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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
NeOak
Member
He's using a cheap PSU
Garrett Hawke
Member
Idk it sounded similar but much much lower. Also it might be completely unrelated but after swapping the GPU and installing the drivers Arkham Origins wouldn't launch, Arkham City would after a few tries. And the noise only happened when I was "in game", when I was just on the OS there was no noise. I took off the case and listened to the noise while it was happening and it was definitely coming from the PSU. :/
To be fair, I did just google that PSU and it has terrible reviews so maybe it was only okay for all of these years because of the old hardware I was using. I ordered a new one and it should arrive before 1pm tomorrow
EzekelRAGE
Member
750 arrived today. I just put the card into the long black thing in the pic below? Looks like it won't fit unless I remove the metal thing around the hdmi port. If I place it there, I imagine the 750 will just use the hdmi port preinstalled on the desktop?
Edit: I probably just slide those metal plates out the way for the cover to allow the 750's hdmi. lol.
NeOak
Member
I errr... What?
No, you will have to use the port that the card has.
And please tell me the "metal thing" is not the 750's bracket
EzekelRAGE
Member
Yea, metal thing about was the bracket lol :/.
I edited. Saw the little metal slabs you slide out to insert the new card, which allows the hdmi etc for the card. I have it installed now.
Darth Karja
Member
I'm wanting to upgrade from a r7 260x to a r9 290x 8gb. I have no idea how to figure out if I need a bigger power supply.
Here's what I have:
Thermaltake TR2 600W Power supply
XFX R7 260X Video card
AMD FX 8320 Black Edition
Asus M5a97 R2.0 Motherboard
16gb DDR3 Ram (2x8gb)
DVDRW/CDRW Drive
Crucial M500 series 240gb SSD
1 TB Sata HDD
Multimedia card reader
I'm wanting to get the Sapphire R9 290X 8GB Tri-X OC. I'm pretty sure I will have to get a new power supply, but I want to make sure. The one i'm looking at is Corsair CS850M 850 W 80 Gold Plus Certified.
Here's what I have:
Thermaltake TR2 600W Power supply
XFX R7 260X Video card
AMD FX 8320 Black Edition
Asus M5a97 R2.0 Motherboard
16gb DDR3 Ram (2x8gb)
DVDRW/CDRW Drive
Crucial M500 series 240gb SSD
1 TB Sata HDD
Multimedia card reader
I'm wanting to get the Sapphire R9 290X 8GB Tri-X OC. I'm pretty sure I will have to get a new power supply, but I want to make sure. The one i'm looking at is Corsair CS850M 850 W 80 Gold Plus Certified.
EzekelRAGE
Member
Card installed, mission successful!
Nope, you don't need a new PSU. I have a 620w PSU and never go near using all the available wattage. You're totally fine unless you're going to be doing some intense OCing of the GPU.
I think they're releasing the wireless adapter for the new X1 controller coming out later this month. I'm sure it will still use batteries unless you get the rechargeable battery packs (highly recommended)
Yeah, keep in mind that's an 8320. They can pull like 350W+ when overclocked.
As noted, you're definitely going to want to run your processor at stock clocks. You'll most definitely want to move to an Intel platform at some point as well, or get a different PSU, or both.
Alright, then here's what I recommend for best performance to price:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant
CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($319.00 @ CPL Online)
CPU Cooler: CRYORIG H5 Universal 65.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($49.00 @ PCCaseGear)
Motherboard: Asus Z97-K/CSM ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($163.00 @ Centre Com)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($82.00 @ Umart)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($275.00 @ Mwave Australia)
Case: NZXT S340 (Black/Red) ATX Mid Tower Case ($95.00 @ CPL Online)
Power Supply: Antec High Current Gamer 620W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($119.00 @ Umart)
Total: $1102.00
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-06-10 05:16 AEST+1000
There's still around $400 AUD left over. Not sure if you prefer to spend less or don't mind spending right up to the $1500 mark. I'll address your concerns about each part recommendation and list some alternatives.
