Opinions Needed New Build

josegovi · Nov 11, 2013

Hello everyone,

Im thinking about building a gaming computer. Im undecided and I also got some questions. I wanted to see if everyone can help me out. Please be very objective about your opinions and if you could try not to stir the conversation away from the topic would be greatly appreciated. With all the being said, i have already made a choice to stick with Intel and nvidia so keep these in mind when giving suggestions (don't try to convince me to change to AMD or ATI). I got 2 builds:

1st Build (My Brother has).
Intel i7 2600k Processor
ASUS P8Z68-v pro gen 3 Mobo
16GB DDR 3 at 1600Mhz RAM
800W PSU
EVGA GTX 680 GPU (just one)

Now he can run every game maxed out at 1080p perfect, including Crysis 3. I was playing NFS Shift and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game and I could see some micro stuttering (not in crysis 3 though) and he only has 1 GTX 680.

2nd Build (It was a gaming recommended build in a forum I cant remember):
Intel i7 4770k Processor
MSI Z87-G45 Gaming Mobo
16GB DDR 3 at 1600MHZ RAM
850W PSU
EVGA GTX 780 SuperClocked (just one)

Im undecided between these two. I dont know if the second its worth paying more for. My concern is if Im going to spent around 1300 dollars (without monitor) for a gaming computer, i wanna make sure that for that limit of money I could buy one thats gonna last me a good time. Is the second one going to last longer than the first one enough to justify the difference in price? also, is the second build going to allow me better upgrades in the future than the first build? if yes, is it going to be worth the difference in price?

NOTE: Keep in mind that I dont pla to run 3 monitors or anything crazy, I just plan to do one monitor at 180p max. Also Im avoiding builds with 2 GPUS in SLI because from what I know and the research Ive done they suffer micro stutter more than 1 GPU, now thats not say in the future I might buy a second GTX 680 or 780 (depending on the build I pick) if needed to keep with new games which is why I have that 850W PSU in the second build. In that light is 850W PSU would be enough for 2 GTX 680's or 780's in SLI??

Thanks everyone in advanced for your opinions I hope I didn't missed or leave anything out and that I didnt say anything n00b, after all Im still learning so any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

nickbachu · Nov 11, 2013

i would go with the second build becasue its more furture proof like your brothers build it can run games at 1080p and you will be able to run games at 1080ps plus in the furture
but you can also use a 800 watt psu
but the 850 watt is fine also

josegovi · Nov 11, 2013

nickbachu :

Thanks so much for such a prompt reply. I forgot to mention that I do not care to run games higher than 1080p. Now as far as your answer goes, I just wanna make sure that I understand what you said, in other words you believe its worth the extra money from the second build vs first build right?

nickbachu · Nov 11, 2013

yes thats exactly what im saying its worth it and you will have to upgrade less in the future

realchaos · Nov 11, 2013

Second build because there's no reason to get previous gen components.
However, you should tweak it a bit:
-Since it's only gaming, grab an i5-4670k. There's no difference between an i5 and i7 in games, except the i5 is $100 cheaper.
-2x4gb of ram is good enough for games. You'll see no performance increase from 8gb to 16gb.
-Make sure the PSU is a quality one from Corsair, XFX, or Seasonic.

That should save you money and lose no performance in games. The extra money can be used for an aftermarket cpu cooler and a SSD.

nickbachu · Nov 11, 2013

yes but he will be more future proof @realchaos

realchaos · Nov 11, 2013

You can't "future-proof" your build. For the past years, games have not utilized hyper-threading nor have they utilized 16gb of ram. For years, an i5 and 8gb of ram was fine. By the time games actually use 16gb of ram and uses i7's hyper-threading, his build will be in need of a upgrade because it will be out-dated.

nickbachu · Nov 11, 2013

a i7 compared to the i5
the i7 runs much better and faster than the i5 i can say personally because i use the i7 4770k right now went from a amd phenom ii x6 1100t

josegovi · Nov 11, 2013

Thanks guys for your comments and opinions. Im well aware that games dont use the power of neither the i7 or the 16gb of ram but if worse comes to worse and we go maybe 2 years or 1 year in the future wouldnt it make sense that the i7 and 16gb would run games better if the games become heavier on requirements than the i5 and 8gb?? again I wanna make sure that my questions are not being taken as me arguing or fighting but more like to get clarification and better understanding of whats being said.

