Getting a Gaming PC

VictorS · Jun 10, 2013

My new PC budget is around 1700$. What I am looking forward to do is playing games such as Crysis 3, Battlefield 3, Black ops and Minecraft. I want to run them smooth as well as being able to record with ease on high settings. I would like a intel cpu and a nvidia gtx. What is a good 1700$ pc that will do what I am looking for? Thanks

Darkman69 · Jun 10, 2013

Why Intel and nvidia ?

Madn3ss795 · Jun 10, 2013

Do you need an OS, monitor of any other peripherals?

Taunchi · Jun 10, 2013

An easy way for you to find a good build is check out ibuypower.com.. They have a nice system where you pick a build and you can add or remove items accordingly until you meet your budget. Anything with Nvidia above 650 and anything amd above 7850 will suit your needs well. That's the graphics portion and any of the newer cpus will do fine. Make sure you have a good power supply and a 990 motherboard and you're all set.

They also have a little "how well will this build play this game" ranking to the side of the build you're playing with. It will tell you how well the build will do. Once you have the build you could come back here and ask about compatibility and such if you want.

Jack Revenant · Jun 10, 2013

Taunchi :

I strongly recommend against this. iBuyPower has terribly stock builds, in addition to being highly price-inefficient. Building yourself will always result in a more efficiently-price rig, and with our advice a far better-designed one.

As an addendum, a 660 or definitely cannot play Crysis 3 smoothly at high settings.

In addition to Madn3ss's questions, where are you buying and do you have any other planned uses for the system?

Taunchi · Jun 10, 2013

Jack Revenant :

I didn't say buy from there.. They charge a surplus of around $300.. I said go there to find a good build and mix and match.. a 660 can run Crisis 3 fairly well. He has a larger budget than the normal "I have like 500 bucks and want a gaming computer".. So, that's why I gave a general suggestion. He can mix and match parts and come back here to ask about compatibility and price comparisons with what he found.

Jack Revenant · Jun 10, 2013

Taunchi :

He would get a more efficient build by simply asking us (as he has). In fact, the only reason that I haven't posted a suggestion already is that there are some unanswered questions (location, peripheral requirement, etc.).

A 660 cannot run Crysis 3 fairly well. At high settings it averaged less than 50 FPS (http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/crysis-3-performance-benchmark-gaming,3451-5.html) and it was completely left off the "very-high settings" list, wherein a GPU which was significantly ahead of it (the 7870 LE) got only slightly over 30 FPS on average.

VictorS · Jun 10, 2013

Jack Revenant :

Taunchi :

I strongly recommend against this. iBuyPower has terribly stock builds, in addition to being highly price-inefficient. Building yourself will always result in a more efficiently-price rig, and with our advice a far better-designed one.

As an addendum, a 660 or definitely cannot play Crysis 3 smoothly at high settings.

In addition to Madn3ss's questions, where are you buying and do you have any other planned uses for the system?

I plan on buying from Newegg or do you think I should buy from Cyberpower or something? I also plan on using it for rendering videos and such. What do you recommend?

Jack Revenant · Jun 10, 2013

VictorS :

Jack Revenant :

I plan on buying from Newegg or do you think I should buy from Cyberpower or something? I also plan on using it for rendering videos and such. What do you recommend?

Let my clarify: in what country, state/province, and city are you buying? This will determine whether you can access certain walk-in deals and other options.

I do not recommend Cyberpower. Buying from a variety of merchants and assembling it yourself would be most optimal.

It would be excellent if you could also answer Madn3ss's questions (do you need peripherals, a monitor, and/or an OS) as well.

VictorS · Jun 10, 2013

Darkman69 :

Madn3ss795 :

I plan on using Windows 7 but should I use professional or home premium? What are your thoughts on peripherals? Thanks

Taunchi · Jun 10, 2013

Go windows 7 premium.. shop from tigerdirect, newegg and outletpc... Don't buy from the build a pc sites.. They are only good for getting a grasp of what you want to buy. Then go to the places I reccomended and find the cheapest/best parts you can.

