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Looking for Opinions on PC Build
LuciferIAm
Member UncommonPosts: 93
I'm a newbie to the PC building world as I've been putting it off but my laptops pretty awful now days.
http://pcpartpicker.com/user/LuciferIAm/saved/bK7G3C
Here's what I've compiled so far. I'd welcome any opinions (and preferrably a slight explanation why). I'm quite computer adept however being poor for quite some time has left me with no interest in hardware until now :P.
The biggest reason I want a gaming PC is to be able to heavily mod some of my favorite games (Elder Scrolls series, GTA series, Civ, etc). Course though I'd love being able to run the newest games at the highest settings for a while at least. Running MMORPGS at max settings for the first time seems fun too :P.
While I started out aiming for 2k$ price or so after doing research it kind of seems needless in many respects to go above 1k or even closer to 800.
I also welcome monitor, keyboard and mouse reccomendations. Currently I'm pondering; http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824009422&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction--na--na-_-na&cm_sp=&AID=10446076&PID=3938566&SID= or http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824254112&leaderboard=1. As well as http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16823129030&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction--na--na-_-na&cm_sp=&AID=10446076&PID=3938566&SID=
I did bite the bullet and got the case from Newegg, with that rebate its only 69.99, seemed like a really solid deal.
I'm fairly confident in most of my choices. Honestly I don't understand overclocking though it seems both the GPU and CPU i picked are capable of such. If i were to overclock I should go with http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817438017&cm_re=750w_supernova-_-17-438-017-_-Product
Can get the current power supply on my list for only 35$! But then again I don't know much about overclocking.
GPU is probably the area I'm most iffy on. There are so many choices and honestly its overwhelming. The CPU seems quite fantastic from what I've read and can overclock it nicely as well if I decide to.
Any opinions appreciated.
Comments
Solid base components for a price conscious build. Personally I would like to have 16 GB RAM (rather more than fast one), but it's not something you really need. Depending on your time spent in front of your PC you should consider to invest in a better monitor. Most people underestimate their influence regarding overall experience. If you do nothing else than gaming for a few hours a day your choices are sufficient though. No opinion on your keyboard and mouse, this is too subjective and it doesn't matter that much
I just put one together for 2600$
500 gig ssd
2 terabit
i7 3820
R9 295x2
1000w power supply
16 gig 1600mzg memory
sound blaster ZxR
But I already had the case so...that helped
I'd suggest investing a bit more and getting a 27 inch monitor. It's not that much more expensive, and the extra size really makes gaming experience better.
It's hard for anyone to recommend you mouse or keyboard since it's subjective. You'll have to decide based on what you like.
That system does not have DVD drive or OS, but if you have some old OS license you can use and buy all your games online you don't necessarily need either.
Honestly man from the research I've done a lot of yours is super unneccessary. 500 gig SSD is def not worth the money especially when you are going to have another internal (I have 2 externals totalling 5 TB personally). i7 is also a no-no for gaming as I've read from many sources. So far pretty much every source I've gone to has said 16 GB of ram is unncessary too.
Blub I spend a ton of time in front of the PC but considering the monitors I linked I'm not sure how that's relevant. They are both reviewed quite well (and by many).
Note: I'm not 'defending' my choices just explaining my reasoning through my research so far.
@ Vrika I thought about 27 but it seems at the very least 100$ more from the ones I saw. Indeed I won't buy a drive as it wouldn't be used. I already have W7 on a flash to install.
The I-7 isn't bad it's just more than game developers will be using for the next 4-5 years or so. It's primary difference from the I-5 is the virtualization of 4 more CPU cores. Game developers aren't even using the 4 cores of an I-5 yet.
About the time you assemble your next system after this one developers /might/ be using those 4+4 cores. Until then an I-5 will be more cost efficient for gaming.
Unless you intend to run more than one game at a time 8 GB will be more than enough for gaming. Microsoft limits how much memory any one executable can be alloted for use.
I also agree with previous keyboard, mouse and monitor statements. These are the pieces you will interact with. They are what you see and feel. That is much more important than most people recognize.
You're comparing apples to oranges. You are building on a tight budget and it's not so much that your choices or i5 vs i7, 8GB vs 16GB etc are better, it's more that you are compromising to fit into your budget.
