Build for a friend...

[Arjai]

This is for a friend at work.

He plays:

Total War Attila
LoL
Kerbal
wants to get Eternal Crusade
Dawn of War
Sins of a Solar Empire

I have a old case. He has a Monitor and Keyboard and Mouse.

I want to build something that is efficient, inexpensive and can blow his Laptop away.

I believe he only plays the games he does because he can't play more because of system specs on his Laptop, which recently died...Not sure what happened because he is not computer literate...

Anyways, here is version one.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/7FjZdC

Same build with a 960

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/qYk9Lk

Thoughts?

I would opt for the 960, myself but, he doesn't need it now and money is a little tight.

I still think the 750 is a good card and will appease his stepping into the, so called, Graphics pool. While still providing decent performance/ price.

I know the CPU is a 35w and it has Hyper Thread for 4 logical cores. That should be more than enough for his current and future needs, for some time.

Please, Tell me if I going too far with him or am I cheating him with some bottle neck I overlooked?

TPU is the bomb and I trust you guys more than myself with these suggestions.

Please keep in mind, efficiency is a major player with this build.

Thanks!!

 

[azngreentea01]

Hey, since you are living close to st.paul
I would recommend Craiglist fot gtx 770. They are around 140-150 dollars. and it is better than gtx 960
Also, the microcenter has a sale nice combo sale
4th GEN CORE i3-4370 PROCESSOR BUNDLES with ASUS Z97-AR LGA 1150 Intel ATX Motherboard for = 240 dollars
OR
Intel G3258 3.2 GHz LGA1150 With MSI PCMATE Z97 LGA 1150 = 95 dollars Over clock it, it will be the same as above
OR
4th Gen Intel® Core™ i5-4690K 3.5GHz LGA 1150 Processor with ASUS Z97-AR LGA 1150 Intel ATX Motherboard for = 300 dollars

For Ram, i would go for Gskill Sniper 55 dollars on Newegg

Option 1: GTX 770+ i3-4370 + asusz97+ ram = 450 dollars
Option 2: GTX 770 + G3258+MSI PCMATE +ram = 300dollars
Option 3: GTX 770+i5-4690k+ asusz97+ram = 500 dollars

You can buy a refurbish power supply at micro-center for 20 dollars on Corsair 430W Modular, that will be enough to handle all power consumption.

 

[neatfeatguy]

Hey, since you are living close to st.paul
I would recommend Craiglist fot gtx 770. They are around 140-150 dollars. and it is better than gtx 960
Also, the microcenter has a sale nice combo sale
4th GEN CORE i3-4370 PROCESSOR BUNDLES with ASUS Z97-AR LGA 1150 Intel ATX Motherboard for = 240 dollars
OR
Intel G3258 3.2 GHz LGA1150 With MSI PCMATE Z97 LGA 1150 = 95 dollars Over clock it, it will be the same as above
OR
4th Gen Intel® Core™ i5-4690K 3.5GHz LGA 1150 Processor with ASUS Z97-AR LGA 1150 Intel ATX Motherboard for = 300 dollars

For Ram, i would go for Gskill Sniper 55 dollars on Newegg

Option 1: GTX 770+ i3-4370 + asusz97+ ram = 450 dollars
Option 2: GTX 770 + G3258+MSI PCMATE +ram = 300dollars
Option 3: GTX 770+i5-4690k+ asusz97+ram = 500 dollars

You can buy a refurbish power supply at micro-center for 20 dollars on Corsair 430W Modular, that will be enough to handle all power consumption.

+1 for MicroCenter

Yes. MicroCenter is awesome for CPU+MB combos. Go there and get lost in the sea of computer stuff. It's right off of hwy 100, just north of Excelsior Blvd. I tend to not visit there because I have a hard time not buying stuff when I don't need it.... Some of the guys there are very knowledgeable and could help you out as well.

 

[64K]

I would say go with the GTX 960 build and drop the CPU cooler. You don't need it. The one that comes with the CPU is fine. The 960 is a very nice GPU for 1080p gaming and it's a good bit more powerful than a 750 Ti. It does use about 50 watts more peak over the 750 Ti but that doesn't amount to much for normal gaming.

