moved to system specs.

Please check the forum description before you post.

That's nice enough power to run PCem for Winchip and fast PCI video emulation. 😀

rgart wrote:

So finally got the "ok" from the boss. I'm buying a new PC in the next couple of weeks. […]
Show full quote

So finally got the "ok" from the boss.
I'm buying a new PC in the next couple of weeks.

Budget = $3000

Required: Complete System (monitor, speakers,tower, keyboard, mouse, OS)

Also need to include storage to consolidate my systems so I need about 6TB.
OCable hardware is not a requirement but desirable as a future option.

Wanting to play games at max resolution (2560x1600) in full detail for as long as I can.

My current PC lasted about 6 years and is using an Intel E8500 processor

I was leaning towards this 6 months ago from my other thread:

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit OEM $99.00 $9.00 $99.00
Logitech G500 Gaming Mouse $55.00 $5.00 $55.00
CoolerMaster RC-912A-KWN1 HAF912 Advance Ver w Window $98.50 $8.95 $98.50
Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO w Transparent 12cm $35.00 $3.18 $35.00
SilverStone ST75F-G 750W Strider Gold Power Supply $169.00 $15.36 $169.00
Intel 520S 120G Series, SATA III 6Gb/s,OEM(no bracket) $145.00 $13.18 $145.00
Asrock Z77-EXTREME4 Z77/4 x DDR3/2 x PCI-E3.0/4 x SATA3/6 x USB3.0/HDM $120.00 $10.91 $120.00
Intel Core i5 3570K LGA1155 CPU 3.4Ghz 6Mb Cache Ivy Bridge $239.00 $21.73 $239.00
Cooler master Quickfire Pro Black Switch Gaming Keyboard $98.00 $8.91 $98.00
G.Skill 16GB DDR3-1600 Dual Channel [NT] F3-1600C11D-16GNT $133.00 $12.09 $133.00
Leadtek GTX 680 PCI-E 3.0 4GB GDDR5 Dual Dual-Link DVI HDMI DP SLI 3D $499.00 $509.00
Asus DRW-24D3ST SATA 24X DVD-RW Black Retail Nero12 $22.00 $2.00 $22.00

$1722.50

Building a new computer for RPG gaming - Skyrim etc

I'm not sure if you're buying 2 680s but if you truly want to max out all games for a while at that resoultion you're going to need more than a single 680. That won't even run current games maxed out at 1920x1080 on its own as a single board. You should either get 2 or look at getting a GTX 690.

That was where I was at 6 months ago..

Now I'm looking at something like this:

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit OEM $108.00 $9.82 $108.00
NZXT PHANTOM Full Tower case w No PSU Black $145.00 $13.18 $145.00
NZXT 20CM Green LED Silent Rifle Fan $22.50 $2.05 $22.50
Noctua NH-C14 CPU Cooler $89.00 $8.09 $89.00
CoolerMaster 850W Silent Pro MII Modular $165.00 $15.00 $165.00
Seagate SATA3 2TB 7200RPM Barracuda 64mb Cache $95.00 $17.27 $190.00
Asus PB278Q 27",PLS 6ms,2560x1440,300nits,80M:1,DSUB/HDMI/DVID/SPK/DPORT/TLT/SWL/P $595.00 $54.09 $595.00
G.Skill 16GB [SNIPER] DDR3-1866 F3-1866C10D-16GSR $189.00 $17.18 $189.00
LG BH16NS40(OEM) Blu-Ray WRITER/16X BD-WRITE/16X DVDRW/SATA/OEM BULK PACKING $89.00 $8.09 $89.00
Intel Core i7 4770K LGA1150 CPU 3.5Ghz 8Mb Cache Haswell $380.00 $34.55 $380.00
Gigabyte GTX 770 OC EDITION PCI-E 3.0 4GB 256-bit DDR5, Base:1137 boost:1202/6200 MHz, 2x DVI, $499.00 $45.36
ASUS MAXIMUS-VI-HERO/Z87/4 x DDR3/2 x PCI-E/8 x SATA3/6 x USB3.0/HDMI/GBLAN/RAID/DTS/SupremeFX/ATX $279.00
Samsung 250GB SSD 840 EVO SATA III 6Gbs 2.5 7mm 540MB/s/520MB/s $182.00 $16.55
BitDefender internet Security 2014 OEM 1 user $14.00 $1.27 $14.00
Total $267.86 $2946.50t.

