Fellow tech nerds unite!!! (pc building help)

[LT Cannibal 68]

ok guys here is a dillema i'm having, i want to build a power pc but i don't have the slightest fucking idea on how to do so, What i want you guys to do is give me your ideas of a power machine that can make crysis 3 it's little *****. Post your ideas and at the bottom give me the total amount it costs to build this pc from hell, thanks.

on a side note i want to play guild wars 2 and i was wondering if my current laptop can hack it on high settings.
here are my specs

cpu Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-2720QM CPU @ 2.20GHz

ram 8 gigs

video card GeForce GTX 460M

any other info on my current rig you need let me know.
appreciate the help and when i do build this awesome rig ill post pics

 

[Tallim]

I think this would probably have been better placed in the advice forum but oh well. Looks reasonable however, and I might be wrong here, the GeForce GtX 460M is mainly a notebook/laptop graphics card as far as I know so you might want to look into that.

 

[ClockworkUniverse]

What I did for my computer was look up the Ars Technica build guide, which lists three builds for different budgets. I went with the middle tier, which was $1400-ish. That was almost two years ago, and the only game I haven't been able to max out was The Witcher 2. I think they just released a new one, so I'd recommend checking that out.

 

[Joccaren]

Uhh... So you want the best possible rig, or just one that'll run Crysis 3 well?
Its the same sort of problem I had with a friend of mine asking the same sort of question recently. The way they worded it didn't exactly make it clear - you won't need a top-of-the-line rig to run C3 well. You'll need a decent one sure, but not top of the line or really high end, certainly nothing I'd count as a power PC, though I tend to put Power PCs as an "Extremist" level, or Enthusiast dependent on the build, based off Dexter's chart most of the time.

What you'll likely need to run Crysis 3 well is a decent i5, a motherboard to suit it, 8Gb of RAM [You probably won't need all of it, but 4 IMO in't enough these days and its cheap enough that you might as well double it rather than buy a 2Gb stick or something] and a single 670GTX.
Of course, this isn't bothering with Power Supplies or cases, fans, Hard Drives, SSDs, CD drives - ect.

As a general idea I'd probably recommend something like;
CPU: i5 3570
RAM: 8Gb from a reliable brand.
Graphics: 670GTX

Motherboard I'm too tired to look up ATM, and the rest of the stuff you should have if you already own a PC [Hard Drive, Case, CD Drive, Monitor - ect.], though if you don't it shouldn't matter too much what you get so long as you stick to reputable brands.

 

[mateushac]

Uhh... So you want the best possible rig, or just one that'll run Crysis 3 well?
Its the same sort of problem I had with a friend of mine asking the same sort of question recently. The way they worded it didn't exactly make it clear - you won't need a top-of-the-line rig to run C3 well. You'll need a decent one sure, but not top of the line or really high end, certainly nothing I'd count as a power PC, though I tend to put Power PCs as an "Extremist" level, or Enthusiast dependent on the build, based off Dexter's chart most of the time.

What you'll likely need to run Crysis 3 well is a decent i5, a motherboard to suit it, 8Gb of RAM [You probably won't need all of it, but 4 IMO in't enough these days and its cheap enough that you might as well double it rather than buy a 2Gb stick or something] and a single 670GTX.
Of course, this isn't bothering with Power Supplies or cases, fans, Hard Drives, SSDs, CD drives - ect.

As a general idea I'd probably recommend something like;
CPU: i5 3570
RAM: 8Gb from a reliable brand.
Graphics: 670GTX

Motherboard I'm too tired to look up ATM, and the rest of the stuff you should have if you already own a PC [Hard Drive, Case, CD Drive, Monitor - ect.], though if you don't it shouldn't matter too much what you get so long as you stick to reputable brands.

Seriously, also consider getting an SSD, it makes all the difference! (I remember being amazed when windows started even before the little logo animation was complete)

 

[Zipa]

Uhh... So you want the best possible rig, or just one that'll run Crysis 3 well?
Its the same sort of problem I had with a friend of mine asking the same sort of question recently. The way they worded it didn't exactly make it clear - you won't need a top-of-the-line rig to run C3 well. You'll need a decent one sure, but not top of the line or really high end, certainly nothing I'd count as a power PC, though I tend to put Power PCs as an "Extremist" level, or Enthusiast dependent on the build, based off Dexter's chart most of the time.

