You want to build a rig to play the latest games and you'll like that investment to be good for the next year or two. Systems in this section tend to run from $1200-$1700 depending on the current winds. The general target then is $1400. If this describes you, you are in the right place.
As mentioned in the introduction, all prices are from Newegg unless explicitly specified otherwise. No special prices (e.g., after mail-in-rebate prices or combo prices) are used if that can be avoided. You should be able to load these items in your cart and get them at or near the prices quoted.
CPU - I expected there to be a new mainstream CPU to recommend this time around, and there is .. sort of. I like the Intel Core i7 920 a lot, but it's a tad too expensive for the mainstream rig. I expected the new Core i7 860 on an LGA 1156 motherboard to be the new mainstream team. Unfortuately, I also expected the 860 to cost less than the 920 rather than the same (or more). I've been trying to canvas the usual sites for benchmarks, and depending on which one I look at, the 860 is faster or slower than the 920. I guess that justifies the similar price, but I was hoping for something priced at $220 - 230 (which is can be if you happen to live near a Micro Center). There are features in the 860 that I really like. The TDP of the 860 is 95W versus 130W in the 920, which means less heat to dissapate and (usually) means less power from the PSU is needed. The Turbo Boost technology, where unused cores are shut down and the remaining cores boosted in speed, should help with those games that are largely single-threaded. (That is the majority of games today.) The LGA1156 motherboards are somewhat cheaper and requiring only dual-channel DDR3 memory instead of triple-channel also means a lower cost of entry. This review at Tom's Hardware shows that the new Core i5 750 and Core i7s do just fine in dual SLI and Crossfire (even with only half the PCI lanes per graphics card). This review at Anandtech shows similar results, but also shows that the Core i7 870 (which goes for twice the price of the 860) is only negligibly faster than the 860.
Still I find it hard to recommend the 860 without some reservations. Most of the benchmarks above are shown at stock speeds, and so don't tell the whole story. The Core i7 920 has proven to be very overclockable. It seems like everyone can get 4GHz clock rates with simple air cooling. The 920 comes with the multiplier unlocked, which allows for more variance in overclocking. The 860 and 870 can still be overclocked, but the base clock must be increased to do so. The 920's separate triple-channel memory controller can also allow for higher overclocking of the CPU and more tweaking of invidual clocks. That said, overclocking for the mainstream system isn't as important as for the high-end system where we are trying to get the CPU to be able to keep up with a multiple-CPU SLI or Crossfire setup. Maybe it shouldn't bother me, but I like having that extra flexibility. The difference in cost though puts the 860 in this build this time.
Motherboard - Going with the P55 chipset (LGA 1156) is great news here. Very high quality motherboards go for nearly $100 less (or more) than those using the X-58 chipset. I'm still a big fan of the Gigabyte board's Ultra Durable line. So, for this build, I'm going with a newcomer in the UD4P line, the Gigabyte GA-P55-UD4P. Like the GA-EX58-UD4P motherboard before it, this motherboard has eight SATA ports (two from the Gigabyte SATA2 chip rather than the i7's I/O subsystem) and two ESATA ports on the rear I/O panel from a JMB362 SATA2 chip (which even have RAID support). This motherboard has dual gigabit LAN ports (that support teaming), 10 USB ports on the rear I/O panel and headers for two pairs of two USB ports for front panel connections (for a total of 14 USB ports). If you run out of ports on this one, something's wrong. The manual for this motherboard is available at Gigabyte's web site.
Memory - It's a good thing that there are cheaper processors and motherboard available since memory prices have definitely increased in the last two months. For this build, we're going from DDR3 triple-channel to dual channel. The price increase almost wipes out the savings. For the last build, I recommended OCZ Platinum 6GB (3 x 2GB) DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) OCZ3P1600LV6GK because of its 7-7-7-24 timings while still maintaining 1.65V. It was $115 in mid-August; it's $154 in mid-October, which is a 34% price increase. I still want to go with 4GB of DDR3 at the same 7-7-7-24 or better timings and at 1.65V, however the equivalent OCZ kit, the OCZ3P1600LV4GK, is $123. That just seems like a ripoff to me, so instead, I've gone with G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Model F3-12800CL7D-4GBRH at $95 instead. I don't mind paying for a quality part, but the G.Skill reviews of late have been very favorable. Here's a review of this kit (in German, translated). This leaves two of the four slots open for expansion.
Graphics Card - It's funny, really. I was so busy watching the front for new CPUs that I never even saw (or heard about) the new ATI Radeon 5800 series GPUs, the Radeon HD 5850 and Radeon HD 5870, until I saw the press releases. These are the next version of the venerable 4850 and 4870, based on 40nm dies, which results in lower power consumption (that is greatly appreciated in the blast furnaces that GPUs have become). The new cards are the first to have DirectX 11. The new cards also double the number of shaders over their respective counterparts from 800 on the older cards to 1440 and 1600 shaders, respectively. Texture units have had a similar increase from 40 to 72 and 80, respectively. An article at PC Perspective has a nice table showing the differences. Using my rule of thumb where the graphics card should cost 1.0 to 1.15 times the cost of the CPU ($290), we have a range of $290-333. The Nvidia cards in this range include the higher-end GTX 260s and GTX 275s and lower-end GTX 285s. The new 5870 is outside the range at about $380-390, but the 5850 is about $270-290. That's actually under the target number. However, early benchmark articles like the one above, this article at Anandtech and this Tom's Hardware article show the ATI HD 5850 keeps up with or outperforms the Nvidia GTX 285, which costs in the low to mid $300 range. Never one to just waste money, that's the card for this build. Just one problem. Finding one. Every model of ATI Radeon HD 5850 is out of stock at Newegg, a few are in stock at MWwave, NCIXUS, Tiger Direct and ZipZoomFly. I still suggest sticking with the top manufacturers: Asus, ATI, Gigabyte, MSI, XFX and I'll add SAPPHIRE to the list as well. I hope the 5850 doesn't turn out to be like the ATI Radeon HD 4770, a great card at a great price that nobody could get their hands on.
