Some research might help you in determining your path for your pc. On another note what exactly is your budget and are you building a computer from scratch? This will help a lot with determining what parts you should get. You should research what type of games you will play since that will be a factor into this equation. As mysteryangel said earlier games like mmo's will benefit greatly from an intel chip vs amd. I have personally have had bottlenecks on my system playing counter strike of all things. I play zombie mode 64 player maps and the frame rate will be all over the place including times where the game looks like a slideshow.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iehrXA3n39c
THere are also allot of benchmarks graphs out there. i will look for some.
Alright. You've peaked my attention. I have to jet off to work, but if you have some time see if you can get me a pickpart list with motherboard that is 64gb or 32gb ram capable. Let's budget around 1000 although lower is better.
64GB ram is not supported bij intel Z97 nor is it on AMD FX.
That Msi Z97 Gaming 5 supports 32GB of DDR3 ram. But there are cheaper boards offcourse.
Do you need 32GB of ram in the future?
The problem isn't a GHz/core problem... it's IPC (instructions per cycle) and how they are utilized... when comparing CPUs with GHz, the only thing that makes sense is an i3 4130 - i3 4340 or a FX6300 to a FX6350... these are on the same architecture, so that can be compared with cycle timings (GHz)...
When trying to compare an i5-4690k to an FX 9590.... that's like weighing kiwis and pineapples to get which has the most edible fruit...
Not only that, but GHz tends to have a curve of return vs amps and heat generation...
To oversimplify everything to really really Laymen's terms... Current Intel processors have cores that are ~30% more efficient in instructions per cycle and have a smaller distance to travel per cycle do to the die it's manufactured on... add to that a LOT of programs only utilize one thread, and you'll see from an end-user experience an i5 for general use is "snappier" than a FX9590... from that, you can generally imagine how a 4 core CPU can compete with an 8 core...
If you don't care to overclock the Xeon/H97 is the same price as a 4690k/Z97 with a decent motherboard... if you prefer to have the 8 threads an 8-core AMD would offer...
Another guy posted for $1000 builds earlier and this is what I recommended to him... I'd recommend the same to you :P
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2hc2ZL ---- i5 4970K / R9 290X
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/6JrTVn ---- Xeon / GTX970
Nice builds, the only thing i would recommend is to change the gpu for a sapphire 290x triX or a Gigabyte 290X windfore. THe Asus 290x direct CUII seem to have some cooling issues. idk if this was related to just a bad batch, or over the whole line of cards. But i did have readed allot of complains about this. The contacting from the heatpipes to the gpu´s surface wasnt optimal. Or something like that.
Option 1: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/JgJjsY 4690K + 290X Windforce
Option 2: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/TV7fRB 4690K + GTX970 Windforce
Option 3: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/QvWWjX 4690K + Sapphire R9-290 TriX OC.
I think that option 3 would also be a very interessting one. A 290X and GTX970 are slightly better then a 290 on 1080p. But still the Sapphire 290 triX OC offers damm good performance for the money.
Also the Xeon that @DrunkenPanda recommends is also a very good choice, if you dont care about overclocking.
How well will this PSU stand up to overclocking?
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/rGkhdC
seasonic is top quality ☺
Ok. Standings thus far.
Intel: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/DZd3jX
AMD: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/BNj3jX
Could I get some help with a good mouse and keyboard? Then I should be done.
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/hk3Kxr
Might go ahead w/ i7 bc of the 100$ difference isn't that huge.
Also, is 64gb Ram capacity a huge advantage over 32gb going forward?
I know this is sporadic but I heading into work, so won't be on until later
I doubt you'll be needing 64GB of RAM any time soon... 16GB is what I recommend for video production, virtualization, and CAD/CAM, which are your typical RAM hogs... I work with very large CAD files occasionally (like entire cars for Volkswagon) and have never run out of RAM with 16GB... I'm not saying 32GB wouldn't be mildly beneficial for video rendering, but I don't see that as a justification vs the cost...
