"Republic of Gamers" is just the branding ASUS uses for their enthusiast parts/products, basically.
"ROG Connect" is a utility that lets you hook up a laptop to your computer via a USB port and inspect detailed POST information, for the stated purpose of enabling better overclock tuning
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AlectharAlan ShoreWe're not territorial about that sort of thing, are we?Registered Userregular
edited July 2011
Vaguely Sappy Crap Below
So, I realize we're just a stickied thread here, not some kind of massive enterprise, but I'd like to take a second to thank some of my fellow thread stalwarts for their continued assistance and good advice. Iolo, TheCanMan, Pirusu, McDermott, chrishallett83, Darkwyndre, emp123, and everyone else here making a contribution that I'm not noting by name because I'm forgetful and/or a moron (PM me to express your disappointment in me!) have been huge in keeping this thread kickass. Over the past crapload of pages, we've assisted in the purchase and building of a lot of nice gaming PCs, some of which are immortalized on the first page (more to come when work stops kicking my ass quite as thoroughly as it is at the moment) and I think it's pretty fucking cool. A big thank you as well to the surprisingly large number of people who are just crazy enough to follow our advice, and thus make our time here worthwhile. And just in case anyone was wondering, I was not diagnosed with terminal cancer (so you can cancel the parties, jerks) and I'm not going anywhere, I just felt like now was as good a time as any to put this out there.
Don't Worry, I'm Done For Now
Anyway, Smash: The Z68 Gene is probably the nicest 1155 mATX motherboard around. If I were building an mATX Sandy Bridge system, it's what I would go with. Basically all PCI-E slots are compatible with lower bandwidth expansion cards, so if you install a x1 PCI-E device in a PCI-E x4 or x8 or x16 slot, it'll run just fine. Differing physical dimensions of the slots exist mostly to make sure that people aren't trying to run expansion cards requiring higher levels of bandwidth in low bandwidth slots. Basically: anything you would have installed in a PCI-E x1 slot will go right into that x4 slot and love it.
Also, tech support is now really the only situation I can envision where PCI support would come in handy, unless you already had a PCI expansion card you wanted to use. These days, anything you used to run on the PCI bus you can find in a PCI-E version.
As for the ROG stuff, Dehumanized has the right of it.
Thank you chrishallett83 for pointing me in this direction. I'm looking to upgrade my graphics card at the moment and I have my eye on this Radeon HD 6850. I'd be happy to spend a bit more if there is a better option available, but I don't have a huge amount of money (ideally under £150) and I'd rather not buy anything too flashy that will turn the cpu into a bottleneck. My motherboard has (as far as I can see) one PCI Express x16 and 2 PCI express x1 slots, though one of them is covered by the heat sink on the graphics card. I'll most likely be running games at 1360x768. Is the 6850 my best bet in this price range, and if so do you think it will last a couple of years?
Thank you in advance!
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AlectharAlan ShoreWe're not territorial about that sort of thing, are we?Registered Userregular
Thank you chrishallett83 for pointing me in this direction. I'm looking to upgrade my graphics card at the moment and I have my eye on this Radeon HD 6850. I'd be happy to spend a bit more if there is a better option available, but I don't have a huge amount of money (ideally under £150) and I'd rather not buy anything too flashy that will turn the cpu into a bottleneck. My motherboard has (as far as I can see) one PCI Express x16 and 2 PCI express x1 slots, though one of them is covered by the heat sink on the graphics card. I'll most likely be running games at 1360x768. Is the 6850 my best bet in this price range, and if so do you think it will last a couple of years?
Thank you in advance!
Does your PSU have an 8-pin and a 6 pin PCI-E connector? What PSU are you running, for that matter? If you have an OEM (pre-built) PC, could you pop it open for us and take a picture of the PSU label if possible? Basically I don't want you to end up blowing up your PSU (and/or your entire rig) trying to power your graphics card.
This 6850 won't be as overclockable, and it's not on sale so it's a bit more expensive for you, but it's also less power hungry, which might be what you need depending on what's powering your PC.
Also, welcome to the thread, and please feel free to come back anytime.
PSU label There is a 6-pin PCI-E connector that's not already in use though no available 8-pin connectors. I've just noticed that that it requires two auxiliary power supplies, I think the older model only needed one. The XFX model only requires one 6-pin and ebuyer are selling it even cheaper at the moment with a free copy of Shogun 2!
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AlectharAlan ShoreWe're not territorial about that sort of thing, are we?Registered Userregular
edited July 2011
Yeah, go with that XFX deal. I'm not in love with that PSU, it's an old design (you can tell because the +3.3V and +5V amperages are so high, most modern PSUs are primarily focused on +12V) but it should hold out for you, as the 6850 isn't too demanding.
So, I realize we're just a stickied thread here, not some kind of massive enterprise, but I'd like to take a second to thank some of my fellow thread stalwarts for their continued assistance and good advice. Iolo, TheCanMan, Pirusu, McDermott, chrishallett83, Darkwyndre, emp123, and everyone else here making a contribution that I'm not noting by name because I'm forgetful and/or a moron (PM me to express your disappointment in me!) have been huge in keeping this thread kickass. Over the past crapload of pages, we've assisted in the purchase and building of a lot of nice gaming PCs, some of which are immortalized on the first page (more to come when work stops kicking my ass quite as thoroughly as it is at the moment) and I think it's pretty fucking cool. A big thank you as well to the surprisingly large number of people who are just crazy enough to follow our advice, and thus make our time here worthwhile. And just in case anyone was wondering, I was not diagnosed with terminal cancer (so you can cancel the parties, jerks) and I'm not going anywhere, I just felt like now was as good a time as any to put this out there.
Don't Worry, I'm Done For Now
Awww, you big softie. I'm pleased to be listed, of course, although I have to smile because functionally my role in the thread is that of the village idiot who squeals with joy and claps his hand when shown a pretty picture. Oh, and linking the LIAN LI Lancool K-62 whenever it goes on sale for as little as a dollar off.
This thread continues to be a staggeringly good resource and I really appreciate all the people who know what they are talking about contributing so much of their time. Although it's damned dangerous at times as I get perilously close to grabbing some can't miss bargain and building another PC I can't afford.
Completely unrelatedly, Alecthar, how about you sig a link to your Steam profile page for the next eight days or so?
proyebatGARY WAS HEREASH IS A LOSERRegistered Userregular
edited July 2011
That ASUS Maximus IV motherboard was something I was looking for. I asked a few pages for a motherboard who had two PCI-E ports that fited in specific locations. Thanks for posting that.
e: that was until I saw the price tag on it. Is there a cheaper micro-atx LGA 1155 motherboard?
Build Thread, I'm having thought of building a new computer at the end of summer that could run BF3, and I'm not too sure what my budget will be then, so I'd like to ask a few questions.
I've already decided on a dazing case as a starting. This NZXT Vulcan pics1pics2 just caught my eye when I first saw it. It's compact and has a detachable handle, and that's what I like as my current computer goes places a couple times a month. But it states it only fits mini/micro-ATX motherboards.
On the back of the case are 4 detachable backplates but the sample motherboard on the linked pages has a wide graphics card taking the two middle backplates. I might be running a dual-head setup, so is there a micro-ATX motherboard that has two PCI express ports positioned for backplates 1 & 3? I am going for a Sandy Bridge compatible motherboard, and don't care for the H67.
This is what I'm talking about with the GPU placement
]
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AlectharAlan ShoreWe're not territorial about that sort of thing, are we?Registered Userregular
Basically all PCI-E slots are compatible with lower bandwidth expansion cards, so if you install a x1 PCI-E device in a PCI-E x4 or x8 or x16 slot, it'll run just fine. Differing physical dimensions of the slots exist mostly to make sure that people aren't trying to run expansion cards requiring higher levels of bandwidth in low bandwidth slots.
Phhhhew. This is a valuable piece of info. This expands the number of mATX I can work with. I'm on a tight budget but I really like the Max IV Gene Z for myself. Building for others though, less expensive will be a relief.
I wish Newegg had a search category for 8-pin motherboards.
So my computer is so crap I can't even play TF2 on it, and my job doesn't pay enough to justify getting a really high-end computer. I don't mind playing games at medium to low settings, but I want to actually be able to play some new stuff for once. Furthermore, it's gotta last me for a while.
hello, computer build thread. I've been wanting to make a new PC since mine has been giving me problems with video editing and also in anticipation for BF3. Here is my current wishlist:
1) Is there anything wrong with this build so far besides the next question?
2) I don't know what kind of video card I should get; I use three monitors but besides that I have no special needs. Does ATI's three-monitor system chew up resources that could be used elsewhere or is it not a big deal?
3) I don't know what kind of heatsink to get. I am planning on trying out overclocking, though.
3a) Is watercooling a good idea/worth it yet?
4) Any other observations about the build you think I could know
edit: I expect to pay within 200-350ish for a video card
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proyebatGARY WAS HEREASH IS A LOSERRegistered Userregular
hello, computer build thread. I've been wanting to make a new PC since mine has been giving me problems with video editing and also in anticipation for BF3. Here is my current wishlist:
1) Is there anything wrong with this build so far besides the next question?
If you want to keep using a P67 board Id go with the Asus P8P67 Pro which has a combo with the i7 2600k saving you some monies while getting a better product.
Personally, with what youre planning on doing, Id go with a Z68 board. I like the Asus P8Z68 Pro, which used to have a combo deal, god damn it why did they remove it I was going to buy the combo deal. Others like the AsRock versions. Theres this one which should meet your needs. The nice thing about the Z68 chipset is that it allows you to tap into the onboard video card on the i7 which improves transcoding and stuff, and it has better support for solid state drives.
2) I don't know what kind of video card I should get; I use three monitors but besides that I have no special needs. Does ATI's three-monitor system chew up resources that could be used elsewhere or is it not a big deal?
I think the ATi Eyefiniti is supposed to be really good, and Nvidia doesnt really AFAIK have a comparable solution without SLIing.
3) I don't know what kind of heatsink to get. I am planning on trying out overclocking, though. Is watercooling a good idea/worth it yet?
Im just going to roll these two questions into one.
It depends on how much overclocking you want to do, and how much you want to spend. You can get a pretty decent air cooler for pretty cheap on Amazon.
