Smokey said:

Yes. You should probably get one in the 120GB range if you're looking to save some money. That way you can throw a few of your most used programs, and maybe a game or two on it.

Well worth it.

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MisterNoisy said:

I'd imagine both are about the same. I have the MSI Gaming 970 100ME (TFV with green highlights and a backplate) and am pleased as punch with how quiet and cool the card runs. My previous card (OC'd 670) was a Gigabyte with the three-fan Windforce cooler and I was equally pleased with it. Don't worry about the Prodigy tipping over - the base is wiggly because of the plastic handles/feet, but you'd really have to give it a solid punt to knock it over, especially since it'll weigh about 25-30# loaded down with your hardware and the weight is all in the bottom/middle once you build. Get the SSD - a 120GB SSD for the OS and your most used productivity stuff is probably the best single usability upgrade you can do for day to day computing.

On another note, I think the latest nVidia drivers are a little rough - after upgrading from the GTA5 release (350.12), I couldn't run any 3D applications on my 970 without gobs of artifacting and hard lockups. On top of that, I couldn't even change any settings in the nVidia CP - kept getting the 'Access Denied' error. Only way to fix all of the issues was to remove/DDU all of the nVidia software and then revert to 350.12, followed by only installing the base driver and PhysX (no GFE, even). Is anyone else with a 970 having issues with the most recent release?

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opticalmace said:

Gigabyte is a few degrees cooler apparently. http://us.hardware.info/reviews/5867/10/15x-nvidia-geforce-gtx-970-and-980-review-what-card-to-pick-cooling-noise-levels-and-power-use

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mkenyon said:

Solid. Only thing to do would be to add some more memory. 16GB can be helpful in some situations.

Gaming is a great test to make sure everything is working well. That build should last you awhile longer.

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Smokey said:

Kind of want this and I'm not sure why.



You listed the wrong item(s). Where are the 970s in this post

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Flaxh said:

Should I get rid of my 2x 4GB and get 2x 8GB? Which ones do you recommend?

And upgrading from my i5 3570k to an used 3770k, would it show a significant performance improvement?

I'm asking all these questions because aside from the GPU I don't plan on buying a new one or doing major upgrades in the next 3 or 4 years. Regarding the GPU, the 970 will probably be easy too find at a good price when everyone starts upgrading to Pascal so I may end up getting one.

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Flaxh said:

Should I get rid of my 2x 4GB and get 2x 8GB? Which ones do you recommend?

And upgrading from my i5 3570k to an used 3770k, would it show a significant performance improvement?

I'm asking all these questions because aside from the GPU I don't plan on buying a new one or doing major upgrades in the next 3 or 4 years. Regarding the GPU, the 970 will probably be easy too find at a good price when everyone starts upgrading to Pascal so I may end up getting one.

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King Gilga said:

Wow thanks for the super quick replies.

Good to know it's not as unstable as it looks, I really like the look of the case and it's a 100% lock in now.

Looks like I'll be picking up a small SSD too. this one has a lot of high reviews and is pretty cheap, so I assume it's decent?

And yeah it looks pretty close, I guess I'll just go with whatever matches the color scheme of the Motherboard I buy more. MSI if I get one of the red and black ones, g1 otherwise, well maybe not since I think I'll find the led windforce logo obnoxious.

Last question, I want a fully modular PSU, hate the pre wired ones, is this one decent for gaming?. I initially wanted this one buy according to PC part picker it doesn't fit.

This is by build so far, assuming the ssd and psu are decent, just need a motherboard (and maybe change the cooler to match it), any recommendations on boards the computer is matx? I plan to overclock the cpu to at least 4.0 ghz, and I like usb ports, besides that I don't really know anything about how to chose a motherboard.

And for ram, is what I have decent? Should I go with these instead?.


PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor (£177.96 @ Amazon UK)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H55 57.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler (£49.99 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£86.83 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Sandisk Ultra Plus 128GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£45.99 @ Amazon UK)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 970 4GB Twin Frozr V Video Card (£277.80 @ Amazon UK)
Case: BitFenix Prodigy M Arctic White MicroATX Mini Tower Case (£74.59 @ Overclockers.co.uk)
Power Supply: XFX XTR 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (£75.93 @ Amazon UK)
Wireless Network Adapter: Gigabyte GC-WB867D-I 802.11a/b/g/n/ac PCI-Express x1 Wi-Fi Adapter (£28.95 @ Amazon UK)
Case Fan: Corsair Air Series SP120 Quiet Edition (2-Pack) 37.9 CFM 120mm Fans (£19.99 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £838.03
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-06-03 02:13 BST+0100


Sorry for the questions overboard, I'm planning on pulling the trigger mid June, and wasn't planning on asking any of this until a bit closer but once I start getting it ready I just can't stop. Thanks in advance.

