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[Mr.Green]

What would you guys do?

Here's my current setup:

i7 870 (2.93Ghz)
8Mb DDR3-1600
2x 7970s

I'll be receiving my Oculus Rift DK2 soon and Crossfire is a no-go for VR. AFR adds latency and it makes for a lesser experience even with high framerate. So I'd like to go for a single GPU setup but the latest cards (780 ti and R9 290x) are PCI-E 3.0 and my mobo only supports Gen 2.

Even with Crossfire disabled, my current setup works fine with the DK1 but most of the content is Unity tech demos. With the rise of UE4 and the required 75fps of DK2 I'm afraid it won't cut it.

Thing is, we will get Haswell-E and the 800 series from Nvidia in the fall. Should I wait? Should I upgrade now? What would YOU do?

 

[The Llama]

What would you guys do?

Here's my current setup:

i7 870 (2.93Ghz)
8Mb DDR3-1600
2x 7970s

I'll be receiving my Oculus Rift DK2 soon and Crossfire is a no-go for VR. AFR adds latency and it makes for a lesser experience even with high framerate. So I'd like to go for a single GPU setup but the latest cards (780 ti and R9 290x) are PCI-E 3.0 and my mobo only supports Gen 2.

Even with Crossfire disabled, my current setup works fine with the DK1 but most of the content is Unity tech demos. With the rise of UE4 and the required 75fps of DK2 I'm afraid it won't cut it.

Thing is, we will get Haswell-E and the 800 series from Nvidia in the fall. Should I wait? Should I upgrade now? What would YOU do?

I'd just get a 4790k and a Z97 mobo. Can use the same everything else. Then get a new GPU in another year or 2.

 

[lyrick]

What would you guys do?

Here's my current setup:

i7 870 (2.93Ghz)
8Mb DDR3-1600
2x 7970s

I'll be receiving my Oculus Rift DK2 soon and Crossfire is a no-go for VR. AFR adds latency and it makes for a lesser experience even with high framerate. So I'd like to go for a single GPU setup but the latest cards (780 ti and R9 290x) are PCI-E 3.0 and my mobo only supports Gen 2.

Even with Crossfire disabled, my current setup works fine with the DK1 but most of the content is Unity tech demos. With the rise of UE4 and the required 75fps of DK2 I'm afraid it won't cut it.

Thing is, we will get Haswell-E and the 800 series from Nvidia in the fall. Should I wait? Should I upgrade now? What would YOU do?

PCIe 3.0 GPUs are compatible with PCIe 2.0 & 2.1 MoBo setups. I don't think any single GPU on the market will max out the [8GB/s] bandwidth of a PCIe 2.0 x16 slot yet.

 

[Mr.Green]

I'd just get a 4790k and a Z97 mobo. Can use the same everything else. Then get a new GPU in another year or 2.

Mobo won't be compatible with the Haswell-E CPUs though right?

I could do that and see how far a 7970 can get me... And maybe AMD will figure out a way to make Crossfire work properly for VR...

Now here's the zillion dollar question:

If I'm switching my CPU/Mobo, can I expect Windows 8.1 to boot back up properly and install the drivers it needs too or am I asking for trouble?

 

[Lumine]

So I think it might be that time for me to buy a completely new PC. I'm a little clueless on the subject though, so any help is appreciated!
I've been mainly upgrading my current PC over the past few years, which means my case is now about 12 years old. It's noisy and I feel like buying a completely new PC this time.
I'm a little on the fence though, I already decided to wait this long and I don't want to get burned by spending around a $1000 when much better hardware might be coming out very soon.

