$1,500 gaming rig suggestions

1.
I hate the plastic tab since it tends to get in the way with large video cards; IIRC, it's to make sure the card doesn't get partly-dislodged while you're moving the PC.

Shouldn't be a problem; in fact, I know people who break it on purpose due to it being such a pain.

2.
Try standard or re-usable cable ties?
 
2. Cable management was very difficult. The side of the case with the peripherals looks neat. However, the other side is quite a mess. Would love some inputs on this.
That's the whole point of cable management, the mess of cables is out of the way and won't interrupt air flow or aesthetics. If you really want to tidy it up then the case should come with some cable ties but this might be more trouble than it's worth if you frequently add/remove components.
 
Thank you everyone for the help and support! Very happy with the build. My vendor could not deliver the SSD yet so I'm running my 1TB Seagate HDD for now.

I played Crysis Warhead (Enthusiast Settings, 1600x900, 4xAA) and I get an average of 80 FPS. Ghost Recon Future Soldier with all settings maxed out and DX11 saw an average of 40-45 FPS in the first level and about 60 FPS in the second. The maximum temps on load were:

CPU - 49C
GPU - 59C

That good? Is there anything I need to test my system with to check for stability / benchmark before I begin OCing?
 
Temps look fine, though it's hard to make a comparitive call without knowing what the ambient temp is.
As for stability testing, it sounds like you're doing that already. For the most part, at stock, gaming and normal workloads are as good a method as any other to determine stability. If you're not experiencing any lock ups/freezing, apps crashing to desktop and error notifications you're pretty much good to go. I'd save the stability testing for when you move away from auto/default settings- you'll get sick of running the tests soon enough without adding stock setting testing.
If you wanted to ensure that everything is rock solid just for peace of mind, I'd suggest adding a Prime95 run ( small fft for CPU + cache, blend for CPU and some of your RAM) or IBT. You should have at least one or the other on hand for CPU OC stability testing in any case.
 
Looks fine as far as I can tell so far.
Re: the cable management...you could get a tidier layout if you make up a custom inline SATA power cable. Molex at the PSU end, and measure for your hdd's, ssd and optical -this would do away with the thick PSU cable with the molex plugs. Here's a quick example (the one on the right) of a set I'm whipping up at the moment
qKAAr.jpg

Very quick and easy even if you omit the braided cable sleeving and heatshrink (here's a video showing how easy) 2-2.5mm auto electrical cable @ 5-10A*, some SATA plugs, a molex plug, and if you're reusing a molex-to-SATA splitter cable like the three in the pic, then you'll need a molex removal tool - the basics would set you back ~$10 on eBay (enough to make 5 or more cables). If it interests you then I can post some links for the components, or I can start a thread on making custom cables so that I don't derail this thread. If the DIY approach isn't your thing. then premade cables are available (usually hdd spacing only)
For the ATX, EPS12V, PCI-E cables, you can shape them with a tighter bend radius. Even though the cables are quite stiff, they will take reshaping, although their visual bulk is due to their thickness and being of round cross section. If you use cable extensions ( ATX, EPS12V, PCI-E's, fan splitters- NZXT and BitFenix Alchemy are the best known) then you can keep all your heavy PSU cabling at the bottom of the chassis and use lighter flat/single braided cabling extensions. My rig is fully decked out for single braided wiring (the EPS12V is NZXT, the ATX and PCI-E are my Seasonic modular cables modded, the fans (10 in total), temp probes (4), SATA power (4 hdd + optical), and molex (pump on a seperate circuit) are DIY'ed from scratch, and looks fairly clean from both the front and back.

* If you use a single colour for all four wires then you don't really need cable sleeving and heatshrink.
 
So with everything set up I want to bench my rig before I go into overclocking. Iam currently testing Crysis 2 with High Res Textures and DX11 @ 1600x900 with Ultra Settings. I get an average of 70 FPS. So any other games to sweat the system. Next on my list is Metro 2033.
 
Hello everybody!

I'm posting on Techspot after a very long hiatus. Feels good to be back here.

Now to the topic. Initially the idea was to invest in a gaming laptop (specifically the M14x) as I had a lot of travel lined up. However, that's on hold and I'm considering on diverting the funds to build a new desktop from scratch.

Current rig:
CPU - AMD Phenom II X3 720
Motherboard - ASUS M4A78T-E
RAM - 4GB DDR3 (@1333MHz)
GPU - Powercolor ATI Radeon HD 4890
HDD - 1TB Seagate (32MB Cache, 7200 RPM), 160GB Seagate
Case - Cooler Master CM 690
Keyboard - Microsoft Sidewinder X4
Mouse - Logitech MX 518
Monitor - Samsung B2030 20" (1600x900)

Currently I intend to reuse only monitor, mouse, keyboard and the 1TB HDD from my existing machine. The cost of the OS need not be factored in. I do have a copy of Windows 7.

The major purpose will be gaming. My budget is around US$ 1500 (INR 85,000), give or take a few.

Looking forward to all your suggestions.

The system I just finished building cost $1440 for everything (except Windows 7, which I had already, and the speakers/amp) -

Mainboard - Asus P8Z77-V
CPU - Intel i5-3570K (OC to 4.3 GHz)
RAM - 2x4 GB Kingston HyperX 1600 (OC to 1866)
Case - Corsair Carbide 400R
PSU - Ultra X4 750 (full modular, 80 Plus Bronze)
GPU - EVGA GTX 550 Ti Superclocked + Intel HD 4000 (VirtuMVP)
CPU Cooler - Corsair H-100 liquid cooling
Fans - 8 x 120mm
HDD - 1 x 500 GB WDC Blue, 1 x 400 GB Hitachi DeskStar, 2 x 2TB WDC Green
ODD - LG M-Disc Super Multi
Audio - onboard Realtek ALC892 / optical SPDIF
Speakers - 5 x Boston Micro90X, 2 x Boston subs, Sony 100w/ch surround amp
Monitor - Acer S231HL (23" LCD)
KB & Mouse - Microsoft Wireless Desktop 3000
OS - Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit

Performance (OC 4.3GHz, 1866 MHz)
CPU - 62.3 GFlops/sec. (Intel Burn Test) 9415.2 (Passmark Perf. Test 7)
Ram - 21.9 GB/sec., 49.1 ns latency (MaxxMem2)
GPU - P3602 3d marks (3D Mark 11) - 2241.9 3d marks (Passmark)

I am very pleased with the way this system performs; it runs cool and quiet, overclocks easily, and handles all my games on high settings. I feel very close to the "sweet spot", needing only a fast SSD and maybe a GTX 660 Ti to make this a dream system (for practical dreamers who don't need the VERY best). Those with lots of cash could plop down a few grand and get the i7-3960X and X79 mobo and 64 GB of RAM, but it's overkill and your light bill will go up $100 a month. This was more fun, though. I researched this build for almost a year (obviously changing it several times) and tried to get "best bang for the buck" in every choice,while never compromising my performance requirements. I believe I succeeded.
 
Just don't push your system too hard - not sure that Ultra PSU will be able to get off its knees.
 
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