Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => Hardware and Software => Topic started by: Rolex on February 06, 2015, 03:08:40 PM
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OK, so I need a new PC, monitor and controllers. I've built every PC I've owned since 1995, but I've been out of the hardware loop for a while and don't have the time or energy to catch up on what's hot and what's not, and build again. I'd like something out of the box...
I haven't found anyone local to build something where I'm moving, that leaves me with ordering on the Internet.
1. I will only play AH.
2. I like the specs on this Asus 27" monitor that Skyyr posted in another thread, so I'll go with that: http://www.amazon.com/PG278Q-27-Inch-Screen-LED-Lit-Monitor/dp/B00MSOND8C (http://www.amazon.com/PG278Q-27-Inch-Screen-LED-Lit-Monitor/dp/B00MSOND8C). I could go down a notch to a 24" 1910x 1080 monitor (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MUT6SLE/ref=psdc_1292115011_t2_B00MSOND8C (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MUT6SLE/ref=psdc_1292115011_t2_B00MSOND8C)) if it takes too much too run the 27" 2560 x 1440 monitor.
3. At or under $1,700 (without monitor) is a good target.
4. Is 8.1 better than Win 7?
Any suggestions on Internet builders/suppliers or specs to look for or stay away from?
I've had good luck with ATI cards in the past, but the past is no indicator of the current state of performance. Do the memory/performance slowdown issues with GTX 970 come into play running AH?
Thanks in advance for any advice.
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I haven't heard anything bad about these guys.
http://www.digitalstormonline.com/gaming-desktops.asp
I know a few people who have bought from them and everything works as advertized. MARK4 flies on the cheapest one ($700) and he has everything pretty much wide open.
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Welcome back, Rolex. Another AH vet getting ready to plunge back in on AH3's release?
What's your controller preference? Split throttle needed? Saitek has a fairly new HOTAS out, the X-55, priced at the same price point as the X-52 Pro, yet it has Hall effect sensors in the joystick AND a split throttle too.
Saitek rudder pedals seem to be the only game in town unless you can hook up with one of the boutique suppliers.
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I believe Pawz also just got one of the Digital Storm computers, could try to hit him up as well. It's the one I'm getting in a few weeks (the level 3) Vanquish
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How big of a difference is it really in the real world ( not on some benchmark ) between that first ASUS 27" you are thinking about going with Rolex, verses the other 2 ASUS monitors I have posted links 3o below
first posted ASUS 27" monitor amazon URL link cost: $752.99
http://www.amazon.com/PG278Q-27-Inch-Screen-LED-Lit-Monitor/dp/B00MSOND8C
2nd comparison link for another ASUS brand 27" monitor amazon URL link cost: $419.99
ASUS PB278Q 27-Inch WQHD LED-lit Professional Graphics Monitor capable of 2560x1440 WQHD resolution
http://www.amazon.com/PB278Q-27-Inch-LED-lit-Professional-Graphics/dp/B009C3M7H0/ref=pd_cp_pc_1
3rd comparison link for another ASUS brand 28" monitor amazon URL link cost: $562.99
ASUS PB287Q 28-Inch Screen LED-Lit 4K Monitor capable of 28" 4K Ultra High Resolution (3840 x 2160 @ 60Hz) display
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00KJGY3TO/ref=psdc_1292115011_t2_B009C3M7H0
just curious what makes the top listed ASUS monitor so great, that I would ( or anyone would ) want to spend an extra $210.00+ to $330.00+ extra dollars on it????
will our eyes really be able to tell that huge and cost worthy difference, that it is worth the extra money to fork over for it?
TC
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Thanks for the Digital Storm links, I'll check them out.
Had X-52 Pro and it worked well. I think WWhiskey just got an X-55 setup. Looks nice. If it's same price and durable, looks like a winner...
Don't know the answer to your question, TC. Maybe the higher frequency?
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Rolex I know you said you didn't want to built it but here is a list of parts from Tomshardware.com for comparison to prebuilt systems.
Processor Intel Core i7 3930K (Sandy Bridge-E) Hexa-Core CPU @ 3.2 GHz $450
Cooling system Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO $30
Motherboard Asus P9X79 $245
RAM Patriot Viper 3 16GB DDR3-1600 Kit (2 x 8 GB) $155
Graphics Card 2 x Sapphire Radeon R9 280X 3GB GDDR3 $300
Hard Drive and SSD Samsung 840 EVO 120GB SSD $90
Hard Drive and SSD Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 7200 RPM HDD $90
Power Supply EVGA SuperNOVA 1000G2 1000W 80 PLUS Gold $160
Case Cooler Master Elite RC-361-KKN1 Mid-Tower $50
Cooling system Cooler Master SickleFlow 120mm Case Fan $7
DVD Burner Asus DRW-24F1ST 24x DVD Burner $30
TOTAL : $1,607
Figure another $100 for a system builder OS copy.
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Thanks FLS. That looks pretty tasty for a few hours of work... :)
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I don't know that it's your best setup for AH but I do think building your own is still the way to go.
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if your only going to run AH you might aswell have the one GFX card and save yourself the cash.
