First Build Advice ($1200 Budget)

GeekJump · Nov 17, 2014

Hello!

I'm planning my first build and wanted some advice/feedback. This computer will mainly be used for gaming and some video editing.

I've made two almost identical builds. The only difference is the CPU and Ram. One is an i7 with 8GB of ram and the other an i5 with 16. Both cost about the same but got different answers about which is better for my needs.

i5 - http://pcpartpicker.com/user/GeekJump/saved/C9Tj4D

i7 - http://pcpartpicker.com/user/GeekJump/saved/NZxV3C

Approximate Purchase Date: Thanksgiving Weekend

Budget Range: $1200 (excluding OS and peripherals)

System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming and some video editing

Are you buying a monitor: Yes

Do you need to buy OS: Yes

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: Newegg, Amazon, BestBuy

Location: New Jersey, USA

Overclocking: Maybe

SLI or Crossfire: No

Additional Comments: Want to be able to play the current and upcoming games at high settings.

Why Are You Upgrading: Need a new computer

Any help or feedback is much appreciated

uplink-svk · Nov 17, 2014

Greetings,

CPU is the best of the best, but the i5 would be just fine, even in SLi. Avoid GA motherboard, take Asus instead, her equivalent. I'd get RM PSU, not CX. but there will be a bunch of smart-asses telling You that RM is no good, so it's up to You after that.

Just avoid GA motherboard, that's all. And get some more solid cooler for 4790K, for i5 CM can stay.

Kohwali · Nov 17, 2014

Most games don't use hyperthreading, which is what separates i7s from i5s. Games also won't use more than 8GB RAM. So go with an i5 and 8GB RAM

Kohwali · Nov 17, 2014

I recommend this:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($236.86 @ NCIX US)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.98 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Asus Z97-A ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($143.99 @ NCIX US)
Memory: Kingston Fury Black Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($76.98 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($53.67 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 970 4GB STRIX Video Card ($348.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Fractal Design Define R4 w/Window (Titanium Grey) ATX Mid Tower Case ($119.99 @ Best Buy)
Power Supply: EVGA 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($79.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $1069.59
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-11-17 10:16 EST-0500

Switched to better PSU which will be enough power for a second GTX 970 + overclocking, so if you ever want more GPU power you can just do SLI

Video rendering speeds could benefit from an i7 though, so you could switch the CPU to an i7-4790K. Just note that in about 99% of games, this won't make a difference from an i5-4690K.

uplink-svk · Nov 17, 2014

Kohwali - games won't use more than 8 gigs of ram, in particular 6 gigs of ram, now-adays, but for example I'm always running Chrome with 3-4 GB ram of tabs, and some other programs, which utilizes my ram together with game up to 10-12 gigs. Just FYi.

Games don't use HT, though HT is only optional feature, what matters is "core power", which is superior on i7 processors. I mean single core power.

Besides You chose great PSU, also motherboard, I personally would go after Gryphon or Sabertooth. And I'd stick to G.Skill, or Mushkin memory modules. At least Crucial. Kingston is not bad at all, but personally I find G.Skill, Mushkin, Geil and Crucial better brands.

Kohwali · Nov 17, 2014

uplink-svk :

That's a lot of tabs.

uplink-svk :

An i7 is superior than an i5, but if you're only gaming, a +$100 price tag is hardly justified by the minimal benefits it would provide: http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-2187021/true-4790k-4690k-dont-benifit-gaming.html

uplink-svk :

Eh, I like the look of the Kingston Furys and the low profile makes it really convenient because the Hyper 212 EVO's fan can stick out a little into the RAM slots. It also doesn't hurt that they're also cheaper.

GeekJump · Nov 17, 2014

Kohwali :

If I could give a general percentage of what I would be using this for I would say 70-80% gaming, 20-30% video editing

I already experienced video editing on a computer that couldn't handle it (2-3 hours rendering short videos) so I want to make sure I don't have to deal with that again. 8GB is enough for gaming for a while but would 16 be more beneficial for the video editing side of things?

Like you said, spending $100+ for an i7 that wouldn't make much difference is a waste.

uplink-svk · Nov 17, 2014

Hmm, weird, to my current knowledge, CM212 Evo Plus is very compatibile with high profile ram, not like Noctuas, which need to go up high, in order to house high-profile rams.

