First EVER gaming PC, need some input!!

I've been looking into having a PC built that I could use for gaming and school work etc. Many of my friends tell me that building a rig on your own is better. While that may be the case, I'm a college student full time and really wouldn't have the time or paitence for putting a system together.

Anyway to explain a little bit about myself. I'm 20 and I enjoy playing computer games ( WoW, Sc2, D3, ME2, DA:O, just to name a few titles) I'd like a PC that can run all these games exceptionally well, while not breaking the bank. Also I do NOT intend to do any upgrades to the system I've chosen in the Configuration. I'd like what is inside the case to last me atleast 4-5 years down the road. I know with PC's and all the new tech it's hard to "keep up" with all the latest and greatest, so I'll try to future proof as best as I can. I'll be going into the air force after the first of the year and once I arrive at my MOS, I would love to have this PC to use for gaming and keeping in touch with family and friends back at home, while managing my school work.

 

I DO NOT know much about computers at all ( that was before I had some help from good friends at Core-Authority.com) but I'm still a little rusty. I originally decided I wanted a rig from iBUYPOWER. As I said many of my friends say building yourself is better but recomended DS as a company to use if you want it pre built, and compared to what I saw at IBP, I'm very impressed with what I see.

 

 

Anyway now that my life's story is out of the way, let's get to the good part! MY GAMING RIG!

 

Here is some of the info I can provide:

 

 - My Moniter is also my TV a 32" LG 1080P LCD HD TV ( I will use an HDMI cable for my computer if possible)

 

- My budget is $1500, however this system I built is about 200 bucks more, but the money is well spent.

 

- Uses are mainly gaming ( would like to run the games I listed at awesome max settings and like I said I want this pc to last 4-5 years w/o upgrades other than whats inside since I'm so "tech Inclined") School work ( college) and ofcourse keeping in touch with family and friends.

 

Here's the rig I made on DS!:

 

CASE: CM Storm Sniper +84

PROCESSOR: AMD Phenom II x4 955 (Quad Core, Black Edition 8MB cache)

MOTHERBOARD: Gigabyte GA-890XA-UD3(AMD 790X-chipset) (SATA3 and USB 3.0) (Socket AM3)

MEMORY: 4GB DDR3 1600MHz Corsair Dominator DHX (High Performance) +25

POWERSUPPLY: 750W Corsair TX (Dual SLI compatible) +70

HARD DRIVE: 1X (1TB Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS (7200 RPM) (32MB Cache) (SATA) (Extreme Speed) +66

OPTICAL DRIVE: DVD-R/RW/CD-R/RW (DVD Writer 24X/ CD-Writer 48X) ( Lightscribe Edition) +10

GRAPHICS CARD: 1X ATI Radeon HD 5870 1GB (Sapphire Vapor-X 100281VXSR) +423 ( Didn't have a XFX or I'd get that instead)

COOLING: Asetek Liquid CPU Cooler (120mm Radiator) +59

 

The total cost comes out to $1660 ( if anyone knows of a promo code I could use let me know)

 

Anyway I'll be ordering this PC within a month, so while some things can change in a months time, this is the basic system I'm shooting for.

 

Thoughts? Comments? etc? Please! All input will help

 

( Also to save a few bucks I would be willing to swap to DS 4gb of 1600 memory and their 750 PS if they are good)

 

Thanks!

 

-Rob

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by Rob13 - 23 Jun 2010 at 6:53pm

Originally posted by Rob13 Also I do NOT intend to do any upgrades to the system I've chosen in the Configuration. I'd like what is inside the case to last me atleast 4-5 years down the road. I know with PC's and all the new tech it's hard to "keep up" with all the latest and greatest, so I'll try to future proof as best as I can.

Kinda hard to do.

You can do this with a lot of components, case, HDD, PSU, RAM, motherboard, cooler, even the CPU to a pretty good extent. You can configure a powerful but still very affordable PC that will definitely last you 4-5 years in this regard. However, not so much with video cards.

Video cards are a very rapidly evolving technology with better ones coming out all the time, with prices always dropping because of that and healthy competition, so trying to future proof it is much too costly.

