My first gaming desktop build. high-end bare bones gaming rig. no prior experience.

interwebingses · Mar 29, 2015

My first build; I have no idea what i'm doing. I recently decided to leave console gaming, and it looked like better bang for your buck to build a desktop PC than buy a prebuit one. I've been doing a LOT of googling over the past two days (but that is the grand total of my knowledge in building a pc). Hence this computer.

http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/6NDfjX

I'm not worried about aesthetics. I am aiming for approximately a $1,000 build price, but i'm a student, so cheaper is better. I don't want to cheap out on something, and have it bite me in the bum later on down the road, but i also don't want overkill.

The idea with this rig is to invest in a quality, bare bones build that will last 5-ish years (perhaps more?) something i can flesh out as i go with some (hopefully relatively inexpensive) add-on upgrades as they become necessary. such as:

additional ram
optical drive (or do i need to buy this right away?)
1TB (or 2 or 3) HDD (or a hybrid drive?)
SLI or CF (at least 2-3 years from now, for my budget)
maybe overclocking, if there is a sudden jump in game requirements?

I don't need peripherals, as i have an old mouse, a keyboard, and a HDTV (I think it's 1080p. Maybe a bit better. Definitely not 4k, which i am not interested in). i would like to run high settings on the newest games for the next year (or more?)

Basically, what can i do better, on a budget?
Is there some technique to prolong the lifespan of my (rather expensive) components?
is there some minor adjustment that can make the whole system run better?
is there something i'm missing? (like a wifi adapter, or a cable or something)
is there one component that will cause bottlenecking, making the rest of the rig overkill?
is the whole rig overkill, given what i plan to do with it?
is one component overkill, considering the rest of the rig, and how long i'm hoping to make it last?
are these the right components? (is this the right mother board, PSU, etc, given what i plan to do)

...i could go on, but i think you get the idea.

Pretty please and thanks in advance, you awesome, fabulous people!
PS i'm in Canada if that makes any difference

sz0ty0l4 · Mar 29, 2015

I've checked it and i have a similar PC aswell, but with a 980.

So first of all you need to change that psu immediately. 430Watts is insufficient for such build, because it can be enough , but the psu will be working on 80-90% what you do not want. optimal is if your psu do not go to its limits( do not go over 70-80%) because then it will not overheat.
You want a PSU at least with silver certification, 5 years warranty, 650watts output( i would buy at least 50A on 12V rail )and 2x 6+2pin pci-e connector.

People here will tell you that 500watts is more than enough for gtx 970 and such, but if you ask me its always better to stay safe, especially if you want to overclock your pc.

I wouldn't bother with optical drive, its useless and outdated. All games can be bought on steam, or other digital download platforms.

I do not advice you to use a HDTV as a gaming monitor. A monitor is always better, but if you stick with a HDTV make sure it can do 1080p on 60Hz.
I don't advice to count on sli. Simply when your GPU gets outdated and not powerful enough to play on ultra settings, you sell it and buy a newer, stronger one. DUAL GPU solutions always has lots of issues. google for " SLI ISSUES". you'll notice it doesn't worth the headache.

This pc will run all modern and upcoming titles on ultra 1080p 60fps so have fun with it, it will be "heaven" after the console 30fps medium setting ;d

let me edit fast:
i5-4690k is bottlenecked in cpu heavy games! do not buy i5 if you want a future proof PC! if you are using an i5 you have to quit all other applications when starting a game, because 4 threads won't handle proper multitasking.
proof for i5 bottlenecking hard on ac unity:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKzJE0Z-XFk

HARD bottlenecked. i don't understand why people suggest i5 as gaming cpu... such a bad advice

DonkeyOatie · Mar 29, 2015

I don't think that you can quite do what you want to for your budget.

