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[TwistedFate]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($339.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.98 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97X-UD3H ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($139.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($85.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Crucial MX100 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($109.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($54.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 780 Ti 3GB Superclocked Video Card ($679.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Cooler Master HAF 922 ATX Mid Tower Case ($99.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: SeaSonic 620W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($89.99 @ Amazon)
Monitor: Asus PB278Q 27.0" Monitor ($489.99 @ Amazon)
Keyboard: Corsair Vengeance K70 Wired Gaming Keyboard ($129.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $2250.88
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Okay, I think I've finally narrowed everything down, but still wanna verify if this is gonna work correctly. This is my first PC build and I Hope to be able to game at 1440p/30-60fps.

 

[Corum]

If you absolutely won't overclock (although you should, it's as simple as changing one number in BIOS, and changing another if it crashes), then you can get the non K CPU, leave a cooler for now (until the stock gets noisy), and drop to a H97 mobo.

Cheers, I'll give overclocking a go.

 

[LilJoka]

Ok did the paper clip test.
Nothing. Didnt even try to start. The RM650 has a "Zero RPM Fan Mode" Dont know if it would affect the test or not.

Is it dead?

Zero rpm fan mode means you'll need to connect a case fan via a molex or molex to 3pin adaptor to have a visual indication of the PSUs state.

 

[n0tail]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($339.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.98 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97X-UD3H ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($139.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($85.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Crucial MX100 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($109.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($54.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 780 Ti 3GB Superclocked Video Card ($679.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Cooler Master HAF 922 ATX Mid Tower Case ($99.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: SeaSonic 620W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($89.99 @ Amazon)
Monitor: Asus PB278Q 27.0" Monitor ($489.99 @ Amazon)
Keyboard: Corsair Vengeance K70 Wired Gaming Keyboard ($129.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $2250.88
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Okay, I think I've finally narrowed everything down, but still wanna verify if this is gonna work correctly. This is my first PC build and I Hope to be able to game at 1440p/30-60fps.

This is truly worthy of the title "Master Race". You'll rape 1440p easily brah.

 

[kiyomi]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($339.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.98 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97X-UD3H ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($139.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($85.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Crucial MX100 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($109.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($54.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 780 Ti 3GB Superclocked Video Card ($679.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Cooler Master HAF 922 ATX Mid Tower Case ($99.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: SeaSonic 620W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($89.99 @ Amazon)
Monitor: Asus PB278Q 27.0" Monitor ($489.99 @ Amazon)
Keyboard: Corsair Vengeance K70 Wired Gaming Keyboard ($129.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $2250.88
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Okay, I think I've finally narrowed everything down, but still wanna verify if this is gonna work correctly. This is my first PC build and I Hope to be able to game at 1440p/30-60fps.

Looks great but one change I would make would be to switch out the PSU to this:

EVGA SuperNova 750W G2. It's $100 after rebate, 80+ Gold cert. and has an unbelievable 10 year warranty. It will last you this build, and the next one, and probably even the one after that. For $10 more than you're spending on the PSU, it's a fantastic investment.

 

[Tomodachi]

I know it's not in the OP but is the Kingston DDSNow V300 120GB a good choice? It's just 52€ on amazon.it and I have a voucher for 5€ off a 50€ purchase, so it would be actually 47€. A similar Sandisk would be 52€ voucher applied, a Samsung 63€.

 

[kiyomi]

I know it's not in the OP but is the Kingston DDSNow V300 120GB a good choice? It's just 52€ on amazon.it and I have a voucher for 5€ off a 50€ purchase, so it would be actually 47€. A similar Sandisk would be 52€ voucher applied, a Samsung 63€.

No, the Kingston is a sham.

Having checked the prices of other SSDs on Amazon.it, I would go for the Samsung.

 

[LilJoka]

No, the Kingston is a sham.

Having checked the prices of other SSDs on Amazon.it, I would go for the Samsung.

