Hey everyone, my uncle is in need of a machine that can run something a bit more resource-intensive than AOL's E-mail client so it's time for an upgrade from scratch. The budget is $1000-$1200 and he's really into space games, specifically intrigued by the game Star Citizen. I'll be putting it together.
The case should be modest without flashy LED's and see-through windows but it can be stylized quite a bit. As far as all of the hardware goes, he's not interested in doing any overclocking so just whatever will perform solid at a minimum of 1080p. That being said, he probably needs a new monitor which I'm sure will take a chunk of the budget. I was thinking an Asus VG248QE 24" like I currently run because the immersion will be way up at a high res with a high frame rate. No water cooling.
Photography is a hobby of his so it should be able to handle some moderate photo editing, but I'm sure that Star Citizen automatically requires a quality CPU anyways and he's not shooting space weddings in HDR with a Hasselblad. Ideally the build will last many years to come and simply require a GPU upgrade when that time comes, so future-proofing with an up-to-date mobo would be great.
Star Citizen:
[video=youtube;d6Wf5rhimaA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6Wf5rhimaA[/video]
Thanks everyone for your help!
AFAIK photo editing isn't CPU/GPU/whatever intensive at all. You basically only need Photoshop or Adobe Lightroom which aren't intensive. Sure,a PC from 1999 can't run the newest PS smoothly but if you're buying modern parts you don't have to worry about it being good for photo editing.
Lightroom is not intensive?
I beg to differ - you try running Lightroom as a catalog for editing > 20,000 RAWs on a standard HDD and a sub-par CPU and tell me how you get on.
[QUOTE=Dawnkiller;45209331]Lightroom is not intensive?
I beg to differ - you try running Lightroom as a catalog for editing > 20,000 RAWs on a standard HDD and a sub-par CPU and tell me how you get on.[/QUOTE]
Well if you're going to import everything at once,sure. Most people only import ~400 (?) at a time. Also I imported 1000 RAWs once on my i3 3220 and standard HDD and it was fine.
Here ya go. He should be able to run it very well with this rig. IMO is he's doing photoshop, a 60Hz IPS panel is FAR more beneficial than a 144Hz TN one. Plus with that budget, you'd be sacrificing a fair amount of graphics to get to 144 fps.
[url=http://pcpartpicker.com/p/h2rgQ7]PCPartPicker part list[/url] / [url=http://pcpartpicker.com/p/h2rgQ7/by_merchant/]Price breakdown by merchant[/url]
[b]CPU:[/b] [url=http://pcpartpicker.com/part/intel-cpu-bx80646i54690]Intel Core i5-4690 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor[/url] ($214.99 @ Newegg)
[b]Motherboard:[/b] [url=http://pcpartpicker.com/part/asrock-motherboard-h97pro4]ASRock H97 PRO4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard[/url] ($86.66 @ Newegg)
[b]Memory:[/b] [url=http://pcpartpicker.com/part/gskill-memory-f31600c9d8gao]G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory[/url] ($72.00 @ Newegg)
[b]Storage:[/b] [url=http://pcpartpicker.com/part/crucial-internal-hard-drive-ct120m500ssd1]Crucial M500 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive[/url] ($72.00 @ Amazon)
[b]Storage:[/b] [url=http://pcpartpicker.com/part/seagate-internal-hard-drive-st1000dm003]Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive[/url] ($49.99 @ Amazon)
[b]Video Card:[/b] [url=http://pcpartpicker.com/part/xfx-video-card-r9280xtdfd]XFX Radeon R9 280X 3GB Double Dissipation Video Card[/url] ($269.99 @ Newegg)
[b]Case:[/b] [url=http://pcpartpicker.com/part/corsair-case-200r]Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case[/url] ($57.99 @ Micro Center)
[b]Power Supply:[/b] [url=http://pcpartpicker.com/part/xfx-power-supply-xfxts550w]XFX TS 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply[/url] ($50.99 @ Newegg)
[b]Optical Drive:[/b] [url=http://pcpartpicker.com/part/samsung-optical-drive-sh224dbbebe]Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer[/url] ($14.98 @ OutletPC)
[b]Operating System:[/b] [url=http://pcpartpicker.com/part/microsoft-os-885370635690]Microsoft Windows 8.1 - 64-bit (OEM) (64-bit)[/url] ($94.98 @ OutletPC)
[b]Monitor:[/b] [url=http://pcpartpicker.com/part/lg-monitor-24mp55hqp]LG 24MP55HQ-P 60Hz 23.8" Monitor[/url] ($144.00 @ Newegg)
[b]Total:[/b] $1128.57
[i]Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available[/i]
should totally add an Oculos rift to that if it supports that
and stereo headphones
[editline]25th June 2014[/editline]
[QUOTE=Zotobom;45208524]AFAIK photo editing isn't CPU/GPU/whatever intensive at all. You basically only need Photoshop or Adobe Lightroom which aren't intensive. Sure,a PC from 1999 can't run the newest PS smoothly but if you're buying modern parts you don't have to worry about it being good for photo editing.[/QUOTE]
that or gimp
unless you're edditing images that are like, 6000x6000
I'm slightly confused, will it be built mainly for the sake of Star Citizen? Because if so, wouldn't it be a better idea to buy the parts in 2015, when it's actually released?
