Gaming PC: What should I buy with $1,000 CAD?

[Yusuf M. Veteran]

Boxing Day is coming up in about 3 weeks and I think it's about time I built a new gaming PC. The last time I did that was late-2007 with upgrades in mid-2008. I'm still running an Intel Core2Duo E6750 + AMD Radeon HD 4870 rig and I can't play Battlefield 4. I tried the beta and the game ran very poorly.

 

With that said, I have no preferences. What I want is the best bang for the buck. I don't care if it's Intel, AMD, or NVIDIA. What I do care about is long-term viability. I don't want to buy a motherboard that will be obsolete in mid-2013. I want something that will last me so I can upgrade in a year or two.

 

What do you guys recommend? My budget is $1,000 CAD before taxes (without a monitor and keyboard/mouse). I've been eyeing the Intel Core i5-4770K and AMD Radeon R9 270X. I've also been thinking of going with a cheaper AMD CPU/motherboard and a more expensive video card like the R9 280X or GTX 770.

 

Anyway, here's a list of recommendations I need:

• CPU
• Motherboard
• Video card
• RAM

[Decebalvs Rex]

Go for a GTX 770 or other more expensive GPU than CPU or Mobo. Next CPU arhitecture might change so your current mobo won't probably support next gen Intel line. AMD is cheap and upgradeable but that might change too. I suggest you an i5 (cheapest of them) , a mobo to resist and hold your current rig (mid-level one) and buy a powerful nvidia card. You won't be sorry .

Here we go : Intel i5 4570 or 4670k if you OC.

                     MSI Z87-G43 GAMING (cheap and good) or Asus Z87-EXPERT perfect for OC.

                     Nvidia GTX 770/780/780ti.

                     Kingston HyperX Genesis 16GB DDR3 1600MHz CL9 Quad Channel Kit.

 

 

I would suggest you to avoid OC and buy a processor with VT.

[Jason S. Global Moderator]

Core i7 4770

nvidia 770

16GB 1600MHz+

Asus Z87 motherboard of your choosing.

[+PeterUK MVC]

Intel Core i7-4771 is the same price as i7-4770 going by newegg.ca

GIGABYTE GA-Z87X-HD3 or ASUS Z87-A

GTX 770

Go with 2x4GB DDR3 1600 Cas 9-9-9-24 if your not going to use all 8GB for the time being.

And room for 800W PSU if needed

[Lord Method Man]

An i7 is completely wasted in a gaming PC. I'd just stick to an i5.

[Yusuf M. Veteran]

Go for a GTX 770 or other more expensive GPU than CPU or Mobo. Next CPU arhitecture might change so your current mobo won't probably support next gen Intel line. AMD is cheap and upgradeable but that might change too. I suggest you an i5 (cheapest of them) , a mobo to resist and hold your current rig (mid-level one) and buy a powerful nvidia card. You won't be sorry .

Here we go : Intel i5 4570 or 4670k if you OC.

                     MSI Z87-G43 GAMING (cheap and good) or Asus Z87-EXPERT perfect for OC.

                     Nvidia GTX 770/780/780ti.

                     Kingston HyperX Genesis 16GB DDR3 1600MHz CL9 Quad Channel Kit.

 

 

I would suggest you to avoid OC and buy a processor with VT.

That's what I was thinking. A cheaper CPU/motherboard and a more expensive video card. More and more games are GPU-limited so my FPS gains would be minimal with an expensive CPU. I don't think I need a CPU with virtualization technology but I'll go with it because it's cheaper than the unlocked model. Is 16GB necessary? I think I'd be okay with 8GB. That's what I have in my current gaming PC and I have never run out of memory.

 

Core i7 4770

nvidia 770

16GB 1600MHz+

Asus Z87 motherboard of your choosing.

ASUS, I'll most likely go with them for the motherboard. I haven't had any issues whatsoever with my ASUS P5K motherboard. The Core i7-4770 is pretty expensive. The Core i5 is cheaper and performs just as well in most games.

 

Intel Core i7-4771 is the same price as i7-4770 going by newegg.ca

GIGABYTE GA-Z87X-HD3 or ASUS Z87-A

GTX 770

Go with 2x4GB DDR3 1600 Cas 9-9-9-24 if your not going to use all 8GB for the time being.

And room for 800W PSU if needed

The Core i5-4670 is nearly $100 cheaper. I should probably go for that to save money. I'll go for the ASUS motherboard. Hopefully Newegg or NCIX will have a nice deal for it with the Core i5-4670.

 

As for the RAM, 8GB is the sweet spot for me.

 

An i7 is completely wasted in a gaming PC. I'd just stick to an i5.

