Posts by Adam Moore3

Bradley Wright47 said:I went ahead and ordered the build based on your recommendation. I'm not actually picking up the parts until this week, but in the meantime, my budget bumped up by about $267. I told the guys at the shop to take that extra cash and put it toward something that would actually boost the PC's performance.

Question:

Below are the old and new quotes. Could you let me know if they actually $267 improved the machine, or if they just swapped things out for more expensive versions of the same stuff? Also, what do you think would be the best way to spend that extra $267?

1. Original Quote

ASUS Prime B75M with 1155 socket
$131
CPU i5-3350P 3.1GHz 1155 Ivy Bridge
$325
DDR3 8 GB (2x4GB) Kingston Fury 1600
$147
Sapphire R9 280 3GB DDR5
$426
XFX 550W PSU
$122
Dell Monitor DVDRW SATA
$36
Toshiba 1TB SATA3 32 MB
$111
Zalman ZM-T2 micro tower
$48

TOTAL: $1.75

2. New Quote

Gigabyte GA-H97-HD3
$184
CPU i5-4460 3.2 GHz 1150 Haswell
$369
DDR3 8GB (2x4 GB) Kingston Fury 1866
$170
ASUS R9 280-DC-3GD5 3GB
$493
XFX 550W PSU
$125
Dell Monitor DVDRW SATA
$34
Toshiba 1TB SATA3 32 MB
$111
Coolermaster N400 midi USB3.0
$104
TOTAL: TOTAL: $2.00

Thanks again.

Nope, way too expensive. Here's the exact same setup from Micro Center. 🙂

1 x Intel Core i5-4460 Processor (3.20GHz, 1MB, 6MB, 84 W, 1150) Box
1 x ASRock H97-PRO4, s1150, Intel ® H97, 4 x DDR3, 1 x PCI Express
2 x DDR3 4GB (1x4GB) Crucial, 1600MHz CL11
1 x Gigabyte R9 280 3GB WF3 OC, 3GB GDDR5 384bit, GV-R928WF3OC-3GD
1 x Toshiba 1TB, 7200rpm, SATA 6 Gb/s, 32MB, Toshiba DT01ACA100
1 x XFX 430W P1-430S-XXB9 PSU, TS series
1 x LG GH24NS DVD burner, DVD±RW, 24x DVD±R ,8x DL , 40x CD-R
1 x Zalman Z1 mid tower case. 199(W)x432(H)x457(D)mm. MB standard

$1791

Yeah, those guys have a point. AMD is noticeably higher quality, and honestly, the price gap isn't even that big.

feralrider92 said:I'm looking at picking up a new ASUS ROG gaming motherboard, but I need to know if it'll play nice with my current setup.
Here's what I'm running:
GTX 770
LC6560GP3 power supply
6GB DDR3 RAM
i7 2600 (non-k) 3.40GHz 8MB Cache

Thanks in advance!

Just to add, I'm one of those people who cares about looks just as much as performance!

You can easily find this kind of info right on the motherboard manufacturer's website without needing to start a whole new thread. CLICK But to save you the trouble, yeah, it'll work. 🙂

Dennis Carter3 said:Do you honestly think everyone knows how to overclock or even cares enough to bother??
Even if they do know how to overclock, just because you can bump up the clock speeds on an R9 280 doesn't mean it's the same as doing it on a 280x—there's still a clear difference there.

Man, are you for real? You're actually suggesting someone pay $100 extra for the exact same card just to squeeze out an extra 2 FPS on average? Why would anyone drop an extra thirty bucks just so some guy can slide a bar in MSI Afterburner? 😵

Dennis Carter3 said:Forget both of them. Just stretch your budget since you already said you could, and grab a higher-tier card than those two. Check out this review on the Sapphire Dual-X R9 280X DXF OC:

🤦

Why is that? $100 Is a measly 2% performance boost really worth it? You can't just fly in here throwing around nonsense like that...

Hmm, your GPU is definitely a bit underwhelming. Dennis Carter3 paired it with an eight-core processor, but that graphics card is always going to be your bottleneck because, like I said before, it’s just too weak by today's standards. Don't expect to run any of those next-gen titles at high settings. And btw, I didn't ask—what resolution are you playing at?

Joshua Wright70 said:Does that 8ms response time actually make a noticeable difference during gaming or when watching 1080p movies?
This is just an info session at this point since I'm not going over $10 $0.00, so I'll just have to settle for that monitor.
Anyway, thanks a lot, you've been super helpful and I'm happy with the setup.
I saw some Samsung 4K monitor somewhere with a 0ms response time but no LED support, though it costs $4,500... with my current GPU, that would be the dream... maybe one day.

One more thing, how will a 1080p movie look on a 1920x1200 resolution? I want to make sure I don't end up with a picture-in-picture effect like what I get now on 1050p.

4K monitors are a whole different beast. If you go with a 4K screen, can you even imagine what kind of rig you'd need to run games smoothly at that native resolution? 😵 Honestly, that response time isn't even that big of a deal. Do you really think you'd notice the difference between 8, 5, or 2 milliseconds?

Joshua Wright70 said:Alright, thanks for the help. I'll just go with the 4790 and call it a day.
One more thing—if you know or if anyone here has experience with monitors, I'm stuck on what matters most. Is it better to hunt for a higher contrast ratio, faster response times, or LED support?...
I'm looking for a solid 1080p monitor with decent specs, ideally with LED up to $667, without paying extra for built-in speakers or other junk I won't even use.

Definitely a great value. CLICK

Joshua Wright70 said:I’m not sure yet, I need to think about it—that cache is actually more important to me than the clock speed...
would this one work on that motherboard? And if so, is that 450W power supply enough?
Or under option 2, can I get a motherboard that supports the K-series processor for the same price, so I actually get that 4.0 GHz clock since only the K version reaches that?

Yeah, it works, and that power supply should be plenty. I already sent you the link for that CPU in my last post. 🙂 I think you're missing my point. The difference between a 4790 and a 4790K is just a few hundred MHz, which doesn't matter, and the main thing is that the K-series has an unlocked multiplier. Having an unlocked multiplier means you can overclock. Sure, you can put a 4790K on this board, but the problem is this specific motherboard isn't built for overclocking, so you won't be able to actually push that much more expensive CPU $100 because of that unlocked multiplier. So, if you aren't planning on overclocking, DON'T waste $100 extra cash on a K-series chip just for an extra 400 MHz; it's honestly not worth it. You're overthinking the numbers too much. An i5 would be perfectly fine for you, yet you're stressing over 400 MHz and the fact that it's 3.6 GHz instead of a rounded 4.0 GHz. Even if AMD's FX processors can hit 5 GHz with overclocking, they still can't touch an i7 running at 3.6 GHz. 🙂

Carl Nelson5 said:The GPU is an AMD Radeon 5750 Sapphire X DDR5 1GB OC. Power supply is a Chieftec GPS-550AB-A, 550W. For those next-gen games and stuff...

Alright, the power supply is fine; no need to swap that out. Are you keeping the HDD from the old build? Basically, what else are you pulling from the old rig besides the PSU, the graphics card, and the optical drive?

Joshua Wright70 said:It would be my secondary setup rather than my main rig, since I’d still be using it for music production and compiling apps. Because of that, I’d probably beef up the processor a bit, even though both could technically handle those tasks just fine.

Look, it really comes down to how much you want to spend on your music, right? 😬 The i7 is definitely the more powerful chip—there's no debating that. If you want, feel free to go with NJEGA, but just keep in mind it’s going to cost $333 more 🙂. You could also opt for OVO; it's a step up from the 4460 with a slightly higher clock speed, though the cache stays the same. It's essentially the same architecture just clocked higher, so it'll be pricier $100. Ultimately, it's your call based on your budget 😉

Joshua Wright70 said:Thanks for the breakdown, though some links would have been nice... but whatever.
I'm not really feeling this processor. A 3.20GHz clock speed and 6MB cache seems pretty weak to me. Is there an i5 out there hitting 4.0GHz with at least 8MB cache that won't break the bank?

Just check the admin page; everything you need to know about them is listed there. You still haven't answered my question, though—is this PC primarily intended for gaming?

Joshua Wright70 said:I need some help with a build.
I put this together, but now I want to see where I can cut costs if possible:

Core i7 4790K
Asus Z97 Pro Gamer
Corsair 2x8 1600 C9 Ven
Asus GTX970
Kingston HyperX 3K Box SSD

$3285
It's already getting pretty expensive, and I still don't even have a secondary 1TB hard drive, fans, a case, or a DVD drive.

Where can I save money?
Can I save on the CPU if I go with something similar but without integrated graphics?
Or maybe on the motherboard?
And finally, what fans and case would you recommend for good cooling?

Or if possible, a similar configuration with a decent GPU included—keep it Intel only. A solid i5 would work too if it doesn't waste much time.
I'd like to bring the total price for the whole setup down to $120 or less.

