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"I Need a New PC!" 2015 Part 1. Read the OP and RISE ABOVE FORGED PRECISION SCIENCE

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RGM79

Member
smashism said:
Pretty much as cheap as I can keep it. Can I do it for under 80? I can squeeze over 100 if need be.

I don't think my temps are getting that high, so it's gotta be this shitty budget 500 watt psu.
Click to expand...

The EVGA B 600 watt power supply for $35 after $20 rebate is the cheapest I can recommend, it's an average power supply, not too high quality but it gets the job done. Otherwise for something a bit stronger and proven good quality, the EVGA Supernova B2 750 watt for $59 after $20 rebate is pretty good, rated very highly by Jonny Guru.

It's a pretty big jump from $35 to $60, but currently there's not much to recommend in between. The only quality power supplies I see that are worth recommending are either a bit too low in wattage (Rosewill Capstone 550 watts for $50 after $20 rebate) or cost so much you might as well pay a few extra dollars for the EVGA model (XFX TS 650 watts for $55 after $20 rebate).
 
L

Levyne

Banned
I have a pretty simple question. I have a pair of headphones I like a lot and currently use a cheap clip on microphone which works fine but is generally just a tad too sensitive.

Anyone know of a good alternative? I don't want a desk mic, or an ear-piece mic, or anything that would replace my headphones. Sorry if this isn't the right place to ask.
 
T

TheLegendOfMart

Banned
Ugh, I wanted to spend cash on a graphics card but a family emergency has taken that decision out of my hands, I've had to use nearly all of the cash I earmarked for PC upgrades for something else.

I bought a second hand ASUS 1.5GB GTX580 DirectCUII triple slot behemoth from a friend for £45.

My last card was a 7950 before it killed itself and my iGPU is Intel HD4600. Where on the scale does GTX580 sit between the two, am I screwed for playing modern games with 1.5GB framebuffer?
 
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Upinsmoke

Member
So turns out the cooler wasn't screwed down as secure as I thought. It's helped temps by some ten degrees still think 80 degrees at 4ghz is too hot with prime95 but under regular loads it gets to about 65 gaming (crysis 3/bf4 etc)
 
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RGM79

Member
Levyne said:
I have a pretty simple question. I have a pair of headphones I like a lot and currently use a cheap clip on microphone which works fine but is generally just a tad too sensitive.

Anyone know of a good alternative? I don't want a desk mic, or an ear-piece mic, or anything that would replace my headphones. Sorry if this isn't the right place to ask.
Click to expand...

I guess the thing to ask is, have you tried turning down the microphone levels?

e5rLeMIm.png


TheLegendOfMart said:
Ugh, I wanted to spend cash on a graphics card but a family emergency has taken that decision out of my hands, I've had to use nearly all of the cash I earmarked for PC upgrades for something else.

I bought a second hand ASUS 1.5GB GTX580 DirectCUII triple slot behemoth from a friend for £45.

My last card was a 7950 before it killed itself and my iGPU is Intel HD4600. Where on the scale does GTX580 sit between the two, am I screwed for playing modern games with 1.5GB framebuffer?
Click to expand...

The GTX 580 is somewhat weaker than the 7950, you'll just have to turn down settings more to make up for it. How badly 1.5GB VRAM will work for you will depend on the game and what resolution and texture quality settings you play at, you'll have to keep it to medium-high or probably lower, depending.

Upinsmoke said:
So turns out the cooler wasn't screwed down as secure as I thought. It's helped temps by some ten degrees still think 80 degrees at 4ghz is too hot with prime95 but under regular loads it gets to about 65 gaming (crysis 3/bf4 etc)
Click to expand...

Good to hear you sorted out that issue. While that cooler is better than stock, it's still not really adequate for heavy overclocking, so I wouldn't go any higher with it. Temperatures while gaming are what matters, games will rarely ever stress the CPU as well as Prime95 does.
 
T

TheLegendOfMart

Banned
RGM79 said:
IThe GTX 580 is somewhat weaker than the 7950, you'll just have to turn down settings more to make up for it. How badly 1.5GB VRAM will work for you will depend on the game and what resolution and texture quality settings you play at, you'll have to keep it to medium-high or probably lower, depending.
Click to expand...

It's closer to the 7950 than it is to HD4600 so thats fine, I don't mind having to turn detail down. I don't usually run AA and game at 1080p. I'll probably make do with it till 390/390X come out.
 
