Advice for 1st gaming PC--$1300 budget for (modded) Skyrim and future games.

[AdventureGirl]

Hello! :)

Name's Ashley and I'm looking for advice on my first gaming rig.

I want to be able to play Skyrim and its DLCs on Ultra with mods (using the S.T.E.P. guide mostly), but I also want to be able to play other games now and in the future.

My budget is $1300 roughly, though less than that is, of course, preferred.

I would love to have a case that has good ventilation and parts that don't grate on the ears, if possible.

I love blue LED--whether it be fans, lighting, or both, so please take that into consideration as well.

In terms of parts, I haven't a clue. I've heard the intel i5 4690 is good for gaming, and that I need at least a 600w power supply. Oh, and that an SSD card is beneficial. Other than that, I'm clueless. :P

I already have an Asus 24 inch monitor that plays on 1920-x1080 resolution, as well as speakers and a mouse.

Thanks! :)

[_I_]

4690k is unlocked and is best with a z97 mobo

a quality 550w psu can run any single gpu in an 1150 build
750-850w for sli
on a $1300usd budget a gtx 780 should be possible

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/BhDWJx


CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($224.99 @ NCIX US)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H105 73.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97X-SLI ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($113.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($89.98 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 780 3GB DirectCU II Video Card ($429.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Corsair 730T Black ATX Full Tower Case ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: XFX 850W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($69.99 @ NCIX US)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer ($15.98 @ OutletPC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($84.98 @ OutletPC)
Total: $1229.88

cpu/mobo/cooler are capable of overclocking
psu/mobo/case are good for adding a 2nd gtx780 for sli

if you want blue lighting, a cold cathode kit is only $10
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/2998/lit-46/Dual_12_Cold_Cathode_Kit_-_Ultra_Bright_UV.html?tl=g6c75s133

[Rumpelcrutchskin]

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/kXyMMp

Good full tower case with two large blue led fans and good graphics card with 4Gb VRAM for modded Skyrim. CPU cooler is capable for medium overclock.

And build above is missing the HDD.

[Wampum Biskit]

here's another nice case.

http://www.amazon.com/Enermax-Computer-Acrylic-See-Thru-ECA3280A-BL/dp/B00BKX760S/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1409174031&sr=8-3&keywords=enermax+ostrog

a little cheaper but tons of customization possible and a good cable routing system.

[AdventureGirl]

Thanks for all the replies so far! It seems that Enermax, Phantom 410, Fractal R4 and etc I've found all give me this warning about how cards might be too long--I was looking at a Sapphire R9 290 Vapor X (partly because of the color, I admit) and it says certain bays may not be usable on various cases.

[Wampum Biskit]

the ostrog doesn't have that problem , you can take out the middle harddrive bays , and well i don't think with the bay out ,. there's not a card that won't fit length wise...

[Rove]

Towers & WIndows 8.1 64bit Pro

Top of the budget enthusiast & vanity system:
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/LP47sY
Base Total: $1411.89
Promo Discounts: -$42.00
Mail-in Rebates: -$100.00
Total: $1269.89
This one has all you need and more for gaming and most other recreational computer use for now and for into the future, including a Blu-Ray burner, SSD & top enthusiast GPU.
This system is unlocked for easy and maximum overclocking.

Value for the money on Ultra-quality gaming:
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/ZYjzXL
Base Total: $883.87
Promo Discounts: -$8.99
Mail-in Rebates: -$80.00
Total: $794.88
This is all you need to spend to really trounce the newest consoles in terms of hardware & be ahead of all the maximum recommended system requirements for todays most demanding PC games. This all comes in at a price that is better in terms of dollars per performance than the first system & you can always put in upgrades later as there is room in the case & PSU.
This system is unlocked for easy and maximum overclocking.

Power-saver, good for gaming now, needs graphics upgrade later
SPECIAL FEATURE: Estimated maximum power use is only 181w!!!
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/6TQ4ZL
Base Total: $962.90
Promo Discounts: -$12.00
Mail-in Rebates: -$30.00
Shipping: $6.51
Total: $927.41
This system is about saving power. Everything is as good or better than the hardware in the newest consoles in terms of performance EXCEPT the graphics which are integrated right onto the APU (CPU+GPU, looks like CPU and goes in CPU slot) chip. These graphics are a lot better than last generation consoles and should play all last generation games for you including Skyrim (probably even as modded as it gets) BUT you will need a dedicated AMD Radeon R9 270 or Nvidia GeForce GTX 760 or better graphics card to really take on the newest consoles and leave them behind solidly. This system can also play Battlefield 4 (new PS4/XB1 game) at above 30FPS at 1920*1080 and above 60FPS at 720p. Another interesting feature is the APU itself. You should look this one up and study it on the AMD website if you are interested. It has "12 compute cores (4CPU+8GPU)" that use a new technology called HSA and several other new technologies which currently lack much support BUT may really pay off in the future and make this like a 12 core CPU when used with a high quality GPU. The system is upgradeable with room in the case for a big GPU and extra power on the PSU for a high end card.
This system is a Micro-ATX so it's smaller and only fits Micro-ATX motherboards.
This system is unlocked for easy and maximum overclocking.

