So my wife in a suprising turn of events, sits me down the other day and proceeds to say "I really appreciate all you do for me and the kids(watching the kids and working full time to put her through school) and as a thank you I want you to take some money and build you a new PC. Totally unexpected. So now I'm pumped but don't know where to start.

My budget is $1500-1750

I already have monitors/keyboards/etc. so all that cash can go straight into the tower and its components.

I've never built my own PC, and my question is if you had that budget what kind of beast would you build?

will be running games in 1080 but would like the options available in the future for higher resolutions.

Would really like this PC to last me 5 YEARS or more if possible, I mean I'm running a 5770 right now so I can handle turning a game to medium to make a PC last me that long if not longer. :P

Thanks Guys.

5 years is very unrealistic on the GPU side of things, but it's highly possible a good CPU will last that long. Hell I'm on a 2009 model i5 750 and it's happily playing BF4 on ultra.

You could build one beastly machine with that budget. Damn.

That said, you really shouldn't build a PC with components thinking that the configuration will last for five years. Build a PC with a configuration you can *upgrade* in that same timeframe. You'll save a lot more money in the long run.

Yeah I'm cool with upgrading the GPU in a couple years.

Sorry your wife owns you.

Is size or loudness a concern for you? Or are you ok with building something the size of a small hatchback that sounds like a 747 on takeoff?

Damn, that's a pretty good budget.

Like @sooty said, 5 years on a GPU would be a stretch. I'd actually suggest focusing on getting the best CPU, motherboard, and power supply that you can. Don't go cheap on the GPU, but if you have to decide between a better graphics card and a better processor, get the better processor. That way, three years from now when your GPU is starting to run a little long in the tooth, you can just pick up a new one of those and be good to go. You won't need a new processor and motherboard, and won't need to gut your computer.

The bigger the better IMO...it will sit in one place for the duration of its life(maybe 2-3 LAN parties with old school buddies every now and then) so np with it being a BEAST!

I can handle something moderately loud.

Components from Corsair (Particularly the Chassis, Power Supply, and Memory) are absolutely recommended by this PC gamer.

Exactly what I thought lmao

I'd set your sights a little lower - you aren't gonna have a lot of change left after you go buy a spine.

Whoa, this is getting a little bit nasty guys. I wouldn't want my wife spending $1500 of our money without clearing it with me either.

Have fun with your new PC @8bit_archer

:P Me and my wife have a 50/50 thing going on here, we both compromise a lot. We both discuss any purchase with each other first. Its part of being in a healthy Growing relationship. She is a awesome woman and to be honest if I were to be "OWNED" by anyone I would rather it be her, she is a very compisinate woman who allows me to be me(a nerd). So laugh it up, Ill laugh with you...my wife owns me :D

@8bit_archer: Regardless of the components you finally pick, it's always good to watch a master builder put a PC together before you launch on the project:

@8bit_archer: This sitegives pretty good guidelines. The only thing I will say is your budget should allow for the GTX 780, get that. Don't SLI out of the box. Save that for later if you want to cheaply upgrade your GPU.

Also this site is a good place to search out more parts and know you're getting the best possible deal for your components.

Check out the hardware leaderboard over at pcper.com: http://www.pcper.com/hwlb

This will give you an idea of what type of components to start with and is usually updated monthly I think. You could probably go with the high end system they have there and tweak a few things to your liking since you have a little higher budget. When I built my PC I bought half the parts at the local Microcenter and the other half on newegg.com. Surprisingly I took a spreadsheet with me into Microcenter and they actually were cheaper than newegg on some components so it will all depend on how much time you want to invest into pulling together the best components for the best price.

@alwaysbebombing said:

Haha, that made me giggle.

That's a good price range for a high end PC, I'll just go ahead and post a link of my setup. I did some minor changes to that build since it was built like adding 8 more gigs of RAM, a GTX 770, and a bluray drive. The i7 will last a long time and the only thing I see myself changing soon is the 770 for perhaps a high end 800 series card which should have a longer life span for playing the new gen games.

$1500 is a hefty budget, you can build yourself a very kick-ass rig for that money. I'd recommend hopping onto http://www.reddit.com/r/buildapc and look at what other people have done on a similar budget.

