$1000 budget build. Need advice!!

Clint Cain

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Aug 25, 2013
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Ok guys. I need advice. I am trying to keep my $1000 budget for a midrange gaming PC. I am somewhat familiar with computers, but still have alot to learn. I am a big DIY person, so building one yself does not intimidate me. I definitely do not want or need a top of the line gaming pc. However, I am a very impatient person when it comes to electronics. I like things to work instantly, as they should. I already have experience with cyberpower pc, as I had them build me a $1400 tower back in 2006 and hardly ever used it for gaming. The HDD crashed on it about a year ago and I sold it for cheap. But, Im hoping to change that as I am a gamer at heart and have had every video game system since the original nintendo and would love to get back into some HD gaming. I have previously enjoyed hunting games, 1st person shooters and racing games. I plan on getting a nice looking thin bezzeled 27 inch IPS monitor for my display(suggestions on this would also be appreciated). I have been playing with different options on cyberpower pc and can build the following for about $1000.

Here is what I think I want:

Case-CFI Taiji Full-Tower Gaming Case or Corsair C70 military green midtower

Processor-Intel i5 4570 3.2ghz

Motherboard-[CrossFireX] GIGABYTE Z87-HD3 Intel Z87 Chipset DDR3 ATX Mainboard w/ Ultra Durable 4 Plus, 7.1 HD Audio, GbLAN, 2 PCIe x16 (1 Gen3, 1 Gen2), 2 PCIe x1 & 2 PCI

Memory-8 gb corsair vengeance 1600 DDR3

Video card-Nvidia GeForce 650- 1 gb

Sound card-Creative Labs SB Audigy SE PCI Sound Card

Power Supply-Corsair cx600

Cooling-multiple case fans and Cooler Master Seidon 120M Liquid Cooling System 120MM Radiator

Hard drives-
Primary-128GB ADATA SP900 SATA-III 6.0Gb/s - 550 MB/s Read & 520 MB/s Write
Secondary-2TB (2TBx1) SATA-III 6.0Gb/s 64MB Cache 7200RPM

Optical drive-24X Double Layer Dual Format DVD+-R/+-RW + CD-R/RW Drive

Operating system-Windows 7 or 8(need help deciding here as well)


I have pieced this same set together at Amazon for about the same price, but that would be me assembling it, loading windows and drivers, etc. And Cyber power also comes witha three year warranty and throws in a bunch of freebies(games, keyboard, mouse, wireless/blueooth card, headset). I have heard good and bad things about Cyberpower, but I didnt have any problems with them with my last purchase.

I have also looked at digital storm and ironside computers, but they dont come close on the price for the same specs.

If any of the parts do not seem to make sense please let me know. I am open to all suggestions and still have a lot to learn so please bare with me.
 
Solution

jtenorj

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Is that 27 inch panel 1080p or 2560x1440? The main component that gives me pause is the gtx650(non ti). You might be able to run the latest games on medium with that at 1080p, but you may want to consider a stronger card. Also noticed you have a closed loop water cooler on a locked down i5 4570(not the 4670K) in an enthusiast z87 motherboard. Maybe that's just the component mix? Don't get me wrong. You should be able to play the latest games fine on that CPU, as well a do some limited overclocking within the turbo multipliers and slight manipulation of the base clock(if you care to take the time). Just water cooling and a z87 motherboard and that CPU don't make a lot of sense to me(again, probably how cyber power does many of their builds).

Edit: I'd choose the corsair c70 for a case. What brand is that 2 TB hard drive?

Edit: unless you are a serious audiophile, you don't need a sound card. Motherboard audio should be fine. If you do want a discrete sound card, you want something newer like an ASUS Xonar instead of that ancient Sound Blaster.

I use window 8 on a laptop and it works alright(after a bit of tweaking. came from XP) It's really not as bad as people say although being able to do a few gestures on a laptop touchpad is kind of nice. Not a huge deal. In a current basic install of 8, you only have to look at the start screen when you boot or accidentally open a file with a start screen app instead of the program of your choice. It is kind of convenient in that to find a program from the desktop, all you have to do is hit the windows key and start typing. Then you will get kicked back to desktop. You can Add a file tree similar to the traditional start menu without to much difficulty right within 8. Or you could download something decent like classic shell for free. Another plus is how you can freely transport your OEM copy of windows 8 to a new motherboard should you upgrade that part in the future(compared to being locked into a motherboard with windows 7). 8 will be supported longer than 7. The task manager is pretty awesome. Shutting down on occasion as needed is easy enough( at least a couple fairly easy ways to do it). I didn't mean for this to be an ad for windows 8, but a lot of people seem to hate on it for really no good reason.

