PC Build Advice/Review Thread

[Mojo]

Um, perhaps I am wrong, but I do believe hyper threading is an OS/hardware feature. Applications do not need to be aware of hyper threading to benefit from it (this should be completely abstracted from them to begin with.) If you're only running one instance of a single threaded application and no other heavy CPU loads exist, then I don't think it would make much of a difference (although in this case, the difference between an i3 and an i5 would likely be small too.) This seems to be the case with most of the benchmarks I see out there. They run a single instance of a game and benchmark the FPS. If you have more CPU bound processes running than physical cores in your machine (multi boxing FFXI) then, depending on how the processes actually utilize your CPU/RAM (something that is not always easy to predict simply being a video game doesn't rule this out), hyper threading may be hugely beneficial or not at all. I don't know nor have I made any attempt to profile the way FFXI utilizes your hardware. A simple way to test this might be to benchmark FFXI multi boxing under these conditions.

[Kalmado]

If you're looking to justify the purchase of an I7 then just do it. None of us care how you spend your money. The fact is, it's not going to help with what you're after. An I5 will be fine. Shit, a Haswell I5 would be fine. Really, Skylake is maybe 10% better and is a decent amount more expensive than Haswell. As I said, I ran three instances on a pre-built HP Pavilion. Model number A6700F with an AMD Phenom X4 9150e 1.8GHz quad core processor. I ran three instances of FFXI just fine. An Intel I5-4690k shits all over that and with a current video card there will be zero issue running 4+ instances of such a graphically weak game such as FFXI. No one needs to run a benchmark. There is nothing more to look into. Do what you want, but we've already answered the question. An I7 isn't needed and hyperthreading isn't going to matter.

[Adajer]

I want to updgrade from 3770k so bad just to build a new pc. But there is nothing to gain from upgrading :/

Really want to do cannonlake but 2017 so far away.

[Gulkeeva]

I want to updgrade from 3770k so bad just to build a new pc. But there is nothing to gain from upgrading :/

Really want to do cannonlake but 2017 so far away.

waiting till 2019 when the CPU is 15% performance over a 4.8ghz 3770K... ;/

[Gryffes]

Let's all hope that zen sticks it to intel, so we get some real performance gains.

[DrClout]

waiting till 2019 when the CPU is 15% performance over a 4.8ghz 3770K... ;/

heh. I just checked and somehow my i7-2600(non K) is still worth about $300 USD. My lil 3.4GHz is still stronk out there lol

I'll upgrade to a 4th gen to stay current soon enough

[Krandor]

Can't think of anywhere else to put this outside of the standard youtube thread, but people need to see this shit.



2x - Xeon 14 Core 28 thread CPU's

7x - R9 Fury nano's

8x - 32GB DDR4 modules

8x - 1TB SSD's

[DrClout]

Half the stuff this guy does is ass backwards but when sponsors throw money at you to do ass backwards shit I mean. . . why the fuck not.

[Kalmado]

Watched it first thing this morning. Only thing I was slightly disappointed with was how he pointed out Kingston, Case Labs, etc but didn't point out the gpus were VisionTek. The reason I say that is because that brand gets a lot of hate which may not (or may) be warranted. I've personally used two VisionTek 7950s and both ran quiet and at pretty darn good temps. The only crappy thing is they didn't overclock for anything.

[Kryssan]

A note about i5 vs i7 and FFXI:

I use i7 4770S chips ( because they cost like 100$ from EPP when I got them ) and occasionally run into stutter problems with a single instance of FFXI. XI may be old but it still likes having power and the S chipset won't give it up. I originally thought it was my 970 hitting the 3.5 memory mark but when I tested it I never ran over a gig of memory on the 970 even with settings maxed out on 1920x1200. The CPU though will hit 100%. My NUC5i5RYH can do a better job depending on settings ( integrated GPU means video memory management can be an issue when you're dialing up settings but I currently have it running as a JP VN machine so FFXI isn't on it atm ).

TLDR: Processor matters but the i3/i5/i7 nomenclature isn't what you should be paying attention to most of the time.

[Tokitoki]

So my PC crapped out a while ago. I was waiting until after the holidays to look into getting something. I think I posted in this thread a month or two ago, but it's not worth find the post I don't think.

I'm not exactly sure what's wrong with my PC; everything starts to boot, but nothing comes on the screen. A red light on my video card blinks 3 times and then the fan on it cuts out for a split second and starts up again.

