$800 System Build for Gaming + Streaming

adam___subtractem · Jul 17, 2014

Hey guys, over the summer I want to build a gaming pc that is mainly for CS:GO (at least 250-300 FPS) and good fps for other games such as Battle Field 4, GTA 4, and Just Cause 2. (I STREAM AS WELL

) Can anyone recommend me a good build using PartPicker.com? That would be awesome since I do not know much about Mother Boards and CPUs. As I said in the title, I can spend $800-$850. Anyway thank you and have a great day!

Basically I pretty much only play CS:GO. Right now on my laptop, hooked up to an excellent new monitor, I get around 90-100 FPS. That was fine for before but now I want my FPS to be 200-300 because it's smoother and can be played better on the competitive level, also good for streaming. I say $800 because I feel as though it's a good number to start at for a PC build, however cheaper is no problem. I just don't know too much about motherboards, so some builds that I received i appreciate but do not know much about

. I'm kind of a noob lol but I was looking at the MSI Radeon R9 270X. Is that good?

Anyway here is my current build I am looking to buy, check it out!

http://pcpartpicker.com/user/adam_subtractem/saved/2GrmP6

Thanks!
-Adam T

dottorrent · Jul 17, 2014

The R9 270X is a very, very good card for the money. Go for it.

Spectre694 · Jul 17, 2014

You understand your monitor can't physically display more FPS than it's refresh rate correct?
In any case I would make these changes especially for streaming.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($239.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.98 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Asus Z97-P ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($119.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($74.70 @ Newegg)
Storage: Kingston SSDNow V300 Series 60GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($49.36 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: MSI Radeon R9 270X 2GB TWIN FROZR Video Card ($184.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Corsair Graphite Series 230T Black ATX Mid Tower Case ($49.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($55.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($19.98 @ OutletPC)
Total: $809.95
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available\

Your other option is to drop to a lower CPU and up the GPU a step.

adam___subtractem · Jul 17, 2014

Spectre694 :

You understand your monitor can't physically display more FPS than it's refresh rate correct?
In any case I would make these changes especially for streaming.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($239.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.98 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Asus Z97-P ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($119.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($74.70 @ Newegg)
Storage: Kingston SSDNow V300 Series 60GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($49.36 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: MSI Radeon R9 270X 2GB TWIN FROZR Video Card ($184.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Corsair Graphite Series 230T Black ATX Mid Tower Case ($49.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($55.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($19.98 @ OutletPC)
Total: $809.95
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available\

Your other option is to drop to a lower CPU and up the GPU a step.

Thanks for your quick reply! But why did you take away the FX-8350? I hear that it is an incredible card, and great for streaming. (Watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eu8Sekdb-IE )

Thanks

adam___subtractem · Jul 17, 2014

dottorrent :

I love that card!

ps3hacker12 · Jul 17, 2014

Just wondering why you haven't included a hard drive?

These are some of the changes I would make:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($210.00 @ NCIX US)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.98 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: MSI Z97 PC MATE ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($82.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Kingston SSDNow V300 Series 60GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($49.36 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: PowerColor Radeon R9 280 3GB TurboDuo Video Card ($179.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair Graphite Series 230T Black ATX Mid Tower Case ($49.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: XFX 650W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($69.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer ($14.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $764.28
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Spectre694 · Jul 17, 2014

adam___subtractem :

Spectre694 :

Thanks for your quick reply! But why did you take away the FX-8350? I hear that it is an incredible card, and great for streaming. (Watch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eu8Sekdb-IE )

Thanks

Haha yes at it's price it isn't a bad CPU. But at stock speeds the intel is basically tied multithreaded and blows (not even close) the 8350 out of the water for single threaded performance and the gap only gets worse as you OC. Also for some reason FRAPS and most recording programs do not play nicely with the FX series.

moozilbee · Jul 17, 2014

Why would you want to get 300fps on CS GO when it will have zero affect on how the game looks?
Unless you're using a 120hz monitor you will only be able to view 60fps, and so with a 60hz monitor the only reason to want high fps than what you're currently getting is if you're playing on 128 tick servers, and if you play on valve servers (ordinary servers) you aren't playing on 128 tick.

But on the other hand, if you want to play BF4 then a upgraded build would be better, I would recommend this:
Fully overclockable, you can get a pretty good CPU overclock.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor ($115.98 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.98 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Asus M5A97 R2.0 ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($89.99 @ Micro Center)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($86.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial MX100 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($109.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital BLACK SERIES 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($69.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: PowerColor Radeon R9 280 3GB TurboDuo Video Card ($179.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair Graphite Series 230T Black ATX Mid Tower Case ($49.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($55.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($19.98 @ OutletPC)
Total: $796.86
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

It's similar to Spectre's build but with some minor tweaks, EG: a better & bigger SSD, a HDD added, and a stronger GPU + Weaker CPU for a more gaming oriented build. Or, if you want, you could drop the SSD entirely and go back to the I5 processor.

ps3hacker12 · Jul 17, 2014

Here's a nice little comparison

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/697?vs=1261

For me it's more that the i5 uses so much less power, produces so much less heat and is so much queiter.

adam___subtractem · Jul 17, 2014

Spectre694 :

adam___subtractem :

Haha yes at it's price it isn't a bad CPU. But at stock speeds the intel is basically tied multithreaded and blows (not even close) the 8350 out of the water for single threaded performance and the gap only gets worse as you OC. Also for some reason FRAPS and most recording programs do not play nicely with the FX series.

Oh okay- but is that motherboard and power supply any good? I really wanted an 80+ Gold Certified PSU lol

adam___subtractem · Jul 17, 2014

Guys I already have a Hard Drive! lol but I just want an SSD, (60gb) for a few games.

My monitor is also incredible and in order to play CS:GO @ competetive level you need at leasst 150 FPS average.

moozilbee · Jul 17, 2014

No reason to want a gold PSU, a bronze one will do fine and save you large amounts of cash.
Unless you keep your PC on 24/7 for years, a gold PSU is a waste for this lower powered sort of build.

adam___subtractem · Jul 17, 2014

moozilbee :

I never knew that, thank you. And is XFX a good brand?

moozilbee · Jul 17, 2014

Adam, why is 150fps better for competetive play? Where did you get those figures from?
Sorry if I'm missing something, but as far as I know CS GO will only benefit from that high fps if you're playing on a 120hz monitor or on a 128 tick server.

moozilbee · Jul 17, 2014

Yes XFX is a very good PSU brand, one of the best.
I have the exact same PSU I recommended, it's very good.

adam___subtractem · Jul 17, 2014

moozilbee :

Okay! Well my only concerns with your build is:
CPU I am unfamiliar with
GPU Brand is ???
I already have a HD so I only want like a 60gb SSD

CAaronD · Jul 17, 2014

XFX (sort of like a rebranded seasonic) seasonic and Antec are very good PSU makers. Also why doesn't anybody ever use an SSHD? Double the speed of a 7200 RPM drive for $10-20 more. (sorry didn't see you already had a HDD)

Spectre694 · Jul 17, 2014

CAaronD :

Because they aren't actually that much faster. They help boot up but they only have around 8Gb of solid state cache once you need something that isn't on that then it is just a regular 7200 HDD. If you have an intel you can use SRT and make up to a 64Gb cache little more breathing room than a SSHD.

adam___subtractem · Jul 17, 2014

moozilbee :

CSGO is better @ that level because the fluidness of the game is insane at such a high frame rate. Since I play it competitively, yes with a good monitor and at 128 tick, all I need is a good pc

moozilbee · Jul 17, 2014

The CPU is an AMD FX series 6 core 6300 CPU, it's clocked at 3.5GHZ and is easily overclockable. This CPU is very popular for gaming and is more than powerful enough for the R9 280, 6 cores makes it good at multitasking, can easily be overclocked as I said to be better for single threaded games and applications. The core i5 would be more powerful, but when gaming graphics card power is quite a bit more important than CPU power, hence getting rid of the i5 in spectre's build in order to get a more powerful 280 graphics card.
If you want though, you can get rid of the HDD (as you already have one) and get a much smaller SSD (or get rid of it entirely), and then change the motherboard to an Intel compatible one and get back the core i5 CPU, this way you will lose the benefits of storing games on an SSD (Lightning fast load times and startup times), but you gain a lot of performance in most games, Skyrim for example will perform much better on the i5, as will most games which only use 2 cores. Something like BF4 is AMD optimised I believe, and uses 4 cores, so if you overclocked the 6300 it would probably perform about the same as the i5, but it really varies from game to game, however the i5 is almost always going to be more powerful. I would personally prefer the 6300 and a the MX100 250GB SSD, as the SSD comes with some really nice benefits, a 60GB SSD would only be able to fit the OS and maybe a couple of small programs (browsers and the like), whereas a 250GB SSD could store a lot of games as well as the OS, and most, if not all programs, to make nearly everything on your PC MUCH faster. The choice is up to you however, SSD capacity vs Processor performance.