What you'll likely need to run Crysis 3 well is a decent i5, a motherboard to suit it, 8Gb of RAM [You probably won't need all of it, but 4 IMO in't enough these days and its cheap enough that you might as well double it rather than buy a 2Gb stick or something] and a single 670GTX.
Of course, this isn't bothering with Power Supplies or cases, fans, Hard Drives, SSDs, CD drives - ect.

As a general idea I'd probably recommend something like;
CPU: i5 3570
RAM: 8Gb from a reliable brand.
Graphics: 670GTX

Motherboard I'm too tired to look up ATM, and the rest of the stuff you should have if you already own a PC [Hard Drive, Case, CD Drive, Monitor - ect.], though if you don't it shouldn't matter too much what you get so long as you stick to reputable brands.

Seriously, also consider getting an SSD, it makes all the difference! (I remember being amazed when windows started even before the little logo animation was complete)

I have my boot time down to about 18 seconds with a SSD and Win 8 , its pretty amazing compared to taking several minutes like Win 7 used to on my normal HDD


And yeah if I were you id try to get a 600 series Nvidia card of some form, they use way less power and kick out less heat than their older 500 series brothers.

 

[janjotat]

If you want to max it out a single graphics card won't cut it. I have a gtx 670 and I get roughly 40fps if the game is maxed out, so you'll have to get a crossfire or sli setup. (keep in mind that this was the beta and crytek might be able to optimize it further so that I get 50-60fps). And a word of advice get the gtx 670, it performs as well as a gtx 680 if you overclock it, despite being $100 cheaper.

 

[blackrave]

My take on bare backbone rig
It isn't that pricy, especially if you already have old PC and need to upgrade

CPU:AMD PHENOM II X4 965 125W BLACK EDITION 3.4Ghz (I won't deny I'm an AMD fanboy )
RAMDR3 1600Mhz 2*4gb (I prefer Kingston- not the best stuff, but decent price/quality ration)
GPU:ASUS GTX650TI 1Gb or 2Gb(should easily chew all games on high/ultra settings)
MotherB: that is complicated stuff, since I prefer AMD CPU and NVidia GPU combo and most MBs support AMD+Radeon or Intel+NVidia combinations, so I'm limited in MB choice- I would suggest some ASRock motherboard that can handle these parts (especially check what CPU socket type and RAM type/speed MotherB supports)

Of course also make sure power supply and ventilation (CPU, case) can support these parts
(I never could figure out this part, but luckily I have friends who I can ask for advice)

As for HDD I would go for SATA3
SSD is good, but as far as I know their lifespan is shorter than lifespan of HDD (I might be wrong here)
If you decide pro-SSD, then consider 128Gb SSD+1Tb SATA3 combo (SATA3 HDD for keeping stuff and installing less demanding games, while SSD for OS and high demanding games)
If you don't want SSD then 2Tb SATA3 should be enough

Disclaimer: I am not professional, I barely qualify as amateur, but I hope this will help you somehow

P.S. While I find putting parts together easy, you should consider asking for help from someone more experienced

 

[Joccaren]

Seriously, also consider getting an SSD, it makes all the difference! (I remember being amazed when windows started even before the little logo animation was complete)

I definitely agree, if he's got the money. First few boots with an SSD are almost instant, though after you put a good 200Gb of stuff on it it takes closer to 8 seconds or so.
If you go to the right places you can get some pretty good SSDs fairly cheaply too.

If you want to max it out a single graphics card won't cut it. I have a gtx 670 and I get roughly 40fps if the game is maxed out, so you'll have to get a crossfire or sli setup. (keep in mind that this was the beta and crytek might be able to optimize it further so that I get 50-60fps). And a word of advice get the gtx 670, it performs as well as a gtx 680 if you overclock it, despite being $100 cheaper.

Well, I guess that starts to depend on what you're looking for in the way of "Maxed Out". Seeing as the 670 does indeed max it out, and at a playable framerate too, I'm not really sure how worth it an SLI setup would be. Costs a fair bit of money, is rather dependent on the SLI profiles for a given game as to how well it will perform, and shuts itself off after every driver update which is a pain in the ass.
And yeah, I'd suspect Crytek is doing bug fixes and optimisation ATM, seeing as its being released rather soon. If they were working on content instead I'd be kinda worried about what's getting released >.>

Personally so far as graphics cards go I'd wait until a little before Christmas to get them, and get one of the new generation cards. You'll be out of max on Crysis 3 for a few months, but will get far better performance when you do bump it up.
That's just me though, and I'm tending to stick to the odd generations of GPUs ATM just 'cause of the timing in what I buy.

