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[knitoe]

I don't know what multiply lock means, but I really wanted a 2500, but Micro Center (awesome freakin' store, btw) was out of them. I'll upgrade that in a couple of months. In any event, I already have the parts at home. Just need to put them together.

The K version are multiplier unlock. For example, the 2500K is 33 (multiplier) * 100 = 3.3 GHz. Since it's unlock, you can easily overclock it to 45*100 = 4.5 GHz.

If it's multiplier lock (2400, 2500 and 2600), you have a very limited overclock. Believe, only 3 clock speeds faster. Thus, doesn't make much sense to get a P67 MB with these CPU. better to go with a H67.

 

[sk3tch]

I regret to inform you that you are wrong here. I game at 1080p too and there are times I have to lower my AA level or I slam straight into the 1280MB wall, that's how much memory my SLI GTX 470s have per card.

Huh. Interesting. Well every benchmark I have seen for the 580 contradicts what you are saying. Perhaps the "wall" is the 470 itself?

 

[chaosblade]

Need to start workin' on a new PC. Help me out gaf! Are the pre-built newegg links in the OP updated with the most current stuff? I've been completely out of the loop for the past few months with the most recent cards / processors and stuff.

Your Current Specs: Intel Core2 2.4ghz dual core / 2gigs ddr2 / Not sure about motherboard but it's old as hell. / Nvidia 9600gt

Budget: ~$1500, US.

Main Use: 3D work and gaming.

Monitor Resolution: 1680x1050

List SPECIFIC games that you MUST be able to play: Most of the newest games, Witcher 2, stuff like that.

Are reusing any parts?: Not reusing anything. Current video card is screwed to high hell. Seriously, this is what my screen looks like right now.

When will you build?: I'd like to buy the parts / have it built around mid-June, but I need to start pricing it all out now.

Will you be overclocking?: Probably not.

Will you buy buying a new monitor? 1680x1050 could be handled by midrange cards easily. $1500 is overkill in your case.

I'd start with a i5 2500k, but you might consider a 2600k for work. Not sure if the hyperthreading benefits you there or not, but it's certainly possible.

You shouldn't need CF/SLI if you are keeping that monitor so you can get a cheaper P67/Z68 motherboard and not worry about PCIe slots.

Video card entirely depends on whether you plan to get a new monitor. Something like a 6870 or 460 1GB (non-SE model) would be fine at that resolution. If you plan to get a 1080p or greater monitor stepping up to the 6900 or 500 series could be in the cards.

8GB of 1600 RAM with your budget. Would help with work, but 4GB would be fine for gaming for now.

Samsung F4 2GB HDD for your general storage drive, and a SSD for the OS + Programs (I really am not up to date on SSDs, so someone else would have to recommend one. Vertex 3s are supposed to be really good though?)

Quality PSU, Corsair, Seasonic, and Power PC and Cooling are the frequently recommended brands.

You could get a HAF 922 case, or maybe a 690 II Advanced. Unless you want to move into the upper echelons of cases.

I don't know what multiply lock means

In this case, it basically means you can't overclock. You need a "k" edition processor (2500k or 2600k) and a P67 or Z68 motherboard to overclock.

To get more technical, your CPU clock speed is based on your multiplier and your bus clock/FSB/whatever. Most CPUs have locked multipliers and were overclocked by adjusting the the FSB. Intel changed things up on their current series of CPUs, and now both multipliers and bus clocks are locked down unless you get a "k" edition processor, which has an unlocked multiplier.

 

[SneakyStephan]

Fuck, I don't remember how loud my 8800 GT is compared the 6950. The latter is...quite noticeable lol.

As much as I want to pick up a FT02, I might just settle for the CM 690.

I got the clocks unlocked on my card, but not the shaders. I don't think I'll bother until I upgrade everything

Is your 6950 that loud? Reference design ati cooler then I'm guessing?

I still need to find someone with the powercolor version which has it's own cooler design to ask about noise.

 

[Syphon Filter]

nevermind

 

[Mr Nightman]

Check this build out, my final one . What do you guys think?

