Buying a new gaming PC - suggestions please?

[Saiph]

Pyronous Rath wrote:

When purchasing a new system your most important component is your mother board. I highly reccomend one of the new asus boards but any high end main board is the start of a system that will last you years. I personally just built a new machine and got the asus x99-e ws couldn't be happyer. Plus there is a rumor that these boards will be able to support the 2015 skylake proccessors as well as the haswell and xenon.

I'm going with the ASUS Z97.

[<Tavernhold> Locke]

Repeating:

For $880.49 plus shipping I got:

Asus M51AD Desktop PC - Intel Core i5-4440 3.10GHz, 8GB Memory, 1TB HDD, DVDRW, 3GB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760, Windows 8 64-bit - M51AD-US002S (AS0-102298803)

I can easily add ram, but this seems good enough. I was aiming for NVIDIA 750 as good enough, But the 760 was available for similar price.

This supports 2 instances with other static windows and is cheaper that the $1000 systems you are considering.

This seems to have an SSD for boot drive (less than 15 seconds to log screen staring with computer not connected to AC power). I am only using for PfO, so I am not sure how using HDD would affect things.

[Saiph]

<Tavernhold> Locke wrote:

Repeating:

For $880.49 plus shipping I got:

Asus M51AD Desktop PC - Intel Core i5-4440 3.10GHz, 8GB Memory, 1TB HDD, DVDRW, 3GB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760, Windows 8 64-bit - M51AD-US002S (AS0-102298803)

I can easily add ram, but this seems good enough. I was aiming for NVIDIA 750 as good enough, But the 760 was available for similar price.

This supports 2 instances with other static windows and is cheaper that the $1000 systems you are considering.

This seems to have an SSD for boot drive (less than 15 seconds to log screen staring with computer not connected to AC power). I am only using for PfO, so I am not sure how using HDD would affect things.

Hi Locke!

Just curious, I'm getting a 2 TB HDD, an i7 490k processor, 12GB memory, anti virus and a blue ray rewritable drive for 283.00 more than that system. Also a Z97 motherboard. Are those upgrades worth 283.00?

[Caldeathe Baequiannia]

Saiph, I think you are best to stop worrying about what we think. If you are happy spending the $1100ish, you're going to get an excellent machine. (And six months from now, if you keep looking, you'll be sad you didn't wait six months.) Every day, something will be a better deal. There's a chance you can do better on Black Friday, but it frequently isn't worth the mental anguish of comparing values.

If saving a couple of hundred dollars is important to you, then Locke's machine will be nearly as good.

[T7V Jazzlvraz]

Moore's Law may or may not be slowing a bit, but the very fact there's any question always means there'll be a "better" system available "soon", for the same money you're willing to part with today. Pull the trigger when you're ready to pull it, and *do not* look back nor second-guess yourself; you'll end up with excellent hardware, and no regrets.

EDIT: oops, I mostly paraphrased Caldeathe. Oh well, I add my voice to his, then.

[Valkenr]

Saiph wrote:

Just curious, I'm getting a 2 TB HDD, an i7 490k processor, 12GB memory, anti virus and a blue ray rewritable drive for 283.00 more than that system. Also a Z97 motherboard. Are those upgrades worth 283.00?

Is this a pre-built? 12GB is an odd number nowadays, usually it's multiples of 4 or 8.

If you're wanting to eventually max out your ram. (32GB) then you'll want to start with 16GB with 2, 8GB sticks.

You also need a little more detail for comparison, prominently the clock speeds on the processor and ram. Also the size of the Cache on the HDD. Also the Read/Write speeds of the Bluray drive.

[Caldeathe Baequiannia]

Valkenr wrote:

Is this a pre-built? 12GB is an odd number nowadays, usually it's multiples of 4 or 8.

