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Casual_Gamer21

Honorable
Dec 19, 2012
13
0
10,510
Approximate Purchase Date: e.g.: Unknown ( Might be a few months away)

Budget Range: $1000 - $2000

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming/Surfing the net/Might Mod

Are you buying a monitor: No

Parts to Upgrade: No

Do you need to buy OS: Yes

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Newegg is preferable but willing to check parts out from any site that has good reviews.

Location: Maine, United States

Parts Preferences: Best cost/Performance ratio. Full Size ATX Tower, With good air flow.

Overclocking: No

SLI or Crossfire: Maybe

Your Monitor Resolution: 23" LCD (1920x1080)

Additional Comments: Complete Crysis series, Battlefield, and more.

And Most Importantly, Need a rig that is focused more for gaming, my current rig is alright but doesn't always play games that well.

I am looking for advice to build rig that will handle Crysis 3 on High as the benchmark. I already have a monitor, KB&M, and speakers. The parts can be a mix between intel & amd. Looking for cost/performance ratio not some ones opinion on one brand being the best compared to the other. Biased opinions are more welcomed. Also looking for some case fans to replace the ones that come with it/or has room for more. Note for GPU - 690 isn't an option, $1000 for a GPU makes me sick. Please Mix the harddrives between standard and SSD ( SSD for OS and maybe one game, HHD for everything else), Raid too.

Current rig specs:
GPU - GTX 660 TI
CPU : AMD FX six-core, 3500 Mhz, 3 core(s), 6 logical processor(s)
OS: windows 7 Home Edition x64
Ram: 10 GB
HHD: 1.5 TB
Not sure of the MoBo, It's a bestbuy rig, with a 660 TI installed, closest they had at the time to a gaming rig that was cheap

Thanks in advance, if there is anything else you need to know just post here and Ill reply asap.
 
Solution
C
Heres a very simple upgrade. However, since you may or may not be getting it now... You can probably (and should) wait until Haswell (2H13) to either grab cheaper current parts or for the new stuff.

I also don't feel you should get a 670 when you already have a 660Ti. The gains (10~20%) do not warrant spending ~$330-350. He'll be better off saving that for an upgrade to the upcoming next generation cards. If you were to sell the 660Ti, then you should get it.

Depeding on your storage requirements and usage, you may or may not need the two drives. If you need/want/desire them, I suggest setting it up in RAID0+1 (Intel RST) so that you have one faster partition and one mirrored for data safety.

The case and PSU should last you some...
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Wouldn't it be best to spend close to $300 on the video card, then configure the rest of the system around that? You should have no problem being in the $1500 range with that type of video card and an i7 cpu + SSD + good $130 mobo.
 
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I was thinking of running a GTX 670 and then down the road get another.

$300-400 for the GPU isn't bad, normally thats what i probably would do, but i'm not tech savy and trying to find the best performance/cost ratio is hard because of the reviews and benchmarks seem to vary.

As for the i7cpu, I thought the i5's were better and more geared towards gaming?
 
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Better price/performance. Actually better no. Well it depends on the game, ie whether or not the game is coded in a way that hurts the i7 performance due to hyper-threading. Biggest question is do you plan on hunkering down and getting certain components so that you have are good for the next 10 years, or do you like to just meh it up every 3-5.

There are 2 routes to take on this. We'll do route 1 first because I like it best, first:

Chuck Norris Case $274.99, $249.99 after $25.00 rebate card

ASrock Motherboard $219.99

i7 3820 $299.99

C Ram $171.99

GPU $529.99

Chuck Norris PSU $329.99, $309.99 after $20.00 rebate card

840 Pro $269.99

HDD $69.99

Cooler $119.99

Case 120mm AF Fan $56.97 4 Total

Case 140mm AF Fan $56.97 3 Total

Swapped Parts are @

Case

PSU

RAM


Total: $2400.85 For a single GPU, no monitor set up. What really cranks this price up is the Case, PSU, SSD, Cooler, and Case Fans, Ram, GPU. But boy would this setup be overclocker heaven. GPU/Case/Cooler it all is just GG once you make the investment. Swap the 800D for the haf advanced $274.99 - $149.99 = + $125. Swap the PSU for the 850 Gold $329.99 - $169.99 = + $160. Drop the SSD for 120GB 840 Pro $269.99 - $149.99 = + $120. Swap the H100i for Hyper 212 Evo $119.99 - $34.99 = + $85. Drop The case fans = + $113.94. Swap the ram for 8GB Corsair Quad Channel Kit = $171.99 - $53.99 = + $118 And finally drop the GPU for a 670 = 529.99 - $364.99 = + $165 and $185 after rebate.

