EPTComputer Build Resource Thread - Page 1442
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When using this resource, please read FragKrag's opening post. The Tech Support forum regulars have helped create countless of desktop systems without any compensation. The least you can do is provide all of the information required for them to help you properly. | ||
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noobponagetime
1 Post
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Myrmidon
United States9452 Posts
On April 02 2013 10:45 noobponagetime wrote: Whats the time/money trade off between building and buying a good gaming comp? Depends at the price range you're looking at, what games and settings / expectations you have, what country you're in, as to how much extra it would cost to get a complete build delivered. Say 10-20% extra sounds about right for a decent gaming build that most non-enthusiasts would get, depending on sales and what you can find. You'd probably lose a few hours if you've never built yourself and had to do it. Some might say that doing research and finding parts would take a lot of time normally, but you can skip those steps if you ask here, answer all the questions in the OP, and just use whatever is suggested without second thought (almost always works out fine). | ||
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MisterFred
United States2033 Posts
Urg, eyes slipped past your "where am I buying from" response. Sorry about that, eh? Canada is a bit more expensive, but you can price match retailers against each other if you're willing to spend some time looking for deals. Roughly the same setup (no dvd-burner) @497 I realize this kind of kills your budget. Sorry. You could look for a used video card, that kind of thing. http://www.ncix.ca/products/?sku=75436&vpn=BX80637G2120&manufacture=Intel http://www.ncix.ca/products/?sku=79588&vpn=H61M-P31/W8&manufacture=MSI/MicroStar&promoid=1334 http://www.ncix.ca/products/?sku=74323&vpn=AX7770 1GBD5-DH&manufacture=PowerColor&promoid=1334 http://www.ncix.ca/products/?sku=68898&vpn=BLS2KIT4G3D1609DS1S00&manufacture=CRUCIAL TECHNOLOGY&promoid=1334 http://www.ncix.ca/products/?sku=81659&vpn=BFC-MRC-100-KKX2-U3&manufacture=BitFenix&promoid=1334 http://www.ncix.ca/products/?sku=63238&vpn=P1450SX2B9&manufacture=XFX http://www.ncix.ca/products/?sku=65701&vpn=ST1000DM003&manufacture=Seagate | ||
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Shikyo
Finland33997 Posts
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Belial88
United States5217 Posts
Whats the time/money trade off between building and buying a good gaming comp? For the same price as an xbox/ps3/etc you can build a stronger, better computer (and the big costs are really stuff like a case, ram, ssd/hdd, and PSU which costs basically the same whether you go very very low end or high end, for the most part). The trade-off of building it is not only do you save a ton of money, you can tailor it to your needs and move money where it needs to be. An easy example is if you are building an SC2 computer, you put way more into the CPU and cut back on the GPU. If you want to stream on a budget, you go with an amd cpu instead of intel. Prebuilds just suck in so many ways, not to mention the quality of the parts they use in everything is terrible. No upgradeability at all in a prebuilt computer. It definitely takes a ton of time to do though. You could be quick about it, you could listen to some random forum poster saying what to get, and it'll still be pretty good, but the more time you put into it, the better it can be. Just check my blog in my sig, I mean I made a very small amount of money, ~$600, to get a 5ghz i7-3770K, with a huge heatsink, tons of fans, a flashy LCD display that's color coordinated, custom sleeving with paracord to match my motherboard and case, a custom window, very low temps for the types of voltages/overclocks I run, insanely fast ram that cost less than newegg's cheapest 8gb ram yet is almost 1ghz faster and is noticeably better. I've also put an insane amount of time into my build though. Even Belial with his rig says at 1360x768 he's maxing the VRAM on his 768MB 460 and simultaneously maxing his 4gb RAM from just playing Starcraft 2 I'm not really sure what's going on. It may have something to do with dual monitor (but I don't even have chrome up). I think it may be that HOTS takes a lot of VRAM so because I'm running out of VRAM, the system goes and uses up system RAM. My minimum fps even in lategame, as you saw on my stream, when streaming on 'Fast' was 50 though, so whatever is going on, is not causing a big performance hit for me. Which makes me think it's a VRAM issue, because you can be .5gb below the necessary VRAM and still have pretty good performance. I'll be getting another 4GB of RAM soon though. I've learned that 4 sticks of RAM actually outperforms 2 sticsk of RAM on equal