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[kiyomi]

A friend is in the market for a low end machine. I've told him the advantages of building one, but I'm only clued up when it comes to higher end parts.

Budget: £300-400, UK.
Main Use: Football Manager 2014, Portal 2 (probably) and general usage (office programs and accounting software).
Monitor Resolution: 1080p. He needs a new monitor, and he's after about 21" or so.
List SPECIFIC games or applications that you MUST be able to run well: 60fps would be nice for the games, but it isn't essential. The two games don't require a lot (FM2014 spec, Portal 2 specs) but only mention minimum specs, not recommended.
Looking to reuse any parts?: Nope. All new.
When will you build?: The sooner the better.
Will you be overclocking?: No.

I don't know whether to choose i3 (+low end GPU?) or APU. I don't even know whether to say 4 or 8GB of RAM, because I don't know what his accounting software will be like. 8GB could see him through for a long time.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i3-4130 3.4GHz Dual-Core Processor (£82.92 @ Ebuyer)
Motherboard: Asus H81M-A Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£40.99 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Patriot Viper 3 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£50.08 @ CCL Computers)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£42.99 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: Zotac GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB Video Card (£101.98 @ Dabs)
Case: Cooler Master N200 MicroATX Mid Tower Case (£32.99 @ Novatech)
Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£36.76 @ Amazon UK)
Monitor: LG 22MP55HQ-P 60Hz 22.0" Monitor (£105.62 @ Amazon UK)
Other: Windows 8.1 (£10.00)
Total: £504.33
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-04-30 14:38 BST+0100)

This is pretty tough. You can shave off £20 by going from 8GB to 4GB RAM, but he'll probably need that 8GB eventually. The 750 Ti isn't exactly great either, it's just the lowest end card that can feasibly run games fairly nicely @ 1080p. R7 265 or 270 would serve better, but costs another £15-20.

You could probably also get another £30 off with a cheaper, lesser-known brand monitor. The items on Amazon you can enter into Flubit.com and get another ~£15 off, maybe more. And this isn't including any optical drive or WiFi capability either.

An APU setup might work out a bit cheaper too, but I'm not comfortable recommending those since I don't know the relative performance of APUs.

 

[phxxBullet]

She likes hers too much lol. As for mine though, I think I may modify mine a bit, definitely a new graphics card and another 2GB stick of RAM. From there I'd like to maybe get a new case for it or at least a new side door where I can have better airflow going. It'd be nice to get a new CPU fan for the processor too.

You should tell her that she could even get a better rig, and that she can chose which case she wants (maybe that's where you get here?) for the same price, or even cheaper.
A better GPU is (almost) never wrong. More ram isn't bad either, just make sure you'll either use 2 sticks or 4, as your CPU wants dual channel to get the full performance increase. Just on a side note, you are using a 64bit version of windows, right? Cause a 32bit version can only use around 4gig ram, everything else is going to be a waste.

Yeah, my biggest concern is that I'll limit myself by getting a motherboard that supports my current processor and end up in a similar situation in a year or two when I go to upgrade my processor.

Yep that might happen. Also, DDR4 will hit the market next year, so that new DDR3 will be "old" within the next 8 months. (Ofc, DDR4 will be expensive as hell at the beginning, but just saying).
I'd suggest go with a complete new build, mobo+CPU+ram, which suits your needs, and you'll be on the save side.

Yeah that budget is really pushing it when you include a monitor, heres a config to start with:


You could go with AMD APU setup like you say as well. This config might be more powerful than needed. Also its not nice to cheap out on monitors as its something you dont buy everyday. The config lets you upgrade to any GPU you would like in the future, can upgrade the ram to 4x4GB and the CPU up to a Haswell Refresh i7. You can save more money if you want to limit the upgrade path, and you can always go second hand, which for this budget id highly recommend.

Also im not sure on the 750Ti specifically, but isnt nVidia starting to bundle Watch_Dogs with some of their GPUs? May want to wait that out if it taks interest. If your building it for him you might want to take advantage of it if hes not interested lol.

There was a list posted some pages before, 750 and 750ti won't get any games.

 

[sp3ctr3]

Are there any cabinets on the market right now that match steambox/alienware x51 in size?

 

[Exploding8]

Get a 780. Stick with your 6 gigs of ram for now and get the SSD.

By the time anything requires requires more than 6 gigs of RAM, we'll be well into the DDR4 generation.

plus you need triple channel RAM on your system and moving to 2x4GB is no good.