Changing the Total Price: From $2400.85, to 1793.91 (The only downgrade was the SSD, and the GPU as far as performance goes, and to upgrade it back to the original would be $165 + $120 = $285 before rebates, $265 after, So $1793.91+ $285= $2078.91 - 20 = $2058.91 after rebate.

Either way its nice but for case cooling environment / never wanting another case or psu in the future / 92% efficiency 1200 watt power supply with a 7 year warranty / epeen and general OCD awesomeness, I will be paying that $2400.85. I got $600 in savings so far :bounce:

Now for the second type. The more standard build without the fail SSD:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119160 Case

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139011 PSU

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157330 MOB

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116504 CPU

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820145345 RAM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127675 GPU

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233342 SSD, If you are scared by only 5 reviews check out A If you are a Samsung guy and want a non-pro 840 model check out B which compares the PRO to the GTX which came out back a year prior to the 840. The GTX is neck n neck with Samsungs top dog model, and it came out a year ago. Compared to any 840 non PRO, or an 830 lol, there is little doubt which would win.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822236339 HDD

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103099 Cooler

Total Price: $1300














 
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Heres a very simple upgrade. However, since you may or may not be getting it now... You can probably (and should) wait until Haswell (2H13) to either grab cheaper current parts or for the new stuff.

I also don't feel you should get a 670 when you already have a 660Ti. The gains (10~20%) do not warrant spending ~$330-350. He'll be better off saving that for an upgrade to the upcoming next generation cards. If you were to sell the 660Ti, then you should get it.

Depeding on your storage requirements and usage, you may or may not need the two drives. If you need/want/desire them, I suggest setting it up in RAID0+1 (Intel RST) so that you have one faster partition and one mirrored for data safety.

The case and PSU should last you some time. Motherboard may be slightly overkill, but "may mod" as I understand can mean alot of different things from LN to a sick watercooling setup to simply touching the BIOS. This motherboard will satisfy all (albiet a bit pricey, but ROG boards have fairly good quality). You can find much cheaper boards, but then the colors would be all over the place (personal opinion, can ignore).

The H80 is a placeholder. You should research into what you like, either high end air cooling, a REAL watercooling setup (looks great, a little hard to build, expensive), or maybe stick with the suggestion. As for the fans, Corsair AF series are nice, so are quite a lot of different Scyth/Noctua fans. However, it depends on what kind of performance vs noise ratio you want as well as the location of the fan (high/low pressure).

Depending on if you value sound quality (actually, if you can tell the difference, and have the proper headphones/speakers), you may or may not want to dump $100~200 on a top of the line sound card that will last you until you want more features (connectors) or it burns out (more likely). I would suggest a Titanium HD if you only use 2.1/Headphones, or the ASUS Phoebus if not (or none at all if you have a good digital receiver and speakers!)

If you need more graphics horsepower, consider either SLI'ing (I personally don't like multiple cards), selling the 660ti and getting a 670/680/7950/7970, or wait half a year (more or less) for the next gen card.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i7-3770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($329.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H80 92.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Asus Maximus V Formula EATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($279.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Mushkin Redline 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Red 2TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($109.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Red 2TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($109.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Corsair Neutron Series GTX 240GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($229.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair Obsidian Series 800D ATX Full Tower Case ($249.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Corsair 860W 80 PLUS Platinum Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($179.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1611.91
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2012-12-19 18:50 EST-0500)
 
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Solution


Not to bad, though something like this is what i think id end up getting if i jumped right into buying parts. Both builds tho are really good and will keep them in mind as the days draw closer.

Thanks, sorry had to edit out all that math lol


Quote: Cerunnos -
Heres a very simple upgrade. However, since you may or may not be getting it now... You can probably (and should) wait until Haswell (2H13) to either grab cheaper current parts or for the new stuff.

I also don't feel you should get a 670 when you already have a 660Ti. The gains (10~20%) do not warrant spending ~$330-350. He'll be better off saving that for an upgrade to the upcoming next generation cards. If you were to sell the 660Ti, then you should get it.

Depeding on your storage requirements and usage, you may or may not need the two drives. If you need/want/desire them, I suggest setting it up in RAID0+1 (Intel RST) so that you have one faster partition and one mirrored for data safety.

The case and PSU should last you some time. Motherboard may be slightly overkill, but "may mod" as I understand can mean alot of different things from LN to a sick watercooling setup to simply touching the BIOS. This motherboard will satisfy all (albiet a bit pricey, but ROG boards have fairly good quality). You can find much cheaper boards, but then the colors would be all over the place (personal opinion, can ignore).

