Gaming PC

[Sterge]

Just had my birthday and I have some spare cash to put towards a new pc, my current one is nearing 8 years old.

Got roughly 2 grand give or take and was thinking about the below specs, appreciate some advice on anything I am missing or improvements that could be made

GPU 4gb GTX 980 WF30C $709.00
CPU i5 4690 $295.00
Fan Noctua nhu-12s $85.00
MB Gigabyte z97x gaming 7 $253.00
RAM 8gig ddr3 $75.00
SSD Samsung 850 evo 250g $162.00
HD 2tb $98.00
PSU Corsair HX850i $248.00
Case ??? $170.00
OS
Total $2,095.00


Will be used mostly for games and the usual web browsing downloading etc and not much else

 

[dav3]

Just had my birthday and I have some spare cash to put towards a new pc, my current one is nearing 8 years old.

Got roughly 2 grand give or take and was thinking about the below specs, appreciate some advice on anything I am missing or improvements that could be made

GPU 4gb GTX 980 WF30C $709.00
CPU i5 4690 $295.00
Fan Noctua nhu-12s $85.00
MB Gigabyte z97x gaming 7 $253.00
RAM 8gig ddr3 $75.00
SSD Samsung 850 evo 250g $162.00
HD 2tb $98.00
PSU Corsair HX850i $248.00
Case ??? $170.00
OS
Total $2,095.00


Will be used mostly for games and the usual web browsing downloading etc and not much else

Looks ok, there are a few other threads around the place where people have asked for PCs around this kind of budget so you might get some ideas from there. You could possibly save some money with a less powerful PSU (850W is probably overkill) and something like a Coolermaster 212 CPU cooler (just a cheaper version of the Noctua) if you needed.

I know it's a "boring" style of case, but I just moved my PC into a Fractal Design R5. It's roomy, customizable, quiet, and has some cool features.

 

[Gold Member]

Just had my birthday and I have some spare cash to put towards a new pc, my current one is nearing 8 years old.

Got roughly 2 grand give or take and was thinking about the below specs, appreciate some advice on anything I am missing or improvements that could be made

GPU 4gb GTX 980 WF30C $709.00
CPU i5 4690 $295.00
Fan Noctua nhu-12s $85.00
MB Gigabyte z97x gaming 7 $253.00
RAM 8gig ddr3 $75.00
SSD Samsung 850 evo 250g $162.00
HD 2tb $98.00
PSU Corsair HX850i $248.00
Case ??? $170.00
OS
Total $2,095.00


Will be used mostly for games and the usual web browsing downloading etc and not much else

gtx 980 probably best suited for 120/144hz gaming or 1440p. If only gaming on a 1080p display a gtx 970 will s**t it in.
Not sure on the merits of a Z97 mobo (overclock friendly) with a non K CPU (locked clock speeds). maybe a h97 gaming board will suffice?
Silverstone strider modular power supplies are heaps better value for money than Corsair...

 

[Gold Member]

Bang.
$1649 just add windows 8.1 64bit...

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=wish_lists&wlcId=457485&action=wish_lists
MSI H97 gaming
i5 4690
Kingston hyper X 8gb
EVO 250 SSD
2TB HDD
EVGA GTX 970
Silverstone 850w gold modular power
Corsair Carbine basic case
AIO water cooling

 

[Sterge]

Bang.
$1649 just add windows 8.1 64bit...

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=wish_lists&wlcId=457485&action=wish_lists
MSI H97 gaming
i5 4690
Kingston hyper X 8gb
EVO 250 SSD
2TB HDD
EVGA GTX 970
Silverstone 850w gold modular power
Corsair Carbine basic case
AIO water cooling

Thanks for your advice, I had been told that the 970's were crap?

Made a few changes mostly adding a 980 (with the view to add a second one in the future)

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=wish_lists&wlcId=457510&action=wish_lists

 

[Gold Member]

Thanks for your advice, I had been told that the 970's were crap?

Made a few changes mostly adding a 980 (with the view to add a second one in the future)

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=wish_lists&wlcId=457510&action=wish_lists

2 x 980 in sli? holy s**t. you gonna run 4k at 60hz or something???

970's had a memory issue... no big deal at all if gaming at 1080p or even 1440p....

