Need a new computer tower, no idea where to start

My current cpu has decided that it is done working for the forseeable future, so I need a new gaming pc. Problem is, I have no idea what I need. All I know is that it will be from cyberpower, but when it comes to choosing the components, I'm a little overwhelmed.

I was wondering if someone tech savvy could help me get an idea of what to get.

Edit: Can go up to $1200 top, price range wise. All I need is a new tower.

Another question. The cpu that I'm replacing had a liquid coolant system. Does it make a difference? Or will fan cooling be ok?

» Edited on: 2012-10-23 01:03:49

Now I'm not a fan of Cyperpower, or places like them. As I prefer to build it myself, which is always cheaper. Intel i5 3570k (Aftermarket cooling CM Hyper 212+, Noctua NH-U12P) ASUS P8Z77-V Pro 2x4GB or 2x8GB DDR3-1600 or DDR3-1866 ram (Corsair or G. Skill) 128GB Crucial M4 SSD (OS, Most played Games, Software) 1 TB WD Black (Game you play, but not often) 2TB WD Red (For backup and storage use) GTX 670 2GB or AMD 7950 3GB (Any brand is your choice) 650w PSU (Seasonic, XFX, Corsair TX/HX/AX Series) The 650w can run two of those cards above without problems. Case is personal Preference. My pick Corsair 650D, 300R-W, 500R, NZXT Switch 810, Coolermaster HAF X, 690 (Sometimes you need to buy extra fans, as some case dont come with enough for proper cooling) This is my pick, and will be very good for gaming. You want a strong CPU as GW2 is cpu bound for single thread. Intel is best for this.

Id agree with Kalec - However I would step up to an i7 and stuff 32gb ram onto the board instead of 16.I would also step up to an 850w+ PSU. In my experience, the CPU and amt of RAM = longevity of the rig. The P8Z77-Vpro also has a mini-wan port right on board, you can pick up a wifi card designed for this at a reasonable cost and shed some wires, but once the board is in place, you have to remove the motherboard to slot the card. If you intend to use this as a wireless tower, it is something you may consider (and easily overlook) before you build.

I'd agree with both of the above, Kalec's specs would get you through the next 3 years minimum, while Vay's would get you much farther. When they say longevity, I don't think they meen lifespan or untill the comp dies. Refers to how well the comp keeps up with technology standards. Kalec's specs are the current standards that can play almost everything on the market very well. But 5 years from now with new tech and games taking advantage of that tech and getting more and more sophisticated, Vay's specs would allow you to keep up.

You save a ton of money by building it yourself, but some people prefer using computers to building them. http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/saved/1EJL6R This is my pick, and it falls within your price range. You could drive down the cost a few bucks by dropping some of the brand name upgrades, and you could save a ton by installing your own operating system, but I've included it because not everyone loves doing that. Intel hit it out of the park on the i7, it's definitely the way to go, for everything. I prefer Gigabyte motherboards - they're fast, stable, and have all the features you could ever want. I know a lot of people prefer ASUS (I think because they come in prettier colors), but I've never had one last longer than 6 months in a gaming rig, so I personally tend to avoid them. 16GB of memory is plenty for gaming, unless you're planning to run multiple games at the same time, or are wanting to mount GW2 directly in memory (note to self: try this!). Most games won't use more than 4GB at a time, and I don't know of one that will use more than 8. 32GB is mostly for memory mounts, virtualization, and bragging rights. That may (very doubtfully) change in a year, but by then 32GB kits will cost 1/4 of what they do today. Hope this helps.

If you intend to build yourself, I recommend FalconGuide tinyurl.com/falconguide I know some people don't like using url shorteners.. but basically, it's a PC buying guide that's updated regularly. It just links to a PNG, and is easier to remember, but if you'd like the full url... http://i1002.photobucket.com/albums/af150/The_FalconO6/CurrentLogicalPCBuyingGuide/Guide.png

» Edited on: 2012-10-23 06:13:26

Learning from the past, when 4GB of Ram was an unthinkable amount I stuffed 8GB into my board - a few years later 8GB was almost the minimum. I use 16 now, but will be upgrading to 32 very soon. I do have to wonder now, with SSD drives, if 32GB is overkill. But, Id prefer overkill as opposed to overtaxing the system.

Kas - For normal everday operations, and even gaming, air cooling is fine. Water cooling, while adding cool factor to your rig, it not really all that much better than straight Air Cooling, provided you have sufficient air flow through the case. For the most part, Water cooling comes in to play for one of 2 reasons 1)Serious chilling of the CPU for overclockers, and 2)Quiet Cooling for those folks who want a silent (or much quieter) PC. You will probably end up with a GPU+Fan, PSU+FAN, 2+ Case fans... and based on your initial post, I dont think you OC your rig much, so you dont fit into either category. Yes, Water cooling systems still have fans, but we could create a whole thread debating Water Cooling vs Air cooling... Go with a decent aftermarket cooling Heat Sink and Fan for the CPU. Use some thing to blow the dust bunnies out of the heat sink fins every 6 weeks or so, and you will be just fine.

