Hello all!
I'm in the market for a dedicated gaming PC, specifically, I am building around the Obutto Revolution cockpit for flight sim fun. I will be getting all of the add ons (triple monitor stand, etc). I already own a CH HOTAS combo, but rarely use it.
The last time I rolled my own, I was pricing out SCSI components (mid to late 90s). I jumped ship from the PC with Win 98 SE to Linux distros, and then moved on to Apple products and haven't looked back until now, and I am simply overwhelmed by the number of options and opinions.
I have spent the previous week digging into research, reading the forums, pursuing reviews, comparing benchmarks, etc, and I have a build in mind. In an effort to keep focus on an end state, I decided to aim for quiet and cool performance rather than maximum performance. I do not wish to deal with overclocking, but I do want to build a very capable system with components that I can build upon in the next 5 years as improved products emerge.
A caveat: I admit that this build is actually a custom selection using the Puget Systems website, but I had to start somewhere. As I list the components, I will give notes on my thought process. I'd greatly appreciate your input and suggestions for a better build on what I'm trying to achieve.
Tasks exclusively for gaming. Most of my games are pretty old, and heck, this system is going to be totally overkill for everything I'm into, but consider the thread title :biggrin:
Some of the titles I aim to play:
IL-2 Sturmovik: 1946 my main reason
Sword of the Stars my fav game, this currently runs fine on my iMac
Borderlands 1 & 2 1 works fine, don't own 2 yet
FarCry 3 and other FPSs (Metro, BF 2143 if they ever make it, I like SPAAAAAAACE!)
Saints Row, Fallout, and other open world games.
Star Citizen, all the X Series games, Elite, etc. (SPAAAAAAAACE!)
Planetary Annihilation this ran like crud on my Mac, but it is still in beta.
You get the idea, nothing ground breaking or overly taxing I guess.
Budget CPU and monitors: not more than $5,000 USD. The cockpit is a separate purchase. The boutique pricing came out to $3,109, and $2,309 using New Egg / Tiger Direct / Amazon. These prices do not include any monitors.
Country USA, Greater Los Angeles Area. I am not opposed to purchasing components from online retailers, but I have access to Fry's Electronics and MicroCenter, and I figure exchanges on faulty components will be easier there. Fry's used to have a kickass exchange policy as long as you were cool with store credit, hopefully they still do that (once took back eight 33.6 modems and it was no questions asked, here's your credit, thank you come again. LOVE IT.)
Brand preference Intel and nVidia, AMD is acceptable. I have been buying my SSDs from OWC (www.macsales.com) and like them, but I'm open to other SSD makers. OCZ is a brand I see a lot of. Being a Mac guy, I pretty much buy what I'm told to buy... (and boy howdy, is it simpler, haha!)
Current parts I have none. I am like a new born babe. Or born again, I guess. You get the idea.
Overclocking I do not wish to OC any components. I don't want to get too hung up on specs, it causes decision paralysis in me. Potentially
defeats my goal of cool and quiet.
Resolution I rock 2560x1440 now, and I like it. I could lower it to 1920x1200 if the higher resolution is unsustainable for the rig I'm building. This is one area I haven't had a chance to really research.
When I'm ready to purchase now.
Required softs Just the OS, probably will go with Win 7 Home Premium 64-bit OEM (what I use for bootcamp). I really quite like it, it's a nice OS and UI. I might try to reuse the key I have, and eliminate bootcamp.
Now, the meat and potatoes!
Motherboard
Asus Sabertooth Z87 ATX
--seems legit. I have no opinion on this component other than it features the newer socket.
CPU
Intel i7-4770S
--I went with the lower watt processor to keep heat low, since I don't plan to OC. The i7 has a higher base clock speed than the similar i5 S model, and a larger L3 cache. Other than the clock speed, I do not see any difference between a stock i7/i5 Haswell and the S model, but I may have missed something.
RAM
Kingston HyperX Low Voltage DDR3-1600 2x8 GB
--going for the lower voltage here, I am under the impression that it stay cooler. Might as well max out the RAM, it's pretty cheap, and that philosophy has worked well the past 20 years.
