Building a Gaming Computer : Input Appreciated! [PARTS UPDATED 2/23/12]

  • Well, I suppose I can go with the 460, if you really think it outperforms the 550. That puts me just under 800, which is perfect, gives a little wiggle room for a monitor. I'll shop around craigs list, ebay, and amazon for a deal on a monitor. And I really ought to snatch that 2500k before the deal is over...


    Thank you all so very much! If you have any more recommendations, even some games you think I should get (no, I don't want any of those modern shooters, too unrealistic.).


    EDIT: Will I need any additional fans for cooling? If so, any recommendations? :Wind Mill:

    I5 2500K | 4GB Cosair Vengence | Radeon 6850 | Rosewill 600w PSU | GigaByte Z68MA | CM Elite 311 | Dell 19" 720p (upgrading soon!)| Hitachi 500 GB 7200 HDD | LG 24X |Windows 7 (Genuine!)
    Alblaka in a Lightning Rod suggestion thread...[/size]

  • Hmm...Additional fans? Depending on your case, If your case has good airflow then you wouldn't really need any extra fans, the stock fans would work fine. If fan noise bothers you, then you can always get extra fans later.

    Phenom II x4 965 @ 3.9 GHz | Asrock 970 Extreme3 | 12GB G-Skill Ripjaws DDR3-1600 | Sapphire Flex HD 6870 @ 1000/1100 | Seagate Barracuda 500GB HDD | Hyper 212+ | OCZ Fatal1ty 550w PSU | NZXT Gamma Classic

  • Mk, I've been shopping around on Amazon, as well as a few other places. I found the motherboard z68a, which is a good 40 dollars cheaper then the z68x. Is there any real advantage with going with the more expensive one? I'm having a hard time seeing the difference.
    Gigabyte Z68X


    Gigabyte Z68A


    I did notice that they had the same # of SATA connecters, but the Z68X had 4 6Gb/s connectors and 2 3Gb/s connecters, while the Z68A Had 4 3 GB/s connectors, and 2 6gb/s connectors. Not sure if it means the difference of 40 dollars tho.

    I5 2500K | 4GB Cosair Vengence | Radeon 6850 | Rosewill 600w PSU | GigaByte Z68MA | CM Elite 311 | Dell 19" 720p (upgrading soon!)| Hitachi 500 GB 7200 HDD | LG 24X |Windows 7 (Genuine!)
    Alblaka in a Lightning Rod suggestion thread...[/size]

  • If I remember correctly, the Z68A Series lets you use the built in gpu and a video card, while the Z68X Series lets you use a video card only.
    Correct me if I'm wrong.

    Phenom II x4 965 @ 3.9 GHz | Asrock 970 Extreme3 | 12GB G-Skill Ripjaws DDR3-1600 | Sapphire Flex HD 6870 @ 1000/1100 | Seagate Barracuda 500GB HDD | Hyper 212+ | OCZ Fatal1ty 550w PSU | NZXT Gamma Classic

  • If I remember correctly, the Z68A Series lets you use the built in gpu and a video card, while the Z68X Series lets you use a video card only.
    Correct me if I'm wrong.


    Honestly, I'm unsure. If that's the only difference, then I should go with the Z68A, right?

    I5 2500K | 4GB Cosair Vengence | Radeon 6850 | Rosewill 600w PSU | GigaByte Z68MA | CM Elite 311 | Dell 19" 720p (upgrading soon!)| Hitachi 500 GB 7200 HDD | LG 24X |Windows 7 (Genuine!)
    Alblaka in a Lightning Rod suggestion thread...[/size]

  • I'd say go for the z68a as it's cheaper by $40.

    Phenom II x4 965 @ 3.9 GHz | Asrock 970 Extreme3 | 12GB G-Skill Ripjaws DDR3-1600 | Sapphire Flex HD 6870 @ 1000/1100 | Seagate Barracuda 500GB HDD | Hyper 212+ | OCZ Fatal1ty 550w PSU | NZXT Gamma Classic

  • Awesome, will do.

