Building $1500 First Gaming Desktop: I've been confused and mislead

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J

Joe Joxab

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So I'm building a desktop for my dorm/house for gaming. My budget is roughly $1500. I'll try to keep this brief but I have a lot of question since I'm new to PC's and gaming but suffice it to say I've been mislead to an extreme and I want to be sure I'm buying exactly what I want.

I will be purchasing the system in the next month or two, and building it myself.

This desktop will be primarily gaming. Gaming is the #1 concern. That said I would like to be able to watch movies and surf the web.

I'm buying a Samsung 700 SERIES S23A700D 23-Inch Screen LED-Lit Monitor from Amazon. I chose it for the price, 120htz, and the 2ms response time. If someone has a better option for the money please let me know. (About $300-$400)

I need Windows 8, not sure if I need Pro or not.

Newegg.com will work but I have no preference.

I live in SD so pretty sparse on stores in town.

I don't know enough about brands to have a particular preference. Quality is my main concern.

I will maybe overclock.

I would like crossfire capabilities but I don't think I can afford two video cards at the moment. The option to use two later on would be nice but not 100% necessary.

The monitor is 1080p.

I would like this computer to be quiet, have Wi-Fi capabilities, look understated but professional (I'm not big on neon lights), my tastes vary but I love strategy games like Civ Rev V, as well as FPS like Borderlands 2. Medium size is preferred since I'll be moving it around a far amount. I would like high image quality and high fps. I don't need an SSD, I don't think it's worth the money for what I'll be doing. If there's extra wiggle room Blu-Ray would be nice. Honestly if you would definitely recommend something that I haven't mentioned just go ahead and say why.

Any extra information would be greatly appreciated. But everyone has an opinion and I've gotten bombarded with a lot of opinions without reasoning. I want to understand at least somewhat so justifications for each part would be preferable.

EDIT: I wasn't clear, the $1500 amount would not be including the monitor. Sorry for the confusion.


This build looks appealing other than the SSD so maybe just some modifications to this will work?

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/Q2Rn


Thank you in advance.
 
Solution
bigshootr8
Here is alterations I made to marco's build since your notion about the monitor.

I changed the ram because I think its better for you to have lower profile memory. What essentially happens is when you go out and pick up a large air cooler having ram that is large and tall it creates clearance issues with your ram its better to have the option rather than being forced to get certain coolers because of your memory. Also, memory at this point isn't really running hot so I would say tall heatsink memory isn't a necessity.

I put in a SSD. You had room for it so why not. You will be happy to have a SSD in this build it will make this build much stronger you'll have a more snappy experience and in the end feel more pleased.

I changed the...
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JobCreator

JobCreator

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"Crossfire capabilities"... there are no special capabilities of a crossfire'd system. A bigger, faster card is almost exclusively better than 2 slower cards with less VRAM in xfire. Just find a solid single card. That's my contribution.

Edit: outside of the ability to use more monitors... :)
 
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luckiest charm

luckiest charm

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There are quite many flaws in the rig.

1) CPU is not for gaming.
2) Tower is not mid sized.
3) How about a better PSU? :)
4) Do not crossfire, instead go for SLI of two Nvidia cards. Crossfiring two ATI cards results in micro sluttering issues in most games out there which renders one of the cards useless (Games won't run properly until one card is disabled). SLI two GTX 770 instead.

I will correct them all in this one -

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD FX-8350 4.0GHz 8-Core Processor ($179.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.98 @ Outlet PC)
Motherboard: ASRock 970 Extreme3 ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($84.99 @ Microcenter)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LP 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($117.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($64.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 770 2GB Video Card ($409.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Fractal Design Core 3000 USB 3.0 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($59.99 @ Microcenter)
Power Supply: SeaSonic M12II 650W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($89.99 @ Amazon)
Optical Drive: Lite-On ihes112-04 Blu-Ray Reader, DVD/CD Writer ($57.48 @ SuperBiiz)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8 (OEM) (64-bit) ($87.98 @ Outlet PC)
Total: $1183.37
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-06-25 06:29 EDT-0400)

Your monitor choice is good enough. Include that and it would settle in for around $1500, however you could go for a good 1080p monitor for as low as $200 if you don't want 120 Hz refresh rate to include an SSD. A good SSD can substantially boost your visible computer performance and speeds. :)

I did not chose Intel CPU because next generation games would benefit from AMD CPUs (8 Core Jaguar in PS4 and Xbox One).
I also wanted to keep 7970 but crossfire issues came into mind and I dropped it.
 
