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"I Need a New PC!" 2014 Part 2. Read OP, your 2500K will run Witcher 3. MX100s! 970!

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SLV

Member
I7 4790 k, together with a Asus sabertooth Z97 mark 2, should be fine right? Seams like a decent mid ranged atx board at 150eur or should I get something else? I prefer Asus and atx. So I can also oc later if need be.
I am just undecided on the board, as the cpu showed up as available in Latvia this morning and I have been without a pc since beginning June.

Quoting for the new page.

Holy shit, luckily i made it in time, 20 pieces of the 30 available for Latvia were already bought out within the hour. Basically my pc shop guy is just waiting for me to decide on the board. Could really use any suggestions. For now i will be using my old 8 gb 1333 mhz ram, and later i will upgrade to whatever is necessary for the board i do end with. Could use some input. AFAIK the H60 should work with the new board and cpu right ?
 
I have a nvidia GTX 460, and I've been looking at a r9 280x ($270) as an upgrade because I'm bored, have money, and am buying lots of Steam games. I also enjoyed the Titanfall weekend except for my frame-rate at times. I've waited this long, should I keep going?

CPU is a 2500k, I always smile at the thread title.
 

Dries

Member
Oh hi, GAF. How harmful is it to alternate between stock and overclock speeds? Right now I'm playing The Witcher 1 and don't really need the overclock obviously. But in some weeks I'll be playing a more intensive game so I'll load up my overclock profile.

Is this alternating back and forth wearing my CPU out faster or does it not really make a difference?
 
Oh hi, GAF. How harmful is it to alternate between stock and overclock speeds? Right now I'm playing The Witcher 1 and don't really need the overclock obviously. But in some weeks I'll be playing a more intensive game so I'll load up my overclock profile.

Is this alternating back and forth wearing my CPU out faster or does it not really make a difference?

It does not really make a difference, but should not make a big difference altogether, most people don't bother constantly switching.
 

Tanwo

Member
After researching for some days, I think I've finally got a build that I like. As a reminder:
Budget: 700-750€ / Spain
Main Use: Gaming: 5, General Usage: 5, Video Editing: 2.
When will you build?: As soon as possible.
Will you be overclocking?: No.

Here's my build:

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670
GPU: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 770 OC 2GB GDDR5
Motherboard: ASRock H87 Pro4
RAM: G.Skill RipjawsX 2x4GB DDR3 1600Mhz 1.5v
HDD: Seagate 3.5" 1TB SATA3
Heatsink: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO
PSU: FSP 550W Raider 80+ Bronze
Case: Cooler Master N300

Total: 756,10€

Do you think that 550W (80+ Bronze) is enough? Should I get a 600W one?
Aside from the PSU, unless you see any problem with this build I would prefer to keep it like this.

Thank you!
 

Dunbar

Member
Did anyone else pre-order the 4790k from Microcenter? I ordered it earlier in the month, and I think it's supposed to be available today or tomorrow, but I haven't gotten an e-mail or anything.
 

tarheel91

Member
Personal preferance really. I enjoy the aesthetic look of the EVGA coolers. If there was a non-windowed version of the Hadron I wouldn't care as much.
The power consumptions of the Nvidia cards seem to be lower as well, if only slightly. That wouldn't matter much in the long run, just something I noticed while searching.
I was shocked when I saw the prices of the AMD cards now though. The last time I looked into them the 270 was the same price as a 760.

Litecoin mining significantly inflated the price of AMD cards for a solid 9 months or so. They only came down a couple months ago. Before that, they really weren't price competitive at any level. Outside of the litecoin mining blip, AMD is generally the more cost effective option, at least for the last few years.
 

Rafy

Member
I just ordered my PSU! I got the EVGA 600B, since the JonnyGuru review for it said it was really good quality for it's price range and have almost above average performance. Anyways, now I have to get RAM and a keyboard (Will go with the amazon one till I can afford an MX BLUE one after I'm done with the build).

