Upgrading to a new ~$1000 gaming build. Opinions/advice wanted

[Emperor_Z]

I've had my current build for about six years, but since I've gotten my first post-college job, I decided that it's time to upgrade.

This is my preliminary build: http://pcpartpicker.com/user/Emperor_Z/saved/43wX

Approximate Purchase Date: Immediate

Budget Range: $900 - $1200

System Usage: Primarily gaming. If I even muster the drive and confidence, I may do some game development stuff on it, but that shouldn't matter. I've also been considering learning 3D modeling and animation, but I'll be honest with myself, it's unlikely that I actually will.

Are you buying a monitor: No.

Parts to Upgrade: All except for the monitor and peripherals. I'm considering reusing my power supply too though

Do you need to buy OS: No

Preferred Website(s) for Parts: None, though I normally use Newegg

Location: Delaware

Parts Preferences: I'm not knowledgeable enough to have a preference.

Overclocking: Maybe

SLI or Crossfire: Maybe

Your Monitor Resolution: I already have an Acer AL2216W (1680X1050)


Here are my general concerns. I'm unsure of how well my CPU and GPU are balanced for my purposes. In particular, I wonder if the GPU is good enough. I'm willing to spend more on one or both if that would be wise.

I'm planning to use my old 600GB hard drive for storage alongside the SSD, but I'm still unsure of the size. I was planning to put my most played games on the SSD, but Steam games all need to be stored in the same directory. Would the benefit of having them on the SSD be worth spending another $55 for the 250GB version?

Can I reuse my old power supply, or should I buy a new one? Here's my old one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371010

I'm also concerned that I may be bottlenecking myself somewhere.

Any critiques and tips are appreciated. Thanks!

EDIT: Oh, also, is it important to have a CPU cooler? I'd never considered it before. They're just for overclocking, right? How worthwhile would that be?

 

[Grant Fortune]

Firstly since your budget is limited I would save a few dollars(im from s.a so we work in rands) by getting the i54440 and put that mony in getting a z87 chipset mobo I have a asrock extreme 3 z87 for R1500 about 140dollars its feature packed and perfect and not to mention the 1.5 sec boot time. I got the i5 you planning on buying and it is honestly a waste of400rand about 40 dollars here Iin s.a since its 400rand more expensive than a 4440 but if possible a i5 4***k would be beneficial and future proof and serves nice over clocker. Never eva skimp on a psu eva, you said its six years old and id go with the seasonic and graphics I cant say since prices differ here and nvidia is far more expensive than the ati equvelent and because of that I only know ati cards admittedly nvudia is better and if you can get that card for that price perfect. What cooler you getting? Go for the CM evo 212but Iif you can and really want to oberclock get v8gts since haswell has a nice aarcutecture and tdp and iv seen rigs where i74***k has been pushed to over 4ghz on aircooling s v8. To be honest get a wd black 1tb hdd leave the ssd for now till it gts cheaper per gig I get 1.5sec boot up time on my wd black 64mb cache hdd with the asrock extreme 3. Hope I helped a bit

 

[Grant Fortune]

Btw you cam ssve a bit like 60 dollar on a case since the thermaltake versa g2 is 500 rand here about 50 dollar and its perfect fits wit your card and cm evo 212 cooler and it has the ftont panel usb3. I have this csse and it has nice airflow and my parts are all nice with nice ambience temp and it also doesnt look bad. Consider it

 

[woltej1]

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3agft
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3agft/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3agft/benchmarks/

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($204.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock B85 Pro4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial M500 240GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($114.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Zotac GeForce GTX 780 3GB Video Card ($491.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: NZXT Source 210 (White) ATX Mid Tower Case ($37.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Thermaltake SMART 750W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($14.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1074.91

Based off OPs build, but went for pure bang for buck mostly, but I did double your SSD size for $30 more.

 

[Emperor_Z]

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3agft
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3agft/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3agft/benchmarks/

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($204.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock B85 Pro4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial M500 240GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($114.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Zotac GeForce GTX 780 3GB Video Card ($491.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: NZXT Source 210 (White) ATX Mid Tower Case ($37.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Thermaltake SMART 750W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($14.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1074.91

Based off OPs build, but went for pure bang for buck mostly, but I did double your SSD size for $30 more.

