1500$ GamingComputer Suggestions

[hhomer01]

Hi,
I am trying to build a pc primarily for gaming and have been getting a variety of different responses from a number of different forums. This is my first build, so I would appreciate all recommendations on what I have posted below. With regards to price, the 1500$ must include a monitor but not an OS or a keyboard/mouse. The biggest question that I have come across is whether or not to buy a GTX 980ti or a 970. The advocates for the latter say that I am compromising too much for the GPU, especially if I don't plan on much overclocking. Thanks for all of your help, and here are the builds!
1: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/FXMfLk (w/o 980ti. recommended to have a 2-way SLI if i can find cheaper options elsewhere in the build)

2:http://pcpartpicker.com/p/cdqLNG
(higher def monitor with 980ti)

3:http://pcpartpicker.com/p/FGr9Hx

Questions also came up whether or not the PSU was good enough to sustain the builds with the ti cards. Thanks again!

 

[Archaic59]

Build #2 for sure. Antec PSU is fine. Made by Seasonic.

 

[hhomer01]

Build #2 for sure. Antec PSU is fine. Made by Seasonic.

Do you think this is the BEST build for the price, or would you completely remodel?

 

[logainofhades]

No amount of overclocking would make up the performance difference between a GTX 970 and a 980ti. I made some changes to your last build, and got you a better motherboard, PSU, and a bit better SSD.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4590 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor ($189.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock H97 PRO4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($76.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($44.49 @ Newegg)
Storage: Mushkin Reactor 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($43.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 980 Ti 6GB ACX 2.0+ Video Card ($643.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Corsair SPEC-03 White ATX Mid Tower Case ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Antec EarthWatts Green 650W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($59.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer ($14.89 @ OutletPC)
Monitor: Asus VG248QE 144Hz 24.0" Monitor ($249.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $1454.30
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-08-06 11:26 EDT-0400

 

[JasonL265]

logain's build is good, but I just wanted to give you a heads up, If you do decide to use the SPEC series cases from Corsair, make sure to plan ahead. I have built a budget gaming PC for my cousin before using that case it is a little small and have little clearance. The motherboard is pretty much touching the top of the case so its hard to put any radiator there. But otherwise, they are pretty good budget cases.

 

[Archaic59]

Build #2 for sure. Antec PSU is fine. Made by Seasonic.

Do you think this is the BEST build for the price, or would you completely remodel?

Using less expensive but still decent quality parts to get that GPU and monitor are worth it IMO.
I think the Acer XB270HU bprz is the one that goes with Nvidia cards.

 

[hhomer01]

logain's build is good, but I just wanted to give you a heads up, If you do decide to use the SPEC series cases from Corsair, make sure to plan ahead. I have built a budget gaming PC for my cousin before using that case it is a little small and have little clearance. The motherboard is pretty much touching the top of the case so its hard to put any radiator there. But otherwise, they are pretty good budget cases.

What alternative case would you recommend?

 

[hhomer01]

No amount of overclocking would make up the performance difference between a GTX 970 and a 980ti. I made some changes to your last build, and got you a better motherboard, PSU, and a bit better SSD.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4590 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor ($189.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock H97 PRO4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($76.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($44.49 @ Newegg)
Storage: Mushkin Reactor 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($43.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 980 Ti 6GB ACX 2.0+ Video Card ($643.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Corsair SPEC-03 White ATX Mid Tower Case ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Antec EarthWatts Green 650W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($59.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer ($14.89 @ OutletPC)
Monitor: Asus VG248QE 144Hz 24.0" Monitor ($249.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $1454.30
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-08-06 11:26 EDT-0400

Build #2 for sure. Antec PSU is fine. Made by Seasonic.

Do you think this is the BEST build for the price, or would you completely remodel?

Using less expensive but still decent quality parts to get that GPU and monitor are worth it IMO.

That looks awesome, thanks. Stock fan would be fine, or do I need a CPU cooler?

 

[hhomer01]

No amount of overclocking would make up the performance difference between a GTX 970 and a 980ti. I made some changes to your last build, and got you a better motherboard, PSU, and a bit better SSD.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4590 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor ($189.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock H97 PRO4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($76.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($44.49 @ Newegg)
Storage: Mushkin Reactor 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($43.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 980 Ti 6GB ACX 2.0+ Video Card ($643.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Corsair SPEC-03 White ATX Mid Tower Case ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Antec EarthWatts Green 650W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($59.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer ($14.89 @ OutletPC)
Monitor: Asus VG248QE 144Hz 24.0" Monitor ($249.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $1454.30
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-08-06 11:26 EDT-0400

Thanks a lot, looks great, and I will probably go with exactly this. Quick question though: will the monitor make the most of the ti card (and thus worth the money) or would i have to go for a better monitor?

