"I Need a New PC!" 2014 Part 2. Read OP, your 2500K will run Witcher 3. MX100s! 970!

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Do you guys know of any very DDR3 ram sticks that both overclock pretty well, are affordable and are very slim? my noctua D15 cant get outside fan on the heatsink because my ram are too tall;(
Samsung Green ram

good luck finding any

why do you want to overlook your ram? it makes.minimal difference in most applications
 
I'm definitely open to PC exclusive genres and titles (particularly strategy type games) and I like the idea of being able to run emulators, so I'm not seeing it solely as an upgraded console. I'm not totally new to PC gaming either (I have over a hundred games on Steam, mostly through Humble Bundles), but so far it's only been on my (~£400 a couple of years ago) laptop. If I bought a PS4 I'd just stick with that laptop, maybe upgrade to a mid range pre-built desktop in a year or so, whereas if I went for the PC I'd want to get something that will let me get the most out of what the PC can offer as a platform, a big part of which (for me) is the improved graphics/visual effects.
Well, all you need right now to beat Xbone/PS4 graphics is an i5 processor and a GTX750 level card or above. I advise waiting on buying a GPU if you do decide to get a PC, because AMD is doing some sort of reveal next Saturday and Nvidia's new GPUs are supposed to be revealed and go on sale by the end of September. You'll want the latest hardware if you want to push stuff like the Witcher III way past where the consoles can go graphically.
 
I'm a console gamer currently trying to decide between a PS4 and a gaming PC and I have a few questions (actually quite a lot!) Hopefully this is the right thread for these questions, if not feel free to point me in the right direction. Apologies if a lot of these have been answered before.

For me personally, the negatives of switching to PC (missing console exclusive titles (especially Sony's 1st party studios), setting up graphics options etc) are only worth it if I can get graphics and performance much greater than the PS4. Are there any good, high quality (not heavily compressed Youtube videos) comparisons of PS4 vs max settings PC games (in 1080p and 60fps where appropriate) to see the difference? I found this comparison for Battlefield 4: http://www.perfecthandproductions.com/battlefield-4-pc-and-ps4-graphics-comparison/ and the difference didn't seem that huge, but I'm only watching on a 1366x768 resolution laptop with a poor quality screen. I'll have access to a 1080p TV this weekend though, so any high quality videos I can play on my PS3 would be appreciated. Failing that, good screenshot comparisons are useful too.

Changing Graphics settings are not something you should really worry about.
Best to look at comparison shots, even those videos for download on that site would have to have a fair amount of compression (based on their length and file size).


In order to get these kinds of settings in 1080p (and preferably 60fps), do I need to be looking at the really high-end graphics cards/CPUs or are they overkill? So far I've looked at things like the i7-4790K processor and GTX 780 Ti GPU, are these about what I'd need, way more than required or not enough? If they are suitable, how long will they stay good enough (approximately)? The kinds of builds I've been looking at have been costing around £1200 (for example this: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/user/billsmugs/saved/thmmP6 which I put together with little to no research as a very rough cost estimate more than anything. I don't really know how to pick fans, PSUs, motherboards etc). What would be the (again I'm just looking for a rough estimate) minimum spend to get a PC (in the UK) that would be able to outperform the PS4 on multiplatform titles by at least a small margin for the next 5 years, say?

Best to buy a bit below the top end then use the money you saved to do an upgrade (likely GPU) a few years down the line (BTW that motherboard does not support overclocking).

It also does not take much to beat a PS4.

In terms of the ease of building a PC from parts, is it something that's easy to get wrong and cause damage to the components? Do CPUs and GPUs come with fans and heatsinks etc, or do you always need to buy them separately? What sort of failure rates do parts have and if one component breaks will it take everything else with it? If I mess up the cooling will modern components turn themselves off before damage occurs or will they just fry? How do I know when to hold off on buying parts to wait for new models or designs?

Kind of hard to get wrong, just take your time and look up info if you are not sure what to do.

Most CPUs come with heatsinks (bar the LGA2011 socket Intels) and all Graphics cards do.

It is hard to tell the failure rates.
A component breaking and taking out other things depends on the component (Likely yes if it is a PSU).

The only cooling you will really be doing is putting a heatsink on the CPU and they will shut down if they overheat.

Reading this thread is good idea if you want to know when to buy and when not to.

Moving on to the actual games, how common is it that a "big" non-exclusive title skips the PC (like GTAV or Red Dead Redemption for example)? Are Japanese games still rare to find on PC, or are they becoming more common? How many games release without controller support (where it would work, obviously, so not including RTS games etc)? Will I be at a huge disadvantage in multiplayer if I use a controller? (I play Titanfall on my laptop with a controller (and at 25-40fps for a further disadvantage) and don't seem to do too badly, but is that just that Titanfall is designed to be controller friendly in ways that other PC games are not?)

Well, GTAV is coming to PC (with the current gen console versions).

There has been lots of talk of more Japanese games coming out on PC, but I do not like them so I am not that knowledgeable on the numbers.

