Hi guys,
This is my first time buying a gaming PC. First of all, I am surprised that Cyberpower can sell me a customized PC for only $55 more after all shipping and taxes. So it is pretty much if I want to save $55 and build it myself. This is what I am looking for in my PC.
1) 7.1 HD audio for high end headphones (movies & games)
2) 3D gaming ready
3) HDMI
4) Bluetooth (I think there are bluetooth USB adapters)
5) Wireless internet (I think there are bluetooth USB adapters so motherboard
may not need to have it)
6) Firewire
7) Running Battlefield 3 at least 30 frames per second on Ultra
8) Crossfire/SLi ready for future upgrading
Question # 1:
How can I be sure that the parts that I bought from Newegg are compatible? I did choose these parts based on configurator on Cyberpower so it should work. But it would really stink if I bought all these parts and it keep crashing when I run the PC. How can I be make sure these parts can run well together?
Question # 2:
Would you buy from Cyberpower or build it yourself? It is just $55 more but I see some bad reviews on Cyberpower which makes me lean towards building it myself. My reasoning is that when parts come in, I can assemble it more carefully than operators on an assembly line and also I don't have to worry about parts coming loose or getting damaged because of shipping. But cyberpower has 3 year warranty and if things don't work together, I can send it back to them to troubleshoot whereas if my newegg parts don't work together, I have no idea how to troubleshoot myself. Could it be a faulty CPU, graphics card, memory or whatever that's causing the PC to hang/crash/bluescreen? That would be a nightmare to me.
Anyway, here are the details of my 2 choices.
Buying parts from Newegg = $1418 + Windows 7 $99 = $1517
Qty. Product Description Savings Total Price
1
Seagate Barracuda ST31000524AS 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
Item #: N82E16822148697
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy $149.99
1
EVGA 012-P3-1571-KR GeForce GTX 570 HD w/Display-Port (Fermi) 1280MB 320-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
Item #: N82E16814130613
Return Policy: VGA Standard Return Policy $339.99
2
Rosewill 2+1 Port Firewire/1394a Low-Profile PCI Card (Cable Bundle) Model RC-501
Item #: N82E16815265002
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy -$3.00 Instant $25.98
$19.98
1
Corsair Carbide Series 400R Graphite grey and black Steel / Plastic ATX Mid Tower Gaming Case
Item #: N82E16811139008
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy $5.00 Mail-in Rebate Card
$99.99
1
CORSAIR Enthusiast Series TX850 V2 850W ATX12V v2.31/ EPS12V v2.92 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC High Performance Power Supply
Item #: N82E16817139022
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy -$25.00 Instant
$10.00 Mail-in Rebate Card
$159.99
$134.99
1
Zonet ZEW1642S PCI Wireless Adapter w/Fixed Antennas
Item #: N82E16833130073
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy -$6.00 Instant $24.99
$18.99
1
Intel Core i7-2600K Sandy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80623I72600K
Item #: N82E16819115070
Return Policy: CPU Replacement Only Return Policy $319.99
1
GIGABYTE GA-Z68XP-UD4 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
Item #: N82E16813128507
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy -$10.00 Instant
$20.00 Mail-in Rebate Card
$209.99
$199.99
1
CORSAIR DOMINATOR 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model CMP4GX3M2A1600C9
Item #: N82E16820145296
Return Policy: Memory Standard Return Policy $52.99
1
LG Black Super Multi Blue Internal SATA 12x Blu-ray Disc Rewriter SATA WH12LS38 LightScribe Support
Item #: N82E16827136239
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy $81.99
Cyberpower PC configuration
•CPU: Intel® Core™ i7-2600K 3.40 GHz 8M Intel Smart Cache LGA1155 (All Venom OC Certified)
•HDD: 1TB SATA-III 6.0Gb/s 32MB Cache 7200RPM HDD (Single Hard Drive)
•MEMORY: 4GB (2GBx2) DDR3/1600MHz Dual Channel Memory Module [-37] (Corsair XMS Gaming Memory with Heat Spreader)
•MOTHERBOARD: * [CrossFireX/SLI] GigaByte GA-Z68XP-UD4 Intel Z68 Chipset DDR3 ATX Mainboard w/ Intel Smart Response Technology & 7.1 Dolby Home Theater Audio, GbLAN, USB3.0, 4x SATA-III RAID, 2 Gen2 PCIe, 2 PCIe X1 & 2 PCI (All Venom OC Certified) [+101]
•SOUND: HIGH DEFINITION ON-BOARD 7.1 AUDIO
•VIDEO: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 1.2GB 16X PCIe Video Card [+165] (Major Brand Powered by NVIDIA)
Subtotal: $1,497.00
ethod: Please select UPS Ground UPS 3 Day UPS 2 Day UPS 1 Day APO Priority Mail Pick Up (CA residents only) UPS Ground (for Canada) Charge: $75.00
Fuel surcharge: $0.00
Grand Total: $1,572.00
This is my first time buying a gaming PC. First of all, I am surprised that Cyberpower can sell me a customized PC for only $55 more after all shipping and taxes. So it is pretty much if I want to save $55 and build it myself. This is what I am looking for in my PC.
1) 7.1 HD audio for high end headphones (movies & games)
2) 3D gaming ready
3) HDMI
4) Bluetooth (I think there are bluetooth USB adapters)
5) Wireless internet (I think there are bluetooth USB adapters so motherboard
may not need to have it)
6) Firewire
7) Running Battlefield 3 at least 30 frames per second on Ultra
8) Crossfire/SLi ready for future upgrading
Question # 1:
How can I be sure that the parts that I bought from Newegg are compatible? I did choose these parts based on configurator on Cyberpower so it should work. But it would really stink if I bought all these parts and it keep crashing when I run the PC. How can I be make sure these parts can run well together?
Question # 2:
Would you buy from Cyberpower or build it yourself? It is just $55 more but I see some bad reviews on Cyberpower which makes me lean towards building it myself. My reasoning is that when parts come in, I can assemble it more carefully than operators on an assembly line and also I don't have to worry about parts coming loose or getting damaged because of shipping. But cyberpower has 3 year warranty and if things don't work together, I can send it back to them to troubleshoot whereas if my newegg parts don't work together, I have no idea how to troubleshoot myself. Could it be a faulty CPU, graphics card, memory or whatever that's causing the PC to hang/crash/bluescreen? That would be a nightmare to me.
Anyway, here are the details of my 2 choices.
Buying parts from Newegg = $1418 + Windows 7 $99 = $1517
Qty. Product Description Savings Total Price
1
Seagate Barracuda ST31000524AS 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
Item #: N82E16822148697
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy $149.99
1
EVGA 012-P3-1571-KR GeForce GTX 570 HD w/Display-Port (Fermi) 1280MB 320-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
Item #: N82E16814130613
Return Policy: VGA Standard Return Policy $339.99
2
Rosewill 2+1 Port Firewire/1394a Low-Profile PCI Card (Cable Bundle) Model RC-501
Item #: N82E16815265002
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy -$3.00 Instant $25.98
$19.98
1
Corsair Carbide Series 400R Graphite grey and black Steel / Plastic ATX Mid Tower Gaming Case
Item #: N82E16811139008
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy $5.00 Mail-in Rebate Card
$99.99
1
CORSAIR Enthusiast Series TX850 V2 850W ATX12V v2.31/ EPS12V v2.92 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC High Performance Power Supply
Item #: N82E16817139022
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy -$25.00 Instant
$10.00 Mail-in Rebate Card
$159.99
$134.99
1
Zonet ZEW1642S PCI Wireless Adapter w/Fixed Antennas
Item #: N82E16833130073
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy -$6.00 Instant $24.99
$18.99
1
Intel Core i7-2600K Sandy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80623I72600K
Item #: N82E16819115070
Return Policy: CPU Replacement Only Return Policy $319.99
1
GIGABYTE GA-Z68XP-UD4 LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
Item #: N82E16813128507
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy -$10.00 Instant
$20.00 Mail-in Rebate Card
$209.99
$199.99
1
CORSAIR DOMINATOR 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model CMP4GX3M2A1600C9
Item #: N82E16820145296
Return Policy: Memory Standard Return Policy $52.99
1
LG Black Super Multi Blue Internal SATA 12x Blu-ray Disc Rewriter SATA WH12LS38 LightScribe Support
Item #: N82E16827136239
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy $81.99
Cyberpower PC configuration
•CPU: Intel® Core™ i7-2600K 3.40 GHz 8M Intel Smart Cache LGA1155 (All Venom OC Certified)
•HDD: 1TB SATA-III 6.0Gb/s 32MB Cache 7200RPM HDD (Single Hard Drive)
•MEMORY: 4GB (2GBx2) DDR3/1600MHz Dual Channel Memory Module [-37] (Corsair XMS Gaming Memory with Heat Spreader)
•MOTHERBOARD: * [CrossFireX/SLI] GigaByte GA-Z68XP-UD4 Intel Z68 Chipset DDR3 ATX Mainboard w/ Intel Smart Response Technology & 7.1 Dolby Home Theater Audio, GbLAN, USB3.0, 4x SATA-III RAID, 2 Gen2 PCIe, 2 PCIe X1 & 2 PCI (All Venom OC Certified) [+101]
•SOUND: HIGH DEFINITION ON-BOARD 7.1 AUDIO
•VIDEO: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 1.2GB 16X PCIe Video Card [+165] (Major Brand Powered by NVIDIA)
Subtotal: $1,497.00
ethod: Please select UPS Ground UPS 3 Day UPS 2 Day UPS 1 Day APO Priority Mail Pick Up (CA residents only) UPS Ground (for Canada) Charge: $75.00
Fuel surcharge: $0.00
Grand Total: $1,572.00