Specific games: Custom PC or next-gen console?

[Ripox]

Old discussion over, re-using this thread (as I've been told not to make new threads) regarding a potential build.
Taken from latest reply I added, put in OP for convenience:

Well, in any case I'll be in New York (Which means I have access to proper stores like Newegg without absurd shipping costs!) soon for a while and I'm very much considering getting a new rig, I can spare some money (Might range from $1000 to $1600)

Now, is it possible, on that budget, for me to play a triple-screen setup of 1080p monitors (5760x1080) of Battlefield 4 at strong settings (high, not necessarily ultra) at decent framerate (40+). Do you guys know if all 3 of the screens have to be the same? The budget is just for the rig btw, not any peripherals/monitors.

Also, what budget would you guys actually suggest, if mine isnt enough, for an enjoyable Surround/Eyefinity experience in Battlefield 4?

If going Surround/Eyefinity at that budget means less-than-strong performance then ignore surround/eyefinity and just go with 1920x1080 single screen.


Budget: $1000-$1600
Resolution: 5760x1080 or 1920x1080, read above
Games / Settings Desired: Battlefield 4 on high settings, Call of Duty: Ghosts high settings, Star Wars: Battlefront (upcoming) high settings, StarCraft II maxed out, LoL maxed out.
Any other intensive software or special things you do (Frequent video encoding, 3D modeling, etc): I might mess around with some video rendering but not very frequently and not on a daily basis, but all this talk about 8-cores being the future of gaming is pushing me away from an i5
Country: I'll probably be buying this while I'm in the U.S.
Parts that can be reused: Nah
Do you need an OS?: Nope
Do you need peripherals (e.g. monitor, mouse, keyboard, speakers, etc)?: Nope

Extra info: I really want to future proof this for at least 2 years (If that means going i7 to handle potential games that could take advantage of it, so be it) . The smaller/lighter the form factor, the better. I don't worry too much about noisy fans or whatever, I can't hear much when I use my headphones anyways. An SSD is not mandatory for this build but would certainly be a plus, even if it is just 64GB. I don't think I'll put any games on an SSD, probably just my OS. (What would BF4 benefit from being on an SSD?)

Please keep the tech recent stuff, I don't want Ivy Bridge or 6 series GPU's or any tech that is not current-generation.
Thanks. I realize this is a bit different than the original post focus but I've been told to not make new threads.

Thanks folks.


Suppose all I really want to play is Call of Duty: Ghosts, FIFA 14, and Battlefield 4 (BF4 the most).

Come Q4 2013, where should my money be going?

atm my PC has got an i5-2320 and a GT545, for BF4 would the PS4's and XBones be playing the game better than my current PC?
and if the aforementioned games are the only ones I play, should I be looking just to buy a console (I understand that their GPU is like a 7770 or 7790 and that the CPU is not the best as an AMD one) or be investing in a new rig?

If I was to build a PC instead, how much would it cost to have similar performance to a PS4/XBone? would it still be around the 300-400$ mark?

Its kinda weird how the PS4/Xbone is dirt cheap and the trailers for BF4 seem AH-MAY-ZING in terms of graphics. Is that due to unbelievable optimization or are the trailers played on overpowered PCs?

If I was trying to play BF4 near-max settings @ 1080p, what would I be looking at? a 4670k/4770k and a 770/780?

[Toffie]

You are looking at a 3470/GTX 760 to play maxed/near maxed.

PS4 is 7870 / 8 CORE, you can't compare it to a PC since it's better optimized and will work like a high end pc.

I am getting the PS4 for everything but shooters, I like to play BF4 on my pc since it's easier with a mouse/keyboard.

The BF4 trailer was played on high end PC's.

[Skorpionss]

You are looking at a 3470/GTX 760 to play maxed/near maxed.

PS4 is 7870 / 8 CORE, you can't compare it to a PC since it's better optimized and will work like a high end pc.

