It's getting to be that time again, 4 years later

[Bob002]

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

Some games (mostly Dota2, WoW, and prob Heroes of the Storm) and livestreaming (and some editing) of fights.
2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?

Don't have one in mind. Can probably get away with around $750 or so. Part of that depends on how much I receive back, though.
3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.

US. Misery in particular.
4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.

Case. HDD. RAM. Vidya. Processor. Cooling. PSU. Errything.
5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.

Only thing I know I'll be reusing is the Blackmagic cards I have. UNLESS, I get a new case for my old build and swap stuff over and use the same case I currently have.
6) Will you be overclocking?

Nah.
7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?

It's a 22inch. I'd have to look.
8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?

Month or so. Yes, I know it could change, pricewise, but I highly doubt it fluctuates. I need a good feel to give to my wife before I do much.
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.

Nothing in particular, that I know.
10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?

I'd probably get a new one rather than reuse. Considering handing down.

A few notes. I built one ~4 years ago with the help of [H]. http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1491038&highlight=

Currently, the computer works mostly fine, but I feel it's getting a little long in the tooth, so to speak. I do video streaming, so I either need something that can do that, or something that can stream, I can xfer the parts I currently have to another case and resuse the case, whatever. Options are kinda open.

I'm thinking at least 8 GB RAM and an SSD for a boot drive, as well.

 

[Dangman]

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?

Don't have one in mind. Can probably get away with around $750 or so. Part of that depends on how much I receive back, though.

See that's a problem. If we don't know for sure what your budget is, for all we know, we may have to spend more time later on redoing the build list on account of a different budget. But just to be clear: how exactly how much of a tax return you're getting would affect your budget? In other words, even if you didn't get that much from a tax return, would your budget still be $750? Or the tax return determines whether or not $750 is doable?

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.

Only thing I know I'll be reusing is the Blackmagic cards I have. UNLESS, I get a new case for my old build and swap stuff over and use the same case I currently have.

Are those Blackmagic cards using PCI or PCI-E?7

Nah.
7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?

It's a 22inch. I'd have to look.

Yes please look as the resolution determines how big of card you'd need.

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?

Month or so. Yes, I know it could change, pricewise, but I highly doubt it fluctuates. I need a good feel to give to my wife before I do much.]

Actually it does fluctuates. Over the past few weeks, several parts that use to be good buys have now become overpriced for what they are.That's generally why we recommend planning as close to the buy date as possible for best deals and pricing as well least amount of work/guessing.


Anyway, yes, definitely reuse your current case and PSU. If you're fine with the noise level of the stock Intel fan (which will come with whatever retail Intel CPU you get) for the old PC, you could even reuse your current HSF with the new PC. If you don't think you'll need a DVD burner, you could reuse that as well. If you were buying today, I would recommend these replacement PSU and case for your old/current PC:
$42 - Corsair 430CX V2 430W PSU
$50 - NZXT Source 220 Black ATX Case

Yes it's actually cheaper and more cost-effective to reuse your case and PSU and buy a new set of cheap but good case and PSU rather than buy a new and comparable case and PSU today.

 

[tiraides]

In my mind, "everything" includes a keyboard, a mouse, a set of speakers, and a monitor. Do you really need everything?

Could you increase your budget to, say, $850? Or an even $1000? I ask because I have a few items in mind that may bust your $750 budget.

When will you have the funds to buy everything at once?

 

[Bob002]

See that's a problem. If we don't know for sure what your budget is, for all we know, we may have to spend more time later on redoing the build list on account of a different budget. But just to be clear: how exactly how much of a tax return you're getting would affect your budget? In other words, even if you didn't get that much from a tax return, would your budget still be $750? Or the tax return determines whether or not $750 is doable?

Are those Blackmagic cards using PCI or PCI-E?

PCI-e

Yes please look as the resolution determines how big of card you'd need.

If I'm not mistaken, it's an Acer AL2216w, which is 1650x1080


Actually it does fluctuates. Over the past few weeks, several parts that use to be good buys have now become overpriced for what they are.That's generally why we recommend planning as close to the buy date as possible for best deals and pricing as well least amount of work/guessing.

I realize that prices do fluctuate for various reasons, least of which is parts companies releasing new stuff, etc. I do also pay attention prior to purchase ot make sure things are in-line still, and if not, replace with comparable things.


Anyway, yes, definitely reuse your current case and PSU. If you're fine with the noise level of the stock Intel fan (which will come with whatever retail Intel CPU you get) for the old PC, you could even reuse your current HSF with the new PC. If you don't think you'll need a DVD burner, you could reuse that as well. If you were buying today, I would recommend these replacement PSU and case for your old/current PC:
$42 - Corsair 430CX V2 430W PSU
$50 - NZXT Source 220 Black ATX Case

Yes it's actually cheaper and more cost-effective to reuse your case and PSU and buy a new set of cheap but good case and PSU rather than buy a new and comparable case and PSU today.

I don't have a problem with transferring old stuff to a new case simply because I'd more than likely give it to the kids. Trying to decide whether or not I should keep the blackmagic cards in the old one, or put in the new one, as well. But, knowing kids, they'll install all sorts of malware/spyware, so that is in my mind.

