Want to build the best gaming computer I can for $2600

guys this build is for early January maybe early February but yes i would like a gtx 580 or maybe the 6970 is it performs well against the gtx 580. I really cant wait for this i cant afford a massive monitor to play at res higher than 1080 but i think the cards we are talking about will still get used at that res.
 
No TRIM support until next year from what I hear.
Supposed to be pretty fast. Here's Anand's take.
Pretty mixed user reviews at Newegg, and the RMA rate seems high in general....but on the plus side it's bound to have very low seek latency and does away with cables.
 
posted them because i buddy of mine has that exact build and he gets upwards of 300 FPS MAXED in BF:BC2.
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That's really impressive...considering BF BC2 has a 200 FPS cap.
 
Hmmm so revo drive is out then i guess i need reliability it just seemed so fast compared to regular drives.
 
i could always go with the 970 vs the 980x but figured its almost the same price lol. i may also wait to see what the 6970 has to offer.
 
Indeed, you could save a good deal of money by going with a i7-930.
IMO do that and use the money saved for a nice set of headphones/speaker and a soundcard.

BTW note that combo deals will invalidate free shipping.
 
For the last time, for the price range you're considering, you'd be best off going with a high-efficiency PSU that's also modular. The TX950W is inferior in this respect; since you really seem fixated on Corsair, get an AX series PSU instead of any TX PSUs.

A high efficiency PSU will run cool and save you money on your electricity bill. The high efficiency also ensures clean power delivery to your components.

Lastly, if you're looking for reliability, I re-recommend the Patriot Inferno, since it's the only SandForce-based SSD series that offers a 5-year warranty.
 
i was just thinking it was a good deal with the 950 and the case together ill look into im not fixated on corsair i just thought they were a great brand have a better recommendation? The 980x build was just a dream lol i think in the end the i7 950 is way better deal and i save a ton of money.
 
HK can you tell me a good Sound card and some speakers im setting on lame ones right now and would love a welcome upgrade in that department.
 
klepto12 said:
i was just thinking it was a good deal with the 950 and the case together ill look into im not fixated on corsair i just thought they were a great brand have a better recommendation?
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Of course; Corsair isn't the holy grail of PSUs, no matter how many people swear by them. The KingWin LZG-850W and the NZXT Hale90 850W are what I'd recommend.
 
Of course; Corsair isn't the holy grail of PSUs, no matter how many people swear by them.
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Hey Moiz,
As long as you brought it up :) I have been using and very happy with the the HX series mainly the 650-850w for customer builds. Has the Corsair quality slipped recently? and is there a better recommendation in the same price range? i may have been mistakenly operating under the assumption that the HX has been a Seasonic product, so i will defer to the PSU Guru that is you ;) Thanks.
 
red i am sure Seasonic makes corsairs PSU's but i think moiz is trying to say that there are better psu's that are gold rated vs bronze rated for better efficiency.
 
red1776 said:
Has the Corsair quality slipped recently?
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Not as far as the readers of Custom PC and bit-tech are concerned it would seem.

I personally don't use KingWin as their better specced products aren't available here- they are also (in general) saddled with a short warranty period.
The NZXT units seem pretty good...if you can get one. From their local availability I'm guessing they are handmade...they are always out of stock/pre order status. I guess it depends on whether your local etail/retail has a reasonable working relationship with NZXT.
 
Corsair quality is mediocre when it comes to the CX range. The top-tier PSUs are good, but some of them are overpriced for their features, compared to others in the same power output range. Corsair usually makes great supplies, but they're over-recommended by and far, since most people don't expect there to be better-priced units out there with the same, or better, performance.

The Kingwin unit is actually a rebranded Super Flower unit, with top-notch build quality and specs. The +12V rail is slightly underpowered vis-a-vis the total power output of other PSUs but the difference is not more than around 50W or so; insignificant IMHO. The NZXT is based on the same platform IIRC.
 
I would like to go out on a limb and say NO to the Western Digital Black 1TB drive, both SATA II and SATA III, especially the SATA III version. The difference in performance is not that high from my experience, though for the price I guess it doesn't matter in the end.

That being said I would recommend the Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB. It's faster than the WD Black 1 TB (SATAII) and roughly as fast as the WD Black SATA III version, costs less (in some cases $20-$35 less) and runs cooler and quieter, at the expense of a slower spinup time and slightly slower access time.

I have 4 of them (The 1TB), and I just bought a F4 2TB, which is astonishingly faster than the 1TB despite having one more platter and spinning only at 5400RPM (as opposed to 7200RPM).

/endrantaboutsamsung

The two sound card series listed by hellokitty are nothing to laugh at, and are generally well rated. The Xonar has both PCIe-x1 and PCI cards, while the HT Omega are PCI only. The PCIe-x1 are likely a little more accessible if you're going to have more than one GPU considering the PCI slot is potentially covered by a dual slot cooler from a second GPU, so that might be a deciding factor.

As for speakers, I know a dozen or so people with the Logitech z5500, and ALL of them love the set, without exception. If I had the money and space, I personally would go all out and have my computer connected to a receiver and use some good floor monitors and a subwoofer, but that's just me. =p
 
You make a good point, but the Caviar Black has a larger warranty coverage period, and since he's going to be buying an SSD anyways (which'll be far faster than either HDD), an HDD with a larger warranty period will be a better buy IMHO.
 
klepto12 said:
can anyone suggest a nice sound card and speakers? that will work with the udr3 mb?
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Bump.
I'd like to know about the HT omega claro halo XT v Asus Xonar too, while being lazy and not looking them up.
Also, I might be looking for some decent speakers.
 
I'd recommend the ASUS Essence ST instead; it delivers significantly better sound quality than either of those cards, with features like jitter reduction etc.

For speakers, I recommend the Logitech X540, M-Audio AV40 and the harman\kardon SoundSticks II (I've owned these, and they were awesome).
 
Rage_3K_Moiz said:
You make a good point, but the Caviar Black has a larger warranty coverage period, and since he's going to be buying an SSD anyways (which'll be far faster than either HDD), an HDD with a larger warranty period will be a better buy IMHO.
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Longer you mean, but I digress. :)

When choosing hardware I usually weigh performance, features, reported reliability, and efficiency higher than price (though price is important of course). Additional benefits (such as longer warranty) come as an extra bonus, and should not necessarily be a deciding factor.*

In my opinion the extra 2 years does not make a big difference. It has been my experience that every hard drive I've ever owned has lasted significantly longer than the average 3 year warranty period (I have drives over a decade old that still work just fine). In fact, I have given away more drives because I did not need them anymore than I have thrown out/destroyed drives because of failure.

Plus both 3 years and 5 years is a long LONG time in the computer world, by then platter drives for the average joe might be dying off with SSD taking center stage. Platter Drives might be 2-3 (or 5+ if Toshiba gets to the point of producing bit-patterned based drives at a consumer price) times the capacity for the same price, who knows.

I guess I'm just really lucky with my drives.



*A drive that runs cooler and more efficiently should in theory last longer, which is what I'm getting at.

Rage_3K_Moiz said:
I'd recommend the ASUS Essence ST instead; it delivers significantly better sound quality than either of those cards, with features like jitter reduction etc.

For speakers, I recommend the Logitech X540, M-Audio AV40 and the harman\kardon SoundSticks II (I've owned these, and they were awesome).
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I've heard of the Essence being a very nice card, too bad they don't have a PCIe-x1 version, and that if you want 5.1 surround sound you need to use S/PDIF. I had the X-530s before I blew out the left channel twice, those were great speakers. I heard the 540s weren't as good (looked cooler though), but only by a small margin.
 
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