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Starglider wrote:AMD APUs are better due to the purchase of ATI, but that is only relevant for gamers on a tight budget (Intel graphics is fine for non-gamers, serious gamers will get a discrete card).

They've also got a modest following among Bitcoin miners, for whatever that tells you.

No graphics card beyond what the APU has onboard, I was building in the interest of keeping the price reasonable. She doesn't have an interest in any of these FPS games that have stupid graphics requirements.

Zaune wrote:They've also got a modest following among Bitcoin miners, for whatever that tells you.

ATI have had more raw compute power on vector streaming workloads than Nvidia on every generation since the mid 2000s, so this is no surprise.

And the winner for moderately inbalanced rig is in.

* Core i5 4430 (with VT-D, no unlocked multiplier)
* 16GB of 1600mhz
* Z87 motherboard with decent+ onboard audio
* GTX 260

This should suffice to do my casual VMing, coding and gaming for the next half decade plus. Bonus factor, it cost under $1000 including the 30% markup in this country.

What's the benefit of using Z87 without a -K model processor?

XaLEv wrote:What's the benefit of using Z87 without a -K model processor?

More PCI-E slots as an upgrade path. I can also still play with overclocking without having an unlocked multiplier, just won't get very far.

After years of faithful service I decided to retire my old rig.

New parts:

i7-4770k
Asus Z87-Plus
16 GB patriot DDR3 1866 MHz
nVidia GTX 770
256 GB Corsair "Neutron" SSD

My old 1 TB regular hard drive and optical drives were still working fine so I kept them. I can't even really remember the last time I used an optical drive other than installing windows.

Okay, is it even possible for DDR2 to have 4GB sizes? Or are they just rare? Because I have a bit of difficulty even finding them in Hungarian stores?
And if I do find one, should I make a point of it having the same clock speed as one of the other RAMs already in place (they are a mismatch)?

DDR2 is dated enough it may be really difficult to find it in that size.

As far as speed goes, from what I understand you'll just have memory speeds of the lowest stick.

Does anyone know whether CSX is a decent RAM manufacturer? I only see their 4gb module in a reasonable price. Others would cost nearly as much as a mobo upgrade with new (type of) ram (as opposed to just buying more RAM).

I can't find anything about it on Google other than your question, and the person asking about it can't find a company homepage. It's not available off New Egg which does not bode well, either. I personally wouldn't trust it. Computer hardware is worth spending a little extra on. Don't want something that will just up and die on you a few months down the road. Or try and pull too many volts and fuck your motherboard.

Unfortunately, once you start getting into higher amounts of memory per stick prices go up. If budget is a big concern I really doubt you'll need enough for 4 gig sticks to be vital. If 4 gig of RAM isn't enough for your purposes just get a couple 3 gig sticks. Keep in mind that you probably won't see a huge performance difference unless you're eating up a good sized chunk of available RAM, either.

Price out to see what's a better deal between 4 2 gig sticks and two 4 gig sticks for what you need. One advantage of 4 sticks is that you're less screwed if some of the memory goes bad.

Ultimately, though: Don't cheap out on the RAM. If you can't afford to get the good stuff ask if you really need more RAM that badly.

That's what I am wondering. I have seen the "you are running out of memory" thing a few times, but pretty rarely. There are no 3GB DDR2 modules available, at least not in most local shops. There are only two slots too.
There is a kingston, but at a significantly higher price. High enough that a mobo upgrade and an upgrade to DDR2 seems more worthwhile. Although after advice here, I am considering skipping DDR3 altogether and waiting until DDR4 gets to a reasonable price.

Ordered these parts for a media center build:
AMD A10 6800K APU
8GB DDR3 RAM
Asrock M-ITX motherboard
XBox 360 (dead from RRoD)

The Xbox is going to be gutted to be used as the case for the build - will require modding the case obviously. I'm not certain on what power supply I can use due to space. I'll be doing some measurements tonight hopefully to work out what I can use. Worse case scenario I'll use a picoPSU which is about the size of a motherboards power connector.

If anyone is interested in seeing how it turns out I'll make a thread to track progress.

Why are you trying to stick such a powerful CPU in it?

I'm going to use it as a lite gaming rig as well as a media center.

I'm going to be trying GameEx, which appears to be a decent front-end which has steam/emulator support and also ties into iTunes for my music.

