Author Topic: PC parts ordered! WELCOME ME TO THE FUTURE!  (Read 8430 times)

Offline idolminds

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PC parts ordered! WELCOME ME TO THE FUTURE!
« on: Friday, December 16, 2016, 02:39:48 PM »
Quote
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6500 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor  ($204.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: MSI H110M Gaming Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard  ($72.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR4-2133 Memory  ($149.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: PNY CS1311 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive  ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive  ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: MSI Radeon RX 480 8GB GAMING X Video Card  ($268.98 @ Newegg)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case  ($58.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair CSM 550W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply  ($79.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer  ($19.99 @ Newegg)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit  ($102.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $1078.87
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-12-16 16:30 EST-0500

Ignore that total price. With a bundle and a few discounts I got it down to $966.89 shipped, and have $40 worth of rebates to mail in.

Was looking at the 1060 video cards but after looking at a few comparisons I settled on a Radeon 480. Both cards are pretty similar in terms of performance but the 480 seems to handle DX12 and Vulcan better. Considering I'm going to be using this PC for a long time and that DX12 and Vulcan will be getting used more and more, it seemed like the most future proof without going into another tier of pricing. Was also only planning on 8GB of RAM but the bundle options 16GB was only $20 more so why the hell not?

Offline Cobra951

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Re: PC parts ordered! WELCOME ME TO THE FUTURE!
« Reply #1 on: Friday, December 16, 2016, 03:33:55 PM »
Oh, haha!  Awesome!  You're going to call me a copycat, though I got this yesterday.  I took my sweet time setting it up today.

Quote
    Intel Core i5-6500 Processor 3.2GHz
    NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB GDDR5 VR Ready
    16GB RAM
    1TB HDD + 250GB SSD
    Microsoft Windows 10 Home 64-bit
    Asus 24x DVDRW Drive
    10/100/1000 Network
    802.11ac Wireless
    Display Not Included

The PowerSpec G220 desktop computer is a powerful gaming machine featuring the Intel Core i5-6500 unlocked processor, an MSI B150 PC Mate system board powered by a 500W PSU, 16GB DDR4-2133 RAM, a 1TB Hard Drive, a 250GB SSD, and a GTX 1060 6GB discrete video card.

It looked pretty good for the price ($800), considering I'm deathly afraid of trying to assemble a PC from random parts.  About half of that is a Christmas present.  The DisplayPort to VGA worked.  Even knew the old screen was a Samsung, and its panel resolution.  Someday, a better screen.

The case looks hefty, with 2 fans on the TOP of the case.  (First time I see that.)  "Thermaltake" ring a bell?

Congrats on the new toy!  We should get together under the Christmas tree and play!

Offline idolminds

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Re: PC parts ordered! WELCOME ME TO THE FUTURE!
« Reply #2 on: Friday, December 16, 2016, 04:51:31 PM »
Awesome! It's new PC season, apparently!

Offline Pugnate

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Re: PC parts ordered! WELCOME ME TO THE FUTURE!
« Reply #3 on: Friday, December 16, 2016, 05:33:30 PM »
Congratulations! :)

Offline MysterD

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Re: PC parts ordered! WELCOME ME TO THE FUTURE!
« Reply #4 on: Friday, December 16, 2016, 05:52:52 PM »
Seems this turned into the PC parts + computer buying thread. :P

Anyone looking for a B-stock 4GB 3.5GB 970 SSC, EVGA's got them for $150 again:
http://www.evga.com/products/Product.aspx?pn=04G-P4-3975-RX

Anyone on a budget looking for 1080p60FPS gaming, the 970's a great card.

Offline MysterD

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Re: PC parts ordered! WELCOME ME TO THE FUTURE!
« Reply #5 on: Friday, December 16, 2016, 06:01:10 PM »
Oh, haha!  Awesome!  You're going to call me a copycat, though I got this yesterday.  I took my sweet time setting it up today.

