Time for a New PC...

[Thadar69]

Hello all. I built my last PC back in October of 2007 and over the years have simply done some upgrades to the RAM and GPU. The old girl is now struggling with Dragon Age Inquisition and I had to shelf the game. At that point, I knew that I need to build a new machine. Any help would be appreciated so thank you in advance. Here it goes...

1. What YOUR PC will be used for. That means what types of tasks you'll be performing. **This will mostly be a gaming PC, but I will also do some office work and HTPC uses on the side.**

2. What YOUR budget is. A price range is acceptable as long as it's not more than a 20% spread **My budget is $1500 or close to it. I already have a monitor and the standard peripherals (keyboard/mouse/headset/speakers) so will not need those.**

3. What country YOU will be buying YOUR parts from. **USA**

5. IF YOU have a brand preference. That means, are you an Intel-Fanboy, AMD-Fanboy, ATI-Fanboy, nVidia-Fanboy, Seagate-Fanboy, WD-Fanboy, etc.

**I want to stick with Intel and nVidia. I am interested in the i7-4790 but am unsure about whether to go K or not. I am not planning to OC this rig, but I want to future proof this baby like I did with my current model. I need this to last another 7 years. For the graphics card, is there any reason not to go with the new GTX 960 which will get me Dx12 for futureproofing and save me more for a better SSD, etc? I am not interested in SLi. I definitely want an SSD and was thinking of the Crucial MX100 512GB for the OS Drive, but am not tied to Crucial. Definitely want 6GB/s. I would then go for a 2 or 3 TB secondary for the extra storage. I'm not seeing a reason to do DDR4 at this point and with the extreme cost difference, it might limit me to do it.

6. If YOU intend on using any of YOUR current parts, and if so, what those parts are. ** None. My current PC will go to my son.**

7. IF YOU plan on overclocking or run the system at default speeds.
**Default**

8. What resolution, not monitor size, will you be using?
**1920x1200 or 1920x1080**

9. WHEN do you plan to build it? **I would like to order parts within the next two weeks**

10. Do you need to purchase any software to go with the system, such as Windows or Blu Ray playback software?

**I will need to pick up Windows for this new machine. **

Oh, I will probably need an optical drive of some sort so might as well put a BluRay player in it. They are pretty cheap now. Thanks again and I am sure that I will pop in with more questions as the posts come in.

 

[Syran]

Do you happen to live near a Microcenter?

 

[Thadar69]

Unfortunately, no. Closest thing I have is a Fry's Electronics, so I will be ordering the majority of this stuff off NewEgg, Amazon, etc.

 

[nsafreak]

Feel free to use the build that I put together in this thread here. Drop the peripherals that I included and feel free to swap the i5 for an i7. Not sure if you'll see much benefit tbh going from an i5 to an i7 in terms of gaming but it'd still be in your budget.

 

[Thadar69]

Thank you nsafreak for your advice. I took your baseline and moved a few things around especially the case which while nice and roomy is a bit large for my liking. I also added some wattage to the PSU and switched it to an xfx brand which I understand is simply a rebranded Seasonic. I doubled the RAM and went with 2400 instead of 1600. And of course I went with the i7.

Could folks take a look and see if I am missing something very important here? I am, of course, a bit concerned about the RAM running native at a higher voltage than is recommended by Intel, but several threads talk about how it can run at a reduced clock just fine and runs better than the 1600. Is that true? I would like to order in the very near future. Thank you so much!

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/L9sKdC

 

[mfenn]

Thank you nsafreak for your advice. I took your baseline and moved a few things around especially the case which while nice and roomy is a bit large for my liking. I also added some wattage to the PSU and switched it to an xfx brand which I understand is simply a rebranded Seasonic. I doubled the RAM and went with 2400 instead of 1600. And of course I went with the i7.

Could folks take a look and see if I am missing something very important here? I am, of course, a bit concerned about the RAM running native at a higher voltage than is recommended by Intel, but several threads talk about how it can run at a reduced clock just fine and runs better than the 1600. Is that true? I would like to order in the very near future. Thank you so much!

