$600 CPU, MB, GPU upgrade

[zach426]

1. What YOUR PC will be used for. That means what types of tasks you'll be performing.

Gaming

2. What YOUR budget is. A price range is acceptable as long as it's not more than a 20% spread

$600

3. What country YOU will be buying YOUR parts from.

US, I do have a microcenter nearby.


6. If YOU intend on using any of YOUR current parts, and if so, what those parts are.

Using current case,8gb memory DDR3-1600, PS 650W corsair, 500gb HD, optic drive, windows 7.

7. IF YOU plan on overclocking or run the system at default speeds.

Mild OC

8. What resolution, not monitor size, will you be using?

1920x1080

9. WHEN do you plan to build it?

Within 30 days
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PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($199.99 @ Microcenter)
Motherboard: MSI Z87-G41 PC Mate ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($64.99 @ Microcenter Bundle)
Video Card: MSI Radeon R9 280X 3GB Video Card ($303.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $568.96
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-10-23 16:11 EDT-0400)
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I would like some feedback with my current selections. I want to be able to play all games maxed out. I will be playing BF4 and other future FPS games as well as others.

My main question is what does the next 6-8 months hold in the CPU and GPU markets? Would it be smart for me to wait for a new CPU or GPU to be released mid next year? If I were to wait 6-8 months I could push my budget higher. I currently have a phenom II x4 955, and a GTX 460 1GB, so I could probably fight off an upgrade if there is some big swing in the CPU or GPU markets next year.

Thanks for the help!

 

[lehtv]

Yep, looks good. If you're going to OC though you do need an aftermarket cooler.

My main question is what does the next 6-8 months hold in the CPU and GPU markets?

Nothing substantial. Maybe NVIDIA Maxwell? I don't know. If you need the upgrade now, buy the upgrade now.

 

[mfenn]

Agree with lehtv. The Arctic Cooling Freezer i30 is a good balance between price, performance, and noise.

 

[zach426]

Thanks for the confirmation! Are these cpu coolers fairly easy to install? Even with 3 complete builds under my belt, I am still leery of somehow damaging my motherboard trying to install it.

 

[mfenn]

It's not terribly difficult to mount the cooler as long as you do it before putting the mobo in the case. Basically you just screw the mounting brackets onto the cooler, attach the backplate behind the socket, apply thermal paste, and then bolt it together (going through the holes in the mobo).

 

[Essence_of_War]

I consider myself to be kind of a klutz as far as manual dexterity, and I had no real troubles with the CM EVO.

I'd recommend reading the directions carefully, and dry-fitting (w/o thermal paste) before you go for the metaphorical kill. My biggest problem was figuring out how to move the positions of the screws to get the right socket fit since the CM EVO's backplate can fit both AMD and Intel sockets. The ARCTIC should be a bit easier since they make separate models for Intel and AMD sockets.

 

[zach426]

Thanks for the advice!

 

[monkeydelmagico]

If it was my build I'd drop the 280x for a 7950, free games, and an SSD

powercolor 3gb 7950 for $209..... $179 after rebate

Samsung 120gb for $100.-

At 1080 resolution I don't think your going to notice much difference between 280x and a 7950. However, you will notice an ssd every time you hit the power button. SSD doesn't do anything for FPS in gaming though. If the game is on the SSD it will load between scenes faster.

 

[zach426]

I'm fairly ignorant when it comes to SSD's. I know that bootup time would be much faster. And you say that games installed on it would load faster between scenes. Would this apply to, for example, loading map times in BF4?

Also I am realizing that with a new motherboard I am going to have to get a new OS correct? (I have an OEM version of win7) Should I go with windows 8?

 

[monkeydelmagico]

Not sure about BF4 but in BF3 single player SSD loads maps faster.

I've has success re-using OEM on new mobo's but YMMV.

 

[lehtv]

The main benefits of an SSD :
1 - Responsiveness in general use: things just work with a certain "snappiness", as if your PC was on a liter of coffee. An SSD completely eliminates the ~10ms access time per file that is typical for a HDD.
2 - Load times are vastly decreased in everything you do because the SSD's maximum transfer speeds are about triple that of a good 7200RPM hard disk. This benefits you when starting up a heavier application, extracting a large archived file, loading a savegame, etc. So there's less waiting involved. You do also get better boot up times but that's almost irrelevant as far as I'm concerned. When the PC is starting up, you're not actually using it so there's no tangible difference.
3 - Silent operation and higher reliability due to no moving parts; also, no fragmentation to worry about

The only downside is cost per gigabyte.

 

[Essence_of_War]

I'm fairly ignorant when it comes to SSD's. I know that bootup time would be much faster. And you say that games installed on it would load faster between scenes. Would this apply to, for example, loading map times in BF4?

Basically, an SSD is what makes my home computer a pleasure to use, and my work computer a PITA.

Anything on the SSD will load ultra fast. That means:
1) Boot is FAST. Including selecting my OS through GRUB, and entering my windows password, from power button to web browser open is ~35 seconds.
2) Wake from sleep is instantaneous.
3) Applications stored on the SSD launch effectively instantaneously. Web browsers, photoshop, etc.

As a result, everything about computers w/ their OS and most/all applications on an SSD feels dramatically more responsive.

 

[mfenn]

If it was my build I'd drop the 280x for a 7950, free games, and an SSD

powercolor 3gb 7950 for $209..... $179 after rebate

Samsung 120gb for $100.-

At 1080 resolution I don't think your going to notice much difference between 280x and a 7950. However, you will notice an ssd every time you hit the power button. SSD doesn't do anything for FPS in gaming though. If the game is on the SSD it will load between scenes faster.

I agree than an SSD is an excellent thing to have, but there is a fairly substantial difference between a 7950 and a 280X, around 20-25%.

 

[zach426]

Sounds an SSD is all but required with a midrange gaming pc. I will push my build back, and see if I can snatch up a decent ~240gb SSD come BF or CM. Any opinions on this SSD?

http://www.microcenter.com/product/...s_25_Internal_Solid_State_Drive_-_Refurbished

 

[Termie]

Sounds an SDD is all but required with a midrange gaming pc. I will push my build back, and see if I can snatch up a decent ~240gb SSD come BF or CM. Any opinions on this SSD?

http://www.microcenter.com/product/...s_25_Internal_Solid_State_Drive_-_Refurbished

All the advice above is spot on, although I'd tend to stay away from the MSI HD7950 due to its single-fan cooler. Newegg has a few other HD7950 models on sale, but the selection changes from day to day, and I doubt many will come back down to $180AR.

I agree on the need for an SSD - but don't go for the M4 you linked - it's refurbished. It's also a bit slower than modern drives, which start around $160. I'd personally recommend the Samsung 840 Evo at around $180, but there are plenty of other choices.

By the way, I was playing some Crysis 2 yesterday, which I dumped on my 2TB drive mostly for benchmarking purposes. The level loading between scenes was excruciatingly slow versus playing games off of an SSD. The truth is that once you experience an SSD, you'll want everything stored on it, and that can get expensive!

 

[zach426]

Thank you for the advice. I will hold out for 840 evo or something similar. Luckily I usually only play around 3-4 games at a time, so I should be able to enjoy the speed of the SSD!

 

[Essence_of_War]

Samsung 840 Evo at around $180, but there are plenty of other choices.

The Sandisk Ultra Plus 256 GB is right around there, the Crucial m5 is a little bit more but has a power loss protection that you might like for a few dollars more.

All three are worth a look.