First Time Building

C

CamelCalvery

New Member
So I'm trying to build a desktop that will be able to play Skyrim on High (or Ultra) settings within a budget of around $1000. This is what I have so far:

Motherboard:ASUS P8P67 LE (REV 3.0) LGA 1155 Intel P67 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard - $132.99 (Free Shipping)
CPU: Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 3000 BX80623I52500K - $214.99 (Free Shipping)
GPU: GIGABYTE GV-R695OC-1GD Radeon HD 6950 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card - $249.99 (Free Shipping)
RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL - $44.99 (Free Shipping)
HDD: Seagate Barracuda ST31000524AS 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive - $149.99 (Free Shipping)
PSU: Rosewill HIVE Series HIVE-650 650W Continuous @40°C, 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified, Modular Design, Single +12V Rail, ATX12V v2.31/EPS12V v2.92, SLI Ready, CrossFire Ready, Active-PFC Power Supply - $79.99 (Free Shipping)
Optical Drive: ASUS 24X DVD Burner - Bulk 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 12X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM Black SATA Model DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS - OEM - $17.99 (Freeish Shipping)
Case: COOLER MASTER Storm Scout SGC-2000-KKN1-GP Black Steel / Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - $69.99 (Free Shipping)
OS: Windows 7 Professional - Free (Student Deal)
TOTAL: $960.92 (+ Tax)

Now I have a few questions:
1. Figuring out the compatibility of the motherboard is confusing, do you think the motherboard I have will work well with all the other parts I'm getting?
2. I can never figure out the Wattage for the PSU. I'm planning on the 650W one, but out of pure guessing. Is there a way to easily figure out what PSU to get?
3. My total cost is under $1000 right now, but I still have to buy various periphrials after this (monitor, mouse, keyboard, speakers, etc.) so is there anything I can do where I can get cheaper parts but still be able to run Skyrim on High (hopefully Ultra) settings?
4. Do you see anything glaringly wrong in this setup? I'm new to building computers so please tell me if I'm doing it wrong!

Any help would be greatly appretiated, thanks.
 
I would go for the 2GB model of 6950. Some games are starting to use it, so it would be worth it to have it.

For the PSU, don't get that one. Terrible quality. General rule of thumb is corsair, antec, silverstone, seasonic, pc power and cooling, or xfx. I would recommend this one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139020

I do not know much about motherboards, so I'll leave that to another member. Everything else looks good.
 
I've heard that memory size of GPUs is a marketing trick as memory is very cheap and has nothing to do with the quality. That's why, especially with my budget, that I feel like it's best to stick with the cheaper 1 GB version. Also the bench-marking charts I've seen show pretty minimal improvement from the 1 GB version to the 2 GB version. Not really worth it to me.
 
the memory isnt a performance thing. the memory supports higher AA settings and higher resolutions. You will see better performance in game from a 2Gb card.
 
wolfeking said:
the memory isnt a performance thing. the memory supports higher AA settings and higher resolutions. You will see better performance in game from a 2Gb card.
Click to expand...

Not exactly.

If you have the same card (6950 for example) and it plays CS:S at 200fps on the 1gb card, you'll get 200fps on the 2gb card as well. The cards are the same, performance is the same, memory limit is higher. It won't bet you extra performance but it means that in situations where you need that extra VRAM you won't lose performance.
 
I dont count performance on FPS. To be better performance is running higher resolutions, Higher AA, just higher settings overall. I dont see the point of FPS over 60, so its not performance, its showboating. A 2Gb card has the memory to run these settings. Not so much with a 1Gb card.
 
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