Thanks to everybody who replied. I have a much better idea about what I'm looking for. Again thanks for the help. Kassie

i7 is really not needed at all. HT is never used in games, only physical cores. 32GB is very pointless, only if you play to do heavy rendering. I can run heavy OC on i7 3770k with 2x GTX 670 on a 650w. Max usage on both CPU/GPU on 100% load is max 420w, on a 650w psu. 850w use to be that way on older systems that was needed. But cpu/gpu has become more efficient, that it is really not needed anymore. Kassie once you have an idea for a build, please post your final design, just to iron out the details.

Okay, here is what I'm thinking about getting. CPU: Intel® Core™ i7-3770 3.40 GHz 8MB Intel Smart Cache LGA1155 1TB WD Black ASUS P8Z77-V Pro AMD Radeon HD 7970 3GB 16X PCIe 3.0 Video Card 750w Corsair PSU Master Cooler Seidon 120M Liquid Cooling system 120MM Radiator since the last few summers have been extremely hot.

» Edited on: 2012-10-24 02:32:37

Add an SSD drive. i7 vs i5, regardless of HT or not, i7 is the way to go. More Ram is always better. If you can afford it, stuff it to the gills with RAM. Right now, maybe 32gb seems pointless, but tech has this crazy way of moving forward. Ive been building systems for almost 20 years, and while Im not as "in" to it as I used to be, I can say that I remember when dual core was a waste of money because most software/games didnt take advantage of it, and the same with quadcores etc. Tech and Gaming/Software drive eachother forward. For power, Ill agree Kalec, the GPU/CPU are a lot more conservative now, but thats not saying much for fans, pumps, hard drives, optical drives, lights etc etc. In the end, Im of the opinion that more is better because it gives you a lot more longevity. Hit your price point with the most you can get.

» Edited on: 2012-10-24 06:51:06

Hyperthreading does significantly help a gaming rig. Does the Guild Wars 2 process take direct advantage of HT? No. Very few games have made the leap to proper multitasking, because (CPU wise) most games only have one task - draw pretty pictures on the screen. Sure, there are 50+ threads in that process (talking Windows, where thread != process), but most of them are sleeping 99% of the time. However, GW2 is not the only thing running on your machine. There's an operating system, for one thing. Even totally idle, Windows 7 has hundreds of threads running - you can see them in Task Manager if you enable the option. You might also be running multiple tabs in a browser, and maybe RaidCall, and maybe a dozen other things concurrently. All that multitasking adds up quickly. Scheduling all those threads across 8 cores (even if 4 of them are virtual) is better than 4, because it allows the CPU to spend less time on preemption and context switching and more time drawing pretty pictures on the screen. Also, my point on 16GB vs 32GB is that there's a cost-benefit analysis to be done. 32GB kits are the new hotness, and carry a price point to match. Personally, if I know that I won't use more than 16GB at a time for at least the next 18 months, then it makes sense to go with 16GB now, and upgrade to 32GB in a year when I no longer have to pay the flavor-of-the-month price.