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Marcopolo123

Marcopolo123

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Simply get this

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($239.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.98 @ Outlet PC)
Motherboard: MSI Z87-G45 Gaming ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($159.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($66.59 @ Outlet PC)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 770 2GB Video Card ($399.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Fractal Design Define R4 (Black Pearl) ATX Mid Tower Case ($84.99 @ Microcenter)
Power Supply: PC Power & Cooling Silencer Mk III 750W 80 PLUS Gold Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($109.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: LG UH12NS29 Blu-Ray Reader, DVD/CD Writer ($39.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8 (OEM) (64-bit) ($87.98 @ Outlet PC)
Monitor: Asus VG248QE 144Hz 24.0" Monitor ($266.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $1491.47
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-06-25 06:29 EDT-0400)
 
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J

Joe Joxab

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I'm sorry for the confusion but I do not include the monitor in that $1500 price range. I can spend that amount on the computer alone. What would that change?

Also why is the motherboard on the set-up so cheap compared to the others I've seen?

And here's my concern with an SSD, I am willing to sacrifice quick load times for faster gameplay. If the extra money would be better put in a nice video card I'd rather have the great graphics. That said, would you fit the SSD in to the higher budget or upgrade a different component for the most enjoyable gaming experience?

Thanks
 
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bigshootr8

bigshootr8

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I think this is a solid build. For me personally I would want to go the way of Windows 7. I really don't care for the interface I know there are compatibility issues. And overall it just feels like just a stronger experience for a desktop user. Now if you are wanting a touch experience I can see it and if you don't mind the extra mouse travel time with the metro ui then I can understand that as well.

Also, I would invest in cyberlink powerdvd 13 for your system. You will need Blu Ray playback software to watch blu rays on your computer. Windows Media Player simply won't do it. Cyberlink PowerDVD is by far the strongest playback software out there. It can be a bit pricey but I'm sure you can find it for relatively cheap. You can also check out people selling Powerdvd 12 on amazon it may be the cheaper way to go right now. You need Ultra to get the most out of it.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B0078YKR0O/ref=dp_olp_new?ie=UTF8&condition=new

here is cyberlink powerdvd 13 its 4k ready but I don't know 4k panels are awfully expensive and you aren't investing in one quite yet I would just go with 12 with the link I gave you.
 
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J

Joe Joxab

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What would change if I told you the $1500 budget was for the computer only, not the desktop?
 
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luckiest charm

luckiest charm

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The motherboard is not cheap by any means.
Its a solid ASRock board. When it comes to gaming, a $100 board will give you same performance as a $250 Sabertooth would. Why waste money on that?

And if you are not going to buy monitor, just grab another GTX 770 and SLI it. Massive performance boost (More than a single GTX 780).

Once more, Do NOT go for Intel builds otherwise next generation games (most probably) would not be able to run properly as they would be optimized for 8 core AMD as a PC port but you would have a quad core Intel.

With Intel things would run great, but with AMD (in this case, Gaming) it would run excellent.
 
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bigshootr8

bigshootr8

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Here is alterations I made to marco's build since your notion about the monitor.

I changed the ram because I think its better for you to have lower profile memory. What essentially happens is when you go out and pick up a large air cooler having ram that is large and tall it creates clearance issues with your ram its better to have the option rather than being forced to get certain coolers because of your memory. Also, memory at this point isn't really running hot so I would say tall heatsink memory isn't a necessity.

I put in a SSD. You had room for it so why not. You will be happy to have a SSD in this build it will make this build much stronger you'll have a more snappy experience and in the end feel more pleased.

I changed the optical drive. I've had LG drives they are cheap and you'd think they'd perform well which they do but they break really easy. I had a blu ray drive from them for about a year and it broke. I had one prior to that a hd dvd/ blu ray drive that one is on and off sometimes. I trust quality with ASUS here.

I changed to windows 7 I just feel the experience is stronger as I mentioned above. And as a first time builder do you really want to go through all that work trying to get things working yea no thanks :p

And like I said above invest in powerdvd 12 for blu ray playback.


PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($239.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.98 @ Outlet PC)
Motherboard: MSI Z87-G45 Gaming ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($159.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($63.00 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 840 Pro Series 256GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($219.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($66.59 @ Outlet PC)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 770 2GB Video Card ($399.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Fractal Design Define R4 (Black Pearl) ATX Mid Tower Case ($84.99 @ Microcenter)
Power Supply: PC Power & Cooling Silencer Mk III 750W 80 PLUS Gold Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($109.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Asus BW-12B1ST/BLK/G/AS Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer ($54.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($89.98 @ Outlet PC)
Total: $1439.48
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-06-25 06:55 EDT-0400)
 
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Solution
J

Joe Joxab

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Okay great, last question, is it worth the money to upgrade to 16gb ram? Thanks for your time, I think I'll enjoy this thing.
 
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bigshootr8

bigshootr8

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come on marco this dude doesn't have a SSD in this build put a SSD on this build :p


tumblr_lgn8k2RpYW1qd2woa.gif
 
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bigshootr8

bigshootr8

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You do not need a GTX780 a GTX770 will suffice and 16 gigabytes of ram isn't quite necessary unless you can find a way to utilize it for example professional work environment work.
 
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