"I Need a New PC!" 2015 Part 1. Read the OP and RISE ABOVE FORGED PRECISION SCIENCE

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You have a few options depending on your budget and motherboard model. You might be able to upgrade to an AMD FX-6XXX or 8XXX processor if your motherboard supports it. If you can afford it, I'd recommend upgrading to Intel processor and motherboard, though, it'll be more capable for a few years longer.

What kind of games do you play? Any specific examples? You might not need a processor upgrade. Is your Phenom overclocked?

The motherboard is a gigabyte GA-770T. It looks like thats AM3 and not AM3+. The phenom currently isnt overclocked. And yeah iv thought about starting over with an i5 or i7.. but that would be the pricey-route. I play mostly rpgs and adventures and im not overly concerned with FPS or maxing games out. But i do presently have the witcher 3 preordered and it occurs to me this card will probably not run it :P
Thanks for the help!
 
Can anyone familiar with GTX 970 cards advise me on a purchasing decision?

It looks like many 970's have rebates or sales right now. I am specifically looking at these two on Newegg.

Gigabyte:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125684

MSI:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127832

I'm not really sure I understand the difference between the two. The MSI is cheaper and I do have an MSI "gaming" motherboard. I will be running games at 1080p only.

After poking around GAF, I can see that many people suggest getting a "2.0+" cooler for a 970 card. Do either of these have the newer cooling methods?

Thank you for any help you can provide! I start to get lost with the shear amount of UPCs available for 970s, even from the same company.
 
Ok I decided to grab a Titan X instead of waiting for the fabled 980ti, will the NEX650G PSU be enough to safely run it for the time being while I wait to get a new one?

Your power supply should have no problem powering the Titan X.


The motherboard is a gigabyte GA-770T. It looks like thats AM3 and not AM3+. The phenom currently isnt overclocked. And yeah iv thought about starting over with an i5 or i7.. but that would be the pricey-route. I play mostly rpgs and adventures and im not overly concerned with FPS or maxing games out. But i do presently have the witcher 3 preordered and it occurs to me this card will probably not run it :P
Thanks for the help!

Is it the older GA-770T-USB3 or the newer GA-770T-D3L? The cheaper solution might be to buy a decent CPU cooler and look into overclocking your processor for some added performance at minimal cost. CPU coolers are a good investment, they usually come with multiple mounting brackets so you can carry it over to a new PC build if needed.

Technically your processor already meets the minimum requirements, but your graphics card is quite old and doesn't meet the minimum. It looks like you may need a graphics card upgrade at the very least, then.
 
Assuming you're in the US, you can get 2x8GB for $100 or less. What are your system specs? Including current RAM model. It'd be best to get something that matches your current RAM and motherboard well.

Biostar TZ77B/these
I suppose I could just order again, but they're not $49 anymore so I'm not very attached to their mediocre timings. On the plus side, that does mean that I have no clearance issues to worry about.
 
Is it the older GA-770T-USB3 or the newer GA-770T-D3L? The cheaper solution might be to buy a decent CPU cooler and look into overclocking your processor for some added performance at minimal cost. CPU coolers are a good investment, they usually come with multiple mounting brackets so you can carry it over to a new PC build if needed.

Technically your processor already meets the minimum requirements, but your graphics card is quite old and doesn't meet the minimum. It looks like you may need a graphics card upgrade at the very least, then.

Yeah its the USB3, from about 5+ years ago. That sounds like it might be the way to go if i can find the right cooling solution. And im leaning towards maybe an nvidia card in the $200ish range.. not sure.
 
Can anyone familiar with GTX 970 cards advise me on a purchasing decision?

It looks like many 970's have rebates or sales right now. I am specifically looking at these two on Newegg

Gigabyte:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125684

MSI:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127832

I'm not really sure I understand the difference between the two. The MSI is cheaper and I do have an MSI "gaming" motherboard. I will be running games a 1080p only.

After poking around GAF, I can see that many people suggest getting a "2.0+" cooler for a 970 card. Do either of these have the newer cooling methods?

Thank you for any help you can provide! I start to get lost with the shear amount of UPCs available for 970s, even from the same company.