1. Concerning the motherboard, the Z97-K should be a moderate-level motherboard at a decent price. Nothing too fancy, but it should meet your needs just fine and not bottleneck you in terms of performance or connectivity.
2. The i5 4690K is the latest equivalent to your old i5 2500K. Performance testing suggests that at stock clocks it should perform similarly to the 2500K overclocked to 4.5GHz. You do have the option of going with the i7 4790K ($455) if you like, it fits in your budget. If you do things like video editing or don't plan to upgrade your PC for a long time then I could recommend the more expensive i7 processor, but otherwise concerning PC gaming performance, it's better to stick with the cheaper i5 processor because the gaming framerate differences are minimal. Even for a recent game like GTAV that can make use of more processing threads, the quad core 4690K doesn't lag behind processors with 8 or more processing threads at all, according to Techspot.
3. I'm recommending 2x4GB of DDR3 RAM because you should be able to reuse your existing 8GB of RAM (unless it was damaged by the power supply). Having 16GB of RAM is enough for just about any user in nearly most cases.
4. The S340 has great reviews as a lower priced case. The Corsair 300R ($99) and 230T ($97) are also decent choices. You can and should reuse your fans from the CM 690 with the new case.
5. Having an SSD is nice, especially with the OS and games installed to it. You could spring for a 1TB SSD instead of the 500GB model, the Samsung 850 Evo 1TB model is $500 AUD. Pricey.. but it's up to you if you don't like the relatively small size of other SSDs. Because you're essentially building a new PC and just reusing your old hard drive and graphics card, I'd recommend reinstalling Windows instead of cloning your Windows install over to the new SSD. Here's a guide for cloning from hard drive to SSD if you still prefer that method.
6. For CPU cooling the usual go-to recommendation is the Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo (currently $55), but for some reason it has recently shot up in price. Instead I'm recommending the slightly cheaper Cryorig H5. It's not as proven or well-known as the 212 Evo, but going by the specs and reviews it should be a very capable and slightly stronger performer compared to the 212 Evo. If you are interested in less noise and more silent running, then look into Noctua's offerings. The Noctua NH-D14 ($99) and NH-D15 ($115) are top end air coolers and carry a higher price, but offer a premium level of performance at fairly low noise levels. You can see how all three models compare as tested by Tweaktown reviews here. I wouldn't recommend water cooling because compared to air coolers they don't offer as much performance for a similar price, although if you were willing to shell out more money, high end water coolers can beat out high end air coolers for overall performance.
7. The Antec PSU in the list is a fairly good model. That particular unit is a rebadged Seasonic power supply, and Seasonic is one of the best power supply manufacturers there are. It should offer enough wattage for all of your parts no problem, although there are alternatives if you're looking for more wattage to accommodate future upgrades and reuse in later PC builds. The Antec Earthwatts Green 750 watt model ($95) is not bad for high wattage at a low price. The premium option would be the EVGA Supernova G2 750 watt model ($139), it's gold rated and has fully modular cabling with great reviews and a 10 year warranty.
you wont damage anything, but yes it is usually a sign that your PSU is not "fabtastic"
Idk it sounded similar but much much lower. Also it might be completely unrelated but after swapping the GPU and installing the drivers Arkham Origins wouldn't launch, Arkham City would after a few tries. And the noise only happened when I was "in game", when I was just on the OS there was no noise. I took off the case and listened to the noise while it was happening and it was definitely coming from the PSU. :/
To be fair, I did just google that PSU and it has terrible reviews so maybe it was only okay for all of these years because of the old hardware I was using. I ordered a new one and it should arrive before 1pm tomorrow
Well the 250 gts can draw upwards of 150 watts, whilst the 750 ti only draws like 60-70.
So regardless of how terrible your power-supply is, if it handled the 250 gts, it'll handle the 750 ti.
