$800 build for gaming. :D

Basics:

  • Budget: $800
  • Where I live: Wisconsin, United States
  • I don't have a retailer I prefer, but I have always used Newegg. I do want to save every last dollar on this build though.
  • I have everything I need peripheral-wise.
  • I'll mostly be gaming on here. I do want a nice CPU though in order to run multiple applications/etc.
  • I want to get into overclocking. I plan to overclock as much as possible.
  • I don't really plan on going for custom watercooling.
  • I don't need an OS.
  • I want top of the line settings.
  • I have a 1440x900 monitor.
  • I play all kinds of games.

Now I already have a 7950 Boost from Powercolor that I want to keep and is running fine AND I already have a 1TB hard drive that I am porting to this build. It'll be plenty.

So basically I want every dollar to go into making this machine play games at the best settings at the highest FPS. while providing some room to add a second GPU as well as the ability to overclock (adding fans/etc).

Thanks for any help you have.

 

Go for a used 1100t (150$) and a used CrossHair IV Extreme (150$). Get a good 1000W PSU (200$) and 32 gigs of random access memories (300$). My personal recommendation is to use a cardboard box as a case, but if you want to get junk hardware, go and get a fancy case.

I'm honestly not sure if you're joking or not.

Good on ya, kid.

Go this way: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2OBQn Its going to be very strong into the future and is very powerful. Don't mind rabidz, he does computers "differently"...

I already have a great video card and a 1TB hard drive so where do you think I should put that money instead?

And I guess rabidz suggestion might work. haha

One thing comes to mine is getting an SSD. I don't know about another 7950; you could probably look on eBay for one (though with prices right now, I wouldn't). 

No I don't need faster boot times. I don't care for that. I want better performance in games and that's pretty much it. And substantial performance increases, not 1-3 fps. SSD's aren't price to performance quality for me yet. I could spend that money elsewhere.

You'd be the first ever to follow one of rabidz build ideas LOL but anyways sorry for not reading the description. You see rabidz and a $800 build and you skip threw stuff. Anyway here's what I'd do then http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2ODei

Here's what I'm thinking: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2Njpf

Is there anyway to better spend the money in order to increase performance/better overclockability/and being future-proof?

I know I could probably get a second GPU but for my current setup (7950 on a 1440x900 monitor) I really doubt that's necessary.

 

Instead of the muskin RAM get some g skillz sniper series with CL 9 and clocked at 1866 for the same price

 

Wouldn't I want the lowest CL though?

Lower cas is better, especially since the difference between 1600mhz and 1866mhz is unnoticeable to the average user. Cas 9 vs 7 will be a bigger improvement. Although I suggest the cas 7 1600mhz kit from my updated build for $5 less.

I'm actually considering paying 5 more dollars for that nice RED. haha

The blue is so unappealing. And I do want to be able to show the inside of my case off.

I replaced the crosshair formula-z with your mobo suggestion caveman to see what I can do with the extra money.

So you already have an HDD, gpu, and ...?

That list thecaveman posted is pretty good-

I like the motherboard, it's good...the x16 ports go down to 8x with dual gpu though...that can make some difference with high-end cards...I mean the big dual chip things though...

A good ssd would be the Samsung 810 Pro

 

...does 600W watt even leave enough room for a dual gpu build?

this is my idea, those Corsiar SP120 fans would be better on the 212 evo and the case is better...750 watts will be plenty for dual 7950s but anything larger...like the r9 series you might need up to 1000w...

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2OEBr

lol, just watched the newegg video for the case...now I want it D':

I have an HDD and a GPU. That's it.

I need a Case, Mobo, Memory, CPU, PSU, and heatsink.

I don't need an SSD.

What about this list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2OEpZ

I guess I'm looking for a better case for that list, it's pretty solid.

Orrr I might just say "fuck it" and go with the crosshair formula-z at that point. haha. It is a really great board.

Also I don't want to go with that case, only because I do want to have the ability for an optical drive only to install my OS (bootdisk etc), and maybe add a blu-ray drive in the future.

Through the power of your suggestions I have come up with this list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2OG6Z

A couple things:

1. I think I can get better overclockability with this thermaltake radiator, that is going for pretty cheap from microcenter, than a fan cooler.

2. I wanted to spend the extra 5 bucks for the RED on the mushkin memory, just for internal system build looks.

3. I don't need an SSD, as explained above.

Any more thoughts?

 

no ssd? okay, never built a system with one myself...I don't mind boot times.

 

only thing I would change would be to add http://pcpartpicker.com/part/corsair-case-fan-co9050006ww as they are better than the stock fans (on the radiator) and would help thermals even more so-

 

Some input:

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2OOLS

H100i should perform similarly, but I do like corsair's AIOs.

Arctic Silver 5 performs pretty damn good.

M5A99FX PRO R2.0 is a great board.  It can handle the 8350 no problem.  The people over at teksyndicate used it with an FX-9590 just fine.  It'll handle two GPUs fine.  I recommend that you don't over two GPUs, as your system just becomes a power hog.  If for some reason you still want 3 way SLI, you can stick with your Crosshair Formula Z

I got 16 gigs of RAM.  I could fit it in there just fine.  It's also black so it should blend in well with the blue/black color scheme i'm somewhat setting up.  16 gigs should last you quite awhile.

XFX PSU.  It uses all Japanese capacitors, and is of a Seasonic design.  It's also semi modular.

I agree with most of this-

true- the H100i is pretty close, I just didn't want to get all in his jam-

I also agree about the Arctic silver 5, I have a large OEM tube of it...But the Tuniq tx-4 is still better by a good bit, the Silver is just more of a classic standard.

That is a good quality motherboard...No one really needs more than 2 GPUs, the performance to power usage is a bit of a trade off...

I never understood having more than 8GB of ram...for the cost of 16GB you can just get better 8GB ram...You could always expand when that is no longer enough but on 8GB I can game and have the web browser open at the same time with no slow downs.

XFX makes great PSUs...the modular-ability means no hanging wires either.

 

A lot of these parts sit in a nice price range where it won't make to much of a difference to spend more- I'd say that most of what OP is looking at is pretty good already.