[Information Gathering] Gaming Upgrade Season

I feel I might have finally outgrown my durable and outstanding ASUS G73Jh Laptop, as it is now on its 4th year running. It still handles most games, but at a reduced frame rate including a baseball bat to the quality. I feel its now time to upgrade... so I am gathering as much information as I can to build myself a machine to last at minimum 5 years with upgrade potential.

For this build I would like quality hardware, and also to try and maintain under $2000. The lower the better, and this will be built within the next 6 months, just gathering information to see if I should hold out for a new GPU/CPU... As I know the ATI R9's are using older GPUs and its possible they will become substantially cheaper later in the year.

Games I play or will play on the computer, trying to achieve at minimum 1080p and maxed graphical settings:

• Planetside 2
• Everquest Next / Landmark
• Elder Scrolls Online
• Star Citizen
• Diablo 3 w/ expansions
• StarCraft 2 w/ expansions
• World of WarCraft w/ expansions
• Wildstar

The list will grow overtime, and I do have the Xbox One to offset certain title releases like Titanfall, Destiny, etc.

Additional applications that I plan to utilize:

• Crypto-currency mining, specifically scrypt related currencies (OpenCL is preferred unless CUDA performance is proven to be better at some point)
• Streaming is possible, but I may build a new PC for that specifically at a later point.
• Multi-monitor support is something I would like to be able to do, not right away as its expensive, but have as an option later down the road.
• Netflix/hulu streaming
• Virtual machines, though I might have a server for this.

Hardware I can reuse:

• Mouse
• Keyboard
• Headset
• Samsung 840 Evo 250GB
• Optical drive

Hardware I need:

• CPU
• GPU
• 16GB Memory
• PSU
• Case*
• Cooling system**
• Monitor 24". Great quality and picture for gaming.

*: I am finding that I really like the style and design of the NXZT H440 and I also have a cat, which I am going to try to keep as far away from my PC as I can. Damn furball...

**: I prefer to go liquid cooling this time around as mining really stresses the hardware, I would love to maintain as low temperatures as I can, while getting the most out of them. Unless I can do the same with air cooling...

Hardware features:

• RAID Configuration potential
• SATA III
• CrossFire support if its necessary for what I am doing, or for future upgrade potential
• USB 3.0
• Thunderbolt or HDMI or both
• I have been happy with 1080p for quite sometime, I wouldnt mind going higher if its not substantially more expensive.
• Overclocking is definitely being considered, nothing drastic
• WiFi and ethernet capabilities

Miscellaneous:

• Have a Windows 7 license that is transferable, or should I consider an upgrade to Windows 8.1?
• APU's from AMD, are they beneficial or useful in regards to anything I am or plan on doing?
• I've always used Intel processors, and never have gone AMD... I feel that Intel is definitely worth the higher price, any reason I should not go Intel?
• I should have a file server fully up and running for media.
• US Resident, location will vary as I am active duty.

Anything else I am missing? Thank you for all and any information/assistance everyone provides!

The prices of AMD video cards are highly inflated due to cryptocurrency mining. If you insist on one for your needs, expect that to take up a larger piece of your budget than you originally planned for.

You can afford an Intel processor, which is better at gaming benchmarks (using a discrete GPU) than the AMD "equivalent," so stick with that. You should look at a Z87 board for overclocknig, or a B85 or an H87 board to save money (at the expense of losing the ability to overclock).

Before I can help you any further, are you ready to buy everything by, say, next weekend? I ask because many of the parts we normally recommend vary based on what's on sale and how long the sale last.

Which version of Windows 7 do you have?

When are you planning on building your file/media server?

No I will not be buying very soon, just openly gathering information on everything, including the market, to see where I sit budget wise. Yea, mining has certainly caused a massive spike in GPU pricing, thats an excellent point. Might just say scrap the mining idea and go full gaming. I understand your point on the sales and pricing, and how that will impact my build process. I am just trying to essentially benchmark the difference between now and a few months from now, so I can determine if its best to just wait or buy now.

Are there any processors on the horizon this year, or will Haswell live on for a few years like Sandybridge?


How about GPUs, I cant seem to find any development from AMD, if they plan on bringing new GPUs instead of rebadging old ones...

Windows 7 Home.

File server will be a next year project unless I make enough this year to sustain the addition.

BaGGy said:

I am just trying to essentially benchmark the difference between now and a few months from now, so I can determine if its best to just wait or buy now.

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ehhhh...that's an iffy method as some performance can't be predicted that far in advance and some can be in a way.

BaGGy said:

Are there any processors on the horizon this year, or will Haswell live on for a few years like Sandybridge?

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There are rumors that there's going to be a Haswell refresh later this year. But judging from past Intel releases, it's not going to be worth waiting for. So in terms of CPU, if you can buy now, buy now. Especially considering that RAM pricing is going to be higher later in the year.

BaGGy said:

How about GPUs, I cant seem to find any development from AMD, if they plan on bringing new GPUs instead of rebadging old ones...

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The R9 series just came out 3 months ago. So yeah, there's not going to be any new AMD GPUs for awhile. In addition, two of the R9 cards are not rebadged cards as you claim. The R9 290X and R9 290 are not rebadged older AMD cards at all. Nvidia's Maxwell GPUs are supposedly coming out later this year..

Also note that Windows 7 Home Premium has a max RAM limitation of 16GB of RAM.

Dangman said:

ehhhh...that's an iffy method as some performance can't be predicted that far in advance and some can be in a way.

There are rumors that there's going to be a Haswell refresh later this year. But judging from past Intel releases, it's not going to be worth waiting for. So in terms of CPU, if you can buy now, buy now. Especially considering that RAM pricing is going to be higher later in the year.

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This is the kind of information I was really in search of, and it definitely provides a decent outlook, at least from a buyers perspective. Haswell is what I have been interested in, as my wifes PC is currently using the i5 3570k and I have been extremely satisfied.

Dangman said:

The R9 series just came out 3 months ago. So yeah, there's not going to be any new AMD GPUs for awhile. In addition, two of the R9 cards are not rebadged cards as you claim. The R9 290X and R9 290 are not rebadged older AMD cards at all. Nvidia's Maxwell GPUs are supposedly coming out later this year..

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I never considered the R9 290 cards, I was only looking at the 280 as I felt the 290 might still be a bit too pricey...

Dangman said:

Also note that Windows 7 Home Premium has a max RAM limitation of 16GB of RAM.

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I am aware, as was why I was only in need of 16GB. As for ram, DDR3 PC1600? Or would faster be a major gain for the dollar?

BaGGy said:

I never considered the R9 290 cards, I was only looking at the 280 as I felt the 290 might still be a bit too pricey...

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IF the crypto-currency craze hadn't screwed up the current pricing on the 290 cards, those would be a definite choice for a $2000 system.

BaGGy said:

I am aware, as was why I was only in need of 16GB. As for ram, DDR3 PC1600? Or would faster be a major gain for the dollar?

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Your model number is a bit off. Did you mean DDR3 1600 or PC3 16000? They're not the same FYI. In any case, DDR3 1600 (or PC3 12800) is more than enough. However, if you see DDR3 1866 for the same price while still having the recommended 1.5V voltage, then those would be fine as well.