U

Upinsmoke

Member
RGM79 said:
Good to hear you sorted out that issue. While that cooler is better than stock, it's still not really adequate for heavy overclocking, so I wouldn't go any higher with it. Temperatures while gaming are what matters, games will rarely ever stress the CPU as well as Prime95 does.
Click to expand...

Yeah it was only a cheap one i grabbed off amazon. I wanted a better one ideally but all I kept hearing was how other models were a right squeeze, had to have low profile ram and a pain to fit so I went for this one rather than a more expensive one that maybe I wouldn't of been able to use.
 
R

RGM79

Member
Upinsmoke said:
Yeah it was only a cheap one i grabbed off amazon. I wanted a better one ideally but all I kept hearing was how other models were a right squeeze, had to have low profile ram and a pain to fit so I went for this one rather than a more expensive one that maybe I wouldn't of been able to use.
Click to expand...

What case do you have?
 
K

Kezen

Banned
Poetic.Injustice said:
What are the chances Nvidia release the successor to 900 series this year? My Gtx 580 is starting to fail but I wanna hold on until the next Gpu generation.
Click to expand...

I don't know if we can count that as the "successor" of the 900 series but the GM200 GPUs are coming to counter AMD's 390 and 390X.
 
T

TheLegendOfMart

Banned
More than likely, they are making a Titan based on Maxwell called Titan X.

Rumoured to have 3072 cores compared to 2048 of the 980 using 24SMMs compared to 16SMMs in the 980.

If the benchmarks are to be believed it'll be somewhere between Titan Black and Titan Z performance which is ridiculously fast.
 
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ThoseDeafMutes

Member
Poetic.Injustice said:
What are the chances Nvidia release the successor to 900 series this year? My Gtx 580 is starting to fail but I wanna hold on until the next Gpu generation.
Click to expand...

We get a new GPU series every year (or almost, depending on delays). AMD is bringing out what looks to be from leaks and rumours their big guns inside of a couple of months. So the probability of Nvidia getting the 1000 (or whatever they rebrand it as) series launched to counter this is approximately 100%.

My prediction is that the direct response is a price drop on existing 900 series cards and the launch of a Titan successor, followed by an ~October launch of the 1080/1070 etc. The 1070 will probably be the existing GTX 980 re-badged.
 
K

Kezen

Banned
TheLegendOfMart said:
More than likely, they are making a Titan based on Maxwell called Titan X.

Rumoured to have 3072 cores compared to 2048 of the 980 using 24SMMs compared to 16SMMs in the 980.

If the benchmarks are to be believed it'll be somewhere between Titan Black and Titan Z performance which is ridiculously fast.
Click to expand...

In the most optimistic of cases it will be around 50% faster than a 980 I think.
 
T

ThoseDeafMutes

Member
Kezen said:
In the most optimistic of cases it will be around 50% faster than a 980 I think.
Click to expand...

Unless it's meaningfully more powerful than the 390x it's going to be a pretty hard sell at the 1000 dollar price point. But then again, the Titans were always shit value unless you used them in professional contexts.
 
LiquidMetal14

LiquidMetal14

hide your water-based mammals
Mr Nightman said:
dads been complaining about a slow pc, (he has an amd single core, 2gb ram and a hdd that sounds like a squirrel lol). Hes gunna been amazed with his this new am3+ mobo, 4gb ddr3 and my old phenom 2 x4 945. The cherry on top being this badboy

AZxEBHL.jpg
Click to expand...
Let us pray.
 
K

kiyomi

Member
Lockjaw333 said:
Got a Corsair K70 mechanical keyboard yesterday. Has to be one of the best hardware purchases I've made in a while, I really love it. The cherry mx reds are so awesome for gaming, so quick and smooth. Highly recommended if anyone is looking for a mech.
Click to expand...

I really want a K70 but they're so expensive in the UK. All mechanical keyboards are. It sucks.

Levyne said:
I have a pretty simple question. I have a pair of headphones I like a lot and currently use a cheap clip on microphone which works fine but is generally just a tad too sensitive.

Anyone know of a good alternative? I don't want a desk mic, or an ear-piece mic, or anything that would replace my headphones. Sorry if this isn't the right place to ask.
Click to expand...

Modmic. You can attach it to your existing headphones. Personally I just use a cheap 3.5mm clip-on, for the $ they're pretty damn good. Sounds like a Modmic will be a better shot for you though if you want something a little more upmarket.

