Author Topic: Putting together a pc build  (Read 8366 times)

Bobbias

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Putting together a pc build
« on: August 20, 2017, 10:16:24 PM »
So I just threw this together on pcpartpicker to give my gf an idea of what I was thinking about, but I basically just grabbed popular parts without any research. Care to take a look and give me any tips? Should I go for a ryzen build instead? Is there any way to save money other than the psu (which i know is overpowered. Not sure what I'll need to ensure sli will work if I grab another card in the future)...

https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/list/YcJrFd
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Spectere

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Re: Putting together a pc build
« Reply #1 on: August 21, 2017, 10:07:15 AM »
I would recommend swapping out the 250GB SATA SSD for an M.2 NVMe model. It's going to be ~CAD$50 more expensive (according to Newegg.ca, anyway) but the difference is like night and day (we're talking going from 500MB reads to 2GB/s reads). From my experience with my laptop it makes a pretty noticeable difference in day-to-day usage if you use it as an OS drive.

As for whether to go for a Ryzen build or not, I'd say it depends on what she plans to do. For gaming, the i7-7700 is probably your best bet if you want the best performance at a reasonable price tag. It's single-core performance beats even the highest-end Ryzen parts and it has enough threads for modern games. That being said, unless you live and die by benchmarks, it simply doesn't matter. For almost all tasks, my i7-3770 still does the job. It's definitely the weakest component in my system, but it can drive a pair of 980s at 100% utilization without breaking a sweat, and very few games drive it past 75% utilization. If I run into any performance trouble at all, it's almost always on the GPU. Ryzen will work absolutely fine in a gaming build if you want to save some cash.

If she plans to do things like video rendering, Ryzen 7 1800X, hands down. You're not going to get that kind of multithreaded performance anywhere else for a sub-$500 price tag. For modern gaming or casual use, however, it's overkill. If you want a very nice balance between the two workloads, go with the Ryzen 5 1600X. It's roughly equivalent to the i5-7500 in terms of single-core performance (which is very respectable), trounces the i7-7700K in multithreaded benchmarks, and ends up being CAD$100 cheaper than the i7 part.

Personally, I would recommend getting a good card once and avoiding SLI. It's a fair amount of hassle (and this is coming from someone who bought a 3D printer and promptly replaced half of its parts). I'm in the process of replacing my 980s with a single 1080 Ti, mainly so I don't have to deal with that anymore (the fact that the 1080 Ti is a fairly nice upgrade is a nice bonus). If it were me, I'd swap in the R5 1600X, aim $100 higher on the overall cost, and swap the 1060 out for a 1070.
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Zephlar

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Re: Putting together a pc build
« Reply #2 on: August 21, 2017, 12:57:42 PM »
I'm in the process of replacing my 980s with a single 1080 Ti, mainly so I don't have to deal with that anymore

So....whacha doin with 1 of those 2 980's lol.

Spectere

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Re: Putting together a pc build
« Reply #3 on: August 21, 2017, 12:59:40 PM »
So....whacha doin with 1 of those 2 980's lol.

lol

One's going to my dad to replace his 680 (my previous video card, incidentally); the other one's already sold. Sorry!
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Zephlar

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Re: Putting together a pc build
« Reply #4 on: August 21, 2017, 01:45:09 PM »
lol

One's going to my dad to replace his 680 (my previous video card, incidentally); the other one's already sold. Sorry!

*sob*

I have a 980 currently and have been debating SLI or not. If you were selling it was an obvious choice.

Spectere

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Re: Putting together a pc build
« Reply #5 on: August 21, 2017, 02:45:42 PM »
SLI is kind of a PITA in a lot of ways. It's great 90% of the time, but the remaining 10% will leave you tearing out clumps of your hair. I mean, it was nice being able to say that I had a 4K-capable rig before it was cool, but now I'd rather just drop down to a single badass card.

At least microstutter isn't as big of a problem as it used to be (though it rears its ugly head big time if both cards are running full tilt).
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Zephlar

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Re: Putting together a pc build
« Reply #6 on: August 21, 2017, 03:45:01 PM »
SLI is kind of a PITA in a lot of ways. It's great 90% of the time, but the remaining 10% will leave you tearing out clumps of your hair. I mean, it was nice being able to say that I had a 4K-capable rig before it was cool, but now I'd rather just drop down to a single badass card.

At least microstutter isn't as big of a problem as it used to be (though it rears its ugly head big time if both cards are running full tilt).

I'm hoping the mining craze dies down soon.

Spectere

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Re: Putting together a pc build
« Reply #7 on: August 21, 2017, 07:44:30 PM »
If it's anything like Bitcoin, eventually the difficulty will increase to the point that GPU miners will be impractical. At that point, everyone will switch to ASIC miners and GPU prices will fall again.
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Bobbias

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Re: Putting together a pc build
« Reply #8 on: August 22, 2017, 07:00:14 PM »
So, some clarification, the PC is for me, not the GF. I just threw the build together on pcpartspicker to give her an idea of the kind of system I was talking about, but when I was done, I realized that it might be a good idea to throw the link over here and get some input, since it's been a damn long time since I built a PC, and I haven't kept up with things too much.

the M.2 idea was exactly the kind of thing I was looking for. I guess if I'm not going for SLI I can save a bit on going with a non-SLI capable mobo instead, which is nice.

