Guild Wars 2

For reasons I don’t want to get into, I need a new system to play Guild Wars 2. I found something on Amazon with a good rating and at a price that’s affordable for me after a bit of saving, the CybertronPC:

http://www.amazon.com/CybertronPC-Escape-GM4222D-Desktop-Black/dp/B00A2J4YZG/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1360109602&sr=8-6&keywords=gaming+desktop

So I have a few questions. Does anybody have this or know somebody that does? Does it work well for Guild Wars 2 and other games I might want (Diablo 3 is the other one I play, I’ll inevitably want to get a few more PC games that I can’t play on my PS3)
Also, any suggestions for monitors and keyboards (I already have a mouse, 360 controller, and gamepad) that aren’t too expensive. I’m only looking to spend about a 1000 bucks, give or take, all together. I’m not a hardcore PC gamer and don’t particularly care if I can’t run on the highest settings, nor do I know much about computers in general. I just want something reliable that can play Diablo and Guild Wars and isn’t too expensive. So if you can recommend other good PCs and gear all within the 1000 dollar price limit, give or take a few bucks?
I don’t have a PC right now, just a laptop that I’m going to stop playing games on and use only for work and study. Any help would be appreciated

That is a BIG no they do not even list the video card and probably use a very cheap PSU also you will not really like windows 8. Give me a few mins i’ll see what I can do.
Also the AMD processor for gaming ouch.

Really? Somewhat surprising. All the reviews for it seemed very positive. Perhaps the info is listed on the CybertronPC website.

It has 2 reviews hardly enough to base buying something on but besides that the specs for gaming are terrible I would look elsewhere.

You’re really buying a 400 dollar PC. The price on amazon has labor + profit factored in. If you really want something good at 700 dollars, build it yourself

BeardManly.2140 if you dont want to build for yourself, I really recommend you use cyperpowerpc
http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/system/Mega_Special_I

i recommend starting with a base model and making some changes the changes I would make to the above are

CPU: AMD FX-8350 4.00 GHz Eight-Core AM3+ CPU 8MB L2 Cache & Turbo Core Technology 100]
HDD: 2TB (2TBx1) SATA-III 6.0Gb/s 64MB Cache 7200RPM HDD [27] (Single Drive)
MEMORY: 8GB (4GBx2) DDR3/1600MHz Dual Channel Memory (Corsair or Major Brand)
MOTHERBOARD: [CrossFireX] GIGABYTE GA-970A-UD3 AMD 970 Socket AM3+ ATX Mainboard w/ On/Off Charge, Ultra Durable™3, 7.1 Audio, GbLAN, IEEE1394a, 2 Gen2 PCIe X16, 3 PCIe X1 & 2 PCI [+4]
SOUND: HIGH DEFINITION ON-BOARD 7.1 AUDIO
VIDEO: AMD Radeon HD 7770 1GB 16X PCIe 3.0 Video Card (Major Brand Powered by AMD)

if you dig around on there you can tweak the configs pretty well.

you can do better building yourself.

also note: the cheapest case they offer is actually pretty nice and is what I would go with over the default case they offer.

BeardManly.2140,
I also considered AMD 8 cores for my next cpu due to budget issues.
I investigatd some and found the following problems:
1. performance. 4 cores intel perform better than 8 cores AMD in terms of FPS (when the GPU isn’t part of the cpu).
2. price. There is no big difference between intel i7 and amd 8 cores. At least in Israel.
3. motherboard selection. This also may be an Israel only issue, but the selection of motherboards for i7 and i5 is way better than for AMD. This also means that it’s more likely to find a board that has ddr3 1600MHz support as well as 1333MHz support for intel cpus than for AMD.
4. There is no real advantage to AMD cpu with an AMD GPU.

There is a test in tomshardware for guildwars2 compairing different cpus with the same Radeon GPU and intel perform much much better, almost twice the fps with intel cpu than with an AMD.

