Posts by Adam Moore3

Timothy Kim60 said:Have you noticed how CoH2 is just on a whole different level when it comes to these massive performance gaps?
It’s indisputable that it's 270x more powerful, just maybe not quite by a full 40%.

Of course, the GPU isn't actually that much stronger in general terms, which is why I mentioned it might have UP TO about 40% more FPS in certain spots. Most of the time we're talking a difference of 5-10 FPS, but still. If the ad is legit, that kind of jump would be absolutely insane for a boost.

crimsonstag84 said:You're getting it mixed up with the R9 280X; the 270X is just a slightly overclocked R9 270 😉

Honestly, I can't tell if you're messing with me right now or what 🤣 CLICK man

crimsonstag84 said:Wait, what? The GTX 660 sits right between the HD 7850 and the HD 7870/R9 270 😛

I'm not sure if that 270X deal is even legit... honestly, it's probably already gone if it actually was.

Yeah, so it's between the 7850 and 7870—meaning the 270—but this is a 270X, which is stronger than all of them. You can see an FPS difference of up to 40% here.

Timothy Kim60 said:It's a good deal, just feels a little suspicious. Either it's sold, or if it isn't, why hasn't anyone grabbed it yet?

I know, I'm worried too. I'd probably sell my 260X for 600 and grab this one for 700. 🤣 I'll shoot them a message and see how it sounds.

crimsonstag84 said:The reason they swapped it for the Kepler is because it has a quieter fan and supports PWM. It’s slightly less efficient than the Kepler or the LC-CC-95, but still way better than the stock version, and honestly just $26 😉
.
If your budget allows, you could go for a more expensive card, maybe a GTX 660($267)/GTX 570(650-$233).

But the 660 is significantly weaker than the 270X, whereas $233 is while the 660 is $267. CLICK
That’s why I keep saying the 270X is an absolute steal.

Timothy Kim60 said:It isn't too weak for League of Legends. The HD 7850 was similar, and I know a guy who plays it on an HD 7850 paired with a Phenom II and gets insane FPS at high competitive settings.

Of course it isn't—League of Legends isn't demanding. But still, the 270X is noticeably stronger and newer, plus $33 is more on its side. I just hope there isn't a catch, because it really is a great value.

Anyway, going with the FX 8300 and a used GPU will probably be the best move to stay within budget. 👍

crimsonstag84 said:1 x Gigabyte 970A-DS3P, AM3+, AMD 970 SB950, 4x DDR3 2000(O.C.)/1866
1 x AMD FX-Series X8 8300 Processor, 3.3GHz, 16MB, 125W, AM3+, FD8300WMHK
1 x DDR3 8GB (1x8GB) Kingston, Value, 1600MHz, CL11, KVR16N11/8
1 x Seagate 1TB HDD, SATA III, 7200 rpm, ST1000DM003
1 x LC Power Cosmo Cool, 92 mm, Hydraulic bearing, 800-2200 rpm,
1 x Fortron 500W Power Supply, Hyper, PPA5005003, 12cm fan
1 x Zalman Z1 mid tower case. 199(W)x432(H)x457(D)mm. Standard MB size

$1049 ADM

Plus, for example...
http://www.craigslist.com/video-cards-listing-16883324

Plus some FHD monitor for $200 on Craigslist

Plus the rest of the peripherals brings it to about $1500 total

Nicely put together; I think this would be a solid solution. My only thought is that the 6950 is a bit underpowered. It's noticeably weaker than an R7 265—maybe around the level of a 750Ti, if not lower—plus, since it isn't Nvidia, you can't use Shadowplay. THIS looks like a brutal deal to me. Honestly, it's so good it makes me suspicious. BTW, what's the deal with that LC cooler, is it actually better than Kepler?

Sure, League of Legends runs on basically any modern integrated graphics these days. I'm just trying to figure out exactly what I need to make streaming actually smooth. Will the single-core performance of an Intel Core i3-4170 be more important than having the extra cores on an AMD FX 6300, or vice versa? Also, should I stick with Shadowplay by Nvidia, or go with the R7 265 since it's technically the more powerful card?

Ryan Hayes82 said:From what I know, an Intel processor is a much better bet for League of Legends than any AMD option. Also, grabbing an Nvidia card would be smart just to have Shadowplay, since it uses fewer CPU resources.

1 x Intel Core i3-4170 Processor (3.70GHz,512KB,3MB,54 W,1150) Box
1 x Asrock H81M-VG4 R2.0, Intel 1150 Socket H81
1 x Gigabyte GTX950 WF2 Overclocked, 2GB GDDR5
1 x DDR3 8GB (1x8GB) Kingston, Value, 1600MHz, CL11, KVR16N11/8
1 x FORTRON 400W Power Supply, HEXA Plus 400, 12cm fan
1 x TOSHIBA 1TB, 7200rpm, SATA 6 Gb/s, 32MB, DT01ACA100
1 x MS KNIGHT midi tower case without PSU

$1322
adm

I definitely like this build, it looks solid, but I'm a bit worried about what crimsonstag84 mentioned. Will the lack of physical cores on an i3 cause issues? I can put the build together myself, I'm just stuck on which parts to pick. Is it better to go with the i3 or the FX 6300? Keeping in mind this is mainly for streaming League of Legends. Then again, getting the FX 6300 feels pointless when the 8300 is only slightly $33 more expensive. It’s just not worth it, $300 paying that much for a 6300... ugh. I'm really not sure what the best value move is for this budget. 🤷

A buddy asked me to help him put together a gaming rig. He mostly plays League of Legends, and since he’s actually pretty good, he’s thinking about trying his hand at streaming. I told him the streamer market is absolutely oversaturated—especially in League—but he wants to dive in just for fun, or whatever. Anyway, the budget for the PC is between $4,000-$1667, aiming as close to $4,000 as possible without hitting $1667, and that includes peripherals. Yeah, I know, the budget is tight, but it is what it is. What should be the main priority here? Should he go with Nvidia specifically for Shadowplay, or is there better software available from the AMD side? I haven't really delved into the whole streaming setup before, so I'm not an expert on this stuff. I’d probably grab a standard IPS monitor for around $300, and he likely already has a mouse and keyboard. That leaves about $3,500, maybe pushing to a absolute max of $1333 if it makes a massive difference. So, is an Intel Core i3-4170 paired with a GTX 660 going to cut it? Or would something like an 860K plus an R7 265 work better? Would a stronger GPU make things easier?

graniteotter94 said:👍 Honestly, what's been suggested works for me. No matter how I slice it, I can stick to this plan. It’s probably not like there's some massive difference either way.

Yeah, but just keep in mind that getting that exact same setup from Links is going to cost you a lot more. That's why I'd suggest skipping Links unless you're planning on paying cash—they’re actually pretty decent if you want the price to stay the same regardless of how you pay.

One more thing I'd suggest: since we're talking about a gaming rig, maybe hold off on the SSD for now. Instead of an SSD, you could fit a GTX 970 in there, which is significantly more powerful than a 280X or basically any other card in that tier. It represents the first real leap forward for those kinds of $667 graphics.

graniteotter94 said:Is there a good soul out there who can help me out? I’ve got a budget of about $600 (give or take $67) and I usually shop at Best Buy or maybe check Amazon or Newegg if the prices look better there.

An Intel Core processor, minimum, or whatever the AMD equivalent is.
A solid graphics card that won't be obsolete by next Tuesday.
A 250 GB SSD.
I don't need a monitor.
I'll leave the rest of the components to the experts.

Links is honestly one of the worst deals out there. Most of their prices are just ridiculous, and the selection is pretty mediocre at best. Just look at what you can find over on gov.us—plus they offer free assembly and shipping anywhere in the US:

1 x Intel Core i5-4460 Processor (3.20GHz, 1MB, 6MB, 84 W, 1150) Boxed
1 x ASROCK B85M Pro3, s1150, Intel B85, M-ATX, dual Channel 2
1 x 8GB Corsair DDR3 RAM, 1600MHz, CL11, Value Series (CMV8GX3M1A160C11)
1 x TOSHIBA 1TB, 7200rpm, SATA 6 Gb/s, 32MB, DT01ACA100
1 x OCZ SSD ARC 100 240GB, featuring the OCZ Barefoot 3 M10 controller.
1 x Fortron 500W Hyper Power Supply, PPA5005003, featuring a 12cm fan.
Zalman Z1 mid tower case. 199(W)x432(H)x457(D)mm. Standard motherboard support.
One XFX R9-280X-TDFD featuring a Radeon R9 280X with a 1000M Boost clock and 3GB of DDR5 memory.