Lots of games support controllers, out of my Steam library of 140ish games, Steam says 57 support controllers (fully or not) and if I look at my game list I can see a ton of games that have full controller support that are not listed.

I do thing you would be at a fair disadvantage if you played FPSes with a controller on PC.

When people talk about "bad ports" of console games, what does that mean? Would performance be worse than the console versions, the same or still better? How common are such bad ports and are they often known about in advance or is it just a nasty shock for day one buyers?

It can mean many things, most of the time it does not mean that the game would run worse (bar maybe watchdogs, but I have also heard reports of problems on the PS4 version), just that it had bad menus (Boarderlands 1), locked to the same 30 FPS as the console version (NFS:The Runs), stupidly locked at the same res as the console version (Dark Souls 1) ect.
 
Ok. Ive given it some thought and rather than having my new PC sit here while I save up for a graphics card, I'm going to buy a cheaper one now.

It wont be a waste of money as im planning to move the card once im done with it into a cheaper build for a friend that will be used mostly for playing emulated games.

My current build

MSI Z87 G45 Gaming mobo

Pentium Anniversary CPU at stock 3.2ghz

8Gb of Crucial Ballistix Sport memory on a single stick

Seagate 2TB Hybrid drive

My needs:-

Want to be able to run most games at 1080/60 with clean images. As little Jaggies as possible.

Don't care all that much about Ultra textures etc. Just want the games to look clean.


11692464293_40092662a7_o.png

Something like that is fine for older games (minus the grass)

As I said before, I was going to just save until I could afford to but a 4670k and a 780ti but that is over £650 to pay on a PC currently. It makes much more sense to let prices come down a bit more and not only that, id only be buying to future proof system for the generation, which realistically still a bit to early to do.

So now im thinking whats the best bang for my buck, considering my specs?

Im not sure about AMD cards, I dont really want to be constantly messing with downloading drivers for games and I don't the sound of them running hotter.

I think my limit is going to be £200.

The build page in the OP suggests a GTX760, but am I going to get the performance I want out of that? and which brand is best? Reviews seem to raise more questions than they answer and they are based on builds that are a bit more powerful than mine.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.
 
Your build is fine, a 760 would fit nice and give good performance.

OVERCLOCK IT. The chip was designed to be pushed.

As for specific brands - Gigabyte, Asus, and Evga are are all the 'best', but any one with multiple fans is fine.
 
Your build is fine, a 760 would fit nice and give good performance.

OVERCLOCK IT. The chip was designed to be pushed.

As for specific brands - Gigabyte, Asus, and Evga are are all the 'best', but any one with multiple fans is fine.

I'm a bit worried about overclocking as I would be putting it in a HTPC case. Its a big one, but even still.


http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00DBPKEOI/

What about something like that that comes over-clocked?
 
Ok. Ive given it some thought and rather than having my new PC sit here while I save up for a graphics card, I'm going to buy a cheaper one now.

It wont be a waste of money as im planning to move the card once im done with it into a cheaper build for a friend that will be used mostly for playing emulated games.

My current build

MSI Z87 G45 Gaming mobo

Pentium Anniversary CPU at stock 3.2ghz

8Gb of Crucial Ballistix Sport memory on a single stick

Seagate 2TB Hybrid drive

My needs:-

Want to be able to run most games at 1080/60 with clean images. As little Jaggies as possible.

Don't care all that much about Ultra textures etc. Just want the games to look clean.




Something like that is fine for older games (minus the grass)

As I said before, I was going to just save until I could afford to but a 4670k and a 780ti but that is over £650 to pay on a PC currently. It makes much more sense to let prices come down a bit more and not only that, id only be buying to future proof system for the generation, which realistically still a bit to early to do.

So now im thinking whats the best bang for my buck, considering my specs?

Im not sure about AMD cards, I dont really want to be constantly messing with downloading drivers for games and I don't the sound of them running hotter.

I think my limit is going to be £200.

The build page in the OP suggests a GTX760, but am I going to get the performance I want out of that? and which brand is best? Reviews seem to raise more questions than they answer and they are based on builds that are a bit more powerful than mine.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Future-proof does not exist. There is no such thing.

You said "bang for my buck," as a criteria....if that is a criteria then you need to look at the AMD cards. They don't run hot and the drivers are fine....and they have a clear price/performance edge right now.

The 760 is a good product, but it is outperformed by the AMD offerings in the same price range.

I am hoping the 800 series will bring NV back into price parity....but I guess they might as well keep charging more because people seem to be willing to pay the Team Green Tax.
 
Yeah, It came up on my amazon feed, which lead to this whole train of thought.

That said, after hearing nothing but nightmare stories about Asus's RMA process, im going to go with this

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00DMUN9TE/

4 pound extra for piece of mind is nothing.

Well, I will say I don't know anything about different companies and their RMA process in England or Europe. ASUS has a good reputation over here in the colonies. I have owned cards with the Gigabyte windforce cooler, they are very good, cool and quiet.

