Rate This Build: $2,000 Gaming Rig

[Randall Jhen]

Greetings, all. Just registered about five minutes ago, and I wanted to get opinions on a build I'm working on.

EDIT: Added style stuff.

APPROXIMATE PURCHASE DATE: Four to six months from now.

BUDGET RANGE: $2,200 after rebates.

SYSTEM USAGE FROM MOST TO LEAST IMPORTANT: Gaming, internet, photo editing, movies.

PARTS NOT REQUIRED: Keyboard, mouse, monitor, speakers. Once I have the system functioning, I want to pick up a Razer mouse and good gaming keyboard.

PREFERRED WEBSITE(S) FOR PARTS: Newegg, TigerDirect, or whoever shows up with the best prices + good store ratings in Froogle.

COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: U.S.

PARTS PREFERENCES: Intel processor. Mobo with SATA III, USB 3.0, and six RAM slots, plus capability of two PCI-E 2.0 16x. Prefer RAM that comes 4gb per stick. Interested in a SATA III SSD boot drive.

OVERCLOCKING: Maybe to 3.2-3.8 GHz. Not a priority.

SLI OR CROSSFIRE: Probably Crossfire in the future.

MONITOR RESOLUTION: 1920x1080, maybe 2560x1600 someday.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: Quiet is better. No liquid cooling. Are PhysX cards of any value?

---

The Build.

Case (already bought this): Cooler Master HAF X
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119225&cm_re=haf-x-_-11-119-225-_-Product

Motherboard: ASRock Extreme 3 $189.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157189

Processor: i7-930 $275.95
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115225&cm_re=i7-930-_-19-115-225-_-Product

RAM: 8GB g.skill Ripjaws $299.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231314&cm_re=4gb_ddr3_1600-_-20-231-314-_-Product

GPU: Radeon 5870 (or 5970, if I feel like blowing a bunch more money) $379.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150490&cm_re=5870-_-14-150-490-_-Product

PSU: SeaSonic x750 Gold $179.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151087&Tpk=seasonic%20x750

Hard Drives: Ideally, the cheapest-per-gig SATA III SSD I can find, which right now means the Crucial RealSSD 256GB $679.99
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148349

OS: Windows 7 Home. $179.99

That's the gist of it. $2,185.89 plus shipping, if it all comes from Newegg.

These are my primary concerns:

1. Is the motherboard a safe bet?

2. Do dual-core GPUs still have significant driver issues?

3. Is a 750 watt PSU powerful enough for dual 5870s? (Yes; I found a power consumption calculator.)

4. I don't know a thing about PhysX cards. Are they still a reasonable addition to a machine? If so, are they worthwhile in a PCI-E 2.0 x1 slot, or do they need to run faster?

5. I am purchasing these pieces one at a time, about once every two to four weeks (based on the size of my paychecks). Which components are more prone to go down in price over time? I would like to wait to pick those up until after I get the stably priced components in the hopes of saving a bit of money in the end. (Should just save up and buy all at once to avoid hassles returning bad parts.)

Thanks in advance!

 

[xurwin]

get this mobo.

and do you really need 8gigs of ram? triple chanel would be not efectve. maybe go for a 6gb(3x2gb)this ram is recomended. but out of stock so settle with this and for the gpu. go with the 5870. if you have the money to burn go with the monsterous 5970
hdd:samsung f3 1tb
ssd:intel x25-m a gooood verry good ssd. for the price.


answers!
1.No. asrock? dont think so. go with giga. the one i suggested
2.i really dont know. but i think it does not have issues.
3.yes
4.no. they just add something. but i am not in the position to say anything because i dont know it. but the pci-e 20x1slot. NOOO.
5.cpu/gpu/mobo. there are new techs every year! so its best to invest in a powerful cpu.that could hold up for say... 3 years? a i7 930. is your best bet!

how much is your budget anyway? and whats the resolution your playing at?

 

[banthracis]

Fill out form in sticky, link in my sig.

No to buying piecemeal. If anything isn't working you'll have a much harder time replacing it once return period is over.

Just save up till you have enough money. Not like you'll have a working PC any faster anyway.

 

[Somebody_007]

The 5970 doesn't really have issues with drivers they just aren't very good. IMO the second you get in the 5970 price range nvidia is the way to go.

470gtx sli is priced right at the 5970 but is significantly faster(as fast or faster as 5870 sli). Simply because of the better sli scaling nvidia offers. There are of course the issues with heat and power consumption but then again nvidia offers 3d surround and physx. IMO nvidia is a no-brainer but there are many who would disagree.

 

[Randall Jhen]

get this mobo.

and do you really need 8gigs of ram? triple chanel would be not efectve. maybe go for a 6gb(3x2gb)this ram is recomended. but out of stock so settle with this and for the gpu. go with the 5870. if you have the money to burn go with the monsterous 5970
hdd:samsung f3 1tb
ssd:intel x25-m a gooood verry good ssd. for the price.


answers!
1.No. asrock? dont think so. go with giga. the one i suggested
2.i really dont know. but i think it does not have issues.
3.yes
4.no. they just add something. but i am not in the position to say anything because i dont know it. but the pci-e 20x1slot. NOOO.
5.cpu/gpu/mobo. there are new techs every year! so its best to invest in a powerful cpu.that could hold up for say... 3 years? a i7 930. is your best bet!

how much is your budget anyway? and whats the resolution your playing at?

