first gaming computer around 2000$

[falco333]

Hello, its the first time i buy and custom the part of a gaming computer
im willing to try to end around 2000$ for it and i expect it to be able to run anything at ultra graphic. right now i was thinking about those parts, do you specialists sees any major flaw or thing i should change?


Intel Core i7 960 Quad Core Processor LGA1366 3.2GHZ Bloomfield 8MB LGA1366 4.8GT/S Retail Box

Noctua NH-U12P SE2 LGA1155/1156/1366 AM2/AM3 I7/I5/PHENOM Heatpipe Cooler W/ 2XNH-P12 120MM Fans

Gigabyte G1.Sniper ATX LGA1366 X58 DDR3 3PCI-E16 2PCI-E1 USB3.0 Bigfoot Killer 2100 S

1 x Corsair Vengeance CMZ6GX3M3A1600C9 6GB 3X2GB DDR3-1600 CL9-9-9-24 Triple Channel Memory Kit

1 x GeForce GTX 580 772MHZ 1536MB 4GHZ GDDR5 PCI-E Dual DVI-I Mini HDMI

Cooler Master Haf 932 Full Tower EATX Case 6X5.25 1X3.5 5X3.5INT No PSU USB eSATA 1394 Audio - Black

Seasonic M12D 850W EPS12V 20/24PIN ATX Modular Power Supply Active PFC 80PLUS 8PIN PCI-E 120MM Fan

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium Edition 64BIT French DVD OEM

2 x Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB SATA3 6GB/S 7200RPM 64MB Cache 3.5IN Dual Proc Hard Drive OEM

LG BH10LS30 Blu-Ray Writer 10X BD-R 16X DVD-RW Lightscribe SATA Retail Box

LG GH22NS50 Black 22X SATA DVD Writer OEM

nGear Flash Card Reader 3.5IN Internal USB Black CF/SM/SDHC/MMC/MS/XD 18IN Cable

Onboard Sound Card Integrated On My Motherboard
Onboard Network Ethernet Card Integrated On My Motherboard

total : 1847 + tax + shipping = around 2000$

any idea to do better than that?

[JPMiller]

First off, considering what you chose as a CPU, I would switch to an 1155 setup.
Newegg.com - Intel Core i7-2600K Sandy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo Boost) 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80623I72600K
Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GA-P67A-UD5-B3 LGA 1155 Intel P67 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
Newegg.com - G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory Model F3-10666CL9D-8GBXL
These are almost $200 less and better performance.
That mobo you picked is cheesy and WAYYYYY overpriced, the Gigabyte I linked has basically all the same features minus the Killer nic and XFi audio...
You generally don't pay more for your motherboard than your CPU.

[falco333]

oh yes sorry, i forgot to wrote i changed my mind for the processor, instead of the 960 i was going for the 970 which cost more than the mobo i picked

though im reading about the sandy bridge and other things you choose and they seems to be better than my choice, thx!

[JPMiller]

With the CPU I linked your getting nearly the equivalent of the 980
Your still overpaying for less power.
If you were going all out with a 980 or 990x and a tri SLI config, then I'd suggest the 1366, but as is your better of with the 1155.
If all you like about that board is the southbridge cheesy clip, then its wasted due to the fact your case has no side window.

[falco333]

no actually i dont know much about hardware so i went to ncix choose the vesta i7 5200 sli and choose between the choice they give me for each part, i dont even know if everything is compatible, im trying to find spec on the net but i realised im better at playing than building computer!

btw i choose the case with the best 5 star result and the most comment on it but if you know a better one, tell me

[ShyguyXPC]

Hello, its the first time i buy and custom the part of a gaming computer
im willing to try to end around 2000$ for it and i expect it to be able to run anything at ultra graphic. right now i was thinking about those parts, do you specialists sees any major flaw or thing i should change?


