I'm having some trouble with some new RAM I recently purchased. My computer is about 4 years old now, but I thought I was lucky to find that I could purchase the exact same brand of memory that I purchased for the initial build - a pair of G.Skill 2GB DDR3 1600 sticks.
Unfortunately, when I put the new ones in it causes my system to just not boot up at all. As in, the fans start up and some of the lights come on, but there's no display and no beeps from the computer. Through testing, I can make a few statements - 1. The new sticks work fine when put into another (newer) system. 2. My system still doesn't function when I swap the old sticks for the new, so it's not an issue of having too much memory. 3. My system works fine, and detects the correct amount of memory, when swapping around the positions of the old sticks, so all of the memory slots are fine. I can only conclude that G.Skill made some slight modification to their design which has made that model incompatible with my computer. My mother board is an ASUS AM3 model.
With all that said, I was hoping someone might have an idea of where exactly the incompatibility may lie, and what memory I could still purchase that would work with my system? Thanks for any help.
1155 is the older socket, 1150 is the newest. If you are going low-power processor and upgrade later, you will want 1150. There will be a new set of 1150 processors (I assume labeled i3-5XXX) coming in Q1 2015.
If you are going by a Microcenter anyway then I would definitely recommend picking up a CPU there. They have great deals. Not sure if it is worth driving a couple hours back and forth to do it.
Do you have DDR3 RAM already?
Yes, but I may consider buying more. I have to check what I have at home as I can't remember what my sticks are in terms of size. UPDATE: Nope, I have DDR2 apparently on hand, guess I'll have to pick up that too
We go down to Boston a lot already - pretty much anytime we get bored it's our go to place so it wouldn't be a trip solely for parts.
I'm having some trouble with some new RAM I recently purchased. My computer is about 4 years old now, but I thought I was lucky to find that I could purchase the exact same brand of memory that I purchased for the initial build - a pair of G.Skill 2GB DDR3 1600 sticks.
Unfortunately, when I put the new ones in it causes my system to just not boot up at all. As in, the fans start up and some of the lights come on, but there's no display and no beeps from the computer. Through testing, I can make a few statements - 1. The new sticks work fine when put into another (newer) system. 2. My system still doesn't function when I swap the old sticks for the new, so it's not an issue of having too much memory. 3. My system works fine, and detects the correct amount of memory, when swapping around the positions of the old sticks, so all of the memory slots are fine. I can only conclude that G.Skill made some slight modification to their design which has made that model incompatible with my computer. My mother board is an ASUS AM3 model.
With all that said, I was hoping someone might have an idea of where exactly the incompatibility may lie, and what memory I could still purchase that would work with my system? Thanks for any help.
So when you tried it with JUST the new RAM, in your old motherboard, in the same positions as your old RAM was in, it did not boot?
I'm having some trouble with some new RAM I recently purchased. My computer is about 4 years old now, but I thought I was lucky to find that I could purchase the exact same brand of memory that I purchased for the initial build - a pair of G.Skill 2GB DDR3 1600 sticks.
Unfortunately, when I put the new ones in it causes my system to just not boot up at all. As in, the fans start up and some of the lights come on, but there's no display and no beeps from the computer. Through testing, I can make a few statements - 1. The new sticks work fine when put into another (newer) system. 2. My system still doesn't function when I swap the old sticks for the new, so it's not an issue of having too much memory. 3. My system works fine, and detects the correct amount of memory, when swapping around the positions of the old sticks, so all of the memory slots are fine. I can only conclude that G.Skill made some slight modification to their design which has made that model incompatible with my computer. My mother board is an ASUS AM3 model.
With all that said, I was hoping someone might have an idea of where exactly the incompatibility may lie, and what memory I could still purchase that would work with my system? Thanks for any help.
So when you tried it with JUST the new RAM, in your old motherboard, in the same positions as your old RAM was in, it did not boot?
What is the model number of your old RAM?
