Kicking around a system build.

truephate

Reputable
Jan 20, 2016
8
0
4,510
Hi everyone,
I've been wanting to build a computer, primarily for gaming, for some time. Having taken the plunge and backed Star Citizen, I'm now realizing that my laptop can probably barely run it and its not even in beta yet, since it can barely run Fallout 4 in low settings. I'll probably be the most happy with a system that I've built myself, rather than buying a pre-made. Nothing is set in stone with this build, I just wanted to ask advice from people more knowledgeable than myself. I think i'd like the option to overclock down the road as well as sort of future-proofing the build.
I chose the AMD processor because I have an AMD-A10-5745M in my laptop and its performed well for me so far. Is there a benefit to going Intel for a gaming desktop?
CPU: AMD FX-8350
CPU COOLER: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO
MOTHERBOARD: ASRock Fatal1ty 970 Performance
MEMORY: G.Skill 16GB
STORAGE: Samsung 250GB SSD/ WD Caviar Blue 1 TB
VIDEO CARD: EVGA GeForce GTX 960
CASE: Phanteks Enthoo Pro (From what I've read it has good airflow and isn't as wild as some of the other cases on the market)
POWER SUPPLY: Corsair 760W
OPTICAL DRIVE: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS
 
Hello Truephate,

Star Citizen, huh? Well that is a game that is slated to push hardware requirements to the max so you will need a very advanced computer to play well. My son plays it and a lot of people playing have rigs over $5k. As well, because it is still beta the software has not been optimized so it is a little difficult to determine what works best. Currently it is a hog on the CPU.

So most important question first, what is your budget?
 

Threadlight

Honorable
Sep 10, 2015
68
0
10,660
This is a good build, only thing I can recommend is to get a better CPU (I'd suggest a Intel i5 6600k) and maybe a 970 instead if you can afford it, although it's not the end of the world if you can't.
Intel CPU's have arguably better performance and run cooler than their AMD counterparts, however they are slightly more expensive than AMD's CPU's. It's mostly you get what you pay for.

As imsquam said, we need to know your budget first
 

truephate

Reputable
Jan 20, 2016
8
0
4,510
Thanks for some input, currently I can spend probably around 900-1500 on the build. If I go with the Intel which motherboards would work well with it since it is a LGA1151 socket? I'm not quite sure what to look for in a motherboard. I've read that this year that AMD is releasing cards with highbandwithmemory HBM capabilities, which would that make the graphic processing capabilities quicker in these cards with an AMD chip?
 

Threadlight

Honorable
Sep 10, 2015
68
0
10,660
I'm not sure about this HBM capability, but it will only work on the high end graphics cards from what I've found (R9 390X, Fury X). Here is a build I made for you: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/ZPfJ3C

I generally go with ASUS since they have very good quality motherboard with lots of features. However Gigabyte and MSI are also very reputable brands. There are 3 things you need to look for in a motherboard:

1. Compatibility: This is self explanatory
2. Features: Do you want SLI support? Onboard Wi-Fi? High-quality audio? All up to you
3. Brand: If you go with a well-known brand, you can't really go wrong
 

truephate

Reputable
Jan 20, 2016
8
0
4,510
Thank you for the knowledgeable input, that looks like the build I was looking for. I'll keep this in mind for later in the year when i'll know more about the system requirements for SC. Reliability is what i'm looking for and the ASUS Z170-A looks to fit that profile.
 
Decent build truephate, one thing I would do though is bump up the RAM speed to around 2666, the review below seems to show that Skylake likes ram speed in that range.

http://www.legitreviews.com/ddr4-memory-scaling-intel-z170-finding-the-best-ddr4-memory-kit-speed_170340/6

So we are back to my original comment, what will Star Citizen want? We know it will want a lot. One of the biggest questions is will it be developed into a multi-thread game requiring higher CPU thread counts. I do see it going that way, there are some people reporting that when they bumped up from an i5 to an i7 they saw significant improvements but that is anecdotal so far. The other thing I have seen so far is people reporting that AMD GPU's don't work that well but again that could be because the driver optimizaiton is not there yet due to the game still being in development.

Below is an alternate build which tries to address some of these issues.

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/q6NdK8
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/q6NdK8/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i7-5820K 3.3GHz 6-Core Processor ($374.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($24.88 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock X99 Extreme6 ATX LGA2011-3 Motherboard ($213.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Patriot Viper 4 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2666 Memory ($84.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($87.89 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Seagate 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Hybrid Internal Hard Drive ($69.89 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB SSC ACX 2.0+ Video Card ($309.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Phanteks Enthoo Pro M ATX Mid Tower Case ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Rosewill Capstone 750W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply ($79.98 @ OutletPC)
Total: $1306.58
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-01-22 04:40 EST-0500
 

truephate

Reputable
Jan 20, 2016
8
0
4,510
Thanks all for the input. I began to weigh the different options and decided to wait until the middle of this year to build. It helped to wait as I accumulated more funds into the computer fund I set aside. As I researched different motherboards I settled on the ASUS z170 board because I liked the features and the color scheme, I want to go with a black and white build. I also figured it would be good to wait until the release of pascal, as the upcoming games will probably be optimized for the cards (here's hoping). I can expand the storage down the road, and I'm opting to nix the optical drive as I have an external usb optical drive which will work on the odd occasion that I have to use a dvd. The way I rationalized it was that I could wait around 6 months or more to build something, since my current gaming was alright on my laptop. Until some of the more recent games, as COD BO3 doesn't run on my laptop, and I have gotten into the Witcher 3 also, which runs ok-ish on the laptop. I still have to assemble the build however.

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i GTX
MOTHERBOARD: Asus z170-A ATX LGA 1151
MEMORY: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 32GB DDR4-3200
STORAGE: Samsung 850 EVO 500GB SSD/ (1TB Caviar Blue still to be ordered)
VIDEO CARD: EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 Founders
CASE: Phanteks Enthoo Pro ATX
POWERSUPPLY: Corsair HX1000i