Posts by cosmicbadger25

Benjamin King2 said:You’re better off grabbing a decent 23" monitor than some absolute garbage 24":

Finding a reliable 24" display for $433 is basically a fool's errand—you can find the exact same specs in a 24" version, but it'll set you back nearly $533:

I'm with you on that. Anything under $500 isn't going to get you a quality 24'' screen.

A buddy of mine mentioned today that I should probably just hold off for a bit—suggesting it might be smarter to wait for the radeon r9 280 to hit the shelves here in the States.
It shouldn't end up being much more expensive, and it’s supposed to outclass both the gtx 760 and the r9 270 x.

David Sanders4 said:Look, if Mantle ever actually becomes a thing—which is anyone's guess—hardware will probably shift again within a generation anyway. I’d only grab a gtx760 if you specifically wanted to mess around with hardware physX, which shows up in maybe ten titles—Metro, Batman, that sort of stuff. Honestly, the gtx760 is slightly better than an r9 270 x, but nothing life-changing; they'll both perform pretty much the same in Crysis 3. The r9 270 x is more in line with a GTX 660 performance-wise, and they sit in the same price bracket. The GTX 660 Ti is a total rip-off right now,
so you won't really make a huge mistake with whatever you pick in the short term—and by short term, I mean maybe 18 months tops. For anything longer than that, any card in the $500 range, roughly $100+/- , should hold its own for a while. Just try to get through this period as cheaply as possible—maybe find a used GTX 660 or an HD 7870/7850 if you can snag one for under 1000/$267

Alright, thanks for the input..

I never buy used gear—my last card was a 7850, so I'm not looking to repeat that experience.
Maybe I'll just go with the Dual-X OC Sapphireov Sapphire r9 270 x dual x. I heard it comes bundled with the original Battlefield 4, so I might try to flip the game for half the retail price and squeeze out a little profit.😉

crimsonstag84 said:You could always grab the MSI gaming version—it’s got an extra year of warranty and a slightly beefier cooler than the Dual-X OC Sapphireov model.

I’ve been doing some digging online regarding the whole gtx 760 vs r9 270 x. debate.
Some people are insisting the gtx 760 is the smarter play since it's faster right now, while others argue that going with the Radeon might be better in the long run—apparently, once Mantle rolls out, it could give a massive 40% performance boost, potentially leaving NVIDIA in the dust.

Looks like I’m finally pulling the trigger on the r9 270 x.
I'm leaning toward a Sapphire model—but since they have three different versions floating around—toxic, vapor-x, and dual-x—I’m wondering what the actual breakdown is between them?
Some of them come with more than 2GB of VRAM, and I'm not sure if that's actually worth obsessing over, so besides the cooling setups, what else is actually different?

Yeah, I definitely need to sit down, look over everything, and really chew on this for a bit before making any moves. Thanks for the help and the advice, everyone.

Timothy Kim60 said:I haven't heard much about the R7 265X—well, I know this one—it’s basically just a rebranded HD7850, whereas your r9 270 is a rebranded HD7870, which makes it the stronger card. It really just comes down to what the 265 ends up costing, though my gut says at least $367. You should probably dig through a few reviews
.
Here’s the cheapest model I could find (it's a
Sapphirehttp://www.diskont24.com/product.php?productid=132800
).
You can grab the Twin Frozr version here .
Check out this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLQrZseRlew.

And here's the X version

I'm watching the video right now, and honestly, the performance is almost neck-and-neck with the GTX 760. But it's way cheaper. Interesting enough, I guess.

Yeah, that r9 looks pretty solid too. You guys definitely gave me some food for thought here. 🙂

Honestly, worrying about the response time on an IPS panel is pretty much a waste of energy. You’re looking at high-quality tech here—ghosting isn't really going to be an issue for you.
It really just comes down to what you're into, though I actually picked up a Samsung 24'' for a buddy a couple of weeks back, and I'm planning to grab one for myself soon enough.
It uses a PLS panel, which is basically just Samsung's take on IPS technology.
I’ve been using it lately, and I have to say, it’s solid.
Whether you're gaming, watching movies, or whatever else.
The price over at Best Buy is pretty much even $500.
The model is the Samsung LED S24B350TL

Maybe try a different port or some other connection method besides HDMI.
In those situations, people usually end up fixing similar HDMI headaches just by running a quick update on their TV's firmware.

Timothy Kim60 said:if you look at it from that angle, the r9 270 is a total steal

say, once this actually hits the shelves here in the States

the price point and the cooling setup are top-tier

Isn't that roughly in the same ballpark as this R7 265x they're offering?
How much faster is it really compared to the 265x?

crimsonstag84 said:Even if he uses a credit card, buying from local shops here in the US with delivery would probably end up being cheaper anyway.😁

EDIT: By the way, I saw what you're planning to pick up:
PSU : XFX 650W XTR
MBO: GIGABYTE GA-970A-DS3P
Cpu : FX 6300
CPU COOLER : ARCTIC COOLING Freezer Xtreme
MEM: GSKILL 8gb RIPJAW
GPU : SAPPHIRE R7 265X 2GB ( COMING SOON )
HARD: SEAGATE 2TB
CASE: COOLERMASTER CM690 III

There’s really no point in buying from Best Buy—even on credit—and if you're getting the R7 265, it pulls less power than the GTX 760... that cooler isn't anything special, and honestly, the case is overkill.

I don't get why you're saying that cooler isn't much—I've checked reviews and everyone raves about how quiet it is and how well it cools. And why would that case be unnecessary? It's actually great for airflow, plenty of room, and perfect for cable management.

Timothy Kim60 said:if you're just sticking to a single GPU, why bother with a power supply over $267—not like you can even find one easily anyway

btw if you're paying cash, there are always cheaper shops out there

It should be back in stock soon, or at least by the time I go to grab it—and besides, an 80 Plus Gold modular unit isn't exactly cheap, from what I hear.
I'm looking at this long-term, really—I want a PSU that lasts me several years, rather than buying something cheap now only to have to swap the whole thing out in three years when I eventually pick up another card.
Since I'll be using my credit card here in the States, I might as well invest in something decent now and spread the cost out.
My last build had this annoying freezing issue—I ended up RMAing parts here and there just trying to pin down which component was acting up.
Eventually, a friend of mine picked up that machine, and right now it's sitting at Best Buy for diagnostics; everything is brand new and under warranty, so I honestly have no clue why it keeps freezing.
Anyway, to avoid running into the same headache again, I'm not going to just order through some random online webstore. If anything, I'll probably pay these guys to assemble it for me—that way, I get free diagnostics if things go south later on.

David Sanders4 said:Look, you grab a GTX 760 right now—maybe find one with a decent warranty—and then in two years, you flip it. I’d bet you could pull back maybe 50-60% of what you paid. Take that extra cash you would've dumped into a GTX 770 and just set it aside. When the time comes to sell the old GTX 760, add that savings to the pile, and honestly, you probably won't even have to dig into your own pocket for a GTX 770—or better yet, you can snag a used one that's only been out for six months to a year. Or, you just jump to the next generation, like an 8-series or 9-series, which will likely sip about 20-30% less power and run 10-15 degrees cooler while delivering similar or even better performance...

You're not wrong. From the tech sites I've been browsing, some people are arguing that upgrading to a 770 over a 760 isn't even worth the headache since you're only looking at maybe 10 extra FPS.

crimsonstag84 said:So this one—it’s basically just the XTR without any modularity 🙂--which isn't really my thing.

I think I'll just stick with this one though, since I actually need a fully modular setup🙂--cable management matters, after all.

crimsonstag84 said:Regarding CF/SLI:
I was looking at this EVGA 620W unit online—just browsing, nothing serious—and it got me thinking about how much we overcomplicate power supplies these days. You see people stressing over every single watt like they’re planning a mission to Mars, when really, most of us just need something that won't catch fire during a long session. It’s one of those things where you either go cheap and pray, or you spend a fortune on a brand name just because the box looks professional. Honestly, it's all a bit much sometimes.

