Support NeoGAF

[Varg]

New PC build. Please let me know if i can do better in any area. Thanks!! Will be keeping my Razer Deathadder and Deathstalker from previous build so new keyboard mouse not needed.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($376.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i GTX 70.7 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($109.99 @ B&H)
Motherboard: Asus Z170-A ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($153.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: Corsair Dominator Platinum 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($109.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Mushkin Reactor 1TB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($229.89 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 980 Ti 6GB Superclocked+ ACX 2.0+ Video Card ($619.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Phanteks Enthoo Pro ATX Full Tower Case ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair 850W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($149.99 @ B&H)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) ($87.95 @ OutletPC)
Monitor: Acer XB270H Abprz 144Hz 27.0" Monitor ($399.99 @ Micro Center)
Headphones: Razer BlackShark Headset ($99.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $2428.75
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-03-17 20:10 EDT-0400

 

[electroflame]

Check! Copy, don't move.

Is Macrium Reflect free and fully functional?

Macrium Reflect Free is the free version of Reflect. For what you need (a full disk image) it's fully-featured. The paid version has some other features (namely incremental backups, etc.) but you won't need that. You're basically just going to create a slightly compressed image of the drive and save it to some other hard drive.

It's pretty easy to use. Basically you just need to install it and then:

1. Click Backup->Image Selected Disks (via the toolbar at the top)
2. Select your dying hard drive. If there are multiple partitions on the drive, select them all.
3. Select where you want to store the image.

Now, before going on, there's some Advanced Options you can set by clicking the button in the lower-left of the window. In there, you might want to set:

1. Compression to Medium (so you get some compression, but not too much to where it may take too long, or damage any files)
2. Select Intelligent Sector Copy (you don't need to image unused sectors, as you only want your files)

You can add a password or comment if you want, but they're not needed.

The next page is where you'd set up some kind of schedule, but since this is a one-time thing you can just uncheck all of the checked schedule options/retention rules and continue.

The last page will give you a summary of what you're going to do. If everything looks right, you can start the backup.

That should be all you need to do. You've just got to make sure there's enough room on the destination drive, as you don't want the image operation to either pause, or cancel due to lack of space. Once the image is completed you should be able to right-click on the image file and mount it as a virtual hard drive via the Macrium Reflect context menu. If the dock is USB 3 the image should take a couple hours, if it's USB 2 it'll take significantly longer.

If you've got any questions, feel free to ask. It's best to have a full game-plan before starting, since you may only get one shot, depending on the state of the drive.

 

[BizzyBum]

Try rolling back to an older driver. Are you getting any messages or errors when the games crash? Full specs and OS?


What games do you play?

No messages, games usually just crash right to the desktop. My specs are

Windows 10 64-bit
i5 3570k
GTX 780
16GB RAM

Nothing is overclocked or overheating when the games are running.

 

[DeathByBacklog]

Macrium Reflect Free is the free version of Reflect. For what you need (a full disk image) it's fully-featured. The paid version has some other features (namely incremental backups, etc.) but you won't need that. You're basically just going to create a slightly compressed image of the drive and save it to some other hard drive.

It's pretty easy to use. Basically you just need to install it and then:

1. Click Backup->Image Selected Disks (via the toolbar at the top)
2. Select your dying hard drive. If there are multiple partitions on the drive, select them all.
3. Select where you want to store the image.

Now, before going on, there's some Advanced Options you can set by clicking the button in the lower-left of the window. In there, you might want to set:

1. Compression to Medium (so you get some compression, but not too much to where it may take too long, or damage any files)
2. Select Intelligent Sector Copy (you don't need to image unused sectors, as you only want your files)

You can add a password or comment if you want, but they're not needed.

The next page is where you'd set up some kind of schedule, but since this is a one-time thing you can just uncheck all of the checked schedule options/retention rules and continue.

The last page will give you a summary of what you're going to do. If everything looks right, you can start the backup.

That should be all you need to do. You've just got to make sure there's enough room on the destination drive, as you don't want the image operation to either pause, or cancel due to lack of space. Once the image is completed you should be able to right-click on the image file and mount it as a virtual hard drive via the Macrium Reflect context menu. If the dock is USB 3 the image should take a couple hours, if it's USB 2 it'll take significantly longer.

