The GTX 690

[Formless]

So , I plan to buy a new computer. And I think I'm going crazy but for the games I play , I want perfect output.

So I looked this card up and while it's expensive .. .I wonder if it's a wise investment.

I can pull up a sheet of the rest of the specs , but this card alone is more expensive that everything else altogether.

Opinions please?

[Vekseid]

If it's more expensive than everything else combined, I'd wonder what your RAM and SSD budget was.

[Nessy]

If it's more expensive than everything else combined, I'd wonder what your RAM and SSD budget was.

I agree. It won't make sense to spend all that money on that card just be to be bottle-necked somewhere else, especially that hard drive. If you don't have an SSD, you could consider one of those and a 400ish dollar card would play almost every thing "perfectly", aka the 680 line. Hopefully your CPU is pretty high end too because a i3 and a 1k gpu wouldn't make sense either.

[Formless]

Here's the specs for the one I have my eyes on.

CPU I7 3770 3.4GHZ 8MB Cashe

RAM CORSAIR 4GB DDR3/1600

VGA Gigabyte GTX 690 4GB

HHD Segate Barracuda 2TB 64MB

HDD SSD Kingston 120GB ( Main system Hard drive )

PS Aercool 1000W

In total this baby will cost about 3000$

So ... thoughts?

[Vekseid]

Only 4 gigs of ram?

[Formless]

For now yeah ... But I can add more . I think up to ... 16 Maybe?

[MagicalPen]

You'd probably want at least 8 to start off with, especially for gaming purposes.

[Vekseid]

For now yeah ... But I can add more . I think up to ... 16 Maybe?

Your RAM will get more expensive over time as technology marches on.

This is not true of graphics cards.

[Geraint]

For now yeah ... But I can add more . I think up to ... 16 Maybe?

If you buy less than 16 you should be careful of the size of memory cards you pick.  Many motherboards have only four slots for memory cards.  Two years ago I bought 8GB, sure in my mind that with Windows 7 that would be more than I ever needed.  It came in four 2GB cards.  Now I am considering 16GB, but would have to replace all my memory cards with 4 x 4GB rather than add on, as my motherboard only has four slots.

[Formless]

Well I asked. And I was told I can have two 8GB RAM cards. Or I have a choice to have a more expensive Motherboard that have 4 slots , kicking up the maximum RAM capacity to 32GB ... AM I insane for even considering this?

[MagicalPen]

I think the motherboard is one of the more important aspects of a PC as it determines what sort of hardware you can put on it.

EDIT: Is the graphics card that expensive? I just purchased this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883227464  and the only major difference is the Graphics Card (and the 2TB HDD)...but you're paying double what I paid (and then some) but the GPU and Memory on mine outdoes yours - HDD are cheap and easy to upgrade, and the Graphics Card is still quite good.

[SinXAzgard21]

My question is, do you have to have an Nvida card?  Are you getting it for the physx or do you just want a card that will play your games.  Also what games are you looking into playing?

[Trieste]

Well I asked. And I was told I can have two 8GB RAM cards. Or I have a choice to have a more expensive Motherboard that have 4 slots , kicking up the maximum RAM capacity to 32GB ... AM I insane for even considering this?

In my experience, the component that is most difficult to replace, upgrade, improve, or tinker with is the mobo. If I wanted to upgrade my mobo, I'd have to pretty much take the whole thing apart, pull out the mobo, install the new one and then re-seat everything on the new mobo (and probably get thermal gel in my hair for a week AGAIN). While the graphics card, CPU, and RAM tend to be the shiny parts that get a lot of attention, none of them work very well if the mobo isn't designed to handle them. So, personally, before I bought a graphics card that cost more than all the other components put together, I'd allocate money toward buying the nicest mobo I could afford, followed by RAM, CPU, and graphics - possibly in that order of importance, at least marginally. Not because RAM is the most crucial component, necessarily, but because it tends to be more annoying to expand your RAM than just buying a new stick and popping it in. Better to start with at least middle-of-the-road RAM rather than going with minimal RAM and then running into problems later (as others have mentioned).

