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[kennah]

what a time to be alive. he did it

Only took three years. It's not Smokey level, but a beauty none the less.

One of the hardest things I've done in computing is putting the water block on this GPU. I was so nervous.

Fun closeup of motherboard with CPU block

All fitted in and ready for tubing.

Leak test! (yes, those are cloth diapers)

Better picture of my tubing run

Leak test succeeded (this is 15 hours after the previous pictures)

My helper.

The junk in the trunk

Cabled up and ready to close

SUCCESS! Running in place. Not shown the 4 bay external USB 3 enclosure for the hard drives.

Final Specs.

Case: Compact Splash

i7 3770K @ 3.9GHz
Gigabyte H67N-USB3-B3
8gig of Samsung Magic DDR3
128gig Samsung 830
240gig Kingston V300
EVGA GTX670 4gig
Silverstone SFX 450Bronze PSU

Cooling Specs:
XSPC EX240 and EX120
DDC Pump with EKWB XRES100
EKWB FC670 GPU waterblock
DazMode Special Muskoka Dark Blue Tube
Dazmode Special Canada EKWB CPU Waterblock
3x Yellow Silenx Fans
A shitload of fittings and angle adaptors.

I don't have an exact total, but I'm pretty sure I spent about $500US on the cooling by the end of it all.

This'll suit my needs just fine for quite a while. Looking forward to a GTX970 for cheap in a couple years (since the water block I have will fit on it). Other potential improvements will be a Gold rated modular PSU, Sleeved cables, and bigger SSDs.

But, I'm super happy that I finally did it.

Cool, quiet, and so attractive.

 

[Oxn]

nvm

 

[zedreamcast]

Yes, they're absolutely terrible. Almost anything would be better.

I had a small one (briefly) and the build quality, image quality and viewing angle were all atrocious. It served its purpose (a cheap testing TV) but it was the worst TV I've ever had the displeasure of using.

Seriously? Ive had this tv for at least 5 years and its never really broke down on me and i can move the screen around.

 

[Joco]

What's considered safe temps for a 970? I'm reaching 140 degrees Fahrenheit just playing Civ V which, well, seems hot to me but I'm still new to this so I'm unsure.

 

[ISee]

What's considered safe temps for a 970? I'm reaching 140 degrees Fahrenheit just playing Civ V which, well, seems hot to me but I'm still new to this so I'm unsure.

80°C (=176°F) is the safe maximum.

 

[Profanity]

I know the Asus Z170-A is highly regarded according to the OP, but I noticed that the Asus Z170 Maximus VIII Ranger has a cashback offer (in the UK at least) that brings it in line with the Z170-A. There aren't that many reviews of the Ranger, does anyone know how it stacks up against the Z170-A or if there are any known problems?

 

[Joco]

80°C (=176°F) is the safe maximum.

Alright thanks for the reply.

 

[hateradio]

Hey everyone. For those of you that have an ASUS Z170 Maximus VIII motherboard, how are you finding the 'board? Have you by any chance experienced the sound pop issue that has affected some of the ASUS Z170 Pro Gaming 'boards? See here:

I have a weird issue with mine. My front audio jack has a lot of popping on the left speaker/headphone. It really hurts after a while.

I don't know if it has to do with some kind of interference with the case, however.

Here's my issue.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=189111632&postcount=8320

Need a little advice. Below I have a picture of my current setup which includes the Acer XB270HU Gsync monitor and a smaller 23" Asus monitor. My TV is an 54" LG OLED. I play all my consoles as well as a majority of controller based PC games in Steam Big Picture on the Oled and games like Marvel 2015,Diablo and Heroes of the Storm which require mouse and keyboard I use my Acer.

This doesn't address your question, but I have a question for you.

I have a similar monitor, XB240H. I just wanted to ask about your black levels.

I just got this monitor a week ago, and its black level is awful. It's more of a dark gray and watching videos on it is pretty substandard, especially when you consider the price.

I'm thinking of returning it, especially if it's a common issue.

G-SYNC is nice, but I don't think I can deal with not having black.

Edit: It seems that yours is an IPS, so we can't really compare. :?

 

[RGM79]

I'm in Ireland, was checking Amazon and Pixmania and saw mostly only WD and Seagate. That was just a quick check before I went to bed, though - I knew if I wrote a post here I'd have people recommending drives to me



I have owned drives from almost every manufacturer in the past, and Seagate used to be my favourite brand. If their latest drives are trouble free, then great, but the numerous reviews I'm seeing are turning me off them for now. Not fond of the external drives idea as I'd prefer to have the warranty, but thanks for the suggestion.



