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

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RGM79

Member
I don't ever think we got around to taking a proper look at the higher priced PSUs last time around, did we? Anyway, that's... One big ole list. Are there any on said list you'd specifically recommend or have heard good things of? Within the budget, ofcourse.

Also took a look at the Phantec, which seems to be largely unavailable outside of the US - - Haven't found a single site able to sell it to Scandinavia, at the very least. But even then, the Noctua NH-D15 is actually surprisingly cheap here; cheaper than the Phantec is in the US.
Hmm, I don't have a lot of personal experience with any of the higher end power supplies, and when I do PSU recommendations, I'm going largely by reviews or sticking with PSUs known to be of good quality. At that price level and the fact that proshop.dk only offers Cooler Master, Corsair, DELTACO, EVGA, Seasonic, Super Flower, and XFX models then it's actually quite hard to go wrong. If you want to ask about any specific models, then I could help with that.

Good to hear about the Noctua cooler's price - I guess it's because the company is headquartered in the EU and it's cheaper to sell locally there as opposed to shipping stock to North America.

I'll try again as I don´t know what to do with this still.

Long story short, I wanted to build a pc for about 550€ for light 1080 gaming on my tv, kodi and stuff. My brother gave me a P9X79 and I´m trying to build around it without spending too much.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-4820K 3.7GHz Quad-Core Processor (€344.00)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 103 43.1 CFM CPU Cooler (€19.95) (@PCcomponentes
Motherboard: Asus P9X79 ATX LGA2011 Motherboard (Purchased For €0.00)
Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury White 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory (€46.60 @ Amazon Espana)
Storage: Crucial BX100 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (€78.95 @ Amazon Espana)
Total: €489.50
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-10-12 14:40 CEST+0200

For the Graphics Card I thought I could use a HD3850 I have around and buy a decent one later. I have a 500gb mechanical drive for extra storage.

I need help choosing the case and psu, but would greatly appreciate any ideas.My country is Spain
To be honest I thought about that, but I did not know that i7 was worse than cheaper i5's. So not even worth it with other 2011 socket processor, then?

Will do that in that case, maybe try and sell the mobo.

I agree with TimHortons, for light 1080p gaming you don't need an i7 4820K or X79 motherboard. You're not saving any money just because you're got the motherboard for free, X79 parts are discontinued and no longer in production so prices for them like that processor are quite high. Here's what I recommend instead:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant
CPU: Intel Core i5-4590 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor (€189.00 @ Amazon Espana)
Motherboard: ASRock H81M-HDS Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (€52.70 @ Amazon Espana)
Memory: Kingston Savage 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (€46.70 @ Amazon Espana)
Storage: Crucial BX100 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (€78.95 @ Amazon Espana)
Case: Fractal Design Core 1000 USB 3.0 MicroATX Mid Tower Case (€47.52 @ Amazon Espana)
Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply (€56.90 @ Amazon Espana)
Total: €471.77
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-10-12 21:13 CEST+0200

No cooler is required as the bundled Intel cooler will be adequate for your processor. This costs less than your incomplete parts list while also including a case and power supply. Games today don't really take advantage of hyperthreading and the 4820K is also a quad core processor like the i5 4590. You can see here that for gaming performance (scroll down) that the i5 4690 and i7 4820K perform nearly identically across most of the games that were tested. I know that comparison is for the i5 4690, but the i5 4590 is nearly the same as the i5 4690. You will be able to reuse your HD3850 with this.

when doing a full Virus scan of your PC , does that include and Overwrite files that where tagged as Exclude from scan ?

Only reason i am asking is because there are some files in there that are completely safe but might set off a virus scanner .

Depends on what AV you use, but I would think that files specifically marked as excluded would still be ignored by a full scan. Full scan usually means they scan all of your PC, not that they also include files you told the AV to ignore.

Even then, doesn't nearly every anti-virus program inform you of results before asking you what to do about it?

Budget: $1500ish Canadian
Primary Use: Gaming
Current Specs:

CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 965 Processor 3.40 GHz
GPU: Radeon 5800 series (0x6899) - I don't know exactly this card as I built this PC 6 years ago and forget.
RAM: 8GB DDR2

I can run games decently now (currently playing Mad Max at 1980x1020 on mediumish settings) I am wondering if there is enough of an upgrade to be had to build a new PC now.
I am thinking a GTX 970 but I don't know the different types of that card and have been out of the loop way to long on a new CPU.

Your PC is quite old and the CPU will be a bottleneck, holding back overall performance. If you were to get a new GTX 970, just be aware that it will not always allow your PC to attain the same game performance as most reviews of the GTX 970 would lead you to assume. That said, you can get the GTX 970 anyway and when you have the money to build a new PC, you can carry the GTX 970 over to the new PC no problem. In other words, yes. You will benefit greatly by building a new PC today. If you want a specific GTX 970 recommendation, then there's the EVGA GTX 970 SSC ($402 after discounts and rebates).

