Is this a good gaming build?

[kisoniukas]

So I'm planning to order a gaming rig today and I came up with this. I want feedback from you people, please let me know if this is a good system and if I should change anything. The parts I'm not sure about are the psu and the gpu, other than those seem solid to me.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/XJ9DhM

 

[Mydayyy]

Recommended cooler: http://www.noctua.at/main.php?show=productview&products_id=63&lng=en
Noctua is one of the best if not the best cooler solution in terms of build quality and cooling performance. Yeah it's quite pricey but you'll love it!

Recommended SSD: http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-250GB-2-5-Inch-Internal-MZ-7TE250BW/dp/B00E3W1726/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1416408827&sr=8-1&keywords=Samsung+SSD+256
Samsung does a great job in manufacturing SSDs! Would either go for this version or the "Pro" one.

Would recommend a bigger PSU for future modifications of your rig. 600+ is quite good but the GTX 970 does consume quite a lot (better than the older ones though)

 

[Mydayyy]

The rest of your equipment looks quite nice! You can go for them with no problem.

 

[Xavier Bouttier]

The card is great, however try to see if you can snag the twin frozr edition for not too much more (it has better cooling)

PSU is bad, although corsair is a great brand, their cx series PSU's are third tier, this is one component you dont want to be cheap on. In corsair either go AX, TX, HX, and RM 650. Otherwise, check this thread out, and try to pick something within tier 2:
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/id-1804779/power-supply-unit-tier-list.html

RAM wise, i would suggest getting 1x8 stick, keeping in mind you will get a second stick when you can afford if sometime down the line. Most AAA games nowadays recommend minimum 6Gb RAM, and this number can increase in the year/years to come.

Since you are getting an MSI GPU, i would suggest getting an MSI motherboard, as their products are calibrated to work seamlessly together.

 

[Xavier Bouttier]

The noctua is a better cooler, but is double the price of the 212 evo. If you are strapped for cash, and go for the 212, i strongly recommend you get 'low profile' ram, as that heatsink can touch the sticks, it is quite a beast (i had it in my system before upgrading to water cooling)

 

[Xavier Bouttier]

You can get this mobo:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Motherboard: MSI Z97-GAMING 5 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($145.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $145.98
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-11-19 10:04 EST-0500

Or if you like a little more bells and whistles, you can get the gaming 7 for 20 dollars more.

 

[zeyuanfu]

1, I would get the Gigabyte Z97X-UD5H for 129.99 after rebate
2, I would get some cheaper G.SKILL RAM
3, You can get an EVGA 970 ACX 2.0 for 329.99 at NCIX
4, It's just me, but I'd get the Cooler Master HAF XM or 932 as it has TON of cooling options and they both get a 17$ combo discount if you buy it with the UD5H.
5, As stated above, CX PSUs aren't very good. Use them as a last resort if you have to, but go with a quality Antec, EVGA, XFX or Seasonic unit.
Otherwise, great build!

 

[FallenXAngel]

I would suggest replacing the seagate with a western digital caviar blue. it's the same capacity but cheaper.

You could go with Ripjaws x series they run on the same frequency as the other modules you chose but has lower CAS latency.

Your power supply should be efficient enough for what you have there maybe want to go with a 750 watt to be safe.

The graphics card is good i'm not too sure about the new gtx 970's and 980's.

as for your processor maybe you would want to switch to an amd platform due to you wanting a gaming build.
you can get a cheaper processor with more cores oriented for gaming. an amd fx-8320 standard clock rate is 3.5 ghz and can be overclocked.
just a suggestion.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/bDgMmG

 

[zeyuanfu]

AMD FX CPUs are weaker than their similarly priced Intel counterparts. The best FX CPU, the 9590, gets CRUSHED by the similarly priced 4790K in gaming.

 

[Xavier Bouttier]

AMD FX CPUs are weaker than their similarly priced Intel counterparts. The best FX CPU, the 9590, gets CRUSHED by the similarly priced 4790K in gaming.

