Looking for a budget build with GTX 960 at 720p

[Abdo Badr]

I'm looking for a budget 720p build using GTX 960 (possibly the MSI 4GB one) for a sole purpose (Gaming).
I live in Egypt so hardware prices could be +30%~50% higher in US (MSI GTX 960 is 2350 LE ~=300$) so my budget would be like 7000~8000 LE.
-My reference would be www.egprices.com
-I'm not looking forward to OC neither my GPU or CPU or SLI my card.
Components I thought of:
-CPU : Intel I5-4690K Devil's Canyon ~=230$
-RAM : Corsair Vengeance Pro 8 GB (2x4 GB) DDR3 1866 dual channel v1.5 ~= 90$.
-PSU : XFX ProSeries Core Edition 550 W full wired PSU 80 plus Bronze OR SeaSonic S12II Bronze 620W 80 PLUS Certified PSU ~75$
-Case : Corsair Graphite Series 230T Windowed Compact Mid Tower Case. 90$
-Mobo : something Asus Sabertooth mark 2 would be 1500 LE -> 190 (but that's too high).
HD: WD blue 1tb 7200 RPM. ~60$
-So my question is what do you recommend I could use ? what would be an over kill for a 720p pc ?

 

[Geekwad]

This definitely is an aggressive system for 720p, but the upside is that you'll be able to enjoy great frame-rates and are positioned for 1080p gaming when you're ready. At 720p, the processor could be a non-K version without any notice to you for sure.....and even an i3 would work in many cases. Quad-core is fast becoming the minimum recommended in many current very-high-end games, and I expect this trend to continue, so at least going with an i5-4460, will ensure you're compatible over the next several years.

The 960 will do a fantastic job at 720p, and even at 1080p can offer very playable frame-rates.....albeit with some detail settings turned down. And even though you say you don't have any intentions to implement SLI......it still isn't a bad idea to get a board and PSU that can handle it if possible (as cost differences now would be minimal). That would be a 600w PSU for an SLI 960, and a 1150 board that can handle SLI (note that some will only do AMD mulit-GPU, or crossfire, so keep an eye out for that if you decide to do this). Multi-GPU setups are not without their pitfalls, but it continues to get better all the time, and in a couple of years, you may find that if you spend 1000LE, you can eek out another year or two with the current setup at 1080p.......which could be attractive.

 

[g-unit1111]

Do this - not that much more than a Haswell build and it supports most of the current tech that's out there so your build will have a bit more longevity than if you go with Haswell:

CPU: http://www.egprices.com/en/product/intel-core-i5-6600k-6m-skylake-3-5-ghz-processor-el-badr-group - 2465 LE
Motherboard: http://www.egprices.com/en/product/gigabyte-ga-z170-d3h-socket-1151-motherboard-maximum-hardware - 1420 LE
Cooler: http://www.egprices.com/en/product/cryorig-h5-ultimate-with-qf140-cpu-cooler-el-nekhely-technology - 450 LE
RAM: http://www.egprices.com/en/product/corsair-vengeance-lp-8gb-2-x-4gb-ddr3-1600-cl9-v1-5-dual-channel-memory-kit-el-badr-group 625 LE
HD: http://www.egprices.com/en/product/seagate-barracuda-st1000dm003-1tb-7200-sata-6gb-s-hdd-time-tech - 465 LE
SSD: http://www.egprices.com/en/product/samsung-850-evo-series-250gb-internal-solid-state-drive-ssd--el-badr-group - 1200 LE
Optical: http://www.egprices.com/en/product/samsung-22x-dvd-rw-dl-drive-sh-222bb-up-to-date-computer - 220 LE
GPU: http://www.egprices.com/en/product/msi-gtx-960-gaming-4g-gddr5-delta-computer-alex - 2350 LE
Case: http://www.egprices.com/en/product/nzxt-s340-mid-tower-case-black-red--maximum-hardware - 725 LE
Power Supply: http://www.egprices.com/en/product/evga-supernova-750-b2-bronze-psu-compufast - 850 LE

Total: 10795 LE (USD $1378.65)

I don't know if that is what you want to spend but those were all the best parts that I could find on that site.

 

[milk_inc]

Try to get a gtx 950 it less expensive so that way you can save money, as you said you are going to played at 720p, it's more than enough you won' t notice bad performance. Yes your pc will be overkill at 720p, I believe the processor are good as the ram.
Also take a note, you are using a processor for overcloking are you thinking in doing that?, Because if that your goal you need a motherboard that support overclock, if not take another processor wont support overclock. All the settings you named are for gaming at 1080p with medium settings on games. So of course you are overkilling for your purpose.