VictorS · Jun 10, 2013

Jack Revenant :

VictorS :

Let my clarify: in what country, state/province, and city are you buying? This will determine whether you can access certain walk-in deals and other options.

I do not recommend Cyberpower. Buying from a variety of merchants and assembling it yourself would be most optimal.

It would be excellent if you could also answer Madn3ss's questions (do you need peripherals, a monitor, and/or an OS) as well.

Sorry didn't understand, but I am from the U.S. Michigan. Yes I will need peripherals. Thanks for the help.

VictorS · Jun 10, 2013

Taunchi :

Alright thanks for the help!

Jack Revenant · Jun 10, 2013

Taunchi :

This doesn't really constitute advice. He's coming to us for advice, specifically, on what would be the best parts for the money.

VictorS :

I'll assume that you're including an OS and a monitor in "peripherals". My suggestion will be posted as soon as I finish it.

Taunchi · Jun 10, 2013

CPU - http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=4904561&CatId=7339
GPU - http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2568538&CatId=7387
Motherboard - http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2713116&CatId=7247
Ram - http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=3468754&Sku=P33-7303
Power Supply - http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=5309345&Sku=C283-1228
Those are my hardware suggestions..
Everything else is personal preference.

VictorS · Jun 10, 2013

Taunchi :

Really appreciate the help! I will be able to run all the things I wanted with this system?

Jack Revenant · Jun 10, 2013

VictorS :

Theoretically, but they're not optimal. The PSU is a bomb, the 680 has a cheaper and more powerful alternative in the form of the 770, the motherboard and RAM are overpriced, and there are better options for CPU. It also doesn't use Microcenter deals, which you should be close enough to has access to.

This would be my alternative suggestion:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i7-4770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($279.99 @ Microcenter)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock Z87 Extreme4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (Purchased For $119.99)
Memory: G.Skill Sniper Gaming Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($124.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 840 Pro Series 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($129.98 @ Outlet PC)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($87.64 @ Amazon)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 780 3GB Video Card ($659.99 @ Amazon)
Case: NZXT Phantom 410 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($84.50 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: XFX 650W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($69.99 @ NCIX US)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($16.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($89.98 @ Outlet PC)
Monitor: Asus VS238H-P 23.0" Monitor ($137.99 @ NCIX US)
Keyboard: Microsoft SIDEWINDER X4 Wired Gaming Keyboard ($55.94 @ Outlet PC)
Mouse: Razer DeathAdder Wired Optical Mouse ($39.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $1927.95
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-06-10 02:40 EDT-0400)

Now, you will note that it costs more than your budget. This is because I ran into a wall of sorts, and wanted to leave it to you as to what was cut. You could cut in three areas (to my mind, though other options may be there which I've not noticed): editing capacity, gaming capacity, or storage capacity. Cutting in editing would entail dropping down to an i5-4670k CPU and 8 GB of RAM, and would increase your render times and generally hamper editing. However, you would lose nothing in games. Cutting in gaming would entail dropping down to a 770 in place of the 780. This wouldn't drop you below 60 FPS in games other than Crysis (which the 780 can't max either, due to it being deliberately over-intensive), but if you plan to record you might notice FPS drops. Recording is intensive. Lastly, cutting in storage would entail dropping to a 1TB HDD and dropping the SSD. This is the least disadvantageous from a technical perspective, as you lose nothing in either games or editing. However, you would experience markedly longer loading times, and you would need to either find external storage or store a very small amount of video on your machine.
I can't tell you which of these options is best, as it all comes down to your preference, thus I put the question to you.

As an additional note, the odd motherboard price is due to using a combo from Microcenter.

Taunchi · Jun 10, 2013

VictorS :

You should have no problem running anything you want on that build. You could also try getting the http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1917611&Sku=P450-7955 instead of the 680 graphics card. This one actually comes with crysis 3 and a few other games. Then a good solid state drive http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=1917611&Sku=P450-7955 that drive comes with far cry 3 for free.

VictorS · Jun 10, 2013

Jack Revenant :

VictorS :

Theoretically, but they're not optimal. The PSU is a bomb, the 680 has a cheaper and more powerful alternative in the form of the 770, the motherboard and RAM are overpriced, and there are better options for CPU. It also doesn't use Microcenter deals, which you should be close enough to has access to.

