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[Reven]

It's ridiculous how much trouble I am having choosing a Z97 motherboard when they are all pretty much the same. The MSI MPower is 175 at Newegg and comes with a free $30 mouse but there is also the ASUS ROG Hero for 198 at Tiger Direct so I'm kind thinking about that too, but I'm not really sure its worth the price increase.

Right now I'm leaning towards the MSI MPower board, mainly because it seems to be a great overclocker and I love the look of it. Anyone have experience with these boards?

 

[Vigilant Walrus]

Have any of you any experience with custom fan filters?: http://www.demcifilter.com/c1/Standard-Fan-Filters.aspx


I was tinking about getting some double 140mm, and a pair of 140mm for my side and rear fans, because I hate dust.

 

[Nostremitus]

I'm talking about years in the future. I don't want to limit him to a mATX motherboard if he decides he wants different. Not to mention, most mATX cases I've looked at are more expensive than the NZXT 210.

I'm not saying your friend can't have an ATX case if he wants it, but If your friend wants to build a high end tri-SLI build in the future he'll want a better case then anyway. I don't see the point of buying a hulking ATX case for the current build. Something like the Cooler Master N200 or the Fractal Design Core 1000 will work perfectly fine with a much smaller footprint. Nice and neat without taking up extra room for no reason.

 

[adamantypants]

I'm talking about years in the future. I don't want to limit him to a mATX motherboard if he decides he wants different. Not to mention, most mATX cases I've looked at are more expensive than the NZXT 210.

I too thought I might've been limited by mATX. Now though, I look at my board and go "WTF am I gonna do with all these slots?" IMO the size of an mATX board/case is beyond any advantage an ATX board gives to an average user. Haz, mkenyon, and kharma will agree.

Quoting for a new page, as I might pull the trigger on an SSD this weekend.

It all depends on how many games you want to install to the SSD. I generally only play 2-3 games at a time and keep those installed on my 250gb SSD. All other games I install to my storage drive using Steamtool (assuming you're buying your games from Steam). You can change install locations basically on the fly and load them up no matter where they're installed.

 

[Woffls]

Quoting for a new page, as I might pull the trigger on an SSD this weekend.

You'd be alright with 128 if you're only keeping a couple of games on there at a time. Go find the folders for the games you want to play in program files/valve/steamapps/common or whatever, and see how big they are.

What I do is backup game files to external storage (3TB USB3) and just move them around when I want to play different games.

It also depends on what other software you have on the OS, but most programs will be insignificant.

 

[LilJoka]

I'm not saying your friend can't have an ATX case if he wants it, but If your friend wants to build a high end tri-SLI build in the future he'll want a better case then anyway. I don't see the point of buying a hulking ATX case for the current build. Something like the Cooler Master N200 or the Fractal Design Core 1000 will work perfectly fine with a much smaller footprint. Nice and neat without taking up extra room for no reason.

Exactly this, you dont put SLI/XFire in a $30 case. mATX is more than enough, in fact you can SLI in mATX if you get the right case too. My own PC is enthusiast grade and is mATX. ATX is for either all out extreme things (money no object) or if youve had poor advice and dont know which board to pick so play it safe - this is what most first timers do.

Have any of you any experience with custom fan filters?: http://www.demcifilter.com/c1/Standard-Fan-Filters.aspx


I was tinking about getting some double 140mm, and a pair of 140mm for my side and rear fans, because I hate dust.

Dust will still get in, just a lot less, still annoying for me. These filters are supposed to be very good, but they look quite restrictive, ever used them my self but seen many people recommend them.

If you already have dust filters, i wouldnt upgrade them.

 

[Nostremitus]

​

I'm talking about years in the future.

Taking the future into consideration, perhaps something like this will work better for him?

