Support NeoGAF

[Icefire1424]

I realize this is probably blasphemy posting in this thread, but figured it would be the best resource nonetheless.

Looking for a new gaming rig, but due to time and lack of technical experience in building myself, will need to consider a (gasp!) pre-built machine. Curious what sites you all would recommend for a pre-built machine, with a budget of around a grand in the US. I have had good luck with Newegg in the past, but didn't know if there was somewhere else I should be looking as well.

And yes, I'm well aware I'd be paying more than if I got all the components myself and assembled, but with a newborn at home and my knowledge limited to swapping out RAM and GPU's, time is at a premium, and I'm not comfortable trying to do it myself unfortunately. Maybe next time around when the kid is a bit older and I have the time to do it right myself.

Anywho, appreciate any guidance!

 

[Geoff9920]

Any word on when the 1440p gsync monitors are expected to release?

 

[kennah]

I realize this is probably blasphemy posting in this thread, but figured it would be the best resource nonetheless.

Looking for a new gaming rig, but due to time and lack of technical experience in building myself, will need to consider a (gasp!) pre-built machine. Curious what sites you all would recommend for a pre-built machine, with a budget of around a grand in the US. I have had good luck with Newegg in the past, but didn't know if there was somewhere else I should be looking as well.

And yes, I'm well aware I'd be paying more than if I got all the components myself and assembled, but with a newborn at home and my knowledge limited to swapping out RAM and GPU's, time is at a premium, and I'm not comfortable trying to do it myself unfortunately. Maybe next time around when the kid is a bit older and I have the time to do it right myself.

Anywho, appreciate any guidance!

Where in the states are you? There are gaffers that do builds for people at no cost.

Hi PCGAF, I'm looking to upgrade my rig a little.

I'm thinking my OC'd 2600K can still around for a while, so I'm just looking at something to replace my 6950.

Is there a card which significantly beats it, preferably for the same power requirements and with less noise???

What's your budget? Literally everything will use less power and make almost no noise.

 

[Stubo]

Depending on where you are in the US there's a few people in this thread who may offer to build for you.

Aside from that there's a few options listed in the OP. Use the suggested builds to look out for good components in that price range

 

[SHADES]

Sounds like the GPU could be the problem, but it's hard to tell because you have a very unusual power cable configuration.
You first need to revise your power cabling. Right now it seems like you're powering an SSD, HDD, 2 fans and the GPU's PCI-E power connector from the same PSU cable. This is bad practice and means we can't help you troubleshoot very easily.

I advise you to at least power the disks from their own SATA power cable. The GPU's PCI-E power connectors should also not be split out or shared with other devices.

Nvm, struggling to load up images from iPad. Sums up my day.

 

[kennah]

Nvm, struggling to load up images from iPad. Sums up my day.

Dude... That's quite the mess. The GPu should only have it's own power coming right from the PSU. Never sharing lines.

That said - unplugging the GPU shouldn't disrupt the other connections anyway. you'd be unplugging too many things at that point.

Can you tell us the model number of your power supply?

 

[Sickbean]

What's your budget? Literally everything will use less power and make almost no noise.

£300ish. Needs to be around the same power draw so I don't have to upgrade my PSU, and the noise from this 6950 is really bad under full load.

 

[Icefire1424]

Where in the states are you? There are gaffers that do builds for people at no cost.

Upstate NY, Syracuse Area. Go 'Cuse!

Aside from that there's a few options listed in the OP. Use the suggested builds to look out for good components in that price range

Was keeping a pretty close eye on the builds in the OP to figure out exactly what I was looking for component wise, great resource that. Was leaning towards Newegg initially as there wasn't a crazy mark up for the pre-assembled stuff, which was a bonus.

One of those things I wish I had the time to devote to doing this all myself. The current rig I'm using is around 6-7ish years old, and the Processor (Intel Quad Core Duo, don't recall speed offhand) is definitely showing its age. Unfortunately, couldn't easily upgrade that since the ASUS motherboard doesn't support the newer Intel stuff, so THAT would need to be changed, which would probably mean a new power supply, which would possibly mean a new case, and since I was replacing all that anyways, would probably want a new GPU, so...yea, basically a new rig.

