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Hello everyone!
I am willing to buy a new rig, primarily for gaming and generally for demanding applications (like video-editing, multi-tasking, photo-editing etc.). I mostly play Battlefield 4, but I am looking to build a rig that can handle future games as well (coming out in 2-3 years from now). I have an LED monitor already with me, with a native resolution of 1600 x 900. Another thing is that, I will not be upgrading any time soon, after buying the new rig. My plan is to buy the following rig:
MB Asus Motherboard B85M-G for 4th Generation (Haswell)
CPU Intel Core i5-4570 Processor 6M Cache, up to 3.60 GHz(LGA1150)
RAM Corsair Vengance 8GB Kit 2X4GB 1600MHZ With Heat Sink CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9
Chassis Gigabyte Gaming Chassis GZ-G2
HDD Western Digital EARX 2TB CAVIAR GREEN 64MB 7200RPM SATAII 6GB/s
PSU Xigmatek Tauro 600W 230V Power Supply 80+ Certified
GPU GigaByte R9 270X Overclock Edition 2048MB - 256BIT - GDDR 5 - CORE CLOCK 1280MHZ

Here's the link for the shop where I will be buying the above mentioned parts:
http://www.saqiscity.com/computers-addons-in-pakistan/computers-desktops-accessories-in-pakistan.html

Now, I am confused about the following stuff:
(i) Last time I bought Core2Duo (my current rig) about 4 years ago, and at that time people were saying that "if you need to play games, a dual core will be enough". I am worried that if I buy an i5 (quad core) now, then in a matter of time, games utilizing hexa-cores and octa-cores will come out! So, should I wait for these high core'd processors to come out or will the above stated i5 processor will suffice?
(ii) Does the GPU brand matter? I mean, does it make a difference if I buy a Gigabyte R9-270X or a HIS R9-270X?
(iii) Should I go for a 1TB HDD or a 2TB? I have heard that the reliability of a HDD having more space is lesser than that having less capacity. Is this rumor true?
(iv) Does a good chassis matter?
(v) What is the effect of the MHz of a RAM on gaming performance (i.e. 1600 MHz vs. say a 1866 MHz or more)?
(vi) Will a 600W PSU be enough for the above rig?
(vii) I have had two expensive MBs gone dead, so I have become of opinion that an expensive MB doesn't mean it will have more reliability. Is my opinion true?

Plus, kindly suggest me any changes in the parts of the above rig, if required (from the link given above for my nearest computer shop).
Thanks!

(i)I think a Quad-Core CPU will be just fine. I think it will take several years before 6 and 8-core CPUs become more mainstream, so I wouldn't expect most games to take advantage of it. Games that utilize more cores will still more likely benefit from a faster graphics card, than those extra cores.

(ii)The GPU brand doesn't matter too much... except for if and when an RMA is required. I don't know who handles RMAs better in Pakistan, but it would be worth investigating.

(iii)All mechanical hard drives have horrible reliability rates now-a-days. I highly recommend solid state drives. It's the single best thing you can do for your computing experience these days. I highly recommend Intel and SanDisk. If you need tons of space, a mechanical hard drive may be the only way to go. Avoid the WD Green drives, but look for something with a good warranty from a company that handles RMAs in a timely manner.

(iv)Chassis isn't that important, but can affect cooling.

(v)The speed of the memory doesn't effect performance as much as the graphics card, and the timing only effects things by a fraction of a percent. Memory brand is another thing that doesn't matter much. Get whoever's cheapest. Memory has roughly the same fail rate regardless of manufacturer.

(vi)600W is plenty for this setup. I am not familiar with Xigmatech. I don't recommend cheaping out on the PSU. (although some cheap PSU manufacturers, like FSP, are pretty good)

(vii)Absolutely. ASUS used to be one of the best motherboard manufacturers, but currently they are horrible. I can't believe so many people recommend them. If you want a reliable motherboard, stay away from ASUS at all costs. The worst reliability coupled with a worthless RMA procedure. I highly recommend Gigabyte and ASRock. MSI's reliability isn't good either, but at least in the US, their RMA procedure is fantastic.

As a side note, I've been working with computers for roughly 25 years now, and deal with tens of thousands of computers and components every year. I know I've worded somethings strongly, but in my industry I can see the fail-rate of individual products or manufacturers on a huge scale.