If it's a gaming rig, I assume it's going to be Windows. In my opinion with Windows, you want at least, at minimum, at barebones, 8 gigs of RAM. I work all day with people whose computers are trying to run Windows on lower amounts of RAM and lower CPU speeds - it's really just not pretty. (Especially with Windows 8. I have developed an abiding and possibly unreasonable loathing for Windows 8 and hate working with customers who have it on their system.) Plus, I don't understand why you're skimping on part of the memory if you want everything to run perfectly. Maybe you have some reasoning that I missed. >.>

I'm not an IT gal and I don't play one on TV but that's what I've picked up from my experiences.

[Nessy]

Well I asked. And I was told I can have two 8GB RAM cards. Or I have a choice to have a more expensive Motherboard that have 4 slots , kicking up the maximum RAM capacity to 32GB ... AM I insane for even considering this?

Focusing on the motherboard and the CPU without skimping on your power will have you set-up nicely for later upgrades. Video cards, all they do is go down in price. They are extremely easy to upgrade with the only real issue for new individuals being the size (wide or AMDs get a little long too). I would get more ram, and a larger SSD over a top end graphics card, and by top end i mean the 1k. The other cards are still high end and powerful. The motherboard is by far the biggest pain in the ass to replace, upgrade, and if you get a good CPU, which you are, there really is no reason to do unless something is faulty. By the time you look at the CPU and motherboard as holding you back, it's usually time for a new build entirely anyway.

[Formless]

The main purpose for this Comp. is for game purposes. Especially Second Life.

Apparently with a better Graphics card , the smoother the experience. I used to play other games on a 1GB card with no troubles.

Now as for the Mobo ( funny name :P ) It has 2 slots for Graphic cards , 4 slots for RAM cards and , I don't know what the thing that hols the processor? ( I'm not that knowledgeable about computer terms sorry ). I'm not sure if it's upgradable. But with it's current specs , they're telling me it can last for several years ahead without giving much trouble. Though I'm not so sure about that.

[Nessy]

The main purpose for this Comp. is for game purposes. Especially Second Life.

Apparently with a better Graphics card , the smoother the experience. I used to play other games on a 1GB card with no troubles.

Now as for the Mobo ( funny name :P ) It has 2 slots for Graphic cards , 4 slots for RAM cards and , I don't know what the thing that hols the processor? ( I'm not that knowledgeable about computer terms sorry ). I'm not sure if it's upgradable. But with it's current specs , they're telling me it can last for several years ahead without giving much trouble. Though I'm not so sure about that.

Well you want a great motherboard, always. The good lines have room/options for upgrades. 2 slots for double cards is nice, although if you have a great card, why do two. The CPU upgrade, not something to worry about really, they just came out with a new set i believe, and they always will. the 3770 is a good chip, lot's of power. When that is becomes your bottleneck, it's just going to be time for a new computer.

Back to the SSD. Now there is absolutely nothing wrong with spending a lot of money on a graphics card. People do it all the time. I never go that high, but that's just a choice. The thing is... how many games are you talking about. 120 will get you what... 93GB of usable space, after the OS maybe around 73, then you have your basic utilities in there you'll have, browsers etc... looking at around 60GB for space for games... you'll stick your media on the Seagate. But you want the best performance right? Or else you would not drop that much on a GPU, which means you want your high performance games on your high performance drive. You could be a gamer that installs and uninstalls games as you get them and get bored with them, 60 could be fine there... but if you park your games or you play large games... MMOs tend to be very large, you might start feeling cramped.

I 100% think there is nothing wrong with the build you are leaning for. A lot of people would be thrilled with it, love it. It's a good choice. My personal opinion is drop the video card down a notch, still  a high end card, get a bigger SSD because it's so easy to upgrade that video card later if you want to, so you can put your performance games on that fast drive. RAM should at least be 8GB... find out what mobo, heh i know it is a weird abbrev, you are getting too. Quality parts in say an ECS board would make little sense...ECS is after all a low end board.