1. #1

    Building new PC + monitor problem

    I'm planning to build a new PC soon and after some reasearching I have come up with the configuration below. I'm not really on a strict budget, but I would be grateful for any opinions / info, especially if there are better parts available at the same, or marginally higher, price. I'm also not sure if MB or PSU is proper and if stock coolers will be enough.

    PC will be used for gaming mostly, but I tend to have many apps open, even multiple games, or multiple clients of the same game, at the same time. Hence 4-core CPU and loads of RAM. And I really don't want to wait 2-3 minutes for game to start / load anymore. Hence SSD. I'd like to stay with micro ATX size, if possible. No SLI / xfire.

    CPU: Intel Core i5-4570 - 200$
    GPU: GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 660 2GB OC - 210$
    MB: GIGABYTE GA-Z87M-D3H - 115$
    RAM: Kingston HyperX Black 16GB (2 x 8GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 - 142$
    HDD: Seagate Barracuda ST1000DM003 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache - 75$
    SSD:SAMSUNG 840 Pro 2.5" 128GB
    PSU: CORSAIR CX600M 600W Modular - 80$
    Case: Fractal Design Core 1000 FD-CA-CORE-1000-USB3-BL - 50$

    And the biggest problem - monitor.

    I have read about how most monitors have only 6 bit color channels, how they compensate with dithering, how IPS and TN monitors work and their pros and cons, color balance, refresh rates, ghosting and motion blur, and what those contrast numbers actually mean. But it all doesn't really help me with choosing monitor.

    First, shops / manufacturers don't say how many bits per color channel are used. Second, miraculously response times of all monitors (both IPS and TN) are 5 ms. All monitors have the same number of colors and static contrast (1000:1). Third, checking monitors in shop doesn't make much sense, as they probably are recalibrated so that demo looks great on them. So there, I'm clueless. I want a durable and reliable 21''-23'' monitor for gaming, with 1920x1080 resolution, with as low motion blur as possible, in 130-200$ range. With 8-bit color channels, if possible.

    I considered those monitors, but I'm open to anything.
    Asus VE228H 21.5" - 140$
    Iiyama PROLITE E2278HD - 140$
    ASUS VS229H-P - 140$
    Iiyama PROLITE E2481HS - 180$
    21.5" HP C4D30AA - 160$
    Last edited by procne; 2013-07-14 at 06:10 AM. Reason: borked tags
    I have enough of EA ruining great franchises and studios, forcing DRM and Origin on their games, releasing incomplete games only to sell day-1 DLCs or spill dozens of DLCs, and then saying it, and microtransactions, is what players want, stopping players from giving EA games poor reviews, as well as deflecting complaints with cheap PR tricks.

    I'm not going to buy any game by EA as long as they continue those practices.

  2. #2
    May as well go for 4670 (non k if you really aren't into overclocking, but you should reconsider as it's a lot of performance you're missing on) + a cheap B85/H87 mobo (Z87 is only needed if overclocking).

    16GB RAM is definitely overkill, 8GB is enough for anything you'd do. More RAM doesn't make loading faster.

    840 Pro is useless unless you're doing loads of writes to the disk, which by the activities you listed you aren't. Get the non-pro version, it's definitely enough for what you're doing without you even noticing the change.

    I'll leave monitors to somebody else.

    Oh, also, I'd suggest going for a 760 instead of a 660, 40$ difference but you'd be saving a lot with the changes listed above.

    One last thing. What you listed as a PSU is a case. For the usage you'll be doing a XFX 450W should be plenty as PSU.
    Last edited by Fluorescent0; 2013-07-14 at 12:04 AM.
    Fluorescent - Fluo - currently retired, playing other stuff

    i5-4670k @ 4.5 / Thermalright Silver Arrow Extreme / Gigabyte Z87X-D3H / 8GB DDR3-1600 RAM / Gigabyte GTX 760

  3. #3
    Thanks for the answer

    Quote Originally Posted by Fluorescent0 View Post
    May as well go for 4670 (non k if you really aren't into overclocking, but you should reconsider as it's a lot of performance you're missing on) + a cheap B85/H87 mobo (Z87 is only needed if overclocking).
    But if I decided to overclock then I also need to buy CPU cooler, right?
    As for mobo, what about this: MSI H87M-G43 LGA 1150 for 80$
    It also has RAID support, if I decide to play with it later.
    16GB RAM is definitely overkill, 8GB is enough for anything you'd do. More RAM doesn't make loading faster.
    Well, it may look like overkill, but I always seem to have not enough RAM. 4 years ago I bought 4GB and it wasn't enough. I tend to have many windows and apps open simply because it's faster than closing and launching them.