Cheaper is MX100!

http://www.amazon.it/Crucial-Technology-CT128MX100SSD1-MX100-HardDisk/dp/B00KFAGD88/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1403603092&sr=8-3&keywords=crucial+mx100

 

[kiyomi]

That's weird, I searched for the MX100 and it came up more expensive. D:

Yah, MX100s for everyone!

 

[Tomodachi]

Thanks guys, I'll settle for an MX100 then!

 

[LilJoka]

Hail the MX100!

 

[Hirmetrium]

The mighty MX100 is the king of all prices and performance!

In other news, thanks to the advice of this thread I bit the bullet and got an MX100 512gb. I'm not wondering - do I reinstall windows 7, or should I get me a copy of windows 8?

 

[Corum]

The mighty MX100 is the king of all prices and performance!

In other news, thanks to the advice of this thread I bit the bullet and got an MX100 512gb. I'm not wondering - do I reinstall windows 7, or should I get me a copy of windows 8?

A somewhat related question - is a fresh install of Windows 8 possible or does it have to be an upgrade from Windows 7?

 

[Shin Johnpv]

Anyone have any thoughts on the closed loop water coolers vs air coolers?

 

[Addnan]

Anyone have any thoughts on the closed loop water coolers vs air coolers?

Depends what you want it for and why you want it. For Ivy and Haswell they don't really help get the temps any lower than what a decent air cooler can. They are very nice to looks at, keeps the inside of you case clean and easy to work in if you ever need to.

 

[Genio88]

Anyone have any thoughts on the closed loop water coolers vs air coolers?

AIO water coolers are more expensive and less perfomant than good air coolers, but they're way better to see and easier to handle, that's why i'm never gonna come back to air cooler again, and i think that even if it's not as good as a Noctua tower air cooler a corsair h100 would be great for a good overclock too

 

[Shin Johnpv]

Depends what you want it for and why you want it. For Ivy and Haswell they don't really help get the temps any lower than what a decent air cooler can. They are very nice to looks at, keeps the inside of you case clean and easy to work in if you ever need to.

I plan on upgrading to a 4790k in a month or two. I guess if it's not really going to help keep it cooler I'll stick with getting one of the Hyper 212s variants.


I don't mind a big air cooler taking up space in the case, for me it's more about price to performance for the cooler. What's going to give me better temps, and if air coolers are running things just as cool as the AIO water coolers at a fraction of the price I'll go with that. Don't get me wrong that does look really nice and clean in the case, but I don't know if it's worth the 70 - 80 dollar premium.

 

[Hirmetrium]

A somewhat related question - is a fresh install of Windows 8 possible or does it have to be an upgrade from Windows 7?

You can, but you won't be able to activate your copy - you need to do some fiddling in the registry to allow it to activate. I'm not quite sure why this is the case - I suggest googling to find something more details.

I'm still new so I don't know what the rules are on sticking random links into a thread. Here goes:
http://lifehacker.com/5984278/how-to-do-a-clean-install-of-windows-8-with-an-upgrade-disc

Apologies for the gawker media link hate those guys, but lifehacker is an alright site for this stuff I guess.

 

[PaulLFC]

Is there ever a "good" time to buy a graphics card these days? I need to upgrade my GTX 460 and was considering as good a 7XX-series card as I could afford at the time I choose to upgrade. Then I see the rumours of the 8XX-series launching in October/November, so now I'm considering hanging on 3 or 4 months and getting one of those. I assume it's more than likely though that there will be an 880 Ti a few months after these which will be a better choice still, then a few months after that the 9XX series which will be better still... and so on and so on. If only there was a modern successor to the 8800GT!

I think my two best options now are either bite the bullet and get a 7XX-series card or wait for October and hope the 8XX-series launches and isn't ridiculously overpriced. Any recommendations?

I realise in this post I've totally neglected AMD, this is partly due to hearing nightmare stories about their drivers and performance in certain new release games until they get updated. Is the situation better these days?

 

[Durante]

Anyone have any thoughts on the closed loop water coolers vs air coolers?

