New $900-$1,000 Gaming Rig, looking for recommendations

SmAsH2003 · May 21, 2013

Approximate Purchase Date: Hopefully this Memorial Day Weekend (looking for some awesome sales

)

Budget Range: Maximum $1,000 After Shipping

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming is number 1,2, and 3. After that is Entertainment (watching movies, surfing the web). No video editing or anything like that will be done.

Are you buying a monitor: I can if you guys think it's best. I currently have a 40" and a 60" LCD TV (1080p), but I'm not sure if these will be optimal for gaming. Just let me know.

Do you need to buy OS: No

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: I'd prefer EVERYTHING to be on newegg.com, as I'm going for the 1 year/0% financing credit card. (Which is why I want to limit it to $1000)

Location: Southern California

Parts Preferences: I'm not a fanboy, I just want the best bang for my buck.

Overclocking: Maybe

SLI or Crossfire: Maybe

Your Monitor Resolution: Depends if you recommend a monitor or not. If not, like I said I have a 40" and 60" LCD TV (1080p)

Additional Comments: I'm mainly an FPS gamer. Looking to run BF3 and BF4 (when released) on high/ultra settings. I also play StarCraft2 every now and then.

And Most Importantly, Why Are You Upgrading: Originally a PC gamer. Turned away once the Xbox360 was release, and I'm getting tired of being behind the curve as far as graphics and gameplay goes.

I appreciate any insight and advice you guys are willing to give me.
Thanks, and I look forward to seeing your responses!!

Edit: I currently own a Logitech G5 gaming mouse and I can pick up a keyboard on my own.
-SmAsH2003

Marcopolo123 · May 21, 2013

Haswell is coming soon, i would wait
If you dont want ... This is the way to go :

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($169.99 @ Microcenter)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.98 @ Outlet PC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD3H ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($130.99 @ NCIX US)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Tactical 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($67.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($69.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: MSI Radeon HD 7950 3GB Video Card ($309.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: NZXT Phantom 410 (White) ATX Mid Tower Case ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12II 520W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($70.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $949.90
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-05-21 17:54 EDT-0400)

990$ when everything is bought from newegg !

Haswell will cost about 20-40$ more i guess

chingu · May 21, 2013

My advice is to build your own from scratch. it's much cheaper. If you want to run bf3 and bf4 on ultra clocked at 60 fps you would probably at least want 7950 or 7870/ of course Nvidia counter parts work. you would want a cross fire/ sli enabled mother board as it would most likely be needed for your desires for bf4, especially if you opt for the 7870. With a cpu go with i5 3570k ivy bridge, the i7 only offers a 10-15% performance increase in multi tasking and its absolutely no difference in gaming as games don't use hyper threading yet. Saves you 100 bucks. If that's too much an amd counterpart is around 180 as this rig is for mostly gaming. You want at least 8gb of ram. If budget allows raid 0 with a low size sd and 1 tb, sd for the os and 1tb for everything else. Doing all of this will probably put you around the 750 mark for the HD7970 and 650 mark for HD 7870 (leaving 130-150 for a good mobo). That gives ample room to get a chaste and a required power supply (650 for cross fire hd 7870 and 750 for hd 7950 65 and 88 dollars respectively). I'm assuming you have a sound card, but if you need the 30 dollar Asus xonar 5.1 is perfect for gaming. unless your aiming for complete surround sound. Don't forget you need a wifi card as well if your mobo doesn't come stock, but that's only around 15 bucks. Also, a cooling system is usually not necessary unless you are going to over clock. If you are going to oc past 30%, then get a higher end air system as w.c is not efficient price per dollar. Should run you around 1k. Hope this helps.

SmAsH2003 · May 21, 2013

Marcopolo123 :

I can wait, that's fine.
But will a Haswell CPU be within my budget?

Also with that said, could you (or someone else reading) suggest all of the other parts for me to get?

Marcopolo123 · May 21, 2013

Look up, updated the post

chingu · May 21, 2013

Ya you can afford the haswell. Prices range from $197 for the Core i5 4430 to $368 for the high-end Core i7 4770K. According to: http://www.itpro.co.uk/desktop-hardware/19655/intel-haswell-release-date-and-specs#ixzz2Ty0VIDxw

Like I said the i7 is not needed. So look for around 220-250 which is what the ivy bridge i5 is going for right now. Also, these should go down in price upon haswell release.

Also no gpu is bottle necked by the ivy and Haswell is more of a power saver than a performance jump. You'll be fine with Ivy for a long time. The only reason I can see you waiting is for a potential, probably slight price drop.

http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-1637414/intel-cpus-haswell-ivy-bridge.html

SmAsH2003 · May 21, 2013

Marcopolo123 :

You sir are awesome. I will buy all of this, then just wait for the Haswell to complete the build.
My final question is should I get a monitor, or will my HDTV's be decent?

SmAsH2003 · May 21, 2013

chingu :

Thank you for both of your responses. Hopefully by the time BF4 comes out, I'll have enough money to crossfire my cards. I didn't even THINK about a sound card. I'll definitely get that, as I currently have Turtle Beaches and would prefer to use them. And I'm going to say negative to using WiFi, only because I'm partial to running gaming systems hardwired (less latency).

bigshootr8 · May 21, 2013

Hey neighbor

I live in S. Cal myself as well. Okay so here is my build I went with it gives a little breathing room but not much.

CPU Cooler: I didn't go with a cooler because you were thinking maybe on overclocking and felt well it may be better to get stronger components over that.

Memory: I went with lower profile memory in the event you purchase a larger air cooler in the future you'll have plenty of clearance.