Alright, thanks so much! Had a feeling I'd be missing something like that

 

[phxxBullet]

Are there any cabinets on the market right now that match steambox/alienware x51 in size?

I saw 1 or 2, but can't remember which company they were from. I was looking for a tiny case too, but after some research I decided to go with a normal ITX case, maybe even a small mATX, as they have better airflow and are way more silent. It would annoy the hell out of me if I can't hear the game itself cause the cooler is spinning like mad.

 

[Soodanim]

Yeah that budget is really pushing it when you include a monitor, heres a config to start with:


You could go with AMD APU setup like you say as well. This config might be more powerful than needed. Also its not nice to cheap out on monitors as its something you dont buy everyday. The config lets you upgrade to any GPU you would like in the future, can upgrade the ram to 4x4GB and the CPU up to a Haswell Refresh i7. You can save more money if you want to limit the upgrade path, and you can always go second hand, which for this budget id highly recommend.

Also im not sure on the 750Ti specifically, but isnt nVidia starting to bundle Watch_Dogs with some of their GPUs? May want to wait that out if it taks interest. If your building it for him you might want to take advantage of it if hes not interested lol.

Oh damn, I forgot to mention that the monitor price isn't included in the budget. I knew I'd mess something up.

Would it be better to try and get RAM in dual channel, or would it not matter so much at this level? I can't see him wanting or needing to upgrade, although the option is never a bad thing.

I did think of the 750ti when he first asked me about it, and that would certainly cover him. And don't worry, I have my eyes on a 770 which will hopefully come with Watch_Dogs anyway!

 

[LordAlu]

A friend is in the market for a low end machine. I've told him the advantages of building one, but I'm only clued up when it comes to higher end parts.

Budget: £300-400, UK.
Main Use: Football Manager 2014, Portal 2 (probably) and general usage (office programs and accounting software).
Monitor Resolution: 1080p. He needs a new monitor, and he's after about 21" or so. Edit: monitor price not included in budget!
List SPECIFIC games or applications that you MUST be able to run well: 60fps would be nice for the games, but it isn't essential. The two games don't require a lot (FM2014 spec, Portal 2 specs) but only mention minimum specs, not recommended.
Looking to reuse any parts?: Nope. All new.
When will you build?: The sooner the better.
Will you be overclocking?: No.

I don't know whether to choose i3 (+low end GPU?) or APU. I don't even know whether to say 4 or 8GB of RAM, because I don't know what his accounting software will be like. 8GB could see him through for a long time.

Edit: No monitor in the budget? Here you go then:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i3-4130 3.4GHz Dual-Core Processor (£77.99 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: Asus B85M-G Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£53.82 @ Scan.co.uk)
Memory: Patriot Viper 3 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£50.08 @ CCL Computers)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£41.82 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB Video Card (£103.80 @ Scan.co.uk)
Case: Cooler Master N200 MicroATX Mid Tower Case (£31.73 @ CCL Computers)
Power Supply: XFX ProSeries 450W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£35.34 @ Scan.co.uk)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit) (£15.00 @ Reddit)
Total: £409.58
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-04-30 16:14 BST+0100)

 

[Nuts.Pistachio_Nuts!]

I was tempted to make a budget build for ffxiv but i put that on hold til after my wedding coming up shortly. I was a person interested in the next gen consoles but feel i could wait when more exclusives have built up.....but damn i was at my friends house and his rig just made me say screw it ill build pc game rig before those consoles. Only thing i worry about is building one too soon before ddr4 is that a legit concern?

 

[dancrane212]

Yep that might happen. Also, DDR4 will hit the market next year, so that new DDR3 will be "old" within the next 8 months. (Ofc, DDR4 will be expensive as hell at the beginning, but just saying).
I'd suggest go with a complete new build, mobo+CPU+ram, which suits your needs, and you'll be on the save side.

If I wasn't buying a house I'd definitely go and do that and I think in a year or two (whenever I start to notice issues again) once things have settled down I will end up starting from scratch with a new rig. At least this way I can think of the $200 - $300 as 'buying' a decent HTPC that I will be able to play/stream games on.

Then, when I do make that new machine, I can take my upgraded system and transition that into the HTPC. So I guess I shouldn’t really be concerned about upgrading my current machine beyond this change.

Make sure its an M3+ socket Mobo with BIOS support for a M3 socket chip (your current processor). That should work out ok for you, although generally I like to go clean slate when its time for a new mobo.

Right, so AM3+ will work with AM3 processors as long as the BIOS supports it? Good to know. I was getting worried only seeing one or two AM3 boards at sites like Newegg.

