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kingc0bra

macrumors regular
Original poster
Nov 27, 2012
136
6
What's the best forum for questions regarding parts/builds

Want to make sure I get the best bang for the buck once I do start putting the parts together.

Thanks!
 
Overclock.net was where I went. Really good community but I feel 100 percent at home on macrumors. They're pretty anti-apple but for PC builds they really know their stuff. That's where i'd go.
 
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Overclock.net was where I went. Really good community but I feel 100 percent at home on macrumors. They're pretty anti-apple but for PC builds they really know their stuff. That's where i'd go.
Thanks! Do you specs of your build by any chance? Did you build yours recently?
 
I had a 27 inch 1440p crossover monitor i7 3930k / 16GB 1866mhz ddr3 / 2x GTX 680's / asus rampage, etc. My build was extreme overkill. For gaming you're fine with an unlocked i5. Sold my build when the PS4 came out because I just for the life of me can't get into pc gaming.
 
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For gaming, the general rule is to spend most of your budget on GPU.

A fast quad i5 or i7 is all you really need. Unfortunately, bang for buck dual core processors do not work on certain games such as Far Cry 4. AMD processors are considered good value for gaming too but I am not familar with these.

I like Overclock.net too but I personally don't see the point in overclocking my processor, games are no where close to taxing it. Anything more than 4 core is generally a waste for gaming unless of course you have other needs. I think that the advice on such websites its generally good but they often overspecify the power supply required. My rig below could easily get away with 400 W but I wasn't sure whether to go 980 SLI or Titan X at the time.

My personal rig is:
i7 4970K
Cooler Master 412S
16 GB Kingston HyperX Fury DDR3
ASUS Z97-AR Motherboard
Intel 730 SSD
Nvidia Titan X
Seasonic 660 W Platinum power supply
Sharkoon T9 Value case
5 x Delta PMW fans (2900 rpm)
WD essentials USB 3 external HD


I don't have experience but a few websites/forums report on deals available (partpicker?).
 
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For gaming, the general rule is to spend most of your budget on GPU.

A fast quad i5 or i7 is all you really need. Unfortunately, bang for buck dual core processors do not work on certain games such as Far Cry 4. AMD processors are considered good value for gaming too but I am not familar with these.

I like Overclock.net too but I personally don't see the point in overclocking my processor, games are no where close to taxing it. Anything more than 4 core is generally a waste for gaming unless of course you have other needs. I think that the advice on such websites its generally good but they often overspecify the power supply required. My rig below could easily get away with 400 W but I wasn't sure whether to go 980 SLI or Titan X at the time.

My personal rig is:
i7 4970K
Cooler Master 412S
16 GB Kingston HyperX Fury DDR3
ASUS Z97-AR Motherboard
Intel 730 SSD
Nvidia Titan X
Seasonic 660 W Platinum power supply
Sharkoon T9 Value case
5 x Delta PMW fans (2900 rpm)
WD essentials USB 3 external HD


I don't have experience but a few websites/forums report on deals available (partpicker?).

You bought an unlocked chip and ASUS mobo that is known for easy overclocking... but you don't overclock? LOL... j/k... You don't need to overclock for gaming. Most overclock for benchmark scores... but my everyday OC is 4.5 Ghz w/ offset voltage so it increases voltage depending on load, and drops voltage down when at idle. Offset is great on the electricity bill too.:)

I used overclock.net for my very first build too... and created a build log to show my progress:

http://www.overclock.net/t/1152008/...iv-be-4930k-tri-sli-780s-black-acrylic-tubing

People were very helpful on OCN when I did my first build. Also got help from another forum that isn't known for gaming computers... but a lot of gamers go to it just to chat.
 
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I built a Gaming PC in the fall of 2013 and wrote a guide/my experience building it. No real issues were encountered. I believe it is helpful and still relevant. The New Egg videos and Partpicker links I refer to in that guide are outstanding. Probably the most valuable info for a building novice is on this page: what I learned.

