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Belisarius
Australia6233 Posts
I realise this is a super niche thing to care about, but my old board's codes were terribly documented and I lost a lot of components lately so I'm a bit traumatised. I'd ideally love some kind of LED readout, but well differentiated and helpful beeps would be okay too. Looking at full-size Kaby Lake boards, probably for an i5 7500 or something similar. Anyone seen obvious standouts/no-gos in the current crop? Any personal experiences? | ||
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Mandalor
Germany2362 Posts
On August 29 2017 03:18 ExPresident wrote: It's only got an ATI Radeon HD4200 on board. Years, and years ago I had a graphics card in it but honestly I can't even recall what that was and it died so I took it out and never replaced it (started playing games on PS3/PS4). The PC still runs fine so if I can continue to use it in another room for 1080P gaming I'd love to do that. This seems to have gone under somehow. You absolutely need a dedicated gfx card, obviously. You're right that throwing a 1080 into that system won't help you, but I would look into deals on cards that were decent 2-3 years ago - maybe even get a used one. ATI used to be the best bang for the buck on the low end until digital currency mining became a thing again. Low end stuff shouldn't be affected by that tho. Looking at the list of games, pubg will be an issue if you want a good framerate. I have a slightly better CPU than you, 16GB of RAM and a Radeon HD 7870 XT and I get about 40 FPS consistently. Playable yeah, but definitely choppy. I don't think there is a sensible upgrade for you computer that would make it run better than that. Cities: Skylines is very hungry for RAM. The rest of the games should run okay if you get a decent graphics card. Obviously noone knows what you'll need for AoE, but RTS games are usually resource-friendly. | ||
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eLyx
Germany54 Posts
Games I mainly play are Dota2 and WoW, and would like to give Destiny 2 a try when it launches. Also if I am able to play AAA releases on high settings I am pretty happy, but its not the highest priority. Moneywise I would like to spend maximum 300€ if possible (buying from germany). PSU: Seasonic 520W M12 Bronze Evo Edition MB: ASRock B75 Pro3 CPU: I5 3450 Ram: 8GB-Kit Kingston ValueRAM PC3-10667U CL9 Thanks for your help! | ||
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mantequilla
Turkey781 Posts
On September 10 2017 17:40 eLyx wrote: Hey guys, after 5 years of use my HD7950 just died on me. I wanted to ask if I can replace it with something like a 1060 or if my other components are gonna bottleneck it somehow. Also if you have any recommendations I would love to hear them. Games I mainly play are Dota2 and WoW, and would like to give Destiny 2 a try when it launches. Also if I am able to play AAA releases on high settings I am pretty happy, but its not the highest priority. Moneywise I would like to spend maximum 300€ if possible (buying from germany). PSU: Seasonic 520W M12 Bronze Evo Edition MB: ASRock B75 Pro3 CPU: I5 3450 Ram: 8GB-Kit Kingston ValueRAM PC3-10667U CL9 Thanks for your help! I think your rig is quite fine. I5 3470 won't bottleneck 1060 and I see no reason not to play at 1080p high settings. | ||
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Cyro
United Kingdom20323 Posts
I5 3470 won't bottleneck 1060 For WoW any CPU bottlenecks a 1060, just by varying amounts not that an i5 3450 is a particularly bad cpu, it's a fine pairing for now | ||
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Predator_au
Australia93 Posts
A friend has suggested a build for me, with my intention to play SC RM, but also some new games if I want to... CPU: Ryzen 5 1600X RAM: 8GB Single 2133 Kingston Graphics: 6GB GTX 1060 Galax OC MOBO: Asus Strix B250G Gaming SSD 1 Crucial MX 300 275GB - for operating SSD 2 Crucial MX 300 1050GB - for games PSU: Thermaltake smart pro RGB 650W Case: Thermaltake USB3.0 Versa H24 I'll buy a new screen, mouse, keyboard and headset too. Like I said, I have NFI with PCs so thoughts would be appreciated in English xD EDIT: will be purchasing online from a company in Australia if I go ahead, the above is slightly over my budget, but seems worth it. I'm worried that mixing brands could be an issue, but had some advice it's OK to do so as PC will be tested by company building it. | ||
