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Reply to the PMC computer building thread (I need a computer

tjladuke5's Avatar tjladuke54/9/15 3:11 pm
4/9/2015 6:51 pm
Leeberator's Avatar Leeberator
What is this computer going to be used for? Minecraft (I would want shaders), some VirtualBox (Virtual Machine software) and maaaybe video editing
What is your budget? Around $600 or $700
Where do you live? If in the US, do you have a nearby Microcenter?
I'm sorry, I don't know what I microcenter is But I live in the US.
What is included in the budget? I need the tower (case), OS, and peripherals and monitors I'm not sure about yet. I have some spares, but I might not use them for this build. List some good peripherals please. (PLEASE INCLUDE A MECHANICAL KEYBOARD )
Will you be overclocking? No, I won't.
Will you be reusing any parts? Probably not.
What OS do you want? I would like Windows 8.1.
What case do you want? Probably a black one
Any other special features that you want in the build? SSD (totally optional) , wifi
Posted by tjladuke5's Avatar
tjladuke5
Level 18 : Journeyman Taco
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Leeberator
04/09/2015 6:51 pm
Level 47 : Master Button Pusher
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No problem.
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tjladuke5
04/09/2015 6:39 pm
Level 18 : Journeyman Taco
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Thank you for everything
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tjladuke5
04/09/2015 6:38 pm
Level 18 : Journeyman Taco
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Alright.
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tjladuke5
04/09/2015 6:31 pm
Level 18 : Journeyman Taco
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Alright, could I have a new list of parts? All these recommendations is confusing, sorry.
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Leeberator
04/09/2015 6:33 pm
Level 47 : Master Button Pusher
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As I said, go with the build I suggested, but drop the mechanical keyboard.
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Leeberator
04/09/2015 6:26 pm
Level 47 : Master Button Pusher
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No. The i3 build is much better than the AMD build in several ways.

For one thing, the i3 (2 cores/4 threads for an effective 4 cores) completely stomps the FX CPU (4 cores) in single-threaded performance, which is needed for gaming (where faster cores are needed instead of more cores). In addition to this, the i3 uses less than half the power of the FX-4350, which will save you some money on your electrical bill. Furthermore, the i3 is only slightly behind the 4350 in terms of multi-threaded performance, scoring just over 200 points below the 4350 (5154 vs 4921). In real-world applications, this will not show any noticeable performance difference. This slight multi-core drop is made even more insignificant by the absolute stomping the i3 gives the 4350 in single-threaded benchmarks (more than 500 points more). In terms of running VMs, you will have little to no performance problems running them on either system so long as you don't run a ton of them at once (at which point both systems would struggle). Plus, my build is cheaper if you neglect adding a mechanical keyboard (as filipkinjan did).


PassMark CPU benchmarks for the i3-4150 and the FX-4350:




So in conclusion, if you want a computer that games alright for $715 that renders videos maybe a few seconds faster, go for the AMD build. If you want a computer that uses less power, can max out modern games at 1080p, has a killer upgrade path (any 4th or 5th gen Intel CPU will work in this motherboard out of the box, including the ones that haven't been released yet), but renders videos maybe a few seconds slower, all for under $700, get the Intel build.

TL;DR Get the Intel build. It's better in almost every way.
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tjladuke5
04/09/2015 6:01 pm
Level 18 : Journeyman Taco
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Alright, thank you so much!!! You are a big help. Everyone else is too!
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Lacuna Corporation
04/09/2015 5:57 pm
Level 22 : Expert Modder
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There are aspects of both PCs which are going to be good for you. I have to run (sorry ), otherwise I'd make a recommended build for you, but just bear these things in mind.

-More cores are better for running VMs. Running VMs on a dual-core CPU is like running two PCs on the same dual-core CPU, it just doesn't sound good, and it isn't.
-More RAM is going to be good here. I don't normally tell people to buy a lot of RAM but if you're planning on doing any kind of editing then it's important. It's good for VMs as well.
-I think you'd actually be fine going for a GPU as low as an R7 260X, I used to get around 220FPS in Minecraft with mine. I also got 60FPS steady in new games at the highest settings, 1920x1080.
-I'd recommend getting an FX-6350, it's a six-core CPU which can be OC'd to about 4.2GHz. Very nice for your purposes. Just remember to get an AM3+ socket motherboard.
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tjladuke5
04/09/2015 5:49 pm
Level 18 : Journeyman Taco
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Ab Aterno, which should I stick with xD I'm sorry if I am sounding like a noob here, I can build the computer, picking the parts is difficult sorry xD
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tjladuke5
04/09/2015 5:36 pm
Level 18 : Journeyman Taco
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I am keeping this bookmarked
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tjladuke5
04/09/2015 5:33 pm
Level 18 : Journeyman Taco
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Thank you so much for all your support! I just need help with finding good parts, but once I got the parts, I'm set.
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Leeberator
04/09/2015 5:32 pm
Level 47 : Master Button Pusher
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This build will game very well and is leagues ahead of the other build. But, it's $50 over your budget. This is mostly due to your request for a mechanical keyboard. In my experience a mechanical keyboard is a nice thing to have, but it isn't really needed to have a good gaming/typing experience. If I were you, I'd drop it from the parts list.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-4150 3.5GHz Dual-Core Processor ($103.98 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock H97M Anniversary Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($68.98 @ OutletPC)
Memory: Team Vulcan 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($69.98 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($44.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 960 2GB SuperSC ACX 2.0+ Video Card ($199.00 @ NCIX US)
Case: Cooler Master N200 MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($39.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($42.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($87.89 @ OutletPC)
Wireless Network Adapter: Gigabyte GC-WB867D-I 802.11a/b/g/n/ac PCI-Express x1 Wi-Fi Adapter ($29.98 @ OutletPC)
Keyboard: Thermaltake eSPORTS Meka Wired Gaming Keyboard ($59.99 @ Mechanical Keyboards)
Total: $747.77
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-04-09 17:31 EDT-0400
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Lacuna Corporation
04/09/2015 5:40 pm
Level 22 : Expert Modder
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Actually that's much worse for the OP's purposes.

