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Gaming PC Build - Opinions?


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So I'm going to be building a new desktop for gaming pretty soon, and these are the parts I've chosen. Can I have some opinions, advice, suggestions, etc. on how I can improve it? My price range is $1200 - $1400. Thanks!

 

 

Motherboard - ASUS Maximus V Gene ($200)

 

Case - NZXT Crafted Series Tempest 410 ($60)

 

Memory - Corsair Vengeance 8 GB ($70)

 

Power Supply - Seasonic X-850 ($170)

 

Processor - Intel Core i7-3770 ($280)

 

Video Card: Radeon HD 7870? ($350)

OR

NVidia GeForce GTX 670? ($350)

(I'm very open to suggestions and advice about video cards; I'd like to keep prices in the $300-$400 range.)

 

SSD - Samsung 840 Series MZ-7TD250BW ($170)

 

 

So yeah, some advice on what I could do/need to do differently, and really advice on video cards would be nice, they confuse me. And if I'm missing anything, I need to know. Also feel free to leave random general advice. Thanks!

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The power supply is overkill, somewhere around 600w would be better.

 

Processor for gaming the 3770 is not needed, a 3570k good enough for gaming.

 

Video card the 670 is better than the 7870 especially at that price.

 

SSD is good, they tested it and it is not any less reliant than any other ssd

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Erik005 is right, you can save some money by switching to a different power supply. You might want to look at a 620 watt or maybe a 750 watt to save anywhere between $30 tp $70 depending on what you pick.Take a look at Corsair's lineup.

 

Honestly, I'm an ATI guy right now. However, the Geforce lineup is currently benchmarking higher than the Radeons, so your money is better invested with nVidia. Now, with that being said, take a look at the Radeon HD 7950. It's fifty dollars cheaper on Newegg than the 7870 and it has 3 GB of video memory (versus 2 GB on the 7870 and the 670). Plus, it inches past the 7870 on the Passmark benchmark. It can't quite compete with the 670 in regards to raw power and speed, but its got more video memory.

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Is this $1200-$1400 USD? I think you could do a whole lot better for that budget.

 

Also Nvidia 7XX series is out, and Haswell is out, so you're better off getting a Haswell + an LGA 1150 motherboard. No reason to upgrade to already-old components. Also there won't be any more CPUs for LGA 1155 boards, so you would lock yourself out of future CPU upgrades if you get an LGA 1155 board. When there is probably going to be at least 2 more gens of CPUs that use the LGA 1150 board.

 

As the others said, you don't need an I7 for gaming, you're better off saving $100 and getting an I5, and using that $100 saved to get a better GPU.

 

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/19PbX
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/19PbX/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/19PbX/benchmarks/

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($239.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock Z87 Extreme6 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($174.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($64.80 @ Newegg)
Storage: A-Data Premier Pro SP900 256GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($159.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 780 3GB Video Card ($649.99 @ Amazon) - Monster GPU, almost as good as a Titan. You can save $200 and go with a 770.
Case: Cooler Master HAF 912 ATX Mid Tower Case ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair Professional Gold 750W 80 PLUS Gold Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($139.48 @ Newegg)
Total: $1399.23
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-06-24 15:58 EDT-0400)

 

Another option for a GPU is to get a 7970 ghz edition:

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202001

 

$349 after rebate. It beats a 680 in most benchmarks. You could buy another one at a later date and crossfire them. But you'd want at least a quality 850w PSU to crossfire those. Comes with 4 free games, Tomb Raider, Crysis 3, Farcry 3, Bioshock.

 

Also, if you plan on overclocking you don't want a stock CPU cooler, you want to at least get one of these:

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103099

 

The great thing about those is you can buy another fan for like $10, and have a push/pull setup on the heat sink, and get much better cooling. Should be able to overclock to at least 4.5ghz no problem.

 

I got this cooler and I highly recommend it. And yeah it works on an LGA 1150 board. Already looked into it.

Edited by Beriallord
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I recommend a 750w PSU, as others have said. Even that's a bit overkill, but it's better to be safe.

 

$350 is steep for a 7870. Here's a better version on sale for $220. Personally I would rather go with Nvidia because then I can force FXAA in all my old games that don't support MSAA, and because I have a brother that survived some hellish AMD drivers, but that's more of a personal preference.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150605

A GTX 760 TI would be more bang for your buck if you're willing to wait a bit.

 

Another thing... You could probably go for a good i5 and match or beat that i7's gaming performance for a lower price.

Edited by Rennn
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What old games don't support MSAA forced in drivers?

I can only think of exotics like Outcast.

It's newer deferred rendering engines where MSAA can't be used.

 

 

 

Motherboard - ASUS Maximus V Gene ($200)

Power Supply - Seasonic X-850 ($170)

Processor - Intel Core i7-3770 ($280)

Old and unnecessary.

Get i7-4770 and any reasonable 1150 motherboard.

 

X-850 is the old version, today better get Seasonic X or Corsair AX (it's the same thing) 660/760/860. Even 660 is enough, 760 more than.

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What old games don't support MSAA forced in drivers?

I can only think of exotics like Outcast.

It's newer deferred rendering engines where MSAA can't be used.

 

 

I've never had any luck forcing MSAA in Red Faction, and it butchers my performance when I do force it in the original Neverwinter Nights or Oblivion.

 

In addition, any new game using deferred rendering (as you stated) are another reason to use FXAA. Look at Mass Effect 2, Blacklight Retribution (limited to ineffective MLAA), or Zeno Clash 2. Basically anything on the Unreal 3 Engine.

I'd also include Borderlands 2, but that comes with its own higher quality FXAA.

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