$1000 - $1500 Gaming Build

Tehbestshot

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Sep 8, 2013
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Just wondering if someone could help me with a PC build. I'm not very knowledgeable on what's compatible with what. I literally need everything I currently own a laptop that will be 4 years old this December. I messed around a little bit on Newegg.com but wasn't too sure. Budget is not definite I will have to save for it. So the less time I have to spend saving the better. I'd like to not have to upgrade anything for about 2-3 years at least.

Processor: i7-3770k

Graphics card: Nvidia GTX 670. Single for now plan on getting another or upgrading to a better one later on if needed.

Motherboard ASUS Sabertooth Z77

HDD: Not sure. Western Digital seems to be a common brand.

SSD: Once again not sure.

Case: Thermaltake Chaser MK-1

PSU: Undecided I'm not quite sure how many watts is needed. I plan to run dual graphics cards later on.

Mouse & Keyboard: Something good for casual gaming. Nothing too fancy though.

Monitor: Another undecided one. I currently have a 32" Vizio flatscreen if that could pass for a monitor.

RAM: G.Skill Ripjaws 16gb (4x4gb)

I think that is everything.
 
All specs are great. For the PSU to will need 750w PSU if your planning to SLI although I would recommend to buy a 1000W PSU for extra headroom. For the HDD, Western digital are usually the best option. Now for the monitor you will not need one if your using HDMI. For the RAM I would lower it to 8GB RAM. It doesn't make a difference when gaming although if your planning to edit and run a virtual OS, 16GB RAM is a good choice.

SSD's are great as well but I would personally not bother buying one because it doesn't increase FPS although it does increase the minimum by a slight bit. For the mouse and keyboard, go with a Mircosoft Sidewinder X4 and for the mouse, go with a standard mouse (I've used a standard mouse for years when gaming!).
 
This is the build I would suggest. I have left some extra budget for you to get a OS, Keyboard and Mouse of your choice, since I am not expert on peripherals. Anyways this is the build I would suggest for 1500 dollars. This is a very good for the price and it is based on the following needs :

--> Future Proof for 2-3 years (i7 and 16GB RAM)
--> Dual GPU in future (850W PSU)


Now talking about the build :

+ 4770k is marginally better than the 3770k but you get newer platform (Z87)
+ 770 is a significantly better card than the 670.
+ Awesome Quality PSU by XFX. Would last very long and can do SLI.
+ Crucial M4 is a damn fast SSD for the OS
+ 1TB HDD to store all your Games, Movies, etc
+ 770 4GB Version would be the one for SLI, for SLI more RAM = Better.
+ 16GB RAM for future proofing (1600 Mhz, CL9 for quite cheap price. Very good RAM)

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i7-4770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($334.97 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock Z87 Extreme4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($144.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Patriot Viper 3 16GB (4 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($89.68 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Crucial M4 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($89.99 @ Microcenter)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($59.98 @ Outlet PC)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 770 4GB Video Card ($449.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair 400R ATX Mid Tower Case ($79.99 @ Microcenter)
Power Supply: XFX ProSeries 850W 80 PLUS Gold Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($114.99 @ NCIX US)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($18.48 @ Outlet PC)
Total: $1383.06
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-09-08 08:28 EDT-0400)
 
a crucial is not damn fast. its mid level

get this instead
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1Bmme

-a i7 does not perform better than the i5 in games. by the time it makes a huge difference, you would have upgraded your rig already
-you dont need more ram for gaming. forget it.
-dump the scamtooth
-the 770 is enough for 1080p gaming for the most part. do not get a 4gb edition card. the GPU core itself isnt even powerful enough to drive it. you are wasting your time with those
-the fractal arc midi r2 is your best bet for a quality mid tower. nothing else beats it

if you would like a keyboard and mouse recommendation, right now the quickfire tk from coolermaster (look in pcpartpicker) and the g400s from logitech are what i recommend
 
Yes, yes.. I have all the reasons why I selected those parts.