Mr Nightman said:
dads been complaining about a slow pc, (he has an amd single core, 2gb ram and a hdd that sounds like a squirrel lol). Hes gunna been amazed with his this new am3+ mobo, 4gb ddr3 and my old phenom 2 x4 945. The cherry on top being this badboy
Click to expand...

Your dad won't notice the difference in all likelihood but be aware the V300 is kind of misadvertised. At least it was the last time I knew. Like I said though your dad probably won't care too much, and hopefully you got it cheap.
 
L

Lockjaw333

Member
Mad Season said:
Better than razer ultimate?
Click to expand...

I would say its down to personal preference. There are a lot of Razer haters around, but it seems like everyone who owns one of their keyboards loves it.

I would try both if you can, I know my Best Buy had both on display. I just really like the feel of mx reds, which is totally subjective. I also think the K70 looks gorgeous. It was a little out of my budget but I figured what the hell... I usually try to stretch for that better part with all my PC hardware.

Ultimate is close to $100 on Amazon so its cheaper, just depends if you like the feel. Either way, I cannot use a regular keyboard ever again!
 
N

no maam

Banned
Ok after doing some internet search, YouTube watching, I'm thinking a 980 would be a better stop gap for me as its only $200+ more than a 970. I'm not going to go over 1440p for another 2+ years. Now my question is; which is the best 980 for someone who's never going to overclock?

Also. How much bigger is it than a 680. I hope I fits in my case.
 
Xdrive05

Xdrive05

Member
Monosukoi said:
Your dad won't notice the difference in all likelihood but be aware the V300 is kind of misadvertised. At least it was the last time I knew. Like I said though your dad probably won't care too much, and hopefully you got it cheap.
Click to expand...

WTactualF?

And we got up in arms about the 970 vram issue. This looks way way worse.

How often does this kind of thing happen in computer hardware? (terribly misrepresented specs, or hardware revisions that cut performance down to a fraction of the advertised)
 
S

SarBear

Member
RGM79 said:
I'm not really a monitor guy. What kind of monitor are you looking for?
Click to expand...

I've been looking at the Acer XB270H Abprz 144Hz 27.0" Monitor. Looks like a decent set (as I'm only wanting 1080p), and if i'm correct, i need to purchase a DisplayPort cable for this set, correct?
 
K

kennah

Member
Xdrive05 said:
WTactualF?

And we got up in arms about the 970 vram issue. This looks way way worse.

How often does this kind of thing happen in computer hardware? (terribly misrepresented specs, or hardware revisions that cut performance down to a fraction of the advertised)
Click to expand...
everyone was seriously up in arms about it and many of us don't buy anything Kingston anymore
 
Xdrive05

Xdrive05

Member
Gaf,

How is the performance of traditional, mechanical desktop HDDs these days? I'm running out of space on a 5 year old WD Black 1TB drive, and I'm trying to decide between a 256GB SSD or a 2TB+ HDD. Thing is I really could use the space of the HDD. Would, say, a recent model WD Black be any faster than my old one?
 
K

knitoe

Member
Xdrive05 said:
Gaf,

How is the performance of traditional, mechanical desktop HDDs these days? I'm running out of space on a 5 year old WD Black 1TB drive, and I'm trying to decide between a 256GB SSD or a 2TB+ HDD. Thing is I really could use the space of the HDD. Would, say, a recent model WD Black be any faster than my old one?
Click to expand...

SSD for OS and programs + any cheap HDD for storage, except WD Green drives. WD Blacks aren't really worth it.
 
D

DarthWoo

I'm glad Grandpa porked a Chinese Muslim
I'm still in the process of getting the Dell I got ready to be my main PC, but I just started wondering about all the bloatware on it. I've been looking around, and it seems that MS actually provides a way to download a clean install of Win 8/8.1 to put on a USB drive or DVD, with you providing the product key.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-8/create-reset-refresh-media

Dell's website indicates that there is no actual product key for the included Win 8.1, but that it instead is somehow integrated into the motherboard, which will be checked during installation, for which the system has a recovery partition.

http://www.dell.com/support/article/us/en/19/SLN289880/EN

Obviously I don't want to use the recovery partition, as it will just reinstall all the bloatware. Has anyone here ever used the MS utility I linked on a pre-built system like this? Will the clean installation be able to recognize whatever integrated key it has?
 
