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When using this resource, please read the 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. |
Yeah, you can build a computer with it, but the performance would suck (and let's not even talk about power efficiency) and the parts would be relatively expensive.
They are sold by Sapphire, XFX, and MSI respectively, which means maybe different postsale support.
The coolers there are similar in design but a bit different in noise level, cooling, size, weight, etc.
Essentially the differences you see are the only differences. No matter which one, you get a R9 270X on a graphics card paired with 2GB of GDDR5 memory and all the auxiliary chips, components, boards, cooler, etc. to make it all work. Performance only depends on the clock rates at which the GPU chip and the memory run, which are user-configurable anyway. Default clocks are slightly different out of the factory, with the MSI set fastest.
Reviews for individual graphics card models can be spotty, but the MSI's cooler seems pretty good on that R9 270X model, so go for that.
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Pentium 4 and DDR2 should be super cheap on Ebay now right?
I might just build it for fun since I still have not built a computer from scratch
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Thank you for all the help. I went with the MSI! Now the last thing I need to do is purchase the OS (ugh  ). I didn't get an optical drive, so I was planning on installing it via USB. This may seem like a dumb question, but how do I do this? I want Windows 7, so I assume I should buy an electronic copy that I can download to the USB. Do I want the 64-bit version, home or professional, and how big of a USB will I need?
Sorry for the noobish questions.
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That link myrmidon linked.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews
I checked out some graphics card. They test the noise levels on none-reference cards.
Hard to know exactly how they test them.
A quote from them.
The tested graphics card was installed in a system that was completely cooled passively. That is, passive PSU, passive CPU cooler, and passive cooling on the motherboard and solid state drive. Noise results of other cards on this page are measurements of the respective reference design.
My english is not superb. Iam not even sure what passive mean in these sentences.
Someone wanna explain?
Further, does it mean that they havent manually set the GPU fan?
All in all, it means you can get those cards even quiter over what those tests showed?
EDIT:
I think i found the best graphic card ever.
MSI GeForce GTX 760 2GB TwinFrozr GAMING-series
According to those tests, very very good noise while can play lots of games.
$100 less for me, i take it!
Ah ok. I expected that abit.
Ye. Might change tons probably
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On May 31 2014 06:56 Foxxan wrote:That link myrmidon linked. http://www.techpowerup.com/reviewsI checked out some graphics card. They test the noise levels on none-reference cards. Hard to know exactly how they test them. A quote from them. Show nested quote +The tested graphics card was installed in a system that was completely cooled passively. That is, passive PSU, passive CPU cooler, and passive cooling on the motherboard and solid state drive. Noise results of other cards on this page are measurements of the respective reference design. My english is not superb. Iam not even sure what passive mean in these sentences. Someone wanna explain? Further, does it mean that they havent manually set the GPU fan? All in all, it means you can get those cards even quiter over what those tests showed?
Passive cooling is when there aren't even fans at all. Something like this:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186054
Performance is obviously inferior to when you do have fans.
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Passive means, it's cooled without fan. They used a CPU cooler without fan and a PSU without fan. The SSD has no disk spinning inside, so is silent compared to a HDD. For that passive stuff to work in a real PC, you typically still need case fans, but that air being moved by the case fans is then enough for the passive PSU or a large CPU air cooler. Because there's still case fans, it's technically "semi-passive". I'd guess for those reviews, they kept everything out in the open and then didn't need any case fans?
This here is the heaviest cooler sold for passive use, the HR-22: http://i.imgur.com/RYJjUtU.jpg
The best passive cooler looks strange like this, but you can't have a fan on it: http://i.imgur.com/3ReY575.jpg
Your NH-U14S in the H440 case will be very similar performance, will be able to cool the CPU without fan when it's not doing much.
The passive PSUs are super expensive as they need to get very close to 100% efficiency to be able to run without fan.
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United Kingdom20344 Posts
On May 31 2014 05:34 lantz wrote:
Pentium 4 and DDR2 should be super cheap on Ebay now right?
