Gaming Build for Friend

[TheStu]

1. What YOUR PC will be used for. That means what types of tasks you'll be performing.
Gaming, mostly. Other day-to-day tasks as well, but really... gaming.

2. What YOUR budget is. A price range is acceptable as long as it's not more than a 20% spread
$1000

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

5. IF YOU have a brand preference. That means, are you an Intel-Fanboy, AMD-Fanboy, ATI-Fanboy, nVidia-Fanboy, Seagate-Fanboy, WD-Fanboy, etc.
Not in particular

6. If YOU intend on using any of YOUR current parts, and if so, what those parts are.
PC Power & Cooling 1KW PSU, 1TB HDD, keyboard, mouse, monitor.

7. IF YOU plan on overclocking or run the system at default speeds.
May do some OC'ing

8. What resolution, not monitor size, will you be using?\
1920*1200

9. WHEN do you plan to build it?
Note that it is usually not cost or time effective to choose your build more than a month before you actually plan to be using it.
This weekend, just need a check from the pros.

X. Do you need to purchase any software to go with the system, such as Windows or Blu Ray playback software?
Don't think so.

Here's what we've put together so far, he has a Microcenter about 30-40 minutes away, so we're planning on getting the case, CPU and mobo from there. The rest from Amazon.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($211.98 @ Microcenter)
Motherboard: ASRock Z87 Extreme3 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($127.18 @ Microcenter)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($66.76 @ Amazon)
Storage: Sandisk Ultra Plus 256GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($174.84 @ Amazon)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 770 2GB Video Card ($349.78 @ Amazon)
Case: Corsair C70 Military Green (Green) ATX Mid Tower Case ($148.38 @ Microcenter)
Total: $1078.92
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-10-30 11:09 EDT-0400)

Couple questions:
1: Any place where we are going crazy wrong? I used mfenn's guide as a starting point, and then adapted from there.
2: Is there an advantage to getting the 4GB 770?

 

[lehtv]

The 1000W PSU is overkill... but if it still works fine and isn't too old, might as well use it. Is it modular though?

1.
- Microcenter has awesome CPU+mobo bundles: http://www.microcenter.com/site/brands/intel-processor-bundles.aspx
- Can't OC without an aftermarket cooler.
- The case you picked is unnecessarily expensive. That same case has been sub $100 on newegg on a few occasions... not that there's really any need for even a $100 case. The one recommended below is an excellent deal at the moment due the combo and the rebate, but if your friend dislikes the looks (I think it looks fine) then of course get something else.
- No reason not to get dual channel RAM.

2.
- Not unless you get two of them right away and play at 1440p or higher.

Recommendations:

CPU+mobo 4670K + Z87 Extreme4 $315 @ MC
Cooler Arctic i30 $39 @amazon
RAM+Case Crucial Ballistix 2x4GB + CM N600 ATX case $101 AR @ newegg
SSD Crucial M500 240GB $159 @amazon
Graphics MSI GTX 770 Gaming $330 @amazon
(PSU XFX Pro 750W Gold $90 AR @ncix)

= $1034 AR with new PSU

 

[TheStu]

The 1000W PSU is overkill... but if it still works fine and isn't too old, might as well use it. Is it modular though?

It is not modular, is about 5 or so years old I think? He bought it back when the 8800 Ultras were the top of the heap, that was his last build. 8800s in SLI, Core 2 Duo (first gen, the e6600 I think)

1.
- Microcenter has awesome CPU+mobo bundles: http://www.microcenter.com/site/brands/intel-processor-bundles.aspx
- Can't OC without an aftermarket cooler.
- The case you picked is unnecessarily expensive. That same case has been sub $100 on newegg on a few occasions... not that there's really any need for even a $100 case. The one recommended below is an excellent deal at the moment due the combo and the rebate, but if your friend dislikes the looks (I think it looks fine) then of course get something else.
- No reason not to get dual channel RAM.

-Yea, the plan was the to the CPU and mobo from MC, is that board worth the extra $50 or so? He may be SLIing down the road, hasn't decided yet.
-The C70 was picked due to the aesthetic, I'll bounce the combo off him though.
-Didn't realize I had the wrong RAM linked, thanks for that.

2.
- Not unless you get two of them right away and play at 1440p or higher.

He said he might SLI, not sure when that might be though. For 1200p, not necessary I take it?

Recommendations:

CPU+mobo 4670K + Z87 Extreme4 $315 @ MC
Cooler Arctic i30 $39 @amazon
RAM+Case Crucial Ballistix 2x4GB + CM N600 ATX case $101 AR @ newegg
SSD Crucial M500 240GB $159 @amazon
Graphics MSI GTX 770 Gaming $330 @amazon
(PSU XFX Pro 750W Gold $90 AR @ncix)

= $1034 AR with new PSU

I'll bounce this build off of him, thanks.