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opticalmace said:

Mid-range GPU now and then upgrade again in a couple/few years, or just a high-end card now?

Thinking e.g. 970 vs 980 Ti. In Canada the prices kind of suck, but it's basically $400 vs $830.

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opticalmace said:

Mid-range GPU now and then upgrade again in a couple/few years, or just a high-end card now?

Thinking e.g. 970 vs 980 Ti. In Canada the prices kind of suck, but it's basically $400 vs $830.

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kennah said:

uugh, tough call. What do you have now?

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Smokey said:

If you're at 1080p stick with the 970 IMO. Pocket that extra $400+ in the CPU fund for upgrades down the line. You may be able to catch the 970s for a bit cheaper too after the 980Ti pushed prices down.

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opticalmace said:

6950 2GB.

I'm planning on buying an Acer XB270HU or equivalent later this year (1440p 144Hz g/freesync). I'm fine with turning settings down though (within reason). I'm not a "max or nothing" kind of gamer.
rest of system:
2500k @ 4.3Ghz
16GB ram

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Smokey said:

Go for 970 then imo, pocket that $400+

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MisterNoisy said:

If it were me, I'd look long and hard at the ASRock Z97M OC Formula - it's not the beast that its bigger brother is, but it's pretty feature filled at a good price. The ASUS Z97M Plus wouldn't be a bad call either.

Looking on the intertubes, I'd recommend keeping the PSU under 160mm in length, since anything much longer will cut down on room for your GPU. Alternately, look at some of the SFF 970s out there like this one from ASUS or this Gigabyte.

SFF cases are cool, but they demand some concessions.

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Smokey said:

WTS:

EVGA Pro SLI Bridge. Never been opened or used:

The middle part lights up with EVGA logo as seen here with my old 3 way bridge:

. 9 positive seller feedback

$17 shipping included, US only, Paypal.

Thnx

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Quote said:

I'm kind of bummed about my Samsung S32D850T monitor. I really love the size and 1440p, but I played CS:GO for the first time on it and it felt like there was a bit of input lag. I also tried Super Meat Boy and Cave Story and they felt off too. It also has a darker vertical band on leftish side when looking at gray/white screens.

Not sure what to get instead. I'd like to say in the 27"+ range, and maybe 1440p, but if there is something 1080 that is known to be incredible, that could work. I would like to stay under $500. Good lighting/colors would be nice, but I don't think that's really possible with a gaming monitors from the little I read.

Any suggestions?

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opticalmace said:

Did you have vsync off?

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LilJoka said:

I need to build a PC for a friend, budget £700.

4 options:
i7 2600S (free) H67 board (£50 ebay) 8GB RAM GTX 970 ~£500.00
i7 2600S (free) Z77 board (£90 ebay) OC to ~3.2Ghz 8GB RAM GTX 970 ~£550.00
i5 2550K (free) Z77 board (£90 ebay) , OC to ~4.3Ghz 8GB RAM GTX 970 ~£550
i5 4690K (£220), Z97 board (£90), OC to ~4.3Ghz 8GB RAM GTX 970 ~£750

And another cheeky option
X5670 6 core 12 threads (£90), X58 board (£90), OC ~3.5Ghz 8GB RAM GTX 970 ~£640.00

OR
DX58SO2, i7 980X 4Ghz OC 8GB RAM GTX 970 £600 (charging £100 for my board and CPU, included in £600)

What would you choose?

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lordfuzzybutt said:

I would pick either 3 or 4 depending on the budget (strict or loose). More on 3 though.

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LilJoka said:

I need to build a PC for a friend, budget £700.

4 options:
i7 2600S (free) H67 board (£50 ebay) 8GB RAM GTX 970 ~£500.00
i7 2600S (free) Z77 board (£90 ebay) OC to ~3.2Ghz 8GB RAM GTX 970 ~£550.00
i5 2550K (free) Z77 board (£90 ebay) , OC to ~4.3Ghz 8GB RAM GTX 970 ~£550
i5 4690K (£220), Z97 board (£90), OC to ~4.3Ghz 8GB RAM GTX 970 ~£750

And another cheeky option
X5670 6 core 12 threads (£90), X58 board (£90), OC ~3.5Ghz 8GB RAM GTX 970 ~£640.00

OR
DX58SO2, i7 980X 4Ghz OC 8GB RAM GTX 970 £600 (charging £100 for my board and CPU, included in £600)

What would you choose?

