Heyas all, I was going to be getting me a new gaming rig in the next few weeks and I was needing a bit of help...actually a lot of help.

I am mostly a computer idiot when it comes to what is best for a new comp and I was wondering if I could get bit of help here on what is best for the money I have to spend.

I have roughly 1200 to spend on a new comp (Actually 1500 but I am wanting a 27 inch monitor)

I am looking for something that will be able to run ToR on the highest settings and something that would be able to run BF3 on high (I know I cannot afford to have a comp to run it on ultra =P )

I am willing to buy a prebuilt comp or put one together myself. I know how to assemble a new comp but when it comes to parts I am a bit meh.

I did find a nice looking prebuilt on newegg:

CyberpowerPC Gamer Xtreme 1317 Desktop PC Intel Core i7 2600K(3.40GHz) 8GB DDR3 2TB HDD Capacity NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 1GB Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883229269

Just trying to get some feedback from people who know a hell of a lot more about comps than me.

Thanks for any and all help in advance!-

i like the procesor choice

for HDD better to go 2x 1TB than 1x 2TB, you can put 2 HDDs in raid 0 and gain some performance

grafic card i don't like -> go ati 6970 or nvidia 570

That looks pretty OK to me. The main things in a PC are the chip, which in this case is the i7, which is cool. The RAM, 8GB is more than enough and the GF card.

The GTX560 is a good card, of course not the best but the best will increase the cost with very little return in performance. The OS is 64bit which is also good as this makes use of all your RAM.

These days a lot of people have Solid State Drives in their computers. I have one myself and I have my OS running on it, this gives general good respoinsiveness to all aspects of the computer. They are a bit expensive though. Anyway since the computer you are looking at already has its OS installed this is not an option for you, but it is not essential anyway.

Originally posted by khelbon

Heyas all, I was going to be getting me a new gaming rig in the next few weeks and I was needing a bit of help...actually a lot of help.

I am mostly a computer idiot when it comes to what is best for a new comp and I was wondering if I could get bit of help here on what is best for the money I have to spend.

I have roughly 1200 to spend on a new comp (Actually 1500 but I am wanting a 27 inch monitor)

I am looking for something that will be able to run ToR on the highest settings and something that would be able to run BF3 on high (I know I cannot afford to have a comp to run it on ultra =P )

I am willing to buy a prebuilt comp or put one together myself. I know how to assemble a new comp but when it comes to parts I am a bit meh.

I did find a nice looking prebuilt on newegg:

CyberpowerPC Gamer Xtreme 1317 Desktop PC Intel Core i7 2600K(3.40GHz) 8GB DDR3 2TB HDD Capacity NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 1GB Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883229269

Just trying to get some feedback from people who know a hell of a lot more about comps than me.

Thanks for any and all help in advance!-

Change the word Buy to Build and you will have a top of the line Game Comp.

agree with the above poster..

Tho maybe instead of 2 1 TB drives, you could get 1 SSD for the OS (SSD make booting into windows so much faster my win 7 os takes less than 10 seconds to boot into windows to the ponit where i can run apps)

Then get 1 TB for storage and stuff...

Unless you do a shit load of downloading 1TB storage will be enough for you..

Start with a good large tower i would suggest CMstacker lots of air flow easy to access roomy. and do not skimp on power supply. Heat is the enemy.

okay I would drop the 2600k to the 2500k, drop the 2 tb to maybe 1 tb and a 120 gb solid state and get either the twin fozer gtx 570 or Radion 6950/70 2gb, and Bam!

Originally posted by Robgmur

okay I would drop the 2600k to the 2500k, drop the 2 tb to maybe 1 tb and a 120 gb solid state and get either the twin fozer gtx 570 or Radion 6950/70 2gb, and Bam!

Yeah Im thinking the same. And if he cant fit it all in his budget, I think rather than getting a lower card, I'd forget the SSD, (can always put one in at a later date).

But yeah the 2500k (or 2500) is all the processor he's gonna need for games, and I think that 6950 will be an awesome choice,(price wise and performance wise).

Saphire has the "FLEX" line of cards, which makes hooking up and eyefinity, 3 monitor system a little easier, should he one day want to do that.

BF3 has a little different load in scenario goin on, so I dont think the SSD is going to be quite as critical in that game, as it was in Bad Company 2. However I'd very much like one myself, but not so much so that I would sacrifice having the nicest possible video card, that I could fit in my budget.

No word on what power supply that is, and it could kill the rest of the computer. It's "probably' the XtremeGear 800, which is crap.

From all the power supplies listed on CyperPower's web site, the Corsairs and Silverstones are the only ones I'd touch. THe 750W the have would be overkill for your system (even with an nVidia 580), but likely they will make you upgrade to 800 for no real reason.

