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[Addnan]

I have a £1000 budget and this was a first recommendation on what parts to get. This only uses just above half the budget so i was wondering where to upgrade parts on that list.

I will get the 512gb ssd mx100 instead and i've already bought a Sapphire AMD R9 290 TRI-X OC Graphics Card. Lastly i was looking at the corsair air 540 as a case to get. Where else can i upgrade?

Also is devils canyons worth the extra cost, i remember the early reviews were not amazing.

Sure it is, especially since the 4790K will come at 4GHz out of the box and reach 4.2 no problem and probably go a little higher. If you really want to spend £1000. Can also throw in a closed water cooling, eg Corsair H60 to make it look pretty.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor (£262.97 @ PC World Business)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (£24.76 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97X-UD3H ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£106.76 @ Scan.co.uk)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LP 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£117.68 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Crucial MX100 512GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£151.45 @ Aria PC)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£40.31 @ Amazon UK)
Case: Corsair Air 540 ATX Mid Tower Case (£110.88 @ CCL Computers)
Power Supply: SeaSonic 650W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply (£91.98 @ Scan.co.uk)
Other: Windows 8 from reddit r/softwareswap (£10.15)
Total: £916.94
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

 

[Jackpot]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor (£155.99 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97M-D3H Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£80.00 @ Ebuyer)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-2133 Memory (£56.71 @ Ebuyer)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 760 2GB TWIN FROZR Video Card (£173.71 @ Scan.co.uk)
Case: Cooler Master N200 MicroATX Mid Tower Case (£31.44 @ Aria PC)
Total: £497.85
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-06-16 13:41 BST+0100

This is my new setup but I've never personally done overlocking before. What's a good guide for a setup that won't red-line it and send it to an early grave?

 

[Ashhong]

Oh my god it was worth every penny. My computer is way more quiet after replacing the 7200RPM Seagate drive, and much less vibrations in my R4 when accessing it. Thank the lord

 

[hitgirl]

Do GPU degrade if you have a fairly aggressive overclock on it? Nothing like flashing bios for more voltage, but the highest you can put it up in EVGA Precision without artifacts and crashes.

 

[Ashhong]

Does anybody here have a white fractal r4 with no window? Would you like to trade for my window?

 

[Evo X]

Do GPU degrade if you have a fairly aggressive overclock on it? Nothing like flashing bios for more voltage, but the highest you can put it up in EVGA Precision without artifacts and crashes.

Nope.

 

[scitek]

Is a 4GB 770 much of a step up from a 2GB 670 that's factory OC'd (FTW model)?

 

[Stubo]

770s are basically overclocked 680s, I'd personally say to wait for the 800 series or grab one of these stupidly cheap used 290/290Xs if you're in the US.

 

[kharma45]

This is my new setup but I've never personally done overlocking before. What's a good guide for a setup that won't red-line it and send it to an early grave?

You'll need a new heatsink for that as the stock cooler won't let you do much if any. You could try for 4GHz with it but that's the very best you'd do.

Ideally you need a Hyper 212 for ~£25.

For the actual overclocking itself, read through this http://www.overclock.net/t/1401976/the-gigabyte-z87-haswell-overclocking-oc-guide

Lengthy but you'll get a good understanding of what you're at.

Is a 4GB 770 much of a step up from a 2GB 670 that's factory OC'd (FTW model)?

Not worth it. If I was moving up on the Nvidia side of things you'd be wanting a 780 at least.

 

[RedSwirl]

Sweet lord Jesus. I may need to buy a CD-RW drive.

uhhh... they still sell those right?

 

[VisceralBowl]

Sweet lord Jesus. I may need to buy a CD-RW drive.

uhhh... they still sell those right?

Why do you want a CD drive in the dying era of Blu-Ray?

Most DVD/BluRay Writers have CD write built in.

 

[michaelius]

Don't polute your pc with optical drive - buy external drive for notebooks which can stay hidden in box when not used

 

[scitek]

770s are basically overclocked 680s, I'd personally say to wait for the 800 series or grab one of these stupidly cheap used 290/290Xs if you're in the US.