My opinions are summarized below:

(i) Last time I bought Core2Duo (my current rig) about 4 years ago, and at that time people were saying that "if you need to play games, a dual core will be enough". I am worried that if I buy an i5 (quad core) now, then in a matter of time, games utilizing hexa-cores and octa-cores will come out! So, should I wait for these high core'd processors to come out or will the above stated i5 processor will suffice?
Intel's i5 series is so strong it keeps pace with AMD's 8-core CPUs. I doubt you'll find yourself wishing for more cores. Hyperthreading, the main gaming feature that the i7s have over the i5s, is only worth between -5% and +30% CPU performance depending on the application, and for gaming the i5 keeps pace with the i7s. Stick with the i5, get a 4670K or 3570K if you want some extra OCing headroom, and spend the money you save on a better GPU.

(ii) Does the GPU brand matter? I mean, does it make a difference if I buy a Gigabyte R9-270X or a HIS R9-270X?
Not really in my experience, what matters more is the cooling. Don't settle for a one-fan cooler (blower style or otherwise), the single fan will have to spin fast (aka it'll be loud). Get one with at least two fans and your ears will thank you. Check the core speeds among different OEMs, though.

(iii) Should I go for a 1TB HDD or a 2TB? I have heard that the reliability of a HDD having more space is lesser than that having less capacity. Is this rumor true?
No.
Also, in general, the larger the hard drive, the faster it will be in most applications, because the platters are denser. Get a decent 7200rpm drive and you'll be ok. I might also suggest a hybrid hard drive, SSD, or caching SSD. Your disk is where you'll notice the most speed (loading/etc) benefits from, believe it or not. The next most important thing is your GPU.

(iv) Does a good chassis matter?
Couldn't tell you really. I am using a standard plastic purple HP Pavilion 763n chassis from 2002 to house my gaming rig. It has one cooling fan in the whole thing (I have a premade CPU water cooling block which I made double as the only case fan), and temps are superb.
If it's no different to you, consider getting something on the smaller side, since those gigantic gaming cases are really... gigantic. They look cool but there's a lot of people running around with a huge ATX case, a full ATX motherboard, and then using only a single PCIe slot for their midrange GPU and a power-efficient Intel CPU. Then they have a dozen fans and lights and man it looks cool, but seriously, there are cheaper and more svelte alternatives than purchasing a brand new half-ton case. /rant

(v) What is the effect of the MHz of a RAM on gaming performance (i.e. 1600 MHz vs. say a 1866 MHz or more)?
Virtually nothing. For integrated GPUs, it matters a little more (see http://www.anandtech.com/show/7364/memo ... haswell/10), but don't pay more than $10 extra for faster RAM. It only helps your e-peen. Oh but if you can, try and swing for 6GB or more (8GB is great). Don't be afraid of dual channel issues with mismatched RAM (all modern chipsets since the Core series or so have magic trickery to access RAM as fast as possible across as many sticks as it can), just stick matching sticks into alternating slots.


(vi) Will a 600W PSU be enough for the above rig?
More than plenty. Especially with Intel CPUs, you could probably get away with about 450W. Personally I'd be looking at the manufacturer more than the power rating, only because I've seen a bad PSU blow out a GPU and motherboard. Also, many power supply manufacturers just rebrand and resell good PSUs underneath. So check up on reviews and don't be afraid to pass on a 600W no-name brand and get a 550W name-brand instead.

(vii) I have had two expensive MBs gone dead, so I have become of opinion that an expensive MB doesn't mean it will have more reliability. Is my opinion true?
No idea. I've seen brand name boards die, and no-name boards live. Look at reviews and maybe stay away from Foxconn and Jetway (from my own experience). Imo the motherboard is the only component I would consider getting an extra warranty for (but I got an ASRock and decided against a warranty anyway).

Zaeem wrote:

I have an LED monitor already with me, with a native resolution of 1600 x 900.

You may want to consider upgrading to 1920x1080 or 2560x1440 in the future. Most games and videos are designed with 1920x1080 as the target resolution.

