Thank you for being a valued part of the CNET community. As of December 1, 2020, the forums are in read-only format. In early 2021, CNET Forums will no longer be available. We are grateful for the participation and advice you have provided to one another over the years.

Thanks,

CNET Support

Question

Trying to put together a new PC - please help

Jan 28, 2015 2:50AM PST

I need some help putting together a brand new gaming PC that will last for ~4 years (or more with Overclocking).

Approximate Purchase Date: this week.

Budget Range: 1000 euros, there are no shipping costs or tax fees.

System Usage from Most to Least Important: exclusively gaming, stuff like bf4 with max players.

Are you buying a monitor: No, perhaps in 6+ months

Parts to Upgrade: CPU, PSU, Motherboard, HDD (not SSD), RAM, PC case
I will purchase a GPU in about 6 months, until then i won't use this PC for gaming (school stuff).

Do you need to buy OS: No, i have windows 7 64bit

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: i never used any of those US/EU popular websites.

Location: Eastern Europe, Serbia
Generally i am looking more for technical/hardware advice, the 1000 euro budget is perhaps flexible

Parts Preferences: Intel CPU (never AMD), Nvidia GPU (never Ati)
I need 16GB DDR3 of ram (2000+mhz) for some school stuff, and it never hurts Happy
I don't want an SSD right now, it does not increase gaming FPS while i don't care about loading times.
ATX sized mobo with Z97 intel chipset, USB3.0 and best Sata 3 thingy (6GBps i think?)

Overclocking: Yes, when i can't run games at 50+ FPS.

SLI or Crossfire: No, i dislike having multiple GPUs (or multiple HDDs)

Your Monitor Resolution: 1920x1080 or 1920x1200, depending on what i decide at the end

Additional Comments:
- the CPU i have set my "heart" on is the Intel i7 4790K
- i have no interest in making my PC look pretty or shiny
- i decided against the new expensive tech (DDR4, broadwell etc..)
- I would like a good HDD like 1TB WD Black 7200rpm 64cache, or something else you suggest (not SSD at this moment)
- I am clueless about PSU and Motherboards, i just don't understand what to look for in one
- An ATX sized motherboard (z97 intel chipset) with a good cooling-oriented PC case around it, but nothing fancy looking is needed.
- aside from USB 3.0, SATA 3 and overclocking support, i do not need anything else on mobo.

Why Are You Upgrading:
I am buying a new PC out of 2 reasons:
1. I need a much much stronger PC for some school stuff i am doing (CPU/RAM intensive, does not need GPU)
2. In about 6 months i will finish that school stuff, get a pricy new GPU and enjoy that gaming beast Happy

Thank you for helping me out Happy

Discussion is locked

- Collapse -
Clarification Request
About that overclocking the CPU
Jan 28, 2015 3:21AM PST

I've yet to find this to help much with game frames per second. In fact, Toms put out this bit of enlightenment:
"Our tests demonstrate fairly little difference between a $225 LGA 1155 Core i5-2500K and a $1000 LGA 2011 Core i7-3960X, even when three-way graphics card configurations are involved. It turns out that memory bandwidth and PCIe throughput don't hold back the performance of existing Sandy Bridge-based machines. "
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-cpu-review-overclock,3106-4.html

That out of the way, there are great lists of best for the buck today. Here's 3. One for CPU, GPU and SSD.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-cpu-review-overclock,3106.html
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-card-review,3107.html
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/ssd-recommendation-benchmark,3269.html

And yes there are motherboards in the list too.
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-intel-amd-motherboard,3902.html
Bob

- Collapse -
Answer
Thought
Jan 28, 2015 10:27PM PST

It's your bucks so you do what you want.
The I7 is nice but you pay premium bucks for limited extra bang.
There is not much that a top of the line I5 won't run in a speedy fashion.

Psu size?.....this leans heavy on the gpu you pick.
Just a wag....700w single rail.

Ram?.....I can't see much value in going above supported speed.
Other than making your wallet a little lighter.