Gaming setup above $1000

[VKswi1tchV]

Hi,
I've found myself in somewhat of a predicament. First of all, I would like to make it clear that I currently live in Morocco (I do not have access to all hardware nor am i able to order parts online for a custom build). So this is what my problem is (lol):

My brother and I, who are both avid gamers, would like to invest in a good gaming pc. We both play all kinds of games like MMOs, FPSs, Strategy games, RPGs, you name it. basically any game that we don't already play on our consoles. Of us two, I am definitely the pickier one when it comes to graphics, framerates and an optimized gameplay experience.

We've started looking around our city for what's available to us and tbh there aren't too many options. Our only approach is through local stores that bring in pc's from the capital where oem HQ's are based. So far in our search for the options available to us, we have come across two main ones, namely: 1) Buy a dell xps 8500 "gaming" pc for around $1450 (I'm guestimating the currency exchange rate). 2) We found one local store owner who also offered us some HP and Dells he can order for us, but we werent interested. However, he also claims that he can build a custom rig for us (though I am not sure of his qualifications)

So here's where I'm torn...i can buy the dell (its one of the higher end xps 8500 with the 3.4Ghz i7, 8 or 12 gb ram, 2 gb radeon hd gpu, 2TB drive, im sure you guys know the setup) and have something that is tangible (though I'm highly skeptical of oem prebuilts in general due to past experience. On the other hand, we can rely on the other guy to build us a rig to our spec requirements and he even says he'll give us a 2 year warranty (he'll fix it if anything goes wrong). He claims he can get us an nvidia gpu with 2gb vram (or its equivalent), our choice of i5 or i7 processor, hdd, etc, and that the entire build will take him around 5-7 days. We've given him our contact info so that he can call us back when he has a hardware list and also so that we can specify what we want in our system so that he can order the parts for us.

Now while I'm trying to give this fellow the benefit of the doubt as he seems to know his stuff, I'm also not the type to trust anyone blindly because i don't want to waste my time on someone who might not know what he is doing. This is why I've begun doing research online to find out what goes into building your own rig as well as just finding out about the hardware end of pcs in general as I do not know much about the matter.

So, after this extremely long post, I'm basically asking this: 1) Should I (against my reluctance) buy the overpriced Dell, or should I trust this store owner to deliver on his word. 2) what specs should I be looking for if I do decide to have a custom pc built. Keep in mind that my price range is anywhere between $1000-$1800 and that we are looking for a good rig that will last us at least 3 years before needing to upgrade.

I will update this post when the guy calls us back to inform us what parts he is able to acquire, but in the meantime, I hope you guys can point me in the right direction.

I hope this post isn't too hard to follow, and thanks in advance to anyone who replies with their own insight/experience.

 

[ikyung]

Okay 1st of all, don't get the Dell. It's using a HD 7770 and a non K i7 processor. For $1500, it's totally a rip off.

For the 2nd guy, did you just meet him in some "shady" way? Or does he have like a legit shop set up where he builds people computers?

If I was in your predicament, I would ask the 2nd guy if he can just get all the parts you need and just build it yourself. Building a computer is extremely easy and you can just go on youtube and watch couple videos and do it yourself.

I have no idea what Morocco is like, but is there a reason you can't have things delivered? Like even to the city's postal service and you just go pick it up from there?

Anyways with your budget you can easily build a nice rig that will last you 3 years or more. I spent $1500 3 years ago on my rig and I'm still able to play all the recent games on at least high settings.

Just PM me if you update your post when your 2nd guy calls back and I'll be glad to help.

 

[VKswi1tchV]

Okay 1st of all, don't get the Dell. It's using a HD 7770 and a non K i7 processor. For $1500, it's totally a rip off.

For the 2nd guy, did you just meet him in some "shady" way? Or does he have like a legit shop set up where he builds people computers?

If I was in your predicament, I would ask the 2nd guy if he can just get all the parts you need and just build it yourself. Building a computer is extremely easy and you can just go on youtube and watch couple videos and do it yourself.

I have no idea what Morocco is like, but is there a reason you can't have things delivered? Like even to the city's postal service and you just go pick it up from there?

Anyways with your budget you can easily build a nice rig that will last you 3 years or more. I spent $1500 3 years ago on my rig and I'm still able to play all the recent games on at least high settings.

Just PM me if you update your post when your 2nd guy calls back and I'll be glad to help.

The second guy does have a legit repair/ sales shop and there was nothing shady about him. Its not like he's gonna up and book it once he steals my cash haha. I guess I may not have a real reason to be skeptical but here in Morocco there are people who own repair shops that just do *** jobs. However I have no reason to believe this guy isn't good at what he does, like I said he seems pretty knowledgeable. He has a pretty decent shop and he does ship prebuilds and parts from the major cities (which in turn are brought in from outside Morocco).

As for shipping in the parts, I highly doubt that online stores ship here to Morocco, and even if they did, I might have a problem with customs as the laws here aren't the same as they are stateside (ex: if the value is over a certain limit the shipment is considered commercial, etc). Right now, it doesn't seem like an option, but I'll look into it.

