Looking to Custom Build Gaming PC - Is it Good Enough?

[SteveGreenFire]

Hi,

I've done my fair share of research about custom building pc's and after many many hours of head-scratching and coffee-drinking I've finally found what i see to be as a good build

Could you guys let me know if what I have chosen will run games at max settings (i.e ultra) particularly Skyrim and FarCry3, as if it is able to run those it can practically run almost anything on max.

Does anything need to be changed? Could I sub out something for a cheaper, better version?

Computer Specs:

CPU: Intel Core i5 3570K Link: CPU

Motherboard: ASUS P8Z77 -V Link: MotherBoard

Graphics Card: ASUS GeForce GT640 2Gb Link: Graphics Card

RAM: Corsair CMZ16GX3M4A1600C9B 16GB Link: RAM

Case: CoolerMaster RC-430-KWN1 Elite 430 Link: Case

Power Supply: Seasonic X-750 Full module 750W ATX12V Link: PowerSupply

Optical Drive: Pioneer BDC-207DBK Link: Optical Drive

Card Reader: IcyBox IB-864 Link: Card Reader


As a hard-drive I will be using my current 250 GB Internal just gna give it a format, and as an OS i will be using Windows 7 x64.

Thanks, your opinions will be highly regarded

 

[trogdor796]

Kind of unbalanced, so I'll give you some suggestions.

Not enough is being spent on your GPU(graphics card). With that one, you will play current games on low/medium.

So here's what you do:

-Drop the RAM down to 8GB, anything over that is pointless for gaming.
-Unless you NEED to play Blu-Ray movies, go with a standard DVD Burner, should be like $16(US dollars, don't know conversion...)
-You don't need to spend that much on a Power Supply. Go with a 500-600W, and just make sure it's 80+ Bronze Certified. Good brands include Seasonic, Corsair, Antec, PC Power and Cooling.

With the money you save from doing the above, the first thing is to get a better GPU. I would aim for a 7870 or 660. Even better would be a 7870XT/7950 or 660Ti/670.

Also, you have an unlocked CPU(indicated by the K in 3570K), meaning it can be overclocked, as well as a motherboard that supports overclocking. However, if you want to OC, it's recommended that you get an aftermarket cooler to use instead of the stock one. Most people go with the Cooler Master Hyper 212, it's really cheap and works great.

 

[SteveGreenFire]

Kind of unbalanced, so I'll give you some suggestions.

Not enough is being spent on your GPU(graphics card). With that one, you will play current games on low/medium.

So here's what you do:

-Drop the RAM down to 8GB, anything over that is pointless for gaming.
-Unless you NEED to play Blu-Ray movies, go with a standard DVD Burner, should be like $16(US dollars, don't know conversion...)
-You don't need to spend that much on a Power Supply. Go with a 500-600W, and just make sure it's 80+ Bronze Certified. Good brands include Seasonic, Corsair, Antec, PC Power and Cooling.

With the money you save from doing the above, the first thing is to get a better GPU. I would aim for a 7870 or 660. Even better would be a 7870XT/7950 or 660Ti/670.

Also, you have an unlocked CPU(indicated by the K in 3570K), meaning it can be overclocked, as well as a motherboard that supports overclocking. However, if you want to OC, it's recommended that you get an aftermarket cooler to use instead of the stock one. Most people go with the Cooler Master Hyper 212, it's really cheap and works great.

so basically dropping the ram down to 8Gb, and the power supply down to lets say 750W won't affect performance or quality ?? and would make sense to buy a better graphics card...

hmmm so i'll be able to max out settings ?

 

[jesot]

That GPU is WAY subpar. You're spending 2x as much on the PSU as the GPU. You only need ~550W tops for a build in this range.

XFX Core 550 would be a great fit.

Drop the RAM down to 8GB (should have freed up about 130 at this point) and get a 7870 XT or LE (Tahiti core). Get a 212 Evo if you can fit it in (it's ~25).

 

[SteveGreenFire]

That GPU is WAY subpar. You're spending 2x as much on the PSU as the GPU. You only need ~550W tops for a build in this range.

XFX Core 550 would be a great fit.

Drop the RAM down to 8GB (should have freed up about 130 at this point) and get a 7870 XT or LE (Tahiti core). Get a 212 Evo if you can fit it in (it's ~25).

ok im getting that i need to drow the PSU and upgrade the Graphics card, but will i be able to max out on games like Skyrim and FarCry ?

 

[trogdor796]

If you get 7870/660Ti or better, yes you should be able to play them at high/ultra @ 1080p with good FPS most of the time. Not constant 60fps, but good fsp(45+ probably)

 

[Saturn_Technology]

I agree with Trogdor, especially on the power supply. I have a i5 3570 system with 16gb of RAM that I play games as well as edit photos and video from my Canon 5D m III. With my computer (6tb raid (3 drives), 2 cdroms, 5870HD video card, Dual 25 inch monitors, 100 watt stereo studio speakers) I never draw more than 285 watts of power for the WHOLE RIG so 550 is plenty.

a 7870 or 660Ti system with your other components will be BEAST. Even with my old 5870 video card I can run Far Cry 3, Skyrim, Flight Sim X and COD MW 1 and 2 with everything up almost all the way at 1920x1080 with little or no lag. With your 7870 or 660ti you will be rocking it!

Arthur Chapman
www.SaturnTechnology.com

 

[zakattack117]

So far its good... You don't need 16GB of RAM at start. Like the others, drop down to 8gb, nice choice on the RAM though. You should put more money into your GPU, this is focused for gaming isn't it? I can play Battlefield 3 on 40 FPS with max settings with my Gtx 650 ti. I'd say go for an Radeon HD 7790 or GTX 660Ti... It's better overall. If you dont wanna fork out you'd be fine with a gtx 560 ti. Your processor is DA BEST OF DA BEST and I don't know too much about PSUs. Overall its a good build its just the only thing is 8gb RAM and better GPU.

 

[SteveGreenFire]

a 7870 or 660Ti system with your other components will be BEAST.
www.SaturnTechnology.com

That's what i wanted to hear thnks

Thanks guys gna follow ur advice on the Powersupply and graphics card for sure

 

[iplikator3333]

So far its good... You don't need 16GB of RAM at start. Like the others, drop down to 8gb, nice choice on the RAM though. You should put more money into your GPU, this is focused for gaming isn't it? I can play Battlefield 3 on 40 FPS with max settings with my Gtx 650 ti. I'd say go for an Radeon HD 7790 or GTX 660Ti... It's better overall. If you dont wanna fork out you'd be fine with a gtx 560 ti. Your processor is DA BEST OF DA BEST and I don't know too much about PSUs. Overall its a good build its just the only thing is 8gb RAM and better GPU.

lol It's not the best CPU available

 

[zakattack117]

So far its good... You don't need 16GB of RAM at start. Like the others, drop down to 8gb, nice choice on the RAM though. You should put more money into your GPU, this is focused for gaming isn't it? I can play Battlefield 3 on 40 FPS with max settings with my Gtx 650 ti. I'd say go for an Radeon HD 7790 or GTX 660Ti... It's better overall. If you dont wanna fork out you'd be fine with a gtx 560 ti. Your processor is DA BEST OF DA BEST and I don't know too much about PSUs. Overall its a good build its just the only thing is 8gb RAM and better GPU.

lol It's not the best CPU available

Yeah its not DA BEST OF DA BEST but its pretty gosh darn good

 

[jessterman21]

GTX 660 is at a great price right now. $199 for 1080p gaming + Ultra settings + FXAA

 

[l89]

change ur psu to 500 watts and invest in better gpu now even that depends on ur resolution what resolution will u be playing at
720p-hd 7770(if on budget) or hd 7850 or gtx 650 ti
1080p-hd 7870 or gtx 660

 

[HEXiT]

personally i would say go with the red team . you get more bang for your buck... at the same price you will get higher fps if you buy an amd card like the 7850 or 7870 you wont be able to max everything out to 60 fps but you will manage 30 minimum on very high and even ultra on some games. but you would be looking at a much higher price bracket like the 7970 if you want 60 fps on max for a game like bf3...
crysis 3 will max out but you will stuggle to keep it over 40 but every 1 whos running a single card has this issue with crysis 3.

anyways im gonna pm a mod to change this to a question and then pick trogs as the best answer as he hit on it first...

 

[HEXiT]

op i pm'd mouse monkey and he said he would rather wait till you ask for the thread to be made into a question. so trog can have his best answer selected. so do please do it.

 

[iplikator3333]

personally i would say go with the red team . you get more bang for your buck... at the same price you will get higher fps if you buy an amd card like the 7850 or 7870 you wont be able to max everything out to 60 fps but you will manage 30 minimum on very high and even ultra on some games. but you would be looking at a much higher price bracket like the 7970 if you want 60 fps on max for a game like bf3...
crysis 3 will max out but you will stuggle to keep it over 40 but every 1 whos running a single card has this issue with crysis 3.

anyways im gonna pm a mod to change this to a question and then pick trogs as the best answer as he hit on it first...

Nvidia is better as it has more features like Physx, 3D vision, has better GPGPU performance, better drivers, and more graphically intensive games are optimized for Nvidia GPUs(Including Crysis 3 and Far Cry 3)

 

[trogdor796]

personally i would say go with the red team . you get more bang for your buck... at the same price you will get higher fps if you buy an amd card like the 7850 or 7870 you wont be able to max everything out to 60 fps but you will manage 30 minimum on very high and even ultra on some games. but you would be looking at a much higher price bracket like the 7970 if you want 60 fps on max for a game like bf3...
crysis 3 will max out but you will stuggle to keep it over 40 but every 1 whos running a single card has this issue with crysis 3.

anyways im gonna pm a mod to change this to a question and then pick trogs as the best answer as he hit on it first...

Nvidia is better as it has more features like Physx, 3D vision, has better GPGPU performance, better drivers, and more graphically intensive games are optimized for Nvidia GPUs(Including Crysis 3 and Far Cry 3)

I'm gonna have to disagree here.

Does Nvidia have better features? Yeah, but we are talking slightly better, nothing huge. Better drivers? Not anymore, AMD drivers are just as good at this point, the only area where they lack is Crossfire performance and frame latency, although the latter has been addressed for the most part.

Physx is cool, but seriously, are you gonna let the few select games that use it influence your card purchase that you are spending hundreds of dollars on and using to play a ton of games? 3D vision is undoubtedly better on Nvidia, but the market and install base for it is so small it's insignificant. I'm gonna disagree rest too, most games run equally on AMD and Nvidia hardware.

What it comes down to is who offers better performance at the price point you are looking at. In the $200-$300 segment, AMD is winning right now.

And this is coming from an owner of a GTX 680 who uses 3D Vision, so I'm not being biased here, just stating the facts.

 

[iplikator3333]

personally i would say go with the red team . you get more bang for your buck... at the same price you will get higher fps if you buy an amd card like the 7850 or 7870 you wont be able to max everything out to 60 fps but you will manage 30 minimum on very high and even ultra on some games. but you would be looking at a much higher price bracket like the 7970 if you want 60 fps on max for a game like bf3...
crysis 3 will max out but you will stuggle to keep it over 40 but every 1 whos running a single card has this issue with crysis 3.

anyways im gonna pm a mod to change this to a question and then pick trogs as the best answer as he hit on it first...

Nvidia is better as it has more features like Physx, 3D vision, has better GPGPU performance, better drivers, and more graphically intensive games are optimized for Nvidia GPUs(Including Crysis 3 and Far Cry 3)

I'm gonna have to disagree here.

Does Nvidia have better features? Yeah, but we are talking slightly better, nothing huge. Better drivers? Not anymore, AMD drivers are just as good at this point, the only area where they lack is Crossfire performance and frame latency, although the latter has been addressed for the most part.

Physx is cool, but seriously, are you gonna let the few select games that use it influence your card purchase that you are spending hundreds of dollars on and using to play a ton of games? 3D vision is undoubtedly better on Nvidia, but the market and install base for it is so small it's insignificant. I'm gonna disagree rest too, most games run equally on AMD and Nvidia hardware.

What it comes down to is who offers better performance at the price point you are looking at. In the $200-$300 segment, AMD is winning right now.

And this is coming from an owner of a GTX 680 who uses 3D Vision, so I'm not being biased here, just stating the facts.

Sorry but You're just an AMD fanboy, The fact that Nvidia has 3D vision isn't insignificant and all my other reasons are valid as well, and most graphically intensive games are optimized for Nvidia GPUs. Google it

 

[jessterman21]

What it comes down to is who offers better performance at the price point you are looking at. In the $200-$300 segment, AMD is winning right now.

I don't know - recent price drops have them neck and neck IMO. $199 for a GTX 660 that is 2% slower than an HD 7870, and $259-269 for a GTX 660Ti that is 2% slower than an HD 7950? Not to mention decidedly better performance in the 4-5 games AMD is bundling with their cards...

 

[trogdor796]

What it comes down to is who offers better performance at the price point you are looking at. In the $200-$300 segment, AMD is winning right now.

I don't know - recent price drops have them neck and neck IMO. $199 for a GTX 660 that is 2% slower than an HD 7870, and $259-269 for a GTX 660Ti that is 2% slower than an HD 7950? Not to mention decidedly better performance in the 4-5 games AMD is bundling with their cards...

You can get a 7870 XT from Sapphire for $235 after MIR which performs nearly as good as a 7950. That rules out a 660 IMO. 660ti is a good choice at that price, but 7950's can also be had now for $270. AMD comes with more games too, but now that Nvidia comes with Last Light, I'd say the game bundles are about even.

And no iplickator3333, like I said I'm not a fanboy, I own an Nvidia card. I buy whatever is best for my money. If I was to buy today I wouldn't buy a 680, I bought it when they released because back then they were a better buy. 3D Vision is cool, but it's only a deciding factor if you want/have a 3D setup, which the OP never mentioned.

Your entitled to your opinion though I guess.