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  #1  
Old 08-13-2014, 09:54 PM
--BulletMagnet-- is offline --BulletMagnet--
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New PC Build (I've never done this before)

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/v9DkHx

I have a friend that will be donating a PSU.

I've been dying to build a PC for the first time now that I finally have the money. I mostly took parts from a prebuilt Newegg special a few months ago as I wasn't sure where to start, but this rig would fit my budget and seems like it would be capable for what I'm trying to get. My end goal is to run Skyrim on *mostly* ultra settings (shadows and AA turned down) at 50-60 FPS.

I basically want to know a few things:
  1. Are all of these parts compatible? I know enough about parts to choose the specs I want, but I'm unsure of how to choose parts that will work in perfect harmony. Again, this was mostly built from a Newegg preset, so I'm guessing it will be fine.
  2. Is this ALL I'll need to put the PC together? I'd like to know any possible extra things I'll need to buy to assemble it. I know I'll need thermal paste, but I'd like to know of anything else.
  3. I'd also love general suggestions. I've debated 7850 vs. a GTX 750Ti for a long time, but it seems the 7850 would be a better deal for the money.
  4. Is building a PC as easy as folks say? As the subject says, I've never done this before, and I'm a bit nervous about screwing something up. I also don't want to spend days working on it. Any volunteers to Skype me through it?

Last edited by --BulletMagnet--; 08-13-2014 at 10:09 PM.
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  #2  
Old 08-14-2014, 07:58 PM
Guest001 is offline Guest001
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You could save a heap of money if you ditch that socket 1150 (LGA1150 H97) Motherboard for a socket 1155 (LGA 1155 H87) version.

*Don't buy any LGA 1155 boards below H87

You can go back 1 or 2 generations with your CPU and still not lose much in the way of real-world performance.

You'll have virtually the same top machine.

Yes I would go for the 7850 price vs performance wise.

Before you buy any sort of extras like Liquid Cooling systems, Video and Sound cards be sure there is room and a spare bus on the board that you can get at.

If you buy a CPU cooling fan watch out that the case will be wide enough for it.

Check the compatibility of your screen (HDMI DVI etc) and sound input/outputs with any of your existing hardware you're going to use.

Finally, if your case comes with a PSU it'll probably do the job if it's for a home use desktop system (350-400w) but you'd better double check that you'll have adequate power for the end machine.

If you use an old PSU, even if it's powerful (say 500 watts or more), you'll find that most motherboards today have 2 main power inputs from the transformer not the single bundle of yesteryear.

Last edited by Guest001; 08-14-2014 at 08:28 PM.
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Old 08-18-2014, 12:45 PM
Scott is offline Scott
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I would purchase a smaller SSD drive for your boot drive. That's going to be the biggest boost in performance you'll ever see, I recommend the Crucial M500 series. Then use the 1tb as a slave/storage. Nothing really jumps out as not being compatible, and i'm really not up to date on the new computer speed stuff as it's to a point with ssd and cpu's that it no longer matters to me, things are fast enough.

Building a PC is pretty easy and straight forward. Once you get the parts it will all click.
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Old 08-18-2014, 04:12 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Scott View Post
I would purchase a smaller SSD drive for your boot drive. That's going to be the biggest boost in performance you'll ever see, I recommend the Crucial M500 series. Then use the 1tb as a slave/storage. Nothing really jumps out as not being compatible, and i'm really not up to date on the new computer speed stuff as it's to a point with ssd and cpu's that it no longer matters to me, things are fast enough.

Building a PC is pretty easy and straight forward. Once you get the parts it will all click.
Please excuse me for changing the subject a bit.

I have a question for Scott but it may also interest you.

Scott, do you know if Hybrid Drives are as good as SSD + HDD combo as you described above?

I'm looking at this model.
Seagate ST2000DX001 2TB

It has 8 GB of solid state tech at the front-end so to speak.

The other portion of the drive is comprised of 2 x 1TB platters.

I assume you can configure it for the OS to live on or fast access read/write memory for programs.
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Old 08-19-2014, 09:10 AM
Scott is offline Scott
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Hmmn that's an interesting idea to save a little money. I don't see why the performance would suffer but that drive has some mediocre reviews on Newegg. I think the idea for a laptop is excellent but for a desktop i'd still just use two drives because I also install frequently used apps on my ssd drive because it's so much faster.

I'm also not sure 8GB is enough for the main drive, I know Win7 x64 requires like 20gb for install.
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  #6  
Old 08-20-2014, 06:03 AM
SilentTrigger is offline SilentTrigger
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I would definitely get a separate SSD drive rather then the combo, a little bit more expensive but you'll most likely regret a combo over time, just the swap alone is large so 8 GB is way too little in my opinion

I can't see anything wrong with that setup either and going with the 1150 will grant you ability to upgrade to a I7 in the future (not in a distant future but still)
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  #7  
Old 08-24-2014, 10:26 AM
--BulletMagnet-- is offline --BulletMagnet--
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Info
Cost: $800 (760)
Total Build Time: 10 hours



Parts Breakdown
Case: Rosewill Galaxy-01 Black Gaming ATX Mid Tower
Motherboard: ASUS H81M-K
CPU: Intel Core i5 4570 @3.2GHZ (no OC)
RAM: 8GB (2x4GB) - Team Vultran
GPU: MSI Radeon R9 270x 2GB (no OC)
HDD: Seagate Barracuda ST1000DM003 1TB 7200 RPM
PSU: EVGA 500 B 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified 500W
Optical Drive: ASUS 24X DVD Burner
Monitor: AOC E2425SWD Black 24" 5ms Widescreen LED

Future Upgrades
- SSD
- New keyboard (using an old Compaq one from 2005)
- New mouse (this one's dying)

Initial Thoughts
I'm VERY happy with this build thus far. Being my first build, it took FOREVER to get everything right, but I was rewarded by a successful boot on the first attempt. I've put it under CPU and GPU stress tests. The CPU test (Prime95) ran for about 2 hours while pushing all cores to 100% utilization. The temps never exceeded 80c, so I believe I'll be OK there. I ran a GPU stress test as well (FurMark) and the max temp was 66c. I'll keep looking into that, but I believe I'll be OK without overclocking.

I've only had time to test it a little, but I of course installed Skyrim, and this build murders it on Ultra settings, even with 8xAA and Ultra shadows which bring many systems to their knees). I never drop below 60 FPS, even in GPU-intensive areas.

The only thing I'm not happy with is the monitor. I went for big and cheap when I probably should've went for a smaller one with higher quality. The colors look fairly washed out and are hard to get used to.

Concerns/Questions
Do the temps listed above look worrisome? Looks like my max temp for the CPU is 100c (based on a field in Core Temp), and after 2 hours of full capacity, the hottest core maxed at 83c. What about the GPU temp?

Also, my case came with 3 pre-installed 120mm fans. 2 of the fans (front and top) came with molex adapters, so I was able to plug them directly into the PSU. The 3rd fan is a 3-pin fan with no molex adapter. My MOBO only has a spot for a 4-pin fan header. Should a 3-pin be able to fit there? I haven't been able to get it to so far. If not, should I invest in some kind of converter? Or should 2 120mm fans be enough?
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  #8  
Old 08-24-2014, 11:00 AM
Scott is offline Scott
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GPU temps seem normal based on this: http://www.hardocp.com/article/2014/...1#.U_oJd_mwLfU

But your CPU temps seem high to me. Maybe it's normal for the Intel but i'd rater see 60c ish, 70c max. I believe the max operating temp is 71c for the 4570. Did you use any thermal paste between the CPU and the cooler? You may want to invest in a better cooler.

2 Fans would be enough if your system temp stays around 40-50c. Much higher and i'd add some fans. I'm not really sure on your 3rd fan.. there has to be some sort of adapter out there.
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  #9  
Old 08-24-2014, 04:48 PM
--BulletMagnet-- is offline --BulletMagnet--
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I'm just using the stock heatsink for the CPU. It came with thermal paste pre-applied but not much of it. I may need to make my next upgrade an aftermarket heatsink or, at the very least, add some extra thermal paste.
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  #10  
Old 08-27-2014, 02:25 AM
Guest001 is offline Guest001
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Quote:
The only thing I'm not happy with is the monitor.

I went for big and cheap when I probably should've went for a smaller one with higher quality.

The colors look fairly washed out and are hard to get used to.
See if your monitor has viewing mode selection...?

Standard Mode - Theater Mode- Game Mode - Night View - sRGB etc...

I think the majority of PC displays today have these different color gamuts to allow for various application demands and light environments - even cheap ones.

Of course you can always resort to your GFX control panel to change display output to various configurations that may also help alleviate the problem.
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Old 08-28-2014, 07:36 PM
MAJWIZ is offline MAJWIZ
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I also had problems with heat build-up(cpu at 45.7c). then i changed out the case for an antic 1200 series. also bought the large psu (1500 watts) that handles the duo ati graphic cards and my 6 sata harddrives.
the case came with a 12" top fan a 8" side fan and same for the front and rear.
my i7 cpu was running very hot. but with new artic gold paste and an ASUS artic cooler the temp has dropped down to around 37.7c.
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  #12  
Old 08-29-2014, 06:00 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MAJWIZ View Post
I also had problems with heat build-up(cpu at 45.7c). then i changed out the case for an antic 1200 series. also bought the large psu (1500 watts) that handles the duo ati graphic cards and my 6 sata harddrives.
the case came with a 12" top fan a 8" side fan and same for the front and rear.
my i7 cpu was running very hot. but with new artic gold paste and an ASUS artic cooler the temp has dropped down to around 37.7c.
Case configurations are important but the single most important aspect would be a good interface between the chip and the "cooler" heat sink.

Even a cheap fan or water cooling system with correctly applied and good quality thermal paste wins over the stock system every time.

As an example my system temp specs:

CPU i5 O/C Turbo to 4.2GHz
(NOTE: Ambient room temperature will affect the range of these readings)

Idle - 25C
Max temp read during A3 or B3 etc. - 42C

1. These readings are T junction temperatures.
2. Individual core temps may vary a few degrees.
3. Ambient room temperature 24C

I use a cheap everyday aftermarket CPU fan with a copper heatsink. Nothing special but it doesn't have to be.

In my experience the differences between these and stock cooling is quite high but the equivalent differences between cheap and expensive cooling systems is negligible (very small).

Last edited by Guest001; 08-29-2014 at 06:38 PM.
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  #13  
Old 09-08-2014, 10:06 AM
SilentTrigger is offline SilentTrigger
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You really need to have a look at those temperatures because 80C is way over what a i5 can take. The CPU you got have a max of 72 degrees. What it sounds like is that you might not have gotten the cooler onto the chip snuggly enough so might be an idea to check again that the cooler is correctly seated on the CPU, the heat transfer will fail otherwise.

Here's a link for a Intel diagnostic software that will tell you if the temp is ok or not

https://downloadcenter.intel.com/Det...&DwnldID=19792
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Old 09-08-2014, 07:41 PM
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Generally true but listen to this little story...

A while back my core i5 2500k (the one I'm using now) was running at 90+ degrees continuously and peaking at over 100 degrees C, this was because the standard thermal paste failed but that CPU is still OK to this day.

THE FIX: As I said, with a decent CPU cooler fan, thermal paste applied correctly and with the CPU firmly and squarely seated on the heat sink, you can get it running at about 1 degree above ambient room temp.

Unlike Pentium class or older, these new gen CPU's have a critical temp trip that's meant to shut down the CPU before any serious damage is done...

I think the main problems with over temp these days would be system instability, possible loss of data and would affect the overall lifetime of the CPU.

So short term incidents like the one you're experiencing would generally be nothing to worry about.
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Old 09-14-2014, 08:50 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Scott View Post
Hmmn that's an interesting idea to save a little money. I don't see why the performance would suffer but that drive has some mediocre reviews on Newegg. I think the idea for a laptop is excellent but for a desktop i'd still just use two drives because I also install frequently used apps on my ssd drive because it's so much faster.

I'm also not sure 8GB is enough for the main drive, I know Win7 x64 requires like 20gb for install.
Thanks Scott

With your advice in mind I ended up getting a 250GB SSD and a 3TB HDD to solve a few issues.

Here's what I did...

Starting with the original system

500GB HDD
Window 8.1
Core i5 2500K O/C 4.2GHz
8GB 2200 MHz RAM

Used MLINK and XCOPY and moved all program data and libraries from Drive C: to Drive D:

I made sure to leave all the program exe's in their original locations on Drive C:

I made no changes to the registry.

Then...

I Cloned the old HDD C: to the new SSD

The result is 37GB of Windows system and program executable data on SSD Drive C:

480GB of program data on HDD Drive D:

2TB+ left for storage and expansion.

Works great!
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