Cost Efficient Gaming PC

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SyMelt

Reputable
Aug 8, 2015
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4,510
Hello Everyone,

I am trying to build a new gaming PC, but I am running into some issues.
I am relatively tech savvy but I haven't built a PC in a long time and am getting overwhelmed scraping sites trying to figure out the right parts. Mostly the issue is telling the difference between "good" and "good enough". I am building from scratch so I'm not attached to any particular parts or brands, though I do lean towards Intel and NVidia for no particular reason other than its what I've used before.

Approximate Purchase Date: Next few months
Budget Range: $600-700 ballpark
System Usage from Most to Least Important: Gaming (described below), Internet browsing, Video Streaming, Video Encoding
Are you buying a monitor: No
Do you need to buy OS: No
Location: Ann Arbor, Mi, USA
Overclocking: No
SLI or Crossfire: No
Your Monitor Resolution: 1080P; I hope to go dual screen but will only game on one.
Additional Comments: See Below

Most of what I play are games I sense don't require the most beefy of systems.
The 5 games I've spent most time on in the last year are

  • Smite
    Dota2
    Awesomenauts
    Brawlhala
    WildStar
My goal is to get games to run smoothly on max settings at 1080P. But I'm trying to be cost effective here. This biggest part picking issues I'm having are:

  • Picking a case
    Picking a Video Card
    Picking Brands
On the video card front, I'm wondering if, for example, the GTX 750 Ti would be sufficient for this build.

The Case and Brand issues are quite similar, there are so many brands that offer the same product (i.e a 400W power supply, ATX mother board sized case, video cards, etc.).
How do I know what to pick. I have looked to various reviews but cases and power supplies are giving me some issues, with power supply, I'm not sure about brand quality. with the case, I'm basically looking for a cheap good case with limited bells and whistles.

I'm trying to get this build @$600 total build price, but its not a hard cap. I'd rather have the right computer then save $100. I don't need WiFi, I don't need a sound card. I would like this computer to last for a while and be easily upgradable (say in 2 years replacing the video card, or adding more ram).

Here is the build I put together on PCPartPicker.com. Any suggestions or recommendations you can give would be great. Thanks for all the help.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4590 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor ($189.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock Z97 EXTREME4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($115.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($48.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Sandisk Extreme Pro 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($114.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 960 2GB Video Card ($178.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $648.94
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-08-09 05:47 EDT-0400


 
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SyMelt

Reputable
Aug 8, 2015
7
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4,510
Thanks for the response, I have a couple questions/comments about your recommended build.

Hard Drive: I know I could save money not going with the ssd, and in truth I have a few standard 500GB hard drives laying about but I wanted to go to a ssd for the increased boot/read/write performance, so that is a expense I am accepting.

Case and motherboard: I believe that is a case I was looking at before, it seemed well reviewed however in my build I went with ATX size board figuring it would leave more room for ease of build and future upgrades. It has been a long time since my last build (15+ years) so I'm not overly familiar with internal space in pcs these days but I have read that large video cards in conjunction with smaller form factor cases and motherboards can cause fit issues and result in unusable slots. How concerned should I be about such build issues.

Power Supply: Was it mainly a cost thing that caused you to choose a less efficient power supply. would a higher output power supply use more power than a more closely attuned power supply (ie for a system that requires 450W use less power with a 500W power supply than a 650W power supply?

Video Card: Through my research (a lot on this site) I found that the r9 290 is a higher tier video card than the gtx960, and even more so than say the gtx 750Ti. the problem is I'm trying to keep the cost down and I know the games I play arent the most graphics intensive even on max settings so I'm trying to fine the cheapest card that will get the job done. That said is there any particular advantages between Nvidias and radeon cards, is there any reason to chose one over the other when comparing similar tier cards (other than price).

Again Thank you for assistance


 
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Rhezner

Rhezner

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Jun 24, 2015
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You didn't really list a power supply or case/motherboard in your build but the n200 can support any consumer GPU that is on the market, up to 14 inches which is about an inch longer than the longest card, it even supports HUGE coolers like an nh-d14 and things like that, it is pretty versatile and the motherboard is also very good..

Im not sure what PSU you were considering but if it was a corsair cx cs or vs series it is bad quality and the neo eco is manufactured by seasonic and is a quality unit. Not all PSUs are created equally and the difference between 80+ bronze and gold is very minimal.

If you want your build to be cheaper you should consider an i3 and an h97 MOBO, the 4590 is also pretty overkill for the games you play but the 960 should handle them well. I just put together the most powerful thing i could for your price range. But nvidia cards are more efficient but in this price range don't perform as well as AMD cards.

Any questions/concerns?
 
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SyMelt

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Aug 8, 2015
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4,510
That info about the power supply was exactly the kind of info I was looking for. I didnt really have a specific power supply in mind

I definitely expected that there would be room to downgrade the processor, I picked it because it seemed to be the point of diminishing returns on power/cost ratio. it seemed like for $25 it was worth the upgrade to help the processor be better for longer.

was the frequency downgrade on the ram just a consideration of the H97M not being able to handle faster or were there other brand factors? In the end I dont really know how much the the ram speed really affects things. but I thought the Ripjaws were supposed to be good they seemed pretty well reviewed. (down the line I will probably upgrade the ram to at least 16GB.

I guess the biggest issue I'm having is knowing really what brands are the ones worth paying a little more for and which ones are to be avoided. especially in the parts that have big effect but little naming difference (like the fact that you can get 2 dozen different models/makers of the R9 290).

Is there any reason to go for a smaller board/case over a larger board/case in general?

I'm starting to feel even more out of my depth the further into this i get. Thank you for your insight
 
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Rhezner

Rhezner

Admirable
Jun 24, 2015
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The RAM speed in gaming has almost 0 affect on gaming performance and yes it is more of a consideration for the motherboard (which is a great deal BTW) And the Crucial Ballistix sport is a good reliable low profile model which is one of the reasons I picked it.

The reason for the small case is that smaller cases can be cheaper while maintaining quality and the n200 is no exception. It is fantastic versatile case for the price.

And the brand of 290 you pick has almost no difference on performance, just make sure it has a decent cooler and you can overclock all of them to around the same clock. I just picked the cheapest one which has a good cooler, and powercolor is a good manufacturer.

As for the other parts, they are all good parts that will work well and have decent reputations.

You should take the 4590 if the slight overclock is worth it to you
 
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