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[Shawn6661]

I figure the graphics is the main thing to upgrade - I'd like to go Nvidia rather than AMD, and be around $200-250 range. What's the best bang for the buck right now in that range?

Any other recommendations?

For $250, you can have a MSI 760. But you shouldnt change unless a specific game refuse to run decently.

 

[mkenyon]

I already have fans, those fans are hooked up to a "controller" and those fans are lit. >_>

If the current case fans are really that bad, then I'll replace them.

Could I go with just the fans on top instead of replacing them all?

What about the non-reference GTX 780's, do they dump that much heat out?

They're not great at all. Basically everything before the 900D and some other new ones had shit fans stock.

Here's some white ones that you might like.

The 780s definitely consume less power than the 290x's, so there's less heat. Even still, you're looking at a top of the line GPU setup. When you go enthusiast, if you want it to work like it should, you have to make sure the enclosure is ready for it.

I'm looking to possibly upgrade my setup in anticipation for Dark Souls 2 and some other stuff. Here's what I have -

CPU - i5 3570K, not overclocked
MOBO - ASUS P8Z77-V Pro
RAM - 8GB 1600mhz Corsair
PSU - Corsair TX650
GPU - Sapphire HD6870 1GB
SSD - M3 Crucial 128GB

I figure the graphics is the main thing to upgrade - I'd like to go Nvidia rather than AMD, and be around $200-250 range. What's the best bang for the buck right now in that range?

Any other recommendations?

GTX 760, but as was noted above, I'd hold out to see if the game really needs it.

Yes, you're correct, I'm only going off of FPS count, which I mostly base on my in-game experiences... But also FurMark, 3DMark newset ver, and a couple other CPU stress testers all result in my Sandy/Ivy Bridge CPU's reaching higher FPS, sometimes by orders of magnitude depending on the game. But really FPS is all that really matters to me since I'm building these to be "gaming machines". And in almost every case (except ironically Rise of the Triad on Ludicrous settings which is roughly equal performance) the others at 4.8GHz outperform the 4.5GHz 4770K in pure FPS and overall performance. My Intel Core i7-3970X just destroys it on in-game performance, sometimes by a measure of 100-200fps.

So yeah, paranoia confirmed. I guess I'll be looking at another Haswell soon. Probably the new six-core Haswell this time, and use another 4770K for this mobo, GPU/s, RAM and just use the case and Liquid Chiller for that CPU... :\

Are you using consistent video cards to compare?

Because all things being equal, the 4770K even outperforms IVB-E.

Maybe it's downclocking in games?

 

[Giggzy]

So this is the ITX build I put together for a friend. It's mostly the same build that's in the OP. How does it look?

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($229.97 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z87N-WIFI Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard ($119.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LP 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($83.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($59.67 @ Amazon)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 760 2GB Video Card ($259.99 @ Amazon)
Case: EVGA Hadron Mini ITX Tower Case w/500W Power Supply ($139.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $893.60
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-01-22 17:44 EST-0500)

He was on a slight budget so that's why there isn't an SSD or custom heat sink yet. He will add those in the future when he sees fit.

 

[kennah]

Jesus. The Hadron is $60 cheaper in the states. Sigh.

Pretty solid. I'd argue that an SSD with a hard drive later is a better plan. No older hard drives to pull in for the moment?

 

[indigo-cyclops]

Ok well let me ask something else then.

I decided to try setting boot option in UEFI to "Ultra Fast"; while it is super fast, I can't even get into BIOS now because my USB ports don't initialize until it hits the login screen.

Am I screwed, and basically forced to clear CMOS and reset BIOS?

Edit: May have found the answer, disregard GAF.

 

[rCIZZLE]

Trying the "install windows 7 via usb" part and now I'm stuck. The installation utility is saying the exact iso I downloaded from the windows 7 link is not a valid iso. Any suggestions?

Tried a suggested fix on youtube but it requires poweriso and I really don't want to spend money to register so I can use that program once.

 

[Giggzy]

Jesus. The Hadron is $60 cheaper in the states. Sigh.

Pretty solid. I'd argue that an SSD with a hard drive later is a better plan. No older hard drives to pull in for the moment?