I am getting the PS4 for everything but shooters, I like to play BF4 on my pc since it's easier with a mouse/keyboard.

The BF4 trailer was played on high end PC's.

Still ps4 will look worse than PC because of no anti-aliasing.

[Toffie]

:/ The PS4 have it's new generation of anti-aliasing which aren't available on the PC, it's much better optimized then PCs = less taxing.

[Skorpionss]

:/ The PS4 have it's new generation of anti-aliasing which aren't available on the PC, it's much better optimized then PCs = less taxing.

Yeah but does it compare to like 32x AA ? I am not talking about which runs smoother coz the PC Will run it perfectly too(60FPS) it's just a matter of budget

All I'm saying is that if u have the budget for a really high end PC go with that if not go with a PS4...

[Ripox]

A bit confused, now.
BF4 on PS4 will play similarly to the trailer's quality?

Will my rig with an i5-2320 and a GT545 outplay the PS4?

How much better is a 4770k+780 on BF4 compared to the PS4/XBone?

[Toffie]

BF4 on PS4 and PC will be similiar.

You don't need an 4770k or 780 to max BF4.

Your rig is sorry to say, garbage compared to PS4 and have no chance to play BF4.

What budget did you have in mind?

[Ripox]

I had this in mind
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i7-4770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($349.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i 77.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($103.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: MSI Z87-G45 Gaming ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($149.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LP 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($137.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 840 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 770 4GB Video Card ($455.91 @ Newegg)
Case: NZXT Phantom 410 (Red) ATX Mid Tower Case ($112.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair Enthusiast 650W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($95.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $1486.81
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-06-26 15:42 EDT-0400)


Edit: changed SSD

[Toffie]

Why a 4gb GPU? Get the 7970 at 310 $ for almost the same performance once overclocked.
4770k is not needed, get the 4670k. There is no visible performance difference.
8 GB ram is also more than fine for gaming.

[Ripox]

Its just a theoretical build I put together, not likely to buy that. I'm honestly just trying to get a feel of where my computer, the PS4/XBOne, and a high end PC fall in the spectrum of Battlefield 4.

Would I be right in putting it this way:
My current rig @ 1080p (i5-2320, GT 545): 3rd place, low-medium settings at 40ish FPS during heavy combat
PS4/XBOne (400-500$) @ 1080p: 2nd place (close to 1st), similar to maxed-out settings on a PC at enjoyable, steady, FPS (40+?)
High end PC [$1000-1500] (4670k/4770k with a GTX 760/770) @ 1080p with 60Hz monitor: 1st place, only approx 20% better than the PS4, mostly in the area of AA, steady 60FPS



Worst on the left, best all the way on the right
-really crappy rig--my current rig-------------------------------------PS4/XBOne---high-end PC



Edit: this is in the context of Battlefield 4

[Toffie]

Playing BF4 on consoles is not enjoyable imo, keyboard/mice is much easier also.

[Ripox]

Agreed, I can't imagine losing my mechanical keyboard and beautiful mouse for a...dare I say it...CONTROLLER

But c'est la vie

Would my spectrum be correct if it was down to just performance? I don't think the keyboard/mouse experience is worth the $700-1000 on top of the consoles

---------- Post added 2013-06-27 at 12:50 AM ----------

I also much prefer high quality w/ controller vs. low quality w/ mouse. Will my i5-2320 and GT 545 be that bad at BF4? Its working at low-medium on BF3 at 40ish FPS, how much can I expect it to tank in BF4

[Deleted]

if you play a lot of fifa you will need a console anyway, unless you don't mind playing on the old engine. it sucks but there's not much you can do.

[Toffie]

Around 10-20 fps less, you would expect.

I play regulary on the PS3 controller, it SUCKS BADLY. It's extremely unpresice for headshots and fast aiming. I tried the controller at E3 and it's 40 generations ahead of the PS3 controller in terms of precision, much easier to get fast headshots. Keyboard/mice is always easier though, you can however get a keyboard/mice for PS3; so I suspect you will for PS4 as well.

