Anyone know of a better gaming rig for $1400?

[iHazACupcake]

Okay, so this is going to sound strange, but I won first place in a cheese dip making competition and they gave me $1500. And now I want to upgrade from my current gaming rig, to a newer, better one. And after scrounging around on the interwebs for a little while, and comparing prices between Tigerdirect, and Newegg. I've got these specs.

Case: Thermaltake VL200k Element V $99.99
Mobo: EVGA P55 Socket LGA 1156 $184.99
CPU: Intel i5 650 Socket LGA 1156 3.2GHz $179.99
Heatsink: Coolermaster V8 $60.00
Thermal Grease: Thermaltake TG1 Extreme High Grade Thermal Grease $13.99
PSU: Coolermaster Silent Pro M 850W ATX $104.99
HDD: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 7200rpm $89.99
SSD: OCZ 120GB Agility 3 series SATA 3 6GBps $95.99
RAM: Corsair Vengeance 16GB 1600Mhz 4-Sticks $104.99
OS: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit $99.99
GPU: EVGA GTX-560 Superclocked 2GB GDDR5 $184.99
Monitor: BenQ GW2250 22" Class Widescreen Backlit LED $149.99
Keyboard and Mouse: Razer Lycosa and Razer Deathadder $110.00
Headset: Earforce Z11 $39.99
Total Price: $1460.00

Questions: Is there a place where I can some of these parts cheaper? Should I just go with an AMD of equal performance? (If the processor is cheaper of course)
(sorry if I posted this in the wrong forum)

 

[Solarstarshines]

for the heatsink the v8 you could get a Antec 620 Khuler water system why pay 60 for air when you can be water cooled also

depends on where you get it the OCZ agility is 89.99 120.GB i recently got one Microcenter
win 7 premium can be had for 89.99 @ frys OEM everything looks good but some of those iteams depends where you shop are a little cheaper

 

[Sardonicus]

Hello,
any reason why you went with the older 1156 chipset instead on the newer 1155 chipset?

 

[Solarstarshines]

Hello,
any reason why you went with the older 1156 chipset instead on the newer 1155 chipset?

yeah 1155 is Ivy Bridge right ?

 

[Sardonicus]

Hello,
any reason why you went with the older 1156 chipset instead on the newer 1155 chipset?

yeah 1155 is Ivy Bridge right ?

1155 boards can use Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge.

Z68 boards support Sandy Bridge, out of the box.
Ivy Bridge support is possible with a BIOS update.

Z77 Boards support Ivy Bridge and is backwards compatible with Sandy Bridge.

 

[Solarstarshines]

Hello,
any reason why you went with the older 1156 chipset instead on the newer 1155 chipset?

yeah 1155 is Ivy Bridge right ?

1155 boards can use Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge.

Z68 boards support Sandy Bridge, out of the box.
Ivy Bridge support is possible with a BIOS update.

Z77 Boards support Ivy Bridge and are backwards compatible with Sandy Bridge.

One of these days im going to toy with a Intel rig I had them years ago last one was a P4 but i went AMD and been with eversince but.... i like to taste a bit of everything my dad runs intel as well im the only red guy ha

 

[iHazACupcake]

Hello,
any reason why you went with the older 1156 chipset instead on the newer 1155 chipset?

I'm a cheap *******, and the 1156 i5, is an ass-load cheaper than the 1155 i5. At least that's my opinion on the price difference.

 

[AstaLaVista]

I only play shooters and Campaigns so I don't know much about the other Genres but, if the others are similar to the shooters, wasting a lot of money on a computer is that, wasting money... more so when the majority of them are console ports, some of them even shoddy and unoptimized.

I think with 1500 cheeseburgers you can get a hellacious rig, I just can't see myself doing so when I am not even going to be able to enjoy it to its fullest... I do hope you do play other Genres and they are not console ports though.

When I am looking to build a rig, I usually check Google products for good deals or I go to the following website... I have never been let down.

Check their Hot Deals Forum... http://hardforum.com/

 

[Solarstarshines]

Hello,
any reason why you went with the older 1156 chipset instead on the newer 1155 chipset?