Anyway, here are my current specs:
- AMD Phenom II X4 965 ~3.4GHz
- 4GB RAM (DDR3 I think)
- MSI Geforce GTX 460
- 250GB HDD

...and I'm thinking of upgrading to something like this:
- ASUS Z97-A - Motherboard €135 (Honestly I have no idea really what to pick for mobo, this one seems to come recommended on the website. I went with Z97 instead of Z87 to make it future-proof like the OP says. I don't know if that's needed though and how much I can shave off the price by picking something else. Definitely open to other recommendations here.)
- Intel Core i5 4690 / 3.5 Ghz €180 (thinking of not getting the K version here, would save me some money and I never really overclock anyway. I've got no experience with it and I'd rather not void the warranty just to squeeze a few extra fps in less than a handful of games out of it. Not sure how much of an upgrade this is to my current CPU though.)
- MSI GTX 770 Twin Frozr Gaming 2GB DDR5 1137MHz €280 (This seems like it might be best bang for my buck card at the moment while still being a considerable upgrade to my GTX460)
- Corsair Vengeance 8 GB (2x4) 1600MHz DDR3 €80 (I'm thinking of maybe going for 16 (2x8) GB here, but I don't know if I'm just wasting money at that point. The heaviest apps that it'll run are games.)
- Samsung 840 EVO Basic 120 GB SSD €70 (I'm probably just going to use the SSD for Windows and a few apps and just put all my content, media and games on my HDD. So I don't think I need to go bigger here, right?)
- Western Digital Red WD30EFRX 3TB 64MB €110 (Looking at the prices it seems to make the most sense to go for 3 TB. Is this a good one to pick? How does it compare to the Seagate Barracuda? I don't want any noisy stuff)
- Corsair Carbide Series 200R ATX Midtower €55 (I saw it in the OP and I like it. It looks simple, clean and is reasonably priced. Also has USB slots in the front that I like and no flimsy doors. I hope everything fits though, I have to admit that I don't know.)
- Corsair Builder Series CX500 Bronze €53 (Honestly I have no idea what to pick here, so I went for this for now. I imagine 500watt has to be enough right? Open for other suggestions of course, just not anything needlessly noisy.)
- Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo €30 (I have no idea if I need this if I don't OC or how noisy it is, but I added it for now anyway. It's not that pricey at least.)
- Samsung SH-224DB DVD reader/writer €19 ( I guess I need one anyway.)
- Anything I might be missing/forgetting?

Total cost: About €1000.
Ouch. I expected that, but it's still a lot for me. So I'm still very much contemplating if I should do this at all and not wait a little longer or even another year perhaps. Those rumours about 800 series and haswell-e hitting in the fall has me a little scared. Then again new stuff releases every half year anyway. What do you guys think? Should I wait? Any parts I should change? Maybe I can shave some of that price? Your help is very much appreciated here!

Also this would be the first time I'd be actually properly building it myself and it's got me kind of scared. I'm thinking of going to a local PC shop and ordering everything there so they can build it for me. I might not get exactly everything I want though and it will likely cost me even more.

Anyway, thanks in advance for the help! Hope to hear from you guys soon. I might order everything today.

 

[Mr.Green]

PCIe 3.0 boards are compatible with PCIe 2.0 & 2.1 setups. I don't think any single GPU on the market will max out the [8GB/s] bandwidth of a PCIe 2.0 x16 slot yet.

So you're saying a GTX 780 ti (PCI-E 3.0) will work just as well on my mobo than it would on a mobo with PCI-E 3.0 slots?

 

[The Llama]

So you're saying a GTX 780 ti (PCI-E 3.0) will work just as well on my mobo than it would on a mobo with PCI-E 3.0 slots?

Yeah, basically.

Honestly though, my concern is that you'd clearly be CPU limited. I think you'd get more of a performance increase by switching to a new CPU/mobo than by upgrading the GPU. Unless you really want to get rid of CF (a valid concern haha), I still think upgrading the CPU is the way to go.

 

[sk3tch]

Mobo won't be compatible with the Haswell-E CPUs though right?

I could do that and see how far a 7970 can get me... And maybe AMD will figure out a way to make Crossfire work properly for VR...

Now here's the zillion dollar question:

If I'm switching my CPU/Mobo, can I expect Windows 8.1 to boot back up properly and install the drivers it needs too or am I asking for trouble?

Haswell-E will only work on X99...which, IMO...is not going to be worth the money compared to the bang/buck Z97/4790K brings. However, if you're a core whore, then yeah...X99 all the way. It'll be 2x more expensive (or more).

I'd just format/reinstall Win 8.1. It may be fine...but just to be safe, do a backup of everything prior to the first boot and then try it out. I always do a clean install when I do a major change like that. Better to do that to remove any old drivers/etc.

