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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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So, I picked up a Cougar CF-V12HP fan for my Hyper 212 Evo... can I use the rubber pin things in the Hyper 212's mounting bracket, or should I go with the screws?
 

xezuru

Member
Final roundup of upgrade parts.

I don't believe in the fatality marketing but just happened to look like a slightly modified ASRock MOBO that happens to be the cheaper deal if you trust rebates.
Should I worry and just go back to an ASRock Pro or something?
Other than that, I thiiiink I'm good to go?
 
Asus, EVGA, MSI and Gigabyte make the better models. Bookmark this link for an always current index of prices.

The Asus Strix GTX 970 is good for midrange performance and quiet operation. For EVGA, aim for Superclocked edition or faster, can't really go wrong. MSI's Gaming 4G model is their best and well suited for overclocking, as well as having a silent mode like the Asus Strix. Gigabyte has their G1 Gaming edition, which is a very large cooler (may not fit your case) but offers some of the best GPU cooling.



Go with i5 in that case. The i7's hyperthreading makes little to no difference when it comes to game framerate. Look at this benchmark - scroll down - and you'll see that the i5 and i7 produce near identical framerate for nearly all games.



No way to tell power supply details unless you open up the computer's side panels to take a look. There could be a sticker on the opposite side of the power supply, not just the side facing out of the open case.

You do not need to worry about PCI-E at all. PCI-E 2.0 and 3.0 are backwards compatible, and there is no real speed difference as even PCI-E 2.0 x8 is enough for the latest high end graphics cards. PCI-E 3.0 and x16 is for now just super high speed extra headroom for the future (and high end PCI-E SSD devices, if those are still a thing.)

Testing benchmarks:
http://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/Impact-of-PCI-E-Speed-on-Gaming-Performance-518/
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/graphics-performance-myths-debunked,3739-3.html



Depends on the games you play and at what graphical settings.
EXCELLENT INFO. THANKS!
 

RGM79

Member
Hey gaf my poor GPU is finally starting to show it's age but I can't really justify spending more than $200 on an upgrade. What are my options to get considerable and noticeably better performance than my current 6870 under $200?

What power supply do you have? The absolute best graphics card you can get for less than $200 (after rebate) would be the R9 285, although sometimes the R9 280X also drops under $200 (current cheapest R9 280X is the Club3D model for $206). I recommend the following R9 285 models:

XFX Radeon R9 285 2GB Double Dissipation - $185 after $30 rebate
PowerColor Radeon R9 285 2GB TurboDuo - $170 after $20 rebate

Here's what the R9 285 can do in comparison to your 6870. The cheapest Nvidia model for less than $200 is the GTX 760 (starting at $190), and while it is also a substantial upgrade over the 6870, it is not quite as good as the R9 285, and definitely slower than the 280X by a bit.

This is what I'm looking at right now.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor (Purchased For $289.99)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($34.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97X-SLI ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($126.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-2133 Memory (Purchased For $64.98)
Storage: Crucial MX100 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($110.98 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 4GB WINDFORCE Video Card ($359.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Fractal Design Define R4 w/Window (Black Pearl) ATX Mid Tower Case ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Antec High Current Gamer 620W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($83.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $1151.88
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-01-08 14:28 EST-0500

Looks fine to me. I forgot if I asked you or not, but do you have to go with Newegg for everything? It's probably a bit cheaper to go with other retailers. If you wanted to get as much as you could from just one or two retailers, NCIX will let you pricematch items from other retailers.

Also, I'd recommend the Define R5 if it fits in your budget, but the R4 is still a decent case at a alright price drop from the Define R5.

So, I picked up a Cougar CF-V12HP fan for my Hyper 212 Evo... can I use the rubber pin things in the Hyper 212's mounting bracket, or should I go with the screws?

The Hyper 212 Evo should have already come with stick-on rubber pads for the plastic mounting brackets that will reduce vibration, but if the rubber pins fit and hold the fan snug, you could use them.

Final roundup of upgrade parts.

I don't believe in the fatality marketing but just happened to look like a slightly modified ASRock MOBO that happens to be the cheaper deal if you trust rebates.
Should I worry and just go back to an ASRock Pro or something?
Other than that, I thiiiink I'm good to go?