 

[SHADES]

Dude... That's quite the mess. The GPu should only have it's own power coming right from the PSU. Never sharing lines.

That said - unplugging the GPU shouldn't disrupt the other connections anyway. you'd be unplugging too many things at that point.

Can you tell us the model number of your power supply?

Lol, it wasn't that messy until moved them to get a better view but yes the actual power supply set-up seems ropey at best.(serve's me right for buying 2nd hand I guess)

The model number is PxPRO600 (600w).

Should I just dismantle it and re route & replace all the linked harnesses?

 

[kennah]

£300ish. Needs to be around the same power draw so I don't have to upgrade my PSU, and the noise from this 6950 is really bad under full load.

Yeah, like I said. Literally anything will be quieter and use less power than a 6950.

Do you have a preference between AMD or Nvidia?

300 Pounds puts you in the nvidia 770/AMD 290 area. The 290 has a clear speed advantage over the 770, but would be louder and could potentially be a problem power wise (depending on what PSU you currently have - do you have a model number?).

If you can spend a little more, the 780 is a great card and it isn't rebadged two year old technology (a 770 is literally a 680 with a new sticker).

If you can wait a little longer, new cards are due from nvidia 'soon'.

Lol, it wasn't that messy until moved them to get a better view but yes the actual power supply set-up seems ropey at best.(serve's me right for buying 2nd hand I guess)

The model number is PxPRO600 (600w).

Should I just dismantle it and re route & replace all the linked harnesses?

I'm so sorry. Your Powersupply is really really bad.

Here's a list of connectors it has.
2x SATA connectors
1x PCI express connector
3x molex connector
1x 4pin CPU connector
1x 4pin floppy connector

So your hard drive and SSD should be using the 2x SATA connectors, not the molexed adaptors. The fans should be plugged into the motherboard, not the molex adaptors. The only thing that should be using the molex adaptors is your GPU.

I can't even find the information about how many AMPs it supplies to each voltage.

But yes, unplug everything and reconnect it properly.

 

[riflen]

£300ish. Needs to be around the same power draw so I don't have to upgrade my PSU, and the noise from this 6950 is really bad under full load.

The 6950 has a max draw of 200watts. To stay under that you'll be looking at a 270x (180w) or GTX 760 (170w). Either will be rather a large performance upgrade for you and come in under £200.

If you want to spend closer to £300, you'll blow your power budget, but you could go for 280x or 290 (250w) or GTX 770 (230w). All will probably be quieter than the 6950 (and a huge performance upgrade), but it's hard to say for certain because of the large range of coolers available.

 

[Smokey]

I had something like this before (happened on a work day during the morning too), my boots got to the loading windows screen before it shut down. For some bizarre reason, reseating the RAM fixed it (I was going to check the connections on everything and redo them) and have since replaced the RAM. Probably sounds awfully silly but maybe worth a try?

Update - So my fiance put the machine in sleep mode. It didn't just cut off as I thought. So now what



Can't wait to troubleshoot after a nice long work day :l

 

[SHADES]

I'm so sorry. Your Powersupply is really really bad.

Here's a list of connectors it has.
2x SATA connectors
1x PCI express connector
3x molex connector
1x 4pin CPU connector
1x 4pin floppy connector

So your hard drive and SSD should be using the 2x SATA connectors, not the molexed adaptors. The fans should be plugged into the motherboard, not the molex adaptors. The only thing that should be using the molex adaptors is your GPU.

I can't even find the information about how many AMPs it supplies to each voltage.

But yes, unplug everything and reconnect it properly.

Ok, thanks. Would replacing it with something like the corsair CX600 be the best thing to do since is going to be in bits for a while?

Also will my MOBO support the x3 fans? I'm going to have to buy new pins & connectors and re-pin them aren't I as the fans are connected into pins on those link cables. Today was my day off and it's gone from bad to worse with each post, I knew I should of stuck to consoles lol.

