Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread - Page 278
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GuiBz
Canada108 Posts
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skyR
Canada13817 Posts
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GuiBz
Canada108 Posts
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Ropid
Germany3557 Posts
On April 28 2014 04:51 Cyro wrote: Well, with aero if i remember correctly, the windows stick to the cursor but that's because they're both lagged, not just the windows. I think I noticed proof that you are right about this. When that "f.lux" program changes the color of the desktop, the mouse pointer normally stays unchanged because it's drawn separately in hardware, but when you start moving a window, the mouse pointer graphic starts getting affected by the f.lux color change. What you said about both being lagged would be an explanation for that: the window manager probably disables the hardware mouse pointer while the window is being moved and starts painting its own mouse pointer. | ||
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Durak
Canada3684 Posts
Purpose: The computer is not going to be used for gaming. There will be some picture and video editing. Resolution: 5120x1440. Already have two U713HM. Budget: $800 max. Would rather be around $600 since performance doesn't need to be fantastic. Parts: I am primarily concerned with cost-effective speed so I think SSD, CPU, and RAM are the most important. I'm willing to spend more for parts that are significantly better or harder to upgrade. SSD: 240/256GB or a fast 120+ is preferable since I don't want to replace it later. I can make due with 128 because there won't any big games to take up space and I will use separate drives for storage. HDD: 1TB+ unless there is some super cheap 500GB. Storage is cheap and I can always get more later. CPU+RAM: All about cost-efficiency. I would be happy to spend more here if it will make a difference, as there won't be any gaming, but doesn't need to be the best. GPU: Since there won't be any gaming, I doubt the videocard matters. The monitors allow for a lot of different connection types but I assume there would be some benefit for using 2x displayport or minidisplay-displayport? PSU: don't need a lot of power since not gaming. Whatever is on sale and reliable. Mobo+Case: Doesn't need to be big or allow for expansion. Will install Windows 7 or 8 on the computer. I can probably get a legal copy of either for free so it depends which you suggest. I am thinking Windows 8 because it probably has performance and compatibility benefits. Retailer preferences: Buying parts in Canada. I have a local Memory Express and I'm used to shipping from NCIX. Open to other retailers if there are price advantages. P.S. I might also have a set of DDR3 2x4GB 1333MHz Patriot Gamer 2 Series RAM from a friend. If you suggest 1600MHz RAM or a mobo that isn't compatible, don't let this fact deter you. Thanks for any suggestions! I'm happy monitoring NCIX for deals but I would like an idea of what to look for. | ||
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skyR
Canada13817 Posts
On April 28 2014 10:31 Durak wrote:+ Show Spoiler + Looking for recommendations for parts for a new computer. There is no rush so I would like to get the parts at a good price. Purpose: The computer is not going to be used for gaming. There will be some picture and video editing. Resolution: 5120x1440. Already have two U713HM. Budget: $800 max. Would rather be around $600 since performance doesn't need to be fantastic. Parts: I am primarily concerned with cost-effective speed so I think SSD, CPU, and RAM are the most important. I'm willing to spend more for parts that are significantly better or harder to upgrade. SSD: 240/256GB or a fast 120+ is preferable since I don't want to replace it later. I can make due with 128 because there won't any big games to take up space and I will use separate drives for storage. HDD: 1TB+ unless there is some super cheap 500GB. Storage is cheap and I can always get more later. CPU+RAM: All about cost-efficiency. I would be happy to spend more here if it will make a difference, as there won't be any gaming, but doesn't need to be the best. GPU: Since there won't be any gaming, I doubt the videocard matters. The monitors allow for a lot of different connection types but I assume there would be some benefit for using 2x displayport or minidisplay-displayport? PSU: don't need a lot of power since not gaming. Whatever is on sale and reliable. Mobo+Case: Doesn't need to be big or allow for expansion. Will install Windows 7 or 8 on the computer. I can probably get a legal copy of either for free so it depends which you suggest. I am thinking Windows 8 because it probably has performance and compatibility benefits. Retailer preferences: Buying parts in Canada. I have a local Memory Express and I'm used to shipping from NCIX. Open to other retailers if there are price advantages. P.S. I might also have a set of DDR3 2x4GB 1333MHz Patriot Gamer 2 Series RAM from a friend. If you suggest 1600MHz RAM or a mobo that isn't compatible, don't let this fact deter you. Thanks for any suggestions! I'm happy monitoring NCIX for deals but I would like an idea of what to look for. For SSD, you're looking for a Samsung 840 EVO which is currently $95 for 120GB or $160 for 250GB. 120GB goes as low as $85 iirc and 250GB was down to roughly $140 just two or three weeks ago. If you don't mind