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"I need a New PC!" 2012 Thread. 22nm+28nm, Tri-Gate, and reading the OP. [Part 1]

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ok.. well the wife has given me the go ahead to build a new computer..I haven't built a gaming rig in over 10 years but I know I can still do it.

my budget is about $1k max and I need a monitor and an OS.

HELP!! is my best bet to just build a computer based off the guide in the OP???

thanks GAF!

Edit:

How does this look? I know its all stuff in the OP.

1PYYi.jpg



am I missing anything? better deals?? etc.. etc..

anyone? I think I might go ahead and do it.
 

th3dude

Member
anyone? I think I might go ahead and do it.

Pretty solid for $1k considering you need a monitor and OS ($300). So really, you are on about a $700 budget.

My only concern is that you may be left wanting a bit with the 560. If possible, look for a 560ti . Heck, even in our very own buy/sell/trade thread, a 570 can be had around $200. I'm running 2.5gb SLI from that I bought from that thread for a total of $420.

I'm not an expert on PSUs either, so a bump in GPU may need a small bump in PSU. But again, I'm not sure.

Edit: I should rephrase. The 560 is a fine card. Great reviews and everything. Just gives me the impression that there's a better deal out there.
 
Pretty solid for $1k considering you need a monitor and OS ($300). So really, you are on about a $700 budget.

My only concern is that you may be left wanting a bit with the 560. If possible, look for a 560ti . Heck, even in our very own buy/sell/trade thread, a 570 can be had around $200. I'm running 2.5gb SLI from that I bought from that thread for a total of $420.

I'm not an expert on PSUs either, so a bump in GPU may need a small bump in PSU. But again, I'm not sure.

Edit: I should rephrase. The 560 is a fine card. Great reviews and everything. Just gives me the impression that there's a better deal out there.

thanks for the tip. should I just eat it and get a GTX570 then? its only $50 more then the 560ti.

edit: lol I think I will stick with the 560 to keep my build cheap right now...
 

th3dude

Member
thanks again for the help man!

You're welcome :)

You'll love the 2500k. I built almost the same rig last fall (with a 560ti) and it is great. The enthusiast in me overpowered me and I upgraded to 570 SLI, but that's the nature of building PCs lol.

That system will purr for you.
 

MrBig

Member

I would go with the WD drive. I've had 10+ WD drives and all of them still work. 4 seagates and all but one of them died. The fourth one I bought because of the SSD caching and it's still doing fine in my laptop; the OEM one it shipped with not so much though. I'd get a 64gb SSD and do an SRT set up if your mobo supports it. It'll really help with culling large files from your HDD.

Having 4 seperate sticks of RAM is fine, but getting a kit would be better because they are all binned to work together. The Samsungs are hard to find as a kit though.
 

K' Dash

Member
I need someone versed on Cases to help me, I was going to buy my case today, a HAF 912, but the fucking shity computer place I was going to buy from is OOS of that one, the only Cooler Master they have is the Cooler Master Storm Scout and is $130.

Could somebody please take a look at this and tell me if it's a good case, better than the 912?
 

th3dude

Member
thanks again for the help man!

Thinking more. You may want to wait for someone else to chime in on if they think 450w is enough for a 560 and 2500k.

Especially if you plan to overclock (which is the point of the 2500k). I notice in the OP they recommend a 550w for this build.
 
Thinking more. You may want to wait for someone else to chime in on if they think 450w is enough for a 560 and 2500k.

Especially if you plan to overclock (which is the point of the 2500k). I notice in the OP they recommend a 550w for this build.

Yah I just noticed this and will change it.

thx
 

dmann

Member
What would the HDD of choice be for a media drive? The drive I'm using now has been kind of finicky lately, and checking up on the SMART information, it's basically telling me I need to replace it.

Was thinking an F4, but apparently those have already been handed off to Seagate. With all that involves, I'm hesitant and looking at other options. Doesn't need to be particularly fast, or even big for that matter. Probably wouldn't want to go less than 640GB, but that's what I'm using now and it's not full.

I ordered a Samsung F4 2TB off of newegg went they had it for sale @ $99. What I recieved was a branded Samsung by Seagate Barracuda Green =X. Honestly if I had known this would be the case, I would have gone with WD but then again the WD Caviar Green 2TB is not that great either. WD Caviar Blacks are the drives to get, but they are costly.

