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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. |
On January 17 2015 08:01 DODswe4 wrote:
I have a small question for you knowledgeable people, I got some new ram sticks from a friend but I see that the run at 1600 mhz but my motherboard support supports 2200/1333/1066/800 mhz. Can I still put em in just not getting full benefits or will it break my computer? I'm thankfull for any answer
If your motherboard supports 2200MHz than it supports 1600MHz as well.
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The difference in performance between 2400 and 1600 mhz ram on everything besides the latest AMD APUs and Haswell i5s and up is quite minimal, but on those configurations it can be up to 5-10% overall system performance, which is quite significant
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Blazinghand
United States25560 Posts
My newest project is an HTPC. I want a desktop to drive my 720P TV and play netflix and crunchyroll over wi-fi, as well as store videos on its HD and play DVDs. I already have a wireless keyboard/mouse, an old Antec Sonata II case and a new Rosewill Capstone 450 lying around.
What is your budget?
I want to stay under $300, but already own peripherals, case, and PSU.
What is your monitor's native resolution?
It's a TV, 1280x720 I'm pretty sure. It can take HDMI, Component, or VGA input. I'm hoping to do HDMI since our TV is also our sound system.
What games do you intend to play on this computer? What settings?
No games, just serving media. Someday in the future it may become a desktop that does light gaming.
What do you intend to use the computer for besides gaming?
Watching DVDs, streaming video over wi-fi, and watching movies from the HD.
Do you intend to overclock?
No
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?
I have monitor and other peripherals
If you have any requirements or brand preferences, please specify.
Ideally I want a mobo with HDMI output so it can connect to my TV and give it video and sound.
What country will you be buying your parts in?
USA
If you have any retailer preferences, please specify.
No preferences, though I have Amazon Prime and I've had good experiences in general with Amazon. I'm not near a microcenter.
Here's what I got so far, which uses an iGPU and a mobo with HDMI. It has the wifi adapter, optical drive, and storage I need, and comes in under $300. Would adding a GPU help at all, btw? or can iGPU handle this?
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/hMhmBm
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant
CPU: AMD A6-5400K 3.6GHz Dual-Core Processor ($45.98 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock FM2A55M-HD+ Micro ATX FM2+ Motherboard ($50.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($34.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($82.79 @ Amazon)
Case: Antec SONATA III 500 ATX Mid Tower Case w/500W Power Supply ($0, is actually an Antec Sonota II with a Rosewill Capstone 450W but this is what PCpartpicker had in its listings.)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer ($17.92 @ Amazon)
Wireless Network Adapter: TP-Link TL-WDN4800 802.11a/b/g/n PCI-Express x1 Wi-Fi Adapter ($36.83 @ Amazon)
Total: $269.49
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-01-16 18:56 EST-0500
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Blazinghand
United States25560 Posts
Oh man, that motherboard looks pretty much objectively better. Is it worth it to upgrade to the A8-7600 if I don't care about gaming?
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I personally think it is because I doubt the 5400K would be able to encode 1080p video smoothly
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I'm not new to computers; in fact, I'm a software engineer. I'm planning to build a desktop soon, and I think, perhaps, I should aim for 6 cores CPU as it is the future (well, besides 8 cores). The problem? All I do is to do programming with Visual Studio/Eclipse and StarCraft 2 which doesn't really benefit from 2+ cores. Yes, I know a computer is useful for more than gaming, hence more cores will be useful but what bothers me is the high cost to suit a CPU like i7-5930K. DDR4 RAM is expensive (200 GBP for 16 gigabytes), and motherboards are about that cost too. So just from RAM, CPU and motherboard, it's already ~850/900 GBP and that doesn't include a GPU. So, are there cheaper, yet (more) effective solutions or do you advise me to just save up money?
Any advice on what I should look for in a motherboard when I purchase one? I've noticed some offer "5 way optimisations" and cooling, and I've never overclocked so far, but I am wondering if now is the time.
