Sign in with
Sign up | Sign in
Your question

How good is this build and what should be changed?

Tags:
  • r9 290
  • PC gaming
  • Build
  • SSD
  • New Build
  • Systems
Last response: in Systems
Share
May 31, 2014 2:23:32 PM

A friend of mine suggested this build to me. Is it good? Can it run games such as watch dogs, bf4, crysis, and other high graphics intensive games at 60 fps or more on ultra? What should I change that would make it more powerful but remain in the same price range? Can someone add an SSD to it? Should I use windows 7 or 8?

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4570 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($189.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: MSI B85M-E33 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($62.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Kingston Blu Red Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($136.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Hitachi Ultrastar 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
Video Card: XFX Radeon R9 290 4GB Double Dissipation Video Card ($359.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: NZXT H2 Classic Silent (White) ATX Mid Tower Case
Power Supply: Antec EarthWatts Platinum 650W 80+ Platinum Certified ATX Power Supply ($99.99 @ Mwave)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($89.99 @ NCIX US)
Monitor: HP 27xi 60Hz 27.0" Monitor ($268.99 @ Best Buy)
Total: $1208.92
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-05-31 17:20 EDT-0400)

More about : good build changed

May 31, 2014 2:31:06 PM

one upgrade you could do is to get an ssd for the windows boot to make it super fast at booting and then use that 1tb of memory for your games and docs etc. that is if your using it for heavy uses such as gaming
m
0
l
May 31, 2014 2:46:26 PM

Interesting...

Most people building in this budget class will spend $30 more on a i5-4670K and more for a Z87 or z97 based motherboard. That will give you about 30% more compute capacity with a conservative overclock.
The issue with a B85 motherboard is that you forgo that cpu upgrade.

Most gaming pc's will do fine with a 8gb ram kit. You could save some there. But... I still like 16gb.

I would build with a 240gb Samsung evo ssd. Defer on the hard drive until you need the storage space.
You can hold a goodly number of games on 240gb.

R9 cards are a bit power hungry, I might go stronger on the psu.
Consider a GTX780. It should be similar in strength. 650w will be good.
Also, the R9-290 has 16% 0 or 1 review eggs. The GTX780 buyers seem more satisfied, only 2% 0-1 eggs.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
m
0
l
Related resources
May 31, 2014 2:50:27 PM

your saying to use a 240gb ssd for everything but wouldnt you really want another source of storage in which case is a tb hdd because you can get some games that go to 30gb - 40gb each and you wont fit many games on that
m
0
l
May 31, 2014 6:12:10 PM

geofelt said:
Interesting...

Most people building in this budget class will spend $30 more on a i5-4670K and more for a Z87 or z97 based motherboard. That will give you about 30% more compute capacity with a conservative overclock.
The issue with a B85 motherboard is that you forgo that cpu upgrade.

Most gaming pc's will do fine with a 8gb ram kit. You could save some there. But... I still like 16gb.

I would build with a 240gb Samsung evo ssd. Defer on the hard drive until you need the storage space.
You can hold a goodly number of games on 240gb.

R9 cards are a bit power hungry, I might go stronger on the psu.
Consider a GTX780. It should be similar in strength. 650w will be good.
Also, the R9-290 has 16% 0 or 1 review eggs. The GTX780 buyers seem more satisfied, only 2% 0-1 eggs.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

240 is a bit weak for me. A little bit more space would be good.
What psu should I choose?
Should I get win7 or 8?
m
0
l
May 31, 2014 7:07:18 PM

most people now go for windows 8 because its designed for touchscreen pc/laptop and it works better with slightly older hardware if you happen to have last gen hardware but i would personally chose windows 7 as i can do all of the above but with much more support the only thing is with touch - windows 7 wasn't designed for that purpose.
m
0
l
!