PC Build question

[LightningLord]

Hello.

 

 

So I've been considering to not use my laptop for gaming but to instead just build my own computer. But I don't know if it'll be good enough to run some games. (Grand Theft Auto IV with graphics mods, for example.) So I was wondering if getting these PC parts will be worth the hassle and time:

 

 

 

Case:

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119225

 

 

 

Motherboard:

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813132118

 

 

Storage:

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148840

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147249

 

 

Graphics Card:

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814487024

 

 

 

RAM:

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231568

 

 

 

Cooling:

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103099

 

 

 

CPU:

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819117369

 

 

 

Power Supply:

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139011&cm_re=power_supply-_-17-139-011-_-Product

 

 

 

If something shouldn't be there, please tell me. Thanks.

 

[yoječ]

Well, what will this PC be used for other than for gaming? Because it certainly doesn't look like a gaming rig at all (too much RAM, too expensive CPU, too cheap GPU, etc. - no rhyme or reason, unless you've got a specific application for all of this).

Edited October 28, 2014 by yojo2

[LightningLord]

Well, what will this PC be used for other than for gaming? Because it certainly doesn't look like a gaming rig at all (too much RAM, too expensive CPU, too cheap GPU, etc.).

That's why I asked what to change about it. I knew that something was wrong. If you say the GPU is too cheap, what should I get?

Edited October 28, 2014 by LightningLord411

[yoječ]

Well, what is your budget?

You will be overclocking the CPU, am I right?

Edited October 28, 2014 by yojo2

[LightningLord]

Budget is around $1500.

 

And yes, I'll be overclocking the CPU.

[yoječ]

Well, maybe this would be worth considering:

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

 

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($329.98 @ SuperBiiz)

CPU Cooler: Phanteks PH-TC14PE_BK 78.1 CFM CPU Cooler ($74.99 @ Newegg)

Motherboard: ASRock Z97 EXTREME4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($123.79 @ Newegg)

Memory: G.Skill Trident X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-2400 Memory ($76.50 @ Newegg)

Storage: Crucial MX100 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($109.97 @ SuperBiiz)

Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($53.95 @ Amazon)

Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 970 4GB STRIX Video Card ($355.91 @ Newegg)

Case: Cooler Master HAF X ATX Full Tower Case ($139.99 @ Newegg)

Power Supply: XFX XTR 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($76.18 @ Newegg)

Total: $1341.26

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-10-28 16:55 EDT-0400

 

Way faster GPU, motherboard with more VRMs (might help to achieve better OC), faster memory (8GB is still more than necessary), slightly more reliable SSD (840 EVO had some performance degradation issues I believe), better cooling, cheaper PSU (550W is way more than enough, even after OC). Left the i7 because it didn;t break the bank, there's still money left in the budget. To be completely honest though, in most games there's no difference between i5 and i7.

[LightningLord]

Well, maybe this would be worth considering:

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

 

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($329.98 @ SuperBiiz)

CPU Cooler: Phanteks PH-TC14PE_BK 78.1 CFM CPU Cooler ($74.99 @ Newegg)

Motherboard: ASRock Z97 EXTREME4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($123.79 @ Newegg)

Memory: G.Skill Trident X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-2400 Memory ($76.50 @ Newegg)

Storage: Crucial MX100 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($109.97 @ SuperBiiz)

Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($53.95 @ Amazon)

Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 970 4GB STRIX Video Card ($355.91 @ Newegg)

Case: Cooler Master HAF X ATX Full Tower Case ($139.99 @ Newegg)

Power Supply: XFX XTR 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($76.18 @ Newegg)

Total: $1341.26

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-10-28 16:55 EDT-0400

 

Way faster GPU, motherboard with more VRMs (might help to achieve better OC), faster memory (8GB is still more than necessary), slightly more reliable SSD (840 EVO had some performance degradation issues I believe), better cooling, cheaper PSU (550W is way more than enough, even after OC). Left the i7 because it didn;t break the bank, there's still money left in the budget. To be completely honest though, in most games there's no difference between i5 and i7.

Thanks. I'll make a note of all this and when I have time to obtain the parts, I will consider all of these. Thank you for the suggestions and links to new parts.

[TheMcSame]

Thanks. I'll make a note of all this and when I have time to obtain the parts, I will consider all of these. Thank you for the suggestions and links to new parts.

Wait so this is a gaming PC right? There's definitely a few money wasters I'd change if it is.

[LightningLord]

 

 

Thanks. I'll make a note of all this and when I have time to obtain the parts, I will consider all of these. Thank you for the suggestions and links to new parts.

Wait so this is a gaming PC right? There's definitely a few money wasters I'd change if it is.Yes it is. Edited October 29, 2014 by LightningLord411

[TheMcSame]

Yes it is.

Changes and reasoning:

 

 

CPU: Changed to an i5. There's no benefit to picking an i7 over an i5 just for gaming, most games don't even utilise all 4 cores and even less (if any) utilise hyper-threading.