Is 12 no longer a multiple of 4? ;-P

Sometimes if the base system is 4 or 8 and the user wants more, it's cheaper to put in one or two more sims than to pull the existing ones and replace them. The first time I encountered this was upgrading a MacII from 1 meg to 5, by leaving the 4 - 256k sims and adding 4 - 1 meg sims to fill the 8 slots

[Valkenr]

I should have said 'pairs'

Mixing ram requires you know the specs. Bad ram + good ram = bad ram speed + good ram space.

You may have had better performance if you took out the 256 sticks, unless the 1meg's were the same speed.

It's not a good idea just to add more sticks into open slots.

[Caldeathe Baequiannia]

Fortunately, at that time, there weren't as many options, so it was a perfectly good match, and it wasn't added later, it was added at build. (Apple wouldn't provide any credit for the unused sims, so leaving them out did me no good at all.

That said, the problems are often easier now. Modern motherboards often don't need the memory to be in identical sets, since they can access them differently. And at the end of the day, If you don't need 16 gigs, 3x4 might be a much better deal. If the company is assembling to order, they'd be fools to mix memory, since their deals will be based on volume.

[Caldeathe Baequiannia]

In this case, though, Saiph, your selected motherboard is dual channel, not tri-channel, so having 12 gigs of memory in it is probably going to cost you performance unless there are some 2 gig simms involved.

[Saiph]

Caldeathe Baequiannia wrote:

In this case, though, Saiph, your selected motherboard is dual channel, not tri-channel, so having 12 gigs of memory in it is probably going to cost you performance unless there are some 2 gig simms involved.

So I should get 2 sticks of 8?

[Nihimon]

Saiph wrote:

So I should get 2 sticks of 8?

Yes.

[Neadenil Edam]

Saiph wrote:

<Tavernhold> Locke wrote:

Repeating:

For $880.49 plus shipping I got:

Asus M51AD Desktop PC - Intel Core i5-4440 3.10GHz, 8GB Memory, 1TB HDD, DVDRW, 3GB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760, Windows 8 64-bit - M51AD-US002S (AS0-102298803)

I can easily add ram, but this seems good enough. I was aiming for NVIDIA 750 as good enough, But the 760 was available for similar price.

This supports 2 instances with other static windows and is cheaper that the $1000 systems you are considering.

This seems to have an SSD for boot drive (less than 15 seconds to log screen staring with computer not connected to AC power). I am only using for PfO, so I am not sure how using HDD would affect things.

Hi Locke!

Just curious, I'm getting a 2 TB HDD, an i7 490k processor, 12GB memory, anti virus and a blue ray rewritable drive for 283.00 more than that system. Also a Z97 motherboard. Are those upgrades worth 283.00?

i7-4790K ? If so consider a water block for cooling and a ram kit with a pair of matched simms. You cannot just throw things together with high end overclocking.

[DeciusBrutus]

Nihimon wrote:

Saiph wrote:

So I should get 2 sticks of 8?

Yes.

Unless you can get 4.

[Caldeathe Baequiannia]

DeciusBrutus wrote:

Nihimon wrote:

Saiph wrote:

So I should get 2 sticks of 8?

Yes.

Unless you can get 4.

Decius may-or-may-not have been joking, but unless you have a particular need for 32 Gigs of ram, no-one who has to worry about their computer budget should be getting it right now.

[Valkenr]

Caldeathe Baequiannia wrote:

DeciusBrutus wrote:

Nihimon wrote:

Saiph wrote:

So I should get 2 sticks of 8?

Yes.

Unless you can get 4.

Decius may-or-may-not have been joking, but unless you have a particular need for 32 Gigs of ram, no-one who has to worry about their computer budget should be getting it right now.

I use Chrome,

I need 32GB of RAM.

[Nihimon]

With 16GB of RAM I noticed some problems sometimes when having TeamSpeak, Chrome, and 3 PFO Clients running. Now that I'm down to 8GB after burning out one of my sticks, I couldn't even LiveStream.

