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[sk3tch]

Have you guys seen the NCASE M1 mini-ITX case? This thing is sick:

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1717132

Definitely doing a Haswell mini-ITX build with a TITAN.

 

[mrklaw]

Potentially dumb question incoming.

I have a wireless mouse and keyboard I use in my home office for my work computer - both logitech using their unified receiver.

When I get my new PC it will be located in the same place. Can I have another unified receiver in there and use the same keyboard/mouse? I know I can use two mice with one receiver (I use another mouse when travelling), but I'm not sure I can use one mouse with two receivers.

 

[knitoe]

I also have this strange issue that started late last year. My CPU is at stock speeds but my system frequently warms me of high cpu temps (65+) while gaming. The CPU fan is also ultra loud. I think I need to upgrade my cooler, which would also open up the possibility of CPU overclocking.

If you have the stock cooler, definitely, upgrade to a custom one. Depending on what CPU you have, a GHZ overclock is a big performance gain.

 

[Alexios]

The OP has the best cases and monitors for the money

They're just suggestions, and at times vague, like the budget range on the monitors.

It mostly suggests Asus too, which is barely available here as a whole...

With no mention why brands like LG aren't considered as far as I can see.

It's not like it's all available at those prices everywhere in the world either.

On cases it has the 912 (... but doesn't say if that means Adv, Plus, or other) on the $60 range and the 690 II Adv on $80.

But here the HAF 912 Plus costs ~85 Euros and the 690 II Adv ~105 for an example. For the ugly Nvidia brand version even.

That seems capable to change the relation to best bang for one's buck.

 

[friday]

If you have the stock cooler, definitely, upgrade to a custom one. Depending on what CPU you have, a GHZ overclock is a big performance gain.

It is a 955 Black Edition. I think the stock speed is 3.2, pushing it to 4.2 might be a bit much.

 

[Varna]

690GTX just died. Was playing Skyrim when I noticed my gpu readings going crazy on my g19 screen. Computer shuts down and now I'm getting no display. I managed to get my PC load windows but it won't detect my card.

I've dealt with evga rma before but I'm wondering if me installing a third party cooler would hurt my rma.

 

[kennah]

Have you guys seen the NCASE M1 mini-ITX case? This thing is sick:

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1717132

Definitely doing a Haswell mini-ITX build with a TITAN.

No one is allowed to link MiniITX cases until I have the one I ordered in my hands lol.

 

[mkenyon]

They're just suggestions, and at times vague, like the cheapest range on the monitors.

It's not like it's all available at those prices everywhere in the world either.

You asked about monitors and cases. The ones in the OP are based on hours of research between 6+ people. They aren't just suggestions, but objectively great choices that we've either had direct experience with or have read lots of praise with minimal complaints in their respective support forums.

The bottom tier of monitors is vague because budget monitors use a lot of the same panels and switch out models on a seemingly monthly basis.

 

[sk3tch]

No one is allowed to link MiniITX cases until I have the one I ordered in my hands lol.

Ha. It probably isn't going to hit mass production for at least another month or so. The funding just closed on Friday (they more than doubled their goal). A couple [H] forum dudes kicked it off and worked with Lian-li. Interesting story!

http://www.maximumpc.com/article/news/ncase_m1_ambitious_attempt_mold_mini_itx_case_enthusiasts2013

 

[kennah]

Yeah saw the story.

Bought a Compact Splash

 

[sk3tch]

Yeah saw the story.

Bought a Compact Splash

Ah, nice. I'm LTTP, apparently. Link to that Compact Splash, will ya? Google just gave me a few user-mods...

 

[knitoe]

690GTX just died. Was playing Skyrim when I noticed my gpu readings going crazy on my g19 screen. Computer shuts down and now I'm getting no display. I managed to get my PC load windows but it won't detect my card.

I've dealt with evga rma before but I'm wondering if me installing a third party cooler would hurt my rma.

EVGA allows 3rd party coolers. You just have to reinstall the original cooler before returning it to EVGA.

 

[kennah]

Ah, nice. I'm LTTP, apparently. Link to that Compact Splash, will ya? Google just gave me a few user-mods...

http://www.craftograph.com/compactsplash/

I'm number 017. I think they're up to 18 or 19 now.

 

[Varna]

EVGA allows 3rd party coolers. You just have to reinstall the original cooler before returning it to EVGA.

Thank you. I knew I had read this before. So depressed at the moment.

