Price-check for New PC

[Montmorency]

My current/old PC has a decent CPU - i7-2600 - but I'd rather not go into why it has a bottom-rung 1GB graphics card.

Suffice to say that a year ago it was barely enough for me to sluggishly-play Fallout: New Vegas, and ATM is simply incapable of playing Skyrim.*

Both of my games are modded to the utmost, but playing vanilla is simply not an option.

So I need an upgrade, either to build myself or to purchase (likely as a custom-build).

The build I'm thinking of is:

CPU: i7-4790K 4.0 Ghz
GPU: GTX 970 4GB
RAM: 16GB (8GBx2) 2133Mhz
HDD: 3TB + 256GB SSD

As a custom-build on one of those sites that do it, I would pay, including all add-ons, accessories, and software, around $1900.

From quick Googling, I could build a near-identical machine myself for up to $150 less.

Should I keep looking into part-prices for DIY? $150 in savings is not worth, IMO, the hassle involved, the extra labor, and the lack of warranty.

Thoughts?

*Interestingly, New Vegas the way I modded it would run reliably but with obscene loading times. Skyrim, on the other hand almost-constantly either froze, CTD'd, or went into ILS (infinite loading screen), with the load times being very reasonable when actually leading to something.

[Xiahou]

Why not just upgrade your graphics card and get more RAM if needed? I think the i7 CPU should be able to handle any modern games- most are GPU, not CPU bound.

You'd save a pile of cash that way....My main rig is a 5 year old PhenomII. I upgraded the GPU not too long ago and it runs everything fine that I play- certainly Skyrim is no problem.

[Montmorency]

I should have mentioned that wouldn't be the preferred option.

I mean, the upgrade isn't just for Skyrim, though that's the most proximate example. I'd like as modern a rig as is both possible and relatively cost-effective to last me through the decade, so I'm picking out the above hardware based on value benchmarks. For example, up from the i7-4790K and the GTX 970 prices seem to skyrocket with rapidly-diminishing returns (don't know nothing about Radeon ). Now, having fixated on these specific CPU and GPU, I find that my current motherboard would not be compatible.

Leaving aside basic Microsoft/AV software, there's not then much left for me to conserve besides the case and the monitor, with standard keyboard and mouse being trivial outlays. Suffice to say I'm not satisfied with my existing 20'' monitor, and, heck, I'm not above paying $50 for a nicer-looking case.

[Brandy Blue]

Sounds to me like you are not too hard up for money, and you'll be kicking yourself if it turns out that you needed the warranty and didn't get one. You'd pay $50 for a nicer case, but not sure about $150 more to have a warranty? Well, I guess it depends on how much a nicer case means to you, but I'd say that a warranty would be a least 3 times as important.

[CrossLOPER]

Chuck one of the HDDs and buy a bigger SSD. As of now, a 1TB Samsung Evo costs about 450 on newegg. Do you actually have stuff to store on the HDDs or are you playing games on them? If that is the case, you should use SSDs. I still think it is a bit premature to jump on the hyperthreading train with the i7, especially if you are just gaming, but that is your call. 1900 seems a little low, honestly. You aren't skimping on the MBR and the PSU, are you?

[Furunculus]

i like the idea of 1TB ssd's, split 128GB for Windows and 850GB for games/apps.

intend to do that on mine as soon as 1tb M.2 ssd's with NVME support arrive.

build looks good, if you are running hi-res (2560x1440 or more), then i'd tilt the cash more towards GPU and less towards CPU.