Help picking a comp for my wife

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   So my fiance computer finally crapped out on her after about 6 years and Im not good when it comes to gaming pcs or what she even needs but im trying to suprise her with this as a gift.

I am looking to spend $1600 on her pc that's excluding the monitor and a gaming mouse and keyboard for her. That's going to be brought by her brother. The expectation is to have a comp she can game on with no trouble whatsoever and still be able to receive great graphics and smooth game play. The usage will be 90% gaming 10% music downloads and that's it. I hope it helps if I list the games she crazy about. She adores mass effect (all 3), dragon age origins, kingdom of amalur, skyrim. The ones she will play the most are probably starcraft 2, SWTOR, WOW and she's drooling over the arrival of Diablo 3 so when that comes out everything else gets side lined. Mainly SWTOR and Diablo 3 will be the main contenders on this so I was wondering if anyone had any builds or could recommend anything to play these games. If I must I'm willing to go up to $2000. A friend of mine said PC's I was looking at was over kill for what she would actually be playing so if someone could recommend something it would greatly be appreciated and I thank you in advance for your help. :-)

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Guntur Members Profile Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 27 Mar 2012 Online Status: Offline Posts: 3	Quote Reply Topic: Help picking a comp for my wife Posted: 27 Mar 2012 at 7:35am
	So my fiance computer finally crapped out on her after about 6 years and Im not good when it comes to gaming pcs or what she even needs but im trying to suprise her with this as a gift. I am looking to spend $1600 on her pc that's excluding the monitor and a gaming mouse and keyboard for her. That's going to be brought by her brother. The expectation is to have a comp she can game on with no trouble whatsoever and still be able to receive great graphics and smooth game play. The usage will be 90% gaming 10% music downloads and that's it. I hope it helps if I list the games she crazy about. She adores mass effect (all 3), dragon age origins, kingdom of amalur, skyrim. The ones she will play the most are probably starcraft 2, SWTOR, WOW and she's drooling over the arrival of Diablo 3 so when that comes out everything else gets side lined. Mainly SWTOR and Diablo 3 will be the main contenders on this so I was wondering if anyone had any builds or could recommend anything to play these games. If I must I'm willing to go up to $2000. A friend of mine said PC's I was looking at was over kill for what she would actually be playing so if someone could recommend something it would greatly be appreciated and I thank you in advance for your help. :-)

bprat22 Members Profile Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List DS ELITE DigitalStorm East -- (Unofficially!) Joined: 08 Jun 2011 Online Status: Offline Posts: 20391	Quote Reply Posted: 27 Mar 2012 at 7:52am
	Hi Guntur...Welcome to the forums.. Here's a build that is more than your $1600 but less than the $2000. Config # 669416 Cost $ 1900 Chassis Model: Special Deal Hot Seller - Cooler Master 942 HAF X Exterior Finish: - Standard Factory Finish Trim Accents: - Standard Factory Finish Processor: Intel Core i7 2600K 3.40GHz (Unlocked CPU for Extreme Overclocking) (Quad Core) Motherboard: ASUS P8Z68-V PRO/GEN3 (Intel Z68 Chipset) (Features Intel Quick Sync Technology) System Memory: 8GB DDR3 1600MHz Digital Storm Certified Performance Series (Highly Recommended) (Hand Tested) Power Supply: 750W Corsair HX (Dual SLI Compatible) Expansion Bay: - No Thanks Hard Drive Set 1: Operating System: 1x (500GB Seagate Barracuda (7200 RPM) (16MB Cache) 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 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 1.2GB (Includes PhysX Technology) (EVGA 012-P3-1571-BR) Add-on Card: - No Thanks Sound Card: Integrated Motherboard Audio Extreme Cooling: AIR: Stage 2: Noctua NH-D14 SE2011 Extreme Performance 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 LaserMark: - No Thanks Boost Processor: Stage 2: Overclock CPU 4.5GHz to 4.8GHz (Requires Pro or Deluxe Series Motherboard) Boost Video Card: - No Thanks, Please do not overclock my video card(s) 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) Recovery Tools: Windows Recovery Toolkit (Bundled with Windows 7 CD) Virus Protection: - No Thanks Office: - No Thanks Game: - No Thanks 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: Life-time Expert Customer Care with 3 Year Limited Warranty It's a great build with quality parts. The 750HX psu is tops in reliability and has a 7 year warranty. The HafX case is the best air cooled case around. The D14 cpu cooler sitting on the i7-2600K cpu allows you to overclock to stage 2 no problem...safe and a performance gain in gaming. If the $1900 is too much, the ODE level 1 for a little over $1500 is a great deal or you could drop the motherboard of this build to the LE version and save $82. The LE version doesn't allow sli or stage 2 oc. But stage 1 oc works great. You didn't mention the monitor size or resolution so this assumes a 24" monitor or less and 1920x1080 resolution or less. The single graphic card will play that reolution on high settings for most games. To max out gaming you'd need to sli, 2x gpu. Check it out and Good Luck Edited by bprat22 - 27 Mar 2012 at 7:54am

