Advice needed for mid-range system

[iygnim]

Advice needed for ~2.5k gaming system

Hello everyone, it's been over 5 years since my last rig purchase. I'm completely out of touch with the latest technology and relatively new to DIY rigs so hoping to get advice for my next system purchase.

I mainly play Steam/Blizzard games, watch videos and work so I don't need an extreme rig.. I'm hoping the system can last me for a few years though which is why I'm looking for a mid-range setup. No intention to overclock since I'm not very good with computer hardware.. the important thing is being able to play any PC game out there smoothly.

My budget is around 2.5K, but this must include a 27" monitor and speakers (my speakers are Creative 5.1 from 2003! haha..). Probably the only things I can reuse are:
- Keyboard
- Mouse
- 2 x G.Skill Ripjaws DDR3 1600 4gb
- Windows Home Premium 7 64 bit (is this still ok?)

I was hoping to build the system myself but I saw some videos about static electricity (I don't know how to work around that) and I don't know the wiring connections to make so maybe it is best to let the shop build the rig. Also prefer to have a one-stop solution unless the savings is significant..

Also if anyone has startup tips when the new system arrives please let me know! For example what are must-have programs, things to look out for, etc. I remember years ago SSDs were so expensive nobody even bothered about them. Now it seems every rig includes one (but I am not sure why).. and there are brands that I've never seen before haha..

Some other questions I have:
1. Is a small case good enough or is hard case still the best?
2. Possible to get a nice color theme with my budget? Blue/Red is nice!

Thanks very much in advance!

*edit*
I saw this in the Buyer's Guide but it hasn't been updated in 2015 so not sure how relevant..:
Intel Core i5 4670 & Gigabyte H87-D3H ~ $457
or AMD FX-8350 & ASUS M5A97 PRO ~ $476
G.Skill DDR3-1600MHz 8GB (2X4GB) ~ $77
Gigabyte R9 280X 3GB Winforce OC ~ $449 or Gigabyte GTX 760 2GB Winforce OC ~ $409
Plextor M5 Pro Xtreme 256GB or Samsung SSD 840 Pro 256GB or OCZ Vector 150 240GB
HDD 2TB for Storage ~ $128
Samsung SATA 24X DVD Rewriter ~ $24
Superflower HX 600 ~ $110
Ikonik EN2 ~ $55
Total ~ $21XX

 

[etoilebiscuit]

i like ur budget.

 

[iygnim]

haha.. i thought a monitor plus speakers would easily be 500+ already.. of cuz don't have to spend all the money

 

[etoilebiscuit]

haha.. i thought a monitor plus speakers would easily be 500+ already.. of cuz don't have to spend all the money

The build u saw is v old. Ur budget think can qnix monitor better.

 

[iygnim]

hmm never heard of qnix before but google says it's a korean brand that is relatively cheap compared to the well-known brands? also saw that the review of the materials not so good..

haha anyway you mean my budget is too low?

just found this guide http://forums.hardwarezone.com.sg/h...mprehensive-diy-pc-dummies-guide-4783384.html so now quite tempted to try fixing everything myself..

 

[iygnim]

anyone have any recommendations?

 

[ThinkMe]

INTEL i5 4460+ASROCK B85 KILLER ~ $397
MSI GTX 970 4GB GAMING O.C. ~ $509
SAMSUNG 850 EVO 250GB ~ $129 (Lazada)
WD 3TB GREEN ~ $143
SAMSUNG SATA 24X DVD ~ $25
SEASONIC G SERIES 550W ~ $129
FRACTCAL DESIGN R5 BLACK WINDOW ~ $169

$1501, prices from PCThemes. not good with monitor and speakers recommendations, need other bros to help you out. the abv specs i also not sure bang for bucks or not, also need other bros to vet. am still learning..

 

[supertanweekiat]

I give you advice for Windows 7 Home or Pro 64bit. This is my experience, and I am sharing some problems I had and how I overcome it.

Just like you, last weekend I build my new skylake system i5 6600. The parts nothing to brag about, most of it bought from amazon like SSD, DDR4 RAM, CPU cooler and the rest from PC Themes. And Windows 7 Professional 64bit CD key from Qoo10. Assembling the hardware was easy, coming to install the windows 7 on the newer mother is pain in the butt.

