Help building a ~$2000 gaming PC for BF3

[Gutterkisser]

Hi guys, looking to build a gaming PC from scratch for approx $2,000, with the single goal of running Battlefield 3 on the best settings I can. Apologies in advance for any ignorant statements, I've never built a PC before (or even had a half-decent one) so I'm fairly new to the finer details. I've got a rough parts list going - mainly need GPU advice - but I'll follow the template:

Approximate Purchase Date: Before the end of October (BF3 launch). Awaiting the Beta's launch to read some feedback on what runs it well.

Budget Range: $2,000 (give or take a couple of hundred if it's justified). Worth noting I'm in Australia but there's fairly good price parity at the moment.

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Pure gaming, specifically Battlefield 3. Web browsing etc will factor in a little.

Parts Not Required: Mouse, speakers.

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: http://www.pccasegear.com/ (not the cheapest AU store, but comprehensive and more trustworthy).

Country of Origin: Australia (assuming you mean me).

Parts Preferences: Intel CPU, Gigabyte mobo.

Overclocking: Maybe. Not immediately, I'm too new to all this, but I'd like to have the option down the track.

SLI or Crossfire: Maybe. I'm open to it - whatever GPU setup ultimately gets the best performance in BF3 within my budget.

Monitor Resolution: 24" monitor, so I assume 1920x1080?

Additional Comments: Want it to be as future-proof as possible, as I don't plan on regular upgrades. Don't care about aesthetics of the build at all. Prefer not to worry about cooling systems at this point.


So far, my rough build list is as follows:

CPU: Intel Core i5 2500K (is there any point considering the i7 2600K for my needs?)

MOBO: Gigabyte GA-Z68XP-UD4 Motherboard (had a Gigabyte GA-Z68X-UD4-B3 in my Shopping Cart but the product has disappeared, no idea what the difference actually is?)

GPU: EVGA GeForce GTX 580 (as mentioned, the GPU is the biggest question mark for me. I'm open to Radeon cards, I'm open to SLI/Crossfire setups, I just wouldn't want to spend more than what the average GTX 580 is going for).

RAM: Corsair Vengeance CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3

PSU: Corsair HX-650 Power Supply

CASE: CoolerMaster HAF 912 Advanced (I hear a lot of praise for the Corsair 650T cases, but not sure I can justify paying twice this?)

MONITOR: ASUS VS248H 24in Widescreen LED Monitor (I haven't got any qualitative info to back this product up, open to other suggestions)

HDD: Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB HD103SJ

SSD: Crucial M4 SSD 128GB

OPTICAL: ASUS DRW-24B3ST 24X DVDRW Drive

KEYBOARD Logitech G110 Gaming Keyboard

OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit

And not necessary, but also considering the Logitech G35 Surround Sound Headset.


...Phew. Let me know what you guys think, like I said it's mainly the GPU I'm undecided on (which in turn affects PSU choice etc), and part of that is waiting to see which cards run the BF3 Beta best, but I'd really appreciate some feedback. Cheers in advance!

 

[Why_Me]

That's a solid looking build.

 

[RedJaron]

Indeed, solid. You don't need that big a PSU, though. A good 850W is enough to SLI 580s ( check current SBM. If you don't care for SLI, you can drop even as low as 600W, provided you get a quality rail.

 

[Why_Me]

Indeed, solid. You don't need that big a PSU, though. A good 850W is enough to SLI 580s ( check current SBM. If you don't care for SLI, you can drop even as low as 600W, provided you get a quality rail.

They used that psu for benchmarks that probably took them less than a day to do. If your running two of those cards along with o/c it's going to be maxing your psu and eventually something has got to give....as in the psu.

 

[Gutterkisser]

The reason I liked that PSU was it wasn't much more expensive than the lower wattage Corsair PSUs I was originally looking at, and seemed a good 'better safe than sorry' option.

Is it going to make a noticeable difference on power consumption though? I.e, electricity bills? Or is the 80+ Gold cert part of the guarantee that it doesn't drain more than it needs...?

 

[Why_Me]

The reason I liked that PSU was it wasn't much more expensive than the lower wattage Corsair PSUs I was originally looking at, and seemed a good 'better safe than sorry' option.

Is it going to make a noticeable difference on power consumption though? I.e, electricity bills? Or is the 80+ Gold cert part of the guarantee that it doesn't drain more than it needs...?

Your psu uses what it's called to use. If your only using 600w then that's what it's going to put out. As far as gold, silver, bronze, and 80+ effiency...it's a fine line. With two of those cards running it comes down the watts and AMPS. You might run those cards for a year or more on an 850w but that psu is going to be running balls to the walls and it's going to run hot seeing how it's going to be maxed. When those components in the psu get hot, they wear out quicker. It's the law of averages.

