Help me build a new PC!

[Vecksi]

Hey guys,

I know very little about PC hardware. I built a custom PC maybe 8 years ago mostly from advice from some guy at some computer store, and I was likely ripped off. I want to buy my wife a new PC but I want to make sure I get the best bang for my buck. Hopefully someone from here would love to take my budget and tell me exactly what I should buy.

Budget: $850 (+ up to $150)

Resolution: My wife loves to draw, a lot. She's got a really nice tablet and spends most of her drawing hours using photoshop. I am not sure what resolution would be best, so please recommend.

Games / Settings Desired: She plays WoW, GW2, lots of PS2 emulators (they hog memory), Skyrim and plans to play ESO. I'd like her to be able to play these games on as high settings as possible.

Any other intensive software or special things you do (Frequent video encoding, 3D modeling, etc): Nope

Country: Canada

Parts that can be reused: Mouse and Keyboard.

Do you need an OS?: Yes. Windows 7 would be fine.

Do you need peripherals (e.g. monitor, mouse, keyboard, speakers, etc)? Yes, a monitor. Prefer as big as we can go in budget (ideally maybe 24"?) Just a single monitor is fine.


Thank you very much for your time. Fingers crossed this is enough to work with!

Also, if it helps, I get a nice discount from NCIX (at cost + 5%) through a work benefit. So if I could get everything from there, that would be fantastic.

[Cyrops]

This is a lot over the budget, but if you can afford it:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($254.79 @ DirectCanada)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.79 @ DirectCanada)
Motherboard: ASRock Z87 Pro3 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($98.98 @ Newegg Canada)
Memory: Patriot Signature 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($98.34 @ TigerDirect Canada)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($84.99 @ Memory Express)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 760 2GB Video Card ($269.64 @ TigerDirect Canada)
Case: Thermaltake VM30001W2Z ATX Mid Tower Case ($41.59 @ DirectCanada)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($55.99 @ NCIX)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($98.87 @ DirectCanada)
Monitor: Samsung S24C300HL 23.6" Monitor ($149.00 @ Canada Computers)
Total: $1181.98
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-03-04 14:06 EST-0500)

If you want to stick to your 1k budget, you need to lower the CPU:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i3-4330 3.5GHz Dual-Core Processor ($144.75 @ Vuugo)
Motherboard: ASRock H81M-DGS Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($54.00 @ Vuugo)
Memory: Patriot Signature 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($98.34 @ TigerDirect Canada)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($84.99 @ Memory Express)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 760 2GB Video Card ($269.64 @ TigerDirect Canada)
Case: Thermaltake VM30001W2Z ATX Mid Tower Case ($41.59 @ DirectCanada)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($55.99 @ NCIX)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($98.87 @ DirectCanada)
Monitor: Samsung S24C300HL 23.6" Monitor ($149.00 @ Canada Computers)
Total: $997.17
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-03-04 14:07 EST-0500)

[chazus]

It's hard to tell if this is on budget or not, because I don't know what Cost + 5% is, exactly, for NCIX. That said.. I imagine it'll be cheaper than this. it's hard to tell if somewhere else might be even cheaper.

That said, a few notes.

1) As someone who uses photoshop, I highly, highly recommend an SSD. It makes life soooooo much easier.
2) As someone who uses photoshop, I highly, highly recommend an IPS monitor. They cost a bit more, but worth it for color accuracy and vibrance, as well as viewing angle.
3) I listed Win 8 because PCpartpicker doesn't show NCIX having Win7. Im sure they do, and I'm sure its the same price. I just listed 8 as a placeholder.

PCPartPicker part list
CPU: Intel Core i3-4330 3.5GHz Dual-Core Processor ($147.99 @ NCIX)
Motherboard: Asus H81M-A Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($67.00 @ NCIX)
Memory: Patriot Viper 3 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($84.99 @ NCIX)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($110.48 @ NCIX)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($74.98 @ NCIX)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB Video Card ($179.99 @ NCIX)
Case: BitFenix Comrade ATX Mid Tower Case ($42.99 @ NCIX)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($65.99 @ NCIX)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($99.99 @ NCIX)
Monitor: Acer H236HLbid 60Hz 23.0" Monitor ($169.99 @ NCIX)
Total: $1044.39

[Vecksi]

Thanks guys!