Building a Gaming PC

desm0nd · 22 Mar 2019 at 12:40

Hi OC forum,

I'm looking to build a gaming PC purely for gaming purposes and I'd like it to preferably run games on high (not ultra) settings with 60FPS as I have a free-sync 60hz monitor. I have a mouse & keyboard already. I do have access to the parts I will list below, so I am wondering whether using these parts I could build a relatively good system, or do I just need to bite the bullet and buy new. I have built two PCs before (albeit many yearsago) so I'm familiar with the process, I'm just not knowledgeable on what components are good and what matches with what.

Parts I have:
- Samsung SSD (with windows already installed). Can I just pop this into a new build and it will work?
- AMD Radeon R9 270 Graphics Card
- Intel i5-3450 3.10GHz CPU
- ASUS P8B75-M LX (LGA1155) Motherboard
- 8GB Ram (DDR3 I think) and I think I have another 8GB DDR3 from another laptop, although might be a different brand.
- Intel i7-4900MQ 2.80GHz CPU

So my real question is, will either of these processors stand up to today's standards? Is overclocking an option? Or should I just stop being cheap and invest in a build something like the one below:

AMD Ryzen 5 2600 CPU
Gigabyte B450
Gigabyte 700W PSU
16GB Ram
GTX 1060?

Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks.

orbitalwalsh · 22 Mar 2019 at 13:22

@desm0nd

Aorus bundle deal is a nice steal as its saving over £50 plus you get a free game.
they are also selling corsair 3000hz 16gb for £85 + asrock rx 580 8gb for £172 with 2 free games - much better value then gtx 1060 3/6gb - which is now superseded by gtx 1660/60i
RX 570 is £124 ....

can land a great system for £500 if you've already got the SSD

on your parts list, seems like you've got a laptop and Desktop currently ?

desm0nd · 22 Mar 2019 at 13:30

@orbitalwalsh

It is a really nice deal isn't it. Performance-wise, would the system you have just listed have any troubles running games in today's market on high settings with good FPS?

And well, kind of. I currently have a laptop, but the screen is broke and is too expensive to replace & is ridiculously noisy. The desktop parts come from my brother who has just upgraded his entire system. Thanks for your response.

orbitalwalsh · 22 Mar 2019 at 13:42

desm0nd said:
@orbitalwalsh

It is a really nice deal isn't it. Performance-wise, would the system you have just listed have any troubles running games in today's market on high settings with good FPS?

And well, kind of. I currently have a laptop, but the screen is broke and is too expensive to replace & is ridiculously noisy. The desktop parts come from my brother who has just upgraded his entire system. Thanks for your response.

the ryzen and rx 570 would out perform whats been given to yourself . but depends on your budgets and needs.

one of the free games you get. can see benifits of ryzen having more cores/threads then intel i5 you've been handed or the laptop - as well as its core speed. also shows r7 270 would be pushed beyond its limits

https://www.overclock3d.net/reviews/software/the_division_2_pc_performance_review/6

view 1080p testing page and see rx 580 can hold 60fps nicely so fine for a 1080p 60hz screen

another free game... see rx580 handles that just fine!

https://www.overclock3d.net/reviews/software/devil_may_cry_5_pc_performance_review/8

and free game to download, APEX that is the current rage over Fornite... rx 580 smashes older AMD cards like the 270

https://www.overclock3d.net/reviews/software/apex_legends_pc_performance_review/5

desm0nd · 22 Mar 2019 at 13:48

orbitalwalsh said:
the ryzen and rx 570 would out perform whats been given to yourself . but depends on your budgets and needs.

one of the free games you get. can see benifits of ryzen having more cores/threads then intel i5 you've been handed or the laptop - as well as its core speed. also shows r7 270 would be pushed beyond its limits

https://www.overclock3d.net/reviews/software/the_division_2_pc_performance_review/6

view 1080p testing page and see rx 580 can hold 60fps nicely so fine for a 1080p 60hz screen

another free game... see rx580 handles that just fine!

https://www.overclock3d.net/reviews/software/devil_may_cry_5_pc_performance_review/8

and free game to download, APEX that is the current rage over Fornite... rx 580 smashes older AMD cards like the 270

https://www.overclock3d.net/reviews/software/apex_legends_pc_performance_review/5

I must admit, the PC will predominantly be used for Fortnite and I believe due to the way the game is coded it does not benefit from more cores/threads? Do you have any recommendations for a cheap tower and fan to go inside for cooling? Thanks again for your help.