How does this parts list look? Should be under $1500 after taxes.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant
CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($334.75 @ shopRBC)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.05 @ Vuugo)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z170XP-SLI ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($173.49 @ Newegg Canada)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2800 Memory ($84.98 @ NCIX)
Storage: Crucial BX100 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($103.55 @ Amazon Canada)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($59.99 @ Canada Computers)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB SSC ACX 2.0+ Video Card ($402.39 @ Newegg Canada)
Case: Corsair Graphite Series 230T Black ATX Mid Tower Case ($74.99 @ NCIX)
Power Supply: EVGA 750W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($74.99 @ NCIX)
Total: $1338.18
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-10-12 15:29 EDT-0400
 
I agree with TimHortons, for light 1080p gaming you don't need an i7 4820K or X79 motherboard. You're not saving any money just because you're got the motherboard for free, X79 parts are discontinued and no longer in production so prices for them like that processor are quite high. Here's what I recommend instead:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant
CPU: Intel Core i5-4590 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor (€189.00 @ Amazon Espana)
Motherboard: ASRock H81M-HDS Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (€52.70 @ Amazon Espana)
Memory: Kingston Savage 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (€46.70 @ Amazon Espana)
Storage: Crucial BX100 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (€78.95 @ Amazon Espana)
Case: Fractal Design Core 1000 USB 3.0 MicroATX Mid Tower Case (€47.52 @ Amazon Espana)
Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply (€56.90 @ Amazon Espana)
Total: €471.77
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-10-12 21:13 CEST+0200

No cooler is required as the bundled Intel cooler will be adequate for your processor. This costs less than your incomplete parts list while also including a case and power supply. Games today don't really take advantage of hyperthreading and the 4820K is also a quad core processor like the i5 4590. You can see here that for gaming performance (scroll down) that the i5 4690 and i7 4820K perform nearly identically across most of the games that were tested. I know that comparison is for the i5 4690, but the i5 4590 is nearly the same as the i5 4690. You will be able to reuse your HD3850 with this.

Amazing, really appreciate it. That is really close to my original idea (actually I'll just follow your advice on the parts you picked).

I'll try and sell the mobo then.

By the way, what do you think about adding this to the build then?
 

fred

Member
Has anyone used a Cryorig H7 49.0 CFM CPU Cooler before..? From reviews it lies somewhere between the Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO and the Noctua NH-D15 I was thinking of getting originally.

It's around a fiver more expensive than the Hyper 212 and around 37 quid cheaper than the D15. I got my i7 6700K delivered last week and can use the money saved by getting an Asus Maximus VIII Ranger motherboard (yes, I'm about to change my motherboard YET AGAIN lol).

I'm not going to be overclocking past the Intel Turbo Boost 4.2GHz to begin with but as time goes on I'll be overclocking it at some time in the future. I know that the H7 won't be as good as the D15 (because both Noctua paste and coolers are the dog's bollocks) but I'm just wondering if anyone here has had a chance to use the H7..?
 
Your PC is quite old and the CPU will be a bottleneck, holding back overall performance. If you were to get a new GTX 970, just be aware that it will not always allow your PC to attain the same game performance as most reviews of the GTX 970 would lead you to assume. That said, you can get the GTX 970 anyway and when you have the money to build a new PC, you can carry the GTX 970 over to the new PC no problem. In other words, yes. You will benefit greatly by building a new PC today. If you want a specific GTX 970 recommendation, then there's the EVGA GTX 970 SSC ($402 after discounts and rebates).

How does this parts list look? Should be under $1500 after taxes.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant
CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($334.75 @ shopRBC)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.05 @ Vuugo)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z170XP-SLI ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($173.49 @ Newegg Canada)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2800 Memory ($84.98 @ NCIX)
Storage: Crucial BX100 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($103.55 @ Amazon Canada)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($59.99 @ Canada Computers)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB SSC ACX 2.0+ Video Card ($402.39 @ Newegg Canada)
Case: Corsair Graphite Series 230T Black ATX Mid Tower Case ($74.99 @ NCIX)
Power Supply: EVGA 750W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($74.99 @ NCIX)
Total: $1338.18
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-10-12 15:29 EDT-0400

Awesome thanks! That looks to be around what I am thinking. Do you think I should wait for black friday as about a month away or just buy now?
 

RGM79

Member
My keyboard is crapping out. Not really feeling what's in the OP. Any other suggestions?

Any design or features in particular that you're looking for?

