New Computer Build

My Gaming PC decided it was going to die early this spring. As of now, both my husband and I are operating off of his slower computer. He is fine with this as he plays a slower, more cerebral type of video game.

I, however, tend to a bit more aggressive in my gaming, and I am really starting to jones for some more active fare. I need to get my computer put back together. However, my comp consists of a monitor and an old optic drive that may or may not have survived since we bought the old VPR Matrix from BestBuy (that may give you some idea how old the case is and why it's getting replaced). Anything else that was working in my machine was cannibalized to get our one PC back up and running.

So, I have been musing over a possible new build.

What I want: Something that will be, not top of the line, but solid mid to upper mid, and hopefully with so many games being designed first for console, I can coast for a long time without having to do heavy upgrades.

For the time being, we're operating Win 7 until forced to do otherwise.

Here's my first list of parts from Partpicker. Any insight or suggestions would be helpful.

For example, I know that SSD is best for gaming, but should I put in a HD to put things on too? I use my PC for more than just gaming. However, we also have an in-house Cloud storage server for backup purposes. So, would the in-system HD be necessary?

a reply to: ketsuko

I don't know how much help I'd be, but I used to do some marketing work for a company that makes water-cooling systems for gaming PCs. Water-cooling. Cripes. There are parents who give their teenagers carte blanche to build PCs, overclock the crap out of them til they have to be water-cooled. They think nothing of dropping five grand on a gaming rig.

a reply to: HighDesertPatriot

I don't have carte blanche to spend. I wish I did. If I did, I'd buy a package PC and not bother with building my own.



As it is, this is costing more than I'd like since we're likely having to buy it one piece at a time. So I MIGHT get to fire it up sometime next year and half these parts might morph into their next more powerful cousins.

a reply to: ketsuko
Looks pretty good Kets. If you can go it. I would suggest a 480-512gb SSD. You'll be glad you did later. And a 1-2 TB WD Black as an internal backup drive.

Microsoft is going to support Win 7 for another 3-5 years. So you're good there, if that's what you like.

Might I also suggest a frill? Make the keyboard backlit. Never thought I had a need for one, till I bought one. Lol.

Oops. Just saw the black in the list already.

a reply to: Klassified

Huh, I thought the Logitech was. Maybe I read it wrong. I've been on their backlit gaming boards for a long time now. I like it and my husband hates it. He's got my old gaming one. He likes the all extra programmable keys, and I hardly use them. I figured the board I picked as a possibility didn't have all the extra programmables but was still backlit ... good compromise.

At any rate, last time we were at MicroCenter, there was one Logitech that was close to what I want and backlit without the extra sea of blank keys on the left.

I would drop the keyboard, mouse, and speakers and cannibalize those. That would free up some cash to bump up your processor a bit. Possibly to an i7 4790k. If you want to "future proof" a bit, splurge on an i7 5820k if you're able to go over budget.

The only other thing I would suggest is water cooling your cpu. You can get a closed loop water cooler for under $100. Dropping the keyboard and mouse would allow you to do that and still stay under your budget for that build.

But as is, that's a pretty good build.

a reply to: ketsuko
I didn't see it listed as backlit, but it could be me. You'll like what you build yourself better anyway. You know what's in it, and you don't have to deal with proprietary nonsense.

originally posted by: EternalSolace
I would drop the keyboard, mouse, and speakers and cannibalize those. That would free up some cash to bump up your processor a bit. Possibly to an i7 4790k. If you want to "future proof" a bit, splurge on an i7 5820k if you're able to go over budget.

The only other thing I would suggest is water cooling your cpu. You can get a closed loop water cooler for under $100. Dropping the keyboard and mouse would allow you to do that and still stay under your budget for that build.

But as is, that's a pretty good build.

You're making me feel like Tim Taylor, "More Power!"

And my husband will have a thrill trying to figure out how to install it all.

originally posted by: EternalSolace
I would drop the keyboard, mouse, and speakers and cannibalize those. That would free up some cash to bump up your processor a bit. Possibly to an i7 4790k. If you want to "future proof" a bit, splurge on an i7 5820k if you're able to go over budget.

The only other thing I would suggest is water cooling your cpu. You can get a closed loop water cooler for under $100. Dropping the keyboard and mouse would allow you to do that and still stay under your budget for that build.

But as is, that's a pretty good build.

Interesting you'd mention that. A friend of mine is water cooled, and my air cooled system runs cooler than his. Not sure what he's done wrong, but that should not be.

a reply to: ketsuko

If you can afford it go with a 1000w power supply, it pays later for more upgrades and they last a long time.
I agree with the backlit key board I am on my second one and I am hooked.
Nice looking system your planning to build, have fun with it.

Regards, Iwinder

I also wanted to point out that for gaming, a SSD will only improve load times. It doesn't grant a FPS boost or the actual performance of a game. For instance, if Battlefield 4 is installed on a SSD, you'll get into the game 30-40 seconds quicker than someone who has it installed to a hdd. Or another example, Skyrim. You'll load and change areas quicker than someone who has it installed on a hdd. That's about the only advantage to installing games on a SSD. I suggest only using your SSD for the OS and antivirus and like stuff. My SSD is 128gig and I have a 4tb hdd. The only thing the SSD is used for is The OS and system tools (anti-virus, nvidiA tools, etc).

a reply to: ketsuko

Some great parts there, but you could save some money.

16 GB for a gaming computer is overkill right now unless you plan on doing alot of video/photo editing. Also, unless you play the latest and greatest games, you'll probably never come close to using 8 GB. You could always save some money and get 8 GB now, and then throw in 8 more GB in the future if it's ever needed.

The 250 GB SSD is way overkill unless you plan on storing games on it. Games don't run faster off of SSD's, they just load faster. The less-expensive and better route would be to get a 120 GB SSD for Windows and all other apps (messengers, anti-virus, music programs, etc.), then use the Western Digital for games, music, etc.

On the note of the Western Digital hard drive, if you're going to use it for games, then getting the Western Digital Blue 1TB (1TB ONLY!!!) is actually faster than the Black, and also cheaper.

Blu-ray burner. If you don't plan on burning Blu-ray discs, that is overkill as well. A CD/DVD writer is very inexpensive nowadays. ~$20-$30-ish.


Also, try to get as many parts from Amazon as possible as I've found Amazon to be the cheapest out of everyone for just about everything. Plus with Prime = free delivery and even less cost (if you have Prime).

edit on 21-10-2015 by _BoneZ_ because: (no reason given)

That's not a bad build as it sits, imo. I wonder if you could make some trade-offs. I'm thinking you could get a better video card, like a 980 and not go with an ssd. The reason I say this is that I did a test between my SSD and my HDD to measure what the difference was. I did the exact same thing on SWTOR first with the game installed on my SSD, and secondly with the same game on my HDD. Everything else, i.e.: the rig itself, was the same.

I attempted to measure the difference between Drive C: the HDD and the SSD. It's a little difficult to tell just when the hard drive is accessed, but in this game it always goes to disk to retrieve new pieces when you change major areas in the game, such as between planets. Here there is a noticeable delay as it loads in new stuff, including a "Please wait here" splash screen. I carefully noted how much time it took for each transition, and in 4 1/2 hours of game play the difference was 2 minutes, 20 seconds.

Now YMMV, of course, and I did not have the OS on the SSD. Mine's and older, smaller, and likely slower SSD because the rig is from 2012 (an expensive Alienware laptop), but still, it showed me that the advantage in game of an SSD is overrated. In an ideal world you would get both, but you could dump the SSD in favor of a more expensive GPU.

Also, you might want to get an issue of "PC Gamer" magazine and take a look at what they say. Every month they have "Good - Better - Best" builds at the end of the mag.

a reply to: Klassified

I'd venture to guess it's all in fan placement and application of thermal paste. That is strange that you're running cooler than your friend though. I can only think of a few reasons off the top of my head why that'd be.

a reply to: EternalSolace

Then there is no truth to the rumors that were running around that the eternal DRM handshaking some games do will tend to damage parts of a HD?

I'm a patient person and load times do not bother me. Lag does.

Not bad...however...if I might add a slight change...if you want it to last for a bit I'd spend a couple bucks and replace the MB and RAM in the build to DDR4.

Just a couple quick examples that would work with the rest of your build:
16gb(8x2) DDR4 - $88

Gigabyte Motherboard with DDR4 - $100
or
Asus Motherboard with DDR4 - $138

Of course you can get better versions of these especially with the ram and voltage/cas lat but it'll cost you and you said you're on a budget. I was thinking maybe you start with something like I linked and then when DDR4 drops a bit more in price you could do an upgrade to some premium sticks at some point.

Just my 2 cents. Good luck with your rig Kets!

originally posted by: EternalSolace
a reply to: Klassified

I'd venture to guess it's all in fan placement and application of thermal paste. That is strange that you're running cooler than your friend though. I can only think of a few reasons off the top of my head why that'd be.

I've not opened his rig yet, but I'm thinking of doing so, because I'm curious as hell about it.

originally posted by: EternalSolace
a reply to: Klassified

I'd venture to guess it's all in fan placement and application of thermal paste. That is strange that you're running cooler than your friend though. I can only think of a few reasons off the top of my head why that'd be.

Maybe the friend is overclocking like crazy, perhaps his pump flow rate or radiator is not adequate. I

You seem to know what you're doing Kets. I'm gonna bow out now, and not add any more to the myriad of opinions you're going to get. I need to get back to work any way. This poor lady fell for the phone scam, and they screwed up her computer royally. 3rd call this month like that.

a reply to: ketsuko

I'm of the mindset it's a hoax but I can't offer any firsthand insight into that topic. I can say that there's a lot of people that have it out for DRM. If there is any truth to it, DRM will be MUCH worse for an SSD due to its constant read/write than for a hdd.