Not worth it. If I was moving up on the Nvidia side of things you'd be wanting a 780 at least.

Thanks, I haven't really kept up. I also have a 2500k at 4.5GHz, despite the thread title, should I maybe think of upgrading that first?

And where are these used 290s available, out of curiosity?

 

[RedSwirl]

Why do you want a CD drive in the dying era of Blu-Ray?

Most DVD/BluRay Writers have CD write built in.

False alarm actually. For a second I thought my disc drive was DVD-RW only, but it just turns out there's a problem with one particular disc.

It would make sense for me to get a Blu-Ray drive in the future however. How are prices on those?

Don't polute your pc with optical drive - buy external drive for notebooks which can stay hidden in box when not used

Luckily my case has a flap to cover optical drives. And I already have an external drive. I need an optical drive for two reasons:

1) There's actually some stuff I put on this computer that's still installed on discs, including Steam games I bought at retail because I didn't want to download 20+GB.

2) This computer's hooked up to a TV, so I may want to watch DVDs and Blu-Rays on it in the future.

 

[kharma45]

Thanks, I haven't really kept up. I also have a 2500k at 4.5GHz, despite the thread title, should I maybe think of upgrading that first?

And where are these used 290s available, out of curiosity?

Nope, 2500K is still top.

There was a fella on GAF selling an ASUS one for $300. The three year warranty on those is transferable too.

 

[tzhu07]

My only advice for PC builders is that although you're using it for gaming purposes, odds are the majority of the time your PC is going to be used for non-gaming purposes.

So to that end, having a silent computer is important. Having a high quality IPS display is important. Your computer should feel like a luxury car when you're not gaming, and a Ferrari when you are gaming.

Often times I'm so put off by custom built machines that just roar and whine regardless of what you're doing.

 

[G.Newell]

Sure it is, especially since the 4790K will come at 4GHz out of the box and reach 4.2 no problem and probably go a little higher. If you really want to spend £1000. Can also throw in a closed water cooling, eg Corsair H60 to make it look pretty.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor (£262.97 @ PC World Business)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (£24.76 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97X-UD3H ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£106.76 @ Scan.co.uk)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LP 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£117.68 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Crucial MX100 512GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£151.45 @ Aria PC)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£40.31 @ Amazon UK)
Case: Corsair Air 540 ATX Mid Tower Case (£110.88 @ CCL Computers)
Power Supply: SeaSonic 650W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply (£91.98 @ Scan.co.uk)
Other: Windows 8 from reddit r/softwareswap (£10.15)
Total: £916.94
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Thanks, i don't want to spend more for the hell of it i was just wondering if the extra money on Devils canyon was worth it. Cant wait till the end of the month when the Devil canyon cpu is released so i can build this.

 

[hitgirl]

Nope, 2500K is still top.

That's crazy to think that the CPU I bought 3 computers ago is still considered great. At least it's saved some of us some money.

 

[yatesl]

After downsampling my desktop, I really want a 4k monitor

 

[hitgirl]

Is it OK to use Firestrike as a reference for graphic card stability when over clocking? Increasing values until you get artifact in firestrike then backing off? Or does it not stress the GPU enough. It's a 780 that I'm working on

 

[Cuban Legend]

After downsampling my desktop, I really want a 4k monitor

ooooh. what steam theme is that, Metro? Did it require any additional configuration to have no spaces?

 

[atr0cious]

I don't know where to ask this, but could someone, please, point me to some drivers for DS3 controller support? I've been trying to use these but now my computer doesn't even recognize I've got a controller plugged in. I'm on Windows 7 sp1 if that makes a difference. Please and thank you for any help, I've been trying to get this to work for the past couple days and it's driving me crazy.

 

[Felix Lighter]

I don't know where to ask this, but could someone, please, point me to some drivers for DS3 controller support? I've been trying to use these but now my computer doesn't even recognize I've got a controller plugged in. I'm on Windows 7 sp1 if that makes a difference. Please and thank you for any help, I've been trying to get this to work for the past couple days and it's driving me crazy.