That's exactly how coil-whine acts by the way, it typically appears during load, and the tone sort of reacts to the framerate.
so a low frame-rate would typically make a deeper sound, whilst high frame-rate will result in a higher pitch sound
SLI and crossfire performance are difficult to measure because it's reliant on the games you play with them, as not all games support multiple GPUs and they don't always scale the same when it comes to performance. I'm speaking in general, but some games work well and see a boost of maybe up to 75%, others not so much.
To say the least.. depending on what game you play, I think twin GTX 670s can equal or maybe even outperform a GTX 970 but only if the game supports SLI well. Otherwise it'll perform quite a bit worse. I'm basing that assumption on the fact that twin GTX 770s can potentially outperform a GTX 970 by a fair bit, and that a single GTX 770 is just a slight bump up from a single GTX 670. Keep in mind that doesn't take driver optimizations into account, and the GTX 970 being a fairly recent card will see more from the latest drivers improving game performance than SLI GTX 670s will.
The amount of VRAM doesn't really impact performance so much as let you choose higher graphics settings without being bottlenecked in some way. For some games, setting the graphics higher and using more VRAM your graphics card has can cause performance loss and stuttering, but somehow it seems the current GTX 960 2GB isn't really prone to that, even on the latest games (at least not on ridiculously high settings, anyway).
Your processor might also make a difference - is your i7 870 overclocked? IIRC that model should be capable of hitting somewhere just under 4.5GHz with a good cooler.
Why the 8GB R9 290X? Planning to run crossfire at super high resolution? Your processor might be a bottleneck for some games.
Garrett Hawke
Member
Alright, thanks for the reassurance
I was worried I'd damaged something, but I figured I would just replace it anyway.Depends on your PC's airflow, ventilation, and fans, but I'd expect somewhere under 40 degrees Celsius. Load temperatures are more important, though.
I'll leave it as is at the moment, when I get home tonight I'll leave it running the witcher for a while and see how the temps go.
They were acceptable before so I'm not too concerned.
If I were to upgrade to a 980ti would I get benefits from using a blower design cooler or would a non reference cooler still have more pros?
The cheapest build in the OP should be on par if not a bit better than the alpha. I can't seem to find a lot of info about what gpu the alpha uses but I seem to recall it being based on an existing mobile one that would be around 750ti levels.
It may be best to hold out a couple of weeks amd should be unveiling their new GPU lines and rumours have it that they'll have a card that'll beat the 750ti and may be around the same price.
Just remember that if you build it yourself it probably won't fit in a form factor as small as the Alienware alpha.
Darth Karja
Member
Thanks. That will save me a good bit of money.
I figured since I was upgrading my card, I might as well get something better. Started at R9 285, but for a little more I could get a R9 290, and I kept going up and up. Im not planning on crossfire or super high resolutions either, so if there is another card you think would be better, I'm open to suggestions. I don't know a whole lot about this stuff.
Oh, that's okay. I'd prefer the bigger chassis. Should give the components more breathing room. I'm actually trying to build one that doesn't cost too much. So I can get my first experience. I saw some recommendations on yt, but the price for the components had gone up considerably. Also, they were going with the included cpu cooler, which from what I've been told isn't very good idea?
Thanks!
If you play at 1440p or lower, I'd recommend the 4GB version of the R9 290X, it's the same performance for cheaper. The only reason the 8GB model exists is for crossfiring two of them for extremely high graphics settings at 4K resolution. Tom's Hardware's review of the Sapphire R9 290X 8GB notes little difference at 1080p and slightly moderate gains for 4K performance compared to the 4GB model. Hardware.info's review shows little reason to go for the 8GB model.
If you're looking to save money, consider the R9 290 as well. It offers slightly less performance (~90% of the R9 290X) for an even steeper price drop. The R9 290 is probably what I'd recommend in the end.
How much do you intend to spend? The Alienware Alpha starts at $500 and goes up to $850. We'd be happy to give parts recommendations. Do you need to factor anything like the monitor, peripherals, or Windows OS into the budget as well?
The stock CPU cooler is ok, but not great. Definitely not very good if you intend to go with an overclockable CPU, the extra heat is just too much for the small hockey puck cooler. At heavy loads the fan on the small cooler also spins very fast and loud, which can be annoying. There are decent CPU cooler alternatives for less than $50, though.
