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[masterkajo]

Am thinking of buying a new PC in the future. The question that remains is if I should buy now or wait and buy later. I will want to use the PC for VR (eg Star Citizen) and playing games on 1440p.

Is it "safe" to invest in a good motherboard CPU now and mid range GPU with a GPU upgrade later down the road (1-2 years) or should I buy a high end GPU now etc. How about CPUs and sockets? Are the current sockets "future proof"? Thanks for a bid of feedback!

 

[Tensketch]

What are you going to be using the FRPC for? I'm not sure I understand, do you want to have two separate gaming PCs? Or just one and an HTPC?

apologies, it's going to be used as a general all-round machine. Watching netflix, catch up and such as well as playing various controller-based games on steam. Furthermore, I intend to use my main PC as well.

 

[opticalmace]

apologies, it's going to be used as a general all-round machine. Watching netflix, catch up and such as well as playing various controller-based games on steam.

Depending on what games you are going to be playing you could just throw in a 750 Ti (well 960, or 950 I guess) and keep the 780 for the main PC.

Am thinking of buying a new PC in the future. The question that remains is if I should buy now or wait and buy later. I will want to use the PC for VR (eg Star Citizen) and playing games on 1440p.

Is it "safe" to invest in a good motherboard CPU now and mid range GPU with a GPU upgrade later down the road (1-2 years) or should I buy a high end GPU now etc. How about CPUs and sockets? Are the current sockets "future proof"? Thanks for a bid of feedback!

Now is as good a time as any to build. Check out some benchmarks on games you are interested in playing, if you are going to get a 144Hz 1440p panel you probably will want a 980 Ti. That said, I have a 970 with a 144hz 1440p panel and I am quite happy for the moment, just depends on what games you play.

Definitely jump on Skylake, a 6600k + 980 Ti build would be quite killer.

edit: I don't know anything about VR so I can't comment there.

 

[Hello? This is Hailun!]

I'm still rolling with an i5 2400.

Should I start considering upgrading?

 

[opticalmace]

I'm still rolling with an i5 2400.

Should I start considering upgrading?

Specs/what do you do with your computer?

 

[garath]

So do we have any reliable gaming benchmarks of skylake yet? Ideally I'd like to compare it to haswell-e and some of the older chips (I.e. the chip of forever, 2500k)

 

[hitgirl]

Anyone got an idea of how much should I sell old PC? No clue what to ask, sorry to bother.

i5 3570k delid @ 4.6ghz
Asus GTX 780
Asus Maximus V Gene Motherboard
8GB Gskill Ram
Corsair H100i
Corsair Power Supply w/ braided cables AX 760i
Samsung 130GB SSD
Corsair 140 mm fan x 2
Corsair 120mm fan x 2
Corsair 350D

 

[harz-marz]

Depending on what games you are going to be playing you could just throw in a 750 Ti (well 960, or 950 I guess) and keep the 780 for the main PC.


Now is as good a time as any to build. Check out some benchmarks on games you are interested in playing, if you are going to get a 144Hz 1440p panel you probably will want a 980 Ti. That said, I have a 970 with a 144hz 1440p panel and I am quite happy for the moment, just depends on what games you play.

Definitely jump on Skylake, a 6600k + 980 Ti build would be quite killer.

edit: I don't know anything about VR so I can't comment there.

This is my combo... 980 ti and 6600K. It is indeed killer!

 

[An1malhouse365]

Does it make a difference if I buy 2x8gb memory kit or 4x4gb kit??

DDR4 3000 if that makes a difference.

 

[Mr. Hyde]

I have my new skylake build up and running after my other PC got fried by lightning. The SSD from the other PC is working fine but my 770 GTX might have been fried in the storm. My monitors are acting like it does not exist. I am running on the onboard video chip right now until I determine the GPU is the problem.

If it is, what is the best deal going on right now? I had a 770 GTX 2GB so I definitely want at least 4gb of ram on my next card, if I have to buy one.

 

[AppleMIX]

I think I'm due for a upgrade.

i5 3570
GTX 970
16 gigs of ram.

What CPU is good?

 

[Hello? This is Hailun!]

Specs/what do you do with your computer?

Gaming!

8 gigs RAM, 500gig SSD, GTX 570, 650w PSU.

 

[lordfuzzybutt]

I think I'm due for a upgrade.

i5 3570
GTX 970
16 gigs of ram.

What CPU is good?

What do you feel is limiting you? What kind of stuff are you doing? Want to do?

