Gaming PC $2000-2500 BF4 - purchasing in two weeks

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kjdocs

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Feb 3, 2014
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Wife has adjusted my budget, i had asked the community about a month ago. Current machine is 6 years old, i hope this one to last me 5 years.

Approximate Purchase Date: 14 days


Budget Range: (e.g.: 2000-2500) Before / After Rebates; Before / After Shipping

System Usage from Most to Least Important:

Gaming - BF4/WoW/Steam
Picture storage, need 3T secondary drive
Need good external drive to for backups

Are you buying a monitor: No (but starting to consider upgrading my 24 inch)


Do you need to buy OS: Yes


Preferred Website(s) for Parts: newegg.com,, amazon, whatever is cheapest

Location: Monroe, LA USA

Parts Preferences: INTEL, EVGA, NVIDIA or RADEON

Overclocking: Maybe

SLI or Crossfire: either

Your Monitor Resolution: 24" 1920x1200 (i think, i'm at work will check when i get home)

Additional Comments: Might not upgrade montior now, but want ability to upgrade to duals in the future

And Most Importantly, Why Are You Upgrading: My xps 730 is 4 or 5 years old, q9450 and GTX 560ti can't really play BF4, my disk drives are out of space, and my pc can really only do ONE thing at a time. I would like to play BF4 at max settings and if i add another monitor, browse the web or watch a video without fear of running out of resources

This will be my ONE SHOT to upgrade for 5 more years. My wife is extremely frugal and if i spend 2k or 4k this year, this is it for 5 years. spending 2k this year and 2k in two years is not going to happen for me. Most likely in 3 years i will sneak in a video card upgrade as i did with my xps.



i need a flat topped case as that is what i rest my arm on and where my mouse goes.
 
Solution
maurelie
Here is something for less than $1800 and i think it will last for the next three years.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($229.96 @ OutletPC)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D14 65.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($74.99 @ Mwave)
Motherboard: Asus Z87-A ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($129.99 @ NCIX US)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($79.12 @ Adorama)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($149.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 3TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($109.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card:...
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K

kjdocs

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Feb 3, 2014
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10,530
Understood, was really just trying to see what the common feedback was on components, especially motherboard so i can start to plan. I have never built a PC before so was going to try and have a game plan with the specific components.
 
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maurelie

maurelie

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Oct 26, 2013
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Here is something for less than $1800 and i think it will last for the next three years.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($229.96 @ OutletPC)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D14 65.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($74.99 @ Mwave)
Motherboard: Asus Z87-A ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($129.99 @ NCIX US)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($79.12 @ Adorama)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($149.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 3TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($109.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 780 Ti 3GB Video Card ($689.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: NZXT Phantom 530 (White) ATX Full Tower Case ($111.98 @ Best Buy)
Power Supply: XFX ProSeries 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($99.99 @ NCIX US)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($19.98 @ OutletPC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($89.98 @ OutletPC)
Total: $1785.96
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-03-03 10:53 EST-0500)
 
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Solution
K

kjdocs

Honorable
Feb 3, 2014
25
0
10,530
sorry for the bump, sorta new. I just was trying to solicit as many opinions as possible to supplement my research before dumping a wad of cash. I get one shot for the next four or five years..
 
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K

kjdocs

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Feb 3, 2014
25
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10,530
That would be great, i'm sort of torn between two directions. I know overspending is kind of senseless, but again, my situation is that i won't really have another chance to upgrade for a long long time.

My wife reduced my budget that i initially had, and i posted about a month ago and really like Drew's suggestion.

http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-2009794/gaming-build-3000-3500-budget.html

I could still meet my budget with this build by only buying one 780ti, but that motherboard sort of scares me after reading the reviews on newegg. Lots of DOA's. I would say the motherboard part of the build is my biggest concern, which had me thinking maybe an 1150 build might be safer from motherboard perspective (more reviews, ASUS hero seems strong, had less DOA's).

So i'm just at an impasse right now. I like the fact that i can spend $2600 today and i might can get another video card (or two) and go 3-way sli in a few years to get me buy.
 
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veladem

veladem

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Sep 6, 2012
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11,660
If you'd like some monitors, or something extra let me know. Also, I suggest water cooling to finish off the budget.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($237.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z87X-UD4H ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($183.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($84.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($149.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Green 3TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($113.17 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 780 3GB Video Card ($524.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: NZXT H440 (Red/Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($119.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: XFX 750W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($89.98 @ OutletPC)
Total: $1596.07
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-03-03 22:06 EST-0500)
 
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kjdocs

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Feb 3, 2014
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i'm just curious, what goes into your recommendations when putting together a list? Why that motherboard vs another? Compared to the Asus Z87-A ATX LGA1150 Motherboard? Just curious, you don't have to answer, and thank you for your list.

 
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veladem

veladem

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Sep 6, 2012
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Well, unless someone is 100% against OC'ing, I grab them a unlocked CPU.

I grab up a good priced/performance board, that supports SLi and OC'ing per request, and try to grab something with good VRM's that won't explode like the MSi 970A-G43.

I grab RAM that is usually a 1600Mhz clock, and 8GB because more really isn't needed for gaming. Anything higher then a 1600 clock and you start to spend to much without any real gains unless using a APU which in that case, might as well buy a console cause I only suggest an APU on rare cases.

I grab storage dependent upon needs and budget. If you need something cheap, with a bit of space, and it needs to be an SSD, I grab a Crucial or Kingston. If you have money to spare in the SSD region, a Samsung do to the shear performance difference.

The HDD is chosen based on how reliable the drive is, and what it will be used for and of course how much space is needed. 3TB in this case, and a solid WD build quality that is hard to match. 5400RPM cause it's a storage drive, games and such should go on the SSD.

Next we move onto the GPU, which in this case is for gaming, 780 is arguably the best single GPU gaming card at it's price range, some tout AMD some Nvidia, I go for best price/performance/budget. And of course the longevity of the cards life in the gaming world while still pulling amazing FPS is taken into account.

The case is like bacon, you can't not love it. (Its a personal choice.)

PSU's should be chosen based on quality, you can find threads about the tiers everywhere. (I can post a link if wanted.) For this build tier 1 or 2 is best based on budget and the quality of the parts going into the build, bad PSU's can cause many issues and even kill parts.

Last, your OS, it's a personal choice between Win 7 and 8, I go for 8 due to slight increases in gaming performance and overall smoothness.

Hope this helps!
 
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K

kjdocs

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Feb 3, 2014
25
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10,530
Yes great explanation, thank you. So what else do i need? thermal paste? a water cooler, is there anything else that might be missing? USB 3.0 front panel (i only mention it as i saw some MB reviewers on a different board say it was required) Just trying to avoid last minute surprises for the build.
 
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veladem

veladem

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Sep 6, 2012
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You can get some thermal paste yes, but, again the best route to go with this build would be a custom water cooling loop. If you don't have time for a custom loop, you could grab a Hyper 212 EVO or H100i/Kraken X60 till you do have time for it.

I don't recommend using the pre-applied thermal paste, so you could grab some.

You have USB 3.0 on case and MoBo.

And a good $100 or so on fans for this puppy like the AF120/140's would be a great investment to keep this guy breathing nice and smooth.

Plus, if you want loud parts, do it, the case has pretty darn good sound proofing.

Of, and the case also comes in White/Black I went with Red/Black cause it matches your parts and then the AF120/140's have a red ring you can add and the custom loop you should run should be lit up with red lights.

Your PC is making me cry thinking about it xD
 
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