PC Gaming System Specs

[jtredenick]

Hey Steam Community!! Was wondering if anyone can tell me what they think about specs listed below about a pc that im buying if its worth it or not, any feedback is good - thanks

Specs : Asus Sabortooth Z77 Motherboard - USB 3.0 Certified by Military-standard Armored Motherboard
- Intel I7-2700K - 3.5Ghz with Turbo 3.9Ghz Unlocked Processor
- EVGA Geforce GTX 680 -02G-P4-2685-KR - 2GB DDR5 with Boost Clock: 1058MHz and Memory Clock: 6000MHz
Cuda Cores: 1536
PNY XLR8 16GB RAM - 2X8GB - 2133MHZ DDR3 RAM
- 1050W GOLD CERTIFIED Thermaltake Toughpower Grand TPG-1050M POWER SUPPLY
- PCI EXPRESS M2 SOLID STATE -- Plextor M6e Series 128GB PX-AG128M6e
- 750GB WD BLUE HARD DRIVE
2 OPTICAL BLU RAY DRIVES - LG Blu Ray Optical Drive + STANDARD BLU RAY OPTICAL DRIVE
THERMALTAKE LEVEL 10 GT - HIGH PERFORMANCE CASE

[Rove]

i7 is supposed to be better than i5. That's why i7 is more expensive.

In addition to other features that may be enable or clockspeeds that may differ the i7 has hyperthreading and +2MB L3 cache which set it apart from the i5. Desktop i5's have 6MB L3 cahe and hyperthreading is disabled on them while i7's have 8MB and enabled hyperthreading.

[jtredenick]

alright so the second one is worse but is it still runnable for newer games and then i could always buy upgradables right?

[Rove]

Yes. Though you should check what brand and model of 650W PSU because it could be a really crappy one and GTX 750 ti would still run as it only needs 300W.

[jtredenick]

like im not looking for max upon max settings but starting out like i wanna play gtav, metal gear solid 5, black ops 3 could second one handle it lol or better to just buy first or build my own

[Rove]

What's the price on it though?

You had at one point asked what you could build for around $900 (CAD though you forgot that at the time) and I'd like to show you a great build that you can make for $900:

AMD FX-8320E 3.2GHz 8-Core Processor
Kingston HyperX Fury Red 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory
Seagate 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Hybrid Internal Hard Drive
Asus Radeon R9 380X 4GB Video Card
Thermaltake Versa H23 ATX Mid Tower Case
EVGA 650W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply
ASRock 970A-G/3.1 ATX AM3+/AM3 Motherboard
http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/pXXHvK
Base Total: $910.21
Mail-in Rebates: -$50.00
Total: $860.21

+ $40~ CAD for a Windows 10 Pro 32/64bit key and download from Play Asia:
http://www.play-asia.com/microsoft-windows-10-pro-3264-bit-oem-key-dl/13/709747

=$900 total after reabtes.

If you need to wait for the rebates to come back before you can afford Windows you can though I can't promise it will still be on sale there. Windows 10 home is only $8 cheaper right now so I figured go for Pro since it's better. You can use Linux on it, either Steam OS or Linux Mint or another type of Linux for free until you get Windows. You can I've found also run Steam for Windows and Windows games on Linux Mint using a program called Wine. Steam for Linux works on Linux Mint as well as of course Steam OS which is made by Steam / Valve.

As for the performance of this system, it should perform better than the best you linked. The graphic card is faster and newer, 4000~ GFLOPS vs the GTX 680 at only 3000~ GFLOPS. The CPU should be at least as good and can also overclock way further up past 5 GHz if you get a good enough custom cooler to keep it cool. It may not have a real SSD but at least it's got a SSHD which has a 8GB SSD cache hybrid with a 1TB HDD for extra speed. The motherboard is great for overclocking the CPU and there is more than enough power for both that and GPU overclocking. Just be warned you should get a custom cooler for the CPU before overclocking and overclocking does void the 3 year CPU warranty and may void the GPU warranty also.