I don't believe so. He only has a laptop right now. I'll also check to see if I have a spare lying around. I tried arguing with him about spending the extra money for an SSD when he's already putting out this much. He's pretty stubborn though

 

[bigkrev]

So, my computer kept restarting while playing AC4 today.

I discovered the reason for this is that the fans on my GPU decided to stop working 4 days after being installed. I took out the card, and put it back in and made sure everything was secure, and re-hooked the power up to it. I opened my case up and fired AC4 back up, but the fans weren't spinning, and the computer restarted again after a few minutes.

Is there any way to fix this, or am I stuck RMA'ing this back?

 

[ArynCrinn]

They're not great at all. Basically everything before the 900D and some other new ones had shit fans stock.

Here's some white ones that you might like.

The 780s definitely consume less power than the 290x's, so there's less heat. Even still, you're looking at a top of the line GPU setup. When you go enthusiast, if you want it to work like it should, you have to make sure the enclosure is ready for it.

GTX 760, but as was noted above, I'd hold out to see if the game really needs it.

Are you using consistent video cards to compare?

Because all things being equal, the 4770K even outperforms IVB-E.

Maybe it's downclocking in games?

I'm using a Tri-SLI 780 SC (EVGA SLI Pro connector) setup with the Haswell rig. So yeah, the video cards certainly aren't the issue, I don't think. My 3970X has Quad-SLI Titans, and my i5-2500K I mentioned is running with SLI-690's. To compare. I guess I could Tri-SLI 780 the 3970X rig to see if the results are any different though.

 

[mkenyon]

So, my computer kept restarting while playing AC4 today.

I discovered the reason for this is that the fans on my GPU decided to stop working 4 days after being installed. I took out the card, and put it back in and made sure everything was secure, and re-hooked the power up to it. I opened my case up and fired AC4 back up, but the fans weren't spinning, and the computer restarted again after a few minutes.

Is there any way to fix this, or am I stuck RMA'ing this back?

Make sure the tiny little plug that connects the fans to the PCB is plugged in. If it is, yeah, gonna have to RMA.

I'm using a Tri-SLI 780 SC (EVGA SLI Pro connector) setup with the Haswell rig. So yeah, the video cards certainly aren't the issue, I don't think. My 3970X has Quad-SLI Titans, and my i5-2500K I mentioned is running with SLI-690's. To compare. I guess I could Tri-SLI 780 the 3970X rig to see if the results are any different though.

Cmon now. You can't compare FPS or numbers or anything if you're using inconsistent video cards.

 

[ArynCrinn]

Cmon now. You can't compare FPS or numbers or anything if you're using inconsistent video cards.

Alright, fair point, But even with the Tri-SLI 780's it seems like a 4.5GHz 4770K should be at least close to parity with a i5-2500K@4.8GHz paired with SLI-690's, right? Or better yet far surpassing it?

I'll go ahead and slap the three 780's into the 3970X rig and see what I get. I don't have Quad-SLI ability on the mobo the Haswell is on (forget the model off the top of my head) but it's the LGA1150 Z87 Asus Sabertooth with all the thermal "armor" on it and stuff. So I'll need to use the three 780's to compare or simply just two of the Titans. See if I get any differences. But god do I hate wire management...

Anyway, I honestly just think it's a bad luck chip. I mean, I keep my office with all my rigs at a constant 68 degrees (in my house I can control certain room temps independently). So why a 4.5GHz Haswell with a damn Liquid Chiller closed case setup isn't getting better thermal results is beyond me, mostly likely cause it's a hot bad chip that also performs under par as well. But I'll do the tests tomorrow after work and report back.

 

[mkenyon]

Alright, fair point, But even with the Tri-SLI 780's it seems like a 4.5GHz 4770K should be at least close to parity with a i5-2500K@4.8GHz paired with SLI-690's, right? Or better yet far surpassing it?

I'll go ahead and slap the three 780's into the 3970X rig and see what I get. I don't have Quad-SLI ability on the mobo the Haswell is on (forget the model off the top of my head) but it's the LGA1150 Z87 Asus Sabertooth with all the thermal "armor" on it and stuff. So I'll need to use the three 780's to compare or simply just two of the Titans. See if I get any differences. But god do I hate wire management...

