Buying PC next month-HELP!

[zlatko]

I'll be buying a brand new PC next month specifically for FF14. I was going to get the game just for my PS3 when it comes out, but there's no way I can hold out for 6+ months knowing others are playing it and exploring the world. In FFXI if you jumped into the game at 6 months later from its release a lot of the guess work and exploring was taken away. I want the ability to be able to really feel fresh and lost in this new world without the elitism kicking in right away that I don't have X gear at X level so no good exp party for you. Anyways though here's what I need help with:

I have a budget of about $3,500 dollars to work with for a new high end gaming PC. I don't know squat about building them nor do I know anyone since I moved who could build me one. This leaves me with just buying an already built one from somewhere online.

I want to run the game on the highest settings without any performance issues hence why my budget is so big for this. Does anyone have an idea on not only where I could buy such a PC? Also, is it confirmed yet what WILL run the game on highest settings or is the benchmark still really dodgy on consistency at this point to gauge what PCs will run it at max settings ?

If someone does know and can link me to a site where I could buy the PC I need/want I'd be thankful. I looked at dell and followed their build your alienware PC set up and just picked the most expensive options until I saw what the result was money wise which was roughly 3,500. I figured that if it's pre built I could find it cheaper than that, but I'm open to having to pay that much if necessary since I plan to play FF14 for many years to come because I played XI on and off for 6 years.

Thanks to all who post a possible PC right for me...and sorry if I make you feel /angryfistshake about the fact I can buy w/e PC I want haha.

[shidobu]

only hate your going to receive is people being salty that you have 3 grand to drop on a 50 dollar game. But other than that your good.

Now a everyone here is gonna convince you to build. Even i am
FUCKING BUILD YOUR SHIT. Even if you splurge and get dual 5870s/480 and highest end cpus. You can still walk away with more than a grand in your pocket. For a new TV or Dual/Trip monitor setup.

Building PCs isn't rocket science. If you can read you can do it. If people just took the time to do a little research. Most pc companies would be out of work. Its basically legos in a box.

If you absolutely have to buy ibuypower.com
The only thing buying from manufactures offers is Warranties and if something breaks you don't have to deal with it. But your out of a pc for 3-5 weeks while they fix it. When its probably something you could fix yourself just swapping out a stick of ram that takes 30 seconds. If you count screw driver time.
Srsly watch the vid... take the time to learn for a week. Save yourself a grand in the end.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZ-ZmfrQMIY

[Decillion]

Your budget is only $3500? Either stop being poor, or save up the money for a real PC. 8-)

Joking aside, the FFXIV beta is still pretty unoptimized at this point, so it's hard to say what will or won't max the game out. People with high end machines were still getting performance drops during the last beta test. I'd recommend waiting as close to release as possible before deciding what to buy. We'll have a much better idea of what's needed to run the game at high/max settings.

But seriously, build your own PC. It really isn't as hard as you think it is. If you build your own you save a lot of money (if that matters to you) and you have the option of upgrading it later on, instead of needing to buy a whole new computer again. I was able to put together my very first computer, with zero prior knowledge on how to do it, by just following guides and tips on the internet. As long as you're careful you shouldn't have any problems. And if you do, I'm sure if you describe your problem, someone here or on another forum can help you. Really, the worst thing that can happen is you have to send back a faulty part and wait a week or two for a new one to be sent to you.

And $3500 for a pure gaming PC is way overkill. Spend half that building your own, and use the money you save to buy some games or some upgrades later on. Depending on your resolution, $1700 machine will be able to play 98% of all games at max settings at 60 FPS. And if after a few years, a game comes along that you can't max out, you can just spend a couple hundred dollars on a CPU or GPU upgrade.

[Olo401]

Don't buy a machine from Dell/Alienware, or any prefab computer company for that matter. You won't be getting a computer that's properly designed for gaming, and they will overcharge you like crazy. I guarantee that $3500 machine they sell you can be built from new parts for about $2000.

If you absolutely don't want to build your own machine, then here's a list of proper custom gaming rig companies. Most of them have an online customizer page to help pick out which parts you want, and some offer other custom work from paint jobs and decaling to etching or cutting special design windows:

Cyberpower PC
iBuyPower
Digital Storm
AVA Direct
Puget Systems
Centaurus Computers
Velocity Micro
Maingear

[zlatko]

Building my own honestly is out of the question. While reading through some replies here though and checking out some of the sites I realized I don't even know what I NEED for this PC to have to run it max settings.

If YOU were going to buy a pre made PC from some of these sites, wanted a PC that can run the game at highest settings no problem, and had 3,500 to spend, then what would you go with?

I'm just not techy enough to wrap my head around some of the stuff. I thought the best graphics card would be the most expensive but apparently that's not the case, same with the I7 processors according to what I read.

If anyone is willing to look around for 5 minutes for the PC I'm looking to find and link me to it I'd appreciate it way beyond words.