The case I will get in July probably and it will be the Arc XL because it's only a few euro more expensive than the R4 (on alternate.it) and I will bring my WC gear from my PC in Greece later in the summer so I need the space.
 

teiresias

Member
I noticed there are no EVGA motherboards in the OP chart. Is there a general consensus on not going with them or something? I love the looks of their motherboards (z97 FTW specifically) and have read horror stories about Asus motherboard RMA (though I never had issues RMAing my Asus 680), but thought I'd ask if anyone has used any of their recent boards since I know they had a run of crap there for a while.
 

kennah

Member
I noticed there are no EVGA motherboards in the OP chart. Is there a general consensus on not going with them or something? I love the looks of their motherboards (z97 FTW specifically) and have read horror stories about Asus motherboard RMA (though I never had issues RMAing my Asus 680), but thought I'd ask if anyone has used any of their recent boards since I know they had a run of crap there for a while.
They're fine. Just a little more expensive than comparable boards from other manufacturers.

There isn't really any 'bad' boards anymore as long as you stick to the good chipsets.
 

Gizuko

Member
Hello everyone, I was planning to get a 4790k when it released in Europe, but I have only found it ~50€ more expensive than the 4770k. I have been looking for reviews, but I didn't find that many, so excuse me for asking but, is it worth to get it over the 4770k? At that price difference.

I will be OCing, and I'm too afraid to delid during the first couple of years (probably), so the 4790k seemed awesome for a refresh, but I don't know anymore.

One more thing, is the 4770k supported by z97 mobos? I read it did somewhere, but I don't know for sure.
 

PaulLFC

Member
When posting my provisional spec last night I had a couple of recommendations to avoid going with an XFX graphics card. Are they not recommended because of the warranty situation here in the UK (they refuse to honour the warranty and say it's the responsibility of the retailer), or are they just poor cards?

I got confirmation from Scan that they cover it for 3 years regardless of XFX's stance, so if the card (XFX Radeon R9 290 Black Edition) is generally fine apart from the warranty, I might still go with it as it's much better value wise than the 780 Ti or 290X.
 

riflen

Member
So custom water cooling folks, how quickly do EK, XSPC, etc get waterblocks/backplates out for newly released cards?

I'm waiting for the 800 series to build my first fully water cooled rig and want to get two 880's as soon as they are released, but obviously if I'm water cooling I'd like to get the waterblocks right away.

Probably up to a month after release, maybe sooner. My last GPUs were 780 Ti, which I bought November 7th. My water blocks arrived 24th November.
 

kiyomi

Member
Hello everyone, I was planning to get a 4790k when it released in Europe, but I have only found it ~50€ more expensive than the 4770k. I have been looking for reviews, but I didn't find that many, so excuse me for asking but, is it worth to get it over the 4770k? At that price difference.

I will be OCing, and I'm too afraid to delid during the first couple of years (probably), so the 4790k seemed awesome for a refresh, but I don't know anymore.

One more thing, is the 4770k supported by z97 mobos? I read it did somewhere, but I don't know for sure.

I'm kinda asking the same question to myself - the 4690K is £25 more than the 4670K, and Z97 motherboards carry their own premium..

However in your case I kinda think the 4790K might be worth it with the 4.0Ghz base clock, with a kinda-sorta-4.4Ghz turbo. If you get a 4770K there's no guarantee it will even hit 4.3 or 4.4Ghz. I'd go with the 4790K and suck up the price difference.

4770K will work with Z97, yup.
 

JoseDFrog

Banned
So I sold my video card to a Gaffer today and I'd like to sell the rest of my pc off. Haven't been using it much lately and would probably wait a year or so to start a new build. Problem is I have no clue what a good price would be to sell it so I'm going to list my parts in hopes that you guys can help me set the price before I list it here and on the B/S/T thread.

Case: Fractal XL R2
Motherboard: MSI MPower Z77 (bent one pin so I can't get usb 3 out to the front of the case)
CPU: i7 3770K
Memory: Crucial Low Profile two 8GB sticks
Cooler: Noctua NH-D14
PSU: Silencer Mk III 850W
HDD: Crucial M4 256GB
Windows 7
Random Dvd drive cuz you know you have to have one...

I'll sell it locally North Jersey/NYC area. Thanks in advance for the help.
 
Did anyone else pre-order the 4790k from Microcenter? I ordered it earlier in the month, and I think it's supposed to be available today or tomorrow, but I haven't gotten an e-mail or anything.

I'm going to my store in Westchester, NY today. I'm pretty sure they're available for purchase!
 

Skel1ingt0n

I can't *believe* these lazy developers keep making file sizes so damn large. Btw, how does technology work?
So custom water cooling folks, how quickly do EK, XSPC, etc get waterblocks/backplates out for newly released cards?

