The Antec Three Hundred Illusion, the case featured in the $850 and $1000 Gaming PCs

Based on more parts that went out of stock, price variations and other reasons, I took some time today to do some quick updates to the parts featured in the $400, $500, $850 and $1000 Gaming PC.

Here’s what different in the builds:

$400 Gaming PC:

1. The Video Card was changed from a Sapphire Radeon HD 4850 GDDR5 to a PowerColor Radeon HD 4850 GDDR3. As I feared, the GDDR5 version of the Radeon HD 4850 only lasted for so long until stocks ran out and they are out now, so we are back to the usual GDDR3 version of the Radeon HD 4850.
2. Other than that, the build is unchanged and now costs $404 instead of $414, an appreciable $10 price cut.

For more details and the full list of components featured in this build, go visit the updated $400 Gaming PC now.

$500 Gaming PC:

1. The Video card was changed from a Sapphire Radeon HD 5770 1GB ($155) to an HIS Radeon HD 5770 1GB ($140), due to the Sapphire Radeon HD 5770 reaching an higher price, with the $500 Budget already stretched. Performance is unaffected here.
2. The Hard Drive was changed from a Samsung F3 500GB to a Samsung F4 320GB. While the F4 is a tad faster than the F3, this is mostly done to bring back to budget within its limit, since the F4 320GB is $10 less expensive than the F3 500GB. Mind you, you can always upgrade the hard drive if 320GB isn’t enough for you.
3. Thanks to these changes, the build now costs $521 instead of $537, a $16 price cut than helps bring back the budget within the -/+5% that I usually give myself as a margin.

For more details and the full list of components featured in this build, go visit the updated $500 Gaming PC now.

$850 Gaming PC:

1. The RAM was changed from the G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3 1600 CAS 9 memory kit to the G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3 1600MHz 1.6v CAS 8 memory kit. Other than the slightly higher voltage and lower latency, they are similar kits, however the new kit currently has the best customer reviews of all DDR3 1600MHz 2x2GB kits on NewEgg, meaning that you’re less likely to have problems with it.
2. The Power Supply was changed from a SILVERSTONE ST50F-ES 500W 80 PLUS Certified to a Seasonic S12II 520W 80PLUS Bronze Certified. The previously recommended Silverstone unit went up in price by $10, while the newly recommended Seasonic unit went down $10 in price, making both available for $60. The Seasonic offers a tad more power (A lot more on the 12V, 40A compared to 34A before), is a step up in reliability and is also more efficient, reducing your electricity bill, as well as running cooler and more silently.
3. Other than that, the build is unchanged and now costs $860 instead of $852, a $8 increase, which is mostly due to the case going up $15 in price (Now $70 instead od $55)

For more details and the full list of components featured in this build, go visit the updated $850 Gaming PC now.

$1000 Gaming PC:

1. The Video card was changed from two HIS Radeon HD 5770 in Crossfire to two XFX Radeon HD 5770. There’s an issue with the HIS cards in Crossfire on a motherboard with PCI-Express 16x slots close to each other, where the HIS cards take a tad more space than two slots and won’t fit/work properly. Besides, the XFX comes with a double lifetime warranty, which is better.
2. The Motherboard was changed from an ASUS Maximus III GENE LGA 1156 P55 Micro ATX to an ASUS P7P55D PRO. Why?
   1. Well, first of all because over the last weeks, I have heard from quite a few people who had issues with the Maximus III GENE motherboard, from a RAM slot being defective to many boards arriving DOA (Dead on Arrival). Simply put, it’s not as reliable as I would want it be, for me to recommend it.
   2. The ASUS P7P55D PRO, as well as other motherboard upgrades, all feature more spacing between the two main PCI-Express 16x slots, to ensure that the two Radeon HD 5770 in Crossfire have enough room to “breath” and not reach too high temperatures that would results in reliability issues.
   3. Finally, the ASUS P7P55D PRO was $15 less expensive then the ASUS Maximus III GENE.
3. The RAM was changed from the G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3 1600 CAS 9 memory kit to the G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3 1600MHz 1.6v CAS 8 memory kit. Other than the slightly higher voltage and lower latency, they are similar kits, however the new kit currently has the best customer reviews of all DDR3 1600MHz 2x2GB kits on NewEgg, meaning that you’re less likely to have problems with it.
4. The Power Supply was changed from a Seasonic M12II 620W 80 PLUS Bronze Modular to a Seasonic S12II 620W 80 PLUS Bronze. You lose the modular part, but you save $30!
5. Other than that, the build is unchanged and now costs $1042 instead of $1002, a $40 increase explained by the more expensive XFX video cards ($340 vs $280) and the case that went up in price (+$15). Keep in mind that I keep a -/+5% margin on the budget, 5% of $1000 being $50, we’re still within the budget.

For more details and the full list of components featured in this build, go visit the updated $1000 Gaming PC now.

Enjoy the newly updated $400, $500, $850 and $1000 Gaming PCs!
Mathieu

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The Sapphire Radeon HD 5770 Vapor-X, the video card featured in the $600 Gaming PC.

Based on parts that went out of stock, price variations and other reasons, I took some time today to do some quick updates to the parts featured in the $600 and $700 Gaming PC.

Here’s what different in both builds:

$600 Gaming PC:

1. The Motherboard was changed from an ASRock EXTREME3 AM3 870 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 CF 8x/8x ATX to an ASRock 880GXH/USB3 AM3 AMD 880G USB 3.0 ATX, because the EXTREME 3 is currently out of stock, without an estimated date for arrival of new stocks.
2. The Video Card was changed from a standard Sapphire Radeon HD 5770 1GB to a Sapphire Radeon HD 5770 1GB with the Vapor-X cooler. The standard Sapphire Radeon HD 5770 is out of stock and the Vapor-x edition cooler performs better while being more silent. Win-win situation.
3. The RAM was changed from the G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3 1600 CAS 9 memory kit to the G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3 1600MHz 1.6v CAS 8 memory kit. Other than the slightly higher voltage and lower latency, they are similar kits, however the new kit currently has the best customer reviews of all DDR3 1600MHz 2x2GB kits on NewEgg, meaning that you’re less likely to have problems with it.
4. Other than that, the build is unchanged and now costs $605 instead of $600, a $5 increase that’s easily explained by the more reliable RAM and better video card cooler.

For more details and the full list of components featured in this build, go visit the updated $600 Gaming PC now.

$700 Gaming PC:

1. The Motherboard was changed from an ASRock EXTREME3 AM3 870 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 CF 8x/8x ATX to an ASRock 880GXH/USB3 AM3 AMD 880G USB 3.0 ATX, because the EXTREME 3 is currently out of stock, without an estimated date for arrival of new stocks
2. The RAM was changed from the G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3 1600 CAS 9 memory kit to the G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3 1600MHz 1.6v CAS 8 memory kit. Other than the slightly higher voltage and lower latency, they are similar kits, however the new kit currently has the best customer reviews of all DDR3 1600MHz 2x2GB kits on NewEgg, meaning that you’re less likely to have problems with it.
3. The Power Supply was changed from a SILVERSTONE ST50F-ES 500W 80 PLUS Certified to a Seasonic S12II 520W 80PLUS Bronze Certified. The previously recommended Silverstone unit went up in price by $10, while the newly recommended Seasonic unit went down $10 in price, making both available for $60. The Seasonic offers a tad more power (A lot more on the 12V, 40A compared to 34A before), is a step up in reliability and is also more efficient, reducing your electricity bill, as well as running cooler and more silently.
4. Other than that, the build is unchanged and now costs $725 instead of $730, an appreciable $5 price cut.

For more details and the full list of components featured in this build, go visit the updated $700 Gaming PC now.

Enjoy the newly updated $600 and $700 Gaming PCs!
Mathieu

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The Xigmatek Asgard II, the new case featured in the latest edition of the $400 Gaming PC.

Based on your feedback and additional research on my end, I took some time today to do some quick updates to the parts featured in the $400 and $1250 Gaming PC.

Here’s what different in both builds:

$400 Gaming PC:

1. The Power Supply was changed from a Rosewill 500W, that comes included with a Rosewill case, to an Antec Basiq 430W. After further research, the Rosewill PSU simply didn’t match the standard of quality that I want in order to recommend a power supply. The Antec Basiq 430W does, with its Tier 3 unit rank on EggXpert Tiered Power Supplies List, as well as active PFC and a safety protection circuitry to prevent damage resulting from short circuits, over current, and over voltage.
2. The Case was changed from a  Rosewill R519-BK w/ 500W Power Supply to a Xigmatek Asgard II, seeing as we now have a separated power supply. Besides, the Xigmatek looks way better and offer better features.
3. Other than that, the build is unchanged and now costs $414 instead of $405, a $9 increase that is justified by a more reliable power supply and better case, two crucial parts in a Gaming PC.

For more details and the full list of components featured in this build, go visit the updated $400 Gaming PC now.

$1250 Gaming PC:

1. The Video card was changed from two Gigabyte GTX 460 1GB in SLI to two EVGA GTX 460 1GB in SLI. The reason for this is that in SLI, cards with closed cooler design, that exhaust the heat outside of the case, are more desirable to ensure lower temperatures and higher stability. Also, the EVGA cards feature lifetime warranty, which is always a good thing.
2. The Motherboard was changed from an ASUS Maximus III GENE LGA 1156 P55 Micro ATX to an ASUS P7P55D PRO. Why?
   • Well, first of all because over the last weeks, I have heard from quite a few people who had issues with the Maximus III GENE motherboard, from a RAM slot being defective to many boards arriving DOA (Dead on Arrival). Simply put, it’s not as reliable as I would want it be, for me to recommend it.
   • The ASUS P7P55D PRO, as well as other motherboard upgrades, all feature more spacing between the two main PCI-Express 16x slots, to ensure that the two GTX 460 cards in SLI have enough room to “breath” and not reach too high temperatures that would results in reliability issues.
   • Finally, the ASUS P7P55D PRO was $15 less expensive then the ASUS Maximus III GENE.
3. Other than that, the build is unchanged and now costs $1280 instead of $1275, a $5 increase, that is easily justified by the lower temperatures that you’ll get on the video cards, thanks to the additional spacing between the PCI-Express 16x slots on the motherboard, as well as the closed-cooler design on the EVGA GTX 460 in SLI, not to mention the lifetime warranty on the video cards. Mind you, the budget is still well within the -/+5% margin that I give myself regarding the budget ($1250 + 5% is $1312.50).