I might just build it for fun since I still have not built a computer from scratch
Not really that cheap, because they are no longer in production - you'd end up paying a decent amount for something pretty much useless in today's world
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United Kingdom20344 Posts
On May 30 2014 23:23 YoiNk wrote:Hi all. This is my first time building a custom pc. I am currently on a 5 and a half year old macbook and so I believe whatever I decide to buy should be a significant upgrade. I do some work at uni that involves model simulations so I believe a decently sized SSD (To install the OS, Programming library, do the I/O on as well as some games) and good processor should be included. What is your budget?700 pound What is your monitor's native resolution?1080p What games do you intend to play on this computer? What settings?Starcraft hybrid settings, maybe higher. Diablo III, however high I can get it. What do you intend to use the computer for besides gaming?Programming (involves model simulations) Do you intend to overclock?I wasn't actually planning to but it seems like it is quite possible and so why not? Do you intend to do SLI / Crossfire?No. Do you need an operating system?No. Do you need a monitor or any other peripherals and is this part of your budget?No. If you have any requirements or brand preferences, please specify.No preferences. What country will you be buying your parts in?UK If you have any retailer preferences, please specify.Not really; from what I understand getting things from the same retailer will reduce Shipping costs and thus save money though. I have already looked around on PCpartpicker and made two builds (One with AMD FX8350 and one with Intel i5 4670K CPU): AMD build ~621 pound +shipping Intel Build ~666.68 pound + ~10 pound for shipping The AMD processor seems to be quite comparable in performance (the benchmarks seem to actually favour it) and it is quite a bit cheaper. I would generally like to hear any comments or suggestions on these builds but I have some specific questions already: 1. Are the motherboards adequate? For the one in the AMD build I have found a review on Amazon saying it only provides 100W while the CPU requires 125 and so the over clocking options are very limited. I could not find any information on this and it confused me a bit because I thought the power is supplied by the PSU (I guess the power is sort of routed through the motherboard?). 2. Is the additional cost of the Intel build validated by better performance? 3. Am I completely retarded for thinking it is a good idea to buy this now if there is a good chance I will want to move back to Germany in 4 month or so? In other words: is it a real hassle to move a pc? If I keep all the original packaging, would it maybe even be a good idea to just disassemble it into its parts again? 4. Is the graphics card a good choice? I know there are newer ones available but my reasoning is that this card will easily play everything I want to play now and if I want more in the future I can always get a new one then. Remember I am currently playing on an integrated Nvidia GeForce 9400M and so I think even a mid-range graphics card will be quite sufficient for me. This turned out to be a really long post but that is because I have spent quite a lot of time recently reading guides, picking parts and thinking about this. Thank you for any help you can give me! 
It's definitely worth the intel build if you value sc2 performance (is like 1.6x stronger on intel side) and other tasks, it depends. The FX cpu's are good value, but they are terrible at some workloads and the i5 is pretty much a more expensive good-at-everything option, that dominates with low thread counts and tends to keep up even in multithreaded programs, falling a little behind in some that use 8 threads well. I tend to avoid fx past the ~6300 because of pricing.
I would step up the cooler to the true spirit 140 (power edition) @~£33 regardless of what you want to do (with a case that fits it and provides decent airflow, because you can keep a case for many many years and builds) and if you want to push overclocks, go with the z87x-d3h (seen it as low as ~£92, often £95-100) or maybe one of the decent asus options - mobo does matter somewhat for Haswell, and i wouldnt buy one of the cheaper ones for pushing any harder than ~1.25-1.3vcore, but if you want to settle 200-300mhz below max clocks, cheaper mobo will do ok.
750ti is good for those games, but it will be lacking power for other stuff. It's a decent card to have to upgrade out of in ~1-3 years though, if you are not satisfied with performance then.