Watercooling these days is incredibly easy since a number of companies sell all in one CPU water blocks. Corsair has like 5 options, with the H60 having the best price/performance ratio (although that may change since they just introduced the H80 and H100). The H70 (I dont know why its so expensive on Newegg, I picked it up for $80 at Frys after rebate) performs a little better, but thats mainly because it has a larger radiator. The H80, which should retail for around $110 is basically the H70 radiator with the H60 CPU block/pump. The H100 should be around $120 and will feature a much larger radiator.
4) Any other observations about the build you think I could know
Id probably go with a different case. Preferably something with nice cable management. Most people are going for the 600t which is nice and spacious, but pricy (although it was just $120 with free shipping). Im personally waiting for the Fractal Design Define R3 update that should come out in the next couple of weeks.
One thing to remember when doing Eyefinity, is that one of your monitors needs to use the DisplayPort. If you don't have a monitor that natively outputs using DP, you need to buy an ACTIVE adapter.
And whether or not it uses a lot of resources depends on what you're doing. Are you mirroring your display across all three monitors? Extending it? Stretching it? Eyefinity lets you use three (or six...) monitors as one big screen for gaming, which while undoubtedly cool, DOES require a lot of GPU power. I wouldn't want to use a low-end card that is technically CAPABLE of Eyefinity to play games across all three.
If you run 3 monitors, you can do so with ATI's Hybrid Crossfire X, and use the IGP to run one of your monitors.
Water cooling being worth it is really up to you, and a personal preference. The Corsair all-in-one CPU coolers are decent, and comparatively quiet. They're still beat out however by the best air coolers (The H50, 60, and 70, at any rate). The best air coolers are massive, though, and can be restrictive for RAM sticks, and are a pain in the ass to install.
You shouldn't need anything outrageous for some mild overclocks. Pushing a Sandy Bridge CPU to 4ghz isn't the same as pushing a Phenom II to 4ghz (it's a lot easier, requires less cooling, etc).
Best bet for 200-350ish is probably a 6950 2GB card (and if you did want to do Eyefinity, the extra frame buffer will be more useful here, too).
No Antec 300, though. Please? Pretty please? It looks attractive for the price, but it is horrible to build in, horrible for airflow, and is just blah.
If you don't feel like shelling out for a 600t, the HAF 912 is great, as is the HAF 922 and the CM690 Advanced.
16GB of RAM seems like enormous overkill to me, but YMMV, I guess.
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Casually HardcoreOnce an Asshole. Trying to be better.Registered Userregular
edited July 2011
Don't buy the Antec 300.
I had a 300, it was a great case, probably one of the best cases to buy...7 years ago.
Now there is so many better options. The 600T is pretty much the golden standard of case design nowadays.
So, I've never built a computer before. Opened them up for upgrades or refurbishing, sure (generally on older computers, and it's been a while since I've done much of that), but never actually built one from parts. However, my laptop is nearly 5 years old, and it's showing its age, so I figured it was time to replace it. After going through the advice and such in this thread, I think I've got what I want more or less nailed down.
The computer I'm building would be used for gaming (not so much super high performance gaming as getting the smaller games on Steam to run), basic work (email, web, word processing, etc), some coding, and a small amount of virtualization (prob. not more than once or twice a month). I already have a monitor, OS, and video card (a Geforce 9800 GTX I got a while back), so I'm not worried about those. It'd be nice if it could last a couple years before I start doing much in the way of upgrades, though (assuming I ever actually do).
What I am wondering about is the memory. I noticed that the mobo has 4 slots for memory, but I'm not sure if I need to have all those filled, if they all have to be the same model, etc. I think there are better, cheaper choices out there, but my own ignorance gets in the way of picking them. Of course, other information, suggestions, screams of revulsion at my choices, or any other feedback would be greatly appreciated.
Also, this thread has been really helpful in getting all of this figured out. Thank you!
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AlectharAlan ShoreWe're not territorial about that sort of thing, are we?Registered Userregular
One thing to remember when doing Eyefinity, is that one of your monitors needs to use the DisplayPort. If you don't have a monitor that natively outputs using DP, you need to buy an ACTIVE adapter.
And whether or not it uses a lot of resources depends on what you're doing. Are you mirroring your display across all three monitors? Extending it? Stretching it? Eyefinity lets you use three (or six...) monitors as one big screen for gaming, which while undoubtedly cool, DOES require a lot of GPU power. I wouldn't want to use a low-end card that is technically CAPABLE of Eyefinity to play games across all three.
If you run 3 monitors, you can do so with ATI's Hybrid Crossfire X, and use the IGP to run one of your monitors.
Water cooling being worth it is really up to you, and a personal preference. The Corsair all-in-one CPU coolers are decent, and comparatively quiet. They're still beat out however by the best air coolers (The H50, 60, and 70, at any rate). The best air coolers are massive, though, and can be restrictive for RAM sticks, and are a pain in the ass to install.
You shouldn't need anything outrageous for some mild overclocks. Pushing a Sandy Bridge CPU to 4ghz isn't the same as pushing a Phenom II to 4ghz (it's a lot easier, requires less cooling, etc).
Best bet for 200-350ish is probably a 6950 2GB card (and if you did want to do Eyefinity, the extra frame buffer will be more useful here, too).