 

[xDarc]

SLI set ups are a waste of money and power, plus your mobo cost just doubled.

I run a single 7970 paired with 8gb of vanilla DDR3 and a 2500K OC'ed to 4.4ghz w/ aftermarket cooler.

Whether you run a 7970 or 670 is really all that matters.

Top end DDR3 9999ghz ram? You get less than an extra 10 frames. Most cases it's 5-8.

For most games these days all the work is done on the card and pretty much any quad core will suffice.

I've been building systems since the late 90s and I just don't understand why people waste money on parts to get an extra few frames out of a game, when those parts are going to be outdated and useless in a couple of years and you'll have to start all over again. Your top end gaming rig will eventually become a computer you give to your gf so she can use office and listen to music on.

Just a waste.

 

[Tanakh]

i want to build a power pc

I don't think this means what you think it means, a PowerPC is RISK based computer that has been out of the market for around 10 years.

Anyway, just mix and match using the parts Dexter111 linked and prioritizing GPU and maybe CPU while buying decent pieces for the rest and you will be gold. There is fewer things easier than to build a good solid PC this days.

Finally:

- No way your lap will be able to run GW2 in high at it's peak demand. Actually I would be surprised if it can run GW2 in ULTRA LOW on a massive WvW with 60+ FPS.

- When you ask for this type of things, if you don't set your current budget you will end up with threads posting lots of opinions but going nowhere. Next time it would be wise of you to say how much you are willing to spend and in which country.

Edit:

ok guys here is a dillema i'm having

Just to ***** a little more, I don't think this means what you think it means either.

 

[Tanakh]

I've been building systems since the late 90s and I just don't understand why people waste money on parts to get an extra few frames out of a game, when those parts are going to be outdated and useless in a couple of years and you'll have to start all over again. Your top end gaming rig will eventually become a computer you give to your gf so she can use office and listen to music on.

Just a waste.

Assuming you really don't and aren't just using an exageration, I would assume you also don't understand why there are luxury cars, restaurants, clothes, houses and any other product ever sold by humans. Or why stuff like Cabs exsist when using them is tens of times more expensive than taking the bus and not tens of times faster, life must be confusing mate.

In all those cases the price/performance ratio gets terrible the better the quality of the product, you are not buying them for it, but for a multitude of social and practical reasons that make you choose them over efficiency in spending.

 

[ShinyCharizard]

Just use these basic specs.

CPU: i5 3570k
GPU: GTX 670
RAM: 8GB DDR3
PSU: 600W 80+ bronze certified.
Mobo: z77 board.
CPU Cooler: Hyper 212 evo.

The rest is up to personal preference.

 

[LT Cannibal 68]

Uhh... So you want the best possible rig, or just one that'll run Crysis 3 well?
Its the same sort of problem I had with a friend of mine asking the same sort of question recently. The way they worded it didn't exactly make it clear - you won't need a top-of-the-line rig to run C3 well. You'll need a decent one sure, but not top of the line or really high end, certainly nothing I'd count as a power PC, though I tend to put Power PCs as an "Extremist" level, or Enthusiast dependent on the build, based off Dexter's chart most of the time.

What you'll likely need to run Crysis 3 well is a decent i5, a motherboard to suit it, 8Gb of RAM [You probably won't need all of it, but 4 IMO in't enough these days and its cheap enough that you might as well double it rather than buy a 2Gb stick or something] and a single 670GTX.
Of course, this isn't bothering with Power Supplies or cases, fans, Hard Drives, SSDs, CD drives - ect.

As a general idea I'd probably recommend something like;
CPU: i5 3570
RAM: 8Gb from a reliable brand.
Graphics: 670GTX

Motherboard I'm too tired to look up ATM, and the rest of the stuff you should have if you already own a PC [Hard Drive, Case, CD Drive, Monitor - ect.], though if you don't it shouldn't matter too much what you get so long as you stick to reputable brands.

it's actually i just want the best possible rig, but i don't know how to pick up components that's the thing.

and as for my second question, will my current rig be able to run guild wars 2 well? that's kinda a priority right now.

 

[LT Cannibal 68]

i want to build a power pc

I don't think this means what you think it means, a PowerPC is RISK based computer that has been out of the market for around 10 years.

Anyway, just mix and match using the parts Dexter111 linked and prioritizing GPU and maybe CPU while buying decent pieces for the rest and you will be gold. There is fewer things easier than to build a good solid PC this days.