    "Intel Core i5-6500 Processor 3.2GHz
    NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB GDDR5 VR Ready
    16GB RAM
    1TB HDD + 250GB SSD
    Microsoft Windows 10 Home 64-bit
    Asus 24x DVDRW Drive
    10/100/1000 Network
    802.11ac Wireless
    Display Not Included

The PowerSpec G220 desktop computer is a powerful gaming machine featuring the Intel Core i5-6500 unlocked processor, an MSI B150 PC Mate system board powered by a 500W PSU, 16GB DDR4-2133 RAM, a 1TB Hard Drive, a 250GB SSD, and a GTX 1060 6GB discrete video car"

It looked pretty good for the price ($800), considering I'm deathly afraid of trying to assemble a PC from random parts.  About half of that is a Christmas present.  The DisplayPort to VGA worked.  Even knew the old screen was a Samsung, and its panel resolution.  Someday, a better screen.

The case looks hefty, with 2 fans on the TOP of the case.  (First time I see that.)  "Thermaltake" ring a bell?

Congrats on the new toy!  We should get together under the Christmas tree and play!

What size is your screen?
What resolution is the max on your screen?

You're going to be in 1080p60FPS Heaven w/ that card. :)
You might even be able to run some games at 1440p at decent settings, too. :)
4K might be a challenge for that card, though.

Offline Quemaqua

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Re: PC parts ordered! WELCOME ME TO THE FUTURE!
« Reply #6 on: Friday, December 16, 2016, 06:09:48 PM »
Join us for some games, Cobra! :D

天才的な閃きと平均以下のテクニックやな。 課長有野

Offline MysterD

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Re: PC parts ordered! WELCOME ME TO THE FUTURE!
« Reply #7 on: Friday, December 16, 2016, 06:13:46 PM »
Ignore that total price. With a bundle and a few discounts I got it down to $966.89 shipped, and have $40 worth of rebates to mail in.

Was looking at the 1060 video cards but after looking at a few comparisons I settled on a Radeon 480. Both cards are pretty similar in terms of performance but the 480 seems to handle DX12 and Vulcan better. Considering I'm going to be using this PC for a long time and that DX12 and Vulcan will be getting used more and more, it seemed like the most future proof without going into another tier of pricing. Was also only planning on 8GB of RAM but the bundle options 16GB was only $20 more so why the hell not?

Yeah, i'd easily recommend 16GB of RAM. With more and more games having more bells + whistles nowadays, even at 1080p at higher settings, expect to eat up some regular RAM. More than you'd probably expect.

When I run games over 1080p - i.e. at 1440p or 4K - I'm easily going over 8GB.
Dishonored 2 at 1440p is going around 8-9GB of RAM at Medium settings.
Even some games like WWE2K16, even at 1080p, I was over 8GB of RAM normally. One of the few games I can run well at 4K, I was easily using up almost around 11GB of RAM on the regular here.

Offline Cobra951

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Re: PC parts ordered! WELCOME ME TO THE FUTURE!
« Reply #8 on: Friday, December 16, 2016, 06:24:28 PM »
What size is your screen?
What resolution is the max on your screen?

You're going to be in 1080p60FPS Heaven w/ that card. :)
You might even be able to run some games at 1440p at decent settings, too.
4K might be a challenge for that card, though.

My current screen is a 10-year-old Samsung 23" TV.  LOL!  The panel res is 1366x768, and the native VGA res is 1360x768, dropping 3 pixels on either side.  It has everything connected to it in this limited space--3 consoles (the 4th went away to make desk room for the new box), the PC and satellite TV through coax.  I'm using every form of legacy analog input on its back panel, plus HDMI (for the Xbox One).  The HDMI input doesn't support PCs, only standard 720p.  I need to use the VGA port for PC input.  (I think the Nvidia card can do 720p, but that would not be native, and it would have an overscan problem.)

Replacing the screen with something up to date is a complicated task, as you can see.  Money is just one facet of the problem.  I won't be weorrying about 4K performance anytime soon.  :)

Offline Cobra951

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Re: PC parts ordered! WELCOME ME TO THE FUTURE!
« Reply #9 on: Friday, December 16, 2016, 06:27:34 PM »
Join us for some games, Cobra! :D

I had my choice of one of 3 indie games as an Nvidia promo, and I chose Redout (kinda like Wipeout or F-Zero, from what I've read).  In order to redeem that, I had to get a Steam account.  I have no idea how that works yet, but hey, I'm there.  One step closer.  :D

