EPTIs there any winter sale/price drops coming soon? I can wait for a couple of months.
Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread - Page 376
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Osyrul
257 Posts
Is there any winter sale/price drops coming soon? I can wait for a couple of months. | ||
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Incognoto
France10239 Posts
On September 18 2014 14:51 Osyrul wrote: Hey guys, first time builder here. This PC will be used for gaming @1080p (Dota 2, Witcher 2, Guild Wars 2, etc) Hopefully this machine can run those at decent framerate. CPU: Intel Core I3-4160 Processor 3.60 GHz, 2-Core LGA1150 ($120 @ Amazon) Motherboard: MSI H81M-P33 LGA 1150 MicroATX Motherboard (roughly $60 @ lelong) Memory: Kingston Technology HyperX 8 GB (2x4 GB Modules) 1600 MHz DDR3 ($80 @ Amazon) Video Card: Gigabyte R9 270X GDDR5-2GB ($190 @ Amazon) PSU: Corsair CX 500 Watt ATX/EPS 80 PLUS ($50 @ Amazon) Storage: WD Blue 1 TB Hard Drive ($57 @ Amazon) Case: Cooler Master HAF 912 - Mid Tower Computer Case ($55 @ Amazon) Disc Drive: Asus 24x DVD-RW Serial-ATA Internal OEM Optical Drive ($21 @ Amazon) OS: Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64bit ($100 @ Amazon) Total: $735 Question: i3-4160 is flat out better than i3-4130 yes?Are there drawbacks? Because they are the same price so i went with 4160. How much of an upgrade is this over my currect PC?(Athlon II x2 260 & Radeon HD 6700) If it's not much then i might go with an i5 instead. I didn't use Amazon for the motherboard because for some reason, none of the motherboards ship to Malaysia. Let me know if something is bottlenecking/overkill/incompatible, thank you  I would get the following PSU for $10 more, it's much better: http://www.amazon.com/Rosewill-Certified-Power-Supply-CAPSTONE-450/dp/B006BCKDGW/ref=sr_1_2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1411033698&sr=1-2&keywords=rosewill capstone For the motherboard, I'm not sure whether or not the MSI board is compatible with Devil's Canyon. I think it is, but you have to update the BIOS. Instead of messing around with that, you can get the ASRock H81M-DGS board, which is pretty much the same thing only we're sure that it's compatible with Haswell refresh CPUs. http://www.lelong.com.my/asrock-h81m-dgs-lga1150-h81-chipset-lingloong-K1111266-2007-01-Sale-I.htm Sources: http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/H81M-DGS/?cat=Specifications http://thepcenthusiast.com/list-of-8-series-motherboards-compatible-with-intel-devils-canyon/ Otherwise, any reason you're getting Windows 7 over Windows 8.1 ? If it's something like the lack of start menu, you can actually download Classic Shell on windows 8 which gets you a start menu back: http://www.classicshell.net | ||
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Cyro
United Kingdom20345 Posts
On September 18 2014 18:58 Osyrul wrote: Guess i won't be picking up haswell refresh cpu, don't want to deal with bios update. Is there any winter sale/price drops coming soon? I can wait for a couple of months. gtx970 and 980 are supposedly releasing tommorow with 960 afterwards. Supposedly, because there's not actually a lot confirmed but there's an event tonight/tommorow that they are supposedly being announced at, coinciding with release and there is enough info to say almost for certain if they don't hit then, they'll hit pretty soon. It's the general mid to upper mid range maxwell stuff, not the flagship GPU yet but still very strong, it seems that may affect pricing even down to ~$200 levels soon. For CPU and mobo, prices are not likely to change but there may be flash deals on other stuff(?) | ||
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Incognoto
France10239 Posts
By the way, the Witcher 2 scales on 4 cores, I think? This is what I had in a 2-3 minute run in game: ![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/D40yReW.png) Not that it's worth getting a quad-core over a dual-core, if you don't have the money. The i3 should do quite well for pretty much most games, I would think. The i5 would do better overall, obviously. That doesn't mean the i3 would do a bad job at it. If you're looking to stream or something then yeah the i3 is limiting for example. Maybe a few niche games, which are highly CPU dependent (Planetside 2? Battlefield 4? Crysis 3? Wildstar? which ones are the ones that actually use hyper-threading :o) might also suffer but that wouldn't mean the i3 wouldn't be able to play such games; it's just that you won't play it maxed settings. Unless you have $80-90 to spare to go up an i5 4690, you should be fine with a fast i3 though (3.5 GHz+). | ||
