Gaming PC Build Ideas!

darkthings · May 4, 2015

Hey guys, going for my second build here, and I'm looking for some ideas on what parts to go for!
I'd prefer a build with an i5 4690k processor and an nvidia graphics card! my budget is $2000 including all peripherals, TIA

ps: I am a canadian shopper

cleanshot911 · May 4, 2015

darkthings :

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/xFt8kL
This was a build I was looking at a while back that's been slightly modified. It has TOP quality components. If you don't like it I've got a few more ideas depending on your priorities. Tell me what kind of games you want to be playing and at what settings. Do you want to play at 144hz, or is resolution a little more important to you? Please provide more info if you're not satisfied and I'll be happy to help.

[Update]
Just saw you're from Canada, and I know that some of their taxes can really raise the price for some of these parts. If the total is well over your budget in your nation's currency I have places where the price can be reduced.

vagrantsoul · May 4, 2015

the above build is nice...
would suggest the following:

downgrading the size of the HDD and increasing the space on the SSD first off...

CPU|cooler cpu is good, Dump the AIO cooler and go with a cost-effective Air cooler (hyper 212 evo or such).

case: phanteks enthoo pro / luxe is an alternative which i prefer to the define case.

PSU is overkill- 700 watts is good, i've even gotten away with ~600 watts with an overclock and 970GTX

Monitor/ keyboard/mouse - personal prefs. (i prefer the corsair mechanicals to the CM and Tt ones).

vagrantsoul · May 4, 2015

would have included links but cannot get reliable links here at work.

SSD- crucial/Intel/Samsung are my preferred brands

PSU - seasonic/EVGA/XFX/ Superflower with the enthoo you don't have to worry about modular cables due to the psu shroud

cleanshot911 · May 4, 2015

vagrantsoul :

I have to completely agree with vagrantsoul on this one, if you wanted to lower the price, those would be the things that you downgrade. The Enthoo Pro case vs the Fractal R5 is all personal opinion, if you want something absolutely silent, as in reduces the sound levels of the whole system by 13dba, I know crazy right (I did the math for that one), then get the R5. If you want a big case with incredible thermals that has all the room a pc would ever need, that also has some incredibly impressive aesthetics, then Enthoo Pro, seriously amazing case for the price, but they are both incredible and you should weigh your priorities. As for the PSU I only suggested a great one like that because I thought it was within budget, but that's the first place to cut costs. But if you want to be able to do SLI in the future, you better get one that has at least 750w, or if you can, 850w (I would suggest the EVGA G2 850w Gold Efficiency PSU). As for the CPU cooler, yeah the evo is an amazing cooler for the price, and if you don't plan to overclock GET IT. But if you plan to do some crazy overclocking either get a really nice CPU cooler like a Phanteks PH-TC14PE or (if it's within budget) a closed loop liquid cooler like the absolutely incredible Nepton 240m.

cleanshot911 · May 4, 2015

If I may make another suggestion, this build is more appropriate price for performance.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/f9GqJx

If it's still too expensive, then get a cheaper motherboard, like the Gigabyte ud5h. Again, like I said earlier, you can always get a cheaper cpu cooler like the hyper 212 evo or maybe even the PH-TC14PE. You could also get 8gb of ram instead of 16gb of ram, it will likely suit your needs. And you could always get a cheaper monitor, especially if you prefer an ips monitor to a 144hz screen. Peripherals and cases though are generally personal preference.

darkthings · May 4, 2015

thanks for the replies!
That's a nice build, but I think I can get away with a 2TB or 1TB hdd, a 700w - 750w PSU as I hardly will overclock this thing. I really like the corsair k70 keyboard, and to go along with it the deathadder chroma. speaking of RAM my last build had 16GB which I think was overkill, so I'd like to go with 8GB this time, I can always upgrade it anyways, lol.
I'm fine with 120hz or 144hz, response time of 1-2 ms.
give me some more ideas!

darkthings · May 4, 2015

Games I'll be playing are mainly FPS games such as cs:go, old school cs, call of duty, league.. all on high settings at good frames preferably

vagrantsoul · May 4, 2015

you see diminishing returns right now going over 8gigs (should change soon).

