Sherdog PC Build/Buy Thread, v5: Stop Thinking of Your Router as a Peripheral

[Blayt7hh]

Critique this build please. Power/performance/cost ratio? How to improve it for same cost or lower cost but still pack a punch?

Thanks.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/Pcrg6h

I actually don't like the 970 SlI solution. You are in the same price range as a 980 Ti at that point and only getting a marginal gain from it being somewhere between 5-8% faster. That would be great, but there are problems with SLI.

1. Leaves no room for easy upgrade

2. Driver support and poorly programmed games. Some games have come out not even supporting it. Rome 2 for example didn't support it for a while after it's release when I was running 770's in SLI. Some games will have weird glitching until drivers are sorted out for it.

3. Heat and power consumption

https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/NVIDIA/GeForce_GTX_Titan_X/29.html
You can use this as a performance reference, the Titan x is only between 1-3% faster than a 980Ti. I would rather see you sacrifice some moderate output and negate those disadvantages.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=24-236-466
Same with the monitors. Instead of sticking 2 144hz out there I think there is a better option. You can shave around $100 and get a 27', 144hz, 1440, IPS monitor. Unfortunately it is not gysnc, but that isn't a loss since neither are the other two you listed.

Otherwise the build looks solid to me. I've seen that Corsair case in person and it's beautiful. The only other thing is that unless there is a reason for it, you can probably save yourself some money by downgrading the CPU. Gaming won't be effected in a real world setting if you drop it to an i5 4690k.

 

[Hank The Tank]

Critique this build please. Power/performance/cost ratio? How to improve it for same cost or lower cost but still pack a punch?

Thanks.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/Pcrg6h

Admittedly I don't know shit, but I've recently done a ton of looking and started buying my parts. You are near the same price range as me (minus the monitors and other non essentials). Take a look at my build. It uses the newer skylake chipset and the successor to your processor (6700k), also ddr4 ram.

From all the research I've done the skylake chipsets with newer 6700k CPU will give you modest gains in performance, at roughly the same price.

I've been buying stuff on sale only, which is why all my already purchased items are lower than you will find them.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/QZM7xr

 

[Cygnus A]

IT HAS ARRIVED!! Sorry for the shitty picture but I am busying gaming on this baby and didnt care to share the quality with you guys. This is the new Acer X34 Predator (34", 3440x1440 with Gsync).

 

[560ti]

Critique this build please. Power/performance/cost ratio? How to improve it for same cost or lower cost but still pack a punch?

Thanks.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/Pcrg6h

If it was my cash I would do a third party 980ti as someone else suggested (in terms of raw specs/performance a third party 980ti will be almost twice as fast as a stock 970). When you factor in SLI scaling and drivers dual 970s won't be that much faster (in some cases it will be slightly slower).

Personal preference I agree with a single 27 inch (I've had experience with literally every single monitor setup and thats just my preference ).

Case is fine with a 980ti but if you decide on an SLI setup i'd perfer a full tower.

just wrote that because while they are a bad value, they are quite capable machines

I was hinting more at value (the only part of his quote that I quoted was in reference to direct comparison of desktop to laptop). I am aware that they are capable (I use to service both gaming laptops and desktops)

I am sooooo close to saying screw this 280X and buying a Gigabyte 4G 970. I've had driver problems from day one with this thing.

Would be a decent upgrade for sure (especially if drivers are screwing you over).

 

[Blayt7hh]

Case is fine with a 980ti but if you decide on an SLI setup i'd perfer a full tower.

You'd probably have to see that case in person to really appreciate it's design, but it could easily house an pair of 980 Ti's. It's a really cool case and I've had it on my wishlist for a while thinking about replacing mine for no good reason other than I want to use it

 

[560ti]

IT HAS ARRIVED!! Sorry for the shitty picture but I am busying gaming on this baby and didnt care to share the quality with you guys. This is the new Acer X34 Predator (34", 3440x1440 with Gsync).

Had a bud go out of town recently and go to use his for the week (great monitor, you will get a ton of use of it).

 

[560ti]

You'd probably have to see that case in person to really appreciate it's design, but it could easily house an pair of 980 Ti's. It's a really cool case and I've had it on my wishlist for a while thinking about replacing mine for no good reason other than I want to use it

I've done at least two builds with it if my memory serves me correct (it's a good case but for the price and my experience, I would do full tower if it was my money).

 

[GhostZ06]

That Acer is the absolute business right now but $1300 dollars is $1300 fucking dollars. 100hz is obviously nice but iirc there are gsync models for $1000 or less that will still make things look pretty at 60hz. You're looking at a mortgage and car payment between this monitor and a GPU to max games on it.

