New Build

LGZdarkside

LGZdarkside

[H]ard [H]eaded
Joined
Sep 19, 2002
Messages
1,108
I have a chance to buy a PC and could really use some help with the configuration. I want something fast and reliable (if possible)

Thanks


1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Gaming
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
$4,500
3) Where do you live?
USA
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.
Case - I like the Thermaltake level 10 GT
Motherboard
CPU - i7 - six cores ?
Memory - 12 GB
HDD 1 - SSD - for OS
HDD 2-5 - Raid 1+0 - for everything else
GPU - 2 x Nividia 580 in SLI
BluRay burner
Power Supply - 1200 ?

????


5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
none
6) Will you be overclocking?
no
7) What size monitor do you have and/or plan to have?
27" or 30" - Maybe 3 x 24" in eyefinity? - needs to be included
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
ASAP
9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? etc.
SLI, SATA6, good on board sound
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If so, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
Yes - Windows Ultimate 64 bit
 
Last edited:
IMHO you don't need to spend anywhere near $4,500 for such a system these days. But if your budget is that high, you might as well go for it (but keep in mind that you'd end up getting many parts that have crappy or even shitty performance-to-price ratios).

And Danny Bui can come up with a system that will do absolutely everything that you intended to use it for at a price that's less than half that much (about $1,500 to $2,000).
 
Last edited:
Over the top build:
$785 - Intel Core i7 2600K CPU + PNY VCGGTX580XPB GeForce GTX 580 1536MB PCI-E Video Card
$180 - MSI P67A-GD65 Intel P67 ATX Motherboard
$170 - 2 x G.Skill Ripjaws F3-10666CL9D-8GBRL 2 x 4GB DDR3 1333 RAM
$500 - Gigabyte GV-N580UD-15I GeForce GTX 580 1536MB PCI-E Video Card
$470 - Crucial RealSSD C300 CTFDDAC256MAG-1G1 2.5" 256GB SSD
$130 - 2 x Samsung Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
$97 - LG WH10LS30K 10X Blu-ray Burner
$312 - Antec High Current Pro HCP-1200 1200W Modular PSU
$645 - 3 x Asus VW246H Black 24" Widescreen LCD Monitor
---
Total: $3289 plus tax and shipping

Choose your own case. I personally don't like the Level 10 GT as I don't see it being worth just as much as the following cases:
$140 - NZXT Phantom PHAN-001WT White Full Tower ATX Case
$140 - NZXT Phantom PHAN-001BK Black Full Tower ATX Case
$140 - Cooler Master HAF 932 RC-932-KKN1-GP ATX Case
$165 - Corsair Graphite Series 600T ATX Case
$160 - Silverstone RV02B-W ATX case
$220 - Corsair Obsidian Series 650D ATX Case
$220 - Cooler Master ATCS 840 RC-840-KKN1-GP Full Tower ATX Case
$230 - Silverstone FT02B ATX Case
$220 - Lian Li PC-A71F Black ATX Case
$290 - Corsair Obsidian Series 800D CC800DW Full Tower ATX Case
$330 - Silverstone Temjin SST-TJ07B Full Tower ATX Case

E4g1e said:
And Danny Bui can come up with a system that will do absolutely everything that you intended to use it for at a price that's less than half that much (about $1,500 to $2,000).
Click to expand...
Ehh, close:
$225 - Intel Core i5-2500K CPU
$180 - MSI P67A-GD65 Intel P67 ATX Motherboard
$80 - G.Skill Value Series F3-10600CL9D-8GBNT 2 x 4GB DDR3 1333 RAM
$540 - 2 x MSI R6950-2PM2D2GD5 Radeon HD 6950 2GB PCI-E Video Card
$30 - POWERCOLOR Active DisplayPort to Single-Link DVI-D Adapter
$255 - Crucial RealSSD C300 CTFDDAC0128MAG-1G1 2.5" 128GB SSD
$130 - 2 x Samsung Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
$97 - LG WH10LS30K 10X Blu-ray Burner
$190 - Silverstone ST1000-P 1000W Modular PSU
$555 - 3 x Asus VH238H Black 23" LCD Monitor
---
$2282 plus tax and shipping

The main price sinks in the above build were the triple monitors, the video cards needed for Eyefinity, and the SSD. A smaller SSD, a single GPU, and a single monitor would have brought the above build under $2000.
 
