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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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U

Unknown One

Member
LegionAgent said:
Hi guys, so I've got a new thing I need your help with. I want to buy a GTX 960. I know some might suggest getting a 970, but due to some special circumstances I can't save any more money, and I can't wait for a price drop, the money I have right now I have to spend in a matter of less than a week, and it's just about enough for a GTX 960.
But the thing is, which manufacturer do you guys recommend? Here in Chile my options are Zotac, MSI, Gigabyte and EVGA. I've heard good things from MSI, yet I've found that there are three types:Normal OC, Gaming 2G and Gaming 4G. I can't afford the 4G, but, is there too much of a difference in performance between them? I thank your help beforehand.
Click to expand...

Do what I am doing, get it from EVGA because EVGA has a step up program. You got 90 days to decide if you want to upgrade to the next tier. All you have to do is ship it back and pay the price difference between the 960 and the 970. Of course you have to register it right away though.

Not sure if the step up program works in Chile though.
 
M

MNC

Member
I just want to thank GAF for the pointers they gave when building my PC. I fucking love it. I will probably come by once I look for a new keyboard/monitor as well.

Now, what is the best piece of software to monitor temperatures/load? I usually use Speedfan, but I reckon there should be newer programs to achieve what I want. Preferably tray or some overlay. I tried HWmonitor, but I had to keep switching to the program which is kind of annoying.

Graphs are a plus, too.
 
L

LilJoka

Member
MNC said:
I just want to thank GAF for the pointers they gave when building my PC. I fucking love it. I will probably come by once I look for a new keyboard/monitor as well.

Now, what is the best piece of software to monitor temperatures/load? I usually use Speedfan, but I reckon there should be newer programs to achieve what I want. Preferably tray or some overlay. I tried HWmonitor, but I had to keep switching to the program which is kind of annoying.

Graphs are a plus, too.
Click to expand...

Realtemp for CPU, it has a tray icon
MSI Afterbruber while gaming, it has an on screen display. Also records graphs.
 
Z

Zakalwe

Banned
MNC said:
I just want to thank GAF for the pointers they gave when building my PC. I fucking love it. I will probably come by once I look for a new keyboard/monitor as well.

Now, what is the best piece of software to monitor temperatures/load? I usually use Speedfan, but I reckon there should be newer programs to achieve what I want. Preferably tray or some overlay. I tried HWmonitor, but I had to keep switching to the program which is kind of annoying.

Graphs are a plus, too.
Click to expand...

MSI afterburner is a good tool.

-

Speaking of MSI, I'm hugely impressed with their 970. Not bought on of theirs before, not only is it very capable but it's also the quietest card I've ever owned. Maybe I'm just not pushing it, but every previous card sounded like a jet engine in comparison at the same temps.

70 or so under load, can barely hear it over my case fans.

Also very impressed with how well my 2500k is holding up. Overclocked to 4.3, cooling on third party air, not even pushing it to it's limit and it's handling everything I throw at it with ease (gaming only on this machine, but still).

Would highly recommend the MSI 970 to anyone looking to upgrade. I came from a 670, the jump was very much worth it.
 
K

King Gilga

Member
I see, well I'll wait till the start of July and see how it is

Psxdad said:
Just wanted to say that I took everything apart and built it piece by piece outside my case first to isolate any issues. It did the trick. I think it had to do with the way the processor was seated. I reseated it, and reattached the cooler, and rebuilt everything. Everything works wonderfully now and I'm writing this on my new PC. Thanks for everything!
Click to expand...

You might have forgotten to plug the motherboard into the cases power switch or PSU.

That's what happened to me my first build, and I had those exact same symptoms.
 
B

belushy

Banned
RGM79 said:
That's just how it is. I suppose it could be also that they are overstating requirements in case users are running an overclocked processor and graphics card. An overclocked R9 290 can draw over 300 watts, and so would an overclocked FX-9590.



