Advice for a new PC

[Solmyr]

So I'm looking to update my PC soon and I thought I'd ask for some advice on what would be the best current components. I use my PC as general-purpose and especially for gaming. My old monitor (24" Samsung) should serve well enough for now, so it's not a priority, and I can reuse things like keyboard/mouse. So basically what I need is the case and everything inside (although I could probably reuse my current DVD drive too).

Now for qualifications. My desired benchmark is at least being able to smoothly run Skyrim with tons of mods (both graphics and scripts), and preferably a setup that will be suitable for gaming for the next few years. Essentially I need recommendations for a motherboard, CPU, graphics card and HDD (my 1 TB one is getting full, so I think I need to go for a bigger one). I'm likely going to use Windows 7 as I'm not convinced of 8's worth.

So, any advice?

[Solmyr]

My starting reference point performance-wise right now is:

CPU: Intel Core i5-3350P
GPU: GeForce GTX 770 with 2 GB

Still need advice on appropriate motherboard for these, as well as good HDD/SSD combo.

[viper37]

So I'm looking to update my PC soon and I thought I'd ask for some advice on what would be the best current components. I use my PC as general-purpose and especially for gaming. My old monitor (24" Samsung) should serve well enough for now, so it's not a priority, and I can reuse things like keyboard/mouse. So basically what I need is the case and everything inside (although I could probably reuse my current DVD drive too).

Now for qualifications. My desired benchmark is at least being able to smoothly run Skyrim with tons of mods (both graphics and scripts), and preferably a setup that will be suitable for gaming for the next few years. Essentially I need recommendations for a motherboard, CPU, graphics card and HDD (my 1 TB one is getting full, so I think I need to go for a bigger one). I'm likely going to use Windows 7 as I'm not convinced of 8's worth.

So, any advice?

CPU: AMD FX-8350 
MB:     ASUS Sabertooth 990FX R2.0  or ASUS M5A99X Evo R2.0 if price is more important (90$ less)
Graphics: Radeon 280x is around 300$.  If it's too much, either go for Nvidia GTX 660 or AMD Radeon 270/270x.
SSD: Crucial M550 240gb or Samsung 840 pro.
Hard drive:   Western Digital Black 2TB WD2003FZEX
DDR3 desktop memory: 16gb RAM of Corsaire Dominator GT or Corsais Vengeance.

[Solmyr]

CPU: AMD FX-8350 

Not heard of this. I'm usually partial to Intel CPUs, how does this compare?

Graphics: Radeon 280x is around 300$.  If it's too much, either go for Nvidia GTX 660 or AMD Radeon 270/270x.

I'm looking at GTX 770, Radeon R9 290, or maybe even GTX 780 atm.

[Grey Fox]

Oh High End.

Why a 3550P over a 4770K?

Not that it matters much, this will have amazing performance either way.

What's your go to resolution? That will affect how much Video card you need to buy.

Don't listen to Viper, at your price points AMDs are irrevelents.

[Solmyr]

I'm just trying to triangulate on a CPU that's going to perform well enough to run intensive games. From what I read, Intel tends to have better performance. Insane number of cores is probably not necessary as most games don't benefit from it atm, 4 cores should be more than enough?

My monitor's resolution is 1920x1200, so that's what I'm aiming for. Mainly I want enough power and VRAM to run games on high settings and/or with graphics mods (e.g. Skyrim with plenty of texture mods).

My price range is around €800-900 (though I can go a tad higher if it's gets me a performance increase at reasonable ratio). This includes case, CPU, GPU, motherboard, hard disks and a PSU; already have a monitor.

[Grey Fox]

SSDs. SSDs. SSDs.

Then a 770 is plenty of card.

[Solmyr]

I know, I'll probably get a SSD for the OS installation.

[garbon]

I'm likely going to use Windows 7 as I'm not convinced of 8's worth.

I have 8 but have it boot to Win7 like desktop. One thing I've noticed with my computer (got in August last year) is that it now nearly immediately boots. I assume that has something to do with 8 but can't confirm that.

[Grey Fox]

I'm likely going to use Windows 7 as I'm not convinced of 8's worth.

I have 8 but have it boot to Win7 like desktop. One thing I've noticed with my computer (got in August last year) is that it now nearly immediately boots. I assume that has something to do with 8 but can't confirm that.

Yes. 8 cheats with shutdowns.

[garbon]

Ah! This?

http://www.eightforums.com/tutorials/6320-fast-startup-turn-off-windows-8-a.html

[Solmyr]

Why a 3550P over a 4770K?

How useful would a i7-4770K would be compared to, say, i5-4670K?

[viper37]

CPU: AMD FX-8350 

Not heard of this. I'm usually partial to Intel CPUs, how does this compare?

Graphics: Radeon 280x is around 300$.  If it's too much, either go for Nvidia GTX 660 or AMD Radeon 270/270x.

I'm looking at GTX 770, Radeon R9 290, or maybe even GTX 780 atm.

I didn't notice your second post before writing mine, sorry.

Comparisons:  it looks like this AMD processor is slightly faster than the Intel you picked, it's about the same as an i7-3770k, for a similar price to the i5.

As for the video cards, imho, the R9 290 is a bit overpriced for the real life differences.  Do you intend to game on multiple monitors?  If so, it's worth it.  But a simple monitor in 1920x1080p?  the 280 will be perfect.  I have less than that, and have no problem playing Crysis 3 at full resolution on a single monitor.

[viper37]

I'm likely going to use Windows 7 as I'm not convinced of 8's worth.

Personally, I'd recommend Windows 8, because it's the latest OS, and it's "future" proof for a few years.

With all the latest patches and the free upgrade to Windows 8.1, it has become a decent OS.  But you will need to install either Start8(5$) or Classic Shell (Free) to get your regular "start button" in the desktop interface.

[Solmyr]

I came up with these specs. Any comments?

GPU: MSI GeForce GTX 770 Twin Frozr IV Gaming OC 2048 MB
CPU: Intel Core i5 4670K 3.4 GHz LGA1150
Mobo: MSI Z87-G45 Gaming OR Gigabyte GA-Z87X-UD3H (not sure yet which)
RAM: 2x Kingston Valueram 4 GB 1333 MHz DDR3
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 2 TB 64 MB 7200 RPM 3.5" SATA III (6 Gb/s)
SSD: Samsung 840 EVO SSD 120 GB 2.5" SATA3
PSU: Fractal Design Tesla R2 650W, 80 PLUS Gold
Case: BitFenix Merc Alpha ATX