I'd much rather have 32GB of RAM, and would have recommended that, but agree with Cal that it's not the first priority if your budget is tight.

[Neadenil Edam]

While 32Gb is all good, take care configuring 64Gb.

We have a few 64Gb machines here at work (mainly linux servers running multiple VMware win7 virtual servers)and memory for 64Gb motherboards can be a bit finicky. Even if all the timing etc looks right some generic sticks may not work.

If your buying ram for a 64Gb MB and the ram is not on the manufacturers list of compatible sticks then post on a few tech forums and see if anyone else has had success with the combo before buying.

[<Tavernhold> Locke]

Saiph wrote:

<Tavernhold> Locke wrote:

Repeating:

For $880.49 plus shipping I got:

Asus M51AD Desktop PC - Intel Core i5-4440 3.10GHz, 8GB Memory, 1TB HDD, DVDRW, 3GB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760, Windows 8 64-bit - M51AD-US002S (AS0-102298803)

I can easily add ram, but this seems good enough. I was aiming for NVIDIA 750 as good enough, But the 760 was available for similar price.

This supports 2 instances with other static windows and is cheaper that the $1000 systems you are considering.

This seems to have an SSD for boot drive (less than 15 seconds to log screen staring with computer not connected to AC power). I am only using for PfO, so I am not sure how using HDD would affect things.

Hi Locke!

Just curious, I'm getting a 2 TB HDD, an i7 490k processor, 12GB memory, anti virus and a blue ray rewritable drive for 283.00 more than that system. Also a Z97 motherboard. Are those upgrades worth 283.00?

What else are you using the system for?

I am only using this for the game. I have two screens (If I want and a Mac to do everything else I want (and not the weird Mumble problems on the PC)). Not to say that PC have Mumble problem but the UNIX under the cover on Mac has been better for me than Wido(z/s)w issues.

I am not sure what you think you get for $283 more. If only for this game, I do not think you need i7. 12G over 8G is better, but not sure how useful it will be as I can do to instance two PfO and two displays. I have heard Z97 is good, but MBANDO or other could better speak to this. I am not guru (on this, but export law, …) and have bought based upon other advice. This seems good enough (not exactly sure how I get 15 second boot). I do not see need for 2TB hard drive right now. Not just to lplay this game, but will you have a lot of other uses.

I have two computers, one for this game, bought for this game, and good enough.

And a Mac for the rest of my social life. (and another work computer paid for and used for work -- not for games even though it probably would beat home game computer into shreds ).

[<Tavernhold> Locke]

To put it another way, I do not know what I am taking about, probably less than you. I do not need an i7 but it may be useful later( i7 will be cheaper later if MB supports it). Having big power supplies helps for future (we used to call them boat anchors until a 5 second building brown out had no computer re-boots). 4 GB is probably inadequate. 8 does me fine, but I will go to 16 if needed (for not a lot of money when that comes). THere are 2 or 3 graphical competitors. I chose to go NVIDIA and the 760 seems to be almost as cheap as 750.

Several have said and I grew going back to 20th century: Stick to Intel CPU. I have seen the weirdness about second sourcing. It is necessary, for industrial purchase, but 2nd does not mean same. Then again, good enough is some time good enough. Games are not on that side of the curve.

[Neadenil Edam]

<Tavernhold> Locke wrote:

Having big power supplies helps for future (we used to call them boat anchors until a 5 second building brown out had no computer re-boots).

Some homework on PSUs is often helpful it is not always simply a case of bigger is better.

- An adequately rated name brand well reviewed quality supply may well give better regulation and in some cases more real power then a cheap higher rated unit

- not all power supplies are the same. For example if what you really need is loads of CPU current for overclocking it is not helpful to get a supply that puts all its current into the drive rails. On the other hand if your machine is going to have multiple large SATA disks a supply that has beefed up CPU rails is not well suited to a multiple disk file server application.