ProXimity said:
Hard Drive: Western Digital RE3 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($117.09 @ Compuvest)
Hard Drive: Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($109.99 @ Newegg)

Get a WD Caviar Black 1TB.
 

chaosblade

Unconfirmed Member
Actually, Caviar Blacks have 5 year warranties, I thought it was 3. So mine might still be covered. Don't remember what year I bought it, but if it's still covered then maybe I won't have to buy anything.

The Samsung by Seagate thing still sucks though. When drives do inevitably need to be replaced, I'm not sure what I'll get. WD Black for just a media drive seems like overkill (it's what I'm using now, but it was the only drive I had for it at the time!) I guess if it comes down to it that's what I'll go with though.
 
Just put together my parts for my computer. Turned it on and everything seemed to be working. Will install Windows tonight.

First computer I built, process was pretty nerve wracking but fun. Took me a good half an hour to figure out why my monitor wasnt working at all (was plugging it into Mobo instead of GPU via adapater).
 

mkenyon

Banned
Any reason why? Most 4 stick kits are tested together to ensure that they work properly (and usually cost less than buying the sticks separate).

Just curious, that is all.
Because that Samsung RAM in specific is literally the best stuff you can buy on the market right now, for gobs of money less than fancy stuff.

SB-E really benefits from good clocking RAM.
 

colinp

Banned
Just put together my parts for my computer. Turned it on and everything seemed to be working. Will install Windows tonight.

First computer I built, process was pretty nerve wracking but fun. Took me a good half an hour to figure out why my monitor wasnt working at all (was plugging it into Mobo instead of GPU via adapater).

Congrats! I'm going to be doing the same very soon. Anything you recommend to avoid or be wary of?
 
So I'm looking to build my first computer.
It's been too long since my last desktop died and I have all these Steam games my macbook cannot play.
I'm mainly looking forward to playing Guild Wars 2 and most current gen games.
Will this build do me any good?

CPU: Intel Core i5-2500K 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor ($199.99 @ NCIX US)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus 76.8 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($19.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Biostar TZ77B ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair XMS3 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($51.99 @ Newegg)
Hard Drive: Western Digital VelociRaptor 600GB 3.5" 10000RPM Internal Hard Drive ($169.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Zotac GeForce GTX 560 Ti 448 1.25GB Video Card ($277.55 @ Newegg)
Case: Cooler Master HAF 912 ATX Mid Tower Case ($52.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: Antec 550W ATX12V Power Supply ($46.75 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($24.97 @ Newegg)
Monitor: Asus VH238H 23.0" Monitor ($154.99 @ NCIX US)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (64-bit) ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Keyboard: Cooler Master CM Storm QuickFire Rapid Wired Gaming Keyboard ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1269.18

Any alternatives or way to bring the price down a little bit?
 

Jackben

bitch I'm taking calls.
The obvious places to trim the fat would be the video card, monitor and keyboard. That's an expensive keyboard. You could probably also get away with a cheaper GPU unless you're set on seeing BF3 at max settings or something. There will be deals this summer on monitors if you keep a lookout as well.
 

MrBig

Member
The obvious places to trim the fat would be the video card, monitor and keyboard. That's an expensive keyboard. You could probably also get away with a cheaper GPU unless you're set on seeing BF3 at max settings or something. There will be deals this summer on monitors if you keep a lookout as well.

You're not going to be seeing BF3 at max settings @ 60fps with a 560ti though. You'd do better (and cheaper) with a 7850. And $80 is relatively low for a mechanical keyboard. ~$900 without peripherals and it will perform pretty well. Not much to spec down unless you're really looking to sacrifice. Maybe go with a 500gb 7200rpm HDD + SSD?
 
7850 would be a better vidcard...will overclock better and 2GB RAM is more future proof.

BTW I max all non DX11 (which is all but like two) BF3 settings on my oldass 4890 and get 30FPS on campaign...
 
You're not going to be seeing BF3 at max settings @ 60fps with a 560ti though. You'd do better (and cheaper) with a 7850. And $80 is relatively low for a mechanical keyboard. ~$900 without peripherals and it will perform pretty well. Not much to spec down unless you're really looking to sacrifice. Maybe go with a 500gb 7200rpm HDD + SSD?

So with my current build if I swapped the 560ti for a 7850 would I be able to run BF3 at 60fps on max?
Would I need to change my motherboard as well?
 

Jackben

bitch I'm taking calls.
Hey guys, I'm pretty lacking in SSD knowledge, and want to get one now that prices are dropping.
Should I grab this this deal while it's hot or wait for a deal on the Crucial M4? Going to buy a 120-128 GB model.
Same question here. Going this route would save me about $50 on the SSD I plan to buy since I'm only using it for my OS and small installs like web. Already have WD HD for the rest.

