Hey Guys, I am going to buy a gaming PC and want to hear your opinion about my planned configuration: -CPU: Intel core i5 4690K (4x3.5GHz) (€230) -Graphics: MSI GeForce GTX 970 Gaming 4G (€350) -Mainboard: Asus Z97-Pro Gamer Gaming MB Intel Z97 (€128) -PSU: 500 Watt be quiet! Straight Power 10-CM (€95) -SSD: 250GB Samsung Evo (€92) -RAM: 8GB Crucial ballistix Sport DDR3-1600 DIMM (2x4GB) (€40) -CPU Cooler: be quiet! Dark Rock 3 Tower Cooler (€58) -Case: be quiet! Silent Base 800 Midi (€107) -HDD/Optical Drive: will take 2x320GB from my old PC + the old DVD Burner from it (€0) -OS: Windows 10 (Total: €1,100) I am looking forward for your opinions to the Build. I chose the quite expensive case and CPU Cooler because I want to have a quiet PC.
Apart from the RAM that looks like a pretty solid build to me. If i would be buying a new PC today I would go for 16GB.
looks good to me, you could add 8GB RAM to get 16 GB but you can do it later. Most games ask 8GB RAM now it would be more future proof with 16. You could also get an R9 390 MSI that has 8GB memory, means 4K Gaming and high res textures should be no problem. but the 970 is also good.
Looks good to me I agree a pair of 8GB dimms might be an idea. But starting with two 4GB and only adding two more if you find you need to is probably the most prudent way to go. I wouldn't worry overly about the 4GB vs 8GB of GPU ram 4K is a stretch for this system (hell it's a stretch for my system) Going for the non reference cooler is a great choice
Thanks for the comments so far. According to the RAM: If 8GB is already becoming low, I'll order a bigger kit. My thoughts were, that 8GB are plently for a while now and I can add another 8GB in 1-2 years. According to the GPU: I might have a closer look at the R9 390. While they have the same price range, the GTX970 has a better power efficency and saves money this way in the long term. Framerates seems to be slightly better with the R9 and future games might profit from the bigger memory.
General: 1. Unfortunatly noone has asked you yet, how long you want to use the system. Which is an important factor. So, how long do you plan to use the PC? 2. Do you plan to upgrade the PC in the future? 3. How big is your budget? Is there a little room to go higher? 4. What kinds of games do you want to play on the PC? Your config: 5. Do you plan to install the games on the HDD's? If that is the case, a new HDD might help with performance and loading times, as your old HDD's (going by their capacity) seem to be older modells.
Yeah... good build, but what are you going to do with it? 500w is good, but limited for you build. You'll be running at about 80% of the capacity of the PSU. You should target about 600w. Also, get an SSD to run the OS and some programs if you have the budget for... it really worth it! I'm running at Intel 730 480GB on both my PC and Laptop.
Hey Jaadoo Thx for replying to my post. 1. As long as possible, so I am going to buy a good PC which is still good value, to have an awesome PC now and a PC which is still okay in a few years. 2. There might be the need to upgrade RAM and Graphics and to overclock the CPU in the future, if needed 3. My goal was to build a PC which is around €1000. I am already paying more than I wanted to 4. A lot of casual games and some fancy game once in a while. Additionally some image processing and rendering. 5. not as long as there is enough space on the SSD Excessnet, I have already a SSD included in my build. Why should I take a bigger PSU? I calculated, that the system will need a bit more than 400W. So a bigger PSU only would decrease the average efficency overall.
Ok, then. - You should consider getting a 600 W PSU as excessnet said, not just because it will run at 'high' percentage of capacity ( which will effect noise production), but so you don't run into problems when you upgrade your graphics card in the future. - You should get more RAM, if you can financially manage that. That said, I would personally right now go for a system with 6600K and DDR4. Because I think that such a system would be more future-proof, both in performance and when it comes to upgrades. Windows 10 and 970 would also not be my choice.
Didnt see the SSD, nice then! It's always recommanded to not run anything at the maximum. Let's take an "human" as example. If you are able to lift 50 Lbs and I ask you all day to lift 40 Lbs... there's change to become exausted... but if I ask you to lift 25, you'll be fine most of time ! Efficency is not "like that". I have servers running 2 x 1200W PSU. When running idle, they are taking only 300w. They are server PSU with high effiency... If you care about efficency, make sure you buy a PSU that is 80Plus Gold or better certifications (the one you choosed is Gold, so you are okay, Platinium would be better).
excessnet has given me an idea! As you are after a quiet machine maybe one of the corsair PSUs might be an idea as they have a no fan mode
But those no fan modes only go into activ mode, if the load stays under a certain level. So it's probably only active, if the PC is idling or maybe low load surfing etc. So the use of such a no fan mode depends on the way the PC is used.
This is very true it will be siolent for watching a stream or YouTube/netflicks. A silent pc thats working hard is a big ask Maybe if it was in a different room or have it liquid cooled and put the rads in a different room
Exactly, I will do a lot of ideling work with this PC aswell, so i'd ike to have a PC witch does not sound like a starting spaceship, when I am only watching youtube videos. When I play games, I still don't want it to be that loud, but a decent amount of noise is okay, cause you wear headphones and will not hear a lot of the noise
hey jedy90 thats a pretty nice build you got there i would suggest getting some new HDD's as the old ones might be slow...what about a bit higher PSU just incase for future upgrades Also 16GB of ram would be nice i feel like my 8GB is not cutting it anymore so i'm upgrading
Thank you for all your Feedback. I ordered my PC last night. I heard the call for a bigger PSU and bought a Corsair RM Series Modular 80+ Gold. All the other components remained the same. I did not went for bigger RAM. If it is not engouh, it is easy to upgrade whenever I need it. I also did not buy the R9 390 because of the lack of effiency.
New build are always exciting! My PC is still up to date but I'm waiting for Fallout 4 specs to see if I need to change my graphic card and I can't wait!
Have fun Jedy90! And yes, you'll be fine with 8GB of RAM for now, and you can always upgrade if needed.
