Gaming Build, No Experience, $1500 Budget

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JoshuaStone

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Apr 7, 2013
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So I have been in need of a new computer for several years, but have tried to wait it out and use my smartphone and Xbox 360 until I could afford to invest in a new desktop. My old one was stolen from a break-in at a house I was renting back in 2009, while I was at work.

My main interest with this build is running the latest, most demanding games with the highest possible framerate at max or high settings, all within a $1500 budget. I would like for this build to be able to contend with games for the next few years, if that's reasonable. I'm unsure whether or not games will become much more demanding soon with the next generation of consoles bridging the gap between consoles and PC.

I'm not familiar to the term overclocking, but I am open to learning if it means greater performance. I also have plans of investing in a three monitor setup with eyefinity for racing sims, so I'd like that to be factored into the equation as well.

Can someone also elaborate on crossfire, and what that does for performance? I'm open to that idea as well

Can someone also recommend a monitor with a high response time, great quality and good contrast? I dabble in photo editting and I am very involved in pixel art, so getting really accurate color is important to me. If it fits within the $1500 budget with the PC, that would be fantastic, but if it would mean downgrading parts or performance to fit it into the budget, I can invest beyond the $1500 budget at a later time. Whatever monitor I do decide to get, I will buy three of.

I'm also unsure on whether or not I'll need an OS as of yet, so I don't want that factored in either...

Thank you to everyone who takes the time to read through this. I'm very unfamiliar in this sort of territory, but I read that buying prebuilt machines is the equivalent of throwing money away, and I also read that building your own is not as intimidating as it sounds and also the best way to learn. My father is great at doing PC repairs, so I'm sure if I get into any trouble building it, he can guide me through it.



Also,a quick edit: A blu-ray drive would be great, as I will probably be using this build for all of my media needs.
 
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Proximon

Proximon

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Apr 10, 2006
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You can't really build an eyefinity setup with three monitors included for $1500. You need to start with one fairly strong GPU and then upgrade later.

There is no one monitor that will give you great response time and excellent color. They are pretty much mutually exclusive.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($189.99 @ Microcenter)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.98 @ Outlet PC)
Motherboard: Asus P8Z77-V PRO/THUNDERBOLT ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($209.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair XMS3 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($61.49 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($67.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Samsung 840 Pro Series 256GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($214.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7950 3GB Video Card ($289.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Silverstone RV03B-W ATX Full Tower Case ($133.20 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: Corsair Professional Gold 750W 80 PLUS Gold Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($116.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224BB DVD/CD Writer ($17.98 @ Outlet PC)
Monitor: Asus VS247H-P 23.6" Monitor ($157.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $1490.57
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-04-07 16:36 EDT-0400)
 
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J

JoshuaStone

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Apr 7, 2013
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Right, the eyefinity setup with three monitors is a future goal for later in the year, I don't mean for that to be included in the initial build. Thank you for your help. What sort of framerates will I achieve based on that setup, on games like Crysis 3, Battlefield 3, IRacing and such on high-max settings? What are the advantages of crossfire vs. a single 7590?
 
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masterman467

masterman467

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Oct 17, 2012
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You kinda need 2 to run 3 screens.
This is what you would be going for in the long run.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($209.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($36.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Extreme4 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($134.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($62.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 670 2GB Video Card (2-Way SLI) ($379.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 670 2GB Video Card (2-Way SLI) ($379.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Cooler Master HAF 912 ATX Mid Tower Case ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12II 620W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($75.98 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Monitor: Asus VS247H-P 23.6" Monitor ($167.58 @ Newegg)
Monitor: Asus VS247H-P 23.6" Monitor ($167.58 @ Newegg)
Monitor: Asus VS247H-P 23.6" Monitor ($167.58 @ Newegg)
Total: $1943.64
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-04-07 17:56 EDT-0400)
-Forgot the HDD and im too lazy to redo it, its linked in the next one

This is what you should get now.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($209.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($36.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Extreme4 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($134.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($62.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($74.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 670 2GB Video Card ($379.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Cooler Master HAF 912 ATX Mid Tower Case ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12II 620W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($75.98 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Monitor: Asus VS247H-P 23.6" Monitor ($167.58 @ Newegg)
Total: $1303.48
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-04-07 18:00 EDT-0400)


That build is kinda horrible, sorry Proximon. Over priced MOBO, waste of money on the SSD. As most people don't restart there PC 35 times a day, there is no reason for it. No gain in games, only good thing is being able to delete 10gb steam games in seconds...
 
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masterman467

masterman467

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The one i posted with one screen? 60 fps no prob any settings.

battlefield%201920.png




More pixel pushing power. 2 GPU's are about 60-80% more powerful (You loose about 30% due to drivers and stuff) then one card. You cannot push 3 screens with one 7970 or 670 at good settings (7950's suck), but 2 should be able to almost max out Bf3 (Maybe low/no AA) on 3 screens.
 
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J

JoshuaStone

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Apr 7, 2013
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I may be able to go with your first suggestion + the HDD by next Thursday. I should be pulling in a $700+ paycheck, which may cover it completely.

