# $2000 build



## inertia (May 14, 2010)

I need a new computer and 2000 is the budget. I'll mostly be gaming and using photoshop CS4 as well as Sony Vegas 9.
I really like corsair so I would prefer to use it as for ram, cooling, psu and what ever else I can. Although i am open to other suggestions.
This budget does exclude a moniter, keyboard, mouse but if that can we worked in that would be much obliged.


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## GSquadron (May 14, 2010)

2x2GB GTX4 dominator
2TB Seagate Barracuda (best HDD for price/performance ratio)
Maximus III
Blue-Ray writer
750W PSU
GPU 5850 (I strongly recommend this one over 5870)
If you buy 5850 than buy core i5 750
If you buy 5870 than buy core i7 860


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## Delta6326 (May 14, 2010)

here is a computer i had in my wish list, this is a all out rig... Like said before if you want to save a little bit $$ go with 1156 Mobo and change to the i7 860


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## MustangGT2142 (May 14, 2010)

something like this maybe, its a little over 2000$


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## mdsx1950 (May 14, 2010)

AMD build ($1885) ($2100 AUD)


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## Fourstaff (May 14, 2010)

Delta6326 said:


> here is a computer i had in my wish list, this is a all out rig... Like said before if you want to save a little bit $$ go with 1156 Mobo and change to the i7 860
> http://img.techpowerup.org/100514/Picture 1.png
> http://img.techpowerup.org/100514/Picture 2.png



This, replace the H50 with Noctua D14, Replace the Obsidian case with HAF 932 and downgrade the UD5 to UD3 and get a second 5870


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## GSquadron (May 14, 2010)

+1 for mdsx1950
that amd build is worth much more the money!
But in a build the motherboard is the most important part, so i should add it would be better 
buying crosshair IV formula, or wait for the extreme one.
That would be veryyyyy sweet


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## LAN_deRf_HA (May 14, 2010)

I get bonus points for using combos and including mouse/keyboard 





... and for picking ram appropriate for an AMD build.


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## inertia (May 15, 2010)

Great news. My dad agreed to putting $2000 more into the build if I share the computer in the office replacing the old one rather than just staying in my room. So here is the list I have made with a $4000 budget. If you guys compiling lists could use pccasegear.com that would help alot as I can pick it up from them locally.






How is that setup? What would you change?


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## Jamborhgini313 (May 15, 2010)

inertia said:


> Great news. My dad agreed to putting $2000 more into the build if I share the computer in the office replacing the old one rather than just staying in my room. So here is the list I have made with a $4000 budget. If you guys compiling lists could use pccasegear.com that would help alot as I can pick it up from them locally.
> 
> http://i934.photobucket.com/albums/ad182/minahan/Untitled.jpg?t=1273906374
> 
> How is that setup? What would you change?



Change i7 960 to i7 920 or 930. Better bang for buck
Change out 1000w Corsair for a 750 or 850w one.
Change 5870 to a 5970 or GTX 480 Fermi

Why not consider custom water loop?


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## inertia (May 15, 2010)

Thanks for that, swapping processors saved up a bit of coin. I can now have a BEAST graphics card. 






Is that a bit better value for money?


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## Lionheart (May 15, 2010)

Ok I would change these 

1. Definitely the CPU, get a i7 930, should be half the price and overclocks really well

2. that Ram looks really nice and all but you could get a bit cheaper if you wanna save some money, get the same brand though, corsair are great 

3. That case is obvisouly a great case, but was made mainly for water cooling setups, I would only buy that case if your going all out water cooling, including the video cards not just the cpu, I recommend silverstone cases or the coolermaster cases for aircooling 

4. I would change the SSD & hard drive setup as well, I assume that SSD 64gb will be for the OS & games, well to me 64gb isn't enough, my 128gb just manages to do the job for, I would at least get 128gb SSD and a 1TB WD black hard drive 

5. The PSU looks good too, I got the same one, OS is good as well as the DVD drive 

6. That cooler & motherboard looks great to me, thats because ima gonna buy em too  

7. The video card seems good but u could go with 2 HD5850's in crossfire for sum great bang fpr buck performance or maybe HD5970, the HIS HD5970 iz around $849 AUD on that site I believe 

I hope this helps bro


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## manchesterutd81 (May 15, 2010)

You sound like your going down the road I am on, 

Ive spent around 1500 bucks

Here is my build log which needs to be updated

http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=121551

I would go with the 950W Corsair, i see everyone else has put the 850w but i like the extra room it may give me in time.

go amd and use the same board I used especially if you a newie like me, I let the software from ROG do my OC at first and watched what it was doing to get a feel of what to do. Now im reading everything on the Boards to figure out how to go farther,,, Its nice to have the software and if you do something dumb the software stops and reboots and puts you back where you were at a stable OC rate... VERY COOL! its like a seatbelt in a car, it saves your life especially if you like me have spent some serious cash

Josh


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## inertia (May 15, 2010)

CHAOS_KILLA said:


> Ok I would change these
> 
> 1. Definitely the CPU, get a i7 930, should be half the price and overclocks really well
> 
> ...



