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Wheezing Warlord

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Alright, I'm going to try to keep this as not-wall-o-texty as possible. So I'm putting what'll end up being the the tl;dr part in this spoiler thingy.

I'm looking to make a next-gen equivalent or slightly-better PC. My XBox 360 died over a year ago, and my PS3 doesn't display color anymore for whatever reason. So I've been looking into custom PC building, and quite frankly, it's a bit overwhelming. I have assembled a PC from parts several times before, but I've never had to pick out the parts.

My goal is to have a list of parts to keep an eye out for sales on in the upcoming few months.

Part 1: Starting Point
My budget is around $600-$800. It's a lot more than the consoles I'm trying to compete with, but given the hundreds of dollars I save on games via Steam sales, that's sort of where I've placed my budget for this. I can push up to $1000 if it's worth it, but I'll have to work some overtime/do some odd jobs if I don't want to feel like a liar when calling myself a responsible adult. Given that budget, and leaving a little room for improvements and modifications, I'm using this Next-Gen Exterminator build found on this reddit thread.

The parts list is also here:

CPU
Intel Core i5-4440 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor $173.99 @ SuperBiiz
Motherboard
MSI H81M-P33 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard $43.99 @ SuperBiiz
Memory
*PNY XLR8 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory $56.87 @ Amazon
Storage
Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive $48.99 @ NCIX US
Video Card
*MSI Radeon R9 290 4GB TWIN FROZR Video Card $249.99 @ Newegg
Case
Corsair SPEC-01 RED ATX Mid Tower Case $37.99 @ Micro Center
Power Supply
EVGA 600B 600W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply $39.99 @ NCIX US


Part 2: Modifications
Here are the modifications I want to make, and what I really need the help with.

First: I'd really prefer a Nvidia graphics card. It's what I'm used to from my gaming laptop.
But I have no idea how to figure out what an equivalent Nvidia graphics card would be. But, I think that's irrelevant given my second goal...

*dramatic pause*

Second: I want to be able to play Witcher 3, well. Ideally on high settings at 1080/60fps.
This is where I'm suspecting my price range gets a little dicey. I honestly have no idea, though. The reddit thread suggests that this PC is way better than XBox One/PS4, and Witcher 3 is on those consoles. I just want to be able to play it at least as well as those, but ideally better.

Here are the system requirements for that:
Minimum System Requirements
Intel CPU Core i5-2500K 3.3GHz
AMD CPU Phenom II X4 940
Nvidia GPU GeForce GTX 660
AMD GPU Radeon HD 7870
RAM 6GB
OS 64-bit Windows 7 or 64-bit Windows 8 (8.1)
DirectX 11
HDD Space 40 GB

Recommended System Requirements
Intel CPU Core i7 3770 3.4 GHz
AMD CPU AMD FX-8350 4 GHz
Nvidia GPU GeForce GTX 770
AMD GPU Radeon R9 290
RAM 8GB
OS 64-bit Windows 7 or 64-bit Windows 8 (8.1)
DirectX 11
HDD Space 40 GB


The Recommended System Requirements are probably higher than that PC build, right? I know at least the CPU is. Maybe that should be my starting point and just fill in what's missing from the reddit build...?

Lastly: I want to be able to play frikkin' Minecraft on the damn thing. My laptop, before it stopped booting up randomly and blue screening on me just when watching a Youtube video, could play Skyrim or Firefall on max settings and get 45-60fps no problem, but could barely get over 20fps playing Minecraft. I have no idea why. Do you? I don't want that again.


All that aside, I'm boiling it down to as few questions as I think I need answered.
I'm going to just focus on one aspect at a time, starting with the CPU and working my way down. I think it'll be a little less overwhelming that way.

Next Goal: Pick a Graphics Card

I'd much prefer a Nvidia card, just because that's what I'm used to.
The "Recommended" graphics card for Witcher 3 is the Nvidia GeForce GTX 770.
So...

Q1. "Nvidia GeForce GTX 770" is the recommended video card, but I'm seeing the GTX 970 being cheaper, even though it's 4GB instead of 2GB and the same speed. Is it worse anyway? Is there something I should know? Or is it just cheaper from the whole "we lied about how good it is" thing?

I'd assume it's better, if nothing else, just from the higher number. 970 > 770, so 9th generation vs. 7th generation of the same "70" quality-rating-ish thing? Right?

Wheezing Warlord

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The Build So Far:

CPU
Intel Core i5-4690K looks promising. Thanks to LandonHeat.

