Thinking of new gaming rig, is this a good time?

S

Syphon Filter

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Joined
Dec 19, 2003
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Chaps,

I used to be a through and through PC gamer. However, around 2005 my PC died and I never bothered to put a new one together. Therefore this current gen I've been 100% console (XBox 360). That's a long time to be out of the game!!!

With the new XBox about to launch with what I would consider a lack lustre line-up (of exclusives) I'm considering my options which include throwing together a proper machine again.

The thing is, I've been out of the loop for a long time so while I know what's good/worth buying I don't know if it's (next few weeks) a good time to buy or if I should hang it out.

What are your thoughts? Is there anything on the horizon (imminently) that is worth holding out for?

Would it be worth waiting until some "real" next-gen games launch such as Titanfall or Destiny before building?

I'd be interested to hear your thoughts.

TIA,

SF
 
What you should buy/build really depends on which games you want to play and their availability.

As for whether or not you should wait to build, the only "ideal" time is when you're ready to drop everything and build your system. New parts are always "coming soon," but the stuff that's available now is more than good enough for your needs (no matter how demanding they may be).

Is there any game that you must have on the PC?
 
Intel dropped Haswell not too long ago and Nvidia and AMD just dropped their flagship cards.

Nvidia - the 780ti will most definitely be their top card until, Maxwell (their next line of GPUs) are released. Summer 2014, I think?

AMD - the R9 290x will definitely be hanging around. I don't think there are any rumors for their next line.

I would say now is a decent time to buy but, I would personally wait- We have learned a lot from the recently released "next gen" games that will help you with your build.

You also need to ask yourself what you're looking to accomplish- Budget? Max out games at X resolution? 4K resolution? epeen? The latest flagship cards do support 4K resolution but the performance IMO isn't ideal at the moment.
 
Thanks for the replies. In response to your questions:

1. Time to build is a non-issue. I can build whenever.

2. Regarding new parts, I just mean is there something that's a matter of 1-2 months away that I should consider holding out for that's all. Anything that's more than a few months away is just too far ahead.

3. Is there anything that I must play on PC? Not as such, I'm just looking to perhaps get back into the high-end PC gaming side (vs. console gaming).

4. Budget has an upper limit of £2,500 and I either be gaming at 32" 1920x1080 or 27" 2560x1440 (displays already owned). I do like to turn all the bells and whistles on if that's what you mean by "max out".

5. Immediate games I would play are COD/BF, Diablo III, Starcraft II and maybe some games I've missed such as Metro etc. plus some indie stuff. Looking ahead I am excited for Destiny, Titanfall and Watchdogs.

I have an XBox One on preorder but I am torn about whether to keep it or let it go. I've got a hankering to spend some money on a PC but I've managed to refrain from pulling the trigger.
 
Just do it and get it over with. Wish I hadn't waited so long on an upgrade now myself. There is a whole learning curve with Win 8.1 that I am not comfortable with yet.
 
Syphon Filter said:
2. Regarding new parts, I just mean is there something that's a matter of 1-2 months away that I should consider holding out for that's all.
Click to expand...
Nope, not at all. NOw is a good time as any to build a PC, especially consideirng that RAM prices aren't ever going to go down.
Syphon Filter said:
3. Is there anything that I must play on PC? Not as such, I'm just looking to perhaps get back into the high-end PC gaming side (vs. console gaming).
Click to expand...
BF4, Metro Last Light, Arma III, Tomb Raider, and Far Cry 3. There's also a bunch of indies games as you know already.
Syphon Filter said:
5. Immediate games I would play are COD/BF, Diablo III, Starcraft II and maybe some games I've missed such as Metro etc. plus some indie stuff. Looking ahead I am excited for Destiny, Titanfall and Watchdogs.
Click to expand...
Destiny is apparently not going to be hitting PC anytime soon:
http://kotaku.com/sounds-like-destiny-probably-wont-be-coming-to-pc-1459143086
 
Cheers guys, I appreciate the input.

I'm going to see what I can put together and whether I can bring myself to spend the moolah.
 
IF you want to make sure you've chosen the right parts, I highly recommend posting up your build list before you buy in this subforum with the answers from this sticky in it as well. That way we can make sure that you've got the right system for you.
 
Ok here goes:

1) What will you be doing with this PC? Gaming? Photoshop? Web browsing? etc
Gaming!!! That is the no. 1 objective of this machine.

2) What's your budget? Are tax and shipping included?
Upper limit is £2,500 all in.

3) Which country do you live in? If the U.S, please tell us the state and city if possible.
London, UK

4) What exact parts do you need for that budget? CPU, RAM, case, etc. The word "Everything" is not a valid answer. Please list out all the parts you'll need.
Case, PSU, Mobo, CPU + Cooler, RAM, GPU, SSD, HDD,

5) If reusing any parts, what parts will you be reusing? Please be especially specific about the power supply. List make and model.
N/A

6) Will you be overclocking?
Probably

7) What is the max resolution of your monitor? What size is it?
I have options, 32"@1080p or 27"@1440p

8) When do you plan on building/buying the PC?
Between now and Christmas

9) What features do you need in a motherboard? RAID? Firewire? Crossfire or SLI support? USB 3.0? SATA 6Gb/s? eSATA? Onboard video (as a backup or main GPU)? UEFI? etc.
SLI/Crossfire and all the new hotness (my last mobo was an Abit IC7MAXIII :D)

10) Do you already have a legit and reusable/transferable OS key/license? If yes, what OS? Is it 32bit or 64bit?
Yes, Windows 8.1 64bit

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So I've come up with the following parts list:

Case:
Unsure, something roomy without being massive with decent airflow but not too noisey. I was thinking about a Carbide 540 but not sold on it. I was also thinking about the NZXT 410.

PSU:
Corsair AX1200i, plenty of juice for SLI/CF, overclocking and any future upgrades/additions.

SSD:
Samsung 840 Pro 512GB, seems to be the de facto choice and well reviewed.

HDD:
Seagate 3TB, 7200rpm 64MB Cache, I know it's a lottery but I've had no end of problems with WD drives and this seems reasonably priced for a sensibly capacity.

Cooler:
Corsair H100i, I don't have the time to do a custom loop and this seems to perform decently enough.

CPU:
Intel i7 4770k

RAM:
16GB in 2x8GB sticks. Corsair Vengeance 9-9-9-24 seems to be ok and only a few quid more than other stuff. Samsung Green appears to be OOS everywhere :(

GPU:
I WANT to get a R9 290x but the noisey coolers and high operating temps are putting me off. I'm leaning towards a 780Ti for that reason. Other option is to wait for AIBs to built non-ref 290x cards but who knows when they will be ready...I think Kyle suggested mid-December but that's 4-weeks away...with suggestions that Maxwell is Q1 2014 if it gets to December then would it not be worth hanging it out for that?

MOBO:
This is what I need some help with. I'm looking to go for SLI/CF (I like to play games with as many bells and whistles as possible) at some point but I'd like there to be a space between the two cards for optimal cooling. Also, if possible I'd like the SLI/CF to run 16x/16x but it's looking like that may not be possible and 16x/8x is more realistic (or is that 8x/8x???).

Any tips and suggestions would be welcome!
 
Syphon Filter said:
Case:
Unsure, something roomy without being massive with decent airflow but not too noisey. I was thinking about a Carbide 540 but not sold on it. I was also thinking about the NZXT 410.
Click to expand...
I would not recommend either the NZXT Tempest 410 or the NZXT Phantom 410 cases as they're a bit cramped inside. I recommend any of these other cases instead:
$100 - NZXT Phantom PHAN-001BK White Full Tower ATX Case
$100 - NZXT Phantom PHAN-001WT White Full Tower ATX Case
$110 - Antec 1100 ATX Case
$110 - Corsair Vengeance Series C70 Arctic White ATX Case
$120 - Corsair Vengeance Series C70 Gunmetal Black ATX Case
$125 - Corsair Carbide Series 500R ATX Case
$130 - NZXT Phantom 530 Black Full Tower ATX Case
$144 - Silverstone RV03B-W ATX case
$144 - Silverstone RV03B-WA ATX case
$115 - Corsair Graphite Series 600TM ATX Case
$160 - Corsair Obsidian Series 750D ATX Case
$160 - Corsair Special Edition White Graphite Series 600T ATX Case
$170 - Corsair Obsidian Series 650D ATX Case
$170 - NZXT Phantom 630 Gunmetal Full Tower ATX Case
$170 - NZXT Phantom 630 White Full Tower ATX Case
$230 - Silverstone FT02B-USB3.0 ATX Case
$250 - Silverstone FT02S-W-USB3.0 ATX Case
$245 - Corsair Obsidian Series 800D CC800DW ATX Case

If you want low noise at the cost of cooling, then I recommend these cases:
$85 - Fractal Design Define R4 with Window Titanium Grey ATX Case
$90 - Fractal Design Define R4 with Window Black Pearl ATX Case
$95 - Fractal Design Define R4 Arctic White ATX Case
$100 - Fractal Design Define R4 with Window Arctic White ATX Case
$110 - Antec P280 ATX Case
$130 - Corsair Obsidian Series 550D ATX Case

Syphon Filter said:
Cooler:
Corsair H100i, I don't have the time to do a custom loop and this seems to perform decently enough.
Click to expand...
Better make sure your choice of case can fit it as there are some cases that can't fit such a large all-in-one liquid cooling kit.

