Advice for buying a gaming PC!

fadedorca66 said:My point is that things can shift completely in just a single month—one motherboard becomes a total steal, then suddenly a power supply disappears from the lineup. It’s even more unpredictable when you're looking six months out! 🤣 Especially while we're all sitting around waiting for those new AMD graphics cards to drop.

If new GPUs arrive, will the older ones (like the 270x or 280) get cheaper?

Probably, there'll be a bit of everything 🙂

fadedorca66 said:Most likely, there will be plenty of 🙂

God willing, I hope so too! 😉

Greetings and salutations to everyone! I find myself wondering, what might the collective wisdom of this community think about this particular hardware configuration?

Intel Core i7-4790 in-a-Box
ASUS Z97-A, LGA 1150, ATX
dark rock 3 16 GB kit Crucial Ballistix sport Series DDR3-1600, CL9
CL9 Cooler master Storm Trooper, without power supply
be quiet! PURE POWER L8 700W
MSI GTX 970 4GD5T OC, GeForce GTX 970, 4GB GDDR5, 2x DVI, HDMI, DisplayPort
Seagate Barracuda 7200 2000GB, SATA 6Gb/s
Samsung SSD 850 Pro 256GB SATA 6Gb/s
LG GH24NS plain black

monitor : Dell U2715H

Is there anything at all that I should consider swapping out or perhaps adding to improve the build?

Many thanks to you all.

Just get a new power supply—something with better efficiency and quality, maybe with a lower wattage, unless you're actually planning on running an SLI GTX 970 setup.

Which store are you shopping at? Let's see what kind of power supplies they actually have in stock.

Also, you could probably save some cash with a cheaper motherboard if you aren't going with a -K series processor.

I’m picking it up over in Germany.
http://www.hardwareversand.de/pcconf...rator.gpOnly=0
Here is the specific configuration I've put together. If you feel like swapping out any components you think aren't quite right, just go ahead and make those changes, then hit that "click here" button at the bottom to generate the updated link.

Since I am investing quite a significant amount into this build, I really don't mind spending just a little bit more to step things up a notch, so please, don't let that worry you one bit!
Thanks so much.

EDIT: Now that I'm thinking about it, I'm actually considering running an SLI setup and upgrading to a K-series processor instead. The price difference is only about $33 for the processor and $355 for the graphics card.

I'm thinking about SLI down the road, just not right away 😁

http://www.hardwareversand.de/700+-+...X+2.31.article

You could probably grab this power supply and a -K processor too, especially since you're already getting such a massive cooler and a solid motherboard 😉

Since you're already dropping serious cash on such an expensive case, you might want to take a look at this one—honestly, it’s one of my favorites. http://www.hardwareversand.de/Tower/...tzteil.article

1 x Crucial 8GB DDR3 1600 Mhz (PC3-12800) CL11
1 x GIGABYTE GA-970A-DS3P, AM3+
1 x Zalman Z1, USB3.0 black, 2x120mm
1 x LC POWER LC-CC-95, socket 775/1155/1156/AMD
1 x Gigabyte R9 280 WF3 OC, 3GB GDDR5, HDMI, DVI
1 x AMD FX X6 6300 3.5Ghz (4.1GHz) box
1 x Fortron Raider S 550W, 80+ SILVER
Some guy on another forum suggested this setup, total comes to about $1500. A buddy of mine mentioned I should probably swap out the power supply, and I was thinking maybe grabbing some different RAM instead. Just wondering what you guys think about it all.

velvetgardener25 said:1 x Crucial 8GB DDR3 1600 Mhz (PC3-12800) CL11
1 x GIGABYTE GA-970A-DS3P, AM3+
1 x Zalman Z1, USB3.0 black, 2x120mm
1 x LC POWER LC-CC-95, socket 775/1155/1156/AMD
1 x Gigabyte R9 280 WF3 OC, 3GB GDDR5, HDMI, DVI
1 x Procesor AMD FX X6 6300 3.5Ghz (4.1GHz) box
1 x Fortron Raider S 550W, 80+ SILVER
Some other forum recommended this build to me, and the total comes to $1500. A buddy of mine suggested swapping out the power supply, and I'm thinking about grabbing different RAM. What do you guys think?