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United Kingdom20333 Posts
On January 17 2015 22:02 darkness wrote:
I'm not new to computers; in fact, I'm a software engineer. I'm planning to build a desktop soon, and I think, perhaps, I should aim for 6 cores CPU as it is the future (well, besides 8 cores). The problem? All I do is to do programming with Visual Studio/Eclipse and StarCraft 2 which doesn't really benefit from 2+ cores. Yes, I know a computer is useful for more than gaming, hence more cores will be useful but what bothers me is the high cost to suit a CPU like i7-5930K. DDR4 RAM is expensive (200 GBP for 16 gigabytes), and motherboards are about that cost too. So just from RAM, CPU and motherboard, it's already ~850/900 GBP and that doesn't include a GPU. So, are there cheaper, yet (more) effective solutions or do you advise me to just save up money?
Any advice on what I should look for in a motherboard when I purchase one? I've noticed some offer "5 way optimisations" and cooling, and I've never overclocked so far, but I am wondering if now is the time.
Well, there's no real benefit to the 5930k over the 5820k unless you're trying to run i think it was 3 way SLI of the highest end GPU's while also running some other stuff on pci-e like sound cards. A lot of people are still looking at that one, maybe not realizing that the xx20k now has 6 cores.
Considering that, you can just do this:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant
CPU: Intel Core i7-5820K 3.3GHz 6-Core Processor (£293.94 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-X99-UD4 ATX LGA2011-3 Motherboard (£155.94 @ Aria PC)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2400 Memory (£88.81 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £538.69
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-01-17 14:01 GMT+0000
and fall far short of £800-900 requirement for 6 core+HT.
You should definitely overclock when you can afford a 4690k+OC or better, though, unless you just want to throw money at a system without learning about it (because the cost of stronger CPU's past that point is pretty high relative to the amount of performance you'd have if you left it at stock compared to an oc'd i5)
I don't really know anything about that particular motherboard (or if the cheaper x99 motherboards are particularly good, or "only" usable), but a lot of the stuff relating to overclocking on motherboard ads/descriptions is just marketing fluff that doesn't really affect you.
x99 is quad channel, but you can run fine in dual. If you need 16GB instead of 8GB, that would cost ~£150-200 instead of ~£75-100, but that's not that much more expensive than ddr3 now
If you won't benefit a lot from 6 cores and hyperthreading, i would still recommend 4690k build;
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant
CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor (£179.00 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97X-Gaming 5 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£106.76 @ Scan.co.uk)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-2133 Memory (£69.87 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £355.63
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-01-17 14:11 GMT+0000
+ http://www.scan.co.uk/products/thermalright-true-spirit-140-power-cpu-cooler-with-ty-140-pwm-quiet-fan-for-intel-and-amd-cpus
Also remember that a lot of stuff is "the future", multi core CPU's etc have been around for ages, it's not possible to scale all types of code onto multiple cores well and where it is possible it usually takes more time (cost) and skill to do it. People have been using more threads better gradually over the last like 8 years but it probably won't be a requirement or even a huge help before we're several CPU gens into the future anyway (if it ever helps at all for that type of workload)
It's easy to use many cores/threads for some stuff like video encoding, though, and you can encode stuff twice as fast (well like 1.999x as fast) with twice as many cores. Those are the types of loads that only a 55% price increase from 4690k to 5820k looks really appealing for; the 5820k would be easily 1.7x faster there (but for sc2, it'd probably be a bit slower due to a bit lower OC headroom)
I am still a big fan of the 6-core build just because of relative low cost now, but realistically it would probably help me out a bit for casual video encoding and maybe 1 or 2 games. It's a huge investment when you consider that we're probably less than a year away from quad cores that are significantly stronger core for core and might run your current tasks 15-20% faster, even though it lacks those 2 extra cores.
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@Cyro, thank you for help. It's much appreciated!
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What is your budget?
For total build (including OS & Monitor) $1100
What is your monitor's native resolution?
No monitor yet, want a great monitor for competitive SC2 so recommendations needed here!
What games do you intend to play on this computer? What settings?
Starcraft 2 on competitive settings (very smoothly!), Minecraft, LoL, H1Z1, Left 4 Dead 2
What do you intend to use the computer for besides gaming?
Internet browsing, watching twitch, streaming movies, microsoft office for school
Do you intend to overclock?
If it will help my performance by a lot ! (Originally looking into i5 4690k)
Do you intend to do SLI / Crossfire?
No idea what this means
Do you need an operating system?