Zaeem wrote:

Rs 9300 MB: Asus Motherboard B85M-G
Rs 22400 CPU: Intel Core i5-4570
Rs 10600 RAM: Corsair Vengance 8GB Kit 2X4GB 1600MHZ With Heat Sink CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9
Rs 5300 Chassis: Gigabyte Gaming Chassis GZ-G2
Rs 10500 HDD: Western Digital EARX 2TB CAVIAR GREEN 64MB 7200RPM
Rs 7200 PSU: Xigmatek Tauro 600W
Rs 26700 GPU: GigaByte R9 270X Overclock Edition 2048MB - CORE CLOCK 1280MHZ
========
Rs 92000 total price (about US$875), before operating system, SSD, optical drive, keyboard, mouse, speakers, etc.

Zaeem wrote:

(i) Should I wait for these high core'd processors to come out or will the above stated i5 processor will suffice?

The quad-core Core i5 Haswell is a good processor today. Don't worry about what may be coming a year or two from now. I might go for the Rs 24900 Core i5-4670 that runs at 3.4 GHz instead of the Rs 22400 Core i5-4570 that runs at 3.2 GHz.

Zaeem wrote:

(ii) Does the GPU brand matter? I mean, does it make a difference if I buy a Gigabyte R9-270X or a HIS R9-270X?

Sometimes different branded cards have different prices, different coolers or different warranties, but the performance is going to be pretty much the same. That Rs 26700 Radeon R9-270 looks okay. It is more than adequate for your low 1600x900 resolution and it would be fine at 1920x1080, but the Rs 34500 Radeon HD7950 is significantly more powerful and comes with 3 GiB of memory.

Zaeem wrote:

(iii) Should I go for a 1 TB HDD or a 2 TB?

Yes. Buy whichever one provides enough space for your needs. Note, however, that your retailer has misrepresented the speed of the Western Digital Caviar Green drives. They run at 5400 to 5900 rpm, not at the 7200 rpm speed of the Caviar blue and black drives. Don't buy that Rs 10500 WD Caviar Green 2.0 TB drive. Get the Rs 10500 Seagate ST2000DM001 2.0 TB drive, instead.

Zaeem wrote:

(iv) Does a good chassis matter?

The case matters for cooling airflow, ease of assembly and aesthetics. The Rs 5300 ATX tower that you've selected has plenty of fans. I don't see any less expensive micro-ATX options at your retailer.

Zaeem wrote:

(v) What is the effect of the MHz of a RAM on gaming performance (i.e. 1600 MHz vs. say a 1866 MHz or more)?

The effect of system memory speed when you're not using integrated graphics is quite small. PC3-14900 (DDR3-1866) is good with Haswell, but it works satisfactorily with PC3-12800 (DDR3-1600). Do look for modules that run at 1.5 V or less with CAS latency 9 or less. The huge heatspreaders on the Vengeance DIMMs that you have selected are mostly just decorative, but that Rs 10600 kit will work fine.

Zaeem wrote:

(vi) Will a 600W PSU be enough for the above rig?

A good quality 430-watt power supply (SeaSonic, etc.) would be sufficient. A 600-watt PSU from a second-tier brand may be okay. The Rs 7200 unit that you've selected has an 80+ Bronze efficiency rating and can supply 36 amperes (432 watts) output on the +12 V rail.

Zaeem wrote:

(vii) I have had two expensive MBs gone dead, so I have become of opinion that an expensive MB doesn't mean it will have more reliability. Is my opinion true?

The various manufacturers talk about the quality of the components in their high-end motherboards, but you're probably right. Asus is the leading motherboard manufacturer in the world. The Rs 9300 micro-ATX LGA1150 motherboard that you selected is fairly bare-bones.

Seriously consider getting a second Hard Drive, for back up purposes, if nothing else.

If there's wiggle room in your budget, you could always double the RAM you specified (don't worry about DDR4 for a few more years), get a 256GB SSD as your primary OS drive and use the 2TB for storage/video editing/gaming/etc..., and maybe consider going to a Sapphire R9 290 Tri-X OC?

That would (in my opinion at least), give you a machine that'll remain viable for more than a few years.

(i) Last time I bought Core2Duo (my current rig) about 4 years ago, and at that time people were saying that "if you need to play games, a dual core will be enough". I am worried that if I buy an i5 (quad core) now, then in a matter of time, games utilizing hexa-cores and octa-cores will come out! So, should I wait for these high core'd processors to come out or will the above stated i5 processor will suffice?