Gutted the 360 tonight and did the first quick check of size inside. I reckon I'll be able to find a slimline psu to fit, otherwise a picoPSU will do.

I'm looking to build a brand new computer next month or so. Here's the part list I've got: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/1sNg9

Comments or suggestions? I also need to find a nice monitor to go with it.

Also, are there any new hardware releases coming soon that I should know about?

Hawkwings wrote:Also, are there any new hardware releases coming soon that I should know about?

The next AMD high-end video card release is scheduled for October. Nvidia isn't expected to respond until next year. Ivy Bridge-E, but that's not relevant at that processor budget and to be honest not terribly relevant full stop, due to being delayed so long (will be obsoleted by Haswell-E).

I have zero impulse control.

I'm kind of enjoying Haswell, to be honest. CPU-wise there is a massive compile speed bump over my old C2D. Also, I thought HD 4600 would be terrible like all my previous IGP experience, but it handles my #1 and #2 use case scenarios really well.

I was planning to just sort of limp along until the AMD Hawaii thing, then make a decision between the 9xxx series and Nvidia's stuff, but now I might just not bother with a discrete at all, unless the Linux Steam-store puts in some beastly stuff.

So, some time ago I promised myself that when I found gainful employment I would save up and buy a half-decent gaming PC. And lo, it has come to pass. This is my first attempt at planning out one that should last me a few years. Any thoughts?

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core
Motherboard: ASRock Z77 Extreme4 ATX LGA1155
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 760 2GB
Wireless Network Adapter: TP-Link TL-WN722N 802.11b/g/n USB 2.0
Case: Corsair 400R ATX Mid Tower
Power Supply: Corsair 500W ATX12V
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-04 DVD/CD Writer
Monitor: Asus VS247H-P 23.6" Monitor

Keyboard, Mouse and Speakers are already accounted for. Debating whether to get a SSD as well if I can stretch my budget.

I'm not up to date regarding the CPU, Motherboard, etc, but I'd like to just say that you should try to get an SSD if your budget allows for it, at least big enough to load your OS and perhaps a few select games. As I understand it, HDD read/write speeds are often the main performance bottleneck. I've found that my new build ran a lot faster after I got my SSD a few years ago.

However, SSDs are still much more expensive than regular HDDs and their prices will continue to drop in the future. So if they are our of your budget, you could consider waiting a few months/years until they get cheaper.

I currently have a Radeon HD 4850 with 1GB VRAM.

I am considering buying a new graphics card, a GTX 650 with 2GB VRAM. It is universally better, requiring less power, has a higher clock speed (although I understand that is somehow not all-important when it comes to GPUs?), supports higher levels of OpenGL and DirectX, etc.

My question, is how much is the better performance worth it? The HD4850 has been suprisingly able and strong for a several-years old card.

Keyboard, Mouse and Speakers are already accounted for. Debating whether to get a SSD as well if I can stretch my budget.

Try to get one, a 128Gb or thereabouts one for your OS at least. That should be enough for any OS, plus a few games. SSDs can massively decrease load times, whether we are talking about games or even the OS itself. SSds are high above in read/write speeds than any HDD (I think).
More and more games use bigger and bigger textures of one kind or another. An SSD helps keep pace. Here's a guide to help you and one that gives further reasons why to buy one.

Zixinus wrote:My question, is how much is the better performance worth it? The HD4850 has been suprisingly able and strong for a several-years old card.

Here's a comparison of the 650 and 4870, no 4850 option available http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/513?vs=681
Here's a big comparison of 64 cards that includes both of them http://uk.hardware.info/reviews/3573/a- ... five-years

XaLEv wrote:
Here's a comparison of the 650 and 4870, no 4850 option available http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/513?vs=681
Here's a big comparison of 64 cards that includes both of them http://uk.hardware.info/reviews/3573/a- ... five-years

The first one I already found, but the second one was interesting. It is curious how well my old 4850 still holds up. My planned card is about 30-50% more powerful. I am just wondering whether that is enough to justify it. I wish I could buy a 700 series card instead, but they are just far out of my budget.

Time to laugh at my 'Rig'.

Dell Precision M4300
A replacement PSU
Original Graphics card renamed into this so that I can overclock it using ASUS GPU TWEAK to this: