video card suggestions

[Khalus]

I guess i'll look around the CPU/Gpu stuff on newegg to see what's best and most affordable, i'm sure i can find a good video card for $200 or so, at least i'm hoping that to be the case!

I'd suggest you wait for that PSU to come into stock again. Its a really good one for the price, plus its modular, meaning most the cables are separate, and you add what you need, meaning less cables in your case taking up valuable airflow.

As far as a cheaper CPU & GPU. Check these out:

Intel Core i5-2400 Sandy Bridge 3.1GHz
EVGA GTX 570

~or a little cheaper~

EVGA GTX 560Ti



Honestly though, I suggest you don't go lower than the 570. Mainly due to the design and the most excellent Vapor Chamber Cooler that only the 570 & 580 have. Anything lower and you get a standard fan over the Proc of the GPU,{see the 560Ti} where 60-70% of the heat generated is kicked back into your case, causing temps to be much higher. With the 570 & 580, 100% of the heat generated is vented out the back of the case.

These new choices will save you about $300, $350 if you go with the 560Ti...

[Khalus]

You could also cut the Audio card entirely, cause the MB has on-board thats good enough. And choose a slightly smaller case, with the Antec 902, about $60 cheaper w/ rebate.

As for a monitor, depends on what size you want, and Acer makes some good ones, for example, same size as what you have now.

[ScipioCaesar]

This is some awesome stuff, thanks again. With shipping, I'm at about $1450 right now on newegg, but i think i may go from that i7 to the i5, and cut out the audio entirely as i didn't realize i could get away with that, check out the smaller case, and see what i come up with. they have some new customer 12 month no interest plan that would be ideal as well. oh; what about the warranties? should i purchase all the warranties on every item or leave them be?

EDIT: After cutting out the audio card, switching to the i5 and the smaller case, it brought everything down to $1200, and i get $70 rebate on top of that...does it matter which windows system i buy? the cheapest is about $120 ugh. and that's with the lowest GPU, the next highest one would bump it up considerably more

[Khalus]

EVGA already have excellent warranties for both the GPU and MB with purchase,{just remember to register them} I never had a CPU go out on me, so I never bought one for that. As for the windows, I use Ultimate just because I got it free, never really looked at the options to compare, so I really don't know. Someone else may.

Does that $1200 include the Monitor? And are you getting the 560Ti?

[ScipioCaesar]

EVGA already have excellent warranties for both the GPU and MB with purchase,{just remember to register them} I never had a CPU go out on me, so I never bought one for that. As for the windows, I use Ultimate just because I got it free, never really looked at the options to compare, so I really don't know. Someone else may.

Does that $1200 include the Monitor? And are you getting the 560Ti?

Yeah that includes the monitor and the 560Ti; good to hear that most of the parts come with warranties.

As for windows if pro/ultimate have no benefits than i guess i just get the bare minimum? There's a windows for $55 but idk if it gives everything since all the others are so much more ($110+)

Just to make sure i'm getting this all down here's everything i have so far...

DVD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827135204
CASE: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811129097
HARD DRIVE: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16822145368
MONITOR: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16824254055
GPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130604
PSU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817139006
KEYBOARD/MOUSE: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16823126041
RAM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820211457
MOTHERBOARD: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813188073
CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819115074
COOLING SYSTEM: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835106142

Well that's what I've got so far, all together just over $1200. If any of those are subpar or incompatable or something let me know because i wouldn't know any better. I hope that all looks pretty good though, wouldn't shock me if i need to change a part or two however.

[Loth]

Yeah that includes the monitor and the 560Ti; good to hear that most of the parts come with warranties.

As for windows if pro/ultimate have no benefits than i guess i just get the bare minimum? There's a windows for $55 but idk if it gives everything since all the others are so much more ($110+)

I am not sure what that $55 Windows version is, but the one you would likely want to buy is Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit OEM which is ~$100.

Well that's what I've got so far, all together just over $1200. If any of those are subpar or incompatable or something let me know because i wouldn't know any better. I hope that all looks pretty good though, wouldn't shock me if i need to change a part or two however.

I would suggest you take a look at the Fractal Design R3 line of cases, with the setup you have, they are about the best you can get if you also value a quiet computer.

For CPU cooling, since you are not going to overclock, the extra CPU cooler is not needed, but if you do not want to use the Intel cooler that comes with the CPU, you should look to the Scythe Mugen 2 or 3 cooler, as that is the best price/performance you can get at the price level you are looking at.

Finally, I suggest you post this build on tom's hardware New Build Forum using the How To Ask For New Build Advice template, and you will likely get a lot of good input and help in combos if possible to cut price.

[ScipioCaesar]

I am not sure what that $55 Windows version is, but the one you would likely want to buy is Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit OEM which is ~$100.

Found it, thanks!

I would suggest you take a look at the Fractal Design R3 line of cases, with the setup you have, they are about the best you can get if you also value a quiet computer.

Sweet I'll have to check them out against the one i picked for now.

For CPU cooling, since you are not going to overclock, the extra CPU cooler is not needed, but if you do not want to use the Intel cooler that comes with the CPU, you should look to the Scythe Mugen 2 or 3 cooler, as that is the best price/performance you can get at the price level you are looking at.

I don't need the cooler? That's awesome, saves me $50!

Finally, I suggest you post this build on tom's hardware New Build Forum using the How To Ask For New Build Advice template, and you will likely get a lot of good input and help in combos if possible to cut price.

Alright thanks man I'll have to check that site out then.

All said and done with what I have how well will my PC run games and such? And how easily upgradable will it be in the future?

[Coldfire]

Pro and Ultimate have absolutely no advantage for normal users. http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/w...oducts/compare
Also the memory limit is different http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/libr...mits_windows_7
And about the soundcard: If you like good sound and don't have a soundsystem with digital input you should buy something like a Asus Xonar D1. Onboard sound always has issues since the raw audio outputs are being hit with interferences by the surrounding mass of chips and lanes.

[Loth]

With your current setup the PSU is overkill, but with the motherboard you have picked which supports SLI, it will be great if you intend to add a second GTX 560 Ti down the line.

With the screen resolution of that monitor, it would perform extremely well, and only few games at max settings will struggle like Crysis 2 with 1.9 patch plus DX11 and Highres texture pack or Metro 2033.

You can read a review of the GTX 560 Ti here.

[Khalus]

As it stands you'll be able to upgrade your CPU to an i7, add another 8gb of RAM, and get a better GPU/PSU when needed. And yeah do take others advice as well, as my suggestions are what I'd build. However, I do suggest you stick with the Antec Case, they have very good airflow, which you'll need with that 560Ti. I still highly suggest you get the 570 though...

And the reason I suggested that Heatsink was because it provides additional internal cool air vented 360 degree, that will hit the back of your GPU as well, providing more cooling to the PCB. {you can get by fine with the standard heatsink the CPU comes with though.}


All-in-all though, its a pretty good mid-range PC...oh and it kicks the snot out of that 'thing' you currently have...LOL