Wow, that's weird. Sounds like a couple of the memory chips but not all were fried somehow. I've had motherboards that had faulty RAM slots and didn't report RAM sticks properly, but I guess you've ruled out that possibility by testing it on multiple motherboards, that was a good idea.
Deadly Cyclone
Pride of Iowa State
So I got my first gaming PC recently (HP Envy Phoenix, i7 4790k, GTX 980) and I need to upgrade RAM. How do I know exactly what to buy?
I was thinking this, but am not sure if it'll work in my PC:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00J8E91H2/?tag=neogaf0e-20
Also any recommendations for SSD?
I was thinking this, but am not sure if it'll work in my PC:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00J8E91H2/?tag=neogaf0e-20
Also any recommendations for SSD?
Amazing.
I'll take a look at this and do my own research and come back to you of course with any other questions.
Here's one already: Operating System, should I dig up my W7 disc (I have no idea where that is) or go for W8? I've already one gaffer msg me about selling W8 pro.
I don't suppose you know the specific model number for your PC or something like that? I'd check their support website, but there are 41 different models of the HP Envy Phoenix listed on their support website.
Chances are the Kingston RAM will fit and is compatible, but you may want to check certain details. The motherboard may not support higher speed RAM, for example. Sometimes companies like HP will cheap out on the motherboard, but in your case because the PC came with a i7 4790K instead of the i7 4790, it might have a Z87 or Z97 motherboard which will support faster RAM. It's never a bad idea to check for compatibility.
As for the SSD, we usually recommend Crucial (BX100/MX100/MX200) or Samsung (850 Evo/Pro) around here, usually whichever is cheaper. How large of an SSD are you looking for?
Deadly Cyclone
Pride of Iowa State
If you have a product key for Windows 7, chances are that it's tied to the computer hardware it was installed on. You can try reusing it, but I don't know if Windows will let you activate using that key. You may need to call Microsoft and tell them you were upgrading your old PC and that you'd like them to help you manually reactivate Windows on the new PC. They might refuse you on the basis that it's practically a brand new PC and that it needs a separate Windows license key, though.
You can buy a Windows 8 key if you like and if the price is right. Performance-wise there's not much separating Windows 7 and 8/8.1 when it comes to games. A while back EA stirred up a little controversy by saying Windows 8 was recommended for Battlefield 4, HardOCP decided to try it out to see if there was a difference and it only turned out to be a +6% improvement in favor of Windows 8.1, just a small difference.
Anyway, Windows 10 will be coming out within two months and as long as you have a valid Windows 7/8/8.1 key, you are good for a free copy of Windows 10. If you are gonna get that as soon as possible, then it won't matter too much about whether you'll be using 7 or 8.1 for the time being.
According to the support website, your PC has a Z97 motherboard and the website says it'll support RAM up to 1600MHz. The 1866MHz RAM you were looking at will still work in your PC, but it'll run at the slower speed of 1600MHz.
It's best to get RAM with speed and latency that matches your existing RAM. In your case, you should be looking for 1600MHz memory. How much RAM does your PC already have? If we know that, we can decide whether you want 1 stick of 8GB or 2 sticks of 4GB. If you don't want to open up the case, you can use a program like Speccy or HWInfo to detect and find out.
Deadly Cyclone
Pride of Iowa State
Has 1 stick of 8GB currently. It's the crappy HP ram, so i was going to get two of the 8GB Kingston sticks to replace that stick.
Budget is between $600 - $700. Hoping to get more familiar with putting it together, I would probably prefer to get a better cooler just to be on the safer side. I've got Keyboards, and mouse covered. I'll need to buy an os license. Oh, and I was planning on hooking it up to my game room tv. is that a viable option? I plan on playing with the ps4 or Xbox one controller.
I agree that it's a bit early to look for potential parts, but depending on what graphical quality your friend wants to play games (as well as what games he'll be playing), he'll probably need a fairly strong graphics card, probably a flagship tier card or maybe even crossfire/SLI with midrange or high end graphics cards to get 90+ FPS at 1440p for some especially demanding games.