For more details and the full list of components featured in this build, go visit the updated $1250 Gaming PC now.

Upcoming Updates to Hardware Revolution

Due next week: Hardware Revolution 3.0.2: Faster website loading
During the last 3.0.1 update, where I introduced a mobile version of the website, optimized for Iphones, Android devices and other mobile devices, there was an unfortunate plugin conflict, which did slow down the website by .2 to .4 second on average. I apologize for that and I hope that it’s not disturbing your experience on Hardware Revolution.

Rest assured that during next weekend and early next week, I’ll:

• Fix that issue
• Optimize the server based on the usage that it got since it has been live for the last two weeks.
• Optimize the design so that it loads even faster.
• Introduce some other servers to speed things up even more.

My goal is basically to make this website consistently load as fast as possible.

What articles can you expect next?

This week:

I’ll start updating the Workstation Builds. The video cards market hasn’t changed much last month, so I’ll wait until October to update The Best Video Cards for Your Money article.

Next week:

I’ll finish updating the Workstation Builds and I’ll also be doing a few more “Quick Updates” for other Gaming PCs and HTPCs too, as necessary.

In two weeks and after that:
All the builds should be pretty much up to date, so this will be my chance to add some new content and features, based on your suggestions and some ideas that I’ve been playing with.

The next full updates

I have been writing down your suggestions and ideas on my own for the next round of full updates with new articles, with various improvements, which will start with the new round of Gaming PCs, but I will need some time to develop the base “template” beforehand. Expect that new article “template” some time in late October/early November, in time for the holidays of course.

Like I said before though, I’ll do quick updates and full updates using the current “template” in the meantime, to make sure that the builds stay updated and keep offering the best performance for your money.

Automatically receive our future articles for free via RSS or Email:

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The Corsair H50, the All-in-One Water-Cooled CPU Cooler featured in this build, seen installed in another build. Note that while it ships with a single fan, you can easily add a second one for extra cooling performance.

Who said that an ultra-powerful Gaming PC has to sound like a jet engine?

When I published the $1500 Gaming PC, I was very happy with its performance, but not such much with the noise, especially if you upgrade to GTX 470/480 in SLI, which can be really noisy.

With this $2000 Gaming PC, I wanted to do things differently…

My Goal with the $2000 Gaming PC: A Powerful Build, that’s Relatively Quiet.

My goal with this Gaming PC isn’t maximum performance at all cost. Anyone can do that.

Instead, I wanted to offer you a build that’s more compelling: A Gaming PC with very high performance, but without the very high noise that usually comes with such systems.

How did I achieve that with this build?

Simple enough: Instead of aiming for the best performance at a given price, which is what I’m known for, I aimed for parts that offered the best performance possible, at a reasonable noise level that is.

On top of that, I added a few things and picked the right components here and there to keep noise from the noisiest components under control.

In the end, not only this build is faster than the $1500 build (You’d hope so, right?), but it’s also significantly less noisy, thanks to various hand-picked components.

Special efforts to keep the noise under control

Focused on reducing the video cards noise:
High-performance video cards are well known for having noisy fans, especially when you put two video cards together in Crossfire or SLI. Since my goal is to offer you a relatively quiet Gaming PC, something had to be done about this.

To keep the video cards noise under control, I did three things:
1. First of all, I went with the Radeon HD 5870 series, since it offers high performance, usually found between Nvidia’s Geforce GTX 470 and 480, but without the mind-blowing consumption of the Geforce GTX 470/480 series.

You don’t think that the GTX 470/480 is that bad? To give an idea of how power-hungry they are, I’ll tell you a very simple fact:
Two Radeon HD 5870 in Crossfire consume less power than a single Geforce GTX 470, with both at load, according to [H]ardOcp. That’s how big of a difference there is and this is why I went with two Radeon HD 5870 in Crossfire.

Since the video card consumes less power, it dissipates less heat, resulting in the video card cooler fan not having to spin as fast to exhaust the heat, which means less noise in the end.

2. I’ll be recommending the Sapphire Vapor-X Radeon HD 5870, which comes with a unique cooler that allows for lower temperatures as well as much lower noise emissions, two good things. On top of that, its fan automatically adjust depending on the GPU temperature, in order to strike the right balance between low noise and proper cooling.

3. I’ll also be recommending the Cooler Master HAF X Case, which comes with a GPU shroud (see the picture), in which we’ll be adding a fan (hand-picked for the right balance of cooling and noise), so that the GPUs are always fed with plenty of air. The HAF X also comes with a massive side fan, which will further cool down the video cards.

In the end, the goal being to provide plenty of airflow to the video cards, so that they don’t have to spin their own cooling fan as fast, in order to keep noise in check. Keep in mind that you can use the Catalyst Control Center, in order to manually adjust the video cards fan speed. Of course, make sure to keep an eye on temperatures.

No noisy CPU Cooler:

I’ll also recommend to you the Corsair H50 All-in-One CPU Water CPU Cooler, which performs as well as the top air CPU cooler, but without the noise, thanks to water cooling properties, as well to the H50′s pvm fan, which automatically adjust its speed based on your CPU temperature, meaning that it’s never noisier than it needs to be, while assuring that your CPU won’t overheat either.

Large, slow-spinning case fans, that you can control:

The case is equipped with one 230mm, two 200mm case and one 140mm fans. Since they are large, they don’t need to spin as fast to move a lot of air, resulting in…you’ve guessed it: less noise.

Finally, I’ll include a fan controller in the budget for this build, so that you can control the case fans, so that you can decide on the best ratio between noise and cooling.

Upgraded CPU/Motherboard/Chipset Platform:

Like the $1500 Gaming PC, this $2000 Gaming PC is getting a major platform update.

In short, the new platform allows for future upgrades down the road, since it won’t be subject to a bottleneck from the previous platform limited PCI-Express bandwidth, has more RAM bandwidth thanks to a Triple-Channel memory interface instead of Dual-Channel, allows for higher-end CPU upgrades and finally, gives you the edge when it comes to overclocking.

Since the $2000 Gaming PC shares the same CPU/Motherboard/RAM as the $1500 Gaming PC, I invite you to visit the $1500 Gaming PC article for all the details on the previous version based on Intel’s LGA1156 socket/P55 chipset platform vs the new version based on Intel’s LGA1366 socket/X58 chipset platform.

$2000 Gaming computer hardware parts recommendations, short summary:

Required components:

Components	Make, Model and Specifications	Price
CPU/Processor	Intel Core i7 950 3.06GHz LGA1366 130W Quad-Core	$299
Motherboard	ASRock Extreme 3 LGA1366 X58 SATA6Gb/s USB3.0 ASUS P6TD Deluxe LGA1366 X58 ATX	$190 $290
RAM	G.SKILL PI Series 6GB (3 x 2GB) DDR3 1600 CAS 7 1.5v CORSAIR XMS 6GB (3 x 2GB) DDR3 2000MHz CAS9 1.65v G.SKILL Ripjaws 12GB (3 x 4GB) DDR3 1333MHz CAS9 1.5v G.SKILL Trident+ 12GB (3 x 4GB) DDR3 2000MHz CAS9 1.65v	$150 $175 $260 $530
Video Card	Two SAPPHIRE Vapor-X Radeon HD 5870 1GB in Crossfire Two SAPPHIRE Vapor-X Radeon HD 5870 2GB in Crossfire	$800 $960
Hard Drive	Two Samsung F3 500GB SATA II 3.0Gb/s in RAID 0 for 1TB Two Samsung F3 1TB SATA II 3.0Gb/s in RAID 0 for 2TB Four Samsung F3 1TB SATA II 3.0Gb/s in RAID 0+1 for 2TB Intel X25-V 2.5″ 40GB SATA II Intel w/ TRIM SSD Corsair Force 2.5″ 60GB SATA II SandForce w/ TRIM SSD G.SKILL Phoenix Pro 2.5″ 120GB Sandforce w/ TRIM SSD OCZ Vertex 2 180GB 3.5″ SATA II SandForce w/ TRIM SSD	$106 $140 $280 $100 $145 $280 $450
Optical Drive	LITE-ON Black 24X SATA CD/DVD Burner LITE-ON 4X Blu-ray Reader SATA LG 10X Blu-ray Burner SATA	$18 $50 $110
Power Supply	SeaSonic S12D 850W 80PLUS SILVER Certified Silverstone 1000W 80 PLUS SILVER Certified Modular	$140 $185
Case	COOLER MASTER HAF X w/ Duct for GPUs Corsair Obsidian 800D	$200 $270
Cooling	Corsair H50 All-in-One Water-Cooling CPU Cooler ARCTIC COOLING MX-2 Thermal Compound Scythe KAZE MASTER 5.25″ Bay Fan Controller Scythe 120mm FDB 63.7 CFM 28dBA Fan for GPU Duct Corsair H70 All-in-One Water-Cooling CPU Cooler	$80 $8 $32 $15 $103
Sound	8 channels sound card: Integrated on the motherboard Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer PCI Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium PCI-Express For Upgrades, see details in the Sound Card main section below	Free $60 $100
Network	Ethernet RJ-45 10/100/1000 Mbps: Integrated on the motherboard	Free
Total price	Not Including OS, Shipping nor handling. Within -/+ 5% of Budget	$2038

Accessories:

Accessories	Make, Model and Specifications	Price
Headphone	Logitech G330 3.5mm/ USB Circumaural SENNHEISER PC151 3.5mm Binaural Creative Sound Blaster Arena Surround USB SENNHEISER PC161 3.5mm Circumaural Logitech G35 USB 2.0 Surround Sound SENNHEISER PC166 3.5mm/ USB Connector Circumaural	$50 $60 $80 $90 $97 $140
Speakers	Logitech X-540 70 watts 5.1 Logitech Z-2300 200 watts RMS 2.1 Logitech Z-5500 505 Watts 5.1 Digital	$70 $131 $340
Monitor	Acer 23.6″ 2ms 1080p 120Hz 3D Asus VG236H 23″ 2ms 1080p 120Hz 3D Three Acer 23.6″ 2ms 1080p 120Hz 3D	$370 $500 $1110

Build your Gaming PC today!

Why should you?
For the same price, you’ll get more performance out of your custom PC, or you’ll save money while getting the same performance compared to a retail PC. Not to mention that retail PCs come with tons of bloatware and limited warranties. Why settle for less?

