Gaming build for 1000 - 1200

XVII

Hello folks,

Could someone please help me to pick parts for my new gaming build:

1. What is your budget? €1,000 - 1,200

2. What will be the main purpose of the computer? Gaming mostly + some photo editing in photoshop. For gaming, I'd like to aim for 1440p if possible.

3. Do you need a copy of Windows? No

4. Can you use any parts from an old computer? Yes, fresh MSI RX 480 8gb. That would probably be a starting point for this build, so that other components are not far much better / worse than GPU.

5. Do you need a monitor? Yes... I currently have AOC 23'' IPS (and quite happy with IPS), but I'd like to go for something bigger. Playing on 6ms response time seemed fine to me for the past couple of years, so I'd say my main priorities are size, then IPS, then refresh rate/freesync/everything else. I was looking at the following one from another thread, but it doesn't seem to have much feedback at the moment:
https://www.scan.co.uk/products/27-acer-xf270hu-amd-freesync-wqhd-monitor-144hz-2560x1440-ips-4ms-speakers-adjustable-dp-hdmi-dvi-us?utm_source=pc%20part%20picker&utm_medium=referral
or maybe something like this will work?
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00ZB9NEVC/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=MPA39CJXNJQV&coliid=I2A7NPTXIZX0YR

6. Do you need any of the peripherals? No

7. Are you willing to try overclocking? Maybe in the future, but I'd like to have a good build from the start.

8. How can you pay? PayPal/Debit card

9. When are you purchasing? This month

10. If you need help building it, where are you based? It's my second build, so I should be good.

Some notes:
- CPU: I'd like to go for Intel this time. I currently have AMD FX 8320 with pretty weak mb, and even though I have hyper evo and I haven't tried any OC, it's been giving me some trouble with throttling ever since. I've read that i7-6700 is a bit too much for games these days, so maybe 6500 or 6600?
- Case: something with good airflow, maybe couple of fans in front and back? Will Fractal design r4 or 5 suit?
- Motherboard: would like to go for MSI, but it's not critical. While I'm not up to OC much, please don't recommend me something weak.
- RAM: 16gb
- Storage: I'll probably have 120GB ssd from my current setup just for windows, but please recommend me ~500gb ssd for games + 1-2tb hdd for storage

Thanks all!

K.O.Kiki

• RX 480 might be a bit underpowered for proper 1440p/144Hz gameplay unless you use Medium/Low settings.
• If you keep your current DDR3 RAM (how much do you have?) you can get a Xeon 1231v3 on Z97 - essentially an i7 @3.4GHz

XVII

K.O.Kiki wrote: »

• RX 480 might be a bit underpowered for proper 1440p/144Hz gameplay unless you use Medium/Low settings.
• If you keep your current DDR3 RAM (how much do you have?) you can get a Xeon 1231v3 on Z97 - essentially an i7 @3.4GHz

- yeah, that's what I heard, too. Well it's not a big deal and getting proper gtx 1070 will be outside of budget, especially considering that I don't think I will be able to sell rx 480 for a good price. I'll simply get a new card in a year or two.
- I have 16gb ddr3 @ 1600, but I'd prefer to go for ddr4 for a fresh build

K.O.Kiki

XVII wrote: »

- yeah, that's what I heard, too. Well it's not a big deal and getting proper gtx 1070 will be outside of budget, especially considering that I don't think I will be able to sell rx 480 for a good price. I'll simply get a new card in a year or two.
- I have 16gb ddr3 @ 1600, but I'd prefer to go for ddr4 for a fresh build

As you like.

DDR4 has no advantage over DDR3 in games FYI

XVII

K.O.Kiki wrote: »

As you like.

DDR4 has no advantage over DDR3 in games FYI

no? is there any point in getting ddr4 motherboard over ddr3 at all?

K.O.Kiki

XVII wrote: »

no? is there any point in getting ddr4 motherboard over ddr3 at all?

It's mostly for compatibility with newer chips (Skylake).

So you could get a Xeon 1231v3 (socket 1150) or i7-6700 (socket 1151) for the same price, but the latter would mean buying new RAM as well (€70).