I added both to cart to see the overall price and they're OK, nothing amazing, though.

If you check the price tracker, they've sold for similar prices in the past:
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/gigabyte-video-card-gvn970g1gaming4gd
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/msi-video-card-gtx970gaming4g

Pairing an MSI graphics card with an MSI motherboard won't give you any benefit in terms of performance, although it'll be matching color scheme which is a nice bonus if you have a case window. If you don't care about that, then there are cheaper and better GTX 970 cards available. The Gigabyte GTX 970 Windforce (with the lower factory overclock) is available for $295 after rebates and discounts. You can always overclock the graphics card yourself fairly easily following a guide, so if you don't mind it, it's a better deal than the Gigabyte G1 Gaming edition.

The remarks about the "ACX 2.0+" cooler are referencing EVGA's newer GTX 970 models which have improved coolers and an added zero fan speed mode at low temperature. EVGA's GTX 970s are generally priced very competitively. The EVGA GTX 970 SSC (SuperSuperClocked) edition is better than the MSI Gaming 4G on paper and was available for around $325 ($315 after $10 rebate) for the last week or two according to the price tracker, but it seems the sale just ended a couple of hours ago.

Right now there is the EVGA GTX 970 FTW edition which is their second best model and has a relatively high factory overclock. It is currently selling for $315 after $56 of discounts including rebates so that's a pretty good price.
 
Can anyone familiar with GTX 970 cards advise me on a purchasing decision?

It looks like many 970's have rebates or sales right now. I am specifically looking at these two on Newegg.

Gigabyte:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125684

MSI:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127832

I'm not really sure I understand the difference between the two. The MSI is cheaper and I do have an MSI "gaming" motherboard. I will be running games at 1080p only.

After poking around GAF, I can see that many people suggest getting a "2.0+" cooler for a 970 card. Do either of these have the newer cooling methods?

Thank you for any help you can provide! I start to get lost with the shear amount of UPCs available for 970s, even from the same company.

The 2.0 thing refers to EVGA cards, like this; IIRC on the initial EVGA models the cooler was placed slightly offset, that's been fixed in these newer models.
I don't know anything about the Gigabyte or MSI cards, only that the Gigabyte is quite long, check that you have enough room in your case.
 
Biostar TZ77B/these
I suppose I could just order again, but they're not $49 anymore so I'm not very attached to their mediocre timings. On the plus side, that does mean that I have no clearance issues to worry about.

Alright, well I recommend this kit of 2x8GB PNY 1600MHz RAM for $95 including free shipping. Same speed, slightly less latency compared to your existing RAM, and it's even shorter so no worries about CPU cooler clearance. There shouldn't be any incompatibilities, although you never know with RAM.

Yeah its the USB3, from about 5+ years ago. That sounds like it might be the way to go if i can find the right cooling solution. And im leaning towards maybe an nvidia card in the $200ish range.. not sure.

If AMD is an option, the R9 290 will be a stronger card than the GTX 960. The XFX R9 290 is $240 after $30 of discounts and rebates. The GTX 960 competes with and is roughly on par with the R9 280/285, so here's a comparison to give you an idea of the difference in performance.

The usual go-to recommendation for CPU coolers is the Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo which is around $30. That should add up to around or just under $300.
 
Amazing Information

Right now there is the EVGA GTX 970 FTW edition which is their second best model and has a relatively high factory overclock. It is currently selling for $315 after $56 of discounts including rebates so that's a pretty good price.

Thank you RGM79 and ricki42 for your responses!! I really appreciate you both chiming in with your expertise. I will check out the EVGA GTX 970 FTW edition. It looks like that might be the best bang for my buck that I can get right now.
 
Just to update this thread, it turns out that my power supply was starting to fail. I sent it to seasonic for rma and yesterday I got an email with a tracking number for my replacement. It should be here Monday and then I can use my pc again. :)
 
i kind of messed up buying ram, originally had 2x2GB (this was like 2008 so it was ok back then) then i upgraded and bought 2x2GB. i would like to get 16GB but i would have to throw out all my ram, which just feels like a waste.

dat price though

xe0tiJs.png


i guess prices for RAM went up because that is such a cheap price (this was in 2012 btw).

also i just realized how old some of my reused components are.

one of my HDDs has 49,382 power on hours and my antec power supply is from 2009 and still kicking. def gonna stick with antec power supplies forever with this kind of use.

edit: is there a PC chit chat/community thread? wanna share my thoughts on my new upgrades but this doesn't feel like the right thread.
 