Anyway, I honestly just think it's a bad luck chip. I mean, I keep my office with all my rigs at a constant 68 degrees (in my house I can control certain room temps independently). So why a 4.5GHz Haswell with a damn Liquid Chiller closed case setup isn't getting better thermal results is beyond me, mostly likely cause it's a hot bad chip that also performs under par as well. But I'll do the tests tomorrow after work and report back.

The VRM was moved on die, and some people think that might have something to do with it.

What block are you running on it? When you delidded (is that a word?) it, did you put the standard heat spreader back on? If not, are you using a mounting set that accounts for that? What kind of TIM?

 

[Edvardelis]

The 780s definitely consume less power than the 290x's, so there's less heat. Even still, you're looking at a top of the line GPU setup. When you go enthusiast, if you want it to work like it should, you have to make sure the enclosure is ready for it.

Which is why I'm asking questions before actually spending money.

I suppose I could just get two reference GTX 780's. Those will vent out the back, and unlike the R9-290's this blower is actually a good one.

 

[mkenyon]

Get the cards you want. We're talking about maybe $80 in fans, which isn't a whole lot considering the other portion.

780s are nice though. G-Sync and Shadowplay are a huge plus.

 

[bigkrev]

Make sure the tiny little plug that connects the fans to the PCB is plugged in. If it is, yeah, gonna have to RMA.

....
....

....

I JUST noticed there was a loose cable with a connector on it. Eventually figured out where it went, and the fans work just fine now.

I clearly fail the IQ test for building and owning a PC!

 

[ArynCrinn]

The VRM was moved on die, and some people think that might have something to do with it.

What block are you running on it? When you delidded (is that a word?) it, did you put the standard heat spreader back on? If not, are you using a mounting set that accounts for that? What kind of TIM?

Using this exact Liquid chiller, and yes I did put the top heat spreader back on top of the CPU (I read you could or couldn't so I just decided to do so for safety since it was my first delid). And I'm using Shin Etsu paste, always have, for everything. I've also got a big tube of Phobia Grease if you'd recommend that over Etsu, but I've always heard Etsu beats Phobia normally, and I've got Indigo Extreme's for sockets LGA 1155 and LGA 2011, might go in for a 1150 version if that's "worth it". Never even used Indigo Extreme though, I'm sort of just hoarding them atm...

 

[mkenyon]

Using this exact Liquid chiller, and yes I did put the top heat spreader back on top of the CPU (I read you could or couldn't so I just decided to do so for safety since it was my first delid). And I'm using Shin Etsu paste, always have, for everything. I've also got a big tube of Phobia Grease if you'd recommend that over Etsu, but I've always heard Etsu beats Phobia normally, and I've got Indigo Extreme's for sockets LGA 1155 and LGA 2011, might go in for a 1150 version if that's "worth it". Never even used Indigo Extreme though, I'm sort of just hoarding them atm...

What block though?

Also, I know there's an issue with TIM spreading over to the VRM area that you need to be super super careful with when putting the spreader back on.

I'd think about just going naked to remove any potential issues. That's what I did with my 4770K. Sitting at 4.6GHz, 1.(23 I think?)volts, and maxes out around 62C average on Prime Small FFT. Using an EK Supremacy with the delid mounting set.

....
....

....

I JUST noticed there was a loose cable with a connector on it. Eventually figured out where it went, and the fans work just fine now.

I clearly fail the IQ test for building and owning a PC!

No no no, don't blame yourself. That shouldn't ever be unplugged, and if it was, it was certainly not your fault.

 

[ArynCrinn]

What block though?

Also, I know there's an issue with TIM spreading over to the VRM area that you need to be super super careful with when putting the spreader back on.

I'd think about just going naked to remove any potential issues. That's what I did with my 4770K. Sitting at 4.6GHz, 1.(23 I think?)volts, and maxes out around 62C average on Prime Small FFT. Using an EK Supremacy with the delid mounting set.

