PC Build Advice/Review Thread

[Arkanna]

$1800-2500 range without needing a kb, monitors, mouse, etc. I have plenty of those (thanks to buying shitty Razer products and replacing them).

At that price point, I would stay out of the extreme territory. I would stick with a Core i5/i7 "K" on an Intel Z97, a good air cooler for some overclocking (or a self-contained loop water cooler if you're feeling frisky), 16+ GB of memory, a 500GB or larger SSD for OS/installations and a hard drive of some kind for bulk storage. I'd go with a single nVidia 980/980Ti. That all should bring you pretty close to $1800.

For the above specs, a 750w or so PSU is enough.

16+ GB of memory is overkill, but your budget for a "2nd machine" is pretty huge so fuck it.

2015 is going to be a big year for SSD technology, so standard SATA3 SSD's are getting really cheap right now. M.2 and NVMe will be emerging this year but SATA3 SSD's are still plenty fast and for the price, can be huge bargains.

If you wanted to spend more and go pretty extreme, you could consider one of the LGA2011 6- or 8-core Intel CPU's along with DDR4 memory and/or SLI/Crossfire, but this is a 2nd machine so. If you went that route, you'd probably want closer to a 1kw PSU instead.

[Kalmado]

I've never looked at spending such an amount without including peripherals so I'm not sure just how good this would be, but here is my attempt. I7 unlocked, 16gb high speed CAS 9 ram, plenty of storage for secondary pc, powerful enough psu for future upgrades, 980 (which will probably continue to drop in price), and a great case. Only other thing needed would be case fans which I wouldn't know what to put since I'm not familiar with Noctua. Probably another $30-$50 for them.


PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($279.99 @ Micro Center)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D15 82.5 CFM CPU Cooler ($89.99 @ Mwave)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97X-GAMING 7 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($138.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory: G.Skill Trident X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-2133 Memory ($124.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($177.89 @ OutletPC)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 3TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($88.41 @ Amazon)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 980 4GB FTW ACX 2.0 Video Card ($509.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Fractal Design Define R5 w/Window (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair 850W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($133.00 @ Newegg)
Total: $1643.24
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-06-12 15:05 EDT-0400

[Weltall]

Thanks for the posts.

I shoudl have mentioned, I want to make sure I can get 4k monitors in the future. Will these level of builds support that?

[Kalmado]

With that in mind I'd consider going with a 980ti or Titan X. If you live by a Micro Center and feel comfortable with trying to barter, you may be able to get a Titan X for cheap if they have an open box. Guy from [H]ard got one for $675+tax. If I was going 4k I wouldn't want anything less than 6gb vram.

[Fairy-Killer]

As a 4k user, you will not get good (good being 30+ FPS) performance at 4k unless you're sporting a Titan X or 980ti. Even with either of those cards, you will not hit 60 FPS at max settings.

[Arkanna]

Thanks for the posts.

I shoudl have mentioned, I want to make sure I can get 4k monitors in the future. Will these level of builds support that?

You'll probably want to go SLI/Crossfire in that case. A 980Ti or a Titan X would be the baseline.

[Adajer]

980ti might end up passing the Titan X in future driver optimizations.

[warc]

Just pre-ordered a 980ti OC (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814125787)

Currently using a 550w psu (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817207013)

Recommended psu is 600w, but thats a conservative estimate. Will 550w get me by? or time to upgrade that as well? Thanks

System Specs:

Spoiler: show

[synistar]

Using power supply calculators and without adding aftermarket cooling systems & additional PCI peripherals, you're at about ~450-475 watts of power draw with a GTX 980ti. Not sure how much wiggle room you want though. I just did the dirty work by plugging stuff in.

[warc]

Ah yeah, I was looking at an outdated site and it didn't have the requirements for the ti so I guesstimated with the titan x and 980 and was getting a huge discrepancy (350w -650w) so I wasn't sure. Thanks for the tip!

[Greatguardian]

I'd say yes replace it with something else unless you got that psu for under $40. I'm not a fan of Corsair's CX (builder) for anything other than basic computing pcs. Assuming you paid $60 (if not more) I'd look into a XFX, EVGA, or Antec. As an example, This EVGA SuperNOVA G1 750w 80+ Gold Fully Modular is $69.99 after rebate. Rebate ends 06/13/15. In my opinion it's a much better value than that Corsair and also comes with a 10 year warranty.

Going to check this out. Thanks!

[synistar]

Ah yeah, I was looking at an outdated site and it didn't have the requirements for the ti so I guesstimated with the titan x and 980 and was getting a huge discrepancy (350w -650w) so I wasn't sure. Thanks for the tip!

The GTX Titan X has the same power draw (250w) as the 980ti. So no need to guesstimate there. I used the 980 in the original estimate then added about 100w of draw, but the Titan X will get you an accurate number in a calculator.

[Indalecia]

So decided to upgrade my system, was hashing it out with some friends.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/G6xgcf

Any thoughts on this? OS, tower, peripherals are fine/up to stat atm, trying to get a second opinion.

[Kalmado]

So decided to upgrade my system, was hashing it out with some friends.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/G6xgcf

Any thoughts on this? OS, tower, peripherals are fine/up to stat atm, trying to get a second opinion.

Looks great to me. Only thing I'd nitpick is price, but I"m assuming your link is only to show the parts and not what you're planning on paying. Parts wise, solid.

[Xno Kappa]

Laptop question, help me out BG!

Plan on a buying a new laptop that has an Nvidia GeForce GTX 3GB GGDR5, Intel core i7 4710HQ(2.50Ghz), 8GB memory 1TB HDD.

This sound like a decent gaming laptop? I know the optimal thing to do is to build a desktop one, but I'm always on the road so I kinda want something mobile.

[Krandor]

Need more specific information on the GPU, specifically what model it is. I.E. 965, 970, 980, etc. Anything less then a 970 honestly isn't very good.

Everything else in a computer these days is very secondary to the GPU in terms of gaming performance.

[Xno Kappa]

It says it's a 970M.

EDIT: Nvidia GeForce GTX 970M

[Melena]

Laptop question, help me out BG!

Plan on a buying a new laptop that has an Nvidia GeForce GTX 3GB GGDR5, Intel core i7 4710HQ(2.50Ghz), 8GB memory 1TB HDD.

This sound like a decent gaming laptop? I know the optimal thing to do is to build a desktop one, but I'm always on the road so I kinda want something mobile.

What are you looking at price wise? Also is weight a factor? I bought the wife an Asus RoG laptop with an Nvidia chipset (whatever that came out last summer, I want to say 960m), 12 or 16gb ram, 1tb drive and a 128gb SSD for the OS for about 1800. May be something to look into. Her's is a 17" screen, weighs about 10 pounds.

[Indalecia]

I"m assuming your link is only to show the parts and not what you're planning on paying.

Correct, I'm in no "must build naow!" rush, so I can shop around. Just making sure everything lines up.

4k monitor will be later on

[Kalmado]

Correct, I'm in no "must build naow!" rush, so I can shop around. Just making sure everything lines up.

4k monitor will be later on

With that being the case, and since you're in no hurry for purchasing, I'd look heavily into a 850w+ psu for future upgrades. Depends what the budget is for the psu and you're must haves when it comes to it, but you can easily get a quality semi (if not fully) modular 850w+ for under $100 after rebates/coupons.