In addition to that, the system you linked has many flaws in it’s description, and the fact that it neglects to specify the motherboard and gpu makes me suspect that upon placing an order they assemble the board and gpu that is most suitable to them (price and availability), and not neccisarily your needs.

any board that supports am3+ will take ddr3 1333/1600/1866/exct, thats not an issue.

toms testing was flawed and has not been redone with the *300 series of amd chips, I have compared my results and friends results with gw2 and the only place they really matched was with dualcores(that all sucked horribly for gw2)

but yeah, the place I linked is gonna give you a better result really for that price (what im seeing on amazon) you can get an 8core 8320 or 8350 with 7770 video and 2tb hdd(8 or 16gb ram) a bit more will get you something even better then that….

honestly, that systems got good reviews but..

my test is “would I buy this if i was to busy to build my own” in this case its a resounding NO…..

I’d agree with other recommendations here that you should consider building your own. It may sound like a complicated task, but it truly is not, and there are loads of resources out there to help. Look around for some general guides, and use sites like Tom’s Hardware and AnandTech for reviews and such. Pcpartpicker.com is awesome for helping to design your system, and it will make sure things are compatible.

I’d say you probably want to aim for an i5 3550/3570 or FX 8350 build with a mid-range graphics card (HD 7770 or GTX 560), and at least 8GB memory, 16 if you can.

I honestly do not think you can purchase a good gaming PC for under $1000. I am currenlty using a laptop that is great for photos, web and access database managment. But it dogs down. Be aware of any computer that does not have descrete graphics and name brand GPU. I like Nvidia but there are a couple other pretty good brands out there. Take a look at MSI and iBuyPower

£1000 including the price for a monitor. perfectly doable if u put it todether urself.

Spend about $800 on the computer itself and $200 on the monitor and ur laughing.

This rig is a tad over $1000 but does have a 120hz monitor .if u want to save money u could easily spend less on the monitor and go down to a normal 60hz one.
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/C0AU

OK, I have a computer again I can post from. Yay!
I found out I apparently have some connections. I can get a free monitor and keyboard from my friend (not a great monitor and keyboard, but a free monitor and keyboard that will suit my needs) and a friend of a friend sells computer parts and builds them too, so maybe I can get a discount there.
Anyway, like I said, I don’t know a lot about computers, so all these numbers and letters and terms your tossing out mean nothing to me. It’s all Greek. Plus, I don’t need a great gaming PC, just one that can play GW2 and Diablo 3. I don’t even care if I have to turn the settings down low. If it works, I’m fine.
I did find this in my snooping though. It excludes the monitor, keyboard, and mouse-all of which I have or can get for free- and I think it might be missing a cooling system, which I do want to get:

CPU: Intel Core i5-3470 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor
Motherboard: ASRock B75M-GL Micro ATX LGA1155 Motherboard
Memory: Mushkin Silverline 8GB (1 × 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
Storage: Sandisk ReadyCache 32GB 2.5" Solid State Disk
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon HD 7850 1GB Video Card
Case: Antec One ATX Mid Tower Case
Power Supply: Corsair Enthusiast 550W 80 PLUS Certified ATX12V Power Supply
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer

I got these suggestions from another forum on Tomshardware where the OP was in a similar situation as me. Except she lives in Canada, which means the prices are slightly lower in the US, and I’m still hoping I can get a discount from my friend’s friend. Maybe.
But, still, no cooling system. I do want that.
Further thoughts?

if you can manage a 3570k thats a much better choice for cpu, but yeah, thats an ok looking system…

you could get a 7770 rather then 7850 and get a 3570k that would be a better choice, this games very cpu bound….very very very cpu bound….

talk to your friend/friends friend see what they can get you, if you cant play gw2 well, you can give tera a go, it scales FAR better then gw2 with settings and hardware, gw2 is a fun game but…..at this point, the cost of entry if you want to do large DE’s and/or WvWvW is….far higher then it should be…..

