Gaming PC - opinions needed

[Andrea]

To make this quick. 
I'm on the verge to assemble a gaming PC, cause the one I use right now is "on loan" from a company to which I do some video-editing work. So I think it's time to get my iMac a brother.

I know Nvidia is announcing the new "Pascal" line in a 2-3 months span but I'm not totally in the mood of waiting till summer (or even further) till they start the sales (unless they'd start immediately after announce like Apple does....but I don't think so). 
However I'm right now very uncertain about the GPU-CPU part of this imaginary rig - everything else is pretty much settled in my mind. What I'm searching for is a setup to enjoy 1080p gaming at 60FPS - and although I'm not demanding to max the crap out from every game It'll be nice to get very close by. 
I play (and will play on this system) a lot of TGC of course but if I spend the money I'll play any kind of games on it, even if it won't probably be always my n.1 gaming platform cause basically 98% of my friends are on PS4.

That said first question is: right now with my budget I can get an i5 6600K + Asus 970 Strix, maybe stretching out even the top i7. Is it worth with this GPU to invest more in the CPU to be able in the (distant) future to upgrade only the GPU? 

And adding to that: is it worth to maybe go "all in" and get a 980Ti? (It will take me more time of course cause is double the price of the 970) It'll be more "smart" to spend that kind of cash now and maybe upgrade further away in the future? 

I'm out of true pc-gaming for a bit too much...so if I'm asking noob-questions I beg you pardon.

Thanks to all who kindly wanna answer.
Maybe I'll get an head start summoning here people I remember play on PC and probably got knowledge: Doyley Brighttail @ichaozxd blueorfe Crazycanuck1985

[blueorfe]

I currently have an i5-4690k CPU at stock clock speed of 3.50 Ghz

Gigabyte GTX970 which I rarely overclock, but have been known to using the EVGA precision x tool, which is really easy to use if you need a little extra grunt fom your GPU.

16 gig Corsair vengence ram and an MSI Z97 gaming motherboard.

With this setup I can run most games at 1080p on ultra settings at 60 FPS, there are a few games that you have to lower the settings a little for if you want 60 FPS, but I haven't come across too many.

I think that the 980 is a much better card, but if you're not planning on playing at 1440 then the 970 should be good enough, especially if you buy one already overclocked.
Maybe get a motherboard that will let you SLI two cards, so later down the line when games become even more GPU intensive, you could put in another card to boost up your speeds.
That's the biggest regret that I have with my motherboard, it doesn't support SLI, only crossfire for AMD cards.

[canthitstraight]

I'm running a rig with a motherboard nearing a decade old. So needless to say, I'm in the same boat as you.

I almost bit on a fatwallet.com HP pre built computer deal that had a i7-6700 and GTX 980 Ti for about $1200. But in the end, I want the ability to control the quality of the components I use. This summer I will probably build one with the next gen 980 Ti equivalent.

[Andrea]

Feb 16, 2016 21:54:20 GMT -5 blueorfe said:

I currently have an i5-4690k CPU at stock clock speed of 3.50 Ghz

Gigabyte GTX970 which I rarely overclock, but have been known to using the EVGA precision x tool, which is really easy to use if you need a little extra grunt fom your GPU.

16 gig Corsair vengence ram and an MSI Z97 gaming motherboard.

With this setup I can run most games at 1080p on ultra settings at 60 FPS, there are a few games that you have to lower the settings a little for if you want 60 FPS, but I haven't come across too many.

I think that the 980 is a much better card, but if you're not planning on playing at 1440 then the 970 should be good enough, especially if you buy one already overclocked.
Maybe get a motherboard that will let you SLI two cards, so later down the line when games become even more GPU intensive, you could put in another card to boost up your speeds.
That's the biggest regret that I have with my motherboard, it doesn't support SLI, only crossfire for AMD cards.

That's some really good advice! I didn't think about the SLI option and probably would have made the same mistake.

Thanks Bradley

[Deleted]

I have the following:

i7 4770k (4.0ghz stock) I don't overlock this.

Same motherboard as Brad.

MSI GTX970

16GB Corsair Vengeance Pro Red Series RAM
(at least I think that is what it's called)

I can run basically any game flawlessly with TGC looking stunning

[tastegw]

if you are only going for 1080p, get a ps4, but if you want to go with pc, i say up that resolution quite a bit, either 2580x1600 or just go 4k.
this will require a top notch vid card for the more intensive games, but if you have the budget, you will be the happiest with higher resolutions.

just my 2 cents.

[phoenixjay]

This all sounds good, what would you recommend for someone getting their first gaming pc? I had a pc years ago but it would be classed as a brick compared to what you get nowadays. I would love to be able to play games like tgc and if they still do them, football sims like championship manager to a good quality. and so you know, i have no clue about building one lol. I would like to save up for this so anything helpful to look for would be very welcome so i can plan ahead for it.

[boomboom]

A noob like me built a gaming rig 8 years ago. Everything just screws in and plugs in, it's really pretty simple. I bought the latest and greatest 1 step back back then. I still need to go downstairs and check out how TGC does on that machine, but I can tell you my teenage kids still play on it, never complain and the latest game they installed on it and play is fallout 4.

I used to enjoy that rig, but have since moved to the garage with my alienware 18 laptop.

So I would recommend doing similar, spend the few extra bucks today and get years and years of enjoyment. I would wait today though till the latest and greatest GPU comes out from NVidia and buy 1 step back when the price falls.

[phoenixjay]

Mar 2, 2016 16:50:32 GMT -5 boomboom said:

A noob like me built a gaming rig 8 years ago. Everything just screws in and plugs in, it's really pretty simple. I bought the latest and greatest 1 step back back then. I still need to go downstairs and check out how TGC does on that machine, but I can tell you my teenage kids still play on it, never complain and the latest game they installed on it and play is fallout 4.

I used to enjoy that rig, but have since moved to the garage with my alienware 18 laptop.

So I would recommend doing similar, spend the few extra bucks today and get years and years of enjoyment. I would wait today though till the latest and greatest GPU comes out from NVidia and buy 1 step back when the price falls.

Nice, and i just googled that laptop and lucky i wasnt eating or would have choked lol. At those prices, it looks like you have a sweet machine

The plan was to wait till summer or beyond because my brother stays here and once he gets his own place, i will have plenty of room for a gaming pc so till then i can save up. Just so you know, im unemployed but if i watch what i do i can have £800 saved up in 6 months or so, so will watch the prices in a few months and hopefully as you say when new nvidia comes out, i can get a good quality machine with a gtx 970 for a nice price.