"I Need a New PC!" 2015 Part 1. Read the OP and RISE ABOVE FORGED PRECISION SCIENCE
- Thread starter Hazaro
- Start date
- Status
If it has 2 then you need to use both.
Can molex connectors be used in place of them? A Eurogamer article tried to put together a $400 Steam machine with an R9 270:
http://wccftech.com/steam-machine-faster-cheaper-ps4-xbox/
and the PSU only has 4 molex connectors. Would those be able to be used to power an R9 270 (which is technically slightly OC'd and probably needs more than 150W)?
Thanks! Maybe I can use my old HDDs (2x500Gb) so I can save 50 on that, and spend them elsewhere, so where?
And yeah, instead of buying from Amazon I can get some deals in other shops to save some .
MastaKilla
Member
Hi guys.. I'm in a bit of a situation. I'm really intrigued by PC gaming. I have a ps4 but I feel like I just can't find the same depth of games there that I can on PC. For example, I love adventure games and I love tactical non respawn online shooters. I also want to play the big games on what is probably the best quality.
I really want to get a PC and have a more complete experience. The problem is.. I havent played on PC since I was maybe 12 years old. I have not had a PC in maybe 10 years. I don't know what the difference between cpu and gpu is or what they do. I have no idea what makes a good video card. Last thing I remember is my video card wasn't good enough to supper Escape from Monkey Island so it wouldn't install
I would prefer a really good PC that wouldn't need to be updated for another couple years. But I'm just saying that without really knowing what it means. What you guys say? Can somebody like me make the leap?
I really want to get a PC and have a more complete experience. The problem is.. I havent played on PC since I was maybe 12 years old. I have not had a PC in maybe 10 years. I don't know what the difference between cpu and gpu is or what they do. I have no idea what makes a good video card. Last thing I remember is my video card wasn't good enough to supper Escape from Monkey Island so it wouldn't install
I would prefer a really good PC that wouldn't need to be updated for another couple years. But I'm just saying that without really knowing what it means. What you guys say? Can somebody like me make the leap?Unless you have the interest and time to get knowledge of those things, dont try to figure out what shaders and cuda cores are, and how they compare.
simply determine what components you want to buy from how it performs in games, regardless of specs and name,
or entrust someone here to build a computer for your budget.
Hi guys.. I'm in a bit of a situation. I'm really intrigued by PC gaming. I have a ps4 but I feel like I just can't find the same depth of games there that I can on PC. For example, I love adventure games and I love tactical non respawn online shooters. I also want to play the big games on what is probably the best quality.
I really want to get a PC and have a more complete experience. The problem is.. I havent played on PC since I was maybe 12 years old. I have not had a PC in maybe 10 years. I don't know what the difference between cpu and gpu is or what they do. I have no idea what makes a good video card. Last thing I remember is my video card wasn't good enough to supper Escape from Monkey Island so it wouldn't install
List your bugdet, country and we can help you with the build.
In terms of games I cannot say much since I just go into PC recently
but look online and see what may interest you then we can help pick the parts for your PC.HAPPY EASTER FOLKS!
I already asked a month ago, but since I have more money, I need your advice again.
I have:
-Sapphire r7 265
-CoolerMaster K380
-Intel core i5 4590
-Samsung 840 evo SSD 120 GB
I need:
-Power Supply
-Ram
-Motherboard
The shop I want to use is www.amazon.it
The budget for this stuff is around ~210.
Thanks in advance guys, and keep doing God's work!
I already asked a month ago, but since I have more money, I need your advice again.
I have:
-Sapphire r7 265
-CoolerMaster K380
-Intel core i5 4590
-Samsung 840 evo SSD 120 GB
I need:
-Power Supply
-Ram
-Motherboard
The shop I want to use is www.amazon.it
The budget for this stuff is around ~210.
Thanks in advance guys, and keep doing God's work!
Oh, then that would mean being able to get a better graphics card. Use this build as a guideline when looking for parts locally.
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant
CPU: Intel Pentium G3258 3.2GHz Dual-Core Processor (€86.12 @ Amazon Espana)
Motherboard: ASRock H81M-HDS Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (€49.50 @ Amazon Espana)
Memory: Kingston Savage 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (€35.30 @ Amazon Espana)
Video Card: XFX Radeon R7 260X 2GB Core Edition Video Card (€139.93 @ Amazon Espana)
Case: Zalman ZM-T3 MicroATX Mini Tower Case (€21.95 @ Amazon Espana)
Power Supply: XFX ProSeries 450W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (€60.87 @ Amazon Espana)
Total: €393.67
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-04-05 20:37 CEST+0200
You don't need to get the exact same parts, but ideally this is what you want and will work as a guideline for your PC build.