 

[Mr.Green]

Yeah, basically.

Honestly though, my concern is that you'd clearly be CPU limited. I think you'd get more of a performance increase by switching to a new CPU/mobo than by upgrading the GPU. Unless you really want to get rid of CF (a valid concern haha), I still think upgrading the CPU is the way to go.

Haswell-E will only work on X99...which, IMO...is not going to be worth the money compared to the bang/buck Z97/4790K brings. However, if you're a core whore, then yeah...X99 all the way. It'll be 2x more expensive (or more).

I'd just format/reinstall Win 8.1. It may be fine...but just to be safe, do a backup of everything prior to the first boot and then try it out. I always do a clean install when I do a major change like that. Better to do that to remove any old drivers/etc.

Alright guys, thanks!

 

[lyrick]

So you're saying a GTX 780 ti (PCI-E 3.0) will work just as well on my mobo than it would on a mobo with PCI-E 3.0 slots?

Any significant quantifiable benefit you will see would come from the CPU upgrade associated with a newer chipset, the PCIe 2.0 x 16 bandwidth on the Motherboard shouldn't be a bottleneck.

There may be a very slight increase due to change in encoding efficiency form PCIe 2.0 to PCIe 3, but again there isn't a bandwidth bottleneck so the gain would probably be very small.

 

[Mr.Green]

Any particular recommendations on a Z97 mobo? So many options...

 

[kiyomi]

...and I'm thinking of upgrading to something like this:
- ASUS Z97-A - Motherboard €135 (Honestly I have no idea really what to pick for mobo, this one seems to come recommended on the website. I went with Z97 instead of Z87 to make it future-proof like the OP says. I don't know if that's needed though and how much I can shave off the price by picking something else. Definitely open to other recommendations here.)
- Intel Core i5 4690 / 3.5 Ghz €180 (thinking of not getting the K version here, would save me some money and I never really overclock anyway. I've got no experience with it and I'd rather not void the warranty just to squeeze a few extra fps in less than a handful of games out of it. Not sure how much of an upgrade this is to my current CPU though.)
- MSI GTX 770 Twin Frozr Gaming 2GB DDR5 1137MHz €280 (This seems like it might be best bang for my buck card at the moment while still being a considerable upgrade to my GTX460)
- Corsair Vengeance 8 GB (2x4) 1600MHz DDR3 €80 (I'm thinking of maybe going for 16 (2x8) GB here, but I don't know if I'm just wasting money at that point. The heaviest apps that it'll run are games.)
- Samsung 840 EVO Basic 120 GB SSD €70 (I'm probably just going to use the SSD for Windows and a few apps and just put all my content, media and games on my HDD. So I don't think I need to go bigger here, right?)
- Western Digital Red WD30EFRX 3TB 64MB €110 (Looking at the prices it seems to make the most sense to go for 3 TB. Is this a good one to pick? How does it compare to the Seagate Barracuda? I don't want any noisy stuff)
- Corsair Carbide Series 200R ATX Midtower €55 (I saw it in the OP and I like it. It looks simple, clean and is reasonably priced. Also has USB slots in the front that I like and no flimsy doors. I hope everything fits though, I have to admit that I don't know.)
- Corsair Builder Series CX500 Bronze €53 (Honestly I have no idea what to pick here, so I went for this for now. I imagine 500watt has to be enough right? Open for other suggestions of course, just not anything needlessly noisy.)
- Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo €30 (I have no idea if I need this if I don't OC or how noisy it is, but I added it for now anyway. It's not that pricey at least.)
- Samsung SH-224DB DVD reader/writer €19 ( I guess I need one anyway.)
- Anything I might be missing/forgetting?

Total cost: About €1000.

- You won't need a Z97 motherboard if you're not overclocking. H97 will be fine. However, you should consider overclocking. It's simple and has benefits.

- The GTX 770 is not quite the best bang for your buck, the AMD R9 280X should be a bit cheaper and performs about as well. However, you may prefer the general Nvidia software and you have familiarity with using Nvidia cards. The 770 is just a little too expensive for what you get.

Personally I'd get an R9 280X, or buy a GTX 760 and upgrade sooner.

- I think you can find cheaper RAM than that if you search. 8GB will be fine - you can always add more in a few months or something.

