New Build for Final Fantasy XIV.

[Jaybotics]

Approximate Purchase Date: 10/30/12 (I'm in the process of saving, so no real time frame)
Budget Range: 1,500-2,000
System Usage from Most to Least Important: Photoshop Projects, Final Fantasy XIV (Max Settings), Watching Movies
Parts Not Required: Need everything BUT a mouse and speakers. (I'm migrating for OS X.)
Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Newegg or Micro center. I hear Micro Center will price match. I want to get the best bang for my buck!
Country: USA
Parts Preferences: I am open to suggestions/ideas. I have never built a PC before, and this will be the first time doing so.
Overclocking: No.
SLI or Crossfire: Not sure what this is.
Monitor Resolution: 1920x1080, 1920x1200 preferred. *Would like a monitor that is at least 27'.
Additional Comments:

Hello! I am planning on migrating over to a Windows machine sometime in the very near future. Like I said in my post, I do not have a time frame for this computer. I have about 600 saved up, and plan on buying new parts for it every other week or so until I've got everything. I want to be able to play Final Fantasy XIV with max settings. I do Photoshop work as well, so a really great monitor will be needed. Again, this will be my first time assembling a computer, so I have very limited knowledge in what parts I should be getting. I don't have a budget since I am buying parts every other week rather than all at once, so if anyone wants to 'build' me some kind of system, I am open to ideas and discussion.

Thank you so much, and I can't wait to hear some responses!

 

[rwayne]

I have about 600 saved up, and plan on buying new parts for it every other week or so until I've got everything

I don't recommend buying parts 'one at a time' for two major reasons:

REASON ONE:
PC Parts or anything 'Tech' related depreciates in value faster than automobiles (percentage wise). You will spend a whole lot more money buying parts one at a time than if you got them all at once. 3 months from now everything will be cheaper plus many ecommerce sites offer combo deals and free shipping when buying in pairs or threes which is the primary way I slash my costs when building a rig.

Here is another example. Read this article:

http://fudzilla.com/home/item/27923-amd-to-slash-hd-7970-7950-and-7870-prices-on-monday

On Monday AMD plans to slash the prices of their top cards by $50 a piece. How would you feel if you bought your card 2 months ago and would not get the final pieces until August? You just lost $50. Plus you also lost a few months off of your warranty.

REASON TWO:
Various parts (such as processors) have a certain return period associated with them. What happens if you buy parts one at a time over a period of 3 to 4 months then on the 4th month when you have everything you find out the processor you purchased on month 2 is bad and you can not longer return it for a quick exchange and are forced to go through Intel or AMD to get things changed out which is most likely a more involved and time consuming process?

If you do it save up your money and do it all at once.

 

[smorizio]

if your going to buy parts as there onsale or as funding works out. take a look at micro center sales flyer and newegg daily deals. the i5-3570 190.00 at micro center right now is the best bang for the money for a gaming cpu. unless your going to do two high end 690..or two high end gpu then i would say jump up to an i7. the intel mb going to run you 150-230. z77 chipset mb.. the price is going to be on what features the mb has and what missing. most of the good gaming mb will have wifi built in and the video slots will be 16x sli or crossfire and 8x and 8x with two cards. some mb like the sabertooth i have your paying extra for an all black mb with a dust cover..it does have one nice feature that the new asus mb is usb flashback..you can flash the mb bios or recover it with a usb stick. no cpu or ram is needed. 8g of ram will be fine (look for good low profile 1.5v ram. 1600 speed.) with 9-9-9-9 timing. just make sure the ram is on the motherboard qal list of tested ram. a ssd as the boot os and 1g or larger sata drive as the data drive. use a good name brand power supply crusial/sesonice or a rebranded sesonic. a bad ps can cause reboots..or bsod or just wont hold the load. i would hold out for the 660 video card that be out in a few weeks and see how well it test vs a 580 and amd cards. if it faster then the 580 then at it 300.00 price point would be a great gaming card.
when you looking at computer cases look at the antec 100 and the r300 cases. the newer gaming case dont need locking screws and they have places for wire runs and fans that have one pulling in the front and two out. also cases like the r300 have nothing blocking long video cards. they also can have tall cpu heat sink like the 212.

 

[Jaybotics]

Thank you everyone for input and suggestions! I will probably just buy them all at once, I didn't take any of that into consideration.

If anyone would be willing to set up a wish list for me on Newegg on a complete system, and would share it, that would be great! I really just want to be able to buy everything, and have it assembled. Looking at options kind of gives me a headache.

@Smorizio, thanks for the input on the i5 deal, however the recommended requirements for Final Fantasy XIV are the i7. To be honest, I don't know really know the difference, but I just want to be sure that the game will run without any lag.

Thanks for the input!

 

[Jaybotics]

I've done a little browsing on Newegg, and this is what I've come up with so far.

Motherboard: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131821

CPU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116501

Memory: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233299

 

[rwayne]

I would recommend looking at the Tom's Hardware System Builder Marathon Articles for a $1,000 and $2,000 dollar builds:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/core-i7-3770k-overclock-geforce-gtx-680,3219.html

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/overclock-radeon-hd-7970-core-i5,3210.html

Even if you don't plan on spending $2,000 by the time October / November comes the parts should gravitate downwards in price by a good amount.

I would price out a PC for you but I typically only do that for people who are looking to purchase within 1 - 2 weeks. Prices 3 months from now will be dramatically different and you will have new players in the market too.

Right now the best bang for the buck mid-range videocard is the AMD HD7850. If the reports of tomorrow's $50 price cut by AMD comes true then the HD7870 may become the best value. And in August when the Nvidia GTX 660ti is released may dethrone both of them as the best value card.

Plus hard drive prices continue to drop.

There are too many variables between now and then.

 

[azeem40]

At $2000 budget, you can get a 2560x1440 IPS Korean Catleap monitor.

Here's what I'd get:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($214.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z77-DS3H ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($111.06 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($45.99 @ Newegg)
Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 1.5TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 670 2GB Video Card ($409.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair 500R Black ATX Mid Tower Case ($114.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Antec 520W ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($63.98 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Asus BC-12B1ST/BLK/B/AS Blu-Ray Reader, DVD/CD Writer ($54.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (64-bit) ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Keyboard: Microsoft SIDEWINDER X4 Wired Gaming Keyboard ($42.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1278.95
(Prices include shipping and discounts when available.)

Add $310-350 for Korean Catleap 27" from ebay (buy from green-sum; guaranteed satisfaction).

 

[Jaybotics]

At $2000 budget, you can get a 2560x1440 IPS Korean Catleap monitor.

Here's what I'd get:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($214.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z77-DS3H ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($111.06 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($45.99 @ Newegg)
Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 1.5TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 670 2GB Video Card ($409.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair 500R Black ATX Mid Tower Case ($114.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Antec 520W ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($63.98 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Asus BC-12B1ST/BLK/B/AS Blu-Ray Reader, DVD/CD Writer ($54.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (64-bit) ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Keyboard: Microsoft SIDEWINDER X4 Wired Gaming Keyboard ($42.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1278.95
(Prices include shipping and discounts when available.)

Add $310-350 for Korean Catleap 27" from ebay (buy from green-sum; guaranteed satisfaction).

Thank you so much for this! It makes it so much easier for me to pick apart which parts I will need to get. Would you recommend your suggestions over the CPU/Motherboard/Memory parts that I found?