Another first Gaming PC Post

[Tavishton]

Hello all,

As the title says, I'm building my first gaming PC. Actually make that first EVER pc build of any type. I currently have a premade alienware x51 that's about 4 years old (yeah yeah, worst thing to do ever but it was my only option at the time...) and am going to try my hand at building. From time to time on the main page I see sample builds for computers ranging from $500 to $1200 and decided that I was going to look at the $700-$800 price range. I took a few minutes and threw together this pcpartpicker build based on the items expressed in that category.

The real question is: Are the parts "good enough"? I know this is vague so let me elaborate on what I plan to do. I currently use two monitors, which the gtx 960 supports, and play mostly everything from Blizzard games, to FPS's like CoD and adventure games such as Fallout. So, pretty much everything that's coming out in the next months etc. I'm not looking to get 1000 frames in League of Legends or have super ultra graphics in the new fallout, but I would like the game to be playable (aka: smooth without stuttering) and at least look nice.

(www).pcpartpicker.com/p/qCDP4D // be sure to remove the (); first post so no url for me.

The only issue I have is I cannot seem to understand if the case has enough room for dual monitor and what the connection type would be (HDMI etc), has enough usb ports, and if everything will fit. While the main page of the website suggested this case, pcpartpicker states... "The NZXT Source 210 Elite (White) ATX Mid Tower Case supports video cards up to 330mm long, but video cards over 230mm may block drive bays. Since the MSI GeForce GTX 960 2GB Video Card is 273mm long, some drive bays may not be usable." This makes me wonder if I should buy a larger case or if it's just one of those "could happen" warnings.

If there are any suggestions or upgrades that could be recommended I would definitely take a look. If everything is set to go I will see about purchasing the parts to get this whole ordeal underway.

[chazus]

1) Since you're playing mostly Blizzard games, switch the setup to an Intel setup. Probably 4690K + Z87/Z97 board.
2) The size situation just means that the top two drive bays -might- not have room, so your hard drive will go in any one of the lower 6 slots.
3) Skip the WD Black drive and get an SSD (Either Crucial BX/MX or Samsung Evo). If you need more room later for music/movies/porn/whatever, just get a WD Blue/Green
4) OS?

[Tavishton]

Hey! Thanks for the reply. I will be running windows 7. Don't really want to upgrade until I know 10 is the way to go. So for 3), your saying a hard drive isn't worth it? OR just get a smaller hard drive and the ssd?

Oh, and I do play lots of non-blizzard games as well, I'm sorry if I made that unclear. Would you still recommend the Intel setup?

Edit: So I should have done some research before asking this question. I see that the speed ranking for the i5 is much, much better and I will get better use out of it. Plus I could have a better upgrade path if I chose to do so in the future. I decided to go with the SSD (since I've never had one and loading instantly into things would be pretty sweet!) and also get a 500gb WD Blue since it was only like $40. Thanks so much chazus for the help. I'll be looking to buy this soon, so if anyone else has any great suggestion please have at me!

[chazus]

The Black is just a meh choice because its noisy/expensive. SSD for OS/Games/Programs + HDD for movies/games.

If you go with the HDD, I'd highly recommend the 1TB WD Blue, it usually runs about $50 and is very quiet (single platter drive)

The Intel setup is just better. flat out. I mentioned Blizzard games simply because a lot of them just straight benefit from the Intel specifically (Like WoW)

[Pterodactylus]

This pushes your budget a bit, but it nets you a 970. You did not say anything about Over-clocking, so I saved some cash with a locked chip and cheaper (but will suit you) mother board.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($172.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Asus H81M-D PLUS Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($49.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Team Elite Plus 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($34.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial BX100 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($79.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($51.88 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 970 4GB STRIX Video Card ($296.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Fractal Design Core 1100 MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12II 520W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($53.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($17.75 @ OutletPC)
Total: $788.46
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-11-07 11:08 EST-0500

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The case is a bit tight for that 970, but it will fit. You just won't be able to stuff your rig to the gills with HDDs.

[Deleted]

I would probably spend a bit more money and go for a B85 mobo

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($172.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-B85M-D3H Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($67.89 @ OutletPC)
Memory: Team Elite Plus 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($34.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial BX100 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($79.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($51.88 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 970 4GB STRIX Video Card ($296.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Fractal Design Core 1100 MicroATX Mini Tower Case ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12II 520W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($53.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($17.75 @ OutletPC)
Total: $806.36
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-11-07 12:10 EST-0500

[Pterodactylus]

I would probably spend a bit more money and go for a B85 mobo

Yeah, a fine idea. Either will suit the need though - I was trying to stay sub 800 without cheapening out too badly!

