Halfway through a computer build

reply to post by fourthmeal


Thanks for the post.

The i5 came yesterday. Next thing up is either the motherboard or the graphics card. The graphics card I'm a little confused out.

Here are two that I've been looking at.

www.newegg.com...

www.newegg.com...

My concern is that they say they require a 400 and 450w power supply or greater. Does that mean alone they take up that much power? If that's the case then the 500w I purchased wouldn't cut it, as that only would leave a little left for everything else. Or does it not work that way. When I use Neweggs power supply calculator I can add in my parts along with that second GPU and it says I only need lower than 400w.

Originally posted by enjoies05
reply to post by fourthmeal

 

Thanks for the post.

The i5 came yesterday. Next thing up is either the motherboard or the graphics card. The graphics card I'm a little confused out.

Here are two that I've been looking at.

www.newegg.com...

www.newegg.com...

My concern is that they say they require a 400 and 450w power supply or greater. Does that mean alone they take up that much power? If that's the case then the 500w I purchased wouldn't cut it, as that only would leave a little left for everything else. Or does it not work that way. When I use Neweggs power supply calculator I can add in my parts along with that second GPU and it says I only need lower than 400w.

Sorry I didn't realize you were piece-meal purchasing and already had stuff on the way. If you do that, be SURE you get all the combo discounts possible through newegg, which is why I usually order all at once since the combos can be 50 bucks or more.

anyway, yes, the power supply requirement is based on total system usage, and is a high approximate. I try to get 120-125% of that personally. I'm a BIG fan of Zalman power supplies, especially the heat-pipe 600W RMS (not max) unit I picked up for under $100. With a more efficient processor than I have, and with newer better vid cards, you'll be *just fine* with something more subtle.

Originally posted by enjoies05
reply to post by fourthmeal

 

Thanks for the post.

The i5 came yesterday. Next thing up is either the motherboard or the graphics card. The graphics card I'm a little confused out.

Here are two that I've been looking at.

www.newegg.com...

www.newegg.com...

My concern is that they say they require a 400 and 450w power supply or greater. Does that mean alone they take up that much power? If that's the case then the 500w I purchased wouldn't cut it, as that only would leave a little left for everything else. Or does it not work that way. When I use Neweggs power supply calculator I can add in my parts along with that second GPU and it says I only need lower than 400w.

It means you need a 450w or higher power supply. I did not read the whole thread but you said you wanted a dual slot PCI motherboard so you could utilize SLI or Crossfire. If you plan on using 2 graphics cards or upgrading then you need to get a larger power supply. For starters when looking for one only chose ones that are 80 plus certified and ALL WAYS take warranty into count when buying computer parts. 3+ year warranty is good.

If you are going to be using dual graphics cards then you need a power supply that can support that. If so then you need a power supply that has 2 6/8 pin connectors and 2 6pin connectors.

I noticed you had a 500gb hard drive. I would get 2 250gb hard drives because its all ways good to have a back up drive. If something goes wrong and you need to completely wipe windows you can store back up on the other drive. Windows runs faster when its on a smaller QUALITY drive. Hard drive's may seem like they do not play a factor into performance, they are all ways over looked and can cause some sluggish problems especially in games. Such as random frame rate drops because the hard drive has trouble loading(click click). Most people think they only factor in on loading rate but thats just not true. Do not get the cheapest hard drive you can find but it does not have to be the most expensive. Read reviews, look for noise complaints.

As far as your video card goes just look at benchmarks. Look at them biasly because some times they are over exaggerated. Best way to find out how good a card performs is looking at benchmarks on youtube. Just type 650Ti benchmark in youtube and compaire card results. In google type 560ti vs 650ti (make sure they are coming from a solid source.)

