Posts by vividtiger3

Alright, thanks for the heads-up. I’m gonna shoot some inquiries over to Future and ADM to see who gives me a better deal, then I'll weigh them against each other. Any chance you guys could also give me a hand with peripherals? Like, what’s actually worth the money when it comes to keyboards, mice, speakers, and stuff like that?

I went ahead and did some digging to compare everything side-by-side. When you look at the power supply, motherboard, cooler, and case, the price gap between the Microsoft and Dell builds is basically peanuts. It’s such a tiny difference that it won't move the needle on the total cost, so I'm just going to grab the higher-quality parts—no point stressing over those pennies. Honestly, the ENIAC looks way better aesthetically than the Z3 anyway, so I was already leaning toward making that swap. The real price drivers are the beefier NVIDIA card and the larger monitor. I'm pretty much set on that 24" Samsung they suggested; from what I've read online, that IPv6 tech makes the picture quality pop. You can see everything clearly from any angle. Sure, ViewSonic has a 27" option, but it lacks the IPv6. I'd probably skip the ASUS stuff entirely.
The biggest headache right now is the GPU. Yeah, I'm pulling the trigger on an Radeon R9 280X, but I'm stuck wondering if it's actually worth dropping $0.90 extra for the ASUS R9280X-DC2T. It's sitting at $67 more than the XFX or Sapphire versions. Plus, the XFX R9-290A-ENFC is only $117 more.
I checked prices at both Future and AMD, and they’re basically identical, except AMD doesn't carry that EVGA power supply. The massive outlier is that ASUS motherboard; it's $202 at AMD, but it'll run you $67 more over at Future!

graniteharbor85 said:Look, you’ve got a solid budget here, so I don't get why you're settling for cheap parts. Plus, availability at other shops has leveled up lately. From what I can see, Adm doesn't even have the Vapor anymore, just that standard Dual-X 280-tku which runs pretty loud compared to the pricier Asus, which actually comes with a better warranty.

Bottom line? My take is you build this setup using slightly higher-end, better components to bump up that warranty coverage:

FX 8320
ENERMAX ETS T40 WHITE CLUSTER
ASUS M5A97 R2.0 EVO
PATRIOT VIPER 2X4 GB 1600 MHZ (8GB)
KINGSTON V300 120 GB SSD
WD BLUE 1TB SATA 3
ASUS R9 280X 3GB DC2T
LG 24
SEASONIC SS 550G 80+ GOLD
ZALMAN Z5 PLUS

BENQ 27" VA LED or LG 24" IPS or ASUS 24"

$9.5k - including assembly and shipping from Best Buy

The upgrades:
- cooler (better overclocking potential, quieter operation)
- motherboard: way less noise, cleaner BIOS, tons of features with the 990 chipset, more stability at high clock speeds
- quieter GPU, better warranty, better OC ceiling
- case looks better and offers more room, though the internal specs are basically the same
- power supply - no need to go on about Seasonic's G series because it's basically perfect in every way
- suggested monitors are an upgrade given the budget

Wait, how does Adm not have the Vapor? And out of these monitors, only one is an IPS, so how are they "higher quality"?
Alright, fine, we bumped the price from $8.5k to $9.5k—that's roughly an 11% jump. But did we actually improve the quality of the rig by that much?

So, I finally pulled the trigger on this build:

AMD
1 x DDR3 8GB (2x4GB) Kingston, HyperX Blue, 1600MHz, CL9
1 x Sapphire R9 280X 3GB VAPOR-X OC, 3GB GDDR5 384bit, 28nm, 2xDVI
1 x Kingston SSD 120GB V300, 2.5" 7mm, SATA 3 6G, 7mm to 9.5mm
1 x HDD WD 1TB, Caviar Blue 10EZEX, 1000 GB, SATA3,64 MB, 3,5", 24mj
1 x AMD Radeon RX series 80+ 550W PSU - EasyRail technology
1 x ASUS DRW-24F1ST/BLK/B/AS SATA, DVD-R 24x, DVD-RW 6x, DVD+R 24x
1 x Zalman Z3 PLUS mid tower case. 192(W)x465(H)x430(D)mm. MB standa
1 x Noctua NH-D15 Evo,2011,1366/1156/775/AM3/ 626g,13-32dB
1 x LG 23EA63V-P, 23", 16:9, 1920x1080, IPS matrica, 250 cd/m2
1 x Gigabyte 990XA-UD3, AM3+, AMD 990X SB950, 4x DDR3
1 x Procesor AMD FX-Series X8 8320 3.5GHz,16MB,125W,AM3+, FD8320FRHK

Anyone know if I can score a better deal than Micro Center? I'm looking to grab this with cash in hand. Someone mentioned Best Buy might have something?

Alright, let's see what we're working with. What's the verdict on this combo of speakers, mouse, and keyboard:

or maybe

I'm looking to pick up some peripherals to go along with my new rig, so I wanted to see what you guys recommend. Should I stick with wired gear or go wireless? Also, is the wireless signal actually strong enough if the tower is tucked under my desk a bit far away? And how bad is the battery life on these things?

Timothy Kim60 said:Nah. Those desktop cards crush them. A GeForce GTX 970M (for laptops) is way weaker than a standard GTX 770. It used to sit somewhere around the $333 tier for desktops. Honestly, buying expensive laptops for serious gaming is a bad move. You’re getting way less performance for the same amount of cash, plus you've got a tiny screen and all that.

Unless you absolutely need mobility, that's it.

And I just realized those GPUs aren't even in the same league. How much weaker is the R9 280X compared to the R9 290? Is it actually worth dropping $167 more for the difference?

So I’m sitting here thinking... check out this laptop:

Isn't this actually a better call than building a desktop rig? To me, it looks like it hits all the same marks as those desktop setups, plus the cooling setup seems killer. What's the verdict?

Now that you guys have finally dealt with cosmicseal98, I guess it's my turn to start bugging you 😁
So look, I’m looking for basically the same setup he had, except I also need a monitor thrown into the mix. If anyone could drop some advice, that would be huge. Looking to keep the whole thing around $3.25. I'm trying to find a "best buy" kind of build where everything actually works together without any headaches, but honestly, I'm a total amateur when it comes to this stuff 😁 Thanks in advance

Found dead, leaving behind $7 million in gold and cold hard cash stashed in his garage

I’m betting there are plenty of folks on this board who have the exact kind of "potential" to pull something like this off 😁