I wish I'd went with an SSD in the build for my gf's parents. They had the same sort of requirements.
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"I Need a New PC!" 2014 Part 1. 1080p and 60FPS is so last-gen and your 2500K is fine
- Thread starter Hazaro
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I wish I'd went with an SSD in the build for my gf's parents. They had the same sort of requirements.
You'd be surprised by how much ancient hardware I've seen running at relatives.
I meant that, in 10 years it will be really difficult to upgrade, there will be no DDR3 available, and the 1150 socket will probably be insignificant in 3 years. At most you may upgrade the Ram in the next couple of years, but in 4-5 years you will probably not even consider upgrading it at all.
PrivateWHudson
Member
Yeah, I'm thinking stuff like more than 2 ram slots so I can easily double ram down the road without tossing what's there, and room for whatever video card I can get my hands on in 2024 without worrying about it being low profile.
I have a friend who's going to be building a PC in the near future to replace the rig I built for her 3-4 years ago now. Here's a general rundown:
-Budget is 1700 for tower+OS
-She's an artist who regularly uses Photoshop, SAI, and Corel Painter, usually watching something on Netflix or VLC at the same time, and occasionally streams art on UStream.
-She also plays most of her games on PC, with a focus on RPGs and noteworthy console ports - recent games of note have been Bioware titles, Far Cry 3, and Skyrim.
-At some point in the very near future, she's getting 2 2560x1440 monitors, so we need to have good framerates at solid settings at that resolution.
-Some kind of WiFi solution is a requirement.
Here's what I was thinking:
-Processor: i5 4670
-Mobo: ASUS Z87 Pro
-RAM: 16GB of whatever DDR3-1600 from a good brand is cheapest at time of order.
-HD: 1TB WD Blue
-SSD: 250GB Samsung 840 EVO
-Video Card: 780/r9 290 from a good brand that is cheapest at time of order.
-Case: Corsair 500r
-PSU: Seasonic G 650w
-Optical: Who cares
-Windows
We're actually a little under budget with this at a hair under 1600 as specced, so we can potentially upgrade in some areas (I'm currently wondering if a 780 Ti could fit in somehow). Here are some things I'm wondering about:
-I'm not convinced an i7 is worth it over an i5 given the Photoshop benchmarks I've seen, but if something about her usage patterns indicates otherwise I'd love to hear it.
-Same deal with 8gb of RAM versus 16gb. I leaned toward 16gb since we're already under budget, and I think the extra RAM will be useful for instances where streaming, media, and art is happening at the same time, but I'd like to hear if I'm wrong.
-Would a reasonable 100-150 dollar mobo+some kind of PCI-e Wi-Fi solution be preferable to the built-in WiFi on the Z87 Pro? The ins and outs of internet bullshit are a little outside of my comfort zone as I'm usually hardwired to a router, so I'd like to hear suggestions here.
-I think the rest of it is pretty locked down, but I'd like to hear about anything else that sticks out.
Thanks in advance.
-Budget is 1700 for tower+OS
-She's an artist who regularly uses Photoshop, SAI, and Corel Painter, usually watching something on Netflix or VLC at the same time, and occasionally streams art on UStream.
-She also plays most of her games on PC, with a focus on RPGs and noteworthy console ports - recent games of note have been Bioware titles, Far Cry 3, and Skyrim.
-At some point in the very near future, she's getting 2 2560x1440 monitors, so we need to have good framerates at solid settings at that resolution.
-Some kind of WiFi solution is a requirement.
Here's what I was thinking:
-Processor: i5 4670
-Mobo: ASUS Z87 Pro
-RAM: 16GB of whatever DDR3-1600 from a good brand is cheapest at time of order.
-HD: 1TB WD Blue
-SSD: 250GB Samsung 840 EVO
-Video Card: 780/r9 290 from a good brand that is cheapest at time of order.
-Case: Corsair 500r
-PSU: Seasonic G 650w
-Optical: Who cares
-Windows
We're actually a little under budget with this at a hair under 1600 as specced, so we can potentially upgrade in some areas (I'm currently wondering if a 780 Ti could fit in somehow). Here are some things I'm wondering about:
-I'm not convinced an i7 is worth it over an i5 given the Photoshop benchmarks I've seen, but if something about her usage patterns indicates otherwise I'd love to hear it.
-Same deal with 8gb of RAM versus 16gb. I leaned toward 16gb since we're already under budget, and I think the extra RAM will be useful for instances where streaming, media, and art is happening at the same time, but I'd like to hear if I'm wrong.