You dont have to have a massive case to get a regular motherboard. In fact with a gaming pc the bigger the case the better. Why? Air flow. Its all about air flow. Most noobs dont take this into account. You need to keep your hardware properly cooled so that it last a long time and keeps its performance. A good case can mean the difference of a 10 year pc vs a 5 year pc. Things get hot especially when you have 2 graphics cards. Pick out a case that has fans in the front, you want their to be a pressurized draft inside the case. A good reference is the antec 900. Its cheap now, it used to be the most popular case on the market and expensive because of its air flow design. When buying a case a good thing to look at is cable managment. If you cant manage all the cables with in the case then air flow is pointless because all the cables will block the air flow.

reply to post by Infi8nity

You dont have to have a massive case to get a regular motherboard. In fact with a gaming pc the bigger the case the better. Why? Air flow. Its all about air flow. Most noobs dont take this into account. You need to keep your hardware properly cooled so that it last a long time and keeps its performance. A good case can mean the difference of a 10 year pc vs a 5 year pc. Things get hot especially when you have 2 graphics cards. Pick out a case that has fans in the front, you want their to be a pressurized draft inside the case. A good reference is the antec 900. Its cheap now, it used to be the most popular case on the market and expensive because of its air flow design. When buying a case a good thing to look at is cable managment. If you cant manage all the cables with in the case then air flow is pointless because all the cables will block the air flow.

Being a old overclocker I couldn't agree more. A cpu generates a lot of heat and it can be a real problem if I were the op I would save a few more bucks and get a better heatsink. Sometimes Intel and AMD screws up and sends out a good heatsink . Here is one I am using and it works excellent dead silent and it keeps my cpu at room temp. I'm using a AMD 720@ 3.8 GHz btw. Here's the link CORSAIR Hydro series H50 High Performance CPU Cooler

Originally posted by enjoies05
reply to post by fourthmeal

 

www.newegg.com...

www.newegg.com...

Of those two, does anyone have opinions on which is the better option? Or should I be looking at others.

reply to post by enjoies05


As before, I suggest the 7850. There are various reasons for this, but essentially, its just a darn good card for the money.

Also, the Antec 900 is inferior to the Corsair cases, though the 300 and 900 were my "go-to" cases for quite a while. It should also be noted that it is not just the amount of air inside the case. Sometimes big cases get pockets of slower moving air which add to turbulence (see: bad for cooling). They also require more energy to get the same overall CFM as a smaller case. With lower volume and proper design, higher velocities can be reached with less effort.

I would also suggest, if you are looking at the Corsair all-in-one water coolers, to get the H70 or H100. I strongly suggest the H100 and if you get the Corsair case I linked, it is already set for a 240 radiator. If you want a serious water cooling set up though, do realize that the Corsair "all-in-one" units do not compete. Their delta is more on par with top of the line air coolers like the Prolimatech Megahalem and a couple of Thermalright units. The price is roughly the same as well. Its also good to know that the CPU is NOT the main source of heat in your PC. That is the GPU(s).

I'm a little late on the game here... but I'll put this out for what's it worth:

The best advice I've ever heard about building a PC, is to purchase all of your components from the same source.

If you don't, and something goes wrong... the one source will say "that part you bought from the other source is at fault!", and vice-versa.

reply to post by MarkJS


Not too late, I still appreciate the help. I have been ordering it all from Newegg.

Ordered the case last night. All I have left is the graphics card and the motherboard. And then the accessories and what not.

For the motherboard, going off advice here, I'd want more than one PCI Express x16 slot to help build off it later, right? That's what I'm looking around for now.

reply to post by MarkJS


I have never, ever had that happen. And there isnt a single computer out of the many I have built (it was my side-business for many years) that used the same source for all the parts. I always get my CPUs from microcenter, and the rest tends to be a toss up between sites like newegg, amazon, ebay, etc. I have had to return many of the parts and have done so with zero issue. The only time they can get really finicky is with dead pixels on monitors, and most have some sort of disclaimer allowing their monitors to contain up to "x" dead pixels before it is considered defective. I have never even been asked where I got the other parts, nor did I bring it up as I never found it relevant. "This part I bought from you is broken, I would like an exchange."

enjoies05,

Yes, that would be ideal for your motherboard. The size of the motherboard will be dictated to an extent by the case, so that will be another mitigating factor. There are many good brands out there (Asus, ASrock, Gigabyte, EVGA, and more) but sometimes individual motherboards are a bit of a dud. Sometimes this will be fixed with an updated "revision." Sometimes not. There can even be an entire chipset series from a manufacturer that doesnt live up to the quality of their other products.

