[NEWB] PC BUILD

Define "as fast". There's no way a 4 year old video card will hang with any of the newest ATI or NVIDIA chips. This is why spending a ton of money on PC's is a losers game... it's just like paying a ton of money for a car and watching it depreciate. It won't get faster.

If you spend $1000 now on a system, you can spend another $1000 2-3 years from now and another $1000 2-3 years from there if needed and always have a modern system with a modern video card. In the meantime, the person that spent $3000-$3500 will be spewing dust from his video card by that point. And of course he can upgrade, but then, by his own belief, he would need to spend $3000-$3500 more to get the latest and greatest to "future-proof" himself, wouldn't he?

In reality all you'd really need to do nowadays is upgrade the video card. I'm still using the i7 2600k CPU from my build 4 years ago, I think. Upgrading the CPU will give me hardly any benefit... at least not bang-for-the-buck. The 5870 GPU I'm running is my bottleneck. If I upgrade the video card to something like an R9 290 for about $400, hey look, I've got a modern system again for at least another year or two until I may need to finally upgrade my CPU and mobo.

 

You're right about the video cards. But we are talking about a 1000 dollar system, he's not going to be able to get the latest video card for that kind of build.

And I think that you are misinterpreting by statement by claiming that I am advocating (or believe it is possible) to future proof a system. I am not.

I just think it is a waste of money to spend a 1000k on a system and think that you have the latest and greatest because of it.

Of course, at the same time, I am well aware that if somebody wanted to spend 3.5k on a rig today, it would blow mine out of the water.

Let's put it this way, I'd rather have a 2009 honda accord over a 2013 hyundia sonata any day of the week.

 

Absolutely not.

You get far less performance increments the higher you go up, especially when it comes to CPUs and GPUs.

You always get the most out of your $$ by going for that sweet spot which generally falls at the $1500 range.

Spend $1500 on a system and upgrade every 2-3 years and you will never feel your system is outdated and most of your components will be generally up-to-date.

Myself and most of the folks I know that build the system follow this rule.

 

i pretty much agree with this. your strategy is a good one. i will just say that i rarely see builds like the one you are describing where you drop a lot of money on say a high end power supply and a better QUALITY motherboard. You'll put a 99.99 power supply and a 119.99 motherboard, and then you'll buy a 350 processor and overclock it to the max.

Which is to say, everything you spent money on isn't always about raw speed, but with your kind of build, it often is. I build for stability and quality as much as raw speed.

 

http://www.logicalincrements.com/

Check out the $1141 build, comes with a r280x (which is about 10% cheaper now), i5 4670k (also 10% cheaper at microcenter and you can get a mobo+CPU combo to save even more), a seasonic PSU (one of the best brand), samsung ssd + 1 tb hdd.. only thing i'd swap is the case and maybe mobo

 

You don't need the latest video card. Why spend $800 on a video card when you can get a modern video card for $300. In 2-3 years, you can either go with a SLI/CF and spend $150 for that second card or just upgrade completely for a faster and more efficient card for $300.

 

Currently building one myself.

CPU - i7 4770K
CPU Cooler - Corsair H100i (Going to replace those Corsair fans with two Noctua NF-F12's.
Case - Fractal R4
Motherboard - Either going with the Maximus IV or possibly the Z87 Deluxe
Storage: 240gb Samsung Evo SSD
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 16GB x2
Video Card: Not completely sure but I think I'm going with 2 GTX 680's SLI
Power Supply: Corsair 760w AX760

 

opinions?

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2czGk

 

the 760 is not as good as the 670 and is pretty expensive for what you get, amd's 7950 (might be out of stock as well) is very comparable to the 670 and is cheaper than the 760. Check out anandtech benchmarks if you want to compare different graphic cards.

regarding monitors, HDMI doesn't mean much unless you plan on hooking up a PS4/XB1 to it, I'd suggest an IPS monitor or a 120hz monitor, or you can shell out more for an 2560x1440 IPS 144hz but no major manufacture sells those (you have to rely on korean manufactures)

 

This. 760 isn't as good as 670.

 

I wouldn't consider myself qualified to critique some of your vital components (built my 1st rig 1yr ago), but I have some cost cutting suggestions:

There is no need to get that Full ATX tower, you can snag this Corsair 600T Mid Tower for $70 after rebate if you have a Visa card (V.me)

Not sure if you are aware, but that Corsair Vengeance 8GB stick you listed is available now for $45 after rebate OR if you want lower latency (w/o rebate hassle), you can get the G.SKILL RipJaws X series 8GB (2x4GB) for $49.99

I like your semi-modular PSU, but do you really need 750W? You can get in on this Corsair 600W 80+ Bronze for $30 after rebate (unfortunately, not modular)

Also, I didn't bother with a DVD drive and haven't needed it. Initial setup can be a pain if you have slow internet, but drivers are readily available for download.

BTW, no SSD? If you cut some costs, you can save enough to take advantage of some good deals running today.

 

The 670 and 760 actually are quite comparable according to benchmarks. Here's anandtech's benchmarks http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/830?vs=854 and Tom's Hardware hierarchy has them in the same tier http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-card-review,3107-7.html. Overclock.net's rankings have them side-by-side, too http://www.overclock.net/t/502403/graphics-card-ranking-5th-time-and-last-updated-daily. The slight edge does go to the 670, but if it comes down to price, you'd hardly notice the difference with either one.

If I were you, I'd follow this thread on Slickdeals: http://slickdeals.net/f/6489494-the...er-monday-video-card-thread-updated-regularly. Use the benchmarks to decide best bang-for-buck. Familiarize yourself with what you're looking for and what previous sales have been, too, because good deals don't last long.

 

If you dont mind not having SLI...

http://pcpartpicker.com/part/gigabyte-motherboard-gaz77ds3h

Wow just noticed you picked the same one.

Yeah it's a good mobo. Amazon has it for $10 cheaper btw.

 

This board is going for the same price and is miles better:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...rue&Keywords=(keywords)&Page=1#scrollFullInfo

I used it for my build 1yr ago and really haven't had any problems
Besides having more SATA 6Gb/s, USB 3.0 connections and 2 PCI Express 3.0 (instead of only 1), the board has a "Clear CMOS" button on the back rear panel. Super convenient, no need for jumpers

 

the one component you NEVER skimp on is a PSU. Terrible advice. But it goes along with the speed only matters: ie, cutting cost on a power supply so that you can afford an SSD. smdh.

I'd rather spend double on a quality power supply and not get an SSD, rather than the other way around. And people wonder why their computers are always having problems. A quality PS is worth its weight in gold in a PC build.

Also, Corsair PSU's remind me a lot of western digital HDs back in the day. You mindlessly buy one without regard for the quality.

 

You better make sure all your components are compatible. You might be better served if you go to a computer forum and give them your price range. Let someone with experience put together a list of hardware. The rest is about as easy as legos.