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]

Stanford recommend turning HT off on a 4 core processor....4 plain cores work better at the moment than if you present 8 cores...so forget HT if folding on your CPU is your main thing....

http://folding.stanford.edu/Spanish/FAQ-SMP#ntoc15