Using this block. It actually came included with the Chiller I purchased from FrozenCPU, Outside of box, so maybe they screwed up and sent me a free block.

Anyway, yeah, I was pretty damn careful on the delid when I did it, don't think anything went wrong. But I could try going naked, my only question is, what block should I use for that? I really don't have a lot of experience with water cooling/chillers and their best blocks for different things. So for the Koolance Liquid Chiller, what would be the best "naked block", link?

 

[Gromph]

Quick question,

My computer died yesterday, and i think is CPU or motherboard.

I will upgrade both, so now is the question:

Should i keep my SLI 2x GT580 or should i update for a single 780 Ti ?

 

[TheD]

Quick question,

My computer died yesterday, and i think is CPU or motherboard.

I will upgrade both, so now is the question:

Should i keep my SLI 2x GT580 or should i update for a single 780 Ti ?

Upgrade.
The 5xx line do not have the microstutter improvements that the 6xx line and up have, thus SLI for those older cards is not really the best idea.

 

[many places]

alright guys my pc is built but im having an issue. I've tried playing two games and while im able play them at high or max settings with excellent framerates, they either freeze or "hang." When i try to crtl alt dlete it doesnt respond until almost two~ minutes later. ive tried almost everything to try to find the culprit. only things ive yet to try are updating mobo drivers and running memtest. this pc is brand new just turned it on yesterday..any ideas?

 

[Xamdou]

I get 25 degrees celsius on idle desktop and max 68 when playing Bioshock Infinite max settings.

So what are the normal temps on idle and on gaming modes?

My specs:

MSI Z87-G41 Mobo
INTEL I7-4770 3.4 GHZ
SUPERCLOCKED EVGA NVIDIA GTX 770 ACX 2GB GDDR5
ADATA XPG V2 16GB DDR3 1866MHZ
CORSAIR HYDRO SERIES H60 120MM LIQUID COOLING
2TB SATA III 6GB/S 7200RPM 64MB CACHE 3.5" HD

 

[kennah]

I get 25 degrees celsius on idle desktop and max 68 when playing Bioshock Infinite max settings.

So what are the normal temps on idle and on gaming modes?

My specs:

MSI Z87-G41 Mobo
INTEL I7-4770 3.4 GHZ
SUPERCLOCKED EVGA NVIDIA GTX 770 ACX 2GB GDDR5
ADATA XPG V2 16GB DDR3 1866MHZ
CORSAIR HYDRO SERIES H60 120MM LIQUID COOLING
2TB SATA III 6GB/S 7200RPM 64MB CACHE 3.5" HD

Those temps are fine. There is no such thing as 'normal' because everyone's ambient temps, airflow, silicon lottery, etc, will all be different.

 

[ArynCrinn]

Quick question,

My computer died yesterday, and i think is CPU or motherboard.

I will upgrade both, so now is the question:

Should i keep my SLI 2x GT580 or should i update for a single 780 Ti ?

Upgrade to the 780 Ti, imo, best card for pure performance we'll be seeing for a long time. If you can swing it at a later date do a SLI setup and bask in the glory. Last PC I built for myself was a SLI-780 Ti with a 3770K@4.8GHz, and 32GB DDR3 G.Skill RAM @2600. Is probably my fastest PC give or take on pure in-game performance power, and I can Quad-SLI it later if I wish. But my therapist has convinced me to give up this crazy hoarding trait of buying all the new PC shit and spares along with them (still got 4 3770K's and 1 3970X spare, and a shitload of other misc PC shit for spare). I guess, some people ignorantly hoard Steam games and never play 10 mins of most of them, I just build unneeded high-end PC's. Pick your poison I guess.

Anyhow, enough of my drunken backstory, go get the 780 Ti (ACX fans, EVGA mandatory), I went with the SC editions, but doesn't matter really. That's my recommendation, the SLI-580 is getting a bit stagnate for upcoming games like Witcher 3 and whatnot. Just sold off my last one actually for $160 to a friend.