I considered 4k but we're just not quite there yet. Although I'd just snag a 40-43" 4k TV and deal with the input lag.

 

[Con Hair]

I considered 4k but we're just not quite there yet. Although I'd just snag a 40-43" 4k TV and deal with the input lag.

What are you talking about? 4K is here and now for PC enthusiasts. And most 4K tv's coming out have phenomenal input lag and hz if you're actually looking at proper televisions. You can get a 70" 4K tv with 15ms input lag and 60hz 4k / 120hz 1080p.

The real discussion is: Should I buy a 4k TV smaller than 55"?

The answer is no.

 

[xcvbn]

Will a 980 ti even max all games in 4k?

And you're honestly suggesting a 70" a screen to game on?

 

[Con Hair]

Will a 980 ti even max all games in 4k?

You could average between 30fps / 60fps on major AAA titles @ 4k. However, I'd turn off things like MSAA and HBAO+ (use SSAO) and various other tweaks to bring it up to 60fps lock without any noticeable graphical loss.

It's like tweaking a car engine or overclocking a CPU.....You can find the sweet spot and get your game running perfectly the way you like best. I've known people who hated jaggies and couldn't care less about shadow quality, etc. It's all about your personal preference.

But the short answer is yes: GTX 980ti is a fucking magnificent 4k card.

(And when the price drops throw down on another and nearly double up on your performance!)

I used SLI GTX 780 ti's before upgrading to SLI GTX 980 ti's and both work fantastic @ 4k.

 

[xcvbn]

What you're arguing simply doesn't cut it for me. I'd rather have 21:9 3440X1440 now and wait for 5k 120hz to become standard in the next few years, instead of dropping $2k+ on a couple 980 Tis and a 4k TV.

If you can afford it then by all means but I'm more than happy to settle for now, especially considering there isn't a single solution that hits on all fronts. That Acer Predator is pretty damn close though.

 

[Con Hair]

What you're arguing simply doesn't cut it for me. I'd rather have 21:9 3440X1440 now and wait for 5k 120hz to become standard in the next few years, instead of dropping $2k+ on a couple 980 Tis and a 4k TV.

If you can afford it then by all means but I'm more than happy to settle for now, especially considering there isn't a single solution that hits on all fronts. That Acer Predator is pretty damn close though.

Well, I don't think you'd know until you really sat down and analyzed them all for yourself. I'm speaking from personal first hand experience. Something I think most people here don't actually have.

I went from 5760x1080 to 3840x2160 and could never fathom looking back.

 

[Drunken Blindness]

If it .

..

you .

Thank you very much guys. I shortened responses for quote purposes but read what you guys suggested and will tweek and twerk on it. I figure with sales coming at the end of the month I have time to figure out a great setup and buy parts at the best sale price

 

[GhostZ06]

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=184340759&postcount=7487

soooooo this is gonna hurt our computer gentlemen


wow i can't even imagine this game in 4k...

 

[CodCommando]

I have a BenQ 27" 1080p 144hz monitor. I love the monitor, only con is it's expensive and it doesn't have built-in speakers.

I think it's the best 1080p gaming monitor you can get, that's why I got but the irony is I don't use it for gaming much well, until I get the 980 ti installed.

 

[Tamriel Terror]

i have a quick question. I have a gtx 970 sc card, 8 gb of ram, i5. Fallout 3 and Fallout NV run amazing on my computer, however skyrim has major lag issues especially if i play on ultra quality. Its obviously not my graphics card, so maybe its my cpu usage, or maybe a need more ram? my memory is at around 3.56 gb

 

[Hank The Tank]

I've bought everything but Case, CPU, and physical memory. I was going to say F it and buy the rest today, but the damn CPU is out of stock everywhere or overpriced. So the wait continues for sales.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/vq3rkL

 

[Crazedpyro]

Are we talking a first generation i5 tamriel? Even so skyrim shouldn't be lagging with your set up, are you by chance using 32 bit Windows?

 

[markulous]

i have a quick question. I have a gtx 970 sc card, 8 gb of ram, i5. Fallout 3 and Fallout NV run amazing on my computer, however skyrim has major lag issues especially if i play on ultra quality. Its obviously not my graphics card, so maybe its my cpu usage, or maybe a need more ram? my memory is at around 3.56 gb

What operating system do you have? Is it 64 bit?

Look at your task manager before running skyrim. Cpu usage should be low like 5% or so. If you're going over 80% memory usage during the game then it probably is your RAM. 8gb is good enough for gaming.