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[Fatal Futanari]

Ok so I've been wanting to build a desktop for about 4 years now (been a laptop gamer) and I think it is time. However, since I've been a laptop gamer for so long, I forgot almost all my knowledge about desktop parts xD

So I do not know where to start. I want a beefy gfx card (GTX Titan maybe?) for sure.

As far as CPUs go, should I get wait for Haswell (havent kept up on this actually)?

 

[kharma45]

Ok so I've been wanting to build a desktop for about 4 years now (been a laptop gamer) and I think it is time. However, since I've been a laptop gamer for so long, I forgot almost all my knowledge about desktop parts xD

So I do not know where to start. I want a beefy gfx card (GTX Titan maybe?) for sure.

As far as CPUs go, should I get wait for Haswell (havent kept up on this actually)?

Fill out the questions in the OP and we'll be able to better help you. All depends on what you're doing and/or want to do as well as your budget for what we can do to help out.

 

[Dave_6]

MSI Z87 MPower Max



Gigabyte Z87X-OC

Mmmm, makes me wish I would have waited but oh well. I'll just be glad to get to play mine tonight for the first time in almost a week.

 

[mkenyon]

ASUS Z87 Maximus VI Extreme

ASUS Z87 Maximus VI Hero (looks like Extreme with different PLX chip for less multiplied lanes)

ASUS Z87 Maximus VI Gene

ASUS Z87 Sabertooth

ASUS Z87 Gryphon (TUF series mATX)

ASUS Z87 Deluxe (DAT GOLD, Scogoth is gonna shit himself)

ASUS Z87 Plus (likely baseline Z87)

ASUS Z87-I Deluxe (enjoy ITX fans)

 

[kharma45]

MSI Z87 MPower Max still my favourite looking board out of the new ones.

 

[mkenyon]

Same.

It was a tossup between the Z77-UP7 and MPower for me, but they did away with my favorite elements of the UP7 (namely the copper fin heatsinks), which is kind of a bummer.

Looks like they simply expanded and improved the MPower design while making the UP7 design a lot less interesting.

 

[theSlacker]

That gold on the last asus boards doesn't do anything for me. Prefer their old assortment of blues if those are to be the baseline colors. Making it real ugly can be a way to get people to move up to their rog stuff though I guess.

Interesting that it looks like they just straight up added the wifi go thing right to the motherboard instead of it being the little extra expansion thing on their z77 boards.

 

[Fatal Futanari]

Fill out the questions in the OP and we'll be able to better help you. All depends on what you're doing and/or want to do as well as your budget for what we can do to help out.

Hookay

Basic Desktop Questions:
Your Current Specs:

M17x R2
i7 920XM (OCed to 3.4ghz)
7970m
16GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1333MHz
Samsung 830 512GB SSD
Western Digital Scorpio Black 750GB 7,200RPM
UXGA 1920x1200 RGB LED
Windows 7 Ultimate

Budget: $1000 - $3000 - USA

Main Use: Light Gaming, Gaming, Emulation (PS2/Wii), Video Editing, HD Streaming, 3D/Model work, General Usage (Word, Web, 1080p playback). - all that being 5 but add in programming.

Monitor Resolution: Right now I run my games on 1920x1200

List SPECIFIC games or applications that you MUST be able to run well: I want to go for at LEAST 60 FPS (Metro 2033, Metro: Last Light, StarCraft II, Dayz, RE6, etc). Apps: Photoshop, Sony Vegas, Visual Studios, various SDKs, Steam, Skype, and Virtual Machines

Looking to reuse any parts?: Probably only my SSD (as a Origin drive, will buy a new one for OS)


When will you build?:hmm I can wait for a month or so but I'd like it soon since I cant use my Oculus Rift because the hdmi on my laptop doesnt work. Plus Metro: Last Light is coming out.

Will you be overclocking?: Sure

 

[M3z_]

Not a fan of the way the new Mpower heatsink looks. Like a big ass counter top or something. Black and yellow is still my favorite color combination out their though.

