A good long lasting gaming and multipurpose rig?

[dbzlotrfan]

This seem like a decent rig to play most current and forthcoming PC games? I have gotten plenty of suggestions for parts in previous threads . .

• Purpose of System: Gaming, browsing internet, watching videos. But mostly for gaming. I also do want to use Folding@home as well.
• Budget: Within about 1500 American dollars
• Country: USA
• Reuseable parts: Can't, see below (current specs) as to why
• Overclocking: Doubtful. Though if I can get enough airflow I may try
• Monitor: Currently 1680 x 1050 (22 Inches) - I eventually want HD (Between 23 - 27 inches)
• Features of Motherboard: Firewire, USB 3.0, SATA 6 Gb/s, eSATA, UEFI
• OS: Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit (I have the discs for 32 & 64 bit)

Part list permalink / Part price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i7-2600K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($279.99 @ Microcenter)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.90 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z77X-D3H ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($144.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws Series 16GB (4 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Hard Drive: OCZ Agility 3 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($109.99 @ NCIX US)
Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 3TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($159.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: MSI Radeon HD 7970 3GB Video Card ($468.49 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair 500R White ATX Mid Tower Case ($139.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: SeaSonic 650W ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($145.98 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: LG GH22NS90B DVD/CD Writer ($16.99 @ Newegg)
---------------------------these I will buy later----------------------------------------
Monitor: Samsung P2770FH 27.0" Monitor ($293.00 @ B&H)
Monitor: Samsung P2770FH 27.0" Monitor ($293.00 @ B&H)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate SP1 (64-bit) ($188.88 @ Mac Mall)
Keyboard: Microsoft SIDEWINDER X4 Wired Gaming Keyboard ($39.99 @ Newegg)

Total: $2401.16
(Prices include shipping and discounts when available.)
(Generated 2012-04-27 12:14 EDT-0400)

Current specs:

• Case: No idea (although it is a HP slimline, gray) - that should give some idea of the sort of case.
• Motherboard: Asus A8N-BR (Pyrite) (1 PCI, 2 DDR2 DIMM, Audio, Video, LAN, IEEE-1394)
• Motherboard Chipset - nVIDIA GeForce 6150 LE, AMD Hammer
• Power Supply: No idea (but it's less than 100 watts, I think)
• Processor: DualCore AMD Athlon 64 X2, 2000 MHz (10 x 200) 3800+
• CPU Cooler: A fan
• Memory:
• - DIMM1: Kingston 1 GB DDR2-533 DDR2 SDRAM (5-4-4-12 (at) 266 MHz) (4-4-4-12 (at) 266 MHz) (3-3-3-9 (at) 200 MHz)
• - DIMM2: Kingston 2G-UDIMM 2 GB DDR2-667 DDR2 SDRAM (5-5-5-15 (at) 333 MHz) (4-4-4-12 (at) 266 MHz) (3-3-3-9 (at) 200 MHz)
• Hard Drive: 250 GB ATA drive
• Optical Drive HL-DT-ST DVDRRW GSA-H20L ATA Device (DVD+R9:8x, DVD-R9:4x, DVD+RW:16x/8x, DVD-RW:16x/6x, DVD-RAM:5x, DVD-ROM:16x, CD:48x/32x/48x DVD+RW/DVD-RW/DVD-RAM)
• OS: Windows 7 Home Premium 32 bit

And what I wanted in a new system:

Hardware

• USB 2.0 speeds that are minimum of 30 MB a second
• USB 3.0 speeds that are at lest 300+ MB/s [I will get / use an SSD]
• Firewire (and or eSata port) --- because I have a external hardrive that has both along with USB
• At lest a solid terabyte (1.5 TB)
• Has either a VGA or DVI port (current monitor I have has both)
• Also has support for HDMI (for the future monitor)
• Multi card reader (although I mainly need SD and Memory Pro Stick Duo)
• Able to use a PS3 controller AND A XBOX 360 controller (yes I know 360 is native support . . .)
• I would like a quad core.
• Multiple internal DVD drives - Also to make installations faster
• Plenty of 3.5/5.25 drive bays . . .

Software

• Windows 7 Ultimate (64 bit) (Main OS) -- Mostly for languages
• May first run Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit - as I have both 32/64 bit discs now)
• Windows XP (May run through a Virtual Machine)
• Folding@home - (although I use my PS3 for that when I'm not using it

Gaming Software:

- Will use steam:

• Elder Scrolls (Morrowind -> Skyrim)
• Portal 1 & 2
• Batman Arkham (Asylum/City)
• Sonic Generations
• Quake (all)
• Doom (all)
• Wolfenstein (all)
• Commander keen (all)
• Bioshock (1/2) (perhaps infinite)
• L.A. Noire
• Bejeweled 2/3
• Peggle
• Various COD's

