Is this a good custom gaming PC build?

ZoidOG7 · Oct 1, 2015

So I am building a custom gaming PC and I'm from Australia so its limited on things to buy. My budget is $1500 aud but i would rather spend from $1000 aud to $1200 aud

. So I was testing with some builds on PC part picker and I was wondering if this was a good build and if you have any recommendations or builds that you think that would be good for me. I'm going to game on this PC, record for youtube, stream on twitch, go on internet.

http://au.pcpartpicker.com/p/v2BNbv

ben001 · Oct 1, 2015

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1231 V3 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($369.00 @ Umart)
Motherboard: ASRock H97M PRO4 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($109.00 @ CPL Online)
Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Black 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($75.00 @ Umart)
Storage: Kingston SSDNow V300 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($72.00 @ IJK)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($68.00 @ Umart)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 960 4GB SuperSC ACX 2.0+ Video Card ($355.00 @ Umart)
Case: Corsair SPEC-02 ATX Mid Tower Case ($83.00 @ CPL Online)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($99.00 @ PCCaseGear)
Total: $1230.00
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-10-01 19:16 AEST+1000

jerdle · Oct 1, 2015

The r9 380 outperforms the 960 at the Same price point. Other than that it looks good.

ben001 · Oct 1, 2015

jerdle :

Actually, it's not at same price point. The r9 380 costs $120 more than 960. The Intel xeon just performs same as core i7 does and it will help him a lot for his purpose. Now, you're comparing a card that is $100 less, makes no point. The no.of Hyper threads (8) will be beneficial. At same price point i could add a 970 which beats r9 380.

jerdle · Oct 1, 2015

Compare the 2gb 380 to the 2gb 960.

They are at the same price point.

Same for the 4gb models of each card.

Just checked both.

ben001 · Oct 1, 2015

jerdle :

I don't need to. You're comparing a high-end card with a mid range gpu as per dollar prices. Still, a 2gb 960 is lower in price than a 2gb 380. A single 960 is just totally fine to play most games at high settings at 1080p resolution. My opinion says that build is completely balanced. He can upgrade the memory & a high-end gpu later. Where spending dollars on high-end gpu with a low-end core i5 processor. Even a 3570 beats 6400. You're a getting a processor which is just bad than a 3rd gen core i5 and you said that build looks good where a R9 380 cannot be fitted inside that case so, limited HDD space for him & that low-end power supply unit which is a total bad idea but still, it will be fine but i don't trust that.

jerdle · Oct 1, 2015

What are you even talking about? The 960 and 380 are both mid range cards. Both 2 and 4gb versions are available there at the same prices. The 380 slightly outperforms the 960.

Next, I never recommended a processor or a 390 or crap corsair VS power supply. That was someone else.

Finally, the 380 is not any longer than the 960, so I have no clue where you were even going with that point....

ben001 · Oct 1, 2015

Point 1: The GTX 960 is always a better choice for my opinion, they do consume less power & thanks to the highly optimized Maxwell core on the gtx 960. Of course, R9 380 is a bit powerful card both due to his stronger core & the wider memory bandwidth. The R9 380 2GB costs $200 while the 960 only $170 (USD). So, that $30 extra with more 2-3 fps doesn't matter in real world. Though, i haven't found a R9 380 2GB at pcpartpicker or it's not available, that's why i went with the 960 (Better option).

Point 2: A misunderstanding occurred, i thought you like the build made by proES75 which was my wrong thought and is now cleared after you told it's someone else. Cool !

Some areas needs to be changed and i did that.. Now it's good to go.

ben001 · Oct 2, 2015

proES75 :

I repeat, that processor is not going to help him but only gaming still it will suffer on upcoming games. The 6400 is totally a bad idea including that low quality power supply. You should get a power supply unit from Tier 1 or 2.
Read this :https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Powercolor/R9_390_PCS_Plus/28.html. A quality 650W is needed.
You're building a system where the processor can't even perform better than 3rd gen.core i5 cpu's with a powerful card like R9 390.
The card will not fit in the case only if he removes HDD cage. So, he will be limited in using HDD.

Xibyth · Oct 2, 2015

ben001 :

It's far more likely that he will be relying on the GPU these days for streaming, thanks to Shadowplay/GVR, personally I prefer Shadowplay for two reasons, one is less impact on the GPU while streaming/recording up to 8 FPS more in some games. Not major but it helps in some scenarios. The Second is GVR is provided by Raptor, a third party. So it will never be able to fully optimize or remain up to date with the driver.

