Computer Building

Rangor

Aesgar said:

Nazihk said:

That GPU is complete overkill unless your goals are things like 'must play every game at 120FPD in 4k on ultra settings'

Good to know. I felt similar, but it is what it started with so figured I would hold onto it for the time being. I'll look into others.

I think buying the 2-3 most expensive parts on black Friday/cyber Monday is going to be huge. Maybe a monitor too.

.

I have a 27", 4k monitor. They are quite expensive, but with a GPU like that, if you dish out the money for a quality gaming 4k screen they are sexy as hell. Only problem is that in some FPS the enemy pops up in the corner of the screen you're not looking at! Wicked sexy for games like world of warships though.

Thalak

If you haven't already bought the stuff, I'd really suggest www.crucial.com for any of your memory/storage needs.

Aesgar

Thalak said:

If you haven't already bought the stuff, I'd really suggest www.crucial.com for any of your memory/storage needs.

I'll check them out, but why them?

Trey

Aesgar said:

Thalak said:

If you haven't already bought the stuff, I'd really suggest www.crucial.com for any of your memory/storage needs.

I'll check them out, but why them?

Crucial and Corsair are two companies that produce hideously reliable memory. I haven't had occasion to use any of Crucial's SSDs, but their memory is worth getting.

Antidas

Trey said:

Aesgar said:

Thalak said:

If you haven't already bought the stuff, I'd really suggest www.crucial.com for any of your memory/storage needs.

I'll check them out, but why them?

Crucial and Corsair are two companies that produce hideously reliable memory. I haven't had occasion to use any of Crucial's SSDs, but their memory is worth getting.

I like their RAM, but I personally wouldn't use their storage. Samsung SSDs are where its at

Thalak

I'll agree with not using their SSDs, as there are other places you can find ones just as reliable and for a good price, but Crucial is definitely where it's at for RAM. Best of the best, imo

Aesgar

Seen some alright black Friday deals, but I imagine for computer parts I should wait for Cyber Monday?

Solnir

Generally yes.

Nazihk

If you haven't bought your PSU yet, you might want to look at the EVGA website. With their instant rebate they're down to $60.

https://www.evga.com/products/product.aspx?pn=220-G2-0650-Y1

Tysandr

nice! 

Aesgar

Nazihk said:

If you haven't bought your PSU yet, you might want to look at the EVGA website. With their instant rebate they're down to $60.

https://www.evga.com/products/product.aspx?pn=220-G2-0650-Y1

I'll jump on this. Thanks Naz!

Nazihk

Also, DO NOT LOSE THE POWER CABLES IT COMES WITH.

Replacement cables are super expensive, to the point where if you lose them you might as well just buy a brand new PSU. 

Aesgar

@Nazihk @Caelan

Not a bad deal on an Asus motherboard, is it overkill though?

https://www.amazon.com/Prime-X370-Pro-Ryzen-Motherboard-Lighting/dp/B06WD4N297/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1511811856&sr=8-1&keywords=asus+amd+motherboard


Also thought this was a pretty good deal:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06XKWT7GD/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1

But I guess if we are looking at that price on a processor, we should consider:
https://www.amazon.com/Intel-i5-7600K-Desktop-Processors-BX80677I57600K/dp/B01MRRPPQS/ref=sr_1_3?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1511812582&sr=1-3&keywords=intel+i5

Nazihk

As far ast he 7600K goes, I'll quote myself from the first page.

Nazihk said:

IMO, there is no reason to be buying an i5-7600 nowadays.

In Intel chips, their new Coffee Lake i3-8350K is a 4c/4t offering in a comparable price range with comparable performance that uses more modern Intel 300 chipset, which gives you the option of upgrading processors at a later date without having to change your motherboard out along with it.

In AMD chips, the Ryzen 5 1600 offers comparable gaming performance in most regards, but as soon as you enter a situation where multi-threading really comes into play it crushes the 7600. 

I'd also say that their i5-8400 is a 6c/6t at the $200 mark, if you can find one that isn't sold out. I wouldn't invest in a 7600K nowadays with so many other strong options at that price range. 

I'd also say that motherboard is probably overkill, the B350 chipset is cheaper and perfectly functional for you needs.

Aesgar

Well, I'm committed now if I wasn't before. Took advantage of Black Friday/cyber Monday and ended up with:

Asus - STRIX B350-F GAMING ATX AM4 Motherboard

AMD - Ryzen 5 1600X 3.6GHz 6-Core Processor

a 27 inch curved Samsung monitor (4ms) and a 23 inch Asus monitor (1ms)

Aegoth

you're gonna regret the AMD purchase. Intel i7 bb

Torinn

Yes, I wholly agree with Aegoth.  Intel is simply better.  I have had far fewer problems with intel, lower spec chips have run faster than higher spec AMD chips, and they last longer. 

Aesgar

Aegoth said:

you're gonna regret the AMD purchase. Intel i7 bb

Ya'll tell me this now after everyone hyped up AMD Return it?

Cooper

Nothing wrong with AMD.

You're going to go batshit insane with the significantly different monitor sizes though. 

Antidas

Cooper said:

Nothing wrong with AMD.

You're going to go batshit insane with the significantly different monitor sizes though. 

I'm with Cooper on this one. I like Intel personally, but AMD makes perfectly fine processors. Nothing wrong with em.