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OsaX Nymloth
Poland3244 Posts
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MizDiana
6 Posts
We really can't advise you without knowing what the company you're buying from offers. I would note that you'd want two RAM sticks, not one. Also, you may find it cheaper to go Intel for your purposes & two SSDs seems to be a waste. Just get the 1TB SSD if you want to simplify operations. Or get a medium-sized one (500gb) for operating system + games and a storage HDD for media/tv/movies if you use your computer for that. The PSU is a little overkill - but again, might be the only good option at the place you're shopping. last: I hope that's a B350 motherboard & just a typo in your list. B250 is an Intel type. B350 is an AMD (Ryzen) type. | ||
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Cyro
United Kingdom20323 Posts
2 RAM sticks and higher RAM frequencies if possible would help performance IIRC the 1600x does not come with a stock cooler and is more expensive than the 1600 which does, that could lead to the 1600 being a much better value buy than both a 1600x and an aftermarket cooler. | ||
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Predator_au
Australia93 Posts
@MizDiana The company is MSY.com.au, then look at the Price List. Heard & read that SSD is the way to go, hence my choice and avoiding HDD all together. Sounds like SSD is smooth. 1TB would be gaming focused, other just operating, but I'm not trying to create anything magical. Can someone explain why I'd need 2 x RAM and higher quality? Would a 16GB single 2400 Crucial suffice? Is 2x4G RAM better? Do I bite the bullet and buy 2x8GB RAM, like the 2133 AMD Ryzen FORTIS/Flare X Black? Any concerns if I leave PSU at 650W, rather than downgrade? Cheers | ||
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Cyro
United Kingdom20323 Posts
Getting faster than 2133mhz RAM increases the memory performance further by itself but is especially impactful for ryzen CPU's because some parts of the CPU performance (inter-core and other communications) are directly tied to memory clock speed. It looks like the supported speed without overclocking anything is 2667mhz so maybe get that as a baseline. Keeping higher capacity PSU is fine, just not cost efficient | ||
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MizDiana
6 Posts
Heard & read that SSD is the way to go, hence my choice and avoiding HDD all together. Sounds like SSD is smooth. 1TB would be gaming focused, other just operating, but I'm not trying to create anything magical. SSDs are uniformly faster, better... and more expensive for the space. You don't need speed if you're watching a movie - which is a big file. There's not really a reason to have a separate OS drive if you're NOT splitting SSD/HDD (that's to make sure the OS is on the fast drive & you can stuff whatever you don't mind accessing slowly on the other drive). 2 sticks of RAM is just faster than one stick of RAM. I'm not sure why, but it's true. 2x8gb sticks are faster than 1x16gb sticks. RAM speed is quite useful on Ryzen because Ryzen uses RAM for the communication between CPU cores. A large-capacity PSU is just money you don't need to waste (also, slightly lower efficiency if small % of the PSU capacity is used). Online recommendations for the uneducated recommend ridiculously large wattage amounts because they assume the reader is going to be suckered into buying a crap-quality PSU that's lying about how much power it can actually deliver. A note on CPUs - part of Ryzen's strength is its overclockability. You won't be doing that. If you had that skill level, you'd probably just be building your own computer. You could learn if you wanted to. Similarly, RAM is often overclocked on Ryzen - but again, technical skill required (mostly knowing how to stability test). I want to emphasize again that I'd stick with Intel if you don't intend to overclock. Here's a couple options, split into cheap & dirty (will fulfill your primary goals well but possibly be not all that great for other purposes - for example, will do SC RM just fine, but be a little slower than other options in Civilization 6); middle ground (should be obvious, though I probably wouldn't pick this one - I tend between just-what-I-need and no-compromises depending on how tight money is - it's a