Heres what I cant decide:

Gigabyte GTX 770 OC EDITION PCI-E 3.0 4GB 256-bit DDR5, Base:1137 boost:1202/6200 MHz, 2x DVI, $499.00 $45.36 $499.00

OR

Sapphire TOXIC R9 280X 3GB GDDR5; 1100 ( BOOST 1150 ) MHz/6400MHz; DVI-I/DVI-D/HDMI/2 $458.00 $41.64 $458.00

What do you guys think of that build?

I bet D2X-XL will run nicely on that system.

While I run an i7 CPU because I got it used with the motherboard for a really fair deal, I'm not completely convinced it's worth it over an i5.

I'd also caution against ASUS motherboards. At least here in the States, they are becoming even more notorious with their RMA service. Once again I bought this motherboard used, but I personally won't be thinking about buying any new ASUS products until I see a pattern of improved support. You could probably get away with a much cheaper Gigabyte board just fine, or even a non ROG ASUS board.

If the price differences aren't that big down there, you might want to think about a GTX 780 or 290x. My 780 gets pushed pretty hard with Battlefield 4 at 2560x1440 even overclocked to 1200MHz, with a hacked BIOS flash. I think right now a big unknown between NVIDIA and AMD cards is Mantle, and if it brings any performance increases.

If you aren't opposed to a smaller case, maybe look into the Fractal Design Define or Midi if they are available. I went from a watercooled TJ07 to a Define R4 air cooled and enjoying it quiet well.

But no I don't think it's a bad build as it is. I would just do a few things different to try to budget for a higher end GPU.

thegardentool wrote:

While I run an i7 CPU because I got it used with the motherboard for a really fair deal, I'm not completely convinced it's worth […]
Show full quote

While I run an i7 CPU because I got it used with the motherboard for a really fair deal, I'm not completely convinced it's worth it over an i5.

I'd also caution against ASUS motherboards. At least here in the States, they are becoming even more notorious with their RMA service. Once again I bought this motherboard used, but I personally won't be thinking about buying any new ASUS products until I see a pattern of improved support. You could probably get away with a much cheaper Gigabyte board just fine, or even a non ROG ASUS board.

If the price differences aren't that big down there, you might want to think about a GTX 780 or 290x. My 780 gets pushed pretty hard with Battlefield 4 at 2560x1440 even overclocked to 1200MHz, with a hacked BIOS flash. I think right now a big unknown between NVIDIA and AMD cards is Mantle, and if it brings any performance increases.

If you aren't opposed to a smaller case, maybe look into the Fractal Design Define or Midi if they are available. I went from a watercooled TJ07 to a Define R4 air cooled and enjoying it quiet well.

But no I don't think it's a bad build as it is. I would just do a few things different to try to budget for a higher end GPU.

I agree an i5 is probably enough.

here is where I'm currently at:

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit OEM 1 23/11/2013 $108.00 RTB1 warranty
Noctua NH-D14 CPU Cooler 1 23/11/2014 $88.00 RTB1 warranty
NZXT PHANTOM Full Tower case w No PSU Black 1 23/11/2014 $145.00 RTB1 warranty
NZXT 20CM Green LED Silent Rifle Fan 1 23/11/2014 $22.50 RTB1 warranty
CoolerMaster 850W Silent Pro MII Modular 1 23/11/2014 $165.00 RTB1 warranty
Seagate SATA3 2TB 7200RPM Barracuda 64mb Cache 2 23/11/2014 $190.00 RTB1 warranty
Razer DeathAdder 2013 Gaming Mouse 1 23/11/2014 $48.00 RTB1 warranty
LG BH16NS40(OEM) Blu-Ray WRITER/16X BD-WRITE/16X DVDRW/SATA/OEM BULK PACKING 1 23/11/2014 $89.00 RTB1 warranty
Intel Core i5 4670K LGA1150 CPU 3.4Ghz 6Mb Cache Haswell 1 23/11/2014 $269.00 RTB1 warranty
ASRock Z87-EXTREME4, Socket 1150, 4x DDR 3 Slots, 2x PCIE x16, 1x PCIE x4, 2x PCI-E x1, 2x PCI, 1 23/11/2014 $179.00
Samsung 250GB SSD 840 EVO SATA III 6Gbs 2.5 7mm 540MB/s/520MB/s 1 23/11/2014 $182.00 RTB1 warranty
G SKill 16G(2x8G)DDR3 2400Mhz PC3-19200 F3-2400C11D-16GXM 1 23/11/2014 $208.00 RTB1 warranty
Logitech Comfort Keyboard K290 1 23/11/2014 $33.00 RTB1 warranty
BitDefender internet Security 2014 OEM 1 user 1 23/11/2014 $14.00 RTB1 warranty
eVGA GTX780TI 3G SC w ACX 1 23/11/2014 $859.00 RTB1 warranty

Total : $2679.50

I know this PC will kill Skyrim but What do you think performs better in a heavily modded heavily textured Skyrim:

NVIDIA eVGA GTX780TI 3G SC w ACX PreorderETA $859.00 $869.00
ATI Sapphire ATI HD 7970 VAPOR-X EDITION PCI-E 3.0, 6GB 384-bit GDDR5, Default:1000 EZBoost: 1050/6 $675.00
ATI 290X MSI R9290X-4GD5-BF4 R9 290X 4GD5 BF4 Preorder(1 Ava)ETA $699.00 $709.00

I love the idea of having 6GB to load an enormous amount of textures.
Why is the high end Nvidia GTX 780TI only 3GB?
I've read Skyrim is heavily optimized towards Nvidia ?

All that I have to say about Skyrim is that at first it doesn't take much at all to run it but once there is texture packs ect Skyrim will eat up all the memory you give it. I dislike the thermals on anything newer than Sandy Bridge but nuking that i7 over 4.4ghz isn't going to be easy.

but that's just due to bethesda being buggy as hell with poor memory management (especially since Skyrim is shipped as a debug build)

that's like building a new computer to play Saints Row 2 only to find out it can't run it well thinking it's the fault of the computer rather than the Bethesda-level incompetent port job....

Wow, I never met a person actually willing to spend that kind of money on a computer 😁 I wish you lived in my town 😁

This is only the third complete new computer system I have purchased in my life.
I upgrade one or two bits of hardware every 5 years but complete purchases are scarce 😀

When you get it, be sure to let us know the 3DBench with Fastvid, and Speedsys results.

😉

SquallStrife wrote:

When you get it, be sure to let us know the 3DBench with Fastvid, and Speedsys results.

😉

It boggles my mind at how I would even get those programs to run on this system. Im using Windows 7 64-bit and the Korean monitors I picked up cheap natively support 2560x1440 and don't like low-res
I also went with different hardware to what I have listed here. To put it mildly I went a tad over budget but I figure I only buy a new computer every 10 years or so so why not 😜

I do love full size towers and its nice to be using one on a modern day system. I went with the Corsair 900D which is overkill and will give me plenty of life and room to play with cooling in the long term.
Those Steel Series mechanical keyboards are so so sweet. It feels and reminds me of an old honeywell 😀

SquallStrife wrote:

When you get it, be sure to let us know the 3DBench with Fastvid, and Speedsys results.

😉

It boggles my mind at how I would even get those programs to run on this system. Im using Windows 7 64-bit and the Korean monitors I picked up cheap natively support 2560x1440 and don't like low-res. I also went with different hardware to what I have listed here. To put it mildly I went a tad over budget but I figure I only buy a new computer every 10 years or so so why not 😜

I do love full size towers and its nice to be using one on a modern day system. I went with the Corsair 900D which is overkill and will give me plenty of life and room to play with cooling in the long term.

Those Steel Series mechanical keyboards are so so sweet. It feels and reminds me of an old honeywell 😀

I wouldn't mind getting one of those chicks with the case 😉

Thanks to everyone who replied!

Here's somewhat overkill that I actually ended up with:

Intel Core i7 4770K LGA1150 3.5Ghz
Gigabyte G1-Sniper-5 Motherboard (16x16x16x16)
2 x Gigabyte GTX 780 OC Edition
G.Skills 16GB 1600Mhz 9-9-9-9-24
Noctua NH-D14 CPU Cooler
Corsair CMPSU-850TXM 850W Modular PSU
Corsair 900D Super Tower PC Case with Side Window
2 x Corsair Air Series AF120 Performance Edition Twin Pack
3 x Corsair Air Series AF140 Quiet Edition
Logitech Z623 Speakers 2.1 THX Certified
Razer Death Adder 2013
SteelSeries 64225 6G V2 Mechanical Gaming Keyboard
Samsung SSD 250GB 840 EVO
Seagate SATA3 2TB 7200RPM Hard Disk

The only thing that ended up RMA was the Razer Death Adder 2013. What a pain that thing was.
I now have a Logitech G400S and it does exactly what I want! Works! 😀

For monitors I went with 3 x QNIX QX2710 LED EvolutionⅡ 27" 2560x1440 WQHD PLS

Damn! Have fun with that mate!