UP7 looks nice, but if it's $400 like the z77 version, I just can't justify paying that kind of money on a motherboard built for a consumer grade processor. The z77 UP7 is $400 but a 3770k is sub $300.

 

[mkenyon]

Hookay

Basic Desktop Questions:
Your Current Specs:

M17x R2
i7 920XM (OCed to 3.4ghz)
7970m
16GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1333MHz
Samsung 830 512GB SSD
Western Digital Scorpio Black 750GB 7,200RPM
UXGA 1920x1200 RGB LED
Windows 7 Ultimate

Budget: $1000 - $3000 - USA

Main Use: Light Gaming, Gaming, Emulation (PS2/Wii), Video Editing, HD Streaming, 3D/Model work, General Usage (Word, Web, 1080p playback). - all that being 5 but add in programming.

Monitor Resolution: Right now I run my games on 1920x1200

List SPECIFIC games or applications that you MUST be able to run well: I want to go for at LEAST 60 FPS (Metro 2033, Metro: Last Light, StarCraft II, Dayz, RE6, etc). Apps: Photoshop, Sony Vegas, Visual Studios, various SDKs, Steam, Skype, and Virtual Machines

Looking to reuse any parts?: Probably only my SSD (as a Origin drive, will buy a new one for OS)


When will you build?:hmm I can wait for a month or so but I'd like it soon since I cant use my Oculus Rift because the hdmi on my laptop doesnt work. Plus Metro: Last Light is coming out.

Will you be overclocking?: Sure

If serious about the $3000 Budget:

CPU - Intel 3930K
Motherboard - ASUS Rampage IV Gene, Rampage IV Formula, Sabertooth X79
RAM - 16GB DDR3 2133 memory (lots of options - Ripjaw Z is the best bang for the buck)
Case - Fractal Arc Midi R2
GPU - Titan or 7970, or wait till the end of the month to see if 780 rumors are true.
SSD - 256 or 480/500GB Crucial M500 or Samsung 840
PSU - Seasonic X750/760, Corsair AX760
Cooler - Corsair H100i

That's pretty much the best machine money can buy right now for a workstation that doubles as a gaming machine, which it seems you are after.

For motherboards, if you don't need more than 4 DIMMs of RAM, and don't plan on using lots of expansion slots, the Rampage IV Gene is what you want. The Rampage IV Formula would be for 4 DIMMs and more expansion slots. The Sabertooth would be for 8 DIMMs and more expansion slots.

AMD cards tend to work better in Vegas for additional rendering power, so I'd almost suggest a 7970 based on that alone.

*edit*

You could also wait two months for Haswell and pay ~$350 less for similar (probably lower, possibly equal or higher) performance.

 

[kennah]

oooo six Sata ports on the ITX board

Holding out on Sabertooth though.

 

[xJavonta]

Can someone suggest me a good headset? I'm looking for something with surround sound. I don't really have a budget, but it'd be nice if it wasn't more than $250.

Also I don't care if it's wired or wireless. I'm going to be sitting in the same spot anyway so wireless may be more of a hassle than anything (batteries and all that stuff)

Edit: Oh, a built in mic too please.

 

[mkenyon]

Can someone suggest me a good headset? I'm looking for something with surround sound. I don't really have a budget, but it'd be nice if it wasn't more than $250.

Also I don't care if it's wired or wireless. I'm going to be sitting in the same spot anyway so wireless may be more of a hassle than anything (batteries and all that stuff)

Edit: Oh, a built in mic too please.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826106638

Grab a cheap Xonar card for Dolby Headphone which gives you surround sound.

Alternatively these have the Dolby Headphone in-line DAC - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826106639

 

[xJavonta]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826106638

Grab a cheap Xonar card for Dolby Headphone which gives you surround sound.

Alternatively these have the Dolby Headphone in-line DAC - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826106639

Oh I should have specified I'm going mITX so I don't have space for a dedicated sound card anymore

Thanks anyway though, anymore suggestions?

