Official PC thread.

[kdawg]

Looking into a new office PC. None of the off-the-shelf options in the place I went to before work so they suggested this. Any comments?

Motherboard: LGA1151 - ASRock Z170A-X1/3.1

Processor: LGA1151 - Intel i7-6700 3.40GHz

RAM: Team Elite 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 2133MHz

Graphics Card: Nvidia GeForce GT 730 2GB - Silent

Optical Drive: SATA DVD+/-RW Dual Layer

Storage 1: Samsung EVO 850 250GB SSD

Storage 2: 2TB 7200RPM SATA3

Case: NZXT Source Elite 210

Add-ons: 4 Additional USB 3.0 Ports [Xnta USB 3.0 PCI-E]

Power Supply: AeroCool Integrator 500W

Operating System: Windows 10 Home Premium

Thanks.

It's basically my office PC. Got the graphics card so I can have 2 monitors - although he said I didn't have to do that and could use the onboard graphics with DisplayPort - are there pros/cons to that?

 

[slighted]

^ If it's just your office PC, consider 8GB RAM and no need for graphics card.

Unless you plan on anything heavy (gaming, multimedia, etc.), that i7 can handle mostly everything.

 

[Nawzlew]

Picked up some new ram sticks recently, now at 16 GB.

I was playing with overclocking since I've never done it before. I'm on an i5-2500k.

I'm on stock cooling. At 3.3 Ghz my CPU temps were ~65. I changed it to 3.4 and temps bumped to ~90.

Is that normal?

Regardless, I just ordered a Hyper 212 Evo. Seen how massive this thing is. Hopefully it fits.

 

[osek206]

Picked up some new ram sticks recently, now at 16 GB.

I was playing with overclocking since I've never done it before. I'm on an i5-2500k.

I'm on stock cooling. At 3.3 Ghz my CPU temps were ~65. I changed it to 3.4 and temps bumped to ~90.

Is that normal?

Regardless, I just ordered a Hyper 212 Evo. Seen how massive this thing is. Hopefully it fits.

That temp jump is insane, I had a G3258 stock at 3.2 or something and OC'd it to 4.5 and it was @72 degrees water cooled.

 

[D Fly]

What would yall consider a good middle of the road gpu to hold me over until I get something more high end?

I got a R7 240 in there currently. Just bought it this afternoon

 

[Nawzlew]

Picked up some new ram sticks recently, now at 16 GB.

I was playing with overclocking since I've never done it before. I'm on an i5-2500k.

I'm on stock cooling. At 3.3 Ghz my CPU temps were ~65. I changed it to 3.4 and temps bumped to ~90.

Is that normal?

Regardless, I just ordered a Hyper 212 Evo. Seen how massive this thing is. Hopefully it fits.

That temp jump is insane, I had a G3258 stock at 3.2 or something and OC'd it to 4.5 and it was @72 degrees water cooled.

I got the new cooler in, it's @ ~40 now.

Would like to overlock to 4.5, unfortunately my motherboard doesn't support it.

What would yall consider a good middle of the road gpu to hold me over until I get something more high end?

I got a R7 240 in there currently. Just bought it this afternoon

You can wait for Nvidias new 1070 to drop next month.

Might be able to pick up a used 970 for pretty cheap now though.




Kinda regret buying my 970 now ...

 

[D Fly]

I got the new cooler in, it's @ ~40 now.

Would like to overlock to 4.5, unfortunately my motherboard doesn't support it.
You can wait for Nvidias new 1070 to drop next month.

Might be able to pick up a used 970 for pretty cheap now though.




Kinda regret buying my 970 now ...

Cool I'll look that up, repped

 

[slighted]

I was checking out the Battlestations sub on Reddit and saw this dude's setup:

 

[Nawzlew]

Always crazy **** on r/battlestations.

I just picked up my first mechanical keyboard. Amaaaaaaaaaazing.

 

[AZwildcats]

I need to step up to a mechanical keyboard. I'm still using An Apple one my friend got me from his old office

 

[HNL HI]

Just built this recently trying to grab everything on sale. Trying to find a decent reference card on sale took some time, but lot's of people said it was better for this case due to the lack of ventilation.

Motherboard: ASRock H97M-ITX

Processor: Intel Core i5-4460

RAM: G.SKILL Sniper Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3 1600

Graphics Card: PNY GeForce GTX 970

Storage for OS: PNY CS1311 120 GB SSD

Storage for Everything else: WD Blue 1TB

CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-U9B

Case: EVGA Hadron Air w/ 500watt Power Supply

Keyboard: Vortex Pok3r

Mouse: Logitech MX Master

 

[iYen]

General PC questions: Disregard the numbering.

