So... how are things...

Sold my Cadillac today. Too expensive to maintain/drive/insure when you're a broke newb like me. Now I'm officially dispossessed IRL.

Not for long tho, shoppin for somethin more economical this weekend. Hopefully I can find a decent used Accord or something for around 6-8k... with less than 100k miles on it...

..anyways, will have a few hundred bucks left over hopefully to build a new rig with.

SO...

If any of you nerds out there are interested, build me the best MWO-able rig you can for under $500. Needs just the 4 basics - mobo, CPU, GPU, Memory. I shop at microcenter(.com) but if you wanna build it in newegg or tigerdirect, that's fine. A few bucks over the limit is fine, but not a lot...

...just did some quick looking myself, so an i7, 8gb ddr3, decent mobo and a gtx 750 will run me just under $700... i guess maybe i should downgrade the i7 to an i5, save a hundred bucks? maybe a cheaper gpu, like a junky 740..? :x

 

Soy, you can buy a previous gen i7, for the same price as current gen i5, and it's still faster. Look on ebay, or other sites (i can pm you where) for people selling their old combos too if you want. Look in Microcenter for excellent combo deals.

But yeah, would be good to know what you currently have.

 

I don't think you guys understand, lol...

Both of my PCs broke in late '13 early 14, right after I stopped playing MWO. In total I lost... 3 HDDs, old GPU, 2 monitors, mobo, i5 CPU, and 2 PSUs. Rest was junk or just needs upgrading.

Only thing I've kept is 550 ti GPU which I stuck in this ancient q6600 4gb dell running VISTA... was surprised when I got this thing going again last summer/fall - it's an 8 year old Dell. Literally, 8 yrs old.

That's how minimum and old my current shit is. I'm tired of 20-30 fps, and since I'm playing again and will have a bit of extra cash laying around, this is where it's going.

I think I can make these 4 parts and a PSU come in with tax at under 700, if I can find something open box or cut down on the GPU, then hopefully 600.

-

I'll actually look at Microcenter for any open box or refurbished i7s when I mosey on over there next week... good idea kami.

 

B&Hphoto has a lot of good open box deals. They have an excellent return policy, so if you want to buy, open box, from a store, i'd suggest from that store. Their prices are on par with newegg/amazon and a few others often.

 

Do I really need an i7? Mind you I won't be buying a new pc or upgrading for at least 2-3 years after this.

8GB ddr3 enough? For now? I figure that's an easy upgrade if I need more cuz only a few twennies, so for now 8's fine right?

What about a 650 thru 740 series GPU, to save money? Is that gonna at least be good for 1-2 yrs? Whats the dilly on all the bells and whistles they throw on GPUs these days... I'm figuring 2GB DDRgoogleplex on it will be enough or whatever? Meh.

 

You could go AMD and save a few hundred bucks, a 100 on the cpu and a 100 on the mobo. Otherwise, yeah i7. You still need 8GB of ram (minimum) and a 500W or so PSU. Graphics cards are trickier, and you make the decision when you're ready to buy.

 

Dude, you can run a 560 Ti and run MWO easily enough. Remember, MWO has requirements for machines that were high end 2.5 to 3 years ago..

I run a first gen i7 2600K, 16gb of ram, a 780 Ti and my card barely wakes up to run MWO at high in 1920x1080 with everything on very high.

Grab an AMD processor and 8gb of ram is more than enough. If you are going to start speccing a higher end machine then an i7 with 8gb+ and a 780 Ti minimum (most guys are running 980s now).

 

Since quitting after my clan dissolved I've found that CW can actually be a rewarding experience for solo dropping for one reason: new game mode. It's a refreshing change of pace from death ball around the rosy or hill poke off since players are slightly more encouraged to play aggressively. The opaque queue (seriously, where do I find populated "planets" ) and long wait times keep me from playing it often. I've never cared about planetary conquest or whatever RP shit people are into, I just want to mob on dudes.

Interesting observation: I've had better results with old meta builds in CW than the new boring meta. It's probably an artifact of there being somewhat predictable firing lines on both sides of the spectrum.

 

I'd say AMD Quad processor, 8GB DDR3 (like you said, easy upgrade down the road) GTX660. Should be pretty easy to keep around $500. If you have any issues, you can always OC.

I run an i5 quad, 660TI and 16GB DDR3 and I've never noticed a frame-drop at all. However, the Intels and TI level cards start hurting the wallet quick.

 

But... drop if you start recording at full reso and nice FPS? I know that starts getting into HDD, but still...

I'm thinking about going with just an i5 at this point, to be honest.

 

Very good point. I do Overclock when I record and it does drop my FPS to around 40. Still, easily playable and, to be honest, I don't record very often. If you are looking for a rig to be able to record, you might just want to give up a "habit" for Lent or something.

Lol... "Lent." Jesus...

 

If it doesn't dip below 40 FPS recording full reso at a decent framerate, then that's perfectly acceptable. Anything beyond that is diminishing returns on dollar for performance. If I can record at 15-20 fps and still somewhat aim, 40 is fine.

Think I'll just do i5 and try and build for $500, minus OS and PSU. I figure it'll last me til '18-'20 with some more mem and GPU upgrade down the line.

 

Ok, bout to go and build this today.