Jazhara Knightmage.4389:

if you can manage a 3570k thats a much better choice for cpu, but yeah, thats an ok looking system…

you could get a 7770 rather then 7850 and get a 3570k that would be a better choice, this games very cpu bound….very very very cpu bound….

talk to your friend/friends friend see what they can get you, if you cant play gw2 well, you can give tera a go, it scales FAR better then gw2 with settings and hardware, gw2 is a fun game but…..at this point, the cost of entry if you want to do large DE’s and/or WvWvW is….far higher then it should be…..

I don’t even know what a 3570k and a 7770 IS…

If ur friend can build the system for u, just put together a list.

the PC u linked has a few things i would not reccomend .. one being the tiny 32gb SSD which is just to small.

In all honesty i would give ur friend the list of parts in this link and see if he/she can build it for u…minus the monitor.
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/C0AU

SolarNova.1052:

If ur friend can build the system for u, just put together a list.

the PC u linked has a few things i would not reccomend .. one being the tiny 32gb SSD which is just to small.

In all honesty i would give ur friend the list of parts in this link and see if he/she can build it for u…minus the monitor.
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/C0AU

Kinda leaning towards that, for no other reason than I’m impatient and want one ASAP so I can play GW2 and Diablo 3 again.

Beard,

if you provide a budget, I will assemble a parts list for you to maximize performance.

If you’re interested, I custom build PCs for friends, so if you don’t have someone who can do it, I would be happy to help you out (at your expense of course).

Let me know.

Limey.2769:

Beard,

if you provide a budget, I will assemble a parts list for you to maximize performance.

If you’re interested, I custom build PCs for friends, so if you don’t have someone who can do it, I would be happy to help you out (at your expense of course).

Let me know.

Thank you! As I’ve mentioned in my original post, my budget is about 1000 dollars. I can imagine saving that much hope through my part time jobs (I’m a college student) but not much more. And like I said before, I have a mouse and Windows 7, and I can get a free monitor and keyboard. I just need the actual computer tower and such.
If you can put together another part list in that $1000 dollar budget (I live in the US) I’d appreciate it. And if for some reason I can’t get help through my friend-of-a-friend, I’ll definitely contact you next.

BeardManly.2140:

Jazhara Knightmage.4389:

if you can manage a 3570k thats a much better choice for cpu, but yeah, thats an ok looking system…

you could get a 7770 rather then 7850 and get a 3570k that would be a better choice, this games very cpu bound….very very very cpu bound….

talk to your friend/friends friend see what they can get you, if you cant play gw2 well, you can give tera a go, it scales FAR better then gw2 with settings and hardware, gw2 is a fun game but…..at this point, the cost of entry if you want to do large DE’s and/or WvWvW is….far higher then it should be…..

I don’t even know what a 3570k and a 7770 IS…

3570k is a processor. Full name is i5 3570k. Its a quad core. K means it unlocked, meaning you can overclock it (provided you have a good cooler)

7770 is a graphics card. Full name is AMD Raedon HD 7770. Can be overclocked depending on the cooling. There are ghz editions, which means it is pre-overclocked and guarantees that clock, but is often a bit pricier.

Do I need a sound card too? I know getting a pair of speakers isn’t expensive, but won’t I need a sound card?
I’m worried that if I don’t have sound, I’ll forget how much that one norn in the Busted Flagon really loves beer.

Nearly all modern day Motherboards come with a built in onboard sound chip and they aint to shabby tbh. So no u wont need a dedicated sound card.

Cool, no sound card.
I just need monies.