The superflower golden green hx 550 @ £50 is pretty good option right now - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-003-SF
the 450w is £8 cheaper though - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-002-SF&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=2057
I have a 550 for considering high OC on both a haswell quad core or similar and a flagship GPU like a 580 or 780ti* (which can use >300w at a pushed overclock, as opposed to 750ti's ~70w)
*They are big-die fermi and kepler.. the 680/770 use very little power in comparison
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I've had my current desktop for 3 years now, and although it still runs everything just fine, due to various reasons I'm considering selling it and building a new one.
Specs:
i5 2500K Sandy Bridge
GTX 560 Ti
Corsair 80GB SSD
P67 Motherboard
8GB RAM
WD Black 500GB HDD
Antec 550W PSU
NZXT Lexa S Case
+ Generic DVD Drive
+ Cooler Master Hyper 212 plus CPU cooler
+ some blue LED case fans that look pretty cool
I spent ~$1000 on it when I built it 3 years ago. How much would it be worth now?
I am willing to spend 800-1000$ on a new machine, minus whatever I get from selling mine. Would it be worth it sell mine and build a new one?
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If you're not going to actually use it for some reason, you don't gain much by keeping it. Its value only declines further with time.
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United Kingdom20344 Posts
On May 31 2014 09:19 Leeto wrote:I've had my current desktop for 3 years now, and although it still runs everything just fine, due to various reasons I'm considering selling it and building a new one. Specs: i5 2500K Sandy BridgeGTX 560 TiCorsair 80GB SSDP67 Motherboard8GB RAMWD Black 500GB HDD Antec 550W PSUNZXT Lexa S Case+ Generic DVD Drive + Cooler Master Hyper 212 plus CPU cooler + some blue LED case fans that look pretty cool I spent ~$1000 on it when I built it 3 years ago. How much would it be worth now? I am willing to spend 800-1000$ on a new machine, minus whatever I get from selling mine. Would it be worth it sell mine and build a new one?
Probably want to wait a while for upgrading. Maybe a Maxwell GPU in 6 months or so would be good for you until Skylake hits with ddr4 (end 2015 planned)
We got the 7970 in the first months of 2012 and we're going to pretty much have that GPU gen (plus the big cards, 780-780ti, 290/290x) for three years (all of 2012, 2013, most of 2014) so when that ends, hopefully there is something worth upgrading to at a good price.
As for CPU, complaints are pretty widespread about the lack of progress that Intel made since Sandy Bridge 
Devil's canyon (4690k?) might be a better choice than 4670k was when we see data which should be sometime soon (a few days to a few months), but for a big performance leap, you'd have to wait longer
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On May 30 2014 23:23 YoiNk wrote:+ Show Spoiler +Hi all. This is my first time building a custom pc. I am currently on a 5 and a half year old macbook and so I believe whatever I decide to buy should be a significant upgrade. I do some work at uni that involves model simulations so I believe a decently sized SSD (To install the OS, Programming library, do the I/O on as well as some games) and good processor should be included. What is your budget?700 pound What is your monitor's native resolution?1080p What games do you intend to play on this computer? What settings?Starcraft hybrid settings, maybe higher. Diablo III, however high I can get it. What do you intend to use the computer for besides gaming?Programming (involves model simulations) Do you intend to overclock?I wasn't actually planning to but it seems like it is quite possible and so why not? Do you intend to do SLI / Crossfire?No. Do you need an operating system?No. Do you need a monitor or any other peripherals and is this part of your budget?No. If you have any requirements or brand preferences, please specify.No preferences. What country will you be buying your parts in?UK If you have any retailer preferences, please specify.Not really; from what I understand getting things from the same retailer will reduce Shipping costs and thus save money though. I have already looked around on PCpartpicker and made two builds (One with AMD FX8350 and one with Intel i5 4670K CPU): AMD build ~621 pound +shipping Intel Build ~666.68 pound + ~10 pound for shipping The AMD processor seems to be quite comparable in performance (the benchmarks seem to actually favour it) and it is quite a bit cheaper. I would generally like to hear any comments or suggestions on these builds but I have some specific questions already: 1. Are the motherboards adequate? For the one in the AMD build I have found a review on Amazon saying it only provides 100W while the CPU requires 125 and so the over clocking options are very limited. I could not find any information on this and it confused me a bit because I thought the power is supplied by the PSU (I guess the power is sort of routed through the motherboard?). 2. Is the additional cost of the Intel build validated by better performance? 3. Am I completely retarded for thinking it is a good idea to buy this now if there is a good chance I will want to move back to Germany in 4 month or so? In other words: is it a real hassle to move a pc? If I keep all the original packaging, would it maybe even be a good idea to just disassemble it into its parts again? 4. Is the graphics card a good choice? I know there are newer ones available but my reasoning is that this card will easily play everything I want to play now and if I want more in the future I can always get a new one then. Remember I am currently playing on an integrated Nvidia GeForce 9400M and so I think even a mid-range graphics card will be quite sufficient for me. This turned out to be a really long post but that is because I have spent quite a lot of time recently reading guides, picking parts and thinking about this. Thank you for any help you can give me!