1. The G3258 offers decent entry level performance, and the ability to overclock allows it to scale up to i3/i5 processor performance levels, although the included heatsink will only get you so far (I have a G3258 overclocked to 3.6GHz on the stock cooler). It's somewhat better than AMD in terms of CPU performance for the price.
2. Look for an H81/B85 model motherboard, they are cheaper than H87/Z87/H97/Z97 and have just enough functionality you need. Most major brands like Asus, ASRock, Gigabyte, MSI have overclocking enabled for most of their H81/B85 motherboards. A nice bonus to have would be a USB 3.0 header on the motherboard to support frontal USB 3.0 ports, but it isn't needed. If you search for the motherboard model on PCPartPicker, it will tell you if it has that or not. The ASRock H81-HDS in the parts list does have that.
3. 4GB of RAM is enough as a minimum to meet the game's requirements. Ideally 8GB would be fine for your needs. I recommend a single stick of 4GB now because you can always add more to it later, whereas if you got a cheaper graphics card, you would need to spend more later to replace the low end part instead of just paying around 30~40€ for another 4GB in the future.
4. The R7 260X is a nice entry level graphics card, roughly on par with the GTX 750 Ti which tends to cost 20€ more. It should meet your needs just fine and maybe even exceed them a little bit. Ideally, you want the 2GB version as it should not cost a lot more than the 1GB version and it will have a longer useful life.
5. The case and power supply are the cheapest I could find. Zalman's alright when it comes to cases, I'm just not totally sure about their low end models. XFX is a good brand for power supplies, though. Ideally having more wattage is a good idea, but it'd be best to ask us or check professional reviews before buying other PSU models.
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant
Motherboard: ASRock Fatal1ty H97 Performance ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (€82.60 @ Amazon Italia)
Memory: Kingston Savage 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (€66.79 @ Amazon Italia)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (€64.72 @ Amazon Italia)
Total: €214.11
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-04-05 20:59 CEST+0200
PCPartPicker's Italian price database isn't very large, so you may be able to find cheaper examples on the amazon.it website yourself. Otherwise, those parts should be fine.
Ideally you wouldn't want to use molex power adaptors in the first place. Look for a power supply that has two 6 pin graphics card power cables (most recent power supplies around 500~600 watts do), instead of all molex.
I wouldn't count on anything, seeing as they're a few years old. What are you looking for exactly? There's vague news that DX12 will be better for multi-core CPUs, but nothing concrete yet.
shindoku21
Member
I got a Hyper 212+ and I read and watched a few OC guides. I don't quite fully understand what's too much and what's too little of an overclock. I have a stock i5 2500k @ 3.3Ghz. It's seems quite of an extensive process going in and out of BIOS and testing if it's stable. Is there any easy way to just "set it and forget it"?
If you want it stable then is not much choice but you don't necessary need to spend hours on it. For my I got my i5-4690k same cooler to 4.5Ghz with about 30 mins testings using OCCT stress test and Intel extreme tuning utility. iirc Asus and many some other boards have quick overclock options but they tend to not overclock as well or can apply too much voltage than needed - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QBfXruwe8w4&ab_channel=LinusTechTips
Look around for someone else with a similar motherboard who has posted their stable settings and then use that. Maybe set it a little lower to be on the safe side.
megarockexe
Member
I want to try to expand my RAM from 8GB to 16GB. Problem is, the latency is 9-9-9-27 on my current RAM and I can't seem to find that. I see more 9-9-9-24. Is that better? Can I mix the two if all the other specs match?
Advice needed:
I procrastinated on doing my taxes, started yesterday using my MacBook pro, and the thing couldn't handle my investment data (hundreds of transactions) and nearly died. I wasn't expecting that; clearly I needed more computing power.
Given the amount of work I needed to do on my taxes and the looming deadline, I didn't have time to research / order computer parts and build a computer. So I rushed yesterday night to Microcenter and bought one of their pre made ones. Rough specs below:
Intel Core i74790K 4.00GHz @ 4 GHz
16GB System RAM DDR3
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980
250GB SSD
2TB Data drive 7,200RPM
Don't even know what motherboard I have. Bought a random 1080p monitor. It came wit a cheap mouse and keyboard.