I'm waiting for the 800 series to build my first fully water cooled rig and want to get two 880's as soon as they are released, but obviously if I'm water cooling I'd like to get the waterblocks right away.

Typically within about 30 days of the card's real (not paper) release. I see it as a good opportunity to test your card before ripping it apart.
 

Skel1ingt0n

I can't *believe* these lazy developers keep making file sizes so damn large. Btw, how does technology work?
My best friend has been wanting to build a gaming rig so we can play more games together for a long while - a couple years or more - and it just hasn't been in the budget.

With the G3258 and some parts I have laying around, I think I could build him something decent as just a "you're awesome" gift.

G3258 - $60
Basic 1150 MoBo - $60
4GB DDR3 stick - $40
PSU (I have a brand new AX750)
Storage (I have a used 128GB Agility 2 SSD)
2 fans - $25
Case - $75

Total = $260

And then he can load up a Windows license and buy whatever video card he can afford; and he has a system he can upgrade as he goes (new CPU, more memory, another 4GB stick) and nothing will hold him back (good GPU and modern mobo).

Thoughts?
 

frbrr

Member
What is a good alternative to the ASRock Z97 Pro 3 in the same price range?
Just got myself a 4790k and a 290x tri-x, unfortunately the ASRock boards seem impossible to find in Sweden
 

mkenyon

Banned
I noticed there are no EVGA motherboards in the OP chart. Is there a general consensus on not going with them or something? I love the looks of their motherboards (z97 FTW specifically) and have read horror stories about Asus motherboard RMA (though I never had issues RMAing my Asus 680), but thought I'd ask if anyone has used any of their recent boards since I know they had a run of crap there for a while.
They were worse than garbage from P67->Z68->X79. Some of their Z77 boards were still meh. Their Z87 boards were pretty well reviewed, but the new Z97 Classy at least has had some initial BIOS issues (which is what they've been struggling with the whole time). Unlike GB and ASUS, they don't get the benefit of the doubt when a new series of boards come out quite yet.

I'd feel pretty safe recommending the Z97 Classy as well as any of the "Stingers" to friends as of right now though.
 

SHADES

Member
When posting my provisional spec last night I had a couple of recommendations to avoid going with an XFX graphics card. Are they not recommended because of the warranty situation here in the UK (they refuse to honour the warranty and say it's the responsibility of the retailer), or are they just poor cards?

I got confirmation from Scan that they cover it for 3 years regardless of XFX's stance, so if the card (XFX Radeon R9 290 Black Edition) is generally fine apart from the warranty, I might still go with it as it's much better value wise than the 780 Ti or 290X.

I think it's just from a warranty standpoint tbh, I've owned 2 XFX cards in the past and not had any issues with them, but then again I've not had any experience with the warranty side of the company either. If scan.co.uk are saying 3 years and this covers ALL parts then that should be enough, although I must admit you'd be better to self build regardless of skill level, it's that easy my 7 year old helped with my build. Plus the money saved could be used to better purposes on the machine itself and you'd have complete knowledge of how it went together.

Also if you were to self build you'd have the majority of the posters in this thread to guide you through it step by step (PC GAF IMO is one of thee most helpful, friendly,knowledgable communities I've had the pleasure to come across).

Before my build I had all the self doubts and will I break it etc but honestly once you do one build and feel that accomplishment afterwards and come away with a more powerful PC with the money you've saved you'll never look at pre build again.

With that said, if you must buy pre built then by all means it's your money,do as you please.
 

blinkz

Member
Anyone have a review or used a Radeon - Double Dissipation AMD Radeon R9 270X 4GB DDR5 PCI Express 3.0 Graphics Card.

I'm wondering if it is good for the price or if I should look in another direction.
 

teiresias

Member
They were worse than garbage from P67->Z68->X79. Some of their Z77 boards were still meh. Their Z87 boards were pretty well reviewed, but the new Z97 Classy at least has had some initial BIOS issues (which is what they've been struggling with the whole time). Unlike GB and ASUS, they don't get the benefit of the doubt when a new series of boards come out quite yet.

I'd feel pretty safe recommending the Z97 Classy as well as any of the "Stingers" to friends as of right now though.

Will probably stick to a Z97 Maximus VII I think.
 

mkenyon

Banned
mkenyon, this is from a recent mouse thread but it died off and I don't believe you had a chance to reply.



