Build Thread

[Guest Slinky]

I used to get coil whine from my previous graphics card in Stalker Call of Pripyat's main menu, probably because the FPS went up the roof there. And that bloody sound... If it would have made that sound all the time, this gif Keyrock posted a while back would have become reality to me really fast:

 

[Keyrock]

So, there is word that the i7-4790K and the i5-4590K will both drop on June 2nd, no surprise there.  What is surprising is that supposedly the i7-4790k will be getting a 400MHz (to 4GHz/4.4GHz max turbo) upgrade rather than 100MHz, like the non-K variants already out or the i5-4590K.  That sounds great, but keep in mind this information is coming from wccftech, which is about as reliable a source as a Daewoo Lanos.  I guess we'll find out for sure soon enough.

[ManifestedISO]

I literally saw a Yugo on the 78 freeway last Thursday. Tailgaiting a blue 5-series with its four-inch wheels at maximum rotational speed. Three humans inside.

[Keyrock]

So, I've done some calculations and I'll have the cash put away to build my next rig next month.  The plan at the moment is as follows (I don't have it narrowed down to certain brands/models yet):

 

• 27" 1440p monitor
• i7-4790K
• Z97 Mobo w/ 2xPCIe 3.0 slots
• 16 GB (2x8GB) DDR3 (probably 2400 or 2666)
• GTX 780Ti
• 480-512GB SATA3 SSD (I also have over 1 TB of 7200 RPM HDDs left over from my defunct old desktop build)
• Case with 2x120mm fans, or better
• 700W PSU

In my calculations that fits my budget, and the hardware should be able to run almost everything at 1440p maxed out.  It also leaves me potential upgrade path in the near future, both in terms of CPU (Z97 motherbord will work with Broadwell), picking up another 780Ti for SLI, and filling the 2 open RAM slots with another 16GB of DDR3.

Edited May 13, 2014 by Keyrock

[Sarex]

So, I've done some calculations and I'll have the cash put away to build my next rig next month.  The plan at the moment is as follows (I don't have it narrowed down to certain brands/models yet):

 

• 27" 1440p monitor
• i7-4790K
• Z97 Mobo w/ 2xPCIe 3.0 slots
• 16 GB (2x8GB) DDR3 (probably 2400 or 2666)
• GTX 780Ti
• 480-512GB SATA3 SSD (I also have over 1 TB of 7200 RPM HDDs left over from my defunct old desktop build)
• Case with 2x120mm fans, or better
• 700W PSU

In my calculations that fits my budget, and the hardware should be able to run almost everything at 1440p maxed out.  It also leaves me potential upgrade path in the near future, both in terms of CPU (Z97 motherbord will work with Broadwell), picking up another 780Ti for SLI, and filling the 2 open RAM slots with another 16GB of DDR3.

 

Not going to wait for Maxwell?

[Keyrock]

 

So, I've done some calculations and I'll have the cash put away to build my next rig next month.  The plan at the moment is as follows (I don't have it narrowed down to certain brands/models yet):

 

• 27" 1440p monitor
• i7-4790K
• Z97 Mobo w/ 2xPCIe 3.0 slots
• 16 GB (2x8GB) DDR3 (probably 2400 or 2666)
• GTX 780Ti
• 480-512GB SATA3 SSD (I also have over 1 TB of 7200 RPM HDDs left over from my defunct old desktop build)
• Case with 2x120mm fans, or better
• 700W PSU

In my calculations that fits my budget, and the hardware should be able to run almost everything at 1440p maxed out.  It also leaves me potential upgrade path in the near future, both in terms of CPU (Z97 motherbord will work with Broadwell), picking up another 780Ti for SLI, and filling the 2 open RAM slots with another 16GB of DDR3.

 

Not going to wait for Maxwell?

 

Unless firm news of it comes before I make my build, and it's due to arrive much sooner than thought, then no.  As it's looking right now, we might not see Maxwell until very late in the year, like November or December.  I'm not going to play the waiting game, that's a perpetual game.  

[Sarex]

Yeah, you are probably right.