The GPU brand is Powercolour, who are well known but if you want to you can pay an extra $20 or so and get a Sapphire card.

moozilbee · Jul 17, 2014

I think you're seeing a kind of placebo effect with the framerate, as with a 60hz monitor 300fps will look exactly the same as constant 60fps. No way around this, your monitor can't physically display anything higher so the game isn't any more smooth.

adam___subtractem · Jul 17, 2014

moozilbee :

The CPU is an AMD FX series 6 core 6300 CPU, it's clocked at 3.5GHZ and is easily overclockable. This CPU is very popular for gaming and is more than powerful enough for the R9 280, 6 cores makes it good at multitasking, can easily be overclocked as I said to be better for single threaded games and applications. The core i5 would be more powerful, but when gaming graphics card power is quite a bit more important than CPU power, hence getting rid of the i5 in spectre's build in order to get a more powerful 280 graphics card.
If you want though, you can get rid of the HDD (as you already have one) and get a much smaller SSD (or get rid of it entirely), and then change the motherboard to an Intel compatible one and get back the core i5 CPU, this way you will lose the benefits of storing games on an SSD (Lightning fast load times and startup times), but you gain a lot of performance in most games, Skyrim for example will perform much better on the i5, as will most games which only use 2 cores. Something like BF4 is AMD optimised I believe, and uses 4 cores, so if you overclocked the 6300 it would probably perform about the same as the i5, but it really varies from game to game, however the i5 is almost always going to be more powerful. I would personally prefer the 6300 and a the MX100 250GB SSD, as the SSD comes with some really nice benefits, a 60GB SSD would only be able to fit the OS and maybe a couple of small programs (browsers and the like), whereas a 250GB SSD could store a lot of games as well as the OS, and most, if not all programs, to make nearly everything on your PC MUCH faster. The choice is up to you however, SSD capacity vs Processor performance.

The GPU brand is Powercolour, who are well known but if you want to you can pay an extra $20 or so and get a Sapphire card.

I can't thank you enough for the help! But what would, now, be my ideal build? Like if you were to create the build what would you do? And yes as for hard drives I'll just get a $40 ssd, no problem. But should I go with the FX-8350 or the i5??
Thanks again!

Spectre694 · Jul 17, 2014

adam___subtractem :

moozilbee :

I can't thank you enough for the help! But what would, now, be my ideal build? Like if you were to create the build what would you do? And yes as for hard drives I'll just get a $40 ssd, no problem. But should I go with the FX-8350 or the i5??
Thanks again!

Ideally both the i5 and the 280. However if the CPU is what puts this budget over the limit get the FX. I would almost say i5 and 280 and then a 32Gb SSD and use Intel SRT to cache your HDD cheaper than a large SSD and gives you nearly the same boot and loading times for commonly used apps

adam___subtractem · Jul 17, 2014

Spectre694 :

adam___subtractem :

moozilbee :

I can't thank you enough for the help! But what would, now, be my ideal build? Like if you were to create the build what would you do? And yes as for hard drives I'll just get a $40 ssd, no problem. But should I go with the FX-8350 or the i5??
Thanks again!

Ideally both the i5 and the 280. However if the CPU is what puts this budget over the limit get the FX. I would almost say i5 and 280 and then a 32Gb SSD and use Intel SRT to cache your HDD cheaper than a large SSD and gives you nearly the same boot and loading times for commonly used apps

Wait could you send me a PartPicker list? Mine is getting out of hand haha

Spectre694 · Jul 17, 2014

Haha no problem. something like this is what I meant. You won't install anything to the SSD but rather after the install go back and use it as a sort of SSHD only with a much larger cache.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($239.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($25.98 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Asus Z97-P ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($119.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Team Vulcan 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($71.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Sandisk ReadyCache 32GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($32.00 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Asus Radeon R9 280 3GB DirectCU II Video Card ($204.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Corsair Graphite Series 230T Black ATX Mid Tower Case ($49.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($55.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($19.98 @ OutletPC)
Total: $805.89
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

$800 System Build for Gaming + Streaming

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