XVII

K.O.Kiki wrote: »

It's mostly for compatibility with newer chips (Skylake).

So you could get a Xeon 1231v3 (socket 1150) or i7-6700 (socket 1151) for the same price, but the latter would mean buying new RAM as well (€70).

I might consider this then. Might save me from hassle of building a new PC, when I could just upgrade mb + cpu. I presume XFX PRO550W can stay?

XVII

btw, thanks for the replies so far!

K.O.Kiki

XVII wrote: »

I might consider this then. Might save me from hassle of building a new PC, when I could just upgrade mb + cpu. I presume XFX PRO550W can stay?

http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story&reid=225

Looks good to me.

XVII

K.O.Kiki wrote: »

http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story&reid=225

Looks good to me.

Cool. Now, which exactly Z97 did you mean? Seems like there are quite a few of them with different price tags.

K.O.Kiki

XVII wrote: »

Cool. Now, which exactly Z97 did you mean? Seems like there are quite a few of them with different price tags.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1231 V3 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor (€262.05 @ Mindfactory)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97X-Gaming 3 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (€100.89 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Memory: Kingston Beast 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (Purchased For €0.00)
Storage: Sandisk X400 512GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive (€137.89 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Video Card: MSI Radeon RX 480 8GB Video Card (Purchased For €0.00)
Case: Phanteks ECLIPSE P400 ATX Mid Tower Case (€75.83 @ Mindfactory)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (Purchased For €0.00)
Total: €576.66
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-12-01 00:54 CET+0100

Leaves you with plenty to choose a monitor.

TerrorFirmer

On the contrary, i7-6700 is now the best choice for games if you have the budget, wipes the floor with i5's in games like Battlefield 1, Fallout 4, and other CPU intensive titles, a trend which is only going to continue.

DDR4 has no advantage over DDR3 in games FYI

It actually does, assuming that you're running stock 1600mhz DDR3 vs stock DDR4 2133mhz on a standard chipset, there is a difference in most games - some games significantly, some minorly (though often largely dependent on the rest of your setup being pretty mid-high end.), but the difference is there. Obviously the gap closes if you overclock the DDR3 ram but that's something the large majority of people don't or won't do, notwithstanding that if you are willing to overclock DDR3 you'd do the same with DDR4 and thus keep the gap in place.

But if you're sticking with DDR3 the Xeon is a good choice.

The RX480 is pretty good, agreed that the GTX1070 is the ideal card for 1440p/144hz but that's a pretty expensive card. I find the RX480 runs Battlefield 1 very well at 1440p ultra at around a stable 60-70fps. Not sure where it's in stock at the moment but the R9 Fury was going for around €300 recently which is a good price, it's the only real card in that price range at the moment that's a step above RX480 and GTX1060.

K.O.Kiki

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

On the contrary, i7-6700 is now the best choice for games if you have the budget, wipes the floor with i5's in games like Battlefield 1, Fallout 4, and other CPU intensive titles, a trend which is only going to continue.

Xeon 1231v3 & i7-6700 run at same 3.4Ghz so you'd only get minor IPC improvements (Haswell -> Skylake). Maybe 1-2fps.
Otherwise they are the same, 4 cores, 8 threads.

It actually does, assuming that you're running stock 1600mhz DDR3 vs stock DDR4 2133mhz on a standard chipset, there is a difference in most games - some games significantly, some minorly (though often largely dependent on the rest of your setup being pretty mid-high end.), but the difference is there. Obviously the gap closes if you overclock the DDR3 ram but that's something the large majority of people don't or won't do, notwithstanding that if you are willing to overclock DDR3 you'd do the same with DDR4 and thus keep the gap in place.

But if you're sticking with DDR3 the Xeon is a good choice.

I refute your claims:

Anandtech: comparing DDR3 to DDR4

DDR3 vs DDR4 on ASRock Fatal1ty Z170 Gaming K4/D3 ATX

TerrorFirmer

I agree with the Xeon, what I mean with the 6700 was that if you're going Skylake, it makes sense to get the 6700 if the budget allows, not that I was recommending it as much faster than the Xeon.

