Console Killed Itself! time for a change

Hey Guys,

I'm a complete PC beginner.. only things i've used my laptop for was school papers, youtube, and mudding(yes the text games lol) once in a while. Well my Xbox360 killed itself with the red ring so a friend showed me a kill your console video from the tek and I've become pretty interested. I've got some money saved but I'm hopefully trying to build this pc by Christmas break when I'll have free time to build game and get accustomed to it. my budget is about 1000 but I'll be making some more cash around the holidays so can go up to 1.5k would really like some help on a good gaming pc and maybe some explanations to what each part does/has to offer if it isn't too much to ask. Thanks in advanced.

  • Budget. How much are you willing to spend? 1000-1500
  • Where do you live (what country),  and what currency do you use? NYC
  •   -Is there a retailer you prefer? Whatever has the best deals
  • Do you need or already have peripherals? (this can add to costs) I have mice and keyboards around but will likely need new screens (want to work toward triple but that's further in the future and saving would still like ideas on what's good)
  • What will you be using your future computer for? Gaming? Rendering? Mix of both? Or is this a home media PC? Gaming, watching movies, maybe some streaming?
  • Do you overclock or want to get into overclocking? I know nothing of it but the option would be good to have for the future.
  • Do you plan on going for custom watercooling now, or in the future? I don't know?
  • OS. Do you need a new one? Yes, Windows please
  • Do you plan on Mining BTC either for yourself or Tek Syndicate? BTC??

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1Kkp1

Is there anything you would like to change?

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

Its stretching the budged a bit, but youll probably can get most things cheaper in a few months, especially on black friday/cyber monday.

Anyway, in a few weeks amd will release their new graphics cards, so we would probably recommend different stuff around christmas.

What stuff does:

cpu: calculates effects, A.I. etc. it basicly determins what is going on in the game. Most game settings do not reduce the stress on the cpu, but most games also do not need a very strong cpu. The i5 is way more than youd need for recent games for 60 frames per second, it will probably not limit your gaming performance meaningfully for several years.

Memory: stores data temporarely for your programms, right now games only use up to 2 gb, but your OS etc. will need some too. With the new consoles being x 86 we will hopefully see higher memory usage in future games, allowing larger and more intricate game worlds. Star citizen, which is announced for 2014, has a minimum memory requirement of 8 gb.

Motherboard: Thats where you stick your components into, different mobos support different cpus and have features such as support for several gpus in sli or crossfire, faster connection standarts (sata 3, usb 3.0), better onboard audio, better looks and cooling etc.

GPU:  Renders the picture, the most important part for the performance in games. High Resolution and settings (AA, tesselation) will stress the gpu more causing the framerate to reduce. Most console games run with a framerate from 25-30, if it drops to the low 20 its usually starts to get quite choppy. Personally I am ok with the fps being in the 40s, but some want 60 fps all the time (max rate of that monitor) or even want a monitor that can display over 60 fps, so the game is even smoother.

Powersupply: Supplies the power duh, high end hardware usually requires more power

Data Storage: stores data duh, ssds are way faster than hdds but cost more/gb, put the OS, your apps and the most used games/all games on there. More expensive SSDs are even faster and can offer higher durability for extrem use cases, but for your usage you should look for GB/$ with a recend sata 3 ssd

Case: where you put your stuff in, with a mid tower case over 50-60$ the difference is mainly the looks and build quality aswell as some options you will most likely not need (space for water cooling and big radiators etc.)

OS: Windows 8 is newer, but some like Win 7 better since there was a lot of change in the user interface from 7 to 8.

Screen: Main differences are the size, screen technologie and refresh rate aswell as the build quality of the stand etc. IPS screen give you unlimited viewing angles and really nice colours, TN panels are available in high refresh rates (some are 3d capable) and offer deeper blacks, but will loose alot of picture quality if you look at them from the side (with laptops you even get negative colours). Since you want to get more Monitors in the future i listed a inexpensive, big ips monitor, the stand is a bit wobbly, but with multi monitors you should get a monitor arm anyway.

Both look Cool, I really like the black case. seems like i5-4670k and the msi z87 are key parts. for the ssd Samsung more reliable than kingston? I know it's more gigs but read it's still early in the ssd market so before i put more $$ just wondering about reliability.

heading to class now but will come back to look at the lists better later. Thank you again guys

 

also difference between windows 8 and 7??

Wait for the black friday and cyber monday deals and you can get a really nice rig for that price bracket.

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

I would recommend this machine for that budget. It should max out just about anything out there now or due to be released for quite some time. As Rytak said, you may be able to get a better machine if you wait for black Friday, some improvements I would suggest would be a ssd and a better case. I would also strongly advise you to wait for the new AMD GPUs to come out, you should be able to get better performance for the price if you replace the 7950s in my build with a couple of R7 270Xs.

thanks for the explanations especially about the screens.. would of never known those things. Will take your advice guys and hold out till black friday/cyber monday to get deals hopefully save a little more cash to have a chance at some screens.

 

this looks like a cool build too.... the varied choices make this a bit harder but just means i need to read up more before i settle. that mantle thing they mentioned in the tek sounds good but that'd only affect future releases right?