PC Build Advice/Review Thread

[shaddix]

I thought there were specialized cards for that stuff

[Boyiee]

There is almost zero reason to get a 680 over a 670 FTW at this point with the exception of the msi lightning 680.

The 670FTW gets something like 95-97% of the performance of a 680 in games for 100$ less and reaches almost identical clocks.

[Treble]

There are, but they're considerably more expensive, and the inverse is true for their capabilities -- quadro (Nvidia's professional card) are poor for gaming, but its substantially more stable for Maya, Mudbox, 3DSmax, etc. I was hoping to find something good enough to do both reasonably well, but I'm not sure that middle ground exists for under $700. I think the closest a consumer card would get these days is the radeon HD 6990 which is around $1000. The 7970 is a step down for graphics but has better driver support for 3D work (as far as I can tell, I don't know myself).
I might be worrying over nothing though. A lot of topics I've read suggest that problems arise for the 680 in Maya when poly count reaches the several millions, which isn't necessarily high for full production work but may be more than I'd do at home especially if I don't plan to render yet. I figured it was a long shot, but couldn't hurt to see if anyone on here knew Maya better than I did. I'm still relatively new to it and part of building this rig is to be able to build my modeling skills/portfolio work on my own time.

Edit: I saw the 670 FTW and was considering it but I didn't want to skimp if the 670 wasn't good enough for 3D work. 3D and gaming put stress on different parts of the card as far as I can tell, so what's good for one isn't necessarily good for the other. If I'm wrong, correct me, as I'm learning all this stuff as I go and internet knowledge can be questionable at best.
Either way, I already have the 680, the question I had was whether I should refund in light of the possibility it might not work well with Maya.

[Omnipotent]

I was looking for the best possible upgrade for my computer where I will see the best performance increase for things like... Triple boxing FFXI.... and running 6+ Poker games @ once with FFXI etc... right now I experience no real issue, but I have giftcards to newegg, so why not. Looking for no more than 150$ in upgrades

Current things:

EVGA 141-BL-E757-TR LGA 1366 Intel X58 ATX X58 SLI LE Intel Motherboard

tel Core i7-920 Bloomfield 2.66GHz LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Processor BX80601920 (120MM Zalman Cooler ontop with Thermal Paste)

Western Digital Caviar Blue WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

OCZ Gold 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Low Voltage Desktop Memory Model OCZ3G1600LV6GK

XFX HD-577A-ZNFC Radeon HD 5770 (Juniper XT) 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support ...


Those are the main things I have, I currently have 2 23.6 monitors going, and I do alot of computer use.

[oblit]

@Omnipotent, you only need to upgrade the video card and maybe a power supply. Unless you already have at least 650 watts 80+ certified.

I would recommend GTX 560 Ti/GTX 570 or HD 6950 2GB for $150 price range.

[Omnipotent]

@Omnipotent, you only need to upgrade the video card and maybe a power supply. Unless you already have at least 650 watts 80+ certified.

I would recommend GTX 560 Ti/GTX 570 or HD 6950 2GB for $150 price range.

This is my PSU
Rosewill Xtreme Series RX850-S-B 850W Continuous @40°C ,80 PLUS Certified, ATX12V v2.2 & EPS12V v2.91, SLI Ready ...

I'll start looking around for that GPU, would you recommend getting a used one? Or would new be a better route. Also I have an antec 900 case, the space in my computer is good to go. Also... looking at Newegg... is there a brand I should stick with like EVGA....MSI?

[oblit]

PSU should be good enough, I would only worry about the amp rating when going up to GTX 580 or higher.

For 500 and 6000 Series I prefer Asus DCII and Twin Frozr III coolers, but if you are going to watercooling I would go for EVGA.

[Fairy-Killer]

I can attest to the beast cooling on the Asus DCII. My 7970 never gets above 65C fully loaded for hours with an overclock. However, doing something like XI wouldn't really require a custom cooling solution. But yeah basically what oblit said.

Also, always new. No telling what kind of hell a used card has been through. Especially at the $150 range.

[oblit]

Also, always new. No telling what kind of hell a used card has been through. Especially at the $150 range.