Intel Core i7 960 Quad Core Processor LGA1366 3.2GHZ Bloomfield 8MB LGA1366 4.8GT/S Retail Box

Noctua NH-U12P SE2 LGA1155/1156/1366 AM2/AM3 I7/I5/PHENOM Heatpipe Cooler W/ 2XNH-P12 120MM Fans

Gigabyte G1.Sniper ATX LGA1366 X58 DDR3 3PCI-E16 2PCI-E1 USB3.0 Bigfoot Killer 2100 S

1 x Corsair Vengeance CMZ6GX3M3A1600C9 6GB 3X2GB DDR3-1600 CL9-9-9-24 Triple Channel Memory Kit

1 x GeForce GTX 580 772MHZ 1536MB 4GHZ GDDR5 PCI-E Dual DVI-I Mini HDMI

Cooler Master Haf 932 Full Tower EATX Case 6X5.25 1X3.5 5X3.5INT No PSU USB eSATA 1394 Audio - Black

Seasonic M12D 850W EPS12V 20/24PIN ATX Modular Power Supply Active PFC 80PLUS 8PIN PCI-E 120MM Fan

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium Edition 64BIT French DVD OEM

2 x Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB SATA3 6GB/S 7200RPM 64MB Cache 3.5IN Dual Proc Hard Drive OEM

LG BH10LS30 Blu-Ray Writer 10X BD-R 16X DVD-RW Lightscribe SATA Retail Box

LG GH22NS50 Black 22X SATA DVD Writer OEM

nGear Flash Card Reader 3.5IN Internal USB Black CF/SM/SDHC/MMC/MS/XD 18IN Cable

Onboard Sound Card Integrated On My Motherboard
Onboard Network Ethernet Card Integrated On My Motherboard

total : 1847 + tax + shipping = around 2000$

any idea to do better than that?

I must be missing something... You want Ultra Graphics, have a $2000 Budget, your only stuffing in a SINGLE GTX 580?

Why not Two? or Why not a Radeon 6990 Dual GPU Card?

no actually i dont know much about hardware so i went to ncix choose the vesta i7 5200 sli and choose between the choice they give me for each part, i dont even know if everything is compatible, im trying to find spec on the net but i realised im better at playing than building computer!

btw i choose the case with the best 5 star result and the most comment on it but if you know a better one, tell me

Why are you basing your Choice case on positive Feedback scores and most comments?

You should be looking for one that will hold all your parts, have enough room to get in there if needed to replace parts, or connect things, etc, and the case should be of good build quality. the other thing is find a case that YOU like (as far as the Appearance, layout inside, etc goes).

Another good thing to look for is find a case with good Airflow (not just a ton of fans in it, but placement, and make sure its has at least 120mm sized fans, or larger. 120mm, 140mm, 200mm, etc)

[falco333]

hmm ok, as why i dont have 2 gtx 580, since the gtx 580 is one of the best card i found, i thought one was enough and that i could just get an other one if needed for new games later, and adding an other one made me explode my budget with the choice i had at the beginning

and as i said i know nothing about hardware, so basing my choice on positive feedback of tons of people and reading about it on the net is the best i could do, and since im asking here too im not just basing my choice on the feedback i got :P

and i also thought the ncix pc "customize" was proposing me only part that can work with my choice, so i had to choose one one way or an other

[JPMiller]

OK, forget the whole NCIX fiasco altogether...
Now that we know all the info we can start over...
I based MY suggestions on what you had originally picked and assumed you knew more about specs, etc.
I'm too tired to look up more now, but tomorrow I'll make more suggestions.

[falco333]

cool thx!

oh and my resolution is 1920 x 1080 if it change anything for your suggestions

[ShyguyXPC]

While waiting for JP's Suggestions, in a little while I'll go Window Shopping at Newegg myself, and see what I can put together for the $2000 budget.

Your using NCIX from Canada? Or NCIX's US Site? Newegg Also Serves Canada, which is why I'm asking.

Newegg's US Native, NCIX is Canada Native.

Tigerdirect also has Canada Service as well.

