$1000 Gaming PC: Crossfire and RAID 0 for top-notch performance!

This Build features two Radeon HD 5770 in Crossfire. Note that they will look slightly different, this picture is to give you an idea of what to expect.

Upcoming Updates

Last week, I updated the $400 Gaming PC, the $500 Gaming PC and the $600 Gaming Computer. Earlier this week, I updated the $700 Gaming Computer as well as the $850 Gaming Computer.

Today I’m updating the $1000 Gaming PC and tomorrow I’ll be updating the $1250 Gaming Build.

Expect updates to the more expensive ($1500+) Gaming Builds starting in the second week of August, with updates to our Best Of type of articles next week.

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This version compared to the previous version of the $1000 Gaming Build:

1. The Video card was upgraded from a Radeon HD 5850 1GB to two HIS Radeon HD 5770 in Crossfire. With the price of the Radeon HD 5770 now down to $140 per card, for $280 you get the performance of a $380 Radeon HD 5870 for $100 less. Compared to the previous $300 Radeon HD 5850 in this build, this represents a nice performance upgrade at a slightly lower cost.
2. The Motherboard was changed from a GIGABYTE GA-P55A-UD3 LGA1156 SATA6Gb/s USB3.0 Crossfire 8x/8x to an ASUS Maximus III GENE LGA 1156 P55 Micro ATX. Why?
   • Well, first of all because the USB 3.0 and SATA 6.0Gb/s on the Gigabyte board only works with a single video card and this build will use two cards in Crossfire.
   • Then, you should know that the ASUS board features nothing short of five fan headers, have dedicated buttons on the back for a CMOS reset for example (very useful for overclocking), has an extensive power delivery circuit, capable of handling heavy overclocking.
   • Of course, it features Crossfire support, as well as SLI support.
   • Finally, all of this is packed in a Micro ATX board, allowing you to use it in a smaller case if you wish to.
3. The Hard Drive was upgraded, performance and capacity wise, from a Western Digital 750GB Black Caviar to two Samsung F3 500GB in RAID 0 (Total Capacity: 1TB), simply because the Samsung model performs better to begin with, no to mention the major performance gain when you put two in RAID 0!
4. The Power Supply was upgraded from an Antec 550W Modular to a Seasonic 620W 80 PLUS Bronze Modular. With two Radeon HD 5770 in Crossfire, the power requirements of this build went up, however with this more efficient power supply, you won’t see much of a difference in your power bill, not to mention that it will be more quiet and reliable.
5. The Case was downgraded from an Antec Nine Hundred Two to an Antec Three Hundred Illusion. Sure, the Nine Hundred Two might have a bigger fan on top, E-SATA on the front and a few more features that the Three Hundred Illusion doesn’t have, but in my opinion, they are hardly worth the extra $65 demanded for the Nine Hundred Two ($120) compared to the Three Hundred Illusion ($55). I personally prefer to use that $65 elsewhere to improve the performance when the Three Hundred Illusion does the job of “hosting” and cooling this build just fine. Besides, you can upgrade the case to the one of your choice if you want to.
6. The Sound Card was upgraded from the Realtek ALC888 sound card integrated on the GIGABYTE GA-P55A-UD3 motherboard to the SupremeFX X-Fi sound card integrated on the ASUS Maximus III GENE motherboard. No, this won’t bring much, if any performance boost, but the enhanced sound quality is a pro.
7. Other than that, the build is unchanged and now costs $1002 instead of $1011, a $9 decrease.

Is this the right type of PC for me?

If you’re looking for a PC to play video games, you’re at the right place. If this is not what you’re looking for, check out our other Computer Systems instead.