    But maybe indeed I'll go for 2x4GB for start and then just add another 2x4GB down the road.
    840 Pro is useless unless you're doing loads of writes to the disk, which by the activities you listed you aren't. Get the non-pro version, it's definitely enough for what you're doing without you even noticing the change.
    Noted, I'll change it.

    Oh, also, I'd suggest going for a 760 instead of a 660, 40$ difference but you'd be saving a lot with the changes listed above.
    Hmm indeed difference in performance is substantial. And while 760 takes more power, it generates less heat. So maybe I'd OC it slightly. However, in my local stores price difference seems to be more like 60$. Gotta keep looking.
    One last thing. What you listed as a PSU is a case. For the usage you'll be doing a XFX 450W should be plenty as PSU.
    Actually, I messed up something with OP and tags got broken. As a result line about case was not displaying, and link from it jumped to PSU. Should be fixed now.
    I have enough of EA ruining great franchises and studios, forcing DRM and Origin on their games, releasing incomplete games only to sell day-1 DLCs or spill dozens of DLCs, and then saying it, and microtransactions, is what players want, stopping players from giving EA games poor reviews, as well as deflecting complaints with cheap PR tricks.

    I'm not going to buy any game by EA as long as they continue those practices.

  4. #4
    Considering you put ~960$ in your initial post with what you selected I went from there.

    PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

    CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($239.99 @ Newegg)
    CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.98 @ Outlet PC)
    Motherboard: Asus Z87M-PLUS Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($134.85 @ Amazon)
    Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($25.99 @ Newegg)
    Memory: Crucial Ballistix Sport 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($25.99 @ Newegg)
    Storage: Samsung 840 Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($92.99 @ NCIX US)
    Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($62.99 @ NCIX US)
    Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 760 2GB Video Card ($254.98 @ SuperBiiz)
    Case: Fractal Design Core 1000 USB 3.0 MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($39.99 @ NCIX US)
    Power Supply: Corsair Builder 600W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($43.00 @ Newegg)
    Optical Drive: LG GH24NS95 DVD/CD Writer ($15.98 @ Outlet PC)
    Total: $957.74
    (Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
    (Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-07-14 09:45 EDT-0400)

    If you want to aim for higher overclocking you could change the EVO to an H80i (~80$).

    Else the motherboard you posted above will be just fine.
    Fluorescent - Fluo - currently retired, playing other stuff

    i5-4670k @ 4.5 / Thermalright Silver Arrow Extreme / Gigabyte Z87X-D3H / 8GB DDR3-1600 RAM / Gigabyte GTX 760

  5. #5
    After doing some research, analysing costs, and having some unexpected expenses recently, I have decided to skip overclocking. This is the build I'm going to order:

    CPU: Intel i5 4670 (non-K)
    Motherboard: MSI H87M-G43
    GPU: MSI GeForce GTX760 2048MB Twin Frozr OC
    RAM: Corsair Vengeance XMP 8192MB (2x4096) 1600MHz CL9
    HDD: Seagate 1 TB 7200 rpm
    SSD: Samsung 840 Basic 250GB
    Case: Zalman ZM-T2
    PSU: SilentiumPC 500W Deus G1

    OS: Windows 8 Pro
    Monitor: Asus VS239HR
    Mouse: Gigabyte Eco500



    The overclocking build I had planned before differed with:
    CPU: Intel i5 4670k (+20$)
    Motherboard: MSI Z87-G43 (+25$)
    Heatsink: NZXT Havik 140 (+60$)
    Case: SilentiumPC Regnum L50 Pure Black (+40$)
    RAM: Corsair Vengeance XMP 8192MB (2x4096) 1600MHz Low Profile CL9 (+5$)

    So the difference is 150$. To me the bonus 15-25% CPU performance is not worth the extra 150$, which is 65% increase in CPU price (over non-K).
    With this cash saved I can buy bigger SSD, which should benefit me more than slightly faster CPU. Performance in MMOs isn't that important to me, and I know that some games will be bottlenecked by CPU, but tho. However I believe this build will let me run most games on high details for the next few years, without having to worry about chip lottery, cooling problems or overheating or CPU slowly detoriating.

    Thanks to everyone for the feedback and info provided in this, and other threads. Even though I haven't followed your advices I still have learned a lot.
    I have enough of EA ruining great franchises and studios, forcing DRM and Origin on their games, releasing incomplete games only to sell day-1 DLCs or spill dozens of DLCs, and then saying it, and microtransactions, is what players want, stopping players from giving EA games poor reviews, as well as deflecting complaints with cheap PR tricks.

    I'm not going to buy any game by EA as long as they continue those practices.

  6. #6
    I'm pretty sure you're going to want to go with the 840 EVO rather than the basic. Surprised Chazus hasn't been in here already to say that :P

  7. #7
    EVO is still slightly more expensive (10% or so) than basic version, and the only bonus I can see right now is higher write speed, which is not important to me. If price difference was smaller then I would pick up EVO.

    Unless I missed some other good points about EVO?
    I have enough of EA ruining great franchises and studios, forcing DRM and Origin on their games, releasing incomplete games only to sell day-1 DLCs or spill dozens of DLCs, and then saying it, and microtransactions, is what players want, stopping players from giving EA games poor reviews, as well as deflecting complaints with cheap PR tricks.

    I'm not going to buy any game by EA as long as they continue those practices.

  8. #8
    If you need to save I'd heavily consider going for an i3-4130. Since new Haswell i3s have Hyperthreading, they have 4 threads anyways.

    PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

    CPU: Intel Core i3-4130 3.4GHz Dual-Core Processor ($129.99 @ Newegg)
    Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-B85M-HD3 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($72.99 @ NCIX US)
    Memory: Patriot Viper 3 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($54.99 @ Newegg)
    Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($176.99 @ NCIX US)
    Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($59.98 @ Outlet PC)
    Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 760 2GB Video Card ($259.99 @ Amazon)
    Case: NZXT Source 210 Elite (White) ATX Mid Tower Case ($43.53 @ Amazon)
    Power Supply: XFX 550W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($45.99 @ NCIX US)
    Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer ($14.99 @ Newegg)
    Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8 (OEM) (64-bit) ($88.88 @ Outlet PC)
    Monitor: Asus VN248H 23.8" Monitor ($149.99 @ Newegg)
    Total: $1098.31
    (Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
    (Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-09-04 10:05 EDT-0400)

    Changed a couple things from your build above.
    Slightly cheaper motherboard, same funtionalities as the one above.
    Cheaper RAM.
    EVO SSD: RAM caching (via Samsung Magician) greatly increases (about 2x) both write and read speeds (with the last ones being the ones we're interested in)
    Caviar blue, faster/more reliable than the seagate barracuda
    Gigabyte 760, it has better cooling than the MSI TF and they're the same price.
    Case with frontal USB 3.0.
    Changed the PSU to a far better quality unit. You don't want to skimp on the one component which failing can damage the others as well. Check the recommended list of power supplies if you want to change it.
    Added a 23.8'' monitor instead of a 23'' one because currently in sale it's actually cheaper.
    Went for Windows 8 OEM which is cheaper, if you need any features from the pro version just switch it back.
    Last edited by Fluorescent0; 2013-09-04 at 02:10 PM.
    Fluorescent - Fluo - currently retired, playing other stuff

    i5-4670k @ 4.5 / Thermalright Silver Arrow Extreme / Gigabyte Z87X-D3H / 8GB DDR3-1600 RAM / Gigabyte GTX 760

  9. #9
    Quote Originally Posted by Fluorescent0 View Post
    If you need to save I'd heavily consider going for an i3-4130. Since new Haswell i3s have Hyperthreading, they have 4 threads anyways.

    PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

    CPU: Intel Core i3-4130 3.4GHz Dual-Core Processor ($129.99 @ Newegg)
    Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-B85M-HD3 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($72.99 @ NCIX US)
    Memory: Patriot Viper 3 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($54.99 @ Newegg)
    Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($176.99 @ NCIX US)
    Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($59.98 @ Outlet PC)
    Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 760 2GB Video Card ($259.99 @ Amazon)
    Case: NZXT Source 210 Elite (White) ATX Mid Tower Case ($43.53 @ Amazon)
    Power Supply: XFX 550W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($45.99 @ NCIX US)
    Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer ($14.99 @ Newegg)
    Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8 (OEM) (64-bit) ($88.88 @ Outlet PC)
    Monitor: Asus VN248H 23.8" Monitor ($149.99 @ Newegg)
    Total: $1098.31
    (Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
    (Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-09-04 10:05 EDT-0400)

    Changed a couple things from your build above.
    Slightly cheaper motherboard, same funtionalities as the one above.
    Cheaper RAM.
    EVO SSD: RAM caching (via Samsung Magician) greatly increases both write and read speeds (with the last ones being the ones we're interested in)
    Caviar blue, faster/more reliable than the seagate barracuda
    Gigabyte 760, it has better cooling than the MSI TF and they're the same price.
    Case with frontal USB 3.0.
    Changed the PSU to a far better quality unit. You don't want to skimp on the one component which failing can damage the others as well. Check the recommended list of power supplies if you want to change it.
    Added a 23.8'' monitor instead of a 23'' one because currently in sale it's actually cheaper.
    Went for Windows 8 OEM which is cheaper, if you need any features from the pro version just switch it back.
    Thanks, but the Mobo you chose has only 2 RAM slots, so no upgrade possibility (and I'm pretty sure I will need more RAM at some point in future). It also does not support Intel's Rapid Storage Tech. Only x87 chipsets have it. And, AFAIK, RST is useful for SSDs
    Patriot RAM is very hard to get in my country (Poland), same as NZXT cases. And even then they are more expensive
    I'm going with win 8 pro, because I will downgrade it to Win 7 for now and I need some pro features like virtual PC and compatibility with older apps.
    VN248H is more expensive than VS239HR.
    I'm going to stay with the PSU I linked. It's a local brand which gets positive reviews in local press. It's just not available in the west so it has no chances to land on "recommended XXX" lists.
    As for MSI vs Gigabyte gtx 760... Gigabyte is slightly more expensive, and it's bigger, so I would need more expensive case (btw ZM-T2 is available for like 30$ here).

    I don't want hyperthreading. I want 4 real cores
    I have enough of EA ruining great franchises and studios, forcing DRM and Origin on their games, releasing incomplete games only to sell day-1 DLCs or spill dozens of DLCs, and then saying it, and microtransactions, is what players want, stopping players from giving EA games poor reviews, as well as deflecting complaints with cheap PR tricks.

    I'm not going to buy any game by EA as long as they continue those practices.

  10. #10
    Deleted
    If you have any chance of getting a 120hz monitor, I would definitely jump at it. 120hz+ is the future of gaming, it's awesome.

    I've got a 144hz monitor myself and I think it's the best investment I ever made regarding computers.

  11. #11
    By the time you'll need more than 8GB RAM in a standard build (no business applications running) DDR4 will be out already.
    Kinda get the price differences, didn't know you were from Poland, so yeah, stick with those.
    Fluorescent - Fluo - currently retired, playing other stuff

    i5-4670k @ 4.5 / Thermalright Silver Arrow Extreme / Gigabyte Z87X-D3H / 8GB DDR3-1600 RAM / Gigabyte GTX 760

  12. #12
    About the monitor. Why do you need 8bit LUT? If you're going to buy a monitor with 8bit LUT it will be an IPS and cost about 400-500$ minimum and to really take advantage of it you'll need a colorimeter (about 200-300$), a GPU that can output 8bit LUT and software that supports 8bit LUT (like Photoshop).

    When all you want to do is play some games on the PC you don't need a monitor with 8bit. You'll only need it if you want to do some semi professional photo stuff. For games all you want is a 120+Hz monitor preferably with lightboost. Lightboost (with a hack) will reduce ghosting but with 120Hz you'll end up with a TN panel that will only have a contrast of 800:1 which is good enough but compared to an IPS the colors will look a little bit washed out. Also most monitor below the 1000$ mark will only have a contrast of 900:1 and only some exceptions will really get to 1000:1. Dynamic contrast is bullshit and you shouldn't bother about that because this contrast is measured for black with minimum brightness and white with maximum brightness and you can't have both at the same time.

    For a price from 130-200$ just take whatever looks best to you because there isn't that much of a difference. Take a TN panel if you want better response times or an IPS if you want better colors.

