~1000$ Gaming RIg

[TNT27]

Friend needs two new builds, each 1000$ budget.

Came up with this:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($226.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Phanteks PH-TC14PE 78.1 CFM CPU Cooler ($74.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97X-SLI ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($113.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance Pro 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($114.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($94.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($52.49 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 970 4GB STRIX Video Card ($323.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Fractal Design Define R5 w/Window (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($104.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA 750W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($79.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $1187.41
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-04-20 15:12 EDT-0400


Would like to know what I can improve, and where I can save some without hurting its performance.

Note: He enjoys MMO type games as well as new AAA games, SSD is a must, but does not need to be specific brand.

I tried fitting in a x99 build with cheaper graphics card, couldn't get it to work though.

Used for gaming, but while gaming he also runs multiple games at same time.
Currently has fx 8100 and uses those 8 cores to handle 8 separate WOW games running.

 

[0x1eef]

For multiple games at the same time, probably go Xeon 1231 v3 on H97 board. Also, no need for such a powerful PSU, XFX 550W will be enough.

 

[AdviserKulikov]

Just gonna pop my usual: "If you live near a micro-center, check out their deals on CPU/Mobo Combos."

 

[blazorthon]

If he's gonna overclock, then the Xeon isn't an option, right? Also, how well supported are the current Xeons on consumer motherboards? Is support for them common?

This is a slightly cheaper SSD you could consider: OCZ ARC 100 (240GB model) for $88
https://pcpartpicker.com/part/ocz-internal-hard-drive-arc10025sat3240g

 

[pjgmaster]

Go 8 gigs of ram instead of 16 as it is not needed yet.
hyper evo 212 is a cooler that will do the job for much less.

use the money saved from cutting back on ram and cooler to put towards upgrading the i5 4690k to a i7 4790k

 

[0x1eef]

Go 8 gigs of ram instead of 16 as it is not needed yet.

Ahem. "Multiple games at the same time".

4790k is overrated.

 

[logainofhades]

I would drop the overclocking, and go with a 1231v3. It has hyperthreading, and will perform as well, if not slightly better than, an i7 4770. That case is nice, but pricey.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1231 V3 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($239.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock Fatal1ty H97 Killer ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($96.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-2133 Memory ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: OCZ ARC 100 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($88.54 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($49.30 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Zotac GeForce GTX 970 4GB Video Card ($303.99 @ Best Buy)
Case: Corsair SPEC-02 ATX Mid Tower Case ($59.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($58.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $997.78
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-04-20 15:32 EDT-0400

 

[0x1eef]

If he's gonna overclock, then the Xeon isn't an option, right? Also, how well supported are the current Xeons on consumer motherboards? Is support for them common?

This is a slightly cheaper SSD you could consider: OCZ ARC 100 (240GB model) for $88
https://pcpartpicker.com/part/ocz-internal-hard-drive-arc10025sat3240g

Xeon is fully supported on consumer mobos. And why does he gonna overclock this? It's currently more than enough CPU power.

 

[logainofhades]

If he's gonna overclock, then the Xeon isn't an option, right? Also, how well supported are the current Xeons on consumer motherboards? Is support for them common?

This is a slightly cheaper SSD you could consider: OCZ ARC 100 (240GB model) for $88
https://pcpartpicker.com/part/ocz-internal-hard-drive-arc10025sat3240g

I have yet to see a single H97 or Z97 board that did not list the 1231v3 in its cpu support list.

 

[pjgmaster]

Go 8 gigs of ram instead of 16 as it is not needed yet.

Ahem. "Multiple games at the same time".

4790k is overrated.

because fx 8100 can run 8 instances of wow because it has 8 cores. I ignored that and went about it rationally.

 

[0x1eef]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1231 V3 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($239.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($28.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H97M-D3H Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($88.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($108.98 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Crucial MX100 128GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($69.00 @ B&H)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($52.49 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 970 4GB Twin Frozr V Video Card ($339.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Cooler Master N200 MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($39.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($44.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $1013.30
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-04-20 15:37 EDT-0400

 

[blazorthon]

If he's gonna overclock, then the Xeon isn't an option, right? Also, how well supported are the current Xeons on consumer motherboards? Is support for them common?