$1000 Gaming computer hardware parts recommendations, short version:

Explanation:

• In the left column, you have the component type, such as the Processor, Video Card, etc.
• In the middle column, you have the specific brand, model and a quick look at specifications for that part, as well as a link to buy it.
• In Bold, you’ll find my recommendations for the parts that you should buy in order to have the best overall performance while fitting the overall budget.
• In Italic, you’ll find the best possible upgrades if you have money to spare. These are the parts that offer better features or more performance, while still being relatively affordable in regard to the overall budget. In simple terms, if you want a more powerful video card, pick it from the list of recommended upgrades that are in Italic.
• In the right column, you’ll find the best price that I found after double-checking at various trustworthy online sellers such as Amazon.com, NewEgg.com, Buy.com and others.
• If upgrades just don’t cut it, visit the Gaming PCs page, where you’ll find our other gaming computer custom build designs.
• Note that all upgrades are compatible with the rest of the system, as well as other upgrades, meaning that you can choose one or many upgrades without a problem. Of course, please carefully read any note(s) that I may leave to clarify and avoid some possible issues.

Required components:

Components	Make, Model and Specifications	Price
CPU/Processor	Intel Core i5-750 2.66GHz LGA1156 95W Quad-Core Intel Core i5-760 2.8GHz LGA1156 95W Quad-Core Intel Core i7-870 2.93GHz LGA1156 95W Quad-Core HT Intel Core i7-875K 2.93GHz LGA1156 Quad-Core HT Unlocked	$195 $210 $290 $330
Motherboard	ASUS Maximus III GENE LGA 1156 P55 Micro ATX ASUS P7P55D PRO LGA 1156 P55 GIGABYTE GA-P55A-UD4P LGA1156 P55 SATA6Gb/s USB3.0 ATX ASUS Maximus III Formula LGA1156 P55 ATX w/ Sound Card	$150 $170 $185 $230
RAM	G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3 1600 CAS 9 G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3 1600 CAS 7 1.35V CORSAIR XMS 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3 2000MHz 1.65V G.SKILL 8GB (4 x 2GB) DDR3 1600MHz	$100 $105 $120 $200
Video Card	Two HIS Radeon HD 5770 1GB in Crossfire Two GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 460 1GB OC Edition in SLI	$280 $460
Hard Drive	Two Samsung F3 500GB SATA II 3.0Gb/s in RAID 0 for 1TB Two Samsung F3 1TB SATA II 3.0Gb/s in RAID 0 for 2TB	$104 $140
Optical Drive	LITE-ON Black 24X SATA CD/DVD Burner LITE-ON 4X Blu-ray Reader SATA LG 10X Blu-ray Burner SATA	$20 $60 $110
Power Supply	SeaSonic M12II 620W 80PLUS BRONZE Certified Modular SeaSonic S12D 850W 80PLUS SILVER Certified	$90 $120
Case	Antec Three Hundred Illusion NZXT Apollo NP Orange Thermaltake Soprano RS LIAN LI Lancool PC-K58 RAIDMAX AZTEC ATX-619WO Orange COOLER MASTER Storm Scout SGC-2000-KKN1-GP LIAN LI Lancool PC-K56W COOLER MASTER HAF 922 LIAN LI Lancool PC-K62 LIAN LI PC-7BYCF Antec Nine Hundred Antec Nine Hundred Two	$55 $70 $70 $50 $70 $80 $90 $90 $100 $90 $100 $120
Cooling	Intel CPU Stock Cooler included with CPU COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus 120mm CPU Cooler ARCTIC COOLING MX-2 Thermal Compound CORSAIR All-in-One Water-Cooling CPU Cooler Rosewill RFX-120 Adjustable 120mm Case Fan	Free $25 $8 $75 $8
Sound	7.1 Surround SupremeFX X-Fi sound card: Integrated Creative Sound Blaster Audigy SE 7.1 24-bit PCI	Free $35
Network	Ethernet RJ-45 10/100/1000 Mbps: Integrated on the motherboard	Free
Total price	Not Including OS, Shipping nor handling. Within -/+ 5% of Budget	$1002

Accessories:

