Technology Build Me a Computer worthy of Mordor...errr...I mean my Desktop!

Spartan303

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So Guys, Here I am. I have money and certain family leeches are not draining me dry. To that end I am building a new computer. I need a gaming rig that'll last me at least 5 years. I intend to play games Like Arma 3, XCOM 2 and other games. It MUST be able to run Crysis (remastered). My price range is between 1300 to 1500 but I can go a little higher. I'll need a Monitor, new Windows 10 software to boot, also mouse and keyboard.


Help me The Sietch. You're my only hope!
 

Emperor Tippy

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That's a bit hard at that price point.

I mean you are looking at around $400 just for the graphics card if you want that kind of long term viability and ultra graphics settings in even a generation or two old AAA titles.

Do you already have a case, HD's, and a power supply?

Because if all you need is monitor, keyboard/mouse, CPU, GPU, Motherboard, and RAM then it might be possible. Although you are going to have to settle for a pretty 'meh' monitor.

What size and resolution would you prefer on the monitor?
 

Spartan303

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That's a bit hard at that price point.

I mean you are looking at around $400 just for the graphics card if you want that kind of long term viability and ultra graphics settings in even a generation or two old AAA titles.

Do you already have a case, HD's, and a power supply?

Because if all you need is monitor, keyboard/mouse, CPU, GPU, Motherboard, and RAM then it might be possible. Although you are going to have to settle for a pretty 'meh' monitor.

What size and resolution would you prefer on the monitor?


I'm building a new computer from the ground up.
 

Emperor Tippy

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I'm building a new computer from the ground up.
Any parts you can reuse? Not even the power supply or case?

Because for the graphics card you want at least something around the 2070; and that will be 350 to 450 right there.

A power supply is going to be another ~$100, and a case will probably be between fifty and a hundred.

I mean you can probably make a solid gaming PC for today at your price point, but solid for the next five years?
 

Jormungandr

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You might want to hold off if you're going Ryzen: rumour is that AMD are bringing out another generation this year.

The best CPU, consumer mind, is the Ryzen 3950x, but it has a hefty price-tag. Don't bother with Intel's i-series' of proocessors: they're pretty much antiquated, overpriced... huh, they've become the Apple of the processor world.

There are some mid-range Ryzen third gens that'd do the trick though, especially with a good graphics card and memory combo, but 3950x would future-proof you for a good few years, I feel.

You'll need 16GB DDR4 3000mhz minimum, I think.

Not sure about a graphics card.
 

Spartan303

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Any parts you can reuse? Not even the power supply or case?

Because for the graphics card you want at least something around the 2070; and that will be 350 to 450 right there.

A power supply is going to be another ~$100, and a case will probably be between fifty and a hundred.

I mean you can probably make a solid gaming PC for today at your price point, but solid for the next five years?

Nothing. This entire rig is headed to the scap heap.
 

Emperor Tippy

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Nothing. This entire rig is headed to the scap heap.

Then I suggest that you go to System Builder and start playing around. Put together what you want (being reasonable, no ten thousand dollar graphics cards for you ;) ) without being super price focused, see what it comes in at, and then we can start tweaking.
 

Brutus

Well-known member
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Please keep in mind I have a bias for AMD only. They've never let me down over the past 20 years I've built my own PC's.
Since you put the Challenge of running Crysis on a budget between 1300-1500 and Possible Future Proof.

The Components I would recommend:

CPU: $269.99 AMD RYZEN 7 1700X 8-Core 3.4 GHz (keep a note this doesn't include the cooling fan) (269.99)
(Cooling fan: $24.99 Thermaltake Contac Silent 12 )

Motherboard: There are several choices depending on what brand you want but you will want a AM4 CPU socket if you choose the CPU listed.
This is a budget Motherboard between 100-200 on Newegg.com
$164.99 MSI X570-A PRO Motherboard AMD AM4 SATA 6Gb/s M.2 USB 3.2 Gen 2 HDMI ATX
It also has enough space between the two slots for 2 graphics cards in case one isn't enough for Crysis (remastered).

Ram: Cheap enough for you to make the choice depending on what motherboard you get. Highest possible MHZ and DDR4 is the latest generation. But you also have to weight the cost. 16Gbs is a Good start. The motherboard listed above supports 128 gbs of ram.
$79.99 G.SKILL Ripjaws V Series 16GB 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 3000 (PC4 24000) Desktop Memory Model F4-3000C15S-16GVR

Hard drive: With windows 10 you WILL NEED A Solid State Hard drive. I HIGHLY recommend you go with Samsung they have proven reliable over the decades. Avoid Western Digital like the plague.
$165.99 Samsung 1 tb SSD

Case: Something between cheap and a quality build. A computer doesn't need flashy lights to look good. Something simple, good airflow, and in case shit hits the fan you can grab it and run.
$109 Phanteks Enthoo Pro TG PH-ES614PTG_BK Integrated RGB lighting Tempered Glass Side Panel ATX Full Tower Computer Case - Black

Power Supply: I have good experience with Thermaltake over the years. Problem is always the price with Thermaltake.
$209.99 Thermaltake Toughpower iRGB PLUS 850W 80+ Gold SLI/ CrossFire Ready

Graphics card: choose what you want with Nvidia or AMD. Either will work.

