Final (final) thoughts on gaming build.

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Conradigan

Conradigan

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Jul 26, 2015
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So I made a post a while ago asking about this build, and now that I'm on the precipice of buying, I'd like a few more opinions and feedback.

PCPartPicker part list /
Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4590 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor ($194.89 @ OutletPC)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($25.98 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: MSI Z97 PC MATE ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($76.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($53.89 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($69.44 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($48.89 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R9 280X 3GB Vapor-X Video Card
Case: Sentey Blade ATX Mid Tower Case ($79.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA NEX 750W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($54.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $605.05
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-08-11 02:24 EDT-0400

I'm hoping this will run games on high settings, with 60FPS+.
The games I intend to play are:
GTA V, Total War series, Skyrim, Chivalry Medieval Warfare and others.
(I plan on streaming Twitch later down the road too)

My current laptop is an Asus G73JH, with a ATI Mobility Radeon 5870 (So I'm looking for a nice upgrade option to PC). It's able to play a lot of games pre-2015/14 pretty well, but it's struggling nowadays. For instance, (Anyone familiar with Total War will understand) When I play Total War games, I can't fight battles with more than 1000-1200 troops before I start getting some bad lag. I'd like to change that and see hordes of 4k+ men engaged in bloody slaughter.

I don't exactly have a budget per say (I'm buying part by part, looking for best quality at a decent price), but I'd like to stay around the 600$ mark if I can. (The GPU is about 227$, but I'm buying it last so I'm not worried about that.)

I do not have a monitor right now (I'd like to get a decent one for 120$ max), but I have a mouse and keyboard.I already have an OS too. I have already ordered the case +some extra fans, so that is something that can't be changed really.
 
Solution
R
If you're paying $227 for a 280X, why not spring an extra $15 for a 290 (assuming you can use the mail-in rebate): http://pcpartpicker.com/part/xfx-video-card-r9290aedbd

There's a hefty gap between those cards: http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/1041?vs=1068
Even more now I would suggest too, because those early benchmarks which Anandtech is based on uses a reference cooler (which was terrible and resulted in throttling) and drivers have improved significantly since then.

Just FYI, you can get a decent 250GB SSD for $15 more than the 120GB you chose too: http://pcpartpicker.com/part/crucial-internal-hard-drive-ct250bx100ssd1
The BX100 is still a solid drive, not quite as quick as the 850EVO, but I suspect a 250GB BX100 would be...
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rhysiam

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Mar 24, 2013
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If you're paying $227 for a 280X, why not spring an extra $15 for a 290 (assuming you can use the mail-in rebate): http://pcpartpicker.com/part/xfx-video-card-r9290aedbd

There's a hefty gap between those cards: http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/1041?vs=1068
Even more now I would suggest too, because those early benchmarks which Anandtech is based on uses a reference cooler (which was terrible and resulted in throttling) and drivers have improved significantly since then.

Just FYI, you can get a decent 250GB SSD for $15 more than the 120GB you chose too: http://pcpartpicker.com/part/crucial-internal-hard-drive-ct250bx100ssd1
The BX100 is still a solid drive, not quite as quick as the 850EVO, but I suspect a 250GB BX100 would be faster than a 250GB 850 EVO - SSDs under 250GB usually have access to less channels and thus performance is lower.

That's a really solid build though.

If you're looking to stream and edit videos, 16GB RAM might be worth considering. But admittedly this is exactly how budgets get blown, lots of little upgrades here and there... so your call on that one.

Nice build.
 
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Conradigan

Conradigan

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Jul 26, 2015
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Something I have to consider is shipping, because I live in Europe so I often run into pricey shipping fees. I can do Prime with Amazon, for free shipping though. But It's not always better.
R9 280x on Amazon + free shipping = 250$
R9 280x on Newegg + shipping fees = 227$

If I can get the 290 with free or relatively cheap shipping, I'd be fine doing that, otherwise, I'll stick with the 280x.

As for the storage, I can still upgrade in the future after I've assembled, so I'm not really concerned about that too much. This is just going to be my base build from which I will only go upwards from.

And yeah, the RAM is the same as the storage. I'll upgrade later down the road gradually, I figured 8gb would suit me just fine for gaming right now. :)

Thanks for the feedback!
 
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