$2500 For Entire Gaming Setup

[TheXtreme1]

Hey all, its been quite a while since I have looked into getting a new computer and im going all in. Most of my knowalge of hardware is outdated and wasn't all that good to begin with so try to bear with me. I'm going to list all the things I want/need and hopefully get some feedback.

I want a very good desktop and than a very cheap notebook or tablet. I know gaming laptops have come a long way but could I get one as good as the desktop I would get considering I wouldn't have to spend the money on two computers?

Anyways right now I have two HD monitors that im fine with and a decent gaming keyboard (Razer lycosa) if theres money left over I wouldn't mind upgrading it but im fine with it. I really need a new mouse as I am using the one that came with an old computer of mine from like 8 years ago, I would like it to be wireless but I know most are not.


1) What is your budget?
~$2500

2) Are there any brands/resellers that you prefer or any you really don't like?
No

3) What tasks will you be performing with the Desktop?
Gaming, 3D Graphics Design, Possible Video Rendering, and the usual web surfing and media.

4) Will you be playing games on it; if so, which games?
I play alot of basicish games(FPS like TF2 and CoD, smaller steam games, minecraft, etc) I never got into the big ones like WoW, Diablo, and SC2 but I would defintly want to be able to play them on good settings if I ever decided to but I wouldnt need them maxed. Lately I have been getting into some Universe and Spaceship sandbox and sim type games which are pretty intensive.

5) Do you mind buying parts online without seeing them in person?
As long as it's from a good, well known place.

6) What OS do you prefer? Windows (XP or Vista), Mac OS X, Linux, etc.
Windows 7

7) How much hard drive space is needed?
I want a small SSD for the OS and some programs and then a large HDD(2-3TB)

8) What size desktop would you like?(All in one, compact, large)
Doesn't matter.

9) Does the case need to be stylish?
Always a plus but by no means a deal breaker.

10) What resolution will the screen run at? One or Two screens?
I have two screen one is a 23 inch 1920x1080 I think and the other is a 20ish inch and I'm not sure of the res.

11) Do you need any particular hardware?(Ports, HDD slots, double DVD drives, etc.)
Once again anything I can get is a plus but the only thing I really want is USB 3.0

12) How would you rate your technical skills?
Im good with software but not hardware so I don't really know how to rate it. I know the basics but have never done much more than that.

13) Have you ever built a desktop before?
No, I have a cousin who has and said he would help but he lives a state away so I would prefer to be able to do it on my own.

14) Do you need wireless connectivity?
I don't but it wouldnt hurt either.

15) When are you going to be building this?
Hopefully within a month or 2 but if somthing new is coming out a little later or a sale I could wait a bit more.

16) Have you considered a pre-built desktop? Or even a notebook?
Yes to both, the only pre-built I could find within this price range was online and I had a bad experince with CyberPowerPC about a year ago, but I wouldn't rule out pre-built. And as for notebook if there is a notebook that would be similar to a desktop of the same price I would look into it, but my current plan was to get a cheap notebook and this desktop.

17) Are you going to overclock?
I never have but I might if it's worth it.

[HOPELESSLYFAITHFUL]

play around with newegg get a 1000-1200watt PSU that is 80 plus. Get the base i7 with a K...I think it is 3770k but I could be mistaken. look at ASRock MOBO they are cheap and good. Find the one with all the good features you want. Get some gskill ram that is 1600(ripjaw I think) Get a total of 16GB. Get two 256GB samsung SSDs in raid 0. Doing that will give you 512GB for probably a 100-200 less then a single 512GB drive. Get 1-2 of the largest 7200RPM drives you can get and your set of ram/cpu/MOBO/drives/psu. All you need is get a decently rated blue ray drive too. I think the LG one is good (as far as newegg rating that is. It is liek 60-80 bucks i think. For graphics cards. get 1 single 7970 or 680. do soem research on scores and performance and price and see which is best. Add that up into a newegg card and print as PDF and post it here so I can take a look. It will probably cost ~2000 i bet

PM me when you are done so i can look at this thread again

[CrAzYsIm]

I wouldn't listen to hopelesslyfatihful's post, prob some of the worst desktop advice i've read.
If your going to get a single GPU, you do not need anywhere close to a 1.2KW PSU. A GTX 680 and a i7 Ivy Bridge CPU, 600W would even be more than youll use.
Also NVIDIA is the way to go for this generation, they just outperform AMD in performance and in price. Also the eVGA GTX670 FTW is $100 less than a GTX680 but performs the same so you can save money there as well.
If you wanted to go with a multi-GPU setup than all you would need is a 750W PSU and itll be enough to power your system.
ASRock is good for budget systems, but for a high end rig I would go with an Asus or a Gigabyte motherboard.
For RAM 8GB is more than you'll use, and you can always add more later, but RAM is so cheap that it wouldnt break the bank to add more.
As far as HDD's. get what you need. If your going to get a 512 GB SSD than why does he need 2 of the largest mechnical drives as well. My recommendation would be a 1TB mechincal drive and a 128-256GB SSD for your OS and frequently used programs.

Theres a difference between building a high end rig and throwing your money away.
I can compile a list of recommend parts for you. Either later in the day or tomorrow.

[HOPELESSLYFAITHFUL]

that is why i said play around and read reviews...i gave him a place to start. Also i said 1k-1.2k so he has plenty of room for another GPU or whatever else down the road....CPUs last a very very long time when they are the highend K models so he can hold onto that system for 4-5 years with overclocking and replace GPUs in two-3 years. that is sound advise. Also the price difference from a good 1k PSU is not very much more than a good 700w PSU...so why not? Room to grow.

your advise is that ram is so cheap so dont skimp on it...so are hardrives....Also if he has a $2500 budget he can basically get everything lol. With an SSD, it is so fast if you want to move data around to and from your hardrives you want to have 2 hardrives in raid 0 that'll give you 300-400MBps so you can move games back and forth between the SSD and hardrives very fast. If he has any decent game collect you can't fit it all onto a SSD so the rest will be stored on the hardrives. This way he can move a 40GB game to an SSD in at most 136s. sound advice

As i said with GPUs i dont know what is best....google and see. Compare prices and so forth....sound advice

SSDs 512GB is far more money than two 256GB just raid 0 them and save 100 bucks. But if you want to through away 100 bucks go ahead i wont stop you. sound advice

Also i regularly max 8GB on my laptop with just running opera chrome and background programs. hence why i said get 16GB it is 80 dollars more big woop. Think future.

on future thought...DDR4 is coming out next year(6 months from now?) too so keep that in mind. These CPUs and GPUs have been out for ~6 months so they are already 6 months into the ~12 month cycle updates

my personal opinion is you always by on new releases of GPU and CPUs because than you get the most life out of them. Your kinda at the middle ground right now. Do i wait or just by because it is getting closer to the point where if you buy you waste money...but that is more so in 2-3 months but i think you get the picture.

If the 670 is as cheap and good as you say it is on sale at newegg
Newegg.com - Official Newegg Promo Codes, Coupon Code, Coupons, Discounts, Promotions, Free Shipping Codes
10 dollars off plus 7% i guess