Has anyone used a Cryorig H7 49.0 CFM CPU Cooler before..? From reviews it lies somewhere between the Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO and the Noctua NH-D15 I was thinking of getting originally.

It's around a fiver more expensive than the Hyper 212 and around 37 quid cheaper than the D15. I got my i7 6700K delivered last week and can use the money saved by getting an Asus Maximus VIII Ranger motherboard (yes, I'm about to change my motherboard YET AGAIN lol).

I'm not going to be overclocking past the Intel Turbo Boost 4.2GHz to begin with but as time goes on I'll be overclocking it at some time in the future. I know that the H7 won't be as good as the D15 (because both Noctua paste and coolers are the dog's bollocks) but I'm just wondering if anyone here has had a chance to use the H7..?

Sorry, no personal experience with the Cryorig H7, but considering its advantages on paper (better mounting system that's easier to install, designed to not interfere with RAM, low height to better fit most cases) I'd consider it worth the extra $5 over the 212 Evo. Have you looked at the Cryorig H5 Ultimate? It's a 140mm tower heatsink of the same sort of design, would probably be closer to the NH-D15 in performance than the 212 Evo.

Awesome thanks! That looks to be around what I am thinking. Do you think I should wait for black friday as about a month away or just buy now?

That's up to you if you can wait and don't mind keeping an eye on deals to pounce on. If you don't already know, redflagdeals's forums or the Neogaf Canadian gaming deals thread (they share more than deals on games) should be useful to you.
 

legacyzero

Banned
3570K will be fine if you overclock it. Just look at the thread title :p

Man, I know next to nothing about overclocking. Is that necessary?

Also, how do I even do it, and what would be the max for that kind of card? I have an after-market cooler on it (Cooler master evo).
 

cackhyena

Member
Any design or features in particular that you're looking for?

Not really? I have a Saitek Eclipse. I'm not feeling how mushy the keys are...never have, actually. It's back lit, which I dig. I could go for that again, but it's not a deal breaker.
 

Angry Fork

Member
Hey, have a couple questions:

1. Anyone think there's a chance Fallout 4 will be attached to any nvidia GPU's before release? Or is that just a thing with Ubisoft games?

2. I can't spend $500 on a card so I was thinking of getting either the gtx960 or 970. Obviously the 970 is better but is it worth the $300-350 because that's also expensive to me too (and is the 3.5/4gb thing a big issue?). At the same time I don't want to get a 960 and then find out it'll only last a couple years. Right now I have a 660 so either one will be a huge upgrade.

I basically see Assassins Creed Unity as the benchmark because of how demanding it is, I don't really care about ultra as long as I can play on medium-high or high at 1080p and 60fps. Future games might be more demanding than Unity but I don't know if that'll come really soon or a few years from now.
 
As long as you aren't overclocking, the NH-L12 should do just fine. I don't know about 120mm water coolers as I'm not much of a fan of them. I can't find many professional reviews of the Nepton 120XL from sites that I trust, except for this Hardware Secrets review showing that while the Nepton 120XL performed well, the cooler was quite loud at 54dB. If you really want water cooling and don't mind extra costs, consider getting a cheap 120mm AIO and using some guaranteed-to-be-quiet fans with it, like some Noctua models?

Have you ever played around with a Samuel 17?
http://www.overclock3d.net/reviews/cases_cooling/prolimatech_samuel_17_review/4


I'm now considering getting one alongside one of these
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00B1WQ4VA/?tag=neogaf0e-20

And installing the fan in a pull configuration while setting the PSU as the exhaust.

That was this fan pulls the air from the intake fan through the cooler directly up into the PSU intake and out of the Elite 130... I won't be going any higher than 4GHz, so it shouldn't produce a ton of heat.
 

RGM79

Member
Hey, have a couple questions:

1. Anyone think there's a chance Fallout 4 will be attached to any nvidia GPU's before release? Or is that just a thing with Ubisoft games?

2. I can't spend $500 on a card so I was thinking of getting either the gtx960 or 970. Obviously the 970 is better but is it worth the $300-350 because that's also expensive to me too (and is the 3.5/4gb thing a big issue?). At the same time I don't want to get a 960 and then find out it'll only last a couple years. Right now I have a 660 so either one will be a huge upgrade.