The way I suggest going about it is to look at what form factor you need, how many full GPU slots you need, how much RAM you need, what types of connections you need, and get it in the best chipset (denoted by Z77, and other markers) for your price range. This will end up putting you at a lesser number of boards, and then you can just compare them for specific features that you may want (dual boot, different types of external connections, amount of SATA slots).

So, what are you working with right now?

Originally posted by enjoies05

Originally posted by enjoies05
reply to post by fourthmeal

 

www.newegg.com...

www.newegg.com...

Of those two, does anyone have opinions on which is the better option? Or should I be looking at others.

If thats all you have to spend on a graphics card I would rearrange the specs to leave more money for graphics. You wont be able to play most games at highest settings and get a good FPS rate with those cards.

reply to post by Serdgiam


Right now I have

8gb of RAM
DVD reader/writer
500w power supply
500gb harddrive
Intel Core i5-3470
Rosewill ATX mid tower case

Originally posted by enjoies05
reply to post by Serdgiam

 

Right now I have

8gb of RAM
DVD reader/writer
500w power supply
500gb harddrive
Intel Core i5-3470
Rosewill ATX mid tower case

Alright, so you still need a motherboard and GPU. If you were looking for a cheaper case, I would have strongly suggested the Antec 300. Rosewill is made "in house" by newegg, but their products can either be "ok" or very, very cheap.

Either way, you will need to know how much interior room you have for your GPU. You probably have enough for most cards, but maybe not. You will also need to eventually upgrade to a larger power supply if you ever plan on upgrading in a cost-effective manner. If you plan on buying all of the parts new, every time, then you dont have anything to worry about (it will just cost more).

Any ATX form factor motherboard will work, but if you are not looking at upgrading this PC down the line, one GPU slot may work and might save some money. If you do plan on upgrading, you will also need to buy a new power supply at the same time.

Either way, my suggestion is this board. and essentially, this GPU. If you are planning on watercooling the GPU (the best way to watercool, btw), then the cooler doesnt matter as much. But, in the end, with the current MIR and free software, that is an excellent deal for that MSi 7850.

Thanks for the quick help. I do plan on upgrading in the future, providing I enjoy it when it all comes together. I want to make sure I can get it together and have a little fun first. That's why I've been sticking to lower-mid range stuff for this go around.

I'll check out those products. I plan on ordering either the motherboard or GPU on Thursday. Thanks again.

I was also planning on this cooler that was suggested to me. I forgot if it was you or someone else.

reply to post by enjoies05


No problem. Just remember, its cheaper in the long run to get the quality parts that will never, ever be out of date (like the case).

Now, for some.. "testing" once you get it built. Here are some games:

Path of Exile

Tera

Lord of the Rings Online

All are "free to play." Meaning you can play a large majority of the game for free. I would also suggest Guild Wars 2, but they dont even have a free trial. If they do guest passes again, Ill just send you a guest pass if you want. You can also benchmark, but unless you have been doing it for a while, the numbers wont mean a whole lot.

All of these also look pretty good, and will look great maxed out on a PC

Best of luck!

You've been great. I just hope I can get all these parts put together into one unit.

Originally posted by enjoies05
I was also planning on this cooler that was suggested to me. I forgot if it was you or someone else.

edit on 2/26/13 by enjoies05 because: (no reason given)

It wasnt me, I dont find the H50 to be very good. Though, the H70 and H100 are pretty decent. The latter two are about on par with the best air coolers you can get.

With any of them though, there is the chance they will not fit in your case. Especially with something like the H100. The cases have to be made with watercooling in mind, unless you want to really chop it up. This also stands true for quality air coolers. They tend to be rather large and will generally not fit inside many cheaper cases.

My suggestion is to get everything set up, and see how much room you have to work with for cooling. The radiator is the tough part with a water cooler. Remember too, if you dont plan on overclocking, the OEM coolers are actually pretty decent nowadays.

Alright, sounds like a plan.

Originally posted by enjoies05
reply to post by Serdgiam

 

Right now I have

8gb of RAM
DVD reader/writer
500w power supply
500gb harddrive
Intel Core i5-3470
Rosewill ATX mid tower case

Did you read any of my post? If you plan on SLI in the future you need a larger power supply.

reply to post by Infi8nity


I have read them all. Thank you. It's true. I am (reluctantly) coming to the conclusion that I need a bigger power supply. I was hoping I could get by without the hassle, but I don't think it's worth it.

How much bigger should I go? 600? 700?

I ordered a MSI R7850. That's coming today.

Been looking around for different motherboard options. I have 150 dollars towards Amazon in giftcards so I'm thinking of buying the ASUS P8Z77-V PRO

Originally posted by enjoies05
reply to post by Infi8nity

 

I have read them all. Thank you. It's true. I am (reluctantly) coming to the conclusion that I need a bigger power supply. I was hoping I could get by without the hassle, but I don't think it's worth it.

How much bigger should I go? 600? 700?

I ordered a MSI R7850. That's coming today.

Been looking around for different motherboard options. I have 150 dollars towards Amazon in giftcards so I'm thinking of buying the ASUS P8Z77-V PRO

This is a pretty damn good deal.
www.newegg.com...
If it brakes you dont have to worry, it comes with a 5 year warranty. Thermaletake is known for its good warranty services. By the way whats your price range for a powersupply? This one is grate but it would be best to get something a little better. When doing SLI/Crossfire its best to have a quality power supply because it dose effect the performance of the cards when running dual cards. It could be the difference of getting %70 useage out of the cards while gaming compared to %99 usage witch will give you more FPS.

I cannot tell you witch motherboard you should get but I do not think you should get that one. It has a extra PCI E slot you do not need. You dont plan on doing triple crossfire do you? Its not really worth it unless you have a supper powerful CPU. Plus your paying for that extra PCI E slot. Do you plan on overclocking? You dont need a high end board if you are not going to overclock your CPU to its limit.(witch you cant do because your heatsink wont be able to handle the heat from a supper high overclock) Another thing to note witch allot people have a problem with when doing SLI/crossfire is breathing room. The cards need space between them so the fans can suck in cool air. If the cards are sitting right on top of each other the top card sucks in allot of heat from the second card. It can be a serious problem witch causes your cards to overheat. Check out this old motherboard. note how the PCI E slots are distant.

I could see this being a problem with your cards because they are chunky.
It would be ok to do it with a card with this shape. Note how the fan has a indention so it has breathing room.
images10.newegg.com...

I know you did not ask about this but because I am talking about heat... Most people over look thermale paste on their first build. Thermale paste is a grease that you spread on the CPU/GPU chip so that the heat transfers from the chip to the heatsink. Your card and CPU will come with its own thermale paste. The stock paste that comes with CPU/GPU tends to be low grade. After a year it starts to get crusty and your temperatures rise.
www.newegg.com...
This is some of the best stuff on the market. I dont use any thing else. On the artic silver site it tells you how to apply it for your particular CPU. Their are some video's on youtube witch show you how to apply it but most of those do not show you how to do it the right way.
Just go threw this and it will tell you how to apply it to your chip.
www.arcticsilver.com...