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"I need a New PC!" 2013 Part 1. Haswell, Crysis 3, and secret fairy sauce. Read da OP
- Thread starter Hazaro
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Yeah I think I might.
$229 + $135 for ASRock Z77 Extreme4 LGA 1155 + $55 G SKILL Ripjaws 8GB DDR3 1600
total: $419
When Haswell comes out, it'll definitely be faster but I probably won't be able to buy a combo like that for anywhere near that price.
Koroviev
Member
No, and Haswell is expected to be an efficiency-minded update.
Koroviev
Member
You should do a fresh install. And it makes sense to have an ssd for the OS and programs and an hdd for data. However, I would pursue the M4 if you're on a budget. The standard 840 250gb is not terrible, but it won't last as long as a drive that uses MLC nand and it has poor write speeds.
Infinite Justice
Member
Alright now this makes sense.
And yea it might not be worth it but we'll see if that changes when newer games come out for this new gen.
Ok, kind of an emergency and I'm having troubles reaching my PC expert buddy, so I need your guys' help with a build.
Long story short, my old iMac died a few months ago, and a potential employer wants me to start doing freelance graphics work for them to consider full-time employment. Here are my requirements...
So yeah, I need to order this in the next day or two because I do not have a job and the clock is ticking for this opportunity. I really appreciate any help you guys can give.
Long story short, my old iMac died a few months ago, and a potential employer wants me to start doing freelance graphics work for them to consider full-time employment. Here are my requirements...
- I have a budget of $1,100
- It will be my first built PC, so no parts to reuse, I need all components.
- This will be primarily used for 2D graphics, but will need to be powerful enough to do any bigger projects like multimedia if needed.
- Monitor has be to very good as far as resolution and color/contrast.
- This will also be my personal desktop PC as well, so I would like for it to play games, but this is strictly secondary. BUT I do want it to be easily upgraded down the line once I have income.
So yeah, I need to order this in the next day or two because I do not have a job and the clock is ticking for this opportunity. I really appreciate any help you guys can give.
I don't have any specific advice for you (I'll leave that for the more knowledgeable folks in this thread), but I do know that building a decent media editing PC AND buying a nice monitor for $1,100 is going to be very tricky or impossible.
Just to clarify though, by "very good as far as resolution" do you mean 1440p or is 1080p all you're looking for? If you answer 1440p, you're going to have to rethink your budget. Also, you'll want to get an IPS monitor for good colors/contrast.
ASUS is pretty good apart from being a triple slot so it would make it tight for space if you wanted to Crossfire, bar that the DCU II cooler is very good.
The reason I suggested Gigabyte was because their RMA is so good in the UK if something was to go wrong
I could probably get by with 1080p.
Looking for some general opinion GAF. Been a PC gamer now for about 25 years. Built all of my machines along the way, so this isn't new territory for me. What I'm looking to do is potentially upgrade, and was curious on timing and opinions on my parts.
Unlike the rest of my previous years as a PC gamer, I have not been connected to that industry the enthusiast hardware at all, for many ... many years. My last build was about 4 years ago with a new card thrown in a bit back. Its time for an upgrade, and I spent about a day researching the parts and price point I am comfortable with. I think I have my final parts list, but was looking for some general insight from others.
Resolution
1920x1200
Current rig
Intel Core2Quad Q6600 G0 @ 3.0Ghz
Gigabyte EP43-UD3LR
4Gb OCZ Reaper DDR2 800
AMD 5850 @ 900/1200
OCZ Vertex 2 128Gb SSD
+misc storage disc
Things to note : I'm pretty sure that despite the aging GPU, my bottleneck is actually most recently my processor. The Q6600 has been good to me, very good but its starting to show its age. Most newer games are running in the medium range, a few high ticks and I'm usually in the 30-50 FPS range depending on the game. Its not uncommon to drop into the 20s or even some games (like Planetside 2) to have most settings on Low.
Based on observation and some benchmarking I figured its time for a new GPU and CPU. CPU would be newer socket so I need a new motherboard, and my RAM is old too. PSU is a must as well, my old one is a 400w.
Thus, I came up with the following parts list. Please note, I am not looking for top tier enthusiast price/power. I never buy that high, usually 1 tier down and buy hardware that can be overclocked to add longevity. I will overclock at some point.