Ooh, interesting, looks substantially more powerful for only a little more money. I'm a little concerned about about the case and the GPU though.

Are you certian the case will be sufficient? I had heat problems with my last computer (and my room tends to have problems with dog hair. I don't know if some cases are hindered by that more than others). PC Part Picker is also noting some compatibility issues.

The GPU has no user reviews, are you sure that it's reliable?

 

[woltej1]

Yea, its the zotac AMP, their high end model. Zotac isn't known for being one of the major guys, but this is their best offering and has an insane overclock on it.

For the case I would also like to see a better case, but this is a nice go to case for a low price. How much more would you be willing to spend on the case? I can't really free up anymore money out of the build.

 

[Emperor_Z]

Yea, its the zotac AMP, their high end model. Zotac isn't known for being one of the major guys, but this is their best offering and has an insane overclock on it.

For the case I would also like to see a better case, but this is a nice go to case for a low price. How much more would you be willing to spend on the case? I can't really free up anymore money out of the build.

My budget is semi-flexible, As I designated in my OP, I'm willing to go up to about $1200. I could just do a straight upgrade.

 

[woltej1]

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3ahIU
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3ahIU/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3ahIU/benchmarks/

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($204.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock B85 Pro4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial M500 240GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($114.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Zotac GeForce GTX 780 3GB Video Card ($491.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Cooler Master Storm Scout ATX Mid Tower Case ($94.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: Thermaltake SMART 750W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer ($14.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1131.90
I'd go with this case, it's got some nice cooling and also carrying handles.

 

[RazerZ]

Well I can post a build, but I have a question, are you going to overclock? It's not that hard to do and can increase gaming performance.

 

[Emperor_Z]

Well I can post a build, but I have a question, are you going to overclock? It's not that hard to do and can increase gaming performance.

I have nothing against the idea. It's basically just putting the settings higher and having the necessary cooling, right?

 

[RazerZ]

Well I can post a build, but I have a question, are you going to overclock? It's not that hard to do and can increase gaming performance.

I have nothing against the idea. It's basically just putting the settings higher and having the necessary cooling, right?

Pretty much.

 

[woltej1]

Well it is more complicated than that. With haswell, pretty much any OC you do requires changes to the core voltage, and when you do that you also need to make sure that the RAM voltages stay within a certain range. Then you need to stress test your settings to make sure they are stable. And from there you should always fine tune it so you don't have more voltage to the core than what you need. To do it right takes a lot of time.

 

[RazerZ]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($209.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: ASRock Z87 Extreme4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($119.99 @ Micro Center)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-2400 Memory ($76.50 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($139.99 @ Best Buy)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 780 3GB Video Card ($509.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Antec Eleven Hundred ATX Full Tower Case ($84.98 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NSB0 DVD/CD Writer ($14.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1186.42
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-03-15 13:33 EDT-0400)

 

[RazerZ]

Well it is more complicated than that. With haswell, pretty much any OC you do requires changes to the core voltage, and when you do that you also need to make sure that the RAM voltages stay within a certain range. Then you need to stress test your settings to make sure they are stable. And from there you should always fine tune it so you don't have more voltage to the core than what you need. To do it right takes a lot of time.

well once you've got the settings down it's not that hard

 

[Emperor_Z]

I'm a little lazy, and more than a little error-prone, so maybe I won't go down the OCing route. Plus, it looks like you forgot to add a power supply to that last build, so it's kind of pushing my budget.

I think I may go with woltej1's build, with maybe some small adjustments. The one thing that sticks out is the cheaper motherboard than most builds I've seen. Are you certain it's sufficient?

 

[woltej1]

yea, you don't need the things ssd caching and smart response tech and other things that add cost to the h87 and z87 chipset. This is a simple board with plenty of SATA connectors that will run fine.

 

[Emperor_Z]

yea, you don't need the things ssd caching and smart response tech and other things that add cost to the h87 and z87 chipset. This is a simple board with plenty of SATA connectors that will run fine.

Ah, okay. Everything sounds good then, I think. Thank you very much everyone.