NosulRagal Posted February 9, 2016 Posted February 9, 2016 So, my current computer (which is a retail model, HP) is beginning to wear out. It wasn't a gaming rig to begin with, and I pushed it a little too hard, so now I'm having some issues with slowdown, freezing up, random power offs, things of that nature. I'm not real interested in trying to hunt those problems down and fix them. What I intend to do, is build my first PC, specifically for gaming. I've bought some books, read some stuff online, I think I have the pieces narrowed down. What I'd like is some advice as far as compatibility, and any issues that might arise from these parts. Basically, i figured this would be the place to ask people in the know what they think about the parts I'm looking at. I have a budget of around $900, so this is what I have in mind. Tower: Thermaltake Versa H22 http://amzn.com/B00J0NZ5N0 Motherboard: Gigabyte AM3+ AMD DDR3 1333 760G Micro ATX GA-78LMT http://amzn.com/B009FC3YJ8 Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 950 2GB SSC http://amzn.com/B013WQCC5O Processor: AMD FX-6300 6-Core Processor Black Edition http://amzn.com/B009O7YORK RAM: Crucial 8GB Single DDR3 http://amzn.com/B00AZGZFGS (4 of these, obviously, for the full 32GB) Hard Drive: Seagate 1TB Desktop SSHD(Solid State Hybrid Drive) SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache 3.5-Inch Internal Bare Drive http://amzn.com/B00EIQTOFY Disk Drive: Asus 24x DVD-RW http://amzn.com/B0033Z2BAQ Power Supply: Corsair CX600 CP-9020048-US 600W http://amzn.com/B0092ML0OC I'm planning on going with Windows 10 Pro for the OS. I would've preferred to stick with Windows 7, but reading about all the hassles they've thrown on OEM copies, I don't think it'd be feasible for me. Bearing in mind that the price ranges for the products listed are pretty much where I have to stay with my budget (I have VERY little wiggle room here), how does this look to the experts? I'm mainly concerned with compatibility with the PSU: Is that enough for everything listed? Can anyone see any possible issues that might pop up with these parts? My main goal for this build is to play Skyrim on the best settings possible. I'd like to be able to play Fallout 4 as well, even on medium settings, but that's not a hard goal. Some older games that I also have on Steam would be nice. I'm not REALLY concerned with a lot of newer games, so really graphically intensive games aren't really a factor. Mind you I'm still VERY new to this, learning as I go. I have about a month before I decide, so I'm trying to gather all the information I can from all the resources available. Any advice is appreciated, and please don't worry about dumbing down the language you might use, the simplest explanation is usually the best Thank you in advance to anyone who may reply, and thank you for taking the time to read this.
lordofthedread Posted February 9, 2016 Posted February 9, 2016 Your GPU is the only thing that won't run Skyrim at the best so here are a couple of advices : You don't need 32gb or memory, go with 16 and use the money to put in your GPU. For information I still have 8gb on my current PC and I never had any problems with bloated memory, 16gb should be just fine. Go for a GTX 970 or an AMD R9380 and get at least 3GB GDDR5 if you plan to use 2 or 4k textures. If they are too expensive look for second hand GTX 770 or equivalent from AMD on craiglist, they can go quite cheap and are still very decent cards (way better than the 950). I strongly recommend getting 2 separate disks and not an hybrid, you will get way better performance by getting a 240gb for system and Skyrim and then adding a 1TB (or more) for storage. Hope I helped.
NosulRagal Posted February 9, 2016 Author Posted February 9, 2016 Very good info. Thank you very much!
Queen Bee Posted February 9, 2016 Posted February 9, 2016 I'm going to be throwing my tax return at a new gaming rig, so this is good advice for me as well. I'd never even heard of GDDR5 before. So it's like a separate RAM for graphics?