Finally:

- No way your lap will be able to run GW2 in high at it's peak demand. Actually I would be surprised if it can run GW2 in ULTRA LOW on a massive WvW with 60+ FPS.

- When you ask for this type of things, if you don't set your current budget you will end up with threads posting lots of opinions but going nowhere. Next time it would be wise of you to say how much you are willing to spend and in which country.

Edit:

ok guys here is a dillema i'm having

Just to ***** a little more, I don't think this means what you think it means either.

ok ill try to simplify as to not confuse on what i mean by power pc, i meant a very powerful rig capable of running most of todays games and applications without breaking a sweat. I want a rig that can boot up in less than 30 seconds and be ready to go.

and as for the gw2 thing, i checked systemrequirementslab.com and my rig passed the minimum requirements and upon further inspection most of the reccomended settings. The only thing I'm wondering is about the video card if it can handle it at least at med. which is strange because i could play the witcher 2 on high with a really good frame rate so i think you may be exaggerating a little bit there.

I also suppose the thread could be structured better ill keep that in mind next time.

 

[LT Cannibal 68]

Drop 4GB of RAM(if you need more, you need to stop installing toolbars), get an i5 instead of an i7 (you do not need the hyperthreading), and get an NVIDIA 560ti from EVGA with the reallocated funds. The 400s BURRRRRRRRRRRRRN.

Learn to build by watching youtube videos.

PROTIP: Do not place components on conductive material or a carpet like an idiot and don't grab components by the PCB like an asshole. Discharge yourself before touching components.

Here is a chart:

http://i.imgur.com/6WnzKgF.jpg

It is in worse quality if you view it here:

Spoiler

EDIT: I you buy an SSD so your PC can be "gamer ready", I will rage.....quietly on the inside for a moment (there is no reason to get one for gaming. Do not listen to the idiot who can't wait the 2-3 minutes it takes Win7 to boot.). Do this instead(ignore the part where he talks about shutting off microsoft services in MSconfig:

http://i.imgur.com/d6NAW4j.png (too big to spoiler)


Here is an autoloader(it has essentially everything you need):

http://ninite.com/

Here is some stuff not available on ninite:

https://www.piriform.com/

wow thanks mate ill look into it immediately, and as for the second post in my op, with my current rig will i be able to run guild wars to in any stable way?

 

[Tanakh]

ok ill try to simplify as to not confuse on what i mean by power pc, i meant a very powerful rig capable of running most of todays games and applications without breaking a sweat. I want a rig that can boot up in less than 30 seconds and be ready to go.

and as for the gw2 thing, i checked systemrequirementslab.com and my rig passed the minimum requirements and upon further inspection most of the reccomended settings. The only thing I'm wondering is about the video card if it can handle it at least at med. which is strange because i could play the witcher 2 on high with a really good frame rate so i think you may be exaggerating a little bit there.

I also suppose the thread could be structured better ill keep that in mind next time.

- Boot speed has little to do with performance in games on a computer (assuming you have better than crap components that is), the most common bottleneck while booting is your hard drive and as long as you buy a SSD of any kind for your OS and games that shouldn't ever be a problem and your boot time should be around 12-20 secs.

- GW2 sysrequirements are a LIE! The game will run with normal or higher settings on an average computer most of the time, but being an MMO you will stumble across tons of people from time to time, and then your laptop will choke to a crawl. The devs decided to make the player skills use tons of particle effects and that will make your fps drop to single digits for sure. Guess you could say I am exaggerating because it will run fine most of the time as long as you evade masses of people... unless the game is now barren, haven't played in months now.

- It's not about structure, but data. Nerds usually work better if they know the parameters of the problem, in this case for example you will see guys reccomend a 10k machine because it will be an awesome rig, others going for a 8k because it will do fine with whatever you currently trow at it while others going for a 6k because around there is a sweetspot for price/performance for computers. Who is right? Who tue fuck knows, since we don't know your budget and the pieces that are aviliable in your country.

 

[bobajob]

At the risk of sounding elitist, if you're after raw power, ditch the laptop & go desktop, honestly.

You could save a fair bit of money by going for an i5 over an i7 in a desktop, it will make little difference to gaming as it stands. With regard to the motherboard, it will determine how good just about every other component you stick in it will be. Don't skimp on it!

SSD's are nice(I invested in a 240GB one for Windows, main programs e.g. photoshop & whatever games I'm playing ATM) but are very pricey in terms of the performance gain versus the storage capacity.

