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"I Need a New PC!" 2015 Part 1. Read the OP and RISE ABOVE FORGED PRECISION SCIENCE

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FaintDeftone

Junior Member
The socket type changes for every other gen these days. But you'd be able to slot in a Broadwell i7 sometime in the future without changing your motherboard.

Your best bet is to get a 4790k and a z97 motherboard, but any i5 would be competitive with the 8350. The k series allows for over clocking to 4.3ghz and beyond, which gives a huge increase to the longevity of the CPU. There are people still using 2500K cpus from 2011 over clocked to 4.5ghz and being only 5 to 10 pct slower than current tech.

4790k is about $300. What about the 4690k? I can snag one of those for about $220.
 

vinnay

Member
hey GAF lurker here!

Just finished my new build
-core i5 4460
-8gb DDR3 1600
-Asus H97 matx
-GTX 970 reference (so sexy)
-WD 1tb blue
-corsair air 240 case

-corsair cx600m (be wary!)
I thought going by the Amazon reviews it should be a great unit. Should have done more research before throwing away the box.

My unit has real bad coil whine while testing out Dying Light @1080p maxed(opened the case, not coming from the 970)

Awaiting a 750W g2 supernova to put in the rig(and fully modular vs cx600m)
 

FaintDeftone

Junior Member
Whoops. I put 4690k but my phone autocorrected it because I've been searching for the i7 so much :)

Yeah that is the best price to performance you can get.

Great, thanks guys! I'm about to pull the trigger on this Gigabyte and a 4690k. It looks like I won't be able to upgrade to a newer i7 though since the socket type changed on that 5th gen.

So going back to graphics card, is that GTX 960 a dud upgrade compared to my Radeon 7870 or is it a good buy?
 

LilJoka

Member
Great, thanks guys! I'm about to pull the trigger on this Gigabyte and a 4690k. It looks like I won't be able to upgrade to a newer i7 though since the socket type changed on that 5th gen.

So going back to graphics card, is that GTX 960 a dud upgrade compared to my Radeon 7870 or is it a good buy?

How much you getting that board for? USA?

GTX 960 is a good card, price wise its in line with a R9 280, so check benches to see whats better overall. Consider thermals, noise too.

The R9 270 is a rebrand of a 7870, so if you check recent benches, you can see where the 7870 stacks up against the new cards of today.

https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/GTX_960_OC/17.html

Its not much faster really.

If you could spend a little less on the Motherboard, you could squeeze a GTX 970 maybe?
 

FaintDeftone

Junior Member
How much you getting that board for? USA?

GTX 960 is a good card, price wise its in line with a R9 280, so check benches to see whats better overall. Consider thermals, noise too.

The R9 270 is a rebrand of a 7870, so if you check recent benches, you can see where the 7870 stacks up against the new cards of today.

https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Gigabyte/GTX_960_OC/17.html

Its not much faster really.

If you could spend a little less on the Motherboard, you could squeeze a GTX 970 maybe?

Yeah I just looked at benchmarks for Witcher 3 and GTA V. My current card isn't much slower at all. We're only talking sub 10fps difference.

The motherboard is $150. I'll probably just keep the 7870 and upgrade later on down the road. I was hoping to take advantage of that free Witcher 3/Arkham Knight promo though.
 
Can high CPU temps (high 70's C) cause stutter from throttling? I ordered a better cooler, but I'm curious if this could be the cause for my micro stutter in GTA V. Thanks.

micro stutter could be from a driver issue, but could also be from vram usage. high 70s isn't enough to throttle an intel haswell (mine runs up to 78/80 c on load).

how much vram is gta v using? cause if it's more than 3.5gb, the gtx 970 suffers and stutters loads.
 

kennah

Member
Great, thanks guys! I'm about to pull the trigger on this Gigabyte and a 4690k. It looks like I won't be able to upgrade to a newer i7 though since the socket type changed on that 5th gen.

So going back to graphics card, is that GTX 960 a dud upgrade compared to my Radeon 7870 or is it a good buy?

