Build-Off 53: Upgrade Path Part 2

[PudgyAstronaut]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor  (Purchased For $224.67)
*CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler  ($24.99 @ Newegg) //allow at least a little bit of overclocking headroom with that k series
Motherboard: MSI Z97 PC MATE ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  (Purchased For $79.99)
Memory: G.Skill Sniper Series 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  (Purchased For $41.99)
*Memory: G.Skill Sniper Series 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($40.99 @ Newegg) //logical memory upgrade left open by OP
Storage: A-Data Premier Pro SP600 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  (Purchased For $79.99)
*Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($53.98 @ OutletPC) //innexpensive mechanical storage space to compliment the boot drive
*Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 770 2GB Dual Superclocked ACX Video Card  ($309.99 @ Newegg) //seems to be a great card, and considered by many to be the best GTX 770
Case: Corsair SPEC-02 ATX Mid Tower Case  (Purchased For $39.99)
*Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA NEX 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($69.99 @ Newegg) //extra Watts for comfort, gold efficiency, all black modular cables, 10 year warranty.
Other: EVGA 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (Purchased For $29.99) //the only "wasted part" from the original build
Total: $996.56
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-09-01 14:26 EDT-0400

 

*added this part

Whew, made budget by 6 cents...

[ddbtkd456]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor  (Purchased For $224.67)

*CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler  ($24.99 @ Newegg) //allow at least a little bit of overclocking headroom with that k series

Motherboard: MSI Z97 PC MATE ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  (Purchased For $79.99)

Memory: G.Skill Sniper Series 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  (Purchased For $41.99)

*Memory: G.Skill Sniper Series 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($40.99 @ Newegg) //logical memory upgrade left open by OP

Storage: A-Data Premier Pro SP600 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  (Purchased For $79.99)

*Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($53.98 @ OutletPC) //innexpensive mechanical storage space to compliment the boot drive

*Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 770 2GB Dual Superclocked ACX Video Card  ($309.99 @ Newegg) //seems to be a great card, and considered by many to be the best GTX 770

Case: Corsair SPEC-02 ATX Mid Tower Case  (Purchased For $39.99)

*Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA NEX 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($69.99 @ Newegg) //extra Watts for comfort, gold efficiency, all black modular cables, 10 year warranty.

Other: EVGA 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (Purchased For $29.99) //the only "wasted part" from the original build

Total: $996.56

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-09-01 14:26 EDT-0400

 

*added this part

Whew, made budget by 6 cents...

-Ignore-

[ilikemacandpc]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

 

CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler  ($24.99 @ Newegg) 

Memory: G.Skill Sniper Series 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($40.99 @ Newegg) 

Storage: Hitachi Ultrastar 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($48.99 @ Amazon) 

Video Card: XFX Radeon R9 270X 2GB Double Dissipation Video Card (2-Way CrossFire)  ($159.99 @ Newegg) 

Video Card: XFX Radeon R9 270X 2GB Double Dissipation Video Card (2-Way CrossFire)  ($159.99 @ Newegg) 

Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA NEX 750W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($56.50 @ Newegg) 

Case Fan: Cooler Master R4-L2R-20AC-GP 69.0 CFM 120mm  Fan  ($2.99 @ Newegg) 

Case Fan: Cooler Master R4-L2R-20AC-GP 69.0 CFM 120mm  Fan  ($2.99 @ Newegg) 

Total: $497.43

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-09-01 16:55 EDT-0400

 

Cooling: I chose to add a Hyper 212 Evo to the rig in order to OC that 4690K to a respectable level, improving gaming performance. A couple of CM Sickleflow fans will also help

temperatures in such a high performance system.  

 

Memory and Storage: Another 4GB of RAM will help this rig in performance, and these kits are actually pretty good at overclocking, making performance increase in certain titles. 

1TB of mechanical storage will make this rig actually useful in gaming. 256GB of solid state storage is simply not enough to hold a decently sized game library, OS, and programs. 

 

GPU and PSU: I'll choose the same route as last time and go for a CrossfireX setup. 2x R9 270Xs will actually surpass even a GTX 780 in performance by well more than 10 percent. 

These particular XFX models feature a pretty good cooler and will look pretty darn nice as well. An EVGA 750W modular power supply will power the whole thing, providing plenty of

wattage and amperage to the system. 

 

Concluding Remarks:

Take a look at the Benchmarks section below. The PCI limitation will not hit performance notably (<5% likely) and the overclocking done on RAM and the CPU will help. 

This also sources my claim of superior performance with two R9 270Xs. Taken as a whole, this system will crush games and perform admirably in all situations. 

 

 

Benchmarks:

 

 

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Intel/Ivy_Bridge_PCI-Express_Scaling/23.html

http://www.digitalstormonline.com/unlocked/intel-devils-canyon-i5-4690k-review-and-overclocking-benchmarks-idnum301/

http://www.reviewstudio.net/868-amd-radeon-r9-270x-crossfirex-and-r9-280x-4-way-crossfirex-review/performance

http://www.corsair.com/en-us/blog/2013/october/battlefield-4-loves-high-speed-memory

 

[PudgyAstronaut]

-Ignore-

 

Why? Formatting?

[ddbtkd456]

Why? Formatting?

 

No I meant ignore my post. I forgot to dis-include the quote sorry my fault.

[JuTheBarbarian]

For my upgrade plan, I not only wanted to make this PC great for gaming, but I wanted to upgrade it all around in terms of ram, storage, and cooling.

 

I added a Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVE for the CPU, just to keep things cool and not have to rely on a stock cooler.

 

For the RAM the only thing I changed was the amount of RAM the system had, adding in another 4gb stick to beef it up from 4gb to 8gb, which is good for gaming, and just all around performance in general.

 

For storage, I added a 7200RPM 3.5" Seagate Barracuda with 3 terabytes of storage (probably more than enough for any average user, and I feel that the more storage you can get away with the better, as long as you aren't putting yourself in the poorhouse to do it).

 

For the GPU I decided to go with the MSI GeForce GTX 770 2GB Video Card. This is probably the most expensive upgrade in this build, but it should be more than enough to handle most games you throw at it in 1080p.

 

Overall the power source seemed to be fine for this build (according to the eXtreme Power Supply Calculator Lite), so I didn't change it.

 

In all, these upgrades in total cost $476.64 at the time of posting this. Part Picker Link below, HOPE YOU LIKE THE BUILD!!!

 

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/ZfNvsY

[MEC-777]

For my upgrade plan, I not only wanted to make this PC great for gaming, but I wanted to upgrade it all around in terms of ram, storage, and cooling.

 

I added a Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVE for the CPU, just to keep things cool and not have to rely on a stock cooler.

 

For the RAM the only thing I changed was the amount of RAM the system had, adding in another 4gb stick to beef it up from 4gb to 8gb, which is good for gaming, and just all around performance in general.

 

For storage, I added a 7200RPM 3.5" Seagate Barracuda with 3 terabytes of storage (probably more than enough for any average user, and I feel that the more storage you can get away with the better, as long as you aren't putting yourself in the poorhouse to do it).

 

For the GPU I decided to go with the MSI GeForce GTX 770 2GB Video Card. This is probably the most expensive upgrade in this build, but it should be more than enough to handle most games you throw at it in 1080p.

 

Overall the power source seemed to be fine for this build (according to the eXtreme Power Supply Calculator Lite), so I didn't change it.

 

In all, these upgrades in total cost $476.64 at the time of posting this. Part Picker Link below, HOPE YOU LIKE THE BUILD!!!

 

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/ZfNvsY

 

Unfortunately, you're a little late to the party. If you check the first post in this thread, you'll see that the submissions were to be posted from Aug 29th to Sep 4th, which has since been closed. Voting is also now technically closed (Sep 5th through 11th).

 

However, be sure to follow (subscribe) the official build-off thread here: http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/35226-the-ltt-build-off-thread-no-building-required/page-12 and check back regularly to see when the next build-off contest will be.

[ddbtkd456]

Unfortunately, you're a little late to the party. If you check the first post in this thread, you'll see that the submissions were to be posted from Aug 29th to Sep 4th, which has since been closed. Voting is also now technically closed (Sep 5th through 11th).

However, be sure to follow (subscribe) the official build-off thread here: http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/35226-the-ltt-build-off-thread-no-building-required/page-12 and check back regularly to see when the next build-off contest will be.

Look for it around the 10th of Oct. Money is a little tight atm.

[MEC-777]

Look for it around the 10th of Oct. Money is a little tight atm.

No worries.

 

Thanks for the votes, everyone.