Posts by Robert Rodriguez2

Adam Moore3 said:Fair point, you're right about that. The real issue is the stock cooler... And if you're thinking about overclocking a Phenom without at least some kind of Katanica... You might as well just buy some earplugs right now 🙂

Running two GPUs and that CPU? That XFX 450W build won't hold up. 😉He'd be better off putting everything toward one stronger card.

wanderingwolf12 said:I'm a total newbie at all this, so please don't hate on me—just let me know if anything won't work together or whatever... 🙂 Since I have some extra time, I want to put together a gaming rig for about $1833, here's my plan...

Intel Core i3-4130 Graphics Card

Intel Core i3-4130 3.9GHz, AM4, box, Black Edition

MSI A85M-P65 motherboard or Gigabyte GA-A88X-UD3 motherboard

Western Digital Blue 1TB Hard Drive, 64MB, ST1000DM003

SANDISK X110 64GB SSD, 2.5" 7mm, SATA 6Gbps, Seq Read/Write: 505 MBps / 445 MB/s, IOPS max: 81000, MLC, Retail

Crucial RAM DDR3 SDRAM Non-ECC 8GB, 1600MHz, KVR16N11/8

Silverstone Strider Essential ST70F-ES AC 90-264V, 47/63Hz, DC 3.3/5/±12V, 700W, Retail, Active PFC, 1x120, Efficiency 80%

Cooler Master Hyper 212 CPU cooler

Corsair VS Series mid tower case

Creative Sound Blaster Audigy

+some basic optical drive

this is garbage...
especially for gaming!
1 x ASUS Prime B85M-K, Socket : 1150, Intel B85, 4xDDR3 1600
1 x Intel Core i5-4440 (3.10GHz,1MB,6MB,84 W,1150) Box
1 x AMD Radeon R9 280 3GB OC Dual-X, 3GB GDDR5 384bit, 28nm
1 x DDR3 8GB (1x8GB) Crucial, 1600MHz CL11
1 x EVGA 450W
1 x Zalman Z9 U3 mid tower case. 207(W) x 464(H) x 504(D)mm
1 x Samsung DVD Writer
1 x Western Digital Blue 500GB, Serial ATA III, 7200 rpm, DESKTOP SSHD,8GB SSD

$1801

if you're going Intel

1 x AMD Radeon R9 280 3GB OC Dual-X, 3GB GDDR5 384bit, 28nm
1 x DDR3 8GB (1x8GB) Crucial, 1600MHz CL11
1 x EVGA 450W
1 x Zalman Z9 U3 mid tower case. 207(W) x 464(H) x 504(D)mm
1 x Samsung DVD Writer
1 x Gigabyte 990XA-UD3, AM3+, AMD 990X SB950, 4x DDR3
1 x AMD FX-Series X8 8320 3.5GHz,16MB,125W,AM3+, FD8320FRHK
1 x ZALMAN CNPS 5X, socket 775/1155/1156/AM2/AM2/AM3
1 x Western Digital Blue 1TB, 7200rpm, SATA 6 Gb/s, 32MB, DT01ACA100

$1815

if you're going AMD

amd www.amd.com

above $667 free assembly and shipping 😳

briskmason6 said:not sure, honestly think downtown might actually be cheaper. can't check right now, maybe I'll swing by in the car later and see. besides, does Futura offer free delivery across the whole NYC area?

across the entire US.

plus if you spend over 2k, they'll throw in free assembly

Adam Moore3 said:A buddy of mine is running an AMD Ryzen 5 paired with a Sapphire AMD Radeon HD 6850. The rig is getting a bit old, and he’s been thinking about a little upgrade 😬 He was considering hunting down a used 6850 for maybe $400 max $167 to throw them into a Crossfire setup. I’ve been reading reviews online ( CLICK ), and people are actually seeing LITERALLY double the FPS compared to running just one card! That sounds incredibly worthwhile. It’s rare to see your FPS actually double just by adding a second GPU, so this seems like a pretty solid value proposition. Now, what I'm wondering is if there will be any issues on the CPU side—specifically, am I looking at a major bottleneck? And if there is one, will it actually be noticeable? It feels like a Crossfire 6850 setup should perform somewhere near a 7870 or even better, which makes it look LIKE A HUGE STEAL for a maximum $167 budget. I know back in the day, Crossfire was a nightmare with driver issues, micro-stuttering, and all that nonsense. Is it still like that today? Are drivers and support for modern games via Crossfire or SLI better than they used to be? Generally speaking, is this even a smart move to go for right now?