[PCPartPicker part list](http://pcpartpicker.com/p/gFjkHx) / [Price breakdown by merchant](http://pcpartpicker.com/p/gFjkHx/by_merchant/)

Type|Item|Price
:----|:----|:----
**CPU** | [Intel Pentium G3258 3.2GHz Dual-Core Processor](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/intel-cpu-bx80646g3258) | $59.00 @ Amazon
**Motherboard** | [Gigabyte GA-Z97MX-Gaming 5 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/gigabyte-motherboard-gaz97mxgaming5) | $113.99 @ SuperBiiz
**Memory** | [G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/gskill-memory-f312800cl9d8gbxl) | $79.98 @ OutletPC
**Storage** | [Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/western-digital-internal-hard-drive-wd10ezex) | $57.23 @ OutletPC
**Video Card** | [Sapphire Radeon R9 270 2GB Dual-X Video Card](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/sapphire-video-card-100365l) | $162.98 @ Newegg
**Case** | [Cooler Master N200 MicroATX Mid Tower Case](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/cooler-master-case-nse200kkn1) | $39.99 @ Newegg
**Power Supply** | [EVGA 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/evga-power-supply-100b10500kr) | $29.99 @ NCIX US
**Monitor** | [AOC e2050Swd 60Hz 19.5" Monitor](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/aoc-monitor-e2050swd) | $89.99 @ Amazon
**Keyboard** | [Logitech MK120 Wired Slim Keyboard w/Optical Mouse](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/logitech-keyboard-920002565) | $13.99 @ Amazon
**Speakers** | [Logitech Z130 5W 2ch Speakers](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/logitech-speakers-980000417) | $17.99 @ Amazon
| | **Total**
| Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available | $665.13
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-08-23 15:21 EDT-0400 |

The Pentium is overclockable and will be just as good or better than that i3. Bonus is that it's such a low wattage chip that you can hit around 4.4GHz with the stock cooler if you don't mind the fan noise. This Z97 motherboard will allow an upgrade to an unlocked i7 if your friend so chooses. The R9 270 will provide much better performance than the 750ti, and the EVGA 500B has 40a on a single 12V rail, more than enough for your friend's needs.

Edit: Check this out to see that little wonderchip's benchmarks. http://pclab.pl/art57691.html

 

[kennah]

I'm actually considering swapping out my i7 for a Pentium just for the extra cash (for how much gaming I actually have time for, it makes sense)

 

[sirap]

Just picked up a Logitech G602 and a Rosewill RK9001 Blue. My god, I wish I'd have done this sooner. Typing on this thing feels sublime, and Logitech's finally made a wireless mouse that doesn't suck.

 

[Aesthet1c]

​

Taking the future into consideration, perhaps something like this will work better for him?



The Pentium is overclockable and will be just as good or better than that i3. Bonus is that it's such a low wattage chip that you can hit around 4.4GHz with the stock cooler if you don't mind the fan noise. This Z97 motherboard will allow an upgrade to an unlocked i7 if your friend so chooses. The R9 270 will provide much better performance than the 750ti, and the EVGA 500B has 40a on a single 12V rail, more than enough for your friend's needs.

Edit: Check this out to see that little wonderchip's benchmarks. http://pclab.pl/art57691.html

That's a pretty great little set up. I think I might have to look into this Pentium chip. My only concern is he isn't very tech savvy, so I worry about overclocking a cpu for him. It looks like even at stock it's a pretty solid chip though. Thanks for this!

 

[IcyRhythms]

This probably isn't the place to ask but I'm gonna give it a shot

A few weeks ago my PC began giving me issues. Performance drops in games like Left 4 Dead from a solid 60 down to 27FPS.

Just to give you an idea of what a joke this is for that game. My PC is as follows

i7 2600K, 8GB RAM, Samsung Pro SSD x2(which is what I put my games on)Intel 320 SSD, and an EVGA 4GB GTX 770.

