Holiday Gaming, Media Rig

[cinohpa]

Hi all,

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc


I do two main things with computers--games in windows and programming work in linux. I currently have one computer for both of these and I hate dual booting for various reasons. I am going to keep my current build for programming and linux stuff and build a dedicated windows build for games, media, etc.


This will be a gaming, media pc. It will spend most of its time in my living room on a 60in tv used to play movies/tv on my home theater system. I know smart tvs have lots of great aps these days, but I prefer the flexibility of having a separate machine. I like replaying old console games on emulators--ps2, gamecube, n64, etc and so I'd like to be able to switch between tasks without changing devices.

I will also play newer games. AC4, Far Cry 3, Deus Ex: HR, Batman, DMC, etc. The console ports will probably be good on a big screen but for most of these they will be better on a computer screen. I also have a 27in monitor which I will use this machine for desktop gaming on.

I will also use this computer for my home audio set up. I have a good receiver/speaker set up and I want to be able to take advantage of this for my higher quality classical music. I don't know if I need a sound card to bring out that potential or if a good motherboard will be enough.


2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?


I have a sample amazon part list which comes to about 700 before tax. I am OK spending this or a little more, but wouldn't mind saving if possible. I am going to take the gtx 780 from my current build and use it in this rig so I can already save the cost of the graphics card.


3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.

San Francisco.


4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.

PSU, mobo, cpu, ram, case, ssd, wireless card, soundcard?


5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.


GTX 780.


6) Will you be overclocking?
No.


7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?


The tv is at 1080p and the monitor is 1440p.


8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?


I will order parts over the weekend or next week.


9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video (as a backup or main GPU)? UEFI? etc.
One feature my msi board has that I really like is a spdif port and the gigabyte mobo I have does not. I imagine this gives better sound quality to my receiver than the analog output on my gigabyte mobo would.

Would hdmi audio passthrough be similar quality or should I consider a different motherboard or a sound card?


10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If so, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?


Yes. 64bit. Windows 7 Pro.


Final part list:

1. SeaSonic G Series 550-Watt ATX12V/EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply SSR-550RM
2. ASRock LGA1150/Intel H87/DDR3/Quad CrossFireX/SATA3 and USB 3.0/A&GbE/MicroATX Motherboard H87M PRO4
3. Intel Core i5-4570 Quad-Core Desktop Processor 3.2 GHZ 6MB Cache- BX80646I54570
4. Crucial Ballistix Sport Very Low Profile 8GB Single DDR3-1600 1.35V UDIMM 240-Pin Memory Module BLS8G3D1609ES2LX
5. Fractal Design Define R4 Cases, Arctic White (FD-CA-DEF-R4-WH-W)
6. Samsung Electronics 840 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5-Inch SATA III Single Unit Version Internal Solid State Drive MZ-7TE250BW


Some notes:

I still need a wireless card.

I'm not a total corsair fanboy but I want a modular psu.

I have an msi Z87M-g43 and I am happy with it but I want something different just to see what is out there. I have had gigabyte in the past and have been happy with it. I don't see any comments about it and nvidia cards, where as it is stated to support amd crossfire--is this not a good board for nvidia cards? I'm open to other boards, just not the msi board I have for the reasons I mentioned above.

My only constraint for the cpu is something that won't be a bottleneck in games. Any other suggestions are fine although I don't really like amd cpus. It seems the i5-4570 is getting recommended a lot so I would step up to that if anyone tips a recommendation that way.

No attachment to the ram. Would switch for something with a better deal.

I do kind of want to try a fractal case. I have a silverstone tek case and I don't really like it. The internal design is very clumsy which makes it hard to swap parts and the case is very loud. I want something quieter that feels more well thought out. I've seen reviews commenting as much so figure it is worth a shot. Other suggestions for pretty cases that are quiet and well laid out are welcome.

I went with the evo over the pro because it seemed cheaper. The only reason I want an ssd as opposed to a hdd is because I have an hdd for my windows build currently and I have some serious problems with it. I have a super fast internet connection (sustained dl speeds > 10MB/s) and my os seems to freak out (computer gets very slow even though it is fine playing games at 1440p with max settings) when I download new games on steam. I guess this has something to do with the hdd not being able to handle sustained high write speeds? I think this will be enough space for me. Most the games I will keep on this are tiny console roms. I can always remove steam games from my library when I am not using them to save space. Also, maybe the hdd in my other machine is broken. If other people think I shouldn't have this problem let me know.

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Edit: I bout the asrock pro4 m per Dangman's recommendation. I got the last one on amazon and the price jumped $30!
Edit: Also grabbed the windowed case and 2 140 mm fans from newegg. Saved another ~30 on the case.