- Get a Crucial MX100 128GB, or 256GB, SSD instead, unless the Samsung Evo is cheaper.

- Western Digital Blue is generally preferred in here. Do you really need 3TB? Your money would be better spent getting a smaller HDD, and a bigger SSD.

- 200R is a solid budget case if you're looking to keep costs down.

- The Corsair CX series isn't terrible but it's not exactly great either. You can get much better quality.

- You don't need the 212 Evo if you're going to overclock.

Which shops are you buying from? If you give me some links then I can find the exact products for you.

 

[Irobot82]

Failed Miner

Check this e-bay listing out. 290x reference for $375. This guy have cases of them. LOL I think he was a miner that lost his fortune, so funny.

 

[tarheel91]

Wait for more 290x Amazon warehouse deals or buy a 880 series card.

I don't think the delta between the 290 and 290x is worth the wait, but the 880/290XTX might be a different story.

I was in a similar situation and here's how I saw it:

The 290/290x/780/780Ti are all capable of playing games at 1080p/1440p no problem. However, there's nothing in the pipeline capable of playing at 4K comfortably on a single card before 20nm. Right now it takes a 295X2 to do that, and even that isn't always up to the task at maxed out settings (with toned down AA). You're not going to see a 100% improvement from a single architecture change. An 880 or 300 series card isn't going to be able to do anything the previous gen couldn't do (it'll just do the same thing a little better). I felt I was better off picking up a 290 now and waiting on 20/14nm which seems to get delayed more and more rather than keep waiting. Plus, the 290 will keep dropping, and crossfire is now a viable option.

 

[Irobot82]

I don't think the delta between the 290 and 290x is worth the wait, but the 880/290XTX might be a different story.

I was in a similar situation and here's how I saw it:

The 290/290x/780/780Ti are all capable of playing games at 1080p/1440p no problem. However, there's nothing in the pipeline capable of playing at 4K comfortably on a single card before 20nm. Right now it takes a 295X2 to do that, and even that isn't always up to the task at maxed out settings (with toned down AA). You're not going to see a 100% improvement from a single architecture change. An 880 or 300 series card isn't going to be able to do anything the previous gen couldn't do (it'll just do the same thing a little better). I felt I was better off picking up a 290 now and waiting on 20/14nm which seems to get delayed more and more rather than keep waiting. Plus, the 290 will keep dropping, and crossfire is now a viable option.

I don't think the next generation card are going to be able to hit 4k at 60fps. I don't think we're going to see that until the R9 300/900 series if we're lucky.

 

[Lumine]

- You won't need a Z97 motherboard if you're not overclocking. H97 will be fine. However, you should consider overclocking. It's simple and has benefits.

- The GTX 770 is not quite the best bang for your buck, the AMD R9 280X should be a bit cheaper and performs about as well. However, you may prefer the general Nvidia software and you have familiarity with using Nvidia cards. The 770 is just a little too expensive for what you get.

Personally I'd get an R9 280X, or buy a GTX 760 and upgrade sooner.

- I think you can find cheaper RAM than that if you search. 8GB will be fine - you can always add more in a few months or something.

- Get a Crucial MX100 128GB, or 256GB, SSD instead, unless the Samsung Evo is cheaper.

- Western Digital Blue is generally preferred in here. Do you really need 3TB? Your money would be better spent getting a smaller HDD, and a bigger SSD.

- 200R is a solid budget case if you're looking to keep costs down.

- The Corsair CX series isn't terrible but it's not exactly great either. You can get much better quality.

- You don't need the 212 Evo if you're going to overclock.

Which shops are you buying from? If you give me some links then I can find the exact products for you.

Thanks for the reply!

https://azerty.nl - would probably be the website I'd be ordering from. They seem to have the best prices compared to other Dutch websites and I can order it all from the same place. http://www.goldberg-computers.nl/ would be the website of the local shop, but they haven't updated their price list in ages.