Hooray for SSDs

mjsWRxq.jpg



1.35V, 4.5GHz ezpz

Out of the ~30+ Sandy 2500K and 2600Ks I've overclocked, I've never met one that didn't do 4.5 at 1.35V.

You'll see improvements in: RTS/Strategy games, MMOs, anything UE3 or Source, and most multiplayer games. Probably not a significant difference in raw FPS, but they'll run smoother and have much lower 99th Percentile frame times.

Is this the vcore setting that I'm upping to 1.35v, and I shouldn't touch anything else other than that, plus setting the cpu ratio to 45?
 
Thank you RGM79 and ricki42 for your responses!! I really appreciate you both chiming in with your expertise. I will check out the EVGA GTX 970 FTW edition. It looks like that might be the best bang for my buck that I can get right now.

pm'd. i'm looking to sell my 970 FTW+.
 
So, I just upgraded my PSU and GPU in no small part thanks to this thread, and I wanted to hop back in to say thanks. I salute anyone that deals with PC hardware regularly, because it seems like really tough work. All of that delicate hardware, potential hardware errors that may be difficult to diagnose, compatibility, etc... It's a lot to keep track of.

The one thing I wasn't expecting was how hazardous manual upgrading can be. I got three small, distinct cuts on my fingers thanks to the edges and rock solid placement of the hardware... and there was blood on the case to prove it. Part of the problem was that it was really tough to disconnect some of the stuff, let alone getting other things back where they belong. And keeping track of what goes where was nearly my downfall as I tried to put the CPU power plug into the wrong spot.

So, yeah.. /salute


Anyways, I do have more questions for y'all:
  1. I got an EVGA GTX 970, and I'm wondering whether I should use the Nvidia drivers from EVGA's site, or the official drivers from Nvidia directly.
  2. How do you go about storing the old hardware? I want to keep both the old PSU and GPU in case things go horribly wrong and I need to RMA or something.
 
So, I just upgraded my PSU and GPU in no small part thanks to this thread, and I wanted to hop back in to say thanks. I salute anyone that deals with PC hardware regularly, because it seems like really tough work. All of that delicate hardware, potential hardware errors that may be difficult to diagnose, compatibility, etc... It's a lot to keep track of.

The one thing I wasn't expecting was how hazardous manual upgrading can be. I got three small, distinct cuts on my fingers thanks to the edges and rock solid placement of the hardware... and there was blood on the case to prove it. Part of the problem was that it was really tough to disconnect some of the stuff, let alone getting other things back where they belong. And keeping track of what goes where was nearly my downfall as I tried to put the CPU power plug into the wrong spot.

So, yeah.. /salute


Anyways, I do have more questions for y'all:
  1. I got an EVGA GTX 970, and I'm wondering whether I should use the Nvidia drivers from EVGA's site, or the official drivers from Nvidia directly.
  2. How do you go about storing the old hardware? I want to keep both the old PSU and GPU in case things go horribly wrong and I need to RMA or something.

It's best to get the latest drivers from Nvidia. For the latest games you'll need it, you'll see a good boost in performance for games like GTAV.

If you don't still have the boxes for your old hardware, I'd just put them in the boxes for the new power supply and graphics card. For safe-keeping, put the graphics card in the anti-static bag that your new graphics card came in.
 
It's best to get the latest drivers from Nvidia. For the latest games you'll need it, you'll see a good boost in performance for games like GTAV.

If you don't still have the boxes for your old hardware, I'd just put them in the boxes for the new power supply and graphics card. For safe-keeping, put the graphics card in the anti-static bag that your new graphics card came in.

That's a good idea.

Thanks a lot.
 
Installing my first CLC this weekend. Any recommendations on configuration/installation? Went with the new GTX, I guess I'll let you know how it goes.. I know its new.