GPU: I went what I feel is one of the stronger options value wise. At just under 200 dollars you get a very solid card with some free games to go with it. Crysis 3, bioshock infinite, tomb raider, blood dragon.

Hard Drives: I went with a SSD boot drive/storage drive combo. You can always scratch the SSD and get a stronger graphics card I just feel having the SSD will make your system purr just that little bit more.

Case: I went with a Fractal Case because they make a solid product at a reasonable price. Nothings worse then having a horrible case to build in.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($220.98 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: MSI Z77A-G41 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($74.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($68.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 840 Pro Series 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($139.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($76.98 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition 2GB Video Card ($194.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Fractal Design Arc Midi R2 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: XFX 650W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($17.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $954.89
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-05-21 18:18 EDT-0400)

bigshootr8 · May 21, 2013

Right now its just hard to guess what the pricing will be with the z87 chipset and the CPU's since they aren't yet released however I can't imagine them being a bunch more then what they are at now with the z77 stuff. Your budget may need to change based on these items.

Also, I WOULD NOT do a crossfire configuration. I would stay clear from multiple GPU setups AMD has a major issue with frame latency with Crossfire currently and when and how there magic drive will address this issue is unknown.

Marcopolo123 · May 21, 2013

Nah you dont need a extra sound card, that from the motherboard is already realy good.
Gaming headsets are generally overpiced, sound quality equals 20$ headphones, so you barely benefit from a extra soundcard.

SmAsH2003 · May 21, 2013

Thanks fellow Californian, appreciate it! Where abouts do you live?

So based upon what you said about Crossfire, should I cut out the SSD maybe and go for the best GPU possible?

Or will the 7870 suffice for what I'm looking to do?

bigshootr8 · May 21, 2013

Well it truly depends. I would say in terms of sound. Gaming headsets are fairly highly priced at least the good ones that is for sure. I would get a sound card if you needed a headphone amp for example or if you had special headphones that needed to be driven by a sound source with Dolby Digital live.

bigshootr8 · May 21, 2013

I live in Garden Grove, Seal Beach. I would say a 7870 should suffice. I personally really couldn't go without my SSD I have now what you may want to do is cut the SSD for now and then pick one up when you have more money that's what I would do if you are looking to get the most from a graphics card.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($220.98 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: MSI Z77A-G41 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($74.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($68.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($76.98 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7950 3GB Video Card ($289.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Fractal Design Arc Midi R2 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: XFX 650W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($17.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $909.90
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-05-21 18:30 EDT-0400)

Here is my rig

SmAsH2003 · May 21, 2013

bigshootr8 :

I currently have Turtle Beach headphones, that I bought for my Xbox360. They're PC compatible, and just need USB 2.0 and an Audio Out and Mic In line to work. So I'll cancel the sound card since the Mobo has onboard sound.

SmAsH2003 · May 21, 2013

bigshootr8 :

Oh very nice, I'm in the Inland Empire in Redlands.
(Thanks for the updated build BTW)
So here's a good question I thought of...
SSD or an actual PC monitor? (I CAN go over budget slightly, I just would like to use the least amount of cash out of pocket as possible lol)

Marcopolo123 · May 21, 2013

Msi motherboards are generally inferior to its competitors like gigabyte/asus/asrock.
They arent recommended, always read negative reviews,experiences.

Gigabyte/asus are market leaders.

Msi hd 7950 twin frozer is very cool,quiet, when overlcocked its faster then hd 7970/gtx680.

SmAsH2003 · May 21, 2013

bigshootr8 :

Jaw just dropped. That thing is SEXY.

SmAsH2003 · May 21, 2013

Marcopolo123 :

Duly noted sir.

I am probably going to do a compilation of both recommendations.

bigshootr8 · May 21, 2013

Yea don't get a sound card with a usb headset.

Gosh, well I have expensive taste in monitors I currently have a IPS screen and I feel when you buy a monitor you are going to have it for a while so I put a little more into it. I have this monitor. IPS, low refresh rate, sturdy stand, can be rotated, pivoted swiveled, has every input under the sun.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236292

However you can save a little and get something like this.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236205

Honestly, if you feel fine gaming the way you are on your tv's maybe that is a way for you to go for now. Because it will push you over going with one or the other.

If you want a experience where you aren't looking at a huge screen go with the monitor solution. If you are okay with the screen size go with the SSD.

bigshootr8 · May 21, 2013

SmAsH2003 :

That's fine I've had a decent experience with MSI however I've had a long long long history with Asrock.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($220.98 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Extreme3 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($94.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($68.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($76.98 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7950 3GB Video Card ($289.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Fractal Design Arc Midi R2 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: XFX 650W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($17.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $929.90
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-05-21 18:42 EDT-0400)

This was my first builds mobo

had a future cpu slot for a AM2 daughter card :]

SmAsH2003 · May 21, 2013

Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory is out of stock >_<

CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9R is available though... would that be alright?
http://

bigshootr8 · May 21, 2013

No it will not due. I'm in a bad spot because I went with tall ram heatsinks I can't get a large air cooler without buying first new ram. Do NOT make the mistake I personally made.

You could do one of these if you wanted.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148662
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231548
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820104333

SmAsH2003 · May 21, 2013

bigshootr8 :

Phew glad I asked. Guess I'll just pick which one is the coolest looking lol

bigshootr8 · May 21, 2013

Lol you can go with that

I'll show you another one you can go with its a little more expensive but is a good performer. I would personally get these if you couldn't get corsair

and I like them on the cool scale.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148656

New $900-$1,000 Gaming Rig, looking for recommendations

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