Thanks for the help guys!

 

[Water]

Are there any cabinets on the market right now that match steambox/alienware x51 in size?

Silverstone RVZ01 (and ML07 which is the same thing with different styling). Slightly larger enclosure than the x51, but neater due to not having an external power brick. (review)
Silverstone's FT03-mini is also a stylish case with an upright form factor and shallow depth even compared to the Alienware. Seems like the best choice if you want it standing upright on the floor or on a narrow TV shelf. Can't be laid down horizontally in console / home theater style like the RVZ01/ML07.

 

[LilJoka]

Edit: No monitor in the budget? Here you go then:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i3-4130 3.4GHz Dual-Core Processor (£77.99 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: Asus B85M-G Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£53.82 @ Scan.co.uk)
Memory: Patriot Viper 3 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£50.08 @ CCL Computers)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£41.82 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB Video Card (£103.80 @ Scan.co.uk)
Case: Cooler Master N200 MicroATX Mid Tower Case (£31.73 @ CCL Computers)
Power Supply: XFX ProSeries 450W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£35.34 @ Scan.co.uk)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit) (£15.00 @ Reddit)
Total: £409.58
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-04-30 16:14 BST+0100)

Id probbaly get this HDD instead of a 5400RPM http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/seagate-internal-hard-drive-st1000dm003
Otherwise nice build there.

Edit: Ninja edited me lol.

 

[Exploding8]

Actually, now that I'm considering a GTX 780, what do people think of the Gigabyte windforce variant?

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00E9M4QUA/?tag=neogaf0e-20

From the little research I did it seems they were able to boost the clock speed to about 1 ghz and its about the same price (used) as, say, EVGA's "superclocked" 780 (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CUIVSNS/?tag=neogaf0e-20)

Edit: previous posts and replies for context.

So I'm upgrading my 5 year old desktop and I'm looking for some feedback on my upgrade choices. I'm mainly upgrading because I want to max games again but I also ordered an Oculus Rift DK2

Currently I have:
Intel Core i7 920 2.66ghz processor overclocked to 3.33ghz
EVGA X58 3x SLI Intel X58 chipset motherboard
6gb DDR3 1333MHz Ram (3 2gb sticks)
Nvidia GTX 275 896mb GPU
1000W power supply
500gb HDD
Windows 7

For GPU I was considering the GTX 780 for a while but I hadn't realized I only had 6gb of RAM, so I'm looking at the GTX 770 now to stay within budget and save some money, specifically the Asus GTX 770 (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00D3F7CFK/?tag=neogaf0e-20).

For RAM I'm looking at replacing the 3 2gb sticks with 2 4gb 1600 MT/s sticks (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00683X4PQ/?tag=neogaf0e-20)

And I'm looking at adding a 120gb SSD for faster boot-up and faster load times in games I decide to install on it. (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00A1ZTZOG/?tag=neogaf0e-20)

I should be able to get all this for about $400 which is good to me (getting most of it used), getting a 780 would bring that to about $600-$650 which makes me feel uneasy. So yeah, any feedback / suggestions / things to consider before I pull the trigger?

Get a 780. Stick with your 6 gigs of ram for now and get the SSD.

By the time anything requires requires more than 6 gigs of RAM, we'll be well into the DDR4 generation.

plus you need triple channel RAM on your system and moving to 2x4GB is no good.

Edit2: I'm also considering an Asus variant http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DWV3NM6/?tag=neogaf0e-20 since it comes with Watch Dogs but that's not too big a deal to me, haven't really had much interest in the game. Would be a nice perk though

 

[Rainy Dog]

Gents, would a Seasonic S12 II Bronze 520W manage with a Radeon R9 290 (non-X) plus i7 3770k overclocked to 4.3ghz?

 

[Sky Chief]

http://blog.nzxt.com/2014/04/29/introducing-the-h440-special-edition-colors/

My bland+shitty white edition gets here tomorrow. Fuck you, NZXT

You are going to love it! I just finished my build last night in the white and black model and the case is wonderful! I only would be disappointed if the new one changed colors as in the teaser or was aluminum (this is my first non aluminum case). But the design is fantastic and it looks nice. It does seem perfect for some modding though. My friend's wife is an amazing artist and I was thinking of getting some ideas on a custom paint job because it seems like one big beautiful canvas.

 

[Sky Chief]

Actually, now that I'm considering a GTX 780, what do people think of the Gigabyte windforce variant?

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00E9M4QUA/?tag=neogaf0e-20

From the little research I did it seems they were able to boost the clock speed to about 1 ghz and its about the same price (used) as, say, EVGA's "superclocked" 780 (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CUIVSNS/?tag=neogaf0e-20)

Edit: previous posts and replies for context.









Edit2: I'm also considering an Asus variant http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DWV3NM6/?tag=neogaf0e-20 since it comes with Watch Dogs but that's not too big a deal to me, haven't really had much interest in the game. Would be a nice perk though

I just bought the GHz version for my new PC and am installing Windows tonight. From all of my research the cooler is one of the best and extremely quiet.

 

[Widdla]

Some friends pointed me in the direction of this thread as a good place to get some PC building advice.

I am 100% new to building PCs, but I wanted to try it out. My top priority is music-- production, editing, recording and listening. My second priority is gaming; mostly Skyrim with mods. Oh and Silent Hill 3 on ultra.


Here's my budget/build/questions:

$1500 budget, but I already have an EVGA Nvidia GeForce GTX770, a case, a monitor and keyboard/mouse. I need everything else. Here's what I have so far:

CPU: Intel i7 4770K $250
RAM: Crucial 16gb D3 1600 $145
Hard Drive 1: Samsung 120gb SSD: $80
Hard Drive 2: 2TB something (I heard I should avoid WD) $120
Motherboard: honestly, I could use some help with this. Thinking an Asus Z87 Plus LGA 1150 ATX, $135
OS: Windows 7 Pro $140
Sound Card: Creative SB ZXR $250
PSU: Corsair CS750 $110
Fan: Coolmast Hyper 212 $30
Disc: LG Internal 12X Blu Ray CD/DVD $55
Other: FrozenCPU thermal grease stuff: $13

Brings me to about $1328 plus tax. Anything I'm forgetting? Suggestions on what is good/not so good about this build?

Some guy told me to hold off for a few weeks until the "new motherboards" come out. I don't even know what that means or the effect it would have on my build.

 

[Widdla]

I've also heard mixed things about thermal grease.

With the i7 4770k processors, pretty much everyone I've talked to has said that it needs an aftermarket fan. One dude said I need to buy this thermal grease stuff.

Then someone else was like no, the i7 comes with thermal grease already on it, you're good.

Then someone else said no, since you're getting an additional fan, you'll need to remove the thermal grease that comes on the i7 and then reapply new thermal grease with the new fan you get.

Anyone have some concrete info on that?

This is the type of stuff that's a little intimidating, since I know the CPU is the trickiest, or at least most delicate, part of building a PC. Or so I've been told, what do I really know.

 

[mkenyon]

Some friends pointed me in the direction of this thread as a good place to get some PC building advice.

I am 100% new to building PCs, but I wanted to try it out. My top priority is music-- production, editing, recording and listening. My second priority is gaming; mostly Skyrim with mods. Oh and Silent Hill 3 on ultra.


Here's my budget/build/questions:

$1500 budget, but I already have an EVGA Nvidia GeForce GTX770, a case, a monitor and keyboard/mouse. I need everything else. Here's what I have so far:

CPU: Intel i7 4770K $250
RAM: Crucial 16gb D3 1600 $145
Hard Drive 1: Samsung 120gb SSD: $80
Hard Drive 2: 2TB something (I heard I should avoid WD) $120
Motherboard: honestly, I could use some help with this. Thinking an Asus Z87 Plus LGA 1150 ATX, $135
OS: Windows 7 Pro $140
Sound Card: Creative SB ZXR $250
PSU: Corsair CS750 $110
Fan: Coolmast Hyper 212 $30
Disc: LG Internal 12X Blu Ray CD/DVD $55
Other: FrozenCPU thermal grease stuff: $13

Brings me to about $1328 plus tax. Anything I'm forgetting? Suggestions on what is good/not so good about this build?

Some guy told me to hold off for a few weeks until the "new motherboards" come out. I don't even know what that means or the effect it would have on my build.

Really solid for the most part. Swap out the PSU and motherboard for some in the OP and you're good to go. Seasonic G-Series 650 modular and the Gigabyte UD3H is what I'd look at.

The new motherboards, if you want to wait, will include M.2 connectors for nice small form factor SSDs with faster transfer rates than standard ones. That's about the only major benefit.

*edit*

Regarding your TIM question, none of what was told to you makes any sense. The Hyper 212 comes with a little packet of it, which is all that you need. Unless they were talking about delidding, which would be removing the heat spreader from the processor, cleaning that TIM off, and putting new stuff on there. That voids the warranty and runs the risk of killing your proc, so it's kind of an advanced expertise thing.

