Gaming Build for 1500

Maguined

I am looking to upgrade my gaming pc for BF4 and other future games as my poor Phenom II X3 just can't seem to cut it anymore.

I am undecided about just upgrading the processor and Ram and keeping the 560TI for the moment or just going whole hog and ugrading it as well, let's just see what you guys recommend with the budget while squeezing out as many frames per second as possible.

The tower I have no problem keeping unless anyone recommends a different tower as worth upgrading to?

I can reuse my old hard drive for media but would like a faily large or multiple SSD hard drives for system and games.

To be honest cooling is something I have overlooked in the past but my room gets quite warm and stuffy so good quiet cooling is something I would appreciate this time.

1. What is your budget? [€1,500]

2. What will be the main purpose of the computer? Gaming, Battlefield 4 and all the future shiny graphics intensive games.

3. Do you need a copy of Windows? No I already have Win7 home premium.

4. Can you use any parts from an old computer?
Tower - Antec P160W
GPU - Gigabyte Geforce GTX 560TI OC Windforce 2x GDDR5
HD - Hitachi Deskstar 1000GB SATA II

5. Do you need a monitor? No I play off my TV 1080p 120Hz as I also use it for HD movies, PS3, Xobx etc.

5b. If no, what resolution is your current monitor and do you plan to upgrade in the near future? [1920x1080/1440x900/etc.] 1920x1080 No plan to upgrade.

6. Do you need any of these peripherals? [Keyboard/Mouse/Wireless Card/Card Reader/Speakers/etc.] No already have them.

7. Are you willing to try overclocking? [Yes/No] Would prefer not to but am willing to try.

8. How can you pay? [Bank Transfer/Credit Card/Laser] All

9. When are you purchasing? [In x days] asap, would prefer to have it ordered by this weekend so hopefully have it delivered and built for the BF4 beta.

10. If you need help building it, where are you based? I won't need help building it.

I appreciate any time and effort you guys can put into a build recommendation.

BloodBath

Is your TV genuinely 120hz or is it some marketing bs like mine claiming to be 600hz when it is in fact 60hz.

If it's a 3d tv it's probably 120hz.

I would sell off all of your old parts. PC cases have come a long way in the last few years. If you want better cooling and silence then you should upgrade it. Likewise a newer 1tb drive will be a fair bit faster than your old 1tb.

I don't know the complete specs for the system but I'd say you would get around €300 for it.

This system is overkill but it should last you a long time and will offer you a lot of upgrade options in future. It should run virtually silent as well as very cool. There's good overclocking potential with that cpu and cooler as well.

Item|Price
Intel Core i5-4670K Box, LGA1150|€209.91
Alpenföhn K2 - 120/140mm|€63.64
MSI Z87-G45 Gaming, ATX, Sockel 1150|€135.32
2 x Gigabyte GeForce GTX 660Ti OC, 2GB GDDR5, 2x DVI, HDMI, DisplayPort|€358.00
8GB-Kit G.Skill Sniper PC3-14900U CL9-10-9-28|€59.84
WD Caviar Blue 1TB 6Gb's|€56.69
Samsung SSD 840 EVO Basic 250GB SATA 6Gb/s|€151.36
Nanoxia Deep Silence One Dark Anthracite, ATX, ohne Netzteil|€94.13
2 x Nanoxia Deep Silence 140 - 1100|€16.98
Corsair Professional Series HX750 80PLUS Gold 750W|€118.22
Asus DRW-24F1ST Bulk Silent|€19.90
LogiLink USB 2.0 all-in-one Card Reader, für 3,5" Einbauchschacht|€3.32
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€1306.30

Maguined

BloodBath wrote: »

Is your TV genuinely 120hz or is it some marketing bs like mine claiming to be 600hz when it is in fact 60hz.

If it's a 3d tv it's probably 120hz.

I would sell off all of your old parts. PC cases have come a long way in the last few years. If you want better cooling and silence then you should upgrade it. Likewise a newer 1tb drive will be a fair bit faster than your old 1tb.

I don't know the complete specs for the system but I'd say you would get around €300 for it.

This system is overkill but it should last you a long time and will offer you a lot of upgrade options in future. It should run virtually silent as well as very cool. There's good overclocking potential with that cpu and cooler as well.