I'm generally of the same mindset as you... "Yea, for this I can get this... but hell for another $100 I can get THAT!" I use my computer for a lot of things and quite frequently, so I don't care to put money into it for quality products. That being said, I have a system that totals over $3200 on PCPartPicker and have yet to find a need to buy more than 16GB of RAM (and trust me, if I saw the need I'd buy another 16GB in a heartbeat) :P
For a good mouse: I'd take a long look at: Razer DeathAdder and Mionix NAOS... I use both and they are very comfortable with a few programmable buttons without getting ridiculous (like the Razer Naga for example, I would never in a million years be able to use that thing as it's "meant to be used") The DeathAdder is around $50 and the Mionix NAOS is around $65-80... both have programmable backlit RGB LED... the Mionix NAOS 8200 also has a DPI upscale/downscale which can be particularly useful in FPS gaming situations (I like to downscale for sniping and upscale back up when I'm out of the scope so I can whip around quickly if I hear somebody behind me)...
For a good keyboard: I REALLY like my Max Keyboard Nighthawk X9... it's REALLY nice... but it's $150... I'm also a very big fan of Ducky's offerings... I have a Ducky Shine II at work and it's almost as amazing as the Nighthawk... but it's the same price... if you don't need backlit keys, Ducky makes some much cheaper keyboards that have similar build quality...
The general go-to for a cheap mechanical around here seems to be the CM Storm, but I've never typed on one so I can't specifically vouch for it... maybe somebody that's laid hands on one can chime and recommend it personally...
I'm not a big fan of Corsair's keyboards, but Logan uses one, so they must not be terrible to everybody... I did not enjoy mine and several LEDs went out on it within a month.... IMHO Ducky and Max have much better build quality and are worth the premium...
Be cognizant of what switches you prefer when choosing a mechanical keyboard... http://www.keyboardco.com/blog/index.php/2012/12/an-introduction-to-cherry-mx-mechanical-switches/
That should explain the differences... I like Cherry Reds, which are generally considered the best for gaming... but some find them hard to type on... I'll admit it took a bit of getting used to how sensitive the keys were before I quit making typos left and right... but I like them better than the Browns I use at work now... if you type on a keyboard like a mad scientist playing an organ, you'll likely prefer the Blues...
The patent on Cherry switches has recently expired, so other companies such as Razer have developed their own version of mechanical switches of late... do be advised that Razer's specifically are Chinese manufactured instead of German-made and may not have the quality control per dollar paid...
Hope I helped
Is there any particular reason people don't typically use trackball mice?
In terms of keyboards i would recommend something mechanical. Corsair, Razer, Ducky, mionix, But its a bit depending on the budget for that.
In terms of mouses, its also depending allot on what kind of user you are. Logitech and Razer have some good gaming mouses, so is mionix.
Logan did a ton of good mice reviews, i think you could find those on youtube.
Done! Anywhere we could save money?
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/rmzmRB
Well, I mean, there's a lot of places you could save money... like the case, the i7, the keyboard is awesome, but it's expensive... going with a decent air cooler over watercooling (Noctua, Phanteks, Enermax has a really good MIR deal on the ETS-T40-BK @$35)... but if that's the case you want, that's the processor you want, that's the keyboard you want, and you want watercooling... then no, not really... I would, however... use dual channel memory regardless.... either get a 2x4GB setup or 2x8GB setup... ram is ram... get lowest CAS/highest frequency per price)
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/F4b4wP
That's a cut down version with 2-channel ram, a Xeon instead of the i7... which you're losing overclockability with, but still has the 8 threads... keyboard isn't backlit except for the wasd... went with air cooling, which you won't even need that much of a cooler but trust me when I say that thing looks badass and it's pretty quiet... the Define R4 w/ window is the same case I sport.... it's a really, really nice case with similar aesthetics to the NZXT you had selected... changed the motherboard to H97 which will kill SLI compatibility... but it saves you $230.74... and doesn't really put a dent in off the shelf performance... it'll kill some options for later... but off-the-shelf performance is the same if not slightly better just for the dual channel ram :P
You can feel free to insert whatever changes to your build that you would be willing to sacrifice...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883227592&cm_re=gaming%2bpc%2b-_-83-227-592-_-Product
Quick list of similar parts.
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/W9mfRB
Concerned about dual graphics card issues with this board.
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/M8V6Lk