[Solved]Advise on $1K PC

[scorpinot]

Primary use: MMOs (WoW,Final Fatasy14, etc), I may try for some server firsts in the future.
Goal: Consistent 120 FPS @low settings, resolution: 1080p, w/lowest input lag being a priority (keyboard/monitor signals). Sleep will be lost over 1ms increases.
Max Budget: $1000, lower is a plus

Some articles I've come across that seem relevant:
http://www.displaylag.com/display-database/
http://www.overclock.net/t/1411332/mouse-button-lag-comparison
http://www.overclock.net/t/1550666/usb-polling-precision
http://www.overclock.net/content/type/61/id/2423730/width/350/height/700/flags/LL (marketing gimmick for topre switches?)
http://forums.blurbusters.com/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=1836&start=10
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/CPU/62
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AMD/HD_7990/22.html ( Ultra settings :\ )
http://www.corsair.com/en-us/blog/2013/october/battlefield-4-loves-high-speed-memory

XFX GPU warranty also seems appealing, long term I'm on a very tight budget and want to save where I can.

I plan to buy the complete package: pc components & accessories including a monitor. Latest I'd like to purchase all the parts is by the end of December and plan to check daily for deals. Are there any new architectures I should hold out for? Is Windows 7 still the way to go? Any reason to go DDR4 (not sure if the amount of power I'd save is negligee over time on 1 machine), passmark seems to suggest ddr3?

Will update w/a PC part picker build rough draft. Feel free to post your own.

 

[smorizio]

there a few thing dropping down the pipe. sometime after june is amd r300 gpu. then in july windows 10 should be going rtm. then in aug intel may be dropping skylake cpu. haswell cpu are 1150 pins..skylake are 1151. so the ywont work in each other mb. skylake will be ddr3/ddr4 from intel leaks. end of the year or sooner depending on how pushed nvidia gets they may drop pascal sooner then latter. when looking at parts dont just look at the warranty..read up if the vendor has a lot of doa and or customer service issue. also look to see how loud you want the pc. some parts are better for gaming like the newer asus strix line with 0db cards. cards have over sized heat sinks so under gaming load there fans dont sound like the card trying to take off. also look at power supply review and load tests reports and power supply tier reports. you dont want a power supply pooping and killing your rig.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=XglUdm25Bxo
when you do your builds look at non k cpu and h97 mb for price also if you have a local micro center they have cpu and combo deals.

 

[Bossyfins]

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/9NRhJx

It will be hard to get 120 fps on med settings. I would see maybe 90 100, but idk about 120.. Why do you want 120, just asking?

 

[scorpinot]

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/graphics-card-myths,3694-4.html
http://www.humanbenchmark.com/tests/reactiontime

Just because most monitors have 120hz support and more frames means a chance at faster updating to changes such as health bar movements or targets appearing on screen, thus resulting in the increased possibility of minuscule but nonetheless faster reaction times. Low settings is even acceptable.

Fan noise won't be an issue for me.
120GB-250GB SSD will be sufficent for storage. http://ssd.userbenchmark.com/


Also interested in similar articles showing BtW response times:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/vg248qe-144hz-gaming-monitor,3609-9.html

 

[scorpinot]

60Hz/60FPS = 16.6MS Theoretical Maximum Consistent Refresh Rate
VS
144Hz/144FPS = 7MS Theoretical Maximum Consistent Refresh Rate

Going to change up my buying strategy - instead of buying a new main rig I'll keep my current one and purchase a lower end PC.

As for this build I'll lower it to $300-450 budget - no target FPS this time just a maximum performance to price ratio.

I am also curious, what would be the long term power saving benefit (let's set 130,000 hours as our usage variable) for using DDR4 ram that is 3watts more efficient than a DDR3 model at 13cent kwh?

 

[scorpinot]

New Build: https://pcpartpicker.com/user/scorpinot/saved/#view=FhxCmG
Price after savings: $421.70
Lifetime warranty: GPU/Case/RAM/PSU

And if anyone's interested in the DDR3 vs 4 question I posed the answer is around $50 savings.

Waiting for a discounted monitor w/low input lag +120-144Hz.
Waiting for the fastest gaming keyboard on massdrop B640 (last price seen $111)

Another interesting thread I came across: http://www.overclock.net/t/662628/60hz-vs-120hz-explained