EPTComputer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread - Page 360
| Forum Index > Tech Support |
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. | ||
|
Ognam
United States798 Posts
| ||
|
Cyro
United Kingdom20344 Posts
| ||
|
aBstractx
United States287 Posts
| ||
|
kaykaykay
Singapore637 Posts
On August 08 2014 09:25 skyR wrote: Change Corsair CX600 for a Rosewill Capstone 450. Change GTX 780 to a GTX 760. Use money saved for better monitor or a second monitor (or both if budget allows). Makes more sense for someone concerned with DOTA 2. Only you are able to determine whether the amount of storage is overkill or not.. we do not know your usage patterns. which dual monitor would you recommend in his position? | ||
|
skyR
Canada13817 Posts
| ||
|
Craton
United States17303 Posts
+ Show Spoiler + ![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/1c7WxtJ.jpg) Do you think there'd be any issue not having it screwed in (beyond the obvious of knocking into it)? It's a NAS so I'm gonna tuck it in some corner. Maybe I could strap it down or something -- I have a bunch of these that would do the trick, though might not have enough vertical space to use it: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16848035577 | ||
|
Zeke50100
United States2220 Posts
The price override on the CPU and motherboard is from a Microcenter bundle. I know the CPU and GPU aren't too well balanced, but I'm less concerned about video and mainly want the i5-4690k just for fun. I haven't OCed my own CPU before, so I'm not really sure what I'm looking for in the motherboard or heatsink. Also, I have a storage drive lying around already, so I won't be needing one. I plan on buying parts this week, so its fine if some deals only last a couple days. + Show Spoiler [Questionnaire] + What is your budget? $1000 is probably the most I'm willing to spend, though lower is better. The $800 range is most comfortable. What is your monitor's native resolution? 1920x1080 What games do you intend to play on this computer? What settings? LoL, SC2, Dota 2, Skyrim, DA:O, Torchlight 2, emulated PS2 and Wii, Civ 5 and whatever pops up in Humble Bundles. on medium settings. I don't really care too much about settings, but it would be nice if I could get at least a stable playable rate on low settings, if not more - if the cost of bumping up a tier of settings is more than ~$60, I probably wouldn't find it worth it. What do you intend to use the computer for besides gaming? Running VMs, streaming, CUDA/OpenCL, OpenGL, OpenMP and various other programming things (mainly for fun - nothing professional). Do you intend to overclock? Yes, although I'm not looking for enthusiast levels. Do you intend to do SLI / Crossfire? Nope. Do you need an operating system? Windows, but it's not included in the budget. I would appreciate any advice on the benefits of dual-booting Linux on an SSD vs a usual storage drive, though :D I'm thinking of the latter (if at all, since I might just push those duties onto my laptop). Do you need a monitor or any other peripherals and is this part of your budget? I'll need a monitor, but it's not really a part of the budget. I will need a disc drive, but CD/DVD is fine. If you have any requirements or brand preferences, please specify. I'm an Intel fan and think Geforce sounds cooler than Radeon. What country will you be buying your parts in? US. If you have any retailer preferences, please specify. Microcenter, Newegg and Amazon are preferred. I don't mind TigerDirect, etc. if the prices are better *coughcouponscough* Thanks in advance! | ||
|
Incognoto
France10239 Posts
On August 08 2014 13:08 Craton wrote: Well this is going to be fun. Unsure if I can hammer it into place. + Show Spoiler + Do you think there'd be any issue not having it screwed in (beyond the obvious of knocking into it)? It's a NAS so I'm gonna tuck it in some corner. Maybe I could strap it down or something -- I have a bunch of these that would do the trick, though might not have enough vertical space to use it: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16848035577 that looks like it might bend back into place with a big plier unsure what is NAS On August 08 2014 14:32 Zeke50100 wrote: Hey guys. I would like some help with my build ^_^ I've been hovering around something like this, but it would probably be best if someone could point out anything ridiculous. The price override on the CPU and motherboard is from a Microcenter bundle. I know the CPU and GPU aren't too well balanced, but I'm less concerned about video and mainly want the i5-4690k just for fun. I haven't OCed my own CPU before, so I'm not really sure what I'm looking for in the motherboard or heatsink. Also, I have a storage drive lying around already, so I won't be needing one. I plan on buying parts this week, so its fine if some deals only last a couple days. + Show Spoiler [Questionnaire] + What is your budget? $1000 is probably the most I'm willing to spend, though lower is better. The $800 range is most comfortable. What is your monitor's native resolution? 