Posts by Benjamin Peterson5

Got it, makes sense. I guess that EVGA AMD Radeon R9 280 with the 3 GB GDDR5 would still get some use—though I probably won't be pushing it too hard. 🙂
Maybe a little gaming here and there, but nothing crazy... anyway, thanks for getting back to me.

If anyone here is already running a Fractal Design Define R4, I’m curious—how many fans can I pack in there before the noise level gets annoying?
It's just for basic web surfing, watching movies, and the occasional gaming session.

I'm looking at an i5 setup with an ASRock B85 Pro4, maybe two HDDs and one SSD at most.

Any advice on placement, brands, speed, or fan size would be appreciated.
Thanks in advance 🙂

Yeah, I read through those reviews, and honestly—after hearing from people who actually bought from them—I’m not exactly sold.
The case itself is great, though. I have to admit, I love the look—really clean, straight lines. Plus, I dig how you can tuck away three 3.5" HDDs directly
into the chassis without even popping the side panel—just by opening the front door, or what they call an s.bay😉
What’s the deal with the guys over at Micro Center? I see they have a white version, and man, that one looks killer.🙂

Not sure—I think he mentioned those temps were inside the case, if I remember right.
I dig the case. I’m a fan of clean, straight lines—and obviously, it has to be white.
And what's the deal with VRMs? Are they really that sloppy and low-quality?

Not sure yet if this Gigabyte R9 280 3GB WF3 OC—the one with 3GB GDDR5 and a 384bit bus—is actually going to fit.
I checked the specs, and the card dimensions are L=285mm, W=126mm, H=38mm.
The case claims to support GPUs up to 427mm, but does that measurement include the drive cage? Or is that only if you rip the damn thing out?
Looking at the product photos, they have the cage removed. If I take it out, what happens to my hard drive? Where am I supposed to put it? Just a million questions here.😢(
Here’s the link to the case with the measurements:
http://www.coolermaster.com/case/mid...cio-550-white/>

Thanks for the input, everyone.
One more thing... what's a reasonable internal case temperature—at least for me—to ensure all the components can just breathe and run without any stress or issues?
I fell in love with this specific case—looks great to me—but I was watching a review on YouTube where the tester mentioned needing aftermarket
fans because while playing, I think it was Battlefield, the internal temp hit about 50C.
They swapped in aftermarket fans after that—so, do I need to replace the two that came with the case, or should I just add one more down by the
HDD? The reviewer said their temps dropped by 10-15C—is that still too high, and what's actually considered an ideal internal temperature?

Link to the case:

Link to the video review:

Thanks graniteharbor85 😉 I’ve been digging through the web for three days straight—wouldn't have found this many answers without it 🙂
Quick question about the one I'm eyeing: the Intel Core i5-4460 (3.20GHz, 1MB, 6MB, 84 W, socket 1150) Box version.
It doesn't need an extra cooler, right?

Because I stumbled upon some other listings—"Core I5 4460, Socket 1150, 3200 MHz, 6 MB L3 cache, Haswell core, HD Graphics 4600, includes cooler, integrated graphics included"—that already come with a heatsink. So I'm wondering if it's worth grabbing that one or if I can skip the extra hassle.
For some people $67 it ends up being more expensive.

Here's the exact price:$579

So, what would you guys suggest? I'm stuck choosing between these three cards—just one dilemma left.

MSI R9 280 3GB GAMING 3GB GDDR5 384bit, R9 280 GAMING, TF4
Sapphire R9 280 3GB OC Dual-X, 3GB GDDR5 384bit, 28nm
Gigabyte R9 280 3GB WF3 OC, 3GB GDDR5 384bit, GV-R928WF3OC-3GD

Price difference is negligible—so let's just rule that out as a deciding factor right now.
The PC is mostly for work—Word, movies, browsing, some 3D image processing, rendering, etc.—gaming will only account for maybe 30% of the usage.
P.S. Seems like the dollar keeps climbing. 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

Motherboard recommendations??

ASRock B85-PRO4 motherboard, socket 1150 price:$233 Online price:$233

ASRock B85M motherboard, socket 1150 price:$200 Online price:$200

ASRock Z97 Pro3 motherboard, socket 1150 36 mo. price:$280* Online price:$265 (It says this on it: "Watch your favorite local TV programs by connecting to your PC, Monitor
Keep an eye on your pets or children when you are away from home" ) Does anyone know more about that??

ASRock Z97 Pro3 motherboard, $316

The build would look roughly like this (below)—so I'm wondering about the utility of these boards?? Thanks.

Possible configuration:
Best Buy Shopping Cart

1 x XFX AMD Radeon R9 280A 3GB DDR5 Graphic Card
1 x Intel Core i5 4460 3.2GHz, 6MB, LGA 1150
1 x Kingston 8GB 1866MHz DDR3 CL10 HyperX Fury red 1 x Western Digital HDD
1 x Caviar Blue 1 x Western Digital HDD, 1TB, 7200rpm
1 x LG GH24NSC0 sat Bulk Black 24x
1 x Kingston 120GB HyperX FURY SSD SATA 3 2.5 (7mm height)
1 x Fortron Hyper 700W, 80+
1 x Zalman Z3+, USB3.0, white
1 x Asrock s1150 Z87 Pro3

Total: $2279

p.s. Question—should I get the 1866MHz memory as a single stick or 2x4GB? Will it actually affect performance, or is 1600MHz enough?
Thanks in advance 🙂 : 🙂

EVGA AMD Radeon R9 280, 3 GB GDDR5 — price? $679
Price check—PowerColor AMD Radeon R9 280A TDFD, 3 GB GDDR5. $629
ASUS AMD Radeon R9 280 gaming, 3 GB DDR5—price? $650

The PowerColor AMD RADEON R9 270 DD ??—2GB DDR5, DVI, HDMI, and Department of Defense—is on sale right now. $666 (links-a)

I can get to this point here, for example— $667 What's your recommendation for a GPU? Is it actually worth the upgrade—are they really better than these current ones, and by what percentage roughly?
ASUS AMD RADEON R9 270 x or PowerColor AMD RADEON R9 270 DD ??
I'm pretty much right by the Home Depot.
Thanks. 🙂

First off—sorry for the extra posts. My bad.🙂 I didn't know where to find a group actually lively enough for decent conversation and advice. 🙂 Well, fine—glad you finally chimed in. This list isn't set in stone yet—expect more changes coming my way. I went with Links because they're the most convenient option for me—though if there's a better way to save some cash, I'm all ears. $100 Look, I don't really care about the details down there—it's not my problem. My actual concern is this: if something dies, am I actually allowed to crack open the case and pull out just that one part to mail back to whoever I bought it from online? Or am I stuck sending the entire rig back? Heh. And here’s the big one—since I'm definitely not some "Pro" tech guy, how am I supposed to even identify the specific failure just to send a single component? Plus, I’m rarely home, so if they ship it back while I'm out, who's going to verify if it's actually fixed? Can I swap parts myself, or will they just give me that "we sent it back in perfect working order" excuse?
The card—but we ended up finding out that YOU were the ones being careless with the handling—and then they just bail and walk off with the card. $667 To hell with it. Now you finally see why I actually give a damn—if you can even call it that. $100 More or less. 🙂)
And then there's the more important stuff.

I'm looking for some input here—with new hardware dropping constantly, it’s hard to keep up. I want to put together a build with a budget around $6,000—maybe a bit more if it actually makes sense. $2333 Think about it—you're better off investing a little more now than dealing with the headache later. 🙂)
The AMD and Intel version... thanks again. 🙂)
P.S. Who do you guys think is the best option here in the States for online shopping—specifically when it comes to how reliable they are and how fast they handle returns? 🙂

Since this thread goes up to $2000, I’m looking for some input on my own build—not exactly an expert here, so just give it to me straight regarding what works and what doesn't. Tell me what else I should add, and more importantly, why certain parts suck. I could potentially push the budget to $2000 if needed, or maybe even go up to $333. I put this together based on the
Links catalog. Thanks in advance.

PCI-E EVGA NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 970, 4GB DDR5,
$646 DualDVI, HDMI, DP, Full Retail Price:

Intel Core i7-8700K, 3.5GHz, 16MB cache, Eight Core Price:
$500

ASUS ROG Maximus motherboard, AMD970/SB950, DDR3, audio, G-LAN, S-ATA,

RAID, PCI-E, SLI, USB 3.0, ATX, AM3 / AM3+ socket Price: $230

PC-14900 Memory, 8 GB, G.SKILL RipjawsX series, F3-14900CL10S-8GBXL, DDR3

1866MHz Price: $223

120.0 GB KINGSTON SSDNow V300, SV300S37A/120G, SATA3, MLC-Chip, up to

450/450 MB/s Price: $180

Cooler Master Hyper 212, socket FM1/AM3+/AM3/AM2+/AM2/939

Price: $26

What kind of PSU is enough?......................................... .................................................. .
650W PSU, LC POWER Silent Giant Green Power LC6650GP2 V2.3, Bronze,

140mm fan. Price: $166 ?????
550W PSU, Corsair VS550, ATX v2.2, 80mm fan, PFC Price: 379.00

USD??????.......................................... .................................................. .................................................. ....

....

EVGA SuperNOVA 850 G5 Gaming Case, MIDI, USB 3.0, hot-swap bay, no PSU, white

Price: $133

DVD±RW LG GH24NSC0, 24x, SATA, Dual layer, black, bulk Price: $43

1000.0 GB WESTERN DIGITAL Green, WD10EZRX, SATA3, 64MB cache,

IntelliSeek, for desktop Price: $186