New PC

[HyperPanda]

Hey guys so I'm looking to build my first computer. I'm 14 and about to start highschool and I will be  building this computer sometime in the winter. I'm a casual gamer and play mostly League of Legends and games on Steam. I am going to try and overclock it and get a pre-done water cooler from like Corsair or someone else. I did want blue and/or white parts for the build. In the future I will be trying to custom water cool it. I'm open to anything though so whatever is better is better. I will also be taking classes on how to photoshop and video edit in the near future. I do prefer Intel and Nvidia because that is what has always been in my house. My budget is about 2,000 but I'd prefer around 1,500 because im working and going to pay for this myself.

Looking forward to seeing suggested builds/parts

-Elias

[T.Vengeance]

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/14P5D

 

It's a bit overbudget (1856), but just change some parts if you don't like the price (like the case, if you already have one). It's what I would've picked out if I had your budget :P You definitely need 16GB of ram though if you're planning on video editing.

[WoodenMarker]

To achieve the best bang for your buck while keeping your theme, I decided to skip the overclocking and went for a powerful system. The 780 doesn't match the theme because of the green but I don't think you'll mind.

 

Here you go: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/14OVi

 

The xeon is basically a 3770 at a much lower price. Overclocking won't do you good here but it is powerful at stock and being quite fast, won't bottleneck anything anytime soon.

Gelid solutions cooler--it should be quiet while providing more cooling than you need. The purpose was for it to look cool and blue. (and boy does it look cool)

Msi motherboards are often blue. This mobo is themed blue/black. Sorry, but there aren't any reasonably priced white motherboards around.

Blue Ripjaws X memory.

Samsung 850 250GB ssd for boot/apps. No blue/white but what are you gonna do?

WD "Blue" Drive LOL.

780. It has a green logo. "Deal with it?" 

NZXT Phantom 410. White with blue leds. No everyone likes this case but I have the full tower and it's great. You could probably stick some blue lighting in the case.

Black psu with white fans. NZXT as well. It has plenty of headroom for upgrading/adding parts. 

 

I imagine when put together, it will look like a white spaceship that glows blue with. It's more of a black/white/blue build.

[Tr3vor]

@

 

Thats a pretty dumb build if you ask me

[Tr3vor]

 

780. It has a green logo. "Deal with it?" 

 

 

Could get the Gigabyte board, although the PCB isn't blue anymore on their new cards, but it would match the color scheme better I think, also better cooling.

[WoodenMarker]

@

 

Thats a pretty dumb build if you ask me

Not very constructive--perhaps a comment on why would actually be of some use.

[Tr3vor]

Not very constructive--perhaps a comment on why would actually be of some use.

 

My bad, and I'm the one nagging at people for not using constructive criticism.

 

x79 won't do jack for gaming, but upgrading the GPU beyond the overpriced 670 will. If you really wanted a GPU for $400 go with the 7970, much better performance. also 16gb won't make a difference from 8 when gaming. I'd say get a 3770k or when the time comes, maybe a 4770k or heck if you wanted to save some money get a 3570k/4670k.

[T.Vengeance]

My bad, and I'm the one nagging at people for not using constructive criticism.

 

x79 won't do jack for gaming, but upgrading the GPU beyond the overpriced 670 will. If you really wanted a GPU for $400 go with the 7970, much better performance. also 16gb won't make a difference from 8 when gaming. I'd say get a 3770k or when the time comes, maybe a 4770k or heck if you wanted to save some money get a 3570k/4670k.

Yeah thanks. Still kinda new to this (by new, I mean I'm not a veteran) but I figured that since he said he was a casual gamer, graphics wouldn't really matter that much. He said that he was considering video rendering in the future so I figured an X79 platform might do, I guess I'm wrong.

[Tr3vor]

Yeah thanks. Still kinda new to this (by new, I mean I'm not a veteran) but I figured that since he said he was a casual gamer, graphics wouldn't really matter that much. He said that he was considering video rendering in the future so I figured an X79 platform might do, I guess I'm wrong.

 

Well, I'd say go with an 8350 for that then, since it does gaming and rendering stuff, and its at a very very good price. I think x79 overall is overpriced, unless you're like professional.

[T.Vengeance]

Well, I'd say go with an 8350 for that then, since it does gaming and rendering stuff, and its at a very very good price. I think x79 overall is overpriced, unless you're like professional.