If you aren't willing to build your own (and I won't blame you if your not comfortable with it), go configure your own at Cyberpower's web site. The price should come out to be similar, and you can cherry pick exactly what you want.

Worse comes to worse, you configure it at Cyberpower to give you a blueprint, then go to Newegg and part it out and see what the price difference is to just build it yourself.

An i5 2500k is a nice chip, you will see almost no difference in that and the more expensive i7 2600k

Motherboards are the only tricky part of the selection - just start with whatever Cyberpower lists, then post it and come back here and plenty of people will have recommendations for what suits you better. Anything that is P67/Z68 will work though, just some are better than others.

4G of RAM is good. 8G is better since it's cheap. You likely will never use 8, but hey, it's cheap.

A ~good~ power supply. Corsair, Silverstone, Seasonic are good names. There are other good ones: I look at HardOCP Power Supply reviews - if a power supply passes their test, it's great no matter what award they give it.

Case - get anything that looks good to you and is big enough for your motherboard (ATX, mATX, etc). Some are better than others, but in the end as long as it has a couple of fan slots, it'll work fine.

Hard drives: The SSD/HD route is very good to go, if your not going to do that just go with a single HD really.

Video - get the best you can afford. 580 is king of the heap, but costs a high premium. The 570 and 6970 are neck and neck, the 560TI and 6950 are just under that, and the 560/6870 is under that in terms of relative performance. Get the highest performance bracket you can afford in the rig.

Don't worry about sound, network, or anything else (unless you have special needs) - they usually come with the motherboard.

Originally posted by Robgmur

okay I would drop the 2600k to the 2500k, drop the 2 tb to maybe 1 tb and a 120 gb solid state and get either the twin fozer gtx 570 or Radion 6950/70 2gb, and Bam!

I think you just nailed it on the head. The 2600k's advantages have nothing to do with gaming, so a 2500k is a much better value (less money, same gaming performance).

120GB SSD is especially reasonable right now because grossly inflated HDD prices are making SSDs a far better value, comparitively, than they normally are. I'd second that recommendation anyways, but it makes more sense than ever right now.

OP, Ridelynn is also right, of course. Without a good PSU, the whole system is no good. Sadly, Cyberpower almost always either sells cheap junk, or quality PSUs that are vastly overkill for too much money. There's no in between. If Cyberpower building the PC is a must, I'd recommend getting the PC from a place like Cyberpower IF building isn't an option, but just buying and self-installing a good PSU from Newegg.

Sorry it took me so long to reply to this post. Thanks to all who gave me tons of helpful advice!

I think I have what I am gonna get narrowed down. I decided to go ahead and buy all the parts I am gonna need and just build my own comp (I have done it before but it has been a while) I was gonna buy a prebuilt one, but after thinking about it, I honestly could not see spending the extra cash on a prebuild (It would of cost me like 375 more getting a prebuilt)

Here is my short list if everything I am gonna get. I think I made some good choices on the advice I got off of here. Only thing is the power supply that comes with the combo I picked from new-egg might be a bit "Meh". If needed I can grab another one no big deal!

But here is the list of what I am getting. I would love a bit of feedback on what I picked!

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboBundleDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.770956

1x COOLER MASTER Storm Enforcer SGC-1000-KWN1 Black SECC / ABS Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case ATX PS2 / EPS 12V (optional ) Power Supply (Model:SGC-1000-KWN1)

1x GIGABYTE GA-Z68MA-D2H-B3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard (Model:GA-Z68MA-D2H-B3)

1x EVGA 02G-P3-1568-KR GeForce GTX 560 Ti (Fermi) 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card (Model:02G-P3-1568-KR)

1x COOLER MASTER eXtreme Power RS600-PCARE3-US 600W ATX12V V2.3 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready Power Supply (Model:RS600-PCARE3-US)

1x Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 3000 BX80623I52500K (Model:BX80623I52500K)

1x G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL (Model:F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL)

1x Seagate Barracuda ST500DM002 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive (Model:ST500DM002)

I also picked up a dvd burner and a regular dvd player. And I got a copy of windows as well.

I think I got a good setup here but like I said early on, a bit of advice or nick-picking wont hurt =)

Also, I am getting this for my monitor:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824001431

SAMSUNG P2770FH ToC Rose Black 27" 1ms Full HD HDMI LCD Monitor 300 cd/m2 DC 70,000:1 (1,000:1)

I am gonna add a SSD in a few months as well. I want to get one of the higher GiG ones so I cannot grab it atm.

So what do yall think? I think this might be a solid set-up.

One last thing, since I am not used with the combo buys on new-egg, is there anything else I might have to add to my list? I still can spend another 100 bucks if needed.

Thanks all in advance!

Edit but I want to be able to play TOR on higher settings and be able to play Skyrim on higher settings if possible with this set-up. Bought Skyrim for PS3 but would love to get it for PC instead!

