Looking for Suggestions on First Build $700-$1500

FastGunna · Jun 27, 2013

Skip first 2 paragraphs if you don't care.

About a year ago I decided to buy a new laptop. I did a little research (looked at various Dell laptops because I've owned dells since around 2000) and long story short, I decided go with one with an i7, 8Gb ram and 1tb HDD with the AMAZING Intel integrated HD graphics card and thought it would be good with games. Clearly I did a great job at researching before I bought...

Anyway, its been bsoding for months, and about a week ago, my dedicated YouTube device got a virus, and I can't be bothered to try to fix it. Instead I've done research and learned that I have a lot to learn. I have decided that AMD is the way to go for me because I do some video editing, I play with Photoshop frequently and I do plan onlive streaming(my phone won't let me put a space between on and live... weird) but that will mostly be through my capture card software from my ps3.

Anyway I've decided the 3 parts that I want no matter the build or price are:
AMD 8350
8 GB G. Skill Ripjaws (Looking for suggestions on which version ie. 1333/1600 etc) however if there is a big enough price difference I will consider other brands.
NZXT Tempest 410 Elite Case

I Want to start with a single Radeon 7970 then add a second card or upgrade to a newer card in 2-3 years. (Nice to want right?)

But I am unsure of my exact budget at this time, it will be between 700-1500 for sure. I am looking for a few suggestions of varying builds around 700, 1000, 1200, and 1500. I am open to OC but I'm not planning on it immediately. I would be interested in a SSD for OS and a 1TB HDD, but I don't see any need for anymore space than that. To me, if I use a TB its time to go through deleting unused files. For the cheaper builds, I don't mind going a bit lower end as long as I can get 60FPS preferably at 1080, but I will settle for +40 on 720 because I AM primarily a PS3 gamer and it would be an improvement haha.

I feel like I'm missing something but it is 2 am and I am traveling. I will be back in a week and a half and that's about the time I would be buying, I live in southern California.

~FG^^

Jack Revenant · Jun 27, 2013

I'd like to open by suggesting that you consider the NZXT Phantom 410, which has excellent cooling and is only marginally more expensive than the Tempest 410 (less than $3, in fact). It's an absolutely great case, and well worth that extra three bucks.
You should also consider an i7 for the higher-budget builds, particularly given that you're likely within driving distance of the Orange County Microcenter, and thus could take advantage of their CPU+motherboard combinations and ludicrously cheap i7s.
Lastly, I would suggest 16GB of RAM if you do video editing. 8GB is plenty for gaming, but with a budget of up to $1,500, there's no reason to scrimp when you would actually be able to make use of it.

With that out of the way, my suggestions:

$750:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD FX-8350 4.0GHz 8-Core Processor ($179.99 @ Microcenter)
Motherboard: ASRock 970 EXTREME4 ATX AM3+ Motherboard (Purchased For $59.99)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($63.00 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($64.98 @ Outlet PC)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 760 2GB Video Card ($259.99 @ Amazon)
Case: NZXT Phantom 410 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($45.99 @ NCIX US)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($14.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $768.92
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-06-27 05:40 EDT-0400)

While this build comes in at a bit more than $700, I feel that the gains from a 760 over a 7870 or 660 are well worth it, particularly considering the recent reviews and benchmarks on the 760. This should give you pretty solid editing and high settings in games, but it's not the most powerful build possible by any measure, and I couldn't fit in an SSD.

$1,000:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD FX-8350 4.0GHz 8-Core Processor ($179.99 @ Microcenter)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.98 @ Outlet PC)
Motherboard: ASRock 970 EXTREME4 ATX AM3+ Motherboard (Purchased For $59.99)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($63.00 @ Newegg)
Storage: Mushkin Chronos Deluxe MX 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($104.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($64.98 @ Outlet PC)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition 3GB Video Card ($349.99 @ Newegg)
Case: NZXT Phantom 410 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($45.99 @ NCIX US)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($14.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $993.89
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-06-27 05:43 EDT-0400)

Now with a CPU cooler for overclocking, a GPU which can max anything short of Crysis 3, and an extremely fast 120GB SSD. This is a good build, but it suffers from a lack of upgrade path (CrossFire is broken at present, and we can't be sure that the fix AMD's promising will actually work) and isn't a meaningful upgrade for editing.

