New PC for Gaming and HTPC

[macrho]

I've been running the Intel NUC boxes for my HTPC (some flavor of XBMC whether or Unbuntu or Windows) and am now thinking of giving up gaming on the console. Not particularly psyched about $60 games and $400+ outlay on new systems plus additional add-ons..

Anyway, I primarily would game on my HDTV (a 55" Samsung LED) using an xbox controller and running Steam on Windows (8 most likely). So.. I'll play a variety of games (Borderlands 2, Bioshock Infinte, Portal 2, etc) and would like to have the smoothest possible experience

With a budget of $1250 (give or take) - what would give me the best experience while seated on my recliner and playing on my 55" HDTV (Samsung UN55B8500)

[Rove]

Here you go, under budget and over powered.
$933+S&H after all discounts and rebates
http://pcpartpicker.com/user/Rove/saved/1UUW

[_I_]

instead of the fx8000, get an i5 4670 /w b85 board, or if you plan on overclocking, i5 3570k /w z77 board
they will be teh same price as the amd setup and do much better with programs that use 4 cores

$1000 budget leaves alot of room for a very nice gaming build

and you dont want a stock cooler on a htpc build, those are ment to be quiet
amd stock coolers are noisy with any load


http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1jV4a
cpu: Intel Core i5-4670 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor (produces way less heat than the fx8000)
cooler: Cooler Master Hyper N520 43.8 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (cools as good as a 121evo and silent under full load)
mobo: MSI B85M-P33 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard
ram: Crucial Ballistix Sport XT 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory
hdd: Seagate Barracuda 3TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
gpu: MSI Radeon HD 7950oc 3GB Video Card
case: Cougar Solution (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case
psu: SeaSonic 650W 80 PLUS Gold Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply (extremely quiet psu)
odd: LG WH14NS40 Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer
os: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit)

Base Total: $1127.13
Promo Discounts: -$35.00
Combo Discounts: -$16.00
Shipping: $7.98
Total: $1084.11

[Lazirus]

just a word of note about windows 8 - by default it boots to the silly tile interface, which i discovered - i also run xbmc for my htpc and it was proper fiddly to get the thing to boot into xbmc! i ended up using two programs - one called classic shell(?) to get the start button back and eventghost (cant remember the exact name as am at work) to boot in to xbmc.
as a comparison i'm runnning an AMD5800 + 6670 1GB Radeon Silent in Dual Graphics, wth 8GB RAM, and an SSD for boot. works great for the most part, but if you want to play the absolute latest games in high/ultra settings then you'll need some more cpu/gou grunt than that....

[macrho]

What about this as a case: http://www.bitfenix.com/global/en/products/chassis/prodigy/
XBMC gets all its content from my Synology Diskstation so onboard storage is just for steam.
What about a boot SSD of 128GBs or so and 2TB drive for Steam games?
I can boost the build price up, if need be
Looking for something that will play games smoothly on my LED and also double as my HTPC

[_I_]

that is a good case, but requires an itx motherboard (about 6x6in)

a ssd will fit near the $1250 budget with that case and itx board

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1k6xN
Base Total: $1294.86
Promo Discounts: -$20.00
Combo Discounts: -$23.00
Shipping: $5.99
Total: $1257.85

[Dangolo]

Whatever you do, don't forget the SSD, it will make more of a difference than ANY other upgrade.
I recommend the Samsung 840 Pro, the Crucial M4, and lastly the Intel equivilent

[macrho]

SSD only for OS, not games, yes?

What would the performance improvement be from a dedicated GPU from the NUCs HD4000 ? Next gen NUC w/halswell has the HD5000

[_I_]

ssd would be best for the os

the intel igps are getting better
4000 is about equil to a radeon 4250 or geforce 220
5000 is supposed to be about 50% better, around radeon 5450 or geforce 520

getting a dedicated gpu, 7950oc would be over 20x better than the intel igp

[macrho]

Can the 20x improvement be seen on an HDTV? I assume I'd be running at 1080p with how many FPS? 50?

[_I_]

when gaming, yes
going from 5-15fps in games to holding a constant 60+fps in games at max settigns

for movies, flash the intel one will be fine