There's not really a way to future proof a PC, there's always something new on the horizon. Late 2015 wouldn't be too bad of a time to buy, though. The best thing you could do is buy into a new platform so you're not stuck with older generation parts and support. Skylake, AMD R9 3XX line, etc will be out by then and there should be a lot of user and professional reviews on them available to research exactly what kind of parts would best fit his needs. In terms of future upgrades, waiting for Skylake would be nice as it'll be coming on a new motherboard platform with a new CPU socket and lineup, plus some newer features like USB 3.1 and USB type C, DDR4 support, etc.
According to the HP support website, the motherboard only supports running RAM at 1600MHz. You won't really notice a difference by replacing it with a 1866MHz stick of RAM that will be forced to run at 1600MHz anyway. It's your choice if you want to replace the RAM, though.
Two of those sticks of Kingston would cost about $115, you can get a 2x8GB kit of G.Skill 2133MHz RAM for $95 including free shipping, that's a better deal. There's also this slightly cheaper 2x8GB kit of Mushkin 1600MHz RAM for $90 after $10 coupon including free shipping.
Yeah, $600~700 is totally doable for a PC build to outperform the $850 Alienware Alpha model, including a decent CPU cooler. You have two options for the OS license, you can get a normal retail copy for a bit under $90 or buy a cheap Windows license key off reddit. Here's my standard disclaimer for buying from reddit:
Windows 7/8.1 licenses can be bought from reddit's microsoftsoftwareswap for $20 USD or less. These are most likely legitimate keys that are resold from educational programs like Technet or Dreamspark. However, you are dealing with a person instead of a retailer, and informal Windows keys sales are not approved by Microsoft and probably breaking some licensing agreement, but it's not illegal. The risks involved are that the person could be selling you a fake or used key, or that Microsoft may refuse to give you support and/or deactivate your license and refuse to reactivate it. That's not very likely, usually it only happens if the seller and their list of sold keys was caught. We've had people here using those keys without issues for a long time and others who say Microsoft deactivated their key after several months.
And yeah, it's viable to use a TV as a monitor. Pretty much all video cards come with HDMI output. Oh, and just to make sure, you're in the US?
Here's an example PC build:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant
CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($229.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($26.98 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97-HD3 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($79.89 @ OutletPC)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($52.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($49.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R9 280 3GB DUAL-X Video Card ($162.98 @ Newegg)
Case: NZXT Source 210 Elite (White) ATX Mid Tower Case ($43.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: EVGA 600B 600W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($44.00 @ Newegg)
Total: $690.81
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-06-09 22:20 EDT-0400
I might have jumped the gun a bit, that build does cut very close to your upper budget limit.. but the processor and graphics card is already stronger than the Alienware Alpha $850 model for $690 after discounts and rebates. If you don't mind dropping the CPU cooler for now or going with a cheaper non-overclocking CPU and motherboard, that'd bring down the cost by a bit more. You could also go for a cheaper graphics card, the one in the Alienware Alpha is about equal to a GTX 750 Ti, you could go for that (the 750 Ti starts as low as $110) or an AMD R9 270X (starting at $140).
If you prefer to play it safe and buy the $90 retail copy of Windows, then I recommend going with a cheaper non-overclocking i5 processor and motherboard that will still deliver strong performance. This build features the GTX 960 instead which costs a bit more than the R9 280 but is a bit quieter and produces less heat, and the entire build still comes in at around $600. The 212 Evo CPU cooler isn't really needed since the i5 4460 can't be overclocked, but you can still add it back to the parts list or install it later if you feel the stock cooler isn't good enough at cooling or is too loud.
