Help with my first time gaming build

[Anthony44]

Hi everyone, I've been scouring the forums and on LinusTechTips and finally decided to make an account and ask for some help!

 

I will make this short and sweet. I appreciate everyone's help, tips, and guidance, on my gaming Build-In-Progress.

 

Purpose: Gaming and Mild futureproof - hence the 16gb and 4gb gtx770, I want this build to last me a good while like +5 years without having to upgrade or touch it. It is a must for me to have speed and efficiency hence the SDD, high ram, and high graphics. When I pay good money (subjective  ) I want it to be fast and powerful.

 

PCPartPicker part list: http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/nyzbRB

 

CPU: Intel Core i7-3770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($351.76 @ Amazon Canada) 

CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i 77.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler  ($99.99 @ Canada Computers) 

Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Extreme4 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard  ($134.50 @ Vuugo) 

Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($176.02 @ DirectCanada) 

Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($139.99 @ Canada Computers) 

Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 770 4GB WINDFORCE Video Card  ($434.98 @ Newegg Canada) 

Case: Corsair 760T White ATX Full Tower Case  ($149.99 @ NCIX) 

Power Supply: Corsair Professional 750W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($129.99 @ Canada Computers) 

Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer  ($19.95 @ Vuugo) 

Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit)  ($99.79 @ DirectCanada) 

Monitor: Asus VX238H 23.0" Monitor  ($172.98 @ Newegg Canada) 

Case Fan: Corsair Air Series SP120 Quiet Edition (2-Pack) 37.9 CFM 120mm  Fans  ($34.99 @ Memory Express) 

Total: $1944.93

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-09-02 11:19 EDT-0400

 

 

1. Original MoBo was 90$, no longer for sale so had to switch for the ASRock, originally was looking for ASUS, how reliable is ASRock? I am not looking to overclock every drop of power out of the build, just a small % of overclock to see what it can do. 

Question: Is there a more efficient motherboard for my needs (less fluff and cheaper)?

 

2. Original PSU was a Seasonic G550w - its +12v rail was at 45amps, and the GTX770 4gb needs at least 42. I was a bit scared with the 3amp difference. I went with the Corsair HX750 because it currently is cheaper (by 10$) than the 650w. 

Question: is there a better PSU anyone could recommend me that would be cheaper and not more than I need?

 

3.  I currently am running my laptop with 250gb, I have an external hard drive 1tb, I am not looking for space but how much will Windows8.1 take up, and if this rig is pure gaming (so storing a couple of games) do you anticipate me running out of room?) (Yes i can always upgrade once the SDD is full and get another 250gb (prices will most likely drop in 1 year or 2).

 

4. I'm looking to spend between 1700-1850. (I know there will be a couple of dollars added for tax [i live in Quebec], so I'm leaving a bit of headroom to accommodate.) My build from last week was at $1730 but now with the Mobo and Psu change as well as price fluctuations I'm up over 200$.

 

THANK YOU.   

 

edit 1 (formatting, grammar)

[xox]

That build looks awesome dude

 

And of course, welcome to the forums.

 

• Gigabyte is better than ASRock
• You will be fine with the SeaSonic 550 watt one to be honest
• Windows 8 takes up 20 gigs and games take from 5 gigs to 20 gigs. Put your external HDD on your system for more storage. Either that or get a 3.5" HDD to store games etc on
• Your budget should be just about right imp

Also, it would be best to go with a new CPU/motherboard, maybe from the Haskell line up simply because you don't want to be investing in older technology

[Archangel1994]

You've made some quite poor choices IMO. Give me a moment to improve.

[Anthony44]

Wow thank you for the quick responses.

 

That build looks awesome dude

 

And of course, welcome to the forums.

Thank you! 

 

You've made some quite poor choices IMO. Give me a moment to improve.

I had a feeling someone would say that, looking forward to your improvements! Thanks!