I've been monitoring this thread fairly closely - I dig building computers :) - and the dichotomy that I frequently see when it comes to building gaming rigs has shown up here. Buy all that you can afford now vs. buy what the software needs/can use. Both are completely valid. You simply need to decide what is best for you. Vaygrent is right. The capabilities of software in a year will increase dramatically over their capabilities right now. Nature of the beast. He is also VERY right that adding an SSD is a great idea. I actually have two in mine - one 60GB for the OS (you can get away with a 30GB one for the OS for those that are more familiar with Windows, page files, etc, but for most folks I'd recommend 60GB), and one other one for GW2 and any other apps that I want to have fast response times with. I then have a 500GB traditional disk for my data and media. This type of setup provides a number of benefits: - Screaming fast startup times - Reduced loading screen times for gaming - Distribution of work across multiple disks so that your OS, games, and media aren't all fighting for the same read/write requests - Mild system integrity benefits; you can keep a backup image of your OS disk on your media drive, plus if either your media/gaming drives die, you still have your main OS disk to run the system against. At a minimum, add one SSD to your system. Arowefell is also right in that the cost/benefit analysis of 16GB vs 32GB RAM right now is a bit out of whack. To be clear, RAM is pretty cheap right now. You can find 16GB of pretty good, name brand, gaming-quality RAM out there for $45-60 for 16GB. That being said, if you have 16GB of RAM in your system, it is unlikely that you will get your money's worth if you add another 16GB of RAM right now. May as well keep the cash in your pocket and then add more if you need/want it down the road when the parts are even cheaper. This is especially true considering that RAM is quite possibly the easiest possible part to add/replace in a computer. Also know that, considering the system you're currently spec'ing out, GW2 will become it's own bottleneck. The engine itself can only process data so fast, regardless of how many horses you throw at it, and there are numerous anecdotal reports of folks building screaming machines only to see few/no tangible benefits as far as rendering the environment/players/NPC's surrounding them. For comparative purposes, I'm running a current-gen i5 with a 6850 and 16gb RAM, and during a dragon kill, fraps running, and a virtual machine running at the same time, I never dropped below 28FPS and consistently stayed at 30-40. With only the game running, I pretty much run 60+ FPS in most world/instanced environments in all but the most crazy situations. As to your questions re: fan vs. liquid cooling. I've done both, and I live in a desert. And both cooling systems have been through the crap situation of having the AC die in the hottest month of the year. The liquid cooling systems were only 2-3 degrees cooler than my traditional cooling systems at any given time. In the interest of full disclosure, I always run maximum case fans. As long as you have good push/pull airflow set up with in your box, traditional cooling systems should be fine and don't run the risk of coolant hose rupture. The biggest benefit I see in most liquid cooling systems is reduced noise. Although I can and have built my own systems, I have also used Cyberpower four times over the past four years for various purposes. Sometimes they are cheaper, sometimes they're not. Right now, they're batting .500 as far as providing me successful systems. The two gaming rigs I had them build for me have been rock solid and happened to come with Gigabyte/MSI components (frequently they use cheaper Powercolor video cards, which I don't recommend). One computer came DOA and I had to send back for a refund. One computer that was built for data integrity was a cluster of a failure and was a nightmare to deal with. In short, my good experiences with them have been great. My bad experiences with them have been the complete polar opposite. It's a bit of a crapshoot.

Many people do not know that certain OS will only work a certain amount of ram. Win7 Home 64bit ($95) only supports upto 16GB, while Pro ($150), Ultimate ($195) supports upto 128GB 16GB ram is $70 while 32GB is $150. My current system with 16GB ram, has never seen usage over 4.2GB, while gaming, raidcall, streaming and browser. Most of the times. These AIO closed watercooling are ok, but once the temps start to get hot the aluminum rad that is used falls very short and can not dissipate the heat effectively. Air cooling within the same price can beat these coolers with good internal airflow. Even on a hotter day and your ambient temps rise. Air cooling would be far better. You cannot compare the AIO closed loops to an actual watercooling setup. On hot days air and AIO will both suffer if your ambient temps outside the case is warm. You will blowing that warm air inside case. Having an AC in your home is a smart way to keep your system cooler. An SSD in your system will help with quicker load times. Will also help with gaming too. Some games will take full advantage of SSD, like in WoW. Many other games it will help with the loading transition of zones. GW2 load times within zones help reduce that time. What also helps is the faster rendering you can get, as it tries to read the files of your system to relay to your network. Kassie the setup you have so far is good. You just need a case with good airflow in it. Now the CPU you picked 3770 can still be OC, but only very little. With a max of only 3.9Ghz. Sometimes a 750w cost so close to a 650w, it is better to get it instead.

Will this work? Intel® Core™ i7-3770 3.40 GHz 8MB Intel Smart Cache LGA1155 60GB Intel 520 Series SSD 1TB WD Black 16GB (4GBx4) DDR3/2133MHz Dual Channel Memory ASUS P8Z77-V Pro AMD Radeon HD 7970 3GB 16X PCIe 3.0 Video Card 750w Corsair PSU Master Cooler Seidon 120M Liquid Cooling system 120MM Radiator Corsair Carbide 300R Mid-tower Gaming Case

If you want to fully OC your CPU, then you can get the 3770k instead. Now if you need certain virtualization the 3770k only supports VT-x, while the 3770 supports VT-d. SSD is too small. 120/128GB is the minimum you want. 60GB will fill up very fast. I would look at the Crucial M4 128GB, highly reliable and most stable. I would stick with an air cooler instead, for $70 there is other options out there. Like the Noctua NH-U12P, which I have on my 3770k. Just make sure the ram you get is low profile in some way. 2 versions of the 300R. Base or with full window. Good case to work with.

Had to downgrade the video card, but its still better than my previous one, to stay in price range. Could always upgrade later. Would this work? Intel® Core™ i7-3770K 3.50 GHz 8MB Intel Smart Cache LGA1155 (All Venom OC Certified) 120GB Corsair Force GT series SSD 1TB WD Black 16GB (4GBx4) DDR3/2133MHz Dual Channel Memory ASUS P8Z77-V Pro AMD Radeon HD 7850 2GB 16X PCIe 3.0 Video Card 750w Corsair PSU Master Cooler Seidon 120M Liquid Cooling system 120MM Radiator Corsair Carbide 300R Mid-tower Gaming Case

» Edited on: 2012-10-24 20:24:07

Were you still planing on getting it built by Cyperpower. I see you went for the 3770k over the 3770. So you want to have a fully unlocked cpu for OC, then I would highly advise to change the cooler. For the price it is, it does not offer better cooling over similar air cooling. I would skip the 7850, and get the 7870 for $20 more, as the difference can be big. Also there is the GTX 660 with is the same cost as the 7850 but performs in between the 7850 and 7870.

Yeah, I was still getting it built by Cyberpower. My budget changed to 1500 after some double checking. There is a $130 difference between the 7850 and 7870, $182 for the 7950, which is why I downgraded to get other things I needed/wanted. Plus, I figure I could always change the video card later. So that build is what I came up with for what I could afford right now.

$130 difference is crazy ripoff. No way that is possible. I would say, just build it yourself in that case. That high budget, can get you more for your money. You can also save money by going to DDR3-1600 Other is just buy the card elsewhere and install it yourself. Here is a system I put together on NCIX.com for $1366 US http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/713/systema.jpg

» Edited on: 2012-10-25 00:24:48

Psypher makes a lot of good points. I read that post twice. I just picked up that same video card you're looking at, the HD 7850, last week. It's going back to NewEgg this afternoon. In GW2, it was reporting nice high frame rates (60+ in almost every situation, even WvW), but it was like playing in a bowl of syrup. Commands from the mouse and keyboard for movement and skill use were delayed and slushy. Animations weren't synchronizing correctly. While running, for example, my character's run animation would go super fast for a split second every 5 seconds or so. Plus, the thing screamed like a banshee, which will not fly when the Mrs. get back from her trip. I may have gotten a bad card, or AMD still hasn't figured out that drivers are important (I left ATI for this same reason many years ago), but either way, my 560 Ti vastly outperforms it. I sincerely hope your experience with it is better than mine. If you aren't looking to get into overclocking, you can save about $40 (on Cyberpower's configurator) on that CPU by dropping the K. It's not something I usually bother with, but some people enjoy it a lot.

Okay, I decided to splurge slightly and change the build, barring any major problems, this is probably the final build. -Corsair Carbide 300R Mid-tower Gaming Case -Maximum 120mm case cooling fans -Intel® Core™ i7-3770K 3.50 GHz 8MB Intel Smart Cache LGA1155 (All Venom OC Certified) -Cooler Master V6 GT CPU Cooler(Nickel plated double-v heatpip w/ color changing LED cap) -ASUS P8Z77-V Pro -16GB (4GBx4) DDR3/2133MHz Dual Channel Memory -NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660Ti 2GB -750w Corsair PSU -120GB Corsair Force GT series SSD -1TB WD Black -Win7 Home Premium

I did some changes to get the most out the system. Changed from P8Z77-V Pro to P8Z77-V LK. That there is $130 difference which I'd rather put towards a better video card. Ram changed to 1866 instead of 2133 save $33. The difference is not even noticeable, only in benchmark and it is very small. Added 7970 + Free Tahiti game pack, Or you can get the GTX 680 for $91 more with free Borderlands 2. Came to with Win 7 $1461 Probably I would change the Maximum 120mm case cooling fans, as it is more likely very cheap quality and noisy. Maximum Enermax 120MM Case Cooling Fans for selected case (Maximum Silent Operation). I have these fans and they are quiet nice and will cost you $20 more. Comes in All Black, Red LED and Blue LED

Thanks for the help. I think I'll go with the changes Kalec suggested, since I would prefer a better video card. Also going to go ahead and upgrade the fans. Thank you all again for the help. I'm much more comfortable with what I'm ordering than I would have been otherwise.

» Edited on: 2012-10-25 10:50:36

everyone above has good advice so i wont add to it, but as far as liquid cooling goes, I have a Corsair H100 reservoir with four cougar vortex fans attached to it. You could do that or just attach two to the back if you have limited space. It is a good reservoir and fan combo and it wont break your bank. Overall IMO, liquid cooling is better because it will keep your temps more stable, and in turn make your cpu last longer. Also its very quiet.

Dont forget to get your free games when you select the video card you want. Which gpu are you going for. Ask cyperpower if the have the 300R with the side window. Should be the same cost or $10 more. Gives you something to look at in your system.

If your are ordering from CyberpowerPC build from a base unit that has "free shipping" and then use SPRING0410 for an additional 5% discount.