I basically see Assassins Creed Unity as the benchmark because of how demanding it is, I don't really care about ultra as long as I can play on medium-high or high at 1080p and 60fps. Future games might be more demanding than Unity but I don't know if that'll come really soon or a few years from now.
  1. There's a chance, but no one knows what Nvidia's marketing plans are. Previously games such as the Witcher 3 and MGSV:TPP were bundled with Nvidia graphics cards and those aren't Ubisoft titles.
  2. If you can spend the money on a GTX 970, the ~60% performance increase is well worth the ~$100 premium over the GTX 960. It'll last longer and you can comfortably play most games at relatively high settings. The 3.5GB VRAM issue isn't a big deal so long as you play at 1080p and don't intend to get a higher resolution monitor too soon. By the time the 3.5GB VRAM issue becomes a problem, you'll likely be looking to upgrade to a newer graphics card again. Of course, if you don't care about graphics settings and/or are just fine with 30FPS then the GTX 960 would last you several years, but you do so I'd recommend the GTX 970.
AC Unity's got a bad reputation for being poorly optimized for PC, so it's not only demanding, but was broken in some ways. Of course it's gotten better since then, but if any other recent triple-A titles are anything to go by, the GTX 970 should meet your needs for the next few years just fine.

Alternatively you could consider an R9 390, but given how you haven't mentioned any options other than Nvidia cards, I assume you're not interested in that.

Have you ever played around with a Samuel 17?
http://www.overclock3d.net/reviews/cases_cooling/prolimatech_samuel_17_review/4

I'm now considering getting one alongside one of these
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00B1WQ4VA/?tag=neogaf0e-20

And installing the fan in a pull configuration while setting the PSU as the exhaust.

That was this fan pulls the air from the intake fan through the cooler directly up into the PSU intake and out of the Elite 130... I won't be going any higher than 4GHz, so it shouldn't produce a ton of heat.

No experience with any of that, unfortunately. Looks like a plan, though.
 
Hey, have a couple questions:

1. Anyone think there's a chance Fallout 4 will be attached to any nvidia GPU's before release? Or is that just a thing with Ubisoft games?

2. I can't spend $500 on a card so I was thinking of getting either the gtx960 or 970. Obviously the 970 is better but is it worth the $300-350 because that's also expensive to me too (and is the 3.5/4gb thing a big issue?). At the same time I don't want to get a 960 and then find out it'll only last a couple years. Right now I have a 660 so either one will be a huge upgrade.

I basically see Assassins Creed Unity as the benchmark because of how demanding it is, I don't really care about ultra as long as I can play on medium-high or high at 1080p and 60fps. Future games might be more demanding than Unity but I don't know if that'll come really soon or a few years from now.

The 960 barely handles Unity on Low detail, 970 is literally twice as fast in this benchmark:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/nvidia-geforce-gtx-960,4038-4.html
 

Angry Fork

Member
  1. There's a chance, but no one knows what Nvidia's marketing plans are. Previously games such as the Witcher 3 and MGSV:TPP were bundled with Nvidia graphics cards and those aren't Ubisoft titles.
  2. If you can spend the money on a GTX 970, the ~60% performance increase is well worth the ~$100 premium over the GTX 960. It'll last longer and you can comfortably play most games at relatively high settings. The 3.5GB VRAM issue isn't a big deal so long as you play at 1080p and don't intend to get a higher resolution monitor too soon. By the time the 3.5GB VRAM issue becomes a problem, you'll likely be looking to upgrade to a newer graphics card again. Of course, if you don't care about graphics settings and/or are just fine with 30FPS then the GTX 960 would last you several years, but you do so I'd recommend the GTX 970.
AC Unity's got a bad reputation for being poorly optimized for PC, so it's not only demanding, but was broken in some ways. Of course it's gotten better since then, but if any other recent triple-A titles are anything to go by, the GTX 970 should meet your needs for the next few years just fine.

Alternatively you could consider an R9 390, but given how you haven't mentioned any options other than Nvidia cards, I assume you're not interested in that.
The 960 barely handles Unity on Low detail, 970 is literally twice as fast in this benchmark:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/nvidia-geforce-gtx-960,4038-4.html
Thanks for the responses guys, I'm gonna go with 970, I was leaning towards it because I want to be more future proof (wish I could get the 980 but $500 is rough) but didn't realize how much better it is than the 960 I think it's worth it.
 

An1malhouse365

Neo Member
Ok guys. Some help here is needed.
Got my pc together. Plug everything in and no signal to my monitor. Fans turn on. Led lights on water cooler and gpu are on as well.
What's the first thing I should be looking at?

I5 6600k
980ti G1 gaming
Z170 krait edition
Kraken x61

I tried Mini DisplayPort, hdmi,
 

Anfang

Member
So im working on my first pc build in several years and im kind of stuck. Currently I am unable to get the machine to turn on. The first thing that stands out is my panel 1 pins and my cases connectors. The mobo i have has them laid out as such

1 2 3 4
. . . .
. . . . .
5 6 7 8 9

1. PLED +
2. PLED -
3. PWRBTN
4. GND
5. HDLED+
6. HDLED-
7. GND
8. RESET
9. GND

Note that it only lists one point of contact for the PWRBTN . However the connector coming from my case has 2 plugs. Would PWRBTN and GND work for the connector and I need to look somewhere else for the issue or am I boned gaf and need a new case.
 

industrian

will gently cradle you as time slowly ticks away.
Not really? I have a Saitek Eclipse. I'm not feeling how mushy the keys are...never have, actually. It's back lit, which I dig. I could go for that again, but it's not a deal breaker.

If you're using the original Saitek Eclipse (black keyboard, blue backlight) then it was repackaged and rebranded as the Cyborg V.5 or something. I was a big fan of the Eclipse so bought the Cyborg last year.

I'd be up for buying a mechanical keyboard, but I'd need to go into a store and try one out before buying it.
 

RGM79

Member
Ok guys. Some help here is needed.
Got my pc together. Plug everything in and no signal to my monitor. Fans turn on. Led lights on water cooler and gpu are on as well.
What's the first thing I should be looking at?

I5 6600k
980ti G1 gaming
Z170 krait edition
Kraken x61

I tried Mini DisplayPort, hdmi,

Did you plug the monitor into the motherboard or the graphics card? Did you plug the power cables into the graphics card?

So im working on my first pc build in several years and im kind of stuck. Currently I am unable to get the machine to turn on. The first thing that stands out is my panel 1 pins and my cases connectors. The mobo i have has them laid out as such

1 2 3 4
. . . .
. . . . .
5 6 7 8 9

1. PLED +
2. PLED -
3. PWRBTN
4. GND
5. HDLED+
6. HDLED-
7. GND
8. RESET
9. GND

Note that it only lists one point of contact for the PWRBTN . However the connector coming from my case has 2 plugs. Would PWRBTN and GND work for the connector and I need to look somewhere else for the issue or am I boned gaf and need a new case.

What motherboard do you have? You should be able to plug the power button lead into pins 3 and 7 and it should work. If it doesn't work, then no harm done - it won't damage your PC.
 

_drew_

Neo Member
Hey guys! I'm new to PC building, this will be my first build. I'm hoping to get this built in time for Fallout 4 and I'm excited to get started (and a little nervous). Anyone willing to look over my parts list and give me some opinions?

Budget: $~1000USD
Main Use: Gonna mainly be used for gaming / emulation / general usage. Would like to be able to play new games at 1080p and 60fps on high settings.
When will you build?: In the next week or two.
Will you be overclocking?: Yes, eventually.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($229.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($24.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97X-UD3H ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($118.68 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Tactical 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($47.49 @ Amazon)
Storage: Crucial BX100 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($63.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($52.33 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 970 4GB 100 Million Edition Video Card ($333.98 @ Newegg)
Case: NZXT S340 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($68.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: Cooler Master VSM 750W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($82.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $1023.32
 

RGM79

Member
Hey guys! I'm new to PC building, this will be my first build. I'm hoping to get this built in time for Fallout 4 and I'm excited to get started (and a little nervous). Anyone willing to look over my parts list and give me some opinions?

Budget: $~1000USD
Main Use: Gonna mainly be used for gaming / emulation / general usage. Would like to be able to play new games at 1080p and 60fps on high settings.
When will you build?: In the next week or two.
Will you be overclocking?: Yes, eventually.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($229.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($24.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97X-UD3H ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($118.68 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Tactical 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($47.49 @ Amazon)
Storage: Crucial BX100 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($63.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($52.33 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 970 4GB 100 Million Edition Video Card ($333.98 @ Newegg)
Case: NZXT S340 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($68.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: Cooler Master VSM 750W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($82.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $1023.32

I noticed your motherboard and RAM had a yellow theme going on. Is that something you want or is it not a big deal? If not, then I think I can optimize your build for cost. Here's my version of your build with equivalent performance.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($229.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($24.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock Z97 Extreme3 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($76.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Avexir Core Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-2400 Memory ($39.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial BX100 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($63.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Toshiba 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($49.89 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB SSC ACX 2.0+ Video Card ($304.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: NZXT S340 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($68.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: XFX Core Edition 750W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $909.70
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-10-12 23:34 EDT-0400

If you want to have a modular power supply, then there's the EVGA Supernova B2 750 watt model ($60 after rebate) which has been as cheap as $45 after rebate in recent weeks according to the price tracker in that link. Maybe wait for that to go on sale again, or just get it since it's cheaper than the Cooler Master VSM 750 watt model anyway.

Most of the changes while cutting costs don't really impact performance. The ASRock motherboard has a comparable feature set, the RAM is slightly faster and cheaper, the Toshiba drive offers more or less the same performance for a couple dollars less, the EVGA graphics card is slightly faster clocked than that MSI and also has the same silent fan mode at low temperature, and the XFX power supply is good quality at a lower price.
 