 

[OraleeWey]

I think I'm due for a upgrade.

i5 3570
GTX 970
16 gigs of ram.

What CPU is good?

GTX 980ti for a more performance boost over a GTX 980.

 

[AppleMIX]

What do you feel is limiting you? What kind of stuff are you doing? Want to do?

Just gaming.

GTX 980ti for a more performance boost over a GTX 980.

I don't know, I just bought my videocard less than a year ago.

 

[harz-marz]

Just gaming.



I don't know, I just bought my videocard less than a year ago.

What's wrong with your CPU?

 

[AppleMIX]

What's wrong with your CPU?

Nothing really.

It just feels like I've had it forever.

 

[Crisium]

I think I'm due for a upgrade.

i5 3570
GTX 970
16 gigs of ram.

What CPU is good?

Your CPU is good. If you don't have a good cooler and overclock, do so to get a bit more. There's very few situations where an i5 3570 @ 4.2Ghz+ is bottlenecked compared to Haswell or Skylake, and even then I'd call it a minor performance penalty rather than a bottleneck.

 

[opticalmace]

Gaming!

8 gigs RAM, 500gig SSD, GTX 570, 650w PSU.

Nice. About upgrades, are you getting poor performance in any of the games you normally play?

In terms of performance per dollar, your best bet would be upgrading your video card, to something like a GTX 970. Your CPU isn't limiting you nearly as much as your GPU imo. But sometime it wouldn't be hard to justify a new cpu/mobo/ram.

 

[harz-marz]

Nothing really.

It just feels like I've had it forever.

Ahh that upgrade itch! I had an i5 2500 and the only reason I upgraded it was because I couldn't overclock it.

I'd sell your GPU and maybe upgrade to a 980 ti

 

[LilJoka]

Nothing really.

It just feels like I've had it forever.

Overclock it?

 

[RGM79]

So do we have any reliable gaming benchmarks of skylake yet? Ideally I'd like to compare it to haswell-e and some of the older chips (I.e. the chip of forever, 2500k)

Anandtech has Skylake gaming benchmarking data for mid-range graphics card (GTX 770) and high end graphics card (R9 290X). Really, you should just look around at some Skylake reviews, a lot of them that I've seen do and will compare Skylake to Sandy Bridge, like Bit-Tech's review.

Anyone got an idea of how much should I sell old PC? No clue what to ask, sorry to bother.

i5 3570k delid @ 4.6ghz
Asus GTX 780
Asus Maximus V Gene Motherboard
8GB Gskill Ram
Corsair H100i
Corsair Power Supply w/ braided cables AX 760i
Samsung 130GB SSD
Corsair 140 mm fan x 2
Corsair 120mm fan x 2
Corsair 350D

Figure out what the MSRP of your parts were and then work backward from that. See what similar parts or PCs are going for on Craigslist or Ebay, then price it similarly.

Does it make a difference if I buy 2x8gb memory kit or 4x4gb kit??

DDR4 3000 if that makes a difference.

You said you were thinking of either Haswell/Z97 or Skylake/Z170. Both only support dual channel, you don't gain anything from buying a 4x4GB kit as opposed to 2x8GB. I'd just get whatever was at a lower price, but going with 2x8GB would be preferable.

I have my new skylake build up and running after my other PC got fried by lightning. The SSD from the other PC is working fine but my 770 GTX might have been fried in the storm. My monitors are acting like it does not exist. I am running on the onboard video chip right now until I determine the GPU is the problem.

If it is, what is the best deal going on right now? I had a 770 GTX 2GB so I definitely want at least 4gb of ram on my next card, if I have to buy one.

What's your budget for a new graphics card? What level of performance do you expect (1080p? 60FPS? Ultra settings?) and what games do you play?

 

[OraleeWey]

Hello GAF, I'm back again for another build.

This one is for my cousin, who's barely entering high school and will soon need a PC.

Your Current Specs: From Scratch

Budget: $600 absolute max including the Windows OS. The less the better.
Exclude kB/M and a monitor.

Main Use: Main use is lots of school work. However, some gaming will be made. Doesn't have to be a crazy video card though. Something that can get him by on high settings. I was thinking the new GTX 950 might be good for him. If you know any alternatives feel free to let me know. 4gb vram is preferred but no harm if it's just 2gb vram. And of course there will be lots of general use as well.

Monitor Resolution: 1080p-60hz. It's a 24" TV, we'll be looking at some monitors in the future.

