New computer; help needed

[Charismatic]

First thing's first... I'm looking to spend absolutely no more than $2500 (shipping and taxes included).
This $2500 will include a few things other than the actual desktop hardware... I'll need to purchase 2 monitors, hoping for 1080 but that's not too important.
Then I'll also need a capture card (or if you guys know of some other way to capture video/sound from PS3/Xbox 360, let me know!)

The basic idea here is I want a decent gaming computer and I would also like to be able to capture/edit gameplay videos from consoles. Other than that, not much else matters.

I am not looking to upgrade any time soon (probably years, lol) so expandability isn't of great importance.



I was given this as a start by one of our forum-goers here.

i7 920, X58 board, 12gb of ram, HD5870 2GB, 750-800w PSU, your case of choice, 650 ATI or Hauppauge, Avermedia card, BR burner/reader (difference of $80) probably a $80-125 sound card, two 23/24" monitors, G11 or G15, mouse of your choice, G9x/G500/G5/Razer/whatever.

That would be about $2k.

Looking for second opinions, etc.

[Fisban]

For 2500$ you should be able to build a ridiculous PC...

For video capture look into the Hauppauge HD PVR

Other than that what you have looks pretty good, I would look into the DX 11 video cards that will be coming out in the very near future, if you are not buying now.

I would spend the most time looking into MOBO's if you want to OverClock.

I just built a rig for ~1600$
CPU: Quad Core Q9550 (Overclocked to 3.4ghz and a Mini Ninja Cooler)
MOBO: GA-EP45-UD3P
RAM: 8GB 1066 DDR2
VC: GTX 275
HDDs: 1 400GB (Used for OS), 3 1TB Drives in a RAID 5 for Storage (1.9TB after RAID)
PS: Cosair 750w
ROM: BR
Case: SilverStone LC17 (HTPC Case) - probably not for you but its hooked up to my Home Theater and my 50" Plasma so I needed it to fit into my media cabinet.

Your friends in this process should be:
Newegg.com
Microcenter (if you have one near you, they can have some good sales)
TomsHardware.com

Thats my 2c for now, hope some of it helps!

[Ragnell]

For 2500 you could probably build a monster pc and still have enough left over to build another decent desktop

Also, You do NOT need 12 gbs of ram, Get 8 if you want E-peen for no reason


like Fishban said, Use Newegg, I used it to build my Quad for less than 1100, it woulda been under 1k if i send in the rebates Lol

[Fisban]

LOL same about those rebates...

Mine was probably closer to 1300$ but those 3 1TB drives drove the price up, which most people dont need... But I use mine for Home Theater stuff and media storage, which is why its RAIDed so I wont lose anything if I have a drive fail on me.

[Olo401]

Here's a sketch build I threw together..

Newegg.com - Once You Know, You Newegg

I didn't add an OS since Win7 will be out at any moment (and you might be able to get an upgrade version cheap if you're a student).

I also didn't add a CPU cooler because it seems the Noctua U12P has been discontinued! You can go with one of the other high-end coolers (TRUE, Megahalems, V8, etc.) but chances are you'll be getting it from a different retailer.

Edit: Oh yea.. forgot monitors damnit! And that has to be factored in hmm.. gonna need to rejigger this plan.

[SamanosukeShiva]

what do you guys think about this? the price is waaay lower than custom watercooling system, and almost the same as noctua fans for i7. w/ easy install

Newegg.com - CORSAIR CWCH50 Water Cooler - Water Cooling

[Olo401]

Never seen this one before.. will have to check out reviews for it. I'm a bit unsure about how the thing stays mounted.

[SamanosukeShiva]

[Kryssan]

Personally, if I'm going the watercooling route with my computers, I'll buy the pieces/components from DangerDen or Koolance. Self contained solutions like this are ok for beginners, but you really need to do some hefty research into your case since the tubing is precut for you and also it's much more difficult to find pump curves and radiator ratings from other companies than it is with the aforementioned two. Honestly if you're going to go the water route you might as well go all the way rather than cookie-cuttering it. I'll usually cool the MB, CPU, and GPU with water.

[Charismatic]

Here's a sketch build I threw together..

Newegg.com - Once You Know, You Newegg

I didn't add an OS since Win7 will be out at any moment (and you might be able to get an upgrade version cheap if you're a student).

I also didn't add a CPU cooler because it seems the Noctua U12P has been discontinued! You can go with one of the other high-end coolers (TRUE, Megahalems, V8, etc.) but chances are you'll be getting it from a different retailer.

Edit: Oh yea.. forgot monitors damnit! And that has to be factored in hmm.. gonna need to rejigger this plan.

Thanks for this post, I went ahead and did a bit of rejiggering of my own... I'm gonna go ahead and go with core i5 and I made a couple of other changes (1TB HDD instead of 2)


Went with this power supply
Newegg.com - Antec EarthWatts EA750 750W Continuous Power ATX12V version 2.3 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC "compatible with Core i7" Power Supply - Power Supplies


I did make a couple of changes I was pretty happy with too though like snagging one of these.
Newegg.com - VisionTek 900250 Radeon HD 4870 X2 2GB 512-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards



Got everything I wanted including PVR and monitors for $1,904.85 (shipping inc)

[Kryssan]

I did make a couple of changes I was pretty happy with too though like snagging one of these.
Newegg.com - VisionTek 900250 Radeon HD 4870 X2 2GB 512-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards

That was a waste. You paid the same cost as what the brandspanking new 5000 series is going for. My personal preference wouldn't have let me settle for a VisonTek either, but that at least is a debatable point.

[Charismatic]

Those 5000s only have 1 display port though... that is an issue for me

[Kryssan]

Um, every one I've seen so far has two DVI ports, a display port, and a HDMI port... whereas that card you have only has two DVI ports and the dongle port for component/svideo.

[Charismatic]

I guess I must have misread then! Oh well

[Charismatic]

I doubt it is too late to cancel that and get a new card instead.

[Olo401]

Never seen this one before.. will have to check out reviews for it. I'm a bit unsure about how the thing stays mounted.

what do you guys think about this? the price is waaay lower than custom watercooling system, and almost the same as noctua fans for i7. w/ easy install

Newegg.com - CORSAIR CWCH50 Water Cooler - Water Cooling

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jx5usoClfDs

Corsair Cooling Hydro Series H50 CPU Cooler | Maximum PC - Got a really good review too.

[Alishe]

The new-new 5000 series that won't be released until sometime after the initial launch, has 6 display ports.

[Minions]

For 2500 you could probably build a monster pc and still have enough left over to build another decent desktop

Also, You do NOT need 12 gbs of ram, Get 8 if you want E-peen for no reason


like Fishban said, Use Newegg, I used it to build my Quad for less than 1100, it woulda been under 1k if i send in the rebates Lol

If you have tri-channel ram you either get 6 or 12.... unless you do single sticks which either way is 6 or 12, though I guess you could do 6, and 3 1 gig sticks for the second set of tri-channel.