New Gaming Machine Build - Thoughts/Advice?

[mikeandjosh]

Hi Everyone,

Building a new Gaming Machine with my son as a graduation present. It's been awhile since i've done this. I wanted a great machine with overall price below $2000.

Some of the things we debated where:

• 
  ■ GTX 770 vs 780?
  ■ ASUS vs EVGA?
  ■ Overclocking?
  ■ Liquid Cooled?
  ■ Windows 7 or 8?

We have collected some great information from the forums (thank you!!) and put together the part list below. Any comments or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i7-4770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($279.99 @ Microcenter)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i 77.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($83.98 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z87X-UD4H ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($174.99 @ Microcenter)
Memory: Patriot Viper 3 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-2133 Memory ($163.97 @ Amazon)
Storage: Samsung 840 Pro Series 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($129.98 @ Outlet PC)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 770 2GB Video Card ($419.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Thermaltake VN300M1W2N ATX Full Tower Case ($119.99 @ Microcenter)
Power Supply: Corsair Professional 750W 80 PLUS Gold Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($119.99 @ Microcenter)
Optical Drive: Asus BC-12B1ST/BLK/B/AS Blu-Ray Reader, DVD/CD Writer ($55.98 @ Outlet PC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($89.98 @ Outlet PC)

 

[edtheguy]

My first thought, as you have probably seen elsewhere on the forums, is that there is no need for an i7 or 16gb ram for a strictly gaming machine. The i7's only advantage is hyperthreading, which is used in serious data crunching and video rendering, not gaming, and the 16gb ram is pricey and you don't even need 8gb.

There is nothing wrong with having either if you want to spend the $$ or have a specific need for them, but for a gaming machine I would save the money or put it toward a 256gb SSD or better video card (in this case though the 770 would also be plenty for me).

I also don't like water cooling either, too many potential problems when a hyper 212 evo will handle all but the most extreme overclocking just fine but that is just personal preference.

You also want to be aware that blu-ray drives aren't plug and play either, they almost always require a separate software purchase for playback.

Quality wise your parts all look good, and if you have no concerns with any of this it looks good to me.

 

[g-unit1111]

My first thought, as you have probably seen elsewhere on the forums, is that there is no need for an i7 or 16gb ram for a strictly gaming machine. The i7's only advantage is hyperthreading, which is used in serious data crunching and video rendering, not gaming, and the 16gb ram is pricey and you don't even need 8gb.

There is nothing wrong with having either if you want to spend the $$ or have a specific need for them, but for a gaming machine I would save the money or put it toward a 256gb SSD or better video card (in this case though the 770 would also be plenty for me).

Yeah definitely agree on both counts here. That money is better spent elsewhere. If you divide it enough you could get a SLI 770 configuration for the money.

You also want to be aware that blu-ray drives aren't plug and play either, they almost always require a separate software purchase for playback.

Not to mention the only BD-R playback software that's worth anything is ArcSoft Total Media Theater, and that's $100 a license.

I'd suggest this for $2K:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($239.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Swiftech H220 55.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($150.98 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock Z87 Extreme6 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($174.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Mushkin Blackline 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($64.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: A-Data XPG SX900 256GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($199.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 770 2GB Video Card (2-Way SLI) ($415.91 @ Newegg)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 770 2GB Video Card (2-Way SLI) ($415.91 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair 500R White ATX Mid Tower Case ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: NZXT HALE90 V2 850W 80 PLUS Gold Certified ATX Power Supply ($189.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($17.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1930.72
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-06-28 14:20 EDT-0400)

- Better case and power supply
- 256GB SSD
- Better liquid cooler
- Dropped the i7, BD-R, and 16GB of RAM for an SLI 770 setup

 

[mikeandjosh]

Thank you for the suggestions! We've changed the part list:

• 
  ■ Changed from i7-4770K to i5-4670K
  ■ Decreased RAM to 8GB
  ■ Ditched the Blu-Ray
  ■ Upgraded the cooler to Swiftech H220
  ■ Upgraded power supply to Corsair Professional Gold 850W
  ■ Increased SSD to 256GB
  ■ Deceased HD to 1TB
  ■ Kept the single EVGA GeForce GTX 770 for now.
  ■ Kept the Thermaltake case because we love the look...
  ■ Switched to Windows 8. Consensus seems to go with newer OS.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($199.99 @ Microcenter)
CPU Cooler: Swiftech H220 55.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($139.99 @ Microcenter)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z87X-UD4H ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($174.99 @ Microcenter)
Memory: Patriot Viper 3 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-2133 Memory ($74.27 @ Amazon)
Storage: Samsung 840 Pro Series 256GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($224.99 @ Mac Mall)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($64.98 @ Outlet PC)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 770 2GB Video Card ($419.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Thermaltake VN300M1W2N ATX Full Tower Case ($119.99 @ Microcenter)
Power Supply: Corsair Professional Gold 850W 80 PLUS Gold Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($175.98 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($17.98 @ Outlet PC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8 (OEM) (64-bit) ($88.98 @ Outlet PC)
Total: $1702.13