More serious questions:
Are you overclocking? If so, you need a cooler. If not, you can save some money on the chip (unless there's a deal) and mobo.
What does that $175 mobo give you that a cheaper one doesn't? I honestly don't know, so I'm just asking.
Have you considered an Xonar sound card instead of a Sound Blaster? They're generally a better deal, though Creative does make good software.
The price vs performance on your video card isn't good. You might really want to consider other options.
I'm not familiar with XFX PSUs and haven't seen them recommended. Have you found a few good reviews at least?
Less serious bits:
Not that 16GB of ram will seem low anytime soon, but a 2x8GB pair at the same price would leave you room to upgrade.
Maybe a larger HDD for a few bucks more and/or a WD drive might be an idea.
Those A2 speakers aren't part of your PC build. Everything I've heard about them is that they're excellent for the price and they'll last you several PC builds. They're totally part of a separate budget.
That case is very nice. If you're overclocking, you might want another fan and screen for the side vent.
Also, it's a lot cheaper to have a kickass 1080p machine than a decent 4k machine. You could keep your existing monitor, spend half the price of the video card, and have a fantastic PC that will last for years. If you really want 4k though, I won't tell you that you're wrong in any way.
It is a lot cheaper to have a kickass 1080p machine. But I want to see if I can make 4k work. I have the hobby money to spend, and it's super not cost-effective and I would never recommend it to anyone else. My samsung monitor is coming monday along with the second r9 290x. I got them each at $600
R9 290x wouldn't make any sense if i was at 1080.
I am adding another case fan per your rec, thanks.
Not looking to overclock at moment, as I think bottleneck is going to be GPU.
As to the motherboard: i actually wish i had gotten a pricier motherboard. Cost goes to two things:
1) some QOL options. bios is fantastic, and it has an on-mobo power switch. it let me quickly determine the machine wasn't booting for reasons other than my usual fucking-up in connecting the power and reset button switches to the mobo. (it didn't like that i was using a particular set of 2 4-pin ATX connectors for the CPU connection on the mobo.
2) if i was being smart about it, i would have bought a more expensive motherboard for crossfire. the PCI-E 3.0 x16 slots share resources, so if i'm running two, they are at x8, which means i'm taking a performance hit. a more expensive motherboard would be able to run two cards full blast.
Since I don't really wanna make a new thread, anybody got a good recommendation for a computer chair for under $150ish
preferably with good back/butt support
Go to office supply stores and do some sitting at desks that are the same height as yours. Then think about the cushions in the chair. You want to be able to at least somewhat easily refill the cushion.
More serious questions:
Are you overclocking? If so, you need a cooler. If not, you can save some money on the chip (unless there's a deal) and mobo.
What does that $175 mobo give you that a cheaper one doesn't? I honestly don't know, so I'm just asking.
Have you considered an Xonar sound card instead of a Sound Blaster? They're generally a better deal, though Creative does make good software.
The price vs performance on your video card isn't good. You might really want to consider other options.
I'm not familiar with XFX PSUs and haven't seen them recommended. Have you found a few good reviews at least?
Less serious bits:
Not that 16GB of ram will seem low anytime soon, but a 2x8GB pair at the same price would leave you room to upgrade.
Maybe a larger HDD for a few bucks more and/or a WD drive might be an idea.
Those A2 speakers aren't part of your PC build. Everything I've heard about them is that they're excellent for the price and they'll last you several PC builds. They're totally part of a separate budget.
That case is very nice. If you're overclocking, you might want another fan and screen for the side vent.
Also, it's a lot cheaper to have a kickass 1080p machine than a decent 4k machine. You could keep your existing monitor, spend half the price of the video card, and have a fantastic PC that will last for years. If you really want 4k though, I won't tell you that you're wrong in any way.
It is a lot cheaper to have a kickass 1080p machine. But I want to see if I can make 4k work. I have the hobby money to spend, and it's super not cost-effective and I would never recommend it to anyone else. My samsung monitor is coming monday along with the second r9 290x. I got them each at $600
R9 290x wouldn't make any sense if i was at 1080.
I am adding another case fan per your rec, thanks.
Not looking to overclock at moment, as I think bottleneck is going to be GPU.
As to the motherboard: i actually wish i had gotten a pricier motherboard. Cost goes to two things:
1) some QOL options. bios is fantastic, and it has an on-mobo power switch. it let me quickly determine the machine wasn't booting for reasons other than my usual fucking-up in connecting the power and reset button switches to the mobo. (it didn't like that i was using a particular set of 2 4-pin ATX connectors for the CPU connection on the mobo.
2) if i was being smart about it, i would have bought a more expensive motherboard for crossfire. the PCI-E 3.0 x16 slots share resources, so if i'm running two, they are at x8, which means i'm taking a performance hit. a more expensive motherboard would be able to run two cards full blast.
I don't think the current limitation for pci-e x8 is the game graphics. You're already dipping below 60 FPS for many games at 4k. The limitation is that no graphics cards exist yet that can saturate a x8 line. So your 290x's should never run into a problem.