Thanks for the quick response. I edited my original post to conform with board rules for new build posts, and that answered some of your questions, but for simplicity I'll answer them here as well.

Right now, no, I probably don't need 8gb RAM. But I suspect that before I'm ready to upgrade, I'll want more than 6gb, so I figured I'd just start there and save me the hassle later on.

1. It seems like Gigabyte has quite a few more issues than other mobo manufacturer's that I've read about, and that board in particular runs $20 more than the one I selected, though the promo code would knock off $21.

5. Yeah, the i7-930 is what I'm planning to go with. If I wasn't planning to go SLI, I'd probably opt for the i5-750. There's a thought, though -- would I be better off with a Radeon 5970 plus i5-750, or a Radeon 5870 plus i7-930?

Anyway, my budget is around $2,200, and my resolution is going to be 1920x1080.

 

[banthracis]

1. GA and Asus are the top MOBO makers in the world. That particular board was given a recommended buy award by Tom's Hardware. Asrock is as budget board company, and their products are inferior quality. Bench's also show them inferior.

You can see both thoroughly reviewed here
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/x58-usb-3.0-sata-6-gbps,2614-15.html

5. $2,000 you can easily get a 5970 + i7-930 build. I'll even throw in a 80gb Intel SSD


Optical
$20
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827151216

HD
Spinpoint F3 1Tb $70
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185

SSD
Intel X25-M 80 Gb $200
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820167027

GPU
5970 $700
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102887

RAM
G SKill Trident DDR3 2000 Cas 9 6gb kit $190
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231254

Operates at Cas 6 at 1600 speeds.

HSF
Tuniq Tower 120 Extreme $63
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835154011

Not quite megahalem performance, but given that the price includes the fan, very fair price. Can also just get a Cm Hyper 212 Plus for $30 at Amazon.com if you don't care about a few degrees and wanna save some money.

CPU/PSU
i7-930 and Corsair 850HX $435 w/ $20 MIR
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.419273
Corsair's HX line is made by seasonic.

MOBO/OS
GA-x58-UD3R and win 7 oem 64bit $290
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.395176

Total including shipping $1955.61 w/ $20 rebates

 

[beerhelmet]

Thanks for the quick response. I edited my original post to conform with board rules for new build posts, and that answered some of your questions, but for simplicity I'll answer them here as well.

Right now, no, I probably don't need 8gb RAM. But I suspect that before I'm ready to upgrade, I'll want more than 6gb, so I figured I'd just start there and save me the hassle later on.

1. It seems like Gigabyte has quite a few more issues than other mobo manufacturer's that I've read about, and that board in particular runs $20 more than the one I selected, though the promo code would knock off $21.

5. Yeah, the i7-930 is what I'm planning to go with. If I wasn't planning to go SLI, I'd probably opt for the i5-750. There's a thought, though -- would I be better off with a Radeon 5970 plus i5-750, or a Radeon 5870 plus i7-930?

Anyway, my budget is around $2,200, and my resolution is going to be 1920x1080.

A few things:
1. When he said 8GB is not good, he means that the sticks you chose run as dual channel, but if you go with the i7 930 then you have to run triple channel, which means those dual channel sticks are very bad for this build.
2. At this point in time gaming (generally) doesn't make use of more than 3GB of memory because of the limitations with Windows XP (which a lot of gamers still use) and probably even less if its a cross platform game. (available on PC, consoles, etc.)
3. The price for 3x2GB sticks of DDR3 RAM is pretty decent at this point in time (under $200) so you might as well go for that. (something like this on the higher end)
4. Gigabyte and Asus are arguably the best Mobo brands at the moment. That price for the Gigabyte Mobo is good considering it is a very good board.
5. In terms of just a gaming standpoint the i5-750 with the 5970 will outperform the i7-930 with the 5870, but considering the 5870 is good enough for most games at this time (at 1920x1080), I would go with the i7 and the 5870 and later on get a second 5870 (which will outperform one 5970)
6. If cooling is a problem for you definitely stick with the ATI cards over nVidia. Otherwise look into the 480's and 470's as they have commendable merits.
7. Definitely get the parts at the same time, or as close together as possible. There is a percentage of stuff manufactured for each item that is bad. Better to be safe than sorry.
8. For a budget of $2200 I would go:

i7-930
Gigabyte X58A-UD3R
Mushkin RAM 3x2GB 1600Mhz CL6
5870
Intel SSD 80GB boot drive
Seagate 7200.12 1TB Storage
Your listed PSU (or a 750TX)
Your listed case
Your listed OS

with probably some money to spare for those fancy keyboards and mice from Razer


edit: Bah, was beaten to the punch again. Go with Banthracis' advice for sure!