**Official PC rig Pics/Specs/mods thread PART III** Mirin' Aesthetics?

[OneWayFS]

corsair air. the one that looks like a square. pretty sick imo. can you link me to your build brah?

Nice. Going with the NZXT H440 myself.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/hzdq7P

Comes in at around $2,850. Really want a more aesthetic mobo (Maximus VII Formula Z97) and 16 gigs of RAM for VMs, but I wouldn't be able to get SLI GTX 970s.

Also have you guys seen a thing called MicrosoftSoftwareSwap on reddit (yes neckbeard central)? You can buy Windows 8.1 Pro licenses for $25 and Standard for $20 and a ton of other Microsoft apps for cheap. They're reputable and using their MSDN/Dreamspark accounts to sell keys lol. Too bad my school doesn't give keys to students for free / cheap (profs can buy pro for $11.50 though).

[TedBuckland]

Nice. Going with the NZXT H440 myself.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/hzdq7P

Comes in at around $2,850.

Really want a more aesthetic mobo (Maximus VII Formula Z97) and 16 gigs of RAM for VMs, but I wouldn't be able to get SLI GTX 970s.

why are you spending over 100$ on case fans. unless youre a super silent freak it wont make any difference

[OneWayFS]

why are you spending over 100$ on case fans. unless youre a super silent freak it wont make any difference

The Noctuas will pull in more air than the stock fans will through the front. I could do without the corsair fans though as performance is probably only slightly better, but I'm mainly going with them for aesthetics.

[TedBuckland]

The Noctuas will pull in more air than the stock fans will through the front. I could do without the corsair fans though as performance is probably only slightly better, but I'm mainly going with them for aesthetics.

call me crazy but in my opinion it would be a billion times smarter to not blow 150 bucks on something that wont make a difference now and get all the other important parts you want, as in mobo and RAM. If you dont like the way the stock fans look, you can still exchange them later, replacing fans takes like 5 minutes and you wont have to unwire everything. As far as performance goes, casefans will only make a difference if your setups packs some serious heat (i dont think yours will). If your airflow is anything better than awful better casefans will make a difference of 1-2 degrees TOPS. I tried it out myself, I have a 600T and under full load turning the 2x 200mm fans all the way up compared to all the way down puts my CPU and GPU maybe on 61 instead of 59, but im not even sure about that since its jumping up and down a few degrees all the time anyway

[Future24]

Brahs. So I have a monitor, keyboard, mouse, operating system (free thanks to my school), and case. Possibly a graphics card from my brother, not entirely sure. I'm not looking to build a "gaming" PC but I just want something fast that can handle a lot of windows open, gifs, high res videos, etc. High performance and speed is most important to me. I probably won't game much and if I do it will not be games that are high demanding. Only games would be Football Manager which graphics wise is basically 2d lol.

What would an estimate be to build this? Any recommendations for parts?

[everblue]

Brahs. So I have a monitor, keyboard, mouse, operating system (free thanks to my school), and case. Possibly a graphics card from my brother, not entirely sure. I'm not looking to build a "gaming" PC but I just want something fast that can handle a lot of windows open, gifs, high res videos, etc. High performance and speed is most important to me. I probably won't game much and if I do it will not be games that are high demanding. Only games would be Football Manager which graphics wise is basically 2d lol.

What would an estimate be to build this? Any recommendations for parts?

ssd + i7 + 8GB or more of RAM

depends on what you want to spend. ssd ranges from 100-350 depending on size. an i7 is about $300, or you could get an i5 for $200. 8GB of RAM is $50 atm. could go with 16 so you could have 1000 tabs open at once during fap sessions.

how much are you wanting to spend?

*edit*

This will get you started
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/9MR4GX

[TedBuckland]

you wont need an i7 if you arent video editing

[Future24]

ssd + i7 + 8GB or more of RAM

depends on what you want to spend. ssd ranges from 100-350 depending on size. an i7 is about $300, or you could get an i5 for $200. 8GB of RAM is $50 atm. could go with 16 so you could have 1000 tabs open at once during fap sessions.

how much are you wanting to spend?

*edit*

This will get you started
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/9MR4GX

Probably in the 500-700 range tbh. My brother has a couple pieces laying around from an old build so I may keep some pieces from that but probably not besides the case.

you wont need an i7 if you arent video editing

Yeah will probably never do that.

[everblue]

Probably in the 500-700 range tbh. My brother has a couple pieces laying around from an old build so I may keep some pieces from that but probably not besides the case.

Yeah will probably never do that.

take the build I linked and just replace the ssd with the evo 1tb ssd and add more RAM if you think you'll need it. should still be under $700

[SynapticCleft]

synaptic cleft, you holy mother of pure wizardry. i did fn + airplane symbol and bam. wifi's back. holy moly!! accept my measlis

NP, brah glad you have wifi again.

