I'm new to the site (and having not built a PC since 1999 and not played a new MMO since 2007, I'm also a tech noob all over again).
Having looked at CPU benchmarks, my guess would be that the i7-3770 and i7-3770k look like top gaming choices. But reading these forums, I've seen a lot of new builds center on the i5 instead. Which one should I choose? And if you're up for it, maybe you recommend a video card as well.
My goals:
Play Guild Wars 2 at around 60FPS*
Be able to run Everquest Next whenever it comes out*
Non-gaming: lots of multi-tasking, dual-monitors, playing music, keeping my system on more hours than off.
* - with neither game released, I realize it's guess-work planning a system, but your guesses are better than mine!
My planned System:
Pre-built Dell XPS 8500 (I don't feel comfortable building everything myself, so I'll replace the GPU).
Windows 7 Pro
CPU choices: i5-3450 or i7-3770 ?
1TB 7200 RPM SATA Hard Drive 6.0 Gb/s
16GB Dual Channel DDR3 1600MHz
Video: ?
The best GPU they offer is AMD Radeon™ HD 7770 2GB GDDR5 for $150 additional. I don't think that's going to cut it, so I'm thinking I'll go with the included AMD Radeon™ HD 7570 1GB GDDR5, then replace that and the PSU. I'd sure love a GTX 680, but I don't have $500 to $600 for just the card.
My total budget is around $1500. That pre-built computer will be about $1100, so I have $300 to $400 for the GPU and PSU. Anyone have thoughts on what might fit the bill?
Thanks in advance! Really excited!