2. Would you choose a 1440p 60hz monitor over a freesync 1080p 144hz monitor?

1. Which pc part companies have good or reasonable rma processes? I’d like to factor this info into which brands I go with. I’ve heard evga, corsair, asus, are good. who else is good? Let’s say I have to rma a psu, gpu, mouse/keyboard, monitor, or mobo. Which pc part company would you recommend to go with based on the pc part? Ideally, I prefer companies whose rma process goes like this. 1. provide proof of purchase 2. company emails me prepaid shipping label. 3. wait 7 business days for a fixed or replaced product. I hope that’s a reasonable expectation for pc part rma processes.

8. What pc building tools do I need? I know I need a phillips screwdriver, anti-static wristband.

11. Is the best time to buy pc parts around black friday? I’m not too much in a hurry to build a pc, but I did impulse buy a 480gb sandisk ssd for $100 because it was on sale.

16. Is it necessary to put a silica packet into a pc?

 

[JND1]

 
General PC questions: Disregard the numbering.

1.  Depends on personal preference.  People that play a lot of competitive shooters like CS:GO or Overwatch will prefer higher refresh rates over higher resolution.  Others prefer the highest resolution possible at 60hz and high visual settings.  Some people aren't sensitive to framerate at all.  Personally, I would go with 1440p 60hz if it's a IPS panel and your graphics card can handle high settings at that resolution.  Free/G-sync is legit though.

2.  I wouldn't stress over customer service stuff.  There will be a bunch of people online ranting about bad experiences from pretty much every company.  You most likely won't have issues with part failure and if you do, it's likely to happen within the first 30 days so you can just return it to the retailer.  Best companies for parts IMO:  PSUs - Seasonic hands down.  Mobos - Gigabyte, Asus, ASRock.  GPUs - EVGA, Gigabyte, Asus.  Memory - You really can't go wrong here.  SSDs:  Samsung or Crucial.

3.  A phillips screwdriver is pretty much it.  Maybe some zip-ties if you care about cable management.  

4.  Yes, Newegg usually has a month long sales event in November.  Amazon will be mostly flash sales around BF and CM.  MicroCenter and Fry's will have nice deals if you live near one.  Try to buy your parts around the same time if possible.  If you buy a motherboard now and don't finish your build until November...if you find that motherboard is DOA you will be well beyond the retailer return window and have to deal with the manufacturer.

5.  No.

 

[shatterkneesinc]

I will take 144hz any day of the week

 

[slighted]

If anyone's doing a new build, please get an SSD as your main drive/where you run your OS.

Major key to success

 

[Fozz]

Does any own the Dell XPS 13? 

I'm considering on buying it due to the high reviews...But going on reddit and reading some people's issues with the laptop, I'm kind of having doubts.

Anyone have any input?

 

[HNL HI]

keep an eye out on https://www.reddit.com/r/buildapcsales for good deals

 

[ohokalright]

Would have gotten stiff about the rx 480 but then I remembered AMD's lovely drivers.

 

[shatterkneesinc]

Would have gotten stiff about the rx 480 but then I remembered AMD's lovely drivers.

AMD has vastly improved their drivers
nvidia drivers are no better and in more recent times they are worse

if you look at nvidia's past generation cards, their performance gets worse and worse whereas amd cards get better and better

 

[ohokalright]

AMD has vastly improved their drivers
nvidia drivers are no better and in more recent times they are worse

if you look at nvidia's past generation cards, their performance gets worse and worse whereas amd cards get better and better

Haven't even been able to get pass a wonderful black screen after booting and signing into windows with an my second r9 290 last year after rmaing the first to newegg.


If I bother giving them another chance it'll be from some where that offers refunds rather than just replacements.

 

[slighted]

 
keep an eye out on https://www.reddit.com/r/buildapcsales for good deals

I'd also recommend this if you need help with your build -- https://www.reddit.com/r/buildapc

 

[Maserati Fox]

I've had positive RMA experiences with both gigabyte and MSI. Gigabyte legit sent me a check for $650 to reimburse me for a 5970 that crapped out since I kept denying the replacement gpu's they wanted to send lol. MSI replaced 2 6970's for 2 290s a year and change ago. Generally all the major brands have great customer service from what I've read online.

 

[osek206]

If anyone's doing a new build, please get an SSD as your main drive/where you run your OS.

Major key to success

I was wondering why my computer boots so damn slow with a i7 4790k 8 GB ram but I only have 1TB HD, I basically bought the
system off somebody and upgraded it and now I'm going to get a SSD.

Only question I've have..it seems like the person has a non genuine copy of windows on the computer. Can i still clone
the OS on the SSD with the non genuine copy of windows? I have a feeling I'm going to have to buy a copy of windows.

 

[rillo561]

You can definitely clone it

 

[slighted]

^^ I've heard good things about Clonezilla and Acronis True Image.