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[MisterNoisy]

My 27 inch monitor power supply blew for the second time and I am fed up with replacing it every year so I want to pick up a more reliable monitor.

So my current one is a DGM 27" IPS 2560x1440 monitor. I am kind of looking at one with freesync but I have a bit of an issue. I love the way my current monitor looks, the colours are fantastic, there is only one IPS 1440p freesync monitor that I can see and that disappointingly only goes up to 90hz with freesync. I can get a TN panel one that is of course cheaper and works at the full 144hz range but I worry about the panel type. Will I see a huge downgrade in quality?

I mean I don't really use it to watch anything on but its nice whilst I am typing away as I do majority of the time to have a nice looking image quality.

What are the opinions here on panel types? Will I notice a big difference between 90hz and 144hz? Is freesync worth it?

I am using an R9 390.

If it's just the monitor power supply that blew, can't you just replace that, or did it torch the panel too?

 

[longdi]

Is it worth it to make an upgrade form 780 ti to 980 ti or should I just wait?

I'm in no particular rush for better hardware but with new mmo's starting to release soon I'd like to be able run them at highest settings

It is about 50% faster. You can sell the 780ti and top up. You wait longer, your 780ti sells for lesser.

I guess PC is about if you have the time to mess with the hardware fixing.

 

[kuYuri]

Is it worth it to make an upgrade form 780 ti to 980 ti or should I just wait?

I'm in no particular rush for better hardware but with new mmo's starting to release soon I'd like to be able run them at highest settings

What MMO could possibly need a 980 Ti to run at highest settings? That sounds like overkill to me.

I mean, isn't a 780 Ti almost on par with a 970?

 

[Finaika]

What MMO could possibly need a 980 Ti to run at highest settings? That sounds like overkill to me.

I mean, isn't a 780 Ti almost on par with a 970?

WildStar?

 

[TwistedFate]

It is about 50% faster. You can sell the 780ti and top up. You wait longer, your 780ti sells for lesser.

I guess PC is about if you have the time to mess with the hardware fixing.

I suppose but the 980 ti would sell for lesser as well too, I'll consider it.

What MMO could possibly need a 980 Ti to run at highest settings? That sounds like overkill to me.

I mean, isn't a 780 Ti almost on par with a 970?

You're probably right but I figure its a good upgrade regardless, for future games as well

 

[Burgess_101]

If it's just the monitor power supply that blew, can't you just replace that, or did it torch the panel too?

I have replaced it before but that isn't the problem, this keeps happening and as a freelance writer I need my monitor to get work done. I can't rely on this monitor to be working when I need it so I think I should get a new one.

 

[kuYuri]

You're probably right but I figure its a good upgrade regardless, for future games as well

Fair enough. Do you play at 1080p resolution? The card is kind of overkill for that res for most games right now, I would only suggest it if you plan on playing at 1440p or above.

but hey, if you got the money, go for it! It's a great card.

 

[baphomet]

Fair enough. Do you play at 1080p resolution? The card is kind of overkill for that res for most games right now, I would only suggest it if you plan on playing at 1440p or above.

but hey, if you got the money, go for it! It's a great card.

This is absolutely untrue. A 980ti is far from overkill at 1080p.

 

[opticalmace]

This is absolutely untrue. A 980ti is far from overkill at 1080p.

Agreed, SLI 980 Ti at 1080p 60Hz or bust.

 

[Finaika]

This is absolutely untrue. A 980ti is far from overkill at 1080p.

Thinking of getting a 970 for my 720p TV, is it overkill?

 

[kuYuri]

This is absolutely untrue. A 980ti is far from overkill at 1080p.

While overkill might be an exaggeration, it's still more than enough for most games. Can you name some where a 980 Ti is absolutely not enough at 1080p?

I can name maybe AC Unity and Crysis 3.

EDIT: Just realized specs (CPU, RAM, etc.) were never established for the comparison, so I will bow out of this.

 

[statham]

Thinking of getting a 970 for my 720p TV, is it overkill?

Yes, get a 7870,at 720 you should be able to play everything maxed out. I play w 7850 OC and can hit high pretty common @ 900p, @ 720p, a 7870 is perfect, IMO.

 

[Vulcano's assistant]

Thinking of getting a 970 for my 720p TV, is it overkill?

you can always downsample

 

[brianmcdoogle]

I'm thinking of building a PC but my main hesitation, other than cost because it would be a second computer since i use a Mac (it is getting a bit old so Boot Camp isn't going to help that much), is longevity. Realistically, if I build a PC that costs about 1000 bucks, how long will it last me if I play on medium graphic settings? Two years? Five? I obviously don't mean like would it fall apart but if it could keep up performance-wise for five years on medium settings with at least 30fps.

Edit : within a minute of making this post I got an unsolicited PM from someone trying to sell me Windows 8 for 60 bucks. Is this spam? This is my first post in this thread so I wonder if it is common or something.

 

[TwistedFate]

Fair enough. Do you play at 1080p resolution? The card is kind of overkill for that res for most games right now, I would only suggest it if you plan on playing at 1440p or above.

but hey, if you got the money, go for it! It's a great card.

I forgot to mention but yeah I play at 1440p, yeah would be way overkill for 1080 haha

edit: i7 4790k/8 gb of ram lol

 

[opticalmace]

I forgot to mention but yeah I play at 1440p, yeah would be way overkill for 1080 haha

I think you could go either way, 980 Ti now or wait it out and go for whatever the equivalent Pascal card is. Comes down to what kind of games you play, really.

 

[kuYuri]

I forgot to mention but yeah I play at 1440p, yeah would be way overkill for 1080 haha

Ah, awesome, then definitely go for it! It's a great card.

 

[R0C]

Not sure where to post but is 72C too hot for 4690 have asus strix gtx 970

 

[kennah]

Not sure where to post but is 72C too hot for 4690 have asus strix gtx 970

Nope

 

[RGM79]

Not sure where to post but is 72C too hot for 4690 have asus strix gtx 970

It's close to what I'd consider high (75~80 degrees C), but not quite there. What CPU cooler do you have, the stock Intel cooler that came with the processor?

I'm thinking of building a PC but my main hesitation, other than cost because it would be a second computer since i use a Mac (it is getting a bit old so Boot Camp isn't going to help that much), is longevity. Realistically, if I build a PC that costs about 1000 bucks, how long will it last me if I play on medium graphic settings? Two years? Five? I obviously don't mean like would it fall apart but if it could keep up performance-wise for five years on medium settings with at least 30fps.

Edit : within a minute of making this post I got an unsolicited PM from someone trying to sell me Windows 8 for 60 bucks. Is this spam? This is my first post in this thread so I wonder if it is common or something.

Predicting the future is always difficult since we don't know exactly how it'll turn out. For $1000, you can expect to have a good system where it'll last at least three years, longer if you don't mind turning down graphics and depending on what sort of game and how intensive it is, of course. In the beginning you can expect to play games at high-ultra settings and gradually turn down settings to keep up a decent framerate as the years go by. A 5 year old processor and graphics card is still capable of running most of the latest games today, but at minimal to medium to high settings depending on the game. E.g., my old Radeon 5850 can run MGSV on medium settings at 60FPS, but it'll only handle GTAV on lowest settings due to lack of VRAM.

No idea about the guy PMing you about selling a Windows license, never had that happen to me. Seems like he knows you're interested in a new PC, maybe he's desperate? Does his account have few posts, making him look like a spammer?

 

[Mordeccai]

PC gaf, I need to purchase a monitor arm. I have an XB270HU and am not sure which mounts/arms will fit my monitor.

Anybody have experience with this? My buddy is using a Freedom monitor arm (this one) and he likes it quite a bit, but his monitor is a Korean IPS 23" panel and I'm not sure if the mounting is the same.

 

[Cute Dragon Here]

So I am studying Game Design (3D Modelling, 3D Engines etc etc) at Uni currently but I am running Windows on my 2013 iMac via Bootcamp, as I am using 3DS Max and its only compatible with Windows. I don't feel the performance is optimal, 3DS Max will take for ever to load and render, Unreal Engine takes a good while to start up and load up files too.

I've decided to buy a PC via PCSpecialist in the UK as I am too scared to build one myself :/

Just wanted to run a spec through you guys, my budget is around £1200. I will be using it for 3DS Max, Zbrush, Unity and Unreal. In terms of gaming I have PS4 and Xbox One but I tend to do a bit of gaming, such as WoW, Civ, ESO, HoT, Diablo 3 etc.

Let me know what you think, if I am going overkill or need to change anything? Longevity is in mind, want it to last me through my studies and still be pretty good for gaming too.

Will be on a 1080p monitor but looking to get a 1440p soon.

Core i7-6700 3.4Ghz
16GB HyperX Fury DDR4 2133Ghz Ram
4GB Geforce GTX 970
120GB SSD
2TB HDD
Corsair 550W Power Supply
Corsair H55 Hydro Cooling

All comes at £1141.00

Thank you in advance!

This appears to be fine, but what is the exact SSD, HDD, and power supply series?

Also, I think I'd probably get an SSD with double the space if I were you.

 

[RGM79]

PC gaf, I need to purchase a monitor arm. I have an XB270HU and am not sure which mounts/arms will fit my monitor.

Anybody have experience with this? My buddy is using a Freedom monitor arm (this one) and he likes it quite a bit, but his monitor is a Korean IPS 23" panel and I'm not sure if the mounting is the same.

They both use VESA 100mm x 100mm mounting holes, it should be compatible.

 

[brianmcdoogle]

It's close to what I'd consider high (75~80 degrees C), but not quite there. What CPU cooler do you have, the stock Intel cooler that came with the processor?



Predicting the future is always difficult since we don't know exactly how it'll turn out. For $1000, you can expect to have a good system where it'll last at least three years, longer if you don't mind turning down graphics and depending on what sort of game and how intensive it is, of course. In the beginning you can expect to play games at high-ultra settings and gradually turn down settings to keep up a decent framerate as the years go by. A 5 year old processor and graphics card is still capable of running most of the latest games today, but at minimal to medium to high settings depending on the game. E.g., my old Radeon 5850 can run MGSV on medium settings at 60FPS, but it'll only handle GTAV on lowest settings due to lack of VRAM.

No idea about the guy PMing you about selling a Windows license, never had that happen to me. Seems like he knows you're interested in a new PC, maybe he's desperate? Does his account have few posts, making him look like a spammer?

Thanks for the info!

Since I've not built a PC in over a decade, and I'm in the Mac world where I don't follow video cards and motherboards, is there a site out there where I can compare two graphic cards or processors and have it say something like "The GeForce GTX 680MX is 22% slower than the GTX 750" or "i5 2.4GHz is 13 % slower than the i5 3.4GHz"? I suppose I could run something like Geekbench on my machine, but then I don't know how I would compare its results to builds in the OP or what that may mean in gaming performance.

 

[opticalmace]

Thanks for the info!

Since I've not built a PC in over a decade, and I'm in the Mac world where I don't follow video cards and motherboards, is there a site out there where I can compare two graphic cards or processors and have it say something like "The GeForce GTX 680MX is 22% slower than the GTX 750" or "i5 2.4GHz is 13 % slower than the i5 3.4GHz"? I suppose I could run something like Geekbench on my machine, but then I don't know how I would compare its results to builds in the OP or what that may mean in gaming performance.

AT Bench

 

[Renekton]

Is it worth it to make an upgrade form 780 ti to 980 ti or should I just wait?

I'm in no particular rush for better hardware but with new mmo's starting to release soon I'd like to be able run them at highest settings

Methinks 780ti can hold out for another year.

Is this one of those Korean MMOs?

 

[BossDarkseid]

What would be a good x99 mobo for oc'ing?

I dont really have a lot of choice but the rog stuff seems easier but has a pricetag to counter it.

 

[Renekton]

What would be a good x99 mobo for oc'ing?

I dont really have a lot of choice but the rog stuff seems easier but has a pricetag to counter it.

The Asrock Extreme4 looks like great value if you're not pushing to the absolute limit. Lower base consumption too.

 

[brianmcdoogle]

AT Bench

That works great. Thanks!

Though, is it possible to compare on that site the GTX 680MX and the GTX 760? I can't find the 680MX as an option, just the regular 680.

Also, is there a "will it play?" site where I enter in my specs and it says "you can play this game at low settings at 30fps" or something so I can get an idea of what will work?

 

[Tangoownage]

What would be a good x99 mobo for oc'ing?

I dont really have a lot of choice but the rog stuff seems easier but has a pricetag to counter it.

I have the Asus cheapest one, x99-a.

Auto oc my 5820k to 4.5ghz in 30 seconds with the software in Windows. Gtx h100i, corsair 540 case. Runs at full load 42 degrees

 

[zero shift]

So I have a 2500k OC to (4.5GHZ). Is the 6700K worth it enough for me to jump ship or should I still wait? I wanted to wait until an octocore (lol) CPU before jumping ship, but lately I will just settle for hexacore. Now I'm starting to think CPUs won't go beyond quadcore for some time.

 

[Renekton]

So I have a 2500k OC to (4.5GHZ). Is the 6700K worth it enough for me to jump ship or should I still wait? I wanted to wait until an octocore (lol) CPU before jumping ship, but lately I will just settle for hexacore. Now I'm starting to think CPUs won't go beyond quadcore for some time.

IMHO the only appreciable jump from your current position is a hexacore, as i7's HT is still a mixed bag for gaming.

 

[BossDarkseid]

I have the Asus cheapest one, x99-a.

Auto oc my 5820k to 4.5ghz in 30 seconds with the software in Windows. Gtx h100i, corsair 540 case. Runs at full load 42 degrees

Oh sweet. Id be getting a 5820k oCd to about the same etc. If it works well might as well save a little bit.

Also...i really dont understand the relationship between ram speed and OCd cpus...im not sure uf thats quite right but forgive my ignorance. I mean im not going to run into any problems/stability with 2666mhz ram over 3000mhz am i?

 

[Hellgardia]

So I have a 2500k OC to (4.5GHZ). Is the 6700K worth it enough for me to jump ship or should I still wait? I wanted to wait until an octocore (lol) CPU before jumping ship, but lately I will just settle for hexacore. Now I'm starting to think CPUs won't go beyond quadcore for some time.

I think the jump is not worth it for now. You have a good CPU with a good OC. In your position i would probably wait to see what AMD's Zen and Intel's Skylake refresh will bring to the table.
Or if you can find a cheap i7 5820k, X99, DDR4 combo go for them.

 

[Rebel Leader]

My current specs:



I'm wondering what GPU and CPU I should get next. (which means I also may need a new PSU)

I was thinking of getting this R9 390

looking to spend around or less than $600

Any suggestions?

 

[Resilient]

another fucking dead pixel...this is the 2nd monitor...time to RMA again..

 

[Durante]

The Asrock Extreme4 looks like great value if you're not pushing to the absolute limit. Lower base consumption too.

It's what I use.

 

[Burgess_101]

Any suggestions?

Look for Sapphire and Msi preferably for the cooling but I think the gigabyte is okay if its the cheapest.

At 1080p you can't really go wrong with either the 970 or the 390 at higher it seems the 390 is a little better. I think that's the general consensus. I have a 390 and game at 1440p and it does the job. You can run the 390 on a good quality 600w PSU if need be. I run mine on an Antec Truepower 650w and it does just fine even with a CPU and GPU overclock.

 

[comrade]

I think the jump is not worth it for now. You have a good CPU with a good OC. In your position i would probably wait to see what AMD's Zen and Intel's Skylake refresh will bring to the table.
Or if you can find a cheap i7 5820k, X99, DDR4 combo go for them.

Except the 6700k is cheaper and faster in almost everything compared to the 5820k so not really sure why you would say not to upgrade unless going X99.

 

[Vanethyr]

Ahoy, PC GAF!

I haven't been following hardware news for quite a few years now (I reckon the last time I built a PC was when DX10 came out), and I'm looking to get a new rig in time for Fallout 4 so I figured this would be the best place to ask for some up-to-date advice.

I've gone through some of the resources in the OP but I'm still left a bit dubious over what to go for.

I'm currently using an Alienware M17x R4 which I decided to get at the time due to moving into a house with less space and I was going to a lot of LAN parties at the time (that and someone I knew was selling it for far less than Dell's asking price), so it's also starting to show its age a bit now.

My Current Specs:

CPU: 3rd Generation Intel Core i7-3740QM (6MB Cache, up to 3.7GHz w/ Turbo Boost 2.0)
RAM: 16GB (4x4096) Corsair Vengeance DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz SODIMM Kit Dual Channel
GPU: 2GB GDDR5 AMD Radeon HD 7970M
HDD: Western Digital Scorpio Black 2.5" 750GB 7200RPM SATA-II 16MB Cache
SSD: Samsung 850 Evo (250 GB)

Budget:

Price Range: Up to £1000 for the computer itself, but the cheaper the better, I guess!
Country: England

Main Use:

5: Gaming (including Emulation, which would probably mostly be PS2, Gamecube, and Wii)
4: Streaming (Netflix, in-home streaming with Steam/Xbox One)
3: General web usage
2: General Office usage (Word and Excel mostly)
1: Python/VB if I ever find the time to get back into it

Monitor Resolution: 1920x1080 as I currently switch between my TV and my laptop's built-in display, but I'd like to get some new monitors (2 minimum) with my new rig as well, so any suggestions for those are welcome too!

Specific Games/Applications:

Games: Final Fantasy XIV (primarily), Fallout 4, The Repopulation, World of Warcraft, Guild Wars 2, The Witcher 3, Metal Gear Solid V

Applications: PCSX2, Dolphin

Framerate: It's not a deal-breaker for me as I'm used to playing on console, but I'd like to hit 1080p 60FPS minimum

Looking to reuse any parts?: I'm leaning towards using the current SSD from my laptop.

Build time: Whenever! I'm not in any particular rush as I'm sure my laptop can handle Fallout 4 for the time being

Will you be overclocking?: I'm not particularly fussed if it's going to bump the cost up significantly, but the option would be nice

Thanks in advance for any advice!

Hello again!

Just a couple of questions this time.

I opted for one of Haz's builds in the end after looking through various other websites (since some of the UK prices for "budget" builds ended up costing the same as one of Haz's pricier ones), and decided on the following:

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz (Skylake) Socket LGA1151 Processor - Retail
Motherboard: Asus Z170-A Intel Z170 (Socket 1151) DDR4 ATX Motherboard
Graphics: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 SSC rev2.00 ACX 2.0 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (04G-P4-3975-KR)
SSD: Samsung 850 Evo 250GB
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNova G2 1000W '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply
Case: Corsair Carbide 540 High Airflow ATX Cube Case - Black (CC-9011030-WW)
Optical Drive: SATA DVD Burner
Heatsink: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo CPU Cooler
Sound Card: Xonar DGX

This comes out to just over £1000, but I'm still undecided on what RAM to get - does anyone have any suggestions as to which would be best to go for?

I'm kinda lost with which version of each graphics card is best to go with - is there a preferred version of the GTX 970?

And could I do better for less money if I want to reliably hit 1080p/60FPS on the highest settings in new games? Not sure if the above build is too much overkill for that!

Edit: would it be worth swapping the i7 6700k with an i5 6600k?

 

[Coulomb_Barrier]

Except the 6700k is cheaper and faster in almost everything compared to the 5820k so not really sure why you would say not to upgrade unless going X99.

You are completely wrong. There's no difference between the two in gaming under normal circumstances yet the 5820K is notably faster in applications and games that make use of more cores. Once overclocked to an average achievable overclock (4.5ghz 5820K v 4.7Ghz 6700K) the gap is even bigger in favour of the 6-core.

 

[Woorloog]

Hello again!

Just a couple of questions this time.

I opted for one of Haz's builds in the end after looking through various other websites (since some of the UK prices for "budget" builds ended up costing the same as one of Haz's pricier ones), and decided on the following:

CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz (Skylake) Socket LGA1151 Processor - Retail
Motherboard: Asus Z170-A Intel Z170 (Socket 1151) DDR4 ATX Motherboard
Graphics: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 SSC rev2.00 ACX 2.0 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card (04G-P4-3975-KR)
SSD: Samsung 850 Evo 250GB
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNova G2 1000W '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply
Case: Corsair Carbide 540 High Airflow ATX Cube Case - Black (CC-9011030-WW)
Optical Drive: SATA DVD Burner
Heatsink: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo CPU Cooler
Sound Card: Xonar DGX

This comes out to just under £900, but I'm still undecided on what RAM to get - does anyone have any suggestions as to which would be best to go for?

I'm kinda lost with which version of each graphics card is best to go with - is there a preferred version of the GTX 970?

And could I do better for less money if I want to reliably hit 1080p/60FPS on the highest settings in new games? Not sure if the above build is too much overkill for that!

Edit: would it be worth swapping the i7 6700k with an i5 6600k?

6600K is most likely enough for you but if you do a lot of emulation, 6700K isn't probably a bad option though he gains for general gaming aren't terribly great based on some reviews i've seen. OTOH, it can be overclocked more, if you upgrade the cooling later. EDIT I don't know much about emulation, other than that it is CPU intensive. My friend has some older (previous generation) Intel CPU, overclocked to 4+GHZ for emulation.

You probably don't need soundcard, most mobos have good enough audio apparently.

You will want DDR4 memory to go with Skylake. Just don't get 2133HZ stuff (ie the lowest hertz for DDR4). My build, which is rather similar to yours, has 16GB 2600HZ CL15 DDR4 memory though lower hertz is cheaper.
8GB is enough but 16GB won't be a bad idea. 2x8 is better than 4x4.
When selecting memory, higher HZ is better, lower CL is better. But the combination of those two may be pricey.
Memory speed isn't terribly important ultimately.

If you have only an SSD, i'd recommend 500GB at least but that's just me (I've managed to fill this laptop's 500GB HDD so i know what's my minimum).

Your power supply is excessive. 650W should be enough for you probably and is likely cheaper.

MSI GTX 970 has gotten good reviews as 970s go and a friend of mine would surely recommend it. Of course, i don't know if it is more expensive there.
R9 390 is a very good option, with MSI and Sapphire as recommended manufacturers. (I got MSI R9 390.)
Compare prices.

 

[Vanethyr]

6600K is most likely enough for you but if you do a lot of emulation, 6700K isn't probably a bad option though he gains for general gaming aren't terribly great based on some reviews i've seen. OTOH, it can be overclocked more, if you upgrade the cooling later.

You probably don't need soundcard, most mobos have good enough audio apparently.

You will want DDR4 memory to go with Skylake. Just don't get 2133HZ stuff (ie the lowest hertz for DDR4). My build, which is rather similar to yours, has 16GB 2600HZ CL15 DDR4 memory though lower hertz is cheaper.
8GB is enough but 16GB won't be a bad idea. 2x8 is better than 4x4.
When selecting memory, higher HZ is better, lower CL is better. But the combination of those two may be pricey.

If you have only an SSD, i'd recommend 500GB at least but that's just me (I've managed to fill this laptop's 500GB HDD so i know what's my minimum).

Your power supply is excessive. 650W should be enough for you probably and is likely cheaper.

MSI GTX 970 has gotten good reviews as 970s go and a friend of mine would surely recommend it. Of course, i don't know if it is more expensive there.
R9 390 is a very good option, with MSI and Sapphire as recommended manufacturers. (I got MSI R9 390.)
Compare prices.

I'll take that onboard and have a look now, thanks!

 

[Woorloog]

I'll take that onboard and have a look now, thanks!

Note the edits.

Also, i'm far from an expert, so if someone else says something, i'd probably recommend listening to them over me.

One question: Is your budget the max you're willing to spend, "lower is better kind", or is it "I want as good thing as i can get for this price"?

I mostly wonder because saving is easy, just use cheaper (and less powerful) parts but optimizing requires more research.


EDIT GTX 960 may be enough for 1080p/60FPS@high-settings gaming. You could save money by using it, and use that for the better CPU, especially if you do a lot of emulation. It is always a trade-off...
EDIT Or R9 280X though it requires more power (750W PSU probably).
Not 100% sure about this though. If you intend to upgrade in a year or two, then getting something cheaper now may not be a bad idea, perhaps.

 

[Vanethyr]

Note the edits.

Also, i'm far from an expert, so if someone else says something, i'd probably recommend listening to them over me.

Still more in the know than me! I do appreciate the help though, thanks

One question: Is your budget the max you're willing to spend, "lower is better kind", or is it "I want as good thing as i can get for this price"?

I mostly wonder because saving is easy, just use cheaper (and less powerful) parts but optimizing requires more research.

My budget was more just a goal to stop myself from spending too much, I would like to future proof it a little so I don't end up buying another rig too soon. I've done some research but I really start to feel a little overwhelmed with all the options and knowing which choice is the best, etc.

EDIT GTX 960 may be enough for 1080p/60FPS@high-settings gaming. You could save money by using it, and use that for the better CPU, especially if you do a lot of emulation. It is always a trade-off...
EDIT Or R9 280X though it requires more power (750W PSU probably).
Not 100% sure about this though. If you intend to upgrade in a year or two, then getting something cheaper now may not be a bad idea, perhaps.

I'll have a look into these too, thanks!

I had a look at your previous suggestion, and replacing the GTX 970 with with the R9 390, swapping the i7 6700K with an i5 6600K, and throwing in some 2x8GB DDR4 RAM (2666MHz) brings it down to about £850 so that's certainly a step in the right direction!

 

[Woorloog]

My budget was more just a goal to stop myself from spending too much, I would like to future proof it a little so I don't end up buying another rig too soon. I've done some research but I really start to feel a little overwhelmed with all the options and knowing which choice is the best, etc.

Well, that should not be a problem. The build you're looking at should last for years most likely, provided there won't be some kind hardware revolution. You may need more storage space but that is easily done. If you want to overclock, you'll need to upgrade the cooling some probably but that should not be a problem either probably, and it will be relatively cheap way to get some extended life from your rig.

The GPU will go "old" first probably but that can be solved by dropping graphics quality first. Upgrading will be easy in any case, and you will be able to fund the upgrade partially by selling your old GPU, probably (of course, a lot of people do this, so prices for used GPUs won't be great necessarily).

One advantage GTX 970 would have over 390 is the better overclockability (apparently?) but its lower VRAM may be a hindrance later on. Trade-offs, as usual.

 

[Rebel Leader]

Look for Sapphire and Msi preferably for the cooling but I think the gigabyte is okay if its the cheapest.

At 1080p you can't really go wrong with either the 970 or the 390 at higher it seems the 390 is a little better. I think that's the general consensus. I have a 390 and game at 1440p and it does the job. You can run the 390 on a good quality 600w PSU if need be. I run mine on an Antec Truepower 650w and it does just fine even with a CPU and GPU overclock.

I don't plan on overclocking anything in my computer (yet) but should i upgrade my PSU if I get the 390?

 

[Burgess_101]

I don't plan on overclocking anything in my computer (yet) but should i upgrade my PSU if I get the 390?

AMD say the recommended minimum is 750w, I would say go with at least that to leave yourself with room to manoeuvre in future just in case. Of course as I said lower isn't too much of a problem (provided you have a good quality PSU) but you leave yourself a little stuck in terms of overclocking and the like.

 

[Tangoownage]

Oh sweet. Id be getting a 5820k oCd to about the same etc. If it works well might as well save a little bit.

Also...i really dont understand the relationship between ram speed and OCd cpus...im not sure uf thats quite right but forgive my ignorance. I mean im not going to run into any problems/stability with 2666mhz ram over 3000mhz am i?

mine is 3000mhz. I wouldn't worry about the ram speed. get the fastest you can naturally...but the asus oc software will configure with which ever speed you do get.

 

[BossDarkseid]

mine is 3000mhz. I wouldn't worry about the ram speed. get the fastest you can naturally...but the asus oc software will configure with which ever speed you do get.

Sweet. I'd just read some info somewhere and was a little confused.

The size of an SSD/HDD and RAM are pretty much the only things i'm undecided on atm. Waiting for PG279Q to be available bfore ordering.