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"I Need a New PC!" 2015 Part 1. Read the OP and RISE ABOVE FORGED PRECISION SCIENCE
- Thread starter Hazaro
- Start date
- Status
exmachina64
Banned
Edit: This is roughly what you want.
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant
CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($179.99 @ Micro Center)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($31.99 @ Directron)
Motherboard: ASRock Z97M-ITX/AC Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard ($108.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Kingston Fury Black Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($145.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital BLACK SERIES 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($74.45 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 980 4GB STRIX Video Card ($569.98 @ NCIX US)
Case: Fractal Design Node 304 (White) Mini ITX Tower Case ($89.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12II 520W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($60.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $1262.35
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-12-14 17:05 EST-0500
Feel free to choose whatever color case you want, if you go with the Node 304. PCPartPicker only had the white version listed.
exmachina64
Banned
No problem. Good luck with your build! Post pictures, if you can.
appaws
Banned
Good choice. That is a sweet case.
Clean off the old stuff with rubbing alcohol. They put on the new stuff, a pea-sized drop in the middle. The 212 Evo installation videos on Youtube will show you this.
CMojicaAce
Member
So everything went well yesterday when I built this! (Cable management could use some work, though). Overall this was a very fun project! Though, the CPU cooler was a pain to install. It took me forever to get the holes lined up D: The jump to an SSD has been unbelievable. The PC boots up in like 5 seconds and it makes my laptop feel like it's from the year 2002 with how slowly it boots up. So far I've only tested FC4 and BF3 and both run @ 1080p 60fps on ultra. I'm very pleased with the end result.
Thanks to all who helped me over the past few months with my questions and thanks to the OP for incredibly helpful information!
P.S. Here are the specs:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant
CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor (Purchased For $199.99)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (Purchased For $28.00)
Motherboard: ASRock Fatal1ty Z97X Killer ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (Purchased For $114.96)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-2133 Memory (Purchased For $63.21)
Storage: Crucial MX100 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (Purchased For $108.99)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 970 4GB Twin Frozr V Video Card (Purchased For $386.33)
Case: Fractal Design Define R4 w/Window (Black Pearl) ATX Mid Tower Case (Purchased For $88.00)
Power Supply: SeaSonic 620W 80+ Bronze Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (Purchased For $65.39)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer (Purchased For $18.52)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit) (Purchased For $20.00)
Total: $1093.39
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-12-14 18:44 EST-0500
So far I have most of my rig built: i5-4690K, ThermalTake 750w power supply, 200r Case, 8gb of ddr3 1600 Ram, MSI Z97x SLI motherboard, Samsung 840 EVO SSD.
I still need my GPU, people said that R9 290 is probably the best value for my price range, mentioning that you could pay 350 for the superior GTX 970, or you could go for the cheaper and more valuable R9 290, at a price around 250. Here are the prices for the r9 290 at newegg Canada: http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Produc...07708 600473877&IsNodeId=1&name=Radeon R9 290
It is $350 minimum. Here are the prices for the 970: http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Produc...49&IsNodeId=1&bop=And&Order=PRICE&PageSize=30
At my local computer shop the prices for the 970 are at 380 minimum (they aren't higher prices they just don't stock the cheaper models,) and the lowest price for the R9 290 is 350 (http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121842)
Is that card worth it? The prices are about 50-100 bucks more than I was willing to initially spend (planned on spending $300 for a card.) What should I do? Look for a cheap 290, look for a cheap 970, or step down to a r9 280 or 760 or something?
I can afford the 350 but it just seems wrong given that so many people talk about how cheap the 290 is compared to the 970, which it is not.
I still need my GPU, people said that R9 290 is probably the best value for my price range, mentioning that you could pay 350 for the superior GTX 970, or you could go for the cheaper and more valuable R9 290, at a price around 250. Here are the prices for the r9 290 at newegg Canada: http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Produc...07708 600473877&IsNodeId=1&name=Radeon R9 290
It is $350 minimum. Here are the prices for the 970: http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Produc...49&IsNodeId=1&bop=And&Order=PRICE&PageSize=30
At my local computer shop the prices for the 970 are at 380 minimum (they aren't higher prices they just don't stock the cheaper models,) and the lowest price for the R9 290 is 350 (http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121842)
Is that card worth it? The prices are about 50-100 bucks more than I was willing to initially spend (planned on spending $300 for a card.) What should I do? Look for a cheap 290, look for a cheap 970, or step down to a r9 280 or 760 or something?