 

[mkenyon]

The surround portion is what makes the suggestion difficult. It's nearly impossible to find a *good* headset that has an in-line DAC.

The 363Ds are probably the only proper set of cans with that restriction. You could look at the 323Ds as well : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826106617

Otherwise you start to venture into the realm of gaming headsets, which are generally a mixed bag of trash.

*edit*

Okay, I did a bit of research and here's what I'd suggest.

This mixamp, with these headphones, and this mic. Total brings you right around $250.

 

[xJavonta]

The surround portion is what makes the suggestion difficult. It's nearly impossible to find a *good* headset that has an in-line DAC.

The 363Ds are probably the only proper set of cans with that restriction. You could look at the 323Ds as well : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16826106617

Otherwise you start to venture into the realm of gaming headsets, which are generally a mixed bag of trash.

Well I'm just looking for something to upgrade from my Turtle Beach X12's and Tritton Trigger headsets. I think most anything would be an upgrade from those lol

In the Steam thread this was reccomended http://store.valvesoftware.com/product.php?i=PL86051-22

It looks pretty good. I was thinking that or maybe Astro A30s with a Mixamp.

 

[mkenyon]

They're all really bad speakers though. If you're simply after a headset that offers positional audio without regards to sound quality, the Astro series of headsets with their mixamp would be a good avenue.

 

[SloaneRisette]

Ok, two issues I'm having with my computer (well, one computer issue, one monitor issue) at the moment...

For the monitor issue, I was running with my main monitor using an HDMI cable, but decided to end up switching it out for this DVI to HDMI cable, however, when I did, now, on both of my monitors it seems, and I don't remember if it was there before and I only just noticed it now, but there are these incredibly small black bars on the sides and the top and bottom. However, when I say small, I mean it, they are really small. Like... maybe a millimeter at most for all of them? I'm not sure on the measurement exactly, but they are just really small. Like I said, I don't remember if these were ever there before, but I only just now recently noticed as I was switching my main monitor back to being my main monitor.

As for the computer issue, its a sound card issue. I'm using the Asus Xonar DGX, and the Sennheiser PC 360 headset. When I had my headset plugged into the sound card, the microphone wouldn't work for it, even though the sound through the headset worked perfectly fine. Recently took out the sound card just so I could end up using the mic on my headset, but I really want to put the sound card back in as soon as I can. Anyone know what could be the issue with it by any chance?

Any help on either/both issues would be greatly appreciated, thanks guys!

 

[mkenyon]

1) Change the overscan/underscan settings

2) Are you sure you properly installed the drivers and had the correct 'Recording Device' selected? Generally, when you have a soundcard like that, the best thing to do is to entirely disable your onboard sound in BIOS.

 

[BlastProcessing]

Well I'm just looking for something to upgrade from my Turtle Beach X12's and Tritton Trigger headsets. I think most anything would be an upgrade from those lol

In the Steam thread this was reccomended http://store.valvesoftware.com/product.php?i=PL86051-22

It looks pretty good. I was thinking that or maybe Astro A30s with a Mixamp.

I have a Gamecom 780 that I paid $40 for on sale at Fry's. For that price they are a pretty good deal, but you can definitely do better if you are willing to splash out.

You can get them on amazon for cheaper ($57) without the Dota 2 branding.

 

[SloaneRisette]

1) Change the overscan/underscan settings

2) Are you sure you properly installed the drivers and had the correct 'Recording Device' selected? Generally, when you have a soundcard like that, the best thing to do is to entirely disable your onboard sound in BIOS.

I installed the drivers that came on the disc that came with the sound card, and yeah, I disabled the onboard sound in the BIOS. There were no options in any of the sound devices I looked at that had my microphone.

As for the overscan/underscan, went into the Catalyst Control Center, which showed the over/underscan settings back when I was just using an HDMI cable, but now I'm not seeing it.