something slower than there's also the Crucial M500 which is $130 for 240GB right now and was $120 a few weeks ago. Power supply selection in Canada sucks really bad, your best option is probably getting a Capstone 450 or 550-M from Newegg for $60 or $70 respectively using the $10 off new customer coupon. I don't think anything lower is worth it. For case, you can go with the Fractal Design Core 1000 for $25 (w/ promo code 422WTB06, ends 4/28) if you want something cheap though there is an enormous shipping fee ($15), at least on my screen. Still not bad for $40 though. If you want something nicer than you can get like a Corsair 350D or whatever at around $90 price point. Since you're running 2x 1440p, you'll need to use HDMI, DP, or dual-link DVI. Intel doesn't support dual-link DVI so that limits you to using HDMI and DP if you don't want a dGPU. Luckily, there's plenty of H81 and B85 boards that have both HDMI and DP, eg. Gigabyte H81M-HD3 and MSI B85M-G43. You can use either 1333MHz or 1600MHz, doesn't matter. For CPU, a Core i5 4570 is about $220 and 4670 is about $250. Whether you want to spend roughly $30 more for 200MHz is up to you. Keep in mind that Haswell will be refreshed in two or so weeks. The 4590 and 4690 will take the place of the 4570 and 4670 respectively and the 8 series boards will be replaced by 9 series boards so there may be some sales on the older inventory to clear stock. Nothing special about the refresh though if you're wondering. So that would total up to around $650 (assuming 250GB and the more expensive case) and a 1TB 7200 RPM HDD is about $65. | ||
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LimeNade
United States2125 Posts
2 x 4GB DDR3-1600 G.Skill Ares RAM into their dual channel slots. I also have an extra 1 x 4GB DDR3-1600 Corsair Vengeance RAM from my old computer. Is it a bad idea to to install my Corsair's stick of RAM? I have browsed around the net a bit to try to figure out if having an odd number sticks of RAM installed is a bad or okay thing to do but can't find a conclusive answer. | ||
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Blazinghand
United States25553 Posts
What is your current build? My current build is a Lenovo ThinkPad X200 2.53ghz Core 2 Duo laptop with 3gb of memory and a 320 gb HD. all these parts are stock. What is your monitor's native resolution? The laptop has a built-in 12" TFT display with 1280x800 (WXGA) resolution. I mostly do not use it with an external monitor. Why do you want to upgrade? What do you want to achieve with the upgrade? I want to upgrade the computer's memory (i have some laptop ram lying around, but even if I didn't, it's pretty cheap to bring it up to 8 gb ram... probably). More importantly, the HD in this computer is very old and I want to install a new SSD. I want applications to open more quickly, and for this computer to handle things better generally. It's mostly used for word processing and web browsing, but occasionally I do excel spreadsheets with macros. What is your budget? I'm willing to spend up to $150 to upgrade the memory and storage of my computer. More than that and I'd be better off selling it and buying a chromebook for $200. But then I'd be using a chromebook. Ew. What country will you be buying your parts in? USA If you have any brand or retailer preferences, please specify. My OS is Ubuntu, so anything I use has to play nicely with that. I was thinking of buying this Samsung 840 EVO 2.5" 120GB SSD (link) ($81), and Crucial 4GBx2 DDR3 PC3-10600 memory (link) but I'm having trouble determining if it will actually be compatible. I don't really care about the brand of memory as long as it works. Any advice for upgrading this thinkpad? Lying around the house I have: 2x Elpida 2GB PC3-12800S SODIMM Memory 2x Samsung 2GB PC3-10600S SODIMM Memory But I'm not sure if either of these are compatible with the x200. I'd be fine upgrading just to 4GB using these things but the thinkwiki memory upgrade page(link) has other things on it. Also I'm not sure that the speed of the ram matches up with the ram speed inside the laptop? Really confused hat MHz I shoudl go for and how that related to PC3-10600 (which refers to a certain speed?) In any case let me know if anyone has ideas | ||
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Cyro
United Kingdom20318 Posts
On April 28 2014 08:54 Ropid wrote: I think I noticed proof that you are right about this. When that "f.lux" program changes the color of the desktop, the mouse pointer normally stays unchanged because it's drawn separately in hardware, but when you start moving a window, the mouse pointer graphic starts getting affected by the f.lux color change. What you said about both being lagged would be an explanation for that: the window manager probably disables the hardware mouse pointer while the window is being moved and starts painting its own mouse pointer. I'm not sure if it feels worse when you're not dragging a window (it's pretty small) but dragging them feels bad even on 120hz, definitely. Nice find On April 28 2014 13:54 LimeNade wrote: Hey guys I was wondering if someone could help me out with regards to my latest build. So in my latest build I installed 2 x 4GB DDR3-1600 G.Skill Ares RAM into their dual channel slots. I also have an extra 1 x 4GB DDR3-1600 Corsair Vengeance RAM from my old computer. Is it a bad idea to to install my Corsair's stick of RAM? I have browsed around the net a bit to try to figure out if having an odd number sticks of RAM installed is a bad or okay thing to do but can't find a conclusive answer. In a best case scenario, you'd have 12gb of RAM in 2x4gb (dual channel) + 1x4gb (single channel) mode, effectively. If you want to use over 8gb of RAM regularly while not paying anything or selling your current RAM module, it's an option. It would likely somewhat affect your memory performance, but you would also not likely notice that if you're not a benchmarker. | ||