Case: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119233

Motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131703

GPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130587

PSU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139011

CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115072

RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231314

HDD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822152185

Optical Drive: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106335

links seem broken man

 

[comrade]

Building a Computer for my 12 year old sister. She just mostly uses Youtube, Facebook, and will play some Flash based games. Looking at this combo deal on Newegg: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.638720

My question is do you think the on-board graphics are enough or should I get her a graphics card as well? If so what would be a cheap but effective card for her?

I was looking at this GTX 460: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...00&cm_re=gtx_460_768mb-_-14-130-600-_-Product

Anything cheaper? Any help is appreciated.

 

[Hazaro]

Building a Computer for my 12 year old sister. She just mostly uses Youtube, Facebook, and will play some Flash based games. Looking at this combo deal on Newegg: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.638720

My question is do you think the on-board graphics are enough or should I get her a graphics card as well? If so what would be a cheap but effective card for her?

I was looking at this GTX 460: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...00&cm_re=gtx_460_768mb-_-14-130-600-_-Product

Anything cheaper? Any help is appreciated.

Buy a Dell.

 

[Mr Nightman]

Building a Computer for my 12 year old sister. She just mostly uses Youtube, Facebook, and will play some Flash based games. Looking at this combo deal on Newegg: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.638720

My question is do you think the on-board graphics are enough or should I get her a graphics card as well? If so what would be a cheap but effective card for her?

I was looking at this GTX 460: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...00&cm_re=gtx_460_768mb-_-14-130-600-_-Product

Anything cheaper? Any help is appreciated.

would seem like a sandy bridge quad would really be over kill for what it will be used for. If your set on a quad why not use an am3 athlon 2 x4 quad, and save some major moolah?

 

[comrade]

Buy a Dell.

Don't want to spend that much. I already have a Case, PSU, RAM, HDD. Only need a Mobo and Processor. How about something like this? http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.643099

 

[Syphon Filter]

Check this build out, my final one . What do you guys think?

 

[comrade]

Check this build out, my final one . What do you guys think?

Looks great. How about an aftermarket heatsink? Cooler Master Hyper 212+ is cheap and effective.

 

[Mr Nightman]

Don't want to spend that much. I already have a Case, PSU, RAM, HDD. Only need a Mobo and Processor. How about something like this? http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.643099

This would be just fine man, still more than enough power, plus 100 bucks cheaper

 

[Syphon Filter]

Looks great. How about an aftermarket heatsink? Cooler Master Hyper 212+ is cheap and effective.

I don't think i will overclock or at least any time soon. Also do you think i need another fan for that case and hardware? it has the front and rear fan in addition to vents on the side and top.

 

[Mr Nightman]

I don't think i will overclock or at least any time soon. Also do you think i need another fan for that case and hardware? it has the front and rear fan in addition to vents on the side and top.

I just run my 912 with the stock two fans, things stay really cool. You should be fine

 

[Hawk269]

I regret to inform you that you are wrong here. I game at 1080p too and there are times I have to lower my AA level or I slam straight into the 1280MB wall, that's how much memory my SLI GTX 470s have per card.

How high of a level of AA are you applying to be hitting that wall and what game is doing it? I am just curious as I was debating at one point getting the 3gb just for some more future proof, but decided against it.

 

[Hazaro]

Don't want to spend that much. I already have a Case, PSU, RAM, HDD. Only need a Mobo and Processor. How about something like this? http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.643099

Should have mentioned that then.
Slightly cheaper mobo:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.643096

Check this build out, my final one . What do you guys think?

Looks good to me.
Only question is if you really need the horsepower of a 580 right now. Maybe a 570 now, and upgrade to the next card when that comes out?
You can probably combo a few items.

http://www.newegg.com/Special/Combo.aspx?
*Like this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.638785

You can Paypal me $20 later

 

[comrade]

This would be just fine man, still more than enough power, plus 100 bucks cheaper

Thanks a lot sir.

Should have mentioned that then.
Slightly cheaper mobo:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.643096

Thank you. Went with that combo instead.

 

[Unknown Soldier]

How high of a level of AA are you applying to be hitting that wall and what game is doing it? I am just curious as I was debating at one point getting the 3gb just for some more future proof, but decided against it.

When I use 16x or 16xQ AA in 1920x1080 or 1920x1200 resolution in Tera, I am able to exceed 1280MB of VRAM used in MSI Afterburner. It's funny seeing my framerate suddenly go from just fine to suddenly in the toilet for obvious reason.