Thermaltake V3 Black Edition VL80001W2Z Black SECC / Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
Item #: N82E16811133094
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy
-$10.00 Instant
$10.00 Mail-in Rebate Card
$49.99
$39.99

SanDisk SDSSDP-128G-G25 2.5" 128GB SATA III Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)
Item #: N82E16820171646
Return Policy: Limited Replacement Only Return Policy
Protect Your Investment (expand for options)
-$25.00 Instant
$124.99
$99.99
Subtotal: $139.98
Calculate Shipping
Zip Code Update
Choose a delivery method
FREE Super Eggsaver (4-7 Business Days)
$4.92 Newegg 3 Business Days
$48.81 Newegg 2 Business Days
$65.11 Newegg Next Business Day
NOT IN A HURRY…
Save money with our “Super Eggsaver” shipping.
“Super EggSaver” is a low-cost 4-7 business day shipping method. Learn more.
Shipping: $0.00

GIGABYTE GV-R795WF3-3GD Radeon HD 7950 3GB 384-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card
Item #: N82E16814125414
Return Policy: VGA Standard Return Policy
Protect Your Investment (expand for options)
$299.99
1

AMD Gift coupon: Crysis 3 + Bioshock Inf.
Item #: N82E16800995145
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy
-$169.99 Saving
$169.99
$0.00

CORSAIR Builder Series CX600 600W ATX12V v2.3 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply
Item #: N82E16817139028
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy
Protect Your Investment (expand for options)
-$10.00 Instant
$20.00 Mail-in Rebate Card
$79.99
$69.99

Team Elite 8GB (2 × 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10600) Desktop Memory Model TED38192M1333C9DC
Item #: N82E16820313123
Return Policy: Memory Standard Return Policy
$43.99

MSI Z77A-G41 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard with UEFI BIOS
Item #: N82E16813130653
Return Policy: Standard Return Policy
Protect Your Investment (expand for options)
-$5.00 Instant
$10.00 Mail-in Rebate Card
$99.99
$94.99

Intel Core i5-3570K Ivy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo) LGA 1155 77W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 4000 BX80637I53570K
Item #: N82E16819116504
Return Policy: CPU Replacement Only Return Policy
Protect Your Investment (expand for options)
$229.99

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-bit – OEM
Item #: N82E16832116986
Return Policy: Software Standard Return Policy
$99.99
1

Corel Winzip 17 Standard – Product Key Card
Item #: N82E16832106330
Return Policy: Software Standard Return Policy
-$29.99 Saving
$29.99
$0.00
Subtotal: $838.94

This comes out to 975, it includes a great processor, a great video card, a copy of windows, a solid state drive (you want this for loading the game textures).

Do this and then buy yourself a 2tb storage drive later on.

If you want more help, let me know.

I have this exact system except I have a 2nd SSD, and a 7970 (100 bucks more, for not a ton more performance)

This is what I’d do with my thousand dollars.

I wouldnt get a MSI motherboard, they have high component failure rates. Stick with Asus or Gigaybyte.

I’ve built 5 systems in the last 6 years, all MSI boards, zero failures.

Take it as you will.

Limey, you been lucky so far, one local shop that use to use nothing but msi has now abandoned the brand, after talking tot he owner he has a 75% fail rate on their “enthusist” grade boards.

i could post 1k builds that would be better bangs for the buck then what your suggesting, but, the OP hasnt asked for us to do that yet, if he does, I will happily put up the kinda build I would go with……..

Limey.2769:

I’ve built 5 systems in the last 6 years, all MSI boards, zero failures.

Take it as you will.

I’ve built more PC’s than that already this year. MSI, ASRock at one time was good now I use Biostar for $100 or so boards and ASUS for high end boards. Also I personally use a Gigabyte. The only board I’ve never had a failure with is Biostar go figure>

Thanks, Limey. I added a SSD to SolarNova’s list. I already have a copy of Windows 7 64-bit Home Premium.

one thing to keep in mind is, intel dosnt expect their chips to last past the 3 year warr period, they effecitvly have said as much to people complaining about the use of cheap white TIM under the IHS.

http://www.techpowerup.com/165882/TIM-is-Behind-Ivy-Bridge-Temperatures-After-All.html

you can google it, a few people have emailed them and the response was in effect “the TIM will last the 3 years the chips under warranty”

you also can expect high temps on ivybridge, 70c idle on my buddies 3770k with stock cooler, if you can get ahold of a sandybridge based chip those run cooler because intel used fluxless solder rather then cheap white TIM under the IHS so they are likely to last longer due to lower core temps.

makes me mad they cheeped out even on the enthusiast K series chips.

