Thinking about making a new gaming build (1000-1200 budget)

darksaga017

Reputable
Oct 19, 2014
5
0
4,510
Hi all,

A few years back I made my first gaming rig (about 4-5 years ago) and I'm now toying with the idea of making a new build. My old build was with a first gen i7 930/ATI Radeon HD 5800 series, so I think it's time for a new system. I'm needing some ideas for a new build. Please see below:

Approximate Purchase Date:
Withing the next month or so

Budget Range:
1000-1200 all together

System Usage from Most to Least Important:
Mostly Gaming, Internet, Daily Use, etc.

Are you buying a monitor:
No, I have two already.


Parts to Upgrade:
No plans to reuse any old parts from my old PC.

Do you need to buy OS:
Yes, Not sure if I should go Win7 or Win8.1

Preferred Website(s) for Parts:
Would prefer newegg for all parts

Location:
New Jersey

Parts Preferences:
Intel/Nvidia. I also love my Asus MoBo on my current build, would love to stick with Asus in my new build but it's not a deal breaker if I go to another brand.

Overclocking:
Not sure, most likely not at first, but would love to have the option open.

SLI or Crossfire:
Maybe, depends on the budget

Your Monitor Resolution:
My primary monitor runs 1920x1080, My secondary 1600x900.

Additional Comments:
I prefer Full towers, but Mid-Towers would also work if necessary. Window would be preferable in the case. Would prefer Modular PSU.

Thank you for the help!
 
Solution
This is a build that I made for you yesterday but I couldn't post it because the forums were down.

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/zJ7mRB
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/zJ7mRB/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($219.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: Asus Z97-A ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($136.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Team Zeus Blue 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial M500 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($49.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB ACX 2.0 Video Card ($329.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Cooler Master HAF 912 ATX Mid Tower Case...
Working on it. you have the budget and we have the technology.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($219.98 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($28.99 @ Micro Center)
Motherboard: Asus Z97M-PLUS Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($126.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($82.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial MX100 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($109.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($49.98 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB Superclocked ACX 2.0 Video Card ($345.66 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA NEX 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer ($14.99 @ Amazon)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8 (OEM) (64-bit) ($97.48 @ OutletPC)
Total: $1137.04
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-10-19 15:47 EDT-0400

Budget remaining for a case you like. After build is finalized we can adjust for all Newegg prices.
 

darksaga017

Reputable
Oct 19, 2014
5
0
4,510
Thank you for your suggestions. Just have a couple questions.

1) You recommended an micro ATX board. Won't this not allow for future SLI builds? I don't want to run two cards initially, but want the option open for the future. Should I go with an ATX board for future proofing?

2) With the SSD, do you think it is necessary for a 256 gig drive if I'm going to be put the OS on it and maybe only one or two games? Or should I go down to a 128 gig drive?

3)I was looking at a bunch of GTX 970 video cards off of your recommendation. I saw more people pointing to the Gigabyte Windforce 970 vs the EVGA Superclocked card. I don't mind spending a little extra on a better quality card.

Thank you!

 
1) mATX can SLI. According to pcpartpicker, that board is the cheapest best board that does. I built the system with two GTX970s SLI together.

2) The cost increase is moderate and allows for a significant number of games/applications and level loading (I play RPGs) and bigger SSDs are faster than smaller ones due to parallelism. For those reasons, I went with 256 over 128 in my mini-ITX build.

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-2328703/build-log-mini-itx-middle-school/page-5.html#14424236

3) There was a heat problem and design flaw in the early models.
This is a set of reviews :

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/graphics/2014/09/19/nvidia-geforce-gtx-970-review/1

The marginal cost is small, so go with whatever you like or others recommend (it's pretty new and there's little actual experience at the moment, but that will change)

Look at the stock overclocking frequencies and cooling solutions.
 
This is a build that I made for you yesterday but I couldn't post it because the forums were down.

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/zJ7mRB
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/zJ7mRB/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($219.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: Asus Z97-A ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($136.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Team Zeus Blue 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial M500 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($49.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB ACX 2.0 Video Card ($329.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Cooler Master HAF 912 ATX Mid Tower Case ($53.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: SeaSonic 620W 80+ Bronze Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($54.99 @ Amazon)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-14 DVD/CD Writer ($12.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($97.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $1096.90
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-01-05 21:18 EST-0500
 
Solution