Choosing parts for a friend, need some final advice

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StoleMyOwnCar

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His goal is to play Star Citizen and he has stated that he prefers Nvidia (though I managed to convince him that AMD would be fine too, though it has less driver features). I managed to look through his Open Box deals section for the Microcenter he has near him and I found an Asrock Extreme 4 (LGA1150) for 34.99. Obviously I had him reserve that as soon as I found it, so no one else swipes it.

His budget is 600-720. He does not care about wiring in the case at all, as long as it holds everything. He does not need Windows (I gave him one of my W7 student keys back in college) or peripherals.

Here are two builds that I came up with thus far:
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/DKFDyc (Nvidia)
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/3C2sf7 (AMD)

These are kind of just templates. The only thing that I think maybe needs to stay in stone is the CPU and Motherboard (though if you can think of a better deal than that, feel free); the MB is so cheap in that open box deal that he's practically paying for the CPU alone. The GPU models types are locked in, but I don't know if those are the best deals. The PSU... from what I've read is fine, but I don't have much knowledge about budget, low wattage types. I'm also not sure if he really needs gold efficiency for that build, so it may be better to get a cheaper one that doesn't need an MIR. After all according to the site, the build's wattage is only about 330 (Nvidia side) or 418 (AMD side). 550W is overkill.
 
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up the juice supply on the PSU for the 290 550W is not enough

also unless he is going to overclock the CPU no need for the 1800mhz ram and you are going single channel only?
 
Are you sure...? I'd understand if he was doing crossfire, but according to their wattage estimates, the 550 should be plenty for a single 290.

From what I've read, dual channel doesn't actually provide that much benefit, and it was one of the cheaper good brands for price vs performance... but then again dual channel is only 2$ more.

Here, I've replaced the RAM:
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/kDXcrH (AMD)
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/FpJrCJ (Nvidia)

I'm still not sure about the PSU on the AMD build. Can someone really confirm that it'll need more juice than that? I mean there's more leeway because of the GPU price difference anyway.
 
That's kind of weird. The max TDP for a 290 should be 250W-275W. The rest of the parts use much less than that, which is in turn less than half of the PSU wattage, which means the build shouldn't even hit 500W, at the absolute peak...
 
I have to disagree with YeuEmMaiMai on both issues. You won't need more juice. Remember that GPU manufacturers purposely inflate their PSU requirements to acccount for sheer number of shitty power supplies out there. With a massively overclocked 3770K and a R9 290 card, the max power usage was around 490W:
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2014...ble_dissipation_edition_review/9#.VVj0zflVjBE

Considering that you won't be overclocking the CPU or CPU, you'll have plenty of power leftover as the linked R9 290 based system only used 385W when not overclocked. That's a good quality PSU FYI.

As for the RAM, single VS Dual channel doesn't matter. Just go for the cheapest.

There are two issues that I can see though:
1) Ditch the Optima SSD. Not a fan of PNY's bait and switch crap with this particular SSD. Then again, it's still not that great of a SSD IMO even without the bait and switch. I recommend getting the Crucial BX100 instead. DOesn't cost that much more but should be faster and more reputable

2) Ditch the Versa H21 case. I've actually worked with this case: It's not a good case at all. The quality is really low on this. For future reference, if you see tear-off expansion slot covers (as opposed to slot covers that are screwed in) on a case, it's guaranteed to be a low quality case. Anyway, there's also the fact that there's a $23 shipping cost for that case which means that the total cost for that case is $56 shipped. That's a total ripoff as you can get this better quality case with better cooling and better cable management for $6 less:
$50 - NZXT Source 210 Elite White with Black Front Trim ATX Case
 
Thanks for the PSU comment, I was kind of waiting for you. =P

You're right about the case shipping and handling. I'll have to exclude that Mwave supplier as their S/H fees do not show up in the parts picker site. Anyway if we're going to get a better (?) case, I need to downgrade his SSD a bit. However the one you picked out doesn't have USB 3.0 headers (according to what that site said), which means that we lose some of the MB's functionality. I replaced it with another one, though you can comment if it's good or not:

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/MqrKLk (Nvidia)
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/xjvrCJ (AMD)

I actually turned off MIR's entirely and both of them go under his budget. The AMD build is well under the budget, though, which means there is room for some upgrades somewhere if need be.

