Gaming PC - $1200-1300 Budget

[Hansome]

Hello,

I do not know much about computers therefore I have not put a build together for review since I would be guessing on some things. I will have help building the computer (and take their input as well) but wanted to see what you guys would recommend for me. Around $1200-1300 is my budget but I could spend a little more if it's going to be a noticeable upgrade. Thanks for your help!

Budget: $1200-1300
Resolution: Don't know…something good?
Games/Settings Desired: Mostly for WoW at this time so Ultra for 20+ man raids
Any other intensive software or special things you do: No
Country: Canada
Parts that can be reused: Only a Razer Naga mouse since I have been using laptops for the last 7 years
Do you need an OS: Yes
Do you need peripherals: I need a monitor and a keyboard

[Deleted]

hi there , this is something will give u 60fps most of the time, also if u just and only play blizzard games u can downgrade the GPU for any nvidia gtx760 with 2gb of memory , and save like $150, but the gtx 970 is the best price/performance card atm, and will let u play other games in 1080p without problems for some years

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($244.48 @ Newegg Canada)
Motherboard: MSI Z97-Gaming 3 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($154.99 @ Memory Express)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($79.98 @ Newegg Canada)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($56.99 @ Canada Computers)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB ACX 2.0 Video Card ($381.98 @ Newegg Canada)
Case: Fractal Design Arc Midi R2 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($109.99 @ NCIX)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA NEX 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($84.95 @ Vuugo)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($98.98 @ DirectCanada)
Monitor: Acer V246HLbd 60Hz 24.0" Monitor ($147.50 @ Vuugo)
Total: $1359.84
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

[Deleted]

Is it better to use Win7 isntead of Win8.1, Khuzdul?

[Arbiter]

Is it better to use Win7 isntead of Win8.1, Khuzdul?

Not unless you already own a copy of Windows 7 which saves you the cost. If you had to choose which to purchase, Windows 8.1.

Runs faster. Runs more stable. Boots faster. Going to have support for a lot longer. You could always install Classic Shell or Start8 to get hide the metro interface and have access to a Windows 7 style start menu. It'll look like Windows 7 with the minimalistic Windows 8 theme and will run much better than 7.

[Karry]

Building PCs is a big hobby of mine and I even "work" for a site in my country and help people on forums get a good setup. Also just cause someone knows how to phsysically build a PC, doesnt mean they know what they are talking about, so take what your friends say with a grain of salt. I have a friend just like that who know how build one but he makes mistakes, a lot of them when it comes to picking them out.

What @MartenusPrince listed is a very good PC and should be run WoW on ultra till the day it dies and you can run all the new games and future ones on high-ultra no problem.

As for keyboard, I would say get a w/e keyboard until you have enough cash to get a mechanical one, something like the SteelSeries 6Gv2. Sturdy as hell, very durable, sleek black look.

http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/part/stee...keyboard-64255

Also when you have the cash, depending on prices you should get a 120-128GB or even 240-256 SSD ( depending in prices ofc ) and put your OS and WoW there. It will make WoW load times fast as hell and render the world faster. It was night and day difference when I moved mine from my WD Blue HDD to my SSD. Also the Windows snappiness and overall very fast acces times make it a worthwhile investment, prolly the single most important piece that will really make a big difference in your PC, as an upgrade.

But it's not mandatory so you can leave it off the initial budget to get better stuff.

[Deleted]

The following its a little over budget, but you can buy the cpu cooler later along with an hdd. Included an ssd and ips monitor.


PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($257.95 @ Vuugo)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($30.89 @ DirectCanada)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97MX-Gaming 5 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($125.69 @ DirectCanada)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($82.14 @ DirectCanada)
Storage: Crucial MX100 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($118.98 @ DirectCanada)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 970 4GB STRIX Video Card ($398.50 @ Vuugo)
Case: Cooler Master N200 MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($47.50 @ Vuugo)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($68.98 @ NCIX)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($99.89 @ DirectCanada)
Monitor: LG 23MP55HQ-P 60Hz 23.0" Monitor ($163.50 @ Vuugo)
Total: $1394.02
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-12-09 03:13 EST-0500

[May90]

Nice suggestions above, I like these builds a lot. Unfortunately, with your budget, you either can get a very high performance and 1080p (which would be a bit of a waste), or lower performance and 1440p/4K (but then it will effectively perform much worse). If you can extend your budget, you can get both GTX 970 and 1440p which, IMO, would be the ideal combination:
http://www.ncix.com/detail/asus-pb27...t-1f-76578.htm
Compared to Khuzdul's build - $300 higher. If you drop 970 GTX for 760 GTX (quite a significant performance drop, but, IMO, 1440p at Medium settings looks better than 1080P at Ultra in most cases), then it will be just $100 over. Later you could add another 760 GTX in SLI and have a very solid gaming rig.

As for keyboard, they are sold next for nothing today. Special high quality keyboard is better, of course, but the difference is not as big as with most other components.
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Logitech-K...-K120/15050908

[Phideaux]

This is what I come out with.

CPU

Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor
$219.98 FREE $219.98 NCIX US
Remove
Buy
CPU Cooler

Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler
$39.88 -$8.00 $31.88 OutletPC
Remove
Buy
$8.00 mail-in rebate
Thermal Compound

Arctic Silver 5 High-Density Polysynthetic Silver 3.5g Thermal Paste
$4.98 $4.98 OutletPC
Remove
Buy


Motherboard

ASRock H97M Anniversary Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard
$69.99 $1.99 $71.98 Newegg
Remove
Buy
Memory

G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory
$54.99 FREE $54.99 Newegg
Remove
Buy

G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory
$54.99 FREE $54.99 Newegg
Remove
Buy
Add Additional Memory
Storage

Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
$56.49 -$5.00 $51.49 OutletPC
Remove
Buy
$5.00 mail-in rebate
Add Additional Storage
Video Card

Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 4GB WINDFORCE Video Card
$359.99 $359.99 NCIX US
Remove
Buy
Case

Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case
$59.99 -$20.00 FREE $39.99 Newegg
Remove
Buy
+ USD $10 off w/ promo code EMCWHPF23, ends 12/10
$10.00 mail-in rebate
Power Supply

Corsair Builder 600W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply
$64.99 -$20.00 FREE $44.99 Newegg
Remove
Buy
$20.00 mail-in rebate
Optical Drive

Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer
$18.88 $18.88 OutletPC
Remove
Buy
Add Another Optical Drive
Operating System

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit)
$98.98 -$10.00 $88.98 OutletPC
Remove
Buy
$10.00 mail-in rebate
Monitor

BenQ GL2460HM 60Hz 24.0" Monitor
$129.99 Free two-day shipping with Amazon Prime $129.99 Amazon
Remove
Buy
Wireless Network Adapter

Gigabyte GC-WB867D-I 802.11a/b/g/n/ac PCI-Express x1 Wi-Fi Adapter
$32.99 Free two-day shipping with Amazon Prime $32.99 Amazon
Remove
Buy
Keyboard

Cooler Master CM Storm Devastator Gaming Bundle Wired Gaming Keyboard w/Optical Mouse
$27.95 FREE $27.95 Newegg
Remove
Buy

Base Total: $1300.04
Promo Discounts: -$10.00
Mail-in Rebates: -$53.00
Shipping: $1.99
Total: $1239.03

[Deleted]

stuff

So you want him to get a 500Cad monitor, like 40% of this budget while going with a 760? And then maybe sli that? What kinda of suggestion is that? Would have been better to tell him buy a cheap monitor now to work with with the thought of buying a good one later but he would have the cpu power now. Not the other way around, go cheap on gpu, get a great monitor and hey untill you get a better gpu (on a new pc) you can play at medium settings...

- - - Updated - - -

...build suggestion

Besides what is included in the build you suggested you missed the most important thing. Op is located in Canada so US prices are irrelevant.

[Karon]

Nice suggestions above, I like these builds a lot. Unfortunately, with your budget, you either can get a very high performance and 1080p (which would be a bit of a waste), or lower performance and 1440p/4K (but then it will effectively perform much worse). If you can extend your budget, you can get both GTX 970 and 1440p which, IMO, would be the ideal combination:
http://www.ncix.com/detail/asus-pb27...t-1f-76578.htm
Compared to Khuzdul's build - $300 higher. If you drop 970 GTX for 760 GTX (quite a significant performance drop, but, IMO, 1440p at Medium settings looks better than 1080P at Ultra in most cases), then it will be just $100 over. Later you could add another 760 GTX in SLI and have a very solid gaming rig.

As for keyboard, they are sold next for nothing today. Special high quality keyboard is better, of course, but the difference is not as big as with most other components.
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Logitech-K...-K120/15050908

To be honest, I don't think you should suggest a 1440p Build to someone who is new to the "PC Master Race" High end setups. He will most likely see no difference between 1080p and 1440p, and probably 900p at all.

So instead of investing the money in something he doesn't really benefit from he should use the money for better hardware to get more stable framerates or more SSD Space I think. Or a good Audio Card, I bought one a month ago and the difference to the on board sound is quite noticeable.

[May90]

So you want him to get a 500Cad monitor, like 40% of this budget while going with a 760? And then maybe sli that? What kinda of suggestion is that? Would have been better to tell him buy a cheap monitor now to work with with the thought of buying a good one later but he would have the cpu power now. Not the other way around, go cheap on gpu, get a great monitor and hey untill you get a better gpu (on a new pc) you can play at medium settings...

I was going to suggest this initially. Works both ways (maybe a little better with the monitor change way since monitor prices are going to drop significantly in 2015). I just think that, if we look at what the OP can get right now for his budget (or a little bit extended budget), then at THIS point in time it makes more sense to go with better monitor first. Long term wise, your suggestion is better. It is up to the OP what to choose.

To be honest, I don't think you should suggest a 1440p Build to someone who is new to the "PC Master Race" High end setups. He will most likely see no difference between 1080p and 1440p, and probably 900p at all.