If you've got a 580, you have 1536MB of VRAM, so you are probably doing okay at the same resolutions and AA settings.

Tera is not yet available in NA/EU at retail, I'm playing the Korean client.

 

[mike23]

Monitor Resolution: 1680x1050

Are reusing any parts?: Not reusing anything. Current video card is screwed to high hell. Seriously, this is what my screen looks like right now.

I don't see anything wrong with the image. I'm guessing that the problem is that the resolution of the image is 1600x1200 and your monitor is 1680x1050. Which means that you just need to right-click the desktop and go to "Screen Resolution" and fix it.

 

[DeVeAn]

I just built my first PC and everything went smooth. Now the only annoying thing I can't figure out is the "no hard disk detected" is that something in the BIOS i can disable? I have an ASUS p8p67 pro motherboard.

 

[knitoe]

I just built my first PC and everything went smooth. Now the only annoying thing I can't figure out is the "no hard disk detected" is that something in the BIOS i can disable? I have an ASUS p8p67 pro motherboard.

Disable the Marvel sata controller in the Bios. You boot time will be faster without it.

 

[Corky]

Disable the Marvel sata controller in the Bios. You boot time will be faster without it.

ah sweet thanks, I was suffering from this aswell

 

[Omiee]

i went to bed yesterday because i was pissed but i tried again this morning.
apperantly when i go to control manager and uninstall the driver etc, it asks me if i want to reboot if i choose not to do so.
I can see aero normally and if i go to index rating it shows me 7.8 again.
as soon as i remove driver and install again, aero performance index (6.0) and the looks are changed back again.

 

[Corky]

i went to bed yesterday because i was pissed but i tried again this morning.
apperantly when i go to control manager and uninstall the driver etc, it asks me if i want to reboot if i choose not to do so.
I can see aero normally and if i go to index rating it shows me 7.8 again.
as soon as i remove driver and install again, aero performance index (6.0) and the looks are changed back again.

Hey man, I just checked your posts and realized you have AMD, but I had the exact same problem with my gtx 560.

I installed the drivers and WEI only showed 6.0 but I changed to a newer driver and got 7.whatever I got. I'm sure that doesn't help at all but just thought I'd share.

 

[Omiee]

Hey man, I just checked your posts and realized you have AMD, but I had the exact same problem with my gtx 560.

I installed the drivers and WEI only showed 6.0 but I changed to a newer driver and got 7.whatever I got. I'm sure that doesn't help at all but just thought I'd share.

well 11.5 is the newest, i did not have these problems with 11.4
so i tried to install 11.4 earlier and thats not the problem either. What is weird to me is that when i go to control panel and unistall the drivers, aero works just fine on desktop and when i rerun the index score it shows me 7.8 again.
What could a problem be?

 

[fredrancour]

Hey guys. I want to get an ok pc for the first time in my gaming life. I am a student and don't want to blow all my food money on a computer. If I wanted to take the OP's cheapest suggested set-up and make it cheaper, how stingy could I get before i was wasting my time and money?

 

[scogoth]

Hey guys. I want to get an ok pc for the first time in my gaming life. I am a student and don't want to blow all my food money on a computer. If I wanted to take the OP's cheapest suggested set-up and make it cheaper, how stingy could I get before i was wasting my time and money?

The OP build is pretty much what you want but if you really can't afford it then heres an alternative:

CPU - AMD Phenom II X4 925
Motherboard - ASRock M3A770DE
RAM - G.Skill 4 GB (2 x 2 GB) DDR3-1333 CL9
Graphics - Sapphire Radeon HD 6850 1 GB
Hard Drive - Samsung Spinpoint F3
Case - As cheap you can go
Power - Antec EarthWatts Green EA380D 380 W
Optical - Lite-On 24x DVD Burner SATA (Optional if you can borrow an optical drive from someone for the OS install)

Should be just under 500 plus any rebates you can get and find an old screen to use.

 

[Median]

Hey folks, I'm currently running a Radeon 4870 with a resolution of 1920x1080, and I'm thinking of upgrading because of the looming specter that is The Witcher 2. I'm looking to spend around $350 CDN. Should I be taking a look at a Radeon 6970 or 6950 for the best value in that range? Any help would be appreciated.