I noticed your motherboard and RAM had a yellow theme going on. Is that something you want or is it not a big deal? If not, then I think I can optimize your build for cost. Here's my version of your build with equivalent performance.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($229.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($24.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock Z97 Extreme3 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($76.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Avexir Core Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-2400 Memory ($39.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial BX100 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($63.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Toshiba 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($49.89 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB SSC ACX 2.0+ Video Card ($304.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: NZXT S340 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($68.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: XFX Core Edition 750W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $909.70
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-10-12 23:34 EDT-0400

If you want to have a modular power supply, then there's the EVGA Supernova B2 750 watt model ($60 after rebate) which has been as cheap as $45 after rebate in recent weeks according to the price tracker in that link. Maybe wait for that to go on sale again, or just get it since it's cheaper than the Cooler Master VSM 750 watt model anyway.

Most of the changes while cutting costs don't really impact performance. The ASRock motherboard has a comparable feature set, the RAM is slightly faster and cheaper, the Toshiba drive offers more or less the same performance for a couple dollars less, the EVGA graphics card is slightly faster clocked than that MSI and also has the same silent fan mode at low temperature, and the XFX power supply is good quality at a lower price.
Should also say it's worth considering going skylake. If it were my money I would spent the extra amount and go for a 6600K.
 

RGM79

Member
Should also say it's worth considering going skylake. If it were my money I would spent the extra amount and go for a 6600K.

Oh yeah, that's also an option that would fit inside his budget. Here's an appropriate parts list.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($259.99 @ B&H)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($24.89 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: MSI Z170A PC MATE ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($99.89 @ OutletPC)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial BX100 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($63.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Toshiba 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($49.89 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB SSC ACX 2.0+ Video Card ($304.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: NZXT S340 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($68.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: XFX Core Edition 750W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $982.61
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-10-13 00:14 EDT-0400
 

Samaritan

Member
So I'm thinking of upgrading my 4-5 year old PC, but I wanted to run this question by the fine folks of this thread.

My specs are:

CPU: Intel i7-930 2.8GHz
Motherboard: ASUS P6X58D Premium
Memory: G.SKILL Ripjaws 12GB (3 x 4GB) DDR3 1600
Storage: Intel X25-M Mainstream 80GB SSD
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 7200rpm HDD
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX580 1536MB
Power Supply: Corsair 850-Watt HX Professional Series
Case: Cooler Master Storm Sniper ATX Mid

Would simply upgrading my video card to, say, a GTX980ti be sufficient for playing modern games? Or is my CPU so old that it's time for a full-on system upgrade?
 

RGM79

Member
So I'm thinking of upgrading my 4-5 year old PC, but I wanted to run this question by the fine folks of this thread.

My specs are:

CPU: Intel i7-930 2.8GHz
Motherboard: ASUS P6X58D Premium
Memory: G.SKILL Ripjaws 12GB (3 x 4GB) DDR3 1600
Storage: Intel X25-M Mainstream 80GB SSD
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 7200rpm HDD
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX580 1536MB
Power Supply: Corsair 850-Watt HX Professional Series
Case: Cooler Master Storm Sniper ATX Mid

Would simply upgrading my video card to, say, a GTX980ti be sufficient for playing modern games? Or is my CPU so old that it's time for a full-on system upgrade?

If you don't mind overclocking your processor, you'll get a bit more usable life out of your PC before you really do have to upgrade, your CPU isn't quite obsolete yet. Actual performance will vary by the game, but I don't think there are any games that you couldn't run at all.
 
So my PC is starting to get that knocking noise from a fan, and I'm pretty sure it's my power supply since I've unplugged all my other fans and hear if it's still happening.

Anyway I can make sure?

And what should I do? I'd hate to RMA it...

Edit: nm, I checked again by using the fantest, no noise. It's a case fan after doing another test..
 

fred

Member
Just thought I'd point out that those of you building machines for Fallout 4 will also have a machine capable of running Oculus Rift and VR goodness! :eek:D
 

Ieu

Member
A switch needs two connections in order for it to complete a circuit. If you've only connected to pin 3 then pressing that button will do absolutely nothing.

For the power button I'd use 3 and 4, reset goes with 8 and 9.

So im working on my first pc build in several years and im kind of stuck. Currently I am unable to get the machine to turn on. The first thing that stands out is my panel 1 pins and my cases connectors. The mobo i have has them laid out as such
Code:
1 2 3 4
. . . .
. . . . .
5 6 7 8 9

1. PLED +
2. PLED -
3. PWRBTN
4. GND
5. HDLED+
6. HDLED-
7. GND
8. RESET
9. GND

Note that it only lists one point of contact for the PWRBTN . However the connector coming from my case has 2 plugs. Would PWRBTN and GND work for the connector and I need to look somewhere else for the issue or am I boned gaf and need a new case.
 

