Is this build ok for gaming. (For my daughter)

[alanwest09872]

Ok my daughter is 8 and her q6600 is no longer cutting it for her. So for her birthday I was thinking about upgrading her computer to something with a bit more muscle. What do you guys think of this build.

Asus z87-a
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16813131981 $149.99

Intel Core I5-4570
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16819116896 $209.99

Corsair xms 8GB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820233385 $ 69.99

Ok so the grand total for everything is. $429.97

Would this be considered to be a good gaming computer. Something that will be able to game for at least 2-4yrs

(I have the gtx470 also)(the 2-4yrs dont include the graphics card thou)

 

[T_Yamamoto]

Shes 8 and that isn't cutting it. That is better than my current PC.

Does she play Crysis or something?

Also I would just go for a cheaper B85 based motherboard, since you aren't overclocking.

 

[inf64]

Q6600 is not enough for your daughter's gaming machine? What kind of games does she play?? And what kind of GPU that PC has?

 

[alanwest09872]

the biggest one is sims 3 with all the expansions. She cant even turn graphics up.
Portal
Portal 2
Theme hospital
Viva Pinata
Zoo Tycoon 2
Skyrim (Magic Only no weapons allowed)
Wow (only to solo some mobs and to farm and to ride the mounts and pets)



and tons of online games (which arnt really cpu or gpu intense but she plays them)


EDIT: Sorry forgot you asked the gpu its a evga gtx470

 

[T_Yamamoto]

the biggest one is sims 3 with all the expansions. She cant even turn graphics up.
Portal
Portal 2
Theme hospital
Viva Pinata
Zoo Tycoon 2
Skyrim (Magic Only no weapons allowed)
Wow (only to solo some mobs and to farm and to ride the mounts and pets)


and tons of online games (which arnt really cpu or gpu intense but she plays them)

Holy crap. She is either spoiled or a gamer girl.

Have you tried using the 470 in with the q6600?

Try getting an SSD first, found this for you

 

[Yuriman]

You may just be a GPU away from running Sims 3 smoothly - my wife plays it maxed out on a Q6600 + HD5670.

That said, if you're doing a new build I wouldn't get a Z-series chipset if not intending to overclock. An SSD will help tremendously with load times/scene changes, if you can budget that in.

 

[SPBHM]

sims 3 likes a lot of ram and I would think an SSD.

 

[Shephard]

Why can she play online game and solo mobs but not use weapons in Skyrim?

 

[escrow4]

Looks like B85 is just as gimped as B75, 2 SATA 3, rest SATA 6. I'd get H87 minimum which has 6GB/s if not overclocking and a 4670. Seeing as you'd probably want to OC in the future to increase longevity, I'd consider Z87 and a K processor though.

 

[alanwest09872]

Shepard: Im talking a mage. Magic is make believe so I consider it less violent then knives or swords also when I say online games I mean Yepi.com games or How to train a dragon game.

As for the ssd I have 2 installed in this pc already. one 120g for os 1 60g for gaming. the 120g one is sata 3.0 the 60 g is sata 2.0. (the current motherboard only has sata 2.0)

T_Yamamoto: I am using the gtx 470 with the q6600

and to yamamoto yes to both your questions she is a gamer girl and yes she is spoiled rotten.


Now either way I wanna upgrade her pc. I just figured I would want to go with the newest technology. I figure if I am going to spend x dollars if I spend x + y dollars I can get newest and best.

 

[Torn Mind]

Looks like B85 is just as gimped as B75, 2 SATA 3, rest SATA 6. I'd get H87 minimum which has 6GB/s if not overclocking and a 4670. Seeing as you'd probably want to OC in the future to increase longevity, I'd consider Z87 and a K processor though.

B75 has one SATA III and 5 SATA II ports whereas B85 has four SATA III and two SATA II ports . To say it is "just as gimped" would be an overstatement.

 

[Torn Mind]

OP, get a cheaper Z87 motherboard and use those savings to invest in a stronger GPU such as the at least the 7850 or GTX 660.

Your other choices are good.

 

[T_Yamamoto]

Shepard: Im talking a mage. Magic is make believe so I consider it less violent then knives or swords also when I say online games I mean Yepi.com games or How to train a dragon game.

As for the ssd I have 2 installed in this pc already. one 120g for os 1 60g for gaming. the 120g one is sata 3.0 the 60 g is sata 2.0. (the current motherboard only has sata 2.0)

T_Yamamoto: I am using the gtx 470 with the q6600

and to yamamoto yes to both your questions she is a gamer girl and yes she is spoiled rotten.


Now either way I wanna upgrade her pc. I just figured I would want to go with the newest technology. I figure if I am going to spend x dollars if I spend x + y dollars I can get newest and best.

You have a non K paired up with a Z87. You need a K chip to OC (to get any substantial gains)

And the B85 is not gimped at all, the ones I've seen are all SATA3

 

[SPBHM]

for non K haswell go with B85.

 

[Seraphimcaduto]

I don't think anyone asked, what resolution and size is your monitor set at? My wife also plays sims 3 on my amd x4 640 with a GTX 460 and 6gb of ram. Had the same stuttering issues too and it's a 1680 x 1050 22" 120hz monitor.

 

[alanwest09872]

2560x1600

Its either a 30 or 31inch samsung monitor

 

[T_Yamamoto]

2560x1600

Its either a 30 or 31inch samsung monitor

What the heck. You are spoiling your daughter so bad right now D:

 

[Yuriman]

What the heck. You are spoiling your daughter so bad right now D:

Some people are just wealthy. No biggie. We're here to give advice on hardware, not parenting.

 

[FalseChristian]

I'd suggest 2 GTX 660 SLI and an i5 3570K at 4.5GHz with 16GB of 1600MHz DDR3 with a 512GB SSD drive and a 2TB mechanical drive for games.

 

[Bman123]

Some people are just wealthy. No biggie. We're here to give advice on hardware, not parenting.

Exactly

 

[krnmastersgt]

While a CPU upgrade might help, it's definitely a GPU upgrade you want to consider. 2560x1600 is a HUGE amount of pixels for something like a 470 to push, even with games considered easy to run, the sheer pixel count brings a lot of cards down.

A CPU upgrade would give you some more board features to play around with but I think a Q6600, while a bit dated (but man I loved mine) can run most of those relatively alright if you pair it with a better video card. How much were you looking to drop on the whole system?

 

[alanwest09872]

Well I have a evga gtx 680 on mine. In about 3-6 months I will be buying the gtx 780 and giving her my 680

 

[Shephard]

Magic can set people on fire. I don't know about you, but being burned alive seems more violent then getting an arrow to the knee and falling off a cliff or something like that.

 

[alanwest09872]

What the heck. You are spoiling your daughter so bad right now D:

Before you judge me negatively let me say that my daughter already has more computer knowledge then both her grandparents, Her mother, and all her classmates. Since every job out there is going to require a computer in 10 years all I have done is prepare her better then if I did nothing.

ps. She also has a tablet to

 

[bononos]

.....

T_Yamamoto: I am using the gtx 470 with the q6600
......

That config doesn't sound too outdated for the games you listed earlier. The problem is with the very high res 2560x1600.