"The world is a mess, and I just need to rule it" - Dr Horrible
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ResIpsaLoquiturNot a grammar nazi, just alt-write.Registered Userregular
I'm currently running and athlon x2 245 with 4g DDR2 ram on an AM2 mobo. My video card, an HD 6770, still has enough life in it for my purposes, so that'll be something that gets upgraded down the road (and the rest of my parts are ok for now). Mostly I game on it, and I'm hitting a point where the stuff I play has to be at low or medium low to get playable framerates. I don't need highest settings, but I definitely need to boost performance.
I only have budgeted around $250 for mobo/cpu/ram (since all 3 will need to be upgraded at once). I could set aside more if I waited longer, but I'm really feeling the end of life on those three pieces. Part of my aim is upgradability, but at the core I'm looking for as much bang for my buck as possible. I like this:
I think that gives me some room to upgrade (better cpu, better video card, 2 extra ram slots), while being a very substantial boost over what I have now. With the constraints in mind, is there anything I'm overlooking (should I be sticking with AM3 rather than FM2, etc)?
You could also do this: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/233K7 which I think would be better. If you could stretch your budget to $280 and wait for a deal you could probably get an i5 which will hold you for years.
E.g. I put together this: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/GFKd for $280 because I waited for a sale.
Also, where do you live? Is there a Microcenter nearby? If so you could get a better processor for pretty cheap.
Unfortunately, no. There's a Fry's about 2 hours away, but that drive cuts into the value.
I like that i3 combo. The 250 is a pretty firm limit, unfortunately, but that's why part of my goal is future proofing (getting a new HD/SSD and video card next year, a cpu and more ram if needed the year after, etc.); I want to start in a spot where I can upgrade piecemeal for 3 to 4 years.
I would go with the best socket 1150 motherboard you think you will need and a basic dual core Haswell processor in that case, probably a Pentium G3420 (still significantly better than an Athlon X2 245!). 8 gigs of decent RAM will be good for the next 5-6 years, most likely. That way you ought to be able to swap in a decent quad-core Broadwell processor next year, pop a big SSD in it the year after that, then slap in a decent video card the following year and be good to go for another few years before you'd start looking at upgrading to a new motherboard and processor again.
So, Fry's is selling the Haswell i5-4430 at $100, and my local Staples is willing to pricematch (despite the distance). I think that's about as good a deal I can get on an 1150 chip (there is a Pentium G3220 for half that price, but I don't think the savings is worth it in this instance). I know it's not really overclockable, but it seems like a very solid choice, all things considered.
League of Legends: MichaelDominick; Blizzard(NA): MichaelD#11402; Steam ID: MichaelDominick
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Donovan PuppyfuckerA dagger in the dark isworth a thousand swords in the morningRegistered Userregular
Oh yeah, a 4430 is a perfectly capable quadcore CPU. I'm of the opinion that if you're not overclocking there's not really much point spending an extra $30-40 for a couple of hundred MHz that you'd never really notice unless you run CPU benchmarks.
I'm currently running and athlon x2 245 with 4g DDR2 ram on an AM2 mobo. My video card, an HD 6770, still has enough life in it for my purposes, so that'll be something that gets upgraded down the road (and the rest of my parts are ok for now). Mostly I game on it, and I'm hitting a point where the stuff I play has to be at low or medium low to get playable framerates. I don't need highest settings, but I definitely need to boost performance.
I only have budgeted around $250 for mobo/cpu/ram (since all 3 will need to be upgraded at once). I could set aside more if I waited longer, but I'm really feeling the end of life on those three pieces. Part of my aim is upgradability, but at the core I'm looking for as much bang for my buck as possible. I like this:
I think that gives me some room to upgrade (better cpu, better video card, 2 extra ram slots), while being a very substantial boost over what I have now. With the constraints in mind, is there anything I'm overlooking (should I be sticking with AM3 rather than FM2, etc)?
You could also do this: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/233K7 which I think would be better. If you could stretch your budget to $280 and wait for a deal you could probably get an i5 which will hold you for years.
E.g. I put together this: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/GFKd for $280 because I waited for a sale.
Also, where do you live? Is there a Microcenter nearby? If so you could get a better processor for pretty cheap.
Unfortunately, no. There's a Fry's about 2 hours away, but that drive cuts into the value.
I like that i3 combo. The 250 is a pretty firm limit, unfortunately, but that's why part of my goal is future proofing (getting a new HD/SSD and video card next year, a cpu and more ram if needed the year after, etc.); I want to start in a spot where I can upgrade piecemeal for 3 to 4 years.
I would go with the best socket 1150 motherboard you think you will need and a basic dual core Haswell processor in that case, probably a Pentium G3420 (still significantly better than an Athlon X2 245!). 8 gigs of decent RAM will be good for the next 5-6 years, most likely. That way you ought to be able to swap in a decent quad-core Broadwell processor next year, pop a big SSD in it the year after that, then slap in a decent video card the following year and be good to go for another few years before you'd start looking at upgrading to a new motherboard and processor again.
