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[TheLegendOfMart]

what is the difference between the R9 290X 8gb and 4gb ?? Is the extra 4gb worth the money ??

No difference other than the size of memory.

If you run a 4K monitor then maybe yes, I wouldn't buy one for future proofing though as DX12 is right around the corner.

 

[Lum1n3s]

I think my CPU might have gotten messed up. I have a 4770k and was oc'ed to 4.0ghz a while back and well recently I discovered my cpu fan had somehow gotten lose and was half on (don't ask how that happened because idk lol.) I tightened the fan back on but the thing is I'm getting crazy temps on my cpu now especially if it's oc'ed. On idle without being oc'ed, I'll get a temp of around 40c but when it's like at 10-20% load it'll go anywhere from 50c-80c. Oc'ed idle gives me like 50c-60c which can sometimes go to even 70-80c. I reapplied thermal grease and everything but it's still running with those crazy temps. Does anyone have any possible insight about this? Could my cpu be damaged and if it is I'm guessing I'm going to have to replace it or can I go through the warranty process?

 

[Coulomb_Barrier]

Took a couple pics after I installed a couple of white cathode tube lights in my case.

I feared they would be too bright but I am happy with them. Good idea if your case hasn't got lighting that lets you see your shiny new components But tbh, the insides of my comp are a work in progress. Graphics cards ain't exactly a looker and nor is the beige/brown Noctua.

 

[Coulomb_Barrier]

I think my CPU might have gotten messed up. I have a 4770k and was oc'ed to 4.0ghz a while back and well recently I discovered my cpu fan had somehow gotten lose and was half on (don't ask how that happened because idk lol.) I tightened the fan back on but the thing is I'm getting crazy temps on my cpu now especially if it's oc'ed. On idle without being oc'ed, I'll get a temp of around 40c but when it's like at 10-20% load it'll go anywhere from 50c-80c. Oc'ed idle gives me like 50c-60c which can sometimes go to even 70-80c. I reapplied thermal grease and everything but it's still running with those crazy temps. Does anyone have any possible insight about this? Could my cpu be damaged and if it is I'm guessing I'm going to have to replace it or can I go through the warranty process?

What CPU cooler do you have?

 

[knitoe]

I think my CPU might have gotten messed up. I have a 4770k and was oc'ed to 4.0ghz a while back and well recently I discovered my cpu fan had somehow gotten lose and was half on (don't ask how that happened because idk lol.) I tightened the fan back on but the thing is I'm getting crazy temps on my cpu now especially if it's oc'ed. On idle without being oc'ed, I'll get a temp of around 40c but when it's like at 10-20% load it'll go anywhere from 50c-80c. Oc'ed idle gives me like 50c-60c which can sometimes go to even 70-80c. I reapplied thermal grease and everything but it's still running with those crazy temps. Does anyone have any possible insight about this? Could my cpu be damaged and if it is I'm guessing I'm going to have to replace it or can I go through the warranty process?

Sounds like your heatsink is not on properly, and thus, not fully making contact with the CPU. Or, the CPU fan isn't working correctly. Redo the heatsink and watch to see if the fan is spinning up correctly.

Took a couple pics after I installed a couple of white cathode tube lights in my case.
I feared they would be too bright but I am happy with them. Good idea if your case hasn't got lighting that lets you see your shiny new components But tbh, the insides of my comp are a work in progress. Graphics cards ain't exactly a looker and nor is the beige/brown Noctua.

First time, someone has posted pics of 540 air with bad cable management. Redo you cables asap.

 

[Lum1n3s]

What CPU cooler do you have?

I have a cooler master hyper 212 evo.

Sounds like your heatsink is not on properly, and thus, not fully making contact with the CPU. Or, the CPU fan isn't working correctly. Redo the heatsink and watch to see if the fan is spinning up correctly.

Hmmmm, I'll have to check it again but when I screwed it back and on and checked it I saw both fans spinning.

Do these crazy temps affect the motherboard or any other components in any way? If so I'll stop using it asap so I don't do any more damage.

 

[Coulomb_Barrier]

Sounds like your heatsink is not on properly, and thus, not fully making contact with the CPU. Or, the CPU fan isn't working correctly. Redo the heatsink and watch to see if the fan is spinning up correctly.


First time, someone has posted pics of 540 air with bad cable management. Redo you cables asap.

Yeah I know it needs sorting, that mess of red and yellow at the bottom is from the lights.

But what should I do to neaten it, as I'm only a novice builder? Should I cable-tie some of the wires together? And re-route some cables?

I have a cooler master hyper 212 evo.

That should be sufficient for the CPU.

 

[Objectively Bad Opinion]

I have a cooler master hyper 212 evo.



Hmmmm, I'll have to check it again but when I screwed it back and on and checked it I saw both fans spinning.

Do these crazy temps affect the motherboard in any way? If so I'll stop using it asap so I don't do any more damage.

Nah the cpu will shut off when it gets too hot. None of the temps you posted are dangerous.

Once it gets close to 90c it'll start to throttle back performance to reduce the heat. If it hits something 105c it will shut down automatically. You're good to keep using it, definitely check if the heatsink is on properly though.

I suggest you check to see if you connected the CPU fan to the right connector on the motherboard.

 

[knitoe]

Yeah I know it needs sorting, that mess of red and yellow at the bottom is from the lights.

But what should I do to neaten it, as I'm only a novice builder? Should I cable-tie some of the wires together? And re-route some cables?



That should be sufficient for the CPU.

All wires should be on the other side (PSU) of the case and only go through the closest hole to where they need to connect. Route the cables so it's the least visible. And, their length should only be as long as need. Any extra should rest and be hidden on the other side.

 

[Lum1n3s]

Nah the cpu will shut off when it gets too hot. None of the temps you posted are dangerous.

Once it gets close to 90c it'll start to throttle back performance to reduce the heat. If it hits something 105c it will shut down automatically. You're good to keep using it, definitely check if the heatsink is on properly though.

I suggest you check to see if you connected the CPU fan to the right connector on the motherboard.

OK then I'll have to do that. I ended up just putting it back to stock settings just in case. Should it be screwed back on tightly or just tight enough? If it is working properly what should I do with the cpu?

 

[Coulomb_Barrier]

All wires should be on the other side (PSU) of the case and only go through the closest hole to where they need to connect. Route the cables so it's the least visible. And, their length should only be as long as need. Any extra should rest and be hidden on the other side.

Yeah, I think I was worried that I didn't stress the connection from the cable to the motherboard too much so I left some 'slack' on the cables

Bit silly I know but I'm gonna have a little tinker to sort this out...

 

[knitoe]

Yeah, I think I was worried that I didn't stress the connection from the cable to the motherboard too much so I left some 'slack' on the cables

Bit silly I know but I'm gonna have a little tinker to sort this out...

Here's mine for comparison.

 

[Coulomb_Barrier]

Here's mine for comparison.

Oh wow. Puts mine to shame lol.

Very interesting from my POV though with the fans.

What is your set-up there? Two front intakes, one rear exhaust, and what are the top two fans? One exhaust on the right and the left intake?

As I'm getting a couple new fans but not sure yet the orientation.

 

[knitoe]

Oh wow. Puts mine to shame lol.

Very interesting from my POV though with the fans.

What is your set-up there? Two front intakes, one rear exhaust, and what are the top two fans? One exhaust on the right and the left intake?

As I'm getting a couple new fans but not sure yet the orientation.

Generally, you want front as intake. Top and back as exhaust. And, that's my setup.

 

[Coulomb_Barrier]

Generally, you want front as intake. Top and back as exhaust. And, that's my setup.

Cool ok. Yeah I have read a little about fan theory.

One more thing: I notice that your fan connector cables go into the rubber grommets and out of sight. Are you pushing them through there then routing them back around and out of another grommet to connect to the mobo?

 

[Objectively Bad Opinion]

OK then I'll have to do that. I ended up just putting it back to stock settings just in case. Should it be screwed back on tightly or just tight enough? If it is working properly what should I do with the cpu?