So instead of investing the money in something he doesn't really benefit from he should use the money for better hardware to get more stable framerates or more SSD Space I think. Or a good Audio Card, I bought one a month ago and the difference to the on board sound is quite noticeable.

Frankly, I am not sure there are many people who can't notice the difference between 1080p or 1440p on a 27+" monitor. Likewise, if he is going to play at 1080p, I don't think he will really need 970 GTX, it is a very high end GPU and using it to play at 1080p doesn't seem very reasonable to me. Anyway, again, I agree, 970 GTX + 1080p should work fine for the OP.

[Bytch]

Canada doesnt have a mail system?

- - - Updated - - -

So you want him to get a 500Cad monitor, like 40% of this budget while going with a 760? And then maybe sli that? What kinda of suggestion is that? Would have been better to tell him buy a cheap monitor now to work with with the thought of buying a good one later but he would have the cpu power now. Not the other way around, go cheap on gpu, get a great monitor and hey untill you get a better gpu (on a new pc) you can play at medium settings...

- - - Updated - - -



Besides what is included in the build you suggested you missed the most important thing. Op is located in Canada so US prices are irrelevant.

Canada doesnt have a mail system?

[Deleted]

Sure it has, but i bet has import taxes too.

[Jimson]

Sure it has, but i bet has import taxes too.

Sure does, unless you're planning to buy your components at the duty-free. Some cursory googling tells me that stuff from the US gets taxed at 12% when entering Canada.

Alternatively, you could always ship it to somewhere near the border and hope the border guards don't search your car when you take it home. That is not a fun experience.

[Arbiter]

Canada doesnt have a mail system?

- - - Updated - - -


Canada doesnt have a mail system?

Yea, Canada prices are always higher than US prices so you can't suggest builds for Canadians based on US prices. Will cost them far more. And like above, shipping it out the US will cost you import taxes which will also hurt you in the long run.

Regardless, the suggested build that Kost was referring to is completely awful and to be honest build suggesting should be left to people who understand hardware a bit more. K series CPU with H97 board...bad. 16GB RAM just for gaming...useless. PSU is low quality. Pointless to add on a WiFi adapter when it wasn't requested, but there are better suggestions either way. Not a fan of the monitor choice either.

[May90]

Regardless, the suggested build that Kost was referring to is completely awful and to be honest build suggesting should be left to people who understand hardware a bit more. K series CPU with H97 board...bad. 16GB RAM just for gaming...useless. PSU is low quality. Pointless to add on a WiFi adapter when it wasn't requested, but there are better suggestions either way. Not a fan of the monitor choice either.

I find that, when it comes to builds, people tend to disagree more often than agree. Clearly stating what you want from your PC narrows a build quite a bit, but there are still many major disagreements between very experienced people. Some don't care about PSU quality while for others it is the most important part of the build. Some want overall a balanced build, while others tend to spend more on CPU/GPU and less on everything else (I am prone to the latter group). Since most requests here are like "I want to be able to play WoW on Ultra", it is not really reasonable to criticize others' builds since the information is too vague to recommend something to OP personally.

[Arbiter]

I find that, when it comes to builds, people tend to disagree more often than agree. Clearly stating what you want from your PC narrows a build quite a bit, but there are still many major disagreements between very experienced people. Some don't care about PSU quality while for others it is the most important part of the build. Some want overall a balanced build, while others tend to spend more on CPU/GPU and less on everything else (I am prone to the latter group). Since most requests here are like "I want to be able to play WoW on Ultra", it is not really reasonable to criticize others' builds since the information is too vague to recommend something to OP personally.

When people ask for a certain something at a certain budget, the goal is to offer them the best performance for everything they mention on that budget. They stated they don't use any intensive software for anything like video editing or anything. He only stated gaming. 16GB is useless for gaming. An H97 board with a K series CPU is a waste of money because you can't overclock it so that's a bad idea. If a person needed WiFi they would have mentioned it.

Lastly, if someone doesn't care about PSU quality, they don't need to be recommending parts. Period. It's not a matter of opinion. It's one thing to make a mistake by not knowing that the PSU was low quality, but intentional careless to something such as a PSU is idiocy.

Sometimes there are better options to ways to build things. That's why we have these forums. For debating and assistance. I've had parts corrected or bettered for price or performance and I've done the same for others.

It's generally the new users with lack of experience that tend to post on these forums with the least optimal suggestions. You'll notice that a lot of us agree on a lot of subjects. Something like your suggestion for a lower end GPU with a higher end monitor was one of those things that most of us would have agreed was a bad idea.

[Hansome]

Thanks to everyone for your input/recommendations. After doing some research and considering your suggestions, I'm thinking of going with the below build. Let me know what you guys think. Thanks again!

ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/4n7LjX

[Hansome]

Thanks to everyone for their responses and suggestions. After doing some research and looking at your recommendations, I am thinking of going with the following build... ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/4n7LjX ... What do you guys think? Thanks again for the help!