$2000 Gaming Computer: Made To Last!
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Radeon 5970: Say hello to the fastest video card on the planet!
This PC, in a few words:
Core i7 CPU, Radeon 5970, Triple-Channel DDR3 1600MHz RAM, 60GB SSD and 1TB of Storage.
Ready For Today’s and Tomorrow’s Games!
Configured with the fastest video card on the planet, the Radeon 5970, this $2000 Gaming Computer will easily handle today’s most demanding games, while being ready for future games.
Future Proof
With the quad-core Core i7 that supports up to 8 threads with Hyper-Threading and the possibility of upgrading to a Core i9 when it’s released in the future, along with 6GB of triple-channel RAM and an ultra-powerful video card, this PC was designed to last you a long time.
Can it play Crysis? Oh yeah!
Even at the highest settings on a 30″ monitor with a resolution of 2560 x 1600. No, I kid you not.
This gaming PC will smoothly run ANY game that you throw at it.
Definitely Ready For Overclocking For Even More Performance!
Did I mention that the case comes with not one, not two but three massive 230mm case fans (along with a 140mm fan as well) to keep this system cool and ready for overclocking?
Of course, this build includes a high-end air cooler, with high-quality thermal paste, to keep your CPU cool when you overclock it to your heart’s desires.
Basic Water-Cooling Available as an Upgrade
If you don’t mind spending a bit more to get superior cooler which is more silent, you have a water-cooling solution from Corsair available as an upgrade. Very simple, already filled and assembled, making it easy for beginners to install and safer (No need to worry about spilling liquid or leaks).
Keep reading to see the configuration that I recommend for this mind-blowing $1500 Gaming Computer. You can scroll down a bit if you want to get straight to my recommendations.
What if I never built a PC before?
Make the jump. Do not be afraid. Seriously, building a computer has never been more simple. While the whole process may look overwhelming, if you look at it one part at a time, you’ll realize how simple it really is.
There are countless resources on how to build a computer, which you can find by doing some research on Google.
Here are two guides on how to build a computer that I recommend:
This one, from DriverHeaven.net: http://bit.ly/4bhlwb
This one, from maximumpc.com: http://bit.ly/1TgR7X
If you take your time, are careful and follow guides/videos:
You’ll end up with a fully functional computer, at a lower cost than a comparable Dell PC, with the best parts that your money can buy, instead of “ok” parts chosen by Dell. The best part? You’ll be proud of a job well done 
What if I get stuck or need help?
Simply drop a comment at the end of this post and either a helpful member of this community or myself will answer you. You can also Contact me directly for some assistance. While I’m pretty busy, I’ll try my best to answer you quickly.
What if I’m outdated on what are the current best parts or simply don’t know which parts to pick?
If you don’t have the knowledge or time to choose your parts, simply stick to my recommendations below (In Bold) and you’ll be more than happy. That’s my promise.
Who are you to tell me which parts to choose?!
My name is Mathieu Bourgie, a computer expert with nearly a decade of experience in building the best computers for a given price. If you are so inclined, you can read opinions and comments about me and Hardware Revolution, left by my readers on the Testimonials page.
My goal?
Help you figure out what are the best parts for a particular type of computer at a given price, so that you get the best value, or as I like to put it: Get the Best Bang for your Buck
What if I don’t agree with your choices?
That is the great part of building your own computer(s), you can customize it to your taste, instead of getting what the manufacturer wants you to get with a pre-built computer. If you have the knowledge and/or the time to learn, you’re free to use my recommendations as a base and then to customize any build just how you want it.
$2000 Gaming Computer:
Hardware Parts Recommendations, Short Version:
In Bold, you’ll find my recommendations, which offers the best performance possible for a price that fits the overall budget. All parts have been verified by myself, so they are all compatible with each other and only parts proven to be reliable have been hand-picked by me.
What if I want more performance than this build has to offer?
No problem; Included in Italic are the best possible upgrades. They are still priced reasonably in regard to the budget and are all compatible with the rest of the system. (You’ll find the price difference over my recommendation in parentheses).
Now, don’t get me wrong, there are other upgrades, but I focused on telling you which ones offered the most value for your money
In simple terms, if you want a more powerful CPU or video card, simply pick it from the list of recommended upgrades that are in Italic.
If upgrades just don’t cut it, check out the other custom Gaming PCs builds that I offer.
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.
$2000 Gaming Computer:
Hardware Parts Recommendations, Detailed Version:
Motherboard: Foxconn FlamingBlade 1366 Intel X58
According to customer’s reviews on NewEgg, this is the most reliable X58 motherboard, topping even GIGABYTE or ASUS, while costing less. Talk about a sweet deal.
This is a full size ATX motherboard, featuring eight USB ports, one PS/2, FireWire , dual Gigabit LAN, two E-SATA and Optical S/PDIF Out.
Two PCI-Express 2.0 16X slots with Crossfire support, one PCI-Express 4x, one PCI-Express 1X and a PCI slot, six SATA ports and the usual IDE/Floppy port, etc.
