Gaming PC, 2000$ Budget

[MuffinAMV]

Specs of the PC I'm looking at

Alienware Aurora R3

Operating system - 64 bit Windows 7 Home Premium
Processor - Intel Core i7-2600K 8mb cache 3.9GHz
Memory - 6GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1333MHz
Graphics card - 1.25 GB GDDR5 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 Ti
HardDrive - 1 TB SATA II 3GB/s 7,200RPM 2x 16MB Cache
Cooling - Alienware High-Performance Liquid Cooling

I left out all of the accessories mouse,keyboard monitor etc in the listing but with everything it brings it all out to be 1,868.99

I am going to use this for gaming(obviously) and gaming videos.
Is the graphics card and processor good enough to handle Battlefield 3 with windowed settings while being recorded with FRAPS, Dxtory etc at a decent framerate 30-40?

 

[Palfreyfish]

NO NO NO NO NO NO NO GOD NO Please, whatever you do do not buy that PC. Alienwares are overpriced Dells. You pay through the proverbial nose to get the equivalent of a $1000 home built PC...

For $1100ish you could build that PC from its component parts.

For $2000 you could get a PC that can play BF3 on high, with fraps recording at 60+ FPS.

With that kind of money you could get the same processor, 16 Gb of RAM, 2 GTX 560 Tis and a 2 TB HDD. Obviously you'll need a new motherboard and a case and some fans if you plan on overclocking.

What I would do is get an intel i5 2500k, as that's currently the best bang for your buck gaming chip, 16gb of RAM, 2 GTX 560 Tis to run in SLi, a 2 TB hdd, a motherboard that supports overclocking, such as an asus p67, a CPU fan that is better than the one the i5 comes with, a case with good ventilation/a few fans (preferably both),a screen and keyboard/mouse etc.

Oh, and you can probably find a nice looking case for ~$150

 

[MuffinAMV]

So how does this look if I replace the hard drive with a 2TB and the processor with a i5-2500k?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883229301

Also, I always thought that i7-2600K > i5-2500K.

 

[MuffinAMV]

I would be recording content daily for 10-20 mins or more at a time.
Do you mean the 560 for a 1800$ system is "too good" or not good enough?
I know that I don't need to spend the whole 2000 on it, I just put 2000$ as my max budget for one.

 

[Palfreyfish]

16Gb of RAM is excessive, but when it's as cheap as it is, and with a budget like that, it's not too bad, and it means that you won't have to upgrade in the future for a loooong time. And I did suggest building it, but if you don't particularly want to, I suggest buy the parts you want and have a tech savvy friend put it together for you, and the 560 is nowhere NEAR good enough for that price.

You can get 2 GTX 560 TIs, one 560 TI is better than a 560, so naturally, 2 gives better performance.

If you wanted you could get a rig that could do what you want for around 1300 dollars, assuming you buy the parts yourself, then get someone to, or, build it yourself...

But if you want to buy prebuilt, shop around for better deals and see if you can get upgrades. Sometimes online shops will be willing to do a deal, say, a gtx 560 TI instead of a gtx 560 for an extra 90 bucks or something. Try and haggle, it works wonders, and when it doesn't work, you haven't lost anything really. Smaller, local sites are more likely to cut you a better deal if you ask.

Going to a shop and asking if they'll help you choose and order the parts, then build it is also not a bad idea, as they will generally be more trustworthy than someone on the internet (like me) They'll probably charge about 15 to 20 percent commission, but they'll handle the ordering and assembly and whatnot

If you want to buy something that'll do what you want from newegg, then this is probably your best bet: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883227378

It's pretty good for the price... Though I'd rather have an nvidia card in there for PhysX and because I like Nvidia. That being said, the 6870 is not a bad amd card...

 

[Palfreyfish]

I would be recording content daily for 10-20 mins or more at a time.
Do you mean the 560 for a 1800$ system is "too good" or not good enough?
I know that I don't need to spend the whole 2000 on it, I just put 2000$ as my max budget for one.

The 560 is woefully underpowered for that price.

Mmmm, for that price I'd want 2 >.> Or a 580...

 

[MuffinAMV]

If I were to buy the one that Palfreyfish suggested and replace the graphics card with a ATI Radeon HD5870, Would that be better than getting a GeForce 580 for it or about the same?

Also, I don't have any tech savvy friends but I know enough about computers to put it together right if I did order it all in parts. I'm just scared that I will mess up one little thing and fuck up the whole computer.