I've tried everything. Complete clean of NVIDIA drivers.(did that a few times)Multiple fresh installs of Windows 7 and 8.1. Still, the issue continues. All that I can assume is that the issue is hardware related. Oh, it hasn't happened recently, but I was also getting BSOD a couple of times in the same week. Some research help on the official Windows forum lead me to understand I may have needed to update Sound Blaster Z drivers for my sound card after showing my .dmp file.

It's all very frustrating. I can't think of what the issue could be. My PC should murder a game like L4D. Instead I get random drops from 60 to 27 :-\

Any help would be greatly appreciated

 

[Kezen]

This probably isn't the place to ask but I'm gonna give it a shot

A few weeks ago my PC began giving me issues. Performance drops in games like Left 4 Dead from a solid 60 down to 27FPS.

Just to give you an idea of what a joke this is for that game. My PC is as follows

i7 2600K, 8GB RAM, Samsung Pro SSD x2(which is what I put my games on)Intel 320 SSD, and an EVGA 4GB GTX 770.

I've tried everything. Complete clean of NVIDIA drivers.(did that a few times)Multiple fresh installs of Windows 7 and 8.1. Still, the issue continues. All that I can assume is that the issue is hardware related. Oh, it hasn't happened recently, but I was also getting BSOD a couple of times in the same week. Some research help on the official Windows forum lead me to understand I may have needed to update Sound Blaster Z drivers for my sound card after showing my .dmp file.

It's all very frustrating. I can't think of what the issue could be. My PC should murder a game like L4D. Instead I get random drops from 60 to 27 :-\

Any help would be greatly appreciated

What are the BSOD debug codes ? Install WhoCrashed and it should shed some light on this.

 

[IcyRhythms]

What are the BSOD debug codes ? Install WhoCrashed and it should shed some light on this.

On Wed 8/20/2014 6:19:54 AM GMT your computer crashed
crash dump file: C:\Windows\Minidump\082014-5210-01.dmp
This was probably caused by the following module: cthda.sys (cthda+0xEBE8)
Bugcheck code: 0x1000007E (0xFFFFFFFFC0000005, 0xFFFFF88005E62BE8, 0xFFFFF88003569778, 0xFFFFF88003568FD0)
Error: SYSTEM_THREAD_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED_M
file path: C:\Windows\system32\drivers\cthda.sys
product: Sound Blaster
company: Creative Technology Ltd
description: Sound Blaster Audio Driver
Bug check description: This indicates that a system thread generated an exception which the error handler did not catch.
This appears to be a typical software driver bug and is not likely to be caused by a hardware problem.
A third party driver was identified as the probable root cause of this system error. It is suggested you look for an update for the following driver: cthda.sys (Sound Blaster Audio Driver, Creative Technology Ltd).
Google query: Creative Technology Ltd SYSTEM_THREAD_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED_M

Guess I could try running the PC without the sound card and uninstall the drivers as well. That being said, can a sound card cause a game to lose over 30FPS with little happening on the screen?

 

[Nostremitus]

That's a pretty great little set up. I think I might have to look into this Pentium chip. My only concern is he isn't very tech savvy, so I worry about overclocking a cpu for him. It looks like even at stock it's a pretty solid chip though. Thanks for this!

No problem, you could shave a bit more off by going with this HDD. The Hitachi Ultrastar (granted, they weren't testing the 1TB) came out looking pretty good when Backblaze released their failure rates.

http://pcpartpicker.com/part/hitachi-internal-hard-drive-hua721010kla330

There are also cheaper mobos with Z97 but I don't know much about ASRock or MSI.

http://pcpartpicker.com/parts/compa...motherboard-z97mpro4,msi-motherboard-z97mg43/

 

[MrBigBoy]

Okay so I uninstalled my GPU drivers (R9 200 series) and reinstalled them again. Now I can't get my monitor to display in full 1080p, not for the desktop and for any games. I checked under screen resolution and 1920x1080p is chosen. I keep looking for the answers online but to no avail. Would like some help from BuildaPC-GAF. =[

Do you have black borders around the image? If so, there should be a slider in Catalyst Control Center to make the image full screen, it'scaled up, - or underscaling IIRC.