- depending on where the system is located and what CPU cooling solution you use, PSU fan noise can be a big issue and over-speccing to a big supply can in some cases make the PSU louder under normal operation rather than quieter

[Gloreindl]

Personally, if I were to be in the market and wasn't inclined to build my own PC (my personal disability precludes me from doing so, even though I am a trained PC tech), I'd look into getting the best Alienware Area 51 PC I could afford. The specs are fantastic, and spending a good deal now will save money in the long run as a top of the line model fully tricked out will last you a long time, and is fully up-gradable should you want new video cards (it comes with two running in SLI mode) and also tops out with 32 MB of RAM. Plenty of space for multi-terabyte HD's (3 I think) and a very nice Sound Blaster option.

[<kabal> Bunibuni]

Ok, now I'm trying to buy a new computer since my last two fried within four months of purchasing them.
From CPU Solutions, first choice is:

Power Supply: Thermaltake TR2-600NL2NC ATX12V & EPS12V 600w Power Supply

AMD Motherboard Options: MSI 970A-G43 Desktop Motherboard - AMD 970 Chipset - Socket AM3+

AMD CPU Options: AMD FX-6300 3.50 GHz Processor - Socket AM3+ FX 6300 6C PROCESSOR AM3+ 14MB 95W 3500 MHZ BOX Stock Cooler Included

Dual Channel DDR3 Memory Options: Crucial 8GB KIT PC3-12800 DDR3 1600MHz (2 x 4 GB)

PCI Express Video Card: Asus GeForce GT730 2048MB GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0

SATA Hard Disk: Western Digital Caviar Blue WD10EZEX 1 TB Internal Hard Drive

Optical Drives: Asus DRW-24F1ST Internal DVD-Writer Bulk

OS: WINDOWS 7 Home Prem 64 Bit 1PK License and Media - OEM - 1 PC. Supports Up To 16GB RAM

Keyboard: Logitech MK120 Keyboard & Pointing Device Kit USB Cable Keyboard - USB Cable Mouse - Optical

Speaker Options: Logitech S-120 Speaker System

System Assembly: Basic Full System Assemble with 24 Hour Burn In Requires 3-5 Business days

Service & Warranty: 12 Month Parts & Labor Depot Limited Warranty

Upgrade from On-board Sound : Onboard Sound Included

Motherboard includes on board LAN: TP-LINK TL-WN725N IEEE 802.11n USB - Wi-Fi Adapter

CPU Type: FX

Customization Available:: Full Customization

Video Chipset: GT730

Chipset: AMD 970

Case Size: Mid Tower

Memory Size: 8GB

Wattage: 600

List Price: $829.99

Price: $734.87

[<kabal> Bunibuni]

Also from CPU Solutions comes:

Power Supply: Thermaltake TR2-600NL2NC ATX12V & EPS12V 600w Power Supply

AMD Motherboard Options: MSI 970A-G43 Desktop Motherboard - AMD 970 Chipset - Socket AM3+

AMD CPU Options: AMD FX-6300 3.50 GHz Processor - Socket AM3+ FX 6300 6C PROCESSOR AM3+ 14MB 95W 3500 MHZ BOX Stock Cooler Included

DDR3 Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB DDR3 1600 2x4G

PCI Express Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX750 OC 2GB 2xDVI-I/DVI-D/2xHDMI OC

SATA Hard Disk: Western Digital Caviar Blue WD10EZEX 1 TB Internal Hard Drive

Optical Drives: Asus DRW-24F1ST Internal DVD-Writer Bulk

OS: WINDOWS 7 Home Prem 64 Bit 1PK License and Media - OEM - 1 PC. Supports Up To 16GB RAM

Keyboard: Logitech MK120 Keyboard & Pointing Device Kit USB Cable Keyboard - USB Cable Mouse - Optical

Speaker Options: Logitech S-120 Speaker System

System Assembly: Full System Assemble with 48 Hour Testing and Burn In Requires 3-6 Business days

