Building new PC

[Utilityhabit]

Hi all. I'm going to be building a computer for my brother. He mainly wants to be able to run SWTOR on max settings with no hiccups. I don't want to mess around with any overclocking because he's not into computers like that and I don't live near him to be able to work on it with him. I need something that doesn't require much maintenance. I built my own computer a year or so ago and it worked out fine but since it's not my computer(or my money) it'd be nice to have some help. Thanks!


Budget: Would like to keep it under $1,000 but if we have to sacrifice too much then it's okay if we go over a bit.
Games / Settings Desired: SWTOR on highest settings.
Country: USA
Do you need an OS?: Yes.
Do you need peripherals (e.g. monitor, mouse, keyboard, speakers, etc)?: He needs a monitor.

[Deleted]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($228.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($34.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock Z87 Pro3 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($94.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: A-Data XPG V2 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($59.98 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Asus Radeon R9 270X 2GB Video Card ($223.99 @ Staples)
Case: NZXT Source 210 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($29.99 @ Microcenter)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($55.99 @ NCIX US)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8 (OEM) (64-bit) ($97.98 @ OutletPC)
Monitor: Asus VS228H-P 21.5" Monitor ($124.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $1014.88
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-02-16 20:44 EST-0500)

add a ssd later on and u have a very solid build that will last him a long time. as far as the overclocking, just go into bios, set the multiplier to x40 and exit + save. wont need any more overclocking than that and will be more than satisfied.

[Cyrops]

Since you don't want to OC:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4430 3.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($184.29 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.98 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock H81M-HDS Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($49.99 @ Microcenter)
Memory: A-Data XPG V2 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($80.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($59.98 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Asus Radeon R9 270X 2GB Video Card ($223.99 @ Staples)
Case: NZXT Source 210 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($29.99 @ Microcenter)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($55.99 @ NCIX US)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8 (OEM) (64-bit) ($97.98 @ OutletPC)
Monitor: Asus VS228H-P 21.5" Monitor ($124.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $1008.16
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-02-17 02:38 EST-0500)

Fitted in an SSD
But if he ONLY uses the PC for SWTOR, you can just throw away the standart HDD.

[Utilityhabit]

Thanks for you help so far guys. Cyrops my only concern is my brother has been a gamer as long as I can remember. SWTOR is his main game RIGHT NOW but I'm sure that'll change eventually. Can he upgrade easily with that motherboard? Also I've never used A-Data ram. What do you guys think of it? Lastly, are you sure he won't need a cooler? he lives in Texas it's pretty hot most the time. Maybe I should play it safe.

[chazus]

You'll get more MMO mileage out of an i3-4330 over the i5-4430. Honestly these days, I have a hard time recommending any i5 that isn't the 4670K.

With your budget, you really ought to OC it, at least to 4.2 or so. It seriously doesn't take much work, effort, or maintenance.

[Deleted]

second chazus post. as i wrote above, its as easy as get into the bios, change the multiplier to x40 and u have a nice 4 ghz. if not i would go i3 which will perform better in mmo than the i5´s non k.


better video card and ssd than the i5k build but not able to oc which is a performance loss especially in mmo´s.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i3-4330 3.5GHz Dual-Core Processor ($124.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: MSI H81M-P33 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($42.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($59.99 @ Microcenter)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($82.95 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($59.98 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 760 2GB Video Card ($249.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Corsair 300R ATX Mid Tower Case ($59.99 @ Microcenter)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($55.99 @ NCIX US)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8 (OEM) (64-bit) ($97.98 @ OutletPC)
Monitor: Asus VS228H-P 21.5" Monitor ($124.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $959.83
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-02-17 22:13 EST-0500)

no worries though, this will play swtor on ultra no problem.

[Utilityhabit]

If I overclock it, can I just do it myself before I send him the computer? I'm just worried about issues that might come up down the road like overheating or BSODs or something and I won't be there to help him. I'd like to overclock if it's not too risky. Want to get him the best bang for his buck. Also if I do overclock and go with the first build then I can't fit in an ssd. Is an SSD that important? I've never used one before TBH. If it is important then maybe I should figure out a place to sneak it in.

[Cyrops]

If I overclock it, can I just do it myself before I send him the computer? I'm just worried about issues that might come up down the road like overheating or BSODs or something and I won't be there to help him. I'd like to overclock if it's not too risky. Want to get him the best bang for his buck. Also if I do overclock and go with the first build then I can't fit in an ssd. Is an SSD that important? I've never used one before TBH. If it is important then maybe I should figure out a place to sneak it in.

The issue if you ramp up the voltage too high.
You can OC yourself and he can use it, I've seen from web pages that a lot of shops offer that on prebuilt PC's. You just have to make sure it IS stable before you give it away.
You can overclock on stock volts if you are very afraid, anything not exceeding 1.25v is 'super' safe, unless you have the worst chip lottery loser :P
If you get average chip it should be 4ghz on stock volts at the very least, in my opinion.