Tell me GAF, where did I fuck up, if anywhere? How can I make this PC better?... increase memory to 24 or 32GBs? Is that processor okay?
I used to have an idea on PCs but not anymore. If it wasn't for the tax emergency I would've only kept my laptop. Tax software working fine now.
Edit: Paid $1,800 for the PC, not counting monitor
I procrastinated on doing my taxes, started yesterday using my MacBook pro, and the thing couldn't handle my investment data (hundreds of transactions) and nearly died. I wasn't expecting that; clearly I needed more computing power.
Given the amount of work I needed to do on my taxes and the looming deadline, I didn't have time to research / order computer parts and build a computer. So I rushed yesterday night to Microcenter and bought one of their pre made ones. Rough specs below:
Intel Core i74790K 4.00GHz @ 4 GHz
16GB System RAM DDR3
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980
250GB SSD
2TB Data drive 7,200RPM
Don't even know what motherboard I have. Bought a random 1080p monitor. It came wit a cheap mouse and keyboard.
Tell me GAF, where did I fuck up, if anywhere? How can I make this PC better?... increase memory to 24 or 32GBs? Is that processor okay?
I used to have an idea on PCs but not anymore. If it wasn't for the tax emergency I would've only kept my laptop. Tax software working fine now.
Edit: Paid $1,800 for the PC, not counting monitor
Yeah, you can mix it and just set it to the slower timings (it won't make much of a difference anyway).
Also check to make sure the voltage and speed (guess you've checked this) are the same/similar.
Hello Laptop Gaf.
I have a unique situation. As.it stands.I just got my top surgery done, and I'm hoping to.get my bottom surgery done in 6 months from the next few weeks.
I only say this because.in order.to get.it I will need to be away from my family for nearly a full month and becau s e.or that I want to get a good laptop that will allow for me.to Skype with them as well as let me game to keep my sanity intact.
Does anyone know of any good deals on a laptop right now that I could pick up and wet these goals?
This is a cross post from the laptop thread, sorry I'm just not sure how often it's used.
I have a unique situation. As.it stands.I just got my top surgery done, and I'm hoping to.get my bottom surgery done in 6 months from the next few weeks.
I only say this because.in order.to get.it I will need to be away from my family for nearly a full month and becau s e.or that I want to get a good laptop that will allow for me.to Skype with them as well as let me game to keep my sanity intact.
Does anyone know of any good deals on a laptop right now that I could pick up and wet these goals?
This is a cross post from the laptop thread, sorry I'm just not sure how often it's used.
It's possible to use mismatching RAM, you may be able to change the latency timing of the RAM from the BIOS. What RAM do you currently have? I guess this is a prebuilt PC?
The specs and performance are great, you probably just overpaid by a few hundred dollars compared to if you were to buy parts and build the PC yourself. The 4790K, 16GB RAM, and GTX 980 make for a very strong gaming PC that will handle nearly anything at 1080p very well.
You do not really need to add anything else.
Many laptops fit that description, do you have anything specific in mind like a budget? Just about any laptop with an i3 will be powerful enough to handle Skype, whereas for games you may want to look into getting something with an i5 or i7 processor and the stronger graphics chipset your budget will allow for.
It's OVER 9000!!!
Really the PC seems overkill for that specific task. I don't think you will need more ram. If you're not currently getting anywhere near 16GB usage then you don't need more.
I'm having some issues in an older game since upgrading - Mount & Blade Warband, the Napoleonic Wars expansion. Sometimes the frame rate comes down to a real judder, and I think it's because it may be running on a single core and, while I've been playing, I've seen my new 4690K clock down to 801.25MHz at times.
Is there a utility that will let me set the cpu to go no lower than a specified clock rate? Or do you guys think it might be something else?
Is there a utility that will let me set the cpu to go no lower than a specified clock rate? Or do you guys think it might be something else?
shindoku21
Member
That's what I tried doing, but I don't know if I'm doing it efficiently. Lot of guides I've seen are for 4.5-4.8 Ghz for my CPU/Mobo, so I set it at 4.4, but wouldn't I also want to lower the voltage and turn on/off other settings? That's where I get confused, especially since some guides have their own way of doing it.
