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07-09-2010, 05:55 PM
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#1 |
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Member (4 bit)
Join Date: Jul 2010
Posts: 9
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Looking for comments on i7 budget gaming build
I have never put together an entire PC on my own before, but have done quite a few upgrades and hardware troubleshooting and after a decent amount of research I've been looking at a set of components that are around about $1k which is what my budget is. To begin with I already have a case, optical DVD+RW drive, my OS, and a couple good sized monitors. I intend to use the rig for light gaming, mainly World of Warcraft, but would like to have the hardware available for additional games, as well as application development with Visual Studio and possibly a media server. I figured I could always add a second GPU with the CrossFire capability. Any criticisms/suggestions/etc... would be greatly appreciated.
ULT40364 ::Ultra X4 500-Watt Modular Power Supply - 135mm Fan, ATX, Lifetime Warranty, 80+ Bronze, ATI CrossFire certification. Great for Home Theater & Small Form Factor Cases. (http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...4&sku=ULT40364) $89.99 O261-9032 ::OCZ Gold Dual Channel 2048MB PC10666 DDR3 1333MHz Memory (2 x 1024MB) (http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...&sku=O261-9032) $64.99 each * 2 S457-2522 ::Masscool 8W503F1M4 CPU Fan - Socket LGA 1366, Core i7 (http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...&sku=S457-2522) $16.99 H450-9000 ::Hitachi Deskstar HD32000 IDK/7K Internal Hard Drive - 2TB, 7200RPM, 32MB, SATA-3G (http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...&sku=H450-9000) $129.99 I69-7013 ::Intel SSDSA2MP040G2R5 X25-V Solid State Drive - 40GB, SATA, 2.5", Retail (http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...8&sku=I69-7013) $109.99 M452-6055 ::MSI X58M Motherboard - Intel X58, LGA 1366, micro ATX, PCI Express 2.0, CrossFire Ready, SLI Ready, Dual Gigabit LAN, Firewire (http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...&sku=M452-6055) $169.99 I69-0920 ::Intel Core i7 920 Processor BX80601920 - 2.66GHz, LGA 1366, 4.8GT/s QPI, 8MB L3 Cache, Quad-Core, HyperThreading, Bloomfield, Retail (http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...0&sku=I69-0920) $269.99 P450-5750 ::XFX Radeon HD 5750 Video Card - 1GB GDDR5, PCI-Express 2.0, CrossFireX Ready, Dual DVI, Dipslay Port, HDMI (http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...&sku=P450-5750) $134.99 Thanks in advance for your time and consideration. |
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07-09-2010, 06:21 PM
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#2 |
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Member (4 bit)
Join Date: Jul 2010
Posts: 9
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Just realized if I want to be able to add in an additional GPU for CrossFireX I'll probably need a higher wattage PSU.
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07-09-2010, 09:44 PM
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#3 |
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Techphile.
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: San Francisco Bay
Posts: 5,959
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For a $1000 build, stick with one graphics card. You get more bang for the buck plus less potential for problems. You only want a second card if you already have one REALLY high end card and you are still not satisfied with your graphics performance....which is pretty rare and also outside your budget.
Have a look at the build glc put together for ideas.... http://www.pcmech.com/forum/showthre...01#post1470401 Where you could cut back is in the graphics card......but that's a REAL nice card. A 5830 would get you to $1000 and its still a good card for playing games. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-327-_-Product Use your stock Intel fan unless you plan on overclocking or don't like the noise. Use the PSU that comes with the case that glc recommended. Antecs are good power supplies plus it will have enough power. Do that and I think you will have an excellent computer for only $1000. 
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Asus P8P67 WS Revolution | Intel 2600K @ 4.7 GHz | Win 7 Pro 64 |8 gigs Corsair 1600 | Two Diamond 6990's in Crossfire| Corsair AX1200 | Thermalright Silver Arrow | Western Digital Black 2TB 64 meg cache | Lian-Li PC-A71B | Logitec Z-5500 | Three Asus 26" VW266H monitors running under Eyefinity | Last edited by David M; 07-09-2010 at 10:11 PM. |
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07-09-2010, 10:35 PM
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#4 |
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Forum Administrator
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Please stay away from Ultra, OCZ, XFX, Tiger Direct, and X58.