And that's not a lot of tabs

chrome is power hungry, I run around 25-30 pinned tabs, + 10-15 fresh tabs. No big deal.

op - I have 32 gigs of ram atm, for aae, combustion, premiere and 3dstudio max hooked up on v-ray and maxwell, it's still not enough. It's never enough :\

GeekJump · Nov 17, 2014

uplink-svk :

I'm going to take that as I should go for 16GB for now

...I will mainly be using after effects and premiere.

uplink-svk · Nov 17, 2014

You'd choke on 8 gigs for aae and premiere, 16 gigs is good for breathing above surface.

logainofhades · Nov 17, 2014

uplink-svk :

My old ripjaws just barely fit with my CM 212. I bought an Ares kit and put my ripjaws in a different system.

With you doing video editing, I would go with something more like this.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1231 V3 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($248.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97X-UD3H ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($124.20 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Tactical 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($159.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial MX100 128GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($69.93 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($54.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 970 4GB STRIX Video Card ($348.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Corsair Carbide Series 300R Windowed ATX Mid Tower Case ($87.99 @ Micro Center)
Power Supply: XFX 650W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($64.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $1160.06
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-11-17 10:54 EST-0500

Kohwali · Nov 17, 2014

uplink-svk :

No you wouldn't, I use 8GB on AE and Premiere. If you're doing serious heavy editing, you'll want 16GB+.

Kohwali · Nov 17, 2014

GeekJump :

So just go with the i5 and 16GB of RAM if you want to be safe.

Kohwali · Nov 17, 2014

uplink-svk :

I have regular G.Skill Ripjaws and a RAM stick doesn't fit into the 1st slot.

Kohwali · Nov 17, 2014

Geek, get this build then:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($236.86 @ NCIX US)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.98 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Asus Z97-A ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($143.99 @ NCIX US)
Memory: Kingston Fury Black Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($153.74 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($53.67 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 970 4GB STRIX Video Card ($348.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Fractal Design Define R4 w/Window (Titanium Grey) ATX Mid Tower Case ($119.99 @ Best Buy)
Power Supply: EVGA 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($79.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $1146.35
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-11-17 12:29 EST-0500

See this LinusTechTips video as well for more info on how much RAM you think you'll need: http://youtu.be/ajyzZ-zaq0o

logainofhades · Nov 17, 2014

Kohwali :

Odd, since mine did. Had to lift the fan up to install it though. :lol:

GeekJump · Nov 17, 2014

Kohwali :

I actually watched that video when it was uploaded this morning :cheese:

I went back and changed my build around after seeing the responses and ended up with this build (except I went with a WD hdd since I get a discount on those)

Kohwali · Nov 17, 2014

GeekJump :

haha okay. Good luck with your build!

uplink-svk · Nov 18, 2014

Kohwali - with all due respect, but when You suffice with 8 gigs of ram, do You even do some serious work in aae? When I get to render a project, that uses fhd-2k canvas, with dynamic camera and let's say 5-10 minutes of whole footage, even without particle effects, I cannot use ram render at all, and when I render, it hits up sky-high 20-24 gigs of ram atm. and when I had 16, he always "throttled" at 14 gigs and everything else went to my fast PF [in this case scratch disk], which consisted of 4 way raid0 made out of SSDs. Just wondering...

P.S.: You quoted wrong person, I didn't write that

Kohwali · Nov 18, 2014

uplink-svk :

Lol I'm about to do some work with a 5000x5000 canvas with a dynamic camera. The file was fine when I made it in PS, I'm getting paranoid its going to lag a lot in AE now (it probably will).

uplink-svk · Nov 18, 2014

Kohwali - I'm sorry but that makes me heavily doubt You. Since I work with graphics for over a decade and half, and few weeks ago I was working with 16 gigs of ram, 2600K and 4 way raid0 made out of Intel 520, and whenever I opened canvas larger than 2000 x 2000 pixels, I felt it like hell. And 5 x 5k well, with a few layers and few smart objects in it, I can't imagine to work with .psd like that. But maybe You've got magical computer

First Build Advice ($1200 Budget)

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