Looking for advice on build for light gaming at 4K

DWW256

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This is my build:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor ($94.99 @ NCIX US)
CPU Cooler: RAIJINTEK THEMIS Evo 65.7 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: MSI 970 GAMING ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($99.99 @ B&H)
Memory: G.Skill Sniper Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($58.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($47.99 @ Best Buy)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R9 380 4GB Nitro Video Card ($219.99)
Power Supply: Antec High Current Gamer 620W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($61.98 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($14.99 @ Newegg)
Other: Deepcool Kendomen Red ATX Mid Tower Case ($54.99)
Total: $683.90
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-06-23 19:13 EDT-0400

I expect this build to be under $700 and play these games at 2160p @ 30 FPS:

Minecraft
Terraria
Portal
Portal 2
Antichamber
Roller Coaster Tycoon World
Microsoft Flight Simulator X: Steam Edition

Play these games at 1440p @ 30 FPS:

X-Plane 10 Global
Kerbal Space Program

And play Project CARS at 1080p @ 30 FPS.

The CPU must be unlocked. I want to overclock with both the CPU and the GPU.

The theme of the build is red and black. I want everything to be red and black, or maybe steel gray (as in the case of the graphics card). This is why the motherboard is MSI.

Lastly, I will only accept current-generation parts. This does not mean, however, that I will not use an AMD FX-6300 because AMD makes 28nm processors. This does mean, however, that I will not use an AMD FX-6150, because the FX-6150 is Zambezi and Vishera has since superseded Zambezi, therefore FX-x100 series products are last generation. This also means that I will put in an R7 370, because it's current-generation, but I will not put in an R9 285, even though it has a newer GCN version (1.2) than the R7 370 does (1.0), because it's from the Radeon 200 series. This aspect of the build is completely due to apparent build quality. I want my computer to seem new for as long as possible.

Besides advice on the parts I chose, there are a few things I'd like to know:

Will my build satisfy all of my requirements?

Which of these games could I achieve a consistent 60 FPS on at the specified resolution?

How high of a stable overclock will I be able to get on this?

Are there any specific games that will have problems with this setup?

Is my system going to bottleneck? Can I alter the CPU and GPU to create a more powerful combination that won't bottleneck? (Such as somehow putting in an R9 390)

How good is my onboard sound? Are there any boards at a similar price that will provide better sound than mine?

Thanks for all of your answers in advance!
 
Solution
G
One, this will not be running 4k at 30 fps. $700, sorry that is unrealistic
Two, for gaming get a Intel CPU. The architecture of the CPU simply works better for gaming. Also means you need a different motherboard. I would suggest Gigabytes G97 with a i5 4690 honestly. It gives you a lot of bang for your buck. (Although I am personal a AMD fan boy!)
Three, 4k is unrealistic to be blunt. Will it have a problem on the majority games no, but not able to run Witcher 3 on ultra likely.
Overclocking, well it really depends. My friend is overclocking his 4690 and getting it to 4.2 GHz but it might not last as long. I would feel comfortable overclocking to 3.8 though.
Sounds cards are kind of so-so now days from what I have found. I feel they...
G

Guest

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One, this will not be running 4k at 30 fps. $700, sorry that is unrealistic
Two, for gaming get a Intel CPU. The architecture of the CPU simply works better for gaming. Also means you need a different motherboard. I would suggest Gigabytes G97 with a i5 4690 honestly. It gives you a lot of bang for your buck. (Although I am personal a AMD fan boy!)
Three, 4k is unrealistic to be blunt. Will it have a problem on the majority games no, but not able to run Witcher 3 on ultra likely.
Overclocking, well it really depends. My friend is overclocking his 4690 and getting it to 4.2 GHz but it might not last as long. I would feel comfortable overclocking to 3.8 though.
Sounds cards are kind of so-so now days from what I have found. I feel they don't make enough of a noticeable difference for the cost.
 
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DWW256

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I know that $700 is preposterous for playing at 4K on anything beyond Minecraft, but I am serious when I say that I don't plan to run anything more demanding than what I listed. Secondly, I'm sorry, but the 4690K is just too expensive. Unless you know for a fact how to fit a 4690K in the build without backing down on the GPU to the point of having a bottleneck.

Also, I agree with your assessment on sound cards.
 
G

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Than I would suggest a i3. Simply put Intel is better than AMD for gaming. AMD has it's place, but it is not this (sources listed below and many more on google). I do not believe playing in 4k would be a good experience though with this rig.


Source:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-cpu-review-o...
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-car...
 

DWW256

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I will not play anything more demanding than Minecraft on this build at 4K. More demanding games (X-Plane 10 Global, Civilization BE, etc.), will be at 1440p, and Project CARS at 1080p. However, upon inspection of advice and citations, I have decided upon an Intel processor. Due to Skylake, though, I will be holding off on setting the design in stone just yet. Goodness, I hope the MSRP's are less than the pre-order prices!

So all I have to figure out is which two of these to base my design off of:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($166.95 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: RAIJINTEK THEMIS Evo 65.7 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: Asus H97-PRO GAMER ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($107.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Elite 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($56.99 @ Adorama)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($52.49 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: MSI Radeon R9 380 2GB Video Card ($209.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($44.99 @ NCIX US)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($18.89 @ OutletPC)
Other: Deepcool Kendomen Red ATX Mid Tower Case ($54.99)
Total: $743.25
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-07-10 16:57 EDT-0400

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-4170 3.7GHz Dual-Core Processor ($116.99 @ NCIX US)
CPU Cooler: RAIJINTEK THEMIS Evo 65.7 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: Asus H97-PRO GAMER ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($107.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Elite 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($56.99 @ Adorama)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($52.49 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: MSI Radeon R9 380 4GB Video Card ($239.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($44.99 @ NCIX US)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($18.89 @ OutletPC)
Other: Deepcool Kendomen Red ATX Mid Tower Case ($54.99)
Total: $723.29
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-07-10 16:57 EDT-0400

Unless I could somehow add a better GPU...
 

g-unit1111

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Moderator


Yeah I agree, there's no way you could build a competent system for 4K gaming - light or heavy - on a $700 budget. A GTX 960 or Radeon R9-280/285 would struggle at this resolution, and an FX-6300 is so old at this point it's not worth recommending. I would suggest trying to increase the budget to at least $800 - $900 and dropping in an Intel i5-4460 and a mid range GPU, that would make for at least a marginally improved 4K experience.
 