Personally I lean towards AMD graphics cards. more bang for your buck generally.

Also if you're insisting on a Z series motherboard please spend the extra money and get a K CPU

 

[Gold Member]

Sterge10 what games you looking to run?
At what resolution?
And what framerate?
And what quality level?

 

[Sterge]

Sterge10 what games you looking to run?
At what resolution?
And what framerate?
And what quality level?

Nothing in particular, I want to have it built in time for fallout 4
everything else is as high as possible, I spent about 1500 on my current computer 8 years ago and all I have upgraded in that time was the GPU.

I'm mostly looking for something that will beat the recommended settings for a while to come

The only thing i'm wary of with AMD cards is the heat all the reviews mention because I was looking at the 390x

 

[Gold Member]

I play BF4, one of the more graphically intense shooters and widely used for benchmarks.
I have an AMD R9 280X. It's a $320 card if you can find stock... (in today's money.)
At 1080p:
Ultra quality settings I can run at 60 FPS all day.
Low quality settings my card will push out 130-160 frames easy.

A gtx 970 gives around +40% more performance on top of my card for around the $500~ mark
A gtx 980 gives around +15% more than a 970, for $750~

Food for thought?

 

[Gold Member]

Nothing in particular, I want to have it built in time for fallout 4
everything else is as high as possible, I spent about 1500 on my current computer 8 years ago and all I have upgraded in that time was the GPU.

I'm mostly looking for something that will beat the recommended settings for a while to come

The only thing i'm wary of with AMD cards is the heat all the reviews mention because I was looking at the 390x

Put it this way.
If you are NOT spending an additional $500-$1500 on a new monitor then 99% chance you will be gaming at 1080p 60hz refresh rate.
A GTX970 will s**t it in for max settings above 40fps...
At 1080p a 980 is not really worth the extra $$.

Review & benchmarks...
http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/graphics/2014/09/19/nvidia-geforce-gtx-970-review/8

 

[Sterge]

Put it this way.
If you are NOT spending an additional $500-$1500 on a new monitor then 99% chance you will be gaming at 1080p 60hz refresh rate.
A GTX970 will s**t it in for max settings above 40fps...
At 1080p a 980 is not really worth the extra $$.

Review & benchmarks...
http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/graphics/2014/09/19/nvidia-geforce-gtx-970-review/8

Thanks for all your help, i'm running an AMD 7700 atm.

I was looking at the 390X seems to be on par with the GTX980 for much cheaper only problem is the heat it puts out.

I would prob look at upgrading my monitor etc over christmas so if that means going overkill on the pc now with an eye to upgrading over time then so be it

 

[Gold Member]

Thanks for all your help, i'm running an AMD 7700 atm.

I was looking at the 390X seems to be on par with the GTX980 for much cheaper only problem is the heat it puts out.

I would prob look at upgrading my monitor etc over christmas so if that means going overkill on the pc now with an eye to upgrading over time then so be it

Ok cool.

Lots of new 2560x1440 144hz displays coming out lately. Allow $700-$800. Getting really itchy for the BenQ FreeSync version...
http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=558_1090&products_id=31107

 

[Godchin]

If you're going to get a better monitor, I'd look at getting a 980Ti or Fury X with a $2k budget.

Whilst the 980 is a fantastic card, it won't be competitive at anything above 1080p/60Hz for too much longer and it seems like you seldom update.

Your CPU isn't overlockable, so I'd save money on the mobo (H97m board for $100+ less), scrap the fan (can always add one later if it does infact run hot), 850W PSU is overkill (650W may suffice), and perhaps get a cheaper case (matter of preference really).

You'll come out at the same price with about a 40% performance boost in most games.

 

[Sterge]

Thanks for all your advice, I'm thinking I would rather spend a bit more on a MB etc now and then I can upgrade things like the GPU over time or SLI a second 970 when they get super cheap without having to buy a whole new setup. 2 grand is prob overkill for what I need to be honest i'm leaning towards the below should set me back $1,727.00 plus OS

GPU MSI Geforce GTX970 4GB
CPU i5 4690k
Fan Coolermaster Hyper 212X
MB MSI Z97 Gaming 5
RAM Kingston Hyper Fury X 1866 8gig
SSD Crucial BX100 250GB
HD Seagate Baracudda 2TB
PSU Corsair CS Gold 750W
Case Thermalake Chaser A21

Also thinking of making the CPU an i7 over the i5

 

[Godchin]

Any reason why you think you need an i7 for a gaming rig?