-Would a reasonable 100-150 dollar mobo+some kind of PCI-e Wi-Fi solution be preferable to the built-in WiFi on the Z87 Pro? The ins and outs of internet bullshit are a little outside of my comfort zone as I'm usually hardwired to a router, so I'd like to hear suggestions here.
-I think the rest of it is pretty locked down, but I'd like to hear about anything else that sticks out.
Thanks in advance.
Maximum graphics card length 300mm (with drive cage); 430mm (without drive cage)
So yes should fit, stock 780 is 267mm.
Since the mobo is a Z87, I presume the processor is supposed to be a K and there's a cooler (212 Evo?) you forgot to list? Considering the rest of the performance of the system, it seems like it would be a waste not to OC the CPU a bit.
Is there some special motivation for having a case that huge? Has she given input on the looks?
A Nanoxia Deep Silence 2 would be cheaper, quieter, and not look like a spaceship while taking an equally huge amount of hard drives.
She hasn't shown an interest in OCing, hence why I asked about the mobo - I'd bump it down to a B85/H87 board and throw in a PCI-e WiFi card if that was a superior solution.
I was leaning toward Corsair for ease of building purposes, since I know they do a lot of little things which make building as painless as possible, which I think is my biggest consideration for a first time builder. Chances are pretty good I'd present a bunch of options in that price range (Corsair, Nanoxia, Fractal Design, NZXT, and some others) and say pick one.
vanguardian1
poor, homeless and tasteless
Does anyone here know why Dark Souls 2 lists a 5870 for minimum pc requirements? I'm running a 5750 1gb and Phenom 2 X4 960T (no overclocking) and I'm rather stumped at the game's "minimum requirements".
If I do have to upgrade, I guess that 260X 2gb would be my next video card, but it would be months before I can spare the cash for it.
If I do have to upgrade, I guess that 260X 2gb would be my next video card, but it would be months before I can spare the cash for it.
Please don't suggest an nividia card for my personal pc please (*I* have bad luck with them), and a 2gb video would help my current skyrim moding bigtime! 256mb texture packs stink, and SPM still reports even without Enb Boost that my VRAM still hits 900mb+ most of the time.
First the ram, now the M500 512 GB for $168.99? Gonna go all in on these price mistakes. May Amazon bring honor.
Objectively Bad Opinion
Member
I have the Z87 Pro. The wifi is pretty reliable, I lug my PC downstairs occasionally for couch gaming and the wifi works great even for online games.
Asus' software is also pretty good, doesn't get in the way and has some nice niche features that seem okay, like being able to some stuff with the built in wifi and an android tablet which seems pretty useful if you're in the living room a lot.
Generally pretty pleased with the motherboard. Haven't run into any issues. Haven't overclocked my 4770K just yet but that's more a procrastination problem than anything else, as I've had the motherboard for three months now.
The WiFi antenna is flat, and is about credit-card sized but slightly longer. It's magnetized and you can attach it to anything/point it at whatever direction you want.
I would say a PCI-E wifi card isn't necessary if you get an Asus motherboard with built in WiFi (I assume the WiFi is the same on all of them).
Asus' software is also pretty good, doesn't get in the way and has some nice niche features that seem okay, like being able to some stuff with the built in wifi and an android tablet which seems pretty useful if you're in the living room a lot.
Generally pretty pleased with the motherboard. Haven't run into any issues. Haven't overclocked my 4770K just yet but that's more a procrastination problem than anything else, as I've had the motherboard for three months now.
The WiFi antenna is flat, and is about credit-card sized but slightly longer. It's magnetized and you can attach it to anything/point it at whatever direction you want.
I would say a PCI-E wifi card isn't necessary if you get an Asus motherboard with built in WiFi (I assume the WiFi is the same on all of them).
This is good to know, thanks.
crazepharmacist
Member
So moving computer into a different room, anyone have recommendation for a good PCI/PCIE wireless card? My router is Netgear N600.
They won't honor that, the product code is clearly the 256GB model, CT256, they reversed the titles for the 256/512.
Don't count on you receiving a 512 model :I
crazepharmacist
Member
Would this be a smart purchase for wireless: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00F42V83C/?tag=neogaf0e-20 ?
Even if my router only supports up to N, I'm sure I'll upgrade to an AC router sometime in the future. What do you think?
Even if my router only supports up to N, I'm sure I'll upgrade to an AC router sometime in the future. What do you think?
