Have $$, want gaming computer. Need advice

Motorcycle54

Motorcycle54

125
United States
Santa Fe
Thanks for any advice- even if its that I should wait for some trick video card that is due out that I have no idea about.

I'll be using my Samsung LCD tv for a monitor. HDMI. 1920 x 1080p.

The games I want to be able to max out graphics wise is pCars and Grid2. Grid2 is a DX11 game but I guess thats an operating system thing? Whats the best gaming operating system/most minimal footprint?

So thats what I have in mind and I have maybe $1500 to use on this. A bit more if I am borderline on something super great, but hopefully more like $1200. I guess my question is: is the answer here basically straightforward or is it an apples/oranges thing.

Thanks!!!!
 
Intel 3570K
nvidia 660Ti/670/680 or AMD 7850/7870/7950/7970
8GB of any RAM that's 1600MHz or faster

Rest doesn't really matter.

Here's a monster build for under $1300:
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/PTBv
3770K, ASRock Z77 E4, 8GB 1866MHz G.skill RAM, 120 gig Samsung SSD, 1TB hard drive, MSI 670

If you're only considering buying something prebuilt, you can almost forget your $1500 budget... whatever you do stay well away from Alienware.
 
Thanks Sharky!
Tell me what you think such a system rates on a 10 scale. I mean is it upper mid level or what. ANyway thanks again. Looks like I need to find a builder though.
 
It's almost the very top of the top end. Realistically, to have a better system than that you'd have to spend upwards of $2000 - on a 1-10 performance scale, I'd rate my personal rig (ref signature) at 9 and the build I linked at around 9.2.

To go faster than a 3770K and a 670 you're looking at a 3970X and a Titan/690/SLI 680 or an Ares II... :)
 
Motorcycle54
Thanks Sharky!
Tell me what you think such a system rates on a 10 scale. I mean is it upper mid level or what. ANyway thanks again. Looks like I need to find a builder though.
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Somwhere around a 7 or 8. It'll do everything you want it to do relatively well. May not max out every game you throw at it, but honestly.. Maxing out graphics can be really difficult to do unless you feel like running quad SLI GTX690s or something stupidly expensive.
 
For 1080p a 670 is fine. It'll max any multiplatform game easily (except maybe Crysis 3) but might not handle games like Arma 3 or Project CARS quite so well, it really depends on what you're playing.
 
What did you mean by footprint? If you mean a smaller case, look into the Fractal Design Node 304, Silverstone SG05/06/07/08, Cooler Master Elite 120, and look into Mini ITX (MITX) motherboards. You can fit all of that power into a case slightly bigger than a shoebox nowadays.
 
I managed to completely miss the bit where you said you wanted to play Project CARS.

I have a GTX 680 and I run pCARS with very high (but not maxed) settings on three 1680x1050 monitors and get 60fps. I tuned the settings until I hit that target, with maxed settings at that resolution I was getting in the region of 35fps but if I remember rightly I had two types of anti aliasing going at the same time...

As Sharky points out, you can overclock a 670 to outperform a stock 680, but my 680 was factory overclocked anyway. I think Sharky might be running slightly higher clocks than me (grrr, but my performance is more than enough and the temperatures are nice and low, so...) so I guess a 670, at 1920x1080 (rather than 5040x1050), could actually nearly max pCARS as it is now but you'd have to overclock it, I guess. There should be more optimisation to come, too, so the final game should run better than it does right now on identical hardware.

I'm pretty certain if a PC can run pCARS with all the complicated physics engine and detailed interiors and all that it'll run Grid 2, knowing Codemasters it'll be a direct (and shoddy) port with no enhanced features for the PC whatsoever, so a 670 - probably even a 660Ti - will be more than enough. Any performance issues you have with it will be down to optimisation problems and therefore no matter what hardware you throw at it you'll always have problems.


Noob616
What did you mean by footprint? If you mean a smaller case, look into the Fractal Design Node 304, Silverstone SG05/06/07/08, Cooler Master Elite 120, and look into Mini ITX (MITX) motherboards. You can fit all of that power into a case slightly bigger than a shoebox nowadays.
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I really like that one... Err... The BitFenix Prodigy, but I don't know if you'd be able to fit high-end hardware and the requisite cooling bits in there.
 
Just wanted to say thanks again for the replies.
I read them carefully as well as reading some reviews of hardware you mentioned. I dont mind overclocking but I'll leave it to whomever I lasso to build something for me. But yeah, I am only interested in pCars as a benchmark.

By 'footprint' I actually meant the operating system and not the case. I figured yall' would have some opinions on what OS is less draining, running in the backround. It must not be too important or you would have mentioned it already.
thanks guys.
 
Gaming computer basically means Windows 7/8 :)

Both are pretty similar in terms of stress on the computer, a new system built for gaming will have no trouble at all. Make sure you get the 64 bit version of Windows for a gaming system, you should have at least 8GB of RAM and only the 64 bit OS can use it all.

neema_t
I really like that one... Err... The BitFenix Prodigy, but I don't know if you'd be able to fit high-end hardware and the requisite cooling bits in there.
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The Prodigy can basically handle anything reasonable, room for any GPU on the market, tons of case fan mounts and air flow, room for a top mounted Corsair H100 radiator, I've even seen a custom watercooled setup on pcpartpicker. Issue is you may as well buy a Mid ATX tower at that point, it's just a hair smaller than most mATX cases and mITX mobos are a bit more expensive.

The other ones (Fractal/Silverstone) aren't quite as easy to set up. I'm going to build in a Fractal Design Node 304, gonna put an EVGA GTX670 in it, and a Cooler Master Hyper 212 CPU cooler. You can build high end systems in those cases, just you'll be more limited in overclocking headroom and temps will be higher (or fans louder). I can also fit a Corsair H60 CPU cooler which I might end up doing instead of the Cooler Master.
 
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neema_t
I think Sharky might be running slightly higher clocks than me (grrr, but my performance is more than enough and the temperatures are nice and low, so...)
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1040 core, 1577 memory, 1119 boost :)

My triple-fan cooler also says hello :D

neema_t
so I guess a 670, at 1920x1080 (rather than 5040x1050), could actually nearly max pCARS as it is now but you'd have to overclock it, I guess.
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Technically any DX11 card can max pCARS, it all depends as to whether you want 1fps or 60+! Last I played pCARS I was able to run 50+fps maxed at 1920x1080 if I was just lapping by myself in the dry - add other cars and/or weather effects into the mix and the framerate predictably drops. It's hard to say that x card will run racing game y at z detail and abc fps, due to the nature of the games; the amount of objects on screen can (and does) vary wildly from lap to lap, which has an obvious impact on instantaneous framerate so you kinda have to take framerates in racing games with a pinch of salt. It's all too easy to see 150fps one minute then 40 the next.
 
Sharky.
Last I played pCARS I was able to run 50+fps maxed at 1920x1080 if I was just lapping by myself in the dry
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My latest thinking is to be brutally honest with myself about how I use games and to shop accordingly. For example I've never enjoyed AI cars. These people: http://www.digitalstormonline.com/comploadode.asp?id=676210&price=$1,699#tab2 seem to have their act together, so I'm leaning in their direction. If the ps4 did 1920x1080 then I'd just do that probably. But it doesnt, and my tv/monitor does, so thats my goal resolution and I dont want to over-buy 'just in case' I want higher resolutions later. Its too easy for an initial budget to snowball into.. well, you know.

The last time I had a game computer was more than a decade ago, and I remember it because my last graphics set up used 2 Creative Labs Voodoo II cards in SLI..
 
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