Sure the GPU is better, but people rely waaay too much on their GPU over their CPU. You get great benchmarks on a 960, but you just don't go throwing it with a dual-core i3 and expect to get those same great results.

The OP also said that he wanted to run VMs, and possibly also edit video. Running VMs on a dual-core CPU will pretty much bottleneck it straight out, and you'll be running on 100% capacity with even just one VM running on your host machine. And I am just being picky now, but video editing requires a lot of RAM (seriously, AE will happily eat up a full 16GB when it's running a RAM preview). The OP should be fine with 8GB (although that's 1x8GB, not 2x4GB, it will lower the latency), although for video editing 16GB would be more appropriate.
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Lacuna Corporation
04/09/2015 5:27 pm
Level 22 : Expert Modder
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That's a nice build, but I'd actually advise against going with the FX-4350. You said that you want to be running virtual machines, so you're going to want to make sure that you can process as many threads as possible. I also find that RAM is more important when you want to run VMs, but the 8GB will be plenty.

Something more important to note is that that build won't be able to connect to Wi-Fi. You're going to need a dongle of a PCI/PCIe networking card. More importantly, if you want to use the internet on your VMs, you're going to need two (a networking card can only be connected to one host machine at a time). I know from personal experience with VMs (I run Kali Linux alongside Windows 8.1) that switching your networking peripheral between machines can be VERY annoying, so I'd recommend picking up two USB dongles.
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Leeberator
04/09/2015 5:23 pm
Level 47 : Master Button Pusher
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Don't use that build. For $700 you can get a lot more.

Check Micro Center's store locator on their website to see if there's one in your area.
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tjladuke5
04/09/2015 5:20 pm
Level 18 : Journeyman Taco
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Alright, thanks. USB 2 should be fine for the front. And I'll think about it Whoever xD
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Whoever01
04/09/2015 5:19 pm
Level 47 : Master Princess
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If you want to bring it up to the $1000 budget, the Maxwell Technology in the 960 would help a lot with Minecrafts' anti-aliasing issues.
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tjladuke5
04/09/2015 5:12 pm
Level 18 : Journeyman Taco
tjladuke5's Avatar
Thank you so much!!!! This is absolutely perfect. One thing, are the compatibility notes important, like the USB 3.0 on the motherboard but not the case?
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Filip96
04/09/2015 5:17 pm
Level 30 : Artisan Nerd
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oh thats fine unless you NEED usb 3.0 on the front of your computer as the motherboard has ports to have usb 3.0 on the front but the case dosent have usb 3.0 ports on the front so all in all as i said unless you NEED usb 3 your fine
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Filip96
04/09/2015 4:48 pm
Level 30 : Artisan Nerd
Filip96's Avatar
15 bucks over but you can get that much? right? anyway
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/HpZksY
Click to reveal
CPU

AMD FX-4350 4.2GHz Quad-Core Processor
$98.99 Buy
Motherboard

ASRock 970 Pro3 R2.0 ATX AM3+ Motherboard
$56.98 Buy
Memory

G.Skill Sniper Series 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory
$51.99 Buy
Storage

A-Data Premier Pro SP600 32GB 2.5" Solid State Drive
$30.98 Buy

Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
$44.99 Buy
Video Card

MSI GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB Video Card
$130.98 Buy
Case

Cooler Master Elite 361 (Black) ATX Mini Tower Case
$45.99 Buy
Power Supply

Corsair CX 430W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply
$42.98 Buy
Operating System

Microsoft Windows 8.1 (32/64-bit)
$99.89 Buy
Monitor

Acer V196HQLAb 60Hz 18.5" Monitor
$83.99 Buy
Keyboard

Cooler Master CM Storm Devastator Gaming Bundle Wired Gaming Keyboard w/Optical Mouse
$27.87 Buy
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