New gaming PC. Need advice!

[DaltyF]

Hey guys, I'm in need of a bit of advice peicing together or buying a new rig already made. I don't know a whole lot about this, but I want to be able to run games like runescape, lol, and wow on good to high settings.

Things I (think) I know.

I need 8 gb ram.
I need windows 7. I hate windows 8.
I really don't want to spend over $700, but I possibly can.
Future upgrades are planned if needed. Obviously they will be needed.
I think 1 tb hard drive will be enough.
Intel or amd is a toss up.

I need help with processor, graphics, basically everything.

I'm looking to buy from newegg or bestbuy.

All help and links will be greatly appreciated.

iBUYPOWER SOURCE SERIES NE766D3 Desktop PC Intel Core i5 4460 (3.2GHz) 8GB DDR3 1TB HDD Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=83-227-578

 

[SASRT8]

8 GB of ram is a good place to start. Few people need more than that.

You don't NEED windows 7. You want it because you know it. Fact is, with windows 8.1 you can install classic shell(free) and it will be exactly like windows 7...only superior in every way. faster, better optimized, safer, better resource management.... Plus you save money going that route. You can take that even further and get windows 10 for FREE right now, which I'm currently running and loving it. Much better than windows 8.1, and worlds better than windows 7.

$7-800 would be a good budget for a starting build. Go to PCPartPicker.com and start building. Compatibility filter will help you somewhat. start with your flavor of CPU, then pick compatible parts to go around that part. Ex: an LGA1150 haswell intel cpu will only go on lga1150 boards. I could build you one, but I don't want you buying one of my builds and coming back to me if you don't like a particular part about it. take your time and think about your options here. Other people will likely pop in here and suggest builds for you, and many of us will critique those builds as necessary. Look at the suggested builds on pcpartpicker also and see what suits your needs. post here about it before buying. Or better yet, try posting about it on their forums.

Once you have the basic build put together and up and running, the upgrades become the easy part. no matter what you build, you can always upgrade it.

1tb drive will be plenty of space to start, though I do suggest that for the minimal price increase..perhaps look into a 2tb option. for HDD's I highly recommend Western Digital first, then Seagate. both are excellent though.

Intel or AMD really won't matter much for gaming unless you go with a weak-ass AMD chip. You can build a gaming rig with a dual-core haswell Pentium, overclock the piss out of it and play games just fine. Don't let anyone fool you into thinking you need the baddest i5 or i7 to game with.

 

[jbigworm]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...227537&cm_re=ibuypower-_-83-227-537-_-Product

This is my computer off of Newegg, and I can run pretty much anything I want at atleast high graphics. It's great, but that's just a rough estimate on the specs you want to be able to run a lot.

 

[DaltyF]

Thank you guys very much for this feedback. Also, I've been wanting to be able to record while I play with Camtasia. Possibly stream in the future with Twitch also.

 

[jbigworm]

Thank you guys very much for this feedback. Also, I've been wanting to be able to record while I play with Camtasia. Possibly stream in the future with Twitch also.

Oh, yeah I easily run League+WoW+Runescape also at 100+FPS. Camtasia would be easy to run, on a good gaming computer. It's your internet you have to worry about for streaming.

 

[DaltyF]

Edit. Original post updated with what I have picked out as of now.

Comments?

 

[Wukn]

It's cheaper and better to buy the parts for your pc and build it your self rather then buy one of those pre made ones as those ones are overpriced and have ugly ass cases as well.

 

[DaltyF]

It's cheaper and better to buy the parts for your pc and build it your self rather then buy one of those pre made ones as those ones are overpriced and have ugly ass cases as well.

I don't so much mind the looks of the case. I do have a buddy who could help guide me through putting one together, but I tend to get aggravated with things like that. I'd also be way too afraid of breaking something. Performance wise, goes this build look decent?

 

[DaltyF]

Bump. Updated original post with a link.

 

[szskateman22]

That's a decent starter computer, but by no means groundbreaking and certainly will need updating within the next two years.

As stated by the others, it's probably better and cheaper to build your own. It's -relatively- simple if you have just a little patience and you don't feel like doing cable management to make it look ultra pretty inside.

 

[DaltyF]

Hey guys, I'm in need of a bit of advice peicing together or buying a new rig already made. I don't know a whole lot about this, but I want to be able to run games like runescape, lol, and wow on good to high settings.