Quartz · 22 Mar 2019 at 13:57

Get yourself a RX 580 or GTX 1660 Ti and see how you get on. Why spend money when you don't need to? You don't need umpteen cores for Fortnite - indeed only two cores are necessary.

Tom's Hardware said:
Reducing the number of available logical cores leads to a slight drop in average and minimum frame rates. However, the difference between six-core/12-thread and two-core/two-thread is so small that it is barely above the margin of error. In other words, a CPU with just two cores should be sufficient to play Fortnite at 1920x1080 under the Epic quality preset with a mainstream graphics card.

Your Intel i5 is more than sufficient.

orbitalwalsh · 22 Mar 2019 at 13:58

desm0nd said:
I must admit, the PC will predominantly be used for Fortnite and I believe due to the way the game is coded it does not benefit from more cores/threads? Do you have any recommendations for a cheap tower and fan to go inside for cooling? Thanks again for your help.

jump to apex... find it a LOT BETTER! shooting, gameplay, action and players .

did think some benchmarks for it though, again rx570 + GPU is better then r9 270

https://www.tomshardware.co.uk/fortnite-best-performance-benchmarks,review-34288-5.html

but yeah, as above... anything will run Fortnite !

ryzen stock fan is fine. cases are more of a personal choice

desm0nd · 22 Mar 2019 at 14:09

Quartz said:
Get yourself a RX 580 or GTX 1660 Ti and see how you get on. Why spend money when you don't need to? You don't need umpteen cores for Fortnite - indeed only two cores are necessary.

Your Intel i5 is more than sufficient.

I tried running fortnite on my laptop with the i7-4700 2.8ghz, 8GB RAM and an integrated nvidia graphics card, but the FPS was far too low. Can I assume this was down to the graphics card more so than anything?

I just want a PC able to run the game well without drops in FPS. Essentially my plan is to move from console to PC, as consoles just can't handle it anymore it seems.

So would you just advice me picking up an RX580 or GTX 1660 then sticking it in the my Intel i5-3450, ASUS P8B75-M Motherboard with 8GB RAM and it should be perfectly fine? Thanks for your reply.

orbitalwalsh · 22 Mar 2019 at 14:14

manage to find this , gtx 1080 is about RTX 2060/2070 Level- in between

Ryzen 2600 would run as fast as the intels , they are clocked to 4.8ghz, max for 2600 on stock would be 4ghz all cores .

but see the slight jump from 4 cores to 6 and nothing else after

*** as above could slap in rx 580 and see how you get on, although you'd need a good 550w PSU .

gtx 1660ti a 450w is good enough

cheapest decent one here we recommend

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/bitfenix-formula-series-550w-80-plus-gold-power-supply-ca-22y-bx.html

desm0nd · 22 Mar 2019 at 14:27

orbitalwalsh said:
manage to find this , gtx 1080 is about RTX 2060/2070 Level- in between

Ryzen 2600 would run as fast as the intels , they are clocked to 4.8ghz, max for 2600 on stock would be 4ghz all cores .

but see the slight jump from 4 cores to 6 and nothing else after

*** as above could slap in rx 580 and see how you get on, although you'd need a good 550w PSU .

gtx 1660ti a 450w is good enough

cheapest decent one here we recommend

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/bitfenix-formula-series-550w-80-plus-gold-power-supply-ca-22y-bx.html

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/b-gr...ddr5-pci-express-graphics-card-bg-07j-pc.html

May just purchase the B-grade RX-580 and 550w PSU you linked and see how I get on. After reading the full Tom's Hardware review, I think this setup should be able to run the game nicely, as will have it on high not epic settings, with shadows and grass turned off.

Can I just check this card will go into my motherboard ok? I'm a bit of a novice when it comes to knowing what parts are compatible with what.

Quartz · 22 Mar 2019 at 14:35

desm0nd said:
I tried running fortnite on my laptop with the i7-4700 2.8ghz, 8GB RAM and an integrated nvidia graphics card, but the FPS was far too low. Can I assume this was down to the graphics card more so than anything?

Yes.

Remember, you can always buy better later.

orbitalwalsh · 22 Mar 2019 at 14:56

desm0nd said:
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/b-gr...ddr5-pci-express-graphics-card-bg-07j-pc.html

May just purchase the B-grade RX-580 and 550w PSU you linked and see how I get on. After reading the full Tom's Hardware review, I think this setup should be able to run the game nicely, as will have it on high not epic settings, with shadows and grass turned off.