[Deleted]

The ideal setup, just made it on another thread:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($254.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: be quiet! PURE ROCK 51.4 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($19.90 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z170XP-SLI ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($119.99 @ Micro Center)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($54.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($86.95 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($51.88 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon R9 390 8GB SOC Video Card ($299.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case ($47.99 @ Micro Center)
Power Supply: XFX Core Edition 650W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($55.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $992.66
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-11-09 03:24 EST-0500

So lets cut down as much:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($254.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: be quiet! PURE ROCK 51.4 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($19.90 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z170XP-SLI ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($119.99 @ Micro Center)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($54.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($86.95 @ Amazon)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 960 2GB SuperSC ACX 2.0+ Video Card ($172.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case ($47.99 @ Micro Center)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($52.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $810.78
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-11-09 03:28 EST-0500

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if you cut down even more without the ability to overclock the cpu :

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor ($215.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H170M-D3H Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($94.89 @ OutletPC)
Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Black 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($53.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($86.95 @ Amazon)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 960 2GB SuperSC ACX 2.0+ Video Card ($172.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Cooler Master N200 MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($52.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $707.78
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-11-09 03:31 EST-0500

[Deleted]

Or cut down a tiny bit more. I don't think the 6600 is worth it over the 6500. The 380 is better than the 960.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($195.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H170M-D3H Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($94.89 @ OutletPC)
Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Black 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($53.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial BX100 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($79.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Video Card: XFX Radeon R9 380 4GB Double Dissipation Video Card ($172.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Cooler Master N200 MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($52.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $680.81
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-11-09 04:04 EST-0500

[Deleted]

Or cut down a tiny bit more. I don't think the 6600 is worth it over the 6500. The 380 is better than the 960.

300Mhz difference in turbo, in a game like wow this should be noticeable. The 380 4gb is better tho the xfx cooling solution is questionable imo, i don't consider it one of the good ones. I would rather go to the 200$ area that are the gigabyte and asus cooling solutions. And since the difference was 27-30bucks i went with the 960. Up to op really, we gave him/her a lot of solutions, i would stick to skylake tho.

[Deleted]

300Mhz difference in turbo, in a game like wow this should be noticeable. The 380 4gb is better tho the xfx cooling solution is questionable imo, i don't consider it one of the good ones.

That 300Mhz wont be the difference between playable and unplayable. Or like I said, for me it isnt worth the price increase. In the long run, both CPU's will age the same.

I do agree on the cooling of the XFX, but for that price it would be a risk worth taking imo.

[Denpepe]

That 300Mhz wont be the difference between playable and unplayable. Or like I said, for me it isnt worth the price increase. In the long run, both CPU's will age the same.

I do agree on the cooling of the XFX, but for that price it would be a risk worth taking imo.

300Mhz per core, that's 1200 MHz in total you lose, or almost half a core, might not matter that much now, but with dx12 this could be a meaningful difference if you want your pc to last as long as possible.

[Deleted]

300Mhz per core, that's 1200 MHz in total you lose, or almost half a core, might not matter that much now, but with dx12 this could be a meaningful difference if you want your pc to last as long as possible.

I highly doubt you can calculate it like that.

[Evildeffy]

I highly doubt you can calculate it like that.

Actually that's exactly how you calculate it.

However there's 1 critical flaw in that calculation:
If the CPUs are already not using their full computational strength then the 300MHz will not make a difference.

The only place where those 300MHz will make any sort of notable impact is if the CPU is capped out with performance and wants to do more.
Otherwise the difference is in general negligible.

Ideally the situation with DX12 is thus:
If you're trying to feed the GPU data and your CPU (taking the 6600K as an example with stock speeds for ease of calculation) is at 50% across all cores.
It means your GPU is the "bottleneck" and is actually the ideal situation you want to be in.
Even if you were to take the 6500 in this case which is 3,2 x 4 = 12,8GHz of computational power vs. the 3,5 x 4 = 14,0GHz of computational power.
6600K @ 50% = Only 7,0GHz of computational power used.
It means only that the 6500 would need a higher utilization of ca. 55% across all cores to reach the same 7,0GHz of computational power.

There would be almost no tangible difference between the 2 as they would achieve the same result being freed of limitation.

Naturally it's slightly more complicated than this in reality but the comparison principle is valid assuming the rest of the system remains equal.

Yes the CPU would be able to process it quicker due to the cycle difference but if the GPU is the bottleneck that won't matter a damn thing.