1. Yep I decided to downgrade to the 930.
2. So the benefit does not outway the cost with the dominator vs dominator GT?
3. I chose the case on its looks, wiring abilities and its cooling ability. I may just start out with the h50 for cooling and then later on, when i have more money in hand, I can start to OC the whole system and keep it nice and cool. 
4. I am not sure about me using the whole 64gb. The only things that will be on it are Photoshop CS4, Sony Vegas and probably no more than 5 games. Do you still recommend getting more?
5. Thanks I feel that a powersupply is a good investment as you will asways be needing more whats as you computer goes on and the pricing between them does not variant that much.
6. I had no reasoning for that mother board it just looked cool and was the most expensive one i could chose to fit my budget. Does it need to be that elaborate?
7. Why is it better to have 2 smaller graphics cards which equal that of one?

Thanks alot for the help


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## n-ster (May 15, 2010)

where do you live? I would be happy to help you with this build, since I am pretty darn good to choose parts for others (since I do it as a job lol)


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## Loosenut (May 15, 2010)

n-ster said:


> where do you live? I would be happy to help you with this build, since I am pretty darn good to choose parts for others (since I do it as a job lol)



My guess is Australia. Pcgamegear is in Melbourne, Au.


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## n-ster (May 15, 2010)

see, that was a crucial piece of information lol btw hi fellow montrealer


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## inertia (May 15, 2010)

Your welcome to fly down and help out


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## mdsx1950 (May 15, 2010)

4000 bucks?? Well then here is the beast you should get


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## n-ster (May 15, 2010)

Australia man, australia, not USA xD no newegg 

when I have time, if I have time, I'll carefully pick parts for you  (takes me some time when outside USA/Canada since the prices are not in the same proportion)


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## mdsx1950 (May 15, 2010)

n-ster said:


> Australia man, australia, not USA xD no newegg
> 
> when I have time, if I have time, I'll carefully pick parts for you  (takes me some time when outside USA/Canada since the prices are not in the same proportion)



Ah fuck  So that's $4000 Aussie dollars?


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## n-ster (May 15, 2010)

yup


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## mdsx1950 (May 15, 2010)

Here is my build on pccasegear.


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## Fourstaff (May 15, 2010)

How come I have this feeling that he is better off spending about $2500 and then upgrade again in the future?


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## n-ster (May 15, 2010)

Because technology evolves fast and this is almost the case for every high end system purchase?


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## mdsx1950 (May 15, 2010)

n-ster said:


> Because technology evolves fast and this is almost the case for every high end system purchase?



+1

The OP can check my Six core AMD build too. Its about 2100AUD. If he decides to save some cash.

http://forums.techpowerup.com/showpost.php?p=1892580&postcount=5


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## GSquadron (May 15, 2010)

Instead of buying a core i7 930, better buy a core i7 860. In a challenge against the core i7 920, 8 out of 10 was won by core i7 860. It is cheaper, less heat, mobo gets even cheaper, intel is concentrating in 1156 socket. So you better choose this one if you want to spend the money for good!


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## mdsx1950 (May 15, 2010)

Aleksander Dishnica said:


> Instead of buying a core i7 930, better buy a core i7 860. In a challenge against the core i7 920, 8 out of 10 was won by core i7 860. It is cheaper, less heat, mobo gets even cheaper, intel is concentrating in 1156 socket. So you better choose this one if you want to spend the money for good!



Getting a 1156 leaves you no room to upgrade. Best settling in for a 1366.


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## n-ster (May 15, 2010)

1366 > 1156


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## mdsx1950 (May 15, 2010)

n-ster said:


> 1366 > 1156
> 
> http://img.techpowerup.org/100515/Capture092.jpg



Since the OPs budget is $4000 you can add another 5870


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## n-ster (May 15, 2010)

ahhh replace that 5870 by a 5850 and take out 100$


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## mdsx1950 (May 15, 2010)

n-ster said:


> ahhh replace that 5870 by a 5850 and take out 100$



Or you can add 3x 5850s. For Tri-fire  But still that would be only about $3500.  or what the heck? Just add 2 5970s. And he is ready to go


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## a_ump (May 15, 2010)

i too looked at reviews and the i7 860 does outperform the i7 930/20. there is no arguing it. Now if you want to discuss which socket it better....sorta a moot point. You can say "but there's no room to upgrade with 1156" but really? i personally don't consider i7 930 to i7 960 an upgrade. Sure 980x..but that's $1499 which i can't see the OP's father giving him the cash for that and i've never seen an extreme intel cpu take a price hit while retailing. Anyone with their head on right wouldn't consider i7 930/860 to 980X a worthwhile upgrade anyways.

