Building a gaming system for my father

[Urtho]

Greetings all, as the subject line says I'm going to be building a new gaming system for my father and wanted to do a build check on the parts for his system before he pulls the trigger on the order as it has been some time since I built a system from scratch and I'm a bit out of the loop on the latest thinking regarding part options. All the sticky question answers are below so you have some idea of the details of this build.

1. Near pure (95%) gaming machine aside from the usual web browsing/email
2. $1300 USD max - less is as always preferred
3. New York, USA - probably Newegg due to being a long standing customer unless there's a wildly better deal elsewhere (no Microcenter anywhere nearby sadly)
4. N/A
5. No strict preference really, if you have a good reason/deal on an alternative part I'm willing to listen
6. Already have 2 items for the system available:
--- SSD (system drive) -> Corsair MX100 512GB
--- OS -> Windows 8.1
7. Mild overclocking possible, nothing extreme or a priority but I probably will look into this at some point
8. 1920 x 1080 current monitor, upgrade likely at some point in the life of the system (sooner if I can convince him, heh)
9. Within the next week or so, he's quite anxious to get the show on the road so to speak

Here's my current thinking on a parts list after doing some reading and research:

[PCPartPicker part list](http://pcpartpicker.com/p/g8CmHx) / [Price breakdown by merchant](http://pcpartpicker.com/p/g8CmHx/by_merchant/)

Type|Item|Price
:----|:----|:----
**CPU** | [Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/intel-cpu-bx80646i74790k) | $341.98 @ Newegg
**CPU Cooler** | [Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/cooler-master-cpu-cooler-rr212e20pkr2) | $34.99 @ Newegg
**Motherboard** | [ASRock Fatal1ty Z97 Killer ATX LGA1150 Motherboard](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/asrock-motherboard-fatal1tyz97killer) | $106.98 @ Newegg
**Memory** | [G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/gskill-memory-f31600c9d16gxm) | $96.99 @ Newegg
**Storage** | [Western Digital BLACK SERIES 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/western-digital-internal-hard-drive-wd2003fzex) | $124.99 @ Newegg
**Video Card** | [EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB Superclocked ACX 2.0 Video Card](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/evga-video-card-04gp42974kr) | $316.98 @ Newegg
**Case** | [Corsair 300R ATX Mid Tower Case](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/corsair-case-300r) | $83.98 @ Newegg
**Power Supply** | [Corsair CX 750W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/corsair-power-supply-cx750m) | $79.99 @ Newegg
**Optical Drive** | [Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/samsung-optical-drive-sh224dbbebe) | $21.98 @ Newegg
| *Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts* |
| Total (before mail-in rebates) | $1258.86
| Mail-in rebates | -$50.00
| **Total** | **$1208.86**
| Generated by [PCPartPicker](http://pcpartpicker.com) 2015-04-11 15:45 EDT-0400 |

My concerns / reasoning about some of these part choices:

CPU: I'm not sure the i7 is needed for a game system, but the out of the box 4 Ghz is nice and should hold value for the 4+ years he usually keeps systems.
Motherboard: I just picked a MB from one of the links in the build sticky here and I've used ASRock in the past, no idea on quality or OC-worthyness.
Memory: 16GB overkill? Price isn't a great deal different so I just figured I'd get him 16 vs 8 for not having to worry about needing it at some point.
Video: EVGA vs other vendors? Picked a card from them as I've used them in the past but don't know how they stack up currently vs competitors.
Case: Not super in love with this case to be honest as it's kinda meh, other options welcome here.
PSU: From my reading 750W may be a bit much for the parts I've chosen above. Willing to drop down if people think 750W is not needed for this system.

Thanks for any comments or alternatives on this proposed system.

 

[BTRY B 529th FA BN]

I'd drop the i7 and get a 4690K

 

[Ken g6]

PSU: From my reading 750W may be a bit much for the parts I've chosen above. Willing to drop down if people think 750W is not needed for this system.

I'd drop down and get a gold PSU in New York, where I hear electricity's expensive. (Though I'm not sure if that's the whole state or just NYC?)

Anyway, this is a nice 650W PSU for $65AR.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Make sure the 212 will fit in that case. (It's taller than most.)

 

[mfenn]

My thoughts:

- HDD : The WD Black 2TB is crazy expensive at $125. You could get pair of Seagate 2TB drives for $154 and have greater reliability.
- PSU: At $80, you can do better than a CX series PSU. The XFX TS 650W is $70 AR and is built on Seasonic's S12G platform.
- Case: The 300R is a good case, but if you don't like the "gamer" looks of it, check out the Fractal Design R4 for $80.

