Time for a new build :)

antipunt1

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jul 30, 2008
Messages
170
Hi Hardforum!

I feel like it's time to upgrade my gaming PC. I've noticed that I've been struggling with FPS lately with current gen games, especially on higher settings. I'm pretty sure my bottleneck is my CPU, despite it being overclocked quite a bit. I'm assuming that means my mobo also needs to be changed; i'm not sure about my RAM. Regardless, I'm willing to change any to keep with what is required for "high end" gaming. Not top tier though, I've always been a bang-for-your-buck kind of guy :p

1) What will you be doing with this PC?

Current Gen PC Gaming. Specifically on Very High Settings (Ultra not mandatory; I'm guessing that's gonna cost a pretty penny)

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

This is negotiable; I'd say mid-high tier stuff; again biggest bang for buck. My signature shows my current build.

3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.

Southern CA

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.

Anything that needs an upgrade. I'm assuming this is CPU and motherboard. I don't know about RAM, it's up to your guys' recommendations. I doubt video card? I got it recently ish.

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

It's all in my signature.

6) Will you be overclocking?

Nah. But I do have a nice CPU-fan so I don't have to use the stock one.

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

1980x1080

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?

Windows 7 64 bit. Never upgraded to Windows 10


Thanks guys! If there are any Q or comments, please feel free to ask!

Best,
*Antipunt
 
Anand Tech has a pretty good guide to start with. I like the Ryzen 1700 choice, but wait for Ryzen2 if you can. By then the list below could entirely change.

The AnandTech $2000 Gaming PC
Segment AMD Intel
Processor Ryzen 7 1700 $294 Core i7-8700 $340
Cooler Corsair H60 $60
Motherboard MSI X370 SLI PLUS $114 ASRock Z370 Killer $150
Memory G.Skill Trident Z DDR4-3200 2x16GB $307
Storage Crucial MX300 525GB $144
Graphics ASUS GTX 1080 Ti Turbo $710
Case Lian-Li PC-A75* $120*
Power Supply EVGA SuperNOVA 750W $120
Total Cost $1869 $1951
 
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Anand Tech has a pretty good guide to start with. I like the Ryzen 1700 choice, but wait for Ryzen2 if you can. By then the list below could entirely change.

The AnandTech $2000 Gaming PC
Segment AMD Intel
Processor Ryzen 7 1700 $294 Core i7-8700 $340
Cooler Corsair H60 $60
Motherboard MSI X370 SLI PLUS $114 ASRock Z370 Killer $150
Memory G.Skill Trident Z DDR4-3200 2x16GB $307
Storage Crucial MX300 525GB $144
Graphics ASUS GTX 1080 Ti Turbo $710
Case Lian-Li PC-A75* $120*
Power Supply EVGA SuperNOVA 750W $120
Total Cost $1869 $1951


H60 is shittt there's airrr that can do better than that....yall being masters of the shit build crappy coolers and shit...just run the stock cooler while your at it lol...no OC planned...your fine probably. I don't understand that with some will buy shit and never clock it.
 
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The H60 is a fine cooler for a non-OC system. Its easy to install, better than stock, and at load will still keep temp's low. Sure there is better, for more cost but why spend if you don't need it.

If you upgrade you will have to go to DDR4. So your replacing at least cpu, mb, ram. Could part that out or sell whole system and build entirely new.

I have a 1700, does great but I OC and knew I was gonna OC. If your going to run stock I'd just get an 1700x or 1800x. The little extra is worth the extra performance. But I would pass on the 1700 at this point and get a 8600K, decent Z370 Asus mb, whatever DDR4 you want as Intel is not as picky and speed doesn't boost performance as much as it does on AMD so some good cheap 3000 is fine. No reason to go i7.

PSU prices seem to be kind of high right now also. No way you need a Platinum PSU, $120 is way to much. Something like this is fine.
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817438094

Your 480 is still ok for 1080p. I'm not sure where Mega6 got his price for a 1080 Ti but $710 not happening. If you don't sell whole system may as well keep 480 until new cards come out and prices drop.
Storage, what you got looks fine.
Can find an OEM license for WIn10 cheap.
Maybe consider a new monitor.
 
Anand Tech has a pretty good guide to start with. I like the Ryzen 1700 choice, but wait for Ryzen2 if you can. By then the list below could entirely change.

The AnandTech $2000 Gaming PC
Segment AMD Intel
Processor Ryzen 7 1700 $294 Core i7-8700 $340
Cooler Corsair H60 $60
Motherboard MSI X370 SLI PLUS $114 ASRock Z370 Killer $150
Memory G.Skill Trident Z DDR4-3200 2x16GB $307
Storage Crucial MX300 525GB $144
Graphics ASUS GTX 1080 Ti Turbo $710
Case Lian-Li PC-A75* $120*
Power Supply EVGA SuperNOVA 750W $120
Total Cost $1869 $1951


That's fairly out of whack for what the OP needs.

Water-cooled for a non-overclocked system is silly. If not using the stock cooler (or none is available because the CPU didn't include one), a good 120mm-class air-cooled tower such as a Noctia or Thermalright is plenty.

32 GB RAM is overkill for a gaming box. 16 GB (2x8 GB) is plenty, and will leave two slots open should something come up that does require the additional RAM. And maybe then the prices will be back down to more sane levels.

The MX300 is a decent choice, but was recently superseded by the MX500. They're probably mostly equivalent (check the reviews), but price may vary.

GTX-1080ti for a 1080p display? Massive overkill. A 1070 should be more than plenty for practically every game, and even a 1060 6 MB would do well. Also, good luck getting a 1080ti at anything close to MSRP.

PSU is a bit overkill and way too expensive. For ~$70-80 a 550 W Seasonic would be a fine choice. If you can save some by going semi-modular do it, as full-modular is a gimmick and really only is useful if you're looking to do custom cabling.
 
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Thank you all for the great input from everyone. I've noticed that a lot of you are mentioning power supplies. Does that mean the one I have in my signature will not be enough, or is this just theoretical discussion for the builds suggested.
 
I personally feel like if you have the connections you need that power supply is just fine for either build route. I have a 1000watt power supply and its wayyyyyyyyy overkill. btw screw u guys, I liquid cool everything, because I can. you can air cool if you like, personally I feel if you want to go ultra settings in games, liquid the cpu at least and make sure video card has good airflow.
 
...personally I feel if you want to go ultra settings in games, liquid the cpu at least and make sure video card has good airflow.


This statement makes little sense. The CPU load of a game may ramp up a bit when upping the detail settings, but not by so much and certainly nothing compared to what's placed on the GPU. By your logic, one should be looking at water-cooled GPUs for high-detail gaming. That's certainly an option, but, like with CPUs, rarely needed and really only useful when pushing any overclocking.


Thank you all for the great input from everyone. I've noticed that a lot of you are mentioning power supplies. Does that mean the one I have in my signature will not be enough, or is this just theoretical discussion for the builds suggested.


It's probably mostly reflex to include a PSU recommendation. The one you have certainly has more than enough specced capacity. Though PSUs do age, and aren't that expensive. Unless you're pinching every penny for the build and have no plans to sell/hand down the old system, just get a new one.
 
Yea its mostly an age thing. Why let an old PSU take your whole system with it when it decides to call it quits.

Also may want to consider a pre-built. With GPU prices what they are when a good pre-built gets discounted pretty good its a steal these days.
 
Thank you guys for the very helpful advice and answering all my questions!!

I've never really heard of these prebuilts. Is there a way I can watch out for good ones that go on the discounts you mentioned ? Not entirely sure what would be recommended
 
Watch the deal sites like slickdeals, fatwallet, etc. The hotdeals forums here and on other sites.

Saw one last week had i7-7700, 32GB ram, GTX 1070 at Costco for like $1100. Considering a GTX 1070 right now will cost you $700+ they can end up being decent deals but they sell quick.
 
Hi guys. I need help :(

I put together all the parts and my computer won't turn on. I see my sapphire video card flash on and off when I press power. The green light on the mobo is on.

Is impossible that my power supply is too low? How powerful is 650w.

Thanks
 
this image is what I ended up buying. my graphics card and HD are in my sig.
Also like my sig says I use a reeven justice cpu fan

thanks.

Untitled.png
 
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What are you using as a video card?

Are you overclocking your processor? Your video card?
 
Hi. I am not overclocking and my video card is the rx480 sapphire

I have made some progess though. I read online to try plugging the components in one at a time to determine which hardware was causing the problem.

I did get the system to run with most the parts connected! Except one which was the culprit. My 3 harddrives.

I know for sure my harddrives aren't faulty but whenever any of them are powered up it causes the problem. I also noticed that the power supply came with "Sata power" cables (it's semi modular) that end up not fitting the back of my hard drives! Regardless it did come with one cable that did have ends that fit my hard drives but whenever they power up even one of the drives the pc won't start.

I'm not sure what this means but any information would be appreciated.

Thanks!
 
Some more progress. I figured out the problem.
It was the SATA power cable. I was using one that came with my old power supply. Super dumb but now I learned something new; you can't do that. Super no bueno.

Now that everything is connected, it boots but the drives aren't being read. I really hope this doesn't mean all 3 drives are fried, but I read online that that may be possible...
 
Finally got everything setup and loaded Windows installer. None of my 3 drives are being read. Really? Omg so I lost all that data. I had no idea drives were that fragile. Plugging a SATA power cable from another power supply and BAM, everything all dies at once...

Very sad panda right now. Putting my drives in the freezer worked last time for something else, I'm guessing this is completely different and I lost everything?:cry:
 
Do you have an external hard drive enclosure or a USB-based drive dock? If so, disconnect and remove your drives from the computer and use the enclosure or the dock to test them individually.

If not, maybe you should consider buying one. I recommend a USB 3.0 dock as USB 2.x would take too long to read the drive. Here's one recommendation:

$20 - Vantec NexStar TX Single Bay USB 3.0 Hard Drive Dock
 
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My friend tried this and we determined that all 3 drives are dead...

I guess lesson learned about the power supply. I'm looking into ways to get data recovery. I don't even know if they do that for ssd. This turned out to be quite costly. Need to buy 3 new drives and pay for data recovery as well. :(
 
Ouch. My condolences to you and your hard drives.

Usually, a new power supply shouldn't kill your old drives. Usually....
 
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