 

[mkenyon]

Check out what is listed in the 'Recording' tab in the Sound Configuration box.

Do a quick google in regards to overscan/underscan to see where they put it.

 

[plainr_]

OMG. I got to have that Z87-I Deluxe.

Thanks for the pics mkenyon.

 

[kennah]

One of my friends is getting a hell of a deal

X79 Sabertooth
3820
16gig Gskill 1833 quadchannel
Corsair C70 Military Green
H100i
Noctua 2011 cooler

for $650.

Gonna be fun to put it all together. Might flip the case and get something better.

 

[xJavonta]

I have a Gamecom 780 that I paid $40 for on sale at Fry's. For that price they are a pretty good deal, but you can definitely do better if you are willing to splash out.

You can get them on amazon for cheaper ($57) without the Dota 2 branding.

Yeah I saw that

 

[brentech]

One of my friends is getting a hell of a deal

X79 Sabertooth
3820
16gig Gskill 1833 quadchannel
Corsair C70 Military Green
H100i
Noctua 2011 cooler

for $650.

Gonna be fun to put it all together. Might flip the case and get something better.

Must have fallen off the back of a truck, lol.
Nice deal

 

[kennah]

From the looks of it he tried to sell it a couple weeks ago as a complete system for $1500 lol. This seems to be the leftovers from parting it out. Just another one of us chronic upgraders.

 

[scogoth]

ASUS Z87 Deluxe (DAT GOLD, Scogoth is gonna shit himself)

I'm in Europe. Nothing I can do about it. Is that really there new production color scheme? Its near inpossible to make gold black look nice with stock parts.

 

[mkenyon]

I'm in Europe. Nothing I can do about it. Is that really there new production color scheme? Its near inpossible to make gold black look nice with stock parts.

Hi over there!

Life experience > gold motherboards.

 

[kennah]

I'm in Europe. Nothing I can do about it. Is that really there new production color scheme? Its near inpossible to make gold black look nice with stock parts.

Did you move?

 

[Computron]

Next batch of nVidia cards. When?

 

[HoosTrax]

Wait, ASUS is getting rid of the black and blue color scheme for their mainstream stuff? Not sure if I like.

 

[kharma45]

Next batch of nVidia cards. When?

This month possibly.

 

[Van Owen]

Anyone have problems with a asus p8p67 motherboard? Mine was working find but now the dram led is red and the PC won't post after working fine for over a year. Nothing in my system has changed since I built it so it isn't bad ram or anything. Tried the MemOk button but it still won't boot.

 

[Fatal Futanari]

If serious about the $3000 Budget:

CPU - Intel 3930K
Motherboard - ASUS Rampage IV Gene, Rampage IV Formula, Sabertooth X79
RAM - 16GB DDR3 2133 memory (lots of options - Ripjaw Z is the best bang for the buck)
Case - Fractal Arc Midi R2
GPU - Titan or 7970, or wait till the end of the month to see if 780 rumors are true.
SSD - 256 or 480/500GB Crucial M500 or Samsung 840
PSU - Seasonic X750/760, Corsair AX760
Cooler - Corsair H100i

That's pretty much the best machine money can buy right now for a workstation that doubles as a gaming machine, which it seems you are after.

For motherboards, if you don't need more than 4 DIMMs of RAM, and don't plan on using lots of expansion slots, the Rampage IV Gene is what you want. The Rampage IV Formula would be for 4 DIMMs and more expansion slots. The Sabertooth would be for 8 DIMMs and more expansion slots.

AMD cards tend to work better in Vegas for additional rendering power, so I'd almost suggest a 7970 based on that alone.

*edit*

You could also wait two months for Haswell and pay ~$350 less for similar (probably lower, possibly equal or higher) performance.

