Building a Computer

I was chatting with the gang on TS about how I was wanting to build my own computer.  I mentioned that my price roof was $4,000, and they told me I was spending far too much money on it!  It seems the thought is that I can get a computer that can run 60FPS Ultra for under $1,500!  Well, I have been asked to give you all the chance of telling me such specs, so here you are!
Things I require:

• Runs all games at Ultra keeping above 60FPS.
  
• Able to run a streaming/recording program in the background without lag.
  
• Can be built using CyberPower.  (try to sell me on someone else if you want)
  
• Will be able to keep up with new games for over five years.
  
• Will not be overly loud when cooling.
  
• Can connect to WiFi out of the box.
  
• Has at least 1TB of storage.
  

I will give the person who presents me with the best build with a $20 steam giftcard at the time I pay for the computer.

here is a good start up, if you want to select your own options with CyberPower [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] (has wifi and can have 2 TB storage, although ending price with exceptional specs would be close to $1700

lLIGHTNINGl wrote:

under $1,500!

• Runs all games at Ultra keeping above 60FPS.
  
• Can connect to WiFi out of the box.
  

Not possible. For ultra 60 fps on every game, you'd need crossfire/SLI of the top marketed cards(~ 1800+ $).

wifi. lol. This is going to be extra cost. almost all motherboards have a standard ethernet connection, but almost no motherboards have wifi compatibility.

Why wifi anyways if it's a desktop?

I'll build you a 1500 computer that can run -MOST GAMES- at ultra. There's no way in hell you're going to get all games to ultra without exceeding even the 4000 $ limit.

Monarchco wrote:

Not possible. For ultra 60 fps on every game, you'd need crossfire/SLI of the top marketed cards(~ 1800+ $).

wifi. lol. This is going to be extra cost. almost all motherboards have a standard ethernet connection, but almost no motherboards have wifi compatibility.

Why wifi anyways if it's a desktop?

I'll build you a 1500 computer that can run -MOST GAMES- at ultra. There's no way in hell you're going to get all games to ultra without exceeding even the 4000 $ limit.

Well, do what you can then, 60FPS on high I could work with if most games were running ultra. If it is over 1,500 that is okay. The point is that it is under 4,000, ha.
I wish you the best of luck!

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CPU: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]  ($324.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]  ($28.95 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]  ($129.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]  ($76.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]  ($119.88 @ Amazon)
Video Card: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]  ($448.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]  ($119.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]  ($119.99 @ B&H)
Optical Drive: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]  ($45.98 @ Newegg)
Operating System: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]  ($86.89 @ OutletPC)
Wireless Network Adapter: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]  ($17.79 @ OutletPC)
Case Fan: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]  ($13.94 @ OutletPC)
Case Fan: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]  ($13.94 @ OutletPC)
Case Fan: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]  ($13.94 @ OutletPC)
Case Fan: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]  ($13.94 @ OutletPC)
Case Fan: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]  ($13.94 @ OutletPC)
Monitor: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]  ($249.99 @ Micro Center)
Total: $1840.12
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-04-16 17:48 EDT-0400


Direct Link:
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Slightly over the 1500 @ 1840$. However the pricing includes a top grade monitor and operating system(win 8 was cheapest, and all will offer free upgrades to win 10 upon launch, so you'll ultimately end up with windows 10 either way).

This setup also has a 2TB drive running at 7200 RPM w/ a 64MB cache, which is up from your 1TB minimum. This is a high performance drive.

The onboard memory is high performance, and the CPU is selected personally for high power per core(better for gaming), and is a very high performance model.

Will run -MOST- games at ultra settings at a full 60 fps at 1080p. Should run top newer games such as GTA5 and Watch Dogs at max settings. < These specific games have LARGE amounts of textures, which is why I selected the Vapor-X 8GB R9 290x model that I did(I personally use this model).

Any other questions let me know.


Overall, when it comes to games. It will run the top graphical games(vanilla) at 60fps.
-> Crysis 3
-> Tomb Raider
-> Battlefield Hardline
-> GTA5
-> Elite Dangerous
-> Watch Dogs
-> Dying Light
-> X: Rebirth

However should be noted, many mods may push the limits of this build. A modded GTA5 would likely push the limits.

Hm, I like the looks of what you have here. I will do some fact-check, but this looks really solid.

lLIGHTNINGl wrote:

Hm, I like the looks of what you have here.  I will do some fact-check, but this looks really solid.

I've built many computers over the years, both for myself and others.

Monarchco wrote:

I've built many computers over the years, both for myself and others.

Well, I think it this may work... I really like the way the test worked. I think I may need to thank you and pass over $20 bucks!
Anyone else want to challenge this build?

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CPU: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]  ($299.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]  ($179.95 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]  ($161.30 @ Newegg)
Memory: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]  ($209.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]  ($190.98 @ Newegg)
Storage: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]  ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] (2-Way CrossFire)  ($382.98 @ Newegg)
Video Card: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] (2-Way CrossFire)  ($382.98 @ Newegg)
Case: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]  ($119.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]  ($172.98 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
Operating System: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]  ($142.98 @ Newegg)
Wireless Network Adapter: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]  ($32.99 @ Newegg)
Monitor: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]  ($127.58 @ Newegg)
Monitor: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]  ($127.58 @ Newegg)
Total: $2622.26
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-04-17 02:53 EDT-0400

To put it simply, this is not the PC that I intended on building, and its not like I slapped together the parts that were the most OP, however I wanted to make sure that you had a lot more power and ability to Stream, record, and edit video maybe not at the same time, but as easily as possible.  I have not personally built a PC like this before, but now that I know its is entirely possible I totally want to do it.  As for explanations, I really dont think the part choices require one, they really speak for themselves, the price however I can agree is on the high side at 2.6k.

