• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 04:32
CEST 10:32
KST 17:32
  • Home
  • Forum
  • Calendar
  • Streams
  • Liquipedia
  • Features
  • Store
  • EPT
  • TL+
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Smash
  • Heroes
  • Counter-Strike
  • Overwatch
  • Liquibet
  • Fantasy StarCraft
  • TLPD
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Blogs
Forum Sidebar
Events/Features
News
Featured News
TL.net Map Contest #21: Voting10[ASL20] Ro4 Preview: Descent11Team TLMC #5: Winners Announced!3[ASL20] Ro8 Preview Pt2: Holding On9Maestros of the Game: Live Finals Preview (RO4)5
Community News
BSL Team A vs Koreans - Sat-Sun 16:00 CET6Weekly Cups (Oct 6-12): Four star herO85.0.15 Patch Balance Hotfix (2025-10-8)80Weekly Cups (Sept 29-Oct 5): MaxPax triples up3PartinG joins SteamerZone, returns to SC2 competition32
StarCraft 2
General
The New Patch Killed Mech! TL.net Map Contest #21: Voting Stellar Fest: StarCraft II returns to Canada herO Talks: Poor Performance at EWC and more... Weekly Cups (Oct 6-12): Four star herO
Tourneys
INu's Battles#13 < ByuN vs Zoun > Tenacious Turtle Tussle SC2's Safe House 2 - October 18 & 19 Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament $1,200 WardiTV October (Oct 21st-31st)
Strategy
Custom Maps
Map Editor closed ?
External Content
Mutation # 496 Endless Infection Mutation # 495 Rest In Peace Mutation # 494 Unstable Environment Mutation # 493 Quick Killers
Brood War
General
BSL Season 21 BW General Discussion BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/ BW caster Sayle BSL Team A vs Koreans - Sat-Sun 16:00 CET
Tourneys
[ASL20] Semifinal B Azhi's Colosseum - Anonymous Tournament [Megathread] Daily Proleagues SC4ALL $1,500 Open Bracket LAN
Strategy
Current Meta BW - ajfirecracker Strategy & Training Relatively freeroll strategies Siegecraft - a new perspective
Other Games
General Games
Path of Exile Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Dawn of War IV Nintendo Switch Thread ZeroSpace Megathread
Dota 2
Official 'what is Dota anymore' discussion LiquidDota to reintegrate into TL.net
League of Legends
Heroes of the Storm
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Deck construction bug Heroes of StarCraft mini-set
TL Mafia
TL Mafia Community Thread SPIRED by.ASL Mafia {211640}
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread Russo-Ukrainian War Thread Things Aren’t Peaceful in Palestine Men's Fashion Thread Sex and weight loss
Fan Clubs
The herO Fan Club! The Happy Fan Club!
Media & Entertainment
Series you have seen recently... Anime Discussion Thread [Manga] One Piece Movie Discussion!
Sports
Formula 1 Discussion 2024 - 2026 Football Thread MLB/Baseball 2023 NBA General Discussion TeamLiquid Health and Fitness Initiative For 2023
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
SC2 Client Relocalization [Change SC2 Language] Linksys AE2500 USB WIFI keeps disconnecting Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread
TL Community
The Automated Ban List Recent Gifted Posts
Blogs
The Heroism of Pepe the Fro…
Peanutsc
Rocket League: Traits, Abili…
TrAiDoS
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 1349 users

Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread - Page 572

Forum Index > Tech Support
Post a Reply
Prev 1 570 571 572 573 574 745 Next
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.
Cyro
Profile Blog Joined June 2011
United Kingdom20318 Posts
Last Edited: 2015-12-11 00:21:01
December 11 2015 00:20 GMT
#11421
I use Hitbox a lot because twitch is currently unable to get even a 1mbit stream of any kind to me (with rock solid 27mbit download, just shit routing to all UK ISP's) and they allow higher bitrates. They even encourage people to stream @4k and i got an email a few days ago about a 4k60 HOTS event that they were hosting
"oh my god my overclock... I got a single WHEA error on the 23rd hour, 9 minutes" -Belial88
Firkraag8
Profile Joined August 2010
Sweden1006 Posts
Last Edited: 2015-12-11 00:32:28
December 11 2015 00:30 GMT
#11422
Yeah I left for the same reason but went to YouTube Gaming. Twitch really need to up their bitrate limits and also release their html5 player already.. I don't know about Hitbox but YTG has like no viewers which is sad but I do preferr the lagless 5k bitrate including transcoding too much!

4K streams does sounds literally nuts though, but progress in that area is nice regardless.
Too weird to live, too rare to die.
Deleted User 137586
Profile Joined January 2011
7859 Posts
December 11 2015 01:17 GMT
#11423
On December 09 2015 06:02 Ghanburighan wrote:
+ Show Spoiler [old post] +
Hi!

I'm looking to build a second computer and you guys were a great deal of help last time, so I thought I'd run it by you again. Thanks a lot in advance!

It's mostly for my wife but I might want to use it myself to test some games.

What is your budget?
Around €1000.

What is your monitor's native resolution?
1920x1080


What games do you intend to play on this computer? What settings?

Mostly Civ, Anno series, Banished, SCII, Overwatch. But I'd also like it to run games like Witcher well.


What do you intend to use the computer for besides gaming?

Compiling code, movies on a large screen.

Do you intend to overclock?
Yes.

Do you intend to do SLI / Crossfire?
No, but I'd like to have the option if needed.


Do you need an operating system?

Yes.