Syphon Filter said:
GPU:
I WANT to get a R9 290x but the noisey coolers and high operating temps are putting me off. I'm leaning towards a 780Ti for that reason. Other option is to wait for AIBs to built non-ref 290x cards but who knows when they will be ready...I think Kyle suggested mid-December but that's 4-weeks away...with suggestions that Maxwell is Q1 2014 if it gets to December then would it not be worth hanging it out for that?
Click to expand...
Depends on whether or not you want to gamble based on a rumored released period. Remember that Q1 2014 is a three month period. SO that Maxwell card can come out in March for all we know.
Syphon Filter said:
MOBO:
This is what I need some help with. I'm looking to go for SLI/CF (I like to play games with as many bells and whistles as possible) at some point but I'd like there to be a space between the two cards for optimal cooling. Also, if possible I'd like the SLI/CF to run 16x/16x but it's looking like that may not be possible and 16x/8x is more realistic (or is that 8x/8x???).
Click to expand...
You would get 8x/8x. In order to get x16/x16, you will have to go with the more expensive socket 2011 platform.
 
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Dangman,

Thank you very much for your help, it's much appreciated. As you can probably tell I've been out of the loop for some time!!! I think the last GPU I bought was a BFG 6800 GTX (or maybe it was an Ultra) back in the good-old AGP days!!!

Regarding cases, I think in that case I will opt for the Corsair Carbide 540. It looks very roomy and its a little bit different. Also, the H100i will fit no issues at all.

On the subject of GPUs...I agree with you, it's a long time/large window to hold out for on the basis of speculation.

If only the non-ref 290x cards were available now...
 
Is it? The 780Ti and the 290x have draw of between 410-450W at load. If considering SLI that moves to 820-900W at load.

Throw in a CPU, MOBO, a couple of drives and surely you're hitting the 1,000W mark without trying too hard.

Surely having a bit of overhead in there is just prudent? Hence the choice of 1200W...:confused:
 
820 - 900W load for a 780 Ti and R9 290x? I don't think so.

1383006603Kihh8bJAzn_9_1.gif


You're looking at 780W at the wall for CF 290x which is ~702W that the PSU is delivering.

The R9 290x uses more power than a 780 Ti, so no need to search for 780 Ti power consumption.

An i7 4770k @ 4.8Ghz under full load (Prime95 and Handbrake) maxed out at 186W. Which is ~168W of DC power.

Not even near 1kW of power, much less 1.2kW of power.
 
Cool, thanks for the info.

So is considered ok to be running at/close to the rating of a PSU? Is it not worth having something that's a got a little in reserve?
 
A quality PSU is designed to provide it's rated power at it's rated temperature. While I wouldn't say go buy the exact max theoretical power your system will consume. I can say that if you're just gaming on this rig you'll never max out the CPU and GPU(s) at the same time. So in theory the most you'll see is probably ~750W like the table above suggests (750W DC power) This is because those power figures were taken during gaming sessions. That's assuming some game will be able to pull an additional 48W than the games that HardOCP tested. You also wouldn't be sustaining those power readings 24/7.

Now if you were to say you intend to fold on both the CPU and GPUs for Team 33 then I would recommend a much beefier PSU to ensure it stays within' it's operating temperature, but you aren't so no need to waste money where it doesn't need to be wasted IMHO.

If you want some piece of mind, then go with a 950W - 1kW PSU. Otherwise, I think you'll be fine with an 850W PSU.
 
No, I don't think so.

The jump to to X79 is a bit too high for me. I did see an MSI board that offers 16/16 but it's about £350.

From my understanding the gain in performance isn't massive and most people run 8/8 for SLI/CF.
 
Syphon Filter said:
No, I don't think so.

The jump to to X79 is a bit too high for me. I did see an MSI board that offers 16/16 but it's about £350.
Click to expand...
Though with your £2500 budget, I'm surprise the jump is too high for you: What's the price difference between the following setups?:
Setup A:
Core i7 4770K
Asus Z87-A Motherboard

Setup B:
Core i7 4820
Asus Sabertooth X79

Syphon Filter said:
From my understanding the gain in performance isn't massive and most people run 8/8 for SLI/CF.
Click to expand...
Yup.
 
Syphon Filter said:
What about the Asus Z87 Sabertooth? That looks very tidy and seems to have reviewed very well...
Click to expand...
Too pricey IMO unless you are actually going to use all of the Asus Sabertooth Z87's features. Even then, the price difference between the Sabertooth Z87 and the Sabertooth X79 is so small, you might as well go with the X79 platform.
 
Hrm...

I'm going to have to think about that a bit more then while I wait for the non-ref 290x cards to land...

Also, when the f**k did RAM get so expensive? I seem to remember Samsung Green selling for around the £50 mark and now it's over double that!
 
A fire at a Hynix factory earlier this summer gave the RAM manufacturers "justification" to lower DDR3 supply and raise prices.
 
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