I'm a big PC gamer guy and love my desktop, so much so that I have no need for a tablet, and I only use my PS3 for watching blu-rays and playing a few exclusive games (MLB The Show, for example). Otherwise, I spend most of my time in front of my desktop.
I took advantage of the Steam summer sale last week, and I'm really excited about my new haul and the gaming that is in front of me. To give you an idea of the awesomeness that immediately awaits, among my new purchases was the entire Assassin's Creed franchise, something I have yet to delve into (not due to lack of interest). Sadly, however, I have come to the realization that my dear desktop PC is in serious need of an overhaul. For a guy who depends on his PC as his primary means of gaming, my current machine is just so 2009 in too many ways.
For practical purposes, it means it is incapable of running many of the more demanding games, or having to do so on lower settings, and really, who likes playing on low settings, knowing there's a better experience to be had?! It's not just that, I have avoided certain games entirely because I know I can't run them (Crysis, BF3, Far Cry 3, Metro, etc.). It's time to change that! Here are the specs on my current machine:ASUS P5K SE/EPU motherboard (socket 775)
P4 core 2 duo E7200 @2.53 GHz CPU
4 GB DDR2 RAM
EVGA variant of an Nvidia GeForce 9600 GT
*insert clip of The Simpson's Nelson "ha-ha-ing me here*
I've been doing some research on what I'd like my new machine to be, considering both performance and value (prices). I think I have reached a verdict, but I'm open to suggestions, and I'd like to run things by the G2G community, as I have only ever had positive helpful experiences here whenever I drop by.
Proposed new specs:
Motherboard: I'm going to go Socket 1150 with a Z87 chipset, allowing myself to upgrade to Broadwell chips down the road, rather than saving a bit and getting an 1155 board. I'm not too picky about which board to get, and price will play a role here more than anything else, I'm thinking. I was first looking at the ASUS Z87 boards, but there is such a huge discrepancy in price in the product line. The "K" version is the cheapest, if I recall, and from what I could tell, it had everything that I would need. Then there was the "A", and the "Plus", followed by the "Pro" as steps up in my range, and the others are in a totally different (more expensive) price bracket, and I don't see the need to get that fancy. What is the difference between variants? I know I could look it up, but it might not mean a lot to me in technical terms. At the bare bones, they all seem to be sufficient, and that's if I even go with an ASUS Z87 board. I'm also looking at a few Gigabyte boards, as well as an MSI gaming board. I will provide links:
the MSI Gaming board: http://www.tigerdire...3&Sku=M452-1153
Gigabyte boards: http://www.canadacom...&item_id=060879 and http://www.canadacom...&item_id=060878
CPU: My decision on the cpu came down to price, as good i5 chips are a solid $100 less than good i7 chips, or at least of the ones I have been looking at (Z87 chips). I have my eye on the i5 4670 @3.4 GHz. The standard is $225, the "K" version is $245. Is it worth the extra $20 to get teh better chip? Or should I even be considering going in the other direction, perhaps one of the i5 4570 chips, and then upgrade down the road, as I set myself up to do by getting a socket 1150 mb? The 4670 seems to be about the right price/performance balance for me at the moment.
Video/Graphics Card: Ahhh, the most important and most fun component to upgrade! I think I'm pretty well decided here, going with this bad boy right here: http://www.tigerdire...3216&CatId=7387
ALTHOUGH... for $10 more, I could have this bad boy right here... http://www.tigerdire...3217&CatId=7387
Memory: Pretty safe to say I'll be getting 16 GB of DDR3
Hard Drive: I already have 3 working drives that do what I need nicely, including a 1TB internal drive as my primary. I do need a fresh copy of Windows, however. I've been running 7 SP1 64-bit and would be happy to continue to do so, unless there is a strong argument as to why I should be looking at getting a copy of 8 64-bit.
Power Supply: Another hold over, I purchased a beastly 650W upgrade power supply a while back, and I'm sure it will handle all my needs nicely in my new rig.
Case: I'd be happy keeping my current case. It's a full tower with good circulation. It's seen some wear and tear, though. The power button on the front is partially broken (the plastic holding parts on the inside, the button itself still functions). It is a Cooler Master. I'd be open to getting a new tower, but I wouldn't want to overspend on one. I'd say I have a $100 limit on a new tower if I got one. I'd be willing to go with a mid-sized tower also if it was advised that I didn't need the extra space of a full tower. However, having always had a full tower, the size doesn't bother me.
The end goal: Play games like Skyrim, Battlefield 3, Crysis series, etc. on maxed out settings, and get my game on!!
Thanks for taking the time to read my thread. All comments welcome and appreciated!
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