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Thread: First time building a gaming PC

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    Lightbulb First time building a gaming PC

    Hello everyone! I've been sprawling the internet for the past month and finally got together a build. I'm wondering whether or not 650W would be enough for my GPU and CPU, but since I would probably overclock them later on, I put a 750W in there just in case. I'm also looking for opinions on the R9 290X graphics card, as I can find it for exactly the same price as the GTX 780 online ($500), and it performs way better on paper. However, I've seen a lot of complaints about black screens and general instability overall, so any insight would be great! I'm also trying to keep the total cost to a minimum, so I was thinking about ditching the SSD (or maybe changing to a smaller size), since I don't see myself using it much other than for the OS. I'm also wondering if Corsair SP120 fans would do the trick for overall cooling if I overclocked my components (I'm planning on getting 4), since it's cheaper to get them in sets rather than buying AP120s and SP120s seperately, and it looks like they can do the APs' jobs fine themselves. Also, I'm looking for a silent case with a slightly smaller structure, but for the time being the Define R4 seems to be the best one.

    Sorry for the big wall of text, but any help would be awesome (especially if you found some other problems in the build!)

    CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($233.98 @ SuperBiiz)
    CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($36.98 @ SuperBiiz)
    Motherboard: MSI Z87-G43 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard
    Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($90.99 @ Amazon)
    Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($86.39 @ Amazon)
    Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($58.00 @ Amazon)
    Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 780 3GB Superclocked ACX Video Card ($499.99 @ Amazon)
    Case: Fractal Design Define R4 w/Window (Titanium Grey) ATX Mid Tower Case ($100.00 @ Amazon)
    Power Supply: Corsair CX 750W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($77.24 @ Amazon)

    Total: $1176.58

  2. #2
    Seriously casual gamer KeyboardDemon's Avatar
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    • KeyboardDemon's system
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    Re: First time building a gaming PC

    Personally I prefer the GTX780 or if you can stretch to it the GTX780Ti, I'm using the Ti myself and I have the EVGA SC ACX Edition.

    750 watts is overkill, you could save some money on this and still have enough headroom for overclocking with a 650 watt PSU and then put the money into upgrading your SSD to a larger capacity. I would consider the Crucial MX100 SSD drives now, check out some reviews if you can, it looks like it will be a promising drive offering excellent performance at a great price.

    As far as fans are concerned I would only look at adding the AP/SP fans if I found that setup to be suffering with heat issues and if you are planning on overclocking then I would consider getting a better heatsink than the 212 Evo, I've heard from friends that they are not that good for cooling an overclocked CPU.

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    Re: First time building a gaming PC

    I would get the R9 290x but get one with an aftermarket cooler, not the reference as it's not enough to cool the card which is where you're probably hearing complaints about instability. Sapphires and Gigabyte make some good AMD coolers, avoid ASUS though, they made their heatsinks wrong for AMD Cards. Yate loon is a good choice for fans, they OEM for lots of manufacturers so you're not losing out on quality.

    I would go with this at your budget...

    PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

    CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($239.99 @ Newegg)
    CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($25.98 @ Newegg)
    Motherboard: MSI Z97 PC MATE ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($89.99 @ Newegg)
    Memory: Kingston 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($74.99 @ NCIX US)
    Storage: PNY XLR8 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($63.02 @ NCIX US)
    Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($54.98 @ OutletPC)
    Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon R9 290 4GB WINDFORCE Video Card ($349.99 @ Newegg)
    Case: Fractal Design Define R4 w/Window (Titanium Grey) ATX Mid Tower Case ($105.20 @ Mwave)
    Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA NEX 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($79.99 @ Newegg)
    Total: $1064.13
    Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

    But if you already bought that motherboard and can't update the bios, go with the 4670k. This build is probably overkill for 1080p gaming though it would run mostly everything at 1080p ultra 60fps and you can push it up to 1440p by turning some settings down. You can also add another R9 290 down the line.

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    Re: First time building a gaming PC

    Why a 290 when the 780 is the better card? Also this build would smash 60 fps it'd most likely go into the upper hundreds in most games. Anyway OP I wouldn't go with the build above since everything that was changed made the build worse from the wrose GPU to the worse ssd.

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    Re: First time building a gaming PC

    This is pretty much the exact build I was planning on before money became too much on an issue (although I'd happily pay the $1000, bloody expensive UK parts ...). I think the differance between the R290 and the 780 will be minimal. If you're looking to save money you could probably downgrade the PSU a little.

    Are you planning on having games as well as the OS on that SSD?

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    • mynameissi's system
      • Motherboard:
      • MSI Z97 Gaming 5
      • CPU:
      • i5-4690k
      • Memory:
      • 4x4gb Corsair Vengeance Pro Series (2400)
      • Storage:
      • 1TB Seagate Barracuda, 128GB SSD
      • Graphics card(s):
      • 2 x GTX 970
      • PSU:
      • Corsair 750W Gold Rated Semi Modular
      • Case:
      • Corsair Carbide SPEC-01 Red LED Mid Tower case
      • Operating System:
      • Windows 7
      • Internet:
      • Sky Fibre

    Re: First time building a gaming PC

    Swap the 4670k for a 4690k, same price, 4690k is slightly better and newer
    psu could be lowered to a 650w, unless you can afford the 750w comfortably for future-proofing reasons
    GTX 780 is a fine card, definitely get it

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