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Help selecting appropriate config

Post Date: 2010-08-02
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Whoops View Drop Down
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Email address used to purchase matched with forums account email.

Joined: 02 Aug 2010
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Posts: 1 		  Quote Whoops Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Topic: Help selecting appropriate config
    Posted: 02 Aug 2010 at 10:18am
Hello.  I've been looking around online for a good place to buy my first ever gaming PC.  As a lifelong mac user, I really don't know a whole lot about PC's, though over the past few days I've picked up some rudimentary knowledge.

I ran across this site on a reccomendation, and it looks to be filled with some very knowledgable folk, so I'm making a standard "Help my setup not suck" topic here.  Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Details:

Budget:  $2,000 - $2,200.  This does not include monitor, keyboard etc.

Purpose for PC:  In terms of gaming prowess, I'm looking for something that could play games like WoW and Starcraft 2 at highest possible settings with complete stability (these are just examples as they're the only PC games I own at the moment).  In addition, I intend to make this PC the hub for my entire media center (Movies, music, games etc.)

Monitor:  23" HDMI LCD, 1920 x 1080

Qustions: 

1:  In regards to the video card, the ones I see mentioned most often are the ATI 5870, 5970, and the NVIDIA GTX 480.  What exactly is the difference between these video cards?  And which would be ideal for gaming on a single monitor setup?

2:  In regards to overclocking, what are the risks involved?  What sort of alterations to I need to make to accomodate overclocking?  And what parts of the PC are even worth it?  (ie. which parts will overclocking grant a *significant* increase in performance)

Other notes:  This setup is not customized at all, I'm using this as a base because it is the most appropriate for my budget.

Thanks in advance for any help/advice that you have.


Chassis Model: Special Deal Hot Seller - Black OPS Assassin Edition
Exterior Finish: - Standard Factory Finish
Trim Accents: - Standard Factory Finish
Processor: Intel Core i7 930 2.8GHz (Quad Core)
Motherboard: EVGA X58 Micro Edition SLI (Intel X58 Chipset)
System Memory: 6GB DDR3 1600MHz Digital Storm Certified Performance Series (Highly Recommended) (Hand Tested)
Power Supply: 750W Digital Storm Certified (Dual SLI Compatible) (Silent Edition Recommended)
Expansion Bay: - No Thanks
Hard Drive Set 1: Operating System: 1x (500GB Western Digital (16MB Cache) (7200 RPM)
Set 1 Raid Options: - No Thanks
Hard Drive Set 2: Multimedia\Data: - No Thanks
Hard Drive Set 3: Backup\Misc.: - No Thanks
Optical Drive 1: DVD-R/RW/CD-R/RW (DVD Writer 24x / CD-Writer 48x)
Optical Drive 2: - No Thanks
Internet Access: High Speed Network Port (Supports High-Speed Cable / DSL / Network Connections)
Video Card: 1x NVIDIA GeForce GTX 480 1.5GB (Includes PhysX Technology)
Add-on Card: - No Thanks
Sound Card: Integrated Motherboard Audio
Extreme Cooling: Standard Factory Heat-sink and Fan
H20 Tube Color:- Not Applicable, I do not have a FrostChill or Sub-Zero LCS Cooling System Selected
Chassis Airflow: Standard Factory Chassis Fans
Internal Lighting: - No Thanks
Enhancements: - No Thanks
Chassis Mods: - No Thanks
Noise Reduction: - No Thanks
Boost Processor: FREE: Stage 1: Overclock the processor between 3.3GHz to 3.9GHz (Cooling Upgrade Recommended)
Boost Video Card: - No Thanks, Please do not overclock my video card(s)
Boost Memory: - No Thanks, Please do not overclock my memory
Boost OS: - No Thanks, Please do not tweak the services on the operating system
Windows OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium (64-Bit Edition)
Restore Kit: Digital Storm Specialized Recovery System (DVD Image Based)
Virus Protection: - No Thanks
Office: - No Thanks
Benchmarking: - No Thanks
Install/Test Game: - No Thanks
Display: - No Thanks
Surge Shield: - No Thanks
Speakers: - No Thanks
Keyboard: - No Thanks
Mouse: - No Thanks
External Storage: - No Thanks
Exclusive T-Shirt: - No Thanks
Priority Build: - No Thanks, Ship Within 5-15 Business Days After Order Is Successfully Processed
Warranty: Life-time Expert Customer Care with 3 Year Limited Warranty
"Only an idiot would quote himself" -me-
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!ender_ View Drop Down
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Joined: 24 Oct 2007
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Posts: 4219 		  Quote !ender_ Quote  Post ReplyReply bullet Posted: 02 Aug 2010 at 2:36pm
youre in a good place price wise, gives you a good amount of flexibility, id start here: $1982
http://www.digitalstormonline.com/comploadsaved.asp?id=427732%20
 
added in a 1tb drive becuase you mentioned media use/storage
overclocking is getting really close to normal these days, with the case selection on this site, the only change you need to make is adding a good cpu cooler, which is already included in my link
the FIRST thing i would add if you could afford a price bump would definitely be a sound card. if you consider sound important at all this is the best place to spend the next $150
personally, i would take that over a second HDD, but i dont know how much you intend to store, 500gb is a lot of real estate, i think a lot of people buy high to follow the crowd, ive never used more than 300 and i edit movies, work in photoshop, always have several games installed, and have a good amount of movies/shows/junk too
 
as far as the difference in the video cards, ill have to leave you to spend some of your own time looking, the first difference is the brand, price, features... shouldnt take more than a few hours looking online to be informed of all the differences
 
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