To those who know who I am, you should know that I have a Mac.
I used it for gaming, which as you can imagine, is not very good.
Well, I decided awhile ago that I cannot game on my Mac, because it is not powerful enough to play the games I love (excluding Source games).
Now, I love playing video games, so when I stopped playing the games that I liked on my Mac, I realized that I would need something that I can play games. I didn't want a console because I was used to playing on PC, and also because my parents would've made me get a PS3 or Xbox 360 (this was when the new consoles were announced, so if I got a PS3 or Xbox 360, I'd only play current-gen games for about a year, because after the PS4 and Xbox one are released, game developers will eventually stop making games for the PS3 and Xbox 360). So, I decided to save up for a PC.
I saved up as much money as possible until I had enough to buy a PC. I didn't want to buy a PC though. I wanted to build one.
So, over the summer, I ordered my parts and I built my computer.
This entire build cost me ~$1700 USD.
It has a new Intel Core i5 processor (Haswell) and one of the most powerful graphics cards currently available (it comes factory overclocked and beats a Titan in some games).
The Benchmarks
With a computer like this, you would expect to max every game out at 1080p, and it does.
It is able to max out every game that I own and still pump out 60+ fps, with the exception of a few games.
Average fps for some games that are known to be GPU intensive:
It is able to max out Crysis 3 with an average FPS of 40-50.
It is able to max out Battlefield 3 with an average FPS of 100.
It is able to max out Far Cry 3 with an average FPS of 50-60.
It is able to max out Hitman Absolution with an average FPS of 60-80.
The Pictures
Here are some pictures I took of my computer:
Edited by Hobo on 09/11/2013 02:53:20
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I also built a computer at the beginning of the year. Only thing that lets yours down is the cpu being air cooled. Probably could of got a alright all in one water cooler for a lil extra? Also your cable management is a bit messy? :3 All round pretty good though I saw this when you put the pics on facebook a few months back or something. Now I can't pick on you for having a mac
P.S
I has same ram :3
Edited by ZA EZrab on 09/11/2013 04:42:12
This entire build cost me ~$1700 USD.
It has a new Intel Core i5 processor (Haswell) and one of the most powerful graphics cards currently available (it comes factory overclocked and beats a Titan in some games).
The Benchmarks
With a computer like this, you would expect to max every game out at 1080p, and it does.
It is able to max out every game that I own and still pump out 60+ fps, with the exception of a few games.
Average fps for some games that are known to be GPU intensive:
It is able to max out Crysis 3 with an average FPS of 40-50.
It is able to max out Battlefield 3 with an average FPS of 100.
It is able to max out Far Cry 3 with an average FPS of 50-60.
It is able to max out Hitman Absolution with an average FPS of 60-80.
Ok i would like to start by saying GJ on your first build, you did better than most for it.
Now i would like to offer my input:
1. From the first picture your using the single fan on the Hyper 212, while fine for the modest CPU your running, your rear case fan looks to be pushing the air out, make sure the fan on the hyper is pulling it out of the heat-sink, or else your creating a stagnant air section between the fans and will lose alot of cooling potential. aswell as creating an environment which could overheat the CPU if your bios thermal guards are set to high.
2. I m assuming your running Windows 7, make sure your using the 64bit edition since you will otherwise have wasted 12gb of your total ram. Also, even with 64bit consider locking down a gig or 2 to services instead of the general pool, it will greatly reduce random reads to the ram aswell as allocate better security from memory hacks.
3. Im let down that you choose a WD Blue drive instead of a Black model, while the diff. is minute, on the surface, the black has a much better warranty, random read seeks, aswell as the ability to do a hot exchange instead of waiting for them to receive yours first. Also, why 1tb? for the cost of only 10% more you can land a 2 or 3TB. aswell as the black line.
4. Did you consider using SLI? for example using 2 760's in sli would run you 520ish and net you a 30-65% gain in performance. aswell if you ever go multi-monitor, having 1 card pump out 1080P to dual displays would render your GPU overtaxed to due gaming
nice system,im super jelly. im anxious to see what Vulture has to say about your rig. Tech wizard!