    I5 2500K | 4GB Cosair Vengence | Radeon 6850 | Rosewill 600w PSU | GigaByte Z68MA | CM Elite 311 | Dell 19" 720p (upgrading soon!)| Hitachi 500 GB 7200 HDD | LG 24X |Windows 7 (Genuine!)
    Alblaka in a Lightning Rod suggestion thread...[/size]

  • Honestly, I'm unsure. If that's the only difference, then I should go with the Z68A, right?

    the difference between p67 and z68 is that 1. z68 lets you use the graphics on your proccesor as well as your video card (so if your video card is down for some reason or even debugging it or something you have a backup graphics card kinda even though its not very powerful) and 2. it has better performance with ssd's and 3. it came after p67 so i guess you could say it evolved slightly more (well i mean it has the other 2 bonuses listed above).


    Also the 2500 and 2500k have 2 differences you probably know the k means you can overclock it (well more than 100mhz or so that you can do with a locked multi) and it has slightly more powerful integrated graphics (what i talked about in #1 in z68).


    and with the cpu i would go as powerful as you can if you are going to be rendering, so if you could get an 2600k and it will render about 50% faster but as that isn't really in your budget i would definately not go lower than the 2500 because rendering is the one thing that will max out almost any proccesor.

  • I believe you may be mistaken. Not sure tho. We were talking about the Z68A and the Z68X. Obviously, I would like to keep 40 bucks in my pocket, as I'm buying a graphics card, and if that quits I'll have to buy a new one anyways.

    I5 2500K | 4GB Cosair Vengence | Radeon 6850 | Rosewill 600w PSU | GigaByte Z68MA | CM Elite 311 | Dell 19" 720p (upgrading soon!)| Hitachi 500 GB 7200 HDD | LG 24X |Windows 7 (Genuine!)
    Alblaka in a Lightning Rod suggestion thread...[/size]

  • I believe you may be mistaken. Not sure tho. We were talking about the Z68A and the Z68X. Obviously, I would like to keep 40 bucks in my pocket, as I'm buying a graphics card, and if that quits I'll have to buy a new one anyways.


    Yeah, I see basically no difference between the Z68A and X. Both have the nifty looking Virtu stuff. On that note I think you'll want to plug your monitor into the motherboard, not the video card for that to work. The manual will say more. (*gasp* read a manual? say it isn't so! :))

  • MAKE sure that PSU has bronze 80+ certification otherwise it is most likely a crap piece of equipment that will destroy every chip in your PC. This basically means it is reliable and delivers more than %80 of the power it chews :).


    The NZXT M59 Classic is a very nice looking case for only $35-45 which comes with two very quiet fans :).

  • MAKE sure that PSU has bronze 80+ certification otherwise it is most likely a crap piece of equipment that will destroy every chip in your PC. This basically means it is reliable and delivers more than %80 of the power it chews :).


    The NZXT M59 Classic is a very nice looking case for only $35-45 which comes with two very quiet fans :).


    overgeneralization much? I've got one that's 80%+ efficient yet isn't certified, been working great for a long time.
    It's a Xclio brand. It's one of those same manufacturer as a big brand sort of deals, I forget who though but I did do a bunch of research beforehand.
    Chose the genericy one based on good (professional) reviews as it was the only way I was going to afford a modular one.


    still: i'd recommend hitting up hardocp to check on a review there, they've got the best review process i've seen. (very hard on the PSU)


  • overgeneralization much? I've got one that's 80%+ efficient yet isn't certified, been working great for a long time.
    It's a Xclio brand. It's one of those same manufacturer as a big brand sort of deals, I forget who though but I did do a bunch of research beforehand.
    Chose the genericy one based on good (professional) reviews as it was the only way I was going to afford a modular one.


    still: i'd recommend hitting up hardocp to check on a review there, they've got the best review process i've seen. (very hard on the PSU)


    Fair enough.
    If the reviews from independent sites are good than it should be fine. I'm just saying that certificate is held in high regard, I personally would always buy a 80% certified PSU mainly because it is responsible for supplying safe power to all your chips. Once again research is good, I imagine the certificate has costs so it may not be on more budget PSUs. Just check they say something about the typical operating efficiency being a decent amount (if you get a 500watt PSU with 50% efficiency your only getting 250watts and if it that bad it may do worse).
    I normally just go for Corsair.
    As Alblaka said "to each his own".