I recommend Asus P55 boards and Western Digital hard drives. Use the thread David linked for ideas (I just made that recommendation earlier today), you could put an i7-860 into the P7P55-E LX board, if you must Crossfire get the P7P55D-E Pro. Buy an Antec, Corsair, or Seasonic power supply. Buy the Radeon 5000 that fits your budget, Asus, Diamond, and HIS are the best choices. Sapphire is high quality, but there is no end user support. XFX is just junk. |
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07-10-2010, 01:53 AM
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#5 | |
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Member (10 bit)
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: New York City, New York // Greeniwch, Connecticut
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Quote:
 +1NewEgg.com
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07-10-2010, 09:34 AM
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#6 |
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Member (9 bit)
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Conneaut, Ohio
Posts: 478
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agreed that xfx is terrible. i have never had a card from them last more than a month.
never had a problem with tiger direct, but ive only used newegg personally. my cousin had a little bit of an rma issue with them (on an xfx card no less) but they handled it... eventually... the 1366 socket and the x58 chipset is the biggest bucket of worms in the entire electronics world. stick with the 1156 socket. p55 boards are awesome. you will probably want a bit more juice than 500 watt, id say go with a corsair cmpu 650, maybe even more if you really want that xfire
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"Hacking is not just a skill, it's an attitude" The Rig: i7-870 - Asus p7p55d-e PRO - 4gb A-Data G-Series - 1TB WD Caviar Black Sata 6gb/s - 2x Asus GTX 460 in SLI - Corsair 850w Power - Antec 1200 case |
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07-10-2010, 10:35 PM
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#7 |
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Member (4 bit)
Join Date: Jul 2010
Posts: 9
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Thanks so much guys; I really appreciate all the feedback! I never would've known which brands to go for. Seems like something that only comes with time and experience and I'm sure you all have saved me some hassles in the long run. So, for the revised build, I went with the case + PSU that David/glc recommended. The old case I have doesn't look nearly as cool. I misspoke about the 2nd graphics card. I didn't want to include it in the initial build, but was just thinking about possibilities for the future if I decided I wanted more processing power. The way David described the 5750 though, I'm sure it will be all I need. And of course, all the links are from newegg.com now
But I am curious, what was the issue with tiger direct? My buddy who builds PCs every now and then uses them and has had nothing but good things to say.Antec Nine Hundred + EA650 Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 650W Power Supply http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811129064 $169.99 Western Digital Caviar Green WD10EARS 1TB 5400 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136490 $64.99 HIS H575FN1GD Radeon HD 5750 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814161309 $144.99 CORSAIR 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 Desktop Memory Model CMV4GX3M2A1333C9 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145278 $96.99 ASUS P7P55D-E LX LGA 1156 Intel P55 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131634 $129.99 Intel Core i7-860 Lynnfield 2.8GHz LGA 1156 95W Quad-Core Processor BX80605I7860 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115214 $289.99 Intel X25-V SSDSA2MP040G2R5 2.5" 40GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820167025 $109.99 And that comes to a total of $1006. Also, a couple more questions: Do you all think 40GB is enough to house all my programs? I was just going by the fact that my Program Files + Windows folders on my current computer are only 20-30GB in size and I have quite a few different programs installed. Secondly, anyone know if the i7-860 and the HIS 5750 work well with overclocking? |
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07-10-2010, 11:06 PM
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#8 |
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Forum Administrator
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That WD hard drive you picked does not work well with XP if that's what you were planning on using. It's an "advanced format" drive and I only recommend it with Windows 7.
I'd advise you "keep it simple" and forego the SSD at this time - just get a single WD Caviar Black drive, and apply the savings to an upgrade to a 5770 video card. You have to know exactly what you are getting when you deal with Tiger Direct - they sell a LOT of junk and distressed merchandise. Their ad writers can make a turd sound like a gold brick. |
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07-10-2010, 11:13 PM
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#9 |
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Member (4 bit)
Join Date: Jul 2010
Posts: 9
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Any reason to not get the SSD other than keeping it simple? I'm fairly tech savvy and capable. The performance increase seems to be quite substantial over your average platter type HDD.
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07-10-2010, 11:49 PM
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#10 | |
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Techphile.
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: San Francisco Bay
Posts: 5,959
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The SSD's are outside of a $1000 budget for a gaming computer. If you want to spend more then upgrade the graphics card before you put that same money into a SSD. For a gaming machine, I think its better to have faster graphics than software that loads quicker.
Quote:
If I were in your shoes I would splurge ...get the i7-860 with the 5870 for a total of around $1200. Save the SSD for another time...all it does is load software quicker...who cares for a gaming machine. What matters for a gaming machine is how fast the games run...right?
Last edited by David M; 07-11-2010 at 01:09 AM. |
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07-11-2010, 12:56 AM
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#11 |
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Member (9 bit)
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Oregon
Posts: 329
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I agree with glc and David M.
The SSD will boot the OS faster, load the game faster, but you'll be limited by the HD5750 in that build. Get the Caviar Black, for the best performance and reliability for SATA and buy as much graphics card as you can with the savings. In fact, if I were doing this, I'd step down the CPU to the i5-750 if it meant I could afford the HD 5870.