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant
CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($176.98 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-B85M-GAMING 3 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($44.45 @ OutletPC)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($52.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($49.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 960 2GB Video Card ($194.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: NZXT Source 210 Elite (White) ATX Mid Tower Case ($43.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: EVGA 600B 600W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($44.00 @ Newegg)
Total: $607.39
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-06-09 22:36 EDT-0400
Ok so here's my variation. I've upgraded a couple of components to the better suggestions you made, and also changed the vendors to the best option in terms of shipping. I've got a few questions at the bottom.
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant
CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($322.00 @ PCCaseGear)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D14 65.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($99.00 @ PCCaseGear)
Motherboard: Asus Z97-K/CSM ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($163.00 @ Centre Com)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($85.00 @ PCCaseGear)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($289.00 @ PCCaseGear)
Case: NZXT S340 (Black/Red) ATX Mid Tower Case ($99.00 @ PCCaseGear)
Power Supply: EVGA 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($145.00 @ Centre Com)
Total: $1202.00
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-06-10 11:49 AEST+1000
Questions: based on the picture, this RAM looks like what I have already (http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=13931&cPath=912)
Is it better to go with that instead of the one you suggested? (http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=16510&cPath=912) or will there be no issues mixing those two?
Question regarding the motherboard, I know you said it shouldn't bottleneck me, but out of curiosity, what are the benefits of getting a 'fancy' mobo?
What's a good price for Windows 8 Pro?
Thanks again for your help.
The RAM you linked to has the exact same specs (1.5 volts, 1600MHz speed and CL9 latency) as the set I suggested. The $89 kit has the older Ripjaws style design while the $85 kit has the newer Ripjaws X design. It's just a matter of looks, it doesn't mean anything. Since it's just a difference of $4, it's up to you whether you want to save the money or get the other set so all of your RAM has a matching look. There will be no problems mixing them as they're technically the same, they just have a different exterior design.
More expensive motherboards come with extra features that the basic Z97 specifications don't include. Extra SATA/USB/fan connectors, fancy LEDs, additional features like wifi/bluetooth, gimmicks like smartphone apps to control parts of the motherboard, etc. Aside from that, more expensive motherboards can have better power phase delivery circuitry and control for greater overclocking (kinda technical but read here for more info), but you don't really need that unless you're doing extreme overclocking around and over 4.8GHz. Even power users don't need to overclock higher than 4.5GHz or so. I'd say the Asus Z97-K motherboard falls into the lower-middle range, it's a bit cheap but has a moderately decent feature set. Not a lot of bells and whistles, but it's not completely low end and barebones either.
Do you need Windows 8 Pro? The Pro version just comes with extra features mainly aimed at business, school, and enterprise level companies looking for additional networking and encryption support. You can see the differences in features here. The standard non-professional version of Windows 8.1 should be just fine for home users. Anyway according to PCPartPicker, retail copies of Windows 8.1 go for $129 and Windows 8.1 Pro for $159. If you were talking about how much to pay for the license keys from reddit sellers, they all have set prices, all versions of Windows keys they are selling should be $25 AUD or less after currency conversion.
Their PC builder is kinda limited when it comes to parts selection and it doesn't always use the sale prices of the parts that are available for you to choose.
It's a lot better if you add all the parts you want to the shopping cart and then add the $50 assembly service to the cart. You can get the sale prices and also pricematch other retailers if you do it that way, and you aren't limited to regular prices on the PC builder's limited parts selection. It still comes with warranty as well.
Are you in the US or Canada? If you're in the US, this is the link for the NCIXUS shopping cart assembly service.
That is part of the reason I'd want to go back to a single card. I had massive issues with Evolve and had to run the game on a single card, thus giving way less performance at 2560x1600. Most games seem to scale ok, but sometimes I have to wait for SLI profiles or subsequent drivers for issues with SLI to be fixed.
This is the thing I worry about, with the 770 only being a slight bump up from the 670 and those comparison numbers showing the SLI setup coming out on top in some scenarios.
One option could be to SLI down the line with another 970, but then I run in to the same issues where some games shit the bed.
This is something that I should probably look in to. I haven't done any overclocking since the Pentium 4 days. Also my current case (Antec 900) is terrible for cable management and the case fans + SLI cards means extra cables everywhere.