Do you need a monitor or any other peripherals and is this part of your budget?
Not part of the budget. Will eventually want to go up to a three monitor setup.

If you have any requirements or brand preferences, please specify.
No.

What country will you be buying your parts in?
Belgium (just arrived here).

If you have any retailer preferences, please specify.

I've been told to check www.tones.be

Here's what I put together myself, but if you think some parts don't match, the price is unreasonable or I've gone overboard, do please let me know.

Motherboard MSI Z170A PC MATE EDITION DDR4 SOCKET 1151 INTEL® Z170
https://www.tones.be/particulier/product/z170a-pc-mate-edition-ddr4-socket-1151-intelreg-z170

CPU INTEL Core i5 6600K
https://www.tones.be/particulier/product/core-i5-6600k

GPU ASUS STRIX-GTX960-DC2OC-4GD5
https://www.tones.be/particulier/product/strix-gtx960-dc2oc-4gd5

PSU CORSAIR VS350
https://www.tones.be/particulier/product/vs350


Corsair RM550X
https://www.tones.be/particulier/product/rm550x

CPU cooling SCYTHE FUMA DUAL POWER TOWER SCFM-1000
https://www.tones.be/particulier/product/fuma-dual-tower-power-scfm-1000

SSD SAMSUNG 250GB 2.5 inch 850 EVO SERIES MZ-75E250
https://www.tones.be/particulier/product/250gb-25-inch-850-evo-series-mz-75e250

RAM CORSAIR CMK8GX4M2B3200C16R
https://www.tones.be/particulier/product/cmk8gx4m2b3200c16r

CASE CORSAIR CARBIDE SPEC-01
https://www.tones.be/particulier/product/carbide-spec-01



Hi again!

Thanks for all the feedback so far, but it's looking like I'll inherit a 1440p monitor, so I will likely need a better GPU. I was thinking about the MSI GTX 970. Do you think that's sufficient (or overkill?)

Is the Corsair RM550X PSU sufficient to power the rig? Or should I upgrade that as well (GTX 970 has a reported max power consumption of 213W).
Cry 'havoc' and let slip the dogs of war
Cyro
Profile Blog Joined June 2011
United Kingdom20318 Posts
Last Edited: 2015-12-11 01:41:57
December 11 2015 01:40 GMT
#11424
550w way more than enough power

970 is midrange of current gen and not that great for maxing demanding games at 1440p or >>60hz but does fine on the easier to run games or with some settings turned down

--------

4K streams does sounds literally nuts though


Yeah, 4k60 is very literally 20 times higher than 720p30 which some events like the LoL ones i watched earlier in the year actually used.
"oh my god my overclock... I got a single WHEA error on the 23rd hour, 9 minutes" -Belial88
Darkness2k11
Profile Blog Joined December 2010
Chile313 Posts
December 12 2015 17:01 GMT
#11425
Thanks a lot for replying!, so the concensus would be to get a CPU cooler and overclock?, I really liked the build Firkraag8 made although I find the CPU to be too expensive, is it reasonable to go for those components while changing the CPU?.
When Behind, Dark Shrine
Justifier
Profile Joined May 2011
Canada6 Posts
December 12 2015 21:00 GMT
#11426
Hello guys! Thank you very much for this thread. My friend and I built my current PC in August 2010 just for Starcraft 2 WOL. I ran the game on max graphics settings and recorded and rendered live Starcraft 2 FPVOD's for several years.

I just purchased LOTV after taking a break and cannot run the game on max graphics anymore; I have significant framerate issues even at the start of a game and my PC has slowed down in performing regular everyday tasks as well. I am wondering whether I should upgrade my PC or build a new PC from scratch and give my old one to my parents. If upgrading is the better option, I would really appreciate any advice on which components are bottlenecking me.

If you instead recommend building a new PC from scratch, please let me know and I will fill out a "Critique My Build" form with a proposed build.

Thank you so much!

What is your current build?

OS: Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit
Processor: Intel Core i7 930 2.8 GHz
Video Card: ATI Radeon 5870
Memory: 3x G.Skill ECO 2GB DDR3 1600MHz
Mother Board: GIGABYTE GA-X58A-UD3R
Power Supply: ModXStream Pro 600W
Hard Disk: 2x Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB SATA3

I have not overclocked anything.

What is your monitor's native resolution?

1920 x 1080

Why do you want to upgrade? What do you want to achieve with the upgrade?

I would like to be able to run Starcraft 2 at max settings with a smooth framerate.

I also do some video recording, editing, and rendering. Ideally, I would like to be able to record Starcraft 2 FPVOD footage using Fraps while playing without suffering a noticeable framerate drop.

Also, I intend on purchasing a second monitor in the future so I would like my upgrades to be in line with that goal.

What is your budget?

$2500 CAD.

What country will you be buying your parts in?

Canada.

If you have any brand or retailer preferences, please specify.

I would prefer to stick with Intel processors and AMD graphics cards just because it is what I have used in the past without any issues.

Thanks in advance for your advice.
pEcul!Ar
Profile Joined December 2015
52 Posts
Last Edited: 2015-12-12 23:12:37
December 12 2015 23:04 GMT
#11427
On December 13 2015 06:00 Justifier wrote:
Hello guys! Thank you very much for this thread. My friend and I built my current PC in August 2010 just for Starcraft 2 WOL. I ran the game on max graphics settings and recorded and rendered live Starcraft 2 FPVOD's for several years.

