[Lightbringer]

Pre-amble: If I'm posting this in the wrong forum, please point me in the right direction. I tried to choose the forum that seemed suited for this kind of thing.

So, playing STO on my Mac has made me realise what pain gaming is on a Mac (coming from Eve, I'm used to at least not crashing, albeit not optimal performance). Sure, BootCamp exists but it's not THAT great (for example, no mic-in due to drivers) for me.

Given my coming Christmas bonus, I'm investing it into a gaming rig so I can get back in to gaming again - and yes, I love running stuff on max settings...

To sum it up: I want a rig that will be capable of running at least STO on full bling at a good framerate. I would prefer a silent rig (watercooling seem to be the way to go from what I hear).

I'm in no way a stranger to assembling my own rig from scratch - I just know too little about the current hardware to be able to make informed choices like I used to.

Budget: €2700 or $3600 (it's about what I'm prepared to dish out converted from SEK)

Bring on the suggestions!

[Sharpkiller]

With that kind of budget you can pretty much go top-of-the-line everything and max out not only STO, but all games for the foreseeable future.

[Lightbringer]

With that kind of budget you can pretty much go top-of-the-line everything and max out not only STO, but all games for the foreseeable future.

Well, my point was more that I used to know about computers, and I don't anymore. And just because I have a big budget, I don't like spending cash on stuff I don't need. That's why I wanted to see what the people in the know, would say.

[Sharpkiller]

It depends on what kinds of games you're playing. Star Trek Online really isn't all that graphically intensive, and you don't need to go top of the line to max it out with a steady 60fps. Now that the next generation of consoles are out, we'll likely higher requirements for new games on the PC again. My GTX 670 can't quite max out some of the latest games (AC:IV, BF4, etc) with a steady 60fps.

I'd say if you want a decent high-end gaming rig, go for at least an i5-4670K. If you're willing to spend more on the processor you can always step up to an i7. However, for most games, you won't really notice a difference. Even in this day and age most applications still don't properly utilize more than one core. So unless you're multitasking a lot with high CPU usage applications, those extra threads on the i7s won't make much difference.

The biggest area of performance gains are graphics cards (FPS) and read/write times (load times) on your storage drive. Seeing as you've got the budget, I'd splurge on a GTX 780... A GTX 770 is a good alternative too if you're looking to save some money, for minimal loss in performance.

I'd definitely recommend getting an SSD for your operating system & frequently accessed programs, and a large & fast HDD for your games and everything else. There's really no lack of good choices here, and the deals are always changing. When purchasing these parts, just look at the user reviews and the price.

As for a motherboard, like above, there's really no lack of good choices these days. Personally, I'm a fan ASUS. I have an older ASUS Sabertooth Z77. Some of it's "special" features are gimmicky, but it's a reliable board that looks sleek and sexy. I love their GUI BIOS. There's an updated Sabertooth mobo for the Z87 chipset. Any mid- to high-end Z87 chipset motherboard will more than suite your needs.

When it comes to memory, somewhere between 8GB and 16GB is more than enough. Some new games (Star Citizen) require 8GB minimum, so to future proof yourself you may as well step up to 16GB. I have Corsair Vengeance sticks and have been quite pleased with them.

As for a power supply, again I like Corsair products. You can get some pretty nice efficient PSUs in the 550w-650w range that will be more than adequate for your rig.

As for water cooling, I've not done it before as I don't really mind the noise on my rig so I don't have any suggestions for you with regards to after-market water coolers. My temps are still really nice and low with air cooling.

[Hermanator]

I unfortunately do not even have an ounce of the knowledge in which young Sharpkiller does on this topic, though I can state that I myself have been told to wait 6 months since some new shiney stuff is coming out.

With that do what you want. That after all is "Democracy Manifest"!

[Moshic Vargur]

Here is my own list
http://www.pcgarage.ro/vizualizare-wishlist/784410/
It's not in English, but item names are basically the same. Comes up to a little over 3000$.
You can replace in that list the 770 with a 780 easily and 16GB more RAM. 32GB should be enough if you use AfterEffects and such, you can never have enough nowadays. And replace the H60 cooler with a H110.
It doesn't includes a power supply because I have my own, but you can opt for a Sirtec - High Power Direct12 BRONZE 850W. I have had the 650W version for 2 years now.

@Hermanator nice stuff comes out ever 6-12 months, you can wait and wait....

Btw, I'm playing STO on max at 1680*1050 on a X4 945, 4GB RAM and GTX560, so it really doesn't require much, it being an old game and looking poorly tbh. Only have some lower FPS problems on 20 man space when all hell breaks loose.

[Dark]

For video cards, I'm a big fan of using http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/ as a reference.

I feel video cards are really about the only thing that need to be upgraded, and they're the easiest too, so I tend to just get the 2nd best and upgrade occasionally. Things like CPU (or your motherboard) are a PitA to change, so I try to get the best available. I used to not do that for RAM, but now I'm regretting it - I'm having a hard time finding an extra matching pair of RAM for my 5 year old computer now. (The two pairs I had ordered both turned out defective, then I just gave up and took a refund.)