Guntur Members Profile Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 27 Mar 2012 Online Status: Offline Posts: 3	Quote Reply Posted: 27 Mar 2012 at 8:46am
	I appreciate you taking the time to help. The monitor she wants to get is a 27 in samsung LED monitor from bestbuy. The build sounds great she will be able to run her mmo and rpg with no problem correct? :-) I truly appreciate you help thank you again

bprat22 Members Profile Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List DS ELITE DigitalStorm East -- (Unofficially!) Joined: 08 Jun 2011 Online Status: Offline Posts: 20391	Quote Reply Posted: 27 Mar 2012 at 8:51am
	If the monitor has native resolution of 1920x1050 then Skyrim, DragonAge, etc will play real nice. A game like BF3 or Metro would play at medium to high settings. If the monitor is 2560x1600 then it's a whole new thing, costing much more. If it's this model.... Model: S27A550H...then no problem. Changing the gtx570 1.2gb card to the gtx570 2.5GB card for another $60 does give you a little more room to grow. Some have seen a better frame rate even at that resolution. Just another thought. Edited by bprat22 - 27 Mar 2012 at 9:03am

Avelict Members Profile Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 28 Oct 2011 Online Status: Offline Posts: 72	Quote Reply Posted: 27 Mar 2012 at 9:50am
	I recommend moving the video card from the GTX 570 to the AMD 7870, for 12$ more you get a much more powerful video card than the 2.5Gb version. Edited by Avelict - 27 Mar 2012 at 9:51am

Guntur Members Profile Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 27 Mar 2012 Online Status: Offline Posts: 3	Quote Reply Posted: 27 Mar 2012 at 3:50pm
	Yes the the screen hes gonna get her i figure 27 inches is good enough does the ODE level 3 make a huge difference or would that be overkill

bprat22 Members Profile Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List DS ELITE DigitalStorm East -- (Unofficially!) Joined: 08 Jun 2011 Online Status: Offline Posts: 20391	Quote Reply Posted: 27 Mar 2012 at 4:12pm
	The ODE level 3 is one of DS' s best bang for the buck. The sli, 2x gtx 570 will Max out any game you throw at it at the 1920x 1050 resolution. Plus you get the SSD drive for quick loads. Not overkill. We have a few forum members with it that love it. Edited by bprat22 - 27 Mar 2012 at 4:16pm

kenage Members Profile Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 03 Mar 2012 Online Status: Offline Posts: 59	Quote Reply Posted: 27 Mar 2012 at 6:24pm
	The Stage 2 Dreadnought is also a very good option at the $1500 pricetag. If you can move up to $1900, you can go for either 2x GTX 570s in SLI, or get the GTX 680. I would personally get the 680, even if it's a little unmatched with the i5 2500K, due to its lower power consumption, noise, and heat. The 680 will also allow you to SLI in the future, which adds a bit of future-proofing to the build, whereas getting 2x 570s won't. The AMD route is also a good option, as the 7870 is a very good card and has the overclocking headroom to make it almost equal to the 7950, for a lower price.
	— Kenage MCTS, MCP, Security+, Network+ Never put off until tomorrow what you can avoid doing entirely.

bprat22 Members Profile Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List DS ELITE DigitalStorm East -- (Unofficially!) Joined: 08 Jun 2011 Online Status: Offline Posts: 20391	Quote Reply Posted: 28 Mar 2012 at 3:14am
	Hi Guntur....Along the lines of what kenage is saying, and the HafX case is better than the ODE 600t, here is another build with the latest gtx680. To sli in the future, which I don't think you have in mind, just change psu to 1050HX. Plus this doesn't have the ODE 3 SSD, but you might not care anyways Config # 669784 Cost $ 2231 Chassis Model: Special Deal Hot Seller - Cooler Master 942 HAF X Exterior Finish: - Standard Factory Finish Trim Accents: - Standard Factory Finish Processor: Intel Core i7 2600K 3.40GHz (Unlocked CPU for Extreme Overclocking) (Quad Core) Motherboard: ASUS P8Z68-V PRO/GEN3 (Intel Z68 Chipset) (Features Intel Quick Sync Technology) System Memory: 8GB DDR3 1600MHz Digital Storm Certified Performance Series (Highly Recommended) (Hand Tested) Power Supply: 750W Corsair HX (Dual SLI Compatible) Expansion Bay: - No Thanks Hard Drive Set 1: Operating System: 1x (500GB Seagate Barracuda (7200 RPM) (16MB Cache) 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 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 2GB (Includes PhysX) (EVGA) Add-on Card: - No Thanks Sound Card: Integrated Motherboard Audio Extreme Cooling: AIR: Stage 2: Noctua NH-D14 SE2011 Extreme Performance 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 LaserMark: - No Thanks Boost Processor: Stage 2: Overclock CPU 4.5GHz to 4.8GHz (Requires Pro or Deluxe Series Motherboard) Boost Video Card: - No Thanks, Please do not overclock my video card(s) 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) Recovery Tools: Windows Recovery Toolkit (Bundled with Windows 7 CD) Virus Protection: - No Thanks Office: - No Thanks Game: - No Thanks 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: Life-time Expert Customer Care with 3 Year Limited Warranty The ODE 600t case is a great case for cooling if the ODE is the way you go. I meant to put in the 1TB Western Digital Black Edition HDD for another $77. The config builder is messing with me. Edited by bprat22 - 28 Mar 2012 at 3:58am

Help picking a comp for my wife

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