- Thanks for the tip on the mobo, gonna look for some H97 boards then. Though I suppose maybe I should start OC-ing then.
- It seemed to me that the R9 280x cards are priced about the same as the GTX770, but performed slightly worse. It does seem to come with an extra GB though.., but you're right I have been choosing Nvidia lately out of comfort.
- The jump from 2 TB to 3 didn't seem that high in price, so it made sense to me. What makes the Blue version the general preference here?
- No idea what else to pick as my PSU. Is 500watt even enough? Or is it way too much?
- So I should scrap the 212 evo cooler completely? It's just extra noise?

Thanks again!

 

[The Llama]

I don't think the delta between the 290 and 290x is worth the wait, but the 880/290XTX might be a different story.

I was in a similar situation and here's how I saw it:

The 290/290x/780/780Ti are all capable of playing games at 1080p/1440p no problem. However, there's nothing in the pipeline capable of playing at 4K comfortably on a single card before 20nm. Right now it takes a 295X2 to do that, and even that isn't always up to the task at maxed out settings (with toned down AA). You're not going to see a 100% improvement from a single architecture change. An 880 or 300 series card isn't going to be able to do anything the previous gen couldn't do (it'll just do the same thing a little better). I felt I was better off picking up a 290 now and waiting on 20/14nm which seems to get delayed more and more rather than keep waiting. Plus, the 290 will keep dropping, and crossfire is now a viable option.

Ah screw it, I just bought it haha. I didn't really know you could OC the 290 so well. Extra 5-10% performance seems worth it (and I'm "only" gaming at 1080p anyway).

 

[tarheel91]

I don't think the next generation card are going to be able to hit 4k at 60fps. I don't think we're going to see that until the R9 300/900 series if we're lucky.

That's exactly what I said. It's going to take a new architecture and a smaller node. So you might as well get a card now instead of 6 months from now for a 20-30% performance bump.

 

[Irobot82]

That's exactly what I said. It's going to take a new architecture and a smaller node. So you might as well get a card now instead of 6 months from now for a 20-30% performance bump.

I absolutely agree. I try to follow the Tomhardware adivce of only getting a new card if it is at least 3 teirs above. I got my 7950 back in 2012 and I'm on a 1080p monitor. I'm going to try to make it last until 2016ish (hopefully around Star Citizen's full release). Then I'll upgrade to the best $300 card again.

Ah screw it, I just bought it haha. I didn't really know you could OC the 290 so well. Extra 5-10% performance seems worth it (and I'm "only" gaming at 1080p anyway).

Heck yeah man 290 is a killer card and should last you for several years.

 

[kiyomi]

Thanks for the reply!

https://azerty.nl - would probably be the website I'd be ordering from. They seem to have the best prices compared to other Dutch websites and I can order it all from the same place. http://www.goldberg-computers.nl/ would be the website of the local shop, but they haven't updated their price list in ages.

- Thanks for the tip on the mobo, gonna look for some H97 boards then. Though I suppose maybe I should start OC-ing then.
- It seemed to me that the R9 280x cards are priced about the same as the GTX770, but performed slightly worse. It does seem to come with an extra GB though.., but you're right I have been choosing Nvidia lately out of comfort.
- The jump from 2 TB to 3 didn't seem that high in price, so it made sense to me. What makes the Blue version the general preference here?
- No idea what else to pick as my PSU. Is 500watt even enough? Or is it way too much?
- So I should scrap the 212 evo cooler completely? It's just extra noise?

Thanks again!

This is what I would do. But if you feel more comfortable going with Nvidia, that's okay. You could probably also get a nicer case, but that's quite a personal choice, so I'll leave that up to you.

You'll be able to overclock this system and I think it's pretty good value overall. The power supply range isn't that great on Azerty, so I had to compromise a little bit with that, however it's still a pretty solid PSU by most accounts. Nicer than the CX anyway.

The only other things are that you get a bigger SSD, and less HDD space. It's easier to add more HDD space later.

 

[The Llama]

I absolutely agree. I try to follow the Tomhardware adivce of only getting a new card if it is at least 3 teirs above. I got my 7950 back in 2012 and I'm on a 1080p monitor. I'm going to try to make it last until 2016ish (hopefully around Star Citizen's full release). Then I'll upgrade to the best $300 card again.



Heck yeah man 290 is a killer card and should last you for several years.

Now to hope they patch the stuttering out of Watch Dogs, since I've been dying to play it!