So, Fry's is selling the Haswell i5-4430 at $100, and my local Staples is willing to pricematch (despite the distance). I think that's about as good a deal I can get on an 1150 chip (there is a Pentium G3220 for half that price, but I don't think the savings is worth it in this instance). I know it's not really overclockable, but it seems like a very solid choice, all things considered.
Okay I've been kinda putting off ordering my shit because I'm apprehensive about making a mistake and trowing away a bunch of money, but I really need to just bite the bullet and do it.
I'm going with basically this which was posted for me earlier with a few slight changes.
Okay I've been kinda putting off ordering my shit because I'm apprehensive about making a mistake and trowing away a bunch of money, but I really need to just bite the bullet and do it.
I'm going with basically this which was posted for me earlier with a few slight changes.
I'm currently running and athlon x2 245 with 4g DDR2 ram on an AM2 mobo. My video card, an HD 6770, still has enough life in it for my purposes, so that'll be something that gets upgraded down the road (and the rest of my parts are ok for now). Mostly I game on it, and I'm hitting a point where the stuff I play has to be at low or medium low to get playable framerates. I don't need highest settings, but I definitely need to boost performance.
I only have budgeted around $250 for mobo/cpu/ram (since all 3 will need to be upgraded at once). I could set aside more if I waited longer, but I'm really feeling the end of life on those three pieces. Part of my aim is upgradability, but at the core I'm looking for as much bang for my buck as possible. I like this:
I think that gives me some room to upgrade (better cpu, better video card, 2 extra ram slots), while being a very substantial boost over what I have now. With the constraints in mind, is there anything I'm overlooking (should I be sticking with AM3 rather than FM2, etc)?
You could also do this: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/233K7 which I think would be better. If you could stretch your budget to $280 and wait for a deal you could probably get an i5 which will hold you for years.
E.g. I put together this: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/GFKd for $280 because I waited for a sale.
Also, where do you live? Is there a Microcenter nearby? If so you could get a better processor for pretty cheap.
Unfortunately, no. There's a Fry's about 2 hours away, but that drive cuts into the value.
I like that i3 combo. The 250 is a pretty firm limit, unfortunately, but that's why part of my goal is future proofing (getting a new HD/SSD and video card next year, a cpu and more ram if needed the year after, etc.); I want to start in a spot where I can upgrade piecemeal for 3 to 4 years.
I would go with the best socket 1150 motherboard you think you will need and a basic dual core Haswell processor in that case, probably a Pentium G3420 (still significantly better than an Athlon X2 245!). 8 gigs of decent RAM will be good for the next 5-6 years, most likely. That way you ought to be able to swap in a decent quad-core Broadwell processor next year, pop a big SSD in it the year after that, then slap in a decent video card the following year and be good to go for another few years before you'd start looking at upgrading to a new motherboard and processor again.
So, Fry's is selling the Haswell i5-4430 at $100, and my local Staples is willing to pricematch (despite the distance). I think that's about as good a deal I can get on an 1150 chip (there is a Pentium G3220 for half that price, but I don't think the savings is worth it in this instance). I know it's not really overclockable, but it seems like a very solid choice, all things considered.
Yes, that is a very good deal.
I pulled the trigger. Now to find deals on a mobo and ram. If I don't expect to really do overclocking, my sense is that it's still worth going for an H87 over an H81. I was also reading some things about voltage on ram... am I correct that I should make sure to get ram that has a particular standard voltage (1.5, I think?)?
League of Legends: MichaelDominick; Blizzard(NA): MichaelD#11402; Steam ID: MichaelDominick
Okay I've been kinda putting off ordering my shit because I'm apprehensive about making a mistake and trowing away a bunch of money, but I really need to just bite the bullet and do it.
I'm going with basically this which was posted for me earlier with a few slight changes.
More serious questions:
Are you overclocking? If so, you need a cooler. If not, you can save some money on the chip (unless there's a deal) and mobo.
What does that $175 mobo give you that a cheaper one doesn't? I honestly don't know, so I'm just asking.
Have you considered an Xonar sound card instead of a Sound Blaster? They're generally a better deal, though Creative does make good software.
The price vs performance on your video card isn't good. You might really want to consider other options.
I'm not familiar with XFX PSUs and haven't seen them recommended. Have you found a few good reviews at least?
Less serious bits:
Not that 16GB of ram will seem low anytime soon, but a 2x8GB pair at the same price would leave you room to upgrade.
Maybe a larger HDD for a few bucks more and/or a WD drive might be an idea.
Those A2 speakers aren't part of your PC build. Everything I've heard about them is that they're excellent for the price and they'll last you several PC builds. They're totally part of a separate budget.
That case is very nice. If you're overclocking, you might want another fan and screen for the side vent.
Also, it's a lot cheaper to have a kickass 1080p machine than a decent 4k machine. You could keep your existing monitor, spend half the price of the video card, and have a fantastic PC that will last for years. If you really want 4k though, I won't tell you that you're wrong in any way.