What you can future proof is your power supply. They are a pretty stable unchanging technology, they will be roughly the same prices a few years down the road as they are currently. So you can for example get a 1200w or 1250w PSU now which will support up to 2x 480s but only get a single 480 now for $500. The single 480 will be great for some time, but in a few years should it start becoming inadequate you can at this time buy a second 480 to run them in dual SLI, but by this point in time a 480 may only cost $250 or so. Also by this time there may be much more superior DX12 cards available.

So basically you just want to stick to getting what you need to run your resolution at the moment and then upgrade later on once you actually need to and prices have come down. You don't necessarily have to get a larger PSU to do this, you can follow a single video card upgrade path, but a larger PSU will give you more leeway in your upgrade options since you wouldn't have to always be ditching your current video card for an better version and can instead just add in a second cheaper one for SLI or CF.

But anywho, back to the heart of the matter.

Originally posted by Rob13 Thoughts? Comments? etc? Please! All input will help

I don't want to rip your whole config apart and go into huge detail on why those part selections are not very good (unless you really want the details on the whys and why nots, if so just let us know we can go into more detail), but we should probably scrap it and start fresh from the top.

An exceptional gaming machine at the resolution of 1920x1080, that will last you 4-5 years (video card aside), with a budget of $1500 is well, pretty much improbable. I mean just the video card itself will be around $500, so to manage everything else with the remaining budget would mean we would really have to cut into the meat of it and sacrifice way too much. We would have to forgo even inexpensive bang for the buck parts in favor of the cheapest bottom of the barrel type selections, which just isn't going to last you long or even a good idea in the first place when you can get a vastly superior machine for just a little bit more.

A budget of $1600-1700 is probably a lot more feasible, if you can manage that.

By cutting costs everywhere possible that won't effect performance you can get a very powerful long lasting X58 platform system that can handle a 1920x1080 resolution right at about $1700 with a config like this:

Ticket #417279, Price: $1715

To get cheaper than that you pretty much have to drop to a P55 platform system to lower the price by another hundred or two, but you give up on a lot of CPU performance, memory capacity and performance, and motherboard functionality.

If you want to really last 4-5 years with all the new technology and games that will be coming out, the best resort would be to spend a little extra and go with the i7 build.  Also, gpu-wise if you want to last awhile you would also probably dish out the extra cash and get the 5870, which right now is really cheap.  So, later on when you would actually need the upgrade you could add another one for an even cheaper price that wouldn't hurt the wallet.  Or you could go with the 5850, it will still get you through great at your gaming resolution, and adding another one down the road possibly would get you by. 

How dare you bring another company's build onto these forums! j/k 
If you can't manage a i7 build right now wait a month or two to save up, don't go with an amd processor they can't compare to the i7's. If you do go for an i7 you can upgrade to a 6core down the line insted of buying a totally new computer.

Rob13, far more important than the better parts you may or may not get from DS, is the no BS customer support. The few issues that crop up here are dealt with in very short order in the customer's favor whenever possible, and at his convenience. I've yet to see a complaint about DS that survived the first business day after it was posted!

Originally posted by Rob13 I still have my heart set on the AMD setup, but have been looking at the Intel system as well.

Could I ask why?

The new AMD Phenom II 6-core line (1055T and 1090T) can keep up with a Core i7 930 in some very specific video encoding and rendering tests, but fail spectacularly in every other way, every benchmark, every game, and price. I can pull benchmarks if you want but just Google "AMD Phenom II x6 review" and the results speak for themselves. And this is at just stock speeds, add in overclocking of both sides and just gets really sad for the AMDs. You only have a Phenom II quad-core selected, so right off the bat we're already talking only 66% of the performance of an AMD 1055T or 1090T, and a 930 beats those two by upwards of 40-50% in a lot of things, so the math is just not pretty for your AMD choice.

On top of this AMD motherboards are pretty awful, inferior to X58 and P55 platform motherboards in so many ways, performance, functionality, and compatibility wise.

If AMD had something more comparable I would try to stay out of it, giving the two best options and letting people pick their favorite side to buy, but as it stands AMD is simply not offering anything of comparable performance for a similar price.