Whew, you threw a lot of info at me. 🙂 Using a K-series processor with a Z97 chipset makes sense, but if you're looking at this price range and thinking about overclocking, you should definitely stick with Z. Otherwise, if you're just building a gaming rig, you don't really need an i7, so I’d suggest something like this.

1 x ASRock H97-PRO4, s1150, Intel H97, 4 x DDR3, 1 x PCI Express
1 x Intel Core i5-4460 (3.20GHz,1MB,6MB,84 W,1150) Box
2 x DDR3 4GB (1x4GB) Crucial, 1600MHz CL11
1 x Gigabyte GTX970 WF3 OC 4GB GDDR5, GV-N970WF3OC, 256 bit,
1 x TOSHIBA 1TB, 7200rpm, SATA 6 Gb/s, 32MB, DT01ACA100
1 x Intel 120GB SSD 520, 2.5", SATA III-600, R/W:550/520MB/s
1 x XFX 430W P1-430S-XXB9 PSU, TS series
1 x LG GH24NS DVD writer, DVD±RW, 24x DVD±R ,8x DL , 40x CD-R
1 x Zalman Z3 mid tower case. 192(W)x465(H)x430(D)mm. MB standard

$2407 reddit.com

You've got a solid motherboard base, an i5 processor that's plenty for gaming (you could swap to an i7 if you really wanted, but it's overkill), the same beastly GPU you picked originally, and I saved some cash on the SSD because $433 spending that much on an SSD is a bit much if your main goal is saving money. 🤣 This build won't pull much power, so this XFX unit will be totally fine, but if you want to be safe, you could grab something beefier (like an XFX 550W) right away in case you want to upgrade later, along with a high-quality, well-ventilated case. I didn't include an aftermarket cooler since this CPU isn't meant for overclocking, but you could always add one just for better temps, though the stock one handles this Intel chip just fine. CLICK CLICK - you can pick any of them; you won't go wrong. 🙂

EDIT: I didn't even ask what you're actually using this PC for. I just assumed it was for gaming, so I suggested 8 GB of RAM since 16 GB really isn't necessary for that.

James Gomez2 said:1 x AMD FX-Series X6 6300 Processor 3.5GHz, 14MB, 95W, AM3+, FD6300WMHK $266
1 x GIGABYTE GA-970A, AM3+, AMD 970 SB950, 4x DDR3 2000(O.C.)/1866 $176
1 x DDR3 4GB (1x4GB) Kingston, 1600MHz, CL11, Value $100
1 x MSI AMD Radeon R7 260 OC 1GD5, 1GB DDR5, DVI-I, DVI, DP, HDMI, R7 260 1GD5 $233
1 x Hyper 600 w Power Supply, Fortron, PPA6003302, 12cm fan $145
1 x Zalman Z1 mid tower case. 199(W)x432(H)x457(D)mm. ATX standard $78
1 x Spira Kepler Rev.2 cooler, 1156/775/FM1, 96.5×51×125 mm ,92mm $28

Total amount due: $1027

I couldn't find the specific cooler, so I put this one in instead... would this setup be okay?

You don't need a power supply that beefy; you can easily run this on HEXU. 🙂

Carl Nelson5 said:I'm out of the house right now. Can't recall the exact wattage on the power supply off the top of my head, but I think it's at least 450W. I'll check and let you know in about half an hour. Mostly using it for gaming, so I need a solid processor and a motherboard that can actually handle it. If I can squeeze 8GB of RAM into the budget, I'd definitely take it. I'd probably just put it on a 12-month installment plan.

Well, it really depends on what kind of games you're playing. Your graphics card is alright, I guess—though by today's standards, an R7 250 is pretty much the bare minimum, and even that beats what you have. Are you looking to play high-end stuff, like some next-gen titles?

Carl Nelson5 said:Here's the deal. I want to put together a build with a budget of up to $1000 but I don't need a new graphics card. I currently have a 400W power supply. It isn't high-end, but it should be fine. My GPU isn't brand new either, but I don't think there's any reason to swap it out. I'm running an AMD Radeon Sapphire X 5750 DDR5 OC with DirectX 11 support. What do you guys think—could I pull something together with this? Also, I'd be looking to pay in installments...

You need to specify the exact model of your power supply, what you plan on using the PC for, and how many monthly payments you're looking at.

swiftscout21 said:[Crash dump directory: C:\Windows\Minidump

Crash dumps are currently active on your machine.