Sound - For this build, we're going with the integrated sound provided by the motherboard. While I still prefer discrete sound cards, the difference isn't worth the cost even on this midrange rig.
Case - My gaming machine right now is in an Antec Nine Hundred case. I love the case. The only thing I wish it had (now that I know how useful they are) is a top/front ESATA port. In the last build, I recommended the Antec Nine Hundred Two with an ESATA port in place of an IEEE 1394 (Firewire) port on the front I/O panel. However, that case is $20 more. (It was $25 more last time.) That seems like a lot to pay for an ESATA port. After doing a little more searching, I came across the NZXT TEMPEST CS-NT-TEM-B for $100. This case has the same features found in the Antec Nine Hundred Two that I like including:
It has a front-top mounted ESATA port like the Nine Hundred Two without the higher cost. This case is also a couple inches taller and deeper than the Antect Nine Hundred (and Nine Hundred Two). Extra elbow room is generally a good thing. This case weighs about 6 lbs more than the Antec case, too. That's generally a good thing depending on how many flights of stairs you need to haul the finished rig up and down. The manual for the NZXT Tempest can be found here.
Power Supply - The PSU is the first repeat component from last month's list - Corsair CMPSU-850TX 850W SLI Ready & CrossFire Ready with active PFC. This build is a single-card system, however, the motherboard supports two graphics cards. Therefore, the power supply has been given some extra headroom. It still may not be enough depending on the cards used, but it's a great PSU for this build.
Hard Drive - For the August 2009 build, I chose a pair of Western Digital Caviar Black WD1001FALS 1TB 7200 RPM drives. I would still choose those if you can find them or the retail counterparts. B&H Photo Video had some when I posted this as did ZipZoomFly. I don't know if there is a shortage or these are being phased out. I had trouble finding them anywhere and the closest WD substitute is a "green" model with two years less warranty; the Western Digital Caviar Black has a five year warranty. Since those don't seem readily available, I went with a pair of Western Digital Caviar Green WD10EADS 1TB drives instead. At least they are $10 cheaper. The motherboard supports RAID 0 (as well as 1, 5 and 0+1) and RAID 0 striped drives truly make a system run faster, so that's why we need a pair.
DVD-RW - DVD/RW drives are truly commodity items. Still need one for loading Windows though. I went with a retail version in order to get the software. For this, I chose the new HP 24X DVD Writer with LightScribe Model 1270i. There's others out there that are just as good. If you happen to have a copy of Nero or Roxio CD Creater, feel free to go with an OEM drive.
Operating System - Before October 22nd, the release date of Windows 7, we go with the venerable Vista Home Premium 64-bit version (with upgrade to Windows 7 as soon as it is available). This particular version is for system builders, which means you get to do your own product support. I'm not sure how that's any different than the retail version when it comes right down to it. I always end up tracking down my software issues myself. There's just so much info available on the web I've never found the need to use the Microsoft telephone support system. This particular version is $10 more than usual because it includes an upgrade coupon to Windows 7. On or after October 22, 2009, just get Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit OEM version for the same $110.
| Component | Description | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| CPU | Intel Core i7-860 Lynnfield 2.8GHz | $290 |
| CPU Cooler | Stock | $0 |
| Motherboard | Gigabyte GA-P55-UD4P LGA 1156 | $170 |
| Memory | G.SKILL Ripjaws 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) F3-12800CL7D-4GBRH | $95 |
| Graphics Card | SAPPHIRE 100282SR Radeon HD 5850 1GB GDDR5 | $260 |
| Sound | Integrated sound on motherboard | $0 |
| Case | NZXT TEMPEST Crafted Series CS-NT-TEM-B Mid Tower | $100 |
| Power Supply | Corsair CMPSU-850TX 850W Active PFC | $140 |
| Hard Drive | Western Digital Caviar Green WD10EADS 1TB SATA2 (Times 2 for RAID 0) |
$170 |
| DVD/RW Drive | HP 24X DVD Writer with LightScribe Model 1270i | $34 |
| Operating System | Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium SP1 64-bit with Windows 7 Upgrade after October 22nd: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit | $110 |
| Total | The final damage less shipping | $1369 |
Generally, I like to see the mainstream system come in right at $1400 or even a bit less. With the new Core i7 860 CPU and a quality motherboard with the LGA 1156 socket, we made it under by a few dollars and $115 dollars less than the August 2009 build. This month's build should slightly beat the speeds of the Core i7 920 rig from August as far as CPU and memory speeds. The graphics card this month is a nice step up .. if you can find one. I'm just happy to see it under the $1400 mark, while at the same time having a system that should be faster. If you build this system (or one based off of it), I love to hear from you with any tips, problems, praises or jeers you have by emailing me.