Desktop Computers

Noodlemod_sl said:

Building a computer for my brother in law, trying to keep it in the ~$1500 price range.

Anything you guys would change out in the following?

PCPartPicker part list/Price breakdown by merchant

CPU:Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor($229.98 @ NCIX US)
CPU Cooler:Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler($27.98 @ OutletPC)
Thermal Compound:Arctic Silver 5 High-Density Polysynthetic Silver 3.5g Thermal Paste($5.49 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard:Asus Z87-Pro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard($104.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Memory:G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-2133 Memory($109.99 @ Newegg)
Storage:Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive($97.89 @ OutletPC)
Storage:Western Digital BLACK SERIES 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive($123.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Video Card:MSI GeForce GTX 970 4GB Twin Frozr V Video Card($339.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case:Phanteks Enthoo Pro ATX Full Tower Case($109.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply:EVGA 850W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply($101.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive:Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer($18.89 @ OutletPC)
Wireless Network Adapter:Gigabyte GC-WB867D-I 802.11a/b/g/n/ac PCI-Express x1 Wi-Fi Adapter($29.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Monitor:Asus VG248QE 144Hz 24.0" Monitor($249.99 @ Micro Center)
Total:$1551.15
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-06-02 09:29 EDT-0400

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Newegg often runs promo codes on all sorts of shit, often the best option. Just tried to get a final price on the i5-4690k from ncixus, yikes, what a hard to read site. Then wouldn't give me free ground shipping.


Here is my attempt at a $1500 color-matched build using a windowed case.

CPU - $225 - Intel Core i5-4690K - Superbiiz wins here, $225 after shipping (to my address), compared to $242 for Newegg/NCIXUS.

CM8064601710803 Intel Core i5-4690K Devil's Canyon Processor 3.5GHz 5.0GT/s 6MB LGA 1150 CPU, OEM - Intel Core i5 & i3 - SuperBiiz.com

MOTHERBOARD - $125 with promo code EMCASNW24 - MSI Z97 GAMING 5 - Newegg wins with promo code, matches your gpu.

MSI Z97 GAMING 5 LGA 1150 Intel Z97 HDMI SATA 6Gbs USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard - Newegg.com

GPU - $338 ($10 rebate) - MSI GTX 970 GAMING 4G - Superbiiz out of stock. Next best is b&h with a $10 rebate card. High demand part.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/cont...=REG&A=details

RAM - $117 - G.SKILL Sniper Gaming Series 16GB (4 x 4GB) - Newegg. Spent a little more here for aesthetics, I like all 4 ram slots being filled, fairly cool looking low profile black heatspreader, cas 9 ddr1600.

G.SKILL Sniper Gaming Series 16GB Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9Q-16GBSR - Newegg.com

STORAGE - This one is iffy and highly depends on his personal needs. I personally have 1TB of SSD space (2 x 512 in RAID 0) and a 2tb wd black platter drive, and I barely touch the platter and haven't come close to filling up all 1TB of my ssd space. I'm not sure there is a need for that anymore. As such, if I were building for an average user, I would just throw a 1TB SSD in and call it a day. However, if he has a need for a large amount of local storage, then your setup is fine. Also, SSD frequently go on sale at various places, check slickdeals.net before you buy.

SSD - $365 - Samsung EVO 850 1TB - Newegg.

SAMSUNG 850 EVO MZ-75E1T0B - Newegg.com

OPTICAL - $13 - Samsung DVD burner $20 with $7 off with promo code EMCATAN38 - Newegg.

SAMSUNG DVD Burner 24X DVDRSBS - Newegg.com

PSU - $60 ($25 rebate) - EVGA 80 PLUS Gold 550w - Newegg. Seasonic OEM psu, no reason for huge wattage these days with ssd and maxwell architecture, 550w is more than enough, even if your bro in law decided to sli those 970s one day or add platter HDDs.

EVGA 220-GS-0550-V1 550W ATX12V EPS12V SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Full Modular Power Supply - Newegg.com

CPU COOLER - $50 (plus tax for me, amazon) - Thermalright True Spirit 140 Rev.A - Amazon. Very good CPU cooler, very good fan, matches the Fractal case fans, black anodized top plate for good aesthetics.

Amazon.com: Thermalright True Spirit 140 BW Rev. A: Computers Accessories

CASE - $99 - Fractal Define R5 - Newegg. I've never built in a Fractal, but they get univeral praise. Classy looking case, and more appropriate size than the large enthoo pro for this build.

Fractal Design Define R5 FD-CA-DEF-R5-BK-W Black Computer Case - Newegg.com

MONITOR - $170 with promo code EMCATAN43 - LG 27MP33HQ Black 27" - Newegg. Standard 27 inch LCD, 30 bucks off atm.