Offline MysterD

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Re: PC parts ordered! WELCOME ME TO THE FUTURE!
« Reply #10 on: Friday, December 16, 2016, 06:39:29 PM »
My current screen is a 10-year-old Samsung 23" TV.  LOL!  The panel res is 1366x768, and the native VGA res is 1360x768, dropping 3 pixels on either side.  It has everything connected to it in this limited space--3 consoles (the 4th went away to make desk room for the new box), the PC and satellite TV through coax.  I'm using every form of legacy analog input on its back panel, plus HDMI (for the Xbox One).  The HDMI input doesn't support PCs, only standard 720p.  I need to use the VGA port for PC input.  (I think the Nvidia card can do 720p, but that would not be native, and it would have an overscan problem.)

Replacing the screen with something up to date is a complicated task, as you can see.  Money is just one facet of the problem.  I won't be weorrying about 4K performance anytime soon.  :)

6GB GTX 1060 is major overkill for 1368x768.
That card's really built for 1080p60FPS at High-to-Ultra on most games.
Your card's going to pounce almost everything at 1368x768. 60FPS is going to be more than a breeze w/ that card at that resolution.

Do you plan to move to 1080p monitor soon?
Since Black November, I've been seeing regularly $80-120 for TN-panels or IPS-panels for even good name brands, so if you can spare that kind of money + can find some space...go for it.

Offline Cobra951

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Re: PC parts ordered! WELCOME ME TO THE FUTURE!
« Reply #11 on: Friday, December 16, 2016, 07:58:10 PM »
I think you missed my point about how difficult it is to replace my current multipurpose screen.  It does HDMI, VGA, RGB component, S-Video, Composite and coax TV.  I'd love to have a dedicated gaming monitor, but that would mean a dedicated station just for the PC.  Not practical here right now.

Still, it's good to know that I have some headroom here.  I do have an Acer 1680x1050 (16:10) TN monitor, which right now takes the DVI-D (2nd) output from my old PC's FX5900.  That lets me use the (old) PC when the main screen is occupied with something else.  It sits on top of the old PC, 90 degrees off to the right.  Not a practical setup for constant use.  My neck is not as flexible as it used to be.

Eventually, I'll think of some other setup for all this.  The task may be thrust upon me if the Samsung dies.  It gets very heavy use, and it's a decade old.

Offline MysterD

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Re: PC parts ordered! WELCOME ME TO THE FUTURE!
« Reply #12 on: Friday, December 16, 2016, 10:03:35 PM »
I think you missed my point about how difficult it is to replace my current multipurpose screen.  It does HDMI, VGA, RGB component, S-Video, Composite and coax TV.  I'd love to have a dedicated gaming monitor, but that would mean a dedicated station just for the PC.  Not practical here right now.

Still, it's good to know that I have some headroom here.  I do have an Acer 1680x1050 (16:10) TN monitor, which right now takes the DVI-D (2nd) output from my old PC's FX5900.  That lets me use the (old) PC when the main screen is occupied with something else.  It sits on top of the old PC, 90 degrees off to the right.  Not a practical setup for constant use.  My neck is not as flexible as it used to be.

Eventually, I'll think of some other setup for all this.  The task may be thrust upon me if the Samsung dies.  It gets very heavy use, and it's a decade old.

I seriously suggest you somehow just go ahead, take the time, and rearrange everything.

Make this work. Get that 1680x1050 hooked up to your new rig. Sit that monitor somewhere, so it ain't breaking your neck. If you have the room, I'd say put that monitor right next to your all-purpose HDTV.

You really should do your damnest to find some way to hook-up your new kick-ass PC to that Acer TN-panel 1680x1050. This monitor should not be wasted, when you have a brand new PC - and especially a kick-ass video card like that, I might add - that will pounce probably anything & everything up to 1080p at High-to-Ultra settings in most games.

TN panels might not have the best quality of image + colors (i.e. you would be better off with IPS or PLS, in that regard - which are also more expensive), but TN response times are usually much lower. You're likely going to have less input lag (i.e. probably none at all) here w/ TN's, also. As much as I love Samsung products normally and all, that Acer 1680x1050 will likely put your 1368x768 HDTV to shame.

Though, given how unoptimized + stiff these two games I'm about to mention are, I would be curious to hear how Batman AK and Dishonored 2 run on your rig, if you ever get your hands on those...b/c those two still run like console-like garbage on my 970.