I can afford the 350 but it just seems wrong given that so many people talk about how cheap the 290 is compared to the 970, which it is not.
JJKillaNOLE
Neo Member
It's a great card for the price! I have crossfired 290x and they are the best bang for the buck.
Wait for a sale on the 290. Newegg in Canada had them for $280 the other day. You should be able to find it cheaper than $350 if you wait a little. The 970's aren't likely to go on sale anytime soon.
DrForester
Kills Photobucket
Almost time for a new build. Time to subscribe and get reading!
ThoseDeafMutes
Member
970!
ThoseDeafMutes
Member
BD drives are kinda shit too because there's no free (legal) way to actually watch the movies on your PC. Gotta use like, Power DVD or something.
exmachina64
Banned
In the spirit of Verder's earlier questions, what's it like using a Mini-ITX case regularly? Are they easy to keep cool? Do they prohibit overclocking?
They're awesome. Cool just as well if you are careful and doesn't change overclocks at all. Lots of really well designed cases these days. . Little reason to go full atx in my opinion.
exmachina64
Banned
What about liquid cooling?
All depends on the case, budget and time.
One of my cases is designed to be liquid cooled only.
exmachina64
Banned
Interesting, thanks, Kennah.
Wafflecakes
Member
Hrm. I am building a new PC over the break.... I wonder if I can save the file and code for then.
TC McQueen
Member
You can't, as far as I know.
Wafflecakes
Member
Lame. I am literally stripping my current PC and replacing half the parts over the next week.
Whelp, got my rig all set up. Everything is real nice, decently quiet. Pics soon.
Phanteks Enthoo Luxe
Gigabyte GTX 970 G1
16 GB DDR3 2133 Ram
i7 4790k CPU
Does anyone have that guide to where you can set up your bigger hard drive to store my documents/downloads, etc?
Also, I just transferred over to Windows 8.1. Any essential tips there? Does it automatically take account for an SSD, or will I need to make the proper adjustments for that (as in turning off indexing, etc.)
Phanteks Enthoo Luxe
Gigabyte GTX 970 G1
16 GB DDR3 2133 Ram
i7 4790k CPU
Does anyone have that guide to where you can set up your bigger hard drive to store my documents/downloads, etc?
Also, I just transferred over to Windows 8.1. Any essential tips there? Does it automatically take account for an SSD, or will I need to make the proper adjustments for that (as in turning off indexing, etc.)
exmachina64
Banned
Wait a sec, I can't believe my eyes. The SeaSonic SS-520FL is fanless?
Yeah, here's a guide.
Windows will automatically detect SSDs and apply settings like defragging off and TRIM on. Some things like AHCI mode need to be set yourself in the BIOS, from before you install Windows. Other things, like indexing options, page file settings, and system restore are optional and some of them you should actually keep on if you want, instead. SSDs have gotten to the point where quick death from normal weardown is no longer an issue, and will last as long as any typical mechanical hard drive, if not longer.
Here's a guide that covers just about everything you could want to set. I think the author goes a bit overboard in trying to limit SSD writing and system disk usage as much as possible, you should keep things like system restore protection and page file enabled, because they can be useful or even required to keep things running well.
Yep. In the quest for quiet PCs, even PSUs aren't left unturned. I don't doubt Seasonic's build quality and level of performance, but this is best for office PCs and HTPC systems, not something I'd necessarily use for high end gaming. TechPowerUp gave it an excellent review and said that it performs extremely well, they were actually only disappointed by a conservative safety temperature limit and just two graphics card power cables when it could clearly handle a bigger load.
Yeah I actually just looked a lot of this up. So glad that windows 8 does a lot of this automatically now. I had to a lot of this manually back with windows 7. Building this computer has been a breeze compared to 6 years ago.
Anywho, pics (pardon phone size pics)
If you want a near silent PSU, I'd go for a corsair RM series. They have fans but they don't turn on until it's at 60% usage or something like that. And by that point your. CPU and gpu fans will be louder anuway.
How's it going guys?
I just picked up a new CPU/ Mobo today, and have 4 sticks of my old ram in the system to fire it up.
Grabbed an i7 4790k and an Asus Z97 pro motherboard.
Currently using some ancient DDR3 PC3 16000 RAM from OCZ with 4 sticks of 2 gigs each, but I would like to get some recommendations on some faster ram.