No Antec 300, though. Please? Pretty please? It looks attractive for the price, but it is horrible to build in, horrible for airflow, and is just blah.
If you don't feel like shelling out for a 600t, the HAF 912 is great, as is the HAF 922 and the CM690 Advanced.
16GB of RAM seems like enormous overkill to me, but YMMV, I guess.
Agreed on all counts, except to say that, for around 300-350, your best option is to go with a SLI/Crossfire config. Your best bets are GTX 460 1GB cards, Radeon 6850s, or Radeon 6870s if you can find them for around 175 (sometimes they get that low on sale).
And for 3 monitors, you must run a SLI setup to get that going on with Nvidia cards.
Anororn: That's a solid list, I wouldn't change a thing. For memory: Not all of the DIMM slots need to be populated. Sticks running together in dual channel should definitely be the same model, and if possible matching all your RAM is good. This is a great deal on 8GB of RAM. Generally it's better to go with 2 sticks vs. 4, when talking about the same amount of RAM (so two 4GB sticks is better than four 2GB sticks).
One thing I would watch out for: Depending on the resolution of your monitor, you might find yourself wanting a new video card sooner rather than later. The 9800GTX is pretty aged at this point. I'm not saying it's not going to work for you, depending on your needs, but that would be the first thing I'd look at.
So my computer is so crap I can't even play TF2 on it, and my job doesn't pay enough to justify getting a really high-end computer. I don't mind playing games at medium to low settings, but I want to actually be able to play some new stuff for once. Furthermore, it's gotta last me for a while.
I could drop maybe $100 more, and I'm willing to do that because I'm scared this is still too underpowered. What do you guys suggest I replace?
So, I'd save some money on some parts of the build, like the PSU. For what you want to do, 500W is hella overkill. I'd go with this 380W Earthwatts PSU. I would spend money on a better video card. This 5770 is a perfect card for a budget system. My only other change might be to up the ante on the CPU somewhat, maybe with a nice triple core Athlon II. Given the PSU savings, you'd be spending about $65 dollars more than your current list, and I think you'd definitely get more out of it, especially as far as longevity is concerned.
So my computer is so crap I can't even play TF2 on it, and my job doesn't pay enough to justify getting a really high-end computer. I don't mind playing games at medium to low settings, but I want to actually be able to play some new stuff for once. Furthermore, it's gotta last me for a while.
I could drop maybe $100 more, and I'm willing to do that because I'm scared this is still too underpowered. What do you guys suggest I replace?
So, I'd save some money on some parts of the build, like the PSU. For what you want to do, 500W is hella overkill. I'd go with this 380W Earthwatts PSU. I would spend money on a better video card. This 5770 is a perfect card for a budget system. My only other change might be to up the ante on the CPU somewhat, maybe with a nice triple core Athlon II. Given the PSU savings, you'd be spending about $65 dollars more than your current list, and I think you'd definitely get more out of it, especially as far as longevity is concerned.
Thanks for the help, I really appreciate it. Can't wait to get this built!
New stuff in the OP about Motherboards and CPUs, let me know what you think!
I like it, simple yet informative. Actually, I didnt know there were Z68 NF200 boards, but then again I didnt know there were boards that supported 2 16x video cards.
Lots of people will say STRESS TEST FOR A MILLION HOURS USING OCCT OR PRIME95.
I say that's silly, because unless you're running those programs, you will never stress your processor that hard ever.
Do you crash when doing tasks you would normally do (ie: gaming)? If so, you're probably not stable. If you can game for marathon sessions without crashing, you're fine.
What I did was run the 3DMark Benchmark tests that most stressed the CPU. I ran them just fine without crashing, and I've been good ever since.
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Casually HardcoreOnce an Asshole. Trying to be better.Registered Userregular
So my computer is so crap I can't even play TF2 on it, and my job doesn't pay enough to justify getting a really high-end computer. I don't mind playing games at medium to low settings, but I want to actually be able to play some new stuff for once. Furthermore, it's gotta last me for a while.
I could drop maybe $100 more, and I'm willing to do that because I'm scared this is still too underpowered. What do you guys suggest I replace?
So, I'd save some money on some parts of the build, like the PSU. For what you want to do, 500W is hella overkill. I'd go with this 380W Earthwatts PSU. I would spend money on a better video card. This 5770 is a perfect card for a budget system. My only other change might be to up the ante on the CPU somewhat, maybe with a nice triple core Athlon II. Given the PSU savings, you'd be spending about $65 dollars more than your current list, and I think you'd definitely get more out of it, especially as far as longevity is concerned.
Thanks for the help, I really appreciate it. Can't wait to get this built!
380w is a bit small, though, don't ya'll think?
I, personally, rather get an 'overkill' power supply. Being able to use the same power supply for future builds (assuming that we don't come to an age of graphic cards needing 4 PCI-E) is worth it to me.
I, personally, rather get an 'overkill' power supply. Being able to use the same power supply for future builds (assuming that we don't come to an age of graphic cards needing 4 PCI-E) is worth it to me.
If I though 380W was too little, I wouldn't have recommended it. Future-proofing costs money. If Xtralife feels like it's worth his money to do so, then he should go for it.