Accessories	Make, Model and Specifications	Price
Headphone	Rosewill RH-40C 3.5mm Circumaural SONIC HP-259 3.5mm Circumaural PLANTRONICS .Audio 355 3.5mm Circumaural SENNHEISER PC31 Dual 3.5mm Supra-aural KOSS SB45 3.5mm Circumaural Logitech G330 3.5mm/ USB Circumaural ABS AZ1 Circumaural USB SENNHEISER PC151 3.5mm Binaural	$7 $8 $20 $28 $30 $43 $50 $50
Speakers	Logitech X-140 5 watts 2.0 Creative Inspire T3130 15 Watts 2.1 Logitech X-540 70 watts 5.1	$27 $50 $89
Monitor	ASUS VH226H 21.5″ 2ms Full HD 1080P 1920 x 1080 Two ASUS VH226H 21.5″ 2ms Full HD 1080P 1920 x 1080 Three ASUS VH226H 21.5″ 2ms Full HD 1080P 1920 x 1080	$180 $360 $540

Computer Builds FAQs:

I often get questions such as:

• Who are you to tell me which parts to choose?
• Can you suggest me a step by step guide to build a computer?
• Why should I build a PC instead of buying one in a store?
• And many more…

You will find the answers to all of these questions and more in this article: FAQ: How to Build Your Own Computer

Also, if this is your first build, here are 10 Quick Tips for 1st Time Builders to get you started.

About Gaming PCs:

Gaming Computers are all about playing video games. Every year, new video games that pushes the boundaries of visual effects are released and demand more and more power from your computer to run. Being so powerful to handle cutting-edge video games, they are also very good all-around computers, capable of handling photo/video edition, web development, High Definition content playback and much more.

This is why our Gaming Builds Designs focus both on current performance for today’s games, as well as being ready to upgrade, to be ready to handle future games. For Gaming Builds Designs, a big portion of the budget goes to the Video Card and the Processor to ensure high performance in video games, as well as a solid power supply with a case with good cooling abilities, to ensure reliability.

Upgrades will usually focus on the processor and video card for enhanced performance, as well as on the power supply and cooling, to enhance overclocking capabilities. You may choose to upgrade the hard drive for more capacity, or change the case to get one that matches your personal preferences, such as look, cooling, size, etc.

$1000 Gaming Computer Hardware parts recommendations, detailed version:

Motherboard:

ASUS Maximus III GENE LGA 1156 P55 Micro ATX

This motherboard is filled with great features. On the back, it features eight USB 2.0 ports, FireWire, E-SATA, S/PDIF Out via Optical, one PS/2, Gigabit LAN and 7.1 Surround audio via the SupremeFX X-Fi sound card. Crossfire and SLI is supported, with two PCI-Express 2.0 16x slots running at 8x/8x (8x/8x offering similar performance to 16x/16x, even with the high-end Geforce GTX 480, see below). This motherboard supports/is compatible with everything in this system, including the two Radeon HD 5770 in Crossfire of course.

Performance difference between 16x/16x vs 8x/8x PCI-Express slots:

Wait, what do I hear? You NEED 16x/16x PCI-Express slots or the performance will crumble? Let me tell you this: That’s rubbish. Here’s an excellent quote that resumes the situation:

“NVIDIA’s GeForce GTX 480 is a very fast graphics processor. To maintain its speeds, it would hypothetically require high system bandwidth, leading one to think that lesser PCI-Express configurations would cripple it.

The theory couldn’t be more wrong, as seen by the mere 2% performance loss going from x16 to x8 (which reduces bandwidth by 50%). To cite results from one of the latest and resource-heavy games in our bench, Collin McRae DiRT 2, that translates into something like 63.2 FPS vs. 62.1 FPS, at 2560 x 1600 pixels resolution – barely a difference.“ More information on it at techPowerUp.

As you can see, unless you use a dual-GPU card (GTX 295 or Radeon HD 5970), 8x/8x is just fine, unless losing 1.1FPS will kill you…

Ports:

Anyway, back to the motherboard: On the board itself, you have two PCI-Express 2.0 16X (Single at 16x, Crossfire or SLI 8x/8x, in Red), one PCI-Express 4X and one PCI slot, along with seven SATA 3.0Gb/s ports. Note that this motherboard does not feature an IDE port, which are getting rare on mainstream/high-end motherboards.

Best of all? This board is based on the Micro ATX form factor, allowing it to fit in smaller cases if you want to build a small LAN machine without sacrificing performance.

Note that it comes with nothing short of six SATA cables, so no need to buy any for the DVD Burner and the two hard drives.