LG 27MP33HQ Black 271 - Newegg.com


TOTAL: $1562 (i think quick addup in my head)

OOPS! Tried to get it as close to $1500 as I could. Could go back to a small SSD/platter drive solution and save a hundred bucks there. Maybe a few bucks on the motherboard, cheaper case, /shrug.

This is a very nice black/red/white windowed build, great components all around, nice big monitor, pure SSD speed for all applications.

That total goes up a bit without the promo codes from newegg and the failure to mail in those rebates, most of which seem to expire on the 8th. But I've seen newegg promo codes linger and be good long after their stated expiration date, your mileage may vary.

That's my handpicked attempt. Excuse the all over the place formatting. Good luck!

Thanks for the tips bros.

He's already bought a bunch of stuff, as I dual-posted this to reddit and here and the response here was slow.

On things like saving money on a dvd burner, he wasn't too worried about that as it's only a couple bucks. Everything else he's shopping multiple places for the best deal, rather than strictly using the links in pcpartpicker.

On thermal paste, I just like using after market paste. I had to re-paste my CPU and GPU in my laptop with that stuff and it transformed my laptop into awesome, so I usually use it as it's only a couple bucks.

I'll take other ideas into consideration - especially on the monitor and stuff. I'll nix the wifi card if the motherboard is capable, I missed that.

Sweet thanks. And btw, re-pasting on my laptop (5th time taking it completely apart) after just re-soldering a new DC jack was the most scared shitless I've ever been in my life. Asus G-series laptops are not to be taken apart by the faint of heart.

Noodlemod_sl said:

Sweet thanks. And btw, re-pasting on my laptop (5th time taking it completely apart) after just re-soldering a new DC jack was the most scared shitless I've ever been in my life. Asus G-series laptops are not to be taken apart by the faint of heart.

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Last time I took apart a laptop was to swap out the cooler fans, and while putting it back together I ripped the keyboard ribbon cable, so that had to be replaced, the screen stopped working, and the wifi stopped working. It turned into an expensive CPU tower after that, because everything still worked if I did HDMI to a monitor, and USB for everything else.

I'm very meticulous with stuff so that was good, but still it's like 60 small screws of varying sizes..

The worst was de-soldering the old jack. It required far too much effort and heat, thought laptop was ruined..

joeboo_sl said:

Damn nice.

Your video cards cost more than probably 75% our entire gaming PCs lol. I think my last build from scratch was around $1200 or so (but I've made upgrades in the years since)

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I'm in Montreal. With tax, shipping and CAD conversion, it was close to 2k.

0n the SLI topic I have been hearing that dx12 will deal with virtualization of graphics processing in a way that is way better than sli or crossfire. Any thought or input. I realize it will be a while till everything is on dx12

Awaiting ATI announcement myself, would love a 395x2 depending on performance.

AMD is really dropping the ball here, letting Nvidia get to market with their 980Ti possibly several months before their new line of cards. The gap keeps widening...

joeboo_sl said:

AMD is really dropping the ball here, letting Nvidia get to market with their 980Ti possibly several months before their new line of cards. The gap keeps widening...

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They are supposedly announcing during E3 timeframe, so its not far off and usually after full announcement the card hits shelves within a few weeks. The Ti didnt excitement since im using a 295x2 anyways, id like a upgraded variant as opposed to going back to Nvidia(not like i mind that either).

joeboo_sl said:

AMD is really dropping the ball here, letting Nvidia get to market with their 980Ti possibly several months before their new line of cards. The gap keeps widening...

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I've been spending a lot of time in the comments section of WCCF. I've never seen such a concentration of fanboys on both sides, AMD and Nvidia. But the AMD gang take the cake.

I'm waiting for whatever comes out after this generation. Usually upgrade every 2 years or skipping generations. Which doesn't seem to be happening this time around as my launch 290 is approaching 2 years and there's really been nothing in between.

I'm also curious about going back to nVidia after having been AMD camp since the 4870 and being annoyed at the card clocking down and locking itself into a flash acceleration profile while gaming if I alt tab to watch a quick video.

so, buy another 980 for sli or get a 980ti and sell my 980?

980ti, it's price/performance is ridiculous. at the high end, you never get linear gains in price/performance. The 980ti is like 25% faster than the 980 and only 20-25% more in cost. Great value there.

By comparison, a 980 is only about 10-15% faster than a 970, for about 60% more cost.

If Nvidia had priced the 980ti the same way they price their other high-end cards, it would be an $800-$900 card. I'll almost never say this about a $500+ video card, but it's honestly a steal at the price they are selling it(compared to the typical price point for high-end cards)