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit. -Aristotle
ZA EZrab wrote:
I also built a computer at the beginning of the year. Only thing that lets yours down is the cpu being air cooled. Probably could of got a alright all in one water cooler for a lil extra? Also your cable management is a bit messy? :3 All round pretty good though I saw this when you put the pics on facebook a few months back or something. Now I can't pick on you for having a mac
P.S
I has same ram :3
I considered water cooling, but in the end I chose not to get it because it is too expensive. I know the benefits of water cooling though. Oh, and yes, I am aware my cable management is hideous. One day, I plan to route cables and group them together with zip ties.
FC_SlimJim wrote:
Ok i would like to start by saying GJ on your first build, you did better than most for it.
Now i would like to offer my input:
1. From the first picture your using the single fan on the Hyper 212, while fine for the modest CPU your running, your rear case fan looks to be pushing the air out, make sure the fan on the hyper is pulling it out of the heat-sink, or else your creating a stagnant air section between the fans and will lose alot of cooling potential. aswell as creating an environment which could overheat the CPU if your bios thermal guards are set to high.
2. I m assuming your running Windows 7, make sure your using the 64bit edition since you will otherwise have wasted 12gb of your total ram. Also, even with 64bit consider locking down a gig or 2 to services instead of the general pool, it will greatly reduce random reads to the ram aswell as allocate better security from memory hacks.
3. Im let down that you choose a WD Blue drive instead of a Black model, while the diff. is minute, on the surface, the black has a much better warranty, random read seeks, aswell as the ability to do a hot exchange instead of waiting for them to receive yours first. Also, why 1tb? for the cost of only 10% more you can land a 2 or 3TB. aswell as the black line.
4. Did you consider using SLI? for example using 2 760's in sli would run you 520ish and net you a 30-65% gain in performance. aswell if you ever go multi-monitor, having 1 card pump out 1080P to dual displays would render your GPU overtaxed to due gaming
1. I am already aware of the CPU cooler situation. It is like that because the RAM is in the way of the CPU cooler if the fan is on the other side. This picture was taken right after I built it. A week after I built it, I flipped the rear fan, so it wouldn't mess with the airflow.
2. I am running Windows 7 64-bit, obviously. I'm not stupid when it comes to technology (not saying that you said that). I know that 32-bit doesn't utilize all the RAM. Also, I am using 16gb because I render things/ use programs which benefit from the 16gb of RAM (which you should know I do).
3. This HDD is not going to be the only HDD. I plan on buying a few more HDDs (and maybe even an SSD) when I run out of space. At the moment 1TB is enough for me. I don't need 2TB or 3TB.
4. I have considered SLI, but I decided not to do it. I understand the performance gain, however I chose against it because SLI will have more driver issues compared to a single card solution. I do plan on SLIing one day though, hence the overkill PSU. Also, as cool as multi-monitor solutions are, I prefer a single screen for numerous reasons. Also, I'm saving up for a 144hz monitor because my computer can pump out more than 60fps.
Edited by Hobo on 09/11/2013 10:27:38
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CPU: Intel Core i5-4670k <--- Not bad because the i7 4770K slightly beats it, but not much of a difference on the performance and good for a lower priced CPU.
As for the Corsair Vengeance RAM, even though Windows can support up to 8GB RAM as max, I still love the Corsair Vengeance edition of RAMs as it beats any G.Skill series.
For your graphics card, the GTX 780 was a smart choice. The Titan is like around $1,000 and GTX 780 falls short in price range of $650~. Not only that, the Titan also beats the GTX 780 slightly at most of the Frames Per Second benchmark scores. So the GTX 780 for $650~ would be a better choice than spending $1000 on a GTX Titan.
But overall, your build there totally kicks mine from 2011.
A question: What operating system do you have? I wouldn't get Windows 8 as it blows monkey poop. See if you can install Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit on that PC, and trust me, you'll love how that OS is capable of running on such a beast machine.
Another question: Are you willing to buy a Solid State Drive? If so, install the operating system into the SSD and install secondary apps or games that you don't want for speed/performance boost into the 1TB HDD. Useful things such as the OS along with programs and apps that take forever to load/render would be the best to install it to the SSD only.
CPU: Intel Core i5-4670k <--- Not bad because the i7 4770K slightly beats it, but not much of a difference on the performance and good for a lower priced CPU.
