Completely New Build! build

[Jiffy]

Hello GC Community!

 

It is I, a long time member, in desperate need of some build advice. The last time I built a machine was in Dec of 2008. I have been away on/off from PC gaming due to work, school, work, Afghanistan, etc...I also got much more into PS3 games over the past few years due to ease of play, portability with constant moving, and the blu-ray epicness of movies. After being away for so long, I have the itch to re-build and get back into the community and pc gaming. All of my components are outdated, tired, and need replacing. The only piece I might consider keeping would be the tower (Antec 300), but I honestly would like to just start over from scratch.

 

I have been out of the game so long that I don't know what name brands are still good, what have fallen from grace, or what are the best deals? My last build was an AMD/ATI combo, but this one I would like to be an intel due to boost on performance (i5 vs. i7). ATI vs. NVIDIA debate ever figured out? The types of games I will most likely be playing are something like battlefield, planetside 2, minecraft, dead-space series, etc. While I do not need the most insane gaming machine on the planet (it will be used as my home workstation as well - oh the joys of being an XO!), I would like a higher end build IOT extend the life of it as long as possible. I will be running windows 8 64bit as well, if that factors into anything.

 

My thoughts on components would be: Intel cpu, 16GB ram, great on-board audio mobo with expandable slots, great PSU with energy efficient rating (good cable management), video card that can run max on most games these days ( single card not dual ), and 21 - 26" LCD monitor. I can manage to find keyboard/mouse, case, gaming headset - ha! I would like to keep the price of the entire build to under 1k, if possible. Thoughts? And as always, thanks for the assistance!

[ZeroDamage]

Let me ask you this. Do you have a Micro Center anywhere near you?

[VooDooPC]

If you wait a few months you can get a GTX 700 series and an Intel Haswell, that's what I'm doing.

[walkingCat]

Just shop at MicroCenter, as ZeroD suggests.

[Jiffy]

MicroCenter is about 2 hours away, but I am headed to that area next weekend...I can def make a stop.

 

But, what to get? And is the haswell that much better?

[amertrash]

Hard to say how much better Haswell will be until it's out, but it will require a new motherboard and socket(LGA1150) and will feature new chipsets. At least a card of nVidia's 700 series is supposed to be out this month, already been pics and benchmarks and retailers taking pre-orders. AMD's 8000 series is supposed to be out within the next few months as well, certainly wouldn't hurt to wait unless you're in a hurry.

[Clueless]

Just pick your motherboard and processor at Micro Center and buy them together, they have awesome combo discounts. But unless they have an awesome sale on other stuff, stick with Newegg for the rest.

 

Right now, I still think the i5 3570K with a Z77 chipset mobo is the best bang for the buck, unless you want to wait for the next gen stuff and go all out.

 

I have a GTX670 video card that runs everything I can throw at it on ultra settings, including Battlefield 3 and Skyrim (with the texture pack)

 

Just go online and do some reading....toms hardware, hardocp, and a few others and they will have all the testing comparisons that you could want.

[Jiffy]

Well I think I will be waiting until the end of March. I will see where I am at and revisit this topic. Thanks for the input.

[ZeroDamage]

Yeah waiting cannot hurt. But if you cannot wait, Microcenter combos the ASRock Z77 Extreme 4 with the i7 3770K chip as well as some RAM there. Come back and ask us when you are at the point of purchase again.

 

I would consider picking up a power supply now if you have the cash. HardOCP pretty much said this is the best power supply they ever tested.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Seasonic-ATX12V-EPS12V-Supply-SS-660XP/dp/B009VV56U8/?tag=hardfocom-20

 

Unless you plan on going with some insane SLI setup, this should probably be good enough for whatever you build.

[bushwack]

I dig jonnyguru.com for power supply reviews. I bought a Rosewill unit he recommended and he was spot on. It's been a great workhorse for 3-4 years now.

 

I also have a ASRock mobo that's been keeping my i5 2500K humming along quiet well for almost 2 years now. like ZeroD said you could see what boards Microcenter has to offer.

[Fenix]

If I could suggest anything to you, I would suggest two things...

 

1) Corsair AX1200 Gold power supply - I've owned one and put it in my PC about a year and a half ago, and have never had a hiccup. If there is any sort of overdraw, the psu won't even allow you to turn the PC on. It's modular, and has a great warranty.

 

2) Corsair Obsidian 800D Full ATX case - I also have this. One reason I chose it was because of all the space. I needed the space for water cooling. Another great feature is that it allows you to route and hide all of your cords BEHIND the back plane where the motherboard mounts. It's also solid black, inside and out.

 

PS. Use a solid state drive from OCZ as your OS drive...they have the best ratings. Use regular HDDs for everything else.

Edited February 25, 2013 by Fenix

[amertrash]

Little update on your wait. AMD has all but said they won't be releasing a new GPU until next year, with speculation on lack of market need and being too busy making parts for the new Xbox/PS4. Haven't been paying attention to AMD's next generation CPU release, unlikely that they will compete in the mainstream performance market. Intel's Haswell desktop parts are scheduled to be released this summer, June 2. Haswell should bring slightly better performance per clock - usually listed around 10%, along with new instructions, massively improved integrated graphics, Thunderbolt(woot!), new cache/TLB design, and moving the CPU's VRM from the motherboard directly onto the CPU which I haven't seen from Intel since the Pentium Overdrive upgrade processors. Power consumption will be around the same or lower vs Ivy Bridge parts with the quad core performance parts having TDPs ranging from 35W to 84W, however I'd assume these numbers include the new onboard VRM which makes for significantly lower overall power consumption.

 

nVidia's 700 series has a few parts out - the Titan with it's $999 price tag and and some mobile parts which are just rebadged 600 series parts. No word yet on mainstream performance cards, but it should be interesting. The Titan is based extensively off the Tesla K20 and sports some 7.1 billion transistors, nearly 3 times the number of the Sandy Bridge-EP parts with their 8 cores and 20M of L3 cache. With that level of complexity and a die size of some 551mm^2 matched against TSMC's dated 28nm process it's pushing the limits of practicality, with which must be an extremely long lithography process with poor yields. Even if nVidia's neuters Titan and drops the total number of GPCs from 5 down to say 3, and moves from a a 384 bit to 256 bit memory bus in order to reduce die size and increase yields(and likewise reduce cost) it'll be questionable whether they'll offer enough of a performance increase in today's software verses current solutions to be of value. If you were looking to use software that utilizes OpenCL or CUDA then the Titan and any descendants of it would be an excellent choice but for gaming vs the dollar it up in the air. It may just be a moot point for nVidia at this time until TSMC(or GlobalFoundries) offers a smaller process with reasonable prices and yields.

 

TL:DR - I wouldn't wait for nVidia or AMD at this point unless you feel like waiting a year. Intel's Hawell should be available in a little over 3 months and bring improved performance and new features, but probably not enough to be a deal breaker if you don't want to wait.

[amertrash]

Little update on your wait. AMD has all but said they won't be releasing a new GPU until next year, with speculation on lack of market need and being too busy making parts for the new Xbox/PS4. Haven't been paying attention to AMD's next generation CPU release, unlikely that they will compete in the mainstream performance market. Intel's Haswell desktop parts are scheduled to be released this summer, June 2. Haswell should bring slightly better performance per clock - usually listed around 10%, along with new instructions, massively improved integrated graphics, Thunderbolt(woot!), new cache/TLB design, and moving the CPU's VRM from the motherboard directly onto the CPU which I haven't seen from Intel since the Pentium Overdrive upgrade processors. Power consumption will be around the same or lower vs Ivy Bridge parts with the quad core performance parts having TDPs ranging from 35W to 84W, however I'd assume these numbers include the new onboard VRM which makes for significantly lower overall power consumption.

 

nVidia's 700 series has a few parts out - the Titan with it's $999 price tag and and some mobile parts which are just rebadged 600 series parts. No word yet on mainstream performance cards, but it should be interesting. The Titan is based extensively off the Tesla K20 and sports some 7.1 billion transistors, nearly 3 times the number of the Sandy Bridge-EP parts with their 8 cores and 20M of L3 cache. With that level of complexity and a die size of some 551mm^2 matched against TSMC's dated 28nm process it's pushing the limits of practicality, with which must be an extremely long lithography process with poor yields. Even if nVidia's neuters Titan and drops the total number of GPCs from 5 down to say 3, and moves from a a 384 bit to 256 bit memory bus in order to reduce die size and increase yields(and likewise reduce cost) it'll be questionable whether they'll offer enough of a performance increase in today's software verses current solutions to be of value. If you were looking to use software that utilizes OpenCL or CUDA then the Titan and any descendants of it would be an excellent choice but for gaming vs the dollar it is up in the air. It may just be a moot point for nVidia at this time until TSMC(or GlobalFoundries) offers a smaller process with reasonable prices and yields.

 

TL:DR - I wouldn't wait for nVidia or AMD at this point unless you feel like waiting a year. Intel's Hawell should be available in a little over 3 months and bring improved performance and new features, but probably not enough to be a deal breaker if you don't want to wait.

Edited February 25, 2013 by amertrash

[ZeroDamage]

As nice as the Titan is as a high end performer, I personally wouldn't spend $1000 on a video card. Unless you plan on going 3 monitors with Nivida's Surround (AMD has Eyefinity) then that is probably a waste. I have the single 24-inch monitors which runs at 1920 x 1080. I use an EVGA GTX 670. When I played Dead Space 3 at max settings a couple of weeks ago, I ran GPU-Z and watched the load on the GPU (not cpu). I averaged around 30-35% utilization most of the time with a couple of spikes up to 50%. The current gen Nvidia cards are beasts and can handle most everything thrown at them. Anything more without going the multiple monitor route would be a waste of money.

[VooDooPC]

As nice as the Titan is as a high end performer, I personally wouldn't spend $1000 on a video card. Unless you plan on going 3 monitors with Nivida's Surround (AMD has Eyefinity) then that is probably a waste. I have the single 24-inch monitors which runs at 1920 x 1080. I use an EVGA GTX 670. When I played Dead Space 3 at max settings a couple of weeks ago, I ran GPU-Z and watched the load on the GPU (not cpu). I averaged around 30-35% utilization most of the time with a couple of spikes up to 50%. The current gen Nvidia cards are beasts and can handle most everything thrown at them. Anything more without going the multiple monitor route would be a waste of money.

But you also want a PC to last a few years. If you're not buying something that is overkill for modern games you're not buying for the future. If you're not buying for the future your PC is going to get out dated pretty fast. When I bought my GTX 480 it could easily run anything. It does pretty good still with almost any game but it's starting to show its age. With next generation consoles out this fall I think my video card is going to fall off a cliff.

 

With that said, I'd never buy a $1,000 video card...

 

Also, Dead Space 3 has a 30 fps cap. If you haven't removed it, it will definitely limit your GPU usage. I think if you force Vsync on in the nvidia control panel it removes the cap.

[ZeroDamage]

 

Also, Dead Space 3 has a 30 fps cap. If you haven't removed it, it will definitely limit your GPU usage. I think if you force Vsync on in the nvidia control panel it removes the cap.

 

That is a good point.

[LiMiT]

I'm currently pricing a new AMD build and I'm not going to wait for the 8000 series either. My budget is $1100 and I'm using the AMD 8320, Asus Tuf 990FX Gen3 Rev 2 mobo and a 7950 for the vid card. Hopfully I'll be getting everything ordered in the next month. I'm going with this Asus mobo because it actually has the Thunderbolt header on the board with the Asus card currently waiting for approval. If you haven't used Thunderbolt do yourself a favor and make sure whether you go Intel or AMD that it has TB. It is a dream for folks like me who move large files constanly. I actually want to put together a TB display but I'm only planning on running two monitors. I'm more interested in it in storage. Anyways, I'm getting carried away.

 

Yes, $1000 for a vid card, no matter how unbelievably awesome is just nuts.

 

S.

[Animal]

My recommendation, if you're going to build from scratch including a new monitor and case, is to save up a little longer and spend 2K--not 1K--on the build. Trying to build one for 1K is going to make you sacrifice quite a bit of quality. And if you want 16GB RAM, a mobo with a good sound card included, etc, you're going to have to save up more. I've made a Wish List build on NewEgg for you that I think meets your stats and doesn't completely break the bank.

 

 

^^^You'll notice that the most expensive item is your motherboard which is a Maximus V Formula. It's expensive but this motherboard will last for a long time and will handle many upgrades for years to come including the ability to overclock your RAM to 2666. Most importantly, however, it has a built in sound card that would make anyone jealous and is actually separated from the rest of the unit so there's no frequency interference. In addition you'll see the ViewSonic monitor which is 22inches but is touchscreen capable (perfect for windows 8) and still has a response time of 5MS which is great for gaming. The i5-2500K processor is still a great CPU and because it ends in K you know that it is made for the ability to overclock. And I still managed to find room for one of those Corsair H60's that will auto-cool your CPU and you won't have to worry about overheating.

 

If you don't want to take the time to save money, you could definitely take the motherboard down and the SSD down in quality to an HDD but I think you'll really appreciate both of those items if you just take a little more time to save up. The difference in a $2,000 build and a $1,000 build is usually pretty big.

Edited February 26, 2013 by Animal

[bushwack]

My recommendation, if you're going to build from scratch including a new monitor and case, is to save up a little longer and spend 2K--not 1K--on the build. Trying to build one for 1K is going to make you sacrifice quite a bit of quality. And if you want 16GB RAM, a mobo with a good sound card included, etc, you're going to have to save up more. I've made a Wish List build on NewEgg for you that I think meets your stats and doesn't completely break the bank.

 

 

^^^You'll notice that the most expensive item is your motherboard which is a Maximus V Formula. It's expensive but this motherboard will last for a long time and will handle many upgrades for years to come including the ability to overclock your RAM to 2666. Most importantly, however, it has a built in sound card that would make anyone jealous and is actually separated from the rest of the unit so there's no frequency interference. In addition you'll see the ViewSonic monitor which is 22inches but is touchscreen capable (perfect for windows 8) and still has a response time of 5MS which is great for gaming. The i5-2500K processor is still a great CPU and because it ends in K you know that it is made for the ability to overclock. And I still managed to find room for one of those Corsair H60's that will auto-cool your CPU and you won't have to worry about overheating.

 

If you don't want to take the time to save money, you could definitely take the motherboard down and the SSD down in quality to an HDD but I think you'll really appreciate both of those items if you just take a little more time to save up. The difference in a $2,000 build and a $1,000 build is usually pretty big.

Hey, where's the storage? My Steam games alone would would consume almost 2 of those SSDs.

[Animal]

 

Hey, where's the storage? My Steam games alone would would consume almost 2 of those SSDs.

 

good point. it depends on how much storage you need. I have two 240's in Raid0 and haven't run out of space yet, but if you're a music collector or have a bunch of games you'll need more. but the speed is pretty nice lol

[NOFX]

i5-3570k

[JenLove]

i5-3570k

 

The i7-3770K has 33% more cache than the i5-3570.