You're worrying too much about a random number brah. The CPU doesn't care that it idles at 50c. If it was working fine overclocked without throttling under load due to heat then just leave it alone. It isn't a problem. You don't need to baby it

The only times you should care about it is:

1. You're going for a bignasty overclock and want it as cool as possible for stability reasons (at which point you'd be using liquid nitrogen or something else exotic like that)
2. Your heatsink fan is working overtime, and it's so loud that it's bothering you
3. It's running so hot that it's interfering with operation (throttling under load, reaching max temps and shutting down, etc)

If your situation doesn't meet any of these criteria then just move on. I see people obsessing over temperatures like crazy all the time, and it just seems like such a waste of time to me

 

[LilJoka]

OK then I'll have to do that. I ended up just putting it back to stock settings just in case. Should it be screwed back on tightly or just tight enough? If it is working properly what should I do with the cpu?

All CPU Coolers require the bolts/screws to be tightened until they stop. There will be metal to metal contact of the screw meaning you will know when it cant be tightened anymore.

Generally idle temperature after a cold boot should be about 10-15*c above ambient. More than that usually means something isnt optimum.

 

[LiquidMetal14]

I almost bought a set of those. I was going to put the white rings on them.

I ended up going with some really cheap 120mm ones instead.

I'm not all cheerleading into brads or nothing like that but I have never had any of the SP 120 or SP140 fans that I have bought die on me. And I have had roughly 12 sets of SP120's and I just bought two sets of SP140's for the H110iGT in my Haswell-E build.

Matter of fact I have 1 set of each that I'm probably going to be selling because the fans that came with the Corsair AIO are not being used and those are SP140's but the ones I ordered are the LED twin pack for about $30 so the fans that came with the H110iGT are sitting around unused.

Here's mine for comparison.

Very interesting job on the sleeve cables there pertaining to the graphics cards there. You basically just looped that 2 pin connector around to eliminate the slack? Because what I just did with the custom cables I got for the Supernova g2 1300w is basically leave them so theres like a loop you have similar to the way you tie your shoe you kind of have a bow and they are both uniform but you have that 2 pin sleeved portion of the cable that sticks out like a shoelace tie.

 

[knitoe]

Very interesting job on the sleeve cables there pertaining to the graphics cards there. You basically just looped that 2 pin connector around to eliminate the slack? Because what I just did with the custom cables I got for the Supernova g2 1300w is basically leave them so theres like a loop you have similar to the way you tie your shoe you kind of have a bow and they are both uniform but you have that 2 pin sleeved portion of the cable that sticks out like a shoelace tie.

Yes. I just looped the 6-pin cables around the one 8-pin cables to shortened them so they don't stick out like a sore thumb.

 

[LiquidMetal14]

Yes. I just looped the 6-pin cables around the one 8-pin cables to shortened them so they don't stick out like a sore thumb.

Guess I know what I'm doing today. Which cables did you order? I will have to take a pic as I haven't dealt with it in a couple days.

 

[knitoe]

Guess I know what I'm doing today. Which cables did you order? I will have to take a pic as I haven't dealt with it in a couple days.

EVGA White Power Supply Cable Set (Individually Sleeved)

http://www.evga.com/Products/Product.aspx?pn=100-CW-1300-B9

 

[paskowitz]

For the life of me I cannot seek to find anyone (Amazon, Newegg, etc) selling a black, sleeved, dual 8pin (or 6+2), power cable (VGA). Everything is either a bundle, extension or two separate 8pin cables. How hard can it be? GAF?

 

[Addnan]

Can anyone locate some updated GPU benchmarks for Diablo 3. I know just about anything will run it, but I am looking for the best price to performance for just this one game haha. It is all I play, so might as well take a look.

 

[RGM79]

within the next few weeks. please do!

Here's an example build, it should be more or less what you'll be getting, barring any major price changes or sales.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($179.69 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock H97 PRO4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($75.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Kingston Fury Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($60.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($49.98 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R9 270X 2GB Dual-X Video Card ($159.99 @ Newegg)
Case: BitFenix Comrade ATX Mid Tower Case ($34.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: EVGA 600B 600W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($34.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $596.61
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-02-16 11:23 EST-0500

They are actually pretty decent fans. Move a lot of air and are really quiet, silentpc review is fond of them too and their testing regiment is legitimate. I have no idea how /why they were falling off. It's a possibility it's damage from hitting it with a vacuum, but I don't remember doing such a thing. I do vacuum the area a lot though. Both times strange noise was coming from computer, I take off the front door and I see the fan isn't spinning because it's jammed from the fallen off blade.

