Want to build my first gaming PC need some opinions

[Unexcited gamer]

Hi everyone

I want to build a gaming PC, and below are the two ways that I want to set the form. the budget would be 1700 AUD, this is only for the tower. I'm new to PC building and not really indepth understanding of their performance. So I want to get some opinions from the community, all comments are welcome, I'm aiming for GTA V in high settings and those games coming in the future(2-3 years), so please let me know which parts are overkill and which is lacking. Thanks a lot.

The tower is most likely to have 1 moniters, maybe 2. and OS is windows.

recommendations for keyboard and mouse are welcome, I play FPS and driving games

[wyattzx]

Your second build looks great, and I can't really comment anything negative on it. You'll receive suggestions for swapping the GTX 960 for something like an AMD R9 380, and it's certainly something to consider at this price point, as the two (even in AUD) are priced the same. Otherwise, it's a great power supply, great SSD, great RAM, great motherboard, great processor, and okay HDD! You'll be able ot drive Grand Theft Auto V at 1080p perfectly with a build like that. (By perfectly I mean you'll get 60fps~ on ultra.)

[Ridska]

Not to be rude , But could you use PC part picker please ?

Thanks .

[Unexcited gamer]

thanks for the tip and the website, new to all this so previous searches didn't came cross this site.

[The_Sandman]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

 

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($358.00 @ Umart)
CPU Cooler: be quiet! PURE ROCK 51.4 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler  ($45.00 @ PCCaseGear)
Motherboard: ASRock Z170M Pro4S Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($199.68 @ CPL Online)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory  ($137.00 @ IJK)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($129.00 @ Centre Com)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($69.00 @ Centre Com)
Video Card: MSI Radeon R9 390 8GB Video Card  ($509.00 @ CPL Online)
Case: Cooler Master Silencio 352 MicroATX Mini Tower Case  ($79.00 @ IJK)
Power Supply: EVGA 750W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($129.00 @ PCCaseGear)
Total: $1654.68
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-02-19 20:30 AEDT+1100

[Aereldor]

You haven't included an aftermarket CPU cooler for your i5 4690k, which means you won't be able to take advantage of it. The i5 4690k is priced higher than most of its brothers in the Haswell i5 family because you can overclock it (a feature of all 'K' CPUs post Sandy Bridge). If you're going to use the stock Intel heatsink that ships with it, you aren't going to be able to overclock it very far.

As an alternative, I wouldn't recommend purchasing a cooler, unless you're really bent on overclock, in which case, the Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO should do the job.

Instead, I would recommend buying a Xeon E3 1231-v3. Last I checked, it costs the same as an i5 4690k, but has the performance and features of a core i7 CPU- albeit, you can't overclock it. However, it should perform on par with a moderately overclocked i5 4690k and an i7 4770 (non-k), and I think it's the best value for money in the LGA 1150 CPU family.

 

It also makes sense to save as much as you can on your CPU without making too many compromises, so it might benefit you to step down to an i5 4460 and allocate those funds to a graphics card, but I think sticking with the Xeon will eliminate any need for an upgrade in the near future.

Also, I'm not going to bash the GTX 960. While the R9 380 is a better option, if you get the 4GB variant of either, you're close to equal footing, and the CUDA cores on NVidia cards will help if you use programs like Premiere down the line. However, the R9 380x has been dipping pretty low in price lately, and it outperforms both the GTX 960 and the R9 380 by quite a bit. Look into that if you can.

[Tautedorus]

25 minutes ago, Unexcited gamer said:

Hi everyone

I want to build a gaming PC, and below are the two ways that I want to set the form. the budget would be 1700 AUD, this is only for the tower. I'm new to PC building and not really indepth understanding of their performance. So I want to get some opinions from the community, all comments are welcome, I'm aiming for GTA V in high settings and those games coming in the future(2-3 years), so please let me know which parts are overkill and which is lacking. Thanks a lot.

The tower is most likely to have 1 moniters, maybe 2. and OS is windows.

recommendations for keyboard and mouse are welcome, I play FPS and driving games

Overclockable CPU and VS series PSU? No, no, no.

[Aereldor]

Here, I was able to step up your build with a slightly better CPU, a much better GPU, and a better power supply, all for less money than your previous build (Yes, prices are in AUD)

I noticed you were overspending on the motherboard a little, and since you didn't include a cooler, I assumed you didn't intend to overclock, so I did away with the overclocking motherboard, in exchange for incredible value-oriented board. Also, this motherboard supports crossfire as an upgrade, so you can add in another 390 or even a 390x later on, making this a hell of a future-proof rig.

Also, how are BitFenix cases so cheap where you live?! This case is a steal.
 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1231 V3 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($369.00 @ Centre Com)
Motherboard: MSI B85M-G43 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($95.00 @ Umart)
Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Blue 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory  ($65.00 @ CPL Online)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($129.00 @ Centre Com)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($99.00 @ IJK)
Video Card: Asus Radeon R9 390 8GB Video Card  ($489.00 @ Centre Com)
Case: BitFenix Comrade ATX Mid Tower Case  ($58.00 @ CPL Online)
Power Supply: Thermaltake SMART 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($99.00 @ CPL Online)
Total: $1403.00
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-02-19 20:51 AEDT+1100

[Unexcited gamer]

I looked at the R9 390, whats the difference between 390 and the X version, from the picker site, the X version costs 100 AUD more. For the case, is it okays to stick with cooler master, because due to internet speed issues sometimes downloading might take place during sleeping hours and for the case you have picked will it be noisy? For the list you given me, I have to check if I'm able to get those parts

[Aereldor]

1 hour ago, Unexcited gamer said:

I looked at the R9 390, whats the difference between 390 and the X version, from the picker site, the X version costs 100 AUD more. For the case, is it okays to stick with cooler master, because due to internet speed issues sometimes downloading might take place during sleeping hours and for the case you have picked will it be noisy? For the list you given me, I have to check if I'm able to get those parts

Before I begin, I have to say that your computer won't be noisy at idle. Downloading is NOT a demanding task, and the only problem will be making sure the hard drive you're downloading to isn't stupidly loud- more on that later. The GPU I picked out for you turns off its fans when it's not being used heavily, so it's dead silent unless you're gaming.

 

The Xeon CPU doesn't run as hot as the heavier CPUs in Intel's Haswell line, and if you set up a good CPU fan curve, it should be almost completely silent.

 

The Hyper 212 EVO is a great cooler, but it isn't the most quiet, and you won't need it unless you plan to overclock. The stock Intel heatsink is pretty quiet, and if silence is of importance to you, you might consider picking up something form Fractal Design's 'Define' series- they usually come lines with industry-standard sound-dampening material.

If you want silence, get rid of 7200RPM hard drives- I find that they're the noisiest. My advice- step up about 40 Australian dollars to get a WD Green 5400RPM 3TB drive- they're reliable and quiet, and are pretty quick, even for 5400 RPM drives.

I believe the R9 390x has slightly more shader units, stream processors, and compute units. It also has a higher pixel rate and is usually shipped with a slightly higher clock speed, from what I know. It does offer significant performance gains over the 390- about 15% in most cases, I hear.

[Starelementpoke]

2 hours ago, Aereldor said:

Here, I was able to step up your build with a slightly better CPU, a much better GPU, and a better power supply, all for less money than your previous build (Yes, prices are in AUD)

I noticed you were overspending on the motherboard a little, and since you didn't include a cooler, I assumed you didn't intend to overclock, so I did away with the overclocking motherboard, in exchange for incredible value-oriented board. Also, this motherboard supports crossfire as an upgrade, so you can add in another 390 or even a 390x later on, making this a hell of a future-proof rig.

Also, how are BitFenix cases so cheap where you live?! This case is a steal.
 

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1231 V3 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($369.00 @ Centre Com)
Motherboard: MSI B85M-G43 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard  ($95.00 @ Umart)
Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Blue 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory  ($65.00 @ CPL Online)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($129.00 @ Centre Com)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($99.00 @ IJK)
Video Card: Asus Radeon R9 390 8GB Video Card  ($489.00 @ Centre Com)
Case: BitFenix Comrade ATX Mid Tower Case  ($58.00 @ CPL Online)
Power Supply: Thermaltake SMART 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply  ($99.00 @ CPL Online)
Total: $1403.00
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-02-19 20:51 AEDT+1100

Bad PSU, that PSU is nononono.

[Aereldor]

Just now, Starelementpoke said:

Bad PSU, that PSU is nononono.

Really? Whoops. I'd heard some good things about it and about Thermaltake as a manufacturer, and it's definitely a huge step up from the lowly Corsair VS power supply OP had in his original build (yes, there is a rung beneath the CX series, and that's the VS series).

[Starelementpoke]

2 minutes ago, Aereldor said:

Really? Whoops. I'd heard some good things about it and about Thermaltake as a manufacturer, and it's definitely a huge step up from the lowly Corsair VS power supply OP had in his original build (yes, there is a rung beneath the CX series, and that's the VS series).

Hey guess what? I know. Guess what, that PSU is in the same tier as the vs.

[Unexcited gamer]

thanks for the thought, i think i will do some more learning

[Aereldor]

Just now, Starelementpoke said:

Hey guess what? I know. Guess what, that PSU is in the same tier as the vs.

Alright, well now I know. Since you probably know more than I do about power supplies, why not recommend a more reliable one to OP instead of ragging on two inferior power supplies?

[Starelementpoke]

Just now, Aereldor said:

Alright, well now I know. Since you probably know more than I do about power supplies, why not recommend a more reliable one to OP instead of ragging on two inferior power supplies?

Nah, ragging´s more fun. But because I´m such a nice guy, OP anyhting from xfx or seasonic. Seasonic=safesonic.

[Aereldor]

Just now, Starelementpoke said:

Nah, ragging´s more fun. But because I´m such a nice guy, OP anyhting from xfx or seasonic. Seasonic=safesonic.

OP- see if the SeaSonic ECO series is available where you live. I got mine for cheaper than a Corsair CX power supply, and while it isn't modular and the cables aren't the easiest to work with, I can get behind SeaSonic as manufacturers too.