Help on new PC build

Hey well ive been out of the loop for a while, my main comp recently stopped working and ive been trying to fix it but I figured i'd just get a new one seeing as its really outdated and cant really upgrade it at all. Last time I was gaming on PC was in the Core 2 Duo days, which is what my rig has. I need help on these new i5 and i7s, i read that the i5 is the way to go, but then i read something about LGA 1150 replacing the 1155 so idk what to choose. I was also looking at the 660ti which seems to be a great card for the money.

My budget is $800-$1000, i say this because I really want to get a new monitor and that would run me about $200

I could use my old PSU (corsair 650w) and dvd drive

Thanks in advance for all your help

We'll be happy to help.  LGA 1150 is the newest motherboard CPU socket type from Intel.  Boards using this type of socket support Intel CPUs dubbed "Haswell," which is the 4th generation of "Core i" CPUs.  Right now both Intel and AMD have some good options, with Intel having the edge in overall performance.  AMD's offerings are more budget-conscious for the most part.  LGA 1155 was Intel's last CPU socket, and supports CPUs like the i3/i5/i7 "Sandy Bridge" (2nd gen Core i) and "Ivy Bridge" (3rd Gen) processors.  These are excellent CPUs today, despite the presence of the marginally faster LGA 1150 "Haswell" chips.  Typically your best choice for a computer used primarily for gaming around the $1000 mark is an Intel i5 Quad Core.  You could also go with an AMD-based Socket AM3+ system and save a bit of money.  Their newer hexacore and octacore CPUs are very respectable.  One big thing has changed with the last few generations of i5/i7 CPUs- Only certain models are set up for overclocking.  Even if you don't plan to overclock now, it makes sense to spend a few extra bucks to get one that can.  You can tell that a Sandy/Ivy Bridge or Haswell CPU is an overclocker by looking at the model number. If it ends with a "k," it's made for overclocking.  For example- an i5 4670k is an overclocker.  An i5 4570 is not.  

While the GTX 660 Ti is a very solid gaming card, there are better options now.  Nvidia recently (last week) released the GTX 760, which is a bit better overall.  It's cheaper and slightly faster than the GTX 660 Ti in most games.  AMD also has the HD7000 series cards on the market.  The 7870 XT (Tahiti LE) and 7950 Boost are their best options for a PC in your price range.  The GTX 760 and 7950 are very close in performance.  Typically the GTX 760 is a bit faster out of the box (also cheaper), while the 7950 has the potential to be slightly faster if you do extreme overclocking.  I chose the GTX 760.  

I will put together and post a possible build for you.  I'm not including a power supply, because it sounds like the one you have will be more than capable of powering this type of gaming rig.  I'm also not including a DVD drive, since you said you have one.  If you do need to get one, they're only $16 to $25.  

We'll be happy to help.  LGA 1150 is the newest motherboard CPU socket type from Intel.  Boards using this type of socket support Intel CPUs dubbed "Haswell," which is the 4th generation of "Core i" CPUs.  Right now both Intel and AMD have some good options, with Intel having the edge in overall performance.  AMD's offerings are more budget-conscious for the most part.  LGA 1155 was Intel's last CPU socket, and supports CPUs like the i3/i5/i7 "Sandy Bridge" (2nd gen Core i) and "Ivy Bridge" (3rd Gen) processors.  These are excellent CPUs today, despite the presence of the marginally faster LGA 1150 "Haswell" chips.  Typically your best choice for a computer used primarily for gaming around the $1000 mark is an Intel i5 Quad Core.  You could also go with an AMD-based Socket AM3+ system and save a bit of money.  Their newer hexacore and octacore CPUs are very respectable.  One big thing has changed with the last few generations of i5/i7 CPUs- Only certain models are set up for overclocking.  Even if you don't plan to overclock now, it makes sense to spend a few extra bucks to get one that can.  You can tell that a Sandy/Ivy Bridge or Haswell CPU is an overclocker by looking at the model number. If it ends with a "k," it's made for overclocking.  For example- an i5 4670k is an overclocker.  An i5 4570 is not.  

While the GTX 660 Ti is a very solid gaming card, there are better options now.  Nvidia recently (last week) released the GTX 760, which is a bit better overall.  It's cheaper and slightly faster than the GTX 660 Ti in most games.  AMD also has the HD7000 series cards on the market.  The 7870 XT (Tahiti LE) and 7950 Boost are their best options for a PC in your price range.  The GTX 760 and 7950 are very close in performance.  Typically the GTX 760 is a bit faster out of the box (also cheaper), while the 7950 has the potential to be slightly faster if you do extreme overclocking.  I chose the GTX 760.  

I will put together and post a possible build for you.  I'm not including a power supply, because it sounds like the one you have will be more than capable of powering this type of gaming rig.  I'm also not including a DVD drive, since you said you have one.  If you do need to get one, they're only $16 to $25.  

 

 

 

 

hartsickdiscipl

Something like this will get the job done very nicely for about $850-860.  It happens to include the same CPU and GPU that I have.  You can go with an LGA 1150 mobo and Haswell i5 4670k CPU, and it will increase the price by about $40-50.  If you get a decent AM3+ mobo and an AMD FX-8350 (nice 8-core chip), the cost might drop $20 from this build.  I didn't include an aftermarket CPU cooler here, because I don't know if you will be overclocking your CPU now.  If you do decide to get one, look up the Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo.  It's fairly cheap and very effective.  