 

[Pratfall]

Pretty tired of waiting for these gsync monitors. My dell is getting wonkier by the day, I worry it will die any second.

 

[Nuts.Pistachio_Nuts!]

Is ddr4 going to be something backwards compatible or something you would have to make a specific build in mind for? And is that just something way off in future?

 

[scogoth]

Pretty tired of waiting for these gsync monitors. My dell is getting wonkier by the day, I worry it will die any second.

Last I recall the rog swift will be out June.

 

[Sectorseven]

Is ddr4 going to be something backwards compatible or something you would have to make a specific build in mind for? And is that just something way off in future?

There might be some motherboards that will be backwards compatible, but none of the current ones are. Broadwell might support DDR4. No one knows for sure yet.

 

[Nuts.Pistachio_Nuts!]

There might be some motherboards that will be backwards compatible, but none of the current ones are. Broadwell might support DDR4. No one knows for sure yet.

Oh ok thanks so if its something that's a ways off then i shouldnt worry too much about it in a build then.

 

[mkenyon]

Pretty tired of waiting for these gsync monitors. My dell is getting wonkier by the day, I worry it will die any second.

Which one were you holding out for? The RoG?

Oh ok thanks so if its something that's a ways off then i shouldnt worry too much about it in a build then.

DDR4 will be on Haswell-E in a few months.

There is no backwards compatibility in terms of accepting both. They will accept one or the other, because the DIMM/pin configuration on DDR4 is very different than DDR3.

 

[Pratfall]

Which one were you holding out for? The RoG?

Have any of them been released? I was waiting for a couple to come out and buy the one with the best panel. I am upgrading to a 780Ti so I could do 1080p at high frame rates or 1440p with gsync smoothness. The ROG swift looks pretty nice though.

 

[Nuts.Pistachio_Nuts!]

Which one were you holding out for? The RoG?

DDR4 will be on Haswell-E in a few months.

There is no backwards compatibility in terms of accepting both. They will accept one or the other, because the DIMM/pin configuration on DDR4 is very different than DDR3.

Thanks didnt know that. So i guess ill start out build slow with some universal parts like case and storage and just look out for crazy deals then and go from there.

 

[mkenyon]

Have any of them been released? I was waiting for a couple to come out and buy the one with the best panel. I am upgrading to a 780Ti so I could do 1080p at high frame rates or 1440p with gsync smoothness. The ROG swift looks pretty nice though.

Yeah, the VG248QE is already available.

http://www.geforce.com/hardware/technology/g-sync/where-to-buy-g-sync-monitors-and-modules

Looks like they are out of stock of the module right now, but it comes back in stock pretty frequently.

Thanks didnt know that. So i guess ill start out build slow with some universal parts like case and storage and just look out for crazy deals then and go from there.

Haswell-E is the enthusiast socket though. $300-400 for the base processor, $230+ for the most basic motherboard.

Are you looking to purchase the whole thing now?

 

[Sword Of Doom]

There's plenty of headroom. I ran a 4960x @ 4.5ghz and an overclocked GTX 780 1250/7000 on a 620w Seasonic M12II.

The CX is not a seasonic

 

[Sky Chief]

Last I recall the rog swift will be out June.

Where did you hear that? Might have to get one for my birthday! I was hoping it would be sooner though.

Have any of them been released? I was waiting for a couple to come out and buy the one with the best panel. I am upgrading to a 780Ti so I could do 1080p at high frame rates or 1440p with gsync smoothness. The ROG swift looks pretty nice though.

Yeah, the VG248QE is already available.

http://www.geforce.com/hardware/technology/g-sync/where-to-buy-g-sync-monitors-and-modules

Looks like they are out of stock of the module right now, but it comes back in stock pretty frequently.

Haswell-E is the enthusiast socket though. $300-400 for the base processor, $230+ for the most basic motherboard.

Are you looking to purchase the whole thing now?

Yeah I am waiting for the ROG Swift and then going to decide if I should get that, the QNIX, or the Eizo.

EDIT: by the way installing Windows using a thumb drive is a huge pain in the ass

 

[justsomeguy]

May be posting this at the wrong hour for UK-GAF but here goes... on behalf of a mate:

Your Current Specs:

• AMD Athlon II X2 250
• 2 x 2G crucial
• Asus M4A77TD PRO
• Powercolor ATI Radeon HD 4890 1024MB
• OCZ ModXStream Pro 700w
• case: Cooler master CAVALIER 3
• 500G Hitatchi 7200rpm
• Monitor Resolution: 1920 x 1200 (not intending to buy new)

Budget: £500, UK. Scope to spend a little more for “worthwhile” upgrades
Main Use: Rate 1-5. 5 being Highest:

• Gaming 5
• 1080p video streaming (Amazon PIV) 4
• Photoshop 3
• occasional webserver usage 1

List SPECIFIC games or applications that you MUST be able to run well:

• Men of War: assault squad 2
• New Wolfenstein
• Battlefield 3

Looking to reuse any parts?: Cooler master CAVALIER 3
When will you build?: 1-2 months
Will you be overclocking?: Maybe/yes
Note my friend says an SSD is a 'must' (and of course he's right )... to keep vaguely near budget we probably need to look at a smaller SSD for boot disk plus a couple of 'in rotation' games

Thanks in advance.

 

[mkenyon]

EDIT: by the way installing Windows using a thumb drive is a huge pain in the ass

You have to be doing it wrong! It's so ez.

Per the RoG Swift, there's endless discussion here: http://www.overclock.net/t/1455299/asus-update-27-1440p-gsync-120hz-rog-monitor-at-ces

 

[Objectively Bad Opinion]

question to those of you who have some experience calibrating monitors:

How the hell do I get Windows to apply the color profile to the mouse cursor? It sounds insane, but the mouse cursor is somehow escaping color correction.

Unfortunately my monitor doesn't have hardware color controls, it's a barebones model that lacks even a scaler, so the only control I have on it is brightness. It must be calibrated through software.

It's driving me crazy.

 

[Exploding8]

I just bought the GHz version for my new PC and am installing Windows tonight. From all of my research the cooler is one of the best and extremely quiet.

Just noticed it also is supposed to come with Watch Dogs, and I do see a lot of good things about it, so probably gonna get that one. Thanks for the input o/

 

[jfoul]

$199 AR @ TigerDirect
Sapphire Radeon HD 7950 Video Card - 3GB

 

[Jeramii]

So I'm planning to buy:

EVGA 02G-P4-3765-KR GeForce GTX 760 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 SLI Support Dual Superclocked w/ EVGA ACX Cooler Video Card
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130953

and

ASUS P8Z77-V LK LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard with UEFI BIOS
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131837

and adding them to my current rig... I know I need a new Mobo since my old one is from a previous gen. But will those two things be compatible with the rest of my build? Or is there anything better/cheaper to make it happen? My PC is feeling a little sad about how the 570 will be running watch dogs, and I really need to keep cost down on this.

Antec 900:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129021

TR2 RX 850W PSU:
https://www.thermaltakeusa.com/products-model.aspx?id=C_00001995

Intel i5 2500k
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115072

G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL (I have two sets of these for 8GB total)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231277

 

[jimmypop]

Last I recall the rog swift will be out June.

Is there any place to even pre-order these yet? I'm very excited.

 

[LabouredSubterfuge]

What power supply would someone recommend for powering 2x SLI GTX 780tis?

1000 watt?

 

[LilJoka]

The CX is not a seasonic

My Seasonic has 2x24A 12V rails, the CX600 has a single 46A 12v Rail. Although its quality isnt up to par, it still produces the power it states on the specs.
Also remember my Ivy-E CPU pulls 200-250W when overclocked, compared to a highly overclocked (4.5Ghz+) 4770k which may draw 150W at best.
http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2013/06/01/intel-core-i7-4770k-cpu-review/7

 

[kiyomi]

May be posting this at the wrong hour for UK-GAF but here goes... on behalf of a mate:

Budget: £500, UK. Scope to spend a little more for “worthwhile” upgrades
Main Use: Rate 1-5. 5 being Highest:

• Gaming 5
• 1080p video streaming (Amazon PIV) 4
• Photoshop 3
• occasional webserver usage 1

List SPECIFIC games or applications that you MUST be able to run well:

• Men of War: assault squad 2
• New Wolfenstein
• Battlefield 3

Looking to reuse any parts?: Cooler master CAVALIER 3
When will you build?: 1-2 months
Will you be overclocking?: Maybe/yes
Note my friend says an SSD is a 'must' (and of course he's right )... to keep vaguely near budget we probably need to look at a smaller SSD for boot disk plus a couple of 'in rotation' games

Thanks in advance.

