Gaming PC Build... Thoughts?

[brandonkick]

If money were no object to me, I'd like to assemble the OP's parts list and a modified version that I put together.

I think right now, I can get within 20% performance wise (and I'm thinking more like 10%-15%) of the original parts list for about $700 less and that is with regular every day prices. With good timing on newegg insider sales, I can probably get that down to $800-$900 less then he is spending.

33% to 43% reduction in price. The reduction in performance? Well that's harder to calculate, but my reduced parts list does keep his 256GB SSD.


One other thing to keep in mind. I'm not going to say that developers will never be unreasonable with the amount of processing power required to play their games. For a long time it has always been the idea that they want to target the game to be rather playable to the largest market possible. That market never included people with large HD displays and expensive CPU+GPU combos and for the most part it still doesn't. Games like Crysis threw that to the wind. I wouldn't look for developers to build their games to the point that you will need a fast quad core with HT to have the game be playable. Maybe it won't be playable at 1080P + resolutions with every setting maxed, but then again if you want to be able to play at those settings/resolutions you should be (and most people probably are) aware that your going to have to spend a lot more money.

 

[James_S]

One other thing to keep in mind. I'm not going to say that developers will never be unreasonable with the amount of processing power required to play their games. For a long time it has always been the idea that they want to target the game to be rather playable to the largest market possible. That market never included people with large HD displays and expensive CPU+GPU combos and for the most part it still doesn't. Games like Crysis threw that to the wind. I wouldn't look for developers to build their games to the point that you will need a fast quad core with HT to have the game be playable. Maybe it won't be playable at 1080P + resolutions with every setting maxed, but then again if you want to be able to play at those settings/resolutions you should be (and most people probably are) aware that your going to have to spend a lot more money.

I think that the next generation of games are going to be much more heavily threaded since the CPUs in both the PS4 and the Xbox One will have relatively low clock speeds but 8 cores. Developers will be forced to use more parallel processing to get the performance they need out of the hardware. I can see in just a few years that a quad-core CPU will become a necessity to play new, high-end games at even medium settings.

 

[ComputerRepairTech]

Unreal 4 engine should make a significant impact in the industry supporting quad core+ better.

 

[brandonkick]

I think that the next generation of games are going to be much more heavily threaded since the CPUs in both the PS4 and the Xbox One will have relatively low clock speeds but 8 cores. Developers will be forced to use more parallel processing to get the performance they need out of the hardware. I can see in just a few years that a quad-core CPU will become a necessity to play new, high-end games at even medium settings.

There is a big difference in console hardware versus pc hardware. You cannot change console hardware, those machines have the processors they have and the end user has no choice. What I mean by this is that the PS4 has a 8 core CPU at 2.0 ghz and that's it. Someone can't have a PS4 with a dual core 2.4ghz processor. Develops can code their stuff for that 8 core 2.0 ghz machine because they know every user has that hardware.

As far as developers using parallel processing in the future, sure that would be fine... because as time goes on more and more people have multi core machines.

EDIT: I don't know what the PS4 specs are, I just made those numbers up.

 

[ohio_grad_06]

Here's the big thing affecting PC. A lot of games are simply made for consoles and ported to PC. I think the new gen consoles are more computer like hardware wise which is good. But that means it should be easier for developers to port titles over. So the argument stands though. If they use 8 core processors in consoles and low clock speeds, to get that performance the developers may be forced to do more multithreaded, which means as a PC person you will eventually need more cores/threads to handle things. If you have more cores plus high clock speeds should mean your experience is smoother.

 

[RedFoxComp]

Here's the big thing affecting PC. A lot of games are simply made for consoles and ported to PC. I think the new gen consoles are more computer like hardware wise which is good. But that means it should be easier for developers to port titles over. So the argument stands though. If they use 8 core processors in consoles and low clock speeds, to get that performance the developers may be forced to do more multithreaded, which means as a PC person you will eventually need more cores/threads to handle things. If you have more cores plus high clock speeds should mean your experience is smoother.

Agreed! I find it pretty exciting. It's been depressing having a high end gaming computer and putting up with the crappy PC ports that some studios are pushing out as an afterthought.

 

[Appletax]

I appreciate the advice given for how I can reduce the cost of the system
while keeping it high-end and fast.

I decided to not get that case. It's very cool, but it's $422, which is way too
expensive. I'm just a college with part-time jobs on campus. I will be financing this
system mostly with students loans.

I plan to sell my Xbox 360 and save the money for it.

I need case recommendations. That In Win tower is, I believe, a midtower and
it fits the hardware I want. I would like to go with a midtower if I can so the system
is easier to move and takes up less space.

I like this case: COOLER MASTER HAF XM
.... Just wish it had a transparent side panel to show the guts.

Also, not sure on the PSU. I did a PSU calc and it recommended a little over 400 watts! I would think
that the Corsair HX850 would be plenty, maybe even overkill. I don't plan on doing SLI. I want to
sell the graphics card when new silicon comes out so I can get the latest card (such as going from
Kepler to Maxwell). This PSU's +12V rail is 70 amps and the GPU requires 38, so it is plenty?


EDIT: I don't care if SSDs are less reliable than HDDs. That's not a concern because the Samsung 840 Pro comes
with a 5 year limited warranty and I keep all my stuff backed up very frequently.

I'm not sure if I should get the 128GB with a big velociraptor for storing games? I currently have a 250GB HDD
and am only using 57GB w/ no games.

Here's my updated spec list (price down $361.64)
314.86.....Intel Core i7-4770K Haswell
80.77.......Noctua NH-C14
399.99......EVGA GeForce GTX770 FTW
221.99......Asus Sabertooth Z87 Motherboard
27.99.......Corsair Air Series 120mm Case Fans
239.63......Samsung 840 Pro 256GB SSD
169.99......G.SKILL Trident X 16GB RAM
139.99......Corsair Pro HX850 PSU
119.99......Cooler Master HAF XM Case
47.95........LG Blu-Ray ROM (No desire to burn Blu-Rays)
Total: 1753.51

 

[Appletax]

The GTX780 was just released and it has 1000 more CUDA cores
than the GTX670 I wanted. Not sure if I should get he 780? It's
$650!!!. Will have to see what the 770 specs are.

 

[compnet]

I like this case: COOLER MASTER HAF XM
.... Just wish it had a transparent side panel to show the guts.

http://www.coolermaster.com/product/Detail/case/mid-tower/haf-xm-with-side-window.html

 

[brandonkick]

I don't know what you personal situation is like, what your studying in school and what types of perspective jobs you may or may not have lined up... but I really wouldn't fund a gaming PC with college education loans.

I REALLY wish I hadn't taken the little extra money that came in with my loans... worked out to about $2K or less per semester but it has huge ramifications on how long / how much my loan paybacks are going to be.


I'll leave this thread at that.

 

[ohio_grad_06]

I agree with the above. I also see the OP stuck on an i7. I think vs like your 8 core AMD I doubt you'll see a whole bunch of difference. If you look at a local Microcenter many times you can find an 8 core with board for under 300. I mean really that with a high end card should run anything you want. Myself I am budget conscious which is why I don't buy intel. I just don't feel they are worth the extra. Any time I've even sat down with an i5 system I'm not impressed.