 

[Lonewolf_92]

Poor PSU, ideally you want a Z97 mobo, case isn't great either.

I'll get back to you with a better build in a few mins.

You don't need thermal paste either.

Are you gaming or doing more like photo and video editing?

Gaming mainly, but I'm trying to future-proof a bit while keeping the cost down (I have between $1200-1400 to spend on this project, depending on the cost of another project). I have a few things I want (a full tower case, 16GB RAM, 2TB HDD, and the best Intel CPU and Nvidia GPU I can afford with my budget).

 

[Mr.Green]

Gigabyte Z97X-UD3H vs. MSI Z97 Gaming 5

About the same price. Opinions?

 

[AbortedWalrusFetus]

MSI GTX 780 for $464.99, you also get a $30 rebate card

Final price of $434.99 seems unbeatable.

 

[The Llama]

Gigabyte Z97X-UD3H vs. MSI Z97 Gaming 5

About the same price. Opinions?

I JUST had this debate with myself 2 days ago. Decided to go MSI based on this:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/mainstream-gaming-z97-motherboard,3824.html

 

[InFamousRaiden]

Hey guys, so I been reading and I think as someone suggested I am thinking about getting XSPC Dual D5 AX 360 Water Cooling Kit.

I have a water block for r9 290x already but I do not have the fittings for it.

Dual D5 kit is expensive however it removed the single point of failure and since its a big kit I am thinking of going all in.

CPY GPU RAM and Mobo watercooled.

Any suggestions are welcome. I am in Canada and here no one ships for free so it will generall save me money to get the kit instead of individual parts.

 

[mkenyon]

Gigabyte Z97X-UD3H vs. MSI Z97 Gaming 5

About the same price. Opinions?

The Killer NIC on the Gaming 5 has issues with Windows 8. Gigabyte BIOS is better. Those are the two main reasons why we put it in the OP spreadsheet.

I JUST had this debate with myself 2 days ago. Decided to go MSI based on this:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/mainstream-gaming-z97-motherboard,3824.html

Don't use Tom's as a reliable source of info.

Hey guys, so I been reading and I think as someone suggested I am thinking about getting XSPC Dual D5 AX 360 Water Cooling Kit.

I have a water block for r9 290x already but I do not have the fittings for it.

Dual D5 kit is expensive however it removed the single point of failure and since its a big kit I am thinking of going all in.

CPY GPU RAM and Mobo watercooled.

Any suggestions are welcome. I am in Canada and here no one ships for free so it will generall save me money to get the kit instead of individual parts.

Dazmode has a bunch of stuff, Canadian based.

Don't put RAM under water unless you just really want it to look fancy. DDR3 doesn't even need heatsinks to stay cool.

I'd be wary about a 290X and CPU on just a single 360, but I like to spin my fans low. With some mid-high RPM (1200+) fans it'll be passable.

 

[InFamousRaiden]

The Killer NIC on the Gaming 5 has issues with Windows 8. Gigabyte BIOS is better. Those are the two main reasons why we put it in the OP spreadsheet.

Don't use Tom's as a reliable source of info.

Dazmode has a bunch of stuff, Canadian based.

Don't put RAM under water unless you just really want it to look fancy. DDR3 doesn't even need heatsinks to stay cool.

I'd be wary about a 290X and CPU on just a single 360, but I like to spin my fans low. With some mid-high RPM (1200+) fans it'll be passable.

Well I was 100% going to buy stuff from his store however most of it is out of stock. Props to him for making excellent videos. Also from what I understand, there is only 1 original manufacturer of D5 pump; everyone else just puts labels on theirs.

 

[mkenyon]

That's correct. Lanig is the maker of the D5. Swiftech licenses with them to have certain variants that have PWM control and the like, but that's only on the electronics side.

Everyone else either buys from Lanig or Swiftech and puts their label on them.

 

[Mr.Green]

The Killer NIC on the Gaming 5 has issues with Windows 8. Gigabyte BIOS is better. Those are the two main reasons why we put it in the OP spreadsheet.

Awesome, thanks!

So Gigabyte Z97X-UD3H and i7-4790k upgrade that is!