[ShyguyXPC]

Alright, going Window Shopping now

(I'm 34 and I have to mediate and Manage a bunch of crap a.k.a. Babysit a bunch of 60 year old's as if they're a bunch of 5 year old's with our Game server and Team Speak that I set up for them with the game we play, I do all the Footwork with setting up the server, configuring it, updating it, managing, Paying the bill with Donations using my Paypal and bank account, etc etc, and I still have to mediate the petty crap between members, drives me nuts some days and want to just say to hell with it, unfortunately I love playing the game too and like most of them myself)


Anyways, I'll be using Newegg USA for the list since I don't see a reply yet.





Edit: Ok, keep in mind this is If I were buying this with $2000.

I made a list of parts (most are identical) at Newegg USA and Newegg Canada since I wasn't sure if the $2000 budget was in US or Canadian Dollars.




US List:

Newegg.com - SAMSUNG Black 22X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 16X DVD+R DL 22X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA CD/DVD Burner - CD / DVD Burners

Newegg.com - COOLER MASTER HAF 922 RC-922M-KKN1-GP Black Steel + Plastic and Mesh Bezel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

Newegg.com - Western Digital Caviar Black WD1502FAEX 1.5TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

2x Newegg.com - MSI N570GTX-M2D12D5/OC GeForce GTX 570 (Fermi) 1280MB 320-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

Newegg.com - Antec TruePower New TP-650 650W Continuous Power ATX12V V2.3 / EPS12V V2.91 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC "compatible with Core i7/Core i5" Power Supply

Newegg.com - Rosewill USB 2.0 External 74-in-1 Card Reader / Aluminum Body / Supports SDHC and SDXC / WINDOWS 7 Compatible

Newegg.com - A-DATA XPG Gaming Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model AX3U1600GB2G9-2G

Newegg.com - MSI P67A-G45 (B3) LGA 1155 Intel P67 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

Newegg.com - Intel Core i7-2600K Sandy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo Boost) 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80623I72600K

Newegg.com - Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit 1-Pack for System Builders - Operating Systems

Newegg.com - CORSAIR CWCH60 Hydro Series H60 High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler

Newegg.com - LITE-ON Black 4X BD-ROM 8X DVD-ROM 32X CD-ROM SATA Internal 4X Blu-ray Disc Reader Model iHOS104-08

Newegg.com - OCZ Agility 2 OCZSSD3-2AGT90G 3.5" 90GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)



Subtotal: $1,950.85

Shipping: $10.98

Grand Total: $1,961.83




Canada List:

Newegg.ca - Antec TruePower New TP-650 650W Continuous Power ATX12V V2.3 / EPS12V V2.91 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC "compatible with Core i7/Core i5" Power Supply

Newegg.ca - Intel Core i7-2600K Sandy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo Boost) 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80623I72600K

Newegg.ca - Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit 1-Pack for System Builders - Operating Systems

Newegg.ca - LG Black 10X BD-ROM 16X DVD-ROM SATA Internal Blu-ray Disc Combo Model CH10LS20 R LightScribe Support

Newegg.ca - SAMSUNG Black 22X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 16X DVD+R DL 22X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA CD/DVD Burner - CD / DVD Burners

Newegg.ca - COOLER MASTER HAF 922 RC-922M-KKN1-GP Black Steel + Plastic and Mesh Bezel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

Newegg.ca - Western Digital Caviar Black WD1502FAEX 1.5TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

2x Newegg.ca - MSI N570GTX-M2D12D5/OC GeForce GTX 570 (Fermi) 1280MB 320-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

Newegg.ca - Rosewill USB 2.0 External 74-in-1 Card Reader / Aluminum Body / Supports SDHC and SDXC / WINDOWS 7 Compatible

Newegg.ca - A-DATA XPG Gaming Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model AX3U1600GB2G9-2G

Newegg.ca - MSI P67A-G45 (B3) LGA 1155 Intel P67 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

Newegg.ca - Crucial RealSSD C300 CTFDDAC064MAG-1G1CCA 2.5" 64GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)



Subtotal: $1,897.37

Shipping/Other charges (unknown)


Had to opt for a smaller SSD since the one on the US site isn't available.



