Customizing a Gaming desktop (advice appreciated)

The motherboard and processor aren't compatible, you've got an AMD board for an Intel Processor


This motherboard is about the best motherboard I've seen for the price on Intel's side. It has everything a higher end board has for a very, very low price.

As for the Sound Card, I seriously wouldn't buy that. It costs more than your speakers -_-

Onboard sound for motherboards is way more than enough for most people. I'd skip out on a sound card all together, and if you're not satisfied with your motherboard's sound, then buy a $50 soundcard. Only people with extremely expensive sound set ups, who listen to studio quality sound all of the time (basically people who produce music) would need a card like that.


16GB of RAM is WAY overkill, unless you use like 30 high-resource programs at once (like photoshop, autocad, sony vegas, Crysis, Mozilla Firefox with like 15 tabs at once). 8GB is more than enough for 99% of people, and it will save you a lot of money. Get 8GB of DDR3 1600mhz RAM @ 1.5V, like this


With the money saved you can either put it in your pocket, or grab a better case/video card.

Cases I'd recommend are the HAF X, Corsair 650D, NZXT Phantom, Corsair 600T, Antec DF-85. I've never heard anything good (or necessarily bad) about Raidmax, but from personal experience you'll want not only a good looking case, but a case with good features, good cable management especially. All of the cases I listed above have great cable management and good features, with a variety of different looks to them. Cases are really a personal preference though, so it's up to you ^^

Oh, and with the money saved I'd grab the Corsair AX750 Powersupply instead, it's only a bit more and it's 80+ Gold and Modular. If you get a case with a side window, it will also be good because the cables are all black, and you don't see the ugly wiring at the ends of the cables like you do with most power supplies.

Well, yes, there is better options for Video Cards. If you have the money right now, I'd act quick on this - but get two of them. They're re-certified so they're a lot cheaper. I got both of my GTX 570's for $500 ($250 ea) and they were re-certified.

Put both of them in SLI and you'll have the same performance as a GTX 590 ($700 card) for $400.

If you don't have the money now, you can wait to find other open box/re-certified GTX 570's for $200 - $250, or just get the cheapest one you can find for around $300 or so and pay $600.

Your other option, I'd say would be getting two GTX 560 ti cards in SLI. Some people would recommend a GTX 580, but at their price range, you can get much better performance out of SLI'd 570's or 560 ti's, and beat the price of the GTX 580.

nope. as long as you have a motherboard and a power supply that can take two cards, youre good to go, and when you buy a video card, you should get the SLI bridge included (this is a ribbon cable that connects the two cards together at the top). if you dont have it, its only a few bucks more, but they are usually included.

i might put together a build as well when i get home.

^ Hiigaran has posted a very nice build on a lower budget. I'd still personally recommend two GTX 570's (recertified for $200 ea), over a GTX 580 just due to how much performance you'll get over a single GTX 580, but that's just me :X


As for the Power Supply, the AX850w, I only recommend it over the PSU that hiigaran recommended if you choose a case with a side panel window, and want it to look as clean and slick as possible on the inside. The Corsair AX850 PSU has all black cables, unlike the Antec which is mesh and you can see the fugly ass wires at the end of the cables. In a build as expensive as this, I tend to take looks above all else, because why spend $1,200 on an ugly rig you'll only hate and be like "Damn I wish I got the PSU with all black cables, these are ugly as hell".

But, again, some people don't care about looks as much as me, and some people prefer no side panel window (without a window it doesn't matter what you have on the inside as far as looks go, so it's best to just go with the cheapest).


Mobo is the same - The one I listed is much better looking and only $20 more. No side-panel window on your case? Grab the one Hiigaran suggested. Side Panel? Well, up to you if you want it to look its best, or just be cheaper. Personal preference.

Everything else is perfect that he listed. Hiigaran is pretty much the best around Neoseeker for recommending builds for PC's ^^

I'm more of the Aesthetic-Oriented build recommender, though. I take the aesthetics above everything else usually, when recommending a build.

hiigaran & Ohmycaptain

Thank you so much for your suggestions!

I took into account hiigaran's suggestions and added the hard drive.
Updating the factoring in of x2 graphics cards also.

(Processor (CPU))
-Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache
LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80623I52500K $219.99

(Case)
-Antec DF-85 Black ATX Full Tower Computer Case $154.99

(Power Supply)
-CORSAIR Professional Series Gold AX750 (CMPSU-750AX) 750W ATX12V v2.31 / EPS12V v2.92
80 PLUS GOLD Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply $169.99

(Motherboard)
-ASRock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard $124.99

(Memory (RAM))
-G.SKILL Sniper Low Voltage Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBSR2 $ 49.99

(Keyboard)
-Logitech 920-000914 Black 106 Normal Keys USB Wired Ultra-thin Illuminated Keyboard $ 69.99

(Speakers)
-Logitech Z623 200 w 2.1 Speaker System, THX-Certified $124.99

(Video Card)
-EVGA SuperClocked 012-P3-1572-AR GeForce GTX 570 (Fermi) 1280MB 320-bit GDDR5 PCI $199.99 X2
Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

(Hard Drive)
-Seagate Barracuda ST31000524AS 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal $ 54.99
Hard Drive -Bare Drive
_______________
Total: $1369.90


Ohmycaptain Do you have a suggestion for a nice green case? Its my favorite color.
Edit: I really like this!

Also, with the current specs, will it run well and look good?

I think this is my close-to-final rig:

Thoughts? Final suggestions?

(Processor (CPU))
-Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache
LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80623I52500K $219.99

(Case)
-NZXT Crafted Series Phantom Black / Green Trim Steel / Plastic ATX Full Tower Computer Case $139.99

(Fans)
-APEVIA CF4SL-UGN 80mm 4 x Green Lights LED Case Fan $ 6.49

(Power Supply)
-CORSAIR Professional Series Gold AX750 (CMPSU-750AX) 750W ATX12V v2.31 / EPS12V v2.92
80 PLUS GOLD Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply $169.99

(Motherboard)
-ASRock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard $124.99

(Memory (RAM))
-G.SKILL Sniper Low Voltage Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBSR2 $ 49.99

(Keyboard)
-Logitech 920-000914 Black 106 Normal Keys USB Wired Ultra-thin Illuminated Keyboard $ 69.99

(Speakers)
-Logitech Z623 200 w 2.1 Speaker System, THX-Certified $124.99

(Video Card)
-EVGA SuperClocked 012-P3-1572-AR GeForce GTX 570 (Fermi) 1280MB 320-bit GDDR5 PCI $199.99 X2
Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card

(Hard Drive)
-Seagate Barracuda ST31000524AS 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal $ 54.99
Hard Drive -Bare Drive

_______________
Total: $1361.39