Stop relying on HP, Dell and other companies:
Build your own custom PC today. It’s easier than you think!

This Build includes all the parts/cables that you need and was double-checked to ensure compatibility. Simply order your parts, set aside some time, grab a screwdriver and build your own personal Gaming PC. No worries, I’ll be there to assist you if you have questions or need help.

Then you’ll be able to say, “See that computer over there? Yeah, I built that.” Talk about being proud of a job well done.

Building this System, Got a Question, Need Help?

[+] Click here to expand for additional info on How to Build a PC, FAQs, Guides, etc.

Computer Builds FAQs:

I often get questions such as:

• Who are you to tell me which parts to choose?
• Can you suggest me a step by step guide to build a computer?
• Why should I build a PC instead of buying one in a store?
• And many more…

You will find the answers to all of these questions and more in this article: FAQ: How to Build Your Own Computer

Also, if this is your first build, here are 10 Quick Tips for 1st Time Builders to get you started.

Finally, if your newly built computer won’t start, I invite you to read Help me: Why won’t my newly assembled PC start or boot?

Free Expert Assistance

If you have any question(s) about the build, simply leave a comment below the article and I’ll reply to you within 24-48 hours usually.

I’m a computer enthusiast with 10 years of experience in building, fixing/modifying computers and it will be my pleasure to assist you in building your 1st, 2nd, 3rd or xxth PC.

No worries, there are no stupid questions here on Hardware Revolution. We all started from scratch and learned through our mistakes. I’ll just help you make sure to avoid those mistakes

If you want to have your final build double-checked and get my opinion on it before ordering, or for anything else, don’t be shy, just leave a comment.

$2000 Gaming Computer Hardware parts recommendations, detailed version:

Motherboard:

ASRock Extreme 3 X58 LGA1366 SATA6Gb/s USB3.0 ATX

This motherboard is filled with great features. On the back, it features two USB 3.0, five USB 2.0 ports, FireWire, E-SATA, S/PDIF Out via Optical, two PS/2, Gigabit LAN and 7.1 Surround audio. Crossfire and SLI are supported, with three PCI-Express 2.0 16x slots running at 16x/16x/4x. This motherboard supports/is compatible with everything in this system, including the two Radeon HD 5870 in Crossfire of course.

Ports:
On the board itself, you have three PCI-Express 2.0 16X (16x, 16x in Blue, 4x in White), one PCI-Express 1X and two PCI slots, along with two SATA 6.0Gb/s and six SATA 3.0Gb/s ports.

Note that it comes with four SATA cables, so no need to buy any for the DVD Burner, SSD nor the two hard drives. Note that this motherboard, as well as the upgrade, include all the SATA cables that you’ll need.

AnandTech reviewed it if you’d like to see an in-depth review of it.

In short, the AsRock Extreme 3 supports Crossfire, with a great layout that lets the two cards breath, comes with SATA 6.0Gb/s as well as USB 3.0. Its weak point would be that it’s not the best overclocker, but hey, for $190 for a more than decent X58 motherboard, I wouldn’t complain.

Recommended upgrades:

1. If you want the same great PCI-Express layout for Crossfire, but with top-notch overclocking, the ASUS P6TD Deluxe LGA1366 X58 ATX is what I recommend to you.

CPU:

Intel Core i7 950 3.06GHz LGA1366 130W Quad-Core

The Intel Core i7 line on the LGA1366 socket have been the high-end CPU to get for an high-end Gaming PC for nearly two years now. At first we had the 2.66GHz Core i7 920, which was eventually replaced by the slightly faster 2.8GHz Core i7 930, which is now getting replaced by the quite faster 3.06GHz Core i7 950, starting today with its price cut from ~$600 to ~$300. This is one of the reason that I waited until today to publish this new $2000 Gaming PC

The one and only Intel Core i7 950, the successor of the highly popular Intel Core i7 920 and 930, offering an additional 266MHz over its predecessor.

What about the AMD Phenom II X4 965 3.4GHz or the AMD Phenom II X6 1090T 3.2GHz?
Whether if it’s vs the Phenom II X6 1090T, or vs the Phenom II X4 965, the Intel Core i7 950 comes on top in the vast majority of cases. Not to mention that the i7 950 has more overclocking headroom.

Recommended upgrades (Compared to the Intel Core i7 950 main recommendation):
While there are faster options such as the:

1. Core i7 960 (Quad-Core at 3.20GHz – $570)
2. Core i7 970 (Six-Core at 3.20GHz – $900)
3. Core i7 980X (Six-Core at 3.33GHz, Unlocked Multiplier – $1000)

I do not recommend them, because in my opinion, they just aren’t worth the much higher cost for the little performance improvement that they bring when it comes to gaming performance. You’d be much better off spending your money on something else, such as the video card(s) or an SSD. Besides, you can just overclock your CPU if you want that extra edge.

Video Card:

Two SAPPHIRE Vapor-X Radeon HD 5870 1GB in Crossfire

Overtaking my previous recommendation for this build, the two Radeon HD 5850 in Crossfire, the two Radeon HD 5870 in Crossfire are a nice upgrade. With their additional stream processors and higher frequencies, you’ll get a nice performance boost.

As I explained in the beginning of the article, I picked the Radeon HD 5870 thanks to its great performance/power consumption/noise level ratio, making it the most desirable card for this build.

I went with the Sapphire Vapor-X edition of the 5870 because it comes with a unique cooler that allows for lower temperatures as well as much lower noise emissions, two good things. On top of that, its fan automatically adjust depending on the GPU temperature, in order to strike the right balance between low noise and proper cooling.

What games can the $2000 Gaming PC handle:

This setup is capable of handling pretty much ANY game at a resolution of 1920 x 1080 (Maxed out of course) and most games at 2560 x 1600.

Finally, this setup is DirectX 11 compliant, HDCP Ready and will handle Blu-Ray and other 1080p content playback, with audio over HDMI as well.

Recommended upgrades:

If you want higher-performance, two SAPPHIRE Vapor-X Radeon HD 5870 2GB in Crossfire will give the edge at resolutions above 1080p and/or with high levels AA/AF and/or with games that require a lot of video card memory, such as GTA:4

This is the same card as before, with the same great cooler, but with 2GB of video RAM per card this time. Highly recommended for the best performance if you intend to play with 3 monitors side-by-side with Eyefinity, since such an high resolution truly can take advantage of more VRAM.

RAM:

G.SKILL PI Series 6GB (3 x 2GB) DDR3 1600 CAS 7 1.5v

While you could get by with 3GB ( 3x1GB) of RAM, you’re better off with 6GB (3 x 2GB), especially considering the small price difference.

6GB of RAM will easily handle the latest video games, considering that most of them won’t use more than 2GB, along with Windows and background background such as your anti-virus, web browser, music/video player, etc.

I went with G.Skill for their high reliability and compatibility with the majority of motherboards. I chose these particular sticks due to their good price considering their 1.5V requirement for CAS 7 and a 1600MHz frequency.

Important note:
To avoid damaging your Core i7 processor, do not use any RAM that requires over 1.65V, nor should set your RAM voltage over 1.65V. Doing so will damage your processor, since the memory controller is integrated in it and cannot handle that much voltage.

Also, you will most likely have to set your RAM frequency and timings manually in the BIOS, or with a XMP profile, so don’t be worried if your RAM boots with different settings at first.

Recommended upgrades

1. If you intend to overclock your CPU, you’ll want to make sure that your RAM doesn’t limit you by being unable to keep up. Running at a frequency of 2000MHz, while still being relatively affordable, upgrading to the CORSAIR XMS 6GB (3 x 2GB) DDR3 2000MHz CAS9 1.65v is an easy way to have enough headroom for overclocking.
2. You want to be future-proof or you have highly demanding programs that need more than 6GB of RAM, but you have no intention of overclocking? Get this: G.SKILL Ripjaws 12GB (3 x 4GB) DDR3 1333MHz CAS9 1.5v
3. If you want 12GB of RAM AND want to heavily overclock, go with this 12GB 2000MHZ kit of DDR3: G.SKILL Trident+ 12GB (3 x 4GB) DDR3 2000MHz CAS9 1.65v

Hard Drive:

Two Samsung F3 500GB SATA 3.0Gb/s in RAID 0, Total Capacity: 1TB

In this Tom’s Hardware hard drive article, the SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ (The 1TB version) finishes on top of all transfer rates benchmarks, even ahead of what used to be my recommendation for high-end builds, the Western Digital Caviar Black. Now, guess what happens if you take two of the 500GB version of this drive and put them in RAID 0 (Easily done via the BIOS)? You get a setup that’s nearly twice as fast compared to the F3 HD103SJ 1TB edition, for only $32 more, with also a 1TB capacity.

Considering that the hard drive is often the bottleneck in a system and that no ones likes waiting for their game to load, this is a simple and relatively inexpensive upgrade compared to a single drive, like the Western Digital Caviar Black 640GB featured in the previous version of this build.

Recommended upgrades:

1. Two Samsung F3 1TB SATA II 3.0Gb/s in RAID 0, Total Capacity: 2TB – Same as above, 300+MB/s transfer rates, except that you get a 2TB storage capacity this time.
2. Four Samsung F3 1TB SATA II 3.0Gb/s in RAID 0+1 for 2TB – Same as above, you get 2TB of storage and high performance but on top of that, you also get additional redundancy, thanks to the 1 part of RAID 0+1
3. Intel X25-V 2.5″ 40GB SATA II Intel w/ TRIM SSD – If you want an entry level SSD to speed up Windows and a few important games, this Intel SSD is affordable at $100. Want an even faster SSD with more capacity? Look at the three options below:
4. Corsair Force 2.5″ 60GB SATA II SandForce w/ TRIM SSD
5. G.SKILL Phoenix Pro 2.5″ 120GB Sandforce w/ TRIM SSD
6. OCZ Vertex 2 180GB 3.5″ SATA II SandForce w/ TRIM SSD
7. Keep in mind that you need to correctly setup your PC with two hard drives in RAID and a SSD. You simply need to set SATA as RAID in the BIOS and configure your RAID controller utility so that the SSD is a non-RAID disk, while the hard drives are RAID disks. Check your motherboard manual for details on how to do this.
8. Want a different combination of SSD(s) and Hard Drives? I invite you to take a look to our guide to the Best Hard Drives & Best SSDs For Your Money.