 

[Sterge]

Any reason why you think you need an i7 for a gaming rig?

Future proofing mostly
Would be the i7 4790k

 

[MeisterBot]

Just had my birthday and I have some spare cash to put towards a new pc, my current one is nearing 8 years old.

Got roughly 2 grand give or take and was thinking about the below specs, appreciate some advice on anything I am missing or improvements that could be made

GPU 4gb GTX 980 WF30C $709.00
CPU i5 4690 $295.00
Fan Noctua nhu-12s $85.00
MB Gigabyte z97x gaming 7 $253.00
RAM 8gig ddr3 $75.00
SSD Samsung 850 evo 250g $162.00
HD 2tb $98.00
PSU Corsair HX850i $248.00
Case ??? $170.00
OS
Total $2,095.00


Will be used mostly for games and the usual web browsing downloading etc and not much else

Nothing wrong with that functionally, but it feels a little unbalanced. Too much money spent in some areas, not enough in others kinda thing.

Been mucking around on PC Case Gear and came up with this:

Now keep in mind that this is the overclocking model CPU (designated with a 'K'). So if you don't plan to overclock, then you can probably downgrade the CPU, motherboard and get rid of the aftermarket CPU cooler too. For a non-overclocking setup, an i5 4460 CPU, B85 Motherboard and no extra CPU cooler can save you ~$200 on what's currently listed, which you could reinvest elsewhere or pocket.

650w is more than enough to handle any single GPU card, though I know the R9 390x might be a controversial choice. But I see it like this. It costs $100+ less than the GTX 980, gets within 10% of the GTX 980 at 1080p, trades blows with it at 1440p and beats it slightly at 4K. Plus I'm not a fan of what Nvidia is doing with GameWorks.

If this is a PC you want to last 8 odd years though, I can also take a crack at an LGA 2011-3 rig. Highly likely you'll need to upgrade your graphics card in order to stay on top of things 4-5 years from now, but it should get you a decent amount of mileage as an appropriately overclocked i7 920 (2008 CPU) can still get you where you need to go for high end gaming today. Not to mention DDR4 RAM and USB 3.1.

So that will be your future proofing. But it'll be quite a bit more expensive, and games are only now being developed seriously with multithreading in mind due to the next-gen consoles having eight x86 processor cores. So you'd have to be willing to put the extra dollars in for something that won't conceivably affect the speed of your daily tasks or game performance in a positive way for 3-5 years.

 

[Godchin]

Nice builds.

However, benches I've seen have the 980 beating the 390x. Even reference 980's beating non-reference 390x's. These cards aren't really viable at 4k anyway.

I came up with this quickly.

I'd get a 980Ti or Fury X for another $300 if I wanted to game at 4k. The above build will murder anything at 1080p and perform fantastically at 1440p.

 

[Grechy]

Nothing in particular, I want to have it built in time for fallout 4
everything else is as high as possible, I spent about 1500 on my current computer 8 years ago and all I have upgraded in that time was the GPU.

I'm mostly looking for something that will beat the recommended settings for a while to come

The only thing i'm wary of with AMD cards is the heat all the reviews mention because I was looking at the 390x

That setup looks fine.

Fallout 4 won't be too intense on the GPU. a 980 for 1080-1440P on max settings is fine, you can even overclock if you want to push it a bit further.

I do think that games will start to use more threads though so if you can afford an i7 I think it may benefit you at least in the long term although for the short term at least an i5 is more then enough.

