The Ultimate Gaming Computer... on a tight budget.

Alright, straight to the point.. I am building a new gaming computer, so far I have everything all laid out and prices calculated. The only thing I am missing is a Motherboard. I was wondering if you kind people of the computer hardware forum could help me with this problem. HERE are my specs for the new computer I am planning to build;

TOWER: Antec Twelve Hundred V3 Black Steel ATX Full Tower
HARDDRIVE: Western Digital VelociRaptor WD6000HLHX 600GB 10000 RPM.
GPU: PowerColor AX7970 3GBD5-M2DHG Radeon HD 7970 3GB 384-bit GDDR5.
CPU: Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost).
RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 16GB 240-Pin DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800).
POWERSUPPLY:XFX PRO850W XXX Edition Semi-Modular 80 Plus Silver Certified 850 Watt Power Supply.
DISKDRIVE:MSI IDE DVD-ROM Drive Model DH-18D4P.

Now i'm looking for a nice solid motherboard for $120 or under that can handle all of those specs without any problems (if there are any that cheap), if not, give me the next price up. It would be greatly appreciated, thanks guys.

Why does it matter if the DVD drive is IDE or SATA? Nobody uses discs these days anyway. Chances are he'll only use it to install windows, and then occasionally rip a CD or play an old game.

16GB of RAM is probably overkill. 12 or even 8 will likely be enough for you. Of course, if you really want to be futureproof, it's not a bad idea.

10k rpm HDDs FTW!

why? access times. wrecks all 7200rpm HDDs. look at this snizit: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/wd6000hlhx-velociraptor-600gb,2600-6.html .... like half the access time of everything else. makes stuff feel snappier.

plus this new raptor just plain beats other drives at everything else, save for SSDs. but SSDs are expensive, performance degrades over time, they just plain fail more than HDDs, and they have smaller capacities.

i used to think, who really cares about how long it takes something to load; at least, who would throw lots of money at something like that. in games, i gotta admit, i kinda like a long loading times (not miserably long, but a fair amount)... builds up anticipation. but some games actually started to tax my HDD and bog down my gaming performance (FPS was fine, but little stutters here and there, so annoying!) so i bought a raptor one day.

never went back. and the thing is loud as hell too. reminds me of my old k6-based 233mhz ibm desktop... i like hearing a HDD... just do.

anyway, a fast HDD affects more than you might think. BUY IT!

16GB of ram is mega-hyper-overkill though, unless youll be running a billion background apps while playing games.

ram isnt expensive right now, but maybe get just 8GB (4GB is more than enough to todays games), and throw more money at the GPU.

i assume youll be playing at a decent resolution? at least 1920x1080, right? and i assume you like AA and AF... no other reason to really have 3GB of vram. well throw an aftermarket cooling on that thing and crank it up.

or maybe look for some low dB, high cfm fans.

what about a sound card? have an external sound processor? external DAC? if not, and if you have decent speakers (minimum: expensive computer-grade speakers), consider a sound card: simple better hardware than onboard.

I also agree that a 10K drive is not worth $300. You can get a decent sized SSD for that price.

quote Chekkaa

Why does it matter if the DVD drive is IDE or SATA? Nobody uses discs these days anyway. Chances are he'll only use it to install windows, and then occasionally rip a CD or play an old game.

It might matter because (unless I'm mistaken) the Intel Sandy Bridge chipsets do not natively support IDE, so if a motherboard is going to have an IDE port it is up to the vendor/manufacturer to actually implement it, and I can only think of one board (out of a few dozen) where that has happened.

Thank you for the all the helpful advice guys, though I am planning to keep the RAM, Power supply, and Hard drive as is, because although they may just be extra "un-needed" power, I am trying to get the most out of this new computer as possible, meaning I want this to stay powerful for years to come, so I wont need a replacement due to its parts being outdated anytime soon. So with that said, this is going to be my final cart. there were some very slight changes to the GPU (switching to XFX instead of Powercolor)and I added a motherboard in there, Im planning on placing the order tonight, so if you see any compatibility issues (even though i'm almost 100% sure there is not, I asked a good amount of people to take a look at it) let me know asap.

Final Newegg Order: http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm262/picuser122/Capture-11.png .
http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm262/picuser122/Capture2-3.png .

If you can't afford an SSD get a hybrid drive like the Momentus XT over the 10,000 RPM drives.

I agree with hiigaran about the RAM, 8GB is more than enough. Not sure what a tight budget means to you if you can afford to throw a 7970 in there, but I agree with hiigaran on the PSU, only if you never plan on putting another 7900 card in crossfire.

Okay Pokesh, it cannot be to tight of a budget because you have made a lot of choices that look good on paper and benchmarks but mean nothing to the gaming experience.

I would drop the case down to a Fractal Arc Midi, save about $60. The 1200 is a great case but you are not building that big of a system and could due just as well with a good mid tower.

Next I would drop the video down to at least a 7950 and save a $100 though in fairness you could go to a 6970 or GTX 570 and get the same game experience and save $200 plus have a ton of head room for the future. Unless you plan to try and push three monitors for gaming you are going way over the top in useless overkill. Further the 7900 series might be powerful cards but they are most over priced to performance level cards out right now.

The Raptor is a great drive but for a pure gaming rig consider how many games you plan to install. For the money you are spending you could put in 2x Agility 3 120 gig SSDs and have one for OS/Apps and Data and one for just your gaming partition and make that raptor feel like a pig. BTW this would save about $30.

Now the choice of RAM maker is up to you, personal I never use anything but Kingston HyperX. However everyone is correct that you will not see any kind of boost in gaming with 16 gig over 8 gig right now, you could streamline here a bit and save another $45.

Agree with the others the PSU is overkill and a good 650 watt PSU is gonna do the job easily, heres the real kicker though, I can get a PC Power and Cooling Silencer Mk II 950W for $50 less than the PSU you mentioned and it is a BETTER PSU.

Finally the optical drive, personally I would not bother with any kind of IDE device. The ports for them are dying off and there is no reason to old tech because you save no money doing it.

Now one final note, I have noticed that you have not included a cooler with this build so I am presume you do not plan to overclock. If you are not going to overclock then drop to a 2400 processor. You lose nothing in your gaming experience and save another $35.

Building a great gaming machine is not about throwing you money away stupidly to build something that looks great on paper and benchmarks. it is about using your money for real effects to the gaming experience so you get the most you can for your money.

Okay lets say you will not overclock, this means the build I told you will save you about $400 over the build you listed and will play any game you like on a 1080 display and give you an IDENTICAL gaming experience to the parts you listed. Oh wait, actually in over computer feel it would be faster as the SSDs kicked in.

That money could go toward buying a great keyboard and mouse set as well as a really nice headset, some of the higher end USB headsets like the Siberia V2 and the Vengeance 1500 sound as good as a solid discrete sound card. Of course with the money you saved you could buy a great sound card and speakers as well.

Sorry but you put together a build that basically throws away $400 it is hard to say it is on a tight budget.

Whats does having three monitors do with needing a bigger PSU? BTW the PUS I listed is bigger than yours, the same 80Plus rated and is made by the industry standard PCP&C for $50 less :-)