If you've got any questions, feel free to ask. It's best to have a full game-plan before starting, since you may only get one shot, depending on the state of the drive.

Ok all good and understood until I got to the mounting section. Will the information always need to be mounted to be read? Is this just a temporary stop until the full disc image can be backed up to a permanent drive?

 

[electroflame]

Ok all good and understood until I got to the mounting section. Will the information always need to be mounted to be read? Is this just a temporary stop until the full disc image can be backed up to a permanent drive?

Basically, yeah. You're just making the image to side-step having to continually read data off the dying hard drive. Once you've got the image, you can start copying files out of it. You could potentially image the dying drive directly onto a new drive (a clone at that point -- or a direct copy, no image file) but that might be a bit risky. The hard drive->image file->new hard drive is the safest option, in my opinion.

 

[Brandon F]

Have you disabled the according things in control panel/device manager/network adapters/[Actual devices]/power management? If you turn off the check mark at "Allow this device to wake the computer" it should work and does for me.
But I also disabled all USB-controllers, Human Interface Devices and mice/pointing devices from being allowed to wake the computer. And perhaps if yours are so equipped do the same for bluetooth etc.?

Thanks! I am just trying the Network Adapters right now as all the boxes were checked allowing them to wake the PC. Will start trying other devices if that doesn't fix the issue.

 

[Brandon F]

What are opinions on Carbide Series Air 540 in white? Didn't realize they did a white version. Is it too over the top? Seems like it has the space I appreciated from the Thermaltake, but much more subdued.

Another option: NZXT H440 White

Or Phanteks Enthoo: The White Build

 

[mulac]

I've been posting a bit in this thread the last month or so and its finally all paid off.
The Phantek case was an absolute joy to build in; took only an hour or so and then everything worked beautifully.
I had some trouble with the displayport into the Dell Ultrawidescreen and a displayport into the ROG screen (only one would display) - but i've hooked the Ultrawide to HDMI and the ROG as my main monitor with displayport to take advantage of the GSYNC.

All in; very very happy with this build; it runs super quiet; airflow and temps are fantastic and I cant wait to get some tinkering going with water cooling/expanding in the coming months/years.

The Build:
PCPartPicker part list

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($224.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100i 77.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($168.99 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Asus MAXIMUS VII FORMULA ATX LGA1150 Motherboard
Memory: Corsair Vengeance Pro 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($74.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($87.54 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($65.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 980 4GB STRIX Video Card ($489.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Corsair 500R Black ATX Mid Tower Case ($107.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Corsair 750W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($129.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: LG BH16NS40 Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer ($77.29 @ Amazon)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Pro Full (32/64-bit) ($199.99 @ B&H)
Monitor: Dell U3415W 60Hz 34.0" Monitor ($792.30 @ B&H)
Monitor: Asus PG279Q ROG Swift 165Hz 27.0" Monitor ($799.00 @ Amazon)
Keyboard: SteelSeries Apex M800 Wired Gaming Keyboard ($169.95 @ B&H)
Mouse: Corsair Vengeance M60 Wired Laser Mouse
Headphones: SteelSeries H Headset ($330.59 @ Amazon)
Speakers: Corsair Gaming Audio Series SP2500 232W 2.1ch Speakers ($219.99 @ Amazon)
External Storage: Seagate Expansion 4TB External Hard Drive ($119.99 @ Best Buy)
Total: $4059.57

And some photos...
http://imgur.com/a/Nxxkc

 

[Bornstellar]

So I got my parts, can someone point me to a guide on the actual build?

 

[KurtSloane]

Very unhappy, my last PC a number of years ago developed an issue where moving the mouse would generate cpu spikes and cause the cursor to lag, both on desktop and in game.

Just built a new computer and it has developed the same issue, both had MSI boards.

Have reinstalled, tried without GPU, with etc.

Mouse lag was happening during the Windows install menu.

Any ideas? I suspect the mono. Computer is two weeks old and I am gutted to be fair, very disheartened.

 

[DeathByBacklog]

Basically, yeah. You're just making the image to side-step having to continually read data off the dying hard drive. Once you've got the image, you can start copying files out of it. You could potentially image the dying drive directly onto a new drive (a clone at that point -- or a direct copy, no image file) but that might be a bit risky. The hard drive->image file->new hard drive is the safest option, in my opinion.