Service & Warranty: 12 Month Parts & Labor Depot Limited Warranty

Upgrade from On-board Sound : Onboard Sound Included

Motherboard includes on board LAN: TP-LINK TL-WN725N IEEE 802.11n USB - Wi-Fi Adapter

CPU Type: FX

Customization Available:: Full Customization

Video Chipset: GTX750

MPN: A64G42

Chipset: AMD 970

# of Memory Slots: 4

Case Size: Mid Tower

Brand: CPU Solutions

Memory Size: 8GB

Storage Capacity: 1TB

Wattage: 600

List Price: $899.99

Price: $805.87

[<kabal> Bunibuni]

Third choice:

Power Supply: Thermaltake TR2-600NL2NC ATX12V & EPS12V 600w Power Supply

AMD Motherboard Options: Asus M5A97 R 2.0 Desktop Motherboard - AMD - Socket AM3+

AMD CPU Options: AMD FX-6350 3.90 GHz Processor - Socket AM3+ FX-6350 6C AM3+ 14MB 125W 4.2G BOX (Stock Cooler Included)

DDR3 Memory: Crucial 16GB Kit (8GBx2), 1600Mhz 240-pin DIMM, DDR3 PC3-12800 Memory Module 2x8GB

PCI Express Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX750 OC 2GB 2xDVI-I/DVI-D/2xHDMI OC

SATA Hard Disk: Western Digital Caviar Blue WD10EZEX 1 TB Internal Hard Drive

Optical Drives: Asus DRW-24F1ST Internal DVD-Writer Bulk

OS: WINDOWS 7 Home Prem 64 Bit 1PK License and Media - OEM - 1 PC. Supports Up To 16GB RAM

Keyboard: Logitech MK120 Keyboard & Pointing Device Kit USB Cable Keyboard - USB Cable Mouse - Optical

Speaker Options: Logitech S-120 Speaker System

System Assembly: Full System Assemble with 48 Hour Testing and Burn In Requires 3-6 Business days

Service & Warranty: 12 Month Parts & Labor Depot Limited Warranty

Upgrade from On-board Sound : Onboard Sound Included

Motherboard includes on board LAN: TP-LINK TL-WN725N IEEE 802.11n USB - Wi-Fi Adapter

CPU Type: FX

Customization Available:: Full Customization

Video Chipset: GTX750

MPN: A64G

Chipset: AMD 970

Chipset: AMD 970

# of Memory Slots: 4

Case Size: Mid Tower

Brand: CPU Solutions

Memory Size: 16GB

Memory Speed: 1600

Storage Capacity: 1TB

Wattage: 600

List Price: $999.99

Price: $929.87

[<kabal> Bunibuni]

This last choice is just at the very top of my price range.

Power Supply: Thermaltake TR2-600NL2NC ATX12V & EPS12V 600w Power Supply

AMD Motherboard Options: MSI 970A-G43 Desktop Motherboard - AMD 970 Chipset - Socket AM3+

AMD CPU Options: AMD FX-6300 3.50 GHz Processor - Socket AM3+ FX 6300 6C PROCESSOR AM3+ 14MB 95W 3500 MHZ BOX Stock Cooler Included

Dual Channel DDR3 Memory Options: Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB DDR3 1600 2x4G

PCI Express Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX750 OC 2GB 2xDVI-I/DVI-D/2xHDMI OC

SATA Hard Disk: Kingston SSDNow V300 240 GB 2.5" Internal Solid State Drive

Second Hard Drive: WD Black WD1003FZEX 1 TB 3.5" Internal Hard Drive

Optical Drives: Asus DRW-24F1ST Internal DVD-Writer Bulk

OS: WINDOWS 7 Home Prem 64 Bit 1PK License and Media - OEM - 1 PC. Supports Up To 16GB RAM

Keyboard: Logitech MK120 Keyboard & Pointing Device Kit USB Cable Keyboard - USB Cable Mouse - Optical

