Could I get your opinions on this build?

P

PatchRowcester

Limp Gawd
Joined
Sep 2, 2012
Messages
243
Hello all,

I was wondering if you all give me your opinion on this build. This is almost exclusively a gaming build.

http://pcpartpicker.com/user/patchrowcester/saved/sBGhP6

The components listed here are the ones I need. I have the GPU, PSU and DVD drive to install windows.

I have some questions for you guys as well -

1. The motherboard any good? I currently have a gigabyte motherboard, and it has worked very well for me, so I decided to go with this one.

2. Should I go with Windows 7 or Windows 8.1? I am going to be using this computer for gaming.

Thanks.
 
If you are on a budget I'd downgrade the cpu to a 4690k. You don't need hyperthreading for gaming. Folks will chime in to tell you how stupid I am to say so but it is true. Of course, hyperthreading would help a little in a few games. And if you are into future-proofing I think you are crazy.

The motherboard got 5 stars on newegg, looks good.

Have you tried Windows 8.1 to see if you like the changes? I think it is fine, and faster boot and shutdown matter to me. But some folks hate it.
 
I would ditch the pro SSD get a 500 gig EVO or crucial SSD you won't notice loads time =)
Get a HGST HDD instead of WD less failure rate
Then get a more modern case corsair or coolermaster or even a good Raidmax =)
 
1) That motherboard is a good motherboard but not really worth it unless you're doing some heavy overclocking, planning a multi-GPU setup, and/or plan on using most of its features. If you want an alternative motherboard recommendation, please answer the following questions:
A) Will you be overclocking?
B) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video? UEFI? etc.

2) WIndows 8.1 as it has some under-the-hood performance tweaks that makes it slightly faster in games than in Windows 7.

As for the rest of the PC:
C) What PSU and GPU will you be using?

That RAM is definitely overpriced since current Intel platforms don't show a noticeable performance increase in games. Go with this cheaper RAM as you won't notice a difference between DDR3-2400 and DDR3 1600:
$153 - Crucial BLS2CP8G3D1609DS1S00 Ballistix Sport 2 x 8GB DDR3 1600 RAM

The case is a definite bad choice. There are far far better cases for the money out there:
$63 - Corsair Graphite Series 230T Black ATX Case
$70 - Corsair Graphite Series 230T Black w/ Window ATX Case
$100 - Antec 1100 V2 ATX Case
$100 - Corsair Vengeance Series C70 Arctic White ATX Case
$100 - Phanteks “Enthoo Pro Series“ Black ATX Case
$110 - Corsair Vengeance Series C70 Gunmetal Black ATX Case
$115 - Corsair Carbide Series 500R ATX Case
$116 - Thermaltake Chaser A71 Full Tower ATX Case
$120 - Corsair Graphite Series 730T ATX Case
$120 - Corsair Obsidian Series 450D ATX Case
$120 - NZXT Phantom PHAN-001BK Black Full Tower ATX Case
$120 - NZXT Phantom PHAN-001WT White Full Tower ATX Case
$133 - NZXT Phantom 530 Black Full Tower ATX Case
$130 - Corsair Graphite Series 600TM ATX Case
$140 - Corsair Obsidian Series 750D ATX Case
$150 - Corsair Obsidian Series 650D ATX Case
$152 - Corsair Special Edition White Graphite Series 600T ATX Case
$150 - NZXT Phantom 630 White Windowed Full Tower ATX Case
$158 - NZXT Phantom 630 Gunmetal Full Tower ATX Case
$170 - Thermaltake Urban T81 Full Tower ATX Case
$190 - Corsair Graphite Series 760T ATX Case
197 - Corsair Graphite Black ATX Full Tower 780T
208 - Corsair Graphite White ATX Full Tower 780T
$240 - Silverstone FT02B-USB3.0 ATX Case
 
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Thank you for your replies guys. Please check below for my responses.

biggles said:
If you are on a budget I'd downgrade the cpu to a 4690k. You don't need hyperthreading for gaming. Folks will chime in to tell you how stupid I am to say so but it is true. Of course, hyperthreading would help a little in a few games. And if you are into future-proofing I think you are crazy.

The motherboard got 5 stars on newegg, looks good.

Have you tried Windows 8.1 to see if you like the changes? I think it is fine, and faster boot and shutdown matter to me. But some folks hate it.
Click to expand...

I will definitely look into the CPU you mentioned. I am not really on a budget, but I don't want to waste money on things I don't need either.

I have Windows 8.1 on my laptop, and while I don't really like some of the things they did to the interface, I am going to be using this machine for gaming, so I will put up with the annoyances.

Comixbooks said:
I would ditch the pro SSD get a 500 gig EVO or crucial SSD you won't notice loads time =)
Get a HGST HDD instead of WD less failure rate
Then get a more modern case corsair or coolermaster or even a good Raidmax =)
Click to expand...

I am going to be looking for a different case and also based on your suggestion, I am thinking about getting this SSD -

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148820

What do you think?

Dangman said:
1) That motherboard is a good motherboard but not really worth it unless you're doing some heavy overclocking, planning a multi-GPU setup, and/or plan on using most of its features. If you want an alternative motherboard recommendation, please answer the following questions:
A) Will you be overclocking?
B) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video? UEFI? etc.

2) WIndows 8.1 as it has some under-the-hood performance tweaks that makes it slightly faster in games than in Windows 7.

As for the rest of the PC:
C) What PSU and GPU will you be using?

That RAM is definitely overpriced since current Intel platforms don't show a noticeable performance increase in games. Go with this cheaper RAM as you won't notice a difference between DDR3-2400 and DDR3 1600:
$153 - Crucial BLS2CP8G3D1609DS1S00 Ballistix Sport 2 x 8GB DDR3 1600 RAM

The case is a definite bad choice. There are far far better cases for the money out there:
$63 - Corsair Graphite Series 230T Black ATX Case
$70 - Corsair Graphite Series 230T Black w/ Window ATX Case
$100 - Antec 1100 V2 ATX Case
$100 - Corsair Vengeance Series C70 Arctic White ATX Case
$100 - Phanteks “Enthoo Pro Series“ Black ATX Case
$110 - Corsair Vengeance Series C70 Gunmetal Black ATX Case
$115 - Corsair Carbide Series 500R ATX Case
$116 - Thermaltake Chaser A71 Full Tower ATX Case
$120 - Corsair Graphite Series 730T ATX Case
$120 - Corsair Obsidian Series 450D ATX Case
$120 - NZXT Phantom PHAN-001BK Black Full Tower ATX Case
$120 - NZXT Phantom PHAN-001WT White Full Tower ATX Case
$133 - NZXT Phantom 530 Black Full Tower ATX Case
$130 - Corsair Graphite Series 600TM ATX Case
$140 - Corsair Obsidian Series 750D ATX Case
$150 - Corsair Obsidian Series 650D ATX Case
$152 - Corsair Special Edition White Graphite Series 600T ATX Case
$150 - NZXT Phantom 630 White Windowed Full Tower ATX Case
$158 - NZXT Phantom 630 Gunmetal Full Tower ATX Case
$170 - Thermaltake Urban T81 Full Tower ATX Case
$190 - Corsair Graphite Series 760T ATX Case
197 - Corsair Graphite Black ATX Full Tower 780T
208 - Corsair Graphite White ATX Full Tower 780T
$240 - Silverstone FT02B-USB3.0 ATX Case
Click to expand...

Here are the answers to your questions -

A) Will you be overclocking?
No.

B) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video? UEFI? etc.

SLI, USB 3.0, Sata 6GB/s are the things I care about the most. I can put up with the lack of the rest of the features if there is a motherboard that is better priced.

C) What PSU and GPU will you be using?

GPU - I bought a EVGA GeForce GTX 980 yesterday. So that's going to be the GPU for this machine. Until I have it complete, I will be using the GPU in my current machine.

PSU - I have a Corsair 850W PSU in my current machine I will be using. I am going to be downgrading my current machine down to a corsair 500W.

As for case, I am thinking about this one -

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00EUY58OA/?tag=extension-kb-20&tag=hardfocom-20

Would you recommend that over the Antec I selected?

justinjk said:
Some benchmarks comparing gaming on Win 7 and Win 8 at 2:40 in this video.

Win 8 uses less RAM, and is also faster than Win 7 at some tasks when it utilizes hardware acceleration: http://www.hardocp.com/news/2012/07/24/hardware_accelerating_everything_windows_8_graphics
Click to expand...

Thanks, I will check out the video!
 
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schmuckley said:
You really don't need that heavy-duty of a motherboard for air/water clocking.
This one would do just fine: http://pcpartpicker.com/search/?cc=us&q=biostar+z97

It's been said you don't need Hyperthreading for gaming..and you don't..
but that extra MB of cache does help a little..your decision there.

I see 0 PSUs...

RAM..not bad :)

Cooler..eh..There's better coolers than that for same or less..
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/silenx-cpu-cooler-efz120ha5
Click to expand...

Thank you for your suggestion. I will take a look at the motherboard.

I already have a PSU that I can use.

I am thinking about this RAM instead of the GSkill. Its cheaper, and I've been told that there isn't a whole lot of difference between them -

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006EWUO22...=UTF8&colid=YOECWNJZU9L7&coliid=IFCLQFHILPX94

Any thoughts on this?
 
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Go with the Gskill or get low profile Corsair otherwise the Head spreaders will be in the way of your 212 EVO cpu cooler.

Faster Ram doesn't do anything for gaming really watched a few videos on it for DDR3 anyway. You could get away with 1600 Ram and get good results.
 
PatchRowcester said:
I have Windows 8.1 on my laptop, and while I don't really like some of the things they did to the interface, I am going to be using this machine for gaming, so I will put up with the annoyances.
Click to expand...

ClassicShell is a free program to bring back the start menu on Win 8 --- it's a must have for Win 8, imo. Once you have classicshell, there's only a few small things that I'm not sure if you can change --- like when you put in an SD Card and windows asks "would you like to import the pictures from the card to your computer", it seems to launch metro interface and I haven't found a way to get the 'desktop version' of that.
 
There is nothing wrong with the Antec case you originally picked. But I would pick the Corsair you linked from amazon since it has usb 3.0 ports on the front of it, the Antec does not. Also, I am a big fan of Corsair products. That Corsair case got great a great review here at Hardocp as well.

Someone commented on getting a better aftermarket cooler. I am not a fan of Cooler Master. But if you are not into major overclocking the Hyper 212 is perfectly fine.
 
PatchRowcester said:
A) Will you be overclocking?
No.
Click to expand...
In that case, unless you live near a Microcenter or there is a super awesome deal, there is no reason for you to get any K series CPU. If you're planning playing heavily multi-threaded games like BF4 or Arma 3 and want to splurge a bit, then go for the Core i7 4790. Otherwise, the regular Core i5 4590 is all that you need for gaming.


PatchRowcester said:
SLI, USB 3.0, Sata 6GB/s are the things I care about the most. I can put up with the lack of the rest of the features if there is a motherboard that is better priced.
Click to expand...
Go with either of these motherboards:
$132 - AsRock Fatal1ty Z97X Killer Intel Z97 Motherboard
$140 - Asus Z97-A Intel Z97 Motherboard

Though if you drop your SLI requirement, you can save even more money:
$88 - Gigabyte GA-H97M-D3H Intel H97M mATX Motherboard


PatchRowcester said:
PSU - I have a Corsair 850W PSU in my current machine I will be using. I am going to be downgrading my current machine down to a corsair 500W.
Click to expand...
Which Corsair 850W and 500W PSUs are you talking about? Not all Corsair PSUs are actually good. They've been going downhill lately in that regard.

PatchRowcester said:
As for case, I am thinking about this one -

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00EUY58OA/?tag=extension-kb-20&tag=hardfocom-20

Would you recommend that over the Antec I selected?
Click to expand...
Yup. I would only recommend that Antec if it was like $10 before any rebate. It's a pretty shitty case by today's standards for reasons I shall detail later below.

PatchRowcester said:
I am thinking about this RAM instead of the GSkill. Its cheaper, and I've been told that there isn't a whole lot of difference between them -

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006EWUO22...=UTF8&colid=YOECWNJZU9L7&coliid=IFCLQFHILPX94

Any thoughts on this?
Click to expand...
As Comixbooks said, the tall heatsinks on that RAM will interfere with the installation of the Hyper 212 Evo. Stick with the Crucial RAM I linked to earlier.

biggles said:
There is nothing wrong with the Antec case you originally picked. But I would pick the Corsair you linked from amazon since it has usb 3.0 ports on the front of it, the Antec does not. Also, I am a big fan of Corsair products. That Corsair case got great a great review here at Hardocp as well.
Click to expand...
There were a ton of things wrong with that Antec:
1) Cramped interior
2) Virtually no cable management features
3) Virtually no space behind the motherboard tray to hide cables even if it did have the cable management features.
4) No front-panel USB 3.0 port
5) No ventilated expansion slot covers
6) No tool less hard drive or DVD drive bays.

All that and it was going to cost $73 shipped for it. Compare that to the Corsair 230T which doesn't have ANY of the issues that the ANtec 300 Illusion has that I mentioned and costs $23 less. So yeah, there's a lot wrong with that Antec. If you were buying a case in 2005, yes that case was the bee's knees. But in 2014? No, no good reason to get that case unless it was like $10.
 
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PatchRowcester said:
Thank you for your suggestion. I will take a look at the motherboard.

I already have a PSU that I can use.

I am thinking about this RAM instead of the GSkill. Its cheaper, and I've been told that there isn't a whole lot of difference between them -

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006EWUO22...=UTF8&colid=YOECWNJZU9L7&coliid=IFCLQFHILPX94

Any thoughts on this?
Click to expand...

CAS 10 @ 1600
puke5.gif


I hope it tightens up..a LOT.
I'm thinking that's MFR IC so it probably won't.
8GB is plenty RAM.
You're getting Haswell,which will run RAM as fast as the RAM will go...1600Mhz ..that's so 2009 :D
I run 2666 strap daily on Haswell..with a Pentium even.
@ CAS10
+ I could run 16 GB (4 sticks) but I don't because it's not necessary.
Save some money,get better RAM.. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...231587&cm_re=trident_x-_-20-231-587-_-Product
When the RAM is running 1000Mhz higher @ the same timings..It makes a difference.
^That RAM will run 7-8-8-20-74 @ 1600
 
Last edited:
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