• Some users have recently had their accounts hijacked. It seems that the now defunct EVGA forums might have compromised your password there and seems many are using the same PW here. We would suggest you UPDATE YOUR PASSWORD and TURN ON 2FA for your account here to further secure it. None of the compromised accounts had 2FA turned on.
    Once you have enabled 2FA, your account will be updated soon to show a badge, letting other members know that you use 2FA to protect your account. This should be beneficial for everyone that uses FSFT.

Need advice on a compact gamming PC

J

jaymo3141

n00b
Joined
Sep 19, 2013
Messages
7
Saw a video for this build. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iu2XRkqsQJE

what do you guys think? I'm looking for something compact with decent performance for gaming.

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1Pk6S
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1Pk6S/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1Pk6S/benchmarks/

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($199.99 @ Microcenter)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H60 54.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($49.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: Asus GRYPHON Z87 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($162.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Kingston HyperX Blu 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1333 Memory ($72.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Kingston SSDNow V300 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($89.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital WD Green 2TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($88.94 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 770 2GB Video Card ($332.49 @ Mwave)
Case: BitFenix Phenom M Midnight Black MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($96.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: SeaSonic 750W 80 PLUS Gold Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($156.66 @ Newegg)
Monitor: Asus VG248QE 144Hz 24.0" Monitor ($266.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $1518.01
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-11-01 23:44 EDT-0400)
 
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1WcmG

Upgrade to Asus Gene, you get wifi+bt and a better board imo. Worth the extra $30 and looks better.
Memory changed to G.skill to match.
SSD change to samsung 840 evo 250gb, 120 is just way too little
HD changed to faster seagate 2tb
Video card change to MSI GTX 770 gaming edition, it's also red to match
PSU changed to 550W gaming series still gold cert, NCIX only gives you a larger one in case you want to crossfire. GTX770 is plenty for a single monitor.

Total: $1562.99

As for a monitor some say that 144Hz helps with fps games, people say they can see a difference some can't. I personally don't think its worth the premium but I don't follow monitors to give my opinion.
 
do you know if the GPU will cool sufficiently with the dual fan configuration. I've heard that the cards with the rear exhaust are ideal for small cases.
 
The case isn't that small it will be fine. Less worry since your going with H60 that will not have the cpu dump hot air in the case.
 
Are you planning on overclocking? If not planning on overclocking, I see two items on liangr's improved list that needs to be changed.
 
yeah i plan on overclocking or at least trying it. i've never done it before. I'm ordering it tonight. i've looked long enough. I just wanted to make sure i wasn't making any crazy mistakes. I upgraded the SSD to 250gb, upgraded the ram to 1600, and the HDD to 7200 from my previous list, but pretty much kept everything else. i dont really see a reason to spend the extra 30 on the motherboard. is it really worth it?
 
jaymo3141 said:
yeah i plan on overclocking or at least trying it. i've never done it before. I'm ordering it tonight. i've looked long enough. I just wanted to make sure i wasn't making any crazy mistakes. I upgraded the SSD to 250gb from my previous list, but pretty much kept everything else. i dont really see a reason to spend the extra 30 on the motherboard. is it really worth it?
Click to expand...
Yes. The quality difference is that much better to justify the extra $30.

I highly recommend going with most of liangr's recommended changes. I don't see good reasons to go against his/her's recommendations. The only recommendation I don't like is the RAM: I recommend going with a single stick of 8GB of RAM to maximize RAM upgrade capability in the future:
$76 - Crucial Ballistix BLS8G3D1609ES2LX0 8GB DDR3 1600 RAM

Other than that, go with liangr's recommendations, especially for the SSD and motherboard.
 
As an Amazon Associate, HardForum may earn from qualifying purchases.
what about the video card? is there really a difference between the one i had an the one he recommended? or is it just color to match?
 
MSI's Twin Frozr cards are generally regarded as very quiet. With that said, go with whatever company you're most comfortable with.
 
Dangman said:
The only recommendation I don't like is the RAM: I recommend going with a single stick of 8GB of RAM to maximize RAM upgrade capability in the future:
$76 - Crucial Ballistix BLS8G3D1609ES2LX0 8GB DDR3 1600 RAM
Click to expand...

I think 2x4GB RAM is fine for now, but if single 8GB sticks are to be recommended, I'd go with this stuff:

Crucial Ballistix Tactical 8GB
DDR3-1600
CAS 8
1.35v
ultra low profile
$55.24 shipped with promo code EMCWWXW232, ends 11/7
 
As an Amazon Associate, HardForum may earn from qualifying purchases.
8gb is plenty for gaming for years to come. The next time you upgrade it will most likely be DDR4 being mainstream. This means DDR3 stick maybe discontinued and you will not find a matching pair.

You will also take a performance hit, although slightly in normal use you might notice in load times during games for single vs dual channel.

And of course, you are using an matx board where you already have 2 more slots. I don't see any gaming rig needing more than 16gb if even go down that route.
 
Zap said:
I think 2x4GB RAM is fine for now, but if single 8GB sticks are to be recommended, I'd go with this stuff:

Crucial Ballistix Tactical 8GB
DDR3-1600
CAS 8
1.35v
ultra low profile
$55.24 shipped with promo code EMCWWXW232, ends 11/7
Click to expand...
Great deal on RAM!
liangr said:
8gb is plenty for gaming for years to come.
Click to expand...
Not ncessarily true. During the BF4 beta, HardOCP saw smoother gameplay with 16GB of RAM VS 8GB of RAM:
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2013/10/10/battlefield_4_beta_performance_preview/

Hasn't been confirmed with the actual main game yet but I'd rather err on the side of caution.

liangr said:
The next time you upgrade it will most likely be DDR4 being mainstream. This means DDR3 stick maybe discontinued and you will not find a matching pair.
Click to expand...
He can get two of the Crucial RAM that Zap linked (assuming it's still in stock and that deal still applies) and he should be ok for RAM.
liangr said:
You will also take a performance hit, although slightly in normal use you might notice in load times during games for single vs dual channel.
Click to expand...
I highly doubt you'll notice the difference between dual-channel and single channel performance.
liangr said:
And of course, you are using an matx board where you already have 2 more slots. I don't see any gaming rig needing more than 16gb if even go down that route.
Click to expand...
True but again, I'd rather err on the side of caution. I can tell you that I've said "oh 2GB of RAM is fine" or "4GB of RAM is fine" thousands of times in the past with past gaming PCs. Yet everytime, I get proven wrong with the increasing memory usage. So I'd rather err on the side of caution and aim for maximum RAM upgrade capability.
 
Just a correction I thought the Gene had wifi/bt card and it doesn't. It has the option for it though.
 
Quartz-1 said:
That's not especially compact. If you want compact, get a Shuttle, get a GPU with a blower fan, and get a Asetek 92mm water cooling kit.
Click to expand...

I second this. I love my shuttle with 32GB of RAM in such a small case.
 
Is there a reason you prefer ATX to ITX? Granted, I'm not as experienced as, well, everyone else here, and it sounds like you may have already settled on your purchases, but if you really want compact, you may want to consider some of the smaller ITX cases.
 
I have a gtx780 and a corsair h80 crammed into a sg07. Dunno why if you want tiny you wouldn't just go ITX
 
Dangman said:
Not ncessarily true. During the BF4 beta, HardOCP saw smoother gameplay with 16GB of RAM VS 8GB of RAM:
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2013/10/10/battlefield_4_beta_performance_preview/

Hasn't been confirmed with the actual main game yet but I'd rather err on the side of caution.
Click to expand...

Others have pointed out that the ever climbing memory usage is an indication of a memory leak.

BTW prepare yourself for a huge BF4 patch coming up. As is usual for a Battlefield game, it is shipped broken and will require a multi-GB patch.
 
Zap said:
Others have pointed out that the ever climbing memory usage is an indication of a memory leak.

BTW prepare yourself for a huge BF4 patch coming up. As is usual for a Battlefield game, it is shipped broken and will require a multi-GB patch.
Click to expand...
I'd rather err on the side of caution for now and recommend 16GB of RAM whenever possible. Especially considering that DDR3 RAM prices aren't going to go back down.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top