 

[Vardhan]

Are there stores (not online ones) that offer professional services in building PCs if you provide them with all of the components? If so, how much do they generally charge and how do I search for such stores?

I'm curious because I am not confident that I can do it myself.

 

[Nostremitus]

Are there stores (not online ones) that offer professional services in building PCs if you provide them with all of the components? If so, how much do they generally charge and how do I search for such stores?

I'm curious because I am not confident that I can do it myself.

Where are you?

 

[Kezen]

On Wed 8/20/2014 6:19:54 AM GMT your computer crashed
crash dump file: C:\Windows\Minidump\082014-5210-01.dmp
This was probably caused by the following module: cthda.sys (cthda+0xEBE8)
Bugcheck code: 0x1000007E (0xFFFFFFFFC0000005, 0xFFFFF88005E62BE8, 0xFFFFF88003569778, 0xFFFFF88003568FD0)
Error: SYSTEM_THREAD_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED_M
file path: C:\Windows\system32\drivers\cthda.sys
product: Sound Blaster
company: Creative Technology Ltd
description: Sound Blaster Audio Driver
Bug check description: This indicates that a system thread generated an exception which the error handler did not catch.
This appears to be a typical software driver bug and is not likely to be caused by a hardware problem.
A third party driver was identified as the probable root cause of this system error. It is suggested you look for an update for the following driver: cthda.sys (Sound Blaster Audio Driver, Creative Technology Ltd).
Google query: Creative Technology Ltd SYSTEM_THREAD_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED_M

Guess I could try running the PC without the sound card and uninstall the drivers as well. That being said, can a sound card cause a game to lose over 30FPS with little happening on the screen?

Yes, you should do that, that's surely the cause for your BSOD but I don't know if it's linked to your framerate issues. Normally this is GPU related, can you monitor your temps while gaming ?

 

[IcyRhythms]

Yes, you should do that, that's surely the cause for your BSOD but I don't know if it's linked to your framerate issues. Normally this is GPU related, can you monitor your temps while gaming ?

hmm

I can give that a go. Monitor CPU and GPU temps. Should I play in a smaller Window for that or just Alt-tab out when I want to look?

Also, the 770 I have NOW is either new or refurbished from EVGA. I just received a few days ago through their RMA process.

 

[Vardhan]

Where are you?

I live in San Diego, CA.

 

[Kezen]

hmm
I can give that a go. Monitor CPU and GPU temps. Should I play in a smaller Window for that or just Alt-tab out when I want to look?
Also, the 770 I have NOW is either new or refurbished from EVGA. I just received a few days ago through their RMA process.

You can monitor with MSI Afterburner.

Don't forget to take a look at your event logger once in a while.

 

[Nostremitus]

I live in San Diego, CA.

The nearest Micro Center is up in Tustin, but there's a Fry's in San Diego. I don't know if you have to buy all of the components from then, though. The good news is that they price-match, so that may not be an issue.

 

[Vardhan]

The nearest Micro Center is up in Tustin, but there's a Fry's in San Diego. I don't know if you have to buy all of the components from then, though. The good news is that they price-match, so that may not be an issue.

Hmm, how about online stores, then? Will Micro Center build a PC if I order the parts from them?

 

[liezryou]

Alright guys, since my second HP laptop has started overheating when I'm playing that are not even that intensive (dota 2...); I am now in the market for a new laptop (Buying from the USA).

My priorities are as follows:

#1) A laptop that doesn't overheat playing games at 85-90F room temperature (Yeah i know having no A/C sucks) [Already have a laptop cooler and it will be used]
#2) A laptop that can play the latest upcoming games (Witcher 3, Borderlands Pre-Sequel, The Crew, etc.) on at least a medium setting with decent fps at 720p
#3) Upper limit for price is ~700$

Any tips on companies or specific models? One things for sure, not buying HP again.

