What do you reckon about these specs?

[billyro]

I've been saving up for a new PC, since I'm fed up with my laptop. These are the specs of a custom-built PC I'm interested in, and while I have a pretty good general understanding of hardware, I just wanted to verify how good it is with the tech masters on the Nexus.

Motherboard: ASUS H97I-PLUS
Processor: Overclocked Intel Core i5 4690K Quad-Core (4.0GHz-4.7GHz)
Graphics Card: Single 2GB NVIDIA GTX 750Ti
Memory: 8GB ORIGIN PC powered by HyperX 1600Mhz (2x4GB)
Hard Drive: 1TB SATA 6.0Gb/s, 7200RPM, 32MB Cache

This, with the accompanying keyboard, monitor, and headset, comes to about $2,500 AU. I can manage the price, but am I getting my money's worth?

 

I was thinking about getting a Dual 2GB NVIDIA GTX 760 graphics card, but that would raise the price to $3,000 and I'm not sure I'm willing to pay that. Would there be much of a difference between the Single 2GB NVIDIA GTX 750Ti and the Dual 2GB NVIDIA GTX 760 to warrant the extra money? Let me know, please.

 

Also, is it worth going up to 16GB of memory, or won't it matter that much?

 

I'm not going for this one any more. See below for updates...

 

 

 

Thank you for your time. :smile:

Edited January 12, 2015 by billyro

[ZeroKing]

Save some money and buy yourself a GTX 970. I'm not sure about the pricing in Australia, but in Canada it's around 400$ CAD. Huge performance increase from the GTX 750 Ti (use this link for a theoretical comparison).

 

As for memory, keep to 8GB for now, add in more memory later on.

[billyro]

Looks like it'll bring the price up to $3,000 AU, but I agree that it would be worth it in the long run. I'll wait a little longer until I can save up for it, and in the meantime, any more suggestions are welcome. :smile:


EDIT: And I'll also go for the more powerful Core i7 processor (I believe it goes from 4.5GHz to 4.8GHz).

 

 

BTW, exactly how good would this PC be? Would I be able to run pretty much everything on ultra with 1920x1080 resolution?

Edited January 8, 2015 by billyro

[ZeroKing]

Sort of fruitless to go for the i7 series CPUs, since most games don't make use of the Hyper-Threading instructions yet (and probably won't, for the next several years). Stick with the i5 you listed and overclock it instead, save yourself $100 CAD right off.

 

Most of the graphics processing is done on the GPU, and the GTX 750 Ti is just barely enough for games pre-2012. Just check out the minimum requirements for the newer games, they recommend at least a GTX 660 as a minimum level GPU. Your PC, as it stands, won't be able to play newer games on ultra settings @1080p resolution at a consistently smooth framerate, given its weak processing core, low memory bus width, and low VRAM. From my own testing, the GTX 750 Ti was enough for low-medium graphics @1080p at a framerate of 40 fps. Highly unlikely to run newer games on ultra settings @1080p, I'm afraid.

 

Get yourself a decent PSU (power supply unit) as well, one with a good power efficiency and good voltage rails.

[billyro]

Alright, how about this?

Motherboard: ASUS H97I-PLUS
Processor: Overclocked Intel Core i5 4690K Quad-Core (4.0GHz-4.7GHz)
Power Supply: 850 Watt Tough Power 80+Gold
Graphics Card: Single 4GB NVIDIA GTX 970
Memory: 8GB ORIGIN PC powered by HyperX 1600Mhz (2x4GB)
Hard Drive: 1TB SATA 6.0Gb/s, 7200RPM, 32MB Cache

That brings the total cost to $2,800 AU, not including a keyboard and monitor. I'm not sure I really want to go any higher than that, but let me know if something is lacking because I'd rather pay more and have everything working smoothly.

Edited January 12, 2015 by billyro

[Beriallord]

Looks like it'll bring the price up to $3,000 AU, but I agree that it would be worth it in the long run. I'll wait a little longer until I can save up for it, and in the meantime, any more suggestions are welcome. :smile:

 

 

EDIT: And I'll also go for the more powerful Core i7 processor (I believe it goes from 4.5GHz to 4.8GHz).

