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"I Need a New PC!" 2014 Part 1. 1080p and 60FPS is so last-gen and your 2500K is fine

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Water

Member
M.2 SATA is what you are looking for, and it is now mainstream. The actual M.2 SSDs are going to start coming out over the next few months. If you don't have a Z97 board, you can just get an M.2 expansion/riser card, and attach them to that.
As you say, the actual M.2 SSDs aren't out yet. And 99% of the Z97 boards seem to be offering only two lanes to the socket which means they'll only mildly improve performance. Everyone involved is cheaping out whereas we should be seeing a steady ramp up in SSD performance to quickly triple and quadruple current perf. PCIe card SSDs can have that massive performance on any mobo so they seem like a good way for the enthusiast world to go at least until the M.2 sockets get good.
PCI-E SSDs are naturally more expensive because what they are at the core is a SATA controller with two SSDs in RAID0 onboard. It's not just a single device.
Not anymore.
 

riflen

Member
M.2 SATA is what you are looking for, and it is now mainstream. The actual M.2 SSDs are going to start coming out over the next few months. If you don't have a Z97 board, you can just get an M.2 expansion/riser card, and attach them to that.

PCI-E SSDs are naturally more expensive because what they are at the core is a SATA controller with two SSDs in RAID0 onboard. It's not just a single device.

New products are coming soon that don't have anything to do with SATA and instead use the new NVMe interface designed for solid state storage. They'll come in a PCI-E card format and perform better than anything shackled to the SATA interface. The first products available are enterprise-level, but the low end are already $1.50 per GB and performance is nuts.

EDIT: Beaten like Smokey's wallet.
 

Dr.Acula

Banned
New products are coming soon that don't have anything to do with SATA and instead use the new NVMe interface designed for solid state storage. They'll come in a PCI-E card format and perform better than anything shackled to the SATA interface. The first products available are enterprise-level, but the low end are already $1.50 per GB and performance is nuts.

EDIT: Beaten like Smokey's wallet.

So when should I upgrade my mobo?
 

mkenyon

Banned
I s'pose I'm of the opinion that at this point, even quadrupling the speed of an SSD isn't particularly interesting from a consumer's perspective.

I will definitely be upgrading my work server soon, but that hosts a database.

The only thing that I think matters for users is ease of use/installation (mSATA and M.2 SATA answer this, no cables), and size:$.
 

kennah

Member
Can't wait for SSDs to get cheap enough for me to upgrade my video editing machine to 100% SSD instead of a combo of 10k and 7200rpm drives.
 

teiresias

Member
So when should I upgrade my mobo?

NVMe would connect via regular PCI-E and only require OS support (which Windows 8.1 and above now support I believe) so I don't think a specific motherboard would be required. If I understand NVMe correctly it's like a transport-level protocol on top of the PCI-E bus. I may be wrong, haven't read up on it much.

Yeah, I find M.2 to be a crutch, though the small form factor of the drives isn't bad and may be suitable for an OS-only drive (I still run in that two-SSD config, with a 64GB SSD for OS and productivity apps, including Lightroom - but not its catalog - and a 256GB SSD for basically my Steam directory).
 

Smokey

Member
M.2 SATA slots and DDR4 is what you'd be missing out on. It'll probably be compatible with Broadwell-E as well.

I know. I've told myself all of these things for the wait side.

I think the main thing is I want to use this third card and get everything set up and I can't very well do that with no x99!
 

mkenyon

Banned
I know. I've told myself all of these things for the wait side.

I think the main thing is I want to use this third card and get everything set up and I can't very well do that with no x99!
Want me to send you my Z77X-UP7 to use in the interim?

It'll still be PCI-E 2.0, but you'll at least have some support for that third card.
 

mkenyon

Banned
That would be pretty great and save me from myself. Is the BIOS updated for 2600k compat?
They're all backwards compatible, but I'll load up the newest BIOS before sending it. Need to disassemble it as well, and I can do that prolly this weekend. It was a neat build:

mLSld6Cl.jpg


Will probably just drop the Z87 Gryphon/4770K in there, RMA my Sniper M5 and use the 4790K in that.

*edit*

That being said, I'll have a 2500K if anyone wants one for cheap.
 

Water

Member
I s'pose I'm of the opinion that at this point, even quadrupling the speed of an SSD isn't particularly interesting from a consumer's perspective.

I will definitely be upgrading my work server soon, but that hosts a database.

The only thing that I think matters for users is ease of use/installation (mSATA and M.2 SATA answer this, no cables), and size:$.
Quadrupling storage speed (or octupling it - it's not like PCIe has limits that SSD is going to hit) is something people are going to feel. Tiny incremental perf improvements, which is all that the inferior solutions that are currently being deployed are delivering, do not make a difference.

