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which of these four setups should i use for gaming

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  • Gaming
  • Components
  • MSI
  • Intel i5
  • AMD
Last response: in Components
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July 5, 2014 2:08:32 AM

Im trying to build my first PC, and i want a good gaming rig (and a bit of CAD on the side) that will last me at least three to four years before i have to upgrade. I've laid out four different setups, each one better then the last. (except the 4th one) is the r9 280x overkill for games like dragon age, mass effect, and dolphin emulator? (of course, if i do get the card, i'll be playing some much more graphically intensive games) i want to spend as little as possible, but still get good performance, so which one has the best price to power ratio?
#1
amd fx6350 (or fx 6300) CPU
msi 970a-g46 motherboard
msi r9 270x GPU
ADATA USA XPG V2 2x4
western digital black 1tb
Corsair CX Series 500watt
fractal define r4

#2
Intel Core i5-3470 CPU
Asus P8Z77-V LK motherboard
msi r9 280x GPU
corsair vengence blue 2x4
western digital black 1tb
Corsair CX Series 500 watt
fractal define r4

#3
intel core i5-4670k CPU
msi H97 Guard-Pro motherboard
msi r9 280x GPU
corsair vengeance blue
western digital black 1tb
Corsair CX Series 500 watt
Fractal define r4

#4
i'm quite low on cash right now (being that im in high school and the only source of income is helping my parents sell old furniture online) another choice is to use #3, not get a GPU, which will drop the cost to around $600, spend an extra $20 for a i5-4690k, and use my dad's old xfx hd 6750 GPU, (even though the integrated HD 4600 can probably give it a run for it's money.) then save up for the 280x.

also, i cant wait another couple of months for the 280x. not because im impatient, but because im going to be doing design for my robotics team, which uses solidworks. And my laptop, with HD 4000, just doesn't do the trick.

More about : setups gaming

July 5, 2014 2:16:54 AM

#3, And i wouldn't go with that PSU, Corsair CX Series PSU's Are synonymous with having bad capacitors, Get a seasonic or antec.
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a c 207 4 Gaming
a b À AMD
July 5, 2014 2:19:09 AM

If you don't plan on overclocking, #2 is a good choice. I would drop the motherboard to a H87 which is cheaper since you won't overclock. And use that extra money saved to up the PSU to a decent XFX 550W. The case can be cheaper as well. Say a Corsair 300R.

Problem with #3 is that the motherboard prevents the unlocked CPU from overclocking. Otherwise, it's the same as #2.

The first build is just not great. The FX-series is dead. AMD has not really done much to it, or their CPU line, at all recently. So outdated.
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July 5, 2014 2:26:03 AM

#3 is the best out of all the other choices.
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a b 4 Gaming
a b À AMD
July 5, 2014 2:35:30 AM

If you do want to go for an AMD chip, the only ones to go for in the FX line would be the 83xx series in my opinion. Upgrade options for future ones wouldn't matter at that point because there wouldn't be much that you'd upgrade to for a while.

Outside of that, I agree with ksham going with build #2.

Build #3 should have the CPU paired with a Z87/Z97 motherboard at least, just to have the option of overclocking available.

One option of for money saving if its not a big deal with be to go with a WD Blue over the Black. I don't think there's too much of a difference between the two other than price and a slight loading difference. But just an option out there.

PSU wise, the CX can probably hold the system together, but it'll be a bit stressed. I recommend you get a better PSU like the XFX one suggested by ksham.
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a c 207 4 Gaming
a b À AMD
July 5, 2014 2:43:56 AM

Calnin said:
One option of for money saving if its not a big deal with be to go with a WD Blue over the Black. I don't think there's too much of a difference between the two other than price and a slight loading difference. But just an option out there.

Warranty. 2 years for Blue and 5 years for Black.
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July 5, 2014 2:49:30 AM

Calnin said:
If you do want to go for an AMD chip, the only ones to go for in the FX line would be the 83xx series in my opinion. Upgrade options for future ones wouldn't matter at that point because there wouldn't be much that you'd upgrade to for a while.

Outside of that, I agree with ksham going with build #2.

Build #3 should have the CPU paired with a Z87/Z97 motherboard at least, just to have the option of overclocking available.

One option of for money saving if its not a big deal with be to go with a WD Blue over the Black. I don't think there's too much of a difference between the two other than price and a slight loading difference. But just an option out there.