And to be fair, your links are using older games, new releases from 2015/2016 are starting to show some differences. Fallout 4 is the obvious one - I think there's a 20%+ difference between DDR3-1600 and DDR4-2400. There are others but I can't remember off the top of my head.

Equally to be fair my statement that 'in most games' was a bit dramatic and unfounded.

Digital Foundary on FO4, though:

If you're running 1333MHz or 1666MHz DDR3, swapping that for 2400MHz RAM can make a substantial difference and definitely helps with your lowest frame-rates. We even saw substantial gains in CPU-bound areas with a Core i5 4690K.

1600MHz: 36.0/54.6
2133MHz: 39.0/61.0
2400MHz: 44.0/66.9

It's why if building new, for the sake of a few euro I'd generally much prefer to go with DDR4 platform rather than stick with DDR3, if you're getting a new board and CPU in any case. For example, a basic H110M, 8GB DDR4 2133Mhz and i7-6700 is not much more than a Z97 and Xeon E3 and you have faster ram, faster cpu, better features and a newer socket type.

There's also the 6700K, even if you're not overclocking the base and turbo clocks are faster than the non-K 6700 and combined with the IPC improvement, makes it a noticeably faster than the Xeon.

I would also argue that those IPC improvements are far greater than 1-2fps in the latest games, broadly speaking 6700 is about 10% faster than the 4770. And there's also the lower power consumption, etc.

Redfox25

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

Not sure where it's in stock at the moment but the R9 Fury was going for around €300 recently which is a good price, it's the only real card in that price range at the moment that's a step above RX480 and GTX1060.

OCUK have them for 278 stg atm and have 10 plus in stock.
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/sapphire-radeon-fury-nitro-4096mb-hbm-pci-express-graphics-card-with-backplate-11247-03-40g-gx-377-sp.html

I bought one at the weekend and waiting for it to arrive. 100 to 120 stg Cheaper than the average 1070 and good enough for what I have in mind. (Not saying its as good as a 1070 but its a solid enough card)

Thats one of the better air cooled fury cards and can be OC if your in the mind to do so.

GHOST MGG

Redfox25 wrote: »

OCUK have them for 278 stg atm and have 10 plus in stock.
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/sapphire-radeon-fury-nitro-4096mb-hbm-pci-express-graphics-card-with-backplate-11247-03-40g-gx-377-sp.html

I bought one at the weekend and waiting for it to arrive. 100 to 120 stg Cheaper than the average 1070 and good enough for what I have in mind. (Not saying its as good as a 1070 but its a solid enough card)

Thats one of the better air cooled fury cards and can be OC if your in the mind to do so.

sorry for butting in on your thread OP..ive just bought that sapphire fury nitro and was wondering if https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00TE4XSMA/ref=ox_sc_act_title_6?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE is powerful enough to run it as in the past radeons ive had are powerhungry monsters..cheers

TerrorFirmer

Redfox25 wrote: »

OCUK have them for 278 stg atm and have 10 plus in stock.
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/sapphire-radeon-fury-nitro-4096mb-hbm-pci-express-graphics-card-with-backplate-11247-03-40g-gx-377-sp.html

I bought one at the weekend and waiting for it to arrive. 100 to 120 stg Cheaper than the average 1070 and good enough for what I have in mind. (Not saying its as good as a 1070 but its a solid enough card)

Thats one of the better air cooled fury cards and can be OC if your in the mind to do so.

They were actually 249 over the weekend for Black Friday/Cyber Monday, which was a great price - there's just a huge gulf in between the sort of 200-250 and 400-450 range right now.

Redfox25

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

They were actually 249 over the weekend for Black Friday/Cyber Monday, which was a great price - there's just a huge gulf in between the sort of 200-250 and 400-450 range right now.

Missed that, was keeping an eye on them too. Ah well, such is life. Who had them for that price?

wotzgoingon

GHOST MGG wrote: »

sorry for butting in on your thread OP..ive just bought that sapphire fury nitro and was wondering if https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00TE4XSMA/ref=ox_sc_act_title_6?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE is powerful enough to run it as in the past radeons ive had are powerhungry monsters..cheers

I don't think it is. I think the recommended PSU is 700 watts. That is fromt eh head you should google it to find out on the Sapphire webpage.