I'd like at least 16 gigs, but I am unsure whether I should do a dual channel or quad channel kit.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
(Thoughts on this? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231673&RandomID=89634697615123220141214224112)
I just picked up a new CPU/ Mobo today, and have 4 sticks of my old ram in the system to fire it up.
Grabbed an i7 4790k and an Asus Z97 pro motherboard.
Currently using some ancient DDR3 PC3 16000 RAM from OCZ with 4 sticks of 2 gigs each, but I would like to get some recommendations on some faster ram.
I'd like at least 16 gigs, but I am unsure whether I should do a dual channel or quad channel kit.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
(Thoughts on this? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231673&RandomID=89634697615123220141214224112)
Z97 doesn't do quad channel, four sticks of RAM for Z97 motherboard is just two sets of dual channel. There's decent deals on high speed memory now, for a lower price than the $152 RAM you listed.
For some low priced decently high speed memory, there's 16GB of Patriot Viper 3 Low Profile DDR3-2133 for $120 after $15 rebate. That's CL11, if you mind.
For 2400MHz, there's 16GB of Team Xtreem LV DDR3-2400 for $135, and it's CL10, cheaper and less latency than that G.Skill model.
How quite is your enthoo luxe by the way? Mine is on the loud side thanks to the noise generated by the stock fans in the back and front of the case. :S
Kelli Lemondrop
Banned
Hi Gaf, considering pulling the trigger on the following build, any opinions/advice on component choice or price? Don't plan on overclocking at all, other than forcing max turbo on all cores, fast n easy.
Hi Gaf, considering pulling the trigger on the following build, any opinions/advice on component choice or price? Don't plan on overclocking at all, other than forcing max turbo on all cores, fast n easy.
Do you have to buy every part from Newegg? There could be cost savings going with other retailers.
I recommend going with a non-stock CPU cooler, but that case only supports coolers up to 140mm in height, so something like the Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo won't fit. Maybe a water cooler would work, but that's another $75-125 or so depending on which one you choose.
That MSI GTX 970 will barely not fit in your case. The EVGA Hadron Air can accommodate graphics cards up to 267mm long (seems like a very specific number so that's likely all the room there is) while the MSI GTX 970 is 269mm long. Instead, you can go with an EVGA GTX 970, those are only 240mm long and will fit easily.
That Mushkin RAM is expensive, there's two other choices you can go with that I mentioned above:
Other than that, the rest of your parts look fine.
Kelli Lemondrop
Banned
The ram is a placeholder until i 1. get advice on a cpu cooler and 2. determine if i need low profile memory to accomodate said cooler.
Id like to order it all via newegg if possible because i can get a 30 day trial for preimer, which is free rush shipping and paid two way shipping on returns in case of a DOA.
EDIT :That patriot Viper 3 looks good, swapping it out for the mushkin stealth i had. Any advice on an air cooler i could go with since the 212 wont fit?
EDIT2 : found it. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125706 .... freaking ridiculously small.... 170mm
EDIT3 : sorry lol... shaved $17 off my total using that ram and gpu, hurrah! , is that gpu suitable for use in the hardron? i know its small enough, but will cooling be an issue?
Id like to order it all via newegg if possible because i can get a 30 day trial for preimer, which is free rush shipping and paid two way shipping on returns in case of a DOA.
EDIT :That patriot Viper 3 looks good, swapping it out for the mushkin stealth i had. Any advice on an air cooler i could go with since the 212 wont fit?
EDIT2 : found it. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125706 .... freaking ridiculously small.... 170mm
EDIT3 : sorry lol... shaved $17 off my total using that ram and gpu, hurrah! , is that gpu suitable for use in the hardron? i know its small enough, but will cooling be an issue?
PaulExcellent
Member
Holy shit, you are my hero.
Seriously, thanks. I'll be ordering the parts in January - February due to me apparently getting a Lenovo Y50 in two days. >.>
I'll be adding the SSD to the price, since I have a 500GB drive hanging about, so it'll be just a bit more over my budget.
I'm really excited to build it now. lol Are there any good guides or videos to watch to get a better idea as to what to do/know before building?
So I'm looking to buy some bits to get my old 2006 rig(now a shell dead mobo) back up and running
I'm doing everything on a really tight budget - ie the cheapest I can get but worthwhile and some sort of future upgrade path. Generally I have an idea on what I want to pay per component but happy to eek out a little extra to give a worthwhile power boost and have a balanced system looking to spend under £400
Budget < £400
Country UK
Main Use - Gaming/Emulation/General
Monitor - 1080p
Re-use Parts - Case/HDD Sata/DVD
Games I want to run - Starbound/Elite Dangerous/Indie Titles/General Gaming
Building - ASAP
Overclocking - Not fussed tbh
CPU Intel i3 4160K
Motherboard Z97 variant looking for a cheaper model any suggests
Graphics Card - MSI R9 270X GAMING 2GB - is this a decent card or is there better vfm
Ram - generic 4gb
Power Supply Think I need something over 400w - coolermaster seem to be a good make?