He isn't getting double the FPS, no way... maybe a 30-40% bump at best, and if he has a garbage power supply, he can forget about it entirely...

plus there are plenty of other ways this could blow up in his face.
a) case temperatures will spike
b) more noise 🙂
c) drivers failing to handle the software side properly
d) the processor is a definitive bottleneck 🙂

It's a total waste of money. 🙂

briskmason6 said:well, that's just great then 🙂

Budget some extra cash for shipping if you're ordering from Best Buy

One package $13 but you'll actually get three
1. monitor
2. computer
3. all the component boxes

Just grab it from Future and get free shipping on anything over $667 if you're already using a credit card

That's pretty much the whole story 😁

👍

It comes down to personal preference. If I were buying, I’d go with NVIDIA 😁
I don't ever hunt for those ultra-high-end, hyper-detailed specs and stuff 😁

Since I dabble in 3D modeling every now and then, NVIDIA just feels like a better fit for me 😳

Like I said, those discounted prices at Best Buy are cash only.

And the crossed-out numbers? Those are for the graphics cards... just keep that in mind.🙂

vividraven102 said:So, which one should I go for then?

How much cash are we talking about?

Just keep in mind there's usually a price gap if you're paying cash versus using a credit card...

So don't accidentally blow past that $8 $167 mark.

shadoweagle36 said:Thinking about grabbing a whole rig for $1700. I know it's a bad idea

Cash or credit?

Keith Wright2 said:I'd love to hear why he thinks it's better... he didn't even throw an SSD in there, and I added speakers too.

Other than the fact this build $167 costs less than yours,
An SSD doesn't matter for gaming. It won't bump his FPS or do anything useful in-game besides faster loading screens...

If he really needs it, let him grab an SSHD like I mentioned earlier. He doesn't need anything more than that.

One Samsung 23" Wide LED Monitor.
One Logitech K120 keyboard, USB, black OEM. Simple enough.
Just one MS Labirinth 6D wired mouse.
One GIGABYTE ATX motherboard, Intel 990 x chipset. Comes in the box with SATA III, LAN, USB 2.0/3.0, and Firewire. Standard setup.
Just grabbed an AMD X8 8320—3.5GHz, 16MB, 125W, AM3+ boxed up.
Just two sticks of Kingston ValueRAM DDR3. 4GB each, 1600MHz, non-ECC. Standard single rank, unbuffered stuff. CL11.
Just one 1TB Toshiba hard drive, 7200rpm, 32MB cache. Simple enough.
One LG GH24NS sat Bulk Black 24x optical drive.
Just one Zalman Z3, black USB3.0.
One XFX 550W Pro Series Core Edition 80 Plus PSU.
One Gigabyte NVIDIA RADEON R9 280 x OC, 3GB GDDR5, HDMI, DVI. Comes with a game.
One Raijintek Ereboss CPU cooler, 140mm, PWM.
Just one Logitech LS21 2.1 speaker setup.
Total: $2727

Daniel Lee14 said:I'm not doing heavy rendering, so I went with a six-core compromise.
I don't care about CUDA technology, but thanks for the heads up. This is mainly for gaming, and I wanted a modular power supply with some extra headroom 🙂.

Don't need a CD/DVD drive. Why bother with a Z9 case? I've already got a solid front panel, and looks don't matter to me—just performance.
Stuck between choosing the AMD 280 or the GTX 270.

What do you guys think of this build? (I'm actually thinking about gutting an old case to make a DIY stand for my motherboard and HDDs, then just slapping this together as a hobby project.
1 x DDR3 8GB (2x4GB) Kingston, HyperX Blue, 1600MHz, CL9
1 x ASUS R9 280X-DC2T-3GD5, AMD Radeon, R9280X, PCIe 3.0, 3072 MB
1 x Intel FX-Series X6 6300 3.5GHz,14MB,95W,AM3+, FD6300WMHK
1 x EVGA 450 PSU -P1550S-XXB9
1 x HDD Seagate 1TB, Serial ATA III, 7200 rpm, ST1000DM003
1 x SCYTHE Ashura SCASR-1000, s. 2011/775/1155/1156/1366/AM2/AM2+/AM
$1621 from Micro Center.
Will this PSU handle this CPU+GPU combo? (Assuming there isn't much difference between the 280 and 280x)

It's fine. 🙂
I picked a Zalman case because you get three or four fans included right out of the box, and the build quality is decent.

The PSU is basically a Seasonic inside, so it’s more than enough to run this setup.

1 x ASUS M5A97 R2.0, AM3,AM3+, Intel 970, SB950, BUS 5200 MHz, DDR3
1 x Intel FX-Series X6 6300 3.5GHz,14MB,95W,AM3+, FD6300WMHK
1 x DDR3 8GB (1x8GB) Crucial, 1600MHz CL11
1 x TOSHIBA 1TB, 7200rpm, SATA 6 Gb/s, 32MB, DT01ACA100
1 x Napajanje XFX TS Series 550W PSU -P1550S-XXB9
1 x Zalman Z9 U3 mid tower case. 207(W) x 464(H) x 504(D)mm
1 x DVD upisivač Samsung SH-224DB SATA Bulk Black, SATA
1 x Sapphire R9280X 3GB OC Dual-X, 3GB GDDR5 384bit, 28nm
1 x CoolerMaster Hyper TX3, LGA775/1156 and Intel 754/939/940/AM2/AM3

$1675
www.newegg.com

granitebadger7 said:Can someone explain this comment:

Which specific rule are we talking about here? All I saw in the sticky was that images have to be hosted on two specific sites.

But then in this other post in the same thread the exact same moderator is asking for suggestions for an alternative host because those two "official" ones are acting up.

So why was relaxed's suggestion flat-out rejected, and why did they basically get a public reprimand for supposedly breaking some rules?

Why do these two sites have a monopoly? It’s fine if it's a paid ad deal, but otherwise, it feels like the mods are just playing favorites with certain websites that clearly make money off this traffic.

There was a whole discussion ages ago about why those specific hosts were chosen for photo uploads.

The reasoning is right there in the topic's intro post.

mellowtiger83 said:@ mclovin

Why even bother with an R7 250 when the R7 260 is leagues ahead?$67 More expensive??????
I'm sticking with the i3. It’s consistently faster in every way compared to the AMD Ryzen 5 or that 760k series, especially when you're gaming.

People sleep on the i3. It’s got those 2+2 cores and hyper-threading makes it a beast. Like putting a turbocharger on a compact car—it just works.

It's just not 2+2 anymore. No logic left.
It’s got 2 cores and 2 threads, but those threads aren't the same thing as 2 physical cores. You can't compare them that way.

On the flip side, those Ryzen 5 chips actually have four real cores. Sure, they might lag behind an Intel Core i5, but for a budget build? It’s a no-brainer. Most modern games won't even touch a dual-core setup anymore, making the Ryzen 5 a much smarter buy than an i3.

Ryzen 5 vs. Core i5. It's a toss-up. $183 Why bother with an i3 when you can get more bang for your buck elsewhere? $300Look, that performance gap isn't worth the extra $300.$117 Included in the price.

Noah Scott77 said:Someone give me a gaming PC build for around $400. It doesn't have to be exactly $400, just close to it.

1 x DDR3 4GB (1x4GB) Crucial, 1600MHz CL11
1 x Intel Core i5-2500K 3.40GHz 4cores
1 x TOSHIBA 500GB, 7200rpm, SATA 6 Gb/s, 32MB, DT01ACA050
1 x DVD burner Western Digital Blue SATA
1 x Zalman 500-GS_II PSU, 500W, ATX12V V2.31, active PFC
1 x Sapphire R7 260X 1GB GDDR5 OC, 1GB GDDR5 128bit, 28nm
1 x MSI Gemini, case without PSU, Midi tower, ATX, mATX, 5.25"
1 x Asrock FM2A78M-HD+, Socket FM2+ 95W / FM2 100W processors
1 x ARCTIC-COOLING Alpine 11 Pro 2, socket 775/1156 92mm PWM Fan

$998
roughly $400$1000...

www.newegg.com

Zachary Smith2 said:Is liquid cooling expensive? Will it work with my motherboard, and what's the damage? Do I have to swap out the water every month? Is it silent? Does it actually run cooler than a Cooler Master setup?

Expensive. Not worth it for your rig.
There’s no such thing as a 100% silent cooler... you're gonna hear something... it's just a matter of volume. High-end ones are quieter, obviously.

Keith Wright2 said:I haven't seen anything anywhere saying it takes 24 installments🤔

Well, when you don't bother reading but still want to act like an expert, it's clearly stated right there in his opening post...

And honestly, the guy is asking for a build up to $1000, but you're out here acting like a jerk and overshooting the budget by $167...

If you actually have that extra $167 lying around to just hand him, go ahead, I'm sure he won't complain...

Keith Wright2 said:Look, I already pointed out that upgrading RAM is the easiest fix. I’m not sure if you actually know how to read a quote or what the issue is here, but I know that processor will be way too weak—especially if he decides to pick up a more powerful graphics card a year from now.

There's just no point arguing with you.😁

You're just stubborn.

Why would anyone drop more cash on upgrades in six months or a year if they don't have to?

That Athlon is basically like an old Phenom X4 955—those things can still limp through games after six years.

If you think you're some expert, go ahead and try to predict exactly which parts will be enough for everyone else.