Hi everyone. I'm currently a console gamer looking to put together my first rig, and have a question that may sound stupid to all you savvy people. I wanna know if a pc thats good at playing games would also be good for making games. I know some of you could probably go on for days, but a simple answer as well as why or why not this is true would suffice. Also any suggestions as to what I should buy would be appreciated. I've never owned my own pc so I'm starting from scratch. No peripherals or anything. Right now I'm using an iPad 2. I'm looking for something on a budget preferably around $750 but I know that's really pushing it so I understand that I'll probably have to spend closer to the $1000-$1500 mark. Thanks to all who reply I really do appreciate the help. P.S. I plan on using blender and will most likely attempt making my own game engine rather than have to license a current one.
If you've never owned your own PC... how good are you at programming? :D Building a game engine is a huge, huge task. There are many freely usable engines that won't impact any monetization from your games unless you make a huge profit... which then you would be happy to pay it. Look up Unreal Engines terms, for example. Or Unity.
As for the PC, yes a PC capable of gaming is capable of creation. Depends what you want to do. If you just want to make the games and do some light modelling, then you'll be fine. If you want to render professional-grade imagery/cinematics in Maya then you could be there a while.
do you need peripherals? windows? etc. This is a build that is capable of maxing out games at 1080p aswell as being great for productivity. I also included windows 8.1 (OEM) in the price wich is $1334.19
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2ZgQo
Here is why i choce these components:
CPU: The Xeon E3-1230 V3 is a i7-4770 withou the iGPU. So you are getting 4 cores 8 threads, that are really powerful for both gaming, and productivity. If you want to save some money, another good option would be to get an AMD FX 83XX cpu.
CPU cooler: Noctua NH-U12S 55.0 CFM CPU Cooler. This will give you great cooling with near silent operation.
MOBO: The Gigabyte GA-Z87X-UD3H is a great motherboard. It has great features and is very durable and should lastyou a long time.
RAM: I choce 16 GB 2x8 GB dimms of G.Skill Ripjaws Z series 2133MHz RAM for this build. 16 GB will be plenty for gaming, but will come in handy with productivity that you were interested in. Also 2133MHz is plenty fast.
Storage: The best option for you would be getting a SSD for OS and some programs for fast boot and loading times, and the get a HDD for mass storage. I went with a fast A-Data Premier Pro SP900 128GB SSD and a Seagate 2TB HDD.
GPU: ATM! the GTX 770 is pretty much a sweetspot for this price range. It is a very powerful gpu, and will allow you to max out games at 1080p. I chose the ASUS DCII model, since it is very reliable, quiet and they use top notch quality components in their products. Other good choice would be an R9 280X if you can find it with a simular price, but ATM they are out of stock almost everywhere and cost $400+.
Case: I choce the Corsair 500R white. It has great airflow, great build quality and great cable management. It would be a nice home for your new PC. But this is up to you what you prefer :)
PSU: I went with the Corsair CX600M 80+ bronze psu. It is a great psu from corsair, it is semi-modular and it is 80+ bronze certified. It will be plenty for this system.
some CD writer for the windows if you need one is also included
Windows 8.1
IF you need peripherals included with you budget, this would be also a good choice:
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2Zi31
The price would be about 1500$.
Both of these would be great for gaming and productivity. Only difference is that in productivity, the second option is a bit weaker and in gaming, the second option is also a bit weaker, but will perform great at high settings at 1080p.
The peripherals are up to you. I just set there some good excamples for you :)
hope i helped :)
I've had practice with programming and 3d design/modeling. I guess I should have been more clear. What I meant was I have never had a pc that was just mine that I could do as I pleased with, but I have used plenty of computers they just didnt belong to me. I havnt heard of maya before so as of now I have no intrest in using it. I'm going to start just making simple 2D games and as for 3D I was planning on using a free version of unity or udk. I'll post a pc part picker link sometime soon so that you have a better idea of what I was thinking about using. Also I'll include a list of some of the games and software I'm intrested in using. Thank you for helping answer my question.
Thank you for taking the time to help me out, and put this post together. Also thanks for actually explaining why you picked the parts that you did. It's terribly annoying when I ask someone why they picked a certain component like an i7 over an 83XX for example, and all they do is bash amd. Honestly though thanks for the help. Also yes I would need a monitor, keyboard, ect. So planning for that and including two builds was very helpful. I appreciate your time. If I have any questions or comments I'll post another reply.