I remember when Hitachi bought the Deskstar series from IBM - I even had one of the last IBM drives before they were sold off, and yes, it went kaput pretty quickly. I've owned Hitachi drives since and not had any problems. I've just learned that they are now owned by Western Digital for which I trust them even more. I haven't found many of them on all the sites I checked, so I won't be going with them this time around, but thank you for replying and suggesting them.


Checking Komplett, Dabs, Scan and Overclockers I have found the better range that I thought should be out there. I am stuck now between the Western Digital Blue (5,400rpm, 64MB) and the Toshiba X300 (7,200rpm, 128MB). The X300 is surprisingly cheap, much cheaper than any other 4TB drive, selling for €137 on Dabs. I have no idea why it's so cheap - it's a very new drive, and reviews thus far are good, but there's no answer yet as to their long-term reliability. The Blue is selling on Komplett for €159.

Any ideas?

Skinflint.co.uk might also help in your search. It's a very good price comparison website geared toward tech.

 

[bodine1231]

I have a weird issue with mine. My front audio jack has a lot of popping on the left speaker/headphone. It really hurts after a while.

I don't know if it has to do with some kind of interference with the case, however.

Here's my issue.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=189111632&postcount=8320


This doesn't address your question, but I have a question for you.

I have a similar monitor, XB240H. I just wanted to ask about your black levels.

I just got this monitor a week ago, and its black level is awful. It's more of a dark gray and watching videos on it is pretty substandard, especially when you consider the price.

I'm thinking of returning it, especially if it's a common issue.

G-SYNC is nice, but I don't think I can deal with not having black.

Edit: It seems that yours is an IPS, so we can't really compare. :?

Black levels are good,but its sitting right next to my OLED soooooooo...

 

[Ricerocket]

I have a weird issue with mine. My front audio jack has a lot of popping on the left speaker/headphone. It really hurts after a while.

I don't know if it has to do with some kind of interference with the case, however.

Here's my issue.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=189111632&postcount=8320


This doesn't address your question, but I have a question for you.

I have a similar monitor, XB240H. I just wanted to ask about your black levels.

I just got this monitor a week ago, and its black level is awful. It's more of a dark gray and watching videos on it is pretty substandard, especially when you consider the price.

I'm thinking of returning it, especially if it's a common issue.

G-SYNC is nice, but I don't think I can deal with not having black.

Edit: It seems that yours is an IPS, so we can't really compare. :?

A lot of or maybe all MB don't shield the front audio port of the board which is why you are getting interference (static/crackling) sound through the front only and not the rear. It's been like that forever, it's not recommended to use the fronts.

 

[hateradio]

A lot of or maybe all MB don't shield the front audio port of the board which is why you are getting interference (static/crackling) sound through the front only and not the rear. It's been like that forever, it's not recommended to use the fronts.

Sucks. I mentioned this as well, if I use the front mic port as a headphone, it doesn't have any issues, but the volume is just extremely low. It's really annoying. $200 mobo, $200 case, and can't use the front ports. >>

Black levels are good,but its sitting right next to my OLED soooooooo...

I'm thinking of sending it back and getting a decent monitor instead. Something with good blacks. Too bad yours is double the price.

I really started to like G-SYNC but I can't deal with the washed out colors.

 

[EloquentM]

Goodness theres a lot of overwhelming information in the OP, I want to order parts for my first PC and begin building but I guess it's time to do some thorough researching first. shoot, I don't even want to order a case yet until I know more.

 

[opticalmace]

Goodness theres a lot of overwhelming information in the OP, I want to order parts for my first PC and begin building but I guess it's time to do some thorough researching first. shoot, I don't even want to order a case yet until I know more.

Try filling out the survey in the OP. It'll make it easier to help you.

 

[EloquentM]

Try filling out the survey in the OP. It'll make it easier to help you.

Yea, I'm filling it out now, thanks. Is the first question really what I'm running on currently? cause that's an embarrassing question for me. lol, I can barely run anything.

 

[RGM79]

Yea, I'm filling it out now, thanks. Is the first question really what I'm running on currently? cause that's an embarrassing question for me. lol, I can barely run anything.

It's just to get an idea of what you're trying to use at the moment and whether parts from it can be carried over to a new PC. For example, you can probably carry over the hard drives if nothing else, and if you've never had an SSD before, we would probably recommend it if you had room in your budget.

 

[the21O]

So what's the opinion on the 360 controller vs the xbox one controller for windows pc. I saw the 360 controller with a wireless adapter for
$45 I think the One controller is $50 at a minimum and then you have to tack on $25 for the adapter. IS there a way to do the DS4 on PC without wires?

 

[RGM79]

So what's the opinion on the 360 controller vs the xbox one controller for windows pc. I saw the 360 controller with a wireless adapter for
$45 I think the One controller is $50 at a minimum and then you have to tack on $25 for the adapter. IS there a way to do the DS4 on PC without wires?

If you have a bluetooth adaptor, you can get the DS4 working wirelessly.

 

[EloquentM]

Try filling out the survey in the OP. It'll make it easier to help you.

It's just to get an idea of what you're trying to use at the moment and whether parts from it can be carried over to a new PC. For example, you can probably carry over the hard drives if nothing else, and if you've never had an SSD before, we would probably recommend it if you had room in your budget.

Your Current Specs: CPU / RAM / Motherboard / GPU (Graphics) / PSU (Power Supply) / Case / HDD (Hard Drive)


HP Touchsmart 600
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo T6500
RAM: 4GB
Motherboard: IPP7A-M5 (e60)
GPU: GeForce G200 integrated graphics
PSU: 120W power supply (100V-240V)
Case: it’s an all in one so..yeah
HDD: 1TB Interface: SATA;
Transfer rating: 3.0 Gb/sec;
Rotational Speed: 7200 RPM

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Budget: Price Range + Country


$1,000, US

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Main Use: Rate 1-5. 5 being Highest: Light Gaming, Gaming, Emulation (PS2/Wii), Video Editing, Streaming games in HD, 3D/Model work (and what program), General Usage (Word, Web, 1080p playback).


Light gaming: 5
gaming: 5
Emulation: 3
Video Editing: 1
Streaming games in HD: 3
3D/Model work: 1
General Usage: 5

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Monitor Resolution: What resolution will you be playing your games at? Are you going to upgrade later? Are you buying a new monitor?


I’ll likely want to keep my games at 1080, but once I get a better understanding of the tech and my own preferences with regards to PC gaming I’ll likely be looking into more resolutions and definitely multiple monitors. BTW yes I’ll be buying a new monitor.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

List SPECIFIC games or applications that you MUST be able to run well: Is 30FPS acceptable? 60? 120? How important is PhysX / SuperSampling / CUDA to you?


At the very least I want to be able to run nearly anything at 1080p @60 with high settings or better. No idea about PhysX or CUDA and I’m not very interested in Super Sampling...not just yet. I just want to dip my foot in the water right now. I'm not very familiar with required specs for most games but being able to run something like Batman Arkham Knight at 1080@60 would be nice (if it even runs at all lol)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Looking to reuse any parts?: List make and model (e.g. Corsair 520HX, 640GB SATA HDD, Antec 900)

If possible my 1TB HDD, but I'll have to take apart my all in one

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When will you build?: Do you have a deadline?

My deadline is looking like march/april. I’d rather not buy everything at once and want to do a drip feed of sorts on buying parts (I’m saving up for a lot of different things right now),


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Will you be overclocking?: Yes, No, Maybe (This means yes!)

Maybe

Spoiler

yes

 

[darkwing-buck]

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($223.99 @ SuperBiiz)

CPU Cooler: CRYORIG H7 49.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($34.50 @ Newegg)

Motherboard: MSI Z97 PC MATE ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($88.99 @ SuperBiiz)

Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($42.99 @ Newegg)

Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($149.88 @ OutletPC)

Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB SSC ACX 2.0+ Video Card ($317.99 @ SuperBiiz)

Case: NZXT S340 (White) ATX Mid Tower Case ($63.99 @ SuperBiiz)

Power Supply: EVGA 750W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($74.98 @ Newegg)

Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) ($89.88 @ OutletPC)

Monitor: Asus VN248H-P 23.8" Monitor ($159.99 @ Newegg)

Thoughts?

 

[BoosterDuck]

Cryorig H7 BEST COOLER

Spoiler

aside from that crooked orientation but its good

 

[longdi]

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($223.99 @ SuperBiiz)

CPU Cooler: CRYORIG H7 49.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($34.50 @ Newegg)

Motherboard: MSI Z97 PC MATE ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($88.99 @ SuperBiiz)

Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($42.99 @ Newegg)

Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($149.88 @ OutletPC)

Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB SSC ACX 2.0+ Video Card ($317.99 @ SuperBiiz)

Case: NZXT S340 (White) ATX Mid Tower Case ($63.99 @ SuperBiiz)

Power Supply: EVGA 750W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($74.98 @ Newegg)

Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) ($89.88 @ OutletPC)

Monitor: Asus VN248H-P 23.8" Monitor ($159.99 @ Newegg)

Thoughts?

I would go for skylake 6600K imo.

 

[Herne]

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($223.99 @ SuperBiiz)

CPU Cooler: CRYORIG H7 49.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($34.50 @ Newegg)

Motherboard: MSI Z97 PC MATE ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($88.99 @ SuperBiiz)

Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($42.99 @ Newegg)

Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($149.88 @ OutletPC)

Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB SSC ACX 2.0+ Video Card ($317.99 @ SuperBiiz)

Case: NZXT S340 (White) ATX Mid Tower Case ($63.99 @ SuperBiiz)

Power Supply: EVGA 750W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($74.98 @ Newegg)

Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) ($89.88 @ OutletPC)

Monitor: Asus VN248H-P 23.8" Monitor ($159.99 @ Newegg)

Thoughts?

You could get a Radeon R9 390 for less on that site. Might also be able to get Windows 8 or even 7 cheaper and just upgrade to Windows 10 from that. Everything else looks great. Might possible double the ram, but 8GB is fine for now.

 

[komplanen]

Final Specs.

Case: Compact Splash

Grats on the water-cooling setup but god damn that is one of the ugliest cases I've ever seen lmao

 

[Kevin]

I have a question I would like to ask the experts here on GAF. My current PC specs are as follows:

-Intel 980x (6 core, first i7)
-24gb of Ram
-GTX 590
-Motherboard with PCI-Express 2.0

My computer is starting to age but I was hoping to squeeze a little more life out of it by purchasing one of the new Nvidia Pascal graphics cards later this year upon release. I really don't have the income to afford an entirely new system.

My question is, will I still get most of the GPU performance with PCI-Express 2.0 or will I need to upgrade? If the percent degradation is in the single digits then I can live with that but I don't want to buy a new top-tier GPU if it's not going to run close to full spec on my current computer rig.

While Pascal's specs are not finalized, can anyone here give me an idea or guess as to whether or not it will work and what the performance lost may be?

 

[MoFoJones99]

I know the Asus Z170-A is highly regarded according to the OP, but I noticed that the Asus Z170 Maximus VIII Ranger has a cashback offer (in the UK at least) that brings it in line with the Z170-A. There aren't that many reviews of the Ranger, does anyone know how it stacks up against the Z170-A or if there are any known problems?

Hey dude. I have had my eye on this motherboard, too. This review kinda convinced me to get the motherboard https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytO8MdVIENM. I am probably going to be purchasing this as it does have a plethora of features. Also, be aware that the audio drivers have some issues which seem to not have been resolved from previous gen of Maximus boards. What will happen is that you will get a random pop when you open and close your audio channels. It seems like the only way to resolve this is to use a program called Jack or just use the default Windows audio drivers.

 

[MoFoJones99]

I have a weird issue with mine. My front audio jack has a lot of popping on the left speaker/headphone. It really hurts after a while.

I don't know if it has to do with some kind of interference with the case, however.

Here's my issue.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=189111632&postcount=8320

Snap, forgot to add that it is the Ranger board in my post, but thanks for the feedback .The boards are nearly identical, so I will not really be upset if I experience the same issue you have listed with your Hero board. May I ask, do you get a random 'pop' noise whenever you open and close your audio channels? For example, when a Windows sound plays, do you hear a pop before it starts and pop when it ends?

 

[Dewoh]

If odds are I won't be overclocking, is it worth getting the 6700 vs the 6600k? Seems newegg got the 6700 back in stock for $350.

For games, of course.

 

[Aztechnology]

What's a fair price to sell my excess parts/computer at? Do you guys think it's better to piecemeal it off or sell it as a computer?

Case- CM Stryker Storm full ATX case
CPU- Intel 4670k
Motherboard- ASUS Z87-PRO LGA 1150 Built in Wireless
GPU- No discrete, HD4600 from CPU
Memory- G.SKILL Sniper Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1866mhz
Storage- None currently
PSU- Rosewill FORTRESS-750 - 750-Watt Active PFC Power Supply 80 PLUS Platinum

 

[Aztechnology]

If odds are I won't be overclocking, is it worth getting the 6700 vs the 6600k? Seems newegg got the 6700 back in stock for $350.