  • MAKE sure that PSU has bronze 80+ certification otherwise it is most likely a crap piece of equipment that will destroy every chip in your PC. This basically means it is reliable and delivers more than %80 of the power it chews :).


    The NZXT M59 Classic is a very nice looking case for only $35-45 which comes with two very quiet fans :).


    I'm currently unsure how much wattage I need. I'm going to update my part list soon.


    Any recommendations for a psu around the 600w range? The psu is currently the part I'm researching the most. I am looking at this psu, but I haven't heard good reviews from Rosewill, hoever, this model seems like it has good reviews. Any advice? I'm kinda leaning modular, as the case I'm going to be getting is small (either the m59 or the 430).


    I love the look of the NZXT M59, and the fact that it has 2 fans, however, it does not have any front fans. Currently, I think having a bottom front mounted fan is the way to go, though I could be wrong. What do you think of the one I selected?


    [UPDATED THE PART LIST!]

    I5 2500K | 4GB Cosair Vengence | Radeon 6850 | Rosewill 600w PSU | GigaByte Z68MA | CM Elite 311 | Dell 19" 720p (upgrading soon!)| Hitachi 500 GB 7200 HDD | LG 24X |Windows 7 (Genuine!)
    Alblaka in a Lightning Rod suggestion thread...[/size]


  • Looks nice, you should definitely get some intake fans as sucking air out of the case results in low pressure which will suck in dust (add input fans and turn around the side fan?). The i5-2500k is a great choice...
    Once again is the Corsair option to expensive? You should be able to get away with a 500 but I would stay at 600 (my server has a 305 but then again no GPU) The PSU you linked has good reviews but some bad ones two (6% gave it lowest rating possible- people with good experiences don't review as much thou) one said that he had "read Rosewill had a terrible reputation for PSUs".
    Really not sure about Rosewill overall but it is your choice- I order internationally so RMAing is very difficult.


    Oh and Modular is a bit more $ also budget plugs (PSU-Cable) can cause serious issues (the first Modular PSUs were made by budget companies meaning many people still avoid them for being "unreliable").

  • I ended up going with this case. Any recommendations for additional fans?

    I5 2500K | 4GB Cosair Vengence | Radeon 6850 | Rosewill 600w PSU | GigaByte Z68MA | CM Elite 311 | Dell 19" 720p (upgrading soon!)| Hitachi 500 GB 7200 HDD | LG 24X |Windows 7 (Genuine!)
    Alblaka in a Lightning Rod suggestion thread...[/size]

  • I ended up going with this case. Any recommendations for additional fans?


    looks like it already has a rear fan. As the front will take a 140mm i'd suggest one of those, it'll be quieter than a 120mm.
    here a few that look nice: one two three. Plus they're all around the same noise level as the back fan.


    as a side note: Not really fond of the PSU on the bottom units myself but if it works for you then whatever.

  • Thanks, I was planning on putting a fan in the front. Why do you not like psu's on the bottom?

    I5 2500K | 4GB Cosair Vengence | Radeon 6850 | Rosewill 600w PSU | GigaByte Z68MA | CM Elite 311 | Dell 19" 720p (upgrading soon!)| Hitachi 500 GB 7200 HDD | LG 24X |Windows 7 (Genuine!)
    Alblaka in a Lightning Rod suggestion thread...[/size]

  • Thanks, I was planning on putting a fan in the front. Why do you not like psu's on the bottom?


    The airflow ends up being rather odd, plus there's the dust situation, if the thing's going to sit on the floor like most do that just invites dust to invade the PSU something fierce.

  • I didn't think of that. Anyhow, it will probably be up off the floor a bit, so it wont be directly on the floor. Hopefully that will help.

    I5 2500K | 4GB Cosair Vengence | Radeon 6850 | Rosewill 600w PSU | GigaByte Z68MA | CM Elite 311 | Dell 19" 720p (upgrading soon!)| Hitachi 500 GB 7200 HDD | LG 24X |Windows 7 (Genuine!)
    Alblaka in a Lightning Rod suggestion thread...[/size]