[Olo401]

From Cyberpower's website:

Spoiler: show

Gamer Extreme SLI
Configuration

• *BASE_PRICE: [+1609]
• BUNDLE: None
• BLUETOOTH: None
• CD: Samsung SH-B083L 8X Blu-Ray Player & DVDRW Combo (BLACK COLOR)
• CD2: 24X Double Layer Dual Format DVD+-R/+-RW + CD-R/RW Drive [+24] (BLACK COLOR)
• CAS: CoolerMaster Elite 430 Mid-Tower Gaming Case with Side Panel Window [-48]
• CASUPGRADE: None
• CS_FAN: Maximum 120MM Case Cooling Fans for your selected case [+9]
• CPU: Intel® Core™ i7-930 2.80 GHz 8M Intel Smart Cache LGA1366 (-300)
• FREEBIE_CU: FREE Game: Just Cause 2
• FAN: Asetek 510LC Liquid Cooling System 120MM Radiator & Fan (Enhanced Cooling Performance + Extreme Silent at 20dBA)
• FA_HDD: None
• FLASHMEDIA: None
• FLOPPY: None
• GLASSES: None
• HDD: 128 GB Kingston 2.5 inch SATA Gaming MLC Solid State Disk [+178] (Single Hard Drive)
• HDD2: 1TB SATA-III 6.0Gb/s 64MB Cache 7200RPM HDD [+112] (Single Hard Drive)
• IEEE_CARD: None
• KEYBOARD: Xtreme Gear (Black Color) Multimedia/Internet USB Keyboard
• MOUSE: Microsoft® Optical Wheel Mouse [+5] (BLACK COLOR)
• MODEM: None
• MONITOR: * 24" Widescreen 1920x1080 Asus VH242H LCD w/ Built-in Speaker, DVI, & HDMI [+219]
• MONITOR2: None
• MONITOR3: None
• MOTHERBOARD: * (3-Way SLI Support) GigaByte GA-X58A-UD5 Intel X58 Chipset SLI/CrossFireX Ultra Durable™3 DDR3/1600 ATX Mainboard w/7.1 Dolby Audio,eSATA,Dual GbLAN, USB3.0, 2 x SATA-III RAID,IEEE1394a,4 Gen2 PCIe,2 PCIe X1 &1 PCI [+144]
• MB_ADDON: None
• MEMORY: 6GB (2GBx3) DDR3/1600MHz Triple Channel Memory Module (Corsair Dominator [+44])
• MULTIVIEW: Non-SLI/Non-CrossFireX Mode Supports Multiple Monitors
• NETWORK: Onboard Gigabit LAN Network
• OVERCLOCK: No Overclocking
• OS: Microsoft® Windows® 7 Ultimate [+105] (64-bit Edition)
• PRINTER: None
• PRINTER_CABLE: None
• POWERSUPPLY: Corsair Gaming Power Supplies (* 750 Watts CMPSU-750TX - Quad SLI Ready)
• RUSH: NO; READY TO SHIP IN 5~10 BUSINESS DAYS
• SERVICE: STANDARD WARRANTY: 3-YEAR LIMITED WARRANTY PLUS LIFE-TIME TECHNICAL SUPPORT
• SOUND: HIGH DEFINITION ON-BOARD 7.1 AUDIO
• SPEAKERS: Logitech Z313 2.1 DT speaker [+48]
• TEMP: None
• TVRC: None
• USB: Built-in USB 2.0 Ports
• USBHD: None
• USBFLASH: None
• USBX: None
• VIDEO: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460 1GB 16X PCIe Video Card [+67] (EVGA Powered by NVIDIA [+5])
• VIDEO2: None
• VIDEO3: None
• VC_PHYSX: None
• WNC: None
• _PRICE: (+2221)
• _view_: d

Hopefully the 470 & 480 will get the new GPU revision so I could recommend them. Until then, if you want something with more power I'l gonna recommend getting a 5870.

[OWS_Tonx]

I guarantee that $3500 machine they sell you can be built from new parts for about $2000.

I was fuckin' off earlier so I went to check Dell's website. Their new Alienware Area 51 is priced at $4000 stock. Thats without all the shit they "recommend".

[Jefe]

The Alienware MX11 ain't that bad, although I'd never recommend a laptop for serious gaming.

[OWS_Tonx]

I saw the mx17 like a month ago. It weighs fucking 25 pounds lol. That Area 51 weighs like 75

[zlatko]

Thanks Olo401 that post is helping this go a bit smoother on what to get.

2 questions:
1) So you don't recommend the Nvidia 480X? Is there a reason it's not better than the 460?
2) Is it worth it to upgrade that I7 processor the extreme versions they have out now, the most expensive, with 3.33 GHZ?

I really want to make this thing a beast PC. I keep sniffing around other internet forums, but it's just taking a while to click on what I should go for. Hopefully I can get a hold of a few tech buddies in the coming weeks to get their insight too.

[Olo401]

Thanks Olo401 that post is helping this go a bit smoother on what to get.

2 questions:
1) So you don't recommend the Nvidia 480X? Is there a reason it's not better than the 460?
2) Is it worth it to upgrade that I7 processor the extreme versions they have out now, the most expensive, with 3.33 GHZ?

