHING is blacked out?

The only bad thing is the power and HD led's are REALLY bright, like flashlight bright. I have plans to take care of that.

 

[kubes]

Well if your running two gtx 295's it'll push an 800 watt power supply pretty good. It's not so much the wattage that becomes a problem though of finding a psu with enough amps. Most under the 800w range wouldn't have enough amps to push two gtx 295's for example.

I do think that's a pretty good build above though.
If you want to deal with a rebate this ram is cheaper and has better timings: OCZ platinum

 

[jay2tall]

Actually a few of the items above have rebates.. i think. But i never count on them.. we all know how rebates go.

I like OCZ as well. I actually looked at this before I settled on the G.Skill and didn't like to see the issues people had with running the low timings. OCZ has several excuses that I found lacking. 8-8-8-21 is great timing and I never had any issues with G.Skill on any builds yet.

 

[kubes]

(I actually have that G. skill kit and have no problems running at those timings lol) Could never find the OCZ kits when i was building my latest rig but ya i've noticed lately a lot of people having problems running at the stated timings.

 

[AJay1364]

Going to jump up to http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130442 just i case i need to upgrade in the future also will say good bye to my XP disk and switch over to vista. a friend suggested switching up the hard drive to something smaller and fast since i don't need that much room. if we go a over budget its not a problem.

 

[xthekidx]

(I actually have that G. skill kit and have no problems running at those timings lol) Could never find the OCZ kits when i was building my latest rig but ya i've noticed lately a lot of people having problems running at the stated timings.

Really? I have that kit and before I overclocked my CPU I was running them at 7-7-7-20 1T at 1.64v 1600mhz, which are better timings than they are rated for...wierd. Maybe newegg has a bad batch of them? Or maybe I got a good batch...

 

[jay2tall]

Going to jump up to http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130442 just i case i need to upgrade in the future also will say good bye to my XP disk and switch over to vista. a friend suggested switching up the hard drive to something smaller and fast since i don't need that much room. if we go a over budget its not a problem.

Go for it. I was just offering a suggestion and maybe a good starting point to build off of. All I can say is the ASUS P6T is a solid mobo with all the fixin's you will need at a great price.

 

[xthekidx]

If you want to step down the HDD size then look at the WD3200AAKS, its almost as fast as the WD6401AALS.

 

[kubes]

Really? I have that kit and before I overclocked my CPU I was running them at 7-7-7-20 1T at 1.64v 1600mhz, which are better timings than they are rated for...wierd. Maybe newegg has a bad batch of them? Or maybe I got a good batch...

Well its all hear say. I'm running G. skill like i said so i haven't personaly used the ram. I still think its great ram for that price. I've just noticed an increase in reviews of the ram having a hard time getting to the low timings the manufacture has on it. A lot of people have said they've had to drop down to 1333mhz to get it. *shrugs*