My biggest suggestion is to spend a little extra to get a good motherboard, this gives you both the ability to overclock easily (which will give you some longevity) as well as a better resistance to doing an RMA. I've gotten screwed by cheap motherboards going bad, and there's nothing worse than trying to troubleshoot a recurring BSOD without spare components.

Even if you are going to build a mid or even full tower, an mATX motherboard can shave a good $100 off of the cost. Just about everything is onboard now, so the extra PCI slots are going to go unused on a full ATX board. I picked up the Gigabyte Sniper M5, and it's treated me well, but if I were to build my rig over again, I'd get the ASUS Maximus VI Hero.

Everything else is easy. For CPU I recommend the 4670k (the 4770k gives you HyperThreading for an extra $100, but unless you're doing some intensive CPU-driven work, it's not beneficial for gaming). And RAM can be just about anything that's fairly cheap; anything faster than DDR3-1866MHz is a waste because of how Haswell does clocking.

Now what you do is spend only $1000-$1200 on your new PC and spend the rest on her. You can build a solid PC for less than your budget if you want to.

Sounds like true love right there.

This is what it looks like when an adult responds to children on the internet =)

now that is some solid advice

Here.

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($199.99 @ Microcenter)
CPU Cooler: Xigmatek Dark Knight II SD1283 Night Hawk Edition 89.5 CFM CPU Cooler ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Asus Maximus VI Hero ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($199.98 @ OutletPC)
Memory: G.Skill Sniper Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($68.00 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($162.99 @ Adorama)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Black 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($149.98 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 780 3GB Video Card ($509.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Fractal Design Define R4 w/Window (Black Pearl) ATX Mid Tower Case ($89.99 @ Microcenter)
Case Fan: Fractal Design FD-FAN-SSR2-140 66.0 CFM 140mm Fan ($13.07 @ NCIX US)
Case Fan: Fractal Design FD-FAN-SSR2-140 66.0 CFM 140mm Fan ($13.07 @ NCIX US)
Case Fan: Fractal Design FD-FAN-SSR2-140 66.0 CFM 140mm Fan ($13.07 @ NCIX US)
Case Fan: Fractal Design FD-FAN-SSR2-140 66.0 CFM 140mm Fan ($13.07 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($109.99 @ NCIX US)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($16.98 @ OutletPC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8 (OEM) (64-bit) ($97.98 @ OutletPC)

Total: $1708.14

Feel free to ask any questions on why I chose the parts that I picked or if you want to make modifications to make it cheaper, more powerful, etc.

Haha, right, because nothing says 'adult' like having to be sat down and given an allowance, especially out of money you are the sole earner of. That's not so much a 50/50 thing as 0/100. Can you even imagine if he'd come in here and told this story with the roles reversed? He'd have been ripped to fffuuu for being sexist, controlling and incredibly patronising (and probably chastised as a freeloader for good measure).

How old are you/are you in a committed relationship?

That's a really bad thread title as it does make you look like you're owned by your wife, even if you're not(I think you are) but anyway, yeah, bad thread title.

Someones about to make a point via extreme generalization over what a real committed relationship is supposed to be like. Can't wait. =D

As someone who built his first pc this year I found pcpartpicker.com invaluable. Also when you're putting it together, I think it's really important to have someone who knows what they're doing with you. I basically had to stumble around on my own and it took me about 4 days, and a couple of "I'm an idiot what do I dooo" messages to JJweatherman.

I was in a committed relationship for 8 years and my gf and I are still best friends. When we were together we had our own money and did what we wanted with it when we wanted, there was no permission or anything like that, we were two separate people that loved each other, that's it. That's why to me if looks like he's owned(even if he's not), so tell me, is that what committed relationships are "supposed" to be like or did my gf and I do it wrong?

Well the way I see it, it depends on if you're a PC gamer who's priorities are with max visuals, fps, and resolution for the latest games. If you and want it to last for 5 years then I think you will be exhausting $1500.00 at the most, unless you go nuts with a huge ass SSD then lol, I guess that budget is sound. As for what to get, we need to know your current specs and what you're planning to do on your new pc.

How did your girlfriend and you arrange paying rent/mortgage, food and utilities? And what about children, like OP? Did you pay what you wanted when you wanted?

Committed relationships aren't "supposed" to look like anything. I was asking because I figured most people who are older and have been in a commited relationship would realize this and not make brash judgements about other people's relationships...