On such a limited budget, this is the best I can recommend. The graphics card is capable of meeting the requirements for all the games you listed, but is only considered lower-middle range at best.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($229.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: Asus Z97-E ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($86.71 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-2400 Memory ($51.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Toshiba Product Series:DT01ACA 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($44.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: Asus Radeon R7 260X 2GB Video Card ($97.99 @ Micro Center)
Case: Antec One ATX Mid Tower Case ($29.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: Antec High Current Gamer 620W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $591.65
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-05-31 02:25 EDT-0400

I had to leave off things like an aftermarket CPU heatsink and go with a minimum of RAM and hard drive space. The processor, motherboard, and power supply are great and should carry you through the next several years' worth of upgrades. Your next upgrades could be extra RAM (aim for 16GB total), a better CPU cooler (for overclocking), and maybe a new graphics card (depending on your budget and what you want to play at what framerate and graphics settings).

Will this $600 build also require keyboard, mouse, monitor, or anything else? Windows OS?
Click to expand...

Nope nothing extra. Thanks a lot for this by the way.
 
G

GRaider81

Member
Looking to build my first PC.
Have filled this in best I can. I'm basically wanting to go with a NV 970 card and go from there. I also have a couple of "stupid" questions,..... Can I use my Sony Bravia as a monitor? Do I need to buy connecting cables or do they come with the components? What about software/OS?
I'd like if possible a complete shopping list.
I'd like to be able to play the W3, batman etc at a much better quality than my PS4.

I'm a complete PC noob so sorry if anything unclear.

[Basic Desktop Questions]
Vnp7oxv.png
  • Your Current Specs: N/A
  • Budget: UK not really sure, a 970 card plus the rest. As cheap as possible
  • Main Use: gaming and General use
  • Monitor Resolution: What resolution will you be playing your games at? 1080p? Are you going to upgrade later? Maybe Are you buying a new m
  • List SPECIFIC games or applications that you MUST be able to run well: Is 30FPS acceptable? 60? 120? How important is PhysX / SuperSampling / CUDA to you? Would like 60fps
  • Looking to reuse any parts?: List make and model (e.g. Corsair 520HX, 640GB SATA HDD, Antec 900) no
  • When will you build?: Do you have a deadline? No
  • Will you be overclocking?: Yes, No, Maybe (This means yes!) not sure?
 
D

Dunfisch

Member
Alright, I've put together a barebones system, as described a few pages ago. I'm cannibalizing a lot from my current comp, case, mass storage, disc drives, PSU and GPU. It's hardly ideal, but the best I can do right now, after unfortunate circumstances.

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor (€241.23 @ Amazon Deutschland)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM (€34.50 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97X-SLI ATX LGA1150 (€119.99 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 (€127.75 @ Amazon Deutschland)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (€102.00)

Total: €625.47

Gonna get a 2.5" to 3.5" tray kit so I can safely prop the SSD and that'll be it for the time being.

Thoughts? The Mobo is just revision 1, but far as I can tell it'll overclock just fine.
 
K

kharma45

Member
Raider1874 said:
Looking to build my first PC.
Have filled this in best I can. I'm basically wanting to go with a NV 970 card and go from there. I also have a couple of "stupid" questions,..... Can I use my Sony Bravia as a monitor? Do I need to buy connecting cables or do they come with the components? What about software/OS?
I'd like if possible a complete shopping list.
I'd like to be able to play the W3, batman etc at a much better quality than my PS4.

I'm a complete PC noob so sorry if anything unclear.

[Basic Desktop Questions]
Vnp7oxv.png
  • Your Current Specs: N/A
  • Budget: UK not really sure, a 970 card plus the rest. As cheap as possible
  • Main Use: gaming and General use
  • Monitor Resolution: What resolution will you be playing your games at? 1080p? Are you going to upgrade later? Maybe Are you buying a new m
  • List SPECIFIC games or applications that you MUST be able to run well: Is 30FPS acceptable? 60? 120? How important is PhysX / SuperSampling / CUDA to you? Would like 60fps
  • Looking to reuse any parts?: List make and model (e.g. Corsair 520HX, 640GB SATA HDD, Antec 900) no
  • When will you build?: Do you have a deadline? No
  • Will you be overclocking?: Yes, No, Maybe (This means yes!) not sure?
Click to expand...