The UK Amazon confuses the hell out of me. I looked a little at overclockers.uk to see what's up with UK GPU pricing to try and help you. I think you will do well with a 760. I was hoping you could get a deal on a good brand 280X for around 200 pounds....but they seem to be around 229 pounds.
 
Well, I will say I don't know anything about different companies and their RMA process in England or Europe. ASUS has a good reputation over here in the colonies. I have owned cards with the Gigabyte windforce cooler, they are very good, cool and quiet.

The UK Amazon confuses the hell out of me. I looked a little at overclockers.uk to see what's up with UK GPU pricing to try and help you. I think you will do well with a 760. I was hoping you could get a deal on a good brand 280X for around 200 pounds....but they seem to be around 229 pounds.

I think bitcon mining is keeping the pricing up on AMD cards. I have seen a few cards go for as little as £160, but its very up and down.

I think whats most important is after care support. Ive seen a few cards cheaper elsewhere, but whats most important to me is that if something does go wrong, the retailer will sort it with no issues. Even if I have to go direct to manufacturers for an RMA, I don't want it to be months before its sorted. Everything ive read about ASUS in the uk (and a recent experience a friend had with a nexus 7) suggests thats exactly what id get with them.
 
Are there any good, high quality (not heavily compressed Youtube videos) comparisons of PS4 vs max settings PC games (in 1080p and 60fps where appropriate) to see the difference?

Well, I'm not sure how well youtube videos will show the difference. For me at least, (I play games on a CRT), even at resolutions below 1080p the difference can be substantial depending on the amount of FSAA used, texture quality increase, draw distance, etc.

For example, as great as a game like Final Fantasy: RR looks on PS4, I can run the game at a slightly lower resolution on PC and bump up the Anisotropic Filtering and it looks better than the PS4 counterpart. The question is does it matter enough for me to really care, sometimes it does and sometimes it doesn't.

In order to get these kinds of settings in 1080p (and preferably 60fps), do I need to be looking at the really high-end graphics cards/CPUs or are they overkill? So far I've looked at things like the i7-4790K processor and GTX 780 Ti GPU, are these about what I'd need, way more than required or not enough? If they are suitable, how long will they stay good enough (approximately)? The kinds of builds I've been looking at have been costing around £1200 (for example this: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/user/billsmugs/saved/thmmP6 which I put together with little to no research as a very rough cost estimate more than anything. I don't really know how to pick fans, PSUs, motherboards etc). What would be the (again I'm just looking for a rough estimate) minimum spend to get a PC (in the UK) that would be able to outperform the PS4 on multiplatform titles by at least a small margin for the next 5 years, say?

In terms of the ease of building a PC from parts, is it something that's easy to get wrong and cause damage to the components? Do CPUs and GPUs come with fans and heatsinks etc, or do you always need to buy them separately? What sort of failure rates do parts have and if one component breaks will it take everything else with it? If I mess up the cooling will modern components turn themselves off before damage occurs or will they just fry? How do I know when to hold off on buying parts to wait for new models or designs?

Go to the first page, and build a system from the Haz's builds list and enjoy some PC gaming. I'd do the Good-Very Capable or Great-Best Value build or something in between. Like build a Very Capable build but use the optional i5 CPU and throw a GTX760 in it instead and cut out the SSD. That's because I'm relatively cheap and don't really care about running my games at 4k ultra sex resolution. I just want to play the damn game at a good frame rate and it look nice.


Moving on to the actual games, how common is it that a "big" non-exclusive title skips the PC (like GTAV or Red Dead Redemption for example)? Are Japanese games still rare to find on PC, or are they becoming more common? How many games release without controller support (where it would work, obviously, so not including RTS games etc)? Will I be at a huge disadvantage in multiplayer if I use a controller? (I play Titanfall on my laptop with a controller (and at 25-40fps for a further disadvantage) and don't seem to do too badly, but is that just that Titanfall is designed to be controller friendly in ways that other PC games are not?)

Keep your price point at a sub $1000 range for a PC build, then also purchase an old PS3 with PS+ for exclusives, netflix, free games, free music, nice discounts, PS1/PS2/PS3 gaming, etc.

At the moment I use my PS3 with PS+ and netflix far more than my PS4.
My PC gets tons of use as well.

When people talk about "bad ports" of console games, what does that mean? Would performance be worse than the console versions, the same or still better? How common are such bad ports and are they often known about in advance or is it just a nasty shock for day one buyers?

Eh, I never worry much about that since I rarely buy day 1 games. I just wait for games to go on sale or reviews/fixes to come out. IMO, the worst thing is when they do not provide controller support. Even if they release a game that doesn't run too hot or has no real advantages to PS4, someone will mod it and fix it soon enough.
 
I had my LG W2353-PF monitor die this morning, likely due to a power failure with the capacitors. When I plug it in the lights in the front flash for a second and then turn off again, with the touch panel not registering any inputs as well.

I generally like the picture quality of the monitor but LG has made it nigh impossible to get in there without risk of cracking the sides, plus I don't have any experience with soldering even though I do have the kit required to do it.

Does the Asus VS238H-P compare well to it as a replacement monitor or should I try prying it open to fix the power issue?
 