[Keyrock]

Don't get me wrong, I would love to get Maxwell instead of a Kepler card.  Even the ones that have come out so far, like the 750Ti and 750, are quite impressive, matching (on average) the performance of the Kepler cards they are replacing with far fewer cores.  It's just that I have no clue what is happening with the higher end Maxwells and when it's going to happen.  There are so many conflicting reports out there, most of them probably straight bull****, that it's impossible to plan ahead at all.  Some reports are that TSMC can't get their **** together and 20nm ain't happening this year because they're getting bad yields.  Other reports are saying that 20nm is doing just fine and will arrive this year.  Other reports are saying that because of the bad yields at 20nm Nvidia had to alter its plans and taped out the GTX 8xx Maxwell cards at 28nm sometime in April.  From tapeout to cards appearing on store shelves is generally about 6 months, if everything goes perfectly.  That would put the GTX 880 (Nvidia generally leads with the x80, then introduces a x70 and x60) at October at the earliest.  But I've also seen reports that the GTX 880 is going to drop around June or July.

 

I don't know what to believe.  I'm going to operate under the assumption that the GTX 880 ain't happening until very late in the year, if it happens this year at all.  If firm, trustworthy news come out before I make my build roughly a month from now that the GTX 880 is coming much sooner than that, then I'll hold off.  Otherwise, I'll just get the 780Ti and be happy with it (that card is not exactly lacking in power).  If something comes along where the 780Ti is not enough for my tastes (/glances in CD Projekt RED's direction), then I have options:

 

a) get another 780Ti for SLI

b) eBay the 780Ti and get a newer card (presumably 880)

 

Whichever fits the budget/is more economical.

 

Or, I turn the settings down from Ultra to Very High or High and be happy with what I got until Volta or Pascal comes out a few years down the line.

[Sarex]

The biggest thing I'm worried about is directx 12 support, on the condition that what we heard about directx 12 is true. If it's just another gimmick like directx 10-11.1 then it's whatever, but if it really is what everyone is saying it's going to be, then maybe they will follow what they did till now and give full support only to their newest gen of graphics cards.

 

Some news tell that 5xx to 8xx will support it, some say that 5xx-7xx will have software support while only the 8xx will have hardware support.

 

Overall I do agree with you, the waiting game is a fool mans errand.

[Keyrock]

I'm not at all worried about DirectX 12.  There are 2 reasons for that:

 

a) I'm moving away from Windows anyway.  I'm building the next rig very much with Linux (SteamOS) in mind, hence why I'm all about Nvidia and not even taking AMD GPUs into consideration (I like AMD's hardware, but their proprietary Linux drivers, although improved from where they were 5 or 6 years ago, are still far behind Nvidia's proprietary Linux drivers in terms of quality [Nvidia's Linux drivers are virtually the same quality on Linux as on Windows])

 

b) DirectX 12 is not coming until the very end of 2015, presumably with Windows 9, at the earliest.  You're not going to get DirectX 12 games immediately.  My most generous estimation of DirectX 12 games actually showing up is mid-2016.  That's 2 years from now.  I'm not worried about 2 years from now.  2 years from now I may be upgrading the GPU anyway (or not).  Too far away to worry about.

Edited May 13, 2014 by Keyrock

[Sarex]

I'm not at all worried about DirectX 12.  There are 2 reasons for that:

 

a) I'm moving away from Windows anyway.  I'm building the next rig very much with Linux (SteamOS) in mind, hence why I'm all about Nvidia and not even taking AMD GPUs into consideration (I like AMD's hardware, but their proprietary Linux drivers, although improved from where they were 5 or 6 years ago, are still far behind Nvidia's proprietary Linux drivers in terms of quality [Nvidia's Linux drivers are virtually the same quality on Linux as on Windows])

 

b) DirectX 12 is not coming until the very end of 2015, presumably with Windows 9, at the earliest.  You're not going to get DirectX 12 games immediately.  My most generous estimation of DirectX 12 games actually showing up is mid-2016.  That's 2 years from now.  I'm not worried about 2 years from now.  2 years from now I may be upgrading the GPU anyway (or not).  Too far away to worry about.

 

Point taken, didn't know it was that far off. As for Linux, I'm gonna have to try it at one point.

[Keyrock]

At the moment this is what I'm leaning toward for a motherboard:

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157503

 

What I like most about the board:

 

• 3 x PCIe 3.0 (x16, x8 x8, x8 x4 x4) - There's almost no chance I'll ever do 3-way SLI, but it's nice to have the option, just in case.
• 8 SATA III ports
• SATA Express - I don't plan to get a SATA Express SSD, but it's nice to have the option
• 3rd party controllers
• Very affordable

The cool blue color on the heatsinks doesn't hurt either.

[Sarex]

It certainly has slightly better specs compared to it's Asus counterpart, but the Asus software is superior and bios is really good from what I have seen.

[Humanoid]

People install the bundled bloatsoftware?