The SSD is intended for the OS, one or two games and some other frequently used Programs.

1.5TB drive for all other games, and storage.

A single Bluray drive for playing movies, 2nd drive is regular DVD Burner.

2 GTX 570's in SLI should perform almost as good if not as good as a Single GTX 590 (590's are a Joke for the price range, their under clocked Dual GPU GTX 580's, aside from the increase shader count, their still clocked much slower, most specs on paper a GTX 570 or pair of them to be precise would still beat a single GTX 590)


the Corsair H60 is one of the better enclosed Loop Hydro coolers out there right now, for the price can't be beat really. H60 is a product of a Joint venture between Corsair and Cool IT Systems, 2 of the best brands/competitors in this market.

CPU is good for Overclocking, RAM is good for Overclocking, Motherboard is as well, Corsair H60 should help keep it cool if OCing, even if your not.

The Two GTX 570's are Factory Overclocked beyond stock settings, so should perform even better.

Antec 650W PSU has more than enough Amps to feed the 2 GTX 570's, plus the rest of the system.

[falco333]

ncix canada, i live in quebec.

woa, reading this i can see the difference between "knowing what you do" and the limited choice given by ncix..!

hmm would it be a good idea to get a 580 or a 590 and add an other when price go down a bit, or 2 570 is still a better idea?

and is a ssd worth it? people seems to disagree about it, would it be better to use the extra $ of the ssd on something else?

btw thx already for all those info!

[ShyguyXPC]

You could use the money from the SSD on something else, but with the SSD, many times the OS and frequent use programs, even some games that load from the hard drive a lot run much better on them.

If your one to shut down your PC every night, the SSD runs faster booting up and ready to go than regular HDD's.

but the price per Gigabyte is still absurdly high compared to regular drives.


As to the Video cards, a Single 580 would be fine for now, I wouldn't bother with the 590, its kind of a joke.

Its supposed to be 2 590 chips on a single card, but the chips are clocked closer to a 570's chip.

the 570 has 480 CUDA Cores, where as the 580 has a full 512. When you see that, you think "well the 580/590 should perform better"

When you compare a 590 next to a 570, you can see some results.

Video Card Comparison - GPUReview.com

Memory Bandwidth, FLOPS, Pixel and Texture Fill Rates.


Doing the math, and they both balance out to be about the same, a nod towards one in one instance, a nod to the other in another instance.

Increased Cores, Lower Clock speeds from a stock 580:

Memory Bandwidth: 327.744 GB/sec
FLOPS: 2488.32 GFLOPS
Pixel Fill Rate: 58272 MPixels/sec
Texture Fill Rate: 77696 MTexels/sec


Decreased Cores, but faster Clock speeds on the 570 (2x):

Memory Bandwidth: 152 GB/sec
FLOPS: 1405.44 GFLOPS
Pixel Fill Rate: 29280 MPixels/sec
Texture Fill Rate: 43920 MTexels/sec

152x2=304 vs 327
1405x2=2810 vs 2488
29280x2=58560 vs 58272
43920x2=87840 vs 77696


Not an exact measurement of performance, but performance for a single 590 should be similar to Two 570's in SLI, versus 2 580's.


Here you can see the 590 vs 580: Video Card Comparison - GPUReview.com

not very accurate but multiply the 580's numbers in each of those categories and you can see how much better two 580's could potentially be over a single 590.




If you don't want to spend the full $2000 budget, then ditching the SSD & grabbing a single 580 now, and get a 2nd down the road if you need it is an option as well. Just keep in mind each 580 uses 244W of power, your going to need at least 40-42 Amps of +12V power for both cards, not to mention the rest of the systems needs.

that 650W PSU above should be plenty still, though JP may disagree, if I were building this with the budget I'd probably go for at least a 700-750W PSU just to have a little extra in reserve if needed.

[falco333]

hmm one more question, is there a reason why you choose external for this :

Newegg.com - Rosewill USB 2.0 External 74-in-1 Card Reader / Aluminum Body / Supports SDHC and SDXC / WINDOWS 7 Compatible

[falco333]

is there any risk with hydro cooler? are they far better than fans?