You can use your TV yes. Just hook it up with an HDMI cable.

Software wise you'll need to buy Windows if you can't get it through work/uni for free/cheap.

You could go for something like this as a very solid machine

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor (£177.96 @ Amazon UK)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (£24.48 @ Novatech)
Motherboard: MSI Z97-GAMING 5 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£104.99 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Tactical 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£45.77 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Crucial BX100 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£70.49 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£41.77 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: GALAX GeForce GTX 970 4GB EX OC Black Edition Video Card (£279.59 @ Overclockers.co.uk)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case (£47.55 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: XFX 650W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply (£62.48 @ Novatech)
Total: £855.08
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-05-31 15:54 BST+0100

If you wanted to cut the cost then you could go for a non-modular PSU and drop the SSD.

The MSI GTX 970 is £10 cheaper too but GALAX gives you a UK RMA base should something ever go wrong.
 
holygeesus

holygeesus

Banned
I recently put an Arctic Accelero Twin Turbo III on my 970 and am blown away with the performance. My 970 is overclocked beyond 980 speeds, and whereas with the stock cooler, my load temperature hit 79c it now doesn't go over 50c with the after-market cooler and can't be heard over the CPU fan. I'm well impressed, even if it does make the card ridiculously big - I'll never buy a card with a stock blower again though, as it demonstrates how inefficient they are.
 
S

SyntheCypher

Member
Any thoughts on these cases?

I'm thinking of doing a high-end gaming/productivity build but I want it in a small case that I can lug home when I visit family over long holidays.

Lian Li PC-05
o5-f-00.png


Silverstone Raven RVZ01
v7YVzcyl.jpg


Also anyone know if the PC-05 get fit a standard size high-end GPU? All the pictures I see use a smaller form factor GPU.
 
G

GRaider81

Member
kharma45 said:
You can use your TV yes. Just hook it up with an HDMI cable.

Software wise you'll need to buy Windows if you can't get it through work/uni for free/cheap.

You could go for something like this as a very solid machine

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor (£177.96 @ Amazon UK)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (£24.48 @ Novatech)
Motherboard: MSI Z97-GAMING 5 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£104.99 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Tactical 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£45.77 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Crucial BX100 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£70.49 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£41.77 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: GALAX GeForce GTX 970 4GB EX OC Black Edition Video Card (£279.59 @ Overclockers.co.uk)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case (£47.55 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: XFX 650W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply (£62.48 @ Novatech)
Total: £855.08
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-05-31 15:54 BST+0100

If you wanted to cut the cost then you could go for a non-modular PSU and drop the SSD.

The MSI GTX 970 is £10 cheaper too but GALAX gives you a UK RMA base should something ever go wrong.
Click to expand...

Thankyou, I also forgot to mention id need as small a case as possible, do you have any recommendations?
 
R

RurouniZel

Asks questions so Ezalc doesn't have to
If I build a new PC this year, should I stick to the DDR3 ram (12GB) I already have or would ponying up for a DDR4 board/RAM be worth it?

I'm worried that I'll be losing performance by not adopting the newer standard but it's also so much more money. >>;
 
N

Newline

Member
Hey guys, i've got a few SLI questions and i've never even looked into SLI'ing before so i'm a complete noob. Hoping you guys can help me out. I've currently got a Windforce GTX 770 2GB and i've just found another one going very cheap online.

I'm wondering whether this card is worth SLI'ing as it's only got the 2GB of memory. Does SLI'ing consume more of each cards memory? What kind of performance bump can I expect? I'm thinking maybe I should hold off and buy another new card outright at the end of the year.

Also i've got an 144hz monitor, does SLI'ing work well for Nvidia 3D vision gaming?
 
Y

Yudoken

Member
Newline said:
Hey guys, i've got a few SLI questions and i've never even looked into SLI'ing before so i'm a complete noob. Hoping you guys can help me out. I've currently got a Windforce GTX 770 2GB and i've just found another one going very cheap online.

