New build under $1,250?

I honestly don't get why you're being so stubborn—just try overclocking the CPU and bumping up the voltage, or maybe throw three GPUs in SLI. You won't be able to pull that off on an $100 board, though. They didn't exactly design high-end boards for power users like that. A $300-$$133 setup is really meant for people who just want to browse the web and watch movies. If you're a hardcore gamer, that's a whole different story 🙂

Don't even bother. Once he fries his board in a year 😁 then he'll finally get a clue and realize how stupid he was ☕

Look, it’s perfectly fine; he won't have any trouble running it at all.

Larry Ortiz5 said:I honestly don't get why you're being so stubborn about this. Look, if you want to actually overclock your CPU or bump up the voltage, or if you’re planning on running three GPUs in SLI, you just can't do that on an $100 board. They didn't design high-end boards for power users like that. A $300-$133 motherboard is really meant for people who just want to browse the web and watch movies. If you're a hardcore gamer, that's a completely different conversation 🙂

In my opinion, the OP probably isn't even going to touch overclocking, and they definitely don't need fifty USB ports, so I really don't see the point in paying for a more expensive board.

I'm pretty much convinced that having "cleaner" power delivery on a pricier motherboard might boost your performance by maybe, what, one single FPS?

It’s not even about the FPS or timing, really. It’s just pure build quality—better capacitors, better MOSFETs, beefier heatsinks on the pricier boards and all that.

Everything is available, but honestly, most people don't actually need it.

I’ve always just stuck with the most basic motherboards, and despite all the dust and constantly messing around with components, nothing has ever died on me.

I’m hoping nobody gets all bent out of shape if I drop this here, because I’m looking to pull the trigger on a gaming rig with an $1,200 budget, and instead of cluttering up the forum with a whole new thread, I figured I’d just toss it in here...

So, the first shop I stumbled upon looks pretty steep to my untrained eyes:

COOLERMASTER K350 ATX MIDI TOWER CASE
POWER SUPPLY: COOLERMASTER RS700 700W ATX
MOTHERBOARD: ASUS P8H77-V LE LGA1155 H77
PROCESSOR: INTEL CORE i5-4460 3.20 GHz
RAM: 8 GB DDR3 1600MHZ
HARD DRIVE: 1TB SATA3 3.5”
SATA DVD±R/±RW DRIVE
MSI GAMING AMD R9 290 4GB DDR5

8 $266

Thanks in advance for any actual useful advice you can throw my way..

The CPU and motherboard aren't compatible, so you should probably grab either an ASUS H97-Pro4 or a Gigabyte H97-HD3. I'd also suggest going with an EVGA G550 for the power supply; the one you have seems a bit second-rate with pretty low efficiency.

No worries at all, man... I know you guys always give solid advice 😉....Regarding the motherboard, it’s got a 36-month warranty, so I'm not too concerned—if it dies, they'll just have to swap it out for me... After three years, I should probably have enough saved up for an upgrade plus maybe a new CPU down the road.....The PC should be arriving by tomorrow or Friday

Patrick Cooper86 said:hope I can jump in here without offending anyone, since I'm looking to pick up a gaming rig for about $1,200 and didn't want to clutter things up with a new thread...

So, the first shop I stumbled upon looks pretty overpriced to a newbie like me:

CASE: GAMING ATX MIDI TOWER COOLERMASTER MOD. K350
PSU: ATX 700W COOLERMASTER RS700
MOTHERBOARD: ASUS P8H77-V LE LGA1155 H77
PROCESSOR: INTEL CORE i5-4460 3.20 GHz
RAM: 8 GB DDR3 1600MHZ
HARD DRIVE: SATA3 3.5” 1000GB
SATA DVD±R/±RW
MSI GAMING AMD R9 290 4GB DDR5

8 $266

thanks in advance for the help..

1 x DDR3 8GB (2x4GB) Kingston, 1866MHz, CL10, Kingston Fury
1 x HDD Seagate 1TB, Serial ATA III, 7200 rpm, DESKTOP SSHD,8GB SSD
1 x PSU Corsair 650W, CS650M Modular PSU, 650 Watt
1 x ASUS DRW-24F1ST/BLK/B/AS SATA, DVD-R 24x, DVD-RW 6x, DVD+R 24x
1 x Gigabyte R9 290 4GB OC, 4GB GDDR5 512bit, GV-R929OC-4GD ,Fractal Design Core 3000
1 x Fractal Design Core 3000 Black NEW 3.0,Midi tower, ATX, 5,25"
1 x Processor Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz, Haswell
1 x Asrock Z87 KILLER, 1150, Intel ® Z87, DDR3, 4 slots, 1333
1 x COOLERMASTER Hyper 412S, socket 1366 / 1156 / 1155 / 775 / FM1

$2879
www.microcenter.com

So, my PC finally arrived, but of course, there’s already an issue... Basically, Best Buy put it together and ran their tests, so everything should be connected properly. I hit the power button, but all I get is a black screen. No BIOS, nothing—just the Acer logo popping up. I’ve been looking things up online, and it seems like something might be plugged in wrong or maybe isn't seated correctly. I'm honestly stuck. It won't even accept the motherboard drivers. The cables are all hooked up—I've got the blue VGA cable running from the tower to the monitor. Everything has power, though. Hmm. Any advice? 🙂

Please don't tell me that blue cable is supposed to plug into the motherboard instead of the GPU—I mean, integrated graphics used to have both blue and white connectors that went straight into the card, but this R290 just has the white one....

briskmason6 said:Don't tell me that blue cable goes into the motherboard instead of the GPU—like, the integrated ones. My old card had both blue and white cables that plugged straight into the card, but this R290 just has the white one....

Yeah, you gotta plug that cable into the graphics card, not the motherboard...

So, what now? That notch isn't on the graphics card.

briskmason6 said:Please don't tell me that blue cable is supposed to plug into the graphics card instead of the motherboard—meaning the integrated graphics. My old card had both blue and white ports where you'd connect directly to the GPU, but this R290 only has the white one.

Use the white (DVI) port on the graphics card to connect to your monitor. If you don't have a DVI cable handy, just grab a DVI-to-VGA adapter (those used to be included in the box with most cards, at least they were back in the day).

The blue (VGA) connection is outdated and offers inferior quality; frankly, modern high-end GPUs don't even carry them anymore.

The whole DVI-to-VGA thing would actually make sense here, but unfortunately, you just can't find it 😢

If your monitor has both VGA and DVI ports -> just grab a DVI cable
If you're stuck with only a VGA port -> maybe get a VGA to DVI adapter, or I guess you could swing by a Best Buy and see if they have any spares lying around

http://www.nabava.net/search.php?tp=0&q=dvi+to+vga

Some monitors actually come with a DVI cable included in the box. Honestly, rather than wasting money on an adapter, you would be much better off just buying a dedicated DVI cable—or even an HDMI one if your monitor supports it.

Cables in the box: power cord for the monitor, blue VGA-to-VGA, and an HDMI with some tiny mobile adapter -.- honestly, what a joke

So, I need to pick up an HDMI-to-HDMI cable... just one more $17