New Gaming PC

[Habbal]

I am currently in the market to purchase a new PC that will be 99% of the time used for gaming but Im limited to a budget of about 750-800.

Also, I do plan to OC. Im not going to go wild and push to 5.0 or even attempt it. Maybe just to 4.2/4.3. This will be air cooled. I do not trust myself to try WC and really, I dont see the need for me to do so.

Case: Currently I have an older Thermaltake Xaser III SuperTower v1000

Graphics Card: Geforce GTX 260

The case has been sitting around collecting dust for a long while, but is still in perfect condition. The graphics card was given to me about a year ago. A friend had purchased it for his computer but decided not to use it for whatever reason. (Still sealed in plastic and in box).


For the remaining parts, Ive got it down to

CPU: Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor

Motherboard: ASUS SABERTOOTH P67 (REV 3.0) LGA 1155 Intel P67 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

Memory: G.SKILL Sniper Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1866 (PC3 14900)

HDD: Western Digital Caviar Black WD1002FAEX 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

I am currently stuck on PSUs. Im tempted between Thermaltake ToughPower 775w and CORSAIR Enthusiast Series CMPSU-650TX 650W

Extras would be: CDRW/DVDRW, Mouse/Keyboard, COOLER MASTER Hyper 212. I also have to purchase a copy of Windows 7 64. (probably Home Edition)

Should I forget about the older 260 and purchase a "relatively new" 460 or just use what I have? Also for Memory, should I just get 1600 memory instead of 1866? Ive heard the difference is almost un-noticable going between 1600 and 1866.

Any advice and help will be very welcome.

[jdeb]

I would use an Asus Z68 board. You can always add a smaller ssd later for ssd caching (advantage of Z68 chipset).

You will have no problem with the overclock numbers you mentioned and the stock cooler.

Use Corsair Vengeance 1.5V RAM DDR3 1600, get the low profile if you are using anything other than stock cooler. The RAM supports XMP

Go with the Corsair Power Supply

If you are happy with the performance of the GTX260, stay with it, you can always get a different one later, like the EVGA GTX560 Fermi.

[glc]

If you do not plan on using SLI or Crossfire, this board will save you some money:

Newegg.com - ASUS P8Z68-V LE LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard with UEFI BIOS

[David M]

With your PSU, step the quality up a notch to a Corsair TX. 650 watts will be fine for the card you are considering. TX's also have a better 5 year warranty.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817139020

Get 2 x 4gig sticks of 1.5 volt, 1600 Corsair RAM. Corsair is consistently more compatible and reliable.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817139020

OS...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16832116986

You will also need an optical drive. Newegg seems to be out of stock of Asus and Lite-On SATA drives.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827118031

[Habbal]

Ive havent used the 260 yet. The PC I am using is rather old (4 years) and Im still on a 8600. I had a larger PSU previously but it burned out just before I got the new card. Fortunately I had a second PSU laying about, just not strong enough to run the new card. So it has never been used.

Optical drive I listed at the bottom just because optical drives are optical drives. Nothing special about them.

I dont plan on running SLI.

[glc]

Use the 260 for now, and replace it when it can't handle the games you want to play well. Go for the Corsair over the Thermaltake PSU.

David gave you the wrong ram link:

Newegg.com - CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Low Profile Desktop Memory Model CML8GX3M2A1600C9