The 5th gen you're thinking about is the confusing thing. That is Socket 2011 - which is the Enthusiast socket. There is still one more Socket 1150 Broadwell CPU that will be compatible with your motherboard. The 5xxx that are currently released are still Haswell (same as the 4xxx ones). It's confusing, they separate the numbers so people don't think they work on the same motherboards.

But, as confusing as it is, it used to be way worse.

Thanks for listening to our reasoning and benchmarks. You should be pretty happy with your purchase
 

nomohair

Neo Member
Yeah I just looked at benchmarks for Witcher 3 and GTA V. My current card isn't much slower at all. We're only talking sub 10fps difference.

The motherboard is $150. I'll probably just keep the 7870 and upgrade later on down the road. I was hoping to take advantage of that free Witcher 3/Arkham Knight promo though.

Just so you know, the GTX 960 can easily be overclocked +200 on core and memory. That will give it a decent boost on top of the already solid performance at stock. It's also whisper quiet as well. Got mine with a free Witcher 3 code and couldn't be happier.
 
I've finally got my new PC up and running (thanks to some kind members in this thread) and have been poking around in the bios. I have a intel i5 4690K, which is supposed to be clocked at 3.5 ghz. However, the bios reports it's actually clocked at 3.88! I haven't told the bios to overclock my CPU, and I don't plan to for the foreseeable future either. So I wonder if it's doing this by default? Any insight, PCGaf?
 
So RGM quoted me this build earlier in the year.

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1231 V3 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($242.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($26.75 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock H97M PRO4 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-2133 Memory ($127.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial MX100 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($104.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($49.88 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 4GB WINDFORCE Video Card ($354.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Corsair 350D MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Antec High Current Gamer 620W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($63.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $1111.55
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-12-30 17:25 EST-0500

If I replace the 970 with a 980ti (after the specs I'm leaning that way and I just got a nice little bonus), do I need to change anything else out? Go with an i7 maybe?
 

Eirulan

Member
(First of all sorry for my very bad english, I’m no native speaker (german)).
This may sound like a strange question or even a hoax, but I want to assure, it isn’t, but is quite seriously meant:

I currently have a certain amount of money to spend on hardware (gift voucher from my business) and I do not quite know what to buy, as I currently have a relatively new computer (bought in October 2014) and I bought the components on a price-performance level I would call close to the optimum.
I am writing this because I’m seeking therefore ideas on how to “get rid of money” that delivers me actually a *meaningful* and / or *significant* improvement of my system and/or ecosystem, but without money to burn useless or to be disproportionately expensive in terms of the ratio of money used to further improvement.

Therefore, first my current system and my own ideas:
Xeon E3-1231v3
AsRock H97 Pro4
2x4GB DDR3-1600
MSI GTX 970 Gaming 4G
Sound Blaster X-FI
BeQuiet 10CM-500
2 SSDs (512 / 1TB)
3 HDDs (3TB / 2TB / 640)
Plextor DVD burner

The system is connected 1x in Desktop mode with a Cambridge SoundWorks 2.1 sound system on the Sound Blaster and a 24-inch LG monitor and 1x per 10m HDMI cable on (Sony) 5.1 AV system with a connected TV. For 80% of the time the system is used to play AAA titles like GTA5, ACU, Witcher 3 and the likes on my TV/AVS system, with connected PS4 controllers.

I've been wondering now about 2 days, where could I spent *useful* money to be tucked into the system / ecosystem and I got slowly a little bit frustrated because nothing really comes to mind.

first idea: improvement on the graphics front:
What comes to mind is 970 SLI or upgrade to a 980s? Surcharge to the 980 would be about 300 euros (if I could get rid of the 970 for a good price), other than that, I would not need any changes to the system. 970 SLI also costs about as much (a little bit more) if I buy the same card again. But I'm not sure:
- Could my motherboard even supply SLI?
- New power supply needed? 500W with 2 cards and 6 HDDs is expected to be extremely scarce.
I'm assuming I need both new, which makes the SLI solution quite uninteresting from the price-point..?
Titan X? Would well fit into the budget but will have heat problems as well, I wonder how much more power this would net me for an extra charge of about 900 euros? The Titan clocks indeed much slower than my MSI 970 (1075 something in Boost? My 970 is running in Boost 1460). In the end I'm assuming that a Titan X solution only would provide real added value in SLI mode, and that is not really reasonable from a price-point..?
-> My conclusion for the graphics front: don’t change anythin now, wait for new AMD cards / 980ti / pascal...