Tbh I've never even opened a computer on my own so I wouldn't be comfortable soloing a custom build that costs over $1000. I'd be much more comfortable having someone build it for me. I would love to learn how to build pcs but not this time since i really have no experience with it. I'd feel horrible if I ruined the job due to my utter lack of knowledge in the matter.

Do you have any advice on specific specs and parts? Is liquid cooling recommended? What about the gpu? Is a 2 gig gpu sufficient or is it too much/too little? I'm sorry for all the questions, I've got a steep learning curve ahead of me .

 

[ikyung]

Ah I see. It should be fine then. It's pretty hard to do a bad job on a computer build since the computer won't even turn on unless everything is set in place. The only real harm he can do to you is use bad parts and lie that he used genuine parts you ordered. But, you can easily check all the components in your computer by turning it on and checking on the hardware settings in windows.

Yup, for parts it would be better if I got to know what type of hardware your guy can ship in for you. Also, other factors come into play, like are you going to be overclocking your processor?

If you are talking about liquid cooling in terms of closed loop CPU coolers, then it also depends. If you aren't going to be trying to push the overclocking of your CPU, then no you don't need to speed a hundred bucks to get one of those. There are a lot of cheaper air cooling options available like the CM 212 which you can get for like 20-30bucks.

You will be spending most of your budget on your GPU. The memory as you stated on the GPU is usually not that important until you start going multi monitor, or high res monitors. 2GB is enough for 1080p gaming. But, assuming your budget is around $1500, I would currently grab the 7970. It's a very powerful single GPU and the game bundle AMD is promoting now is icing on the cake. You get Crysis 3 AND Bioshock Infinite for FREE to download.

 

[VKswi1tchV]

Yes I believe I do want to overclock the processor, though nothing too crazy. I definitely don't want to push it too far. As a side note, does overclocking shorten the lifespan of your processor?

I will update and pm when I get in contact with him. Once that happens, a list of parts you think will be ideal would really help me out. Also I hope more people respond to this thread so I can get as much feedback as possible. Thanks again!

 

[kaels]

I usually tell people that they should build their own computers, but I think if you have the money and you can support a local business by paying a fair price for the labour, that can be a good choice.

It takes about 2 hours to build a full-size ATX tower from scratch and install the operating system, so about $100 US would be the most I would consider reasonable for the service. (I think wages are typically lower in Morocco, so you might place a lower value on 2 hours of a skilled technician's time - you'd have to decide.)

Keep in mind, though, that if you don't know how to build it yourself, then you'll have a hard time maintaining it yourself, so you might end up paying again if you want to replace or upgrade anything.

The ideal parts I would select for you (trying to keep it under $1500 to leave space for shipping and labour cost):
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($214.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($32.98 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Extreme4 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($134.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($52.98 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($100.40 @ Amazon)
Storage: Samsung 840 Pro Series 256GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($234.53 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon HD 7970 3GB Video Card ($399.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair 400R ATX Mid Tower Case ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair Enthusiast 650W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($91.17 @ Amazon)
Total: $1422.01
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-03-03 05:02 EST-0500)

Points I would make:

- You want that specific processor. No other will do.

- If he can't get that specific graphics card, almost any Radeon 7970 or 7950, or almost any Nvidia GTX 670 or 680, will do just fine. Don't go any lower than the 670/7950, though, you deserve at least that performance on your budget.

- Reliability is your top concern because it's difficult for you to get parts. The power supply is the most important part of your system for ensuring reliability, because if it fails, it can damage everything else. There are many good power supplies, but there are some bad ones, so come back and check when you find out what's available.

- It's also important to choose a reliable solid state drive. It's a new technology, so there isn't much testing data, but some implementations seem to be longer-lasting (and faster) than others. The one I chose is probably the best one available right now, but there are other excellent options - check back when you see what's available.

- Your choice of case is personal. I picked one of my favourites in the sub-$100 range, but there are other great cases out there.

- In Morocco, you may need to be more concerned than the average gamer about cooling or dust. You may want to buy some fans and install them facing inward to create positive pressure inside the case. However, I'm not adding them to the build because you may be able to buy them locally (the shop might already have some).

 

[VKswi1tchV]

Update: So the guy couldn't acquire the parts I wanted, and most importantly, its damn near impossible to get a high end gpu here. Instead, he has referred me to a friend of his in France who works at a company that builds gaming pc's. They can have it built and shipped to me in 7-10 days. For the same price as the XPS8500 i posted about earlier (around $1400), they are putting together the following gpu, processor and motherboard setup (will update with the complete build later as I dont exactly know what psu, cpu fan, case will be included):

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA H77M D3H
12 gb RAM
CPU: Intel Core i7-3770k
GPU: Nvidia Geforce GTX 650
Storage: 1.5TB HDD

I still havent confirmed the order because I requested the gtx 670 but it is currently unavailable. I think the gtx 650 is a little underwhelming considering the rest of the specs. While the price difference is rather large, wouldn't it be pointless to have the aforementioned cpu/motherboard only to put in a mid range gpu? I would like to know what you guys think. Should I stick with the 650 or request the build once the 670 or its equivalent is available? Are there any other gpu's I should be looking at?