[JPMiller]

Well glad I checked in before posting MY list...
Except for small variances, I was linking quite similar or identical specs...
That's a pretty solid build!

[falco333]

oh, btw, i read everywhere i7 2600k oc to 4.something

if im not gonna oc (i cant even build a 6 pieces library with instructions...) is it still your first choice?

[ShyguyXPC]

hmm one more question, is there a reason why you choose external for this :

Newegg.com - Rosewill USB 2.0 External 74-in-1 Card Reader / Aluminum Body / Supports SDHC and SDXC / WINDOWS 7 Compatible

Rather than take up an Internal 3.5" drive bay or use a 5.25" bay to 3.5" bay converter, these are just as fast to use as they use USB 2.0 anyways. Many case these days don't even have 3.5" external bays to use, like my older Thermaltake Armor Case, it has the 3.5" bay integrated into the Power switch buttons which take up a 5.25" bay slot. Many cases have the USB and Power and external switches integrated into the cases front panel frame or what ever.

The external card would work fine, the HAF 922 case has a 3.5" cut out for a reader or whatever, but If I had to redo it all over again in my cases design I would have left the reader out externally and just allowed for better case airflow ventilation instead of having the reader that blocks the airflow in that part of the case.


Also I have found in past year there has been situations I wish I had an external one, to use between multiple systems instead of just one that can be used per system.

(My Mom's Netbook for example, ONLY accepts SD Cards, so have to look for adapters for other types MicroSD, Mini SD, Sony memory Cards, etc)

is there any risk with hydro cooler? are they far better than fans?

There's always Risk, but this cooler is pretty safe to use, as long as you don't do something dumb like accidentally cut the tubing or snag a tube and yank it out, or poke a hole in the radiator.

I have the same one, that will be used in my system.

I have a Core i7 920 Socket 1366, 6GB DDR3 1333MHz, 5 Hard drives, 2 DVD Burners, Geforce GTX 470, Geforce GTX 285, HT Omega Striker 7.1 Sound card, bunch of case fans, the above mentioned flash media card reader, all on a Corsair 750TX Power supply.

I just ordered a Factory Refurbished Coolermaster CM 690 II Advanced case, and I think it came today, have to check the other room, just woke up 10 minutes ago from a mid day nap LOL.

But once I get my parts transferred over and some other stuff, some time in the next month or two I will be trying to Overclock my i7 920 to at least 3 or 3.2GHz if I can.



As to Overclocking, if you don't plan on it, then the Standard Non "K" version of the i7 2600 would be fine too, same out of box clock speed, bit cheaper, still can be Overclocked, the only difference between those and the K versions, is the K versions (Like AMD's Black Series CPU's) has unlocked Clock Multipliers, and add greater flexibility and ease for Overclocking.

If you want to save a little more the i5 2500 is plenty fast as well, 100MHz slower, lacks the extra Cache the i7 has, but still a very competent 3.3GHz Quad core.

[ShyguyXPC]

Well glad I checked in before posting MY list...
Except for small variances, I was linking quite similar or identical specs...
That's a pretty solid build!

Had nothing else to do this morning, couldn't sleep despite the fact I was getting that tired heavy eyes feeling staring at the screen.

What do you think on the PSU thing? Dual GTX 580's, would they need a 700-750W model instead of the 650W? since the 580 pulls at least 244W a piece, not sure how much total the rest of the system would be pulling from the +12V and the 3.3 and 5V.

[JPMiller]

One thing I've learned is that you NEVER have to bother looking at the other rails!
Every power supply is about 50X what is needed for ANY system on those rails.
The only rail that matters is the +12V.
That's the only rail that gets any true draw...
The average 300W has more power than any PC will draw from the rest.

I will say I would personally forgo the water cooling for air...
The H60 isn't exactly spectacular at idle, and I don't even think its better at full load than the $30 CM Hyper 212+