Optical Drive:

LITE-ON Black 24X SATA CD/DVD Burner

This drive is able to read and burn CDs and DVDs. Silent, compatible with all major formats including DVD-RAM.

Also, seeing as DVD Burners are often go out of stock lately, here are a two alternatives that you can use to replace it. All are SATA based.

1. LITE-ON Black 24X SATA Black CD/DVD Writer
2. HP Black 24X SATA 24X CD/DVD Writer – Retail

Upgrades:

If you’d like to watch BluRay movies or TV shows, this LITE-ON 4X Blu-ray Reader SATA will do the job. However, note that it can only READ CDs, DVDs and Bluray disks, not burn any of them.

If you want the ability to burn disks and read them as well, the LG 10X Blu-ray Burner SATA is what you want.

Regarding Blu-Ray playback:

As far as I know, you still require a specific software to playback Blu-Ray disks on a PC. Based on various reviews and feedback on various forums, PowerDVD 9 Ultra is the software that I recommend to you. It is fully compatible with Windows 7 and shouldn’t give you any problems.

Case:

COOLER MASTER HAF X

This is another outstanding case from Cooler Master and I picked it for this build for the following reasons:

• Cooling wise, this case:
  • Includes one 230mm, two 200mm and one 140mm case fans, insuring proper cooling for your powerful Gaming PC.
  • Comes with a GPU duct, where you will install a fan, to bring more airflow to the video cards.

Features wise, you get:

1. A unique look with Red LEDs, not the common blue LEDs equipped on so many cases. Best of all, if LEDs annoy you, you have the option to turn them off.
2. Support for up to five hard drives
3. Enough space for the longest video cards .
4. Two USB 3.0, Two USB 2.0, FireWire, E-SATA, Audio out and MIC in at the top

Recommended upgrades:

• Here’s an alternatives that is worth taking a look at:
  • Corsair Obsidian 800D – One of the most popular and favorite cases lately and for a good reason: It doesn’t get much better than this.
• If you want a different case, take a look at the following article: Find Out the 88 Best Computer Cases For Your Money.

Power Supply:

SeaSonic S12D 850W 80 PLUS SILVER Certified

This power supply is capable of delivering up to 850W, not that should rely on this information only as I often point in posts such as Warning: 6 Surefire Ways of Blowing Up Your Computer Due to an Inadequate Power Supply, but more importantly 70A on the 12V line, the most important factor when it comes to choosing a power supply for a gaming computer.

Best of all, it is 80 PLUS Silver certified, meaning that it’s always at least 85% efficient, resulting in less heat, more silence and a lower electricity bill for you, compared to a less efficient power supply.

Power Consumption:

According to the eXtreme Power Supply Calculator, it is estimated that this system will consume at load (peak usage):

• 626W with the Intel Core i7 950 130W stock, the two Radeon HD 5870 in Crossfire, the two hard drives in RAID 0 and rest of this build without upgrades.
• 716W with the Intel Core i7 950 130W overclocked to 4.0GHz at 1.45v, the two Radeon HD 5870 in Crossfire, four hard drives in RAID 0+1 and rest of this build without upgrades and rest of this build without upgrades. This is the worse case scenario.

The recommend power supply is capable of handling the recommended setup, extra hard drives/SSDs as well as overclocking with the CPU. If you decide to overclock the video cards as well, I recommend upgrading the power supply to the Silverstone 1000W 80 PLUS SILVER Certified Modular, so you have enough overhead to not worry about hitting the power supply limit, which could be the case with the SeaSonic S12D 850W and which could possibly limit your overclock. Not to mention that power supplies get noisier as they approach their limit.

Both power supplies were double-checked to ensure that they are reliable, efficient (At least 85% efficient thanks to the 80 Plus Silver independent certification) and high-quality units, capable of delivering their rated power, as well as having enough 6 and 6+2 pins PCI-Express power cables for this build.

Cooling:

Corsair H50 All-in-One Water-Cooling CPU Cooler

This is an high-end Gaming PC, with a 130W CPU at stock, as well as two high-end videos cards. With all the heat from those parts, the stock cooler won’t cut it. An air-cooler would do it, but the noise from it, especially if you overclock the CPU, is undesirable, hence why I recommend this All-in-One Water-Cooling CPU Cooler, which offers the performance of water-cooling, without all the costs, complexity and risks from a custom water-cooling rig.

Also included in the budget is some high-performance Thermal Paste, which will help further reduce the temperatures. The ARCTIC COOLING MX-2 Thermal Compound is what I recommend to you. For $8, this is a wise investment.

Upgrade:

Corsair H70 All-in-One Water-Cooling CPU Cooler – If you intend to push your CPU to its absolute limits, the more cooling power, the merrier, right? The H70 is the H50′s big brother, with: (Straight from Corsair): Dual 120 mm fans with multiple speed options that let you optimize the maximum cooling and minimum noise, a thicker radiator that increases the cooling surface area for even better cooling potential and a new improved cold-plate design more efficiently transfers heat.” For $22 more, it’s definitely worth it if you intend to push your CPU.

Sound Card: 8 channels sound card: Integrated on the motherboard

Integrated with the motherboard, this sound card will handle many different sound setups, including headphones, a microphone, 5.1 speakers and more. While integrated audio on a PC used to be absolutely horrible, it has gotten much better in the last few years, thus why I have no trouble recommending it.

Recommended upgrade:
Caution:
If you upgrade to a dedicated sound card, make sure to pick the right one, so that it fits on your motherboard. Here are my recommendations, depending on your motherboard.

• With the AsRock Extreme 3, you’ll want a PCI sound card. I recommend the Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer PCI
• With the ASUS P6TD Deluxe, you’ll want a PCI-Express card to go in the PCI-Express 4x slot. Yes, you can use a PCI-Express 1x card in a 4x slot, that’s not a problem. I recommend the Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium PCI-Express

Network: Ethernet RJ-45 10/100/1000 Mbps LAN: Integrated on the motherboard

Integrated with the motherboard, this network adapter will allow you to access your local network and Internet.

Accessories:

Headphones – With a Microphone:

Headphones, with a microphones, are a must for many games, especially First Person Shooters (FPS), where a lack of team communication can break a team.

However, I do realize that we all have different tastes when it comes to headphones, as in which size is comfortable, which brand sounds the best, etc.

This is why I found six great pair of headphones, with prices ranging from $50 to $140, for you to choose from.
Here they are, in order from least expensive pair to the most expensive pair:

1. Logitech G330 3.5mm/ USB Circumaural
2. SENNHEISER PC151 3.5mm Binaural
3. Creative Sound Blaster Arena Surround USB
4. SENNHEISER PC161 3.5mm Circumaural
5. Logitech G35 USB 2.0 Surround Sound
6. SENNHEISER PC166 3.5mm/ USB Connector Circumaural

Speakers:

If all you want is a 5.1 setup that won’t ruin you, the Logitech X-540 70 watts 5.1 make for an excellent and affordable 5.1 setup.

If you don’t care for 5.1 and just want a powerful two speakers + a subwoofer setup (2.1), with 200 Watts, the Logitech Z-2300 200 watts RMS 2.1 is what I recommend to you.

If you are ready to invest in the best speakers for a Gaming PC, the Logitech Z-5500 505 Watts 5.1 Digital are what you want. With 505 Watts, they offer a LOT of power, as well as high sound quality. The best testimonial to the quality of this kit is the fact that it has been on the market for nearly seven years now and that it remains unmatched.

Display:

For a long time, you’ve been asking for recommendations for a good monitor to play on. I’m listening to you and I’ve decided to include at the very least, one recommendation of a good monitor for every Gaming PC.

My recommendations are based on the following criteria:

• Price: I obviously won’t recommend a $1000 monitor if the budget for the PC is $1000.
• Resolution: The resolution of the monitor directly impacts the performance within video games, as higher resolution are more demanding on the system, resulting in lower FPS. If you get three monitors side by side, make you to have powerful video cards.
• Response time: The lower the better, very important with video games.
• Brightness and Contrast Ratio: The higher, the better.

1. Acer 23.6″ 2ms 1080p 120Hz 3D – This Acer monitor supports 120Hz refresh rates, as opposed to 60Hz for the majority of LCD monitors. This higher refresh rate will make a huge difference in video games.
2. Asus VG236H 23″ 2ms 1080p 120Hz 3D – This ASUS is also a 120Hz monitor, offer superior performance (contrast, color rendering, etc.) compared to the Acer above.
3. Three Acer 23.6″ 2ms 1080p 120Hz 3D – For a three monitor setup and 5760 x 1080 gameplay, I recommend three of the Acer monitors. Considering that three of them will already set you back by about a grand, it would be hard to recommend the even more expensive ASUS monitor, especially when you need three. I highly recommend upgrading the video cards to the 2GB edition if you go with this 3 monitors setup.

Recommended operating systems:

The operating system cost, if there’s one, is not included in the total cost. The two reason for this are:

1. The budget only considers hardware.
2. You may be able re-use a previous license, go with an open-source OS such as Linux or, if you’re so inclined and are aware of what you’re doing, use torrents.

If you decide that you need a need OS, here are some recommendations:

Windows 7

Despite Linux gaining more and more support, Windows still is the platform of choice for compatibility at the moment. Considering that you’ll have 4GB of RAM or more, along with a dedicated video that also has memory (512MB or 1GB), you’ll need a 64-bit version, as 32-bit is limited to 4GB of memory for the entire system, which is not enough now, nor in the future if you decide to upgrade.

Windows 7 is by far better than Windows Vista, looks better, more functional, less annoying, consumes less resources and brings DirectX 11 to the table.

Three Available Versions:

1. Windows 7 Home Premium: The basic edition, with all the looks, most of the functionality and DirectX 11.
2. Windows 7 Professional: If you want the virtual XP mode, you’ll need at least the Professional edition. Also required if you want to backup to a network, using the built-in backup mode in Windows.
3. Windows 7 Ultimate: To help protect data on your PC and portable storage devices against loss or theft with BitLocker and to work and switch between 35 languages.

OEM vs Retail:

The OEM version allows you to only install it once on a computer. You cannot transfer the license to another computer in the future and you do not receive support from Microsoft. It’s the same type of license you get when you get Windows on a desktop or laptop that you buy from Dell, HP and such. It’s less expensive, but gives less flexibility. Ideal if you intend on keeping your computer for many years.