Example:
4.5 overclock - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMZoWOpry40
4.8 overclock - http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1578110
There are some variances on the settings used, but... what makes one better or safer than the other? Just trial and error?
megarockexe
Member
Custom build from 2011. They're Kingston HyperX 8GB 2x4 GB. Model KHX1600C9D3X1K2/8GX.
I will have to check if my BIOS does let me change the timings. I really hope it won't matter much though.
I managed to get better prices in other shop so I got 8GB of ram instead of 4. This one:
HyperX Savage - Memoria RAM de 8 GB (1600 MHz DDR3 Non-ECC CL9 DIMM, Kit 2x4 GB, XMP)
http://www.amazon.es/gp/product/B00N8H066A/
Finally I got everything for about 410 including some cheap mouse + keyboard (Logitech K120 pack, ~17), so perfect
Thank you very much.
I managed to get better prices in other shop so I got 8GB of ram instead of 4. This one:
HyperX Savage - Memoria RAM de 8 GB (1600 MHz DDR3 Non-ECC CL9 DIMM, Kit 2x4 GB, XMP)
http://www.amazon.es/gp/product/B00N8H066A/
Finally I got everything for about 410€ including some cheap mouse + keyboard (Logitech K120 pack, ~17€, so perfect
Thank you very much.
Looks good to me.
Cost-wise that's really good, the only thing I'd be worried about is a cheap case and power supply. A comparable custom PC by parts costs around $125 more and that doesn't include an OS, although with a custom PC you have slightly better expandability and function (overclocking, future upgrades, etc).
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant
CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($324.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.75 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock Z97 PRO4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($89.99 @ Micro Center)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-2400 Memory ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Toshiba Product Series
T01ACA 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($72.99 @ NCIX US) Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 980 4GB Superclocked ACX 2.0 Video Card ($544.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Corsair 300R ATX Mid Tower Case ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Rosewill Capstone 550W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply ($39.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1212.68
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-04-05 20:50 EDT-0400
If you set Windows to the performance power plan, it will keep the processor at a high clock speed.
I don't know why your 4690K is dropping to such a low speed, though. It's not overheating, is it?
$1,109.49 including tax
HP ENVY Phoenix 810-430qe Desktop PC
15-in-1 Multi-slot Media Card Reader, 4 USB Ports (Front/Top), Audio [Front 2USB2.0, Top 2USB3.0]
Windows 8.1 64
No Additional Security Software
8GB DDR3-1600MHz [1 DIMM ]
Home and Home Office Insert
HP WLAN 802.11 ac 2x2 DB MCard BT WIDI
No Secondary HDD
SuperMulti DVD Burner
HP USB keyboard and optical mouse with volume control
2TB 7200 RPM SATA Hard Drive
4th Generation Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-4790K processor quad-core [4.0GHz, 8MB Shared Cache]
4GB Nvidia GeForce GTX 980 [DVI-I, HDMI, DP, DP. DP]
Microsoft Office Trial
Integrated Sound, Envy Audio; Beats Audio
No TV Tuner Card
How do I find out what the power supply and motherboard is going to be?
Edit: Found it. MSI MS-7826
600 Watt PSU
HP ENVY Phoenix 810-430qe Desktop PC
15-in-1 Multi-slot Media Card Reader, 4 USB Ports (Front/Top), Audio [Front 2USB2.0, Top 2USB3.0]
Windows 8.1 64
No Additional Security Software
8GB DDR3-1600MHz [1 DIMM ]
Home and Home Office Insert
HP WLAN 802.11 ac 2x2 DB MCard BT WIDI
No Secondary HDD
SuperMulti DVD Burner
HP USB keyboard and optical mouse with volume control
2TB 7200 RPM SATA Hard Drive
4th Generation Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-4790K processor quad-core [4.0GHz, 8MB Shared Cache]
4GB Nvidia GeForce GTX 980 [DVI-I, HDMI, DP, DP. DP]
Microsoft Office Trial
Integrated Sound, Envy Audio; Beats Audio
No TV Tuner Card
How do I find out what the power supply and motherboard is going to be?
Edit: Found it. MSI MS-7826
600 Watt PSU
theboomking
Neo Member
I am looking to put together a work and gaming PC this summer. I haven't been into PC gaming in a while, but am 38 and finally have the money to get what I want. Since I need a computer for work/life anyway, I figure I may as well get a really good system without being overly worried about budget.
