Help me build a $2000 Gaming Computer for Ark: Survival Evolved

[j03h4gLund]

1. What YOUR PC will be used for.
1080P Gaming @ 120hz

2. What YOUR budget is. A price range is acceptable as long as it's not more than a 20% spread
$2,000

3. What country YOU will be buying YOUR parts from.
USA

6. If YOU intend on using any of YOUR current parts, and if so, what those parts are.
I will be keeping my keyboard, mouse, speakers, monitor, PSU, and Hard drives

7. IF YOU plan on overclocking or run the system at default speeds.
Overclocking is fine.

8. What resolution, not monitor size, will you be using?
1080P

9. WHEN do you plan to build it?
Now

10. Do you need to purchase any software to go with the system, such as Windows or Blu Ray playback software?
No

My rig has seen a lot and is ready for retirement. It's been a helluva good CPU and it's hard for me not to be an intel fanboy but the latest games are causing my rig to come up short. I'd really like a system that performs well on Unreal Engine 4 games, specifically Ark: Survival Evolved.

 

[DaveSimmons]

> near or before Black Friday

As you quoted, this applies to picking parts too:
> Note that it is usually not cost or time effective to choose your build more than a month before youactually plan to be using it.

Ask again in late October once Coffee Lake is (probably) out. intel i7 6-core 12-thread mainstream desktop CPU and the new z370 motherboard it requires. By then we'll know how it compares to Ryzen and the 7700K.

 

[j03h4gLund]

Thanks Dave, will keep that in mind. I am going to edit it so that it shows I'm ready to buy now.

 

[Flacco]

Personally I'd wait the month and see how the 8700k compares to the 7700k/Ryzen as Dave said. My motherboard just died and I'm actually still trying to hang in there and wait. The 8700K has the potential to be such a beast I don't want to order now and be kicking myself for the next 5 years until I buy a new machine. What you may be able to do is upgrade your graphics card now and then wait the month before deciding on the processor and the rest of the equipment.

Graphics cards are pretty expensive at this point in time. For a $2000 build though I'd look at a 1080ti, 1080, or 1070. Just make sure whatever card you order will fit in your current case.

 

[DaveSimmons]

You could play an older or low-spec game or three from your Steam backlog while you wait. Or head to GoG.com or grab a Humble Bundle.

 

[Smoblikat]

1. What YOUR PC will be used for.
1080P Gaming @ 120hz

2. What YOUR budget is. A price range is acceptable as long as it's not more than a 20% spread
$2,000

3. What country YOU will be buying YOUR parts from.
USA

6. If YOU intend on using any of YOUR current parts, and if so, what those parts are.
I will be keeping my keyboard, mouse, speakers, monitor, PSU, and Hard drives

7. IF YOU plan on overclocking or run the system at default speeds.
Overclocking is fine.

8. What resolution, not monitor size, will you be using?
1080P

9. WHEN do you plan to build it?
Now

10. Do you need to purchase any software to go with the system, such as Windows or Blu Ray playback software?
No

My rig has seen a lot and is ready for retirement. It's been a helluva good CPU and it's hard for me not to be an intel fanboy but the latest games are causing my rig to come up short. I'd really like a system that performs well on Unreal Engine 4 games, specifically Ark: Survival Evolved.

Ive played Ark on I5's, I7's, 6 core AMD procs, quad core AMD procs, I3's, and probobly a few others.Once you have an I5 (2500K or higher) the CPU stops mattering as much, and its all GPU and memory bound. You will never be able to get stable framerates in this game no matter what, so dont try to throw money at the problem. This is an issue with the devs and the game, not your hardware. That said, I am using a 980Ti now (Tested with 7970, 290X, 6850, 560Ti's, 580, 680 etc..) and the only two cards that were even remotely playable were the 290X and 980Ti, with the clear nod going to the 980Ti. If you want to build a rig to play ark, it wont cost you more than a few hundred dollars. Throw in a 2600K and pick up either a 290X or 980Ti, anything with at least 4gb of fast VRAM should work as long as it has the GPU to back it up. I also se you have 16gb RAM, you may consider upping it to 32gb, I have seen singleplayer Ark use up to about 14gb RAM on its own, and trying to run a LAN server on anything less than 32 is a joke.

EDIT - Oh, and make sure Ark is on an SSD, playing it off of an HDD means you get to watch a nice still frame picture show every time you move 15 feet and it needs to load more terrain.