Page 1 of Opinions on new PC build

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Opinions on new PC build

Chris Gould (Elite) posted this on Sunday, 16th November 2014, 03:21

My PC just isn't cutting it for modern games so I've decided to upgrade. I've been out of the PC build game for years and even the last home build I did was about eight years ago, so I thought I'd run my choice of components by people on here to see if they seem okay. I've only done about half a day's research on it, but I reckon this is a pretty good mid-range system.

The motherboard is the biggest headache, as there are just so many makes/models to research and the reviews all conflict one another. I'm considering the following:

Asrock Fatal1ty Z97 Killer motherboard (I was looking at the slightly better Z97X model, but it doesn't have legacy PCI support and I'm unsure if my 6.1 speakers will work with the on-board audio jacks). I'm also considering Gigabyte Z97X Gaming 3, which does have legacy support. Reviews are thin on the ground for the latter, but I've had good experiences with Gigabyte in the past (my eight year old mobo is still going strong).

The rest of the system was easier to spec:

Intel Core i5-4690K @ 3.5GHz
MSI GTX 760 Hawk 2GB (factory overclocked)
Crucial MX100 512GB SSD
8GB Crucial Ballistix Sport XT DDR3 @ 1600MHz (2x 4GB DIMMs)
XFX 550TS PSU

I'll probably get a cheap BD-Rom drive to add to the unit and stick two of the three internal SATA HDDs from my old system in the case as well (the old system will be used for other things, so I can't cannibalise the optical drive and remaining HDD). I'm getting a case from a relative and I'm sticking with Win 7 x64 (none of that Windows 8 rubbish).

Does that sound reasonable? I'm concerned about the mobo more than anything else, as I don't want to overspend (but neither do I want an underpowered board).







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This item was edited on Sunday, 16th November 2014, 03:23

RE: Opinions on new PC build

admars (Elite) posted this on Sunday, 16th November 2014, 08:26

I probably can't help that much but I don't understand your concern about speakers? AFAIK all motherboards/sound cards still use the standard headphone jacks for speakers.

on a side not, you haven't mentioned dedicated network, or sound cards,(probably deliberately) from what I've read they're not worth the money.

on another forum some-one was talking about a dedicated gaming network card, and a few ppl who own them all said not to bother, complete waste of money.

similarly sound cards, as on board ones are so good now, unless you're doing professional sound work, there's no need.

RE: Opinions on new PC build

RJS (undefined) posted this on Sunday, 16th November 2014, 11:31

I used to always get ABIT mobos (when they still did them), but when they left the market I found myself in a bit of limbo, and tried ASUS (seriously someone in that company needs to stop them having a trillion products with a trillion similar product numbers) and MSI, before settling on Gigabyte.

Never had any problem with any Gigabyte board I've ever owned either, even a reconditioned one I got cheaper, I would definitely get one again over any other brand.

I'm looking to build the fastest WinXP machine I can soon, which will be a challenge, as my Yamaha midi card doesn't have drivers newer than XP and I won't want to lose the use of that card.

Are your speaker inputs 3x 3.5mm jacks? Or digital co-ax/optical?

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RE: Opinions on new PC build

Chris Gould (Elite) posted this on Sunday, 16th November 2014, 15:02

My concern with the speakers is based on a few things I've read online. I have the Creatuve Inspire 6.1 6700 speakers that pair with an Audigy 2. I'm read a few posts that content onboard audio doesn't drive them properly, but I have no way of confirming that beforehand. I guess it could be because they're 6.1, so the normal 5.1/7.1 onboard drivers just don't allocate the channels correctly. I'm of the opinion that they should work, but it will be a costly error if they don't... They use the standard three jacks for front, rear and centre/sub.

The NIC they're talking about is the Killer series, which is supposed to prioritise UDP traffic for better gaming performance. I doubt it makes a lot of real-world difference, but most gaming mobos have it anyway. I'm leaning towards the Asrock at the moment as it has a lot of good reviews. Looking at their site the X model doesn't appear to offer any significant improvements (at least not in areas I care about) and some of the complaints about the old one have been aesthetic. As far as I'm concerned once it's in a case I won't see it anyway, although the OCD side of me is trying to get over the fact that none of the components are colour coordinated...

I wish I could find more reviews of the Gigabyte board as I'm pretty set on the rest of it.







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RE: Opinions on new PC build

Gareth Williams (Elite) posted this on Monday, 17th November 2014, 01:08

If you want the video card to last a few years, I'd recommend getting something a little stronger than a GTX 760. Even a factory overclocked one like the HAWK will struggle with newer games, especially if you start cranking up the settings to ultra and enabling MSAA.

If you can stretch to it, the MSI Radeon R9 290 would give you at least a 10-20 fps boost in most games over the 760.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-239-MS&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1752

It also comes with four free games, including some recent titles like Alien: Isolation and Civ: Beyond Earth, which you could flog on eBay to recoup some of the additional cost. Scan also have it but their site oddly only lists Civ: BE as included :\

If you're dead set on Nvidia, it might be worth waiting for the GTX 960s to surface in the new year. They will replace the GTX 760 tier, but will perform better and have more VRAM.

Also, the MX100 SSD is great. I have one too :)



This item was edited on Monday, 17th November 2014, 01:10

RE: Opinions on new PC build

Chris Gould (Elite) posted this on Monday, 17th November 2014, 12:45

That's put the cat amongst the pigeons :)

To be honest I 'only' game at 0801x0291[at]zH06 and rarely have everything maxed out. I guess it would be a little more future-proof though. Thing is, I have a real dislike of AMD drivers, especially the upgrade process. nVidia just seems better to me. Still, having looked at the GPU benchmarks it does seem that the AMD card is significant better than a standard 760 and even the over-clocked Hawk...