second idea: a really nice new pc case.
That's one thing that I would tackle, as I my current case (Cooler Master Midi-Tower tin-bullshit) is really getting on my nerves. A new “luxury” pc case can also be used many years over several upgrades independent of the hardware. It should be very well-made, with a certain wall thickness, insulation, much of space and so on. Here I've looked at the following cases in more detail:
- Phanteks Enthoo Primo (my favorite maybe a little bit to large for now but I plan to upgrade to an SLI sultution latest when pascal arrives)
- Phanteks Enthoo Luxe (the midi-tower solution)
- Nanoxia DeepSilence 5/6
- Corsair Graphite 730T
Are there any other candidates that would be interesting ..?

third idea: new quality peripherals
I’m searching for ideas here for new and cool accessories – any suggestions welcome :)
I own a number of already very good peripherals, (Logitech diNovo Edge, Razer Naga Molten Core, Wireless sofa keyboard, Bose headphones, network laser printer and so on), I am also satisfied with the desktop sound system, the TV AVS sound system (Canton). The only thing that came to my mind would be a NAS – here I probably would take Synology or WD MyCloud into consideration. I’d love to have a system capable of streaming media to all kinds of devices in my household, all via Wi-Fi. If not, it brings no added value to the currently used external hard drives (3 pieces in USB enclosures).
- Sony BD player
- Sony TV
- Samsung tablet(s)
- 2x Android phone
- SONOS
- 2x Windows Laptop

fourth idea: GSync Monitor.
Does this make sense with a 970? I think my current monitor certainly is still a weak point in the system.
To take into consideration: my "ultimate goal" would be continuous 4K Gaming (4K TV and 4K monitor) system, which I hope to be able to install with a Pascal-generation SLI end of next year. Does it then make sense now to invest in expensive 1440 monitors e.g.?

fifth idea: a fan control system for my desktop pc
I have no idea what is as useful here? How expensive?

Okay, these are my ideas ... Thanks to all who have read so long;)
Again, this post is not meant as some sort of hoax. I can understand that the question I ask may sound very strange to some of you, but I do have quite an amount of money to spend right now on pc hardware / ecosystem hardware and I am very happy for every idea I maybe didn’t have to spend this money “in a good way”…
 

Hazaro

relies on auto-aim
Hai guyz did you hear how mean we are in this thread

What is wrong with you people

mozz_shopkeep.gif
 

LilJoka

Member
Yeah I just looked at benchmarks for Witcher 3 and GTA V. My current card isn't much slower at all. We're only talking sub 10fps difference.

The motherboard is $150. I'll probably just keep the 7870 and upgrade later on down the road. I was hoping to take advantage of that free Witcher 3/Arkham Knight promo though.

Get a cheaper board, unless the board you chose has a feature you absolutely require, which i seriously doubt. You can pick something up in the $90-100 range. I wouldnt hesitate going mATX either (if its cheaper), as its very likely you wont SLI and will just replace your GPU down the line.

So RGM quoted me this build earlier in the year.

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1231 V3 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($242.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($26.75 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock H97M PRO4 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-2133 Memory ($127.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial MX100 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($104.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($49.88 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 4GB WINDFORCE Video Card ($354.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Corsair 350D MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Antec High Current Gamer 620W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($63.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $1111.55
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-12-30 17:25 EST-0500

If I replace the 970 with a 980ti (after the specs I'm leaning that way and I just got a nice little bonus), do I need to change anything else out? Go with an i7 maybe?

Nope, its a great config.
 
Apparently nobody noticed my request for a new build, so here it goes again. Do tell if I'm doing it wrong.

Now that I'm thinking of something that is a bit more desktop-y than my laptop... (I think I'll probably want the desktop to be something that is easier for my eyes and being "plop down on chair and use it", really.)

Budget: Try to keep the total price below USD 500 equivalent, including Windows licence. Building from Malaysia.

Main Use: Pretty much the same thing doing as my gaming laptop, except that it's allowed to be worse at gaming, so long as things don't get unplayable. (Heavy web browsing, developing Windows apps, playing Windows games.)

Monitor Resolution: 720/768p is perfectly acceptable, even if it's driving a 1080p monitor. The 1080p is for desktop, really.

List SPECIFIC games or applications that you MUST be able to run well: I think Skyrim runs on toasters now, but it'd be nice if I could drop in a graphics card later without having to chip in a new CPU at the same time.

Looking to reuse any parts?: Nothing, but assume that monitor, keyboard, and mouse are not necessary to include.

When will you build?: No deadlines.

Will you be overclocking?: Yes for the CPU, if the CPU + motherboard combination allows it out of the box. No for the graphics card.
 

thespot84

Member
I'm sure others will weigh in on this. You can't use recommended specs as a metric. Check benchmarks in the Witcher performance thread. I just don't know why you would intentionally limit yourself when it costs the same to get similar or better performance from Intel parts and still have an upgrade path.

Edit. Benchmarks.
http://www.techspot.com/review/1006-the-witcher-3-benchmarks/page5.html

So who do I throw tomatoes at for making my 770 shit-tier, CDPR or Nvidia?
 

vocab

Member
Newegg keeps changing the price on the 970 I want by $10, and adding $2-3 shipping when it was free yesterday. Seriously, this company annoys the fuck out of me.
 

thespot84

Member
Its fine then isnt it?
You would have had to buy the GTX 760 otherwise...

was I wrong in expecting to play AAA titles on medium at 60fps for at least a little while? I can run BF4 on medium at 120fps. Witcher 3 looks amazing, I just get the feeling that it's not entirely optimized
 

LilJoka

Member
was I wrong in expecting to play AAA titles on medium at 60fps for at least a little while? I can run BF4 on medium at 120fps. Witcher 3 looks amazing, I just get the feeling that it's not entirely optimized

Witcher 3 has gameworks, Maxwell handles it better (architecture design), or Nvidia didnt optimize for Kepler, believe what you like there.
It does alright in GTAV?
 

kennah

Member
was I wrong in expecting to play AAA titles on medium at 60fps for at least a little while? I can run BF4 on medium at 120fps. Witcher 3 looks amazing, I just get the feeling that it's not entirely optimized

Both the 760 and the 770 were a year old the day they were released.

Don't get me wrong, the 670 and 680 were great cards when they were released, I'm expecting to keep my 670 for another two years, but I do think it's unreasonable to expect them to stay top of the line at all.
 
Apparently nobody noticed my request for a new build, so here it goes again. Do tell if I'm doing it wrong.

Dear Noivern. I would suggest you take a look at this :

http://pcpartpicker.com/guide/Ccbtt6/entry-level-gaming-build

You can swap in a Intel Pentium G3258 instead for the i3-4150 and pick a GTX 750 Ti instead of a 280x depending on the prices in Malaysia. I would recommend you favour an SSD over an HDD too.
Also you wouldn't be able to overlcok on this build.
 

Engell

Member
Great. Anything wrong with buying a ROG Swift monitor and an ASUS VG248QE for dual monitor set up? One for gaming/videos and one for typical browsing. Have a dual setup now but they're in need of replacement.

no problems if you can live with the colors/viewing angles of the TN panel and the lack of gsync.
 

thespot84

Member
Witcher 3 has gameworks, Maxwell handles it better (architecture design), or Nvidia didnt optimize for Kepler, believe what you like there.
It does alright in GTAV?

Looks to do just fine in GTA V on high (haven't tried myself): http://www.gamersnexus.net/game-bench/1905-gta-v-pc-fps-benchmark-graphics-cards

Both the 760 and the 770 were a year old the day they were released.

Don't get me wrong, the 670 and 680 were great cards when they were released, I'm expecting to keep my 670 for another two years, but I do think it's unreasonable to expect them to stay top of the line at all.

maybe it's a nomenclature thing. Is 60fps on medium 'top of the line?' If the cards were a year old at release, then maybe I can blame myself for not going AMD. Otherwise I blame nvidia for not making a card that keeps up reasonably well for 2 years.
 

Stubo

Member
Apparently nobody noticed my request for a new build, so here it goes again. Do tell if I'm doing it wrong.

Now that I'm thinking of something that is a bit more desktop-y than my laptop... (I think I'll probably want the desktop to be something that is easier for my eyes and being "plop down on chair and use it", really.)

Budget: Try to keep the total price below USD 500 equivalent, including Windows licence. Building from Malaysia.

Main Use: Pretty much the same thing doing as my gaming laptop, except that it's allowed to be worse at gaming, so long as things don't get unplayable. (Heavy web browsing, developing Windows apps, playing Windows games.)

Monitor Resolution: 720/768p is perfectly acceptable, even if it's driving a 1080p monitor. The 1080p is for desktop, really.

List SPECIFIC games or applications that you MUST be able to run well: I think Skyrim runs on toasters now, but it'd be nice if I could drop in a graphics card later without having to chip in a new CPU at the same time.

Looking to reuse any parts?: Nothing, but assume that monitor, keyboard, and mouse are not necessary to include.

When will you build?: No deadlines.

Will you be overclocking?: Yes for the CPU, if the CPU + motherboard combination allows it out of the box. No for the graphics card.
I really don't know how close you'll be able to get to these prices building from Malaysia, but I thought it could be a good base point for you.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($229.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock Z97M Anniversary Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($88.79 @ OutletPC)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-2400 Memory ($51.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($51.67 @ NCIX US)
Case: Cooler Master N200 MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($43.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: EVGA 600B 600W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($44.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $511.42
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-05-26 17:15 EDT-0400

Add in a Windows 8.1 key from Reddit for another ~$20 or so and you're set.

This allows you to get the maximum power from your system since you seem to be planning to drop a GPU in there later on. The CPU gives you the option to add an aftermarket cooler and really push the clocks later on if you'd like to (you'll have some headroom with the stock cooler but it could get loud and toasty).

The build would also vastly benefit from an SSD as always, so if you have spare HDDs around which you could use for your media storage then the WD blue could be swapped out for a 120Gb SSD for super fast OS and frequently used program loading.

I don't have any usage experience with this motherboard, others may chime in with suggestions for tightening up the efficiency spend a bit. I hope this helps!
 

RGM79

Member
Apparently nobody noticed my request for a new build, so here it goes again. Do tell if I'm doing it wrong.

Sorry, we're used to working with retailers from the US. For Malaysia, do you have any local retailers or websites that you would prefer to order from? I'd be happy to take a look and find some parts at a good price. It's just that it'd be difficult to recommend parts without knowing how much they cost in Malaysia, PC parts won't always cost the same as a straight-up currency conversion.

(First of all sorry for my very bad english, I’m no native speaker (german)).
This may sound like a strange question or even a hoax, but I want to assure, it isn’t, but is quite seriously meant:

I currently have a certain amount of money to spend on hardware (gift voucher from my business) and I do not quite know what to buy, as I currently have a relatively new computer (bought in October 2014) and I bought the components on a price-performance level I would call close to the optimum.
I am writing this because I’m seeking therefore ideas on how to “get rid of money” that delivers me actually a *meaningful* and / or *significant* improvement of my system and/or ecosystem, but without money to burn useless or to be disproportionately expensive in terms of the ratio of money used to further improvement.

Therefore, first my current system and my own ideas:
Xeon E3-1231v3
AsRock H97 Pro4
2x4GB DDR3-1600
MSI GTX 970 Gaming 4G
Sound Blaster X-FI
BeQuiet 10CM-500
2 SSDs (512 / 1TB)
3 HDDs (3TB / 2TB / 640)
Plextor DVD burner

The system is connected 1x in Desktop mode with a Cambridge SoundWorks 2.1 sound system on the Sound Blaster and a 24-inch LG monitor and 1x per 10m HDMI cable on (Sony) 5.1 AV system with a connected TV. For 80% of the time the system is used to play AAA titles like GTA5, ACU, Witcher 3 and the likes on my TV/AVS system, with connected PS4 controllers.