I'm a cheap *******, and the 1156 i5, is an ass-load cheaper than the 1155 i5. At least that's my opinion on the price difference.

Think of it this way There is always upgrade options you can strive for the best in the begining and make it even better through time

Get the latest and then Build around it that is what most of us do
I would say over the last year or so after i went to the FX series i spent money on better upgrades then i had from the begining and it has paid off

 

[paulpicks21]

Hello,
any reason why you went with the older 1156 chipset instead on the newer 1155 chipset?

I'm a cheap *******, and the 1156 i5, is an ass-load cheaper than the 1155 i5. At least that's my opinion on the price difference.

Hi bud, unless my calculations are way off, you can get 1155 sandy i5 and a nice z77 mobo for only $4 more.

This has to be the way to go, I am surprised the first gen stuff is still even available.

Here - Newegg.com - ASUS P8Z77-V LK LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard with UEFI BIOS

Newegg.com - Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 3000 BX80623I52500K

There is a choice of motherboards around this price so you don't have to go for the one I linked to.

Paul.

 

[AstaLaVista]

Hello,
any reason why you went with the older 1156 chipset instead on the newer 1155 chipset?

I'm a cheap *******, and the 1156 i5, is an ass-load cheaper than the 1155 i5. At least that's my opinion on the price difference.

Hi bud, unless my calculations are way off, you can get 1155 sandy i5 and a nice z77 mobo for only $4 more.

This has to be the way to go, I am surprised the first gen stuff is still even available.

Here - Newegg.com - ASUS P8Z77-V LK LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard with UEFI BIOS

Newegg.com - Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 3000 BX80623I52500K

There is a choice of motherboards around this price so you don't have to go for the one I linked to.

Paul.

Don't they sell the same CPU sans the integrated graphics cheaper than with it? if so and since the OP will get a better GPU, I would save more money by getting the cheaper CPU

 

[paulpicks21]

It's $10 less for the non K series, this still comes with intergrated graphics but a lower quality. I would still recommend the K series as it can be overclocked very easily should the OP wish to at a later date.

 

[paulpicks21]

And while we are at it, lets save $20 on Ram, G.skill, top quality stuff.

Newegg.com - G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL10D-16GBXL

 

[Zepher]

That is a slow system for a lot of money.
Psu is overkill, CPU cooler is overkill, especially on a slow processor, even if you overclock the shit out of it, you won't be anywhere close to an i5 ivy bridge which is about $45 more.
I'll post my recommendation when I get to my pc, searching and posting links is tedious on my iPad.

 

[XJLanzaro]

Switch to Ivy Bridge i5-3570k and Z77 motherboard, reduce RAM to 8gb and psu to 600w or even 500w. Reduce heatsink to hyper 212+ or even stock would be fine unless you want to oc the crap out of it. My buddy has his 3570k overclocked at 3.8 GHz with stock cooler with great temps. You don't need to spend $14 on thermal paste it comes with the heatsink if you decide to buy one. I would recommend Crucial or Intel SSDs, the OZC models aren't very well received. Everything else looks good. I'm sure a lot of people would agree with what I'm saying.

 

[cam51037]

If I were you with $1400, here's what I would do for a high end gaming rig:
AMD FX-8120
ASUS M5A97 AM3+ Motherboard
Rosewill Black Bone Case
Hyper 212 Heatsink
Corsair Builder 600W PSU
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 1 TB
SSD: Crucial M4 64 GB SSD
Kingston 8 GB RAM
Windows 7 Home Premium
Sapphire Radeon 7870
ASUS 24" LED Monitor
Rosewill RK-700M Keyboard
Microsoft Compact Optical Mouse
Headset: Sony PS3 Headset

Total Price on Newegg: $1426

You'd save a lot not getting a headset, and settling for a lower end keyboard and mouse. I have a default Dell keyboard and mouse deal, and I've gotten a ton of nukes in MW2, and played endless hours in Minecraft with them, and they are awesome, and waaaay cheaper than the higher end stuff, which honestly wouldn't do anything different for me, except make me spend at least $100 extra.

With my suggestions, you'd get a newer CPU, and a way better GPU for about the same price.