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Osyrul
257 Posts
On September 18 2014 19:05 Incognoto wrote: I would get the following PSU for $10 more, it's much better: http://www.amazon.com/Rosewill-Certified-Power-Supply-CAPSTONE-450/dp/B006BCKDGW/ref=sr_1_2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1411033698&sr=1-2&keywords=rosewill capstone For the motherboard, I'm not sure whether or not the MSI board is compatible with Devil's Canyon. I think it is, but you have to update the BIOS. Instead of messing around with that, you can get the ASRock H81M-DGS board, which is pretty much the same thing only we're sure that it's compatible with Haswell refresh CPUs. http://www.lelong.com.my/asrock-h81m-dgs-lga1150-h81-chipset-lingloong-K1111266-2007-01-Sale-I.htm Sources: http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/H81M-DGS/?cat=Specifications http://thepcenthusiast.com/list-of-8-series-motherboards-compatible-with-intel-devils-canyon/ Otherwise, any reason you're getting Windows 7 over Windows 8.1 ? If it's something like the lack of start menu, you can actually download Classic Shell on windows 8 which gets you a start menu back: http://www.classicshell.net So ASRock H81M-DGS board is compatible with i3-4160? Without bios update? I don't see it in that source, just want to make sure. Didn't pick up Windows 8 because i always see "windows 8 crashes thread" on steam forum, some games not supported etc. I also play older games like KOTOR / original Deus Ex, worried it might not be supported. Also this is my first build so i prefer sticking with something I'm more comfortable with, unless there is a really good incentive to switch. EDIT: I'm using 2 monitors btw, if that is something to be concerned. | ||
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Incognoto
France10239 Posts
In the specifications page you get: Supports New 4th and 4th Generation Intel® Core™ i7/i5/i3/Xeon®/Pentium®/Celeron® Processors (Socket 1150) Also: http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/H81M-DGS/?cat=CPU It should work out fine, as long as the BIOS the motherboard is shipped with is of a high enough version. Not sure how manufacturers work but it would make sense (to me) that a motherboard would ship with the latest BIOS. Even if it didn't, it's really no biggie to update the BIOS on a motherboard as long as you don't cut power while it's being updated. Manufacturer have instructions on how to update BIOS on their motherboards' web pages. That said, upon looking at the compatibility of the i3-4160 with the H-81M-DGS, you find that the i3-4160 isn't listed, whereas the i3-4150 is. Considering they're the same processor (one is clocked faster, that's all), I have no idea why one would work and the other would not. I'm guessing ASRock just sucks at keeping their stuff up-to-date, or something. On paper it apparently wouldn't work, in reality it would. At this point I might tell you to just get a classic Haswell i3 instead of a Haswell refresh, but just compare the different i3s you get: Haswell i3 4330 @ 3.4 GHz for $119 Haswell refresh i3 4160 @ 3.6 GHz for $121 Haswell refresh i3 4150 @ 3.5 GHz for $124 http://www.amazon.com/Intel-i3-4130-FCLGA-Processor-BX80646I34130/dp/B00EUUKVXM/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1411039478&sr=8-4&keywords=i3 4330 http://www.amazon.com/Intel-I3-4160-Processor-Hyper-Threading-BX80646I34160/dp/B00LV8U0VE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=undefined&sr=8-1&keywords=i3 4160 http://www.amazon.com/Intel-i3-4150-Processor-Cache-BX80646I34150/dp/B00J2LIF2S/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=undefined&sr=8-2&keywords=i3 4160 It's $2 more for a faster processor. It's totally worth getting the 4160 over the other i3s. So I'd just get that with the cheapest motherboard that supports it. If you really have doubts about the H81M-DGS, you might as well just send an email and ask 'em. | ||
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Cyro
United Kingdom20345 Posts
Even if it didn't, it's really no biggie to update the BIOS on a motherboard as long as you don't cut power while it's being updated. The problem is when you can't boot the system or access the bios because you don't have a compatible CPU. There are serious concerns with some processors on z97, as well as refresh CPU's on pre-refresh mobo's, particularly with if they will boot at all, or if correct voltages are used. In some situations, lethal levels of some voltages (1.4-1.45 uncore/ring/cache, which is like applying 1.55vcore) were applied by bad auto control on unrecognized CPU's, so it's better to be safe. | ||