NosulRagal Posted February 9, 2016 Author Posted February 9, 2016 So, at the behest of some other users on another forum, I've adjusted my specs. What do the experts think of this build? Specifically, I'm worried about incompatibilities with having an SSD main drive and an HDD secondary for storage. Can anyone share any thoughts/experiences with this method? PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchantCPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($179.99 @ Amazon)Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-B85M-DS3H-A Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($64.99 @ Amazon)Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($32.99 @ Amazon)Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($87.99 @ Amazon)Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($48.99 @ Amazon)Video Card: PowerColor Radeon R9 380 4GB PCS+ Video Card ($225.41 @ Amazon)Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case ($59.99 @ Amazon)Power Supply: EVGA 600B 600W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($44.99 @ Amazon)Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($21.48 @ Amazon)Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) ($88.08 @ Amazon)Total: $854.90Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when availableGenerated by PCPartPicker 2016-02-09 15:34 EST-0500
nutluck Posted February 9, 2016 Posted February 9, 2016 First check all the prices on newegg and see if they have any deals going on similar products. Plus if you buy a lot I have always gotten free shipping so that could save you a few bucks. Second if you can manage it I would strongly recommend getting a full tower instead of a mid tower. A lot more room, making it a lot easier to upgrade later. Especially since video cards just keep getting longer and longer. Plus it helps the PC run cooler which will help it last longer. Other than that I don't see anything that is a bad choice, or preference.
NosulRagal Posted February 9, 2016 Author Posted February 9, 2016 First check all the prices on newegg and see if they have any deals going on similar products. Plus if you buy a lot I have always gotten free shipping so that could save you a few bucks. Second if you can manage it I would strongly recommend getting a full tower instead of a mid tower. A lot more room, making it a lot easier to upgrade later. Especially since video cards just keep getting longer and longer. Plus it helps the PC run cooler which will help it last longer. Other than that I don't see anything that is a bad choice, or preference. I've always shopped Amazon, and while NewEgg's prices might be lower, I've always found Amazon customer service to be reliable. Plus, I'd get a free trial of Prime that would enable me to get free 2 day shipping regardless. How reliable is NewEgg?
nutluck Posted February 9, 2016 Posted February 9, 2016 I buy all my PC stuff at newegg and never had a issue with them. My friend once got a bad part and sent it back and got a free replacement. So far have had great service from them.
lordofthedread Posted February 9, 2016 Posted February 9, 2016 GDDR5 is the memory used in graphic cards. G stand for Graphics, it has now been adopted as DDR5 for replacing the good old DDR3. When purchasing a video card avoid the ones embarquing DDR3, the cost difference is not that much and it will impact the performance especially on texture heavy games like modded Skyrim. On the system itself the difference between DDR5 and DDR3 is barely noticeable but in a few years from now this will be the standard anyway. To conclude : stick with DDR3 with as high clock speed as you can get / your motherboard can support and that matches your budget but definitly go for GDDR5 on video cards.
NosulRagal Posted February 9, 2016 Author Posted February 9, 2016 I buy all my PC stuff at newegg and never had a issue with them. My friend once got a bad part and sent it back and got a free replacement. So far have had great service from them. I have a real issue with the local mail. I've had deliveries go to the wrong house numerous times. Therefore, I have to pay extra for shipping via UPS to ensure things arrive correctly. I signed up an account for NewEgg and priced everything out, and getting 2-day shipping from them would cost as much as the parts I want on Amazon, but I'd get free 2-day from them via a Prime trial. So, for that reason, I'm gonna stick with Amazon for this build. Perhaps the NEXT build, when I have a bit more money and a lot more time, I'll explore NewEgg a little further. I really appreciate your advice on this, tho, thanks very much.
Rayblue Posted February 11, 2016 Posted February 11, 2016 The only problem with Windows 10 is that it's been coded stuck to give only 4gb of VRAM for DX9-based games, including Skyrim (people think it's DX11 because of the included runtimes, but it's not, especially when ENB binaries are DX9). But this leaves in a quandry: Windows 7 allows us to play older games, while Windows 10 will do well with latest games.
NosulRagal Posted February 11, 2016 Author Posted February 11, 2016 The only problem with Windows 10 is that it's been coded stuck to give only 4gb of VRAM for DX9-based games, including Skyrim (people think it's DX11 because of the included runtimes, but it's not, especially when ENB binaries are DX9). But this leaves in a quandry: Windows 7 allows us to play older games, while Windows 10 will do well with latest games. But Skyrim only requires 4GB to begin with. If Win10 only allows 4GB for games like that, will it cause noticeable slowdown or other issues?