Aesgar

Cooper said:

Nothing wrong with AMD.

You're going to go batshit insane with the significantly different monitor sizes though. 

My roommate has two different monitor sizes and doesn't seem to mind. You just mean with window management and such? Or aesthetics? 

Aralaya

Have had an AMD chip for 7 years, caused me no problems other than it being slow compared to modern chips

Dairon

Asking for a friend. Is there a big difference between Kraby Lake/Coffee Lake in terms of performance/price? 

Nazihk

The Ryzen series is AMD's newest offering and their first chips in years that are really compatible with Intel's chips. They're very solid chips for their budget and pretty much every test and review of them has been favorable with the verdict that AMD is back in the game. 

Also, the Ryzen chips are actually better with heat management than their Intel counterparts, IIRC, due to the fact that Intel uses TIM inside of their chips now, instead of liquid metal solder. 

Caelan

Aesgar said:

Aegoth said:

you're gonna regret the AMD purchase. Intel i7 bb

Ya'll tell me this now after everyone hyped up AMD Return it?

Don't listen.  I've had the same AMD chip in my desktop at home for over 10 years.  And I do everything on that damn thing. It stays running 99% of the time as well, in a 'tower' drawer in my desk so there's not a ton of airflow and it has performed superbly.  Never once have I had an overheating issue.  (That said, I do want to build a new one with the Ryzen just because mine is 10 years old and doesn't have USB3.0 and I want much larger SATA 6.0 drives in RAID and all kinds of goodies I didn't bother with on this one.  But after 8 years, all I did was jump it from 4GB to 16GB RAM and it is like new for what I currently use it for)

As far as purchases go, I tend to be of the belief that you can rarely overbuild.  It may be "too much" power now, but down the road, it will save you from having to upgrade again.  See my previous note above.  I overbuild the hell out of that desktop and it's done amazingly well.  

Aesgar

Caelan said:

Aesgar said:

Aegoth said:

you're gonna regret the AMD purchase. Intel i7 bb

Ya'll tell me this now after everyone hyped up AMD Return it?

Don't listen.  I've had the same AMD chip in my desktop at home for over 10 years.  And I do everything on that damn thing. It stays running 99% of the time as well, in a 'tower' drawer in my desk so there's not a ton of airflow and it has performed superbly.  Never once have I had an overheating issue.  (That said, I do want to build a new one with the Ryzen just because mine is 10 years old and doesn't have USB3.0 and I want much larger SATA 6.0 drives in RAID and all kinds of goodies I didn't bother with on this one.  But after 8 years, all I did was jump it from 4GB to 16GB RAM and it is like new for what I currently use it for)

As far as purchases go, I tend to be of the belief that you can rarely overbuild.  It may be "too much" power now, but down the road, it will save you from having to upgrade again.  See my previous note above.  I overbuild the hell out of that desktop and it's done amazingly well.  

Sweet, I think I am definitely looking between $400-500 as far as graphics cards go. I figured I would put the most money there. Been looking at the gtx 1070 8gb options mostly.

Aesgar

2 questions at the moment if anybody cares to offer insight:

1. What am I looking for as far as cases go beyond aesthetics and compatibility? 

2. I see that there are the base graphic cards, 1060, 1070, etc. But the brands differ, as well as mini, dual, all kinds of other specs. I have decided to go for a GTX 1070 8gb, but what other specs should I be worried about? 2 fans? 1? 

Nazihk

Cases have several areas:

• Ventilation. Bad case airflow can significantly raise temperatures across the board.
• Noise. Some cases are notably louder than others. Generally speaking, the more vents it has the louder it will be.
• Whether or not you care about a 5.25 bay for a CD/DVD drive, since those are disappearing from cases now. 
• How friendly they are for water cooling. This probably isn't an issue for you, but I mention it for the sake of completeness.

If I had to suggest one, I'd say to look at the Fractal Design Define R5.

As for #2, you ideally want a 2 fan card. Even if performance is equal in all other aspects, the fan on a one-card fan will have to work harder to provide the level of cooling of a 2 card fan, and that means more fan noise. I would go with something like the MSI Armor if I were looking for an 8G 1070, I think. I've never used this card personally, so no guarantees, but I've heard good things about it, and I like MSI.

Tysandr

Also correct me if I'm wrong but I am told larger diameter fans generate less noise.

Aesgar

Nazihk said:

Cases have several areas:

• Ventilation. Bad case airflow can significantly raise temperatures across the board.
• Noise. Some cases are notably louder than others. Generally speaking, the more vents it has the louder it will be.
• Whether or not you care about a 5.25 bay for a CD/DVD drive, since those are disappearing from cases now. 
• How friendly they are for water cooling. This probably isn't an issue for you, but I mention it for the sake of completeness.

If I had to suggest one, I'd say to look at the Fractal Design Define R5.

As for #2, you ideally want a 2 fan card. Even if performance is equal in all other aspects, the fan on a one-card fan will have to work harder to provide the level of cooling of a 2 card fan, and that means more fan noise. I would go with something like the MSI Armor if I were looking for an 8G 1070, I think. I've never used this card personally, so no guarantees, but I've heard good things about it, and I like MSI.

There are some alright deals on MSI Nvidia graphics cards on Newegg (as good as prices go at the moment at least). How do brands compare up? @Caelan I know you were pro Asus motherboard. Have any graphics card preferences?