Agree on the PSU advise from cleanshot. Mouse, i have the following old thing (paid 25 for it new) http://www.amazon.com/Alienware-TactX-Gaming-Mouse-VXMMT/dp/B008LG7UCG Wife loves her roccat kone.

i prefer the k70 to the blackwidow, CM storm, Tt Poseidon and the steelseries offerings.

i typically just go with air cooling after having to fix a few messes with AIO loops (pumps failing, blocks cracking, galvanic corrosion- mixing copper and aluminum+water)

here's my variation on cleanshot's suggestion:
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/kjHzxr

vagrantsoul · May 4, 2015

side note , your mileage may vary,

had to RMA 2 hero mb's because of system clock issues never resolving... tried everything from full system restores, changing the MB button battery, bios flashes.. nothing would resolve it. Micro center and amazon were both helpful with the RMA process.

cleanshot911 · May 4, 2015

vagrantsoul :

Considering darkthings' conditions, this is the best build yet. Again you can change the peripherals if you please. The motherboard is much more reasonable, you get twice the capacity from the ssd and the noctua cooler is fantastic. For the record, I've heard that hitachi hard drives are VERY reliable, I'm pretty sure someone did a huge study on hdd reliability, and Hitachi won in every category, so getting 2tb for the same price as 1tb seems like a good deal to me. I know that one sounds too good to be true, but I'm going to give that drive a chance myself, and with the increasing size of game's files nowadays, an extra terabyte should come in handy for a fancy library of games. Plus, with the money you sae on getting 8gb of RAM, like you said you were gonna, you can get some nice steam deals, or a better quality part from some other category of part.

darkthings · May 4, 2015

I like the mobo you chose, I personally had an asrock z77 pro for my last build. I heard the noctua cpu cooler is great but heavy as **** on the motherboard, lol. Im pretty happy with that build, just give me some more suggestions for cpu coolers on that price range, and also is there a version of that video card with 2GB of video ram instead of 4? that way maybe I could knock off another 40 bucks of something.. thanks for all replies guys!

cleanshot911 · May 4, 2015

darkthings :

Believe me, you want 4gb of vram. Seriously. It's worth $40 no problem. If you want one that's $20 cheaper for the same quality, then get the Asus Strix Gtx 970. As for other cpu coolers, try the Phanteks PH-TC14PE, it and the Nh-D15 (1 step up from the NH-D14) are on par with each other. Any three will be excellent.

darkthings · May 4, 2015

how good is that video card compared to a gtx 670 2gb? which is what I had before

cleanshot911 · May 4, 2015

darkthings :

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/graphics/2014/09/19/nvidia-geforce-gtx-970-review/6

Reliable reviews like these, check out some others on sites like tomshardware, techpowerup.com, bit-tech.net and guru3d.com. Basically they all say the same thing, you'll get almost double the performance.

darkthings · May 4, 2015

is there much of a difference between evga and msi for that same GPU? I've always been an evga guy for some reason!

darkthings · May 4, 2015

This is what I've come to after a few changes!
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/gBz7Bm
what do you guys think? any suggestions?

cleanshot911 · May 4, 2015

darkthings :

I like it and as long as you love it, you should get it. It's an amazing build and as long as you are proud of it, that's all that matters. BTW the evga models get higher clock speeds, but are generally much louder and don't always cool as well. MSI and Asus's are the quietest and coolest while still providing excellent performance.

aks_1337 · May 4, 2015

This would do nicely:
If you can bump your budget to around $2,200, you can get modify the build below and make it SLI which would make this gaming machine a beast for many, many years to come!

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($269.98 @ DirectCanada)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D15 82.5 CFM CPU Cooler ($109.95 @ Amazon Canada)
Motherboard: Asus Z97-A ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($159.98 @ DirectCanada)
Memory: A-Data XPG V1.0 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($129.99 @ NCIX)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($142.98 @ DirectCanada)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($89.95 @ Vuugo)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 970 4GB Video Card ($379.99 @ NCIX)
Case: Corsair 450D ATX Mid Tower Case ($134.98 @ DirectCanada)
Power Supply: EVGA 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($134.99 @ NCIX)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer ($19.85 @ Vuugo)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($114.99 @ Canada Computers)
Monitor: BenQ GL2460HM 60Hz 24.0" Monitor ($169.00 @ Amazon Canada)
Keyboard: Cooler Master CM Storm Devastator Gaming Bundle Wired Gaming Keyboard w/Optical Mouse ($34.98 @ DirectCanada)
Total: $1891.61
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-05-04 18:58 EDT-0400

+Ready to SLI without any modifications or PSU upgrades required
+Sleek case that isn't too big but comfortably fits all components with excellent air cooling
+16GB RAM, a little much now but in a couple of years it'll help big time
+NH-D15, overclock the CPU like a boss! I have one in my system

darkthings · May 4, 2015

thanks guys! ill do a few changes but its gonna be based off that.

vagrantsoul · May 7, 2015

cpu cooler alternative is the phanteks 120mm or 140mm(tcp14PE) ones... come in a bunch of colors, also one of the easiest mounting kits i've ever used.

CM hyper 212 evo, Thermaltake NiC C5, cryorig h5

vagrantsoul · May 7, 2015

only other question is why a FULL tower case? that's a bit overkill and HUGE, hope you don't need to move it around much?

darkthings · May 8, 2015

haha I know it's overkill. I just like the bigger case for the fact that it gives me more room for future upgrades, on top of that, the 750 is a gorgeous case !

Gaming PC Build Ideas!

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