I haven't looked too much into mice since a little over a year, and these appear to be somewhat recent. What advantages do they offer over the G400 (Angle Snapping Off)? I'm mostly interested in sensor differences, overall build quality, and optimal tracking at 400-800 CPI.

I also recently came across these stability tests across several gaming mice, good information.

http://utmalesoldiers.blogspot.com/2014/01/blog-post_14.html
Slightly more accurate tracking. Really though between the two it's all going to be personal preference on your grip style with the shape of the mouse.
Yeah the h100i is basically just cause reasons. I want a nice, clean looking cooler that will look good in my case, so more aesthetics reasons than anything. Might switch to an arctic cooler, I have one of those on my current processor and it has done a great job for years, but I also don't want to be looking into the window of my new case and see a massive CPU cooler.

The AX750 was because I saw another poster on GAF with one and red cabling and it looked awesome, so again, aesthetic reasons :p. I also like how it is fully modular, that is a must for me and the new build.

As far as motherboards go, no particular features that I am looking for. I just want one that looks good, will last a long time and not give me any issues when it comes to overclocking my cpu. I did check out the gigabyte model you recommended and I have no problem getting one, just not sure if it is the one I really want. I currently have a gigabyte mobo in my current PC and it has been great.

I really appreciate you taking the time to critique my upcoming build. I will take your feedback and recommendations into consideration and see what will work best. All said, I cannot wait to get my new machine built and running, it is going to be awesome!



No worries! I have my paypal at the ready so just let me know when you need the funds! Really appreciate you doing this. Any chance they do get released earlier than originally thought?
The RM650 seems like it'd be the PSU for you, as the same cables are sold for it as well. In fact, everything but the 24 pin is universal between all the corsair modular/semi modular PSUs.

Check out the ASUS Maximus VII Gene, as it seems to be in line with your build theme, and offers an amazing set of features. Pair it all in a 350D, Air 240, Enthoo MiniXL, or Enthoo Evolv (my choice would be for the Evolv).
 

garath

Member
I have a nvidia GTX 460, and I've been looking at a r9 280x ($270) as an upgrade because I'm bored, have money, and am buying lots of Steam games. I also enjoyed the Titanfall weekend except for my frame-rate at times. I've waited this long, should I keep going?

CPU is a 2500k, I always smile at the thread title.

I'd go for it. You'll see a huge boost. Is your 2500k OC'd? If not, do that too.

My 2500k is at a very light 4.2ghz OC and chugging away quite happily. I upgraded from a 460 to a 660ti last year and it was a big jump. I played the Titanfall free weekend with smooth as silk framerate, everything on high.

You can wait for the next round of cards but honestly, there's always new cards around the corner. The 460 is ancient at this point, it's a solid upgrade. My rule of thumb is upgrade every other generation (I went 260->460->660). I usually can't hold off longer than that. I buy the middle of the road cards and they drop off by that time.
 

teiresias

Member
Aesthetics? Features?

I basically require a motherboard to NOT have Killer NIC. Asus and EVGA have Intel NICs whereas MSI and GB utilize Killer on all of their "gaming" boards. Yeah, I don't really need a having board per say but I can't stand boards with yellow or orange highlights haha.
 
What CPU should I consider if I want to run fraps(dxtorry/razr game booster/etc), skype, and a game at the same time? I think I'd prefer AMD but will consider Intel. Any suggestions? I'll upgrade my mobo too if need be. I've currently got a 3.6 quad AMD with 8GB of ram.
 

Addnan

Member
What CPU should I consider if I want to run fraps, skype, and a game at the same time? I think I'd prefer AMD but will consider Intel. Any suggestions? I'll upgrade my mobo too if need be. I've currently got a 3.6 quad AMD with 8GB of ram.

How much do you want to spend? The go to gaming CPU is the 4670K/4690K.
 

mkenyon

Banned
What CPU should I consider if I want to run fraps(dxtorry/razr game booster/etc), skype, and a game at the same time? I think I'd prefer AMD but will consider Intel. Any suggestions? I'll upgrade my mobo too if need be. I've currently got a 3.6 quad AMD with 8GB of ram.
Would a dual PC setup be too much?

You could take your current components and make a dedicated recording/streaming device, which would prevent any sort of performance loss in game.

Otherwise, an i7 would be your best bet. AMD doesn't really make gaming processors anymore.
 