Ok. That makes sense. So I guess I just have to figure out what's the most cost effective way of doing this. At first I was just going to get a WD My Passport Ultra 2 TB Portable External Hard Drive and back the drive straight to that. But I'll clearly need two drives. I have a D-Link DNS-325 with a couple of 2 TB hard drives in it that's are getting kinda full. Perhaps a good solution would be to just buy bigger drives for that, and then use the Western Digital Caviar Green 2TB drives. One to make the image to, then the other to permanently copy the images to. That's assuming of course that one of those Greens would be suitable in the desktop (read: fast and efficient enough). Thoughts? Opinion?

 

[kennah]

So I got my parts, can someone point me to a guide on the actual build?

Read the OP my friend

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=175102566&postcount=2

 

[OraleeWey]

Is it normal for a CPU to get up to 90C while you render video on the background?

Edit: This is cooled with a H110 and fans are at 100%

 

[Brandon F]

So I got my parts, can someone point me to a guide on the actual build?

About a million of them on youtube. Just search for your different parts for videos detailing instructions. Most builds follow a very similar process, so you could easily tag along even if the parts are not the same.

 

[Bornstellar]

Is it normal for a CPU to get up to 90C while you render video on the background?

If CPU temps exceed 60C you have an issue.

 

[Felix Lighter]

If CPU temps exceed 60C you have an issue.

No that's not true at all. Though 90C is hotter than you want a CPU to go even in a stress test.

 

[roadrunn3r]

Is it normal for a CPU to get up to 90C while you render video on the background?

Edit: This is cooled with a H110 and fans are at 100%

No, it's not unless it's 40C in your room. Check if the H110 is installed correctly and reapply the thermal paste.

 

[electroflame]

Ok. That makes sense. So I guess I just have to figure out what's the most cost effective way of doing this. At first I was just going to get a WD My Passport Ultra 2 TB Portable External Hard Drive and back the drive straight to that. But I'll clearly need two drives. I have a D-Link DNS-325 with a couple of 2 TB hard drives in it that's are getting kinda full. Perhaps a good solution would be to just buy bigger drives for that, and then use the Western Digital Caviar Green 2TB drives. One to make the image to, then the other to permanently copy the images to. That's assuming of course that one of those Greens would be suitable in the desktop (read: fast and efficient enough). Thoughts? Opinion?

I've got a 2TB Green that I use for most of my Steam games and it's absolutely fine. I'm not sure what you'll have on it, but for documents (videos, images, files, etc.) it's probably fine. Your OS is the most important thing speed-wise, and you've already got that on an SSD. 7200RPM drives are nice, but unless your OS is on it there's little speed boost over a slower RPM drive, unless we're talking about frequently reading and writing files (heavy workload stuff). For storage, slower drives (like the Greens) will do fine. Just stay away from Seagate, and stick to the Western Digitals, even if the Seagates are slightly cheaper.

The bonus is that if you end up having an extra drive at the end of this, you can use it to make monthly backups of your important files.

 

[OraleeWey]

If CPU temps exceed 60C you have an issue.

No, it's not unless it's 40C in your room. Check if the H110 is installed correctly and reapply the thermal paste.

It's completely fine when playing games though. Stays around or below 50c. Well, it's been a while since I checked. I'll have to check again.

 

[Sanctuary]

Does anyone else use Unigine Haven and Valley? If so, is it normal for framerates to absolutely drop off the face of the planet each time it (Valley in particular) switches scenes? This absolutely skews the min/max framerate results and seems kind of useless. I just picked up a 980 Ti to replace my 780 (I know the new cards are coming...) and I'm getting the same overall score with both cards if I have vsync on. With it off, the overall score jumps 1200 points, but it's not like I'm going to play with vsync off, and these results make no sense.

Is there a better GPU benchmarking program? Firestrike is the demo only unless you pay for it AFAIK and it doesn't benchmark, or at least it doesn't let you make adjustments.

 

[DeathByBacklog]

I've got a 2TB Green that I use for most of my Steam games and it's absolutely fine. I'm not sure what you'll have on it, but for documents (videos, images, files, etc.) it's probably fine. Your OS is the most important thing speed-wise, and you've already got that on an SSD. 7200RPM drives are nice, but unless your OS is on it there's little speed boost over a slower RPM drive, unless we're talking about frequently reading and writing files (heavy workload stuff). For storage, slower drives (like the Greens) will do fine. Just stay away from Seagate, and stick to the Western Digitals, even if the Seagates are slightly cheaper.