I don't really see how vacuuming around the PC could damage the fans. Unless you're vacuuming the inside of your PC, which is not recommended for various reasons.

Anyway, I'd see about contacting Corsair to see if you can invoke the warranty on them.

For the life of me I cannot seek to find anyone (Amazon, Newegg, etc) selling a black, sleeved, dual 8pin (or 6+2), power cable (VGA). Everything is either a bundle, extension or two separate 8pin cables. How hard can it be? GAF?

Dual 8 (6+2) pin cable?

Can anyone locate some updated GPU benchmarks for Diablo 3. I know just about anything will run it, but I am looking for the best price to performance for just this one game haha. It is all I play, so might as well take a look.

What budget do you have for a new graphics card and what sort of settings do you want to play at? Is your current graphics card not cutting it?

 

[Addnan]

What budget do you have for a new graphics card and what sort of settings do you want to play at? Is your current graphics card not cutting it?

My current graphics card was cutting it too much shall we say haha (970 SLI). I just want the minimum I can get away with at 1080p60, max £100.

 

[RGM79]

My current graphics card was cutting it too much shall we say haha (970 SLI). I just want the minimum I can get away with at 1080p60, max £100.

Oh, so you're looking for a downgrade? It's hard to find benchmarks andI was only able to find charts by gamegpu.ru and pcgameshardware.de, but I'd say the GTX 750 Ti should guarantee you 60FPS at 1080p. Most of them cost over £100, but this Asus GTX 750 Ti is £100.

 

[Miang]

I've just discovered one of the two USB 3.0 ports on the front of my new build is not working with 2.0 devices. It works fine with my external HD which is 3.0, but anything with a legacy USB doesn't work. The other port is working fine with any device. I've checked the motherboard cable connection and also checked in BIOS that USB legacy support is enabled.

Any ideas? Seems odd one would work but not the other :/

Should I uninstall and reinstall the drivers?

 

[El_Chino]

Hey guys! Im about to buy a case for my build and I just stumbled upon the Corsair Carbide Series SPEC-01 case, is this a good buy?

 

[RGM79]

Hey guys! Im about to buy a case for my build and I just stumbled upon the Corsair Carbide Series SPEC-01 case, is this a good buy?

It's a decent case but it won't fit the Hyper 212 Evo CPU cooler I recommended you, and I thought you were looking for a compact PC? If you still want a compact PC, you should be looking for mATX cases to go along with the mATX motherboard I recommended you.

 

[zoozilla]

I've been having some trouble with (I assume) the AMD graphics driver on the PC I built a few months ago.

Every once in a blue moon, the screen will turn a solid color and won't respond to any input. I'm then forced to reset.

Other times, I'll wake the screen from sleep to find a BSOD, with the message "system exception not handled atikmdag.sys"

Would reinstalling the graphics driver help? Seems like the graphics card has trouble with waking up from sleep?

I've got:
AMD FX-6350 @stock
ASUS m5-a97 r.2.0 MB
MSI R9 270x

I haven't updated the motherboard BIOS since I was under the impression that I shouldn't unless something was wrong, but would this be a scenario where I should update?

 

[Disorientator]

Sorry in advance if this is not directly related to what's being discussed here, but I really didn't want to make a thread for it. (at least it concerns new PC parts though )

Anyone here got any past experience with Amazon's "DHL Paket International" shipping? (within EU preferably)

Ordered the parts for my new rig last week and selected "Standard" shipping, naively trusting the estimated delivery date. (February 18th)

Little did I know that Amazon would send the goods using normal DHL (not Express), even though all previous orders from them were shipped with UPS. (how do they decide the courier/method to use - cost/weight, etc?)

Now the status on DHL's tracking page shows "The shipment will be transported to the destination country and, from there, handed over to the delivery organization" for the last 6 days, and I'm starting to wonder if I actually have any chance of finishing my rig before the end of February.
(the fact that searching for the specific DHL tracking status online returns stories of 4-6 weeks delivery times also doesn't help)

To be honest if I knew it wasn't shipped with DHL Express/UPS I wouldn't mind paying a little (?) bit more, to get the stuff sooner.

Anyone got similar tracking info in the past? How long after that did the goods arrive?