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skyR
Canada13817 Posts
On April 28 2014 16:30 Blazinghand wrote:+ Show Spoiler + Upgrade What is your current build? My current build is a Lenovo ThinkPad X200 2.53ghz Core 2 Duo laptop with 3gb of memory and a 320 gb HD. all these parts are stock. What is your monitor's native resolution? The laptop has a built-in 12" TFT display with 1280x800 (WXGA) resolution. I mostly do not use it with an external monitor. Why do you want to upgrade? What do you want to achieve with the upgrade? I want to upgrade the computer's memory (i have some laptop ram lying around, but even if I didn't, it's pretty cheap to bring it up to 8 gb ram... probably). More importantly, the HD in this computer is very old and I want to install a new SSD. I want applications to open more quickly, and for this computer to handle things better generally. It's mostly used for word processing and web browsing, but occasionally I do excel spreadsheets with macros. What is your budget? I'm willing to spend up to $150 to upgrade the memory and storage of my computer. More than that and I'd be better off selling it and buying a chromebook for $200. But then I'd be using a chromebook. Ew. What country will you be buying your parts in? USA If you have any brand or retailer preferences, please specify. My OS is Ubuntu, so anything I use has to play nicely with that. I was thinking of buying this Samsung 840 EVO 2.5" 120GB SSD (link) ($81), and Crucial 4GBx2 DDR3 PC3-10600 memory (link) but I'm having trouble determining if it will actually be compatible. I don't really care about the brand of memory as long as it works. Any advice for upgrading this thinkpad? Lying around the house I have: 2x Elpida 2GB PC3-12800S SODIMM Memory 2x Samsung 2GB PC3-10600S SODIMM Memory But I'm not sure if either of these are compatible with the x200. I'd be fine upgrading just to 4GB using these things but the thinkwiki memory upgrade page(link) has other things on it. Also I'm not sure that the speed of the ram matches up with the ram speed inside the laptop? Really confused hat MHz I shoudl go for and how that related to PC3-10600 (which refers to a certain speed?) In any case let me know if anyone has ideas I believe X200 uses DDR3 so those sticks of memory should be fine to use in the memory. PC3-10600 is 1333MHz but higher speeds will work just as well, the higher speed modules will just downclock automatically to match the 1333MHz speed. afaik X200 is SATA II so the Samsung 840 EVO will work as well, it'll just run at SATA II speeds. | ||
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Incognoto
France10239 Posts
On April 28 2014 03:38 Cyro wrote: You must have really bad input lag if you can't feel the effects of 60hz vsync on vs off Actually, with this comment and Ropid's post right underneath, maybe I do have bad input lag. Moving the camera around with the mouse feels really fuckin' sluggish il-2 (compared to using joystick hat switches). Though i thought that was the game itself, games like FC3 and bioshock feel quite snappy. | ||
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Blazinghand
United States25553 Posts
On April 29 2014 00:48 skyR wrote: I believe X200 uses DDR3 so those sticks of memory should be fine to use in the memory. PC3-10600 is 1333MHz but higher speeds will work just as well, the higher speed modules will just downclock automatically to match the 1333MHz speed. afaik X200 is SATA II so the Samsung 840 EVO will work as well, it'll just run at SATA II speeds. Thanks for the help! I'm pretty pumped about this upgrade. | ||
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Ropid
Germany3557 Posts
On April 29 2014 01:46 Incognoto wrote: Actually, with this comment and Ropid's post right underneath, maybe I do have bad input lag. Moving the camera around with the mouse feels really fuckin' sluggish il-2 (compared to using joystick hat switches). Though i thought that was the game itself, games like FC3 and bioshock feel quite snappy. That should be the game's fault if it's only in this one. You could try to look around what people post in forums about mouse settings. There's often things you can do in the config files of games to improve mouse feel that aren't shown in the options menu in the game. This is also an example of where you should definitely try to see what the game behaves like without V-Sync. There might be things you can do on the graphics driver side, but I don't know anything about AMD. On NVIDIA there's only V-Sync and a "max pre-rendered frames" setting for Direct3D that can be set to its lowest setting, and there's "triple buffering" for OpenGL. (EDIT: heard that the pre-rendered frames setting is "flip queue size" on AMD and 1 is the lowest possible, same as on NVIDIA) | ||
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LimeNade
United States2125 Posts