The laptop thread is kinda dead, so was thinking it might better to ask here.

 

[catmincer]

My other half is looking for a new pc. Mainly for starcraft and d3.

I found a decent price ($900) for a build with a fx6300 with a r7 265. But I am sure you guys can find better.

Prefer AMD for graphics.

Your Current Specs: AMD athlon x2 6000+ 4gb ram, Radeon 7770. Nothing can be re used, the mobo is am2.
Budget: P$1300 New Zealand
Main Use: Rate 1-5. 5 being Highest: Light Gaming 5, Gaming 3, Emulation (PS2/Wii) 1, Video Editing 1, Streaming games in HD 1 , 3D/Model work (and what program)1 , General Usage (Word, Web, 1080p playback) 5
Monitor Resolution: 1080p, single monitor and no intention of upgrading.
List SPECIFIC games or applications that you MUST be able to run well: Starcraft 2 and Diablo 3 at 60fps
When will you build?: Do you have a deadline? Asap
Will you be overclocking?: Yes, No, Maybe (This means yesyes

 

[kennah]

Alright guys, since my second HP laptop has started overheating when I'm playing that are not even that intensive (dota 2...); I am now in the market for a new laptop (Buying from the USA).

My priorities are as follows:

#1) A laptop that doesn't overheat playing games at 85-90F room temperature (Yeah i know having no A/C sucks) [Already have a laptop cooler and it will be used]
#2) A laptop that can play the latest upcoming games (Witcher 3, Borderlands Pre-Sequel, The Crew, etc.) on at least a medium setting with decent fps at 720p
#3) Upper limit for price is ~700$

Any tips on companies or specific models? One things for sure, not buying HP again.

The laptop thread is kinda dead, so was thinking it might better to ask here.

Laptops and PCs are totally different, and everyone kinda specializes in their own field. That's why there isn't much crossover between this thread and the laptop thread. The 'major players' in the thread all know a lot about desktops, but most of us don't know much about laptops (we all use MacBooks)

 

[Nostremitus]

Hmm, how about online stores, then? Will Micro Center build a PC if I order the parts from them?

You know, Tustin is about a 1-2hr drive up I5 if traffic isn't bad, you could probably order it online and do a store pick-up for the great in-store prices. They charge $100 for building it for you, though.

 

[OrlanisWorks]

Hey. fellas! I've had the same desktop for 6 years, needing some advice on a new build in the next four or so months.

Current Specs:

CPU: Q6600 @ 2.4GHz, Intel, Quad-core
GPU: GTX 460 SE
RAM: 4GB DDR

Budget: ~$500, West Coast USA
Main use: 4? (Video games, Audio/music production, Photoshop projects)
Monitor res: 1920 x 1080, but I often window my games to 1600x900
Games looking to play: The Witcher 3/Star Citizen @ at least 30FPS, not necessarily on the highest quality, but at least medium range.
Build around time of Christmas 2014
Overclocking: highly unlikely
I'll be re-using my tower and power supply, and no worry about OS.


With my tight budget (~$500, possibly a bit lower), I'm thinking of sorta copying this guy for a (pretty much) brand new build: The build (I'll be probably going 16GB of RAM, rather than 8)

CPU: Intel Pentium G3258 3.2GHz Dual-Core Processor
GPU: MSI GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB TWIN FROZR Video Card
MB: MSI Z97 PC MATE ATX LGA1150 Motherboard

Thanks.

 

[kennah]

Hey. fellas! I've had the same desktop for 6 years, needing some advice on a new build in the next four or so months.

Current Specs:


Budget: ~$500, West Coast USA
Main use: 4? (Video games, Audio/music production, Photoshop projects)
Monitor res: 1920 x 1080, but I often window my games to 1600x900
Games looking to play: The Witcher 3/Star Citizen @ at least 30FPS, not necessarily on the highest quality, but at least medium range.
Build around time of Christmas 2014
Overclocking: highly unlikely
I'll be re-using my tower and power supply, and no worry about OS.