Hmm I see, I see. I know AMD cards are usually more bang for your buck but I got tired of all the frustrations their cards brought to me on the laptop side. So I think I'll go Nvidia this time around. However, I hear new cards are coming out soon for the green side so I might wait to see what's up

CPU side...jeez so sandy bridge is still king? Nice lol

I also need a decent monitor, speakers, and keyboard (with lights preferably)

 

[Hazaro]

Hmm I see, I see. I know AMD cards are usually more bang for your buck but I got tired of all the frustrations their cards brought to me on the laptop side. So I think I'll go Nvidia this time around. However, I hear new cards are coming out soon for the green side so I might wait to see what's up

CPU side...jeez so sandy bridge is still king? Nice lol

I also need a decent monitor, speakers, and keyboard (with lights preferably)

Can't help you on speakers, but monitor and keyboards are covered in the OP

 

[mkenyon]

Hmm I see, I see. I know AMD cards are usually more bang for your buck but I got tired of all the frustrations their cards brought to me on the laptop side. So I think I'll go Nvidia this time around. However, I hear new cards are coming out soon for the green side so I might wait to see what's up

CPU side...jeez so sandy bridge is still king? Nice lol

I also need a decent monitor, speakers, and keyboard (with lights preferably)

Specifically, this is Sandy Bridge Enthusiast. Socket 2011, meant for workstations and high end gaming rigs. That means 6 cores and 12 threads of beastmode Intel processing with 48 PCI-E lanes as opposed to 16 with consumer Sandy/Ivy.

There will also be a drop-in upgrade CPU option with IvyBridge-E which will be released in September/October this year.

Okay, so I'll basically propose two different systems. #1 is all out beast encoding machine of doom. This should overclock to 4.7-5.0 GHz. I'm leaving out the GPU as it sounds like you'll want to wait at least a few weeks to see what NVIDIA will be doing. Otherwise, I strongly recommend the 7970 as the Titan will push you over your budget.

CPU - Intel 3930K - $570
Motherboard - ASUS Rampage IV Gene - $270
Memory - 16GB Ripjaws 2133MHz - $140 or 32GB Ripjaws 2133MHz - $285
Solid State Drive - Crucial m500 240GB - $209 or Samsung 840 500GB - $370 (though is often on sale for $300-320)
PSU - Corsair AX760 Platinum - $170 ($153 through tomorrow w/ code MAPS10)
CPU Cooler - Corsair H100i - $106
Case - Fractal Arc Midi R2 - $100

Total $1565-$1880​

The second one serves as both an option as a 'buy now' or wait for Haswell, as the CPU and motherboard prices will be exactly the same. This will do great for multimedia creation albeit not quite as fast as the 3930K. It will have identical gaming performance though. Again, omitting the video card for reasons said above.

CPU - Intel 3770K $330
Motherboard - MSI MPower - $200
Memory - 16GB 2133MHz MPower - $230
Solid State Drive - Crucial m500 240GB - $209 or Samsung 840 500GB - $370 (though is often on sale for $300-320)
PSU - Corsair AX760 Platinum - $170 ($153 through tomorrow w/ code MAPS10)
CPU Cooler - Corsair H60 - $65
Case - Fractal Arc Midi R2 - $100

Total - $1304-$1463​

Factor in $450-600 for either a 7970 or GTX 780.

As for monitor, it really depends on what you want out of it. The Dell U2412M at $300 sounds like it is what you want. Alternatively you can go for the ASUS VG23AH at $200, or any sort of the 27" 1440p monitors out there which will set you back $500-700.

For keyboard, since you program, I'd definitely recommend a mechanical keyboard. Here's a link to a search for fullsized, backlit mechanical keyboards. People tend to love Cherry Red keys (linear and light actuation) as well as Cherry Browns (tactile feedback and light actuation). Cherry Blues tend to be the favorite of typists, but are really loud if you don't like that.

 

[Skel1ingt0n]

WTF happened to hard drive prices?!

