Archie's $2k build

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So I've been a gamer for a while now, and have been using the same rig I built for 4-5 years now with only a graphics card, PSU, and Motherboard upgrade along the way.  Old parts got fried thanks to a crazy EX-girlfriend knocking over the case. O_o  I also added the 1TB drive last year.

My current build is:

http://pcpartpicker.com/user/Memphaestus/saved/2lN1

The video card is actually a Gigabyte 6850 OC that has been discontinued, but the HIS seemed close to what I have as a placeholder. My CPU cooler is a Sunbeam Core Contact Freezer Cooler.

I just recently started getting some pieces together for the new build and figured I'd ask for advice and suggestions before I go any farther.  I'm going for a Black and Red sort of ROG build.  I am willing to deviate a bit from the brands if the parts are superior/more cost effective.

  • Budget. I'm looking to spend around $2K in the end, without going over $2200.
  • Where do you live? US $
  • Is there a retailer you prefer? Newegg.  I live on the west coast, so I have amazing shipping times, and don't have much down time if I need to RMA.  I wouldn't mind supporting NCIX either.
  • Do you need or already have peripherals? I am using some old fairly budget gear that I purchased 4-5 years ago, and think it is time to upgrade to real gaming gear.
  • What will you be using your future computer for? Gaming primarily.  I am a musician, and do some sound editing, and would like to gradually get into some light video editing too.
  • Do you overclock or want to get into overclocking?  I overclocked my 550BE to 3.85Ghz stable with my Mushkin Silverlines at 1433Mhz, and plan to crank up the 8350 pretty high too, hence the supporting parts I have selected below.
  • Do you plan on going for custom watercooling now, or in the future? I would eventually like to go water cooling, but for now I think a closed loop system will be the most cost efficient for the performance and the H100i/closed loop systems keep the interior looking really clean.
  • OS. Do you need a new one? I already purchased Win 8, so I'm good there, but am including it in the total cost.
  • Do you plan on Mining BTC either for yourself or Tek Syndicate? I really don't know what all that entails.  I keep hearing about it, but just not exactly sure how time consuming or demanding it really is.
  • What kind of settings do you like or what FPS do you want to play at? I want to try to hit High-Ultra settings in pretty much everything current, since I've been gaming at low-mid in most of the demanding current games.
  • What resolution will you be playing at? 1080p
  • What kind of games do you like to play?  FPS, RPG, Action RPG, some strategy games, some indy games.
  • What specific game will you be playing? BF3, Diablo 3, Starcraft II, Skyrim modded, and I will play BF4 during beta and for release.  I also want to be able to play Witcher 3, and some of the near future games that have yet to be released at high settings hopefully.
  • What kind of keyboard do you prefer? I'm currently on a Microsoft membrane, but tried out a Mechanical Cherry Red keyboard and loved it!
  • What type of mouse-grip do you have? I usually have a Claw grip, but with my current mouse I have to change my grip due to fatigue and I have large hands, so smaller gaming mice get uncomfortable fairly quick.
  • What size monitor are you looking for, and what resolution? I'm loving the look of IPS monitors, and I want to upgrade to a 23-24" screen.  If my grandma has a 22" LED monitor, I better have something at least that big. 1080p monitor res is all I think I'll need.  I'm trying to keep the cost low on this, as upgrading the monitor can easily put me over the $2200.

This is what I have come up with so far:

http://pcpartpicker.com/user/Memphaestus/saved/2lMq

Notes:  I already purchased the Mushkin RAM, the SX900, Win 8, and the Fractal R4 grey windowed case.  Total cost including these parts needs to stay below $2200. Also, the Noctua fans will be for the H100i. I already have a few Coolermaster and Apevia 140mm fans, but will eventually be upgrading all of my fans to Noctua.  That will be down the line though, they aren't necessary yet, so I haven't included them.  I am also done with using giant CPU heatsinks.  Closed loop watercooling all the way.  I would have purchased the Swiftech h220 since the performance is far and away better than the Corsair unit, if only they weren't discontinued in the US.  Also, I'll be carrying over the 2 mechanical hard drives, so that $140 cost can be subtracted from the total.

Thanks in advance.

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http://pcpartpicker.com/user/tacticallemur/saved/2lQw


You have a really good budget so I just want with a 4770k. It's overkill for games but it will help with future games and editing. Get the CPU/Motherboard from microcenter it's an amazing deal; if you can't I'd probably consider going for AMD.

