1st PC in 7 years

[Mr_Fleabite]

Need advice/ suggestions on this build. I haven't built a PC in over 7 years so I'm trying to get back up to speed. Please give me feedback on Graphics card vs CPU bottlenecks, the motherboard brand, and I'm open to suggestions for a better fit with the GPU and PSU. Is that PSU enough? PSU killed last PC so I'm looking for high quality there.

I'll be using this as a home office/ gaming PC. Gaming for me consists of RPG's (Skyrim), FPS (Bioshock), more modern-ish titles. Would like FPS above 45-50 at 1080p across a wide selection of titles. No plans to overclock. Trying to keep budget for these parts below $650, below $600 is even better.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/ZwkBkL

I'm a bit clueless as to the current rankings of GPU, PSU, RAM, & Mobo brands as far as quality goes. Can anyone help me sort these out a bit? (even if it's just what to avoid)
Much appreciated.

 

[timeconsumer]

I think those are all excellent choices. My only tiny suggestion is you can get some Gskill memory for a little less money: http://pcpartpicker.com/part/gskill-memory-f314900cl9d8gbxl

I use the same processor, the matx version of that mobo, and the R9 280 which is almost the exact same card as the 380 so I can give you a pretty good baseline performance for the build. You should be able to achieve your wanted FPS on Ultra with many games, you just might need to turn MSAA down to 2x or off in some of the more demanding ones.

 

[Math Geek]

you did a good job picking parts after being out of the game so long

other than the ram, the rest of the parts are top notch. i changed the ram but otherwise the rest looks good. psu is top notch so no worries there.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($174.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock H97 Anniversary ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($70.98 @ OutletPC)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($59.00 @ Amazon)
Video Card: XFX Radeon R9 380 2GB Double Dissipation Black Edition Video Card ($163.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA GS 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($65.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $564.92
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-12-02 18:02 EST-0500

 

[TerabyteTech]

Here:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($174.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: Asus H81M-E Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($49.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Black 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($43.49 @ Amazon)
Storage: Kingston SSDNow V300 Series 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($73.29 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 960 2GB Video Card ($204.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Cooler Master Elite 350 ATX Mid Tower Case w/500W Power Supply ($57.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $604.74
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-12-02 17:59 EST-0500

Here are some rankings:

Mobo: Asus is generally considered to have high quality motherboards.
GPU: No leader here, but EVGA cards have been known to be slightly more noisy.
PSU: EVGA leads here (in my opinion), and the lower end Corsair PSUs (CX series) have been known to be bad quality.
RAM: No real leader, I prefer Kingston or Corsair RAM, but Corsair is slightly overpriced.
HDD: WD is the best by far.
SSD: Kingston and Samsung have fast and reliable SSDs (especially Samsung).

Sources: Experience, hundreds of hours on tech forums.

I hope this helped!

 

[Mr_Fleabite]

you did a good job picking parts after being out of the game so long

other than the ram, the rest of the parts are top notch. i changed the ram but otherwise the rest looks good. psu is top notch so no worries there.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($174.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock H97 Anniversary ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($70.98 @ OutletPC)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($59.00 @ Amazon)
Video Card: XFX Radeon R9 380 2GB Double Dissipation Black Edition Video Card ($163.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA GS 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($65.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $564.92
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-12-02 18:02 EST-0500

Does that motherboard support DDR3 1866? I thought it would only do 1600?

 

[Math Geek]

you're right it will only support up to ddr3 1600. but for the price it is really good ram and the mobo will only slow it down to 1600 speeds. no real loss for some solid ram sticks. otherwise it won't effect anything like causing boot issues or such.

 

[timeconsumer]

you're right it will only support up to ddr3 1600. but for the price it is really good ram and the mobo will only slow it down to 1600 speeds. no real loss for some solid ram sticks. otherwise it won't effect anything like causing boot issues or such.

And you can probably get it to run at tighter timings while at 1600, CAS 8 or maybe even CAS 7. Not that it makes a huge difference in performance.

 

[Mr_Fleabite]

you're right it will only support up to ddr3 1600. but for the price it is really good ram and the mobo will only slow it down to 1600 speeds. no real loss for some solid ram sticks. otherwise it won't effect anything like causing boot issues or such.

Good to know, thank you. What do you think about the GPU/ CPU balance, would I be better off with a different GPU? I have no preference with Nvidia vs AMD.

 

[Mr_Fleabite]

you're right it will only support up to ddr3 1600. but for the price it is really good ram and the mobo will only slow it down to 1600 speeds. no real loss for some solid ram sticks. otherwise it won't effect anything like causing boot issues or such.

And you can probably get it to run at tighter timings while at 1600, CAS 8 or maybe even CAS 7. Not that it makes a huge difference in performance.

With your set up do you get reasonable frame rates on modern top tier titles? Any games that leave your CPU/GPU stuttering?

 

[timeconsumer]

4460 + R9 380 is a very balanced build. I have pretty much the same thing (just the older versions of both) and I get around 60 FPS in most games at 1080p Ultra (some with AA turned down or off). Of course a GTX 970 or R9 390 would be even better, but definitely not necessary. I wouldn't downgrade the CPU, I think it's a perfect fit at this price point.

No games have caused me any trouble yet, but Fallout 4 might since it hates AMD cards. Most games I never drop below 45 FPS in even the most demanding situations. But I have a lot of games at 1080p Ultra and no higher than 2x MSAA.

 

[Mr_Fleabite]

4460 + R9 380 is a very balanced build. I have pretty much the same thing (just the older versions of both) and I get around 60 FPS in most games at 1080p Ultra (some with AA turned down or off). Of course a GTX 970 or R9 390 would be even better, but definitely not necessary. I wouldn't downgrade the CPU, I think it's a perfect fit at this price point.

No games have caused me any trouble yet, but Fallout 4 might since it hates AMD cards. Most games I never drop below 45 FPS in even the most demanding situations. But I have a lot of games at 1080p Ultra and no higher than 2x MSAA.

Cool, glad to hear it. I hope Fallout 4 plays alright I'm really looking forward to playing it. Thanks for the advice I think this will work out well.