My first gaming rig, please help :)

SinValentine · May 6, 2014

Hi everyone!

This is my first time building a gaming PC. I am interested in playing games such as Skyrim, and MMO's like Aion, Tera etc, I also am a digital artist mostly using Photoshop and a Wacom tablet (I'm not sure if that is important to list).

I really would like something long lasting that runs on high settings, I'm assuming a good budget for this would be ~$1.5k?

I am also not very computer savvy, but I am going to attempt to build a good gaming desktop. Any parts, tips or advice given will be appreciated. Thanks!

Approximate Purchase Date: Preferably before September, though I'm not sure if there are any electronic sales that I should look forward to?

Budget Range: $1,500 USD Before/After shipping

System Usage from Most to Least Important: MMO's: Tera, Aion, Warcraft, Starcraft, League of Legends, Photoshop digital art with Wacom tablet, movies

Are you buying a monitor: Any suggestions for good monitors would be appreciated

Parts to Upgrade: I don't know what to write here

Do you need to buy OS: I'm not sure? I think most games are run on windows 7

Location: New York, USA

Overclocking: I'm not sure what this is

SLI or Crossfire: Not sure what this is

Your Monitor Resolution: currently I'm using 1366x 688 but that is because I'm on a laptop, I'm not sure what resolution would be best for a desktop

Additional Comments:I'd like something that does not overheat, a desktop that can run games on high settings where I won't lag. Nothing too loud. Since I am a noob I would like a case that would easily allow me to upgrade future parts into

And Most Importantly, Why Are You Upgrading: I would like a gaming desktop because my Toshiba satellite laptop is very heated and does not run my games very well, I would like something better and long lasting

Tera's Requirements:
Operating System: Windows 7
Processor Speed: AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+ or, INTEL Core2 Duo E6750
Video Card: ATI Radeon HD 3870 or, NVIDIA GeForce 8800GT
Memory (RAM):4GB
DirectX Version: 9.0C or Greater
Hard Drive Space: 50GB free to install

Aion Requirements:
Windows® XP/Vista/7
AMD Athlon® 800 MHz or Intel Pentium® III 800 MHz
256 MB RAM
1 GB Available HDD space
ATI Radeon® 9600 or NVIDIA® FX 5700 Ultra Series Card
Broadband Internet connection
.Net Framework 2.0 (required for NCSOFT Launcher only)

i7Baby · May 6, 2014

For gaming, you should look at the recommended pc specs for those games. Similarly, look at the Photoshop requirements.

For $1500US you can get a good pc build. But does this include peripherals - Monitor(s), Speakers, Keyboard, Mouse, Headphones or any such?

That'll bring it down to at best a $1200 build.

lunyone · May 6, 2014

Depending on your requirements that you looking for, here a build to look over:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1230 V3 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor ($244.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock Z87 Pro3 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($68.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial M500 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($73.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($54.44 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 780 3GB DirectCU II Video Card ($499.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 750W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: LG UH12NS30 Blu-Ray Reader, DVD/CD Writer ($39.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($89.99 @ NCIX US)
Monitor: Acer G237HLbi 60Hz 23.0" Monitor ($129.99 @ Newegg)
Monitor: Acer G237HLbi 60Hz 23.0" Monitor ($129.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1542.33
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-05-06 00:59 EDT-0400)

* Xenon CPU is a i7 4770 without the integrated GPU, so keep that in mind. It is also a bit cheaper than the i7 4770.
* Mobo is good for most peoples needs. If you want to spend more on the Mobo there are plenty of other options. Having a z87 based Mobo will allow you to OC an OC'ing friendly CPU (ones with the "K" after their names like: 4770K, 4670K, etc.).
* RAM is good enough for Intel based systems and comes with low profile heat spreaders and runs at stock voltage of 1.5v and with CAS 9 timings!
* I picked 2 HD's for your build. One for the Boot drive and a few apps (SSD) and one for storage. You have plenty of options here, so keep that in mind.
* GPU is one of the best. Other options include the R9 290/290x, which are finally come back to realistic prices and compete well against the 780/780 Ti.
* The case is good and solid and doesn't cost too much. You have plenty of options here too.
* I added a BR player, but I don't know if you need one or not, so let us know.
* The PSU is plenty for this build and should last through several upgrades in the future. A 500-600w PSU is all that you really need for this build, but I left this 750w PSU in the build, so you could SLI/X-fire 2 GPU's in the future, if you think you need that option (think 4k Monitors down the road or even 3 Monitor support).
* I added 2 x Monitors, because most content providers (graphic designers and such) need to have 2 monitors to be more efficient with what their doing. I also selected IPS panels, because they reproduce colors a bit better and more accurate than most TN (LCD backlit) panels. You can opt for a different option, but I thought I'd throw some out there for you to look at.

SinValentine · May 6, 2014

Thank you very much for your responses, I've added some additional information to my initial post

.
lunyone, I am liking your build so far--I also was not aware of IPS panels over LCD. For my purposes, I think one monitor will suffice--I don't really have room for more.

Also, does the blue ray reader only affect movie viewing? I was thinking I could burn my dvd's/cd's on my laptop and omit the blue ray reader from the cost. Much appreciated!

lunyone · May 6, 2014

SinValentine :

Trust me the 2 monitor option is something you should really consider. If you can't afford it than that is fine, but your productivity will suffer a bit with just 1 monitor. The BluRay reader/DVD/CD Burner is just for watching BluRay movies, if you needed that option. If your going to burn on the laptop than you won't need it on the desktop build (it was just a thought).

lunyone · May 6, 2014

Here's a bit more modified build for a bit less, but should perform pretty close to the previous build:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4440 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor ($177.00 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock Z87 Pro3 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($68.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial M500 240GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($119.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($54.44 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Asus Radeon R9 290 4GB DirectCU II Video Card ($429.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case ($59.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 750W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($89.99 @ NCIX US)
Monitor: Acer G237HLbi 60Hz 23.0" Monitor ($129.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1280.36
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-05-06 04:18 EDT-0400)

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My first gaming rig, please help :)

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