That said he will not need hyperthreading whatsoever, and an i5 would be an excellent choice though the Xeon 1231 does offer more bang for his buck.

Here in the US, the price of the GTX 960 is around $240-260, the price of the 950 is about $160-180. The R9 280 is about $220-$240. The prices vary between $10-15 more or less depending on the aftermarket manufacturer. The 280 does have better performance.

The VS series power supply is very bad in terms of what your getting for the cost. Grab a 650w Supernova from EVGA for a build like this.

I hope this clears up any confusion/arguments in this thread. And remember, we are here to help the OP, not to be right all the time.

ben001 · Oct 2, 2015

What are you saying, most of the recent games are taking advantage of more than 4 threads now, it's only about four core but for future story is going to be different. An example like GTA V , the CPU load is evenly spread across all the threads. If OP can afford to get one then it would be beneficial for him & which makes a perfect sense
I would recomend a Xeon 1231 v3.

RobCrezz · Oct 2, 2015

ben001 :

jerdle :

I don't need to. You're comparing a high-end card with a mid range gpu as per dollar prices. Still, a 2gb 960 is lower in price than a 2gb 380. A single 960 is just totally fine to play most games at high settings at 1080p resolution. My opinion says that build is completely balanced. He can upgrade the memory & a high-end gpu later. Where spending dollars on high-end gpu with a low-end core i5 processor. Even a 3570 beats 6400. You're a getting a processor which is just bad than a 3rd gen core i5 and you said that build looks good where a R9 380 cannot be fitted inside that case so, limited HDD space for him & that low-end power supply unit which is a total bad idea but still, it will be fine but i don't trust that.

Can you show us where a 3570 beats the i5 6400?

Xibyth · Oct 2, 2015

ben001 :

Unless these games are hitting more than 50% usage on all core (evenly spread) there will be minimal performance increase, That said I did mention the 1231 would be a better bang for buck. It's still not likely games will be moving away from 4-cores being the recommendation, namely with DX12 refreshing their relevancy.

ben001 · Oct 2, 2015

RobCrezz :

ben001 :

Can you show us where a 3570 beats the i5 6400?

Not completely but actually faster in single thread application.
:http://www.cpu-world.com/Compare/422/Intel_Core_i5_i5-3570_vs_Intel_Core_i5_i5-6400.html
and Check the benchmark reports.

RobCrezz · Oct 2, 2015

ben001 :

RobCrezz :

Not completely but actually faster in single thread application.
:http://www.cpu-world.com/Compare/422/Intel_Core_i5_i5-3570_vs_Intel_Core_i5_i5-6400.html
and Check the benchmark reports.

:lol:

It performs almost exactly the same, which for a low wattage i5 running at a lower clock speed is just fine.

Calling it a bad processor has made you look like a fool.

ben001 · Oct 2, 2015

RobCrezz :

ben001 :

:lol:

It performs almost exactly the same, which for a low wattage i5 running at a lower clock speed is just fine.

Calling it a bad processor has made you look like a fool.

But it's faster than 6400, haven't expect that from skylake 6400 which can't even totally beat a 3rd gen processor. Now you got my point.

And whether you're an expert or what, i don't even care on those laughs or some........

RobCrezz · Oct 2, 2015

ben001 :

RobCrezz :

But it's faster than 6400, haven't expect that from skylake 6400 which can't even totally beat a 3rd gen processor. Now you got my point.

And whether you're an expert or what, i don't even care on those laughs or some........

A tiny bit faster in single threaded regular apps, slower in everything else, so no not really.

Comparing a lower end new i5 with a top of the line (non k) 3rd gen i5....

But anyway, it doesn't make it a "bad processor" like you said. both the 6400 and the 3570k are perfectly good gaming CPUS.

ben001 · Oct 2, 2015

RobCrezz :

ben001 :

RobCrezz :

But it's faster than 6400, haven't expect that from skylake 6400 which can't even totally beat a 3rd gen processor. Now you got my point.

And whether you're an expert or what, i don't even care on those laughs or some........

A tiny bit faster in single threaded regular apps, slower in everything else, so no not really.

Comparing a lower end new i5 with a top of the line (non k) 3rd gen i5....

But anyway, it doesn't make it a "bad processor" like you said. both the 6400 and the 3570k are perfectly good gaming CPUS.

Cool !

Is this a good custom gaming PC build?

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