Navid

Member
I'm looking to buy a new custom-built desktop for about £500 and havent really kept up on the hardware side of PC market in a few years, are there any options out there that stand out from the rest at that price?

Budget: £500 (UK)
Main Use: Mostly general usage along with some gaming of older/indie titles. (1080p 30FPS is fine)


EDIT: Sorry, custom-built is a more accurate term rather than pre-built for what I meant, basically happy to pick out the parts but don't want to put it together myself.
 

knitoe

Member
I'm looking to buy a new pre-built desktop for about £500 and havent really kept up on the hardware side of PC market in a few years, are there any options out there that stand out from the rest at that price?

Budget: £500 (UK)
Main Use: Mostly General Usage along with potentially some gaming (1080p 30FPS is fine)

We don't recommend prebuilt, but if you must, look at the builds in the OP in your price range and look for prebuilt with similar hardware, the cpu and video card are the most important components.
 
So, I'm thinking of upgrade my PC namely because it doesn't seem to run what I want it to as well as i'd like.

I mainly play simulation/tycoon/city builder games on my PC, stuff like Banished but also Football Manager etc with a ton of leagues, once I get to a certain amount of citizens in Banished the frame-rate drops from 60 to 22 (slowly) and thats pretty shitty, I'm not generally a frame-rate guy but 22 is kind of difficult to carrying on playing with.

I thought the PC I built last year would be sufficient for what I want for a while but it seems not, I don't really play anything "AAA" on it as i'd rather play that elsewhere but heres what i've got:

Intel Core 15 4440
8gb Ram
Geforce GTX 750 TI (2gb)
1tb hard drive

My mobo is an MSI Z87-G41 PC MATE (this one) and my power supply is 500W...

I looked at the GTX 950 Ti and Eurogamer's review basically suggested for a bit extra get the 960 so I looked at that and found a 4gb card for £170gb~, if I needed to/wanted to I could get an extra 8/16gb of ram too, the card says it requires a minimum 500w PSU so I should be good there I think, the other connections appear to be the same so it shouldn't have any issues with the motherboard.

I built the PC myself so no worries about fitting it etc but I thought I would ask in here before I looked at spending £200+ (depending on what I did in the end) if anyone had any suggestions, this is my current graphics card, perhaps I could overclock or something although perhaps with Christmas round the corner I could get a decent deal in the sale there or something, keeping my options open in general.

I did do a bunch of cleaning stuff on my PC but tbh I'm not sure it did much for my ability to play the games I like, it might seem excessive but I play a ton of these games on my PC so I would like them to be a bit better than they are if I can do it, any help/advice would be appreciated!
 

Foxyone

Member
Is it risky business overclocking a GPU with a legitimate program like EVGA PrecisionX? Is it ok to often alter GPU clock speeds from stock to as high as it can just barely support? I've got a 750 ti running at 1400 MHz core and 6.6 GHz mem and I'm kinda surprised it doesn't seem to be causing issues like artifacting or crashing, although the core speed flucuates a bit by ~50 MHz. If it's not immediately crashing (and hasn't caused a display error because of the GPU), is it ok to leave the OC?
 

RGM79

Member
So, I'm thinking of upgrade my PC namely because it doesn't seem to run what I want it to as well as i'd like.

I mainly play simulation/tycoon/city builder games on my PC, stuff like Banished but also Football Manager etc with a ton of leagues, once I get to a certain amount of citizens in Banished the frame-rate drops from 60 to 22 (slowly) and thats pretty shitty, I'm not generally a frame-rate guy but 22 is kind of difficult to carrying on playing with.

I thought the PC I built last year would be sufficient for what I want for a while but it seems not, I don't really play anything "AAA" on it as i'd rather play that elsewhere but heres what i've got:

Intel Core 15 4440
8gb Ram
Geforce GTX 750 TI (2gb)
1tb hard drive

My mobo is an MSI Z87-G41 PC MATE (this one) and my power supply is 500W...

I looked at the GTX 950 Ti and Eurogamer's review basically suggested for a bit extra get the 960 so I looked at that and found a 4gb card for £170gb~, if I needed to/wanted to I could get an extra 8/16gb of ram too, the card says it requires a minimum 500w PSU so I should be good there I think, the other connections appear to be the same so it shouldn't have any issues with the motherboard.

I built the PC myself so no worries about fitting it etc but I thought I would ask in here before I looked at spending £200+ (depending on what I did in the end) if anyone had any suggestions, this is my current graphics card, perhaps I could overclock or something although perhaps with Christmas round the corner I could get a decent deal in the sale there or something, keeping my options open in general.

