Building a Gaming PC

[AuxiliaryPie]

The card should work with the board.. im always a bit weary of bundles. At least with the complete build bundles, its fun to play "spot the crap". Im willing to bet the mobo is the weak link..maybe doesnt have usb 3.0 or something?

 

[gourimoko]

Here is a bundle currently being offered on the same site. The 8 core cpu, a motherboard, and 8gb of ram for 350$.
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=8688689&csid=_22

To me, that looks like a nice place to start. I guess my only question, and I don't know if it's even relevant, is would the Nvidia 770 4gb card be compatible with that board?

The motherboards is garbage. Multiple reasons behind this, but it's a very bad place to start.

Also, you've stated you want to go with the GTX 760 or 770. You've also said it's important to be able to future-proof the build.

For this reason, your starting point is to get a highly rated SLI motherboard. You want to make sure the 2 16x PCIe lanes are on separate busses. It's vital.

If you've made the decision to stay with AMD, then a much better (albeit not what I would call ideal) motherboard would be the Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD3. It supports 2-way SLI (almost all boards that are not nForce support CrossFire btw). I also think it's ports are on different busses, but make sure first. (I think it's a requirement of SLI, but I'm not sure).

Go with DDR3 1866 RAM in this instance as you'll likely want to run in a quad-channel (4x2 or 4x4) configuration.. Also, if you'll be playing at 1920x1080, or even 2560×1600, you don't need a 4GB gfx card. Those cards only start to show their value in high resolution triple monitor setups or at 4k (who's playing at 4k?).

With the given specs, you could likely buy 2x2GB GTX 770's, SLI them with you 8350, overclock the entire rig (5ghz on the CPU), and have one of the fastest gaming rigs for ~$1,200.

CPU: AMD FX-8350 (again, if you want AMD)
Mobo: Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD3
RAM: G.Skill (2x4GB) 8GB DDR3 1866 (you'll buy another set later)
GPU: 2x Nvidia GTX 770 GTX 2GB cards (try to buy superclocked, and sort through)
PSU: SeaSonic X Series X-850W
HDD: Who gives a shit, but hybrid SSD would be okay.
Case: Whatever, something big.. I don't look at cases, they are unimportant if everything fits and it's quiet. For a TV based rig, it should be out-of-sight, and QUIET.. so what it looks like is again, unimportant.

There's a kick-ass AMD gaming rig with SLI out of the gate.. Fuck "later." It will take anything you throw at it.. The only way to make it better would be to add another set of the 8GB kit RAM, and to swap out the CPU/Mobo for the Intel counterpart; but you'd be adding almost $300-400 for not much performance gain (few FPS) in your gaming experience.

This build should be around $1,300, I think, I haven't bothered to add it up.. But that's what I'd do if I couldn't go balls to the wall with the high-end Intel build.. It'll also let you overclock the SHIT out of your setup.

 

[Cassity14]

That comes in at 1300 before I get into a monitor, case, memory space, etc. Might be a little too much.

Sorry if I confused - this is NOT a tv-based setup. I only meant it would 'replace' my console as in I will be doing my gaming on it instead of the console. Not tv-based. Just capable of handling shit I play on the console (CoD, Skyrim, etc.) on high-ultra settings. I don't want that to change much in the future.

Is it absolutely necessary to run duel 770s? I've yet to read online that someone couldn't rock out with running just 1. That's why I figured I'd spend the 70 bucks and get one with the extra vram right away.

I REALLY APPRECIATE ALL THE HELP YOU GUYS ARE GIVING ME. Just wanted to make sure that was reiterated.

 

[Cassity14]

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00B7AN51I/?tag=pcpapi-20

This motherboard is recommended with the amd 8350. I have no idea what you're talking about with space between ports, Gouri. Is this one a bit better?

 

[gourimoko]

That comes in at 1300 before I get into a monitor,

Depends on the gamer. I'm more casual, and like to use controllers when I can. If you are looking to play FPS competitively, then I can understand why you'd want to sit at a desk with a keyboard and mouse, but even then, I find it just as easy to do so with a wireless setup from my couch.

So with that, I prefer to use my TV, due to it's extremely high quality, over my very nice PC monitor.

case,

As I said, ANY large mid/full-tower case will do... Hope you aren't planning on spending money on a fancy case.

memory space,

Wtf is "memory space?"

etc. Might be a little too much.

You can knock off one of the 770's if you choose and instantly cut the price by $340. You can always add one later.

Sorry if I confused - this is NOT a tv-based setup. I only meant it would 'replace' my console as in I will be doing my gaming on it instead of the console. Not tv-based. Just capable of handling shit I play on the console (CoD, Skyrim, etc.) on high-ultra settings. I don't want that to change much in the future.

Indeed... Well, if you need a monitor as well, that will definitely eat into your budget.

Is it absolutely necessary to run duel 770s?

No, but that's where I'd want to be if I want all games at "Ultra-High Settings" while still getting 60 fps.

I've yet to read online that someone couldn't rock out with running just 1. That's why I figured I'd spend the 70 bucks and get one with the extra vram right away.

On max settings? Nah.. there are plenty of games that will bring a single 770 down below 60 fps if the setting are cranked to max.