It is a lot cheaper to have a kickass 1080p machine. But I want to see if I can make 4k work. I have the hobby money to spend, and it's super not cost-effective and I would never recommend it to anyone else. My samsung monitor is coming monday along with the second r9 290x. I got them each at $600
R9 290x wouldn't make any sense if i was at 1080.
I am adding another case fan per your rec, thanks.
Not looking to overclock at moment, as I think bottleneck is going to be GPU.
As to the motherboard: i actually wish i had gotten a pricier motherboard. Cost goes to two things:
1) some QOL options. bios is fantastic, and it has an on-mobo power switch. it let me quickly determine the machine wasn't booting for reasons other than my usual fucking-up in connecting the power and reset button switches to the mobo. (it didn't like that i was using a particular set of 2 4-pin ATX connectors for the CPU connection on the mobo.
2) if i was being smart about it, i would have bought a more expensive motherboard for crossfire. the PCI-E 3.0 x16 slots share resources, so if i'm running two, they are at x8, which means i'm taking a performance hit. a more expensive motherboard would be able to run two cards full blast.
I don't think the current limitation for pci-e x8 is the game graphics. You're already dipping below 60 FPS for many games at 4k. The limitation is that no graphics cards exist yet that can saturate a x8 line. So your 290x's should never run into a problem.
Really? Even though r9 290xs are using the new crossfire tech that just communicates through the PCI bus rather than a crossover cable?
This agrees with you - maaaybe there'd be some saturation on PCI-E 2 with two cards, but certainly not with 3, which is the only instances in which PCI 3 isn't overkill.
That's a really good price for the RAM. Any reason to worry about that brand? It looks like it's solid (no pun intended), but I don't know the current reputation of that brand.
EDIT: I did notice that they're DDR3-1333. If one's processor handles 1600, would it be better to go with that, or have we hit a point where it makes no difference?
ResIpsaLoquitur on
League of Legends: MichaelDominick; Blizzard(NA): MichaelD#11402; Steam ID: MichaelDominick
Hey computah build thread, I think my 560ti is finally about to kick the bucket. I'm hoping to get a setup that can support 3 monitors without breaking the bank too much. Should I be looking into some sort of matching SLI build or could I get away with one nice card for gaming/ video editing and a secondary mediocre card for the third monitor?
Any recommendations on a $200 or so card that would be a solid upgrade from my 560ti? How about an extra card/ matching SLI card?
Hey computah build thread, I think my 560ti is finally about to kick the bucket. I'm hoping to get a setup that can support 3 monitors without breaking the bank too much. Should I be looking into some sort of matching SLI build or could I get away with one nice card for gaming/ video editing and a secondary mediocre card for the third monitor?
Any recommendations on a $200 or so card that would be a solid upgrade from my 560ti? How about an extra card/ matching SLI card?
I'm not sure there is a $200 card that is a solid upgrade at this point. I wouldn't get anything lower than a 760 as an upgrade. So I think your choice might be another 560ti. There are a few out there (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006VX4E7U/?tag=pcpapi-20), you can use a different brand as long as they are the same memory size/GPU etc.
Is there a reason you think your current card is going to kick the bucket?
It's been artifacting inthates for about a year now. I down clocked it and that helped some, but it still does it after being used for a few hours. Lately I've been getting pretty nasty freeze ups that I'm attributing to my video card because it likes to cause issues sometimes when I transition to my second monitor.
I also keep getting an issue where If I haven't restarted my machine recently (within 12 hours or so) my video card just doesn't want to work properly. It's fine in windows but any game I load up runs super choppy and looking at my video cards activity graph, it's unchanging from before I loaded the game up. A quick restart has always fixed this, but it's getting old.
Then finally, the most troubling issue, is that I just recently had a really hard video driver crash that is signaling to me that it's time to look into a new card before it's too late.
Are you looking to do gaming on all three monitors at once? If so you're going to have to look at a 780 or SLI 770s to play at medium or high settings, respectively.
If you just want the 3 monitors for work or whatever and you are gaming on one, then the GTX 760 is a good card.
Nah, I generally only stick to one monitor for gaming. I do level design using Hammer that I stretch across both monitors though, so I was thinking one in the center above the other two sounded really nice. A bit decadent and not necessary, I suppose, but while I'm upgrading I thought it'd be a fun thing to weigh my options on.
I was tooling around with my OC and now my i5-2500k is struggling when I put it back to 4.5 which has been running fine for years. Maybe I didn't set the config back to exactly what it was but now I'm getting over 80C on prime 95. Should I reseat the heat sink?
So my 780 will be here on Tues. Is anyone here interested in my 7950? Still working fine after about a year or so of use. Im just switching manufacturers and used the opportunity to do an incremental update. Send me a DM to discuss. This should also give me a chance to spring clean my enclosure.
This is interesting, as I'm in the middle of a fairly major tech transitions. Moving away from Apple for phone and laptop. Phone is purchased; still debating laptop in another thread. We've also moved our phone from FiOS to Ooma to save some money and I'll be negotiating a new TV/net package soon
I blame most of it on listening to too much Clark Howard lately.