Recommended upgrades:

1. Reliable, great overclocking motherboard, Crossfire/SLI support are a few words that I can use to describe the ASUS P7P55D PRO LGA 1156 P55 It doesn’t have any particular outstanding feature, instead it’s a good all-around motherboard, capable of doing what you want, whether that’s overclocking, two video cards in SLI or Crossfire or just a normal stock reliable machine.
2. Similar to my recommendation, the GIGABYTE GA-P55A-UD4P LGA1156 P55 SATA6Gb/s USB3.0 ATX throws in SLI support, even more ports in the back, such as FireWire, includes Dual-LAN and keeps the USB 3.0/SATA 6.0Gb/s support, as long as you don’t use Crossfire or SLI that is.
3. The ASUS Maximus III Formula LGA1156 P55 ATX w/ Sound Card is one mad motherboard. Optimized for overclocking, it includes a dedicated sound card and supports nothing short of ten SATA devices. Considered by many, including myself, as the best motherboard for overclocking on the LGA 1156 socket.

CPU:

Intel Core i5-750 Lynnfield 2.66GHz 8MB L3 LGA1156 95W Quad-Core

In the same price range, AMD offers the Phenom II X4 965BE. I went with the Core i5-750 for the following reasons:

1. The Core i5-750 outperforms the X4 965 in three out of four gaming benchmarks on Anandtech, with an average of 92.9 FPS for the Core i5 750 and an average of 87.1 FPS for the X4 965.
2. Unlike the AMD X4 965, you can upgrade the Core i5 750 to a faster CPU on the same socket without a problem.
3. The Core i5 750 (2.66GHz) has a lot more overclocking potential than the nearly maxed-out Phenom II X4 965 (3.4GHz).

Recommended upgrades (Compared to the Intel Core i5-750 main recommendation):

1. Intel Core i5-760 Lynnfield 2.8GHz 8MB L3 LGA1156 95W Quad-Core – For a mere $15 more, you can an additional 133MHz, along with an higher multiplier, if you want to overclock.
2. Intel Core i7-870 Lynnfield 2.93GHz 8MB L3 LGA1156 95W Quad-Core w/ HT – Here you get 266MHz more, along with Hyper-Threading, allowing this CPU to handle up to 8 threads. While HT brings no performance advantage to gaming, it’s a big bonus if you do any audio/photo/video editing or work with highly demanding programs.
3. Intel Core i7-875K 2.93GHz 8MB L3 LGA1156 95W Quad-Core w/ HT Unlocked – Same as the Core i7-860, except for one big advantage: The Core i7-875K comes with an unlocked multiplier, allowing you to easily overclock it without stressing your motherboard and RAM. Note that the i7-875K does not includes a CPU Cooler, you need to buy one.
4. For additional options, check out our guide to The Best CPUs For Your Money. Make sure to double-check compatibility with sockets, chipsets and memory if you pick another CPU. You can also leave a comment to ask me

Video Card:

Two HIS Radeon HD 5770 1GB in Crossfire

Overtaking my previous recommendation for this build, the Radeon HD 5850, the two Radeon HD 5770 setup is now possible due to their lower price of $140 per card, meaning that for $280 you get the performance of a $380 Radeon HD 5870 for $100 less. Compared to the previous $300 Radeon HD 5850 in this build, this represents a nice performance upgrade at a slightly lower cost.

For more information on the performance that you can expect:
Take a look at the following benchmarks:
From LegitReviews, for a comparison to many cards:

1. Batman: Arkham Asylum
2. Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood
3. Need For Speed: Shift‎
4. Resident Evil 5
5. Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X.

From TweakTown, for a comparison to the previously recommended Radeon HD 5850:

1. World in Conflict
2. Crysis Warhead
3. Far Cry 2
4. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. – Clear Sky
5. Left 4 Dead

With their new lower prices, you can expect this dual Radeon HD 5770 Crossfire setup to take the $280-$300 price point when I update The Best Video Cards For Your Money article next week.