Yeah good point.

[fishymamba]

If you are only going to be playing League of Legends and similar games, there is no need to get a GTX 780 or similar GPU. I would wait for the more economical GTX 760 or 760Ti to come out. 

Then I would go for a X79 build with 16GB because that will really help out with the video editing you are planning to do. 

 

Of course winter is pretty far away and lots of new products can come out between now and then and prices can change too. No point of planning a build this early. 

[Exclamati0n]

I like this kid, very industrious young man willing to pay for it himself at his age.  We should all be as constructive as we possibly can.
 

http://pcpartpicker.com/user/exclamati0n/saved/1JW6

 

CPU Intel Core i7-4770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Combo or $349.99 CPU Cooler Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing $29.99 Motherboard MSI Z87-G43 ATX LGA1150 Combo or $119.99 Memory G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 $129.99 Storage Samsung 840 Pro Series 128GB 2.5" SSD $129.98   Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM $84.98 Video Card EVGA GeForce GTX 770 2GB $419.99 Case Diablotek CPA-7620 (Black) ATX Mid Tower $19.99 Power Supply Corsair 750W ATX12V / EPS12V $59.99 Optical Drive Asus BW-12B1ST/BLK/G/AS Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer $58.98 Keyboard Ducky DK9008S2 Shine II $148.00 Mouse Razer Naga 2012 Wired Laser $69.99

My reasoning behind this build that you want parts that would either last in the long run or are expendable until you are ready to start your custom watercooling.  Prices will fluctuate day to day as always but that's life.

Yes, you get the 4770K, a Samsung 840 Pro SSD, a decent 1 TB storage drive, 16 GB of 1866 RAM, and a spicy GTX 770.  Of course keepers.

Why the Hyper 212?  Best air CPU cooler under $40.  When you watercool, of course sell it or keep it as a backup when your watercooling system gets all fussy with you.

Why a MSI Z87 motherboard?  Well my MSI P67 board is still alive and kicking with a 2500K at 4.1 GHZ overclock on air cooling.  So I'm basing on brand experience and its a decent price for what it is, being a Haswell.  You can either sell or keep this motherboard for when you watercool.

Why a $20 computer case?  Why the Corsair 750W?  This is taking into heavy consideration that you are surely going to watercool your system down the road.  These are just parts to get you up and running.  Have to cut corners someplace, decided on the case and PSU.  When you water cool these are super expendable.  I'm pretty sure someone else has a better idea on what PSU to get for this build than me, so have at it on that end.  But when it comes to the case, you just need something to put your stuff in for the time being until you watercool.  Because some of the things you'll need consider for your future water cooling budget are things like "what am I going to watercool?", "how many rads do I need/want?", "how big of a rad I want?", etc.  These things depends heavily on what case can fit everything with decent air flow and how much wattage you would need.  So you would need to plan accordingly.

Why a Ducky Shine II and a Naga 2012?  Well these are my current preferences.  Put plainly budget for decent input devices, totally makes a difference when computing.  A decent mechanical keyboard and a decent mouse goes a LONG LONG way.  Make sure you test out what mechanical keys are to your liking in person before making any purchase.  Never use wireless ANYTHING.  Anything that needs batteries tend to suck.  Input lag, static audio, batteries losing longevity, bleh, save yourself the trouble.

PRO TIP #1:  Ask around, friends, family and what not for a "hand-me-down" computer case  Hell, "hand-me-down" anything.  Most likely you'll get something decent.
PRO TIP #2:  Ask around, friends, family for any possible discounts at stores or through their occupation.  For example I have a friend that asked his sister's boyfriend for a discount through Intel since he worked I.T. for Intel.  My friend was able to buy, at the time through his sister's boyfriend, a i7-3770K and a Intel DZ77GA-70K motherboard both at half MSRP without tax.

PRO TIP #3: http://www.amazon.com/EMS131BK-Precision-Controls-included-Authentic/dp/B005CPGHAA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1370842643&sr=8-1&keywords=mouse  For less than a meal at most dine-in restaurants you can get a decent bootleg mouse.  I've used this myself for a while and it surpassed my expectations for Diablo 3 and SCII for a $12 mouse.
PRO TIP #4:  Be tenacious and stay determined.

Good luck and best wishes.