True dat

 

[bootcher]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($184.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock Fatal1ty Z97 Killer ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($109.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($82.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial MX100 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($109.97 @ SuperBiiz)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($53.67 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Zotac GeForce GTX 980 4GB AMP! Edition Video Card ($446.89 @ Directron)
Case: Fractal Design Define R4 (Titanium Grey) ATX Mid Tower Case ($104.99 @ Best Buy)
Power Supply: Corsair CX 600W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($34.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1128.47
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-11-19 10:16 EST-0500

For gaming I would sacrifice the i5 4690K for the cheaper 4460, also a bit cheaper motherboard. I wouldn't recommend 1866 ram instead of 1600 ram, on intel there will be 0 difference between the two types of ram. With these slightly cheaper parts you can get a gtx 980. Also notice there is no cpu cooler, as the intel cpu comes with a stock cooler that works great.

If you rather stick to your own build, there is nothing wrong with it, it will work great.

 

[FallenXAngel]

Might I ask why is that, I'm still fairly new to computers and such and I want to get a job in the computing field. why does the amd that has 8 physical cores built for gaming (in this situation) get stomped on by the 4790k?

 

[Xavier Bouttier]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($184.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock Fatal1ty Z97 Killer ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($109.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($82.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial MX100 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($109.97 @ SuperBiiz)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($53.67 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Zotac GeForce GTX 980 4GB AMP! Edition Video Card ($446.89 @ Directron)
Case: Fractal Design Define R4 (Titanium Grey) ATX Mid Tower Case ($104.99 @ Best Buy)
Power Supply: Corsair CX 600W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($34.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1128.47
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-11-19 10:16 EST-0500

For gaming I would sacrifice the i5 4690K for the cheaper 4460, also a bit cheaper motherboard. I wouldn't recommend 1866 ram instead of 1600 ram, on intel there will be 0 difference between the two types of ram. With these slightly cheaper parts you can get a gtx 980. Also notice there is no cpu cooler, as the intel cpu comes with a stock cooler that works great.

If you rather stick to your own build, there is nothing wrong with it, it will work great.

The 980's double price tag over the 970 does not justify the 10-15% performance upgrade. At 1600mhz RAM, nowadays some games will start to bottleneck. 4690k, leaves the door open for OP to experiment with simple overclocking in the future if he feels comfortable to do so. And if and when.. that single 970 becomes too down the chain for AAA games at ultra, OP can buy another one for ~150$ (by that time it should be worth that) for SLI and game like a beast for a couple of more years.

 

[zeyuanfu]

The only thing that I would change is the PSU, as CX units use bad caps.

 

[zeyuanfu]

Also, no point in getting a Z97 board if it doesn't support SLI.

 

[bootcher]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($184.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock Fatal1ty Z97 Killer ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($109.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($82.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial MX100 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($109.97 @ SuperBiiz)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($53.67 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Zotac GeForce GTX 980 4GB AMP! Edition Video Card ($446.89 @ Directron)
Case: Fractal Design Define R4 (Titanium Grey) ATX Mid Tower Case ($104.99 @ Best Buy)
Power Supply: Corsair CX 600W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($34.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1128.47
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-11-19 10:16 EST-0500

For gaming I would sacrifice the i5 4690K for the cheaper 4460, also a bit cheaper motherboard. I wouldn't recommend 1866 ram instead of 1600 ram, on intel there will be 0 difference between the two types of ram. With these slightly cheaper parts you can get a gtx 980. Also notice there is no cpu cooler, as the intel cpu comes with a stock cooler that works great.

If you rather stick to your own build, there is nothing wrong with it, it will work great.

The 980's double price tag over the 970 does not justify the 10-15% performance upgrade. At 1600mhz RAM, nowadays some games will start to bottleneck. 4690k, leaves the door open for OP to experiment with simple overclocking in the future if he feels comfortable to do so. And if and when.. that single 970 becomes too down the chain for AAA games at ultra, OP can buy another one for ~150$ (by that time it should be worth that) for SLI and game like a beast for a couple of more years.

The 980 is about the best gpu you can get now, it is more expensive for a reason. 1600 mhz ram will never cause bottlenecking in any game, there is virtually no difference between 1866 and 1600 for gaming. If you a buy a single GTX 970 now I would not recommend buying a second one in the future, you might not be able to get the same exact card which could lead to different troubles. Also op didn't say he might wants to sli, and his original motherboard does not support it. I agree that if op wants to overclock it is a different story for the cpu and motherboard.

Corsair is not known for the best psu's, but this particular one has overall good reviews.

 

[zeyuanfu]

Might I ask why is that, I'm still fairly new to computers and such and I want to get a job in the computing field. why does the amd that has 8 physical cores built for gaming (in this situation) get stomped on by the 4790k?

ALL Intel CPUs (except for Atom or Celeron) have superior core performance. Even if they don't, the 4790K has Hyper-Threading, so it doubles the amount of physical cores to get 8 threads, which are virtual cores. Even if virtual cores are weaker than physical cores, Intel's threads beat AMD's physical cores due to stronger physical cores (if I'm correct).
If you doubt me, ask around on this forum and anybody who's knowledgeable will answer that the 4790K is better.

 

[zeyuanfu]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($184.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock Fatal1ty Z97 Killer ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($109.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($82.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial MX100 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($109.97 @ SuperBiiz)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($53.67 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Zotac GeForce GTX 980 4GB AMP! Edition Video Card ($446.89 @ Directron)
Case: Fractal Design Define R4 (Titanium Grey) ATX Mid Tower Case ($104.99 @ Best Buy)
Power Supply: Corsair CX 600W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($34.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1128.47
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-11-19 10:16 EST-0500

For gaming I would sacrifice the i5 4690K for the cheaper 4460, also a bit cheaper motherboard. I wouldn't recommend 1866 ram instead of 1600 ram, on intel there will be 0 difference between the two types of ram. With these slightly cheaper parts you can get a gtx 980. Also notice there is no cpu cooler, as the intel cpu comes with a stock cooler that works great.

If you rather stick to your own build, there is nothing wrong with it, it will work great.

The 980's double price tag over the 970 does not justify the 10-15% performance upgrade. At 1600mhz RAM, nowadays some games will start to bottleneck. 4690k, leaves the door open for OP to experiment with simple overclocking in the future if he feels comfortable to do so. And if and when.. that single 970 becomes too down the chain for AAA games at ultra, OP can buy another one for ~150$ (by that time it should be worth that) for SLI and game like a beast for a couple of more years.

The 980 is about the best gpu you can get now, it is more expensive for a reason. 1600 mhz ram will never cause bottlenecking in any game, there is virtually no difference between 1866 and 1600 for gaming. If you a buy a single GTX 970 now I would not recommend buying a second one in the future, you might not be able to get the same exact card which could lead to different troubles. Also op didn't say he might wants to sli, and his original motherboard does not support it. I agree that if op wants to overclock it is a different story for the cpu and motherboard.

Corsair is not known for the best psu's, but this particular one has overall good reviews.

Do you really think a 35$ PSU uses good caps such as Nippon Chemi-Con? They're probably Teapo.

 

[kisoniukas]

Soo I've read all of your replies and here's what I came up with. Give me some feedback:

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/DnfTt6

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/DnfTt6
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/DnfTt6/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($179.99 @ Micro Center)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.98 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: MSI Z97-Gaming 3 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($136.23 @ Amazon)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($87.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial MX100 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($109.97 @ SuperBiiz)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($53.67 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 970 4GB Twin Frozr V Video Card ($349.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Fractal Design Define R4 (Titanium Grey) ATX Mid Tower Case ($104.99 @ Best Buy)
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12II 620W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($68.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $1121.79
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-11-19 10:48 EST-0500

 

[bootcher]

They use CapXon caps, certainly not the best out there. But at normal use they should hold out for the lifetime of the computer, which i would consider 2-3 years.

 

[kisoniukas]

Sorry for intercepting but I'm looking for an answer, this isn't a discussion thread

 

[zeyuanfu]

Soo I've read all of your replies and here's what I came up with. Give me some feedback:

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/DnfTt6

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/DnfTt6
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/DnfTt6/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($179.99 @ Micro Center)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.98 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: MSI Z97-Gaming 3 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($136.23 @ Amazon)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($87.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial MX100 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($109.97 @ SuperBiiz)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($53.67 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 970 4GB Twin Frozr V Video Card ($349.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Fractal Design Define R4 (Titanium Grey) ATX Mid Tower Case ($104.99 @ Best Buy)
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12II 620W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($68.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $1121.79
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-11-19 10:48 EST-0500

1, I would get the MUCH BETTER Gigabyte Z97X-UD5H for 129.99 after rebate
2, You're getting ripped off on that RAM, you can get a set of G,SKILL Ripjaws X 2133/CL9 for 75.99$
4, I would get the EVGA 970 ACX 2.0 (you can get either the non-Superclocked or the SC version)
5, I would get a cheaper case to put money for a better PSU. One that I'd get is the Cooler Master HAF XM, which goes for 69.99 after rebate, PLUS an extra 17$ in combo discounts if you buy it with the Z97X-UD5H
6, I would get the EVGA SuperNOVA 750 G2 for 89.99 after rebate. It will power two 970s for SLI.

 

[zeyuanfu]

They use CapXon caps, certainly not the best out there. But at normal use they should hold out for the lifetime of the computer, which i would consider 2-3 years.

I would expect a (quality) PSU to hold for at least 5 years.

 

[TNT27]

They use CapXon caps, certainly not the best out there. But at normal use they should hold out for the lifetime of the computer, which i would consider 2-3 years.

I would expect a (quality) PSU to hold for at least 5 years.

Dude, I have this Antec 500watt from 2002, Still WORKS GREAT!, and i'm running oc'd Pentium 4 @ 3.2ghz this is just my LAN Party build for older games like CODUO, Crysis, Far Cry, Diablo 2 LOD, Halo, etc. Im just surprised my little old build still going strong with hardly any hardware problems.

Antec PSU still strong @12 yrs old!

 

[kisoniukas]

Soo I've read all of your replies and here's what I came up with. Give me some feedback:

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/DnfTt6

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/DnfTt6
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/DnfTt6/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($179.99 @ Micro Center)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.98 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: MSI Z97-Gaming 3 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($136.23 @ Amazon)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($87.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial MX100 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($109.97 @ SuperBiiz)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($53.67 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 970 4GB Twin Frozr V Video Card ($349.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Fractal Design Define R4 (Titanium Grey) ATX Mid Tower Case ($104.99 @ Best Buy)
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12II 620W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($68.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $1121.79
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-11-19 10:48 EST-0500

1, I would get the MUCH BETTER Gigabyte Z97X-UD5H for 129.99 after rebate
2, You're getting ripped off on that RAM, you can get a set of G,SKILL Ripjaws X 2133/CL9 for 75.99$
4, I would get the EVGA 970 ACX 2.0 (you can get either the non-Superclocked or the SC version)
5, I would get a cheaper case to put money for a better PSU. One that I'd get is the Cooler Master HAF XM, which goes for 69.99 after rebate, PLUS an extra 17$ in combo discounts if you buy it with the Z97X-UD5H
6, I would get the EVGA SuperNOVA 750 G2 for 89.99 after rebate. It will power two 970s for SLI.

I don't live in the US, I just used that site to show off my build. Going to buy everything in a local store, so none of those rebates count here.