H100iGTX_3D.png


It's going in a Corsair 800d, which is a notoriously bad case for air flow, so it will likely have to be exhaust with how my case is set up right now (intakes on the bottom and front, exhaust on back and top)... do you guys recommend push or pull? (not going push/pull)

I suggest having the fan pull cool air in through the radiator. That is:

Room : Case : Fan -> : Radiator

If possible I also suggest having a top mounted fan pulling the hot air out of your case.

I don't have an H100iGTX, but if it's anything like other versions it'll have good water cooling, but very poor fans. If noise is an issue I strongly suggest checking out other fans.

Of the ones I've tested the H55; which is supposed to be the quietest, was very loud. I changed the fan to the one that came in my case and it's much quieter with the same cooling.
 
This build OK to order? I followed OP so it should be good, but I don't want to screw this up. All from Microcenter except GPU.

Case: Corsair Carbide Series 200R Mid Tower ATX Computer
GPU: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 Overclocked GDDR5 Pcie Video Graphics Card, 4GB (windforce, apparently a long card, appears to fit inside the case, but can anyone confirm?)
CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz LGA 1150 Boxed Processo
Motherboard: ASRock Z97 PRO4 LGA 1150 ATX Intel Motherboard
SSD: Crucial MX100 Series 128GB SATA III 6Gb/s 2.5" Int
PSU: EVGA 600B 600 Watt ATX Power Supply
HDD: WD Blue 1TB 7,200 RPM SATA III 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Intern

Still need to find some RAM.
 
Gaf? I need help with a decision here...

I've been saving money on the side for a while to buy a decent PC.

I've got almost £700 saved up.

The thing is... I'm living in the UK but am from a € country. Will £700 buy me the same PC as 1000€ or should I buy it back home and bring it with me on the plane?

Also, as far as smaller cases go, I'm leaning towards a Bitfenix Prodigy. Any suggestions for alternatives?
 
Gaf? I need help with a decision here...

I've been saving money on the side for a while to buy a decent PC.

I've got almost £700 saved up.

The thing is... I'm living in the UK but am from a € country. Will £700 buy me the same PC as 1000€ or should I buy it back home and bring it with me on the plane?

Also, as far as smaller cases go, I'm leaning towards a Bitfenix Prodigy. Any suggestions for alternatives?

Which country are you from?

This build OK to order? I followed OP so it should be good, but I don't want to screw this up. All from Microcenter except GPU.

Case: Corsair Carbide Series 200R Mid Tower ATX Computer
GPU: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 Overclocked GDDR5 Pcie Video Graphics Card, 4GB (windforce, apparently a long card, appears to fit inside the case, but can anyone confirm?)
CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz LGA 1150 Boxed Processo
Motherboard: ASRock Z97 PRO4 LGA 1150 ATX Intel Motherboard
SSD: Crucial MX100 Series 128GB SATA III 6Gb/s 2.5" Int
PSU: EVGA 600B 600 Watt ATX Power Supply
HDD: WD Blue 1TB 7,200 RPM SATA III 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Intern

Still need to find some RAM.

Looks fine. According to the Windforce's official product page it is 310mm long, and the 200R's product page says it supports graphics cards up to 420mm long.
 
i kind of messed up buying ram, originally had 2x2GB (this was like 2008 so it was ok back then) then i upgraded and bought 2x2GB. i would like to get 16GB but i would have to throw out all my ram, which just feels like a waste.

dat price though

xe0tiJs.png


i guess prices for RAM went up because that is such a cheap price (this was in 2012 btw).

also i just realized how old some of my reused components are.

one of my HDDs has 49,382 power on hours and my antec power supply is from 2009 and still kicking. def gonna stick with antec power supplies forever with this kind of use.

edit: is there a PC chit chat/community thread? wanna share my thoughts on my new upgrades but this doesn't feel like the right thread.
This thread gets chit chatty. Go for it.
 
Sold my PS4.

I'll consider picking one up again later...but Star Citizen, Warhammer Total War and NBA 2k15 PC got me thinking.

So far, to replace my PS4 I've got...