With my tight budget (~$500, possibly a bit lower), I'm thinking of sorta copying this guy for a (pretty much) brand new build: The build (I'll be probably going 16GB of RAM, rather than 8)


Thanks.

Keep your existing video card then get something better a little later. Otherwise looks.good

 

[Chiggs]

Impulsed an Alienware X-51 R2 last night at Micro Center. I7, 16gb of DDR3, R9 270x, and a Blu-Ray burner. So far I really like it. Whisper quiet and the design is perfect for my living room. Opening the case up, I'm really impressed with the engineering...I'll probably throw a low-profile cooler on the CPU just for kicks.

Neat little system...I'll make it my dedicated Steam machine next year.

 

[Takosuke]

Alright, my turn. Got a bonus at work, and considering an upgrade.

Current Setup:
Case: Coolermaster HAF 932 Advanced
PSU: CoolerMaster Silent Pro M 850 W
MB: Gigabyte X58A-UD3R
CPUi7: 930 @ 2.80GHz (currently not OC due to a crash, but usually OPCed at 3.2)
Cooler: Cooler Master V8 RR-UV8-XBU1-GP
RAM: Corsair Vengeance 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 1600 MHz (PC3 12800) MZ16GX3M2A1600C9 9-9-9-24
GPU: MSI N680GTX Twin Frozer OC 2Go
Monitor: Qnix QX2710 Evo II (2560*1440, OCed to 120hz)

Due to my monitor and since I do Gaming primarily on the PC, I was thinking of going the SLI way adding adding another graphic card, but getting another GTX680 of the same brand is hell at the moment (prices are varying from 400 used to 1000 bucks to find the same model), so it does not seem very attractive.

Idea was to get an i7-4990K, + a Z97 MB (ASRock Z97 Extreme 4), and maybe keeping the GPU for now and waiting for the new Nvidia cards a bit later. (that would put my in the 700 buck range for this upgrade).

Could I salvage the RAM?
Would it be better to wait for Intel's new CPU?
Any Advice for a ~1000 budget (can go a tad bit higher)?

Thanks

 

[LilJoka]

Impulsed an Alienware X-51 R2 last night at Micro Center. I7, 16gb of DDR3, R9 270x, and a Blu-Ray burner. So far I really like it. Whisper quiet and the design is perfect for my living room. Opening the case up, I'm really impressed with the engineering...I'll probably throw a low-profile cooler on the CPU just for kicks.

Neat little system...I'll make it my dedicated Steam machine next year.

Processor Intel Core i7 4770
Operating System Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit
Chipset Intel Z87 Express Chipset
Graphics Intel HD Graphics 4600
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670
Memory 16GB DDR3 1600MHz DRAM
Storage Micron RealSSD C400 256GB solid state drive
Western Digital Scorpio Blue 1TB (5400 RPM) hard drive
Optical Blu-ray reader
Networking Dell Wireless 1506 802.11b/g/n 2.4GHz
10/100/1000 Ethernet LAN
Front Panel Ports
2 x USB 30; Headphone and Mic
Rear Panel Ports
4 x USB 3.0; 2 x USB 2.0; GbE LAN; HDMI; Optical S/PDIF; Audio inputs
Sound Integrated 7.1 channel surround sound
Power Supply 330W (19.5V, 16.9A)

Good system overall, but not totally optimum. Low wattage PSU will hurt, Z87 chipset is not needed for a non-K chip. Max i'd put in is a 750Ti. Silverstone RVZ01 is a better option as it can have bigger wattage SFX PSUs.
And for a 750Ti a Pentium G3258 would be enough, let alone 16GB Ram.

