My Gaming Rig
After years of using consoles to meet my gaming needs (due to the limited GPU neither of my Mac's could handle any modern FPS with a decent frame rate), I decided to build my own gaming personal computer.
The last PC I built had a Pentium III processor, motherboard based on the Intel 440BX chipset and was housed in a beige colored generic ATX case. It was a decent gaming system back in the day but when it came time to upgrade I opted to buy a pre-configured Dell Dimension XPS system using a Pentium 4 CPU to save me the hassle and bloody knuckles from my early PC building days. Eventually that system got too old to play any modern games so I ended up selling it.
Fast forward to 2014 and after some deliberation I decided to jump back in the PC market.
I had a some criteria before starting this project.
Like any big purchase, I had to do a ton of research to get me up to speed on what was current. The processor vendor choice was easy, Intel. AMD had the lower cost but didn't offer the performance I was looking for with the latest demanding games.
The platform architecture was my next decision, should I get the older Ivy Bridge or the newer Haswell processors? Although Ivy Bridge performs almost just as well as Haswell for gaming, there was no real world price discount by buying Ivy Bridge so I decided to go with Haswell as it also offered additional CPU instructions sets and a more energy efficient architecture.
The last processor related choice was deciding on which Haswell chipset to choose among the many choices Intel offers. After reading about the differences, I narrowed my choice down to two, the top of the line P87 or the more mainstream H87. I ended up getting the H87 since I didn't need SLI support for 2 graphic cards nor did I plan to overclock my processor.
Before I could pick my motherboard, I had to choose the case first. The latest trend in gaming is the SFF (Small Form Factor) PC, which got even more interest recently with Valve's Steam Machine initiative. One popular standard for SFF is Mini-ITX which offers a small case size but often comes with limitations such as specially sized graphic cards and power supplies that oddly cost more than their full size brethren.
Corsair recently came out with a Mini-ITX case called the Obsidian 250D that was advertised as a "no compromise" solution that allows you to use full sized GPU's as well as standard sized ATX power supplies. I seriously considered this case until I found out the graphics card I wanted was about 5mm too long to fit so I opted to go with the larger Obsidian 350D Micro ATX enclosure instead. It's a nice looking case with plenty of cable management built-in including wire ties and rubber grommets.
Although Micro-ATX isn't considered a Small Form Factor, it allows me to fit a powerful PC in a smaller package than the larger full size ATX cases and still gives me more cooling and expansion options than the Mini-ITX.
The rest of my components include:
Processor: Intel Core i5-4570 3.2GHz LGA 1150 Quad-Core - $199
Since I'm not over clocking, I saved money by not getting a K series CPU and with Turbo Boost the CPU can ramp up to to 3.6 GHz under load. The higher end Intel i7 series processors would have added Hyper-Threading, however this wouldn't give me much, if any benefit with game performance.
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H87M-D3H - $87.99
I picked this motherboard since it was the only H87 Micro-ATX board with 3 system fan headers, a better quality Realtek ALC892 audio codec and for the lowest price vs the competition. It also has the advantage of being Hackintosh friendly in case I want to run OS X later.
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper T4 CPU Cooler - $29.93
Rather than stick with the default Intel stock cooler which runs loud under load, I decided to replace it with an aftermarket CPU cooler from Cooler Master. The Hyper T4 is rather large but can run as quiet as 15.1dBA. I looked into closed looped water coolers, particularly the Corsair Hydro H100i, but I read that the heat pump contributes to noise as well as the 2 additional fans for the radiator so I opted to stay with traditional air cooling instead.
Video Card: Gigabyte GV-N760OC-2GD (rev. 2.0) - $259.99
This card is based on the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760 GPU, which offers the best bang for the buck GPU from Nvidia. It's not the prettiest card but it comes overclocked from the factory and has 3 cooling fans that perform much quieter than the competition. I also considered going with the older GeForce GTX 660 card since it was slightly cheaper and is still based on the Kepler architecture, however I decided to get the current generation since it wasn't that much more expensive. Nvidia is also providing a free game called Daylight with my purchase.
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" SATA III - $139.99
The Samsung 840 EVO-Series is highly rated for it's performance and Amazon had a recent price drop for the 250GB model. Since there no moving parts in a SSD this will help keep my PC cool and quiet.
Power Supply: Corsair RM550 550 Watt 80-Plus Gold - $79.99
I wanted a power supply with a Gold efficiency rating as well as one that ran quiet. The Corsair RM series had both including a fan that only turns on when it needs to. It's fully modular so I only need to plug in the cables that are required for my specific needs, which helps keeps the case neat and tidy. It's also Haswell certified which is important to maintain the low power states when the PC is idle.
Memory: Kingston HyperX 8GB Blu (2x4GB) 1600 MHz DDR3 (PC3 12800) - $85.74
I read that those tall heat spreaders don't do much for gaming so I opted for low profile Kingston memory that won't interfere with my CPU cooler. Unfortunately memory prices are relatively high right now so I opted to get a 8GB kit, rather than the 16GB version. There really isn't any game that requires more than 8GB so I should be fine plus I have 2 extra memory slots on my motherboard for future expansion.
OS: Windows 8.1 Professional
I plan to install Windows 8.1 since it supports DirectX 11.2, is optimized for SSDs, and boots faster than Windows 7. I don't care for the Modern UI, but with options to boot to the Desktop it should be OK.
