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"I Need a New PC!" 2015 Part 2. Read the OP. Rocking 2500K's until HBM2 and beyond.

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F

FrenchMovieTheme

Member
how does this look for a smaller form factor pc?

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/WCgg99
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/WCgg99/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i5-4590 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor ($179.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock H97M-ITX/AC Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard ($78.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($61.49 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($44.89 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 970 4GB STRIX Video Card ($296.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Corsair 250D Mini ITX Tower Case ($69.99 @ Micro Center)
Power Supply: Corsair CX 430W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($24.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: LG WH14NS40 Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer ($39.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) ($85.98 @ OutletPC)
Total: $953.28
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-11-21 00:20 EST-0500
 
R

RGM79

Member
Giant Panda said:
  • Your Current Specs: 5 year old HP laptop
  • Budget: $1000 USA
  • Main Use: Gaming is the only intensive use I would use the PC for
  • Monitor Resolution: 1080p monitor
  • Specific games: Recent games like Witcher 3 at 1080p/60fps on medium or high
  • Looking to reuse any parts?: No
  • When will you build?: Hopefully within a few months
  • Will you be overclocking?: No

My attempt came in a little over budget: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/dNNCTW

However, I know very little about anything outside of CPUs and GPUs, and even then my knowledge is limited. Does the GPU brand matter for example on the GTX 970? Is DDR4 worth it over DDR3? Does it matter what configuration the RAM sticks are in (1x8GB vs 2x4GB)? I know nothing about motherboards or power supplies.
Click to expand...

That's not a bad parts list, but there's room for improvement. Here's my version of your list:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant
CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($239.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($24.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z170XP-SLI ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($109.89 @ OutletPC)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws 4 Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2800 Memory ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($51.88 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 970 4GB STRIX Video Card ($318.49 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case ($42.99 @ Micro Center)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($26.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) ($85.98 @ OutletPC)
Wireless Network Adapter: Gigabyte GC-WB867D-I 802.11a/b/g/n/ac PCI-Express x1 Wi-Fi Adapter ($29.89 @ OutletPC)
Total: $980.98
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-11-21 00:55 EST-0500
  • Changed the motherboard for a better one with a higher review score.
  • Instead of 1x8GB in single channel, you should get 2x4GB for dual channel mode. I also found faster RAM for about a dollar more. It won't make a huge difference in daily use, but dual channel and 2800MHz is technically better while costing almost the same, so there's no reason not to go for it.
  • The Corsair case is a bit better than the NZXT Source 210 Elite. It comes with two fans compared to the NZXT's single fan, and is cheaper to boot.
  • I dropped the DVD drive to save some money. Windows doesn't need to be installed by disc anymore, just read this guide (skip to the section named "Download Windows 10 and Create Installation Media"). If you still need to use a DVD drive then you can add it back.
  • I also dropped the SSD. If you're looking to cut costs, then go without an SSD for now, you can always add one in the future. I'd consider 120GB to be somewhat small and can fill up easily, especially with Windows on it. A lot of triple-A games are quite large, and you'll quickly find that the SSD is nearly full a lot of the time.
Now onto your questions:

No, brand doesn't matter. They're all compatible, and parts don't receive a performance boost by staying with the same brand. It does look nice aesthetically, though, as most brands tend to keep the same color and style across their product lines.

DDR4 doesn't offer too much over DDR3 at the moment, but when it comes to choosing parts for building a PC, you don't really need to choose whether you want DDR3 or DDR4. You choose the processor and motherboard you want, and then you get compatible RAM for that. Ideal RAM configuration is as follows: If you're buying a Haswell processor and socket 1150 motherboard, then you need DDR3 in a set of two. If you're buying Haswell-E and X99 motherboard, then you want DDR4 in a set of four. If you're buying Skylake and socket 1151 motherboard, then you need DDR4 in a set of two.

The power supply you chose is fine.

SunhiLegend said:
I decided to upgrade my PC this year, looking for advice on what's the best processor + motherboard I can get within my price range. My budget is around £120, I can't really afford to go much over that limit. Doesn't have to be new, most PC parts I've brought have been refurbished or used.

Current build.
AMD Phenom II X4 955
ASUSTeK Computer INC. M4A87TD EVO (AM3)
2047MB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760 (MSI)
8.00GB DDR3 RAM

I've been using a 6870 the last few years, was able to run last gen games very high 1080p but it just couldn't run current gen at reasonable settings. I was given a 760 for real cheap which should last me the next few years at higher than console settings, just need a new processor, it's been almost 6 years since I brought the 955.
Click to expand...

You should save up a bit more, I think. Intel processors are recommended nowadays for gaming, but for brand new parts, £120 only gets you an i3 processor which is dual core (with hyperthreading that lets it act a bit like a quad core processor) and a cheap motherboard. A lot of recent games have come with requirements and recommendations for quad core processors, though. While an i3 processor is decent and could outperform your Phenom II X4 in some if not most cases, it might not that great of a leap over what you have now.

What games do you want to play? I could find some benchmarks for you to compare and see if it's worth upgrading now or saving up more for later.

FrenchMovieTheme said:
how does this look for a smaller form factor pc?