OldAsUrSock
Banned
Just go 780 and overclock. The 780 runs tons of games in the 100fps at stock.
If you don't mind high ping then sure.
crazepharmacist
Member
Could you elaborate? Is there an issue with that particular wireless adapter that causes high ping?
AwakenedCloud
Member
And. Here. We. Go.
Objectively Bad Opinion
Member
And. Here. We. Go.
Zalman CNPS9900MAX? I just ordered that right now, literally. Tell me what your impressions of it are like.
I won't be installing it until I get my new case, and it's still on backorder...
AwakenedCloud
Member
Wow, you have good eyes! I'll let you know how it goes.
He'll be dead from blood loss from 1000 cuts, RIP.
Stop buying those types of Zalman unless you love the way they look
Objectively Bad Opinion
Member
I don't really mind how anything looks. I ordered it because it was the cheapest cooler on this list which ranks by temperature:
http://www.frostytech.com/top5heatsinks.cfm
As well as well-received in every review I've read. All of which were carried out four years ago.
I mean, it is crazy odd-looking. You imply this cooler is a South Korean plot to kill people... I could cancel my order and get a Hyper 212 Evo instead, that's pretty cheap too. I'm too young to die.
http://www.frostytech.com/top5heatsinks.cfm
As well as well-received in every review I've read. All of which were carried out four years ago.
I mean, it is crazy odd-looking. You imply this cooler is a South Korean plot to kill people... I could cancel my order and get a Hyper 212 Evo instead, that's pretty cheap too. I'm too young to die.
AwakenedCloud
Member
5 hours later...
[
Comments on my "2nd" PC building experience.
1. Heatsinks are the devil. Waiting for it to blow up in my face in a couple days.
2. It almost took an hour to get the motherboard to fit into its stupid faceplate. Pretty sure I cut myself 203 times trying to break the metal pins on it.
3. Instruction manuals have a long way to go. If you're going to put additional screws in a case, label the properly!
4. It's scary, I felt like I had a bomb in my hand the entire time. Not only that, it has a delay timer that can go off in any moment.
5. Matching the cables to the motherboard PSU slots was surprisingly easy, getting them to fit in was not.
6. If you're going to make the HDD tray pop out, make sure it can snap back in!
7. A little extra cable wouldn't hurt. Trying to get some of that stuff to fit was like trying to get skinny jeans on a football player.
8. I will NEVER buy a non-modular power supply again.
Man, you don't even know.
[
Comments on my "2nd" PC building experience.
1. Heatsinks are the devil. Waiting for it to blow up in my face in a couple days.
2. It almost took an hour to get the motherboard to fit into its stupid faceplate. Pretty sure I cut myself 203 times trying to break the metal pins on it.
3. Instruction manuals have a long way to go. If you're going to put additional screws in a case, label the properly!
4. It's scary, I felt like I had a bomb in my hand the entire time. Not only that, it has a delay timer that can go off in any moment.
5. Matching the cables to the motherboard PSU slots was surprisingly easy, getting them to fit in was not.
6. If you're going to make the HDD tray pop out, make sure it can snap back in!
7. A little extra cable wouldn't hurt. Trying to get some of that stuff to fit was like trying to get skinny jeans on a football player.
8. I will NEVER buy a non-modular power supply again.
Man, you don't even know.
I do know though
Aftermarket R9 290 for $400, retail price finally!
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicat...ffiliateID=rGMTN56tf_w-GE.DZkv0da28Y9zW8cq3TQ
I've had one of these for a couple months and it's an awesome card. Cool, quiet, 0 problems so far. I almost bought a second one after seeing them finally reach retail price. 290's in crossfire apparently kick serious ass.
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicat...ffiliateID=rGMTN56tf_w-GE.DZkv0da28Y9zW8cq3TQ
I've had one of these for a couple months and it's an awesome card. Cool, quiet, 0 problems so far. I almost bought a second one after seeing them finally reach retail price. 290's in crossfire apparently kick serious ass.
jfoul
Member
This is the first time I've seen the AMD Radeon R9 290 at MSRP since launch in 2013. I'm really tempted to jump on this, but I have a feeling it's going to be a buyer's market very soon.
Do I really, really need this? My fight money!
TigerDirect:
XFX Radeon R9 290 Double Dissipation Edition Video Card 4GB with Battlefield 4 - $399.99 with Code: HVA119965
TigerDirect Back in Stock:
XFX Radeon R9 280X Double Dissipation 3GB - with Battlefield 4 $299.99 with Code: WKF120385
Lifetime Warranty
Do I really, really need this? My fight money!