So I think I'll finally bulild my own Gaming PC, and while I was searching online I found the best build at the perfect price for me.but I don't know if its enough to play games on ultra or high setting, as I could go for bit higher if itsn't enough

Here's the spec:

CPU:Intel Core i7 4820K 3.7GHz 10MB LGA2011 Box
Graphics:Inno3D GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB GDDR5
Ram:Corsair Vengeance® Pro Series — 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3 2400MHz (CMY16GX3M2A2400C11R)

So what do you guys think?
 
So I think I'll finally bulild my own Gaming PC, and while I was searching online I found the best build at the perfect price for me.but I don't know if its enough to play games on ultra or high setting, as I could go for bit higher if itsn't enough

Here's the spec:

CPU:Intel Core i7 4820K 3.7GHz 10MB LGA2011 Box
Graphics:Inno3D GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB GDDR5
Ram:Corsair Vengeance® Pro Series — 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3 2400MHz (CMY16GX3M2A2400C11R)

So what do you guys think?

What do you plan on doing with it besides gaming? If you're just building it for gaming, just get 8 gigs of Ram, and an i5. With a better video card.
 
What do you plan on doing with it besides gaming? If you're just building it for gaming, just get 8 gigs of Ram, and an i5. With a better video card.


So to play games like Skyrim and GTA at ultra setting I won't need a high CPU?

I already have a PC with An i5 and 4 gigs of Ram, so I only need to upgrade my Ram ,and a GeForce GTX 780.
Anything else you would recommend to me?
 
Okay, so a couple questions:

1. I'm going to upgrade to a GTX 880 when they get released (unless there's a compelling reason not to) from my GTX 680 2GB, and I was wondering what to do with the old card. I can't imagine that it sells second-hand for very much since it's just the totally stock one that I bought on its launch day, and I had the idea to use it as a dedicated PhysX card. Is that overkill? Would the power it would be sucking to run not be worth it? Looking for opinions on this one.

2. I haven't messed with watercooling before, save more my desire to get a closed loop one from either Corsair or NZXT for my processor. However, this has been eclipsed by a new idea proposed in a video review for this case here: http://www.nzxt.com/product/detail/143-h440-performance-mid-tower.html

I'm in love with that case, the looks and how quiet it tried to be, and what was proposed was two triple radiators, one along the top and one along the front side (it can fit those) with high static pressure fans on both. I assume one radiator would connect to the CPU and the other to the GPU, but since I've never messed with anything like that, I have no idea where I would even begin. Any information there would be extremely helpful and greatly appreciated

I want the fastest possible machine without being a jet engine like my current build, and I'm willing to pay for it
 
I think bitcon mining is keeping the pricing up on AMD cards. I have seen a few cards go for as little as £160, but its very up and down.

No one mines Bitcoins on GPUs (and have not for years)! What people have been mining is scrypt based currencies (like Litecoin) and the price of them has leveled out at such a price that demand for GPUs to mine them would not be high at all.
 
So to play games like Skyrim and GTA at ultra setting I won't need a high CPU?

I already have a PC with An i5 and 4 gigs of Ram, so I only need to upgrade my Ram ,and a GeForce GTX 780.
Anything else you would recommend to me?

which i5?

just add another 4GB (or more). coupled with GTX 780, it can play most game @ 1080p@60
 
Thanks for all the replies guys. I have one more question that might be a bit weird.

I use my computer for work as well and as such, need a dual montior display. Ive checked unboxing vids for the gigabyte 760 and it doesnt come with a DVI cable, but the card only has one HDMI port.

Is it possible to use a VGA cable connected to the motherboard while the graphics card installed and connected to another display via hdmi?. I dont want to go out and buy a cable tomorrow as im a bit busy.

I know I could always leave installation until I have the cable but id rather put it in as soon as I get it.
 
Well, all you need right now to beat Xbone/PS4 graphics is an i5 processor and a GTX750 level card or above. I advise waiting on buying a GPU if you do decide to get a PC, because AMD is doing some sort of reveal next Saturday and Nvidia's new GPUs are supposed to be revealed and go on sale by the end of September. You'll want the latest hardware if you want to push stuff like the Witcher III way past where the consoles can go graphically.
I won't be buying before September/October and I'll possibly wait until around December. Do computer components have January sales, or do older parts go down in price when newer ones come out?
Best to buy a bit below the top end then use the money you saved to do an upgrade (likely GPU) a few years down the line (BTW that motherboard does not support overclocking).
How far below the top end would you recommend? I probably wouldn't be overclocking anything, but it makes sense to try not to limit my options. Are motherboards that support overclocking much more money (and is there an easy way to tell whether they do or not)?
Kind of hard to get wrong, just take your time and look up info if you are not sure what to do.
Most CPUs come with heatsinks (bar the LGA2011 socket Intels) and all Graphics cards do.
The only cooling you will really be doing is putting a heatsink on the CPU and they will shut down if they overheat.
Is it worth getting a third party heatsink/fan? Will it be quieter or last longer, or are they not worth the money for non-overclocked components?
Go to the first page, and build a system from the Haz's builds list and enjoy some PC gaming. I'd do the Good-Very Capable or Great-Best Value build or something in between. Like build a Very Capable build but use the optional i5 CPU and throw a GTX760 in it instead and cut out the SSD. That's because I'm relatively cheap and don't really care about running my games at 4k ultra sex resolution. I just want to play the damn game at a good frame rate and it look nice.
The main performance bottleneck on my current laptop for general (non-game) use is the hard drive, so I'll probably get a smallish SSD for the OS. I'll definitely look at the recommended builds though.
Keep your price point at a sub $1000 range for a PC build, then also purchase an old PS3 with PS+ for exclusives, netflix, free games, free music, nice discounts, PS1/PS2/PS3 gaming, etc.
I've got a PS3 (and a Vita). PS2 games I'd rather emulate on the PC where possible.

