First Gaming PC Build. $2000 Max Budget

Hardware Build a PC
1

Hello everyone at Tek Syndicate forums.

I am another new, aspiring PC builder who needs some good honest feedback on purchasing decisions and selection of the right hardware. I live in Canada and use Canadian currency so sadly some parts that may be relatively cheap or easier to find cheaper in the United States is not applicable here. I often find sites that offer tips on building PC's give seemingly sound advice on hardware and software but list US prices and retailers. Anyway enough rambling from me . . . lets get to the details of what I have in mind.

Basically I want to build a computer principally for gaming but that can be used as a general personal computer as well. I am looking at a budget of $2000 Canadian and can only go maybe a hundred beyond that but even the two grand is pushing it for me. I hope I can put together a future proof machine with that budget that can be easily upgraded in a few years without a wholesale refit.

I also hope to have something that can run all present and soon to be released titles on high settings comfortably (ideally 60 fps). I will need the operating system, a decent gaming keyboard and mouse of course but plan on getting other peripherals in the future (such as a joystick, speakers, Track IR, etc). I have a Turtle Beach headset for gaming that works pretty well for now and do not need a microphone or speakers for the time being. I also have a 24 inch BenQ GL2450HM monitor that serves my needs at present but would like any suggestions for a replacement. The main advice I am looking for however is the computer build itself and what would be ideal for my budget.

At first I was following a build suggestion by this site here for a 'High End' build which seemed to be what I was looking for and I thought I would run it past you. The specs are as follows:

Motherboard: Asus Z87-Pro 

CPU: Intel Core i7-4770K Quad Core

 CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper N520

 RAM: Patriot Viper Xtreme 8GB (DDR3 1600Mhz) 

 Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 670 FTW 2GB 

 Primary Hard Drive: Western Digital Blue 1TB (7200 RPM, 64MB Cache) 

 Optical Drive: LG 14X Internal Blu Ray Burner

 Case: Cooler Master HAF 922M Mid Tower

 Power Supply: XFX PRO Series 750 Watts

  However after some research on the current state of PC hardware I thought that this build may still be lacking. Many people set primary and secondary hard drives, etc. There are many other choices but one thing I would like to keep is a Blueray optical drive, a hard drive with at least 1TB, if not 2. Yet I still find myself reeling over all the choices available for motherboards, cooling, etc. I would like to have some wireless capability although I have been made to understand this is usually the case with motherboards these days. As for cooling I have no particular preference between air cooled or water cooled as long as it is in budget and is not to fussy for maintenance. When I heard of liquid cooled computers I was a bit wary but I see it is becoming more and more the norm. I just have a fear of the consequences of the cooling unit leaking on all that hardware : / .

As for retailers I am not too picky as long as they are Canadian based, preferably within Ontario where I live. I usually frequent either Tigerdirect.ca or Newegg.ca but please recommend any other retailers you think are better stocked and priced. Really any and all friendly advice would be greatly appreciated by this novice PC builder. First time putting my own build together so I hope you can all appreciate my lack of knowledge and nervousness over how to get the most out of one's hard earned cash. Thank you for reading this wall of text. 

 

2

you would be better off with a fx 8350 and a gtx 770

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I second ragingh4vok's sentiment: I would step down from your CPU and step up the GPU. If you wanted to stick with Intel, step down to the i5 and you shouldn't see much decrease in gaming stats. Then, put that money saved into a beefier GPU like a GTX 770 or one of the new AMD cards that's comparable. That should give you a gaming performance boost over the original pairing.

I can't vouch for the Canadian Service, but I purchase parts pretty much exclusively through Newegg and Amazon from the States. Their return policies and general customer service is superb, and newegg in particular has very helpful product reviews and stats in my opinion.

One last thing: I will say that on my most recent build from August of this year I am really glad I spent the money on an SSD for a boot drive. My windows experience is very quick and I'm loving the boot times. I got a 120gb Samsung for around $100 USD.

