New PC specially for PoE

Short answer: yes

Fixed answer:

Case: Cooler Master Haf Stacker 915
GPU: Gigabyte Mini-ITX GTX 970 GV-N970IXOC-4GD
Mainboard: ASRock H97M-ITX/ac
CPU: Intel Pentium G3258
RAM: 4GBx2 DDR3/1600 KINGSTON HYPER-X
SSD: 120 GB SSD KINGSTON SATA-3
HDD: WD Blue WD10EZEX 1TB
Power Supply: Corsair 350W (VS350)

Here's a solid rule of thumb for picking out the wattage for your PSU... Just about every single PSU's "sweet spot" for efficiency (as well as durability) lies at approximately the 50% load point. (and is pretty close to that level at around 25-50% load) So, you want a PSU with a maximum rated power of double the total of whatever you'll be running. And the vast majority of the load will come from just two parts: the CPU and the GPU. (Graphics Card)

So as an example, if you have a GTX 780 (250w) and a Core i5 4690K, (89w) those combine to equal 339w. Rounding up slightly to 350-375, then multiplying by two, you get 700-750w, which would be the IDEAL kind of PSU you'd want to get. Such a PSU will run more efficiently than a lower-rated one, (given both are certified equally) which in turn means less heat, less noise, and a longer lifespan. If it's a quality unit, that means it will outlive pretty much all the other parts it's connected to, and you'll wind up re-using it for your next system.

"

Xarick wrote:

GPU: Gigabyte Mini-ITX GTX 970 GV-N970IXOC-4GD
Power Supply: Corsair 350W (VS350)

I would not recommend that sort of pairing. While the GTX 970's Maxwell architecture is vastly more efficient than the prior Kepler architecture, it still draws 145 watts. Once you stack it with the 75-90 watts for most CPUs, you're already at 2/3 of the limit, and the bit extra from the motherboard's parts, RAM, drives, etc... Will leave it pushing close to a 100% load most of the time.

While, yes, Corsair is one of the better makers of PSUs out there, (I'm currently using one of their CX430s) even then it's not recommended to fully load them; you're going to be running the thing far less efficient than it could be, and that means things are going to be hot and noisy... And even a good unit may burn out after only a couple years.

The difference between the good and bad there? The cruddy-quality PSUs will burn out in mere weeks or months (I've witnessed this!) and have poor stability the whole time... And may wind up damaging the parts its connected to.

"

Xarick wrote:

Short answer: yes

Fixed answer:

Case: Cooler Master Haf Stacker 915
GPU: Gigabyte Mini-ITX GTX 970 GV-N970IXOC-4GD
Mainboard: ASRock H97M-ITX/ac
CPU: Intel Pentium G3258
RAM: 4GBx2 DDR3/1600 KINGSTON HYPER-X
SSD: 120 GB SSD KINGSTON SATA-3
HDD: WD Blue WD10EZEX 1TB
Power Supply: Corsair 350W (VS350)

I do not understand why you changed several of the hardware OP posted. It's not bad hardware choices. Also, you don't know where the guy is from and where is he buying from. Maybe that harware is not an option, maybe that hardware is out of his budget.

Seriously, he posted a 140-160 u$d GPU and you swapped it for a 350 u$d one... . Also you picked a 145w GPU + 60w CPU (205w) + HDD/SSD combo on a bad quality 350w PSU that actually has 300w on 12v. Please, if you pick your hardware that way, read some stuff before suggesting others to make your own mistakes.

"

ACGIFT wrote:

Here's a solid rule of thumb for picking out the wattage for your PSU... Just about every single PSU's "sweet spot" for efficiency (as well as durability) lies at approximately the 50% load point. (and is pretty close to that level at around 25-50% load) So, you want a PSU with a maximum rated power of double the total of whatever you'll be running. And the vast majority of the load will come from just two parts: the CPU and the GPU. (Graphics Card)

So as an example, if you have a GTX 780 (250w) and a Core i5 4690K, (89w) those combine to equal 339w. Rounding up slightly to 350-375, then multiplying by two, you get 700-750w, which would be the IDEAL kind of PSU you'd want to get. Such a PSU will run more efficiently than a lower-rated one, (given both are certified equally) which in turn means less heat, less noise, and a longer lifespan. If it's a quality unit, that means it will outlive pretty much all the other parts it's connected to, and you'll wind up re-using it for your next system.

Yes, 50% load is the sweetspot on efficiency, but most of the time you will end up in an overkill. Also, this has stopped a bit, but there are still some PSUs out there that do this... DONT TRUST the big wattage numbers. Read the tech specs and look for the rated wattage on the 12v rail. The biggest power consumers of a PC are the GPU and the CPU + some extra for HDD/SSD/PCI stuff , and ALL that goes to the 12v rail/s.

I still see from time to time 600w PSUs that actually have 450w~ on the 12v rails.
I tend to follow the rule of trying to go a bit lower than double, but go high quality. In your example I'd pick a high quality 600-650w over a mid/low quality 700-750w, and it would be probably around the same price tag, or even lower.

Alright, here's my second try at it.

My build - http://pcpartpicker.com/p/XpXrt6
vs
OP build - http://pcpartpicker.com/p/96kBxr

I adjusted my PSU choice to a 430W, and picked an equivalent one for OP build because I couldn't find his choice from the list.

I don't know why the OP wants 16 GB of RAM though, or be using a single 240 GB storage unit. Seems kinda unbalanced.

"

Xarick wrote:

Alright, here's my second try at it.

My build - http://pcpartpicker.com/p/XpXrt6
vs
OP build - http://pcpartpicker.com/p/96kBxr

I adjusted my PSU choice to a 430W, and picked an equivalent one for OP build because I couldn't find his choice from the list.

I don't know why the OP wants 16 GB of RAM though, or be using a single 240 GB storage unit. Seems kinda unbalanced.

Thanks for the suggestion, the comparison specification looks great and to answer to your questions. I'm putting 16GB RAM in because I will be running PoE in max settings and I'm not sure if 8GB can handle it. Second, PoE maybe the only game I play now, but in the future, I maybe playing another game, which may have higher requirements than PoE. As for the 240GB, I won't be installing more than 2-3 games anyways, plus I have an external 2TB HDD already.

As long as PoE is a 32-bit application, it won't ever allocate more than 4 GB of RAM. Should it someday become 64-bit, then things change.

For a more future proof game rig, then I agree that the Pentium processor will be lacking, and with a sudden surge of 64-bit game titles, the 8 GB of RAM for the host OS will be a bit too tight as well.