1920x1080 What games do you intend to play on this computer? What settings? LoL, SC2, Dota 2, Skyrim, DA:O, Torchlight 2, emulated PS2 and Wii, Civ 5 and whatever pops up in Humble Bundles. on medium settings. I don't really care too much about settings, but it would be nice if I could get at least a stable playable rate on low settings, if not more - if the cost of bumping up a tier of settings is more than ~$60, I probably wouldn't find it worth it. What do you intend to use the computer for besides gaming? Running VMs, streaming, CUDA/OpenCL, OpenGL, OpenMP and various other programming things (mainly for fun - nothing professional). Do you intend to overclock? Yes, although I'm not looking for enthusiast levels. Do you intend to do SLI / Crossfire? Nope. Do you need an operating system? Windows, but it's not included in the budget. I would appreciate any advice on the benefits of dual-booting Linux on an SSD vs a usual storage drive, though :D I'm thinking of the latter (if at all, since I might just push those duties onto my laptop). Do you need a monitor or any other peripherals and is this part of your budget? I'll need a monitor, but it's not really a part of the budget. I will need a disc drive, but CD/DVD is fine. If you have any requirements or brand preferences, please specify. I'm an Intel fan and think Geforce sounds cooler than Radeon. What country will you be buying your parts in? US. If you have any retailer preferences, please specify. Microcenter, Newegg and Amazon are preferred. I don't mind TigerDirect, etc. if the prices are better *coughcouponscough* Thanks in advance! GTX 750 Ti feels a bit weak for a build of this budget, however, it isn't really THAT weak. It approaches the strength of a GTX 660 with a decent overclock on it, so there's that. I think you could bump up to get a 750 Ti with a 6-pin power connector and a stronger cooler so that at very least, you'll be able to overclock it nicely. The GTX 750 Ti Windforce OC does that nicely, imo. The cooler also has a heatpipe, which means it should be able to dissipate more heat than the rest of the coolers which are blocks of metal, so higher overclock. Maybe I'm going too much into detail but I feel that this is one of the better 750 Ti cards to get. Even with a hefty overclock on this card, it won't be producing too much heat. That's one of the great things about Maxwell. I got a GTX 750 1 Gb from Gigabyte, the thing can't be heard. It runs Skyrim relatively well on highish settings as well. I really like Maxwell. http://pcpartpicker.com/part/gigabyte-video-card-gvn75toc2gi That PSU is kind of crappy, get the Rosewill Capstone 450W, which is the king of budget PSUs in the USA. Don't skimp the PSU. This rig isn't going to draw a lot of power but it still makes sense not to get a crappy PSU. The CX 430 is fine for office builds or as a replacement for PSUs in old prebuilts or something. The NZXT Source 210 is a solid budget case that also comes with a 120mm fan. I guess it's all right since it supports 120mm fans, is well-priced and still supports tallish CPU coolers. $50 on amazon is more expensive than the $35 on microcenter though. Regardless, I wouldn't get this case simply because it can't fit (just barely can't) the Macho Rev.a BW cooler, which is 162mm tall. This case has clearance for 160mm. I might jump on this case, the Carbide 200R, which has $10 off with the promo-code and (i think?) a $10 mail-in-rebate. That brings you down to $40 I think, which is a good price for this case that will fit tall heatsinks: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811139018&cm_re=carbide_200R-_-11-139-018-_-Product The Hyper 212 sucks, don't like it. If you're looking for good cooling you could bump up to get this: http://www.amazon.com/Thermalright-BW-Support-Socket-Driver/dp/B008YTUN38/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1407482252&sr=8-2&keywords=thermalright macho rev.a The way I see it, it's a shame to spend money on a nice overclocking motherboard and have a great Haswell quad-core i5, just to skimp on the CPU cooler and hit a thermal ceiling on your overclock before you get the most out of CPU. That's why I would opt for this nice cooler as well as a case that'll fit it. I'm guessing if you want to save money, don't get the Gigabyte 750 Ti or something. | ||