I've been wondering now about 2 days, where could I spent *useful* money to be tucked into the system / ecosystem and I got slowly a little bit frustrated because nothing really comes to mind.

first idea: improvement on the graphics front:
What comes to mind is 970 SLI or upgrade to a 980s? Surcharge to the 980 would be about 300 euros (if I could get rid of the 970 for a good price), other than that, I would not need any changes to the system. 970 SLI also costs about as much (a little bit more) if I buy the same card again. But I'm not sure:
- Could my motherboard even supply SLI?
- New power supply needed? 500W with 2 cards and 6 HDDs is expected to be extremely scarce.
I'm assuming I need both new, which makes the SLI solution quite uninteresting from the price-point..?
Titan X? Would well fit into the budget but will have heat problems as well, I wonder how much more power this would net me for an extra charge of about 900 euros? The Titan clocks indeed much slower than my MSI 970 (1075 something in Boost? My 970 is running in Boost 1460). In the end I'm assuming that a Titan X solution only would provide real added value in SLI mode, and that is not really reasonable from a price-point..?
-> My conclusion for the graphics front: don’t change anythin now, wait for new AMD cards / 980ti / pascal...

second idea: a really nice new pc case.
That's one thing that I would tackle, as I my current case (Cooler Master Midi-Tower tin-bullshit) is really getting on my nerves. A new “luxury” pc case can also be used many years over several upgrades independent of the hardware. It should be very well-made, with a certain wall thickness, insulation, much of space and so on. Here I've looked at the following cases in more detail:
- Phanteks Enthoo Primo (my favorite maybe a little bit to large for now but I plan to upgrade to an SLI sultution latest when pascal arrives)
- Phanteks Enthoo Luxe (the midi-tower solution)
- Nanoxia DeepSilence 5/6
- Corsair Graphite 730T
Are there any other candidates that would be interesting ..?

third idea: new quality peripherals
I’m searching for ideas here for new and cool accessories – any suggestions welcome :)
I own a number of already very good peripherals, (Logitech diNovo Edge, Razer Naga Molten Core, Wireless sofa keyboard, Bose headphones, network laser printer and so on), I am also satisfied with the desktop sound system, the TV AVS sound system (Canton). The only thing that came to my mind would be a NAS – here I probably would take Synology or WD MyCloud into consideration. I’d love to have a system capable of streaming media to all kinds of devices in my household, all via Wi-Fi. If not, it brings no added value to the currently used external hard drives (3 pieces in USB enclosures).
- Sony BD player
- Sony TV
- Samsung tablet(s)
- 2x Android phone
- SONOS
- 2x Windows Laptop

fourth idea: GSync Monitor.
Does this make sense with a 970? I think my current monitor certainly is still a weak point in the system.
To take into consideration: my "ultimate goal" would be continuous 4K Gaming (4K TV and 4K monitor) system, which I hope to be able to install with a Pascal-generation SLI end of next year. Does it then make sense now to invest in expensive 1440 monitors e.g.?

fifth idea: a fan control system for my desktop pc
I have no idea what is as useful here? How expensive?

Okay, these are my ideas ... Thanks to all who have read so long;)
Again, this post is not meant as some sort of hoax. I can understand that the question I ask may sound very strange to some of you, but I do have quite an amount of money to spend right now on pc hardware / ecosystem hardware and I am very happy for every idea I maybe didn’t have to spend this money “in a good way”…

Well, 8GB of RAM is somewhat low, you could get another 8GB for a total of 16GB of RAM.

Are you using the stock cooler? Consider getting even a cheap CPU heatsink for lower noise and temperatures.

As for SLI, your motherboard does not support it and you would also need a higher wattage power supply. I also agree you should wait and see how the new graphics cards will perform next month.

When you say "insulation" for the PC case, do you mean sound-dampening foam? In that case, I recommend Fractal Design cases like the Define S or Define R5, both are excellent.
 

LilJoka

Member
Looks to do just fine in GTA V on high (haven't tried myself): http://www.gamersnexus.net/game-bench/1905-gta-v-pc-fps-benchmark-graphics-cards



maybe it's a nomenclature thing. Is 60fps on medium 'top of the line?' If the cards were a year old at release, then maybe I can blame myself for not going AMD. Otherwise I blame nvidia for not making a card that keeps up reasonably well for 2 years.