This setup is capable of handling pretty much any game at a resolution of 1920 x 1080 with high visual quality, if not even 3840 x 1080 in most cases. (Two monitors side by side with Eyefinity.)

Finally, it is DirectX 11 compliant, HDCP Ready and will handle Blu-Ray and other 1080p content playback, with audio over HDMI as well.

Recommended upgrades:

1. Two GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 460 1GB OC Edition in SLI – This makes for one heck of a powerful setup: Two GTX 460 in SLI will outperform a GTX 480, the fastest single-GPU video card on the market, without a problem, performing in the same class as the fastest video card on the planet, the dual-gpu Radeon HD 5970. This is what I’d get if you really want to future-proof and/or if you want three monitors side by side with Nvidia’s Vision Surround, similar to AMD’s Eyefinity technology.
2. Other, more powerful options are available in our guide to The Best Video Cards For Your Money. Make sure to consider power requirements and the length of a video card if you decide to go with a different card. Also very important: A very powerful video card will be useless in a low-end Gaming PC, as you want to balance the components to avoid having your CPU bottleneck your video card for example.

RAM:

G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3 1600 CAS 9

4GB of RAM is pretty much mandatory to handle the latest video games along with Windows and background background such as your anti-virus, web browser, music/video player, etc.

Considering the price of RAM these days and the ever-expending memory use of games and programs, 4GB of high-speed DDR3 memory is a no-brainer.

I went with G.Skill for their high reliability and compatibility with the majority of motherboards. I chose these particular sticks due to their low price and regular 1.5V requirement for DDR3 1600MHz frequency.

Recommended upgrades

1. If you want a kit that has lower latencies and needs only 1.35V to run at 1600MHz, take a look at the G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3 1600 CAS 7 1.35V memory kit.
2. CORSAIR XMS 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3 2000MHz 9-9-9-24 1.65V – If you intend to overclock, this kit of RAM will give you more headroom to breath, preventing your RAM from being the limiting factor in your overclocking and resulting in more performance from the higher RAM frequency. Of course, if you get an unlocked CPU, with which the overclocking can easily by done by raising the CPU multiplier, which doesn’t affect the RAM at all, then you can stick with DDR3 1600MHz. Then again, for only $20 more, this kit gives you the flexibility of raising the bus speed to overclock.
3. G.SKILL 8GB (4 x 2GB) DDR3 1600MHz – Future-proof your system from ever increasing software and game memory usage by upgrading to 8GB. Note that if you intend to overclock, you’re better off sticking to two sticks of 2GB for the best overclocking results, as more sticks/GB puts additional stress on the CPU.

Hard Drive:

Two Samsung F3 500GB SATA 3.0Gb/s in RAID 0, Total Capacity: 1TB

In this Tom’s Hardware hard drive article, the SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ (The 1TB version) finishes on top of all transfer rates benchmarks, even ahead of what used to be my recommendation for high-end builds, the Western Digital Caviar Black. Now, guess what happens if you take two of the 500GB version of this drive and put them in RAID 0 (Easily done via the BIOS)? You get a setup that’s nearly twice as fast compared to the F3 HD103SJ 1TB edition, for only $32 more, with also a 1TB capacity.

Considering that the hard drive is often the bottleneck in a system and that no ones likes waiting for their game to load, this is a simple and relatively inexpensive upgrade compared to a single drive, like the Western Digital Caviar Black 640GB featured in the previous version of this build.

Recommended upgrades:

1. Two Samsung F3 1TB SATA II 3.0Gb/s in RAID 0, Total Capacity: 2TB – Same as above, 300+MB/s transfer rates, except that you get a 2TB storage capacity this time.
2. Interested in SSDs (Solid State Drives), or want a different drive? I invite you to take a look to our guide to the Best Hard Drives & Best SSDs For Your Money.

Optical Drive:

LITE-ON Black 24X SATA CD/DVD Burner

This drive is able to read and burn CDs and DVDs. Silent, compatible with all major formats including DVD-RAM.

Also, seeing as DVD Burners are often go out of stock lately, here are a two alternatives that you can use to replace it. All are SATA based.