As an Amazon Associate, HardForum may earn from qualifying purchases.
Skillz said:
1200W really needed for all that?
Click to expand...

Yes if you want a bit of headroom for the PSU's life.

EDIT: The above "Over the top build" would only be about 15% faster in games than the cheaper build I posted. Up to the OP if the larger SSD, 15% gaming performance increase, and better monitors are worth the extra ~$1000.
 
Last edited:
tonytnnt said:
Why not get three 27" in Eyefinity? Or two 30" and add another 30" later?
Click to expand...

Preference mainly. Though I don't think current GPUs have enough power or the driver scaling that good for 3 x 30" monitors in Eyefinty/Surround
 
Here is a little back story on the funding. It's a "bonus" from work and the price reflects a loaded iMac my boss purchased for himself after he was done clicking all the upgrades.

He knows I like gaming and wanted me to get a raise but the economy etc. So he worked this deal with the CEO's approval as a "retention" bonus and will look at a raise next year.

I want to spend it ALL on a kick ass gaming rig. I have been to all the boutique sites, Falcon, Alienware, Ava etc, but the monitors put it over the top almost every time (got close with an Alienware Aurora with 2 x 6950's and no SSD'd though.....

I need to try and keep it one vendor so they cut one check.

My thinking is a good monitor will last through many builds and the best graphics I can stuff into it will future proof for a while..
 
The first build actually looks good. I have a question though. Should I match the video cards (same model) ?
 
brent_anderson said:
I want to spend it ALL on a kick ass gaming rig. I have been to all the boutique sites, Falcon, Alienware, Ava etc, but the monitors put it over the top almost every time (got close with an Alienware Aurora with 2 x 6950's and no SSD'd though.....
Click to expand...
Try Puget Systems too if you haven't. Also don't get any Sandforce SF1200/1500 based SSD.

brent_anderson said:
The first build actually looks good. I have a question though. Should I match the video cards (same model) ?
Click to expand...
Main reason why I had mismatched cards was to:
A) Save some money
B) To avoid the chance that both cards are defective. If it came from different manufacturers, that should hedge your bets and not leave you hanging
 
Ok, modified a little bit but this is in my cart.... went with a 30" monitor (still not sure about this one), matched up the cards to satisfy my OCD, added 2 more drives for Raid 10, choose the HAF 932 as the case and picked up a Logitech headset just because...

Thoughts?

$785 - Intel Core i7 2600K CPU + PNY VCGGTX580XPB GeForce GTX 580 1536MB PCI-E Video Card
$180 - MSI P67A-GD65 Intel P67 ATX Motherboard
$170 - 2 x G.Skill Ripjaws F3-10666CL9D-8GBRL 2 x 4GB DDR3 1333 RAM
$490 - PNY VCGGTX580XPB GeForce GTX 580 1536MB PCI-E Video Card
$470 - Crucial RealSSD C300 CTFDDAC256MAG-1G1 2.5" 256GB SSD
$260 - 4 x Samsung Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
$97 - LG WH10LS30K 10X Blu-ray Burner
$312 - Antec High Current Pro HCP-1200 1200W Modular PSU
$1380 - Dell UltraSharp U3011 30"
$140 - Cooler Master HAF 932 RC-932-KKN1-GP ATX Case
$120 - Logitech G930 USB Connector Circumaural Wireless Gaming Headset