reasonable position though & you don't lose out by never overclocking); and will-be-good-for-years (but be more money than you need to spend for your purposes right now - also will be much better if you decide to learn to overclock). That last name is a misnomer - all of these computers will work for many years - just might show some deficiencies with newer applications/games more quickly. For the most part you can mix & match from the lists - but not CPU/mobo. Note that you could almost certainly save money by building yourself and shopping a variety of aussie retailers - but I'm assuming you don't want to go through the learning process & the company you're buying through just uses that price list. Cheap & Dirty CPU: i3-7100 Mid-Range CPU: i5-7500 Good For Years CPU: Ryzen 1600 Note: Difference in these CPUs is largely the cores. (2 real + 2 virtual, 4 real, 6 real + 6 virtual, respectively). The i3 will have great performance for starcraft - not so much for things like media editing\streaming (moar cores!) or some games (4 or 6 cores have something of a performance boost). CPU Cooler: Needed only for the Good For Years build when you decide to overclock: NH-D15 (Noctua is expensive, but also quiet, very effective, and they have spectacular support over many years of ownership). Cheap & Dirty/Mid-Range Motherboard: ASUS Prime B250M-K Good For Years Mobo: ASUS Prime B350 Plus RAM Cheap & Dirty: 8gb kit (4gbx2) Patriot 2133mhz Mid-Range: 16gb kit (8gbx2) Kingston ValueRAM 2133mhz Good For Years: 16gb kit (8gbx2) G.Skill Fortis 2400mhz (Note: the Good For Years motherboard has space to add two more sticks if you ever feel short on RAM in the future. The other two options do not have this.) GPU: Cheap & Dirty: 4gb 1050ti Galax OC Mid Range: 3gb GTX1060 Gigabyte Windforce OC Good For Years: Sky's the limit on GPU spending (you could easily spend 450 more than the above option on a 1080) - might as well just go with one of the two above and plan for another mid-range upgrade in some years. Note: Even the 1050ti should be overkill for SC remastered, presuming the graphics aren't that much more advanced. Hell, you could probably play it without a GPU. But this is at a good price point & should allow you to play most any other game - on pretty low settings. Storage: Cheap & Dirty: Kingston A400 240gb SSD + WD Blue 1TB HDD Mid Range: SanDisk PLUS 480gb SSD + WD Blue 3TB HDD (you can cut out the HDD if you don't expect to store media like movies) Good For Years: Same as midrange. Though if you want you could blow money on a 1TB SSD. That's money better spent on other things though. Case: Cheap & Dirty/Mid Range: Deepcool USB 3.0 Tesseract SW White Good For Years: Fractal Design R5 (either color) Note: A case is a case - but the Fractal Design will be quieter & easier to build in if you build in it yourself. The Fractal Design is understated & higher quality - probably not worth the money unless you're really noise sensitive. The other case will work, is flashy, with LED fans & a window. Both come with 2 fans. PSU: Cheap & Dirty/Mid Range: Thermaltake TR2 S 80 Plus 450w Good For Years: Corsair RM550x Note: These are going to all be fine PSUs. The Corsair has only the advantage of a fan that stops spinning at low power use & can power even the most hungry single-GPU (read: expensive) options. The Thermaltake is going to be fine for all your realistic options. Tower costs: Cheap & Dirty: $807 Mid Range: $1257 Good For Years: $1540 + $112 for cooling fan. This can, of course, be lowered significantly by changing case, storage, GPU, etc. Keyboard recommendations: The cheapest inexpensive cheapo thing you can find that has all the keys you want. Mouse recommendations: I'm a HUGE fan of the Mionix Naos shape, but that's not an option on that website. Monitor recommendations: Panels - TN panels are the fastest (best for competitive gaming). Flaws: poor viewing angles (doesn't look quite right if not looking at it straight on), relatively poor color reproduction/vibrancy. Many cheap/shoddy monitors are TN, but not all are such. IPS panels: best color reproduction, great viewing angless. Flaws: often have problems with "backlight bleed" and other quality-control issues that make panels not quite uniform in how they look. VA panels: great colors, viewing angles, blacks - but are relatively slow, which can lead to "ghosting" (shadows that aren't supposed to be there following fast-moving objects). There is no flawless panel type. Size: Bigger is better! But if bigger is not accompanied by a higher resolution, pixels get larger & potentially more grainy to sharp eyes. Resolution (pixel count): 1920x1080 is standard, 2560x1440 is much more dense in terms of pixels. 