 

[kennah]

I'm pretty sure you spend more on computers than I make in a year

 

[ArynCrinn]

I'm pretty sure you spend more on computers than I make in a year

It's really sad actually, almost and pretty much goes into my obsessive compulsive disorder, I'm into NewEgg, FrozenCPU and Tigerdirect and misc PC part sites over the past two and a half years for roughly $45,000+. Got like 8 Credit Cards maxed out atm, and trying to pay them off slowly. So, the Ti build I've decided will be my last for a long while, aside from misc cheap parts I may need or when the new top 800 series card comes out, which will be all I upgrade. Instead of building a totally new PC+case.

Gonna focus on stepping up my game in a couple "games", since the irony is, I rarely even use most of the rigs I've built, I just hoard them. Mostly I'm mainly using my new laptop I got for Xmas with a i7/700 series GPU/16GBRAM. So yeah, like a drug addict you need to know when to stop. ;p

 

[kennah]

Dude there's gotta be help somehow?

 

[ArynCrinn]

Dude there's gotta be help somehow?

Well at least my wife is enjoying the PC I built her not long ago which is pretty basic. Just a 3770K@4.8GHz (I always use either a Corsair H100i or a H110 for this, with Shin Etsu paste). 16GB DDR3 G.Skill Ares RAM (I only buy G.Skill) @2400 2x 8GB sticks, ASRock Z77 Extreme4 mobo, and a 750watt SeaSonic PSU. Inside the awesome soft touch Bitfenix Shinobi XL White window case, with "pinkish" Neon cold cathode strips and a Amber strobe LED inside. With a 140mm orange LED fan at the back exhaust, and green/orange LED 120mm fans everywhere else I could fit them.

So she pretty much uses that to torrent shit all day and play BF4 with her little girlfriend group, and feels "hardcore". So at least that PC has gotten lots of use. Currently connected to our new 60" "Smart HDTV" 3D capable. Which STILL doesn't work with Nvidia 3D Vision 2 for some dumbass reason...

Edit: Shout out to whoever suggested that Shinobi case to me a while back, it's really a great case for the money!

 

[many places]

alright guys my pc is built but im having an issue. I've tried playing two games and while im able play them at high or max settings with excellent framerates, they either freeze or "hang." When i try to crtl alt dlete it doesnt respond until almost two~ minutes later. ive tried almost everything to try to find the culprit. only things ive yet to try are updating mobo drivers and running memtest. this pc is brand new just turned it on yesterday..any ideas?

tried playing cs:go again and framerate is great and very high settings on a 560 ti/fx 4300 but the freezing keeps occuring. it eventually "unfreezes" and i can play a minute or two then it does it again. i do hear something move or turn on when the unfreezing occurs. is my hard drive like turning off during gameplay or wtf? im lost..

 

[Big Chungus]

How to hit buy on new Mini ITX PC parts...anything I should change?

Gigabyte Z87N-WIFI

Antec Basiq BP550 Plus 550W

Bitfenix Prodigy mITX

Kingston KHX1600C9D3B1K2/8GX 8GB Kit

1TB WD Blue WD10EZEX

Intel Core i5-4670K

XFX Radeon HD 6850 Black Edition

Hoping it'll be good enough for Dota 2 and Dark Souls 2

 

[Voho]

I've posted this in the previous topic, and received help from numerous kind PCGAF folk, but some of my plans fell through and my upgrade got delayed. Anyway, this is my current rig:

CPU: i5 2500K 3.30 GHz
GPU: GTX 560 Ti
RAM: 8GB (4x2) with another 8 (4x2) waiting on being installed
PSU: 850 Watts
CASE: Corsair Carbide Series 400R Mid-Tower Gaming Case

I'm looking to install this GTX 770 in my rig. When I asked before, I was told I should overclock my 2500K to get max performance. What wasn't answered, was if I was to not overclock (due to lack of confidence in handling delicate components/installing the cooling system), and leave some potential power on the table, would my rig still receive a nice performance boost, or even work without said overclocking?

I'm looking to run games with high/max settings on a single 1080p monitor, and overall be ready to tackle some next-gen games (at least for a while!).