Ram - will probably go for 4gb for now
Heatsink - Can I go with the stock one for now?
I'm doing everything on a really tight budget - ie the cheapest I can get but worthwhile and some sort of future upgrade path. Generally I have an idea on what I want to pay per component but happy to eek out a little extra to give a worthwhile power boost and have a balanced system looking to spend under £400
Budget < £400
Country UK
Main Use - Gaming/Emulation/General
Monitor - 1080p
Re-use Parts - Case/HDD Sata/DVD
Games I want to run - Starbound/Elite Dangerous/Indie Titles/General Gaming
Building - ASAP
Overclocking - Not fussed tbh
CPU Intel i3 4160K
Motherboard Z97 variant looking for a cheaper model any suggests
Graphics Card - MSI R9 270X GAMING 2GB - is this a decent card or is there better vfm
Ram - generic 4gb
Power Supply Think I need something over 400w - coolermaster seem to be a good make?
Ram - will probably go for 4gb for now
Heatsink - Can I go with the stock one for now?
I haven't found any reviews for that Gigabyte GTX 970 ITX, but Gigabyte is usually quite reliable for cooling for most of their graphics cards, if not loud at full speed.
If your budget is $1200 and you don't mind a larger but still compact case, here's what I'd recommend. With mATX, you'll have the room and power to go SLI GTX 970 in the future. Dropping down to the i5 4690K will not affect framerate in 95% of cases, and you can have the 212 Evo cooler fit in the Corsair case.
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant
CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($219.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97MX-Gaming 5 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($119.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Patriot Viper 3 Low Profile Red 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-2133 Memory ($119.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial MX100 512GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($206.98 @ Newegg)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 970 4GB Video Card ($339.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair 350D MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA 750W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1156.90
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-12-15 06:11 EST-0500
That sounds fine to me. By then the GTX 960 will probably have released.. and prices for parts will have changed. You can use that build as a guideline, but come back just before you plan to order and we'll find some current pricing for you.
Kelli Lemondrop
Banned
I suppose the bigger question is... should i even bother with the build at all... new stuff is great, but im currently running an i5 3570k@4.4 , 16 gig of ram, and 7950s @1200core in crossfire (got em when gpu mining for profit was a thing, they paid for themselves in 6 months of idle time =]), which, for games that scale well, gives me equivalent performance to a 970, roughly...... lol am i nuts for even considering another build?
hell, for $700 i could pop in a pair of 970s and double my gpu performance, or $500 for a pair of R9 290s, that other $600 wont double my cpu performance, not even close..... options... options....
EDIT: Also a 1100 watt cougar power supply with 6 12v rails @ 38 amps each, so powering a bunch of R9s wouldnt be an issue. ... buying the 512 gig SSD regardless, $200 is a fantastic deal for that, replace my "old" 120 gig 840 evo.... no freakin clue what id use it for, does that intel smart response crap actually do anything noticible if you already have an SSD as your primary OS drive?
Dries
Member
He is. He lists the advantages too. My reply questioned the greatness of these advantages though. I'm running V-sync in Full screen mode and experience no tearing at all. What would be a reason to also play games in Borderless Windowed mode I wonder?
Kelli Lemondrop
Banned
go with 8GB ram, minimum, 4 gigs wasnt enough 5 years ago, it certainly isnt today.
that gpu is the best card in its price class, trades blows with the nvidia GTX 760 at what appears to be ~30 pounds cheaper. cpu is fine, you can always upgrade it down the road.
What parts broke? Your old power supply doesn't work, or do you think it's too weak? A decent 350-400 watt power supply will power a single R9 270X no problem, just don't expect to overclock or power anything else. You can definitely use the stock heatsink for now.
What is your current case? ATX (normal size tower)?
Here's a list of budget parts I think will suit you. The EVGA 600 watt power supply was actually one of the cheapest models that had decent reviews. If you can spend an extra £30 you can get the i5 4690K which can be overclocked and will last you an extra year, you'll just need to spend another £30 on a CPU cooler in the future and you'll be able to overclock.
