My first Desktop Build...EVER

[lgv212]

Hey guys,

I'll start off with: I'm a newbie!
I'm actually in my last year of college, studying Computer Science with a specialty in Artificial Intelligence in Video Games, and my Nvidia 9200 laptop just isn't cutting it anymore when I'm trying to incorporate reinforcement learning on Crysis AI :'(

So I decided to build my first desktop mostly to run graphic-heavy games that I'm doing research in (Crysis, companion AI in Skyrim).

As you guessed, being a College student means I'm on a budget.
I'm shooting for the $600 range, but if worst comes to worst, my max is $900.

What I don't need is a monitor (I want to use my 42" tv), I don't need an OS (got access to that), I don't need keyboard, mouse, I don't need a huge hd (I have a 2TB external).

I was looking at Intel i7, but is it 100% necessary? Or can I get away with i5 or i3?

Like I said, I'm a newbie with choosing hardware and would like to know what I should get without splurging too much. Thanks in advanced!

 

[EVGA_MatthewH]

I highly recommend a 2500k for gaming. Its price/performance is excellent. You could then get a P67/Z68 board. I got my EVGA FTW board and the CPU for roughly after taxes $500.

 

[mnewsham]

For your budget I would say go with an i3-2100, cheap and capable CPU

Graphics card I would say 6850/6870

basic z68 motherboard ($130 or lower)

DVD/CD drive

500GB HDD

$50-70 case

$50 PSU (500 watts will do)

8GB of RAM

all of that should be around $650-700 just as a rough guess

i am in a lecture so i cant look it all up for you right now.

 

[paperwastage]

any need to go vendor specific? (eg nVidia for CUDA/physX or ATI for other stuff)?

how much GPU power do you need/want?

I'd say stick with an i5 2500k, add in a smallish SSD, spend whatevers left on the GPU

 

[mnewsham]

any need to go vendor specific? (eg nVidia for CUDA/physX or ATI for other stuff)?

how much GPU power do you need/want?

I'd say stick with an i5 2500k, add in a smallish SSD, spend whatevers left on the GPU

I would stay away from the i5 as it would be about 40% of his $600 budget. For gaming currently a quad core is nice but only if you have the GPU to back it up and honestly, with this kind of budget he wont have that kind of graphics. the i3-2100 or the i5-2400 is the highest I would go, with the i3 being my personal preference at this price point.

 

[lgv212]

thanks for the replies, guys!

It doesn't need to be any specific vendor, and it doesn't have to be ridiculous with the GPU. Like I said, I'm mainly working with Skyrim and Crysis so anything that can run these on high is good enough for me...unless I need a ridiculous GPU for that.

 

[mnewsham]

thanks for the replies, guys!

It doesn't need to be any specific vendor, and it doesn't have to be ridiculous with the GPU. Like I said, I'm mainly working with Skyrim and Crysis so anything that can run these on high is good enough for me...unless I need a ridiculous GPU for that.

What is the resolution of the TV? 1920x1080? If so mid to high end GPU would be nice ($200-300 range)

 

[lgv212]

What is the resolution of the TV? 1920x1080? If so mid to high end GPU would be nice ($200-300 range)

Yea, it's a 1080.

Any specific GPU hardware you suggest?

 

[mnewsham]

6870/6950
or GTX 560ti/570

 

[mfenn]

For your budget I would say go with an i3-2100, cheap and capable CPU

Graphics card I would say 6850/6870

basic z68 motherboard ($130 or lower)

DVD/CD drive

500GB HDD

$50-70 case

$50 PSU (500 watts will do)

8GB of RAM

all of that should be around $650-700 just as a rough guess

i am in a lecture so i cant look it all up for you right now.

:thumbsup: While an i5 2500K is nice, the budget doesn't allow it after putting in a decent GPU.

 

[lgv212]

:thumbsup: While an i5 2500K is nice, the budget doesn't allow it after putting in a decent GPU.

Would a gtx 570 and a i3-2105 work?

 

[sleep]

i5 2500K
12 gigs or ram

except my graphics card are having issues.

 

[mnewsham]

Would a gtx 570 and a i3-2105 work?

Yes, but don't spend more money on the 2105 if the 2100 is cheaper. It probably isn't worth the extra cash. Do you have a microcenter nearby? If so the i3-2100 is only $99.99 in store.

The GTX 570 is about the same performance as the HD 6950 as seen here while the 6950 falls behind, it does stay fairly close in performance. However the HD 6950 2GB is only $240 vs. the cheapest GTX 570 being $310 is that extra bit of performance really worth $70? In my opinion it isn't. If you have an Nvidia fetish however, be my guest, i just think on such a budget limited build going cheaper is a good idea

 

[lgv212]

Ok, would the following configuration make sense/be worth it? Remember, I'm mostly guessing:

1) Graphics:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161372

HIS IceQ X Turbo H695QNT2G2M Radeon HD 6950 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity

$269.99

2) Processor:
i3 - 2105

$134.99


3) Motherboard:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157230

ASRock P67 PRO3 (B3) LGA 1155 Intel P67 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

$89.99

4) DvD drive:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827151250

SAMSUNG Black 16X DVD-ROM 40X CD-ROM SATA DVD-ROM Drive Model TS-H353C - OEM

$12.99

5) HD:

http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digit...K1QW/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1328244576&sr=8-3

Western Digital 250 GB Caviar Blue SATA 6 Gb/s 7200 RPM 16 MB Cache Bulk/OEM Desktop Hard Drive - WD2500AAKX

$69.95

6) RAM:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231428

G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL

$46.99

7) Power Supply:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341016

OCZ ModXStream Pro 500W Modular High Performance Power Supply compatible with Intel Sandybridge Core i3 i5 i7 and AMD Phenom

$64.99

8) Case:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147153

Rosewill CHALLENGER Black Gaming ATX Mid Tower Computer Case, comes with Three Fans-1x Front Blue LED 120mm Fan, 1x Top 140mm Fan, 1x Rear 120mm Fan, option Fans-2x Side 120mm Fan

$54.99

Total up till now: $744.88

Yes? No? Missing something?

