PC Gaming Builds

[BOOM headshot65]

This fall, I am planning on building my first true gaming PC (after having used cheap desktops/laptops my whole life) and figured I would post my design for advice on things I can improve on, and maybe get some tips and tricks from others. And as for discussion value, perhaps post what you are running now, what your first build was, etc.

As for mine:
My build on PCPartPicker [https://pcpartpicker.com/parts/partlist/]

Spoiler: Parts/Spec List for those who dont want to go to the link plus extra info

CPU: Intel i5-4690K
Cooler: Zalman CNPS-9700 (air cooler)
MoBo: MSI PC-Mate Z-97 (figured I can do without SLI support and go cheaper)
RAM: G.Skill Ripjaw X, 2x8GB, DDR3-1866
HDD: Seagate Hybrid drive (2TB HDD, 8GB SSD)
GPU: MSI GTX-960 2GB
Case: Thermaltake A31 Chaser Mid-Tower
PSU: Corsair CSM 450W
Optical Drive: Samsung DVD/CD writer (should I upgrade to Blu-Ray?)
Sound Card: Asus Xonar DGX (because I heard MSI boards have sound problems)
OS: Windows 8.1 OEM 64-bit (Should I get 7 instead?)
Keyboard/Mouse: Cooler Master Storm Devastator Gaming combo

I will be getting speakers and a monitor locally because I have a coupon for 10% off at a local electronics store so it would be cheaper. I plan on playing things like Total War (basically demanding Intel), Euro/American Truck, Cities: Skylines, G-Mod, GTA 5, and the occasional shooter (for stuff on the top end, and I can handle anything less). I also MAY start making Youtube videos, but that is a big maybe at the moment.

EDIT: Someone asked about my budget, so I will add that here. My top dollar on the Tower is $1,200 and the whole rig will be around $1,500. But obviously, anywhere I can cut some money from that will be much appriciated.

 

[Hoplon]

Win 8 or win 7, doesn't matter, free upgrade to win 10 offer that is for the whole first year of release as of the end of this month.

While I like my Xonar, honestly expansion sound cards have way more issues than on board sound.

But if that's the gear that fits in your budget, don't think there are any major mistakes in there.

Blu ray is nice but no games have come out on blu ray so far so it's an extra if it's your main movie platform.

 

[DefunctTheory]

CPU - Intel i7-2600K
Cooler - Stock
Motherboard - ASUS P8Z86-V PRO GEN3
RAM - Corsair DDR3 667MHZ 4GB x4
HDD - Seagate Barricuda 225GB, Seagate Barricuda 1TB, Samsung 850 EVO 500GB (Coming in mail today)
GPU - eVGA 970 GTX 4GB FTW+
Case - Coolermaster Cosmos II
PSU - Corsair 750W
Optical Drive - LG BluRay Read/Write
Sound Card - N/A
OS - Windows 7 Pro (Windows 10 Queued)
Keyboard - Corsair Vengeance K70
Mouse - Logitech POS

As you can see, this is the result of multiple upgrades. This is not a complete, built at once thing.

 

[Albino Boo]

Unless you are planing to overclock you don't need the K model cpu or the cooler. I would say that PSU is on the underpowered side you will need something closer to 550W to be on the safe side. A good guide is this site http://www.logicalincrements.com/

 

[BOOM headshot65]

Unless you are planing to overclock you don't need the K model cpu or the cooler.

Got it. I guess the 4690 is already on the powerful side, so I guess I wouldnt really need to overclock. And in that case, the stock Intel cooler would work fine? Anywhere I can trim a little of my budget and sink it into a better GPU is always good.

I would say that PSU is on the underpowered side you will need something closer to 550W to be on the safe side.

Also good to know. I will change that then.

 

[Monk5127]

Can you provide total budget or update the PCPartPicker link so it works correctly so I can provide recommendations?
Do you live close to a Micro Center? Assuming you're in the USA, http://www.microcenter.com/site/stores/#

Current Build

Spoiler

CPU - i7 4771
Motherboard - GA-Z87-UD4H
RAM - 16GB @ 2133 CL10
GPU - GTX670
HDD - 120GB 840 EVO/1TB WD Black/3TB WD Blue
CASE - Corsair Air 540
PSU - XFX Core 550W
OS - Windows 8.1 Enterprise

First PC that was mine (not shared/family)

Spoiler

CPU - AMD Sempron 2200+ 1.5GHZ @ 2.1GHZ
Motherboard - ASRock K7S41GX [http://www.asrock.com/mb/SiS/K7S41GX/]
RAM - 1GB DDR400 + 512MB DDR333
GPU - ATI Radeon 9600Pro
HDD - Maxtor 80GB IDE
PSU - noname 350w POS
CASE - Terrible early 00's beige case
OS - XP

 

[Albino Boo]

Unless you are planing to overclock you don't need the K model cpu or the cooler.

Got it. I guess the 4690 is already on the powerful side, so I guess I wouldn't really need to overclock. And in that case, the stock Intel cooler would work fine? Anywhere I can trim a little of my budget and sink it into a better GPU is always good.

The stock cooler will do the job in 99% of environments. The cpu will only need extra cooling if you up the power output by overclocking. So its pretty much use the stock cooler unless you live in a desert by a steel plant with no air conditioning.

 

[BOOM headshot65]

Unless you are planing to overclock you don't need the K model cpu or the cooler.

Got it. I guess the 4690 is already on the powerful side, so I guess I wouldn't really need to overclock. And in that case, the stock Intel cooler would work fine? Anywhere I can trim a little of my budget and sink it into a better GPU is always good.

