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SwOOsh23

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Jan 22, 2016
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I haven't built a computer in several years but looking to build a new gaming rig. This will be used exclusively for gaming. After reading up a bunch I have decided on several components but still need help deciding on some of them and help on the one's I have chosen to see if there are better options. My budget is pretty flexible but not looking to spend an outrageous amount.

Mainly I am looking for help on Video card. gtx 970 what brand/model etc. Or should I bump it up to a 980Ti. Not sure exactly what motherboard to get... Ram I like the G Skill Ripjaws V series but not sure what speed 2400 3000 or higher or what's the difference between all of them.

CPU - http://pcpartpicker.com/part/intel-cpu-bx80662i76700k

CPU Cooler - http://pcpartpicker.com/part/cooler-master-cpu-cooler-rr212e20pkr2

SSD Drive - http://pcpartpicker.com/part/samsung-internal-hard-drive-mz75e250bam

Power Supply - http://pcpartpicker.com/part/evga-power-supply-220g20750xr

OS - http://pcpartpicker.com/part/microsoft-os-kw900140

Thermal Paste - http://pcpartpicker.com/part/arctic-silver-thermal-paste-as535g

Ram, motherboard, video card are the main things I need help on as I said and any help/opinions on the things I have selected would be greatly appreciated as everyone has great insight and help on the forums here!

I also really like this case but am not 100% committed to it. - http://pcpartpicker.com/part/nzxt-case-cah440wra

 
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Don't get a GTX 970. Get an R9 390. It performs better, and has more VRAM. Also the GTX has 4 GB of VRAM, but 0.5 GB of it is slow, so going over 3.5 GB can case massive fps drops. Also Haswell is cheaper than Skylake, and Skylake is only about 10% more powerful. So you may be able to get a better GPU if you get a Haswell CPU.
 
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I have had bad luck with AMD. Would prefer not to get an AMD card. I am not all in on the skylake I would consider Haswell for sure I just thought it was worth a bit more for that 10% and helping the computer last a bit longer/future proofing.

 
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Yes in USD

 
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If you are wanting to spend around $1500, this is a good build. I left some money left over so you can choose whatever case you want.


PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1231 V3 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($242.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($24.88 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock H97M PRO4 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($79.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill Sniper Gaming Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($74.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($84.34 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($48.88 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 980 Ti 6GB Video Card ($709.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: EVGA 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($81.99 @ NCIX US)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) ($87.95 @ OutletPC)
Total: $1436.00
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-01-23 01:12 EST-0500


If you are trying to stay inbetween the ballpark of $1,00-$1,200 this is a good build.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1231 V3 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($242.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($24.88 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock H97M PRO4 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($79.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill Sniper Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($36.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($48.88 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 980 4GB Superclocked ACX 2.0 Video Card ($499.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: EVGA 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($81.99 @ NCIX US)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) ($87.95 @ OutletPC)
Total: $1103.66
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-01-23 01:12 EST-0500

If you want to spend less than $1,000, this is a good build.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1231 V3 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($242.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($24.88 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock H97M PRO4 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($79.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill Sniper Gaming Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($74.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($48.88 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R9 390 8GB Nitro Video Card ($309.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: EVGA 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($81.99 @ NCIX US)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) ($87.95 @ OutletPC)
Total: $951.66
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-01-23 01:13 EST-0500
 
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Thanks for the help! I really dont know much about the Xeon processor. How does it compare to the i7-6700k or an i5? Also I want a SSD I don't need a huge hard drive at all and will definitely be going with a SSD I have an external HD for movies/music/photo's etc.

I can see it is a bit cheaper to go with the Xeon and DDR3 RAM but will that last as long into the future as the Skylake + DDR4?

 
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Yes, it will last a while. Skylake only gives you like 1 10% increase in performance. And considering I have a friend with a Core 2 Quad and DDR2 RAM playing BF4, I think you will be good. Xeon E3s are workstation Xeons. Because they aren't server Xeons (E5s) they have higher clock rates, which makes them good for gaming. The Xeon E3-1231 is essentially a cheaper i7 4770. The i7 6700K is better, but putting in an i7 6700K and still staying within your budget would mean that you would have to get a cheaper graphics card. An i5 6600K would outperform the Xeon on most games. Most games can only utilize four threads (the Xeon E3 1231 V3 has four coures and ewight threads because of hyperthreading) and becuase the i5 6600K has better single core performance, it will do better on most games. But it is more expensive, so you would have to cut back on other things. But because the Xeon has hyperthreading, it would be much better than the i5 if you ever want to record or stream. And even though the i5 is better on most games, these CPUs are both very good and shouldn't bottleneck, so with the i5 you will be getting very very marginal performance increase. Like maybe 170 fps with the i5 and 160 fps with the Xeon. But because you would have to get a less powerful GPU with the 6600K or 6700K, the build would perform worse than with the Xeon E3 1231 V3 and a more powerful GPU.
 
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Ok, so his builds are pretty good and I want to put couple of minor corrections as well as answer your questions.

Xeon E3 1231v3 is pretty much an i7-4770 without the integrated graphics. It is also locked so you can't overclock it. Xeon has a nicer stock cooler so you do NOT need that 212 EVO if you go with the Xeon.

Although going with Skylake i7 would be KIND OF better especially when you factor in overclocking, Xeon is definitely worth a look. At Skylake's i7 price, you better be looking at X99 platform and i7-5820K instead so that's a thing.

If you really want the best build for your money with possibilities of overclocking, SLI etc., go with this build I made:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-5820K 3.3GHz 6-Core Processor ($374.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 3 67.8 CFM Fluid Dynamic Bearing CPU Cooler ($74.90 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock X99 Extreme4 ATX LGA2011-3 Motherboard ($189.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws Series 16GB (4 x 4GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($84.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($150.88 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 980 Ti 6GB Video Card ($638.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: NZXT Phantom 530 (White) ATX Full Tower Case ($114.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA 1000 P2 1000W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($186.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $1816.72
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-01-23 11:44 EST-0500

If you really want to stick with $1500, then this will be your best bet for gaming:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($204.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: CRYORIG H7 49.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($43.53 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock Fatal1ty Z170 Gaming K4 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($138.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($74.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($159.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 980 Ti 6GB Video Card ($638.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: NZXT Phantom 530 (White) ATX Full Tower Case ($114.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: EVGA 850W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($119.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $1481.45
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-01-23 11:47 EST-0500

 
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Which build do you want to go with so I can try to fit an SSD into it?
 
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I didn't know it had a better cooler. I used a computer with an E3 1231 at my summer job and the cooler looked the same.
 
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The i5 6500 isn't overclockable, so why a Z170 board? And since it isn't OCable the Xeon would perform better. And with the Xeon you are able to fit an Asus Matrix 980 Ti in the build. And it is a monster of a card. Highest factory clocked GTX 980 Ti right now, and has a really good cooler. In a video I saw, on Thief, maxed out settings 4K, it gets an average of 45 fps and only reached 58 degrees.
 
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It has the same shape but the cooler for the Xeon is actually a bit better and quieter than coolers for i5's or i7's. It has a beefier radiator and a nicer fan.
 
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Asrock has Sky OC that allows overclocking locked Skylake chips. I am not wasting any money. Do your research.
 
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