Er have you seen AMD GPU performance in Witcher 3? Its not like you didnt buy the best option for your money. 770 at 760 price, cant really complain either way.
Have you compared how similar AMD cards hold up in newer games? I believe the direct comparison would be an R9 280X.

I think you are being a tad unrealistic with expectations. Witcher 3 medium settings are not equivalent to BF4 medium settings. Witcher 3 is pushing way more effects at medium, so its not really fair to make the comparison. Over time you expect to lower settings, the picture looks as good as it did when you bought it, just that newer games presets use better settings.
 

kennah

Member
The whole video card situation last year was a disappointing mess. Both companies replaced rebadged versions through their low to midhigh lineup. With the only new cards being at the top end. So basically if you bought anything but a 780 or a 290, it was already old. I complained about this non stop and tried to warn people.

So yeah, I think expecting those cards to last two years or more had people in for a bad surprise.
 

The Llama

Member
Er have you seen AMD GPU performance in Witcher 3? Its not like you didnt buy the best option for your money. 770 at 760 price, cant really complain either way.
Have you compared how similar AMD cards hold up in newer games? I believe the direct comparison would be an R9 280X.

Regardless of whether he should or shouldn't have bought a 770, TW3 runs fine on AMD GPUs.

 
I've finally got my new PC up and running (thanks to some kind members in this thread) and have been poking around in the bios. I have a intel i5 4690K, which is supposed to be clocked at 3.5 ghz. However, the bios reports it's actually clocked at 3.88! I haven't told the bios to overclock my CPU, and I don't plan to for the foreseeable future either. So I wonder if it's doing this by default? Any insight, PCGaf?
The 4690k turbos to 3.9Ghz, don't worry about it.

If you want to check run CPU-Z and see what frequency it runs at when you load it (open a program or something like that).
 

RGM79

Member
So RGM quoted me this build earlier in the year.

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1231 V3 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($242.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($26.75 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock H97M PRO4 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-2133 Memory ($127.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial MX100 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($104.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($49.88 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 4GB WINDFORCE Video Card ($354.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Corsair 350D MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Antec High Current Gamer 620W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($63.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $1111.55
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-12-30 17:25 EST-0500

If I replace the 970 with a 980ti (after the specs I'm leaning that way and I just got a nice little bonus), do I need to change anything else out? Go with an i7 maybe?

Well, it has been 5 months since I recommended that. Prices have changed on parts like the RAM, SSD, and PSU. There are some cheaper and better parts you could go with. The Xeon processor is already equivalent to an i7 processor (4 cores, 8 threads), so you'd be paying more money for a better known processor that already more or less is the same thing. You could go for the i5 4690K or i7 4790K if you were looking for a bigger difference, those processors will allow overclocking for higher speeds, but you would also have to get a slightly more expensive Z97 motherboard so costs could add up. The Xeon processor offers best "performance to value" for its price, though.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Xeon E3-1231 V3 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($241.95 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($26.98 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock H97M PRO4 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($76.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Mushkin Redline 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-2133 Memory ($104.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($97.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Toshiba Product Series:DT01ACA 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($46.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 4GB WINDFORCE Video Card ($349.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Corsair 350D MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($89.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: EVGA 750W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($49.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $1085.85
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-05-26 17:52 EDT-0400

There, I just changed out some parts. Cheaper RAM for the same speed, newer SSD at a slightly better price, and a stronger and decent quality power supply for lower price.
 

dEvAnGeL

Member
are all the titan X's the same? because at least the model looks exactly the same and specs as well, the only difference i see is the price tag?
 

Hazaro

relies on auto-aim
Maybe I should update the OP

Things:
SSDs are cheaper, ill stop being old and add in one of those newfangled MX BX thingys
Casessssss a few are new
290s cheap as dirt
3.5

What else really?
 

mkenyon

Banned
Maybe I should update the OP

Things:
SSDs are cheaper, ill stop being old and add in one of those newfangled MX BX thingys
Casessssss a few are new
290s cheap as dirt
3.5

What else really?
I'd wait for computex
Question: Do you guys normally do clean install to remove the current driver before upgrading to the new gpu?
Depends. If you're going from AMD->AMD or NVIDIA->NVIDIA, no need.
 
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