"Honey, you've been so good to me. I'd like to give you a gift to show you my gratitude."

Here you go

You got: permission to use (some of) your money.

why is everyone being internet shitty about the dudes life

it's super mean

we should help the nice family man make a pleasure computer

To me being in a committed healthy relationship is doing what you need to do to progress the marriage unit as a whole....ONE WHOLE PART...not two separate parts doing what they can "selfishly' "separately". By allowing her to first finish her degree without interruption our lives will be better in the long run, instead of both us being tore two separate directions and we both failing. I have failed to mention she graduates next winter and I start school next year where as she will be the sole earner while I finish my degree. ITS WHAT WORKS FOR US, with two kids its hard to finish a degree and I am so proud that she has been able to so with a high GPA. Its funny how you understand exactly what my marriage is like just by reading a thread title, its funny how things are that one dimensional, I am helplessly in love with that woman, as well as constently inspired by her hard work. You don't know my situation so please don't pretend to. I may be in over my head, I may be owned and just don't know it, but I trust her completely. That is what marriage is TRUST.

The thread title however....was meant as a joke, you know...HAHA my wife is letting me...bla bla bla...but it would seem the internet as it is want to be is always so goddamn literal.

Also failed to mention that this money is coming out of her money she has saved by working through the summer.

You shouldn't have to. I'm a little grossed out by people projecting their shitty idea of manhood on you and making you feel like you've done something wrong. Defending your wife to internet bullies is not something you should have to do.

Sir, that is a key piece of information. I rescind my earlier statement (joke).

That thread title, man.

she let you out of your cage for that?!

Giantbomb can be a pretty shitty community sometimes...

Anyway dude, good look building your new PC. I built mine a year ago and had a couple of "have I ruined it?!" moments, but it's easy if you do a bit of research first and get everything organized.

@8bit_archer: I was joking too. But people became super serious.

Newegg has a couple of good videos about putting them together. I managed to put mine together in a night with no prior experience. Although it would have gone faster if there was someone there to help haha.

Also, I can post the specs of mine if you want, build it like 2 months ago. It was a tiny bit cheaper than your budget, so you could get a better GPU or something.

@8bit_archer: I'm sorry people are focusing on stuff that doesn't matter. The whole general topic of women, apparently, is a sensitive issue for some here; even if you're speaking in a light-hearted manner, unfortunately.

Congrats on getting a new PC, though. It must be hard juggling everything, but sometimes you need to treat yo'self.

I 2nd this list. Everything here looks pretty solid.

I shouldn't have gotten so defensive but I have always held the belief that if there is one thing worth getting defensive about its the woman you love and your children. Sorry for allowing this thread to get out of hand and thank you guys for being cool about it. :D

We split everything down the middle and whatever was left of our own cash was ours to hold or spend, no kids(thank god).

Apparently the point was missed entirely.

1: Someone posts what is to him, good news and requests advice from the community.

2: Instead of being helpful to someone reaching out, asshat responds with a snarky and mean comment that doesn't benefit anyone at all and is instead hurtful for no reason whatsoever.

3: The Adult responding to children part. Instead of retaliating in any way whatsoever to unwarranted asshattery, responds as if to a legitimate question explaining his situation and further defuses the situation by being self deprecating while obviously not in a negative way.

Mostly, I was just pointing out that @8bit_archer was being super cool about dealing with trolling. If you're gonna claim you weren't trolling then iono. I got nothing.

I think one of the reasons people have reacted like they have to this thread is that we all know people who really are under lock and key(financially, socially, etc.) by their partner to a point where it appears unhealthy.

As far as the PC build, the Reddit thread linked above has a lot of good information. Basically I would go with a decent sized SSD and either an Ivy Bridge or Haswell generation processor. The 3570k and 4670k are both good value choices. AMD is looking more and more appealing for GPU if mantle actually becomes a thing.

Holy fuck.... this has tuned super nasty and not the good kind. Guy just asked a question. Its shitty that even Giant Bomb duders can trow stuff around like this. Alas this is why I (even at my favorite site Giant Bomb) stay off the forums. I'm building a pc for a friend and one for myself as well... just wanted to pop in and see whats up. Sorry Duder... we should be better. Good luck and if stuff hits space mexico on the build, well I can help. I work on stuff like this for... a living... kinda...