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FLS, hopefully there's a typo in your post: GDDR3???
@ Rolex, the parts list FLS posted is a good one for many years, but SSD as a hard drive is overkill for playing AH. Just so you know, they do make things load faster but they won't improve your frame rate at all. So if you think that it's crucial to get Windows up and running half a minute faster, and also getting to the AH arena choosing screen some seconds faster, get an SSD. If you'd rather use the half a minute for taking care of your liquids balance, get a standard hard drive.
Also, if you're not into multiple monitors, double video cards don't give that much of a boost. Instead of two R9 280's use the same money for a single R9 290X.
Also, even with two high end video cards a 1000W PSU is too much and may even cause trouble. A good quality one of 650 W true power should be enough for a 290X. Amperage is what matters, not watts. AMD's current flagship, the R9 295x2 needs - 28 A of current to each of the 8-pin auxiliary
power connectors on your graphics card - 50 A of combined current to the pair of 8-pin
auxiliary power connectors
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if your only going to run AH you might aswell have the one GFX card and save yourself the cash.
A lot of room for improvement on that list. For example an i7 is just waste of money for gaming use. An i5 will do the job much cheaper. Tomshardware recommends an i5-4460 for non overclockers and the i5 k-models for overclockers. It also warns that laws of diminishing returns comes after that. Tomshardware also recommends a single R9 290 for a sub 300 dollar graphics solution. I would avoid any SLI or Crossfire solution like plague as long as there is a single card solution for the price available.
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FLS, hopefully there's a typo in your post: GDDR3???
Good catch. The typo was copy pasted from the site. It actually has GDDR5 memory. I was going to update and also suggest, as Bruv pointed out, that one video card could be a better choice.
A lot of room for improvement on that list. For example an i7 is just waste of money for gaming use. An i5 will do the job much cheaper. Tomshardware recommends an i5-4460 for non overclockers and the i5 k-models for overclockers. It also warns that laws of diminishing returns comes after that. Tomshardware also recommends a single R9 290 for a sub 300 dollar graphics solution. I would avoid any SLI or Crossfire solution like plague as long as there is a single card solution for the price available.
I have the R9 290 and with stock coolers it can run hot and declock itself. I use water cooling so I don't have that issue.
The R9 295 X2 with a water block for $600 would make a nice single card solution that should run AH3 with high quality settings but there are cheaper choices that will work well enough.
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Are the R290's still having that issue? I remember AMD changed the fan profile for the r290 quite awhile ago and were calling it fixed ...... but I dont have one so I'm just curious .. With AMD's prices dropping on the 290 and 290X... they look like a great bang for the buck cards.
The only other thing that crossed my mind was the monitor being equipped with G-sync...... if thats the monitor he wants..... id prolly lean towards Nvidia so i could use that feature .
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Are the R290's still having that issue? I remember AMD changed the fan profile for the r290 quite awhile ago and were calling it fixed ...... but I dont have one so I'm just curious .. With AMD's prices dropping on the 290 and 290X... they look like a great bang for the buck cards.
The only other thing that crossed my mind was the monitor being equipped with G-sync...... if thats the monitor he wants..... id prolly lean towards Nvidia so i could use that feature .
There's a gazillion different cooling solutions for the AMD cards. Nobody has to follow the stock configuration. For a couple of extra bucks you can get a model that has a redesigned cooling solution, for example the models aimed for overclocking. Since AH doesn't have properly working SLI or Xfire profiles available it would be downright dumb to get one if you're building an AH box. There are so many potential pitfalls in SLI and Xfire that they really should be your last resort when a single card won't cut it anymore.
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Are the R290's still having that issue? I remember AMD changed the fan profile for the r290 quite awhile ago and were calling it fixed ...... but I dont have one so I'm just curious .. With AMD's prices dropping on the 290 and 290X... they look like a great bang for the buck cards.
The only other thing that crossed my mind was the monitor being equipped with G-sync...... if thats the monitor he wants..... id prolly lean towards Nvidia so i could use that feature .
Setting the fan to 100% may cool it more but if it gets too hot I believe it will still declock. Better then frying.
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It's easy to see how being out of the loop on the current crop of parts can make building a system a crap shoot. The building part is easy, it's making uninformed/wrong choices on parts that's the killer. Thanks for the input so far. I appreciate y'all taking the time to help.
I like eye candy and fps.
I don't like heat problems.
I don't want to overclock.
I'll try to make another list...
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I haven't had time to look more but Tomshardware.com does regular recommendations for high end systems, I just grabbed the current one. They may have a single gfx card system spec'd that would suit. They also have a monthly best cpu and best gfx card for the money at different price ranges.
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Rolex
Look at this one. It runs AH just fine for me.
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/bdG4wP
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Hate these threads makes me want to spend my hard earned cash :mad:, I could rebuild my whole machine for <500 quid and it would last another 5 years. Plus revamp the B-list machine that could also run AH very well. :eek:
Will need a wingman to fly on it though!
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Rolex, since you don't seem to have nothing against the actual building process, why not use pcpartpicker.com (http://pcpartpicker.com) to compile something and then let those who know better evaluate it? Something like j500ss has is a good starting point to fine tune the parts list to suit your needs and budget.
