Been saving for a decent gaming computer.PLS PLS tell me if this is a good kit!

[Zashera]

I NEED your help!

We have saved a bit to get/build a decent gaming computers. Hubby is about to order 2 of these computer kits from NewEgg and we will attempt our first two builds. I would be ETERNALLY GRATEFUL if I could get some opinions from folks who know what's what! We want a "dolphin" build equiv.. We are looking for a good middle of the road or a smidge better that can handle 1080p WITH EASE and light home office stuff. Not gonna OC or anything either. We play Wow and want to try some of the newer games out there. I like the idea of premade "kit" because if we have any compatibility issues we will get stuck big time! Lol


>> KIT FOUND ON NEWEGG /Product/ComboBundleDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.2252730 >> $658 <<



*AMD FX-8320 Vishera 8-Core 3.5GHz (4.0GHz Turbo) Socket AM3+ 125W FD8320FRHKBOX Desktop Processor

*ASUS M5A97 LE R2.0 AM3+ AMD 970 + SB950 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard with UEFI BIOS

*HyperX Fury Series 8GB 240-Pin DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model HX316C10F/8 (Model:HX316C100F/8)

*Western Digital Blue WD10EZEX 1TB 7200 PRM 64MB CAche SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive Bare Drive (Model:WD10EZEX)

*EVGA 02G-P4-2966-KR GeForce GTX 960 Gaming 2GB 128-Bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 HDCP Readyy SLI Support SuperSC ACX 2.0 Video Card (Model:02G-P4-2966-KR)

*OCZ ARC 100 ARC100-25SAT3-120G 2.5" 120GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive

*RAIDMAX RX-735AP 735W ATX 12V v2.3/EPS 12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Cert. Modular Power Supply

*Lepa LPC309(U3) Black ATX Mid Tower Computer Case


This does not include the OS or any peripherals/monitors.


Thank you so much for taking the time to help me!!! Tell me if we are on the right path with this build.

Kul Tiras
Hubby and wife

[Jester Joe]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboB...=Combo.2252730

To help those too lazy to do the link themselves and to see the computer.

[Zashera]

Thank you Jester Joe! It kept telling me I could not link it! lol Imma noob

[Remilia]

I'd personally go with something more along this line.
If you want to add an SSD: http://pcpartpicker.com/part/crucial...ct250bx100ssd1

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-4160 3.6GHz Dual-Core Processor ($109.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock H97 Anniversary ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($71.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($54.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($44.99 @ Best Buy)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 960 2GB Video Card ($193.26 @ Amazon)
Case: NZXT H230 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($58.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $594.20
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-04-05 23:28 EDT-0400

[Rokom]

If the main purpose for these is for WoW, then I would recommend using an Intel CPU. Here's an Intel build I threw together. It costs more, but ~$100 (the OS and optical drive) were things you'd likely need that weren't included in that kit. Also, if you happen to have a Microcenter nearby, they have great deals on CPU/Mobo combos, but you can only get them in store.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-4370 3.8GHz Dual-Core Processor ($159.50 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock H97 Anniversary ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($71.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($54.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial MX100 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($108.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($44.99 @ Best Buy)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 960 2GB Video Card ($209.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Raidmax Helios ATX-819WB ATX Mid Tower Case ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: XFX TS 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($48.98 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-14 DVD/CD Writer ($13.98 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($87.89 @ OutletPC)
Total: $831.29
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-04-05 23:24 EDT-0400

[moremana]

No its not a good build, especially for wow.

Its AMD, single core performance is terrible. Dont let the clock speed and "octocore" fool you.

OCZ SSDs are not a very reliable drive as well.

Both of the ones above linked would be a much better buy.

Any i3 system will be a much better system for the money.

[Lathais]

AMD for WoW is a big no no. Go for an i3-4160 like Remilia suggested. Do not go for the 4370 Rokom suggested. It's $50 more and you will not notice any sort of performance increase by going with it.

[Butler to Baby Sloths]

Also, installing Raidmax power supplies is just asking for a fire to happen.

[JForny]

Why do you guys fanboy intel so hard? It's a great build and you will be happy. Yes intel is awesome, But stop being like THG and instantly fanboy intel.... Suggesting a dual core for new games that REQUIRE quadcores is just negligent on your guys... If you want the AMD go with it, good build. If you want to spend a ridiculous amount of money and then just have to buy another cpu after that i3 is no longer good enough to run games, go with intel.

[Lathais]

Why do you guys fanboy intel so hard? It's a great build and you will be happy. Yes intel is awesome, But stop being like THG and instantly fanboy intel.... Suggesting a dual core for new games that REQUIRE quadcores is just negligent on your guys... If you want the AMD go with it, good build. If you want to spend a ridiculous amount of money and then just have to buy another cpu after that i3 is no longer good enough to run games, go with intel.

What games coming out is an i3 not enough for?

[Kagthul]

Why do you guys fanboy intel so hard? It's a great build and you will be happy. Yes intel is awesome, But stop being like THG and instantly fanboy intel.... Suggesting a dual core for new games that REQUIRE quadcores is just negligent on your guys... If you want the AMD go with it, good build. If you want to spend a ridiculous amount of money and then just have to buy another cpu after that i3 is no longer good enough to run games, go with intel.

Its not fanboying. There are thousands of benchmarks out there that show rather unequivocally that the AMD chips are sub-par performers for the dollar, especially right now. Single-thread performance compared to Intel is awful, and there is pretty much no price point where the Intel solution isn't a better choice.

A fast i3 will run rings around that AMD chip.

As for "games that require quad-core" - would you like to point one out? There were a few (very) poorly ported Ubisoft games that "required" Quad-cores, that once patched by the community to not do this check, ran just fine on i3s and even Pentium Anniversary chips (like, within 5% of quad core i5s and i7s).

Go with AMD if you want to be replacing your chip even sooner than with Intel.

[Butler to Baby Sloths]

Its not fanboying. There are thousands of benchmarks out there that show rather unequivocally that the AMD chips are sub-par performers for the dollar, especially right now. Single-thread performance compared to Intel is awful, and there is pretty much no price point where the Intel solution isn't a better choice.

A fast i3 will run rings around that AMD chip.

As for "games that require quad-core" - would you like to point one out? There were a few (very) poorly ported Ubisoft games that "required" Quad-cores, that once patched by the community to not do this check, ran just fine on i3s and even Pentium Anniversary chips (like, within 5% of quad core i5s and i7s).

Go with AMD if you want to be replacing your chip even sooner than with Intel.

Cities skylines uses all four of my threads equally, pegging them all at about 75% load in a large city. Dunno how AMD would compare though.

That said, when you can properly leverage multiple cores the AMD processors are fairly competitive.

[Kagthul]

That said, when you can properly leverage multiple cores the AMD processors are fairly competitive.

With what, though? dual-core Intel parts without hyperthreading? That's the issue.

The individual performance of those AMD cores is 25-40% lower than Intel cores, clock for clock. A fast i3 with Hyperthreading will compete with a quad-core AMD part and beat it in almost any conceivable situation.

[ovm33]

This is about 80 bucks more and the i5 will spank the AMD in WoW. It's what I would go with. If you're looking to shave a few bucks then drop the SSD. While nice outside of gaming, it will have no real performance gains in gaming.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($214.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: ASRock H97 Anniversary ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($71.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($56.10 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($65.00 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($44.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 960 2GB Video Card ($179.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Thermaltake Commander MS-I ID ATX Mid Tower Case ($32.99 @ Micro Center)
Power Supply: XFX TS 550W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply ($56.08 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NSC0B DVD/CD Writer ($15.98 @ OutletPC)
Total: $738.11
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-04-07 20:42 EDT-0400