Care to review a $1500 Gaming first build?

[Larrius]

I decided that I am in much need of a new desktop. I have an old Vaio laptop that runs graphics of its' chipset, lets just say it's not very good.

This will be my first build, I have knowledge of setting up Windows and software, but I'm a newcomer to the hardware arena. This system will have two main purposes, the first is high resolution, high definition gaming on my 32" monitor. The second is digital image creation, drawing and painting with some image manipulation here and there. Oh and it has to be around 1500$.

For the specified purposes, from what I understand, it will need a good GPU, CPU and decent RAM.


$199.99/ | Processor: AMD Phenom II X6 1090T OR AMD Phenom II X6 1100T
$239.99
$179.99 | Mother Board: GIGABYTE GA-890FXA-UD5 AM3 AMD 890FX SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard Link
$89.99 | Storage: Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 64mb Cache Link
$99.99 | Memory: Corsair XMS 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3 Link
$99.99 | Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium OEM For Builders
$143.99| Power Supply: Corsair TX 950W Link
$309.99 x2/| Graphics Cards Crossfire: HIS Radeon HD 6950 2GB Link or this
$329.99 x2|
Total: $1433.99~$1513.92
The only things missing are a case which I have yet to pick out, and I have plenty of left over opticals from past pcs.

The 950W PSU is because of the two cards in crossfire, I used neweggs power tool and found that this setup requires 833W. I however have seen many tips that say to increase Wattage by 100 from your required level.

For Storage, I have a few other 500 gb drives from pasts pcs which I can use if need be.

The big fuzzy point however, is of course, CPU and GPU. I want to run resolutions like 1920x1200 and 2560x1600 with good performance at high levels, so I figured two Crossfired (or SLI for that matter) cards would be best. I've heard that HIS is a good name to get for the 6000 series. With the 6950, is the high perforcemance version worth the extra $20 ($40 for both)? Is 2gb card memory a marketing sham? Or is it only useful at the high resolutions that I intend? Should I look at the nVidia Geforce GTX 500 series (namely 560 Ti or 570)? Or should I just get one GTX 580?

CPU wise, I don't really care the name on a sticker, never had an AMD before but it doesn't matter. With AMD, 1090T or 1100T. What about Intel models?

Thanks very much, I eagerly await your response.

[Khalil]

The build looks solid other than the Gigabyte motherboard, this is the motherboard you want if you want a high end motherboard
Newegg.com - ASUS Crosshair IV Formula AM3 AMD 890FX SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard

I would stick to ATI if you want to run dual cards, I find crossfire to be far more stable and effective than SLI however if you do not plan on running multiple instances of the same game you do not need 2 video cards. Reason why I use 2 is because I play an online game and I run 2 accounts at the same time for pvp. What I am saying is if you do not plan on running 2 instances save your money and stick to 1 card, remember, video cards go out of style faster than you change your socks.
If you decide to go with a single card, go with one of those

Newegg.com - ASUS EAH6970 DCII/2DI4S/2GD5 Radeon HD 6970 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card
or
Newegg.com - ASUS ENGTX570/2DI/1280MD5 GeForce GTX 570 (Fermi) 1280MB 320-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

I recommend you save more money and buy this motherboard if you go with one card
Newegg.com - ASUS M4A87TD/USB3 AM3 AMD 870 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 AMD Motherboard

[Kidd]

Khalil,

Do PCI Express x16 2.1 cards work in 2.0 slots?

[David M]

Yes, they are backwards compatible.

[Kidd]

Thanks David. Now I'm trying to remember why I thought they weren't compatible in the first place

[glc]

You also don't need a 6 core processor for gaming - a fast 3 or 4 core would be plenty.

[Kidd]

Originally Posted by Larrius TThis system will have two main purposes, the first is high resolution, high definition gaming on my 32" monitor. The second is digital image creation, drawing and painting with some image manipulation here and there.

What software do you plan on using, and which games do you play?