New build - curiosity

Semper · October 17, 2014

So... this doesn't really fall into any category of this subsection in its entirety... but it is part of the planning process.

Coming up here soon (not sure on a solid date - but we're going to go with the hypothetical situation that it will be built tomorrow for the sake of parts listing) a family member is going to have me build him his first gaming system. I have a fairly solid idea on what i'll be building him, however i'm here for suggestions and insight into what you'd build personally. I would like to present him with some subjective options other than mine.

Budget: $2000 (U.S.)
Aim: Gaming, light-moderate schoolwork (word processing, presentations, ETC, nothing intensive)
Monitors: single or dual (undecided) 1080p or 1440p, no 4K.
Peripherals: will need mouse, keyboard (membrane or mechanical), and case. Looking for a large mid-tower or full-tower case. Again, i'm looking for subjective options, so provide a case, or list of cases you would use personally. This is the only part of my build concept that i'll disclose - he's considering the Ninteen Hundred Green (if he goes NVidia) red if he goes AMD. SSD Boot drive is a must. Liquid cooling is a must (not necessarily for GPU), custom loop is optional.

so... have at it. AMD (GPU/CPU), Intel (CPU), NVidia(GPU), it's your choice.

October 17, 2014

Let your family member watch this vid

Unilision · October 17, 2014

So this is my opinion on what he could use. Wasn't sure if he wanted to over clock or not if so could just change it to an i5 4690K and also for CPU cooling could use Cooler master 212 or seidon as well. Noctua works too

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4440 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor ($174.99 @ SuperBiiz)

CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i 77.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($94.98 @ OutletPC)

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97X-SLI ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($107.94 @ Amazon)

Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($139.99 @ Newegg)

Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($128.99 @ Amazon)

Storage: Western Digital RE4-GP 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($80.00 @ Amazon)

Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 970 4GB STRIX Video Card (2-Way SLI) ($355.91 @ Newegg)

Case: Antec Nineteen Hundred Green ATX Full Tower Case ($189.99 @ Mwave)

Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA NEX 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($61.99 @ NCIX US)

Monitor: Asus VX238H 23.0" Monitor ($159.99 @ Newegg)

Keyboard: SteelSeries APEX Wired Gaming Keyboard ($81.32 @ NCIX US)

Mouse: SteelSeries Sensei Wired Laser Mouse ($73.78 @ NCIX US)

Total: $2005.78

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-10-17 03:13 EDT-0400

Semper · October 17, 2014

Let your family member watch this vid

-snip-

Already showed him that... unfortunately, he prefers looks over function, and he loves the look of the Ninteen Hundred. I'll be able to work around it's pitfalls, however I can confidently say it'll be coming back to me for work if he has any problems.

@Unilision, I'll throw on a moderate overclock if he choses an unlocked processor, but he won't be doing anything extreme, so it isn't a necessity.

SeanBond · October 17, 2014

So this is my opinion on what he could use. Wasn't sure if he wanted to over clock or not if so could just change it to an i5 4690K and also for CPU cooling could use Cooler master 212 or seidon as well. Noctua works too

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4440 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor ($174.99 @ SuperBiiz)

CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i 77.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($94.98 @ OutletPC)

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97X-SLI ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($107.94 @ Amazon)

Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($139.99 @ Newegg)

Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($128.99 @ Amazon)

Storage: Western Digital RE4-GP 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($80.00 @ Amazon)

Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 970 4GB STRIX Video Card (2-Way SLI) ($355.91 @ Newegg)

Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 970 4GB STRIX Video Card (2-Way SLI) ($355.91 @ Newegg)

Case: Antec Nineteen Hundred Green ATX Full Tower Case ($189.99 @ Mwave)

Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA NEX 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($61.99 @ NCIX US)

Monitor: Asus VX238H 23.0" Monitor ($159.99 @ Newegg)

Keyboard: SteelSeries APEX Wired Gaming Keyboard ($81.32 @ NCIX US)

Mouse: SteelSeries Sensei Wired Laser Mouse ($73.78 @ NCIX US)

Total: $2005.78

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-10-17 03:13 EDT-0400

Liquid cooling for a non overclocking cpu? Umm what? no. 16gb of ram? Why? Steel series sensei when the logitech g502 exists? You also have 2 non blow gpu's in a case which might cause overheating. Reference would be better. And cheaper. All that money saved you could then get an ultra wide monitor instead like the lg29um95

Semper · October 17, 2014

Liquid cooling for a non overclocking cpu? Umm what? no. 16gb of ram? Why? Steel series sensei when the logitech g502 exists? You also have 2 non blow gpu's in a case which might cause overheating. Reference would be better. And cheaper. All that money saved you could then get an ultra wide monitor instead like the lg29um95

This is the part where you build your own list... this is why this topic exists. objective opinions.

Liquid cooling is a must, because every little bit helps during summer, summers get fairly brutal on components in our region of California (high humidity, high heat, higher than average volume of dust than most areas.)

SeanBond · October 17, 2014

This is the part where you build your own list... this is why this topic exists. objective opinions.

Liquid cooling is a must, because every little bit helps during summer, summers get fairly brutal on components in our region of California (high humidity, high heat, higher than average volume of dust than most areas.)

haaa, I live in florida. I have an evo 212 in my system with my 4670k at 4.4ghz and 1.275V. Even then my cpu never goes over 70 when I am doing the most intensive gaming. Ambient temps are usually around 76. I guess you will be playing out side then? Maybe you will need liquid cooling but I guess since I commented I could possibly make a build that makes more sense.

Semper · October 17, 2014

haaa, I live in florida. I have an evo 212 in my system with my 4670k at 4.4ghz and 1.275V. Even then my cpu never goes over 70 when I am doing the most intensive gaming. Ambient temps are usually around 76. I guess you will be playing out side then? Maybe you will need liquid cooling but I guess since I commented I could possibly make a build that makes more sense.

I'm not going to argue with anyone living in the south... y'all have it worse than I do... but this summer saw temps up to or slightly beyond 110° (fahrenheit) with 90%+ humidity. Needless to say, ambient temps weren't... happy, and then with the unusually amount of dust buildup we have in our area, it's a bad combination, and then on top of that, our $0.23/kWh, and cycling, makes AC an expensive commodity, and at times, unavailable.

SeanBond · October 17, 2014

I'm not going to argue with anyone living in the south... y'all have it worse than I do... but this summer saw temps up to or slightly beyond 110° (fahrenheit) with 90%+ humidity. Needless to say, ambient temps weren't... happy, and then with the unusually amount of dust buildup we have in our area, it's a bad combination, and then on top of that, our $0.23/kWh, and cycling, makes AC an expensive commodity, and at times, unavailable.

That makes sense, so I suppose no overclocking will be done then? And is that case really a must?

Semper · October 17, 2014

That makes sense, so I suppose no overclocking will be done then? And is that case really a must?

Not during summer, no, but when it cools off, i'll throw on a mild OC for him much like I do for my system. Like I said, he won't be doing anything extreme, so an OC won't be an absolute necessity.

Case is not a must. If i'm completely honest, i'd prefer almost anything but that... i've only built one system in it, it was manageable, but not friendly.

I'm trying to encourage him to look at the 650D/800D. I'm open to any and all suggestions, however, i'm not up-to-date on my cases.

SeanBond · October 17, 2014

Not during summer, no, but when it cools off, i'll throw on a mild OC for him much like I do for my system. Like I said, he won't be doing anything extreme, so an OC won't be an absolute necessity.

Case is not a must. If i'm completely honest, i'd prefer almost anything but that... i've only built one system in it, it was manageable, but not friendly.

I'm trying to encourage him to look at the 650D/800D. I'm open to any and all suggestions, however, i'm not up-to-date on my cases.

I myself was thinking th 750d would be a good alterative. I almost thought about buying one myself but I decided to look for something very small. I ended up downscaling to a s340 which I love. If you don't need a optical drive the nzxt h440 is probably the best case you can get on the market right now.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/BLVHnQ

This is what I was thinking. If you want to drop the disk drive that will save about 40 bucks because you can lose the drive and get a cheaper h440.

bry.yyyy · October 17, 2014

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($199.99 @ Micro Center)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H105 73.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($94.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: MSI Z97-GAMING 7 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($172.98 @ OutletPC)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($139.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($128.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital RE4-GP 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($80.00 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 970 4GB STRIX Video Card (2-Way SLI) ($355.91 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 970 4GB STRIX Video Card (2-Way SLI) ($355.91 @ Newegg)
Case: NZXT Phantom (Black/Green) ATX Full Tower Case ($99.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: EVGA 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($89.99 @ NCIX US)
Monitor: Asus VX238H 23.0" Monitor ($159.99 @ Newegg)
Keyboard: Razer DeathStalker Essential Wired Gaming Keyboard ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Mouse: Razer DeathAdder Wired Laser Mouse ($54.24 @ Amazon)
Total: $1962.96
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-10-17 04:58 EDT-0400

Semper · October 18, 2014

I myself was thinking th 750d would be a good alterative. I almost thought about buying one myself but I decided to look for something very small. I ended up downscaling to a s340 which I love. If you don't need a optical drive the nzxt h440 is probably the best case you can get on the market right now.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/BLVHnQ

This is what I was thinking. If you want to drop the disk drive that will save about 40 bucks because you can lose the drive and get a cheaper h440.

You and I have completely different mindsets when it comes to a case... I go for big, though I have the desk real estate to do so, and the only time my systems move, are when i'm doing a teardown cleaning on them

My current case is the DF-85. It's nothing spectacular, but decent in it's own right. My next case will either be a 900D or SMA8, and my current case will be plasti-dip'ed pink for my wife.

Optical drive is still up in the air, I haven't even talked to him about that yet. I think it'd probably be best to opt for an external drive if he really needs one, however. I've used mine probably... twice in the last three years, and that was for convenience, so I didn't have to go and retrieve the flash drive.

i'd definitely go blower if I SLI'ed, however, I don't know that he would need that much power, Never used an ultrawide, how difficult is it to drive a 21:9 vs a 16:9 at native res?

brob · October 18, 2014

The Phanteks Enthoo Luxe case has LED strips running along the top and front edges capable of displaying many different colors. I have continued the concept in the keyboard and mouse so that the user can play around with the color scheme. There is also some bling inside with LED topped memory modules and the flashy H220-X. The H220-X offers AIO cpu cooling with the option of extending into a custom loop. Hence the blower style reference gpu.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($219.98 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Swiftech H220-X 55.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($135.00)
Motherboard: Asus Z97-A ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($137.99 @ NCIX US)
Memory: Avexir Core Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($76.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial MX100 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($109.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($54.98 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 980 4GB Video Card ($559.99 @ B&H)
Case: Phanteks Enthoo Luxe ATX Full Tower Case ($149.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: EVGA 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($109.99 @ NCIX US)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 - 64-bit (OEM) (64-bit) ($90.26 @ OutletPC)
Monitor: Asus PB238Q 23.0" Monitor ($215.69 @ Amazon)
Keyboard: Corsair Raptor K40 Wired Gaming Keyboard ($64.99 @ NCIX US)
Mouse: Corsair M65 RGB Wired Laser Mouse ($69.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $1995.83
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-10-18 04:47 EDT-0400

SeanBond · October 18, 2014

You and I have completely different mindsets when it comes to a case... I go for big, though I have the desk real estate to do so, and the only time my systems move, are when i'm doing a teardown cleaning on them

My current case is the DF-85. It's nothing spectacular, but decent in it's own right. My next case will either be a 900D or SMA8, and my current case will be plasti-dip'ed pink for my wife.

Optical drive is still up in the air, I haven't even talked to him about that yet. I think it'd probably be best to opt for an external drive if he really needs one, however. I've used mine probably... twice in the last three years, and that was for convenience, so I didn't have to go and retrieve the flash drive.

i'd definitely go blower if I SLI'ed, however, I don't know that he would need that much power, Never used an ultrawide, how difficult is it to drive a 21:9 vs a 16:9 at native res?

if you are going for 2560x1080p it's really only around 20-25% more difficult to drive. I would never go back to 16:9 now that I have the monitor. I have my tv for when I want to lay down and relax but when I experience something new I put it on my monitor for a truly fantastic experience. It's not like just making the screen pretty because more pixels, it usually adds a lot of picture actually. Somewhat hard to explain without sitting in front of one. Sorta like much higher fov without warping the image. I used to play Bf4 with 105 Fov but now I play at 95 and still have a lot more image on screen with less warp.

SeanBond · October 18, 2014

Another thing is if you sit fairly close to the monitor there is nothing wrong with the 25" version because the pixel density ends up actually being slightly higher than a 27" 1440p display. I had the 29". Seemed excesive for where I sit. So I down scaled that too and happier for it.

PhantomDragon · October 18, 2014

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($219.98 @ SuperBiiz)

CPU Cooler: Corsair H105 73.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($94.99 @ NCIX US)

Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97X-GAMING 7 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($159.99 @ Newegg)

Memory: Kingston Fury Black Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($79.99 @ Amazon)

Storage: Crucial MX100 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($109.99 @ NCIX US)

Storage: Western Digital BLACK SERIES 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($74.98 @ OutletPC)

Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 980 4GB Superclocked Video Card ($618.35 @ B&H)

Case: NZXT H440 (Green/Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($109.99 @ Micro Center)

Power Supply: EVGA 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($89.99 @ NCIX US)

Monitor: Asus VG248QE 144Hz 24.0" Monitor ($264.99 @ Amazon)

Keyboard: Razer BlackWidow Wired Gaming Keyboard ($90.00 @ Mechanical Keyboards)

Mouse: Razer DeathAdder 2013 Wired Optical Mouse ($51.99 @ Amazon)

Total: $1965.23

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-10-18 05:21 EDT-0400

Semper · October 18, 2014

if you are going for 2560x1080p it's really only around 20-25% more difficult to drive. I would never go back to 16:9 now that I have the monitor. I have my tv for when I want to lay down and relax but when I experience something new I put it on my monitor for a truly fantastic experience. It's not like just making the screen pretty because more pixels, it usually adds a lot of picture actually. Somewhat hard to explain without sitting in front of one. Sorta like much higher fov without warping the image. I used to play Bf4 with 105 Fov but now I play at 95 and still have a lot more image on screen with less warp.

That ain't too bad at all. I've seen them on the display floor in passing, but never took the time to truly look at them. they are beautiful though, and I do like me some LG.

surprisingly... that make sense... I am one of those FOV whores... I crank it up as far as I can tolerate the warp around the edges, some games seem to do better than others...

I was considering the UM95 model at some point down the road (I don't think it's likely i'll adopt 4k any time soon, but I do want to up to 1440p), but I just can't justify a thousand dollar monitor when I have three perfectly functioning monitors... I'll definitely bring this up to him, though. midas well try and get him started off right.

SeanBond · October 18, 2014

That ain't too bad at all. I've seen them on the display floor in passing, but never took the time to truly look at them. they are beautiful though, and I do like me some LG.

surprisingly... that make sense... I am one of those FOV whores... I crank it up as far as I can tolerate the warp around the edges, some games seem to do better than others...

I was considering the UM95 model at some point down the road (I don't think it's likely i'll adopt 4k any time soon, but I do want to up to 1440p), but I just can't justify a thousand dollar monitor when I have three perfectly functioning monitors... I'll definitely bring this up to him, though. midas well try and get him started off right.

After moving over to ultra wide I don't think I will ever be going to 4k myself. My next monitor will hopefully be 3440x1440p but im hoping for at least a 29inch model because I wouldn't want a 34inch lol. Pixel density matters to me way more for a monitor than resolution. I can always just sit closer if need be. I too always crank the fov to as high as possible without warping. You might hear about having trouble with games supporting ultrawide, but that's not an issue. There is a application called "Flawless widescreen" and it's a tiny little client that will autodetect all games and fix the ones for 21:9 that need it. Amazingly enough most of those games you can even change the fov within the app with a slider. It constantly gets lugin updates for the newest games too.

I think there is one guy who does all the work for this amazing app. He is a good guy. lol

SeanBond · October 18, 2014

Here is Flawless widescreen, and I find it hilarious that this guy already fixed evil within to support 21:9 aspect ratio fix, removed fake black bars and now I have a increased fov (the fov as show is vertical so 5.5 makes a decent difference) fixed the hud and even fixed the aspect ratio for the in game cut scenes.