The only advantage of closed loop water is flexibility in positioning.

I don't mind a big air cooler taking up space in the case, for me it's more about price to performance for the cooler. What's going to give me better temps, and if air coolers are running things just as cool as the AIO water coolers at a fraction of the price I'll go with that. Don't get me wrong that does look really nice and clean in the case, but I don't know if it's worth the 70 - 80 dollar premium.

If that's the case, then go with air, no contest.

 

[Smokey]

but if i don't go all the way to $2000 that's that much more money i can put into savings! (or into my "ultra 2015" fund.)

...actually speaking of smokey, one of my canadian friends (with THIS build) has a question for him:

how do you like the Corsair case fans?

They seem to be doing a decent job of pushing air though the case. Granted I'm still at stock, but my temps have been more than fine. The fan controller has been really useful in controlling the high performance versions that I have.

There are better performing fans out there for sure. I got them for aesthetic purposes and not necessarily top tier performance. Its a good balance between both imo.

 

[Smokey]

AIO water coolers are more expensive and less perfomant than good air coolers, but they're way better to see and easier to handle, that's why i'm never gonna come back to air cooler again, and i think that even if it's not as good as a Noctua tower air cooler a corsair h100 would be great for a good overclock too

LilJoka gon get ya

 

[EatChildren]

For the first time in forever I purchased an SSD. I know little to nothing about them, but assume setup is straightforward.

Query: is there an easy way for me to nuke just Windows on my HDD so when my SSD is set up with the OS I can simply access the data on the HDD without backing up or transferring?

 

[Mascot]

Sily question from a PC Luddite: could I drive triple monitors from a single card?

 

[Water]

Is there ever a "good" time to buy a graphics card these days? I need to upgrade my GTX 460 and was considering as good a 7XX-series card as I could afford at the time I choose to upgrade. Then I see the rumours of the 8XX-series launching in October/November, so now I'm considering hanging on 3 or 4 months and getting one of those. I assume it's more than likely though that there will be an 880 Ti a few months after these which will be a better choice still, then a few months after that the 9XX series which will be better still... and so on and so on. If only there was a modern successor to the 8800GT!

I think my two best options now are either bite the bullet and get a 7XX-series card or wait for October and hope the 8XX-series launches and isn't ridiculously overpriced. Any recommendations?

Yeah, it's frustrating to have no idea when anything is coming. For midrange buyers, I don't think it's awful to just go out and buy something. Worst case, NV launches a card a month later that would give you about the same performance $100 cheaper. But there's little reason why NV would suddenly give us drastically more perf at same price point unless AMD really turns up the heat.

I realise in this post I've totally neglected AMD, this is partly due to hearing nightmare stories about their drivers and performance in certain new release games until they get updated. Is the situation better these days?

The impression I've got is AMD is doing fine. I'm firmly on the NV train because I intend to do graphics programming, and I really value the option of getting a G-Sync display (even though I have no immediate plans to do so), but if I wasn't concerned with those things I'd run to get all that cheap performance packed into a 290/290X.

 

[kennah]

For the first time in forever I purchased an SSD. I know little to nothing about them, but assume setup is straightforward.

Query: is there an easy way for me to nuke just Windows on my HDD so when my SSD is set up with the OS I can simply access the data on the HDD without backing up or transferring?

No. (You can reinstall on the SSD and then manually delete folders on the old hard drive)

Sily question from a PC Luddite: could I drive triple monitors from a single card?

Yes.

 

[LilJoka]

LilJoka gon get ya

Indeed, i think people are just afraid of getting their hands dirty? I mean take that fan off the heasink and you have access to the RAM and 24 pin connector. 8 Pin is a bit harder to reach but nothing drastically bad. My experience is that CLC are unreliable and will break soon enough. Leaks are rare however, its just that the pumps are rubbish and generally its not that flexible with the awkward pipe lengths and the way the pipes are connected to the block (they always seem to twist/tangle). And how often do we remove the 8/24 pin cables and change RAM out? There isnt much more "work" to do around the CPU socket.

