My first gaming PC build - What do you think?

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balamindin

balamindin

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Sep 23, 2015
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Greetings all,

I've been lurking and learning a lot and finally come up with my build plan, and need some comments/suggestions on it!

I'll be mainly using it for Gaming and my types of games are; Fallout 3, Fallout New Vegas, Skyrim, Dragon Age: Inquisition and Fallout 4 - Openworld RPG is my thing.

Budget is cut off at £1,000 on the dot and specs are as follow.

- Intel Core i7-4790K
- Noctua NH-D15
- MSI Z97 Gaming 5
- MSI GeForce GTX 970 Gaming 4G
- Kingston HyperX Savage 8GB (2 x 4GB) 1600MHz CL9
- Samsung 850 Evo 250GB 2.5"
- XFX Pro Series (Black Edition) 750W Fully Modular
- Fractal Design Define R5 Pearl
(Already have a 24" 1080p monitor, keyboard & mouse, DVD RW, WD 750GB, Wi-Fi card and Win 10)

-- I picked the i7 because I want to ensure I won't have to upgrade the CPU for next 3 - 5 years. Also, a few people mentioned that games are starting to use more threads so I thought having HT would help.

-- I've never overclocked and don't have immediate plans to do so but in case I need to do it in the future, I picked the 'K', Z97 mobo and the Noctua.

-- It goes the same for the PSU; not done it before and not crazy about the SLI but in case the need arise in the future, I picked 750W

These are my dilemma, folks. I understand 'future-proofing' is kind of impossible but I just want to make sure I'll be able to play games without major overhaul for next 3-5 years. Obviously, I don't want to waste money but this plays out a lot on my mind and overall, I'm unsure of my choices.

So, any comments/suggestions are appreciated. I've learnt a lot from this forum and would really value your inputs :)
 
Solution
logainofhades
You could clock that 4790k to 5.0ghz, with a GTX 970, and it still wouldn't game faster than the Xeon, with a 980ti. That Xeon is basically an i7 4770, without the IGP. GPU matters more, than CPU, as long as said CPU can properly feed the GPU. That is not an issue with any 4th gen, or better, i5/i7/Xeon. Witcher 3 is one of the most demanding titles currently available. As you can see the older 3.5ghz 3770k isn't really all that much less of performance vs the 4790k @ 4.0ghz.

CPU_01.png


Where as a slower GPU has a bigger performance gap. They only used up to a 980, in this review, but the 980ti is a fair amount faster, than the 980...
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XiPH3R

XiPH3R

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a r9 390 would be better than the gtx 970. rest looks great
 
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logainofhades

logainofhades

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If you want to play games, on this system, for as long as possible, then spend more on the GPU. This will still give you the HT, of an i7, but a far more powerful GPU.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1231 V3 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor (£196.12 @ More Computers)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97P-D3 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£61.99 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury White 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory (£34.99 @ Aria PC)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£67.23 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 980 Ti 6GB Superclocked+ ACX 2.0+ Video Card (£519.98 @ Aria PC)
Case: NZXT S340 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case (£58.60 @ Aria PC)
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12II 620W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£59.34 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £998.25
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-10-08 15:50 BST+0100
 
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balamindin

balamindin

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Sep 23, 2015
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Thanks for the replies, guys. I appreciate all your suggestions.

@XiPH3R, why did you suggest R9 390? I thought (except for the 980) GTX 970 was top notch, no?

@logainofhades, this is interesting because I was looking at the Xeon as well. It's the same chipset as the 4790K but with the lower clockspeed and without iGPU, right? My concern for this is the clockspeed...it's significantly lower than the 4790K. Wouldn't this be problematic in the long run (resulting in lower fps, etc)?

@filippi, believe me I'm itching for a 500GB SSD lol but just can't afford it yet. Tbh, I think 250GB SSD + 750GB will be okay for me. I don't really have a lot of data locally :)
 
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logainofhades

logainofhades

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You could clock that 4790k to 5.0ghz, with a GTX 970, and it still wouldn't game faster than the Xeon, with a 980ti. That Xeon is basically an i7 4770, without the IGP. GPU matters more, than CPU, as long as said CPU can properly feed the GPU. That is not an issue with any 4th gen, or better, i5/i7/Xeon. Witcher 3 is one of the most demanding titles currently available. As you can see the older 3.5ghz 3770k isn't really all that much less of performance vs the 4790k @ 4.0ghz.

CPU_01.png


Where as a slower GPU has a bigger performance gap. They only used up to a 980, in this review, but the 980ti is a fair amount faster, than the 980.

1080_Medium.png
 
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Solution
balamindin

balamindin

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Crikey, that's a good argument. I won't have to worry about overclocking and the aftermarket cooler, or the SLI as the 980ti is a powerful GPU - all of that means I can go with a smaller-wattage PSU and put the money towards the GPU.

