$1000 Gaming budget!?!?

[El_Capitan]

Where abouts do you live? I usually find some decent parts on Craigslist once in a blue moon, but mostly close to this time of year (due to Black Friday and Xmas). Otherwise, I usually get them from people with good Heatware (Overclock.net and [H]ard|Forum). Sometimes from here, too.

 

Your wants:

 - 1080P gaming with above average FPS (assuming 60Hz is your target) - This will depend heavily on your graphics card. Some games will also depend on your CPU. Some recommendations: GTX 780, GTX 970, R9 290/290X

 

 - Sports, Racing, and RPG games don't really need a powerful graphics card. I sometimes play those games at highest settings allowed on my 60" Plasma HDTV (1080P) and all I'm using is a stock voltage overclocked GTX 950 2GB. In-game benchmarks for NBA2K14:

 

Frame Rate: High

Monitor: 1

Resolution: 1862 x 1048

Refresh Rate: 60

Window Mode: Off

Vsync: Off

Anti-Alisaing (MSAA): 8x

Anti-Aliasing Quality: N/A

Player: High

Crowd Detail: High

Sideline Characters: On

Texture Quality: High

Depth of Field: On

Floor Relection: On

 

NBA2K14 Benchmark FPS: 116

 

 - Wired, your standard motherboard should do it, for wireless, most motherboards also have decent 802.11ac support. You can always get a better adapter, anyway (but at the extra cost).

 

 - Audiophile level sound, find a Creative Labs Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium HD for $60 and upgrade the op-amps for $10 and get a JDS Labs Objective 2 DIY kit for $59, and any of the headphones listed here in another thread, and you're in audiophile territory for around $250.

 

- CPU-wise, your Phenom X4 9550 should still rock as far as your needs. Otherwise, find some used 2500K/3570K/4670K/4690K's for sale. Bought a 2500K a year ago for $80, and a 3570K for $100. I haven't needed to look since, but I'm sure there are still quite a bit out there. Hitting 4.6GHz easily, or 4.9GHz if I really want to push it to it's limit.

 

Hope that helps.

[David_Cannady]

Decent build, but I'm sure you could find a mb that would do the job at a much better price, and knock a few hundred off the final hit. Then again, we don't know what options you want in a mb.

I'm not really sure what options I would want in certain components. No prior knowledge of building from scratch. I just want decent value, high quality parts. Nothing over the top, but also not a dinosaur in a few years. Eye catching looks, minimalist, not overly complicated. Excellent audio, plethora of connections.

[David_Cannady]

 

 

Where abouts do you live? I usually find some decent parts on Craigslist once in a blue moon, but mostly close to this time of year (due to Black Friday and Xmas). Otherwise, I usually get them from people with good Heatware (Overclock.net and [H]ard|Forum). Sometimes from here, too.

 

Your wants:

- 1080P gaming with above average FPS (assuming 60Hz is your target) - This will depend heavily on your graphics card. Some games will also depend on your CPU. Some recommendations: GTX 780, GTX 970, R9 290/290X

 

- Sports, Racing, and RPG games don't really need a powerful graphics card. I sometimes play those games at highest settings allowed on my 60" Plasma HDTV (1080P) and all I'm using is a stock voltage overclocked GTX 950 2GB. In-game benchmarks for NBA2K14:

 

Frame Rate: High

Monitor: 1

Resolution: 1862 x 1048

Refresh Rate: 60

Window Mode: Off

Vsync: Off

Anti-Alisaing (MSAA): 8x

Anti-Aliasing Quality: N/A

Player: High

Crowd Detail: High

Sideline Characters: On

Texture Quality: High

Depth of Field: On

Floor Relection: On

NBA2K14 Benchmark FPS: 116

- Wired, your standard motherboard should do it, for wireless, most motherboards also have decent 802.11ac support. You can always get a better adapter, anyway (but at the extra cost).

- Audiophile level sound, find a Creative Labs Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium HD for $60 and upgrade the op-amps for $10 and get a JDS Labs Objective 2 DIY kit for $59, and any of the headphones listed here in another thread, and you're in audiophile territory for around $250.

- CPU-wise, your Phenom X4 9550 should still rock as far as your needs. Otherwise, find some used 2500K/3570K/4670K/4690K's for sale. Bought a 2500K a year ago for $80, and a 3570K for $100. I haven't needed to look since, but I'm sure there are still quite a bit out there. Hitting 4.6GHz easily, or 4.9GHz if I really want to push it to it's limit.

Hope that helps.

Thanx, helps immensely. I'm on the east coast, va area. The GTX 970 was top on my list, so I can lock that in. Sound card info is much appreciated, I'll look into that. I think I'm going to go with a cheaper MB(as I have been advised to, Thanx everyone), but what's the best choice for wireless connections? A card? An adapter?

As for that Phenom, I've always had a thing for AMD, so I'd love to do a build with it, but at this point, I want a build with more up to date Core Components. I will definitely be seeking everyone's expertise on getting it onto a decent MB once I get some experience with building PCs

[El_Capitan]

What's your wireless router? Find out what the max speed it can go, and we can tell you what to look for.

[ccokeman]

Where at in Va are you. I live in VA as well! 

[David_Cannady]

Where at in Va are you. I live in VA as well!

Southern Va. Bluefield. Where are you located?

[David_Cannady]

What's your wireless router? Find out what the max speed it can go, and we can tell you what to look for.

I have an AC750 router, but an upgrade is not out of the question

[ccokeman]

 

Where at in Va are you. I live in VA as well!

Southern Va. Bluefield. Where are you located?

 

Up near Fredericksburg! 

[David_Cannady]

OP has been updated with my slightly more informed build.

[IVIYTH0S]

It seems like price is no real object? I read $1000 and thought that'd meant that's the max, might be able to trim the fat for ya a bit on the build if you want. You have some great parts but a bit excessive for 1080P gaming IMHO.

 

I have the rig in my signature gaming fluidly at 2560x1600 for an example of what I mean.

[David_Cannady]

 

 

It seems like price is no real object? I read $1000 and thought that'd meant that's the max, might be able to trim the fat for ya a bit on the build if you want. You have some great parts but a bit excessive for 1080P gaming IMHO.

 

I have the rig in my signature gaming fluidly at 2560x1600 for an example of what I mean.

That was before doing proper research, forgive me. Not totally about gaming, just want to be able to play comfortably for the foreseeable future. 1080p is just what I'm assuming is the "norm" currently, but I'd like to be able to participate once the resolution standard increases, so to speak

I was interested in the 5820 for its high level gaming & processing capabilities. I'm well aware that a decent build with that CPU is going to hover around $1700, so I'm comfortable in that neighborhood, but I'd love to save a few dollars without sacrificing to much quality/performance/value

The PRIMARY objective is to get a build up and running, "luxury" components can be added on at a later date

I saw the ASRock extreme 4 for about $175, but is it worth the savings compared to the MSI Gaming 7?

[Gremlin]

Any reason why you want to have a motherboard with wireless capability? Honestly if you are going to play online, would recommend wired. Would recommend a diff mobo as someone else said before. 

 

Would skip the sound card.On board sound does a good job unless you are an audiophile.. 

Edited November 16, 2015 by Gremlin