That's correct. I guess I could have made it more clear, but I did purchase the exact same make and model of RAM that I purchased 4 years ago - G.Skill F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL. Or at least, that's what Newegg has in my order history. I could take a closer look when I get home, if that would help.
So I'm looking at the TeamLiquid thread about building a computer which has a pretty handy thing talking about the early decisions you have to make, and it mentions that the resolution you use is pretty important when it comes to picking a video card, and then lists which ones they suggest for which resolution. The thing is, my monitor is 1920x1080 and they list 1920x1200 and 1280x1024. I assume I should look into the 1920x1200 ones?
My friend is working on a roguelike game you can play if you want to. (It has free demo)
Question - some of the parts I ordered have started to arrive. So far, I've gotten the non-SSD harddrive, the CD writer, and a copy of Windows. The harddrive and the CD writer do not have cables with them. Are these cables that show up with the motherboard / other stuff, or do I need to buy them?
So I'm looking at the TeamLiquid thread about building a computer which has a pretty handy thing talking about the early decisions you have to make, and it mentions that the resolution you use is pretty important when it comes to picking a video card, and then lists which ones they suggest for which resolution. The thing is, my monitor is 1920x1080 and they list 1920x1200 and 1280x1024. I assume I should look into the 1920x1200 ones?
16:10 (1920x1200) monitors were popular a few years ago, but are generally rare to find these days as most companies just make 16:9 (1920x1080).
Also not sure how old that article your reading is if they are listing 1280x1024 as you haven't been able to buy those things in many many years, like that's a 4:3 resolution.
But generally what they mean by picking a gpu based on your monitor is that for 1080p your fine with most anything newish, but for 2560x1440 or 4k monitors you need a gpu with more vram on them.
Question - some of the parts I ordered have started to arrive. So far, I've gotten the non-SSD harddrive, the CD writer, and a copy of Windows. The harddrive and the CD writer do not have cables with them. Are these cables that show up with the motherboard / other stuff, or do I need to buy them?
Your motherboard should come with a few sata cables, most do unless it's a real budget model
Is there any place that gives a comprehensive rundown of what each of a computer components' specs do and what some important benchmarks are?
Like for RAM it would say how the size makes your computer faster and able to do more stuff at once and give benchmarks on how much you need for what, but also do it for things that I don't already understand, like cas latency and voltage and what different types do, but also for things that aren't just ram.
Because I feel like if I can get a resource for all this stuff I can make an informed decision myself, but all the resources seem to either be for people who have made dozens of computers already or years out of date.
My friend is working on a roguelike game you can play if you want to. (It has free demo)
Is there any place that gives a comprehensive rundown of what each of a computer components' specs do and what some important benchmarks are?
Like for RAM it would say how the size makes your computer faster and able to do more stuff at once and give benchmarks on how much you need for what, but also do it for things that I don't already understand, like cas latency and voltage and what different types do, but also for things that aren't just ram.
Because I feel like if I can get a resource for all this stuff I can make an informed decision myself, but all the resources seem to either be for people who have made dozens of computers already or years out of date.
Honestly things like CAS latency and voltage you probably shouldn't even be thinking about. You want the more basic stuff like "is it DDR3," "how many GB" (4 minimum, 8 preferred) and "what speed" (1333 is fine, anything over 1600 isn't worth paying for).
People here are also happy to throw something together for you and explain why they chose what they did, if you lay out a budget and what you want to use the machine for.
For anyone who is running a 700 series card, go out and get the 337.50 beta drivers now if you're not using them already. They can be downloaded directly from nvidia, or you can just turn on beta driver updates in GeForce Experience. There are some pretty serious performance gains for most dx11 games, doubly so for anyone with an SLI setup.
Edit: If you're using a 600 series card you should get the drivers too; they add support for some of the cooler new tech like shadowplay. There may be performance gains here too, but probably not for most configurations.
