Need to build a computer for gaming and game design/animation.

[Chappy0]

It's as the title says; basically, I've never really had a gaming quality PC and it's time to build one. But, really the main focus is going to be on running game dev software (Unity, Unreal 4 now that they've got a rental service) and animation/3d sculpture software. I've done some searching myself but I'm mainly looking for suggestions of actual parts/components.

I've never built a computer before so I'm not that sure on all the specifics of what I'll need; one of the things I know I'll need though is a lot of RAM (from what I've heard the Unreal 4 engine uses around 8gb of RAM by itself). I plan on getting two screens to make using programs easier (Unity is so much easier to deal with on two screens), one main screen that I'll use for most technical thing (actual coding, design) and a secondary screen for extra things.

So, list format of what I'm wanting:

Storage - 1TB HDD for main storage and 120 GB or higher SSD for the OS
RAM - At least 16GB preferably.
Power/Graphics - The ability to at least play most modern games maxed out and smoothly run the Unreal 4 engine.
Dual Monitor, 1 main, 1 secondary.
Optical Drive




Honestly, the really big things are the CPU and Graphics card since those have a much larger variety and pros/cons. Unless I'm misunderstanding RAM cards as long as my CPU supports enough RAM and the specific type of card specific cards shouldn't matter that much other than price. I could be wrong though, feel free to tell me, again, not much of an idea of what I'm doing honestly.

Current price range: $1300-$1400. Price may go up depending on whether I can actually find a job or whether I get any more money as a gift(I graduated recently and am having a graduation party soon).

 

[Tanis]

One thing I'd suggest is pcpartpicker.

It's a nice way to see if parts will work or bottleneck each other.

 

[Chappy0]

One thing I'd suggest is pcpartpicker.

It's a nice way to see if parts will work or bottleneck each other.

I was actually pointed there by someone else I've asked for suggestions. Thank you for reminding me though.

I'm mostly making this topic for specific part suggestions; What would be a good CPU/Graphic Card/anything else (major components, more "This is the more powerful one, but THIS one is basically just as good, so on and so forth" type of things), brand suggestions for parts that aren't as technical as those (HDD/SSD, RAM, etc) so I could go to a place like that and do some mixing and matching. Just stuff like that; basically, I need something to go off of.

 

[Albino Boo]

Try

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/dwFWf7


I haven't added a case or an o/s but you will need win7 pro 64 bit or newer to use 32gb of ram. Its the motherboard and O/S that dictates how ram you can use not the cpu these days. The radeon r9 270 is a bit less power than the gtx 770 4GB version but its a lot cheaper. For your requirements you need an i7 of some variety and the one I picked there is balance between power and value for money. You can adjust the cpu by picking one from the list and the searching for its benchmark to see how its stacks against other cpus.

 

[Chappy0]

Try

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/dwFWf7


I haven't added a case or an o/s but you will need win7 pro 64 bit or newer to use 32gb of ram. Its the motherboard and O/S that dictates how ram you can use not the cpu these days. The radeon r9 270 is a bit less power than the gtx 770 4GB version but its a lot cheaper. For your requirements you need an i7 of some variety and the one I picked there is balance between power and value for money. You can adjust the cpu by picking one from the list and the searching for its benchmark to see how its stacks against other cpus.

Hmm, thank you very much. It's good to know that about needing an i7 and about the motherboard/OS being the deciding factor on RAM. This'll definitely be useful.