1. LITE-ON Black 24X SATA Black CD/DVD Writer
2. HP Black 24X SATA 24X CD/DVD Writer – Retail

Upgrades:

If you’d like to watch BluRay movies or TV shows, this LITE-ON 4X Blu-ray Reader SATA will do the job. However, note that it can only READ CDs, DVDs and Bluray disks, not burn any of them.

If you want the ability to burn disks as well, the LG 10X Blu-ray Burner SATA is what you want.

Regarding Blu-Ray playback:

As far as I know, you still require a specific software to playback Blu-Ray disks on a PC. Based on various reviews and feedback on various forums, PowerDVD 9 Ultra is the software that I recommend to you. It is fully compatible with Windows 7 and shouldn’t give you any problems.

Case:

Antec Three Hundred Illusion 3x 120mm + 1 x 140mm

For only $55, this is one great deal from Antec:

• Cooling wise, this case includes three 120mm and one 140mm case fans, insuring proper cooling for your Gaming PC. I put money aside in the budget to add one Rosewill RFX-120 Adjustable 120mm Case Fan to the side panel in order to improve airflow to your video cards in Crossfire.

Features wise, you get:

1. A solid steel case. No flimsy panel here.
2. Support for up to six hard drives
3. Dust filters.
4. 2x USB, Audio out, MIC in at the top

Recommended upgrades:

• Here are more great alternatives that are worth taking a look at:
  • NZXT Apollo NP Orange
  • Thermaltake Soprano RS
  • LIAN LI Lancool PC-K58
  • RAIDMAX AZTEC ATX-619WO Orange
  • COOLER MASTER Storm Scout SGC-2000-KKN1-GP
  • LIAN LI Lancool PC-K56W
  • COOLER MASTER HAF 922
  • LIAN LI Lancool PC-K62
  • LIAN LI PC-7BYCF
  • Antec Nine Hundred
  • Antec Nine Hundred Two
• If you want a different case, take a look at the following article: Find Out the 88 Best Computer Cases For Your Money.

Power Supply:

SeaSonic M12II 620W 80PLUS BRONZE Certified Modular

This power supply is capable of delivering up to 620W, not that should rely on this information only as I often point in posts such as Warning: 6 Surefire Ways of Blowing Up Your Computer Due to an Inadequate Power Supply, but more importantly 48A on the 12V line, the most important factor when it comes to choosing a power supply for a gaming computer.

Best of all, it is 80 PLUS Bronze certified, meaning that it’s always at least 82% efficient at 20% and 100% and 85% efficient at 50% load, resulting in less heat, more silence and a lower electricity bill for you, compared to a less efficient power supply.

Power Consumption:

According to the eXtreme Power Supply Calculator, it is estimated that this system will consume at load (peak usage):

• 386W with the recommended Intel Core i5 750 95W (Or any CPU Upgrade), the two Radeon HD 5770, the hard drives in RAID 0 and rest of this build without upgrades.
• 423W with an Intel Core i7 875K overclocked to 3600MHz 1.4V, two Radeon HD 5770 in Crossfire and two hard drives in RAID
• 519W with an Intel Core i7 875K overclocked to 3600MHz 1.4V, four sticks of RAM, two hard drives in RAID and two Geforce GTX 460 in SLI. This is the worse case scenario.

The power supply will have no problem handling the base recommended setup with or without overclocking. However, for the upgrade to the Geforce GTX 460 SLI setup AND indeed to overclock your video cards , upgrading the power supply is a must to ensure a properly working PC that is stable and that will last.

Recommended upgrades:

1. SeaSonic S12D 850W 80PLUS SILVER Certified – Recommended to be future-proof, if you do consider upgrading to a SLI setup now or at one point, but also want to overclock to your heart’s desire, something that would bring power consumption to 600W, if not even 700W+, you’ll want to pick a solid power supply. On top of delivering up to 850W, this unit is certified 80PLUS Silver, resulting in less heat, more silence and a lower electricity bill for you, compared to a less efficient power supply.
2. If you’re not sure and need help to pick the right power supply, set some time aside and read Warning: 6 Surefire Ways of Blowing Up Your Computer Due to an Inadequate Power Supply.

