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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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There's a Acer XB270HU 27in WQHD IPS Gaming LCD w/ G-SYNC on sale at a local store for $500 Canadian (regular price $1000). Seems to be a refurb/warranty return item.

That's kind of a no brainer buy isn't it. I can't really really afford it, but it wouldn't put me out too hard either.
As long as it has a full warranty, which it should, I'd buy it. I bought my refurbished XB270HU for $650 Canadian.
 
Is it awesome? Worth every penny?
Yes, though I did have to get it RMA'd once. Since then it's been perfect.

At $500 Canadian I would definitely bite, if you're okay with the possible RMA.

I expect to keep this monitor for 5 years ish. YMMV?

It also locks you into Nvidia for g-sync if that matters for you though.
 

kennah

Member
It's one that has come back from Rma. They guarantee no dead pixels. Only 60 day warranty though. Gonna bite. Have 7 days to return it.
 

Igo

Member
I'm building a PC for a friend and after initially targeting £600 with a 380, which then slipped to £700, we decided to future proof and build for VR. How does this look, and is there any money to be saved here? He's going to continue saving for either the 1070 or 490 so there's no GPU atm. Also, this thing would be wasted on anything less than a 1440/144hz monitor, right?

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor (£199.95 @ Amazon UK)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (£26.99 @ Novatech)
Motherboard: Asus Z170-A ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£121.82 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2666 Memory (£55.19 @ More Computers)
Storage: Crucial BX100 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£59.99 @ Novatech)
Case: Fractal Design Define S w/Window ATX Mid Tower Case (£69.99 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA G2 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (£66.98 @ Novatech)
Sound Card: Asus Xonar DGX 24-bit 96 KHz Sound Card (£27.90 @ Overclockers.co.uk)
Total: £628.81
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-05-04 01:12 BST+0100
 

Dmax3901

Member
So I have an R9 290 with a stock cooler. Looking to get different cooler to bring the temp down and hopefully increase performance a bit.

Any suggestions?
 
Do we have a thread for tech support? Anyway just got my new gtx 970 because I RMAd my old one. The old one keeps restarting my pc when i'm gaming or even browsing.

This new one that I got gives me random black screen when I'm gaming but the PC is still on and I can hear the sound so I have to force restart my PC. tried with skyrim and witcher 3.

Checked the temps and they are fine. also tried different versions of the driver and reseating the GPU and RAM. ANy ideas? could this be cause my PSU or MOBO?
 

Bloodember

Member
So I have an R9 290 with a stock cooler. Looking to get different cooler to bring the temp down and hopefully increase performance a bit.

Any suggestions?

I slapped a water cooler on my 290X, temps are a lot better now. Didn't like 90C when playing Witcher 3.
 
Do we have a thread for tech support? Anyway just got my new gtx 970 because I RMAd my old one. The old one keeps restarting my pc when i'm gaming or even browsing.

This new one that I got gives me random black screen when I'm gaming but the PC is still on and I can hear the sound so I have to force restart my PC. tried with skyrim and witcher 3.

Checked the temps and they are fine. also tried different versions of the driver and reseating the GPU and RAM. ANy ideas? could this be cause my PSU or MOBO?

Post full specs.
 

hohoXD123

Member
So I have an R9 290 with a stock cooler. Looking to get different cooler to bring the temp down and hopefully increase performance a bit.

Any suggestions?
If you don't want to mess around with liquid cooling then Noctua D15 is one of the best coolers you can get. It's also relatively expensive, large, and heavy. If you don't mind paying extra, plus your case is big enough plus you're not going to be moving your computer around too much, I'd look into it.
 

Sotha_Sil

Member
Prospective build:

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($233.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($24.33 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Asus Z170-A ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($145.99 @ B&H)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($94.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Kingston SSDNow V300 Series 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($64.89 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($53.00 @ Amazon)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case ($49.99 @ Micro Center)
Power Supply: EVGA 600B 600W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($49.99 @ Amazon)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) ($79.89 @ OutletPC)
Monitor: AOC G2460PG 144Hz 24.0" Monitor ($350.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $1148.04

Will be making the build when I return from Abu Dhabi in a few weeks. Will wait to see what happens with the Pascal cards before adding. Questions I have are 6600k vs 6700k, are cheaper Mobo's ok, and the monitor (I keep going back and forth between this and the Dell - I feel reasonably comfortable with the G2460PG, though).

$1200 is the limit pre-GPU, including Windows and Monitor. I've been debating going to the 6700k by cutting some costs elsewhere - maybe with the MOBO and a smaller SSD.
 

LilJoka

Member
I'm building a PC for a friend and after initially targeting £600 with a 380, which then slipped to £700, we decided to future proof and build for VR. How does this look, and is there any money to be saved here? He's going to continue saving for either the 1070 or 490 so there's no GPU atm. Also, this thing would be wasted on anything less than a 1440/144hz monitor, right?

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor (£199.95 @ Amazon UK)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (£26.99 @ Novatech)
Motherboard: Asus Z170-A ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (£121.82 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2666 Memory (£55.19 @ More Computers)
Storage: Crucial BX100 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£59.99 @ Novatech)
Case: Fractal Design Define S w/Window ATX Mid Tower Case (£69.99 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA G2 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (£66.98 @ Novatech)
Sound Card: Asus Xonar DGX 24-bit 96 KHz Sound Card (£27.90 @ Overclockers.co.uk)
Total: £628.81
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-05-04 01:12 BST+0100

Any real reason for the sound card? Onboard is pretty good nowadays.
 

Dmax3901

Member
If you don't want to mess around with liquid cooling then Noctua D15 is one of the best coolers you can get. It's also relatively expensive, large, and heavy. If you don't mind paying extra, plus your case is big enough plus you're not going to be moving your computer around too much, I'd look into it.

Isn't that a CPU cooler? I'm after a GPU one :)
 

ISee

Member
Prospective build:

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($233.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($24.33 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Asus Z170-A ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($145.99 @ B&H)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory ($94.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Kingston SSDNow V300 Series 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($64.89 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($53.00 @ Amazon)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case ($49.99 @ Micro Center)
Power Supply: EVGA 600B 600W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($49.99 @ Amazon)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) ($79.89 @ OutletPC)
Monitor: AOC G2460PG 144Hz 24.0" Monitor ($350.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $1148.04

Will be making the build when I return from Abu Dhabi in a few weeks. Will wait to see what happens with the Pascal cards before adding. Questions I have are 6600k vs 6700k, are cheaper Mobo's ok, and the monitor (I keep going back and forth between this and the Dell - I feel reasonably comfortable with the G2460PG, though).

$1200 is the limit pre-GPU, including Windows and Monitor. I've been debating going to the 6700k by cutting some costs elsewhere - maybe with the MOBO and a smaller SSD.

A 'cheap' z170 board shouldn't perform worse than a premium 300€+ one. Of course there are still differences in design (if you care about stuff like that) and equipment like number of sata ports, number/generation of usb connectors, sound chip quality, wi fi, lan port, PCI-e slots, cross fire/sli capability, extra fan connectors/controllers etc. In the end it's up to you to decide what you need.

About your CPU decision. I upgraded last week and I thought a lot about the i7 vs. I5 topic. In the end I went for the i7 for longevity reason. Normally I'm upgrading my CPU every 3-4 years and I'm always trying to get something that is able to hold out that long.
I bought my last CPU (i5 3570k) when most games weren't even utilizing 4 threads equally or at all, so an i7 seemed to be a bit overkill back then and the i5 seemed like a cpu with some headroom for the future. Today CPUs able to handle 4 threads are the bare minimum as some games even refuse to start on a 2 core cpus without HTT. So I decided to go for a 4 core CPU with HTT this time around (fully aware that 4 cores + HTT aren't as good as a true 4+ core CPU).


Any real reason for the sound card? Onboard is pretty good nowadays.

Also this.
@Igo: I'm using the asus z170 a and the sound quality is surprisingly good.
 
Crossposting from the GTX 1070 - 1080 thread :

GAF, I guess the same question comes over and over again in this thread but I'll ask it again : is a Xeon processor a valid alternative to an i5 CPU ? I am purchasing parts for a Z170 build with a GTX 970 I got for cheap. I am wondering what budget CPU would go well with it -- i5-6500K is a bit pricy for my budget.
An answer would be really helpful and could potentially save my some bucks.
 
Stuff I am replacing:
  • *Intel Core i5-2500K 3.3GHz 6MB S-1155
  • *Intel DP67BGB3 ATX S-1155
  • *8GB DDR3 1600MHz Kingston HyperX (4x2GB)

What I will replace it with:

  • Intel Core i7 6700K / 4 GHz Skylake Processor - LGA1151
  • *ASUS Z170 PRO GAMING DDR4 - ATX LGA1151
  • Kingston HyperX FURY - 2x8GB DDR4 2666MHz PC4-21300 CL15
  • *Samsung 850 EVO MZ-75E500 - 2.5″ SATA-600 500GB

Older parts that I will leave in:
  • *GTX970
  • *Cooler Master HAF 922 u/PSU
  • *750W Corsair TX CMPSU-750TXEU 140mm
  • *1TB Samsung 7200rpm 32MB SATA2
  • *WD WD30EFRX - 3tb 5,400 RPM


This all seem reasonable right? I'm not sure if the ram speeds are a bit overkill, but it's so cheap anyway.
 