Edit: Actually no, I think this'll be a better case option:
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/J7yhrH (Nvidia)
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/msjT7P (AMD)
 
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Do what want but don't complain about instability... there are very valid reasons for the psu requirements...
 
StoleMyOwnCar said:
Thanks for the PSU comment, I was kind of waiting for you. =P

You're right about the case shipping and handling. I'll have to exclude that Mwave supplier as their S/H fees do not show up in the parts picker site. Anyway if we're going to get a better (?) case, I need to downgrade his SSD a bit. However the one you picked out doesn't have USB 3.0 headers (according to what that site said), which means that we lose some of the MB's functionality. I replaced it with another one, though you can comment if it's good or not:

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/MqrKLk (Nvidia)
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/xjvrCJ (AMD)

I actually turned off MIR's entirely and both of them go under his budget. The AMD build is well under the budget, though, which means there is room for some upgrades somewhere if need be.

Edit: Actually no, I think this'll be a better case option:
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/J7yhrH (Nvidia)
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/msjT7P (AMD)
Click to expand...

The NZXT Source 210 Elite does have USB 3.0 header cable. I know this because I've built well over a hundred systems with that case. Plus it says so right on the Newegg and NZXT websites. You might be confusing it with the NZXT Source 210 as that case doesn't have the USB 3.0 header. Note the "Elite" name difference.

As for the other cases you listed: The Rosewill Galaxy has a really cramped interior and not so great cable management. As for the Fractal Design Core 3500, the NCIX site doesn't list shipping by default and they require a login in order to see shipping costs. As such, I can't tell if that's actually a good deal since, as we've just seen in this thread, shipping costs can kill a case's viability as a purchase. With that said, at its normal $75 shipped price, it's not quite worth it IMO. $65 for it and it's a solid choice.
 
Hmm... well after everything is said and done, here's the build (only real difference is GPU swap really):

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/x6CT7P (Nvidia)
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/xb7VXL (AMD)

I know that MB doesn't have a backplate. He might want to get one of those at some point. But for now this is the best budget option I can come up with him. It'll be up to him to see if he wants the AMD or Nvidia option. Honestly he's only got about 600 without his next paycheck, so I'll probably tell him to wait on the GPU since there aren't any really outstanding deals on GPU's atm. Or maybe he can get an Open Box deal from Microcenter. Usually you don't get the games that come with new ones when you get Open Box, but Microcenter is pretty good about that from my experience. I just asked them for the games and they gave them to me. Pretty sweet.

Thanks for the case advice.
 
Backplate as in I/O cover for the ports?

Ditch that SSD. Too new and considering past Sandisk SSDs, probably not that great. When it comes to SSDs, 250GB to 256GB SSDS tend to be the sweet spot for performance and bang for the buck quality. Again, I highly recommend the BX100 250GB. That's the cheapest decent quality SSD I can recommend for most gaming PCs today.
 
Yep, the I/O cover. They seem to have called it backplate in the description... or maybe it's there and they just don't know what they're talking about. The MB is normally like 150$ so honestly it's a steal regardless. It's got a 30 day return policy from them and a 2 year replacement plan only costs 5$, so for that quality level it's pretty much a steal. He can maybe mail the manufacturer about the IO plate at some point.

Anyway, the SSD isn't my first choice either but unfortunately I can't really move it around on the Nvidia build (unless it costs about the same). I can upgrade it to pretty much anything in the AMD build, but for the Nvidia build it will only work out if I allow MIR's (and even then, just barely). I think Sandisk is usually pretty good, but if it isn't either way it'll have to stay at roughly that price range, which limits it to 120GB models at most.

Here's the AMD build with the SSD replaced:

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/LBwWdC

... It's like right up to his budget now, same as the Nvidia build was. He says he has a 1TB HDD, so maybe downgrading the space wouldn't be an issue. Might need to go for the 120GB.


Basically whatever happens, it needs to fit under 720$ without the rebates. Whatever it is after rebates, is extra money he gets for further investment.
 
Stick with the 250GB SSD man. Sandisk SSDs aren't that great hence why I generally don't recommend them. Samsung, Crucial, or Intel are my main SSD recommendations.

So stick with the AMD build then. Yes that's how much that larger and better SSD is worth: Switching from Nvidia to AMD.
 
Honestly it'll be up to him.

