Hi guys,
Here it goes:
More likely than not, the following will be most of the games I play over the next few years: Heroes of Newerth, Dota 2(when it launches), BF3, Black Ops 2 and their sequels. I play on a samsung 23" lcd @ 1080p. What I want from my rig is to be able to play these games at ultra settings and even be able to play their sequels that come out in the next 2-3-4 years, at high settings.
The parts will be from newegg.ca or canadacomputers.
CPU - I was thinking of the i5 2550k, the reason being that anything more for gaming would be useless, or so I hear. Many of the reviews that I've seen show that gaming performance gains for anything over this processor are pretty much non-existent. Since I don't plan on doing things like video rendering and etc., I think this card should suffice me for the next 3-4 years - what do you guys think? Should I go for ivy bridge with the 3570k?
MOBO - I was thinking of the Asus Sabertooth z77 - it has 2 PCIe 3.0 slots (x16 or dual x8, which I hear is just fine - what do you guys think?) and supports up to 1866 mhz non-oc DDR3, which I think should be fine.
RAM - I'm not entirely set on this component, frankly, it's not that important for a gaming rig, but since prices are so low, I'm thinking Corsair Low Profile 16 GB DDR3 @ 1600. Or should I get them @ 1866? They only cost $20 more.
GPU - I am thinking either 1 or dual EVGA GTX 680s [(2GB because I hear 4gb is useless for single monitor setups) (my last nvidia card was from BFG and it rocked, which nvidia card-makers are the best these days?)]. My games aren't that graphics-intensive (compared to others), but since I want to play them at ultra settings and play their sequels in the next 2-4 years at high (maybe even ultra) settings, I think sli gtx 680 would make sense, what do you guys think? As for waiting for the 2nd gpu once prices are down, I'd prefer not to, but, if I can save over $100, then I might think about it.
Storage - I want to put my OS (Win7 Ult x64), games, and adobe programs on an SSD. I think a Corsair Force Series 3 GT 120 gb SSD should be good. I also think a seagate 1tb sata3 6.0gb/s HD is a good idea for storage outside of the SSD. Is that hard drive okay? Is it going to bottleneck me in any way? I presently use 3/4 of a 250 gb HD, I don't download or store a lot on my PC - should I just forget about the HD and get a 240 GB SSD?
Optical drive and case isn't really an issue - I'll find something decent. I am thinking about a full tower case, what do you guys think? What do you guys think about cooling? Should I get anything more than a cpu cooler? And should the cpu cooler be water or heatsink? I plan on ocing but nothing TOO extreme, if you know what I mean.
As for the PSU, I plan on a Corsair Enthusiast Series TX850 V2. What do you guys think?
And finally, what do you guys think about my monitor? I am really sick of these normal lcd monitors that last me 2 years; 23" is okay for me but I realize that while a 27" would be good for entertainment, work wouldn't be done well on it - what do you guys think about that, and also what about an IPS display @ 24"?
1 more thing, optimistically, I'd like to build this PC within a month or so.
I look forward to all your responses and I'd like to thank you guys for reading this.
Here it goes:
More likely than not, the following will be most of the games I play over the next few years: Heroes of Newerth, Dota 2(when it launches), BF3, Black Ops 2 and their sequels. I play on a samsung 23" lcd @ 1080p. What I want from my rig is to be able to play these games at ultra settings and even be able to play their sequels that come out in the next 2-3-4 years, at high settings.
The parts will be from newegg.ca or canadacomputers.
CPU - I was thinking of the i5 2550k, the reason being that anything more for gaming would be useless, or so I hear. Many of the reviews that I've seen show that gaming performance gains for anything over this processor are pretty much non-existent. Since I don't plan on doing things like video rendering and etc., I think this card should suffice me for the next 3-4 years - what do you guys think? Should I go for ivy bridge with the 3570k?
MOBO - I was thinking of the Asus Sabertooth z77 - it has 2 PCIe 3.0 slots (x16 or dual x8, which I hear is just fine - what do you guys think?) and supports up to 1866 mhz non-oc DDR3, which I think should be fine.
RAM - I'm not entirely set on this component, frankly, it's not that important for a gaming rig, but since prices are so low, I'm thinking Corsair Low Profile 16 GB DDR3 @ 1600. Or should I get them @ 1866? They only cost $20 more.
GPU - I am thinking either 1 or dual EVGA GTX 680s [(2GB because I hear 4gb is useless for single monitor setups) (my last nvidia card was from BFG and it rocked, which nvidia card-makers are the best these days?)]. My games aren't that graphics-intensive (compared to others), but since I want to play them at ultra settings and play their sequels in the next 2-4 years at high (maybe even ultra) settings, I think sli gtx 680 would make sense, what do you guys think? As for waiting for the 2nd gpu once prices are down, I'd prefer not to, but, if I can save over $100, then I might think about it.
Storage - I want to put my OS (Win7 Ult x64), games, and adobe programs on an SSD. I think a Corsair Force Series 3 GT 120 gb SSD should be good. I also think a seagate 1tb sata3 6.0gb/s HD is a good idea for storage outside of the SSD. Is that hard drive okay? Is it going to bottleneck me in any way? I presently use 3/4 of a 250 gb HD, I don't download or store a lot on my PC - should I just forget about the HD and get a 240 GB SSD?
Optical drive and case isn't really an issue - I'll find something decent. I am thinking about a full tower case, what do you guys think? What do you guys think about cooling? Should I get anything more than a cpu cooler? And should the cpu cooler be water or heatsink? I plan on ocing but nothing TOO extreme, if you know what I mean.
As for the PSU, I plan on a Corsair Enthusiast Series TX850 V2. What do you guys think?
And finally, what do you guys think about my monitor? I am really sick of these normal lcd monitors that last me 2 years; 23" is okay for me but I realize that while a 27" would be good for entertainment, work wouldn't be done well on it - what do you guys think about that, and also what about an IPS display @ 24"?
1 more thing, optimistically, I'd like to build this PC within a month or so.
I look forward to all your responses and I'd like to thank you guys for reading this.