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[ISee]

Hi GAF,
I am thinking about upgrading my CPU, Mainboard and RAM this christmas (a present from me to me *g*).

I am right now on an i5 3570k @ 4.3ghz OC +scythe mugen cooler, 8gb 1600 ddr3 ram on an Gigabyte Z77-DS3H. My OCed Gigabyte G1 970 (1400mhz) will stay for at least another year. Not the best setup out there, but I was happy with it.
I am thinking to get the Asus Z170-A Mainboard, an i7 6700k + a mugen cooler again and 16gb of ddr4 ram. But I have some questions.

1.) Is this a reasonable Upgrade in terms of 'power gain'? Especially in expectation of DX12s better utilization of CPU cores (because of Hyper Threading)?
2.) I already upgraded to Win10. So I'll need to buy a fresh win10 copy, because my current win10 key is locked to my current hardware?

 

[lordfuzzybutt]

Hi GAF,
I am thinking about upgrading my CPU, Mainboard and RAM this christmas (a present from me to me *g*).

I am right now on an i5 3570k @ 4.3ghz OC +scythe mugen cooler, 8gb 1600 ddr3 ram on an Gigabyte Z77-DS3H. My OCed Gigabyte G1 970 (1400mhz) will stay for at least another year. Not the best setup out there, but I was happy with it.
I am thinking to get the Asus Z170-A Mainboard, an i7 6700k + a mugen cooler again and 16gb of ddr4 ram. But I have some questions.

1.) Is this a reasonable Upgrade in terms of 'power gain'? Especially in expectation of DX12s better utilization of CPU cores (because of Hyper Threading)?
2.) I already upgraded to Win10. So I'll need to buy a fresh win10 copy, because my current win10 key is locked to my current hardware?

1. No, it will not be a worthwhile gain. DX12 is still far off until developers adopt it and use it efficiently. If anything, it will make your current CPU work better, even less reasons to upgrade. A better GPU will be a better upgrade.

2. I am not sure if you need a new license, perhaps you can contact MS and explain the situation, if you decide to upgrade anyway.

 

[ISee]

1. No, it will not be a worthwhile gain. DX12 is still far off until developers adopt it and use it efficiently. If anything, it will make your current CPU work better, even less reasons to upgrade. A better GPU will be a better upgrade.

2. I am not sure if you need a new license, perhaps you can contact MS and explain the situation, if you decide to upgrade anyway.

I am a bit hesitant in terms of gpu atm. I (originally) planned to wait for, at least, pascal to hit stores before thinking about a new GPU. So in general hyper threading isn't a reason to upgrade?

 

[Kezen]

I am a bit hesitant in terms of gpu atm. I (originally) planned to wait for, at least, pascal to hit stores before thinking about a new GPU. So in general hyper threading isn't a reason to upgrade?

It can give good boosts in games but really hard to justify the premium.
Honestly I think it's better to wait for Q2 2016 and the Radeon 400 series / Nvidia Pascal.

 

[lordfuzzybutt]

I am a bit hesitant in terms of gpu atm. I (originally) planned to wait for, at least, pascal to hit stores before thinking about a new GPU. So in general hyper threading isn't a reason to upgrade?

It can give good boosts in games but really hard to justify the premium.
Honestly I think it's better to wait for Q2 2016 and the Radeon 400 series / Nvidia Pascal.

Regarding hyperthreading, it is still down to the developers to implement their games to fully take advantages of those cores. So, before we can see more benchmarks, it will be hard to say exactly how much a gain DX12 will bring for HT-capable CPU. As of now, HT can be beneficial for only handful of games and definitely not worth it for games only.

Waiting is indeed the best option right now. The rig is well-rounded to do well for at least 2 years more.

 

[LaffTrack]

I chose the 278 over the 279 because of the faster response time and full freesync range

Also its an 8bit TN panel, not a 6bit

So why did you choose the 278Q over the Acer XG270HU? I have an Nvidia card and won't use freesync so that was irrelevant for me. I really wanted the combo of IPS+1440P+144hz and decided I could do without Gsync and save some money going with the 279Q instead of the Acer XB270HU bprz.

Dam, monitor naming schemes are horrible.

 

[Kezen]

Regarding hyperthreading, it is still down to the developers to implement their games to fully take advantages of those cores. So, before we can see more benchmarks, it will be hard to say exactly how much a gain DX12 will bring for HT-capable CPU. As of now, HT can be beneficial for only handful of games and definitely not worth it for games only.

I was under the assumption that the DX11 greatly limited I7's potential due to its limited parallelism. Nevertheless there are DX11 games which scale nicely with the amount of cores, be them physical or logical, such as The Witcher 3 and others I'm forgetting.
I'm not sure I agree with you regarding DX12. Multithreaded rendering is not a new concept and surely task-based engines are the norm nowadays, which mean more cores = more performance assuming your app is CPU bound and with the low overhead of DX12 it's likely you'll be GPU bound on any modern I5 anyway, so an I7 might end up not having much impact.

 

[abracadaver]

So why did you choose the 278Q over the Acer XG270HU?

When I was comparing monitors last week the reviews said that the ASUS has the lowest input lag


edit: also that acer is IPS. I wanted TN

 

[ISee]

Regarding hyperthreading, it is still down to the developers to implement their games to fully take advantages of those cores. So, before we can see more benchmarks, it will be hard to say exactly how much a gain DX12 will bring for HT-capable CPU. As of now, HT can be beneficial for only handful of games and definitely not worth it for games only.

Waiting is indeed the best option right now. The rig is well-rounded to do well for at least 2 years more.

It can give good boosts in games but really hard to justify the premium.
Honestly I think it's better to wait for Q2 2016 and the Radeon 400 series / Nvidia Pascal.

Well thank you both. Waiting could really be an option.

 

[LaffTrack]

When I was comparing monitors last week the reviews said that the ASUS has the lowest input lag


edit: also that acer is IPS. I wanted TN

This one? Pretty sure it's TN. The XG270HU is TN and the XB270HU is IPS.
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Produc...8566&utm_medium=affiliates&utm_source=afc-%zn

 

[lordfuzzybutt]

I was under the assumption that the DX11 greatly limited I7's potential due to its limited parallelism. Nevertheless there are DX11 games which scale nicely with the amount of cores, be them physical or logical, such as The Witcher 3 and others I'm forgetting.
I'm not sure I agree with you regarding DX12. Multithreaded rendering is not a new concept and surely task-based engines are the norm nowadays, which mean more cores = more performance assuming your app is CPU bound and with the low overhead of DX12 it's likely you'll be GPU bound on any modern I5 anyway, so an I7 might end up not having much impact.

I am not disagreeing with anything you are saying here. Admittedly, I am not knowledgeable about how game engines are made nowadays but off the top of my head, I can only remember some highly CPU reliant engines, like IDTech5 and Frostbyte?

I think you might have misunderstood what I am saying regarding DX12 though. I am not saying that multi-threaded rendering is a new concept.

What I simply meant is that I am not sure how DX12 will affect Hyper-threading differently as compared to DX11. Specifically to answer ISee's question.

 

[Jarsonot]

For the edges it could be that you have overscan turned on on your TV.
As for sound. Is the TV connected through an HDMI only, and are you selecting that as your audio playback?

No overscan option on the TV, sound is HDMI only.
I'll double check that's selected as audio playback, but *I* haven't changed anything.

And it worked just fine a little while ago, is the frustrating part.

I turned it on one day and boom - overscan and no sound.

It's annoying. =)

 

[Hamster Plugin]

Is there anything else I need to know about buying a power supply other than the watts? I found a Fractal Design 800W PSU for only €100 which is a bit below competitors' prices (a Corsair 750W would be €115).

I'm also getting a Fractal Design PC case which is very good according to nearly everyone, so would the same apply to their PSUs?

 

[lordfuzzybutt]

Is there anything else I need to know about buying a power supply other than the watts? I found a Fractal Design 800W PSU for only €100 which is a bit below competitors' prices (a Corsair 750W would be €115).

I'm also getting a Fractal Design PC case which is very good according to nearly everyone, so would the same apply to their PSUs?

It depends on which one you got, what is the exact name of the unit?

Normally, you should consider:

+ Modular or non-modular PSU, a modular PSU is better for cable management, but usually more expensive.

+ The number of cables type. PCI-E cable, molex, etc.

+ Noise level.

+ Build quality.

Read reviews of the one you want to buy before deciding.

 

[Spikematic]

I held off on buying parts for a new Skylake build to save up more money. The stuff I've decided to get so far is:

i5 6600k processor
Corsair Carbide Air 240 Chassis
Gigabyte GTX 980 TI G1 GPU
G.SKILL 16GB (2 x 8GB) Ripjaws V 2133 MHz DDR4 (is this one fine? can't see a 2 set 2800mhz set)


Can anyone recommend a solid Skylake Micro ATX motherboard, a PSU (modular and low noise preferred) and a cooler for this build?

Thanks!

 

[Kezen]

I am not disagreeing with anything you are saying here. Admittedly, I am not knowledgeable about how game engines are made nowadays but off the top of my head, I can only remember some highly CPU reliant engines, like IDTech5 and Frostbyte?
I think you might have misunderstood what I am saying regarding DX12 though. I am not saying that multi-threaded rendering is a new concept.

I took from your post that multithreading was something that still need to be mastered, while that's not true if you look at current games. Obviously devs know how to harness multicore CPUs, I7 included but the API must be limiting them somewhat. With workloads putting extreme pressure on CPUs we should see modern I7s dominating Core I5s with ease. However, as I said very low overhead means much less chance of being CPU bound in the first place.

What I simply meant is that I am not sure how DX12 will affect Hyper-threading differently as compared to DX11. Specifically to answer ISee's question.

It's safe to say DX12 will make HT sing if, and only IF the game is heavily cpu bound on I5 which is unlikely for multiplats.

 

[kennah]

Whatcha think.

6600k with z170 motherboard

Or

I7 4790k with b85 motherboard for $30 more

I do multitasking and media more than gaming, but it would be nice to have m2 ssd to upgrade to in the future.

 

[The Lamonster]

Some explanation for the other changes. The whole idea was saving money where it counts and investing in other places.

Mobo: The Deluxe is nice... but way too expensive. Unless you plan on utilizing all of its features... there is no need to spend close to $300 on a mobo.

CPU Cooler: $20 more and vastly better cooling. Also, with the Noctua fans I added, much, much quieter. Corsair Link Software is also great.

Memory: Just saving some money and keeping the red theme from the mobo. Higher memory speeds are hardly ever worth it.

Storage: The Samsung SM951 would act as your boot drive and hold any critical programs like Creative Suite. The Crucial is about the same as the Samsung and cheaper. The WD Black is a loud drive, I would advise getting some rubber washers or adhesive foam to act as an extra barrier between the drive and whatever you mount it to.

Video Card: Outside of maybe the Lightning, K|NGP|N, and Matrix Platinum there isn't much separating 980 Ti's. The Hybrid is nice because it is dead quiet and as long as you don't lose the silicon lottery, performs within 99% of any other 980 Ti. The 3rd Noctua fan is a MUST though if you get this GPU as the stock fan is loud as hell (personal experience).

Case: Gotta show off those new parts! Window all the way. Also, "blackout" keeps everything aesthetically cleaner.

PSU: Well, I have a 980 Ti and 850W is just in that spot of more than enough for a single card, but not enough for SLI... so considering a 1000W PSU is only a little more, it is a sound investment.

Optical Drive: Saving money

Case Fan: IMO the best fan on the market. At 3000rpm is will be stupid loud but you won't need to run it that high. 1000-1200rpm during gaming should be fine (and quiet). Also, the black and dark brown color is much better than the poop tan of the fan you originally selected.


Compared to your original build you are only up $12 and have put yourself in a much better position. The PSU will give you the option for SLI, for this system, or any future one. The CPU cooler, GPU choice, and fans should combine to keep your system running cool and quiet even during heavy gaming.

Thanks for all the advice and suggestions! I made the voyage to Micro Center last night and bought all my parts. I didn't go for the sexy build you suggested though. This PC is going under the desk so I got the windowless case and poop-colored Noctuas. I did take your advice about cheaper memory and a cheaper motherboard. I ended up ordering the ASUS Z170-PRO, which is basically brand new. I don't see any reviews anywhere for it. This is not to be confused with the Asus "Pro Gaming" board. I hope it works out. It's even cheaper than the Hero but has more features than the Z170-A.

What Firewire drive do you have? Chances are that you can disassemble it, take out the hard drive, and put it in a new USB 3.0 enclosure.

Chances are, you can open the case and connect the HD inside to your pc's internal sata port.

Cool. I will look into this, thanks guys!

 

[RGM79]

Whatcha think.

6600k with z170 motherboard

Or

I7 4790k with b85 motherboard for $30 more

I do multitasking and media more than gaming, but it would be nice to have m2 ssd to upgrade to in the future.

If you go with the i7 4790K option, you could use a PCI-E to M.2 adaptor if you wanted M.2 support in the future, couldn't you? And depending on what B85 motherboard you got, you could still overclock the i7 4790K if you desired.

http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/6422/addonics-adm2px4-pcie-3-0-to-m-2-ssd-adapter-review/index.html
http://www.legitreviews.com/addonics-m-2-pcie-ssd-adapter-x110-review_165632
https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/Samsung-XP941-Plextor-PX-G256-M6e-M-2-Qualification-575/

That looks fairly promising. Whether the M.2 drive is bootable or not seems to not rely on the adaptor, and only on the M.2 drive and perhaps the motherboard.

 

[lordfuzzybutt]

I took from your post that multithreading was something that still need to be mastered, while that's not true if you look at current games. Obviously devs know how to harness multicore CPUs, I7 included but the API must be limiting them somewhat. With workloads putting extreme pressure on CPUs we should see modern I7s dominating Core I5s with ease. However, as I said very low overhead means much less chance of being CPU bound in the first place.


It's safe to say DX12 will make HT sing if, and only IF the game is heavily cpu bound on I5 which is unlikely for multiplats.

You cited TW3 and I agree. But CDPR is a very capable dev, some others are as good or even better but that is no way the standard of the industry.

Yes, they are limited by the dx11 api and of course, they will have to take time to get used to the new API and that is also by no way instant.

All in all, I agree, in a perfect situation (perfect scalability, no bottlenecking), an i7 will have a lot of advantage over an i5, I will not use the word "dominate" though, however.

The scope of my original answer was to answer ISee's question that if it's "worth it" to upgrade, and it was a very simple "no", especially in near future, when apps are still more gpu bound. Even for TW3, you can see the gain is nowhere near enough to justify the 100 bucks difference between a 4th gen i5 and i7, let alone a completely new rig, which should cost a lot more.

 

[abracadaver]

whats the best illuminated keyboard under 200€?

 

[B4s5C]

I built a new PC over the weekend. Its a neat little Mini-ITX build.

Case: Silverstone SG13q
CPU: Intel i5 4690k
Motherboard: Gigabyte LGA 1150 Intel Z97N
Graphics Card: Sapphire R9 290 4GB card (The card is as long and a few inches shorter than the case)
RAM: 16GB DDR3 1600Mhz
PSU: Thermaltake 600watts

This little build is so much better than my old Phenom X2 and 6870 build. I will say that Mini-ITX is now my favorite form factor due to how small and portable my system is.

 

[The Lamonster]

The board I bought last night is so new it isn't even on PC Part Picker yet lol

ASUS Z170-PRO

I'm pretty confident that it's quality though, if it's anything like the X99-PRO.

 

[xerzewatt]

I'd recommend either the i5 5675C or the i7 5775C. How small do you want your PC case to be? You should look at Fractal's Define Mini or Nanoxia's Deep Silence 4 for the noise-dampening design. Alternatively there are other options like Silverstone's Grandia line which are meant to be home theatre type cases that would fit right next to a home stereo receiver.

I recommend Noctua heatsinks if you're looking for a low noise CPU cooler. Their entire line is pretty much excellent, and they have both large and small CPU coolers which are all biased toward low noise and quiet operation. Quite a lot of them still manage to have fairly high cooling performance, though.

Nvidia graphics cards are currently the better bet when it comes to lower heat and noise levels, quite a lot of them have zero fan speed modes when at low temperature. If you don't need to buy new storage drives, then maybe you can fit a GTX 980 Ti into your budget.

Similarly, some power supplies have an "eco" mode that reduces fan noise at low loads. EVGA and Corsair offer that feature.

Here's an example build, optimized for low noise:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant
CPU: Intel Core i7-5775C 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor ($187.00)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D9L 46.4 CFM CPU Cooler ($54.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock Z97 Extreme3 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($76.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($68.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB SSC ACX 2.0+ Video Card ($314.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Silverstone GD09B HTPC Case ($66.60 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA GS 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($79.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $849.44
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-11-03 00:38 EST-0500

I tried, but wasn't able to make a GTX 980 Ti fit into your budget without making sacrifices elsewhere.

Thank you very much, the build looks quite good. 970 should be fine for a couple of years at the very least. I thought about the case a little bit more and decided a mid tower should be fine as long as it doesn't have symbols, blinking lights etc. I would prefer extra space and potentially lower temperatures for those quieter eco modes. Should I go for Deep Silence 3 or do you have any other suggestions?

 

[RGM79]

Thank you very much, the build looks quite good. 970 should be fine for a couple of years at the very least. I thought about the case a little bit more and decided a mid tower should be fine as long as it doesn't have symbols, blinking lights etc. I would prefer extra space and potentially lower temperatures for those quieter eco modes. Should I go for Deep Silence 3 or do you have any other suggestions?

My usual go-to suggestion for a case with both good airflow and soundproofing is the Fractal Define S, and it costs about the same as that Silverstone GD09 case, and supports three 3.5" drives and 2 SSDs or up to 5 SSDs. It doesn't support an optical drive though, if that is important for you to know. Nothing wrong with Nanoxia cases, but availability/supply seems to be a problem in the US and they cost quite a bit more.

Here's a slightly revised build:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant
CPU: Intel Core i7-5775C 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor ($187.00)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D15 82.5 CFM CPU Cooler ($91.98 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock Z97 Extreme3 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($76.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Mushkin Blackline 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-2400 Memory ($72.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB SSC ACX 2.0+ Video Card ($314.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Fractal Design Define S ATX Mid Tower Case ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA GS 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($79.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $893.92
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-11-03 12:55 EST-0500

The NH-D15 is overkill for cooling but is guaranteed to be an excellent cooler and quiet. There's the option of overclocking in the future if you need it, which is nice to have and extends longevity of the PC before it needs to be upgraded and/or replaced. Also improves resale value if you want to sell it for some reason.

 

[kennah]

If you go with the i7 4790K option, you could use a PCI-E to M.2 adaptor if you wanted M.2 support in the future, couldn't you? And depending on what B85 motherboard you got, you could still overclock the i7 4790K if you desired.

http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/6422/addonics-adm2px4-pcie-3-0-to-m-2-ssd-adapter-review/index.html
http://www.legitreviews.com/addonics-m-2-pcie-ssd-adapter-x110-review_165632
https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/Samsung-XP941-Plextor-PX-G256-M6e-M-2-Qualification-575/

That looks fairly promising. Whether the M.2 drive is bootable or not seems to not rely on the adaptor, and only on the M.2 drive and perhaps the motherboard.

No pci e slots. I run itx only in this house. The board I'm looking at is the b85 Phoenix by gigabyte. It has a msata slot and I already have a 64 gig msata kicking around (on my Wii of all places). I have an extremely small case, so the extra slot is pretty necessary. My case only takes 2 x 2.5" drives.

Just concerned about going with an older cpu I guess? Not too concerned about the lack of overclocking with the 4.0 base.

 

[Google]

Team,

I'm running a single 980 OC'd on a 1440p 144hz monitor. I'm struggling with (notoriously difficult to run perfectly) games like The Witcher 3 and Assassins Creed at anything above 1080p.

What's the best upgrade path for me right now?

Do I invest in another 980 Strix?

Do I go to a 980ti?

Have I overlooked something else?

 

[wheremypho]

Hi Gaf, looking to build my first PC. I am hoping to run all the latest games at a locked 30 fps. I just want further insight on the parts I picked. I will be reusing my old disk drive and hdd.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($226.71 @ Vuugo)
Motherboard: ASRock H97M PRO4 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($89.98 @ Newegg Canada)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($55.23 @ DirectCanada)
Video Card: MSI Radeon R9 380 2GB Video Card ($254.98 @ NCIX) j

Case: Cooler Master N200 MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($56.25 @ Vuugo)
Power Supply: Rosewill 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($95.49 @ Newegg Canada)
Total: $778.64
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-11-03 13:43 EST-0500

 

[nick nacc]

So my hyper 212 evo's fan is rattling when it revs up. Need to place the thing. Should I go liquid cooling or just get another hyper?

 

[MisterNoisy]

So my hyper 212 evo's fan is rattling when it revs up. Need to place the thing. Should I go liquid cooling or just get another hyper?

Just get another fan. Cheap and easy - no need to replace the cooler itself. This fan is pretty close to a direct replacement.

 

[Salsa]

well hey

remember me, the guy who couldnt get his card to run at 16x on the proper PCIe port

took card out. cleaned everything. put it back in.

16x now instead of the old 8x

guess there was something on those pins. but im surprised at how it can affect it so directly

hopefully I can properly run Wolfenstein now which apparently relies a lot on bus speed

 

[UND3RxOATH]

Anyone have a recommended WiFi Adapter or NIC? I'm currently running an Asus Dark Knight router mainly N.

Background story: My latency in Diablo 3 ranges from 100 ms to 270 ms within seconds during WiFi. The router is updated to the newest firmware. Although, when I'm directly connected latency is at a steady 65-80 ms.

My router is currently within 4 steps of the PC although typically it's in another room. The card is seated correctly, but I'm just not sure what the problem is.

Suggestions?

 

[nick nacc]

Just get another fan. Cheap and easy - no need to replace the cooler itself. This fan is pretty close to a direct replacement.

could you link again? that one doesn't work

 

[El_Chino]

Hey guys, is it worth upgrading to DDR4?

 

[Hamster Plugin]

It depends on which one you got, what is the exact name of the unit?

Normally, you should consider:

+ Modular or non-modular PSU, a modular PSU is better for cable management, but usually more expensive.

+ The number of cables type. PCI-E cable, molex, etc.

+ Noise level.

+ Build quality.

Read reviews of the one you want to buy before deciding.

I'm going for "Fractal Design Newton R3 800W, 80 PLUS Platinum", which seems to really be at the best price/performance ratio at the moment. Very good reviews on that one too.

Placed my order.

 

[RGM79]

Team,

I'm running a single 980 OC'd on a 1440p 144hz monitor. I'm struggling with (notoriously difficult to run perfectly) games like The Witcher 3 and Assassins Creed at anything above 1080p.

What's the best upgrade path for me right now?

Do I invest in another 980 Strix?

Do I go to a 980ti?

Have I overlooked something else?

We'd recommend getting a 980 Ti over SLI, unless you're certain that SLI is what you want and works well with the games you want.

Hi Gaf, looking to build my first PC. I am hoping to run all the latest games at a locked 30 fps. I just want further insight on the parts I picked. I will be reusing my old disk drive and hdd.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($226.71 @ Vuugo)
Motherboard: ASRock H97M PRO4 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($89.98 @ Newegg Canada)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($55.23 @ DirectCanada)
Video Card: MSI Radeon R9 380 2GB Video Card ($254.98 @ NCIX) j

Case: Cooler Master N200 MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($56.25 @ Vuugo)
Power Supply: Rosewill 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($95.49 @ Newegg Canada)
Total: $778.64
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-11-03 13:43 EST-0500

You can save some money and come up with a slightly better performing PC if you go with parts like these:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant
CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($226.71 @ Vuugo)
Motherboard: ASRock B85M-DGS Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($54.95 @ Vuugo)
Memory: Patriot Signature 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($49.99 @ Amazon Canada)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 960 4GB Video Card ($269.99 @ NCIX)
Case: Silverstone PS08B (Black) MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($49.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply ($49.99 @ NCIX)
Total: $701.62
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-11-03 14:23 EST-0500

You'll want a graphics card with 4GB of VRAM as it will last longer without being bottlenecked at 1080p in the future. The motherboard is cheaper, but still adequate for your needs.

well hey

remember me, the guy who couldnt get his card to run at 16x on the proper PCIe port

took card out. cleaned everything. put it back in.

16x now instead of the old 8x

guess there was something on those pins. but im surprised at how it can affect it so directly

hopefully I can properly run Wolfenstein now which apparently relies a lot on bus speed

The way PCI-E pins and slots work, the extra pin contacts allow for higher speed and bandwidth. If there's something blocking contact on the pins, then apparently it'll default to a lower speed, as it's all backwards compatible. I didn't expect that. Still, I wouldn't have expected the contacts to be dirty.

Anyone have a recommended WiFi Adapter or NIC? I'm currently running an Asus Dark Knight router mainly N.

Background story: My latency in Diablo 3 ranges from 100 ms to 270 ms within seconds during WiFi. The router is updated to the newest firmware. Although, when I'm directly connected latency is at a steady 65-80 ms.

My router is currently within 4 steps of the PC although typically it's in another room. The card is seated correctly, but I'm just not sure what the problem is.

Suggestions?

What wifi adaptor do you already have? Have you tried different drivers?

could you link again? that one doesn't work

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA1K63550115

However, $14 for that Blademaster is expensive. There's the Cooler Master Sickleflow 120mm fan for $5 after rebate at Newegg or for as low as $6 elsewhere, and according to Xbit Labs it's better than the Blademaster.

Hey guys, is it worth upgrading to DDR4?

To use DDR4, you'd have to get a new processor and motherboard as well. There's not really much of a point in upgrading just for DDR4, very few games if at all are bottlenecked by system RAM speed.

 

[MisterNoisy]

could you link again? that one doesn't work

Sorry about that, and as RGM notes, there are likely better options. I may actually have a red LED version of that fan hanging around that you can have as well as a white LED Corsair AF120 or something else suitable in my big box of parts.

 

[OkayRene]

So I was all set to buy a GTX 970 for the (6600K / 16GB DDR4) build I've been planning, until I ran it by someone that strongly urged me to stay away from it because of the 3.5GB controversy.

I looked at some benchmarks on YouTube and it seems like games are already close to, if not at the 3.5GB usage limit, today. What I'm wondering is how long can I expect to run new games at 1080p and Max Settings if I purchase a 970?