I'm a bit wary of garish gamer branding on lower budget motherboards as well, but going by the specs sheet the fatality motherboard is nearly identical to the Pro4, save for a pointless "special USB 2.0 port" just for the mouse and some audio chipset differences. There's also some differences in the physical layout of the expansion slots, but nothing really worth noting. It's fine to go with the fatality motherboard, it's even slightly cheaper than the Pro4. Overall, user reviews of the fatality motherboard on Newegg are good (4/5 average), although there are a small number of people who have all experienced dead motherboards out of the box.
 

bomblord1

Banned
What power supply do you have? The absolute best graphics card you can get for less than $200 (after rebate) would be the R9 285, although sometimes the R9 280X also drops under $200 (current cheapest R9 280X is the Club3D model for $206). I recommend the following R9 285 models:

XFX Radeon R9 285 2GB Double Dissipation - $185 after $30 rebate
PowerColor Radeon R9 285 2GB TurboDuo - $170 after $20 rebate

Here's what the R9 285 can do in comparison to your 6870. The cheapest Nvidia model for less than $200 is the GTX 760 (starting at $190), and while it is also a substantial upgrade over the 6870, it is not quite as good as the R9 285, and definitely slower than the 280X by a bit.



Looks fine to me. I forgot if I asked you or not, but do you have to go with Newegg for everything? It's probably a bit cheaper to go with other retailers. If you wanted to get as much as you could from just one or two retailers, NCIX will let you pricematch items from other retailers.

Also, I'd recommend the Define R5 if it fits in your budget, but the R4 is still a decent case at a alright price drop from the Define R5.



The Hyper 212 Evo should have already come with stick-on rubber pads for the plastic mounting brackets that will reduce vibration, but if the rubber pins fit and hold the fan snug, you could use them.



I'm a bit wary of garish gamer branding on lower budget motherboards as well, but going by the specs sheet the fatality motherboard is nearly identical to the Pro4, save for a pointless "special USB 2.0 port" just for the mouse and some audio chipset differences. There's also some differences in the physical layout of the expansion slots, but nothing really worth noting. It's fine to go with the fatality motherboard, it's even slightly cheaper than the Pro4. Overall, user reviews of the fatality motherboard on Newegg are good (4/5 average), although there are a small number of people who have all experienced dead motherboards out of the box.

It's an 800 watt so I'm not particularly bothered by any power requirements. Also, when did the r9 285 come out?? Last I seen the 280 was all there was.
 

RGM79

Member
It's an 800 watt so I'm not particularly bothered by any power requirements. Also, when did the r9 285 come out?? Last I seen the 280 was all there was.

It was released in September. On paper it has slightly lower specs than the R9 280X, but is a newer and more efficient design with new features that makes it better than the 280 and can even rival the 280X in some respects, although it only has 2GB VRAM compared to the 3GB VRAM on the 280X.
 
Looks fine to me. I forgot if I asked you or not, but do you have to go with Newegg for everything? It's probably a bit cheaper to go with other retailers. If you wanted to get as much as you could from just one or two retailers, NCIX will let you pricematch items from other retailers.

Also, I'd recommend the Define R5 if it fits in your budget, but the R4 is still a decent case at a alright price drop from the Define R5.
I figure it'd be easier to just get everything from them. I have a trial of Newegg Premier that expires next month. Also no tax. Edit: I see NCIX doesn't have tax either.
 

bomblord1

Banned
It was released in September. On paper it has slightly lower specs than the R9 280X, but is a newer and more efficient design with new features that makes it better than the 280 and can even rival the 280X in some respects, although it only has 2GB VRAM compared to the 3GB VRAM on the 280X.

That's weird AMD usually names their cards according to power.
 

RGM79

Member
I figure it'd be easier to just get everything from them. I have a trial of Newegg Premier that expires next month. Also no tax.

Fair enough.

That's weird AMD usually names their cards according to power.

Well, the name sort of vaguely suggests that. Without knowing anything specific about the R9 285, you'd assume the 285 to be between the 280X and 290, but it isn't. I guess they wanted to label it slightly higher than the 280 because it is fairly close to the 280 in specs, and settled on 285 instead of something like the "R9 280 Plus".
 
That's weird AMD usually names their cards according to power.

