$1500 cap Gaming Rig build

[relikpL]

Heya guys,

I have a budget of about $1500, and I'd like to min/max the box.
I've been out of the desktop hardware loop, and would appreciate some suggestions.

My main questions are regarding the motherboard/proc/PDU, and whether to SLI/crossfire or not.
I will definitely be putting in an SSD for OS/apps.

Any tips/links would be much appreciated (I'm a big fan of newegg, as most of you are)

Thank you very much.
Regards,

mike

 

[Roark]

There is a post here that will probably give you some good build ideas. I would suggest taking a long look at Night Fox's post since he includes an SSD.

Motherboard/CPU: If you're looking to overclock grab an i5 2500k and ASUS P8P67 Pro. If not you can just grab the non "k" version and non "pro" version of the same components.
PDU: Not sure what this is, assuming PSU? check out this thread for reliable companies and rough wattage calculators.

Also I think you might want to check the graphics performance list, incase you want something with more oomph than what is suggested in the thread above.

 

[jasonalwaysready]

is this a complete build (add os, monitor, mouse and keyboard)? if not:

Newegg.com - OCZ Vertex 3 VTX3-25SAT3-120G 2.5" 120GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

Newegg.com - LG Black 12X BD-R 2X BD-RE 16X DVD+R 12X DVD-RAM 10X BD-ROM 4MB Cache SATA Super Multi WH12LS30 LightScribe Support - Blu-Ray Burners

Newegg.com - Intel Core i7-2600K Sandy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo Boost) 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80623I72600K

ASUS P8Z68-V PRO LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

Newegg.com - CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9

Newegg.com - CORSAIR Professional Series HX650 (CMPSU-650HX) 650W ATX12V v2.2 / EPS12V 2.91 SLI Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply

Newegg.com - XFX HD-695X-ZNFC Radeon HD 6950 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity

Newegg.com - SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

that's about $1375 so add in a nice case and shipping and youll be on budget. theres also $50 of mail in if you have luck with that kind of thing.

 

[MyGodAL3X]

And you can save quite a bit of money by not putting in a Blu-ray drive.
You can do what you want with the saved money but if you go with that setup, buy an aftermarket CPU cooler and overclock that sucker.

 

[relikpL]

you guys are awesome!

 

[host08521]

jasonalwaysready has some good suggestions I would suggest

Motherboard - Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GA-Z68XP-UD4 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

Ram - Newegg.com - Mushkin Enhanced Redline 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 2133 (PC3 17000) Desktop Memory Model 996997

Ram currently out of stock

 

[MindoverMaster]

I wouldn't get that RAM. 1600 is enough.

 

[jasonalwaysready]

you guys are awesome!

so, did you need an os and peripherals?

@host - that motherboard looks good, but is relatively new. i would personally wait to see anecdotally at the least whether it holds up.

 

[host08521]

@MindoverMaster why not get the higher speed of RAM the motherboard supports it and Mushkin makes great ram guarented with a life time warrenty

@Jasonalwaysready true it is the second version so I have a little faith in its stability

But over the reason i picked the board is for two reason
1. supports high ram speeds
2. Features the z68 chipset and everthing that comes with it like quick sync

 

[MindoverMaster]

I'm not dissing Mushkin. Unless you are overclocking like crazy, 1600 will work just fine.