 

[Oxn]

Have you guys seen the NCASE M1 mini-ITX case? This thing is sick:

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1717132

Definitely doing a Haswell mini-ITX build with a TITAN.

Wow, the Bit fenix prodigy finally got competition.

 

[appaws]

So my brand new 7950 keeps getting stuck every other time the monitor goes to sleep.

Would you all recommend the 660Ti or jump to a 670? Is the extra money worth it?

Obviously there is something wrong with it, or with something else in your setup. It's not because its a 7950. They are great cards. Seek tech support, maybe you need to RMA. If you are just looking for a reason to switch to Nvidia, that's cool. You don't need permission. The 660ti and 670 are also great cards.

 

[teh_pwn]

I realise that intel are investing in the gpu to make laptops etc good enough for gaming without needing a discrete GPU, and lack of competition means no need for more than 4-6 cores on the CPU, but would it kill them to have some variety? Those of us that use a separate GPU in our PCs are just wasting the IGP. Intel could have a gamer sku that cuts out the GPU and sells for less as a result, or allows them to give us 6-8 core CPUs at a premium price.

I would love it if they made the i5 and i7 desktop K series CPUs:
1. Not have an IGP and instead vastly improve voltage regulation and thermal.
2. Increase to 6 cores.

Who uses the IGP with these high end GPUs? What's the market for that?

 

[brentech]

Would you guys trust this Kingston SSD: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00A1ZTZOG/?tag=neogaf0e-20

 

[Oxn]

I would love it if they made the i5 and i7 desktop K series CPUs:
1. Not have an IGP and instead vastly improve voltage regulation and thermal.
2. Increase to 6 cores.

Who uses the IGP with these high end GPUs? What's the market for that?

Actually i was planning on buying an i5 haswell for its igp, so i can build a powerful but low powered htpc.

 

[Skel1ingt0n]

Have you guys seen the NCASE M1 mini-ITX case? This thing is sick:

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1717132

Definitely doing a Haswell mini-ITX build with a TITAN.

That's badass looking; I really like its miniature monolithic aesthetic.


However, I just don't think I could will myself to do a SFF build. I think they're extremely cool - and awesome if you're going to have two PCs. But if I'm only going to do a single build, I want to use a big-ass case with copious amounts of potential expansion.

 

[OriginofHysteria]

Man two hrs and i still haven't finished switching over my components yet. Cable management is seriously the worst thing ever.

 

[teh_pwn]

Actually i was planning on buying an i5 haswell for its igp, so i can build a powerful but low powered htpc.

I'm still not getting the overclocking. Are you going to get a really good closed loop cooler to keep it quiet?

In general I don't understand why there's an IGP in the K series. It's for overclocking, you want it to run cool. If you're a business, you want CPU compute that's better than Xeon (per core), so you're likely to want the highest OC possible which means it needs to run cool => no IGP usage, or very little. If you're a gamer, you want higher CPU clock speed to reduce frame latency, which means you're using discrete GPU.

 

[Ty4on]

Have you guys seen the NCASE M1 mini-ITX case? This thing is sick:

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1717132

Definitely doing a Haswell mini-ITX build with a TITAN.

The cable management will be insanely tight. It looks like they would touch the back of the GPU and I don't even wanna thing about a modular PSU in there.
If it is somehow possible though it's really awesome to see a small case with support for ATX PSU and someone finally putting the optical drive vertically. Not taking any space for those using it and invisible for those not.

 

[outsidah]

Obviously there is something wrong with it, or with something else in your setup. It's not because its a 7950. They are great cards. Seek tech support, maybe you need to RMA. If you are just looking for a reason to switch to Nvidia, that's cool. You don't need permission. The 660ti and 670 are also great cards.

No actually from what I saw previously the 7950 was a better buy than a 660Ti which is why I went with it. I looked up issues similar to mine and it seems that folks experience the same thing with 7800/7900 cards, most involved a work around of simply not letting the monitor shutoff as it was believed it was something to do with AMD's power management of the card.

I updated my MB's BIOS, tried the regular drivers for the 7950 and the new beta drivers... no change. I don't like having to haggle with something so much that I just bought.

 

[appaws]

No actually from what I saw previously the 7950 was a better buy than a 660Ti which is why I went with it. I looked up issues similar to mine and it seems that folks experience the same thing with 7800/7900 cards, most involved a work around of simply not letting the monitor shutoff as it was believed it was something to do with AMD's power management of the card.

I updated my MB's BIOS, tried the regular drivers for the 7950 and the new beta drivers... no change. I don't like having to haggle with something so much that I just bought.

OK, didn't mean to be snarky. That does suck. I found one guy who had the problem and claims it had to do with his mouse software creating a driver conflict...?

 

[Varna]

I installed the Accelero Twin Turbo on my 690 two weeks before it died. Any chance this could have been the cause? I don't really see any way it could have done it, I followed the instructions, reference online for some tips on installing it. When it was done I had no issues. GPU was turning on without issues, cooler was working as advertized. I ask this because it was just so a sudden. Usually, there seems to be a lot of symptoms to card getting ready to go. Heavy artifacts, that kind of thing.


I also did want to use this cooler on my replacement. :X

 

[Khar]

thanks.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0074H1SBM/ as a monitor? What do you reckon?

I'm also open (prefer) 16:10 options when it comes to monitors.

while i'm asking, i need a new cooler for my Phenom II x4. The old one isn't working out anymore.

As far as I'm aware, there's no way you'll get a 16:10 monitor for around the £120-160 mark.

The £128 monitor - http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B008F7GW2K/ - kharma45 suggested is an IPS monitor so will be better quality than the Samsung.

 

[brentech]

Fuck me. Keep buying more and more for the system. Bought the SSD, decided to just buy a new copy of win 7 instead of moving my retail version over from old PC, mouse, keyboard, wireless card that I forgot at store...
Went from $1050 in store (including new monitor) to like 1350 now total. Think it stops there, lol.

Got to say, it's been a while, but I really enjoy building a system.

 

[rohlfinator]

No actually from what I saw previously the 7950 was a better buy than a 660Ti which is why I went with it. I looked up issues similar to mine and it seems that folks experience the same thing with 7800/7900 cards, most involved a work around of simply not letting the monitor shutoff as it was believed it was something to do with AMD's power management of the card.

I updated my MB's BIOS, tried the regular drivers for the 7950 and the new beta drivers... no change. I don't like having to haggle with something so much that I just bought.

That sucks -- are you using HDMI? I've had some funky performance in the past with certain HDMI cables not handling sleep mode correctly.

 

[Facism]

As far as I'm aware, there's no way you'll get a 16:10 monitor for around the £120-160 mark.

The £128 monitor - http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B008F7GW2K/ - kharma45 suggested is an IPS monitor so will be better quality than the Samsung.

cheers. I was under the impression that lg were a bit sucky for screens. can't find a review or comparison.

another question is would games look outside of the monitor's native res of 1920x1080? ie running something at 720p? the monitor a necessity but a new gpu will be weeks away

 

[xJavonta]

Have you guys seen the NCASE M1 mini-ITX case? This thing is sick:

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1717132

Definitely doing a Haswell mini-ITX build with a TITAN.

Oh god, this better get mass-produced. Can't afford it right now but once I get the cash I'd gladly fork over $200 for this thing.

 

[cpp_is_king]

Anyone have any experience with Falcon NW? I'm thinking about building an extreme end gaming PC. I don't want to build myself and I've heard good things about Falcon NW. How much of a markup am I looking at compared to building myself? Anything else i should know, or are there better builders out there that I should take a look at?

Also, how much of a difference is there between the Core i7 3970x and the Core i7 3930k? Will I notice it?

Lastly, when is the next line of CPUs coming out that would lead to a price drop of current gen Core i7s? Like if I buy now am I going to find out in 2 weeks that all the prices of current CPUs dropped by 50%?

 

[EatinOlives]

Is there some kind of difference between GPU manufacturers? I'm looking at a 660 Ti 2GB, but what's the difference between this one (from MSI) and this one? (from GIGABYTE)

 

[AndyBNV]

Is there some kind of difference between GPU manufacturers? I'm looking at a 660 Ti 2GB, but what's the difference between this one (from MSI) and this one? (from GIGABYTE)

They're the same cards with different custom coolers attached. All boards are identical, but the AICs can do what they like beyond that, adding double or triple-slot coolers, this thing, that thing, and maybe chucking in a software bundle too.

Edit: I am on my phone and just noticed - one is a 660 and one a 660 Ti. Ti is a fair bit faster: http://www.geforce.com/Active/en_US/shared/images/products/shared/lineup.png

 

[LCGeek]

They're the same cards with different custom coolers attached. All boards are identical, but the AICs can do what they like beyond that, adding double or triple-slot coolers, this thing, that thing, and maybe chucking in a software bundle too.

Sometimes ram that is important if you overclock and the cheapo brand you got has garbage cooler and ram that overheats.