$2027 gov.us

You've got everything you asked for. 🙂

Zachary Barrett4 said:Thread Update:

Just dropped the AMD FX-8350 and the NVIDIA GTX 970 G1 into my rig today. Everything is running perfectly.😬 👋

That's awesome, Vera! 🙂 You didn't actually need to jump all the way up to the AMD FX-8350; you could have just grabbed an AMD FX-8300. It's basically the exact same chip, just clocked a bit lower. If you get the 8300 and tweak a few settings in the BIOS, you've essentially got an 8350. Plus, you would've saved about 40 or 50 bucks.🙂

Kenneth Diaz6 said:Can you drop a link?
I tried looking for it myself, but I couldn't find it—maybe I just missed it. 😁

It's all pre-built for you, component by component. If you decide to buy it, you can just take that list into a shop, and they'll put everything together and even deliver it if needed. 🙂 I put mine together using cnn.com

Here is the latest update for $833:

1 x Gigabyte GA-F2A68HM-S1, Intel B85, 2 x 1.5V DDR3 DIMM
1 x Intel Core i5-3550 Processor 3.80GHz 4cores, FM2
1 x TOSHIBA 1TB, 7200rpm, SATA 6 Gb/s, 32MB, DT01ACA100
1 x Spire Kepler Rev.2 ,hladnjak, 1156/775/FM1, 96.5×51×125 mm ,92mm
1 x Napajanje FORTRON 400W, HEXA Plus 400, 12cm ventilator
1 x MS KNIGHT midi tower kućište bez napajanja
2 x DDR3 4GB (1x4GB) Kingston, 1866MHz, CL10, Corsair Vengeance, HX318C10F

$804 cnn.com

It isn't an ultra-high-end gaming rig, but you can definitely get some gaming done on it. If you want, once you have the extra cash, just pop in a dedicated graphics card and you'll have a serious gaming setup. A real gaming machine. 🙂

What’s the deal with shipping and warranty coverage if I order through Amazon?

analogtiger19 said:I'm planning on selling my Xfx 7850 2gb DD in about a month for $700 😬

Hmm... 😬 How old is it? Any warranty left? 😍

Just grab the 500W Hypera instead! It’s barely more expensive and you get a 5-year warranty. If you haven't placed the order yet...

crimsonstag84 said:http://anandtech.com/bench/product/510?vs=539

Yeah, it's not exactly a massive leap... if he can borrow some junk card from someone just to sell his own and pick up an HD 7870 or a NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660, even if the CPU ends up being a bit of a bottleneck.

True, it doesn't really make sense. He’ll definitely sell his old card and grab something new by throwing in a little extra cash, but neither the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 660 nor the 7870 are priced very well right now. Everything is sitting at $150 or more. And I don't think he'd want to shell out more than $100-$233 extra.

Typo, it's actually the G54, not the G45. I'm looking at AnandTech right now, and the 6970 is sitting right there with the 7850, maybe even a bit weaker. Makes me wonder where the 6950 fits in... Honestly, I'm not even sure if upgrading is worth it anymore. For OCanj, it'll be fine—he'll probably just tinker with it until it works. At least another 200-300 MHz...

crimsonstag84 said:I wouldn't even bother looking below $133 for an ATI Radeon HD 6850 😁. This HD 7850 is a solid pick for $200, but that specific model is a total loudmouth, so you'll need to be okay with the noise. The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570 is in the same ballpark, but it has less VRAM and pulls more power. It should probably be around $200 to make sense.

The Witcher 3 really loves high clock speeds on AMD processors; you might try pushing the Front Side Bus as far as it goes on stock voltage if you're stuck with a cheap motherboard and a stock cooler.

Yeah, I agree. The cheapest 6850 right now is $167, but I feel like that $400-$450 one would fry within a week. I knew that XFX NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260 was a noisy beast, but I didn't realize the whole series was such a disaster. 🕺 Though, looking at the listing, it's out in Indianapolis and they won't ship, so that one's a bust. I found THIS in Seattle—if I could get it down to $200, do you think it's worth it? It's in the same tier as the 7850, so it should be a good deal. Plus, it shouldn't be too loud since the cooler looks decent enough.

Regarding OCanj, he has a great board—it's an MSI 870A-G45 if I remember correctly—but it's just the stock cooler. On the forum, we actually 😬 changed the thermal paste relatively recently; we ran Prime and it didn't even cross 45 degrees, but still, I'm not sure how much headroom we'd actually get with that stock cooler 🤷

graniteotter94 said:I don't want to start a whole new thread and clutter things up, so I figured I'd just drop this here...
It's the same processor, but someone recommended this motherboard instead

Is it actually worth the money? It looks like it's almost 2.5 times more expensive than what was suggested here.

I checked out http://www.asrock.com/mb/compare.asp...odel=B85M+Pro3 but honestly, I don't really understand all the specs listed there...
The reviews are good, but man, it's pricey..
I don't know..

Who gave you that recommendation, if you don't mind me asking? Was it maybe just some sales staff at Best Buy? 😬 The CPU is locked, so you can't overclock, which means you don't need to look past a B85 board. You could go H97, but even then, it doesn't make much sense. Basically, a board for $167 and you're all set. Something like THIS. Though realistically, you could even go with THIS and still have enough left over for a six-pack of beer 😬 You won't lose anything significant if you're running 1x8 GB RAM. 🙂