 

[RedJaron]

They used that psu for benchmarks that probably took them less than a day to do. If your running two of those cards along with o/c it's going to be maxing your psu and eventually something has got to give....as in the psu.

So you're saying that Tom's Hardware, a globally trusted and respected recource in all things computer, is going to give a recommended build for a computer system ( a high-end performance build no less, ) a recommendation and an example to all their readers of what a kick-ass computer can and should be, and then they'd under-power it? Worse, that they'd underpower it and not put a huge asterisk and warning saying that while this computer shreds everything in benchmarks, it is not intended for long-term use, much less long-term gaming sessions? Uh, no, I don't buy that.

GK, that system almost mirrors your own proposed list. Even under massive OC'ing and under full load, total system power draw stayed around 700W. That's 82% of an 850W PSU's load which is in no wise maxing the PSU. If you constantly run it at 90% or above, then yes, you might be going a little hard on it, but an 80% load is more than acceptable for a quality PSU.

 

[Why_Me]

So you're saying that Tom's Hardware, a globally trusted and respected recource in all things computer, is going to give a recommended build for a computer system ( a high-end performance build no less, ) a recommendation and an example to all their readers of what a kick-ass computer can and should be, and then they'd under-power it? Worse, that they'd underpower it and not put a huge asterisk and warning saying that while this computer shreds everything in benchmarks, it is not intended for long-term use, much less long-term gaming sessions? Uh, no, I don't buy that.

GK, that system almost mirrors your own proposed list. Even under massive OC'ing and under full load, total system power draw stayed around 700W. That's 82% of an 850W PSU's load which is in no wise maxing the PSU. If you constantly run it at 90% or above, then yes, you might be going a little hard on it, but an 80% load is more than acceptable for a quality PSU.

As far as "Toms recommended builds"...Iv'e seen them goober more than a few builds. Toms isn't perfect and they do make mistakes, like recommending an 850w psu to push dual 580's in SLI. Again go to the Nvidia forums and/or EVGA forums and post that same question..

There's peeps on this board running dual 580's with SB cpu's pulling close to 800+w from the wall. And these are guys that aren't full of crap. If they say their pulling that much wattage, then I trust they are.

 

[RedJaron]

As far as "Toms recommended builds"...Iv'e seen them goober more than a few builds. Toms isn't perfect and they do make mistakes, like recommending an 850w psu to push dual 580's in SLI. Again go to the Nvidia forums and/or EVGA forums and post that same question..

There's peeps on this board running dual 580's with SB cpu's pulling close to 800+w from the wall. And these are guys that aren't full of crap. If they say their pulling that much wattage, then I trust they are.

Of course they're pulling 800W from the wall. No PSU is 100% efficient, meaning they ALL pull more power from the wall than they deliver to the internals. If the internals are drawing 700W and the PSU is pulling 800W from the outlet, that means it's operating at 87.5% efficiency ( which isn't unheard of since many 80 Plus Gold certified PSUs can reach +90% efficiency at certain load ranges. ) And if the PSUs are less efficient, like a regular 80 Plus or Bronze rating, they're delivering less power to the system itself, as little 640W, meaning you have even more headroom. PSUs are rated at how much power they can deliver, not how much they're capable of drawing.

 

[Gutterkisser]

Hey guys, once again thanks for all the good info and discussion around my planned build. I'm not really sure how the 'best answer' thing works, and tbh both RedJaron and Why_Me deserve it 😛

I just pulled the trigger and bought the following build. I really hope I didn't stuff anything up... the case, for instance was a relatively last-minute decision. Why_Me, sorry to disappoint but I just rolled with an 850w PSU... realistically I can't see myself getting a second GPU anytime soon so I think it'll be fine.

Anyway, let me know your thoughts, did I make the right compromises?

CPU: Intel Core i5 2500K
BOARD: ASRock Z68 Extreme4 Gen3 Motherboard
GPU: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 580 Super Overclock
PSU: Corsair HX-850 Power Supply
RAM: G.Skill Ripjaws X F3-12800CL8D-8GBXM (2x4GB) DDR3
CASE: Corsair Carbide 400R Case
HSF: CoolerMaster Hyper 212+ CPU Cooler
HDD: Samsung SpinPoint F3 1TB HD103SJ
SSD: Crucial M4 SSD 128GB
OPTICAL: ASUS DRW-24B3ST 24X DVDRW Drive
MONITOR: ASUS VS248H 24in Widescreen LED Monitor
KEYBOARD: Microsoft SideWinder X6 Keyboard
HEADSET: Logitech G35 Surround Sound Headset
OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit with SP1 OEM

 

[Gutterkisser]

Best answer selected by Gutterkisser.