2560x1440 Gaming Build - AMD or Intel

[NikoDG]

Why not get a 4770K, with a more reasonable motherboard that'll perform/OC just as well, and then drop the RAM to the cheapest set of 1600mhz CL9 memory to make up the difference between the pricing of the 4670K and the 4770K??

 

The rest seems just fine IMHO

The G.Skill Trident X 2x8GB 2400MHz memory is only about $180, the most I'll save by picking up some really cheap 1600MHz is probably about $20 so I'm not too worried about it. As for the motherboard the Asus Maximus VI Hero isn't all that expensive either, only $220 on Newegg.ca and most of it's features are things I will make use of. Also, black and red is my color scheme so those both fit in awesome, and if the 4770K is noticeably better for gaming I can just put in a few extra hours to make up the difference in price

 

There is a lot here to talk about, lets do last post first. Skryim plays FINE on a 8350, hell it plays fine on a 6800K. While it might not beat an Intel chip in pure FPS or benchmarks it does MORE than get the job done, it gives an awesome play experience.

 

Now to the original post, a 2 TB drive for media, what do you do rip every movie you find and store them? The 120 for the OS and the 1TB for the Games is even overkill. You have to store a LOT of games to need a TB. My entire Steam Library of 73 games on uses about 650 gig, unless you plan to have your entire library, that means a lot of you are likely not playing, on the drive always I doubt you need a TB SSD.

 

On the RAM the earlier suggestion is right, get 2x8 for the RAM so you have room for expansion later if you want. Personally I get Kingston, they have never failed me but you the RAM make of your choice.

 

As for Intel vs AMD, when you are actually playing the games it is next to impossible to tell the difference in pretty much every game made without a FPS counter going all the time.

 

Now on video, I can play my entire game library, which includes a modded Skyrim at 1440, and do regularly, at high settings with a 280X. So that performance range and up is what you want to look for. I would suggest a 290 or a 780 as being the best bang for the buck for gaming at 1440, either will easily give you a great gaming experience.

I can't really comment to the ability of the FX-8350 as all I have to go on are benchmarks and reviews. I'm definitely open to the idea of an AMD CPU in my rig. It just seems most people think that as far as gaming goes, the 4670K is better suited to lightly threaded applications which most games are at this point in time. I'd love to see some gaming benchmarks comparing a heavily OC'ed FX-8350 to a heavily OC'ed 4670K (not really interested in synthetic benchmarks, all they are good for is e-peen).

 

Now storage space is a really important thing for me, I don't have any physical media. All my games, movies, music, etc are digital downloads. On top of that my internet here is atrocious, so much so that my download speed is measured in Kbps rather than Mbps, and I have a 40 Gbpm download limit to boot. When I download something I usually keep it on my computer as downloading it again if I ever decide I want to access it isn't exactly viable. I've already filled up the WD 2TB drive with games and media. When I build my new system I'll format it and segregate my games to the SSD giving me more speed and storage.

 

That suggestions to get a 2x8GB kit is a good one, not only does it give me room to expand, the 2x8GB kit is cheaper than the 4x4GB kit.

 

As for the graphics card, I could drop down to the Gigabite GTX 780 GHz Edition (non-Ti), and save about $230. I was looking at possibly getting a Radeon R9 but since Litecoin miners forced prices up AMD's cards don't look as appetizing

[IVIYTH0S]

If this is primarily gaming then the 4670K or FX8350 will do you just fine, no reason or huge benefit for going with the i7. I'd pick the cheaper between the two (8350 or 4670K) and love life.

[NikoDG]

Well the 4670K is $255, and the 8350 is $210... BUT! The Asus Maximus VI Hero is $220, and the Asus Crosshair V Formula-Z is $250. So I guess the AMD platform wins by a slim margin there

[IVIYTH0S]

It's up to you then, I'd let a flip coin program let you pick it at this point lol (CPU/Motherboard)

[VaporX]

The whole Steam and download issue is one I have talked about on the show a few times, becomes a big deal with slow internet or if your ISP is one of those moving to usage caps. Since I go for pure SSD systems I have learned to work leaner and meaner with my system and found a trick that works well. When I buy a new game I download it then. Once the game is downloaded I back it up to an external HD and then can remove it until I want to play. Using a USB 2.0 external HD the backup recovery time is under 10 minutes for most games, a ton faster than downloading. With a USB 3.0 or a NAS on a gigLAN the speed would be even quicker.

 

As for the overclocking benchmarks, those are not the important ones, you want to see at stock speeds. Overclocking on the CPU gives a boost but the boost is not nearly as impressive in actual game experience as it is in benchmarks. Look at the chips at stock and if a chip is fast enough for you at stock then overclocking is pure gravy. In fact my own gaming experience has shown that overclocking has resulted small enough gains I do not even bother anymore. Most modern CPUs have enough horsepower to get the job done easily.

 

On the motherboard, unless you are planning to dual card the system I would save some money and drop down a bit. The high cost boards are nice and all but in the end I have found that unless you are pushing uber overclocking or multiple cards they are a lot of money with little return.

[wevsspot]

Niko, I'm going to blow your mind and probably open up a can of worms here, but if I were spending my own money here is what I'd do;

 

Motherboard

MSI Z87-GD65 (very attractive pricing, good performance, solid board and keeps your black & red color scheme)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130692

$167.99 and $10 MIR

 

CPU

Intel i5 4670K

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116899

$219.99 after $20 promo code EMCPWHF44 ends 1/30

 

Memory

G.Skill Ripjaws X 16Gb DDR3 1866Mhz 10-11-10-30 @ 1.5v

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231528

$131.74 after 15% promo code EMCPWHF28 ends 1/30

 

GPU

EVGA ACX GTX 780

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130918

$509.99 and $10.00 MIR

 

SSD

Since you already have a fairly new Samsung EVO, I'd grab a twin and put them in RAID0.  You'll double your capacity for a fairly reasonable price.  A lot of folks are going to clamor that you don't or shouldn't RAID any hard drive, but I'd make the argument that doubling your SSD storage for $109.99 is a reasonable proposition, even if you don't like to do drive benchmarks.

 

Samsung 840 EVO 120Gb SSD

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147252

$109.99

 

Storage, backup, media libraries

Seagate Barracuda ST2000D 2Tb

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148834

$87.99

 

One thing I haven't seen to this point is your plan for a power supply.  But total cost for the above upgrades;

 

 $1227.69

 

That is before MIRs which will reduce the total cost a little bit.  This would make for one kick butt system after adding in your other gear.

[NikoDG]

Thanks for the suggestions wev, but unfortunately those deals are only on Newegg.com, I live in Canada so I'm stuck with Newegg.ca or NCIX

Edited January 28, 2014 by NikoDG

[wevsspot]

YW, but see the big picture.

 

Compare prices - regardless you should save significant amounts of CAD choosing the MSI GD-65 over Asus offerings.  Same thing with DDR3 1866Mhz memory that will likely clock as high as DDR3 2133Mhz memory with timing and voltage tweaks.

 

Add a second EVO in RAID0 and that is substantially cheaper than a 500Gb or 1TB SSD.

[NikoDG]

Okay, so I'm going to try and take wev's advice and look at some other options so I can reduce the cost.

 

Case - Cooler Master HAF XB EVO @ $104.99 (Newegg.ca)

PSU - Silverstone Strider Gold Evolution 1200W (Owned) 

CPU - i5 4670K @ $259.99 (Newegg.ca)

GPU - MSI GTX 780 Ti GAMING @ $759.99 (Newegg.ca)

Motherboard - MSI Z87-G45 GAMING @ $169.99 (NCIX)

Memory - G.Skill Trident X 2x8GB 2400MHz @ $179.99 (Newegg.ca)

CPU Cooler - NZXT Kraken X60 (Owned)

OS Drive - Samsung 840 EVO 120GB (Owned)

Game Drive - ???

Media Drive - Western Digital Caviar Black 2TB (Owned)

OS - Windows 7 Professional 64-bit (Owned)

 

You might have noticed that I added a case, my girlfriend said if I'm going to build a new computer she doesn't want it in the Cosmos II, she actually wants me to get rid of that case. She says it's too "Massive and gaudy!"

 

I looked through the compatibility list for the NZXT Kraken X60 making sure I pick out a case it is compatible with (I don't want to buy a new CPU cooler on top of a new case). The Cooler Master HAF XB looked pretty interesting, it's got very good reviews and at an amazing price. What do you guys think?

 

As far as CPU goes I think I'm going to grab the i5 4670K, one reason being that AMD motherboards are pretty sparse and the only one I find enticing is the Asus board at $259.99 on Newegg.ca ($274.99 at NCIX).

 

I actually liked the motherboard that you linked earlier, but I actually don't think I need all those features as long as the one I chose is still a capable overclocker, so I took it a step down to save a little money. Then while I was browsing the information on it I saw the VGA Boost feature saying that when paired with an MSI GAMING graphics card the motherboard will increase the "power limitations for the MSI GAMING graphics cards" allowing them to "boost to higher clock speeds". This lead me to consider the MSI GTX 780 Ti GAMING. Is this worth looking into, or do you think it's just a gimmick.

 

As for GTX 780 vs Ti, I figure since it's a gaming build the most important thing for me to splurge on is the GPU, besides if I cheap out on the GPU now I'll just have to SLI it sooner.

 

Memory wise, the G.Skill Ripjaws X 2x8GB 1866MHz $170.49 (only $9.50 less than the memory I listed) giving very little motivation to downgrade to it.

 

Lastly, the game drive. 240GB sadly just won't be enough room for my OS and games, but on the other hand the 1TB drive is a pretty penny. How about SSD caching? Or an SSHD?

[wevsspot]

SSD caching actually works pretty well and in my opinion would be a reasonable compromise.

 

I know that Waco is positively sold on the Intel SSD caching technology, so you might reach out to him for a hard list of pros and cons.

 

Good looking build and agree with the memory selection considering the price difference.  I'm not up to speed on MSI's VGA Boost feature, but sounds interesting and I've been happy with my MSI cards regardless of any marketing gimmicks or not.

 

I couldn't ever bring myself to spend that much money on a GPU, but I'm glad that some people can and do  

 

As for the HAF XB EVO, cases are such a personal choice that all I can say is that it is priced fairly, gets good reviews and if it suits you then it's the right choice.

[NikoDG]

Alright, I shot Waco a PM, thanks for the suggestion.

 

If I do get the CM HAF XB I think I'll be needing a fan controller as it doesn't have one built in. I will have two 5.25" bays open, and I'd like to run all the fans in the case from the controller if possible, an LCD screen for RPM/temps would be nice too. I'll be running an NZXT Kraken X60 with four Cougar Vortex 140mm fans in push-pull up front. Then I'm thinking a Xigmatek FCB 200mm Red LED fan up top as an intake, then two GELID Solutions 80mm 1,600RPM fans, and a Scythe Gentle Typhoon 120mm 1,450RPM on the back side. So that's one 200mm fan, four 140mm fans, a 120mm fan, and two 80mm fans total. I already own the Cougar fans, wondering if the other fans I chose are good picks. I'm looking near silent operation.

Edited January 29, 2014 by NikoDG

[wevsspot]

I can't speak for the fan selections.  I use a lot of Xigmatek fans and for the most part have been pretty happy with them.  Other fans I've used and would use in the future; Yate Loon, Cooler Master, Noctua, Skythe and Silverstone.  As a general rule of thumb I stay away from 80mm fans because in order for them to be effective, they usually have to run at high RPM - which usually means fairly noisy.