The 7970 is more than adequate for 1080 gaming; can go with 7950 if you want to save some money, it's almost as good. The fans on the H100i are actually  good you shouldn't need to replace them with noctua. I use the stock fans on my 8350 at 4.8 Ghz.

That power supply is a beast for sure but you definitely don't need to spend 200 bucks on a power supply. 750w is overkill but Seasonic makes really good power supplies and it's on sale. If you want wattage for crossfire or something later you can go up to like 850w.

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You can do a lot better for $2000. t

That PSU is terrible for the money. $200? That's insane. Also, for a system with only one 7950, you wouldn't need half of that PSU. You're wasting money on the unit, efficiency, and Corsair branding. Even if you wanted a second 7950, 650W is plenty. Triple GPUs, I would look into a 750W to 850W, max. The PSU I would get is the Seasonic X 650, which can be had for $120, give or take. It is perfect for a dual card system, has an incredibly low ripple, high efficiency (hits 80+ Platinum on cold load tests), and insane build quality.

 

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Hi - I would cut back on the memory and go for 1600 as you are not using a APU. PSU as others have said. I would also swap the mobo for something like Asus SABERTOOTH 990FX R2.0 ATX AM3+ other wise its cool

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Thanks everyone for the input.

I did forget to mention that I would like to be set up for Crossfire in the future, that's why I went with a PSU over 800w, and I've had really good experiences with my last 2 Corsair PSU's so far. I wanted to have this power supply last me the full 7 years if possible.  That's right, Corsair has a 7 year warranty on the AX860!  I was also looking for something fully modular to keep the clutter down in the case for better airflow and aesthetics. Additionally, I like the idea of in the future purchasing Corsair's custom individually sleeved cables that they offer for this unit. I may end up doing the sleeving myself though, so I'll be flexible on this.

I do like Seasonic PSU's, and I've heard they are extremely reliable. What about the Seasonic X-850 Gold? It saves me some cash but still maintains high efficiency and space for future Crossfire. Something that I should point out. If I use an Intel 4770k and overclock it, vs. an AMD 8350 and overclock it, I would save about 100w in power. 860W is really not overkill at all for an overclocked AMD + Crossfire, since I will have about a 50-100w buffer, which is about the gap I need to maintain for reduced strain and increased longevity of the psu. I suppose if I go 4770K I could drop down to a 750w PSU to save some money there.  I've always been one to never skimp on my PSU though.  I'd rather pay an extra $20-50 for a brand that I trust with an excellent warranty like Corsair.  This goes for all of my parts.  High quality, well established companies with phenomenal warranties.  Sorry, but I'm not going to ride the bleeding edge of the PSU because I can.  I'm looking for long term reliable usage.

Also, along the CPU line of discussion; Does anyone know if AM3+ or socket 1150 will be sockets that AMD and Intel will continue using for future CPU's? From what I've read recently (could be BS) is that AMD is dropping out of the enthusiast CPU market and Intel will slow down the development of their enthusiast CPUs as a response to this. But on the other side, I had also read somewhere that AMD has recently acquired 50 new engineers to push their CPU lineup. Is there any news on this? Also, isn't the 8350 expected to be better in future games due to consoles being 8 core Jaguar processors? I would think that when console game designers all work with using 8 cores, then the 4 core Intel processors will take a large performance hit in these future games.  Also, what happens if I decide I want to start streaming games?  Isn't the 8350 the clear winner then?  I have a feeling that playing high end games while streaming will be a similar benchmark to the future games that use 8 cores.  Answers to these kinds of questions will definitely help me determine which processor I purchase in the end.

I guess I'll wait to change out the fans on the H100i. I was just worried about noise levels of the stock ones. I keep reading everywhere that the stock fans sound like a hair dryer at top speeds.  Do yours get super loud under load?

I do like the ASUS Sabertooth MB, and I would save a lot of money getting it. I was just wanting to go with the best motherboard possible for overclocking plus the Xhair is one of the only high end Motherboards that will match my color scheme. If I were to go the Intel route and get a 4770K, I would save on power, which might be the right way to go in the long run and there are a greater variety of MBs.

The memory I already purchased, as I briefly mentioned above. I wanted to go with the lowest latency highest speed RAM with the best reliability that I could get before DDR4 starts to come next year. With any luck, this build will hold its own vs the next generation of motherboards/chipsets/and RAM.

