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Thinking a/b building a gaming desktop.  "One part at a time."

#1

Every month or two; maybe even 3. I buy one PC part to build a gaming desktop. Since gaming laptops suck nowadays (thanks to Windows 8.1). Here's the parts I got so far below.

> G.SKILL Sniper 2x8 16GB RAM: http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820231661 - I got it for $99 while it's on a shell shocker!

> Zalman Z11 PC case: http://www.newegg.co...5-033-_-Product - Thx for the recommendation Viper!

Here's what I'm planning to get below.

> Windows 7 Pro

> An i7-4790K or wait for the Broadwell equivalent in Q2 2015

> Crucial MX100 512GB SSD

> ASUS PRO-GAMER LGA 1150 Intel Z97 Motherboard: http://www.newegg.co...N82E16813132412

> An NVidia 970. Don't know which brand or type yet. Gonna use it for Polymer just in case.

> A 700-watt or so PSU. Don't know which brand to get yet.

> You guys can recommend me a gaming mouse and keyboard that can light up in the dark?

I may or may not build a gaming desktop. I'll see what the future brings. Got any suggestions or recommendations? They're welcome.

This post has been edited by DustFalcon85: 05 March 2015 - 01:18 PM

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User is offline   blizzart 

#2

View PostDustFalcon85, on 05 March 2015 - 12:08 PM, said:

Every month or two; maybe even 3. I buy one PC part to build a gaming desktop. Since gaming laptops suck nowadays (thanks to Windows 8.1). Here's the parts I got so far below.

> G.SKILL Sniper 2x8 16GB RAM: http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820231661 - I got it for $99 while it's on a shell shocker!

> Zalman Z11 PC case: http://www.newegg.co...5-033-_-Product - Thx for the recommendation Viper!

Here's what I'm planning to get below.

> Windows 7 Pro

> An i7-4790K or wait for the Broadwell equivalent in Q2 2015

> Crucial MX100 512GB SSD

> ASUS PRO-GAMER LGA 1150 Intel Z97 Motherboard: http://www.newegg.co...N82E16813132412

> An NVidia 970. Don't know which brand or type yet. Gonna use it for Polymer just in case.

> A 700-watt or so PSU. Don't know which brand to get yet.

> You guys can recommend me a gaming mouse and keyboard that can light up in the dark?

I may or may not build a gaming desktop. I'll see what the future brings. Got any suggestions or recommendations? They're welcome.


Save the money and take a good i5. Should be good enough for gaming.
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User is offline   Inspector Lagomorf 

  • Glory To Motherland!

#3

Seems like you've covered most of the bases. There's nothing I can suggest other than maybe switching out the Crucial SSD for a Samsung 850 EVO, and going with Logitech or Razer for your gaming keyboard/mouse set.
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User is offline   Person of Color 

  • Senior Unpaid Intern at Viceland

#4

The 970 is seriously crippled, look into it. I'll post more later when it's not 2AM.
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#5

View PostComrade Major, on 05 March 2015 - 02:15 PM, said:

Seems like you've covered most of the bases. There's nothing I can suggest other than maybe switching out the Crucial SSD for a Samsung 850 EVO, and going with Logitech or Razer for your gaming keyboard/mouse set.


I tried out the Samsung EVO w/ the software controller and it was screwing up DOSBox w/ the controller still active. Crucial SSDs doesn't have software control and DOSBox ran fine.

View PostPerson of Color, on 05 March 2015 - 10:37 PM, said:

The 970 is seriously crippled, look into it. I'll post more later when it's not 2AM.


*Still waiting for additional details*
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#6

As far as I know, the old 770 is cheaper and about as powerful in the real world... Probably so nVidia can sell you a 9X0 Ti later.

Same memory type, nearly the same bandwidth, different clock.
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User is offline   Person of Color 

  • Senior Unpaid Intern at Viceland

#7

The 970 has a fucked up memory bus structure. It's really a 3.5GB card, the final 512MB is riding on a 40-bit bus. Using more than 3.5GB VRAM causes incredible microstuttering and slowdown. That's the cliffs notes version.

Also I love how Nvidia's CEO comes out lying about how they covered it up:

http://www.pcworld.c...pec-fiasco.html

Polymer needs Radeon support. Nvidia is going down the tubes.

