Need help from the sifus here. Switching back from Xbox360 to PC gaming because I realize my favorite games are best played using a mouse. My last rig was 9 years ago (P duo core!!) so not worth a mention. Using company laptops since then.

[Budget] : 4.3k myr

[Purpose] : Multitasking, Light Gaming (I guess)

[Monitor resolution] : 1x small screen for desk work (17"-19"?), 1x larger screen (24"?) for media viewing on bed room couch

[Games & softwares that use frequently] : VMware Workstation, Dragon Age, Company of Heroes, FIFA, Adobe Lightroom

[Personal preferences] : Max out the RAM if possible (16GB?), 2 HDD (1 for storage, 1 for mem paging). HDD storage can be minimum as static files mostly will be stored inside my RAID 1 ext HDD.

[Others requirement]: WiFi environment, Quiet PC if possible

Many thanks!!!

Thanks TritanX. That's a great reference for me to do the shopping. Have to give and take with that budget, or get the 2nd monitor in the later days. Guess I'm a bit off about the price of gaming PC nowadays. *Woab serious gamers must be burning a lot of money on the rig*

Hi sifus,

Background:
I plan to buy a custom rig and self install them at home. My last custom rig was back in Pentium IV duo core era. Company laptops + Xbox360 since then. Let me know if you have any advice or noticeable non-compatibility issue.

Main purpose:
VMware Workstation: Host = Win8.1 (upgrade to 10 later) for VMware Workstation running max 4 test VMs (2 windows + 2 linux).
Light gaming in the future: Company of Heroes, Homeworld Remastered, Cities Skyline
Misc: Adobe Lightroom occasionally

Provision specs:
Case Thermaltake Urban S31 - RM229
PSU Thermaltake Smart SE 530W 87 - RM220
Mobo Asus H97 Plus - RM415
CPU Intel i7-4790 - RM1109
RAM 2 x Kingston PC3 12800 DDR 1600 - RM550
SSD Samsung 250GB 850 EVO - RM509
HDD WD 1TB Green - RM181
DVD-RW - RM55

Total RM 3268
Pick i7 over Xeon because I wish to start without GPU. Prefer PC to be as silent as possible. No overclocking.

Future upgrade:
GPU Asus GTX 960 Strix 2GB - RM950

Questions:
1. Is 3rd party CPU air cooler necessary?

Hey thanks terence_nwb & mod_po.

Not yet. But most probably will go for those suggestion.