[Samurai2102]

Hello, all. This will be my first gaming PC built; I want this to be:

1. Able to run TF2 max settings at 60FPS at least.
2. Able to run Starcraft with 50FPS at least.
3. New builder friendly.

Without further ado, here's the list. Let me know if I should tweak it, or if there's any recommendations you could make!


POWER: 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

100.00$

CASE: Antec Twelve Hundred Black Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case

165.00$

RAM: G.SKILL 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Triple Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL8TU-6GBPI

$150.00

HARD DRIVE: Western Digital AV-GP WD10EVDS 1TB 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal AV Hard Drive -Bare Drive

80.00$

PROCESSOR: Intel Core i5-750 Lynnfield 2.66GHz 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1156 95W Quad-Core Processor BX80605I5750

195.00$

GRAPHICS CARD: GIGABYTE GV-N460OC-1GI GeForce GTX 460 (Fermi) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

$230.00


MOTHERBOARD: BIOSTAR T5 XE CFX-SLI LGA 1156 Intel P55 ATX Intel Motherboard

135.00

CD DRIVE: ASUS Black 4X BD-ROM 8X DVD-ROM 32X CD-ROM SATA Internal Blu-ray Drive Model BR-04B2T - OEM

60.00$


SPEAKERS: Logitech S220 2.1 Speaker System with Subwoofer
20.00$

KEYBOARD AND MOUSE: Logitech Cordless Desktop LX310 Laser

60.00$

MONITOR: ASUS VH242H Black 23.6" 5ms HDMI Full 1080P Widescreen LCD Monitor 300 cd/m2 1000:1 (ASCR 20000:1) Built in Speakers

189.00$

OS: Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit System Builder 1pk


100.00$

ACCESSORIES: Belkin Anti-Static Wrist Band with Adjustable Grounding

7.00

HEADSET: TekNmotion PulseWave • V2 3.5mm/ USB Connector Circumaural Nex-Gen Premium Gaming Headset

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I'd recommend finding the i5 760, Its usually only £2/£3 more, and it seems alot better.
Also, As far as mobo's go, iv only ever bought Gigabyte or asus. The one im planning on getting for my mid range gaming setup up with a 760 is this

everything else looks good, altho if it was me, id go for a ATI 5850 instead of a nvida

Edited by Pl3ppp, 15 September 2010 - 05:16 AM.

[Pl3ppp]

I'd recommend finding the i5 760, Its usually only £2/£3 more, and it seems alot better.
Also, As far as mobo's go, iv only ever bought Gigabyte or asus. The one im planning on getting for my mid range gaming setup up with a 760 is this

everything else looks good, altho if it was me, id go for a ATI 5850 instead of a nvida

Edited by Pl3ppp, 15 September 2010 - 05:16 AM.

[AF_Money]

Check your RAM. Most 1156 boards are dual channel, while 1366 boards usually go with the triple channel. (Your board you have picked out is a dual channel) The difference in the dual channel vs tripple channel means you have to use 2 ram sicks or 3. You'd be hard pressed to be able to squeeze out 6GB in a dual channel set up. i'm sure you could find 2 3GB sticks somewhere, but to keep you from scrounging around, go with 2 2GB sticks for 4GB or 2 4GB sticks/ 4 2GB stick for 8GB, or you can really shoot for the moon and with 4 4GB sticks for 16GB. All depends how much you're willing to spend. 4 GB will be fine for what you want tho.

I agree with the i5. Although for the money, i'd prolly go with the i5-750. The i5-760 is also a good CPU. The only difference between the two i5 CPUs is the 760 is slightly (and i do mean slightly) overclocked from the factory. Honestly I doubt you'd even notice the difference at stock speeds. But its only a $10 difference so whatever floats your boat. The biggest differnce between the i5 and i7 is Hyper Threading. HT has actually been around for a decade and people have been anticipating some high end modern game to use this technology for years, but hasn't happened yet. You "might" get to use the benfits of hyper threading if you're aiming to do some crazy multi-media professional grade video/audio editing or some other CPU intensive type processes. Present day gaming does not fall into that category. You'd even be hard pressed to even use all 4 cores in any game, especially for the games you listed. And later on if you wanted to get into the overclocking aspect, its not uncommon to get 4Ghz out of an i5. Definatly do some research before you start tinkering with that stuff tho. Also get some thermal compound for your CPU and Heatsink. Should run you about $10.

The 1200 is a Full tower. Its BIG. Not that there's anything wrong with the case, but its a little more pricey and its bigger than a standard case and you might run into issues with some of your wires reaching all of your components. The 900 would suit you just fine with your setup. Thats up to your personal preference tho. Just something to consider.

I like nvidia too. They really are better cards than ATI. But for the dollar:performance ratio, ATI gives you a better "bang for your buck". I'm personally goin with the gtx 460 myself. Again, it really just comes down to your budget and personal preference. The Nvida vs ATI arguement has been going on for years and everyone got an opinion 1 way or the other.

The last thing I would recommend to research is the power supply. Make sure your 12v rail has enough amperage for your graphics card. I'm personally a fan of single 12v rail setups. Yours should be fine tho.