This post has been edited by Person of Color: 08 March 2015 - 11:03 AM

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User is offline   Person of Color 

  • Senior Unpaid Intern at Viceland

#8

Also, I'd change the following:

-Avoid the i7 like the plague, I've never specced a system with one and I likely never will. Get an i5. Put that money towards a better SSD, like a Samsung 840 EVO.
-Spend $30 on a Hyper212 EVO CPU cooler. The stock Intel coolers are crap and vomit hot air into your case. Also you can dabble in overclocking with one. I say "dabble" because the Haswell chips don't overclock well, not even the Diablo Canyon ones.
-As far as power supplies go, I recommend EVGA these days. They're inexpensive and don't sacrifice quality and their warranty is superior. I use them in everything. The NEX750B and it's higher end gold version are my go to units, with the 600B going in systems with a tighter budget.
- Get the Z11 Plus instead of the Z11. However, both of these have been discontinued for the Z11 Neo. The Neo has yet to be released stateside.

http://www.tomshardw...case,28405.html

Also, keep in mind that Windows 10 is being released this year. It makes more sense to buy a Windows 7 license now. This way, you can get the free Windows 10 for free and dual boot in case of compatibility issues. Windows 10 is adding DirectX 12 so many gamers, myself included, are going to upgrade.

Windows 7 is turning into a shitshow. They're putting it out to pasture. I repair systems everyday...the OS is a patchwork mess at this point. I have to burn my own discs with the updates slipstreamed into them because they refuse to create service pack 2. Those discs cut hours off of the bench time required.

This post has been edited by Person of Color: 08 March 2015 - 12:48 PM

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#9

970 does consume less power if you're into it.

Nevertheless, between 970 and 770 it's a no brainer, since the 770 costs almost the same and is inferior.

This Nvidia thing sounds like when sellers stick a big "4GB RAM" on the product and then a tiny message in the corner of the box stating the truth. That's false advertising. Still, it's a vast upgrade over my earlier HD6970, WAY less noisy during load, WAY more economical, and despite Nvidia's antics their driver support is better. 3rd party support is better, too (RadeonPro is indefinitely on hold).

On the CPU front, I heard the Broadwell chips are gonna be quite superior to the Haswells, so it may be better to wait.

This post has been edited by Duke of Hazzard: 08 March 2015 - 09:35 PM

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#10

View PostPerson of Color, on 08 March 2015 - 11:02 AM, said:

Polymer needs Radeon support. Nvidia is going down the tubes.


Why Plagman? WHY!?

View PostPerson of Color, on 08 March 2015 - 11:09 AM, said:

Also, I'd change the following:

-Avoid the i7 like the plague, I've never specced a system with one and I likely never will. Get an i5. Put that money towards a better SSD, like a Samsung 840 EVO.
- Get the Z11 Plus instead of the Z11. However, both of these have been discontinued for the Z11 Neo. The Neo has yet to be released stateside.


How come the i7 sucks IYO? Does it cause problems w/ other programs, too pricey or what? Also you used to like Crucial SSDs Viper, do you? Also I just ordered the Z11Plus and put the non-plus one for sale on Amazon. Should've put a NewEgg link to the Z11Plus instead of the Z11 on the Zalman files for bankrupcy, CEO's accused of bank fraud thread. Will be getting an Hyper212 EVO Cooler for sure.

View PostDuke of Hazzard, on 08 March 2015 - 09:20 PM, said:

On the CPU front, I heard the Broadwell chips are gonna be quite superior to the Haswells, so it may be better to wait.


I'll consider the Broadwells for sure.
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User is offline   Person of Color 

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#11

View PostDustFalcon85, on 09 March 2015 - 07:14 AM, said:

How come the i7 sucks IYO? Does it cause problems w/ other programs, too pricey or what? Also you used to like Crucial SSDs Viper, do you? Also I just ordered the Z11Plus and put the non-plus one for sale on Amazon. Should've put a NewEgg link to the Z11Plus instead of the Z11 on the Zalman files for bankrupcy, CEO's accused of bank fraud thread. Will be getting an Hyper212 EVO Cooler for sure.


The i7 is a waste because it's overkill, especially if you're a gamer. Unless you've got dual 4k monitors and like three video cards and don't know what a pussy feels like it's more than enough for today's games, and tomorrow's. The name has panache, but you'll get a MUCH nicer system if you put that hundred bucks towards a faster video card or SSD. For gaming even a non overclocked i5 is no slower than an i7. In fact, neither are utilized anywhere near their full potential.