Thanks again.

realchaos · Nov 11, 2013

Games don't even utilize 8gb. They only use 4-6gb max. 8gb is plenty for the upcoming years and you can always add more in the future.
We don't know if games will start to utilize hyper-threading in the next year or two. Games are so gpu-heavy which is why hyper-threading is pointless in games. I doubt games will start to suddenly become more cpu-heavy in the next year or two, but it can. Only time will tell.

@Nickbachu: You do realize that the only difference between an i7 and i5 is that an i7 has hyper-threading. Since games currently do not utilize hyper-threading, they perform the same in games. Also, I don't understand how you can compare the i5 and i7 "personally" when you never used an i5. Of course going from a Phenom ii x6 1100t to an i7-4770k is a huge difference.

josegovi · Nov 12, 2013

I was researching to what realchaos stated (not that I dont trust on realchaos but instead to understand more in depth whats being discussed) and i3's and i7's are the only ones to have HT. If you would like, theres a link below:

http://www.pcworld.idg.com.au/article/386100/what_difference_between_an_intel_core_i3_i5_i7_/

To continue with the next point being stated, was the fact of games using Hyper Threading or not and I also researched on this, and found that is also true to a certain extend. Please see the links below:

http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-1821776/hyperthreading-gaming.html

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/354727-28-does-hyperthreading-gaming

As shown in these links you would find that currently Crysis 3 runs the best on an i7. These results have being to appear due to Hyper Threading. With that being said, would that mean that if crysis 3 uses HT, next generations games are more than likely to start using and needing it as well? (it certainly prompt me to think so)

Consider my questions again as clarification. Thanks.

nickbachu · Nov 12, 2013

you will benfit from the i7 more than any other ones at the moment

realchaos · Nov 12, 2013

Yes Crysis 3 does show some performance gain from an i7. But by how much? The performance is negligible, only like 2-4fps. Or...you can take that $100 and add it to the gpu, where you will get a more significant performance increase since games are more gpu-heavy.
Crysis has always been ahead of other games, only time will tell if next-gen games will utilize hyper-threading or not. For now, getting an i5 and using the extra $100 on the gpu is the better option.

nickbachu · Nov 12, 2013

too bad he is going with 1 of the highest grpahics cad he can and if he has to go higher he has too add 200 $ or more.
and in crysis 3 you gain 10% more performance on the i7 vs the i5 and thats 10 fps plus on a game to start with.
Battlefield 4 does use hyperthreading as it uses more cores now

realchaos · Nov 12, 2013

Look at this Crysis 3 cpu benchmark from Anandtech: http://i.imgur.com/0nIkCAb.jpg
And then look at this one: http://static.techspot.com/articles-info/642/bench/CPU_03.png
Look at the i5-2500k (Sandy Bridge variant of the 4670k) and the i7-2600k (Sandy Bridge Variant of the i7-4770k). Yes, there is a fps increase from the i5 to an i7. But look at how minimal it is. There is no way an i7 gives an extra 20fps over an i5. You don't know what you're talking about. You're assuming things.

Here's a BF4 cpu benchmark: http://www.overclock.net/content/type/61/id/1528892/width/500/height/1000/flags/LL
Again, look at the i7-2600k and i5-2500k. The performance increase from an i5 to an i7 is very minimal.

