Budget build <$1000

[ricknash61]

Hey guys,

I've come for your expertise once again. My old rig has finally bit the dust - motherboard failed. Good reason for me to get a brand new system.

I enjoy the occasional gaming but I use this PC for practically all of my needs, such as productivity software, surfing the web, connecting to my TV, etc. Gaming resolution will be 1920x1080 (or 1200p if I can find one!!!). I'll be buying a new monitor since my last benQ broke and it's hard to find 1920x1200 monitors nowadays for cheap so I'm leaning towards a 24' 1920x1080 monitor for my purposes. Monitor + CPU + power supply + video card + RAM + mobo has to less than 1000 tax in. I will probably overclock the CPU eventually (which is why I opted for the 2500k), but at this point in time I don't need a cooler.

Now the good stuff:

CPU, $200: Intel Core i5 2500K Quad Core Unlocked Processor LGA1155 3.3GHZ Sandy Bridge 6MB

RAM, $46: G.SKILL Ripjaws X F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL 8GB 4X2GB DDR3-1600 CL9-9-9-24 Memory

Mobo, $130: Gigabyte Z68A-D3-B3 ATX LGA1155 Z68 DDR3 2PCI-E16 3PCI-E1 2PCI SATA3 USB3.0 CrossFireX Motherboard
or
ASUS P8Z68-V LX Z68 LGA1155 ATX 2PCI-E16 2PCI-E1 DDR3 SATA3 USB3.0 Audio Video CrossFire Motherboard

Power supply, $100: Corsair TX750 V2 750W ATX 12V Single Rail 60A 24PIN ATX Power Supply Active PFC 80PLUS Bronze

Video card, $230: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 560 Ti Fermi 900MHZ 1GB 4.0GHZ GDDR5 2XDVI Mini HDMI DIRECTX11 PCI-E Video Card

Monitor, $160: BenQ V2410 24IN LED LCD Monitor 1920X1080 5000000:1 Black HDMI

or

LG W2442PA-BF 24IN Widescreen LCD Monitor Black 2MS 10000:1 1920X1080 1080P HAS Tilt Pivot HDMI DVI

or

BenQ G2420HD 24IN Widescreen LCD 1920X1080 2MS 300CDM 40000:1 DVI-D HDMI

I'm leaning more towards the first two monitors here - can anyone who owns any of these chime in and let me know their experiences?

For the video card, I was debating between a 6870 or 560 ti. From what I read the 560 ti seems to be the better option, and its about $50-60 more expensive than the 6870 I can get. I'm considering getting the 6870 and putting in a cpu cooler to make up for that difference - thoughts? I've always liked ATI (Canada based) but it just seems that nvidia is on top of their drivers compared to ATI.

Anyways, please let me know what you all think and if there are any places I can save money or get better components I'm all ears. Thanks!

[roh_ultima]

i take it you are using your old case then ?
since I do not see one on the list.

otherwise parts look fine. i can't make suggestions on monitors, not my strong area at all

cpu cooler - 30.00
NCIX.com - Buy Coolermaster Hyper 212 Plus Direct Touch 4 Heatpipe Heatsink AM2 AM3 LGA1366 LGA1155 LGA1156 120MM - COOLERMASTER - RR-B10-212P-G1 - in Canada

just depends on your case and if it can fit in there

[southbay]

With that power supply you could CF the 6870 and overall it'd be cheaper, in the long term anyways.

[roh_ultima]

well its a budget board the 2nd pci-e slot works at 4x in x-fire mode

however if you are getting a 560 ti. you might want to get a board that does SLI instead
so that its an option for you in a couple years

assuming that sli / x-fire support improves for games

[ricknash61]

@roh_ultima:I will be using my old case, which is a coolermaster cosmos 1000. I imagine there will be enough room in there as it is a monster of a case. Thanks for the heatsink suggestion, I will definitely add that since its only $30.

@southbay: definitely thinking about the 6870, but as pointed out, the second PCI-E x16 slot runs only at 4x when in crossfire mode. I would really prefer a single card solution, which is why i'm thinking the 560 ti would be better. Then again, if I do add another 560 ti later on, is my power supply good enough to handle it?

@roh_ultima (again):I guess it was a poor assumption that these boards would SLI (I figured crossfire also meant SLI). Can you recommend any boards that would be around the same price range and have SLI in case I do decide to add another 560 ti down the road? My experiences with mobos have been with Asus and Gigabyte only.

Thanks for all the feedback!

[JJThomp]

Originally Posted by ricknash61

@roh_ultima:I will be using my old case, which is a coolermaster cosmos 1000. I imagine there will be enough room in there as it is a monster of a case. Thanks for the heatsink suggestion, I will definitely add that since its only $30.

@southbay: definitely thinking about the 6870, but as pointed out, the second PCI-E x16 slot runs only at 4x when in crossfire mode. I would really prefer a single card solution, which is why i'm thinking the 560 ti would be better. Then again, if I do add another 560 ti later on, is my power supply good enough to handle it?

@roh_ultima (again):I guess it was a poor assumption that these boards would SLI (I figured crossfire also meant SLI). Can you recommend any boards that would be around the same price range and have SLI in case I do decide to add another 560 ti down the road? My experiences with mobos have been with Asus and Gigabyte only.

Thanks for all the feedback!

750w is more than enough for 2x 560 ti's your build looks good... be sure to add some pictures.

[ricknash61]

@JJThomp Thanks man!

I made a couple of changes though:

Video card: EVGA GeForce GTX 560 Ti DS Superclocked Fermi 900MHZ 1024MB GDDR5 2XDVI Mini-HDMI PCI-E Video Card

Read that owners were having a lot of issues with Gigabyte and MSI 560 ti so i went with the EVGA that also has the 3 yr warranty.

Motherboard:Gigabyte Z68A-D3H-B3 ATX LGA1155 Z68 DDR3 3PCI-E16 2PCI-E1 HDMI DVI SLI SATA3 USB3.0 Motherboard

Can get it for ~$115 pm'ed at newegg.ca. Has SLI support for future and seems to oc decent - reports of 4.5 gHz. Can anyone comment on whether this would be good for my build.

Also decided to go with the BenQ V2410as it's LED.

All in all, price comes out to $997 after PMing, shipping and express RMA.

[roh_ultima]

that is a nice case :)

and i think richnash has the motherboard covered

[ricknash61]

Went ahead and pulled the trigger. Will let you know how it pans out. Thanks for all the feedback!