I just purchased LOTV after taking a break and cannot run the game on max graphics anymore; I have significant framerate issues even at the start of a game and my PC has slowed down in performing regular everyday tasks as well. I am wondering whether I should upgrade my PC or build a new PC from scratch and give my old one to my parents. If upgrading is the better option, I would really appreciate any advice on which components are bottlenecking me.

If you instead recommend building a new PC from scratch, please let me know and I will fill out a "Critique My Build" form with a proposed build.

Thank you so much!

What is your current build?

OS: Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit
Processor: Intel Core i7 930 2.8 GHz
Video Card: ATI Radeon 5870
Memory: 3x G.Skill ECO 2GB DDR3 1600MHz
Mother Board: GIGABYTE GA-X58A-UD3R
Power Supply: ModXStream Pro 600W
Hard Disk: 2x Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB SATA3

I have not overclocked anything.

What is your monitor's native resolution?

1920 x 1080

Why do you want to upgrade? What do you want to achieve with the upgrade?

I would like to be able to run Starcraft 2 at max settings with a smooth framerate.

I also do some video recording, editing, and rendering. Ideally, I would like to be able to record Starcraft 2 FPVOD footage using Fraps while playing without suffering a noticeable framerate drop.

Also, I intend on purchasing a second monitor in the future so I would like my upgrades to be in line with that goal.

What is your budget?

$2500 CAD.

What country will you be buying your parts in?

Canada.

If you have any brand or retailer preferences, please specify.

I would prefer to stick with Intel processors and AMD graphics cards just because it is what I have used in the past without any issues.

Thanks in advance for your advice.


I'd start by upgrading your CPU before you touch anything else. An i7 4790K for example, runs cool with a good cpu cooler on it, runs at 4GHz, 4.5 when the boost kicks in AND you can overclock it (if that's your thing, personally I steer away from overclocking). An upgrade on your mobo will be necessary as well (good ole compatibility issues), I'd stick with Gigabyte in that department (every build I do is based around Gigabyte motherboards and GPU's <-(nvidia)), though I can't exactly give you any advice gpu-wise since you wish to stay with AMD.

Do you already have an idea about the 2nd monitor, which one you'll be purchasing? If not, do you have any requirements regarding your 2nd monitor? (refresh rate, size,..)
You look at people and you see puzzles. I see games. You? You're a game I'll win everytime.
Justifier
Profile Joined May 2011
Canada6 Posts
December 12 2015 23:16 GMT
#11428
On December 13 2015 08:04 pEcul!Ar wrote:
Show nested quote +
On December 13 2015 06:00 Justifier wrote:
Hello guys! Thank you very much for this thread. My friend and I built my current PC in August 2010 just for Starcraft 2 WOL. I ran the game on max graphics settings and recorded and rendered live Starcraft 2 FPVOD's for several years.

I just purchased LOTV after taking a break and cannot run the game on max graphics anymore; I have significant framerate issues even at the start of a game and my PC has slowed down in performing regular everyday tasks as well. I am wondering whether I should upgrade my PC or build a new PC from scratch and give my old one to my parents. If upgrading is the better option, I would really appreciate any advice on which components are bottlenecking me.

If you instead recommend building a new PC from scratch, please let me know and I will fill out a "Critique My Build" form with a proposed build.

Thank you so much!

What is your current build?

OS: Windows 7 Ultimate 64 bit
Processor: Intel Core i7 930 2.8 GHz
Video Card: ATI Radeon 5870
Memory: 3x G.Skill ECO 2GB DDR3 1600MHz
Mother Board: GIGABYTE GA-X58A-UD3R
Power Supply: ModXStream Pro 600W
Hard Disk: 2x Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB SATA3

I have not overclocked anything.

What is your monitor's native resolution?

1920 x 1080

Why do you want to upgrade? What do you want to achieve with the upgrade?

I would like to be able to run Starcraft 2 at max settings with a smooth framerate.

I also do some video recording, editing, and rendering. Ideally, I would like to be able to record Starcraft 2 FPVOD footage using Fraps while playing without suffering a noticeable framerate drop.

Also, I intend on purchasing a second monitor in the future so I would like my upgrades to be in line with that goal.

What is your budget?

$2500 CAD.

What country will you be buying your parts in?

Canada.

If you have any brand or retailer preferences, please specify.

I would prefer to stick with Intel processors and AMD graphics cards just because it is what I have used in the past without any issues.

Thanks in advance for your advice.


I'd start by upgrading your CPU before you touch anything else.

Do you already have an idea about the 2nd monitor, which one you'll be purchasing? If not, do you have any requirements regarding your 2nd monitor? (refresh rate, size,..)


For a second monitor I would probably purchase the Asus VN247H. This is the same monitor that I am using right now and I have been very satisfied with it thus far.

Thanks for the reply.

Firkraag8
Profile Joined August 2010
Sweden1006 Posts
Last Edited: 2015-12-12 23:52:51
December 12 2015 23:51 GMT
#11429
On December 13 2015 02:01 Darkness2k11 wrote:
Thanks a lot for replying!, so the concensus would be to get a CPU cooler and overclock?, I really liked the build Firkraag8 made although I find the CPU to be too expensive, is it reasonable to go for those components while changing the CPU?.

It's perfectly fine to get a 6600k instead, I don't personally have that cooler but I'm pretty sure you could get up to 6700k levels (4,2ghz) with it. It's all still compatible with either CPU, you'll not get HT but Cyro says it doesn't make a difference in the Sc2 streaming case so I'll take his word for it.
Too weird to live, too rare to die.
Cyro
Profile Blog Joined June 2011
United Kingdom20318 Posts
Last Edited: 2015-12-13 05:50:26
December 13 2015 05:48 GMT
#11430
On December 13 2015 02:01 Darkness2k11 wrote:
Thanks a lot for replying!, so the concensus would be to get a CPU cooler and overclock?, I really liked the build Firkraag8 made although I find the CPU to be too expensive, is it reasonable to go for those components while changing the CPU?.


Can use (or even should use) a 6600k, 8GB of RAM is also very usable. Need a little research on the motherboard for a good one though as some miss basic settings like LLC, there are lots of people OCing with skylake and different boards in this thread and others - http://www.overclock.net/t/1570313/skylake-overclocking-guide-with-statistics/

GPU upgrade would also be good

you'll not get HT but Cyro says it doesn't make a difference in the Sc2 streaming case so I'll take his word for it.


It may when CPU encoding particularly at a high resolution and FPS but i don't think the gain would be very big and it wouldn't exist when just playing the game or when encoding with nvenc

-------

@Justifier you should get a new CPU, probably a 6600k but maybe a 6700k if you want the CPU to use a higher clock and voltage by itself without you having to manually set them. GPU upgrade would be nice too. Fraps is pretty ancient software that's not good for performance, so you can probably get much better results using something else
"oh my god my overclock... I got a single WHEA error on the 23rd hour, 9 minutes" -Belial88
Justifier
Profile Joined May 2011
Canada6 Posts
December 14 2015 03:00 GMT
#11431
@ pEcul!Ar and Cyro

Thanks a lot to both of you for your advice! I really appreciate you taking the time to look over my post.

With your suggestions, I have put together a proposed build; would you mind taking a look and letting me know what you think? I'm not very experienced with this, so my fear is that I may be going overboard with some components or that certain parts are not compatible with each other.

Here it is:

OS: Windows 7 Ultimate 64 Bit
I’m happy with Windows 7 and have not felt the need to change yet, but I could definitely be persuaded if you think the newer versions are better.

CPU: Intel i7 6700k
I don’t intend on overclocking, so I thought I’d get a really solid CPU as per Cyro’s suggestion. pEcul!Ar, you recommended the 4970k; do you guys think the extra cost for the 6700k is justified? Also, do you think I would need an additional cooling system even without overclocking these CPU’s, or would the stock fan suffice?

GPU: Undecided.
I am really not sure what to get here. Please forget what I said about preferring AMD, I am certainly open to both brands. Which video card do you guys think makes sense to go with the rest of this build? The GTX 980 looks good, but it is so expensive that I am not sure whether it’s worth it.

Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Black 16GB 2X8GB 2133MHZ DDR4
This seemed like pretty good memory, and there is an attractive sale on at NCIX.

Motherboard: GIGABYTE Z170X-GAMING 5 LGA 1151
I took pEcul!Ar’s advice and went for the GIGABYTE motherboard. My search online yielded this one as a good option for the processor I selected.

SSD: Samsung 850 EVO-SERIES 1TB SSD
Not sure whether I would need 1TB, but with the size of games growing these days I thought it wouldn’t hurt.

Hard Drive: 2x Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB SATA3
These are my drives from my old PC.

Power Supply: Corsair CX Series CX750M 750W ATX 12V 80 Plus Bronze Modular Power Supply
I just picked a power supply with solid reviews and higher wattage than my current one. Do you think this is overkill and that my old PSU (ModXStream Pro 600W) would suffice?

Case: Fractal Design Define R5 ATX Mid Tower Window Case, or the same one without a window
I want my case to be as user-friendly as possible, and as long as the sound-dampening is not compromised, a window would be nice so I can see if the guts are due for a cleaning.

Monitor: Asus VN247H
From my old build. I am considering adding another one of these in the future.

Thanks again so much for your feedback.

Cyro
Profile Blog Joined June 2011
United Kingdom20318 Posts
Last Edited: 2015-12-14 03:33:10
December 14 2015 03:19 GMT
#11432
Both the 4790k and 6700k need non-stock cooling. They're basically just using high overclock voltages out of the box, so they have the same cooling needs as pretty highly overclocked CPU's.

970 or 980ti is usually better option than 980 on nvidia side; they both often have better performance per dollar - 970 is substantially cheaper, 980ti is a lot more powerful. Performance is roughly 970 << 980 <<<< 980ti

600w is more than enough power for the highest power consumption parts (oc'd cpu, oc'd single GPU)

i can't find anything on the LLC for that particular gigabyte board

you can probably get ddr4 ~3000c15 / 3200c16 for almost the same price as 2133c15. It's a big RAM performance increase and has impacts in some games and tasks, usually small (like single digit % speed gains) but worth $10
"oh my god my overclock... I got a single WHEA error on the 23rd hour, 9 minutes" -Belial88
SolvusAnima
Profile Joined July 2010
United States138 Posts
Last Edited: 2015-12-14 22:18:41
December 14 2015 03:55 GMT
#11433
Hello! First and foremost I'd like to thank everyone that contributes to this thread. It's an amazing resource and I am thankful it exists, given my lacking knowledge of this sort of thing. I was helped once before in this thread (quite a few years ago :D) and it was such a pleasant experience that I felt good coming back to ask for help. Anyway, on with the questions [:

I'm currently using this computer: http://support.hp.com/us-en/product/Compaq-Presario-CQ5000-Desktop-PC-series/4079828/model/4120507/document/c01971582#N267. Even though it's very clearly not the best, it did what I wanted it to. However, I want to start streaming my League gameplay. Given that that computer is prebuilt, I'm filling out a new computer build form since I believe starting from scratch is the best option (if it's not I'll fill out the appropriate form, please let me know).

Thanks in advance for your help!

NOTE
I was looking at the sample builds section, and on the US section, the budget professional seems to fit my needs really well. I looked into the parts and some of them are out of stock. In order to save you some time, if you could direct me to equivalent parts, I'd also appreciate that.

What is your budget?

600CAD with 700 CAD being the absolute limit

What is your monitor's native resolution?

1920 x 1080

What games do you intend to play on this computer? What settings?

League of Legends, TF2, L4D2 on high

What do you intend to use the computer for besides gaming?

Streaming gameplay. School related stuff (typing reports, some excel stuff, nothing out of the ordinary)

Do you intend to overclock?

Not necessarily but if I benefit from it, 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 requirements nor brand preference, but something to note is that I'm in possession of this: http://support.hp.com/us-en/product/Compaq-Presario-CQ5000-Desktop-PC-series/4079828/model/4120507/document/c01971582#N267. Yes I know it's terrible. If any parts from that are usable for the new computer, then I could use them to lower costs (potentially the HDD could be used?)

What country will you be buying your parts in?

Canada

If you have any retailer preferences, please specify.

No preferences

Since we cannot change reality, let us change the eyes which see reality.
pEcul!Ar
Profile Joined December 2015
52 Posts
Last Edited: 2015-12-14 18:53:48
December 14 2015 18:24 GMT
#11434
On December 14 2015 12:00 Justifier wrote:
@ pEcul!Ar and Cyro

Thanks a lot to both of you for your advice! I really appreciate you taking the time to look over my post.

With your suggestions, I have put together a proposed build; would you mind taking a look and letting me know what you think? I'm not very experienced with this, so my fear is that I may be going overboard with some components or that certain parts are not compatible with each other.

Here it is:

OS: Windows 7 Ultimate 64 Bit
I’m happy with Windows 7 and have not felt the need to change yet, but I could definitely be persuaded if you think the newer versions are better.

CPU: Intel i7 6700k
I don’t intend on overclocking, so I thought I’d get a really solid CPU as per Cyro’s suggestion. pEcul!Ar, you recommended the 4970k; do you guys think the extra cost for the 6700k is justified? Also, do you think I would need an additional cooling system even without overclocking these CPU’s, or would the stock fan suffice?

GPU: Undecided.
I am really not sure what to get here. Please forget what I said about preferring AMD, I am certainly open to both brands. Which video card do you guys think makes sense to go with the rest of this build? The GTX 980 looks good, but it is so expensive that I am not sure whether it’s worth it.

Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Black 16GB 2X8GB 2133MHZ DDR4
This seemed like pretty good memory, and there is an attractive sale on at NCIX.

Motherboard: GIGABYTE Z170X-GAMING 5 LGA 1151
I took pEcul!Ar’s advice and went for the GIGABYTE motherboard. My search online yielded this one as a good option for the processor I selected.

SSD: Samsung 850 EVO-SERIES 1TB SSD
Not sure whether I would need 1TB, but with the size of games growing these days I thought it wouldn’t hurt.

Hard Drive: 2x Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB SATA3
These are my drives from my old PC.

Power Supply: Corsair CX Series CX750M 750W ATX 12V 80 Plus Bronze Modular Power Supply
I just picked a power supply with solid reviews and higher wattage than my current one. Do you think this is overkill and that my old PSU (ModXStream Pro 600W) would suffice?

Case: Fractal Design Define R5 ATX Mid Tower Window Case, or the same one without a window
I want my case to be as user-friendly as possible, and as long as the sound-dampening is not compromised, a window would be nice so I can see if the guts are due for a cleaning.

Monitor: Asus VN247H
From my old build. I am considering adding another one of these in the future.

Thanks again so much for your feedback.




Either CPU is fine for what you're planning to do with it, but it really depends on whether you WANT to spend the extra money, and yes, you do need a custom CPU cooler (personally I have a Be Quiet! Dark Rock Pro 3 on it and my temps are better than I had expected (http://www.bequiet.com/en/cpucooler/482)), and don't forget to apply cooling paste.

The motherboard you picked is a good one, the place where I get my parts (alternate in europe) has a top rating for it. The only "downside" to it is it's not a full ATX motherboard (size), depending on your case, you might not be able to screw the right side (it's the only con someone's mentioned when he bought it, I do not know which case the man was using for his build). <- personally, I take it with a grain of salt, as I have yet to discover a motherboard that isn't capable of getting screwed in well enough to hold.

Regarding the SSD.. sure, SSD's make a huge difference, but the biggest difference it makes is with your OS itself, install your OS on your ssd (I'd even recommend buying a 120gb one just purely for your OS + the most vital program (antivirus, microsoft office etc..), but looking at the fact you have 2 HDD's, I personally, if you're on a budget, wouldn't throw too much money at such a large SSD. I'm using 2 Kingston HyperX FURY SHFS37A/120G's (120gb each), one for my OS and the other for games. Have 2 very old HDD's for documents, pictures etc.. I'd say, save yourself some money, grab a 120gb ssd and grab a second one for your games (1tb is beyond what you need, especially when you look at the fact you have 2 HDD's as well)

The case, well, for the largest part it comes down to personal preference.. I have 2 gaming systems, 1 with a be quiet! case (the lightweight gaming system pretty much) and one from Aerocool for my main gaming system, and they both do the job just fine. Just make sure the airflow's good, make sure you have a good CPU cooler, and I can't see why your temps should be causing any problems. Don't make the same mistake as many others and put too many coolers in your system as that might have the opposite effect of what you want to achieve. In both of my systems I have 3 coolers, that's all. 3 case fans and a CPU cooler, and my temps are never near the danger zone, not even close. Quantity =! quality. !make sure everything is going to fit in the case you want to buy!

About your PSU: 600w is enough, but if YOU'd be feeling safer with the 750w, then go for it, but it's a waste of money to be honest. Just make sure you have a quality PSU. The only advice I'd add to that is get a PSU that has the 80 Plus certification -> has to do with power efficiency.. 80 Plus -> 80 Plus Bronze -> 80 Plus Silver -> 80 Plus Gold. So my advice boils down to get a PSU with at least an 80 Plus certification. Your ModXStream Pro 600W is a 80 Plus certified PSU, so you're fine.

About the RAM memory, I'd follow Cyro's advice all the way.

GPU wise: All I know about the AMD gpu's is the r9 series is the best one they have, they've just released a new one, but personally I've only had bad experiences with AMD (ATI back then) so I even refuse to consider them an option personally. Sure, they cost less, and performance wise they're good as well, but for me, it was the temperatures, it had a custom cooler on it and it would still overheat, I smacked it against the wall, went to nvidia and never looked back again. Drivers were shit as well back then, but who knows, maybe they've improved in all of those departments, I sure hope so for their customers.

If you might want to consider going for nvidia, again, Cyro's advice all the way. I do want to add though, personally I'm using a 780Ti (Gigabyte GTX 780Ti Windforce OC), playing fallout 4, the witcher 3, it never struggles with anything I've thrown at it so far, but then again, prices have dropped a fair amount by now, and so the 980Ti etc.. are the obvious go-to's but if you're on a budget, from my personal experience, I can recommend the 780Ti. If you're fine with the price of a 980Ti, get one.
You look at people and you see puzzles. I see games. You? You're a game I'll win everytime.
bluegarfield
Profile Joined December 2010
Singapore1128 Posts
Last Edited: 2015-12-15 02:31:47
December 15 2015 02:19 GMT
#11435
On December 15 2015 03:24 pEcul!Ar wrote:
Show nested quote +
On December 14 2015 12:00 Justifier wrote:
@ pEcul!Ar and Cyro

Thanks a lot to both of you for your advice! I really appreciate you taking the time to look over my post.

With your suggestions, I have put together a proposed build; would you mind taking a look and letting me know what you think? I'm not very experienced with this, so my fear is that I may be going overboard with some components or that certain parts are not compatible with each other.

Here it is:

OS: Windows 7 Ultimate 64 Bit
I’m happy with Windows 7 and have not felt the need to change yet, but I could definitely be persuaded if you think the newer versions are better.

CPU: Intel i7 6700k
I don’t intend on overclocking, so I thought I’d get a really solid CPU as per Cyro’s suggestion. pEcul!Ar, you recommended the 4970k; do you guys think the extra cost for the 6700k is justified? Also, do you think I would need an additional cooling system even without overclocking these CPU’s, or would the stock fan suffice?

GPU: Undecided.
I am really not sure what to get here. Please forget what I said about preferring AMD, I am certainly open to both brands. Which video card do you guys think makes sense to go with the rest of this build? The GTX 980 looks good, but it is so expensive that I am not sure whether it’s worth it.

Memory: Kingston HyperX Fury Black 16GB 2X8GB 2133MHZ DDR4
This seemed like pretty good memory, and there is an attractive sale on at NCIX.

Motherboard: GIGABYTE Z170X-GAMING 5 LGA 1151
I took pEcul!Ar’s advice and went for the GIGABYTE motherboard. My search online yielded this one as a good option for the processor I selected.

SSD: Samsung 850 EVO-SERIES 1TB SSD
Not sure whether I would need 1TB, but with the size of games growing these days I thought it wouldn’t hurt.

Hard Drive: 2x Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB SATA3
These are my drives from my old PC.

Power Supply: Corsair CX Series CX750M 750W ATX 12V 80 Plus Bronze Modular Power Supply
I just picked a power supply with solid reviews and higher wattage than my current one. Do you think this is overkill and that my old PSU (ModXStream Pro 600W) would suffice?

Case: Fractal Design Define R5 ATX Mid Tower Window Case, or the same one without a window
I want my case to be as user-friendly as possible, and as long as the sound-dampening is not compromised, a window would be nice so I can see if the guts are due for a cleaning.

Monitor: Asus VN247H
From my old build. I am considering adding another one of these in the future.

Thanks again so much for your feedback.




Either CPU is fine for what you're planning to do with it, but it really depends on whether you WANT to spend the extra money, and yes, you do need a custom CPU cooler (personally I have a Be Quiet! Dark Rock Pro 3 on it and my temps are better than I had expected (http://www.bequiet.com/en/cpucooler/482)), and don't forget to apply cooling paste.

The motherboard you picked is a good one, the place where I get my parts (alternate in europe) has a top rating for it. The only "downside" to it is it's not a full ATX motherboard (size), depending on your case, you might not be able to screw the right side (it's the only con someone's mentioned when he bought it, I do not know which case the man was using for his build). <- personally, I take it with a grain of salt, as I have yet to discover a motherboard that isn't capable of getting screwed in well enough to hold.