My HP Blackbird has been running everything for 5 years, and aside from having to upgrade the video card once (or was it twice?) I've been able to run everything well, with some impressive visuals in Witcher 2 and Skyrim. That fancy premade only cost around $2500 CAD, too.

[Kantazo]

I bought my rig like 3 years ago from a company called I buypower.com

http://www.ibuypower.com/Site/CustConfig

and so far I have been very pleased, I am not an expert on PC due to the so many changes so quick that have happened in the industry, I used to be a so called "expert" few years back, but no more.

[Moose]

With the budget specified, you could easily afford one of the upcoming 4K Dell Monitors (the 28" P2815Q model) coming early next year. I can only imagine how great STO will look at 3840x2160 resolution. Of course, this would require a lot more video card oomph but 2x GTX 770 (4GB Version) should suffice and fit well within your budget.

[Lightbringer]

Thanks for the input guys, I now am installing STO on my new rig as I'm typing this.

ASUS GeForce GTX 780 Ti 3GB
ASUS Z87-PRO - ATX / Z87
Intel Core i7-4770K 3,50GHz / Socket 1150 (Boxed)
Corsair Hydro H100i CPU Watercooling
Corsair Obsidian 750D - Svart (Ej PSU)
Corsair PowerSupply (PSU) RM750 750W 80 Plus Gold
2 x G.Skill Ares 16GB DDR3 PC-12800 1600MHz (F3-1600C9D-16GAR) (2x8GB)
Razer Blackwidow 2013 Expert Mechanical Keyboard
Samsung 840 EVO Series SSD 250GB SATA3 Basic Kit (MZ-7TE250BW)
WD Red 2TB SATA III (IntelliPower / 64MB Cache)

While I didn't spend my whole budget (though I did my best! ) I'm currently considering spending some of what was left over on a LTS for STO. Is that worth the money or is f2p-mode "good enough"?

[CallMeTheRev]

That's solid build. I essentially went the same way, just 1 gen older. I built mine with an i7-3770K when it first came out. I run both Mac OS and Windows 7 on it and I love it. Win is my gaming platform and Mac OS is everything else.

As for the LTS, I bought it when it was on sale. I figured it was a better deal that way. I did it for the rewards and the recurring points/zen. If it wasn't on sale for the $100 off, I probably wouldn't do it.

Thanks for the input guys, I now am installing STO on my new rig as I'm typing this.

ASUS GeForce GTX 780 Ti 3GB
ASUS Z87-PRO - ATX / Z87
Intel Core i7-4770K 3,50GHz / Socket 1150 (Boxed)
Corsair Hydro H100i CPU Watercooling
Corsair Obsidian 750D - Svart (Ej PSU)
Corsair PowerSupply (PSU) RM750 750W 80 Plus Gold
2 x G.Skill Ares 16GB DDR3 PC-12800 1600MHz (F3-1600C9D-16GAR) (2x8GB)
Razer Blackwidow 2013 Expert Mechanical Keyboard
Samsung 840 EVO Series SSD 250GB SATA3 Basic Kit (MZ-7TE250BW)
WD Red 2TB SATA III (IntelliPower / 64MB Cache)

While I didn't spend my whole budget (though I did my best! ) I'm currently considering spending some of what was left over on a LTS for STO. Is that worth the money or is f2p-mode "good enough"?

[Dark]

Generally one month Gold and paying to raise your EC cap will maximize your benefits.

I myself have an LTS though, and I don't regret it.

[Lightbringer]

I myself have an LTS though, and I don't regret it.

Yeah, I went ahead and bought one.

Thing is (and sorry for going OT on this), I'm Romulan atm, and everyone claims that the Fed and Klingon captains are WAY more powerful (due to Romulans being "capped" power-wise). However, I'm having a hard time understanding HOW they are capped in power.

I know of ship limitations, but other than that I just can't understand what is under-powered about Romulans.

Can anyone shed some light on this so a newbie understands a bit better?

[Dark]

I don't know what they're talking about.

Romulan ships literally have less power in their ships (a smaller power bonus), but Romulan captains get Operative, and can have an entire crew with Operative. They also have one of the most powerful ships in the game right now, the dreadnaught warbirds, with one of the best hangers in the game right now, the drones.

I believe Aux2Bat dreadnaught beamboats using Antiproton or Protonic Polaron weapons (to get more out of the bonus to crits from all those Operative traits) with a Plasmonic Leech console (to make up for lower power level bonuses) currently top the damage charts, while having decent hull and a good shield modifier.

The only thing that's not that great is the singularity core, but that doesn't really offset their advantages. They are lacking in science ships though.

[Lightbringer]

They are lacking in science ships though.

Yeah, that's what I've come to as well - being a Romulan Sci Officer.

I'm currently debating whether to either try the Daeinos Heavy Destroyer as a Sci vessel, or to buckle up and save for a R'Mor (all those ECs ). Either way, I'm happy to hear someone actually debate that Romulans aren't straight up useless, just that they require a bit more thinking (that's how I understand what you write, at least).