Posts by Anthony Hayes82

What do you think about grabbing this one instead of that AMD card:

I wouldn't bother going above $1167 right now. I can't really drop a ton of cash at the moment, but I need something functional just to get this game running. If Elvis Presley doesn't drop a patch soon, I'll have to scramble within the month to find a budget rig that actually works, like I mentioned before.

My current setup is a laptop with dual graphics, and it’s pretty obvious Elvis Presley messed up the optimization for setups like mine. They clearly didn't account for this kind of configuration, which is why so many of us are stuck in this loop where the game refuses to launch unless we force it to run on the weak integrated graphics from the CPU. Honestly, if the game actually worked on this laptop with an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060, I’m sure I could handle playing on low settings without any issues.

Is it actually possible to put together an even cheaper rig just to get GTA V running? I’m talking strictly on low settings—I don't care if I have to play at a resolution like 640x480, as long as the FPS stays stable.
I'm only looking at the CPU, motherboard, GPU, RAM, and power supply.

Overclocking is a massive headache and a total time sink. You bump up the frequency by a tiny fraction and spend half an hour testing stability, then you nudge it up just a bit more and test again. Once things start crashing, you tweak the voltage by a decimal point and restart the whole cycle. It’s a tedious loop.
That’s why I’ve always been a fan of the way Asus handles their mainstream boards—they feature 5way-optimization, which basically automates the entire overclocking and testing process. They’re incredible, they just cost way too much for what most people actually need.

Alright then, I'll see you guys in about 6 or 7 months—maybe sooner, depending on how things shake out with work.

Alright, maybe we'll touch base again in about six or seven months, if not sooner. 🙂

I’m looking at a six-month wait because I just don't have the cash sitting around right now. My paycheck is pretty thin, and I really want to upgrade to a beefier rig.
What’s the deal with the case? Honestly, it doesn't have to be anything fancy—any decent mid-tower will do—as long as the airflow is optimized and there are dust filters on the intake. It’s easy for people living in places like Siberia to just shove everything into a completely sealed case and call it a day. But here in my apartment, it can hit 90 degrees out, and I’m the one sweating, let alone a processor hitting 75°C or a GPU. My only real option would be to buy an AC unit and aim it directly at the PC, but that’s a terrible idea for both my health and the hardware.
This build list is basically just me winging it. I'm trying to hit the mark, but I keep missing because I’m still learning the ropes. If you don't experiment, you don't learn. Once I finally scrape enough money together, I’ll reach out to the pros here to get their take on the upcoming components. It doesn't necessarily have to be Haswell; it could be Broadwell if a solid chip drops in the next few months. Since I value quality above all else, I’d probably lean toward Intel over AMD, even if it costs a bit more. The one thing I feel confident choosing on my own is the case.

Forget DDR4, we're talking DDR3 here. There aren't even that many motherboards out there that support DDR4 yet.

Let’s try this: why don't you just list out a full set of components from scratch? Start with the case and work your way up, then post them all right here. I’ll take that list and try to piece together my own custom build without going overboard. My goal isn't just to put a PC together; I actually want to learn how everything fits. Honestly, I know I'm basically daydreaming at this point, but it would be awesome if I could make at least part of this vision a reality.

EDIT: What do you think about this setup...

-Fractal design Define R5 Black Pearl - Fractal
-Integra R2 500 w - Kingston Technology HyperX Fury SSD 120 GB - Kingston Technology HyperX Fury Memory White 8
-Kingston Technology HyperX Fury SSD 120GB
-Kingston Technology HyperX Fury Memory White 8GB
-be quiet! Pure Rock CPU cooler
-ASUS Z97-P
-Intel Core i5-4440
-ASUS R9 270 2Gb

Checking Best Buy ~$2166

That's the plan for now. If I can save up roughly that much over the next six months, I'll obviously buy whatever parts are on sale at that time—assuming the US Dollar doesn't skyrocket out of control first.

At that price point, I honestly think I'm better off just picking up a pre-built rig.

No way... 🙂 I’d probably just stick with an i5 in there.
What's wrong with the Hero? Sure, it's built specifically for overclocking, but it looks great and it's solid for gaming. Honestly, one of the things I really dig about newer Asus boards is the software—stuff like Fan Expert, 5-way optimization, and all that.
I'm not really the type who wants to be digging through BIOS settings just to tweak a fan curve, set up an XMP profile for my RAM (assuming the CPU can handle it), or try to find that sweet spot between power draw, performance, and heat...

Timothy Kim60 said:You can definitely build it piece by piece as you go. For example, you could grab a case first to act as your foundation, then get the power supply and drop it in, then move on to the CPU, motherboard, and RAM combo...
It’s kind of a waste to buy a part if it’s just going to sit on a shelf for six months.

