$900 Cool Quiet Gaming Build w/OS, Peripherals and Monitor

[Matthew Lesko]

I put together a quiet machine several years ago and really liked it. This build is an attempt to do something similar now. I do some programming and play games that usually involve slower responses such as Shadowrun, Civilization, Thief and Divinity Original Sin. Albeit I also really liked Witcher 2.

Here's what I have so far:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-4160 3.6GHz Dual-Core Processor ($99.99 @ Micro Center)
Motherboard: ASRock H97 Anniversary ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($71.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill Sniper Gaming Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($117.00 @ Newegg)
Storage: Corsair Force LS 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($39.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($48.88 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB Video Card ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Fractal Design Define R4 (Black Pearl) ATX Mid Tower Case ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair CX 430W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($18.75 @ OutletPC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($88.98 @ OutletPC)
Monitor: ViewSonic VX2370Smh-LED 23.0" Monitor ($157.39 @ Amazon)
Keyboard: Logitech K120 Wired Standard Keyboard ($10.69 @ SuperBiiz)
Mouse: Gigabyte GM-M6800 Wired Optical Mouse ($12.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $876.61
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-01-31 18:58 EST-0500

Areas that I wonder about in my build.

• 
  ■Memory: I do a lot of programming as well, so I am inclined to go with 16 GB, but would be curious to see alternatives with 8 GB and what the upside would be.
  ■Storage: I love having a SSD boot drive. I'd be open to dropping this if there was a compelling argument in terms of a trade off.
  ■GPU: the GTX 750 Ti seems to be the performance/power leader hands down and should drive most games well on at 1920x1080p while being quiet and power efficient. If not, would appreciate someone correcting my misunderstanding.
  ■CPU: upgrade to an i5 or perhaps downgrade to a Pentium and take the savings to run an SLI configuration?
  ■Motherboard: ASRock seems like it has a good rep and the H97 chipset appears to offer lots of headroom for upgrades. Seems like the ATX form factor is a good idea, but would be curious if anyone had thoughts about Micro-ATX and a quiet case to go with that approach.

 

[Yoann Teodosieff]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD FX-8320E 3.2GHz 8-Core Processor ($134.98 @ NCIX US)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($28.75 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Asus M5A99X EVO R2.0 ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($102.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill Sniper Gaming Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($117.00 @ Newegg)
Storage: Kingston SSDNow V300 Series 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($84.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R9 280 3GB DUAL-X Video Card ($177.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Antec P280 ATX Mid Tower Case ($74.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA NEX 750W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($39.99 @ Micro Center)
Total: $761.67
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-01-31 19:26 EST-0500

Would be the best rig IMO, which is overclockable, great in multi-tasking with 8 cores, not a microwave with 120W, as you said quite - it will be quiet and you wont even hear that it works.

The reason i chose AMD instead of the nVidia's GTX video card is because when AMD says 4 GB it is 4 GB not 3.5 + ,5.

If you still want Intel/nVidia then we can do this but beware :

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-4160 3.6GHz Dual-Core Processor ($109.99 @ NCIX US)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($28.75 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Asus Z87-A ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Sniper Gaming Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($117.00 @ Newegg)
Storage: Kingston SSDNow V300 Series 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($84.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 960 2GB Video Card ($199.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Antec P280 ATX Mid Tower Case ($74.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA NEX 750W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($39.99 @ Micro Center)
Total: $735.69
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-01-31 19:31 EST-0500

 

[theunliked]

Dont downgrade to pentium! you will be getting 100 cpu during gaming. I do programming too, but 8GB is working fine for me ATM.