Rosewill CHALLENGER Black Gaming ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

Seagate Barracuda ST1000DM003 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive

GIGABYTE GV-N760OC-2GD REV2.0 GeForce GTX 760 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 HDCP Ready Video Card

Mushkin Enhanced STEALTH 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory

ASRock Z77 Pro3 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

Intel Core i5-3570K Ivy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo) LGA 1155 77W Quad-Core Desktop Processor

Microsoft Windows 8 64-bit (Full Version) - OEM

I didn't talk about Solid State Drives (SSDs), because I think you would sacrifice too much elsewhere in your system to fit one into your budget.  They are nice to have for your Windows install and frequently used apps though.  

I would feel safer having a 1150 i5 as it would be future proof so I would go for the 4670k. The 760 also seems like the way to go, is 2GB enough though? Ive seen cards with 4GB but I guess thats for 1400p and higher. Yeah I was also looking at SSD's but theyre still very expensive, maybe I could get a cheap one just to have the OS on it? $800 would be the sweet spot but if I could get a great improvement spending a bit more I wouldnt hesitate. crazy-player

2GB card is great for anything up to 1920x1200 in almost any game.  If you go higher than that, the 3GB and 4GB+ cards become useful for some games, although many current games run just fine on a 2GB 760/670/680/770 at 1440p.  I doubt that will be the case in a couple of years though.  EVGA does have a 4GB GTX 760 for sale on newegg, as well as their website.  My personal take on the 4GB GTX 760 is this-  Although it is a pretty damn powerful GPU, I think that resolutions over 1920x1200 are really for the HD7970 GHZ Edition, GTX 770, 780, and Titan.  Those cards have more GPU horsepower to go along with 3 to 6 GB of VRAM.  If you were going to put a pair of GTX 760's in SLI and run them at 1440p or something like that, I'd say get the 4GB models.  That's the only real use I see for a 4GB 760.  

I don't blame you for wanting the 1150 motherboard and processor.  If I were building a new computer for myself today, I'd probably drop the extra $50 and do it too.  An SSD won't do anything for your framerates in gaming, but it will make your computer boot considerably faster, as well as reduce loading times for programs installed on it.  

Anandtech lets you compare cards. For an extra 250 USD, you can go from playable to silky smooth maxed in the tougher games with a GTX 780.

Anandtech lets you compare cards. For an extra 250 USD, you can go from playable to silky smooth maxed in the tougher games with a GTX 780.

Blistrax

You mean an extra $400.  GTX 780 is $650.  GTX 760 is $250-260.  

Oh alright so i'll do fine with a 2GB card. $250 extra is kinda steep, I'm actually looking into the GTX770 for that extra power, but I'm not sure yet. Right now im trying to make a list of all the components that u guys have mentionedcrazy-player

If you decide to get the GTX 770, I say go big and get the 4GB.  

Any reason to choose one over the other?

ASUS

1. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131995

MSI

2. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130695

edit: The 4GB is just $50 extra, thats not too bad. Ill look into it

Any reason to choose one over the other?

ASUS

1. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131995

MSI

2. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130695

 

edit: The 4GB is just $50 extra, thats not too bad. Ill look into it

crazy-player

I'd take the MSI if given those options.  The Asus is a microATX board and has fewer expansion slots.  

I dont think ill be able to get the 770 :/ And youre right I didnt even notice that so I went for the MSI, here's my build. Let me know if I should change anything. 

Your list looks good.  Do you need an operating system too?

Nah I don't, so is this a solid build? Any last minute changes before I order it, thankscrazy-player

It's a very solid build.  You'll be tearing through games and anything else you throw at it.  I would personally get RAM that isn't so tall.  IDK how it will work out on that motherboard, but I can't fit anything other than standard-height RAM sticks under my CPU cooler, which overhangs the nearest RAM slot.  I think you should pick up a decent aftermarket cooler for your CPU as well.  These are both great options without spending a ton-

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103099

or a very slight downgrade for a few dollars less

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103065

The LGA 1155 coolers work on LGA 1150 boards from all reports.  

[QUOTE="Blistrax"]

Anandtech lets you compare cards. For an extra 250 USD, you can go from playable to silky smooth maxed in the tougher games with a GTX 780.

hartsickdiscipl

You mean an extra $400.  GTX 780 is $650.  GTX 760 is $250-260.  

Thanks guys for all the help I really appreciate it. I'll be getting the hyper 212, but idk bout the RAM so I guess I'll keep it like that. The case is pretty spacious.crazy-player

The issue won't be the spaciousness of the case.  The Hyper 212 (and many other coolers) overhang the closest RAM slot, which can cause problems with tallish RAM w/heatsinks on it.  I'm not saying that it will for sure with your motherboard, but it's possible.  

Damn youre right it only has 1x PCI Express 3.0 slot Good thing is that I went on Newegg.com and found that they have a combo deal with CPU/Mobo ($80 off) and it comes out almost the same price as if I got the MSI but these have 2 slots if im not mistaken.

They're $5 apart, which one should I go for?

1. GIGABYTE http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=13-128-592

2. ASROCK http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=13-157-371

Any reason to choose one over the other?

ASUS

1. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131995

MSI

2. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130695

 

edit: The 4GB is just $50 extra, thats not too bad. Ill look into it

crazy-player

If your gaming on a budget just go with a AMD 8350 processor it's only like 180 now.  When I got mine it was 200 this processor is sweet.  8 core processor for a fraction of the price your going to pay for a 8 core processor from Intel.  Plus, in most benchmarks your only loosing 3fps as compared to Intel 8 core processor thats on same level.  Save your hard earned dough and go with AMD 8350 processor.

hi guys, which processor is the best for gaming, amd A10 Trinity or intel i7 ivy bridge?gernald1

hi guys, which processor is the best for gaming, amd A10 Trinity or intel i7 ivy bridge?gernald1

hi guys, which processor is the best for gaming, amd A10 Trinity or intel i7 ivy bridge?gernald1