Queen Bee Posted February 11, 2016 Posted February 11, 2016 Not going to go i7? I know i5's are still pretty solid, but why not future proof? Or are you working within a tight budget? Edit: I am an idiot. I just looked up the difference between i7 and i5, and apparently it's negligible for gaming.
Antrox Posted February 11, 2016 Posted February 11, 2016 So, at the behest of some other users on another forum, I've adjusted my specs. What do the experts think of this build? Specifically, I'm worried about incompatibilities with having an SSD main drive and an HDD secondary for storage. Can anyone share any thoughts/experiences with this method? PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($179.99 @ Amazon) Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-B85M-DS3H-A Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($64.99 @ Amazon) Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($32.99 @ Amazon) Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($87.99 @ Amazon) Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($48.99 @ Amazon) Video Card: PowerColor Radeon R9 380 4GB PCS+ Video Card ($225.41 @ Amazon) Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case ($59.99 @ Amazon) Power Supply: EVGA 600B 600W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($44.99 @ Amazon) Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($21.48 @ Amazon) Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) ($88.08 @ Amazon) Total: $854.90 Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-02-09 15:34 EST-0500 Better CPU and GPU. PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($224.95 @ SuperBiiz) Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97MX-Gaming 5 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($119.99 @ NCIX US) Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($42.99 @ Newegg) Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($46.89 @ OutletPC) Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 960 4GB Video Card ($209.89 @ OutletPC) Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case ($44.99 @ Micro Center) Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA NEX 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($69.99 @ NCIX US) Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($17.78 @ OutletPC) Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) ($87.95 @ OutletPC) Total: $865.42 Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-02-11 16:42 EST-0500 But if you expand your budget a little, you get an even better GPU PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($224.95 @ SuperBiiz) Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97MX-Gaming 5 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($119.99 @ NCIX US) Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($42.99 @ Newegg) Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($46.89 @ OutletPC) Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 970 4GB Twin Frozr V Video Card ($324.99 @ B&H) Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case ($44.99 @ Micro Center) Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA NEX 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($69.99 @ NCIX US) Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($17.78 @ OutletPC) Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) ($87.95 @ OutletPC) Total: $980.52 Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-02-11 16:43 EST-0500 With SSD: PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($224.95 @ SuperBiiz) Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97MX-Gaming 5 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($119.99 @ NCIX US) Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($42.99 @ Newegg) Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($64.88 @ OutletPC) Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($46.89 @ OutletPC) Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 960 4GB Video Card ($225.00 @ Amazon) Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case ($44.99 @ Micro Center) Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA NEX 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($69.99 @ NCIX US) Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($17.78 @ OutletPC) Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM (64-bit) ($87.95 @ OutletPC) Total: $945.41 Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-02-11 16:45 EST-0500
Queen Bee Posted February 12, 2016 Posted February 12, 2016 For a graphics card, I see Nvidia's GeForce 970 is $200 more than a 950. Is there that much of a difference?
kuroinoakuma Posted February 12, 2016 Posted February 12, 2016 Put simply: Yes, there is enough of a difference between a 950 & 970 to make it worth the extra $200 to get the 970 and it's extra performance. With Nivida cards (at least the GTX series), the Launch *80 is High-Range, *70 is Mid/high-Range, *60 is Mid-Range, *50 is Low-Range. Titan's & *80Ti's are Uber-Range. A *80Ti is also typically a slightly cut-down version of the Titan of it's core family. The 980Ti? Same GM200 chips as the TitanX, half the V-RAM (6GB Vs the TitanX's 12GB), 256 CUDA cores fewer than the TitanX (2816 Vs the TitanX's 3072), 2/3rds the launch price of the TitanX for similar real-world scenario testing and performance ($650USD launch for the 980Ti Vs. $1000USD for the TitanX). I'm personally running a GTX780 (EVGA, 6GB variant, one of the FEW that has 6GB and not the standard 3GB) and am going to be waiting for Nvidia to launch their Pascal (GTX1000 series) cards before upgrading as this card was top-dog at launch and still sits somewhere between a GTX970 & GTX980 in modern games, depending on the benchmarking method and overclocking of the GPU & V-RAM on any particular card.