Looking at what will be available this summer, I was thinking about getting the new Acer 1440 P 144hz G-Sync IPS monitor and a system featuring a Titan X, 980SLI, or 980TI SLI The 980 TI may not be releasing until September however, which is a bit later than I would prefer.
Although I was leaning NVIDIA and the new G-Sync monitor, which looks awesome, the 390X is rumored to be releasing with a $700 price point and better performance than a Titan X.
http://www.lazygamer.net/general-news/is-amds-r9-390x-faster-than-nvidias-titan-x/
So, I guess my question is, how heavily should I weigh the G-Sync? Minus that feature, price for performance might suggest a 390X or even 390X crossfire over a Titan X or 980 TI SLI.
Any thoughts other than the obvious, "Just wait for all of the cards to release so you have accurate benchmarks and prices."? That answer is no fun.
Looking at what will be available this summer, I was thinking about getting the new Acer 1440 P 144hz G-Sync IPS monitor and a system featuring a Titan X, 980SLI, or 980TI SLI The 980 TI may not be releasing until September however, which is a bit later than I would prefer.
Although I was leaning NVIDIA and the new G-Sync monitor, which looks awesome, the 390X is rumored to be releasing with a $700 price point and better performance than a Titan X.
http://www.lazygamer.net/general-news/is-amds-r9-390x-faster-than-nvidias-titan-x/
So, I guess my question is, how heavily should I weigh the G-Sync? Minus that feature, price for performance might suggest a 390X or even 390X crossfire over a Titan X or 980 TI SLI.
Any thoughts other than the obvious, "Just wait for all of the cards to release so you have accurate benchmarks and prices."? That answer is no fun.
Cheap motherboard and power supply. It probably only has the basic Intel cooler as well. Good for the price, just keep in mind that you'll need a good CPU cooler to overclock with, and the Z87 motherboard may or may not allow any decent overclocking.
No idea about the power supply, but I'm assuming it comes with the bare minimum of cables.
AstroZombie
Banned
I'd go for titan x and the Predator. I have the monitor and waiting for my Titan to be delivered. Gsync is the superior tech and you cant beat the nvidia software and driver support imo.
Much appreciated, thanks. It's not the cpu, then, as even running at full speed under the performance power plan, and Fraps showing a steady frame rate of 60, the game is still noticeably juddering every now and then. Very odd. The cpu is running nice and cool in the mid 30's when under load... though I can't imagine such an old game (well, in itself not so old, but the engine definitely is) would be stressing it much.
It's an odd issue and I'm not seeing it in other games, old or not, demanding or not. Unity, for example, runs just fine.
Yeah, it might just be the game and/or drivers. You sure it's only around 30 degrees under load? That's unusually low, even for something like Mount and Blade.
1. Could be the games and their dated engines. Many older engines were not optimized for multi-core CPUs which results in them just using 1-2 cores at max. This causes 1 or 2 of your cores to be at 100% while everything else sits at 0.
2. Do you have Vsync enabled? The above coupled with vsync can cause stuttering and your frame rates can take a significant dip whenever the game isn't able to maintain 60fps.
This has been happening with Witcher 1 for me. The game only uses core 1 while all the other cores barely ever go above 5% (sometimes one of them stays at 10-15 for a while). I can run the game at insanely high frame rates but as soon as I enable v-sync, the game starts stuttering and I get constant frame drops below 60.
theboomking
Neo Member
What about other NVIDIA options? 980 SLI beats the Titan in most 1440 benchmarks and I believe can be had for less $$. I would expect that a 980 TI/cut die GM 200 in SLI should outperform a single Titan X by an even wider margin and shouldn't be much more expensive than the single Titan card. I suppose with a Titan X, if I started with the proper PSU config etc, I could always drop another card and go to SLI in the future if needed.
A 980SLI would give better performance but a single titan x is a lot better than any card in SLI. If someone already has a 980/970 then adding another one instead of spending 1000$ would make sense but if my budget for a GPU was 1000$, I would definitely get the titan x instead.
Well, under load while playing M&B, I meant. I did a benchmark and stress test using Silverbench, and the temperature climbed slowly but steadily up to about 49 degrees celsius (the stress test used raytracing). On idle it sits at about 32 to 35, depending on the temperature of the room.
Drivers are exactly the same but for the chipset - obviously these are different as my Asus P8H67-M and Z97-P are different. I dunno if this is the case. I'm still using the Catalyst 14.12 Omega driver for my 7970 and I think the same driver for my Sound Blaster Z (which I only use headphones on anyway - never with M&B as that combination of card and game has produced weird popping noises before) as well.
Likely M&B is only using one core, but I don't see why the other three being relatively idle would cause performance issues. And yeah, I have vsync enabled, but I always have that enabled in every game. I had it enabled in M&B on my 2500 and I don't see why it would cause issues now with my 4690K.
MastaKilla
Member
List your bugdet, country and we can help you with the build.
In terms of games I cannot say much since I just go into PC recently
My budget is $900 and I'm in the USA.
ref
Member
Mine has been flawless.
Most of the issues you're hearing about are from the first and second batches when it originally came out.
I got mine in October of last year and it's been 100% perfect. None of the issues people have raised are present. One of my friends got one a well and it's been fine for him.
If possible, try and get the monitor in a local store. At least that way you can quickly exchange/return if there is any issues, but as of now, getting a bad one is pretty rare.
theboomking
Neo Member
Being a rookie, please forgive my stupidity, but why is that? My impression is that Tri and Quad SLI scaling is poor, but that Dual SLI drivers are now quite good. If benchmarks show improved performance with the SLI system, and the cost is less, then the advantages to the more expensive single card may be few.
Is the chief advantage stability?
I could also see scenarios with the Titan X vs 980 SLI in particular, that if future games use more VRAM, or perhaps in 4k or for VR, that perhaps the 12GB of faster RAM would be an advantage for the Titan.
Here's a balanced build for $900. A bit conservative but expandable and overclockable for the future.
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant
CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($226.69 @ OutletPC)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.75 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock Z97 PRO4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($89.99 @ Micro Center)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-2400 Memory ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial BX100 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($96.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($44.99 @ Best Buy)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R9 290 4GB Tri-X OC Video Card ($264.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair 300R ATX Mid Tower Case ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA 600B 600W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($34.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $898.37
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-04-05 22:50 EDT-0400
If you live near a Microcenter location, you can buy the motherboard and processor for a lot cheaper ($250+tax for both), especially when bundled. That offer is only for in-store purchase, though.
Windows 7/8.1 licenses can be bought from reddit's microsoftsoftwareswap for $20 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 unapproved by Microsoft and probably breaking some licensing agreement to be clear, 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 deactivate your license and refuse to reactivate it although it's somewhat unlikely, usually only 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.
i know this is thread is specifically for PC building, but i'm a noob and don't know where else to ask this... so i apologize
anyway i've been saving up to build something with a GTX 980 but for my birthday to my surprise i got an Alienware x51 desktop. seems pretty underpowered for what i wanted, but at the same time i'm thinking about going ahead and keeping it. like I said i'm a noob at this sort of thing, so i was wondering how long this would last me. I know the 960 is a shitty card but i'm curious if everything else would make up for that. here's the specs to my knowledge
4th Generation Intel i7-4790K Processor (Quad Core, 8MB Cache, up to 4.4GHz w/ Turbo Boost)
16GB Memory
1TB Hard Drive + 256GB Solid State Drive
GTX 960 card
like i said, i'm mainly curious as to how long this would last me. not looking to max out every game just want something that can last me ~5 years without needing to buy current gen consoles. otherwise i'm going to sell it
anyway i've been saving up to build something with a GTX 980 but for my birthday to my surprise i got an Alienware x51 desktop. seems pretty underpowered for what i wanted, but at the same time i'm thinking about going ahead and keeping it. like I said i'm a noob at this sort of thing, so i was wondering how long this would last me. I know the 960 is a shitty card but i'm curious if everything else would make up for that. here's the specs to my knowledge
4th Generation Intel i7-4790K Processor (Quad Core, 8MB Cache, up to 4.4GHz w/ Turbo Boost)
16GB Memory
1TB Hard Drive + 256GB Solid State Drive
GTX 960 card
like i said, i'm mainly curious as to how long this would last me. not looking to max out every game just want something that can last me ~5 years without needing to buy current gen consoles. otherwise i'm going to sell it
Makoto-Yuki
Banned
when planning my pc i was originally going to go for an overclock set up but went for a H97 mobo/i5-4590 to try keep it under budget. right now it handles pretty much any game at 1080p 60fps ultra but i'm worried it's not gonna be enough. gta v's recommended cpu is an i5-3470 for example which is a game i really want to get 1080p/60fps/ultra from.
