New Gaming Computer with Bugdet (changed)

Hi guys thanks for the help on my last post im making this one to make sure it gets as much attention because i really, really want a new PC and I think its pretty good for my budget of $3000 or under (pref under) i want to play BF3 and Crysis 2 with as far as this can take me with the budget with how they look graphically and run nice.

I made a Couple Modifications from last time but i really don't know what cooler to get. so help me out if u can if it makes it cheaper but just as good than great! if its a bit more than what i have it at and under 3k then great if it runs better. OK here it is...

Ticket Number: 487289
Total Price with Instant Savings: $2,420.00

Direct Load URL: http://www.digitalstormonline.com/comploadsaved.asp?id=487289

Specifications:
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 950 3.06GHz (Quad Core)
Motherboard: ASUS Sabertooth X58 (Intel X58 Chipset) (Features USB 3.0 and SATA 6Gb/s)
System Memory: 6GB DDR3 1600MHz Digital Storm Certified Performance Series  (Highly Recommended) (Hand Tested)
Power Supply: 1000W Corsair (Dual/Triple/Quad SLI Compatible)
Expansion Bay: - No Thanks
Hard Drive Set 1: Operating System: 1x (80GB Solid State (By: Intel) (Model: X25-M MLC Edition) (Extreme Performance)
Set 1 Raid Options: - No Thanks
Hard Drive Set 2: Multimedia\Data: 1x (1TB Western Digital Caviar (7200 RPM) (64MB Cache) (Model: Black Edition WD1002FAEX)
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 6970 2GB
Add-on Card: - No Thanks
Sound Card: Integrated Motherboard Audio
Extreme Cooling: AIR: Stage 1: Noctua NH-U12P SE Dual 120mm Fans High Performance Cooler
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: Internal Chassis Lighting System (Red)
Enhancements: - No Thanks
Chassis Mods: - No Thanks
Noise Reduction: Noise Suppression Package Stage 1 (Optimized Airflow & Fan Speeds Only)
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)
Recovery Tools: Windows Recovery Toolkit (Bundled with Windows 7 CD)
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: APC SurgeArrest Personal PER7 (7 Outlet) 120V Surge Protector
Speakers: - No Thanks
Keyboard: - No Thanks
Mouse: - No Thanks
External Storage: - No Thanks
Exclusive T-Shirt: FREE: Digital Storm T-Shirt - Black (Medium)
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



Edited by Benny - 16 Feb 2011 at 6:46pm

If this is just a gaming RIG...then IMO the 4 gig overclock is overkill.....you won't really see a big difference there...You can save that money....you can get a noctua air cooler...drop the UV lighting...drop the fan controller....you can download FREE temp monitors...and the HAF-X has excellent airflow so default fans are plenty...you could also have them add the optional second 200mm top fan to exhaust even more heat out of your case...with the money you save with these changes you can get the 160 gig Intell SSD....to put more games on....also...if you are gaming at 1920x1080/1200 then the 570 is perfect for you.....with the mobo you chose you have the option later on to drop in a second 570 if you feel you need it.....

In the end you will get what you want.....just giving you advice.

ok different games i will play...heres a general idea and a good amount because i own a lot of games on steam and i plan to buy new ones once i get this. if some stuff is overkill im new to all of this and am not very good at figuring out what i need. I have a lot of games because i have acquired many over time sinze 2007 when i got into computer gaming  so here we go...monitor is 1920x1200 because from what i hear that is a pretty good size all around (if u have better suggestion please say so) (also i just want to thank you all for all this help and i was surprised that a forum community would be this nice and helpful, sorry for any trouble). games-

crysis, crysis 2, battlefield 3, starcraft 2, team fortress 2, Dawn of War, Dawn of War 2,

Portal 2, Operation Flashpoint games, Company of Heroes, All Red Orchestra games and (and 2nd one),

counter strike source, half life 2 (also just mentioning as im typing i also have expansions that i buy sometimes and they upgrade the graphics sometimes),

Empire: Total War, Shogun 2: Total War, Diablo 3, Star Wars: The Old Republic (MMO),

Dragon Age Games (probably DA 2), Guild Wars 2, Elder Scrolls: Skyrim,

Red Faction Gorilla and any ones after that, Saints Row 2, Tom Clancy's: Endwar, Rage.

Command and Conquer Red Alert Games and most other Command and Conquer Games

Yeah...long list i know,  now most of these games have not come out yet and some have, the ones that have i probably own, the rest are games i plan to get (i can't get all of them obviously) and and should give u an more in depth idea of the graphical functions of the computer i want. I have plenty of other games, but i am almost positive that their graphics are lower than the games listed here. also the operating system can be taken off because i found some games don't work with windows 7, but work with vista instead (plus i am far more accustomed to vista because i havn't ever used windows 7 before). Once again thank you guys for all the help on my previous post and this one. I hope you don't get too frustrated with my stupidity on computers. I also want to future proof it a bit for whatever might come (upgrading works too) and i always love the price to be low, but if it is under the budget than that is also great!

