It's that time again...
My current gaming PC is about five years old and struggling with nearly everything. Motherboard has already been replaced twice so it's time for a new build rather than some parts upgrades. Budget is always an issue with me but since I'll keep this next PC for probably at least another 3-4 years, quality is slightly more important.

I'm going to have to buy components piecemeal, one or two a month - probably finishing the build around Christmas, so obviously I should save the more tech/price volatile components till last. I'm probably not going to over-clock much... or at least not aggressively - stability>speed


Old System:
Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU E8400 @ 3.00GHz
Gigabyte P35-DS3L
2MB Memory (crashes if I put in 4 or 6mb)
82gb Raptor boot + assorted WD Blacks (all getting old - Raptor is getting flakey and extremely heat sensitive)
GeForce GTX250 video (still ok - runs most games at near max settings) - not replacing for now
Case is toast - Antec TPE-650 PS might be ok still?
Keeping DVD burners for now - I don't need BlueRay yet (still have a CRT-era TV set)

New System:
Wife started off by buying me a new case, Antec Nine Hundred
(not the best... but pretty much the best that Fry's had in stock)

Next - Power Supply
1) Keep 4+ year old Antec TPE-650? It's still running....
2) Antec High Current Gamer Series HCG-900 900W ATX12V v2.3 / EPS12V v2.91 SLI Certified CrossFire Certified 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply - 900w is overkill and it's not Gold certified :/
3) CORSAIR Professional Series Gold AX750 (CMPSU-750AX) 750W ATX12V v2.31 / EPS12V v2.92 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply - more $ but Gold cert
4) SeaSonic X750 Gold 750W ATX12V V2.3/EPS 12V V2.91 SLI Ready 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply
Conventional wisdom seems to be to buy only Antec, Corsair or SeaSonic and I don't think I can go wrong with any of these... do need to double check that cable lengths will be ok for a bottom case mount.

Next +1 - SSD Boot Drive
Need something 120-150mb but no brand selected yet :/
Recent product reviews suggest to me that the fastest drives are also probably the least reliable... while speed is nice,I would prefer reliability first. Almost thinking about another Raptor but SSD's are better/more energy efficient and not much $ difference. Want to go SATA3 anyway...

Next +2 - Proc
Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 6MB L3 Cache LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor
There is no plan B at the moment. i7 would be nice but it's way beyond price/performance sweet spot

Next +3 - MB
1) ASUS P8Z68-V PRO LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard with UEFI BIOS
2) GIGABYTE GA-Z68X-UD4-B3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard or GIGABYTE GA-Z68XP-UD3 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard - What's the difference here anyway?
I've had good luck with ASUS boards in the past so it's my first choice

Next +4 - Memory
1) G.SKILL Ripjaws X + Turbulence II Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 2133 (PC3 17000) Desktop Memory Model F3-17000CL9D-8GBXLD
2) Mushkin Enhanced Redline 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 2133 (PC3 17000) Desktop Memory Model 996997
Open to other choices, but these seem to both be very fast memory

Side note - Newegg doesn't seem as cheap as it used to be. Is there some other place I should be component shopping now?

 

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1. I'm assuming your power supply is an Antec TruePower 650 (TP-650, not sure what TPE-650 is). This should still be a good power supply to continue using. You definitely don't need more power than this if you are just running one video card.

2. I'm a big fan of OCZ SSD drives. They do a lot of custom work on their firmwares and seem to do a pretty good job with reliability and performance. So I'd look at any of the Vertex or Agility line of drives. Newer Vertex/Agility 3 drives are really fast, but you can find some decent deals on the previous generation Vertex/Agility 2 drives (assuming they aren't gone now, haven't looked lately).

Intel has had a couple snafus with their SSD drives, but they are generally known for reliability and I think the kinks are worked out of their newest SSD drives and should also be a safe choice.

3. I just took a quick look at the two Gigabyte boards, sometimes the only difference is the heatsinks, and the UD4 does have more and larger heatsinks around the CPU components. My last two boards have been Gigabyte. I'm leaning towards ASUS as my next board, they seem to do a little better job with their BIOS.

