# $1800 (tax included) budget gaming rig set-up, need some heads up



## Frank2368 (Dec 18, 2010)

Hello everyone! I'm about to purchase a new gaming rig for some of the upcoming PC games. I have a budget of $1800, and I want to maximize the performance of the rig I can get for the price. Here's my build right now, I still need some heads up for some of the components however.



> *Motherboard:* ASUS Sabertooth X58 LGA1366 DDR3 CrossFireX SLI 3PCI-E16 2PCI-E1 PCI USB 3.0 Motherboard @ $219.99
> NCIX.com - Buy ASUS Sabertooth X58 LGA1366 DDR3 CrossFireX SLI 3PCI-E16 2PCI-E1 PCI USB 3.0 Motherboard - SABERTOOTH X58 In Canada.
> 
> 
> ...


I have a few questions about this build:
1. I don't think I will be overclocking this system, so I never bothered choosing a CPU cooler. Is that fine?
2. Will the 850W PSU be able to support my system?
3. The Sandy Bridge CPUs seem to be very powerful performance wise according to benchmark sites, but at a small fraction of price compared to other CPUs of the same performance. Why is this?

If there's any tips you could give me, it would be greatly appreciated too. :grin:

Thanks for reading!
Frank


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## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

The 2600K is a socket 1155 CPU not 1366 like the motherboard you selected, for 1366 CPU look to a i7 940, or 960 cpu.


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## JimE (Apr 16, 2009)

1) A stock cooler will work just fine. The factory warranty is with the stock cooler, so no worries.

2) You've chosen a quality unit, it will have no problems.


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## linderman (May 20, 2005)

Make sure you get the VERSION 2 of the corsair 850

and to use that much ram I "assume" you know you will need the win 7 64bit version ?


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## Tyree (May 10, 2009)

4GB RAM sticks can be problematic and 4GB is more than enough unless you are doing serious graphics or data work.
For the Mobo you have listed you will want a 3X2GB set to use the Triple Channel capabilities.


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## linderman (May 20, 2005)

good catch on the ram Tyree / he has a dual kit listed but needs a tri-channel kit

Newegg.com - Mushkin Enhanced Blackline 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model 998959


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## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

linderman said:


> good catch on the ram Tyree / he has a dual kit listed but needs a tri-channel kit
> 
> Newegg.com - Mushkin Enhanced Blackline 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model 998959


Depends on weather he picks a motherboard to go with the CPU or a CPU to go with the motherboard:grin:


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## linderman (May 20, 2005)

wrench97 said:


> Depends on weather he picks a motherboard to go with the CPU or a CPU to go with the motherboard:grin:



*
Wrench is spot on* ray: 


you must choose socket 1156 or 1366


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## Frank2368 (Dec 18, 2010)

Wow! Thanks for all the quick replies.

I've looked into the CPU and RAM, thanks for the suggestions. It seems that there's no motherboard that supports 1155 slot on NCIX yet, so that's a shame 

For the RAM, I couldn't find the same model as the one you posted on Newegg, so I chose this instead:
NCIX.com - Buy G.SKILL F3-12800CL9T-6GBNQ 6GB DDR3 3X2GB DDR3-1600 CL 9-9-9-24 Triple Channel Memory Kit - G.Skill - F3-12800CL9T-6GBNQ - in Canada
Is that fine?

Also, about the "version 2" of the 850W PSU, how can I tell if it's 850W or not?

Again, thanks for the quick reply :smooch:
Frank


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## Frank2368 (Dec 18, 2010)

Never mind, I found a MOBO for it, failed pretty hard there :tongue:

Will this do?
NCIX.com - Buy MSI P67A-GD65 (B3) P67 ATX LGA1155 DDR3 2PCI-E16 3PCI-E 2PCI SLI CrossFireX SATA3 USB3 Motherboard - MSI/MicroStar - P67A-GD65 (B3) - in Canada


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## hhnq04 (Mar 19, 2008)

Version 2 $15 more, but it has higher efficiency. Up to you whether it's worth the price.

That mobo works, although I prefer ASUS / Gigabyte mobo's, which it seems NCIX doesn't offer for the 1155 socket at this time.

Since you are sticking with 1155 socket, you'll need dual channel RAM for the motherboard you've now selected. Sorry that you have to keep looking for new RAM! 4 GB Dual Channel GSkill DDR3 1333 at a good price


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## gcavan (Aug 13, 2009)

NCIX still has the MSI P67 and H67 boards listed, but note they have 0 stock of any of them.


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## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

They aren't there because there is a design issue with the chip set's sata controller , The "fixed" version won't be released until the end of April> Intel hit with chipset design flaw in Sandy Bridge rollout | ZDNet


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## linderman (May 20, 2005)

hhnq04 said:


> Version 2 $15 more, but it has higher efficiency. Up to you whether it's worth the price.
> 
> That mobo works, although I prefer ASUS / Gigabyte mobo's, which it seems NCIX doesn't offer for the 1155 socket at this time.
> 
> Since you are sticking with 1155 socket, you'll need dual channel RAM for the motherboard you've now selected. Sorry that you have to keep looking for new RAM! 4 GB Dual Channel GSkill DDR3 1333 at a good price




the version 2 Corsair now has seasonic oem with an updated & improved internal design; well worth an extra $15.00


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## Frank2368 (Dec 18, 2010)

Since they don't have 1155 MOBOs, I guess I'll stick with a i7 950 and an 1366 MOBO.

Thanks so much for all the help by the way! I appreciate it very much


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## Frank2368 (Dec 18, 2010)

So here's pretty much my final build. Some of these items are on sale and I must make the final purchase either today or tomorrow. Anyhow, let's get to it 



> *Main Components:*
> NCIX.com - Buy G.SKILL F3-12800CL9T-6GBNQ 6GB DDR3 3X2GB DDR3-1600 CL 9-9-9-24 Triple Channel Memory Kit - G.Skill - F3-12800CL9T-6GBNQ - in Canada
> NCIX.com - Buy MSI GeForce GTX 570 OC Fermi 786MHZ 1280MB 4.2GHZ GDDR5 2XDVI Mini-HDMI PCI-E DirectX 11 Video Card - MSI/MicroStar - N570GTX-M2D12D5/OC - in Canada
> NCIX.com - Buy Intel Core i7 950 Quad Core Processor LGA1366 3.06GHZ Bloomfield 8MB LGA1366 4.8GT/S - Intel - BX80601950 - in Canada
> ...


Once again, thanks SO much for all the help! All tips are appreciated too :smooch:

Thanks,
Frank


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## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

Looks good, do you have a copy of Windows?


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## Frank2368 (Dec 18, 2010)

Windows 7 64-bit :tongue:


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## hhnq04 (Mar 19, 2008)

Looks good, now to eagerly await the package arrival!


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## Frank2368 (Dec 18, 2010)

hhnq04 said:


> Looks good, now to eagerly await the package arrival!


Thanks again, everyone, this forum is one of the most friendly ones I've been to ray: everyone is so nice and helpful


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## linderman (May 20, 2005)

Frank2368 said:


> Thanks again, everyone, this forum is one of the most friendly ones I've been to ray: everyone is so nice and helpful



thanks for the kind words; "we strive for a better forum atmosphere" :wave:


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