clocks. I basically just unlearned the misinformation I had 'known' that 2 sticks is better than 4. I spent $25 on another pair of PSCs. I'm going to be running 2 different kits of RAM, rated for different speeds and voltages, but technically they are identical RAM (PSC XDZxxxA3-G) and my original kit isn't sold anywhere, new or used . This RAM is basically guaranteed to hit 2.4ghz for a 24/7 overclock. Blows samsung miracle ram out of the water. But from what I understand, there is actually nothing wrong with mixing RAM even with different ICs (but it may take lots of testing around if they aren't the same ICs). I know you can mix RAM of different density but I'm not exactly sure on how that works. Obviously you are limited to the speed of the slowest RAM (which holds true when you have 4 sticks of identical ram, too, and sli/crossfire, etc) and I wouldn't recommend mixing ram unless you really know what you are doing. | ||
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Cyro
United Kingdom20326 Posts
My minimum fps even in lategame, as you saw on my stream, when streaming on 'Fast' was 50 though It was ~44 (and not the most stressful situation) i find it funny that you keep including what preset you used and not the stream resolution, fps or stream client/method though (they all perform differently), as long as you have spare CPU there's little to no reason to expect FPS in-game changing at all just from changing preset, but increasing resolution/fps is known to wreck performance on pretty much any standard hardware even without applying encoding CPU load Preset also means nothing without stating resolution and FPS, i mean it's a multiplier on CPU load, does not define it on its own | ||
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Belial88
United States5217 Posts
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Jibblet
United States4 Posts
A month ago I built a new computer with sapphire 7870. Everything ran decently until tonight where games/benchmark programs with tessellation option begin to generate artifacts. Similar artifacts The card and cpu is running at stock setting and the problem goes away when tessellation option was disabled. Should I RMA and request a replacement card since I am getting close to the 30 day exchange limit set by tiger direct? I have done clean reinstall of the latest stable and beta drivers with no improvement. My question is short of reseating the card or reinstalling Windows, is there anything else I can test to confirm that it is in fact a defective card? (No other GPU or computer to swap out parts) Thanks | ||
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Belial88
United States5217 Posts
You first need to see where exactly the issue is, artifacts is just a manifestation of instability, and instability can come from anything. Artifacting is generally the GPU but you can never 100% attach a particular manifestation of instability to a particular cause every time (although artifacting is pretty much always gpu...). If it's within 30 days you'd go with the seller, not manufacturer. Manufacturer is basically last resort (just generally resellers have only a 30 day return policy). Could also be the power supply. But one thing at a time. | ||
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arcane1129
United States271 Posts
I was checking out ibuypower's Revolt and it seemed to be close to what I was looking for- http://www.ibuypower.com/Store/Revolt_R770 The case I think is pretty good looking, though it is very compact so I'm a little worried about heatflow and ever having to work on it (or upgrade). Anyway, this is the config I threw together: I7 3770k 3.5ghz Asetek 550LC Liquid CPU Cooling System 16 GB [8 GB x2] DDR3-1600 Memory Module (Corsair or major brand) NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 - 2GB - EVGA SC Signature 2 - Core: 1163MHz Single Card iBUYPOWER IBP-Z77E/S motherboard 500 Watt - FSP 1U 80 Plus Gold Certificated Power Supply (they only had 3 options and only this one would work with 680) 64 GB SanDisk SSD Single Drive. Read: 490MB/s ; Write: 240MB/s. 2 TB HARD DRIVE -- 64M Cache, 7200rpm, 6.0Gb/s Single Drive Dual Format/Double Layer DVD±R/±RW + CD-R/RW Slot Load Drive 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi + Bluetooth Combo [Revolt-Z77] $1569 without a mouse, keyboard, or monitor. Obviously I could get those seperately, but if it matters I'm leaning toward something in the 22-25" size for the monitor. Questions: 1) Is that a decent build/price? 2) Is ibuypower a quality place to buy from or should I look elsewhere? 3) Is it a big deal that the case is small? Reference video: + Show Spoiler + 4) Is that liquid cooling option fine or should I go for the kraken? 5) There are multiple options for 680s that are all slightly different, did I pick the right one? 6) Is there any point to adding a small SSD? If it helps with boot up times and doesn't cost much I think it'd be nice but I have no experience with them. 7) Does the brand of RAM really matter? If it does is that fine or should I pay more for the g.skill option? | ||