[Archangel1994]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

 

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($354.00 @ Canada Computers) 

CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i 77.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler  ($99.99 @ Canada Computers) 

Thermal Compound: Arctic Cooling MX4 4g Thermal Paste  ($12.47 @ Amazon Canada) 

Motherboard: MSI Z97-GAMING 5 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($170.85 @ DirectCanada) 

Memory: G.Skill Sniper Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory  ($174.98 @ Newegg Canada) 

Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($139.99 @ Canada Computers) 

Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R9 290 4GB Tri-X Video Card  ($459.98 @ Newegg Canada) 

Case: Corsair 760T White ATX Full Tower Case  ($149.99 @ NCIX) 

Power Supply: EVGA 850W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($138.98 @ Amazon Canada) 

Monitor: BenQ RL2455HM 60Hz 24.0" Monitor  ($189.00 @ Canada Computers) 

Case Fan: Corsair Air Series SP120 Quiet Edition (2-Pack) 37.9 CFM 120mm  Fans  ($34.99 @ Memory Express) 

Total: $1925.22

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-09-02 11:49 EDT-0400

 

This is a much stronger build. Much stronger PSU (With room for 2-way Crossfire R9 290). Higher frequency RAM with same CAS for less money. Much stronger motherboard (Not fair in comparison though due to varying chipset) and a 24" monitor as opposed to 23" but still 1ms and 1080p. My recommendation is unless you absolutely need that response time (Only relevant really in CS:S/CS:GO, I've also had 1ms, didn't feel it) I recommend going IPS instead. You can also go 27" 1080p NATIVE and that will still look really good.

 

 

I had a feeling someone would say that, looking forward to your improvements! Thanks!

This may sound like I am attacking you but really, I'm not . The 3770k with Z77 is outdated by quite a bit. The GTX 770 is not strong enough to able to use that 4GB and the R9 290 is much much stronger for a mere $30 more.

[Guest Kloaked]

Dem Canadian prices.

 

 

 

 

Good luck on your shrine, OP.

[Anthony44]

a 24" monitor as opposed to 23" but still 1ms and 1080p. My recommendation is unless you absolutely need that response time (Only relevant really in CS:S/CS:GO, I've also had 1ms, didn't feel it) I recommend going IPS instead. You can also go 27" 1080p NATIVE and that will still look really good.

 

 

This may sound like I am attacking you but really, I'm not . The 3770k with Z77 is outdated by quite a bit. The GTX 770 is not strong enough to able to use that 4GB and the R9 290 is much much stronger for a mere $30 more.

 

1. I don't care for 1ms. Okay I will look into IPS. 

 

2. NO not at all! I posted for EXACTLY this reason!! I've been watching some of Linus' builds and some others, and the 770 kept coming up as good options.

 

 

 

 

Power Supply: EVGA 850W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($138.98 @ Amazon Canada) 

3. 850w is not overkill? when the estimator is around ~450-500w?

[Anthony44]

Dem Canadian prices.

 

 

 

 

Good luck on your shrine, OP.

What would a rig around those specs price for you? Where are you PS? Australia ?

And thank you!

[Archangel1994]

3. 850w is not overkill? when the estimator is around ~450-500w?

This PSU has space for 2-way SLI/CF of ANY high-end card that isn't the Titan Z or R9 295X2, figured it would be a good choice for the future since it comes with EVGA's 10 year warranty and their perfect customer support. If you stick to a single graphics card though then a 550W PSU will suffice.

 

 

2. NO not at all! I posted for EXACTLY this reason!! I've been watching some of Linus' builds and some others, and the 770 kept coming up as good options.

The 770 is good in its 2GB version (albeit a bit overpriced IMO) but the chip/bus are not good enough for the 4GB VRAM, it's just not able to use it all making the 4GB card essentially worthless.

[Guest Kloaked]

What would a rig around those specs price for you? Where are you PS? Australia ?

And thank you!

 

'Murica.

 

But for example, the monitor you chose is $20 cheaper here.

[Anthony44]

 

 

Thermal Compound: Arctic Cooling MX4 4g Thermal Paste  ($12.47 @ Amazon Canada) 

 

Power Supply: EVGA 850W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($138.98 @ Amazon Canada) 

 

Hey Archangel, quick question, why the arctic cooling mx4 thats 12$ and not the 7$ http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/part/arctic-silver-thermal-paste-as535g that has 266 ratings of almost 5stars.