LGA 1366 socket, Triple-Channel DDR3 RAM and Crossfire Ready, so it will last and be ready to upgrade in the future if you want.
CPU: Intel Core i7 920 2.66GHz Hyper-Threading & Turbo Boost
When we get to this level of performance, Intel clearly leads the way with its Core i5 and Core i7 processors. With a $2000 budget, the Core i7 920 is the way to go.
Featuring Hyper-Threading, which allows it to handle up to two threads per core (Up to 8 threads since it’s a quad-core processor) and Turbo Boost, which boost the frequency of one, two or three cores when the other core(s) are idle, which helps a lot in video games and programs that don’t take advantage of four cores.
What about AMD? Well, let me put it this way: In the majority of benchmarks, the 2.66GHz Core i7-920 comes ahead of AMD’s fastest processor, the Phenom II X4 965 3.4GHz. Yes, despite a 0.76GHz disadvantage!
Recommended upgrades:
- Intel Core i7 950 3.06GHz HT & Turbo Boost $570 (+$281). While the i7 950 is far from cheap, the extra 400MHz of frequency will definitely give you the edge in video games and other power-hungry applications.
Video Card: SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 5970 2GB
The Radeon 5970, AMD’s latest release is second to no other card, even Nvidia’s fastest card, the Geforce GTX 295. Heck, even TWO Geforce GTX 285 in SLI can’t keep up with the Radeon 5970, according to AnandTech. Simply put, the performance difference between the previous best cards and the Radeon 5970 is like day and night.
Unfortunately, like the Radeon 5850/5870, the Radeon 5970 has some availability problems due to the limited supplies, so here are a few links where you can/might find in stock.
My recommendation? Get it from Amazon, where you can place your order even it is out of stock and they will deliver it to you once it’s available. They won’t charge you until they ship it to you and that way, you won’t have to check the page all time in the hope of getting one, not to mention that you’ll be in line to get one already
On Amazon:
On NewEgg:
- SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 5970 2GB
- HIS Radeon HD 5970 2GB
- GIGABYTE Radeon HD 5970 2GB
- POWERCOLOR Radeon HD 5970 2GB
- DIAMOND Radeon HD 5970 2GB
Perfect for gaming at 1920 x 1200 (or 1920 x 1080 for 1080p) or even at 2560 x 1600.
RAM: G.SKILL 6GB (3 x 2GB) DDR3 1600 Triple Channel
6GB of RAM gives you a nice buffer to multitask and handle the latest video games along with Windows and background background such as your anti-virus, web broswer, music/video player, etc.
DDR2 vs DDR3 debate
Now that DDR3 prices are on-par with DDR2, the debate is pretty much over. DDR3 consumes less power, runs cooler and offers some performance advantages in some situations. Besides, Intel and AMD future platforms will use exclusively DDR3, so it no longer makes sense to buy DDR2 RAM for a new system.
Hard Drives:
- Western Digital 1TB Caviar Black SATA II 3.0Gb/s
- OCZ Vertex Series 2.5″ 60GB SATA II MLC SSD
- ICY DOCK 2.5″ to 3.5″ SSD Converter
For this build, we’ll get a combination of a regular mechanical hard drive with one TB (1024 GB) for storage purposes, along with a 60GB Solid State Drive (SSD) for the OS, main programs and video games.
The Hard Drive, a Western Digital 1TB Caviar Black SATA II 3.0Gb/s, offers 1TB (1000 GB) of storage, which is plenty enough to handle your video/music collection and all your games. This is the Black series from Western Digital, their best and fastest hard drives with more cache (32MB) and a 5 years warranty instead of 3.
The SSD is an OCZ Vertex Series 2.5″ 60GB SATA II MLC SSD. While SSDs are “only” 70%-160% faster regarding transfer rates, where they really shine is with seek latencies, that are in the 0.05-0.07ms compared to 7.00-9.00ms on a regular mechanical hard drive.
That alone will make your OS, programs and games load much faster than pretty much any mechanical hard drive could ever aspire to.
Note that due to the 2.5″ format factor of the SSD, you’ll need the ICY DOCK 2.5″ to 3.5″ SSD Converter to be able to install the SSD in a drive bay.
With this SSD and hard drive combination, you get the best from both worlds. You get the transfer rates and low latencies from the SSD, along with the storage capacity of the hard drive.
Optical Drive: Sony Optiarc Black 24X SATA DVD/CD Burner
Seeing as my previous recommendation is now getting poor feedback, it’s time for a new recommendation, of a higher quality. The Sony Optiarc is a 24X DVD/CD Burner, with a SATA interface.
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 often go out of stock, here are a few alternatives that you can use to replace the Sony one. All are SATA based and compatible.
- Sony Optiarc Black SATA CD/DVD Burner w/ LightScribe
- LITE-ON Black 24X SATA CD/DVD Burner
- HP Black 24X SATA CD/DVD Burner
Upgrades:
- LG Combo 8X Blu-ray Reader & 16X DVD±R Burner SATA $130 (+$98) If you want to watch Blu-Ray movies, burn CD and DVDs but do not care for Blu-Ray burning capabilities, this is the drive for you.