TigerDirect:
XFX Radeon R9 290 Double Dissipation Edition Video Card 4GB with Battlefield 4 - $399.99 with Code: HVA119965
TigerDirect Back in Stock:
XFX Radeon R9 280X Double Dissipation 3GB - with Battlefield 4 $299.99 with Code: WKF120385
Lifetime Warranty
Don't want to be a debbie downer (Although I'm sure someone will label me an anti AMD zealot), but TigerDirect is pretty notorious for listing in stock items that are not actually in stock because they are cunts.
If it's listed anywhere else, that's a great sign though.
I want to get a Gaming PC for the first time in my life. What I do know about PCs is that I know nothing about PCs. Could you please take a look at this PC right here and tell me what you think? It's the ACER PREDATOR G3.
http://www.digitaltrends.com/desktop-computer-reviews/acer-ag3-605-ur20-review/specifications/
It costs 999€, I'm planning on using this as my "Next-Gen" console for the next few years, I'll get the PS4 eventually. I don't want to upgrade this thing for a couple of years but playing all games on Ultra settings is not my priority. They should look nice(r) than my PS3/Wii U right now but I guess this shouldn't be a problem. Thank you.
http://www.digitaltrends.com/desktop-computer-reviews/acer-ag3-605-ur20-review/specifications/
It costs 999€, I'm planning on using this as my "Next-Gen" console for the next few years, I'll get the PS4 eventually. I don't want to upgrade this thing for a couple of years but playing all games on Ultra settings is not my priority. They should look nice(r) than my PS3/Wii U right now but I guess this shouldn't be a problem.
Thank you.Terbinator
Member
You'd be a lot better buying from a specialist in your country than a prebuilt OEM one.
Yeah, I've heard that quite a lot. Thing is I can get this PC and pay it off monthly/more easily. It's either this *right now* or a custom build in several months.
Terbinator
Member
I can only speak from a UK perspective, but all of the custom-build outlets here such as Scan, OCuK, have monthly finance options too.
Prophet Steve
Member
I want to get a Gaming PC for the first time in my life. What I do know about PCs is that I know nothing about PCs. Could you please take a look at this PC right here and tell me what you think? It's the ACER PREDATOR G3.
http://www.digitaltrends.com/desktop-computer-reviews/acer-ag3-605-ur20-review/specifications/
It costs 999, I'm planning on using this as my "Next-Gen" console for the next few years, I'll get the PS4 eventually. I don't want to upgrade this thing for a couple of years but playing all games on Ultra settings is not my priority. They should look nice(r) than my PS3/Wii U right now but I guess this shouldn't be a problem.
32 GB of RAM is way too overkill, and the CPU could also be cheaper. Blu-ray drives are not necessary, the GPU is way too underpowered for the price.
These are things I would advice to a custom built PC and I know you got a whole lot less flexibility if you are going to go for a retail PC.
I now see that you are doing it for the monthly installments. That limits your options.
Thanks for the input. Way too underpowered doesn't sound so good. There are other places here that offer custom build PCs with monthly installements like http://www.mifcom.de/1/high-performance-gaming-pc.html but they want interest, some other details and so on. CPU is something I can eventually upgrade though if I decided to do so, no? As I said, it's my first PC and as long as it's better than the consoles I own I'm happy. I want to play Watch_Dogs on this thing (and save some money thanks to the PC prices), the graphics don't have to melt my brain though.
Maybe that's a stupid question, I don't know but how is that PC holding up against PS4/Xbox One?
You're right, same thing for Germany. It's just that the place thas has that pre-build PC doesn't want any interest, the payments are very flexible and I have had good experiences with them in the past. PC is not too bad though right? Not perfect by any means, but OK I hope.
So you'd rather overpay without interest than pay appropriately with interest... Do you see what I'm getting at?
A cheaper computer that performs better might come out to less even after the interest. And make sure to read the fine print on everything, I get you get charged something astronomical if you miss a payment. Or other such shenanigans.
A cheaper computer that performs better might come out to less even after the interest. And make sure to read the fine print on everything, I get you get charged something astronomical if you miss a payment. Or other such shenanigans.
industrian
will gently cradle you as time slowly ticks away.
I had a similar Zalman cooler in 2008-2009 for my Q9450. It was amazing.
But yeah, worst hardware installation in my life. More cuts than a Ridley Scott movie.
Ok, this is fucking strange.
