Maximum PC

New to the forums and figured id post regarding a build im wanting to purchase in about 7 days or so. well will order the parts within those 7 days. im new to the forums didnt see a place to introduce my self but this will be my second build for myself.

Req's
1. games: wow, cs:source, crysis, bf2 just to name a few
2. apps: photoshop cs5, sony vegas. (i plan to do alot of fraps of games, and i also plan to render a ton of hd video as well as photos of course). i do a ton of editing. id like to do more hd video editing my current pc is a laptop and takes an hour to render a video thats around 10 minutes i want to render quickly and be able to record games in fraps without it heavily effecting frame rate to being laggy.
3. dont need a monitor, or, keyboard, or mouse i have those covered.
4. no parts are being recycled as i no longer have a desktop ive been using laptops for the past few years.
5. i am located in the us.
6. i plan to purchase the parts in 7 days.
7. id really like to go sli or crossfire. i also plan to eventually do a tripple monitor set up eventually which is soon down the road as well.
8. i already have windows 7 pro 64 bit.
9. Budget: $2000

well lemme know what you feel would be a great build for what im using i hope i have included as much info as needed.

Welcome to the forums!
Please stay a while join in some other discussions while your here!


Do you have a budget for this build?
Do you have a vendor you prefer to you use? Newegg or Amazon maybe?
I'm thinking a i7-2600K system using a Z68 chipset board would be a good start. More to follow when we know your budget.

wooops i thought i put that up there. budget is 2000$

You have lots of options with your budget to fit your needs.

Here's a quick list:
Part list permalink / Part price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-2600K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($279.99 @ Microcenter)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus 76.8 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($23.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($129.86 @ Newegg)
Memory: Patriot Signature 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($35.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Patriot Signature 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($35.99 @ Amazon)
Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($123.40 @ Amazon)
Hard Drive: Corsair Force Series GT 180GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($234.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: XFX Radeon HD 7970 3GB Video Card ($568.17 @ CompUSA)
Case: NZXT Phantom (White) ATX Full Tower Case ($124.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair 850W ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($114.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($18.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (64-bit) ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1791.34
(Prices include shipping and discounts when available.)
(Generated 2012-01-19 15:22 EST-0500)

I selected the i7 2600k just for the HT for your video editing needs since you'll be able to to take advange of it. I also went with an AMD platform gpu because of your video editing software (Sony Vegas) but really depends on if you are using the latest Vegas Pro 11 as that is the only one that actually has gpu accerlation (and its openCL! not cuda only). And the new 7970 is a beast of a card, a bit on the expensive side of $550, but well worth it and no need to do xFire with it. Its 30% faster than the gtx 580 at stock speeds.

I also budgeted 16gb of system ram and a 180gb Corsair GT SSD drive, although I only added a small 1tb drive. I'd say save up your money and wait till 2 or 3TB drives prices normalize until later this year; probably after summer due to the floods.

A nice NZXT case with a decent corsair 850w power supply should have you ready to go with your whole rig costing you about $1800; 200 shy of your budget.


Alternatively, you can go with a cheaper i5 2500k setup to save $100 off your setup, but I think you'll really see a difference in compiling those HD videos with the i7. You can also look at using a liquid cooler for the CPU like the Corsair H60/H80 setup to do more extreme OC without all the hassle (or cost) of a proper LC system. Those are typically around the 60-90 price range. Also, I'd look into Blu-ray burners since those have came down in price over the last year. You can pick up an Asus, LG or Sony burners for around 65-75.

Hey thanks for that speedy reply i appreciate your assistance im going to look at it all and hopefully everything pans out for me to do my build!