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Here's a quick setup from Amazon:
1 SeaSonic Platinum PLATINUM-860 ; SS-860XP2 Power Supply $164.99
1 Fractal Design Define R4 Cases, Black Pearl (FD-CA-DEF-R4-BL) by Fractal Design $84.99
1 EVGA GTX 980 SC ACX 2.0 4GB GDDR5 Graphics Card $554.99
1 WD Red 3 TB NAS Hard Drive: 3.5 Inch, SATA III, 64 MB Cache - WD30EFRX $114.00
1 Samsung SATA 1.5 Gb-s Optical Drive, Black SH-224DB/BEBE $20.15
Microsoft Windows 8.1 - Full Version by Microsoft $104.46
1 Intel Core i5-4460 Processor 3.5 GHz LGA 1150 $189
1 Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO - CPU Cooler with 120mm PWM Fan (RR-212E-20PK-R2) $35.41
1 Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound 3.5 Grams $7.81
1 Kingston HyperX FURY 16GB Kit (2x8GB) 1866MHz DDR3 CL10 DIMM - White (HX318C10FWK2/16) $139.79
1 ASUS Z97-A ATX DDR3 2600 LGA 1150 Motherboards Z97-A by Asus $144.99
For less than 1600 bucks you get a killer system. This setup will murder the i7/Radeon 280 Xfire system and I even squeezed a legal OS to the price.
Then if you want an SSD, the motherboard has an M2 PCI-express port for an M2 PCI-E SSD card. You get 10Gbps connectivity for superior i/o compared to SATA drives.
Add another 260 bucks for Samsung XP941 256GB PCIe M.2 SSD MZHPU256HCGL
I'm a big fan of the Fractal Design boxes. I love the simplistic look and the features are not bad either: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5a5ZjF986M
The R5 case is even more impressive but at extra 30 bucks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRZIdbdcIiU
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Nice list. :aok
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Hate these threads makes me want to spend my hard earned cash :mad:, I could rebuild my whole machine for <500 quid and it would last another 5 years. Plus revamp the B-list machine that could also run AH very well. :eek:
Will need a wingman to fly on it though!
I know .... now im looking at cases to replace my 13 year old antec 1080 amg lol...... didnt even cross my mind till the cases were talked about in here lol.
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Great stuff, thanks <S>.
I'll cobble up a list based on all the input.
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So, here's what I ended up getting:
i-5 4690 3.5Ghz
Asus Z97-DELUXE
PNY 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory
Seagate Constellation ES 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM
EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB FTW ACX 2.0
Zalman 850W 80+ Silver Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply
Antec G500 Window case w/ a couple extra fans
Win 8.1
Total was just over $1,500
Monitor: BenQ XL2720Z 27" 144Hz 2ms (Started with a 27" at 60Hz, but return it for this. Beautiful monitor.)
Amazon dropped off CH Pro pedals and Saitek X-52 Pro at the door a few hours ago... I'll see if I can get it set up and try to get online tonight...!
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This seems to be a good thread to ask a simple question. Looking at the digital storm website is it possible to build their 700 900 dollar machines for any less than it costs to buy them?
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Looks good Rolex, let us know if you hit any snags.
This seems to be a good thread to ask a simple question. Looking at the digital storm website is it possible to build their 700 900 dollar machines for any less than it costs to buy them?
Make a list and price it on amazon or a similar site. If your cost is higher it may be that you picked higher quality parts. In general, their profit is your savings.
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The house looks like a landfill with boxes, Styrofoam, plastic wrap, cardboard and junk everywhere. It might take longer to clean it up than shopping and putting this thing together. :eek:
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The house looks like a landfill with boxes, Styrofoam, plastic wrap, cardboard and junk everywhere. It might take longer to clean it up than shopping and putting this thing together. :eek:
Grab the leaf blower and open the front door. Mind the cat.
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Just to put this out there..............
I just bought a XFX Black Edition Radeon R9 290X 4Gb 512-bit vid card & have ran it in AH........................(there is a thread that I have posted in concerning this card if y'all care to look)..............
I used a fan profile in MSI Afterburner to control the fans on the XFX Double Dissipation design cooler (uses a vapor chamber off the GPU w/ heat pipes coming off it w/ aluminum fins where the 2 fans blow air across......)
I have pushed the card to full stock AMD PowerTune-controlled GPU max boost clocks (1050 Mhz) & max GPU temp reached 65*C-68*C w/ fans running at 100% & GPU never de-clocked as temp was nowhere near the 80*C threshold & power was not fully used (had a lot more room to add extra power if desired). Can't say about OC'ing as I don't intend to OC it at all............
Can't answer for any others but I can answer for this Radeon....................... ..............
Hope this helps.......................
:salute
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This seems to be a good thread to ask a simple question. Looking at the digital storm website is it possible to build their 700 900 dollar machines for any less than it costs to buy them?
Yes!! I actually went thru a couple weeks ago and did just that for a squaddie.... Savings depending on model was $150-$230.