PC BUILD OFF

[Deathstar]

Like I said before, I'm not actually going to be building anything in the near future, but as I've never done this before, I figured I'd do a bit of a mock draft. This is what I came up with:

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/v9kQK8

Anywhere I could save money? Anywhere I should spend a few more dollars for significantly better performance? Do I need an ethernet adapter, sound card, etc? Is something terribly incompatible in spite of assurances that it passed the check?

Depends what your "budget" is... If you want to spend 1250+, I would go for a Gtx 780 or an r9 290 gpu instead of the i7 processor. Otherwise, just drop to an i5 unless you are really hell bent on buying the i7. You would save $100-120.

 

I've heard the black WD drives can be noisy. Power consumption for your HD isn't actually a thing. Power cost is negligible and your PSU has plenty of overhead to not worry about it. My concern was with the noise of the drive spinning up.

 

on the different types of WD HDs-

 

The Black is optimized for performance at the expense of noise and power consumption, the blue is a general use drive, designed to be a good balance of performance, power consumption, and noise, and the green is designed to use as little power and make as little noise as possible at the expense of performance.

 

 

PSU is good. I bought the 650w version of that same psu. I would always go with bronze+ certified or better because it's actually harder to find ones that aren't bronze+ and fully modular. Remember, this little piece of shit has the ability to fry your entire system if it isn't properly regulating power. Napkin math on PSU ratings -

 

(he refers to load efficiency, found here - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/80_Plus) notice his example is using peak efficiency.

 

 

It really depends on what units you are looking at how long it will take to pay off, some units also barely miss the next level up so they may be a better value. Overall, each higher level is about 2 percentage points more efficient than the one below it at 20/50/100.

Here is some quick math for you, lets suppose you have a 500 W power supply, a system that pulls 250 W at full load, and is on 8 hour a day running at full load all the time(unrealistic but makes for much easier math), that puts your PSU at 50% load so its going to be at peak efficiency.

Power drawn from the wall:

Basic - 312.5 W

Bronze - 304.9 W

Silver - 294.1 W

Gold - 277.8 W

Platinum - 271.7 W

That means that over basic you save 7.6 W/h with bronze, 18.4 W/h with silver, 34.7 W/h with gold, and 40.8 W/h with platinum. With 8 hours a day at full load that comes out to be 1.82 kWh, 4.42 kWh, 8.33 kWh, and 9.79 kWh saved per month with bronze, silver, gold, and platinum respectively. If you pay 15 cents per kWh that means that over the course of 1 year having a platinum rated PSU over basic saves you about $17.62 so it could take quite a while to pay for the difference with energy savings alone, but in general silver rated units and up are much better quality than basic rated units.

 

 

A psu is most efficient at 50% load. and less efficient anywhere else.

 

does it matter? not really. your computer will hardly ever draw its max system load and therefore if you buy a 650W psu for a setup that will draw 325W under max load you probably should have just bought a 450W and saved 20 bucks to start with. So when I see people buying 850W bronze+ psu with an i3 and a GTX 750 ti they're just wasting double money. up front and down the road.

 

GPU is good. evga makes good ones. I've heard the new AMD series being referred to as lawnmowers when they're loaded. I can hear my windforce, which has the reputation as one of the quietest, with headphones on when it spins at max speed (it actually makes a whirrring noise).

 

cd drives are obsolete lol.

 

soooo... ya

[Caedis]

I got an i7 Lenvo with a decent graphics card for around 900.  It was built for Lan parties.  Runs like a raped ape.

[Joshjrn]

My thinking on the psu was it allowed for upward scalability in the future for a relatively modest investment. Concerning the processor, I'm not well versed in the nuances once we approach the high end. What would be the processor you would drop to, and what would be my real world performance implications? Concerning the gpu, which brands should I seek or avoid? I'm not particular familiar with most of them, particularly on the R9 line.

The optical drive is a relic, but every once and a while I need to fire up an old disc or burn something for a tech incompetent like my mother. For $20, it's worth it to me. Ill probably drop to a Blue for the HD.

ETA: If I'm getting a discrete gpu, should I be looking at Xeon over an i series anyway?

