Author Topic: Good Strong Build  (Read 1530 times)

Offline JimmyD3

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Good Strong Build
« on: May 07, 2015, 10:30:24 PM »
Any suggestions on a good MOB and CPU, along with a Case. I have saved several threads of recent builds, just wanted to know some additional opinions.  Looking to build a strong new system in the not to distant future, for a budget of around $1200 to $1500. :rock
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Offline Gman

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Re: Good Strong Build
« Reply #1 on: May 08, 2015, 07:23:06 AM »
Skylake is due out in the next quarter, if you can hang on just a little, that should drop the prices on everything else that's current now - ie you don't need to build a SL based platform, but it'll make building an 1150 platform cheaper most likely.

Most folks agree that the i5 4690k is the best performance to price ratio CPU out there.  That combined with any reasonably decent mother board, 8 to 16 gig of ram, an SSD boot drive with a 1 or 2gb 7200 rpm drive, and a decent vid card, either a 970,  980, or one of the new AMD cards due out soon depending on hey the perform for the price, will land you right around your budget max.  So far as brand names, case types, whatever, there are lots of good options, usually 3 or 4 builders/makers that are superior to all the others.  The only place where everyone seems to agree that there is a single "best" option is PSU in my experience - Seasonic, or a Seasonic built Corsair or other manufacturer PSU is worth whatever few extra $ it might cost based on every factor out there.

Adding a sound card if you're into sound or have higher end headphones/set is one of the few other options that is debatable among many, I like the Creative Labs Z, but there are a couple others for 100$ or less that will improve audio for gaming or most anything else, so if you have $ left over in your build budget, this is a good place to drop it IMO if you're a gamer.

As Skuzzy just said in another thread here, most gaming companies games rely on GPU power more so than CPU, so if you need to cut costs in the build, the LAST place to do it is with the GPU, pick one of the faster cards as stated like the 970/980 and so on, and keep it in place in your build regardless of whatever else.  Price may come down on those too soon, as the 980ti and some other new stuff is due out soon (not counting the Titan, as it's a category all its own at over 1000$). 

« Last Edit: May 08, 2015, 07:30:16 AM by Gman »

Offline Bizman

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Re: Good Strong Build
« Reply #2 on: May 08, 2015, 08:59:40 AM »
Gman pretty much nailed it except for the case.

There's plenty of them to choose from and even the cheapest ones may be excellent. As I'm not a fan of water cooling, a well breathing case is what I'd look for. I'm not a fan of cases with front doors either, sooner or later you'd forget the door is open and you break the hinges. So here's my idea of a good case:

  • All mesh front for good air intake. Usually with places for one or more large fans and easily cleanable filters to avoid dust.
  • More than 5 inches wide for cable management behind the motherboard plate. That means an inch or so on both sides of the optical player. This can easily be seen even in a small photo.
  • At least 12 inches space between the backplate and hard disk for even the longest video cards. Notice that if the HDD's are mounted lengthwise, you'd have to count some extra space after the mounting rack for the protruding HDD and its cables.
  • A sturdy enough construction even with the sides detached. The weight can be used as an indicator, a 10 lbs case seldom is a s robust as a 30 lbs one.
  • Plenty of places for large exhaust fans.
Quote from: BaldEagl, applies to myself, too
I've got an older system by today's standards that still runs the game well by my standards.

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Offline Gman

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Re: Good Strong Build
« Reply #3 on: May 08, 2015, 09:22:04 AM »
Heh, I actually deleted/edited my blurb about cases, as it's so easy to get carried away with so many options.

One thing I would add, and this is just personal pref, is to consider a case with handles on the top.  It makes moving it around so much easier, especially if you have a large case with lots in it, or if you need to move it often for various reasons like frequent upgrades, cleaning, whatever.  I agree with all of Biz's points, very important stuff that's easy to overlook.  Corsair makes a decent case with rubber spring loaded collapsing handles on top, and Cooler Master makes one with fixed tubular handles that run the entire length of the top of that case.  Both good options if this feature interests at all.

Corsair C70, Cooler Master Storm Scout 2, or for a little more $ the Cosmos SE, all have great handles built in, and fit into most if not all of the criteria Biz spelled out very well.  I have a Corsair 780T for my 5960x built, it's full size, while the others I mention that I have (The Cosmos and C70) are more larger mid sized cases, the Cosmos being a bit taller than the C70, which is fairly large for a mid sized on its own.  If you really need/want a full size, for the $ it's hard to go wrong with the 780T if you ask me, while not having dedicated handles, the top cover overlaps and makes it real easy to grab and heft about, even though it's larger and heavier than typical cases (mid sized).  Very well built and designed.  As Biz mentioned, you can often tell by weight how solid the build of the case is, and the 780T empty is nearing 30lbs, and full is well, well over that, and feels as solid as a tank.  (Snatch Quote - Weight is sign of reliability...I always go with reliability...and if it doesn't work, you can heeet him with eet).

I've had excellent luck with both of these companies, but cases are easily the most subjective thing out there, even with all the good points Biz has made, there are dozens if not hundreds of options out there that meet those requirements IMO.
« Last Edit: May 08, 2015, 09:32:53 AM by Gman »

Offline ebfd11

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Re: Good Strong Build
« Reply #4 on: May 08, 2015, 09:30:04 AM »
On my recent build I used a Corsair H540 case...


Its a dual chamber case with lots of room for upgrading to water cooling and awesome airflow... separate hot docking for your HDs and for its size... you can get a Extended ATX Mb in there..