FYI: that mobo is the new revision from gigabyte with usb 3.0 and sata 3.0, thou the sata part isnt as big a deal as usb.


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## mdsx1950 (May 15, 2010)

a_ump said:


> http://img.techpowerup.org/100515/4k_aussie.jpg
> 
> i too looked at reviews and the i7 860 does outperform the i7 930/20. there is no arguing it. Now if you want to discuss which socket it better....sorta a moot point. You can say "but there's no room to upgrade with 1156" but really? i personally don't consider i7 930 to i7 960 an upgrade. Sure 980x..but that's $1499 which i can't see the OP's father giving him the cash for that and i've never seen an extreme intel cpu take a price hit while retailing. Anyone with their head on right wouldn't consider i7 930/860 to 980X a worthwhile upgrade anyways.



No one with an i7 930 is going to upgrade to i7 960 lol. Thats pointless. He should get a 1366 or settle in for a AMD. Because if ever he wants to get a 980X or a processor that uses the 1366 socket. He'll have to change his mobo as well. And well thats a waste. Plus the OPs father is putting in $2000 bucks so might as well get a 980X straight away. If the OP decides to stick to his $2000 limit. Best getting an AMD as the 1090T is better than the i7 860.


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## Lionheart (May 15, 2010)

I hope you like this one I put together, let me know if you don't like anything


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## n-ster (May 15, 2010)

i7 930 does OC more than an i7 860 in my personal experience, and some reviewers forget to turn off turbo... Lga 1366 mobos kill lga 1156... PCI-e lanes? SLI and/or Xfire? upgradeable to a 6 core later on (when they release non-Xtreme chips)? triple channel RAM? 6gb instead of 4gb or 8gb (6gb is the perfect balance IMO)?

No, I find i7 930 worth it over the i7 860. 
He'll never use the 850W of the Corsair HX 850, The XFX 750W is as high quality as the HX 850 and cheaper. 
He doesn't need a 5970, and 2x 4870 is cheaper and faster
Why pay 14$ more for a DVDRW? no need.
50gb Vertex 2 should be enough... its a boot drive + photoshop CS4 + SV9... though 100gb just in case might not be a bad idea.
Creative has massive memory leaks, up to 2gb, get an Asus Xonar.
I prefer the K62 over the antec 1200
Waste, he doesn't need high quality fans like that
Add that thermal paste to what I suggest


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## n-ster (May 15, 2010)

upgrade to a HX850W if you'd like, that's the only thing I find could be changed. but I suggest that this build is more balanced, fits you need better for the price

Get yourself a good monitor, that counts the most. If you want decent sound, get yourself an ASUS Xonar DS, you could get speakers if you'd like, and some decent headphones (Creative Aurvana Live/ Denon 1001s or Shure SRH 440/840 or ATH M50 or Grado SR60i, depending on your needs). If you are a very good/frequent typer, a good keyboard is crucial. Get a quality mechanical keyboard. As for mouse, I like razer's clean look, or a Rapoo V3/V8 even better.

If you need a silent DVDRW, then a samsung drive is usually less loud

lmk if you have questions


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## GSquadron (May 15, 2010)

As i see all of you are pushing the OP to spend all his money on a new build without logic at all.
Better buy an phenom II x2 555 rather than buying smth that you will never profit more than this processor. That tri fire thing was a total waste of money cuz even with a single 5850 you have already build the high gaming rig.


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## mdsx1950 (May 15, 2010)

n-ster said:


> i7 930 does OC more than an i7 860 in my personal experience, and some reviewers forget to turn off turbo... Lga 1366 mobos kill lga 1156... PCI-e lanes? SLI and/or Xfire? upgradeable to a 6 core later on (when they release non-Xtreme chips)? triple channel RAM? 6gb instead of 4gb or 8gb (6gb is the perfect balance IMO)?
> 
> No, I find i7 930 worth it over the i7 860.
> He'll never use the 850W of the Corsair HX 850, The XFX 750W is as high quality as the HX 850 and cheaper.
> ...