This would be my alternative suggestion:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i7-4770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($279.99 @ Microcenter)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock Z87 Extreme4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (Purchased For $119.99)
Memory: G.Skill Sniper Gaming Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($124.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 840 Pro Series 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($129.98 @ Outlet PC)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($87.64 @ Amazon)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 780 3GB Video Card ($659.99 @ Amazon)
Case: NZXT Phantom 410 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($84.50 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: XFX 650W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($69.99 @ NCIX US)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($16.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($89.98 @ Outlet PC)
Monitor: Asus VS238H-P 23.0" Monitor ($137.99 @ NCIX US)
Keyboard: Microsoft SIDEWINDER X4 Wired Gaming Keyboard ($55.94 @ Outlet PC)
Mouse: Razer DeathAdder Wired Optical Mouse ($39.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $1927.95
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-06-10 02:40 EDT-0400)

Now, you will note that it costs more than your budget. This is because I ran into a wall of sorts, and wanted to leave it to you as to what was cut. You could cut in three areas (to my mind, though other options may be there which I've not noticed): editing capacity, gaming capacity, or storage capacity. Cutting in editing would entail dropping down to an i5-4670k CPU and 8 GB of RAM, and would increase your render times and generally hamper editing. However, you would lose nothing in games. Cutting in gaming would entail dropping down to a 770 in place of the 780. This wouldn't drop you below 60 FPS in games other than Crysis (which the 780 can't max either, due to it being deliberately over-intensive), but if you plan to record you might notice FPS drops. Recording is intensive. Lastly, cutting in storage would entail dropping to a 1TB HDD and dropping the SSD. This is the least disadvantageous from a technical perspective, as you lose nothing in either games or editing. However, you would experience markedly longer loading times, and you would need to either find external storage or store a very small amount of video on your machine.
I can't tell you which of these options is best, as it all comes down to your preference, thus I put the question to you.

As an additional note, the odd motherboard price is due to using a combo from Microcenter.

This is exactly what I was looking for. I like the way you put in the options and what was going to be decreased. Really appreciate the help and time you put into this. Thanks again for all the tips.

Madn3ss795 · Jun 10, 2013

I'd suggest this build instead, which is more than sufficient for 1080p gaming/recording, plus can hold another 770 in the future if you have the desire to. Well cooled, of course. I hope that 100$ is enough for you to get a keyboard+ mouse + speaker combo.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($199.99 @ Microcenter)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H80i 77.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: MSI Z87-G45 Gaming ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($139.99 @ Microcenter)
Memory: G.Skill Sniper Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($110.50 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 840 Pro Series 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($129.98 @ Outlet PC)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($87.64 @ Amazon)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 770 2GB Video Card ($399.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Cooler Master Storm Scout 2 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair Enthusiast 850W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($93.11 @ NCIX US)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8 (OEM) (64-bit) ($89.90 @ Amazon)
Monitor: Asus VS247H-P 23.6" Monitor ($155.58 @ Newegg)
Total: $1576.66
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-06-10 02:57 EDT-0400)

Jack Revenant · Jun 10, 2013

VictorS :

Jack Revenant :

VictorS :

Theoretically, but they're not optimal. The PSU is a bomb, the 680 has a cheaper and more powerful alternative in the form of the 770, the motherboard and RAM are overpriced, and there are better options for CPU. It also doesn't use Microcenter deals, which you should be close enough to has access to.

