Possible gaming PC build?

HunterDan

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Jan 26, 2014
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PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/cVzrRB
Im looking to build my first PC here soon and have a budget of around $1400 maximum. I was wondering how this build would do for gaming. I play games like the Battlefield series and Dayz Standalone/ Arma 2/ Arma 3. Any suggestions on the build would also be welcomed as I stated this would be my first build. Thank!

Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/cVzrRB/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i7-4770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($308.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Antec Kuhler H2O 620 Liquid CPU Cooler ($60.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: MSI Z87-G45 Gaming ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($119.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance Pro 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-2666 Memory ($124.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate Constellation ES.3 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($108.27 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 760 2GB TWIN FROZR Video Card ($239.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair Carbide Series 300R Windowed ATX Mid Tower Case ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA 1300 G2 1300W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($149.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: MSI DH-24AS DVD/CD Writer ($26.99 @ Micro Center)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($84.98 @ OutletPC)
Sound Card: Creative Labs Sound Blaster Audigy Rx 24-bit 192 KHz Sound Card ($49.99 @ Amazon)
Wired Network Adapter: Intel EXPI9301CTBLK 10/100/1000 Mbps PCI-Express x1 Network Adapter ($29.71 @ Amazon)
Wireless Network Adapter: Asus PCE-N15 802.11b/g/n PCI-Express x1 Wi-Fi Adapter ($24.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $1399.85
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-07-25 22:14 EDT-0400
 

HunterDan

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Jan 26, 2014
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I agree with what you said on the sound card. But I will need a network adapter but not the wireless. Only reason I selected the GPU I did was because I only know NVIDIA cards never knew much on the Radeon series. Gets kinda confusing chasing all this tech ha. But I appreciate the input. Possibly not building until late Oct though just seeing how well I did for what I want to accomplish.

 

moozilbee

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Jul 19, 2013
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Your build is REALLY unbalanced,
an i7 is very overkill for gaming, and for your budget you can get much better than a GTX 760,
you don't need a sound card or a wired network adapter,
you could also fit a big SSD into your budget,
get a better quality motherboard,
you don't need liquid cooling,
the PSU is very overkill,
higher speed RAM makes little difference in gaming.
Here is a much more powerful build that will be able to play any games on max at very high framerates
(constant 60fps on most games).

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($234.99 @ NCIX US)
CPU Cooler: be quiet! Dark Rock 3 113.8 CFM Fluid Dynamic Bearing CPU Cooler ($79.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: Asus Z97-A ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($144.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Kingston Fury White Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($84.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Crucial MX100 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($109.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($88.97 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: MSI Radeon R9 290 4GB TWIN FROZR Video Card ($369.99 @ Amazon)
Case: NZXT H440 (White/Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($119.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA NEX 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($89.98 @ OutletPC)
Total: $1383.87
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-07-25 22:52 EDT-0400

This PC is very powerful, it will be able to play any modern game on Ultra settings @60fps. It's also overclockable if you're into that sort of thing

It's built around a white and black colour scheme but can be changed for different colours if you wish.

The R9 290 is a very powerful card, more powerful and yet cheaper than a GTX 780, and sometimes it's on par with or outperforms an Nvidia GTX Titan. This is an MSI card, who make great GPU coolers, and it will allow for a nice overclock on the graphics card.

The i5 CPU is more than enough for gaming, Intel performs very well in most games, games like Skyrim see a huge benefit from having an Intel CPU.

The CPU cooler is a nice looking sleek black BeQuiet cooler that fits in with the white and black theme, it will allow for a good overclock whilst still being quiet (hence the name...). It can be downgraded to the CM Hyper 212 if you want to save some cash, the Hyper 212 is still a quite good cooler, however the Dark rock is still a lot better, much quieter and will allow for a greater overclock.

The motherboard is a high quality Asus board, allowing you to get a good overclock and also fitting in with the colour scheme.

The memory is some pretty standard DDR3 - 1600mhz Kingston RAM, picked for it's white colour which helps with the overall white + black theme.
8GB of RAM is more than enough for any modern game, and for any game for years to come.

The SSD is one of the new MX100 Crucial SSDs, 250GB is enough for the OS and most/all of your programs, as well as a few games.
It can be upgraded to a 500GB (250GB will still fill up quite quickly), however this will set you back an extra $100.

The HDD is a very popular WD Caviar black 7200rpm, 1tb is more than enough for many games and any extra media you want to hold. WD hard drives are well known as some of the most reliable drives available.

