Looking for the Ultimate Skyrim desktop

[Indoctrinated]

It is time for me to upgrade to a desktop and I plan on going big. I would appreciate any suggestions as to where to go to buy. I am not planning on building one myself. I am way to paranoid to do that. My budget is around 3K as I have been saving for quite some time. So the title does speck for itself. I love skyrim and am looking for something that can run it on max with lots of mods.

 

Thanks!

[FMod]

Virtually all desktops in this price range will be badly designed - too much money spent on something unimportant, yet missing something more important. Noisy PSU or lacking SSD, etc, and you certainly won't get "best in slot" versions of parts.

 

Best way to go would be to pick among companies that will build a desktop for you out of a wide selection of parts. Some stores just have it as a service, "Build PC +$100".

[Rennn]

While I agree with Fmod, Digital Storm is also a good option.

Perhaps the Digital Storm Bolt Level 4 or Ode Level 3.

Edited April 10, 2014 by Rennn

[FMod]

Looked it up... It's not terrible, but again pretty much the same issues I warned about. Color-coded by severity:

 

Specs

- Intel Core i7 4770K CPU - fine, but if it's not o/c'd, why "K"
- 16GB 1600MHz Memory - cheap RAM in a $3k PC
- NVIDIA GTX 780 Ti 3GB - fine, but probably a ref
- 120GB Samsung 840 EVO SSD - too small
- 1TB 7200RPM Storage HDD - too small for movies, too big for games (go one 512 SSD)
- ASUS H87 Motherboard - In a $3k PC?
- 500W Digital Storm PSU - Unacceptable (barely enough power)

- DVD-R/RW/CD-R/RW - OK
- Microsoft Windows 8.1 - OK

 

Ode has an over-specced CPU that only makes sense in its maximum configuration.

 

I mean, these aren't the worst, and I hope they aren't the best, but it's really hard to get an optimized configuration offered as stock. This is why enthusiasts build their own PCs, not because they enjoy tightening screws (certainly not all of them.

Edited April 11, 2014 by FMod

[wismas]

I'm not trying to sway you, indoctrinated but I had never built a PC before, ever. I had planned to buy one for the same reasons you mentioned only my budget was about half. After some research and advice in this very forum I purchased my own components and built my own gaming PC. I was very intimidated at first but I am so glad I did.

 

First off, it was a fun project. I learned a lot and got my pc together and working after one day of fiddling. Would have had it done earlier but missed a connection on my SSD.

 

Having said that there were a few rough spots.

 

1. Seating the CPU onto the motherboard. It isn't hard, it's just a bit nervewracking. Also adding the thermal paste for the cooler had me nervous because I was worried about air bubbles and such.

 

2. Connecting all the cables. Some were really obvious and easy. The ones that gave me grief were the front connections for the case buttons. It wasn't clear and instructions are sparse or confusing because everything comes from a different manufacturer.

 

The biggest tip I can give anyone doing this for the first time is go slow, don't force anything into place and make sure to have all your stuff laid out in front of you in a clean and organized work space.

 

Watch the build a PC videos on NewEgg youtube channel, very informative.

 

While I don't have a beast of a system I have a very good one and I can run Skyrim with a load of Mods, I may have over 100 right now. And when it comes to modding, if you have not done it before, I strongly recommend following the tutorial videos by Gopher. No fuss, no muss and very informative.

 

Whatever you finally decide, good luck and have fun!

[Indoctrinated]

Thanks for all the replies guys!

[Rennn]

Looked it up... It's not terrible, but again pretty much the same issues I warned about. Color-coded by severity:

 

Specs

- Intel Core i7 4770K CPU - fine, but if it's not o/c'd, why "K"

- 16GB 1600MHz Memory - cheap RAM in a $3k PC

- NVIDIA GTX 780 Ti 3GB - fine, but probably a ref

- 120GB Samsung 840 EVO SSD - too small

- 1TB 7200RPM Storage HDD - too small for movies, too big for games (go one 512 SSD)

- ASUS H87 Motherboard - In a $3k PC?

- 500W Digital Storm PSU - Unacceptable (barely enough power)

- DVD-R/RW/CD-R/RW - OK

- Microsoft Windows 8.1 - OK

 

Ode has an over-specced CPU that only makes sense in its maximum configuration.

 

I mean, these aren't the worst, and I hope they aren't the best, but it's really hard to get an optimized configuration offered as stock. This is why enthusiasts build their own PCs, not because they enjoy tightening screws (certainly not all of them.

 

1. True.

2. There's no way to know if it's cheap.

3. Nothing wrong with reference. He could OC it up to aftermarket levels anyway.

4. It's clearly intended as a boot drive.

5. A 500GB HDD only costs like $5 less and a 2TB costs double. A 500GB SSD would add about $500 to the cost. A 1TB HDD is most efficient.