Lastly the CLC do perform pretty well when they work, but on a Haswell or Ivy there is not much point, the TIM between the die and CPU tin is the limitng factor, so may as well stick with the Hyper 212. Then we have cost, a Noctua D14 will match the H80i or similar CLC for fraction of the price.

If you love aesthetics go CLC, but keep reliability in your mind. If you are a performance nut like me, then stick with Air. If you generally want to keep things simple, get a Hyper 212, atleast itll never break. If you can spend a little more buy the XSPC or EK kits, they are way better, way more reliable and around £130.

 

[garath]

For the first time in forever I purchased an SSD. I know little to nothing about them, but assume setup is straightforward.

Query: is there an easy way for me to nuke just Windows on my HDD so when my SSD is set up with the OS I can simply access the data on the HDD without backing up or transferring?

In the past, I've just installed windows on the new drive and left the old one as a secondary drive on the machine. It is still bootable but I make sure my new drive is the first boot drive. Then I copy whatever I want off the old drive to the new and then wipe the old drive. Alternatively you can just leave the old drive alone. I don't think it hurts having a second windows partition in the system. Just make sure the SSD is your primary boot drive.

This is pre-windows 8 knowledge though. Last time I reinstalled windows it was with a single fresh HD.

However, I'm planning on doing the exact same thing soon. MX100 too good not to get on the SSD train.

 

[vareon]

A bit torn. Right now I only have ~600GB total hard drive space and almost filled out thanks to Summer Sale. Should I increase capacity by adding 1 TB disk or should I just add a 120GB SSD and deal with storage later?

 

[TheD]

Uhh, Windows is such a complete pile of shit when it it runs out of memory/virtual memory to promise programs.
Why does it have to crash and corrupt lots of different programs (including parts of the OS itself) instead of just forcing one program to close?!

 

[Shin Johnpv]

Air cooling it is then. I'm eagerly awaiting real world reviews of the 4790k, and hoping that Intel's new TMI gives the chip a little bit better cooling than Ivy or previous Haswells.

 

[Genio88]

A bit torn. Right now I only have ~600GB total hard drive space and almost filled out thanks to Summer Sale. Should I increase capacity by adding 1 TB disk or should I just add a 120GB SSD and deal with storage later?

I'd go with SSD for the OS and main softwares, keeping the hard disk for games storage, you can always delete the game files of games your're not playing anymore.

 

[Nostremitus]

How does a CM 212 EVO with JetFlos in push/pull compare to a Noctua D14?
Is it worth the extra cost to add JetFlos to a D14?

 

[yatesl]

For the first time in forever I purchased an SSD. I know little to nothing about them, but assume setup is straightforward.

Query: is there an easy way for me to nuke just Windows on my HDD so when my SSD is set up with the OS I can simply access the data on the HDD without backing up or transferring?

If you set the SSD as the boot drive (tip: disconnect all other drives whilst installing Windows), then you can do what you want. I install Windows, connect the other HHD, then delete the Windows folder on there, and move all my documents etc to the root of the drive, under more appropriate files.

Depending on how Windows is feeling, it might kick up a fuss asking for permissions to get in to users, but you can normally brute force your way through.

 

[hooijdonk17]

A bit torn. Right now I only have ~600GB total hard drive space and almost filled out thanks to Summer Sale. Should I increase capacity by adding 1 TB disk or should I just add a 120GB SSD and deal with storage later?

I had the exact same dilemna last year. I went with the 1TB WD Blue drive, and had immediate buyer's remorse because I got pretty much zero benefit out of it.

1 year down the line, I'm patting myself on the back as I'm looking at the amount of media I have stored and how it's almost three times as much stuff as I could have stored if I went with an SSD..

Not to mention how far SSDs have gotten in the meantime..