Am I good with the included Heatsink/fan? I never bothered O/Cing much. Since we're usually always bottlenecked by the GPU the gains were not worth it to me.

I also have 8Gb of 1600. Would 16 or even 32 Gb of 2400 RAM be a worthy upgrade?

 

[Hazaro]

I think the Killer software is what can cause win8 issues, in general it is okay. I would go Intel NIC anyway.

 

[The Llama]

So how screwed am I with the MSI board if I use the ethernet? are they even gonna fix the problem? I'll be on wifi until the summers over, so at least I don't need an immediate solution.

 

[Lumine]

This is what I would do. But if you feel more comfortable going with Nvidia, that's okay. You could probably also get a nicer case, but that's quite a personal choice, so I'll leave that up to you.

You'll be able to overclock this system and I think it's pretty good value overall. The power supply range isn't that great on Azerty, so I had to compromise a little bit with that, however it's still a pretty solid PSU by most accounts. Nicer than the CX anyway.

The only other things are that you get a bigger SSD, and less HDD space. It's easier to add more HDD space later.

Awesome, thanks for that! I switched out the motherboard, PSU & SSD for the ones you listed. I guess they received better reviews? The motherboard is cheaper at least.
I think I might stick with the GTX770, the price is pretty much the same. I'm also thinking of sticking with the 3TB HDD, unless there is another reason not to go for WD Red? 1 TB just doesn't cut it I'm thinking. I also noticed you switched the CPU to the K version, for OC purposes I assume. Not too sure about that honestly. Overclocking scares me a little and I don't want to void the warranty. Maybe I will though. Very close to ordering all of this right now. I would have all the parts tomorrow! Maybe I should check with the local shop first though, building it myself feels a little scary too.

edit: Oh any recommendations on nicer cases? I mean, the R200 seemed more than fine to me, but if I'm spending this much perhaps I should get a better case after all. I like the simple clean designs the most though. I also prefer ones with USB slots in the front. Oh and no useless flimsy doors please!

 

[mkenyon]

Awesome, thanks!

So Gigabyte Z97X-UD3H and i7-4790k upgrade that is!

Am I good with the included Heatsink/fan? I never bothered O/Cing much. Since we're usually always bottlenecked by the GPU the gains were not worth it to me.

I also have 8Gb of 1600. Would 16 or even 32 Gb of 2400 RAM be a worthy upgrade?

Bottlenecks aren't an either/or thing, they exist on different parts of hardware for different reasons, and can be on both at the same time.

If you only play single player games, and lots of big budget experiences, you likely wouldn't notice much of a difference. If you play multiplayer games, UE3 games, RTS, Source, MMOs, the gains are significant.

The stock heatsink is fine initially, if you want to overclock it above 4.0 GHz, it's a good idea to invest in one. *EDIT* I realized you said 4790K which comes out of the box at 4.2 GHz. I'd get an aftermarket heatsink just to reduce noise.

16GB is one of those things where it's nice to have, but I'd only look at doing that after the best GPU that can be had is bought. $80 more for GPU > $80 in more memory.

So how screwed am I with the MSI board if I use the ethernet? are they even gonna fix the problem? I'll be on wifi until the summers over, so at least I don't need an immediate solution.

It seems to be a random issue that affects some people, and not others. A sure fix for it is to just install the Qualcomm Ethernet drivers rather than the entire Killer Suite. It's the Suite that causes compatibility issues.

 

[Arkaerial]

Well another one with the Amazon 4790K not shipping. I was hoping to build my new system this weekend but I guess I'll just wait see if it arrives before next weekend.

 

[Sickbean]

Bottlenecks aren't an either/or thing, they exist on different parts of hardware for different reasons, and can be on both at the same time.

If you only play single player games, and lots of big budget experiences, you likely wouldn't notice much of a difference. If you play multiplayer games, UE3 games, RTS, Source, MMOs, the gains are significant.

The stock heatsink is fine initially, if you want to overclock it above 4.0 GHz, it's a good idea to invest in one. *EDIT* I realized you said 4790K which comes out of the box at 4.2 GHz. I'd get an aftermarket heatsink just to reduce noise.

16GB is one of those things where it's nice to have, but I'd only look at doing that after the best GPU that can be had is bought. $80 more for GPU > $80 in more memory.

