Need help with PC build please

I have a friend looking to get into FFXIV but her laptop isn't going to cut it with her graphics card. So I am looking at suggested parts for the build meeting the recommended system requirements. What I need are suggestions for the motherboard.

So if anyone can please give me a suggested model I can look-up prices.

Thanks

P.S. Thanks everyone for the replies. I can build a PC from the motherboard/processor you suggest; please just give me suggestions to such subjects. I figured I would help her go for the "recommended system requirements" or a tad below. She just wants to play and is not super dependent the appearance of the game. She just wants it to run well.

"FXIV: ARR Recommended System Requirements

For the best performance you should aim to run the game on a system with at least these specifications.
Operating System: Windows® 7 64 bit
Processor: Intel® Core™ i5
Graphics: NVIDIA® Geforce® GTX 660 or higher, AMD Radeon™ HD 7950 or higher
Memory: 4GB of RAM.
Disk Space: 20GB."

It depends on how much your friend is willing to spend.

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Originally Posted by Bloodclaw

I have a friend looking to get into FFXIV but her laptop isn't going to cut it with her graphics card. So I am looking at suggested parts for the build meeting the recommended system requirements. What I need are suggestions for the motherboard.

So if anyone can please give me a suggested model I can look-up prices.

Thanks

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Do you mean you'll be trying to build a PC with the exact minimum requirements?

I wouldn't recommend this.

Let us know exactly how much you have to spend, I'm sure you can get something that doesn't sit so low.

We're going to need more information than

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Originally Posted by Bloodclaw

laptop

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Hard to suggest parts for something we know nothing about.

The best value for performance rig you could build probably will include an i5, gtx 660 and 8 gigs of ram. Find a motherboard/case/power supply to support this and you'll be golden to play ffxiv on maximum quality for a rig that costs around 800-900 dollars.

If you want a cheap rig that will do the job look towards AMD, best price to performance you can get.

If its less than $300, get a PS3.

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Originally Posted by Taeyee

If its less than $300, get a PS3.

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Please don't. I played on PS3 and it does not compare. Wait till PS4 comes out if you really want to enjoy the game. Mobs don't always spawn on PS3 example Coerthas - Svara FATE.

I would recommend AMD FX processors too as the cost to power ratio is really good. I currently have an AMD 8 core with a Ati 7800 series video card and get decent results as long as there are not hundreds of PC's and FX on screen at the same time. I think my rig was about $800

Updated the OP.

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Originally Posted by Skyl1n3

If you want a cheap rig that will do the job look towards AMD, best price to performance you can get.

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Okay, I am up for that, what is the approx. equivalent to an i5 that you would suggest, and from there what motherboard would you suggest.

Thank you for the AMD suggestion.

AMD 8350 is sub i7 and only $200.

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Originally Posted by gadzi_h

AMD 8350 is sub i7 and only $200.

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You need a really good motherboard for any of the 8 core AMDs though, the cheap ones can't hack it on the power delivery section for the most part, the 6300 is a 95 watt and can use a cheaper board and runs most games pretty good.

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Originally Posted by gadzi_h

AMD 8350 is sub i7 and only $200.

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I can get an i5 For cheaper than that right now, and I know it works.

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Originally Posted by Bloodclaw

I can get an i5 For cheaper than that right now, and I know it works.

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Like i said the 8350 is just under the i7 much faster than the i5. Just giving you a ballpark.

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Originally Posted by gadzi_h

Like i said the 8350 is just under the i7 much faster than the i5. Just giving you a ballpark.

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I don't want to burst anyone's bubble, but current i5s are just as good (if not better... no seriously) than their i7 counterparts at gaming.

i7s are really really good at video processing and handling multiple applications at the same time flawlessly, but turn off the Hyper-Threading and you basicly have an i5 of the same speed.

A couple people I've talked with have identical PC builds to mine with the only difference being an i5 CPU over an i7 CPU and their benchmarks floor my i7 PCs by a good margin.

If you go with AMD you will most likely save money on the processor and the "good" motherboards cost about the same as their Intel equivalents.
Going with Intel you'll typically spend more on the processor and good motherboards that last a long time can be a challenge to find cheap.

As it stands right now, the best bang for your buck is probably going to be an i5. Someone in my family recently purchased a PC with an i5 at it's heart for only $450 (sans a GPU to support it).

You mentioned you could get an i5 for less than $200 now, do you know what model it is by chance?
Also, do you have a budget in mind?

yay i7!!! (why people never see it's power :'( ))

I would suggest an 8core from AMD if you are going to cut the budget. =O!

Also, don't cheap out too much on motherboard, big mistake a lot don't get. (it honestly applies to all parts, but generally good motherboard + pws shows the most =O)

i7 will offer you no advantage in gaming at this time. It is more adept at repetitive tasks like video compression, but gaming will see no difference at all between the i5 and i7.

