"I need a New PC!" 2011 Thread of reading the OP. Seriously. [Part 2]
- Thread starter Hazaro
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Yes-ish. Besides how many USB ports, what they use for integrated audio, and color, the different boards perform differently. Some of the hardware review sites have benchmarks, but they're usually pretty close to each other.Tattooth said:
The most important difference is the actual layout of the board. Quite a few P67 motherboards have their memory too close to the CPU, meaning your heatsink may block the RAM (especially the RAM with heat spreaders, which is many of them), which in turn means you can only use 2 of your 4 slots. YMMV, but it's a bit harsh of a P67 (built for overclocking) to make you choose between RAM and cooling.
If you're going to spend a lot on a P67, just buy the ROG Maximus IV Gene Z instead. It's like $179, so sort of middle of the range for P67 prices, and even though it's a Z68 it's probably the best P67 you can get.
VGChampion
Member
Part list permalink / Part price breakdown by merchant
CPU: Intel Core i5-2500K 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor ($214.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock Z68 Extreme4 Gen3 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($198.49 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1333 Memory ($54.99 @ Newegg)
Hard Drive: Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($57.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Video Card: HIS Radeon HD 6870 1GB Video Card ($187.55 @ Newegg)
Case: Lian-Li PC-K58 ATX Mid Tower Case ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $774.00
Any ideas how this is shaping up to be? This is the first time I've probably even looked at PC parts in about seven to eight years so everything is completely new to me. I may go back and look at some stuff now that I've decided to go around $1,000 as well. Obviously still need to pick up a few components like the Power Supply but what about these CPU Coolers I keep hearing about? If I'm not going to overclock at all is one needed? And I haven't decided on a case 100% yet. Just saw these Lian-Li's were on sale over at Newegg.
I mean, besides knowing that the processor is pretty high end, I have no idea if any of the parts I picked are considered high end or not. I kind of assume the motherboard is higher up but I've never even looked at one of those before.
Oh, and if anyone is still reading this, are there any Blu-ray players that are well off these days? I have no need for my own personal BR burner but I wouldn't mind popping a Blu-ray TV show in my computer now and then. It's the only reason I still keep my DVDs around because sometimes I just would rather watch a show on my computer than my TV. And I know the arguments against Blu-ray at such a close range but I just don't feel like repurchasing shows just to watch them on my computer.
CPU: Intel Core i5-2500K 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor ($214.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock Z68 Extreme4 Gen3 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($198.49 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1333 Memory ($54.99 @ Newegg)
Hard Drive: Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($57.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Video Card: HIS Radeon HD 6870 1GB Video Card ($187.55 @ Newegg)
Case: Lian-Li PC-K58 ATX Mid Tower Case ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $774.00
Any ideas how this is shaping up to be? This is the first time I've probably even looked at PC parts in about seven to eight years so everything is completely new to me. I may go back and look at some stuff now that I've decided to go around $1,000 as well. Obviously still need to pick up a few components like the Power Supply but what about these CPU Coolers I keep hearing about? If I'm not going to overclock at all is one needed? And I haven't decided on a case 100% yet. Just saw these Lian-Li's were on sale over at Newegg.
I mean, besides knowing that the processor is pretty high end, I have no idea if any of the parts I picked are considered high end or not. I kind of assume the motherboard is higher up but I've never even looked at one of those before.
Oh, and if anyone is still reading this, are there any Blu-ray players that are well off these days? I have no need for my own personal BR burner but I wouldn't mind popping a Blu-ray TV show in my computer now and then. It's the only reason I still keep my DVDs around because sometimes I just would rather watch a show on my computer than my TV. And I know the arguments against Blu-ray at such a close range but I just don't feel like repurchasing shows just to watch them on my computer.
If you're interested in doing the research, I suggest you start here:VGChampion said:
Best Graphics Cards for the Money: August 2011
The first thing that stuck out to me is that you're paying more for your mobo than you are for your video card, and you're getting a kinda old video card at that. Look in the OP and seriously use the template there: what do you need it for, what's your budget, when do you need it, etc. This isn't something you want to random your way through.
PigSpeakers
Member
Okay. Here's what I got now:
My friend is telling me my power supply might not be strong enough to run everything in there, but that's what the wishlist build in the OP had together, and I haven't changed that much in there. Should I get something better? Would it matter that much?
My friend is telling me my power supply might not be strong enough to run everything in there, but that's what the wishlist build in the OP had together, and I haven't changed that much in there. Should I get something better? Would it matter that much?
