Tom's opinion on ultimate gamer PC

[Tomcat-29]

So this is the setup that I have chosen after several days of intense research:
http://pcpartpicker.com/user/Tomcat-29/saved/3TDb

Cpu: Not much to say here - the i7 is, for the slim plus in performance, way too expensive and not worth the extra cash. This one will do just fone when overclocked and has the advantage of fewer cores, which games like.

Cpu cooler: I wasn't sure whether i should get this one noctua nh-d14(best of the best, as it appears) or the cheaper cooler master 212 evo, which performs very decently at half the price.

Mobo: the maximus vi hero is very expensive, but it has a better integrated sound card than the z87-a and some more stuff (that i don't actually understand). I also read that msi mobos are a gamble, that asrock are lower quality and that gygabyte are overclocked by default. Since i want to control the overclocking myself, i decided to go with quality and therefore with the asus mobo.

Ram: this was a big struggle. I had no idea what effect the voltage and/or the chip memory (1600, 1800, 2400 etc) would have, so i chose one that would fit under my wnormous cpu cooler that had an estahaetically nice color.

Gpu: once again i was torn between brands: asus, msi or gygabyte where the players.
For price reasons i decided to go with the gtx 770, and since my mobo was asus and i knew it was of quality, i went with that one. What i still am not sure of ist the vram: 2gb or 4gb. I guessed that the future me would thank me if i got a 4gb, tho it cost 50 $ more. Since my mobo has sli capabilities, i might want that sone day.

Storage: best price/ storage came with this samsung ssd. Correct me if you know anything better...

Pc case: well this is probably the least important part, so I'm not gonna get into that more than necessary. I chose the phantom 530 from nzxt because i thought it looks amazing and it has 2 fans already integrated with dust filters and other luxury add ins. Not the cheapest, but also by far not the most expensive case out there!

So now i ask you, wise community of tom's hardware: what do you think? Is there anything i absolutely have to change?
I'm hoping for many opinions so that newbies like me can form their own, since we can't rely on any experience...
-greets

 

[Brantyn Gerik]

eh looks like a pretty good setup, nothing i would change, and ONLY go with the 4gb if you are sure you are going to sli, otherwise save up for a better video card. also do not forget to get an operating system.

 

[HiTechObsessed]

You can save $70 and upgrade to the GTX 780 by going with different, not overpriced parts:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($209.00 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D14 65.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($74.99 @ Mwave)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z87MX-D3H Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($119.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($82.95 @ Amazon)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 780 3GB Video Card ($489.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: NZXT Phantom 530 (Black) ATX Full Tower Case ($99.99 @ Microcenter)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA NEX750B BRONZE 750W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($49.99 @ NCIX US)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($19.98 @ OutletPC)
Monitor: Asus VS247H-P 23.6" Monitor ($130.49 @ Newegg)
Total: $1277.37
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-02-27 15:00 EST-0500)

 

[Tomcat-29]

@gerik: yes. I'm looking for "cheaper" ways to get it tho will two gtx 770 still be enough to compete with next gen gpus?

@obsessed: the thing is that i live in switzerland and that I'll have to pay a significant amount of taxes on imported parts!
I heard you guys in the states really like evga for their quality client support. Do they also have a product quality that's comparable to asus? Because i don't think i could profit much from their tech support if I'm outside the usa...

 

[HiTechObsessed]

Ahh, you gotta tell us where you live lol I assumed USA since it was in those prices. EVGA does have great products, but ASUS isn't worse by any means.

And 2 770s would be incredible. If you go to SLI 770s, I would go with the 4GB, the extra VRAM will extend their viability as well.

 

[Tomcat-29]

So pairing up two gtx 770 2gb would not be advisable?

 

[HiTechObsessed]

It would be fine, it would just be better to not limit yourself to 2GB with those cards, as they will be fast enough in SLI to take advantage of the extra VRAM. 2GB in SLI won't be bad by any means though.

 

[Adroid]

Looks like a great build, but if you are only going to have 1 hard drive, look for a western digital caviar blue on amazon - runs for about 60$ US.

That SSD is not big enough to be your only drive.

I also personally won't buy TN Monitor panels any more. You are going to have a screaming fast system and a mediocre monitor. I don't know why people try to save money on arguably the most important component in the system - the picture.

My last comment is that your PSU is a little bigger than it needs to be for a single GPU system, and a little smaller than I would recommend for Sli 770s.

There is no proof that the 4GB GTX 770 is any faster than the 2GB, so Iwould stay where you are at. The 770 does great for 1080p.

 

[HiTechObsessed]

Of course it's not faster, but for games requiring over 2GB of VRAM, it will be MUCH better.

 

[Tomcat-29]

@obsessed: thanks for the advice. I think I'll stick to the 2gb version...

@adroid: yeah I'll be adding an hdd and i was already looking at the wd caviar blue
About the monitor: they just get really freaking expensive as i go for the nicer ones... any suggestions on that matter?
So you think that the psu is too much for one gpu but just too little for 2? So either go 1000w or 650w?

Thanks for the anwers guys!!

 

[HiTechObsessed]

For a pair of 770s, 850w would be perfectly fine, just stay with something from Antec, Corsair (RM, HX, TX, AX), SeaSonic, XFX.

 

[Adroid]

Of course it's not faster, but for games requiring over 2GB of VRAM, it will be MUCH better.

At 1080p it makes no difference whatsoever. If you can prove otherwise beyond opinions of it being more "future proof" please do so.

All comparisons I have seen it makes absolutely no difference in games at 1080p.

 

[Adroid]

For a pair of 770s, 850w would be perfectly fine, just stay with something from Antec, Corsair (RM, HX, TX, AX), SeaSonic, XFX.

I agree with this but you should stick to the Antec models made by Seasonic. Some Antec aren't as good as others.

Seasonic is the best period. They make some units for corsair, antec, and ALL units for xfx.

 

[HiTechObsessed]

Of course it's not faster, but for games requiring over 2GB of VRAM, it will be MUCH better.

At 1080p it makes no difference whatsoever. If you can prove otherwise beyond opinions of it being more "future proof" please do so.

All comparisons I have seen it makes absolutely no difference in games at 1080p.

As I said, if a game requires over 2GB of VRAM, 4GB will be better. And as I said, it's only recommended if going SLI in the future, as the pair of 770s will be able to fully utilize the extra VRAM, if needed. That's simply a fact, not an opinion. Games like Star Citizen will be extremely intensive, and the extra VRAM will DEFINITELY help out if AA is used.

And yes, I know the Truepower, HCG, and HCP are the quality Antec units, and I didn't have to specify that, as they are the only ones that Antec offers at that wattage and above.

 

[Tomcat-29]

After some re-thinking and considering opinions of people in other forums, i decided to make an alternative setup and see which one would be better.
With this one i got a better gpu at the cost of the case, mobo and initially the cpu cooler (i wanted to go with the much cheaper cooler master 212 evo, but decided at the end to play it safe)
Her it goes:
http://pcpartpicker.com/user/Tomcat-29/saved/3UkW

 

[HiTechObsessed]

That CPU cooler is much better than the EVO. And I really like this build, the 780 is great. Kinda overkill price-wise on the monitor though, in my opinion.

 

[Tomcat-29]

Yes the monitor is expensive. But it's the least expensive ips monitor around and I've been told that since that pc has a very high quality graphics setup, it would be a waste to get a screen not capable of showing it off...
But i still might go with a cheaper one and just upgrade to ips in the future, when they get cheaper...

 

[Tomcat-29]

Lol it was adroid itt that suggested not to get a tn monitor.
I really don't know what i should do and whether there is a vig difference in the picture anyway.

 

[Adroid]

Lol it was adroid itt that suggested not to get a tn monitor.
I really don't know what i should do and whether there is a vig difference in the picture anyway.

It's a matter of preference, and YES there is a big difference.

 

[Brantyn Gerik]

TN is great for gaming, but the colors are quite a bit worse (not bad, but bud in comparison). IPS or LPS panels are much prettier, but suffer from higher response times. it's a tradeoff. if you play any type of first person game, you'll want a TN, end of story. If you are fine with giving up a little bit of that responsiveness and fluidity, then ips is much nicer to look at. But the reason it is not a definitive answer for either is that the tradeoffs are noticable in both directions. any serious gamer that cares about score will without a doubt recommend TN, if score is not your primary concern, then get ips or lps

 

[Adroid]

TN is great for gaming, but the colors are quite a bit worse (not bad, but bud in comparison). IPS or LPS panels are much prettier, but suffer from higher response times. it's a tradeoff. if you play any type of first person game, you'll want a TN, end of story. If you are fine with giving up a little bit of that responsiveness and fluidity, then ips is much nicer to look at. But the reason it is not a definitive answer for either is that the tradeoffs are noticable in both directions. any serious gamer that cares about score will without a doubt recommend TN, if score is not your primary concern, then get ips or lps

I disagree, as I play games such as CS:GO, Battlefield 3, BFBC2, etc on an IPS screen and can top the score charts consistently. Older IPS screens were notoriously slower and more expensive, but nowadays there are faster IPS screens to be had that give you the best of both worlds.

 

[HiTechObsessed]

Exactly. At 60 fps, there is really no difference in 1ms or 7ms response time. I have a 7ms IPS monitor, and it works just fine for me playing FPS.

Now if you had a 120/144 Hz screen, a lower response time would be more beneficial, but even then it's not THAT much better.