For games, of course.

It depends on what kind of games you intend to play. Will it benefit from hyperthreading enough to offset the price? The answer is almost always no. But I have no idea what you're playing or planning to play.

 

[Dewoh]

It depends on what kind of games you intend to play. Will it benefit from hyperthreading enough to offset the price? The answer is almost always no. But I have no idea what you're playing or planning to play.

I play virtually everything, minus MMOs.

 

[Aztechnology]

I play virtually everything, minus MMOs.

You're almost guaranteed to be fine with the 6600 unless you plan to stream or use your computer often for multi-threaded aplications. There's only a few games that really push CPU's to their limits and they are usually Sims like Arma, RTS's or MMO's and for most of those the 6600 will be more than sufficient.

 

[Mets9]

To be exactly sure, try using Furmark and Prime95, and benchmark it for an hour.
Do you have a completely green screen or does it disappear if you close down your Media Player?

Full green screen, I can't do anything, even if I ctrl+alt+canc nothing changes

 

[darkwing-buck]

Thanks for the info on this page guys. Can someone explain getting a old OS like Windows 7 or 8 and upgrading it to 10 to me? How does that work?

 

[Kenzodielocke]

Thanks for the info on this page guys. Can someone explain getting a old OS like Windows 7 or 8 and upgrading it to 10 to me? How does that work?

You just download it and it upgrades itself. You don't have to do anything. At least with Windows 8. You also don't lose any data.

 

[ViviOggi]

You just download it and it upgrades itself. You don't have to do anything. At least with Windows 8. You also don't lose any data.

If you want to do a clean install or have a disc/bootable USB at hand just in case you can then download the Media Creation Tool from MS and follow the instructions. In my case I was using Win7 Enterprise which you can't upgrade and needed to do a clean install so I bought and installed Win7 Pro, upgraded to 10, read out the new license key, burned a Win 10 DVD and reinstalled it from there using the new key. There's probably an easier process but this way worked flawlessly for me.

 

[RayStorm]

Nowadays once you downloaded the Windows 10 media creation tool and created a bootable usb stick you can just install it from there and enter your Windows 7/8 key right in the installation. You don't have to install Win 7 / 8 before anymore. You can directly install 10, even if you only have a Windows 7/8 key.

That being said Windows 10 seems not yet ready for primetime, UI elements vanishing after some time (especially annoying in case of the volume control), and things like that that have been working in every Windows yet were changed for 10 and since are a bit hit or miss when it comes to actually working as intended. And then there's the whole issue of Windows taking even more freedom from the user (and I don't mean in ways that I don't care about like privacy or even forced upgrades (where at least my Windows 10 won't restart on its own despite threatening to do so, which in fact I see as a feature, not a bug) but simple things like changing the color of the taskbar, or the thickness of borders/UI elements as one could easily do until now whitout any additional aids.

 

[Novum_Veritas]

Full green screen, I can't do anything, even if I ctrl+alt+canc nothing changes

Seems the GPU hard locks in Windows, I assume you use WIndows?
I would check on the GPU, the green screen is an indicator for GPU failure.

 

[RGM79]

Your Current Specs: CPU / RAM / Motherboard / GPU (Graphics) / PSU (Power Supply) / Case / HDD (Hard Drive)


HP Touchsmart 600
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo T6500
RAM: 4GB
Motherboard: IPP7A-M5 (e60)
GPU: GeForce G200 integrated graphics
PSU: 120W power supply (100V-240V)
Case: it’s an all in one so..yeah
HDD: 1TB Interface: SATA;
Transfer rating: 3.0 Gb/sec;
Rotational Speed: 7200 RPM

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Budget: Price Range + Country


$1,000, US

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Main Use: Rate 1-5. 5 being Highest: Light Gaming, Gaming, Emulation (PS2/Wii), Video Editing, Streaming games in HD, 3D/Model work (and what program), General Usage (Word, Web, 1080p playback).


Light gaming: 5
gaming: 5
Emulation: 3
Video Editing: 1
Streaming games in HD: 3
3D/Model work: 1
General Usage: 5

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Monitor Resolution: What resolution will you be playing your games at? Are you going to upgrade later? Are you buying a new monitor?


I’ll likely want to keep my games at 1080, but once I get a better understanding of the tech and my own preferences with regards to PC gaming I’ll likely be looking into more resolutions and definitely multiple monitors. BTW yes I’ll be buying a new monitor.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

List SPECIFIC games or applications that you MUST be able to run well: Is 30FPS acceptable? 60? 120? How important is PhysX / SuperSampling / CUDA to you?