I've been thinking about a case upgrade for some time now, so I might just do that for now, get a good cooler and then OC my CPU.
Could just leave the video card stuff until next year when the Pascal stuff drops.
Deadly Cyclone
Pride of Iowa State
Thanks for the tips RGM79.
Last question, if I get an SSD, I'll need to move windows to it. Being this is a pre-built machine I think I saw my Windows key in the My Computer area, also I think it's stored in the BIOS. Would I just wipe this HDD and pop in the SSD and tell Windows to install there (from a USB stick)? Would the PC automatically recognize both drives? Also does the SSD come with cables?
Also, dumb question, but steam saves are stored online right? Don't want to lose my Witcher 3 progress.
Last question, if I get an SSD, I'll need to move windows to it. Being this is a pre-built machine I think I saw my Windows key in the My Computer area, also I think it's stored in the BIOS. Would I just wipe this HDD and pop in the SSD and tell Windows to install there (from a USB stick)? Would the PC automatically recognize both drives? Also does the SSD come with cables?
Also, dumb question, but steam saves are stored online right? Don't want to lose my Witcher 3 progress.
Is this a good deal? Friend is selling me his Alienware Alpha for $600.
- Intel Core i7-4765T Processor 2.0Ghz Base Frequency (8M Cache, up to 3.00 GHz)
- Windows 8.1 Home x64
- Alpha chassis with NVIDIA GeForce GTX GPU 2GB GDDR5
- 8GB Dual Channel DDR3L at 1600MHz (2 DIMMs)
- 2TB 5400rpm Hard Drive
opticalmace
Member
Apparently that's the $849 config of the Alpha, so yeah that's not bad at all, if that is what you're looking for. I would still lean towards just buildling a PC probably, as the Alpha makes compromises for the sake of a small footprint.
Look up some Alpha benchmarks and see if that is what you're looking for.
I'm not really into benchmarks, but as long as these specs are on par with or surpass the XboxOne/PS4 specs, I'm good with it. Trying to ease my way into PC gaming, maybe in 5 years I will opt for building one when I get an appreciation for a beefier machine.
ShyGuy0504
Member
Is this SSD good?
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00OBRE5UE/?tag=neogaf0e-20
I'm thinking about buying two of them for my new build and since they are almost $100 cheaper than normal.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00OBRE5UE/?tag=neogaf0e-20
I'm thinking about buying two of them for my new build and since they are almost $100 cheaper than normal.
exmachina64
Banned
Yes.
Oh shit. Didn't realize I could just pick my own parts for them to assemble!
I'm in Canada.
You can reinstall Windows if you like. Almost all prebuilt PCs today have their Windows license key data stored in a part of the BIOS and Windows 8.1 can automatically read that and activate itself without asking for a license key. You can also use a program like Speccy to display the Windows license key in case you want to write it down for your own recordkeeping. Yes, you can just wipe the hard drive, and the PC and Windows installer will automatically detect all connected drives as long as they're plugged in properly. Most SSDs just come with just the drive itself and maybe some accessories (at most you'll get a plastic or metal bracket, a software disc or a code to redeem a drive partitioning program like Paragon Partition Manager or similar), but they rarely come with cables, so in this case you'll probably need to buy a SATA cable.
You also have the option of cloning the existing Windows installation on the existing hard drive to the new SSD. It's less of a fuss if you already have things set up the way you want, and it's relatively painless compared to reinstalling Windows. However if there's bloatware from HP that you want to get rid of, I can understand why you want to reinstall a clean copy of Windows.
The Witcher 3 save data is apparently stored both on your PC and on Steam Cloud. It's said that there's a copy on your PC at "%USERPROFILE%\Documents\The Witcher 3\gamesaves". Apparently some people have tried deleting the saves located there and they still see their progress safely kept in Steam Cloud. You should copy and back up that folder just in case you think Steam Cloud might not synchronize your latest save file data when you reinstall Steam and The Witcher 3.
Samsung 850 and Crucial BX100 are good.
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