Thank you to everyone who responded to my questions. Based on that I have now decided to go with the Intel processor (because I am not certain I will make use of all the cores of the AMD). I have exchanged the PSU for a 500W Corsair PSU that had some good reviews and is semi-modular. The money I saved there I invested into a better motherboard and into a better case (one that the cooler actually fits into - Thank you Ropid for pointing that one out).
As a consequence, this build is only ~10£ more expensive than my original build but probably a bit higher quality components.
Here is the new build:
New Intel Build
Are there any other potential compatibility issues I should check for like the sockets of PSU/Motherboard/GPU matching or something like that. I was also first considering the same Corsair PSU in the 430W configuration which is a total 15£ cheaper but I felt like 430 W if PCpartpicker estimates the wattage of my build to be 339W is cutting it a bit close. Do you agree?
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On May 31 2014 00:05 Ropid wrote:You can move with it, but you could also ride your bicycle a lot the next four months or something as it's summer.
Quite true. But Scottish "summer" has more than enough rainy days to game on :D
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United Kingdom20344 Posts
On May 31 2014 17:45 YoiNk wrote:Show nested quote +On May 30 2014 23:23 YoiNk wrote:+ Show Spoiler +Hi all. This is my first time building a custom pc. I am currently on a 5 and a half year old macbook and so I believe whatever I decide to buy should be a significant upgrade. I do some work at uni that involves model simulations so I believe a decently sized SSD (To install the OS, Programming library, do the I/O on as well as some games) and good processor should be included. What is your budget?700 pound What is your monitor's native resolution?1080p What games do you intend to play on this computer? What settings?Starcraft hybrid settings, maybe higher. Diablo III, however high I can get it. What do you intend to use the computer for besides gaming?Programming (involves model simulations) Do you intend to overclock?I wasn't actually planning to but it seems like it is quite possible and so why not? Do you intend to do SLI / Crossfire?No. Do you need an operating system?No. Do you need a monitor or any other peripherals and is this part of your budget?No. If you have any requirements or brand preferences, please specify.No preferences. What country will you be buying your parts in?UK If you have any retailer preferences, please specify.Not really; from what I understand getting things from the same retailer will reduce Shipping costs and thus save money though. I have already looked around on PCpartpicker and made two builds (One with AMD FX8350 and one with Intel i5 4670K CPU): AMD build ~621 pound +shipping Intel Build ~666.68 pound + ~10 pound for shipping The AMD processor seems to be quite comparable in performance (the benchmarks seem to actually favour it) and it is quite a bit cheaper. I would generally like to hear any comments or suggestions on these builds but I have some specific questions already: 1. Are the motherboards adequate? For the one in the AMD build I have found a review on Amazon saying it only provides 100W while the CPU requires 125 and so the over clocking options are very limited. I could not find any information on this and it confused me a bit because I thought the power is supplied by the PSU (I guess the power is sort of routed through the motherboard?). 2. Is the additional cost of the Intel build validated by better performance? 3. Am I completely retarded for thinking it is a good idea to buy this now if there is a good chance I will want to move back to Germany in 4 month or so? In other words: is it a real hassle to move a pc? If I keep all the original packaging, would it maybe even be a good idea to just disassemble it into its parts again? 