Computer building advice
- Thread starter jhoffy22
- Start date
I think you are going to have a tough time building a gaming rig/work station that is going to hold its own for the next 5 years without spending a bit more than $1000. I reckon $1400 is more in keeping with your goals. Jorarulit makes a good example, as his "ok" gaming rig built 3 years ago can't run games on the highest settings, and he's going to have to overclock his i5, which is a bottleneck, if he wants to upgrade his video card.
The first build listed by sephiroth is actually close to what I would suggest. But add a SSD, a second regular HD, and a less budget case.
I'd personally go for an i7 Haswell on a Z87 chipset board (I prefer ASUS motherboards), but the i5 will be sufficient and will save you a few bucks. (Actually, I prefer the X79 chipset for the quad channel memory, but you don't need it).
I'd get at least 8, if not 16 gb of fast ram (2400 mhz). I have 16 gb of Corsair Dominator Platinum 2400mhz.
Intel or Samsung SSD (forget about other brands) the size of which depends on how many programs and games you will want to install. This is where you are going to really notice the performance increase over everything else. Don't skip the SSD.
I have an Intel 520 series 240gb and it is almost full (about 20gb free) with the Adobe Creative Suite installed, MS Office, 3dsMax, 4 browsers, Sublime Text, and a few other bits and pieces plus 3 or 4 games at any given time. If you expect you're going to be installing more, then get a 500gb model.
I have two 1TB drives using Windows software mirroring (you could raid them too, but Windows mirroring is quite good), for work files and creative assets like stock photography, vector clip art, sound files, fonts, etc. Make sure you have redundant backup of some sort, be it local or online somewhere, so you're not 1 dead drive away from losing everything.
Beyond that, you need a video card. I've always been an Nvidia user. Probably a GTX 760 will meet your needs while staying closer to budget, but the 770 is just a few bucks more. You'll want to look at the ports if you are thinking about maybe upgrading your monitor to 4K in the coming years, as you need a display port to do so.
You might want a secondary sound card. I tend to put music and gaming through a Creative card and then use the on board sound for my headset (Skype/Teamspeak/Ventrillo).
I'm a big fan of Corsair cases and power supplies. I think you'll want a 650w or higher supply for this kind of setup. Giving yourself a bit more overhead will make it easier to upgrade down the road, maybe adding a second video card for example.
You really don't need a DVD/Blueray in your PC these days, unless it's one you're going to be using this as a home theater. Software delivery on disc is almost extinct.
The first build listed by sephiroth is actually close to what I would suggest. But add a SSD, a second regular HD, and a less budget case.
I'd personally go for an i7 Haswell on a Z87 chipset board (I prefer ASUS motherboards), but the i5 will be sufficient and will save you a few bucks. (Actually, I prefer the X79 chipset for the quad channel memory, but you don't need it).
I'd get at least 8, if not 16 gb of fast ram (2400 mhz). I have 16 gb of Corsair Dominator Platinum 2400mhz.
Intel or Samsung SSD (forget about other brands) the size of which depends on how many programs and games you will want to install. This is where you are going to really notice the performance increase over everything else. Don't skip the SSD.
I have an Intel 520 series 240gb and it is almost full (about 20gb free) with the Adobe Creative Suite installed, MS Office, 3dsMax, 4 browsers, Sublime Text, and a few other bits and pieces plus 3 or 4 games at any given time. If you expect you're going to be installing more, then get a 500gb model.
I have two 1TB drives using Windows software mirroring (you could raid them too, but Windows mirroring is quite good), for work files and creative assets like stock photography, vector clip art, sound files, fonts, etc. Make sure you have redundant backup of some sort, be it local or online somewhere, so you're not 1 dead drive away from losing everything.
Beyond that, you need a video card. I've always been an Nvidia user. Probably a GTX 760 will meet your needs while staying closer to budget, but the 770 is just a few bucks more. You'll want to look at the ports if you are thinking about maybe upgrading your monitor to 4K in the coming years, as you need a display port to do so.
You might want a secondary sound card. I tend to put music and gaming through a Creative card and then use the on board sound for my headset (Skype/Teamspeak/Ventrillo).
I'm a big fan of Corsair cases and power supplies. I think you'll want a 650w or higher supply for this kind of setup. Giving yourself a bit more overhead will make it easier to upgrade down the road, maybe adding a second video card for example.
You really don't need a DVD/Blueray in your PC these days, unless it's one you're going to be using this as a home theater. Software delivery on disc is almost extinct.
Why are you recommending parts that are already close to 2 years old for a new build now that he wants to last for the next 5 years?
Intel K series are specifically sold by Intel for overclocking. That is their purpose. No warranty is voided by overclocking K series CPU's.
Also, Intel do not sell CPU's as fast as what is possible by overclocking K series CPU's, so if you want a certain performance level, overclocking might be the only way. Besides, it's mostly safe unless going to extremes.
That's weird, I wrote Z79 by mistake, corrected myself, but still see Z79 in the original post, but X79 if I quote myself. X79 is what I meant to say.