 

[mnewsham]

I would do this motherboard instead
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157233

Also as I mentioned the i3-2105 probably isn't worth the money, but up to you.

this HDD
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822145531

I would get a DVD burner not just a DVD ROM.

Those are my suggestions.

 

[mnewsham]

Also for RAM there is no point spending that much money, just get the cheapest set of 2x4GB you can
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820161468

 

[lgv212]

I would do this motherboard instead
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157233

Also as I mentioned the i3-2105 probably isn't worth the money, but up to you.

this HDD
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822145531

I would get a DVD burner not just a DVD ROM.

Those are my suggestions.

Oh, sorry I didn't see your previous post.

 

[lgv212]

Ok, so the final list is:

Asus 24x SATA Dvd burner ($20.99)

Rosewill CHALLENGER Black Gaming ATX Mid Tower Computer Case ($54.99)

HITACHI Deskstar 500gb HD ($79.99)

Radeon HD 6950 2GB ($269.99)

500W Power Supply ($64.99)

2x4gb RAM ($33.99)

ASRock H67M (B3) LGA 1155 Intel H67 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard ($79.99)

Intel i3-2100 ($119.95)

For a total of $724.88 does that seem like a good set-up? Will everything be compatible? and Do I need to look at getting anything else before going for it?

Thanks, I appreciate all the help!

 

[mnewsham]

That all looks good, make sure you have an HDMI cable for your tv. Hope we didn't get you TOO over budget.

 

[lgv212]

That all looks good, make sure you have an HDMI cable for your tv. Hope we didn't get you TOO over budget.

No, thats fine. I was shooting a bit too low with the budget.

Thank you so much, I really appreciate all your help. I feel like I owe you a fruit basket or something

 

[mnewsham]

No, thats fine. I was shooting a bit too low with the budget.

Thank you so much, I really appreciate all your help. I feel like I owe you a fruit basket or something

Lol well enjoy the computer and hopefully the build goes off without a hitch!
Come here and ask if you have any questions during the build process.

Also if you want to spend MORE money there are some things you can upgrade

 

[Belegost]

I'm sorry I didn't see this sooner, because it seems like this now a done deal.

I would have highly recommended a quad core, even just a 2300 for this purpose. The point everyone seems to have missed here is this is not a normal gaming system, this is a development machine for working on games. The difference here is that his work is going to add extra threads, ones that are going to be computationally demanding on their own, this changes the requirements.

To the op, I am a grad student in machine intelligence, I have implemented different RL algorithms for game playing as part of my PhD thesis, I currently run a 2500K at 4.6, and wish I could afford the move to SB-E. The more CPU cycles I have free the more complex an algorithm I can run in real time, especially if I need to do Monte Carlo steps for value function approximation. I run this with a 460gtx, which is plenty for skyrim to be smooth on high settings.

If you haven't actually purchased, seriously consider switching to a 6870 and upgrading the CPU to a 2400 or 2500K if you can afford it.

 

[lgv212]

I'm sorry I didn't see this sooner, because it seems like this now a done deal.

I would have highly recommended a quad core, even just a 2300 for this purpose. The point everyone seems to have missed here is this is not a normal gaming system, this is a development machine for working on games. The difference here is that his work is going to add extra threads, ones that are going to be computationally demanding on their own, this changes the requirements.

To the op, I am a grad student in machine intelligence, I have implemented different RL algorithms for game playing as part of my PhD thesis, I currently run a 2500K at 4.6, and wish I could afford the move to SB-E. The more CPU cycles I have free the more complex an algorithm I can run in real time, especially if I need to do Monte Carlo steps for value function approximation. I run this with a 460gtx, which is plenty for skyrim to be smooth on high settings.

If you haven't actually purchased, seriously consider switching to a 6870 and upgrading the CPU to a 2400 or 2500K if you can afford it.

It's not too late, I haven't ordered anything yet. I'll look at your suggestions and write back when I have the new cost.

Great to see someone else interested in RL algorithms

 

[lgv212]

Ok, by changing to a 6870 and 2500k, the new cost is $729, which is only $5 more than my original.

And this is good enough to not just play games like Battlefield 3 on highest, but also for development?

I'll wait a few days before purchasing just in case anyone else comes up with any more suggestions.

Thanks!

 

[Topweasel]

Ok, by changing to a 6870 and 2500k, the new cost is $729, which is only $5 more than my original.

And this is good enough to not just play games like Battlefield 3 on highest, but also for development?

I'll wait a few days before purchasing just in case anyone else comes up with any more suggestions.

Thanks!

If your going to play BF3 then you needed the 4 cores anyways. But for the most part yes. 1080 isn't that hard on cards any more. Will you be able to set every single option up to its highest settings, not sure, maybe not. But it will be damn close.