Hi all.

I have finally decided to buy my first PC dedicated to gaming & video editing. I have an old desktop but I can't do much on it, which is how I got to this decision. I'm going to buy it assembled at Cyber Power PC and foregoing building it on my own just due to the fact that I'm still learning that side of things and also I don't want to bust something and have to pay more for it.

Having said that, I have no idea as to what I'm looking for other than the fact that I want to run today's games at the highest possible resolution. The most I am looking to spend for it is $1,400. I would make this decision on my own, but navigating CyberPower's website is a bit daunting if you don't know what exactly you are looking for.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

If you already know the place you are going to buy your PC, I'd suggest just playing around with the site's build configurations and try to stay in your budget. Since you are going to be doing some video editing (I'm assuming this is more than just amateur "post funny clips on youtube" line of work), I'd start with going with an i7 Intel CPU or the AMD equivalent as well as have a large secondary hard drive to save your video files.

[edit] Also, don't be afraid of building a PC due to the possibility of breaking one of your components. If you do your research (you can just watch a couple of youtube video tutorials as well as Tested.com's video of Will and Norm building Jeff's PC), the only chance of you breaking something would be due to a freak accident. And remember, you can just RMA whatever you break and claim DOA.

I only took a quick glance at what they offer you on the site. I would honestly suggest you build it yourself, if you ever change your mind, it's not that hard and it costs way less. But anyway...

If you're only going to do gaming, I would go for an i5 intel processor. i7's multi-threading isn't used in today's games yet, and it only has a slightly faster clock speed. Also, get the ones with a "k" a the end, easier to overclock if you ever feel like getting into that, they aren't really more expensive

If you can afford a decently large SSD, go for that as your main drive, and get atleast a 1TB hard drive also.

When it comes to graphics cards, I'm the type that goes for the top (single GPU), but I'm sure you can do very decent with GTX 670 or even a 660.

Motherboards are a bit tougher to choose in my opinion, you need to make sure it supports the things you're going to buy, so I'm not going to get into that myself, I might mislead you more than anything.

You don't need more than 8gb of RAM, it's plenty and cheap. If you feel like it, 16 gb is not necessarily a bad idea, but don't take more than that, it would be useless.

That's all I can really think of right now.

I took the liberty of making a build here. Let me know what you think.

@rand0mZer00: I built the PC that tested did for Jeff a while back. It still is running great. At this point, you could update a few pieces of that build and be set for a while. Must have an SSD at least for windows, but don't buy a cheap one, do your homework and get a quality one. Check out tom's hardware for specific pieces. Also, I'd say go with a gtx 670 for your gpu, not too expensive and not low-end either. The 560ti was hot back when tested did that build, and that is what I run, the new 660ti is not as good in terms of bang for your buck, go with at least the 670. One last note, get a good quality PSU, make sure you check the reviews and don't skimp. Having a bad PSU or not enough power can go real bad real quick. Corsair TX 750 should run what you need, and will be able to handle a new GPU upgrade in a year or so too.

BTW, why cyberpower? You can do better getting the pieces off amazon and newegg

If you would like help building a PC, I recommend visiting Reddit, specifically the subreddits r/buildapc and r/buildapcforme. The former is more active, but the latter has ideal builds based on price, so check them both out. The FAQ on the right side of either should provide more than enough information. Have fun.

http://www.reddit.com/r/buildapc

http://www.reddit.com/r/buildapcforme

@kurtkless: I was going by the recommended sites in the PC Building Thread here. I was trying to find any routes to not actually build it since I'm still learning how to, but I know a couple of people that have done it before so maybe I can do that instead but any advice anyone wants to throw out, please do so. I would rather have a wealth of tips and go from there.

Thanks again everyone!

Some problems: assuming you're starting from scratch here, buying a monitor and all, "highest possible resolution" basically means 2560x1600. That's expensive on its own. Compound that with a video card powerful enough to drive that with modern games on maxed settings with playable framerates, and we're talkin' $400-500 just for the GPU. Then add to that an i7 (which is all you should even consider if you're doing a lot of video editing), AND the added cost of having it built for you, and $1400 just ain't enough.

Things you need to be clear on: what resolution are you actually going to be playing games at? Are you only willing to accept ultra settings and 60 fps at all times, or is high at 1080p 30-60 fps ok? How much and what kind of video editing are we talking here? Let us know all of this and recommending parts will be easier.

I'm assuming that the guy will be playing at 1080p. 2560x1600 and 2560x1440 monitors, while more common even a year ago, are still at the luxury tier of PC ownership.

Indeed, but he did say "highest possible resolution." I'm not exactly sure what that means, honestly. Maybe he just means highest possible settings and 60 fps...

@rand0mZer00 said:

Hi all.

I have finally decided to buy my first PC dedicated to gaming & video editing. I have an old desktop but I can't do much on it, which is how I got to this decision. I'm going to buy it assembled at Cyber Power PC and foregoing building it on my own just due to the fact that I'm still learning that side of things and also I don't want to bust something and have to pay more for it.

You already fucking lost me, just do it man. Jesus, you want to have a clue when you touch your computer? You gotta throw in some time otherwise when that beast shows up already made, you'll be fucking scared to touch it man..

But yeah, as far as helpful advice....

I'm assuming you're running Adobe Premiere Pro right? And you have your CS6 shit in order?

First piece of advice, decide on your CPU and then find a motherboard that will fit the socket of your CPU.

How much video editing do you actually do? Or did you want something to stitch together movies faster, and you don't have like deadlines and people yelling at you all the time?

If you're an actual enthusiast, your biggest question is whether you want to go i7 or grabbing a hexcore processor. Seeing as how you're going through CyberPower PC (unless you toughen by then). You're better off going for the i7-3770k. Just remember, your CPU matters so don't listen when people won't read the video editing part and go "YOU DON'T NEED MULTI-THREADING." You do, and you will feel the difference on projects.

I linked my blog when I built my first PC and went with the i7-3770k and an Asus motherboard.

Then go with 16 gigabytes of RAM at least, don't forget a MODULAR power supply (although you won't be doing the ribbon tying, so it's kind of a null point).

As far as videocards go, no reason not to get the 670 unless you want the 680 in my opinion. Asus, EVGA, or MSI.

@Doctorchimp: Thanks for the help!

I've decided to just build it myself. It's going to be the one in this Tested article. It's perfectly in my price range as well so that's a huge plus.

I've said this alot but thank you to everyone who has helped me through this topic.

@rand0mZer00 said:

I've decided to just build it myself. It's going to be the one in this Tested article. It's perfectly in my price range as well so that's a huge plus.

I've said this alot but thank you to everyone who has helped me through this topic.

Thanks to your link, I found out that they FINALLY have a new design. A design that looks good and wasn't there a few days ago. So thank you.