Ah ok. I have the 320 and I don't think it's crapping out on me any time soon. I'll get to patching it then.Smokey said:
I'd keep the parts as is. The TX3 isn't really on par with some of the other after market coolers. If there's a Scythe Mugen or Xigmatek option those are probably better.Tonner Cyn said:
I'd sub in the ASRock Extreme 4 in the $1000 area, but that is about it.cwmartin said:
Depends on your budget really.
Come on maaaaaaaaaaan. It's in the chart! That 5400 2TB drive is just as fast (platter density).Tallshortman said:
I ran my OS on it for a while even.
That 550W will power single cards just fine.JCtheMC said:
Raidmax PSU. Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.PigSpeakers said:Hey everyone. I'm planning on getting my first dedicated PC and I want it to be a gaming PC. I've talked with some of my friends about what kind of stuff they have in their pc's and was able to get this list of things one of them has and she got it for about $600.
That's excluding a monitor. Would this build be acceptable by PC GAF standards, or should I just go for the one in the OP? Mixing and matching would be fine by me too.
5770 Nooooooooo
Well the basic ones are super basic.Tattooth said:
As you pay more you get extra power and voltage regulators, extra PCI-E slots, better onboard things, more SATA ports, BIOS features, etc.
Ok that's much better.PigSpeakers said:Okay. Here's what I got now:
My friend is telling me my power supply might not be strong enough to run everything in there, but that's what the wishlist build in the OP had together, and I haven't changed that much in there. Should I get something better? Would it matter that much?
Still swap the Seagate for the Samsung F3. Faster, quieter.
And maybe spend an extra $1 on the RAM for heatsinks.
That 430W probably delivers the same power that crappy Raidmax does with a less chance of blowing up. That 430W will power a GTX 460 and your PC fine. If you can spend more I'd suggest the XFX 550W in the OP. If modular is a want get the BP550.
bigace33
Member
Ok guys, I know SSD is the wave of the future. I know they are faster than HDDs with mechanical parts but I already have a 1 TB drive in my comp right now. Waht exactly would I do with a smaller more expensive Solid State Drive? In other words, what would be the benefits of me adding a Solid State Drive to my computer? I'm due for a major over haul of my comp before the holiday season hits and adding a Solid State Drive may be an addition if I can find a need for it.
VGChampion
Member
Caerith said:
Yeah, wasn't sure how that card was. My thought process was to pick up two of them for crossfire but I just hadn't done enough research yet. I saw the 6850's in the OP so assumed this would be better. And yeah, definitely still planning it out and all. I'm not in a huge hurry for this, just getting in that new computer in the near future phase.
Tallshortman
Member
Hazaro said:
Didn't realize the F4s were as fast as the F3s and new blacks, good to know.
I can also vouch for the quality of the ASRock p67 extreme 4. I chose it over the Asus p8p67 pro and I have thoroughly enjoyed the BIOS for overclocking and extra software it comes with for easy tweaking.
@PigSpeakers
On top of Hazaro's suggestions, you may also want to switch to an i5 2500k. It comes with higher stock clock and is unlocked so you can overclock it to squeeze out considerably more performance (it's a good overclocker). The upgrade from the 2300 is definitely worth the price imo. Micro Centers sell them for $180 in case you live near one.
Are there new WD Blacks out? Are they still $20 more expensive? I haven't checked for recent HDD benches.Tallshortman said:
I didn't even see that the CPU changed to a 2300. He never stated his budget and pulled parts from the standard one so I figured he was staying in that bracket.
2500K if you get a P67 or Z68 motherboard. Otherwise a 2400 is fine.
PigSpeakers
Member
Hazaro said:
This one?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817207013&Tpk=XFX 550W
And would it be a bad idea to not overclock? My room is normally pretty cold (coldest room in the house) and I've heard about overheating problems and shutdown.
and what are heatsinks?
PigSpeakers
Member
Hazaro said:
Budget is about $600. Not that much more. I still have student loans and gas to pay and only a part time, minimum wage job. I'm just at my wits end with this old laptop and would get something fairly capable.
Heatsinks transfer the heat off the CPU so it can run cooler, they're outright mandatory nowadays and non-OEM CPUs come with them. For overclocking though you'll want an after market solution like the Hyper 212+ everyone keeps mentioning, otherwise you'll have a fairly low limit.PigSpeakers said:
iSurvivedTheOutage
Member
Thanks Canti and scogoth. Im def gonna pick up some cat5e from amazon..drill hole through floor and run under house to other room. Thx.