I don't like to see people throw their money away. The whole reason I hang around this forum is because it is a great community and I like helping people get the best bang for their buck builds and save money, so hopefully hopefully I don't come off like an Intel fanboy and if you do a little research on the numbers you can see what I'm talking about here. For a $1700 budget there is just no reason to be getting an AMD setup, you can easily fit into an incredibly powerful Core i7 930 rig for that much without sacrificing anything in the build, all great bang for the buck selections. I've already posted a perfect example before in the thread, but here it is again with everything listed for easy viewing:

Ticket #417279, Price: $1715

Chassis Model: Special Deal Hot Seller - HAF 922
Exterior Finish: - Standard Factory Finish
Trim Accents: - Standard Factory Finish
Processor: Intel Core i7 930 2.8GHz (Quad Core)
Motherboard: EVGA X58 Micro Edition SLI (Intel X58 Chipset) (Supports SLI or CrossFire)
System Memory: 6GB DDR3 1600MHz Digital Storm Certified Performance Series (Highly Recommended) (Hand Tested)
Power Supply: 750W Digital Storm Certified (Dual SLI Compatible) (Silent Edition Recommended)
Expansion Bay: - No Thanks
Hard Drive Set 1: Operating System: 1x (500GB Western Digital (16MB Cache) (7200 RPM) (SATA)
Set 1 Raid Options: - No Thanks
Hard Drive Set 2: Multimedia\Data: - No Thanks
Hard Drive Set 3: Backup\Misc.: - No Thanks
Optical Drive 1: DVD-R/RW/CD-R/RW (DVD Writer 24x / CD-Writer 48x)
Optical Drive 2: - No Thanks
Internet Access: High Speed Network Port (Supports High-Speed Cable / DSL / Network Connections)
Video Card: 1x ATI Radeon HD 5870 1GB
Add-on Card: - No Thanks
Sound Card: Integrated Motherboard Audio
Extreme Cooling: AIR: Stage 1: Noctua Dual 120mm Fans High Performance Cooler (Compatible With ONLY i7 Processors)
H20 Tube Color:- Not Applicable, I do not have a FrostChill or Sub-Zero LCS Cooling System Selected
Chassis Airflow: Standard Factory Chassis Fans
Internal Lighting: - No Thanks
Enhancements: - No Thanks
Chassis Mods: - No Thanks
Noise Reduction: - No Thanks
Boost Processor: FREE: Stage 1: Overclock the processor between 3.3GHz to 3.9GHz (Cooling Upgrade Recommended)
Boost Video Card: FREE: Yes, Overclock the video card(s) as much as possible with complete stability
Boost Memory: - No Thanks, Please do not overclock my memory
Boost OS: - No Thanks, Please do not tweak the services on the operating system
Windows OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium (64-Bit Edition)
Restore Kit: Digital Storm Specialized Recovery System (DVD Image Based)
Virus Protection: - No Thanks
Office: - No Thanks
Benchmarking: - No Thanks
Install/Test Game: FREE: Hot-selling game with a NVIDIA GeForce GTS 250 or above graphics card
Display: - No Thanks
Surge Shield: - No Thanks
Speakers: - No Thanks
Keyboard: - No Thanks
Mouse: - No Thanks
External Storage: - No Thanks
Exclusive T-Shirt: FREE: Digital Storm T-Shirt - Black (Large)
Priority Build: - No Thanks, Ship Within 5-15 Business Days After Order Is Successfully Processed
Warranty: 3 Year Limited Warranty with Life-Time Customer Support (3 Year Labor & 1 Year Parts)

1) The "brand name" vid card is a piece of crap non-reference card GIMPED by Sapphire. I know, I got one (damn, hate admitting that.) I did get a nice installation pamphlet in nine languages... too bad the card was already installed. 2) The DS power supplies are made expressly for DS by the same power supply manufacturers that make the brand names. You really think Corsair makes power supplies? They buy them and put their name on them, and stand behind them. Just like DS. Only DS is MORE accountable, read the forums.

Edited by Cretae - 26 Jun 2010 at 6:00pm

Originally posted by Alex I disagree. Both memory either Corsair or Digital Storm Certified are made with the same chips, the same process, and same testing standards.   Obviously Corsair has built a great brand behind their products. If you willing to pay a premium, by all means purchase Corsair, they are great.   However, both memory brands are equal in terms of reliability, etc... In addition, both brands have a life-time warranty.   We offer our 'Certified' products to offer our customers savings where they can use them in other areas of their build. Our certified memory in the past has been: Mushkin, Kingston, and Super Talent.