Agreed. I don't see the point in spending nearly $100 more for little-to-no gains in FPS.

[riahc3]

Hello,

With that said, I have no preferences. What I want is the best bang for the buck. I don't care if it's Intel, AMD, or NVIDIA. What I do care about is long-term viability.

In that case, go with Intel. Intel's i line basically, although is expensive up front, gets you the best bang for buck.

Also I recommend NVIDIA. Longer driver support :)

[Mindovermaster Moderator]

Hello,

In that case, go with Intel. Intel's i line basically, although is expensive up front, gets you the best bang for buck.

Also I recommend NVIDIA. Longer driver support :)

 

I could say the exact opposite. Intel vs AMD vs NVIDIA is a choice, nothing else.

[Crisp]

I could say the exact opposite. Intel vs AMD vs NVIDIA is a choice, nothing else.

 

This is Neowin. Intel and Nvidia or don't post.

[Decebalvs Rex]

I always tell people : GPU , GPU , GPU > CPU > MOBO.

I have a friend wich bought 300$ mobo, 300$ cpu and 200 $ gpu.  Guess his face when he popped up Battlefield 4, hah !

You can start with the first i5 in the line , cheapest. Mobo , don't make it expensive , look everywhere : H87/z87 are the same in performance terms , perhaps a few useless features in minus - take the HXX mobo.

Add a PSU with can provide 20% more than your system will eat , 8 GB of ram wich is more than enough and a badass GPU.

=

Badass rig.

[Mindovermaster Moderator]

This is Neowin. Intel and Nvidia or don't post.

 

And a AMD person says that? That's low.

[snaphat (Myles Landwehr) Member]

That's what I was thinking. A cheaper CPU/motherboard and a more expensive video card. More and more games are GPU-limited so my FPS gains would be minimal with an expensive CPU. I don't think I need a CPU with virtualization technology but I'll go with it because it's cheaper than the unlocked model. Is 16GB necessary? I think I'd be okay with 8GB. That's what I have in my current gaming PC and I have never run out of memory.

 

ASUS, I'll most likely go with them for the motherboard. I haven't had any issues whatsoever with my ASUS P5K motherboard. The Core i7-4770 is pretty expensive. The Core i5 is cheaper and performs just as well in most games.

 

The Core i5-4670 is nearly $100 cheaper. I should probably go for that to save money. I'll go for the ASUS motherboard. Hopefully Newegg or NCIX will have a nice deal for it with the Core i5-4670.

 

As for the RAM, 8GB is the sweet spot for me.

 

Agreed. I don't see the point in spending nearly $100 more for little-to-no gains in FPS.

 

Finally a sane person who understands this. Just for reference: http://www.ocaholic.ch/modules/smartsection/item.php?itemid=1061

[LaP]

Honestly my old Core i5 750 @3840 is still doing the job just fine in new games like Metro Last Light.

I would definately not recommend a core i7.

[+Mirumir Subscriber¹]

What do you guys recommend?

 

I would recommend thinking through the purchasing strategy so to speak.

 

You say you want the best bang for the buck today and the ability to upgrade 1-2 years down the road. In some scenarios, this could mean taking two mutually exclusive paths.

 

In any case, GPU's performance should take a priority over CPU since gaming is important to you. Another point of consideration is that the faster your storage solution is, the faster your games will load.

 

So, here's my recommendation:

• Intel Core i5-4670K ~ $240CAD
• Asus Z87-Plus or Z87-Pro ~ $170-200CAD;
• Asus GTX770 ~ $360CAD;
• 8GB Corsair Vengeance ~ $100CAD;

+ tax.

 

It's gonna be tight on the budget. So you may want to downgrade the CPU a little. In any case, you should stay with a Haswell (i3 or i5), a 6MB L3 cache i5 is preferable.

 

If this setup doesn't turn you on and you want something entirely different, I recommend checking out these two articles:

 

Best Graphics Cards For The Money: November 2013

 

Best Gaming CPUs For The Money: November 2013

[primexx]

will you overclock?

[Yusuf M. Veteran]

Hello,

In that case, go with Intel. Intel's i line basically, although is expensive up front, gets you the best bang for buck.

Also I recommend NVIDIA. Longer driver support :)

I considered an AMD CPU and I'm not satisfied with their gaming performance. NVIDIA has a card I'm interested in (GTX 770) but at the same time, I want an AMD video card because of the Mantle API. The games I plan on playing will support it (Battlefield 4 and Star Citizen).

 

I always tell people : GPU , GPU , GPU > CPU > MOBO.

I have a friend wich bought 300$ mobo, 300$ cpu and 200 $ gpu.  Guess his face when he popped up Battlefield 4, hah !

