Dad needs help for son's gaming PC build

tommyncal

Member
Jul 15, 2006
70
1
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I need some help and suggestions for parts, for Christmas, for my son's gaming PC. I've only built simple web browsing PC's and have little knowledge of the cpu,ram and gpu needed for a gaming PC. We are starting from scratch. Thanks in advance.


1. The game he mostly plays is 'League of Legends'. He has played 'Call of Duty' in the past. Also, he mentioned something like ustream?? istream?? I have no idea what he meant by that.

2. Setting budget around $700 to $900 for all parts. If this is too large of a budget for the games he plays , I don't mind if it's a bit 'overkill'. Also, if it helps prolong upgrading.

3. USA, I ususally buy from Newegg, but suggestions are welcome.

4. IF you're buying parts OUTSIDE the US, please post a link to the vendor you'll be buying from.
We can't be expected to scour the internet on your behalf, chasing down deals in your specific country... Again, help us, help YOU.

5. NO brand preference except for I prefer to buy an Intel CPU

6. Starting from scratch, need: case, cpu & cooler. motherboard, ram, gpu, ssd (prefer this), power supply and maybe an optical drive.

7. Will not overclock.

8. He's playing on a 40" 1080p Samsung TV

9. WHEN do you plan to build it? PLan to buy parts for Christmas and build afterwards. I know I'm a little late, but I can always print a picture of the part out and wrap theat for him!

10. I'm hoping my retail purchased Windows 8.1 will work. I used the free Windows 10 upgrade for my PC.
 

lakedude

Platinum Member
Mar 14, 2009
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Ken does a bang up job keeping up with things here:

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2389797

Unfortunately your budget falls in between REGULAR $500 and MIDRANGE $1000 builds and neither is really appropriate.

I'll take a stab at it:

Intel Core i5-4690K Devil's Canyon Quad-Core 3.5 GHz $214.99 Newegg
MSI H81M-P33 LGA 1150 Intel H81 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard $45.99 Newegg
G.SKILL Ares 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory $39.99
CORSAIR CX series CX500M $59.99
Samsung 850 EVO 250GB $77.88 Outlet PC
GTX 970 or R9 390 about $300
Case and optical drive $70 or so

Total around $820 or so
 

mvbighead

Diamond Member
Apr 20, 2009
3,793
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Here's what I got:

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/8gsGpg
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/8gsGpg/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor ($219.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-B150M-D3H DDR3 Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($71.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial BX200 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($64.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Hitachi Deskstar 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($59.95 @ Amazon)
Video Card: XFX Radeon R9 280 3GB Black Edition Double Dissipation Video Card ($230.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Corsair SPEC-01 RED ATX Mid Tower Case ($34.99 @ Micro Center)
Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply ($34.99 @ NCIX US)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NSC0 DVD/CD Writer ($13.89 @ OutletPC)
Keyboard: Logitech MK320 Wireless Standard Keyboard w/Optical Mouse ($24.99 @ Best Buy)
Total: $816.76
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-12-19 09:45 EST-0500

The above is using a Skylake CPU. I will say that you should not buy a K process unless you are going to overclock at some point, so I avoided that above. I did throw in a cheap but halfway decent logitech kb/mouse combo, but I would caution that some purest gamers won't use a wireless mouse so it may not be the route to go. I've not gamed in a while, and still rock my old Logitech G400 mouse. The above should be a VERY solid build for just about any game.
 

fourdegrees11

Senior member
Mar 9, 2009
441
1
81
Here's what I got:

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/8gsGpg
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/8gsGpg/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor ($219.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-B150M-D3H DDR3 Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($71.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial BX200 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($64.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Hitachi Deskstar 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($59.95 @ Amazon)
Video Card: XFX Radeon R9 280 3GB Black Edition Double Dissipation Video Card ($230.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Corsair SPEC-01 RED ATX Mid Tower Case ($34.99 @ Micro Center)
Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply ($34.99 @ NCIX US)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NSC0 DVD/CD Writer ($13.89 @ OutletPC)
Keyboard: Logitech MK320 Wireless Standard Keyboard w/Optical Mouse ($24.99 @ Best Buy)
Total: $816.76
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-12-19 09:45 EST-0500

The above is using a Skylake CPU. I will say that you should not buy a K process unless you are going to overclock at some point, so I avoided that above. I did throw in a cheap but halfway decent logitech kb/mouse combo, but I would caution that some purest gamers won't use a wireless mouse so it may not be the route to go. I've not gamed in a while, and still rock my old Logitech G400 mouse. The above should be a VERY solid build for just about any game.

For over $200 the gpu should definitely be a 380x, not a 280. I dont see the value in spending $20 more for a 6600 vs a 6500. You also have him going with slow ddr3 for a skylake build.

Here's my take

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/x34bmG

Non K cpu's come with a cooler, and the work fine at stock clocks. I dont see the need for more then 8gb of ram for a gaming build. The mobo will allow a cpu performance upgrade in the next 1-3 years if the need arises.
 

tommyncal

Member
Jul 15, 2006
70
1
71
thanks for the replys. I forgot to mention I don't need the mouse or keyboard. Not sure what a K cpu is? Also, would it matter, future proof wise, to buy Skylake or Haswell??
 

fourdegrees11

Senior member
Mar 9, 2009
441
1
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K means unlocked multiplier for over clocking. Intel also requires your motherboard to have the high end chipset for the specific socket to oc.