I'm wondering whether this card is worth SLI'ing as it's only got the 2GB of memory. Does SLI'ing consume more of each cards memory? What kind of performance bump can I expect? I'm thinking maybe I should hold off and buy another new card outright at the end of the year.

Also i've got an 144hz monitor, does SLI'ing work well for Nvidia 3D vision gaming?
Click to expand...

DX12 (games, which will support it in the near future and only Win 10) will change (and highly improve, what we've heard) how SLI works and kinda makes it so that two cards acts as "one" and they don't share the memory anymore (e.g. you would have a total of 4gb GDDR5 ram with your cards).
But now, SLI is a bit tricky and while most modern games work good with two cards (like Battlefield, Witcher 3, Evolve) there are a lot of games which don't work great and even can have problems like micro stutters, bad or non existent sli profiles (Fifa) and you will not see any improvements (but there are not that many of them anymore).
I highly recommend if you want to "upgrade" by selling your old card and upgrading to a newer one if you want to get good performance without problems.
 
finalflame

finalflame

Banned
Blitzhex said:
I feel like pulling the trigger on this baby.
http://www.samsung.com/us/computer/monitors/LS34E790CNS/ZA
I have a 144hz 27" asus atm and 60hz just looks atrocious to me atm, I've been completely spoiled by my monitor.
Ultra wide QHD curved 34" 21:9 VA is just so sexy though, I'm torn. Please send help.
Click to expand...

Well, it's not an IPS panel, so there's that.

If you primarily game then you have to take into great consideration being stuck at 60hz and dealing with VSync and the frame timing issues it brings. That panel is a sexy piece of hardware, though.

If you do primarily game, I'd say consider the Acer XB270HU first (27", 1440p, 144hz, IPS).
 
N

NeonBlack

Member
So I decided to not wait and try to get the 980ti on release so I made a build around it. I'm new to this so are any of these parts gonna cause issues and if so what would be recommended?


PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($238.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($28.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97X-SLI ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($101.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($103.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Crucial MX200 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($198.99 @ Newegg)
Case: NZXT Phantom (White) ATX Full Tower Case ($109.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $867.92
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-05-31 20:53 EDT-0400
 
R

RoninChaos

Member
hey guys. I have the rog swift monitor mentioned in the op. Any one here have it? I'm having the strangest problem. It looks like the image is shifted to the right and down by an 8th of an inch, so it creates this 8th of an inch bar on the left of the screen and at the top. Is my monitor defective? Or are there any settings I can adjust to get the monitor back in position?
 
B

brentech

Member
Cheapest price I've ever seen (on amazon) for the Samsung 850 EVO 500GB @ 177.99 Prime shipping

I just bought it a couple weeks back myself, but it was still on my pc build wish list and showed a 15% price drop from my initial save.

I built this PC back in March. 2013, and I'm doing a refresh. Waiting on 980Ti to drop along with Windows 10 (currently have a 3 monitor setup on a 4gb 770). Whatever i7 CPU is out at that time is what I'm going with.
Switching over to the Corsair h105 that I just purchased today as it had a little price drop of its own.
 
S

SRG01

Member
Fourth Storm said:
As far as Western Digital HDDs go, I see they have blue, black, and green series. Is there a substantial difference between the 3?
Click to expand...

Black is their highest performance whereas green is "lowest" performance. However, black is the noisiest whereas green is the least out of the three. Blue is somewhat in between these two in terms of performance, efficiency, and noise.

There's a fourth color -- red -- that's also available for WD HDDs.
 
M

Mika

Member
Hello! So I'm finally getting around to trying to build a desktop. Will be my first time foraying into the world of hardware beyond running cables and such. Been using an Asus G73 laptop for the past 5 years, and minor problems keep building on top of each other. Biggest thing is I think my graphics card is partially fried, since sometimes while playing games the screen will just go blank (white or black) or the whole thing will be covered in vertical lines. Usually takes a couple reboots and shutting it down for several hours before it's back.