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Incognoto
France10239 Posts
On September 18 2014 21:08 Cyro wrote: The problem is when you can't boot the system or access the bios because you don't have a compatible CPU. There are serious concerns with some processors on z97, as well as refresh CPU's on pre-refresh mobo's, particularly with if they will boot at all, or if correct voltages are used. In some situations, lethal levels of some voltages (1.4-1.45 uncore/ring/cache, which is like applying 1.55vcore) were applied by bad auto control on unrecognized CPU's, so it's better to be safe. Wouldn't it make sense for manufacturer's to sell motherboards with updated BIOS in that case? why wouldn't they? i guess i could be wrong. you could go for the i3 4330. but in that case it's as if it becomes impossible to buy H81 boards at all with devil's canyon, which is something i find silly. who on earth would buy a Haswell refresh CPU if they can't use small and cheap motherboards? | ||
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Alleria-
90 Posts
I'm trying to piece together my first PC, so bear with me as I'm still pretty new at this. Spoke to a friend and did some research myself but this is what I can get together: + Show Spoiler + Motherboard: Asus z97-A ~$200 Processor: Intel® CoreTM i5-4690K Processor (6M Cache, up to 3.90 GHz) ~$230 Memory: Corsair Vengeance Pro 8GB (4GBx2) DDR3 DRAM 1600MHz C9 ~$110 Drive: WD Blue 1 TB HDD ~$50 Graphics Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 760 SC 2GB ~$295 Power Supply: Seasonic G-550 F3 550W ~$83 Casing: Cooler Master HAF X ~$140 Total: ~$1,108 What is your budget? ► $1000 - $1200. But if similar products for a lower price are able to meet requirements, is much preferred. What games do you intend to play on this computer? What settings? ► Currently DotA 2 and StarCraft II, preferably on the best settings possible if not anything near that - without encountering significant frame drop and/or lag. Not sure if relevant, but occasionally I’ll install then remove games like CS 1.6, Age of Empires, StarCraft: Brood War to play with friends. What do you intend to use the computer for besides gaming? ► I’m also a FX trader so I mainly run MetaTrader 4, SaxoTrader & Autobahn platforms, but I do not think they require too much high-end specifications. Apart from that, I would mainly just use it for media purposes - music, movies, TV shows. Definitely no video editing or anything like that, but I would like to be covered for streaming purposes if and where possible - but not mandatory. Do you intend to overclock? ► Well, based on my needs I would say I don’t see a need to overclock but I would like the option to just in case I need to run any higher-end programs or applications that require better specifications than what I’m dealing with. But I’m not sure if running DotA 2 or StarCraft II on high/ultra settings would require overclocking - need some advice here. Do you intend to do SLI / Crossfire? ► No. Do you need an operating system? ► Yes, Windows. Do you need a monitor or any other peripherals and is this part of your budget? ► No, not at this moment. I’ve already got monitors (1920x1080 & 1600x900), speakers, headset, keyboard, and mouse. Unless I’m missing out on something essential, I believe I have the other accessories covered. What country will you be buying your parts in? ► Malaysia. Do you have any requirements or brand preferences? ► I would need WiFi or wireless Internet capabilities built-in as I’m sharing a router with other devices. I would also prefer at least 4 USB ports (1 for external HDD, 1 for mouse, 1 for keyboard - but I believe I can switch my 6GV2 port if not mistaken, 1 for miscellaneous purposes). And I would also need an optical drive for CD/DVD playing. For graphics card, I would definitely prefer GTX because I think it is the better option (but I may be mistaken - so I may need help with this). As for casing, I very much like the Cooler Master HAF X - but I’m okay with switching it out to meet budget requirements. Also, I’m torn between HDD/SSD (I have a 1TB WD external HDD not used, not sure if this makes a difference) and whether or not I need additional cooling (air or liquid). My goal would ultimately to be to have a CPU that runs smoothly, doesn’t overheat easily and functions rather quietly. I'm open for any suggestions and if I can cut down on certain parts, do let me know. Then I could probably save up to get myself an extra monitor because ultimately I want to run 3 monitors for my trading setup if and when I can't access my work station. I also plan on building this so that I won't have to frequently upgrade/change parts in the future so I'm kinda hoping that the components would be sufficient to last for maybe 3-4 years (especially processor & graphics card). Would appreciate your advice and input. Thanks! | ||