Depending on how cheap you want, FX-6300 is probably your best bet, being decent performance on the cheap. FX-6300 is ~$110, cheap-ish mobo for $50-60, 8 gigs of whatever for $70, something like an r9 270x or cheaper old 7950 for less than $200, then cheap 1TB HD for ~$50, then case&PSU. A dirt-cheap CX-430 can power something like this if you're not overclocking.

The difference between i5 and i7 is firmware/software. FFXIV does not currently exploit the advantages of the i7.
Please note that there have been several reports of 8+ core processors causing this game to underperform on Windows based PCs (yes, you CAN play this game on Linux and OSX, see the appdb tab on winehq.org) and the reason seems to be the behavior of the OS using only one of the cores if too many exist.
Be aware that DX11 support will be coming for FFXI and that will be like a free upgrade igf you have a DX11 video card when we finally get it.

If you are looking for a motherboard suggestion, might i suggest the ASUS Gryphon X87 or the ASUS Sabertooth X87 (socket 1150). both offer solid construction, high copper content Japanese made capacitors, cool names and great performance on their PCIe slots (some manufacturers give you lower throughputs on different slots.)
a socket 1150 motherboard will allow you to use the Haswell core processors, which in my opinion, are better than the recall ridden poo fest that the ivy bridge and sandy bridge processors were. also, haswell performs better for gaming, as the threading on games is not usually very high, so the Ivy-E does not offer an advantage.
a socket 2011 motherboard will let you spend more money for no better performance

On the AMD side, don't let anyone tell you that AMD chips are awful. I am currently playoing on an ASUS crosshair III motherboard with a Phenom II x4 965 processor and it handles the game WONDERFULLY. Anything you can buy today should beat the pants off what i have.

And for reference, check out this site: passmark.com which will include spubenchmark.net and videocardbenchmark.net
you will find benchmarks for processors, video cards, hard drives, etc. in order to be better informed about what is better that what at certain tasks without having to invest the time and money of testing it yourself.

by the way, an AMD FX-9590 runs like an intel core i7 4820K

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Originally Posted by Huginn

If you are looking for a motherboard suggestion, might i suggest the ASUS Gryphon X87 or the ASUS Sabertooth X87 (socket 1150)? Both offer solid construction, high copper content Japanese made capacitors, cool names and great performance on their PCIe slots (some manufacturers give you lower throughputs on different slots).

A socket 1150 motherboard will allow you to use the Haswell core processors, which in my opinion, are better than the recall ridden, poo fest that the ivy bridge and sandy bridge processors were. Also, Haswell performs better for gaming, as the threading on games is not usually very high, so the Ivy-E does not offer an advantage.

On the AMD side, don't let anyone tell you that AMD chips are awful. I am currently playing on an ASUS crosshair III motherboard with a Phenom II x4 965 processor and it handles the game WONDERFULLY. Anything you can buy today should beat the pants off what i have.

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While I will recommend an ASUS motherboard over just about anything else because of the way they're built, did you perhaps mean the ASUS Gryphon Z87 and ASUS Sabertooth Z87 motherboards?

The "X" usually denotes the E series so I was confused and a quick Google search didn't turn up anything either.

As for the Ivy and Sandy bridge processors, I wouldn't call wolf on those. I have experience with both and have been extremely satisfied with how they've performed. :)

There's also the fact that both Sandy and Ivy bridge processors are slightly cheaper than the Haswell processors and the performance gained from Haswell being a generation newer is not all that impressive a jump for the extra money you'll spend getting one. Since it is a generation newer, the motherboards that support it are also slightly more expensive and have yet to drop in price.

Looking at what the OP has specified so far, I wouldn't recommend the Haswell bridge, but then I wouldn't recommend the Sandy bridge either seeing as it does not support PCIe 3.0.

Stick with something simple like an i5 or a well rated AMD processor if you can, if you have a bit of money and the person you're building for wants the power, you can always go with Haswell or one of AMD's stronger chips.

(I would make some AMD suggestions but I haven't had any experience with their newer processors after the Phenom II x6 1090T <<< awesome processor btw, but no longer in production.)

http://www.newegg.com/Special/ShellS...9-_-11112013_1

Newegg.com had this on a Shell Shocker deal.

