What's the difference between...

[Reapt]

Hey guys,
So I've been planning on building my gf a good gaming rig with low cost. Just a few hardware questions if anyone can answer them:
As far as gaming what's the difference between an i3 and an i5? Will she notice a difference as far as games go? What would be the best bang for a decent price? Tough it out and go i5 lower end? Or do a higher end i3?

What's the difference between a z97 mobo and a b85 and how does that apply to gaming? I know a z in unlocked and allows for OC but is that the only difference?

Is a gtx 750 ti gonna handle the same games as a gtx 760?

Thanks in advance.

 

[patonb]

Biggest question is what games?

A good i3 will easily game as good or better than an i5 due to faster clocks, unless the game is quad core capable.

Rest I don't know

 

[PP Mguire]

I3 is dual core with HT, games don't use HT.
i5 is quad.

Z series boards can overclock K class CPUs, support SLI/Crossfire, and have more of the same goodies like USB3, SATA, PCI-E slots.

Z97 has M.2 SSD slot or slots, Z87 does not.

B85 or rather H81 is pretty much always perfect for a lower end build as it carries the same basic features as the rest of the boards a normal user would want.

A 760 would be noticeably faster than a 750ti.

If you're on a tighter budget you can always get an Asus H81-E board and grab the Pentium G3258. Unlike the i3 chips the G3258 can OC on this H81 (or Z) boards. The G3258 stock can handle games fine now, but can OC higher to rival i5 and i7 performance as well.

 

[Reapt]

What do you think of this build? Anyway to trim off a few bucks?
Intel Core i5-4570, EVGA GeForce GTX 750 Ti, Enermax ECA3253-PW - System Build - PCPartPicker

 

[PP Mguire]

Easily. Get a 4460 or 4440, an H81 board, and drop the unnecessary RAM to 8GB 1600MHz the cheapest you can find. That right there should drop you about 100 bucks. Then you can get a much better PSU.

 

[steve10765]

This CPU is $20 cheaper and has better peformance(+200MHZ) http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...Code=as2&tag=bf0f9-20&linkId=6RDYHJP2OOC36VLJ

get this mobo instead Amazon.com: B85-G43 Gaming - Mainboard - ATX: Computers & Accessories

and used the saved money towards Amazon.com: MSI Computer Corp. Video Graphics Card R9 270 GAMING 2G: Computers & Accessories You will get waaaaay better gaming performance.

Better quality hard drive http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...Code=as2&tag=bf0f9-20&linkId=6GSK26UC5JJJJXJX


http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...Code=as2&tag=bf0f9-20&linkId=Q7KDCMNL2YKEAY7L

 

[PP Mguire]

The MSI he has linked is actually 88 bucks after deals. That's why I said H81 because you can get one for about 50 bucks.

The Promo code makes the RAM justifiable but only if the purchase is within the next 5 days. Although, I would still run the RAM at 1600.

5 bucks more for essentially the same HDD. There isn't any "better quality" to it. THe only difference between the Seagate/Blue and the Black drives is warranty.

 

[steve10765]

I was speaking off of information from this Three-year, 27,000 drive study reveals the most reliable hard drive makers | PCWorld
I am sure you have heard of it. As you can see the failure rates are a lot lower compared to segate. I know there can be some errors, but not THAT many to skew the results

 

[Reapt]

I think i might dish out the extra doe for this build honestly. I keep saying I want to save some doe but i really want her to have a better mobo. The price difference on the RAM is not enough to make me sway away from those bad boys. I did upgrade the PSU. In fact the same one I got in my box and I love it. I did like the idea of the 4440 though. The price difference was only like 100 bucks, I think I was being cheap. For the extra cash she can have a much better build for gaming. >.> what do you guys think?
Intel Core i5-4440, MSI GeForce GTX 750 Ti, Enermax ECA3253-PW - Bekahs build - reapt's Saved Part List - PCPartPicker

 

[PP Mguire]

Yea of course, now go read the Backblaze blog on the matter. Failure rates were typically related to vibration in the enterprise industry from many many drives being used in the same enclosure. With that being said, one can assume any "normal" consumer won't have any of the issues associated with an enterprise database setup. I've had all of my Seagate drives pretty much just tossed in a case for years without issue just like this.

My oldest being 5 years old and well outside the warranty period. Considering the fact that they are practically the same thing you're buying into the name. Same specs, same technology, same warranty, different name. And actually, 3 years ago WD bought HGST, so some of these drives with the Hitachi name could be HGST rendering different results.

Edit: I like how they mentioned this.

In fact, the company has high hopes for Seagate's new 4TB Desktop HDD.15 (ST4000DM000). Other Seagate drives are also big favorites with the Backblazers.

Those drives are 5900RPM and do not perform like the 7200RPM variants.