The Retail version is the full version, which allows you to transfer the license to another computer in the future and you can call Microsoft if you need any form of support. Ideal if you intend on upgrading/changing your computer down the road.

Other than that, you get the same features on both, only the license differs. The price between the two differs obviously.

OEM Versions:

1. Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit OEM – $100
2. Microsoft Windows 7 Professional 64-bit OEM – $140
3. Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit OEM – $175

Retail Versions:

1. Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium Retail – $180
2. Microsoft Windows 7 Professional Retail – $258
3. Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate Retail – $276

Linux

A lot of people these days boots more than one OS. Linux is a wonderful choice: powerful, cool, and cheap. Take your pick of distributions and have fun! For Fedora, Ubuntu, Debian, Slackware, and Mandrake, try Distrowatch.com, Cheapbytes.com, LinuxQuestions.org or one of the many others.

While Linux does not offer the wide compatibility of Windows with video games, gaming on Linux is still possible, through projects such as Wine, Cedega and Crossover. For more on the topic of Linux Gaming, I invite you to read this excellent article from AnandTech: Linux Gaming: Are we there yet?

What about Word processing, Excel and other Windows-based programs that you need? Linux being an open platform, there are many free alternatives that will answer your needs. For Word/Excel and such, try OpenOffice.

Cost: Free

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If you want to have your final build double-checked and get my opinion on it before ordering, or for anything else, don’t be shy, just leave a comment.

If you have any question(s) about the build, simply leave a comment below the article and I’ll reply to you within 24-48 hours usually.

I’m a computer enthusiast with 10 years of experience in building, fixing/modifying computers and it will be my pleasure to assist you in building your 1st, 2nd, 3rd or xxth PC.

No worries, there are no stupid questions here on Hardware Revolution. We all started from scratch and learned through our mistakes. I’ll just help you make sure to avoid those mistakes

Just make sure to go through the following articles below, to see if your question hasn’t been answered already, before asking me a question.

Computer Builds FAQs:

I often get questions such as:

• Who are you to tell me which parts to choose?
• Can you suggest me a step by step guide to build a computer?
• Why should I build a PC instead of buying one in a store?
• And many more…

You will find the answers to all of these questions and more in this article: FAQ: How to Build Your Own Computer

Also, if this is your first build, here are 10 Quick Tips for 1st Time Builders to get you started.

Finally, if your newly built computer won’t start, I invite you to read Help me: Why won’t my newly assembled PC start or boot?

What do you think?

Is this new version of the $2000 Gaming PC better than the previous one?
Do you agree with the change from the LGA1156/P55 platform to the LGA1366/X58 platform?
Did you find a typo or error in this article?

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The Cooler Master HAF 932, the case featured in this build.

When I started working on this new version of the $1500 Gaming PC, I had two goals in mind:

1. Offer you a Gaming PC Build that’s highly powerful today: Capable of running pretty much any game, maxed out at a 1080p Full HD resolution.

2. Equip it with the proper parts, for easy upgrades in the future: So that it can run the latest games in a few years.

Good news:
I’ve achieved both of my goals with this build.

Here’s how:

Upgraded CPU/Motherboard/Chipset Platform:

The previous version of the $1500 Gaming PC:
Based on Intel’s LGA1156 socket/P55 chipset platform.

The great thing with that platform is that those LGA1156 CPUs and P55 motherboards are more affordable, enabling you to save money or spend more on other parts.

However, that platform also has two drawbacks:

1. The maximum bandwidth for two PCI-Express slots, which are used by video cards, is 8x/8x. While this isn’t a problem yet with the current generation of video cards, it will become a bottleneck starting in 2011, if you want to upgrade to the next generation of AMD’s Radeon or Nvidia’s Geforce video card(s).
2. The RAM runs on dual-channel, per set of 2 sticks, so two or four sticks. Compared to Triple-Channel featured on the other Core i7 platform, this gives you less bandwidth. While this does not affect performance in a perceptible way in most applications right now, some argues that it will become a limiting factor in the future.

The new version of the $1500 Gaming PC:
Based on Intel’s LGA1366 socket/X58 chipset platform.

In order to have the $1500 Gaming PC ready for easy upgrades in the future, I had to make sure that it would support such upgrades and that the current parts wouldn’t bottleneck future parts performance.

To ensure this, I upgraded the CPU, Motherboard (Chipset) and RAM, moving up from Intel’s LGA1156 socket/P55 chipset/Dual-Channel RAM platform to Intel’s LGA1366/X58 chipset/Triple-Channel RAM platform.

What do you gain from upgrading from the LGA1156/P55 platform to the LGA1366/X58 platform?

1. Full PCI-Express 16x/16x bandwidth

• Unlike Intel’s LGA1156 socket/P55 chipset platform, Intel’s LGA1366 socket/X58 chipset platform has full bandwidth on PCI-Express slots (16x,16x), making this Gaming PC ready for upgrades to the next-generation of video cards from AMD Radeon and Nvidia Geforce series, without bottlenecking their performance.

2. Triple-Channel RAM: More bandwidth and more RAM

• The RAM runs on Triple-Channel, so you now have RAM per set of three sticks, so three or six sticks. Triple-Channel gives you more bandwidth, making this PC more capable on handling future, more-demanding, applications.
• More RAM slots and Three sticks vs Two sticks also means that the system supports more RAM and usually includes more RAM to begin with. For example, this $1500 Gaming PC was equipped with 2 x 2GB (4GB) in its previous edition and is now equipped with 3 x 2GB (6GB) in this edition.

3. Higher-performance CPU for the Same Price and Six-Core CPU support

• The LGA1366 features a faster CPU for the same price:
  You can get a $300 3.06GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7 950 on the LGA1366 socket or you can get a slower, 2.93GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7 870 on the LGA1156 socket
• As as well as more powerful upgrades available:
  The 2.93GHz Core i7 870 is the fastest CPU on the LGA1156 socket. On the LGA1366 socket, you can upgrade to either the faster Quad-Core 3.2GHz Core i7 960, the Six-Core 3.2GHz Core i7 970 or the Six-Core 3.33GHz Core i7 980X.

4. Better Overclocking Results

• While I have no hard data nor posts to link to that clearly prove this; based on my experience and various information that I have read since the launch of the LGA1366/X58 platform and LGA1156/P55 platform launch, I can tell you that the trend is that CPUs on the LGA1366 socket/X58 chipset overclock further than CPUs on the LGA1156/P55 platform.

$1500 Gaming computer hardware parts recommendations, short summary:

Required components:

Components	Make, Model and Specifications	Price
CPU/Processor	Intel Core i7 950 3.06GHz LGA1366 130W Quad-Core	$299
Motherboard	ASRock Extreme 3 LGA1366 X58 SATA6Gb/s USB3.0 ASUS P6TD Deluxe LGA1366 X58 ATX ASUS P6T6 WS Revolution 3xPCIe@x16 LGA1366 X58 ATX	$190 $290 $330
RAM	G.SKILL PI Series 6GB (3 x 2GB) DDR3 1600 CAS 7 1.5v CORSAIR XMS 6GB (3 x 2GB) DDR3 2000MHz CAS9 1.65v G.SKILL Ripjaws 12GB (3 x 4GB) DDR3 1333MHz CAS9 1.5v Mushkin Blackline 12GB (3 x 4GB) DDR3 1600 CAS9 1.65v G.SKILL Trident+ 12GB (3 x 4GB) DDR3 2000MHz CAS9 1.65v	$150 $175 $260 $430 $530
Video Card	Two EVGA GeForce GTX 460 1GB in SLI Two EVGA GeForce GTX 470 1280MB in SLI Three EVGA GeForce GTX 470 1280MB in 3-Way SLI Three EVGA GeForce GTX 480 1536MB in 3-Way SLI	$480 $640 $960 $1440
Hard Drive	Two Samsung F3 500GB SATA II 3.0Gb/s in RAID 0 for 1TB Two Samsung F3 1TB SATA II 3.0Gb/s in RAID 0 for 2TB Four Samsung F3 1TB SATA II 3.0Gb/s in RAID 0+1 for 2TB Intel X25-V 2.5″ 40GB SATA II Intel w/ TRIM SSD Corsair Force 2.5″ 60GB SATA II SandForce w/ TRIM SSD G.SKILL Phoenix Pro 2.5″ 120GB Sandforce w/ TRIM SSD OCZ Vertex 2 180GB 3.5″ SATA II SandForce w/ TRIM SSD	$106 $140 $280 $100 $145 $280 $450
Optical Drive	LITE-ON Black 24X SATA CD/DVD Burner LITE-ON 4X Blu-ray Reader SATA LG 10X Blu-ray Burner SATA	$20 $50 $110
Power Supply	CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W SLI/CrossFire/80 PLUS SeaSonic S12D 850W 80PLUS SILVER Certified Silverstone 1000W 80 PLUS SILVER Certified Modular Corsair 1200W 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Modular Silverstone 1500W 80 PLUS SILVER Certified	$110 $130 $185 $300 $380
Case	COOLER MASTER HAF 932 ATX Full Tower Antec DF-85 Antec Twelve Hundred COOLER MASTER HAF X w/ Duct for SLI Thermaltake NVIDIA Edition w/ Duct for 3-Way SLI Corsair Obsidian 800D	$140 $160 $165 $200 $220 $270
Cooling	COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus 120mm CPU Cooler ARCTIC COOLING MX-2 Thermal Compound Cooler Master V8 Corsair H50 All-in-One Water-Cooling CPU Cooler Corsair H70 All-in-One Water-Cooling CPU Cooler	$22 $8 $50 $80 $105
Sound	8 channels sound card: Integrated on the motherboard Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer PCI Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium PCI-Express For Upgrades, see details in the Sound Card main section below	Free $60 $100
Network	Ethernet RJ-45 10/100/1000 Mbps: Integrated on the motherboard	Free
Total price	Not Including OS, Shipping nor handling. Within -/+ 5% of Budget	$1525

Accessories:

Accessories	Make, Model and Specifications	Price
Headphone	Logitech G330 3.5mm/ USB Circumaural SENNHEISER PC151 3.5mm Binaural Creative Sound Blaster Arena Surround USB SENNHEISER PC161 3.5mm Circumaural Logitech G35 USB 2.0 Surround Sound SENNHEISER PC166 3.5mm/ USB Connector Circumaural	$50 $60 $80 $90 $97 $140
Speakers	Logitech X-540 70 watts 5.1 Logitech Z-2300 200 watts RMS 2.1 Logitech Z-5500 505 Watts 5.1 Digital	$70 $131 $340
Monitor	No 3D Glasses Bundled: Acer 23.6″ 2ms 1080p 120Hz 3D 3D Glasses Bundled: Asus VG236H 23″ 2ms 1080p 120Hz 3D No 3D Glasses Bundled: Three Acer 23.6″ 2ms 1080p 120Hz 3D Buy NVIDIA 3D Glasses for 3D with Acer monitor(s)	$370 $500 $1110 $180

Build your Gaming PC today!