Super-power-saver pro system, good for gaming now, needs graphics upgrade later:
SPECIAL FEATURE: Estimated maximum power use is only 208w!!!
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/ysDLdC
Base Total: $1227.90
Promo Discounts: -$12.00
Mail-in Rebates: -$40.00
Shipping: $9.50
Total: $1185.40
The main focus of this system is to save power like crazy and get the maximum performance per watt from all your electricity while keeping the consumption low. Everything in this system is above what you would find in the newest gaming consoles hardware EXCEPT the graphics card (GTX 750 ti @ only 60w) is perhaps even to or a little bit lower than you would find even in the Xbox One which has the weaker of the two. However this should still handle Skyrim and other last-gen games on Ultra and even current PlayStation 4 and Xbox One titles at acceptable levels as I don't think they have even started to push the hardware yet and most of the titles are still crossovers also available on last-gen consoles. Meanwhile all the other parts (other than GPU) are totally great. The CPU in this system is a expensive, high quality, low power, s-series, 4th-gen, 4 core 8 thread, i7 from Intel with Hyperthreading and 8MB L3 cache. It has integrated graphics also if you can figure out how to switch to using them for office tasks to save even more power, however it's a more traditional design unlike the AMD APU (CPU+GPU) in the system above and is generally considered only as a CPU or CPU+iGPU rather than a APU with all the i7s performance already being well understood and supported in current programs and without any need for special programming supporting it. The system is upgradeable with room in the case for a big GPU and extra power on the PSU for a high end card.
This system is a Micro-ATX so it's smaller and only fits Micro-ATX motherboards.
This system is locked and can NOT be easily or highly overclocked.

[Rumpelcrutchskin]

Really Rove...
$1200 PC with GTX 750 Ti and nutered i7...
$1000 APU PC with no graphics card...
1000W Raidmax, dont think you can find more horrible quality PSU...

sigh

[_I_]

and skyrim only needs 2 cores

no point of an fx4-8000 for it

with mods and high res textures itll like a fast cpu/gpu to run good
ex pentium g3258 or 4690k overclocked to 4.5+ and gtx780 or r9 290x

[Astraea Kisaragi]

If you are a total lover of blue led, you might consider a Zalman Z11 Plus case. However is rather big and your room will be at night lighten up like a city centre.
Super Flower makes power supplies where even the connectors for the modular cables glow in blue, however this brand is not sold in USA. Might order directly from Taiwan though.

Regarding a post above, a Raidmax power supply is like a ticking time bomb, so if you want set your room to fire, be my guest. Though I bet that 1000W has real performance of 550- 600W.

Just made this build for fun. While one may find a better one as this, everything in this build shifts towards the blue color and will glow like a lighthouse. Could use the Super Flower PSU tho, but no shop sells it on partspicker.

http://pcpartpicker.com/user/akiranyo/saved/mXQcCJ

[AdventureGirl]

Thanks for all of the replies!

I found this case, and was wondering your thoughts on it? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119213&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-na-_-na-_-na&cm_sp=&AID=10446076&PID=3938566&SID=

[Rove]

Początkowo opublikowane przez AdventureGirl:

Thanks for all of the replies!

I found this case, and was wondering your thoughts on it? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119213&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-na-_-na-_-na&cm_sp=&AID=10446076&PID=3938566&SID=

Looks alright, fits 12.5 inch GPU though not sure how since there is a strange looking thing that seems to be in the way in the photos next to the drive bays.

Personally I prefer the cheaper Antec 1100 V2 and adding in your own blue LED fans & or or Blue LED CPU cooler of which Zalman makes a few both Air and Water.

Still that one looks like a good enough case & room for everything on the spec sheet even if the photos don't seem that way.

[paulco]

Has enough room for the 290x card(Sapphire rec.750W psu)

[Rumpelcrutchskin]

Początkowo opublikowane przez AdventureGirl:

Thanks for all of the replies!

I found this case, and was wondering your thoughts on it? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119213&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-na-_-na-_-na&cm_sp=&AID=10446076&PID=3938566&SID=

It has room for 320.7 mm long graphics cards so no problems there.

[Mozendo]

Wait a few weeks, we should be getting new graphics cards by then.

[¡OOO67VH]

I subscribed to this forum for three reasons: 1) it was recommended; 2) this thread, which alone has enough support, nouns galore, and attitude to keep the forum from appearing sterile. Also, I have trouble with addition. Thanks, you guys. Made my night.