Monitor: Bias is showing but I recommend Samsung. If your the kind of person that likes big screens or curved screens it's up to you. Something simple but it will work with anything on this list.
129.99 SAMSUNG LS24F354FHNXZA 24" (Actual size 23.5") Full HD 1920 x 1080 4ms

Keyboard + Mouse: Always keep it simple, don't go for the 'gaming' keyboards. Something simple and standard. I prefer the Mechanical keyboard
81.99 Logitech Keyboard G610 Cheapest on Amazon.com
Mouse: 54.99 Logitech MX518 (Same model I've used for years, never failed me since I bought it.)

CPU + CPU Cooler269.99 +24.99
Motherboard164.99
Ram79.99
SSD Hard Drive165.99
Case109.99
Power Supply209.99
Graphics Card (Choose wisely AMD or Nvidia)150-300
Monitor (depends on what you want)129.99
Keyboard + Mouse81.99 + 54.99
Total w/Est 150 Graphics card)$1492.99 without taxes and a Estimated $150 graphics card

You can choose a smaller SSD HDD. As for windows 10 if you have windows 7 you can still get a free windows 10 upgrade. Or do a windows 10 clean install and use your windows 7 or 8.1 license key and it will be upgraded with that key with microsoft.
 

Jormungandr

The Midgard Wyrm
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Nothing. This entire rig is headed to the scap heap.
eBay the various components, or keep them stored in case you want to build a retro build for retro games. DDR3 memory still goes for a pretty penny on eBay (I tried to pick up some 4GB DDR3L 1600mhz sticks for my antiquated PC, and they were in the £20--£30 range!).

A boot drive for Windows... I'd suggest at least 240GB for the install and updates and such. Anything more would be overkill. m.2 would be the best to go, I think, but you'd have to make sure your chosen motherboard supports the right m.2. format.

I'd also suggest at least one ordinary SSD for general storage, and one traditional HDD for games and the like (they last ages if you have a decent manufacturer's product), but game load-times et cetera might be a bit diminished compared to an SSD... but they last a lot longer. I'm not sure you'd notice a difference between an SSD game-install and a HDD, to be honest.

Make sure whatever SSD you buy has a controller on-board -- an example would be Crucial's MX 500 over their BX line. Without an on-board controller, an SSD's life-span is greatly diminished.

Don't bother with a Seagate brand: their products, or at least their mechanical HDD's, are terrible and literally wear themselves into pieces. Seriously, someone opened up their drive and it had cut itself in two!

Western Digital Black is their premier line meant for gamers/professionals.

Make sure a motherboard/case has USB 3.0/3.1 -- anything else, like SD card-readers can be purchased as USB attachments, to be used when needed.

Edit: to echo @Brutus, go Samsung if possible, WD as a second choice from me.
 

bullethead

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Dude, I sent you a PCPartPicker list months ago on Discord, just use that :p
 

LordSunhawk

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Don't look at me, my brand new gaming rig in that price range is currently doing a very good impersonation of modern art. Ryzen chipsets and Radeon drivers seem not to like each other, and I managed to get all of the heisenbugs (followed by Best Buy botching the repair and forgetting to physically install my data hard drive).
 

PsihoKekec

Swashbuckling Accountant
How about combination of SSD for Windows and most demanding games and normal disk for everything else? Though when I was building my current computer, seven years ago I used my old disk as data disk at first and later replaced it with 2 TB disk, along with mouse and keyboard.
 

bullethead

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And then literally an hour later I got a call from family hitting me up for money. A lot of it.
Honestly, the only thing you need to change from that list is the motherboard, because B550 is coming and it's going to give you more bang for your buck:
AMD B550 Chipset
The new B550 chipset for socket AM4 is the latest addition to the AMD 500 Series chipset family with support for the industry-leading AMD Ryzen 3000 Series desktop processors. The upcoming B550 motherboards are the only mainstream modern chipset with compatibility for PCIe® 4.0, unlocking twice the bandwidth of B450 motherboards for high-speed, high-power performance in gaming and multitasking.