The bonus is that if you end up having an extra drive at the end of this, you can use it to make monthly backups of your important files.

Oh believe me...I'll be stay far clear away from Seagate. I had no idea that the now turning dead drive was a Seagate. It's only now that I'm figuring it out.

So just I'll use the two 2TB in the Share Center and pick up a couple of new drives for it. Is it worth the price difference to move all the way to 4TB, or just bump it up to 3? I probably have 1.5TB used up in the Share Center (maybe a bit more).

 

[electroflame]

Oh believe me...I'll be stay far clear away from Seagate. I had no idea that the now turning dead drive was a Seagate. It's only now that I'm figuring it out.

So just I'll use the two 2TB in the Share Center and pick up a couple of new drives for it. Is it worth the price difference to move all the way to 4TB, or just bump it up to 3? I probably have 1.5TB used up in the Share Center (maybe a bit more).

Heh, all of the Seagate drives I've had have died in a spectacular fashion (usually within days or weeks of the warranty period being up). I avoid them like the plague -- they're not worth the hassle, and Western Digital has a better warranty anyway.

Anyway, Newegg has a deal on Western Digital Blues right now. The 3TB ones are $85 after using the promo code on the page. I've never used them, but they're currently cheaper than the Greens. It looks like Western Digital is getting rid of the Green line anyway (and merging them with Blues) so these Newegg WD Blues are actually what would've been the old Greens (if I'm reading the model numbers correctly).

Given the price of those, it seems like it'd be significantly more cost-effective to go with two 3TB drives.

 

[OraleeWey]

If CPU temps exceed 60C you have an issue.

No, it's not unless it's 40C in your room. Check if the H110 is installed correctly and reapply the thermal paste.

It's completely fine when playing games though. Stays around or below 50c. Well, it's been a while since I checked. I'll have to check again.

I know what the problem was...

The 3 pin connector wasn't connected to my fan controller... My poor CPU. Hopefully it didn't get damaged.

 

[TheChewyWaffles]

I know what the problem was...

The 3 pin connector wasn't connected to my fan controller... My poor CPU. Hopefully it didn't get damaged.

Wow I thought most mobo's will complain if you don't have something plugged into your cpu fan pins.

On another note I figured out what my problem was with my second gpu not showing up in bios - bad motherboard. Got an Asus Z170-Pro as a replacement and everything is great. 6700K, 980ti x 2, 32GB DDR4. Bring on VR!

 

[DeathByBacklog]

Heh, all of the Seagate drives I've had have died in a spectacular fashion (usually within days or weeks of the warranty period being up). I avoid them like the plague -- they're not worth the hassle, and Western Digital has a better warranty anyway.

Anyway, Newegg has a deal on Western Digital Blues right now. The 3TB ones are $85 after using the promo code on the page. I've never used them, but they're currently cheaper than the Greens. It looks like Western Digital is getting rid of the Green line anyway (and merging them with Blues) so these Newegg WD Blues are actually what would've been the old Greens (if I'm reading the model numbers correctly).

Given the price of those, it seems like it'd be significantly more cost-effective to go with two 3TB drives.

Dangit. Newegg.ca doesn't have the same promo. I'll shop around and see. Either way I'll get a couple.

 

[Pakkidis]

NEVER TOUCH SEAGATE Hard drives. Hitachi or Western Digital tend to be the best brands.

 

[OraleeWey]

Wow I thought most mobo's will complain if you don't have something plugged into your cpu fan pins.

On another note I figured out what my problem was with my second gpu not showing up in bios - bad motherboard. Got an Asus Z170-Pro as a replacement and everything is great. 6700K, 980ti x 2, 32GB DDR4. Bring on VR!

I have the titan x hybrid water cooler plugged into the CPU slot. All my fans are plugged into my fan controller.

Nice specs you got there!

 

[Onemic]

Wow I thought most mobo's will complain if you don't have something plugged into your cpu fan pins.

On another note I figured out what my problem was with my second gpu not showing up in bios - bad motherboard. Got an Asus Z170-Pro as a replacement and everything is great. 6700K, 980ti x 2, 32GB DDR4. Bring on VR!

It seems like dual GPUs will be ideal going forward for VR since it was being heavily pushed for during GDC. Im thinking of maybe doing dual pascal cards when they release....

 

[M3z_]

Cross post in case anyone is interested

ITX Build $300 Shipped US48


Includes:

Intel 4670k CPU
Kingston Hyper X Fury 8GB 1866mhz RAM
MSI Z97I AC Motherboard
Cryorig C1 low profile cooler

Add a psu, storage, case, and gfx card and you have a nice itx rig on the cheap.

 

[JakkuFurosu]

Finished my shit.
Does anyone see any problems/ suggestions with this?
If not ill order tomorrow nightish, but want to ask you guys as your way smarter then me with this.

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3n92gs
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3n92gs/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i5-4570 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($192.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($24.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97M-D3H Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($114.99 @ NCIX US)
Memory: Crucial 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($28.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Storage: Crucial BX100 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($49.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($49.75 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 960 4GB Video Card ($199.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Cooler Master N400 ATX Mid Tower Case ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: SeaSonic 520W 80+ Bronze Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($63.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $775.57
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-03-18 00:43 EDT-0400

 

[foamdino]

PCPartPicker part list: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/XKdd4D
Price breakdown by merchant: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/XKdd4D/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor (£168.99 @ Amazon UK)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (£27.99 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: Asus Z170-A ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£121.66 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory (£65.44 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Samsung 950 PRO 256GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive (£139.98 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Seagate 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Hybrid Internal Hard Drive (£60.29 @ Amazon UK)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case (£49.99 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £634.34
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-03-18 06:48 GMT+0000

Not sure about motherboard. I just want to be able to support an m2 drive and I don't mind spending a little more on a motherboard that will support faster ram, but if there is a cheaper option that works for me too.

e: Also worried about the size of the cpu cooler - do I need that, I'm not planning on overclocking or anything?

 

[Rizzi]

I'm gonna hold off on upgrading from my 970 while but would a new cpu make much difference? Got an i5 4460 at the moment, and I was thinking maybe an i5 4690?

 

[LilJoka]

Very unhappy, my last PC a number of years ago developed an issue where moving the mouse would generate cpu spikes and cause the cursor to lag, both on desktop and in game.

Just built a new computer and it has developed the same issue, both had MSI boards.

Have reinstalled, tried without GPU, with etc.

Mouse lag was happening during the Windows install menu.

Any ideas? I suspect the mono. Computer is two weeks old and I am gutted to be fair, very disheartened.

A new computer, what parts were reused?
Full specs?
Tested a different mouse?
Download and run LatencyMon.

 

[Vuze]

Huh, interesting. Well, Aero isn't available in the settings anymore. I rebooted the whole PC, restarted display services as proposed to other people having issues with Aero and tried default themes. Not sure what's wrong, everything was fine before I connected the second display. Maybe it's related to the display orientation mode, I'll try some more stuff tomorrow.

Can confirm it's the pivot orientation. If I set the secondary monitor to landscape, Aero automatically is enabled again. Weiiiiiird.

 

[hooijdonk17]

Will there ever be a 2016 thread?

 

[RGM79]

I'm gonna hold off on upgrading from my 970 while but would a new cpu make much difference? Got an i5 4460 at the moment, and I was thinking maybe an i5 4690?

They're extremely similar, the only major difference is the i5 4590 having a slightly higher turbo clock speed. You're probably only looking at a 10% difference in programs that will actually make use of the difference in speed, and virtually no difference in most if not all games. It's just not worth upgrading because you won't see a difference, don't bother unless you can sell your i5 4460 for a good amount of money and/or it's a straight up trade and you won't be losing any money.

Finished my shit.
Does anyone see any problems/ suggestions with this?
If not ill order tomorrow nightish, but want to ask you guys as your way smarter then me with this.

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3n92gs
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3n92gs/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i5-4570 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($192.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($24.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97M-D3H Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($114.99 @ NCIX US)
Memory: Crucial 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($28.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Storage: Crucial BX100 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($49.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($49.75 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 960 4GB Video Card ($199.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Cooler Master N400 ATX Mid Tower Case ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: SeaSonic 520W 80+ Bronze Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($63.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Total: $775.57
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-03-18 00:43 EDT-0400

The CPU is a bit old. Preferably you should go with 2x4GB of RAM instead of 1x8GB for dual channel mode. In general, the prices for the parts you picked aren't great. Here's what I recommend:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant
CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($196.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock H170A-X1/3.1 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($84.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill NT Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($32.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial BX100 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($77.44 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($49.75 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: XFX Radeon R9 380 4GB Double Dissipation Video Card ($170.80 @ Newegg)
Case: NZXT Source 210 Elite (White) ATX Mid Tower Case ($41.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: EVGA 750W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($48.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $703.94
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-03-18 04:20 EDT-0400

These are the newer Intel Skylake parts, the processor is a bit more capable and the motherboard supports newer tech like USB 3.1 and USB type C, and DDR4 RAM (which is replacing DDR3 as the standard). Overall it costs ~$70 less and you're getting a newer processor and motherboard, larger SSD, slightly faster graphics card, and better power supply. Yeah, I dropped the 212 Evo CPU cooler as you likely won't need it, but you can add it back into the parts list if you want to.

 

[Bboy AJ]

Pascal pls

 

[RGM79]

PCPartPicker part list: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/XKdd4D
Price breakdown by merchant: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/XKdd4D/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor (£168.99 @ Amazon UK)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (£27.99 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: Asus Z170-A ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£121.66 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory (£65.44 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Samsung 950 PRO 256GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive (£139.98 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Seagate 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Hybrid Internal Hard Drive (£60.29 @ Amazon UK)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case (£49.99 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £634.34
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-03-18 06:48 GMT+0000

Not sure about motherboard. I just want to be able to support an m2 drive and I don't mind spending a little more on a motherboard that will support faster ram, but if there is a cheaper option that works for me too.

e: Also worried about the size of the cpu cooler - do I need that, I'm not planning on overclocking or anything?

If you're not overclocking, you don't need the CPU cooler at all. The stock Intel cooler that comes with the processor is fine but can be loud sometimes when running under heavy loads. The 212 Evo cooler will keep CPU temperatures lower and won't be as loud, though. Look for a B150 or H170 motherboard to save yourself a bit of money. Skinflint.co.uk is a great resource for looking up parts and prices. Here's their list of B150 and H170 motherboards filtered for having DDR4 slots and M.2 support, for example.

There's not much point in getting a 1TB hybrid SSHD if you're already going to have a high end SSD in the PC anyway. According to independent benchmarking tests by storagereview.com and Techreport, the drive falls flat in some areas and does not offer SSD-like performance. Paying that much for just 1TB with an 8GB flash cache is not a good deal, anyway For £60, you can get a 3TB 7200RPM hard drive.

You didn't list a graphics card or power supply? Do you not need them or are you undecided? In any case, here's my version of your parts list:

http://skinflint.co.uk/?cat=WL-653029&wlkey=661c6042bc9392dffe5e35f0b7c2cb17
1 x Western Digital WD Blue 1TB, 64MB cache, SATA 6Gb/s (WD10EZEX)
1 x Samsung SSD 950 Pro 256GB, M.2 (MZ-V5P256BW)
1 x Intel Core i5-6500, 4x 3.20GHz, boxed (BX80662I56500)
1 x Kingston HyperX Savage (Rev. 2) DIMM kit 16GB, DDR4-2400, CL12-12-12 (HX424C12SB2K2/16)
1 x Gigabyte GA-B150-HD3P
1 x Corsair carbide Series 200R, noise-insulated (CC-9011023-WW)
Total of all best prices: £ 477.88

You could stand to save ~£150 while not sacrificing much performance if at all.

 

[Rizzi]

They're extremely similar, the only major difference is the i5 4590 having a slightly higher turbo clock speed. You're probably only looking at a 10% difference in programs that will actually make use of the difference in speed, and virtually no difference in most if not all games. It's just not worth upgrading because you won't see a difference, don't bother unless you can sell your i5 4460 for a good amount of money and/or it's a straight up trade and you won't be losing any money.

Aw, dang. I'm real bad at picking upgrades.

 

[Darknight]

Ok ran into a small issues...i dont know how serious.

I opened a 295x2 for cleaning and once I took the top metalish piece off the pcb, one of the thermal pads that go over the VRAM? (little chip like parts in the center of card) ripped off.

Now it was the corner piece so it was only gonna to cover like 50% of the last small chip. So I ripped an excess piece of another chip and kinda put it there where it should be. Will that cause overheat some time soon? If so where can I get some good thermal pads?

Or can I leave it alone? Any info will be appreciated.

 

[Finaika]

Will there ever be a 2016 thread?

Maybe next year.

 

[kennah]

Will there ever be a 2016 thread?

Probably around the release of Pascal. No point until there is something different. It's not like the op goes bad as soon as it hits Jan 1

I'm gonna hold off on upgrading from my 970 while but would a new cpu make much difference? Got an i5 4460 at the moment, and I was thinking maybe an i5 4690?

I doubt you'd see much difference between the two at all.

Cross post in case anyone is interested

Hell of a deal. Wish I could jump on it.

Wow I thought most mobo's will complain if you don't have something plugged into your cpu fan pins.

On another note I figured out what my problem was with my second gpu not showing up in bios - bad motherboard. Got an Asus Z170-Pro as a replacement and everything is great. 6700K, 980ti x 2, 32GB DDR4. Bring on VR!

The pump would have been plugged into the CPU fan header. So still circulating liquid through the radiators. Just not being effectively disapated.

 

[jetsetrez]

If anyone building a rig off of Newegg is interested, I've got $75 in Newegg credit I would let go of for $60, if you want a free $15 off.

 

[KurtSloane]

A new computer, what parts were reused?
Full specs?
Tested a different mouse?
Download and run LatencyMon.

All new

I7-6700k
16gb corsair vengeance 3200 mhz ddr4
MSI gaming pro carbon
EVGA 980TI FTW
850 EVO Samsung
EVGA G2 750W
Windows 10

Trying different mouse later (in work), although the mouse works OK in laptop.

 

[Onemic]

How supported is SLI in games? Besides VR, do you see SLI support increasing in the future?

 

[CrashPrime]

How supported is SLI in games? Besides VR, do you see SLI support increasing in the future?

It ranges from good to pain in the... back.

I just recently swapped out 2 670's in SLI to a single card (R9 390) to avoid the headache. Same performance when SLI was working, but games that flat out don't support SLI (ie: Rise of the Tomb Raider) simply got bumped up almost double in performance. Not to mention certain multi-gpu games seem to have micro stutter or worse, input lag.

I would say: Always spend more on a better card unless you are getting the flagship (980/Fury X/Titan), then consider if the cost increase is worth it for performance for things like 144hz/4k.

RARELY is value for dollar available for SLI/CF setups.

 

[Onemic]

It ranges from good to pain in the... back.

I just recently swapped out 2 670's in SLI to a single card (R9 390) to avoid the headache. Same performance when SLI was working, but games that flat out don't support SLI (ie: Rise of the Tomb Raider) simply got bumped up almost double in performance. Not to mention certain multi-gpu games seem to have micro stutter or worse, input lag.

I would say: Always spend more on a better card unless you are getting the flagship (980/Fury X/Titan), then consider if the cost increase is worth it for performance for things like 144hz/4k.

RARELY is value for dollar available for SLI/CF setups.

I was thinking of maybe getting 2 pascal cards for SLI instead of just one for better VR performance. I have 750 in Christmas/Birthday money so I'd be pretty much only buying one card.

 

[Ac30]

So my old Sandy Bridge board crapped it and I've sold off all my CPU and RAM components, looking to do a Skylake rebuild. I still have the ATX PSU, and would like to use this in an microATX or even better, a miniITX case; I do have a full length graphics card, though, so I suppose this limits my options further. My budget is around $650 CAD for the RAM, CPU, Board and Case. Thanks for any suggestions!

 

[razgriz417]

Hi all,

I'm thinking about repurposing my current rig into a server/nas box, does anyone have any suggestions regarding an small, lightweight case that can fit an ATX board? Currently looking at the Lian Li PC-A05FNB but was curious what other options were out there.

Also I will be using a i5 2500k and my friend tells me if I'm just using it as a Kodi/Plex server and nas box I don't even need a graphics card, is that true?

 

[Sectorseven]

I want to install an SSD in an older PC to speed it up. I only need something big enough for the OS and browser and such. I was thinking the Crucial BX100 120GB for $50, does that sound good?