$1500 Gaming and multi-tasking PC

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avi_b

Reputable
Jun 15, 2015
2
0
4,510
Approximate Purchase Date:
June 15 - July 15
Willing to wait for prices drops/sales

Budget Range:
$1300-1500 (CAD) after rebates

System Usage from Most to Least Important:
Gaming (mostly first person shooters, a few flash games)
Working with large data sets and running simulations (using R, etc)
Watching movies
Coding (Java, C++, VBA)
Surfing the internet
... and a lot of multitasking

Parts Not Required:
Keyboard, SSD, Speaker, OS

Preferred Website(s) for Parts:
None

Country:
Canada

Parts Preferences:
I've been eyeing the following parts:

CPU: Xeon E3-1231V3, i5-4690K

Motherboard: Gigabyte Z97X (the one that is SLI capable)

GPU: Gigabyte G1 GTX 970 (GV-N970G1 GAMING-4GD)
Will consider AMD as well, especially if there are price drops due to E3

Case: Corsair 300/400R, be quiet Silent Base 800, Rosewill R5
Don't care about how cool it looks.

Could use some solid recommendations for PSU and cooler, although not sure if cooler is even needed.

Overclocking:
Not now. Expecting to use for 3-4 yrs so maybe in the future, but not necessary.

SLI or Crossfire:
Probably not. Only in the future, if adding a second card is a cheaper and performance-equivalent alternative to buying a brand new card

Monitor Resolution:
1080 is good
I've don only a little bit of research into monitors, but have checked out S27D390H
(http://www.samsung.com/ca/consumer/it/monitor/led-monitor/LS27D390HS/ZC)
Willing to go a little outside of budget for the monitor

Additional Comments:
First time building a PC, have been on laptop for the past few years. Expecting this PC to survive 3-4 years.
Gaming - Not an intense gamer as I haven't had a PC nor gaming laptop for a long time, but am looking to try some of the newer games that are out now. I'm pretty sure that most new PC games will easily amaze me.

Maybe the Xeon E3 and the GTX 970 are overkill for my needs - its difficult to say as I've mostly stuck to low-mid end laptops until now. Please advise.
 
Solution
MasterDell
That Xeon and a 970 would be good for you. There are some distributors I always suggest avoiding when it comes to Canada (I live here too).

I suggest avoiding shoprbc, Vuugo, and Canada Computers. NCIX and DirectCanada are the best companies to deal with by far especially if you live on the west coast.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1231 V3 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($320.56 @ Amazon Canada)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper T4 70.0 CFM Rifle Bearing CPU Cooler ($25.64 @ DirectCanada)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97X-SLI ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($139.99 @ NCIX)
Memory: A-Data XPG V1.0 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory...
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MasterDell

MasterDell

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Jan 5, 2014
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That Xeon and a 970 would be good for you. There are some distributors I always suggest avoiding when it comes to Canada (I live here too).

I suggest avoiding shoprbc, Vuugo, and Canada Computers. NCIX and DirectCanada are the best companies to deal with by far especially if you live on the west coast.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1231 V3 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($320.56 @ Amazon Canada)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper T4 70.0 CFM Rifle Bearing CPU Cooler ($25.64 @ DirectCanada)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97X-SLI ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($139.99 @ NCIX)
Memory: A-Data XPG V1.0 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($62.99 @ NCIX)
Storage: Crucial BX100 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($77.98 @ DirectCanada)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($57.98 @ Newegg Canada)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 970 4GB STRIX Video Card ($397.98 @ DirectCanada)
Case: be quiet! Silent Base 800 ATX Mid Tower Case ($83.85 @ DirectCanada)
Power Supply: EVGA 750W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($108.84 @ DirectCanada)
Monitor: BenQ GW2760HS 60Hz 27.0" Monitor ($239.98 @ Amazon Canada)
Total: $1515.79
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-06-15 23:56 EDT-0400

I had to switch to the STRIX 970 because the G1 Gaming was wayyyy to expensive. It was $50 more.

Then for the monitor, hard choice but I put in the one I ordered for my dad a week ago and it came in and it's pretty nice. I'm not sure how much you're into bigger monitors though.

If you want a monitor with refresh rate about 60Hz then I suggest this one: https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/part/acer-monitor-umfg6aab01

Monitor is 144Hz and in my opinion is totally worth the extra money to get the 144Hz experience.
 
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Solution
spentshells

spentshells

Judicious
Apr 1, 2006
8,556
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33,990


I like where this build is headed but prices are a bit much.

CPU - save 80 dolalrs by getting the xeon from newegg

The heatsink is pointless and quite large when it doesn't even need to be added the provided heatsink is silent even at full load.

PSU - A nice 550 watt psu can be had for a around 60 dolalrs. XFX, Seasonic or Silverstone.

