Getting a gaming rig. Buy or Build?

[Epoch]

Squilliam said:

Epoch said:

IllegalPaladin said:

Depends on what you want. The Radeon 5870 is $100 more than the Radeon 5850 and the combo you listed gives you a $25 discount compared to buying the Radeon 5870 and i7 860 on their own.

Here's a link to Guru3d's review of the Radeon 5850. The page it's on is the first of the benchmarks. If you scroll down you can see a graph on each game benchmark page with the results of numerous graphics cards (including the 5870) at 1920x1200 resolution and 8xAA. 

As for the power supply, I think that would be enough unless you planned on having dual GPU's.

Wow, for the price I'd be better off with the 5850 for sure.  Then If I need more power later, I can just buy a second and put it in Crossfire.  Thanks again man.

Galaki, my budget is around $1200.

Remember the 1156 pin i7/i5 motherboard / cpus come with very few PCI-E lanes, not enough to do crossfire/sli and especially not if they use USB 3.0. You're better off with either an AM3 based AMD system or a 1366 pin i7 system if you want both crossfire and USB 3.0.

Thanks for the input, but I realized thats probably not gonna happen, as nice as it would be =(.  I don't think I'll be running anything that crazy in the near future that requires dual graphics cards, and I can't justify the cost, even to myself lol.  Is USB 3.0 worth getting? 

This is what I've got so far, Ive dropped from the i7 to the i5 quad simply because I don't think the extra $100 gets me that much more processing power, unless someone thinks its worth it?  If any of these are junk, incompatible, or I'm missing something, please let me know!  Thanks again for all the help.

 

Total so far: $1207    <--- not bad, thats about what I wanted to spend. Still need an OS, keyboard and mouse tho.

 

Intel Core i5-750 Lynnfield 2.66GHz LGA 1156 95W Quad-Core Processor Model BX80605I5750 - Retail Item #: N82E16819115215Return Policy: CPU Replacement Only Return Policy ASUS P7P55D PRO LGA 1156 Intel P55 ATX Intel Motherboard - Retail Item #: N82E16813131405Return Policy: Standard Return Policy

-$16.00 Instant -$20.00 Combo

$409.98$373.98

		Sony Optiarc DVD Burner with LightScribe Black SATA Model AD-7241S-0B LightScribe Support - OEM Item #: N82E16827118032Return Policy: Standard Return Policy Protect Your Investment (expand for options27-118-032|hide options27-118-032) Service Net Replacement Extended Warranty Plan The product will be replaced and shipped directly to you at no charge(more info27-118-032.0.82) 1 year: $6.99 2 year: $11.99	$33.99
select item 2		LIAN LI Lancool PC-K58W Black 0.8 mm SECC, Plastic + Mesh ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Retail Item #: N82E16811112238Return Policy: Standard Return Policy		$78.99
select item 3		Western Digital RE3 WD7502ABYS 750GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Hard Drive -Bare Drive Item #: N82E16822136316Return Policy: Standard Return Policy		$129.99
select item 4	quantity of item 4	XFX HD-585A-ZNDC Radeon HD 5850 (Cypress Pro) XXX Edition 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported ... - Retail Item #: N82E16814150455Return Policy: Standard Return Policy	-$15.00 Instant	$360.49$345.49
		Antec TruePower New TP-650 650W Continuous Power ATX12V V2.3 / EPS12V V2.91 SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE ... - Retail Item #: N82E16817371021Return Policy: Standard Return Policy	-$10.00 Instant	$139.99$129.99
		G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL - Retail Item #: N82E16820231277Return Policy: Memory Standard Return Policy		$114.99
	quantity of item 7