The GPU you will want for a GOOD experience with modern games would be something recent with "70" or above at the end of the name - e.g. GTX 670 or better.(This will depend on your preferred resolution & graphics settings you would deem acceptable)

The "M" signifies the laptop version of the "proper" desktop GPU, but those are always throttled in some way to reduce overheating in those cramped laptop cases. Same with the processors(plus you wouldn't get either to fit in a desktop motherboard anyways).

Bear in mind that the laptops always cost more while subsequently underperforming when compared to their desktop counterparts.

It's a big trade-off between power or portability no matter how you cut it.

Take what you will from that.

 

[Aaron Sylvester]

1) Your laptop will run GW2, albeit not on Max settings (at smooth framerates anyway) but with a mixture of stuff. You need to tweak individual settings and see which have the greatest impact on framerates and less impact on visuals. Stuff like Shadows and AA is pretty taxing, start with those. People with worse laptops are running the game fine

2) Hmm I usually ask the person's budget and work backwards from there, but you want something that will max-out Crysis 3. Well considering the game isn't even out yet and tweaks are constantly being made (I participated in both the Closed Alpha and Open Beta) and for the most reasons a single high-end GPU will get you what you're after. If you want to go higher than 1080p, or want more than 60fps (120hz monitor?), or want ridiculous amounts of AA then a single GPU won't cut it.
In any case I will recommend 2 builds assembled by me from PCPartPicker - one in the "sane" region, where you can get the game looking mostly great and playable, a bang-for-the-buck build...and one in "oh jesus balls" region, where you can truly max it out and keep the PC futureproof for a while. An SSD is included in both builds because once you get a taste of it, you'll never want to go back...and anyway with their prices lower than ever it would be foolish not to get one

The "sane" build...

PCPartPicker part list [http://pcpartpicker.com/p/E05c] / Price breakdown by merchant [http://pcpartpicker.com/p/E05c/by_merchant/] / Benchmarks [http://pcpartpicker.com/p/E05c/benchmarks/]

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor [http://pcpartpicker.com/part/intel-cpu-bx80637i53570k] ($189.99 @ Microcenter)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H60 54.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler [http://pcpartpicker.com/part/corsair-cpu-cooler-h60cw9060007ww] ($64.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Extreme4 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard [http://pcpartpicker.com/part/asrock-motherboard-z77extreme4] ($119.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Mushkin Blackline 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory [http://pcpartpicker.com/part/mushkin-memory-996988] ($56.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive [http://pcpartpicker.com/part/western-digital-internal-hard-drive-wd10ealx] ($77.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Storage: Samsung 830 Series 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk [http://pcpartpicker.com/part/samsung-internal-hard-drive-mz7pc128bww] ($124.95 @ Mac Connection)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 670 2GB Video Card [http://pcpartpicker.com/part/asus-video-card-gtx670dc22gd5] ($379.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair 400R ATX Mid Tower Case [http://pcpartpicker.com/part/corsair-case-400r] ($99.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair Professional 650W 80 PLUS Silver [http://pcpartpicker.com/part/corsair-power-supply-cmpsu650hx] ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer [http://pcpartpicker.com/part/lite-on-optical-drive-ihas124-04] ($17.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1232.84
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-02-16 22:14 EST-0500)

Not bad eh? Lots of bang for the buck here.

And here's the oh-jesus-balls build...

PCPartPicker part list [http://pcpartpicker.com/p/E0bV] / Price breakdown by merchant [http://pcpartpicker.com/p/E0bV/by_merchant/] / Benchmarks [http://pcpartpicker.com/p/E0bV/benchmarks/]