But I guess he wants a faster system in the near future, and if so, you could always buy the graphics card later on, at least. If you go with the rest of Lelevog's system, the Intel HD 4600 isn't that bad, it's roughly equivalent to a GeForce 8800GT, if I remember correctly, and you'll most definitely be able to conduct photo editing with it.
[QUOTE=Levelog;45212572]Here ya go. He should be able to run it very well with this rig. IMO is he's doing photoshop, a 60Hz IPS panel is FAR more beneficial than a 144Hz TN one. Plus with that budget, you'd be sacrificing a fair amount of graphics to get to 144 fps.
[url=http://pcpartpicker.com/p/h2rgQ7]PCPartPicker part list[/url] / [url=http://pcpartpicker.com/p/h2rgQ7/by_merchant/]Price breakdown by merchant[/url]
[b]CPU:[/b] [url=http://pcpartpicker.com/part/intel-cpu-bx80646i54690]Intel Core i5-4690 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor[/url] ($214.99 @ Newegg)
[b]Motherboard:[/b] [url=http://pcpartpicker.com/part/asrock-motherboard-h97pro4]ASRock H97 PRO4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard[/url] ($86.66 @ Newegg)
[b]Memory:[/b] [url=http://pcpartpicker.com/part/gskill-memory-f31600c9d8gao]G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory[/url] ($72.00 @ Newegg)
[b]Storage:[/b] [url=http://pcpartpicker.com/part/crucial-internal-hard-drive-ct120m500ssd1]Crucial M500 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive[/url] ($72.00 @ Amazon)
[b]Storage:[/b] [url=http://pcpartpicker.com/part/seagate-internal-hard-drive-st1000dm003]Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive[/url] ($49.99 @ Amazon)
[b]Video Card:[/b] [url=http://pcpartpicker.com/part/xfx-video-card-r9280xtdfd]XFX Radeon R9 280X 3GB Double Dissipation Video Card[/url] ($269.99 @ Newegg)
[b]Case:[/b] [url=http://pcpartpicker.com/part/corsair-case-200r]Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case[/url] ($57.99 @ Micro Center)
[b]Power Supply:[/b] [url=http://pcpartpicker.com/part/xfx-power-supply-xfxts550w]XFX TS 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply[/url] ($50.99 @ Newegg)
[b]Optical Drive:[/b] [url=http://pcpartpicker.com/part/samsung-optical-drive-sh224dbbebe]Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer[/url] ($14.98 @ OutletPC)
[b]Operating System:[/b] [url=http://pcpartpicker.com/part/microsoft-os-885370635690]Microsoft Windows 8.1 - 64-bit (OEM) (64-bit)[/url] ($94.98 @ OutletPC)
[b]Monitor:[/b] [url=http://pcpartpicker.com/part/lg-monitor-24mp55hqp]LG 24MP55HQ-P 60Hz 23.8" Monitor[/url] ($144.00 @ Newegg)
[b]Total:[/b] $1128.57
[i]Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available[/i][/QUOTE]
Good point about the monitor, I think that's what I'll do. The build is primarily for Star Citizen and just being able to run games at strong settings in general. For photoshop he can probably manage with whatever.
I'm really only familiar with the nomenclature of Nvidia. Where does a Radeon R9 280X 3GB fall in the Nvidia world? Is it like around a GTX 250 or something?
Isn't an 8800GT like...forever and a half years old?
An R9 280x is a hair better than the GTX 770
[QUOTE=CottonTM;45215371]Good point about the monitor, I think that's what I'll do. The build is primarily for Star Citizen [B]and just being able to run games at strong settings in general[/B]. For photoshop he can probably manage with whatever.
I'm really only familiar with the nomenclature of Nvidia. Where does a Radeon R9 280X 3GB fall in the Nvidia world? Is it like around a GTX 250 or something?
Isn't an 8800GT like...forever and a half years old?[/QUOTE]
Ah, okay, I simply figured if he's just going to use the system for webbrowsing and photo-editing for the time being, it'd be a much better idea to buy the graphics card in the future when you'll actually need it, as you'll probably be able to get an even better one for the same cost then.
consider investing some cash in a good sound stuff if he wants max immersion if you have extra cash.
[QUOTE=trotskygrad;45229450]consider investing some cash in a good sound stuff if he wants max immersion if you have extra cash.[/QUOTE]
A decent set of speakers sure wouldn't hurt...preferably headphones but I need to see how he'd feel about that, and going over budget. He's retired so he can prolly manage going over.
I'll recommend him the Sony MDR-MA900's and see what he says.
For the case suggested, the Corsair 200R, what do you guys think as far as fans go? Is the stock setup going to be alright?
I'd like to get a mobo that has SLI support, would the AsRock Z87 Extreme4 be a good option? It's $124 as opposed to $86 and I'm not really sure what advantages it has other than SLI support...
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