The case is the new H440 from NZXT, this is the white and black version (other colours are available), it comes with many useful features and looks great, with a window on the side to display your build. This case is very high quality, made completely of metal with noise dampening foam to quiet your PC.

The PSU/Power supply is a 650W 80+ Gold rated PSU from EVGA, this PSU is highly efficient, good quality, and has plenty of room for upgrading in future. 650w is more than enough for this build.

The OS is Windows 8.1 64bit, and can be easily changed to Windows 7 depending on your preferences.
 


 

moozilbee

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Jul 19, 2013
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All modern motherboards come with an onboard ethernet port, so a wired network card isn't needed.
The R9 290x is actually better than the GTX 780 in most games, as is the R9 290, I would recommend the R9 290 over the 290x, as the 290x is much more expensive but only performs a little better, and the R9 290 can be overclocked to be just as good.
 

Maybe in the future you'd be better with an X version of R9 290 , Personally I got the R9 290 over the X because of the reason specified but I always like to think with the other's mindset.
 

HunterDan

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Jan 26, 2014
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Yeah I took a look at the R9 290 and the 290X. Quite pricey but seems worth the coin. Not much into OC'n so ill probably just end up getting the X.
 

moozilbee

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Don't buy the R9 290X, as I said it's a lot more expensive for very little benefit, even if you're not overclocking it's not worth paying $70 for a small fps boost.
 

MrCanEHdian

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Apr 9, 2014
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That's a nice build, but some imbalances are making it less effective for gaming or more expensive than it needs to be.

The i7 is nice, not necessary, but nice. The Z87 motherboard could easily be switched for an equally capable and more "future proof" Z97. I just built a rig with a Z97 and it runs beautifully, first build too.

Personally, I'd go with an i5 and save the money or get a better GPU.

You will never need 1300 watts of power, even the 750w I got is more than I'll ever need.

Also, I highly recommend not getting the high end RAM. You'll barely notice much difference between it and 1600MHz or 1866MHz RAM. You'd be better off getting less powerful RAM and putting the saved money elsewhere.

Most motherboards, especially in that price range, come with LAN cards built in, so the wired card is likely unnecessary.
I'm on a LAN network now with my new gaming PC using the onboard LAN capability of the motherboard.. I literally, no joke, downloaded Planetside 2, 10.6Gb in about 15 minutes. My PS4 took about 2 hours to do 13Gb last night. I can't imagine you'd need an aftermarket LAN card.

Finally, I'd personally go with a case without a window and a vent instead to improve airflow. I went with an HAF 922... The airflow is incredible. It sucks cool air in the front and dishes it out from the top and back, the airflow is fantastic and nothing gets hot.
It helps to have a Haswell Refresh CPU with improved Thermal Interface.
 

moozilbee

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Your internet speed is always going to be slower than your motherboard/lan cards ethernet, it's not that your motherboards on board lan is fast, it's that your internet is fast, and the server you were downloading planetside 2 from was fast, whereas whatever your PS4 was downloading was coming from a slower server and/or the way your PS4 connects to the internet is slower.

Getting a windowed case is fine for airflow as long as the case still has decent airflow & a decent amount of fans & decent coolers on the GPU & CPU, something like the H440 as it makes up for airflow restrictions by having very good sound dampening. Windowed cases themselves aren't bad, you can have a windowed case with great airflow, you just won't be able to have any side fans. The vents on the side themselves really don't help airflow very much.

Most of what you said had already been said multiple times by other people, not getting at you, just what was the point in writing it?
 

MrCanEHdian

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Apr 9, 2014
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Why not offer another perspective? I didn't read the other comments, I offered my two cents in an effort to help, the whole reason I looked at the question in the first place.

Fair enough on the internet, I figured the LAN made a huge difference. Fair enough again on the case, but I don't see why you'd want a window over an extra vent.
 

moozilbee

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Some people would rather see the inside of the PC rather than have slightly better airflow. A side vent really won't help airflow that much, and most high end cases have a window rather than a vent. A window will also allow less dust to get in, and a window allows for sound proofing the case, whereas a vent will make the case noisier as it allows for somewhere for sound to escape from.

 

MrCanEHdian

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Those are good points actually.
 

moozilbee

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Yay...
 

MrCanEHdian

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Are you upset that I posted a comment with similar points to other comments?
 

moozilbee

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What? I just said it was pointless for you too post the same thing that had been said multiple times.
 

MrCanEHdian

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Right, well, won't happen again.