I wouldnt worry about the TIM tbh, and the temps under stock cooler are irrelivant imo becouse the stock cooler suck. Not to mention Intel chips r rated to run up to 90c without issue, although most people make sure to keep temps under 85c when OC’ing, stock clocks would likely run 70c at max load.

70c at idle seems incredibly high tbh i would think somthing isnt right there.

I agree it was bad they used cheap TIM, but not somthing to worry about nor a reason not to get one. Granted if u can find a new 2550k or 2700k for a good price maybe go for one of those, but they r getting harder to find now.

been told by a good number of people they see 70c and up stock cooler stock clocks at idle so the TIM is likely going bad/bad in their chips….worse part, the coolers base is barely warm…..

closest i have seen to that with amd’s was a buddies 8120 that amd confirmed had no tim under the cap, but at least thats rare and just a manufacturing error rather then a choice to save a few cents per chip.

and yeah they are getting harder to find, because alot of people have been looking for them due to this TIM issues.

I just hate seeing some of the images i have seen after decapping, some 3770k’s didnt even have the full die covered with goop…many had goop that had turned to chalk(hard and powdery)

they could have at least used ceramiq or the like

Ok that is crap at iddle Ivybridge CPU’s dont run that hot, if they are I would guess the heatsink hasant been fited properly the push pull pin sytem on the stock heatsinks is pants and can easily lead to a badly fitted heatsimk if not fitted right.

tbh if there not overclocked temps arent to much different to Sandybridge CPU’s even when overclocked they only get hot when the volts are pushed to high.

There is alot of rubish spread about the tim used on the Ivybridge ok it is not the best and they could have used better, but it should still be good for around 5/6 years atleast which by that point most people will hav or will be ready to upgrade again anyway.

Jazhara Knightmage.4389:

one thing to keep in mind is, intel dosnt expect their chips to last past the 3 year warr period, they effecitvly have said as much to people complaining about the use of cheap white TIM under the IHS.

http://www.techpowerup.com/165882/TIM-is-Behind-Ivy-Bridge-Temperatures-After-All.html

you can google it, a few people have emailed them and the response was in effect “the TIM will last the 3 years the chips under warranty”

you also can expect high temps on ivybridge, 70c idle on my buddies 3770k with stock cooler, if you can get ahold of a sandybridge based chip those run cooler because intel used fluxless solder rather then cheap white TIM under the IHS so they are likely to last longer due to lower core temps.

makes me mad they cheeped out even on the enthusiast K series chips.

Could always pry up the IHS and replace the TIM

Brem.6792:

Ok that is crap at iddle Ivybridge CPU’s dont run that hot, if they are I would guess the heatsink hasant been fited properly the push pull pin sytem on the stock heatsinks is pants and can easily lead to a badly fitted heatsimk if not fitted right.

tbh if there not overclocked temps arent to much different to Sandybridge CPU’s even when overclocked they only get hot when the volts are pushed to high.

There is alot of rubish spread about the tim used on the Ivybridge ok it is not the best and they could have used better, but it should still be good for around 5/6 years atleast which by that point most people will hav or will be ready to upgrade again anyway.

you sir are full of something brown and sticky….

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/277876-29-3770k-removal-results
click the see more content link on first post…tim is dried hard as chalk.

http://www.tweaktown.com/news/24059/ivy_bridge_s_heat_problem_is_indeed_caused_by_intel_s_tim_choice/index.html

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2261855&page=3
note the shavings of intels kitten TIM.

http://hexus.net/tech/news/cpu/39369-intel-cuts-corners-ivy-bridge-thermal-interface-material-tim/

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1693361

I could list dozens more, many finding 11-20+ c temp drops just from replacing the TIM…..this is a known issue thats been varified by many many people, the fact you deny it lables you an intel fanboi.