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/WCgg99
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/WCgg99/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i5-4590 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor ($179.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock H97M-ITX/AC Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard ($78.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($61.49 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($44.89 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 970 4GB STRIX Video Card ($296.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Corsair 250D Mini ITX Tower Case ($69.99 @ Micro Center)
Power Supply: Corsair CX 430W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($24.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: LG WH14NS40 Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer ($39.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) ($85.98 @ OutletPC)
Total: $953.28
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-11-21 00:20 EST-0500
Click to expand...

It's not the best for price to performance, but the part choices are ok. Maybe get a stronger power supply that can better handle any future upgrades you may be doing, and I wouldn't go for a 120GB SSD unless you are sure you don't need more space.

For ~$1000 I'd think you should get a newer Skylake processor and/or an overclockable model, but that's just me. Here's an example.. No SSD and $30 more expensive, but better processor and power supply.
 
F

FrenchMovieTheme

Member
RGM79 said:
That's not a bad parts list, but there's room for improvement. Here's my version of your list:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant
CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($239.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($24.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z170XP-SLI ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($109.89 @ OutletPC)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws 4 Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2800 Memory ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($51.88 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 970 4GB STRIX Video Card ($318.49 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case ($42.99 @ Micro Center)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($26.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) ($85.98 @ OutletPC)
Wireless Network Adapter: Gigabyte GC-WB867D-I 802.11a/b/g/n/ac PCI-Express x1 Wi-Fi Adapter ($29.89 @ OutletPC)
Total: $980.98
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-11-21 00:55 EST-0500
  • Changed the motherboard for a better one with a higher review score.
  • Instead of 1x8GB in single channel, you should get 2x4GB for dual channel mode. I also found faster RAM for about a dollar more. It won't make a huge difference in daily use, but dual channel and 2800MHz is technically better while costing almost the same, so there's no reason not to go for it.
  • The Corsair case is a bit better than the NZXT Source 210 Elite. It comes with two fans compared to the NZXT's single fan, and is cheaper to boot.
  • I dropped the DVD drive to save some money. Windows doesn't need to be installed by disc anymore, just read this guide (skip to the section named "Download Windows 10 and Create Installation Media"). If you still need to use a DVD drive then you can add it back.
  • I also dropped the SSD. If you're looking to cut costs, then go without an SSD for now, you can always add one in the future. I'd consider 120GB to be somewhat small and can fill up easily, especially with Windows on it. A lot of triple-A games are quite large, and you'll quickly find that the SSD is nearly full a lot of the time.
Now onto your questions:

No, brand doesn't matter. They're all compatible, and parts don't receive a performance boost by staying with the same brand. It does look nice aesthetically, though, as most brands tend to keep the same color and style across their product lines.

DDR4 doesn't offer too much over DDR3 at the moment, but when it comes to choosing parts for building a PC, you don't really need to choose whether you want DDR3 or DDR4. You choose the processor and motherboard you want, and then you get compatible RAM for that. Ideal RAM configuration is as follows: If you're buying a Haswell processor and socket 1150 motherboard, then you need DDR3 in a set of two. If you're buying Haswell-E and X99 motherboard, then you want DDR4 in a set of four. If you're buying Skylake and socket 1151 motherboard, then you need DDR4 in a set of two.

The power supply you chose is fine.



You should save up a bit more, I think. Intel processors are recommended nowadays for gaming, but for brand new parts, £120 only gets you an i3 processor which is dual core (with hyperthreading that lets it act a bit like a quad core processor) and a cheap motherboard. A lot of recent games have come with requirements and recommendations for quad core processors, though. While an i3 processor is decent and could outperform your Phenom II X4 in some if not most cases, it might not that great of a leap over what you have now.

What games do you want to play? I could find some benchmarks for you to compare and see if it's worth upgrading now or saving up more for later.



It's not the best for price to performance, but the part choices are ok. Maybe get a stronger power supply that can better handle any future upgrades you may be doing, and I wouldn't go for a 120GB SSD unless you are sure you don't need more space.

For ~$1000 I'd think you should get a newer Skylake processor and/or an overclockable model, but that's just me. Here's an example.. No SSD and $30 more expensive, but better processor and power supply.
Click to expand...

thanks for the tip friend. just need to do some measurements and rearranging in the entertainment center and then ill probably order it all
 
Coulomb_Barrier

Coulomb_Barrier

Member
Guys I need help with a Windows activation problem.

For the past month or so I have been getting constant notifications asking me to activate Windows and that my copy of Windows 7 is not genuine. The Windows I am using is a W7 OEM disc bought on eBay that was problem free for several months on the rig I built until these notifications (error code 0xc004e003). I guess it is not legit as I now can't activate online or even activate over the phone as the option is not where it should be.

So what would be the most pain-free way to resolve this, as I eventually want to upgrade to W10 and I can't until I'm activated again. And I don't want to have to piss around with the small gaggle of files I have on my PC atm.

The options are:

1. Buy Windows 10 directly from MS (about £100 I think to D/L it).
2. Buy Windows 8/.1 for cheaper (is this even possible?)
3. Buy another OEM W7 license key online for cheap at the risk of this happening again in a few months.

Would buying a legit version of Windows mean I'd loose all my files after installation?
 
T

TaterTots

Banned
I've finally began to order parts for my build, but I'm holding out on the GPU since Black Friday and Cyber Monday are approaching. However, I do have another question. Would you guys suggest reference models? The thought of the air being blown out of my case is ideal, but I've read they can get pretty loud?
 