Video Card
nVidia GeForce GTX 780 3GB
--now this is where I go off course from the other components. I will need something that can run 3 monitors, but I don't want to get into SLI, although I do want to keep that option open down the line. Video cards have always been the linchpin in my systems, since they are what can make or break a good gaming experience. This is also the most confusing and hardest to lock down, since there are so many opinions. This is just the latest card.. every time I read something I switch. AMD 7970 sounds good too, but then I read about this Titan thing, and oooh, shiny! And there's no kill like overkill, right? Until I read what you guys think of it, and yeah, I can be smarter with my money. But shiny! This is where I need the most help.
SSD
Samsung 840 Pro 512GB
--a few people seem to have had bad luck with this, but otherwise reviews are positive. This pick is purely a result of the Puget site. I'm going to check out OCZ. Minimum size is ~256 GB.
DVD
Asus 24x DVD-RW it's $20 bucks, this is a non issue really. It'll be used once to install the OS.
Sound Card
Creative Sound Blaster Z PCI-E
--forced the 'rents to buy my first Sound Blaster for Wing Commander. Can't go wrong with nostalgia!
Power
Seasonic X 650w
--no real opinion on this. Cool and quiet is the goal, and I don't need a lot of juice. I understand I will have to upgrade this component down the road if I do go down the SLI path.
Extra Cooling
Gelid Tranquillo
--sweet lord, what a huge heat sink. Probably not necessary, and I did look at the self-contained liquid cooled fans, but they are a wee bit louder than the specs say this fan runs at. I don't know if I even need this for my CPU, the video card will be the biggest heat culprit.
Case
I have no opinion on cases, other than I don't like the flashy ones. A simple beige box is fine. I want something that has a good cool to quiet ratio (...I guess that's what everyone is going for). As far as the guts go, I used to just shove everything in and let the cables fall wherever, it was just pre-Pentium days after all. I guess now you should place them strategically to maximize airflow? Should I be looking into sheathes, extra sound dampening materials, etc?
Monitors
No research done yet. My brain got fried over everything else.. I do want to limit bezel size since these puppies will be side by side. Suggestions greatly appreciated, as well as tips on the types of specs I should be looking for. I spent a month picking out my TV.
Whew, I think that's about it. I will buy other peripherals separately (mouse, keyboard, etc). Thanks for any assistance you guys can give. I apologize for being so verbose!
I'm in the market for a dedicated gaming PC, specifically, I am building around the Obutto Revolution cockpit for flight sim fun. I will be getting all of the add ons (triple monitor stand, etc). I already own a CH HOTAS combo, but rarely use it.
The last time I rolled my own, I was pricing out SCSI components (mid to late 90s). I jumped ship from the PC with Win 98 SE to Linux distros, and then moved on to Apple products and haven't looked back until now, and I am simply overwhelmed by the number of options and opinions.
I have spent the previous week digging into research, reading the forums, pursuing reviews, comparing benchmarks, etc, and I have a build in mind. In an effort to keep focus on an end state, I decided to aim for quiet and cool performance rather than maximum performance. I do not wish to deal with overclocking, but I do want to build a very capable system with components that I can build upon in the next 5 years as improved products emerge.
A caveat: I admit that this build is actually a custom selection using the Puget Systems website, but I had to start somewhere. As I list the components, I will give notes on my thought process. I'd greatly appreciate your input and suggestions for a better build on what I'm trying to achieve.
Tasks exclusively for gaming. Most of my games are pretty old, and heck, this system is going to be totally overkill for everything I'm into, but consider the thread title :biggrin:
Some of the titles I aim to play:
IL-2 Sturmovik: 1946 my main reason
Sword of the Stars my fav game, this currently runs fine on my iMac
Borderlands 1 & 2 1 works fine, don't own 2 yet
FarCry 3 and other FPSs (Metro, BF 2143 if they ever make it, I like SPAAAAAAACE!)
Saints Row, Fallout, and other open world games.
Star Citizen, all the X Series games, Elite, etc. (SPAAAAAAAACE!)
Planetary Annihilation this ran like crud on my Mac, but it is still in beta.
You get the idea, nothing ground breaking or overly taxing I guess.
Budget CPU and monitors: not more than $5,000 USD. The cockpit is a separate purchase. The boutique pricing came out to $3,109, and $2,309 using New Egg / Tiger Direct / Amazon. These prices do not include any monitors.