Intel cheaped out, they do not expect these chips to last more then the 3 year warr period(the older this kittenty tim gets the worse it performs, eventually the chips will throttle at stock clocks or just burn out due to the horrible TIM they used……

figured i should add some more for the doubter
http://www.eteknix.com/reviews/processors/ivy-bridge-and-changing-the-thermal-interface-material/

http://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/Ivy-Bridge-CPU-TIM-Paste-Replacement-160

http://forums.anandtech.com/showpost.php?p=33785983&postcount=53

Unspec.9017:

Jazhara Knightmage.4389:

one thing to keep in mind is, intel dosnt expect their chips to last past the 3 year warr period, they effecitvly have said as much to people complaining about the use of cheap white TIM under the IHS.

http://www.techpowerup.com/165882/TIM-is-Behind-Ivy-Bridge-Temperatures-After-All.html

you can google it, a few people have emailed them and the response was in effect “the TIM will last the 3 years the chips under warranty”

you also can expect high temps on ivybridge, 70c idle on my buddies 3770k with stock cooler, if you can get ahold of a sandybridge based chip those run cooler because intel used fluxless solder rather then cheap white TIM under the IHS so they are likely to last longer due to lower core temps.

makes me mad they cheeped out even on the enthusiast K series chips.

Could always pry up the IHS and replace the TIM

yeah, but then, no warranty……sucks…….I would pry it up and replace with liquid metal TIM, it never drys out…..

OK, so if I don’t want to buy an Intel CPU (and I’m not saying I will or won’t at this point) what other options are there?

Well if ur worried about the Ivybridge TIM issue (which tbh u shouldnt worry about, its more a worst case,horror story, kinda situation) then u can still get a Intel with almost identical performance with a i5 2500k/2550k or a i7 2600k/2700k.

Alternatively u could go the AMD route, which is cheaper, but would sacrifice some performance. Ether a FX 8350 or other 8XXX CPU.

SolarNova.1052:

Well if ur worried about the Ivybridge TIM issue (which tbh u shouldnt worry about, its more a worst case,horror story, kinda situation) then u can still get a Intel with almost identical performance with a i5 2500k/2550k or a i7 2600k/2700k.

Alternatively u could go the AMD route, which is cheaper, but would sacrifice some performance. Ether a FX 8350 or other 8XXX CPU.

I like the sound of cheaper. As long as I can play GW2 and Diablo 3, the two main games I want to play on it, I don’t care at all if it isn’t a super-awesome gaming rig.
I just want a PC that can play those games well within my 1000 budget. I’m more than willing to settle for the low settings on both. But bonus points if I can eke out medium or high in this budget (high is unlikely, I know)

Well a $1000 is enough for a good Intel rig so i highly suggest u go that route, and ‘high’ is easily possible.

Ether a Ivybridge setup with a i5 3570k or i7 3770k
or if u dont like the whole TIM issue.
a Sandybridge setup with a i5 2500k/2550k or i7 2600k/2700k
Ether will be better than a AMD setup and will fit within $1000 along with a good GPU like a Sapphire 7870XT. Anyway ualready got the pcpartpicker link i made earlier in the thread and since u said u dont need that monitor in that list as u can get a freebe, then u can use some of that $250 from the monitor to go up to a 3770k, along with the SSD u said ur gunan add. So all in all u can use up ur $1000 budget with a VERY good rig.
Regarding this link btw.
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/C0AU

With the changes it would look something like this.
Ivybridge: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/CLGz
Sandybridge: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/CLJ3

the 6300 is as low as i would go, but whatever chip you get 6300/8320/8350 your gonna want to oc it to 4.4-4.6 (easy on decent air cooler) do you have any parts you can reuse?

just asking, because i can help you spec something up with pcpartspicker intel or amd, the intel option would be better speed wise for gw2, but at long as you hit 4.4-4.6 range on oc, your not really gonna see the dif, for some other games the amd will be faster.