Of course size/$ has to be there, but nothing about the better tech is particularly expensive. Convenience is important, but the way M.2 comes in SATA and PCIe flavors with different lane counts, the way SATAe ports are shared with SATA ports, the way these disable other features when used etc. is very confusing and the opposite of ease of use. Why create confusion with an abundance of new interfaces with tons of different configurations, especially when you don't at least put the performance floor appreciably higher than the old ways? Plugging in a regular PCIe card actually seems pretty good from the usability standpoint.
 

Aeneas

Member
Hey pc gaf, would you mind looking at this build and check that it will work well together/suggest changes? I haven't built a pc since AMDs were the shit.

Budget: ~£1000 inc monitor, can go a bit higher if worth it
Main Use: gaming, hd streaming, dual screen.
Monitor Resolution: 1080p, dual screen.

Looking to reuse any parts?: List make and model (e.g. Corsair 520HX, 640GB SATA HDD, Antec 900)
When will you build?: End of the month
Will you be overclocking?: Yes

PCPartPicker part list: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/JxZJmG
CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor (£155.99 @ Aria PC)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (£25.24 @ CCL Computers)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97M-D3H Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£80.00 @ Ebuyer)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£62.16 @ Scan.co.uk)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£92.99 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£35.99 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R9 280X 3GB Tri-X Toxic Video Card (£249.00 @ Amazon UK)
Case: Aerocool DS-Cube MicroATX Mini Tower Case (£60.72 @ CCL Computers)
Power Supply: Corsair CX 600W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply (£49.93 @ CCL Computers)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer (£11.80 @ Amazon UK)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit) (£83.86 @ Amazon UK)
Monitor: BenQ GL2450HM 60Hz 24.0" Monitor (£119.99 @ Aria PC)
Total: £1027.67

Thanks!
 
They're all backwards compatible, but I'll load up the newest BIOS before sending it. Need to disassemble it as well, and I can do that prolly this weekend. It was a neat build:

mLSld6Cl.jpg


Will probably just drop the Z87 Gryphon/4770K in there, RMA my Sniper M5 and use the 4790K in that.

*edit*

That being said, I'll have a 2500K if anyone wants one for cheap.

How cheap is cheap kenyon?
 

Gumbie

Member
If you want that, you can wait a month or whatever for X99/Haswell-E.

3-Way SLI? Because the Maximus Extreme's only purpose above other boards is the PLX chip which multiplies PCI-E lanes. If you want to run 2-Way, then any mATX board will be perfectly adequate.

Sounds good to me. What are the good micro atx boards for a 3770k? I don't really need anything fancy. 4 memory slots and two pci express for sli.
 

mkenyon

Banned
I have a Razer Naga Molten, and an Optical mouse pad, and because of this, my mouse seems to have a moment of lag when it's trying to read the surface after lifting it (even like a mm) Anyways, I was wondering what's a good Lazer mousepad? I was thinking about this.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...&cm_re=Lazer_Mouse_PAd-_-26-997-036-_-Product
The options in the OP are great.
How cheap is cheap kenyon?
Make me an offer.
 
Depends on the user's preferences for TVs really. That's also a ton of research, as TVs are so rapidly changing that it makes monitor tech seem like it's standing still.

I know the Sony W series TVs are generally about as good as it gets. They strobe, like the (real) 120Hz monitors I listed to help reduce motion blur, albeit at 60Hz.

Some of the 4K TVs can get a 120Hz 1080p image via HDMI 1.4, so those would be my personal preference.

Okay, I've convinced myself to look up what's what and probably add it now.

Great.... Can't wait
 
Hey pc gaf, would you mind looking at this build and check that it will work well together/suggest changes? I haven't built a pc since AMDs were the shit.

Budget: ~£1000 inc monitor, can go a bit higher if worth it
Main Use: gaming, hd streaming, dual screen.
Monitor Resolution: 1080p, dual screen.

Looking to reuse any parts?: List make and model (e.g. Corsair 520HX, 640GB SATA HDD, Antec 900)
When will you build?: End of the month
Will you be overclocking?: Yes

PCPartPicker part list: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/JxZJmG
CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor (£155.99 @ Aria PC)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (£25.24 @ CCL Computers)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97M-D3H Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£80.00 @ Ebuyer)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£62.16 @ Scan.co.uk)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£92.99 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£35.99 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R9 280X 3GB Tri-X Toxic Video Card (£249.00 @ Amazon UK)
Case: Aerocool DS-Cube MicroATX Mini Tower Case (£60.72 @ CCL Computers)
Power Supply: Corsair CX 600W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply (£49.93 @ CCL Computers)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer (£11.80 @ Amazon UK)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit) (£83.86 @ Amazon UK)
Monitor: BenQ GL2450HM 60Hz 24.0" Monitor (£119.99 @ Aria PC)
Total: £1027.67

Thanks!