As for the Corsair Vengeance RAM, even though Windows can support up to 8GB RAM as max, I still love the Corsair Vengeance edition of RAMs as it beats any G.Skill series.
For your graphics card, the GTX 780 was a smart choice. The Titan is like around $1,000 and GTX 780 falls short in price range of $650~. Not only that, the Titan also beats the GTX 780 slightly at most of the Frames Per Second benchmark scores. So the GTX 780 for $650~ would be a better choice than spending $1000 on a GTX Titan.
But overall, your build there totally kicks mine from 2011.
A question: What operating system do you have? I wouldn't get Windows 8 as it blows monkey poop. See if you can install Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit on that PC, and trust me, you'll love how that OS is capable of running on such a beast machine.
Another question: Are you willing to buy a Solid State Drive? If so, install the operating system into the SSD and install secondary apps or games that you don't want for speed/performance boost into the 1TB HDD. Useful things such as the OS along with programs and apps that take forever to load/render would be the best to install it to the SSD only.
I chose the i5 because I mainly game, and a quad-core is ideal for gaming. I would've gotten an i7 if I had a higher budget because I would've taken advantage of the hyper threading (though I wouldn't take advantage of it that much).
Corsair Vengeance is quite nice, but they are quite large and can get in the way of the CPU cooler (which happened to me).
I am actually running Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit. I don't like Windows 8 either.
I don't plan on getting an SSD at the moment because my HDD is fast enough for my needs. Also, I already know that if you get an SSD you should install the OS and frequently used programs on the SSD.
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ZA EZrab wrote:
I also built a computer at the beginning of the year. Only thing that lets yours down is the cpu being air cooled. Probably could of got a alright all in one water cooler for a lil extra? Also your cable management is a bit messy? :3 All round pretty good though I saw this when you put the pics on facebook a few months back or something. Now I can't pick on you for having a mac
P.S
I has same ram :3
I considered water cooling, but in the end I chose not to get it because it is too expensive. I know the benefits of water cooling though. Oh, and yes, I am aware my cable management is hideous. One day, I plan to route cables and group them together with zip ties.
FC_SlimJim wrote:
Ok i would like to start by saying GJ on your first build, you did better than most for it.
Now i would like to offer my input:
1. From the first picture your using the single fan on the Hyper 212, while fine for the modest CPU your running, your rear case fan looks to be pushing the air out, make sure the fan on the hyper is pulling it out of the heat-sink, or else your creating a stagnant air section between the fans and will lose alot of cooling potential. aswell as creating an environment which could overheat the CPU if your bios thermal guards are set to high.
2. I m assuming your running Windows 7, make sure your using the 64bit edition since you will otherwise have wasted 12gb of your total ram. Also, even with 64bit consider locking down a gig or 2 to services instead of the general pool, it will greatly reduce random reads to the ram aswell as allocate better security from memory hacks.
3. Im let down that you choose a WD Blue drive instead of a Black model, while the diff. is minute, on the surface, the black has a much better warranty, random read seeks, aswell as the ability to do a hot exchange instead of waiting for them to receive yours first. Also, why 1tb? for the cost of only 10% more you can land a 2 or 3TB. aswell as the black line.
4. Did you consider using SLI? for example using 2 760's in sli would run you 520ish and net you a 30-65% gain in performance. aswell if you ever go multi-monitor, having 1 card pump out 1080P to dual displays would render your GPU overtaxed to due gaming
1. I am already aware of the CPU cooler situation. It is like that because the RAM is in the way of the CPU cooler if the fan is on the other side. This picture was taken right after I built it. A week after I built it, I flipped the rear fan, so it wouldn't mess with the airflow.
2. I am running Windows 7 64-bit, obviously. I'm not stupid when it comes to technology (not saying that you said that). I know that 32-bit doesn't utilize all the RAM. Also, I am using 16gb because I render things/ use programs which benefit from the 16gb of RAM (which you should know I do).
3. This HDD is not going to be the only HDD. I plan on buying a few more HDDs (and maybe even an SSD) when I run out of space. At the moment 1TB is enough for me. I don't need 2TB or 3TB.
