Gaming With My Custom Core i5 system!

About a year ago, I rebuilt an old system because I thought the mainboard was dead (only it wasn't).  I ended up buying an MSI MS-7850 mainboard that supported Intel CPUs.  I was coming from an AMD 6-core CPU, but wanted to try Intel's Core i5.  I settled on the Core i5-4690K (which runs at 3.50 GHz and is a 4-core CPU.  This thing is faster than my M17x R3...it should be since it's running later internals.  The system's specs are:

CPU:  Core i5-4690K @ 3.50 GHz (4-core)

Dedicated Video Card:  AMD Radeon HD 5670

Integrated Video Card:  Intel HD 4600

RAM:  8GB

Motherboard:  MSI MS-7850

Hard drive:  C drive - 233 GB; D drive - 500 GB

The video card is a spare that I had in my parts bin...it'll do some gaming but struggles with BF4 in medium settings.  The integrated video card is rather beefy compared to the ones in my other systems (especially my R3).

Anyways, my wife's car went into the shop and needed new front rotors and rear pads...the repair fee was $600 and some change, so I'll have to wait awhile to get my laptop fixed.  I can still use it but can't game with it unless I'm playing a game that is graphics-intensive (like BF4 and others).  I can play War Thunder on the integrated card but I have to dial down the configuration to its very lowest settings.  That takes away the immersion factor quite a bit and the frame rates are very low.

I decided to try War Thunder on my i5 system.  I'm using a Vizio E231-B1 23" monitor with it, connected with an HDMI cable (the video card accepts HDMI connections, which is great).  I can play with the high settings configured and still get 40fps.  It's quick, too.  No, it doesn't have a solid state drive, although I can remove the one that's in my R3 if I'm desperate (it's a Samsung 750GB 840 EVO), but I'm happy with a plated hard drive.  I've another 500GB drive that I use to replace the 233GB drive (that one replaced a bad 1-TB hard disk as a temporary solution).

About that 1-TB drive.  That's what was causing BSODs and shutdowns.  I had the machine open and my kids sat beside it while playing around...someone stepped on the SATA cable while it was plugged into the drive and it cracked the port.  I continued to use it but it must've been short-circuiting.  I misdiagnosed the issue in thinking it was a motherboard issue, only the same thing started happening with the new parts.  That's when I swapped out the hard disk for a small one, to test if it was the issue.  That was the problem.  I told my kids they owe me a big 5.25" drive.  So now I've a spare motherboard and AMD CPU that I can use to build another box (once I get the funds to get more parts -- case, RAM, CD drive, and PSU).

One thing I love about desktop systems is that I can easily replace parts, even major parts such as the mainboard (I can do that with my laptop as well, but it's a bit more complicated in removing such a part).  The reason I got a laptop machine was because I got tired of not having a gaming system when traveling.  I still swear by Alienware laptops, though...most geeks understand why after they've opened one up.  All the major parts are easily accessible and removable.