The Flat Earth Society
Other Discussion Boards => Technology & Information => Topic started by: Fortuna on November 18, 2014, 08:56:08 AM
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My autism is starting to ramp up into full gear with Black Friday coming, and all of those deliciously discounted PC parts. So, this is what I've come up with. My goal was to build a mini-ITX, power efficient gaming box on a budget. I'll be upgrading the system's memory later on.
Case
(http://www.evga.com/products/images/gallery/110-MA-1001-K1_XL_1.jpg)
EVGA Hadron Air with 500W Gold PSU
Motherboard
ASRock B85M-ITX
Memory
Kingston HyperX FURY 4GB
SSD
Crucial MX100 256GB
CPU
Intel Core i3-4130
Video Card
EVGA GeForce GTX 750Ti
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NVIDIA is a terrible choice if you plan to run anything but Windows, ever.
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NVIDIA is a terrible choice if you plan to run anything but Windows, ever.
I take it NVIDIA doesn't do open source drivers?
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NVIDIA is a terrible choice if you plan to run anything but Windows, ever.
I take it NVIDIA doesn't do open source drivers?
Worse than that; they don't document their cards, so nobody else can write drivers without wasting years reverse engineering them. The nouveau project (http://nouveau.freedesktop.org/wiki/) has been somewhat successful in said reverse engineering, but even that only works on Linux for now, and a number of features are still unsupported (http://nouveau.freedesktop.org/wiki/FeatureMatrix/).
On top of that, the binary drivers NVIDIA provide for Linux suck. They essentially reimplement a large part of the functionality of X internally, so you can't do everyday things like manage your monitor layout without using their special tools, and often cause more problems than they solve.
If you want the option of running any OS that isn't Windows without pain and hardship everywhere you turn, buy an AMD card.
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The SSD seems out of place. You'd be better off with a large capacity HDD of similar price since it is a gaming computer and games nowadays take up huge amounts of space. Just my opinion, though. The idea of constantly deleting/downloading games as I play them is not desirable.
Also, in addition to what Parsifal said, I would like to point out that your GPU is going to be bottlenecked by that CPU. If you're going to build a new computer I'd suggest getting a better CPU first then a GPU later. You can easily add a GPU to a build, but the same isn't really true for CPUs. If you get a bad CPU you're boned until the next build. Intel's integrated graphics are actually pretty impressive, I have a Surface Pro that uses Intel 4000 and it can stand to play most games at 1080p on low settings.
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Also, amp that RAM up to at least 16GB, and use a smaller SSD for OS and get a large HDD for your games and shit. If you're willing to pay more, you can get a large SSD for your games as well and they will load super fast, yo. And yes, get a better
graphics card CPU.
edit: fug
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Also, amp that RAM up to at least 16GB, and use a smaller SSD for OS and get a large HDD for your games and shit. If you're willing to pay more, you can get a large SSD for your games as well and they will load super fast, yo. And yes, get a better graphics card.
This is everything I was going to say. 8 Gb Ram is more than enough. Ram is cheap so why scrimp. Yep, you don't need 256GB for an SSD. Get a 64Gb one for your OS and stick everything else on a big HDD. That case is rubbish. Why do you need something so big?
I had a 3.3Ghz i3 in my last PC. Its a great chip. You won't notice the difference in an i5 or i7 for most games.
You definitely don't need 500W of power supply with a 4th gen i3, an SSD, 4 GB of Ram and a single budget graphics card. Are you cold or something?
Nvidia's PSU requirement for the 750 Ti is also low at just 300W, so you won't need a beefy 500W or 750W beast to power this mini GPU.
Also, what do you need a gold power supply for? Because it says 'gold' and that sounds better so its worth paying more? Is energy that expensive in the US? The difference between a 'gold' power supply and a silver is 2-3% efficiency.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/80_Plus
The difference in your wallet will be about 20 bucks.
You can save a bunch of money and have a better system by doing a bit of proper research.
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I had a 3.3Ghz i3 in my last PC. Its a great chip. You won't notice the difference in an i5 or i7 for most games.
Last time you posted your computer specs, you were using a quadcore, he is looking at a dual core.
See, Thork, this is why I tried to point out to you that you need to pay attention to model numbers, not the series. A dualcore will most definitely hinder his gaming.
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I have an i7 quad core now, but my last PC had an i3-3125 (3.3ghz) in it.
And no, it won't hinder your game play. I benched that i3 against my current i7 only last week. The i7 is 4th gen as well. That i3 out performed the 2.0ghz quadcore i7 I have right now. - yeah, I was shocked too.
Those cranked up i3's are phenomenal. Its all he is going to need with that graphics card. He just isn't going to get anywhere near settings to trouble that CPU. That's not going to be the bottleneck in his system.
PS - those i3 dual cores are hyper threaded. - they act as 4 cores. Bang for buck, I can't think of a better processor than the i3 right now.
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I have an i7 quad core now, but my last PC had an i3-3125 (3.3ghz) in it.
And no, it won't hinder your game play. I benched that i3 against my current i7 only last week. The i7 is 4th gen as well. That i3 out performed the 2.0ghz quadcore i7 I have right now. - yeah, I was shocked too.
Those cranked up i3's are phenomenal. Its all he is going to need with that graphics card. He just isn't going to get anywhere near settings to trouble that CPU. That's not going to be the bottleneck in his system.