3 hours to go on a $400 Gateway packing an i5 3300.
(No GPU included though)

I picked up my own computer, the price was not so expensive around 800 to $ 900 works good as it gets.

you should have a good computer that holds a few years, this is what I have almost.
Motherboard: ASUS Z87-PLUS, Socket-1150 around $ 214
CPU: Intel Core i5-4440 around $ 237
Graphic Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 660 2GB PhysX CUDA around $ 228


The price that I found is from where I live, maybe a little less expensive where you live.
I use similar but with an SSD hard drive at least but not a requirement you need to buy and a Corsair CX 600M, 600W PSU around 100 bucks for it then you need to clear a chassis if you do not already have one they are cheap as long as there is not an alienware ..
So do not buy from any store prebuild machine they 90% garbage

Why do people buy 660 gtx cards for 228 when you can get a 760 for 249.99 and 2 * 760's in SLI out performs a Titan (999$)

Also, if you can find an i5-2500k on overstock somewhere (someone that still has one), get an 1156 motherboard. That is still the best processor you can get because of it's pure overclocking potential. I've got mine overclocked on an h55 water cooler stable at 4.85 ghz, and a friend of mine has his stable at 5ghz on an h100.

And contrary to popular belief water cooling is easy. The h55 is a closed radiator. You never have to refill it, it's no harder than installing a normal air fan.

Whatever you do, make sure the processor you get is unlocked if you go the Intel route. Unlocked CPU's have a K on the end of their name. They can be overclocked. E.g. the 2500K.... I think I'll still be using this PC in 5 years and I built it in 2011, really good return on investment.

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Originally Posted by Ryios

Why do people buy 660 gtx cards for 228 when you can get a 760 for 249.99 and 2 * 760's in SLI out performs a Titan (999$)

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A reason could be power supply limitations. Not just the raw power of the unit available, but connectors as well. I've yet to see the boon in having two new(er) GPUs in a rig unless using multiple screens.

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Originally Posted by Ryios

Why do people buy 660 gtx cards for 228 when you can get a 760 for 249.99 and 2 * 760's in SLI out performs a Titan (999$)

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Why would anyone buy a 660 in general when it's overpriced for its performance? Why would anybody buy a Titan with the 780Ti now out? Why would anybody buy a 780 which is outperformed by the cheaper 290? Why are you posting 3 times instead of editing your first post? What is the air-speed velocity of an unladen swallow?

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Originally Posted by Gamemako

What is the air-speed velocity of an unladen swallow?

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African or European?

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Originally Posted by Kittra

Looking at what the OP has specified so far, I wouldn't recommend the Haswell bridge, but then I wouldn't recommend the Sandy bridge either seeing as it does not support PCIe 3.0.

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However, many motherboards that support Sandy Bridge, will also support Ivy Bridge, enabling PCIe 3.0. You will need to make sure you pickup a 3.0 board as there are some boards that do not support the 3.0

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Originally Posted by Ryios

Why do people buy 660 gtx cards for 228 when you can get a 760 for 249.99 and 2 * 760's in SLI out performs a Titan (999$)

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since person to OP asked for cheap price PC with atlest good performance + not need to be afraid to buy new one after 3 years use..

If you have a microcenter near you, you can get a 4670K Haswell i5 processor + 1150 motherboard combo package which has a $30 discount on the mobo. Buddy of mine just picked up 4670K + Asrock Extreme 3 mobo for ~300 after tax. Incredible deal and well worth it imo for gaming. i5s are just solid price/performance for the predominantly 1-2 thread gaming market right now. AMD FX processors will be a good deal in the future once more games are truly multithreaded but thats a while off, and even then I think the i5 will still perform incredibly well in those situations (enough to make it worth buying over the FX).

i'm running an i5 3570k (not overclocked) and an NVidia gtx 650

the minimum requirements seem like bullshit to me

I don't have any problems running the game at the pre-set 'high' setting. my fps almost never drops below 50, and when it does it's because of the server, not my computer.

the only problems ive ever had with the game with, according to SE, below minimum requirments, have been entirely due to SE's bad code

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Originally Posted by zdub303

i5s are just solid price/performance for the predominantly 1-2 thread gaming market right now. AMD FX processors will be a good deal in the future once more games are truly multithreaded but thats a while off, and even then I think the i5 will still perform incredibly well in those situations (enough to make it worth buying over the FX).

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4670k is pretty much the best chip you can have for gaming unless you like pissing money into the wind. Consider these benchmarks. You can run a $1000 4960x IB-E chip for a negligible improvement, but that's about it. The reason you don't bother with 4670 still is because it's $150 more for little to no improvement unless you're already dropping $400+ on a video card. If you are in the market for a 290, then by all means, go with Haswell.

//EDIT: That's not to say that either the 4670k or 4960x are improvements over their predecessors, because they really aren't.

Just wait and get a PS4. It will run the game really well and you will be able to use mouse and keyboard and basically play it like it is a PC for £350/$399.

Your friend can continue to make use of the laptop for other browsing etc.

http://www.logicalincrements.com/

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Originally Posted by Judge_Hellboy

http://www.logicalincrements.com/

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OMG! Thank you very much

Here's one I built at work the other day just messing around,
http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/Pu...umber=31673988