4. The impact memory has on system performance is so miniscule, I really don't see the justification in spending more on this than needed. You can get some DDR2-1600 memory for $50 and probably not know the difference.
For example, http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145345

In terms of budget, I'd rate having an SSD a distant 3rd over the graphics card and a suitable CPU. Don't get me wrong, I run 3 in a RAID0 and have for about two years now and its great, but the value of doing so is a bit skewed.

(3x60GB OCZ Vertex in RAID0 on an ICH10R)

That said this appears to be a pretty good deal:

OCZ Vertex 3 VTX3-25SAT3-120G 2.5" 120GB
$209 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820227706&cm_sp=DailyDeal-_-20-227-706-_-Product

However...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236091

I'd also consider a new monitor. I had a 27" Hanns-G that was getting flaky and got this, couldnt be happier. The reason I say this is that with a GTX250, you must be running a VERY low resolution to play anything on "near max settings", and only if you consider "near max" to mean no AA / AF / Shadows.

http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/2011-gaming-graphics-charts/Call-of-Pripyat-Enthusiast,2666.html

15fps on a GTX260 (GTX250 isn't even listed). Ouch.

Bleh at 1080p at 27inches. Thats a TV not a gaming monitor .

I would agree though SSD is not really needed for budget gaming pc (it is a nice touch though I really do admit). But if you are not bothered by the boot up or game level loads it should not be much concern.

I do think that if you can hold onto the GTX 250 until the newer cards come out, you will get much better dollar value out of the upgrade then doing it now.

 

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My monitor isn't an issue, I splurged a few years ago and have a ViewSonic VX2235 22". It's nice and sharp and good for a few more years (I hope).

So, I shouldn't be too concerned about a 4+ year old PS suddenly dying in the next year or so? I guess I could keep it and just replace it when it does die, but I'd rather it didn't burn out other components with it when it decides to go.

Have a fast O/S boot drive/game install directory/swap file are is always good. The OCZ listed looked good but a bit expensive. Can't argue with a sale though. Not concerned about RAID at the moment either.

You might have talked me into using cheaper memory, if it's not going to make that much of a difference. I've been reading that most test builds aren't able to get the memory to synch at 2333 anyway. Heard the ASUS board could (after a BIOS flash). Just wanted to avoid going cheap and creating a bottleneck a year or two down the road.

 

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Oh, concerning the OCZ (OCZ Vertex 3 VTX3-25SAT3-120G) linked above, the top page of most recent NewEgg reviews are mostly bad, saying that with the new firmware the drive is prone to crashing.

 

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This can be avoided if people simply don't install the latest firmwares too quickly and give them time to be tested and matured. OCZ does put out quite a few firmware updates, they love tweaking the firmware for performance and reliability. But sometimes the firmwares have problems, though I think they usually do note them a beta firmwares at first until the issues are worked out.

So avoid beta firmwares, probably stay one firmware version back. Maybe check out the OCZ SSD Gen 3 boards.
http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?254-Vertex3-Agility3-Solid3-support-and-discussion-forum

Or you could just go with Intel. They rarely update the firmware or tweak much.

Its awesome is what it is Without doing any math, I'd guess that a 27" monitor is twice the size of a 22" monitor. I think that the resolution vs the size is a personal preference, but I find that the 24" monitors that are 1080p just make everything to small for my slightly worse than average eyesight

1920x1200 or greater ftw. I find it is a nice sweet spot for the distance. I like my 24" 1200rez . I honestly do not know what I would do with a 30" 2560x1600. I would need a bigger desk (and GPU) lol.

 

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Larger 1080P televisions as monitors work okay. The larger dot pitch certainly makes reading easier on the eyes. The side effect is the larger dot pitch (pixels) do make jagged edges in games more noticeable, so you'll need to crank up the AA effects a bit more to hide them.

There are a few games were AA doesn't work or works very badly (Rift) in which you are stuck looking at big pixels and jagged edges in those games.

So I wouldn't recommend TVs as monitors for gamers that might be bothered by aliasing in games... that is unless they are more bothered by small text.