$1,250:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i7-4770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($349.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.98 @ Outlet PC)
Motherboard: ASRock Z87 Extreme6 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($174.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($120.60 @ Newegg)
Storage: Mushkin Chronos Deluxe MX 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($104.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($64.98 @ Outlet PC)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition 3GB Video Card ($349.99 @ Newegg)
Case: NZXT Phantom 410 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: SeaSonic 650W 80 PLUS Gold Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($14.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1250.49
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-06-27 05:49 EDT-0400)

Much stronger for editing than the $1,00 build, though not meaningfully better in gaming. Has the same issue with a lack of upgrade path, but it's quite a solid build nonetheless. It also has a slightly nicer PSU, mostly because I had the extra space to squeeze it in. I used Crucial RAM because it was about 10% cheaper than the G.Skill RAM option, and the quality should be completely equal. It's also lower voltage.

$1,500(ish):

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i7-4770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($349.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.98 @ Outlet PC)
Motherboard: ASRock Z87 Extreme6 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($174.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($120.60 @ Newegg)
Storage: Mushkin Chronos Deluxe MX 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($104.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($64.98 @ Outlet PC)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 780 3GB Video Card ($679.99 @ Amazon)
Case: NZXT Phantom 410 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: SeaSonic 650W 80 PLUS Gold Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($14.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1580.49
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-06-27 05:50 EDT-0400)

At this point, I am obliged to inform you that we are officially cooking with gasoline. While this build runs slightly more than your budget (something which can be compensated for, if your budget is strictly terminated at $1,500), it has one of the strongest single GPUs in existence in the form of the 780. It also has an upgrade path via SLI 780s, though you'd need a stronger PSU for that. This build should max anything, even Crysis 3(though you'll be below 60 FPS at max settings. Crysis 3 is hard to max).

There's also a "middle ground" between the two most expensive builds via substituting a 770 for the 7970 and getting a 750-850w PSU, to allow for a future SLI. This would likely cost $1,350 or so.

FastGunna · Jun 27, 2013

Jack Revenant :

First off, thanks for the response. I hadn't spent to much time looking at cases, but honestly the tempest was the first one that I looked at that I liked the look of and had good reviews. However I will consider your suggestion even though I prefer the look of the tempest because 5 years using laptops for gaming has taught me way to much about over heating...
As far as the prices go, that was sort of the prices I was expecting to see, I was thinking within 100, either cheaper or more expensive.

The thing about the budget is, its not entirely up to me. I'm between jobs right now so if I were paying for it, I could probably afford an optical drive haha. But due to my current location, getting a job without a car is... well actually I have a tendency to not look because I don't want (me and this wanting) to walk 5+ miles to work daily. Call me lazy.
But there was a situation where I gave my dad permission to sell my truck and we never saw the money and my dad lost a friend. I'm hoping that now that he's got some extra money I'm hoping we will be able to find me a car and get a PC. So as long as we have enough that hes willing to spend, It would be in one of the listed price ranges. The other factor is PS4, I am a console gamer at heart and the small group of friends I've been playing with for a good 6 years already has theirs per ordered and playing with them is worth more than a PC to.

Well now that I wrote something that doesn't add to this in anyway because its 530 and I can't sleep...

I would be more focused on the gaming portion than the editing, 49.9% of the editing I've ever done has been smooth on whatever I've used the programs on. The other 50.1% was all on the laptop I mentioned at the beginning which would usually (according to the gauge that I never really understood) spike the CPU up to 75+% at which point it would become unusable for 5-10 minutes. Just wondering, do you know the gauge I'm talking about and what it actually meant? It was a desktop widget that displayed CPU and RAM, I just learned that if the CPU was above 60% the laptop was unusable and the ram was usually around 26-32%. I don't think it was temp although keeping it cooler would prevent the spike but if it was temp the #% would have been more stable and gone down with the temp, not gradually decrease to mid 50s and immediately spine to 99 or 100%.

I went on another tangent again... I'm just gonna stop now before I upset someone by having posts in a thread that aren't relevant to my own thread.

Insomnia FTW?

~FG^^

Jack Revenant · Jun 27, 2013

FastGunna :

Jack Revenant :

First off, thanks for the response. I hadn't spent to much time looking at cases, but honestly the tempest was the first one that I looked at that I liked the look of and had good reviews. However I will consider your suggestion even though I prefer the look of the tempest because 5 years using laptops for gaming has taught me way to much about over heating...
As far as the prices go, that was sort of the prices I was expecting to see, I was thinking within 100, either cheaper or more expensive.

The thing about the budget is, its not entirely up to me. I'm between jobs right now so if I were paying for it, I could probably afford an optical drive haha. But due to my current location, getting a job without a car is... well actually I have a tendency to not look because I don't want (me and this wanting) to walk 5+ miles to work daily. Call me lazy.
But there was a situation where I gave my dad permission to sell my truck and we never saw the money and my dad lost a friend. I'm hoping that now that he's got some extra money I'm hoping we will be able to find me a car and get a PC. So as long as we have enough that hes willing to spend, It would be in one of the listed price ranges. The other factor is PS4, I am a console gamer at heart and the small group of friends I've been playing with for a good 6 years already has theirs per ordered and playing with them is worth more than a PC to.

Well now that I wrote something that doesn't add to this in anyway because its 530 and I can't sleep...

I would be more focused on the gaming portion than the editing, 49.9% of the editing I've ever done has been smooth on whatever I've used the programs on. The other 50.1% was all on the laptop I mentioned at the beginning which would usually (according to the gauge that I never really understood) spike the CPU up to 75+% at which point it would become unusable for 5-10 minutes. Just wondering, do you know the gauge I'm talking about and what it actually meant? It was a desktop widget that displayed CPU and RAM, I just learned that if the CPU was above 60% the laptop was unusable and the ram was usually around 26-32%. I don't think it was temp although keeping it cooler would prevent the spike but if it was temp the #% would have been more stable and gone down with the temp, not gradually decrease to mid 50s and immediately spine to 99 or 100%.

I went on another tangent again... I'm just gonna stop now before I upset someone by having posts in a thread that aren't relevant to my own thread.

Insomnia FTW?

~FG^^

Oh god. Flashbacks to gaming on a $500 HP laptop.

Ah. Been there, with regard to lack of car. I'm in a city with really good public transit right now, but I recall a lot of limitations due to lack of vehicle.
Your friends should come before good graphics and superior hardware. That said, ideally, you can have you cake and eat it too, as you have cheaper build options and the PS4 ain't the most expensive of consoles.

You're not alone in insomnia. People often mistakenly believe that I'm Australian simply because I'm awake at 6 AM PST.

I know the widget you're referring to, though I've never used it myself.
If gaming is the main priority, a Core i5 would actually be a better option than a FX 8350, most likely. The 8350 is a good middle ground between editing and gaming, however.

It's your thread, you can ask me for baking advice if you want to (though I wouldn't recommend it, I could screw up making ice cubes). The only person you're potentially derailing is yourself, and I wouldn't even say you're doing that.

Insomnia is a harsh mistress.

I'm actually going to try to sleep before the sun gets too high in the sky, so I likely won't be around to respond to anything you say in the next 8+ hours. Do not worry, for I shall return.

