Requesting a new System Config for High End Gaming and Workstation

Status
Not open for further replies.

siddharthx64

A Droid in a Tux
Guys, please bear with me here. I was (still am) a real PC nerd, but have lost touch with the hardware world since the last 3 years (Masters Studies tend to do that to you). I don't really know what is the best config to go for today. The last time I considered myself Knowledgeable, Sata2 was still the norm, a 250GB HDD seemed to be a sane choice for a mid range PC, and I used to game on MW2 and drool over it, DDR3 was just getting into the market and the best games in the market were Oblivion, MW2, and AC2. With studies finally coming to an end, I found myself in need of a rig that would let me get home and kick back with a nice game that can knock my socks off.


Here are the answers:


1. What is the purpose of the computer? What all applications and games are you going to run? (Stupid answers like 'gaming' or 'office work' will not work. Be exact. Which games? Which applications? Avoid the word 'et cetera.')
Ans: I am an avid fan of Action, futuristic and survival horror genres. I've been regularly drooling over games such as Crysis, Amnesia, CoD Ghosts, BioShock and BF4. If I can build a PC that can play ALL of these at the highest settings possible (Ultra-high Settings of Cry3 or BF4, for instance), I would be happy :)
Coming to applications side, I will be using the machine as a host for at least 2 or 3 parallel hypervisors (on Linux, with Qemu/KVM). I am an avid GIMPer, and also use other photo-editing suites. I have used Blender in the past, and may use again.

2. What is your overall budget? If you can extend a bit for a more balanced configuration, then mention this too.
Ans: I would be paying for this out of my own pocket money (Internship stipends and stuff) so I would like it to be as sensible as possible. A budget of 110K is what I have planned for. I am willing to extend it by no more than 15-20k.

3. Planning to overclock?
Ans: Not at the moment, but I would like to keep my options open.

4. Which Operating System are you planning to use?
Ans: I will be using this machine for gaming as well as for Work purposes. My line of work concerns around building a lot of parallel-running Virtual Machines using Linux Systems. (Just so you know that this wont be a mere gaming rig). Hence, you can expect a Multi-boot from me, with Windows 7 and 2 other Linux OSes (RHEL and Gentoo/Debian)

5. How much hard drive space is needed?
Ans: Since I will be gaming AND building VMs, I'd say As Much As Possible. I would settle for dual 1TB drives (with Sata3?) at a minimum

6. Do you want to buy a monitor? If yes, please mention which screen size and resolution do you want. If you already have a monitor and want to reuse it, again mention the size and resolution of monitor you have.
Ans: I have a monitor with 1920 x 1080 as the max. would this be enough? If yes, then I'm good with it.

7. Which components you DON'T want to buy or which components you already have and plan on reusing?
Ans: I have a Razer DeathAdder and a Xbox360 Controller for PC. I also have a Corsair DDR3 RAM [1yr 5months old] which I would like to use if possible. Apart from those (and the monitor?), I would go for everything else.

8. When are you planning to buy the system?
Ans: the System will be bought in a little more than a months time. (1st week of Feb 2014, or last week of Jan 2014)

9. Have you ever built a desktop before or will this be done by an assembler?
Ans: I have built my own desktop once (the only thing I never did was: plugging the processor to the Mobo). I plan to do the same this time too.

10. Where do you live? Are you buying locally? Are you open to buying stuff from online shops if you don't get locally?
Ans: I live in Bangalore. I would buy locally (SP Road). If it so happens that a part is not available, and will stay unavailable for a long time (a month min) then I would consider (reputed) online stores.

11. Anything else which you would like to say?
Ans: I hope I was able to answer all the questions here. Just to give yu an idea about my buying choices last time: AMD PhenomII x2 555 Black Edition[2-3 yrs old i think], Corsair 4GB DDR3 [2 years old] + 2GB OCZ DDR3, 500GB HDD 7200rpm Sata2, Asus M4A88TDV-Evo Mobo, XFX Geforce 9600GT 512MB version [taken in 2006/2007 i think], and a LiteOn writer that I do not trust anymore[old, tray gets stuck all the time]. Even on this rig, I have been successfully playing MW3, Dota2, Lara Croft TR 2013, albeit with mid range settings. I have unlocked the proccy to use all 4 cores of the 555 BE, to make it B55 BE.
 
Starting a thread now when you intend to make the purchase at the end of January is not a good idea. prices fluctuate daily and new products get release every week. I suggest to start the thread at max 2 weeks before you intend to make the purchase.
 

bssunilreddy

Chosen of the Omnissiah
CPU: Intel Core i5 4770k -23500,
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z87MX-D3H -8800,
Graphics card: Zotac GTX760 AMP 2GB -19500,
Case: Corsair 300R Windowed Side Panel -5000,
PSU: Seasonic X650KM3 -7500,
HDD: WD Caviar Black 2TB -8000,
SSD: Samsung 840 PRO 256GB -16500,
RAM: Corsair Vengeance 8GB -5200,
ODD: Asus 24B5ST DVD-RW -1100,
Speakers: Logitech Z313 2.1 Speakers -1600,
KB: Microsoft Sidewinder X4 -2200,
Mouse: Logitech G400 -1600.
UPS: APC 110VA -5500.
TOATL -1,06,000.
 

ankush28

Bazinga
CPU: Intel Core i5 4770k -23500,
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z87MX-D3H -8800,
Graphics card: Zotac GTX760 AMP 2GB -19500,
Case: Corsair 300R Windowed Side Panel -5000,
PSU: Seasonic X650KM3 -7500,
HDD: WD Caviar Black 2TB -8000,
SSD: Samsung 840 PRO 256GB -16500,
RAM: Corsair Vengeance 8GB -5200,
ODD: Asus 24B5ST DVD-RW -1100,
Speakers: Logitech Z313 2.1 Speakers -1600,
KB: Microsoft Sidewinder X4 -2200,
Mouse: Logitech G400 -1600.
UPS: APC 110VA -5500.
TOATL -1,06,000.