P.S. I will update this if i can think of something that is absolutely necessary to add.


Edited by Benny - 15 Feb 2011 at 6:50pm

well i mean sure i plan to like browse the internet to watch videos and facebook and other stuff, use Microsoft Word for some things, and video chat with people (but i plan to buy just a regular camera nothing special). I'll use programs other than gaming. I'll download music on iTunes and use Steam because most of my games are on there. Just you know stuff you would do on a normal computer nothing special like video editing or anything like that. But, yes mainly to play games on it like 10% of it will be regular stuff 90% to play games. 

thanks for all the help (im editing this: ok sorry if this gave off the wrong message that i was finished because im not done because im trying to make sure i can save a perfect amount and have great stuff that can be upgraded) (also i meant it as help so far, sorry if you took this the wrong way)


Edited by Benny - 16 Feb 2011 at 12:08am

im going to update this with a few changes in a bit to see if you guys think that it is suitable for awesomeness ive actually read up a good bit and realized that at this point i really don't need 2 sli 570's i might lower it and just have it upgraded more and more in the future. what kind of graphics cards would would u guys recommend? is GTX 460 EVGA super overclocked good? or 470? (dont compare just those 2 those are just examples but also im looking into them) which is best for upgrading? this might sound like a really stupid question or not, but how does upgrading a graphics card work exactly? for example could i take a single superclocked 460 and upgrade to 570's superclocked SLI


Edited by Benny - 16 Feb 2011 at 12:14am

With the games you mentioned you might endup needing sli, I would go with a 570, and a system that can handle a second one, always leave your options open, then you will have no regrets, if all did was mmo then I would say forget sli you will never need it, but you want to play at highest settings nad aa with crysis and such games, you may endup thinking you need more gpu power, no way of telling now, but its best to leave option open, fore example crysis warhead, a 570 gets around 44fps average and around 28 fps minimum at 1900 x 1200.

Higher OC does make a difference in everything else other then games, but if you don't do any photo editing, video encoding, and etc, then higher OC is not gonna be noticed, I mean browsing might be a little faster as far as pages loading (if you have a good net connection) but nothing huge.

OK lets clear up a few things:

1. I didn't say OC is not necessary, I said/meant that higher OC then 3.9GHz is not necessary.

2. for 1900 x 1200 and below 570 or 570 sli is good, for higher then 1900 x 1200, and aa, cf 6970 is better due to more vram.

3. the fps mentioned are for one card, below you see 2 examples, one for crysis and another for a game that IMHO has performance close to most fps games out there, you see the difference:









as you see one card is more then enough for one game and not enough for the other, sli would be over kill for bb2 and not needed at all, while its needed for crysis, most game are more like bb2, and few games are like crysis, metro for example is worst then crysis.

I like your build but I think these changes complete it to be perfect IMHO:

Here you go Ticket# 487392 --- $2592 (To see this build click here)

Copy of Specifications:
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 950 3.06GHz (Quad Core)
Motherboard: ASUS Sabertooth X58 (Intel X58 Chipset) (Features USB 3.0 and SATA 6Gb/s)
System Memory: 6GB DDR3 1600MHz Digital Storm Certified Performance Series (Highly Recommended) (Hand Tested)
Power Supply: 1000W Corsair (Dual/Triple/Quad SLI Compatible)
Expansion Bay: - No Thanks
Hard Drive Set 1: Operating System: 1x (160GB Solid State (By: Intel) (Model: X25-M MLC Edition) (Extreme Performance)
Set 1 Raid Options: - No Thanks
Hard Drive Set 2: Multimedia\Data: 1x (1TB Western Digital Caviar (7200 RPM) (64MB Cache) (Model: Black Edition WD1002FAEX)
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)
Add-on Card: - No Thanks
Sound Card: Integrated Motherboard Audio
Extreme Cooling: AIR: Stage 1: Noctua NH-U12P SE Dual 120mm Fans High Performance Cooler
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: Internal Chassis Lighting System (Red)
Enhancements: - No Thanks
Chassis Mods: - No Thanks
Noise Reduction: Noise Suppression Package Stage 1 (Optimized Airflow & Fan Speeds Only)
Boost Processor: FREE: Stage 1: Overclock the processor between 3.3GHz to 3.9GHz (Cooling Upgrade Recommended)
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
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: APC SurgeArrest Personal PER7 (7 Outlet) 120V Surge Protector
Speakers: - No Thanks
Keyboard: - No Thanks
Mouse: - No Thanks
External Storage: - No Thanks
Exclusive T-Shirt: FREE: Digital Storm T-Shirt - Black (Medium)
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

ask DS specifically for this fan to be added to the top, so you endup with 4 x 200mm fans.

Edited by DST4ME - 17 Feb 2011 at 3:28am