It looks less powerful on paper because it is using a different core. the 280/280X are use Tahiti cores, the 285 use the Tonga cores that are in the 290s. The cores run more efficiently so it doesn't need as many stream processors in order to keep up with or outperform the 280X in certain situations. This means that it also gets a bigger theoretical boost (I haven't seen updated benchmarks yet) and more features (it can downsample) from the Omega Driver update as well.
 

RGM79

Member
Will that power supply be too much? Going by estimates it will be significantly more than what I need. Read too much excess will hurt efficiency. Thanks for the replies.
No, it's fine. I've never heard that extra headroom is bad. If anything, power supplies perform best when operating below their maximum capacity. For all power supplies, running at lower capacity under their stated maximum means longer lifespan, lower temperatures, and higher efficiency.

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/Antec-High-Current-Gamer-M-620-W-Power-Supply-Review/1495/7
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Antec/HCG-620M/5.html

efficiency.jpg


You can see in testing that efficiency is best when operating at lower wattage and gets gradually lower as wattage usage goes up. It's harder to be more power efficient when the power supply has to work harder to deliver more power. If you're worried about efficiency, there are 80 plus gold rated power supplies I can recommend from Newegg.

Rosewill Capstone 550 watt gold rated non-modular for $65 - manufactured by Super Flower, which means good quality. Reviews of the 450, 650, and 750 watt version were excellent. Perfect if you don't intend to do SLI in the future.
Antec TruePower 750 watt Classic series gold rated non modular for $74 after $30 rebate - manufactured by Seasonic, which is also good quality. Enough wattage for SLI GTX 970.

Hmm, both would seem to be cheaper and better than the Antec 620 watt power supply. That Antec HCG-M power supply is also made by Seasonic. Sorry for not bringing them to your attention earlier, I skimmed over your build and I didn't see any cheaper alternatives then, I must have missed them. Sorry if you already went ahead and ordered.

Anyway your parts list is alright, there's nothing I can recommend to save any money elsewhere. For the motherboard you could look at the ASRock Z97 Extreme4, after rebate it comes out to the same price as the Gigabyte Z97X-SLI. It seems to have more and/or slightly better features and may be better suited to overclocking. However, Newegg reviews are a bit worse for the ASRock model as there's a sizable proportion of reviews all stating that the motherboard fails to turn on, some after a few days or weeks, others reporting DOA out of the box.
 
No, it's fine. I've never heard that extra headroom is bad. If anything, power supplies perform best when operating below their maximum capacity. For all power supplies, running at lower capacity under their stated maximum means longer lifespan, lower temperatures, and higher efficiency.

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/Antec-High-Current-Gamer-M-620-W-Power-Supply-Review/1495/7
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Antec/HCG-620M/5.html

efficiency.jpg


You can see in testing that efficiency is best when operating at lower wattage and gets gradually lower as wattage usage goes up. It's harder to be more power efficient when the power supply has to work harder to deliver more power. If you're worried about efficiency, there are 80 plus gold rated power supplies I can recommend from Newegg.

Rosewill Capstone 550 watt gold rated non-modular for $65 - manufactured by Super Flower, which means good quality. Reviews of the 450, 650, and 750 watt version were excellent. Perfect if you don't intend to do SLI in the future.
Antec TruePower 750 watt Classic series gold rated non modular for $74 after $30 rebate - manufactured by Seasonic, which is also good quality. Enough wattage for SLI GTX 970.

Hmm, both would seem to be cheaper and better than the Antec 620 watt power supply. That Antec HCG-M power supply is also made by Seasonic. Sorry for not bringing them to your attention earlier, I skimmed over your build and I didn't see any cheaper alternatives then, I must have missed them. Sorry if you already went ahead and ordered.

Anyway your parts list is alright, there's nothing I can recommend to save any money elsewhere. For the motherboard you could look at the ASRock Z97 Extreme4, after rebate it comes out to the same price as the Gigabyte Z97X-SLI. It seems to have more and/or slightly better features and may be better suited to overclocking. However, Newegg reviews are a bit worse for the ASRock model as there's a sizable proportion of reviews all stating that the motherboard fails to turn on, some after a few days or weeks, others reporting DOA out of the box.
Thanks, I'll give those a look. Haven't ordered anything yet.

Edit: Didn't think about it until now, but are there any student discounts on computer components? Probably non existent due to the lower profit margins.
 

RGM79

Member
Thanks, I'll give those a look. Haven't ordered anything yet.

Edit: Didn't think about it until now, but are there any student discounts on computer components? Probably non existent due to the lower profit margins.

I don't know of any student discounts on PC parts, as such things don't really count as school-related expenses. Apple provides some student discounts for their products as they tend to be popular for the age demographic of college and university students.

Well, there's Amazon Student. It's similar to Amazon Prime in that you get better shipping - free two day shipping on a lot of stuff, not just school-related items. However, there haven't been any decent deals on PC parts from Amazon lately.
 

NJDEN

Member
Hey RGM79, thanks for all the feedback.

I think the i5 4690k is definitely the best option for processor. I'll probably go with that and cook something up from Amazon in terms of a motherboard & PSU.

Thanks for the help!
 

RGM79

Member
Hey RGM79, thanks for all the feedback.

I think the i5 4690k is definitely the best option for processor. I'll probably go with that and cook something up from Amazon in terms of a motherboard & PSU.

Thanks for the help!

No problem.

OK so I'm about to do my build

And

Is it ok if I stand on carpet while building the pc on a wooden desk?

Femmeworth is right, but if you can't get one at the moment or don't want to buy an anti-static strap you'll likely never use very much, just remember to periodically ground yourself every so often or before you handle any electronic parts. Try to avoid touching metal/gold contacts.

http://www.wikihow.com/Ground-Yourself-to-Avoid-Destroying-a-Computer-with-Electrostatic-Discharge
http://www.wikihow.com/Remove-Static-Electricity
 

Portugeezer

Member
I am thinking about building a PC in the near future, GPU is going to be a R9 290, but I'm checking CPU's and Intel is more or less around double the price as the equivalent AMD CPU (on The Witcher 3 Specs).

I went with AMD CPU on my previous PC and was met by some CPU bottlenecks in a handful of games. So I'm just wondering, how is the AMD FX-8350 in comparison to a Intel i7-3770, and how important is CPU going to be for PC gaming? I realise consoles have weaker CPU's but more cores so I don't know if this will have a factor in future games.

Thanks.
 

RGM79

Member
does 16GB of RAM help in games or is 8 enough?

For now, 16GB is still mostly for those doing media production like video editing. Most people will get by just fine with 8-12GB.

Try loading up a large game (open world, etc) while running a bunch of stuff like a web browser and video playing at the same time, see what your RAM usage is like.
 

RGM79

Member
I am thinking about building a PC in the near future, GPU is going to be a R9 290, but I'm checking CPU's and Intel is more or less around double the price as the equivalent AMD CPU (on The Witcher 3 Specs).

I went with AMD CPU on my previous PC and was met by some CPU bottlenecks in a handful of games. So I'm just wondering, how is the AMD FX-8350 in comparison to a Intel i7-3770, and how important is CPU going to be for PC gaming? I realise consoles have weaker CPU's but more cores so I don't know if this will have a factor in future games.

Thanks.

What are your current PC's specs?

The Witcher 3's recommended CPUs seem to be a bit odd. I wouldn't consider the Phenom II X4 close in performance to the 2500K. Same with the 8350 and the 3770K. They seem to be equating the processors simply because the first two are quad cores from 2011, and the latter two are 2012 processors with 8 processing threads (8350 has 8 cores while the 3770K is a hyperthreading quad core).

The Phenom II X4 940 is a pretty old processor, so maybe this means the Witcher 3 won't be really dependent on a strong CPU. Then again.. there are these benchmarks for the Witcher 2, and the Phenom II X4 940 is performing on the same level as an i3 processor. I'm not exactly sure how they're getting those testing results, though.

In general, you want to go Intel i5 for gaming. It'll depend on the games you play, but the i5 is better than most AMD CPUs for framerate performance and will do you well for a couple of years with some overclocking. Not many PC games can make use of hyperthreading, so it's hard to recommend an i7 just for games.

Console CPU won't matter. You can't run console games on PC, so it won't matter if the console game is programmed to make use of multiple cores when it has to be reworked for PCs anyway. Few PC games, even the most recent ones, don't make use of multiple threads very well. There's little to no difference between the i5 4690K and the i7 4790K for framerate in many games for example, although it can vary by the game.
 

Knch

Member
I don't know anything about PC hardware so I am looking for advice etc.