 

[Aurarian]

So next week I will finally have the money for my build. Just wanted to see if anyone can do a better job at me at saving more. Looking at the excellent build as a reference. Any headsets that anyone would recommend here? I'm looking to do some streaming with Twitch and I wanted to see if I could have one that works on PC with the added benefit of working on PS4(not a big deal if it doesn't).

Here's what I have.
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($239.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.98 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock Z97 PRO3 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($72.00 @ Newegg)
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 ($54.98 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon R9 290 4GB WINDFORCE Video Card ($399.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Keyboard: Rosewill RIKB-11002 Wired Slim Keyboard ($9.99 @ Amazon)
Mouse: Cooler Master Recon Wired Optical Mouse ($33.09 @ Amazon)
Total: $1096.81
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Not sure if I can cut down on that.

EDIT: Forgot to include that I don't need a power supply since the one I have from my old build is good enough for this one.(600W OCZ) Also, worth going up to 16GB of ram or not?

 

[nicoga3000]

Posted this elsewhere, but I figured GAF may actually be faster:

I have a laptop that I currently host my PLEX server on. I want to build a barebones machine that I can setup next to the router, plug in, leave on, and host all my media for access through our Roku boxes throughout the house.

I won't be using it for anything other than file storage, so really, I don't need anything in the GFX department. I'm assuming 12-16 GB RAM is going to be more than adequate (8 may even be OK). Storage capacity, I need at least 2 TB. Obviously I'd love more, so the option to expand or even use that much from the onset would be awesome.

Form is also somewhat important - I don't want big...The smaller the footprint, the better.
I've only got experience building big and powerful, so this is new to me. I'd also love USB 3.0 so I can transfer stuff to my flash drives and external/portable drives quicker (I have a lot of files to move...).

Anyone able to help me out?

Long story short, I need an "always on" media PC that I can put next to the router. I want it to be small in size, but huge in storage. Any thoughts and help on the cheapest option to make this happen?

 

[Nostremitus]

Posted this elsewhere, but I figured GAF may actually be faster:



Long story short, I need an "always on" media PC that I can put next to the router. I want it to be small in size, but huge in storage. Any thoughts and help on the cheapest option to make this happen?

Maybe a cheap Kabini build? No gaming, right?

 

[nicoga3000]

Maybe a cheap Kabini build? No gaming, right?

Nope - all gaming takes place on my laptop. No monitor, keyboard, mouse, sound card, etc...I just need it to be able to host my media server. I have SO much stuff on my laptop HD just eating space.

 

[LilJoka]

Posted this elsewhere, but I figured GAF may actually be faster:



Long story short, I need an "always on" media PC that I can put next to the router. I want it to be small in size, but huge in storage. Any thoughts and help on the cheapest option to make this happen?

Like this? Can support 6 HDDs, ive used a 4TB HDD, but you can get a 1TB HDD for £40 if thats how you want to do it. You can also look at the Coolermaster ITX case, its cheaper, but not great looking IMO, also not sure about its HDD capacity.

 

[nicoga3000]

Like this? Can support 6 HDDs, ive used a 4TB HDD, but you can get a 1TB HDD for £40 if thats how you want to do it. You can also look at the Coolermaster ITX case, its cheaper, but not great looking IMO, also not sure about its HDD capacity.

Really, yeah - this is right in line with something I want. Shit ton of HDD space, small form, no bells and whistles, 3.0 option. And it's cheap. I can probably get some of this cheaper due to a company discount through Newegg or Tiger Direct, too.

 

[riflen]

So recently I wanted to measure the fps gain I get from overclocking my i5 2500K 3.3Ghz. I overclocked to 4.4Ghz and ran some games. With Hitman: Absolution and Sleeping Dogs I gained no extra fps, but these games are GPU bound I've been told. Then someone told me to try Skyrim, because that game is CPU bound.

Skyrim on stock CPU (3.3Ghz): 50 fps
Skyrim on overclocked CPU (4.4Ghz): 50 fps

No difference. I'm confused, cause I was expecting to see an improvement in my fps? Is my overlock working?