 

[phxxBullet]

Outside of the green savings you're talking what..an extra $10 a year or something.

I have a 1000w PSU, 2 780tis, and more monitors than a person should have/QUOTE]
And the monitors keep running too? Damn, I wanna live where you live. I'd have to pay around 50bucks more if I'd leave everything running 24/7.. per month..

Update - So my fiance put the machine in sleep mode. It didn't just cut off as I thought. So now what

Tell her to better prepare some good meal for you when you get home.

Ok, thanks. Would replacing it with something like the corsair CX600 be the best thing to do since is going to be in bits for a while?

Yeah replace it

 

[Stubo]

Ok, thanks. Would replacing it with something like the corsair CX600 be the best thing to do since is going to be in bits for a while?

Also will my MOBO support the x3 fans? I'm going to have to buy new pins & connectors and re-pin them aren't I as the fans are connected into pins on those link cables. Today was my day off and it's gone from bad to worse with each post, I knew I should of stuck to consoles lol.

Maybe replacing the psu is the best option since your components will generally be safer and you'll be able to get the connections you want. I don't keep up with psu deals but I know Ashhong posted a great one the other day. - Checked now I'm home and this was actually over a week ago, my bad!

Look for xfx, evga or seasonic units before corsair. The xfx 450 and 550 are usually very cheap and the evga 500/600b are well regarded.

You don't have to run the fans off the motherboard but it's ideal. Unless you're using a fan controller off the power cable they will all be at 100% speed all of the time!

 

[kennah]

Sounds like he has old fans that are two pin power pulled from the molex. Oof. Is get new ones of those too. There is a great deal posted either on this or the previous page for $5 fans.

 

[mkenyon]

We have been seeing announced games like Watchdogs and Wolfenstein claiming i7 for max settings

It means very little. I mean, they also put an 8350 in there despite the 8350 performing worse than a 2500K in everything game related.

Posted about this a couple months ago...but the issue appears to have come up again. Woke up this morning and noticed my PC was shutdown. I pressed the power button and it starts up like normal and then maybe 5 seconds later it shuts down. I can still see the mobo lights on through the window though.

I flipped switch on PSU. Unplugged AC cord. Unplugged all peripherals except the monitor...and nothing. I tried this for about 15 minutes,but I had to leave for work.

Not the PSU because the mobo is still getting power (power light and a few others on) right? so what's the deal here?

Turn off all your C states in BIOS.

 

[Smokey]

It means very little. I mean, they also put an 8350 in there despite the 8350 performing worse than a 2500K in everything game related.

Turn off all your C states in BIOS.

Can't get to the BIOS. Machine won't turn on.

 

[mkenyon]

Can't get to the BIOS. Machine won't turn on.

Reset CMOS?

 

[Sickbean]

Yeah, like I said. Literally anything will be quieter and use less power than a 6950.

Do you have a preference between AMD or Nvidia?

300 Pounds puts you in the nvidia 770/AMD 290 area. The 290 has a clear speed advantage over the 770, but would be louder and could potentially be a problem power wise (depending on what PSU you currently have - do you have a model number?).

If you can spend a little more, the 780 is a great card and it isn't rebadged two year old technology (a 770 is literally a 680 with a new sticker).

If you can wait a little longer, new cards are due from nvidia 'soon'.

Nice, no preference between the two. How soon is 'soon' likely to be???

The 6950 has a max draw of 200watts. To stay under that you'll be looking at a 270x (180w) or GTX 760 (170w). Either will be rather a large performance upgrade for you and come in under £200.

If you want to spend closer to £300, you'll blow your power budget, but you could go for 280x or 290 (250w) or GTX 770 (230w). All will probably be quieter than the 6950 (and a huge performance upgrade), but it's hard to say for certain because of the large range of coolers available.

Okay, here's a different way of looking at it - I've got a 520W Corsair PSU, P878 Pro MB with an 2600K i5. 1 SSD, 1 HDD, no optical drives.

Do I even need to worry about exceeding the power of my 6950? Or have i likely got spare capacity?

 

[kennah]

You can easily run most video cards on that setup. A 780 or 280 would be no problem.

 

[Smokey]

Reset CMOS?

That'll be my next step when I get home and reseating RAM.

 

[Deleted member 22576]

Smokey you should buy this 35,000$ CRT for pc gaming.
ftp://217.18.245.74/download/SONY/Digital cinema/BVM-F24(brch).pdf

 

[Granadier]

Smokey you should buy this 35,000$ CRT for pc gaming.
ftp://217.18.245.74/download/SONY/Digital cinema/BVM-F24(brch).pdf

Is that a microwave?

 

[SHADES]

Maybe replacing the psu is the best option since your components will generally be safer and you'll be able to get the connections you want. I don't keep up with psu deals but I know Ashhong posted a great one the other day. - Checked now I'm home and this was actually over a week ago, my bad!

Look for xfx, evga or seasonic units before corsair. The xfx 450 and 550 are usually very cheap and the evga 500/600b are well regarded.

You don't have to run the fans off the motherboard but it's ideal. Unless you're using a fan controller off the power cable they will all be at 100% speed all of the time!

Right so I'm just about to order x2 12cm case fans, EVGA 600W bronze plus PSU & a Zontac GTX 750TI, total £158, that lot should sort out my current issues's correct or is there anything else needed?

 

[LilJoka]

Right so I'm just about to order x2 12cm case fans, EVGA 600W bronze plus PSU & a Zontac GTX 750TI, total £158, that lot should sort out my current issues's correct or is there anything else needed?

Yeah this will do. Only thing ill say is that Zotac has a horrible RMA service in the UK, so if anything goes wrong with that GPU your on your own. Go for Gigabyte for the best UK service.

 

[Stubo]

I would heavily recommend getting this 750Ti over the Zotac. The stock clocks on it are great, it's very small, very quiet and needs no additional power plugged into it.

I put one of these in my sister's PC and it's a really great card.

Edit: Oh and you also get some free ridiculous stickers and a huge poster.

 

[kennah]

Wait - if you're going with a 750 Ti then you don't really need a new psu. (Granted it would be good to have)

Some of the 750ti models don't even require an extra power plug.

 

[SHADES]

Wait - if you're going with a 750 Ti then you don't really need a new psu. (Granted it would be good to have)


Some of the 750ti models don't even require an extra power plug.

Ok cool, but I still have the issue of the SSD power cables looping through the molex cables, so how would I rectify that?

I would heavily recommend getting this 750Ti over the Zotac. The stock clocks on it are great, it's very small, very quiet and needs no additional power plugged into it.

I put one of these in my sister's PC and it's a really great card.

Edit: Oh and you also get some free ridiculous stickers and a huge poster.

Was going to go with either the MSI or gigabyte 750ti but I'll give it a scope, think it's £2 cheaper on dabs.com also, lol I'm pinching the pennies now as my wife's none to pleased that I'm spending more money now.

Edit* it's the same price.

Thanks to all that have helped me so far in this thread.

 

[Water]

The reason for this as it was is, for the time being, a combination of budget and unknown space (might need to fit in a dorm room with 3 people).

Extra 3 inches of display on top of 21" is never going to make the slightest difference in whether it fits on a desk.

I would kill for a 120hz+ monitor, especially considering how much counter strike I play, but from what I saw, it would be an extra $200+ (compared to a 60hz monitor of the same size), the majority of which would probably have to either come out of my pocket or get cut from somewhere on the build. If I can make the money magically appear it's going to be one of the first things to get upgraded, but I at least ned alternatives.

I'd guess that any display that's not completely awful is going to cost you well over $100. 144Hz displays are in the $270 neighborhood. You are paying $150ish for the capability, not $200+. More importantly, based on the budget you name in your earlier post and the bottom line of your build listing, a 144Hz display very nearly fits your budget straight up.