Any reason not to snap this up?
 

Zeth

Member
So after drooling over the 670/680 the past few weeks I realized I'd much rather spend closer to $1k for the system and go for bang:buck ratio. What'd be the best bet for a video card? Budget is around 250-300 USD for the card. How's the 560Ti? 570? I don't know much about the AMD stuff either.
 
What's the easiest way for a noob (yours truly) to test the clock speeds and temperatures of his GPU?

I read the OP, but it seems like there are multiple options.

Eventually, I may overclock my Gigabyte 670 beyond the out-of-the-box settings, but for now I just want to see if it's performing within the expected ranges.
 

VariantX

Member
Have a quick question for PC gaf. I'm currently using a AMD Radeon card, if I wanted to use a Nividia card in the future, do I have to delete the drivers associated with the AMD card before installing the Nividia drivers or will it just be fine to install the Nividia drivers without worrying about it?
 

Mangotron

Member
Have a quick question for PC gaf. I'm currently using a AMD Radeon card, if I wanted to use a Nividia card in the future, do I have to delete the drivers associated with the AMD card before installing the Nividia drivers or will it just be fine to install the Nividia drivers without worrying about it?

I'd run something like driver sweeper just to be sure, I've had friends run into issues just installing the new ones.
 

ProXimity

Banned
Okay, this is what I want to put together. It's pretty much finalized, but I posted this build over on MLG and got the following responses:

"That memory may not work in Quad-channel. "
"Yeah, I don't like this build one bit. "

Why wouldn't it work? They said that the memory I selected isn't designed for quad-channel usage. Mkenyon, if you read this, is there validity to that statement?

CPU: Intel Core i7-3930K 3.2GHz 6-Core Processor ($569.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 612 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($47.27 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: ASRock X79 Extreme6/GB ATX LGA2011 Motherboard ($278.94 @ Newegg)
Memory: Samsung 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($23.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Samsung 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($23.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Samsung 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($23.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Samsung 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($23.99 @ Newegg)
Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($120.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 670 2GB Video Card ($399.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Antec Eleven Hundred ATX Full Tower Case ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: SeaSonic 620W ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($85.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Optical Drive: Asus BC-12B1ST/BLK/B/AS Blu-Ray Reader, DVD/CD Writer ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1729.11
 

abasm

Member
So after drooling over the 670/680 the past few weeks I realized I'd much rather spend closer to $1k for the system and go for bang:buck ratio. What'd be the best bet for a video card? Budget is around 250-300 USD for the card. How's the 560Ti? 570? I don't know much about the AMD stuff either.

I've got a 6870, and for a sub-200 card, it's fantastic. For your budget, you probably want the HD 7850 or the GTX 570. If you're willing to wait, then 660 Ti will probably be even better.
 

MrBig

Member
So sub $300, my best bet for BF3 would be an HD 7850?
How would that handle it?

You wouldn't be able to just set it to ultra and have a solid 60, but with some tweaks (lowering AA, losing the AO, etc) you can get it looking very good and have a locked 60 at 1920x1080/1200.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/5625/...-7850-review-rounding-out-southern-islands/11

my harddrive is beginning to make clicking noises. im taking its time to start backing up everything?

Yes, certainly make a backup. Backup anyway even if it isn't actually a problem.
 

mkenyon

Banned
So after drooling over the 670/680 the past few weeks I realized I'd much rather spend closer to $1k for the system and go for bang:buck ratio. What'd be the best bet for a video card? Budget is around 250-300 USD for the card. How's the 560Ti? 570? I don't know much about the AMD stuff either.
Depends on what you're upgrading from more than pure price:performance. Price:Gained Performance is a lot better of a way to look at it.
Have a quick question for PC gaf. I'm currently using a AMD Radeon card, if I wanted to use a Nividia card in the future, do I have to delete the drivers associated with the AMD card before installing the Nividia drivers or will it just be fine to install the Nividia drivers without worrying about it?
Uninstall driver -> restart -> run driver sweeper/ccleaner -> restart -> install new driver
What's the easiest way for a noob (yours truly) to test the clock speeds and temperatures of his GPU?

I read the OP, but it seems like there are multiple options.