You can start with the first i5 in the line , cheapest. Mobo , don't make it expensive , look everywhere : H87/z87 are the same in performance terms , perhaps a few useless features in minus - take the HXX mobo.

Add a PSU with can provide 20% more than your system will eat , 8 GB of ram wich is more than enough and a badass GPU.

=

Badass rig.

That's the way it should be unless gaming isn't a priority. There's no need to overspend on a motherboard and CPU when you can gain more performance with a better video card. I've been thinking about it and I've decided to get the cheapest possible motherboard. My only requirement is a decent number of USB ports (preferably 4x USB 3.0).

 

Finally a sane person who understands this. Just for reference: http://www.ocaholic.ch/modules/smartsection/item.php?itemid=1061

It's something I learned back in the Core2Duo days. I went for an E6750 instead of the more expensive E6850 or Q6600. Also, thanks for the link. There's virtually no difference at high resolutions.

 

I would recommend thinking through the purchasing strategy so to speak.

 

You say you want the best bang for the buck today and the ability to upgrade 1-2 years down the road. In some scenarios, this could mean taking two mutually exclusive paths.

 

In any case, GPU's performance should take a priority over CPU since gaming is important to you. Another point of consideration is that the faster your storage solution is, the faster your games will load.

 

So, here's my recommendation:

• Intel Core i5-4670K ~ $240CAD
• Asus Z87-Plus or Z87-Pro ~ $170-200CAD;
• Asus GTX770 ~ $360CAD;
• 8GB Corsair Vengeance ~ $100CAD;

+ tax.

 

It's gonna be tight on the budget. So you may want to downgrade the CPU a little. In any case, you should stay with a Haswell (i3 or i5), a 6MB L3 cache i5 is preferable.

 

If this setup doesn't turn you on and you want something entirely different, I recommend checking out these two articles:

 

Best Graphics Cards For The Money: November 2013

 

Best Gaming CPUs For The Money: November 2013

Thanks for the in-depth response, zhiVago. I don't mind going with a low-end Core i5 to bring the cost down. I also don't mind going with a cheap motherboard which I assume would be less than the $170-$200 price range you mentioned. As for RAM, I've seen some great deals already on Black Friday and Cyber Monday so I'm sure I'll find a good deal on Boxing Day. I'll check out the links you provided to see what's best for me.

 

Also, does Intel plan on abandoning the current socket? It seems as though AMD supports theirs longer. I'd hate to buy a CPU and motherboard now and not be able to upgrade the CPU without upgrading the motherboard.

 

will you overclock?

At first, I planned on overclocking but I've decided not to. I don't want to lower the life expectancy of my CPU for almost no gains in gaming performance.

[riahc3]

Hello,

I could say the exact opposite. Intel vs AMD vs NVIDIA is a choice, nothing else.

Benchmarks dont say the same. Intel kills and has been killing AMD processors for years. The only time AMD had a bit of better results is when they came out with x86-64....

AMDs are for budget machines, not for high end gaming machines or any machine that really needs the CPU.

http://www.top500.org/statistics/list/ Here is a list of TOP500 supercomputers. The % running on AMD processors is...small, to say the least.

Now AMD vs NVIDIA is completely different. More or less, they are on the same level. THe only reason Id choose NVIDIA over AMD is because NVIDIA supports its video cards with drivers a lot more than AMD does.

zhivago posted it above but http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-cpu-review-overclock,3106-5.html As you can see at the top range, there basically is nothing from AMD that equals Intel.

Im not saying AMD is bad, for budget and low power machines, its great. But for high end gaming, forget it :)

[riahc3]

Hello,

I considered an AMD CPU and I'm not satisfied with their gaming performance. NVIDIA has a card I'm interested in (GTX 770) but at the same time, I want an AMD video card because of the Mantle API. The games I plan on playing will support it (Battlefield 4 and Star Citizen).

"Gimmick APIs" like these have been around for years from both NVIDIA and AMD. BT4 was not built on this API so while it may support it (with a patch) you wont see its full potential.

Look at Glide for example. Great API (back in its day, hell its used today as well) but never took off as the "standard".

TruForm, another from ATI that never really "took off".

I strongly recommend you dont buy a video card based on "nonstandard" API it features and more so, if only three games (right now, none use it) plan to use it.

All of this is my opinion :)

[+Mirumir Subscriber¹]

Thanks for the in-depth response, zhiVago. I don't mind going with a low-end Core i5 to bring the cost down. I also don't mind going with a cheap motherboard which I assume would be less than the $170-$200 price range you mentioned. As for RAM, I've seen some great deals already on Black Friday and Cyber Monday so I'm sure I'll find a good deal on Boxing Day. I'll check out the links you provided to see what's best for me.