OS isn't a factor (have it on flash) and neither is a drive.
It seems I may have been hasty with getting a full tower over a mid tower as even with my savings it would be 30$ cheaper. It does however have two huge fans probably worth that 30$ also it allows me to add another GPU and better cooling system next year if I decide I want another boost. Thanks for the rebate info, i know about it :P.
Please do not respond to me, even if I ask you a question, its rhetorical.
Please do not respond to me
I've thought about getting http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150701&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-na-_-na-_-na&cm_sp=&AID=10446076&PID=3938566&SID= and to go along with that probably http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817438017&cm_re=750w_supernova-_-17-438-017-_-Product for overclocking as well as Crossfire next year. I have no experience in overclocking but if I have the ability it's kind of why not? for me.
On another note is the motherboard I have chosen sufficient for overclocking the CPU and GPU?
Personally, I prefer full towers, more air inside which means less issues with cooling and more space to stick in extra harddrives. Also a lot easier to work in than smaller cases.
Then again, if space is a big issue something smaller is good.
For screen I recommend this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824260125
Yeah, 800 bucks sounds a bit much for a screen but remember that it is the part of your computer you are watching all the time. A good high resolution (in this case 2560 x 1440) screen with excellent colors that will make any game look way more awesome (yeah, I have one myself, totally worth it). It is a shame to build a nice machine but run it at low resolution.
I would also add a media drive, get a 1-3 terra drive, and you can get a slow cheap one but you will have somewhere to put large none essential stuff. A small SSD will fill out really fast even if you don't download movies and you can also use it for backup. Harddrives are cheap, particularly if speed isn't an issue since you have an SSD.
As for the PSU: Corsair is fine but I would consider getting a slightly better model. PSU and motherboard are the 2 things you don't want to cheap out on, either can turn your computer into a nightmare.
As for all gaming computers: always put the money in the GFX card instead of the CPU unless you plan to upgrade the card every year. Find a good screen and a comfy keyboard and mouse. Memory is easy to upgrade later as long as you get a MB with 4 slots and only 2 cards.
While I only own a laptop where most of the games play fairly if with lower settings, I don't feel much the difference. Your build is from my shorted cash point of view a very good one, even go further than you will need for long time. But that's not bad.
About overclocking, the only important thing is that you learn how carefully do it and how do it with your gear. It's a question of luxury, todays overclocking buit i like it too. But mate, yo should take care because errors or simply not being aware of what you are doing exactly, if not, overclocking gets expensive, and expensive and more expensive and maybe playing with the actual overall settings doesn't change that much the quality of gameplay. Only if you are into big monster sized top quality competitive shooters overclocking is somewhat neccesary.
It is a question of fangs.
Overclocking is worth it if you know how to do and feel you lack some power. But be very careful with cooling.
One thing to look at is that if you plan to overclock the GFX cardyou should buy one that have cooling both one the GPU and on the memory.
And overclocking the graphicscard always come with some risk, factory overclocked cards might not be the best thing to put even more joice in (killed an old Nvidia 7900 card myself way back and I was careful).
Carefully monitor the temperature and be extra careful warm summer days. A good overclocking will give you a good boost in speed but I myself usually don't do it for the first year or so but clock it later to keep up with games. By then you will know your temperatures better.
As for Crossfire/SLI it is my experience that after a year or so it ain't worth the cash, you'll get more performance for your money then by buying a next generation card instead. And far from all games support crossfire while a new card will give the increase in all games. But you can read up on the performance on Xfire Vs new card when the times come, if it is close or the same then upgrade instead.
Also, it uses a lot of power.
Good luck, and I am not trying to discourage you from overclocking, it can be pretty fun and well worth the time as long as you are careful. But done wrongly it will kill the computer fast.
As far as keyboards go, I am currently using a Steelseries Merc. The keyboard itself is pretty much garbage, but I feel like I simply couldn't do without the extra key area to the left. Basically, it's like all my necessary MMO buttons on a single hand. That part of the keyboard is actually not bad. On the ACTUAL keyboard part, though, the space button is tough, some keys stick. It's just not super fantabulous. But if you're into MMOs I'd definitely recommend getting something with an extra key area where all your necessary buttons are accessible at once. This is what I'm talking about:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Order=BESTMATCH&Description=SteelSeries+Merc&N=-1&isNodeId=1
Crazkanuk
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I do have a 1 and a 4 TB external so I'm not worried about space. They are used solely for storage and atm by crappy labtop is only 150 GB which i manage.
Thanks of for other info. I did indeed plan to not try overclocking for at least 6 months to a year. I'm pretty iffy on spending so much on a monitor 2bh. I think I'd probably be quite satisfied with a 24.
Can you offer any insight on the motherboard I have chosen? I was thinking of maybe Crossfire next year but I guess it may just be more worth it to get a new card altogether since I've heard 2 of a worst card wont often be worth it over a new one.
I did actually buy the full tower I have listed. with rebate+free shipping + 50$ off from shell shocker I'm pretty happy with the deal.
save money get the i5 its just as good and runs most things better both are good but if i had the choice id go i5
wanna save 1/2 the money go AMD and over clock n plug it to your 50+ inch tv lol
I've made some additional possible changes.
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/JqGjRB
What about in the case of overclocking though which I do plan to do. Though even then should I just go with http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233599&cm_re=corsair_vengeance_pro-_-20-233-599-_-Product ?
On that most recent build I'm getting a warning of the RAM being 1.65v while the CPU reccomends only 1.5v
1.5 V is the stock voltage for DDR3 memory. You can set it to 1.65 V, but that's overvolting it, which is kind of like overclocking. (More technically, overvolting allows higher clock speeds, which allows you to overclock.)
But you don't actually have to run memory at the settings that the manufacturer suggested. I have 1.65 V, 1600 MHz DDR3, but I run it at 1.5 V and 1333 MHz. (I bought it in 2009; 1600 MHz 1.5 V is common today without a meaningful price premium, but that wasn't the case in 2009.)
Really, though, Haswell isn't going to overclock very far. You could maybe justify 1866 MHz or 2133 MHz memory if it's essentially the same price as 1600 MHz. But CPUs have a lot bigger caches than they used to, which means that a much smaller fraction of memory accesses need to actually go to system memory rather than already being in cache, and that reduces system memory requirements. Software that often has to grab data "at random" from a large block can need a lot more memory bandwidth, and it's easy to write a synthetic benchmark to do exactly that, but the only significant consumer stuff that needs that is framebuffer, depth buffer, and texture accesses on an integrated GPU.
Since the 2400 is 4$ cheaper then the 1600 should I just go with it ? Is it difficult to set the voltage of memory? Or on that note I'm more of the mind if I set the 2400 to 1.5 will it decrease performance.
I also wonder about the timing and cas latency as I'm unsure of what to look for in that. It really sounds like Corsair is the best memory-wise though.
Honestly I'm quite adept at technology but as I haven't had disposable income until now I'm largely proficient in only software, with very weak knowledge in regards to hardware.
I'm fairly close to deciding to go with this latest part build I have. http://pcpartpicker.com/p/8K8jRB
Also by Haswell you mean the CPU right? From some of the research I've done it seems for the 4690k CPU 4.4-4.5 is stable and mangeable (also quite cool!).
IMO if you dont know how to adjust memory voltage then just buy the 1600, its worth the $4 not to have to worry about that shit, especially when your throwing an R9 290 in the PC. If you were using integrated graphics then sure, but you will see no real benefit from it and have to try and figure out voltage adjustment.
Haswell is referring to the CPU you picked. And you can overclock it fairly easily. It running cool will depend on your CPU cooler & case airflow. Honestly there is no real reason you need to overclock that cpu unless you just want to. A good rule when overclocking, especially if you are a newbie at it, is if you cant afford to replace it then dont overclock it. Chances are you can do it easily enough, but if it fries then its gone. And for what would have amounted to a very small performance gain.
have you checked out the new intel devil's canyon cpu's yet? if your going to oc your cpu's they have less of a problem than the current cpu's regarding overheating when oc'd and the pentium is not a bad option if your looking to keep the price down :
http://www.pcworld.com/article/2358581/intel-unveils-devil-s-canyon-its-first-4ghz-cpu-plus-a-20th-anniversary-pentium-processor.html
i look this wrecked because i've got GIST.
Whats your excuse?
http://deadmanrambling.com/
Since when is 1600 MHz memory more expensive than the $95 kit that you were looking at? For example:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820211857
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820313080