What is the better gaming pc?

[jmracerboy]

Hi,

I am planning on building a gaming pc in the near future. One of the builds is a more budget-orientated pc (mostly AMD), the other is more performance orientated (Intel and nVidia). They should both (on paper at least) perform similarly to each other, with the Intel and nVidia pc edging ahead slightly.

What are your thoughts? Which is the better build? Should I mix and match some components, although preferably from the listed parts, unless there are better 'bang-for-buck' parts on similar performance levels to the ones listed.

Budget Build:
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/PwwWBm

Performance Build:
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/WbtzFT

 

[tiny voices]

The i5 gtx770 build will be slightly better. IT has a much lower quality PSU though.

I recommend the 8350 build but with the gtx770 and an XFX650 PSU.

 

[cbag]

$1265 vs $1376 is hardly 'budget'. For 110 bucks I'd just get the Intel setup. Your electric bill will probably pay for the $100 difference in a few years.

 

[tiny voices]

If you do get the intel build, change the PSU for sure.

 

[Analgetic]

The second one is good enough for any game in the market now. The only thing I would change is gpu with GTX 780TI for max performance or you can make a mix and put R9 280 or 290 with a Corsair 650 or higher psu, with gold or platinum efficiency

 

[jmracerboy]

Is there a massive difference between fx-8350 and i5-4670k with r9 280x/gtx770. Also i think amd set up will be more future proof since cpu has more cores and gpu as 3gb of VRAM which modern games will be using, correct?

 

[tiny voices]

The i5 is the better CPU for gaming. The 770 is the better GPU, marginally.

 

[jmracerboy]

So 2gb won't make a difference against 3gb in the near future?

 

[tiny voices]

At 1080p no, the difference will not matter as the cards are not really powerful enough. If you stepped up to a 780, the 3gb it has would be useful because the card is powerful enough to use it.

 

[byza]

Hi,

I made some tweaks to your build that I think would make it quite a bit better. A R9 290 which is a step up from the 770, plus it has 4gb vram. While 2gb vram is more than enough for 1080p gaming, some games (watch dogs, wolfenstein) are locking some graphics settings to only cards with more than 3gb vram. While it's not widespread, if it's happening now, more games will probably do this in the future.
I dropped a set of fans and put that money towards a better mobo. You'll get a better OC and a more balanced build. 4 fans (2 that come with the case plus 2 extra) should be enough airflow for now, just watch the cable management.
Also changed the PSU to a better one.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($239.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.98 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97X-UD3H ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($134.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LP 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-2133 Memory ($96.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Kingston SSDNow V300 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($55.98 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($54.98 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon R9 290 4GB WINDFORCE Video Card ($319.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case ($44.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA NEX 750W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-14 DVD/CD Writer ($14.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($89.98 @ OutletPC)
Monitor: Asus VN247H-P 23.6" Monitor ($166.47 @ Amazon)
Wireless Network Adapter: TP-Link TL-WN881ND 802.11b/g/n PCI-Express x1 Wi-Fi Adapter ($18.99 @ Amazon)
Case Fan: Corsair Air Series AF140 Quiet Edition 67.8 CFM 140mm Fan ($16.98 @ OutletPC)
Fan Controller: NZXT Sentry Mix 2 Fan Controller ($34.99 @ Newegg)
Keyboard: Logitech Wireless Combo MK270 Wireless Standard Keyboard w/Optical Mouse ($17.95 @ Amazon)
Total: $1373.23
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

 

[jmracerboy]

The case comes with 1x120mm and 1x140mm, yes? The hyper 212 comes with 1x120mm. I planned on having a 120 and 140 at low rpm on both the front and back of the case, using the af140 and the hyper 212 fan. Then I planned to use dual fans on the hyper 212. Is this a bit overkill then?

 

[jmracerboy]

Anyway, I think I will go with the r9 290 build as it is supposed to be better than the gtx 770 at nearly the same price. However, if I needed to crossfire in say a year and a half, how big of a psu would i need?

 

[byza]

i've got 3x200mm+1x140mm case fans and 120mm+140mm cpu cooler fans so i can't really scold you for overkill, but yes it is. My case/cooler just happened to come with a load of fans.

If you use stock fans for now, you would be perfectly fine. Adding more fans will keep it cooler, but in the interest of keeping to a budget, the money could be put elsewhere during the initial build and you can pick up fans pretty cheap later. As i said before, cable management is almost as important as fans, if you have a bunch of cables blocking your fans, there won't be any airflow regardless of how many you put on there.

 

[byza]

The 750W should work, but it would be close to maxing out which isn't ideal. You should look at 800W+ for crossfiring 290's.

 

[jmracerboy]

Is 800w too much while I have just 1 r9 290 though?

 

[jmracerboy]

Also I think I might get 1 sp120 so I can do dual fan setup for better overclocking. Is fan controller worth it??

 

[byza]

PSU's are most efficient around mid-draw. So while you will only be pulling just over half of it's capacity with a single card, it would still actually be more efficient than an equally built 750w. PSU's only draw what they need, they don't actually draw to their peak capacity all the time. Really the most efficient PSU for 2x290's would be around 1500W. Other factors such as amps and multiple rails start coming into the equation but we don't really need to get into that.

As to the fan controller, it depends if you think you will use it. Despite having a fan controller myself, I always run my fans at max, as i only use my rig for gaming (everything else i use my laptop) and i'm too lazy to change it. Also i think they look cool, but as to whether you NEED one, i'd say no, you can usually run your fans off your mobo.

 

[jmracerboy]

I'm gonna get a csm650w for now because I probably won't crossfire for another year now (due to money for psu and card and won't probably need to since it is a high end card). Might ditch the fan controller. Can someone tell me how many 4pin headers there are on mobo, also can I put a 3 pin in a 4 pin socket (I believe case fans are 3 pin). I will be able to control 4 pins anyway from motherboard and from software on pc, yes?

 

[jmracerboy]

This is the finalised build (I ditched the fan controller in favour of a better ssd since apparently the controller on the Kingston is out of date and a lot slower than the Samsung evo ssd)

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/Mmk2bv

 

[byza]

From the Gigabyte website:
"1 x CPU fan header
1 x water cooling fan header (CPU_OPT)
3 x system fan headers"

And yes a 3 pin can go into a 4 pin socket. 4 pin is just for PWM fans. PWM can be controlled through software, while non PWM must be controlled through hardware.

Looks like a nice rig, have fun with it.