 

I will only put 1 graphics card in, would you recommend the SeaSonic g550w or is it not enough for a gaming rig (example: the cx models from corsair are not recommended for gaming but the hx are).  

 

What about this Asus VS239H-P monitor, is 5ms too low?

[Archangel1994]

Hey Archangel, quick question, why the arctic cooling mx4 thats 12$ and not the 7$ http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/part/arctic-silver-thermal-paste-as535g that has 266 ratings of almost 5stars.

 

I will only put 1 graphics card in, would you recommend the SeaSonic g550w or is it not enough for a gaming rig (example: the cx models from corsair are not recommended for gaming but the hx are).  

Arctic silver 5 has a burn-in period and that sucks hard. As for the PSU if you only take one graphics card then the Corsair CS550M will suit all your need.

[OhNoesItsDobby]

1) If you're just gaming and not doing any video editing/rendering, you won't need the i7 or the 16GB of RAM. Go with an i5 and 8GB.

2) Instead of getting a 240GB SSD alone, get a 120GB SSD for your OS and favoured programs/games, and a 2TB hard drive for storage. It'll be roughly the same price, you'll still have lightning fast boot times, and you'll have a crapton more storage space.

3) You have to be careful with special edition GPUs with more VRAM than usual. Sure they have more memory, but sometimes the memory bus remains unchanged from the original, so it can't use all the extra VRAM properly. I think the 4GB 770 was actually a particularly bad culprit in this regard (I could be wrong here, anyone?). For a similar price you can get an R9 290 which will blow it out of the water.

 

There are my 2 cents.

[OhNoesItsDobby]

 

I will only put 1 graphics card in, would you recommend the SeaSonic g550w or is it not enough for a gaming rig (example: the cx models from corsair are not recommended for gaming but the hx are).  

 

Also, this is bollocks. There's no such thing as a "gaming PSU", they all do exactly the same thing. As long as the PSU is good quality and from a reputable brand it'll do. For a single-card machine 550W should be perfectly fine, especially if it's being provided by a SeaSonic supply.

[KPZ211997]

Your build is not pretty in good shape, consider this

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

 

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($256.98 @ Newegg Canada) 

CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i 77.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler  ($99.99 @ Canada Computers) 

Motherboard: Asus Z97-A ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($154.79 @ DirectCanada) 

Memory: Kingston Fury Black Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($174.99 @ NCIX) 

Storage: Samsung 840 Pro Series 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($195.98 @ Newegg Canada) 

Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon R9 290 4GB WINDFORCE Video Card  ($409.99 @ NCIX) 

Case: Fractal Design Define R4 w/Window (Black Pearl) ATX Mid Tower Case  ($109.99 @ NCIX) 

Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA NEX 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($84.99 @ Canada Computers) 

Optical Drive: LG GH24NSB0 DVD/CD Writer  ($15.99 @ Canada Computers) 

Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit)  ($99.79 @ DirectCanada) 

Monitor: Asus PB238Q 23.0" Monitor  ($219.99 @ NCIX) 

Case Fan: BitFenix Spectre LED 43.5 CFM 120mm  Fan  ($9.99 @ Memory Express) 

Total: $1833.46

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-09-02 13:00 EDT-0400

 

Reason:

1. if it's strictly for gaming, paying about 100$ more for i7 just for higher clockspeed and hyperthreading is dumb. Only a few demanding games uses all 4 cores, and until now I don't see any games that benefit from HT

2. i know that people will flame about *insert 8GB versus 16GB RAM for games*. But, to be honest, 16 isn't bad, I usually left Chrome running while doing heavy game, which will soon consume all of my 8GB memory

3. No crossfire means 650W is enough, get something like the Supernova 650W

4. You spend too much on a case, while it's arguably one of the most beautiful case in the market, it's a waste of money buying a full tower 760T, fit your rig in a nice-looking R4 is enough (it also has white if you want)

5. 770 is only nice in its 2GB version, the 4GB is practically useless and pricey, buy the R9 290 instead, it will smash the 770 to smithereens in gaming

[Anthony44]

Wow okay thank you everyone! I will put all your advice and guidance into consideration and come back with a revised rig!

[Anthony44]

Hey everyone!

 

So I think this is more or less my final rig (please stop me if I have made any errors).

 

 

1. I will use it for minor video editing - note that I know that not many games today use 4cores etc. but next (or the next or the next) they will.. I don't want to upgrade in a few years.

 

2. SeaSonic 650w, let's say I overclock and kick this bad boy into its highest gear, is 650w enough? Jonnyguru gave this model a screaming review.

 

3. I was not swayed with the case change. I will be looking at it and showing it off for years, I want it to be beautiful. (I will add LEDs to show off the inside eventually).

 

4. I chose the MSI z97-Gaming 3 because I compared it against the 5 and noticed very minimal difference (one less pci-e slot, for a 20$ difference, I don't need it, PLEASE correct me if there is a difference between 3 and 5 that I should be aware of and the 20$ difference is warranted. Also what are the numbers after PCI Gen: ex: (16,0,0) or (8,8,0) or (8,4,4)?

 

5. Went with 23" Asus IPS monitor although 5ms I doubt it's noticeable between 2ms.

 

6. I know about the OS on SSD and storage/games on HDD, but I want EVERYTHING on my SSD including games (faster load screens, etc.) like I said I would rather buy another SSD LATER if the first is ever full.

 

7. and lastly, the build is $2k+ I will wait for deals and price changes and take advantage of each price drop, also bundled shipping might save me a couple of dollars.

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

 

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($354.00 @ Canada Computers) 

CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i 77.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler  ($99.99 @ Canada Computers) 

Thermal Compound: Arctic Cooling MX4 4g Thermal Paste  ($12.41 @ Amazon Canada) 

Motherboard: MSI Z97-Gaming 3 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($151.00 @ Vuugo) 

Memory: G.Skill Sniper Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory  ($174.98 @ Newegg Canada) 

Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($139.99 @ Canada Computers) 

Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R9 290 4GB Tri-X Video Card  ($459.98 @ Newegg Canada) 

Case: Corsair 760T White ATX Full Tower Case  ($149.99 @ NCIX) 

Power Supply: SeaSonic 650W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($124.98 @ Newegg Canada) 

Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer  ($19.95 @ Vuugo) 

Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit)  ($99.79 @ DirectCanada) 

Monitor: Asus VS239H-P 23.0" Monitor  ($179.99 @ Canada Computers) 

Case Fan: Corsair Air Series SP120 Quiet Edition (2-Pack) 37.9 CFM 120mm  Fans  ($34.99 @ Memory Express) 

Total: $2002.04

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-09-02 21:52 EDT-0400

 

Thanks to Archangel1994 for the majority of the upgrades and changes. Thanks to everyone else who pitched in, I did take every note into consideration and weighed them against my needs and wants!

 

 

Now please share with me your final thoughts! I thank you all once again for your help!

   

[brob]

 

Hey everyone!

 

So I think this is more or less my final rig (please stop me if I have made any errors).

 

 

1. I will use it for minor video editing - note that I know that not many games today use 4cores etc. but next (or the next or the next) they will.. I don't want to upgrade in a few years.

 

2. SeaSonic 650w, let's say I overclock and kick this bad boy into its highest gear, is 650w enough? Jonnyguru gave this model a screaming review.

 

3. I was not swayed with the case change. I will be looking at it and showing it off for years, I want it to be beautiful. (I will add LEDs to show off the inside eventually).

 

4. I chose the MSI z97-Gaming 3 because I compared it against the 5 and noticed very minimal difference (one less pci-e slot, for a 20$ difference, I don't need it, PLEASE correct me if there is a difference between 3 and 5 that I should be aware of and the 20$ difference is warranted. Also what are the numbers after PCI Gen: ex: (16,0,0) or (8,8,0) or (8,4,4)?

 

5. Went with 23" Asus IPS monitor although 5ms I doubt it's noticeable between 2ms.

 

6. I know about the OS on SSD and storage/games on HDD, but I want EVERYTHING on my SSD including games (faster load screens, etc.) like I said I would rather buy another SSD LATER if the first is ever full.

 

7. and lastly, the build is $2k+ I will wait for deals and price changes and take advantage of each price drop, also bundled shipping might save me a couple of dollars.

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

 

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($354.00 @ Canada Computers) 

CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i 77.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler  ($99.99 @ Canada Computers) 

Thermal Compound: Arctic Cooling MX4 4g Thermal Paste  ($12.41 @ Amazon Canada) 

Motherboard: MSI Z97-Gaming 3 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($151.00 @ Vuugo) 

Memory: G.Skill Sniper Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory  ($174.98 @ Newegg Canada) 

Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($139.99 @ Canada Computers) 

Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R9 290 4GB Tri-X Video Card  ($459.98 @ Newegg Canada) 

Case: Corsair 760T White ATX Full Tower Case  ($149.99 @ NCIX) 

Power Supply: SeaSonic 650W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($124.98 @ Newegg Canada) 

Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer  ($19.95 @ Vuugo) 

Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit)  ($99.79 @ DirectCanada) 

Monitor: Asus VS239H-P 23.0" Monitor  ($179.99 @ Canada Computers) 

Case Fan: Corsair Air Series SP120 Quiet Edition (2-Pack) 37.9 CFM 120mm  Fans  ($34.99 @ Memory Express) 

Total: $2002.04

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-09-02 21:52 EDT-0400

Thanks to Archangel1994 for the majority of the upgrades and changes. Thanks to everyone else who pitched in, I did take every note into consideration and weighed them against my needs and wants!

 

 

Now please share with me your final thoughts! I thank you all once again for your help!

   

 

 

1. It's your money.
2. A good 650W psu should handle an overclocked cpu and gpu without issue.
3. Nice case. I too would stick with it.
4. The numbers indicate how many PCIe lanes are actually used when the various x16 slots are occupied. (16,0,0) indicates that with a gpu in the 1st slot and nothing in the other two slots, the gpu will use all 16 PCIe lane. (8,8,0) indicates that with gpu in the first & second slots and none in the third the cards will each use 8 PCIe lanes. (8,4,4) indicates that with gpu in all three x16 slots the one in slot 1 will use 8 PCIe lanes and the other two 4 lanes each. More lanes means more bandwidth between the cpu/memory and the gpu.
5. Nice monitor.
6. I'm in a minority that believes it is worth getting the largest ssd the budget will bear. Ideally eliminating the hdd, one of the noisier and most failure prone components in a system.
7. A number of merchants will price match which may help if one of them has a "free shipping" special. Also, check out the various stores/pick-up locations to see if you live near any of them.

[Anthony44]

 

1. It's your money.
2. A good 650W psu should handle an overclocked cpu and gpu without issue.
3. Nice case. I too would stick with it.
4. The numbers indicate how many PCIe lanes are actually used when the various x16 slots are occupied. (16,0,0) indicates that with a gpu in the 1st slot and nothing in the other two slots, the gpu will use all 16 PCIe lane. (8,8,0) indicates that with gpu in the first & second slots and none in the third the cards will each use 8 PCIe lanes. (8,4,4) indicates that with gpu in all three x16 slots the one in slot 1 will use 8 PCIe lanes and the other two 4 lanes each. More lanes means more bandwidth between the cpu/memory and the gpu.
5. Nice monitor.
6. I'm in a minority that believes it is worth getting the largest ssd the budget will bear. Ideally eliminating the hdd, one of the noisier and most failure prone components in a system.
7. A number of merchants will price match which may help if one of them has a "free shipping" special. Also, check out the various stores/pick-up locations to see if you live near any of them.

 

Wow. Excellent! 

 

why do you say it's your money, as in, I am wasting it with parts I won't need? or as in, buy whichever case/monitor I want that fits my budget? or are you referring to my comment about future-proofing and getting an i7 with 4g gpu and 16gb ram for applications that don't support it? if so, why are you against the idea of buying now and not worrying later? what am I not understanding?

 

thanks for the explanation of the lanes. One last thing, in my set up, I'm only plugging in my gpu right? So I would have 16 running to it? Nothing else (that I am buying now) plugs in there, I understand a wifi card or a sound card, but I need neither of those.

 

Agree with you on 3, 5, and 6. And thanks for the reminder for the price matching! (ncix is quite limiting with their 1 match/24h then a 48h buy window.)

 

Getting excited.

[brob]

Wow. Excellent! 

 

why do you say it's your money, as in, I am wasting it with parts I won't need? or as in, buy whichever case/monitor I want that fits my budget? or are you referring to my comment about future-proofing and getting an i7 with 4g gpu and 16gb ram for applications that don't support it? if so, why are you against the idea of buying now and not worrying later? what am I not understanding?

 

thanks for the explanation of the lanes. One last thing, in my set up, I'm only plugging in my gpu right? So I would have 16 running to it? Nothing else (that I am buying now) plugs in there, I understand a wifi card or a sound card, but I need neither of those.

 

Agree with you on 3, 5, and 6. And thanks for the reminder for the price matching! (ncix is quite limiting with their 1 match/24h then a 48h buy window.)

 

Getting excited.

 

I said it was your money meaning that you know that an i5 would be sufficient for current needs but feel that an i7 will extend the useful life of the system. I am ambivalent on the subject. There is some merit in your belief but I am not convinced. In other words if that is how you want to spend the money I am not going to argue the point.

 

Correct on the gpu. If you only plug in one card in a x16 slot, the first slot, then all 16 lanes can be used by the card.

[Anthony44]

I said it was your money meaning that you know that an i5 would be sufficient for current needs but feel that an i7 will extend the useful life of the system. I am ambivalent on the subject. There is some merit in your belief but I am not convinced. In other words if that is how you want to spend the money I am not going to argue the point.

 

Brob, if I were to pick up an i5, would you recommend 8gb ram?, what would you recommend for cpu and ram? and is 4gb gpu overkill?

Rationale: I want to look at price difference, If there is a SIGNIFICANT price drop, I will highly consider it. I know there will be a price drop, I just want to look at all my options.

 

Thanks!

[brob]

Brob, if I were to pick up an i5, would you recommend 8gb ram?, what would you recommend for cpu and ram? and is 4gb gpu overkill?

Rationale: I want to look at price difference, If there is a SIGNIFICANT price drop, I will highly consider it. I know there will be a price drop, I just want to look at all my options.

 

Thanks!

 

Generally I like to pair an i5 with 2x4GB of memory and an i7 with 2x8GB. The difference between an i5 build and an i7 is roughly US$200. On a gaming system there is little to no performance difference.

 

Higher resolutions require more vram. For the most part I would not choose a gpu simply because it had more vram.

[Anthony44]

Generally I like to pair an i5 with 2x4GB of memory and an i7 with 2x8GB.

Okay, I am looking at the i5-4670k and 2x4g of gskill sniper 1866mhz 9cas. Thoughts?

 

Higher resolutions require more vram. For the most part I would not choose a gpu simply because it had more vram.

I'm running 1920 x 1080 through that Asus vs239h-p 23"

 

what gpu would you buy then? the r9 280xs? Sapphire 100363L R9 280X  or the Gigabyte GV-R928XOC-3GD REV2? These are around 300$ instead of the 450$ range.

Or go back to Gtx and get the gtx 660ti EVGA 03G-P4-3663-KR?

 

It brought my rig from 2002$ to 1688$ with the combo-deal with the gaming3 and the i5-4670k

[brob]

Okay, I am looking at the i5-4670k and 2x4g of gskill sniper 1866mhz 9cas. Thoughts?

 

I'm running 1920 x 1080 through that Asus vs239h-p 23"

 

what gpu would you buy then? the r9 280xs? Sapphire 100363L R9 280X  or the Gigabyte GV-R928XOC-3GD REV2? These are around 300$ instead of the 450$ range.

Or go back to Gtx and get the gtx 660ti EVGA 03G-P4-3663-KR?

 

It brought my rig from 2002$ to 1688$ with the combo-deal with the gaming3 and the i5-4670k

 

CPU & memory sound good. Like the price.

 

Either R9 280X will certainly do a good job with current titles.