The PSU in post #2 doesn't have the required power connections for the GTX 770 suggested in that post so you would have to use a molex adapter if you went that route.

 

[Cvrk]

This is for a friend at work.

He plays:

Total War Attila


I believe he only plays the games he does because he can't play more

Hes playing Attila on a low ress getting low fps (i suspect) . And yes he can't play more. @64K said go with a GTX 960. I say go with a cheap Asus AMD Radeon R9 270 OC DirectCU II, 2048MB, GDDR5, 256bit.
It's like "I like to race" . And somebody comes along and suggests buy a Lamborghini Aventador (GTX 960),and somebody else says get a Volkswagen GTI (R9 270)

 

[rtwjunkie]

I am seeing several RTS games on there. Also, Total War will eat either of those cpu's alive you have. It's so single-cored, and so cpu dependant, that I like @azngreentea01 suggestion of the G3258. Over 4Ghz is where he will see the most improvement with that game, to help clear the backlog of cpu instructions.

 

[Kaynar]

All the games you mentioned above apart from Total War will run great (with high settings) on 1080p with an i3 and gtx750ti system.

I would suggest not spending money on an aftermarket cooler for a 35W 2.9ghz CPU, better use that money to get a faster proccessor with the stock intel cooler.

I am not from the US but, as others have said, finding a mobo+cpu+ram deal can save you some money compared to picking them one by one, especially since you are on budget.

I think with the i3 you are suggesting you should not spend more than $150 for a GPU. As it has been said, anything more than a GTX750Ti will need something better than a 400W PSU, or will be too close to the limit when you include HDD and peripherals. I think the GTX770 is too much for any i3, anyway.

You should either stay with your i3 + 750Ti combo (or equivalent amd gpu) and get the cheapest possible other parts or consider spending more for a good i5, 16gb ram and a gtx960 and a higher wattage psu in order to get a considerably better performance.

Edit: I agree that an overclocked pentium G3258 system will be MUCH better than a 2.9 ghz i3 for gaming.

 

[thebluebumblebee]

Thoughts:
AMD is bringing out the 390X sometime next month. That will drive down the prices of GPU's across the board, especially if it's a hit.
+1 for GPU's on CL, but keep this in mind - Asus, Gigabyte and MSI warranty their GPU's for 3 years from the date of purchase or manufacturer. Most other brand specifically exclude anyone who's not the original owner.
There was a MSI GTX 960 on NE 2 days ago for $165 after discounts and MIR.(still only $169) I'm expecting the 960 to end up in the $150-175 range (IMHO, where it belongs)
You might be able to talk him into the 4690K by mentioning its resale value.

I have a old case

Like what? Can it breathe? (that MSI GTX 960 with the Nvidia reference EE cooler might help if the case is "air flow challenged")

Please keep in mind, efficiency is a major player with this build

Do you realize how little difference there is between that 35 watt CPU and an 88 watt one? That's not 53 watts more all the time it's on, only at max load - which will be rare.
Don't overlook the HD7850, 7870, 270, 270X cards. Those are quite efficient. (there were 2x 270x's on my CL for $75 each recently)

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/7FjZdC

The only "problem" I have with that is the loud dual fan cooler on that FTW GTX 750 Ti. There are sales on 750 Ti's all the time.
I don't see a HDD though. (you should be able to find an 250 GB SSD on sale for ~$80)

You could possibly even start with something like this and add a GPU: HP 6200 Pro Desktop Tower with Intel Core i5-2400 3.10Ghz (3.40Ghz Turbo), 4GB DDR3 RAM, 250GB HDD, DVDROM, Windows 7 Professional 64 Bit

Edit: Nice price on a nice, quiet case http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/upgrade-sale-x-58-parts-and-more.210871/
Also, MC has the P100 on sale: http://www.microcenter.com/product/445451/P-100_ATX_Silent_Case_-_Black
Edit 2: How about this for a PSU? $27! CORSAIR CSM Series CS450M 450W ATX12V v2.4 and EPS 2.92 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply
Edit 3: $75 After promo code EMCASAV38 and MIR: ASUS GRYPHON Z87 LGA 1150 Intel Z87 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 uATX