In my mind, "everything" includes a keyboard, a mouse, a set of speakers, and a monitor. Do you really need everything?

Those, I do not. I have the first 2 that are fine, I haven't used speakers in years, and that's a possibility, though mine has been fine, as far as I'm aware.

Could you increase your budget to, say, $850? Or an even $1000? I ask because I have a few items in mind that may bust your $750 budget.

850 should be doable, at the least. 1k may be stretching it for the time being.
When will you have the funds to buy everything at once?

I'm hoping a month or so.

Mainly I'm trying to get a feel for where I'm going to be, and if I'm close, or way out of the ballpark. I've put together rigs, spitballing things, but I'm never sure what exactly will "play nice" anymore. Technology changes so fast, and I don't keep up like I once did.

I'd really like to find a SFF case that will work as the one I have is a PAIN to lug around to shows. But, I only remember finding ONE board that had two PCI-E slots to use for the black magic cards.

*EDIT*

I think it had 3 so that I could use both BM cards. Otherwise, one of the slots is typically blocked by the Vidya card.

 

[Bob002]

Here is one I'd put together about a year or so ago when I was trying to get an idea where I'd be at for a straight streaming rig.

https://secure.newegg.com/WishList/MySavedWishDetail.aspx?ID=32667228

Not sure how well those parts would play together, however.

 

[rhansen5_99]

Hey Bob002, just throwing it out there but if you were to jump to the 1150 socket with say a i5 4570k, you would get an additional 2 physical cores and a speed jump from 2.5ghz to 3.4ghz (assuming you are staying stock) over your Lynfield x3440 processor. Additionally you are looking at a maybe 25% performance per clock jumping to this generation.

However have you ever considered just maxing out your existing processor to say an i7 875k like here on ebay
and maybe overclocking. You should be able to get a pretty nice boost at about $150 versus the cost of a whole new platform and get the 2 additional cores assuming that's where you are running into slowness.

 

[Dangman]

Any plans to upgrade to a larger monitor?

I'd really like to find a SFF case that will work as the one I have is a PAIN to lug around to shows. But, I only remember finding ONE board that had two PCI-E slots to use for the black magic cards.

*EDIT*

I think it had 3 so that I could use both BM cards. Otherwise, one of the slots is typically blocked by the Vidya card.

Well you're in luck: Now there's three mATX LGA 1150 motherboards that has four PCI-E slots:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...00&IsNodeId=1&bop=And&Order=PRICE&PageSize=60

All three are solid motherboards.

Here is one I'd put together about a year or so ago when I was trying to get an idea where I'd be at for a straight streaming rig.

https://secure.newegg.com/WishList/MySavedWishDetail.aspx?ID=32667228

Not sure how well those parts would play together, however.

We can't see your private wishlist.

 

[Bob002]

Any plans to upgrade to a larger monitor?

Well you're in luck: Now there's three mATX LGA 1150 motherboards that has four PCI-E slots:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...00&IsNodeId=1&bop=And&Order=PRICE&PageSize=60

All three are solid motherboards.

We can't see your private wishlist.

I thought I'd set the list to public.

Question, since i've been out of it: does the size of the PCI-e slot matter? This is the card I have, which is PCI-e x1

If said card will work in a PCI- 2.0 slot, then moot point. But, like I said, I've been out of it for a while now.

 

[Dangman]

Nope, wishlist is still private. Also waiting for an answer to my earlier question. It determines what video card I should be recommending.

Yes PCI-E x1 will work in any PCI-E slot size or speed. The only real issue you have to worry about is if there are drivers available for Windows 8.1 for your cards.

 

[Bob002]

Nope, wishlist is still private. Also waiting for an answer to my earlier question. It determines what video card I should be recommending.

Yes PCI-E x1 will work in any PCI-E slot size or speed. The only real issue you have to worry about is if there are drivers available for Windows 8.1 for your cards.

About the monitor? I'm sorry, I totally didn't see it. Not necessarily I'm pretty happy overall with this one, as it's served me well for quite a while. I'd probably leave it "as is" for now. This desk I'm currently using doesn't leave me a lot more room over top of the monitor, maybe another inch or so. before I'd be hitting the bottom of the shelf.

And thank you for the information regarding the slots. That makes things a lot easier.

Items below. This was just something I spitballed together to get an idea and take to my promoter. The parts may not actually work together, and the build is a ~year old.

 

[Dangman]

Here's a rough build:

$180 - Intel Core i5-4430 CPU
$140 - ASRock Z97M OC Formula Intel H97 ATX Motherboard
$70 - Kingston HyperX Blu HX316C10F/8 8GB DDR3 1600 RAM
$109 - Crucial MX100 256GB SSD
$80 - Seagate Barracuda ST2000DM001 2TB 7200RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s Hard Drive
$150 - PowerColor TurboDuo AXR9 270 2GBD5-TDHE/OC Radeon R9 270 2GB PCI-E Video Card
$42 - Corsair 430CX V2 430W PSU (For old PC)
-----------
Total: $771 shipped

Missing case for now.