PC build thread

[marurun]

Hey, if anyone is replacing or discarding a video card better than my Radeon 6670, give me a chance to take it off your hands. Same for an LGA Core 2 Duo CPU. I have an e6300 at 2.8 ghz (regular dual core, not core 2).

I'm trying to put off building a new PC due to cost issues, and my PSU and mobo are doing just fine (usually they are what goes wrong when something dies).

[s1mplehumar]

Hey, if anyone is replacing or discarding a video card better than my Radeon 6670, give me a chance to take it off your hands. Same for an LGA Core 2 Duo CPU. I have an e6300 at 2.8 ghz (regular dual core, not core 2).

I'm trying to put off building a new PC due to cost issues, and my PSU and mobo are doing just fine (usually they are what goes wrong when something dies).

I have a pair of Sapphire 4870's (1GB) w/ boxes and paperwork.

[flex wood]

So here's what I'm going to end up going with, I'm just waiting for rush hour to die down then heading out to microcenter. I'm going to get the 2 year extended warranty on the video card. I figured I'm not going to need more then just the ssd for now and I'm sure I can either get a free hard drive or get a cheap one on black Friday. The total is around $1070 after taxes. I'll get everything put together tomorrow evening

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz

CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO

Motherboard: ASRock Z87 Extreme4

Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600

Storage: Samsung 840 Series 120GB ssd

GPU: MSI Radeon R9 280X 3GB

PSU: EVGA SuperNOVA NEX750B BRONZE 750W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular

Case: Corsair 500R (arrives tomorrow)

[ZenErik]

I checked out some setups on the Overclock forum and re-did all my cabling. There is a pretty large owner's thread over there for the mini ITX case I am using.

Here is how things look now. Not as clean as it could be but a lot better.

[Jmustang1968]

Looks sleek

[noiseredux]

looks good, Erik. I plan to get back in and tidy up my build as well.

[Xonticus]

I used to love AMD CPU's for the longest time, until I got an i5 3rd gen. Hopefully soon we'll see some more price drops on 3rd gen now that 4th is out (hopefully). I've also heard ASrock motherboards has had some quality control problems (none from a 1st party account mind you) but I usually stick with Gigabyte mobos, they are a little bit pricier but they are worth it. Especially if you decide to go for something like a 3rd get i5 now, and want to upgrade to an i7 later on you'll have a quality mobo base.

For gaming, I'd recommend also 4gb minimum. Chances are, you're doing other stuff like photoshop, so a sweet spot is no less than 8gb if you can throw a few extra bucks into it.

The new ATi R9 cards are really piquing my interest, I currently have a 6850 I got for around $179 a couple years ago (also Gigabyte brand) but now for a few dollars more you can now afford to get the HD 7870 or even the Radeon R9 270X for the same price (around $200 US). Very sweet cards that are future proof, especially with the Mantle API that AMD is introducing(http://www.tomshardware.com/news/amd-ma ... 24418.html.

Unpopular opinion time: I'd also go with Windows 8 64bit, call me a fan! Plus the bit of a performance boost versus 7 is always good.

Just my two cents!

[ZenErik]

Looks sleek

looks good, Erik. I plan to get back in and tidy up my build as well.

Thanks guys.

It's definitely worth tidying things up if just for peace of mind. Honestly, the change in temps may be 2C at most for me. Haven't played any games since doing all that cable management but still encoding videos. But it feels better.

Still debating whether to upgrade to the 212 EVO cooler over my current T4. I want to, but it's probably not worth it since my temps seem pretty good. And it'd be a lot of work to pull the board, change the cooler, and put it all back together for maybe a few more degrees cooler on the temps. But more so than the temps, the 212 EVO isn't as wide, which would give me even more cable space. And might be a little quieter. Having a hard time finding out exactly how much quieter.

[flex wood]

Soon...

[ZenErik]

Neat. Seems like yours will be a bit more powerful than mine. What'd it set you back?

I just got some zip ties so I can further tidy up the inside of mine. Thought about LED fans too, lol. But not now.