Any comments on monitor choices? I don't care fork, but I definitely want high refresh rate. Just not sure if I can go cheaper on it (which would be nice, because although 2k is roughly the area I'm looking at, if I can save a bit here and there, that makes things easier).

As for video rendering, my GF did say she was thinking about either streaming or making youtube videos of some of her art, but that definitely wouldn't be the main sort of use. My main goal would basically just be to have something that should handle games on relatively good settings and should hopefully age a bit better than our laptops. I'd definitely like to stream me playing osu!mania on it too, since I finally have internet fast enough to handle that kind of thing (but recording replays is hard enough on my laptop. Streaming live right now would be an exercise in frustration since osu drops input whenever it drops frames, and it certainly drops frames when I start recording).

So maybe something like this instead? https://pcpartpicker.com/user/bobbias/saved/mp6nQ7

EDIT: Somehow the prices updated while I was editing the build and it went from 2100 to like 1700 (in part because it found a way cheaper place for the monitor) o.o
« Last Edit: August 22, 2017, 07:04:56 PM by Bobbias »
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Spectere

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Re: Putting together a pc build
« Reply #9 on: August 22, 2017, 10:42:27 PM »
Sexy. :D And yeah, based on how you plan to use it, a 6/8 core Ryzen definitely seems like a better choice for you (and the cost savings is a huge win, too!).

As far as monitors go, I did a bit of research on them (I'm so used to just using my TV that I haven't looked into monitors for a while). It looks like the Acer XB240H would be a better bet. The GN246HL has a good refresh rate, but the XB240H supports GSYNC, so you'll have the advantage of a variable refresh rate. The GN246HL is either going to tear like crazy if it can't hit its full 144hz or the framerate is going to get cut in half at the very least if you have vsync enabled and it dips below 144hz. I'd say the upgrade in that case would be well worth the extra money, especially if you plan to crank the detail up.

If you don't mind spending a bit more, that 1070 would be really at home with a 1440p display (4K is going to be a bit rougher). It's a bit stronger than a 980 Ti, so it's going to be able to drive it at a good refresh rate. Additionally, the extra desktop real estate that you get with a 1440p panel is very noticeable. Going from my 1440p iMac display to a 1080p system always felt like a huge downgrade whenever I needed to do any non-gaming stuff. I like that resolution so much that I'm trying to convince my workplace to replace my 1080p monitors with 1440p models, haha.
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Bobbias

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Re: Putting together a pc build
« Reply #10 on: August 23, 2017, 04:25:42 AM »
Well, looks like the XB240H is hard to find, but there's the XB241H which has GSYNC, built in speakers (a plus, since it means I don't have to buy some. I've got headphones, but no external speakers) and has a refresh rate of 180 Hz instead of 144. It's apparently 400 on newegg as of this post, but the monitor is definitely one of the things I'm willing to drop some good cash on. I'll take a look at GSYNC 1440p stuff sometime though.

I'm still struggling to save up the cash for the build right now, so I'm not sure how long it'll be before I actually get all the shit and put it together, but I figured it'd be a good idea to at least get a parts list up. If I'm lucky maybe some of the components will have a nice price drop in the mean time.
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Spectere

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Re: Putting together a pc build
« Reply #11 on: August 23, 2017, 09:07:34 AM »
Looks like you'd be looking at double the price for a 1440p GSYNC display (144hz, overclocks to 165hz), plus those seem to all be 27" (not sure if you have the desk real estate for that). As nice as 1440p is, that's a pretty tough sell.

And yeah, that's how I've been building my next rig--getting a list of the generic components and snagging them when they go on sale. :P
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Bobbias

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Re: Putting together a pc build
« Reply #12 on: August 23, 2017, 05:03:50 PM »
Monitor overclocking? wat.

How much difference would going up to 165 even make anyway? I'm not a twitch FPS player... (although I would be curious if that would have any effect on something like osu)

I've got the desk space at least in the current setup (both laptops sit side by side on the long side of our dining room table right now), but yeah, not sure if it's really worth spending that much more.
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Spectere

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Re: Putting together a pc build
« Reply #13 on: August 24, 2017, 01:30:58 AM »
Yeah, it's basically forcing a monitor to use a higher refresh rate than "advertised" (though the 1440p display specifically advertises it as a feature, so...uh...). I dunno, in my day we used to call it "fucking around with the timings and hoping you don't blow up your expensive VGA display," but hey, whatever.

I would imagine that you'd start to hit diminishing returns at a certain point.  That being said, the highest refresh rate I've experienced is 120hz on a CRT display, so I can't say for sure when that point is. Regardless, 144hz is gonna be sleek as hell.

Also, if you want a larger display but don't want to dish out the funds for the 1440p one, the XB271H (a 27" XB241H) looks to be ~$100 more than its smaller cousin. Depends on how far away you plan to sit from it, really.
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Bobbias

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Re: Putting together a pc build
« Reply #14 on: August 24, 2017, 05:38:39 AM »
yeah I dont think I need to go higher than 24 inches. Ive been using 15 inch laptops for.... nearly a decade. My gf has a 17 inch one that I use now for poe and grim dawn because neither are playable on mine (poe used to be, barely, until 3.0 came out). hell 24 inches is gonna take some getting used to if I want to keep playing osu... Im not even used to playing on a real keyboard either... I bought a ducky with mx reds and dont use it for rhythm games because I just couldnt get used to it.
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