This is the solution I used before I made the switch to the DS4:

http://forums.pcsx2.net/Thread-XInput-Wrapper-for-DS3-and-Play-com-USB-Dual-DS2-Controller

Worked really well over bluetooth for me.

 

[TwistedFate]

I can't decide on a monitor.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CAKD6LI/?tag=neogaf0e-20

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009C3M7H0/?tag=neogaf0e-20

The QNIX is cheaper which I like but idk if its more worth it to shell out the extra cash for the ASUS.

Any opinions?

 

[atr0cious]

This is the solution I used before I made the switch to the DS4:

http://forums.pcsx2.net/Thread-XInput-Wrapper-for-DS3-and-Play-com-USB-Dual-DS2-Controller

Worked really well over bluetooth for me.

Thanks for the response. I've done this one as well though. I've installed, updated, and nothing. My controller isn't even showing up in options anymore after it being their before installing this stuff. It's also not showing up in the serivces list. And this is just to get it connected through USB.

 

[BennyBlanco]

My motherboard decided to take a shit a few days ago. I tried to go and buy a new one at microcenter but they only had a couple options that were all $200+ since its an older processor. Can anyone pleass help me find one under $100 for a 3770k? The one i had was an asus so i would like to avoid them because it gave me a ton of problems.

 

[sk3tch]

My motherboard decided to take a shit a few days ago. I tried to go and buy a new one at microcenter but they only had a couple options that were all $200+ since its an older processor. Can anyone pleass help me find one under $100 for a 3770k? The one i had was an asus so i would like to avoid them because it gave me a ton of problems.

Link. MSI, ASRock, GIGABYTE...all good choices. Go by your budget, features needed, and reviews...you should be good. Double-check Microcenter's website to check stock at your local store. Maybe they had one but it wasn't out on display. Otherwise buy at the cheapest between NewEgg/Amazon/etc. and wait.

This one is good at your price point. Probably what I would buy. I'm an MSI fan.

 

[kharma45]

My motherboard decided to take a shit a few days ago. I tried to go and buy a new one at microcenter but they only had a couple options that were all $200+ since its an older processor. Can anyone pleass help me find one under $100 for a 3770k? The one i had was an asus so i would like to avoid them because it gave me a ton of problems.

RMA it?

 

[ScRYeD]

is the white and green custom painted

Nice. is that green corsair fan custom painted?

The front/top grill on the Air 540, the white ring around the Corsair h105, the quick swap hdd bay at the bottom, the rear fan and white expansion slots were all painted bt myself.

 

[Tablo]

Eh got my cousin to return his dual channel RAM, and just get a 8GB DIMM since one of mobo slots seems to be broken. Don't feel the greatest about it, but RMAing the mobo would be a huge PITA so this way it should all resolve itself.
#yolo

 

[Xamdou]

Guys I need some cool custom desktop themes... still using plain vanilla windows themes.

 

[BennyBlanco]

Link. MSI, ASRock, GIGABYTE...all good choices. Go by your budget, features needed, and reviews...you should be good. Double-check Microcenter's website to check stock at your local store. Maybe they had one but it wasn't out on display. Otherwise buy at the cheapest between NewEgg/Amazon/etc. and wait.

This one is good at your price point. Probably what I would buy. I'm an MSI fan.

I just finished ordering that exact mobo before I read your post lol. Hope it works out. Thanks so much man. I feel naked without a PC. The internet sucks through a phone.

 

[khaaan]

So I think I'll be building a PC next weekend (getting a third interview means you basically have the job, right? ....right?) but I have a couple stupid questions.

1. Ideally, I want to create a emulator box that can run Wii/Gamecube at 1080p smoothly. I'm looking at a mix of the "Great" and "Excellent" builds, will they be able to do the job for most games?

2. I'm currently looking at graphics cards and am a bit confused. I looked up "GTX 760" on TigerDirect and found versions by Asus, MSI, and EVGA. Although they're all in the same general price range there are differences of $20-$30 between some of them. Does it matter which one I go with?