Thanks to everyone for the replies and help!
 
Is it worth getting a third party heatsink/fan? Will it be quieter or last longer, or are they not worth the money for non-overclocked components?

Yes, I can't even hear my current CPU heatsink. The stock one, was really annoyingly loud. It may also last longer, because the temperatures are lower on a better heatsink, then on a stock heatsink, but CPU's are very reliable these days, so that shouldn't be that much of an issue.

Just speaking from my experience, though. :P

Edit: The heatsink I'm using is the CM Hyper 212+. For 25€ I really can't complain.
 
Has anyone from the UK actually ended up with a v2 benq xl2411z? I'm not even sure now if there are literally any in the wild here. Just contacted overclockers, they obviously don't have a clue either and say if they have v2s. This is like a wild goose chase, from what I've heard it seems retailers and benq aren't really bothered about whether consumers end up with a v2 or not. A real shame. I'm not keen on chancing this.


I mean this is what I got back from ocuk :

Thank you for your webnote
I am sorry the manufacturer does not state what version the stock was and on inspection of the box it also does not state the version number. We do have new stock which would increase the chance of it being a new version but I can't guaranty this.
Regards,

I mean seriously? How lazy is this. Is it really that hard to contact the bloody manufacturer and get a definitive answer on what the hell the firmware is. Or just open one up and check? Seriously it seems every supplier in the UK simply can't be bothered. Unbelievable.
 
I won't be buying before September/October and I'll possibly wait until around December. Do computer components have January sales, or do older parts go down in price when newer ones come out?

When new parts come out the price should go down (note that after some time you will only find places with old cards that have not sold due to the stupid price they have put on them).

How far below the top end would you recommend? I probably wouldn't be overclocking anything, but it makes sense to try not to limit my options. Are motherboards that support overclocking much more money (and is there an easy way to tell whether they do or not)?

i5 instead of i7 and R9 290 instead of 780TI, not much performance difference but much less costly.
Any Intel motherboard with a chipset starting with a "Z" supports overclocking, the others do not.

Is it worth getting a third party heatsink/fan? Will it be quieter or last longer, or are they not worth the money for non-overclocked components?
They can be quieter and keeping your CPU at a lower temp will do no harm, but there is not much point without overclocking.

Thanks to everyone for the replies and help!

NP.
 
I just bought a windowed side panel for my Fractal R4. Originally got the non-windowed model, but a year later decided to buy this. The noise isn't that different, not checked temps yet.


Also ordered some white LEDs from Amazon like a true 26 year old gangster. Now everyone
who comes in to my room and looks under my desk
will have a clear view of my off-center CPU cooler and graphics card with some droop going on.

Ballin'
 
So I think I'll finally bulild my own Gaming PC, and while I was searching online I found the best build at the perfect price for me.but I don't know if its enough to play games on ultra or high setting, as I could go for bit higher if itsn't enough

Here's the spec:

CPU:Intel Core i7 4820K 3.7GHz 10MB LGA2011 Box
Graphics:Inno3D GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB GDDR5
Ram:Corsair Vengeance® Pro Series — 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3 2400MHz (CMY16GX3M2A2400C11R)

So what do you guys think?

This kind of rig is not aimed for gaming. First you are on the X79 platform, which supports Sandy Bridge-E and Ivy Bridge-E CPUs only. The latter being about 10% slower clock for clock against the current gen Haswells on Z87 and Z97 platforms.

This rig is intended for someone who is more concerned about CPU longevity, as the X79 platform will allow upgrades to the 6 core 3930k/4930k from the 4 core 3820/4820k CPUs. Therefore you are spending a lot on the premium motherboard and CPU and not spending enough on the GPU. If you were not on a normal budget and wanted workstation capabilities in the future, then this could be a good way to do it (although Haswell-E is right around the corner).

If you are not interested in overclocking, then X79 probably isnt the way to go either, because of the relatively low clock speeds when you compare the 4820k to the 4970k. And if you arent going to overclock, then you can go for a H87/H97 board with a i5 4570 or i7 4970. The non-K chips dont allow overclocking, and the H series boards dont either, so you can save a bit of money here.

On the RAM, 2400Mhz is unnecessary unless you are specifically doing some work that is tied to RAM bandwidth, the normal 1600Mhz CAS 9 is enough for gaming. 1866Mhz if you find it reasonably priced compared to 1600Mhz and of similar CAS latency, CL10 preferably. Just to ad, the X79 platform uses quad channel ram, so you ideally would want 4x4GB for 16GB of RAM. Personally im running fine with 8GB no problems.

With all that said, the spare money should go towards the GPU, as in most cases this will be the limiting factor in fps.

A GTX 750Ti, is not enough to max the latest games at 1080p 60fps. You would be looking at a R9 290/GTX 780. When i say "max", i mean every single setting cranked up. If you are happy to run 2xAA, and High Textures in upcoming games, a GTX 760 or R9 280 would be ideal. The current VRAM situation is a bit of a muddle too, with nVidia only providing 2GB on their midrange, whilst AMD providing 3GB. I think only WatchDogs and Titanfall is making any use of it, although in Assetto Corsa ive gone over 2400MB of VRAM with 24 cars online. That game is Early access however, so somewhat unoptimised.
 
How big would the difference be if I got a dedicated sound card as opposed to my motherboard one. Bearing in mind I only use headphones (Astro A50), which are connected via optical/usb.

Current motherboard: Gigabyte Z97 UD3H
Possible sound card: Creative Sound Blaster Z
 
How big would the difference be if I got a dedicated sound card as opposed to my motherboard one. Bearing in mind I only use headphones (Astro A50), which are connected via optical/usb.

Current motherboard: Gigabyte Z97 UD3H
Possible sound card: Creative Sound Blaster Z
None
 
How big would the difference be if I got a dedicated sound card as opposed to my motherboard one. Bearing in mind I only use headphones (Astro A50), which are connected via optical/usb.

Current motherboard: Gigabyte Z97 UD3H
Possible sound card: Creative Sound Blaster Z

No difference at all since its a digital signal. Analogue signals are what are made better using sound cards as these need to go through DAC's.

The only way it may make a difference is if the audio is being re-sampled from something like 24bit 48kHz to 16bit 44.1kHz on the onboard due to lack of support. But even this will be so hard to hear.
 
No difference at all since its a digital signal. Analogue signals are what are made better using sound cards as these need to go through DAC's.

The only way it may make a difference is if the audio is being re-sampled from something like 24bit 48kHz to 16bit 44.1kHz on the onboard due to lack of support. But even this will be so hard to hear.

Thats what I figured, saves me 100$
 
Here's what you do.

1) Get a less expensive 650W PSU if you aren't ever planning for SLI (and you really have to be willing to do all those things people negatively associate with PC gaming for it to work all of the time). EVGA G2, Seasonic X660, Seasonic G650, Corsair RM650, CoolerMaster VM650. Those are all the absolute best of the best.
2) Get a less expensive motherboard like the Gigabyte Z97 UD3H, or something else from the OP. Unless you specifically know why you are getting the Ranger, it's not worth it.
3) Get 1600MHz memory. There's zero benefit to gaming with increased memory speed. It's only worth it if you have a specific application that is going to use that increased bandwidth.
4) That saves you ~$200, which you then use to buy the best single GPU available, and a sound card (if you use headphones)
5) And yeah, go with the 4790K.

How about these tweaks

PCPartPicker part list: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/JZFYRB
Price breakdown by merchant: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/JZFYRB/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor (£236.34 @ Aria PC)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i 77.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler (£78.73 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: Asus MAXIMUS VII RANGER ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£124.00 @ Aria PC)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£117.79 @ Scan.co.uk)
Storage: Crucial MX100 512GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£149.20 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 780 Ti 3GB TWIN FROZR Video Card (£489.59 @ Overclockers.co.uk)
Case: Corsair Air 540 ATX Mid Tower Case (£98.95 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: EVGA 850W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (£94.99 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £1389.59
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-08-16 14:19 BST+0100

I have stuck with the MoBo as i have heard good things about the on board sound so i shouldn't need an additional sound card and its only £25 more than the gigabyte. I have changed the PSU to a cheaper version but not gone as low as the 650 just in case i choose to SLI in future. I could save an additional £15 by reducing the 850 to a 750 PSU.

Have I gone overboard on the GPU?

In terms of fans I was thinking of going with the 3 Corsair 140s for the case and 2 corsair static pressure for the radiator do the LED versions impede performance i.e. are they a gimmick and i should just stick to LED strips?
 
Can anyone recommend a good WiFi card? Either USB or PCI works. Option A is to wire it, but I don't think that's going to work out right now.
I've got something similar to this card (I wouldn't be surprised if it is this card).

I won't be buying before September/October and I'll possibly wait until around December. Do computer components have January sales, or do older parts go down in price when newer ones come out?
Computer components are kind of perpetually on sale by vendors like Newegg, but CyberMonday in November is when Amazon likes to toss tons of stuff like graphics cards on deep discounts. You can occasionally find them in the daily Gold Box deals, but it's a crap shoot most of the time.

