Steam Box/HTPC

[LiquidFX 135]

Ok so I currently has an AMD Radeon HD 5500 Series, Intel® Core2 Duo CPU E6750 @ 2.66GHz  ~3.2GHz, and 4 GB DDR2. Im just getting into PC gaming so Im going to be upgrading some of the internals, keeping under a budget of around $600 for upgrades. The needed parts will include CPU, motherboard, ram, and graphics card.

Input on what you recommend is appreciated.

Edited March 26, 2014 by LiquidFX

[LiquidFX 135]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

 

CPU: Intel Core i5-4570 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($184.99)

Motherboard: ASRock H87M Pro4 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($79.99 @ Micro Center)

Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($77.99 @ Newegg)

Video Card: Zotac GeForce GTX 770 2GB Video Card ($329.99 @ NCIX US)

Total: $672.96

(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)

(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-03-26 16:59 EDT-0400)

[Deihmos 147]

I remember when I use to play pc games. It just got too expensive and complicated so now I opt for devices that consume as little power as possible. Why not spend an additional $100 and get the i7? You should check out Newegg and use it with fatwallet for the cash back. What is even there to play on PC anymore?

Edited March 26, 2014 by Deihmos

[christoph86 12]

Any games in mind?  Do you want to play games on highest quality with best frames per second?  If these are important to you then you will need the beefier graphics card.  If not, there are some decent cards in the 150-200 range.

[LiquidFX 135]

I do want some good graphic settings for a 4k TV

[shaefurr 1337]

Honestly for PC gaming nowadays, id just stick with an i5 unless you're going all out on all the other components.

 

I only got maybe a 5-10 FPS boost in games going from an i3 to an overclocked i5. Where as for the price difference of an i3 - i5 - i7 would get you more FPS from using that same cash for a better GPU instead. Most games will bottleneck at your GPU and not the CPU, except in some games with a lot of physx like Planetside 2.

 

I think what you have posted there should do nicely, though I cant speak for anything at 4k since I only do 1080p. 

 

Edit: I should add I only have an i5 and overclocked 560 ti and it runs pretty much any game on high at 60+ FPS.

Edited March 27, 2014 by shaefurr

[christoph86 12]

I don't have experience myself with 4k, but the 770 should play movies just fine. From what I've read, if you want to play higher end pc games(Battlefield 4) on 4k, you would need two in SLI mode to do highest settings, but sounds like one would do fine if you lower the game graphics a bit. Again, this is only second hand info.

 

As stated above, your setup should be good to go for most games maxed for 1080.

At any rate, It will be a very noticeable improvement from your current setup.

Edited March 27, 2014 by christoph86

[shaefurr 1337]

I also think that max settings are very subjective to what size screen/resolution you play on, I run games on ultra if I can, but honestly I never notice much difference between high and ultra in any game. BF4 for instance I get 70-90 FPS on high but only 35-55 on ultra, and I barely notice on my 46". I'm sure this is probably a lot more noticeable at 4k, but here's my screens from BF4 at 1920x1080 to see the difference.

 

 

 

As far as 4k from the benchmarks ive seen you might be able to play some games on lower settings. Here's a bench of BF4 on ultra at 4k, even with 2 770's you would only average 40 FPS. But for something like an unmodded Skyrim you should be able to play at 4k on a single 770.

 

I think overall with a single 770 you can expect to get 20-40 FPS on games at ultra settings. Here's a few links with benchmarks.

 

Single 770 benchmarks http://hexus.net/tech/reviews/graphics/61201-amd-radeon-r9-280x-vs-nvidia-geforce-gtx-770-4k/?page=2

SLI 770 benchmarks http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/pq321q-4k-gaming,3620.html

 

 

Edited March 27, 2014 by shaefurr