However, now the issue is that after looking at the reviews of the 290's in general, there are a lot of mentions of black screens of death and such. Especially among the lower priced ones, and the one I recommended to him. I'm not so sure about going that route any longer; this will be his first time building a system, and DOA's and RMA's are the last thing I want him having to mess with. I have nothing against AMD, but I have heard quite a few stories about 290 (non X and X) issues. On the other hand, most 970's, the only thing I've heard of is coil whine. You folks can correct me if I'm wrong on that...

I think his best choice for now might be to buy the CPU, motherboard (before it goes off reservation), PSU (because that's a good deal after the rebate), case, and RAM. He has a 1TB HDD, so he can at least install Windows on that and test out the core components. That'll be a solid foundation (though it'll boot slow as molasses...). Then he can wait on the GPU and SSD to go on sale. I really don't want him to have to go down a GPU tier. Cryengine games are demanding, and the 970/290 should be workable with his budget.
 
Ahh I missed the fact that you still had that crappy HIS 290 card in there. Yes reliability issues is why I recommended a more expensive MSI 290 card in the first place. AGain, I do not recommend that HIS card at all. The reliability issues are just too great to justify the cost for it.

I don't think that's his best choice. It's going to be a hassle to reinstall the OS and programs as well as update and reactivate the OS on the SSD. Considering that we're only talking about 250GB to 256GB sized SSDs here, you're really not going to save that much more money with a sale. At best, $10 to $15 off the price of current $95 BX100 or similar level SSD. If you see a 250GB to 256GB SSD for less than $70, generally those are low quality, old, or refurbished SSDs or even all of the above. So is your or your friend's time as well as internet bandwidth really worth spending to save $10 to $15 off a good SSD?

In other words, hold off on the video card if you must hold off on anything.
 
Well one thing I played around with was possibly excluding the SSD and getting a k version of the processor. Because that is a pretty good overclocking motherboard, and it seems like a waste to just get a non-K; it'd be non-overclockable for life. But he hasn't done overclocking before, so hard to say whether it's a good option or not. Something like this:
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/8nnxmG

But the thing is by the time a non-overclocked i5 of the latest gen isn't enough, he'd probably want another CPU entirely anyway. Considering my i5 750 (secondary machine) is still rocking most games, I really doubt that thing'll hold him back. I just toyed with the option because that's a fairly mid/high end mobo that'd be very hard to get at that price normally. I know Cryengine does benefit from CPU a decent amount, but he'd probably have to do an i7 to notice it. An i7 is well out of budget, as he'd get more FPS out of the GPU.

Honestly, I have a PNY 240GB XLR8 that I got about 2 years ago myself. It still works just fine. Right now I'm using a Crucial m500 960GB as my main drive. The thing about SSD upgrades is that real world performance doesn't really increase exponentially with R/W speeds... Really, it's all just about reliability at this price point.

You're probably right, it'd be best to just go ahead and grab some SSD to go with this. 240 vs 120 will be his decision, but it'll probably be best to stick to Crucial as they seem to have good reliability.
 
I've had several HIS PCS(+) cards and they've all been fine but I wouldn't go ATi/AMD because the drivers are a nightmare in terms of reliability (they crash a lot).
//Danne
 
diizzy said:
I've had several HIS PCS(+) cards and they've all been fine but I wouldn't go ATi/AMD because the drivers are a nightmare in terms of reliability (they crash a lot).
//Danne
Click to expand...

Yeah kind of what I was thinking it would be like...

Here's what I basically came up with for the baseline:
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/r2VknQ

Microcenter includes tax, so it's going to be 441 with Microcenter taxes (11$ on the CPU). This is after rebate, since the PSU has a 30$ rebate on it. By the time he chooses the GPU, he'll potentially have enough time to get the returns from that.

720-441=~280$ for the GPU. For an open box deal or something, this is plenty workable on a 970 or 290X (heck there's a 290X going for about that right now). I think this is the path forward. Thanks for everyone's help (though if there are more comments, none of this is happening immediately except maybe him picking up the MOBO/CPU).
 
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You might want to look up if the mobo supports that CPU ootb otherwise you'll have a useless mobo.
//Danne
 
http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/Z87 Extreme4/index.us.asp?cat=CPU

That was one of the first things I checked. Not sure if it will require a firmware update, though. Page says since 2.7, and I'm not sure what it will come with. Either way, he'll have 15 days to mess around with everything to make sure it works. I hope Asrock bios updates are easy. Worst case, return CPU and get a regular Haswell. The motherboard has a 30 day return anyway.
 
Actually, I had to stop him before he went out and went to Microcenter today. The BIOS issue might be bigger than I first suspected. MB vendors will tout that their MB supports DC CPU's but the issue is that you need a BIOS update to do it (possibly), but there's no way to update the BIOS without the CPU in there unless you have a certain ASUS motherboard. That's kind of a catch 22.

So, Microcenter is still the cheapest place to get the CPU, but I might need to choose another budget MB. However, if that budget MB costs a comparably higher premium, it might be better to simply keep that MB I have in the build and go buy a Haswell (non-refresh) i5 from somewhere else. Since it's a 40 minute drive, if we factor in gas costs, it might actually be best to skip Microcenter altogether unless I find a great deal on a Z97 MB in there.

Thanks for catching the BIOS thing, that would have really sucked. I'm glad I did more research about it.
 
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http://pcpartpicker.com/p/6G7QnQ

Well, I found another deal over there and put this together instead. The price actually goes down since I used a smaller case... Not sure if this is the best route, but at least there aren't any "oh crap" moments here. The case seems to be pretty highly rated on Newegg.
 
When it comes to cases, people have ridiculously low standards. As noted before, tear-off expansion slot covers are a sign that a case is of low quality. Not to mention that it has a cramped interior, limited to no space for cable management, and the rear fan is connected via molex only. I'd still recommend spending the extra $10 for the NZXT Source 210 Elite. Even if you wanted a smaller case, you can usually find the better Coolermaster N200 mATX case for around $50.
 
<Long ramble, skip to underlined portion if you don't care>
It's not really low standards, it's mainly about price savings. Personally, I've worked in all kinds of trash tier cases, so it's hard for me to care about cable management. Like to save some money, I've worked in cases with literally 0 space behind the motherboard and basically just all around trash. To me as long as you get the components in there and they work, it works. If I can squeeze even 10$ out of the case to go towards something like the GPU... I'll usually do it. That's just the way I work. I have to manually shift my perspective and ask the person I'm building it for if they care. Besides, single GPU simple builds don't need all that much cable management. When you get into SLI and you need fans everywhere, things get complicated. But just single GPU with stock cooler? It's hard to mess up. Even if you have wires everywhere, it'll still probably run as long as you have one fan near it that's relatively unimpeded. That being said, we went with a much nicer case in the end.

Here's basically what happened:
He linked to this thread in a random steam forum and they put up some deals that Newegg had going on. It had the Fractal Design Define Mini on sale for 60$. I told him that it was fairly expensive, but it was a pretty nice case at a good deal (I have a larger Define R4 myself that I use). If he wanted to, he could go for it; he might just have to wait longer on the GPU. He decided to do it.

Now in that very same Steam thread what was strange is that they suggested the Corsair CX600 as the solution to the R9 290 not having enough juice. I found this hilarious. So basically they agreed with a poster in this thread that the 290 needs more power, and then suggested a lower quality PSU with 50 more watts. Yes, that's definitely the solution guys! That made me kind of doubt their sanity. But that being said, we did have to go with the Corsair CX600 in the end because the Roswill Capstone 550 went off sale. It was now 70$ and no longer had a hefty rebate. At that price it was unfortunately untenable.

What I wanted to do was go for this PSU:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...-na-_-na&cm_sp=&AID=10446076&PID=3938566&SID=

But it was still a bit expensive. Ultimately the CX600 at nearly half the price won out.

So this is what we have now:
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/wTs9Lk

Out of those, he has ordered the PSU, Case, and RAM. He will go pick up the CPU and MB very soon. He has decided to postpone getting the SSD until later, and instead invest towards the GPU. Note that this is not due to my urging as I suggested the opposite. It's just what he wants to do. I told him that when he goes to Microcenter he should try to bargain with the employees to maybe get the IO plate and a cable or two out of the other open box deal they have for one of those. They're usually easy people to deal with. Because that's a very classy case. It would kind of suck to have no I/O plate.

I'm leaning towards Nvidia for the GPU because it won't stress the CX600 as much. I mean from what I read Corsair's CX line has surprisingly good quality for the very low price, but I kind of doubt it's as good as the Capstone. But who knows? If I had it my way, it'd be the Seasonic I linked up there.

Well doubt anyone will read this wall of text anyway.
 
To me, if $10 to $20 is all the difference between a crappy case and a really good case, I'd spend/force the extra $10 to $20. In my experience, that extra bit of cash spent up front means savings later on as you generally don't have to replace the case later on with a new build. Especially considering that many people, again in my experience, will try to reuse their case, no matter how shitty it is, with a new PC. So if they're going to do that, at least reuse a good case, not a crappy case. So I try to force the client/customer/family/friend/random people on the internet to think long term, not short term.

As for the PSU, that Corsair CX600 is a gamble. Now I don't factor in MIR until I receive them so I judge parts based on the price one has to pay up-front. As such, that Corsair CX600 is a horrible choice for the money IMO since there are significantly better quality PSUs in that $70 price range. Not to mention that the CX750 received a FAIL from HardOCP testing:
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2015/01/21/corsair_cx750_750w_power_supply_review/

If there was ever a great reason to downgrade a case, a better quality PSU would be it. So while yes you did up with a better case in the end, that came at the cost of a significant downgrade in PSU quality.
 
Judging parts by what you have to pay up front is nice, but if you don't factor in rebates anywhere at all, you're essentially excluding any possible long term plans due to getting the money back. If we're talking about him getting an SSD at all in the future, then it's necessary to factor them in somewhere. I've tried to minimize them in general, but for this PSU the deal was something to the tune of 8$ off and then a 30$ rebate. Which means that it was ~30-34$ after rebate (and it was about 60$ before rebate). That's about half of the price of that Seasonic I linked earlier, which was pretty much the best deal on a good quality PSU currently available (and it was 60$ after rebate...). The savings on the CX was more than the price increase for the cost of the case... so skimping out on the case wouldn't have made the PSU upgrade possible anyway, if it wasn't before.

Honestly, the reviews seem kind of mixed.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/CX600M/11.html
This one gives it a decent review (modular model anyway).

This seemed good for the 430 model (and is what I looked at initially)
http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story4&reid=214

I'm actually kind of urging him to return the CX600 and get that Seasonic, though, because I'm thinking about getting a GTX970 (or R9 290X) with a very high factory overclock as his GPU (that way he doesn't have to mess with it himself). I'm not sure if that CX600 would like a highly overclocked GPU on those rails... honestly it'll still probably be fine on the CX600, but I'm not sure if I want him to take chances. However, the return costs for Newegg may make this impossible. There's the possibility of him trying out Premier on their 1 month trial and then cancelling it, maybe. He could abuse that. I wish he told me before actually ordering. Then I could have let him use my Premier account. =_=;

Maybe this one will work:
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/enermax-power-supply-erx530awt
The 750W has a pass from HCP. Does anyone have experience with this unit? The price looks good.
Maybe this too:
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/antec-power-supply-ea550
 
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StoleMyOwnCar said:
Judging parts by what you have to pay up front is nice, but if you don't factor in rebates anywhere at all, you're essentially excluding any possible long term plans due to getting the money back. If we're talking about him getting an SSD at all in the future, then it's necessary to factor them in somewhere. I've tried to minimize them in general, but for this PSU the deal was something to the tune of 8$ off and then a 30$ rebate. Which means that it was ~30-34$ after rebate (and it was about 60$ before rebate). That's about half of the price of that Seasonic I linked earlier, which was pretty much the best deal on a good quality PSU currently available (and it was 60$ after rebate...). The savings on the CX was more than the price increase for the cost of the case... so skimping out on the case wouldn't have made the PSU upgrade possible anyway, if it wasn't before.
Click to expand...
The problem with rebates that they're not 100% guaranteed even when you do everything right. Not to mention the time involved. As such, I don't rely or factor them in. If I get the money from the rebate, that's good. If not, no problem as none of my plans involved getting that rebate back. In addition, when people factor in rebates, it makes them want to buy parts that aren't generally the best buys for the money. The risk is that you don't
StoleMyOwnCar said:
Honestly, the reviews seem kind of mixed.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Corsair/CX600M/11.html
This one gives it a decent review (modular model anyway).

This seemed good for the 430 model (and is what I looked at initially)
http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story4&reid=214

I'm actually kind of urging him to return the CX600 and get that Seasonic, though, because I'm thinking about getting a GTX970 (or R9 290X) with a very high factory overclock as his GPU (that way he doesn't have to mess with it himself). I'm not sure if that CX600 would like a highly overclocked GPU on those rails... honestly it'll still probably be fine on the CX600, but I'm not sure if I want him to take chances. However, the return costs for Newegg may make this impossible. There's the possibility of him trying out Premier on their 1 month trial and then cancelling it, maybe. He could abuse that. I wish he told me before actually ordering. Then I could have let him use my Premier account. =_=;
Click to expand...
'
If you look at the disassembly pictures, the two PSUs have different designs despite being from the same manufacturer. As such, this gives credence to the possibility that the CX600 is based on a different CWT design.
StoleMyOwnCar said:
Maybe this one will work:
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/enermax-power-supply-erx530awt
The 750W has a pass from HCP. Does anyone have experience with this unit? The price looks good.
Maybe this too:
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/antec-power-supply-ea550
Click to expand...
That Enermax's price isn't low enough to justify the so-so performance. As for the Earthwatts, it seems ok from a quality stand point but since its price has gone up, it's a really horrible deal at either the AR price or the before rebate price.
 
YeuEmMaiMai said:
Do what want but don't complain about instability... there are very valid reasons for the psu requirements...
Click to expand...

Those high PSU requirements by the manufacturers are to account for shitty PSUs. Nothing more. Plus marketing is dumb.
 
StoleMyOwnCar said:
So is this currently the best deal on the market?
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/seasonic-power-supply-s12g550
Click to expand...
For the most part, yes.
StoleMyOwnCar said:
Or are there any Bronze PSU's worth considering (or Silver, though Silver seems to be like a unicorn because everyone's either Bronze or Gold+)
Click to expand...
Don't worry about the Bronze, Silver, or Gold ratings too much. They're pretty much irrelevant:
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2011/10/04/80_plus_irrelevant_to_you_when_buying_psu/#.VV0rGvlVjBE
 
Skillz said:
Those high PSU requirements by the manufacturers are to account for shitty PSUs. Nothing more. Plus marketing is dumb.
Click to expand...

go see thread were dude has 650W and cannot overclock anything with a r290... you know this one here...

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1862211

Those recommendations are to allow for NOT running the PSU near it's limits and to provide room for those that WANT to overclock their cards....
 
YeuEmMaiMai said:
go see thread were dude has 650W and cannot overclock anything with a r290... you know this one here...

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1862211

Those recommendations are to allow for NOT running the PSU near it's limits and to provide room for those that WANT to overclock their cards....
Click to expand...

Again, those are exaggerated requirements. Again I provide my link:
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2014...ble_dissipation_edition_review/9#.VV05GUaPkn9

The test system in the above article was a Core i7 3770K OC'd to 4.6Ghz as well as an overclock R9 290 card. 490W was the measured usage. That's nowhere near 750W.

Three issues with your choice of evidence:
1) The OP didn't list which Rosewill Gold 650W PSU he had. Some may be good and some may be bad.

2) He didn't mention how long he had the PSU for. As HardOCP has shown, even good quality PSUs can deteriorate in terms of power output over time:
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2015...1000w_power_supply_7_year_redux/#.VV06K_lViE0

3) The CX750 has only been shown to capable of 560W:
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2015/01/21/corsair_cx750_750w_power_supply_review/#.VV058PlViE0

If your proof was true, that CX750 should have shut down as well since that PSU isn't capable of that 750W.

So for all we know, his PSU was simply defective or degraded. Until the OP comes back with a report with another 650W PSU showing the same issue, that forum thread is not useful in proving your point.
 
lol do what you want, I could care less after all you think you are smarter than the company that made the actual hardware, right?

believe what you want, no skin off of my back, all I know is I follow the recommendations and have yet to have an issue...
 
YeuEmMaiMai said:
lol do what you want, I could care less after all you think you are smarter than the company that made the actual hardware, right?

believe what you want, no skin off of my back, all I know is I follow the recommendations and have yet to have an issue...
Click to expand...
Smarter than the company? No. Understanding why a company does things and adjusting expectations and views as a result doesn't imply that one is smarter than the company. With that said, just because a company make something doesn't mean that it's going to be accurate in real world situations. See the numerous high wattage but shitty PSUs that are only capable of relatively low amounts of wattage under real world conditions out there.

I have yet to have an issue with PSUs, GPUs, or systems as well by not following the recommendations.
 
Well... I looked on PC Part Picker, but I can't find a 290X build using anything but a 750W PSU.... Maybe it's best to ask how many people are running a single 290X on a <750W PSU (of good quality) and ask them if they're having any issues, in the Video Cards section on these forums? I mean that's the fastest way to cap up this little squabble.

Do you think the CX600 would be fine for an Nvidia card though? I'm still not sure about going through the hassle of returning the PSU to Newegg. I don't know what they're turn around times are, and whether they'll waive the restocking fee. He's kind of heavily leaning towards the 970GTX anyway. So am I, seeing as AMD seems to just have issues making official drivers rather than just betas. That and it looks like most people having card issues are having driver issues. I personally have a friend with a 280X who has his GPU drivers regularly crash during gaming. Plus I've had headaches on my 5850, too... Bleh, but they do have the better price vs performance..
 
StoleMyOwnCar said:
Well... I looked on PC Part Picker, but I can't find a 290X build using anything but a 750W PSU.... Maybe it's best to ask how many people are running a single 290X on a <750W PSU (of good quality) and ask them if they're having any issues, in the Video Cards section on these forums? I mean that's the fastest way to cap up this little squabble.

Do you think the CX600 would be fine for an Nvidia card though? I'm still not sure about going through the hassle of returning the PSU to Newegg. I don't know what they're turn around times are, and whether they'll waive the restocking fee. He's kind of heavily leaning towards the 970GTX anyway. So am I, seeing as AMD seems to just have issues making official drivers rather than just betas. That and it looks like most people having card issues are having driver issues. I personally have a friend with a 280X who has his GPU drivers regularly crash during gaming. Plus I've had headaches on my 5850, too... Bleh, but they do have the better price vs performance..
Click to expand...
Been awhile since I've had to return anything to Newegg but IIRC, you just have to tell them that you're planning on buying another PSU from them as a replacement to waive the restocking fee. As for keeping the CX600, I personally wouldn't as I tend to err on the side of caution. I've lost one too many systems to shitty power supplies.

As for the "squabble", I've provided numerous links to back up my statements. But if you feel that more evidence is needed, ask in the PSU subforum as they're more knowledgeable about PSUs than the rest of the forum.
 
Dangman said:
Been awhile since I've had to return anything to Newegg but IIRC, you just have to tell them that you're planning on buying another PSU from them as a replacement to waive the restocking fee. As for keeping the CX600, I personally wouldn't as I tend to err on the side of caution. I've lost one too many systems to shitty power supplies.
Click to expand...

(Guy he's helping build a pc for)

So uh figured I'd better just post this rather then have him...
I spoke to newegg's CS, they removed the restock fee. Wanted to charge me 20$ for shipping a 2lb box. I'll go send it via my own post and make my own label and pay 5$ thank you. After dealing with that the rep adds on a promo fee to the return of the PSU. The promo was for the case I got...
---
The mobo was switched after a long hassle with microcenter. They ended up giving me ga-z97m-d3h for the hassle claiming it was a huge upgrade but doesn't seem that much of one.
---
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/HzZxdC So until I get the exchange of the PSU sorted out this is currently what's there.
--
Still trying to find a good deal on a gtx970.
--

I may end up using the Corsair for a few months until I can afford to switch to the Seasonic. Would that do much harm to the rig?
 
VehementiNacon said:
(Guy he's helping build a pc for)

So uh figured I'd better just post this rather then have him...
I spoke to newegg's CS, they removed the restock fee. Wanted to charge me 20$ for shipping a 2lb box. I'll go send it via my own post and make my own label and pay 5$ thank you. After dealing with that the rep adds on a promo fee to the return of the PSU. The promo was for the case I got...
---
The mobo was switched after a long hassle with microcenter. They ended up giving me ga-z97m-d3h for the hassle claiming it was a huge upgrade but doesn't seem that much of one.
---
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/HzZxdC So until I get the exchange of the PSU sorted out this is currently what's there.
--
Still trying to find a good deal on a gtx970.
--

I may end up using the Corsair for a few months until I can afford to switch to the Seasonic. Would that do much harm to the rig?
Click to expand...

The Corsair won't do much harm to the rig since you'll be using onboard video then. It's only when you add a video card that I would be a tad worried.
 
Get a single stick of 8Gb RAM, it's going to be worth it in the end. I'd also stick to Crucial, Corsair, Kingston or any other major brand due to compatibility but perhaps the G.Skill might work out fine, I have no experience at all with their products.
//Danne
 
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