 

[aigomorla]

mfenn seagate drives at this moment have a very bad reputation....

after all the research ive done on them.... i even had to select HGST over them when i picked up my 6TB due to the bad rep seagate has gotten lately.

 

[lehtv]

People still posting that questionable chart?

No cursing in the technical forums please.

mfenn
General Hardware Moderator

 

[jji7skyline]

People still posting that questionable chart?

lol.

 

[mfenn]

mfenn seagate drives at this moment have a very bad reputation....

You have to take the Backblaze study in context of their specific data set. Specifically, that chart lumps in many different models of drive of wildly varying age and sample size. When you compare drives with similar ages as are given in the table, you'll see that the conclusions vary wildly. For example, WD looks really bad when you look at current gen (< 1 year old) drives.

 

[MongGrel]

I still don't even know who HGST are to be honest, they must be newer, haven't even bought a HDD in a long time.

Would skew results a bit that way I'd guess, I'm still a WD fanboi I guess for HDD's.

I'll just not comment on the other one, other than I agree a bit.

*Yeah those guys, I've never cared for them ever myself*

 

[mfenn]

I still don't even know who HGST are to be honest, they must be newer, haven't even bought a HDD in a long time.

HGST, nee Hitachi Global Storage Technologies, is a subsidiary of WD focusing on enterprise storage.

 

[Urtho]

Thanks for all the replies so far, some responses/questions.

I'd drop the i7 and get a 4690K

Any reason why other than price? i7 just not worth it for gaming even if the CPU won't be upgraded for at least 3 or more years? I'm still thinking the i7 for a system that won't see a CPU upgrade for at least that amount of time is the way to go but I'll reconsider if people really think it's not needed.

Make sure the 212 will fit in that case. (It's taller than most.)

Any recommended coolers of a similar make up when it comes to cooling performance and silence that are of a lower profile so fitting in the case isn't an issue? The point you raise is certainly a concern I'll have to keep in mind if I end up going with that case for him, thanks.

My thoughts:

- HDD : The WD Black 2TB is crazy expensive at $125. You could get pair of Seagate 2TB drives for $154 and have greater reliability.

True enough, was just going on my past history as I've had good experience with WD drives with my own systems. It is as you point out noticably more expensive than other options, however which is rather annoying I have to say. You guys are having a bit of a tiff over that chart, but the consensus seems to be that it's bunk I suppose? Reliability is important for him much more so than price (for me as well since I'll be the first call as family tech support if something goes wrong), so if a better drive costs a bit more, eh probably worth it. Still thinking this point over.

- PSU: At $80, you can do better than a CX series PSU. The XFX TS 650W is $70 AR and is built on Seasonic's S12G platform.

Looking at both this and the PSU that Ken g6 posted. Yours is cheaper but Ken's is fully modular which I like on neatness grounds and the fact that I'll for certain only use a few of the cords that come with the PSU as this won't be a maxed out system full of drives or other peripherals. Sounds like a 650 Gold unit is the way to go either way rather than the 750 I originally picked.

- Case: The 300R is a good case, but if you don't like the "gamer" looks of it, check out the Fractal Design R4 for $80.

Good option, considering this instead of the 300R.

Thanks again for the responses, any other feedback is welcome.

 

[MongGrel]

HGST, nee Hitachi Global Storage Technologies, is a subsidiary of WD focusing on enterprise storage.

Interesting, thanks for that.

And no, I was just going from personal experience more than the chart myself.

Still have 4 old WD RE-3 1TB's on a ARECA 1210 RAID card in here for storage, looks they have change things around a bit over time.

 

[mfenn]

Any reason why other than price? i7 just not worth it for gaming even if the CPU won't be upgraded for at least 3 or more years? I'm still thinking the i7 for a system that won't see a CPU upgrade for at least that amount of time is the way to go but I'll reconsider if people really think it's not needed.

It's extremely unlikely that the performance delta between the i5 and i7 is ever going to make a difference between "fast enough" and "not fast enough". So for somebody who doesn't care about getting an edge in benchmarks, the i7 could definitely be wasted.

Any recommended coolers of a similar make up when it comes to cooling performance and silence that are of a lower profile so fitting in the case isn't an issue? The point you raise is certainly a concern I'll have to keep in mind if I end up going with that case for him, thanks.

The Hyper 212 is of average height when it comes to 120mm coolers. It'll fit in normal sized "enthusiast" mid towers.

True enough, was just going on my past history as I've had good experience with WD drives with my own systems. It is as you point out noticably more expensive than other options, however which is rather annoying I have to say. You guys are having a bit of a tiff over that chart, but the consensus seems to be that it's bunk I suppose? Reliability is important for him much more so than price (for me as well since I'll be the first call as family tech support if something goes wrong), so if a better drive costs a bit more, eh probably worth it. Still thinking this point over.