It looks like the current motherboard he has supports DDR3 RAM, which means he could buy another set of the exact same RAM he currently has, so he'd have 4x2GB. Just make sure it's the exact same stuff. If it's no longer available, then he'll have to grab some new RAM (~£50) which means probably reducing the GPU from a 280X to a GTX 760. The other problem with a 4x2 setup is that it leaves no room for expansion.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4440 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor (£127.50 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: ASRock H87 Pro4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£54.56 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Crucial M500 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk (£52.98 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: MSI Radeon R9 280X 3GB TWIN FROZR Video Card (£219.99 @ Dabs)
Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£36.76 @ Amazon UK)
Other: Windows 8.1 (£10.00)
Total: £501.79
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-04-30 18:38 BST+0100)

He can reuse the HDD. Couldn't quite fit together a setup that includes an overclockable CPU. Make sure you put every Amazon item in Flubit, you could get ~£30 off. I put a reddit/Softwareswap version of Windows in there just in case.

Like I say, if RAM is a potential issue, buy 8GB of it new and drop the 280X in favour of a GTX 760 like this. Compared to what he has now, either card will blow his current rig away.

 

[Nuts.Pistachio_Nuts!]

Haswell-E is the enthusiast socket though. $300-400 for the base processor, $230+ for the most basic motherboard.

Are you looking to purchase the whole thing now?

No like i said a page back getting married soon and was thinking of building a pc instead of next gen console purchase for now after seeing my friends pc build and was really interested. More deals with steam than retail and digital console sales so thought a pc was the better return on games for now. I just have this stigma of being too impatient with tech i always worry about rushing into so would rather build when some stuff is out that wont be so obsolete after finishing it lol.

 

[S0cc3rpunk]

Ok i made up my mind, i'm going to order this. then in the future, i'll save my money and order an SSD and GeForce GTX 780 Ti 3GB

• CPU Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core $229.98
• CPU Cooler Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing $29.98
• Motherboard Gigabyte GA-Z87M-D3H 1.0 Micro ATX LGA1150 $90.16
• Memory G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 $68.99
• Storage Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM $56.98
• Video Card Gigabyte GeForce GTX 770 4GB WINDFORCE $379.99
• Case Cooler Master N200 MicroATX Mid Tower $48.99
• Power Supply EVGA 500W ATX12V / EPS12V $39.99
• Operating System Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit) $20.00

Total of this order is $965.06

 

[LilJoka]

It looks like the current motherboard he has supports DDR3 RAM, which means he could buy another set of the exact same RAM he currently has, so he'd have 4x2GB. Just make sure it's the exact same stuff. If it's no longer available, then he'll have to grab some new RAM (~£50) which means probably reducing the GPU from a 280X to a GTX 760. The other problem with a 4x2 setup is that it leaves no room for expansion.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4440 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor (£127.50 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: ASRock H87 Pro4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£54.56 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Crucial M500 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk (£52.98 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: MSI Radeon R9 280X 3GB TWIN FROZR Video Card (£219.99 @ Dabs)
Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£36.76 @ Amazon UK)
Other: Windows 8.1 (£10.00)
Total: £501.79
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-04-30 18:38 BST+0100)

He can reuse the HDD. Couldn't quite fit together a setup that includes an overclockable CPU. Make sure you put every Amazon item in Flubit, you could get ~£30 off. I put a reddit/Softwareswap version of Windows in there just in case.

Like I say, if RAM is a potential issue, buy 8GB of it new and drop the 280X in favour of a GTX 760 like this. Compared to what he has now, either card will blow his current rig away.

According to the PSU experts at overclock.net that EVGA PSU is one to stay away from.

Also for the RAM, even if you cant get the exact same Ram again, just get some Ram that has the same timings/speed/voltage and itll be fine.
BTW ram goes for decent prices on eBay due to the already inflated prices at retailers. So your other option is to sell your kit and buy a new 2x4Gb kit.

There is a super valuable resource here
http://www.overclock.net/t/1431929/psu-index-thread

 

[kiyomi]

According to the PSU experts at overclock.net that EVGA PSU is one to stay away from.

Also for the RAM, even if you cant get the exact same Ram again, just get some Ram that has the same timings/speed/voltage and itll be fine.
BTW ram goes for decent prices on eBay due to the already inflated prices at retailers. So your other option is to sell your kit and buy a new 2x4Gb kit.

There is a super valuable resource here
http://www.overclock.net/t/1431929/psu-index-thread

I didn't know about the PSU - I saw it recommended here a few times, heh. Thanks for the link.

Good points about the rest.