How much do you want to spend? The go to gaming CPU is the 4670K/4690K.

Would a dual PC setup be too much?

You could take your current components and make a dedicated recording/streaming device, which would prevent any sort of performance loss in game.

Otherwise, an i7 would be your best bet. AMD doesn't really make gaming processors anymore.

I'm not looking to spend a fortune (just bought PS4, buying Wii U and Xbone later this year). I'm interested in this dual build idea. I'd love to hear more or other recommendations. I'll provide any additional info thats needed of course.
 

Genio88

Member
Would a dual PC setup be too much?

You could take your current components and make a dedicated recording/streaming device, which would prevent any sort of performance loss in game.

Otherwise, an i7 would be your best bet. AMD doesn't really make gaming processors anymore.

Why do you say that? the FX 8350 is almost as fast as an i7 4770k in most games, especially if overclocked, i've got one, its only negative point is the power consumption, but the price/performance ratio is great.
 

kennah

Member
Why do you say that? the FX 8350 is almost as fast as an i7 4770k in most games, especially if overclocked, i've got one, its only negative point is the power consumption, but the price/performance ratio is great.
umm.. No. Sorry. The i3 is as fast as the 8350 in most games.
 

mkenyon

Banned
Why do you say that? the FX 8350 is almost as fast as an i7 4770k in most games, especially if overclocked, i've got one, its only negative point is the power consumption, but the price/performance ratio is great.
It's as fast as the 4770K in games where the processor plays a small role, sure. In those cases, the i3 performs the same as the 8350 which performs the same as the i7. But if the processor is important to maintain a good frame rate (think multiplayer games, MMOs, RTS, Source, UE3, Bethesda RPGs, some others), then the 8350 is pretty much in line with the first gen core i7s like the 9xx and 8xx processors.

Game where processor matters:

fc3-99th.png


fc3-50ms.png


Game where it doesnt:

tr-99th.png


tr-17ms.png


There's countless more, and some start to get really ugly for the 8350, such as Skyrim. Here it's bested by a $100 pentium.

skyrim-99th.gif


skyrim-beyond-16.gif


Then there's of course stuff like power usage, which means you can't do things like run a 290 + 8350 overclocked on a solid 550W unit.

The truth is that it's a low efficiency server processor that is an amazing value for stuff like multimedia creation. It has really low IPC though, which is what a lot of games still rely on for proper performance.
 

tarheel91

Member
It's as fast as the 4770K in games where the processor plays a small role, sure. In those cases, the i3 performs the same as the 8350 which performs the same as the i7. But if the processor is important to maintain a good frame rate (think multiplayer games, MMOs, RTS, Source, UE3, Bethesda RPGs, some others), then the 8350 is pretty much in line with the first gen core i7s like the 9xx and 8xx processors.

Game where processor matters:

Game where it doesnt:

There's countless more, and some start to get really ugly for the 8350, such as Skyrim. Here it's bested by a $100 pentium.

Then there's of course stuff like power usage, which means you can't do things like run a 290 + 8350 overclocked on a solid 550W unit.

The truth is that it's a low efficiency server processor that is an amazing value for stuff like multimedia creation. It has really low IPC though, which is what a lot of games still rely on for proper performance.

It's also very dependent on how flexible the game is in terms of making use of the available cores.

http://gamegpu.ru/images/remote/htt..._GPU-Action-Battlefield_4-test-bf4_proz_2.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/0nIkCAb.jpg
 

mkenyon

Banned
It's also very dependent on how flexible the game is in terms of making use of the available cores.

http://gamegpu.ru/images/remote/htt..._GPU-Action-Battlefield_4-test-bf4_proz_2.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/0nIkCAb.jpg
I'm pretty skeptical of that website, as they have a lot of data that flies in the face of other much more reputable websites. Crysis 3, for example:

c3-99th.png


c3-50ms.png


compared to theirs:

0nIkCAb.jpg


They also rely on poor metrics which aren't very great for measuring CPU performance.

The other thing to keep in mind is that in that BF4 bench, it does not account for multiplayer, which will put an extra burden on IPC when translating game state, again favoring the Intel procs. It also compares them at their stock speeds, and where a 15-25% boost in performance should be expected compared to the 3.4 GHz stock clock, a 12% boost in frequency is about what you should expect with an 8350.
 
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