I tried making a PC Part Picker build here: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/N2fCP6
But I think it's probably more powerful than I need. Options are very welcome. Looking for something where if there's a multiplat game, my PC would be the obvious choice over PS4.

Another thing, I don't know if it affects the choices, but I tend to use my computer laying down, propped up with elbows and pillows. Sitting at a desk has never been comfortable for me. I prefer slim keyboards since the keys are easier to press, but I don't know if there's any ergonomic effect I should consider with that and the monitor and such for my position.

[Basic Desktop Questions]
  • Your Current Specs: CPU / RAM / Motherboard / GPU (Graphics) / PSU (Power Supply) / Case / HDD (Hard Drive)
    ASUS G73Jh (Laptop)
  • Budget: Price Range + Country
    $1500 USD upper range. If I can get that down to 3 digits, it would help a lot.
  • Main Use: Rate 1-5. 5 being Highest: Light Gaming, Gaming, Emulation (PS2/Wii), Video Editing, Streaming games in HD, 3D/Model work (and what program), General Usage (Word, Web, 1080p playback).
    Light Gaming [4], Gaming [5], Emulation [3], Video Editing [1], Streaming games [1], 3D Model work [1], General Usage [5]
  • Monitor Resolution: What resolution will you be playing your games at? Are you going to upgrade later? Are you buying a new monitor?
    Don't have a monitor atm, looking to get something 1080p.
  • List SPECIFIC games or applications that you MUST be able to run well: Is 30FPS acceptable? 60? 120? How important is PhysX / SuperSampling / CUDA to you?
    Final Fantasy XI (haha), XIV later on. Minecraft. I do a lot of stuff with Photoshop, but for normal games I can always go down in specs if I need to. 30 FPS is fine, though I'd like the option to go to 60FPS. Don't need 120. I don't understand what those last bits are.
  • Looking to reuse any parts?: List make and model (e.g. Corsair 520HX, 640GB SATA HDD, Antec 900)
    Only thing I can reuse is a mouse (Microsoft Wireless Mouse 1000), don't know if I should upgrade that as well.
  • When will you build?: Do you have a deadline?
    I'd like to have something by the end of July.
  • Will you be overclocking?: Yes, No, Maybe (This means yes!)
    Maybe (This means yes!)
Click to expand...
 
M

mulac

Member
Finally installed my Asus 980 Strix ordered from PCCG on 7th May – put the request into the asus website via the link on PCCaseGear along with what i really hope is a photo of the serial! Took a few including the silver bar along the bottom of the card where it connects to the motherboard + the front of it.

It said 3-5 days to wait; do they just send an email or what?
Anyone else experience with Asus on this bundle offer?
 
S

StarlordDial

Member
CreepingFear said:
I've decided to get the 980 Ti and Acer XB270H 144 Hz G-Sync monitor. It's Christmas in June for me!
Click to expand...
I'm going for that too but planning to sli that baby !



Also what's the best retailer to order the acer predator XB270HU online and most reliable one ? Im from Hawaii so what's best retailer for me to buy it ?
 
F

Fourth Storm

Member
SRG01 said:
Black is their highest performance whereas green is "lowest" performance. However, black is the noisiest whereas green is the least out of the three. Blue is somewhat in between these two in terms of performance, efficiency, and noise.

There's a fourth color -- red -- that's also available for WD HDDs.
Click to expand...

Thanks, I didn't realize green was so slow. It's hard to tell from the info on Amazon/Newegg. Looks like I'm going with blue.
 
H

HooYaH

Member
Just watched Linus 980ti review and I notice when he was talking about DX12.1, that some effects will be only compatible with newer cards. So I'm guessing even the newer 980ti is excluded from that list and we have to wait for pascal?
 
R

Ryne

Member
I'm looking for a good 1080p monitor with a high refresh rate (around 300 CAD). I'm not looking into getting one of those g-sync monitors as they are all priced way out of my range.

Any suggestions?
 
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