Custom Gaming PC Build Suggestions

Anonmouze

1. What is your budget? [€400-700 *Note: I googled $500-$1000 CAD to euros* (Dont have a solid price in mind)]

2. What will be the main purpose of the computer? [Gaming/Normal computer use] I already have a PS3 so I want a PC that can run games which are not comparable to the PS3.. "Ultra settings" and what not. Games like skyrim, Far Cry 3, BF3, SWTOR, GTA IV,etc. etc. Maybe even try my luck in Crysis. Also.. I'd like to not have to upgrade for a while and be able to run upcoming games.

3. Do you need a copy of Windows? [No (It's slightly possible I'll have to buy one, probably not though)]

4. Can you use any parts from an old computer? [I have a really old computer but none of the pieces are really good.. I could use the DVD drive and POSSIBLY the case I suppose. I checked everything else and it sucks. Haven't checked the PSU but I can assume it's not too great. If I must I can use an old keyboard/mouse. (I plan to use a PS3/xbox controller on PC as well)

5. Do you need a monitor? [Yes]

5a. If yes, what size do you need. [No specific size in mind]

6. Do you need any of these peripherals? [No but I wouldn't mind getting a keyboard/mouse later in the future, for now I can do with my old pair]

7. Are you willing to try overclocking? [Possibly. I don't want any cons with it like a shorter life span, etc.]

8. How can you pay? [Was thinking of buying from Newegg but there's also a good computer hardware store near my house who will also build my PC for an extra 40-50.]

9. When are you purchasing? [N/A. was planning on getting it on boxing day if possible]

So any suggestions? I was thinking about the i5-3570k and the GeForce GTX 660 Ti. 8 GB RAM seems good and 1 TB hard drive (Could go lower here). I just want a good gaming experience that my console can't deliver. Also, I want to try steam

tuxy

Hey, I think it might be difficult for us to make up a build for you as most of us would not be familiar with pricing out side of Europe. I believe parts will be a little cheaper for you. You seem to have a good idea of what you want though.
What might work better is if you listed the parts you were thinking of buying and we could point out any weak points that we see.

Your budget looks a bit low to include a monitor. The 3570k and 660ti will be almost 600 USD.

An i3 3220 and radeon 7850 might be better for your budget.
It does not take a high end pc to beat a console since the current consoles are using ancient hardware.

challengemaster

Just on a side note, if you're going to try steam / PC gaming, I suggest you look here to start your collection:

http://www.humblebundle.com/

Pay whatever you want from $1 up. You get extra games if you pay more than the current average price.

marco_polo

Fluffys javascript basket even works on new egg. :pac:

I never found it a very nice site to site to navigate, and its getting late, so didn't spend much time looking around for a slightly better better PSU/ case or add a third party cooler for overclocking etc, but something like this can be assembled for about $1000 dollars there.

Kind of wish I hadn't put this together now, as it is a stark reminder of exactly how screwed over we Europeans are by VAT :eek:

EDIT: Oops budget was Canadian dollars, I'll have another go

EDIT 2: Still not too bad actually, not sure what taxes may be on top, and $67 over budget, but could trim a few things like the SSD if needs be.

Item|Price
Xigmatek ASGARD II|39.49
CORSAIR Builder Series CX500 500W |$61.99
ASRock Z77 Pro3 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard|$129.99
Intel Core i5-3570K Ivy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo) LGA 1155 77W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 4000 BX80637I53570K|$234.99
Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) |$32.99
SAPPHIRE 100355L Radeon HD 7850 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card|$199.99
Western Digital WD Green 2TB SATA |$114.99
Crucial M4 2.5" 128GB SATA III |$102.99
ViewSonic VX2253mh-LED Black 22" Monitor|$149.99
Shipping|- ? -
Total|$1,067.41

Alternatively swapping to an AM3+ build would work out at about $972.41

Item|Price
ASUS M5A97 LE R2.0 AM3+|$89.99
AMD FX-8320|$179.99

Anonmouze

That's an interesting graphics card, not too bad. And yeah, I wouldn't mind dropping the SSD and possibly even upgrading one of the other parts. As far as I know SSDs just increase your speed somewhat? Also.. how do you determine how many Watts your PSU should supply? I was told I would need about 650 before but I'm not sure. Also one more thing... is that case good enough for a gaming computer? By that I mean it won't overheat or anything due to it only having one fan? If that's the case I could maybe even use my old tower. I thought I had to get a really good case with multiple fans to keep it well ventilated.

Edit: By the way, pretty amazing how I got such an instantaneous and detailed response! Thanks.

Oh and I know about humble bundle, it's so amazing :P Makes me mad that I don't have a gaming PC when I see those games... for example Saints Row 3 was 5 dollars and I bought it for 65 on PS3. -_-

marco_polo

Anonmouze wrote: »

That's an interesting graphics card, not too bad. And yeah, I wouldn't mind dropping the SSD and possibly even upgrading one of the other parts. As far as I know SSDs just increase your speed somewhat? Also.. how do you determine how many Watts your PSU should supply? I was told I would need about 650 before but I'm not sure. Also one more thing... is that case good enough for a gaming computer? By that I mean it won't overheat or anything due to it only having one fan? If that's the case I could maybe even use my old tower. I thought I had to get a really good case with multiple fans to keep it well ventilated.