P.S I know it's not the 18th yet but I just know there's no chance of getting the parts on-time - prepared to eat crow otherwise

 

[RGM79]

I've been having some trouble with (I assume) the AMD graphics driver on the PC I built a few months ago.

Every once in a blue moon, the screen will turn a solid color and won't respond to any input. I'm then forced to reset.

Other times, I'll wake the screen from sleep to find a BSOD, with the message "system exception not handled atikmdag.sys"

Would reinstalling the graphics driver help? Seems like the graphics card has trouble with waking up from sleep?

I've got:
AMD FX-6350 @stock
ASUS m5-a97 r.2.0 MB
MSI R9 270x

I haven't updated the motherboard BIOS since I was under the impression that I shouldn't unless something was wrong, but would this be a scenario where I should update?

Download the latest drivers, use Display Driver Uninstaller to clear out old drivers, then install the new drivers.

Updating the motherboard BIOS may or may not help, it's hard to say. Be sure to follow the proper instructions in the manual - your motherboard supports Asus' USB BIOS flashback feature which should be relatively easy, no need to mess around with boot USB drives or using unreliable Windows flashing programs.

 

[DarthWoo]

So I ended up getting this Dell Inspiron 660 on sale for $250 after a coupon. Sure, it's a pre-made system, but I'd have had to pay around that much for just the i5 4460 that it comes with and a motherboard. I think this should be satisfactory for the foundation of a decent budget rig, yes?

I'm still planning on getting a 750Ti later on, although I'll need to get a better PSU.

Is it possible to copy the contents of a manufacturer restore partition to an external drive or optical media, then use that instead of the partition to restore the system if I ever have to?

 

[Disorientator]

Is it possible to copy the contents of a manufacturer restore partition to an external drive or optical media, then use that instead of the partition to restore the system if I ever have to?

Not sure how recovery partitions behave, but wouldn't cloning the disk (along with MBR) work?

But what's the point really, if I may ask? Planning on deleting the recovery partition to use full 1TB?

 

[DarthWoo]

Not sure how recovery partitions behave, but wouldn't cloning the disk (along with MBR) work?

But what's the point really, if I may ask? Planning on deleting the recovery partition to use full 1TB?

That was pretty much the plan. On my past PCs, I always made a separate partition for just the OS and non-game programs so that if it ever became necessary to format the whole thing, I could just delete the OS partition and any games in the other partition since they obviously wouldn't work without re-installation.

 

[RGM79]

So I ended up getting this Dell Inspiron 660 on sale for $250 after a coupon. Sure, it's a pre-made system, but I'd have had to pay around that much for just the i5 4460 that it comes with and a motherboard. I think this should be satisfactory for the foundation of a decent budget rig, yes?

I'm still planning on getting a 750Ti later on, although I'll need to get a better PSU.

Is it possible to copy the contents of a manufacturer restore partition to an external drive or optical media, then use that instead of the partition to restore the system if I ever have to?

Can't really argue with that price. The power supply is extremely weak, but it may be able tor run a GTX 750 Ti anyway, PCPer did an test where a similar system with a i5 4440 and GTX 750 Ti ended up only needing only about 120 watts.

Do you need to get rid of the restore partition for some reason? At most they take up somewhere around 5-20GB of that 1TB drive, but that means it wouldn't fit on a disc unless you put it on a blu-ray. It'd definitely be possible to clone the partition to another drive using a program like Macrium Reflect, but I don't know if it's possible to boot from it that way.

That was pretty much the plan. On my past PCs, I always made a separate partition for just the OS and non-game programs so that if it ever became necessary to format the whole thing, I could just delete the OS partition and any games in the other partition since they obviously wouldn't work without re-installation.

That doesn't mean you need to remove the recovery partition, though. What about just shrinking the existing OS partition and creating a third partition from the existing empty space?

 

[Ally1987]

Got my new psu today you guys recommended to me - EVGA Supernova G2 750W. And also with the new Fractal Design Define R4

 

[SugarDave]

Does anyone else who has an Eizo FG2421 monitor find that the picture always seems grainy as hell, or is that normal? It seems fine when in a game but using it for anything else, it really distracts me. I'm considering selling it and going for a higher resolution monitor or perhaps a G-sync one.

 

[Thebrokenleg]

You won't need to overclock your CPU before getting the new graphics card, it will work together no problem. You can just install the new graphics card first and see how games run. If it's still kind of lacking in performance, then you can go ahead and try overclocking.