Eventually, I may overclock my Gigabyte 670 beyond the out-of-the-box settings, but for now I just want to see if it's performing within the expected ranges.
EVGA Precision X + OC Scanner + HW Monitor. That's what I'm using for my 690 bench runs.
Okay, this is what I want to put together. It's pretty much finalized, but I posted this build over on MLG and got the following responses:

"That memory may not work in Quad-channel. "
"Yeah, I don't like this build one bit. "
The guy knows how to navigate newegg, not how computers work. People see "Quad Channel Kit" so assume that's what you need. It's four sticks they put in packaging of the same type of RAM.
So sub $300, my best bet for BF3 would be an HD 7850?
How would that handle it?
Google "7850 reivew", click on it, click on BF3 performance page.
my harddrive is beginning to make clicking noises. im taking its time to start backing up everything?
Clicking noises can be normal. Yes, backup, but not necessarily because it's going to fail. You should just always backup.
 

ProXimity

Banned
^You da man. I pulled the trigger tonight. Bought the hard drive and CPU from Amazon and the rest from Newegg. Newegg won't let me add any GTX 670's to my cart even though it says they're in stock. Says it was removed from my cart due to quantity limitation/insufficient stock no matter which model I choose. There's no way every model is out of stock all of a sudden within the last twenty minutes, is there?
 

MrBig

Member
^You da man. I pulled the trigger tonight. Bought the hard drive and CPU from Amazon and the rest from Newegg. Newegg won't let me add any GTX 670's to my cart even though it says they're in stock. Says it was removed from my cart due to quantity limitation/insufficient stock no matter which model I choose. There's no way every model is out of stock all of a sudden within the last twenty minutes, is there?

the Gigabyte 670 is in stock at superbiz, albeit at an inflated price. (e:nvm, gone) These cards go very fast at mainstream retailers.
 
I was waiting on the Gigabyte 670 too and got the in-stock auto notify from Newegg around three hours ago. I managed to get one, but they were gone after about an hour. It's crazy.
 

Chairhome

Member
I recently upgraded from my 4870 to a gtx 560 ti. I'm overclocking it to get about 965MHz GPU Clock, 2100 Mem.
When running battlefield 3 on high settings, it runs great, but my card heats to about 60C, then after about 10 minutes of play, I'm guessing it goes a little hotter around 67c and it boots me out of the game. Does this mean (a) my settings are too high and i should drop some AA down or other settings, (b) my overclock is not stable for such a demanding game, (c) I should overclock it more, (d) combination of the above.

Keep in mind, my idle is about 44c (I have no idea how you guys get it so cool, is it cause i live in florida?).

Also, Should I flip my PSU upside down also so the PSU exhaust comes out the bottom of the case (its bottom mounted and I can position it either way) to help with the temp?

I also have two intake fans on the side that are not on right now (waiting on a fan controller cause they are too loud right now).

Thanks in advance.
 
How do I turn a boot drive into a just a data drive? For my new build, I want to take my current 1.5TB Caviar Black, which has Windows/apps/everything, and use it as just a data drive with the stuff already on it, with my Crucial m4 as the boot/Windows drive. I know I can just configure to boot from the SSD first, but there will still be residual Windows and boot files on the HDD.
 
I'm getting a cheap Asus P8H61-M LE/USB3 to pair with i5-3550 for someone. However, I think there's a good chance that the BIOS needs to be updated to support the chip. Until then, does that mean the PC won't boot at all with the i5-3550? Only way to update is to slap a Sandy Bridge, update, then swap back with Ivy?
 

JonCha

Member
Typing this from my CM QuickFire keyboard, which is awesome. The first time a keyboard has made me smile, I can safely say. The keys feel very nice to use too.

The only items I'm worried about not getting today are the HDMI cable and the G500 mouse.

Regarding impressions from the keyboard, I couldn't quite believe how small it is! Looks nice, branding isn't that bad to be honest. Sci-fi-esque front is neat, there's a (very) bright red light when toggling Caps Lock/F9/Scroll lock. And I've got black switches, which aren't that loud really when typing. Gaming on them is fine I think.
 

LordAlu

Member
Yay!!

newstuff.jpg


Gonna recover my PSU, 560Ti and SATA drives from my current rig. The case is a thing of beauty, but dear god it's huuuuuge compared to my current one! :p
 

Ty4on

Member
So after drooling over the 670/680 the past few weeks I realized I'd much rather spend closer to $1k for the system and go for bang:buck ratio. What'd be the best bet for a video card? Budget is around 250-300 USD for the card. How's the 560Ti? 570? I don't know much about the AMD stuff either.

The 7850 has got pretty decent performance in most games. It's also gotten a lower TDP than the 560ti and 570 because it's 28nm. Even if you have a decent power supply the lower TDP will mean less noise and cooler CPU/RAM (radial cards with the fan in the middle will send some warm air into the case).
 
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