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CapnAmerica
United States508 Posts
I'll start doing my shopping in earnest for better deals now that I'm armed with more information. :D | ||
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Craton
United States17303 Posts
On September 18 2014 21:14 Incognoto wrote: Wouldn't it make sense for manufacturer's to sell motherboards with updated BIOS in that case? why wouldn't they They'll update their future boards, sure, but they've already produced and distributed numerous ones to retailers that they won't update. Where you get hosed is that period of backstock with older BIOS. | ||
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skyR
Canada13817 Posts
http://techreport.com/review/27067 http://anandtech.com/show/8526/nvidia-geforce-gtx-980-review http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/hardware-canucks-reviews/67445-nvidia-geforce-gtx-980-performance-review.html http://www.hardocp.com/article/2014/09/18/nvidia_maxwell_gpu_geforce_gtx_980_video_card_review#.VBuZJfldWxk | ||
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Saryph
United States1955 Posts
What is your budget? Not sure, though I do want a 500gb ssd for storage. Appropriateness is more important to me than price. What is your monitor's native resolution? I will be getting two monitors when getting this computer, so not sure atm. What games do you intend to play on this computer? What settings? Dota 2 and blizzard games mostly, but AAA titles as well, looking forward to witcher 3. What do you intend to use the computer for besides gaming? Watching video, internet, nothing demanding though. I will be installing an optical drive though, so the case would need a slot for that. Do you intend to overclock? Yes 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? Two, but not part of my budget. If you have any requirements or brand preferences, please specify. none What country will you be buying your parts in? USA If you have any retailer preferences, please specify. Online only please. | ||
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Cyro
United Kingdom20345 Posts
A ton of games where i'm already at like 30% GPU load that bother me a ton because of temporal aliasing like sc2 and wildstar (sc2 not as much because of the camera angle, but still.. no AA support? really?) ^Some z97 motherboard, there are certain choices if you want to run a max OC, or you can basically pick anything z97 if you don't mind being 100mhz down. They're usually pretty good but there have been slight OC limitations shown with some boards with ~>=1.3vcore cooling kinda depends on voltage targets too, whatever doesn't cost way too much in the US i guess | ||
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Thalandros
Netherlands1151 Posts
So far the 970 seems like an amazing deal for non 700-series owners or equivalent yet, definitely going to look into it. Really wonder what the dutch price'll be and when they'll be available here. | ||
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Cyro
United Kingdom20345 Posts
On September 19 2014 12:46 Thalandros wrote: Holy shit I just became an Nvidia fanboy with all the awesomeness going on at Game24. So far the 970 seems like an amazing deal for non 700-series owners or equivalent yet, definitely going to look into it. Really wonder what the dutch price'll be and when they'll be available here. For anyone with gk104 (so anyone who's bought mid to upper midrange in the last 2 and a half years) it's like a 1.5x upgrade i didn't actually see performance numbers yet, still reading some stuff and scottish referendum is going on edit: ...Yeah, that was a bit stronger than i thought. Wow. I will generally advice to buy 970 though, unless you feel like paying ~67% more for what is functionally probably 1.2x performance. Finally, pricing! GeForce GTX 980 will retail around $550, and GTX 970 clocks in around $330. Both prices are quite reasonable and lower than I expected, going by NVIDIA's recent past. At this price point, GTX 980 beats AMD's Radeon R9 290X in everything: price/performance, absolute performance, performance per Watt, power consumption, heat, noise. The only thing R9 290X has going for it is its lower price, which I find hardly convincing, especially with GTX 970 being cheaper and faster. GTX 970 at $330 is a steal, really. It is not that much slower than GTX 980, still beats AMD's R9 290X, with better pricing, and brings all the amazing power consumption improvements of GTX 980. Simply put, GTX 980 is the premium product to GTX 970, and you'll have to pay for that. NVIDIA has declared GTX 780 Ti, GTX 780 and GTX 770 end-of-life, which means you might be able to find those cards at discounted prices. Personally I wouldn't upgrade from anything more recent than GTX 680, but users of older cards should definitely look at NVIDIA's new products. Oh, and AMD seems fucked. Waiting for UK prices to wreck me. I was going to wait for big maxwell, but if this thing is super cheap with this kind of performance it might be hard to pass up. Aparantly they should be able to hit 1600 or so on ambient cooling (realistically 1450 or even 1500 24/7 on decently cooled air doesn't appear difficult) and there has already been 2300 on ln2 (it took a LONG time for gk110 to break 2000 on ln2 for 3dmark run, as well as a ton of kingpin edition cards) There are several reviews on the 970 showing ~1500 on air, stock bios. oc3d runs at 1489 core, 8ghz VRAM and quotes 68c @ load, not sure which cooler speeds but i don't think particularly high. That looks awesome~ | ||
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Saryph
United States1955 Posts
On September 19 2014 12:27 Cyro wrote: Best supersampling support on the market it seems, aww yiss A ton of games where i'm already at like 30% GPU load that bother me a ton because of temporal aliasing like sc2 and wildstar (sc2 not as much because of the camera angle, but still.. no AA support? really?) ^Some z97 motherboard, there are certain choices if you want to run a max OC, or you can basically pick anything z97 if you don't mind being 100mhz down. They're usually pretty good but there have been slight OC limitations shown with some boards with ~>=1.3vcore cooling kinda depends on voltage targets too, whatever doesn't cost way too much in the US i guess Thanks for the response. I guess my problem is is that I don't have experience or knowledge when it comes to understanding what makes a case good, or picking out something to cool, etc. I was looking at the parts suggested on the first page of the thread, would those still be good choices? (Except the suggested case had no external ports for an optical drive). | ||
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Cyro
United Kingdom20345 Posts
@Saryph sorry, i don't really know US cooler market (aside from there are several high end air coolers around ~$75, not sure what to suggest at lower price point.. closed loop liquid coolers are overpriced there) and for cases, i have only recently looked at super low end stuff and overkill expensive like air540 (which doesn't happen to have a drive bay) I wanna get a big GPU, but gm204 isn't as small as gk104 and they clearly have no need to release anything higher performing for a while, i'm not sure if it's worth waiting another 9 months for. £270 is expendable, it's half the cost of something like a 780ti classy/lightning etc, and my cousin needs a GPU. I wouldn't be bothered as much, but MFAA and DSR (multi-frame samplied antialiasing, dynamic super resolution) are very appealing, and i will have to read more about this low latency mode Hardware h265 encoding(?) and more than twice as fast NVENC (so easy 1080p144 recording) is just a bonus ..Why did Galaxy switch from a white PCB to blue t;t | ||
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Incognoto
France10239 Posts
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Cyro
United Kingdom20345 Posts
On September 19 2014 18:39 Incognoto wrote: A 970 has more performance than an R9 290 for $50 less? That is kind of insane. With the power and heat output of a 760.. "the GTX 980 SLI configuration uses about 30 watts LESS power than a single R9 290X" ^That's not the only quote like that i've seen. I just tabbed through a bunch of reviews of the non reference cards (970, 980), they are like 1547mhz, 1503mhz, 1516mhz.. | ||
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