4. Is the graphics card a good choice? I know there are newer ones available but my reasoning is that this card will easily play everything I want to play now and if I want more in the future I can always get a new one then. Remember I am currently playing on an integrated Nvidia GeForce 9400M and so I think even a mid-range graphics card will be quite sufficient for me. This turned out to be a really long post but that is because I have spent quite a lot of time recently reading guides, picking parts and thinking about this. Thank you for any help you can give me! Thank you to everyone who responded to my questions. Based on that I have now decided to go with the Intel processor (because I am not certain I will make use of all the cores of the AMD). I have exchanged the PSU for a 500W Corsair PSU that had some good reviews and is semi-modular. The money I saved there I invested into a better motherboard and into a better case (one that the cooler actually fits into - Thank you Ropid for pointing that one out). As a consequence, this build is only ~10£ more expensive than my original build but probably a bit higher quality components. Here is the new build: New Intel BuildAre there any other potential compatibility issues I should check for like the sockets of PSU/Motherboard/GPU matching or something like that. I was also first considering the same Corsair PSU in the 430W configuration which is a total 15£ cheaper but I felt like 430 W if PCpartpicker estimates the wattage of my build to be 339W is cutting it a bit close. Do you agree?
The PSU's i linked last post are better in both quality and price, though not semi-modular (i don't think that matters much for lower-capacity PSU's as you usually use most of the wires anyway?)
Always worth going to ~£33 true spirit 140 power edition (scan.co.uk has it, i didn't check anywhere else)
how much are you going to OC, in terms of voltages? That decides cost on motherboard and if you want to upgrade cooler past that~
You really have no worries for power. Maybe two thirds capacity on a good 450w unit while under combined max overclocked CPU and GPU load
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The true spirit 140 cooler seems good but as far as I can tell it is a little too large. It has a height of 171mm and my case only supports up to 160mm.
The PSU on the other hand seems really good. Someone linked it earlier but that was the amazon version for ~60£ incl shipping. For 42£ this could well be good upgrade.
I don't know exactly the voltages I want to over clock. I am probably fine with not etching out every last bit of speed possible since this is my first build and my first time over clocking.
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United Kingdom20344 Posts
The true spirit 140 cooler seems good but as far as I can tell it is a little too large. It has a height of 171mm and my case only supports up to 160mm.
Since you don't own either, this points out more of a defective case than cooler to me
unless you specifically want that case thickness i would just get a different one. Hr-02 macho is also a decent option and fat instead of tall
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I chose the case because fractal design seems reputable and this is their cheapest case that actually has all the features I want. I'm actually wondering: It says this case has 7 fan slots and comes with 3 fans included. Is that normal? I suppose the cooler that I would buy extra is for CPU cooling specifically so that would give me 3 factory fans to cool everything else. So I'm just wondering if there actually would be anything wrong with the cooler master fan I have in my current build. It would be 25 instead of 40£ (considering shipping cost) and has excellent reviews by many people on amazon.
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United Kingdom20344 Posts
On May 31 2014 19:34 YoiNk wrote:
I chose the case because fractal design seems reputable and this is their cheapest case that actually has all the features I want. I'm actually wondering: It says this case has 7 fan slots and comes with 3 fans included. Is that normal? I suppose the cooler that I would buy extra is for CPU cooling specifically so that would give me 3 factory fans to cool everything else. So I'm just wondering if there actually would be anything wrong with the cooler master fan I have in my current build. It would be 25 instead of 40£ (considering shipping cost) and has excellent reviews by many people on amazon.
Well, i assumed you'd have to pay shipping on both ~£25 212 or £33 true spirit 140 power - the 212 is ok, it's just louder(?) and doesn't cool as well. Given that you'll probably have at least warm temperatures OC-ing, it's usually worth that much of a price difference to make a notable upgrade in terms of cpu temperatures
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EPT