MrDelish: The CM 212+ is a very good budget cooler, that you can find on Amazon for $20 less than it runs on Newegg. If you're ready/willing to spend 40-50 bucks, I'd go with the Xigmatek Balder, which is basically an updated version of the Dark Knight with the ability to run 2 fans in a push/pull config. It's also cheaper.
Generally, the CM 212+ is the best bang for your buck and is cheaper at amazon. I don't think the slightly better cooling performance of the Xigmatek is worth the extra money. If you really want that extra air-cooling performance, you'd have to spend a lot more for a Noctua or Thermalright
I come to you with a request for some assistance on picking out a new laptop. My total budget is ~$700-$900CAD and I'm looking for a laptop to be used mainly for music production and performance with the ability to pull light double duty as a gaming rig for my projector. I'm not looking for super top of the line gaming capability here, though I would like to be able to play games like DiRT2 and Just Cause 2 without serious issues. I'm happy to play at low/medium settings. Screen resolution isn't all that important either as I will be running it through my projector when at home or using it for music playback/production/performance and basic computing when not.
Two of the computers I've been looking at are the Acer Aspire AS5553G-5221 and the ASUS K53SV-A1, my brother also directed me to the Sager Notebook website but it seems to me that I'll be spending more money for roughly the same components and the added cost of having it shipped across the border. Any advice on notebook choice, retailer and desirable features would be greatly appreciated.
I, personally, rather get an 'overkill' power supply. Being able to use the same power supply for future builds (assuming that we don't come to an age of graphic cards needing 4 PCI-E) is worth it to me.
If I though 380W was too little, I wouldn't have recommended it. Future-proofing costs money. If Xtralife feels like it's worth his money to do so, then he should go for it.
Yeah, right now I just don't have the cash flow. But I'll probably upgrade piece by piece at a time, and a bigger power supply would definitely be nice to have.
Anororn: That's a solid list, I wouldn't change a thing. For memory: Not all of the DIMM slots need to be populated. Sticks running together in dual channel should definitely be the same model, and if possible matching all your RAM is good. This is a great deal on 8GB of RAM. Generally it's better to go with 2 sticks vs. 4, when talking about the same amount of RAM (so two 4GB sticks is better than four 2GB sticks).
One thing I would watch out for: Depending on the resolution of your monitor, you might find yourself wanting a new video card sooner rather than later. The 9800GTX is pretty aged at this point. I'm not saying it's not going to work for you, depending on your needs, but that would be the first thing I'd look at.
Awesome, thank you. I'll swap out the memory I found with what you suggested, then. Video-wise, my needs aren't as high as my first post might have suggested. When I said "gaming," I meant "running non-super-high-quality games that were made within the past few years" (yes, my current computer really is that old and crappy). The monitor I have isn't all that impressive, either, but it'll easily fit my purposes. That said, now I know where to begin with upgrades in the future.
Quick note: in the 2nd post in the thread, the section about motherboards says that the PSU is something people get hung up on, while the section on PSUs says they can be afterthought. Largely unimportant conflict, but...
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AlectharAlan ShoreWe're not territorial about that sort of thing, are we?Registered Userregular
Anororn: That's a solid list, I wouldn't change a thing. For memory: Not all of the DIMM slots need to be populated. Sticks running together in dual channel should definitely be the same model, and if possible matching all your RAM is good. This is a great deal on 8GB of RAM. Generally it's better to go with 2 sticks vs. 4, when talking about the same amount of RAM (so two 4GB sticks is better than four 2GB sticks).
One thing I would watch out for: Depending on the resolution of your monitor, you might find yourself wanting a new video card sooner rather than later. The 9800GTX is pretty aged at this point. I'm not saying it's not going to work for you, depending on your needs, but that would be the first thing I'd look at.
Awesome, thank you. I'll swap out the memory I found with what you suggested, then. Video-wise, my needs aren't as high as my first post might have suggested. When I said "gaming," I meant "running non-super-high-quality games that were made within the past few years" (yes, my current computer really is that old and crappy). The monitor I have isn't all that impressive, either, but it'll easily fit my purposes. That said, now I know where to begin with upgrades in the future.
Quick note: in the 2nd post in the thread, the section about motherboards says that the PSU is something people get hung up on, while the section on PSUs says they can be afterthought. Largely unimportant conflict, but...
Bleargh, I'm recycling my own material, wish I wasn't writing these all piecemeal...
Regardless, changed things up a bit on the language there to make it seem less...stupid. Yeah, we'll go with stupid.
Posts
"ROG Connect" is a utility that lets you hook up a laptop to your computer via a USB port and inspect detailed POST information, for the stated purpose of enabling better overclock tuning
So, I realize we're just a stickied thread here, not some kind of massive enterprise, but I'd like to take a second to thank some of my fellow thread stalwarts for their continued assistance and good advice. Iolo, TheCanMan, Pirusu, McDermott, chrishallett83, Darkwyndre, emp123, and everyone else here making a contribution that I'm not noting by name because I'm forgetful and/or a moron (PM me to express your disappointment in me!) have been huge in keeping this thread kickass. Over the past crapload of pages, we've assisted in the purchase and building of a lot of nice gaming PCs, some of which are immortalized on the first page (more to come when work stops kicking my ass quite as thoroughly as it is at the moment) and I think it's pretty fucking cool. A big thank you as well to the surprisingly large number of people who are just crazy enough to follow our advice, and thus make our time here worthwhile. And just in case anyone was wondering, I was not diagnosed with terminal cancer (so you can cancel the parties, jerks) and I'm not going anywhere, I just felt like now was as good a time as any to put this out there.