List SPECIFIC games or applications that you MUST be able to run well: DayZ should be able to run well. Though I know this game is unoptimized. GTA V at maybe high/medium.


Looking to reuse any parts?: Nope. From scratch.

When will you build? Within a month.

Will you be overclocking?: No.

I have started a PCPartpicker but couldn't finish it. Here's what I've come up with. The idea was a small compact build. It isn't necessary but welcomed.


http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2dGyzy

Some things to note; Quad-Core CPU greatly preferred, the build must have WiFi(so a motherboard with built in WiFi), and MicroCenter is available near me.


Edit: There's no set price on the GTX 950 yet, but speculated for around $160. Anyway, since there's no set price then maybe this is a good contender
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127884&nm_mc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-PC&cm_mmc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-PC-_-pla-_-Desktop+Graphics+Cards-_-N82E16814127884

As for the case, something that's "square" and compact like the corsair 240 is what were looking for, just a budget case. But I don't know the compatibilities with the motherboards so that's why I'm leaving it up to this community.

 

[One Punch-Man]

Just gaming.



I don't know, I just bought my videocard less than a year ago.

You're asking you're due for an upgrade and yet you don't know.

In other news, just got RMAed 980TI Gigabyte G1, no coil whine

 

[garath]

Anandtech has Skylake gaming benchmarking data for mid-range graphics card (GTX 770) and high end graphics card (R9 290X). Really, you should just look around at some Skylake reviews, a lot of them that I've seen do and will compare Skylake to Sandy Bridge, like Bit-Tech's review.

Thanks. Doesn't seem to be a huge difference between haswell-e and skylake. Hopefully a few more sites get some reviews up and look at frame timing and maybe some overclocking results.

 

[LilJoka]

Hello GAF, I'm back again for another build.

This one is for my cousin, who's barely entering high school and will soon need a PC.

Your Current Specs: From Scratch

Budget: $600 absolute max including the Windows OS. The less the better.
Exclude kB/M and a monitor.

Main Use: Main use is lots of school work. However, some gaming will be made. Doesn't have to be a crazy video card though. Something that can get him by on high settings. I was thinking the new GTX 950 might be good for him. If you know any alternatives feel free to let me know. 4gb vram is preferred but no harm if it's just 2gb vram. And of course there will be lots of general use as well.

Monitor Resolution: 1080p-60hz. It's a 24" TV, we'll be looking at some monitors in the future.

List SPECIFIC games or applications that you MUST be able to run well: DayZ should be able to run well. Though I know this game is unoptimized. GTA V at maybe high/medium.


Looking to reuse any parts?: Nope. From scratch.

When will you build? Within a month.

Will you be overclocking?: No.

I have started a PCPartpicker but couldn't finish it. Here's what I've come up with. The idea was a small compact build. It isn't necessary but welcomed.


http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2dGyzy

Some things to note; Quad-Core CPU greatly preferred, the build must have WiFi(so a motherboard with built in WiFi), and MicroCenter is available near me.


Edit: There's no set price on the GTX 950 yet, but speculated for around $160. Anyway, since there's no set price then maybe this is a good contender
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127884&nm_mc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-PC&cm_mmc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-PC-_-pla-_-Desktop+Graphics+Cards-_-N82E16814127884

As for the case, something that's "square" and compact like the corsair 240 is what were looking for, just a budget case. But I don't know the compatibilities with the motherboards so that's why I'm leaving it up to this community.

Something like this?

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4440 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor ($178.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock H97M-ITX/AC Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard ($72.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Black 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($44.49 @ SuperBiiz)
Storage: Toshiba 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($47.56 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon R9 285 2GB WINDFORCE 2X Video Card ($172.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Cooler Master Elite 130 Mini ITX Tower Case ($34.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($39.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $591.98
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-08-21 15:57 EDT-0400

 

[Sciz]

So do we have any reliable gaming benchmarks of skylake yet? Ideally I'd like to compare it to haswell-e and some of the older chips (I.e. the chip of forever, 2500k)

Tech Report's review has a good range of processors and frame time charts.

 

[OraleeWey]

Something like this?

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4440 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor ($178.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock H97M-ITX/AC Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard ($72.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Black 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($44.49 @ SuperBiiz)
Storage: Toshiba 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($47.56 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon R9 285 2GB WINDFORCE 2X Video Card ($172.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Cooler Master Elite 130 Mini ITX Tower Case ($34.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($39.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $591.98
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-08-21 15:57 EDT-0400

Looks good but our budget is $600, there's some mail in rebates in there and our build should include the OS within budget. The build above would exceed it.