How far below the top end would you recommend? I probably wouldn't be overclocking anything, but it makes sense to try not to limit my options. Are motherboards that support overclocking much more money (and is there an easy way to tell whether they do or not)?
Generally you want to aim for whatever i5-####K processor is on sale, since most PC games generally don't use a lot of processor cores efficiently enough to justify multithreading i7s. Not sure about the price difference between overclocking mobos and non-overclocking ones, but overclocking boards are usually identified by the Z## model number.

Is it worth getting a third party heatsink/fan? Will it be quieter or last longer, or are they not worth the money for non-overclocked components?
Definitely if you're overclocking and probably if you live in an area where your room gets pretty warm during the day. It should be quieter, but that depends on the stock fans on your CPU cooler and the new heat sink. My stock i5-3570K was pretty quiet since I never overclocked it, but my Hyper 212 Evo's fan can be pretty noisy when it revs up to high RPMs whenever my overclocked CPU gets hot.
 
How about these tweaks

PCPartPicker part list: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/JZFYRB
Price breakdown by merchant: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/JZFYRB/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor (£236.34 @ Aria PC)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i 77.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler (£78.73 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: Asus MAXIMUS VII RANGER ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£124.00 @ Aria PC)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£117.79 @ Scan.co.uk)
Storage: Crucial MX100 512GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£149.20 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 780 Ti 3GB TWIN FROZR Video Card (£489.59 @ Overclockers.co.uk)
Case: Corsair Air 540 ATX Mid Tower Case (£98.95 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: EVGA 850W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (£94.99 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £1389.59
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-08-16 14:19 BST+0100

I have stuck with the MoBo as i have heard good things about the on board sound so i shouldn't need an additional sound card and its only £25 more than the gigabyte. I have changed the PSU to a cheaper version but not gone as low as the 650 just in case i choose to SLI in future. I could save an additional £15 by reducing the 850 to a 750 PSU.

Have I gone overboard on the GPU?

In terms of fans I was thinking of going with the 3 Corsair 140s for the case and 2 corsair static pressure for the radiator do the LED versions impede performance i.e. are they a gimmick and i should just stick to LED strips?

Looks good, forget about the extra/replacement fans, and forget about LED's, unless you really do think they look good. IMO tacky. Stock fans with the H100i are fine. Also from my use of H80i, the 'i' version is not really worth it, yes it allows monitoring of pump speed and some temperatures, but the excess cabling wasnt worth it. Looks tidier just to connect fans to the Motherboard headers and control from there. As for pump RPM, youll know if pump fails without looking at rpm. Only plus is the aesthetic of the 'i' series pumps.

I think you need 2 cables, one to connect the pump to the onboard USB, and another cable that connects to the fans. Then a 3rd cable that powers the pump via molex. Gets a bit messy imo.
 
Welp, it finally happened:(
My precious 12 year old iiyama crt monitor is dead.
I had problems with it before a year ago (some static interference that thankfully went away after a few days, and some horizontal lines at the very top which aren't visible when the screen it dark at the top) but now it's really fucked.
The image is deformed like an hourglass and the monitor menu settings to change the shape and width of the image no longer work suddenly.

I need a new monitor asap:\ I actually have some good hope that we'll finally see some oled monitors in a year or two (since 10+inch panels appear in tablets now and I've seen a few expensive oled tvs in store folders) so I don't want to spend too much right now.

Any suggestions under 250 euros?
requirements:
no input lag
no IPS as I want to use it for gaming
no grainy matte coating (I don't mind if it's a mirrorlike gloss coating, I'm used to crt monitor reflections don't bother me)
lowest possible response time (hate blur, hence why I don't want ips)
hopefully not totally garbage contrast and colors
Preferably 24 inch or less

I've asked around about monitors before but that was a year ago.

I'm so sad
 
Welp, it finally happened:(
My precious 12 year old iiyama crt monitor is dead.
I had problems with it before a year ago (some static interference that thankfully went away after a few days, and some horizontal lines at the very top which aren't visible when the screen it dark at the top) but now it's really fucked.
The image is deformed like an hourglass and the monitor menu settings to change the shape and width of the image no longer work suddenly.

I need a new monitor asap:\ I actually have some good hope that we'll finally see some oled monitors in a year or two (since 10+inch panels appear in tablets now and I've seen a few expensive oled tvs in store folders) so I don't want to spend too much right now.

Any suggestions under 250 euros?
requirements:
no input lag
no IPS as I want to use it for gaming
no grainy matte coating
lowest possible response time (hate blur, hence why I don't want ips)
hopefully not totally garbage contrast and colors
Preferably 24 inch or less

I've asked around about monitors before but that was a year ago.

I'm so sad

You might need to stretch your budget a little, but I'd really look into 144Hz monitors. I think thats exactly what you need.
 