3. Will slight differences in product ID have a big impact? For example the Motherboard I was looking at was the GIGABYTE GA-Z97X-COC while the OP recommends something slightly different. It says Intel chipset and the memory I picked seems to match up with what the motherboard supports so I don't know if I need to be worried.

Oh man, I just put together a build and it was at $1600 after tax. Is there like a "good time" to build a PC? like the holidays?

Edit: Aaaand I don't have an OS.

 

[appaws]

Just finished my new Air 540 computer.

Side


Frontish & Back

Beautiful man.

Is it OK to use Firestrike as a reference for graphic card stability when over clocking? Increasing values until you get artifact in firestrike then backing off? Or does it not stress the GPU enough. It's a 780 that I'm working on

Does it run looping over and over....? I would assume that it stresses the GPU as much as let's say something like Uniengine (sp?) Valley....but I would say that it has to run for a little while to get things heated up.

 

[yatesl]

ooooh. what steam theme is that, Metro? Did it require any additional configuration to have no spaces?

C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\resource\layout\gamespage_grid.layout, open in Notepad, change "interiorspacing" to -1

 

[appaws]

So I think I'll be building a PC next weekend (getting a third interview means you basically have the job, right? ....right?) but I have a couple stupid questions.

1. Ideally, I want to create a emulator box that can run Wii/Gamecube at 1080p smoothly. I'm looking at a mix of the "Great" and "Excellent" builds, will they be able to do the job for most games?

2. I'm currently looking at graphics cards and am a bit confused. I looked up "GTX 760" on TigerDirect and found versions by Asus, MSI, and EVGA. Although they're all in the same general price range there are differences of $20-$30 between some of them. Does it matter which one I go with?

3. Will slight differences in product ID have a big impact? For example the Motherboard I was looking at was the GIGABYTE GA-Z97X-COC while the OP recommends something slightly different. It says Intel chipset and the memory I picked seems to match up with what the motherboard supports so I don't know if I need to be worried.

Oh man, I just put together a build and it was at $1600 after tax. Is there like a "good time" to build a PC? like the holidays?

1. Yes, although of course with emulation, specific games have specific quirks...
2. It can matter, but if you stick with the main recommended brands you are OK. Asus, MSI, EVGA, Sapphire, Gigabyte....all good products. Just depends on your price range.
3. It can have an impact. Those model numbers are often incomprehensible. I assum you were looking at the SOC, not COC board, which is a higher end overclocking board if I am not mistaken. The ones in the OP are chosen specifically for value in a gaming build. That SOC is listed in the "enthusiast" build, but depending on your budget you can save $60 bucks and go for the UD3H.

It's always a good time. I've never noticed any benefit to black friday type of stuff for PC parts....maybe some people have, but I admit I don't try that hard to wait for a deal, I just pull out the plastic. There are deals all the time for careful shoppers.

 

[The Teachinator]

Any opinions?

I have a qnix and think it is AMAZING. It Overclocked to 110!

 

[Black Soma]

So they told me to try puttin the R9 in without using the 6-pin cable, this should start the card in safe mode or something. It still didn't work, my PC was completely dead when I pressed the power button.

So it should be the card, right? Dead on arrival.

Anyone?

 

[Objectively Bad Opinion]

Just finished my new Air 540 computer.

Side


Frontish & Back

Truly pulchritudinous.

 

[Sword Of Doom]

Just finished my new Air 540 computer.

Side


Frontish & Back

Thats gorgeous

 

[Hazaro]

Guys please i need an advice, i've got the AIO Antec h20 620, here is specs, cooling my FX8350, i've also added on it a Corsair AF 120 quiet edition, to push air to the 120mm radiator, whilest the stock Antec fan pull it out, the problem is that the Antec stock fan is pretty loud, especially when the cpu gets hotter and it raises the rpm, and i can't see it's speed via bios nor check it's rpm on windows, so i'd like to change it with a quieter fan but that also doesn't increase the cpu temperature too much, what would you suggest? i'v seen the corsair sp120, the performance edition seems good but loud, i woudn't know if it's louder than my Antec, there is also a quiet edition, but i wouldn't know if it's strong enough to keep my cpu cool, so i ask for your help.