If you are a bit short, what I'd do is to cut the GPU to the $200-250 range. That's where performance ramps up fastest, ergo, where the value of your investment goes down the fastest, and it's not much trouble to sell your GPU and buy a new one later. Might feel counterintuitive to cut GPU while getting a 144Hz display, but a solid midrange GPU will definitely give you high framerate in games where that's necessary when you cut a little bit of image quality. In more leisurely games where you can accept mundane 60FPS framerates a midrange GPU gives you great image quality at 1080p.

 

[kennah]

Ok cool, but I still have the issue of the SSD power cables looping through the molex cables, so how would I rectify that?




Was going to go with either the MSI or gigabyte 750ti but I'll give it a scope, think it's £2 cheaper on dabs.com also, lol I'm pinching the pennies now as my wife's none to pleased that I'm spending more money now.

Your current psu has two sata power plugs. Find them and use them.

 

[SteveWinwood]

One last dumb question. Everytime I reboot the time changes for windows (goes forward an hour). Since I'm messing around with linux this is happening a lot. Is this a motherboard thing? Anything I can do? I messed around in the settings and found a "sync to internet time" option but it seems like it only checks every once and a while.

How do I know if a noise is good or bad? Usually I'd think you'd be able to tell pretty easily, but my new one is so quiet. There is a gentle buzzing noise (I'd describe it as hearing a trash truck driving around a block or two away). It's not a big deal as I can only hear it when I focus on it and there is no other audio, I just don't know if it's something I should investigate or not.

Also, anyone?

 

[SHADES]

Your current psu has two sata power plugs. Find them and use them.

Ah ok, going to start stripping in down once I've got my kids to bed so I'll have a look then, again, thanks for your help.

 

[LilJoka]

Ah ok, going to start stripping in down once I've got my kids to bed so I'll have a look then, again, thanks for your help.

Id still get the PSU, your rig is really nice otherwise. PSU i wouldnt touch with a barge pole.

 

[Granadier]

Also, anyone?

Have you tried unplugging or turning off your speakers?

Other things I can think of:

• Fans off balance or something rubbing on a fan
• HDD screw loose or something resting on the HDD and vibrating.

 

[SteveWinwood]

Have you tried unplugging or turning off your speakers?

Other things I can think of:

• Fans off balance or something rubbing on a fan
• HDD screw loose or something resting on the HDD and vibrating.

It's definitely not the speakers as my ears have been right near the case and I'm thinking it's my cpu cooler fan.

I only have an ssd in there.

I'm thinking it's just the way the fan sounds when it spins up hard but I don't know.

 

[mkenyon]

Try cleaning it out. Keep the fans in place and then use some compressed air.

 

[SHADES]

Id still get the PSU, your rig is really nice otherwise. PSU i wouldnt touch with a barge pole.

The seller just got back to me and has offered a full refund and having see the splicing in the power harness on the underside I'm inclined to take it, just don't think I'll be able to find another for the price!

 

[Stubo]

Oh was it you with the eBay 1 bid thing? It would be worth looking at what you could spec together with your budget before you make a decision on the refund.

It's important to remember that you'd have complete choice over every component and they'd be all new parts! It's less of a bargain once you start having to buy replacement parts for it, right?

 

[Granadier]

It's definitely not the speakers as my ears have been right near the case and I'm thinking it's my cpu cooler fan.

I only have an ssd in there.

I'm thinking it's just the way the fan sounds when it spins up hard but I don't know.

Did you go with the Noctua?

If you did and it ends up being the cause, I'd recommend contacting them to see if you can get a replacement. They are supposed to be quiet.

 

[Pooya]

Is Crucial M500 SSD a good buy? it's too cheap now but reviews are good. Want it for a somewhat old laptop for OS only, 120gb. Any other SSD I should consider? I care about reliability the most.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BQ4F9ZA/?tag=neogaf0e-20

 

[SHADES]

Oh was it you with the eBay 1 bid thing? It would be worth looking at what you could spec together with your budget before you make a decision on the refund.

It's important to remember that you'd have complete choice over every component and they'd be all new parts! It's less of a bargain once you start having to buy replacement parts for it, right?