LD50 on
+1
Options
Madpandasuburbs west of chicagoRegistered Userregular
Going to transplant my old first gen intel quad core into a new case and I want to make full use of the drive bays so a long video card like the gt260 i have in there now might be out. What are some cheap (sub 100 or even cheaper if i can get away with it, stock passive would be a plus) video cards that can handle 1080p video, just watching mkvs etc fine. This will be running linux mint, so throw out recommendations and ill look for driver support. If you know of something that works though thats even better.
Going to transplant my old first gen intel quad core into a new case and I want to make full use of the drive bays so a long video card like the gt260 i have in there now might be out. What are some cheap (sub 100 or even cheaper if i can get away with it, stock passive would be a plus) video cards that can handle 1080p video, just watching mkvs etc fine. This will be running linux mint, so throw out recommendations and ill look for driver support. If you know of something that works though thats even better.
Just watching video? Get something like an HD 5450 or 6450 - HDMI, DX11, passive.
Is there any place that gives a comprehensive rundown of what each of a computer components' specs do and what some important benchmarks are?
Like for RAM it would say how the size makes your computer faster and able to do more stuff at once and give benchmarks on how much you need for what, but also do it for things that I don't already understand, like cas latency and voltage and what different types do, but also for things that aren't just ram.
Because I feel like if I can get a resource for all this stuff I can make an informed decision myself, but all the resources seem to either be for people who have made dozens of computers already or years out of date.
Honestly things like CAS latency and voltage you probably shouldn't even be thinking about. You want the more basic stuff like "is it DDR3," "how many GB" (4 minimum, 8 preferred) and "what speed" (1333 is fine, anything over 1600 isn't worth paying for).
People here are also happy to throw something together for you and explain why they chose what they did, if you lay out a budget and what you want to use the machine for.
I'd agree on not bothering to worry about CAS timings unless your getting into very heavy overclocks, but you really need to make sure your using 1.5V ram on intel based builds as 1.65V ram can cause damage to the memory controller on the CPU.
as for other parts what specs are you getting confused by? I don't know of any real guides out there that explain most things, but if you ask I'm sure the thread can clear up any confusions.
Question - some of the parts I ordered have started to arrive. So far, I've gotten the non-SSD harddrive, the CD writer, and a copy of Windows. The harddrive and the CD writer do not have cables with them. Are these cables that show up with the motherboard / other stuff, or do I need to buy them?
Your motherboard should come with a few sata cables, most do unless it's a real budget model
Also, the copy of Windows says its an OEM System Builder Pack - I assume that's OK?
yes
I guess I bought a budget model. The motherboard showed up today, it came with a single SATA3 cable. Should I just print out the pcpartpicker list and take it to the computer store to ask what cables I need?
I was just using RAM as an example because I actually understand RAM a little bit.
Really want I want to know about is video cards and processors and stuff.
Both of those pages helped out a lot, but I still don't know what parts of a video card do what and how much of those parts I need.
For a video card the big decisions are: what card - which can be answered by looking at benchmarks or a guide like this: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-card-review,3107.html
Also 2GB (standard) or more of video memory - if you are playing at 1080p you won't really need more than 2GB.
Basically there are 2 companies that make GPUs: AMD/Nvidia. AMD's current generation is labeled R7 and R9, Nvidia's is 7XX (760, 770, etc.) The higher the model number the more powerful the card.
If you're looking to learn about "shader pixels" and crap like that don't bother, it's mostly meaningless marketing crap.
Okay so the 760 and 770 seem like they'd be pretty darn good for current graphics right? Would they be able to run a modern game with all the fancy shaders and filtering and whatever pretty easily?
Also newegg seems to be running a daily deal on a bunch of SSD that seems like a hole fucking lot off but I don't want to jump on them if they're 40% off of something that's already retailing at twice what it's actually worth.