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Cyro
United Kingdom20326 Posts
Such a niche build (tiny case, water cooling etc on a prebuilt, many other things) is not really suited for anything at all. You are overpaying massively most likely, need to go into detail for your uses, games played, etc. In an ideal system, i don't think anything you have listed would be used. | ||
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arcane1129
United States271 Posts
On April 02 2013 16:57 Cyro wrote: You are aware that you can build a system with the same performance in sc2 for under half of the price? Such a niche build (tiny case, water cooling etc on a prebuilt, many other things) is not really suited for anything at all. You are overpaying massively most likely, need to go into detail for your uses, games played, etc. In an ideal system, i don't think anything you have listed would be used. Edited: Basically I'm looking for a computer that can max any game on the market today at 1920x1080 with good framerates (skyrim, HotS, infinite, crysis 3) and still do fairly well for new games over the next couple of years (battlefield 4, etc). I'd like to do some streaming as well if that makes a difference. I'm not set on the case, but most of the other ones IBP offered looked pretty bad and I figured water cooling would be a requirement with high end parts, a small case, and potential for overclocking (never oc'd anything before). I'm new at this stuff =/ | ||
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Cyro
United Kingdom20326 Posts
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arcane1129
United States271 Posts
On April 02 2013 17:11 Cyro wrote: You can still shave a ton of money off and have the same performance. If you're doing extreme enough overclocking to mandate cooling like the kraken x60 then you probably dont want some random shitty ibuypower motherboard - if you're not, you are just wasting a ton of money on it and should get a proper sized case, a heatsink like the 212 evo or hr-02 macho (and that even assumes you are overclocking, are you?) and you should see nowhere near a $1569 tally for a 3570k/3770k, 128gb ssd, gtx680 system. I mean that seems like a $1k build to me. Using pcpartpicker.com, I threw together the following: NZXT Phantom 820 (White) ATX Full Tower Case (this case I like) Corsair XMS 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR3-1333 Memory (just cause RAM doesn't seem too expensive) Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive EVGA GeForce GTX 680 2GB Video Card Intel Core i7-3770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor Microsoft Windows 8 Full (64-bit) (I don't have an OS) I'm still missing a bunch of stuff and I'm at $1390, and that's on top of having to build it myself. Is that just way overpriced or am I retarded? | ||
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Cyro
United Kingdom20326 Posts
you can probably cut $150-200 from case, $150 from RAM (seriously, i dont think 8gb RAM costs more than 50 or so.. If you're getting more because low prices, dont judge because of the cost =P), 100 going to i5, $70 for a pretty much equal strengh gpu (a 7970), $100 from windows, which puts you down $520 to $870.. And these are just wild approximations. Maybe not everything completely suitable, but you can get the costs down. $1.5k is too much. | ||
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arcane1129
United States271 Posts
NZXT Phantom (White) ATX Full Tower Case Intel Core i7-3770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor (I could still go for I5 but as I'm trying to get something high-end I'm hesitant to scale back unless I know the difference wouldn't even be noticeable) Corsair Vengeance LP 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive Gigabyte Radeon HD 7970 3GB Video Card Microsoft Windows 8 Full (64-bit) I don't really know what the "good" companies for parts are so I just picked brands that looked familiar for whatever reason. Anything I should be concerned about? Also, can you recommend a motherboard, power supply, and cooler? Oh, and is there any way to easily check for compatibility on stuff? No experience in building my own comp. | ||
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Blaec
Australia4289 Posts