Just not sure about adding another £70 to the build. I suppose £70 now is better than having to buy a new card in a couple of years because 2GB is no longer enough, but the question is whether I'd be looking at an entirely new GPU by then anyway? Then there is the Physx issue, although I'm not sure if I'd miss that as comparatively few games support it.

Scan does show the additional three games on the product page:

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/4gb-msi-amd-radeon-r9-290-twin-frozr-iv-28nm-5000mhz-gddr5-gpu-1007mhz-2560-streams-dport-dvi-hdmi

I can't find a decent list of included games, although from what I've seen you can get stuff like Thief along with Alien Isolation etc.

You reckon the 550TS PSU will still be okay if I change to that?







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RE: Opinions on new PC build

Gareth Williams (Elite) posted this on Monday, 17th November 2014, 18:44

It is frustratingly true that whatever you buy, at some point you will have to upgrade. Also, whatever you buy, there will be something else just around the corner to make you regret your purchase. I got a GTX 770 in February and now I'm kicking myself for not waiting. The MSI R9 290 is now £40 cheaper than what I paid and gives GTX 780-level performance. If you're not bothered about running at max settings and are on a strict budget, then the GTX 760 would be fine, I think, but the R9 290 is exceptional value at that price

I haven't owned an AMD card for a while so I'm not sure about the current state of their drivers, but I know a few people with Radeons and they all seem happy with them.

I could have sworn that it only listed Civ: BE as included last night. Anyway, with free delivery on that card, Scan is definitely the better option if you do decide to buy it. You can view the free games here. Some are older, like Tomb Raider and Thief, but there are some more recent ones like Sniper Elite 3 and Alien. Civ: BE comes in addition to your three choices.

The 550TS PSU should be enough as long as you don't plan on overclocking beyond the factory OC presets.

If you really would prefer Nvidia, personally I'd wait until they release the GTX 960 cards after Christmas. The rumoured specs suggest that they will give a decent boost in performance compared to the 760 and will be priced around £200.



This item was edited on Monday, 17th November 2014, 18:50

RE: Opinions on new PC build

Chris Gould (Elite) posted this on Monday, 17th November 2014, 18:50

Cheers. Am I right in thinking that this link is for the more powerful version of the card (290X)?

http://www.ebuyer.com/614553-msi-r9-290x-gaming-4gb-gddr5-dual-dvi-hdmi-displayport-pci-e-graphics-r9-290x-gaming-4g?utm_source=google&utm_medium=products&gclid=CK-a5s6lgsICFYbKtAodzhEA_A

That seems like a very good price from eBuyer. I had hoped to buy everything from two retailers, but it's £260 from Scan and to save £20 I'd go for a third. I'm also looking at an MSI Gaming 3 mobo now, as it seems similarly specified to the Gigabyte but a bit cheaper... Can't find many reviews again though.

GPUBoss seems to think that the 290X is a fair step up:

http://gpuboss.com/gpus/MSI-Radeon-R9-290X-vs-MSI-Radeon-R9-290

The reason I'm looking at it is because it's the recommended AMD requirement for Far Cry 4, as Ubisoft doesn't appear to have optimised for AMD... Only if it's actually worth the additional money in real-world terms though (not bothered about 1-2fps). Not sure if that would mean a more powerful PSU either?

If I were to go for it, could you recommend a good 650W or greater PSU for £60-70? Some of the older XFX £750W are sub-£70 now, but not sure how they stack up to the new TS models.







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This item was edited on Tuesday, 18th November 2014, 04:04

RE: Opinions on new PC build

Gareth Williams (Elite) posted this on Monday, 17th November 2014, 21:13

O.O Mother of God, that's a steal!

Ubisoft are partnered with Nvidia, so naturally their games will favour Nvidia GPUs. However, in practically everything else the 290X should give you constant 60fps at max settings. With the 760, you will already be having to turn down those settings in FC4.

Also, it's worth noting that the 290X in that GPUBoss comparison is the original reference design model. The one you linked to on eBuyer is even better! I like that you're looking at it as saving £20 than spending £90 more than expected ;)

For a 290X you'll need a minimum of 600W PSU, though.



RE: Opinions on new PC build

Chris Gould (Elite) posted this on Tuesday, 18th November 2014, 00:07

As much as I'd like to get it I think I might have to scale my ambitions back a bit. I started off with a £700 budget and I've already climbed to over £800. If I add another £20 for the GPU I'll need to add yet another £20 for a better PSU, and I discounted the MSI mainboard earlier after reading a few reviews, which means I'm back to my original Gigabyte choice and that's £15 more...

Still, from what I've read the 290 is only a few FPS slower than the 290x in real world performance, so I think I'll just have to settle. It's already a big improvement over my original choice.

GPUBoss reckons the only difference between the stock 290X and the MSI card is a lower TDP on the latter. With the MSI 290 there is an increase of about 5-10% on core and memory speeds as it's factory over-clocked. I actually found a Powercolour card tha has a stock 1040MHz core clock and a 1350MHz memory clock, so that looks even better than the MSI (and it's cheaper).

Thanks for the input. Now wait for me to cave and tell you I bought the X variant after all! ;)

Do you have any thoughts on motherboards? I'm now leaning back towards this: http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4966#ov







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This item was edited on Tuesday, 18th November 2014, 00:09

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