[KhumatMibra]

any of you guys use a sound card?

i currently use sennheiser PC 363D headset and noticed that newegg had a deal on the Creative Sound Blaster Z sound card (50% off)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-048-_-Product

worth it? will there be a noticeable audio difference from the motherboard audio?

[tdnick]

any of you guys use a sound card?

i currently use sennheiser PC 363D headset and noticed that newegg had a deal on the Creative Sound Blaster Z sound card (50% off)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-048-_-Product

worth it? will there be a noticeable audio difference from the motherboard audio?

Thinking about buying one and I don't even have a gaming pc right now lol

[everblue]

any of you guys use a sound card?

i currently use sennheiser PC 363D headset and noticed that newegg had a deal on the Creative Sound Blaster Z sound card (50% off)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-048-_-Product

worth it? will there be a noticeable audio difference from the motherboard audio?

I have the sound blaster Z paired with Audio Technica A900X and it's definitely worth it. Nice amp drives my headphones very well, amazing 3D simulation algorithm for gaming, nice features in the software. Paid full price and I feel like it was a steal (srs)

can't say if it would help with your headset or not though

*edit*

just saw the 363d uses a usb sound card with dolby.

lol

dolby is amazing for a theatrical experience (music, movies, etc.) but sucks for gaming imo. some people disagree with me. you can check it out for yourself:

[SOJA]

Nice. Going with the NZXT H440 myself.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/hzdq7P

Comes in at around $2,850. Really want a more aesthetic mobo (Maximus VII Formula Z97) and 16 gigs of RAM for VMs, but I wouldn't be able to get SLI GTX 970s.

Also have you guys seen a thing called MicrosoftSoftwareSwap on reddit (yes neckbeard central)? You can buy Windows 8.1 Pro licenses for $25 and Standard for $20 and a ton of other Microsoft apps for cheap. They're reputable and using their MSDN/Dreamspark accounts to sell keys lol. Too bad my school doesn't give keys to students for free / cheap (profs can buy pro for $11.50 though).

The H440 has issues with causing too much heat buildup in the case. Proceed with caution.

call me crazy but in my opinion it would be a billion times smarter to not blow 150 bucks on something that wont make a difference now and get all the other important parts you want, as in mobo and RAM. If you dont like the way the stock fans look, you can still exchange them later, replacing fans takes like 5 minutes and you wont have to unwire everything. As far as performance goes, casefans will only make a difference if your setups packs some serious heat (i dont think yours will). If your airflow is anything better than awful better casefans will make a difference of 1-2 degrees TOPS. I tried it out myself, I have a 600T and under full load turning the 2x 200mm fans all the way up compared to all the way down puts my CPU and GPU maybe on 61 instead of 59, but im not even sure about that since its jumping up and down a few degrees all the time anyway

Eh, high CFM but low db case fans cost more but are worth the low sound they produce. I have a few of those in 120 and 200 mm form factory. Better than using Corsair fans which are too loud. It's also easier to keep sufficient pressure in the case to keep the dust out with a couple filters. I took apart the side panel today to check something out before I ordered and there was practically no dust. It was built over a year ago. It sits on the floor.

[KhumatMibra]

I have the sound blaster Z paired with Audio Technica A900X and it's definitely worth it. Nice amp drives my headphones very well, amazing 3D simulation algorithm for gaming, nice features in the software. Paid full price and I feel like it was a steal (srs)

can't say if it would help with your headset or not though

*edit*

just saw the 363d uses a usb sound card with dolby.

lol

dolby is amazing for a theatrical experience (music, movies, etc.) but sucks for gaming imo. some people disagree with me. you can check it out for yourself:

yea my bad, completely forgot that my sennheiser headset comes with the dolby usb sound card so i don't use a motherboard audio. just wondering if i should go with the sound blaster z for my new PC build that ill be ordering on monday or just keep my usb dolby sound card that came with my headset

[SOJA]

Amazon was selling the Sennheiser 598s for $90 the other day. I would have gotten them if it weren't for the fact that I own a better non-Sennheiser pair, which sees little use anyway. Still a good price considering they go for $165 on Amazon regularly, and roughly $200-220 in store.

[SOJA]

yea my bad, completely forgot that my sennheiser headset comes with the dolby usb sound card so i don't use a motherboard audio. just wondering if i should go with the sound blaster z for my new PC build that ill be ordering on monday or just keep my usb dolby sound card that came with my headset

Any soundcard will outperform a chip on the mobo.

[everblue]

yea my bad, completely forgot that my sennheiser headset comes with the dolby usb sound card so i don't use a motherboard audio. just wondering if i should go with the sound blaster z for my new PC build that ill be ordering on monday or just keep my usb dolby sound card that came with my headset

If you can afford it, then definitely go for it. It's not like it's going to be outdated any time soon and you may want to upgrade your headphones down the road

[SonofTh0r]

Hey guys i need some help. My gpu(radeon hd 7850) stopped displaying for some reason when i plugged my sound system in, this has never happened before and now I'm using my onboard graphics. I uninstalled the gpu from device manager and reinstalled the drivers using a work around because amd's install keeps giving me the bsod. After all that it still doesn't show up correctly in device manager and i still can't see anything out of it. The fans are running as well.