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kennah said:

Can I buy the free 2600

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LilJoka said:

Going off of this, wouldnt the 6c12t 980X be more enticing? Its only 1 gen older than the 3960X, so maybe 10% slower. Add a nice 4Ghz OC and you have a 3960X on your hands for £100.

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lordfuzzybutt said:

That is true also. However the 2550k theoretically can be overclocked even further than 4.5Ghz, at that speed I can see it beats the 980X handily at 4Ghz (mind you I do not know the OC capacity of the 980X) especially in less multi-threaded applications and games.

I personally prefer newer tech and cheaper price

So I guess it ultimately boils down to your friend's usage of the rig and his budget.

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LilJoka said:

Yeah i agree there, but you know 4.5Ghz is coming towards the top end of average 2500Ks, and therefore i rather not overclock a PC for someone else in this range unless they are happily able to do final tweaks. For me i would take that 2550K to the end lol. So for others always think of a guaranteed OC which wont need tweaking again ever, thats why i chose the clock speeds i listed. Plus cooling, all i got is a Hyper 212+ to give away.

The 980X is already at 4Ghz as its in my PC for a long time, so i know that itll run that. The rest of the CPUs are best guesses.

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lordfuzzybutt said:

Yeah I get that.

Well, either way, I would say for 600, the 980X set up is not a bad deal for him at all. None of these are, that's why it's so hard to pick

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LilJoka said:

I think ill have to see what single threaded stuff he may want, like Dolphin emulator is going to run way better on haswell than any of the other options.

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Plasmid said:

I currently have a 2GB Twin Frozr II GPU and am wanting to upgrade to a 4GB card. My budget is $350-400, can anyone point me in the right direction? At the moment i'm leaning toward a GTX970 but will probably need to upgrade my i3 processor to an i7.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00NVODXR4/?tag=neogaf0e-20

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Yudoken said:

I've made a error (you probably noticed it), I meant total of 8gb (or 7gb fast, 1gb of slow 970 GDDR5 ram).
Currently, you can only use 4 if you sli your cards (or 3,5gb, the last 0,5 are almost never used).
If all works according to DX12 plan SLI will be fantastic and 970's will be the best bang for the buck (from Nvidia) if you want to buy a graphics card for gaming.
Buying the way more expensive 980/980ti or Titan X for gaming (best bang for bucks) doesn't make sense if devs adapt X12.
And even if you want it to use it now most AAA games work well with SLI, there are exception (especially on launch days) but there are way less problems than before.
And as we know W10 will be free for almost everyone and it doesn't look like that there is a reason (other than 7 to 8) to not upgrade.
There are already a few games announced which are going to be updated/based on X12.

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Crisium said:

CPU's have much more longevity these GPUs these days. It makes more sense to get a modern i5 or i7 which you can use for many years before exploring expensive GPUs.

You can't do both for a $400 budget, unfortunately. But the Radeon 290 would be a better value if you're willing to bust the wallet a bit for the CPU. An aftermarket 290 equals a 970 most of the time.

http://pcpartpicker.com/parts/video-card/#c=152

You can see a variety for under $250 AR, assuming these sites work for your region. Then only $100 or so extra budget to get a i5 4690k.

A lot of multiplayer games really need i5 minimum.

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mkenyon said:

Lian Li announced my next case!

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r3n4ud said:

Hi guys. Looking for your opinions/comments/issues/etc on this build. It's my first time going small form and want to make sure it's okay before I go for it. I followed mkenyon's Small Form Factor Build Guide for the Bitfenix enthusiast build. I changed a couple of things though, which is why I ask for your opinions. My budget is $2500, so if you think I should change/add anything, I'm flexible. Maybe more ram? Change cpu to i7-5820k?

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mkenyon said:

The 5820K requires socket 2011-3/X99. There is currently only a single ITX X99 board, and I really wouldn't recommend it unless you're insane like Kennah.

I'd also suggest a shorter length PSU, like the CoolerMaster VSM series. It'll fit a lot easier in the Prodigy.

The motherboard is a great one, but do know that most of what you're paying for is great audio on ITX.

Swap out the SSD for a Crucial MX/BX series to save a good chunk of change.

H60 would provide plenty enough cooling, no need for the H100i.

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mkenyon said:

EVGA Stinger if you can find it in the $150 zone.

Though if you're going that high end (980 Ti), you might enjoy the better DAC/Amp with a solid pair of headphones.

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