Building a New Gaming Desktop - need some advice

[Voidz]

Hey all,

So now that I'm no longer living at college and I'm at home, I've decided it's time to stop gaming on my laptop and build myself a nice home gaming machine.
My product knowledge is decent, but I haven't put myself a computer together before. I'm not looking to make myself a top of the end machine, but something that is going to last, be very future upgradeable, able to hand current games such as WoW, Battlefield 3 (when released), Skyrim, and games to come. Fraps possible as well, but doesnt have to run at full 60 FPS with it running. This machine would be used for both gaming and as my main, home computer.

I'm looking to spend around the $1,000 - 1,400ish range.

So far, I've decided on the possibility of

1. Going SLI right off the bat., i'd be willing to shell out the cash for that. Want to stick with NVIDIA only. Was looking at the GTX 560.

2. Core i7 2600k

3. 16gb of Ram

4. No need for SSD, and hard drive space isn't huge for me.

5. No need for blu ray.

6.Motherboard that can handle SLI, and upgradeable to 32gb ram.

7. Help me build from here

What else should I be looking for as far as a capable PSU for an i7 and possible SLI? Any sound card? What kind of adapter would i need to connect bluetooth/wifi?

What should I add or subtract to stay around the price range?

Thanks!

[naitomeru87]

what kinda gpu. are you plan on buying

[Voidz]

what kinda gpu. are you plan on buying

GTX 560. Haven't decided if i want to SLI yet, but leaning toward it.

[Grayswandir]

what kinda gpu. are you plan on buying

I believe he said nVidia GX 560...

[Zkeya]

Why you want to get SLI from the beginning? I'd go for either a 570 or a 6970 and SLI/Xfire later on (most if not all games are playable at high/ultra setting right now with one of them).
Unless you use some really power-hungry programs (what do you mean by home computer? I assume movies/some office etc) 2600k and 16GB ram aren't needed. (BF3 might benefit from HT but no one knows yet!).
Check the front-page /sweet spot builds, they both have rigs within your budget.

[Fluffygong]

As far as I'm aware for a gaming desktop the i7 isn't really a cost eficient upgrade from the i5 2500k. Also, 16gb ram. Is that really worth it? I run 4gb and have 0 problems at all with running games with maxxed out manual ultra, shadows, super sampling all that jazz. Although, if you got the money it can't hurt, I'd rather invest more in top of the range graphics personally.

[Grayswandir]

GTX 560. Haven't decided if i want to SLI yet, but leaning toward it.

SLI is great, but you will need to weigh the good with the bad. Running SLI generates large amounts of heat and draws plenty of power. You'll want a fairly heavy PSU and a case with plenty of air flow. I'd recommend a modular PSU as you can unplug the extra cables you don't need to increase air flow and cooling.

Possibly something along the lines of a OCZ ZX Series 850W Fully-Modular 80PLUS Gold High Performance Power Supply or better.

[Deleted]

If you plan to go SLI 560tis, I would recommend going with a GTX 580 right away. It performs within 10% of 2 560tis and requires less power and generates less heat. SLI 570 however could potentially be worth it if you really want to go SLI.

Drop down to an i5 2500k. Go with 8Gb ram (2x4Gb). Why do you require a MoBo that supports 32Gb RAM? More RAM will not improve your computer, just how well it deals with multitasking.

For SLI 580 I'd recommend at least a good 800W PSU. For SLI 570 a good 750W is enough. For a single 580 a 650W is enough.

For a motherboard you could go for something like this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813130574. There are cheaper alternatives though. Sound card is almost always (99%) integrated with the MoBo and is enough for most users. You could get a stand-alone PCI wireless network card for a few bucks.

Edit: Also, for Fraps, make sure you have a dedicated HDD for it. A 500Gb Samsung Spinpoint F3 will suffice for 1080p video at 60fps.

[Voidz]

Why you want to get SLI from the beginning? I'd go for either a 570 or a 6970 and SLI/Xfire later on (most if not all games are playable at high/ultra setting right now with one of them).
Unless you use some really power-hungry programs (what do you mean by home computer? I assume movies/some office etc) 2600k and 16GB ram aren't needed. (BF3 might benefit from HT but no one knows yet!).
Check the front-page /sweet spot builds, they both have rigs within your budget.

Yeah, I was toying with the idea, but i may be able to get away with a single 560 GTX.

Another question I had, is there a particular version of the 560 that is a better than another? I've seen a large price range of them.

[Grayswandir]

As far as I'm aware for a gaming desktip the i7 isn't really a cost eficient upgrade from the i5 2500k. Also, 16gb ram. Is that really worth it? I run 4gb and have 0 problems at all with running games with maxxed out manual ultra, shadows, super sampling all that jazz. Although, if you got the money it can't hurt, I'd rather invest more in top of the range graphics personally.

It never is cost efficient to work with the top end Intel processors for desktop gaming. I'm currently running an i7 960 and I have yet to push it to its limits, but my video card on the other hand... I push that thing all the time -- I think your assessment is spot on. If you need 16gb of RAM, you probably are running the wrong programs :P

[Deleted]

Another question I had, is there a particular version of the 560 that is a better than another? I've seen a large price range of them.

First and foremost, you are interested in the 560 ti, not the regular 560. It isn't worth buying a normal 560 anymore. As for what card to choose, depends. I would advise to go with a card with an aftermarket cooler (like the MSI Twin Frozr II/III cards) and perhaps a card with a slight OC (e.g. the MSI Twin Frozr HAWK edition cards). Further, pricing boils down to quality, reliability, brand, service and warranty.

[llDemonll]

Do you need a copy of Windows? If so, add $100 to this total:

US Configuration (using newegg.com)
CPU: Intel Core i5-2500K 3.3GHz
MB: [Z68] ASUS P8Z68-V Pro ATX
GPU: MSI Twin Frozr III GeForce GTX 570
RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws X 8GB (2 x 4GB) 1600
HDD: Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB SATA III
PSU: SeaSonic X750 Gold 750W 80 PLUS Gold
CPUHS: Noctua NH-D14
CDROM: ASUS DVD Burner
Total Price: $1187 USD
Configure More

I'm leaving it up to you to pick out the appropriate case.

You don't need 16GB of RAM, let alone 32GB. SLI is a waste going for it immediately with two mid-range cards. Why not just spend the money and get one better card and then another down the road when you need it? You don't need the i7 2600K if you're only gaming on the computer. If you want to Fraps, add in a second hard drive so that you can record to that hard drive