  13. #13
    Deleted
    Quote Originally Posted by procne View Post
    Thanks, but the Mobo you chose has only 2 RAM slots, so no upgrade possibility (and I'm pretty sure I will need more RAM at some point in future). It also does not support Intel's Rapid Storage Tech. Only x87 chipsets have it. And, AFAIK, RST is useful for SSDs
    You're likely not going to need more than 8GB for gaming.

    You don't need SRT so it doesn't really matter if it supports it or not.

    You don't need the more expensive RAM to overclock or at least have the option later on.

    You don't need a different case to overclock.

    You don't need a that specific CPU heatsink to overclock and as I've said before you can use stock cooling for now and then upgrade later on when and if you decide, now you're locking yourself out of the option.
    Last edited by mmocca5d152c38; 2013-09-04 at 09:44 PM.

  14. #14
    Quote Originally Posted by Notarget View Post
    You're likely not going to need more than 8GB for gaming.

    You don't need RST so it doesn't really matter if it supports it or not.

    You don't need the more expensive RAM to overclock or at least have the option later on.

    You don't need a different case to overclock.

    You don't need a that specific CPU heatsink to overclock and as I've said before you can use stock cooling for now and then upgrade later on when and if you decide, now you're locking yourself out of the option.

    I need more expensive low profile RAM or the heatsink will be obstructed. And we shall see if 8GB of RAM will be enough in 3 years from now.
    I need better case to fit a big cooler and get some fans for good airflow, or buy more expensive water cooler.
    You sure RST won't be useful? I've been searching for some info and everywhere I checked I have seen it improves performance of SSDs
    Yes, I lock myself out of overclocking. Whether I spend extra 90$ now and 60$ later or 150$ now - it doesn't matter much. It's not worth it for me now - in the end I have to spend ~60% more on CPU to get 15-25% extra performance.
    I have enough of EA ruining great franchises and studios, forcing DRM and Origin on their games, releasing incomplete games only to sell day-1 DLCs or spill dozens of DLCs, and then saying it, and microtransactions, is what players want, stopping players from giving EA games poor reviews, as well as deflecting complaints with cheap PR tricks.

    I'm not going to buy any game by EA as long as they continue those practices.

  15. #15
    Deleted
    Yes I'm sure, why would you use up to 64GB of the SSD as a cache for lower performance when you have 250GB to work with. This was (or is) mainly used with a cheap smaller SSD (~up to 64GB) to improve overall performance when combined with a HDD as it will automatically cache most used applications so you wouldn't have to manually move stuff back and forth and micromanaging the small capacity SSD. Now bigger SSDs are much more affordable so there is really no need to use SRT (Smart Response Technology).

  16. #16
    Moderator chazus's Avatar
    10+ Year Old Account
    Join Date
    Nov 2011
    Location
    Las Vegas
    Posts
    17,222
    Quote Originally Posted by Dasffion View Post
    Surprised Chazus hasn't been in here already to say that :P
    *Obligatory gnashing of teeth*
    Quote Originally Posted by procne View Post
    I need more expensive low profile RAM or the heatsink will be obstructed. And we shall see if 8GB of RAM will be enough in 3 years from now.
    To be honest, in 3-4 years time, you'll be eyeing DDR4 and a CPU/GPU/RAM/Board upgrade anyway, so... In the off chance you -do- need more ram, the 2 slots you have now are kinda moot.
    The B85-G41 PC Mate version has 4 slots, for only about $10 more. To be honest, I feel like a lot of this nit-picking on prices (on both sides) is a bit moot, since any prices listed in this thread are entirely non-representative of the prices of the parts actually being purchased, since it won't be from the US anyway (isnt it?)

    You sure RST won't be useful? I've been searching for some info and everywhere I checked I have seen it improves performance of SSDs
    It does! ....if you have your HDD as primary, and SSD as a data drive. Which nobody in their right mind would do. It's effectively deprecated technology.

    Yes, I lock myself out of overclocking.
    you can get a Z87 board now, for only about $20 more, and leave everything else the same, if you want to leave that door open. It might be worthwhile, in order to pick up a Broadwell "5670K" (I don't know what it's actual model number will be, or if an LGA Broadwell will even happen).

