Need a gaming rig

M

mobusta1

2[H]4U
Joined
May 1, 2008
Messages
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Building a gaming rig with a budget of 1200-1500 for my 18 year old nephew (birthday present).

1) What will you be doing with this PC?
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gaming and homework


2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
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$2k USD tax and shipping included. (if I don't need to spend this much it would be great)


3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.
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New Jersey


4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.
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I don't own any parts except a gaming mouse so I will need every single part to build a gaming machine.
Case
CPU
HSF (if necessary)
MoBo
RAM
GPU
PSU
SSD (at least 256)
HDD (1TB or less will be enough)
Monitor (would like to go 1440p but if it's out of my budget I'll go 1080p)
Speakers
Keyboard


5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
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Mouse and an external dvd writer that I'll be using as an optical drive.


6) Will you be overclocking?
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Yes


7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
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Would like to go 1440p but I want to be able to max all my games out for at least 2 years (except AA) so if this is not possible with my budget then I'll stick to a really nice 1080p monitor.


8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
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Now (unless I would miss out on crazy BF deals)


9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI
support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video (as a backup or main GPU)? UEFI? etc.
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SATA 6GB/s for the SSD. eSATA (though not a deal breaker) Raid and xfire/sli would be nice but wouldn't be dealbreakers.. Also if the MoBo has the new 802.11ac standard that would be great since my nephew bought an airport extreme recently.


10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
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Yes Windows 7 Ultimate x64

As I mentioned earlier this build is for my nephew and longevity is probably what I'm looking for. It has been a long time since I built a computer so I am completely out of the loop as to what's the best bang for buck these days. Ideally I would like to go for 1440p but I realize the cost of GPU(s) might be outside of my budget and he will probably not upgrade for at least 2-3 years so whatever GPU he gets he will be stuck with. He also has a couple of external HDD's that he can use for storage so if I don't need to buy an HDD then I won't.

EDIT:
If absolutely necessary I'm willing to go up to 2000 for this entire build. I just don't want to end up buying cheap parts and it taking a shit on me a few months or a year down the line. I don't live near my nephew so it'll be a pain if I have to go over to his house and troubleshoot.
 
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Honestly if you don't plan on building it within the next week it's not really worth asking, as prices always change. It seems to be the norm around here generally to ask like if you're building it like the next few days.

I gotta do the same thing when I get home next month. Get something put together and order.
 
Seconded.

Revisit this thread when you're ready to order everything within a week or two.

Off the bat, however, reconsider your option to go with one of the 1440p Catleaps. You'll spend at least $800 on the monitor (~$400) and the video card (~$400 GTX 770). Add another $300 or so on the processor and motherboard (especially if you go for an Intel K-series processor and a Z87 motherboard) and that's most of your budget.
 
Thirded. (pretty sure that ain't a word:p)

If you can't narrow down the purchase date to about 1-2 weeks from now, you're better off just waiting until you're actually 1-2 weeks away from buying the parts to ask for advice.
 
Alright sounds good, I'll come back to this thread when I'm closer to the purchasing date.
Thanks.
 
Hey guys I'm ready to make this build. My budget is 2k USD. I'm ready to buy this week unless there is some killer BF deals I would miss out on.
 
I'll leave the part suggestions to "Dangman" and "tiraides", however if you are set on nvidia graphic cards, hold off on buying it till the 28th as their introducing their "holiday bundle" and several additional features unique to nvidia graphic cards.
 
I'm not set on nvidia, I'm open to both. I've actually never bought an nvidia card before. Both of my last two builds were with amd (x1950 and 4870)
 
How near? Like how long will it take you to drive there?

Wait, you're near/in PA, not New Jersey as originally stated in your OP?
 
Dangman said:
How near? Like how long will it take you to drive there?

Wait, you're near/in PA, not New Jersey as originally stated in your OP?
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I'm in NJ near the border of PA. It would take me 40 mins to get to the one I listed.

EDIT: I also updated my OP.
 
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Any chance you can wait until the release of the R9 290X? Might be worth the wait.
 
I do recommend waiting, especially with a $2000 budget.
 
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