Any difference between the reliability of the individual drives aside, my main point is that plain old probability makes a pair of mirrored or backed up drives much more reliable than a single drive. So if you can get a pair of drives for the cost of the single drive, then you should take the pair every day.

 

[Cerb]

Any reason why other than price? i7 just not worth it for gaming even if the CPU won't be upgraded for at least 3 or more years? I'm still thinking the i7 for a system that won't see a CPU upgrade for at least that amount of time is the way to go but I'll reconsider if people really think it's not needed.

The benefits continue to be small, on average, compared to the price increase, especially if you plan to overclock an i5. If you're a normal user, and do things like close down browsers, don't expect to be gaming with VMs running in the background, etc., the difference will be as little as what you see in review benchmarks, if not lower.

4-4.5GHz is no problem, these days, though 5GHz may be. The i7 CPUs use voltages that are fairly high, so it's not like they are too special, when it comes to binning. In a bit of an irony, as an unlocked chip, the faster i7-4790K makes it a much better value for non-overclockers than overclockers.

While I often have issues with LTT glossing over very useful details for the sake of a short video people will not get bored with, for the benefit of ad revenue, this one does a pretty good job of generally summarizing the i5 v. i7 (HT v. non-HT) type of use case (not counting multi-GPU issues), beyond the, "I have a bunch of money to spend," cases 🙂.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GgDZKGA89I

 

[Urtho]

Reviving this thread as I'm ready to buy for him after thinking over your comments, here's the current build.

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/DCPDNG
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/DCPDNG/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($341.98 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($34.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock Z97 PRO4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($91.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($104.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital BLACK SERIES 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($119.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB FTW ACX 2.0 Video Card ($314.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Fractal Design Define R4 w/Window (Black Pearl) ATX Mid Tower Case ($84.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: XFX TS 650W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply ($71.08 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer ($21.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $1186.97
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-04-23 16:27 EDT-0400

CPU: I was leaning to the consensus pick with a 4690K but he was swayed by the higher base clock and the potential for not having to worry about any CPU upgrade for the forseeable lifespan of the system and not overly concerned with the added cost for the i7.

Motherboard: changed this mainly to fit in with the color "theme" with a windowed case he wanted, seemed to be a good pick as it has been in the midrange guides before, advise if not suitable for this system for some reason please.

HD - Again I tend to agree with the thinking that the WD drive is overpriced but he did some reading on his own and wanted to stick with the chosen drive. He's not overly concerned with the price difference if the drive is perceived to be more reliable.

Video Card: upgraded the choice here as the EVGA FTW is cheaper with the 10% off deal

Case: went with the recommended alternative choice mentioned upthread, he liked the looks better plus he likes case windows.

PSU: chose the slightly less 650 Gold unit based on your recommendations, looks good to me

Anyways, he's quite anxious to buy now so unless something is majorly wrong this will be the system purchased. If anyone has other comments or alterations please say so now as this will be ordered within the next day or max 2 days - by this weekend for sure. Thanks for the help and any additional commentary.

 

[mfenn]

CPU: I was leaning to the consensus pick with a 4690K but he was swayed by the higher base clock and the potential for not having to worry about any CPU upgrade for the forseeable lifespan of the system and not overly concerned with the added cost for the i7.

The thing is, it's extremely unlikely that there will be a time when the i5 is "too slow" but the i7 is "fast enough". In other words, buying the i5 would not force an upgrade down the line.

Even if he doesn't care about the extra cost, you'd be better off putting the $100 delta into something that will make a difference every day such as a better keyboard, mouse, monitor, or speakers.

HD - Again I tend to agree with the thinking that the WD drive is overpriced but he did some reading on his own and wanted to stick with the chosen drive. He's not overly concerned with the price difference if the drive is perceived to be more reliable.

The main thing to understand is that straightforward probability says that spending $120 on a drive that is less likely to fail makes very little financial sense compared to buying two drives with slightly higher failure rates. For example:

Assume P(Failure of WD Black in 5 years) = 0.10
Assume P(Failure of a Seagate 2TB in 5 years) = 0.15

Then:

P(Failure of Seagate A and B in 5 years) = P(Failure of Seagate A in 5 years) * P(Failure of Seagate B in 5 years) = 0.0225

In other words, by buying two $75 drives, you reduce the probability of failure by nearly 5 times versus buying a single $120 drive. And that's being simplistic because it assumes you never replace the failed drive. The actual probability of losing data in a dual-drive situation is orders of magnitude lower.

I'm being generous here and assuming that a WD Black is 33% more reliable, the reality is that is absolutely isn't, especially not for miniscule sample sizes.