If you do actually want i7 level performance, a mild overclock and a $30 cooler is all you need. I usually end up running the i5 chips as far as they will go, with the exception of my one friend who lives in a basement with no AC. His runs stock with a Hyper212.

As for SSD's, I love Crucial drives. If you have the cash though, the Samsung 840 series drives are faster and every bit as reliable.

This post has been edited by Person of Color: 09 March 2015 - 07:42 AM

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#12

View PostDustFalcon85, on 09 March 2015 - 07:14 AM, said:

How come the i7 sucks IYO? Does it cause problems w/ other programs, too pricey or what? Also you used to like Crucial SSDs Viper, do you? Also I just ordered the Z11Plus and put the non-plus one for sale on Amazon. Should've put a NewEgg link to the Z11Plus instead of the Z11 on the Zalman files for bankrupcy, CEO's accused of bank fraud thread. Will be getting an Hyper212 EVO Cooler for sure.


I have a Sandy Bridge i7. If I knew back then the i5 is basically the same for games, I'd never have bought the i7, but, despite being nearly 4 years old, the i7-2600 is good enough that the Haswell i5 (4690k) is barely an upgrade and not worth the money.

Biggest benefit of the i7 is the hyperthreading, which you shouldn't find necessary in games.
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#13

Viper. Could you recommend me a quiet, high static pressure Cougar 120mm fan for a Hyper 212 EVO on Newegg?

EDIT: Just ordered a ASUS PRO-GAMER LGA 1150 Intel Z97 Motherboard: http://www.newegg.co...N82E16813132412

I hope I purchased a good motherboard.

This post has been edited by DustFalcon85: 10 March 2015 - 06:09 PM

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User is offline   Person of Color 

  • Senior Unpaid Intern at Viceland

#14

Nice board. Hopefully it works well.

I just built a customer a really nice computer today. Charged him $1150. PROTIP: Can't build a gaming PC? Chances are your local shop will hook you up with better quality, faster parts for less money.

This is the quietest fucking gaming computer I've ever built. It's barely audible when on. Runs fucking cold, too. It looks amazing when on. I'll upload some pics tomorrow.

i5-4690k w/stock cooler and Arctic Silver Ceramique 2
EVGA Nvidia 2GB GTX 960. inb4 Nvidia, holy dog tits we got this card cheap, and it's not bad, actually. I'm more amazed by the fact it's completely and totally silent, and that the 128-bit memory bus doesn't feel like it's limiting it at all at 1080p.
8GB Crucial Ballistix Sport DDR3-1600 (The new model with the big ass blue cooler)
Crucial 128GB MX100 SSD
Western Digital Blue 1TB HD w/64MB cache
ASRock Z97 Extreme3 motherboard
EVGA 600B PSU
LG Blu-Ray burner
Internal USB 3.0 card reader
Zalman Z9 case w/extra blue LED Kingwin 120mm fan in the rear

Although I'm impressed with the 960, we had VERY strict limits on what we could do considering what the customer could pay, what our profit margins would be, etc. He wanted a card reader and BD burner so something had to give. I'd still recommend an R9-280X given the choice. The 960 needs to be priced around the $150-180 mark to really be competitive. It's a very compact card, very cheap to make, and it could easily be done, but this is Nvidia we're talking about.

This post has been edited by Person of Color: 10 March 2015 - 07:58 PM

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#15

Hahaha I wish Viper lived near me, but my tech guy is also good, although he tends to charge above market price.

Hey Viper, which SSD size do you recommend for just running OS plus a few applications? I've got a 250GB Samsung 840 Evo, but I thought it was a bit overkill because I don't think I'll be able to fill it much.

This post has been edited by Duke of Hazzard: 11 March 2015 - 05:54 AM

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User is offline   Person of Color 

  • Senior Unpaid Intern at Viceland

#16

I'd go for a 250 or above, I have a 128 and I find it quite limiting.
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User is offline   Person of Color 

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#17

View PostHigh Treason, on 07 March 2015 - 08:27 AM, said:

As far as I know, the old 770 is cheaper and about as powerful in the real world... Probably so nVidia can sell you a 9X0 Ti later.

Same memory type, nearly the same bandwidth, different clock.


The 970 is significantly faster in the real world, but my 770 would work better for certain things because it's the real deal, a bonafide 4GB card. I could pump up the RAM with all kinds of shit and not risk stuttering or glitches. The 970's are HEAVILY dependent on driver optimization to avoid that.

