Help build my lady friend a $2800 Gaming PC

[Geraldv]

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: This weekend

BUDGET RANGE: $2300 for PC, up to $500 for peripherals (required: 1 monitor, keyboard, mouse, speakers), $2800 total.

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: gaming (World of Warcraft with max settings, SC2), internet, office productivity

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: Windows 7 OS

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: newegg

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: U.S.

PARTS PREFERENCES: no preference

OVERCLOCKING: No

SLI OR CROSSFIRE: No

MONITOR RESOLUTION: 1920x1200 preferred

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: $2800 budget can be shifted around if monitor can be found cheap, etc. Hoping for an easy build, as this is for my wife's friend who has never put a PC together before. She's determined to put it together herself.

 

[d1rtyju1c3]

That is a huge budget. Why no sli or crossfire.

 

[Geraldv]

Wouldn't that be overkill for SC2 and WoW? She'd be better off with a SSD for faster loads and a top-end monitor than video cards that she'd never need. Just my opinion, tho. That's why I'm asking for help.

 

[Geraldv]

The budget is also a cap, if we can build something ideal for cheaper, we would do that.

 

[acelink]

That is a HUGE budget. You have room to get really anything you want. I would like to add that it does not take a whole lot to run SC2/WoW on max settings. My tower cost me $650 and it should play both games maxed or very close to it. (I'm still waiting to build it... parts should be in friday).

My tower: AMD Athlon II x4 635, MSI 870-G45, Radeon 5770, 4GB of DDR31600, 600w OCZ PS, Antec 300 Illusion Case, 1TB WD HDD

Look into the DIY kits NewEgg has for the fast answers... they really do have some great deals in there--although you can make some of your own if you're willing to spend the time hunting.

DIY Combo for $1815

Just scroll around and check some things out. You can always add to their package if you want anything else. Monitors can be found at decent prices (even the 1900x1200 ones). Should be more descriptive with your speakers tho... Do you want 7.1, 5.1, 2.1 Surround sound? I personally like 2.1 Surround sound for computers. I don't see a need for full surround sound--that's what gaming headsets are for.

 

[sp12]

IMO take some more of that budget and get a large quality IPS monitor or 120hz screen. You can max those games at 1920 with an i5-760 and GTX 470.

 

[d1rtyju1c3]

Just to give you an idea of what you can buy for $2800 and just like everyone else has said this is very much overkill for your wifes friend but in the end it is up to her what she wants, but if she decides she wants to play any other games, this would play just about anything she wanted on max settings. The budget she has is a budget for just about anyones dream PC.

What I would probably buy with the money
Motherboard:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128422

CPU:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115211

Memory:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145253

Video cards: 2
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130550

PSU:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371032

Case:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811517006

HDDs:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148433
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233122

CD/DVD burner:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106289

Cooler and TIM:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835109021
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835426020

Keyboard and mouse:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16823126034
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826104318

Monitor:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824009264

Speakers:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16836121120



Total: $2769.65 before rebates/ $2689.65 after rebates


Like acelink said check the DIY combos you can probably build something for under $1500 to do what you need.

 

[Geraldv]

Just to give you an idea of what you can buy for $2800 and just like everyone else has said this is very much overkill for your wifes friend but in the end it is up to her what she wants, but if she decides she wants to play any other games, this would play just about anything she wanted on max settings. The budget she has is a budget for just about anyones dream PC.

What I would probably buy with the money
http://secure.newegg.com/Shopping/ShoppingCart.aspx?Submit=view

Total: $2769.65 before rebates/ $2689.65 after rebates


Like acelink said check the DIY combos you can probably build something for under $1500 to do what you need.

That shopping cart link doesn't come up. Try again please?

 

[d1rtyju1c3]

That shopping cart link doesn't come up. Try again please?

I editted the post sorry.