Cooling: Stock cooling

To save on costs, I recommend using the cooler included with the CPU. While there are better coolers, the one that is included is good enough to handle the cpu under normal operation. The case includes cooling fans as well to help you keep your system cool.

However, there are two reasons why you may choose to upgrade your cooling system:

1. To keep your computer components cooler, which in return extend their lifespan and allows you to overclock to higher speed.
2. To keep your system silent, as the stock cooling can get noisy at times, especially during prolonged gaming sessions.

Alternatives:

1. CPU Cooler: If you decide to give overclocking and/or unlocking cores, I cannot stress enough the importance of a good cooler.The COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus 120mm CPU Cooler offers the best value regarding performance for the price.
2. Thermal Compound: Use the ARCTIC COOLING MX-2 Thermal Compound either with the stock cooler or better, with the upgraded CPU cooler to lower your CPU temperatures further more. For $8, this is a wise investment.
3. Case cooling: I put money aside in the budget to add one Rosewill RFX-120 Adjustable 120mm Case Fan to the side panel in order to improve airflow to your video cards in Crossfire. Of course, feel free to opt for another 120mm case fan if you prefer to.

Sound Card: SupremeFX X-Fi: Integrated on the motherboard

Integrated with the motherboard, this sound card will handle many different sound setups, including headphones, a microphone and more.

Note that the ASUS Maximus III Formula motherboard upgrade includes a dedicated sound card.

Recommended upgrade:

For $35, you can get the Creative Sound Blaster Audigy SE 7.1 24-bit PCI, which will definitely provide a nice boost in audio quality compared to regular integrated sound. However, the SupremeFX X-Fi integrated on the recommended motherboard will do just fine, consider this card if the motherboard you pick has “regular” integrated sound.

Network: Ethernet RJ-45 10/100/1000 Mbps LAN: Integrated on the motherboard

Integrated with the motherboard, this network adapter will allow you to access your local network and Internet.

Accessories:

Headphones – With a Microphone:

Headphones, with a microphones, are a must for many games, especially First Person Shooters (FPS), where a lack of team communication can break a team. However, I do realize that we all have different tastes when it comes to headphones, as in which size is comfortable, which brand sounds the best, etc. This is why I found eight great pair of headphones, with prices ranging from $7 to $50, for you to choose from:

1. Rosewill RH-40C 3.5mm Circumaural
2. SONIC HP-259 3.5mm Circumaural
3. PLANTRONICS .Audio 355 3.5mm Circumaural
4. SENNHEISER PC31 Dual 3.5mm Supra-aural
5. KOSS SB45 3.5mm Circumaural
6. Logitech G330 3.5mm/ USB Circumaural
7. ABS AZ1 Circumaural USB
8. SENNHEISER PC151 3.5mm Binaural

Speakers:

If all you want is a pair of decent, inexpensive speakers, the Logitech X-140 5 watts 2.0 at $27, or the Creative Inspire T3130 15 Watts 2.1 for $50 will do a great job.

Looking for higher quality speakers, without breaking the bank still? The Logitech X-540 70 watts 5.1 make for an excellent and affordable 5.1 setup.

Display:

For a long time, you’ve been asking for recommendations for a good monitor to play on. I’m listening to you and I’ve decided to include at the very least, one recommendation of a good monitor for every Gaming PC.

My recommendations are based on the following criteria:

• Price: I obviously won’t recommend a $1000 monitor if the budget for the PC is $1000.
• Resolution: The resolution of the monitor directly impacts the performance within video games, as higher resolution are more demanding on the system, resulting in lower FPS. Picking the right resolution for a particular system is crucial to achieve good performance.
• Response time: The lower the better, very important with video games.
• Brightness and Contrast Ratio: The higher, the better.