Yes
Do you need a monitor or any other peripherals and is this part of your budget?
Yes only a monitor
If you have any requirements or brand preferences, please specify.
Run SC2 very smoothly at competitive settings, be able to run all the games i mentioned with great graphics very smoothly
What country will you be buying your parts in?
United States
If you have any retailer preferences, please specify.
None
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United Kingdom20333 Posts
On January 18 2015 05:45 GinyuSC wrote:
What is your budget?
For total build (including OS & Monitor) $1100
What is your monitor's native resolution?
No monitor yet, want a great monitor for competitive SC2 so recommendations needed here!
What games do you intend to play on this computer? What settings?
Starcraft 2 on competitive settings (very smoothly!), Minecraft, LoL, H1Z1, Left 4 Dead 2
What do you intend to use the computer for besides gaming?
Internet browsing, watching twitch, streaming movies, microsoft office for school
Do you intend to overclock?
If it will help my performance by a lot ! (Originally looking into i5 4690k)
Do you intend to do SLI / Crossfire?
No idea what this means
Do you need an operating system?
Yes
Do you need a monitor or any other peripherals and is this part of your budget?
Yes only a monitor
If you have any requirements or brand preferences, please specify.
Run SC2 very smoothly at competitive settings, be able to run all the games i mentioned with great graphics very smoothly
What country will you be buying your parts in?
United States
If you have any retailer preferences, please specify.
None
Bit tricky to hit that budget with the ideas i had but i tried;
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant
CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($219.88 @ OutletPC)
CPU Cooler: CRYORIG H5 Universal 65.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($46.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: MSI Z97-G45 Gaming ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($119.99 @ Micro Center)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-2133 Memory ($76.98 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Crucial MX100 128GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($62.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: PowerColor Radeon R9 280 3GB TurboDuo Video Card ($149.99 @ Newegg)
Case: NZXT Source 210 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($29.98 @ OutletPC)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($88.98 @ OutletPC)
Monitor: BenQ XL2411Z 144Hz 24.0" Monitor ($275.34 @ PCM)
Total: $1101.11
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-01-17 16:05 EST-0500
bit of a skeleton build in some areas (storage, also cheap case but i think a good case as long as the cpu cooler fits) and i'm not entirely sure on GPU choice or if that brand of 280 is good. It also kinda relies on rebates
edit: Oops, that mobo price is on microcenter. There's some usable z97's at ~$120 anyway
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On January 18 2015 06:07 Cyro wrote:Show nested quote +On January 18 2015 05:45 GinyuSC wrote:
What is your budget?
For total build (including OS & Monitor) $1100
What is your monitor's native resolution?
No monitor yet, want a great monitor for competitive SC2 so recommendations needed here!
What games do you intend to play on this computer? What settings?
Starcraft 2 on competitive settings (very smoothly!), Minecraft, LoL, H1Z1, Left 4 Dead 2
What do you intend to use the computer for besides gaming?
Internet browsing, watching twitch, streaming movies, microsoft office for school
Do you intend to overclock?
If it will help my performance by a lot ! (Originally looking into i5 4690k)
Do you intend to do SLI / Crossfire?
No idea what this means
Do you need an operating system?
Yes
Do you need a monitor or any other peripherals and is this part of your budget?
Yes only a monitor
If you have any requirements or brand preferences, please specify.
Run SC2 very smoothly at competitive settings, be able to run all the games i mentioned with great graphics very smoothly
What country will you be buying your parts in?
United States
If you have any retailer preferences, please specify.
None Bit tricky to hit that budget with the ideas i had but i tried; PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchantCPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($219.88 @ OutletPC) CPU Cooler: CRYORIG H5 Universal 65.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($46.99 @ Newegg) Motherboard: MSI Z97-G45 Gaming ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($119.99 @ Micro Center) Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-2133 Memory ($76.98 @ OutletPC) Storage: Crucial MX100 128GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($62.99 @ Amazon) Video Card: PowerColor Radeon R9 280 3GB TurboDuo Video Card ($149.99 @ Newegg) Case: NZXT Source 210 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($29.98 @ OutletPC) Power Supply: Corsair Builder 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($29.99 @ Newegg) Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) ($88.98 @ OutletPC) Monitor: BenQ XL2411Z 144Hz 24.0" Monitor ($275.34 @ PCM) Total: $1101.11 Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when availableGenerated by PCPartPicker 2015-01-17 16:05 EST-0500bit of a skeleton build in some areas (storage, also cheap case but i think a good case as long as the cpu cooler fits) and i'm not entirely sure on GPU choice or if that brand of 280 is good. It also kinda relies on rebates edit: Oops, that mobo price is on microcenter. There's some usable z97's at ~$120 anyway
Thanks a lot! What do you mean by skeleton btw?