Speaker Options: Logitech S-120 Speaker System

System Assembly: Basic Full System Assemble with 24 Hour Burn In Requires 3-5 Business days

Service & Warranty: 12 Month Parts & Labor Depot Limited Warranty

Upgrade from On-board Sound : Onboard Sound Included

Motherboard includes on board LAN: TP-LINK TL-WN725N IEEE 802.11n USB - Wi-Fi Adapter

CPU Type: FX

Customization Available:: Full Customization

Video Chipset: GTX750

MPN: FX41SSDGPC

Chipset: AMD 970

# of Memory Slots: 4

Case Size: Mid Tower

Brand: CPU Solutions

Interfaces/Ports: 2 HDMI & 2 DVI

Memory Size: 8GB

Memory Speed: 1600

Storage Capacity: 240GB SSD & 1TB HDD

Wattage: 600

List Price: $1,049.99

Price: $965.86

[<kabal> Bunibuni]

I'm looking to play PFO on my computer. Not really looking to record and stream my playing but might be nice to do it but not required.

Don't really play a lot of other online games and those that I do, since they are older, probably don't require as much as PFO does.

Not running two characters at the same time except when I plan to transfer stuff from one to the other, so very limited times.

Not using Wi-Fi. Know I need 8 GB of Memory. Not pleased with 8.1 and liked Win 7.

Beyond that, I'm clueless.

[Saiph]

<kabal> Bunibuni wrote:

I'm looking to play PFO on my computer. Not really looking to record and stream my playing but might be nice to do it but not required.

Don't really play a lot of other online games and those that I do, since they are older, probably don't require as much as PFO does.

Not running two characters at the same time except when I plan to transfer stuff from one to the other, so very limited times.

Not using Wi-Fi. Know I need 8 GB of Memory. Not pleased with 8.1 and liked Win 7.

Beyond that, I'm clueless.

Aww, you're clueless like me :-)

[<kabal> Bunibuni]

Yep. I'm real old school! I learned Basic and Fortran programming using punch cards, waaaaaaaayyyyyyyy back in 1980! Still trying to figure out why we don't need a special refrigerated room for our home computers. :-)

[Saiph]

ASUS Z97-AR LGA 1150 Intel ATX Motherboard
Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz LGA 1150 Boxed Processor
Corsair Hydro Series H60 High Performance Liquid Cooling
NZXT Classic Series Source 210 Mid Tower ATX Computer Case
Microsoft Windows 8.1 64-bit English
750W 20 4-pin ATX Power Supply (Black)
2TB 7200 RPM SATA 6Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive
Crucial Ballistix Sport 16GB DDR3-1600 PC3-12800) Memory
LG 16x Internal SATA Blu-Ray Rewritable Drive
Radeon R7 240X Overclocked 2GB DDR3 PCIEx1

I ended up going with this. 1224.00 was the final price which includes install and a 3 year warranty so I'm happy with my purchase.

Thanks everyone for the help!

[Neadenil Edam]

Saiph wrote:

ASUS Z97-AR LGA 1150 Intel ATX Motherboard

Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz LGA 1150 Boxed Processor
Corsair Hydro Series H60 High Performance Liquid Cooling
NZXT Classic Series Source 210 Mid Tower ATX Computer Case
Microsoft Windows 8.1 64-bit English
750W 20 4-pin ATX Power Supply (Black)
2TB 7200 RPM SATA 6Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive
Crucial Ballistix Sport 16GB DDR3-1600 PC3-12800) Memory
LG 16x Internal SATA Blu-Ray Rewritable Drive
Radeon R7 240X Overclocked 2GB DDR3 PCIEx1

I ended up going with this. 1224.00 was the final price which includes install and a 3 year warranty so I'm happy with my purchase.

Thanks everyone for the help!