A nice way to see your CPU clock while playing a game is to use MSI Afterburner together with HWInfo. MSI Afterburner installs Riva Tuner Statistics Server, which generates the On Screen Display. However, Afterburner itself can only collect basic CPU usage info, so I recommend using HWInfo and configure it to display CPU clock to OSD. This will hook in to RTSS and show in your game. After some setting up, you end up with something like this:

Now, you say you can't see any difference in frame rate. Using average frames per second is not accurate enough. As it's an average, you lose a lot of information. Use FRAPS to run a frametime benchmark while playing. Download FRAPS bench viewer and use it to view the log FRAPS creates. You'll get something like these:

You are seeing a representation of every frame rendered over a 5 minute period. You'll note in the Wolfenstein graph, the average is 60fps (or 16.7ms per frame). However, we can see that some frames are frequently coming in later than 16.7ms and some sooner. The average hides this. The frame rate is actually much more erratic than average FPS will show. If the frame rate is too erratic, this can manifest as stuttering or hitching in the game.
You can see in the Far Cry 3 graph, that the frame rate is much more varied than in the other games. This is partly because it's very tough on the CPU, due to the nature of the game.
Anyway, assuming your overclock is working, what you should see if you run this benchmark before and after your overclock, is an improvement in the frametime. They should be arriving more consistently and it's likely your 1% and 0.1% times will be better with the overclock. This should translate to a smoother overall game experience.

BTW, most complex 3D games aren't simply GPU bound or CPU bound. It depends on settings and what's happening in the game from one frame to the next.

 

[Nostremitus]

Really, yeah - this is right in line with something I want. Shit ton of HDD space, small form, no bells and whistles, 3.0 option. And it's cheap. I can probably get some of this cheaper due to a company discount through Newegg or Tiger Direct, too.

Something like this could work as well and save you some money in the short and long-term. The Kabini has worse single threaded performance but uses about half the energy as the Intel chip and the GPU clock is almost double (but i doubt that matters for your uses.) If all you'll be using it for is streaming(and playing video on your TV?) It should do fine.

[PCPartPicker part list](http://pcpartpicker.com/p/dXYK23) /
[Price breakdown by merchant](http://pcpartpicker.com/p/dXYK23/by_merchant/) Type|Item|Price :----|:----|:----
**CPU** | [AMD 5150 1.6GHz Quad-Core Processor](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/amd-cpu-ad5150jahmbox) | $49.99 @ Newegg
**Motherboard** | [MSI AM1I Mini ITX AM1 Motherboard](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/msi-motherboard-am1i) | $35.99 @ Amazon
**Memory** | [G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/gskill-memory-f31600c9d8gao) | $72.00 @ Newegg
**Storage** | [Hitachi Deskstar NAS 4TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/hitachi-internal-hard-drive-0s03664) | $169.99 @ B&H
**Case** | [Fractal Design Node 304 Mini ITX Tower Case](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/fractal-design-case-fdcanode304bl) | $84.99 @ Micro Center
**Power Supply** | [Corsair Builder 430W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/corsair-power-supply-cx430) | $42.30 @ Amazon | |
**Total** | Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available | $455.26

 

[Dries]

A nice way to see your CPU clock while playing a game is to use MSI Afterburner together with HWInfo. MSI Afterburner installs Riva Tuner Statistics Server, which generates the On Screen Display. However, Afterburner itself can only collect basic CPU usage info, so I recommend using HWInfo and configure it to display CPU clock to OSD. This will hook in to RTSS and show in your game. After some setting up, you end up with something like this:

Now, you say you can't see any difference in frame rate. Using average frames per second is not accurate enough. As it's an average, you lose a lot of information. Use FRAPS to run a frametime benchmark while playing. Download FRAPS bench viewer and use it to view the log FRAPS creates. You'll get something like these:

You are seeing a representation of every frame rendered over a 5 minute period. You'll note in the Wolfenstein graph, the average is 60fps (or 16.7ms per frame). However, we can see that some frames are frequently coming in later than 16.7ms and some sooner. The average hides this. The frame rate is actually much more erratic than average FPS will show. If the frame rate is too erratic, this can manifest as stuttering or hitching in the game.
You can see in the Far Cry 3 graph, that the frame rate is much more varied than in the other games. This is partly because it's very tough on the CPU, due to the nature of the game.
Anyway, assuming your overclock is working, what you should see if you run this benchmark before and after your overclock, is an improvement in the frametime. They should be arriving more consistently and it's likely your 1% and 0.1% times will be better with the overclock. This should translate to a smoother overall game experience.

BTW, most complex 3D games aren't simply GPU bound or CPU bound. It depends on settings and what's happening in the game from one frame to the next.

Great write-up man! I appreciate it.

 

[PaulLFC]

Yeah, it's frustrating to have no idea when anything is coming. For midrange buyers, I don't think it's awful to just go out and buy something. Worst case, NV launches a card a month later that would give you about the same performance $100 cheaper. But there's little reason why NV would suddenly give us drastically more perf at same price point unless AMD really turns up the heat.

The impression I've got is AMD is doing fine. I'm firmly on the NV train because I intend to do graphics programming, and I really value the option of getting a G-Sync display (even though I have no immediate plans to do so), but if I wasn't concerned with those things I'd run to get all that cheap performance packed into a 290/290X.

Thanks, that's interesting about AMD because having seen the price difference between Nvidia and AMD, going with a 290 is now really tempting - as good if not better performance than a 780 for a couple of hundred quid less, only beaten in benchmarks by the 780 Ti (and the Titans, but I consider those way out of my price range).

Now I just need to decide on overclocked i5 4690k vs overclocked i7 4790k and then I think I'm set on the basic spec of the PC. i7 is about £80 more but I tend to replace the entire PC when the time comes to replace the processor, so I'm guessing the i7 is worth it for the sake of longevity.

 

[Water]

...
Now, you say you can't see any difference in frame rate. Using average frames per second is not accurate enough. As it's an average, you lose a lot of information. Use FRAPS to run a frametime benchmark while playing. Download FRAPS bench viewer and use it to view the log FRAPS creates. You'll get something like these:
...

Great stuff! Can't wait to be able to use this.

 

[Water]

Thanks, that's interesting about AMD because having seen the price difference between Nvidia and AMD, going with a 290 is now really tempting - as good if not better performance than a 780 for a couple of hundred quid less, only beaten in benchmarks by the 780 Ti (and the Titans, but I consider those way out of my price range).

Remember you have to look at a non-reference cooler 290/X, unless you like noise. The 780s cost a bit more at similar performance but the premium shouldn't be huge, eg. "couple of hundred quid", I think...?

 

[The_Poet]

Why do some games disable my second monitor when they load up, e.g. turn it black or freeze the image. Is there a setting which commonly causes it? Is it just a game dependent thing?

The new(ish) Tomb Raider does it, pretty annoying.

 

[kennah]

Posted this elsewhere, but I figured GAF may actually be faster:



Long story short, I need an "always on" media PC that I can put next to the router. I want it to be small in size, but huge in storage. Any thoughts and help on the cheapest option to make this happen?

The Node is exactly the case you are looking for. Also look into FREENAS as an operating system. It even has a Plex plugin for streaming your media. I have that exact setup with an i3 and six hard drives. It's so amazing and quiet.

 

[mkenyon]

Awesome write up riflen!

The only advantage of closed loop water is flexibility in positioning.

Don't forget fewer bloody knuckles and easier access to the motherboard.

That latter one is really important to me, but I could see how it'd be less important to someone who only upgrades occasionally.

Because of my liquid cooling setup and CaseLabs case (removable motherboard tray), I was able to swap out the motherboard in a matter of 20 minutes. Just unscrew the cooling gear, pull out the mobo tray, put on the new one, and done.