PC build thread

[isiolia]

True, but it seems like it's at opposite ends of the spectrum. Their low-mid range GPUs are competitive, but if you're spending $300+ on one, far as I know, it's still nVidia's game. Personally, I've been happier with nVidia drivers anyway though.

The CPUs, at least so far, are more on the high end (relatively speaking). I think they've got low/midrange chips coming along too, but so far the excitement is mostly about $400-500 CPUs (or the $330 one). Again, competing with a 6900k, which is a $1k CPU...but not a budget setup either way.
Hopefully it'll at least push Intel to not be so stingy with the cores on their lower end lines though.

[noiseredux]

I'm with you on drivers for sure. And that is one reason I've been so happy with Nvidia.

The other thing is that because I have a Shield tablet, there's feature-specific reasons for me to have a GTX.

[mikenac]

@mikenac,

you just inspired my next PC build. I love your setup and being able to see the PC's components beneath the keyboard. Well done sir!

thanks!

[s1mplehumar]

I'm really rooting for Ryzen and Vega. Competition is a good thing.

[ExedExes]

For the first time in a long time, I was able to upgrade another desktop computer, this time for someone I know who is big on graphic design and uses programs like CorelDraw.

The computer I worked on was a Dell Inspiron 620 from 2011 (Win 7 64-bit)

I added the following components from Amazon:

2 x 4GB Crucial DDR3 memory - roughly $58

Gigabyte NVIDIA GeForce GT 420 2GB graphics card - $39.99 at the time (price went up)

OCZ 500W ATX 80Plus semi-modular PSU - $69.99 at the time (price went WAY up)

The build went great. The case was totally uncluttered and the old PSU slid right out. The new OCZ was a little bit bigger than the stock Dell, but it still fit and the screw holes on the back of the case lined up. The semi-modular design made it easier to install and far less cable clutter! The card was a good deal too with the 2GB of RAM and I like the build quality with the aluminum fan and the gold plated HDMI out, it will make any graphics work faster! Customer is satisfied, it's running quieter, faster, and more powerful!

[bmoc]

Yesterday I built a computer for a friend that is getting a degree in graphic design. He primarily uses Adobe CC.

Intel Core i7-5820K Haswell-E 6-Core 3.3 GHz
ASRock X99 Taichi Motherboard
CORSAIR RMx Series RM850X 850W Power Supply
G.SKILL Ripjaws 4 Series 32GB (4 x 8GB) 288-Pin DDR4 SDRAM DDR4 2133
Intel SSD 600p Series 512GB, M.2 2280 80mm NVMe PCIe 3.0 x4
LG Electronics 14x SATA Blu-ray Internal Rewriter
MSI GeForce GTX 1050 Ti DirectX 12 GTX 1050 Ti 4G OC 4GB 128-Bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card
BenQ SW2700PT 27" QHD 2560x1440 IPS Monitor
Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO
Rosewill Challenger Black Gaming ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

I am most impressed with the M.2 SSD. I've never used one that plugged in natively to the motherboard. Lots of Dell computers use them but so far the ones I have worked with use them via SATA adapters. Anyway, this thing installed Windows in about 5 minutes. It boots to Windows in about 5 seconds after clearing post.

I also showed him how to make a RamDisk to use as his scratch disk with the Adobe products. I think he is going to be pleased with the performance.

[marurun]

Adobe products are fully multi-threaded. You should've waited until Zen was in the wild and build him a multi-core powerhouse.

[bmoc]

Ryzen is still a bit too new for my comfort level in building for another person. If it were a computer for me, sure no problem - I can work through any issues that come up. I'd rather wait until there are more reviews of the Ryzen compatible motherboards in either case.

But in his own words, he has put off getting a new computer for too long given his workload. I figured my build would give him pretty good bang for the buck and have plenty of room for future upgrades.

[isiolia]

Yeah, platform is the bigger thing than the CPU specs, I'd seen some mention of stability issues on some of the previews. Most of my AMD builds have had issues related to chipset/motherboard.

X99 is probably overkill, but as a workhorse machine it'll probably last quite a while.

[bmoc]

X99 is probably overkill, but as a workhorse machine it'll probably last quite a while.

That is what I was going for. He was considering a Surface Studio prior to reaching out to me. But he doesn't really need to be able to ink directly on the screen. He said he is fine with his Wacom tablet. He asked me if I could do better than a low end Surface Studio for around $2K. I think that was accomplished.