Took a look at the sheet in the OP, followed that mostly and came up with this:


(total price = €886,57)

Anything I could/should swap out to get more bang for my buck? Maybe in the GPU or RAM area. Any advice is appreciated.

That's azerty.nl, right? Try tweakers.net pricewatcher, there's far cheaper stores around than Azerty... (You might be able to get a more recent/efficient/fully modular PSU for the same or less for instance (not that I didn't buy the exact same one once...))
 
Hi guys, need some help.

The next component I'm focusing on is a PSU for a Intel Core i7-5820K, 2GB R9 270x build.

I need to save some cash so I am thinking of going for a good 650W PSU, I take it this should be sufficient?

And can anyone point me to any recommended PSUs that are at least 650W but not more expensive than £80?

The one I'm looking at is the SuperFlower Leadex GOLD 650W, which has a good review on Bit-Tech.

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/psus/2014/06/20/550w-650w-psu-roundup/10
 

Delstius

Member
Hey there, I'm trying to build something decent for gaming that will last a few years and since I didn't do this for ages, I feel like a noob. Anyway, so far, here's what I have in mind (pcpartlist) after using the recommendations in the OP and checking what's reasonably available in my country (France).
Breakdown of the main stuff :
OS : Windows 7
Case : Corsair Carbide (closest thing to what I plan)
PSU : Antec HCG - 620W
Heatsink : Thermalright MACHO 120 Rev.A
CPU : Intel Core i5 4690K
Motherboard : Gigabyte GA-Z97X-UD3H
RAM : Corsair VENGEANCE 2 x 4 Go DDR3 1600 MHz (closest thing)
Video Card : Radeon R9 270X DC2 Top - 4 Go
Sound Card : Xonar DGX

A few questions :
1) I'm still not sure if there's some compatibility issue I'm not aware of.
2) Is there some room for improvement without changing the price too much ?
2.5) Would it be worth it to invest more ? Good value for money ?
3) Will it be silent ? If not, what option do I have to improve that ?

Also, if it's not asking too much, I wonder if I can upgrade the video card of my old PC for cheap (going to give it, would be cool if I can make it slightly better).
Video Card : ATI Radeon HD 5770
CPU : AMD Phenom II X4 955 (3.2 GHz)
Motherboard : ASUSTeK Computer INC. M4A79XTD EVO Rev X.0X
RAM : G.Skill DDR3 2x4go (667 MHz - PC3-10700)

Thanks.
 

EGOMON

Member
No. For that money better to go Intel

also, no HDD?

For example if you wanted a small PC like a mATX you could do this

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($219.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock Z97M Pro4 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($90.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($62.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($53.97 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R9 280 3GB DUAL-X Video Card ($169.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Cooler Master N200 MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($43.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: Rosewill HIVE 550W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($44.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $686.90
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-01-07 11:25 EST-0500

Thanks very much for your input
as for the HDD i already have 1TB WD
 
This should be helpful to anyone looking for a PSU in the 650W range.

Each model is modular, Gold efficiency rated and has reviewed very well across various sites. Finally, they all cost between £70-100.

Corsair RM650
SuperFlower Leadex GOLD 650W
Antec Earthwatts EA-650
EVGA Supernova G2 750W


May save someone the research time I've just wasted!
 
This should be helpful to anyone looking for a PSU in the 650W range.

SuperFlower Leadex GOLD 650W

..awesome PSU, powering my 4690k (@4.6Ghz) and Asus 970 SLI rig with 3 Hard Drives, 7 fans and 3 LED strip lights.

Ptlb.jpg



I love the LED lighting on the power connectors and their isn't a hint of coil whine on my GPU's, which a weak PSU can contribute to.

..also, the fan on it barely ever needs to come on, and when it does you can't hear it.
 

riflen

Member
I am thinking about building a PC in the near future, GPU is going to be a R9 290, but I'm checking CPU's and Intel is more or less around double the price as the equivalent AMD CPU (on The Witcher 3 Specs).

I went with AMD CPU on my previous PC and was met by some CPU bottlenecks in a handful of games. So I'm just wondering, how is the AMD FX-8350 in comparison to a Intel i7-3770, and how important is CPU going to be for PC gaming? I realise consoles have weaker CPU's but more cores so I don't know if this will have a factor in future games.

Thanks.

Why are you comparing to an Ivy Bridge CPU? Ivy Bridge is superseded by Haswell. You should be comparing to 4770k or 4790k.