That 1680x1050 resolution's going to be worlds better than the 1368x768 TV; especially when you will pounce almost anything up to 1080p w/ the 6GB GTX 1060, too. That card shouldn't even break a sweat at that res' when maxing-out most games (except maybe Batman AK + Dishonored 2).

EDIT:
I recently had a dilemma where I bought a new 4K display for my gaming desktop PC and had no clue what to do w/ my 1080p monitor. Then, the solution hit me: to take the 1080p monitor and hook it up to my gaming laptop's HDMI port.
« Last Edit: Friday, December 16, 2016, 10:31:13 PM by MysterD »

Offline Cobra951

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Re: PC parts ordered! WELCOME ME TO THE FUTURE!
« Reply #13 on: Friday, December 16, 2016, 10:24:26 PM »
Well, damn.  Now I feel like a hijacker.

WELCOME TO THE FUTURE, IDOL!!

Offline MysterD

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Re: PC parts ordered! WELCOME ME TO THE FUTURE!
« Reply #14 on: Friday, December 16, 2016, 10:45:25 PM »
Ignore that total price. With a bundle and a few discounts I got it down to $966.89 shipped, and have $40 worth of rebates to mail in.

Was looking at the 1060 video cards but after looking at a few comparisons I settled on a Radeon 480. Both cards are pretty similar in terms of performance but the 480 seems to handle DX12 and Vulcan better. Considering I'm going to be using this PC for a long time and that DX12 and Vulcan will be getting used more and more, it seemed like the most future proof without going into another tier of pricing. Was also only planning on 8GB of RAM but the bundle options 16GB was only $20 more so why the hell not?

While AMD offers more GB often on their cards at lower prices, in a sense, not all GB #'s are really equal here since who knows when developers are actually optimizing games (or trying to, in some cases) + what cards they actually really decide to support fully behind. While it's lovely AMD RX 480 has a huge VRAM buffer w/ 8GB of VRAM (which is generally better for throwing up higher resolutions and/or more graphics bells+whistles), some games on the AMD-side are requiring and/or recommending more VRAM than the NVidia-side. Dishonored 2 requires a 2GB 660 Nvidia card, but they want 3GB 7970 on AMD side. Also, they recommend 8GB RX 480 for AMD, while NVidia only needs 6GB 1080.

While AMD might do better on the DX12 and/or Vulcan front normally, that ain't always the case when comparing 8GB RX480 v. 1060 6GB:
In DX12 w/ Rise of the TR, 6GB 1060 beats the RX 480:
http://wccftech.com/rx-480-gtx-1060-dx12-vulkan-tested/

Offline idolminds

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Re: PC parts ordered! WELCOME ME TO THE FUTURE!
« Reply #15 on: Friday, December 16, 2016, 11:09:50 PM »
Eh, looking at their benchmarks they are so close it hardly seems to matter. Especially since it'll be outputting 1600x900, so not even 1080p. As long as my games are running at 60 or better, I'm gold.

Also that Doom benchmark is insane. That game looks so good and I'll be pulling over 100FPS? HNNNGGGGGGG

Offline MysterD

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Re: PC parts ordered! WELCOME ME TO THE FUTURE!
« Reply #16 on: Friday, December 16, 2016, 11:20:44 PM »
Eh, looking at their benchmarks they are so close it hardly seems to matter. Especially since it'll be outputting 1600x900, so not even 1080p. As long as my games are running at 60 or better, I'm gold.

Also that Doom benchmark is insane. That game looks so good and I'll be pulling over 100FPS? HNNNGGGGGGG

Uncapped w/ no VSync used, I was able to hit 80-120FPS on Vulkan on Doom 2016 at 1080p on Ultra. I didn't like it, felt too fast + the framerate numbers were jumping up + down too much, which did not make the game feel smooth or fluid.
Wasn't stable in any regard. So, I capped it at stable 60FPS in-game. It probably would've been better + smoother at those high framerates w/ a monitor that supported more than 60Hz Refresh rate.

