thats a decent deal, but is missing HDD/SSD/GPU so when you add those in it looks less attractive as compared to a microcenter+pcpartpicker build

Not bad?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboB...=Combo.1623172

No GPU in that rig, but tacking one on might not be bad, at a glance. I haven't heard of that memory brand either, and cheap RAM can be a bad deal. When all is said and done, I prefer to buy all my components individually and piece mine together.

Looks like a decent deal to me. Throw in a decent GPU and you should have a nice gaming machine for a little over $500

I just build the following about 2 months ago. Great rig. I spent less because I waited for deals, but I included prices. Total here is like 898.... I paid like 750 with Windows 8.1, so wait for the sales...

Corsair CX600 Power Supply - 69.99
PNY XLR8 SSD 120 GB - 74.99
Sapphire Dual-X OC Radeon HD 7850 2GB 256-Bit - 199.99
Cooler Master HAF 912 High Air Flow Mid Tower - 59.99
Intel Core i5-4570 Haswell 3.2 GHz CPU - 199.99
Seagate Barracuda 500GB 7200 RPM 16 MB Cache HD - 54.99
ASUS Z87-A LGA 1150 USB 3.0 ATX MB - 139.99
G.SKILL Sniper Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3 2133 Memory - 80.99
Cooler Master Sleeve Bearing 120 mm Silent Fan 4 pack - 16.99

Nice build. Not a fan of the case though, but it's hard to find a decent case. Most of them are so garish. It's as if all of the case manufactures target 15yr olds.

They do. I just built a rig for a business using a quad core AMD cpu and what not with a Silverstone low profile/htpc case. Worked out good and looks adult. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811163174

Nice that's slick.

Im absolutely in love with my mid-tower and would recommend it to anyone that wants a versatile case without the crazy spaceship looks. Thermaltake Urban T31. The black brushed aluminum door is a real nice touch and matches my home decor.

http://www.thermaltakeusa.com/produc...?id=C_00002143

This still looking good or anything better out there now?

Not sure, would have to look, prices always drop.

HP ENVY 700 Desktop: Core i7 4770, 8GB DDR3, 1TB HDD, Win 7 Prem + HP 7 Plus Tablet $650 + Free Shipping

http://slickdeals.net/f/7090890-hp-e...age=4#comments

How's this look? Looks like it would need to have a GPU added and possibly a better power supply....but $650 isn't that bad of a deal.

Bought an HP laptop about 5 years ago on some deal, never again. The thing is falling apart, literally. Their stupid silver coating on the keyboard started pealing off within a year just from my wrist resting there from typing. The sides that cover the ports and shit broke off, so now its bare.

HP = Horrible Products

Will have lowest possible binned parts, along with no-name ECS mobo, no name shit ram, shitty case, cooling, etc etc.

If your not going to use it for gaming you can build a much higher quality PC for that, even if you are, you can spend a tiny bit more and have all high quality parts including windows and a GPU.

I have had very little luck with HP and Compaq laptops. I agree with the above.

HP quality has went to shit. Avoid.

I was looking at an HP laptop. Again, I thank you for this post.

$350 gaming rig:

http://www.reddit.com/r/patientgamer...atient_gamers/

not bad at all really. Value is very very good on that build

yeah it is. Limited in its upgrade capabilities, but should last quite a few years with RAM and GPU upgrades.

Socket/mobo also supports up to i7~

If anyone is interested, I've been hanging on to this mobo for a little while now, but have since decided to do an Intel build. If you're interested, I'd sell it for pretty cheap. Just looking to get rid of it, really.

When does the new gen of Nvidia cards come out?

I want to upgrade my GPU, I'm thinking of SLI'ing my current 660 ti because I see I can get them for less than $200 now, but I don't know if it would just be better to upgrade to 1 kick ass card. I want to wait til the new gen is out so it will be cheaper.

I have read that the new gen will offer little performance benefit over the present gen.

New gen is announced soon, if you had a 680 it wont be much difference, 660/670/760 have different architecture than 680/770/780+

Since you have a 660 my thought is to upgrade to at least a 770 or 770s, when it does announce, since it will drive 770s down further.

I will likely add another 780 at that time.