 

[Darklord]

So, this is what I'm looking at for my new PC. I'll be building it so I'm a bit nervous but what do you think? I want this to last a fair while so I went for the better stuff. Any suggestions or advice would be welcomed!

 

[The Llama]

So, this is what I'm looking at for my new PC. I'll be building it so I'm a bit nervous but what do you think? I want this to last a fair while so I went for the better stuff. Any suggestions or advice would be welcomed!

I'd get Windows 8 but its fine other than that.

 

[LilJoka]

So, this is what I'm looking at for my new PC. I'll be building it so I'm a bit nervous but what do you think? I want this to last a fair while so I went for the better stuff. Any suggestions or advice would be welcomed!

Any reason you are going for full ATX? DVD Drive for?
Pick the brand of GPU which supplies the best RMA in your country. Clock speeds are not important, the 780's can all reach 1Ghz Core and 3200Mhz Memory in my experience.

 

[Darklord]

Any reason you are going for full ATX? DVD Drive for?
Pick the brand of GPU which supplies the best RMA in your country. Clock speeds are not important, the 780's can all reach 1Ghz Core and 3200Mhz Memory in my experience.

Pardon the ignorance but what is full ATX? The Dvd drive I actually won't be getting, I'll just stick my old one in now that I'm building it. I have no idea who has the best RMA here but my last card was MSI and never had an issue.

 

[LilJoka]

Pardon the ignorance but what is full ATX? The Dvd drive I actually won't be getting, I'll just stick my old one in now that I'm building it. I have no idea who has the best RMA here but my last card was MSI and never had an issue.

There are 3 form factors (sizes) to choose from regarding the case and motherboard.

ATX - Main standard, large multiple PCIE and PCI ports.
mATX - Micro ATX - Smaller size of ATX board, usually 2 PCIE and one PCI port.
mITX - Mini ITX - Single PCIE or single PCI port, very small.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ATX#mediaviewer/File:ATX_ITX_AT_Motherboard_Compatible_Dimensions.svg

So depending on your future plans, considering the 620W PSU, you are unlikely to ever SLI/XFire, so id actually advise mITX or mATX along with a corresponding case. Itll mean your PC is a lot smaller than using an ATX board and case.

If you do plan to SLI/Xfire then youll probably want to invest in a 850W PSU now and an ATX or mATX board and case.

 

[Darklord]

There are 3 form factors (sizes) to choose from regarding the case and motherboard.

ATX - Main standard, large multiple PCIE and PCI ports.
mATX - Micro ATX - Smaller size of ATX board, usually 2 PCIE and one PCI port.
mITX - Mini ITX - Single PCIE or single PCI port, very small.

So depending on your future plans, considering the 620W PSU, you are unlikely to ever SLI/XFire, so id actually advise mITX or mATX along with a corresponding case. Itll mean your PC is a lot smaller than using an ATX board and case.

If you do plan to SLI/Xfire then youll probably want to invest in a 850W PSU now and an ATX or mATX board and case.

Nah I won't be using sli, I'd most likely just upgrade the single card later on. Would there be a recommended motherboard and case if I wanted to go smaller? I found this which seems similar and it's microATX: http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1491&products_id=27586

I did find a smaller version of that case as well, would this be ok? http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=25_1055&products_id=17054

 

[LilJoka]

Nah I won't be using sli, I'd most likely just upgrade the single card later on. Would there be a recommended motherboard and case if I wanted to go smaller? I found this which seems similar and it's microATX: http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1491&products_id=27586

I did find a smaller version of that case as well, would this be ok? http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=25_1055&products_id=17054

You could go mITX, see the small form factor guide in the 2nd post 1st page of the thread.
Fractal Design Node 304, CM Elite 130, Silverstone RVZ01 are my favourite ITX cases.

For mATX i prefer the TJ08E, Fractal Design Core 1000. Again theres some more in the OP to check out and see.