PS - those i3 dual cores are hyper threaded. - they act as 4 cores. Bang for buck, I can't think of a better processor than the i3 right now.
You apparently have no idea what hyperthreading is and you also don't know to turn it off during gaming. Jesus Christ, Thork, stop being wrong about literally everything.
Also, why do you have an i7 clocked at 2.0ghz? lolololol
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The SSD seems out of place. You'd be better off with a large capacity HDD of similar price since it is a gaming computer and games nowadays take up huge amounts of space. Just my opinion, though. The idea of constantly deleting/downloading games as I play them is not desirable.
Also, in addition to what Parsifal said, I would like to point out that your GPU is going to be bottlenecked by that CPU. If you're going to build a new computer I'd suggest getting a better CPU first then a GPU later. You can easily add a GPU to a build, but the same isn't really true for CPUs. If you get a bad CPU you're boned until the next build. Intel's integrated graphics are actually pretty impressive, I have a Surface Pro that uses Intel 4000 and it can stand to play most games at 1080p on low settings.
What. I can put a new CPU in almost as easily as a video card. Besides, I said this needs to be power efficient and it also needs to be cheap. I actually almost decided on a Pentium. The SSD is staying too, obviously. I play a new game maybe once every few months, and uninstall ones I don't play anyway.
And Parsial, no, I won't be running any Linux distros on this.
Thork, the PSU comes bundled with the case, so they end up being about $50 each. And that's fine with me.
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Won't fit a lot of anything on 256GB, just sayin.
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Won't fit a lot of anything on 256GB, just sayin.
I'm well aware of the storage capability, thanks beardo.
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Why aren't you getting more storage capacity than 256GB?
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*posts thread asking for suggestions to improve shit PC*
*gets offended when people offer advice*
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Where did he ask for suggestions to improve shit PC?
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Why aren't you getting more storage capacity than 256GB?
There's an obvious answer to this, but I'm sure you can figure it out.
*posts thread asking for suggestions to improve shit PC*
Can you point out where I asked for suggestions?
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You don't play a lot of games, do you?
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Where did he ask for suggestions to improve shit PC?
I thought it was implied.
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Where did he ask for suggestions to improve shit PC?
I thought it was implied.
Andrew already happily pointed out his own autism. He isn't going to understand what a social implication is or even that he may have accidentally initiated one.
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Where did he ask for suggestions to improve shit PC?
I thought it was implied.
Andrew already happily pointed out his own autism. He isn't going to understand what a social implication is or even that he may have accidentally initiated one.
Fair enough. I concede for now.
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Yep, you don't need 256GB for an SSD. Get a 64Gb one for your OS
Stop telling people this. I listened to you and got a smaller (128 GB) SSD for this computer two years ago, and I've been having to shuffle things off the SSD to make space ever since.
And Parsial, no, I won't be running any Linux distros on this.
I didn't say anything about Linux, I said you'd have a hard time if you wanted to run anything but Windows.
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Lunix is the devil. Unlike BSD.
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Yep, you don't need 256GB for an SSD. Get a 64Gb one for your OS
Stop telling people this. I listened to you and got a smaller (128 GB) SSD for this computer two years ago, and I've been having to shuffle things off the SSD to make space ever since.
Well, two years ago, what Thork said is actually fair advice, but the problem is that this isn't two years ago. While SSDs have yet to match HDDs price-to-capacity, they are getting pretty damn close. This is why I suggested a bigger HDD, but admitted it is just a matter of personal opinion. In addition, you have above average data capacity needs. It is possible Andrew really doesn't need much space.
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Also, why do you have an i7 clocked at 2.0ghz? lolololol
Cos my company gave me a laptop. Its as good as my 2 year old PC so I ditched the PC. I don't play games, don't do graphic design or autocad or anything like ... so it just makes sense.
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You don't play a lot of games, do you?
You don't read posts, do you? :P
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You don't play a lot of games, do you?
You don't read posts, do you? :P
He can't hear you over the sound of all that beard.
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I don't play games, don't do graphic design or autocad or anything like ... so it just makes sense.
"I don't do anything that actually requires a processor, but I wholesomely enjoying trying to tell people which processors are best for activities that I don't do."
Wow, Thork, thanks for sharing.
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You don't play a lot of games, do you?
You don't read posts, do you? :P
I know he said he'd be using it as a gaming box. But with only 256GB, he won't be playing a whole lot of games on it.
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He will, but only 1 game at a time.
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You don't play a lot of games, do you?
You don't read posts, do you? :P
I know he said he'd be using it as a gaming box. But with only 256GB, he won't be playing a whole lot of games on it.
The SSD is staying too, obviously. I play a new game maybe once every few months, and uninstall ones I don't play anyway.
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Andrew is weird. Just weird.
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So I decided to switch the case to a Bitfenix Prodigy, simply because I don't like the idea of having a proprietary PSU in my system. And I'm getting an EVGA 500W PSU instead, which is not gold rated. The Pentium G3258 CPU was on sale at Fry's for $40, so I was thinking I'd just get that instead of the i3 and upgrade later. However upon opening the package I saw that the thermal paste had been spread out all over the heat sink. Obviously it was a used unit after seeing that, so I took it back in a rage and got my money back. Just a little piece of advice: if you ever buy something from Fry's electronics, make sure it's factory sealed because they have a notorious track record for open box items.