Found cheaper RAM, so it's 40$ over budget with SSD:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($219.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.98 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock Z87 Pro3 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($94.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($59.99 @ Microcenter)
Storage: Crucial M500 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($72.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($59.98 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Asus Radeon R9 270X 2GB Video Card ($223.99 @ Staples)
Case: NZXT Source 210 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($29.99 @ Microcenter)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($25.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8 (OEM) (64-bit) ($97.98 @ OutletPC)
Monitor: Asus VS228H-P 21.5" Monitor ($124.99 @ Best Buy)
Total: $1040.86
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-02-19 03:20 EST-0500)

[Aurimas]

I don't know about stock volts, but it shouldn't take much to get 4 and I agree that you should overclock it... on just about any budget. But doesn't that mean he needs the K chip?

Yes you can OC and send it to him so long as you test it. I've never touched my OC since setting it. By "test" it I mean besides a mild burn in, fire up a game and make sure it plays nice... because, why not, you built it

Honestly I'd be more concerned about shipping it in general than about sending it off OCd. how do you pack a computer? I've never even thought of that. (I'm just musing out loud, don't answer me and de-rail the thread)

[Utilityhabit]

I've decided to go with the most recent build that Cyrops posted. There is just one thing I want to change. I'm more than able to figure it out for myself but I've been out of the PC world for awhile so you guys might be able to help more. I wanted to change to an Nvidia card. It's probably my own ignorance but I've had a really bad experience with Radeon and even though I'm sure it was a fluke, I don't really wanna go back. What do you guys suggest?

[Saphyron]

I've decided to go with the most recent build that Cyrops posted. There is just one thing I want to change. I'm more than able to figure it out for myself but I've been out of the PC world for awhile so you guys might be able to help more. I wanted to change to an Nvidia card. It's probably my own ignorance but I've had a really bad experience with Radeon and even though I'm sure it was a fluke, I don't really wanna go back. What do you guys suggest?

A tiny bit more expensive than his but changed to evga's 760 superclocked acx gpu. I have really good experience with evga and can highly recommend them. plus that gpu is silent as a very silent thing :P

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks


CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($219.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.98 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock Z87 Pro3 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($94.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($74.99 @ Microcenter)
Storage: Crucial M500 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($79.31 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($59.98 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 760 2GB Video Card ($249.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: NZXT Source 210 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($29.99 @ Microcenter)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($25.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8 (OEM) (64-bit) ($97.98 @ OutletPC)
Monitor: Asus VS228H-P 21.5" Monitor ($129.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $1093.18
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-02-22 19:21 EST-0500)

[Utilityhabit]

Thanks! Also another concern, do you guys think 550W power supply will be enough? If he upgrades other parts of his PC in the future he'll surely have to buy one with more wattage right? Which is okay I suppose. just more worried that it isn't enough for right now.

[Saphyron]

Thanks! Also another concern, do you guys think 550W power supply will be enough? If he upgrades other parts of his PC in the future he'll surely have to buy one with more wattage right? Which is okay I suppose. just more worried that it isn't enough for right now.

Unless he decides to go nuts with HDD's/SSD or going sli you will not need a bigger psu. But if he is scared it is not enough he can go for a 650 watt though a 550 is more than enough.

that build i listed which was a edit of the one cyrops listed (cause he is awesome) should only use around 450 watt under load.(100% load)

[chazus]

If he upgrades other parts of his PC in the future he'll surely have to buy one with more wattage right? Which is okay I suppose. just more worried that it isn't enough for right now.

Usually people upgrade across generations, not higher within the same generation. That given, power usage doesn't really change. I've never seen a single card, single core GPU use more than like... 250w at 100% load, in over 15 years. They get better, but better doesn't mean more power. Heck, sometimes it means less. The 750ti is about as good as the 650ti (marginally better)... But it uses like... 1/3 the power.

My old Core 2 Duo E7500 + Geforce 460 actually used MORE power than my current 3570K @ 4.5ghz and a 660.

[Cyrops]

Thanks! Also another concern, do you guys think 550W power supply will be enough? If he upgrades other parts of his PC in the future he'll surely have to buy one with more wattage right? Which is okay I suppose. just more worried that it isn't enough for right now.

I have 500w and I am using 2x270x GPU's.

[Saphyron]

I have 500w and I am using 2x270x GPU's.

should properly change your signatur then. cause it does not fit with your text XD

but yearh 550 is more than enough. so don't worry

[Cyrops]

should properly change your signatur then. cause it does not fit with your text XD

but yearh 550 is more than enough. so don't worry

I am running extra stuff in my PC for other reasons.