^This, a lot of people out there claim that they are pro when it comes to overclocking, but a lot don't know what they are doing. About 6 months ago someone asked me why his Asus GTX 580 Matrix was running at 98c on furmark while mine was only running 58c. I asked him if he bumped the voltages he said no, he left it in stock and didn't touch any voltage settings. And that was the problem, Matrix voltage default settings is on auto, meaning it will dynamically increase the voltage depending on load. So he was cooking the GPU for no reason at all lol.

[Asilius]

Yea auto settings are shit for the most part

[Kailee]

Speaking of overclocking, I was wanting to get into it/learn about it. Are there any good guides on overclocking?

[oblit]

Speaking of overclocking, I was wanting to get into it/learn about it. Are there any good guides on overclocking?

It really depends on what kind of platform you have.

[zeal5050]

Hey guys.

First PC build, any suggestions or substitutions would be greatly appreciated. Prices are in Canadian funds. Unfortunatly, I am limited to Tigerdirect.ca as my only retailer. Budget is flexible. Will be using it for extensive audio/video editing, web development, and gaming, including but not limited to Guildwars2.

[oblit]

gah lee! That's a lot of money for the hardware. Did you try NCIX.com or memoryexpress.com? Or even newegg.ca? I consider those better Canadian online retails than TD.ca. The same PSU is 50 bucks less on ncix lol.

Good choice of hardware though, the only thing I can't figure out is the price of the monitors. For that much money you might as well get an IPS monitor. High quality 24" LEDs should cost around $135-$185 USD brand new.

[zeal5050]

Yeah, the prices are a bit ridiculous. This computer is being purchased through work, and we have a company account at Tigerdirect. Stuck with them unfortunately. Is having an IPS monitor a big difference in quality? I have yet to see one in person.

[Caiyuo]

500 a piece is seriously stretching it even for a 24" IPS monitor, no clue why that's so high.

[oblit]

Yeah, the prices are a bit ridiculous. This computer is being purchased through work, and we have a company account at Tigerdirect. Stuck with them unfortunately. Is having an IPS monitor a big difference in quality? I have yet to see one in person.

I'm sure you have seen the display used in Iphone 4 or 4S. The display uses IPS technology. But the IPS monitor I was using before looks a lot better than Iphone 4 displays.

IPS panel looks soooo much better than TN panel. The only gripe from other people is the slower response time on the IPS. Which is undetectable by human eyes... I hooked up 3 monitors in my system and one of them was an IPS display. I cloned all the displays so all monitors will display the same image. Me and my friend watch it for a couple of hours and we didn't see or notice any different in response time when gaming. When I could easily detect the frame drop from 120 to 110 fps or 60 to 55 fps.

I made the IPS my secondary monitor though when I started using 3D monitor for Nvidia 3D vision. I don't like any other 3Ds but Nvidia 3D vision blew me away. I'm never going back to flat gaming lol. I'm hoping that one day they would make a 3D IPS panel monitor. But for now I can't have both, it was a tough choice for me.

[oblit]

500 a piece is seriously stretching it even for a 24" IPS monitor, no clue why that's so high.

Edit: I looked it up and it's actually a 27" monitor but still too expensive. 27" LED would cost around 230-275 USD a piece.

[Kailee]

It really depends on what kind of platform you have.

i5-3570k/gigabyte z77/corsair xms3 8 gb/evga gtx 670 ftw

[Kohan]

Yeah, the prices are a bit ridiculous. This computer is being purchased through work, and we have a company account at Tigerdirect. Stuck with them unfortunately.

Why are you stuck with them? Are you not in a position where you can present a proposal explaining why it would be more beneficial to use another retailer? If you're not, then it's understandable, and it is their money, not yours. If you have a more significant presence in the company and can suggest an alternative, however, you should.

I assume that they have a business account because they do not have an IT/compatibility department, and therefore do not have a tech or otherwise trusted individual to purchase and assemble hardware for them. Is this the case?

All of this may be irrelevant, as you may be in a time crunch or otherwise without wiggle room, but if it's something that can make your company's spending more efficient, there's no reason not to try—especially if it makes you look good.