gaming computer help $2000 budget

[RxBandit]

I'm building a gaming desktop on cyberpowerpc, and I have some questions. Keep in mind the most important thing for me in all of this is to have the best gaming performance possible, I want to be able to play the upcoming Battlefield 3 on Ultra High settings 1920x1080 resolution with zero lag! I just want to get some opinions before I make a big purchase.

Here is my starting point build I put together and the end price was $1707 with an additional 5% off. http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/saved/1DAG8A

Things I must have:
1. A graphics card that is amazing! I'm thinking dual cards or something with at least 1.5 GB DDR5 dedicated memory. I'm not looking to overclock, I want the parts to last as long as possible.
2. Solid State Hard Drive for the OS and my main games.
3. Was recommended to get a sandy bridge processor for optimal gaming performance.

Questions:
1. Do you think cyberpowerpc is giving me a good deal or would something like buying the parts on newegg and gettin a tech friend to put it together a better option?
2. Is investing in an extra case fan and noise reduction technology a good idea?
3. Do you suggest Upgrading the cooling fan or motherboard (needs to have USB 3.0) to something other than what I have chosen?
4. Do you have another suggestion on graphics card selection? I chose two NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 Ti 1GB running in SLi. Maybe a strong single card instead of dual cards? (I'm willing to pay alittle more to upgrade the cards if you think it is necessary)
5. Do you suggest a different power supply?
6. Any other ways to improve this build or save money would be appreciated!

Starter Build Specs:
Intel Core i7-2600K 3.40 GHz 8m Intel Smart Cache LGA1155
8GB DDR3/1600MHz Dual Channel Channel Memory
Motherboard: (SLI/CrossfireX) GigaByte GA-Z68A-D3H-B3
Two NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 Ti 1GB 16X PCIe in SLi
800 Watts - XtremeGear Gaming Power Supply
128 GB ADATA S501 V2 Sata 3 6.0G/s Gaming MLC Solid State Disk
1.5 TB Sata-II 3.0 Gb/s 32MB Cache 7200RPM HDD(data drive)
High Definition On-Board 7.1 Audio
PCI Wireless 802.11n 150Mbps NIC
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit
Planning on running a single 22-24 inch monitor.


The monitor I'm not worried about, I will choose their deal or get a discount since I work at Best Buy. Thank you for your time and help!

[ShyguyXPC]

Having the PC Custom Built (by self or a friend) is almost always the best route, to get the most bang for buck out of your budget.


Problem with your situation here is NO ONE knows exactly how taxing BF3 is going to be, until it comes out and even then, knowing EA/DICE the game will probably be full of bugs for months and months to come. (BF2, BF2142, etc)

You listed a 2600K, you don't need that if you don't plan on Overclocking there's no performance difference between the 2600 and 2600K, the only difference is the K has unlocked Multipliers for better OCing options, thats it.

Don't need 8GB of RAM, 4GB would be plenty for gaming. Not until games start requiring 64-bit OS to run will ANYONE need 8GB for Gaming. If your going to be doing a ton of multi tasking while gaming, then the extra RAM may come in handy, but for the games, and a couple things like Voice chat, Email/instant messenger, Media Player etc running while the game is running 4GB is still fine (can always add more later).

Xtreme Gear Power Supply? Never heard of them. May want to stick to Antec, Corsair and other Well Known Brands. 800W even for that system is overkill, probably wouldn't need anything over 600-650W and thats with room to spare.





just for example going through Newegg picking parts, this entire build list Minus a Monitor and Speakers/Headset, but including everything else, and its under $2000 budget.

Newegg.com - Sony Optiarc CD/DVD Burner 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 12X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM Black SATA Model AD-7261S-0B LightScribe Support - CD / DVD Burners

Newegg.com - Corsair Graphite Series 600T Black Steel / Plastic 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

Newegg.com - EVGA DS Superclocked 015-P3-1587-AR GeForce GTX 580 (Fermi) 1536MB 384-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

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/Core i5" Power Supply

Newegg.com - Microsoft SIDEWINDER X4 Keyboard

Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GM-M8000X Rubber Black 7 Buttons USB Wired Laser Gaming Mouse

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

Newegg.com - Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound - Thermal Compound / Grease

Newegg.com - WINTEC AMPX 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model 3AXH1333C9WS4GK

Newegg.com - GIGABYTE GA-Z68XP-UD3-iSSD LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

Newegg.com - Intel Core i7-2600 Sandy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo Boost) 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80623I72600

Newegg.com - COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus RR-B10-212P-G1 "Heatpipe Direct Contact" Long Life Sleeve 120mm CPU Cooler Compatible Intel Core i5 & Intel Core i7

Newegg.com - LG Black 10X BD-ROM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-ROM SATA Internal Blu-ray Drive Model UH12LS28 OEM LightScribe Support - Blu-Ray Drives

Newegg.com - Crucial M4 CT128M4SSD2CCA 2.5" 128GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)


Plenty of goodies, a DVD burner and Bluray Player, one of the best all around CPU coolers out there (a tube of extra thermal paste in case its needed, some of the best around as well), Good gaming keyboard (I have that one), one of the best Laser Gaming Mice out there now (also own one, though haven't gotten around to hooking it up yet), Motherboard has a Built in Intel SLC SSD drive 20GB basically functions like a Caching drive for frequently access files and programs, etc, Board supports SLI and Crossfire, etc.

1.5TB HDD (Western Digital Black Series are some of the best/fastest 7200RPM drives), added in a 128GB MLC SSD drive, both are SATA III/SATA 6.0Gbps (latest Gen drives).

There's an EVGA GTX 580 1.5GB Memory Video card, its a Super Clock Factory Overclocked model, EVGA is one of the best brands out there, great warranty, etc.

For about the same price, you probably could run 2 GTX 560 Ti's in SLI and be better than the 580, but then you have to deal with SLI, and whether or not it will work in certain games (and then there's the fact over all performance varies from practically almost nothing to nearly double the performance of a single card, but it depends on countless X Factors in the equation thats hard to be sure about).

Power Supply is more than you need, but it had Free shipping and price was reduced, but could easily handle to GTX 580's in SLI.

GTX 580 is single Fastest Single GPU card out there as well.


Total before Shipping: $1,962.80


After Shipping Added: $1,974.32


Just enough left in budget to get a decent Mouse pad or whatever, (depending on how old you are or your friend to build this, enough to buy them a case of Beer for the labor LOL).


Or even throw in a Wireless Network Card (forgot about that one)




Oh Snap.... Forgot to add the OS.


Nixed the Aftermarket CPU cooler, USB Flash Drive Reader, and the Standard DVD Burner from the list (Bluray player has DVD Burning capability)

And was enough to throw in Win 7 64-bit: Newegg.com - Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-bit - Operating Systems

Grand Total: $1,987.34 (minus Wireless NIC)

[RxBandit]

Thank you for taking the time to find those parts. You have given me alot of useful information! And yes I know some people that will do the labor in return for beer! lol.