|
kaykaykay
Singapore637 Posts
On August 08 2014 11:21 skyR wrote: P2314H or U2414H if you wanna waste money for thin bezels. thanks! I think I may get that or the G2460PQU which do you think is better? I'm almost done with my build and ready to place an order with my retailers. Processor Intel Core i5 4690 Motherboard Asrock H97 Pro4 Memory G.Skill RIPJAWS-X 1600MHz (4GB X 2pcs) CL9 Video Card ASUS GTX 760 2GB DirectCu II Primary Storage Crucial MX100 256GB Secondary Storage Western Digital Blue 1TB Power Supply (I know you recommend Rosewill CAPSTONE but singapore doesn't import that) Case Fractal Design ARC Midi R2 Is this good to go or does anyone have any violent objections? :D Anyone knows a good replacement for the Rosewill for my build? | ||
|
NihiLStarcraft
Denmark1413 Posts
Soooo, originally I wanted to do this: slide the preinstalled fan at the front up one slot, so it's still at the front but in the second spot, in the middle, and then put the cool LED fan in the front as well underneath the other so that this one shines through the mesh. Then I'd have two intakes at the front and one exhaust in the back. Simple. (#1) However, looking at the actual case in real life now, I kinda think it might also be nice to take that unscrewed front lower fan without LED and position it at the top (very back). Then I'd still put the LED fan at the front lower position behind the mesh to look nice. Then I'd have one intake at the front (lower), one exhaust at the top (back) and one exhaust at the actual back. (#2) ![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/wiJUBQo.png) #1 or #2? I guess it's better to have two intakes and one exhaust? Not sure. | ||
|
Ropid
Germany3557 Posts
The job of the intake fans is a lot harder than what the exhaust fan is doing. The intake fans have to battle with the dust filter. The exhaust fan already has air moving in its direction so just has to keep it moving. You can have a lot more intake than exhaust and it will still be balanced. For example 4 intake fans and only 1 exhaust fan is still good. | ||
|
NihiLStarcraft
Denmark1413 Posts
| ||
|
Myrmidon
United States9452 Posts
On August 08 2014 13:08 Craton wrote: + Show Spoiler + Well this is going to be fun. Unsure if I can hammer it into place. + Show Spoiler + Do you think there'd be any issue not having it screwed in (beyond the obvious of knocking into it)? It's a NAS so I'm gonna tuck it in some corner. Maybe I could strap it down or something -- I have a bunch of these that would do the trick, though might not have enough vertical space to use it: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16848035577 If loose you could have more vibrations (the fan moves and all). On August 08 2014 15:45 Incognoto wrote: what is NAS Network Attached Storage. Fileserver computer with storage as a main priority. On August 08 2014 16:20 kaykaykay wrote: thanks! I think I may get that or the G2460PQU which do you think is better? Not even the same kind of product. A 120+ Hz TN monitor is more smooth and responsive for games (high fps motion) but looks worse and less consistent overall for everything. Depends which matters more to you. On August 08 2014 16:20 kaykaykay wrote: + Show Spoiler + Processor Intel Core i5 4690 Motherboard Asrock H97 Pro4 Memory G.Skill RIPJAWS-X 1600MHz (4GB X 2pcs) CL9 Video Card ASUS GTX 760 2GB DirectCu II Primary Storage Crucial MX100 256GB Secondary Storage Western Digital Blue 1TB Power Supply (I know you recommend Rosewill CAPSTONE but singapore doesn't import that) Case Fractal Design ARC Midi R2 Is this good to go or does anyone have any violent objections? :D Anyone knows a good replacement for the Rosewill for my build? Looks fine. I'm kind of out of touch with APAC PSU brands. Super Flower Golden Green (or Golden Green HX, or anything that company sells that's 80 plus gold) is a similar product. Cooler Master G550M would make sense. Cooler Master V (VS / VSM) would be better but more expensive. I get the feeling like Seasonic G or S12G are