Those H60 have been around a few years now but are still one of the best mid range CPU cooler solutions around. Similar performance to a top end air cooler but smaller and quieter. Being integrated it is also without the hassles of an assemble it yourself waterblock (its all in one and sealed).

We use them on some of our high end servers at work.

[KarlBob]

Sounds like a solid system, Saiph. You should have no trouble at all running PFO, and a good bit more besides.

[<kabal> Bunibuni]

Finally went with this baby from CPUsolutions:

3.5Ghz 6 Core Custom PC Gamer System. GTX 750, 1TB HDD, 8GB RAM, Windows 7 (A64G42)

Customizations:

Case: Corsair Carbide Series SPEC-02 Red LED Mid-Tower Gaming Case
Power Supply: Thermaltake 750W 80PLUS Bronze Certified Active PFC power supply
AMD Motherboard Options: MSI 970A-G43 Desktop Motherboard - AMD 970 Chipset - Socket AM3+
AMD CPU Options: AMD FX-6300 3.50 GHz Processor - Socket AM3+ FX 6300 6C PROCESSOR AM3+ 14MB 95W 3500 MHZ BOX Stock Cooler Included
Upgrade The Stock AMD Cooler: Thermaltake NiC C4 Cooling Fan/Heatsink
DDR3 Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB DDR3 1600 2x4G
PCI Express Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX750 OC 2GB 2xDVI-I/DVI-D/2xHDMI OC
SATA Hard Disk: Western Digital Caviar Blue WD10EZEX 1 TB Internal Hard Drive
Optical Drives: Asus DRW-24F1ST Internal DVD-Writer Bulk
OS: WINDOWS 7 Home Prem 64 Bit 1PK License and Media - OEM - 1 PC. Supports Up To 16GB RAM
Keyboard: Logitech MK120 Keyboard & Pointing Device Kit USB Cable Keyboard - USB Cable Mouse - Optical
Speaker Options: Logitech S-120 Speaker System
System Assembly: Full System Assemble with 48 Hour Testing and Burn In Requires 3-6 Business days
Service &amp; Warranty: 12 Month Parts & Labor Depot Limited Warranty
Upgrade from On-board Sound : Onboard Sound Included
Motherboard includes on board LAN: TRENDnet Gigabit PCI Adapter PCI - 1 x RJ-45 - 10/100/1000Base-T
Product Subtotal: $ 878.86
FedEx Home Delivery Shipping: $ 42.92

Total: $ 921.78

[Saiph]

Scratch my update, my friend is trying to get me to increase my memory speed to 2400 MHz and also go with a Nvidia 760 or 770. Seeing how much that's going to cost me...

Lord, lol.

[<kabal> Bunibuni]

Try CPUsolutions, you can configure the system you want at the price you want. And they have a chat function so you can explain what a newbie you are and what you are trying to do in order to configure a good system for you.

Hopefully, the computer I ordered from them will turn out to be awesome and I will love it. :-)

[Neadenil Edam]

Just a few comments on getting to close to the "edge of the envelope" with cutting edge enthusiast components.

Advise from friends:
1. You will get a lot of advise form "armchair warriors" who read up all the specs and reviews online as a hobby and recommend super go-fast bits but only ever built one or two PCs in their life, treat their advise with care.
2. Similarly everyone seems to know someone that built a "superfast LN2 cooled multi GPU crazy Ghz uber gaming computer that blitzed all the benchmarks" that somehow is also super reliable and stable. treat these claims with a pinch of salt.

Review Sites:
1. Most review sites rely on the good will of manufacturers to supply them with newly released parts for review and they need those reviews to attract advertisers THEREFORE there is an inherent bias on most review sites to avoid too much criticism and pump up the praise.
2. Product reviews are generally short term tests. Review sites running equipment for more than a day in a test is unusual. testing over several months unheard of.

By all means listen to advise from friends and read reviews they are both useful things to do, just be a little careful about getting too excited about the "cutting edge" stuff.