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Donovan PuppyfuckerA dagger in the dark isworth a thousand swords in the morningRegistered Userregular
I was tooling around with my OC and now my i5-2500k is struggling when I put it back to 4.5 which has been running fine for years. Maybe I didn't set the config back to exactly what it was but now I'm getting over 80C on prime 95. Should I reseat the heat sink?
Lower your voltages to just slightly above the very minimum possible stable setting for the speeds you want.
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Dhalphirdon't you open that trapdooryou're a fool if you dareRegistered Userregular
Any opinions on this build? This is an upgrade from an i5 2500k system with a GTX560.
I'm putting together a media box. It will be used primarily for office work, browsing the internet, and watching movies. I'm using my old peripherals. How does this looks?
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-F2A88XM-D3H
Processor/Integrated video card: AMD A8-6600K Richland 3.9GHz
RAM: CORSAIR Vengeance 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600
PSU: SeaSonic 80 Plus SS-350ET Bronze 350W ATX12V
Hard Drive: Western Digital WD10EZEX 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s
Disk Drive: Asus DRW-24F1ST x24 SATA
Case: Fractal Design Core 1000
Grey Paladin on
"All men dream, but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity; but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dream with open eyes to make it possible." - T.E. Lawrence
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Dhalphirdon't you open that trapdooryou're a fool if you dareRegistered Userregular
I'm not sure you need 4GB of RAM for a media box, but I suppose it can't hurt.
Would it not be better to go for a 2TB drive for better storage? The price difference isn't that much.
I was tooling around with my OC and now my i5-2500k is struggling when I put it back to 4.5 which has been running fine for years. Maybe I didn't set the config back to exactly what it was but now I'm getting over 80C on prime 95. Should I reseat the heat sink?
Lower your voltages to just slightly above the very minimum possible stable setting for the speeds you want.
I have it at 1.28 I think it crashed below that, I can try but it could also just be the age of everything now. I was contemplating replacing the 212+ with a corsair cooler, I will definitely be building once Skylake comes around so I'm not too concerned just wondering since I know all chips are different.
I would never go below 4GB. The too much performance loss. Plus 4GB kits are relatively cheap now.
I wouldn't go below 8. Even a modest workload for a media box (modern windows + web browser + media player) is going to use more than 4 gigs of ram. For a media box you want task/tab switching to be as fast as possible for the best user experience, and that means no paging to disk.
I have what I think is a Radeon HD 6950 in an MSI MS-7673 Mobo. The graphics card has always made a high pitch whine and I have finally had enough of it. Can anyone recommend a card that won't break the bank - I'm thinking under £200 and will fit in the board I currently have.
The rest of the system is an i5-2500K, 128GB SSD and and 4GB RAM so I don't think I need to look at replacing anything else just yet.........do I?
I would stick with your current processor setup and make sure you have at least 8GB RAM, an SSD, and upgrade your video card. That processor is still great.
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Donovan PuppyfuckerA dagger in the dark isworth a thousand swords in the morningRegistered Userregular
I would never go below 4GB. The too much performance loss. Plus 4GB kits are relatively cheap now.
I wouldn't go below 8. Even a modest workload for a media box (modern windows + web browser + media player) is going to use more than 4 gigs of ram. For a media box you want task/tab switching to be as fast as possible for the best user experience, and that means no paging to disk.
Put 64 gigs of quad channel 2666+ MHz RAM in it and set up a 48GB RAMdisk!
Donovan Puppyfucker on
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CarbonFireSee youin the countryRegistered Userregular
I have what I think is a Radeon HD 6950 in an MSI MS-7673 Mobo. The graphics card has always made a high pitch whine and I have finally had enough of it. Can anyone recommend a card that won't break the bank - I'm thinking under £200 and will fit in the board I currently have.
The rest of the system is an i5-2500K, 128GB SSD and and 4GB RAM so I don't think I need to look at replacing anything else just yet.........do I?
If so, there's always a chance that your PSU might be partially to blame, at least in how it is delivering power to the card. So while it's quite possible a new card will fix the problem, there are no guarantees that the new card will be whine free either.
For a little under £200 the Geforce gtx760 or Radeon 270x would probably be your best bets. Or for a little more than 200 quid, you can score a GTX 770 or R280X, which are both pretty beastly. Keep in mind a lot of these mid-range cards still have 2GB of RAM, which will likely be a liability once we start seeing more "next-gen" multi-platform titles (some games already use more than 2GB). If you don't mind turning down the texture quality settings, then any of those cards should perform fine for the next couple of years.
But definitely make sure your PSU is up to snuff before grabbing any of those cards.
I would stick with your current processor setup and make sure you have at least 8GB RAM, an SSD, and upgrade your video card. That processor is still great.
That was my thinking, but the real intent here is to recycle this machine as a media PC for the living room so that I don't have to keep watching Netflix mirrored to the TV through my Surface Pro. It's overkill for a media PC, I know.
The other option I considered was buying a cheap media PC and then upgrading this machine, but to be honest that would probably cost almost what the build linked above does, and would also necessitate replacement at some point sooner than a new machine would.