[TheMagician23]

Sup misc, I'm looking to buy a relatively cheap Desktop computer for some medium-setting gaming and I'm not really sure where to start. I just bought Dragon Age: Inquisition, but after downloading and firing it up I haven't been able to play because my current laptop cannot handle the game even remotely well on the lowest of settings. I figured it was outdated for gaming and I'd like to pick something up that will enable me to play some of the newer games that are out (and others that will come out in the future). Price range is ideally in the $450-$600 range, though I could imagine expanding the range a little if it would be worthwhile. Any help is appreciated, thanks brahs!

[S.T.A.R.S.]

wd black hd 1tb for $70 figured i'd use it to load all my games and programs to it... worth it? right now using some low end seagate tb drive for all programs.

[KRANE]

Hey guys i need some help. My gpu(radeon hd 7850) stopped displaying for some reason when i plugged my sound system in, this has never happened before and now I'm using my onboard graphics. I uninstalled the gpu from device manager and reinstalled the drivers using a work around because amd's install keeps giving me the bsod. After all that it still doesn't show up correctly in device manager and i still can't see anything out of it. The fans are running as well.

Insufficient data. First list your computer. Then specify what sound system. That could be a pair of powered speaker or many, many other components.

Most important, how did you connect it and the peripherals if any. One other thing, has it worked before or is the first time you connected it?

Depending on the random chance of someone knowing what you're referring to is not how you should proceed on a regular basis.

[SonofTh0r]

Insufficient data. First list your computer. Then specify what sound system. That could be a pair of powered speaker or many, many other components.

Most important, how did you connect it and the peripherals if any. One other thing, has it worked before or is the first time you connected it?

Depending on the random chance of someone knowing what you're referring to is not how you should proceed on a regular basis.

Everything has worked fine before, i have a logitech x530, a cosair cx600 psu. The sound system plugs into the motherboards sound by 3.5 jacks for 3 separate parts of the sound system.

[everglide123]

I have the H440 and the heating is terrible, stock fans are noisy as fuk, it looks nice though. Wouldn't recommend.

[eXistenceLies]

any of you guys use a sound card?

i currently use sennheiser PC 363D headset and noticed that newegg had a deal on the Creative Sound Blaster Z sound card (50% off)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-048-_-Product

worth it? will there be a noticeable audio difference from the motherboard audio?

I am running the ASUS Xonar Essence STX : http://www.amazon.com/PCI-Express-XO.../dp/B001OV789U

and AKG Q701; http://www.amazon.com/AKG-Q701Premiu...&keywords=q701


I have no complaints. I love it. Takes time to break in though. Only thing about those headphones is they are open ear. Also the soundcard has a built in headphone amp and DAC.

[eXistenceLies]

I have the H440 and the heating is terrible, stock fans are noisy as fuk, it looks nice though. Wouldn't recommend.

Seriously? I just got the Green/Black H440. Waiting on my Kraken X61 to get here as well. Upgrading cases right now. Should I buy the corsair fans then?


Here are my temps as of now. Little warm in the room as we have a lot of **** running in here:




I hope it won't be running hotter than what it is now. Vid card usually runs low high 30's low 40's,.

[RotsOfRaffs]

Totally new to the world of building pc's. Finally have both the money and the desire to build a rig for gaming and thought it would be a fun holiday project to work on with my father. Been looking at some of the builds posted on here recently and done a small amount of reading. Hoping to get a decent build ready to order in time for cyber Monday. Not much of an idea what I am doing, appreciate any help suggestions

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/yjTrWZ

[niktak11]

^looks good. You can drop the RAM down to 8GB and save $100 unless you will be using it for something that eats up memory. Also seagate HDDs are supposedly the least reliable

[RotsOfRaffs]

^looks good. You can drop the RAM down to 8GB and save $100 unless you will be using it for something that eats up memory. Also seagate HDDs are supposedly the least reliable

Thank you for the advice, I'll probably go ahead and make a change to the HDD. As far as being able to run the latest and greatest games this should be able to handle the load yes?

[TedBuckland]

Sup misc, I'm looking to buy a relatively cheap Desktop computer for some medium-setting gaming and I'm not really sure where to start. I just bought Dragon Age: Inquisition, but after downloading and firing it up I haven't been able to play because my current laptop cannot handle the game even remotely well on the lowest of settings. I figured it was outdated for gaming and I'd like to pick something up that will enable me to play some of the newer games that are out (and others that will come out in the future). Price range is ideally in the $450-$600 range, though I could imagine expanding the range a little if it would be worthwhile. Any help is appreciated, thanks brahs!

according to how much you plan on playing, id definately suggest upping budget a tad.

for around $500 you can get a really solid base of psu+mobo+cpu+ram+case+ram, anything extra you spend on the graphics card directly increases performance in games.