--> i7 does not perform better in games now. But with the next gen consoles being run on 8 core x86 architecture, it is very much likely that the future games would utilize all the 8 threads and this is where the i7 would shine since it has 8 threads and for today's games it also provides good performance which is as good as the i5.

--> 16GB RAM that I suggested costs only 20 dollars more than the 8GB. So it is better to have more.

--> If you are talking about Sabertooth, then I completely agree. The Asrock Extreme 4 can do everything the Sabertooth can and for a much less price.

--> No problem with the Corsair 400R too.

--> 770 4GB Version was not intented for being used as single GPU but instead it is for the SLI. He wants to do SLI in the future and hence 4GB VRAM would be very beneficial for SLI. As 2GB VRAM for two 770's would be very less.

Also in some very high res textures 2GB RAM would be a problem and hence there would be a sudden decrease in performance which we do not like.


Everything is damn fine until everything is in budget. So no problem there too.
 
the amount of CPU threads wont matter as much as a more powerful GPU. if you really want the guy to have something that is more future-proof, get him a better GPU than a CPU. games are almost always GPU dependent. the difference between different CPUs are going to be minor at best. by the time your i7 makes a huge difference, you arent running high settings anyways

more is better. but it doesnt make a jack of a difference if you cant use it all
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008U92JHK/?tag=pcpapi-20

id say gigabyte is a better option due to the much higher quality components used. asrock doesnt come close

there is no problem with the 400R case, but you can easily do better with a arc midi r2

it doesnt matter. running in SLI doesnt mean that you can suddenly use more vram because how SLI works is both GPUs are loaded up with the same image and they split the load between themselves by a half-half basis. SLi or crossfire in no way will allow the GPUs to use more vram when they are still limited by the architecture itself and the memory bus. say that you do run out of vram when you run heavy textures and AA, how is the extra vram going to help you when the architecture cant take advantage of it. there are tests out there that compare a 680 2gb and a 680 4gb running a 5760x1080p setup and the differences between the 2 are minimal at best

of course it fits within budget, its what hardware you put inside that budget to make the rig cheaper and more optimized. why pay a fair amount more when you can pay less for more or less the same thing
 
--> I would say that stick with the i7. BF4 and GTA V, and many newer titles are just around the corner which would give somewhat a boost in gaming performance.

--> Well.. it is really cheap. I cannot complain about it.

--> That is purely a personal preference.

--> That again is a personal preference. I haven't heard anything wrong about Asrock up until now.

--> I agree that the 770 cannot use the 4GB VRAM, but it can use 3GB. But since there was no 3GB Version. I selected directly the 4GB Version. More VRAM would have advantage in games with high resolution textures, for example GTA V, or running Skyrim with the high resolution packs, etc. This is where the advantage of more RAM would definitely be seen.

And the 770 can utilise more than 3GB RAM.

Thanks for making me realize that SLI thing that the cards would be limited with individual architecture, etc. Thanks for letting me know that. I appreciate that.
 
somewhat as in less than 5 fps. games are GPU dependent, not so much CPU.

it isnt a personal preference for the case. it has a much bigger psu grommet that allows you to fit cables through more easily (i have a 550D which has more or less the same size psu grommet and it requires quite a bit of fiddling to get them neatly inside. it also has double the cabling room in the back. with the 400R or the bulged motherboard tray cases from corsair, you will never fit anything practical behind the motherboard area other than fan cables or sata cables. you are essentially left with a small L shaped area to be neat with your cables. for the arc, you can be super sloppy and everything will still fit. the extra case fan and window (if you care about it) adds more value overall to the case. the fact that all this comes for 10 bucks less makes the corsair out of the question

as for the motherboard, its somewhat of a preference. i do not see any justification of why you would buy the extreme4 over a gigabyte board when the gigabyte board costs 10 dollars less, has more or less the same features, and has way higher quality components on the vrm. if you compare them, the asrock would be mediocre at best.

it has been tested over and over with the gk104 chip whether adding more vram helps in a meaningful way or not and tests have shown with the 680 which uses the same chip as the 770, there is no practical difference even in extreme situations
 


Thank you. I'll probably build this or at least go off of it. Probably change the case and maybe a few other things.