My friend is working on a roguelike game you can play if you want to. (It has free demo)
0
Options
toloveistorebel Impressive. Most impressive. Central FLRegistered Userregular
Okay so the 760 and 770 seem like they'd be pretty darn good for current graphics right? Would they be able to run a modern game with all the fancy shaders and filtering and whatever pretty easily?
Also newegg seems to be running a daily deal on a bunch of SSD that seems like a hole fucking lot off but I don't want to jump on them if they're 40% off of something that's already retailing at twice what it's actually worth.
The 770 is a great card for 1080P.
Really when it comes to computer components it just comes down to benchmarks, reviews, model year, and picking a recommended component that fits your budget. Some sites like tomshardware.com do monthly articles for what components they recommend at certain prices. I think currently Tom's does video cards, CPUs, and SSDs.
If you're really wanting to learn all the ins and outs of different types of components, I said a few pages back that Tom's and AnandTech are my go to sites. Check out their reviews of certain components. They go really in depth into all the crazy details that go into what makes each component tick and how it stacks up to other comparable components. Those two sites will mostly have CPUs, Motherboards, GPUs, SSDs, Cases, etc. For an in depth look into power supplies check out johnnyguru.com.
Okay after spending basically the entire day getting increasingly more confused and frustrated, this is what I have managed to scribble up.
for a video card I'm looking at the 770 for somewhere around 330(?) bucks
2-3 TB of normal hard drive space for 100-150
8 gigs of 1600 ram for 70ish?
a 250 GB SSD for 150ish?
a motherboard that costs 100 or less
and something in the intel i5 line for about 200?
for a total cost of about 1k which is the upper bound of what I was prepared to spend?
I have no idea how well this coincides with reality, and I also just realized that I didn't add in the cost of a case or PSU either and considering I don't have AC I might want to make sure I have at least a decent one.
My friend is working on a roguelike game you can play if you want to. (It has free demo)
0
Options
toloveistorebel Impressive. Most impressive. Central FLRegistered Userregular
Would you be able to hold off on the platter drive for a bit? That would free up some budget for a decent PSU ($70-$90) and a case. You could maybe scrape by with the SSD and save back up for a platter drive. Do you have an old HDD that you could use temporarily?
Well when I was picking the price it was more of a "this is what I would like to spend" than a "this is what I can afford to spend" kind of thing, I didn't file my tax returns for 12 and 13 until earlier this year so I just got that back now. I did go and pull the 160GB hard drive out of my very old computer, and the laptop I have now has 500. Also you should put your OS on a SSD, what else? Is there anything particularly important you want on there as well? Because I could probably afford to downgrade that a size or two.
My friend is working on a roguelike game you can play if you want to. (It has free demo)
0
Options
toloveistorebel Impressive. Most impressive. Central FLRegistered Userregular
Well when I was picking the price it was more of a "this is what I would like to spend" than a "this is what I can afford to spend" kind of thing, I didn't file my tax returns for 12 and 13 until earlier this year so I just got that back now. I did go and pull the 160GB hard drive out of my very old computer, and the laptop I have now has 500. Also you should put your OS on a SSD, what else? Is there anything particularly important you want on there as well? Because I could probably afford to downgrade that a size or two.
Oh ok I see. Yeah pretty much you want your OS and all your normal applications, and any games you're currently playing, so long as you keep the SSD below about 75% capacity. As you fill it up it starts to slow down I'm pretty sure. A lot of people love Steam Mover for moving games back and forth between drives.
I have a 120GB Samsung 840 EVO and have my OS, applications, and a couple games on. Most of my games are installed on another 500GB HDD as well as some media and such.
Okay after spending basically the entire day getting increasingly more confused and frustrated, this is what I have managed to scribble up.
for a video card I'm looking at the 770 for somewhere around 330(?) bucks
2-3 TB of normal hard drive space for 100-150
8 gigs of 1600 ram for 70ish?
a 250 GB SSD for 150ish?
a motherboard that costs 100 or less
and something in the intel i5 line for about 200?
for a total cost of about 1k which is the upper bound of what I was prepared to spend?