So I have given everything some thought and decided to just say fuck it and get a better GPU than the r9 290. Should I get a GTX 970 or a r9 290x? I am leaning towards a GTX 970, but there are so many different ones available (asus strix & msi etc), that I have no idea on which one is a good fit.

 

[El_Chino]

It's a decent case but it won't fit the Hyper 212 Evo CPU cooler I recommended you, and I thought you were looking for a compact PC? If you still want a compact PC, you should be looking for mATX cases to go along with the mATX motherboard I recommended you.

I still plan on it but I'm having a difficult time finding the case you recommended at a good price.

Is there any cons to a microATX instead of midtower case?

 

[Kyne]

With a budget of about $500, is it possible to build a micro gaming rig? The toughest game I'd want it to handle would be Evolve.

(US currency)

edit: alternatively, would it be easier to go with the Alienware alpha?
http://www.cnet.com/products/alienware-alpha/

 

[Version 3.0]

Thanks as always, GAF. I built a new PC this weekend, and used this thread as a quick reference to keep from mixing up sockets and RAM types and such.

My old rig was 4 years old last month, an i7 2600k / GTX570 setup.

New one is an Asus X99-Deluxe, i7 5820K, GTX980, 16GB DDR4 with an SSD, my first. Damn, it boots fast. I like that.

 

[RGM79]

So I have given everything some thought and decided to just say fuck it and get a better GPU than the r9 290. Should I get a GTX 970 or a r9 290x? I am leaning towards a GTX 970, but there are so many different ones available (asus strix & msi etc), that I have no idea on which one is a good fit.

I'd recommend an R9 290X, it will still cost a bit less than a GTX 970 while being fairly close in performance. The Sapphire Tri-X R9 290X is available for $304 after $30 rebate and is one of the best ones you can buy - Sapphire makes very good GPU coolers, Tweaktown has nothing but praise for how cool and quiet it runs.

I still plan on it but I'm having a difficult time finding the case you recommended at a good price.

Is there any cons to a microATX instead of midtower case?

Are you unable to buy the Bitfenix Phenom M case from the retailers listed on the product page?

There are no cons in terms of computer performance or airflow and cooling. Just the number of hard drives that can be installed, that sort of thing.

With a budget of about $500, is it possible to build a micro gaming rig? The toughest game I'd want it to handle would be Evolve.

(US currency)

edit: alternatively, would it be easier to go with the Alienware alpha?
http://www.cnet.com/products/alienware-alpha/

It's easy to spec a PC with the same performance if not better than the $500 Alienware Alpha, it won't be as small but it'll be much more easily upgradable in the future. Here's an example:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-4130 3.4GHz Dual-Core Processor ($104.95 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: Asus H81M-D PLUS Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($44.49 @ Newegg)
Memory: Kingston Fury Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($60.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Toshiba Product SeriesT01ACA 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($39.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R9 280X 3GB Video Card ($192.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Fractal Design Core 1000 USB 3.0 MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA 600B 600W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($34.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $508.38
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-02-16 16:45 EST-0500

Not as sleek looking or small, but it has a slightly better processor and same hard drive space, but twice as much RAM and a stronger graphics card for about $510. It doesn't come with built-in wifi like the Alpha, though. Evolve has very lax minimum PC requirements, so the Alienware Alpha and this PC build should be able to handle it no problem.

It'd be possible to build a more compact mITX computer, but the more specialized case design and motherboard will cost more money.

 

[Guri]

Guys, my friend want a help with a build. Her current PC is pretty old, so time to change!

She is not sure if she wants to overclock, but she may decide to do it, which is why I included a cooler and two extra fans. Her case is the NZXT PHAN-003PK (does it fit all?) and I also included a wireless adapter (not sure if the X99-A already includes it. Also, I don't need to put an extra wired adapter, right?

Finally, is there anything I can change to make it cheaper while keeping the same power?