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Main PC: ECS P55H-A | Intel Core i5-750 OC @ 3.3GHz | Corsair 550VX | 2 x 2 Gb G.Skill Ripjaws 1600 | 2 x Sapphire HD 5770 Crossfire | WD Caviar Black 640Gb | OCZ Vertex 2 120Gb SSD (Steam apps) Portable gaming rig: MSI 880GM-E43 | AMD Athlon II X3 450 Rana 3.20, Core unlocked and OC @ 3.68 GHz | Antec Earthwatts Green 430 | 2 x 2Gb G. Skill Ripjaws 1600 | HIS HD 5770 | WD Caviar Blue 250 Gb Laptop: Dell Alienware M11x R1 | Intel Core 2 Duo SU7300 OC @ 1.7 Ghz | 4 Gb RAM | NVidia GT335M | ADATA 128 GB SSD http://www.xfire.com/profile/orbrit/videos/ |
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07-11-2010, 03:01 AM
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#12 |
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Member (4 bit)
Join Date: Jul 2010
Posts: 9
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My mistake David, I missed where you were referring to glc's post\build and that it contained the 5870.
Thanks to everyone for all your input. You all have been more than helpful. You all have got me reconsidering the SSD now. Keep in mind that this won't be solely a gaming computer. I'm a developer as well and the nature of the software I'm working on is such that there's a lot of intense processing on a large number of files. Also, would an SSD give any significant performance increase with encoding/decoding large movie files? Or would that basically be limited by the CPU? If the price tag wasn't an issue, do you all think, in general, that the increased performance of an SSD is worth it? And what about just getting a 5830, as the price tag on the 5870 is pretty much double, and getting this motherboard(http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131404) which supports CrossFire? That way, if I decide I really want to enhance the gaming experience in the future I could just add another GPU. |
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07-11-2010, 06:01 AM
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#13 | |
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Saved by grace
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Quote:
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07-11-2010, 09:55 AM
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#14 |
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Techphile.
Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: San Francisco Bay
Posts: 5,959
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I see an SSD as a time saver. It increases performance in that it significantly reduces read and write times. If you have applications that frequently need to access non-volatile memory, then I would say go for it. I'm still waiting for SSD's to come down in price. For now, I can live with the extra time it takes for applications to boot or to access the hard drive. An SSD could though be beneficial for your purposes.
If your applications can utilize threading then go with an i-7 processor. The 860 is at a good performance/price point. Video encoding software is largely CPU and RAM dependent and less so graphics card dependent, compared to game software. Last edited by David M; 07-11-2010 at 10:02 AM. |
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07-11-2010, 10:00 AM
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#15 |
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If you want Crossfire, you are going to have to step up the motherboard a bit more - that one only runs the second slot at x4. Look for one where both slots run at x8. This one also has SATA 6gb and USB 3:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131621 Here's a SATA 6gb drive to mate up with it: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136533 The 5830 is an excellent choice for the money right now. If you are a developer and do a lot of video processing, stick with the i7. A 40gb SSD is going to run out of space fast - I'd wait till the larger drives come down in price. It's not going to help with your rendering and processing, all it will do is start up faster and load programs faster. |
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07-11-2010, 11:28 AM
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#16 | |
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Avanzato Tecnico
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Location: Illinois
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Quote:
Secondly you have the CPU and Video card backwards for a gaming rig!! Read this thread and learn how to build a gaming rig properly and don't waste your money on that CPU or SSD drives. http://forum.pcmech.com/showthread.php?t=214537 Go with this CPU http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-222-_-Product dump the SSD drive and with the money difference pick up this video card http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-326-_-Product Now you have a gaming rig!
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07-11-2010, 01:20 PM
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#17 | |
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Khalil:
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07-11-2010, 01:47 PM
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#18 |
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Member (4 bit)
Join Date: Jul 2010
Posts: 9
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Final Build:
Antec Nine Hundred + EA650 Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 650W Power Supply http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811129064 $169.99 Western Digital Caviar Black WD1002FAEX 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822136533 $94.99 HIS iCooler V H583FN1GD Radeon HD 5830 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card w/Eyefinity http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814161327 $199.99 CORSAIR 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 Desktop Memory Model CMV4GX3M2A1333C9 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820145278 $96.99 ASUS P7P55D-E Pro LGA 1156 Intel P55 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131621 $179.99 Intel Core i7-860 Lynnfield 2.8GHz LGA 1156 95W Quad-Core Processor BX80605I7860 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115214 $289.99 Tops out at $1031.94. Thanks again for all the help guys. |
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