I'm using a hd6870 atm, gaming at 144hz isn't an option right now, and as I said I really don't want to spend more than 250 euros, I will compromise on anything but input lag, and would like a low response time.
Just asking which out of all the semi affordable pva/tn panel turds is the least stinky for gaming right now.

edit: just noticed the monitor recommendations in the OP ,for some reason I thought the Op didn't cover monitors
 
Looks good, forget about the extra/replacement fans, and forget about LED's, unless you really do think they look good. IMO tacky. Stock fans with the H100i are fine. Also from my use of H80i, the 'i' version is not really worth it, yes it allows monitoring of pump speed and some temperatures, but the excess cabling wasnt worth it. Looks tidier just to connect fans to the Motherboard headers and control from there. As for pump RPM, youll know if pump fails without looking at rpm. Only plus is the aesthetic of the 'i' series pumps.

I think you need 2 cables, one to connect the pump to the onboard USB, and another cable that connects to the fans. Then a 3rd cable that powers the pump via molex. Gets a bit messy imo.

In that case should i plump for the 105 or the 90
 
It's a solid build but the 580 is starting to show its age now. A new video card and that would be a top build. PSU in that is crazy but I am guessing this is a used build. Most games should be able to hold 30 at 1080p, in fact most will hold 60.

Thanks for the response! yeah I'd definitely need to upgrade the GPU in a year or so, but I think that can wait a few months.

By the way, I'm also looking at another one. Would you by any chance know which of the two is better (pricing is more or less the safe, give or take 50 €) :

MOB: MSI P67A-GD53
CPU: 2500K, not OC's, with Corsair H60 cooling
GPU: Asus GeForce GTX 580, 1536MB, DirectCU II
RAM: 12GB DDR3 1600MHz CL9
SSD: OCZ Vertex 3 120GB 2.5" SATA3
HDD: 2x WD Caviar Black 1TB 7200rpm
POW: 550w, not sure which model

or

MOB: ASUS Maximus IV Gene-Z
CPU: i7 2600K, OC'd @ 3,8ghz, with Zalman 10x cooler
GPU: MSI GTX 580 twin frozr II 1,5GB oc edition
RAM: Kingston HyperX 12GB Kit (3x4GB Modules) 1600MHz DDR3
SSD: OCZ vertex 3, 240gb
POW: OCZ zx series 1250w


edit: I suppose it's basically about the video cards, MSI GTX 580 or Asus GTX 580... look pretty much alike and I don't find a lot of comparison material on Google...
 
How hard is it to transfer all data fro one SSD to another?

I have a 128GB SSD on the PC I built last year and its nearly full. I'm thinking I should upgrade to a larger one now.
 
Thanks for the response! yeah I'd definitely need to upgrade the GPU in a year or so, but I think that can wait a few months.

By the way, I'm also looking at another one. Would you by any chance know which of the two is better (pricing is more or less the safe, give or take 50 €) :

MOB: MSI P67A-GD53
CPU: 2500K, not OC's, with Corsair H60 cooling
GPU: Asus GeForce GTX 580, 1536MB, DirectCU II
RAM: 12GB DDR3 1600MHz CL9
SSD: OCZ Vertex 3 120GB 2.5" SATA3
HDD: 2x WD Caviar Black 1TB 7200rpm
POW: 550w, not sure which model

or

MOB: ASUS Maximus IV Gene-Z
CPU: i7 2600K, OC'd @ 3,8ghz, with Zalman 10x cooler
GPU: MSI GTX 580 twin frozr II 1,5GB oc edition
RAM: Kingston HyperX 12GB Kit (3x4GB Modules) 1600MHz DDR3
SSD: OCZ vertex 3, 240gb
POW: OCZ zx series 1250w


edit: I suppose it's basically about the video cards, MSI GTX 580 or Asus GTX 580... look pretty much alike and I don't find a lot of comparison material on Google...

2nd build is better, i7>i5 and lot better motherboard.
Although still not optimum, these boards run dual channel ram, so multiples of 2 ram modules are the best configuration. The onl difference to care about on the GPUs is the cooler. The stock OCs will have such a small impact and can easily be replicated on any GTX 580.

No idea about that OCZ PSU however.
 
I'm using a hd6870 atm, gaming at 144hz isn't an option right now, and as I said I really don't want to spend more than 250 euros, I will compromise on anything but input lag, and would like a low response time.
Just asking which out of all the semi affordable pva/tn panel turds is the least stinky for gaming right now.

edit: just noticed the monitor recommendations in the OP ,for some reason I thought the Op didn't cover monitors

this sucks, the asus vs238H-P isn't in stock anywhere
the benq is but it's like 280 euros:(
Does it have to run in 144 hz mode to get any kind of decent response times?
 
How hard is it to transfer all data fro one SSD to another?

I have a 128GB SSD on the PC I built last year and its nearly full. I'm thinking I should upgrade to a larger one now.

If it's just files that you want then it's an easy copy and paste. If you're trying to copy everything including the os, then you need some kind of migration software. You'll also need a usb to sata cable. A few months ago I bought this ssd: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00E3W19CE/?tag=neogaf0e-20

It comes with the cable and samsung data migration software (though I think it's a free download from their website anyway) which made it easy to swap out the hdd in my laptop for an ssd.
 
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