 

Motherboard: More of a personal preference than saving money. However, there's a $15 discount if you buy the CPU and Motherboard as a combo so it's only a touch more expensive. Feel free to go with the ASRock board if you want. Again, this part was more personal preference.

 

RAM: As well as shaving some money off by going with a less known brand (don't worry, even RAM from less known brands are very reliable). However, Yojo missed out one rather important thing. The CPU hangs over the RAM slots (all four I believe) and the Tridents have a pretty tall heat sink so I just swapped it out for a low profile kit. It's not as good in terms of performance but games don't benefit from high performance RAM and normal activities aren't going to see a huge speed increase from faster RAM.

 

HDD: Swapped out the Seagate drive for a WD drive. Seagate's reputation is questionable and I hear a lot of mixed opinions about their drives whereas opinions of WD drives are mainly positive.

 

PSU: I went for a higher wattage to cater to any future upgrade you may want to add. It also comes with a 10 year warranty. There's nothing wrong with the XFX XTR but if you ever want to jump to SLI then it just saves you a bit of money at the time. If you don't think you'll make the jump then go with the XFX XTR.

 

GPU: I decided to utilise your budget and I went for a 980 rather than a 970. It's the cheapest one and thankfully it's from a reliable company. However, it's a long card... I'm talking Gigabyte Windforce long. PCPartPicker says it will fit and people claim that the windforce fits so it should be fine. If you want to drop the price down a bit then a 970 would be the way to go.

 

 

 

I didn't touch the case as that will likely be something you'll want to pick. I left the HAF X in as it has a higher price than most decent cases so it's just a place holder to account for a case you'd buy.

 

Also, there's a few things that could be considered money wasters but they're things I wouldn't like to cheap out on and these are:

The motherboard, SSD (you could go smaller) and the PSU (definitely not something you want to cheap out on!)

 

You could go for a cheaper CPU cooler but the one that was already picked is pretty decent anyway. Well.. I say pretty decent it's one of the best coolers out.

 

The case... To me that sees like a large money waster but I can't really pick one for you as you may need certain things and as was mentioned before, I left the HAF X in the list as a place holder to account for a case that you'd buy.

 

Build:

 

 

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/BJZsvK

Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/BJZsvK/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($239.99 @ Newegg)

CPU Cooler: Phanteks PH-TC14PE_BK 78.1 CFM CPU Cooler ($74.99 @ Newegg)

Motherboard: Asus Z97-A ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($139.99 @ Newegg)

Memory: Team Vulcan 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-2133 Memory ($70.99 @ Newegg)

Storage: Crucial MX100 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($109.97 @ SuperBiiz)

Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($54.99 @ Amazon)

Video Card: Zotac GeForce GTX 980 4GB AMP! Edition Video Card ($548.99 @ SuperBiiz)

Case: Cooler Master HAF X ATX Full Tower Case ($159.99 @ NCIX US)

Power Supply: EVGA 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($109.99 @ NCIX US)

Total: $1494.89

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-10-29 14:07 EDT-0400

 

 

Edited October 29, 2014 by TheMcSame

[LightningLord]

 

Yes it is.

Changes and reasoning:

 

 

CPU: Changed to an i5. There's no benefit to picking an i7 over an i5 just for gaming, most games don't even utilise all 4 cores and even less (if any) utilise hyper-threading.

 

Motherboard: More of a personal preference than saving money. However, there's a $15 discount if you buy the CPU and Motherboard as a combo so it's only a touch more expensive. Feel free to go with the ASRock board if you want. Again, this part was more personal preference.

 

RAM: As well as shaving some money off by going with a less known brand (don't worry, even RAM from less known brands are very reliable). However, Yojo missed out one rather important thing. The CPU hangs over the RAM slots (all four I believe) and the Tridents have a pretty tall heat sink so I just swapped it out for a low profile kit. It's not as good in terms of performance but games don't benefit from high performance RAM and normal activities aren't going to see a huge speed increase from faster RAM.

 

HDD: Swapped out the Seagate drive for a WD drive. Seagate's reputation is questionable and I hear a lot of mixed opinions about their drives whereas opinions of WD drives are mainly positive.

 

PSU: I went for a higher wattage to cater to any future upgrade you may want to add. It also comes with a 10 year warranty. There's nothing wrong with the XFX XTR but if you ever want to jump to SLI then it just saves you a bit of money at the time. If you don't think you'll make the jump then go with the XFX XTR.

 

GPU: I decided to utilise your budget and I went for a 980 rather than a 970. It's the cheapest one and thankfully it's from a reliable company. However, it's a long card... I'm talking Gigabyte Windforce long. PCPartPicker says it will fit and people claim that the windforce fits so it should be fine. If you want to drop the price down a bit then a 970 would be the way to go.