I have no idea how well this coincides with reality, and I also just realized that I didn't add in the cost of a case or PSU either and considering I don't have AC I might want to make sure I have at least a decent one.
I'm going to sleep on it and then come back tomorrow and poke around and see if there are any changes I would make, and probably more importantly, if there are any changes anyone else would make, and go from there.
My friend is working on a roguelike game you can play if you want to. (It has free demo)
I would maybe suggest getting a set of 2x4GB DDR3-1600 RAM instead of 1866 since the mobo caps out at 1600. I never really did get an answer on whether the RAM would clock down or not, but it's one less potential headache to deal with. And I'm positive you could find 1600 RAM for cheaper than that set anyway.
I would maybe suggest getting a set of 2x4GB DDR3-1600 RAM instead of 1866 since the mobo caps out at 1600. I never really did get an answer on whether the RAM would clock down or not, but it's one less potential headache to deal with. And I'm positive you could find 1600 RAM for cheaper than that set anyway.
Agreed. I see some cheaper RAM today.
You could also cut out the DVD drive altogether and use your current computer (does it run 64-bit windows?) to create a bootable USB stick for your Windows install.
Okay after spending basically the entire day getting increasingly more confused and frustrated, this is what I have managed to scribble up.
for a video card I'm looking at the 770 for somewhere around 330(?) bucks
2-3 TB of normal hard drive space for 100-150
8 gigs of 1600 ram for 70ish?
a 250 GB SSD for 150ish?
a motherboard that costs 100 or less
and something in the intel i5 line for about 200?
for a total cost of about 1k which is the upper bound of what I was prepared to spend?
I have no idea how well this coincides with reality, and I also just realized that I didn't add in the cost of a case or PSU either and considering I don't have AC I might want to make sure I have at least a decent one.
This could be me just subconsciously defending my 760 purchase, but in light of Titanfall requiring 3GBs of VRAM even at this early stage in the generation, almost $350 for a 2GB video card seems a bit much to me--wouldn't it be better to go all in on a 4GB or go for a 760 and save a bit?
0
Options
Dhalphirdon't you open that trapdooryou're a fool if you dareRegistered Userregular
I had a look around at this, but every second thing I put in my cart was "not available in my country", even once I selected Australia on the shipping settings while browsing.
Any gaming laptops out there that aren't complete bricks to drag around? I've resigned to buy a Razer Blade 14 but I'd like an alternative if possible.
Any gaming laptops out there that aren't complete bricks to drag around? I've resigned to buy a Razer Blade 14 but I'd like an alternative if possible.
I have flights to New York, Chicago, Tokyo, Shanghai, and Chengdu in the coming months and just need something to do on them. My work laptop has a dedicated GPU but it's bulky and doesn't mesh well with some plane seating arrangements. My SO will have the iPad with her.
I did see that MSI Ghost and it is a good option, but the lack of a touch screen is a turn off since Windows 8 really works better with one.
I would LOVE a Surface Pro 2 but am worried about whether or not it can handle the games I want to play. I thought about a MacBook Pro in that regard since it has the Intel Iris and it doesn't look like any Windows 8 tablet/ultrabook has anything higher than the HD 4400.
Games I plan on playing are: XCOM, Civ V (and the new one coming out), EU4, Stick of Truth, and maybe Skyrim and Wasteland/Project Eternity if they actually release in time.
Okay after spending basically the entire day getting increasingly more confused and frustrated, this is what I have managed to scribble up.
for a video card I'm looking at the 770 for somewhere around 330(?) bucks
2-3 TB of normal hard drive space for 100-150
8 gigs of 1600 ram for 70ish?
a 250 GB SSD for 150ish?
a motherboard that costs 100 or less
and something in the intel i5 line for about 200?
for a total cost of about 1k which is the upper bound of what I was prepared to spend?