 

[Somebody_007]

I don't find 2800 THAT much and it's very far from ridiculous. As it so happens this build fits exactly into the 2000dollar best config build I posted here it is:

CPU: i7 950 from bestbuy

Mobo: ga-x58a-ud3r

RAM: G.SKILL PI Series 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL7T-6GBPI rated for 1.5v

GPU: Palit NE5TX470F10DA GeForce GTX 470 (Fermi) 1280MB 320-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card . Then two of these for sli. 470 sli will perform on par with or above the far more expensive 5870 CF so it really is amazing bang for buck.

Storage solution: OCZ vertex 2 60gb + samsung spinpoint f3 1tb + silverstone HDD boost. Let me briefly clarify: Vertex 2 is extremely fast and more than 60gb is insanely expensive. Spinpoints f3s are quiet, cool and reasonable fast. And HDD boost to merge speed and size into without expinsive adaptech raid controllers and other similarly products.

Case: fractal define r3 because it looks much much better IMO than the price range competition, it's very quiet with the dampening pads and performs better than the competition cases if the pads are replaced with fans.

Power supply: xfx 850w/750w for overclockers/non-overclockers. Good price, modular and very good performance. It also leaves room for upgrades.

DVD burner: ASUS Black 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 12X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA 24X DVD Burner

CPU cooler: Corsair h70. Space effiecient and very good performance.

Sound-card: auzentech X-raider(depending on your audio system of course but for this kind of build HD595 headphones or similar quality audio systems are reasonable and for that this card is great)

with newegg and bestbuy pricing ATM that comes to around 1950 without combos and discounts. That's for an allrounder very responsive(SSD) system with no space restrictions on the storage drives(HDD BOOST). It'll handles any games very well and and will probably do so for years to come(470 sli). It performs well in proffesional apps like photoshop(CUDA + i7 930). It looks great while still not drawing to much attention and taking to much space (define R3). It will render and compress very well(i7 930). For the enthousiasts who want to take their system the extra mile it has quite some overclocking potential(i7 930 + 470s). And for the hardcore gamers it will support 3d surround/3d vision/ 2d surround/ physX. The sound card also provides optimal sound for games, movies and music(auzentech x-raider). Also the sound card takes a load of the 930 making it a more effective CPU in games and other apps where sound is playing I presume.

That's a very good build. Drop the h70(only neccesary for overclocks) and it's better in every way(exept the overkill case) than the DIY kit mentioned above. More features, more power(70percent more GPU power which is A LOT), more cpu power aswell, better audio, more ram, better psu, faster ssd, better storage soltution etc..

You can get a bigger ssd for more speed for the rest those are the upper limits of bang for buck really.

then the peripherals:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16836121120&cm_re=logitech_5.1-_-36-121-120-_-Product

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824009250

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826102062&Tpk=rat%207

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16823126087&Tpk=g110

Now that's an amazing pc with an amazing screen every so cool mouse and adequate keyboard. Not to mention the sound system. Sorry if it's slighly over budget but with combos it should definetly be quite a bit below. if not I'll make cutbacks in the morning but I have to go now.

 

[sp12]

IMO the only 27in worth looking at are the 2560 resolution ones.

 

[leo2kp]

Sometimes it's nice to have a little extra headroom though. If he saved money and built a machine that was just fast enough to play SC2 at Ultra settings, that might put some extra strain on the computer and lower the life expectancy. My own build was expensive, but a lot of the cost included upgraded high-efficiency, high CFM, long-life fans and a nice HSF for the CPU and of course a good PSU. So my recommendation would be to spend most of that budget and make sure that the computer is better than you need today to absorb the performance hit you'll take on future games (if ever she decides to play something else), while keeping it all running nice and cool. And SSDs are definitely something to consider. RAID-0 that if you want, but have a good backup drive if you do.

 

[Somebody_007]

My build has everything you mentioned stig

And to sp12 well yeah those are better but just to darn expensive. And 1900 is still very good. I mean blue ray is 1900 and that's on much larger screens.