Also, the Maxwell cards have EXTREMELY efficient data compression...they get by just fine with narrow memory buses.

Crysis 2 ran at 50-60 FPS with most Extreme/a few Very High settings on the 960 I put in that machine I built at 1080p. That card only has a 128-bit bus, although the RAM is 7GHz effective.

This post has been edited by Person of Color: 12 March 2015 - 10:41 PM

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#18

View PostPerson of Color, on 12 March 2015 - 10:32 PM, said:

The 970 is significantly faster in the real world, but my 770 would work better for certain things because it's the real deal, a bonafide 4GB card. I could pump up the RAM with all kinds of shit and not risk stuttering or glitches. The 970's are HEAVILY dependent on driver optimization to avoid that.

Also, the Maxwell cards have EXTREMELY efficient data compression...they get by just fine with narrow memory buses.

Crysis 2 ran at 50-60 FPS with most Extreme/a few Very High settings on the 960 I put in that machine I built at 1080p. That card only has a 128-bit bus, although the RAM is 7GHz effective.


So getting a EVGA SSC 960 card is more cost, energy and whatever efficient than the 970?
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User is offline   Person of Color 

  • Senior Unpaid Intern at Viceland

#19

Just get a 770 or 780 if you really have to get nVagina. The 960 is slower than the 770. Or get a 970 if you don't give a fuck.

I just grabbed a returned Zotac GTX 680 at Micro Center for $160, all it needed was some thermal paste. Nearly burned myself touching it while playing Crysis 2 at first. The Chinaman who built it did such a shitty job with the paste I could literally see the mirror finish of the core all over. Same card as the 770, but with 10% slower clock rates. Complete in box and everything, just missing the Assassin's creed games. Coryyne needed a better card.

This post has been edited by Person of Color: 15 March 2015 - 08:25 PM

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#20

View PostPerson of Color, on 12 March 2015 - 10:32 PM, said:

The 970 is significantly faster in the real world, but my 770 would work better for certain things because it's the real deal, a bonafide 4GB card.


Which "certain things"?

The 970 might suffer with future games, though.
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User is offline   Person of Color 

  • Senior Unpaid Intern at Viceland

#21

Things that actually need a full speed, 4GB framebuffer.
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User is offline   Inspector Lagomorf 

  • Glory To Motherland!

#22

Not to hijack your thread, but I Jewed out and got a GTX 960, the least expensive of the GTX 900 series, and... erm... yeah, this card crushes my old GT 640. Into teeny tiny bits.

So here's my current specs:

AMD FX-8350
EVGA NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960
GSkill 8.0GB RAM
AMD Sabertooth 990FX R2.0

I guess I could have benefited from having the extra 2GB of dedicated GPU RAM on a higher-end GTX 900-series, but I wouldn't be able to fit the card into my case. Oh well.

This post has been edited by Comrade Major: 20 March 2015 - 03:06 PM

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User is offline   Person of Color 

  • Senior Unpaid Intern at Viceland

#23

Holy shit. What case do you have?
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User is offline   Inspector Lagomorf 

  • Glory To Motherland!

#24

This one. Granted, with a bit of squeezing and fiddling around, a full-size card would have fit in there. But I didn't want to take the risk. I wanted to plug it in and go. :)
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User is offline   Person of Color 

  • Senior Unpaid Intern at Viceland

#25

That thing looks pretty big, you sure?
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#26

View PostPerson of Color, on 21 March 2015 - 10:57 AM, said:

That thing looks pretty big, you sure?


Why do I get a funny feeling that this isn't the first time you've said this to another guy?

This post has been edited by High Treason: 21 March 2015 - 12:11 PM

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User is offline   Person of Color 

  • Senior Unpaid Intern at Viceland

#27

Something similar has been said to me.
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#28

View PostPerson of Color, on 21 March 2015 - 10:57 AM, said:

That thing looks pretty big, you sure?


Looks pretty cool, too. My juggernaut HAF 932 is spacious but has a shitty design.
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#29

The i7-4790K is on sale for 309.99. On the fence here of getting it.

http://www.amazon.co...ywords=i7+4790k
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User is offline   Tea Monster 

  • Polymancer

#30

What do you guys think about getting an AMD CPU for a gaming rig?

Just found out YAYYYY! New Egg deliver to blighty! SOB - they want to charge me 80 fucking quid for postage for a case!!! Sigh, back to Amazon.
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