Crooltool Posted February 12, 2016 Posted February 12, 2016 at least Nvidia's model scheme is pretty easy to understand, 40 or 50 series, budget build general use computer< OK for FB games and thats about it>, 60 series, minimum for a gaming system, 70 series, good for a midrange gaming system, 80 series and above, serious gaming rig. I have NEVER figured out ATI's modeling scheme and prolly never will when my 570 card died after 5 years, EVGA replaced it with a 760 and I suffered no loss and actually gained quite a bit <bought the 570 two months before EVGA got rid of the lifetime warranty on GPUs>. One thing to look at.. when do you figure on upgrading or replacing the rig you are building? if its going to be a while, get the best GPU possible, for example, that 570 surpassed 99%of the recommended hardware requirements for games up until it died and still would have met minimums even today for most games, over 6 years since I got it. If I were to be building a rig today, would settle for nothing less then a 970 even tho it is a bit light on RAM. Also can't recommend EVGA enough, current rig is almost all EVGA and is now almost 7 years old. only issue was with the GPU burning out after over 5 years. only problem with it now, is I can't "upgrade" without an almost complete system rebuild <I7 960, no decent motherboards available for that chipset anymore so would have to upgrade MB, CPU, RAM, HDs at minimum <would not build a system today without at least OS on SSD>
Kaz Aanh Posted February 12, 2016 Posted February 12, 2016 For a graphics card, I see Nvidia's GeForce 970 is $200 more than a 950. Is there that much of a difference? Even though 970 is a meme card *because muhh 3,5g instead of 4g* it works fairly well. It handles most of the new games like Fallout4/Xcom2 without any issues and with the stable fps. source: i am owner of this card , not oc and since myself I am not a 1080p gamer its alright.
Frozium Posted February 12, 2016 Posted February 12, 2016 One last thing! Maybe this is just my problem, but I have 8GB RAM and I still get bloated saves. Just an advice
Crooltool Posted February 12, 2016 Posted February 12, 2016 One last thing! Maybe this is just my problem, but I have 8GB RAM and I still get bloated saves. Just an adviceblo Bloated saves have nothing to do with how much RAM you have or don't have, that is an issue with a mod or mods
Frozium Posted February 13, 2016 Posted February 13, 2016 One last thing! Maybe this is just my problem, but I have 8GB RAM and I still get bloated saves. Just an adviceblo Bloated saves have nothing to do with how much RAM you have or don't have, that is an issue with a mod or mods Oh well, thanks for the data then
Antrox Posted February 13, 2016 Posted February 13, 2016 For a graphics card, I see Nvidia's GeForce 970 is $200 more than a 950. Is there that much of a difference? Even though 970 is a meme card *because muhh 3,5g instead of 4g* it works fairly well. It handles most of the new games like Fallout4/Xcom2 without any issues and with the stable fps. source: i am owner of this card , not oc and since myself I am not a 1080p gamer its alright. You should look at this: https://imgur.com/a/3lZ2h The 512mb of VRAM is reserved; in short. So technically speaking, its still "there".
Kaz Aanh Posted February 14, 2016 Posted February 14, 2016 For a graphics card, I see Nvidia's GeForce 970 is $200 more than a 950. Is there that much of a difference? Even though 970 is a meme card *because muhh 3,5g instead of 4g* it works fairly well. It handles most of the new games like Fallout4/Xcom2 without any issues and with the stable fps. source: i am owner of this card , not oc and since myself I am not a 1080p gamer its alright. You should look at this: https://imgur.com/a/3lZ2h The 512mb of VRAM is reserved; in short. So technically speaking, its still "there". This is very interesting i must say. At least I wasn't jewed in 100% by nvidia.
Antrox Posted February 14, 2016 Posted February 14, 2016 For a graphics card, I see Nvidia's GeForce 970 is $200 more than a 950. Is there that much of a difference? Even though 970 is a meme card *because muhh 3,5g instead of 4g* it works fairly well. It handles most of the new games like Fallout4/Xcom2 without any issues and with the stable fps. source: i am owner of this card , not oc and since myself I am not a 1080p gamer its alright. You should look at this: https://imgur.com/a/3lZ2h The 512mb of VRAM is reserved; in short. So technically speaking, its still "there". This is very interesting i must say. At least I wasn't jewed in 100% by nvidia. Exactly what I said to. But nvidia are still jews tho.
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