Help Echo build a PC.

[Treewyrm]

Got a feeling Freesync/G-Sync nonsense will go on for a while, unfortunately. Not to shun the technology there or the benefits, it is pretty good having seen G-Sync demo myself, but the way companies go about them - eh, I'd rather not and decided not to pony up for that stuff. For now I remain happy with my dual dell u2410 ips display setup, and it'll be a while we'll see some decent ips displays with either variable refresh rate tech, or better yet just one standard and certification to be compatible with both amd/nvidia to replace that vendor-specific nonsense.

Well, some folks run surround setup with 3+ displays. Not my kind of thing though.

[Croft]

I might suggest putting a standard HDD on there to hold non-performance dependent programs and files (word processors, text files, photos etc)

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Jimmy The Rat | Croft's Feedback | The Rat Pack

[Echo 7-7]

What if I want to run multiple monitors in the future though?

Buy single 34" ultra wide screen and use it only for gaming, if you need second monitor for work find something suitable at same hight.

However I personally would not consider buying one now- may be in 2-3 years time when both Nvidia and AMD GPUs fix screen tearing and all game developers adopt the standard. Currently little to no games support it and it is AMD only thing, the technology is called AMD FreeSync. 4k ultrawide mass gaming is still in theorycafting. It could be good idea after 3-4 years when you retire the PC that you build now.

Personally I cannot see any real benefit for multi-monitor for gaming while I do work on 2 old 19" and laptop 15,6 when I need to do a lot of spreadsheets. I game on 24" and it suits me perfectly for now.

Most of the games are not optimised for multi-monitor setup and I find the edges of monitors kinda annoying and it is huge dealbreaker for me.

It'd be mainly for work/productivity stuff, 2 screens for gaming seems terrible.

Got a feeling Freesync/G-Sync nonsense will go on for a while, unfortunately. Not to shun the technology there or the benefits, it is pretty good having seen G-Sync demo myself, but the way companies go about them - eh, I'd rather not and decided not to pony up for that stuff. For now I remain happy with my dual dell u2410 ips display setup, and it'll be a while we'll see some decent ips displays with either variable refresh rate tech, or better yet just one standard and certification to be compatible with both amd/nvidia to replace that vendor-specific nonsense.

Well, some folks run surround setup with 3+ displays. Not my kind of thing though.

Buying a new desk isn't in my budget... hell, neither is a second or third screen.

I might suggest putting a standard HDD on there to hold non-performance dependent programs and files (word processors, text files, photos etc)

I have most of my media either on my laptop or external HDD, which will suffice for a little while, unless I can get a HDD at a good price... I'd want a 1/2TB though.

[Govedo13]

About Storage HDDs I can reccomend the WD Black series, I got 2x 1TB since 3 years and they have seen a lot of abuse, still they run perfect.

I also burned 2 WD black 2,5s on my working laptop till i figured out that laptop mobo was faulty they replaced them both with 3rd via RMA service even if I had little to no hope when the second brand new burned 3 months after installing.

TLDR WD is the place to shop HDDs.

[aakopa]

I would get 290x over 970, what resolution are you going to play at btw?
The last 0.5GB of memory in 970 is like 1/7 in speed compared to rest of the ram. This can be seen example in heavily modded Skyrim.

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[Echo 7-7]

About Storage HDDs I can reccomend the WD Black series, I got 2x 1TB since 3 years and they have seen a lot of abuse, still they run perfect.

I also burned 2 WD black 2,5s on my working laptop till i figured out that laptop mobo was faulty they replaced them both with 3rd via RMA service even if I had little to no hope when the second brand new burned 3 months after installing.

TLDR WD is the place to shop HDDs.

My external is from WD and it has served me well (granted it doesn't see very heavy use).

I would get 290x over 970, what resolution are you going to play at btw?
The last 0.5GB of memory in 970 is like 1/7 in speed compared to rest of the ram. This can be seen example in heavily modded Skyrim.

Res? No idea, haven't looked at monitors yet. A nice 24" screen could be good. It depends on what fits the budget.

[Echo 7-7]

Echo's build Mk 1.

I've tried to get a decent balance of cost versus performance. On the plus side, everything except the PSU and optical drive are available locally, and the cost of buying locally isn't too much higher than shipping from the US.


Edit: Echo's build Mk 2. Swapped out the PSU and optical drive for similar items in stock locally. Because the USD to AUD exchange rate is sheer murder I have decided to buy everything here; prices after international shipping costs make the difference not worth the extra hassle.


Edit 2: Build Mk 3. Swapped HDDs for a faster model.

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There was a sig here, once.

[SMGSterlin]

Looking pretty good, but I would suggest trying to upgrade that processor to a 6 core with about the same speed.

I know you started by saying you wanted to keep it under $1500 or there about, and you're already a few hundred over that, but I think you'll be thankful later for shelling out another $100 or so to upgrade that to a 6 core.

Take a look at this one, just all-around better specs, and I think the upgraded performance will be worth the extra $70-80 in a couple years, when 6 core is standard and people are moving on to 8 core or 10 core 4.0 GHz CPU's...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6819117402

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[Treewyrm]

@Echo: Final build is really good for the money, well-balanced. Crucial is a fine SSD brand too, although if you're willing to get a little bit more a good alternative would be evo 850. Other than that nothing to note. Some might start moaning about gtx 970 last .5gb memory issues, and while that is true the problem, as in your likelihood of actually running it outside special benchmarks, is blown out of proportion. Just understand that in reality you're buying a 3.5gb vram card, not 4gb as it is advertised. It'll be nice and also pretty quiet build too.

@SMGSterlin: He'll not be able to use your suggested CPU since it's LGA 2011-v3 socket versus his motherboard being LGA 1150, they are physically incompatible. And were he to change motherboard too he'd have to use DDR4 because Haswell-E platform requires that too. Frankly, you ought to know that before making PC hardware advice of any kind. And even if he were to swap all those required components for 5820K he'd gain no benefit but would spend quite more than just extra hundred bucks over.

[Echo 7-7]

Looking pretty good, but I would suggest trying to upgrade that processor to a 6 core with about the same speed.

I know you started by saying you wanted to keep it under $1500 or there about, and you're already a few hundred over that, but I think you'll be thankful later for shelling out another $100 or so to upgrade that to a 6 core.

Take a look at this one, just all-around better specs, and I think the upgraded performance will be worth the extra $70-80 in a couple years, when 6 core is standard and people are moving on to 8 core or 10 core 4.0 GHz CPU's...

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as...6819117402

If I wanted a more powerful CPU I would've gone straight to an i7 quad-core. I have no use for a hex-core.
(Also, what Treewyrm said.)

@Echo: Final build is really good for the money, well-balanced. Crucial is a fine SSD brand too, although if you're willing to get a little bit more a good alternative would be evo 850. Other than that nothing to note. Some might start moaning about gtx 970 last .5gb memory issues, and while that is true the problem, as in your likelihood of actually running it outside special benchmarks, is blown out of proportion. Just understand that in reality you're buying a 3.5gb vram card, not 4gb as it is advertised. It'll be nice and also pretty quiet build too.
...

Other friends convinced me to upgrade my CPU cooler (for overclocking of course), so I had to grab the larger Noctua so that it'd actually fit the chosen RAM. Still a bit more expensive but I'm feeling happy about the build. However, it is approaching a necessary hard cap if I want enough money left over to buy a monitor - for which I will buy something on sale, it's a bit tricky to find them on the internet. So, I really don't have a dollar spare to upgrade the SSD, but the case has loads of room to expand if I so choose (did someone say 8 HDD bays and 2 SSD bays?).


Build Mk-Final-I-swear-because-I'll-run-out-of-money.