I did do a bunch of cleaning stuff on my PC but tbh I'm not sure it did much for my ability to play the games I like, it might seem excessive but I play a ton of these games on my PC so I would like them to be a bit better than they are if I can do it, any help/advice would be appreciated!

Those sorts of games are usually CPU-heavy, but your CPU should be more than adequate for the task. Banished sets the minimum requirement as a vague Intel dual core @ 2GHz while the recommended requirement is an Intel i5 processor. Maybe your CPU is overheating, can you run a monitoring program like HWMonitor in the background as you play the game? Or refer to this guide to set up a little info overlay in the corner of your games to see real time CPU and GPU info as you play. If it is overheating and throttling itself back, then that would explain the slowdown and you would only need a better CPU heatsink (~£23 for the Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo, for example).

It's up to you if you want to upgrade to a GTX 960, but I would check temperatures first as your issue doesn't appear to be GPU related. In any case, you're correct that your 500 watt PSU should do just fine, and if you look here a GTX 960 4GB can be had as low as £155 but I'm not sure if that includes shipping.

Is it risky business overclocking a GPU with a legitimate program like EVGA PrecisionX? Is it ok to often alter GPU clock speeds from stock to as high as it can just barely support? I've got a 750 ti running at 1400 MHz core and 6.6 GHz mem and I'm kinda surprised it doesn't seem to be causing issues like artifacting or crashing, although the core speed flucuates a bit by ~50 MHz. If it's not immediately crashing (and hasn't caused a display error because of the GPU), is it ok to leave the OC?

If it seems stable, then it should be fine. I've assumed you have read overclocking guides and looked at reviews of the GTX 750 Ti to see how far others were able to push their graphics card?

Some games can be particularly stressing (moreso than others) and may reveal that the overclock isn't as stable as you thought. GTAV is one of them, it did that for my PC at least.
 
So I recently took a hard drive out of an external hard drive enclosure I had and connected it to my motherboard today, it's SATA II (as is my other hard drive) and according to Crystal Disk Mark I get pretty much the same results but when running games off that other drive every so often there's stutter, usually when loading something new that hasn't been loaded before (like a sound effect or a new area in Tomb Raider). I didn't have this stutter when running off the other HD.

Any thoughts?
 

RGM79

Member
So I recently took a hard drive out of an external hard drive enclosure I had and connected it to my motherboard today, it's SATA II (as is my other hard drive) and according to Crystal Disk Mark I get pretty much the same results but when running games off that other drive every so often there's stutter, usually when loading something new that hasn't been loaded before (like a sound effect or a new area in Tomb Raider). I didn't have this stutter when running off the other HD.

Any thoughts?

Models? Specs?
 
Models? Specs?
It's a Seagate 5400rpm 2.5" 500GB hard drive. It was in a generic enclosure which was USB 2.0. Wanted higher speeds to I connected it internally via SATA II instead. Not sure what other specs I can give, sorry.

My main HD is 5400rpm as well (recently upgraded most of my PC except the HD and case - I prioritised everything else as I was on a budget) and I don't have the stutter on that.
 

RGM79

Member
It's a Seagate 5400rpm 2.5" 500GB hard drive. It was in a generic enclosure which was USB 2.0. Wanted higher speeds to I connected it internally via SATA II instead. Not sure what other specs I can give, sorry.

My main HD is 5400rpm as well (recently upgraded most of my PC except the HD and case - I prioritised everything else as I was on a budget) and I don't have the stutter on that.

Well, the fact that they're both 5400RPM throws my initial suspicion out of the Window. Maybe they have different amounts of cache?

As for specs, I was asking about your PC's specs. I guess it doesn't matter if all that's different are the hard drives.
 
Well, the fact that they're both 5400RPM throws my initial suspicion out of the Window. Maybe they have different amounts of cache?

As for specs, I was asking about your PC's specs. I guess it doesn't matter if all that's different are the hard drives.
Yeah, I think so. I have an i5 4590, 970, 8GB RAM. Just tested out Arkham Knight which obviously is notorious for stutter + streaming issues and yeah, running fine from the C drive, confirming again that the stutter is coming only from the D drive. Hmm...
 

Foxyone

Member
If it seems stable, then it should be fine. I've assumed you have read overclocking guides and looked at reviews of the GTX 750 Ti to see how far others were able to push their graphics card?

Some games can be particularly stressing (moreso than others) and may reveal that the overclock isn't as stable as you thought. GTAV is one of them, it did that for my PC at least.

I think it's actually OC'd a bit higher than I've seen in quite a few reviews, which I find quite weird because it's a model without a power connector. I'll definitely keep an eye on it to see if it gets weird on me. Btw, thanks for responding to quite a few of my questions :3
 
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