Building a low-mid budget PC for basic gaming

[Tomas1020]

Hello everybody,

so my laptop has crashed yesterday and it's been few years since I had a decent desktop. Therefore I would like to build me a new one.

As for what I will be using the PC for... I play some games but not the top demanding ones, I've got PS4 for those. I usually play League of Legends, which shouldn't be demanding what so ever and MS Flight Simulator X, which I know is demanding mostly of CPU. From time to time I make some video in Sony Vegas. Other than that, it's just common office stuff.


I wouldn't consider myself a complete newbie to hardware, so I tried to create this system:

Motherboard: MSI Z97 Gaming 5
- I know that this baby has been out for over a year now but I think it should provide everything that I need...

CPU: Intel Core i5-4590
- Since my needs are CPU oriented (for the most part), I tried to find the best performance/price ratio. Definitely want Haswell (shouldn't I?) and I cannot really afford i7. I have been reading some articles on this website and I decided to go with this one.

GPU: MSI GTX 960 Gaming 4G
- Is this too powerful for my needs?

RAM: 8 GB
- I'm quite lost when it comes to RAM, there are so many types and combinations... I will be happy for some specific recommendation. I think 8 GB should be ok (I will be running Win 10 x64)

Case: Zalman Z11
- Because it's beautiful and I've read good reviews about it

Power supply: Seasonic G Series 450W
- Seems to me like the best choice at the moment. Is 450W enough?

HDD: WD Blue 1TB 64 MB Cache
- I don't need anything fancy... I'm using external 2TB so I got plenty of space.

SSD: OCZ ARC 100 Series 120 GB
- Is it true that SSD makes PC much faster? Never had one. Is this a good one?

Could you please give me some comments about this system? Would you change anything? Why? Isn't anything gonna suffer because it's much weaker than the rest?

Thank you for every tip!
Cheers,
Thomas

 

[Xibyth]

I would stick to a 750ti or 950 for games like these. For Vegas a Xeon e3-1231 will get things done quite a bit faster, essentially an i7 without onboard graphics, but at about the same price as an i5.

The Z97-Gaming 5 is not really a good board for the price in this case, without overclocking whether you go for the i5 or Xeon, and no need for SLI/Crossfire the Z series holds no benefit unless you really need that red/black scheme. The ASROCK H97 Anniversary is an excellent option for the money.

Any CPU cooler will work with this rig, even stock. And you can use that extra cash from the GPU downgrade and cooler to pick up a 250GB Samsung 850 Evo SSD. And yes, they make your PC far more responsive and much, much faster.

8GB is perfect, go for a 1866-DDR3 2x4GB kit. Such as this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231314

The power supply you have chosen is good, though it meets the minimum spec I would personally make a minimum of 500W with a 960. Should be fine, but I tend to air on the cautious side of power supply buyers.

 

[madmatt30]

Good system choices mate
You can go cheaper on the mothboard with a decent quality h97 board (the z boards are geared for over clocking & not required for a locked chip)
I'd go for a crucial or Samsung ssd over the ocz arc ( money saved on mb would probably net you a 240gb model for the same total)

What country are you??

 

[Xibyth]

Here are the basic components I reccomend.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1231 V3 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($242.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock H97 Anniversary ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($67.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($45.89 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($87.88 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($49.89 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 950 2GB Superclocked+ ACX 2.0 Video Card ($149.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case ($64.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($45.26 @ Amazon)
Total: $754.87
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-10-02 09:43 EDT-0400

 

[Tomas1020]

Thanks for the answers guys, I'm from the Czech Republic.

So based on your recommendations, I have changed the following:

Motherboard: ASROCK H97M Anniversary
GPU: MSI GTX 950 GAMING 2G
SSD: Samsung 850 EVO 250GB
Power supply: Seasonic G Series 550W

As for the CPU, the Xeon one is almost twice the price than the i5 one. And I actually forgot about the CPU cooler before, will FSX run smoothly with the stock one? I've heard that with add-ons, it's super CPU demanding.

Thanks again.

 

[madmatt30]

For your uses I think the i5 4460 or i5 4590 are both ample.

There's literally 5-7% performance between them so if the 4460 is substantially cheaper its a more sensible buy IMO.

Also I would for the sake of it take a gtx 960 or a r9 380 over the gtx 950 if its within €40 or so.
They are both worth the expense for the sake of the outlay & you may find yourself wanting to game a little more once you have a relatively powerful setup.

I would personally buy the full size version of that board for the sake of €5-10 or if not available the asrock h97 pro - more expansion options for the future.

The 960 would run fine on your original choice of 450w PSU IMO.

The r9 380 would definitely require the 550w.

The stock Intel cooler is entirely capable but can be a little noisy under heavy load.

Any Czech component websites ??
There may be a bargain cooler option available.

 

[logainofhades]

Just as an FYI, Sony Vegas can use GPU, for rendering videos, and AMD cards are faster, than Nvidia, in this case. I would definitely say the R9 380 is the way to go. If that is too much for you, look for maybe an R9 280/280x or 285. LoL doesn't require much, so even the R7 370 could handle it, with ease.

 

[Tomas1020]

For the websites, there is
www.alza.cz
www.czc.cz
www.tsbohemia.cz

for example

Sorry I just like Nvidia better, it's my personal choice. But thanks anyway

 

[madmatt30]

Not familiar with your currency but the hyper 103 equates to £16 which is a good price here in the UK.
https://www.tsbohemia.cz/default.asp?cls=stoitems&stifulltext_search=and&fulltext=Hyper+103

Also a quick peruse shows the 960 at a 18% premium over the 950 & for that I would pay the extra personally.
https://www.tsbohemia.cz/msi-nvidia-gtx-960-2gd5t-oc_d212410.html?fulltextword=gtx%20950

 

[Tomas1020]

Ok so this is my final choice after further consideration, can you guys approve it?

Zalman Z3 Plus
Seasonic G-450 450W
ASRock H97 Anniversary
Intel Core i5-4590
CoolerMaster Hyper 103
MSI NVIDIA GTX 960 2GD5T OC
Samsung 850 EVO 250GB
WD Blue 1TB
Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (kit 2x 4GB) 1600MHz CL9

My concernes are: PSU 450W enough? Cooler necessary? Final comments on the GPU?

As for the currency, the total along with the motherboard is approx $950. Is that good?

Thank you

 

[madmatt30]

^ in the us it would cost around $800 - you're not in the us though unfortunately.

The g450 is definitely enough.
It has as much 12v output as many 500w+ OSU's.
Your build won't even touch 300w comstantly maxed out.

Cooler not a necessity but will knock 10-15c off temps compared to the stock Intel cooler & be quieter to boot.its worth the extra outlay IMO.

I approve of the z3 plus - while it's not quite as good looking as the z11 I personally think its a better case , especially with all the preinstalled Colling.

 

[Tomas1020]

Well Z11 isn't in stock... But I actually like Z3 as well

Yes, that indeed is a problem, I was in the US last summer and the workhours/prices ratio is crazy compared to the Czech Republic (at least electronics)

Ok, again thank you very much for your advices.

 

[Tomas1020]

I've got one more question. Wouldn't be enough to go for Seasonic (Energy Knight) SS-500ET 500W 80Plus Bronze? It's around half the price here.

 

[madmatt30]

Absolutely fine mate - bear in mind its an oem psu so is unlikely to come with screws or a mains kettle lead power cable.