 

[Dangman]

Wait, you're planning to game on a wireless connection?

What are the specs of your current PC?

Yes I would recommend getting the Core i5 4570 if possible. However, I cannot recommend any budget Gigabyte motherboard for the LGA 1150 platform since their behavior is a lot more quirkier than their MSI or Asus counterparts. For budget LGA 1150, I actually tend to recommend MSI a lot. Since you don't want MSI this time around, check out the AsRock PRO4-M.

As for the case, the Fractal Design R4 is a solid case but I don't recommend getting it form Amazon.com since they're way overpriced there. So Newegg is your best bet. However, I don't recommend the windowed version unless you can add two more 140mm fans to the case right away: one 140mm for the front as an intake and one 140mm for the top as a exhaust. This will allow for the most optimal cooling for your case and that GTX 780 of yours. With the non-windowed version, you can just add a 120mm fan as an intake of the side panel and you would be pretty much set there in terms of cooling.

 

[cinohpa]

I don't play any online games and I get >10MB/s dls on wireless so I don't see the problem with gaming on wireless.

Current pc: 32gb of the ballstix ram, intel 4770k, msi Z87M-g43, gtx 780, samsung 840 pro ssd, and seagate barracuda 2tb drive. I have a beefy corsair ax750 psu.. I know it's overkill but the 550 watt psu I had failed and it was the only replacement I could find on short notice. Also it is fully modular which I love. I would have been in trouble with my case otherwise.

I will follow your advice about the case. I like the mobo you suggest. It even has a digital audio port. Would you recommend the same msi mobo I had if I were to go the msi route?

 

[Dangman]

I don't play any online games and I get >10MB/s dls on wireless so I don't see the problem with gaming on wireless.

Sorry, thought you were planning on playing multiplayer games on wireless. Not a good idea even if you had 50MB/s DLs due to the inherent nature of wireless internet connections that makes them less than ideal for online gaming. But since you're planning on playing single player games, it's all cool.

Current pc: 32gb of the ballstix ram, intel 4770k, msi Z87M-g43, gtx 780, samsung 840 pro ssd, and seagate barracuda 2tb drive. I have a beefy corsair ax750 psu.. I know it's overkill but the 550 watt psu I had failed and it was the only replacement I could find on short notice. Also it is fully modular which I love. I would have been in trouble with my case otherwise.

Then you definitely want to get the Core i5 4570 since it's a lot closer to the 4770K's gaming performance than the 3350P is.

Would you recommend the same msi mobo I had if I were to go the msi route?

Yup.

 

[cinohpa]

Any thoughts about the samsung evo vs the pro?

 

[Dangman]

Any thoughts about the samsung evo vs the pro?

If you can't afford the Pro, then the Evo is a good alternative. I myself just bought the Samsung 250GB Evo this past BF.

 

[horrorshow]

If you can't afford the Pro, then the Evo is a good alternative. I myself just bought the Samsung 250GB Evo this past BF.

If the EVO model existed when I invested in said upgrade, I would have. But, mid-May, 840 Pro seemed the way to go etc

So yes, buy the EVO.

 

[cinohpa]

Thanks all. I bought everything and I'll post back with a final part list when I'm not on mobile.

I went with the evo ssd and iim going to try the seasonic g series psu 550w again. As I mentioned I had bad luck with one and had to return it. After comparing reviews it really seems like it should be a much better psu than the corsair and my bad experiences were hopefully not a normal experience.

 

[cinohpa]

Overall very happy with this build. It was much smoother than the previous build I did. I actually transplanted my current build into the case I got and put my new build in the Silverstone Tek TJ08B-E that I had.

Where before I had problems fitting everything in the silverstone case, the simplicity of this build made it pretty painless. I took everything unnecessary out of the case--hdd chasis, ssd case/secondary hdd chasis and I didn't use any peripherals--optical drives extra hdd, etc. It was a good decision as I am not much happier with the case than I was before.

I think putting everything on the SSD also solved my problem of windows freaking out under fast dl speeds. I haven't noticed this problem while downloading steam games, so I think it helped.

Overall a pretty painless build. I was able to install windows from a usb stick with no problems. The msi board Dangman and I mentioned had some weird idiosyncrasies with booting off of usb and using usb2.0 vs usb3.0 but I didn't notice any such problems with this build and the asrock mobo.

The fractal case is QUIET. I can barely hear it sitting next to it although the fans that Dangman recommended did make it a little louder. In contrast I can here the silverstone case from the next room over. The quieter case fitts my office build as I use it for work and as a media server so it is on constantly while the louder case is fine because I only use that rig for games and media and have no reason not to turn it off when I'm not using it.

Thanks [H]ardforum.

 

[Dangman]

Good to hear the build went well!