The last PC I built had a Pentium III processor, motherboard based on the Intel 440BX chipset and was housed in a beige colored generic ATX case. It was a decent gaming system back in the day but when it came time to upgrade I opted to buy a pre-configured Dell Dimension XPS system using a Pentium 4 CPU to save me the hassle and bloody knuckles from my early PC building days. Eventually that system got too old to play any modern games so I ended up selling it.
Fast forward to 2014 and after some deliberation I decided to jump back in the PC market.
I had a some criteria before starting this project.
- The price had to come under the $1000 mark, including tax and shipping. This meant my target goal for the components had to be around $900.
- The system had to run cool and quiet. I still remember my old Dell being too loud for my tastes, especially under load.
- The system should support the latest technology, optimized for gaming. USB 3.0, SSD drives, current generation GPU. No spinning hard drive adding noise and heat. No optical drive. Just a pure gaming machine.
Like any big purchase, I had to do a ton of research to get me up to speed on what was current. The processor vendor choice was easy, Intel. AMD had the lower cost but didn't offer the performance I was looking for with the latest demanding games.
The platform architecture was my next decision, should I get the older Ivy Bridge or the newer Haswell processors? Although Ivy Bridge performs almost just as well as Haswell for gaming, there was no real world price discount by buying Ivy Bridge so I decided to go with Haswell as it also offered additional CPU instructions sets and a more energy efficient architecture.
The last processor related choice was deciding on which Haswell chipset to choose among the many choices Intel offers. After reading about the differences, I narrowed my choice down to two, the top of the line P87 or the more mainstream H87. I ended up getting the H87 since I didn't need SLI support for 2 graphic cards nor did I plan to overclock my processor.
Before I could pick my motherboard, I had to choose the case first. The latest trend in gaming is the SFF (Small Form Factor) PC, which got even more interest recently with Valve's Steam Machine initiative. One popular standard for SFF is Mini-ITX which offers a small case size but often comes with limitations such as specially sized graphic cards and power supplies that oddly cost more than their full size brethren.
Corsair recently came out with a Mini-ITX case called the Obsidian 250D that was advertised as a "no compromise" solution that allows you to use full sized GPU's as well as standard sized ATX power supplies. I seriously considered this case until I found out the graphics card I wanted was about 5mm too long to fit so I opted to go with the larger Obsidian 350D Micro ATX enclosure instead. It's a nice looking case with plenty of cable management built-in including wire ties and rubber grommets. Although Micro-ATX isn't considered a Small Form Factor, it allows me to fit a powerful PC in a smaller package than the larger full size ATX cases and still gives me more cooling and expansion options than the Mini-ITX.
The rest of my components include:
Processor: Intel Core i5-4570 3.2GHz LGA 1150 Quad-Core - $199
Since I'm not over clocking, I saved money by not getting a K series CPU and with Turbo Boost the CPU can ramp up to to 3.6 GHz under load. The higher end Intel i7 series processors would have added Hyper-Threading, however this wouldn't give me much, if any benefit with game performance.
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H87M-D3H - $87.99
I picked this motherboard since it was the only H87 Micro-ATX board with 3 system fan headers, a better quality Realtek ALC892 audio codec and for the lowest price vs the competition. It also has the advantage of being Hackintosh friendly in case I want to run OS X later.
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper T4 CPU Cooler - $29.93
Rather than stick with the default Intel stock cooler which runs loud under load, I decided to replace it with an aftermarket CPU cooler from Cooler Master. The Hyper T4 is rather large but can run as quiet as 15.1dBA. I looked into closed looped water coolers, particularly the Corsair Hydro H100i, but I read that the heat pump contributes to noise as well as the 2 additional fans for the radiator so I opted to stay with traditional air cooling instead.
Video Card: Gigabyte GV-N760OC-2GD (rev. 2.0) - $259.99
This card is based on the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760 GPU, which offers the best bang for the buck GPU from Nvidia. It's not the prettiest card but it comes overclocked from the factory and has 3 cooling fans that perform much quieter than the competition. I also considered going with the older GeForce GTX 660 card since it was slightly cheaper and is still based on the Kepler architecture, however I decided to get the current generation since it wasn't that much more expensive. Nvidia is also providing a free game called Daylight with my purchase.
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" SATA III - $139.99
The Samsung 840 EVO-Series is highly rated for it's performance and Amazon had a recent price drop for the 250GB model. Since there no moving parts in a SSD this will help keep my PC cool and quiet.
Power Supply: Corsair RM550 550 Watt 80-Plus Gold - $79.99
I wanted a power supply with a Gold efficiency rating as well as one that ran quiet. The Corsair RM series had both including a fan that only turns on when it needs to. It's fully modular so I only need to plug in the cables that are required for my specific needs, which helps keeps the case neat and tidy. It's also Haswell certified which is important to maintain the low power states when the PC is idle.
Memory: Kingston HyperX 8GB Blu (2x4GB) 1600 MHz DDR3 (PC3 12800) - $85.74
I read that those tall heat spreaders don't do much for gaming so I opted for low profile Kingston memory that won't interfere with my CPU cooler. Unfortunately memory prices are relatively high right now so I opted to get a 8GB kit, rather than the 16GB version. There really isn't any game that requires more than 8GB so I should be fine plus I have 2 extra memory slots on my motherboard for future expansion.
OS: Windows 8.1 Professional
I plan to install Windows 8.1 since it supports DirectX 11.2, is optimized for SSDs, and boots faster than Windows 7. I don't care for the Modern UI, but with options to boot to the Desktop it should be OK.
posted by Marcos at March 21, 2014
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