ISee

Member
Stuff I am replacing:
  • *Intel Core i5-2500K 3.3GHz 6MB S-1155
  • *Intel DP67BGB3 ATX S-1155
  • *8GB DDR3 1600MHz Kingston HyperX (4x2GB)

What I will replace it with:

  • Intel Core i7 6700K / 4 GHz Skylake Processor - LGA1151
  • *ASUS Z170 PRO GAMING DDR4 - ATX LGA1151
  • Kingston HyperX FURY - 2x8GB DDR4 2666MHz PC4-21300 CL15
  • *Samsung 850 EVO MZ-75E500 - 2.5″ SATA-600 500GB

Older parts that I will leave in:
  • *GTX970
  • *Cooler Master HAF 922 u/PSU
  • *750W Corsair TX CMPSU-750TXEU 140mm
  • *1TB Samsung 7200rpm 32MB SATA2
  • *WD WD30EFRX - 3tb 5,400 RPM


This all seem reasonable right? I'm not sure if the ram speeds are a bit overkill, but it's so cheap anyway.

It's fine. Enjoy.
 

TheExodu5

Banned
New build partially done. Reusing GTX 680 and CX600 until Pascal and my AX850 gets RMA'd.

I have the rad set as pull intake for the time being. I might swiarch it to exhaust if I buy a dust filter for the rear fan and switch it to an intake. Or maybe get dust filters for the 2x140mm rad fans and set them as push intake. Not sure what would be best.

Code:
[img]http://i.imgur.com/cLKccUG.jpg[/img]
 
Stuff I am replacing:
  • *Intel Core i5-2500K 3.3GHz 6MB S-1155
  • *Intel DP67BGB3 ATX S-1155
  • *8GB DDR3 1600MHz Kingston HyperX (4x2GB)

What I will replace it with:

  • Intel Core i7 6700K / 4 GHz Skylake Processor - LGA1151
  • *ASUS Z170 PRO GAMING DDR4 - ATX LGA1151
  • Kingston HyperX FURY - 2x8GB DDR4 2666MHz PC4-21300 CL15
  • *Samsung 850 EVO MZ-75E500 - 2.5″ SATA-600 500GB

Older parts that I will leave in:
  • *GTX970
  • *Cooler Master HAF 922 u/PSU
  • *750W Corsair TX CMPSU-750TXEU 140mm
  • *1TB Samsung 7200rpm 32MB SATA2
  • *WD WD30EFRX - 3tb 5,400 RPM


This all seem reasonable right? I'm not sure if the ram speeds are a bit overkill, but it's so cheap anyway.

Looks good. Skylake systems seem to benefit more from higher ram speed so there is no overkill here, go as high as you can. 2666 and 3000 seem to be price/perf sweet spots though.
 

TheExodu5

Banned
2666MHz definitely seems like the sweet spot. Same price as 2133 and slightly better performance. I went 3200 for color alone, but it was $15 more for little or no gain.
 

TheExodu5

Banned
Oh, and I'm really impressed by the Phanteks Evolv case. Build quality is amazing...those aluminum side panels are so nice on hinges, and they're really solid...much thicker than my Lian-Li. The manual is beautiful, and all the screws come in a plastic divider box. Nice touch. This case is so easy to work with. I highly recommend checking out Phanteks if you're in the market for a new case.
 

Akoi

Member
A quick question, does using an H110 chipset affect performance in any negative way, compared to H170, if you only have a single GPU on your mobo and nothing else. (possible pci lanes limitation?)

https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/a...-B170-Q150-Q170---What-is-the-Difference-635/

It limits how many RAM slots you get and pcie lanes, I personally wouldn't cheap out on a motherboard. Neither of those allow overclocking. Get the H170 if you don't care about overclocking and get the Z170 of you want to overclock. H110 was made for budget builds and mostly for people that are super short on money (if you are building a gaming PC you usually aren't that short on Money)
 
I currently have:

i5 2500k
ASRock P67 Extreme4 Gen3
16gb ddr3
120gb ssd
1tb hdd
980 Ti
Hyper whatever CPU cooler
620w PSU

I'm wanting to go

Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor
Gigabyte GA-Z170X-UD3 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard
Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory

anything I should change? motherboard has a rebate on it that ends today. I don't do SLI

I see a lot of builds here from pc parts don't have windows versions in them.

