Building New Rig: Budget $2000

QOOOOOOOOQ

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Apr 28, 2014
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Budget includes accessories too. Have a friend helping me a bit, but many opinions are much better than one, so here I go.


Current so far:
--Motherboard: ASRock z87 Pro4 ATX ($170) - just recommended for being good
--Sound Card: Asus Xonar Essence STX ($200) - recommended and has a mini-amp too, for headset
-Headset: Sennheiser PC350 Special Edition ($250) - i want to hear those footsteps, sound quality is as important as graphical quality for me
--SSD: 240gb Samsung Pro ($150) - price assumes you find a good deal, and samsung pro i hear is the best of the best in SSD
--HDD: 240gb 7200rpm Seagate, reusing from laptop ($0) - its brand new, and i don't need much space
--CPU: i7-4770k Turbo > 3.9ghz Haswell ($300) - was told never to cheap out on the CPU
--CPU Cooler: Nocta NH-DI4 Heatpipe Cooler Fan (80$) - i want very long longevity of parts
--GPU: Gigabyte Windforce GTX 770 2gb OC ($320) - i want 100fps constant capped in any fps game with nearly maxed settings, but settling with high is perfectly fine for me, as long as i get 100fps constant, and im not a fan of AA, so 2xAA/4xAA is the ideal amount for me
--RAM: Corsair Vengeance 8gb(2x4) 1600mhz DDR3 240-pin($80)
--Monitor: 1920x1080 native 1080p 2ms 100hz capable refresh LCD with LED backlight ($300) - one of the most important parts for me, i want extreme clarity at 100hz, which means ill most likely tune it down from 120hz
--Mouse: Razer Mamba ($120) - wireless is important, i really don't want to deal with the cord pulling on my movement anymore, but anything wireless with a few programmable buttons for MMOs and of gaming quality is fine for me
--Keyboard: Razer Deathstalker ($70) - keyboard lights are extremely important for night gaming lol, tired of having to squint at the keys
--Mouse Pad: Razer Goliath 2014 Med Control ($15) - anything will do, just don't want to deal with unresponsiveness such that my current mousepad does, be it the fault of mouse or mousepad...
--PSU: Unknown, futureproof hopefully, 650w will do, though i think 850w will be ideal for the next 10 years in case of SLI etc


This is everything so far... lol
This is totaling somewhere of ~$2200, deals included I HOPE to get it something more like ~$1700, but $2000 is my absolute max, I've been competitively gaming and also having fun for the last 8 years, and discrepancies are seriously starting to frustrate me, thus I saved up enough for getting something to last, longevity is key, I plan another 5-6 years without even having to upgrade anything, but as low as 4 would be ok too, no less, I'm very tight with my money, thus the best bang for buck is best, I don't care the brand, as long as it lives up to expectations, although I've very little knowledge of AMD.

When listing better options than listed above, please state why it's a good choice, a good second choice, perhaps some reasons, anything to better make an informed decision instead of 'Just buy A-F they're good.' Of course it will be for gaming, FPS(CoD, BF), also MMOs. Sound quality and minimalist graphical discrepancies are the most important thing. I have no problem turning graphics down a bit if it means I get that 100fps constant, as I've been playing minimalist graphics for the last 8 years with basically 20-40fps in all games.
 

trowe2

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Apr 22, 2014
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go to pcpartpicker.com and set up this same build. It will help you see how much everything costs and help you shop around a bit better.

Its also not a good idea to simply "guess" your PSU wattage. Actually visit a website that calculates your power consumption based on your parts and then add 100 or so watts for future proofing, safety factor, etc.
 

QOOOOOOOOQ

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Apr 28, 2014
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I tried that, but it doesnt include specific parts, only generic, such as 'gtx 770' instead of 'gtx 770 evga ftw' or anything, and MANY parts/models arent even listed, and i found it quite a bit inefficient because of that - an even after all of that, theres no way for me to tell which parts or bang for buck is better when i have no experience, and i cant even include AMD because i know nothing about them
 
Everything on your list is on PCPartPicker...

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i7-4770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($326.98 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D14 65.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($59.66 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: ASRock Z87 Extreme4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($124.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($149.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 780 3GB TWIN FROZR Video Card ($499.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: NZXT Source 220 ATX Mid Tower Case ($44.99 @ TigerDirect)
Power Supply: Antec HCG M 850W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($99.99 @ Amazon)
Monitor: Asus VG248QE 144Hz 24.0" Monitor ($269.99 @ B&H)
Sound Card: Asus Xonar Essence STX 24-bit 192 KHz Sound Card ($186.99 @ Amazon)
Keyboard: Cooler Master CM Storm Quick Fire TK Wired Gaming Keyboard ($79.24 @ B&H)
Mouse: Razer Mamba 2012 Elite Wireless Laser Mouse ($102.19 @ NCIX US)
Headphones: Sennheiser PC 350 SE Headset ($219.95 @ Amazon)
Total: $2244.93
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-04-28 17:36 EDT-0400)

This comes with a 780 though, for the same price. Which I would definitely recommend for the length of time you want this to last. It will also power a 144Hz monitor a lot better than a 770 will.
 
Solution


Don't EVER go to a PSU calculator, as they almost always give horridly bad information. I'm not sure what he was talking about, you were dead on about what wattage is necessary for a single GPU and SLI configuration.
 

QOOOOOOOOQ

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Apr 28, 2014
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Wow thanks, pehaps i was using a different parts calculator...? But a lot of that stuff is even 33% cheaper than the cheapest i couldfind myself. For 1080p basically maxed graphics, is 3gb vram beter than 2gb? I assumed 2 was plenty to run.
 
2GB is plenty to run on now, but I was going off of your desire to have this build last as long as possible before upgrades. With that in mind, 3GB will last longer, and deal better with stuff like increased AA. The 770, which you had before, is normally what I recommend when people want Ultra/Max in 1080p at 60 FPS, but as you are wanting to take advantage of a higher refresh rate, the 780 is definitely worth the increased price. If possible, it's ALWAYS recommended to get as strong of a GPU as can fit in your budget for gaming longevity lol This is why I also stayed with the i7-4770k. An i5 is plenty powerful for now, but once games start utilizing more threads, the i7 will be able to handle them better, which means frame drops during CPU-intensive situations (multiplayer) will occur less often, and be less noticeable.

And that's the nice thing about PCPartPicker - once you know the kind of parts you want/need - is that it polls around a dozen popular/reputable websites to find you the lowest price. You can even sign up for emailed notices of price drops if you want to wait for good deals like sales :)