L

LilJoka

Member
TatorTots said:
I've finally began to order parts for my build, but I'm holding out on the GPU since Black Friday and Cyber Monday are approaching. However, I do have another question. Would you guys suggest reference models? The thought of the air being blown out of my case is ideal, bit I've read they can get pretty loud?
Click to expand...

Nope, wouldn't get a reference one ever again unless the case really requires it.
 
G

Giant Panda

Member
RGM79 said:
That's not a bad parts list, but there's room for improvement. Here's my version of your list:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant
CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($239.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($24.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z170XP-SLI ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($109.89 @ OutletPC)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws 4 Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2800 Memory ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($51.88 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 970 4GB STRIX Video Card ($318.49 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case ($42.99 @ Micro Center)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($26.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) ($85.98 @ OutletPC)
Wireless Network Adapter: Gigabyte GC-WB867D-I 802.11a/b/g/n/ac PCI-Express x1 Wi-Fi Adapter ($29.89 @ OutletPC)
Total: $980.98
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-11-21 00:55 EST-0500
  • Changed the motherboard for a better one with a higher review score.
  • Instead of 1x8GB in single channel, you should get 2x4GB for dual channel mode. I also found faster RAM for about a dollar more. It won't make a huge difference in daily use, but dual channel and 2800MHz is technically better while costing almost the same, so there's no reason not to go for it.
  • The Corsair case is a bit better than the NZXT Source 210 Elite. It comes with two fans compared to the NZXT's single fan, and is cheaper to boot.
  • I dropped the DVD drive to save some money. Windows doesn't need to be installed by disc anymore, just read this guide (skip to the section named "Download Windows 10 and Create Installation Media"). If you still need to use a DVD drive then you can add it back.
  • I also dropped the SSD. If you're looking to cut costs, then go without an SSD for now, you can always add one in the future. I'd consider 120GB to be somewhat small and can fill up easily, especially with Windows on it. A lot of triple-A games are quite large, and you'll quickly find that the SSD is nearly full a lot of the time.
Now onto your questions:

No, brand doesn't matter. They're all compatible, and parts don't receive a performance boost by staying with the same brand. It does look nice aesthetically, though, as most brands tend to keep the same color and style across their product lines.

DDR4 doesn't offer too much over DDR3 at the moment, but when it comes to choosing parts for building a PC, you don't really need to choose whether you want DDR3 or DDR4. You choose the processor and motherboard you want, and then you get compatible RAM for that. Ideal RAM configuration is as follows: If you're buying a Haswell processor and socket 1150 motherboard, then you need DDR3 in a set of two. If you're buying Haswell-E and X99 motherboard, then you want DDR4 in a set of four. If you're buying Skylake and socket 1151 motherboard, then you need DDR4 in a set of two.

The power supply you chose is fine.
Click to expand...

Thank you for the feedback! That's a lot of help.
 
O

OraleeWey

Member
Anything I can do to this build to reduce some cost?

Mostly a gaming machine for 1080p gaming on a TV. Used for playing/watching movies. I went with the AMD CPU because it is a quad core CPU as I didn't want to bottleneck the video card.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD Athlon X4 860K 3.7GHz Quad-Core OEM/Tray Processor ($78.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock FM2A68M-DG3+ Micro ATX FM2+ Motherboard ($44.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Team Dark 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($37.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Toshiba 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($49.89 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: MSI Radeon R9 270X 2GB Video Card ($20.00)
Case: Cooler Master Elite 350 ATX Mid Tower Case w/500W Power Supply ($57.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $289.75
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-11-21 09:54 EST-0500
 
L

LilJoka

Member
TatorTots said:
It's a micro ATX build in a Cooler Master N200 case. So, should I avoid the reference? Appreciate the advice.
Click to expand...

No need for reference there. Literally the only case to consider for it is ITX like the RVZ01, which still does ok with non ref coolers. All you need is the correct case fan setup/speeds to make it do just fine, exhaust is most important and general balance along with good cable management.
 
R

RGM79

Member
OraleeWey said:
Anything I can do to this build to reduce some cost?

Mostly a gaming machine for 1080p gaming on a TV. Used for playing/watching movies. I went with the AMD CPU because it is a quad core CPU as I didn't want to bottleneck the video card.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD Athlon X4 860K 3.7GHz Quad-Core OEM/Tray Processor ($78.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock FM2A68M-DG3+ Micro ATX FM2+ Motherboard ($44.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Team Dark 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($37.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Toshiba 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($49.89 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: MSI Radeon R9 270X 2GB Video Card ($20.00)
Case: Cooler Master Elite 350 ATX Mid Tower Case w/500W Power Supply ($57.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $289.75
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-11-21 09:54 EST-0500
Click to expand...

That looks like it's already as low as possible. Can't really imagine it being too much lower. Your parts list also has a warning: that tray version of the Athlon 860K you chose doesn't come with a CPU cooler. You probably meant to pick the regular version which comes with the cooler and is actually about $10 cheaper. I'd be a bit wary about the generic 500 watt PSU included with that case, though. No idea what model or how reliable it is.

That said I would recommend going Intel if possible. The Athlon may be a quad core processor but the dual core Pentium G3258 tends to be faster in most situations due to the better single-core performance. Techspot has an article where they compared the Athlon 860K to the Pentium G3258 and the Pentium was faster in every gaming test, even in GTAV and The Witcher 3 where the game engines can make use of more cores and threads. Yes, the dual core Intel was less of a bottleneck than the quad core AMD, at least for most games.