MSI Afterburner doesn't work with Vulkan right now, so...finding a hand-picked FPS cap when running Doom 2016 with Vulkan was not even possible. :(

Offline PyroMenace

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Re: PC parts ordered! WELCOME ME TO THE FUTURE!
« Reply #17 on: Saturday, December 17, 2016, 02:48:05 AM »

Offline MysterD

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Re: PC parts ordered! WELCOME ME TO THE FUTURE!
« Reply #18 on: Saturday, December 17, 2016, 07:44:13 AM »
@Idol

What kind of monitor you have planned to hook-up to your new bad-ass PC?

How many inches?
What kind of panel - TN? VA? IPS? PLS?
What's the maximum resolution?
What's the response time (in how many ms)?
Number of maximum Hz supported on the refresh rate?

Offline Cobra951

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Re: PC parts ordered! WELCOME ME TO THE FUTURE!
« Reply #19 on: Saturday, December 17, 2016, 08:07:04 AM »
Has anyone ever told you that you focus on some things an awful lot?  ;)

Offline idolminds

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Offline MysterD

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Re: PC parts ordered! WELCOME ME TO THE FUTURE!
« Reply #21 on: Saturday, December 17, 2016, 11:40:27 AM »
Heres everything you'd want to know about my monitor.

HP 20''; 900p; 5ms RT; 60hz RR.

Your card's a 1080p card & RX 480 is built for that, so 900p60fps will be a cakewalk for you. High to Ultra settings, here you come!
If you're looking at some point to move up above 1080p, you can probably sacrifice some settings + performance to achieve 1440p.


Offline MysterD

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Re: PC parts ordered! WELCOME ME TO THE FUTURE!
« Reply #22 on: Saturday, December 17, 2016, 12:30:10 PM »
Has anyone ever told you that you focus on some things an awful lot?  ;)
You guys told us everything in your PC, except your monitors! Monitors are also an important part in this ordeal.

Since your enthusiast-level cards (i.e. $200-300 cards) are such bosses compared to your current HDTV (that you're using as a monitor), you probably could do a combo of Downsampling & FXAA from 1080p to your native monitor's resolution (768p technically) + have a better image than what you'd normally get at 1366x768.
Idol would get the same drill - except he'd be getting a better image w/ Downsampling + FXAA from 1080p down to 900p.

Offline idolminds

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Re: PC parts ordered! WELCOME ME TO THE FUTURE!
« Reply #23 on: Saturday, December 17, 2016, 12:44:10 PM »
Yeah, thats why I felt fine going with my build. I'd rather run on this monitor and really crank up the image quality than try to output a much higher res image and have to make sacrifices. So I'm all good.

Offline Cobra951

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Re: PC parts ordered! WELCOME ME TO THE FUTURE!
« Reply #24 on: Saturday, December 17, 2016, 02:41:03 PM »
I feel pretty much the same.  If I ever get a 4K screen it's because the mass market has moved there, and reasonably priced, quality 1080p-or-thereabouts screens are nowhere to be found.  I much prefer for power to go to image quality and frame rate than to raw pixels.  Current HD standard resolutions are plenty for me and my old peepers.

Offline MysterD

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Re: PC parts ordered! WELCOME ME TO THE FUTURE!
« Reply #25 on: Saturday, December 17, 2016, 03:44:28 PM »
I feel pretty much the same.  If I ever get a 4K screen it's because the mass market has moved there, and reasonably priced, quality 1080p-or-thereabouts screens are nowhere to be found.  I much prefer for power to go to image quality and frame rate than to raw pixels.  Current HD standard resolutions are plenty for me and my old peepers.

I have a Samsung 28'' 4K TN-panel screen (with 60Hz RR + 1ms RT) and I love it. The amount of space on the desktop itself is incredible. So glad I made the move, when this was $250 on Amazon a month ago or so. 1080p just makes me feel so cramped on the desktop.

Since my 970 can't handle most games at 4K even in the 30-60FPS ballpark, I normally just scale-down to a lower res' it can handle (i.e. 1200p, 1440p) and chalk AA settings up to the moon and/or use Supersampling to get rid of any sort of blur. Being able to surpass 1080p w/ decent framerates (i.e. when it's above 30FPS and stable - I normally want 40FPS cap, 45FPS cap, 50 FPS cap, or 60FPS w/ stable framerates) when I can is absolutely wonderful here.