A good strong multipurpose gaming system?

[dlf]

• Purpose of System: Gaming, browsing internet, watching videos. But mostly for gaming. I may want to do folding@home
  
• GPU Setting: Quite high, if not ultra (eventually, for when I get a new monitor)
  
• Budget: @ Around $1300 - $1500 (or so)
  
• Country: USA
  
• Reuseable parts: Can't, see below (current specs) as to why (prebuilt)
  
• Overclocking: No
  
• Monitor: Currently 1680 x 1050 (22 Inches) - I eventually want HD (Between 23 - 27 inches)
  

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

• CPU: Intel Core i7-3770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($248.96 @ Microcenter)
  
• CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.99 @ Newegg)
  
• Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD5H-WB ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($222.94 @ Newegg)
  
• Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($61.68 @ Outlet PC)
  
• Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($97.40 @ Outlet PC)
  
• Storage: Sandisk Extreme 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($108.23 @ NCIX US)
  
• Video Card: PowerColor Radeon HD 7970 3GB Video Card ($399.99 @ Newegg)
  
• Case: Cooler Master HAF 932 Advanced ATX Full Tower Case ($128.00 @ Newegg)
  
• Power Supply: SeaSonic G 550W 80 PLUS Gold Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($89.99 @ Newegg)
  
• Optical Drive: LG GH24NS95 DVD/CD Writer ($17.99 @ Newegg)
  
• Monitor: Asus PB278Q 27.0" Monitor ($649.99 @ Newegg)
  

Total: $2055.16
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)

Current specs:

• Case: No idea (although it is a HP slimline, gray) - that should give some idea of the sort of case.
  
• Motherboard: Asus A8N-BR (Pyrite) (1 PCI, 2 DDR2 DIMM, Audio, Video, LAN, IEEE-1394)
  
• Motherboard Chipset - nVIDIA GeForce 6150 LE, AMD Hammer
  
• Power Supply: No idea (but it's less than 100 watts, I think)
  
• Processor: DualCore AMD Athlon 64 X2, 2000 MHz (10 x 200) 3800+
  
• CPU Cooler: A fan
  
• Memory:
  
• - DIMM1: Kingston 1 GB DDR2-533 DDR2 SDRAM (5-4-4-12 (at) 266 MHz) (4-4-4-12 (at) 266 MHz) (3-3-3-9 (at) 200 MHz)
  
• - DIMM2: Kingston 2G-UDIMM 2 GB DDR2-667 DDR2 SDRAM (5-5-5-15 (at) 333 MHz) (4-4-4-12 (at) 266 MHz) (3-3-3-9 (at) 200 MHz)
  
• Hard Drive: 250 GB ATA drive
  
• Optical Drive HL-DT-ST DVDRRW GSA-H20L ATA Device (DVD+R9:8x, DVD-R9:4x, DVD+RW:16x/8x, DVD-RW:16x/6x, DVD-RAM:5x, DVD-ROM:16x, CD:48x/32x/48x DVD+RW/DVD-RW/DVD-RAM)
  
• OS: Windows 7 Home Premium 32 bit
  

What I wanted from the System

- Hardware

• USB 2.0 & 3.0 ports
  
• Firewire & or eSata port
  
• Support for DVI/HDMI (display port?) - either from the motherboard or from the GPU
  
• Quad Core
  
• Bluetooth - so I can hook up PS3/WII controllers
  

- Software

Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit
Folding @ Home

-- Gaming Software

• (Heroes of) Might & Magic
  
• Diablo 1-2 (LOD)
  
• SimCity 2/3/Unlimited/4/Rushour
  
• The Sims 1/Expansions
  
• The Sims 2
  
• The Sims 3
  
• Warcraft 1 (If possible) /2/3
  

-- Steam

ID software

• - Commander Keen
  
• - Doom (will run Classic Doom 3 as well)
  
• - Hexen/Heretic
  
• - Quake (Ult Quake) (all)
  
• - Rage
  
• - Wolfenstein
  
• PopCap Games
  
• - Bejeweled (all)
  
• - Peggle (all)
  
• Bethesda
  
• - The Elder Scrolls
  
• -- Morrowind (may try MorrOblivion & Skywind)
  