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant
CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor (£130.94 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: MSI Z97 PC MATE ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£64.62 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Kingston Fury White Series 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£29.74 @ Ebuyer)
Video Card: PowerColor Radeon R9 270X 2GB PCS+ Video Card (£124.81 @ More Computers)
Power Supply: EVGA 600B 600W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£46.09 @ Aria PC)
Total: £396.20
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-12-15 11:35 GMT+0000
Oh, uh.. in that case, I advise against getting a completely new PC in the first place, the i5 3570K is still an excellent CPU. See if you can't sell the 7950s to someone, and you can just buy a new graphics card or two and that will be much more cost-effective.
No, Intel's SRT won't make a difference if you already have most of your desired programs on an SSD. It just acts as a cache to store your most often accessed files for high speed loading
Kelli Lemondrop
Banned
wont single channel memory destroy his performance? if he doesn't care about overclocking, he doesnt need Z97, could shave a few pounds there to add another 4 gig stick of ram....
Kelli Lemondrop
Banned
does it need to be nvidia? the amd R7 265 is in the same price bracket (actually around $130 all over the place right now) and should handily beat the 750Ti in just about every game. the R9 270X and the GTX 760 are in the bracket above, at around $160. its worth getting one of those cards instead for the slight increase in price honestly.
Skyrim isn't an issue depending on how many dozens of mods you plan to cram into it, BF4 should do fine on any of these cards as well assuming 1080p. No clue on dragon age though, sorry =).
If you are in the states, newegg's got a 4GB R9 270X for $184 ($160 after mail in rebate), that extra vram might help you as the years go by, its certainly going to be better than the 2 gigs youll find in any of those other cards anywhere near the sub $200 price point, and 4GB is roughly the sweet spot memory wise for 1080p gaming.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202049
No, not really. Benchmarks show the difference to be minimal. I myself am running RAM in single channel mode due to damaged RAM slots on my motherboard, but it hasn't really impacted gaming performance like framerate or stability. Benchmarking software might be able to find a bigger performance gap in terms of synthetic scores, but real-world performance difference is tiny, maybe 5% to 10% difference at most.
http://www.behardware.com/articles/814-3/ddr3-impact-of-channels-timings.html
http://www.gamersnexus.net/guides/1349-ram-how-dual-channel-works-vs-single-channel/Page-3
The cheapest H97 motherboard is £57, spending an extra £7 for Z97 isn't that big a deal and will allow him to overclock in the future for added performance when he needs it, rather than buying a new processor.
He could go with a cheaper processor like the i3 to get 8GB of RAM now, but I was thinking about future upgrades. If he does go with an i3, he'll end up spending £125-175 or so for a processor upgrade in the future for the "sweet spot" of CPUs for gaming. If he spends that much on the CPU now, he can just get another stick of 4GB for about £30 in the future.
He can get a decent Asus R9 270X for $140 now. Some other models of R9 270X were as low as $130 during Black Friday.
Kelli Lemondrop
Banned
Ah, in that case, nevermind then, though 4 gigs will not be enough to play the games he wants to play. Star Citizen requires 8 gigs minimum. how much would a single 8 gig stick set him back vs a 4? Then again , star citizen is looking like 2016, so he has plenty of time to toss in another stick or three to get up to 8 or 16 gigs of ram. Your picks are his best bet right at the moment.
EDIT: Yea, i saw the $140 270X 2gb, its worth the extra $20 for the 4GB version i found IMO, going forward 2 gigs is going to be a severe hinderance.
Cheers will go with 8gb worth it for what the cost is likely to be.
It was a motherboard failure - the rig was built in 05 Atx Tower/Amd Athlon Socket 939/DDR only salvageable parts is the case and fans really - still using the GPU in an older borrowed system but its dying slowly. The original PSU dies I still have the replacement its an Arctic Power 500W(2008) but I don't think it has the PCI power sockets required.
Quite happy to save £60 in the lower cpu and stock cooler for now but still gonna consider it - cheers
I thought the Z97 was the better chipset - am I not really going to lose anything by going with a slightly older mb chipset?
Kelli Lemondrop
Banned
go with the board he found you, you would only save 7 pounds going with an H97 board vs a Z97, and you lose overclocking ability if you ever decide to.
His entire build is a good setup, if you can spring for an 8 gig stick instead of his 4 gig, do so, and add another 8 gig stick later
you will be able to play most anything with such a build, on medium to high settings - Status