Redfox25

It would probably run it but you would have very little headroom for error and as the psu gets older, it will start to get less efficient.
If you have only just bought it, see can you return it and get a 750w for plenty of headroom , also if you are going for a bigger psu, might be an idea to buy a better one too.
Have a peek at this http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/id-2547993/psu-tier-list.html
or the lads here might be able to point you at something either.

K.O.Kiki

wotzgoingon wrote: »

I don't think it is. I think the recommended PSU is 700 watts. That is fromt eh head you should google it to find out on the Sapphire webpage.

http://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/zardon/sapphire-nitro-r9-fury-oc-4gb-review/24/

Would do on a quality 500W (80 Bronze/Silver/Gold rated)

TerrorFirmer

Redfox25 wrote: »

Missed that, was keeping an eye on them too. Ah well, such is life. Who had them for that price?

Overclockers. I was half thinking of getting one at that price but I let it slip as well.

XVII

hello people, I'm back for some more suggestions.
some things have changed since my last build: I managed to pick up gtx 1080 at a good price and added second 144hz monitor to my setup. I've been gaming for the past few months, and I get a feeling that my cpu isn't on the same level as my gpu. I aim for for 1080p144hz btw. Latest Dishonored gave me around 80fps on ultra settings, for instance, but that's probably normal?

so my question is: is there any point in upgrading xeon 1231 to any other Intel processors (don't want to bother with AMD for the moment) to be more balanced with gtx 1080? Will I gain much more fps with let's say 7700k or 8600k/8700k?

here is my current build:
CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1231 V3 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97X-Gaming 3 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard
Memory: Kingston Beast 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory
Video Card: MSI GTX 1080 Gaming Z
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply

K.O.Kiki

I'll tell you next week when my DDR4 RAM arrives.

Going Xeon 1231v3 -> i7-5820K

TerrorFirmer

Yes, you will get a big FPS boost in CPU limited games going from that CPU + DDR3 1600 to 7700K/8600 + DDR4 2400mhz+.

But keep in mind, that at 1080p ultra, the GTX1080 won't be able to output 144hz either in many games. You'll have to meet in the middle somewhere in alot of titles.

XVII

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

But keep in mind, that at 1080p ultra, the GTX1080 won't be able to output 144hz either in many games. You'll have to meet in the middle somewhere in alot of titles.

yeah, that's what I thought.

and regarding the CPU's, out of last 3 -lakes, what's the sweetspot these days in terms of price and quality for the cpu+mobo+ram combo?

K.O.Kiki

XVII wrote: »

yeah, that's what I thought.

and regarding the CPU's, out of last 3 -lakes, what's the sweetspot these days in terms of price and quality for the cpu+mobo+ram combo?

Coffee Lake, i5-8400 or i5-8600K

XVII

K.O.Kiki wrote: »

Coffee Lake, i5-8400 or i5-8600K

thanks!

what's up with that lga 2011 cpu though? why have you decided to go for it?

K.O.Kiki

XVII wrote: »

thanks!

what's up with that lga 2011 cpu though? why have you decided to go for it?

Because I'm an idiot tbh

Saw a video on 5820K being a used bargain, accidentally overbid, bought it anyway cos the seller was sound about it.

Also I've been unsatisfied with not having an overclocking CPU.
And Ryzen 2 isn't out yet.

TerrorFirmer

Realistically, when aiming for 144hz gameplay, it's not really a discussion that caters to limited budgets.

Some games prefer core count, some prefer clock speed. It's never 'simple', but something like an 8600K with a healthy overclock is the perfect answer if you can afford it

K.O.Kiki

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

Realistically, when aiming for 144hz gameplay, it's not really a discussion that caters to limited budgets.

Some games prefer core count, some prefer clock speed. It's never 'simple', but something like an 8600K with a healthy overclock is the perfect answer if you can afford it

Yup; hence why I'm upgrading myself.
Gotta feed this 120Hz beauty :pac: