Gaming PC Builds – October 2014
The November 2014 Gaming PC Builds of the Month have been posted
Jump to a specific budget build –
- Gaming PC Build of the Month ( $1500 ): October 2014
- Gaming PC Build of the Month ( $1000 ): October 2014
- Gaming PC Build of the Month ( $600 ): October 2014
Gaming PC Builds of the Month Introduction:
October 2014 has been a great month for the three ($600, $1000 & $1500) builds included in the monthly gaming pc builds of the month here at Newb Computer Build. All of the builds have been revamped in one way or another and the major reason is due to NVIDIA’s recent release of their GTX 970 & 980 graphics cards, which provide a huge performance boost for the builds you’ll find below.
The builds you will find below include a budget $600, $1000 and $1500 build. These builds are capable of gaming on extreme settings of 2560×1600 (even on multi monitor setups), 1920×1080 and medium to high settings at 1920×1080 respectfully in most games as the builds get higher in cost. If you have a different budget in mind, there is an included hardware alternatives table located below each build’s writeup below, or you can always leave a comment in the comments section and I will try to get back to you as soon as possible.
If you are in the market for a brand new budget gaming pc build, then fret no further and read on below for the October 2014 gaming pc builds of the month. Do remember that these builds are not constrained purely to their respective budgets and that they are flexible depending on your gaming hardware needs, price changes and personal preference.
October 2014 PC Builds ( $1506 )
Gaming PC Build Recipe:
Game with Extreme settings at resolutions of 2560×1600, 1920×1080
Overview: Gaming PC Build ( $1500 )
The $1500 has had a nice upgrade this month with NVIDIA’s very recently released GTX 980 graphics card, NVIDIA’s new flagship graphics card. The $1500 build is for those who want to game at extreme settings and it will do so at resolutions as high as 2560×1600 in most games – including multi-monitor setups.
To start off the included processor is the Intel i5 4690K processor, which is fully unlocked and very easily overclockable. How overclockable you say – well you can get up to 4.8GhZ as seen in this very well written AnandTech article reviewing the Devil’s Canyon processors, including the Intel i5 4690K prcoessor. The Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo CPU Cooler is included to help aid in overclocking the Intel 4690K processor while helping keep stable temperatures. The Hyper 212 EVO has been around for years being used as an alternative cooler in pc builds and the popularity I believe speaks for itself.
The included motherboard I went with this month is the Asus Z97-A motherboard, which is one of the value leader enthusiast z97 motherboards. Some of the included features of the board include: (To learn more about these features visit the motherboard page here at asus.com)
- 5-Way Optimization by Dual Intelligent Processors 5 – One click, total system optimization!
- M.2 & SATA Express – Speed up your system with lightning-fast 10Gb/s transfer speed
- Crystal Sound 2 and Intel Gigabit Ethernet — a game-winning combo!
- ASUS HomeCloud – Access your PC remotely and stream multimedia content anywhere, anytime
- Proven quality – 5X Protection. 1000+ compatible devices. 7000+ validation hours.
As for graphics, I have included the vey new Zotac Geforce GTX 980 graphics card. This is NVIDIA’s new flagship graphics card and easily the fastest consumer graphics card on the market at the moment. Want to see some benchmarks and read full review – then check out anandtech’s The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980 Review: Maxwell Mark 2 article.
As for RAM, we have a total of 16GB of DDR3 memory using a kit of Crucial Ballistix 16GB (8Gb X 2). 16Gb of memory is more then enough and it will last in a gaming pc build for years to come.
The hard-drive used is a Seagate Barracuda 1TB as well as a Samsung 840 PRO 128GB drive as well. This is included to act as a boot drive for both your operating system, along with your most used games – this will significantly increase load times and I assure you will never go back from not using an SSD. Also, the Samsung 840 Pro series is one of the quickest MLC 128GB SSD’s available.
The power supply unit included is an EVGA SuperNOVA 750 Watt PSU; priced so perfectly for a 750 Watt, fully modular Gold Certified PSU (with up to 90% efficiency). So this PSU will perform quietly and use less energy while also looking pretty good.
For a PC case, this month we have the Corsair Vengeance Series Artic White Mid Tower case, which is a very cool stylish case – which according to Corsair is “Battle Ready”. Corsair has a neat take on this case in that it looks like an ammo storage case of sorts, which Corsair has incorporated some ergonomic carrying handles for easy transportation and moving of your PC. The technical specifications for the Corsair Vengeance Series case are as follows – (Learn more as corsair.com)
- Room for two 240mm radiators when lower drive cage is removed for outstanding watercooling potential.
- Tool-free thumbscrews for each of the eight expansion slots, making it easy to upgrade to dual, triple, or quad video card setups
- Front panel USB 3.0 ports with internal header for modern peripherals
- Tinted side window with dual fan mounts lets you cool, and view your hardware in style
- Three 5.25” bays and Six 3.5”/2.5” hard drive bays for excellent expansion capabilities
- Two included 120mm intake fans directly blowing across your GPU for maximum cooling potential, and a single 120mm fan for heat exhaust
Finally, we have the optical drive, which I went with the LG Electronics Optical Drive which is simply one of the cheapest optical drives you can purchase.
$1500 Gaming PC Build Upgrade Suggestions
If you have a little extra to spend on the $1500 build, then below are a few suggestions. If you want to dedicate more storage space solely to your SSD, then perhaps a larger 512GB Samsung PRO SDD is a worthy upgrade – you could even skip on the main Seagate 1TB hard drive above and dedicate some cash for a bigger SSD (like the Samsung 840 PRO 256GB or 512GB versions).
We also have an Intel 4790K i7 (the newer Intel Devil’s Canyon edition) for those who want to use their PC for functionality besides gaming. You could also go crazy and pump some extra cash into more graphics power by getting two Zotac GeForce GTX 980’s in SLI, or perhaps you want more space in your case and want a full tower PC case, such as the newly released Corsair Graphite Series 780T Full Tower PC case seen below.
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October 2014 PC Builds ( $1002 )
Gaming PC Build Recipe:
Capability: Game with Extreme settings at 1920X1080 resolutions and even High Settings in some games at 2560×1600
Overview: Gaming PC Build ( $1000 )
The October 2014 $1000 Gaming PC Build is a fantastic choice this month, especially so with the inclusion of the very recently released GTX Gefore 970 graphics card. The GTX 970 has had amazing uptake in the market and relative to its performance is only $329; I’ll get more into that further into this overview.
The included processor is the Intel i5 4690K processor, which is fully unlocked and very easily overclockable. You can get up to 4.8GhZ as seen in this AnandTech article reviewing the Devil’s Canyon processors, including the Intel i5 4690K processor. I didn’t include a CPU cooler this month and I did this to stay within the $1000 budget outline for this build. However, since we are using the Intel i5 4670K unclocked processor, the assumption is that one should overclock to get the full benefit of this processor – this is when you should probably consider purchasing a cooler like the Cooler Master Hyper 212 for around $30 more.
The included motherboard (the same as the $1500 build) I went with this month is the Asus Z97-A motherboard, which is one of the value leader enthusiast z97 motherboards. Some of the included features of the board include: (To learn more about these features visit the motherboard page here at asus.com)
- 5-Way Optimization by Dual Intelligent Processors 5 – One click, total system optimization!
- M.2 & SATA Express – Speed up your system with lightning-fast 10Gb/s transfer speed
- Crystal Sound 2 and Intel Gigabit Ethernet — a game-winning combo!
- ASUS HomeCloud – Access your PC remotely and stream multimedia content anywhere, anytime
- Proven quality – 5X Protection. 1000+ compatible devices. 7000+ validation hours.
Last month, we used the MSI Radeon R9 280X graphics card, however with the release of the new speedy GTX 970, the graphics card that has proven way more then its worth. Included in the $1000 build is the EVFA GTX 970 ACX graphics card, which has taken “to race the R9 290X to a dead heat” [anandtech – The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 Review: Featuring EVGA]. This is nearly $500 to $329 comparison – a fantastic value if you ask me.
For memory, we have 8Gb of DDR3 Crucial Ballistix RAM – where 8Gb of RAM should be the perfect amount for a good build. We have a 1TB Seagate Barracuda hard drive.The power supply unit being used is the EVGA SuperNOVA 650W power supply. This is the same version, just a different wattage as the $1500 build – a great PSU with 80Plus Gold certified and features all modular cables, high-quality Japanese brand capacitors.
The PC case being used this month is the Orange Corsair Graphite Series 230T mid tower case, also available is grey & black. This case has been out for about half a year and has a unique look, yet practical use of space. The technical specification for the Corsair Graphite case include – (learn more at corsair.com)
- Dual 120mm front LED fans and rear 120mm exhaust fan.
- USB 3.0 front panel
- Tool-free SSD, HDD, and ODD installation
- Cable routing and CPU cooler backplate motherboard cutouts
- Seven PCIe slots with thumbscrews and room for GPUs 320mm long
- Install up to four 3.5” and four 2.5” drives simultaneously – tool free
- Up to six fan mounts for optimal cooling potential
- Dust filters for front and PSU intake
- Room for up to 200mm ATX PSU (not included
The Corsair Carbide 300R mid tower pc case has been chosen as the showcased..case this month. It comes at a great price for a quality, solidly built case – you can get a fancier windowed version as well, but that will cost you about $20 more. This pc case has been out for about just over a year and it is on the low end of the Corsair Carbide series of cases, but I feel for this cased it is priced perfectly and does its deed. The Corsair Carbide 300r has the following specifications (to learn more visit corsair.com):
- Three 5.25” drive bays
- Four3.5” hard drive bays with 2.5” compatibility
- Seven expansion slots
- Two-year warranty
- Front I/O panel contains:
- Two USB 3.0 connectors
- 3.5” headphone and microphone connector
- Power and reset switches
- Dimensions: 19.1” x 8.3” x 18.7”
- Supports graphics cards up to 450mm in length
- Two 120mm/140mm top fan mount locations
- Two side panel 120/140mm fan mount locations
- Two front panel 120/140mm fan mount locations
- Includes one front-mounted 140mm fan and one rear 120mm fan
Finally, as with all three builds is the included LG Electronics Optical drive for $17. The optical drive is becoming a lesser and lesser necessity in any gaming pc build, so if you can do without.
$1000 Gaming PC Build Upgrade Suggestions
Below are some hardware additions should you have some extra cash and want to upgrade a specific piece to the above build.
You could get some serious graphics power with the SLI of two EVGA GTX 970 graphics cards, which would definitely be enough juice for higher resolutions (2560X1600 for example) or even high resolution multi-monitor setups.
Since there is no SSD included in the base $1000 build, I do suggest you highly considering one if you funds allow. The Samsung 840 PRO series is a great high quality SSD (one of the fastest MLC 128GB SSD’s out there) and 128GB is a perfect starting point to use is as your boot drive with some of your most used apps / games. For those that simply want more space for large sums of media etc. you could consider getting a 2TB drive (doubling your space) with the Seagate Barracuda 2TB drive.
Also, I have included a full tower case suggestion if you plan on really going all out with some more hardware in the future. Say you want to SLI, add more drives and other stuff into your case, then a full tower might be a nice upgrade; such as the Rosewill gaming Full Tower THOR case below.
Also, please *note that if you do decide to crossfire with another MSI Radeon R9 280X graphics card, you may want to also upgrade the power supply unit to 850W (ie. Corsair RM 850 Watt).
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Monthly Gaming PC Build ( $588 ): October 2014
(Game at Smoothly with Medium – High settings at 1920X1080 resolutions)
Gaming PC Build Recipe:
| Hardware Link | Price | Image | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Estimated Price: | $ 588 | ||
| Processor | AMD FD6300WMHKBOX FX-6300 6-Core Processor Black Edition | $112.29 |  |
| Motherboard | Gigabyte AM3+ AMD DDR3 1333 760G HDMI USB 3.0 Micro ATX Motherboard GA-78LMT-USB3 | $58.99 |  |
| Graphics Card | XFX Double D R9 270X 1050M Boost Ready 2GB DDR5 2XmDP HDMI 2XDVI Graphics Card (R9270XCDFC) | $189.99 |  |
| RAM | Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB Kit (4GBx2) DDR3 1600 MT/s (PC3-12800) CL9 @1.5V UDIMM 240-Pin Memory BLS2CP4G3D1609DS1S00 | $74.99 |  |
| Hard Drive | Seagate Barracuda 1 TB HDD SATA 6 Gb/s NCQ 64MB Cache 3.5-Inch Internal Bare Drive ST1000DM003 | $53.99 |  |
| Power Supply | Corsair Builder Series CX 500 Watt ATX/EPS 80 PLUS (CX500) | $49.99 |  |
| Computer Case | Cougar Spike Case Mini Gaming Tower – Micro ATX | $34.99 |  |
| Optical Drive | LG Electronics Optical DVD Drive GH24NSB0B | $17.99 |  |
Overview: $600 Gaming PC Build
This month, I have made quite a few changes to the $600 build. These new changes are not necessarily performance boosters, but I think they make the $600 build more attractive and compact then previous. The $600 is now a compact Mico ATX sized build where I chose a smaller Micro ATX motherboard that will perform the same, is slightly cheaper and allows for a spiffier case.