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-5820K 3.3GHz 6-Core Processor ($299.99 @ Micro Center)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D14 SE2011 CPU Cooler ($76.98 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Asus X99-A ATX LGA2011-3 Motherboard ($249.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Crucial 16GB (4 x 4GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($176.94 @ Adorama)
Storage: Samsung 850 Pro Series 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($158.78 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 980 4GB STRIX Video Card ($554.00 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: EVGA 600B 600W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($34.99 @ NCIX US)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NS95 DVD/CD Writer ($19.96 @ OutletPC)
Sound Card: SIIG IC-510111-S2 24-bit 96 KHz Sound Card ($42.88 @ OutletPC)
Wireless Network Adapter: Linksys WUSB6300 802.11a/b/g/n/ac USB 3.0 Wi-Fi Adapter ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Case Fan: Corsair Air Series SP120 Quiet Edition (2-Pack) 37.9 CFM 120mm Fans ($25.49 @ OutletPC)
Total: $1689.99
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-02-16 17:02 EST-0500

 

[michaelius]

Is that sound card any good ? I have never seen that model before.

X99-A has good onboard audio so unless it's top quality card you can probably safely skip it


Also Mugen 4 is very nice cooler for 30$ less.

And last thing SSD - 850 is best and greatest but there are much cheaper not much slower alternatives.

 

[Guri]

Is that sound card any good ? I have never seen that model before.

X99-A has good onboard audio so unless it's top quality card you can probably safely skip it


Also Mugen 4 is very nice cooler for 30$ less.

And last thing SSD - 850 is best and greatest but there are much cheaper not much slower alternatives.

I never heard of it before, haha. I removed it then.

As for the SSD and cooler, I chose them due to personal experience. Do you think she will be safe with other choices? If so, which ones? And is the Mugen 4 better than the Noctua NH-D14?

 

[Tetranet]

So I've been looking into a better monitor for my PC and consoles, and I've been mostly trying to get rid of the"lcd motion blur" that I see with my current screen. I keep finding sources on the net however, stating that for modern LCDs (my current screen is a ~2013 model) it is a non-issue.

But here's what happens: When I play say Diablo III, moving around makes the floating item text hard to see. When I scroll down text in Firefox with the middle mouse button, the text becomes blurry unless the scrolling is slow. When I play ICO on the PS3, the fast moving camera also makes the game hard to see.

The LG M2352D I have is rated for a 5ms response time, but I'm still noticing this motion blur issue. On paper that spec is the same as the standard monitors recommended at the OP.

It's usually not a problem but on the aforementioned games it's extremely noticeable. Then I read these things on the net about how that is pretty much gone and feel confused. It's very unlikely that there's a problem with my eyes.

What kind of monitor does one need to eliminate this phenomenon? What factors should I consider other than response time? Refresh rate? Some special features?

Ty

 

[RGM79]

Guys, my friend want a help with a build. Her current PC is pretty old, so time to change!

She is not sure if she wants to overclock, but she may decide to do it, which is why I included a cooler and two extra fans. Her case is the NZXT PHAN-003PK (does it fit all?) and I also included a wireless adapter (not sure if the X99-A already includes it. Also, I don't need to put an extra wired adapter, right?

Finally, is there anything I can change to make it cheaper while keeping the same power?

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-5820K 3.3GHz 6-Core Processor ($299.99 @ Micro Center)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D14 SE2011 CPU Cooler ($76.98 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Asus X99-A ATX LGA2011-3 Motherboard ($249.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Crucial 16GB (4 x 4GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($176.94 @ Adorama)
Storage: Samsung 850 Pro Series 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($158.78 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 980 4GB STRIX Video Card ($554.00 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: EVGA 600B 600W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($34.99 @ NCIX US)
Optical Drive: LG GH24NS95 DVD/CD Writer ($19.96 @ OutletPC)
Sound Card: SIIG IC-510111-S2 24-bit 96 KHz Sound Card ($42.88 @ OutletPC)
Wireless Network Adapter: Linksys WUSB6300 802.11a/b/g/n/ac USB 3.0 Wi-Fi Adapter ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Case Fan: Corsair Air Series SP120 Quiet Edition (2-Pack) 37.9 CFM 120mm Fans ($25.49 @ OutletPC)
Total: $1689.99
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-02-16 17:02 EST-0500

Yeah, there's definitely some things that can be changed to optimize costs. The Phanteks case is fine, PCPartPicker does a good job of warning you if there's any physical incompatibilities.