Country USA, Greater Los Angeles Area. I am not opposed to purchasing components from online retailers, but I have access to Fry's Electronics and MicroCenter, and I figure exchanges on faulty components will be easier there. Fry's used to have a kickass exchange policy as long as you were cool with store credit, hopefully they still do that (once took back eight 33.6 modems and it was no questions asked, here's your credit, thank you come again. LOVE IT.)
Brand preference Intel and nVidia, AMD is acceptable. I have been buying my SSDs from OWC (www.macsales.com) and like them, but I'm open to other SSD makers. OCZ is a brand I see a lot of. Being a Mac guy, I pretty much buy what I'm told to buy... (and boy howdy, is it simpler, haha!)
Current parts I have none. I am like a new born babe. Or born again, I guess. You get the idea.
Overclocking I do not wish to OC any components. I don't want to get too hung up on specs, it causes decision paralysis in me. Potentially
defeats my goal of cool and quiet.
Resolution I rock 2560x1440 now, and I like it. I could lower it to 1920x1200 if the higher resolution is unsustainable for the rig I'm building. This is one area I haven't had a chance to really research.
When I'm ready to purchase now.
Required softs Just the OS, probably will go with Win 7 Home Premium 64-bit OEM (what I use for bootcamp). I really quite like it, it's a nice OS and UI. I might try to reuse the key I have, and eliminate bootcamp.
Now, the meat and potatoes!
Motherboard
Asus Sabertooth Z87 ATX
--seems legit. I have no opinion on this component other than it features the newer socket.
CPU
Intel i7-4770S
--I went with the lower watt processor to keep heat low, since I don't plan to OC. The i7 has a higher base clock speed than the similar i5 S model, and a larger L3 cache. Other than the clock speed, I do not see any difference between a stock i7/i5 Haswell and the S model, but I may have missed something.
RAM
Kingston HyperX Low Voltage DDR3-1600 2x8 GB
--going for the lower voltage here, I am under the impression that it stay cooler. Might as well max out the RAM, it's pretty cheap, and that philosophy has worked well the past 20 years.
Video Card
nVidia GeForce GTX 780 3GB
--now this is where I go off course from the other components. I will need something that can run 3 monitors, but I don't want to get into SLI, although I do want to keep that option open down the line. Video cards have always been the linchpin in my systems, since they are what can make or break a good gaming experience. This is also the most confusing and hardest to lock down, since there are so many opinions. This is just the latest card.. every time I read something I switch. AMD 7970 sounds good too, but then I read about this Titan thing, and oooh, shiny! And there's no kill like overkill, right? Until I read what you guys think of it, and yeah, I can be smarter with my money. But shiny! This is where I need the most help.
SSD
Samsung 840 Pro 512GB
--a few people seem to have had bad luck with this, but otherwise reviews are positive. This pick is purely a result of the Puget site. I'm going to check out OCZ. Minimum size is ~256 GB.
DVD
Asus 24x DVD-RW it's $20 bucks, this is a non issue really. It'll be used once to install the OS.
Sound Card
Creative Sound Blaster Z PCI-E
--forced the 'rents to buy my first Sound Blaster for Wing Commander. Can't go wrong with nostalgia!
Power
Seasonic X 650w
--no real opinion on this. Cool and quiet is the goal, and I don't need a lot of juice. I understand I will have to upgrade this component down the road if I do go down the SLI path.
Extra Cooling
Gelid Tranquillo
--sweet lord, what a huge heat sink. Probably not necessary, and I did look at the self-contained liquid cooled fans, but they are a wee bit louder than the specs say this fan runs at. I don't know if I even need this for my CPU, the video card will be the biggest heat culprit.
Case
I have no opinion on cases, other than I don't like the flashy ones. A simple beige box is fine. I want something that has a good cool to quiet ratio (...I guess that's what everyone is going for). As far as the guts go, I used to just shove everything in and let the cables fall wherever, it was just pre-Pentium days after all. I guess now you should place them strategically to maximize airflow? Should I be looking into sheathes, extra sound dampening materials, etc?
Monitors
No research done yet. My brain got fried over everything else.. I do want to limit bezel size since these puppies will be side by side. Suggestions greatly appreciated, as well as tips on the types of specs I should be looking for. I spent a month picking out my TV.
Whew, I think that's about it. I will buy other peripherals separately (mouse, keyboard, etc). Thanks for any assistance you guys can give. I apologize for being so verbose!
