PC Build Advice/Review Thread

**Totien** · 2013-11-20 11:32

How do you feel about AMD processors? I was never really a fan, but I hadn't had any experience with them since I was like ten, but I got a Vishera 8350 8 core and it runs like a dream. I have a GTX 760 OC which let's me run two cromecasts, arkham origins, and blurays all at the same time.

I'll post the build later today. Altogether I spent about $1100 but I only put 8GB of RAM to save some money. I wanted to stick to a $1000 budget.

**Purrrfect** · 2013-11-21 18:46

I haven't kept up with stuff and my brother is looking at starting to upgrade his pc so he was asking me. I was thinking he should probably start off with a mb and a cheap cpu for it that he can upgrade later sometime. What chipset/socket is going to be good for use in the future? It kinda looks like z87 is the way to go if h87 prevents any overclocking? I'm not really sure if he will though.

**Jojimbo** · 2013-11-21 19:07

LGA 1150 will have broadwell chips in next year and then be done (and even then they will use z90 chipsets), so unless you are going i3 > i5/i7 as an upgrade it isn't worth considering what you can replace it with (and cheap and OCing don't mix very well). AMD are better with upgrability but I have no idea what their plans are, iirc a recent timeline shows they have no intent on replacing FX line during 2014 at all.

**Melena** · 2013-11-21 19:51

I had AMD before, was good at the time. Just reviews I see seem to favor Intel more. Plus i'm not an ATI guy at all so there's that.

**Nyaanyaa_Midgardsormr** · 2013-11-23 06:09

Hello guys,

I've been looking for a capable notebook that can run FFXIV for a few days now. The absolute maximum I can afford to pay is €600, and I'd rather stay somewhat below that. The best deal I have found is this one for €458.99. Would it all be able to run FFXIV, and if so, how well?

Specifications are as follows:
CPU: AMD Quad-Core A6-5200 APU (2GHz, 2MB Cache)
Memory: 4GB DDR3L
Storage: 750 GB 5400rpm SATA
Video Card: AMD Radeon HD 8400G/8670M Dual GPU (1 GB DDR3 dedicated)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8 (64-bit)

Thanks a lot for the help,
Nyaanyaa

**Jojimbo** · 2013-11-23 07:13

A bit below min. required specs for ARR, hard to say but it won't be running it well. Does it have to be a laptop? Nothing below €600 is going to be good for anything but light gaming.

**Nyaanyaa_Midgardsormr** · 2013-11-23 08:42

Ah.. thanks for your reply Jojimbo. I was hoping it would run well on lowest settings at least on that one.

A laptop would certainly be more convenient, but if FFXIV is out of the question for anything below €600, I can settle for a desktop. I have no experience building one from scratch, so any and all advice is appreciated. I have a maximum budget of €600 although I'd prefer to stay at or below €550. That needs to cover computer, monitor, win7, and mouse+US keyboard (I can't stand the german layout here). I don't need any speakers.

Here is what I came up with so far using pcpartpicker, but I'm sure there's more efficient setups (and I ended up a bit above my soft cap). Could you take a look, please, and make some suggestions?

Spoiler: show

Thanks,
Nyaanya

EDIT: I've just noticed that price for the HDD is false. Pixmania doesn't offer one for that price, the link leads to some notebook station.

**Jojimbo** · 2013-11-23 09:03

Don't need a third party CPU cooler or soundcard, especially not at this budget. That case is actually just the door and the HDD is a cooling stand, you don't *have* to use an optical drive either. Unfortunately ppp.com seems to suck for Germany, it's missing a lot of stuff that's listed on amazon etc even though it has those sites and a lot of things are incorrect.

Spoiler: show

Seems to be the best in your price range that is listed on ppp.com, unless you can "find" the OS for less. However if you do go this route I should warn you that the next gen APUs are planned for release early 2014 (hopefully January) and will be a different socket.

**Nyaanyaa_Midgardsormr** · 2013-11-23 10:31

Thanks, Jojimbo, you're a great help.

I was able to cut down on the cost while at the same time adding an optical drive (how would I install the OS without one? (serious question)), mouse+keyboard, and actually replace win7 home with ultimate. What do you think? Any ideas how I can cut the cost even further, preferably down to €550, without decreasing performance too much?

Spoiler: show

EDIT: Changed the optical drive because the one before wouldn't come with any cables or anything at all.
EDIT2: .....that optical drive doesn't come with a cable either.

**Jojimbo** · 2013-11-23 12:58

SATA cables come with the MB, you can install OS via USB (although you need another PC to either DL the .iso or burn the DVD)

**Nyaanyaa_Midgardsormr** · 2013-11-23 13:18

Ah, great. So I can just get the Samsung drive then (http://de.pcpartpicker.com/part/sams...ve-sh222bbbebe). The only USB-Stick I have is 1GB; that's too small for the OS to my knowledge, so I would need the optical drive (and eventually need it anyway for all my music CD's). Any other ideas where I can cut the cost a bit?

