New build for BF3/Rage/Skyrim. Help, criticism, critique welcome

[HeyYo]

Hello there. Im building a new rig specifically for the games above, as well as future titles, and I'd like some feedback. Id like to play these game at high/ultra settings if able within my budget. This is NOT my first build, I had been doing it for years up until about a few years ago due to money, travel, moving etc, and im pretty out of the loop, but any feed back would be appreciated. If you think there are components I can find alternatives to to shave off a few bucks cool, as long as it doesnt sacrifice power. Thanks much.

For: Gaming (battlefield 3, skyrim, rage, etc)

Budget:1000-1300 USD

Parts: Microcenter (all prices are from their website in the last week or two, Ill be picking them up in store)

Parts not needed: monitor, speakers, mouse, keyboard, and OS.

Components list:

Case: Nzxt Phantom II - 112.00
Cpu: I5-2500k - 180
Mobo: Gigabyte GA-Z68XP-UD3 LGA 1155 Z68 ATX 155.00
Psu: Corsair Gaming Series 800 Watt High Performance ATX 140.00
HD: Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 500GB 7,200RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" 45.00
Optical: not concerned. approximately 20.00
Ram: Patriot Viper Xtreme Series 4GB DDR3-1600 or Patriot Viper II Sector 5 Series Patriot Viper II DDR3-1600 each 50.00

GPU: either 2x GTX 460's 1gb or x2 Ati 6850 1gb. Id prefer 460's however im finding them increasingly difficult to find on the market.
$320.00-340.00

Do you think this is suitable for high settings on the games mentioned, and holdup for some time?
My other alternative would be a single GTX 570 and at a later date, buy a second one. As is theyre roughly 300.00-320.00

Is the dual card set-up better or the single 570. Im looking for instant gratification here. If the single 570 pulls as much weight as X2 460's or 6850'S ill take it.
Otherwise dual cards are what id go for.

Total around 1050.00 w/o cooling, tax and MIR

The other component that im most unsure of, is the heatsink/cpu cooling, I was looking at the Noctua Dh-14,
but it isnt available at microcenter, and i was actually hoping for something more around 50-70 to wrap up the build that i old find in store that is community approved and recommended.

Thoughts?

 

[Slente]

Hi HeyYo!

I got a computer that looks pretty much like yours.
I got 2x ATI 6850 in Crossfire.

As i surfed on the internet i learned that Crossfire is better than SLI. But nVidia makes the best GPU's.

I got some result from Passmark.com, and i ran my own computer and scored 2200 with the Crossfire on.

In my opinion i would take the 2x ATI 6850 because you can set more monitors together. Like how many slots you got in the GPU's. (In this case it's about 8 or so)
With the SLI you can only have 2 monitors connected. (You can look more at the advantage and disadvantage here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AMD_CrossFireX)

Olso about the price, the ATI is best valued for the perfomence contra price.

(Sorry for my bad english, and please correct any mistakes i have told, if that's so!)

Slente

 

[Theocnoob]

Many comments!

You may want to wait until Bulldozer comes out (maybe ten days?) because it may offer a better option of CPU/board for the same money.

2 cards are faster in a lot of cases when things work properly. For example, 2 GTX460s are almost as fast as 1 580 for less $. BUT, that's if things work properly. What if your game stutters with 2 cards? What if the drivers only support 1 card for that game? Etc etc.

The potential for performance on, say, 2 6950s is WAAY higher than on 1 GTX 570, but so is the potential for a headache.

I have a 2600K and a GTX580 and ran the BF3 beta very smoothly.
I have no concerns about being able to run Skyrim smoothly. I won't be getting Rage however as all the reviews are damning and my friend who got it said absolutely horrible things about it . I wanted it too.

By the way what is an NZXT Phantom 2? I was not aware of a second version of this case.

 

[HeyYo]

http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0357935

Sorry on the case its not the model II, my mistake. Price markdown is no longer there either :/

I have never installed a crossfire or sli setup, do you think avoiding the headache will be difficult, or is sort of a roll of the dice on that, depending on game support and gpu's just not clicking together? Also would microstuttering be something your hinted at too?

 

[HeyYo]

You may want to wait until Bulldozer comes out (maybe ten days?) because it may offer a better option of CPU/board for the same money.

I will most likely be purchasing this a week from friday, so ill definitely look into the Bulldozer.

 

[snowbrd]

to the forum!
I would suggest you wait atleast 2 weeks as bulldozer is going to drive competition up and drive prices down. Get you the most bang for your buck. Btw there is a edit post in the bottom right corner for future reference so you don't double triple etc post.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811146067
Newegg is having a sale so I suggest you jump on it and grab it if you really want it.

 

[HeyYo]

Thanks much
Ive been hearing alot of talking up on the bulldozers, but which do you think will actually be better for raw gaming? I wont be doing much of anything else that will be processor intensive. Either way, the I5, and bulldozer will be priced great for my budget, just not sure if i should go with tried and tested or the new very promising tech

 

[Theocnoob]

Thanks much
Ive been hearing alot of talking up on the bulldozers, but which do you think will actually be better for raw gaming? I wont be doing much of anything else that will be processor intensive. Either way, the I5, and bulldozer will be priced great for my budget, just not sure if i should go with tried and tested or the new very promising tech

Nobody here has used a Bulldozer chip.
Wait you must.