Posts by Robert Rodriguez2

granitemoose16 said:So Intel is better?
Shouldn't I just grab an AM3 motherboard and processor instead?

An AM3+ board and CPU won't fit in your budget.
Here's what I'd pick:
1 x Gigabyte GA-F2A88XM-HD3, S.LGA 1150, Intel B85 Chipset, DDR3/2133, PCIe
1 x Intel Core i3 Processor 3.40GHz 4cores
1 x DDR3 4GB (1x4GB) Kingmax, 1600MHz, FLGF
1 x TOSHIBA 500GB, 7200rpm, SATA 6 Gb/s, 32MB, DT01ACA050
1 x CORSAIR 430W Power Supply, CX Series 80+ Bronze, EPS12V v2.3, 80+
1 x Zalman ZM-T4 micro tower case. 189(W) x 427,5(H) x 364(D)mm. MB
1 x SanDisk SD Card DVD burner, SATA Bulk Black, SATA
1 x Sapphire R7 260X 1GB GDDR5 OC, 1GB GDDR5 128bit, 28nm
1 x AOC E2250SWDNK, 21,5", 16:9, 1920x1080, 200 cd/m2, 20.000.000:1

$1346

rapidpuma59 said:Bringing this thread back to life.
At eDigital, the price for an Intel Core i5-4430 - 3.00GHz CPU dropped to just $416, but you have to order it. Unfortunately, they don't even have the MSI Motherboard that New Guy suggested. Any ideas for a replacement?
I'm circling the drain here, but since eDigital slashed their prices and the gap between Intel and AMD is only $67, I'm leaning toward Intel.
My only worry is hearing that they're unreliable when it comes to shipping orders. Also, everyone said Intel is better for gaming. Which chip would be better for video editing—the i5 or the AMD 6300? I'm talking amateur stuff in Movie Maker (converting formats, prepping clips for YouTube, that kind of junk).
I know it sounds crazy, but right now the i5 looks like a total underdog compared to the AMD, so I want your take.

If it's just amateur work, it doesn't matter if you wait 10 or 15 minutes (kidding).

Stay away from eDigital. A buddy from work ordered parts there and waited a month and a half... plus, he got faulty RAM, and even after filing a claim, he waited almost 2 months for a fix. He didn't get his RAM in two days until he threatened to call the Better Business Bureau.

Larry Ortiz5 said:I get the logic, but I don't have a job or any steady income. My parents cover my bills, so when I stumble onto some extra cash, I dump it into PC parts. I just swapped out my CPU and motherboard, so I'm set for three years. The GPU is the only thing holding me back. I know the Radeon HD 7870 is decent enough, but if I can swing an upgrade later, I'll take it. Most of my money goes toward other stuff, like dating 😍
.

If you actually had a girlfriend, you definitely wouldn't be blowing your cash on a GPU upgrade. 😂

INTEL
1 x Intel 1 x ASUS Z87-A, 1150, Intel ® Z87, DDR3, 4 slots, 1600 MHz
1 x Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz, Haswell
1 x 8GB DDR3 Kingston HyperX Blue, 1600MHz, CL10
1 x Sapphire R9 280X 3GB VAPOR-X OC, 3GB GDDR5 384bit, 28nm, 2xDVI
1 x 120GB Kingston V300 SSD, 2.5" 7mm, SATA 3 6G, 7mm to 9.5mm adapter
1 x 1TB Western Digital Caviar Blue 10EZEX, 1000 GB, SATA3, 64 MB, 3.5", 7200RPM
1 x XFX Core edition 80+ 550W PSU - EasyRail technology
1 x ASUS DRW-24F1ST/BLK/B/AS SATA, DVD-R 24x, DVD-RW 6x, DVD+R 24x
1 x Zalman Z3 PLUS mid tower case. 192(W)x465(H)x430(D)mm. ATX standard
1 x Cooler master Hyper 212 Evo, 2011, 1366/1156/775/AM3/ 626g, 13-32dB
1 x LG 23EA63V-P, 23", 16:9, 1920x1080, IPS panel, 250 cd/m2
$3143