Originally I thought I'd be able to get away with it for about 3 years before I had to start dropping settings down, but maybe that's unrealistic of me to expect out of a $350 card?

Would appreciate some wisdom on the subject.

 

[El_Chino]

We'd recommend getting a 980 Ti over SLI, unless you're certain that SLI is what you want and works well with the games you want.



You can save some money and come up with a slightly better performing PC if you go with parts like these:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant
CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($226.71 @ Vuugo)
Motherboard: ASRock B85M-DGS Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($54.95 @ Vuugo)
Memory: Patriot Signature 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($49.99 @ Amazon Canada)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 960 4GB Video Card ($269.99 @ NCIX)
Case: Silverstone PS08B (Black) MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($49.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply ($49.99 @ NCIX)
Total: $701.62
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-11-03 14:23 EST-0500

You'll want a graphics card with 4GB of VRAM as it will last longer without being bottlenecked at 1080p in the future. The motherboard is cheaper, but still adequate for your needs.


The way PCI-E pins and slots work, the extra pin contacts allow for higher speed and bandwidth. If there's something blocking contact on the pins, then apparently it'll default to a lower speed, as it's all backwards compatible. I didn't expect that. Still, I wouldn't have expected the contacts to be dirty.

What wifi adaptor do you already have? Have you tried different drivers?



http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA1K63550115

However, $14 for that Blademaster is expensive. There's the Cooler Master Sickleflow 120mm fan for $5 after rebate at Newegg or for as low as $6 elsewhere, and according to Xbit Labs it's better than the Blademaster.



To use DDR4, you'd have to get a new processor and motherboard as well. There's not really much of a point in upgrading just for DDR4, very few games if at all are bottlenecked by system RAM speed.

Oh okay, thanks!

 

[nick nacc]

Thanks Misternoisy and RGM79 for the info. Just ordered.

 

[RGM79]

So I was all set to buy a GTX 970 for the (6600K / 16GB DDR4) build I've been planning, until I ran it by someone that strongly urged me to stay away from it because of the 3.5GB controversy.

I looked at some benchmarks on YouTube and it seems like games are already close to, if not at the 3.5GB usage limit, today. What I'm wondering is how long can I expect to run new games at 1080p and Max Settings if I purchase a 970?

Originally I thought I'd be able to get away with it for about 3 years before I had to start dropping settings down, but maybe that's unrealistic of me to expect out of a $350 card?

Would appreciate some wisdom on the subject.

What games are you looking at? For example, TW3's latest expansion apparently uses less than 2GB of VRAM at 1080p on fairly high settings.

 

[OkayRene]

What games are you looking at? For example, TW3's latest expansion apparently uses less than 2GB of VRAM at 1080p on fairly high settings.

This is what I saw. He played Battlefield, Skyrim, and Shadow of Mordor. Of those 3, I'm most likely to play games like Battlefield.

 

[RGM79]

This is what I saw. He played Battlefield, Skyrim, and Shadow of Mordor. Of those 3, I'm most likely to play games like Battlefield.

The guy is playing with BF4's resolution scaling option at higher settings, it looks like it's a form of DSR/VSR or but built into the game rather than as a feature of the graphics card and driver. It's essentially similar to playing a game at a higher resolution than what your monitor supports and then downscaling it to fit your monitor resolution. So then, 1080p would be 100%, and a higher setting than that would be rendering the game at a higher resolution, I believe.

You already can't max out certain games with a GTX 970. Believe it or not, it's a midrange card. That said, the GTX 970 should still run BF4 just fine for you. There are no games that specifically give a GTX 970 any trouble at 1080p specifically because of the VRAM issue.

It appears that the graphics driver and GPU will only resort to using the slower 512MB of VRAM if it absolutely can't help it. Despite all that hype for SoM recommending 6GB of VRAM for the highest possible settings, the VRAM usage was capped at around 3400MB. As I understand it, the 6GB VRAM recommendation for SoM's ultra texture pack was kinda overblown.

 

[wheremypho]

You can save some money and come up with a slightly better performing PC if you go with parts like these:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant
CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($226.71 @ Vuugo)
Motherboard: ASRock B85M-DGS Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($54.95 @ Vuugo)
Memory: Patriot Signature 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($49.99 @ Amazon Canada)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 960 4GB Video Card ($269.99 @ NCIX)
Case: Silverstone PS08B (Black) MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($49.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply ($49.99 @ NCIX)
Total: $701.62
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-11-03 14:23 EST-0500

You'll want a graphics card with 4GB of VRAM as it will last longer without being bottlenecked at 1080p in the future. The motherboard is cheaper, but still adequate for your needs.

Thank you!

 

[UND3RxOATH]

What wifi adaptor do you already have? Have you tried different drivers?

TL-WDN4800. I just used their old drivers and have noticed a increase in connectivity at the moment. Just encase this goes sour, any thoughts?

 

[RGM79]

TL-WDN4800. I just used their old drivers and have noticed a increase in connectivity at the moment. Just encase this goes sour, any thoughts?

Any other wireless devices nearby that could be interfering? Does moving the PC around the room change connectivity? Signal strength or latency?

 

[Guri]

Hi GAF,
I am thinking about upgrading my CPU, Mainboard and RAM this christmas (a present from me to me *g*).

I am right now on an i5 3570k @ 4.3ghz OC +scythe mugen cooler, 8gb 1600 ddr3 ram on an Gigabyte Z77-DS3H. My OCed Gigabyte G1 970 (1400mhz) will stay for at least another year. Not the best setup out there, but I was happy with it.
I am thinking to get the Asus Z170-A Mainboard, an i7 6700k + a mugen cooler again and 16gb of ddr4 ram. But I have some questions.

1.) Is this a reasonable Upgrade in terms of 'power gain'? Especially in expectation of DX12s better utilization of CPU cores (because of Hyper Threading)?
2.) I already upgraded to Win10. So I'll need to buy a fresh win10 copy, because my current win10 key is locked to my current hardware?

It is not locked to your current hardware unless it's an OEM key. You'll be safe. As a matter of fact, starting from this month's Windows 10 update, Windows 7 and 8.1 keys will work on 10's setup.

 

[apieceofstrange]

Could I please get some feedback on this build?

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($369.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H60 54.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($67.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming 7 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($209.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill TridentZ Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3200 Memory ($129.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($163.88 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital BLACK SERIES 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 980 Ti 6GB Video Card ($664.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Fractal Design Define R5 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) ($102.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $1959.77

I haven't built a PC in ~15 years so most of my experience is likely not applicable anymore. Never dealt with liquid cooling before so that is my main concern. Is the H60 sufficient or should I go with something better? Also, do I need to add additional fans or are the stock fans and CPU cooler good enough? Don't plan on doing any overclocking. Is there anything else I'm overlooking?

Also, is it a good time to buy these parts or is it worth waiting a few months? I'm not so much concerned about the price as I am better hardware. I'm not in a big rush now, but ideally would like to do this build over the next 2-3 months.

Thanks!

 

[VillageBC]

TL-WDN4800. I just used their old drivers and have noticed a increase in connectivity at the moment. Just encase this goes sour, any thoughts?

it could be lots of things. Could be looking at multipath reflections causing issues, other devices on the network interfering, operating in mix modes, other wifi networks bleeding into the channel, bad card/router.

if the PC is buried in a desk, in the corner of a room backed against a wall and a bunch of stuff between it and the router I'd pull it out and test it with a cleaner line of site and see if that makes a difference. But basically it's go through the list and start eleminating potential causes.

- Remove everything else from the network.
- Configure it to run N only at 5ghz and not mixed
- Probably set channels, width etcetera to auto. They do a better job picking the clean RF signals than we can as a rule.

That's where I would start.

 

[Vitacat]

Here is my current build. Look good? I'm shooting for a very small but powerful system.

Please comment, because this is my first build in many years! =P

QUESTION: if I install the OS to an SSD now, can I add a second SSD in the future in RAID mirror configuration?

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($369.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Seidon 120M 86.2 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($64.99 @ Newegg)
Thermal Compound: Prolimatech PK-1 5g Thermal Paste ($9.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Asus MAXIMUS VIII IMPACT Mini ITX LGA1151 Motherboard ($248.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($119.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 850 Pro Series 512GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($230.83 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Constellation ES.3 4TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($209.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 970 4GB STRIX Video Card ($353.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Cooler Master Elite 130 Mini ITX Tower Case ($53.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Cooler Master VSM 650W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) ($102.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $1881.69
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-11-03 18:19 EST-0500

EDIT: changed graphics card to Mini ITX version.
EDIT 2: read reviews of the Mini ITX version and sounds bad? I believe the case will take a full size card up to 12 inches so I may change the card...
EDIT 3: changed graphics card to full size (11 inches long) Asus 970 with Gsync support (may want this someday). Changed cooler to Seidon instead of Nepton to save some space and ensure compatability.