$750 PC/$950 Rig - It's Finally Happening

Hardware Build a PC
1

I got into the concept of PC gaming ever since last December. I decided that I deserved much better than playing BF3 at 30FPS with 24 players. Absolutely abysmal. After a rocky start with my first theoretical "build" (3770k, 650Ti, 12 GB 3x4 of RAM in a Dual Channel Motherboard, ugh), I finally have what I hope to be my final build. I have the money to get everything except the headset, which I don't need right now; a Logitech G230, brought to my attention by Tek Syndicate. (Thanks, Logan :)) However the only thing stopping me from getting this glorious machine is Black Friday/Cyber Monday. Playing the waiting game has never been so excruciatingly painful.

But enough of that, let's talk expectations with my rig. I was going to purchase an R9 270X, but after some research and gaming benchmarks I found that the performance isn't really enough to justify what I want. So in the spirit of American consumerism, I decided to upgrade the card, and downgrade a few things (that honestly were a bit overkill in the first place).

So what do I want? To put it simply: BF4. High/Ultra settings, MSAA on 2X ( I know that MSAA is a big performance hit and the fact that I'm going from console to PC means that I'll be so ecstatic, I won't notice the jaggies that would normally be eliminated with 4X MSAA). FXAA on high. All this on an average of 60 FPS.

Borderlands 2, Arkham Origins, Bioshock Infinite, games like these at 60 FPS. Fun mods like The Hidden at who-cares-it'll-run-great-on-anything FPS and TTT. Just games and streaming with rendering videos for the lovely, Bob infested YouTube once I figure that out. One step at a time.

Without further ado, my rig, sans-headset: http://pcpartpicker.com/user/HalenShredder/saved/2OcL

I'm not exactly looking for recommendations for different parts, so if you have the restraint for recommending the oh-so-popular 3570k, that'd be appreciated. Just looking for anyone with a similar PC and if they can sure their settings, FPS, and so on.

EDIT: Newegg's Black Friday Preview helped me save about $100. I got a 630W PSU for $45, 8GB of DDR3-1866 RAM for $53, and an ASUS 23.6" for $130.

I AM SO EXCITED YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW.

2

Your first build looks horribly balanced lol.

Some suggestions:

MSI 970A-G46 ATX AM3+ Motherboard.  Although it says "125w CPU Support", it'll probably support it for about 3 hours before burning up.  I would highly recommend getting a better motherboard, like http://pcpartpicker.com/part/asus-motherboard-m5a99xevor20

If you're quick, pick this(http://pcpartpicker.com/part/sapphire-video-card-1003523l) up when it comes back in stock.  There's an e-mail notif feature on newegg.  This card, at this price, is so absurdly low.  I'm kinda mad that it went down in price, as I just bought one on wednesday at $210 + MIR, and now it's 185 + rebate.

Otherwise everything looks fine.

3

I didn't have the budget for a fancy motherboard, so that's what I picked. I'll reconsider.

As for the video card, the only reason why I didn't pick that was because it was out of stock, and I doubt it'll stay the same price once it's back in stock. If the R9 280 releases within the next two weeks, I'll get that, since the price point is $250.

And when you say "first build" I hope you meant the 3770k with the 650Ti, otherwise, that wasn't exactly the nicest thing to say.

 

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I should clarify on that last part: Usually when people look at my build, they start off by saying how terrible it is, when really there's only a few things wrong. Granted, what you said might have saved my computer, since the MSI board does, evidently, have trouble with 125W 8 cores. Still, I researched long on PC know-how, and people telling you that it's shit is the equivalent of turning in your literary research paper in to your professor and him telling you it's shit.

5

you have a 3770k pick up one more stick of ram to make it 16gb and try and match it with what you have already then just drop a 280x in there and you will have a very powerful machine because the 3770k is better then a fx8320

6

Yeah, I was referring to the i7 build.  Sorry for any confusion.

7

Also a good idea.  Pick up a new GPU and another identical stick of RAM and you'll be pretty set for awhile.

8

^^^ best idea

A 8320 won't be an upgrade from the 3770k, the 3770k is an amazing processor and sh,oild not go to waste.

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No I picked the 3770k solely because it was the newest CPU at the time. I had no idea that CPU can cost less than $300. Yes, I was THAT naive. I don't need a 3770k. 8320 is fine for my needs.

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I never had a 3770k. I've caused a ton of confusion, haven't I?

When I say "build", I mean a theoretical build that I crafted from PCPartPicker. This is my first physical build.

11

oh.  I think we all thought that the i7 build was what you were running right now.

12

This changes things up a bit.

13

My bad. Very sorry about that. BTW, about the motherboard. I changed it to an ASRock 970 Extreme4. I don't have the money for a 990FX chipset and while the Asus M5A97 is an option. Microcenter has a deal where you get $40 off when you purchase the ASRock board with an 8320. Good? Bad?

 

14

If you aren't overclocking, this would be a better option due to better cooling and stronger VRMs, and is 5 bucks more.

http://pcpartpicker.com/part/asus-motherboard-m5a97r20

15

See that's why it's an option, but technically it's $45 more. Again, there's a combo discount at Microcenter where if you get an FX-8320 with the Extreme4, or with a few other boards, you get $40 bucks off. The M5A97 isn't included in the listed motherboards, sadly. If it were, I'd definitely grab it.

And I will be overclocking, specifically my 7950 to around 1000 MHz and the 8320 to 4 GHz (just the Turbo Boost Clock, nothing special) which might present an issue for my PSU, because I downgraded from 550W to 500W, which might not be enough, but I suppose that's for the PSU section, isn't it?

 

16

I finally decided to look up at the combo deals on http://www.microcenter.com/site/products/amd_bundles.aspx

I don't know why microcenter would sell that as a bundle.  It's not even listed as a compatible CPU on ASrock's website: http://www.asrock.com/mb/AMD/970%20Extreme4/?cat=CPU

And unfortunately, the boards that are one step up are an additional thirty dollars.  At this point, I would either tell you to cheapen out on some peripherals(I would never pay more than ten dollars for a membrane keyboard), or save up for the M5A99FX PRO R2.0 Socket AM3+ 990FX ATX.

I was talking about CPU overclocking.  GPU overclocking should be fine.

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 My peripherals are relatively cheap. 2.1 speaker system; not the cheapest one, but it's the cheapest 2.1 that's actually good, according to reviews. $20 mouse at maximum 2000 DPI (cutting it close for FPS games). The keyboard is from a brand that I actually trust. It's $40 but it's designed for gaming. And all this without the headset, which, I could stand to do a bit more research into. Maybe a SteelSeries that's less than $50.

At this point, I just have to keep playing the waiting game, which is just about the worst thing ever.

Hopefully ASRock will be able to handle the CPU "overclock". I don't need anything crazy like 4.6 GHz. 4.0 GHz, maybe 4.2 GHz just so I can fool myself into thinking I've purchased an 8350. And you said GPU overclocking will be fine, so there.

 

18

You know what? Fuck it. There better be a good sale on that ASUS board on Black Friday/Cyber Monday. Not gonna risk running into all these issues with OCing. I PLAYED BF3 FOR ALMOST A YEAR ON LOWER THAN LOW SETTINGS WITH 24 PLAYERS. I DESERVE THIS, DAMMIT.

19

OH GOD THE PRICE. MY WALLET. IT SHRIEKS.

 

20

Holy flaming shitballs, I got my 7870 GHZ for more than that!  (To be fair that was back in august.)