If you wanna save money and have a nice experience get the PS4. It's gonna be an amazing experience, I guarantee you.

[Ripox]

Can I really just plug in my current mouse and keyboard to a PS3/PS4 and play games like BF3?

---------- Post added 2013-06-27 at 02:16 AM ----------

Okay wow I just discovered the XIM Edge emulator, where has this mean all my life?

Looks like I'm getting a PS4 + keyboard/mouse emulator and wreck everything!

Thanks guys <3

Unless, y'know, it turns out that like BF3, PC experience is superior

[Toffie]

PS4 has 1080p 60 fps on BF4, so i doubt that

[Ripox]

Well, in any case I'll be in New York (Which means I have access to proper stores like Newegg without absurd shipping costs!) soon for a while and I'm very much considering getting a new rig, I can spare some money (Might range from $1000 to $1600)

Now, is it possible, on that budget, for me to play a triple-screen setup of 1080p monitors (5760x1080) of Battlefield 4 at strong settings (high, not necessarily ultra) at decent framerate (40+). Do you guys know if all 3 of the screens have to be the same? The budget is just for the rig btw, not any peripherals/monitors.

Also, what budget would you guys actually suggest, if mine isnt enough, for an enjoyable Surround/Eyefinity experience in Battlefield 4?

If going Surround/Eyefinity at that budget means less-than-strong performance then ignore surround/eyefinity and just go with 1920x1080 single screen.


Budget: $1000-$1600
Resolution: 5760x1080 or 1920x1080, read above
Games / Settings Desired: Battlefield 4 on high settings, Call of Duty: Ghosts high settings, Star Wars: Battlefront (upcoming) high settings, StarCraft II maxed out, LoL maxed out.
Any other intensive software or special things you do (Frequent video encoding, 3D modeling, etc): I might mess around with some video rendering but not very frequently and not on a daily basis, but all this talk about 8-cores being the future of gaming is pushing me away from an i5
Country: I'll probably be buying this while I'm in the U.S.
Parts that can be reused: Nah
Do you need an OS?: Nope
Do you need peripherals (e.g. monitor, mouse, keyboard, speakers, etc)?: Nope

Extra info: I really want to future proof this for at least 2 years (If that means going i7 to handle potential games that could take advantage of it, so be it) . The smaller/lighter the form factor, the better. I don't worry too much about noisy fans or whatever, I can't hear much when I use my headphones anyways. An SSD is not mandatory for this build but would certainly be a plus, even if it is just 64GB. I don't think I'll put any games on an SSD, probably just my OS. (What would BF4 benefit from being on an SSD?)

Please keep the tech recent stuff, I don't want Ivy Bridge or 6 series GPU's or any tech that is not current-generation.
Thanks. I realize this is a bit different than the original post focus but I've been told to not make new threads.

Thanks folks.

[This name sucks]

Well, in any case I'll be in New York (Which means I have access to proper stores like Newegg without absurd shipping costs!)

You do know that newegg isn't a physical store right?

[Ripox]

You do know that newegg isn't a physical store right?

Yes but they don't ship to where I live, I'll be in New York long enough (assuming it takes Newegg less than a week to ship stuff) to order online and ship to my hotel

---------- Post added 2013-06-27 at 05:08 AM ----------

I'd also like to add that I'd very much like to have Wi-Fi capability on the rig. I won't be going for a heavy overclock, either. Probably just 4.0-4.2, by the way. I don't mind SLI configurations and I have no intention of resale so take that out of the equation, please

---------- Post added 2013-06-27 at 05:10 AM ----------

Lol actually just saw that Newegg doesn't ship to hotel guests on their shipping FAQ...can you guys please use Amazon as the merchant, in this case?

[Toffie]

You have access to microcenter don't you?
http://www.microcenter.com/site/stores/default.aspx