4k is too much for gaming at your budget. There are also ultra-wide variations of the 1080 & 1440 formats. More pixels = more GPU power needed!! (Or setting games to vastly inferior quality settings.) Refresh: How fast the screen can update. Bigger number = faster. 60hz is standard. 120 or 144hz is pretty damn fast. 240hz is ridiculous and pretty pointless. Faster refresh rate = more GPU power needed! (Or setting games to vastly inferior quality settings.) Curved? For large, expensive monitors that only one person will use and then primarily for gaming: yeah, nice. In general competitive gamers look for 1920x1080 TN panels with a high refresh rate & no larger than 24". RPG/immersion gamers look for large panels they can run with their GPU & usually aren't too picky on refresh rate. Professional-office = large resolution/size (or multiple monitors) for more desktop space/multiple versions of Word open or whatever. Professional-media = IPS & high color accuracy most of the time. Generally I recommend spending as much on your monitor as you're going to spend on your GPU. Another way of looking at things is that monitors last for a really long time. If you like your monitor, you could keep it for 10+ years. On the other hand, a decent 24" TN monitor should be pretty cheap. Look up monitor reviews on Youtube or online. And not shit reviews. Reviews where they talk about things like "ghosting", "input lag", grey to grey (GTG) refresh rate - and they mention the monitor flaws. Also - make sure your GPU has the right ports. If your monitor needs Display Port (say a 1440p monitor with 144hz refresh) and your GPU doesn't have a display port out, that kind of sucks. | ||
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Predator_au
Australia93 Posts
Wow thanks! That's a lot to consider, but helps ensure I'm not wasting money on something I don't really need. Explanations make sense and I think I'll change the build up a little, I just need to have a think... Re monitors; I was looking at a 24", 1ms freesync LG. so I'll have to check that will work well with the PC. I was thinking a cheap second screen not for gaming, but alternate stuff like browser, programs, etc. | ||
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MizDiana
6 Posts
FYI, Freesync only works with AMD (480/70, 580.70, Vega 56) graphics cards. G-sync for Nvidia (1050,1060,1070,1080) - g-sync, unlike freesync, usually adds significantly to a monitor's cost. It's not a feature unless you have the right graphics card paired with it (but it doesn't hurt to have and not use it). | ||
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Cyro
United Kingdom20323 Posts
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Predator_au
Australia93 Posts
CPU: Ryzen 5 1600 RAM: 16GB 2x8 G.Skill FORTIS GPU: 6GB GTX 1060 Galax OC MOBO: Asus Prime B350 PLUS SSD Samsung 850 Evo 500GB HDD WD blue 1TB PSU: Corsair 80+ Gold Full Modular RM550X CASE: Deepcool USB3.0 Tesseract BF black Monitor: either.... 24" 1ms Asus VE248HR or 27" 1ms (SPK) AOC E277OSH This would be a good $ range for me. | ||
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andrewlt
United States7702 Posts
Are people still moving and/or uninstalling games regularly that they're not currently playing? I've been playing mostly strategy games and JRPGs so my install sizes have been pretty reasonable. But I recall even games like Civ 6 and Diablo 3 and Street Fighter 5 surprising me with how large their install sizes are. | ||
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Cyro
United Kingdom20323 Posts
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site2017
1 Post
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Ng_Arclite
3 Posts
Looking to maybe get an Asus one this time? LGA1150 and dd3 ram. Asus mainly b.c I used to have one and it was great for years also I like the bios reset buttons. Not a big fan of having to connect pins on the gigabytes. All the new stuff is great but requires ddr4 and I'm just not feeling that money hit right now. 16gb skill is like 100something :/ | ||
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