    Notably, the i3-4340 will likely perform better than any comparable i5 in MMO's except for the 4670/4670K.. and if you get those, well, then you have those. It's higher clock speed of 3.6 is quite tasty on a budget.
    Gaming: Dual Intel Pentium III Coppermine @ 1400mhz + Blue Orb | Asus CUV266-D | GeForce 2 Ti + ZF700-Cu | 1024mb Crucial PC-133 | Whistler Build 2267
    Media: Dual Intel Drake Xeon @ 600mhz | Intel Marlinspike MS440GX | Matrox G440 | 1024mb Crucial PC-133 @ 166mhz | Windows 2000 Pro

    IT'S ALWAYS BEEN WANKERSHIM | Did you mean: Fhqwhgads
    "Three days on a tree. Hardly enough time for a prelude. When it came to visiting agony, the Romans were hobbyists." -Mab

  17. #17
    Deleted
    What is your total budget in Zloty?

  18. #18
    Quote Originally Posted by Notarget View Post
    Yes I'm sure, why would you use up to 64GB of the SSD as a cache for lower performance when you have 250GB to work with. This was (or is) mainly used with a cheap smaller SSD (~up to 64GB) to improve overall performance when combined with a HDD as it will automatically cache most used applications so you wouldn't have to manually move stuff back and forth and micromanaging the small capacity SSD. Now bigger SSDs are much more affordable so there is really no need to use SRT (Smart Response Technology).
    I was talking about RST, not SRT. RST supposedly improves Native Command Queuing (NCQ), which can improve performance of single drives. I was thinking about toying with RAID later on, but seems it might cause some more problems.

    Quote Originally Posted by chazus View Post
    To be honest, in 3-4 years time, you'll be eyeing DDR4 and a CPU/GPU/RAM/Board upgrade anyway, so... In the off chance you -do- need more ram, the 2 slots you have now are kinda moot.
    I'm not so sure about it. My 4 years old build with core 2 duo E8500 and geforce gtx275 was doing fine few months ago. If I haven't given it away (because I couldn't take it with me) I would probably still use it. To me tech is not improving so fast to make 4 years old gaming PC totally useless. For how many years CPUs have been clocked over 3 GHz? Sure, they keep improving IPC, caches, instruction sets and add cores, but there's only so much they can do with it. Difference after 4 years now isn't as big as 10 years ago.
    So unless DDR4 and new CPUs bring really high performance boost, I'm not going to replace PC for another 4-5 years.
    Also, as I have said - I will be running 2-3 game clients, each eating over 1.5GB RAM with other apps open at the same time (also that's why I need 4 cores). 8GB will be enough now, but not sure if it will be in 3 years from now. 4 years ago I made a jump from 1GB to 4GB RAM, and it wasn't enough for some time now. Especially seeing how liberally some game devs treat RAM. I have already seen some games with minimum requirements of x64 OS and 4GB RAM. Without those the games simply crashed at start with out-of-memory.
    you can get a Z87 board now, for only about $20 more, and leave everything else the same, if you want to leave that door open. It might be worthwhile, in order to pick up a Broadwell "5670K" (I don't know what its actual model number will be, or if an LGA Broadwell will even happen).
    We don't even know if there will be broadwell and if it will use 1150 socket. And it's more than 20$ if I decide to switch to B85. Plus I would need different case to fit a decent cooler. And buying non-K CPU with Z87 mobo now to replace it with K later sounds like even bigger waste of money.
    I have enough of EA ruining great franchises and studios, forcing DRM and Origin on their games, releasing incomplete games only to sell day-1 DLCs or spill dozens of DLCs, and then saying it, and microtransactions, is what players want, stopping players from giving EA games poor reviews, as well as deflecting complaints with cheap PR tricks.

    I'm not going to buy any game by EA as long as they continue those practices.

  19. #19
    Deleted
    Please read and answer my last question if you don't mind

  20. #20
    I don't have any budget set. I just compare alternative parts looking at performance and price difference and decide if it's worth it for me or not.

    What I have listed so far nets me 3650 zl without monitor, OS and mouse.
    OS will be 500, monitor will be 720
    I have enough of EA ruining great franchises and studios, forcing DRM and Origin on their games, releasing incomplete games only to sell day-1 DLCs or spill dozens of DLCs, and then saying it, and microtransactions, is what players want, stopping players from giving EA games poor reviews, as well as deflecting complaints with cheap PR tricks.

    I'm not going to buy any game by EA as long as they continue those practices.

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •