Review of my first gaming/workstation PC build.

[Jossy Sola]

My budget is around $1200 USD; I live in Mexico so that should be around $20,000 MXN.

My idea is to have a computer where I can run some games (i.e.: Second Life, yes it still exists lol) but I'll mostly use it for 3D Modelling, maybe some animation, sculpting, designing (I'll start using Blender).

I haven't bought anything yet but this is my current list of components I've chose:


Intel Core i5-4690K, S-1150, 3.50GHz, Quad-Core, 6MB L3 Cache (4ta. Generación - Devil´s Canyon)
$4,416.00 MXN

Tarjeta Madre ASUS ATX Z97-K/CSM, S-1150, Intel Z97, HDMI, USB 3.0, DDR3
$2,523.00 MXN

Memoria RAM Corsair DDR3, 16 GB
+$2,637.00 MXN

Tarjeta de Video Asus NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 STRIX DirectCU II OC, 4GB 128-bit GDDR5, PCI Express 3.0
$4,833.00 MXN

HP DVD Player 624189-B21, SATA
$762.00 MXN

Kit teclado y mouse microsoft
$972.22 MXN

TOTAL = $ 16,143.22

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I'm not finished so I wonder if you could review this build so far and tell me what is good or wrong? what could I change or add? I still lack some components like monitor, cooling system, wifi card, power supply, chasis, etc.

Beforehand, thank you!

[EndlessWaves]

Hexus is a UK site so giving equivalent prices in pounds rather than US dollars is probably more meaningful to a lot of readers. Looking at individual items they come out similar prices to UK prices including tax at the current exchange rate, so it looks like your budget is equivalent to about £750-800.

Do you need the features of an expensive motherboard? I would consider a cheaper motherboard an an i7.

That memory looks very expensive . In the UK I'd expect to pay 2/3 of that for 16GB.

[Jossy Sola]

Hexus is a UK site so giving equivalent prices in pounds rather than US dollars is probably more meaningful to a lot of readers. Looking at individual items they come out similar prices to UK prices including tax at the current exchange rate, so it looks like your budget is equivalent to about £750-800.

Do you need the features of an expensive motherboard? I would consider a cheaper motherboard an an i7.

That memory looks very expensive . In the UK I'd expect to pay 2/3 of that for 16GB.

I honestly do not need features of an expensive motherboard if it perfoms properly. I want a ASUS/Gigabyte motherboard, can you suggest me a cheaper but good one please?

Also, I want the 16GB of RAM but I don't know that much about brands, could also suggest me a good but unexpensive one please?

About the i7 processor, I don't think so. I have a friend in the US that has a computer with an Intel Quad Core 3.6GHz I reckon, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750, 16GB of RAM and he can do more than I can with my laptop which has Intel Core i3 (it is supposed to be better than quad core). So my conclusion is that the main capability is in RAM, my processor is better than his but my laptop only has 2GB of RAM.

Thank you so much for your reply! (:

[EndlessWaves]

Also, I want the 16GB of RAM but I don't know that much about brands, could also suggest me a good but unexpensive one please?

Memory hardware is as close to identical as makes no difference, so you're basically buying on quality control and support. I don't know what the support arm of each brand is like in Mexico and how likely stores are to replace faulty products but I'd start at the bottom and buy whichever cheap sticks look most promising.

I honestly do not need features of an expensive motherboard if it perfoms properly. I want a ASUS/Gigabyte motherboard, can you suggest me a cheaper but good one please?

Motherboards don't generally have an effect on performance. If you look at any roundup you'll find they're all within 2-3% of each other.

There are some things that vary between motherboards like which sound chip they use but whether any of them will affect you it's difficult to say. Is there anything you'd be unhappy with from a motherboard?

About the i7 processor, I don't think so. I have a friend in the US that has a computer with an Intel Quad Core 3.6GHz I reckon, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750, 16GB of RAM and he can do more than I can with my laptop which has Intel Core i3 (it is supposed to be better than quad core). So my conclusion is that the main capability is in RAM, my processor is better than his but my laptop only has 2GB of RAM.

Core count and clockspeed is meaningless without talking about specific chips. Whichever i3-branded CPU you have will be much faster than some quad cores, much slower than others.

[bromax333]

Try cheaper Gigabyte or AsRock MBu, and go with gtx970 Strix or G1, and so you'll have a good rig for games at FHD!