In the past (~10 years ago) I used to build desktops and then for a varitey of reasons I moved on to laptops. I now have a work laptop which is convenient enough for me to move around the house with if necessary, and would like to move over from a personal laptop to a personal desktop. I figure with the money I usually spend of laptops ($1000 - $1200) every 3 years I can build a good desktop that will last me longer. I'm not an avid gamer, but I do enjoy video games when I have time, and would like to build a rig that will allow me play the upcoming GTA V on ultra settings (I know it's not been announced, but it should be soon), as well as revisiting Skyrim + mods on Ultra settings.
I just bought an Antec 1100 computer case and am looking at buying the following as well:
Sapphire Radeon HD 7970 OC with Boost ($300)
Intel Core i5-4670K ($230)
MSI Z87-G65 ($190)
Corsair Vengeance 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 1600 MHz ($132)
SeaSonic G Series 550-Watt ($80)
COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 EVO ($140)
Seagate Barracuda 2TB Serial ATA Hard Drive ($90)
Samsung 840 Series 2.5 inch 120GB SATA SSD ($90)
Logitech Wireless Illuminated Keyboard K800 ($80)
Optical Drive
I'll be purchasing a few more fans for the computer case (comes with 2 but I can add a bunch more) but I have a few questions:
1. I've not set in stone on Video Card and Processor/MB combo so am open to advice to get a better bang for my buck. Ideally I'd like to keep me graphics card viable for the next few years (I don't need to play newer games on super high settings).
2. I set my budget to be around $1200 but can go a bit higher if it's worth it. The items above will run me around $900, and the additional items will probably be another $300-400 easily, so in my head I'm already willing to go to $1300. I can also get a decent monitor from a friend for now so that doesn't need to be part of my budget.
3. Regarding PSU - what would be a good unit for my needs? I may or not be overclocking. The above card comes overclocked and I have 0 experience in overclocking. I remember back in the day it was more dangerous and easy to damage your hardware, while today you can overclock with zero risk provided you aren't completely incompetent. That being the case, I may try and overclock. The PSU listed above is somethign that was recommended to and looks good, but always appreciate more feedback.
4. Motherboards - I am completely lost as to what to get - I am veering towards an intel processor due to them being better than AMD (from what I've read - not stating fact here), but I have no idea what to look for in motherboards. [bleep], even 10 years ago motherboards were something I didn't understand. I've been looking at the MSI Z87-G45, and the G65, as well as the Gigabyte GA-Z87X-UD4H. The G65 seems to have better reviews at a $30 increase over the other two. Which would be recommended for my needs?
5. Is there anything I am missing here (aside from monitor)?
For the past years I've been playing games on medium settings on my laptop, and would like to treat myself to a nice system - So far this sets my budget at around $1300ish which is OK, but if there are any places to cut costs or choose a better bang for my buck I'd appreciate advice.
Any feedback would be greatly appreciated it - I've been looking up parts for the past few days, reading reviews and comparisons and I'm remembering how much fun this used to be happy I'm flying to the US in a few days and would like to buy all my parts there as where I am from there is a 30-40% markup.
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