Things I (think) I know.

I need 8 gb ram.
I need windows 7. I hate windows 8.
I really don't want to spend over $700, but I possibly can.
Future upgrades are planned if needed. Obviously they will be needed.
I think 1 tb hard drive will be enough.
Intel or amd is a toss up.

I need help with processor, graphics, basically everything.

I'm looking to buy from newegg or bestbuy.

All help and links will be greatly appreciated.

iBUYPOWER SOURCE SERIES NE766D3 Desktop PC Intel Core i5 4460 (3.2GHz) 8GB DDR3 1TB HDD Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=83-227-578

EDIT 2:

4th Generation Intel® Core™ i7-4790 processor (8M Cache, up to 4.0 GHz)
Windows 7 Professional English 64bit (includes Windows 8.1 Pro 64bit License and Media)
12GB1 Dual Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1600MHz
1TB 7200 RPM SATA Hard Drive 6.0 Gb/s
NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 745 4GB DDR3

Rate this please. Sorry for the trouble guys. Have a very cheap way of acquiring this build brand new, if it's worth it.
Feel free to chime in.

 

[SASRT8]

cut back on the CPU, put the extra funds towards the GPU. You will NOT be impressed with the GTX 745 for games. the i7-4790 is badass, but wayyyy more than necessary for your needs. For gaming, a lower-end i5 is plenty sufficient for future-proofing. If you really wanted, you can get a haswell Pentium G3258 and game with it just fine. Those G3258's are overclocking monsters and great CPUs to learn overclocking on. They regularly hit 4.5 to 4.7 GHZ with around 1.35 volts. at those clocks, it will run current games just fine, with perhaps a slight bottleneck in intensive multiplayer situations and heavily physics oriented games(which is mitigated with the NVidia card anyways, so no concerns). Just something worth considering.
everything else sounds solid for a starter build. If you wanted, you can also step your ram down to 8gb. The only game I've played that utilizes a fair bit of RAM lately is AC:Unity, which while playing seems to put my total RAM usage to just over 5.5GB(game+windows+MSi Afterburner+Uplay). Just a few suggestions, because the GPU selection is severely lacking.

 

[SASRT8]

For reference about the G3258 : http://techreport.com/review/26735/overclocking-intel-pentium-g3258-anniversary-edition-processor/3

really quite the monster for a budget setup.

 

[DaltyF]

cut back on the CPU, put the extra funds towards the GPU. You will NOT be impressed with the GTX 745 for games. the i7-4790 is badass, but wayyyy more than necessary for your needs. For gaming, a lower-end i5 is plenty sufficient for future-proofing. If you really wanted, you can get a haswell Pentium G3258 and game with it just fine. Those G3258's are overclocking monsters and great CPUs to learn overclocking on. They regularly hit 4.5 to 4.7 GHZ with around 1.35 volts. at those clocks, it will run current games just fine, with perhaps a slight bottleneck in intensive multiplayer situations and heavily physics oriented games(which is mitigated with the NVidia card anyways, so no concerns). Just something worth considering.
everything else sounds solid for a starter build. If you wanted, you can also step your ram down to 8gb. The only game I've played that utilizes a fair bit of RAM lately is AC:Unity, which while playing seems to put my total RAM usage to just over 5.5GB(game+windows+MSi Afterburner+Uplay). Just a few suggestions, because the GPU selection is severely lacking.

I was really hoping to get feedback from you. This is coming pre-built. With the company I work for I'm able to get SUPER discounts on select systems. However, they aren't giving me much leverage with customizing afar from what they have pre built. Best case scenerio, I could get them to go up to a GeForce GTX 750Ti 2gb-ddr5. If I could swing that, do you think it would be a little better? Keeping in mind I will update things in the future also. I also will play bigger games (when I can) . Basically just some MMOs, until I can kinda see what it can handle.

 

[SASRT8]

750 ti is a GREAT card for its price, I currently use one as a dedicated PhysX card, but during my downtime after selling my old card and waiting for my 980, I decided to try gaming on it. I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was able to run most of my games with pretty high settings...resulting in a fairly nice gaming experience for its price. Plus it literally sips power...So little that you don't need auxiliary power from the power supply. With a modified vBIOS they can overclock like mad, too. The main downside though is that the 750 ti doesn't support SLI, so when you need more power..you'll have to replace the card instead of simply adding another one.

Given that I'm a bit extreme with my gaming demands...does the 750 Ti satisfy my needs? No, not really. The 980 does that quite well(I demand maximum settings)....but for 5 times the price at maybe three 3 times the performance. the average gamer would be very satisfied though with a 750 ti currently, especially given the price of a 750ti. Just bear in mind that for just 2.5 times the price, you can get a 970 which will offer roughly 2.5 times the performance, and will be good for the next two years or more...

I'm not sure what your budget is, but considering that the original post suggests a 900 dollar build, here is an idea of a build to get you started. It has everything, even a SSD in the build. Ignore the 770 in the list though, for the same price you'd want to get a 970 in this build...if you decided to use this as a build idea
http://pcpartpicker.com/b/VJnnTW
with this build, if in the future you feel the need to upgrade anything, you can upgrade to any LGA1150 processor you desire...such as an I7 4790k later on. other than that...nothing else is will need upgrading for a long time. With a GTX 970...this is an intense build for $850.

 

[DaltyF]

750 ti is a GREAT card for its price, I currently use one as a dedicated PhysX card, but during my downtime after selling my old card and waiting for my 980, I decided to try gaming on it. I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was able to run most of my games with pretty high settings...resulting in a fairly nice gaming experience for its price. Plus it literally sips power...So little that you don't need auxiliary power from the power supply. With a modified vBIOS they can overclock like mad, too. The main downside though is that the 750 ti doesn't support SLI, so when you need more power..you'll have to replace the card instead of simply adding another one.

Given that I'm a bit extreme with my gaming demands...does the 750 Ti satisfy my needs? No, not really. The 980 does that quite well(I demand maximum settings)....but for 5 times the price at maybe three 3 times the performance. the average gamer would be very satisfied though with a 750 ti currently, especially given the price of a 750ti. Just bear in mind that for just 2.5 times the price, you can get a 970 which will offer roughly 2.5 times the performance, and will be good for the next two years or more...

I'm not sure what your budget is, but considering that the original post suggests a 900 dollar build, here is an idea of a build to get you started. It has everything, even a SSD in the build. Ignore the 770 in the list though, for the same price you'd want to get a 970 in this build...if you decided to use this as a build idea
http://pcpartpicker.com/b/VJnnTW
with this build, if in the future you feel the need to upgrade anything, you can upgrade to any LGA1150 processor you desire...such as an I7 4790k later on. other than that...nothing else is will need upgrading for a long time. With a GTX 970...this is an intense build for $850.

I see. Thank you. With the most recent build that I listed, I'll honestly only pay like $400, if that, split into payments. This is ordering from Dell, the only company in which my company deals with. So, it won't hurt so bad if I have to replace the graphics within a year.

 

[SASRT8]

That's a great price for that build with a 750ti. Only downside I see is that you mentioned it was a dell...meaning OEM locked components/bios. Otherwise pretty sweet for 400 in terms of raw specs.

 

[DaltyF]

That's a great price for that build with a 750ti. Only downside I see is that you mentioned it was a dell...meaning OEM locked components/bios. Otherwise pretty sweet for 400 in terms of raw specs.

Elaborate on OEM locked components please.

 

[SASRT8]

Usually lower-grade/lower cost components used that don't allow a lot of user control if you decided to do modifications, particularly on the software side. The hardware tends to run hotter onboard the mobo, and the RAM is typically low-speed high-timing "value" sticks. The BIOS is locked, so you can't do any sort of overclocking, except for the GPU. CPU support is also BIOS-dependent as well. Since the processor it is using is a 4790, the mobo is likely on a H97-based chipset. the 97-based motherboards are meant to be compatible with the next generation of CPU's, Intel's "broadwell" when it is eventually released. This is what made upgrading from h/z 87 to h/z 97 boards so appealing. The downside is that the actual support for the broadwell processors is going to have to be integrated into the BIOS, which the OEM's won't often do.


Don't read into all of that too deeply though, all this means is that by being a DELL, once the computer starts to show it's age, there will be nothing inside of it worth any value at all except the CPU and GPU. as far as the overall experience at this very instant, you probably won't notice anything because of it unless you're somewhat of an enthusiast about making the most from what you've got. People buy OEM prebuilt computers every single day, and they all do their purpose just fine so don't read into it too much. I'm just all about quality hardware and complete user control.