Reasons to stick to high performance rather than "enthusiast" components:

- the price increase to move up to the current top performance gear (versus high performance stuff with reasonable OC capability) is out of proportion to the performance improvement you get
- when ALL your components are pushing the envelope chances are some of them will simply be incompatible with some of the others (this can particularly be a issue with superfast ram and high end OC motherboards).
- the really top performance stuff is on average considerably less reliable than the next tier down

Always remember - people building the serious enthusiast gaming PCs are akin to someone building a track car for weekend racing. It is not meant to be reliable just go really quick for a limited time before being rebuilt with even faster components. What you need to aim for is an above average, but not totally cutting edge, rig that will run reliably day in day out for a couple of years before you replace it.

[Saiph]

Whelp, I only live once so I spent a little extra and got everything I wanted. The final product is below; Merry Christmas to me! Thank you again for all the advice.

ASUS Z97-AR LGA 1150 Intel ATX Motherboard
Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz LGA 1150 Boxed Processor
Corsair Hydro Series H60 High Performance Liquid Cooling
NZXT Classic Series Source 210 Mid Tower ATX Computer Case
Microsoft Windows 8.1 64-bit English
750W 20 4-pin ATX Power Supply (Black)
2TB 7200 RPM SATA 6Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive
Crucial Ballistix Sport 16GB DDR3-1600 PC3-12800) Memory
LG 16x Internal SATA Blu-Ray Rewritable Drive
Nvidia GTX 770 2GB

[Nihimon]

@Saiph, I'm slightly concerned about the compatibility between the motherboard and the RAM. If they haven't already shipped it, you might want to put the order on hold until you can get someone with more technical expertise than I have to verify that they'll work well together. It's entirely possible my concern is completely unfounded.

Otherwise, that sounds like a fantastic system.

[Edit] Looking a little more closely, I'm less worried. It looks like the "frequently bought together" items have very similar RAM. I do recommend getting someone experienced to assemble it for you, if that's in your budget.

[Saiph]

Nihimon wrote:

@Saiph, I'm slightly concerned about the compatibility between the motherboard and the RAM. If they haven't already shipped it, you might want to put the order on hold until you can get someone with more technical expertise than I have to verify that they'll work well together. It's entirely possible my concern is completely unfounded.

Otherwise, that sounds like a fantastic system.

Can you elaborate Nihimon? Is one "too good" for the other or?

[Nihimon]

See my [Edit] above :)

[Valkenr]

Saiph wrote:

Whelp, I only live once so I spent a little extra and got everything I wanted. The final product is below; Merry Christmas to me! Thank you again for all the advice.

ASUS Z97-AR LGA 1150 Intel ATX Motherboard
Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz LGA 1150 Boxed Processor
Corsair Hydro Series H60 High Performance Liquid Cooling
NZXT Classic Series Source 210 Mid Tower ATX Computer Case
Microsoft Windows 8.1 64-bit English
750W 20 4-pin ATX Power Supply (Black)
2TB 7200 RPM SATA 6Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive
Crucial Ballistix Sport 16GB DDR3-1600 PC3-12800) Memory
LG 16x Internal SATA Blu-Ray Rewritable Drive
Nvidia GTX 770 2GB

Honestly, I would go for the 760 4GB over the 770 2GB, I think they're around the same price. It's only a marginal increase in processors, but the extra 2GB of memory will be very helpful for PFO, and is we've been told that more Vram will help by Ryan.

I'd 2nd the 2400mhz ram thing, I use the Patriot Viper series. You may get a good deal on it over the next few days.

I would actually watch places like new egg over the weekend and early next week, there are probably going to be some good deals for things similar to what you are using.

And if you're using liquid cooling, I would invest in some leak detection, frankly, unless you plan on overclocking, liquid cooling isn't necessary.

[Saiph]

Upgraded to Corsair Vengence Pro 2 x 8GB DDR3-2400. I'm not looking at this thread again as I'm out of money! Lol