Also, if anyone can help a total newbie out, would anyone be able to recommend where to get some cleaning/dusting supplies? Online or retail, whatever works. This PC was a pre-built I purchased from Ibuypower, and I haven't even cracked the case open yet. Only reason I have the confidence to install RAM and a GPU is due to the lack of technical expertise required.

Any help would be much appreciated!

 

[DarkFlow]

It's really sad actually, almost and pretty much goes into my obsessive compulsive disorder, I'm into NewEgg, FrozenCPU and Tigerdirect and misc PC part sites over the past two and a half years for roughly $45,000+. Got like 8 Credit Cards maxed out atm, and trying to pay them off slowly. So, the Ti build I've decided will be my last for a long while, aside from misc cheap parts I may need or when the new top 800 series card comes out, which will be all I upgrade. Instead of building a totally new PC+case.

Gonna focus on stepping up my game in a couple "games", since the irony is, I rarely even use most of the rigs I've built, I just hoard them. Mostly I'm mainly using my new laptop I got for Xmas with a i7/700 series GPU/16GBRAM. So yeah, like a drug addict you need to know when to stop. ;p

If you ever feel the need to build another one, let me have it.

 

[mkenyon]

Edit: Shout out to whoever suggested that Shinobi case to me a while back, it's really a great case for the money!

NP

Using this block. It actually came included with the Chiller I purchased from FrozenCPU, Outside of box, so maybe they screwed up and sent me a free block.

Anyway, yeah, I was pretty damn careful on the delid when I did it, don't think anything went wrong. But I could try going naked, my only question is, what block should I use for that? I really don't have a lot of experience with water cooling/chillers and their best blocks for different things. So for the Koolance Liquid Chiller, what would be the best "naked block", link?

That's actually a great block. If you're confident that you did the delid properly, I wouldn't worry about it too much. Out of curiosity, have you screwed around with uncore at all? What volts do you have it at? You might be able to reduce heat by reducing the volts a bit. Check out this guide in case there's anything you missed.

Quick question,

My computer died yesterday, and i think is CPU or motherboard.

I will upgrade both, so now is the question:

Should i keep my SLI 2x GT580 or should i update for a single 780 Ti ?

Third'd on the upgrade suggestion. You're going to notice a much bigger improvement than straight FPS with the upgrade. Lots of games will start to run much more smoothly.

alright guys my pc is built but im having an issue. I've tried playing two games and while im able play them at high or max settings with excellent framerates, they either freeze or "hang." When i try to crtl alt dlete it doesnt respond until almost two~ minutes later. ive tried almost everything to try to find the culprit. only things ive yet to try are updating mobo drivers and running memtest. this pc is brand new just turned it on yesterday..any ideas?

Sounds like a display driver crashing, which can either be related to bad video card drivers or the GPU failing.

Since it's brand spanking new, would it be too much of a pain to start from scratch on installing Windows? There's a really handy guide in the OP that should get you setup really really well, and at least troubleshoot whether or not it is in fact driver related.

How to hit buy on new Mini ITX PC parts...anything I should change?

Gigabyte Z87N-WIFI

Antec Basiq BP550 Plus 550W

Bitfenix Prodigy mITX

Kingston KHX1600C9D3B1K2/8GX 8GB Kit

1TB WD Blue WD10EZEX

Intel Core i5-4670K

XFX Radeon HD 6850 Black Edition

Hoping it'll be good enough for Dota 2 and Dark Souls 2

Solid. I'd toss in a CPU cooler. Dota 2 loves speedy cores, overclocking helps quite a bit.

I've posted this in the previous topic, and received help from numerous kind PCGAF folk, but some of my plans fell through and my upgrade got delayed. Anyway, this is my current rig:

CPU: i5 2500K 3.30 GHz
GPU: GTX 560 Ti
RAM: 8GB (4x2) with another 8 (4x2) waiting on being installed
PSU: 850 Watts
CASE: Corsair Carbide Series 400R Mid-Tower Gaming Case

I'm looking to install this GTX 770 in my rig. When I asked before, I was told I should overclock my 2500K to get max performance. What wasn't answered, was if I was to not overclock (due to lack of confidence in handling delicate components/installing the cooling system), and leave some potential power on the table, would my rig still receive a nice performance boost, or even work without said overclocking?