Originally posted by khelbon

1x COOLER MASTER eXtreme Power RS600-PCARE3-US 600W ATX12V V2.3 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready Power Supply (Model:RS600-PCARE3-US) 

That is a piece of junk.  Beware of super-combo deals like that, as needing to toss the power supply out and having the video card be severely overpriced (at 1080p, there is no meaningful difference between 1 GB and 2 GB) overwhelms the combo discount.

That combo deal also makes you pay extra for the unlocked multiplier in the processor, and then matches it with a low end motherboard (at least for Z68) that isn't meant to handle much of an overclock.

Two item combos are often a great way to save money, and three item combos can occasionally be useful.  But I've never seen New Egg have a six or eight item combo deal that didn't try to stick you with something unreasonable.

Also, a DVD burner can both read and write DVDs, so you don't need a separate DVD reader unless you have some very unusual needs, such as needing to write one DVD and read another simultaneously.

Finally, you might want to consider getting an SSD instead of a hard drive now, and then adding a hard drive later.  Hard drive prices are crazy right now, due to a shortage caused by flooding in Thailand.  This might not be a viable option for you, but you may be able to get by with ~120 GB of capacity for a while, or salvage a hard drive from a previous machine to use for bulk storage.

I see your point on one DVD. And everything thing else as well. I did a little more looking and I found what I hope id a better combo package on a CPU/Motherboard.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.763310

Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 3000 BX80623I52500K

bundled with:

1x ASUS P8P67 DELUXE (REV 3.0) LGA 1155 Intel P67 ...

I also picked out a bit better Graphics card for a little more money

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130613

EVGA 012-P3-1571-KR GeForce GTX 570 HD w/Display-Port (Fermi) 1280MB 320-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

Based on what I got listed here, what would you say was a good power supply for this rig? I am gonna keep ny listed memery and case as I really like the case.

Thanks for the quick reply, you might of saved me from buying something I would of been super upset with later!

A ~good~ 650W power supply will handle that nVidia 570 without any issue, and is generally a nice size: a good compromise between available power, noise, heat, and efficiency for pretty well any gaming computer with a single video card.

nVidia recommends a 550W+, but the trick is getting a good quality one.

This would be pretty top-of-the-line for that power range, it's fairly pricey but a good modular option.
Seasonic Gold X650
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151088

This one is good, and $30 cheaper, but not modular
Corsair TX650 V2
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139020

And this one is $30 cheaper than the Corsair, it would work ok. The 750W reviewed well,
and this is by the same manufacturer (Delta). This would be what I consider a budget model
Antec EarthWatts 650
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371044

Quiz may be able to ferret out some even better deals. This will get you started in the right direction though for the build your looking at. Corsair is basically the go-to brand, as they don't really have any ~bad~ power supplies, but there are almost always equivalent (or better) options at equivalent (or better) prices if you know where to look.

The bad news is that if you don't know where to look, 85% of the power supplies out there are utter crap, and many of those just try to get you on the "It's expensive so it has to be good" business model. I can't count the number of times I've seen power supplies sold as 750W, only to see it's a really bad 500W unit with a 750W sticker on it. Or to see that they sold it as 750W peak power, and it's really only 440W continuous power. Or seen tests and reviews where the unit actually caught on fire before it even reached full load.

My favorite resource is the HardOCP power supply review section. If a unit passes their review process, it's good - it doesn't matter if it won an award or not, it just needs to pass. If they haven't reviewed a unit, I generally don't even consider it until they have. A unit passing the HardOCP review process means it's as bullet proof as your going to be able to get.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371031

$50 before a $15 rebate is basically a steal on that, which is why New Egg's shell shocker deals only last a few hours.  It's decent enough, but not really that great, so even if you catch it in time, you might decide you want something better.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371048

Here's something for $65 that is significantly better, and also a very nice price on that power supply.

Originally posted by CodeFuzer

i like the procesor choice

 

for HDD better to go 2x 1TB than 1x 2TB, you can put 2 HDDs in raid 0 and gain some performance

grafic card i don't like -> go ati 6970 or nvidia 570

i agree id def go with nvidia 570

SSD arent worth the money if you're on a tight budget. Focus on CPU, Graphics card, RAM, and Power Supply. Corsair is my personal favorite brand when it comes to power supplies and RAM. As far as cpus, don't overlook AMD. The Phenom II X4 is a solid cpu and waaay less then an i5 or i7. Motherboards are more or less your preference. I never run SLI or Crossfire so I always go Micro-ATX with enough RAM capacity to last until my next build. Right now if you put 8GB in you'd be fine for the next 4-5 years most likely (never know with technology). Also one overlooked aspect is the case. A good case will ensure all of your components stay cool. I have an Antec 900 and never had any problems (though it is a tad large)