for my system(look in my sig) I can quite literally max the in game settings out without any change in fps, tera on the other hand flys on here…..mind both are running at 2560×1440, I see no perf gain in either dropping to 1920×1080(they both are cpu bound but tera scales far far better with setting changes then gw2 ever will(i mean without them doing a rewrite of the engine/client to make better use of modern cpus)

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/CLDV

mind you will want 2 of each of the custom fans I added, if you get them at sidewinder along with the goop shipping should be free (sidewinder ROCK mind you) , the 120mm vipers would be for push/pull on the cooler, the 140mm for top of the case, they are GREAT fans, I LOVE mine…..LOVE THEM!!!!!(I also have a bunch of panaflo’s and delta’s but they are louder hehe)

the config I linked Will let you add a 2nd 16gb kit later if you want, the board will let you add a 2nd 7870xt if you wish later, it will with ease get you 4.5-4.6 out of that cpu with that cooler.

the stock fan that comes with the cooler I would use as the rear case fan as the exhaust if you want to save a few bucks on the 120mm fans you could get the panaflo’s I got on ebay
http://www.ebay.com/itm/190719723140?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649
you do need to reorder the wires in the connector(easy) to us them on a non-dell motherboard, but its not hard at all, and could save you a few bucks…..I will warn you tho, if you allow these to spin up to full speed, they are a but noisy….

I recommend the akasa’s because they are good for their price and arent loud.

You could drop to the 970 extreme4 motherboard to save 40bucks, I wouldnt but You could.

you could also cut corners in a few other places but honestly this is the best bang for the buck your gonna get with AMD based systems, and will give you some easy upgrade paths to add perf later (crossfire, more ram, exct)

the hdd was the best price per gb for a non-seagate drive, I use to LOVE seagate but…alas they and WD have gone a bit down hill, Toshiba bought much of hitchi’s manufacturing capacity and have a good rep for reliability and support.

all in all, this would let you play whatever you want for the next 2-3 years with minimal upgrades needed.

and about the PSU, its got an amazing promo going now, rather then 60bucks you get it for 40, and its a superflower built unit(top notch oem), I have used kingwin for years, they had good support and great reliability.

if you need/want more help, just say so.

Oh yeah, and thanks to SN for the case, I like the look of that case from a airflow point of view!!!)

if you decide to go intel, I would go sandy, I have this bad feeling Ivy arent gonna last as long without decapping the cpu to replace the truly abysmal TIM Intel used between the IHS and core…..)

I think my builds a better value but his will give you a small gain if FPS in gw2….(honestly, having run 3770k@4.5 next to my rig(almost same hardware to boot) the perf was nearly identical, tho my load times are faster due to my use of fancycache on 16gb of my ram(making it so all of gw2 could be cached if needed)

EDIT: Look at this and come to your conclusion about intel quality

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?p=33785983#post33785983

thats why, if you go intel, you want to go with last gen not current….unless you dont mind voiding your warr to replace that chalky crap.

SolarNova.1052:

Well a $1000 is enough for a good Intel rig so i highly suggest u go that route, and ‘high’ is easily possible.

Ether a Ivybridge setup with a i5 3570k or i7 3770k
or if u dont like the whole TIM issue.
a Sandybridge setup with a i5 2500k/2550k or i7 2600k/2700k
Ether will be better than a AMD setup and will fit within $1000 along with a good GPU like a Sapphire 7870XT. Anyway ualready got the pcpartpicker link i made earlier in the thread and since u said u dont need that monitor in that list as u can get a freebe, then u can use some of that $250 from the monitor to go up to a 3770k, along with the SSD u said ur gunan add. So all in all u can use up ur $1000 budget with a VERY good rig.
Regarding this link btw.
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/C0AU

With the changes it would look something like this.
Ivybridge: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/CLGz
Sandybridge: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/CLJ3

Nice, thanks.
I’m thinking between the first link and the third link. The first link is cheaper when you subtract the monitor, but the second link is the better, but costs a bit more. Of course, the whole reason I started this thread was because I have no idea, so…
I’m going to contact my friend of a friend sometime this week, hopefully within the next day or so, to see what I can get from them.