It looks decent but for the best advice I'd strongly recommend the overclockers.co.uk forums as you'll get excellent build feedback and suggestions directly linked to their store pages, they usually always have good deals on too.
 

kharma45

Member
Hey pc gaf, would you mind looking at this build and check that it will work well together/suggest changes? I haven't built a pc since AMDs were the shit.

Budget: ~£1000 inc monitor, can go a bit higher if worth it
Main Use: gaming, hd streaming, dual screen.
Monitor Resolution: 1080p, dual screen.

Looking to reuse any parts?: List make and model (e.g. Corsair 520HX, 640GB SATA HDD, Antec 900)
When will you build?: End of the month
Will you be overclocking?: Yes

PCPartPicker part list: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/JxZJmG
CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor (£155.99 @ Aria PC)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (£25.24 @ CCL Computers)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97M-D3H Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£80.00 @ Ebuyer)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£62.16 @ Scan.co.uk)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£92.99 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£35.99 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R9 280X 3GB Tri-X Toxic Video Card (£249.00 @ Amazon UK)
Case: Aerocool DS-Cube MicroATX Mini Tower Case (£60.72 @ CCL Computers)
Power Supply: Corsair CX 600W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply (£49.93 @ CCL Computers)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer (£11.80 @ Amazon UK)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit) (£83.86 @ Amazon UK)
Monitor: BenQ GL2450HM 60Hz 24.0" Monitor (£119.99 @ Aria PC)
Total: £1027.67

Thanks!

I'll give you a hand now. A few things there I'd change.

It looks decent but for the best advice I'd strongly recommend the overclockers.co.uk forums as you'll get excellent build feedback and suggestions directly linked to their store pages, they usually always have good deals on too.

Their forum is shite and full of knobs.
 

frontovik

Banned
Hello GAF. I'm looking to build a new PC and plan to order the parts from NCIX. My budget is around $1500-$1600. However, I have a few questions.

a) Should I get Windows 7 Ultimate or Windows 8 for OS? I've heard that there are issues with Windows 8 when it comes to gaming.

b) Would I be better with a 760 OC over a 770?

Here are the system specifications, I'd appreciate any advice or suggestions.

- Intel Core i5 4670K Unlocked Quad Core 3.4GHZ Processor LGA1150 Haswell 6MB Cache Retail
- Corsair Cooling Hydro Series H60 CPU Cooler System LGA1150 1155 1366 1156 2011 AM2 AM3 FM1 & FM2
- ASUS Z87-A ATX LGA1150 Z87 DDR3 3PCI-E16 2PCI-E1 2PCI CrossFireX/SLI SATA3 USB3.0 HDMI Motherboard
- Kingston HyperX Black KHX16C9B1BK2/8 8GB 2X4GB DDR3-1600 CL9 DIMM Dual Channel Memory Module
- Bitfenix Ronin Window ATX Mid Tower Case Black 3X5.25EXT 6X3.5INT 6X2.5IN No PS Top USB3.0 Audio
- Seasonic M12II Evo 750W EPS12V 20/24PIN ATX Power Supply 80+ Bronze Full Modular 8PIN 120mm Fan
- Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200RPM SATA3 64MB Cache 3.5in Internal Hard Drive
- Kingston SSDNow V300 120GB 2.5in SATA3 LSI SandForce Solid State Disk Flash Drive SSD
- ASUS DRW-24F1ST 24X SATA DVD Writer Black
- Please Use The Onboard Sound Card Integrated On My Motherboard
- Please Use The Onboard Network Ethernet Card Integrated On My Motherboard
- Standard 1 Year Limited Warranty With NCIX IN-HOUSE Tech Support
- PC Assembly And Testing with 1 Year Limited NCIX System Warranty PRE-CONFIG WIN. OS If Purchased
45278 Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate Edition 64Bit DVD SP1 OEM [GLC-02389] 1 $219.98 $219.98
ASUS GeForce GTX 770 1110MHZ 2GB 7010MHZ GDDR5 DVI HDMI PCI-E Video Card [GTX770-DC2OC-2GD5]
 

Kenka

Member
GAF, I have a question, what is the smallest mini-ITX chassis in which two GPUs can fit ? I really want to upgrade my rig to play the Witcher 3 @ 3440*1440 and February 2015 seems to be the perfect timing to kiss my GTX 560 Ti goodbye.
 

mkenyon

Banned
Hello GAF. I'm looking to build a new PC and plan to order the parts from NCIX. My budget is around $1500-$1600. However, I have a few questions.

a) Should I get Windows 7 Ultimate or Windows 8 for OS? I've heard that there are issues with Windows 8 when it comes to gaming.

b) Would I be better with a 760 OC over a 770?
A) If you are up for installing your own OS, you can buy a Windows key off of reddit.com/r/softwareswap for $20-40. That's what I'd recommend.