[_I_]

op build beats roves fx8 build
gtx 680 beats out 380x
and 2nd gen i5 matches fx8-9

at $900+ he should be looking at 4th gne i5 44600 or better
and r9 380 or gtx 960
and a ssd

ex.
http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/XX9WnQ

edit: its cad, still get the op buld over roves fx suggestion

[Rove]

Escrito originalmente por _I_:

op build beats roves fx8 build
gtx 680 beats out 380x
and 2nd gen i5 matches fx8-9

at $900+ he should be looking at 4th gne i5 44600 or better
and r9 380 or gtx 960
and a ssd

ex.
http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/XX9WnQ

edit: its cad, still get the op buld over roves fx suggestion

That case sadly isn't available at that price. It's PC Part Picker's mistake not yours, I checked.

[_I_]

that still does not make your build better than the op at $700cad

[Rove]

Escrito originalmente por _I_:

that still does not make your build better than the op at $700cad

No you're right, It's the CPU and graphics primarily that make my build better, not the case.

[_I_]

no the cpu is behind
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/cpu-hierarchy,4312.html
2nd gen i4 is tier 3, fx 8320e is tier 4

and gpu is similar
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gpu-hierarchy,4388.html
both on tier 5

[Rove]

Escrito originalmente por _I_:

no the cpu is behind
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/cpu-hierarchy,4312.html
2nd gen i4 is tier 3, fx 8320e is tier 4

and gpu is similar
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gpu-hierarchy,4388.html
both on tier 5

Those charts don't amke any sense. FX 8320E is 2 tiers lower than FX 8300 but they are nearly identical and FX 8320E is actually higher branded.

[hawkeye]

An i7-2700K has a single thread score of 2012 compared to the i7-6700K at 2325 so it is still a good cpu. Single thread score is the key benchmark for gaming.

An i7 usually can run 8 threads at once versus an i5 which can do 4. Most games have at most 4 main threads so an i5 is theoretically as good as an i7 for gaming. However i7's are still usually 10% faster than an i5 at running the four threads.

The gtx680 is dated but an upgrade is expensive.

The power supply has a high power rating and seems to be high quality. A lot of older power supplies might have a good rating (like 800W+) but their sustained power ability is poor. Gold certified = good. WIth these old pc's, a good power supply is needed to keep the system stable with newer graphics cards and if over-clocking.

Memory is good. 16GB is more than enough. 2133 MHz is good for a pc 5 years old.

My guess is that new (if you could buy new) the cpu might be $200, mobo $100, power supply $150, memory $100, graphics card $150, disk $150. So if it was new, a good deal, but second hand for $700 maybe not, if I had the cash I'd look at building - not for performance but for getting a new system. And less risk.

I have an i7-2600 and a GTX970 and it runs everything smoothly at 1080p at high frame rates. If anything the cpu is too powerful for the GTX970. Keeping the cpu cool is the main problem.

[_I_]

amd e series is bottom binned not top
fx9 were the top binned

fx is unlocked, but not all will overclock the same
and fx needs a very good mobo to overclock

[Rove]

It's a very good motherboard. Also stop with this "binning" nonsense. It's the same CPU.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/8864/amd-fx-8320e-cpu-review-the-other-95w-vishera/2

Clearly shows a FX 8320E running at 4.7 GHz at 1.5V which is the exact stock setting of FX 9590 which has base clock of 4.7 GHz. They didn't try the Turbo but I bet they could have tuned the Turbo to 4.8 GHz on lower and to 5Ghz on upper on 4 cores each for lower & upper.

At the exact same settings as the FX 9590. Not much of a silicon lottery...

List of base and turbo speeds for FX 9590 and other AMD FX CPUs:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_AMD_FX_microprocessors

[_I_]

it is the same cpu
binning determines if its a 9590 or 4300
failed cores and lower speeds make it lower binnned

dont you think amd tests the cpus to see how good they are?
if they could sell all the $100 cpus at $200+ they would

but the fx9s are still junk compared to an i7 in similar price range even at heavily threaded tasks