FastGunna · Jun 27, 2013

Jack Revenant :

FastGunna :

Jack Revenant :

First off, thanks for the response. I hadn't spent to much time looking at cases, but honestly the tempest was the first one that I looked at that I liked the look of and had good reviews. However I will consider your suggestion even though I prefer the look of the tempest because 5 years using laptops for gaming has taught me way to much about over heating...
As far as the prices go, that was sort of the prices I was expecting to see, I was thinking within 100, either cheaper or more expensive.

The thing about the budget is, its not entirely up to me. I'm between jobs right now so if I were paying for it, I could probably afford an optical drive haha. But due to my current location, getting a job without a car is... well actually I have a tendency to not look because I don't want (me and this wanting) to walk 5+ miles to work daily. Call me lazy.
But there was a situation where I gave my dad permission to sell my truck and we never saw the money and my dad lost a friend. I'm hoping that now that he's got some extra money I'm hoping we will be able to find me a car and get a PC. So as long as we have enough that hes willing to spend, It would be in one of the listed price ranges. The other factor is PS4, I am a console gamer at heart and the small group of friends I've been playing with for a good 6 years already has theirs per ordered and playing with them is worth more than a PC to.

Well now that I wrote something that doesn't add to this in anyway because its 530 and I can't sleep...

I would be more focused on the gaming portion than the editing, 49.9% of the editing I've ever done has been smooth on whatever I've used the programs on. The other 50.1% was all on the laptop I mentioned at the beginning which would usually (according to the gauge that I never really understood) spike the CPU up to 75+% at which point it would become unusable for 5-10 minutes. Just wondering, do you know the gauge I'm talking about and what it actually meant? It was a desktop widget that displayed CPU and RAM, I just learned that if the CPU was above 60% the laptop was unusable and the ram was usually around 26-32%. I don't think it was temp although keeping it cooler would prevent the spike but if it was temp the #% would have been more stable and gone down with the temp, not gradually decrease to mid 50s and immediately spine to 99 or 100%.

I went on another tangent again... I'm just gonna stop now before I upset someone by having posts in a thread that aren't relevant to my own thread.

Insomnia FTW?

~FG^^

Oh god. Flashbacks to gaming on a $500 HP laptop.

Ah. Been there, with regard to lack of car. I'm in a city with really good public transit right now, but I recall a lot of limitations due to lack of vehicle.
Your friends should come before good graphics and superior hardware. That said, ideally, you can have you cake and eat it too, as you have cheaper build options and the PS4 ain't the most expensive of consoles.

You're not alone in insomnia. People often mistakenly believe that I'm Australian simply because I'm awake at 6 AM PST.

I know the widget you're referring to, though I've never used it myself.
If gaming is the main priority, a Core i5 would actually be a better option than a FX 8350, most likely. The 8350 is a good middle ground between editing and gaming, however.

It's your thread, you can ask me for baking advice if you want to (though I wouldn't recommend it, I could screw up making ice cubes). The only person you're potentially derailing is yourself, and I wouldn't even say you're doing that.

Insomnia is a harsh mistress.

I'm actually going to try to sleep before the sun gets too high in the sky, so I likely won't be around to respond to anything you say in the next 8+ hours. Do not worry, for I shall return.

On a $500 HP? Lucky... my dell was a grand and that was after the 400 off for the sale. Nothing quite like the feeling of realising you spent a lot of money on something that actually doesn't do what you bought it for in the first place and knowing your the only one to blame on top of it...

Unfourtunatly public transit doesn't exist in near my house. That would be 5 miles away with everything else.

~FG^^

Jack Revenant · Jun 28, 2013

FastGunna :

If you think $500 is lucky, you've never seen the FPS a 5450m gets on modern games. I got 10-15 at 640x480. I still have mental scars...

I feel you there. I had to take a ferry to get to the nearest bus stop at my last house. Made getting places a bit of an adventure, I'll tell you that.

So, nearest I can tell, you're now cast upon the mercy of fortune as to your funding, so I'm not sure that there's much more I can offer you. Feel free to PM me if you have any further questions or need a build at a different price, however.

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