On April 02 2013 18:17 arcane1129 wrote: So switching it around to the following puts me at $1115. NZXT Phantom (White) ATX Full Tower Case Intel Core i7-3770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor Corsair Vengeance LP 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive Gigabyte Radeon HD 7970 3GB Video Card Microsoft Windows 8 Full (64-bit) I don't really know what the "good" companies for parts are so I just picked brands that looked familiar for whatever reason. Anything I should be concerned about? Also, can you recommend a motherboard, power supply, and cooler? Oh, and is there any way to easily check for compatibility on stuff? No experience in building my own comp. Change CPU to an i5 3570k No need to get more than 8g of ram (4g x2) Invest this money you have saved into a solid state (SSD), not sure what the best one around it atm You want a Z77 mobo Also with cases, they should last many builds and are the most visible part of the computer, you are going to look at it every time you power up. So don't compromise on your case to save money, that said a $260 case is abit ridiculous. And watercooling is not necessary unless you really love overclocking, fans and heatsinks work well and are much less complex, less parts to fail. | ||
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iTzSnypah
United States1738 Posts
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arcane1129
United States271 Posts
On April 02 2013 18:30 iTzSnypah wrote: maybe just maybe you should let people who knows what they're talking about pick your components based on your answers to the questionnaire in the OP. I answered most of them, and I was trying to save people from doing everything from scratch as I knew I wanted high end stuff and at that point the options get fairly limited. But yeah, you're right, my apologies. I'd be happy to sit back and let someone do the work for me :p What is your budget? $1800, including keyboard + monitor + OS What is your resolution? The best my monitor and computer will allow? 1920x1080 I guess. What are you using it for? Gaming, streaming, skype, all at the same time What is your upgrade cycle? At least 2 years When do you plan on building it? No rush, within the next few months Do you plan on overclocking? I'd like to try it as I never have before Do you need an Operating System? Yes Do you plan to add a second GPU for SLI or Crossfire? Not initially, maybe in the future if I feel I need an upgrade Where are you buying your parts from? Newegg/Amazon/wherever you guys recommend (I live in the US) I appreciate the help! | ||
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iTzSnypah
United States1738 Posts
On April 02 2013 18:38 arcane1129 wrote:+ Show Spoiler + On April 02 2013 18:30 iTzSnypah wrote: maybe just maybe you should let people who knows what they're talking about pick your components based on your answers to the questionnaire in the OP. I answered most of them, and I was trying to save people from doing everything from scratch as I knew I wanted high end stuff and at that point the options get fairly limited. But yeah, you're right, my apologies. I'd be happy to sit back and let someone do the work for me :p What is your budget? $1800, including keyboard + monitor + OS What is your resolution? The best my monitor and computer will allow? 1920x1080 I guess. What are you using it for? Gaming, streaming, skype, all at the same time What is your upgrade cycle? At least 2 years When do you plan on building it? No rush, within the next few months Do you plan on overclocking? I'd like to try it as I never have before Do you need an Operating System? Yes Do you plan to add a second GPU for SLI or Crossfire? Not initially, maybe in the future if I feel I need an upgrade Where are you buying your parts from? Newegg/Amazon/wherever you guys recommend (I live in the US) I appreciate the help! Guess I get to do it. Tower: i5-3570k $220 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819116504 Cooler Master Hyper 212+ $30 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103065 Gigabyte Z77X-D3H $140 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128546 Corsair 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3-1600 c9 1.5v $62 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233202 Gigabyte GTX 660 $204 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125443 Samsung 840 SDD 120GB $100 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147188 Seagate 2TB HDD $100 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822148834 NZXT Phantom 410 $100 Pick your color http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Order=BESTMATCH&N=100006519&isNodeId=1&Description=nzxt phantom 410&x=0&y=0 Rosewill Capstone 450 80+ Gold $70 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182066 DVD Burner $18 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827151256 Win7 64-bit $100 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116986 Tower Cost: $1144 Asus VS229H-P $140 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236205 Cooler Master Storm QuickFire Rapid ten-keyless w/MX Browns $80 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16823129005 Total: $1364 If you want to spend more go with a HD7950 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202006 | ||
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