This is a slightly cheaper SSD you could consider: OCZ ARC 100 (240GB model) for $88
https://pcpartpicker.com/part/ocz-internal-hard-drive-arc10025sat3240g

Xeon is fully supported on consumer mobos. And why does he gonna overclock this? It's currently more than enough CPU power.

Good to know about the Xeon, thank you.

Well, he chose an unlocked CPU, a high end cooler, and a Z series motherboard. That is why I assumed overclocking was intended. If you want to say that it is unnecessary, alright, but then we ought to ask why overclocking was intended first, assuming that is why the components were chosen.

 

[bsod1]

best i could do without losing QUALITY of the build. You have a pretty sweet build there. This one will run multiple instances better:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1231 V3 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($239.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($28.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte G1.SNIPER H6 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($109.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($106.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($94.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($52.49 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 970 4GB STRIX Video Card ($323.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Fractal Design Define R5 w/Window (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($104.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($99.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $1162.31
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-04-20 15:41 EDT-0400

 

[pjgmaster]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1231 V3 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($239.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($28.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H97M-D3H Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($88.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($108.98 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Crucial MX100 128GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($69.00 @ B&H)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($52.49 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 970 4GB Twin Frozr V Video Card ($339.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Cooler Master N200 MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($39.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($44.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $1013.30
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-04-20 15:37 EDT-0400

the E3-1231 is okay, but it can't be OC'd and it's really more designed for different workloads. It can game well, but it's probably worth getting something unlocked.

 

[0x1eef]

OC if purely for fun. I'd probably go OC build myself if I had some extra money for good components but performance gains from OCing a CPU are negligible.

 

[pjgmaster]

Does anyone know how much ram is used for 8 multiboxes in wow?

 

[blazorthon]

I stopped playing WoW months ago, but I can tell you that going to 4 open instances on my system with 8GB was a little painful if I had a web browser open too. It's somewhere around 1GB with the lower settings. I don't know if higher settings would increase it much.

 

[TNT27]

Well I guess there is a choice then, with unlocked i5 it will do a single game running better.
But with multiple games the Xeon will pull ahead, as long as theres plenty of ram avaible.

Ill run it by him see what he thinks.

 

[TNT27]

I was looking at AMD gpu, but I hear the bias of WOW kills their performance. Is this true?

 

[blazorthon]

Actually, an unlocked i5 at about 4.4GHz ought to be equal to that 3.4GHz Xeon with many instances open, granted with the cost of the motherboard and CPU cooler you'll need, it'll be an inefficient way to spend money.

I don't think the Nvidia bias is nearly as strong as it used to be in WoW. I'll look for some benchmarks to be sure.

EDIT: On second thought, it looks like you're better off sticking with Nvidia for WoW. There are some settings where AMD is better off, but you wouldn't be playing with things maxed out when there are 8 instances open at once so it might not matter. I don't know how the scaling would work on that, but Nvidia does good even at the higher settings, so it's a safer bet.

 

[0x1eef]

Well I guess there is a choice then, with unlocked i5 it will do a single game running better.
But with multiple games the Xeon will pull ahead, as long as theres plenty of ram avaible.

Ill run it by him see what he thinks.

I'd go for Xeon 9 times out of 10. Unlocked CPU won't outperform it. I'd get 4690k only to try to run it @4.8GHz on air and to be disappointed if I couldn't. In the end, lottery is lottery

 

[TNT27]

He has agreed to go with Xeon build, but he also wants option to sli or crossfire down the road.
Any H97 thats good enough to sli gtx 970 and not limit its potential?

 

[blazorthon]

H97 doesn't have support for SLI, at least not any model I've seen. You'd have to look at the lower end Z97 boards for it. Crossfire might be coaxed into working on some, but it wouldn't be an ideal setup since it'd almost certainly mean the second card is working off a PCIe 2.0 x4 connection. That probably won't be a huge bottleneck, but it may be a problem.

 

[TNT27]

Here is the revised build:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1231 V3 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($239.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97X-SLI ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($113.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($106.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($99.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($52.49 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 970 4GB STRIX Video Card ($323.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Fractal Design Define R4 (Black Pearl) ATX Mid Tower Case ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA 750W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($79.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $1097.42
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-04-21 00:52 EDT-0400

 

[0x1eef]

Yep. Asus Strix is probably the least power hungry 970 and that EVGA PSU would allow to go SLI in the future.