Why should you?
For the same price, you’ll get more performance out of your custom PC, or you’ll save money while getting the same performance compared to a retail PC. Not to mention that retail PCs come with tons of bloatware and limited warranties. Why settle for less?

Stop relying on HP, Dell and other companies:
Build your own custom PC today. It’s easier than you think!

This Build includes all the parts/cables that you need and was double-checked to ensure compatibility. Simply order your parts, set aside some time, grab a screwdriver and build your own personal Gaming PC. No worries, I’ll be there to assist you if you have questions or need help.

Then you’ll be able to say, “See that computer over there? Yeah, I built that.” Talk about being proud of a job well done.

Building this System, Got a Question, Need Help?

[+] Click here to expand for additional info on How to Build a PC, FAQs, Guides, etc.

Computer Builds FAQs:

I often get questions such as:

• Who are you to tell me which parts to choose?
• Can you suggest me a step by step guide to build a computer?
• Why should I build a PC instead of buying one in a store?
• And many more…

You will find the answers to all of these questions and more in this article: FAQ: How to Build Your Own Computer

Also, if this is your first build, here are 10 Quick Tips for 1st Time Builders to get you started.

Finally, if your newly built computer won’t start, I invite you to read Help me: Why won’t my newly assembled PC start or boot?

Free Expert Assistance

If you have any question(s) about the build, simply leave a comment below the article and I’ll reply to you within 24-48 hours usually.

I’m a computer enthusiast with 10 years of experience in building, fixing/modifying computers and it will be my pleasure to assist you in building your 1st, 2nd, 3rd or xxth PC.

No worries, there are no stupid questions here on Hardware Revolution. We all started from scratch and learned through our mistakes. I’ll just help you make sure to avoid those mistakes

If you want to have your final build double-checked and get my opinion on it before ordering, or for anything else, don’t be shy, just leave a comment.

$1500 Gaming Computer Hardware parts recommendations, detailed version:

Motherboard:

ASRock Extreme 3 X58 LGA1366 SATA6Gb/s USB3.0 ATX

This motherboard is filled with great features. On the back, it features two USB 3.0, five USB 2.0 ports, FireWire, E-SATA, S/PDIF Out via Optical, two PS/2, Gigabit LAN and 7.1 Surround audio. Crossfire and SLI are supported, with three PCI-Express 2.0 16x slots running at 16x/16x/4x. This motherboard supports/is compatible with everything in this system, including the two Geforce GTX 460 in SLI of course.

Ports:
On the board itself, you have three PCI-Express 2.0 16X (16x, 16x in Blue, 4x in White), one PCI-Express 1X and two PCI slots, along with two SATA 6.0Gb/s and six SATA 3.0Gb/s ports.

Note that it comes with four SATA cables, so no need to buy any for the DVD Burner, SSD nor the two hard drives. The SLI Bridge cable is also included. Note that motherboard upgrades also include SATA cables and the appropriate SLI bridge(s).

AnandTech reviewed it if you’d like to see an in-depth review of it.

In short, the AsRock Extreme 3 supports SLI, with a great layout that lets the two cards breath, comes with SATA 6.0Gb/s as well as USB 3.0. Its weak point would be that it’s not the best overclock, but hey, for $190 for a more than decent X58 motherboard, I wouldn’t complain.

Recommended upgrades:

1. If you want the same great PCI-Express layout for SLI, but with top-notch overclocking, the ASUS P6TD Deluxe LGA1366 X58 ATX is what I recommend to you.
2. For a Three-Way SLI setup with three full speed 16X PCI-Express slots, I recommend the ASUS P6T6 WS Revolution 3xPCIe@x16 LGA1366 X58 ATX.

CPU:

Intel Core i7 950 3.06GHz LGA1366 130W Quad-Core

The Intel Core i7 line on the LGA1366 socket have been the high-end CPU to get for an high-end Gaming PC for nearly two years now. At first we had the 2.66GHz Core i7 920, which was eventually replaced by the slightly faster 2.8GHz Core i7 930, which is now getting replaced by the quite faster 3.06GHz Core i7 950, starting today with its price cut from ~$600 to ~$300. This is one of the reason that I waited until today to publish this new $1500 Gaming PC

The one and only Intel Core i7 950, the successor of the highly popular Intel Core i7 920 and 930, offering an additional 266MHz over its predecessor.

What about the AMD Phenom II X4 965 3.4GHz or the AMD Phenom II X6 1090T 3.2GHz?
Whether if it’s vs the Phenom II X6 1090T, or vs the Phenom II X4 965, the Intel Core i7 950 comes on top in the vast majority of cases. Not to mention that the i7 950 has more overclocking headroom.

Recommended upgrades (Compared to the Intel Core i7 950 main recommendation):
While there are faster options such as the:

1. Core i7 960 (Quad-Core at 3.20GHz – $570)
2. Core i7 970 (Six-Core at 3.20GHz – $900)
3. Core i7 980X (Six-Core at 3.33GHz, Unlocked Multiplier – $1000)

I do not recommend them, because in my opinion, they just aren’t worth the much higher cost for the little performance improvement that they bring when it comes to gaming performance. You’d be much better off spending your money on something else, such as the video card(s) or an SSD. Besides, you can just overclock your CPU if you want that extra edge.

Video Card:

Two EVGA GeForce GTX 460 1GB in SLI

Overtaking my previous recommendation for this build, the two Radeon HD 5850 in Crossfire, the two Geforce GTX 460 in SLI setup is the logical choice here.

Performance wise, they perform pretty much on par with the two Radeon HD 5850 in Crossfire that they replace. I know, a single Radeon HD 5850 is a tad faster than a Geforce GTX 460 1GB, but Nvidia SLI performance scales better than ATI Crossfire does, hence why two Geforce GTX 460 in SLI perform on par, if not even better in some games, than two Radeon HD 5850 in Crossfire.

Best of all? Two GTX460 1GB in SLI will set you back $460, while two Radeon HD 5850 would cost you $580. Needless to say, for about the same performance, two GTX 460 1GB in SLI offer better value.

For more information on the performance of two Radeon HD 5850 Crossfire vs two Geforce GTX 460 SLI:

Take a look at the following benchmarks, from Maximum PC, for a comparison of two Geforce GTX 460 in SLI and two Radeon HD 5850 1GB in Crossfire:

1. DirectX 10 Gaming
2. DirectX11 Gaming

If you look only at actual games performance, which is what you should care about, since you’ll be playing games, not benchmarks, here’s what you get:
Radeon HD 5850 1GB Crossfire: 2
Geforce GTX 460 1GB SLI: 3
Tie (Within 5 FPS of each other): 4

So, as you can tell, the GTX 460 1GB in SLI setup is just an hair faster, on average, than two Radeon HD 5850 in Crossfire. Besides, at its price point, just a mere performance match would have been enough for me.

What games can the $1500 Gaming PC handle:

This setup is capable of handling the majority of games at a resolution of 1920 x 1080 and most games at 2560 x 1600.

Finally, this setup is DirectX 11 compliant, HDCP Ready and will handle Blu-Ray and other 1080p content playback, with audio over HDMI as well.

Recommended upgrades:

If you want to play the most demanding games (Crysis, Metro: 2033 and the like) at 1920 x 1080, 2560 or 1600 or with three 1080p monitors side by side, for 5760 x 1080 gameplay, with 3D and/or with maxed out visual quality, you’ll need more graphic power.

Here are my recommendations:

Two EVGA GeForce GTX 470 1280MB in SLI – lol
Three EVGA GeForce GTX 470 1280MB in 3-Way SLI – lol
Three EVGA GeForce GTX 480 1536MB in 3-Way SLI – lol

Performance scaling in Metro: 2033 from two Geforce GTX 460 in SLI all the way up to three Geforce GTX 480 in Three-Way SLI:
Metro: 2033 is one of the most demanding game on the market. In these reviews, you can see what kind of performance to expect with the game completely maxed out:

1. Two Geforce GTX 460 in SLI (I realize that the GTX 460 in that article are the 768MB edition, so add a few FPS to get a more or less accurate idea)
2. Two and Three Geforce GTX 470 in SLI/Three-Way SLI
3. Two and Three Geforce GTX 480 in SLI/Three-Way SLI

Important note regarding upgrades to the video cards:

Upgrading the video cards requires a power supply upgrade. This is not optional, it is mandatory, see the power supply section for more details.

While not necessary for two GTX 470 in SLI, for a Three-Way SLI setup, I highly recommend upgrading the case to the Thermaltake Nvidia edition, with the Three-Way SLI GPU duct, for optimal temperatures.

RAM:

G.SKILL PI Series 6GB (3 x 2GB) DDR3 1600 CAS 7 1.5v

While you could get by with 3GB ( 3x1GB) of RAM, you’re better off with 6GB (3 x 2GB), especially considering the small price difference.

6GB of RAM will easily handle the latest video games, considering that most of them won’t use more than 2GB, along with Windows and background background such as your anti-virus, web browser, music/video player, etc.

I went with G.Skill for their high reliability and compatibility with the majority of motherboards. I chose these particular sticks due to their good price considering their 1.5V requirement for CAS 7 and a 1600MHz frequency.

Important note:
To avoid damaging your Core i7 processor, do not use any RAM that requires over 1.65V, nor should set your RAM voltage over 1.65V. Doing so will damage your processor, since the memory controller is integrated in it and cannot handle that much voltage.

Also, you will most likely have to set your RAM frequency and timings manually in the BIOS, or with a XMP profile, so don’t be worried if your RAM boots with different settings at first.