more expensive. Anyway, there's not much reason to spend well over double what a Corsair CX500 would cost. Treat that as a fallback that's of minimal acceptable quality for a mid-high end, relatively expensive computer. On August 08 2014 14:32 Zeke50100 wrote: + Show Spoiler + Hey guys. I would like some help with my build ^_^ I've been hovering around something like this, but it would probably be best if someone could point out anything ridiculous. The price override on the CPU and motherboard is from a Microcenter bundle. I know the CPU and GPU aren't too well balanced, but I'm less concerned about video and mainly want the i5-4690k just for fun. I haven't OCed my own CPU before, so I'm not really sure what I'm looking for in the motherboard or heatsink. Also, I have a storage drive lying around already, so I won't be needing one. I plan on buying parts this week, so its fine if some deals only last a couple days. + Show Spoiler [Questionnaire] + What is your budget? $1000 is probably the most I'm willing to spend, though lower is better. The $800 range is most comfortable. What is your monitor's native resolution? 1920x1080 What games do you intend to play on this computer? What settings? LoL, SC2, Dota 2, Skyrim, DA:O, Torchlight 2, emulated PS2 and Wii, Civ 5 and whatever pops up in Humble Bundles. on medium settings. I don't really care too much about settings, but it would be nice if I could get at least a stable playable rate on low settings, if not more - if the cost of bumping up a tier of settings is more than ~$60, I probably wouldn't find it worth it. What do you intend to use the computer for besides gaming? Running VMs, streaming, CUDA/OpenCL, OpenGL, OpenMP and various other programming things (mainly for fun - nothing professional). Do you intend to overclock? Yes, although I'm not looking for enthusiast levels. Do you intend to do SLI / Crossfire? Nope. Do you need an operating system? Windows, but it's not included in the budget. I would appreciate any advice on the benefits of dual-booting Linux on an SSD vs a usual storage drive, though :D I'm thinking of the latter (if at all, since I might just push those duties onto my laptop). Do you need a monitor or any other peripherals and is this part of your budget? I'll need a monitor, but it's not really a part of the budget. I will need a disc drive, but CD/DVD is fine. If you have any requirements or brand preferences, please specify. I'm an Intel fan and think Geforce sounds cooler than Radeon. What country will you be buying your parts in? US. If you have any retailer preferences, please specify. Microcenter, Newegg and Amazon are preferred. I don't mind TigerDirect, etc. if the prices are better *coughcouponscough* Thanks in advance! I think the build is fine. Incognito's suggestions are fine too, but they involve spending more money. For the usage I don't really have an argument against anything in there if you value the $20 mail-in rebate on the Corsair CX-M. A higher-end graphics card would be a price bump for graphics settings you're not interested in. Technically you may be able to buy an older architecture and card, but GTX 750 Ti is a fine pick if you want CUDA and are those locked into Nvidia. I wouldn't get anything under that level from them. On August 08 2014 22:19 NihiLStarcraft wrote: + Show Spoiler + Hey guys, quick question: I now have almost all my parts and I'm wondering how to mount my 3 fans in my NZXT Phantom 240 case. The pre-installed ones were one exhaust at the back (leaving that one there) and one intake at the front (lower spot, currently have that one unscrewed). I do have one third 120mm LED fan that I need to install. Soooo, originally I wanted to do this: slide the preinstalled fan at the front up one slot, so it's still at the front but in the second spot, in the middle, and then put the cool LED fan in the front as well underneath the other so that this one shines through the mesh. Then I'd have two intakes at the front and one exhaust in the back. Simple. (#1) However, looking at the actual case in real life now, I kinda think it might also be nice to take that unscrewed front lower fan without LED and position it at the top (very back). Then I'd still put the LED fan at the front lower position behind the mesh to look nice. Then I'd have one intake at the front (lower), one exhaust at the top (back) and one exhaust at the actual back. (#2) #1 or #2? I guess it's better to have two intakes and one exhaust? Not sure. Depends on the case and build, fan speeds and types, etc. Looks like you're going with a sideblowing tower CPU cooler and open-air video card? Usually #2 gives slightly better performance but more dust. | ||
