$1500 SC2 Machine

[highgrade]

1. What YOUR PC will be used for.
Mostly just gaming, and in that regard starcraft 2 more specifically. However I would like to play newer games aswell.

2. What YOUR budget is. A price range is acceptable as long as it's not more than a 20% spread
Would like to keep it below $1500

3. What country YOU will be buying YOUR parts from.
Canada. Either newegg.ca / NCIX/ or canadacomputers

4. IF YOU have a brand preference. That means, are you an Intel-Fanboy, AMD-Fanboy, ATI-Fanboy, nVidia-Fanboy, Seagate-Fanboy, WD-Fanboy, etc, etc, etc, you get the picture.
I'm open to suggestion on this, whichever yields the better peformance is the one I'm interested in.

5. If YOU intend on using any of YOUR current parts, and if so, what those parts are.
(None, Brand new build)

6. IF YOU have searched and/or read similar threads.
Yes but would like a more specific build for this purpose

7. IF YOU plan on overclocking or run the system at default speeds.
I don't know much about it but if it's necessary then I can

8. WHEN do you plan to build it?
ASAP, this month for sure

9. What resolution do you use?
1920x1080

I currently have a samsung syncmaster 19in LCD 5ms. If it cannot play this resolution then I'm open to suggestions on a nice 1920x1080 monitor and will add more to the budget. Thanks in advance!

[_dangtx_]

asap means i3 530 on a nice gigabyte(yes i splet it) sli motherboard with 2 gtx 460's 1 gigers and perhaps a nice 600 watt corsair or better if you plan on adding gpu muscle in the near future. 4 gigs of ram aplenty
try a samsung 24 incher, or perhaps the new 23's? really really nice
case wise im sold on the ps04b's for the price, may want to take a look at coolermaster with their new 912 though.

[headsh0t]

NCIX.com - Buy Intel Core i5 760 Quad Core Processor Lynnfield LGA1156 2.8GHZ 8MB Cache Retail Box - BX80605I5760 In Canada.

NCIX.com - Buy Gigabyte P55A-UD3 ATX LGA1156 P55 DDR3 2PCI-E 2PCI RAID GBLAN CrossFireX USB3.0 SATA3 Motherboard - GA-P55A-UD3 In Canada.

NCIX.com - Buy G.SKILL F3-12800CL8D-4GBRM Ripjaws PC3-12800 4GB 2X2GB DDR3-1600 CL8-8-8-24 Core i5 Memory Kit - F3-12800CL8D-4GBRM In Canada.

NCIX.com - Buy Western Digital WD1001FALS Caviar Black 1TB SATA2 7200RPM 4.2MS 32MB 3.5IN Dual Proc Hard Drive OEM - WD1001FALS In Canada.

NCIX.com - Buy Corsair VX550W 550W ATX 12V 41A 24PIN ATX Power Supply Active PFC 120MM Fan - CMPSU-550VX In Canada.

Didn't include case since that's personal taste. There is free shipping for the entire order if you get that PSU I linked. Also not sure on video card, cause if it's ONLY SC2 you're wanting to play then you could do with a 5770 for around ~$150 or step it up a bit to a GTX460 for ~$200, but if you're planning on playing newer games that will be coming out then you may want something more. Yes you could also get away with a dual core i3 or something for SC2 but I'd take the quad for future proofing, and even today there are some games that take advantage of 4 threads. It could also benefit you in other ways depending on what you're doing. ALSO if you wanted an mATX system for taking up less space or something you could go with the EVGA P55 SLI V mATX board. So I'm not really helping by giving you all these suggestions really but just some options :) lol

[highgrade]

Thanks for the fast replys!

I forgot to add that I would typically like to be playing the game at High-Ultra settings with great fps. Whatever combination of parts that'll make this game rock is what I'm looking for thanks again!

[Kilauea]

Here is a little suggestion, comes to 1381.90 including monitor taking items from surprise specials, but without shipping, price match or taxes.

Caviar Black 1tb
Samsung DVD writer
Asus VW266H I am partial to 1920x1200 resolution, but cheaper monitors can be had.
Gigabyte P55A-UD3
Win 7 Home premium 64bit
Intel Core i5 760
EVGA 460 1tb
G.Skill Ripjaws 2x2gb DDR3-1600
Corsair TX650 Can be price matched or you can get the 750 for 10$ more or the 850 for 20 (after MIR, but with free shipping)
Antec 300 Can obviously be changed for something suiting for you.

[Realityshift]

1gb 460 would be perfect for what your looking for, although I personally wouldnt say a quad is any better then a dualy, the i3 530 is still a little power house of a CPU and easily clocks to 4ghz if you decide to overclock it.

should be able to grab a 23" monitor for under $225, I normally see them around $180. For PSU id aim for something modular personally, I know the antec true power 650 is on sale for 99.99 at NCIX, normally I would stand hard for cosair but there are some very good modular 80 plus PSUs out there to choose from these days for less price. Problem with the TX lines are they are starting to show some age, and they can be very difficult to do cable routing with in smaller cases due to ultra long cables.

Try taking a look at the CM 690-2 Advanced and basic cases, great case for the price that replaces another awesome case.

[jigglylizard]

If you get a 1gb 460 or stronger card, you will be fine. If you get an i3/i5 like the 530 and manage an overclock of 3.4 ghz+, you will be fine.

By 'fine' I mean everything on Ultra with 30+ minimum FPS, maybe even turn on AA depending on the overclock.

[Chalaska]

After price matching this sytem with various resources using Shopbot - Compare prices - Canada - Price Comparison - Comparison Shopping I got these components down to $1511 before shipping & handling & tax. Normally it would be: $1662.

Case: Antec 300
MB: Gigabyte p55a-ud4p
proc: intel core i3 530
cpu heatsink: coolermaster 212+
ram: 4gb gskill 12800
video card: asus gtx 470
power supply: corsair tx750
os: win 7 oem
ssd: ocz vertex 2 60gb
hdd: wd 1tb black 64mb
monitor: samsung 24" lcd
dvd: samsung dvd burner

Basically this system would be a pretty good setup for roughly $1600 after shipping & taxes. I know a little more than you want to spend but hell it'd be the best setup. You can always remove the SSD if you want...

[martin_metal_88]

Originally Posted by Chalaska

After price matching this sytem with various resources using Shopbot - Compare prices - Canada - Price Comparison - Comparison Shopping I got these components down to $1511 before shipping & handling & tax. Normally it would be: $1662.

Case: Antec 300
MB: Gigabyte p55a-ud4p
proc: intel core i3 530
cpu heatsink: coolermaster 212+
ram: 4gb gskill 12800
video card: asus gtx 470
power supply: corsair tx750
os: win 7 oem
ssd: ocz vertex 2 60gb
hdd: wd 1tb black 64mb
monitor: samsung 24" lcd
dvd: samsung dvd burner

Basically this system would be a pretty good setup for roughly $1600 after shipping & taxes. I know a little more than you want to spend but hell it'd be the best setup. You can always remove the SSD if you want...

To play SC2 there is no need of a SSD. In the game this will make NO difference. Also, SC2 is not a hard game to run so drop the 470, get a more budget video card and put a little extra on the CPU instead on going with the cheapest 1156CPU By dropping the SSD and getting a GTX 460 ( that will play the game at max no prob ) You will be able to get a better case, and a better CPU + all withing your budget. The rest is good!

[highgrade]

found this for cheaper than budget:

INTEL CORE i5 750 QUAD CORE CPU
ASUS P7P55D PRO MOTHERBOARD
GSKILL RIPJAWS 1600MHZ 7-8-7-24 4GB DDR3 RAM
PNY NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 480
2 X OCZ SOLID 2 SERIES SOLID STATE HARD DRIVES IN RAID-0
WESTERN DIGITAL GREEN 1TB HDD STORAGE DRIVE
ASUS DVD DUAL LAYER BURNER
COOLER MASTER SILENT M PRO 1000W MODULAR POWER SUPPLY
ZALMAN CNPS10 EXTREME CPU COOLER
LIAN LI PC8N ALUMINUM CASE
LIAN LI BLUE LED 120MM FANS
WINDOWS 7 64BIT ULTIMATE
OFFICE 200

also has a 24 in 1900x1200 samsung incl.
surely this would be great for starcraft 2 maxed, no?