Don't Worry, I'm Done For Now
Anyway, Smash: The Z68 Gene is probably the nicest 1155 mATX motherboard around. If I were building an mATX Sandy Bridge system, it's what I would go with. Basically all PCI-E slots are compatible with lower bandwidth expansion cards, so if you install a x1 PCI-E device in a PCI-E x4 or x8 or x16 slot, it'll run just fine. Differing physical dimensions of the slots exist mostly to make sure that people aren't trying to run expansion cards requiring higher levels of bandwidth in low bandwidth slots. Basically: anything you would have installed in a PCI-E x1 slot will go right into that x4 slot and love it.
Also, tech support is now really the only situation I can envision where PCI support would come in handy, unless you already had a PCI expansion card you wanted to use. These days, anything you used to run on the PCI bus you can find in a PCI-E version.
As for the ROG stuff, Dehumanized has the right of it.
Battle.net
Thank you in advance!
3DS friend code: 4811-7214-5053
Does your PSU have an 8-pin and a 6 pin PCI-E connector? What PSU are you running, for that matter? If you have an OEM (pre-built) PC, could you pop it open for us and take a picture of the PSU label if possible? Basically I don't want you to end up blowing up your PSU (and/or your entire rig) trying to power your graphics card.
This 6850 won't be as overclockable, and it's not on sale so it's a bit more expensive for you, but it's also less power hungry, which might be what you need depending on what's powering your PC.
Also, welcome to the thread, and please feel free to come back anytime.
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3DS friend code: 4811-7214-5053
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3DS friend code: 4811-7214-5053
Awww, you big softie. I'm pleased to be listed, of course, although I have to smile because functionally my role in the thread is that of the village idiot who squeals with joy and claps his hand when shown a pretty picture. Oh, and linking the LIAN LI Lancool K-62 whenever it goes on sale for as little as a dollar off.
This thread continues to be a staggeringly good resource and I really appreciate all the people who know what they are talking about contributing so much of their time. Although it's damned dangerous at times as I get perilously close to grabbing some can't miss bargain and building another PC I can't afford.
Completely unrelatedly, Alecthar, how about you sig a link to your Steam profile page for the next eight days or so?
Steam profile.
Getting started with BATTLETECH: Part 1 / Part 2
e: that was until I saw the price tag on it. Is there a cheaper micro-atx LGA 1155 motherboard?
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Phhhhew. This is a valuable piece of info. This expands the number of mATX I can work with. I'm on a tight budget but I really like the Max IV Gene Z for myself. Building for others though, less expensive will be a relief.
I wish Newegg had a search category for 8-pin motherboards.
Edit: for 1155 mATX maybe this ASRock Z68 for the best cheapest, Asus P67-M Pro for mid/high, and Asus Max IV Gene Z for high.
EDIT: Oh, and Alecthar,
This is the build I wanna go with, minus the monitor and OS:
Rosewill R218-P-BK Black SECC Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
ASUS M4A78LT-M AM3 AMD 760G HDMI Micro ATX AMD Motherboard
SAPPHIRE 100293L Radeon HD 5570 1GB 128-bit DDR3 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready Low Profile Ready Video Card
OCZ ModXStream Pro 500W Modular High Performance Power Supply
AMD Athlon II X2 255 Regor 3.1GHz 2 x 1MB L2 Cache Socket AM3 65W Dual-Core Desktop Processor ADX255OCGMBOX
G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F3-10600CL9D-4GBNT
SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
LITE-ON 24X DVD Writer 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 8X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM Black SATA Model iHAS-324-98B
Total: $406.92
I could drop maybe $100 more, and I'm willing to do that because I'm scared this is still too underpowered. What do you guys suggest I replace?
Minecraft username is the same. No server yet.
Battle.net: majesticslump@aol.com
Not too active on Steam, my computer sucks. Still no XBL Gold account. DS friend codes in spoiler.
GTA Chinatown Wars: 0388-4661-8548
Jump Ultimate Stars: 5155-6844-1452
Mario Kart: 4811-3240-0433
Scribblenauts: 4812-6335-7531
Starfox Command: 1139-8027-6150
Zelda: Phantom Hourglass: 4211-4545-9789
my questions are:
1) Is there anything wrong with this build so far besides the next question?
2) I don't know what kind of video card I should get; I use three monitors but besides that I have no special needs. Does ATI's three-monitor system chew up resources that could be used elsewhere or is it not a big deal?
3) I don't know what kind of heatsink to get. I am planning on trying out overclocking, though.
3a) Is watercooling a good idea/worth it yet?
4) Any other observations about the build you think I could know
edit: I expect to pay within 200-350ish for a video card
Opps, I didn't see your reply Alecthar, My bad.
Hopefully I have enough money at the end of summer to buy everything. BF3 COME AT ME
The bigger the package, the better it is. Or so I've heard...
If you want to keep using a P67 board Id go with the Asus P8P67 Pro which has a combo with the i7 2600k saving you some monies while getting a better product.
Personally, with what youre planning on doing, Id go with a Z68 board. I like the Asus P8Z68 Pro, which used to have a combo deal, god damn it why did they remove it I was going to buy the combo deal. Others like the AsRock versions. Theres this one which should meet your needs. The nice thing about the Z68 chipset is that it allows you to tap into the onboard video card on the i7 which improves transcoding and stuff, and it has better support for solid state drives.
I think the ATi Eyefiniti is supposed to be really good, and Nvidia doesnt really AFAIK have a comparable solution without SLIing.
Im just going to roll these two questions into one.
It depends on how much overclocking you want to do, and how much you want to spend. You can get a pretty decent air cooler for pretty cheap on Amazon.
Watercooling these days is incredibly easy since a number of companies sell all in one CPU water blocks. Corsair has like 5 options, with the H60 having the best price/performance ratio (although that may change since they just introduced the H80 and H100). The H70 (I dont know why its so expensive on Newegg, I picked it up for $80 at Frys after rebate) performs a little better, but thats mainly because it has a larger radiator. The H80, which should retail for around $110 is basically the H70 radiator with the H60 CPU block/pump. The H100 should be around $120 and will feature a much larger radiator.
Id probably go with a different case. Preferably something with nice cable management. Most people are going for the 600t which is nice and spacious, but pricy (although it was just $120 with free shipping). Im personally waiting for the Fractal Design Define R3 update that should come out in the next couple of weeks.
I'll leave this for someone else.
And whether or not it uses a lot of resources depends on what you're doing. Are you mirroring your display across all three monitors? Extending it? Stretching it? Eyefinity lets you use three (or six...) monitors as one big screen for gaming, which while undoubtedly cool, DOES require a lot of GPU power. I wouldn't want to use a low-end card that is technically CAPABLE of Eyefinity to play games across all three.
If you run 3 monitors, you can do so with ATI's Hybrid Crossfire X, and use the IGP to run one of your monitors.
Water cooling being worth it is really up to you, and a personal preference. The Corsair all-in-one CPU coolers are decent, and comparatively quiet. They're still beat out however by the best air coolers (The H50, 60, and 70, at any rate). The best air coolers are massive, though, and can be restrictive for RAM sticks, and are a pain in the ass to install.
You shouldn't need anything outrageous for some mild overclocks. Pushing a Sandy Bridge CPU to 4ghz isn't the same as pushing a Phenom II to 4ghz (it's a lot easier, requires less cooling, etc).
Best bet for 200-350ish is probably a 6950 2GB card (and if you did want to do Eyefinity, the extra frame buffer will be more useful here, too).
No Antec 300, though. Please? Pretty please? It looks attractive for the price, but it is horrible to build in, horrible for airflow, and is just blah.
If you don't feel like shelling out for a 600t, the HAF 912 is great, as is the HAF 922 and the CM690 Advanced.
16GB of RAM seems like enormous overkill to me, but YMMV, I guess.
I had a 300, it was a great case, probably one of the best cases to buy...7 years ago.
Now there is so many better options. The 600T is pretty much the golden standard of case design nowadays.
ASRock P67 PRO3 (B3) LGA 1155 Intel P67 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor
XFX Core Edition PRO550W (P1-550S-XXB9) 550W
SAMSUNG Spinpoint F3 HD103SJ 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
COOLER MASTER HAF 912 RC-912-KKN1 Black SECC/ ABS Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
XIGMATEK Gaia SD1283 120mm Long Life Bearing CPU Cooler
ASUS DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS Black SATA 24X DVD Burner
CORSAIR XMS3 8GB (4 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666) Desktop Memory
The computer I'm building would be used for gaming (not so much super high performance gaming as getting the smaller games on Steam to run), basic work (email, web, word processing, etc), some coding, and a small amount of virtualization (prob. not more than once or twice a month). I already have a monitor, OS, and video card (a Geforce 9800 GTX I got a while back), so I'm not worried about those. It'd be nice if it could last a couple years before I start doing much in the way of upgrades, though (assuming I ever actually do).
What I am wondering about is the memory. I noticed that the mobo has 4 slots for memory, but I'm not sure if I need to have all those filled, if they all have to be the same model, etc. I think there are better, cheaper choices out there, but my own ignorance gets in the way of picking them. Of course, other information, suggestions, screams of revulsion at my choices, or any other feedback would be greatly appreciated.
Also, this thread has been really helpful in getting all of this figured out. Thank you!
Agreed on all counts, except to say that, for around 300-350, your best option is to go with a SLI/Crossfire config. Your best bets are GTX 460 1GB cards, Radeon 6850s, or Radeon 6870s if you can find them for around 175 (sometimes they get that low on sale).
And for 3 monitors, you must run a SLI setup to get that going on with Nvidia cards.
Anororn: That's a solid list, I wouldn't change a thing. For memory: Not all of the DIMM slots need to be populated. Sticks running together in dual channel should definitely be the same model, and if possible matching all your RAM is good. This is a great deal on 8GB of RAM. Generally it's better to go with 2 sticks vs. 4, when talking about the same amount of RAM (so two 4GB sticks is better than four 2GB sticks).
One thing I would watch out for: Depending on the resolution of your monitor, you might find yourself wanting a new video card sooner rather than later. The 9800GTX is pretty aged at this point. I'm not saying it's not going to work for you, depending on your needs, but that would be the first thing I'd look at.
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So, I'd save some money on some parts of the build, like the PSU. For what you want to do, 500W is hella overkill. I'd go with this 380W Earthwatts PSU. I would spend money on a better video card. This 5770 is a perfect card for a budget system. My only other change might be to up the ante on the CPU somewhat, maybe with a nice triple core Athlon II. Given the PSU savings, you'd be spending about $65 dollars more than your current list, and I think you'd definitely get more out of it, especially as far as longevity is concerned.
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Thanks for the help, I really appreciate it. Can't wait to get this built!
Minecraft username is the same. No server yet.
Battle.net: majesticslump@aol.com
Not too active on Steam, my computer sucks. Still no XBL Gold account. DS friend codes in spoiler.
GTA Chinatown Wars: 0388-4661-8548
Jump Ultimate Stars: 5155-6844-1452
Mario Kart: 4811-3240-0433
Scribblenauts: 4812-6335-7531
Starfox Command: 1139-8027-6150
Zelda: Phantom Hourglass: 4211-4545-9789
I like it, simple yet informative. Actually, I didnt know there were Z68 NF200 boards, but then again I didnt know there were boards that supported 2 16x video cards.
I say that's silly, because unless you're running those programs, you will never stress your processor that hard ever.
Do you crash when doing tasks you would normally do (ie: gaming)? If so, you're probably not stable. If you can game for marathon sessions without crashing, you're fine.
What I did was run the 3DMark Benchmark tests that most stressed the CPU. I ran them just fine without crashing, and I've been good ever since.
380w is a bit small, though, don't ya'll think?
I, personally, rather get an 'overkill' power supply. Being able to use the same power supply for future builds (assuming that we don't come to an age of graphic cards needing 4 PCI-E) is worth it to me.
If I though 380W was too little, I wouldn't have recommended it. Future-proofing costs money. If Xtralife feels like it's worth his money to do so, then he should go for it.
MrDelish: The CM 212+ is a very good budget cooler, that you can find on Amazon for $20 less than it runs on Newegg. If you're ready/willing to spend 40-50 bucks, I'd go with the Xigmatek Balder, which is basically an updated version of the Dark Knight with the ability to run 2 fans in a push/pull config. It's also cheaper.
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Generally, the CM 212+ is the best bang for your buck and is cheaper at amazon. I don't think the slightly better cooling performance of the Xigmatek is worth the extra money. If you really want that extra air-cooling performance, you'd have to spend a lot more for a Noctua or Thermalright
Edit: ignore my post, refer to Alecthar's above
I come to you with a request for some assistance on picking out a new laptop. My total budget is ~$700-$900CAD and I'm looking for a laptop to be used mainly for music production and performance with the ability to pull light double duty as a gaming rig for my projector. I'm not looking for super top of the line gaming capability here, though I would like to be able to play games like DiRT2 and Just Cause 2 without serious issues. I'm happy to play at low/medium settings. Screen resolution isn't all that important either as I will be running it through my projector when at home or using it for music playback/production/performance and basic computing when not.
Two of the computers I've been looking at are the Acer Aspire AS5553G-5221 and the ASUS K53SV-A1, my brother also directed me to the Sager Notebook website but it seems to me that I'll be spending more money for roughly the same components and the added cost of having it shipped across the border. Any advice on notebook choice, retailer and desirable features would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance.
Those temps gotten pretty high during the intel burn test, but I guess that's why they call it the 'burn test'.
Overall, I'm satisfy.
Yeah, right now I just don't have the cash flow. But I'll probably upgrade piece by piece at a time, and a bigger power supply would definitely be nice to have.
Minecraft username is the same. No server yet.
Battle.net: majesticslump@aol.com
Not too active on Steam, my computer sucks. Still no XBL Gold account. DS friend codes in spoiler.
GTA Chinatown Wars: 0388-4661-8548
Jump Ultimate Stars: 5155-6844-1452
Mario Kart: 4811-3240-0433
Scribblenauts: 4812-6335-7531
Starfox Command: 1139-8027-6150
Zelda: Phantom Hourglass: 4211-4545-9789
Goddamn it's hot and it's fucking up my gaming.
The harder the rain, honey, the sweeter the sun.
Awesome, thank you. I'll swap out the memory I found with what you suggested, then. Video-wise, my needs aren't as high as my first post might have suggested. When I said "gaming," I meant "running non-super-high-quality games that were made within the past few years" (yes, my current computer really is that old and crappy). The monitor I have isn't all that impressive, either, but it'll easily fit my purposes. That said, now I know where to begin with upgrades in the future.
Quick note: in the 2nd post in the thread, the section about motherboards says that the PSU is something people get hung up on, while the section on PSUs says they can be afterthought. Largely unimportant conflict, but...
Bleargh, I'm recycling my own material, wish I wasn't writing these all piecemeal...
Regardless, changed things up a bit on the language there to make it seem less...stupid. Yeah, we'll go with stupid.
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