Fractal Design Mini-ITX case
Kingston V300 SSD
ASUS H87I-PLUS Mini-ITX motherboard
CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM

Remaining components to get before I start putting this baby together...
Intel Core i5-4590
EVGA GTX 750 Ti

Going to have to wait a month or two to grab those. Then come summer...

Hopefully I can pick up another PS4 around the Uncharted 4 release.
 
Portugal.

Are there any Portugese retailers you know of that you might prefer to order from? I don't mind looking through them to make a parts list. I've looked at novoatalho.pt and globaldata.pt in the past.

Sold my PS4.

I'll consider picking one up again later...but Star Citizen, Warhammer Total War and NBA 2k15 PC got me thinking.

So far, to replace my PS4 I've got...

Fractal Design Mini-ITX case
Kingston V300 SSD
ASUS H87I-PLUS Mini-ITX motherboard
CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM

Remaining components to get before I start putting this baby together...
Intel Core i5-4590
EVGA GTX 750 Ti

Going to have to wait a month or two to grab those. Then come summer...

Hopefully I can pick up another PS4 around the Uncharted 4 release.

Are those new or used parts? Just so you know, the V300 isn't that good, Kingston was doing some shady parts swapping under the same name with that SSD. The H87 motherboard may need a BIOS update before it'll work with the i5 4590 processor.

if you had to build a pc around a 7870(saving it for a friend) for under $500 what would you use?

Are you in the US? I'd probably be looking for an i5 processor. Maybe an SSD if it fits in the budget.
 
Are there any Portugese retailers you know of that you might prefer to order from? I don't mind looking through them to make a parts list. I've looked at novoatalho.pt and globaldata.pt in the past.



Are those new or used parts? Just so you know, the V300 isn't that good, Kingston was doing some shady parts swapping under the same name with that SSD. The H87 motherboard may need a BIOS update before it'll work with the i5 4590 processor.



Are you in the US? I'd probably be looking for an i5 processor. Maybe an SSD if it fits in the budget.

All parts are new from NewEgg. Other than Kingston, if I were looking for a 120GB SSD which mfg would you recommend?
 
All parts are new from NewEgg. Other than Kingston, if I were looking for a 120GB SSD which mfg would you recommend?

Crucial comes well recommended around here. The BX100 and MX100/200 product lines are their go-to models. The rest of them are older and discontinued.
 
Ahh, here you go. Page 1-7 of your motherboard manual has this diagram.



I am not actually sure if it will run in quad channel mode, though. You will actually need to install the 6 RAM modules into those specifically marked slots and see if the BIOS says it is running in quad channel mode.
Thanks, will kook into this.
I've had little time to look into this on my own and no I am not entirely in the dark and mute to how to do my own fix his but as I said, time hasn't been on my side so thank you for looking that up for me.
 
What are your current specs? You can probably reuse parts from your old PC to help with the costs, as $500 actually isn't a lot.

Sold the PC already (currently on laptop) only have some parts left.

Intel Core i3-4330
EVGA GTX 560
Cruical Ballistix Sport DDR3 8GB RAM
Corsair CX600M
 
Edit: nvm, looking at the anticipated Broadwell-C specs, they do not look impressive at all standing next to Devil's Canyon.

Edit2: Appreciate the reply regardless, RGM79.
 
Are there any Portugese retailers you know of that you might prefer to order from? I don't mind looking through them to make a parts list. I've looked at novoatalho.pt and globaldata.pt in the past.

Thanks for those! Globaldata seems nice. There is a slight price difference from those to here in the UK but not significant enough to justify anything... I guess I'll see in a couple of months so you don't need to bother for now. I would appreciate some help in one thing, concerning my build:

I'm going for the "Great - Best value" build, but with i7 (I know it's mostly pointless, it's essentially just for peace of mind and so I won't have to change it for a long while), 16gb ram, ~500gb ssd, haven't settled on a GPU but looking for longevity, forgoing soundcard and drive for now.

Now... the heatsink. And here's where I want your help. I want it to be as silent as possible. This is the one point where I don't mind spending as much as needed to make sure I get the quietest machine possible even if it means having to wait 3 more months for it... Recommendations? (Obviously don't really need the best of the best, but I want it to be very quiet).