Item|Price
Intel Core i5-4670K Box, LGA1150|€209.91
Alpenföhn K2 - 120/140mm|€63.64
MSI Z87-G45 Gaming, ATX, Sockel 1150|€135.32
2 x Gigabyte GeForce GTX 660Ti OC, 2GB GDDR5, 2x DVI, HDMI, DisplayPort|€358.00
8GB-Kit G.Skill Sniper PC3-14900U CL9-10-9-28|€59.84
WD Caviar Blue 1TB 6Gb's|€56.69
Samsung SSD 840 EVO Basic 250GB SATA 6Gb/s|€151.36
Nanoxia Deep Silence One Dark Anthracite, ATX, ohne Netzteil|€94.13
2 x Nanoxia Deep Silence 140 - 1100|€16.98
Corsair Professional Series HX750 80PLUS Gold 750W|€118.22
Asus DRW-24F1ST Bulk Silent|€19.90
LogiLink USB 2.0 all-in-one Card Reader, für 3,5" Einbauchschacht|€3.32
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€1306.30

Yeah its a 3D TV so definitely 120Hz.

Thanks for the build, really appreciate it. Do you think the i7 4770K would be worth the extra 100? The hyperthreading is supposed to boost BF3 a bit.

game4it70

Maguined wrote: »

Yeah its a 3D TV so definitely 120Hz.

Thanks for the build, really appreciate it. Do you think the i7 4770K would be worth the extra 100? The hyperthreading is supposed to boost BF3 a bit.

I've seen a few people that have had a good improvement going from a non HT to a HT cpu in Bf3.
The gpu usage was almost maxed out with the HT cpu where as their non HT was only running about 70%.

This is with dual cards.

BloodBath

It would be a decent upgrade if you want to spend the money.

Newer games will make use of more threads and with a 120hz monitor you will actually see the improvement in frame rates.

Make sure the ram has no height clearance issues with the heatsink. It's reasonably low profile ram so it should be fine.

Maguined

Thanks, really appreciate it. I owe you a pint BloodBath.

Will probably order it tonight and then it's just the waiting game with one or two items currently out of stock but hopefully will be cobbling it together soon.

BloodBath

No bother. They are usually quick to restock most things but I think those fans have been out of stock for a while.

Here's some alternative parts that are in stock.

Alternative cooler.

Alternative fans.

Same retail version of the dvd drive.

Gumbi

I would recommend getting faster fans. That fan is going to be fairly quiet at 1000RPM. Given the fact that there's a fan controller I'd get a 1300 plus RPM fan.

BloodBath

There's not many 140mm fans there with that speed though. The prices start getting crazy too.

You don't want sleeve bearing fans so that narrows the choice down.

The Nanoxia fans are ideal and the same ones that come with the case but are sadly out of stock for ages.

They are silent even at 1100 rpm.

Gumbi

BloodBath wrote: »

There's not many 140mm fans there with that speed though. The prices start getting crazy too.

You don't want sleeve bearing fans so that narrows the choice down.

The Nanoxia fans are ideal and the same ones that come with the case but are sadly out of stock for ages.

They are silent even at 1100 rpm.

Why not sleeve bearing? Longevity?

Yep, the Nanoxia ones are quit for sure.

BloodBath

Yeah. They have crappy lifespans and get louder over time.

They are also not meant to be mounted Horizontally. They wear really fast if they are.

Gumbi

BloodBath wrote: »

Yeah. They have crappy lifespans and get louder over time.

They are also not meant to be mounted Horizontally. They wear really fast if they are.

I have one of mine mounted horizontally (top exhaust). I have 2 if these http://www.hardwareversand.de/140mm/74903/Scythe+Glide+Stream+140+mm+Case+fan%2C+800rpm.article, one as a side exhaust and the other as a top exhaust. I also am using a 1300RPM 140mm PWM as a floor intake http://www.hardwareversand.de/140mm/74886/Scythe+Glide+Stream+140+mm+PWM+Case+fan%2C+%7E1300rpm.article. I'm not sure if that's sleeve be arming or not. I have noticed that the Nanoxia fans are marginally queiter than the Scythes even though they're faster.

What kind of fan would you recommend for my setup? The Nanoxia ones? Or maybe some silent wings ones? I might grab some in a month or so (getting a nice tax rebate when I get paid at the end of this month, damn emergency tax ) with some other hardware.

The Nanoxia has a good fan controller so I'd like minimal noise at minimum speed and maximum airflow at max speed.

BloodBath

The Nanoxia fans seem to be the best 140's for their price.

Gumbi

BloodBath wrote: »

The Nanoxia fans seem to be the best 140's for their price.

Looks like it. I'd prefer they had higher RPMs (honestly I'd almost be happy idling at max speeds they're so quiet). Now if only Gigabyte boards had better PWM control...