Build for grillfriend.

[TrulyNolan]

I'm trying to work on a build for my girlfriend to give her for Christmas. She literally only plays the Sims 3 and 4. She has every single expansion for the Sims 3. 

 

I was looking into an Athlon X4 860k build with a 270X, but I keep reading the Pentium is better. I honestly have no idea what the Sims runs better on, whether it's GPU or CPU heavy, so any recommendations are great.

 

I plan on using the ENERMAX Ostrog ECA3253-PW Pink ATX Mid Tower Case, so anything that looks nice and pretty for a girl that loves pink is highly recommended if possible.

 

Shoot me your ideas. Please and thank you.

[WinNut]

ooh a grillfriend, make sure to give her plenty of propane.

[Toddwjp]

grillfriend, i recommend this?

 

[TheKDub]

I'd go for the pentium, but only if it will be OC'd, otherwise I'd go with the athlon.

 

You could probably stick a 1TB Seagate Barricuda in there for storage and be fine with that, and I'd just go with 8GB of ram as 4GB is becoming somewhat obsolete.

[failblox]

Honestly if you're gonna play the Sims it won't really matter which CPU you get. I'd get whatever one is cheaper.

As for whether it's CPU or GPU intensive, I'd say neither.

[OriginalPromise]

I'm trying to work on a build for my girlfriend to give her for Christmas. She literally only plays the Sims 3 and 4. She has every single expansion for the Sims 3. 

 

I was looking into an Athlon X4 860k build with a 270X, but I keep reading the Pentium is better. I honestly have no idea what the Sims runs better on, whether it's GPU or CPU heavy, so any recommendations are great.

 

I plan on using the ENERMAX Ostrog ECA3253-PW Pink ATX Mid Tower Case, so anything that looks nice and pretty for a girl that loves pink is highly recommended if possible.

 

Shoot me your ideas. Please and thank you.

Since Sims is a simulation game, I'm guessing it's more CPU based.

 

Can we have the following information?

• Budget
• Location
• If you need a monitor
• If you need Windows
• If you need peripherals (keyboards, speakers,etc)
• Any special requirements you're looking into.

If you just want a quick suggestion, I recommend a refreshed i3/i5 with something like a R9 280, even a 290 if possible.

Remember, if it's a gift for your girlfriend though, I recommend customizing the case with something like personal messages.

Engrave it with your name so she'll have to remember you every time she uses it!  B)

[Kyuubixchidori]

I'm trying to work on a build for my girlfriend to give her for Christmas. She literally only plays the Sims 3 and 4. She has every single expansion for the Sims 3. 

 

I was looking into an Athlon X4 860k build with a 270X, but I keep reading the Pentium is better. I honestly have no idea what the Sims runs better on, whether it's GPU or CPU heavy, so any recommendations are great.

 

I plan on using the ENERMAX Ostrog ECA3253-PW Pink ATX Mid Tower Case, so anything that looks nice and pretty for a girl that loves pink is highly recommended if possible.

 

Shoot me your ideas. Please and thank you.

go gpu more powerful. it starts with sims, then turns to mario on a sim, then to casual indie games, then a healer in wow, to a tank in wow, to begging you to buy her advanced warfare. 

 

 

trust me i know. well used to

 

seriously though, Id always go with a fx 6300, with a hyper 212. then 8 gigs of the cheapest ram, and cheap mobo. rest of the money to the graphics card. you can overclock it to be close to my stock I5. thats crazy. then you can always buy her a nicer gpu later as(if) the games get more intense. 

[AlwaysFSX]

Does your girlfriend grill with you?

 

Just get an 860k and a 750 or 750 Ti..

[TrulyNolan]

Since Sims is a simulation game, I'm guessing it's more CPU based.

 

Can we have the following information?

• Budget
• Location
• If you need a monitor
• If you need Windows
• If you need peripherals (keyboards, speakers,etc)
• Any special requirements you're looking into.

If you just want a quick suggestion, I recommend a refreshed i3/i5 with something like a R9 280, even a 290 if possible.

Remember, if it's a gift for your girlfriend though, I recommend customizing the case with something like personal messages.

Engrave it with your name so she'll have to remember you every time she uses it!  B)

 

Budget - $750

Location - Las Vegas, NV

Monitor is needed.

I have Windows 7.

She has the SteelSeries Sims 4 peripherals.

As long as it can play the Sims on near max (She will literally spend an entire day off playing the Sims), she'll be happy.

 

 

Does your girlfriend grill with you?

 

Just get an 860k and a 750 or 750 Ti..

 

 

She does, actually.

And a 750Ti did seem like a good idea, as well.

[Flyguygamer]

Make sure to thank the lord and savior GabeN for your girlfriend.

 

Then do a g3258

A mobo that can oc

8 gb ram

240gb ssd

[OriginalPromise]

-snip-

You can go with a cheaper SSD and add in a 1TB HDD if you must. (Or just stretch the budget)

Options for a cheaper SSD are alternatives from Adata, Intel, and Crucial. (The Crucial MX100's pretty cheap)

I picked the EVO for obvious reasons.

 

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/mWcCt6

Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/mWcCt6/by_merchant/

 

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($169.98 @ SuperBiiz) 

CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler  ($26.92 @ OutletPC) 

Thermal Compound: Arctic Silver 5 High-Density Polysynthetic Silver 3.5g Thermal Paste  ($3.98 @ OutletPC) 

Motherboard: Asus Z97-A ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($129.98 @ SuperBiiz) 

Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-2133 Memory  ($57.99 @ Newegg) 

Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($119.99 @ Amazon) 

Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon R9 280 3GB WINDFORCE Video Card  ($179.99 @ Newegg) 

Power Supply: Corsair Builder 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($29.99 @ Newegg) 

Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer  ($13.99 @ Amazon) 

Wireless Network Adapter: Asus PCE-N10 802.11b/g/n PCI-Express x1 Wi-Fi Adapter  ($11.40 @ SuperBiiz) 

Total: $744.21

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-11-25 22:05 EST-0500

[Lotus]

When you add in the case, it should come out to right around $750.

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4440 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($168.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: MSI H81M-P33 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($27.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Team Dark 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($67.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R9 280 3GB Dual-X Video Card  ($174.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Rosewill 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($44.99 @ Amazon)
Monitor: Asus VN248H-P 23.8" Monitor  ($139.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $674.93
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-11-25 22:14 EST-0500

[TrulyNolan]

Alright, lets drop the budget down to like...$600. She'll have a better PC than I do, hahaha.

 

I also have plans to add Corsair Air series fans and painting the rings pink. I paint my rings yellow and she really liked it and wants me to do something similar for her.

[Lotus]

well, @OriginalPromise didn't include a monitor or that case of yours, and did include rebates which I don't really count at all, so his build isn't really representative. I'd say you can maybe take out $50 and still end up with a passable rig, but trust me she's going to want an i5 at least if she doesn't want to be gimped by a CPU limitation on any current demanding game. This would be the cheapest build I'd recommend:

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4440 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($168.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: MSI H81M-P33 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($27.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Team Dark 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($67.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: PowerColor Radeon R9 270 2GB TurboDuo Video Card  ($141.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Rosewill 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($44.99 @ Amazon)
Monitor: BenQ GW2265HM 60Hz 21.5" Monitor  ($114.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $616.92
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-11-25 22:25 EST-0500

 

Any cheaper and you really start losing out on price to performance and get LESS for your money, even though you're already spending less, which makes it doubly bad.

[TrulyNolan]

So unless I get her an i5, it's just not worth it?

[JeffreyEagan]

The sims is fairly CPU intensive, go for the pentium.

[Lotus]

Below an i5, you have to pick your poison: shitty single-threaded performance (any AMD cpu), or shitty multi-threaded performance (Intel CPUs worse than an i5). Also, keep in mind that the CPU/MoBo combination in that build is already very, very cheap at under $200, so you aren't likely to save much by doing anything else. That build has already cut all the corners while maintaining performance. Also the 750ti, while still decent, is not nearly as good as the R9 270 and is only like $15 cheaper. You really start to gimp yourself if you go less. $700 for a build that includes a decent monitor is pretty amazing already, and it's clearly in your budget. Don't begrudge giving her a decent computer.

[TrulyNolan]

I know for certain things like the monitor, she'll pay for herself. I'm just trying to put together the computer itself, while peripherals and accessories are all hers. Knowing her, she'd probably buy a 27" BenQ. So monitor price can be taken out and added towards parts.

[Lotus]

Well that's simple enough then. Remove the monitor from my build. It leaves you with this:

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4440 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($168.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: MSI H81M-P33 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($27.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Team Dark 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($67.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: PowerColor Radeon R9 270 2GB TurboDuo Video Card  ($141.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Rosewill 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($44.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $501.93
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-11-25 22:40 EST-0500

 

That's everything but a case, which you already indicated you had chosen.

[TrulyNolan]

Well that's simple enough then. Remove the monitor from my build. It leaves you with this:

 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4440 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($168.99 @ NCIX US)

Motherboard: MSI H81M-P33 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($27.99 @ Newegg)

Memory: Team Dark 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory  ($67.99 @ Newegg)

Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($49.99 @ Newegg)

Video Card: PowerColor Radeon R9 270 2GB TurboDuo Video Card  ($141.98 @ Newegg)

Power Supply: Rosewill 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($44.99 @ Amazon)

Total: $501.93

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-11-25 22:40 EST-0500

 

That's everything but a case, which you already indicated you had chosen.

 

We can put forth more towards the motherboard, and I'm getting a Corsair XMS3 8GB stick from a friend tomorrow. So that's an extra $68 to add towards everything else

[Lotus]

You don't really need to. I thought you wanted to save money, right? The motherboard has no performance specs. It's only worth it to put more into the motherboard if you plan on doing something like dual GPU setups or buying a K series CPU and overclocking, or if you want more than 2 memory slots. If you need the featureset, then yeah you can get a better MoBo, but while this MoBo has a very limited featureset, it's usually all you'll ever need.

 

If you wanted to upgrade something in the build, I'd get a better GPU like the R9 280, or if you can afford it, an R9 290. Then you'll have a rig that can max pretty much everything on 1080p Ultra, even the new AAA titles (provided they aren't from UBIsoft and so have horrible coding).

[TrulyNolan]

You don't really need to. I thought you wanted to save money, right? The motherboard has no performance specs. It's only worth it to put more into the motherboard if you plan on doing something like dual GPU setups or buying a K series CPU and overclocking, or if you want more than 2 memory slots. If you need the featureset, then yeah you can get a better MoBo, but while this MoBo has a very limited featureset, it's usually all you'll ever need.

 

If you wanted to upgrade something in the build, I'd get a better GPU like the R9 280, or if you can afford it, an R9 290. Then you'll have a rig that can max pretty much everything on 1080p Ultra, even the new AAA titles (provided they aren't from UBIsoft and so have horrible coding).

 

I would like to save money, but if parts are already purchased, why not just add the extra money to the build?