Gaming Pc build under $2000

Of course! $2000 is complete overkill for gaming at 1080P. If you want a machine which can run absolutely everything maxed, even on 1440P, then I recommend this build. Remember, this is a pure gaming build. If you want the best Multimedia support (iMovie, Photoshop, AutoCAD, ect), let me know and I will modify it.

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/jbtWK8
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/jbtWK8/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($235.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i 77.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($97.16 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Asus Z97-A ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($139.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill Trident X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-2400 Memory ($86.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 840 Pro Series 128GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($99.00 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($83.24 @ Amazon)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 970 4GB Twin Frozr V Video Card ($355.91 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair 450D ATX Mid Tower Case ($119.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: EVGA 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($109.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1328.26
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-10-10 09:40 EDT-0400

This would be THE most overkill I'd go, considering you won't need to change ANYTHING for the next 3-5 years:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($339.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D14 65.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($74.98 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Asus Z97-A ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($137.99 @ NCIX US)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($144.00 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial MX100 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($109.99 @ Micro Center)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($84.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 980 4GB Superclocked ACX 2.0 Video Card ($569.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Corsair 750D ATX Full Tower Case ($139.99 @ Micro Center)
Power Supply: EVGA 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($104.99 @ NCIX US)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (32/64-bit) ($94.99 @ B&H)
Total: $1791.90
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-10-10 11:48 EDT-0400

The above suggestions work awesome if you also plan to SLI one of those solutions in the future. In which case I'd say go with the 980

Do any of you know what it really takes to do true 4K gaming?

Sorry, I just get a bit...

Never mind.

How much do you want to spend? Because unless you are looking to drop crazy $$$ stop thinking 4K.

Make a system to run 1440p first and look at $5-6K just on true 1440p.

For $3-4K you can look at a real ultra system until then just stop...

Sometimes this place gives me a headache...

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/dZp3sY
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/dZp3sY/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i7-5820K 3.3GHz 6-Core Processor ($383.98 @ OutletPC)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i 77.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($97.16 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: MSI X99S SLI Plus ATX LGA2011-3 Motherboard ($224.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($224.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: A-Data Premier Pro SP600 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($98.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($79.98 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 980 4GB Twin Frozr Video Card ($577.27 @ TigerDirect)
Case: Fractal Design Define R4 w/Window (Black Pearl) ATX Mid Tower Case ($84.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: XFX ProSeries 850W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($109.99 @ NCIX US)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($19.98 @ OutletPC)
Case Fan: Cooler Master SickleFlow 69.7 CFM 120mm Fan ($2.99 @ Newegg)
Case Fan: Cooler Master SickleFlow 69.7 CFM 120mm Fan ($2.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1908.30
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

This is a really powerful build, perfect for editing or maxed out ultra gaming. It is water cooled and I put 2 case fans which will make sure your system is cool no matter how much you overclock. I added more watts for future upgradability.

So this is the system that Asus built to run true 4K... So do you want to drop the $$$

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2sDmNG
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2sDmNG/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($335.98 @ OutletPC)