Rather than try to figure everything out, I think it's better to get a new PC going as this one is going on 7 years old now anyway. I was thinking about using Arkanna's HTPC as a base for a budget gaming rig, adding in a video card and my own HDDs, but got to thinking it's likely better to go with completely new parts.

This is what I came up with within about a $500 budget. Any thoughts or opinions one way or the other?

EDIT: Should probably add what I'd be doing with it.

Mostly some older Steam games, a little bit of FFXIV maybe since my brother started playing it, and general other BS that a PC is used for. I'd prefer to run XIV at High settings minimum, especially considering my 7 year old PC ran it at High (though my budget then was bigger).

I'd also like to get a couple of the newer games such as Rise of the Tomb Raider, Witcher, and maybe some Fallout 4 as long as they would run decently.

[Zumi]

Looking to do a high end skylake build, to replace a old 5 year old core i5 760.

Going with a I7 6700k, samsung 950 pro m.2 ssd, 16gb of ddr4, already have a 970 gtx, case, and power supply

The problem I am having is picking out a motherboard. Narrowed it down to Asus or Gigabyte

motherboard comparison link

Anyone have advice which brand is better? I had other asus products before and they worked but that board is getting a lot of bad reviews.

[Gryffes]

Asus have a shitty returns service, so I'd go with someone else.

[Kalmado]

@Toki
I'd strongly consider Ark's build in the buy/sell thread. It's a damn strong build for the price. Can move the parts to a standard case if you would like. It just needs a gpu. I personally would go with a R9 380 or even a 280 over the 960 because it's so much cheaper for equal or better performance. I'd also not get a Corsair CX psu. Poor quality. Go for a XFX TS 550w when it's on sale for $27 AR at Newegg.

@Zumi
Gryf's right. Asus blows for CS majority of the time. I currently have a gpu in RMA. Seven days and not a word or status change. Gigabyte is ok for motherboards, but they aren't doing BIOS fan controlling anymore and their software for it sucks. I'd look at MSI and Asrock as some alternatives.

[Purrrfect]

Looking to do a high end skylake build, to replace a old 5 year old core i5 760.

Going with a I7 6700k, samsung 950 pro m.2 ssd, 16gb of ddr4, already have a 970 gtx, case, and power supply

The problem I am having is picking out a motherboard. Narrowed it down to Asus or Gigabyte

motherboard comparison link

Anyone have advice which brand is better? I had other asus products before and they worked but that board is getting a lot of bad reviews.

I just received a 6700k and this asrock mb to replace my dead parts. I also have a 970. Hopefully I can get it up running tonight to see how it is, but it is a lot skimpier on things like usb 3.1.

[Adajer]

I have only had one mobo. I went with ASRock. No trouble with it at all besides me breaking some ram lanes in anger

ASRock continually has top or best performance in benchmarks and is generally the cheapest buy.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G870A using Tapatalk

[Cyn]

Anyone know of a gaming laptop that can play games at decent settings (high for older games, medium for powerhouses like Witcher 3), that costs around or under $600-700? Girlfriend is looking to get one and that's her budget, but I know fuck all about laptops as I only desktop.

[Krandor]

Maybe in something used or refurbished, but most new laptops with an acceptable GPU for what you're suggesting are starting in the 900 range. At least in regards to Nvidia GPUs, take whatever the number is and step it down the next model for the desktop equivalent (i.e. a 980M is about the same as a desktop 970). I'm not up on AMD's laptop offerings these days though.

Edit : this site is great for figuring out how well various laptop GPUs will perform. I've recommended it on here before and to friends. Each GPU on the list will have benchmarks linked to it to give you an idea of performance, along with links to laptops that feature said GPU.

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Compari...rds.130.0.html

Around the 960M is the minimum to have Witcher 3 playable on medium

[Senji]

If her budget swung up to 800-900; that lands you into 960M territory. Less than that and games like Witcher 3 will be hurting.

[Cyn]

Yeah, that's what I was afraid of. I know I could build her a budget desktop for a decent price, but it seems unreasonable to expect to get a laptop in that range. Especially after a Christmas where we bought 3 laptops, practically rebuilt her son's PC and I just dropped $2500 or so on my current rig. I want her to have her own gaming option, but I just don't think it's in her current budget. Looks like she might be cashing in her Valentine's and our anniversary.

But either way, she's been looking at $900+ used Alienware laptops, and I've tried to convince her that throwing a bunch of money at laptops that basically charge an extra $100-200 for snazzy LEDs is kind of dumb, so if anyone has any suggestions for a laptop that cuts the frills for pure performance and still costs around $800-900, I'm all ears. I'd like to get her something new or at least refurbished instead of straight up used.