I just submitted a build log for my build to the inbox forum a couple days ago. Parts + Windows + Office was just under $1800 USD at the time of purchase. Here's my post with description and link to photos. https://teksyndicate.com/forum/inboxexe/1800-pc-build-log/156087

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This build here is within your budget and will give better performance:

http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/1Oi3G

You get an SSD to load your operating system and other frequently used programs and an 2TB hdd for storage. The video card is better than the 670 and has more vram, which will somewhat with "future-proofing" if that is possible. If you want the state of the art graphics cards, you may want to wait about a week to when the AMD R9 290 and 290x gpus get released. If you want to spend a little more and plan on overclocking, you may want to get a higher end motherboard and a corsair h100i water cooler.

If you want to go with AMD for your build, replace the cpu in this build with the FX-8350 and the motherboard with the Asus Crosshair V Formula-Z.

 

5

Dual 7970s and an i7 4770k are well within reach with your budget even with a keyboard, mouse and OS. This build will max out any game out there for years to come.

http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/1Oisy

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750 watts thats it??

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Whoa, that is some excellent feedback already! Thanks for all the replies so far everyone. Great feedback! I will definitely consider a beefier GPU as that is something I have suspected earlier though I didn't know if sacrificing the more advanced CPU was worth it. As for the power supply, is it too low? I guess it depends on how much and what kind of hardware I would use. Definitely need a good power supply to complement a build. Will have to reconsider that based on any modifications but I wonder, is 750w lower than average higer end builds?

Will comment on more as I read through the recommendations for builds already posted.

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Actually, the XFX power supplies are built fairly high quality components, I know Logan recommends them. But, if you are going with two graphics cards you will probably need a 850w power supply.

9

Things I would change about your build:

1)You sound like you are planning on doing mostly gaming and general use out of the machine, so I would recommend different processor:
 a) An i5 Quad core (4670 or a 3570), They are $100-150 cheaper, and you will not notice much of a difference in gaming
b) go AMD: the 8350 is the best value in any gaming machine, you would need a different motherboard as well, I'm looking at getting the Sabertooth 990FX. when your doing multiple things, the 8 cores comes in handy

2) With the money that you save go get a SSD for your primary. Keep the WD Blue for a secondary. A lot of people will be recommending different SSD's on here, I would go with a 128GB of either Intel or Samsung drives, but don't know enough to recommend any specific ones.

3) You mentioned Keyboards, I love my Steelseries 6GV2, MX Cherry Reds. Best recomendations: get your self to a computer store like Canada Computers and try out the mechanical keyboards, a lot of people like Blues, or browns, I like the reds. Try it and grab one thats right for you.

As for places in Canada to buy from: NewEgg, Tiger direct and Vuugo are about it online. Canada Computers has a terrible website, but there in person staff is 2nd to very few.

10

That's a bit overkill.  A good 750-800W will do you well for SLI.  If only running one GPU, you generally only need 550W.  If you're overclocking, then an 850w should be considered.

11

Plenty.

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http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/1OsS0

Just change the dvd player to blu ray.

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Fancy sli in an m-atx? http://pc.ncix.com/ncixpc_new/ncixpc.cfm?uuid=6FA9B74A-6A70-49DA-A047396B30F1D6AF-5345078

http://pc.ncix.com/ncixpc_new/ncixpc.cfm?uuid=97D02D8D-8512-4EAB-91B572674A3FDE56-5345081

 

just my thoughts

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r9 280x recommendations are at 1000 watts, do you really need that much? it seems strange because i thought they were on par with the 7970s.

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Well you could duplicate the computer I currently own:  http://pcpartpicker.com/user/jcat187/saved/2gJw Just opt for the 780 instead.

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Another question; is thermal paste a must have for most high end builds?

 

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Thermal paste is necessary for every build.

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http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=20259591

Hey i put this together for someone else on the same budget and my god is this one hellof a PC it would put almost anyone out there to shame

 

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Thanks for the feedback on why you would choose those parts.

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I'd sub that 670 for a 770 or 760. I'd probably get some different RAM too. Dominator RAM is pretty pristine, but there are better, cheaper options out there.