At the very least I want to be able to run nearly anything at 1080p @60 with high settings or better. No idea about PhysX or CUDA and I’m not very interested in Super Sampling...not just yet. I just want to dip my foot in the water right now. I'm not very familiar with required specs for most games but being able to run something like Batman Arkham Knight at 1080@60 would be nice (if it even runs at all lol)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Looking to reuse any parts?: List make and model (e.g. Corsair 520HX, 640GB SATA HDD, Antec 900)

If possible my 1TB HDD, but I'll have to take apart my all in one

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When will you build?: Do you have a deadline?

My deadline is looking like march/april. I’d rather not buy everything at once and want to do a drip feed of sorts on buying parts (I’m saving up for a lot of different things right now),


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Will you be overclocking?: Yes, No, Maybe (This means yes!)

Maybe

Spoiler

yes

We recommend buying most parts within a week or two, no more than a month. You don't really benefit from buying your new PC part by part over time unless you score some really nice bargains. Buying parts over the period of a few months just means the return and warranty period expires sooner. Also, some retailers offer returns usually within only 30 days. After that you'll have to speak to the manufacturer about the warranty which can result in longer delays and a longer processing time than returning/exchanging with the retailer. For that reason we don't recommend you buy anything early, perhaps just to find out later that it was defective after the point of return. If you absolutely have to buy some parts earlier rather than altogether, then certain parts like the case, CPU cooler, and processor are fairly safe and are rarely defective (or doesn't matter much), but other parts such as motherboards, graphics cards, and power supplies can have higher defect rates.

In any case, here's a general guideline of what you can expect to get for $1000. Prices will change over time, so what you will end up buying will be different according to what is a good deal at the time.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant
CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($253.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: CRYORIG H7 49.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($34.50 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z170XP-SLI ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($125.75 @ OutletPC)
Memory: Team Dark 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2800 Memory ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($81.49 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($49.98 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon R9 390 8GB Video Card ($299.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: NZXT S340 (Black/Blue) ATX Mid Tower Case ($44.99 @ Micro Center)
Power Supply: EVGA 650W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($54.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $995.67
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-01-03 06:10 EST-0500

Depending on whether you reuse that old hard drive or not, you can remove the WD Blue 1TB for $50 from the parts list.

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($223.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: CRYORIG H7 49.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($34.50 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: MSI Z97 PC MATE ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($88.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($42.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($149.88 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB SSC ACX 2.0+ Video Card ($317.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: NZXT S340 (White) ATX Mid Tower Case ($63.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: EVGA 750W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($74.98 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) ($89.88 @ OutletPC)
Monitor: Asus VN248H-P 23.8" Monitor ($159.99 @ Newegg)

Thoughts?

That's pretty pricey for a parts list centered around a last generation i5 processor. I tweaked the parts list I had above with a monitor and OS, it costs about the same as your parts list (~$1200) but you'd be getting the latest generation parts.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant
CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($253.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: CRYORIG H7 49.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($34.50 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z170XP-SLI ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($125.75 @ OutletPC)
Memory: Team Dark 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2800 Memory ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($149.88 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon R9 390 8GB Video Card ($299.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: NZXT S340 (Black/Blue) ATX Mid Tower Case ($44.99 @ Micro Center)
Power Supply: EVGA 650W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($54.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 OEM (64-bit) ($84.89 @ OutletPC)
Monitor: Dell E2414HM 60Hz 24.0" Monitor ($99.99 @ Best Buy)
Total: $1198.96
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-01-03 06:15 EST-0500

I have a question I would like to ask the experts here on GAF. My current PC specs are as follows:

-Intel 980x (6 core, first i7)
-24gb of Ram
-GTX 590
-Motherboard with PCI-Express 2.0

My computer is starting to age but I was hoping to squeeze a little more life out of it by purchasing one of the new Nvidia Pascal graphics cards later this year upon release. I really don't have the income to afford an entirely new system.

My question is, will I still get most of the GPU performance with PCI-Express 2.0 or will I need to upgrade? If the percent degradation is in the single digits then I can live with that but I don't want to buy a new top-tier GPU if it's not going to run close to full spec on my current computer rig.

While Pascal's specs are not finalized, can anyone here give me an idea or guess as to whether or not it will work and what the performance lost may be?