I can put together a G3258-based parts list and for about the same price, it also includes a decent CPU cooler so the G3258 can be overclocked. And yes, overclocking is possible on the Asus H81M-D.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant
CPU: Intel Pentium G3258 3.2GHz Dual-Core Processor ($49.00 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($24.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Asus H81M-D PLUS Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($49.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Crucial 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($33.99 @ Adorama)
Storage: Toshiba 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($49.89 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: MSI Radeon R9 270X 2GB Video Card ($20.00)
Case: Antec One ATX Mid Tower Case ($34.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($26.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $289.74
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-11-21 10:49 EST-0500

If not overclocking, then drop the cooler and save ~$25.
 
K

kami_sama

Member
My mouse just started to double-click, I use the claw grip, but I can't find the cm one recommended in the first post. What are my other options?
 
Q

Quotient

Member
Any recommendations for a good 4k monitor?

I would prefer it be in the 27/28 inch range and it would be awesome if it had gsync (though i suspect gsync monitors are a significant bump in price from non-gsync).
 
O

OraleeWey

Member
RGM79 said:
That looks like it's already as low as possible. Can't really imagine it being too much lower. Your parts list also has a warning: that tray version of the Athlon 860K you chose doesn't come with a CPU cooler. You probably meant to pick the regular version which comes with the cooler and is actually about $10 cheaper. I'd be a bit wary about the generic 500 watt PSU included with that case, though. No idea what model or how reliable it is.

That said I would recommend going Intel if possible. The Athlon may be a quad core processor but the dual core Pentium G3258 tends to be faster in most situations due to the better single-core performance. Techspot has an article where they compared the Athlon 860K to the Pentium G3258 and the Pentium was faster in every gaming test, even in GTAV and The Witcher 3 where the game engines can make use of more cores and threads. Yes, the dual core Intel was less of a bottleneck than the quad core AMD, at least for most games.

I can put together a G3258-based parts list and for about the same price, it also includes a decent CPU cooler so the G3258 can be overclocked. And yes, overclocking is possible on the Asus H81M-D.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant
CPU: Intel Pentium G3258 3.2GHz Dual-Core Processor ($49.00 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($24.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Asus H81M-D PLUS Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($49.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Crucial 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($33.99 @ Adorama)
Storage: Toshiba 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($49.89 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: MSI Radeon R9 270X 2GB Video Card ($20.00)
Case: Antec One ATX Mid Tower Case ($34.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($26.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $289.74
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-11-21 10:49 EST-0500

If not overclocking, then drop the cooler and save ~$25.
Click to expand...

Thanks RGM79. You actually managed to save me .01¢ with better parts. I didn't think the G2358 would be a better CPU against the AMD quad core CPU, so I'll be going with your Intel version. One thing I didn't mention was I needed PCIE for a WiFi card, but the Motherboard has a PCIE slot so I'm good on that. And I'll overclock it for sure. No reason not to.
 
L

luffeN

Member
OraleeWey said:
Thanks RGM79. You actually managed to save me .01¢ with better parts. I didn't think the G2358 would be a better CPU against the AMD quad core CPU, so I'll be going with your Intel version. One thing I didn't mention was I needed PCIE for a WiFi card, but the Motherboard has a PCIE slot so I'm good on that. And I'll overclock it for sure. No reason not to.
Click to expand...

What if you take a motherboard with WiFi?

kennah said:
Generally a motherboard with wifi costs more than a mother board plus a wifi card. I'd only worry about that kinda thing on an itx board.
Click to expand...
Edit: Ah okay!
 
C

Chesskid1

Banned
man i really screwed up installing SSD behind the motherboard on an r4

would really like to upgrade to 256 or a 500 but having to uninstall the entire motherboard... butnahh

iirc installing the motherboard screws was the most annoying part of the build
 
O

opticalmace

Member
Chesskid1 said:
man i really screwed up installing SSD behind the motherboard on an r4

would really like to upgrade to 256 or a 500 but having to uninstall the entire motherboard... butnahh

iirc installing the motherboard screws was the most annoying part of the build
Click to expand...
Can't you access it from the other side? Take off the other panel?
 
H

Hickee

Member
Looking to upgrade just after Christmas. This is in prep for VR be it Vive or Oculus, and will be used almost exclusively for gaming. Will be getting a gsync monitor in the future and possibly overclocking also.

The questions I have atm are, is it worth going with the 980ti with the new cards just round the corner or just go 970 and upgrade later? Are there any new chipsets arriving any time soon that will be worth holding off for and will they fit the mobo? Would I see an improvement from adding another 16gb ram or is 32gb overkill? And basically are there any improvements or changes that would be beneficial.



PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor (£338.11 @ PC World Business)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (£24.95 @ Novatech)
Motherboard: Asus Z170-A ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£110.99 @ Ebuyer)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory (£75.49 @ Aria PC)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£59.99 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£29.99 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 980 Ti 6GB Video Card (£538.99 @ Aria PC)
Case: Cooler Master MasterCase Pro 5 ATX Mid Tower Case (£104.99 @ Novatech)
Power Supply: Corsair CX 750W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply (£68.99 @ Amazon UK)
Optical Drive: Pioneer BDC-207DBK Blu-Ray Reader, DVD/CD Writer (£34.13 @ CCL Computers)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) (£72.30 @ CCL Computers)
Total: £1458.92

I can stretch the budget a bit more, say £1600. Just want to get the most bang for my buck and have it be as powerful as possible.

