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Gaming PC Feedback needed - $1000

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Termie said:
Ultimately, I think some of the confusion here is what your actual budget is. Do you want to spend $1,500 total? Then don't pinch pennies on this stuff, certainly not the monitor. You're starting to say you want to cut costs, and yet you're way, way under budget.
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Well after getting everyone's feedback, tweaking my build specs, and being more realistic, I figured that I could be closer to $1000 than $1500, so most of what I've been doing is getting closer to $1000. I have a couple friends that built their PC last year for around $1300-1600 and the build that is starting to take shape is really close in terms of performance I think.
 
Termie said:
(1) You only need the Z87 chipset if you want to overclock. Do you?
(2) The CX600 PSU is cheap and functional, but you're right, it's not modular. It will cost about $20 to buy the CX600M, which is modular. Better yet, buy this XFX 750W modular unit right away for $55AR: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817207023
(3) You can get a cheaper 23" monitor than the U2312M, but you can't get a cheaper, better monitor. If you really must cut costs there, then at least go for an IPS screen, like the one on this Acer: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16824009483
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- Decided to get the Z87 chipset in case I wanted to overclock down the line and went with my original motherboard choice. I was hesitant about getting ASRock because one of my friends has issues with his, but after doing some research seems to be a good product.
- Decided on the 750W power supply even though it's super excessive because it's modular and a good deal.
- Decided on the Asus 23". I know I should get something with IPS, but the Asus has good reviews and low refresh rate and I don't think I'll be looking at it from extreme angles.

Essence_of_War said:
If you have to have a quieter case, I've heard good things about the fractal design R4
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Yup, heard really good things about this case. Decided to go with it. Plus it's on sale.

Other than that, how does it look? I revised my budget and I think for ~$1000 this build is really good. What do you guys think?
 
I'd make a couple of changes:
- 120GB SSD $100, 250GB is a bit too much for a gaming build at this budget. An SSD is not even essential for gaming.
- mfenn's 4670K+MSI G43 combo. G43 is better than Pro3, and you end up paying less.
- Asus VG248QE $243 AP >>> what you picked, gaming wise. I have a BenQ monitor with the same panel, it's smooth as silk. Yes it's more expensive but with the above changes you can afford it
 
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Oh. I forgot to mention. I recently found a couple HDDs lying around that I can put in this build. That's why there's no mention of a HDD in the build.
 
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That RAM stands out as really over priced.

I'd pick up two sticks of Crucial Ballistix Tactical 4GB to save 15 bucks or so.

Or maybe this Team Dark Deal 2x4GB for only $49 shipped if your personal sense of good taste isn't deeply offended by the heat spreaders 😛

Other than that, I see a K cpu, a z87 MoBo, and no HSF. Do you not want to overclock right now, or do you not want to overclock ever? If the former, maybe you could grab an CM 212 EVO? If the latter, maybe we could trade down MoBo and CPU further?
 
Essence_of_War said:
That RAM stands out as really over priced.

I'd pick up two sticks of Crucial Ballistix Tactical 4GB to save 15 bucks or so.

Or maybe this Team Dark Deal 2x4GB for only $49 shipped if your personal sense of good taste isn't deeply offended by the heat spreaders 😛

Other than that, I see a K cpu, a z87 MoBo, and no HSF. Do you not want to overclock right now, or do you not want to overclock ever? If the former, maybe you could grab an CM 212 EVO? If the latter, maybe we could trade down MoBo and CPU further?
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Maybe that Crucial memory was less when you linked it, but it now comes to $80 for 8GB, which is a terrible deal.
 
The "heat spreaders" are completely unnecessary.

The CAS latencies can have a performance difference, but the RAM speed is more important, and the useful speed basically maxes out at 1600 for the intel chips, so if you're getting DDR3-1600 RAM, you're probably not going to notice much of a difference from CAS latencies.
 
Will a 760 have a hard time running 1920x1200? There's a deal for the U2412m but im worried that a 1920x1080 resolution will go further with the 760.
 
ChAoTiCpInOy said:
Will a 760 have a hard time running 1920x1200? There's a deal for the U2412m but im worried that a 1920x1080 resolution will go further with the 760.
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It's 11% more pixels, so the gaming performance difference will be negligible. However, those extra vertical pixels are very nice for productivity work.
 
All right. I think I have my build down.

Processor: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz - $240
GPU: MSI Gaming N760 TF 2GD5/OC GeForce GTX 760 2GB - $260
RAM: Kingston XMP Blu Red Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) - $55
Power Supply: Rosewill Hive 650W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified - $60
Motherboard: MSI Z87-G41 PC Mate ATX LGA1150 - $100
Case: Fractal Design Define B4 (Black Pearl) - $80
SSD: Samsung 840 250GB - $190
DVD/CD: LG 24X DVD Burner - GH24NS95 - OEM - $18
Monitor: Asus VH238H 23" - $150

Decided on the PSU because I've heard bad things about XFX parts.
Decided on the RAM because I didn't need the heat spreaders.
Decided on the Motherboard to give me the option to overclock later on. I think I can always change the stock CPU fan later on when I do decide to overclock (I do plan on overclocking at some point, just not right now).
Decided on the monitor because my friends have a previous version of it and they love it. I can always upgrade to a better 23"/24" later on and have dual screens.

How does it look?
 
Davidh373 said:
You've heard bad things about XFX, but not Rosewill?.. Hmm...
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:awe:
Still, the XFX PSUs often recommended are Seasonic S12II under the hood, typically. It's not XFX that's really being recommended, but the cost, v. an actual older-model Seasonic. Some older XFX PSUs had some nasty failure modes 🙂.
 
Yeah...that XFX that people recommended to you is a SeaSonic under-the-hood.

It's good design, and it would be a shame to pass it up based on the nebulous "heard bad things about XFX".
 
The other components in the PC are what use power. The Power Supply Unit supplies the power that the components use. So it only supplies as much as the components use - 750W is the rated capacity, i.e. the amount of power it is designed to be able to provide.
 
Lehtv is correct, although on the margin, a 500w bronze unit will be slightly more efficient at low wattage idle than a 750w bronze unit of the same quality.
 
So I should get the XFX since its too good of a deal to pass up and seasonic is a good brand? The explanation relieves my issue with getting a much higher wattage than necessary especially since I'll probably only be using about 400W.
 
Yes.

You'll be using less than 300W, but the 750W unit is still a good pick. To be able to use all that potential though, you need to run two graphics cards, and for that you need a SLI motherboard. There's a very nice deal on an Asrock Extreme6 in this combo: 4670K+ Extreme6 $350
 
So apparently the RAM I chose runs at a voltage of 1.65V and pcpartpicker says that exceeds the recommended maximum of 1.5V, is that going to be a problem for me?
 
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