 

[Abdo Badr]

This definitely is an aggressive system for 720p, but the upside is that you'll be able to enjoy great frame-rates and are positioned for 1080p gaming when you're ready. At 720p, the processor could be a non-K version without any notice to you for sure.....and even an i3 would work in many cases. Quad-core is fast becoming the minimum recommended in many current very-high-end games, and I expect this trend to continue, so at least going with an i5-4460, will ensure you're compatible over the next several years.

The 960 will do a fantastic job at 720p, and even at 1080p can offer very playable frame-rates.....albeit with some detail settings turned down. And even though you say you don't have any intentions to implement SLI......it still isn't a bad idea to get a board and PSU that can handle it if possible (as cost differences now would be minimal). That would be a 600w PSU for an SLI 960, and a 1150 board that can handle SLI (note that some will only do AMD mulit-GPU, or crossfire, so keep an eye out for that if you decide to do this). Multi-GPU setups are not without their pitfalls, but it continues to get better all the time, and in a couple of years, you may find that if you spend 1000LE, you can eek out another year or two with the current setup at 1080p.......which could be attractive.

Well, yeah I'm thinking of heading to Haswell with 4460 it will save up some money, and for mobo/PSU that will handle OC and SLI/Xfire .. I'm guess I'll go with Asus Sabertooth Z97 Mark 2 (heard good stuff about Asus's mobos) and for a PSU EVGA SuperNOVA 750 for future and even If I wanted to upgrade to GTX 970 or SLI my future 960.

 

[Abdo Badr]

Do this - not that much more than a Haswell build and it supports most of the current tech that's out there so your build will have a bit more longevity than if you go with Haswell:

CPU: http://www.egprices.com/en/product/intel-core-i5-6600k-6m-skylake-3-5-ghz-processor-el-badr-group - 2465 LE
Motherboard: http://www.egprices.com/en/product/gigabyte-ga-z170-d3h-socket-1151-motherboard-maximum-hardware - 1420 LE
Cooler: http://www.egprices.com/en/product/cryorig-h5-ultimate-with-qf140-cpu-cooler-el-nekhely-technology - 450 LE
RAM: http://www.egprices.com/en/product/corsair-vengeance-lp-8gb-2-x-4gb-ddr3-1600-cl9-v1-5-dual-channel-memory-kit-el-badr-group 625 LE
HD: http://www.egprices.com/en/product/seagate-barracuda-st1000dm003-1tb-7200-sata-6gb-s-hdd-time-tech - 465 LE
SSD: http://www.egprices.com/en/product/samsung-850-evo-series-250gb-internal-solid-state-drive-ssd--el-badr-group - 1200 LE
Optical: http://www.egprices.com/en/product/samsung-22x-dvd-rw-dl-drive-sh-222bb-up-to-date-computer - 220 LE
GPU: http://www.egprices.com/en/product/msi-gtx-960-gaming-4g-gddr5-delta-computer-alex - 2350 LE
Case: http://www.egprices.com/en/product/nzxt-s340-mid-tower-case-black-red--maximum-hardware - 725 LE
Power Supply: http://www.egprices.com/en/product/evga-supernova-750-b2-bronze-psu-compufast - 850 LE

Total: 10795 LE (USD $1378.65)

I don't know if that is what you want to spend but those were all the best parts that I could find on that site.

Discarding SSD & DVD that what I almost had in mine with a cheaper cooler like evo 212.
also I think Skylake would be a total overkill for my future tin can .😀

 

[Abdo Badr]

Try to get a gtx 950 it less expensive so that way you can save money, as you said you are going to played at 720p, it's more than enough you won' t notice bad performance. Yes your pc will be overkill at 720p, I believe the processor are good as the ram.
Also take a note, you are using a processor for overcloking are you thinking in doing that?, Because if that your goal you need a motherboard that support overclock, if not take another processor wont support overclock. All the settings you named are for gaming at 1080p with medium settings on games. So of course you are overkilling for your purpose.

I want something that would work on both 720p on max and 1080p (Had I to upgrade) on high/medium while turning off few settings so 950 won't help as much as 960 would do ... If had the budget I would have gone with 970 and i7 but empty pockets have no voice XD

 

[Abdo Badr]

How about this as a final 720P (possible in near future 1080p) gaming setup capable of OC and SLI (in little bit furthest future if I have to)
http://imgur.com/htqGcK2
Recommend anything to be changed if you'd like to.

 

[Abdo Badr]

aaand Here's another debatable question that would cause a nuclear fallout, GTX 960 vs R9 380 ? performance-wise ... I don't care about noise or heat (my room is the north pole).

 

[Abdo Badr]

After using the Google I found R9 380 beats 960 and have some nice numbers on 1080 so Final build is what I posted in the pic + I might go for I7 if the budget allowed me to.
Thanks everyone.

 

[Geekwad]

After using the Google I found R9 380 beats 960 and have some nice numbers on 1080 so Final build is what I posted in the pic + I might go for I7 if the budget allowed me to.
Thanks everyone.

That sounds great. Keep in mind that when you're right on the line between i5's and i7's, that Xeon's can be a viable option. Xeon's do not overclock, so that's important to note, but they are all hyper-threaded, so are very similar to i7's. The E3-1231 V3 is a very capable gamer, and can be great if you game and stream, game and chat/surf (use multiple monitors for any multitasking with gaming really), and are typically not much more than i5's.

Anyway, not sure if it is an available option you can source, but something to check into if it is.

EDIT: I just checked to be sure that the Xeon option was available for the motherboard you had identified, and it is:

https://www.asus.com/us/Motherboards/SABERTOOTH_Z97_MARK_2/HelpDesk_CPU/

RAM is also on the QVL list:

http://dlcdnet.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/LGA1150/SABERTOOTH_Z97_MARK1/SABERTOOTH_Z97_Series_memory_QVL.pdf

 

[g-unit1111]

Try to get a gtx 950 it less expensive so that way you can save money, as you said you are going to played at 720p, it's more than enough you won' t notice bad performance. Yes your pc will be overkill at 720p, I believe the processor are good as the ram.
Also take a note, you are using a processor for overcloking are you thinking in doing that?, Because if that your goal you need a motherboard that support overclock, if not take another processor wont support overclock. All the settings you named are for gaming at 1080p with medium settings on games. So of course you are overkilling for your purpose.

I want something that would work on both 720p on max and 1080p (Had I to upgrade) on high/medium while turning off few settings so 950 won't help as much as 960 would do ... If had the budget I would have gone with 970 and i7 but empty pockets have no voice XD

A 960 will handle 720P fine and even 1080P fine to a certain extent. My mini ITX rig runs a GTX 960 and it's a fine card for mid range gaming.

 

[Abdo Badr]

After using the Google I found R9 380 beats 960 and have some nice numbers on 1080 so Final build is what I posted in the pic + I might go for I7 if the budget allowed me to.
Thanks everyone.

That sounds great. Keep in mind that when you're right on the line between i5's and i7's, that Xeon's can be a viable option. Xeon's do not overclock, so that's important to note, but they are all hyper-threaded, so are very similar to i7's. The E3-1231 V3 is a very capable gamer, and can be great if you game and stream, game and chat/surf (use multiple monitors for any multitasking with gaming really), and are typically not much more than i5's.

Anyway, not sure if it is an available option you can source, but something to check into if it is.

EDIT: I just checked to be sure that the Xeon option was available for the motherboard you had identified, and it is:

https://www.asus.com/us/Motherboards/SABERTOOTH_Z97_MARK_2/HelpDesk_CPU/

RAM is also on the QVL list:

http://dlcdnet.asus.com/pub/ASUS/mb/LGA1150/SABERTOOTH_Z97_MARK1/SABERTOOTH_Z97_Series_memory_QVL.pdf

Just searched for separated xeons here and couldn't find any but just one marketplace where 1230 v2 is about 3000 LE ~= 380$ (total rip-off)
so whether it's gonna be a i5-4400 or i7-4770 if I pushed my self little bit hard at work.
also thanks for the pdf, it was very informative.

 

[Abdo Badr]

Try to get a gtx 950 it less expensive so that way you can save money, as you said you are going to played at 720p, it's more than enough you won' t notice bad performance. Yes your pc will be overkill at 720p, I believe the processor are good as the ram.
Also take a note, you are using a processor for overcloking are you thinking in doing that?, Because if that your goal you need a motherboard that support overclock, if not take another processor wont support overclock. All the settings you named are for gaming at 1080p with medium settings on games. So of course you are overkilling for your purpose.

I want something that would work on both 720p on max and 1080p (Had I to upgrade) on high/medium while turning off few settings so 950 won't help as much as 960 would do ... If had the budget I would have gone with 970 and i7 but empty pockets have no voice XD

A 960 will handle 720P fine and even 1080P fine to a certain extent. My mini ITX rig runs a GTX 960 and it's a fine card for mid range gaming.

Yeah, but R9 380 is mostly better performance-wise and little bit cheaper here (around 200-300 LE).