[AwesomeOcelot]

ASUS software was really buggy 5 years ago, but the interface and visuals were way better than other brands, really nice if you want to tweak the UEFI settings from Windows. They sorted it out recently though, my Haswell MoBo has basically the same software as my SandyBridge MoBo without the horrendous bugs. On the older board services keep crashing (well once a month or two) and one service has a memory leak that made me set up a schedule to restart it. I really like ASUS and ASRock, ASUS has the features and software, ASRock has the value.

[Bartimaeus]

I generally stick to ASUS, Gigabyte, and MSI. ASRock always seemed a little too off brand-y to me, but maybe I should consider them, too.

 

Just purchased my 4770k for close to $110. Whee. Still no motherboard to put it in, though...Oh wondrous pricing gods, deliver a decent Z87/Z97 board sale to me soon! 

[Humanoid]

I miss the days where we had even more choice. Abit, Epox, DFI, AOpen, Soltek and more!

 

Also choice in video cards. The present suspects plus 3dfx, Matrox, PowerVR, Rendition Verite, S3, etc.

[ManifestedISO]

I'll +1 ASRock. I have a little micro-ATX by them and it's been a champion of features and price. Pretty good documentation, too.

[mkreku]

I've stuck with Gigabyte (their enthusiast models) since Abit folded (damnit!).

 

Something like: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128700

[Gorgon]

My last was MSI, not convinced brands are that different. ASUS is a little more expensive on average.

[AwesomeOcelot]

I stay away from MSI and Gigabyte since my 2000 and 2006 builds had issues, especially the Gigabyte board.

[Keyrock]

I've stuck with Gigabyte (their enthusiast models) since Abit folded (damnit!).

 

Something like: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128700

I have nothing against Gigabyte, but that price tag is way out of my price range.  I'm looking for something in the $150 region.

 

Anyway, there is till time.  I can't finish the build until the i7-4790K is released in, presumably, 3 weeks.  I'm keeping my eyes peeled and when I see a sale on a component that fits my needs, I pull the trigger.  For example, I scooped up this case when it was on sale.

Edited May 16, 2014 by Keyrock

[ManifestedISO]

I'm not ashamed to say I bought a case after seeing sexy Joanne on neweggTV show it to me. 

 

The I/O panel looks nice on that one.

[Keyrock]

I'm not ashamed to say I bought a case after seeing sexy Joanne on neweggTV show it to me. 

 

The I/O panel looks nice on that one.

It's got USBs on the top/front on an angle, making them super accessible if you put the tower on the floor next to the desk, like I plan to.  Also, it comes with 3 120mm fans, 2 top mounted and 1 rear mounted, and dust covers, and there are fan control switches on the panel.  There are 3 more spots for 120mm fans (2 front, 1 side), I'll probably get another 120mm fan and mount it front intake.  My only complaint about the case is that it could be built sturdier (though for the price I shouldn't really expect it), but I'm not going to be lugging it around to LAN parties anyway, it's basically just going to sit in one spot on the floor, next to my desk, so it doesn't really need to be built like a tank anyway.  It's not the sexiest looking case ever made, but I don't care about that.

Edited May 16, 2014 by Keyrock

[Humanoid]

Three exhaust fans and no intake fans as the default setup? Sure, trivial to change but the designer must've been high when planning that out. Especially on the floor, that's going to draw dust in from *everywhere*, making the dust covers rather pointless given they only cover the front.

 

Assuming a 780Ti with the well-built stock blower fan, your airflow requirements are actually probably pretty low. I'd probably start out by just moving one of the top fans to the front as a single intake and outright remove the others, then seal up the vents, ideally with some acoustic foam, but frankly cardboard will do. One intake and one exhaust should be plenty for this build. The other thing I dislike about top-mounted fans is that for a case on the floor, they have the most direct line to your ears while not being meaningfully more functional than rear exhausts. I'd also seal up the grille on the side-panel there.

 

If you don't want to discard one fan then put two as intakes. Silverstone have a good article on why they design for positive pressure here.

 

 

P.S. While I've not been impressed by the quality of Antec's tri-speed fans in the past, but your mileage may vary and all that. Nexus 120mm fans are only about $10 each down the line.

 

 

EDIT: Not to say there aren't benefits to negative pressure setups, the key one being that drawing cool air in from incidental gaps is easier than exhausting warm air through them, resulting in marginally better cooling around the periphery of the case - i.e. for components outside the most direct flow of air. But I don't think it's a meaningful advantage in a typical system.

Edited May 16, 2014 by Humanoid