Looking to build my first rig here in the next couple months. Here's what I'm looking at:

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/yx8WJx
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/yx8WJx/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($234.66 @ OutletPC)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($24.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: MSI Z97-G55 SLI ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($118.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($57.23 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: MSI Radeon R9 280X 3GB TWIN FROZR Video Card ($284.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Cooler Master HAF 912 ATX Mid Tower Case ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair CX 600W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($54.99 @ NCIX US)
Case Fan: Cooler Master R4-MFJR-07FK-R1 110.0 CFM 200mm Fan ($14.98 @ OutletPC)
Total: $930.81
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-09-02 19:31 EDT-0400

- Decided to just spend the extra money and go Intel CPU over AMD
- will get a SSD later down the road
- right now I'm liking the r9 280x over gtx 770/760 even though the motherboard says it's SLI-ready
- I already have the HAF 912 case so I will use that
- according to my research the 600w supply should be enough

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

I'd be weary of that WD HDD. I was going to pick one up and then i saw the failure rate is stupidly high. Hitachi HDD's have the best failure rates so it may be worth the price increase to pick one up.

Also, i'd think long and hard about skipping the SSD. I didn't realize how much of a performance increase it really is until i put one into my work computer. Now im considering putting a SSD in both my home computers as well. At this point, they're pretty cheap. You might spend $100-$150 on a decent 240GB SSD, but the extra $$$ is well worth it imo.

I'd love to see where you got your info on WD drives having "stupidly high" failure rates.

Hitachi has slightly lower failure rates, but WD is not "stupidly high."

I put this in my new work build and am strongly considering putting it in my two home machines too.

http://www.amazon.com/Kingston-Hyper.../dp/B007R67FTY

I'd have to find it again, but it was at around a 25% failure rate after two years, compared to the Hitachi that i picked up that was around 5%. Maybe it's a model specific thing, idk, but im guessing that HDD that he picked out was the cheapest 1TB he could find....which was the same one i initially picked out.

WD owns Hitachi.

https://www.backblaze.com/blog/wp-co...s-by-month.jpg

Ahhhh that's what it was, Seagate. I was thinking of a Seagate drive, my fault. Thanks.

Really not much to say about that build, it's pretty solid.

The only thing I would do would be to get rid of that memory and get memory with low profile heat sinks. With that CPU cooler you will either have to get new memory or get a new fan if you ever decide to add more memory.

Yeah I probably get this ram instead
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0037TO5C0/...XRA4HNU7&psc=1

http://www.amazon.com/BenQ-GW2750HM-...7+inch+monitor

ordered that monitor over the weekend. I bought it because im addicted to Street Fighter IV and its one of the best monitors for lag input. All the big Fighting game Tournaments use BenQ monitors. I cant wait for mine to come in. This old 19 inch doesnt cut it. the resolution is ass.


a good website for lag input or display lag.... it matters in games especially twitch based games.....

http://www.displaylag.com/display-database/

I can't echo this enough. The performance increase is staggering, especially when you do a side-by-side. Spend the extra dough - it's worth it in the end. Currently rocking a Samsung 500gb SSD that kicks so much ass.

At the very least, pick up a cheap 128 SSD and put your OS and Steam on it.

Alright you a-holes convinced me, picked up this 250 GB SSD
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00E3W1726?pldnSite=1

Alright one little inquiry, suppose I have accumulated all those parts except the GPU. I do have an old HD7750 on my old PC, I can probably use that as a very temporary fill-in just so I can get everything setup right?

You don't need a dedicated GPU to set it up. The processor has integrated graphics. But its all the same connectors so if you want to put it in there just to play a couple games then go for it.

Something was wrong with my computer playing games, it would lag to hell in back, like the FPS was really low. I had to reformat. I dont know if i or someone picked up a virus or malware or what.

So, now i get to download all the games over again. Fresh installs dont take as long as they used too. Back in the days you would be up all ****ing night reformatting and reinstalling everything.

At least im downloading at 10.5 MB/s now days. lol I think comcast upped my MB to 100.

"edit"

Yep, Comcast upped their bandwidth for free.

http://www.speedtest.net/result/3739554376.png

I didnt realize how much better a game looks when you get a pretty decent gaming monitor.


Tomb Raider looks even better then before. wow

I'd like to get a 144Hz monitor, but I can't justify paying the $300 for one.

I got the BenQ 27 inch for 205 bucks on Amazon. Its amazing. I bought it because the Lag input on the monitor is one of the lowest out there today. You need it for Fighting Games. Nothing like pressing a button and waiting for something to happening a half a second later. lol Plus BenQ monitors are used in alot of gaming tournaments. Great affordable monitors.

Got a link?

I'd be shocked if its a 144hz monitor. I'm betting it's more around 75.

http://www.amazon.com/BenQ-GW2750HM-...ds=gw2750+benq


Wow price went up. I got it for 205. I paid 225 total with tax.