I doubt Pascal would really require that much more PCI-E bandwidth. What PCI-E 2.0 and 3.0 offer now is already more than enough to not bottleneck most graphics cards. You can see these tests by Guru3D showing not much of a difference if at all.

Your processor would be more of a bottleneck than PCI-E 2.0 would be, but your i7 980X is still decent if overclocked.

If odds are I won't be overclocking, is it worth getting the 6700 vs the 6600k? Seems newegg got the 6700 back in stock for $350.

For games, of course.

For games nowadays, the i7 6700's hyperthreading doesn't make that much of a difference that quad core only processors without HT are obsolete. Hard to say for games in the future, though. Who knows how well developers will bother to optimize games for multiple threads. I feel safe recommending the i5 6600K for the next few years, though.

Thanks for the info on this page guys. Can someone explain getting a old OS like Windows 7 or 8 and upgrading it to 10 to me? How does that work?

All you need to do is download the Windows 10 installer and input an eligible Windows 7/8/8.1 key during the activation process. You can do this for a clean installation.

 

[Acrylic7]

Are the Pavilion xw ips monitors any good?

 

[Unknown Soldier]

I found myself in the curious situation of having to use Windows 10 on my gaming PC because trying to make my computer boot off my new Samsung 950 Pro NVMe SSD using Win7 was an exercise in frustration.

MSI says Intel RST doesn't support NVMe over Legacy option ROM.
Intel says RST supports all SATA and PCIe interfaces, but PCIe doesn't have RAID support.
The BIOS says there's something attached to my M.2 connector but refuses to enumerate it.

I went in circles for awhile because the computer would simply refuse to see the NVMe SSD until after Win7 was done booting from my old SATA SSD. It could not, however, boot Win7 off the NVMe SSD. Eventually I just gave up and I disabled the Legacy mode in BIOS entirely and set it to UEFI Only, and even though the NVMe SSD still doesn't show up at in the BIOS, when the BIOS is in UEFI Only mode, suddenly I was able to install Win10 on a mysterious phantom drive that appeared out of nowhere when I also unplugged everything from the SATA ports.

After doing this, I then went back and plugged all my SATA drives in and UEFI BIOS despite still not seeing the SSD boots Win10 from the NVMe SSD. Well, okay.

NVMe is still a new technology and sometimes my MSI X99A Raider's BIOS is a bit odd but hey, I got it working. It seems making it work with Win7, an OS which predates NVMe and which doesn't support UEFI BIOS except in Legacy mode, can be pretty iffy. I Googled the problem and found this an issue across all motherboard manufacturers so this isn't an MSI thing.

So I guess I'm stuck on Win10 whether I like it or not. I've actually already upgraded my Surface Pro 2, second laptop, and media PC to Win10 so I'm not unfamiliar with it but I was hoping to delay upgrading my gaming PC and primary laptop as long as possible. Now only my primary laptop remains on Win7.

At least I'm ready for DX12 games. Yay.

 

[EloquentM]

Thank you for your insight and suggestions RGM. One question I had about the gpu, why did you choose to go with amd instead of an nvidia card. If I chose to go down that route how would things work out with the other components you suggested?

 

[darkwing-buck]

We recommend buying most parts within a week or two, no more than a month. You don't really benefit from buying your new PC part by part over time unless you score some really nice bargains. Buying parts over the period of a few months just means the return and warranty period expires sooner. Also, some retailers offer returns usually within only 30 days. After that you'll have to speak to the manufacturer about the warranty which can result in longer delays and a longer processing time than returning/exchanging with the retailer. For that reason we don't recommend you buy anything early, perhaps just to find out later that it was defective after the point of return. If you absolutely have to buy some parts earlier rather than altogether, then certain parts like the case, CPU cooler, and processor are fairly safe and are rarely defective (or doesn't matter much), but other parts such as motherboards, graphics cards, and power supplies can have higher defect rates.

In any case, here's a general guideline of what you can expect to get for $1000. Prices will change over time, so what you will end up buying will be different according to what is a good deal at the time.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant
CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($253.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: CRYORIG H7 49.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($34.50 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z170XP-SLI ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($125.75 @ OutletPC)
Memory: Team Dark 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2800 Memory ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($81.49 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($49.98 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon R9 390 8GB Video Card ($299.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: NZXT S340 (Black/Blue) ATX Mid Tower Case ($44.99 @ Micro Center)
Power Supply: EVGA 650W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($54.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $995.67
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-01-03 06:10 EST-0500

Depending on whether you reuse that old hard drive or not, you can remove the WD Blue 1TB for $50 from the parts list.



