PC Build Advice/Review Thread

[Kanriel]

So, I'm looking at getting some upgrades soon-ish, planned a cyber monday attempt at getting upgrades for my computer, pretty sure I want to focus on SSD #1, then CPU/Mobo next. But wanted to check and see if that's where my priorities should lie. I mostly play 4x games now, Mount and Blade (low specs, I assume...) and Civ V a bunch, which is where my computer has the most issue. I may return to FFXI/FFXIV/WoW at some point, but not sure which one I might go to, so that'd be a secondary focus for such.

Current specs:
Shitty HDD
Radeon HD 6670 2GB 128-bit
Motherboard
AMD FX4100 Quad core 3.6Ghz
G. Skill DDR3 2x 4GB RAM

And it seems I have a generic 480W power supply.

I just saw this and thinking this could be a solid buy for an SSD? That's probably as big as I need.

Nvm on the above SSD, looks like it dies after 6 months for most people...keeping link up in case anyone is up for taking that risk since it's a nice deal.

[Prothescar]

if in the market for a CPU cooler:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-057-_-Product


excellent cooler for ridiculously low price. fits in just about any modern case, usually can do Push+Pull unless it's below mid tower.

[Adajer]

I think the Hyper 212(+) still is the defacto cheap cooler

[Prothescar]

if you weren't paying $45 for the h80i then I would agree with you, but an up to 15 degree difference in peak temperature for $10 seems pretty worth it

[Aerin]

Don't forget cpu cooler.

So now that I've put everything together, I'm wishing I had gotten one. I was thinking I would just use the one that comes with the CPU for the first year or so and wouldn't need to overclock. That's still true, but just the idea of having to take everything apart and put it back together again... bleh.

[Adajer]

first rule of PC building, NEVER use stock cpu cooler.

If your case has a mobo cutout, you can install one painlessly.

[Krandor]

If you're not overclocking the CPU stock coolers are fine.

[Kalmado]

Depending on what I'm using it for, and the cpu, I will use the stock cooler. Specifically, my htpc has a G3220 that I use the stock cooler on. I've also used two Pentium G3258's with one overclocked to 4.0 and the other to 4.3. Perfectly stable and completely acceptable temperatures.

Regarding Aerin's build, I absolutely would have bought at least a Hyper Plus or Hyper Evo. With that much invested an extra $20 after rebate should be nothing. But I'm confused why one would get a cpu and mobo that's so expensive and made for enthusiasts if you aren't overclocking.

[Aerin]

I plan on doing it, just not immediately. And yeah the case does have a cutout so replacing the stock cooler should be easy. :D

[Athas]

Putting together a gaming build as a gift with some Black Friday deals, it'll be the first build I made for someone else, here's what I've put together so far http://pcpartpicker.com/p/X668XL

Around 1k budget, any advice on shaving off a bit price wise or worthwhile upgrades would be appreciated. PSU's a bit higher then it needs to be to allow for a SLI as another gift somewhere down the line.

[Kalmado]

Putting together a gaming build as a gift with some Black Friday deals, it'll be the first build I made for someone else, here's what I've put together so far http://pcpartpicker.com/p/X668XL

Around 1k budget, any advice on shaving off a bit price wise or worthwhile upgrades would be appreciated. PSU's a bit higher then it needs to be to allow for a SLI as another gift somewhere down the line.

Looks pretty good, although I personally would not pay $200 for a 760, especially if you plan to sli down the road. If you're dead set on sticking with Nvidia I would cough up the extra and at least get a 770, but probably a 970. Or you could get a R9 280 for much less and sell the 3 free games to bring the cost down even more.

Below is what I've come up with if you're buying right this minute. Many of these purchases are thru Newegg and making separate purchases with multiple accounts to take advantage of their Visa Checkout promo running right now. You could change to a R9 290 gpu to save another $25 or a R9 280 to save another $100, but both cards are PowerColor.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($184.99)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus 76.8 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($19.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: Asus Maximus VI Hero ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($123.99)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-2133 Memory ($114.99)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($189.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 770 2GB WINDFORCE Video Card ($224.99)
Case: Cooler Master HAF 932 Advanced ATX Full Tower Case ($89.99)
Power Supply: Corsair RM 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Asus BW-12B1ST/BLK/G/AS Blu-Ray/DVD/CD Writer ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $1058.91
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-11-28 00:16 EST-0500

[barcasmith]

I'm thinking of upgrading my rig mainly due to my brother wanting to build a machine, I was hoping to sell him a few things and upgrade mine in the process.
I'm currently running:

- i7 920 @ 2.6GHz - stock (I plan to overclock this to 3.6+)
- GTX 295 - I was hoping to replace this with either a GTX 570 or GTX 580 with the potential to go SLI at some point in the future.
- EVGA X58 SLI Mobo
- Enermax Galaxy 1000W PSU (Overkill?)
- 6GB Corsair Dominator 3 x 2GB

Anyway my question is what is your recommendation for the GPU, is the extra £100+ worth the extra "umph" the 580 gives over the 570?

At the moment I'm only really running FFXIV and a bit of Crysis which the 295 runs happily with most settings on High without AA and if I were to SLI in the future would a PSU upgrade be required?


