A long lasting gaming and multipurpose rig?

[dlf]

This seem like a decent rig to play most current and forthcoming PC games? . . . .

• Budget - Within about $1500 (American) [yes I know I go "over" budget, but if Ivybridge and hardrive prices drop, so does the total cost]
• Resolution - At first 1680 x 1050 - Eventually HD (and a dual monitor setup)
• Games / Settings Desired: Everything from DOS era on - High Or ultra
• Country - USA
• Parts that can be reused: Not that I can think of (see current specs as to why)
• Buying Parts: Before the end of the year, hopefully before fall or end of summer
• Will NOT prebuilt

Part list permalink / Part price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

• CPU: Intel Core i7-2600K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($299.99 @ NCIX US)
• CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus 76.8 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($22.99 @ NCIX US)
• Motherboard: MSI Z68MA-G45 (B3) Micro ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($102.98 @ Newegg)
• Memory: Patriot G2 Series Division 4 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR3-1333 Memory ($99.99 @ Amazon)
• Hard Drive: Mushkin Chronos 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($119.99 @ Newegg)
• Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($109.99 @ NCIX US)
• Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 680 2GB Video Card ($507.55 @ Newegg)
• Case: Corsair 500R White ATX Mid Tower Case ($124.99 @ Newegg)
• Power Supply: SeaSonic 650W ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($145.98 @ Newegg)
• Optical Drive: LG GH22NS90B DVD/CD Writer ($20.98 @ Newegg)

Total: $1555.43
(Prices include shipping and discounts when available.)
(Generated 2012-04-16 22:44 EDT-0400)

Current specs:

• Motherboard: Asus A8N-BR (Pyrite) (1 PCI, 2 DDR2 DIMM, Audio, Video, LAN, IEEE-1394)
• Motherboard Chipset - nVIDIA GeForce 6150 LE, AMD Hammer
• Power Supply: No idea (but it's less than 100 watts, I think)
• Processor: DualCore AMD Athlon 64 X2, 2000 MHz (10 x 200) 3800+
• CPU Cooler: A fan
• Memory:
• - DIMM1: Kingston 1 GB DDR2-533 DDR2 SDRAM (5-4-4-12 (at) 266 MHz) (4-4-4-12 (at) 266 MHz) (3-3-3-9 (at) 200 MHz)
• - DIMM2: Kingston 2G-UDIMM 2 GB DDR2-667 DDR2 SDRAM (5-5-5-15 (at) 333 MHz) (4-4-4-12 (at) 266 MHz) (3-3-3-9 (at) 200 MHz)
• Hard Drive: 250 GB ATA drive
• OS: Windows 7 Home Premium 32 bit

And what I wanted in a new system:

Hardware

• USB 2.0 speeds that are minimum of 30 MB a second
• USB 3.0 speeds that are at lest 300+ MB/s [I will get / use an SSD]
• Firewire (and or eSata port) --- because I have a external hardrive that has both along with USB
• At lest a solid terabyte (1.5 TB)
• Supports VGA, DVI & HDMI - Current monitor supports former two but the computer only supports VGA (and that's what I'm using @ the moment).
• Multi card reader (although I mainly need SD and Memory Pro Stick Duo)
• Able to use a PS3 controller AND A XBOX 360 controller (yes I know 360 is native support . . .)
• I would like a quad core.
• Multiple internal DVD drives - Also to make installations faster
• Plenty of 3.5/5.25 drive bays . . .

Software

• Windows 7 Ultimate (64 bit) (Main OS) -- Mostly for languages
• May first run Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit - as I have both 32/64 bit discs now)
• Windows XP (if 64 bit won't run some of the games I have) (if needed)
• Folding@home - (although I use my PS3 for that when I'm not using it

Gaming Software:

- Will use steam:

• Batman Arkham (Asylum/City)
• Bejeweled 2/3
• Bioshock (1/2) (perhaps infinite)
• Call of Duty
• Commander Keen (All)
• Doom (all)
• Elder Scrolls (Morrowind -> Skyrim)
• L.A. Noire
• Peggle
• Portal 1 & 2
• Quake (all)
• Sonic Generations
• Wolfenstein (all)

anything else that interests me

- Will use CD/DVD's of the games I have:

• Diablo 1 - 3 (when it comes out)
• Simcity 4000 & Rushhour
• The Sims 1 - And all expansions
• The Sims 2 (probably)
• Warcraft 2 - Tides of Darkness & Beyond the Dark Portal
• Warcraft 3 - Reign of Chaos & Frozen Throne
• May use emulation (to run up to the PS2/Wii)

Other Thoughts

• I will wait for some parts (hard drives, GPU, etc) to drop in price.
• Will wait for IvyBridge. . . .
• I WANT UEFI, NOT regular old BIOS (that this slimline has)
• May eventually like a dual GPU (crossfire?)

Monitor Thoughts:

• First and foremost: Full HD
• Widescreen
• Dual Monitor setup (at some point)
• Supports: HDMI, DVI, Displayport (if the motherboard of the computer does)
• Within 1 - 2 MS response time (current monitor is 5 MS response time)
• Screen size - 24 to about 27 inches
• I do really want monitor suggestions. Should also support HDCP, if needed.

[Patriot_MA]

I would say the setup below is pretty solid for a good 3+ years before thinking about another upgrade. The only thing I would think of changing is the Power supply to an 800-1000+ watt power supply which can be bought for a reasonable price now a days. This will give you more room for expanding.


CPU: Intel Core i7-2600K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($299.99 @ NCIX US)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus 76.8 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($22.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: MSI Z68MA-G45 (B3) Micro ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($102.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Patriot G2 Series Division 4 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR3-1333 Memory ($99.99 @ Amazon)
Hard Drive: Mushkin Chronos 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($119.99 @ Newegg)
Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($109.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 680 2GB Video Card ($507.55 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair 500R White ATX Mid Tower Case ($124.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: SeaSonic 650W ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($145.98 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: LG GH22NS90B DVD/CD Writer ($20.98 @ Newegg)