Hmmm...you've given me quite a bit to think about, my friend.
 
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logainofhades

logainofhades

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Any of them are fine. i chose the z97, due to price. For a bit more, you can get a board with an M.2 slot for a just a bit more. It must have been more expensive yesterday.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Motherboard: Asus Z97-P ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£64.98 @ Dabs)
Total: £64.98
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-10-09 14:24 BST+0100
 
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balamindin

balamindin

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I've been playing around on the PCPartPicker with the following builds and turns out the price difference between them is only £66.85.

i7-4790k - http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/nJt4bv
Xeon E3 1231 - http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/2DwjFT

I checked and made sure all parts are free shipping and the case for i7 build can fit Noctua NH-D15 (in the future cause for now, I had to sacrifice that). But yeah, all in all, they're both looking good. Just thought I'd share this with you folks :)
 
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balamindin

balamindin

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Lately, I've been thinking a lot about dropping £530 just on the GPU i.e. GTX 980 Ti and whether if that would bring diminishing returns. Obviously, my budget is a thousand quid and as you kindly suggested other components (H87 mobo, the Xeon, etc.), I'm able to personalise them towards my needs but still, putting this much money in just one component does raise my eye brows.

I'll game a few times a week (some evenings and weekend) and be doing so on a 1080p monitor. You know what kind of games I like and I'm defo buying Fallout 4 when it comes out. Anyway, all of that begs a question whether if 980 Ti would be worth it - not overkill.

A lot of people online suggest that GPUs are upgraded every 2.5 - 3 years even if you buy top tier ones so I'm thinking whether if I should go a tier lower. Anyway, hope you know what I mean. I don't want to be paying for something I won't be fully using. Though it's within my budget, I don't want to waste money.

Do you still think it's a good buy?
 
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logainofhades

logainofhades

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For 1080p, at this current time, it is a bit overkill, for most titles, but it will last you longer than a lesser card would. Also, in the off chance, that Fallout 4 is anywhere near as demanding as their requirements suggest, you will be glad you bought it. If it ends up being poorly coded, like AC Unity was, you definitely will be glad you did.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/8738/benchmarked-assassins-creed-unity/2
 
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balamindin

balamindin

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Yeah, I hear you, bruv. I've still got couple of weeks to sleep on it so I'll keep an eye on the 980 Ti price. Mind you, I'm already seeing couple of them at or just under £500 (Flutbit-Amazon). So who knows, I might just end up going for it.
Any particular brand to look out for? I quite like Palit and Zotac (just the ordinary one, not the amp extreme). The rest are still quite expensive.

Out of curiosity, in your experience, do GPUs ever run good (and relevant) for 3 - 5 years?
 
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balamindin

balamindin

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Okay, so I've actually built it now. Cost me a little over a grand - did a lot of work on PCPartPicker and Flubit-Amazon and got great deals. Here's the specs:

Intel Xeon E3 1231v3
Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo
Gigabyte GA-H97-D3H
MSI GTX 980 Ti Armor 2x
Crucial Ballistix Tactical 32GB (4x8GB) DDR3 1600 MHz CL8 1.35V
Samsung 850 Evo 250GB (+ 750GB internal hdd which I already had)
XFX XTR 650W Gold Fully Modular
NZXT S340 (Black)
(And a TP-Link Wireless NIC I already had)

It's my first build in 8 years' time so took me several hours with proper cabling and tidying up but all seem to be running well. Now, I'm in the process of upgrading to Win 10 and installing apps.

One thing that I've noticed is although the RAM is 1600MHz, the BIOS is showing up as 1333MHz which really bugs me. I changed it under XMP to 1600 but CPU-z is still showing DRAM Frequency: 799.9MHz. Do you know anything about this?
 
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balamindin

balamindin

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Thanks, mate :)
Yeah, after trawling through the Internet for hours, I realised that lol </shameful_noobmoment> It's annoying Gigabyte doesn't recognise it automatically though.
Now, I need to install Win 7 updates and upgrade to Win 10 and afterwards (guess what) more updates. Once I get to the actual gaming, I'll try benchmark.
Cheers!
 
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balamindin

balamindin

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Not sure if you're still monitoring this but I'd post it anyway in case anybody else also wanted to know.
Tried Fallout 4 on my rig for couple of hours with everything Ultra and man,...the graphics are NOT demanding at all. My CPU is under 45C and GPU doesn't even go beyond 60C lol....and I get steady 60FPS. All the while downloading loads of stuff in the background with several Chrome tabs opened. I had to double-check the graphics to ensure they are all set to Ultra xD I guess you were right, the requirements are largely exaggerated haha.

Witcher 3 is more demanding imo.

Anyway, thanks again for your help...I now have a crackin' rig :)
 
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