Thermal Compound: Arctic Silver 5 High-Density Polysynthetic Silver 3.5g Thermal Paste ($6.73 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Asus SABERTOOTH Z97 MARK 1 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($238.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair Dominator Platinum 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($439.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Samsung 850 Pro Series 128GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($109.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Samsung 850 Pro Series 128GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($109.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Sandisk Extreme Pro 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($179.14 @ Amazon)
Storage: Sandisk Extreme Pro 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($179.14 @ Amazon)
Storage: Sandisk Extreme Pro 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($179.14 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital VelociRaptor 500GB 3.5" 10000RPM Internal Hard Drive ($128.00 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital VelociRaptor 500GB 3.5" 10000RPM Internal Hard Drive ($128.00 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital VelociRaptor 1TB 3.5" 10000RPM Internal Hard Drive ($213.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Video Card: Asus Radeon R9 295X2 8GB Video Card (2-Way CrossFire) ($1167.04 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Asus Radeon R9 295X2 8GB Video Card (2-Way CrossFire) ($1167.04 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair AX1500i 1500W 80+ Titanium Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($439.99 @ Micro Center)
Optical Drive: LG BH16NS40 Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer ($89.90 @ B&H)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 Professional (32/64-bit) ($170.99 @ Adorama)
Monitor: Asus PQ321Q 31.5" Monitor ($1939.99 @ Amazon)
Monitor: Asus PQ321Q 31.5" Monitor ($1939.99 @ Amazon)
Monitor: Asus PQ321Q 31.5" Monitor ($1939.99 @ Amazon)
Case Fan: Noctua NF-A14 FLX 68.0 CFM 140mm Fan ($21.94 @ OutletPC)
Case Fan: Noctua NF-A14 FLX 68.0 CFM 140mm Fan ($21.94 @ OutletPC)
Case Fan: Noctua NF-A14 FLX 68.0 CFM 140mm Fan ($21.94 @ OutletPC)
Case Fan: Noctua NF-S12A PWM 120mm Fan ($19.37 @ Mwave)
Case Fan: Noctua NF-S12A PWM 120mm Fan ($19.37 @ Mwave)
Case Fan: Noctua NF-P12 PWM 120mm Fan
Case Fan: Noctua NF-P12 PWM 120mm Fan
Case Fan: Noctua NF-P12 PWM 120mm Fan
Fan Controller: NZXT Sentry Mix 2 Fan Controller ($29.99 @ Amazon)
Keyboard: Corsair Vengeance K95 Wired Gaming Keyboard ($135.99 @ Amazon)
Mouse: Logitech G502 Wired Optical Mouse ($64.99 @ NCIX US)
Speakers: Logitech Z906 500W 5.1ch Speakers ($319.99 @ Amazon)
Other: CaseLabs MAGNUM TH10A ($719.95)
Other: Swifttech CPU Water Loop Cooler ($269.95)
Other: IO Crest SATA III 4 Port PCI-e 2.0 x1 ($31.99)

Total: $12781.41

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-10-10 20:09 EDT-0400

I hope you're not trolling... That's 6 times OP's budget.

Not a troll at all, I just want people to know what it takes to make true 4K... Asus and Microsoft built this system I listed to run 4K with minor flaws.

This is the top 2 companies for graphics architecture, and they could not make flawless 4K with a 13K....

I have been building systems for nearly 20 years, and to see some of these people say 4K with... is just BS, I don't want anyone to waste money...

Simple as that.

The claim of running 4k on a computer system makes me laugh at times. Most of my experience with presumed 4k is with the UHDTV screens that have flooded the market. What pisses me off about this is people think they project everything in actual 4k resolution; which is half true. They are really just projecting the original video's resolution (typically 720p or 1080p for typical consumer HD video) onto a near-4k resolution screen. I have a hunch that many of the gamers running a "4k setup" are doing the same kind of thing; likely 1440p/etc. projected onto a 2160p screen. I have no problem with that, but I have a problem with it being advertised as "4k gaming."

You're right; true 4k gaming is not within the common budgets for the more extreme gaming builds. When people actually start gaming in 4k, and streaming 4k movies to their TV screens, the difference will be night and day. IMHO, while the look of most video content might be improved over the standard 1080p screens, that is really a hardware improvement, and is usually mistaken for something else. If the original screens were using the same hardware, you'd probably see little/no difference in picture quality. It wouldn't even surprise me if the typical "4k gamer" doesn't even know how much storage space 4k video would take up. But I'm ranting a bit...

OP- the build that zeyuanfu posted would be enough for an overkill consumer build. If you want to run 3-D rendering, add a workstation video card (the Quadro k4000 is a decent pick) to do your 3-D rendering. Consumer GPUs are not natively supported with AutoDesk, so your performance would be insufficient for a more serious user.

I'm on your side...