 

[justsomeguy]

It looks like the current motherboard he has supports DDR3 RAM, which means he could buy another set of the exact same RAM he currently has, so he'd have 4x2GB. Just make sure it's the exact same stuff. If it's no longer available, then he'll have to grab some new RAM (~£50) which means probably reducing the GPU from a 280X to a GTX 760. The other problem with a 4x2 setup is that it leaves no room for expansion.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4440 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor (£127.50 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: ASRock H87 Pro4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£54.56 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Crucial M500 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk (£52.98 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: MSI Radeon R9 280X 3GB TWIN FROZR Video Card (£219.99 @ Dabs)
Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£36.76 @ Amazon UK)
Other: Windows 8.1 (£10.00)
Total: £501.79
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-04-30 18:38 BST+0100)

He can reuse the HDD. Couldn't quite fit together a setup that includes an overclockable CPU. Make sure you put every Amazon item in Flubit, you could get ~£30 off. I put a reddit/Softwareswap version of Windows in there just in case.

Like I say, if RAM is a potential issue, buy 8GB of it new and drop the 280X in favour of a GTX 760 like this. Compared to what he has now, either card will blow his current rig away.

Fantastic - thanks mate. Windows I can get him cheapo from work anyway, so a softwareswap version is fine. He'll be happy with getting an R9 280X in that budget.

 

[mkenyon]

No like i said a page back getting married soon and was thinking of building a pc instead of next gen console purchase for now after seeing my friends pc build and was really interested. More deals with steam than retail and digital console sales so thought a pc was the better return on games for now. I just have this stigma of being too impatient with tech i always worry about rushing into so would rather build when some stuff is out that wont be so obsolete after finishing it lol.

Nothing will be obsolete. Lots of incremental bells and whistles that aren't necessary but might be nice.

If you want to build now, build now. Nothing too huge you'll be missing out on.

According to the PSU experts at overclock.net that EVGA PSU is one to stay away from.

Also for the RAM, even if you cant get the exact same Ram again, just get some Ram that has the same timings/speed/voltage and itll be fine.
BTW ram goes for decent prices on eBay due to the already inflated prices at retailers. So your other option is to sell your kit and buy a new 2x4Gb kit.

There is a super valuable resource here
http://www.overclock.net/t/1431929/psu-index-thread

It has lower DOA rates than the CX, which is really the only significant concern for a standard/budget build. The review they have listed is quite basic there.

 

[justsomeguy]

I didn't know about the PSU - I saw it recommended here a few times, heh. Thanks for the link.

Good points about the rest.

Yup agreed, also good info, thanks... Roughly how much extra are we looking at for the overclocked version of the chip + mobo? If it's £50 then it's worth considering.

 

[justsomeguy]

I didn't know about the PSU - I saw it recommended here a few times, heh. Thanks for the link.

Any reason for him NOT to reuse his current PSU?

•OCZ ModXStream Pro 700w

Would save a few £...

 

[LilJoka]

Any reason for him NOT to reuse his current PSU?

•OCZ ModXStream Pro 700w

Would save a few £...

Not the greatest PSU in the world, but itll do fine.

 

[mkenyon]

Just another follow up to that, LilJoka. From Johnny Guru:

With the 500B, EVGA did pretty much what they set out to do - release a good, solid, no frills power supply at an affordable price. No, it doesn't have the performance of the Supernova units, but it really doesn't have to. That kind of performance costs money, and if you're shopping at the fifty bean level you simply cannot afford a world class unit. Units like this one are the next best thing. I'd like to see the Japanese capacitors used on at least the 5VSB output, but that remains my only major complaint right now. You could do a lot worse than one of these if all you have is fifty bucks to your name.

The Good:

very good voltage regulation on the 12V rail
excellent stability on the 5V rail
cheapity cheap cheap
good looking
shallow housing
The Bad:

could use a few zip ties in the packaging
The Mediocre:

non modular
second tier capacitors
some soldering blips

 

[LilJoka]

IMO any PSU that has quality issues with soldering out the factory is something not to consider. I mean the Corsair CX series is something i dont totally feel comfortable using, but its way more stable of a platform to buy for a normal user than the EVGA. With the DOAs, you got to remember a lot of people buy Corsair from their long term rep and general brand awareness compared to EVGA in the PSU market.

Yup agreed, also good info, thanks... Roughly how much extra are we looking at for the overclocked version of the chip + mobo? If it's £50 then it's worth considering.

Heres an overclockable config. Hyper 212 is not necessary to buy day 1, but youll need an aftermarket cooler later if you want to overclock.
http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/3BpDU