I was at Microcenter after work, and many OEM 1TB drives were hitting nearly $100. 4TB drives were all over $200. I could have sworn I saw a 4TB external at Costco for like $140 the other day; I figured an internal OEM would be even less. Man... Plus, reading reviews, seems like the speed of most 4TB models are pretty garbage - seems like a 2TB black is my best bet. However, that's not gonna be big enough to hold all my games

So, screw it.... I'll wait on the drive...

... and I'm working out a deal on another forum to purchase another 4GB GTX670 for $340! Woo!

This will be my first time SLI'ing. Should bump up those framerates in ARMA3!

 

[CountAntonius]

Where is a good place to buy an old videocard? I'm about to finish up my rig and i'm pretty much broke so for now I wanna get something under 150. I basically just want it to be able to run Source engine games for now. Will probably wait for a few months and drop some more money on a good card but not now. Was looking for an Nvidia card.

Is the 650 ti the best I can do at that price?

 

[Hazaro]

WTF happened to hard drive prices?!

Duopoly

Where is a good place to buy an old videocard? I'm about to finish up my rig and i'm pretty much broke so for now I wanna get something under 150. I basically just want it to be able to run Source engine games for now. Will probably wait for a few months and drop some more money on a good card but not now. Was looking for an Nvidia card.

Is the 650 ti the best I can do at that price?

GTX 570

 

[Skel1ingt0n]

Duopoly

GTX 570

Sucks about the Duopoly - man.... it's just stupid. Arg.

And yeah - GTX570 is a great card and is easy to find under $150. I sold one for $125 about a month or two ago on here.


***

Deal worked out. Just sent the money off for that second 670! Can't wait!

 

[Hazaro]

Sucks about the Duopoly - man.... it's just stupid. Arg.

And yeah - GTX570 is a great card and is easy to find under $150. I sold one for $125 about a month or two ago on here.

Also to note the 570 is more hot and power hungry, but it's still a darn fast card for ~$150

 

[CountAntonius]

Is ebay the best place to find videocard deals?

 

[Hazaro]

Is ebay the best place to find videocard deals?

Whoops, meant to post that.

GAF B/S/T
Anandtech Forums
[H]
eBay (Actually good now due to insane buyer protection)
CAG

Some of those have post requirements I think, dunno how much they have changed.

 

[CreepingFear]

Anyone have problems with a asus p8p67 motherboard? Mine was working find but now the dram led is red and the PC won't post after working fine for over a year. Nothing in my system has changed since I built it so it isn't bad ram or anything. Tried the MemOk button but it still won't boot.

I have the p8p67 pro. How do you know your ram didn't go bad? Did you test the ram in a different system or put ram from another computer in the p8p67? You can't make that call just because it worked a year ago. It can just go bad sometimes.

 

[CountAntonius]

Alright. Thanks for the info.

 

[mkenyon]

Is ebay the best place to find videocard deals?

Overclock.net, Hardforum, and GAF B/S/T

*edit*

Totally beat, forgot about new page

 

[Hazaro]

Choosing a Gaming CPU: Single + Multi-GPU at 1440p, April 2013
by Ian Cutress (May 8, 2013)

http://www.anandtech.com/show/6934/choosing-a-gaming-cpu-single-multigpu-at-1440p

One question when building or upgrading a gaming system is of which CPU to choose - does it matter if I have a quad core from Intel, or a quad module from AMD? Perhaps something simpler will do the trick, and I can spend the difference on the GPU. What if you are running a multi-GPU setup, does the CPU have a bigger effect? This was the question I set out to help answer.

 

[Van Owen]

I have the p8p67 pro. How do you know your ram didn't go bad? Did you test the ram in a different system or put ram from another computer in the p8p67? You can't make that call just because it worked a year ago. It can just go bad sometimes.

Eh, reading up on it seems to be a common problem if you just google dram led light with the mobo.

I don't think all my sticks died at the same time either.

 

[butanebob]

My p8p67pro does that. I can't ever turn it off, if i do it's hard to turn back on again. I have to flick the power switch on the psu off and on repeatedly until it starts up again.