I have no idea how well this coincides with reality, and I also just realized that I didn't add in the cost of a case or PSU either and considering I don't have AC I might want to make sure I have at least a decent one.
This could be me just subconsciously defending my 760 purchase, but in light of Titanfall requiring 3GBs of VRAM even at this early stage in the generation, almost $350 for a 2GB video card seems a bit much to me--wouldn't it be better to go all in on a 4GB or go for a 760 and save a bit?
Poking around on Newegg I see that there are some 4GB 770s for about 400. That seems like a reasonable price for twice as much GB but I don't know if that is actually true, or if that's one of those things where they put 2 extra gigs that the card can't use just to sell it for more or something like that.
My friend is working on a roguelike game you can play if you want to. (It has free demo)
0
Options
kaliyamaLeft to find less-moderated foraRegistered Userregular
edited April 2014
Thoughts on this build? Have an SSD i'll be including separately. Idea is to attempt 4k gaming in a year or so when I can crossfire a second r9 290x.
Okay after spending basically the entire day getting increasingly more confused and frustrated, this is what I have managed to scribble up.
for a video card I'm looking at the 770 for somewhere around 330(?) bucks
2-3 TB of normal hard drive space for 100-150
8 gigs of 1600 ram for 70ish?
a 250 GB SSD for 150ish?
a motherboard that costs 100 or less
and something in the intel i5 line for about 200?
for a total cost of about 1k which is the upper bound of what I was prepared to spend?
I have no idea how well this coincides with reality, and I also just realized that I didn't add in the cost of a case or PSU either and considering I don't have AC I might want to make sure I have at least a decent one.
This could be me just subconsciously defending my 760 purchase, but in light of Titanfall requiring 3GBs of VRAM even at this early stage in the generation, almost $350 for a 2GB video card seems a bit much to me--wouldn't it be better to go all in on a 4GB or go for a 760 and save a bit?
Poking around on Newegg I see that there are some 4GB 770s for about 400. That seems like a reasonable price for twice as much GB but I don't know if that is actually true, or if that's one of those things where they put 2 extra gigs that the card can't use just to sell it for more or something like that.
If you can spring for it, the 4GB version may offer a bit more longevity. Like Darlan said, Titanfall "requires" 3GB in order to run their extreme textures (not sure how true that is...). And I'm sure other games within the next couple of years will be requiring more as well. Even games like Crysis 3 take up more than 2GB on 1080P for the highest settings. So a 4GB 770 may be a good choice especially if you end up wanting to upgrade to a 1440P monitor in the future.
Posts
Unfortunately, when I put the new ones in it causes my system to just not boot up at all. As in, the fans start up and some of the lights come on, but there's no display and no beeps from the computer. Through testing, I can make a few statements - 1. The new sticks work fine when put into another (newer) system. 2. My system still doesn't function when I swap the old sticks for the new, so it's not an issue of having too much memory. 3. My system works fine, and detects the correct amount of memory, when swapping around the positions of the old sticks, so all of the memory slots are fine. I can only conclude that G.Skill made some slight modification to their design which has made that model incompatible with my computer. My mother board is an ASUS AM3 model.
With all that said, I was hoping someone might have an idea of where exactly the incompatibility may lie, and what memory I could still purchase that would work with my system? Thanks for any help.
Yes, but I may consider buying more. I have to check what I have at home as I can't remember what my sticks are in terms of size. UPDATE: Nope, I have DDR2 apparently on hand, guess I'll have to pick up that too
We go down to Boston a lot already - pretty much anytime we get bored it's our go to place so it wouldn't be a trip solely for parts.
So when you tried it with JUST the new RAM, in your old motherboard, in the same positions as your old RAM was in, it did not boot?
What is the model number of your old RAM?
That's correct. I guess I could have made it more clear, but I did purchase the exact same make and model of RAM that I purchased 4 years ago - G.Skill F3-12800CL9D-4GBRL. Or at least, that's what Newegg has in my order history. I could take a closer look when I get home, if that would help.
16:10 (1920x1200) monitors were popular a few years ago, but are generally rare to find these days as most companies just make 16:9 (1920x1080).
Also not sure how old that article your reading is if they are listing 1280x1024 as you haven't been able to buy those things in many many years, like that's a 4:3 resolution.
But generally what they mean by picking a gpu based on your monitor is that for 1080p your fine with most anything newish, but for 2560x1440 or 4k monitors you need a gpu with more vram on them.
Your motherboard should come with a few sata cables, most do unless it's a real budget model
yes
Like for RAM it would say how the size makes your computer faster and able to do more stuff at once and give benchmarks on how much you need for what, but also do it for things that I don't already understand, like cas latency and voltage and what different types do, but also for things that aren't just ram.
Because I feel like if I can get a resource for all this stuff I can make an informed decision myself, but all the resources seem to either be for people who have made dozens of computers already or years out of date.
Sites that might help:
http://www.logicalincrements.com/
http://pcpartpicker.com/
Also, have you read the OP of this thread? http://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/187504/computer-build-thread-bitcoiners-can-t-keep-us-down-1440p-or-bust/p1
Honestly things like CAS latency and voltage you probably shouldn't even be thinking about. You want the more basic stuff like "is it DDR3," "how many GB" (4 minimum, 8 preferred) and "what speed" (1333 is fine, anything over 1600 isn't worth paying for).
People here are also happy to throw something together for you and explain why they chose what they did, if you lay out a budget and what you want to use the machine for.
Edit: If you're using a 600 series card you should get the drivers too; they add support for some of the cooler new tech like shadowplay. There may be performance gains here too, but probably not for most configurations.
Steam/PSN/XBL/Minecraft / LoL / - Benevicious | WoW - Duckwood - Rajhek
Just watching video? Get something like an HD 5450 or 6450 - HDMI, DX11, passive.
I'd agree on not bothering to worry about CAS timings unless your getting into very heavy overclocks, but you really need to make sure your using 1.5V ram on intel based builds as 1.65V ram can cause damage to the memory controller on the CPU.
as for other parts what specs are you getting confused by? I don't know of any real guides out there that explain most things, but if you ask I'm sure the thread can clear up any confusions.
I guess I bought a budget model. The motherboard showed up today, it came with a single SATA3 cable. Should I just print out the pcpartpicker list and take it to the computer store to ask what cables I need?
Really want I want to know about is video cards and processors and stuff.
Both of those pages helped out a lot, but I still don't know what parts of a video card do what and how much of those parts I need.
For a video card the big decisions are: what card - which can be answered by looking at benchmarks or a guide like this: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-card-review,3107.html
Also 2GB (standard) or more of video memory - if you are playing at 1080p you won't really need more than 2GB.
Basically there are 2 companies that make GPUs: AMD/Nvidia. AMD's current generation is labeled R7 and R9, Nvidia's is 7XX (760, 770, etc.) The higher the model number the more powerful the card.
If you're looking to learn about "shader pixels" and crap like that don't bother, it's mostly meaningless marketing crap.
Also newegg seems to be running a daily deal on a bunch of SSD that seems like a hole fucking lot off but I don't want to jump on them if they're 40% off of something that's already retailing at twice what it's actually worth.
The 770 is a great card for 1080P.
Really when it comes to computer components it just comes down to benchmarks, reviews, model year, and picking a recommended component that fits your budget. Some sites like tomshardware.com do monthly articles for what components they recommend at certain prices. I think currently Tom's does video cards, CPUs, and SSDs.