Do you really need a DVD drive and sound card, for example? DVD drives are a lot less useful than they used to be a few years ago, and it can be safely dropped unless your friend specifically needs one. I'm not even sure that sound card is any better than some motherboard integrated sound chipsets.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-5820K 3.3GHz 6-Core Processor ($394.98 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Phanteks PH-TC14PE 78.1 CFM CPU Cooler ($64.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: MSI X99S SLI Plus ATX LGA2011-3 Motherboard ($202.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 16GB (4 x 4GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($174.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($109.98 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 980 4GB Twin Frozr Video Card ($554.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA 600B 600W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($34.99 @ NCIX US)
Wireless Network Adapter: Gigabyte GC-WB867D-I 802.11a/b/g/n/ac PCI-Express x1 Wi-Fi Adapter ($29.98 @ OutletPC)
Case Fan: Corsair Air Series SP120 Quiet Edition (2-Pack) 37.9 CFM 120mm Fans ($25.49 @ OutletPC)
Total: $1523.36
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-02-16 17:19 EST-0500

The Phanteks cooler I substituted in is a very good cooler, often compared to the Noctua NH-D14 and NH-D15 and performing somewhere in between those two.
Changed the motherboard to the MSI X99 SLI Plus model which has good user reviews on Newegg as well as many good professional reviews, should be more than good enough for your friend.
I found slightly cheaper but faster 2400MHz memory, also by Crucial.
I changed the SSD from the 850 Pro to the 850 Evo. Both are excellent SSDs, the Evo is not that big of a "downgrade", you can read this to see the finer differences.
The MSI GTX 980 is the same price as the Asus model and both feature semi-fanless running modes, but I'm almost sure that the MSI has better power design for overclocking. If you like, you can stick with the Asus model, there's probably only a very tiny performance difference between the two of them.
I swapped the USB wifi adaptor for a cheaper Gigabyte PCI-E model. The Gigabyte wifi adaptor has more features and the antenna is on a wire, which allows you to place it higher for better reception.

 

[Guri]

Yeah, there's definitely some things that can be changed to optimize costs. The Phanteks case is fine, PCPartPicker does a good job of warning you if there's any physical incompatibilities.

Do you really need a DVD drive and sound card, for example? DVD drives are a lot less useful than they used to be a few years ago, and it can be safely dropped unless your friend specifically needs one. I'm not even sure that sound card is any better than some motherboard integrated sound chipsets.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-5820K 3.3GHz 6-Core Processor ($394.98 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Phanteks PH-TC14PE 78.1 CFM CPU Cooler ($64.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: MSI X99S SLI Plus ATX LGA2011-3 Motherboard ($202.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 16GB (4 x 4GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($174.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($109.98 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 980 4GB Twin Frozr Video Card ($554.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA 600B 600W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($34.99 @ NCIX US)
Wireless Network Adapter: Gigabyte GC-WB867D-I 802.11a/b/g/n/ac PCI-Express x1 Wi-Fi Adapter ($29.98 @ OutletPC)
Case Fan: Corsair Air Series SP120 Quiet Edition (2-Pack) 37.9 CFM 120mm Fans ($25.49 @ OutletPC)
Total: $1523.36
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-02-16 17:19 EST-0500

The Phanteks cooler I substituted in is a very good cooler, often compared to the Noctua NH-D14 and NH-D15, performing somewhere in between.
Changed the motherboard to the MSI model which has good reviews, should be more than good enough for your friend.
I found slightly cheaper but faster 2400MHz memory, also by Crucial.
I changed the SSD from the 850 Pro to the 850 Evo. Both are excellent SSDs, the Evo is not that big of a "downgrade".
The MSI GTX 980 is the same price as the Asus model, both feature semi-fanless running modes, but I'm almost sure that the MSI has better power design for overclocking.
Changed the USB wifi adaptor for a cheaper Gigabyte PCI-E model. The Gigabyte wifi adaptor has more features and the antenna is on a wire, which allows you to place it higher for better reception.

Thank you! She does need the optical drive (her current one is really old and she still uses it), but as for the sound, she does not need it.

EDIT: Anything else I should do or can I send this to her?

 

[Starsunder]

So my computer parts are filtering in..

I7-4790k, 32 gb of ram, 2 GTX980s, and an Asus ROG Swift monitor should do me for a while!