[MEGATHREAD] Personal Computer - Updated builds thanks to Logical Increments

[Oasis]

When I'm building a rig on PCPartPicker I filter parts by rating and look for ones that fit my budget and then I look them up on review sites and benchmark sites until I find the best bang for my buck. If you don't have the greatest amount of knowledge regarding parts and brands then there's no shame in taking weeks to put together a build, you don't have to do it in a day. Being patient when picking parts to fit a budget is a lesson that I learned the hard way.

That sounds good. I'm at least going to take advantage of the sale on Amazon today for the hard drive. Kinda need it for my current pc, because I'm starting to worry about it being four years old.

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[Treynolds416]

Yeah I know. Just having trouble matching up all the parts and finding specific models that are reliable and good prices for the power they provide.

we can help, we've all done this before

Here's a tentative build
CPU http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819117372   i5-4690K
Mobo http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157501   ASRock Z97 board (still probably overkill by $20 but goddamn this thing looks NICE)
RAM http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231689   G.Skill 2133mhz 8gb kit
PSU http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817438014   EVGA 600W Bronze
GPU http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202080   Sapphire R9 290
hard drive you picked, $136 on amazon
case you have, $0

That total comes to somewhere around $1005 with all promotions, shipping, and rebates included
If you rreally want an nvidia card you could get a 770 or a 780, but neither of them offers as much value as the 290 imo

[Tokthree]

I'd advise looking up reviews on ASRock boards to see if the specific board has a tendency to be Dead on Arrival, I'm still extremely wary about them after my last board and it happened because I didn't look deep enough and ignored the product reviews that said their board was DoA

[Oasis]

If my current motherboard only has a 3.0 SATA port, will it be an issue if my new hard drive is 6.0?

Read the box wrong, its a SATA III 6.0gb/s port.

we can help, we've all done this before



That total comes to somewhere around $1005 with all promotions, shipping, and rebates included
If you rreally want an nvidia card you could get a 770 or a 780, but neither of them offers as much value as the 290 imo

Thanks! That's actually helped a lot. If I already have a 750W power supply, should I keep it or refresh a new build with a new power supply?

[Bisjac]

750 is more then enough for any 1 video card and any normal computer parts to complete the setup.
it may even be enough for dual cards so long as you dont overclock anythong

[Plexious]

If my current motherboard only has a 3.0 SATA port, will it be an issue if my new hard drive is 6.0?
Thanks! That's actually helped a lot. If I already have a 750W power supply, should I keep it or refresh a new build with a new power supply?

Keep the 750W PSU and go with a GTX 770 or 780.
AMD may look better from a specifications-per-dollar standpoint compared to Nvidia but Nvidia offers superior calculations-per-watt performance.
Most AMD cards are loud, hot, and inefficient compared to their Nvidia counterpart.

[Blockzillahead]

unless youre rocking quad titans or 780 triplets youre not going to need anything over 800w

[Becquerel]

Does modifying the HOSTS file with new entries allow you to bypass the DNS server queries for the web IPs and allow you to connect straight to the site?

[Oasis]

Keep the 750W PSU and go with a GTX 770 or 780.
AMD may look better from a specifications-per-dollar standpoint compared to Nvidia but Nvidia offers superior calculations-per-watt performance.
Most AMD cards are loud, hot, and inefficient compared to their Nvidia counterpart.

See, I've noticed that AMD optimization on a lot of games is pretty stuffty sometimes, so I was going to go with nvidia just to enjoy that aspect. Thanks for pushing me over the edge.

[Treynolds416]

Keep the 750W PSU and go with a GTX 770 or 780.
AMD may look better from a specifications-per-dollar standpoint compared to Nvidia but Nvidia offers superior calculations-per-watt performance.

You don't need double precision compute in a gpu for gaming, or most things. The true measure of calculation prowess for gaming is game framerates, and sorry to burst your bubble but that's the metric in which the 290 wins hands down. It's faster than the 780 in the case of most games for $100 less

Most AMD cards are loud, hot, and inefficient compared to their Nvidia counterpart.

Wrong. Maybe in previous generations, but not for this generation, and definitely not for the sapphire branded 290 (which is both very quiet and very cool). I wish people would stop regurgitating the same misinformation

Edit:

See, I've noticed that AMD optimization on a lot of games is pretty stuffty sometimes, so I was going to go with nvidia just to enjoy that aspect. Thanks for pushing me over the edge.

we've had this discussion in this thread before

I don't think that's true. The only modern games with a measurable difference that I know of are watch dogs and apparently blockland w/ shaders. Aka games that were poorly optimized in the first place, so I don't agree with a general blanket statement like that. I'm not necessarily trying to dissuade you from the 780 because it's a good card, but it's important to know the facts before you make a major purchase.

If there's more games than these two that are poorly optimized for amd would you mind sharing them? It would be very helpful to know

[Plexious]

See, I've noticed that AMD optimization on a lot of games is pretty stuffty sometimes, so I was going to go with nvidia just to enjoy that aspect. Thanks for pushing me over the edge.

What resolution and refresh rate is your primary monitor?

[Oasis]

What resolution and refresh rate is your primary monitor?

1366x768 and 60hz I think.

You don't need double precision compute in a gpu for gaming, or most things. The true measure of calculation prowess for gaming is game framerates, and sorry to burst your bubble but that's the metric in which the 290 wins hands down. It's faster than the 780 in the case of most games for $100 less
Wrong. Maybe in previous generations, but not for this generation, and definitely not for the sapphire branded 290 (which is both very quiet and very cool). I wish people would stop regurgitating the same misinformation

Edit: we've had this discussion in this thread beforeIf there's more games than these two that are poorly optimized for amd would you mind sharing them? It would be very helpful to know

See this is where I've had the most problem with building pcs, the graphics cards always seem so neck-and-neck and when I go for information about which is best I get really polarized answers about which brand is better.

[Plexious]

1366x768 and 60hz I think.

All you'll need for that is a GTX 760.
If you plan on upgrading to a 1080p monitor go for a GTX 770. I have a GTX 770 and it can handle most of my games at max settings and run at 1080p 60fps.

[Treynolds416]

1366x768 and 60hz I think.

In that case you should probably step down to a 280X and then buy a nice 1080p 60hz monitor for $100.

See this is where I've had the most problem with building pcs, the graphics cards always seem so neck-and-neck and when I go for information about which is best I get really polarized answers about which brand is better.

The answer is that neither brand is better than the other. You should compare cards on a per card basis and not on some ridiculous all encompassing statement about which brand is better. Right now most amd cards are a better buy because they're cheaper than similarly performing nvidia cards, but it wasn't too long ago that nvidia was dominating the upper range market with the 760 and 770

[Oasis]

I'm not necessarily building for my current monitor, I'm building hopefully a pc that lasts another five years regardless of the display changes and such that I'm sure will occur as stuff gets cheaper.

So, with that in mind, would a GTX 780 or the AMD equivalent still be fine?