Recommended upgrades

1. If you intend to overclock your CPU, you’ll want to make sure that your RAM doesn’t limit you by being unable to keep up. Running at a frequency of 2000MHz, while still being relatively affordable, upgrading to the CORSAIR XMS 6GB (3 x 2GB) DDR3 2000MHz CAS9 1.65v is an easy way to have enough headroom for overclocking.
2. You want to be future-proof or you have highly demanding programs that need more than 6GB of RAM, but you have no intention of overclocking? Get this: G.SKILL Ripjaws 12GB (3 x 4GB) DDR3 1333MHz CAS9 1.5v
3. If you want 12GB of RAM at 1600MHz, for light overclocking, go with this kit: Mushkin Blackline 12GB (3 x 4GB) DDR3 1600 CAS9 1.65v
4. If you want 12GB of RAM AND want to heavily overclock, go with this 12GB 2000MHZ kit of DDR3: G.SKILL Trident+ 12GB (3 x 4GB) DDR3 2000MHz CAS9 1.65v

Hard Drive:

Two Samsung F3 500GB SATA 3.0Gb/s in RAID 0, Total Capacity: 1TB

In this Tom’s Hardware hard drive article, the SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ (The 1TB version) finishes on top of all transfer rates benchmarks, even ahead of what used to be my recommendation for high-end builds, the Western Digital Caviar Black. Now, guess what happens if you take two of the 500GB version of this drive and put them in RAID 0 (Easily done via the BIOS)? You get a setup that’s nearly twice as fast compared to the F3 HD103SJ 1TB edition, for only $32 more, with also a 1TB capacity.

Considering that the hard drive is often the bottleneck in a system and that no ones likes waiting for their game to load, this is a simple and relatively inexpensive upgrade compared to a single drive, like the Western Digital Caviar Black 640GB featured in the previous version of this build.

Recommended upgrades:

1. Two Samsung F3 1TB SATA II 3.0Gb/s in RAID 0, Total Capacity: 2TB – Same as above, 300+MB/s transfer rates, except that you get a 2TB storage capacity this time.
2. Four Samsung F3 1TB SATA II 3.0Gb/s in RAID 0+1 for 2TB – Same as above, you get 2TB of storage and high performance but on top of that, you also get additional redundancy, thanks to the 1 part of RAID 0+1
3. Intel X25-V 2.5″ 40GB SATA II Intel w/ TRIM SSD – If you want an entry level SSD to speed up Windows and a few important games, this Intel SSD is affordable at $100. Want an even faster SSD with more capacity? Look at the three options below:
4. Corsair Force 2.5″ 60GB SATA II SandForce w/ TRIM SSD
5. G.SKILL Phoenix Pro 2.5″ 120GB Sandforce w/ TRIM SSD
6. OCZ Vertex 2 180GB 3.5″ SATA II SandForce w/ TRIM SSD
7. Keep in mind that you need to correctly setup your PC with two hard drives in RAID and a SSD.  You simply need to set SATA as RAID in the BIOS and configure your RAID controller utility so that the SSD is a non-RAID disk, while the hard drives are RAID disks. Check your motherboard manual for details on how to do this.
8. Want a different combination of SSD(s) and Hard Drives? I invite you to take a look to our guide to the Best Hard Drives & Best SSDs For Your Money.

Optical Drive:

LITE-ON Black 24X SATA CD/DVD Burner

This drive is able to read and burn CDs and DVDs. Silent, compatible with all major formats including DVD-RAM.

Also, seeing as DVD Burners are often go out of stock lately, here are a two alternatives that you can use to replace it. All are SATA based.

1. LITE-ON Black 24X SATA Black CD/DVD Writer
2. HP Black 24X SATA 24X CD/DVD Writer – Retail

Upgrades:

If you’d like to watch BluRay movies or TV shows, this LITE-ON 4X Blu-ray Reader SATA will do the job. However, note that it can only READ CDs, DVDs and Bluray disks, not burn any of them.

If you want the ability to burn disks and read them as well, the LG 10X Blu-ray Burner SATA is what you want.

Regarding Blu-Ray playback:

As far as I know, you still require a specific software to playback Blu-Ray disks on a PC. Based on various reviews and feedback on various forums, PowerDVD 9 Ultra is the software that I recommend to you. It is fully compatible with Windows 7 and shouldn’t give you any problems.

Case:

COOLER MASTER HAF 932 ATX Full Tower

For $130, this is an outstanding case from Cooler Master:

• Cooling wise, this case includes three 230mm and one 140mm case fans, insuring proper cooling for your powerful Gaming PC.

Features wise, you get:

1. A unique look with Red LEDs, not the common blue LEDs equipped on so many cases. Best of all, if LEDs annoy you, you have the option to turn them off.
2. Support for up to five hard drives
3. Enough space for the longest video cards .
4. 4x USB, FireWire, E-SATA, Audio out and MIC in at the top

Recommended upgrades:

• Here are a few alternatives that are worth taking a look at:
  • Antec DF-85- Based on Antec new “Dark Fleet” series, the DF-85 is their high-end case. With 1 x top external 2.5″ hot swap SATA drive bay, 4 x internal 3.5″ Fleet-Swap SATA drive bays (position changeable), 1 x internal bottom-mounted 2.5″ SSD bay and up to 9 internal 3.5 drive bays, you have plenty of expansion space. With nothing short of seven fans, ventilation is not lacking, yet won’t be too noisy since they are all adjusted via switches.
  • Antec Twelve Hundred – The Classic Antec 900, in a bigger version with more bays and more fans.
  • COOLER MASTER HAF X w/ Duct for SLI – Take the HAF 932 and bring it up another notch and you get the HAF X. With a GPU duct, perfect to cool down two cards in Crossfire or SLI. Said duct won’t work with three cards though.
  • Thermaltake NVIDIA Edition w/ Duct for 3-Way SLI If you want a GPU duct for a Three-Way SLI setup, this is the case to get. With a design based on Nvidia’s colors and shapes, it’s the perfect match for this powerful Nvidia Gaming PC
  • Corsair Obsidian 800D – One of the most popular and favorite cases lately and for a good reason: It doesn’t get much better than this.
• If you want a different case, take a look at the following article: Find Out the 88 Best Computer Cases For Your Money.

Power Supply:

CORSAIR CMPSU-750TX 750W SLI/CrossFire/80 PLUS Certified

This power supply is capable of delivering up to 750W, not that should rely on this information only as I often point in posts such as Warning: 6 Surefire Ways of Blowing Up Your Computer Due to an Inadequate Power Supply, but more importantly 60A on the 12V line, the most important factor when it comes to choosing a power supply for a gaming computer.

Best of all, it is 80 PLUS certified, meaning that it’s always at least 80% efficient, resulting in less heat, more silence and a lower electricity bill for you, compared to a less efficient power supply.

Power Consumption:

According to the eXtreme Power Supply Calculator, it is estimated that this system will consume at load (peak usage):

• 567W with the Intel Core i7 950 130W stock, the two Geforce GTX 460 in SLI, the two hard drives in RAID 0 and rest of this build without upgrades.
• 708W with the Intel Core i7 950 130W stock, the two Geforce GTX 470 in SLI, the two hard drives in RAID 0 and rest of this build without upgrades.
• 885W with the Intel Core i7 950 130W stock, three Geforce GTX 470 in Three-Way SLI, the two hard drives in RAID 0 and rest of this build without upgrades.
• 1066W with the Intel Core i7 950 130W stock, three Geforce GTX 480 in Three-Way SLI, the two hard drives in RAID 0 and rest of this build without upgrades.
• 1145W with the Intel Core i7 950 130W overclocked to 4.0GHz at 1.45v, three Geforce GTX 480 in Three-Way SLI, four hard drives in RAID 0+1 and rest of this build without upgrades. This is the worse case scenario and doesn’t even include overclocking the GTX 480′s (Although you will most likely be limited by high temperatures.)

The recommend power supply is only recommended for the recommended setup, without video cards upgrades. If you upgrade the video cards, it is crucial that you upgrade the power supply, following my recommendations below.

• Let me be clear here: The Geforce GTX 470 and 480 pull boatloads of power, especially when you put two or three of them together.
• If you decide to go against my recommendations and get your own power supply, I hope that you know what you’re doing here.
• I’m not responsible for defective/unstable PCs if you get your own power supply.

What I’m trying to say here is that this is an high-end Gaming PC, with very power-hungry video cards. Do yourself a favor and DO NOT cut corners on the power supply.

Recommended upgrades:

1. Core i7 950 + Two GTX 470, no or light overclocking: SeaSonic S12D 850W 80PLUS SILVER Certified
2. Core i7 950 + Two GTX 470, full overclocking OR Core i7 950 + Three GTX 470, light or no overclocking: Silverstone 1000W 80 PLUS SILVER Certified Modular
3. Core i7 950 + Two or Three GTX 470, full overclocking OR i7 950 + Three GTX 480, light or no overclocking: Corsair 1200W 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Modular
4. Core i7 950 + Three GTX 480, full overclocking: Silverstone 1500W 80 PLUS SILVER Certified

Guidelines:
No overclocking: Clear enough, no?
Light overclocking: Raising frequencies, within reason, is ok. Absolutely no raising voltage.
Full overclocking: Have fun, do as you wish.

All power supplies were double-checked to ensure that they are reliable, efficient (At least 85% efficient) and high-quality units, capable of delivering their rated power, as well as having enough 6 and 6+2 pins PCI-Express power cables for their setups. Follow my recommendations and guidelines and you’ll be fine.

Cooling:

COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus

This is an high-end Gaming PC, with a 130W CPU at stock, as well as a minimum of two videos cards. With all the heat from those parts, the stock cooler won’t cut it.

The Cooler Master Hyper 212 is an affordable CPU Cooler with excellent performance for the price. It will have no problem keeping the Core i7 950 cool, while staying relatively silent.

Also included in the budget is some high-performance Thermal Paste, which will help further reduce the temperatures. The ARCTIC COOLING MX-2 Thermal Compound is what I recommend to you. For $8, this is a wise investment.

Need help figuring out how to put the Thermal Compound with the Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus?
Follow this tutorial, where they compare different methods to figure out the best one.

Upgrades
While the Hyper 212+ is a good CPU Cooler for the price, it won’t cut it if you want to heavily overclock your Core i7. For that, you’ll want a better CPU Cooler to push your CPU to its limits. Here are three alternatives, in order of performance and price, from worst/least expensive to best/most expensive, that are all compatible with this build:

1. Cooler Master V8
2. Corsair H50 All-in-One Water-Cooling CPU Cooler
3. Corsair H70 All-in-One Water-Cooling CPU Cooler

Sound Card: 8 channels sound card: Integrated on the motherboard

Integrated with the motherboard, this sound card will handle many different sound setups, including headphones, a microphone, 5.1 speakers and more. While integrated audio on a PC used to be absolutely horrible, it has gotten much better in the last few years, thus why I have no trouble recommending it.