Can I just check this card will go into my motherboard ok? I'm a bit of a novice when it comes to knowing what parts are compatible with what.

only b-grade i would bu is GIgabyte or evga ! you'd have 90 days on that and rma center is HK or EU based ..

stick with getting rx580 brand new for £170

orbitalwalsh · 22 Mar 2019 at 14:59

some older boards needed bios update

https://www.asus.com/Motherboards/P8B75M_LX/HelpDesk_BIOS/

check bios version and update latest bios

desm0nd · 22 Mar 2019 at 15:08

@orbitalwalsh & @Quartz

Ok thank you both for your help, I'll be back once its all up and running to let you know how it performs.

orbitalwalsh · 22 Mar 2019 at 15:08

desm0nd said:
@orbitalwalsh & @Quartz

Ok thank you both for your help, I'll be back once its all up and running to let you know how it performs.

nice, and give APEX a shot!

Danny75 · 22 Mar 2019 at 15:42

Your mileage will vary with a four core no hyperthreading, depending on some factors (which GPU, settings etc). I'd been wanting to test Fortnite with hyperthreading off to see if it was better or worse, and this thread was the motivation I needed.

Simulated three tests on Fortnite at 1080p with a 4770K and GTX 1070:

1. Dual core with hyperthreading. Max fps in personal lobby 183 fps. Some brief audio crackle every few minutes as processor instructions briefly hang. Some lag in-game when the cores and threads hit 100%. Opening a browser made it pretty unplayable so having voice comms open at same time would probably not be great.

2. Four core with no hyperthreading. Max fps in personal lobby 196 fps. No audio crackle. Some lag in-game when the cores hit 100%. Sometimes when action got hot, i.e. freezing in mid-air while shotgun bouncing. Sometimes when skidding down hillsides when CPU was working hard to render more distance.

3. Four core with hyperthreading. Max fps in personal lobby 200 fps. No audio crackle. No lag due to CPU usage, only minor lag when skydiving or lag in the game lobby prior to game (which is normal).

Results and game-play experience showed hyperthreading is beneficial in Fortnite and pretty well implemented. That said I agree with grabbing GPU first and see how it goes for you. You may not experience the same and GPU isn't money down the drain.

orbitalwalsh · 22 Mar 2019 at 16:02

@Danny75

nice. will always push more cores rather then threads i3 2 core to i5 4 core nice example
now.. did you win?

Danny75 · 22 Mar 2019 at 16:18

orbitalwalsh said:
@Danny75

nice. will always push more cores rather then threads i3 2 core to i5 4 core nice example

Yep. Due to the GTX 1070 really pushing the dual core hyperthread and four core no hyperthread, both experienced about the same amount of lag in-game. However, no audio crackle with the four core. Going with an RX 580 and different settings like no shadows should help his four core not hit the limits. And if that doesn't do it, an fps limiter would.

orbitalwalsh said:
now.. did you win?

Tested it in Team Rumble mode, so I could be assured of lasting to the end and checking stats all along.

Got 17 kills with the sometimes laggy dual core hyperthreading, which isn't bad at all for my quite average standards. And proves it's still playable, really.

desm0nd · 28 Mar 2019 at 06:59

Morning chaps. Built it all together last night and it seems to be ok playing fortnite on low settings, although CPU usage seems to be quite high and I do get little stutters with low FPS. The case is a little small for my needs too.

Debating just going the whole hog and getting a new motherboard (if necessary), 16GB RAM, ryzen 5 2600 and case. Any suggestions for me? Ideally as cheap as possible, around the £300 mark. Thanks again for your help.

desm0nd · 28 Mar 2019 at 07:11

Thinking of something like this. Is the 550W PSU I purchased good enough to power the CPU?

My basket at Overclockers UK:

1 x Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 PC4-24000C15 3000MHz Dual Channel Kit - Black (CMK16GX4M2B30= £99.95
1 x Gigabyte GA-A320M-S2H V2 AMD B350 (Socket AMD4) DDR4 Micro ATX Motherboard= £51.95
1 x AMD Ryzen 5 Six Core 2600 3.90GHz (Socket AM4) Processor - Retail= £169.99
1 x Aerocool V3X Advance Evil Blue Edition Midi-Tower - Black/Blue= £26.99

Total: £359.38 (includes shipping: £10.50)