Here's what I'm lookin at...

i5, prolly around 3.5Ghz
650-750 GT(X?) card (will decide this on the spot based on the price total at the time w/ tax)
8gb ddr3 memory (and get another 8gb in a month or two)
windows 8.1
some ASrock 'toms hardware awarded' mobo, looks fine to me only costs hundred
Raptor 10Krpm HDD (for recording, last time i did SSDs brute recording crushed them i think)
600w psu

this will total up at about 550-600 bucks, if everything goes according to plan and the tags in store are right. maybe less if i spot something open box and roll the dice on it.

will prolly pick up a monitor too if i see a decent 24" acer or something for a hundred.

OH... and another headset with a mic (go thru these like a knife thru butter, fuck destructive cats)

If all this lasts til 2018, that's groovy.

 

My recommendation:

CPU $200: i5, K series, doesn't really matter which.
Intel i5-4690K

GPU $200: GTX 960, preferably Gigabyte
Gigabyte GTX960

MOBO $100-150: MSI Z97
MSI G5 Z97
MSI PC Mate Z97

RAM $64-84: I prefer Corsair, but Crucial makes a good product as well if you want to cut a few bucks. 8GB is plenty, MAYBE pick up another 4GB stick down the ling, but 16 is just a waste.
Corsair Vengeance 2x 4GB DDR3-1600
Crucial Sport 2x 4GB DDR3-1600

HDD $79: Honestly, doubt you need to spend the extra money for a 10k drive. Just get a WD Black. Whatever size you want.
WD Black 7200RPM 1TB
WD Black 7200RPM 2TB

PSU $74: Whatever, don't need a whole lot of juice anymore unless you have serious overclock plans. Cards and CPUs are VERY efficient now.
I'll simply recommend Corsair because mine has never failed me.
Crucial 600watt

MONITOR $160: I've had the best experience with ASUS. By far the best quality for your dollar. I recently upgraded to a BenQ 144hz which is definitely NOT worth it over the ASUS counterpart. Wasted a few hundred bucks to find that out. ASUS colors have always been accurate and beautiful. Blacks have been the only issue in the past, but I see the newer models are better. Friends 144hz ASUS is damn near perfection for a Budget performance monitor imo.
Basic ASUS 23" monitor
Basic ASUS 24" monitor
Basic ASUS 27" monitor
144Hz ASUS 24" performance monitor

HEADSET $70: This topic is very personal, but I have tested MANY headsets in the past year to replace my old beloved Turtle Beach. The thing about headsets is there are soooo many gimmicks out there, you can really only make a decision after trying them all. I went to Fry's and purchased, tested, and returned ALL of their headsets until I came to the conclusion that the Logitech G430 was the best headset for the price. It was one of the cheapest "gaming" headsets available that produced sound quality on-par with $100-200 (or even more) headsets. I highly recommend this guy. I don't use the gimmicky 7.1 pluggin thing, just goes straight into my Creative soundcard. So other's experiences may vary. Apparently my buddy couldn't find this headset in any of the stores anymore, not sure what's up with that. It's still online though.
Logitech G430 Headset


Total: ~$950 at minimum for everything. I know it's above your listed budget, but that's my baseline recommendation for any current gaming computer build. From this, you can start making decisions of where to cut corners. Perhaps go with AMD CPU as they are a bit cheaper, maybe more generic RAM, etc.

 

What part of your headset did the cats destroy? If it's the cables, it might be worth ghetto rigging one with a separate mic and headphones instead of buying a dedicated headset. I use a pair of Sennheiser HD 439s with a Labtec mic, velcroed together. The Sennheisers have detachable cables and came with a spare, so if the cats chew it up you can just replace the cable.

Pretty it ain't, but it works!

 

DIESELCOMP15000 (the 6th desktop I've ever personally owned)

Windows 8.1... $90
i5 4690K CPU... $200
ASRock P97 Pro4... $60 (cuz 40 bucks off bundled with CPU)
Solid Gear Neutron 550w PSU... $30
Gigabyte 750 GTX, 2GB GDDR5... $110
Ballistix 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3... $60

Went for some extras/peripherals too, thought about it for like an hour in the store and I might as well just knock everything out of the way now (except another 8GB of memory at some point).

WD 10Krpm Raptor HDD (250GB)... $90
Acer 24" 1080 monitor... $120
Logitech G230 headset... $60, this was a random grab I always return headsets til I find one that doesn't give me a headache after a 4 hour marathon session. I'm more finicky about this than anything else xD
another megalarge mousepad... $10 (since mine old's caked with ashes and burn marks)...

The only things I'm using from my old peripheral collection are...

Razer Lachesis from like, 5 yrs ago
and
Logitech g15 from like, 10 yrs ago
also apparently some CD(?) drive from the 80s, at least it looks like
[will prolly throw in a super ancient 100gb Caviar HDD from mid '00s for temp junk like donkey pr0n]

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Was a breeze to put it all together, maybe 30 mins from unboxing to windows install. Although when I hit desktop, I quickly realized it had no ethernet driver, and no disc was in mobo box... zzz, always one fucking problem with building, right... so I grabbed my phone, went on ASRock, found their drivers and flipped from phone to PC and boom, up and at'em!

So without the extra things, just the shit in the first list... that was right at $600 - including tax. Not bad eh?

Then I threw down the extra $300 for monitor, decent headset to try out, and a unnecessary but fun HDD (had to after SSD crashes bummed me out).

 

nice. Personally would have put the extra cash into upgrading the 750 to a 960 for less than $100 bits...