When you say my current 2500K processor setup is adequate, are we talking 90% of the performance of the 4670K, 80%, 70%?
I would stick with your current processor setup and make sure you have at least 8GB RAM, an SSD, and upgrade your video card. That processor is still great.
That was my thinking, but the real intent here is to recycle this machine as a media PC for the living room so that I don't have to keep watching Netflix mirrored to the TV through my Surface Pro. It's overkill for a media PC, I know.
The other option I considered was buying a cheap media PC and then upgrading this machine, but to be honest that would probably cost almost what the build linked above does, and would also necessitate replacement at some point sooner than a new machine would.
When you say my current 2500K processor setup is adequate, are we talking 90% of the performance of the 4670K, 80%, 70%?
More like the 2500K is 95% of the performance. It's more than adequate - you will not notice a difference if you upgrade.
What do you want to do with a media PC? Just Netflix? If all you are doing right now is mirroring content with a surface, you could get a Roku or something like that.
I have what I think is a Radeon HD 6950 in an MSI MS-7673 Mobo. The graphics card has always made a high pitch whine and I have finally had enough of it. Can anyone recommend a card that won't break the bank - I'm thinking under £200 and will fit in the board I currently have.
The rest of the system is an i5-2500K, 128GB SSD and and 4GB RAM so I don't think I need to look at replacing anything else just yet.........do I?
If so, there's always a chance that your PSU might be partially to blame, at least in how it is delivering power to the card. So while it's quite possible a new card will fix the problem, there are no guarantees that the new card will be whine free either.
For a little under £200 the Geforce gtx760 or Radeon 270x would probably be your best bets. Or for a little more than 200 quid, you can score a GTX 770 or R280X, which are both pretty beastly. Keep in mind a lot of these mid-range cards still have 2GB of RAM, which will likely be a liability once we start seeing more "next-gen" multi-platform titles (some games already use more than 2GB). If you don't mind turning down the texture quality settings, then any of those cards should perform fine for the next couple of years.
But definitely make sure your PSU is up to snuff before grabbing any of those cards.
Hmmm the whine I have is nothing like in that video - it doesn't go up and down in pitch. Maybe it's my PSU that needs replacing. I wonder if I can pinch some spares from work to test. It definitely gets worse when playing more intensive games but then presumably the GPU draws more power and so it might still be the PSU.
I will probably replace the whole system in 18 months to 2 years so will worry about the larger RAM cards at that point, probably. Cheers for this.
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Dhalphirdon't you open that trapdooryou're a fool if you dareRegistered Userregular
I would stick with your current processor setup and make sure you have at least 8GB RAM, an SSD, and upgrade your video card. That processor is still great.
That was my thinking, but the real intent here is to recycle this machine as a media PC for the living room so that I don't have to keep watching Netflix mirrored to the TV through my Surface Pro. It's overkill for a media PC, I know.
The other option I considered was buying a cheap media PC and then upgrading this machine, but to be honest that would probably cost almost what the build linked above does, and would also necessitate replacement at some point sooner than a new machine would.
When you say my current 2500K processor setup is adequate, are we talking 90% of the performance of the 4670K, 80%, 70%?
More like the 2500K is 95% of the performance. It's more than adequate - you will not notice a difference if you upgrade.
What do you want to do with a media PC? Just Netflix? If all you are doing right now is mirroring content with a surface, you could get a Roku or something like that.
My current CPU gets pretty bottlenecked when I stream games to Twitch - the fan goes off like a jet engine and loads sit around 90-95% consistently, even when it's a relatively simple game like Starcraft 2. I know a beefy CPU isn't much use for video gaming like Skyrim etc, but I actually play a lot of very CPU intensive games - Kerbal Space Program, Starcraft 2, both are far more dependent on CPU than GPU.
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toloveistorebel Impressive. Most impressive. Central FLRegistered Userregular
I would stick with your current processor setup and make sure you have at least 8GB RAM, an SSD, and upgrade your video card. That processor is still great.
That was my thinking, but the real intent here is to recycle this machine as a media PC for the living room so that I don't have to keep watching Netflix mirrored to the TV through my Surface Pro. It's overkill for a media PC, I know.
The other option I considered was buying a cheap media PC and then upgrading this machine, but to be honest that would probably cost almost what the build linked above does, and would also necessitate replacement at some point sooner than a new machine would.
When you say my current 2500K processor setup is adequate, are we talking 90% of the performance of the 4670K, 80%, 70%?
More like the 2500K is 95% of the performance. It's more than adequate - you will not notice a difference if you upgrade.
What do you want to do with a media PC? Just Netflix? If all you are doing right now is mirroring content with a surface, you could get a Roku or something like that.
My current CPU gets pretty bottlenecked when I stream games to Twitch - the fan goes off like a jet engine and loads sit around 90-95% consistently, even when it's a relatively simple game like Starcraft 2. I know a beefy CPU isn't much use for video gaming like Skyrim etc, but I actually play a lot of very CPU intensive games - Kerbal Space Program, Starcraft 2, both are far more dependent on CPU than GPU.