 

 

BTW, exactly how good would this PC be? Would I be able to run pretty much everything on ultra with 1920x1080 resolution?

$3000 for that PC? Seems outrageous. You could do a similar rig for under $1000 in USD (for just the tower). Are electronics really that much more expensive in Australia?

 

As far as the I7 goes, its not worth the extra money.

 

You're gonna need a CPU cooler if you plan on overclocking. Cooler Master Hyper 212+ evo is a good CPU cooler for the money. They run about $30 USD, unsure what that translates to in your country though.

 

Getting 4.7ghz on a haswell CPU is far from guaranteed, and I'd wager most chips won't do that and be within a reasonable voltage spec. Pretty much any of them will do around 4.2-4.4 though.

Edited January 9, 2015 by Beriallord

[billyro]

Well, I tried building a computer with similar specs on a different website (mwave.com.au) and I think it's probably about the same in regards to power, but about $400 cheaper.

 

http://puu.sh/ehcfb/6478256ed9.png

 

Ugh, I didn't realise building a PC could be so hard! Good thing you guys are here to direct me though - I would have bought what I said in my first post and then been disappointed.

 

 

 

So, should I go with this? Yay or nay?

Edited January 10, 2015 by billyro

[billyro]

Hmm... I might even consider getting this...

 

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1411&products_id=30341

 

$2,100 (not including a monitor and keyboard) and it appears to be pretty powerful. The only thing that irks me is that I can't select Windows 7 - it has to be Windows 8.1. Oh well, I suppose it wouldn't be so bad, so long as I followed this guide.

 

Still undecided, so far. Plus, I need to save up more anyway so there is still time to decide. I probably won't be buying anything for at least another month, so I'll continue looking and comparing. :)

[FMod]

EDIT: And I'll also go for the more powerful Core i7 processor (I believe it goes from 4.5GHz to 4.8GHz).

I would not recommend that, unless money isn't an issue at all. The gain from i5 4690K to i7 4690K is fairly small. Non-zero, but small and situational.

 

The gain from 750Ti to GTX 970 is very significant and should be non-negotiable for your build.

 

 

Are you familiar with assembling a PC yourself? While the price seems to be "only $99", there's often a hidden price in components not being priced their lowest.

There is a considerable number of suboptimal decisions/mistakes in the build you've posted, driving the price up. Some of the components are spurious, others needlessly expensive.

 

The $2,100 prebuilt system you've linked is decent. It's possible to do better or cheaper.

 

I would recommend getting a quality display and not just whatever they have on sale. That's what you're going to be looking at 99.9% of the time, after all.

[billyro]

 

EDIT: And I'll also go for the more powerful Core i7 processor (I believe it goes from 4.5GHz to 4.8GHz).

I would not recommend that, unless money isn't an issue at all. The gain from i5 4690K to i7 4690K is fairly small. Non-zero, but small and situational.

 

The gain from 750Ti to GTX 970 is very significant and should be non-negotiable for your build.

 

 

I've dismissed that computer for now - too expensive.

 

 

Are you familiar with assembling a PC yourself? While the price seems to be "only $99", there's often a hidden price in components not being priced their lowest. There is a considerable number of suboptimal decisions/mistakes in the build you've posted, driving the price up. Some of the components are spurious, others needlessly expensive.

 

I have assembled PCs in the past, though they were with parts already fitting together well. I'd prefer not having to build it myself, since I don't want to screw it up. I suppose I'll skip that custom built one as well.

 

 

The $2,100 prebuilt system you've linked is decent. It's possible to do better or cheaper.

 

I would recommend getting a quality display and not just whatever they have on sale. That's what you're going to be looking at 99.9% of the time, after all.

 

Really? Only decent? By "decent", do you mean, "it will run stuff okay but not great", or do you mean, "it will run stuff really well but it could be better"? Because I don't want to buy it if it's not going to be running newer games on at least high with a good framerate.

 

I'm still looking at monitors, however, this one looks like it might be good. Originally I was going to go for a 24"+ monitor, but the screen size doesn't really bother me that much.

 

Feel free to give me suggestions if you have a better one in mind, though. :smile:

Edited January 12, 2015 by billyro