Originally posted by Alex Ah, my mistake.   The PSU we have as 'DS Certified' is actually our own brand 'TechNPS' which we get manufactured by the same companies that make PSUs for all the top PSU brands.   It is not a poor quality PSU at all. It has great amperage ratings at the voltage levels for the price your paying. It's a great option to save money on and place the saved cash into other parts of your build.   Here's a spec list of the 750W model:   Tech NPS  750W PFC,80+,CABL.Manament ATX     Series Turbo Spec Type ATX12V / EPS12V Maximum Power 750W Fans 140mm silent fan PFC Active Main Connector 20+4Pin +12V Rails 4 PCI-Express Connector 2 x 6-Pin, 2 x 6+2-Pin SLI Ready CrossFire Ready Modular Yes Energy-Efficient 80 PLUS Certified Over Voltage Protection Yes Overload Protection Yes Input Voltage 100 - 240 V Input Frequency Range 47 - 63 Hz Input Current 10A @ 115V, 5A @ 230V Output +3.3V@30A,+5V@28A,+12V1@18A,+12V2@18A,+12V3@18A, +12V4@18A,[email protected],[email protected] Features Connectors 1 x Main connector (20+4Pin) 1 x 12V(P4) 1 x 12V(8Pin) 6 x peripheral 4 x SATA 2 x Floppy 4 x PCI-E

alternatively, you can go with an i5 build, and pray pray pray that Sandy Bridge's LGA1155 actually does somehow work on a LGA1156 platform. LOL jk.

if you want to save a bit more room for other components, downgrade the 5870 to a 5850. one, it saves cost, and two, the video card will be the one and only thing that will ever need upgrading in a while.

storm sniper's nice, the HAF series still kicks butt in airflow though. I'm looking at you HAF 922 :D. the HAF 932 basically kicks butt in every department of air cooling, the HAF 922 is its smaller cousin, but it doesn't sacrifice the airflow potential of the 932

Edited by ablahblah - 27 Jun 2010 at 11:37am

larger. more room. same fans. i dunno really, someone with a first hand account on a HAF get ur butt on this topic xD

Well I think I'll be going with the same build I had before, but with a few minor changes:

They're that bad huh?

Edited by Rob13 - 28 Jun 2010 at 10:48pm

The reference cards are good.. Saphire = junk, they made their own PCB with ground up coolermaster parts, and added some unicorn nuts.. stay away. The reference boards have better cooling, better components, and can be overclocked a lot more. so get  a standard, reference 5870.

Just so you know who gave you that advice, justin is a world class overclocker (literally) and he is one of the most knowledgable posters here. It was his advice I was passing to you earlier, when I could not find one reason to choose XFX over a reference card.

Edited by Cretae - 29 Jun 2010 at 10:18pm

Originally posted by Rob13 So, how's it all look now?

Amazing, probably at least twice the performance of your original AMD configuration. I'm glad you were able to up the budget a tad.

I'd recommend dropping that expensive ASUS motherboard though, it isn't going to offer you anything useful, it isn't real SATA 6Gb/s nor do you have anything that could even remotely take advantage of the extra bandwidth anyway (takes a very expensive SSD). Go with an EVGA x58 LE.

Originally posted by MotoriousRacing can I either; 1. get the numbers to back that statement up, or 2. get some of what you're smokin'?

You really think an AMD Phenom II x4 955 Quad Core with a crappy overclock (bad cooler) can come even remotely close to the performance of a highly overclocked i7 930? Do you really?

Let me introduce you to a friend of mine, his name is Google, he helps you look up stuff like numbers. So get to it.

Lemme know how that turns out for you.

yeaaaap....seriously, have you noticed that ever since AMD started trying to compete with Intel (I'm looking at you, C2D), AMD's just been left in the dust over and over again? They've been trying to catch up for years, Intel...just makes better stuff...simple as that lol/

speaking of your friend, I seriously can't believe how big Google's got. it's become a friggin VERB now


Edited by ablahblah - 01 Jul 2010 at 11:27am

Originally posted by Dragoonseal You really think an AMD Phenom II x4 955 Quad Core with a crappy overclock (bad cooler) can come even remotely close to the performance of a highly overclocked i7 930? Do you really?

Edited by MotoriousRacing - 01 Jul 2010 at 2:02pm