It seems to be a random issue that affects some people, and not others. A sure fix for it is to just install the Qualcomm Ethernet drivers rather than the entire Killer Suite. It's the Suite that causes compatibility issues.

Why are MP games generally more CPU limited? Intuitively I'd have guessed it was the other way around, what with SP games needing to run AI.

 

[plasmawave]

Hey PC GAF, I want to add a 3rd HDD (I have 1 SSD and 1 HDD right now.)
This whole raid thing is something I should look into or can I just add it to my current set up and it should be ok?

 

[mkenyon]

Why are MP games generally more CPU limited? Intuitively I'd have guessed it was the other way around, what with SP games needing to run AI.

Translating game state back and forth is all on the CPU. There's a ton of data with this involved.

That's why MMO games turn to shit when you have tons of players around you.

It's also why you'll see huge dips in frame rate when intense action is occuring.

*edit*

Here's a few MP games showing difference in performance with a 3570K at various speeds:

**the CS:GO times should be swapped around. I lost the excel sheets that had the data and haven't been able to fix that chart

Huge reduction in high frame times with an increase in IPC.

Hey PC GAF, I want to add a 3rd HDD (I have 1 SSD and 1 HDD right now.)
This whole raid thing is something I should look into or can I just add it to my current set up and it should be ok?

Just add it to your current setup. With two HDDs, RAID 1 is really your only option, and that would require two identical drives that mirror data, so you wouldn't add any more space.

 

[Mr.Green]

Upgrade ordered!

i7-4790K
Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO
GIGABYTE GA-Z97X-UD3H
EVGA GTX 780 Ti Superclocked

Hopefully Windows 8.1 will be cool with the upgrade process. I'd like to avoid having to reinstall everything. Wish me luck!

 

[plasmawave]

Translating game state back and forth is all on the CPU. There's a ton of data with this involved.

That's why MMO games turn to shit when you have tons of players around you.

It's also why you'll see huge dips in frame rate when intense action is occuring.

*edit*

Here's a few MP games showing difference in performance with a 3570K at various speeds:



**the CS:GO times should be swapped around. I lost the excel sheets that had the data and haven't been able to fix that chart

Huge reduction in high frame times with an increase in IPC.

Just add it to your current setup. With two HDDs, RAID 1 is really your only option, and that would require two identical drives that mirror data, so you wouldn't add any more space.

I want to use this HDD for back ups, should I go with raid 1? This whole raid thing is totally alien to me

 

[mkenyon]

If they're identitcal drives, and you want to pay for a second one to ensure redundancy, then yes, RAID 1 is good.

 

[plasmawave]

If they're identitcal drives, and you want to pay for a second one to ensure redundancy, then yes, RAID 1 is good.

Alright, thanks!

 

[kennah]

Just to make sure you know - if you are adding a drive and raiding it to an existing drive, the existing drive will be erased in the process of creating the raid.

 

[plasmawave]

Just to make sure you know - if you are adding a drive and raiding it to an existing drive, the existing drive will be erased in the process of creating the raid.

Hmmm, so I can't just add a new HDD and be done with it? Maybe I should go with an external HDD instead?

 

[kennah]

Hmmm, so I can't just add a new HDD and be done with it? Maybe I should go with an external HDD instead?

No you can easily add as many drives as your motherboard/case will support. But I really think you should research RAID before playing with t.

 

[Sectorseven]

Does thermal compound go bad? Can I use some that's like six years old?

 

[kennah]

Does thermal compound go bad? Can I use some that's like six years old?

I've been using stuf that is more than a decade old.

 

[mkenyon]

It won't lose it's ability to transfer heat. The only thing you need to worry about is whether or not it has dried out. If it's been sealed, then it's good to go.

 

[tarheel91]

**the CS:GO times should be swapped around. I lost the excel sheets that had the data and haven't been able to fix that chart

Have you heard of paint? It's pretty cool.

@Sectorseven: The thing to watch out for is contaminants that don't transfer heat as well.

 

[plasmawave]

No you can easily add as many drives as your motherboard/case will support. But I really think you should research RAID before playing with t.

OK, at the risk of sounding like an idiot, is there an option to not use raid at all?