Just for one graphics card:

Personally, I wouldn't touch SLI with a ten-foot pole—the CPU bottlenecking alone would be a nightmare. You’d end up having to overclock the thing to 4.5GHz just to keep things moving, which is a whole other headache. Honestly, I'd rather just hold out for a GTX 960 in about two years or so. 😉

Yeah, honestly—if I’m skipping the SLI setup entirely—I’d probably just end up grabbing either that Silverstone unit or, if you’re actually looking for top-tier efficiency and build quality, one of these:
I was looking through some gear listings today—just browsing, nothing serious—and stumbled upon this 550W Gold unit. It’s one of those components that people usually overlook until their entire rig decides to take a permanent nap mid-game. You know the feeling—everything's running fine, you're right in the middle of something important, and then suddenly, just silence. It's a mood. Anyway, I thought I'd drop the link here for anyone currently staring at a dying power supply or trying to figure out if they can actually squeeze a bit more juice out of their current setup without everything catching fire. Nothing revolutionary, just a solid option if you need to stay in the green.

Then I guess I'm skipping the SLI setup altogether. Honestly, a single GTX 770 should be more than enough to handle everything on ultra settings—no need to overcomplicate things. 🙂
The shop I use for my PC builds doesn't carry any Seasonic—so I guess an XFX unit will have to do.

Timothy Kim60 said:They’re just making noise at this point—completely irrelevant, honestly. Just a bunch of nothing

Reviewers always include the total system power draw under full load when they're testing GPUs
For instance, a GTX 760 SLI setup compared to others peaks at about 449 watts, using an Intel Core i7 3960X (which pulls 130w). With others running overclocked versions of the card, you hit 478w in FurMark—though it’s likely less during actual gaming—paired with an i7-3770K @ 4.0 GHz. You basically just need to make sure your PSU can handle that much on the 12V rail—and ideally have some breathing room left over, then you're set.

And obviously, you want a decent power supply—look for a solid brand, check those 80+ certifications, read the reviews, and all that stuff.
Basically, SLI could probably run on a 550W unit, so a 650W would be more than enough.



The thing is, SLI isn't really my thing—you're almost always better off just getting one stronger card.

I'll have to look into it later, but I remember reading somewhere that dual GTX 760s actually outperform a single GTX 780.
But yeah, they definitely pull way more juice.🙂

David Sanders4 said:Hard drives pull maybe up to 5W, same goes for SSDs, optical drives, fans, all that stuff... just try to swap out the AMD FX 6300 for an AMD FX 8320, or maybe ditch the GTX 760 for something like an R9 270X which might be $200--$100 cheaper if you don't actually need those specific extra features. But an FX chip is going to demand its own dedicated fan, which adds another $100--$67 to the bill, at which point you might as well look into an Intel Core i5 3350P or an i5 4440. As for power supplies, there isn't much of a gap between 550W and 650W—maybe $70--$33 difference—compared to jumping from 650W to 750W. You won't be losing a massive amount of cash there.

I still have to piece everything together and figure out the exact component list. I was originally leaning toward the AMD FX 8320, but a buddy told me it's a waste of time since the performance jump over the AMD FX 6300 isn't really worth the headache. Besides, I've used his rig with the AMD FX 6300 before and it didn't seem like it was running that hot.
I'm staying away from Intel because I'm a die-hard AMD enthusiast🙂

Alright then. I’m sticking with the XFX 650W XTR. Appreciate the deep dive on this—it was helpful.

So, a buddy of mine gave me some bad advice—told me I should be factoring in the hard drives and the optical drive too. My bad. Anyway, if I went with this AMD FX 6300 paired with a GTX 760... say, if I decided to slap another identical card in there in about a year, would a 650W power supply actually cut it? Or am I just asking for trouble?