Here's the sort of thing that will do what you say you want.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($224.75 @ shopRBC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97MX-Gaming 5 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($144.99 @ Memory Express)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($73.53 @ DirectCanada)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($58.98 @ DirectCanada)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 4GB WINDFORCE 3X Video Card ($389.99 @ NCIX)
Case: Thermaltake Commander MS/I Snow Edition (White/Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($54.75 @ Vuugo)
Power Supply: EVGA 750W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($79.99 @ NCIX)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (32/64-bit) ($107.92 @ shopRBC)
Total: $1134.90
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-03-29 11:04 EDT-0400

The i5 will run modern games and games into the future, benchmarks show little to no advantage for i7s.
Overclocking will give limited improvement ( 3 - 5 FPS) in most games and cost a lot. The only time overclocking is really helpful in gaming is when it changes a marginally unplayable game into a marginally playable game. (I'm not counting extra pure speed for competitive PvP gamers)
8GB is enough memory and the system can double memory. Starting with 1 x 8 Gb may save a little at a slight performance hit but will allow you to reach 32Gb (Why I'm not sure, but...)
The motherboard will SLI so that later (2 - 4 years) you can add another GPU to improve performance. The i5 is capable of driving two 970s each at 1080p.
You need storage. Adding an OS SSD should be a high priority (at least 240Gb)
Outstanding low power use, high graphics GPU.
Great PSU that will support a second GPU or later CPU upgrade.
Case that works.

I use a 26" 1080p HDMI/HDTV for a monitor. It works for me (and I already had it)

You could later upgrade the CPU, but I consider that unlikely, better to rebuild the whole system.

interwebingses · Mar 30, 2015

thankyou so much for such speedy, informative replies you guys! this is totally the best forum i've found so far...

the reason i chose the i7 was because i'm looking at The Witcher 3, and their recommended requirements say "Intel CPU Core i7 3770 3,4 GHz", and most of the reviews that i saw rated the i7 4790k as a very good (future-proof -ish?) gaming CPU. in other forum discussions people said there was minimal difference (in gaming) between the i5 4690k vs i7 4790k, but the TW3 clearly lists i5s as 'minimum' requirements.

also, my budget has a little flex. i would much rather dish out a little extra now on a good investment (in the long run), than need to replace something a year or two down the road. i totally understand that it is impossible to predict gaming requirements in the future, but i will not be upgrading the CPU for 4+ years, and its a pricey component, so

also, I've read that CPU OC-ing only gives minimal improvements, has a tendency to reduce the CPUs life expectancy, and isn't worth the extra cost on a performance/dollar basis. barring a game-changer in desktop gaming (in which case all bets are off anyway) would i be better off just sticking to the i7's turbo setting (4.4 GHz)?

i've also read that SLI and CF tend to have issues. given that i'm a noob (and as such won't be able to troubleshoot sli issues) would i be better off getting a slightly less expensive GPU, (perhaps r9 series?) and upgrading in 2+ years?

DonkeyOatie · Mar 30, 2015

Witcher 3 has an i5 as a minimum because it needs four real cores, not for reasons of speed or power. The i7 3770 is an older chip and its cores are less efficient and slower than modern i5, even though the clock may be a bit faster. You will need to read a bunch of benchmarks and comparisons to confirm this. The i7 4790 is the fastest stock Intel GPU at the moment, at 4.0Ghz. If Witcher 3 'really' needs an i7 to run properly, then it will be a commercial failure because the vast majority of systems out there don't have that level of power. I expect to run it well on my i5 4570.

I agree with your take on overclocking, and said as much. (You could still use the i7 4790-K for it's 4.0Ghz clock without ever intending to overclock it)

Everything has issues. two card SLI or CF is a well established solution to 'more power!'

THE limiting factor in your system will be your GPU. My advice is always buy the best GPU you can't quite afford. That would probably be the GTX970 today. There are some good and powerful Radeon R9s. However, their much larger power consumption has consequences with heating, PSU size, and case fans and design that can negate a lot of cost advantage (if any)

interwebingses · Mar 31, 2015

thank you so very much for taking the time to help a noob! you guys are the bestest!

interwebingses · Apr 2, 2015

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