In a best case scenario, you'd have 12gb of RAM in 2x4gb (dual channel) + 1x4gb (single channel) mode, effectively. If you want to use over 8gb of RAM regularly while not paying anything or selling your current RAM module, it's an option. It would likely somewhat affect your memory performance, but you would also not likely notice that if you're not a benchmarker. Yea I've noticed I sometimes am using 6GB+ of my 8GB of ram if for instance I have Sc2/Hearthstone/12+tabs on chrome open/downloading a torrent and a source stream on at same time. However, that's still not breaking the 8GB. So I guess I don't really need the extra 4GB of RAM atm but in the case I buy another RAM module do I have to match it to my current two installed or can I buy another corsair vengeance DDR3-1600 and match it with the one I am currently not using? | ||
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skyR
Canada13817 Posts
On April 29 2014 03:44 LimeNade wrote:+ Show Spoiler + In a best case scenario, you'd have 12gb of RAM in 2x4gb (dual channel) + 1x4gb (single channel) mode, effectively. If you want to use over 8gb of RAM regularly while not paying anything or selling your current RAM module, it's an option. It would likely somewhat affect your memory performance, but you would also not likely notice that if you're not a benchmarker. Yea I've noticed I sometimes am using 6GB+ of my 8GB of ram if for instance I have Sc2/Hearthstone/12+tabs on chrome open/downloading a torrent and a source stream on at same time. However, that's still not breaking the 8GB. So I guess I don't really need the extra 4GB of RAM atm but in the case I buy another RAM module do I have to match it to my current two installed or can I buy another corsair vengeance DDR3-1600 and match it with the one I am currently not using? You can just buy another Corsair Vengeance. Compatibility issues are extremely rare when it comes to using different modules. | ||
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GuiBz
Canada108 Posts
On April 28 2014 08:11 skyR wrote: You can get a Capstone 550M for roughly $70 if you're a new Newegg customer. Is it good too? http://www.ncix.com/detail/corsair-cs550m-cs-modular-80-1d-91781.htm Corsair CS550M CS Modular 80 Plus GOLD-RATE 550W 12V Power Supply (To support a GTX 770 and a i7-2600k processor) | ||
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skyR
Canada13817 Posts
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GuiBz
Canada108 Posts
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Cyro
United Kingdom20318 Posts
I can do better, but i'd have to lower my screen, move my keyboard, mousepad etc and i'm halfway through playing osu so don't want to screw everything up with regards to muscle memory atm. It's on my list of things to do soon as well as testing that x264 thing with HT on/off @4ghz ^.^ Edit: Took a quick look over that vid, looks like latency is at least shorter than 1 frame of the webcam (~33.34ms @30fps) as starting/stopping movement on the screen and IRL seems to happen on the same frame @144hz - but it starts and finishes 1 frame after my hand on the 75hz monitor. I'd like to do super low dpi swipe like right next to the screen/s, but i don't think i can show it very well with this camera equipment | ||
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killerdog
Denmark6522 Posts
http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/user/killerdog/saved/4wZw + Show Spoiler + PCPartPicker part list: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/3Bd7X Price breakdown by merchant: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/3Bd7X/by_merchant/ Benchmarks: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/3Bd7X/benchmarks/ CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor (£151.14 @ Aria PC) CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (£25.45 @ Scan.co.uk) Motherboard: Asus Z87-K ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£89.84 @ Scan.co.uk) Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1333 Memory (£83.99 @ Amazon UK) Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk (£59.89 @ Amazon UK) Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£52.79 @ Aria PC) Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 760 2GB ACX Video Card (£189.97 @ Aria PC) Case: Cooler Master Storm Enforcer ATX Mid Tower Case (£71.98 @ Scan.co.uk) Power Supply: Corsair CX 500W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply (£45.78 @ Amazon UK) Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) (£69.96 @ CCL Computers) Monitor: Asus VG248QE 144Hz 24.0" Monitor (£273.89 @ Scan.co.uk) Total: £1114.68 (Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.) (Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-04-30 09:18 BST+0100) I've been fiddling around a bit with some of the components, both following some advice (downgraded to 760, 840 evo was just cheaper then 840 etc) and a few where things weren't available on the uk version of the site, so i found similar options. A few things I wasn't sure about, Wasn't sure of the PSU, There were 4 versions of basically the same GPU, as long as it has the same fan, the shipped clock rate should matter right? (I can just oc it manually?) Had to grab a new case, but all atx mid towers are basically compatible yes? cpu and cpu cooler are unchanged from what was originally suggested, so i assume they're fine together? Also some of the parts seem considerably more expensive in the uk site, (the monitor fx,) is that just europe being europe, or is there some way of getting them cheaper. Thanks again for everyone's help~ | ||
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