CPU: Intel Core i7-3770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor [http://pcpartpicker.com/part/intel-cpu-bx80637i73770k] ($229.99 @ Microcenter)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H80i 77.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler [http://pcpartpicker.com/part/corsair-cpu-cooler-h80i] ($84.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Asus SABERTOOTH Z77 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard [http://pcpartpicker.com/part/asus-motherboard-sabertoothz77] ($234.57 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill Sniper Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory [http://pcpartpicker.com/part/gskill-memory-f31866c9d16gsr] ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive [http://pcpartpicker.com/part/western-digital-internal-hard-drive-wd1002faex] ($89.99 @ Microcenter)
Storage: Samsung 830 Series 256GB 2.5" Solid State Disk [http://pcpartpicker.com/part/samsung-internal-hard-drive-mz7pc256dam] ($219.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 670 2GB Video Card [http://pcpartpicker.com/part/asus-video-card-gtx670dc22gd5] (2-Way SLI) ($379.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 670 2GB Video Card [http://pcpartpicker.com/part/asus-video-card-gtx670dc22gd5] (2-Way SLI) ($379.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair 600T Mesh (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case [http://pcpartpicker.com/part/corsair-case-cc600tm] ($139.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair Professional Gold 850W 80 PLUS Gold [http://pcpartpicker.com/part/corsair-power-supply-cmpsu850ax] ($169.99 @ Amazon)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer [http://pcpartpicker.com/part/lite-on-optical-drive-ihas124-04] ($17.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $2047.47
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-02-16 22:23 EST-0500)


Of course a lot of the parts from the above two builds can be mixed n' matched. Feel free to ask anything more

edit: Oh and here's some peripherals/extras, stuff you may or may not need, as you can see I've recommend a bunch of things depending on what you're after.

Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) [http://pcpartpicker.com/part/microsoft-os-gfc02050] ($89.98 @ Outlet PC)
Monitor: Asus VH236H 23.0" Monitor [http://pcpartpicker.com/part/asus-monitor-vh236h] ($149.99 @ Newegg)
Monitor: Dell U2412M 60Hz 24.0" Monitor [http://pcpartpicker.com/part/dell-monitor-4691137] ($328.98 @ Newegg)
Monitor: BenQ XL2420T 120Hz 24.0" Monitor [http://pcpartpicker.com/part/benq-monitor-xl2420t] ($389.99 @ Amazon)
Keyboard: Corsair Vengeance K90 Wired Gaming Keyboard [http://pcpartpicker.com/part/corsair-keyboard-ch9000003na] ($113.00 @ Newegg)
Keyboard: Cooler Master Storm Quick Fire Pro Wired Gaming Keyboard [http://pcpartpicker.com/part/cooler-master-keyboard-sgk4010gkcr1us] ($94.31 @ Amazon)
Mouse: Logitech G9x Wired Laser Mouse [http://pcpartpicker.com/part/logitech-mouse-910001152] ($54.99 @ Newegg)
Mouse: Logitech G400 Wired Optical Mouse [http://pcpartpicker.com/part/logitech-mouse-910002277] ($29.99 @ Newegg)

(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-02-16 22:40 EST-0500)

Audio stuff (headphones, speakers, sound cards) are not something I will cover unless you specifically ask me to. I believe no PC gaming experience is complete without a solid audio setup, but not everyone feels that way.

 

[Aaron Sylvester]

Generally, if I see a video card over 250$, an i7(this is the best indicator), more than 4GB RAM or a SSD mentioned in the specs of a pre-built PC for a gamer, I call bullshit. A gamer will NEVER NEED an SLI, an SSD, or hyperthreading. The "recommended" 4GB RAM on games is a scam too. It's more of a ceiling, rather than an indication on what is needed. All of these "God-tier" builds are for either tech reviewers or people who do massive scale modelling and work in professional studios.

And that right there is enough to tell everyone your knowledge of what high-end PC hardware is used for. So those thousands of people purchasing HD7950/7970's and GTX670/680's must be tech reviewers or 3D CAD developers. Hahahaha. Also 1600p/120hz monitors don't exist and nobody does multi-screen gaming. Haaaaahahaha. SSD's are by far the biggest upgrade to any computer which doesn't have one - it won't improve framerates in games, but loading times, overall system performance and the snappy-fast response on everything is 100% worth every cent. Not to mention that even after years of use a PC using an SSD will be just as fast as it was when things were freshly installed, as opposed to a PC using an HDD which will slow down to a crawl and need reformatting. Once upon a time SSD's were too expensive, but now they're seen everywhere in the world of midrange/performance PC's.

Look, an opinion is fine, but I dislike it when people are flat-out ignorant. Which would go for a ton of responses in this thread...some know what they're talking about and some are utterly clueless.

This is why it's a bad idea to ask for PC build advice on a site populated mainly by "gamers"....most gamers know fuck-all about PC hardware. And you'll only get confused by the conflicting opinions.

OP, ask on somewhere like Overclock.net. Or MMO-Champ Computer Forums [http://www.mmo-champion.com/forums/290-Computer], a rather active community who are committed to helping people with their PC builds (also it's where I hang out ). There are many others too...Escapist isn't one of them.