would upgrading to an i7-4970 be a good idea or just a waste of money? i don't see much point of getting an i5-4690. or if going with the i7 is a good idea then should i get the i7-4970 or wait for the broadwell i7-5***??
when upgrading the CPU i know it's just a matter of removing the cooler/removing CPU then putting the new one in but what happens software wise? will it run "out the box" or would i need to do something like a clean OS install???
my gpu is a 290 which i'm happy with but will probably upgrade near the end of the year/start of 2016 to a (hopefully price dropped) 980 or a 390/390X. my motherboard is gigabyte h97m-d3h and my PSU is EVGA Supernova 750W G2...will these be fine for an i7 cpu/980, 390, 390x gpu??
would upgrading to an i7-4970 be a good idea or just a waste of money? i don't see much point of getting an i5-4690. or if going with the i7 is a good idea then should i get the i7-4970 or wait for the broadwell i7-5***??
when upgrading the CPU i know it's just a matter of removing the cooler/removing CPU then putting the new one in but what happens software wise? will it run "out the box" or would i need to do something like a clean OS install???
my gpu is a 290 which i'm happy with but will probably upgrade near the end of the year/start of 2016 to a (hopefully price dropped) 980 or a 390/390X. my motherboard is gigabyte h97m-d3h and my PSU is EVGA Supernova 750W G2...will these be fine for an i7 cpu/980, 390, 390x gpu??
I have one with absolutely zero faults.It is a tremendous monitor, and gsync is truly great. I would get the ips gsync 1440 monitor from acer though for the better colors.Unless the 1 ms response time means something to you the Acer probably has a fast enough response time to be just fine. I really miss IPS colors and viewing angles.
Overall the specs are great, you may have been hoping for a GTX 980 so to you the GTX 960 is "only" midrange, but if you play games at 1080p you'll be absolutely fine, you might just not get 60FPS unless you lower graphical quality settings. Everything except the graphics card is excellent and will last you 5 years. The 4790K is more than necessary for gaming performance and it being overclockable makes it definitely able to last that long, although I'm not sure how well the Alienware X51 does overclocking. Also, 16GB of RAM is more than most games will ever need. It's also a very compact PC, handy to move around but difficult to expand and upgrade in the future. It's up to you if you want to sell it, I suppose.
Assuming you're in the US, the $900 build I listed just a few hours ago will do most games at or close to 60FPS at 1080p high settings. It's possible to cut costs down to around $700 or so for gaming at medium settings if I tweak the build like this:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant
CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($226.69 @ OutletPC)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.75 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock Z97M Anniversary Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($74.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-2400 Memory ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($44.99 @ Best Buy)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R9 280X 3GB Video Card ($189.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Cooler Master N200 MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($39.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: EVGA 600B 600W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($34.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $701.38
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-04-06 04:49 EDT-0400
If you live near a Microcenter location, you can buy a motherboard and processor bundle for a lot cheaper ($250+tax for both). That offer is only for in-store purchase, though.
Currently most games don't really make use of the 8 processing threads offered by i7 processors. You would be paying over $300 for little to no framerate improvement in current games (i5 4690 compared to i7 4790 because i5 4590 isn't on the list and is nearly the same as the i5 4690), and it's hard to recommend upgrading now on the chance that future games might be better suited for multi-threading.
It makes more sense and saves money now to hold on to your i5 4590 and just upgrade if it actually does become outdated a couple of years down the line, then you may be able to pick up a Haswell/Broadwell i7 processor for cheaper if future games turn out to need 8 processing threads.
Software-wise Windows doesn't really care if you put in a different processor. There are no special drivers or reinstallation needed for it. Yeah, your power supply is more than enough for an i7 and R9 390X.
Dries
Member
Great news!
Good to hear! I didn't know there was an ips version of acer's 1440p g-sync monitors. I just looked it up, but it's sold out everywhere here in The Netherlands. Too bad, but every review of the ROG SWIFT mentions the exceptional colour quality for a TN screen, so I guess I'll be fine.
Coulomb_Barrier
Member
The value of the Titan X is poor at £850/$999.
You can get a R9 295X2 for £500 and it's significantly faster in most benchmarks and only requires a powerful PSU and space to mount it's liquid cooler block on your case.
I would wait for the 390x if the 295X2 is not an option. All indications are it will be similar performance (or faster) to the Titan X but couple hundred cheaper.
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