I really want to make this thing a beast PC. I keep sniffing around other internet forums, but it's just taking a while to click on what I should go for. Hopefully I can get a hold of a few tech buddies in the coming weeks to get their insight too.

Not a problem.. glad I could help

In general terms the GTX480 is a higher-tier card than the GTX460. I've been reluctant to recommend the GTX480 over its direct competition, the Radeon 5870, because it's the better overall value (lower price, less power, less heat). The same goes for the GTX470/465 compared to Radeon 5850/5770.

The GTX460 is a different story - Nvidia tweaked the core GPU design for this new card, which increased the efficiency a lot. It's a much better value than its target competition (the Radeon 5830/5770) and even outpaces the 5850 in some places by a decent margin. For $200 you really can't beat it, except by paying $30 more for the 1gig 256-bit version. Hopefully Nvidia will put this revised engine in the 470 and 480 where it can REALLY shine.

As for the extreme processors, I wouldn't touch em. Just not worth it when you can get a decent overclock on the inexpensive one and it'll be just as good. Use the money you save to purchase a real good water cooling setup - that's a far more impressive way to make your machine a beast.

[zlatko]

Not a problem.. glad I could help

In general terms the GTX480 is a higher-tier card than the GTX460. I've been reluctant to recommend the GTX480 over its direct competition, the Radeon 5870, because it's the better overall value (lower price, less power, less heat). The same goes for the GTX470/465 compared to Radeon 5850/5770.

The GTX460 is a different story - Nvidia tweaked the core GPU design for this new card, which increased the efficiency a lot. It's a much better value than its target competition (the Radeon 5830/5770) and even outpaces the 5850 in some places by a decent margin. For $200 you really can't beat it, except by paying $30 more for the 1gig 256-bit version. Hopefully Nvidia will put this revised engine in the 470 and 480 where it can REALLY shine.

As for the extreme processors, I wouldn't touch em. Just not worth it when you can get a decent overclock on the inexpensive one and it'll be just as good. Use the money you save to purchase a real good water cooling setup - that's a far more impressive way to make your machine a beast.

Alright so GTX460 1gig 256 version is the card I should go for. Thanks for clearing that up. I'll make sure next month nothing better has hit and if not then I'll go for it.

So as far as processors go an I7 of the kind right before the Extreme processors with over clocking is the best option?

Water cooling set up? Does that mean I'd have to change the water all the time to keep it cool? Is this the best method for keep the machine cool and running smoothly ?

[Metafox]

Alright so GTX460 1gig 256 version is the card I should go for. Thanks for clearing that up. I'll make sure next month nothing better has hit and if not then I'll go for it.

So as far as processors go an I7 of the kind right before the Extreme processors with over clocking is the best option?

Water cooling set up? Does that mean I'd have to change the water all the time to keep it cool? Is this the best method for keep the machine cool and running smoothly ?

I'm not sure why nobody's brought this up, but if your goal is to spend alot on a really fast computer, you should probably aim higher than the gtx 460. Yeah it's a really cost efficient card, but from what I understand, your goal isn't to minimize cost.

If you want to throw down alot of money, you might want to go for a radeon 5970 or two gtx 470s in SLI. If you want a fast card but you don't want to throw THAT much money at it, get a gtx 480 or a radeon 5870. The 480 is generally faster but, again, more expensive and uses more power. Considering how much money you want to spend, you probably don't want to go below the 5870. One other possible issue is that ffxiv doesn't support multiple gpus at the moment. We're assuming they'll add support by the time the game comes out, but it'll be an unpleasant surprise if they leave it like it is. (The gtx 470 x2 and the 5970 count as dual-gpu cards, so if the game doesn't support dual gpus then it'll run slower than it should on these)

As for the processor, it's possibly a little complicated. The i7 920 and 930 are cheap and very overclockable. The next best set of processors cost over twice as much for a small boost in performance. Finally those "extreme" processors cost a ton more for a significant boost in performance. The thing is, most games rely more on graphics card speed than on processor speed, so spending extra for a better processor usually won't give you much of a boost. If you look on the ffxiv benchmark thread, you'll see that at low settings, where the program isn't using the gpu much, the best score is from one of those insane 980x cpus. On the other hand, the high settings (where you want to play at), it uses the gpu alot more and so that guy's 980x cpu only gives him a minor boost over others with the same gpu. Even if you're eager to spend alot of money, I really can't recommend that you buy anything beyond the i7 930 for now, since you won't really see a boost in graphics-intensive games. And unless you want to overclock the cpu on your own, I suggest choosing the highest overclock option they'll give you (20% overclocking on ibuypower.com). And of course pay a bit extra for the improved cooling system.

Speaking of the cooling system, don't be intimidated when they say liquid cooling. The stuff they have on ibuypower.com is only for they cpu. They're simple, self contained, and maintenance-free. Think "liquid cooling on estrogen."

[Edgie]

Dont mean Hijack, but does this set up look like everything will work together, anything I can downgrade? Yes Ill be waiting till late august, early september to order anything.

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