• anything else that interests me

• - Will use CD/DVD's of the games I have:
• Warcraft 2 - Tides of Darkness & Beyond the Dark Portal
• Warcraft 3 - Reign of Chaos & Frozen Throne
• Diablo 1 - 3 (when it comes out)
• The Sims 1 - And all expansions
• The Sims 2 (probably)
• Simcity 4000 & Rushhour
• May use emulation (to run up to the PS2/Wii)

Other Thoughts

• Eventually a dual monitor setup (and one be HD resolution)
• I will wait for some parts (hard drives, GPU, etc) to drop in price.
• Will wait for IvyBridge. . . . (as if I have a choice)
• I WANT UEFI, NOT regular old BIOS (that this slimline has

Power Supply Thoughts:

• ABSOLUTE MAX Watts: ~750w
• Efficiency: AT LEST 80+ Silver
• Modular - semi or fully

MISC. Part Thoughts:

• Case: Plenty of space (/airflow). I'd like some other color besides black (I'm just tired of every time we buy something it being mostly black)

Monitor Thoughts:

• Screen: Full HD & Widescreen
• Supports: HDMI, DVI, Displayport (if the motherboard of the computer does)
• Within 1 - 2 MS response time (current monitor is 5 MS response time) [if I'd notice a real difference and price]
• Screen size - 25 to about 27 inches
• IPS or TN: I don't really care. I'm slightly colorblind (red-green). I don't think "true" color reprensentation is going to be noticeable to me.

 

[Roark]

Gotta say, I like the format for explaining what you need.
Little confused though, your budget says $1,500 but your total is $2,400.

Going down the parts list:

CPU - The 2600K is only going to benefit you for F@H, not for gaming. So while most people prefer to save ~$100 in this case, its up to you if F@H numbers are worth the premium.
Also, Ivy Bridge (next gen) processors are hopefully launching in a few days, so may be worth it to hold out and see what happens to prices.
Cooler - Nice mid-range cooler, should let you OC to ~4.5GHz.
Motherboard - If it has the features you want then it works. There has been a bit of an uproar around here about Gigabyte's customer service though.
Personally would go with (and plan to myself) the MSI Z77A-GD65.
RAM - 16GB is more than you'll need for a gaming rig, even 8 is more than enough.
SSD/HDD - 120GB SSD and 3TB HDD, seems legit to me.
GPU - The HD 7970 is a good card for the price.
Case - Love the Corsair Carbide series.
PSU - I would go with the Silverstone ST75F-P, it is less than the Seasonic 650 with more power. Granted it is Silver efficient vs Gold, but its still >85% efficient.

 

[PP Mguire]

Gotta say, I like the format for explaining what you need.
Little confused though, your budget says $1,500 but your total is $2,400.

Going down the parts list:

CPU - The 2600K is only going to benefit you for F@H, not for gaming. So while most people prefer to save ~$100 in this case, its up to you if F@H numbers are worth the premium.
Also, Ivy Bridge (next gen) processors are hopefully launching in a few days, so may be worth it to hold out and see what happens to prices.
Cooler - Nice mid-range cooler, should let you OC to ~4.5GHz.
Motherboard - If it has the features you want then it works. There has been a bit of an uproar around here about Gigabyte's customer service though.
Personally would go with (and plan to myself) the MSI Z77A-GD65.
RAM - 16GB is more than you'll need for a gaming rig, even 8 is more than enough.
SSD/HDD - 120GB SSD and 3TB HDD, seems legit to me.
GPU - The HD 7970 is a good card for the price.
Case - Love the Corsair Carbide series.
PSU - I would go with the Silverstone ST75F-P, it is less than the Seasonic 650 with more power. Granted it is Silver efficient vs Gold, but its still >85% efficient.

He put 2 monitors and some other things under the "buy later" category.

Nah I think you should stick with you have with the exception of get a bigger PSU. If you want LONG lasting (more than 3 years) you will want all the horsepower from the 2700k or 2600k so I think that mixed with the 16GB of RAM should last a good long while. With the addition of say a 750w PSU you can always add another 7970 later to make it last longer.

 

[dbzlotrfan]

I know someone on this end will throw a damn fit if I mention a PSU larger than like 300 watts (or even 300). Told to scale down and use my damn PS3 for games. What is the LOWEST/worst GPU I could get that could play something like Arkham City? And what amount of watts/PSU would that take?

 

[Roark]

I know someone on this end will throw a damn fit if I mention a PSU larger than like 300 watts (or even 300). Told to scale down and use my damn PS3 for games. What is the LOWEST/worst GPU I could get that could play something like Arkham City? And what amount of watts/PSU would that take?

Minimum system requirements list: "Graphics Card: NVIDIA 8800 or ATI 3800 with 512MB of VRAM"
Suggested 400W for an 8800 on the Nvidia site.

Honestly though you're better off buying it for the PS3 than running it on a computer with one of those cards.