 

[Sterge]

Thanks everyone for your advice, my feeling is if I can future proof the CPU to some extent everything else like GPU etc is reasonable easy to replace I have it down to 2 options

GPU XFX Radeon R9 390X Double Dissipation 8GB $599.00
CPU i7 4790 $419.00
Fan Coolermaster Hyper 212X
MB MSI H97 Gaming 3 $165.00
RAM Kingston Hyper x Fury 1866 8g $99.00
SSD Crucial BX100 250GB $149.00
HD Seagate Baracudda 2TB $109.00
PSU Seasonic g650 Gold $159.00
Case Thermalake Chaser A21 $74.00
OS Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit OEM $135.00
Build $100.00
Total $2,008.00

or

GPU MSI Geforce GTX980 TI 6GB $1,089.00
CPU i7 4790 $419.00
Fan Coolermaster Hyper 212X
MB MSI H97 Gaming 3 $165.00
RAM Kingston Hyper x Fury 1866 8g $99.00
SSD Crucial BX100 250GB $149.00
HD Seagate Baracudda 2TB $109.00
PSU Seasonic g650 Gold $159.00
Case Thermalake Chaser A21 $74.00
OS Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit OEM $135.00
Build $100.00
Total $2,498.00

I can build it myself but I can be ****ed and if they offer a warranty then it's prob worth it for a hundred bucks

 

[Grechy]

Thanks everyone for your advice, my feeling is if I can future proof the CPU to some extent everything else like GPU etc is reasonable easy to replace I have it down to 2 options

GPU XFX Radeon R9 390X Double Dissipation 8GB $599.00
CPU i7 4790 $419.00
Fan Coolermaster Hyper 212X
MB MSI H97 Gaming 3 $165.00
RAM Kingston Hyper x Fury 1866 8g $99.00
SSD Crucial BX100 250GB $149.00
HD Seagate Baracudda 2TB $109.00
PSU Seasonic g650 Gold $159.00
Case Thermalake Chaser A21 $74.00
OS Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit OEM $135.00
Build $100.00
Total $2,008.00

or

GPU MSI Geforce GTX980 TI 6GB $1,089.00
CPU i7 4790 $419.00
Fan Coolermaster Hyper 212X
MB MSI H97 Gaming 3 $165.00
RAM Kingston Hyper x Fury 1866 8g $99.00
SSD Crucial BX100 250GB $149.00
HD Seagate Baracudda 2TB $109.00
PSU Seasonic g650 Gold $159.00
Case Thermalake Chaser A21 $74.00
OS Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit OEM $135.00
Build $100.00
Total $2,498.00

I can build it myself but I can be stuffed and if they offer a warranty then it's prob worth it for a hundred bucks

That's pretty much my rig right there with some brand changes here and there. Have you thought of going the 8.1 route with Windows. A lot of games are more optimised for the new Windows and I'm pretty sure you get Windows 10 for free with any Windows 8 - so maybe worth investing as games will continue to be developed for the newer operating systems.

Enjoy 100FPS on most games!

 

[dav3]

That's pretty much my rig right there with some brand changes here and there. Have you thought of going the 8.1 route with Windows. A lot of games are more optimised for the new Windows and I'm pretty sure you get Windows 10 for free with any Windows 8 - so maybe worth investing as games will continue to be developed for the newer operating systems.

Enjoy 100FPS on most games!

You get the free upgrade from Windows 7 as well

 

[Sterge]

That's pretty much my rig right there with some brand changes here and there. Have you thought of going the 8.1 route with Windows. A lot of games are more optimised for the new Windows and I'm pretty sure you get Windows 10 for free with any Windows 8 - so maybe worth investing as games will continue to be developed for the newer operating systems.

Enjoy 100FPS on most games!

I will just get whatever is cheapest out of 7 or 8.1

 

[Sterge]

That's pretty much my rig right there with some brand changes here and there. Have you thought of going the 8.1 route with Windows. A lot of games are more optimised for the new Windows and I'm pretty sure you get Windows 10 for free with any Windows 8 - so maybe worth investing as games will continue to be developed for the newer operating systems.

Enjoy 100FPS on most games!

Do you have the AMD card? Will I need an aftermarket cooler for it?

 

[Sterge]

I've been waiting for the new skylake chips thinking about something like the below

GPU MSI Geforce GTX980 TI 6GB
CPU i7 6700
MB MSI H170 Gaming M3
RAM Kingston Hyper x Fury DDR4 8gig (upgrade to 16g later)
SSD Crucial BX100 250GB
HD Seagate Baracudda 2TB
PSU EVGA Supernova G1 Gold 650W
Case Thermaltake Chaser A21