AMD
1 x 8GB DDR3 Kingston HyperX Blue, 1600MHz, CL10
1 x Sapphire R9 280X 3GB VAPOR-X OC, 3GB GDDR5 384bit, 28nm, 2xDVI
1 x 120GB Kingston V300 SSD, 2.5" 7mm, SATA 3 6G, 7mm to 9.5mm adapter
1 x 1TB Western Digital Caviar Blue 10EZEX, 1000 GB, SATA3, 64 MB, 3.5", 7200RPM
1 x XFX Core edition 80+ 550W PSU - EasyRail technology
1 x ASUS DRW-24F1ST/BLK/B/AS SATA, DVD-R 24x, DVD-RW 6x, DVD+R 24x
1 x Zalman Z3 PLUS mid tower case. 192(W)x465(H)x430(D)mm. ATX standard
1 x Cooler master Hyper 212 Evo, 2011, 1366/1156/775/AM3/ 626g, 13-32dB
1 x LG 23EA63V-P, 23", 16:9, 1920x1080, IPS panel, 250 cd/m2
1 x Gigabyte 990XA-UD3, AM3+, AMD 990X SB950, 4x DDR3
1 x AMD FX-Series X8 8320 3.5GHz, 16MB, 125W, AM3+, FD8320FRHK

$2840

www.newegg.com

Kenneth Jackson3 said:I'm torn here.

I'm running a Phenom II x4 965 @ 3.4GHz
with an MSI R7770

Should I swap the GPU or the CPU first?

The processor is definitely choking specifically in Call of Duty, but if I can snag something like this:
http://www.newegg.com/p/product_info.php?id=13349
then I'd pull the trigger...
as long as that Phenom doesn't bottleneck me too hard. Obviously, if I drop cash on this now, the CPU upgrade has to wait until summer or maybe fall.

Which Intel chip would be in the same league as the one listed above?

The smart move is getting an Intel Core i7-4770K if your board supports it. It's dirt cheap and honestly much smarter... it can handle way beefier graphics without the bottleneck, whereas I doubt this Phenom could even run a GTX 760 smoothly.

Larry Ortiz5 said:Benjamin King2 and the other mods, hope you aren't mad, but I'm bumping my own thread. Opening a new one feels stupid since I have basically the same question and don't want to clutter the forum up with extra space.😬

Anyway, getting straight to it—here’s my current setup:

I've been thinking for a few days about selling my current 7870, adding $50$200 and grabbing an NVIDIA GTX 760. But looking at benchmarks on AnandTech, they seem roughly equal in power. Not a smart move, right? Second thing: I've got my eye on a 7970 on Craigslist. I know it's an old card, but even if I wanted it, I couldn't pull the trigger because my power supply is weak. I looked it up online and it puts out 408W on the 12V rail. With the GPU pulling 250W, my CPU taking 84W, and everything else maybe 50-60W, we're looking at roughly 395W total. That's cutting it way too close. I can't afford a new R9 280X plus a new PSU either; that's just not happening financially after dropping $300 on my CPU and motherboard. Right now, I've got $650$233 to work with. So, what's the play? Buying a new CPU cooler isn't an option right now because I'm not interested in overclocking yet—would just be throwing money away. Third and last thing: ever since I saw the Corsair Carbide Series 200R, I've been obsessed. It's seriously 👍. But my current case is fine; airflow is decent and the PC is quiet. Basically, if you were me, what would you do? Is jumping to the NVIDIA GTX 760 just a waste of cash?

Save that cash. You have no reason to spend it. What you've got is more than enough for gaming...
Put the money in your pocket and save it for another day.🙂

You could always go with something closer to your budget if you really want to save some cash on the monitor.

Robert Adams9 said:Could you actually guarantee 😂 that Nvidia is the "king" of the high end? You clearly haven't been following recent developments with ATI; even without that, it’s been a toss-up lately. To be fair, Nvidia hasn't really moved the needle much since the older generations, and sometimes it feels like the competition is catching up fast enough to close the gap.🙂

Right now, the strongest GPU out there is the GTX 780 Ti (single GPU).

Jack Torres4 said:Fine, thanks. But let's say you offer me this processor and it's sitting in Seattle while I'm out in Miami. Shipping would cost more than the chip itself. Can he just send it via a parcel service or something?

Ever heard of the USPS?🙄

1 x ASUS Motherboard, AM3+, AMD 990 x SB950, 4x DDR3
1 x desktop FX-Series X8 8320 3.5GHz,16MB,125W,AM3+, FD8320FRHK
1 x DDR3 8GB (1x8GB) Kingston, HyperX Blue, 1600MHz, CL10
1 x HDD Western Digital Caviar Green 1TB, 1000 GB, SATA3,64 MB, 3,5", 24mj
1 x Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo,2011,1366/1156/775/AM3/ 626g,13-32dB
1 x Zalman Z1 mid tower case. 199(W)x432(H)x457(D)mm. MB standard
1 x ASUS DRW-24F1ST/BLK/B/AS SATA, DVD-R 24x, DVD-RW 6x, DVD+R 24x
1 x SILVERSTONE Strider 500W, Essential ST50F-ES AC 90-264V, 47/63Hz
1 x MSI GTX 760 Gaming 2GB GDDR5, N760 TF 2GD5/OC, Dual-link DVI

$2007

jadesailor said:How much would it cost to swap my current chip for this i7? I’m leaning toward Intel right now even though AMD is cheaper. Their 8-core stuff seems to underperform compared to Intel's 4-cores and runs way hotter. That's why AMD is priced lower, right?

That isn't the main reason AMD is cheaper. There are plenty of other factors at play here...

The CPU being discussed is a total steal right now. In its bracket, AMD delivers killer performance and you can overclock it pretty heavily... just look at the threads on this forum; one guy dropped his temps by almost 20°C just by tweaking the voltage.

Unless you're doing high-end professional workstation stuff, an i7 is overkill. For casual home use and gaming, this is the undisputed best buy.

1 x Gigabyte 990 XA-UD3, AM3+, AMD 990 x SB950, 4x DDR3
1 x AMD FX-Series X8 8320 3.5GHz, 16MB, 125W, AM3+, FD8320FRHK
1 x WD 1TB Caviar Blue HDD, 1000 GB, SATA3, 64 MB, 3.5", 24mo warranty
1 x SILVERSTONE Strider 500W, Essential ST50F-ES AC 90-264V, 47/63Hz
1 x Zalman Z1 mid tower case. 199(W)x432(H)x457(D)mm. Standard ATX
1 x ZALMAN CNPS 5X cooler, compatible with 775/1155/1156/AM2/AM2/AM3
1 x ASUS DRW-24F1ST/BLK/B/AS SATA, DVD-R 24x, DVD-RW 6x, DVD+R 24x
1 x Kingston HyperX Blue DDR3 8GB (1x8GB), 1600MHz, CL10
1 x MSI GTX 760 Gaming 2GB GDDR5, N760 TF 2GD5/OC, Dual-link DVI

$1977
AMD build
1 x WD 1TB Caviar Blue HDD, 1000 GB, SATA3, 64 MB, 3.5", 24mo warranty
1 x SILVERSTONE Strider 500W, Essential ST50F-ES AC 90-264V, 47/63Hz
1 x Zalman Z1 mid tower case. 199(W)x432(H)x457(D)mm. Standard ATX
1 x ASUS DRW-24F1ST/BLK/B/AS SATA, DVD-R 24x, DVD-RW 6x, DVD+R 24x
1 x Kingston HyperX Blue DDR3 8GB (1x8GB), 1600MHz, CL10
1 x Gigabyte GA-B85M-DS3H, Socket : 1150, Intel ® B85
1 x Intel Core i5-4440 (3.10GHz, 1MB, 6MB, 84 W, 1150) Box
1 x MSI GTX 760 Gaming 2GB GDDR5, N760 TF 2GD5/OC, Dual-link DVI

$1911
intel

Matthew Anderson said:Alright, here’s the lineup.

NVIDIA GTX 660 - $406
Palit GTX 660 2GB OC - $363
NVIDIA GTX 760 -$533

Definitely go with the last one. 🙂
Plus, that Asus cooler is just as solid as the ones from MSI or Gigabyte. 🙂

1 x Gigabyte 990 XA-UD3, AM3+, AMD 990 x SB950, 4x DDR3
1 x AMD FX-Series X8 8320 3.5GHz, 16MB, 125W, AM3+, FD8320FRHK
1 x WD 1TB Caviar Blue HDD, 1000 GB, SATA3, 64 MB, 3.5", 24mj
1 x SILVERSTONE Strider 500W, Essential ST50F-ES AC 90-264V, 47/63Hz
1 x Zalman Z1 mid tower case. 199(W)x432(H)x457(D)mm. ATX standard
1 x ZALMAN CNPS 5X, socket 775/1155/1156/AM2/AM2/AM3
1 x ASUS DRW-24F1ST/BLK/B/AS SATA, DVD-R 24x, DVD-RW 6x, DVD+R 24x
2 x DDR3 8GB (1x8GB) Kingston, HyperX Blue, 1600MHz, CL10
1 x MSI GTX 650 Ti Boost OC 1GD5, N650TI-1GD5/OC BE, 1024 GDDR5 192

$1886
craigslist.com
This rig handles work and gaming just fine.🙂

jadesailor said:So I got a quote today for a new PC and honestly, the more I look at it, the less I like it. My main hesitation is the GPU... I see it came out last summer with 2GB of DDR3 memory. Should I stick with that or hunt for one with GDDR5? Spent ten minutes Googling and I'm still lost since there are so many different manufacturers making basically the same Nvidia cards. 😕

Can anyone suggest a decent card for gaming and video editing? I've got an i7 in there for the editing work.

P.S. It has 16GB of DDR3 RAM, which I assume is fine. Is there any point in looking for DDR5? Or does that not even exist—is it just GDDR5?

Thanks 🙂

If you're using this for work, the PC will get its money's worth. Looks like your budget is $2000

How are you paying? Cash or credit?

Ronald Nguyen3 said:Hey,

Which motherboard wins here?
http://www.msi.com/product/mb/Z87-G4...#specification
or
http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/Z87%20Extreme4/

They're priced exactly the same.

The rest of the build is an i5 and an R9 280X...

Go with MSI. Better warranty.🙂

Looks like you’re looking at upgrading both the CPU and the GPU

Without knowing the exact motherboard model, I can't say much else

But logically, if you can hunt down a used Phenom 955
or maybe grab a new X6 6300

+
a 7850 GPU

Adam Allen said:Best regards

I've got an Asus HD7770, and honestly, it's not cutting it. I play heavy hitters like Crysis and Bioshock at 1080p, and the lag is brutal. I'm ready to ditch this old thing for something better, but I'm getting mixed signals, so I have a few questions

1.) Is the R9 270 x TOXIC actually better than the Asus GTX 760?
R9 270 x TOXIC is $567 while the Asus GTX 760 is $667

2.) Is it worth dropping $167 more to grab an ASUS GTX770 or an R9 280 x TOXIC?
R9 280 x TOXIC is $867 and the Asus GTX 770 is around $250?

I know there are cheaper options out there, but I'm set on one of these specific ones, so just tell me which one wins...

Thanks

First off, what else is in your rig?
Can your CPU even handle any of these cards?

What kind of power supply are you running?

1 x LG 23EA63V-P, 23", 16:9, 1920x1080, IPS panel, 250 cd/m2
1 x Intel Core i7-4770 3.40GHz, Haswell
1 x Gigabyte GA-B85-HD3, Socket : 1150, Intel® B85, 4xDDR3 1333/1600
2 x DDR3 8GB (1x8GB) Kingston, HyperX Blue, 1600MHz, CL10
1 x HDD WD 1TB, Caviar Blue 10EZEX, 1000 GB, SATA3,64 MB, 3.5", 24mj
1 x ASUS DRW-24F1ST/BLK/B/AS SATA, DVD-R 24x, DVD-RW 6x, DVD+R 24x
1 x Spire Maverick 6009, ATX/micro ATX case
1 x SILVERSTONE Strider 500W, Essential ST50F-ES AC 90-264V, 47/63Hz
1 x MSI GTX650 1024 GDDR5 128 bit, N650-1GD5/OCV1, Core Clock 1071 M
1 x Genius speakers SP-HF500A, 14W RMS, wood
1 x Logitech Desktop MK120, Keyboard + Mouse, USB
1 x MSI CR-85 Card reader, MS-ind, Supports CF, MMC, MMC micro slots
1 x Thermaltake Contac 21, 775, AM2, AM2+, AM3, AM3+, FM1, 1155, 1156
1 x Kingston SSD 120GB V300, 2.5" 7mm, SATA 3 6G, 7mm to 9.5mm

$2827

Angela Hall89 said:can this card handle http://www.amazon.com/Graphics-Card...-L-256602.aspx

That card is basically just a glorified paperweight for displaying desktop icons. You aren't playing anything with it... nothing.