First I encounter this problem "A required CD/DVD driver is missing" (also shown in the web link) during fresh installation. It cannot recognize my ssd or secondary hd but when I went to the boot disk explorer, I can see the SSD drive and X drive. As I read more online, many people actually pointed out its the 3.0 usb driver causing the issue because windows 7 wasn't design to recognize usb 3.0 when it boot up from fresh installation.

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/67974-63-trying-install-windows-required-driver-missing

End up I took a USB to sata converter and plug it into my laptop. Then I copy the driver of USB3.0 from the new motherboard CD into the new SSD. Next I took the SSD and install back to new PC. Boot up and went into windows 7 initial installation again. This time, I was able to install the usb driver from the new ssd. Later on the error msg for CD/DVD missing driver is gone and able to read all my SSD and secondary hd for installation to work. I think if you want to avoid this problem, you should use windows 8.1 and above.

After I finally finish installing windows 7. Activate the licenses and update all the patches. So I finally wanted to upgrade to free windows 10, but the windows 10 app didn't appear on the desktop. So I went to google again, most of them suggest to install the Microsoft Media Tools to force install Windows 10. Please DO NOT USE this step to install, because I did. End up I successfully install windows 10 BUT the license couldn't be activated. Call up Ms hotline, and search on google again. Lucky, the function to roll back to windows 7 was there. In the end, when I roll back, I kept updating the patch file until 2 days later, the windows 10 app icon finally appear. SO, please update windows 10 naturally and do not use Ms Media Tools to install.

My msg is lengthy, hope you can avoid my problems. Buying parts is easy, everything cost me about $1.6K plus altogether, but with basic troubleshooting skill, you can make it all the way till the end. Now happily playing Metal Gear Solid Phantom pain!! Hope it helps

 

[iygnim]

I give you advice for Windows 7 Home or Pro 64bit. This is my experience, and I am sharing some problems I had and how I overcome it.

Just like you, last weekend I build my new skylake system i5 6600. The parts nothing to brag about, most of it bought from amazon like SSD, DDR4 RAM, CPU cooler and the rest from PC Themes. And Windows 7 Professional 64bit CD key from Qoo10. Assembling the hardware was easy, coming to install the windows 7 on the newer mother is pain in the butt.

First I encounter this problem "A required CD/DVD driver is missing" (also shown in the web link) during fresh installation. It cannot recognize my ssd or secondary hd but when I went to the boot disk explorer, I can see the SSD drive and X drive. As I read more online, many people actually pointed out its the 3.0 usb driver causing the issue because windows 7 wasn't design to recognize usb 3.0 when it boot up from fresh installation.

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/67974-63-trying-install-windows-required-driver-missing

End up I took a USB to sata converter and plug it into my laptop. Then I copy the driver of USB3.0 from the new motherboard CD into the new SSD. Next I took the SSD and install back to new PC. Boot up and went into windows 7 initial installation again. This time, I was able to install the usb driver from the new ssd. Later on the error msg for CD/DVD missing driver is gone and able to read all my SSD and secondary hd for installation to work. I think if you want to avoid this problem, you should use windows 8.1 and above.

After I finally finish installing windows 7. Activate the licenses and update all the patches. So I finally wanted to upgrade to free windows 10, but the windows 10 app didn't appear on the desktop. So I went to google again, most of them suggest to install the Microsoft Media Tools to force install Windows 10. Please DO NOT USE this step to install, because I did. End up I successfully install windows 10 BUT the license couldn't be activated. Call up Ms hotline, and search on google again. Lucky, the function to roll back to windows 7 was there. In the end, when I roll back, I kept updating the patch file until 2 days later, the windows 10 app icon finally appear. SO, please update windows 10 naturally and do not use Ms Media Tools to install.

My msg is lengthy, hope you can avoid my problems. Buying parts is easy, everything cost me about $1.6K plus altogether, but with basic troubleshooting skill, you can make it all the way till the end. Now happily playing Metal Gear Solid Phantom pain!! Hope it helps

oh my goodness! i was planning to use back my old windows 7 but having read this i think i should invest in a windows 8 cd key instead? glad to see everything worked out well

 

[iygnim]

INTEL i5 4460+ASROCK B85 KILLER ~ $397
MSI GTX 970 4GB GAMING O.C. ~ $509
SAMSUNG 850 EVO 250GB ~ $129 (Lazada)
WD 3TB GREEN ~ $143
SAMSUNG SATA 24X DVD ~ $25
SEASONIC G SERIES 550W ~ $129
FRACTCAL DESIGN R5 BLACK WINDOW ~ $169