All this on a small form factor case like the prodigy. This is non-negotiable as it being easy to move is a necessity.

Currently at £700 so I might have to wait a couple more months before pulling the trigger to make sure I can afford the machine I really want.
 
So. In a fit of impulse, I bought the 4790k. And the GTX 960 4GB.

This will be me tomorrow morning or whenever I get my CC bill back.

oh-god-what-have-i-done.gif


On a more serious note: I'm picking up the MSI H97M-G43 tomorrow or Saturday. The Gigabyte GA-H97M-D3H is about $10 more while the MSI is on sale. There's probably no discernible difference between the two boards, right? So I should get the cheaper one?
 
Couple questions:

I plan on building a brand new PC in August; won't bring my old PC with me for part recycling after I move.

Is unlocked Skylake anticipated to come out in 2015? WCCFtech's articles don't make it clear one way or the other. They say Skylake-S is supposed to come out in 2015, and apparently the K series are considered a subfamily of the S variant?

But because I'm anticipating that Broadwell-K processors would be available by September, I wouldn't expect unlocked Skylake until early 2016. I guess I can hold off on building my PC if there is good speculation to believe that unlocked Skylake would be coming out in 2015.

Next question, since Broadwell-K is using the same Z97 chipset as Haswell refresh, have many motherboard manufacterers historically updated the BIOS with the newer stock? For example, in August can I expect Newegg to advertise an Asus Maximus VII motherboard as "Broadwell ready"? I've never updated a BIOS before (never had to) and screwing that up seems far less forgiving than having an unstable overclock.

Maybe I should just get X99 and be done with it...

I'm not sure where you're getting that Skylake is 2016. All news would seem to indicate that Skylake is intended to be released around October of this year. Broadwell also being released in the middle of this year seems to have no bearing on Skylake's release. The rumors (and they're only rumors) seem to say that Broadwell will have a short life and only two desktop Broadwell processors will be available - one overclockable i5 and one overclockable i7 processor.

http://www.vrworld.com/2015/03/25/i...cpus-for-desktop-skylake-debuting-in-october/
http://www.fudzilla.com/news/processors/37342-skylake-s-desktop-coming-by-october

As for motherboards, some companies have already started labeling some socket 1150 motherboards as being supporting or being ready for "5th generation Intel" processors, although I expect that retail stocks of socket 1150 motherboards won't be compatible out of the box until a few weeks after Desktop Broadwell's launch, as it will take a few weeks for new stock to trickle in. While updating the BIOS inherently comes with risks, as long as you take the proper precautions, it's relatively fast and painless. Just don't update the BIOS from within Windows. Most manufacturers offer multiple ways to update the BIOS, and some higher end motherboards come with backup BIOS in case the primary BIOS is incorrectly flashed, or have other recovery procedures.

Thanks for those! Globaldata seems nice. There is a slight price difference from those to here in the UK but not significant enough to justify anything... I guess I'll see in a couple of months so you don't need to bother for now. I would appreciate some help in one thing, concerning my build:

I'm going for the "Great - Best value" build, but with i7 (I know it's mostly pointless, it's essentially just for peace of mind and so I won't have to change it for a long while), 16gb ram, ~500gb ssd, haven't settled on a GPU but looking for longevity, forgoing soundcard and drive for now.

Now... the heatsink. And here's where I want your help. I want it to be as silent as possible. This is the one point where I don't mind spending as much as needed to make sure I get the quietest machine possible even if it means having to wait 3 more months for it... Recommendations? (Obviously don't really need the best of the best, but I want it to be very quiet).

All this on a small form factor case like the prodigy. This is non-negotiable as it being easy to move is a necessity.

Currently at £700 so I might have to wait a couple more months before pulling the trigger to make sure I can afford the machine I really want.

Noctua has a good reputation for quiet cooling. Their heatsink fans also come with low noise adaptors that reduce fan speed for even less noise. There are also noise-dampening cases from various brands (Fractal Design, Cooler Master, Silverstone, etc) and quiet power supplies (XFX, Seasonic, Corsair, Super Flower, etc).