S

Solideliquid

Member
Since it'll be tax return time soon, I've been wondering if it's time for an upgrade. I built my own PC in mid-late 2012, at that point I built a machine with a sandy-bridge i5 2500k 3.3 Quad Core chip, an Nvidia GTX670, 8 GB RAM and sufficient space on two drives, HDD/SSD combo.

Now I'm wondering if it's time to upgrade, since it'll be three years since I built the computer in a few months. Most games run fine, but I haven't tried any new AAA games with the exception of Alien Isolation which runs great. I am not sure if this processor and graphics card will last me another year, so I thought about upgrading at least the graphics card to a GTX 970 ($350 newegg.com), should I upgrade the processor as well though?


Would I need to get a new MOBO? I have the ASUS P8Z77-V LK LGA 1155. In terms of processors, the Intel Core i5-4690K Devil's Canyon Quad-Core 3.5GHz looks good. EDIT - looking into this a little deeper, I guess I'll need a 1150 socket MOBO to get the newer processors.

Thanks for looking at this, it's been a while for me. Even back when I built the computer, I relied heavily on youtube for help, and just thinking about how long it took, I'm thinking of going with something pre-built like the new ASUS G20.
 
T

The Llama

Member
Solideliquid said:
Since it'll be tax return time soon, I've been wondering if it's time for an upgrade. I built my own PC in mid-late 2012, at that point I built a machine with a sandy-bridge i5 2500k 3.3 Quad Core chip, an Nvidia GTX670, 8 GB RAM and sufficient space on two drives, HDD/SSD combo.

Now I'm wondering if it's time to upgrade, since it'll be three years since I built the computer in a few months. Most games run fine, but I haven't tried any new AAA games with the exception of Alien Isolation which runs great. I am not sure if this processor and graphics card will last me another year, so I thought about upgrading at least the graphics card to a GTX 970 ($350 newegg.com), should I upgrade the processor as well though?


Would I need to get a new MOBO? I have the ASUS P8Z77-V LK LGA 1155. In terms of processors, the Intel Core i5-4690K Devil's Canyon Quad-Core 3.5GHz looks good.

Thanks for looking at this, it's been a while for me. Even back when I built the computer, I relied heavily on youtube for help, and just thinking about how long it took, I'm thinking of going with something pre-built like the new ASUS G20.
Click to expand...

Get the 970 and overclock your CPU. You'll be good for another few years.
 
W

Windforce

Member
Hi guys, I've been looking for a new computer that can do some gaming. I currently run a very old notebook that can't do much other than very old games, so anything will be an upgrade, really, looking more for cost-effective rig than top stuff.

I run mostly older games. Heaviest I'll run is probably Skyrim, Street Fighter IV, etc.

Would you recommend a notebook? I'm torn between getting a notebook, as for the same price I can get a more powerful desktop.
 
M

mm04

Member
New build is up and running. Won't do any software installs or overclock until I've updated the OS completely. Held my breath when I fired it up for the first time and freaked out that it was so quiet and the PSU fan wasn't running (CPU and case fans were operational). Didn't realize that the fan will not turn on unless it really needs it. I've got my 2 SSDs set up in RAID 0 thanks to knitoe's advice. Boots to Windows pretty damn fast.
 
R

RGM79

Member
SarBear said:
I've been looking at the Acer XB270H Abprz 144Hz 27.0" Monitor. Looks like a decent set (as I'm only wanting 1080p), and if i'm correct, i need to purchase a DisplayPort cable for this set, correct?
Click to expand...

Well, the product page for the Acer model actually says it comes with a displayport cable in the box. Amazon confirms this, user answers say the cable is kind of short at just 4 feet long.

DarthWoo said:
I'm still in the process of getting the Dell I got ready to be my main PC, but I just started wondering about all the bloatware on it. I've been looking around, and it seems that MS actually provides a way to download a clean install of Win 8/8.1 to put on a USB drive or DVD, with you providing the product key.

http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-8/create-reset-refresh-media

Dell's website indicates that there is no actual product key for the included Win 8.1, but that it instead is somehow integrated into the motherboard, which will be checked during installation, for which the system has a recovery partition.

http://www.dell.com/support/article/us/en/19/SLN289880/EN

Obviously I don't want to use the recovery partition, as it will just reinstall all the bloatware. Has anyone here ever used the MS utility I linked on a pre-built system like this? Will the clean installation be able to recognize whatever integrated key it has?
Click to expand...