Go here and look at their benches for whatever games you'd be interested in. You don't need to read Russian. Scroll down until you get to the CPU charts (coloured red and blue). That should help your decision. Here are some recent examples.
 
..awesome PSU, powering my 4690k (@4.6Ghz) and Asus 970 SLI rig with 3 Hard Drives, 7 fans and 3 LED strip lights.

Ptlb.jpg



I love the LED lighting on the power connectors and their isn't a hint of coil whine on my GPU's, which a weak PSU can contribute to.

..also, the fan on it barely ever needs to come on, and when it does you can't hear it.

Good to hear, as the SuperFlower is actually the one I'm leaning towards.

The almost silent operation because of the semi-passive fan is a big draw, and I didn't know it had LED lighting on the connectors, so thanks for that bit of info, this makes it more attractive.
 
fx 4100, 8gb of ram, and two 980's? I mean if the only mandatory component is that I would go this direction and get a really nice cooling unit to OC the fx4100 this build would be incredibly CPU bottlenecked though.

A "balanced" build would be impossible under $2000

It's obviously to early to tell, but maybe a good balanced build could feature two 970's instead, so the cpu budget could go up a little.
 
, and I didn't know it had LED lighting on the connectors, so thanks for that bit of info, this makes it more attractive.

Poor photo but this is what they're like in action, the LED's are 'love 'em or loathe 'em' for most:

..and they're not really that bright BTW, I have a white bit fenix LED strip light running along the bottom of my case, in real life they're alot more subtle.

6xlb.jpg
 

beastmode

Member
This is what I'm looking at right now.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor (Purchased For $289.99)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($34.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97X-SLI ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($126.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-2133 Memory (Purchased For $64.98)
Storage: Crucial MX100 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($110.98 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 4GB WINDFORCE Video Card ($359.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Fractal Design Define R4 w/Window (Black Pearl) ATX Mid Tower Case ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Antec High Current Gamer 620W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($83.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $1151.88
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-01-08 14:28 EST-0500
logical increments?
 

BooJoh

Member
Trying to help a friend... this is their first build and they'll be flying solo piecing it together.

Current Specs: Almost 10 year old prebuilt HP w/ WinXP + Radeon HD 4800
Budget: Around $1k / US
Main Use: Mostly Gaming/general use, some Emulation, Hobbyist 3D/Model work (Blender/3DSMax)
Monitor Resolution: Currently 1152x864, upgrading to 1080/1200 eventually
Games or apps that must run well: WoW, pretty much any modern PC game, 30fps acceptable, 60 preferred.
Looking to reuse any parts?: Mouse/KB
When will you build?: Very soon
Will you be overclocking?: No

This is what they're looking at currently:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($279.99 @ Micro Center)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97X-UD3H-BK ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($149.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($70.98 @ Newegg)
Storage: Sandisk Ultra Plus 128GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($54.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($53.97 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 4GB WINDFORCE 3X Video Card ($329.00 @ NCIX US)
Other: Rosewill RDCR-11004 5.25" 2 Port USB 3.0 / 4 Port USB 2.0 Hub / eSATA Multi-in-1 Internal Card Reader w/ USB3.0 Connector ($24.99)
Total: $963.91
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-01-09 06:10 EST-0500

I'm definitely not an expert at these things. I wasn't sure about the single stick of RAM (can you even use an odd number of sticks these days?) or if it needs to be low profile. They haven't chosen a case or PSU yet, but looking at probably 550W.

I'm assuming Windows 7 is probably still the safest bet for usability and reliability as well?
 

Portugeezer

Member
What are your current PC's specs?

The Witcher 3's recommended CPUs seem to be a bit odd. I wouldn't consider the Phenom II X4 close in performance to the 2500K. Same with the 8350 and the 3770K. They seem to be equating the processors simply because the first two are quad cores from 2011, and the latter two are 2012 processors with 8 processing threads (8350 has 8 cores while the 3770K is a hyperthreading quad core).

The Phenom II X4 940 is a pretty old processor, so maybe this means the Witcher 3 won't be really dependent on a strong CPU. Then again.. there are these benchmarks for the Witcher 2, and the Phenom II X4 940 is performing on the same level as an i3 processor. I'm not exactly sure how they're getting those testing results, though.