I agree, you should come back in a couple of months. By that time, new processors and motherboards may already be out.

So. In a fit of impulse, I bought the 4790k. And the GTX 960 4GB.

This will be me tomorrow morning or whenever I get my CC bill back.

oh-god-what-have-i-done.gif


On a more serious note: I'm picking up the MSI H97M-G43 tomorrow or Saturday. The Gigabyte GA-H97M-D3H is about $10 more while the MSI is on sale. There's probably no discernible difference between the two boards, right? So I should get the cheaper one?
Performance-wise, there's little to no difference. Did you figure out if you still want that wifi adaptor card or not? That Gigabyte motherboard only has two PCI-E slots, of which one will be used for your graphics card, and the second for your planned USB 3.1/type C card.
 
A long while back, he said that his work requires 4GB VRAM and Nvidia CUDA. He doesn't really have any cheaper options.
Ah, yeah that's definitely not the usual case.
I may be mucking with a 970 that has no business being in my computer
 
Just to update this thread, it turns out that my power supply was starting to fail. I sent it to seasonic for rma and yesterday I got an email with a tracking number for my replacement. It should be here Monday and then I can use my pc again. :)

This is why I always have a spare power supply. The last time I rma'd a power supply it was to Thermaltake and it took them 3 months to get a new one sent to me, they're turn around time sucks.
 
Performance-wise, there's little to no difference. Did you figure out if you still want that wifi adaptor card or not? That Gigabyte motherboard only has two PCI-E slots, of which one will be used for your graphics card, and the second for your planned USB 3.1/type C card.

Yeah, I noticed that late last night, but was already in bed so I couldn't edit my post :D I found my 802.11g USB adapter so I should be good to go on that front. I'll pick up the USB C card a little while later.

You didn't get a 970 or a 290 why? It's okay just return it :P

A long while back, he said that his work requires 4GB VRAM and Nvidia CUDA. He doesn't really have any cheaper options.

Yeah, it's either get this card or the 740... so I picked the 960. I really wish I could get the 290, but necessity beckons.
 
I almost got it now - somehow I can't manage to find the supercharged EVGA graphics card here:

What differenciates these 3?

1
2
3

And would all of them fit in this case?
I can't find any specifications on that - it's getting a tad frustrating :P
 
I almost got it now - somehow I can't manage to find the supercharged EVGA graphics card here:

What differenciates these 3?

1
2
3

And would all of them fit in this case?
I can't find any specifications on that - it's getting a tad frustrating :P

They should fit in the case, according to your link your case can take cards up to 309.88mm. According to Newegg the cards are 10.1"=256.5mm.
The 3 cards have slightly different clocks:
1: 1050MHz, boost 1178MHz
2: 1190MHz, boost 1342MHz
3: 1140MHz, boost 1279MHz
though you may well be able to overclock all cards to the same frequency.
They also have different outputs:
1+3: 2xDVI, 1xHDMI, 1xDisplayPort
2: 1xDVI, 1xHDMI, 3xDisplayPort
This only matters if you want to connect more than one monitor.
Number 2 has the improved cooler design.
 
Looking to build a PC from scratch for gaming, game development (UE4), and maybe some playing around with GPGPU stuff.

I've decided on a 5820k, don't really care if it's overkill. I will overclock it to around 4ghz, nothing crazy.

Here's what I've roughed out:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-5820K 3.3GHz 6-Core Processor ($300.00 @ Local microcenter)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i 77.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: MSI X99S SLI Plus ATX LGA2011-3 Motherboard ($159.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (4 x 4GB) DDR4-2666 Memory ($189.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($207.89 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Hitachi Deskstar 7K2000 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($59.90 @ Amazon)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 980 4GB Superclocked ACX 2.0 Video Card ($539.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Fractal Design Define R5 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair CX 600W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($59.99 @ NCIX US)
Monitor: Asus PB278Q 60Hz 27.0" Monitor ($429.99 @ Micro Center)
Total: $2137.72

I have no idea what mobos/ram/etc are good so I just picked randomly. I do want 16GB ram, 512GB ssd, 2TB hdd. I won't pull the trigger until after the AMD 390 is released because I'd like to support the underdog if they're reasonably competitive.