I have included the wonderful AMD FX 6300 processor, the same for many months now. The included graphics card is the Radeon R9 270X, this month using the XFX Double D R9 270X, which will give you great gaming performance for a budget gaming pc build such as this $600 one. Some of the specifications for th eXFX Double D R9 270X are – (for even more specifications visit http://xfxforce.com/)
PROCESSOR & BUS
Bus Type : PCI-E 3.0
Chipset version : Curacao XT
GPU Boost Clock : 1050MHz
GPU Bus (bit) : 256
GPU Clock : 1000MHz
Performance Category : Standard
Stream Processors : 1280
MEMORY
Memory Bus : 256 bit
Memory Clock : 5.6 GHz
Memory Size : 2.0 GB
Memory Type : DDR5
The motherboard included this month is the Gigabyte AM3+ GA-78LMT Micro ATX motherboard. I decided to change things up a tad this month and go with a smaller form factor motherboard, which will make this build much more compact and much more professional looking with a nicer pc case. The Gigabyte AM3+ GA-78LMT Micro ATX motherboard has the following specifications – (To learn more visit gigabyte.com)
- Ultra Durable 4 Classic Technology with high quality components design
- Supports AMD AM3+ FX/AM3 Phenom™ II & Athlon™ II series processors
- 4+1 Phase CPU Power design for AMD high TDP 125W CPU support
- Integrated ATI Radeon HD 3000 graphics (DirectX10)
- PCI-E 2.0 x16 interface for ultimate graphics support
- Hybrid EFI technology with DualBIOS for 3TB HDD support
- Integrated HDMI/DVI/D-sub for Full HD 1080 contents playback
- 4 USB 3.0 with superspeed transfer rates of up to 5 Gbps
- GIGABYTE 3x USB Power with On/Off Charge USB ports
The included RAM is the same included in the $1000 build, which is 8Gb of Crucial Ballistix RAM. As for a hard drive for each build this month I have featured the 1TB Seagate Barracuda, which should be plenty of storage for a gaming pc and if you ever need to add another drive the included motherboard supports up to 6 SATA connections. The PSU used is the 500W Corsair Builder series power supply, a cost conscious PSU that has just the right amount of power needed for this build.
As for a PC case, I have switched it to a small, compact and sturdy Cougar Spike Micro ATX PC case. This case, in my opinion is a much more practical and attractive option for anyone purchasing a budget gaming pc build such as this $600 one. The following are features of this pc as described by Cougar World –
- The SPIKE delivers availability and expansion capability in a space-saving design to fully complete the gaming mission!
- Interior black painting.
- Advanced USB3.0 port for maximum data transfer speed.
- Support for 4 fans: front 80/90/120mm fan x 1; rear 80/120mm fan x 1 ; side 120mm fans x 2.
- Rear COUGAR 120mm fan x 1 is pre-installed.
- Support for longer high-end graphics card up to 330mm.
- Screw-less mechanisms on 5.25” & HDD devices.
- Support installing 2.5” HDD/SSD at bottom cover.
And finally, we have the LG Electronics optical drive – take it or lave it, this is a basic optical dvd drive which you can optionally purchase if you need it (ie; to install your operating system).
Overclocking the AMD FX 6300
Furthermore, for anyone purchasing this $600 gaming pc build, there is a lot of potential with regards to the purchase of the AMD FX 6300 – since it does have an unlocked multiplier it is relatively easy to overclock. I thought I would include the informative video I just recently stumbled across below to give you a quick insight into how you might achieve this, so enjoy –
Upgrade Suggestions for the $600 Gaming PC Build:
These upgrades and alternatives below are for anyone who might have some extra spending cash or want some ideas for future upgrades.
The upgrades and alternatives this month include an upgraded eight core AMD FX-8320 processor – this processor has recently drop significantly in price due to some newly released FX processors, so it really would be a worthy upgrade this month. Likewise you could also bump the graphics card up to a Gigabyte Radeon R9 280 for more juice while gaming. You could consider also spending some ore cash and style the build up a little more with a Corsair Carbide Air 240 Micro ATX Case, which is another option for a compact nice looking pc case. Lastly, you could speed up boot and software loading times with with the purchase of a solid state drive, such as the Samsung 840 EVO 120GB drive below.
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