Would appreciate any advice you can give.
Cheers.

[RKenshin]

Might be building a HTPC.

Don't like tieing up the resources/power/storage of my main PC with the media library, even if minor at times... so I'm thinking of going for a dedicated media PC. It'll mostly just be for handling transcoding (SD and HD), though not likely to ever be more than 1-2 streams at a time, and ideally lower noise/power consumption as well. Might have it setup to do most of my seeding too, while at it.

Did some research and this seems to be a good, typical but perhaps 'higher-end' build:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-4130T 2.9GHz Dual-Core Processor ($126.99 @ Directron)
CPU Cooler: Scythe BIG Shuriken 2 Rev. B 45.5 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($33.07 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: Asus H97M-PLUS Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($101.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($37.96 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($66.99 @ Best Buy)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Green 3TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($99.00 @ B&H)
Case: Silverstone ML03B HTPC Case ($56.10 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: SeaSonic 360W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply ($59.99 @ Amazon)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($18.88 @ OutletPC)
Total: $600.97
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-12-02 09:55 EST-0500


Any thoughts/opinions?

[Kalmado]

Might be building a HTPC.

Don't like tieing up the resources/power/storage of my main PC with the media library, even if minor at times... so I'm thinking of going for a dedicated media PC. It'll mostly just be for handling transcoding (SD and HD), though not likely to ever be more than 1-2 streams at a time, and ideally lower noise/power consumption as well. Might have it setup to do most of my seeding too, while at it.

Did some research and this seems to be a good, typical but perhaps 'higher-end' build:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i3-4130T 2.9GHz Dual-Core Processor ($126.99 @ Directron)
CPU Cooler: Scythe BIG Shuriken 2 Rev. B 45.5 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($33.07 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: Asus H97M-PLUS Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($101.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($37.96 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($66.99 @ Best Buy)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Green 3TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive ($99.00 @ B&H)
Case: Silverstone ML03B HTPC Case ($56.10 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: SeaSonic 360W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply ($59.99 @ Amazon)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($18.88 @ OutletPC)
Total: $600.97
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-12-02 09:55 EST-0500


Any thoughts/opinions?

If it was me, I would use a G3258 and a budget board to save around $150 or so. You can easily overclock the G3258 on the stock cooler. I have that exact same case for my htpc and I used a Corsair CX430 psu. What a pain! I would get a modular. Particularly a Corsair CSM 450 80+ Gold can be found (right now) for $30 after rebate. As of right now as well, G.Skill Ripjaw 1866 is about $2 more so I'd grab that. Maybe add a dedicated cheap gpu like an AMD 6450 or something, or even buy something a little fancier for a little more money.

[RKenshin]

Thanks for the advice, appreciate it! Good find on the power supply and memory.

[Provolone]

So I'm a complete layman/caveman when it comes to PCs. I'm looking to buy a laptop with relatively low specs. I'm on newegg and trying to find what I want, and failing. Are there any other sites I should check? Also, whenever I get more financially settled (in a few months or so), I plan on trying to build a desktop for the first time and I was looking for a little guidance. I've perused this thread, but besides learning a little about processors/HDD/SSDs I don't know much else. Thanks in advance.

[Tea L'euphorie]

So I'm a complete layman/caveman when it comes to PCs. I'm looking to buy a laptop with relatively low specs. I'm on newegg and trying to find what I want, and failing. Are there any other sites I should check? Also, whenever I get more financially settled (in a few months or so), I plan on trying to build a desktop for the first time and I was looking for a little guidance. I've perused this thread, but besides learning a little about processors/HDD/SSDs I don't know much else. Thanks in advance.

Try xoticpc.com, you can buy a custom laptop allowing you to pick and choose what you want, including low spec stuff

[Athas]

You can't just buy a windows key anymore can you, need to pay for a CD with a key? I could have sworn the key I had had another use on it but I guess not and I need a new key on the cheap.

[Kalmado]

You can't just buy a windows key anymore can you, need to pay for a CD with a key? I could have sworn the key I had had another use on it but I guess not and I need a new key on the cheap.

This is my go to site: http://www.sidemicro.com/microsoft-w...-sp1-download/

[Kalmado]

I'm thinking of doing a new build so I'll need to sell my current. Below is my parts list using current prices including mail in rebates. I'm not sure how much I should try to sell it for. Suggestions?

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($169.99 @ Micro Center)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H60 54.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($60.35 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Asus P8Z77-V LK ATX LGA1155 Motherboard
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LP 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($80.98 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate 600 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($140.98 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 3TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($109.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 770 2GB TWIN FROZR Video Card ($299.98 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Thermaltake VO900M6N2N ATX Mid Tower Case ($173.10 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: XFX XTR 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($91.18 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($16.98 @ OutletPC)
Sound Card: Diamond XtremeSound XS51 16-bit 48 KHz Sound Card ($14.99 @ Micro Center)
Case Fan: Cougar CF-D12HB-B 64.4 CFM 120mm Fan ($14.95 @ OutletPC)
Case Fan: Cougar CF-D12HB-B 64.4 CFM 120mm Fan ($14.95 @ OutletPC)
Total: $1188.42
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-12-14 14:36 EST-0500