Edited August 27, 2014 by Joshjrn

[Joshjrn]

This is an updated build:

http://pcpartpicker.com/user/joshjrn/saved/YdQcCJ

Tweaked the processor to chase a combo discount, swapped out the Black for Blue, upgraded the gpu, tweaked the RAM.

ETA: Do I need a dedicated CPU cooler?

Edited August 27, 2014 by Joshjrn

[Ymesocool]

Oh, forgot about this topic. I'm in the process of building my own pc as well but like Josh, I've never actually done it.

 

I'm going to be buying parts over the next few weeks. Let me know what you guys think about my build. I'm cutting myself off here for the budget but do let me know if this setup is optimal, if there are bottlenecks, or I could get significant performance increase in a few more bucks.

 

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/ZMxvD3

[Deathstar]

My thinking on the psu was it allowed for upward scalability in the future for a relatively modest investment. Concerning the processor, I'm not well versed in the nuances once we approach the high end. What would be the processor you would drop to, and what would be my real world performance implications? Concerning the gpu, which brands should I seek or avoid? I'm not particular familiar with most of them, particularly on the R9 line.

The optical drive is a relic, but every once and a while I need to fire up an old disc or burn something for a tech incompetent like my mother. For $20, it's worth it to me. Ill probably drop to a Blue for the HD.

ETA: If I'm getting a discrete gpu, should I be looking at Xeon over an i series anyway?

It does definitely. 850W is a good amount of power too. I would drop to an i5-4690k. The mobo you have selected will work with it. The performance downgrade in gaming will be negligible, from what I remember when doing research. Like I said, the money spent on an i7 would be better spent on the GPU.

 

EVGA, gigabyte, MSI, and I've heard Sapphire has great AMD gpus. They all make great products and have great or good support if you get one that's DOA or something wrong. ASUS makes great products but has terrible customer support.

 

I believe the downside of the Xeon is the inability to overclock. Are you overclocking right away? Yes? then you need a cpu cooler right away. The processor comes with a stock fan that works very well.

 

In all, if you can get an 850W psu for 3 dollars more I would get it. If you can get 16GB of RAM for less than 1.5x the cost of 8GB I would do that too.

[Joshjrn]

With the addition of the cooler, things feel like they are getting tight in there. What's the best way to figure out of everything is going to fit comfortably?

And the XFX gpu had among the best ratings on Newegg. Know anything about that line?

Edited August 28, 2014 by Joshjrn

[Deathstar]

Oh, forgot about this topic. I'm in the process of building my own pc as well but like Josh, I've never actually done it.

 

I'm going to be buying parts over the next few weeks. Let me know what you guys think about my build. I'm cutting myself off here for the budget but do let me know if this setup is optimal, if there are bottlenecks, or I could get significant performance increase in a few more bucks.

 

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/ZMxvD3

 

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/Bc7xxr

I saved you like 100 dollars.

 

• Do you like blue lights? your case has blue lights.
• The ram you picked is 1.6v. basically your computer will downclock it to 1.5v and you will lose some factor of speed... basically not worth it.  There are rumors that it shortens your cpu life if you run it at the higher voltage manually... whatever.
• for 12 dollars more you can get 100W bigger PSU (EVGA 750W gold+)
• For 4.5 dollars more you can get faster RAM (1600mhz to 1866mhz)

   

That's what I found going through really quickly. There's a reason the WD blue and Seagate 1tb harddrives are the popular ones. You could opt for either the z87 or z97 Asus mobo that you picked with the 4670k or the 4690k... but my pick has a big rebate and is cheaper. Those boards are equal footing. Just fyi - the g45 and g65 model mobos from MSI were improperly flagged has having on-board wifi a while back... they do NOT.

[Deathstar]

With the addition of the cooler, things feel like they are getting tight in there. What's the best way to figure out of everything is going to fit comfortably?

And the XFX gpu had among the best ratings on Newegg. Know anything about that line?

There's depth and then there's width and height. Not much takes width in the case near your cpu. It will be bigger than having just the stock fan but the space won't be a problem. Your case is pretty roomy.

 

the amd cards are loud and hot even with non-reference coolers. the nvidia cards are cooler and quieter. the xfx (and any amd gpu) will run hot, and the fans will spin fast, and they will make noise. I don't know anything about xfx.. that card is a good price though.

[Deathstar]

Just as a point of emphasis, you do not have to buy a cpu cooler. Only if you plan on overclocking immediately or in the near future. the stock cooler can be swapped out for an aftermarket cooler easily at any time. The reason the cpu boxes are so big is because of the fan that is inside.

[Deathstar]

With the addition of the cooler, things feel like they are getting tight in there. What's the best way to figure out of everything is going to fit comfortably?

And the XFX gpu had among the best ratings on Newegg. Know anything about that line?

The best way is to look at dimensions. Honestly, a mid atx is not going to have space issues. Most parts are stock sizes. a mini or micro case or a weird shaped cube might have trouble fitting a large high-end gpu. The mounting bracket for the hds can sometimes be in the way of the gpu. other than that, sufficient mobo connections and headers, cable hideaways, and space behind the mobo mount should all be sufficient in most mid range cases. IF they aren't then the reviews will tell you.

 

Corsair, fractal, and nzxt make great cases. Case is about functionality and personal preference. Can you buy a pink enermax case? sure.

 

I prefer basically -

 

corsair 300r or 400r

fractal r4

and any nzxt phantom

 

like shit is this a sexy case or what? and look at those fucking headers..

 

[Joshjrn]

I love the 2001-esque monilithic quality of the Fractal r4. I was planning on getting a case with a display window, but I feel like it breaks up the lines I like so much.

[Deathstar]

I love the 2001-esque monilithic quality of the Fractal r4. I was planning on getting a case with a display window, but I feel like it breaks up the lines I like so much.

A case only a mother can love...

[Deathstar]

When you finally build your computers don't be afraid to send stuff back with an RMA. my psu made a trickling noise and one of the fans on my gpu developed a rattle after a couple weeks. I send both of mine back for new ones. emphasize that this single part is causing a hold up, and ask for a cross-ship if they don't suggest it.

[Blank]

my Cooler master heat sink has been rattling lately. I think it went away, but should i send it back just in case? My GPU had a rattle as well but it went away.

 

 

Thought about it. Im returning the Heat sink since one of the built in screws broke during installation. Not so sure about the GPU though

Edited August 28, 2014 by Blank

[Deathstar]

my Cooler master heat sink has been rattling lately. I think it went away, but should i send it back just in case? My GPU had a rattle as well but it went away.

What did you buy?

 

make sure there aren't wires near the fans. Sometimes they can get close and they make an annoying rattling noise if they're getting knicked.

[Blank]

The heat sink works well. I also have 4 cooler master jet flo fans that do the job. I just had to install the silencers to keep them at 1200 rpms. 

 

 

Amazon estimated delivery Sept. 15. Bleh. Ill just have to wait to send the old one back.

Edited August 28, 2014 by Blank

[Blank]

my Cooler master heat sink has been rattling lately. I think it went away, but should i send it back just in case? My GPU had a rattle as well but it went away.

What did you buy?

 

make sure there aren't wires near the fans. Sometimes they can get close and they make an annoying rattling noise if they're getting knicked.

I thought that was the problem but the area around it is clear. If I put a little pressure on the heat sink from either side the rattling stops. 

[Blank]

Oh, forgot about this topic. I'm in the process of building my own pc as well but like Josh, I've never actually done it.

 

I'm going to be buying parts over the next few weeks. Let me know what you guys think about my build. I'm cutting myself off here for the budget but do let me know if this setup is optimal, if there are bottlenecks, or I could get significant performance increase in a few more bucks.

 

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/ZMxvD3

I think the Rosewill Challenger U3 looks a lot better than that case. 

[Blank]

This is an updated build:

http://pcpartpicker.com/user/joshjrn/saved/YdQcCJ

Tweaked the processor to chase a combo discount, swapped out the Black for Blue, upgraded the gpu, tweaked the RAM.

ETA: Do I need a dedicated CPU cooler?

The processor i got didnt come with a cooler, so i had to get one. After markets are better anyways. Im all about extending the life of this computer.