He intends to play BF4, probably the next Crysis when it comes out, would the new AMD R9s be a better bet rather than the 770?

 

[TheStu]

Is this PSU comparable? It's a little cheaper than your pick, and is local. Though he did just ask me if his existing one will be sufficient, or is it a little too old?

 

[lehtv]

Not even close to comparable with the XFX unit. That CX has 3 year warranty vs 5, bronze efficiency vs gold, semi-modular vs full modular, and uses lower quality caps and is overall lower quality.

Given that it's not modular and 5 years old, it's probably also not very highly efficient. On top of that, using it in a system that only demands as few watts as this will make it even less efficient. I would not use it

For 1200p, not necessary I take it?

No

 

[TheStu]

Not even close to comparable with the XFX unit. That CX has 3 year warranty vs 5, bronze efficiency vs gold, semi-modular vs full modular, and uses lower quality caps and is overall lower quality.

Given that it's not modular and 5 years old, it's probably also not very highly efficient. On top of that, using it in a system that only demands as few watts as this will make it even less efficient. I would not use it



No

Yea, I was coming back to edit my post on the PSU.. it's not even close, I've got too many tabs open...

Anyway, I'll try to get him to get a new PSU.

He intends to play BF4, probably the next Crysis when it comes out, would the new AMD R9s be a better bet rather than the 770? Just want to maximize his bang for the buck, you know?

 

[lehtv]

Hard to say yet. The GTX 770 is better than 280X in BF4 beta last I checked, but who knows how BF4 will run on AMD Mantle. Also driver optimizations.

 

[TheStu]

Hard to say yet. The GTX 770 is better than 280X in BF4 beta last I checked, but who knows how BF4 will run on AMD Mantle. Also driver optimizations.

We'll go with your build, minus the case and PSU (for now). He really likes the look of the C70 so he'll be getting that. Thanks for the help.

 

[FredNotFound404]

You should be consider a proper Cooling solution D14, maybe Phantek, its abit costly but for OC Haswell is pretty hot once you start amping the voltage. I personally use H100 from corsair and its very effective.

GPU that is a problem word of advice 2Gb is fine now, it won't be in 6-12 months time, even at 1200p, I'm running a 670 at 1600p and even at low with no aa 90 FOV, 120% Resolution Scale I was hitting 1.8Ghz in BF4, and with everything Ultra still no AA and 100% it was blasting tro my 2Gb, yes its 1600p but I wasn't using AA and that hits almost has hard as higher resolution, I'm not sure how is the Vram usage on 1200p but I'm guessing next gen games will cripple 2Gb very easily even at 1080p if you want to play the game with everything maxed. So either go with a 280X, and if near future you need more power buy a 7970, their used prices are dropping, or why not just go after a used 780, it should be in the same price range that the 770 new, and the a 780 would have both more power and more ram.

By the way you should be checking the ram, apparently and I haven't test this yet BF4 takes advantage of higher frequency rams, I'm not saying buy a more expensive module, just see how far you can oc the one you are buying, I currently pushed mine from 1600Mhz to 2133Mhz and its those cheap Corsair vengeance LP, come 1/11 I will be testing if this is true or not.

Cheers

 

[mfenn]

GPU that is a problem word of advice 2Gb is fine now, it won't be in 6-12 months time, even at 1200p, I'm running a 670 at 1600p and even at low with no aa 90 FOV, 120% Resolution Scale I was hitting 1.8Ghz in BF4, and with everything Ultra still no AA and 100% it was blasting tro my 2Gb, yes its 1600p but I wasn't using AA and that hits almost has hard as higher resolution

Memory usage increases with the number of pixels, so that's roughly square of the vertical resolution. 2560x1600 is 1.78 times more pixels than 1920x1200. Also, yes SSAA increases memory usage dramatically, but the more typical MSAA doesn't hurt nearly as much. FXAA is practically free since it's a post-processing filter.

All that being said, I think a 7970 is a better choice because it's just about as fast as a GTX 770 but costs ~$60 less AR.

 

[TheStu]

Memory usage increases with the number of pixels, so that's roughly square of the vertical resolution. 2560x1600 is 1.78 times more pixels than 1920x1200. Also, yes SSAA increases memory usage dramatically, but the more typical MSAA doesn't hurt nearly as much. FXAA is practically free since it's a post-processing filter.

All that being said, I think a 7970 is a better choice because it's just about as fast as a GTX 770 but costs ~$60 less AR.

I think he pulled the trigger on it already but it looks like the GTX 770 is putting up better numbers in the games he's going to play, and in the ones that it loses out to the 7970, it still does OK.

If he hasn't ordered yet, i'll see what he thinks, but he leans more toward nVidia.