EDIT: Saved another €5 on the mouse, got one from my parents that I can use. Case, HDD, and OS has been ordered now.

**Nyaanyaa_Midgardsormr** · 2013-11-24 05:03

That's the setup I've decided on now with actual prices (incl. shipping). I'll order the monitor some time next week; I can use my parents' old one until it arrives. Thanks a lot for your help, Jojimbo.
I've got screw drivers and such, is there anything else I need to build the computer? What do I need to look out for and such to not damage anything?

Spoiler: show

**Jojimbo** · 2013-11-24 06:38

/r/buildapc has some guides in the sidebar but it's pretty straight forward, you should only really need a screwdriver and a pair of hands. Static damage is probably the worst thing that could happen, you can get anti-static/grounding plugs and wrist bands if you are really worried though.

**Kobus** · 2013-11-24 22:55

So my processor/RAM/mobo are all coming up on 6 years old. They still get me Windows Experience scores of 7.1 while graphics/hdd get me like 5.6-5.9.

Should I update the processor/RAM/mobo or just graphics/hdd?

**Jojimbo** · 2013-11-24 23:14

Windows Experience is pretty useless, the actual components, what you use them for and your budget/country would help.

**Kobus** · 2013-11-24 23:32

Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.4GHz
6GB PC 6400 Corsair RAM DDR2 @800MHz
XFX nForce 680i LT SLI Motherboard
ATI Radeon HD 4650
WD Black 320GB 7200 HDD
Cooler Master Centurion 5 - Blue ATX Mid-Tower Case
Corsair GS600 Power Supply
(planning on keeping the case/power supply for next build)

I mainly play WoW but have played FFXiV a bit during the Beta and am thinking about picking it up after Christmas. Some picture/video editing but nothing major.

I have a $700 gift card for Newegg but can spend another $700. State: Alabama Country: USA.

**Jojimbo** · 2013-11-25 00:08

GPU could do with updating, and you could get an SSD + larger HDD as well if need be. Do you want to be able to OC?

Spoiler: show

Fits within the $700 gift card, you just get the GPU if you want to spend less but you might be bottlenecked by the Q6600 in certain games. If you want to eat up the last of the gift card then you could get a 1TB HDD or 250GB SSD, WD Caviar Blacks are pretty high end (there are cheaper options, but only $20 cheaper if you buy them from newegg), alternatively you could get a Z87 MB that allows for CFX/SLI or even a 4670k (+ Z87 + Cooler) for OCing.

If you want to spend the entire $1400 then that opens up a lot of other possibilities though, however I can't help but feel it'll be a tad overkill for WoW (maybe not FFXIV though)

**Nyaanyaa_Midgardsormr** · 2013-11-25 11:26

Originally Posted by Jojimbo

/r/buildapc has some guides in the sidebar but it's pretty straight forward, you should only really need a screwdriver and a pair of hands. Static damage is probably the worst thing that could happen, you can get anti-static/grounding plugs and wrist bands if you are really worried though.

Thank you, Jojimbo. :) I'll get one of these wrist bands then since they're so cheap. My parents will add €100 as a christmas gift, so I'll get this shiny monitor instead of the one I had chosen before:
http://www.amazon.de/Acer-G246HLBbid...5387906&sr=1-1

comparison (acer on the left):
Screen size: 24" vs 21.5"
Ports: VGA, DVI, HDMI vs VGA, DVI-D
Contrast: 100M:1 vs 12M:1
Reaction time: 2ms vs 5ms
Power usage: 20W vs 24W
Price €149 vs €99

Sweet upgrade me thinks. :)

EDIT: My next question: Would this DVI cable be the right fit for my build? http://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B008...=1&s=computers

**shukudai** · 2013-11-25 15:41

I have a similar question: Laptop for XIV.

Price Range: 900$ - 1200$ CDN. Depending on quality.

Wondering if it's worth doing this during Black Friday / Cyber Monday.

I'm somewhat confused in terms of the numbering on the nVidia graphics cards. I'm either crazy or the higher the number, not neccesarily the better the card is. I'm sure there are other things to take into consideration, so I'll let you crazy people make the suggestions.

Generally, something that can get a 7000-9000 on the bench, I would guess. All advice welcomed :D

**Jojimbo** · 2013-11-25 15:42

Yeah that cable should be fine, can't find any reviews on that monitor though and you could also consider This Asus, has DVI cable included and is got good reviews although the main complaint is the stand is a bit wobbly.

EDIT:: @shukudai: First number is generation, this has little bearing on actual performance and is pretty much when the GPU was released (higher the number the more recently it was released, current gen is 700) although the overall performance increases with each generation, second number is the more important one and determines if the GPU is high end or not. Using desktop GPUs as an example a GTX 780 is high end and faster than a GTX 680 (last gens high end GPU) while a GTX 760 is midrange and slower than a GTX 680 and more on par with a GTX 670, a GT 620 would be on the low end and would be slower than a midrange card from several generations ago.

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