Skylake is of course going to be more future proof, there will be at least one more series of CPU's that use 1151 socket which means you could easily upgrade the CPU a couple years from now if needed.
 

lakedude

Platinum Member
Mar 14, 2009
2,692
491
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4deg build looks pretty solid. You might skip the storage drive in favor of a better video card. You can always add another hard drive later, like for a birthday present.
 

tommyncal

Member
Jul 15, 2006
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Thanks for the explanation. Talking with him, I think were just going with a 256Gb SSD. Not sure what he would use the other storage for. He has nothing stored on his older computer now. Another question, will all the builds listed above still handle the multi-tasking of him playing L of L, have Skype pulled up on his TV with his friends and stream some sort of video. That is what he says his friends are doing as they play online.
 
Last edited:
Feb 25, 2011
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Also, he talks about wanting to play on 'steam' , Counterstrike and Rocket League??

Steam is a (well, more like THE) game distribution service. (Run by a company called Valve.) It's basically an online store, but also hosts some social media and forum type communities for each game. The Steam application works as both a storefront as well as a launcher and update manager for games purchased through the Steam store, so you're playing "on" Steam in that sense.

Counterstrike and Rocket League are fairly modest, as far as system requirements go.
 
Feb 25, 2011
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Thanks for the explanation. Talking with him, I think were just going with a 256Gb SSD. Not sure what he would use the other storage for. He has nothing stored on his older computer now. Another question, will all the builds listed above still handle the multi-tasking of him playing L of L, have Skype pulled up on his TV with his friends and stream some sort of video. That is what he says his friends are doing as they play online.

If he's a gamer, you'll want more storage. A few game downloads will eat up most of that drive. Any of the above builds (anything with an i3 or i5 really) will handle that multitasking just fine.
 

tommyncal

Member
Jul 15, 2006
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thanks for the quick response. I'll look thru those suggested builds and see if anything is on sale, and then make a final decision and get the ball rolling. I assume windows 10 is my best bet over windows 8 ?
 

lakedude

Platinum Member
Mar 14, 2009
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491
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I've gone through way more graphics cards than CPUs...

There are rumors of a big jump in GPU performance sometime mid to late next year. CPU performance is increasing but it small steady increments.

GPUs were stuck at 40nm for many years and have now been at 28nm for a while. The next process node is said to be coming fairly soon.

That said, an R9-390 is actually a bit of overkill at 1080p resolution so unless a 4k monitor is coming in the near future the R9 will be fine for a long time.

If money is an issue both the storage drive and expensive video card can wait. Sure the kid might want to fill up a hard drive with games but a mechanical storage drive will be slow. Games will load faster and run smoother when stored on the SSD. My advice is to only have a few favorite games installed, you can only play one at a time! When the installed games get old erase them and load others, at least until he gets a storage drive.

The R9-380 is fine at 1080p $199.99 Newegg after rebate:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150730
 
Feb 25, 2011
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thanks for the quick response. I'll look thru those suggested builds and see if anything is on sale, and then make a final decision and get the ball rolling. I assume windows 10 is my best bet over windows 8 ?

Probably. Win10 has some DirectX improvements, and will probably do a better job of keeping itself up to date and, in general, protecting your son's computer from your son.

There are some privacy concerns with Win10 if you feel like you have something to hide, but there are plenty of tutorials out there you can follow to block most of the data collection.
 
Feb 25, 2011
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How long will a $200 to $300 GPU stay relevant. Do you need to upgrade more often than CPU's?

I would bet 3 years-ish. CPUs stay useful a bit longer. (4-5 years, typically.)

If you look at the Steam Hardware/Software survey:

http://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey

You'll notice that the majority of the most common discrete GPUs (ignore the Intel number) reflect GPUs with performance that was available from mid-to-high-end GPUs from 2-3 years ago. Staying slightly ahead of the pack by buying a not-quite-top-tier GPU every 2 years (like the R380/380X or GTX 970) will probably get you the most gaming bang for the buck over the long haul.
 

GreenOrbs

Member
Aug 13, 2013
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thanks for the quick response. I'll look thru those suggested builds and see if anything is on sale, and then make a final decision and get the ball rolling. I assume windows 10 is my best bet over windows 8 ?

Just in case you weren't already aware--Windows 8 keys can be used to directly activate Windows 10 installations. I would recommend downloading an image from microsoft and installing it directly rather than installing 8 and upgrading (easier and cleaner install).

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10
 

tommyncal

Member
Jul 15, 2006
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Just in case you weren't already aware--Windows 8 keys can be used to directly activate Windows 10 installations. I would recommend downloading an image from microsoft and installing it directly rather than installing 8 and upgrading (easier and cleaner install).

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

I had windows 8 on my home computer and did the free upgrade to windows 10. My son's computer is still using windows xp. I figured we'd have to buy a new copy of an OS