Regarding the SSD.. sure, SSD's make a huge difference, but the biggest difference it makes is with your OS itself, install your OS on your ssd (I'd even recommend buying a 120gb one just purely for your OS + the most vital program (antivirus, microsoft office etc..), but looking at the fact you have 2 HDD's, I personally, if you're on a budget, wouldn't throw too much money at such a large SSD. I'm using 2 Kingston HyperX FURY SHFS37A/120G's (120gb each), one for my OS and the other for games. Have 2 very old HDD's for documents, pictures etc.. I'd say, save yourself some money, grab a 120gb ssd and grab a second one for your games (1tb is beyond what you need, especially when you look at the fact you have 2 HDD's as well)

The case, well, for the largest part it comes down to personal preference.. I have 2 gaming systems, 1 with a be quiet! case (the lightweight gaming system pretty much) and one from Aerocool for my main gaming system, and they both do the job just fine. Just make sure the airflow's good, make sure you have a good CPU cooler, and I can't see why your temps should be causing any problems. Don't make the same mistake as many others and put too many coolers in your system as that might have the opposite effect of what you want to achieve. In both of my systems I have 3 coolers, that's all. 3 case fans and a CPU cooler, and my temps are never near the danger zone, not even close. Quantity =! quality. !make sure everything is going to fit in the case you want to buy!

About your PSU: 600w is enough, but if YOU'd be feeling safer with the 750w, then go for it, but it's a waste of money to be honest. Just make sure you have a quality PSU. The only advice I'd add to that is get a PSU that has the 80 Plus certification -> has to do with power efficiency.. 80 Plus -> 80 Plus Bronze -> 80 Plus Silver -> 80 Plus Gold. So my advice boils down to get a PSU with at least an 80 Plus certification. Your ModXStream Pro 600W is a 80 Plus certified PSU, so you're fine.

About the RAM memory, I'd follow Cyro's advice all the way.

GPU wise: All I know about the AMD gpu's is the r9 series is the best one they have, they've just released a new one, but personally I've only had bad experiences with AMD (ATI back then) so I even refuse to consider them an option personally. Sure, they cost less, and performance wise they're good as well, but for me, it was the temperatures, it had a custom cooler on it and it would still overheat, I smacked it against the wall, went to nvidia and never looked back again. Drivers were shit as well back then, but who knows, maybe they've improved in all of those departments, I sure hope so for their customers.

If you might want to consider going for nvidia, again, Cyro's advice all the way. I do want to add though, personally I'm using a 780Ti (Gigabyte GTX 780Ti Windforce OC), playing fallout 4, the witcher 3, it never struggles with anything I've thrown at it so far, but then again, prices have dropped a fair amount by now, and so the 980Ti etc.. are the obvious go-to's but if you're on a budget, from my personal experience, I can recommend the 780Ti. If you're fine with the price of a 980Ti, get one.


the gigabyte gaming 5 has 2 versions: Z170X is ATX, Z170MX is MATX.
As for SSD, not sure if one needed 1TB SSD, but if it's within budget, why not.
PSU: corsair CX750M, while by no mean the worst PSU and not gonna blow up, still rated pretty low in term of quality. but it's cheap and good enough for budget build, if you are going with top tier components in other areas may as well get better psu to protect your components. seeing budget is not a concern (2500CAD should be able to), would recommend better quality psu from seasonic or superflower or evga g2, especially when pairing with 6700K for overclocking.
AMD GPU has gotten much better, they do consume a lot of power but custom cooling solution perform pretty well. has a sapphire r9 390 sit comfortably around 70c while playing game. their driver still derp a bit though. edit: didnt see the streaming part, go with Cyro suggestion then.
ELqQQT_T
Justifier
Profile Joined May 2011
Canada6 Posts
Last Edited: 2015-12-15 02:43:11
December 15 2015 02:31 GMT
#11436
@ Cyro , pEcul!Ar, bluegarfield

Thanks a lot for the follow up guys, I really appreciate your detailed responses; they have been so helpful! I have added your advice into the final (?) build below.

I just have one last question about the motherboard. pEcul!Ar, you mentioned that there may be an issue fitting the motherboard perfectly into the case because it is slightly small, but when I looked on the manufacturer's website, the model I chose appears to be listed as a full ATX form: http://www.gigabyte.com/mb/100-gaming/Model. Are we perhaps looking at different models? Edit: Just saw your post bluegarfield; thanks, I think you cleared up the confusion on this point.

OS: Windows 7 Ultimate 64 Bit
CPU: Intel i7 6700k
GPU: MSI GeForce GTX 980TI GAMING 6G GDDR5.
Memory: G.SKILL Ripjaws V Series F4-3200C16D-16GVK DDR4 3200MHZ 16GB 2X8GB
Motherboard: GIGABYTE Z170X-GAMING 5 LGA 1151
SSD 1: Samsung 850 EVO-SERIES 120 GB
SSD 2: Samsung 850 EVO-SERIES 500 GB - I have the budget for the 1TB, but if 2 separate SSD's perform better than one massive SSD, that would be my preference.
Hard Drive: 2x Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB SATA3 - Owned
Monitor: Asus VN247H - Owned
Case: Fractal Design Define R5 ATX Mid Tower Window Case, or the same one without a window - Purchased today.

Power Supply: EVGA SUPERNOVA 750 G2 80 PLUS GOLD CERTIFIED 750W POWER SUPPLY - Purchased today. I had to deviate from some of the advice for the PSU because the 750W model was $60 dollars off and wasn't much more than the 600W PSU. Also, I decided to leave my 600W PSU in the old build for my parents to use.

