When using this resource, please read the opening post. The Tech Support forum regulars have helped create countless of desktop systems without any compensation. The least you can do is provide all of the information required for them to help you properly.
I can't think of a single game where you'd want hyperthreading before gpu budget, as the only ones that really benefit seems to be stuff like bf4 (which you need mantle for if you are performance-sensitive as it's an FPS that performs poorly, bad combination) or crysis 3 (which is impossible to run 1080p maxed with msaa on a 770/280x at 60fps, can't really get close to 120)
For HT to be worth it, the game has to be CPU bound easily and also threaded enough to take advantage of HT. This can push i7 usually like 10-15% over i5 in such games.. but it's at a massive cost. I can't remember US pricing right now but in the UK, you can grab i5 under £170, yet i7 is £260. In a £90 price gap, you can make a lot more of a gain than 10-15% on GPU performance, it's big enough gap to just take the next tier up. 770 to 780 for example, you can make a solid 40% gain and have a more convenient setup for VRAM and future multi-GPU.
There's also HT and heat costs. x264 is more optimized than it used to be - gains from HT seem to be smaller now, like 15%. I'l bench this a bit more, but lets take a 50fps baseline for encoding:
i5 @4.5g encodes @50fps i7 @4.5g encodes at ~57.5fps then
but the added heat is quite a lot, over 10c at high end, which >will< buy you 100mhz if you're not delidded with high end cooling, period. Maybe 200mhz.
i5@4.7g encodes @~52.25fps then.. which makes i7 only ~10% faster. Same situation in games, if HT gives you gains, they're usually not perfect scaling (ht in some cases can give a 30% performance boost or more, like cinema 4d it's insane scaling) and then it's cut into by the loss of clock speeds. Given that 4670k is so fast (significantly faster than 2600k for x264) you're really really not that bothered for 10% more encoding performance, maaaybe 20% but really probably not, that you would give up a GPU performance tier for it
Even being somewhat cpu-centric, if i could go back now, gain £100 and have a 4670k of equal bin, i would do it. I just don't really see the usage case for 4770k over 4670k any more on a gaming/streaming system, if cpu load is low like in sc2, 4670k can laugh. I benchmarked OBS-x264 game capture + encoding at 1080p60 for like 3-4 minutes, didn't even hit 50% load on any core aside from the main game thread. Preset gains are too small and hard to make purchasing decisions for. If you have a game that will heavily load a CPU to the point where 10-15% more performance for encoding really matters, you pretty much either have Mantle to help performance or Shadowplay streaming, which is worse quality per bit but simply avoids the problem by not having a CPU load.
It's nice and convenient for some stuff (woo i can encode a video in three minutes and 40 seconds instead of four minutes) but means very little. i5 has all of the muscle in some areas and most of the muscle everywhere else, at least for a gaming/streaming system right now
i5 + whatever GPU for the game. Linus makes some good points on this:
We're expected to make some pretty silly purchasing decisions atm
i7 is better than i5, but until you have like.. two high end gpu's and a 120hz/1440p screen, it's hard to set aside a triple digit amount of moneys for it
What is your monitor's native resolution? 1920x1080p
What games do you intend to play on this computer? What settings? League of Legends, preferably max if budget allows
What do you intend to use the computer for besides gaming? school, browsing, nothing too demanding or professional.
Do you intend to overclock? no
Do you intend to do SLI / Crossfire? no
Do you need an operating system? no
Do you need a monitor or any other peripherals and is this part of your budget? yes he needs a monitor that its part of the budget
If you have any requirements or brand preferences, please specify. no
What country will you be buying your parts in? USA
If you have any retailer preferences, please specify. there's a microcenter nearby, but no preferences.
Sometimes I wonder if I should recommend an FX6300 for such a build or should I just stick to the i3. For this kind of build it almost feels as if a Pentium would work.
What other games do you play besides LoL?
I'd also like to recommend the GTX 750 for this. LoL should be maxed out fine with this GPU. If you're looking for something beefier (for playing games with an emphasis on graphics, Skryim, FC3, Crysis, etc) you could probably make do with a GTX 750 Ti.
I'm feeling as if the 750 Ti is just a small notch under the R9 270 / GTX 660, yet quite a bit cheaper.
I think an overclocked FX6300 might be better than this build though.
EDIT: If you have a micro center near by it might be a very good thing to go see them, they often have their products cheaper than what you would find online.
Looks like MicroCenter has i3-4340 and MSI Z87-G41 combo as cheapest, for $170. That doesn't really save money, but you get a slightly better CPU and a motherboard with a whole lot more expandability down the line in case he needs to add... uh, actually, most people may not need the extra slots and such, but something a bit higher quality isn't going to help. I don't think it's really a big deal here though.
Is pcpartpicker shitting us on the RAM again and other stuff? Well, here's a 1600 MHz 9-9-9-24 2 x 4GB kit for $65, about $15 less, and from newegg so you avoid another order from somewhere else: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820313434
Yeah but what if you want to get a higher end AMD card down the line though? That PSU suddenly becomes a bottleneck. Though I'm just splitting hairs at this point, thanks for rectifying some stuff.
pcpartpicker is becoming more and more disappointing. First, no more retailers for France, now, incomplete stuff. I should go to newegg directly or something.
Hi Guys,i wanna know if this configuration is good for sc2 to run smoothly witout lag in big battes on medium settings,and if this new games 2014 to run on med-high settings,my monitor resolution is 1280x1024,maybe i will buy a new monitor in the near future,with a 1600 resolution at least. This is what i wanna to buy,is it good then ?