I'm looking to run games with high/max settings on a single 1080p monitor, and overall be ready to tackle some next-gen games (at least for a while!).

Also, if anyone can help a total newbie out, would anyone be able to recommend where to get some cleaning/dusting supplies? Online or retail, whatever works. This PC was a pre-built I purchased from Ibuypower, and I haven't even cracked the case open yet. Only reason I have the confidence to install RAM and a GPU is due to the lack of technical expertise required.

Any help would be much appreciated!

That is a good card to go with. You would be equally serviced with a 760 for a bit less money, giving you a bit to put in the bank and save for another upgrade. But the 770 is no waste of money at all.

In terms of what to use for cleaning the computer, compressed air is what should be used. Just make sure that all fans are held down in place with tape, or even your fingers as you blow over them. Using compressed air on them can kill the bearings.

I use this, but I also do tons of builds, so the investment was worth it to save me money in the long run.

 

[Taco_Human]

So I bought a one of these off a GAFer used and I still need other parts. Can anyone recommend a motherboard compatible with it, and a medium range cpu to go along with it? Never built one on my own before and don't wanna end up buying something incompatible.

 

[kennah]

You'd have to buy ten year old gear to get something incompatible. Read the OP. fill out the survey. Let us know a budget.

 

[xemumanic]

I picked up a Gigabyte Z87X-UD3H, 16GB of Corsair DDR3, 250GB Samsung Evo SSD, a Corsair H60, and planning to order an i7 4771 next Friday. I have an MSI 560 Ti 1GB, and I plan to get a 1400p screen and a new video card (maybe a Maxwell?) much later maybe around Nov time. Will that GPU tide me over @1080p on current games until then? I want 60fps most times.

 

[littlepooch21]

Was thinking bout building a budget gaming PC. Saw that AMD just came out with their new APU line. What are ur opinions on them?

 

[Barkley's Justice]

The best 780 currently is the Ghz edition from Gigabyte:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125488

Why is this the best 780? How does it compare with the Zotac GeForce GTX 780 3GB card?

 

[mkenyon]

I picked up a Gigabyte Z87X-UD3H, 16GB of Corsair DDDR3, 250GB Samsung Evo SSD, a Corsair H60, and planning to order an i7 4771 next Friday. I have an MSI 560 Ti 1GB, and I plan to get a 1400p screen and a new video card (maybe a Maxwell?) much later maybe around Nov time. Will that GPU tide me over @1080p on current games until then? I want 60fps most times.

Depends on what you are aiming for with settings. Most games, yeah, no prob. Big graphics hogs with maxed settings? Not gonna cut it.

Was thinking bout building a budget gaming PC. Saw that AMD just came out with their new APU line. What are ur opinions on them?

I think it serves a purpose as a really neat way to make a super tiny PC to play games at lowish settings as well as tons of indie type games.

Why is this the best 780? How does it compare with the Zotac GeForce GTX 780 3GB card?

The only two things to really separate these cards are overclocking ability and the quality of the cooler.

I'd still say the EVGA Classified or MSI Lightning would be the best of the bunch.

 

[xemumanic]

Depends on what you are aiming for with settings. Most games, yeah, no prob. Big graphics hogs with maxed settings? Not gonna cut it.

If most can do 1080p60 until then (got a big backlog that'll hold me over) then this is what I'll do. Thanks for the info.

 

[Smokey]

Upgrade to the 780 Ti, imo, best card for pure performance we'll be seeing for a long time. If you can swing it at a later date do a SLI setup and bask in the glory. Last PC I built for myself was a SLI-780 Ti with a 3770K@4.8GHz, and 32GB DDR3 G.Skill RAM @2600. Is probably my fastest PC give or take on pure in-game performance power, and I can Quad-SLI it later if I wish. But my therapist has convinced me to give up this crazy hoarding trait of buying all the new PC shit and spares along with them (still got 4 3770K's and 1 3970X spare, and a shitload of other misc PC shit for spare). I guess, some people ignorantly hoard Steam games and never play 10 mins of most of them, I just build unneeded high-end PC's. Pick your poison I guess.