I have been really considering the 7970 as my video card. Is it really worth the extra $50-$100 difference in price? Especially with the new line of AMD video cards about to come out?  I think I may be better holding off on that, buying the one 7950 now, then pick up a second one when the prices drop for Xfire.

Thoughts?

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No, you will not save 100W from the 8350 vs 4770k, Closer to maybe 30W with at extreme end.

The Seasonic X650 has a 7 year warranty, as well, and plenty of wattage for two 7950s or 7970s. Save yourself money, both in the power bill, and upfront, and get the X650. It has a lower ripple than the AX760, is just as efficient (hits 80+ Plat in cold load), and is overall a better choice for dual GPUs.

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The TDP difference is 41w, which WILL be exaggerated when overclocking.  You are right, that I probably won't see a 100w difference, but I would definitely expect a minimum of 60w difference and maybe as high as 80w depending on the individual cpus.

So what's the point of "upgrading" to a Seasonic x650 when I already have a Corsair Bronze TX650?  I end up with a little bit more efficiency and slightly lower electric bills, that's all. I want space to upgrade.  Space to add greater, more powerful hardware in the next few years.  Why spend money on a PSU at all. You're saying I should spend $120 on a PSU that is in the same class as the PSU I already have.  That is a serious waste of money.

Lets look at this a different way.  I noticed in your profile, that you have a 3770k, Nvidia 680, and an X650 PSU.  So you are telling me to run your exact PSU, with a CPU demanding a minimum 41w more, and 2 video cards that are individually more power hungry than yours?  55w more power hungry per card to be exact!  Did you pick that X650 PSU because it had plenty of space for your parts? Or did you chose a PSU that is on the absolute edge of its capabilities? You hopefully picked one that had space.  That's what I'm going to do.

I'm grateful for your suggestion, but your numbers are not adding up.

Thanks to Tacticallemurand Jameswhite as well.  You guys helped me think outside of my box a bit more.

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http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1CncT this is what i would do with your budget

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And remember if you're mad about me removing the silly overpriced keyboard and mouse "ITS A FREAKING GTX780"....

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I would hold out till the next AMD cards are released.

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Goshu- I like that list quite a bit.  I'm a little wary of MSI boards though. I had one go bad on me after a few months a couple years back.  This one sure does have really good reviews on Newegg though.  I suppose choose each part based on its individual performance and not on brand rep.  Right?  This kind of goes hand in hand with the Intel CPU and MBs I've been looking at now.  It has opened up a lot more options to a previously AMD guy.  Maybe too many.  Also, that mouse looks wide as all hell! And I really like the curvature of the top.  That might just be a good mouse for my gargantuan hands. 

Oh, and I already have an ASUS DVD Reader/Writer, but I didn't list it, since I basically never use the thing.  To explain how often I use it; on my R4 case, I have the front panel removable drive cover left in and only remove it when I actually need the drive.  Since I've already installed Windows, that means pretty much never.

Nord- Yeah, I do want to go with even better graphics, but I won't be buying the card for about a month, and the budget will probably expand a little bit depending on how big my bonus check is. My <2200 budget is the worst case scenario that I wanted to plan around just in case.  Obviously if I get a larger bonus than I expect, I'll be dumping that money into a better card.

Do we have any word on when the new AMD cards are going to come out other than some time in 2013? Or are we still in the dark?  In an ideal world, I could just buy the best card out there without regards to money, but I would like to get a bit more cost effective card than the current 780's.

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I stuck with your core concept and parts and put this together.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1CQXZ

I changed some parts and changed the video card to a gtx 780. It might be overkill for 1080p, but you will get the ultra settings you want on every game now and for the next long while. And you have the budget for it, so why not.

Honestly, I couldn't imagine making a 2k build without a top tier graphics card. It would be like all that overclocking effort is wasting your time. The 7950 is nice, but a GTX 780 gives you all the performance without any microstuttering and framerating.

Someone above make a i7-4770k build, but I don't think it factors in the parts you already purchased.

If I had a raw $2000 budget, my build would be this:

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1CRpn

This actually has some of the things you already put in, but a different CPU cooler.. its similar in performance for $30 cheaper.

Also some people will scoff at my cheaper motherboard, but the extreme4's overclock well and have great features. It will do what I and 95% of people will want it to do. No sense in getting a board over $200 unless you really want to push the limits of overclocking. (which isn't all that necessary with a i7 for gaming)