The H80 is a placeholder. You should research into what you like, either high end air cooling, a REAL watercooling setup (looks great, a little hard to build, expensive), or maybe stick with the suggestion. As for the fans, Corsair AF series are nice, so are quite a lot of different Scyth/Noctua fans. However, it depends on what kind of performance vs noise ratio you want as well as the location of the fan (high/low pressure).

Depending on if you value sound quality (actually, if you can tell the difference, and have the proper headphones/speakers), you may or may not want to dump $100~200 on a top of the line sound card that will last you until you want more features (connectors) or it burns out (more likely). I would suggest a Titanium HD if you only use 2.1/Headphones, or the ASUS Phoebus if not (or none at all if you have a good digital receiver and speakers!)

If you need more graphics horsepower, consider either SLI'ing (I personally don't like multiple cards), selling the 660ti and getting a 670/680/7950/7970, or wait half a year (more or less) for the next gen card.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i7-3770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($329.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H80 92.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Asus Maximus V Formula EATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($279.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Mushkin Redline 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Red 2TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($109.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Red 2TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($109.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Corsair Neutron Series GTX 240GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($229.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair Obsidian Series 800D ATX Full Tower Case ($249.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Corsair 860W 80 PLUS Platinum Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($179.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1611.91
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2012-12-19 18:50 EST-0500) Quote

Cooling method for me is air cooling, I am very sketchy having water run thru my system lol
The waiting on next gen MoBo and GPU might be good as long as they aren't overly priced like the 690 is. My 660ti is alright, it gets the jobs done with my games on high, crysis fps is around 70-75 in open areas and 60-65 in fights unless i mod the files and go explosive crazy then it drops to about 55-59fps.

Ive never really noticed a sound difference between a sound card pre installed or one bought separate =/
 
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Crysis (if you are talking about first one) was not very well optimized. The later ones ran quite a bit better. The 660ti lacks memory bandwidth, which is its only real weakness. The 690 is expensive because its the top of the line dual-gpu card. The equivalent 780/770/760 will most likely be priced the same way. 500/400/300$.
 
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Yeah it's Crysis 1, didn't know that. Thanks for letting me know. I have the crysis ultimate edition i believe it's called for $2.05 😀 it has crysis, crysis warhead, and crysis wars which i haven't installed because i dont believe it has any servers to play on.

Dual GPU? So the 690 is like having 2 gpu's? Dang sli'ing those would be like running quad GPU's lol

$500 isn't to bad, my biggest issue is the price/performance. I plan to get crysis 3 and i've seen the high end specs but im sure those aren't completely accurate. Battlefield 4 depending if it's better than bf3 is another game, i'm trying to broaden my choses of games so if the rig can run almost any PC exclusive game on high then I know it can run Console/pc ported games.

All in all I'd like to have my rig as future proof as possible or requiring the least amount of upgrades every yr or 2 yrs.

If the 660ti has one with better memory bandwidth id get that and maybe sli that to save since ive yet to have a problem with the one i have.

Not to sure if Crysis 3 will be the Holy grail of graphic card usage or not but if it can run that on high id be happy even if i end up spending less than my budget.

 
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Yes, the 690 (and the non official 7990) are 2x680 and 2x7970, respectively. The 590, 295, 6990, etc were all dual GPU parts. They are basically SLI/XFire on a board, which allowed motherboards that were limited in space (eg, mATX) or needed the slots for say RAID and sound cards to still have top performance. While obviously 2x cards will net higher performance due to better thermals and clocks, they represent the very best you can get, kind of like SB-E cpus (though the dual gpu cards have a much higher performance delta).

I'm pretty sure if you stuck to reasonable settings (Very High but not higher than 2xMSAA + 16xAF, AO off) that Crysis 3, BF3 will all run fine. BF3 looks great to be honest and runs very well. BF4 should be based (speculation) on an updated FB engine the current BF3 runs but shouldn't be that drastic of a change given the relatively small amount of time of development (think of it as Crysis 2 -> 3, both CE3, just updated and more optimized).
 
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Sounds interesting, that would explain the cost, since just one 680 cost around $500 i believe.

BF3 looks good don't get me wrong, just some stuff about the game in general that i won't state here since it will be off-topic that I think keeps it from it's full potential. True on the settings, I didn't even know there was a 7990. I'll do some more research on the build you posted and see how it goes, might do some minor tweaks to see if they work.
 
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They are non-official boards that manufacturers have made (some call them 7970x2). They are quite rare (and will be expensive).

And yes, do your own research! That is whats fun about building your own stuff!
 
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