 

[sp12]

Eh, he could take 1000$ out of his budget, put it in the Dell U2711, and still build an incredibly strong system to power it with the remaining 1800. Heck, I'd probably try to build the system for less than 1100$ and save the rest for upgrades.

 

[Somebody_007]

Meh for proffesional photo editing or video work a monitor like that could be good but I just can't justify the price for general usage.

 

[NeoElemental]

I would say go for a solid i760 system now (less than 1k for everything), and then upgrade as components fall in price. Teaching her how to pop in a SLI, or later upgrading to Sandy Bridge with new mobo/chip would be way better (imo) than blowing it all now on "nice-to-haves" that aren't going to translate to real performance upgrades.

Splurge on the psu and case now, get a solid gfx card (maybe get a 460 now, and then upgrade to whatever the refresh of the 470 is going to be), and an SSD. Put the rest in the bank for future computer purchases.

Or put 1000 into a nice network raid server. Could probably get 6TB (4x2TB drives) for 1k no problem.

 

[ScrewySqrl]

for $2800 you should be able to build a i980X system that gives you 200 FPS in Warcraft

 

[Somebody_007]

A 980 is not useful at all.

 

[Somebody_007]

why is everyone so obsessed with getting the best performance for the money? And why are others so paranoid to spend a lot on a system?

I mean really the purpose of this build is entertainement and thus it needs some nice peripherals not a 980 that will give a minimal difference.

470 sli will handle all games for a few years. It should handle any game for about 5 years(the average lifespan of a pc) so I'd get what you need to achieve that ie: 470 sli + 930 and spend the rest on peripherals.

 

[sp12]

Because these games don't need more than an i3+GTX 460 for 1920. The next-gen everything is basically around the corner.

Computer parts are not good investments. Cases/PSUs/Monitors are better, but if this can be done just as well for 1400, then the 1400 for upgrades later is going to be a much smarter use than 2800 now.

 

[ScrewySqrl]

Because these games don't need more than an i3+GTX 460 for 1920. The next-gen everything is basically around the corner.

Computer parts are not good investments. Cases/PSUs/Monitors are better, but if this can be done just as well for 1400, then the 1400 for upgrades later is going to be a much smarter use than 2800 now.

exactly: The best way to spend $2800 on a PC is to spend about $1000 now, then another $800 in everything but a monitor and case in 2-3 years, then another PC 2-3 years after that for another $1000, getting a monitor / case this time.

 

[batuchka]

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: gaming (World of Warcraft with max settings, SC2), internet, office productivity

OVERCLOCKING: No

SLI OR CROSSFIRE: No

I doubt your lady fren insists on Ultra/AA SC2 or 8AA/16AF on all games so +1 to suggestions that you dun need to spend 2.8k @@ Just slap a build as per needs/uses - h/w gets obsolete fast but i would definitely hit a juicy 23-24" LCD in there and a quality 80+/80+ bronze PSU For no CF/SLI/OC u could stick to stock HSF and no need to dump so much on fancy mobos

 

[Somebody_007]

It's not neccesary no. But games aren't neccesary either. All you really need is a netbook. The purpose of this build is to entertain and then it needs to be nice. And a 2800USD system wil be much much much nicer than a 1400 one even if they both can handle the game on highest.

IMO once you have a decent headset/speakers system/ storage system/ sound card/ 2d surround setup/ top of the line kb, mouse, joystick(if you like simming) and steering wheel(idem) and a build that can handle all games on highest for a few years. Then there's no point in spending more.

But unless a budget like that is suggested why discourage people to spend the amount they listed? I mean she knows how much she wants to spend we don't need to make that decision for her.

I agree with you people if it's about HTPCs or office PCs where too much really is a waste of money, but here the build that I mentioned isn't overkill by any means. Nothing goes to waste. Surely you haven't got the bang for buck you have in lower end systems, but that's just the way things are.