Thank you for your help. Any more suggestions or advice will be welcome. The triple screen setup is only meant for racing sims, to have a better sense of immersion from a first person perspective in the cockpit... but I suppose if it works with other games and will run well, I might as well give those a shot as well. I'm assuming I can also use it to multitask on each monitor? Maybe have a movie on one, web browser on another? Would that be fairly easy to accomplish?
 
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Proximon

Proximon

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Apr 10, 2006
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I would not use 2GB GTX 670s for triple screen play. Get more video memory up front. 2GB is fine for the lower resolutions, but has been shown to limits some games at higher resolutions.

You will need a total of 4 6-pin PCI-E power connections for two GTX 670s or 2 7950s. You might get away with adapters on the 620W. Your power draw WOULD be under 600W, but get a 750W anyway.

Here is a review that will give you some idea about SLI GTX 670
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2013/01/14/asus_geforce_gtx_670_directcu_ii_4gb_sli_review/6

Some F1 benchmarks with 7950 crossfire
http://www.hardwareheaven.com/reviews/1394/pg7/his-radeon-hd-7950-crossfire-graphics-card-review-f1-2011.html
 
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manofchalk

manofchalk

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May 11, 2012
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You dont use an SSD yourself do you? :lol:
If you had one then you would know its impossible to go back to a HDD based system, their just too good!

Explanation of overclocking.
Your CPU, GPU and RAM all run at various frequencies which dictate how they perform. A 3570k runs at 3.4Ghz at stock, which means it can do 3400000000 calculations a second. If you overclock to say 4.2Ghz its doing 4200000000 calculations a second, to overclock is too literally make it run faster.
Free performance right?
No, not really. Overclocking increases the heat output of the chip and so requires greater amounts of cooling. You also need to increase the voltage to keep the chip stable, and higher amounts of voltage can degrade its lifespan.
That being said, as long as you dont want to push the CPU (assuming you go for 3570/3770k here) beyond say 4.5Ghz then you wont need a lot of cooling or voltage to keep it under control, and you still get a fairly decent performance boost. Same applies for the GPU, RAM is a bit different but overclocking it is fairly difficult and largely pointless nowadays.

Crossfire is AMD's Multi-GPU technology, SLI is Nvidia's.
Its when you run multiple (to a max of four) GPU's in tandem for extra performance. Theoretically you should see a doubling of performance once you add in the 2nd GPU, but due to imperfect drivers your typically see only a ~80% performance increase. The performance increase each time you add a card diminishes as well.
So here'swhat you can roughly expect performance wise when in Crossfire/SLI (percentages relative to a single cards performance).
1 GPU - 100% performance
2 GPU's - ~180% performance
3 GPU's - ~240% performance
4 GPU's - ~270% performance

As Proximon said, a low (you want a low response time) and good colour quality are pretty much mutually exclusive unless you want to shell out the big bucks for a PLS panel monitor. Have a look at some IPS monitors.
 
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JoshuaStone

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Apr 7, 2013
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Can anyone explain the difference in an i5 and an i7? And would 3-4 gpu be complete overkill? Would that even fit into either case that has been recommended? :p

I'm about to pull the trigger and begin ordering a good bit of parts. Should I use Amazon to try and rack up free shipping, or get it all through Newegg?
 
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Proximon

Proximon

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The difference in the CPUs is hyperthreading.

The SIMPLE explanation of hyperthreading is that is certain circumstances, the CPU behaves as if it has double the cores... so 8 cores instead of 4. Not very useful in games, but useful in various productivity apps like Photoshop or CAD.

As you add GPUs you get diminishing returns. 2 GPUs are not double the performance, 3 GPUs are sometimes no better than two and sometimes don't work at all... but sometimes can deliver almost 2.5 times the performance of a single card.
 
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Proximon

Proximon

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On thew shopping, well, I'm not going to go through your list and work out what is the best deal for you :) You have to do SOME work.

I myself have an Amazon Prime membership, which I use to stream video and such as well as get free two-day shipping.
 
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J

JoshuaStone

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Apr 7, 2013
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Thank you, kind sir. I will look into finding the best deals, myself. Sounds like the i5 is the better investment as of now, being that while I do use Photoshop, I don't use it intensively. I use it to do pixel art for some projects I work on along and along.

I should probably also ask what is the most recommended and affordable keyboard and mouse on this forum, for a gaming setup.
 
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Proximon

Proximon

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Mouse selection is somewhat dependent on your hand size and the way you hold it.

Razer is popular with some, Logitech with others. I have a G5 mouse that has seen maybe 6 or 7 years of use and has been great... but is near the end.

G300 Mouse
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826104618

MS Sidewinder keyboard
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16823109191&IsVirtualParent=1

Or if all that is too much
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16823201048
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826146009
 
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manofchalk

manofchalk

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May 11, 2012
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Peripherals are fairly personal, whats works for one wont work for another, and your needs can change whats suitable. For instance, if you play MMO's you want a ton of buttons on the side, while if your a twitch FPS player, you want a higher DPI capability.

Mouse ergonomics guide. Before watching, look at your mouse hand right now and note how you are holding it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=luCxbVslSFM

Keyboards are less so suited for ergonomics, just get one you like the look of and has the features you want. If you decide to go mechanical, make sure you pick an appropriate keyswitch for your needs.
Mechanical guide.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHnMcFGkGcA
 
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