$4,456 delivered
 
Danny Bui said:
Over the top build:
$785 - Intel Core i7 2600K CPU + PNY VCGGTX580XPB GeForce GTX 580 1536MB PCI-E Video Card
$180 - MSI P67A-GD65 Intel P67 ATX Motherboard
$170 - 2 x G.Skill Ripjaws F3-10666CL9D-8GBRL 2 x 4GB DDR3 1333 RAM
$500 - Gigabyte GV-N580UD-15I GeForce GTX 580 1536MB PCI-E Video Card
$470 - Crucial RealSSD C300 CTFDDAC256MAG-1G1 2.5" 256GB SSD
$130 - 2 x Samsung Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
$97 - LG WH10LS30K 10X Blu-ray Burner
$312 - Antec High Current Pro HCP-1200 1200W Modular PSU
$645 - 3 x Asus VW246H Black 24" Widescreen LCD Monitor
---
Total: $3289 plus tax and shipping

Choose your own case. I personally don't like the Level 10 GT as I don't see it being worth just as much as the following cases:
$140 - NZXT Phantom PHAN-001WT White Full Tower ATX Case
$140 - NZXT Phantom PHAN-001BK Black Full Tower ATX Case
$140 - Cooler Master HAF 932 RC-932-KKN1-GP ATX Case
$165 - Corsair Graphite Series 600T ATX Case
$160 - Silverstone RV02B-W ATX case
$220 - Corsair Obsidian Series 650D ATX Case
$220 - Cooler Master ATCS 840 RC-840-KKN1-GP Full Tower ATX Case
$230 - Silverstone FT02B ATX Case
$220 - Lian Li PC-A71F Black ATX Case
$290 - Corsair Obsidian Series 800D CC800DW Full Tower ATX Case
$330 - Silverstone Temjin SST-TJ07B Full Tower ATX Case


Ehh, close:
$225 - Intel Core i5-2500K CPU
$180 - MSI P67A-GD65 Intel P67 ATX Motherboard
$80 - G.Skill Value Series F3-10600CL9D-8GBNT 2 x 4GB DDR3 1333 RAM
$540 - 2 x MSI R6950-2PM2D2GD5 Radeon HD 6950 2GB PCI-E Video Card
$30 - POWERCOLOR Active DisplayPort to Single-Link DVI-D Adapter
$255 - Crucial RealSSD C300 CTFDDAC0128MAG-1G1 2.5" 128GB SSD
$130 - 2 x Samsung Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
$97 - LG WH10LS30K 10X Blu-ray Burner
$190 - Silverstone ST1000-P 1000W Modular PSU
$555 - 3 x Asus VH238H Black 23" LCD Monitor
---
$2282 plus tax and shipping

The main price sinks in the above build were the triple monitors, the video cards needed for Eyefinity, and the SSD. A smaller SSD, a single GPU, and a single monitor would have brought the above build under $2000.
Click to expand...

I knew I was a bit off... ;)
 
As an Amazon Associate, HardForum may earn from qualifying purchases.
I like the resolution, that extra 120 pixels in vertical helps with some map based games I play like GalCiv, Sins of a solar empire, Civ V etc....

Any suggestions at that resolution? you think the cards would run 5760 x 1200 ok?

Maybe I should stick with the 30" dell...

hmmmmm.....
 
Be careful that you get monitors with small bezels for Eyefinity. I'm unsure of how the two-tone nature of those HP monitors will affect your perception. Consider budgeting a good LCD mount as well. Maybe something like this. If you need a mouse and keyboard upgrade you could slap that in there too.
 
brent_anderson said:
I like the resolution, that extra 120 pixels in vertical helps with some map based games I play like GalCiv, Sins of a solar empire, Civ V etc....

Any suggestions at that resolution? you think the cards would run 5760 x 1200 ok?
Click to expand...
GTX 580 SLI should be ok for 5760x1200. Hit up the Display subforum for better LCD monitor recommendations.
 
If you are planning on getting more than one monitor, definitely go with an ATI card. However, if you are going to be playing games like simulation games, go with Nvidia. First person shooter games will be better valued with ATI.
 
New purchase VIA, a company approved vendor (ie. one that will take a P.O.)

So..... Dell or Apple....

Will start a new thread, locking this one.

I think I am crazy, but, it's FREE MONEY!

Update soon.......
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top