Man, how much money is that even?

coastaltiger2 said:How much money is that altogether?

exactly $1520

RAM is basically just RAM, though I guess some series can be a bit finicky (like Corsair Vengeance or Patriot Signature). As for a power supply for $148, you really can't do better, so it’s hard to justify picking anything else unless you want to drop another 100-$50.

velvetgardener25 said:1 x Crucial 8GB DDR3 1600 Mhz (PC3-12800) CL11
1 x GIGABYTE GA-970A-DS3P, AM3+
1 x Zalman Z1, USB3.0 black, 2x120mm
1 x LC POWER LC-CC-95, socket 775/1155/1156/AMD
1 x Gigabyte R9 280 WF3 OC, 3GB GDDR5, HDMI, DVI
1 x Procesor AMD FX X6 6300 3.5Ghz (4.1GHz) box
1 x Fortron Raider S 550W, 80+ SILVER
Some other forum recommended this build to me, total cost is $1500. A buddy suggested swapping out the power supply, and I'm thinking about grabbing different RAM. What do you guys think?

And where's your hard drive?

I don't really need the hard drive, just tell me what kind of power supply I should grab at most $50 more. And honestly, I'm on the fence about the RAM because I haven't messed around with that brand before, so I was thinking maybe I'll just go with someone else.

Here’s how I’d put this thing together:

1 x Gigabyte GTX960 WF2 Overclocked, 2GB GDDR5, DVI-I / DVI-D / HDMI

1 x AMD FX X6 6300 3.5GHz,14MB,95W,AM3+, FD6300WMHK

1 x Gigabyte 970A-DS3P, AM3+, AMD 970 SB950, 4x DDR3 2000(O.C.)/1866

1 x Spire Kepler Rev.2 ,hladnjak, 1156/775/FM1, 96.5×51×125 mm ,92mm

1 x DDR3 8GB (1x8GB) Kingston, HyperX Fury, 1866MHz, CL10

1 x CORSAIR 430W, CX430M, CX Series Modular, EPS12V v2.3

1 x Thermaltake Versa II, Midi tower, ATX,mATX, 5,25" vanjski utor

Total:$1599 $700.00 USD with free assembly and shipping!
You get a slightly beefier GPU that actually pulls way less power, a solid modular power supply to make cable management less of a nightmare, and some faster RAM. Everything else stays pretty much the same, except for the case—those cheap Zalman Z1, Z3, and Z3+ models are all sold out, so this Thermaltake one is basically the only decent swap left in this price bracket, and honestly, it's nothing bad.

I was leaning toward either the SuperFlower Golden Green 550 w or the Fortron Aurum 500 w, but neither is in stock at Micro Center... 🤔

Maybe something like this:

1 x DDR3 8GB (1x8GB) Kingston, HyperX Fury, 1866MHz, CL10
1 x Gigabyte 970A-DS3P, AM3+, AMD 970 SB950, 4x DDR3 2000(O.C.)/1866
1 x AMD FX X6 6300 Processor 3.5GHz, 14MB, 95W, AM3+, FD6300WMHK
1 x XFX R9-280A-TDFD, Double Dissipation Edition Radeon R9 280 933 m
1 x Spire Kepler Rev.2 cooler, 1156/775/FM1, 96.5×51×125 mm, 92mm
1 x Seasonic S12G-450 Gold Power Supply, 450 W, active PFC
1 x Coolermaster K280, MIDI, black, USB 3.0, no PSU

$1579 Micro Center

fadedorca66

Why would you even bother swapping out the PSU and the RAM?

Those Crucial sticks are super reliable and come with a solid warranty—plus, that Razer gear is more than enough for this kind of setup. Honestly, efficiency-wise, it can probably hold its own against some entry-level Gold power supplies.

@graniteharbor85/">@@graniteharbor85 I didn't really know much about that RAM, so I figured maybe it'd be better to just grab something else instead.

Thanks for all the advice, everyone. I guess I wanted to hear more perspectives before pulling the trigger. I'll probably just sit here and see what I end up picking out.

When it comes to RAM, there really aren't any "good" or "bad" brands if that's what you're getting at; it's all more or less the same thing. Any company that was destined to fail in the PC industry went under a long time ago.

1 x Intel Core i5-4570, 3.20GHz, Haswell
1 x Gigabyte GA-B85M-DS3H, Socket : 1150, Intel ® B85
1 x Intel ® B85 1 x Gigabyte GTX960 WF2 Overclocked, 2GB GDDR5, DVI-I / DVI-D / HDMI
1 x Seagate 1TB HDD, Serial ATA III, 7200 rpm, ST1000DM003
1 x DDR3 4GB (1x4GB) Kingston, 1600MHz, CL11, Value
1 x HEXA plus 500, 500W, 12cm fan
1 x Thermaltake V4 Black edition, VM30001W2Z, Middle Tower, 4.5 kg
1 x SCYTHE Slip Stream Slim 120mm 1200 rpm, 21.71 dBA / 24.03 CFM

$1870 ADM

I stretched my budget by maybe $100 to put this together. Now, I guess the question is: should I just pull the trigger now, or wait for component prices to drop?🤔