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Building new pc.

Z

Zohar78

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Aug 12, 2004
Messages
1,334
Last time I was looking at trying to upgrade my system, Lots of stuff happened, and well I couldn't pull it off. So heres to a successful 2nd attempt. Im already ahead of the game, ordered a phanteks pro case, win 10, and tosh 2tb hard drive.

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
It will be for gaming.

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
300 to 400
3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.
Columbia SC

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc.
Motherboard, Cpu, ram.

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model. TX850 corsair Not the v2. Planning on reusing His 6850 ice2 if possible, this is till I get up additional money for a 970.

6) Will you be overclocking? I try to build/design my systems around that, but its not a hard requirement. it the parts allow i will, if they dont, im not upset about it.

7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it? 24 inch 1080p, though i want to upgrade to 2560p or multi screen gaming.

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC? Today to next few days.

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video (as a backup or main GPU)? UEFI? etc.
Hmm.. this is tough.. it loks like pretty much any midlevel motherboard will have the features i will/need use. Planning on going NVidia, unless AMD offers a good deal..

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit? ordered a Case, win 10, and 2tb tosh drive, earlier.

For video card, I have a HIS 6850 ice version that is basically oc to 6870. I do plan on upgrading it later in the year or next year.

Im trying to offset some cost by upgrading cpu/mobo one year, and gfx next.
typically with parts i go for the midlevel bang for the buck that allows overclocking. Not always the best in each category, but genereally solid and performs well.

Im currently using an Alienware alpha. Awesome little machine, but lacks a few features I would like.
Currently i have an intel q8200 with gigabyte ud3, 4gbs or ram, his amd iceq 6850., so practically anythign is an upgrade.
 
I saw this earlier on newegg: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...ucial_ballistic_tracer-_-20-148-518-_-Product

any good? notice really low timings, but would 1600 vs 1866 be a difference?

One of the main things I want is good onboard sound, thus why im leaning towards the gaming msi or gigabyte gaming boards.
I leaning towards a msi z97 gaming 5, with intel i5 4690k. Im also considering trying to somehow fit in a skylake i5 6600k, but it looks like motherboard and processor alone would set me back 100 bucks... Hmmmm..
 
Last edited:
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($219.99 @ Micro Center)
Motherboard: ASRock Z97 Anniversary ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($84.98 @ OutletPC)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $374.96
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-11-07 16:29 EST-0500


For about 100 more you could go with a 6600k but the Z170 is not as flushed out for overclocking yet and you may not be able to get as much out of the 6600k:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($229.99 @ Micro Center)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($28.59 @ Amazon)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z170-HD3P ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($99.99 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($84.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $443.56
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-11-07 16:33 EST-0500
 
If you want a 6950 that'll unlock to 6970 shaders I can get you one for $50 since you're local to me. :)
 
hmm........ stongly debating on that... I do have the 6850 1gb, but 2gb is better. I could get it and it hold me over till april.. don't know. Hoping tomorrow ill be able to find some type of deal on a solid motherboard and proc, so ill probably have to wait to see how much money I have left over..
 
Also, to contribute a bit more and not sound like a damn shill, I'd stay away from Gigabyte boards. Lots of boot and sleep related issues, Z68 all the way up to current. I just replaced a Z68XP-UD4 that died a slow, painful death over the course of several months after years of weird bootloop and sleep/restore issues that were well known and never fixed in numerous BIOS updates. When looking for a replacement I read many places that the issues were the same with the Z77 boards, so I picked up a cheap Intel Extreme Z77 board and have been happy with it. Sadly, Intel is out of the desktop motherboard game. Now I'm seeing people having similar problems with Z170 boards and Skylake from Gigabyte. Just avoid Gigabyte.
 
Check out MSI and Asrock mobos as i've heard only good things about them. Personally own a MSI motherboard and couldn't be happier
 
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