Help Choosing Parts for First Build - $1000 to $1400

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tpierret

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Sep 29, 2014
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Alright, I'm an avid gamer, and would love to have a system that can handle pretty much any game on max settings with 60+ fps if possible. My budget is ~$1000, but I'll need at least a monitor, and I'll get a keyboard if there's enough money left over, so I'll bump that up to $1200 to cover some of that. My absolute cap is $1400, no more, unless its like $20.

I mostly play World of Warcraft, so it shouldn't be too hard to meet the performance I want for that, but I -do- want to meet that for newer games as well.

I have a small amount of knowledge on installing the hardware, but don't know much when it comes to choosing the actual parts. I don't know what's great, I don't know what's "kinda okay", I don't know what's good but overpriced, etc, etc.

If someone with the required knowledge could give me a list of components that you would suggest I get with my budget and desires in mind, that would be wonderful.

Thanks in advance!
 
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bluejayek

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Apr 3, 2013
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PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($218.94 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($28.49 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock H87M Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($84.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($84.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Crucial MX100 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($109.97 @ SuperBiiz)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($88.97 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 970 4GB Video Card ($339.98 @ NCIX US)
Case: BitFenix Comrade ATX Mid Tower Case ($39.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12G 550W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply ($81.30 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($16.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($88.98 @ OutletPC)
Monitor: Asus VE248Q 24.0" Monitor ($177.58 @ Newegg)
Keyboard: Logitech Corded Keyboard K280e Wired Standard Keyboard ($14.99 @ NCIX US)
Mouse: Razer DeathAdder Wired Laser Mouse ($54.24 @ Amazon)
Total: $1430.39
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-09-29 18:13 EDT-0400

Assuming USD, here is a built including a basic keyboard, a razer deathadder mouse (I love this mouse. I don't know that they are the most reliable though. However, over 4 years, two have died on me, and I still bought a third.)

30$ over budget which hopefulyl is not the end of the world. We can work out where to cut if this is untenable.

By the way.. The keyboard and monitor are just suggestions / placeholders for price. I'm not comfortable enough to really recomend those.
 
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tpierret

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Sep 29, 2014
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4,510


I'm in the USA, so yes, USD was the correct assumption, and no, I have no parts from a previous build to carry forward. I do have a razer naga mouse already, and so I do not need that, and if neccesary I have a keyboard and monitor already, but would prefer to replace at least the monitor.

I have no exact preference in mind for resolution, all I know is that I want to have the screen space to customize my UI (especially in WoW). My current resolution is pretty low, I can find out the specifics if needed.

Would it be possible to cut down about $200 from the build you gave me without sacrificing much performance? I can afford the $1400, but was aiming for $1000-$1200 with some space for wiggle room.

Edit: [strike]Is the price listed in your post with or without tax and shipping costs? I feel like that would add a good chunk on top of that.[/strike] Just saw the fine print saying it includes tax/shipping costs.
 
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bluejayek

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Apr 3, 2013
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The thing about reducing the cost is that I will be cutting the graphics card. The new generation GTX970 has about the same price/performance as the next price teir down, so you don't gain as much value as you'd expect. If you don't need to build this computer now, it may be worthwhile waiting a month or so to see if Nvidia launches the GTX960 to cover that lower price point, or if AMD does any price adjustments.

That being said, the next teir down should be a Radeon 285, Saphire is generally well regarded.

I have also downgraded the HDD slightly, and removed the keyboard/mouse.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($218.94 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($28.49 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock H87M Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($84.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($84.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Crucial MX100 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($109.97 @ SuperBiiz)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($54.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R9 285 2GB Dual-X Video Card ($255.66 @ Newegg)
Case: BitFenix Comrade ATX Mid Tower Case ($39.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12G 550W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply ($81.30 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($16.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($88.98 @ OutletPC)
Monitor: Asus VE248Q 24.0" Monitor ($177.58 @ Newegg)
Total: $1242.86
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-09-29 18:35 EDT-0400
 
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tpierret

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Sep 29, 2014
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Alright. How big of a step down is the graphics card in the revised list you have there? As I said, I play a lot of WoW, would it get max graphics settings / 60+ fps in that at least? What about medium-high settings in a newer game, whatever the newest CoD game on PC is, for example. I don't actually play CoD, but, just as a comparison point.

Additionally, can you explain to my the difference between the two "Storage" parts you have listed? I assume they are both required.
 
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bluejayek

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Apr 3, 2013
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I can't find a source for call of duty, but here is a benchmark for 1080p battlefield 4 on ultra.
http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/2014-vga-charts/16-Battlefield-4-1080p,3608.html

In your price range, your monitor will be 60Hz refresh rate, so anything above 60FPS doesn't gain you anything.

The GTX970 gets about 80FPS, the radeon 285 gets 50FPS. Significant difference.

Difference is sometimes closer though.

Thief at 1080p on very high
http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/2014-vga-charts/06-Thief-1080p,3598.html
970 gets ~75, 285 gets 55.


As per storage, the two drives are different technology: The crucial is a solid state drive (no moving parts), the western digital is a standard hard drive (spinning platter).

Solid state drives are the new storage type that are MUCH faster then hard drives. We're talking 10x as fast data transfer rates here, and even more improvement in data seek times.

This doesn't mean your computer runs 10x faster though. What it DOES mean is that any programs installed to the SSD load much faster, and files opened on the SSD will open more quickly.
What you generally are recomended to do is install windows, and your most used programs/games, to the SSD, and leave large media files and everything else on the hard drive to conserve space.

What you can expect is that the times to start up a game, and the times to load different maps ingame (think going into an instance in WoW) will be faster, maybe by 50% or so, with the game on an SSD rather then HDD.

This gives one persons numbers for various games (not WoW, can't finda good source for that for some reason)
http://forum.crucial.com/t5/Solid-State-Drives-SSD/SSD-vs-HDD-game-loading-comparisons/td-p/85884

Hearsay puts the difference for WoW at maybe dropping instance load times from 10s to 5s in some cases.

As per whether you truly need both..

Look at your current computers hard drive. How much disk space are you using? If it is less thatn 200GB, you can probably get away with just the SSD for now. If its more than 200GB, get both.

In the end, you can always buy the second HDD later. It won't hurt anything to install it after you have had the computer for a few months / years to handle data overflow.
 
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tpierret

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Sep 29, 2014
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Well, 50-55 fps on high settings in games like that will probably suffice. I think the latest list you gave me will be what I compare to other peoples' lists. I think I'll also save the money short term and buy the 2nd HDD later, my current HD is something like 700 GB, but I'm using under 200 GB.
 
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