In general, you want to go Intel i5 for gaming. It'll depend on the games you play, but the i5 is better than most AMD CPUs for framerate performance and will do you well for a couple of years with some overclocking. Not many PC games can make use of hyperthreading, so it's hard to recommend an i7 just for games.

Console CPU won't matter. You can't run console games on PC, so it won't matter if the console game is programmed to make use of multiple cores when it has to be reworked for PCs anyway. Few PC games, even the most recent ones, don't make use of multiple threads very well. There's little to no difference between the i5 4690K and the i7 4790K for framerate in many games for example, although it can vary by the game.

Why are you comparing to an Ivy Bridge CPU? Ivy Bridge is superseded by Haswell. You should be comparing to 4770k or 4790k.

Go here and look at their benches for whatever games you'd be interested in. You don't need to read Russian. Scroll down until you get to the CPU charts (coloured red and blue). That should help your decision. Here are some recent examples.

Thanks guys. It does seem that i5 is good for gaming, does it matter that some CPU's have some Intel HD graphics included? What's that about?

Also, I am guessing I will need an Intel motherboard for the i5, that's the main difference between mobo's?
 

kharma45

Member
Trying to help a friend... this is their first build and they'll be flying solo piecing it together.

Current Specs: Almost 10 year old prebuilt HP w/ WinXP + Radeon HD 4800
Budget: Around $1k / US
Main Use: Mostly Gaming/general use, some Emulation, Hobbyist 3D/Model work (Blender/3DSMax)
Monitor Resolution: Currently 1152x864, upgrading to 1080/1200 eventually
Games or apps that must run well: WoW, pretty much any modern PC game, 30fps acceptable, 60 preferred.
Looking to reuse any parts?: Mouse/KB
When will you build?: Very soon
Will you be overclocking?: No

This is what they're looking at currently:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($279.99 @ Micro Center)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97X-UD3H-BK ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($149.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($70.98 @ Newegg)
Storage: Sandisk Ultra Plus 128GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($54.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($53.97 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 4GB WINDFORCE 3X Video Card ($329.00 @ NCIX US)
Other: Rosewill RDCR-11004 5.25" 2 Port USB 3.0 / 4 Port USB 2.0 Hub / eSATA Multi-in-1 Internal Card Reader w/ USB3.0 Connector ($24.99)
Total: $963.91
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-01-09 06:10 EST-0500

I'm definitely not an expert at these things. I wasn't sure about the single stick of RAM (can you even use an odd number of sticks these days?) or if it needs to be low profile. They haven't chosen a case or PSU yet, but looking at probably 550W.

I'm assuming Windows 7 is probably still the safest bet for usability and reliability as well?

8.1 is the better OS. I see no reason to go 7 now. I'd go for 2 sticks of RAM. One will work but if it fails then you've no PC. Low profile is best. 550w is plenty.

I'll have a quick look now and do a mock build for that budget.
 

kharma45

Member

Right for $1000 I'd look at this

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($218.98 @ OutletPC)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus 76.8 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($25.88 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97MX-Gaming 5 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($124.98 @ OutletPC)
Memory: Kingston Fury Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($66.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Crucial M550 128GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($55.98 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($53.97 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 4GB WINDFORCE 3X Video Card ($329.00 @ NCIX US)
Case: Fractal Design Define R4 (Black Pearl) ATX Mid Tower Case ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA 750W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($54.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $1010.76
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-01-09 09:46 EST-0500
 
I'm looking to put together a budget streaming/recording PC. I'd gotten some help from R/buildapcforme but it seems my post got buried too far down to get any more attention. Here's what I'm looking at right now. I was trying to keep the budget in the 500-600-ish range. Also it needs to be transportable.


[PCPartPicker part list](http://pcpartpicker.com/p/sPLVZL) / [Price breakdown by merchant](http://pcpartpicker.com/p/sPLVZL/by_merchant/)