That’s exactly my plan—just chipping away at it month by month, buying parts and installing them immediately. Like, I'll pick up a case in month one, the motherboard in month two, the CPU in month three, and maybe the power supply plus some budget RAM in month four. Since I don't have any old DDR3 modules lying around, I'll just pull an old hard drive out of my previous rig to tide me over. From there, it's just a steady climb: upgrading to a better GPU, adding an SSD, getting higher-capacity HDDs, or picking up faster, prettier RAM. Maybe a nicer cooler or some RGB lighting later on to spruce things up...

Since I can't put together a full system right now using a mix of cheap old parts and new stuff, I figured I'd start from scratch. I want to do this the enthusiast way—investing more into it so the final build actually looks great and performs well.
Right now, I've settled on two specific pieces: a matte black and red NZXT H440 case and an Asus Maximus VII Hero. Everything else is still up in the air. 🙂

What do you guys think about this strategy: buying one high-end component every month (like a CPU, GPU, motherboard, PSU, or case) while picking up a few budget items along the way (like HDDs, SSDs, or RAM)? I’m trying to gauge how much computer tech actually moves the needle in just a six-month window.
For instance, if I start with the processor, I'd go for something top-tier since it won't feel outdated in half a year.
But honestly, I'd probably grab the case first just so I have a place to actually put everything. 😁

It’s priced like it’s made of solid gold... 😁

Everything is set to low settings at 1366x768, but I'm still only getting about 18-29fps.

Yeah, my bad—I should've clarified that the HD 7870 we're talking about is a desktop card, whereas mine is actually a mobile version built for laptops. I totally glossed over that detail since I mentioned earlier that I’m playing on a laptop right now, mostly because it's the most powerful machine I currently have on hand. I actually have two desktop setups at home, but both of them are about half as powerful as this laptop. It's not really surprising, though; there's a seven-year gap between them... 😁

Honestly, I’m not too worried about the processor. With a Mobile I5 3230 m 2.6, you could probably run things decently well on medium settings.
The real bottleneck is that HD 7670 m 2 graphics card; if I look at the specs, it feels like it's actually sitting well below the minimum requirements.

On the flip side, I’ve seen people claiming they can run Far Cry on hardware like that, but I take those claims with a grain of salt. Either they're faking it, or they manage to get it running only to have the whole thing thermal throttle after 10 or 15 minutes. In a setup like that, I know the CPU can easily hit 90 degrees while the GPU climbs to 75 or higher, which is basically a danger zone for any laptop.

I’ve always been pretty obsessive about monitoring my temps. My rig has never really pushed past 80 degrees, except for a few brief spikes during intense scenes in games like WD, Batman Arkham Origins Titanfall, or BF4...

There’s already another thread dedicated solely to GTA. 😉
This space is strictly for talking about what kind of build you could put together—maybe for me, maybe for someone else—just to get this specific game running. Right now, my first priority is just waiting for the release so I can see if I can actually pull off smooth gameplay on low settings.
Honestly, if I managed to play Watch Dogs despite how poorly optimized it was, maybe Rockstar Games will actually show us some mercy and deliver a well-optimized title this time.

If it doesn't run, I'll have to figure out how to scrape enough cash together for a new rig without my parents finding out. I'm praying to Bog that since the weather is getting nicer, they'll be out of the house more often so I can sneakily receive deliveries without getting caught.

At this point, nothing else really matters to me except GTA. I know for a fact I'll be sinking countless hours into it for well over a year.

crimsonstag84 said:The G3258 just won't hold its own against an FX 6300/FX 8300 when you're running the heavy hitters.

Hey, I was browsing around online and it looked like the G3258 would actually pair pretty well with that Sapphire R9 280 3GB card you mentioned in your other build...

But what do you think about that other setup if I played it a bit leaner? Like, if I just grabbed 4GB of RAM to start with and paired it with an XFX R7 260 x 2GB, would that be enough to run something like Far Cry on low to medium settings? Since GTA isn't even out yet, we can't really tell how well optimized it’s going to be.

I'm thinking it might be smarter to invest in a better CPU and motherboard right away. Upgrading a GPU down the road is pretty straightforward, but everything else takes more work.

That second option crimsonstag84 posted.
I might try to talk them down on the price, too. Honestly, my main goal right now is just being able to get GTA V running, even if I have to stick to medium settings.
It feels like the XFX R7 260 x 2GB paired with an Intel Pentium G3580 and 6GB of RAM should be enough for decent gameplay. If I go that route, I’d probably just toss in a 120GB SSD to keep things snappy.