SSD - This should be larger. 256GB is a new minimum especially with a budget of 1000 dollars or more

HDD why not go bigger it's not much more. 2TB seems reasonable.

RAM -16GB might as well be purchased right away as the price difference is 30 dollars maybe.

An H97 motherboard will be enough for this build, without an overclockable build the z97 is kinda pointless.

In total you should save about 140 dollars I am guessing. I`m a bit tired so forgive the formatting, spelling and lack of links to suggested parts.
 
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MasterDell

MasterDell

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Jan 5, 2014
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That PSU is a high end Super Flower unit. Silverstone cannot touch it. Seasonic and XFX are on the same level. I would love to see your link with a Xeon in Canada for $240. Why does the SSD need to be larger? I have OS, all drivers, and a few programs on a 120GB SSD. I have 62.11GB free. And yes, there is a point to Z97 not unless you can show me an H97 motherboard with SLI compatibility. 16GB of memory is literally $55 more for no performance gain.

And I think OP is willing to spend 1.7% of their budget on a Cooler that won't sound like a screaming snail.

Least expensive Seasonic-made PSU capable of SLI: http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/part/antec-power-supply-hcg750m

Where as the B2 is less expensive., has a longer warranty and is just as good of a quality unit.

 
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spentshells

spentshells

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Apr 1, 2006
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Oh it's not the quality of the psu at all , it's the size and cost, unless using sli thhis psu would be a pretty substantial overspend without any good reason for it as the OP is not going to SLI which also limits the need for the z97 motherboard.

As for the SSD Im not sure why 128 would be enough, newer games, the type that get played on gtx 970's at full settings can have installs nearing 50GB, I guess I also like to instal photoshop and such to my ssd as well as games. GTA 5 for example is a massive install, Doom 4 will be another huge instal. While I agree that 128 should be enough the game developers do not seem to. Encoding and decoding videos also is a real pain in the butt with a smaller ssd,

16gb I'LL agree isn't really needed, it might be in the future, and yeah it seems you are right about the price difference on canadian websites vs ones from the usa, but I stand by the recommendation. I regret not getting the full 16GB. RAM drives can be handy. Nice photography can take up 4-6GB when processing effects and filters, and if you want to run 15-20 tabs in chrome streaming movies, space weather and youtube in queue at the same time, you will appreciate the extra ram space. I don't usually see that much usage of ram but a buddy, far less technically inclined does and he has a newer machine, watching it chug is so irritating.
 
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spentshells

spentshells

Judicious
Apr 1, 2006
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For the SSD it's quicker for instals , updates and always be the first to load every level when playing online and also ... go ahead and load crysis 3 or 2 or warhead, load times are approaching minutes long. for me that isn't acceptable


As for the motherboard..... derp I read what I wanted to read and clearly elected not to read that. I swear it said no sli.

Ram... not getting 16GB is silly and to avoid ram complications due to variance between brands, models, fabrictation processes. Buy the same kit from a different batch of ram and they are going to be dissimilar on the basic principals of physics or something more substantial, where the ram maker is actually getting it's chips from may change fabs may change the same kit can have a different variation. Why create an opportunity to fail. This is quite a common piece of advice around here. I'm having a hard time believing you when you say it's a bad idea.
 
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spentshells

spentshells

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Apr 1, 2006
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I was more referring to all games and level load times especially online where it can mean you are walking around instead of catching a ride. Install your games on an ssd then move them back to HDD and play again. I guess I've grown spoiled as I would never in a million years install to HDD at this point,
 
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A

avi_b

Reputable
Jun 15, 2015
2
0
4,510
Thanks for your ideas and advice, MasterDell and spentshells.

For the cooler, I see that is decently priced but is it really needed? From what I'm reading, the stock cooler (copper) for the E3-1231v3 does a decent job already.

I noticed the R9 390 is going to be priced pretty close to the 970. Not sure if benchmarks for the new card are out yet, but with more than double the amount of RAM, might it be a better buy for that price point?

----------------------------------------------------------------------

The EVGA is a very good PSU recommendation, I'll go with it.
I'm gonna go with 16GB RAM. It's probably overkill for now, but spentshells made a few good points.
I did get a 512GB SSD already for a really good price, for loading windows and maybe a game or two.

My apologies for the way I worded my SLI preference. To clarify, I don't currently want to SLI. But in the future, depending on price difference between newer cards and the gtx 970 cards, I might put in another 970 or just get a single better one. This is partly why I decided to get a Z97 board, instead of an H97.

 
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MasterDell

MasterDell

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Jan 5, 2014
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Stock Intel cooler does a just fine job for any Intel CPU. But it just gets noisy and annoying sometimes and I rarely get keep Intel stock coolers. It's worth the $20 to me to have a quieter experience over the ~4 years a computer will last me.
 
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