Long term, light gaming build, <$1500

ShadowPho · Apr 3, 2014

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3lmQ4

What do you guys think of this build? This is for long-term solution for a lot of compiling, light gaming [League of Legends, KSP, minecraft with mods, etc], with potential for light overclocking.

Went back and forth between the Fractal Design and Antec 300v2, but decided to stay with Fractal design.

Anything you guys suggest to change?

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($227.99 @ NCIX US)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-C14 CPU Cooler ($74.99 @ Mwave)
Motherboard: ASRock Z87 Extreme4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($124.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($149.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 840 Pro Series 256GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($203.29 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 3TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($109.40 @ Amazon)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 770 2GB Video Card ($319.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Fractal Design Arc Midi R2 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: SeaSonic G 550W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($82.99 @ Mwave)
Total: $1383.62
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-04-03 19:45 EDT-0400)

RyanCouch · Apr 3, 2014

1080p gaming I assume? if so I see no problems if you want 1440p or higher res then grab the 4gb 770 (if it's not that much more I'd grab it anyways) other than that looks fine to me.

Theocnoob · Apr 4, 2014

3 things I suggest:

Change the cpu to a 4770K. The days of 4 threaded games are nearing their end. Ports from Next gen consoles are likely to run on more than 4 threads. 4770K does 8. Buy one.

Also, you should get a D14 cooler over a C14. Barely any more money and significantly better cooling.

Get a Western Digital HDD. I don't trust Seagate. Many a dead and dying Seagate I have had. Not worth the risk. WD makes a solid HD. WD Caviar Black is a fine choice.

ShadowPho · Apr 4, 2014

RyanCouch said:
1080p gaming I assume? if so I see no problems if you want 1440p or higher res then grab the 4gb 770 (if it's not that much more I'd grab it anyways) other than that looks fine to me.

The 4GB version is quite a bit more [$90...].

Theocnoob said:
3 things I suggest:

Change the cpu to a 4770K. The days of 4 threaded games are nearing their end. Ports from Next gen consoles are likely to run on more than 4 threads. 4770K does 8. Buy one.

Also, you should get a D14 cooler over a C14. Barely any more money and significantly better cooling.

Get a Western Digital HDD. I don't trust Seagate. Many a dead and dying Seagate I have had. Not worth the risk. WD makes a solid HD. WD Caviar Black is a fine choice.

4770k doesn't have 4 cores, it just has hyper-threading, which if I remember right offers about 15% performance boost in some tasks. [Add another 5% for bigger L3 cache]. I didn't feel the performance boost for some tasks worth an additional $100.

The D14 is gigantic! I will take a look at it and see if it fits

WD Caviar black is expensive... but I will take a look at it.

freakdiablo · Apr 4, 2014

Theocnoob said:
Get a Western Digital HDD. I don't trust Seagate. Many a dead and dying Seagate I have had. Not worth the risk. WD makes a solid HD. WD Caviar Black is a fine choice.

Well, for me, it's the opposite, WD has an extremely high fail rate while Seagate has a much better record - as in 0 out of about 9 that died due to manufacting defects, even some of the 7200.11s. I will admit I did lose two to physical shock damage though.

RyanCouch · Apr 4, 2014

ShadowPho said:
The D14 is gigantic! I will take a look at it and see if it fits

I'd be willing to confidently tell you it will fit but it will be tight. your memory is low profile enough to fit under it, you should be just fine once you get the wires pluged in around that behemoth. you can do it and if its only a small amount more I'd grab it

EarthDog · Apr 4, 2014

Id go......

1. 4770K (agree with TOCnoob)
2. Hyper 212+ cooler for it (should get you to at least 4.2Ghz, likely a more with a decent CPU)
3. I would go 280x or the 4GB 770. 2GB in 2 years may be rough even at 1080p.
4. For now, I would go 8GB of ram to help get you in a GPU with more ram.

ANd depending on the tests, the HT can add a good bit of performance over its not HT counterpart. Not in most games (now)... but still. If this is a keeper, get the 4770K is my take.

Theocnoob · Apr 4, 2014

ShadowPho said:
4770k doesn't have 4 cores, it just has hyper-threading

But it does have 4 cores. You'll appreciate that extra 15% (I think it's more than that) performance from HT when your game wants to use more than 4 threads in the near future.

EarthDog said:
1. 4770K (agree with TOCnoob)

590962d1359601749-what-color-goes-purple-ano-foshizzle-thomb-up.gif

Thanks E.D.

Luke1978 · Apr 4, 2014

Theocnoob said:
But it does have 4 cores. You'll appreciate that extra 15% (I think it's more than that) performance from HT when your game wants to use more than 4 threads in the near future.

He is 100% right. 4 cores, 8 threads. Same basic principle design of the chip in my sig. AMD just counts it as 4 cores, even though their are only 2 physical cores

Badbonji · Apr 4, 2014

Theocnoob said:
But it does have 4 cores. You'll appreciate that extra 15% (I think it's more than that) performance from HT when your game wants to use more than 4 threads in the near future.

For CPU intensive tasks (and multithreaded, obviously) the gain from using HT is indeed more at around 30% (http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Intel/Core_i5_4670K_and_i7_4770K_Comparison/1.html)

ShadowPho · Apr 5, 2014

Alright, thank you guys

. I'll look into it. Any feedback on the motherboard\PSU?

RyanCouch · Apr 5, 2014

power supply is great, I'm no intel guy so not sure on the mobo but from what I see it looks ok.

Theocnoob · Apr 6, 2014

PSU is good. If I were choosing a budget Z87 board I'd go with ASUS Z87-A.

http://products.ncix.com/detail/asus-z87-a-atx-lga1150-z87-b0-84500-1296.htm

$150 if you're in Canada.

About $140 in the US.

Long term, light gaming build, <$1500

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