;-)PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($176.95 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock H97 Anniversary ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($69.89 @ OutletPC)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($46.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($52.49 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: XFX Radeon R9 290 4GB Double Dissipation Video Card ($239.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Antec High Current Gamer 620W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($64.99 @ NCIX US)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($18.89 @ OutletPC)
Other: Deepcool Kendomen Red ATX Mid Tower Case ($54.99)
Total: $725.18
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-07-11 05:09 EDT-0400
 

DWW256

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Actually, LinusTechTips benchmarked an FX-6300+R9 285 at 4K on games like DOTA 2, LoL, WoW, and StarCraft (all of which are more demanding than what I'd be doing at 4K), and the build managed to stay above 30FPS consistently. If LinusTechTips is dumb, then I'll accept that as an answer, but I don't think he is...

Besides that, I also managed to find a way to fit an i5-4460 in there, but I think I'll hold off until Skylake in August. You're definitely right that the FX-6300 is old.

I'd be happy to include an R9 290, except I want latest-generation cards in this build. Yes, I also know that the Radeon 300 series is all rebrands, but not many other people I know are aware of that. After all, I would hate it if people thought my build was old from the minute I finished it. If you can find an R9 390 for that cost, I will be more than happy to put it in my build.
 

g-unit1111

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Interesting, I wonder how that would compare to a current generation Intel i3-4160 and i5-4440?

Linus actually posts here from time to time, he's usually right on the money most of the time but some of the other moderators don't exactly see eye to eye with him. You can ask them.
 

He does?
 
At 2k+ resolutions unless you're running sli 970/980 or crossfire 390/290x or 295x2 setups a 6300 isn't going to hold you back at all - the onus will all be on the gpu .
I'm running a 6300 with a 970 & a lot of older or less CPU intensive games will run at 2k DSR locked at 60fps pretty easily.
Stuff like witcher 3/GTA 5 drop to low 30's at 2k but that's entirely down to the 970 not the 6300.
 

DWW256

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This looks like a good build:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($176.95 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: RAIJINTEK EreBoss 56.5 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($28.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: MSI H97 PC MATE ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($76.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($47.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($48.89 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R9 380 4GB Nitro Video Card ($223.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($44.99 @ NCIX US)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($18.89 @ OutletPC)
Other: Deepcool Kendomen Black ATX Mid Tower Case ($58.99)
Total: $726.65
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-07-21 13:23 EDT-0400

I changed the theme to blue because apparently blue stuff is cheaper than red stuff.

Not sure how the PC Mate's audio is, let me know if there's a better motherboard under $80 with good sound.
 

DWW256

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Is the wattage the issue? If that's the problem, I'll use a 600B. As far as quality is concerned, though, I've heard this PSU series is quite good. Thanks for the motherboard reference, by the way. Is the audio nice? I don't care much about VRM's or power phasing since the i5-4460 doesn't OC. Since I plan to use an i5-6400, I'll also appreciate advice then, of course.
 

g-unit1111

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It's not the wattage, its the quality of the unit manufactured. If you're curious about a PSU and its' origins, some are great, some are really sketchy, check out Hardware Secrets and Jonnyguru. These two sites will tell you the truth behind major label PSUs and whether or not the unit you're buying is quality or if it's junk. I would also link to these two threads about PSU info:

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-2547993/psu-tier-list.html
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/power-supply-psu-brands,3762.html

Those EVGA B units are actually manufactured by HEC / Compucase is a very low tier 3 / 4 vendor. It has a much higher chance of failing than anything else you can buy.
 

DWW256

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Oh...I thought Super Flower made them. That must just be the SuperNova PSU's. I'll switch it for an Antec, in that case.

By the way, can I put faster RAM in this build, or will it go down to 1600 MT/s if it's, say, 1866 MT/s?
 

DWW256

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How about a SeaSonic M12II 520W Bronze? Sounds good to me. Also, my build has somehow become a $750 rig, instead of the original intended $700. Anyone willing to help me reduce that? Tell me what I can cut back on:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($176.95 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: RAIJINTEK EreBoss 56.5 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($28.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: ASRock H97 PRO4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($81.89 @ OutletPC)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($47.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($48.89 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R9 380 4GB Nitro Video Card ($223.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: SeaSonic 520W 80+ Bronze Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($63.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($18.89 @ OutletPC)
Other: Deepcool Kendomen Black ATX Mid Tower Case ($58.99)
Total: $750.56
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-07-21 17:50 EDT-0400
 

g-unit1111

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Pricing details haven't been released yet but I'm guessing that the new CPUs will match the current generation of prices.
 

bsod1

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PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($176.95 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock H97 Anniversary ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($74.65 @ OutletPC)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($45.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($52.49 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: XFX Radeon R9 380 4GB Double Dissipation Video Card ($219.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Thermaltake Versa H25 ATX Mid Tower Case ($37.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA GS 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($79.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $688.05
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-07-22 12:27 EDT-0400