Looking to buy new gaming system

Wunterslaus

Reputable
Aug 5, 2014
3
0
4,510
A friend of mine wants to buy a gaming pc to play games on the ultra settings. Now his eye has fallen on a complete system he is able to buy for 999 euro's which contains:
- MSI GeForce GTX 960 2GB Graphics Card
- MSI B85-G43 Gaming Motherboard
- Intel i5-4460
- Crucial 8 GB DDR3-1600 RAM
- Seasonic M12II-520 EVO, 520 Watt PSU
- Other components such as SSD, HDD, Case, DVD Burner and Windows 8.1 64-bit

My question is: Is this good enough to play games on Ultra (also games which are coming out in the next few years)?
 
Solution
A 960 won't be able to get the job done with games on ultra.
This build will though (assuming you are in the UK)

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor (£142.50 @ CCL Computers)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H97-D3H ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£81.54 @ Aria PC)
Memory: Corsair 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£43.25 @ Scan.co.uk)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£39.99 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB Superclocked ACX 2.0 Video Card (£267.72 @ Aria PC)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case (£49.19 @ Aria...
A 960 won't be able to get the job done with games on ultra.
This build will though (assuming you are in the UK)

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor (£142.50 @ CCL Computers)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H97-D3H ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£81.54 @ Aria PC)
Memory: Corsair 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£43.25 @ Scan.co.uk)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£39.99 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB Superclocked ACX 2.0 Video Card (£267.72 @ Aria PC)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case (£49.19 @ Aria PC)
Power Supply: XFX TS 550W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply (£54.34 @ More Computers)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-118CB/BEBE DVD/CD Drive (£9.72 @ Ebuyer)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 OEM (64-bit) (£75.34 @ CCL Computers)
Total: £763.59
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-06-12 18:19 BST+0100

If you have any questions, just ask.
 
Solution
Even a 970 will probably struggle after a another 18ish months. If you are one of those who feels they must max out their settings just because...then you need to resign yourself to spending $400 - $500 on a GPU every time or buying a $250 - $300 card every 12- 18 months.