The mobo and case youve picked would work, but no reason not to go ITX from everything you want so far. If you need a sound card for some reason then go mATX, otherwise mITX is good. Gigabyte H97 ITX board has onbaord Wifi too. Z97 if you want to overclock with a K series Intel chip.

I have a similar rig
i7 3770
Hyper 212 Evo
Asus P8Z77i Deluxe
2x4GB 1600Mhz ram
GTX 780
Seasonic G series 650W
Fractal Node 304
128Gb SSD and 1TB HDD

 

[Cels]

So, this is what I'm looking at for my new PC. I'll be building it so I'm a bit nervous but what do you think? I want this to last a fair while so I went for the better stuff. Any suggestions or advice would be welcomed!

if you are willing to pay a little extra, maybe $20, $25 you should get a modular PSU. really makes a difference for cable management

 

[IcyRhythms]

You can monitor with MSI Afterburner.

Don't forget to take a look at your event logger once in a while.

My temps seemed fine.

One thing I forgot to mention before is that I was also having issues with turning on and off the power.(I guess because it hasn't happened for a few days but it happened again here about an hour ago)I boot up and everything turns on, but the monitor isn't getting a signal. After about 20 times, I finally get a signal on the monitor.

 

[Sectorseven]

I don't really know networking stuff. The cable that connects from the modem to the router, is that just a standard ethernet cable?

 

[kennah]

I don't really know networking stuff. The cable that connects from the modem to the router, is that just a standard ethernet cable?

yep

 

[SugarDave]

Which manafacturer is generally considered to have the best and most hassle free RMA service in the UK? I've had EVGA cards recommended to me by friends but they're RMA centre is in Germany as far as I can tell which sounds like it would be a real pain in the arse if something were to happen. I've mainly been looking at them, Gigabyte and MSI.

Also, this is a little premature as I haven't even decided definitively on my parts yet but when I do get around to building, there's nowhere in my home that doesn't have carpet and I highly doubt I'll be able to build it anywhere else. What sort of precautions should I take in this situation?

 

[kennah]

Also, this is a little premature as I haven't even decided definitively on my parts yet but when I do get around to building, there's nowhere in my home that doesn't have carpet and I highly doubt I'll be able to build it anywhere else. What sort of precautions should I take in this situation?

Build on your kitchen table, or avoid rubbing the parts on the carpet. Don't wear wool socks, if you're really paranoid wear rubber soled shoes.

Building on carpet is fine. Static electricity hasn't been a serious problem for like 20 years.

 

[NoRéN]

Also, this is a little premature as I haven't even decided definitively on my parts yet but when I do get around to building, there's nowhere in my home that doesn't have carpet and I highly doubt I'll be able to build it anywhere else. What sort of precautions should I take in this situation?

What about your kitchen?

 

[EatChildren]

Tempted to upgrade from a 1080p monitor to 1440p, because why the hell not.

Maybe not the best idea on a single 770 GTX 4GB.

 

[kennah]

Tempted to upgrade from a 1080p monitor to 1440p, because why the hell not.

Maybe not the best idea on a single 770 GTX 4GB.

800 series isn't out yet?

 

[SugarDave]

Build on your kitchen table, or avoid rubbing the parts on the carpet. Don't wear wool socks, if you're really paranoid wear rubber soled shoes.

Building on carpet is fine. Static electricity hasn't been a serious problem for like 20 years.

Cheers. Probably should add that the actual components will be all on a wooden table, the whole thing won't be done on the carpet, I'll just be standing on it obviously. But you're saying I should be good to go as long as I chuck some shoes on and touch the case from time to time?

I would build in my kitchen if it wasn't absolutely tiny. Plus, as it's my first build which will probably take a few hours at least, I'd be getting in other peoples way.

 

[ramoisdead]

Do you have black borders around the image? If so, there should be a slider in Catalyst Control Center to make the image full screen, it'scaled up, - or underscaling IIRC.

Yeah I read somewhere about it before your post so thanks for confirming it. Worked like a charm. =]