Is there something I can do with my current version to bring it forward? install the new hardware and just do a fresh windows install?

if I can avoid having to buy windows I can probably upgrade the SSD

or maybe I should do it anyway...
 

scogoth

Member
Crossposting from the GTX 1070 - 1080 thread :


An answer would be really helpful and could potentially save my some bucks.

No a Xeon will not work in a Z170 board. It is an entirely different pin layout than consumer boards and CPUs. You would have to get a server board (C series boards) to run your Xeon which will probably lacking a bunch of features that you'd find in most consumer boards.
 

TheExodu5

Banned
I currently have:

i5 2500k
ASRock P67 Extreme4 Gen3
16gb ddr3
120gb ssd
1tb hdd
980 Ti
Hyper whatever CPU cooler
620w PSU

I'm wanting to go

Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor
Gigabyte GA-Z170X-UD3 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard
Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory

anything I should change? motherboard has a rebate on it that ends today. I don't do SLI

I see a lot of builds here from pc parts don't have windows versions in them.

Is there something I can do with my current version to bring it forward? install the new hardware and just do a fresh windows install?

if I can avoid having to buy windows I can probably upgrade the SSD

or maybe I should do it anyway...

Check the MicrosoftSoftwareSwap subreddit.

You can get windows 10 for $35 ($25 if you get the version that comes without windows media player). Or you can get Windows 8 for around $12 and just do the free upgrade to Windows 10.
 

Akoi

Member
No a Xeon will not work in a Z170 board. It is an entirely different pin layout than consumer boards and CPUs. You would have to get a server board (C series boards) to run your Xeon which will probably lacking a bunch of features that you'd find in most consumer boards.

Not true.

All depends on the model of the xeon, There are xeons that would work, not sure how much money he could save getting one though. I have been running xeons for years in consumer boards and I am running one now in my second desktop.
 
Post full specs.

Oops sorry about that. here's my full specs.

CPU: i5 4460
Motherboard: asrock fatality h87 performance
ram: hyperx 8 gb
PSU: seasonic m1II 620 watts
cooler: hyper 212 evo


Just tried today playing skyrim and the screen turned black as soon as the world and character loaded :/
 

ethomaz

Banned
Not true.

All depends on the model of the xeon, There are xeons that would work, not sure how much money he could save getting one though. I have been running xeons for years in consumer boards and I am running one now in my second desktop.
Unlike previous gens Xeon Skylake requires C230 chipset.

So it is true.

Edit - Fixed with official info... even using the same socket LGA1151 the Xeon Skylake requires server chipset.
 

catabarez

Member
Do people modify case fans? I kinda want an LED housing with a Noctua fan blade. So I figured I could combine 2 fans. That would still provide Noctua-like performance right?
 

CJVaughn

Banned
Do people modify case fans? I kinda want an LED housing with a Noctua fan blade. So I figured I could combine 2 fans. That would still provide Noctua-like performance right?
Is it possible? Sure. Though, I would just recommend you find high performance fans with built-in LEDs
 

AkumaNiko

Member
I just sold my MSI gaming laptop and build this:

Intel i5-6500 3.2ghz
Gigabyte H110M Mobo
Ballistix Sport 2x4gb ddr4
MSI R9 390 8gb
Sandisk 120gb SSD
500gb HDD
Corsair GS700 - 700W PSU
NZXT S340 Case


$690 After Tax
 

Asturie

Member
Anyone know where to get a logitech g440 mousepad? Doesn't seem to be available from the logitech store and only sold from third parties on amazon and newegg. Or if anyone has a recommendation on an alternative to the g440. Looking for a hard mousepad, not cloth.
 

ISee

Member
I just sold my MSI gaming laptop and build this:

Intel i5-6500 3.2ghz
Gigabyte H110M Mobo
Ballistix Sport 2x4gb ddr4
MSI R9 390 8gb
Sandisk 120gb SSD
500gb HDD
Corsair GS700 - 700W PSU
NZXT S340 Case


$690 After Tax

Won't give you the best perfromance out there, but for that price? Awesome build! You'll be able to enjoy games in fullHD and 60fps if you're willing to turn down some settings. Enjoy :)
 
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