Also, how much of a difference is there between the Core i7 3970x and the Core i7 3930k? Will I notice it?

K usually mean overclocking and unlocked.

 

[cpp_is_king]

Sometimes ram that is important if you overclock and the cheapo brand you got has garbage cooler and ram that overheats.



K usually mean overclocking and unlocked.

Well yea but the price differens is like $600. Plus the 3970x is 6 cores (12 w/ HT) and the other is 4/8. I mean obviously I can look at the tech specs and see the differences, just wondering how it relates to gaming or if anyone has any personal experience with either one

 

[AndyBNV]

Well yea but the price differens is like $600. Plus the 3970x is 6 cores (12 w/ HT) and the other is 4/8. I mean obviously I can look at the tech specs and see the differences, just wondering how it relates to gaming or if anyone has any personal experience with either one

In games there won't be much difference: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/core-i7-3970x-sandy-bridge-e-benchmark,3348-12.html

 

[rohlfinator]

Also, how much of a difference is there between the Core i7 3970x and the Core i7 3930k? Will I notice it?

3970x is clocked a bit faster and has a little more cache. Not worth it imo, you're paying almost twice as much for about a 10% performance difference.

Both are overkill for gaming, to be honest -- you're not going to gain a ton out of a six-core vs. a quad-core except in a few specific games. You'd be better off getting a solid quad-core like a 3770k and putting the savings into a better GPU.

Lastly, when is the next line of CPUs coming out that would lead to a price drop of current gen Core i7s? Like if I buy now am I going to find out in 2 weeks that all the prices of current CPUs dropped by 50%?

Intel's Haswell chips are due around June. I don't expect there to be a big price drop on current gen stuff, though.

 

[cpp_is_king]

3970x is clocked a bit faster and has a little more cache. Not worth it imo, you're paying almost twice as much for about a 10% performance difference.

Both are overkill for gaming, to be honest -- you're not going to gain a ton out of a six-core vs. a quad-core except in a few specific games. You'd be better off getting a solid quad-core like a 3770k and putting the savings into a better GPU.

It's not just for gaming. I need a pretty high performance workstation for working also. The 3930k isn't too far out of my price range though, it's stretching but I think I can still afford the 3930k, Radeon HD 7970, and 32GB RAM. If I go with the 3970x though it's out of my price range.

 

[AndyBNV]

It's not just for gaming. I need a pretty high performance workstation for working also. The 3770 isn't too far out of my price range though, it's stretching but I think I can still afford the 3930k, Radeon HD 7970, and 32GB RAM. If I go with the 3970x though it's out of my price range.

The TH article has productivity benchmarks too: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/core-i7-3970x-sandy-bridge-e-benchmark,3348-7.html

Again, not much of a difference considering the extra price.

 

[cpp_is_king]

The TH article has productivity benchmarks too: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/core-i7-3970x-sandy-bridge-e-benchmark,3348-7.html

Again, not much of a difference considering the extra price.

I wish there were benchmarks that tested something besides Photoshop, or maybe tested photoshop doing some kind of batch operation on mulitple images in parallel. I do mostly code compiling of VERY LARGE projects, like millions of lines split across hundreds of independent projects, so it benefits highly from additional CPU horsepower and/or hardware threads. Either way, I agree that the difference between the 3930k and 3970x probably isn't enough to justify the cost, but 3770k and 3930k seems pretty big, and is only like $200 difference.

 

[brentech]

Just used mkenyon's guide to cable management and rewired my case since I have a few days before I'll have the last 2 components (which don't add any wire confusion being an SSD and wireless card).

Gotta say, the system looks really slick even without the nice rubber guards hiding them entering the back side. I don't even have a modular PSU, but it looks great to me. Did another power on to make sure it POST fine, all good.


Crappy iPhone picture (back side isn't on atm, obviously)

Only real problem I came across was that this case doesn't have a top left entry point for wires so the 8 pin, (2) top fans, and rear fan cables had to go over the heatsink. Otherwise, it's fairly spot on. All in all, a decent budget case ($40) with 4 supplied case fans, so it's hard to gripe.

 

[rohlfinator]

I wish there were benchmarks that tested something besides Photoshop, or maybe tested photoshop doing some kind of batch operation on mulitple images in parallel. I do mostly code compiling of VERY LARGE projects, like millions of lines split across hundreds of independent projects, so it benefits highly from additional CPU horsepower and/or hardware threads. Either way, I agree that the difference between the 3930k and 3970x probably isn't enough to justify the cost, but 3770k and 3930k seems pretty big, and is only like $200 difference.

In that case, yeah, go with the 3930k since you'll be able to make use of the two extra cores. If you need the extra performance, you can overclock it a bit and easily get 3970x performance out of it.

Intel's $1000 processors are never worth it, IMO. You pay a huge markup just because it's the fastest CPU on the market.

 

[Belgand]

Looking into starting a new build and I wanted to get some advice on it.

This is going to be mainly used for two things: coding and gaming. I don't edit images, video, or audio. Hell, I'm not even going to be using it to watch video from Netflix or Hulu.

I'm also not planning on overclocking at all. I've never been a fan and I prefer conservative stability over trying to squeeze out extra performance. This system also needs to be stable as it's going to be my primary work computer as well.

Here's what I have so far:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3350P 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor ($179.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Asus P8Z77-V LK ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($114.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($107.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($69.98 @ Outlet PC)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 660 Ti 2GB Video Card ($279.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Cooler Master CM 690 II (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8 (OEM) (64-bit) ($89.98 @ Outlet PC)
Total: $905.91
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-03-18 01:07 EDT-0400)

In addition to the new parts I'm intending to re-use my old PSU. It's a Corsair VX550W from about 4-5 years ago. It's seen maybe a week of use not long after it was purchased since the system died a pretty horrible and confounding death. The optical drive will also be coming along as will my old SoundBlaster so having a PCI slot free is going to be essential.

Along with general feedback about the build here are my specific concerns:

• Is 16 GB of RAM worth it? I'd assume it would be and it's often a good and fairly inexpensive means of future-proofing, but even trimming out $50 by cutting down to 8 GB would be nice if I'm unlikely to need it.
• 3350P, 3470, or 3570? The price difference is only $20 -> $15, but again, saving a little extra cash is always nice and it seems like the performance gains are somewhat minor. I'm picking the P and/or non-K models because, again, this won't be overclocked.
• Is there a better, cheaper option on the motherboard? I've been using pretty much exclusively ASUS boards for the past 15 years and I've always been happy with them, but it seems like I should be able to cut the cost down a bit here. I'd like to stick with ASUS, but if there's a better, cheaper option with the same pedigree of reliability I'd like to look into it. I don't really use much in the way of USB ports and I'm unlikely to ever install more than 2 or 3 hard disks (even the third is predicated on eventually upgrading to an SSD). Overclocking is a non-issue and I don't plan on ever going with multiple video cards. I'd say that 1 USB 3.0 port, a couple of 2.0 ports, onboard LAN (just being thorough; can you even buy a board without it unless you make a special effort?), one PCI slot, a relevant PCI-E slot, and 2 6GB SATA connectors are all that I need.

 

[lmpaler]

3820 is $280-290 usually. That's pretty affordable.
It costs a lot of money to add quad channel memory and 40 PCI-E lanes.

True, I was referencing the rest of the Sandy E line on Newegg

 

[cpp_is_king]

Oh yea, so back to my original question. Anyone have experience with Falcon NW, or would recommend a different custom builder instead?

 

[TheD]

3820 is $280-290 usually. That's pretty affordable.
It costs a lot of money to add quad channel memory and 40 PCI-E lanes.

I have to agree with longdi on the lack of SATA3 ports, I have already filled up both my native Intel ports with SSDs and I don't want to use the crap marvell ports.

 

[Hazaro]

Just used mkenyon's guide to cable management and rewired my case since I have a few days before I'll have the last 2 components (which don't add any wire confusion being an SSD and wireless card).

Gotta say, the system looks really slick even without the nice rubber guards hiding them entering the back side. I don't even have a modular PSU, but it looks great to me. Did another power on to make sure it POST fine, all good.


Crappy iPhone picture (back side isn't on atm, obviously)

Only real problem I came across was that this case doesn't have a top left entry point for wires so the 8 pin, (2) top fans, and rear fan cables had to go over the heatsink. Otherwise, it's fairly spot on. All in all, a decent budget case ($40) with 4 supplied case fans, so it's hard to gripe.

The CPU fan should be on the other side and blowing at your case rear exhaust unless you have something funky setup.

Looking into starting a new build and I wanted to get some advice on it.

This is going to be mainly used for two things: coding and gaming. I don't edit images, video, or audio. Hell, I'm not even going to be using it to watch video from Netflix or Hulu.

I'm also not planning on overclocking at all. I've never been a fan and I prefer conservative stability over trying to squeeze out extra performance. This system also needs to be stable as it's going to be my primary work computer as well.

Here's what I have so far:

Along with general feedback about the build here are my specific concerns:

• Is 16 GB of RAM worth it? I'd assume it would be and it's often a good and fairly inexpensive means of future-proofing, but even trimming out $50 by cutting down to 8 GB would be nice if I'm unlikely to need it.
• 3350P, 3470, or 3570? The price difference is only $20 -> $15, but again, saving a little extra cash is always nice and it seems like the performance gains are somewhat minor. I'm picking the P and/or non-K models because, again, this won't be overclocked.
• Is there a better, cheaper option on the motherboard? I've been using pretty much exclusively ASUS boards for the past 15 years and I've always been happy with them, but it seems like I should be able to cut the cost down a bit here. I'd like to stick with ASUS, but if there's a better, cheaper option with the same pedigree of reliability I'd like to look into it. I don't really use much in the way of USB ports and I'm unlikely to ever install more than 2 or 3 hard disks (even the third is predicated on eventually upgrading to an SSD). Overclocking is a non-issue and I don't plan on ever going with multiple video cards. I'd say that 1 USB 3.0 port, a couple of 2.0 ports, onboard LAN (just being thorough; can you even buy a board without it unless you make a special effort?), one PCI slot, a relevant PCI-E slot, and 2 6GB SATA connectors are all that I need.

3350P looks like a nice buy since it has a $10 off code right now as well. IMO having the 10% speed boost and higher resale value of the 3570K (and option to overclock if ever desired) is worth it. But it looks like you are cutting where you can and that isn't a bad place to do it.

Buy 8GB of RAM. If you ever see yourself going near 8GB used, buy 8GB more.

The LK is alright and I've built with it. ASUS isn't as great anymore (AKA default) vs. their competitors. The main draw of other boards vs the ASUS now is more power management at the same price. It isn't helping ASUS that they make a new motherboard SKU every 2 weeks and some of them are region specific. It's idiotic.
Their ROG and Sabertooth boards are still super nice though.

Oh yea, so back to my original question. Anyone have experience with Falcon NW, or would recommend a different custom builder instead?

They are in the OP right?

The lot of boutique PC builders have different options, pricing points, cases, and support.
Obviously I'd say put together a machine yourself.

 

[catmincer]

So I need to figure out my plan for future upgrades. I built my current computer on a very tight budget in Sept. 2011 and already I am starting to have big performance issues with games like Planetside 2.

My current specs are as follows:

AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black edition
ASUS M5A97 EVO AM3+
8 gig of DDR3 ram
Nvidia gtx 560 1Gig

In the original build plan I went for the AM3+ socket thinking that while the next generation of AMD chips would not be the best thing on earth, they would at least keep up with Intel in terms of gaming performance. Well given what I have read about Zambezi it seems that this is not the case and I should have went with a low end sandy bridge chip at the time of my build. Now I am in the position where I need to start thinking about upgrades and it seems like the best path is the restart with an intel build.

I know my GPU is also on the weak side these days but I feel like the Phenom is just going to hold me back, even with a more powerful GPU. What do you guys think? Is it in my best interest to concentrate on switching to Intel or will I see good results following an AMD upgrade path?

Zambezi IS shit. Vishera on the other hand is decent enough for gaming. FX-8350 would be a good upgrade.

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/697?vs=88

 

[Hazaro]

So I need to figure out my plan for future upgrades. I built my current computer on a very tight budget in Sept. 2011 and already I am starting to have big performance issues with games like Planetside 2.

My current specs are as follows:

AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black edition
ASUS M5A97 EVO AM3+
8 gig of DDR3 ram
Nvidia gtx 560 1Gig

In the original build plan I went for the AM3+ socket thinking that while the next generation of AMD chips would not be the best thing on earth, they would at least keep up with Intel in terms of gaming performance. Well given what I have read about Zambezi it seems that this is not the case and I should have went with a low end sandy bridge chip at the time of my build. Now I am in the position where I need to start thinking about upgrades and it seems like the best path is the restart with an intel build.

I know my GPU is also on the weak side these days but I feel like the Phenom is just going to hold me back, even with a more powerful GPU. What do you guys think? Is it in my best interest to concentrate on switching to Intel or will I see good results following an AMD upgrade path?

You can't do anything unless you get an FX CPU and then overclock it to the fucking moon.
It won't help Planetside 2 anyway. You need like a 5Ghz Intel i7 to even get like 50FPS. Shit is stupid.

How much cash are you willing to drop and when do you want it?