If you're really wanting to learn all the ins and outs of different types of components, I said a few pages back that Tom's and AnandTech are my go to sites. Check out their reviews of certain components. They go really in depth into all the crazy details that go into what makes each component tick and how it stacks up to other comparable components. Those two sites will mostly have CPUs, Motherboards, GPUs, SSDs, Cases, etc. For an in depth look into power supplies check out johnnyguru.com.
for a video card I'm looking at the 770 for somewhere around 330(?) bucks
2-3 TB of normal hard drive space for 100-150
8 gigs of 1600 ram for 70ish?
a 250 GB SSD for 150ish?
a motherboard that costs 100 or less
and something in the intel i5 line for about 200?
for a total cost of about 1k which is the upper bound of what I was prepared to spend?
I have no idea how well this coincides with reality, and I also just realized that I didn't add in the cost of a case or PSU either and considering I don't have AC I might want to make sure I have at least a decent one.
Oh ok I see. Yeah pretty much you want your OS and all your normal applications, and any games you're currently playing, so long as you keep the SSD below about 75% capacity. As you fill it up it starts to slow down I'm pretty sure. A lot of people love Steam Mover for moving games back and forth between drives.
I have a 120GB Samsung 840 EVO and have my OS, applications, and a couple games on. Most of my games are installed on another 500GB HDD as well as some media and such.
This is what I would do: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3swGL
I'm going to sleep on it and then come back tomorrow and poke around and see if there are any changes I would make, and probably more importantly, if there are any changes anyone else would make, and go from there.
Agreed. I see some cheaper RAM today.
You could also cut out the DVD drive altogether and use your current computer (does it run 64-bit windows?) to create a bootable USB stick for your Windows install.
Nonononono
Newegg is shipping to Australia (and the UK) now! My moneeeey!
http://www.anandtech.com/show/7943/newegg-opens-business-to-the-uk-and-australia
Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better
bit.ly/2XQM1ke
I had a look around at this, but every second thing I put in my cart was "not available in my country", even once I selected Australia on the shipping settings while browsing.
MSI GS60 Ghost
Looks like potential competition for the Razer Blade 14. Bigger screen, but similar weight.
GS60 Ghost Pro
If its the former, I would tecommend a surface pro.
I did see that MSI Ghost and it is a good option, but the lack of a touch screen is a turn off since Windows 8 really works better with one.
I would LOVE a Surface Pro 2 but am worried about whether or not it can handle the games I want to play. I thought about a MacBook Pro in that regard since it has the Intel Iris and it doesn't look like any Windows 8 tablet/ultrabook has anything higher than the HD 4400.
Games I plan on playing are: XCOM, Civ V (and the new one coming out), EU4, Stick of Truth, and maybe Skyrim and Wasteland/Project Eternity if they actually release in time.
Poking around on Newegg I see that there are some 4GB 770s for about 400. That seems like a reasonable price for twice as much GB but I don't know if that is actually true, or if that's one of those things where they put 2 extra gigs that the card can't use just to sell it for more or something like that.
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks
CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($219.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Gigabyte G1.Sniper Z87 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($175.86 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws Series 16GB (4 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($149.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($64.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R9 290X 4GB Video Card ($649.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Fractal Design Define R4 (Titanium Grey) ATX Mid Tower Case ($123.58 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: XFX 750W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($114.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer ($19.99 @ Newegg)
Monitor: Samsung U28D590D 60Hz 28.0" Monitor
Sound Card: Creative Labs Sound Blaster Zx 24-bit 192 KHz Sound Card ($149.99 @ Newegg)
Speakers: Audioengine A2 (White) 30W 2ch Speakers
Total: $1669.37
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-04-17 15:50 EDT-0400)
If you can spring for it, the 4GB version may offer a bit more longevity. Like Darlan said, Titanfall "requires" 3GB in order to run their extreme textures (not sure how true that is...). And I'm sure other games within the next couple of years will be requiring more as well. Even games like Crysis 3 take up more than 2GB on 1080P for the highest settings. So a 4GB 770 may be a good choice especially if you end up wanting to upgrade to a 1440P monitor in the future.
http://steamcommunity.com/id/pablocampy
Get a 780ti instead of the 290X.