Now, 2.6k is a lot of money, but essentially you are getting two great PC's in one.  One for both gaming, and processing.  Its still well under the 4k you wanted to spend for sure.  As for the $1500 requirement, thats probably best for PC's that can do one thing, or another.

As for where you can downgrade, you can go for a lower quality card if you think 4GB is too much for ya, even though 2GB should be plenty, you could also probably skimp on the Storage by dropping the SSD, I provided that SSD as a way to get on your PC in less than 30 seconds (I can attest to how epic having an SSD as your core drive is), Also, I included the two monitors, which I was unclear if I was supposed to, choose that one at your own will.  I didnt include a mouse or keyboard because it really depends on your own personal style, so I would rather you choose, But you got 1.4k left over to spend on that part.

Finally to mention, this Motherboard can support up to 64 GB, even though only 32 GB was listed.

ENJOY!

Now I like the higher memory. You have two 4G cards running together which I find interesting. The differences are quite harsh there after. I see you did not use Intel. AMD was the best a few years ago, but Intel has made some advances.
Hm, sell me on why this computer is better that the previously proposed model.
Also to both of you, what have you to say on the Intel core i7-980, 990, 980X, and 990X? It has come up with high ratings, but I would be interested to know what you think.

I am not really familar with the way Intel does things, I am aware they have better preformance overall.  However this is a price trade off.  The i7 Monarchco suggested leads but not by much ([You must be registered and logged in to see this link.], also this one can be overclocked to a pretty high degree).  As for the video cards, I figured having two would provide a decent load balance between them allowing for easier game rendering, as well as video rendering for after the editing (suggested you crossfire).

Most of the cost here is the two video cards.  If you were to go with the one Monarchco suggested and drop a monitor, this would fall well into the realm of Monarchco's build.

The monitor he had proposed is a lower range quality, where the monitor on the build I put out is a gaming monitor, with a 1ms response time.
The i7 I selected is the best possible CPU because of the power per core. Many games still don't support multi-threading across multiple cores, so you have to rely on the power from a single core. AMD's design standards with their cores has dropped recently.

The 2 graphics cards he has selected, you ONLY have an effective 4GB video memory(as CFX doesn't increase video memory when a second card is added). (Many top line games have texture going over the 4GB mark now, which will be the difference between ultra and medium settings in GTA5 or Watch Dogs)

As far as my memory choices, 8GB of RAM will work with any game while you're running a heavy chrome and other stuff. 16 is the most you'll need, and 32 is excessive.

A lot of the difference between these builds, is I am choosing companies that perform to higher standards.
I can tell you the Sapphire GPU I have will run cooler, and last longer than the MSI cards he has(MSI has dropped the ball recently with GPU's).
I personally don't trust G.Skill with memory. But I do have extensive work with the Corsair catalog of memory.
You will need to add case fans to his build.
As far as hard disk space, I missed the discounted 3TB(making it cheaper than the 2TB), but as far as the SSD selected, I'm very cautious when it comes to drives.
I trust Seagate and the way they manufacture drives, and I tolerate Western Digital. Those 2 are the industry leaders for drives. I quite frankly won't tough any drive made by any other company because of the quality risks.


Back to CPU -
When you use a high power per core then this will work better with most games(most games ONLY use 1 core). and Intel typically has lower number of cores with higher power. Now AMD core, is an 8 core CPU. This will never be effective in gaming. period. Hardly any games support 4 cores currently. Most support 1, or if they support multiple it's most likely just 2 cores.

Monarchco does present his argument convincingly.

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^ This is exceptionally close to my own personal build.

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CPU: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] ($316.95 @ SuperBiiz)
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Motherboard: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] ($321.29 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] ($285.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
Storage: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
Storage: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] ($88.46 @ Amazon)
Storage: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] ($88.46 @ Amazon)
Video Card: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] (2-Way CrossFire) ($448.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Video Card: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] (2-Way CrossFire) ($448.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] ($159.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] ($289.99 @ Micro Center)
Optical Drive: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] ($67.88 @ OutletPC)
Operating System: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] ($199.98 @ OutletPC)
Sound Card: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] ($109.99 @ Newegg)
Case Fan: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] ($15.98 @ OutletPC)
Case Fan: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] ($15.98 @ OutletPC)
Case Fan: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] ($15.98 @ OutletPC)
Case Fan: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] ($21.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case Fan: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] ($21.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case Fan: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] ($21.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Fan Controller: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] ($27.98 @ OutletPC)
Monitor: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] ($263.49 @ SuperBiiz)
Speakers: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] ($68.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Other: Displayport to Displayport cable (15ft) ($12.99)
Total: $3460.42
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-04-18 20:14 EDT-0400

Now what is this overload?  The price is just under the one I had in mind, you see I was going to have SSD and maybe try the X99 and Titan-Z.  What is this build of yours then?  A new recommendation?

By the way, just saw the graphics update to the website! Nice!

lLIGHTNINGl wrote:

Now what is this overload?  The price is just under the one I had in mind, you see I was going to have SSD and maybe try the X99 and Titan-Z.  What is this build of yours then?  A new recommendation?

No, it's just personal insight.
I use this for much more than just gaming.
Also, I'd like to point out those SSD's are not priced on part-picker, nor are they the 1's I actually have. The ones I'm running in that build bring up the price by 4,500 $