Associated MR thread: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/pc-build-quick-and-dirty-guide-established.1657329/

Written as MR Guide: http://guides.macrumors.com/PC_Game_Build_Quick_and_Dirty. Considering recent changes at MRs, amazed this is still viewable.

Posted on Blogger: http://titanicbuildgamingpc.blogspot.com/2014/01/part-1-preliminaries.html. At the bottom of the blogger page, select newer post to see the next part.
 
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CPU overclocking can make a difference but it depends. Especially if the card(s) are not top of the line. That topic is too big to discuss in a post so I recommend googling it. My system is getting old but I saw a boost in graphics performance and I seem to recall there was a boost in my grid computing performance but I would have to look at my logs to be sure. Don't bother with any less than 4GB vram on your graphics cards even if you find a "deal" on an old card. I currently run three 680's and two of them will edge out a single 980 but the 680 lags behind if the vram is maxed which is becoming more common these days. Like I said my build is getting long in the tooth, lol. FYI nvidia 700 series are basically overclocked 600 series and are getting old so I wouldn't bother with them unless you get some for say, a dollar lol. The 900 series has been out for a while now but I haven't heard when the next gen will be released. I am skipping the 900's just because I built my rig somewhat beastly and is still doing what I need it to do; cad/cam/cae simulations, grid computing and perhaps some *cough* gaming here and there.

BTW when you first power up your system and are anxiously awaiting a successful POST you might want to clear the bios the very first thing you do. My first build wouldn't POST and I didn't know about resetting the bios right from the get go; would've saved me a lot of time.
 
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CPU overclocking can make a difference but it depends. Especially if the card(s) are not top of the line. That topic is too big to discuss in a post so I recommend googling it. My system is getting old but I saw a boost in graphics performance and I seem to recall there was a boost in my grid computing performance but I would have to look at my logs to be sure. Don't bother with any less than 4GB vram on your graphics cards even if you find a "deal" on an old card. I currently run three 680's and two of them will edge out a single 980 but the 680 lags behind if the vram is maxed which is becoming more common these days. Like I said my build is getting long in the tooth, lol. FYI nvidia 700 series are basically overclocked 600 series and are getting old so I wouldn't bother with them unless you get some for say, a dollar lol. The 900 series has been out for a while now but I haven't heard when the next gen will be released. I am skipping the 900's just because I built my rig somewhat beastly and is still doing what I need it to do; cad/cam/cae simulations, grid computing and perhaps some *cough* gaming here and there.

BTW when you first power up your system and are anxiously awaiting a successful POST you might want to clear the bios the very first thing you do. My first build wouldn't POST and I didn't know about resetting the bios right from the get go; would've saved me a lot of time.

I think I've read somewhere that one of the new features of DX12 is that GPUs RAM will be used as unified when multiple GPUs are present. In your case this will make a huge difference, especially if you find GPU RAM to be a bottleneck.
 
I had a 27 inch 1440p crossover monitor i7 3930k / 16GB 1866mhz ddr3 / 2x GTX 680's / asus rampage, etc. My build was extreme overkill. For gaming you're fine with an unlocked i5. Sold my build when the PS4 came out because I just for the life of me can't get into pc gaming.
Was there a particular reason as to why you couldn't get into pc gaming?

Did you first start gaming with a pc or with a console?
 
I had a 27 inch 1440p crossover monitor i7 3930k / 16GB 1866mhz ddr3 / 2x GTX 680's / asus rampage, etc. My build was extreme overkill. For gaming you're fine with an unlocked i5. Sold my build when the PS4 came out because I just for the life of me can't get into pc gaming.

Was there a particular reason as to why you couldn't get into pc gaming?

Did you first start gaming with a pc or with a console?


For some games, like Minecraft, I much prefer my important worlds to be under my control and not held hostage to a console system. I'll admit this is a personal perspective issue. I've got a pretty cool world sitting on an Xbox 360, that I'm scheming to move over to my PC, if that is possible. I recently mentioned this in the Minecraft Talk thread.
 
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