I suggest following system spec
ASRock B85 Pro4 LGA1150 B85 MB
Intel Core™ i5-4570 Haswell Processor
Corsair XMS3 8GB 4GBx2 1600Mhz DDR3
GIGABYTE GTX 760 OC WF 3X 2GB GDDR5
Seagate Barracuda 1TB 7200Rpm 64MB Buff HDD
Green 600A-HP Power Supply
Green X1 Basic Gaming case
for a few additional dollars you can get abit stronger one at below spec
Intel Core™ i5-4570 Haswell Processor
ASUS H87-Plus LGA1150 H87 MB
Kingston HyperX Blu 1600MHz 2*4GB DDR3
CASE GREEN HUNTER
Green 700A-HP Power Supply Unit
ASUS GTX 760 OC DCII 2GB GDDR5
Seagate Barracuda 1TB 7200Rpm 64MB
ASRock B85 Pro4 LGA1150 B85 MB
Intel Core™ i5-4570 Haswell Processor
Corsair XMS3 8GB 4GBx2 1600Mhz DDR3
GIGABYTE GTX 760 OC WF 3X 2GB GDDR5
Seagate Barracuda 1TB 7200Rpm 64MB Buff HDD
Green 600A-HP Power Supply
Green X1 Basic Gaming case
for a few additional dollars you can get abit stronger one at below spec
Intel Core™ i5-4570 Haswell Processor
ASUS H87-Plus LGA1150 H87 MB
Kingston HyperX Blu 1600MHz 2*4GB DDR3
CASE GREEN HUNTER
Green 700A-HP Power Supply Unit
ASUS GTX 760 OC DCII 2GB GDDR5
Seagate Barracuda 1TB 7200Rpm 64MB
Is my budget constraint the reason that the majority of your are suggesting the GTX 760 over the GTX 770?
I don't have a mouse or keyboard either. I don't want to blindly buy one and then find out later I should have gotten something different. Suggestions?
I don't have a mouse or keyboard either. I don't want to blindly buy one and then find out later I should have gotten something different. Suggestions?
i5-4560
Gtx 780 Ti (or R9 290 with a custom cooler) - should be enough to run all games in the next 2-3 years on Ultra. But 780Ti is like $700
Gtx 780 Ti (or R9 290 with a custom cooler) - should be enough to run all games in the next 2-3 years on Ultra. But 780Ti is like $700
It is the reason I said the 760, but certainly go for the 770 if you can, it's less than $100 more.
There are lots of decent keyboard and mouse options. I currently have a Qpad mechanical keyboard and a Roccat Kone+ mouse that have served me well for the last couple years. I think I am going to get the Corsair K95 keyboard Vengeance® K95 Fully Mechanical Gaming Keyboard and the M95 mouse Vengeance® M95 Performance MMO and RTS Laser Gaming Mouse.
i5-4560
Gtx 780 Ti (or R9 290 with a custom cooler) - should be enough to run all games in the next 2-3 years on Ultra. But 780Ti is like $700
I expect my 680 gtx will be capable of running most games on ultra for the next 2 or 3 years. I get 120 fps on BF4 now with everything maxed out.
A 760 can be had for mid $200s and the 770 for mid $300s. 780 isn't necessary. In 2 or 3 years time there will be 2 more generations of cards released and you could then pick up whatever the new equivalent _60 or _70 card is for $300 ish. The video card is the most easily upgradeable part in the computer and there's no need to buy the current bleeding edge astronomically priced card now when you can simply upgrade that one part in 2 or 3 years time.
below system is much better but its a few hundreds dollar more expensive
CPU: Intel® Core i7-4770K
CPU Cooler: Corsair H80i Liquid CPU Cooler
RAM: Corsair Vengeance Blue 8GB 4GBx2 2133Mhz
MB: ASUS MAXIMUS VI HERO
CASE: Cooler Master HAF-XM
POWER: Corsair HX750 80Plus Gold
VGA: ASUS GTX 770 OC DCII 2GB GDDR5
ODD: ASUS 24X DVD-RW
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 7200Rpm 64MB
You can later upgrade Ram by another 8GB and make 16GB if needed.
you can install your SSD in above setup to load your OS and 1TB HDD for other use such as archiving
each person prefer a certain type of mouse or keyboards, In any computer shop you can see many models and choose the one that fit you best, For mouse I prefer Logitech wireless ones, you should check which one better fit in your hand, the same as keyboards, I like the ones with big Enter, Backspace and Space buttons
What type of work are you doing?
It's funny how most of you buy a computer, have no idea how to make windows work over time and then blame the hardware for being old.
I'm using an i3 sandy, 8gb of ram, 60gb ssd for software and stuff. I have two monitors connected and doing Photoshop/Illustrator work intensely + 20-30 chrome tabs open most of the time.
Unless you are doing 3D or video/music processing, I don't see how that processor is not enough for you. Buy an SSD.
It's funny how most of you buy a computer, have no idea how to make windows work over time and then blame the hardware for being old.
I'm using an i3 sandy, 8gb of ram, 60gb ssd for software and stuff. I have two monitors connected and doing Photoshop/Illustrator work intensely + 20-30 chrome tabs open most of the time.
Unless you are doing 3D or video/music processing, I don't see how that processor is not enough for you. Buy an SSD.
^My memory is my biggest bottleneck at the moment. At any given time with just Skype and Chrome open I am running into 90% memory utilization. I don't have expandable memory. I have a Samsung 256GB Pro Series SSD right now. It has done wonders to improve my system. I have a 2nd gen i3 processor (Sandy bridge?). It can handle most all work related tasking flawlessly. If I had 8GB of ram I would be golden.
Wrong. I bet I would find your system painfully slow to work on compared to mine and it most certainly isn't going to be running any high end games on max settings.
Of course, gaming related, there is no comparison, but I'm not saying that. You got the point anyway, it depends on the type of work.
Anyway, OP, I'm just trying to say that you should not worry about buying a PC just because it will work faster than a laptop, unless you are looking to game a bit.
For your laptop, you can increase the virtual memory since you have an SSD. On default I think Windows has 1-2GB.
Get an AmD chip if you wAnt to avoid having a NSA backdoor in the random number generatorRdRand - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Nothing short of this mofo:
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3h0B1H6JwY"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3h0B1H6JwY[/ame]
FTW.
(I haven't a clue really but I'd like that setup myself.)
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3h0B1H6JwY"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3h0B1H6JwY[/ame]
FTW.
(I haven't a clue really but I'd like that setup myself.)