Any 120mm PWM honestly. The S-Flow type fans that Akasa/Rosewill/CM have performed better than the SP120 for me and are like half the price.

The R9 290/290X used market is very attractive price-wise - but if I were you guys, I would stay far, far away. The reason you're seeing such great prices is due to the crypto currency crashes, and even if someone states they weren't used for mining - I'd assume they were. Even if it works fine, you're just setting yourself up for an earlier failure. Not worth the headache.

For my $$$ right now, the used 780 market is insane. I was able to setup a 780 Classified SLI rig for under $700 (buying used on eBay). The release of the 6GB variants has helped the prices stay low. Plus - very, very slim chance they were used for mining.

Eh, 290's have over 2 years of serial based warranty with ASUS, MSI, GB so I'm not worried.

So they told me to try puttin the R9 in without using the 6-pin cable, this should start the card in safe mode or something. It still didn't work, my PC was completely dead when I pressed the power button.

So it should be the card, right? Dead on arrival.

Check another PCI-E slot and that you are on the correct DVI (1) port, try another cable, BIOS is set to load off PEG first, etc.

 

[McBryBry]

C:\Program Files (x86)\Steam\resource\layout\gamespage_grid.layout, open in Notepad, change "interiorspacing" to -1

I tried this, and it still comes up as normal..

Edit: Nevermind! I got it. Just had to move a slider. Embarrassing.

 

[Sarcasm]

For a two monitor setup how important is it to match monitors?

The one I use now will become secondary,it's some old but pretty nice dell 24 inch 1920x1200 monitor. I am using the recommended monitor list from first page and thinking of going high refresh rate 1080, especially the BenQ one.

Will I have issues?

 

[Rur0ni]

For a two monitor setup how important is it to match monitors?

The one I use now will become secondary,it's some old but pretty nice dell 24 inch 1920x1200 monitor. I am using the recommended monitor list from first page and thinking of going high refresh rate 1080, especially the BenQ one.

Will I have issues?

Not really important at all. It's about looks, unless you're attempting some nVidia surround I think.

 

[Furoba]

Get windows from reddit for a tenner and invest the extra into a 280x instead!

Hmm I think I'll just exclude the license from my initial budget. I am not entirely convinced by Reddit.

Yup, 8.1 Pro is normally ~$20. Do this or get a bigger SSD and a 280. Like this:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($239.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: ASRock Z97 Extreme3 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($127.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Kingston Fury Black Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($69.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Crucial MX100 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($106.81 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($51.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: MSI Radeon R9 280 3GB TWIN FROZR Video Card ($246.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case ($54.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Antec Basiq Plus 550W 80+ Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($67.98 @ Best Buy)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($16.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($20.00)
Total: $1003.71

Cheers; I'll definitely consider the MX100 upgrade. A 100 GB SSD might not cut it, and those MX100 seem like a really good deal (500GB might be overdoing it).
Generally, is there a big increase in performance if you get 3GB instead of 2GB VRAM?

 

[appaws]

Hmm I think I'll just exclude the license from my initial budget. I am not entirely convinced by Reddit.



Cheers; I'll definitely consider the MX100 upgrade. A 100 GB SSD might not cut it, and those MX100 seem like a really good deal (500GB might be overdoing it).
Generally, is there a big increase in performance if you get 3GB instead of 2GB VRAM?

Several here have done the Reddit key thing no prob. Of course YMMV.

I would say it is impossible to overdo SSD storage.

Also, you need a CPU cooler....CM 212 at least. (And they are inexpensive and perform well.)

 

[Tablo]

I would say it is impossible to overdo SSD storage.

Seconded.

 

[killertofu]

Never realized how hot/loud my desktop is

It's like adding a space heater to my small bedroom...

 

[Hazaro]

Never realized how hot/loud my desktop is

It's like adding a space heater to my small bedroom...

Easily remedied, what are you running?

 

[killertofu]

Easily remedied, what are you running?

Intel Core i5 3570K
GTX 670
R4 case w stock fans
and a H60i


temp is around 105 f, just checked the temp coming out the side of the case and it was like 83-85 degrees