1. With its resolution of 1920 x 1080, the ASUS VH226H 21.5″ 2ms Full HD 1080P 1920 x 1080 gets my main recommendation for the $1000 Gaming PC, as it is, without upgrades. This Build will have no problem offering outstanding performance in all video games on this monitor, including Crysis It is also the best option to be able to play future video games (Think DirectX 11 games) without upgrading, or at least, not as soon.
2. With this $1000 Gaming PC as it is, you can consider two ASUS VH226H 21.5″ 2ms Full HD 1080P 1920 x 1080 side by side, for a resolution of 3840 x 1080 thanks to AMD’s Eyefinity technology and still play with the highest details in most games. If you want to play with two monitors but be future-proof, go with the dual Geforce GTX 460 in SLI upgrade.
3. If you decide to upgrade to two Geforce GTX 460 in SLI, you get three ASUS VH226H 21.5″ 2ms Full HD 1080P 1920 x 1080 side by side, for a resolution of 5760 x 1080 (or 3240 x 1920, depending on the orientation), thanks to Nvidia’s Surround Vision and still play with the highest details in most games.

Recommended operating systems:

The operating system cost, if there’s one, is not included in the total cost. The two reason for this are:

1. The budget only considers hardware.
2. You may be able re-use a previous license, go with an open-source OS such as Linux or , if you’re so inclined and are aware of what you’re doing, use torrents.

If you decide that you need a need OS, here are some recommendations:

Windows 7

Despite Linux gaining more and more support, Windows still is the platform of choice for compatibility at the moment. Considering that you’ll have 4GB of RAM or more, along with a dedicated video that also has memory (512MB or 1GB), you’ll need a 64-bit version, as 32-bit is limited to 4GB of memory for the entire system, which is not enough now, nor in the future if you decide to upgrade.

Windows 7 is by far better than Windows Vista, looks better, more functional, less annoying, consumes less resources and brings DirectX 11 to the table.

Three Available Versions:

1. Windows 7 Home Premium: The basic edition, with all the looks, most of the functionality and DirectX 11.
2. Windows 7 Professional: If you want the virtual XP mode, you’ll need at least the Professional edition. Also required if you want to backup to a network, using the built-in backup mode in Windows.
3. Windows 7 Ultimate: To help protect data on your PC and portable storage devices against loss or theft with BitLocker and to work and switch between 35 languages.

OEM vs Retail:

The OEM version allows you to only install it once on a computer. You cannot transfer the license to another computer in the future and you do not receive support from Microsoft. It’s the same type of license you get when you get Windows on a desktop or laptop that you buy from Dell, HP and such. It’s less expensive, but gives less flexibility. Ideal if you intend on keeping your computer for many years.

The Retail version is the full version, which allows you to transfer the license to another computer in the future and you can call Microsoft if you need any form of support. Ideal if you intend on upgrading/changing your computer down the road.

Other than that, you get the same features on both, only the license differs. The price between the two differs obviously.

OEM Versions:

1. Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit OEM – $100
2. Microsoft Windows 7 Professional 64-bit OEM – $140
3. Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit OEM – $175

Retail Versions:

1. Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium Retail – $180
2. Microsoft Windows 7 Professional Retail – $258
3. Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate Retail – $276

Linux

A lot of people these days boots more than one OS. Linux is a wonderful choice: powerful, cool, and cheap. Take your pick of distributions and have fun! For Fedora, Ubuntu, Debian, Slackware, and Mandrake, try Distrowatch.com, Cheapbytes.com, LinuxQuestions.org or one of the many others.

While Linux does not offer the wide compatibility of Windows with video games, gaming on Linux is still possible, through projects such as Wine, Cedega and Crossover. For more on the topic of Linux Gaming, I invite you to read this excellent article from AnandTech: Linux Gaming: Are we there yet?

What about Word processing, Excel and other Windows-based programs that you need? Linux being an open platform, there are many free alternatives that will answer your needs. For Word/Excel and such, try OpenOffice.

Cost: Free

Conclusion

What do you think of this updated version of the $1000 Gaming PC?

Let me know what you think by leaving a comment below.

Building this system?

Do you need a guide on how to build a computer or do you have some questions?

Consult our: FAQ: How to Build Your Own Computer

Also, if this is your first build, here are 10 Quick Tips for 1st Time Builders to get you started.

Finally, if your newly built computer won’t start, I invite you to read Help me: Why won’t my newly assembled PC start or boot?

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Category: Gaming PC