Caution:
If you upgrade to a dedicated sound card, make sure that you’ll have enough free space to use it, depending on your motherboard and video cards.

Guidelines:

• With the AsRock Extreme 3, you’ll want a PCI sound card.
• With the ASUS P6TD Deluxe, you’ll want a PCI-Express card to go in the PCI-Express 4x slot. Yes, you can use a PCI-Express 1x card in a 4x slot, that’s not a problem.
• With the ASUS P6T6 WS Revolution and a Three-Way SLI setup, you cannot install a sound card, due to clearance issues, since the video cards will take all the space.

Recommended upgrade:

For the PCI card, I recommend the: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer PCI

For the PCI-Express card, I recommend the: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium PCI-Express

Network: Ethernet RJ-45 10/100/1000 Mbps LAN: Integrated on the motherboard

Integrated with the motherboard, this network adapter will allow you to access your local network and Internet.

Accessories:

Headphones – With a Microphone:

Headphones, with a microphones, are a must for many games, especially First Person Shooters (FPS), where a lack of team communication can break a team.

However, I do realize that we all have different tastes when it comes to headphones, as in which size is comfortable, which brand sounds the best, etc.

This is why I found six great pair of headphones, with prices ranging from $50 to $140, for you to choose from.
Here they are, in order from least expensive pair to the most expensive pair:

1. Logitech G330 3.5mm/ USB Circumaural
2. SENNHEISER PC151 3.5mm Binaural
3. Creative Sound Blaster Arena Surround USB
4. SENNHEISER PC161 3.5mm Circumaural
5. Logitech G35 USB 2.0 Surround Sound
6. SENNHEISER PC166 3.5mm/ USB Connector Circumaural

Speakers:

If all you want is a 5.1 setup that won’t ruin you, the Logitech X-540 70 watts 5.1 make for an excellent and affordable 5.1 setup.

If you don’t care for 5.1 and just want a powerful two speakers + a subwoofer setup (2.1), with 200 Watts, the Logitech Z-2300 200 watts RMS 2.1 is what I recommend to you.

If you are ready to invest in the best speakers for a Gaming PC, the Logitech Z-5500 505 Watts 5.1 Digital are what you want. With 505 Watts, they offer a LOT of power, as well as high sound quality. The best testimonial to the quality of this kit is the fact that it has been on the market for nearly seven years now and that it remains unmatched.

Display:

For a long time, you’ve been asking for recommendations for a good monitor to play on. I’m listening to you and I’ve decided to include at the very least, one recommendation of a good monitor for every Gaming PC.

My recommendations are based on the following criteria:

• Price: I obviously won’t recommend a $1000 monitor if the budget for the PC is $1000.
• Resolution: The resolution of the monitor directly impacts the performance within video games, as higher resolution are more demanding on the system, resulting in lower FPS. If you get three monitors side by side, make you to have powerful video cards.
• Response time: The lower the better, very important with video games.
• Brightness and Contrast Ratio: The higher, the better.

1. No 3D Glasses Bundled: Acer 23.6″ 2ms 1080p 120Hz 3D – This Acer monitor supports 120Hz refresh rates, as opposed to 60Hz for the majority of LCD monitors. This higher refresh rate will make a huge difference in video games. This monitor also supports Nvidia 3D Vision, although it does not include the 3D glasses.
2. 3D Glasses Bundled: Asus VG236H 23″ 2ms 1080p 120Hz 3D – This ASUS is also a 120Hz monitor, offer superior performance (contrast, color rendering, etc.) compared to the Acer above and includes the 3D glasses if you want to try out that fantastic technology.
3. No 3D Glasses Bundled: Three Acer 23.6″ 2ms 1080p 120Hz 3D – For a three monitor setup and 5760 x 1080 gameplay, I recommend three of the Acer monitors. Considering that three of them will already set you back by about a grand, it would be hard to recommend the even more expensive ASUS monitor, especially when you need three.
4. Buy NVIDIA 3D Glasses for 3D with Acer monitor(s) – If you want to enjoy 3D gameplay on the Acer monitor, you’ll need these 3D glasses. Note that the ASUS monitor include these.

Recommended operating systems:

The operating system cost, if there’s one, is not included in the total cost. The two reason for this are:

1. The budget only considers hardware.
2. You may be able re-use a previous license, go with an open-source OS such as Linux or, if you’re so inclined and are aware of what you’re doing, use torrents.

If you decide that you need a need OS, here are some recommendations:

Windows 7

Despite Linux gaining more and more support, Windows still is the platform of choice for compatibility at the moment. Considering that you’ll have 4GB of RAM or more, along with a dedicated video that also has memory (512MB or 1GB), you’ll need a 64-bit version, as 32-bit is limited to 4GB of memory for the entire system, which is not enough now, nor in the future if you decide to upgrade.

Windows 7 is by far better than Windows Vista, looks better, more functional, less annoying, consumes less resources and brings DirectX 11 to the table.

Three Available Versions:

1. Windows 7 Home Premium: The basic edition, with all the looks, most of the functionality and DirectX 11.
2. Windows 7 Professional: If you want the virtual XP mode, you’ll need at least the Professional edition. Also required if you want to backup to a network, using the built-in backup mode in Windows.
3. Windows 7 Ultimate: To help protect data on your PC and portable storage devices against loss or theft with BitLocker and to work and switch between 35 languages.

OEM vs Retail:

The OEM version allows you to only install it once on a computer. You cannot transfer the license to another computer in the future and you do not receive support from Microsoft. It’s the same type of license you get when you get Windows on a desktop or laptop that you buy from Dell, HP and such. It’s less expensive, but gives less flexibility. Ideal if you intend on keeping your computer for many years.

The Retail version is the full version, which allows you to transfer the license to another computer in the future and you can call Microsoft if you need any form of support. Ideal if you intend on upgrading/changing your computer down the road.

Other than that, you get the same features on both, only the license differs. The price between the two differs obviously.

OEM Versions:

1. Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit OEM – $100
2. Microsoft Windows 7 Professional 64-bit OEM – $140
3. Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit OEM – $175

Retail Versions:

1. Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium Retail – $180
2. Microsoft Windows 7 Professional Retail – $258
3. Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate Retail – $276

Linux

A lot of people these days boots more than one OS. Linux is a wonderful choice: powerful, cool, and cheap. Take your pick of distributions and have fun! For Fedora, Ubuntu, Debian, Slackware, and Mandrake, try Distrowatch.com, Cheapbytes.com, LinuxQuestions.org or one of the many others.

While Linux does not offer the wide compatibility of Windows with video games, gaming on Linux is still possible, through projects such as Wine, Cedega and Crossover. For more on the topic of Linux Gaming, I invite you to read this excellent article from AnandTech: Linux Gaming: Are we there yet?

What about Word processing, Excel and other Windows-based programs that you need? Linux being an open platform, there are many free alternatives that will answer your needs. For Word/Excel and such, try OpenOffice.

Cost: Free

Get Free Expert Assistance

If you want to have your final build double-checked and get my opinion on it before ordering, or for anything else, don’t be shy, just leave a comment.

If you have any question(s) about the build, simply leave a comment below the article and I’ll reply to you within 24-48 hours usually.

I’m a computer enthusiast with 10 years of experience in building, fixing/modifying computers and it will be my pleasure to assist you in building your 1st, 2nd, 3rd or xxth PC.

No worries, there are no stupid questions here on Hardware Revolution. We all started from scratch and learned through our mistakes. I’ll just help you make sure to avoid those mistakes

Just make sure to go through the following articles below, to see if your question hasn’t been answered already, before asking me a question.

Computer Builds FAQs:

I often get questions such as:

• Who are you to tell me which parts to choose?
• Can you suggest me a step by step guide to build a computer?
• Why should I build a PC instead of buying one in a store?
• And many more…

You will find the answers to all of these questions and more in this article: FAQ: How to Build Your Own Computer

Also, if this is your first build, here are 10 Quick Tips for 1st Time Builders to get you started.

Finally, if your newly built computer won’t start, I invite you to read Help me: Why won’t my newly assembled PC start or boot?

What do you think?

Is this new version of the $1500 Gaming PC better than the previous one?
Do you agree with the change from the LGA1156/P55 platform to the LGA1366/X58 platform?
Did you find a typo or error in this article?

Let me know what you think by leaving a comment below.

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The Apple Iphone and the Motorola Milestone, two of the countless devices supported on the mobile version of Hardware Revolution.

As promised on the launch of Hardware Revolution 3.0 last Monday, today I’m thrilled to announce that Hardware Revolution now offers an optimized version when you visit us from an Iphone, an Android device and many other mobile devices (Blackberry, etc.).

Simply type www.hardware-revolution.com from your device and you should see our mobile version.

What does the homepage look like?

This is what our homepage should look like on an Iphone. Mind you, I don’t personally have an Iphone, so I’ll be using iBBDemo2, an Iphone/Ipad simulator for Windows/Linux/Mac OS, to show you what HR looks like it on an iPhone.

You get the latest articles on the homepage. To access our pages (Like Computer Systems, Gaming PCs, etc.), categories or tags, simply tap on the menu list at the top right. It’s that simple.

As you can see, the layout is very simple, clear of any distractions, to make the reading experience as good as possible on your mobile device. It just works.

How do articles look like?

Articles look similar to what you’d see on the regular, “desktop” version of Hardware Revolution. Pictures are there, all links work as far as I know, comments and comments reply work too.

Bugs and the like

As far as I know, everything works fine.

I’ve noticed two bugs so far:

1. On all platforms: Under the comment count, you can see the beginning of the word “Comment” (Visible in the picture above). A tad annoying, but not a big deal for now.
2. On my personnal Android Legend: The date icon is mirror reflected, as in you see the date flipped down, mirror style. That’s more annoying, but it still doesn’t affect functionality, so I can fix it later.

If you see any bug and/or things that don’t work properly, contact me and tell me the following:

• What mobile device are you using: i.e. Iphone 4
• On what page did you encounter the bug: i.e. $500 Gaming PC
• Describe the bug as accurately as you can.

I hope that you enjoy the mobile version of Hardware Revolution! I invite you to post any feedback and comments that you have in the comments section below.