16 replies to this topic

[Taruvoyant]

I have been playing GW2 on a 2-year-old gaming laptop.  It has served me well, but I am looking to upgrade to a desktop in order to crank up the settings to the max.

I have never built a computer, and I am kind of a tech noob, but I have been doing some research and this is what I came up with on ibuypower.com:

Processor - Intel® Core™ i5-3570K Processor (4x 3.40GHz/6MB L3 Cache)
Processor Cooling - Corsair Hydro Series H60 Liquid CPU Cooling System - ARC Dual Silent High Performance Fan Upgrade (Push-Pull Airflow)
Memory - 16 GB [8 GB x2] DDR3-1600 Memory Module - Corsair or Major Brand
Video Card - NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670 2GB EVGA Superclocked - Single Card
Motherboard - ASUS P8Z77-V LX
Power Supply - 750 Watt - Corsair CX750
Primary Hard Drive - 120 GB OCZ Agility 3 SSD - Single Drive
Data Hard Drive - 1 TB HARD DRIVE -- 32M Cache, 7200 RPM, 6.0Gb/s - Single Drive
Optical Drive - 24X Dual Format/Double Layer DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW Drive - Black )
Case - CoolerMaster Storm Enforcer Gaming Case - Black
Operating System - Windows 8 - 64-bit

Cost: $1352 (+ $75 shipping)

I compared the price to buying parts and building on my own, and I did not see much of a difference.  I would rather pay a few extra dollars and have it come assembled.

I am wondering if this would be enough to run GW2 on max settings with consistent FPS of 40+.  Or on the flip side, is it a bit overkill?

GW2 is currently the only game I play, but I am planning on dabbling in the re-release of FFXIV as well.

Critiques, suggestions, personal experiences welcomed!

[Herz]

16GB ram for gaming isn't necessary at all. The cooler ain't that great either, would rather buy a good air cooler than a average WC like that one. That PSU is overkill, go for a XFX Core Edition Pro 550W or 650W, it is more than enough.

Are you going to overclock? If you won't, you can buy the non K version of the CPU, a cheaper cooler like Thermalright True Spirit 120 or Coolermaster Hyper 212 Evo to reduce noise and temperature and you won't be needing a Z77 motherboard imo (can still buy it, but if you won't OC you're just wasting money imho).

Edited by Herz, 30 December 2012 - 10:29 PM.

[Zerk2012]

This will run it as good as the game will play overclock the CPU to about 4.2ghz
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/v3Li

[Khlaw]

Way too much memory, and I'd spend extra for  an i7 over an i5 - just don't sacrifice too much GHz.  I'm still an AMD homer over nVidia, but the two tend to flip-flop being FotM.  PSU and cooling are probably overkill as well, as others have mentioned.

[Tripolityx]

If it's for gaming 8G of RAM should do fine. Also if you are not planning to expand or upgrade later the Power Supply of 500W should be enough. When it comes to SSD I recommend Samsung/Kingston over OCZ. HDD with 7200 Rpm can make some noise if you are picky like me =D. One of the most important for me is good Cooler for CPU. If you are not into fluids, Phanteks PH-TC14PE CPU Cooler is good choice if the case allows it.

Edited by Tripolityx, 31 December 2012 - 01:18 AM.

[Shadow209]

Ram: 8GB is enough

SSD: The Agility 3 uses an asynchronous NAND, which is not that good. The Samsung 840, Zerk2012 posted would be a better choice.

CPU: i5 is just fine, unless you need hyperthreading, but in games the difference isn't that big. Besides hyperthreading the difference is only 0.1 GHz. You won't feel a difference and if you do, you can overclock your i5.

Motherboard: Take a look at ASRock, they are good quality and you may be able to find a cheaper board with all the features you need.

Cooling: I'm not a big fan of these  integrated water coolings. You can get sufficient cooling cheaper using Air cooling and on top it will produce less noise. I have a Scythe Ninja 3 on my i5-2500K and even under full my fan doesn't spin over 1000RPM and I get temperatures aroung 55°C. With full RPM I can overclock to 4.5GHz and still don't exceed 70°C

PSU: I strongly recommend investing in high quality, Corsair is a good choice. However, you don't need 750W, 650W will be enough, maybe even 550W.
I have a 650W PSU and 2x AMD HD5850 and the i5 stated above. With my CPU overclocked to 4.5 GHz and both video cards overclocked from 725 MHz (GPU) / 1000MHz (Ram) to 900MHz (GPU) / 1250MHz (Ram) the 650W PSU is still enough. It's limits are reached at this point, but not exceeded.

[Quaker]

Taruvoyant, on 30 December 2012 - 07:48 PM, said:

Critiques, suggestions, personal experiences welcomed!

Everything looks fine to me, but....

If I recall the Liquid cooling is the only option available from iBuy, so there's not much point in suggesting a CM Hyper 212.

The only suggestion I might have would be to get a 250 Gig SSD instead of the 120Gig. (Less concern over where you place libraries, apps, etc.). If cost is a problem, you could reduce the RAM to 8Gigs and knock the PSU back to 550watts or so (CX600?).

Or you could leave things as they are.

Edited by Quaker, 31 December 2012 - 04:19 PM.

[Taruvoyant]

Thanks for all the feedback, everyone.  I will definitely make some modifications.  Perhaps even just buy the parts and figure out how to put them together on my own.  I am sure I could figure it out, it would just take some time.

I do have one other point of concern though; the monitor.  I have been reading a lot about 120hz monitors and was wondering how everyone felt about them.  I am pretty much sold on getting one.  Any suggestions on an affordable option?

[Nexdeus]

I would keep the 16 gb of ram, and the psu, if you decide to upgrade to an sli config later on you will have the components to back it up.

[SunnyStorms]

If you want a really good moniter for your gaming habits. I recommend switching to an IPS screen from LG.

I myself have this screen: http://www.lg.com/us...-BN-led-monitor
I'll never be going back to a regular hd moniter.

Also it's a matte screen, so no reflections from the sun or lighting in your room.

[Quaker]

Taruvoyant, on 31 December 2012 - 05:54 PM, said:

I have been reading a lot about 120hz monitors and was wondering how everyone felt about them.

A 120Hz monitor is good if you want to try 3D gaming, or if you want to run your game at more than 60Hz and actually see the extra frames. Other than that, if you are happy with 60 fps, a 60Hz monitor will do just fine. Keep in mind also, that it will require a hefty video card to run GW2 at 120 fps (GTX-680, HD7970 or thereabouts, if not even more).

Edited by Quaker, 31 December 2012 - 07:31 PM.

[Elder III]

There isn't a GPU on the market that can run GW2 @ 120 FPS all the time on Max settings @ 1080p --- so unless you plan to play on less than "Max" settings or you want to go SLI/Crossfire, I wouldn't get a 120 hz monitor, at least not just for GW2.  

Have you checked out avadirect?  They usually offer a more diverse selection and they seem more competent too....

[Swedemon]

The Corsair CX PSU's are terrible -  go with any other line of Corsairs.

[Gilles VI]

Taruvoyant, on 31 December 2012 - 05:54 PM, said:

Thanks for all the feedback, everyone.  I will definitely make some modifications.  Perhaps even just buy the parts and figure out how to put them together on my own.  I am sure I could figure it out, it would just take some time.

I do have one other point of concern though; the monitor.  I have been reading a lot about 120hz monitors and was wondering how everyone felt about them.  I am pretty much sold on getting one.  Any suggestions on an affordable option?

I recommend a 120Hz monitor if you're sensitive to fps like me, if not then it's waste of money.
btw if you should buy a 120hz one, look good at specs, when I was looking for mine I noticed alot of monitors listed specific AMD or NVIDIA gpu's as required.
For example my monitor only uses 120hz when using a AMD card, and not a NVIDIA, otherwise it would just give 60fps.

[Quaker]

Swedemon, on 04 January 2013 - 05:39 PM, said:

The Corsair CX PSU's are terrible -  go with any other line of Corsairs.

And this is based upon what? I'm curious since it seems to be contrary to just about any review of the CX series.

[The Comfy Chair]

Elder III, on 01 January 2013 - 05:12 AM, said:

There isn't a GPU on the market that can run GW2 @ 120 FPS all the time on Max settings @ 1080p --- so unless you plan to play on less than "Max" settings or you want to go SLI/Crossfire, I wouldn't get a 120 hz monitor, at least not just for GW2.  

Have you checked out avadirect?  They usually offer a more diverse selection and they seem more competent too....

Well, i reckon there's going to be an issue with 120fps anyway, because although GPU's can do it, there's just just not the CPUs to support them I found it entertaining that running GW2 at 5760x1080 made not a single bit of difference to my framerate over 1920x1080 with my gtx670/i5-2500K.

Edited by The Comfy Chair, 16 January 2013 - 12:09 PM.

[Eon Lilu]

I would take the money your going to spend on a 120hz monitor and instead spend it on a 240gb sdd. Is the only thing I would change on your current build especially if you play alot of games and don't want to have to keep uninstalling, reinstalling things.

For example.

Just 8 mmo games games plus OS I have 102gb left and I will use it when I install some more games soon. If I chose a 120gb I would not have had enough room for all those games on the SSD and would have to uninstall some to play others.

If you planning on just playing 1-2 games then 120gb is enough, if your playing alot of MMO's then get a 240gb SSD.

Edited by Eon Lilu, 16 January 2013 - 12:27 PM.