If your 2500K is truly bottlenecking, a 4670K isn't going to help any. If you need more power and are running things which hyperthreading would help, maybe look at a i7 4770K. I remember when I first started playing Planetside 2 that a lot of people were having issues with low framerates and stepping up to an i7 cleared it right up. Most games it doesn't matter. But with very CPU intensive games it can definitely help I think.
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Dhalphirdon't you open that trapdooryou're a fool if you dareRegistered Userregular
From a quick google search, it looks like CPU intensive games like SC2 and KSP benefit greatly from hyperthreading when streaming them at the same time. So I'll upgrade the CPU in the box to the i7 4770K.
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preferably with good back/butt support
It is a lot cheaper to have a kickass 1080p machine. But I want to see if I can make 4k work. I have the hobby money to spend, and it's super not cost-effective and I would never recommend it to anyone else. My samsung monitor is coming monday along with the second r9 290x. I got them each at $600
R9 290x wouldn't make any sense if i was at 1080.
I am adding another case fan per your rec, thanks.
Not looking to overclock at moment, as I think bottleneck is going to be GPU.
As to the motherboard: i actually wish i had gotten a pricier motherboard. Cost goes to two things:
1) some QOL options. bios is fantastic, and it has an on-mobo power switch. it let me quickly determine the machine wasn't booting for reasons other than my usual fucking-up in connecting the power and reset button switches to the mobo. (it didn't like that i was using a particular set of 2 4-pin ATX connectors for the CPU connection on the mobo.
2) if i was being smart about it, i would have bought a more expensive motherboard for crossfire. the PCI-E 3.0 x16 slots share resources, so if i'm running two, they are at x8, which means i'm taking a performance hit. a more expensive motherboard would be able to run two cards full blast.
Not clear it'll be a big issue until star citizen, though (see http://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/Impact-of-PCI-E-Speed-on-Gaming-Performance-518/)
Go to office supply stores and do some sitting at desks that are the same height as yours. Then think about the cushions in the chair. You want to be able to at least somewhat easily refill the cushion.
I don't think the current limitation for pci-e x8 is the game graphics. You're already dipping below 60 FPS for many games at 4k. The limitation is that no graphics cards exist yet that can saturate a x8 line. So your 290x's should never run into a problem.
So, Fry's is selling the Haswell i5-4430 at $100, and my local Staples is willing to pricematch (despite the distance). I think that's about as good a deal I can get on an 1150 chip (there is a Pentium G3220 for half that price, but I don't think the savings is worth it in this instance). I know it's not really overclockable, but it seems like a very solid choice, all things considered.
Yes, that is a very good deal.
I'm going with basically this which was posted for me earlier with a few slight changes.
I'm using this case
and
this RAM
this will all fit and won't change what I need for my power source, right?
I'm pretty close to giving up on thinking I will ever be 100% sure of myself here so I'm just going to go with it.
1. You already own this case and RAM, yes?
2. Yes, those things will all work with that case and RAM.
You won't be disappointed, there is no reason to stress over what you have picked out here!
I pulled the trigger. Now to find deals on a mobo and ram. If I don't expect to really do overclocking, my sense is that it's still worth going for an H87 over an H81. I was also reading some things about voltage on ram... am I correct that I should make sure to get ram that has a particular standard voltage (1.5, I think?)?
If you want to save another $2 or so, grab this set of RAM.
Really? Even though r9 290xs are using the new crossfire tech that just communicates through the PCI bus rather than a crossover cable?
This agrees with you - maaaybe there'd be some saturation on PCI-E 2 with two cards, but certainly not with 3, which is the only instances in which PCI 3 isn't overkill.
This is a citation-free thread, though, mind you: https://teksyndicate.com/forum/gpu/r9-290x-crossfire-questions/158086
Ahh. Go with whatever you like for a case. That is a fine choice.
For RAM you could go for this: http://pcpartpicker.com/part/pny-memory-md8192kd31333 which is under $60 on Amazon so it's a good deal. And it's two sticks so you get dual-channel.
Personally I'm not a big fan of the look of that case, but if you are then go for it. But for less you could get this (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00F3F06II/?tag=pcpapi-20) or this (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811139040). Those both have 2 USB 3.0 front ports. And I think they have more steel than that Raidmax case (which will make it quieter and reduce vibration noise a bit, but maybe not.
That's a really good price for the RAM. Any reason to worry about that brand? It looks like it's solid (no pun intended), but I don't know the current reputation of that brand.
EDIT: I did notice that they're DDR3-1333. If one's processor handles 1600, would it be better to go with that, or have we hit a point where it makes no difference?
And if I'm going to have this sitting around/on my desk for the next 4 or more years I want it to be something I like the look of.
Any recommendations on a $200 or so card that would be a solid upgrade from my 560ti? How about an extra card/ matching SLI card?
I'm not sure there is a $200 card that is a solid upgrade at this point. I wouldn't get anything lower than a 760 as an upgrade. So I think your choice might be another 560ti. There are a few out there (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006VX4E7U/?tag=pcpapi-20), you can use a different brand as long as they are the same memory size/GPU etc.
Is there a reason you think your current card is going to kick the bucket?
I also keep getting an issue where If I haven't restarted my machine recently (within 12 hours or so) my video card just doesn't want to work properly. It's fine in windows but any game I load up runs super choppy and looking at my video cards activity graph, it's unchanging from before I loaded the game up. A quick restart has always fixed this, but it's getting old.
Then finally, the most troubling issue, is that I just recently had a really hard video driver crash that is signaling to me that it's time to look into a new card before it's too late.
Any cards sub 300 worth looking into?
If you just want the 3 monitors for work or whatever and you are gaming on one, then the GTX 760 is a good card.
I'll check out the 760, thanks.
I blame most of it on listening to too much Clark Howard lately.
Lower your voltages to just slightly above the very minimum possible stable setting for the speeds you want.
http://au.pcpartpicker.com/p/3zYbh
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-F2A88XM-D3H
Processor/Integrated video card: AMD A8-6600K Richland 3.9GHz
RAM: CORSAIR Vengeance 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600
PSU: SeaSonic 80 Plus SS-350ET Bronze 350W ATX12V
Hard Drive: Western Digital WD10EZEX 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s
Disk Drive: Asus DRW-24F1ST x24 SATA
Case: Fractal Design Core 1000
Would it not be better to go for a 2TB drive for better storage? The price difference isn't that much.
I have it at 1.28 I think it crashed below that, I can try but it could also just be the age of everything now. I was contemplating replacing the 212+ with a corsair cooler, I will definitely be building once Skylake comes around so I'm not too concerned just wondering since I know all chips are different.
I wouldn't go below 8. Even a modest workload for a media box (modern windows + web browser + media player) is going to use more than 4 gigs of ram. For a media box you want task/tab switching to be as fast as possible for the best user experience, and that means no paging to disk.
The rest of the system is an i5-2500K, 128GB SSD and and 4GB RAM so I don't think I need to look at replacing anything else just yet.........do I?
I would stick with your current processor setup and make sure you have at least 8GB RAM, an SSD, and upgrade your video card. That processor is still great.
Put 64 gigs of quad channel 2666+ MHz RAM in it and set up a 48GB RAMdisk!
Does your 6950 sound anything like this?
If so, there's always a chance that your PSU might be partially to blame, at least in how it is delivering power to the card. So while it's quite possible a new card will fix the problem, there are no guarantees that the new card will be whine free either.
For a little under £200 the Geforce gtx760 or Radeon 270x would probably be your best bets. Or for a little more than 200 quid, you can score a GTX 770 or R280X, which are both pretty beastly. Keep in mind a lot of these mid-range cards still have 2GB of RAM, which will likely be a liability once we start seeing more "next-gen" multi-platform titles (some games already use more than 2GB). If you don't mind turning down the texture quality settings, then any of those cards should perform fine for the next couple of years.
But definitely make sure your PSU is up to snuff before grabbing any of those cards.
That was my thinking, but the real intent here is to recycle this machine as a media PC for the living room so that I don't have to keep watching Netflix mirrored to the TV through my Surface Pro. It's overkill for a media PC, I know.
The other option I considered was buying a cheap media PC and then upgrading this machine, but to be honest that would probably cost almost what the build linked above does, and would also necessitate replacement at some point sooner than a new machine would.
When you say my current 2500K processor setup is adequate, are we talking 90% of the performance of the 4670K, 80%, 70%?
http://www.ocaholic.ch/modules/smartsection/item.php?itemid=1158&page=13
More like the 2500K is 95% of the performance. It's more than adequate - you will not notice a difference if you upgrade.
What do you want to do with a media PC? Just Netflix? If all you are doing right now is mirroring content with a surface, you could get a Roku or something like that.
Hmmm the whine I have is nothing like in that video - it doesn't go up and down in pitch. Maybe it's my PSU that needs replacing. I wonder if I can pinch some spares from work to test. It definitely gets worse when playing more intensive games but then presumably the GPU draws more power and so it might still be the PSU.
I will probably replace the whole system in 18 months to 2 years so will worry about the larger RAM cards at that point, probably. Cheers for this.
My current CPU gets pretty bottlenecked when I stream games to Twitch - the fan goes off like a jet engine and loads sit around 90-95% consistently, even when it's a relatively simple game like Starcraft 2. I know a beefy CPU isn't much use for video gaming like Skyrim etc, but I actually play a lot of very CPU intensive games - Kerbal Space Program, Starcraft 2, both are far more dependent on CPU than GPU.
If your 2500K is truly bottlenecking, a 4670K isn't going to help any. If you need more power and are running things which hyperthreading would help, maybe look at a i7 4770K. I remember when I first started playing Planetside 2 that a lot of people were having issues with low framerates and stepping up to an i7 cleared it right up. Most games it doesn't matter. But with very CPU intensive games it can definitely help I think.