 

[MuffinAMV]

Okay so should order all this along with fans,case,mouse,and a 1080p Monitor?

Intel Core i5-2500k 3.3GHz
GeForce GTX 580
1 TB SATA III
8 GB Dual Channel DDR3 RAM
Windows 7 64 bit home premium
How does that all sound?

 

[geK0]

Dude I bought a laptop the other day for $800($600 because it was 'open box') with similar specs, minus the liquid cooling....... you're being ripped off!

Edit: nevermind, ignore this, I'm half asleep right now

 

[Palfreyfish]

Okay so should order all this along with fans,case,mouse,and a 1080p Monitor?

Intel Core i5-2500k 3.3GHz
GeForce GTX 580
1 TB SATA III
8 GB Dual Channel DDR3 RAM
Windows 7 64 bit home premium
How does that all sound?

Yeah that would be fine.

The 580 can max most games on 1920x1200 so if you want that extra vertical space and detail then you should get one of those instead.

The i5 overclocks very well so you could also get a cooler for it and overclock it. It isn't necessary but it will give you some more power and is easy to do.

Also if you have some extra cash you could invest in a SSD to put your OS and programs on, they are extremely fast and will make your daily PC use much faster and smoother.

I agree with everything, though the SSD is definitely not a requirement. Only get it if you are extremely impatient... Eventually SSDs will be the norm, but for now just stick to a normal HDD.

Oh, and you definitely need a motherboard.

An ASUS 1155 P8P67 would be fine. (You don't have to know what the numbers/letters mean, but it's perfect for what you want

 

[MuffinAMV]

Any recommendations on fans and cases?
Not really sure what to be looking for in either of those.

The case doesn't have to have like, 10000 LED's in it, or any lights at all, I just need it to be able to fit everything inside and not be made of cardboard.

 

[MuffinAMV]

I would be using my PC alot so, I would go with performance.

 

[Conza]

I would be using my PC alot so, I would go with performance.

I've built my own computer several times, and other peoples with much success, so I do have some idea what I'm talking about, I've also used PCs for 15+ years, built for the last 5+ years.

I'm a huge Nvidia fan, having used GeForce (including currently) for the past 4 computers, but don't get it this time.

The 69XX series is about to fall to quite a brilliant price point once the 79XX series takes off, so I'd spend 2-300 dollars on a 6970/6950 and be done with that.

The RAM, 8GB is about right. Processor, look I'd go quad core, I have an i7 950 (1366 pins I think), and it rocks, but like others have said it is currently overkill, however, eventually it will become fully useable, so whatever you want there.

Motherboard, make sure it has enough slots for ram and hdd/peripherals you want, particularly support for atleast 2 graphics cards, you may be mega rich one day and want to buy two newer better cards, or even three, so keep that open.

For case, make sure its a mid-tower, I bought a liquid cooled full tower and its a beast, was not worth it, when it comes down to it, the space is wasted, and its still akward to wire things near either case side.

For the power supply, I'd say anything north of 750W is about right, wouldn't go past the kW mark, but a 750 should last 1-2 PCs (not sure the requirements of the future, but I'd say 750W would cover 3 graphic cards, ect).

HDD, don't get SSD, as someone has already said, if you must, get a 128GB because that's the price point right now, and use it as an OS/frequent game drive only, do also get another normal HDD, and yes Sata III is the standard right now.

GL HF!

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

Any recommendations on fans and cases?

If you're going with HS/F(air) cooling and you've got the scratch, get a Coolermaster HAF series case. Designed to maximise airflow in the case, which is important when running HS/F systems, and you can yank out the standard fans they come with and replace them with some monster CFM (that's 'cubic feet per minute', a measure of how much air the fan pulls through, not 'come fuck me') units.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

For case, make sure its a mid-tower, I bought a liquid cooled full tower and its a beast, was not worth it, when it comes down to it, the space is wasted, and its still akward to wire things near either case side.

Open loop watercooling is a waste except for OC enthusiasts these days. When you've got CPUs now that can hit 4.5Ghz on aftermarket air and push even harder on closed loop water (like the Hydro and Kuhler units), it's really only useful for massively OCed GPUs or OCed multi CPU systems (multiCPUs tend to overwhelm air when pushed too hard and closed loops aren't made for multiCPUs).

As for full towers... they have their uses... like if you're the kind of maniac who has 10 HDDs or has an E-ATX mobo.

 

[MuffinAMV]

For a person like me who doesn't know how/what overclocking is, I'll just go with the come fuck me fans.