That's pretty pricey for a parts list centered around a last generation i5 processor. I tweaked the parts list I had above with a monitor and OS, it costs about the same as your parts list (~$1200) but you'd be getting the latest generation parts.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant
CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($253.99 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: CRYORIG H7 49.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($34.50 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z170XP-SLI ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($125.75 @ OutletPC)
Memory: Team Dark 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2800 Memory ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($149.88 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon R9 390 8GB Video Card ($299.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: NZXT S340 (Black/Blue) ATX Mid Tower Case ($44.99 @ Micro Center)
Power Supply: EVGA 650W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($54.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 OEM (64-bit) ($84.89 @ OutletPC)
Monitor: Dell E2414HM 60Hz 24.0" Monitor ($99.99 @ Best Buy)
Total: $1198.96
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-01-03 06:15 EST-0500



I doubt Pascal would really require that much more PCI-E bandwidth. What PCI-E 2.0 and 3.0 offer now is already more than enough to not bottleneck most graphics cards. You can see these tests by Guru3D showing not much of a difference if at all.

Your processor would be more of a bottleneck than PCI-E 2.0 would be, but your i7 980X is still decent if overclocked.



For games nowadays, the i7 6700's hyperthreading doesn't make that much of a difference that quad core only processors without HT are obsolete. Hard to say for games in the future, though. Who knows how well developers will bother to optimize games for multiple threads. I feel safe recommending the i5 6600K for the next few years, though.



All you need to do is download the Windows 10 installer and input an eligible Windows 7/8/8.1 key during the activation process. You can do this for a clean installation.

Wow this is great! Thanks!

 

[NoHeDidn't]

I know this might be blasphemy here but two years ago i bought my son an i7 Alienware x51.We are gonna start building a pc at some point however in the meantime we want to upgrade his card.It came with a GTX 960 i believe so i was hoping someone had some links or know what card will fit in this case?

Any help is appreciated since you guys know your stuff, thanks guys.

 

[komplanen]

I know this might be blasphemy here but two years ago i bought my son an i7 Alienware x51.We are gonna start building a pc at some point however in the meantime we want to upgrade his card.It came with a GTX 960 i believe so i was hoping someone had some links or know what card will fit in this case?

Any help is appreciated since you guys know your stuff, thanks guys.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=472732&page=51

That's a NeoGAF thread for blasphemers X51 lovers like you :-3

 

[OraleeWey]

Thank you for your insight and suggestions RGM. One question I had about the gpu, why did you choose to go with amd instead of an nvidia card. If I chose to go down that route how would things work out with the other components you suggested?

I think it comes down to price to performance ratio. The 390 is better than a GTX 970. It also has 8gb of VRAM which is twice that of the GTX 970. So you can probably do some downsampling. And it's only $300. Good video card imo for 1080p @ 60fps. And yeah, you should have no problems going with whichever video card you want.

 

[Matty8787]

What GPU do you have and what resolution/refresh rate do you play at?

Sorry for the late reply!

I game at 1440p and my monitor is OC'd to 96 hz. I have the 980Ti

 

[Profanity]

Hey dude. I have had my eye on this motherboard, too. This review kinda convinced me to get the motherboard https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytO8MdVIENM. I am probably going to be purchasing this as it does have a plethora of features. Also, be aware that the audio drivers have some issues which seem to not have been resolved from previous gen of Maximus boards. What will happen is that you will get a random pop when you open and close your audio channels. It seems like the only way to resolve this is to use a program called Jack or just use the default Windows audio drivers.

Thanks for the heads up - I have a dedicated sound card so this shouldn't be an issue. Reckon I'll pull the trigger then.

 

[kennah]

Grats on the water-cooling setup but god damn that is one of the ugliest cases I've ever seen lmao

Everyone is entitled to their opinion. I find it very attractive. Keep in mind the case measures 10" high by 8" wide by 12" deep. It is very very small.

And my last picture doesn't have the smoked lexan side panel on.

 

[EloquentM]

I think it comes down to price to performance ratio. The 390 is better than a GTX 970. It also has 8gb of VRAM which is twice that of the GTX 970. So you can probably do some downsampling. And it's only $300. Good video card imo for 1080p @ 60fps. And yeah, you should have no problems going with whichever video card you want.

Thank you very much!
I'll probably still be lookin for a 390, I was really just wondering