Thanks.
 
S

SuperBonk

Member
SuperBonk said:
Hey guys, just built a new PC and having some problems. Parts list as follows:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($254.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($24.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Asus Z170-A ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($153.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($104.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($159.88 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Toshiba 5TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($144.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 980 Ti 6GB Superclocked+ ACX 2.0+ Video Card ($649.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Phanteks Enthoo Pro ATX Full Tower Case ($99.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Cooler Master 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($146.30 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($17.75 @ OutletPC)
Monitor: Asus VH236H 23.0" Monitor ($139.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1897.75
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-11-19 16:26 EST-0500

I can get it to turn on, but it doesn't seem to be recognizing any monitors. Power LED is on and all system fans including heatsink are running. Optical drive is also working, but there's no other indication that the entire system is working. Tried with HDMI through the graphics card, and then removed the graphics card and tried with the motherboard HDMI. Same result.

Double checked all the connections, tried to clear the RTC RAM (though I'm not sure if I did this correctly since the motherboard manual was unclear) and it's still the same. Anywhere I should go from here? Thanks.
Click to expand...

Just a quick update to this. Turns out the stick of RAM in the primary DIMM slot wasn't working so I swapped out the sticks and it booted up just fine. Cleaned the ends of the malfunctioning stick with isopropyl alcohol and that's also working fine now. Currently posting from the new build. Thanks for all the help guys! Now to hope that there are some good monitor deals on Black Friday.
 
C

Chesskid1

Banned
you install the SSD behind the motherboard mount then screw it in on the other side.. then the motherboard covers the screws once you install it.

pretty bad design, yeah. my own fault
 
V

Vaettir

Member
Chesskid1 said:
man i really screwed up installing SSD behind the motherboard on an r4

would really like to upgrade to 256 or a 500 but having to uninstall the entire motherboard... butnahh

iirc installing the motherboard screws was the most annoying part of the build
Click to expand...

Next time try velcro! My Define R4 has 2.5 drive mounting with screws behind the motherboard tray like that and it really looked like a pain to install one that way.
 
L

LilJoka

Member
Chesskid1 said:
you install the SSD behind the motherboard mount then screw it in on the other side.. then the motherboard covers the screws once you install it.

pretty bad design, yeah. my own fault
Click to expand...

Oh ouch.

Hickee said:
Looking to upgrade just after Christmas. This is in prep for VR be it Vive or Oculus, and will be used almost exclusively for gaming. Will be getting a gsync monitor in the future and possibly overclocking also.

The questions I have atm are, is it worth going with the 980ti with the new cards just round the corner or just go 970 and upgrade later? Are there any new chipsets arriving any time soon that will be worth holding off for and will they fit the mobo? Would I see an improvement from adding another 16gb ram or is 32gb overkill? And basically are there any improvements or changes that would be beneficial.



PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor (£338.11 @ PC World Business)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (£24.95 @ Novatech)
Motherboard: Asus Z170-A ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£110.99 @ Ebuyer)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory (£75.49 @ Aria PC)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£59.99 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£29.99 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 980 Ti 6GB Video Card (£538.99 @ Aria PC)
Case: Cooler Master MasterCase Pro 5 ATX Mid Tower Case (£104.99 @ Novatech)
Power Supply: Corsair CX 750W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply (£68.99 @ Amazon UK)
Optical Drive: Pioneer BDC-207DBK Blu-Ray Reader, DVD/CD Writer (£34.13 @ CCL Computers)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) (£72.30 @ CCL Computers)
Total: £1458.92

I can stretch the budget a bit more, say £1600. Just want to get the most bang for my buck and have it be as powerful as possible.

Thanks.
Click to expand...

My advise is save a little with a Fractal Design case, like the Midi R2. Spend a bit more on the PSU if you look to SLI, like the EVGA G2 750W or 850W. Make sure its G2 version not G1.

With the board some say Gigabyte is a bit better this time round, so consider their Gaming 3 board, or UD3 board. Or maybe MSI Gaming Pro. I prefer to buy boards with Intel NICs. If you do buy on with a Killer NIC just install the Atheros driver and not the Killer software.

I would probably go for the 2TB Toshiba ACA model HDD, 1TB is a little low, but again up to you.

If you plan to SLI, see the latest nVidia announcement on SLI scaling for VR, it looks useful. However personally i stay away from SLI, too much inconsistent performance, heat and noise output. If you dont want to SLI then reconsider for mATX and smaller PSU (550-650W).
 
A

ABK

Banned
I don't know if this is the proper place to ask but I was just curious about something that maybe one of you could help with. My cpu (i5 2500K) was getting so hot that my computer was crashing recently. So just a few days ago i reapplied thermal paste and now my cpu's hottest core will only hit around 73 c playing games but if I use prime95 that core will hit 90.

Why is there such a big difference between the two? Are games just not using my cpu to its full potential, (seems crazy because Fallout 4 is supposed to be very cpu intensive) or does prime95 just push your cpu to a point it will normally never get to? Also should it be hitting 90 after just replacing the thermal paste? I live in florida and my room gets very hot as there's no air conditioning in my house.

For reference I'm using a coolermaster aftermarket heat sink and the computer was originally built 3-4 years ago.
 
V

Vaettir

Member
ABK said:
I don't know if this is the proper place to ask but I was just curious about something that maybe one of you could help with. My cpu (i5 2500K) was getting so hot that my computer was crashing recently. So just a few days ago i reapplied thermal paste and now my cpu's hottest core will only hit around 73 c playing games but if I use prime95 that core will hit 90.

Why is there such a big difference between the two? Are games just not using my cpu to its full potential, (seems crazy because Fallout 4 is supposed to be very cpu intensive) or does prime95 just push your cpu to a point it will normally never get to? Also should it be hitting 90 after just replacing the thermal paste? I live in florida and my room gets very hot as there's no air conditioning in my house.

For reference I'm using a coolermaster aftermarket heat sink and the computer was originally built 3-4 years ago.
Click to expand...

Prime95 is a heavy load benchmark not meant to show daily load temps. It's more used for stability testing. Your 73C while gaming is rather high though. What CPU cooler are you using? Are you overclocking at all?
 
L

LilJoka

Member
ABK said:
I don't know if this is the proper place to ask but I was just curious about something that maybe one of you could help with. My cpu (i5 2500K) was getting so hot that my computer was crashing recently. So just a few days ago i reapplied thermal paste and now my cpu's hottest core will only hit around 73 c playing games but if I use prime95 that core will hit 90.

Why is there such a big difference between the two? Are games just not using my cpu to its full potential, (seems crazy because Fallout 4 is supposed to be very cpu intensive) or does prime95 just push your cpu to a point it will normally never get to? Also should it be hitting 90 after just replacing the thermal paste? I live in florida and my room gets very hot as there's no air conditioning in my house.

For reference I'm using a coolermaster aftermarket heat sink and the computer was originally built 3-4 years ago.
Click to expand...

Thats still pretty hot for a 2500K, should only hit about 70c in Prime95 with a 21c ambient temp.

Reason why its hotter in Prime95 is that Prime is using very efficient instructions that also make use of many more parts of the CPU much more frequently. There is more to a CPU than just a core, the amount the program utlises the cache, intel mem controller, inter/floating point unit, AVX unit etc. And lastly the game is hardly using all the power available, Prime95 will use all the power to reduce execution time, there are no real bottlenecks involved unlike running a game which is usually GPU bottlenecked.

If you CPU Cooler has screws, make sure they are tightened till they hit thir metal stops, youll feel the difference when they come to a hard stop.
Also the amount of thermal paste required shouldnt exceed much more than a grain of rice.
 
A

Alucrid

Banned
anyone have any idea how this happened?

tiE6t9Pl.jpg


fractal design fan in a fractal design case. was dusting the case and saw it like this. it was one of the front fans and i always have the dust cover on and the front panel closed, neither of which were damaged, so i'm at a loss.
 
N

nightmare-slain

Banned
ABK said:
I don't know if this is the proper place to ask but I was just curious about something that maybe one of you could help with. My cpu (i5 2500K) was getting so hot that my computer was crashing recently. So just a few days ago i reapplied thermal paste and now my cpu's hottest core will only hit around 73 c playing games but if I use prime95 that core will hit 90.

Why is there such a big difference between the two? Are games just not using my cpu to its full potential, (seems crazy because Fallout 4 is supposed to be very cpu intensive) or does prime95 just push your cpu to a point it will normally never get to? Also should it be hitting 90 after just replacing the thermal paste? I live in florida and my room gets very hot as there's no air conditioning in my house.

For reference I'm using a coolermaster aftermarket heat sink and the computer was originally built 3-4 years ago.
Click to expand...

about 70*c is what you'd expect from a locked i5 with stock cooler. my i5-4590 runs at 70*c max when playing games. so if you're using an aftermarket cooler then it seems quite high.

prime95 is used for stability. it will push your CPU to the absolute max. when i used it on my CPU i saw temp go to 75*c. i didn't run it for long though.
 
O

opticalmace

Member
Alucrid said:
anyone have any idea how this happened?

tiE6t9Pl.jpg


fractal design fan in a fractal design case. was dusting the case and saw it like this. it was one of the front fans and i always have the dust cover on and the front panel closed, neither of which were damaged, so i'm at a loss.
Click to expand...

Could have been a manufacturing defect that eventually led to it cracking.
 
Celcius

Celcius

°Temp. member
F

forrest

formerly nacire
Alright PCGaf, the time has come to choose. I'm putting together a personal small form factor build for myself. The pc will be used for high density modelling (zbrush), regular modelling (maya), texture creation (photoshop) and of course gaming.

I've already purchased a Ncase M1 (v3) and I'm also going to use my current gfx card for now, which is a MSI GTX970 Gaming 4G.

I'm leaning two ways currently. Either a Skylake build or a Haswell-E build. Here are the two setups as of now, excluding case fans and a possible aftermarket GPU heatsink/cooler.

Skylake Build

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/cj43xr
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/cj43xr/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($399.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-C14 CPU Cooler ($71.88 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock Fatal1ty Z170 Gaming-ITX/ac Mini ITX LGA1151 Motherboard ($154.99 @ Micro Center)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2666 Memory ($87.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Samsung 950 PRO 256GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($188.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($159.88 @ OutletPC)
Power Supply: Silverstone 600W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular SFX Power Supply ($129.99 @ Amazon)
Optical Drive: Panasonic UJ-265 Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer
Total: $1193.71
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-11-21 14:01 EST-0500

Haswell-E Build

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/x6HHcf
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/x6HHcf/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i7-5820K 3.3GHz 6-Core Processor ($379.99 @ NCIX US)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-C14 CPU Cooler ($71.88 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock X99E-ITX/ac Mini ITX LGA2011-3 Narrow Motherboard ($248.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($96.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Samsung 950 PRO 256GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($188.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($159.88 @ OutletPC)
Power Supply: Silverstone 600W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular SFX Power Supply ($129.99 @ Amazon)
Optical Drive: Panasonic UJ-265 Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer
Total: $1276.71
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-11-21 14:03 EST-0500

* Things to note: The CPU Cooler does in fact fit the x99 board with a slim bracket offered by Noctua. Also contemplating a SFX-L PSU for the larger fan/quieter performance, but it does cramp the psu cables against the gpu.

What do you think Gaf? Is x99 overkill for my needs? Will the lower power draw and potentially cooler temps of the Skylake, make that much of a difference in the smaller case over the Haswell-E. I'm not a huge overclocker, but I like having the option and will no doubt tinker a bit with it in this build. Any opinions, thoughts and educated guidance are incredibly appreciated, thanks!
 
L

LilJoka

Member
forrest said:
Alright PCGaf, the time has come to choose. I'm putting together a personal small form factor build for myself. The pc will be used for high density modelling (zbrush), regular modelling (maya), texture creation (photoshop) and of course gaming.

I've already purchased a Ncase M1 (v3) and I'm also going to use my current gfx card for now, which is a MSI GTX970 Gaming 4G.

I'm leaning two ways currently. Either a Skylake build or a Haswell-E build. Here are the two setups as of now, excluding case fans and a possible aftermarket GPU heatsink/cooler.

Skylake Build

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/cj43xr
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/cj43xr/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($399.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-C14 CPU Cooler ($71.88 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock Fatal1ty Z170 Gaming-ITX/ac Mini ITX LGA1151 Motherboard ($154.99 @ Micro Center)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2666 Memory ($87.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Samsung 950 PRO 256GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($188.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($159.88 @ OutletPC)
Power Supply: Silverstone 600W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular SFX Power Supply ($129.99 @ Amazon)
Optical Drive: Panasonic UJ-265 Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer
Total: $1193.71
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-11-21 14:01 EST-0500

Haswell-E Build

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/x6HHcf
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/x6HHcf/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i7-5820K 3.3GHz 6-Core Processor ($379.99 @ NCIX US)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-C14 CPU Cooler ($71.88 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock X99E-ITX/ac Mini ITX LGA2011-3 Narrow Motherboard ($248.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($96.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Samsung 950 PRO 256GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($188.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($159.88 @ OutletPC)
Power Supply: Silverstone 600W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular SFX Power Supply ($129.99 @ Amazon)
Optical Drive: Panasonic UJ-265 Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer
Total: $1276.71
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-11-21 14:03 EST-0500

* Things to note: The CPU Cooler does in fact fit the x99 board with a slim bracket offered by Noctua. Also contemplating a SFX-L PSU for the larger fan/quieter performance, but it does cramp the psu cables against the gpu.

What do you think Gaf? Is x99 overkill for my needs? Will the lower power draw and potentially cooler temps of the Skylake, make that much of a difference in the smaller case over the Haswell-E. I'm not a huge overclocker, but I like having the option and will no doubt tinker a bit with it in this build. Any opinions, thoughts and educated guidance are incredibly appreciated, thanks!
Click to expand...

I say X99 ITX - only because Ncase M1 and X99 is my dream build.
 
F

forrest

formerly nacire
LilJoka said:
I say X99 ITX - only because Ncase M1 and X99 is my dream build.
Click to expand...

I know what you mean man. I keep thinking, "I don't really need 6 cores" but then I think how cool of a build it would be in the Ncase. What about forward compatibility for this socket? I haven't really looked into it myself, but I'm curious if I upgrade down the road am I looking at having to completely swap mobo and cpu if I go the x99 route?
 
O

opticalmace

Member
forrest said:
I know what you mean man. I keep thinking, "I don't really need 6 cores" but then I think how cool of a build it would be in the Ncase. What about forward compatibility for this socket? I haven't really looked into it myself, but I'm curious if I upgrade down the road am I looking at having to completely swap mobo and cpu if I go the x99 route?
Click to expand...

Is it primarily a work machine? You mention zbrush, maya and photoshop.. I don't use any of them, but if they benefit from 6 cores then I would go the X99 route.
 
A

ABK

Banned
Vaettir said:
Prime95 is a heavy load benchmark not meant to show daily load temps. It's more used for stability testing. Your 73C while gaming is rather high though. What CPU cooler are you using? Are you overclocking at all?
Click to expand...

No overclock and I want to say I'm using a Coolermaster hyper 212 or something like that.
 
A

ABK

Banned
LilJoka said:
Thats still pretty hot for a 2500K, should only hit about 70c in Prime95 with a 21c ambient temp.

Reason why its hotter in Prime95 is that Prime is using very efficient instructions that also make use of many more parts of the CPU much more frequently. There is more to a CPU than just a core, the amount the program utlises the cache, intel mem controller, inter/floating point unit, AVX unit etc. And lastly the game is hardly using all the power available, Prime95 will use all the power to reduce execution time, there are no real bottlenecks involved unlike running a game which is usually GPU bottlenecked.

If you CPU Cooler has screws, make sure they are tightened till they hit thir metal stops, youll feel the difference when they come to a hard stop.
Also the amount of thermal paste required shouldnt exceed much more than a grain of rice.
Click to expand...

I put about half a pea sized amount of thermal paste. Also it's not using screws it has these plastic things that snap in and they're definitely on correctly. 73 was also the peak of the hottest core, the lowest was around 66 and the other two were like 69 and 70. Every core averaged in the 60's though.
 
F

forrest

formerly nacire
opticalmace said:
Is it primarily a work machine? You mention zbrush, maya and photoshop.. I don't use any of them, but if they benefit from 6 cores then I would go the X99 route.
Click to expand...

For the most part yes, it will be a work machine, but I do quite a bit of gaming as well. I don't do a lot of rendering with the work I do as most of it is realtime 3d. Zbrush pushes large amount of polygons in realtime as it is a digital sculpting program. Large amounts of Ram and around 100 Gb of HDD space for a scratch disk are recommended, but I'm having a tough time finding out if it really benefits much from 4cores vs 6cores.

I'm sure high resolution filter applications in Photoshop would see a boost, but even in texture creation for games, I don't find myself in a position of waiting for filters to finish often if at all.

I'll most likely bump up the Ram to 32gb before all is said and done, but I'm just not sure which way to go right now.
 
C

Crisium

Member
Not sure how long the sale is, but a good deal for the $230-$330 price bracket. Radeon 290 for $230:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161459

6454_02_his_radeon_r9_290_4gb_iceq_x2_turbo_video_card_review_full.jpg
Click to expand...

On the cooler:

"I left the BIOS switch in its default/quiet mode. When the card maxed out at 76 °C, the fan ramped up to a darn near silent 44%. I could not hear them over a few Yate Loons at 1K RPM, that is for sure. So for being dead silent, it kept things pretty cool and there was no throttling of clockspeeds even in this mode. Well done HIS!"

From: http://www.overclockers.com/HIS-290-IceQx2-review/

Even at 1080p, the latest TPU chart shows that a 290 (a worse reference model actually) is not far behind the 970 but is way ahead of the 960 and 380:
http://tpucdn.com/reviews/ASUS/R9_380X_Strix/images/perfrel_1920_1080.png
 
V

Vaettir

Member
forrest said:
Alright PCGaf, the time has come to choose. I'm putting together a personal small form factor build for myself. The pc will be used for high density modelling (zbrush), regular modelling (maya), texture creation (photoshop) and of course gaming.

Haswell-E Build

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/x6HHcf
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/x6HHcf/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i7-5820K 3.3GHz 6-Core Processor ($379.99 @ NCIX US)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-C14 CPU Cooler ($71.88 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock X99E-ITX/ac Mini ITX LGA2011-3 Narrow Motherboard ($248.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($96.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Samsung 950 PRO 256GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive ($188.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($159.88 @ OutletPC)
Power Supply: Silverstone 600W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular SFX Power Supply ($129.99 @ Amazon)
Optical Drive: Panasonic UJ-265 Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer
Total: $1276.71
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-11-21 14:03 EST-0500

* Things to note: The CPU Cooler does in fact fit the x99 board with a slim bracket offered by Noctua. Also contemplating a SFX-L PSU for the larger fan/quieter performance, but it does cramp the psu cables against the gpu.

What do you think Gaf? Is x99 overkill for my needs? Will the lower power draw and potentially cooler temps of the Skylake, make that much of a difference in the smaller case over the Haswell-E. I'm not a huge overclocker, but I like having the option and will no doubt tinker a bit with it in this build. Any opinions, thoughts and educated guidance are incredibly appreciated, thanks!
Click to expand...

Big problem. That x99 Asrock board is known to use a different 2011-3 CPU socket. It comes with its own CPU cooler as a result of the implementation used. I don't think any cooler can replace it unless you jerry-rig it.
 
F

forrest

formerly nacire
Vaettir said:
Big problem. That x99 Asrock board is known to use a different 2011-3 CPU socket. It comes with its own CPU cooler as a result of the implementation used. I don't think any cooler can replace it unless you jerry-rig it.
Click to expand...

Check the notes at the end of my post. :D
 
A

ABK

Banned
Crisium said:
Not sure how long the sale is, but a good deal for the $230-$330 price bracket. Radeon 290 for $230:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161459



On the cooler:

"I left the BIOS switch in its default/quiet mode. When the card maxed out at 76 °C, the fan ramped up to a darn near silent 44%. I could not hear them over a few Yate Loons at 1K RPM, that is for sure. So for being dead silent, it kept things pretty cool and there was no throttling of clockspeeds even in this mode. Well done HIS!"

From: http://www.overclockers.com/HIS-290-IceQx2-review/

Even at 1080p, the latest TPU chart shows that a 290 (a worse reference model actually) is not far behind the 970 but is way ahead of the 960 and 380:
http://tpucdn.com/reviews/ASUS/R9_380X_Strix/images/perfrel_1920_1080.png
Click to expand...

As a person looking to upgrade my old HIS 6950 that seems pretty tempting. I had a ton of problems with my card though so getting another HIS product is sort of worrying to me. The reviews on newegg don't help that feeling either.
 
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