Edit: also if you get 8 and accidentally find yourself kicked from desktop mode to the start screen, all you have to do is hit the escape key to get back to the desktop(easiest way, but there a couple others as well).
 

Clint Cain

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Aug 25, 2013
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thanks for the reply.

As far as 1080p vs 2560X1440 goes, I'm not sure. Will i notice a big difference? I was curious about the video card too. But as with other things, it was something that I decided to scale back on to save some money. but, if it doesnt make sense, I'm open for suggestions. Should I just step up to the Ti version?

and for the water cooling/processor/motherboard combo, I also need advice here to. As mentioned above, the combo match was because I scaled back on the processor to save some cash, but the water cooling was like $20, so I just left it. Plus, I know that heat is electronics #1 enemy, so making sure this thing stays cool is a priority. What is the advantage of overclocking? I'm not sure I would even take advantage of it, but I need to learn more about it first I guess, lol! And do I really need a Z87 motherboard? would a Z77 be better suited for my needs?

I'm leaning toward the C70 case as well. It doesnt have the viewing window, but that's not too big of a priority.

The 2 TB does not have a brand name associated with it on the cyberpower website. So, I'm not sure. Should I be concerned about that?

Edit: I do consider myself an audiophile. I have about 5K into my SQ system in my F350, so I guess you could say I have a detailed ear for sound. and thanks for the warning on the creative labs card. I will look at the asus xonar card.

As far as windows 8 does, I have been using it for about 10 months already and didnt find the transition too hard. I just figured I would ask for opinions.
 
As said above I would drop the PCI Sound Blaster you have a good audio codec onboard in the RealTek 892 already. If you really want or need a dedicated sound card you could at a later date get a Sound Blaster Z. It would be a much better sound card than any PCI based(Sound Blaster Z is PCI-E) plus removing it from the build now would give you more to put tords a better GPU.

Since you are on a budget I would drop the SSD and put that money into a better GPU. The one you have chosen is really on the low end plus only 1gig ram. SSD's are nice but in the end after the system boots that is where there real advantage ends. And it is something that you can add at a later date.

As far as the OS I would go for Windows 8 it is the future and is really a very good OS. It does not take any time at all to get use to it about five minutes and that is about it.

And then as far as a GPU since you are going for Nvidia i would go for a GTX 660ti(2gig) or better.

Keeping your budget down now by cutting out the SSD and Sound Card and getting a better GPU those things can be added later as you have the funds to do so.

I can't really say much about the CFI Taiji Full-Tower Gaming Case you have chosen as I have never used that brand. However I have not really had any problems with Corsair and have built a few rigs for friends with the Corsair C70 and they are nice Mid Tower cases. For Full Tower I have been using the In Win GRone case lately it also a very good case for Full Tower.
 

jtenorj

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For resolution, you can get a cheap 1080p TN panel(worse view from an angle, less color accuracy than ips but faster response and if you only intend to really look straight on and not share the view or don't do stuff like graphic design or photo editing, the color accuracy won't make that much difference. You may want a faster panel for gaming. 23-24inch for 100 to 150 dollars us for 1080 will give you a tighter pixel density than the same resolution at 27 inches(the larger screen would look a bit blockier, but may be easier to read if that's of any interest to you. You can get a korean 27 in ips panel(maybe with overdrive option) for 300 to 400. 2560x1440 is about 3.7 megapixels where 1080p is about 2.1 megapixels. The more pixels you want to drive, the more powerful graphics card you want(give the amount of quality you can live with like low, med, high, or ultra depending on the game in question). If you were going for 1080p, I'd shoot for at least the gtx650ti boost 2GB on the nvidia side or maybe a HD 7850 2GB on the radeon side(they perform fairly similar at reference speeds with a slight edge to the nvidia card. However, the HD7850 is much more overclock friendly.

About overclocking. It is is way to boost performance at no extra cost to give your system a longer life(unless you overdo it, which could shorten the life of one or more components in your system). There are plenty of guide online in regards to overclocking processors and graphics cards(even some that may apply specifically to your parts).

I'm not too familiar with the c70 except it seems like a decent case and fairly popular. Some hard drive vendors may have a better reputation for long term reliability than others(that may be down to one's personal experience). Many people like western digital drives better than seagate drives, for example.

z77 and other 7x are the older socket 1155 for sandy/ivy bridge processors. z87 and family are for this and other new haswell based processors on socket 1150. So a z77 would not physically fit your currently listed processor.