 

[logainofhades]

The 980ti may be a bit on the overkill side, for 1080p, even at 144hz, but that just means it will last you that much longer. 😉

 

[hhomer01]

The 980ti may be a bit on the overkill side, for 1080p, even at 144hz, but that just means it will last you that much longer. 😉

Sounds good! So my friend sent me this response. I know that it's a little long but I'm spending the money so if you wouldn't mind would you review his thoughts on the builds? I gave him three builds but his thoughts are pretty general-I can forward the original if you want

"The XG270HU supports FreeSync, so the obvious choice of video card with that would be a R9 390 or Fury. Adaptive Sync being a little bit bigger deal than the 8~15% FPS difference the 980 Ti puts over the Fury, and R9 390 is outright faster than the 970 if you don't care about noise. 144Hz support by itself isn't that big a deal unless you play 90% twitchy shooters. ( I am playing mostly FPS though!!!) With slower games, you'd probably benefit more from an IPS or PLS screen with better color fidelity.

Build #2 is the only one with a decent quality motherboard and power supply. It's also the only overclockable one. Not sure if you picked up on that. (I did but I don't know how to overclock yet) Both cases are a little on the low side of the cost / performance curve, especially with 250W+ video cards. About $80~120 is the sweet spot for cases in most builds $700~1,800.

pcpartpicker.com/.../G4txvK

^^^ 4ht build for further confusion. Little bit more priority given to quiet running and core components that will hopefully be useful through more than one video card upgrade. The CPU cooler and power supply overprovisioned to prevent noise, GTX 970 for the same reason, and overclocking is supported on the H97 Pro Gamer by Asus BIOS hacks. Extra fan goes on the lower front intake to set up positive pressure."

 

[bsod1]

Another build.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4590 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor ($189.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: Asus H97-PRO GAMER ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($107.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($48.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($97.95 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($49.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 980 4GB STRIX Video Card ($499.99 @ Amazon)
Case: NZXT S340 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($61.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: EVGA 750W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($68.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Monitor: Acer XB240H ABPR 144Hz 24.0" Monitor ($387.58 @ Newegg)
Total: $1513.45
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-08-06 16:05 EDT-0400

 

[bsod1]

Reasons for my build:
A good non-OC i5.
An ASUS motherboard with an ASUS graphics card. Not that it makes a difference. This a premium H97 board.
A memory with a latency of 8.
250 GB Samsung SSD is nice
980 is a good compromise b/w a 970 and a 980 Ti especially at 1080p 144 Hz. This along with a G Sync enabled monitor
a great affordable case
this Power supply is at such a great price that you can't ignore it! 750W Tier 2 at $69

that's a 24" G Sync 1080p 144 Hz monitor.

 

[hhomer01]

Reasons for my build:
A good non-OC i5.
An ASUS motherboard with an ASUS graphics card. Not that it makes a difference. This a premium H97 board.
A memory with a latency of 8.
250 GB Samsung SSD is nice
980 is a good compromise b/w a 970 and a 980 Ti especially at 1080p 144 Hz. This along with a G Sync enabled monitor
a great affordable case
this Power supply is at such a great price that you can't ignore it! 750W Tier 2 at $69

that's a 24" G Sync 1080p 144 Hz monitor.

I like it. I really want the ti videocard but it might be a bit much for a 1500$ build and a relatively cheap monitor (comparatively of course). improving the monitor, PSU and MOBO was probably a good call but the case has no room for an ODD (for my older games). thoughts on a different one?

 

[hhomer01]

The 980ti may be a bit on the overkill side, for 1080p, even at 144hz, but that just means it will last you that much longer. 😉

what do you think of bsod's build?

 

[logainofhades]

The GTX 980 is not fast enough, compared to a GTX 970, to justify the price premium.

 

[hhomer01]

The GTX 980 is not fast enough, compared to a GTX 970, to justify the price premium.

sounds good-thanks for all your help.

 

[hhomer01]

The GTX 980 is not fast enough, compared to a GTX 970, to justify the price premium.

and what about a z97 mobo or 850W version of the psu

 

[logainofhades]

Z97 only needed for overclocking, and for SLI/CF. The 4590 cannot overclock, and SLI capable boards can cost a good deal more. The PSU in bsod's build is pretty good, as is the 850w version. You really do not need more than the 750w, with a single card.