 

You're welcome :) Yes, I think you should totally try to bring the cost down by all means possible.

 

Also, does Intel plan on abandoning the current socket? It seems as though AMD supports theirs longer. I'd hate to buy a CPU and motherboard now and not be able to upgrade the CPU without upgrading the motherboard.

 

To be honest with you, you can never buy something 100% future proof in today's market because things get obsolete every six months pretty much. So you should forget about upgrading the CPU two years in the future. It won't be worth it. However, upgrading the GPU can make a lot of sense a couple of years down the road if performance in games is what you're looking for.

 

Nevertheless, AMD does seem to support their sockets longer. However, the same physical socket is no guarantee that a newer CPU on the same socket won't require a newer chipset - it's just something to keep in mind.

 

On the other hand, LGA1150 is at the beginning of its cycle now. But, we already know that it will replaced by 1151 in the future :/ Same goes for AMD's Bobcat to Puma+ upgrade. It's a gamble :)

 

As for GeForce vs Radeon, I've recently purchased my first NVIDIA-based card (Asus GTX770) after spending a decade with AMD (*cough ATI :D). I had been anxious before, but now I can't be happier. Overall, I'd say Nvidia provides a more user-friendly experience. Their driver updates don't require restarts and I love their automatic settings optimization feature for games.

[Soldiers33]

go with amd. They are very cheap compared to intel and work good for gaming. I have used an AMD for the first time ever and to be honest do not see any difference in performance.

[MindTrickz]

Also, does Intel plan on abandoning the current socket? It seems as though AMD supports theirs longer. I'd hate to buy a CPU and motherboard now and not be able to upgrade the CPU without upgrading the motherboard.

 

Intel's next two micro architectures Broadwell and Skylake are expected to both use LGA 1150 (The same as the current Haswell). But that doesn't mean that you'll be able to run 9-series CPU (Broadwell) on a current 8-series motherboard (Haswell). Intel has broken compatibility.

 

 

"Broadwell is expected to continue using the LGA 1150 socket just like Haswell does, but the 9-series chipset will incorporate a few compatibility breaking changes. They include a 1.05V requirement for V_PROC_IO, support for a new type of power supply, and a different chip topology requiring a modified THRMTRIP output buffer.

 

Alongside the introduction of Broadwell late next year, Intel is also expected to implement a Haswell chip refresh. It makes sense that such a refresh will add support for the 9-series chipset changes. But that will still require you to replace your existing Haswell-friendly motherboard when it comes time to upgrade. And depending on what power supply you purchase, that may need changing, too."

[ryoohki]

If you're gaming at 1080p : video card, minimum a 660ti or comparable performance video card (think the 760 is the same).

You can get a cheap motherboard, I have 2 build one with a matx 70$ board and the other with a 180$ one they both perform the same about.. The 180$ offer more USB, better oc, more sata but if you don't care about sli, oc, etc than don't overspend on a mb.

For the PSU get at least a 650w, this should run a 780 with a i7 so you have leverage for this

8 gig of ram is plenty.

Bf 4 you need 4 cores, the i5 is great buy ..

Ram : 90$

Mb : 110$

Video card : 260$

PSU : 70$

Case : 60

Os : 99$ (go with windows 8.1 for bf4)

Ssd os boot drive and cache : 120$

[Alwaysonacoffebreak]

Hello,

Benchmarks dont say the same. Intel kills and has been killing AMD processors for years. The only time AMD had a bit of better results is when they came out with x86-64....

AMDs are for budget machines, not for high end gaming machines or any machine that really needs the CPU.

http://www.top500.org/statistics/list/ Here is a list of TOP500 supercomputers. The % running on AMD processors is...small, to say the least.

Now AMD vs NVIDIA is completely different. More or less, they are on the same level. THe only reason Id choose NVIDIA over AMD is because NVIDIA supports its video cards with drivers a lot more than AMD does.

zhivago posted it above but http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-cpu-review-overclock,3106-5.html As you can see at the top range, there basically is nothing from AMD that equals Intel.

Im not saying AMD is bad, for budget and low power machines, its great. But for high end gaming, forget it :)

 

LOL! All I'm going to say. And people actually take you seriously.

[riahc3]

Hello,

LOL! All I'm going to say. And people actually take you seriously.

Well, if Im wrong (I am human) please tell me why. This way I can learn from my mistakes and not make them in the future :)

[LaP]

Hello,

"Gimmick APIs" like these

 

No "gimmick" api have seen this level of interest in the past. Right now if you listen to people in the industry it looks like they are very interested in mantle.