Cooling system: Either the Noctua NH-D15 or Zalman CNPS9500A - My preference would be for Zalman because I think it will be a less tight fit and I really like the look of the copper heat sink. I am honestly worried about the Noctura interfering with my RAM slots.
Cyro
Profile Blog Joined June 2011
United Kingdom20318 Posts
Last Edited: 2015-12-15 02:44:29
December 15 2015 02:42 GMT
#11437
Cooling system: Either the Noctua NH-D15 or Zalman CNPS9500A - My preference would be for Zalman because I think it will be a less tight fit and I really like the look of the copper heat sink. I am honestly worried about the Noctura interfering with my RAM slots.


The d15 specifically has part of the heatsink cut out to help/avoid that problem, even for the ridiculously tall RAM
[image loading]

it's also probably a much better cooler, i don't know numbers for how much better though. It's still better to get RAM that doesn't have tall heatspreaders on it; even having heatspreaders at all is unneccesary and usually done for branding/advertisement/asthetics
"oh my god my overclock... I got a single WHEA error on the 23rd hour, 9 minutes" -Belial88
bluegarfield
Profile Joined December 2010
Singapore1128 Posts
December 15 2015 02:52 GMT
#11438
@justifier:
that evga psu is much better quality. nice pick.

nh-d15 is among the best air cooler available. by default the ram cant fit under the cooler (ripjaws V height is 42mm, default ram clearance is 32mm) but you can either skip the nearer ram slot since you have only 2 rams (the cooler only block one nearest ram slot iirc) or simply mount the fan higher. from own experience with fractal design r5, noctua nh-d15 and ripjaws X ram (40mm tall) everything fit perfectly. extra 2mm isn't a problem for r5 case. alternatively, get nh-d15s (single fan) and nothing will be blocked
ELqQQT_T
Cyro
Profile Blog Joined June 2011
United Kingdom20318 Posts
Last Edited: 2015-12-15 03:09:02
December 15 2015 03:05 GMT
#11439
Didn't know d15s was a thing :0

That actually looks pretty good (basically just a d15 with only 1 fan and moved a bit to have more clearance for pci-e slots)
"oh my god my overclock... I got a single WHEA error on the 23rd hour, 9 minutes" -Belial88
bluegarfield
Profile Joined December 2010
Singapore1128 Posts
December 15 2015 03:15 GMT
#11440
d15s is a new release i think. only saw it recently. but it's not much cheaper i think, may as well get d15, use 1 fan for cooler and use the other fan for case cooling XD :p
ELqQQT_T
Prev 1 570 571 572 573 574 745 Next
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
Next event in 1h 28m
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
OGKoka 121
SortOf 87
StarCraft: Brood War
Zeus 3867
Sea 2540
firebathero 825
Killer 513
Larva 313
TY 295
PianO 227
Shine 73
Aegong 55
soO 35
[ Show more ]
Sharp 35
Sacsri 21
Bale 17
NotJumperer 1
Dota 2
XaKoH 390
XcaliburYe108
League of Legends
JimRising 565
Reynor101
Counter-Strike
olofmeister874
shoxiejesuss766
Stewie2K675
Super Smash Bros
Mew2King110
Heroes of the Storm
Khaldor150
Other Games
summit1g13574
ceh9605
WinterStarcraft573
Happy182
Organizations
StarCraft: Brood War
UltimateBattle 22
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
sctven
[ Show 12 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• LUISG 28
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• Migwel
• sooper7s
StarCraft: Brood War
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
League of Legends
• HappyZerGling115
Upcoming Events
Replay Cast
1h 28m
Monday Night Weeklies
7h 28m
Replay Cast
14h 28m
WardiTV Invitational
1d 2h
WardiTV Invitational
1d 5h
PiGosaur Monday
1d 15h
Replay Cast
2 days
Tenacious Turtle Tussle
2 days
The PondCast
3 days
WardiTV Invitational
4 days
[ Show More ]
Online Event
4 days
RSL Revival
4 days
RSL Revival
5 days
WardiTV Invitational
5 days
Afreeca Starleague
5 days
Snow vs Soma
Sparkling Tuna Cup
6 days
WardiTV Invitational
6 days
CrankTV Team League
6 days
RSL Revival
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

Acropolis #4 - TS2
WardiTV TLMC #15
HCC Europe

Ongoing

BSL 21 Points
ASL Season 20
CSL 2025 AUTUMN (S18)
C-Race Season 1
IPSL Winter 2025-26
EC S1
Thunderpick World Champ.
CS Asia Championships 2025
ESL Pro League S22
StarSeries Fall 2025
FISSURE Playground #2
BLAST Open Fall 2025
BLAST Open Fall Qual
Esports World Cup 2025
BLAST Bounty Fall 2025
BLAST Bounty Fall Qual

Upcoming

SC4ALL: Brood War
BSL Season 21
BSL 21 Team A
BSL 21 Non-Korean Championship
RSL Offline Finals
RSL Revival: Season 3
Stellar Fest
SC4ALL: StarCraft II
CranK Gathers Season 2: SC II Pro Teams
eXTREMESLAND 2025
ESL Impact League Season 8
SL Budapest Major 2025
BLAST Rivals Fall 2025
IEM Chengdu 2025
PGL Masters Bucharest 2025
TLPD

1. ByuN
2. TY
3. Dark
4. Solar
5. Stats
6. Nerchio
7. sOs
8. soO
9. INnoVation
10. Elazer
1. Rain
2. Flash
3. EffOrt
4. Last
5. Bisu
6. Soulkey
7. Mini
8. Sharp
Sidebar Settings...

Advertising | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use | Contact Us

Original banner artwork: Jim Warren
The contents of this webpage are copyright © 2025 TLnet. All Rights Reserved.