[S2000Gan]

If you are sure you will be doing serious photoshop and video editing work then as the other have said the 4770k will be a good investment towards saving you time. Otherwise the 4670k should perform just as well in everything else such as gaming and general computer usage.

 

If you are interested in overclocking then you might want to look into picking up a sandy bridge 2500k or 2600k as there have been a number of people saying Ivy bridge and Haswell havent been overclocking as well.

 

Ive used motherboards from Asus, Gigabyte, and Msi and have enjoyed the experience with all of them so no matter which you go with chances are you'll be good. Just need to make sure you get a motherboard with all the connectivity youre looking for. Such as Wifi, bluetooth, enough USB 2.0 & 3.0, SLI capable, 4 RAM slots, thunderbolt, onboard audio, etc

For RAM you will probably want to get 2x8GB sticks especially if you plan on doing multimedia work. Brands dont really matter too much in my experience. Corsair, Gskill, Crucial, seems like it's hard to mess up RAM

 

For Graphics performance I'm assuming you will be using a 1920x1080 monitor in which case a 770 will be enough to play all but the most intense games such as the new Metro or Crysis 3 on the highest settings. If you are looking to get a 2560x1440 monitor then I would recommend getting 2 770s as 2560x1440 is about twice the number of pixels as 1920x1080 so having twice the graphics performance is a good idea.

As far as storage goes Western Digital have been my personal preferred drive for years now and getting a few 1TB or 2TB Black drives will give you plenty of storage for your media work. SSDs are very nice when it comes to Boot and program load times. If you have the budget for one, you'll find a 64GB or 128GB drive will greatly impress you when you see how fast your computer boots and how fast programs open and game levels load.

When it comes to power supplies I've had a number of issues with many brands, but All the Corsair power supplies I've gotten have lived years now without a problem. something like a 750W or 850W should serve you well for a good long number of years.

 

For a case just find something that you like the look of, will fit all the components you want, has room behind the motherboard for cable management, and if you want to watercool, will fit whatever radiators you think you will want.

 

I wont say too much about peripherals other than that I just got a Ducky mechanical keyboard and I have definitely noticed an increase in my Words Per Minute. Also I wouldnt spend too much on a mouse. Dont get a cheap junk mouse but dont spend too much on something with crazy high DPI that you wont likely use anyway. I'vs used a Microsoft Wheel Mouse Optical for almost 10 years now which has a 400dpi optical sensor and the only reason I'm thinking of replacing it is because 400 is a little too low for 1920x1080.

[SirReallySam]

To achieve the best bang for your buck while keeping your theme, I decided to skip the overclocking and went for a powerful system. The 780 doesn't match the theme because of the green but I don't think you'll mind.

 

Here you go: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/14OVi

 

The xeon is basically a 3770 at a much lower price. Overclocking won't do you good here but it is powerful at stock and being quite fast, won't bottleneck anything anytime soon.

Gelid solutions cooler--it should be quiet while providing more cooling than you need. The purpose was for it to look cool and blue. (and boy does it look cool)

Msi motherboards are often blue. This mobo is themed blue/black. Sorry, but there aren't any reasonably priced white motherboards around.

Blue Ripjaws X memory.

Samsung 850 250GB ssd for boot/apps. No blue/white but what are you gonna do?

WD "Blue" Drive LOL.

780. It has a green logo. "Deal with it?" 

NZXT Phantom 410. White with blue leds. No everyone likes this case but I have the full tower and it's great. You could probably stick some blue lighting in the case.

Black psu with white fans. NZXT as well. It has plenty of headroom for upgrading/adding parts. 

 

I imagine when put together, it will look like a white spaceship that glows blue with. It's more of a black/white/blue build.

Haswell?! other than that looks like a good build for the price but like.... haswell :( will be sad XD nah I'm kidding but ya know.

[WoodenMarker]

Haswell?! other than that looks like a good build for the price but like.... haswell :( will be sad XD nah I'm kidding but ya know.

Dat Haswell bandwagon.  :rolleyes:

[SirReallySam]

Dat Haswell bandwagon.  :rolleyes:

true but like... Haswell :D hahaa

[HyperPanda]

Thanks a lot guys, I guess I probably should've waited longer to ask this question because of the fact that only a few of the new Nvidia products have come out. It does give me a lot of time to think of what I want  so when I finally go ahead and get everything I will be happy with it. I also forgot to mention that I am quite a bit of a Corsair Fanboy. :)