If that is your budget you can up to an i5 2400 and that will last you a lot longer. Should come out to right around $600 when shipping and rebates are put together.PigSpeakers said:
Make sure you enter the coupon codes on stuff like the 430W PSU.
On that H67 motherboard you can't multiplier overclock on so it'll just stay at stock speed. Very capable though.
PigSpeakers
Member
Hazaro said:
Doesn't the video card come overclocked? Or does the OC stand for something else in the product name.
Changed to an i5 2400. Didn't realize it was only $10 more.
Eusis said:
Oh thanks! I had a vague idea about it from the name.
Also: non-k Sandy Bridge CPUs can't be overclocked, so unless you can hit a Microcenter you'd need to spend $30 more to go to an i5 2500k, then $30 (if bought from Amazon) for the Hyper 212+. If you're just sticking with the i5 2400 I wouldn't worry about that stuff, MAYBE thermal paste but I don't think I'd bother, the bundled heatsink has some stuff on already.
iSurvivedTheOutage said:
Please, for the sake of not dying of noxious fumes during a fire, make sure you spend the extra money for plenum cables http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plenum_cable
If they are too costly, I suggest a wire conduit at the very least.
I'd steer clear of crossfire/SLI unless you're sure you know what you're getting into.VGChampion said:Yeah, wasn't sure how that card was. My thought process was to pick up two of them for crossfire but I just hadn't done enough research yet. I saw the 6850's in the OP so assumed this would be better. And yeah, definitely still planning it out and all. I'm not in a huge hurry for this, just getting in that new computer in the near future phase.
Newegg has a decent selection of bluray drives and burners.
Saren is Bad
Member
Caerith said:
I'd throw my .02 in here, I have 580 SLI. I have had 0 problems whatsoever in any game. Only game I had to tweak was Witcher 2 with the bit change.
PigSpeakers
Member
Eusis said:
Alright, I'm sticking with the i5 2400, and wasn't too worried about overclocking anyways. So that one comes with a heatsink already?
PigSpeakers
Member
Eusis said:
Cool, thanks. You guys have been really helpful through this somewhat confusing process.
Why are there so many different gtx 460s on newegg? And what does the OC in the product name mean?
PigSpeakers
Member
Soi-Fong said:
Would it be a bad idea to get one that's not overclocked? I know I can get the most out of my PC by doing that, but I don't want to worry about overheating.
cartman414
Member
Hazaro said:
For anyone who's going for power, more sensible than splurging over an expensive GPU.
PigSpeakers
Member
Hazaro said:
That's what I noticed on the Newegg site.
Do I need to get a cooling system though?
@n0n44m: After evaluating the whole cooling situation with the LC17 and looking at some Z68 boards, i've decided to just go with a different case and mobo... The only thing left from the original build now is the proc and the dvd burner 
Right now:
CPU: Intel Core i5 2500K / 3.3 GHz
Mobo: ASUS P8Z68-M PRO
SSD: OCZ Agility 3 Series 120 GB
GPU: MSI R6950 Twin Frozr III Power Edition/OC
RAM: G.Skill Ripjaws-X F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL
PSU: OCZ ModXStream Pro (650W)
Case: SilverStone Grandia GD06
Cooler: Antec KüHLER H2O 620
Burner: Samsung SH-222AB
Cost: 963
Will have to throw in 2 80mm fans + filters, which will run me like 15-20.
Right now:
CPU: Intel Core i5 2500K / 3.3 GHz
Mobo: ASUS P8Z68-M PRO
SSD: OCZ Agility 3 Series 120 GB
GPU: MSI R6950 Twin Frozr III Power Edition/OC
RAM: G.Skill Ripjaws-X F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL
PSU: OCZ ModXStream Pro (650W)
Case: SilverStone Grandia GD06
Cooler: Antec KüHLER H2O 620
Burner: Samsung SH-222AB
Cost: 963
Will have to throw in 2 80mm fans + filters, which will run me like 15-20.
Tallshortman
Member
PigSpeakers said:
They all come with the stock intel cooler with pre-applied thermal paste so you're good to go. They're capable on stock speeds under heavy use so no worries there.
There are a lot of 460s because there's lots of manufacturers and each manufacturer has likely more than 1 variant. If it has OC in the name, that means the card has been factory overclocked for you so you don't have to tweak it yourself although you can further overclock it too. Check the core clock speed and measure it against the stock core clock speed of the 460.