4. I have considered SLI, but I decided not to do it. I understand the performance gain, however I chose against it because SLI will have more driver issues compared to a single card solution. I do plan on SLIing one day though, hence the overkill PSU. Also, as cool as multi-monitor solutions are, I prefer a single screen for numerous reasons. Also, I'm saving up for a 144hz monitor because my computer can pump out more than 60fps.
1. good, however having both venting twards the back is still a better spot since your directly removing cpu heat, otherwise it just raises case temp.
2. i highly doubt you can properly utilize 16GB while multi-tasking, ive never seen you able to multi-task with more then 1.5 things, so unless your running a single instance of say vmware hosting 50 or so web boxes its overkill.
3. the reason that a larger HD can a better choice is that both the 1tb and 3tb have the same # of platters, the density just increases. Because of that you have a much better random seek, and write. also even if you dont use the full 3tb, you would ave a much better speed once you reached about 1tb compared to the smaller drive. since the read arm has to travel to the end of the drive to read all of it where on the 3tb it wont have to (provided to have it regularly defraged).
4. SLI Drivers are rock solid anymore. Most Developers have supported SLI since 2010, and are building games with the SDK to support them. Also, FPS and Hz are not congruent things to compare. your Fps is not always tied to your refresh rate, also be warned than if you go to the higher rate your video quality will suffer from non-HD sources.
1. good, however having both venting twards the back is still a better spot since your directly removing cpu heat, otherwise it just raises case temp.
2. i highly doubt you can properly utilize 16GB while multi-tasking, ive never seen you able to multi-task with more then 1.5 things, so unless your running a single instance of say vmware hosting 50 or so web boxes its overkill.
3. the reason that a larger HD can a better choice is that both the 1tb and 3tb have the same # of platters, the density just increases. Because of that you have a much better random seek, and write. also even if you dont use the full 3tb, you would ave a much better speed once you reached about 1tb compared to the smaller drive. since the read arm has to travel to the end of the drive to read all of it where on the 3tb it wont have to (provided to have it regularly defraged).
4. SLI Drivers are rock solid anymore. Most Developers have supported SLI since 2010, and are building games with the SDK to support them. Also, FPS and Hz are not congruent things to compare. your Fps is not always tied to your refresh rate, also be warned than if you go to the higher rate your video quality will suffer from non-HD sources.
1. I understand that having the rear fan as an exhaust fan, instead of an intake fan would be better (if that is what you are saying), but at the moment, having it as an exhaust fan wouldn't be the best idea. Besides, the top of the case has an opening (where you can place a 200mm fan, which I plan to buy), that is helping dissipate the heat from the CPU (since heat rises).
2. I can multi-task a lot more than I used to since I don't get distracted as easily as I used to. I often have 5+ things open at once. Now, those programs that are all open don't utilize the full 16GB, however 16GB of RAM can come in handy when I am rendering something in Cinema 4D. Also, I was considering using some of the RAM as a RAMDisk.
3. Okay you win this one. However, it wasn't really in my budget to get one (and if it was, I didn't notice).
4. SLI drivers may be fine at the moment, but you never know when the beta drivers (I download the beta drivers) will make SLI worse. Also, SLI may give a performance gain, but it also creates more heat, more power, and more noise (though noise is not an issue of mine). SLI will also have some micro-suttering (though NVidia has done a good job at fixing it). I am aware that SLI is supported by most developers. I also know that FPS and Hz are really comparable, but if I was playing a game and I was getting 120 FPS, while on a 120Hz monitor, it would look much more fluid than a 60Hz monitor.
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I also have a 1tb hdd in my build. I have a 120gb ssd as my boot drive and the boot time is extremely fast. One of my real life friends has a similar system to mine just no ssd. I borrowed his hdd which has his os on it and compared it performance wise against my ssd. Probably about a 40ish % performance increase on some things and even more on others. If you do decide to get a ssd, I can tell you, you will not regret it. Also I got a 120ml water cooler that cost $120 new zealand dollars (90ish usd?) that will probably out perform nearly any air cooler. Not to expensive considering that decent air coolers are around that price. I'll post a pic of mine when I can get on my laptop later.
Edited by ZA EZrab on 09/11/2013 22:48:50
I saw this when you put the pics on facebook a few months back or something. Now I can't pick on you for having a mac 