Sure, you can pay the extra $100 to get an extra 2-4fps in TWO games. Or...you can save the money because it's a waste.

nickbachu · Nov 12, 2013

first of all those are from different website so they will not matchup and you cant compare 3rd gen with 4th gen tech they are way different

realchaos · Nov 12, 2013

But they are from reliable sources. And they are benchmarks. Where do you see a benchmark revealing the i7-4770k gives 20+ fps over the i5-4670k? Yeah, you haven't seen one. You're just making these numbers up.
Also, Sandy Bridge, Ivy Bridge, and Haswell are all very similar. Since Haswell runs hotter and Sandy Bridge runs cooler, both overclocked would yield the same performance since Sandy Bridge overclocks better.

nickbachu · Nov 12, 2013

just look at this benchmark

josegovi · Nov 12, 2013

Thanks to everyone for your opinions and also thank you for providing with links to the information being provided.

Its hard to make a decision, because on one side while the difference sometimes might not be big for the games that use HT on the other hand it leaves me think that maybe next generation games are going to benefit for HT more effectively and maybe differences are going to be bigger and implementation of it could broaden to more and more games, but on the other hand i5 is a 100 dollars less being very close to i7 now a days.

TheBrother · Nov 12, 2013

I am all the way with nickbachu. I believe that if he is going to invest the money he might as well go with the I7. Unfortunalely.. Nowadays you cant do all that much with $100... Since he has already expressed concern.. And a valid point of future games starting to use the HT tech... Why not just go with the I7 ... Not to mention that he will use the computer for other things at least a few times .. I don't agree with the whole RAM not altering performance but thats a whole different subject

realchaos · Nov 12, 2013

@Nickbachu: See. Look at those benchmarks. The fps difference is very minimal. BF3, Bf4, and Crysis 3 are the few games that actually shows a decent improvement with an i7. In bf3, it's mostly because of the huge maps. BF3 was always known to be more cpu-intensive than most other games. Still, $100 for that very minimal performance increase is not worth it, IMHO.
For the past couple of years, people have always thought "Next gen games are going to start utilizing hyper-threading, so I should get an i7 to future-proof my build." Well, it's been a couple of years already and very few games are actually utilizing hyper-threading. Also, with a GTX 780, it can max out any game at 1080p with an i5 or an i7 and get 60fps. So there's really no point in wasting money on an i7 if an i5 can already max out any game with a GTX 780.

josegovi · Nov 17, 2013

I got an extra question. Is that PSU going to have the necessary connections for 2 gtx 780's in the future? its to my understanding the gtx 780 needs 1x6pin connector and 1x8pin connector, so I would need 2x6pin and 2x8pin connectors. Does anyone know if the psu Im planing to use has those connectors for the sli? I read it does but I wanted to make sure because I know the wattage is enough but still doubtful about the connectors. Another questions, Ive been looking for the parts on ebay, amazon, google/shopping, tigerdirect and newegg for the best prices, if you guys know of other websites that I can look please let me know. Also do you think I will get better deals on black friday or cyber monday?

realchaos · Nov 17, 2013

What psu is it? You never told us the brand or model. Can you link us to it?

josegovi · Nov 17, 2013

True...well to be honest I have not made a decision yet but I was thinking about the Corsair CMPSU-850TX 850-Watt TX Series 80 Plus or the enthusiast. Im choosing these because i bought a diablotek psu of 650watts before and it blew up, so i definately dont wanna do that again. If you have another one thats good sli ready with 850 watts please let me know...only if its cheaper. And what about black friday vs cyber monday? any other websites I could be looking for deals or better prices?

realchaos · Nov 17, 2013

This would be a great psu: http://pcpartpicker.com/part/xfx-power-supply-p1850bbefx
It has more than enough connectors for your SLI set-up.

Black Friday usually has better deals. Lots of websites will have decent Black Friday deals. What I would suggest is to not look at specific parts, but look at what is on sale. Here's a great website that will alarm you of good deals: http://www.reddit.com/r/buildapcsales/new/

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