Dude if you read the OP's first post. He prefers to have Corsair RAM, cooling, PSU etc. Thats why the Corsair PSU was recommended for him plus its one kick ass PSU. And i think you meant two 5870s right? 



Aleksander Dishnica said:


> As i see all of you are pushing the OP to spend all his money on a new build without logic at all.
> Better buy an *phenom II x2 555* rather than buying smth that you will never profit more than this processor. *That tri fire thing was a total waste of money* cuz even with a single 5850 you have already build the high gaming rig.



And how future proof do you think the Phenom II X2 is? Plus if your referring to my post on the Tri-Fire. It was a joke =.=


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## Fourstaff (May 15, 2010)

Aleksander Dishnica said:


> Better buy an phenom II x2 555 rather than buying smth that you will never profit more than this processor.



OP is going to use CS4. Any high end 4+ core systems is going to stomp the Phenom II X2 real bad. Take a look at this chart. 

I'm surprised no one suggested any Nvidia cards, I thought CS4 supported at least some of the higher end cards. And I still stand by my suggestion that OP does not need to spend all those $4000 all in one go, no need to give suggestions which sounds like your dream build.


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## JrRacinFan (May 15, 2010)

Just my personal view on this this is the kit I would base it off of:

Core i7 920/930
A nice set of 3x2GB Mushkin Ridgebacks
Gigabyte UD7
Only 1, yes 1 5970
and go ALL out on a liquid cooling kit.
Any Enermax that's 700W+

Technology evolves too much IMO to spend the full budget.

EDIT:

Basically what I am saying is overclock the pants off while still keeping temps and voltages in mind.


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## a_ump (May 15, 2010)

lol how much would a all out liquid cooling kit cost?


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## SystemViper (May 15, 2010)

With that budget it should be built around the 980X 6 core monster...


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## surfingerman (May 15, 2010)

personally i would use some of that cash to pick up some better monitors.. monitors are a better investment you'll keep them years longer than the CPU, and to have all that power confined to just one screen seems like a crime against humanity to me, you have budget for eyefinity and its great for work so your dad will love it for office computer


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## Champ (May 15, 2010)

I don't know how you guys feel about Tom's Hardware, but they have a nice setup laid out here.  The only thing I would change is the size of the SSDs


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## GSquadron (May 15, 2010)

Fourstaff said:


> OP is going to use CS4. Any high end 4+ core systems is going to stomp the Phenom II X2 real bad. Take a look at this chart.
> 
> I'm surprised no one suggested any Nvidia cards, I thought CS4 supported at least some of the higher end cards. And I still stand by my suggestion that OP does not need to spend all those $4000 all in one go, no need to give suggestions which sounds like your dream build.



You can UNLOCK the cores man and loose less money. It is not that hard to suggest core i7 980X so don't disbelief what i say


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## Fourstaff (May 15, 2010)

Aleksander Dishnica said:


> You can UNLOCK the cores man and loose less money. It is not that hard to suggest core i7 980X so don't disbelief what i say



You can TRY to unlock. Not all unlocks and you know that. Op doesn't have the money to gamble, you know. If he can't unlock, he's stuck with a worthless chip.


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## a_ump (May 15, 2010)

yea....even if the OP had the origional $2000 budget he's be retarded to purchase an x2 cpu. Gambling is for when your on a budget and have to get the lower end chip or have the money to mess around with hardware, OP is neither of these lol


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## eidairaman1 (May 15, 2010)

Nice Build Sheet here


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## a_ump (May 15, 2010)

sorta, idk what's with the 500gb and then 1tb hdd's. i'd get one reg and an SSD.


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## eidairaman1 (May 15, 2010)

really no point in getting them until SLC models become cheaper


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## El_Mayo (May 15, 2010)

I'd say no need for stupid amounts of RAM

6GB at most
No more than 850W of power
and no Intel i9 processors either

money can be spent elsewhere on better things like storage, case and cooling


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## eidairaman1 (May 15, 2010)

for 230 USD 8GB is a steal


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## n-ster (May 16, 2010)

I still think the build a suggest is best overall bang/buck for your budget/use... Just get the Corsair HX 850 instead of the XFX, but corsair RAM is just a waste at that price.


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## Necrofire (May 16, 2010)

+1 on the OCZ Vertex 2, 50GB model has the Sandforce controller.

That is plenty, I have TF2, CS:S, UT3, Oblivion, and CS3, and I have plenty of room still on my 64GB.


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## JrRacinFan (May 16, 2010)

a_ump said:


> lol how much would a all out liquid cooling kit cost?



Just estimating, I would say about $300-400.


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