Just a thought ...

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Offline Gman

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Re: Good Strong Build
« Reply #5 on: May 08, 2015, 09:35:54 AM »
Nice option Lawndart, I know a lot of H20 custom guys use that case, I've seen it in dozens of youtube vids, that's a good point to bring up as well, as using custom h20 is much easier these days than before, with so much pre fab kit around, and vids showing how simple it is to set up and maintain. 

That Jayztwocents guy used a similar case to that Corsair you have LD (it's a custom copy pretty much) for a recent water cool build -  I really like the dimensions of these types of cases, and likely will use a similar one or that very Corsair for one of my newer upgrade builds once Skylake is out.



O/T if you want to see a crazy custom h20 build, check out his Skunkworks box he built, 3 Titans, insane drives/cooling...10 thousand dollars easily.   

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEO1ZZTA0d4


Back on topic, one thing I would suggest to the OP is also strongly, strongly consider setting some budget $ aside for a VR headset.  It's likely these things in the next year may become...not necessary, but very important to the gaming experience with upcoming games.  Perhaps it won't be necessary for another year or so, but after that...just something to consider.  As is the LCD you choose to run, for bang/$, personally I would get a 144hz 24 or 27" 1080p from Asus/Benq/Etc.  I spent over 2$K on the latest 144hz 1440P and 4k Gsync options, and find it to be not that worth the expense, nor was the 4k 27" Asus Gsync...I still find 1080p 144hz to be the most useful way to game, as 4k just isn't "there" yet with most mainstream game options in terms of performance and what not.  Just my opinion.  Doing it over I would save $ for VR upcoming headsets, and spend 300$ or so, even less, on a good 1080p 144hz monitor of some kind, as I haven't noticed much improvement really moving from those to the Gsync 4k and 1440p lcds I went to.
« Last Edit: May 08, 2015, 09:44:04 AM by Gman »

Offline MrRiplEy[H]

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Re: Good Strong Build
« Reply #6 on: May 08, 2015, 09:44:43 AM »
For any sort of sims VR is going to be the thing. As soon as they get rid of the bulkyness and improve the resolution, it'll be golden.
Definiteness of purpose is the starting point of all achievement. –W. Clement Stone

Offline JimmyD3

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Re: Good Strong Build
« Reply #7 on: May 08, 2015, 10:14:34 AM »
Thanks for the feedback guys, trying to soak it all up  :aok

Keep it coming, any suggestions are appreciated.

what about different motherboards, are there different models or setups that are better than others?
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Offline Bizman

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Re: Good Strong Build
« Reply #8 on: May 08, 2015, 10:33:47 AM »
One simple rule for motherboards: Don't pay for features you won't need. Of course you'd like a board which allows for fine tuning and overclocking, featuring the fastest chipset of the time. What I mean, many boards come in multiple variations with the same basic circuitry. The different models of the series may include Raid, Wlan, multiple Pci-e slots etc, the actual speed remaining exactly the same. The extra features may easily triplicate the price of the board.

So if your aim is to build a basic gaming rig with a single video card, don't pay for SLI/Crossfire, Raid or Wlan. Save that money for a better video card.
Quote from: BaldEagl, applies to myself, too
I've got an older system by today's standards that still runs the game well by my standards.

Kotisivuni

Offline shppr01

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Re: Good Strong Build
« Reply #9 on: May 08, 2015, 10:37:26 AM »
I did my build about a yearand a half ago , and love it .. I used an AMD A10-6800K APU with Radeon(tm) HD Graphics   (4 CPUs), ~4.1GHz.
 I have a Geoforce GTX 650 Card and run about 60 - 80 FPS with all the bells and whistles on . My case is a Roswell Mid tower I picked up on AMazon for around 60.00 . All in all , I spent what I could afford which isn't much ! Total for my build was around 600.00 .
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Offline shppr01

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Re: Good Strong Build
« Reply #10 on: May 08, 2015, 10:40:30 AM »
Bizman is right .. Think aboutwhat you want as far as fans (how many ) and how many Extra slots you want . Mine was middle of the road but had the right fan slots and extras I wanted ..
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Offline ebfd11

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Offline Dark

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Re: Good Strong Build
« Reply #12 on: May 08, 2015, 12:24:28 PM »
One thing about cases that I wish I had learned before hand. Is how easy is it to clean the mesh and fan. I have a antec 1200 and to take apart  the fans and clean them is a real pain.

Offline MrRiplEy[H]

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Re: Good Strong Build
« Reply #13 on: May 08, 2015, 01:45:05 PM »
One thing about cases that I wish I had learned before hand. Is how easy is it to clean the mesh and fan. I have a antec 1200 and to take apart  the fans and clean them is a real pain.

Try the Fractal Design case... super easy filter removal and overall assembly. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRZIdbdcIiU
Definiteness of purpose is the starting point of all achievement. –W. Clement Stone

Offline JimmyD3

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Re: Good Strong Build
« Reply #14 on: May 08, 2015, 04:06:56 PM »
On my recent build I used a Corsair H540 case...
(Image removed from quote.)

Its a dual chamber case with lots of room for upgrading to water cooling and awesome airflow... separate hot docking for your HDs and for its size... you can get a Extended ATX Mb in there..

Just a thought ...

LawnDart

LD that is the case I got today, along with a Corsair HX850i power supply. Just picking up parts as my pocket book allows .  :D
Kenai77
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