If you are not overclocking, you might get away with stock intel cooling. Haswell does have a large integrated graphics part which raises the wattage and heat, but if you will mostly use a discrete card that is less of an issue. The cooler master seidon is a lower end closed loop cooler(probably less capable than some air cooling alternatives), but will likely do a better job of keeping your CPU cool than what the intel stock cooler can muster.

There are a variety of Xonar sound cards ranging from around 30-40 bucks to several hundred depending on your specific audiio needs. There are reviews out there for many of the available models. You might even consider an expensive professional grade card from another company, but I somehow gather you are on a budget or just looking at price versus performance in general.
 

Clint Cain

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Aug 25, 2013
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Ok. So i will drop the SSD and sound card as I can upgrade those later. Should i just go all out and get an i7? Or would that be overkill. I would like to "futureproof" this system as much as possible for upgrades and longevity. Even though i understand that is very hard to do theses days. I will also be a getting a gtx660 ti or above as well. And windows 8 as well.
 

Clint Cain

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Aug 25, 2013
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ok. thanks for the info above. I'm starting to learn this stuff slowly bu surely. I will be getting a minimum of a gtx 650 ti 2 gb for my GPU. what would the minimum suggested to nicely display 2560X1440 on a 27"IPS?

And thanks for the explanation on overclocking. based on that info, I'm not really that interested in it.

as far as the cooler goes, what would be a nice mid range cooler for the processor?


 

jtenorj

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Not quite sure how to answer this. Is your total budget still just 1k? A decent 27 in korean panel would be at least 300 on ebay(one or more models available at retail stateside). You might just want to spring for an i7(both PS4 and XBOX one will support 8 threads).

Then, you need a gpu capable of handling 2560x1440. If you want future proofing and the best quality, you may need to go really big( HD7990 for example). Or 2 gtx 780s. or 2 titans. To run a game like Crysis 3 maxed out at 2x1080p, you need 3 titans. Since you are doing a little less than 2 3rds of that, maybe 2 titans or 2 gtx 780s or a hd7990/ 2 hd7970s(did I just type that twice?). One way to think of 1080p vs "1440p" is the larger one has 33.3% more pixels in both the horizontal and the vertical. If you want to stay in budget(and maybe keep an asus xonar and ssd. The are good for more than just booting the OS), you might consider an inexpensive 23-24 in TN panel with a fast response time and a lesser card(well, some say titan at 1k if you want to play crysis 3 maxed out, or you could go gtx 780, gtx770, or hd7970. I think all those would put you over 1k total(really though, graphics are fairly easy to upgrade, at least if you stick with the same brand so you don't have to delete old drivers and install new ones. Then again, you may find yourself doing that with some frequency anyway.

But yeah, ssd loads all your programs much faster(browsers, games, etc) and will load levels faster as well. Take Battlefield 3 for example. If you load into a map before your enemies, you can get a head start on capping a control point or setting up defenses. That little bit could either be win/lose for your team. or 1st/2nd place for you in a round. I've heard so many people say that after having experienced the overall extra pep an ssd adds to their system, they never want to go back to a HDD for a system drive.

and overclocking doesn't have to be that big a deal. you can get substantial performance gains with a little adjustment(along with doing a little stress testing up front to determine what a lasting overclock will be(ie one that won't burn out your components in months or even a few years. Processors are a bit harder to upgrade(remove cooler, remove thermal material if you intend to reuse that cooler, remove cpu, place new cpu, place new cooler and thermal material, also may require a motherboard bios update while your old cpu and cooler are on before you do all that.
 

gpellis87

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May 3, 2011
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You can get a 27" IPS AOC display 1080p from Best Buy for about $270. I think retail on it is a bit over 300, maybe $320, but it's typically on sale. It's a nice monitor, I've got 3 of them and they're thin bezel, as you're looking for.

As for the rest... for $1000 looking at something like this:
i5 4670k - gaming doesn't necessarily utilize i7 to the max potential, so at this moment, there's no real point. There's very few games that can take advantage of the hyperthreading. Few games are truly CPU intensive, aside from ArmA, to where you'd notice much of a difference anyways. In the system you've listed the GPU will bottleneck before the CPU would.

If you're on a budget, Rosewill Challenger is a good case to start with. On sale you can usually find it for about 40-50 bucks. It has a few fans thrown in, nothing special, but they can get the job done.