This would be my alternative suggestion:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i7-4770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($279.99 @ Microcenter)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock Z87 Extreme4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (Purchased For $119.99)
Memory: G.Skill Sniper Gaming Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($124.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 840 Pro Series 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($129.98 @ Outlet PC)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($87.64 @ Amazon)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 780 3GB Video Card ($659.99 @ Amazon)
Case: NZXT Phantom 410 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($84.50 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: XFX 650W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($69.99 @ NCIX US)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($16.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($89.98 @ Outlet PC)
Monitor: Asus VS238H-P 23.0" Monitor ($137.99 @ NCIX US)
Keyboard: Microsoft SIDEWINDER X4 Wired Gaming Keyboard ($55.94 @ Outlet PC)
Mouse: Razer DeathAdder Wired Optical Mouse ($39.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $1927.95
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-06-10 02:40 EDT-0400)

Now, you will note that it costs more than your budget. This is because I ran into a wall of sorts, and wanted to leave it to you as to what was cut. You could cut in three areas (to my mind, though other options may be there which I've not noticed): editing capacity, gaming capacity, or storage capacity. Cutting in editing would entail dropping down to an i5-4670k CPU and 8 GB of RAM, and would increase your render times and generally hamper editing. However, you would lose nothing in games. Cutting in gaming would entail dropping down to a 770 in place of the 780. This wouldn't drop you below 60 FPS in games other than Crysis (which the 780 can't max either, due to it being deliberately over-intensive), but if you plan to record you might notice FPS drops. Recording is intensive. Lastly, cutting in storage would entail dropping to a 1TB HDD and dropping the SSD. This is the least disadvantageous from a technical perspective, as you lose nothing in either games or editing. However, you would experience markedly longer loading times, and you would need to either find external storage or store a very small amount of video on your machine.
I can't tell you which of these options is best, as it all comes down to your preference, thus I put the question to you.

As an additional note, the odd motherboard price is due to using a combo from Microcenter.

This is exactly what I was looking for. I like the way you put in the options and what was going to be decreased. Really appreciate the help and time you put into this. Thanks again for all the tips.

I'm glad you like it.

I have a bit of a problem with being too laconic about my suggestions, so I'm glad that you felt I explained it well enough.

Is there anything else you'd like to know?

Jack Revenant · Jun 10, 2013

Madn3ss795 :

I'd suggest this build instead, which is more than sufficient for 1080p gaming/recording, plus can hold another 770 in the future if you have the desire to. Well cooled, of course. I hope that 100$ is enough for you to get a keyboard+ mouse + speaker combo.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($199.99 @ Microcenter)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H80i 77.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: MSI Z87-G45 Gaming ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($139.99 @ Microcenter)
Memory: G.Skill Sniper Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($110.50 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 840 Pro Series 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($129.98 @ Outlet PC)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($87.64 @ Amazon)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 770 2GB Video Card ($399.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Cooler Master Storm Scout 2 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair Enthusiast 850W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($93.11 @ NCIX US)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8 (OEM) (64-bit) ($89.90 @ Amazon)
Monitor: Asus VS247H-P 23.6" Monitor ($155.58 @ Newegg)
Total: $1576.66
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-06-10 02:57 EDT-0400)

Good alternative, but why go for the H80i? The Noctua DH14 is cheaper and cools better, as I recall.

VictorS · Jun 10, 2013

Madn3ss795 :

I'd suggest this build instead, which is more than sufficient for 1080p gaming/recording, plus can hold another 770 in the future if you have the desire to. Well cooled, of course. I hope that 100$ is enough for you to get a keyboard+ mouse + speaker combo.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($199.99 @ Microcenter)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H80i 77.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: MSI Z87-G45 Gaming ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($139.99 @ Microcenter)
Memory: G.Skill Sniper Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($110.50 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 840 Pro Series 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($129.98 @ Outlet PC)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($87.64 @ Amazon)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 770 2GB Video Card ($399.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Cooler Master Storm Scout 2 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair Enthusiast 850W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($93.11 @ NCIX US)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8 (OEM) (64-bit) ($89.90 @ Amazon)
Monitor: Asus VS247H-P 23.6" Monitor ($155.58 @ Newegg)
Total: $1576.66
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-06-10 02:57 EDT-0400)

I like this build as well. I have some decisions to make. Thanks for the support on this!

Madn3ss795 · Jun 10, 2013

I have Frostytech as my Guru, which rank h80i #2 in the list of AiO Intel cooler

As for NH D14 it could bend your motherboard after using for a long time plus doesn't fit into the theme very much.

VictorS · Jun 10, 2013

Thank you to everyone who has helped me out. I have some decisions to make and will be back when I am ready to build.

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