Yeah, that's right. I'm going to have a look now but I'm pretty sure I won't be able to match it but peace of mind and building & knowing it myself would be beneficial.

 

[Stubo]

Yeah, probably something like this for the ~£500 you spoke about before.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4440 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor (£127.16 @ Ebuyer)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-B85M-D3H Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£54.99 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Patriot Viper 3 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£49.98 @ CCL Computers)
Storage: Crucial M500 240GB 2.5" Solid State Disk (£82.99 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB Superclocked Video Card (£118.99 @ Amazon UK)
Case: NZXT Source 210 Elite (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case (£38.65 @ Scan.co.uk)
Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£36.99 @ Amazon UK)
Other: Windows 8.1 Pro from r/softwareswap (£12.00)
Total: £521.75

If you did get a good deal on the system you already have it probably makes more sense to patch up the issues than to pick a whole new build up.

 

[Prophet Steve]

Is Crucial M500 SSD a good buy? it's too cheap now but reviews are good. Want it for a somewhat old laptop for OS only, 120gb. Any other SSD I should consider? I care about reliability the most.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BQ4F9ZA/?tag=neogaf0e-20

Yes it is good. EVO is a good alternative, but won't beat it with reliability. The M500 is my preferred choice because it is cheaper, even with less performance.

The M550 is probably also good, but might be more expensive and more difficult to find.

 

[SHADES]

Yeah, probably something like this for the ~£500 you spoke about before.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4440 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor (£127.16 @ Ebuyer)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-B85M-D3H Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£54.99 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Patriot Viper 3 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£49.98 @ CCL Computers)
Storage: Crucial M500 240GB 2.5" Solid State Disk (£82.99 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB Superclocked Video Card (£118.99 @ Amazon UK)
Case: NZXT Source 210 Elite (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case (£38.65 @ Scan.co.uk)
Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£36.99 @ Amazon UK)
Other: Windows 8.1 Pro from r/softwareswap (£12.00)
Total: £521.75

If you did get a good deal on the system you already have it probably makes more sense to patch up the issues than to pick a whole new build up.

Thanks, the closest the match my current PC is +£200 so I'm unsure as to what to do for the best, i5 & i7 for gaming mainly DayZ which I'm told relies heavily on CPU would going to the i5 make much of a difference than what I currently have?

 

[LilJoka]

Thanks, the closest the match my current PC is +£200 so I'm unsure as to what to do for the best, i5 & i7 for gaming mainly DayZ which I'm told relies heavily on CPU would going to the i5 make much of a difference than what I currently have?

The rig stubo specced is very good value for money and youll have no issue playing DayZ among many other games. It has no Hard Disk however, so either get a HDD and drop the SSD, or get both =P.

 

[SHADES]

The rig stubo specced is very good value for money and youll have no issue playing DayZ among many other games. It has no Hard Disk however, so either get a HDD and drop the SSD, or get both =P.

Ok cool, I'll probably go with the rig stubo picked out then add a HDD later tbh.

 

[LilJoka]

Ok cool, I'll probably go with the rig stubo picked out then add a HDD later tbh.

Here is an alternative with an mATX board and chassis. Slightly more expensive but a nice case to own and a smaller form factor.
http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/3Giwf

Could also save a bit of money by getting a 120GB SSD which is more than enough for your every day applications and Windows.

 

[Stubo]

While it is a great value build, depending on how much you spent on the 3770 system it could still be worth keeping that and upgrading.

At least worth thinking about before you do anything.

 

[LilJoka]

While it is a great value build, depending on how much you spent on the 3770 system it could still be worth keeping that and upgrading.

At least worth thinking about before you do anything.

Yeah the 3770 goes for about £200 and id rather have that over the i5 4440. its about 5% slower clock for clock, but the 3770 is clocked higher and it Hyper threaded.

How much did you spend on the rig?
Things that arent optimal on the rig you got, the crap PSU and Mobo only has 2 DIMM slots. Otherwise CPU/GPU/RAM is ok. Id check if the RAM is 1333/1600Mhz (doesnt matter too much, but indication of value).