 

[scogoth]

Hey folks, I'm currently running a Radeon 4870 with a resolution of 1920x1080, and I'm thinking of upgrading because of the looming specter that is The Witcher 2. I'm looking to spend around $350 CDN. Should I be taking a look at a Radeon 6970 or 6950 for the best value in that range? Any help would be appreciated.

6950 with unlock is the best value. If you don't want to mess around with flashing your bios then its a toss up between the GTX570 and 6970. Pick your favourite, Nvidia or AMD.

 

[confused]

Dear GAF,

Looking to replace my GPU in the coming weeks and am looking for suggestions between these 2 cards. Tell me anything you know as I don't really know what the difference is between the two.

590 GTX vs 6990.

Going for a double GPU as my mobo only has one PCI-e slot and the rest of the PC won't be upgraded until christmas 2012.

Right now I'm leaning towards the 590 GTX due to PhysX and TWIMTBP-titles. Also Nvidia's drivers are suppossedly more stable.

What would you do, GAF?

 

[Peterthumpa]

Dear GAF,

Looking to replace my GPU in the coming weeks and am looking for suggestions between these 2 cards. Tell me anything you know as I don't really know what the difference is between the two.

590 GTX vs 6990.

Going for a double GPU as my mobo only has one PCI-e slot and the rest of the PC won't be upgraded until christmas 2012.

Right now I'm leaning towards the 590 GTX due to PhysX and TWIMTBP-titles. Also Nvidia's drivers are suppossedly more stable.

What would you do, GAF?

I would go with the 590 GTX if you plan to play in 3D down the road, but you can't go wrong here. Just watch out for your processor bottlenecking those cards.

Now, my question...

I have a i7 860 @ 3 GHz and currently a 5870.
I'm planning to buy a GTX 580 today... will I be bottlenecked? Is my processor still up to the job? Will the performance gains be noticeable?

 

[scogoth]

Dear GAF,

Looking to replace my GPU in the coming weeks and am looking for suggestions between these 2 cards. Tell me anything you know as I don't really know what the difference is between the two.

590 GTX vs 6990.

Going for a double GPU as my mobo only has one PCI-e slot and the rest of the PC won't be upgraded until christmas 2012.

Right now I'm leaning towards the 590 GTX due to PhysX and TWIMTBP-titles. Also Nvidia's drivers are suppossedly more stable.

What would you do, GAF?

Well I would say 590 because its quieter but I'm going to recommend the GTX580 unless you are doing high AA at 2560x1600, 3D or triple monitor gaming. The biggest reason is the dual GPUs are very hard to get a hold of these days, they're never in stock.

I would go with the 590 GTX if you plan to play in 3D down the road, but you can't go wrong here. Just watch out for your processor bottlenecking those cards.

Now, my question...

I have a i7 860 @ 3 GHz and currently a 5870.
I'm planning to buy a GTX 580 today... will I be bottlenecked? Is my processor still up to the job? Will the performance gains be noticeable?

No you won't be bottle necked, performance on average will be about 5-10fps better.

 

[Median]

6950 with unlock is the best value. If you don't want to mess around with flashing your bios then its a toss up between the GTX570 and 6970. Pick your favourite, Nvidia or AMD.

Cheers, much appreciated. Not sure I want to mess around with flashing anything, so I'll look into those two cards.

 

[confused]

Would a 590 or 6990 have trouble fitting in a Coolermaster HAF 912 ?

 

[Mr Nightman]

Would a 590 or 6990 have trouble fitting in a Coolermaster HAF 912 ?

it can fit a 12.9 inch 5970, and will def fit the 590 since its 11 inches,with that removable middle hard drive rack

 

[scogoth]

Would a 590 or 6990 have trouble fitting in a Coolermaster HAF 912 ?

Why do you only have 1 PCIe slot if you have a HAF 912? You should have a mATX board at least.

 

[vitaminwateryum]

Will you buy buying a new monitor? 1680x1050 could be handled by midrange cards easily. $1500 is overkill in your case.

I'd start with a i5 2500k, but you might consider a 2600k for work. Not sure if the hyperthreading benefits you there or not, but it's certainly possible.

You shouldn't need CF/SLI if you are keeping that monitor so you can get a cheaper P67/Z68 motherboard and not worry about PCIe slots.