So I have been reading a few things after getting a build suggestion my Mymidon (thanks again, so awesome help! ^_^) and have a question concerning the GPU. (Build in the spoiler) + Show Spoiler +
I hope the HDD is okay as well, they do not seem to have Toshiba HDDs at mindfactory.de
You said the GPU is easily able to handle SC2 and D3, but would it be a good idea to spend another maybe 20-30€ on an upgrade here for future games? Or would it just be a waste because the build is bottlenecked somewhere else? : )
If nothing else probably going to order it tonight. Thanks as well for the midnight shipping tip! ^_^ Great help here. : )
i wanna know if this configuration is good for sc2 to run smoothly witout lag in big battes on medium settings
Depends on what you mean by smoothly and what your tolerances are
You said the GPU is easily able to handle SC2 and D3, but would it be a good idea to spend another maybe 20-30€ on an upgrade here for future games? Or would it just be a waste because the build is bottlenecked somewhere else? : )
It's pretty open ended on that front, you can upgrade towards a gtx760/270 (or 750/750ti along the way) if you want to run those games better. Sc2 was designed to be maxed on mid range graphics hardware when it released quite a few years ago and it's usually CPU bound too
On March 07 2014 23:22 Incognoto wrote: Yeah but what if you want to get a higher end AMD card down the line though? That PSU suddenly becomes a bottleneck. Though I'm just splitting hairs at this point, thanks for rectifying some stuff.
pcpartpicker is becoming more and more disappointing. First, no more retailers for France, now, incomplete stuff. I should go to newegg directly or something.
With an i3? You could still go R9 280X easily, not to mention whatever comes out on 20 nm except possibly the top chip but probably even then (at least for the upcoming gen). I guess keeping Capstone 450W is very fine and dandy though.
On March 07 2014 23:31 Style15 wrote: Hi Guys,i wanna know if this configuration is good for sc2 to run smoothly witout lag in big battes on medium settings,and if this new games 2014 to run on med-high settings,my monitor resolution is 1280x1024,maybe i will buy a new monitor in the near future,with a 1600 resolution at least. This is what i wanna to buy,is it good then ?
Memory Kingston ValueRAM 4GB DDR3 1600MHz CL11 SR x8
Hard disk WD Blue 1TB SATA-III 7200 RPM 64MB
Case Zalman ZM-T3
DVD-Writer LiteOn IHAS122-04 bulk Interface SATA
Thanks.
Looks pretty good and reasonable. Overclocked i5 would be better, but that would cost more, and it's not like people exploded (maybe some were annoyed) playing on a worse CPU years ago. I'm not familiar with the power supply model, but it's probably mediocre at worst. I don't think any of the 80+ Super Flower designs still remaining are that bad. What else is available? Link?
On March 08 2014 01:07 CCow wrote: So I have been reading a few things after getting a build suggestion my Mymidon (thanks again, so awesome help! ^_^) and have a question concerning the GPU. (Build in the spoiler) + Show Spoiler +
I hope the HDD is okay as well, they do not seem to have Toshiba HDDs at mindfactory.de
You said the GPU is easily able to handle SC2 and D3, but would it be a good idea to spend another maybe 20-30€ on an upgrade here for future games? Or would it just be a waste because the build is bottlenecked somewhere else? : )
If nothing else probably going to order it tonight. Thanks as well for the midnight shipping tip! ^_^ Great help here. : )
For other games, you want better than HD 7770 (R7 250X) probably. The GPU is unusually bad in the above for a gaming build compared to the other stuff because it's already too good for SC2 and D3. However, it is pretty trivial to replace a graphics card later. If you buy something a couple or few years later, price/performance is obviously going to be better then. If you get something better now, how much better do you go? How much is a waste? I wouldn't go above R9 270X / GTX 660, anyhow.
You said the GPU is easily able to handle SC2 and D3, but would it be a good idea to spend another maybe 20-30€ on an upgrade here for future games? Or would it just be a waste because the build is bottlenecked somewhere else? : )
It's pretty open ended on that front, you can upgrade towards a gtx760/270 (or 750/750ti along the way) if you want to run those games better. Sc2 was designed to be maxed on mid range graphics hardware when it released quite a few years ago and it's usually CPU bound too
How do u think about this one then ?
Motherboard ASUS H81M-E, Socket 1150, Chipset H81, Micro ATX
The GPU was already enough (and way more than enough given the resolution), and GTX 750 is about the same as R7 260X in performance anyway. The CPU clock speed difference isn't much. Running 4.4 GHz or so is a different matter, but again, that would cost significantly more.
Would be from HD 7770 1GB to R7 260X 2GB increasing the total price by 28€. On a sidenote, the GPU will not be a problem considering it's a mATX mainboard thingy? Probably noob question, but I don't know what I'd have to take into account here. : )
There is no upgrade from a 4770 besides a 4770k. It's a really stupid decision to buy a 4770 just to upgrade to a 4770k which is the exact same thing with the ability to overclock so why wouldn't you just get a 4770k in the first place?
I wont upgrade for 4770k idk.. just for later i guess! Thanks for your reply just wanted to know overall if the build and 875$ for it was a great deal!
I wont upgrade for 4770k idk.. just for later i guess!
All indication right now points to no CPU stronger than the 4770k >ever< being released and compatible with z87. If you plan to OC, get a k-cpu, z87 mobo and cooling. If you don't, get a cheaper mobo etc. For reason why this should be i5 and not i7, look at the big post i made at the start of this page
What you guys think of this build : for a total of 875$!
Cooler Master HAF 912 Combat RC-912-KWN2 ATX Mid-Tower Case
For the prize i think its pretty good, for 20$ more i have i7, and i had other mobo before but theres no instock and he give me this one for the same prize i dont pay more. !
EPT