 

[RGM79]

Thanks. Doesn't seem to be a huge difference between haswell-e and skylake. Hopefully a few more sites get some reviews up and look at frame timing and maybe some overclocking results.

As far as I can tell, just about every Skylake review that has done overclocking has mentioned that the majority of Skylake K chips should be able to hit 4.6GHz fairly reliably. Anything higher would be reliant on other factors like delidding, cooling solution, silicon lottery, etc.

Some sites like Techreport have already done frametime tests and Skylake is impressive. While overclocked SB/IB processors still manage extremely competitive average framerates, Skylake (and Broadwell) offer great frametimes.

Looks good but our budget is $600, there's some mail in rebates in there and our build should include the OS within budget. The build above would exceed it.

How about this, then?

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($174.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: Asus H81M-D PLUS Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($49.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($39.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Toshiba Product SeriesT01ACA 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($46.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: Asus Radeon R7 370 4GB Video Card ($167.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Antec One ATX Mid Tower Case ($30.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply ($27.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $538.93
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-08-21 17:21 EDT-0400

It comes in at $583 before rebates. Tack on about $15 or so for a Windows 7/8.1 license from Reddit. Here's my usual disclaimer for buying Windows licenses from Reddit:


Windows 7/8.1 licenses can be bought from reddit's microsoftsoftwareswap for $20 USD or less. These are most likely legitimate keys that are resold from educational programs like Technet or MSDNAA/Dreamspark. However, you are dealing with a person instead of a retailer, and informal Windows keys sales are not approved by Microsoft and probably breaking some licensing agreement, but it's not illegal. The risks involved are that the person could be selling you a fake or used key, or that Microsoft may refuse to give you support and/or deactivate your license and refuse to reactivate it. That's not very likely, usually it only happens if the seller and their list of sold keys was caught. We've had people here using those keys without issues for a long time and others who say Microsoft deactivated their key after several months. These keys should be upgradeable to Windows 10, but confirm with the seller to be sure, of course.

 

[JoeyJungle]

Holy shit, I saw the 6700k as available on Newegg for like 30 seconds! It was only available as a combo though (they had like 7 of them, with mobos or ram), and the only part I'm missing is the CPU so I didn't buy one. I was so close...

 

[CreepingFear]

Holy shit, I saw the 6700k as available on Newegg for like 30 seconds! It was only available as a combo though (they had like 7 of them, with mobos or ram), and the only part I'm missing is the CPU so I didn't buy one. I was so close...

I don't think it will be steadily available for about another month. The positive is that I'll have all my money saved up including taxes.

 

[OraleeWey]

As far as I can tell, just about every Skylake review that has done overclocking has mentioned that the majority of Skylake K chips should be able to hit 4.6GHz fairly reliably. Anything higher would be reliant on other factors like delidding, cooling solution, silicon lottery, etc.

Some sites like Techreport have already done frametime tests and Skylake is impressive. While overclocked SB/IB processors still manage extremely competitive average framerates, Skylake (and Broadwell) offer great frametimes.



How about this, then?

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($174.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: Asus H81M-D PLUS Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($49.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($39.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Toshiba Product SeriesT01ACA 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($46.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: Asus Radeon R7 370 4GB Video Card ($167.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Antec One ATX Mid Tower Case ($30.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply ($27.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $538.93
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-08-21 17:21 EDT-0400

It comes in at $583 before rebates. Tack on about $15 or so for a Windows 7/8.1 license from Reddit. Here's my usual disclaimer for buying Windows licenses from Reddit:


Windows 7/8.1 licenses can be bought from reddit's microsoftsoftwareswap for $20 USD or less. These are most likely legitimate keys that are resold from educational programs like Technet or MSDNAA/Dreamspark. However, you are dealing with a person instead of a retailer, and informal Windows keys sales are not approved by Microsoft and probably breaking some licensing agreement, but it's not illegal. The risks involved are that the person could be selling you a fake or used key, or that Microsoft may refuse to give you support and/or deactivate your license and refuse to reactivate it. That's not very likely, usually it only happens if the seller and their list of sold keys was caught. We've had people here using those keys without issues for a long time and others who say Microsoft deactivated their key after several months. These keys should be upgradeable to Windows 10, but confirm with the seller to be sure, of course.

This looks perfect. Just want to say one thing. I can get a i5 4690k from Micro Center for $200. Should we go ahead and do that? If the difference is worth an extra $15, I think it is worth it. I think we could squeeze it in this build.

Edit: I don't think the Motherboard has WiFi. At the moment we will have to rely on WiFi, that could change in the future, but for now we do need WiFi.

 

[JoeyJungle]

I don't think it will be steadily available for about another month. The positive is that I'll have all my money saved up including taxes.

I think early September is when there'll be a steady supply of them. http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1176280-REG/intel_bx80662i76700k_6th_gen_i7_6700k.html has their ETA has Sept 10, and http://www.shopblt.com/item/intel-boxed-core-i7-6700k-fc/intel_bx80662i76700k.html has an August 28 shipment and a bunch more throughout September beginning with Sept 10. But I'm hoping that Newegg or Amazon will be getting some kind of priority shipment and I'll be able to buy just the CPU from either of them before those dates.


Edit: It's back on stock on newegg! Still combo only though

 

[tallbroski]

Oh man today was a stressful day, after I put my build together I accidentally killed my psu Now I am just hoping the psu didn't take any parts with it. Guess I will find find out tomorrow.

 

[LilJoka]

Looks good but our budget is $600, there's some mail in rebates in there and our build should include the OS within budget. The build above would exceed it.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4440 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor ($178.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock H81M-ITX/WIFI Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard ($64.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($39.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Toshiba 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($47.56 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: MSI Radeon R7 370 2GB Video Card ($149.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Cooler Master Elite 130 Mini ITX Tower Case ($47.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($44.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $574.48
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-08-21 18:35 EDT-0400

As RGM said, try to get windows from reddit.

4690K only worth it for overclocking in your scenario.
By cheaping out by about $50 you do really hurt the longevity in terms of CPU power imo. Going Z97 and 4690k then overclocking in a year or so is more wise. It's all about those minimum fps and frame time variance.

 

[RGM79]

This looks perfect. Just want to say one thing. I can get a i5 4690k from Micro Center for $200. Should we go ahead and do that? If the difference is worth an extra $15, I think it is worth it. I think we could squeeze it in this build.

Edit: I don't think the Motherboard has WiFi. At the moment we will have to rely on WiFi, that could change in the future, but for now we do need WiFi.

Ahh.. I thought I was overlooking something. I'll figure out a revised build with wifi when I get home in about 2 hours.

As for the 4690K.. it's nice, but you'd need a Z97 motherboard (or maybe an overclocking enabled H81/B85 motherboard) to make the most of it. There are Z97 motherboards with wifi built in.. but it does cost more.

 

[Kezen]

Oh man today was a stressful day, after I put my build together I accidentally killed my psu Now I am just hoping the psu didn't take any parts with it. Guess I will find find out tomorrow.

How did you "kill" it ?

 

[Jzero]

Just got my R9 Fury (From a 760) and can't get sound from my monitor for some reason. Setting it as default does nothing and i have the latest Catalyst CC installed.


Edit: Fuck it, I just used a standard audio cable instead of audio through DP.

 

[An1malhouse365]

You said you were thinking of either Haswell/Z97 or Skylake/Z170. Both only support dual channel, you don't gain anything from buying a 4x4GB kit as opposed to 2x8GB. I'd just get whatever was at a lower price, but going with 2x8GB would be preferable.

Yeah I just went ahead and ordered the I5 6600 and MSI z170 krait edition mobo but my options for ram are limited on amazon. Was trying to keep a blk/wht theme without compromising quality.

So far this is what I have.
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/GZswQ7

Need help picking out a power supply, ram, optical drive, and OS. (Didn't the first thing about computers before I started researching so I don't know how to buy some of this stuff)

Looking to have everything built by next weekend.

Thinking of going with this. Any reason not to?
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00QXT5MNM/?tag=neogaf0e-20

 

[Confrontation]

My 6700k should arrive tomorrow. Can't wait.

 

[Skii]

My PC is finally fully up and running. Well I managed to install Windows 10 last night which was the biggest achievement of this build. A dodgy memory stick gave me stress for 2 days! Anyway, partioned the harddrive and everything is running smoothly.

How do I overclock the RAM again in bios? Is setting it to XMP profile enough? Do I need to change RAM timings and stuff like that?

 

[tallbroski]

How did you "kill" it ?

Moment of lack of concentration on my part, after building it and testing/installing windows I was trying to connect the pc to a different monitor. As I was plugging the psu power cord I did I did not realise that the psu switch/main power was on and there was a spark sound and that's it, it never worked after that. Getting as new psu tomorrow.

 

[Shining Sunshine]

My 6700k should arrive tomorrow. Can't wait.

Where did you get it? Still not stocked around my area.

 

[Confrontation]

Where did you get it? Still not stocked around my area.

I live in Belgium, ordered it at a store here.

 

[OraleeWey]

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4440 3.1GHz Quad-Core Processor ($178.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock H81M-ITX/WIFI Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard ($64.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($39.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Toshiba 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($47.56 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: MSI Radeon R7 370 2GB Video Card ($149.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Cooler Master Elite 130 Mini ITX Tower Case ($47.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($44.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $574.48
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-08-21 18:35 EDT-0400

As RGM said, try to get windows from reddit.

4690K only worth it for overclocking in your scenario.
By cheaping out by about $50 you do really hurt the longevity in terms of CPU power imo. Going Z97 and 4690k then overclocking in a year or so is more wise. It's all about those minimum fps and frame time variance.

Yeah. I figured. I guess we could push it a little further. I'm going to see what RGM can come up with then compare these two builds and go from there.

Ahh.. I thought I was overlooking something. I'll figure out a revised build with wifi when I get home in about 2 hours.

As for the 4690K.. it's nice, but you'd need a Z97 motherboard (or maybe an overclocking enabled H81/B85 motherboard) to make the most of it. There are Z97 motherboards with wifi built in.. but it does cost more.

Alright, looking forward to what you can come up with.
I just need WiFi, Quad Core CPU, and preferably 4gb VRAM. In my anecdotal evidence 4Gb VRAM and a Quad Core CPU are just less prone to problems. Let's try to keep it under $650 before mail in rebates. Doesn't matter the case, as long as it isn't too big, like a Corsair 540 for example.

 

[Fezan]

Guys I need some help. I bought some parts for my cousin gaming pc. Bought a Intel i7 950 with Intel motherboard and 4gb ram. Stress tested it for 2 days it was fine. Today o went to his house and installed the components. It worked fine for 5 mind them it automatically shut down after 5 mins. After restarting got on error that cpu was getting to hot. Checked the fan was not installed properly then o restarted again and smell came out of power supply. What can be the issue. Was it the motherboard that caused this issue.? Or is it issue of grounding

 

[MillionStabs]

Ugh, I tried replacing the CPU in my desktop and adding another hard drive and GPU that's the same model as the other one, and now it won't even start up. Primary GPU fan spins when I power it on, but the monitor never displays anything.

Gonna trial and error it tomorrow to see what the issue is.

 

[Jzero]

Ugh, I tried replacing the CPU in my desktop and adding another hard drive and GPU that's the same model as the other one, and now it won't even start up. Primary GPU fan spins when I power it on, but the monitor never displays anything.

Gonna trial and error it tomorrow to see what the issue is.

That's why I do everything one by one during replacements. First the HDD then the CPU then the GPU since something always goes wrong.

Did you even use a SLI or crossfire bridge ?
Or is it crossfire through PCIe?

 

[Mr. Hyde]

I guess I was lucky. I tried reseating my 770 GTX that I thought fried in the lightning storm and it ended up working. I ended up only losing my MOBO, CPU, router and cable modem. I went overboard and ended up with the i5-6600k, a new case and cheap ddr4 ram until I get a good deal on higher frequency ram (this one is only 2400mhz but it seems I can OC it to the 2600 range). I am in love with this NZXT's 340 case so far. It's definitely the best case I've owned.

As long as the video card keeps working, I'll put some money away for the next gen Nvidia card.

 

[Oogedei]

Guys I need some help. I bought some parts for my cousin gaming pc. Bought a Intel i7 950 with Intel motherboard and 4gb ram. Stress tested it for 2 days it was fine. Today o went to his house and installed the components. It worked fine for 5 mind them it automatically shut down after 5 mins. After restarting got on error that cpu was getting to hot. Checked the fan was not installed properly then o restarted again and smell came out of power supply. What can be the issue. Was it the motherboard that caused this issue.? Or is it issue of grounding

Smell came out of the power supply? It's likely that your PSU is dead now. Did you restart it again after that?

I live in Belgium, ordered it at a store here.

I'm so damn jelly now. My whole hardware is here already and I want to start building it but the i7 6700k is out of stock here and it doesn't look like I'm getting lucky for the next 1-2 weeks...