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/xyh9vK

The biggest issue I see with this build is spending too much on "extras" and not enough on the core performance-enabling part: the GPU. The GTX 960 is quite weak for a $1400 gaming PC. At that price point, you should be looking at a GTX 970 or R9 290X at the very least. Other issues include the overpriced PSU, RAM that runs at an out of spec voltage, and an unnecessarily expensive and non-reusable Windows 8.1 OEM kit.

The changes you should make are:

- RAM: The reason that "DDR3 2400" ram is so inexpensive is that it runs at a high voltage and incredibly loose 11-13-13-31 timings. It's really just normal DDR3 1600-caliber ASICs that are sold with an XMP profile that's way beyond reason. They're probably perfectly fine when dialed in at standard DDR3 1600 CAS 9 1.5V. But at that point you might as well buy this reasonable Kingston DDR3 1866 kit for a little less ($121 AP) and be able to use the XMP profile.
- GPU: The GTX 960 an OK card in a $700 gaming machine, but even there it's not a great value compared to the R9 280's and R9 280X's of the world. For a machine of this caliber, it's too weak. The best value GPU right now is the MSI R9 290X 4GB for $260 AR AP, but if you must buy an Nvidia card, then the GTX 970 at $325 is your best bet.
- Case: The Blackhawk is OK, but at $80, I would rather have a Fractal Design R4.
- PSU: The XFX is a without a doubt a good PSU, but $95 is too high of a price for it. The Antec TP-750C is a stunning value at $50 AR.
- OS: I don't see any reason for you to get the Pro SKU, an the OEM key is a bad value since the fully-transferable retail SKUs are so reasonably priced. I would grab the normal Windows 8.1 edition for $105.

 

[Thadar69]

Thank you mfenn. I made several changes that you suggested as far as the OS, case, PSU and GPU. I am still confused on the RAM though. Is the secondary HDD a good deal? Are there some good additional case fans to pick up for better airflow in the Fractal case?

Getting closer to ordering and I thank everyone again for their help!

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/Pvw3vK

 

[Evilviking]

Thank you mfenn. I made several changes that you suggested as far as the OS, case, PSU and GPU. I am still confused on the RAM though. Is the secondary HDD a good deal? Are there some good additional case fans to pick up for better airflow in the Fractal case?

Getting closer to ordering and I thank everyone again for their help!

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/Pvw3vK

Ram: http://www.amazon.com/Kingston-Hyper.../dp/B00J8E8YES pick the 2x4gb variant for $68. 8gb is plenty for a gaming rig

I think your hdd choices are fine and yes 2 is needed. Personally I would save money and get a 256gb ssd for the OS and core applications and a regular hdd like you have for games.

Your buying a K processor, I assume your going to overclock. Your going to need a cpu cooler. I like the aio water cooler choices.

Fans. Get the biggest fans your case can handle (140mm and 120mm) there are too many good/decent choices to list. I went with the corsair fans because of the look. You can spend $6~30 per fan. Google "best case fan"

 

[mfenn]

Thank you mfenn. I made several changes that you suggested as far as the OS, case, PSU and GPU. I am still confused on the RAM though. Is the secondary HDD a good deal? Are there some good additional case fans to pick up for better airflow in the Fractal case?

Getting closer to ordering and I thank everyone again for their help!

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/Pvw3vK

The Seagate drive that you have is a good deal for a 3TB unit, no problems there. For the RAM, I would go with the Kingston kit that I linked in the previous post. It's a reasonably-spec'ed kit for a good price.

As for case fans, you don't need buy any extras for this system configuration. The whole system will use about 200W while gaming, which is easily handled by the fans that come with the R4. You may want to pick up an aftermarket cooler like Evilviking pointed out. The stock Intel cooler will keep the CPU cool enough, but it does get a little noisy under load. A normal 120mm tower cooler like the Zalman CNPS10X for $23 AR will reduce the noise level.