$2500'ish (broken budget already, 3K now) Gaming Build - Suggestions/Thoughts?

[Caldezar]

Well first thing to make note on is the monitor. The U2410 is far from a cheap monitor. And at 1920x1200, it's the perfect resolution with the perfect aspect ratio. (16:10) I hate the 16:9 ratio that 1080p runs at. games always look vertically limited on 1080p monitors to me, they drive me crazy. And $520 seems like a CRAZY amount of money to spend on a 1080p TN panel monitor. For that much money on a TN, I'd rather buy a really nice 27" 1080p. But, as it stands, I opted for the u2410 for higher resolutions and the incredible colour accuracy. And 120hz is a complete non-issue for me. I'll be running a 60hz monitor with V-Sync to avoid tearing. Anything beyond 60fps isn't overkill as you're not going to see it.

Sound card... this one's always had me struggling. If I don't run 5.1 or 7.1, is there really a point to an aftermarket sound card? How much different is it than the on board chipsets that are pretty damn good these days? I just have a hard time justifying spending money on something that's doing basically nothing for me.

As for the 2 5870's being overkill; agreed... mostly. And that's the kicker. Most games will be absolutely crushed with that setup. But I want to make sure that the system has some extended life in it. I'd like to ensure that any game coming out (ie. Crysis 2) will have a decent framerate on high settings. If I wanted a system that could just run everything generally well, I would have stuck to my old system and the single 5850.

Windows 7 license is not on the list as I already have a technet subscription.

XFX has a better warranty than Sapphire for sure. But for build quality; Sapphire all the way. This is coming from someone that loves XFX. But after the first batch of 'reference' PCB's are out the door, I've always found that XFX card quality drops a bit. And I didn't really choose Sapphire for the brand, so much as the Vapor-X technology. They're much cooler and quieter than stock; and it works out to cheaper than 2 ref cards + aftermarket coolers.

I thought about an X58 board for a while. But that's a huge premium to go with Intel, and the performance per dollar gain is really not there. Not to mention, I really have a problem with Intel as a company. But I listed that earlier in the thread.

[Zero82z]

Originally Posted by Caldezar

Sound card... this one's always had me struggling. If I don't run 5.1 or 7.1, is there really a point to an aftermarket sound card? How much different is it than the on board chipsets that are pretty damn good these days? I just have a hard time justifying spending money on something that's doing basically nothing for me.

If you have a decent pair of headphones then a good sound card will blow onboard out of the water. There's no comparison. Even the best onboard audio sounds like garbage compared to a really good card.

[Caldezar]

Originally Posted by Zero82z

If you have a decent pair of headphones then a good sound card will blow onboard out of the water. There's no comparison. Even the best onboard audio sounds like garbage compared to a really good card.

I run a Razer Carcharias for in-game chat, and my 2.1 is going to be a set of Klipsch ProMedia 2.1's. Maybe I'll go with a sound card at the same time I pick up a 5.1 headset; which I plan to do over the next couple months. Just need to sort out which one I want.

*EDIT* 3 days until I'm 30... 5 days until I order all the parts.

[jcmaz]

Don't get a 5.1 headset. They don't work properly.

A soundcard can give you advantage in some games (namely CS because you can position people properly). Also it adds more clarity and ooomph to your headphones. (at least mine did). I went from crappy Realtek onboard to an HT Omega Striker and the difference is huge.

1) More EQ adjustments.
2) More Bass for my headphones (they lack bass)
3) More outputs for 5.1 sound
4) Front Audio output.

[Luay79]

If you can still find it (I can't where I'm from), get the Auzentech X-Fi Forte sound card. It's better than the Creative because it excels in both games and music.
Guess it's too much to get a 1600 resolution display, but I'm happy for you not getting 1080P.

[Caldezar]

Thanks for the advice everyone! All input was really taken to heart as I was bouncing ideas and thoughts back and forth. I have one other thread open with a question regarding 470's... but one way or another, I'll be ordering a system on Monday.

Mods, feel free to close this thread as I'll be opening a WIP for the build and benchmarks after ordering.

[Iphikratous]

Originally Posted by Caldezar

Thanks for the advice everyone! All input was really taken to heart as I was bouncing ideas and thoughts back and forth. I have one other thread open with a question regarding 470's... but one way or another, I'll be ordering a system on Monday.

Mods, feel free to close this thread as I'll be opening a WIP for the build and benchmarks after ordering.

Love the Case! Just be sure that the heatsink will mount in the traditional east-west on the AMD motherboard, otherwise it will mess up the FT02's airflow. My Fenrir only mounts north-south on AMD, so its useless if I get the silverstone.

[Realityshift]

I prefer the 800D :p

Personally I also saw a HUGE difference in sound quality going from realtek to the fatality that im using, only cost me $45 but on both my speakers and headsets/phones I can deffinetly notice the difference, biggest thing I noticed though is how high I can crank the volume, mostly in headsets but I noticed with realtek I couldnt get my volume to the level that I liked that gave enough crispness to my sound effects.