The stock cooler will do the job in 99% of environments. The cpu will only need extra cooling if you up the power output by overclocking. So its pretty much use the stock cooler unless you live in a desert by a steel plant with no air conditioning.

Alright. And while we are on "places to save by getting rid of overclock stuff", should I get a H-97 instead of a Z-97 (since the Z is for overclocking)?

Edit:

Can you provide total budget or update the PCPartPicker link so it works correctly so I can provide recommendations?
Do you live close to a Micro Center? Assuming you're in the USA, http://www.microcenter.com/site/stores/#

According to their list of stores, the closest one to me is in Kansas City, but that is still almost 200 miles from where I live, so there is no way I can just go there to get parts. Also, I will add my budget to the OP for future reference.

 

[Albino Boo]

Alright. And while we are on "places to save by getting rid of overclock stuff", should I get a H-97 instead of a Z-97 (since the Z is for overclocking)?

Yes by all means change the board I forgot the MSI prefixes there.

 

[Monk5127]

How's this?

PCPartPicker part list [http://pcpartpicker.com/p/cKx43C]

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor [http://pcpartpicker.com/part/intel-cpu-bx80646i54690] ($217.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: ASRock H97 PRO4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard [http://pcpartpicker.com/part/asrock-motherboard-h97pro4] ($81.89 @ OutletPC)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory [http://pcpartpicker.com/part/gskill-memory-f312800cl9d8gbxl] ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial BX100 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive [http://pcpartpicker.com/part/crucial-internal-hard-drive-ct120bx100ssd1] ($64.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Western Digital BLACK SERIES 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive [http://pcpartpicker.com/part/western-digital-internal-hard-drive-wd1003fzex] ($69.98 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 4GB WINDFORCE 3X Video Card [http://pcpartpicker.com/part/gigabyte-video-card-gvn970wf3oc4gd] ($329.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Fractal Design Define R5 w/Window (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case [http://pcpartpicker.com/part/fractal-design-case-fdcadefr5bkw] ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair CSM 650W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply [http://pcpartpicker.com/part/corsair-power-supply-cs650m] ($79.99 @ NCIX US)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/RSBS DVD/CD Writer [http://pcpartpicker.com/part/samsung-optical-drive-sh224dbrsbs] ($12.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 OEM (64-bit) [http://pcpartpicker.com/part/microsoft-os-wn700615] ($89.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $1097.79

Changing the i5 to an i7 4790 puts the total to $1176.79. This would help with video editing although it's benefit to gaming would be marginal.
It's worth mentioning that AMD's new GPU lineup along with Intel's new CPU/Chipset should be out by Q3. If it were me I would wait.

 

[BOOM headshot65]

It's worth mentioning that AMD's new GPU lineup along with Intel's new CPU/Chipset should be out by Q3. If it were me I would wait.

Its worth pointing out that I will be waiting until around then anyway. My family is moving over the summer into a new house we just built, and even then we are going to finish the basement (read: where my room, and thus my computer, are going to be) ourselves and that wont be until around August or September that the earliest.

Also, Is an SSD really nessesary? I cant just go with a hybrid drive for half the money of a HDD+SSD and have my boot systems on the 8GB SSD included and put everything else on the 2TB HDD, and do all this with one drive? Also, as to your proposed list, seems good to me, although I may scale back on the PSU (650W seems like overkill to me, 550W would be better and can save me some money), and I am going to use the Rosewill Blackhawk case, which is cheaper, has better airflow, better cable management, etc. to the one you showed. Plus I just like Blawkhawk on looks more anyway.

Note:
I took your build, but put in the Rosewill Blackhawk, the same Seagate hybrid drive I was talking about above, and a Corsair CSM 550W Gold, and that got me to $1029.78, which is probably going to be as low as I can go with this build, but this will be able to handle pretty much everything I throw at it for the next few years, and for all I know will be cheaper after the new releases this year.

 

[Monk5127]

Its worth pointing out that I will be waiting until around then anyway. My family is moving over the summer into a new house we just built, and even then we are going to finish the basement (read: where my room, and thus my computer, are going to be) ourselves and that wont be until around August or September that the earliest.

Ok, with that in mind take that provided build as a guide for the kind of specification that is available within your budget and it's certainly worth checking back when you're ready to pull the trigger.

Also, Is an SSD really nessesary? I cant just go with a hybrid drive for half the money of a HDD+SSD and have my boot systems on the 8GB SSD included and put everything else on the 2TB HDD, and do all this with one drive? Also, as to your proposed list, seems good to me, although I may scale back on the PSU (650W seems like overkill to me, 550W would be better and can save me some money), and I am going to use the Rosewill Blackhawk case, which is cheaper, has better airflow, better cable management, etc. to the one you showed. Plus I just like Blawkhawk on looks more anyway.

SSD is not necessary, although I don't see a reason not to get one. Now the Hybrid Drive, unfortunately the drive you have linked does not work that way, instead it will cache the most accessed files totaling 8GB to the SSD Part for faster access while still appearing to be a regular 2TB HDD within the OS. Good move on reducing the power supply, I hadn't changed that from when I was seeing if I could stretch your budget to cover a 980ti. As for the case, I recommend the Fractal R4/R5 as they review well and cost enough so that another case can be selected closer to what the buyer wants. It's better than me suggesting a $30 case then buyer having to find money in the build to get a case the buyer actually wants.