also I can add an extra $100 to the budget if that helps you, one last question would be would you recommend that monitor vs the BenQ RH2460ht?
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United Kingdom20333 Posts
Nobody's mentioning anything about the refresh rate of that monitor (if i got the right one, had to adjust name a little since googling that brought only 2 results) so it's probably 60hz.
The xl2411z is 2.4x higher refresh rate and generally considered the best 1080p TN monitor
skeleton as in lacking budget in some areas, pretty much the cheapest decent case, only 128GB SSD with no HDD etc. Usable but not the best PSU (most people have equivalent or worse anyway), cheapest 280 on the market (without checking for quality) etc
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United Kingdom20333 Posts
212+ is usable at $20, but $29 is overpriced for that heatsink. I chose better and more expensive one for a reason~
Not worth almost twice price on PSU IMO, better PSU but still not the best available. There are better ~450w units
One of the reasons for 144hz screen is to reduce input lag (by almost 10ms over 60hz) but windows 8 forces vsync on for the desktop environment and everything unless you're playing in exclusive fullscreen mode (not borderless etc); that adds a considerable amount of cursor lag. There are some advantages to the OS but i will never use it because of that.
I also chose faster RAM for a reason, it shows big gains in some areas and it doesn't cost a lot more. By making the build $1000 instead of $1015 you'd lose ~10% FPS in sc2.
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On January 18 2015 08:11 Cyro wrote:
212+ is usable at $20, but $29 is overpriced for that heatsink. I chose better and more expensive one for a reason~
Not worth almost twice price on PSU IMO, better PSU but still not the best available. There are better ~450w units
One of the reasons for 144hz screen is to reduce input lag (by almost 10ms over 60hz) but windows 8 forces vsync on for the desktop environment and everything unless you're playing in exclusive fullscreen mode (not borderless etc); that adds a considerable amount of cursor lag. There are some advantages to the OS but i will never use it because of that.
I also chose faster RAM for a reason, it shows big gains in some areas and it doesn't cost a lot more. By making the build $1000 instead of $1015 you'd lose ~10% FPS in sc2.
Ill make all the changes you just suggested! I didnt notice that we picked different RAMs haha my bad
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So I haven't been following latest news but are there any informations regarding next gen Intel cpu's other than those i7-5xxx ? My mobo has been shitting on me lately and I'm looking to replace my i5-4430 + mobo
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On January 18 2015 08:15 jidolboy wrote:
So I haven't been following latest news but are there any informations regarding next gen Intel cpu's other than those i7-5xxx ? My mobo has been shitting on me lately and I'm looking to replace my i5-4430 + mobo
Broadwell, just a die-shrink of Haswell (the existing 4th generation Core series aka what you have now) will be released sometime in the Spring. It'll use the existing 9 series motherboards (eg. Z97, H97, etc).
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On January 18 2015 08:21 skyR wrote:Show nested quote +On January 18 2015 08:15 jidolboy wrote:
So I haven't been following latest news but are there any informations regarding next gen Intel cpu's other than those i7-5xxx ? My mobo has been shitting on me lately and I'm looking to replace my i5-4430 + mobo Broadwell, just a die-shrink of Haswell (the existing 4th generation Core series aka what you have now) will be released sometime in the Spring. It'll use the existing 9 series motherboards (eg. Z97, H97, etc).
Any performance improvements? or is it too early to tell. Should I just get 4960k and be done with it or wait for Broadwell hmm
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Just minor improvements. Why not just RMA your motherboard? It should still be within warranty if you purchased from MSI, ASUS, or Gigabyte as they all have a three year warranty. If it's not under warranty then just purchase a new motherboard for under $80 and continue using your Core i5 4430.
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EPT