B) 760 is a better value, 770 is a better card. I like the R9-280X more than either, unless you are going to leverage NVIDIA's specific techs (shadowplay, g-sync).
No good. Get a non-reference card with a big cooler on it. MSI, Sapphire, and Gigabyte are good ones.
GAF, I have a question, what is the smallest mini-ITX chassis in which two GPUs can fit ? I really want to upgrade my rig to play the Witcher 3 @ 3440*1440 and February 2015 seems to be the perfect timing to kiss my GTX 560 Ti goodbye.
ITX only supports a single expansion card. Do you mean micro ATX? (matx?)
 

kharma45

Member
Hey pc gaf, would you mind looking at this build and check that it will work well together/suggest changes? I haven't built a pc since AMDs were the shit.

Budget: ~£1000 inc monitor, can go a bit higher if worth it
Main Use: gaming, hd streaming, dual screen.
Monitor Resolution: 1080p, dual screen.

Looking to reuse any parts?: List make and model (e.g. Corsair 520HX, 640GB SATA HDD, Antec 900)
When will you build?: End of the month
Will you be overclocking?: Yes

PCPartPicker part list: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/JxZJmG
CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor (£155.99 @ Aria PC)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (£25.24 @ CCL Computers)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97M-D3H Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£80.00 @ Ebuyer)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£62.16 @ Scan.co.uk)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£92.99 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£35.99 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R9 280X 3GB Tri-X Toxic Video Card (£249.00 @ Amazon UK)
Case: Aerocool DS-Cube MicroATX Mini Tower Case (£60.72 @ CCL Computers)
Power Supply: Corsair CX 600W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply (£49.93 @ CCL Computers)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer (£11.80 @ Amazon UK)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit) (£83.86 @ Amazon UK)
Monitor: BenQ GL2450HM 60Hz 24.0" Monitor (£119.99 @ Aria PC)
Total: £1027.67

Thanks!

Have a look at this

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor (£164.94 @ Amazon UK)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (£25.24 @ CCL Computers)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97M-D3H Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£80.00 @ Ebuyer)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£40.31 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: MSI Radeon R9 280X 3GB TWIN FROZR Video Card (£204.34 @ Scan.co.uk)
Monitor: LG 23MB35PM-B 60Hz 23.0" Monitor (£136.37 @ Amazon UK)
Other: CoolerMaster Silencio 352 Black Matt Edition USB3 MicroATX Mini-ITX Case (£44.78)
Other: G.Skill 8GB (2x 4GB) Dual Channel Ares Series Memory Kit (DDR3 2133, 11-11-11-30, 1.6v, Intel XMP Extreme Memory Profile Ready) (£55.99)
Other: Crucial CT256MX100SSD1 256GB MX100 SATA 2.5 Inch 7mm SSD Includes 9.5mm Adapter (£74.81)
Other: be quiet! Pure Power L8 630W BN182 Modular 80+ Bronze 12cm Quiet Fan Braided Cables SLi/Xfire (£57.16)
Other: Windows 8 from reddit r/softwareswap (£10.15)
Other: LG 24MP55HQ 24-inch Widescreen IPS LED Monitor (1920 x 1080, 250 cd/m2, 5M:1, 5ms, VGA/DVI-D/HDMI) (£123.99)
Total: £1018.08
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-06-10 22:28 BST+0100)
 
Wondering if one of you can answer this for me...

I was about to pounce on this GPU but im not sure my motherboard supports it. LINK

From what I found online it looks like my motherboard only supports PCI express 3.0 if I have a 22nm CPU and I currently have a 32nm I5-2500k

Should I be thinking about upgrading my motherboard, My CPU, both?

Or should I just look for another GPU?
 

Addnan

Member
Wondering if one of you can answer this for me...

I was about to pounce on this GPU but im not sure my motherboard supports it. LINK

From what I found online it looks like my motherboard only supports PCI express 3.0 if I have a 22nm CPU and I currently have a 32nm I5-2500k

Should I be thinking about upgrading my motherboard, My CPU, both?

Or should I just look for another GPU?

It will work fine, PCI-E are all forward and backward compatible.
 
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