Availability
The AMD Ryzen 3 3100 and AMD Ryzen 3 3300X are expected to be available from leading retailers and etailers worldwide beginning May 2020. AMD B550 motherboards are expected to be available beginning June 16, 2020 from ODM partners including ASRock, ASUS, Biostar, Colorful, GIGABYTE, and MSI at leading retailers and etailers.

Wait for the reviews on B550, then get the one with the best VRMs and slap an 8 core CPU in it.
 

bullethead

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Guess what - you should definitely wait for B550 to drop before building your PC:
AMD disclosed that its upcoming "Zen 3" 4th generation Ryzen desktop processors will only support AMD 500-series (or later) chipsets. The next-gen processors will not work with older 400-series or 300-series chipsets. This comes as a blow to those who bought premium X470 motherboards hoping for latest CPU compatibility running into 2020. At this time only B550 is available, but we expect more news on enthusiast chipsets as the Zen 3 launch date comes closer. AMD B550 is a fascinating new mid-range chipset by AMD. Launching today as a successor to the popular B450 chipset, B550 is a low-power silicon with roughly the same 5-7 W TDP as the older 400-series chipset. Although AMD won't confirm it, it's likely that the chipset is sourced from ASMedia. It brings a lot to the table that could draw buyers away from B450, but it also takes some away.
RA9JH1QLWDI5IekI.jpg

Motherboards based on the AMD B550 chipset are expected to launch on June 16, 2020. Prices start at $100, according to AMD.

Boy, everyone who jumped on the previous gen processors and the contemporary mobos (except for X570) got fucked. They really need to get bigger BIOS chips as a standard for AM5 motherboards.
 

Spartan303

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Guess what - you should definitely wait for B550 to drop before building your PC:

RA9JH1QLWDI5IekI.jpg



Boy, everyone who jumped on the previous gen processors and the contemporary mobos (except for X570) got fucked. They really need to get bigger BIOS chips as a standard for AM5 motherboards.

When does it drop?
 

bullethead

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Okay, here's some updates.

First up, full MSI B550 price list (pretty good mobos and BIOS in general).

MSRPs (USD w/o tax, EUR w/ VAT):
  • Gaming Carbon Wifi: 219USD 249EUR
  • Gaming Edge Wifi: 189USD 219EUR
  • ITX Gaming Edge Wifi: 199USD 219EUR
  • Tomahawk: 179USD 199EUR
  • Mortar Wifi: 169USD 189EUR
  • Mortar: 159USD 179EUR
  • B550-A Pro: 139USD 155EUR
  • B550M Gaming Plus: 149USD 169EUR
  • B550M Bazooka: 139USD 155EUR
  • B550M Pro-VDH Wifi: 129USD 139EUR
  • B550M Pro-Dash: 119USD 129EUR
Depending on reviews, the Tomahawk/Gaming Edge Wifi (do you want wifi? I don't remember) might be the way to go.

Second, AMD is doing speed refreshes of some of the 3000 series CPUs:

Dunno how much they're going to cost, but it might be worth spending a bit more money on a 3600 XT or 3800 XT to maximize your performance.
 

Spartan303

In Captain America we Trust!
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Okay, here's some updates.

First up, full MSI B550 price list (pretty good mobos and BIOS in general).

MSRPs (USD w/o tax, EUR w/ VAT):
  • Gaming Carbon Wifi: 219USD 249EUR
  • Gaming Edge Wifi: 189USD 219EUR
  • ITX Gaming Edge Wifi: 199USD 219EUR
  • Tomahawk: 179USD 199EUR
  • Mortar Wifi: 169USD 189EUR
  • Mortar: 159USD 179EUR
  • B550-A Pro: 139USD 155EUR
  • B550M Gaming Plus: 149USD 169EUR
  • B550M Bazooka: 139USD 155EUR
  • B550M Pro-VDH Wifi: 129USD 139EUR
  • B550M Pro-Dash: 119USD 129EUR
Depending on reviews, the Tomahawk/Gaming Edge Wifi (do you want wifi? I don't remember) might be the way to go.

Second, AMD is doing speed refreshes of some of the 3000 series CPUs:

Dunno how much they're going to cost, but it might be worth spending a bit more money on a 3600 XT or 3800 XT to maximize your performance.


I already have Wifi in the house. I just need the computer, so I can then start saving up for my ACR rifle.
 

Zachowon

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@Spartan303 Having had my computer built here and bought the parts here in korea.
My NCOIC Spent aroundas much as you are wanting to kn a computer. here are the follwoing specs:
The RYzen 7, the newest one (Cant remember the exact name), 2070, ASUS EX320(0) mother board. 700 powersource.. 16 GBs RAM..1TB MC2 SSD. and a random case the store had. He also bought a keyboard mouse and mousepad with that price range.
Hell I have a less powerful rig and I can ryun all of those easily that you want to play

Will fix my mistakes tomorrow before Work.
 

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