Your computer hit a snag on Thu 13.11.2014. 13:19:16 GMT
crash dump file: C:\Windows\Minidump\111314-35459-01.dmp
It looks like the culprit here might be: nvlddmkm.sys (nvlddmkm+0x158288)
Bugcheck code: 0x116 (0xFFFFFA8007D05010, 0xFFFFF8800F42E288, 0x0, 0x2)
Error: VIDEO_TDR_ERROR
file path: C:\Windows\system32\drivers\nvlddmkm.sys
product: Nvidia Windows kernel moda driver, version 344.65
company: Nvidia Corporation
description: Nvidia Windows kernel moda driver, version 344.65
Bug check description: Basically, the system tried to reset the display driver after a timeout, but things just didn't go as planned.
A third-party driver seems to be the likely reason for this system error. You might want to see if there's a newer update available for: nvlddmkm.sys (Nvidia Windows kernel moda driver, version 344.65 , Nvidia Corporation).
Google query: nvlddmkm.sys Nvidia Corporation VIDEO_TDR_ERROR

Your computer went down on Thu 13.11.2014. 13:19:16 GMT
crash dump file: C:\Windows\memory.dmp
This issue was likely triggered by: dxgkrnl.sys (dxgkrnl!TdrResetFromTimeout +0 x214)
Bugcheck code: 0x116 (0xFFFFFA8007D05010, 0xFFFFF8800F42E288, 0x0, 0x2)
Error: VIDEO_TDR_ERROR
file path: C:\Windows\system32\drivers\dxgkrnl.sys
product: Microsoft ® Windows ® Operating system company
company: Microsoft Corporation
description: DirectX Graphics kernel bug
Bug check description: This means the attempt to reset the display driver following a timeout was unsuccessful.
Since the crash happened within a standard Microsoft module, it’s possible your system configuration isn't quite right—or perhaps another driver on the system is causing a conflict that we can't pinpoint just yet.

I wonder what's actually going on here...

Well, everything is right there in the log. 🤣 Just reinstall your graphics drivers.

Jonathan Mendoza17 said:Alright, alright, you guys convinced me. 🙂 It sounded too good to be true, but I just wanted to be absolutely sure.

@Larry Ortiz5/">@@Larry Ortiz5
I already laid all of it out in this post.

So, that Gigabyte option seems like the most interesting way to go. I'm going to spend today digging through reviews for both the XFX and Gigabyte cards to see what's up. Maybe I'll wait a bit to see if anyone else chimes in with an idea, then I'll head out tomorrow to grab one. Thanks everyone for the advice. 🙂

Don't forget, the Giga comes with an extra year of warranty and better cooling, so it's probably worth the extra cash over the XFX. 😉

Larry Ortiz5 said:At stock settings (assuming you aren't overclocking), that card pulls about 250W. Your PSU provides 38A on the 12V rail, which totals 456W—that's plenty. As long as you aren't running a power-hungry CPU or pushing an overclock, you should be fine 99% of the time. So, what processor are you actually using? Is it overclocked? What else is in the build?

Like I said in my last post, I've got an I5 3570. And there's no way the 280 pulls 250W. My entire system barely hits 300W during a stress test with it, so the card itself definitely isn't crossing 200. CLICK

Jonathan Mendoza17 said:Thanks for the quick reply. On paper, both cards look great, but I'm a little worried about the power draw...

Gigabyte R9 280 3GB WF3 OC

Power needs: 600W (requires one 6-pin and one 8-pin external power connector).


XFX R9-280A-TDFD

Requirements
External Power - 6-pin connector: 1
External Power - 8-pins : 1
You're going to need at least a 750 watt power supply.
XFX Recommended Power Supply: XFX 850W PSU

I know people tend to go overboard with their demands around here, but are you guys actually certain about that... Corsair CX500 Could it handle all that? Also, I'll have to use an adapter to connect this to the PSU since they're 4-pin. Is that going to cause any stability issues?

That's just nonsense... Isn't it a little weird that XFX would recommend their OWN 850 W power supply specifically for THEIR own graphics card? It costs a fortune... $267? 🙂 That Corsair CX500 will handle it just fine, don't sweat it. People always go overboard with this stuff; the GPU is only going to pull about 200W max, maybe even less, yet they’ll suggest an 850W unit... Honestly, you could probably run two of those cards in Crossfire on a 750W setup and be good. If you're planning on overclocking, though, it might be worth grabbing a new power supply just for peace of mind, even if the current one should hold up during an OC.