You can try to determine your product key on the prebuilt PC using Speccy, or other similar programs. Once you have the key, try it out on Microsoft's website and tool, see if it'll accept it and let you download the Windows ISO.

Windforce said:
Hi guys, I've been looking for a new computer that can do some gaming. I currently run a very old notebook that can't do much other than very old games, so anything will be an upgrade, really, looking more for cost-effective rig than top stuff.

I run mostly older games. Heaviest I'll run is probably Skyrim, Street Fighter IV, etc.

Would you recommend a notebook? I'm torn between getting a notebook, as for the same price I can get a more powerful desktop.
Click to expand...

Well, that's something you need to decide yourself, if you want the portability or better performance for the price. Some laptops can run SFIV and Skyrim decently well, but depending on your budget, maybe you can get a cheap laptop and a decent desktop PC.
 
S

SarBear

Member
RGM79 said:
Well, the product page for the Acer model actually says it comes with a displayport cable in the box. Amazon confirms this, user answers say the cable is kind of short at just 4 feet long.
Click to expand...


Heh, I feel sheepish. Anyhoo.....I did a bit of shopping today at Microcenter and got MOST of what was itemized. Microcenter had a sale on that monitor (20% off!!!) which brought it down to $399.99, then the motherboard/cpu combo discount of $40. $10 bucks off the SSD, and the Wireless adapter was $5 bucks less, too. I still have to order the power supply, case, and graphics card. I was on the fence about the 980....here's hoping AMD sheds some light soon on their 300 series......I'm getting antsy to properly put together a successor to my Q6600 built back in 2007!
 
K

kharma45

Member
R

RGM79

Member
NoRéN;154063826 said:
Probably referencing the Samsung Evo Read performance bug.

For what it's worth, Samsung fixed the problem with a firmware update. Using two Samsung EVOs myself.
Click to expand...

Well, the 840 Evo's issues haven't totally gone away even after the fix. That said, I don't think the new 850 series suffer from the same problems, but it does take time for any performance degradation to appear. After all that I assume users and professional reviewers have probably been testing their 850 series SSDs in case something similar may also be there, though. I feel comfortable enough to recommend the 850 Evo, although Crucial's drives are better priced despite not being nearly as fast.

SarBear said:
Heh, I feel sheepish. Anyhoo.....I did a bit of shopping today at Microcenter and got MOST of what was itemized. Microcenter had a sale on that monitor (20% off!!!) which brought it down to $399.99, then the motherboard/cpu combo discount of $40. $10 bucks off the SSD, and the Wireless adapter was $5 bucks less, too. I still have to order the power supply, case, and graphics card. I was on the fence about the 980....here's hoping AMD sheds some light soon on their 300 series......I'm getting antsy to properly put together a successor to my Q6600 built back in 2007!
Click to expand...

Well, I can't blame you for wanting to be sure about the cable. Microcenter's product page doesn't mention anything about whether a displayport cable is included or not.

Good luck with your new PC, it's a real powerhouse.
 
K

kharma45

Member
RGM79 said:
Well, the 840 Evo's issues haven't totally gone away even after the fix. That said, I don't think the new 850 series suffer from the same problems, but it does take time for any performance degradation to appear. After all that I assume users and professional reviewers have probably been testing their 850 series SSDs in case something similar may also be there, though. I feel comfortable enough to recommend the 850 Evo, although Crucial's drives are better priced despite not being nearly as fast.



Well, I can't blame you for wanting to be sure about the cable. Microcenter's product page doesn't mention anything about whether a displayport cable is included or not.

Good luck with your new PC, it's a real powerhouse.
Click to expand...

It's far too early to say the 850 Evo is problem free.
 
W

Whooter

Member
Hey PC-GAF, I'm ready to replace my AMD Radeon 7950 from a few years ago. What's the "best bang for the buck" upgrade for, say, $250? nVidia or AMD, doesn't matter.

Thanks in advance!
 
K

kharma45

Member
NoRéN;154069334 said:
it would take a couple of months for the problems with the 840 evo to manifest so, yeah.
Click to expand...

Did you run a performance test out of interest?

Whooter said:
Hey PC-GAF, I'm ready to replace my AMD Radeon 7950 from a few years ago. What's the "best bang for the buck" upgrade for, say, $250? nVidia or AMD, doesn't matter.

Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...

An R9 290.
 
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