$1501, prices from PCThemes. not good with monitor and speakers recommendations, need other bros to help you out. the abv specs i also not sure bang for bucks or not, also need other bros to vet. am still learning..

thanks for your reply! it is definitely a good start. i'm still undecided about the gpu and mobo though, it seems asus is still the frontrunner? also if i want tomuse the system for a few years, would it make more sense to get an i5 4690 instead?

for monitor i quite like the matte dell 27", price is ok and i think 60hz should be good enough?

still can't decide on a casing though! whats good about fractal? honestly never heard of it until now haha..

 

[fatthumb]

I'm drooling over ur budget bro... plenty of room to maneuvre

Sent from Samsung SM-N9005 using GAGT

 

[supertanweekiat]

I got fractal Design Arc Mini 2...so so nice, plus add some LED lighting!

 

[Phen8210]

fractal r5 is worth the money.. probably the best overall case at this price point.

Silent, cool, customizable, pretty, robust.

 

[iygnim]

I'm drooling over ur budget bro... plenty of room to maneuvre

Sent from Samsung SM-N9005 using GAGT

haha but must include 27" monitor! so the budget is probably closer to 2K? you can always share your ideas

 

[iygnim]

I got fractal Design Arc Mini 2...so so nice, plus add some LED lighting!

fractal r5 is worth the money.. probably the best overall case at this price point.

Silent, cool, customizable, pretty, robust.

ya everywhere i see fractal r5 gets the best reviews. my only issue with it is the design is rather boring imo.. although the white with window looks nice!

 

[iygnim]

**Latest update**

So far these are pretty much fixed:
SSD - Samsung EVO 850 250 GB
HDD - WD 1 TB Blue 64 MB SATA3
OS - Windows 8.1 buy from...?
DVD-RW - Samsung or Asus 24X
RAM - use back old Ripjaws 1600 4GBx2

Not sure about these:
Motherboard - ASUS H97-PRO GAMER i5-4460 or 4690? Or Gigabyte?
GPU - ASUS GTX 970 4GB STRIX DDR5 or Gigabyte GTX 970 4GB G.1 Gaming?
PSU - Definitely a Gold 650w but Corsair or Superflower or Seasonic?
Monitor - Definitely 27" Matte type but Dell or AOC or...
Casing - Fractal R5?

Now must also start looking for sound system already.. 5.1 is great but takes up so much space.. but having a woofer is so important..

 

[ThinkMe]

ehhh 4460 and 4690 from what i read around here doesn't have any significant diff to avg users. (iirc)

MOBO and GPU branding depending on own preferences bah, i prefer MSI thou and Gigabyte looks expensive to me.

google MonsterCoryX Reddit for Windows key.

 

[iygnim]

ehhh 4460 and 4690 from what i read around here doesn't have any significant diff to avg users. (iirc)

MOBO and GPU branding depending on own preferences bah, i prefer MSI thou and Gigabyte looks expensive to me.

google MonsterCoryX Reddit for Windows key.

ya i think in the end everything is down to personal brand preference. i must say my experience with ASUS has been quite okay so far probably will just continue with that.. just don't know if those i wrote are the good ones or is there something more value for money.. too many different terms until i can't tell the difference.. got h97 z97 etc etc..

and thanks i'll lookout for that for the Windows key

 

[iygnim]

anyone else have any recommendation for mobo and gpu? are these good choices or can i do better?
Motherboard - ASUS H97-PRO GAMER i5-4460 or 4690? Or Gigabyte
GPU - ASUS GTX 970 4GB STRIX DDR5 or Gigabyte GTX 970 4GB G.1 Gaming

anyone using matte monitor, is it a good choice over gloss?

thx

 

[etoilebiscuit]

anyone else have any recommendation for mobo and gpu? are these good choices or can i do better?
Motherboard - ASUS H97-PRO GAMER i5-4460 or 4690? Or Gigabyte
GPU - ASUS GTX 970 4GB STRIX DDR5 or Gigabyte GTX 970 4GB G.1 Gaming

anyone using matte monitor, is it a good choice over gloss?

thx

matte wont reflect lo, glossy definitely will. ur preference.