Potential Upgrade
Intel i5 3750k
ASRock Z77 Extreme 4
Corsair Vengence 8GB (2x4Gb) DDR3 1600
Corsair Enthusiast TX750 Bronze PSU
Sapphire Radeon HD 7950 Boost 3Gb
=
$854
All prices taken from Amazon yesterday. Didn't shop much outside of using Invisible Hand Chrome extension to scrap web prices for me.
1. Do the parts look good? Anything you would do differently?
2. The 7950 is good now right? With the latest drivers?
3. Any vendor preferred over Sapphire? Also in the past I've bought GPU from companies that offer lifetime warranties, does Sapphire?
Unlike the rest of my previous years as a PC gamer, I have not been connected to that industry the enthusiast hardware at all, for many ... many years. My last build was about 4 years ago with a new card thrown in a bit back. Its time for an upgrade, and I spent about a day researching the parts and price point I am comfortable with. I think I have my final parts list, but was looking for some general insight from others.
Resolution
1920x1200
Current rig
Intel Core2Quad Q6600 G0 @ 3.0Ghz
Gigabyte EP43-UD3LR
4Gb OCZ Reaper DDR2 800
AMD 5850 @ 900/1200
OCZ Vertex 2 128Gb SSD
+misc storage disc
Things to note : I'm pretty sure that despite the aging GPU, my bottleneck is actually most recently my processor. The Q6600 has been good to me, very good but its starting to show its age. Most newer games are running in the medium range, a few high ticks and I'm usually in the 30-50 FPS range depending on the game. Its not uncommon to drop into the 20s or even some games (like Planetside 2) to have most settings on Low.
Based on observation and some benchmarking I figured its time for a new GPU and CPU. CPU would be newer socket so I need a new motherboard, and my RAM is old too. PSU is a must as well, my old one is a 400w.
Thus, I came up with the following parts list. Please note, I am not looking for top tier enthusiast price/power. I never buy that high, usually 1 tier down and buy hardware that can be overclocked to add longevity. I will overclock at some point.
Potential Upgrade
Intel i5 3750k
ASRock Z77 Extreme 4
Corsair Vengence 8GB (2x4Gb) DDR3 1600
Corsair Enthusiast TX750 Bronze PSU
Sapphire Radeon HD 7950 Boost 3Gb
=
$854
All prices taken from Amazon yesterday. Didn't shop much outside of using Invisible Hand Chrome extension to scrap web prices for me.
1. Do the parts look good? Anything you would do differently?
2. The 7950 is good now right? With the latest drivers?
3. Any vendor preferred over Sapphire? Also in the past I've bought GPU from companies that offer lifetime warranties, does Sapphire?
kingellesar
Member
Excellent, so the Crucial M4? I'm not really on a budget but 256gb is plenty for me. I mainly have around 150gbs of games maybe a little more and then the only other thing I use is Microsoft Office.
Rest of HD is filled up with films, tv shows and music!
Would it be best to get the normal M4 or the slim? Normal seems to be £140 range, slim £160 range...
Is the OCZ Vector range any improvement on the M4? That's£180 for 256gb.
Cool, thanks Koroviev.
nicoga3000
Saint Nic
My coworker is looking to get his son a gaming tower. Normally, I'd be all over helping him, but it's been ~3 years since I've done much research and building "stuff" for my computer. He wants to be able to game on it, but is only looking to spend around $500. I told him used graphics cards are the way to go in that case, and I know some GAF folk have some for sale (BST thread seems to have them popping up all the time).
In terms of the rest of the components though, I am far too clueless at the moment to give him a strong machine for cheap. How strong does the budget machine perform in the OP? Are there better options (besides waiting for Haswell)?
In terms of the rest of the components though, I am far too clueless at the moment to give him a strong machine for cheap. How strong does the budget machine perform in the OP? Are there better options (besides waiting for Haswell)?
Personally I'd take the Standard build and drop the optical drive altogether rather than the budget build. If you can find an old case and PSU that he can use it will give him a lot more breathing room. You could also drop the memory from 8GB to 4GB if you want to cut back a bit. He can always get a 2nd 4GB dimm down the road. Those low end builds will be competent but the son might be wanting to throw some of his own money in to get something a little more powerful.
If you're not going Crossfire change the PSU to this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151119
7950 is a great card and drivers are solid. As for the preferred vendor, Sapphire does have good coolers as does ASUS and Gigabyte.
256GB Samsung 840 Pro for £170 http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B009LI7CTY/
Get Evilore to donate some funds to us
minasodaboy
Member
I'm actually in a very similar boat as you are (going from old iMac to PC), with a need for Photo/Creative Suite/Premiere capabilities 1st and gaming as a nice to have. I can tell you that unless you are willing to build yourself, that $1100 budget is going to come with some compromises.
My must haves for Creative Suite:
+RAM and lots of it (8GB is a minimum for working great, but 16GB is probably worth it for you) RAM and Photoshop
+Fast CPU (Clock speed matters a lot for Photoshop, an i5-3470/3570k will work great, not as great as an i7, but it will keep your budget down)
+CUDA GPU for Photoshop/Premiere (At least 1GB, compared here, basically 1GB+ and CUDA is going to give you a huge improvement over nothing, but the differences between say a 650 and a 680 aren't as big as nothing to a 650)
+SSD for OS, 7200RPM HDD for data)
+Z77 Mobo (This lets you upgrade to a 3770k down the line if you go cheaper on your CPU today)
I'm currently using this monitor, Dell S2340M, and I've been really happy with the quality of the panel compared to the price I paid for it (purely focused on colors, not gaming).
You confuse me.
Thanks, so is 550w PSU enough for a system like that? I suppose with Ivy Bridge and the 7950 both being 22nm (right?) power consumption is likely very low. Is that why there is no need for a 750w?
Yep. I'm running a Q6600, 4gig 670 and 5 hard drives on a 520W.
Thanks
plus that one can pull over 600 at full load.
MrCunningham
Member
Well he's been using that card since 2011, when he bought it brand new. After two years of service, when I looked at it the heat sync still looked really stable and didn't appear to be showing any stress or was ready to fall off. But the noisy fans are the problem here. But if he were to get a new replacement cooler, what would be a recommended model for a card this size? What would people suggest?
This is pretty helpful and gives me a place to start. Thank you.
Good luck with it. I just installed the exact same yesterday. I re-installed it today though. Apparently I was putting too much paste, so the temps weren't too good. But works great now
I've been posting in the Laptop thread mostly, as my current gaming PC is actually a laptop and has served me faithfully for the last 3 years (I bought it at the beginning of 2010 and it was brand new technology then). I need something portable as I need to be able to take it with me for example when visiting my parents' house. However it's been suggested to me that it might also be possible to accomplish that with a small form factor PC. I looked at the SFF PC post in this thread but it all seemed to be squat cube-shaped cases which would be difficult for me to transport (I need something I can fit in a suitcase as I travel by train usually). I'd be more interested in something like this:
(taken from this article).
I've no need for anything as powerful as a Titan, but it seems like it might be a requirement for this sort of case due to being able to do 100% of its exhaust out the rear? Personally I'd prefer to use an AMD card, does anyone know if that would be compatible with this kind of form factor?
Current Specs: Acer Aspire 8942G, 18.3" full HD LED backlit screen, i7-720QM, 8GB DDR3 RAM, Mobility Radeon 5850 (1GB dedicated + 3GB shared), 750GB Seagate Momentus XT (now called Laptop SSHD)
Budget: around £1400, needs to be something that's available in the UK
Main Use: 2 (Gaming and general usage).
Monitor Resolution: 1920x1080. Knocking down the resolution on a game is definitely noticeable even on a screen this size.
Specific games which need to run well: The new Tomb Raider - it's the first thing my current gaming laptop has struggled with, I want to be able to play it at 1080p with dat hair turned on and settings at least High with a smooth 30fps at least. Also it should probably play Crysis 3 too as I imagine I'll get that eventually.
When will you build: probably a few months down the line, it will take me that long to save up the money anyway. Is it likely to be worth waiting for Haswell? I'm not going to be using the onboard GPU, should I care about the other new tech in Haswell?
Will you be overclocking: No, I want something that Just Works(tm).
While I understand this thread is mostly all about building a PC yourself, for something like this I'd really like to get a pre-built machine as I honestly don't have the skills or the time to do all the fiddly jobs inside an SFF case of that small size like positioning fans or routing cables or heatpipes or god knows what else, I'd much rather pay the extra for someone else to do that for me.
(taken from this article).
I've no need for anything as powerful as a Titan, but it seems like it might be a requirement for this sort of case due to being able to do 100% of its exhaust out the rear? Personally I'd prefer to use an AMD card, does anyone know if that would be compatible with this kind of form factor?
Current Specs: Acer Aspire 8942G, 18.3" full HD LED backlit screen, i7-720QM, 8GB DDR3 RAM, Mobility Radeon 5850 (1GB dedicated + 3GB shared), 750GB Seagate Momentus XT (now called Laptop SSHD)
Budget: around £1400, needs to be something that's available in the UK
Main Use: 2 (Gaming and general usage).
Monitor Resolution: 1920x1080. Knocking down the resolution on a game is definitely noticeable even on a screen this size.
Specific games which need to run well: The new Tomb Raider - it's the first thing my current gaming laptop has struggled with, I want to be able to play it at 1080p with dat hair turned on and settings at least High with a smooth 30fps at least. Also it should probably play Crysis 3 too as I imagine I'll get that eventually.
When will you build: probably a few months down the line, it will take me that long to save up the money anyway. Is it likely to be worth waiting for Haswell? I'm not going to be using the onboard GPU, should I care about the other new tech in Haswell?
Will you be overclocking: No, I want something that Just Works(tm).
While I understand this thread is mostly all about building a PC yourself, for something like this I'd really like to get a pre-built machine as I honestly don't have the skills or the time to do all the fiddly jobs inside an SFF case of that small size like positioning fans or routing cables or heatpipes or god knows what else, I'd much rather pay the extra for someone else to do that for me.
Wait I'm confused, the 550w PSU can pull 600 ?
SloaneRisette
Member
Probably going to order my video card and optical drive on Newegg today after I deposit money.
For the optical drive I'll just be getting the one listed in the Enthusiast build in the OP, and for the video card I'll be getting the Gigabyte 3GB AMD HD 7950. Both of those came out to around 350$-ish when I checked yesterday.
After that, all I need is the CPU and I'll be ready to put everything together!
For the optical drive I'll just be getting the one listed in the Enthusiast build in the OP, and for the video card I'll be getting the Gigabyte 3GB AMD HD 7950. Both of those came out to around 350$-ish when I checked yesterday.
After that, all I need is the CPU and I'll be ready to put everything together!
Get an Alienware X51.
I notice the best GPU you can get in an Alienware X51 is a Geforce 660; I need this machine to be able to last at least another 3 years, will a mid-range card like that cut the mustard?
Quality PSUs can pull more power than they're actually rated for.
Good to know, thanks.
Yeah but the card is full size and is user replaceable. So when the next gen 20 nm GPUs hit you should have no problem getting a similar TDP card but with much more power. The other option is the Tiki and you can put a Titan in it but it is much bigger than the x51 and much more costlier.
Thanks for the advice!ASUS is pretty good apart from being a triple slot so it would make it tight for space if you wanted to Crossfire, bar that the DCU II cooler is very good.
The reason I suggested Gigabyte was because their RMA is so good in the UK if something was to go wrong
So does anyone know if Nvidia are allowing manufacturers to put out custom cooler (and voltage) Titans in the future?
I think if I'm going to allow myself to take the plunge on such an expensive GPU I'd really like it to have a Gigabyte cooler strapped on to it for crazy sound levels and temps!
I think if I'm going to allow myself to take the plunge on such an expensive GPU I'd really like it to have a Gigabyte cooler strapped on to it for crazy sound levels and temps!
Voltage control is confirmed but I haven't heard any rumors on custom coolers?
Edit - I'll probably get in trouble for plugging my own link, here's the original http://translate.google.com/transla...ront-ljus-for-skraddarsydda-geforce-gtx-titan
ss_lemonade
Member
Fyi, microcenter slashes $40 off certain motherboards when purchased together with the 3570k, if ever you want to pursue the i5 instead. In this case, the extreme4 becomes 94.99
RibbedHero
Member
I definitely recommend the X51 from the time I've had with my friend's one.
You can easily replace the graphics card inside the X51; a GTX 670 fits in well, as might a 7950. Go to this thread for more info and advice from X51 owners.
OMG i need to upgrade my three year old setup but Im soooo lost with all the new components. I just need a fast machine for Photoshop and occasional gaming. Is there anyway I can bring down the price on this? I already have a 700w PSU and an Intel 80gb 320 SSD. Not sure yet on what video card to get.
OMG i need to upgrade my three year old setup but Im soooo lost with all the new components. I just need a fast machine for Photoshop and occasional gaming. Is there anyway I can bring down the price on this? I already have a 700w PSU and an Intel 80gb 320 SSD. Not sure yet on what video card to get.
Na there's not much you can do, the only thing I was going to suggest was maybe look at lower profile RAM but that'll up the cost.
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