Anyhow, enough of my drunken backstory, go get the 780 Ti (ACX fans, EVGA mandatory), I went with the SC editions, but doesn't matter really. That's my recommendation, the SLI-580 is getting a bit stagnate for upcoming games like Witcher 3 and whatnot. Just sold off my last one actually for $160 to a friend.

lul

It's really sad actually, almost and pretty much goes into my obsessive compulsive disorder, I'm into NewEgg, FrozenCPU and Tigerdirect and misc PC part sites over the past two and a half years for roughly $45,000+. Got like 8 Credit Cards maxed out atm, and trying to pay them off slowly. So, the Ti build I've decided will be my last for a long while, aside from misc cheap parts I may need or when the new top 800 series card comes out, which will be all I upgrade. Instead of building a totally new PC+case.

Gonna focus on stepping up my game in a couple "games", since the irony is, I rarely even use most of the rigs I've built, I just hoard them. Mostly I'm mainly using my new laptop I got for Xmas with a i7/700 series GPU/16GBRAM. So yeah, like a drug addict you need to know when to stop. ;p

oh

hope you take care of that man. you've got enough pc power to last the next 3 console generations (including this one) in one of your boxes. You don't need to build anymore.

 

[DJ_Lae]

I finally got around to picking up one of those power monitors that you plug your stuff into, and I was surprised at how little power my PC actually uses.

3570K, 7970, three hard drives and one SSD plus an audio card and disc drive. Thing pulls only 130 watts during general use and will never break 300 under load (it usually sits around 270w ingame). I expected it to be higher somehow.

 

[CO_Andy]

Looking to buy the best mITX motherboard under $150.

Between the Asrock Z87E-ITX and the Gigabyte Z87N, which is preferable?

 

[Exuro]

Looking to buy the best mITX motherboard under $150.

Between the Asrock Z87E-ITX and the Gigabyte Z87N, which is preferable?

I have the asrock and its a pretty sweet board. Also one of the only mITX boards with ac wifi.

 

[mkenyon]

Looking to buy the best mITX motherboard under $150.

Between the Asrock Z87E-ITX and the Gigabyte Z87N, which is preferable?

It's a coin flip, but I prefer the Gigabyte just due to perceived reliability. ASRock has been a little sketchy with some minor things that enthusiasts like me get offended by, but probably aren't a big deal in the scheme of things.

 

[Madridy]

So what are the best GPU coolers that stay cool in an ITX case like the 250D or the Prodigy? reference coolers or the non-reference ones?

And which non-reference ones are the best?

 

[mkenyon]

So what are the best GPU coolers that stay cool in an ITX case like the 250D or the Prodigy? reference coolers or the non-reference ones?

And which non-reference ones are the best?

Both those cases have tons of airflow. Non reference would be the way to go. ASUS DCII, MSI Twin Froze, and Gigabyte Windforce are all great.

 

[TheD]

New Geforce Experience is out http://www.geforce.com/whats-new/articles/geforce-experience-1-8-2-released.
It adds custom ShadowPlay quality settings and the option of changing the temp folder for ShadowPlay.

I also found out a test build of OBS from the last few weeks supports NVENC (the encoder that ShadowPlay uses), which is pretty cool.

 

[dearapollo]

What's your current videocard?

It's a 6 year old ATI card. I'm building this new PC from the ground up.

Right now my build looks like.
Corsair 300r Windowed case
Intel Core i7 4770k
Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO cpu fan
Gigabyte Z87X-UD3H motherboard
8 gigs of Corsair Vengeance

Also will be buying a few case fans, if anyone is familiar with that case what fan set up should I use? Also still would like some advice on a video card around 350- 500 dollar range. Like I said it my last post I was usally a ATI/AMD guy, but also go for Nvidia this time around. Also what kind of power supply should I be looking at? Any help from you guys would be great. This is my first time building my own. I've always bought customized pre built systems and I'm having a blast building my own so far.

 

[thespot84]

since I feel like i lost the silicon lottery I'm thinking of delidding my 4770k. Is it not worth the effort if i'm only putting a closed loop or air cooler on top of it though?