Video card entirely depends on whether you plan to get a new monitor. Something like a 6870 or 460 1GB (non-SE model) would be fine at that resolution. If you plan to get a 1080p or greater monitor stepping up to the 6900 or 500 series could be in the cards.

8GB of 1600 RAM with your budget. Would help with work, but 4GB would be fine for gaming for now.

Samsung F4 2GB HDD for your general storage drive, and a SSD for the OS + Programs (I really am not up to date on SSDs, so someone else would have to recommend one. Vertex 3s are supposed to be really good though?)

Quality PSU, Corsair, Seasonic, and Power PC and Cooling are the frequently recommended brands.

You could get a HAF 922 case, or maybe a 690 II Advanced. Unless you want to move into the upper echelons of cases.


In this case, it basically means you can't overclock. You need a "k" edition processor (2500k or 2600k) and a P67 or Z68 motherboard to overclock.

Much, much appreciated. I do plan on upgrading my monitor, but it likely won't be for awhile. I'll throw a newegg wish list together later on today when I get some spare time and post it in here.

I don't see anything wrong with the image. I'm guessing that the problem is that the resolution of the image is 1600x1200 and your monitor is 1680x1050. Which means that you just need to right-click the desktop and go to "Screen Resolution" and fix it.

Hmm, weird. Here's a pic from my phone to show it: http://i.imgur.com/JxdBv.jpg. That stuff's all over the screen and little bits of it disappear if I mouse over them. Here's to hoping it's not a monitor issue.

 

[Tashi]

Basic Desktop Questions:
Your Current Specs: Laptop: Intel Core 2 Duo. 1.66ghz, 2gb ram
Budget: 1,000$ United States
Main Use: General use, light gaming, HD video editing and Broadcasting
Monitor Resolution: 1680x1050
List SPECIFIC games that you MUST be able to play: Not gonna be playing a whole lot of PC games. If I had to choose one that I really wanted to play, it would be StarCraft 2. However, I'd like to keep my options open for something that might catch my eye down the line.
Are reusing any parts?: Acer x223w Monitor
When will you build?: Middle of June if all goes well
Will you be overclocking?: No

I built this based on this article from Tech Report that I found in the OP. I did tweak some things though because either I was linked to Amazon(I'd like to just order everything from NewEgg) or because they weren't available on New Egg anymore. An example is the power supply. I changed it to a power supply with the same Wattage and what seemed to be a popular choice. I also changed the hard drive in the same fashion.

edit: Changed image to larger one. Easier to read.

So what do you guys think? Any recommendations or replacements? Did I miss anything? Anywhere I can save some money? Thanks a lot.

 

[confused]

Why do you only have 1 PCIe slot if you have a HAF 912? You should have a mATX board at least.

Because I'm still on a AM2+ motherboard.

 

[scogoth]

Basic Desktop Questions:
Your Current Specs: Laptop: Intel Core 2 Duo. 1.66ghz, 2gb ram
Budget: 1,000$ United States
Main Use: General use, light gaming, HD video editing and Broadcasting
Monitor Resolution: 1680x1050
List SPECIFIC games that you MUST be able to play: Not gonna be playing a whole lot of PC games. If I had to choose one that I really wanted to play, it would be StarCraft 2. However, I'd like to keep my options open for something that might catch my eye down the line.
Are reusing any parts?: Acer x223w Monitor
When will you build?: Middle of June if all goes well
Will you be overclocking?: No

I built this based on this article from Tech Report that I found in the OP. I did tweak some things though because either I was linked to Amazon(I'd like to just order everything from NewEgg) or because they weren't available on New Egg anymore. An example is the power supply. I changed it to a power supply with the same Wattage and what seemed to be a popular choice. I also changed the hard drive in the same fashion.


edit: Changed image to larger one. Easier to read.

So what do you guys think? Any recommendations or replacements? Did I miss anything? Anywhere I can save some money? Thanks a lot.

Don't get the LE version of the board get the regular P8P67 or even the mATX version if you can live with one less PCIe slot.

 

[Tashi]

Don't get the LE version of the board get the regular P8P67 or even the mATX version if you can live with one less PCIe slot.

Any particular reason?

 

[scogoth]

Any particular reason?