|
Cyro
United Kingdom20344 Posts
I have a pic of what happens with no dust filters for 6 months: ![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/jVFaFPul.jpg) | ||
|
WindWolf
Sweden11767 Posts
On August 09 2014 03:02 Cyro wrote:Some people recommend that for the Air540. It's just somewhat important to have dust filters wherever you're intaking Basic physics tells me that heat want to go upwards, so I'm not sure how good idea it is to have top-mounted intake fans | ||
|
Ropid
Germany3557 Posts
On August 09 2014 03:13 WindWolf wrote: Basic physics tells me that heat want to go upwards, so I'm not sure how good idea it is to have top-mounted intake fans The air that wants to move up by itself because its warmer than its surroundings, that effect is basically zero for what you want to do in a PC. You can't feel anything about the air moving because of it. The moment you throw a fan into the mix, it does not matter any more. I like to post this video a lot and it's a bit related: + Show Spoiler + EDIT: It's not really zero so what I wrote was a bit of a lie... for example the metal at the top of a case without exhaust mesh in that area will get pretty warm when the PC is stressed. That's the "heat rises" effect and it's obviously noticeable when touching that metal. I guess I just wanted to say that the effect is pretty weak and a fan overpowers it by so much that you can ignore it if a fan is doing stuff in that area. | ||
|
kaykaykay
Singapore637 Posts
On August 08 2014 22:48 Myrmidon wrote: Looks fine. I'm kind of out of touch with APAC PSU brands. Super Flower Golden Green (or Golden Green HX, or anything that company sells that's 80 plus gold) is a similar product. Cooler Master G550M would make sense. Cooler Master V (VS / VSM) would be better but more expensive. I get the feeling like Seasonic G or S12G are more expensive. Anyway, there's not much reason to spend well over double what a Corsair CX500 would cost. Treat that as a fallback that's of minimal acceptable quality for a mid-high end, relatively expensive computer. Thanks for the recommendations. The corsair cx500 and the Seasonic M12II 520 are about equal prices here and for about a $10-$20 upgrade, I can consider either a superflower hx600m Gold or a seasonic g series 450w. Also, would it make sense to get an Asus R9 290 4GB DCU II? | ||
|
Myrmidon
United States9452 Posts
But if you get an R9 290, I would get higher than 450W on the power supply so you don't have to push it into 70%+ load where the fan may be pretty loud. At those prices, avoid the Corsair CX500. Seasonic M12II for cheaper than the others is fine, as are Super Flower HX and Seasonic G for $10-20 more. | ||
|
felisconcolori
United States6169 Posts
On August 09 2014 03:55 Myrmidon wrote: R9 290 is faster but uses more power and usually runs hotter and noisier but depends on the model. You never described what you were doing with the system though, what monitor you use, what games (if any), etc. so nobody knows. But if you get an R9 290, I would get higher than 450W on the power supply so you don't have to push it into 70%+ load where the fan may be pretty loud. At those prices, avoid the Corsair CX500. Seasonic M12II for cheaper than the others is fine, as are Super Flower HX and Seasonic G for $10-20 more. With regards to noise from an R9 - I have the R9 280x and even running benchmarks and stress tests on it, I have never once seen the fan go over 40%. I'm guessing it's the cooler - it just works well. If I manually force 100% fan speed on it, though... yeah, it's very noticeable. | ||
|
Myrmidon
United States9452 Posts
guru3d's noise test measurement figures probably shouldn't be taken for much (I wouldn't trust either absolute numbers or relative ones, just x > y with no guarantee of how much), and some sample-to-sample variance could explain the whole difference, but see this: http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/asus_radeon_r9_290_directcuii_oc_review,12.html http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/geforce_gtx_760_asus_directcu_oc_review,7.html here not all that low but lower than most Hawaii-based cards: http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ASUS/GeForce_GTX_760_Direct_Cu_II_OC/26.html | ||
| ||