6. The only advantage of a "Z" motherboard would be overclocking. The H87 is perfectly acceptable for stock speeds, a better board would not help at all without a CPU OC, which was already covered by #1.

7. The 780 TI takes at most 240w under load, the i7 takes 90w. The rest of the PC combined will take about 100w. That's 430w total, easily a safe value for a 500w PSU. Though it would be better if it's gold certified, which is uncertain.

[FMod]

...

 

2. Cheap as in performance. Cost doesn't matter, it's 1600 rather than 2133 or 2400 you'd expect. It only adds ~2% in terms of performance, but 2% is more than nothing.

3. Reference cards aren't as quiet as some aftermarket options, not that it matters with this PSU.

4. Which is fine for a $1,200 desktop, ma-a-aybe a $1,600 one. Anything above and you want more than a boot drive.

 

5. It may be double by their internal upgrade pricing. On Newegg, 1TB is $60 and 2TB is $80.

 

Crucial M500 480GB only costs $240, and it's a good drive. So installing a single 480GB SSD instead of the included mix would not be +$500 to the cost, merely $240-$60-$80 = +$100 to the cost.

 

6. The CPU is a "K" model. Why a "K" without a "Z" motherboard? It's actually a tiny bit worse than non-K if you don't OC.

 

7. 430W is not acceptable draw for a 500W PSU. There's no uncertainty about being Gold certified - if it was, they'd plaster it all over the description, so 99% that it isn't. Probably a Bronze unit, possibly worse.

 

430W is "safe" in that it won't blow a fuse. But it will be loud, it will run hot, it will run crap voltages and power quality, cutting down on component lifetime and stability. And, if you do o/c the video card, look forward to a nice freeze or reboot at just about the worst possible moment.

[Rennn]

 

...

 

2. Cheap as in performance. Cost doesn't matter, it's 1600 rather than 2133 or 2400 you'd expect. It only adds ~2% in terms of performance, but 2% is more than nothing.

3. Reference cards aren't as quiet as some aftermarket options, not that it matters with this PSU.

4. Which is fine for a $1,200 desktop, ma-a-aybe a $1,600 one. Anything above and you want more than a boot drive.

 

5. It may be double by their internal upgrade pricing. On Newegg, 1TB is $60 and 2TB is $80.

 

Crucial M500 480GB only costs $240, and it's a good drive. So installing a single 480GB SSD instead of the included mix would not be +$500 to the cost, merely $240-$60-$80 = +$100 to the cost.

 

6. The CPU is a "K" model. Why a "K" without a "Z" motherboard? It's actually a tiny bit worse than non-K if you don't OC.

 

7. 430W is not acceptable draw for a 500W PSU. There's no uncertainty about being Gold certified - if it was, they'd plaster it all over the description, so 99% that it isn't. Probably a Bronze unit, possibly worse.

 

430W is "safe" in that it won't blow a fuse. But it will be loud, it will run hot, it will run crap voltages and power quality, cutting down on component lifetime and stability. And, if you do o/c the video card, look forward to a nice freeze or reboot at just about the worst possible moment.

 

 

2. If it was "faster" they'd have cut the cas latency to keep the price down thus nullifying the higher frequency, or we'd be looking at an extra $50 just for the RAM. That's not worth a 2% performance increase.

3. Okay. Still not really important, since Nvidia cards tend to run cooler anyway. I doubt the reference cooler would be taxed heavily. Some 3rd party cards don't even have a voltage increase anyway.

4. You can safely expect the price to increase by 50%-100% on any prebuilt. If they added a 512GB Crucial SSD you'd be complaining that it's cheap for a $3000 build and they should have had a Samsung EVO.

5. No idea. Considering how little extra the "K" costs though, it's not exactly a downside, especially since it can be overclocked for use in a future build if necessary.

6. We'd need to know the actual model of the PSU for that. 430w out of 500w is a very acceptable margin on, for example, a Seasonic PSU. They listed very few specifics about anything, so we actually have no idea how it's certified.

 

What are really the alternatives? Cyberpower PCs ship broken half the time, Alienware is even more overpriced, etc.

 

Everyone (I hope) knows that building a PC is way better, but spending a lot more than he should is the only way he's going to be able to buy a totally assembled PC with no knowledge of hardware specifications required.

[wismas]

One other point for you, indoctrinated. When I was looking at having my PC built for me I checked the usual resources that come up on a Google search but then I also checked locally. I live in the Boston area and there are quite a few shops that will build a machine for you that you personally spec out. This may cost you a bit more but you will have comfort knowing the quality of the components plus no worrying about the building part if you don't want to take it on. I used google maps and searched my area to find the shops. Then I looked for reviews on those shops. Just a thought.