I just bought a 144hz monitor for $300. It is amazing. I think it's an Asus.

yeah, i didnt get a 144hz, because i play fighting games and i need the lag input as the lowest possible. That was my biggest concern. The monitor i got is beautiful and its very responsive for what i need it for.


http://www.displaylag.com/ is a great site for that. The display lag for the one i got is 11ms. best ones are 10ms, I also wanted a 27 inch as opposed to a 24 inch for 1MS. lol

My monitor is 144hz and 1 ms response time. But it is 24".

there is no 1ms for lag input, the best is 9 that i have seen.

http://www.displaylag.com/asus-pb287q-review/


That 4K 650 dollar Asus which says 1MS as well, but when they did the actual test it turns out to be 10.5ms of input lag. They do say its the fastest 4K they have tested though.

This is mine. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16824236313

Samsung 840 EVO 250 GB SSD for $110. Hurry! Just picked one up. My first SSD.

http://m.ebay.com/itm?itemId=301253780930

That's over $200 and the link in my last post is for $110 for the same item. Try to get a price match from Amazon.

??? that link says $119.

Oh my bad. The 0 is right next to the 9 on my phone and I have fat fingers. Still a hell of a deal.

Edit: no, it's $110.

Just bought a 780 and a new PSU (750W) I hope the PSU is good enough. Finally about to be able to run any game in Ultra.

I hope my i5-4690K doesn't bottleneck the 780.

It will not, and your PSU willb e fine as long as its reputable brand.

And you cant run everything in Ultra :P

Overclock it

Over clock my CPU or GPU?

My CPU is over clocked from 3.6 to 4.0 and I have no idea how to over clock a GPU.

I still want to build a rig simply to run MS Flight Simulator FSX. something powerful enough where I can fly it how it should be flown w/out fear of locking up the computer.

I want to do this very badly sooner than later. no idea what it would cost though.

It will cost a lot. Those plane simulator machines are expensive from what I've read.

well crap. that sucks.

I was hoping I could max out my value on like $600-800 budget or thereabouts.

You should be able to push your CPU to 4.5 easily with a decent cooler, probably higher.

EVGA Precision and MSI Afterburner are utilities that can be used to tune Nvidia cards. Check the HardOCP forums for specific settings for you card.

I OC'd it to 4.4 when I first got It and got BSOD so I'm just playing it safe.

You prob wont need to OC GPU unless you just want to push it. I can walk you through it on teamspeak and it can be done in real time. Very easy.

Which 780 did you get?

And don't worry about your CPU, nothing is maxing it out except games that run like shit no matter what you do. (aka DayZ)

Should be here Sunday.

Gigabyte GTX780 GDDR5-3GB 2xDVI/HDMI/DP OC Graphics Card GV-N780OC-3GD REV2.0 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00E9M4QUA..._-e3eub1BQMKCR

Its already factory overclocked, let it rock as is. Overclocking your GPU will get you a few extra frames but in general, unless you NEED the gpu power to get an acceptable frame rate, you wont notice a whole lot of real world difference.

As long as I'm getting 60 steady I don't see any reason to. Unless more is better on a 144 Hz screen.

More IS better on a 144hz screen. But overclocking and jumping up 2 or even 10 frames isn't going to make much real life difference.

144HZ means your max usable framerate is now 144 :D

DOesnt the human eye cap out at 60 fps or was it 40?

Good thing that I'm not displaying the games on my eyes.

but if its anything over 60fps, the eye cant tell a ****ing difference thats what i was trying to say. So, if something is say 100fps and your eyes registering only 60 of that, getting above that is just because you can?

nm.

That's not how it works.

Uh **** no. Total 100% fallacy bullshit that console kids like to say because they are mad.

http://i.imgur.com/2CCb60k.gif

http://simplepimple.com/wp-content/u...013/12/fps.gif

http://www.logicalincrements.com/gam...comparison.gif

These illustrate the difference in frame rate. The human eye can measurably see upwards of 1000 FPS.

Real life is infinite FPS, think about that shit for a second.

http://ampp3d.mirror.co.uk/wp-conten...Explosions.gif

lol, alright, maybe it doesnt, i dunno. Ill have to look into it more to see how it actually works.

780 arrived today. Thing is a beast. SSD arrives tomorrow.

I finally for the first time have a high end PC. Love it.

Anybody know anything about the Chromebooks?

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2412006,00.asp

I just need something for my teenage daughter to write papers on and do research. At 250 it seems like a steal.

hey me too, high five. My parts are coming soon and it should be done in about a week from now. The hardest part is deciding which games to check out first. I'm thinking Tomb Raider, Metro LL, Witcher 2, Dirt3, Skyrim+mods and maybe Dark Souls because I've never played it above 25 fps.