Everything Else:
I don't know, stop asking me difficult questions! gonk

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1. That is true because i7 is basically i5 with hyper-threading. I am not even sure any games benefit from hyper-threading.

2. Why are you looking at the older generation when the newer ones are faster and a little cheaper? NE has i5 4690k 3.5GHz for $240 with $16 off coupon making it $223. Pretty good for a 4th gen unlocked i5 processor. The deal ends on April 1st though.

The K means it is unlocked and is overclockable. If you're going to overclock, make sure you choose a motherboard that also allows overclocking. You can easily overclock it to 4.2GHz+ with the i5 4690k.

TDP is thermal design power. The higher the TDP usually means the more heat it produces during maximum load. Knowing the TDP helps you choose what cooling solution to get that can cool the CPU without it overheating and possibly damaging it. Again if you plan on overclocking, you might want a better cooler.

As for the graphics card, get the GTX 970 over the 980. Their performance difference is negligible but the gtx 980 is much more expensive. I've seen a game play video of The Witcher 3 in max settings in 1080p with a GTX 980. It runs the game very well.

Wheezing Warlord

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LandonHeat
1. That is true because i7 is basically i5 with hyper-threading. I am not even sure any games benefit from hyper-threading.

2. Why are you looking at the older generation when the newer one are faster and a little cheaper? NE has i5 4690k 3.5GHz for $240 with $16 off coupon making it $223. Pretty good for a 4th gen unlocked i5 processor. The deal ends on April 1st though.
Already glad I made this thread, then. Thanks. This, right?
Noob question but I just want to make sure it's what you're talking about.

LandonHeat
The K means it is unlocked and is overclockable. If you're going to overclock, make sure you choose a motherboard that also allows overclocking. You can easily overclock it to 4.2GHz+ with the i5 4690k.
Huh. Kind of expected it to be more complicated than that.

So, then, on the topic of overclocking, that means a higher TDP I'd assume, yes? I mean, it'd mean more heat and at least a higher TDP equivalent of some sort. How do I find out what that would be? How would I know what level of cooling I would need to overclock it?

Same would be true of power consumption if I remember correctly, right? Same question, how do I figure out it's power requirements when overclocking?

And is there an easy overclocking identifier for motherboards, like the K in the CPU?

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Emyre
Already glad I made this thread, then. Thanks. This, right?
Noob question but I just want to make sure it's what you're talking about.

Yup

Emyre
Huh. Kind of expected it to be more complicated than that.

So, then, on the topic of overclocking, that means a higher TDP I'd assume, yes? I mean, it'd mean more heat and at least a higher TDP equivalent of some sort. How do I find out what that would be? How would I know what level of cooling I would need to overclock it?

Same would be true of power consumption if I remember correctly, right? Same question, how do I figure out it's power requirements when overclocking?

And is there an easy overclocking identifier for motherboards, like the K in the CPU?
Overclocking is a huge topic in itself I can't really get into in this thread and if you don't know what you're doing I suggest reading about it before attempting it. (Google is your friend.)

You want a z97 motherboard to go with that CPU if you do plan on overclocking.

Wheezing Warlord

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LandonHeat
Overclocking is a huge topic in itself I can't really get into in this thread and if you don't know what you're doing I suggest reading about it before attempting it. (Google is your friend.)

You want a z97 motherboard to go with that CPU if you do plan on overclocking.
Yeah, naturally, I just do want to have the option available.
I was kind of hoping it'd just be some kind of simple math or something so I can plan out my build.

Wheezing Warlord

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Alright, I'm just going to run with the CPU for the time being and move on to the graphics card.
Hopefully I'll have a coherent build by the time that sale is up.

If not, it looks like somewhere else has it for $199.99 if I'm up for an hour's drive... Should probably do that either way, really.

Newbie Noob

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The gtx 9xx series is newer, it's based on a better architecture that runs faster while using less power. It's probably priced to compete with AMD.
There are benchmarks you could look at, some people even provide average fps for different games in different resolutions. I normally look at videocardbenchmark.net to get a general idea of the kind of performance the card could do.

Wheezing Warlord

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HungryJacky
The gtx 9xx series is newer, it's based on a better architecture that runs faster while using less power. It's probably priced to compete with AMD.
There are benchmarks you could look at, some people even provide average fps for different games in different resolutions. I normally look at videocardbenchmark.net to get a general idea of the kind of performance the card could do.
Thanks, yeah, benchmarking is showing it as better. I'm just rather confused by the pricing, wanted to make sure there wasn't done hidden fault I needed to look out for or something.
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