Planning my New Gaming PC!

[Godfrey.Payans]

I went with an Intel/NVIDIA combination last year, in a HAF X case. It's all a generation or more old now, but some of the main things that might be ok to reduce in your selection are, from what I can remember: the power supply; the speed of the memory; and the size of the SSD.

I figured a much smaller SSD was fine for just the OS and applications. The storage for games and most media requires much more space than 240GB, so the sweet spot for me size- and price-wise was around 100GB.

One thing about liquid cooling that I undervalued is that the better performing air coolers can impose limitations on the height of the RAM that can be installed. I went with the best cooler I could for the sake of quietness, but avoided liquid cooling since that didn't seem to provide better performance, and as a result have to use low-profile RAM.

The main feature that sold me on the HAF X was that it has support for removable HDs, but that turned out to be more hypothetical than practical, because after putting the PC together last year I didn't bother using the removable HD stuff until a few weeks ago. The idea was that it would be faster to backup to a removable HD than over USB, and external network storage packages seemed pretty expensive, needed extra cabling and power sockets, and we've hit our max on sockets in our network router.

 

[DRT-Maverick]

So instead, you're getting a Porsche body kit with a Prius engine.

Maverick in one year: "Hey guys, I can't play that game with you because of my weak processor, but you should she my case! It sure is pretty sitting under my desk! Honestly! Here, I'll send you a picture of it...as soon as my PC stops lagging..."

If you want a pretty case, fine. But don't compromise the rest of PC for it.

Nah you can Overclock those AMDs to actually be decent, but it's work. It's like getting an old chevelle and getting rid of the small block 283 and dropping in a 350. Besides it's more like keeping the porsche engine vs having a v8 or v12 Ferrari. You can make those 6cyl Porsches go faster...


Keep in mind the rest of the PC isn't compromised. I don't mind buying more RAM and a second videocard later down the line as well. When I built my Current PC in 2008 everyone told me it was going to be a piece of shit because I went with AMD. It's lasted me since 2008 and I've only did a few updates (and those were all between 2008 and 2010) but ultimately I was satisfied.

Now I wouldn't mind going intel, I'm not saying I don't like intel, it's just if you want to get into overclocking intel it gets more expensive than AMD. i7's are a good 150$ more than most of the high end AMD stuff, and regular i7's aren't even the high end intel chips. I understand that I won't get the best performance on the world, but the fun part is overclocking and tweaking it to get every ounce of performance out of the hardware itself, not necessarily beating everyone elses PC out of the water.

Again, with power, I don't know much about powersupplies so I'm definitely looking into all the PSUs you're showing me. Currently I have a 650watt on this PC.

 

[Benfica]

If you are foremost an hardware/overclocking enthusiast, then in the end it's up to you. Yes AMD's seem to overclock more than the recent i7's

Wait for those drives if you can, even if they are for large transfers. That cache helps when the folders become fragmented or when you search for files.

Regarding PSUs, what you have to look is current protection (undercurrent, overcurrent, ripple suppression, etc...), stable power on load, noise and efficiency. This page links to some PSU articles. This article is interesting because it explains why often PSU reviews are poorly made. The brands that I've noticed better performance on reviews are Antec and Seasonic.

 

[Sir_Brizz]

Even a balls to the wall overclock on the best AMD processor is only going to scratch the surface of a comparably priced Intel processor, unfortunately. Unless you start investing your fortunes into overclocking things like peltiers on refrigerated watercooling. A system like that alone will cost you $2,000.

 

[Jacks:Revenge]

your choice of processor sucks; AMD is chump change.
your choice of case sucks; it's way overpriced and totally unnecessary.

other than that this looks like a good build.

 

[NRG]

Tek Syndicate swore by the AMD FX-8350 awhile ago, claiming in video reviews that the 8350 consistently edged out any Intel Ivy Bridge for frame rates and video streaming. They said they couldn't believe it either and ran the tests repeatedly to verify their results and it came back that way every time.

So, according to them, you can take an AMD video card and all other computer components, swap them between an Ivy Bridge system and an AMD system, and the AMD will do better in games. Just like old times with the Athlon 64.

Obviously this was met with a lot of criticism. My main gripe was that they themselves never speculated why their results were different from countless other processor reviews out there. They just kept saying that they did the tests over and over, here's the numbers [showing AMD clearly edging out Intel for gaming], and they have nothing to gain by lying. That you will see a good performance benefit when pairing an AMD card with an AMD processor, opposed to an AMD card with an Intel processor.

I don't really follow them so maybe they've touched more on this since that controversial review.

 

[Benfica]

If you manage to get the CPU to 5Ghz, this is the performance you can expect:

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/foru...166-amd-fx-9590-review-piledriver-5ghz-3.html

Of course, that's overclocked vs every other at stock

 

[Sir_Brizz]

If you manage to get the CPU to 5Ghz, this is the performance you can expect:

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/foru...166-amd-fx-9590-review-piledriver-5ghz-3.html

Of course, that's overclocked vs every other at stock

Heh, my 3770k is still towards the top of every one of those. Nice!

 

[Big-Al]

Intel & nVidea all the way.

 

[DRT-Maverick]

If you manage to get the CPU to 5Ghz, this is the performance you can expect:

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/foru...166-amd-fx-9590-review-piledriver-5ghz-3.html

Of course, that's overclocked vs every other at stock

So what you're saying is I'll manage to get a high performance PC out of it as long as I properly tune it, right?

 

[Syri]

So what you're saying is I'll manage to get a high performance PC out of it as long as I properly tune it, right?

Yeah, and pay way over the odds for the privilege, and run the risk of the whole thing going "pop" and sending smoke out of the top of that $400 case every time you push the button.
Do the smart thing. Don't try to tune up a crappy straight 4 to give V8 performance. Get a bloody V8 in the first place! I've got an intel build, no overclock and not a great graphics card, but it manages everything I've thrown at it so far, it's stable and it's quiet. I've only got a 430w PSU (corsair, so it's reliable) but it's running fine. It's on air cooling, but the fans are easily drowned out by the hdd when it's accessing. You don't need to spend a fortune to get good performance, and trying to get an AMD up to the same standards at the moment is just wasting good money. The chips are cheaper for a reason, they just don't perform as good, and in my view, the expense and risk in taking them to that level just isn't worth it. Better to just get the one that's stable and fast in the first place.

 

[dragonfliet]

This build is fucking ridiculous. You have approximately $1,200 in case, water cooling and PSU for a box that is essentially a media server, that needs only a $40, a $20 cpu fan and a 500 watt power supply you can grab for $50, and yet you're skimping on the CPU and GPU. What a waste of money. Your water cooling doesn't do shit for a media server. This isn't buying a porsche with a V8, it's buying a fucking honda civic and spending 30k on body mods. Buy a crappy box, fan and psu for the computer that isn't going to matter (and it will look just fine and perform just fine, and not be loud, because it isn't doing anything, really) and spend your money on a i5-4670k and a GTX 770.

Not only with your computer look awesome (because your old one already does), it will perform WAY better than it would otherwise and it will even cost you less money. It's sort of a no brainer.

 

[HugoMarques]

Mav, if I were you I'd ignore all the haters and the ignorants on this topic and go for it. I'd buy the flashiest, blingiest, swagiest, most expensive case on the market. And of course, complement it with the nicest water-cooling system and neon-light the shit out of it!
I mean, it's a gaming rig. Who cares about graphic cards, mobos or CPUs? In fact, why even buy these components? Don't we all build our gaming rigs to just stare at them for six hours straight?

 

[DRT-Maverick]

There's a lot more to a large case for watercooling than meets the eye including heat dissipation and many other things. No one neon's the inside of their watercooled cases anymore, that **** stays hidden.

Sorry that I don't want to go with intel.

Dragon, I'm not skimping on the CPU. The CPU is the highest end of its line. I don't understand how that's skimping. Unless you mean I have to buy intel to supposedly not skimp.


Syri, I've been overclocking PCs since x386's. Rarely do things go 'pop', but I have PURPOSELY caught a PC on fire, and it was an intel. shot blue electric flames out of the socket.



And why get a V8 when you can get the performance out of a 4cyl? Lighter, better fuel economy and better combustion.

That's like saying "Screw the Audi 2.0T, I'll just go buy a cadillac, it has a V8." Unfortunately the Cadillac's 4.1V8 is still slower than the 2.0T.

 

[DarkED]

The CPU is the highest end of its line.

Perhaps. But the high end of a shit line is still shit.

 

[dragonfliet]

It's your money, but AMD fell behind a long time ago on the cpu front and the best thing that they have barely holds up against the middleground of intel at the moment, and while they're doing better on the GPU end, it's still simply worse than nvidia's latest offering. My current system is similar to your old one (phenom II 955 black + 5850), so I'm not telling you to look at intel because I'm a fanboy, but because it's objectively faster, overclocks decently, draws less power, etc., and can easily get to 4.5Ghz with air cooling, much less water cooling (which, again, you already own. Pull it out of your freaking media server,where it is being wasted).

I hear your comparisons, but they don't wash. More power in a cpu is more performance We're not looking at clock speeds, we're looking at the numbers it cranks out, and you just dont' see it for AMD right now. That's it. There isn't weight to compare it to (though haswell "weighs" less, in that it draws less power), and while it may seem cool to take an inferior chip and overclock it so that it barely edges out the superior, why not just take the superior chip and overclock it? Hell, with all of the insane amounts of money you could save by recycling your $400 case, $300 PSU and $600 water cooling setup, you could get EVEN BETTER cpu+gpu than already mentioned.

The main recommendation here? don't waste money on media servers, because they don't generate heat that is helped by water cooling and simple, cheap case fans are enough for the kinds of loads that you'll be putting on it.

 

[Big-Al]

+ avoid Windows 8 like the plague.

 

[NRG]

+ avoid Windows 8 like the plague.

Spare the stupid metro interface that can be easily avoided, I actually love Windows 8. If that wasn't included, I would recommend 8 over 7 to everyone. That's not to say I don't like 7 either.

 

[Sir_Brizz]

If you get 8 with your computer for some reason that is one thing, but I don't get spending a bunch more on Windows 8. What value is there? Other than a few aesthetic things (like the file copy screen), there is nothing to Windows 8. The performance margins are well within the margin of error from Windows 7 for the most part. And you have to deal with the crappy interface that Microsoft will just try to force you into as often as possible from now on. No thanks.

 

[Carbon]

There's a lot more to a large case for watercooling than meets the eye including heat dissipation and many other things. No one neon's the inside of their watercooled cases anymore, that **** stays hidden.

Sorry that I don't want to go with intel.

Dragon, I'm not skimping on the CPU. The CPU is the highest end of its line. I don't understand how that's skimping. Unless you mean I have to buy intel to supposedly not skimp.


Syri, I've been overclocking PCs since x386's. Rarely do things go 'pop', but I have PURPOSELY caught a PC on fire, and it was an intel. shot blue electric flames out of the socket.



And why get a V8 when you can get the performance out of a 4cyl? Lighter, better fuel economy and better combustion.

That's like saying "Screw the Audi 2.0T, I'll just go buy a cadillac, it has a V8." Unfortunately the Cadillac's 4.1V8 is still slower than the 2.0T.

If you want AMD then fine, but please stop saying that the performance is comparable....it isn't. Read the reviews mate....the thing you want is an industry joke, a novelty, a bit of levity, a Hail Mary to 5GHz, the power-sucking, architecture-stretching, brute force-ugly way. No finesse, just crank it up to 11 with a mediocre result.

Maverick, I think you are just winding people up here. What you are doing - if it is true - is absolute lunacy. You have a limited budget for a new build that you will probably want to use for at least a few years to come. You choose to spend an exorbitant amount on a case and buy a cheaper, clearly sub-standard CPU...what sense does that make? Anyone would rather have a high-performing system in a shoe box before a mid-performer in a gold case.

All of your rationales for this build are bizarre and kind of delusional. Again, if you are being serious.