• -- Oblivion (will try using the skyrim engine)
  
• -- Skyrim (plenty of graphical mods and other mods)
  
• - Fallout
  
• -- 1-3/New Vegas
  
• Valve
  
• - Portal 1/2 (plenty of custom maps)
  
• - Half Life (if it will run)
  
• -- Along with the fan remake
  
• Misc Title
  
• -- Batman: Arkham Asylum/City
  
• -- Deus Ex: Human Revolution
  
• -- Dragon Age: Origins
  
• -- L.A Noire
  
• -- Legends of Grimmrock
  
• -- Torchlight 1/2
  
• -- Metro 2033 (& Last Light)
  
• -- Sniper Elite (2?)
  
• -- Space Quest & King's Quest (if I can run them)
  
• -- Bioshock 1/2(/Infinite?)
  
• -- Sonic Generation-
  
• I may try to emulate games up to the PS2/Wii era.
  

Power Supply

- @AT most 750 watts
- At lest 80+ Silver
- Semi or fully Modular (preferably fully)

MISC thoughts

• Eventual dual monitor setup & one be Full HD.
  
• 23+ Inch Widescreen (absolute max 27)
  
• Thinking of eventually getting a Asus PB278Q 27.0" Monitor
  
• I will not overclock. The CPU chosen was cheaper than the NON "K" edition. By like $30 or more.
  
• Also I DO live in TEXAS, specifically Dallas, it can (in the summer) get upwards of at lest 40 degrees Celsius (~105 F) here. I don't think the heat outside and the overclocking of the CPU would be very good.
  
• Also as to why a gigabyte boards, the asus board I was look @ although cheaper, seemed like it was having issues. The gigabyte also has bluetooth (which I want) and a few additions the asus didn't have.
  

Thank you, merci, gracias, domou arigato . . .

[Arne_Saknussemm]

Well, what you picked out looks good to me. Gaming doesn't require so much CPU so maybe an i5 3570 would do you especially if you're not going to OC. Not very ROG but at least there's an ASUS monitor in there lol 😉

I tell you what I'd do...I'd forget the 2tb hard disk and put the money towards a Maximus V Formula (has bluetooth) and scrounge the HDDs out of the old PC or wherever...

[MultiDoc]

And if i may suggest a stronger PSU too.

[chrsplmr]

Max V Gene & Ivy ... 0r ... CrossHair V & FX. Welcome to ROG.c.

[Zka17]

Yeap, I would go higher with the PSU too... like 650-700W range... - but keep the Seasonic line... 🙂

Also, downgrading to 3570k can save some money...

[dlf]

I have no other PC's as to which take a hard drive. Also they'd be IDE (or ATA) nor SATA. Unlike a prebuilt system I can also always change parts. I will most likely want to add more hard drives - SSD or mechanical, perhaps a 2nd GPU, more RAM.

[kkn]

if you want to add a GPU down the road, get a 850/860W PSU now or else you will have to get a new one when your gona upgrade to a new GPU.
go for a i5 3570K for gaming ( my recomendation )
ram: 2x4gig ( or 2x8gig depends on you ) from range 1600 - 1866mhz would not see enny performance realy if going higher.
store the OS on the SSD and save programs on the HDD to keep the disk low on used space, add a SSD for games later to speed up loading time ( you will not regret this ).

[dlf]

I was going to use the SSD for the OS, the mechanical as storage for the games, and eventually get a different SSD for games. I doubt it but would the extra bit(s) of the i7 3770(K) over the i5 3550(K) effect emulation - PS2/WII/GameCube/N64/PS1/etc? The dev(s) for dolphin and PCSX2 do suggest an i7 over an i5.

[kkn]

well i play BF3 and i have a i5 3570K and its OC'd to 4.4ghz and i have no problem runing it.
the 3770K suports hyper treading ( if im not mistaken here ) and that you have no use for in games ( since they hardly suports more then 2-3 treads ).
its only in video edit/rendering and 3D rendering you will see the benefit of it.

[dlf]

I do want to contribute to folding@home - that is 3D rendering. I'd think stanford probably appreciate it.