Firstly I think its i7-4770k...

GTX760 a sub 20k Graphics card in 110k rig :facepalm:
G400 and sidewinder's price is increased a lot :')
 

ankush28

Bazinga
Some modification to bavusani's suggetion
CPU: Intel Core i7 4770k -23500
Motherboard: Asus Gryphon Z87 @ 13500
Graphics card: Asus AMD R9 290 DC2 @ 36000
Case: Corsair 300R -4200,
PSU: Seasonic SS750-JS750 Watt @ 5700
HDD: WD Caviar Black 2TB -8000
RAM: Kingston HyperX Blu 2 x 4GB -4800
ODD: Asus 24B5ST DVD-RW -1100,
Keyboard - TVS -E gold mechanical USB @ 1900
UPS: APC 1100VA -5500.

Which ram you have exactly ? Model?
 
OP
siddharthx64

siddharthx64

A Droid in a Tux
Are look at OP's intended purchase date!

Hi, Harshil,
Thank you for the exceptionally quick response.
I guess I posted too soon :p

however, would the prices fluctuate so much that they would cross my budget? I thought they would decrease a bit (even if just slightly) by the time I get down to the shops on SP Road.

And could you guys kindly tell me if there is anything new releasing by Jan end, which could be worth altering the config for?
 
OP
siddharthx64

siddharthx64

A Droid in a Tux
CPU: Intel Core i7 4770k -23500,
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z87MX-D3H -8800,
Graphics card: Zotac GTX760 AMP 2GB -19500,
Case: Corsair 300R Windowed Side Panel -5000,
PSU: Seasonic X650KM3 -7500,
HDD: WD Caviar Black 2TB -8000,
SSD: Samsung 840 PRO 256GB -16500,
RAM: Corsair Vengeance 8GB -5200,
ODD: Asus 24B5ST DVD-RW -1100,
Speakers: Logitech Z313 2.1 Speakers -1600,
KB: Microsoft Sidewinder X4 -2200,
Mouse: Logitech G400 -1600.
UPS: APC 110VA -5500.
TOATL -1,06,000.

Thank you, for this config idea.
I dont need the KB and Mouse, as I already have them. (forgot to mention KB)

Also, I do not want to go for a SSD at the moment, will add at some later date.

Also, how is the Asus Maximus Formula V or VI? That may be slightly out of my budget, but is it really worth all the hype?
 
Hi, Harshil,
Thank you for the exceptionally quick response.
I guess I posted too soon :p

however, would the prices fluctuate so much that they would cross my budget? I thought they would decrease a bit (even if just slightly) by the time I get down to the shops on SP Road.

And could you guys kindly tell me if there is anything new releasing by Jan end, which could be worth altering the config for?

Motherboards may become cheaper, graphic card drivers may change the game, new cabinets may be launched, etc. Also, prices of RAM and HDD keep changing daily. A config suggested today may get cheaper by say 3-4k. So instead of that, why not ask for a config when you actually intend to make the purchase so we can make best utilization of your budget?

Not all products get a pre-launch teaser so new releases cannot always be predicted.

So, I suggest you to ask mods to close this thread and start a thread ~10-15 January 2014 for an optimal suggestions :wink:
 

PratikV

Broken In
you could use MSI Z87 GD65 for Gaming or MPower series for Overclocking. The fact that i didnt went with Asus is due to Rashi peripherals. Gigabyte Z83 UD5H is also killer. Do check reviews of R9 290 or 280x as per your budget. Check with the distributers for Sapphire R9 280x Vapour X.
Just a question how many OS's are you really going to use frequently or on daily basis.
 
OP
siddharthx64

siddharthx64

A Droid in a Tux
you could use MSI Z87 GD65 for Gaming or MPower series for Overclocking. The fact that i didnt went with Asus is due to Rashi peripherals. Gigabyte Z83 UD5H is also killer. Do check reviews of R9 290 or 280x as per your budget. Check with the distributers for Sapphire R9 280x Vapour X.
Just a question how many OS's are you really going to use frequently or on daily basis.

Hi,

I found the Z87 series to be a really good option. Thanks to you. I will certainly check those boards and cards out bro.

And answering your question, I would be using 2 OSes very regularly: Win 7 x64 and RedHat Enterprise Linux x64. (Win7 for gaming and entertainment, RHEL for VM related work) Mint/Debian is just a third option

Motherboards may become cheaper, graphic card drivers may change the game, new cabinets may be launched, etc. Also, prices of RAM and HDD keep changing daily. A config suggested today may get cheaper by say 3-4k. So instead of that, why not ask for a config when you actually intend to make the purchase so we can make best utilization of your budget?

Not all products get a pre-launch teaser so new releases cannot always be predicted.

So, I suggest you to ask mods to close this thread and start a thread ~10-15 January 2014 for an optimal suggestions :wink:

I certainly agree with you, Harshil. I request the admin to close this thread. I will re create it in the first week of Jan. :)
Thank you for being so kind and taking the time to explain. Really appreciate it.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom