PC Building Guide and Discussion #11 (everything is expensive...)

[Kestrel]

Seems by the specs R3 may be comparable to a middle end i5 judging by the fact that it's still quad core. I could be wrong, no benches available to check yet, but if that's the case the value will be incredible.

150$ for a 1200X, if it's even close to a 4690k (doubt it touches a 7600k mind you) it'll still be incredible.

I'm trying to temper expectations, but I think you're right. After all, hyperthreading improves performance, but 4 physical cores are still physical cores, and, all else being equal, a 4 core non-hyperthreaded processor should outdo a 2 core hyperthreaded processor, and be on par with other 4 core non-hyperthreaded processors.

We'll have to see, but I think the R3 might be an i3 killer. I mean, some people are always going to go Intel no matter what, but if the budget is really that tight, there gets to be a point where it's hard to justify giving up that much performance, and going i3 just to have Intel Inside.

 

[SniperHF]

Samsung investing in 3840x1080 and 3840x1200 displays at 144hz

Probably gonna need two of those 1080 ti's.

 

[Devourers]

I'm trying to temper expectations, but I think you're right. After all, hyperthreading improves performance, but 4 physical cores are still physical cores, and, all else being equal, a 4 core non-hyperthreaded processor should outdo a 2 core hyperthreaded processor, and be on par with other 4 core non-hyperthreaded processors.

We'll have to see, but I think the R3 might be an i3 killer. I mean, some people are always going to go Intel no matter what, but if the budget is really that tight, there gets to be a point where it's hard to justify giving up that much performance, and going i3 just to have Intel Inside.

I expect i3 and pentium prices to bottom out hard when the R3 drops. They simply won't be able to sustain sales with current price point against an AMD quad core that is 150$. This is amazing for companies and people who build PC's for a living. Means they'll be able to do pre-builds for an insanely aggressive price point. I can't wait to use PCPARTPICKER to build a couple budget rigs. Considering the 1200X is also overclockable, if it can even hit 4ghz or 4.1ghz it'll be incredible value for the dollar, any higher overclock is simply gravy at that point.

I don't think desktop level i7's and i5's like the 7600k and 7700k will take a hit, nor will old stock of 6700k and 6600k (I presume a price slash will again happen) but inferior i5's and other i3's? Hell yeah, those are going to bottom out big time. Even extreme editions like the 6900k etc are probably going to have to lower price due to the already released R7 series. (The fact that the R5 are 6 core, it should cause a serious shake up on most of intels lineup)

I don't expect AMD to destroy intel on every price point, but if they can take a good chunk of the budget market and some of the enthusiast level... we're in for a great time as the consumer. The price wars will definitely be huge once R5 and R3 are both on the market.

 

[Commander Clueless]

Samsung investing in 3840x1080 and 3840x1200 displays at 144hz

Probably gonna need two of those 1080 ti's.

Suddenly my 21:9 monitor feels so obsolete....

 

[Commander Clueless]

So I did a thing a week ago....and spent an outrageous amount of money kickstarting the new Calyos phase change cooling cases.

I know, crazy right? But these things are really cool IMO. It was funded overnight so here's hoping.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1489140137/nsg-s0-worlds-first-fanless-chassis-for-high-perfo


I did get in on the 100 super early birds so I got a significant discount, but still...


I may have a problem?

 

[Kestrel]

I expect i3 and pentium prices to bottom out hard when the R3 drops. They simply won't be able to sustain sales with current price point against an AMD quad core that is 150$. This is amazing for companies and people who build PC's for a living. Means they'll be able to do pre-builds for an insanely aggressive price point. I can't wait to use PCPARTPICKER to build a couple budget rigs. Considering the 1200X is also overclockable, if it can even hit 4ghz or 4.1ghz it'll be incredible value for the dollar, any higher overclock is simply gravy at that point.

I don't think desktop level i7's and i5's like the 7600k and 7700k will take a hit, nor will old stock of 6700k and 6600k (I presume a price slash will again happen) but inferior i5's and other i3's? Hell yeah, those are going to bottom out big time. Even extreme editions like the 6900k etc are probably going to have to lower price due to the already released R7 series. (The fact that the R5 are 6 core, it should cause a serious shake up on most of intels lineup)

I don't expect AMD to destroy intel on every price point, but if they can take a good chunk of the budget market and some of the enthusiast level... we're in for a great time as the consumer. The price wars will definitely be huge once R5 and R3 are both on the market.

I more or less see it the way you do. I don't think Intel will lose a drastic amount of market share - but possibly and hopefully enough that AMD can continue to be innovative and thrive.

 

[Kestrel]

So I did a thing a week ago....and spent an outrageous amount of money kickstarting the new Calyos phase change cooling cases.

I know, crazy right? But these things are really cool IMO. It was funded overnight so here's hoping.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1489140137/nsg-s0-worlds-first-fanless-chassis-for-high-perfo


I did get in on the 100 super early birds so I got a significant discount, but still...


I may have a problem?

If you have the money to spend, and want to, why not? Too rich a case for my blood though!

 

[Commander Clueless]

If you have the money to spend, and want to, why not? Too rich a case for my blood though!

Oh it'd normally be too rich for my blood too, but I got suckered in by the cool technology and the idea of a silent PC is very appealing to me.


Seems like a fun project. I doubt it'll be anywhere near a good bang for buck.

 

[Kestrel]

A minor to middling but encouraging update on the state of Ryzen gaming.

http://www.techradar.com/news/ryzen-cpus-get-major-performance-boost-thanks-to-windows-10-tweaks

In a Community Update blog post, AMD has announced that it has created its very own balanced Windows 10 power plan that can boost performance in some games by up to 21%

Essentially, AMD has created their own "power plan" to save you from having to tweak your power settings on your own, and it does appear to give the processor moderate gains in some games.

 

[Jasper]

Any guesses when the next gen video cards come out? Been very happy with my 980 but the ram differences alone are impressive and I think my PC is still pretty top notch otherwise.

 

[Devourers]

A minor to middling but encouraging update on the state of Ryzen gaming.

http://www.techradar.com/news/ryzen-cpus-get-major-performance-boost-thanks-to-windows-10-tweaks



Essentially, AMD has created their own "power plan" to save you from having to tweak your power settings on your own, and it does appear to give the processor moderate gains in some games.

I saw benchmarks recently from a recent patch they did, and unfortunately it was only a few %, but maybe that isn't the patch this article is referring to.

As for that phase change case posted above, I've always been interested in phase change If it can be mastered in a safe way, it could be incredible for overclocking.

 

[Kestrel]

I think the Ryzen situation is likely to improve like that - a step at a time - rather than leaps and bounds. But, I think with those improvements, and with modern/future DX12 games, I think Ryzen will be just fine.

 

[Sined]

My little weekend project:
https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/b/h3tgXL

 

[Kestrel]

My little weekend project:
https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/b/h3tgXL

Nice!

 

[AtlantaWhaler]

Welp...having to turn it in today because I start a new job on Monday. This laptop was awesome.

Not totally sure, but I think I get a new HP.

So, been using a brand new HP Elitebook. I really like it. Not sure if I like it more than the Lenovo I had, but it's better than I thought it would be. I've only had it for a little more than a week so I'll dive into it more.

 

[Bocephus86]

Not sure if this is a good place for this or not but I built myself a new desktop right around Xmas (with some help from here, shout out to Sniper) and its been great. One thing I've noticed is that, occasionally (10-15% of the time), the system seems a bit frozen after I start it up. I am able to login to windows (Windows 10 home, 64 bit) but after that it is unresponsive (I can't start up programs and control/alt/delete doesn't bring up the task manager access screen). I see the desktop icons and everything as if it is normal but I can't do anything. I've been trying to get into the task manager during this time to see if its a program crushing the CPU/memory but it wont open.

Generally, I get frustrated and force a reboot which always fixes it. The other day I got distracted and left it up for about 5-10 minutes and noticed that my program was opening after that time. I am trying to figure out how to troubleshoot since it isn't consistent. Any thoughts or past experiences out there?

My specs/hardware:

MSI Z170-A Pro - Motherboard
i5 6500 Skylake 3.2 Ghz - CPU
Gigabyte GeForce 1060 6GB - GPU
Crucial MX300 525 Gig SSD - Boot drive/contains windows and everything else right now
- I have a mechanical bulk drive too but its empty; probably didn't need it
Corsair Vengeance Ram - 16 gigs; 2x8gig.

Can supply any more information if necessary. No attempts to overclock or anything like that; everything is out of the box.

 

[SniperHF]

Not sure if this is a good place for this or not but I built myself a new desktop right around Xmas (with some help from here, shout out to Sniper) and its been great.

My specs/hardware:


Can supply any more information if necessary. No attempts to overclock or anything like that; everything is out of the box.

Unfortunately tracking down these kinds of issues can be very difficult. Most likely targets are the SSD and RAM. Though if it works after rebooting every time I'd doubt it's the RAM.

You could also try a new clean install of Windows 10 (download the latest ISO, don't use an old one). Or first you could try unplugging your SSD and installing 10 clean on the mechanical drive, see how it runs. If it has no problems then try the clean install on the SSD. Since the problem isn't consistent though you'd have to test it for quite awhile.

Since you have two sticks of RAM, you could try removing one and running on one. If it still does it try the one you removed instead.

You could try running Memtest86:
http://www.memtest86.com/

Usually it needs to run overnight or even longer.


Another thing to check might be if there has been a firmware update for your SSD.

 

[Bocephus86]

Unfortunately tracking down these kinds of issues can be very difficult. Most likely targets are the SSD and RAM. Though if it works after rebooting every time I'd doubt it's the RAM.

You could also try a new clean install of Windows 10 (download the latest ISO, don't use an old one). Or first you could try unplugging your SSD and installing 10 clean on the mechanical drive, see how it runs. If it has no problems then try the clean install on the SSD. Since the problem isn't consistent though you'd have to test it for quite awhile.

Since you have two sticks of RAM, you could try removing one and running on one. If it still does it try the one you removed instead.

You could try running Memtest86:
http://www.memtest86.com/

Usually it needs to run overnight or even longer.


Another thing to check might be if there has been a firmware update for your SSD.

Much appreciated Sniper - I figured it wouldn't be an easy solution/testing scenario. I will definitely run the memtest overnight and see if that's related. If not, I will probably just live with it for a bit and take the next step(s) once I can take a day or two off and dedicate a few hours to it.

 

[Devourers]

I didn't go through the entire thread, but wasn't somebody posting builds in the OP for a while? I'd like it if they still did that and would be willing to help if they're not down to do it anymore.

Also thought it'd be fun if some of us could nerd out and post our fave brands for parts. I'll start with mine:

CPU: Intel, AMD (of course haha)
GPU: Nvidia (EVGA, Gigabyte)
Ram: G.Skill, Corsair
PSU: EVGA, Seasonic, Corsair,
HDD: Western Digital (Never tried HGST, heard amazing things but actually to date never had a WD die on me still!)
SSD: Samsung, Intel
Case: Corsair, Phanteks, Azza, Rosewill, Cooler Master, Thermaltake, CaseLabs, NZXT, EVGA, Fractal Designs (All depends on budget, but I'd check out numerous offerings from these companies and compare, and I know I'm forgetting some)
Fans: Corsair, Thermalright, Enermax,
Cooling: Phanteks, CoolerMaster, Noctua, Corsair, Swiftech, EK, pretty much all the mainstream water cooling loop brands seem good.
Motherboard: AsRock, Gigabyte
Peripherals: Razer, Logitech, SteelSeries

 

[SniperHF]

My favored historical brands

Video card - Sapphire
RAM - Corsair
PSU - Corsair
Motherboard - Asus
Cases - Antec
Hard Drives - they literally all suck, just pick one.
Peripherals - Logitech

Actually I've been looking at jumping to a Roccat mouse lately though.


I dunno if they are my current favorite brands or not since I haven't done a full build for myself in awhile. The last major build I did was Z97.

I didn't go through the entire thread, but wasn't somebody posting builds in the OP for a while? I'd like it if they still did that and would be willing to help if they're not down to do it anymore.

Yes . I'll be getting back to it I've just been lazy with all the hardware turmoil in the last 3 months or so.

 

[Devourers]

My favored historical brands

Video card - Sapphire
RAM - Corsair
PSU - Corsair
Motherboard - Asus
Cases - Antec
Hard Drives - they literally all suck, just pick one.
Peripherals - Logitech

Actually I've been looking at jumping to a Roccat mouse lately though.


I dunno if they are my current favorite brands or not since I haven't done a full build for myself in awhile. The last major build I did was Z97.



Yes . I'll be getting back to it I've just been lazy with all the hardware turmoil in the last 3 months or so.

Don't feel bad last major build I did was z77. I was putting some budget builds together on PCPARTPICKER just for fun, mind you I'll have to do it as well when Ryzen 3 arrives, but I was amazed at what you can build now a days for the price. These were just budget minded builds mind you, but I did 4 of them ranging from 650$ to 1050$ CAD and all of them had the following bare minimum:

Pentium, i3 and Ryzen 5 CPU's. (The former to be replaced by Ryzen 3 soon)
8gb-16gb ram (lowest CL possible)
550W+ PSU (Quality brand minimum and all GOLD/Fully Modular)
128GB SSD+ (Quality brand again)
1TB WD HDD
AM4 or Z270 mobo (The H270 variant was only 4$ less)
Case from a decent manufacturer+
RX 460 (only in the cheapest of the 4), 1050 and 1050Ti (All had non-reference design)
Stock cooler for two of them, and 212 for the other two.

Mind you, I'd never build any of these PC's for myself. But for my wife or a budget minded friend who wants to game, going as low as 650$ for something brand new is awesome, and the 1050$ one had the best parts of what I mentioned above. Don't get me wrong I think the RX 460 is trash when the 1050 and 1050Ti are so close in price, but some people don't care and would rather save the $.

 

[John Price]

 

[Kestrel]

I just clicked through it, as opposed to spending a half hour on it, but that was a pretty amazing build! I wish I had the kind of money it takes to get someone to put that much time and energy into designing a custom build

 

[Habitat]

Hey guys looking to build a new PC here with a max price of 2k CDN. I know a few stuff of what ill be purchasing for sure like a 1070 for graphics card and a 7600 or 7700 for CPU.


Just curious what month between now and august would be the best time to purchase? Anyone know generally when good sales start for certain parts with new gen stuff coming out in the future?

Heres something I made pretty quick

https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/list/28DLnn

 

[SniperHF]

The only sales really worth anything are usually black friday/cyber monday and MAYBE boxing day. So most likely you will be good to buy whenever as that's a long time to wait.

For new gen parts replacing old ones, usually the older generation parts don't actually price drop much. They just disappear from stocks.