- LG 16X DVD & 8X Blu-Ray Burner SATA $180 (+$148) If you want a all in one Burner, capable of burning CDs, DVDs and Blu-Ray Disks, this is what you want.
Case: COOLER MASTER HAF 932
The Cooler Master HAF 932. This is a full-size case equipped with not one, two, but three massive 230mm fans. One in the front, one on top and one on the side and finally one 140mm case fan in the back, making this case perfect for cooling this powerful gaming PC.
With six 5.25″ expansion bays, five 3.5″ drive bays and the fact that this is a full-size case, you’ll have plenty of space to customize it, upgrade and install BIG 2 video cards if you wish to.
The front panel comes with four USB ports, one FireWire and one E-SATA, letting you plug whatever you need to.
Recommended alternatives/upgrades:
- Antec Twelve Hundred $150 (+$20) If you know or have seen the Antec 900, this is big brother. If you like the look the 900, but want more space and ventilation, this is the way to go.
Power Supply: Corsair 850-Watt Modular CF/SLI/80 PLUS Silver
Corsair are known for making some of the best, most reliable power supplies on the market. In order to power this system, have overhead for overclocking and to be ready for future upgrades, I recommend this 850W model.
Able to deliver nothing short of 70A on a single 12V line, this power supply is ready for SLI/Crossfire setups, for heavy overclocking and is also certified 80% PLUS Silver, making it a very efficient power supply that wastes less power, helping you reduce your electric bill.
Cooling: XIGMATEK Dark Knight-S1283V CPU Cooler
Cpu Cooler: I recommend the Intel cooler included with the CPU because it will the job for the majority of people and to keep costs down.
If you have any intention of overclocking, I cannot stress enough the importance of a good cooler. The XIGMATEK Dark Knight-S1283V CPU Cooler offers great value regarding performance for the price, being one the best heatsink at a great price.
Thermal Paste: While the heatsink includes some thermal paste, in order to optimize the cooling capabilities, I recommend getting the ARCTIC COOLING MX-2 Thermal Paste, which is, in my opinion, the best thermal paste available on the market.
An interesting property of this particular thermal paste is that it is non-conductive, meaning that if drop some around the socket or on the motherboard, it won’t short-circuit.
Upgrade:
If you want a more efficient solution, that is more silent, water-cooling is the way to go. The CORSAIR CWCH50-1 Water-Cooling CPU Cooler is a very simple, already filled and assembled water-cooling kit, making it easy for beginners to install and safer as you have no need to worry about spilling liquid or leaks in the loop.
Why water-cooling?
Water is much efficient at transfering heat than air is and water-cooling is much more silent than air-cooling on average. While usually water-cooling is complicated, expensive and somewhat risky, the is actually affordable, being only $25 more than the Xigmatek heatsink and brackets, while performing as well, if not even better, while being much more silent compared to air cooling.
Sound Card: Integrated 8 Channels Sound
Integrated with the motherboard, this sound card will handle many different sound setups, including headphones, a microphone and more. While integrated audio on a PC used to be absolutely horrible, it has gotten much better in the last few years, thus why I have no trouble recommending it.
Cost: Free – Integrated on the motherboard
Network: Dual 10/100/1000 Mbps LAN
Integrated with the motherboard, those dual network adapters will allow you to access your local network and Internet by using a Ethernet (RJ-45) cable.
Cost: Free – Integrated
Recommended operating systems:
The operating system cost, if there’s one, is not included in the total cost. The two reason for this are:
- The cost represents only hardware.
- You may re-use a previous license, go with an open-source OS such as Linux or use torrents.
Here are my recommendations if you need an operating system:
Windows 7
Despite Linux starting to support some games, Windows still is the platform of choice for the best performance at the moment. Considering that you’ll have 4GB of RAM and a 512MB Video Card, 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 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.
The retail version is now available for purchase, in three different versions:
- Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit $110. The basic edition, with all the looks, most of the functionality and DirectX 11.
- Microsoft Windows 7 Professional 64-bit $150. 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.
- Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit $190. 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.
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.
What about Word processing, Excel and other Windows-based programs that Iyou 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
Did you like this computer build? What you would do to improve the build or this article?
I’m always open to your suggestions and ideas to improve this blog, your blog.
If anything, I invite you to comment on this computer build, share your opinions, what you think about it, etc.
Building this system?
Contact me and let me know how it goes, send me your story, pictures and I’ll publish it on the blog, to share with and help bring confidence to others who are thinking of building a computer for the first time.
Did you enjoy this build? Support me and Hardware Revolution
For each article, I spend many hours of research and many hours of writing/editing and I generously offer it to you and everyone else for free. If you appreciate my work, you can help me cover my costs (Hosting, living, etc.) and support our community by making a donation.
How much should you donate?
I suggest $10 because if you think about it, a consultation for a custom computer like the one in this article, from an expert with a decade of experience like me would cost you $50, if not even more.
Have I mentioned all the time and money that I have saved you through this and all of the other articles available on Hardware Revolution?
Obviously, this is a suggestion. Donate what you can to support us. Thank you very much.