Can anyone help optimize this build? Thx
 
I have a quick question about RAM. Does it matter if I mix sizes? I want to get a bit more, and it will be the same brand, but is there any benefit to 4X4GB as opposed to 2X4GB+8GB?
 
Is this the vcore setting that I'm upping to 1.35v, and I shouldn't touch anything else other than that, plus setting the cpu ratio to 45?
Yup.

Good ol' Sandy Bridge, you're so easy..
Looking to build a PC from scratch for gaming, game development (UE4), and maybe some playing around with GPGPU stuff.

I've decided on a 5820k, don't really care if it's overkill. I will overclock it to around 4ghz, nothing crazy.

Here's what I've roughed out:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-5820K 3.3GHz 6-Core Processor ($300.00 @ Local microcenter)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i 77.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: MSI X99S SLI Plus ATX LGA2011-3 Motherboard ($159.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (4 x 4GB) DDR4-2666 Memory ($189.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($207.89 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Hitachi Deskstar 7K2000 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($59.90 @ Amazon)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 980 4GB Superclocked ACX 2.0 Video Card ($539.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Fractal Design Define R5 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair CX 600W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($59.99 @ NCIX US)
Monitor: Asus PB278Q 60Hz 27.0" Monitor ($429.99 @ Micro Center)
Total: $2137.72

I have no idea what mobos/ram/etc are good so I just picked randomly. I do want 16GB ram, 512GB ssd, 2TB hdd. I won't pull the trigger until after the AMD 390 is released because I'd like to support the underdog if they're reasonably competitive.

Can anyone help optimize this build? Thx
I like everything other than the PSU. Since you're on an Enthusiast socket chip, I would not muck around with budget PSUs.

This EVGA G2 750 is a stupid good price right now.

Additionally, if you can hold out, I suggest you wait for the ASUS MG279Q. It'll be a bit more expensive, but 120Hz has a anecdotally supported good chance of reducing eye strain during long development hours.
 
Looking to make some upgrades, wanna spend about £300 and thinking mobo and cpu are best (gpu is old I know but not a heavy gamer on PC.. Mostly WoW etc).

My current build:

CPU: AMD FX-8350 4.0GHz 8-Core Processor
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i 77.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler
Motherboard: Asus M5A97 R2.0 ATX AM3+ Motherboard
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory
Storage: Kingston SSDNow V300 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 760 2GB Video Card
Case: Fractal Design Define R4 w/Window (Black Pearl) ATX Mid Tower Case
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12II 620W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/RSBS DVD/CD Writer

Should I get:

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor
Motherboard: Asus Z97-PRO ATX LGA1150 Motherboard

Halp guys!

Another alternative is downsizing my case to the Bitfenix Prodigy and getting the Mini ITX version of the Mobo.
 
Per my recs above, I didn't see that EVGA PSU was refurbished. I suggest this one instead: https://pcpartpicker.com/mr/newegg/seasonic-power-supply-ssr650rm

or: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...cm_re=m12ii_620_bronze-_-17-151-095-_-Product


Looking to make some upgrades, wanna spend about £300 and thinking mobo and cpu are best (gpu is old I know but not a heavy gamer on PC.. Mostly WoW etc).

My current build:

CPU: AMD FX-8350 4.0GHz 8-Core Processor
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i 77.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler
Motherboard: Asus M5A97 R2.0 ATX AM3+ Motherboard
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory
Storage: Kingston SSDNow V300 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 760 2GB Video Card
Case: Fractal Design Define R4 w/Window (Black Pearl) ATX Mid Tower Case
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12II 620W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/RSBS DVD/CD Writer

Should I get:

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor
Motherboard: Asus Z97-PRO ATX LGA1150 Motherboard

Halp guys!

Another alternative is downsizing my case to the Bitfenix Prodigy and getting the Mini ITX version of the Mobo.
You'll see significant improvements by going to an Intel Proc in MMOs, especially WoW. The per-thread performance on the 8350 is atrocious.
 
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