PSU wise, the CX can probably hold the system together, but it'll be a bit stressed. I recommend you get a better PSU like the XFX one suggested by ksham.


would it be smart to get the 4670k, with the z87 board http://www.amazon.com/MSI-Motherboard-Motherboards-Z87-... (is this what you're talking about?) don't overclock it, and when the system starts to get a bit out dated, overclock it to make it keep on par with next gen CPUs?
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July 5, 2014 2:51:09 AM

ksham said:
If you don't plan on overclocking, #2 is a good choice. I would drop the motherboard to a H87 which is cheaper since you won't overclock. And use that extra money saved to up the PSU to a decent XFX 550W. The case can be cheaper as well. Say a Corsair 300R.

Problem with #3 is that the motherboard prevents the unlocked CPU from overclocking. Otherwise, it's the same as #2.

The first build is just not great. The FX-series is dead. AMD has not really done much to it, or their CPU line, at all recently. So outdated.


i may conciser overclocking, but does that mean i will need to get a better fan then the stock one?
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a c 207 4 Gaming
a b À AMD
July 5, 2014 2:55:58 AM

Yes; the stock fan will not handle overclocking well. For an average overclock, the Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus or its bigger brother (212 EVO) will suffice. They are both very affordable.
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a b 4 Gaming
a b À AMD
July 5, 2014 3:03:24 AM

I always forget something with differences between two things. Thanks for correcting.

As for the motherboard, with a z87 motherboard you'll at least be able to overclock. You can add on the cpu fan later on if you want. Unless you plan on overclocking in a relatively close time after your build is complete, it's probably not going to be a big priority in my opinion.
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July 5, 2014 3:05:06 AM

ksham said:
Yes; the stock fan will not handle overclocking well. For an average overclock, the Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus or its bigger brother (212 EVO) will suffice. They are both very affordable.


im probably going to have to skip out on the gpu for now if im going to spend the money to overclock the cpu. the intel HD 4600 seems to be very good considering that it's integrated. i've found two boards,
http://www.amazon.com/MSI-DDR3-Motherboards-Z97-G55-SLI...

http://www.amazon.com/MSI-Motherboard-Motherboards-Z87-...

that will allow me to overclock, but what is msi skipping out on that allows them to lower the price $30 compared to other companies?

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a c 207 4 Gaming
a b À AMD
July 5, 2014 3:16:35 AM

For a gaming rig, I would much rather have a non-overclocking CPU and have a GPU.
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July 5, 2014 8:46:25 AM

ksham said:
For a gaming rig, I would much rather have a non-overclocking CPU and have a GPU.

i know getting a lower quality CPU and getting a dedicated GPU will me much better for what i'm doing. But i'd rather have very good parts that is more powerful then what i need, which will last me a long time performance wise, and save up for a GPU (which would only take like two months anyways), then getting OK parts that work well now, but need but will need to upgrades anyways in a couple of years. and with that extra cooler, the more expensive motherboard to overclock, and that powersuply that you mentioned, adding another hundred dollars on top of a already expensive build (at least to me) getting a dedicated GPU just isnt within my reach right now.
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a c 207 4 Gaming
a b À AMD
July 5, 2014 8:55:29 AM

The only performance gain you will see between a locked i5 and an unlocked i5 in terms of gaming is usually if the locked i5 is bottlenecking the graphics card. Usually, that won't be the case. The i5 is plenty powerful enough to not bottleneck any modern single graphics card setup without any overclocking in any game. In multi-graphics card configuration, overclocking will help.

So the ability to overclock is not *that* much better in your scenario.
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July 5, 2014 10:55:31 AM

ksham said:
The only performance gain you will see between a locked i5 and an unlocked i5 in terms of gaming is usually if the locked i5 is bottlenecking the graphics card. Usually, that won't be the case. The i5 is plenty powerful enough to not bottleneck any modern single graphics card setup without any overclocking in any game. In multi-graphics card configuration, overclocking will help.

So the ability to overclock is not *that* much better in your scenario.


well, right now the 4670 and 4670k are the exact same price on amazon, so might as well get the unlocked one.

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a b 4 Gaming
a b À AMD
July 5, 2014 11:38:06 AM

The cpu cooler can always come in the future whenever you decide to overclock.
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