Building a gaming pc for the first time for around $2000 - need help

[blackhawk005]

Hey guys I've been playing console games for pretty much my whole life and I have recently wanted to make the step to getting all of them for the pc. I have always been a huge fan of amazing graphics and performance and I figure a pc is my best option. With this being said I know hardly anything regarding the hardware you need to build a great gaming pc.

Overall I'm just looking for some help on where to get started in building my pc and what parts I could get for this kind of money to make an awesome gaming rig. I was just wondering if anyone could help me figure out all the parts I could get for this much or how much I actually need to spend.

The help is much appreciated and I thank you guys a lot!



What are you planning to do with this compuer?
Mainly for gaming purposes with the best performance.

What is your budget?
Around $2000 but im not really sure how much a top of the line gamine computer would cost to make.

Does this include a copy of Windows? no

Does this include peripheals (a keyboard, monitor, mouse, speakers, etc.)?
No, but wondering what are some good suggestions for a really good monitor.

Are you from the United States or a different country? Are you ordering from your own country or from across borders? Yes I am from the United States so I would get all the parts I need here.

If you are from the United States, do you live nearby a Microcenter?
Yea there is one really close to my house.

Do you have any specific requests with the build?
No just a gaming build with amazing performance

Do you plan on overclocking? If yes, do you have a specific goal in mind?
not sure. Does overclocking benefit performance? if so than yes

Would you prefer the build to be particularly small?
Performance is the only thing I care about

Would you prefer the build to be particularly quiet?
Performance is the only thing I care about

In general, do you prefer this to be a computer that you can spend money on now and let it rest, or a box built for continuous upgrading?
I'm not really sure what is the best option for this

Do you ever plan on utilizing NVIDIA's SLI or AMD's CrossfireX technologies? These features, with a compatible motherboard, allow a user to link multiple identical graphic cards together for added performance. In real world terms, this lets you buy a second identical graphics card down the line as a relatively cheap and easy way to gain a fairly large boost in performance. However, this requires buying a SLI/CFX compatible motherboard and PSU now, which may result in slightly higher initial cost.
Not really sure on this either just whatever is best for gaming.

Sorry again for my complete lack of knowledge on this subject and I really appreciate the help guys!

 

[2wenty]

Would you want to go with a 3 display configuration or just single monitor? $2000 is more than enough to build an awesome gaming rig, and for 1080p single monitor gaming, you could probably save some money. Also, is gaming going to be the sole use of the computer?

 

[sudheer_suri]

I am planning to build a gaming rig with the below configuration ...............almost about to get it !!!!!

Cabinet : HAF 912
Processor : AMD FX 8350
Motherboard : MSI 990FX-GD65
RAM : Corsair Vengeance DDR3 4 GB (CMZ4GX3M1A1600C9) x2
Internal Hard Drive : WD Caviar Green 2 TB (WD20EARX)
SMPS : Corsair Gaming SeriesGS700 - 700 W
Cabinet Cooler : Cooler Master Silent FAN 120 SI2
Processor Cooler : Corsair Hydro H60
Graphic Card : MSI AMD R7870 Twin Frozr 2GD5/OC 2 GB GDDR5
KeyBoard & Mouse : Logitech Keyboard & Mouse
DVD Writer : LG / Samsung

 

[blackhawk005]

Would you want to go with a 3 display configuration or just single monitor? $2000 is more than enough to build an awesome gaming rig, and for 1080p single monitor gaming, you could probably save some money. Also, is gaming going to be the sole use of the computer?

Yea the sole purpose of my computer would basically be for gaming. I would pribably just be using a single monitor as well!

 

[2wenty]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($189.99 @ Microcenter)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($32.98 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Extreme4 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($129.99 @ Microcenter)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial M4 256GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($159.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($76.97 @ Outlet PC)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition 3GB Video Card ($442.13 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Cooler Master HAF 922 ATX Mid Tower Case ($109.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair Professional 750W 80 PLUS Silver Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($129.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($18.98 @ Outlet PC)
Total: $1325.99
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-02-19 15:45 EST-0500)
This should definitely serve your purpose, and will allow you to get a nice 1080p or 1440p monitor as well. The PSU is 750W in case you want to add another card for crossfire, whether that's now or later. Also, if you feel 256Gb SSD is too much, you can always opt for a 128Gb SSD and save some money, since you have 1Tb of space in a separate hard drive. the motherboard also offers great overclocking, and you should definitely learn how to (since it gets a load more performance out of your CPU and GPU).

 

[blackhawk005]

Thanks for the specs and parts man! What would differ in the parts if i were to go for a 3 monitor setup??

 

[2wenty]

Thanks for the specs and parts man! What would differ in the parts if i were to go for a 3 monitor setup??

A 7970 with 3Gb of VRAM is probably good enough for 5760 x 1080, maybe you'd want to take a 670 with 4Gb but generally AMD has very good support for high resolutions. You should also consider adding another 7970 in crossfire, especially for high resolutions if you'd like good frame rates, otherwise one 7970 for one monitor at 1080p is great. Maybe also take a look at NVidia Titan for multi-monitor set ups Looks sick, but is expensive

 

[blackhawk005]

haha thanks for all the help man! I'm deffinitely taking a lot of your suggestions while finding all the parts and trying to build this thing! One quick question though. I looked u the sapphire 7970 graphics cards and there are so many different variations of them they all seem to be prty close but are there really any huge differences in them?

 

[2wenty]

haha thanks for all the help man! I'm deffinitely taking a lot of your suggestions while finding all the parts and trying to build this thing! One quick question though. I looked u the sapphire 7970 graphics cards and there are so many different variations of them they all seem to be prty close but are there really any huge differences in them?

You could go with almost any 7970, depends if you want the reference 7970 or the 7970 Ghz Edition.
http://www.amazon.com/Sapphire-DL-DVI-I-SL-DVI-D-PCI-Express-11197-03-40G/dp/B009B6Y01Y/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1361401630&sr=8-1&keywords=7970+sapphire
http://www.amazon.com/Sapphire-DL-DVI-I-SL-DVI-D-PCI-Express-11197-12-40G/dp/B008PQAE98/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1361401630&sr=8-3&keywords=7970+sapphire
The first card is non-overclocked, the second one has higher factory stock clocks. The second version (vapor-x) is very good, and both allow for extra overclocking headroom (which I recommend to take advantage of, can give you a few extra frames), but if you'd like to save $100, the dual-x version is still a great card. That said, there's no reason not to look at some other brands (XFX, MSI and Gigabyte), which also offer great cards. Just make sure you're not accidently buying a 6Gb version of the card, since you don't need that much VRAM.