Yeah the LE version is severely gimped electrically, the P8P67 regular and mATX version are the same design as the pro and EVO versions. The LE will be less stable if you ever decide to overclock, also you lose front panel USB3.0 among some other things. Just generally a lower quality board. The regular is $20 more and the mATX is $10 less because you lose some connectivity with less board space but get better quality components.

 

[Cday]

So what do you guys think? Any recommendations or replacements? Did I miss anything? Anywhere I can save some money? Thanks a lot.

Replace that power supply with a corsair 600w and replace that windows disc with this one

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004Q0T10A/?tag=neogaf0e-20

I know it's 32 bit but you can just download a 64 bit windows 7 iso and use the key that came with the 32 bit version to activate it.

 

[reilo]

I haven't built a gaming PC in years, but I have a huge craving to build one again to try out some games I have missed out on. So far, this is what I have built out:

Notes:

• I chose the GTX 570 because it provides the same performance as a GTX 480 with much better power consumption, noise, and temperatures for a similar price.
• I chose the Corsair CX430 because I have a Corsair TX650 in a HTPC that I now realize is seriously overkill for that setup. I'll be swapping the TX650 into the gaming PC if I build it.
• I also have a DVD drive from that same HTPC that I can swap to install any software I need, hence I didn't find it necessary to buy another DVD drive. Plus, Steam helps a ton!
• I chose the smaller harddrive early on because a bigger one can be added on as needed.
• Overall, the difference in price between all of those aforementioned pieces allowed me to put more towards the CPU and get the i7.

Thoughts?

 

[scogoth]

I haven't built a gaming PC in years, but I have a huge craving to build one again to try out some games I have missed out on. So far, this is what I have built out:

Notes:

• I chose the GTX 570 because it provides the same performance as a GTX 480 with much better power consumption, noise, and temperatures for a similar price.
• I chose the Corsair CX430 because I have a Corsair TX650 in a HTPC that I now realize is seriously overkill for that setup. I'll be swapping the TX650 into the gaming PC if I build it.
• I also have a DVD drive from that same HTPC that I can swap to install any software I need, hence I didn't find it necessary to buy another DVD drive. Plus, Steam helps a ton!
• I chose the smaller harddrive early on because a bigger one can be added on as needed.
• Overall, the difference in price between all of those aforementioned pieces allowed me to put more towards the CPU and get the i7.

Thoughts?

For $20 more on a $1000 get 300% more storage, get a 1TB Spinpoint f3.

 

[Coldsnap]

Just curious here; how much from going DX10-DX11 will tax my system? I'm playing Metro 2033 and the high settings has DX10 but my card supports DX11.

 

[TheExodu5]

Just curious here; how much from going DX10-DX11 will tax my system? I'm playing Metro 2033 and the high settings has DX10 but my card supports DX11.

Depends entirely on the game. The DX11 features in Metro 2033 can cut your framerate in less than half (especially Advanced DOF). Even more if you use MSAA.

 

[Coldsnap]

Ah okay, gotcha.

 

[RumblingRosco]

I haven't built a gaming PC in years, but I have a huge craving to build one again to try out some games I have missed out on. So far, this is what I have built out:

http://i180.photobucket.com/albums/x142/reilo/gamingpc2011.png

Notes:

• I chose the GTX 570 because it provides the same performance as a GTX 480 with much better power consumption, noise, and temperatures for a similar price.
• I chose the Corsair CX430 because I have a Corsair TX650 in a HTPC that I now realize is seriously overkill for that setup. I'll be swapping the TX650 into the gaming PC if I build it.
• I also have a DVD drive from that same HTPC that I can swap to install any software I need, hence I didn't find it necessary to buy another DVD drive. Plus, Steam helps a ton!
• I chose the smaller harddrive early on because a bigger one can be added on as needed.
• Overall, the difference in price between all of those aforementioned pieces allowed me to put more towards the CPU and get the i7.

Thoughts?

The i7 will make very little difference from the i5 in gaming. If you are doing lots of encoding, DVD-ripping, etc, then the 2600k is "worth it." Otherwise, I'd suggest swapping to the 2500k and using the money you save to either A) upgrade to 8GB of RAM B) get a small (~40 GB) SSD for your OS C) Just pocket the cash and use it towards upgrades in the future.

P.S. I'm with you on the hard drive, I will be using a similar one in a few months when I build because I simply do not need more than that right now.