Type|Item|Price
:----|:----|:----
**CPU** | [Intel Core i5-4440 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/intel-cpu-bx80646i54440) | $174.99 @ SuperBiiz
**Motherboard** | [Biostar B85MG Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/biostar-motherboard-b85mg) | $44.99 @ Newegg
**Memory** | [G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/gskill-memory-f31600c9d8gab) | $69.99 @ Newegg
**Storage** | [Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/seagate-internal-hard-drive-st1000dm003) | $49.88 @ OutletPC
**Video Card** | [HIS Radeon R7 260X 1GB Video Card](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/his-video-card-h260xfn1gd) | $99.99 @ Newegg
**Case** | [Apex TX-381 MicroATX Mid Tower Case w/300W Power Supply](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/apex-case-tx381) | $26.99 @ Directron
**Power Supply** | [EVGA 400W ATX Power Supply](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/evga-power-supply-100n10400l1) | $14.99 @ NCIX US
**Optical Drive** | [Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/asus-optical-drive-drw24b1stblkbas) | $16.98 @ OutletPC
**Operating System** | [Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit)](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/microsoft-os-wn700615) | $89.98 @ OutletPC
**Case Fan** | [Kingwin CF-012LB 40.0 CFM 120mm Fan](http://pcpartpicker.com/part/kingwin-case-fan-cf012lb) | $3.98 @ OutletPC
| | **Total**
| Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available | $582.76
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-01-09 09:50 EST-0500 |


Since i'd be dealing with video on the thing I figured I'd stretch to get an i5 instead of the i3 that was originally suggested. Feel free to let me know any suggestions you have.
 

BooJoh

Member
Right for $1000 I'd look at this

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($218.98 @ OutletPC)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus 76.8 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($25.88 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97MX-Gaming 5 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($124.98 @ OutletPC)
Memory: Kingston Fury Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($66.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Crucial M550 128GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($55.98 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($53.97 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 4GB WINDFORCE 3X Video Card ($329.00 @ NCIX US)
Case: Fractal Design Define R4 (Black Pearl) ATX Mid Tower Case ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA 750W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($54.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $1010.76
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-01-09 09:46 EST-0500

Is there any reason to specifically go with the Micro ATX mobo over a standard ATX in a mid-tower case? Wouldn't ATX allow more options for possible expansion of drives, etc in the future?
 

riflen

Member
Thanks guys. It does seem that i5 is good for gaming, does it matter that some CPU's have some Intel HD graphics included? What's that about?

Also, I am guessing I will need an Intel motherboard for the i5, that's the main difference between mobo's?

The Integrated Graphics in CPUs are inconsequential. They will not be operational when you install a discrete GPU.
It sounds like you should take a look at the OP. Lots of effort has gone into the suggested builds there.
 

Divius

Member
That's azerty.nl, right? Try tweakers.net pricewatcher, there's far cheaper stores around than Azerty...
Yes that is azerty. I was just looking to get an estimate and a green light from the fine folks in this thread, when I am ready to buy I was planning on checking tweakers pricewatch :)

(You might be able to get a more recent/efficient/fully modular PSU for the same or less for instance
Such as? I am very much open to other options.
 

Strazyplus

Member
Current Build:

CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5 CPU 650 @ 3.20GHz
MEM: 4 DDR3 2048 MBytes (8GB Total)
MOBO: ASUSTeK CG5275
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780
PSU: Thermaltake Toughpower GOLD 750W
HDD: 1TB WD Black
Case: UTTERSHIT
OS: Microsoft Windows 7

Main Use: Heavy gaming, possible Video Editing and Streaming
Monitor Resolution: 1980x1080 60hz
Must run ARMA 3 at 60fps (since on current build only gives me 15-20 fps
Reusing all except: MOBO, CPU, and case.
Will likely build around Jan 23rd but no deadline.
Will you be overclocking?: Maybe, if I had help!


Current Upgrade plan:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($218.98 @ OutletPC)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($28.75 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: MSI Z97S SLI Plus ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($109.99 @ Amazon)
Case: NZXT S340 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($64.99 @ Micro Center)
Total: $422.71
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-01-09 15:20 EST-0500

OUTCOME BUILD
NEW CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor
reused MEM: 4 DDR3 2048 MBytes (8GB Total)
NEW MOBO: MSI Z97S SLI Plus ATX LGA1150 Motherboard
W/ Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler

reused GPU: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780
reused PSU: Thermaltake Toughpower GOLD 750W
reused HDD: 1TB WD Black
NEW CASE: S340 black&blue
reused OS: Microsoft Windows 7

Total cost: $425

This is to resolve the bottleneck I am experiencing with games like Arma3.
as this build also preps my build for SLI for whenever I choose to add another card!
See something wrong, something I messed up on or did not plan for?

please do share input!
 
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