 

 

 

I didn't touch the case as that will likely be something you'll want to pick. I left the HAF X in as it has a higher price than most decent cases so it's just a place holder to account for a case you'd buy.

 

Also, there's a few things that could be considered money wasters but they're things I wouldn't like to cheap out on and these are:

The motherboard, SSD (you could go smaller) and the PSU (definitely not something you want to cheap out on!)

 

You could go for a cheaper CPU cooler but the one that was already picked is pretty decent anyway. Well.. I say pretty decent it's one of the best coolers out.

 

The case... To me that sees like a large money waster but I can't really pick one for you as you may need certain things and as was mentioned before, I left the HAF X in the list as a place holder to account for a case that you'd buy.

 

Build:

 

 

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/BJZsvK

Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/BJZsvK/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($239.99 @ Newegg)

CPU Cooler: Phanteks PH-TC14PE_BK 78.1 CFM CPU Cooler ($74.99 @ Newegg)

Motherboard: Asus Z97-A ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($139.99 @ Newegg)

Memory: Team Vulcan 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-2133 Memory ($70.99 @ Newegg)

Storage: Crucial MX100 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($109.97 @ SuperBiiz)

Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($54.99 @ Amazon)

Video Card: Zotac GeForce GTX 980 4GB AMP! Edition Video Card ($548.99 @ SuperBiiz)

Case: Cooler Master HAF X ATX Full Tower Case ($159.99 @ NCIX US)

Power Supply: EVGA 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($109.99 @ NCIX US)

Total: $1494.89

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-10-29 14:07 EDT-0400

 

 

 

Thanks! I'll also make a note of all this. Seems like a better build than before.

[sivispacem]

A decent 550W PSU will run pretty much any single GPU solution, and most SLI/Crossfire ones, without issue. The $40 difference is better suited elsewhere.

There's also pretty much no point in going for a GTX980 over a 970 unless you're intending to play at 1440p+ resolutions. The difference in FPS at 1080p is tiny given the 50% higher purchase price. At 1080p an i7 would make a much bigger difference to performance if you factor in the cost differences.

I'd be inclined to get more than 8GB RAM (but then again I tend to run VMs and the like) and for $6 difference I'd much rather have the GSkill stuff with the same timings and a faster clock speed and a lifetime warranty rather than a 3-year one. And the heat spreaders aren't that high

 

I'd personally say yojo's build is better balanced, but in all honesty the i5/GTX970 and a couple of hundred dollars saved makes the most sense.

[TheMcSame]

1. A decent 550W PSU will run pretty much any single GPU solution, and most SLI/Crossfire ones, without issue. The $40 difference is better suited elsewhere.

2. There's also pretty much no point in going for a GTX980 over a 970 unless you're intending to play at 1440p+ resolutions. The difference in FPS at 1080p is tiny given the 50% higher purchase price.

3. At 1080p an i7 would make a much bigger difference to performance if you factor in the cost differences.

4. I'd much rather have the GSkill stuff with the same timings and a faster clock speed and a lifetime warranty rather than a 3-year one.

5. The heat spreaders aren't that high

 

I'd personally say yojo's build is better balanced, but in all honesty the i5/GTX970 and a couple of hundred dollars saved makes the most sense.

1. Aware of that, I was factoring in the chance that he may go for a multi GPU setup in the future.

2. I'm just utilising his budget, I even mention that if he wants to cut the price down he should go for a 970. Also, a 980 would benefit you if you're using a 144hz display and you want as much eye candy on as possible. If you're using a 60hz display then it's a future proof GPU.

3. The performance difference between an i5 and an i7 is minimal, maybe a frame or two more at most.

4. The chips in both stick likely came out of the same factory. It's extremely hard to find unreliable RAM.

5. Better safe than sorry. I'd rather suggest a low profile kit knowing it will fit rather than one with a tall heat spreader and not knowing if it will fit or not.

 

I agree that Yojo's build is more balanced but the slightly edited version of it utilises LightningLord's $1500 budget. It's just the way I'm used to suggesting builds. If you go to a tech forum and ask for a build suggestion with a $1500 budget then most, if not all the suggestions will be very close to that price.

[yoječ]

I do agree that the i7 isn't strictly necessary for gaming, as I said - left it in the build because there was still money left, and there are a few games that utilise more than 4 threads. It's not really good value though, but neither is GTX980 for that matter.

Still, CPUs outdate slower than GPUs, and this is part of the reason I went for i7 rather than GTX980 in this build

Edited October 29, 2014 by yojo2

[Stinky12]

For $1,500 you can get something like this

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-5820K 3.3GHz 6-Core Processor ($389.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($34.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: MSI X99S SLI Plus ATX LGA2011-3 Motherboard ($224.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws Series 16GB (4 x 4GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($239.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: PNY XLR8 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($94.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($54.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 970 4GB Video Card ($345.66 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case ($45.00 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA NEX 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-14 DVD/CD Writer ($14.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1495.58
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-10-29 21:40 EDT-0400