Mobo, I'd spend a bit more and maybe get the ASRock Extreme4 or an MSI Z87-G45. A lot of this is going to be personal preference and you'll hae to go with what you like the most.

Memory I'd stick with what you have. Video card I'd go with something like a GTX 760. Best price for performance you're going to find right now. If you bump the budget up just a bit you can fit two of those bad boys into the mix.

The power supply is fine for what you have, but if you ever bump up to two gpus you may want something more efficient and more powerful. Something like a Corsair HX750. Price is about double, but that's one part you don't want to go cheap on.

The RAM will be fine, but it has tall heat spreaders. For the most part those are a gimmick. They look good in the case, but there's not much of a real point to them. They shouldn't be a big deal with your cpu cooler as you should be able to use all DIMMs if you desire at a later date. If you ever switched to a larger air cooler for the CPU you may would lose access to a DIMM with the large heat spreaders on those corsairs.
 

gpellis87

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Meant to add, if you stick with the original CPU you have listed and don't see yourself doing any processor OC'ing, there's no point in really deviating from the intel stock cooler. It'll run you well enough and you can upgrade that at a later date if you desired.
 

Clint Cain

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Aug 25, 2013
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Do you seriously think that I will need 2 Titan's to nicely display 2560X1440 on a 27" IPS?

 

Clint Cain

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Aug 25, 2013
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Ok. Thanks for all the info. I will take a look at the AOC. Its looking like displaying 2560X1440 on a "27 inch IPS isnt going to happen on my planned budget($1000 for the tower and $300 for the monitor).

Im not really interested in overclocking, so im just sticking with the i5-4670. I have seen the rosewill challenger and have been considering it for budget reasons. I just really like the black corsair C70 and its functionality. I also found the Fractal design R4 that has the built in filters, which i dont think the C70 has. Is it also something i should consider?

Do you think the MSI Z-87 G43 would be a good choose. I had actually already planned on the the G45, but the found the G43 for $40 cheaper.


I have also decided i will be going with MSI GTX760 for my GPU. I think in the end it will be worth the extra $50. Im also goong with the corsair cx750 for future expansion.

What is DIMM?
 

jtenorj

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DIMM: dual inline memory module. replaced SIMM(single IMM) about the time the original pentium came about. The contacts on each side of a SIMM were redundant, but the contacts on each side of a DIMM are totally different from one another. SIMM was a 32 bit interface whiile DIMM is a 64 bit interface. Pentium introduced a 64 bit ram data path that could either be filled with 2 matched SIMM or more simply, a single DIMM. It has nothing to do with whether both sides of the module are populated with ram chips or not. Just an FYI(courtesy of wikipedia).

Have you considered the cooler master haf 912 for a case? Or maybe the Antec Three Hundred TWO?

The gtx760 is a good card. You may not max the like of Crysis 3 or Metro Last Light at 1080p on that card, but you can probably run games like that on high. Not sure about GTA V though. That's if any of those titles interest you(also Saint's Row 5 V looks pretty good but seems to have steep requirements. Or The Witcher 2 with Uber Sampling).
 

gpellis87

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If you're going to go with the bigger power supply, I'd personally go with the G45. From what I can find, the G43 supports dual-GPU but only the AMD in Crossfire, not nvidia in SLI. If you went with the G43 to save money, you'd be better off purchasing an AMD graphics card so that you could later add an additional one. If you want to stick with nvidia, you'd be better off going with the G45 as it supports SLI for later on.

Check this out for a graphics card heirarchy: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-card-review,3107-7.html

Just to tack on to one jtenorj said for the DIMMs, I basically meant the slots that you plug the RAM into. A large CPU cooler can block some of the slots, especially if you use high-profile RAM like corsair vengeance. That said, I believe you are going with a closed loop, so you won't have any issues there.
 
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Clint Cain

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Aug 25, 2013
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Well, i pilled the trigger ans here is what i bought.

Fractal R4 windowed midtower
MSI Z87 G45 motherboard
MSI Gtx 760 2gb GPU
Evga 750w modular psu
Corsair vengeance 1600 16gb(4x4gb) ram
1tb seagate hybrid sshd

So now my question is on my monitor. I want a 27" and would love to display 2560x1400. However, i need to know if, in you guys opinion, if my GPU will handle it. I have looked at the korean Qnix monitors and they are priced well, but if is worth it to spend an extra $100-200, then i will. What do you guys think?