Gaming build under $1300 USD

chiefpiggy

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I want to be able to play next gen games at playable frame rates. If you guys could help me out with my first build, that would be awesome :)
 
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cdrkeen

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Feb 9, 2009
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I'm abit short on time or I would fetch all the prices for you. But here's a few ideas...it's always good to have a 2-1 ratio spending about twice the amount on gpu than cpu. Go with an i5 4670k and a good lga 1150 socket z87 board. MSI, ASUS are my go to's. From there I would get a gtx780 or new radeon top of the line r9 sorry I forget the name.

From there you want a decent set of 2x4 8 GB ddr3 1600. Anything more than that is overkill, go with crucial, kingston, or corsair.

The psu might be the most important. I would recommend the xfx 550pro, it's internals are made by seasonic known to be the best or close to it. This particular model comes johnny guru recommended and has a 5 year warranty. And only 60 bucks on amazon.

I really like the corsair cases, I would get the obsidian 350D I believe its called. Edit: I meant the 650D the other one is micro atx

choose the os. Many people say stick with windows 7 well 8.1 isnt bad at all,takes getting used to but its worth it because you will get updates longer and potentially further direct x developement.

Get the hyper 212 evo, only 30 and much more silent and less of a hassle than installing the stock one. Plus if youre getting an unlocked cpu you might as well up that multi to get you to around 4.2 ghz, most ppl get there or close to it without even having to changing voltage.

Lastly, Get a corsair or intel 120gb ssd for the os and a wd 1tb blue for storage or the black if youre worried about losing your data. But you should back it up anyway really.

That should come out to around 1200 usd and a bit more for shipping.

Good luck
 

chiefpiggy

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Nov 11, 2013
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Thank you!
 

cdrkeen

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No problem. Just a heads up, I was doing some reading on the r9 290x and the r9 290. You might want to think about getting that r290. It goes for around $400 and beats out the gtx 780 and Titan in most games. Really good value.
 
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cdrkeen

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I put together a list for you using pcpicker http://pcpartpicker.com/p/26JsY. I think that 550 would be plenty but to be safe I included one with a bit higher rating they say 650 watts, but both have a good single rail. Guru3d did a test with the 290x and at load with an oc'd system didn't go over 400 watts.

This build goes slightly over the $1300 but the ssd is optional and won't effect performance of games. You could take that off to get below this amount.
 

cdrkeen

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One more thing to keep in mind. That case is sweet. Great design. Speed fan control and all but I found out that the front panel doesn't have the typical usb. 3.0 connector that goes to your motherboard through the case. You would have to drag the 2 usb 3.0 cord adapter through the case into the usb 3.0 port in the back, which you could easily do through the back holes of the case. If this bothered you however you could buy one of these adapters. http://www.amazon.com/Silverstone-Tek-USB3-0-Adapter-Cable/dp/B005NGGKPU/ref=sr_1_12?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1385174036&sr=1-12&keywords=USB+3.0+adapter

Also Apparently there are some issues with this motherboard Ethernet and windows 8.1 support because it's so new, the Ethernet drivers aren't installing. So if you are planning to plug in an Ethernet cord to get internet it may not work. I don't know if ASROCK at this point has a bios update to fix this, they might though. If you have a usb wifi stick though it won't matter.