Edit: By the way, pretty amazing how I got such an instantaneous and detailed response! Thanks.

Oh and I know about humble bundle, it's so amazing :P Makes me mad that I don't have a gaming PC when I see those games... for example Saints Row 3 was 5 dollars and I bought it for 65 on PS3. -_-

Case is servicable for a single card setup, although I probably wouldn't go sticking two GTX680 in there or anything like that .

You could certainly get a better one if the SSD is removed. For more money what you would mainly be getting are cases with nicer features for example: better cable management, access to the CPU back plate without removing the mother board out (handy for putting in a different CPU cooler), screwless drive bays, more case fans etc. etc.

As for the SSD it makes loading times alot faster, and I don't know how I could live without one now. But outside of loading time is not essential for a great gaming experience. If you do drop it I'd get a faster HDD as that WD green is a 5400 rpm drive more suited to storage (Something like the 1TB WD blue 7200rpm would be decent enough)

Really any single GPU setup, even the most powerful, would only require about 550W at the absolute maximum (My build could get by with a top quality 400-450W unit easily). For two top end cards around 750W would be a rough ballpark figure, with 600-650W plenty for 2X HD7850 or 2X GTX660ti's etc.

Anonmouze

I see. Well I'll definitely take a look at my old case to see how it is. As for the SSD I'm not really sure... a faster load time for games let's say? Or the actual computer. Is it something I could upgrade and get later on? Also, what do you think of the GTX 660 Ti? The guy at the store recommended it and it looks good. (expensive though)

marco_polo

Anonmouze wrote: »

I see. Well I'll definitely take a look at my old case to see how it is. As for the SSD I'm not really sure... a faster load time for games let's say? Or the actual computer. Is it something I could upgrade and get later on? Also, what do you think of the GTX 660 Ti? The guy at the store recommended it and it looks good. (expensive though)

Excellent card, the HD 7950 offers sightly better value (over here anyway) IMO and overclocks a bit more on average (if that is something you are interested in), but there isn't really anything between them out of the box. The GTX660ti will play anything you can throw at it for a good few years to come. (EDIT: Actually if you really want the very top, ultra settings in BF3 or Far Cry 3/Metro 2033 for example you would need a card in this bracket, the likes of the HD7850 would fall a small bit short of ultra even @1080p in this trio of games)

You could always stick in the SSD later on, a reinstall of windows would be better in that case, but it is very possible to clone an existing install if preferred, just a little bit more tweaking and hastle required after the fact.

Anonmouze

Yeah I mean if I'm spending all that money I might as well get a top notch GPU. Thanks for the help, I'm going to research some more. (Mostly about power supplies and cases) One question though do you just install Windows on the SSD or your games as well? Would it just increase loading time in-game or also the speed the game runs at? As for overclocking I'm not sure. The extra performance would be good but it's risky I think? I don't want any downsides to my system.

marco_polo

Anonmouze wrote: »

Yeah I mean if I'm spending all that money I might as well get a top notch GPU. Thanks for the help, I'm going to research some more. (Mostly about power supplies and cases) One question though do you just install Windows on the SSD or your games as well? Would it just increase loading time in-game or also the speed the game runs at? As for overclocking I'm not sure. The extra performance would be good but it's risky I think? I don't want any downsides to my system.

You can install a few games at a time on it depending on how big it is, most of the time the SSD just helps with the initial loading times, so the overwhelming majority of cases a game will run exactly the same regardless of where it is installed.

The exceptions would perhaps be a few open world games that load and unload textures constantly from disk(think games like Flight Sim, Skyrim and Fallout 3/NV, Stalker). Here an SSD would probably help with occasional 'stuttering' that might occur from streaming textures from a slower HDD, but wouldn't greatly increase overall performance (average FPS) either.

This isn't a bad example of what I mean see how the Intel X25 affects the minimum FPS, but not the average FPS in the texture heavy Crysis GPU bench

Serephucus

You're actually better off looking on NCIX. Newegg CA's selection of stuff is pretty meagre in comparison to its US brother. Tiger is another option,

No Fluffy's script (god-damn I miss that) so:

Bitfenix Merc - 40
Seasonic G-Series 450W - 85
Z77 Pro3 - 140
3570K - 230
7850 - 170
8GB DDR3 - 35
Crucial M4 128GB - 110
2TB Seagate Barracuda - 90
LG 2242C Monitor - 100

Let's assume GST/HST of about $160 (That's going to NS, seeing as I don't know where you live) that brings you up to around $1,100. Not perfect, but it's been a while since I've had to work in Canadian prices.

If you need to trim down, I'd drop the 3570K to maybe a 3240 (Hyperthreaded dual core, will still be fine for gaming) and a B75 ASRock motherboard.