I have a Crucial M4 128GB as my boot drive and it has been having some performance problems and really low speed in benchmarks like AS SSD (everything other than Seq read and 4K read).
So I think this might have something to do with the fact that it is up to the user to set aside space for over provisioning and I had not done that, so I go to shrink the volume but windows will only allow be to shrink it 303 MBs (bar 20 GB of free space on the drive).
So I wondered if it was doing that due to the last file ending at 303 MB before the end of the drive, bar the free space. (it was fragmented in other words)
So I decided to commit the mortal sin of running defrag on a SSD.
After the defrag (and with no over provisioning) at least the seq write and 4K write speed were restored to what it is meant to be!
So a defrag somehow made a SSD faster!
I have a Crucial M4 128GB as my boot drive and it has been having some performance problems and really low speed in benchmarks like AS SSD (everything other than Seq read and 4K read).
So I think this might have something to do with the fact that it is up to the user to set aside space for over provisioning and I had not done that, so I go to shrink the volume but windows will only allow be to shrink it 303 MBs (bar 20 GB of free space on the drive).
So I wondered if it was doing that due to the last file ending at 303 MB before the end of the drive, bar the free space. (it was fragmented in other words)
So I decided to commit the mortal sin of running defrag on a SSD.
After the defrag (and with no over provisioning) at least the seq write and 4K write speed were restored to what it is meant to be!
So a defrag somehow made a SSD faster!
Prophet Steve
Member
The weakest link in that PC is the GPU. Which is the thing you want as powerful as you can have in a gaming PC and in prebuild ones usually is a lot weaker.
The GPU is on par with that of the PS4 I think, but that does not give the promise of running everything as well as the PS4 can, with optimizations. You could probably be getting something 50% more powerful if you were going for a custom build with the same budget and lower the prices of the other components.
how do you guys think the high end cards of today will hold up against PS4? I just built my first PC with a GTX 780 and after picking up infamous and ground zeros i can say there is nothing I've seen yet that beats those two games. I did notice however that my PC BF4 blows away my PS4 BF4. what can i expect with games like the witcher and division? do devs bother optimizing enough that I'll see a significant difference? just wondering if my money was well spent (I decided i didnt want to spend $500 on an xb1 so i built a PC instead)
Prophet Steve
Member
It will hold up very well. Try playing Metro Last Light or Crysis 3 on the highest settings. It might look better than those games.
Sony developers are great though and there has not really come out a graphical showcase game for the PC for some time now. But I think multiplatform games will look a lot better on your PC than they will on the consoles.
High end cards are multiple times more powerful than what is in the PS4. That extends to some of the midrange stuff too. The console GPUs aren't all that special from a tech standpoint.
Felix Lighter
Member
Infamous pre-release videos definitely are impressive. It has the kind of production values a first party studio with a very large budget can achieve and the reason I still have some interest in the PS4. However, from what I've seen I wouldn't call anything Ground Zero's is doing particularly impressive. It looks nice but I don't think it stands out above graphical showcases like Crysis 3 or even Battlefield 4 single player.
The 780 is a beast though. It should have no problem outperforming the consoles with the multi-platform games that you can directly compare. The difference will often be very noticeable because it's often the difference between 30 fps and 60+ fps.
Cool, regardless of what happens i know i wont regret building one. Titanfall has been giving me some pretty nice performance (even tho its weird, seems to vary day to day) and I also did purchase metro but i haven't gotten around to playing it yet. Plus i know that in 3 years i wont be tied down to the GPU if i really want more. i was a console gamer my whole life but last gen kinda pushed me toward PC by going 7/8 years long. i told myself i wouldnt let sony and MS hold me back anymore.
chickdigger802
Banned
good mindset. There will always be dope first party stuff, so having consoles around isn't a bad thing. Games cost so damn much to make these days though, its gonna be exceedingly rare to see many exclusives, especially original ones.
Prophet Steve
Member
I wonder if I should buy a SSD now, as the M500 is a whole lot cheaper than the M550 while there are not really many benefits. I do not need a new SSD right now though, but it would be nice to upgrade since I only have 64GB. I wonder how long it will take for the new SSDs to get to the current dump prices.
Crimsonsky
Member
You just pop it off, give it the old grab and yank, it's only held on by some weak steel. Put your card reader in and toss the scrap.
industrian
will gently cradle you as time slowly ticks away.
I bought a 480GB M500 in November. It's one of the best things I've ever bought for a PC. Fully recommended.
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