I REALLY APPRECIATE ALL THE HELP YOU GUYS ARE GIVING ME. Just wanted to make sure that was reiterated.

Of course bro.. The above model is there for reference. That's where I'd want to end up, but it doesn't mean you need to buy it all at once.

You could start off with just the Mobo/CPU/Ram and a single card. Have a cheaper 650w PSU, and a basic case.. then get your monitor.

Once you feel like you really want "ultra high settings" upgrade to the above by adding another card and upgrading your PSU.

 

[Cassity14]

"memory space," was a hard drive. Sorry that came out so clunky.

 

[gourimoko]

"memory space," was a hard drive. Sorry that came out so clunky.

Get the foundation together first, then focus on upgrading later. Getting those 3 main components (CPU/Mobo/GPU) above will get you off to a great start.. build around that.. don't skimp on your PSU and try to get quality RAM and you'll be just fine.

 

[AuxiliaryPie]

dat gour advice.. well done

cant wait to work this summer.. gonna get a new monitor ASAP and if powercolor ever gives me my MIR im gonna use that on some more RAMz

 

[Cassity14]

Thanks again, Gour. The cpu is on sale until midnight tonight. That mobo has great reviews all around, especially for someone just starting out, and the gpu is highly regarded. I definitely would have sprung for the 4gb model, but if all it will do is allow me to play at resolutions I won't be playing at anyway, there's no need for it. Those 3 pieces above will be the ones I get.

I'll probably get to an xfire setup soon, but I'll get this put together and see how everything goes first. I'm still pretty intimidated by that part. Shit, just playing WoW and Diablo on max settings is going to be out of this world from my perspective.

 

[Cassity14]

CPU ordered. The ball is rollin'

 

[gourimoko]

Thanks again, Gour. The cpu is on sale until midnight tonight. That mobo has great reviews all around, especially for someone just starting out, and the gpu is highly regarded. I definitely would have sprung for the 4gb model, but if all it will do is allow me to play at resolutions I won't be playing at anyway, there's no need for it. Those 3 pieces above will be the ones I get.

I'll probably get to an xfire setup soon, but I'll get this put together and see how everything goes first. I'm still pretty intimidated by that part. Shit, just playing WoW and Diablo on max settings is going to be out of this world from my perspective.

It's not Crossfire with Nvidia, it's SLI.. Very important to note the distinction...

SLI uses a special chipset that has a memory management unit and bus of it's own on the motherboard. This means that SLI effectively is plug-and-play. If the motherboard supports SLI (has the SLI components), you literally plug in your second GPU and off you go.. You're good. Literally you don't gotta do shit.. (so long as you PSU can support both cards -- 750w - 850w and you should be okay).

The downside to SLI is that, because it uses a special chipset and the motherboard requires hardware components to facilitate communication between the cards, this means that it substantially increases the cost to manufacture the components. It's a very important distinction because not only does this affect cost, but also availability. There are simply fewer (much fewer) SLI capable motherboards!

Crossfire actually works without respect of the motherboard (for the most part). So long as the motherboard supports a few basic criteria, Crossfire will work. I have it set up on a Supermicro X7DWA-N server board for fucks sake! It just works! Which is really quite awesome. One of it's other big advantages is that Crossfire setups allow for massive overclocks.

The cons to Crossfire are multiple though. For one, since it does not an onboard controller for communication and synchronization, it requires a connector cable running between the cards, which can be a cabling issue but not a big deal. Two, the technology is less robust, and suffers from substantial microstuttering issues 2 card single-GPU configurations. The best configuration is with 3 or 4 GPUs (2 or 3 cards), which eliminates microstutter almost completely. This is how my setup is, and it's been going strong for years.

tl;dr, you're using SLI not Crossfire..

 

[AuxiliaryPie]

 

[Man Called X]

Buy a fucking Titan you pussies.

Gour, when I do a new build later this year, I'll make sure to send you benchmarks so you can enjoy..


Gotta do a build soon. Fucking north bridge errors galore.

 

[AuxiliaryPie]

Quad titans in my laptop. Fux wit me

 

[Cassity14]

So some questions regarding SSD:

I've heard that there's an issue with them possibly being, "overwritten too often," and I've heard suggestions from two sources now that I should only run my operating system on it. Is that true? If not, what's a good price for one? My mobo/gpu/cpu costing a combined 650 bucks opens up some budget room for something like an ssd. For example, here's a 256 gb SSD for 120 bucks:

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicat...ffiliateID=8BacdVP0GFs-oYKJFbr1GRXGyMHlcyCdug

That feels like quite a bit of memory and it's actually an affordable price.

I kind of grasp what an SSD is. Essentially, no parts move, correct? A lot like mobile devices work, such as iPods. It's a really cool technology and I'm down with shelling out a bit extra to get in on it.

What's a 'hybrid' ssd? As in, will there be two different save destinations?

TL;DR:
Is SSD reliable? Is it going to crash if I save too many times on it?
What's a quality price for SSD? Is there a particular breakpoint in terms of size/value?
Is a hybrid SSD a gimmick? What's the tech behind that?