PigSpeakers
Member
Alright, so my build is about the same as my last picture except the processor is now an i5 2400 and the psu is a xfx 550w. This all totals out at 628.92 after coupon codes, which is a little more than I'd like to spend really, but I'll deal with that part. Realistically, this should all work correctly together, right? I don't have an OS yet, but my dad says he can get me a copy of Windows 7 from someone who works at Microsoft and the monitor I can purchase somewhere else later.
childplease
Banned
Wonderful PC turns on, fans power up and then it turns off ;/ Never boots into bios nothing. One long cycle.
Anyone have any ideas ?
Anyone have any ideas ?
PigSpeakers
Member
Eusis said:
Oh shoot. I just got a disclaimer saying that my order contained an OEM/Retail CPU.
Edit: Never mind. Specs on the CPU says heatsink and fan included.
pedr0theli0n
Neo Member
I've been thinking about putting ~$700 towards a new desktop. With that budget would it be worth it to go the i5 2500k overclock route, or save on the cpu (and I guess the mobo as well) and go with the 2400 and put the money towards a good GPU? I feel like the 2400 might be plenty processor for my gaming needs, but I've just been hearing so much about the 2500k that I've kinda been set on it.
Hazaro my love, riddle me this.
When OCing my cards, I've been doing this today.
Step 1. raise shader clock by x
Step 1.5. Error/crash
Step 2. raise voltage by y, back to step 1.
When do I start raising my memory clock? Do people even bother raising their memory clocks?
When OCing my cards, I've been doing this today.
Step 1. raise shader clock by x
Step 1.5. Error/crash
Step 2. raise voltage by y, back to step 1.
When do I start raising my memory clock? Do people even bother raising their memory clocks?
Set voltage to max comfortable.Corky said:
Raise core until artifacting.
Raise memory until 'snow' or artifacting or failure.
Mem isn't too important.
Build your own.aeiko said:
Fill out the list in the OP. Define 'heavy gaming'. A $1,200 machine can do what you want.
Hazaro said:
I see, cheers
Was messing around just now and ended on 960 mhz and 1.075v and max load temps of 69c/76c, keeping in mind I'm running SLI I'm surprised at how good these cards are.
I tried for the hell of to go for broke and set both cards to 1000 mhz and 1.150v, but it failed in unigine heaven and crashed early, after a reset my pc only found one card lol. Though after a manual reboot everything was in order.
childplease
Banned
squidyj said:
Cpu fans turn on for a second, Video card does too, mobo lights turn on ram slot 1 and 2 does. Maybe a short circuit ?
JCtheMC said:@n0n44m: After evaluating the whole cooling situation with the LC17 and looking at some Z68 boards, i've decided to just go with a different case and mobo... The only thing left from the original build now is the proc and the dvd burner
Right now:
CPU: Intel Core i5 2500K / 3.3 GHz
Mobo: ASUS P8Z68-M PRO
SSD: OCZ Agility 3 Series 120 GB
GPU: MSI R6950 Twin Frozr III Power Edition/OC
RAM: G.Skill Ripjaws-X F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL
PSU: OCZ ModXStream Pro (650W)
Case: SilverStone Grandia GD06
Cooler: Antec KüHLER H2O 620
Burner: Samsung SH-222AB
Cost: 963
Will have to throw in 2 80mm fans + filters, which will run me like 15-20.
ziet er goed uit, be sure to post some pics =]
I still don't think the Antec 620 will fit though
look at this picture ... the two 120mm fans are right next to the motherboard, meaning the radiator will probably hit either VRM components or the RAM. To make things completely impossible, your DVD drive will be hanging there as well?Scythe Big Shuriken should fit though? Google around some more on this case too see some builds people have done with it =]
Corky said:
that's the way to do it usually
it depends on the card, but these days you'll raise memory clock after you've found the max core speed you are comfortable with/stable at.
It depends on the card because of the amount of memory bandwidth a card has at default. My GTX480 for example has way more bandwidth than it needs, so you'll won't really need to start raising memory clocks until you've reached a very high core clockspeed... can't really say what the situation with the 560ti is, did read that the 6950/70 benefit much more from memory overclocking
TurbulentTurtle
Member
Finally got all my components together and built it yesterday. Damn that was a lot of fun, a little scary since I didn't want to screw up a couple hundred dollar project but it seems to work fine now. This was my very first build, and I think I did okay, tell me what you guys think and what I could do better.
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