The i5 will be fine for a long while yet.

(ii) Does the GPU brand matter? I mean, does it make a difference if I buy a Gigabyte R9-270X or a HIS R9-270X?

For the most part it does not mater hardware wise. Where it can mater a lot is if you ever need to use the warranty. Some companies are horrible to deal with and others are great. I personally will only buy EVGA video cards just because of their great warranty. I might pay a little more but its worth it to me.

(iii) Should I go for a 1TB HDD or a 2TB? I have heard that the reliability of a HDD having more space is lesser than that having less capacity. Is this rumor true?

I would get a 2 or 4 TB drive, 7200 rpm. I would also get a 120 to 256 GB SSD for my boot drive. The "bigger they are the less they last" theory about HDD's is a rumor, ignore it.

(iv) Does a good chassis matter?

It can for two reasons. Some cases are easier to do your build in than others. You can get a cheap case and suffer through the build and hope you never have to open it up again. Then there is the cooling issue. The case you listed looks ok for cooling. Fans in the front and back with air flow on the side. I went with a white Corsair 600T because it has a 200mm fan in the front for air intake, a 200mm in the top for exhaust, and a 120mm fan for exhaust in the back.

(v) What is the effect of the MHz of a RAM on gaming performance (i.e. 1600 MHz vs. say a 1866 MHz or more)?

No effect that you will ever notice.

(vi) Will a 600W PSU be enough for the above rig?

Plenty. I would suggest sticking with a name brand because of reliability and life span.

(vii) I have had two expensive MBs gone dead, so I have become of opinion that an expensive MB doesn't mean it will have more reliability. Is my opinion true?

I honestly don't think I have ever had a MB die on me. But I do know that the flashy high priced ones are no better than one from the middle or lower end of the price range. My last two systems had a Gigabyte and a ASUS MB. Neither one has given me any problems.

Thanks a lot everyone for the detailed and satisfactory answers to my queries! I'll post in this thread, if I have any further questions!

Instead of going for the B85 chipset motherboards, I have decided to get the newer & cheaper H81 equipped motherboard. I'm confused between the (i) Gigabyte GA-H81M-DS2 & (ii) ASUS H81M-K. Which MB has better features and overall better reliability?
Also, regarding RAM, both of the above MBs have two DIMM slots and a maximum of upto 16GB of memory. So, should I go for 2x4 GB DIMMs or a single 1x8 GB DIMM (and hence retain the ability to upgrade to 16 GB later by adding an extra 8GB DIMM)?
Plus, please suggest me a good PSU under Rs. 6000 that has solid performance and will be able to run my system, from this link:
http://www.saqiscity.com/computers-addons-in-pakistan/computers-desktops-accessories-in-pakistan/power-supply.html

Thanks in advance!

Zaeem wrote:

Instead of going for the B85 chipset motherboards, I have decided to get the newer & cheaper H81 equipped motherboard. I'm confused between the (i) Gigabyte GA-H81M-DS2 & (ii) ASUS H81M-K. Which MB has better features and overall better reliability?
Also, regarding RAM, both of the above MBs have two DIMM slots and a maximum of upto 16GB of memory. So, should I go for 2x4 GB DIMMs or a single 1x8 GB DIMM (and hence retain the ability to upgrade to 16 GB later by adding an extra 8GB DIMM)?
Plus, please suggest me a good PSU under Rs. 6000 that has solid performance and will be able to run my system, from this link:
http://www.saqiscity.com/computers-addons-in-pakistan/computers-desktops-accessories-in-pakistan/power-supply.html

Thanks in advance!

There really isn't much difference between those two MB's. I would feel comfortable with either one. There isn't any real way to know which one would be more reliable than the other.

It might be cheaper to get 2x4GB DIMM's. But if you ever want to upgrade your going to have to pull both out then replace them. With a single 8GB DIMM you can just pop another in and not end up with a set of 4GB DIMMS you no longer need laying around. Then again I am not sure how important it is to have DIMMS in a matched set currently. Maybe some one else can clarify that issue for you.

The only power supplies I see on that website that fit your price range and fit your needs would be either the Cooler Master Extreme II Power 525 Watts or the Corsair VS Series™ VS550 — 550 Watt Power Supply. If it was me I think I would lean towards the Corsair PSU.