Even with my next system build, I would never tell anyone I can run 4K. And that is with each of my personal builds, as I use them to show people cost between $4.5K--$5.5K per layout, and I run fully independent layouts. i.e game, work, home programs are all on different SSD drives

I just think people see things on the inter-webs and are like "hey 4K, I can get that with $1k and a Titan-Z" Not realizing what it really takes to push that kind of computing power in a graphics sense.

I run pretty intense systems with animation/media and rendering and even with my damn system running at $5K + I would not try to game at 4K.

I have 3 27" monitors 2 @ 1080p and 1 @ 1440p and I only game on my 1080p to keep all things at max...

I am rambling now...

Slaphappy6, what do you want to get out of this system and what do you want to spend... Some of us here can help, we just need to know what your looking for...

Not to be argumentative over this, but the build you've listed really isn't balanced for proper editing performance. For best video editing performance with the 5820K, you would really want a minimum of 32 GB RAM. 16 GB is enough to get by with something like the 4790k, but you will have better overhead with 32 GB. Since the CPU really determines the diminishing returns of the memory capacity, it would be better to have and not need, as the extra cores will be able to utilise more RAM. If memory use doesn't go up from the quad core i7 to the six core, then that would tell me the extra cores are doing little to help. In that case, might as well go with a 4790k and OC it.

There also isn't a really big need for 2400 Mhz memory. The difference in speed between the 1866 and 2400 Mhz memory is less significant than many purport it to be; and it won't yield too much real-world performance gains. 1866 Mhz is the sweet spot for i7 quad cores; so unless the 5820k has something to help out with that, I would say 2400 Mhz memory is a waste of money for practicality. There are some processes that can utilise 2400 Mhz memory, but it doesn't seem that video editing is one of them. I haven't heard too much on 3-D desiging, but I wouldn't expect it to be much different, as the workstation cards should handle all/most of the rendering.

Um, I didn't build this system Asus and Microsoft Dev teams built this system to see what it took to run anything with minor glitches... Again I say minor glitches. Their build, Asus and Microsoft Dev cost 15K at the time, the same parts today you can get for 13.5K... Not saying 4k is not not feasible, it will just cost a hell of allot more then people think.

So don't call me a troll for something the top graphic design teams used to benchmark...

Read what I posted, and then tell me it still doesn't make sense. While you may not need to replicate that particular build, that build does make a statement. Let's save the nitpicking, and keep things realistic; that build sheet was obviously an example (he even stated it). Even if you remove all the extra HDD/SSDs, you take it down to one monitor, you use a consumer case (I'm not entirely sure that's a good idea), and you remove the keyboard/speakers/mouse, the build won't go below the $7,000 mark too much. Use a custom water cooling system, and you're probably sitting around $7k easily.

True 4k resolution gaming would require twice the computation power to achieve ultra 1080p settings. If you can't figure out why, let me help you: 4k= 4096 x 2160 resolution. UHDTV screens produce a standard 16:9 resolution in 2160p (3840 x 2160), which means you would effectively need twice the hardware to produce genuine 4k results... sort of. You would actually need a little more than twice the power to output standard 1920 x 1080 resolution, as the UHDTV screens have 256 pxiels cropped off of the height. For true 4k gaming, the output would need to be 4096 x 2160 resolution. If you're simply displaying 1440p onto a UHDTV spec screen (2160p), then that's all well and good... but it is not the equivalent to real 4k gaming.

I'm also willing to bet that most games on the market couldn't support real 4k gaming, as you would need to create the visuals in a 4k environment, and release them without being shrunk down for the consumer. That would result in a lot of complaints on the consumer end, as required storage space would increase dramatically. It's all simple mathematics. 4k gaming is twice the screen size of 1080p. You will obviously need twice the power to run UHDTV spec screens (2160p), and just a little more than that for genuine 4k resolution outputs. I can't figure out why people deny that.

EDIT: when I said that build sheet was an example, I mean every single component used was not necessarily meant to be taken literally for what the OP wants. Three screens may not be desired, and so on. Tower hardware-wise, not so much an example.

4K CERTAINLY DOES NOT take:
1, A Mark 1 board
1, Dominator RAM
3, Five SSDs
4, Three HDDs
5, 2 R9 295x2 (if you're going overkill, why not Titan Z?)
6, Eight fans and ALL the peripherals that come with it.

I'm wondering what you believe it takes to produce gaming output at 4096 x 2160 resolution, zeyuanfu. That is what the industry standard for 4k resolution is. I'd accept 3840 x 2160 resolution, as that's what passes for 4k these days (UHD), but that is literally twice the pixel height and width of 1080p.

Here are some basic mathematics to help you understand what we're saying:
1920 x 1080 = 2,073,600 pixels
3840 x 2160 = 8,294,400 pixels
4096 x 2160 = 8,847,360 pixels

I guess, I was kind of wrong to begin with... it doesn't look like twice the resolution would take twice the hardware; it looks like you would need more than twice the performance (with UHD/4k resolutions) to obtain identical picture quality of 1080p gaming. If you look at how many pixels need to be rendered in a single frame, UHD has 4x the amount of pixels in a standard 1080p monitor, and the industry standard 4k resolution (or what I call "true 4k") is 4.27x the number of pixels in a 1080p monitor. Looking at the pixel count, that would mean that your video card has to push 4x the amount of pixels, within the same time frame, and without lagging. Does that not sound like a tall order for current GPUs? Oh yeah, and we're also trying to maintain a constant 60 fps minimum average frame rate, with maximum visual settings... with 4x the pixel count.

Why not the Titan Z? This Titan Z review will basically explain why SLI R9 295's were used- http://www.guru3d.com/articles-pages/nvidia-geforce-gtx-titan-z-review,1.html

While the provided build is a bit overkill, he isn't saying that is exactly what is needed to make 4k gaming. He's saying that Asus and Microsoft built a custom machine (which are always overkill), and it could not make a flawless 4k experience. I don't know how that isn't very clear. By gaming standards, where 60 fps is considered the minimum ideal frame rate, there is no card on the market that will consistently perform, at full settings, with UHD resolutions; even when using SLI/Crossfire. The results for a true 4k screen would also be slightly worse (though I would assume marginally). Thief and Metro both suffered sub-50 fps results, with the Titan Z in third place, and the dual 295's and SLI 780 Ti's just scratching the 45 fps mark. If games become more GPU intensive, which is always the common demand, then what we have definitely won't hold up for very long. In fact, based on the benchmarks in that review alone, not even the build from Asus and Microsoft would hold up to current frame rate standards that are so beloved in the gaming community; yet I hear claims that it can be done with $5k. Can anyone prove their claims? Now, can we see why the build provided earlier won't cut the mustard?

This is about as straightforward as I can make it. Read that Titan Z review, and it will help put things into proper perspective. It has been attempted, more than once, to achieve a steady 4k gaming platform that will perform at the current 60 fps minimum desired by gamers; and we currently cannot do it with dual GPUs. It might be possible, if 3-way SLI was done with the 780 Ti... but I don't know if that's been tried yet. That looks like the most promising method of obtaining flawless 4k gaming, though it would have to be done in a custom build... Anyone want to help me fund my new gaming project?! We can figure out what it really takes to run UHD resolution gaming with the current cards on the market.

Since we can only speculate as to what the OP wants from 4k gaming, as it has not been explicitly explained yet, there's a good reason to have this sort of debate/conversation going on in plain view. It's relevant to what the OP has asked for; so why should we move it? It may clutter up the conversation, but there are two people trying to explain the realistic side of 4k gaming for the OP's benefit, and do not want the OP to buy a computer with expectations the computer cannot match. Just trying to inform him with facts, instead of the speculation that has been purported to give him what he wants. Since we don't know what the OP wants, it's better to lay everything out and let the OP make a choice.