---

My rationale for the chosen products:

---

CPU:

• Intel quad-core, hyper threaded, locked CPU clocked at 3,4GHz with a turbo boost up to 3,8GHz.
  This is pretty much an i7 without on-board graphics (not required). Which means that the price is a bit lower. It's an older generation, since we have a new one out, but the price increase pushed me over the $1500 limit.
  
  Check out the videos above: "i3, i5 & i7 / hyperthreading explained & what CPU to buy?" to understand why I suggest this Xeon.
  
  

  CPU Cooler:
  

• Not required to buy, since you do get an intel stock cooler that will keep the temperatures in check. But those stock coolers tend to get a bit loud, which I personally can't stand. So that's why I suggest this $15 cooler. Absolutely not a must and if you don't mind the "whiny" noise that the stock cooler can produce, you can leave it out.
  I did went for a case that got some noise reduction features build into it, to help reduce the noise.
  
  

  Motherboard:
  

• Cheapest motherboard with 4 RAM slots that accepts the Xeon to be placed in. While it is relatively cheap, it's not bad at all and a fan favorite. The only downside it got is that it only got 1 fan case header on it. Meaning that you have to buy a fan splitter when you add more fans into it.
  If you do want to add a fan later on to reduce the temperatures, then I would advise this Arctic F9 fan.
  
  

  Memory:
  

• RAM is RAM. Speeds does not matter much, the only thing that matters is capacity. 16GB is an awesome amount of RAM which allows you to run (multiple) games, streaming software, skype video calls, music, lots of chrome tabs, all at the same time without running into any issues.
  
  

  Storage:
  

• Review (SP550)
  Now, no.. this SSD does not win any prices in terms of performance. But it absolutely destroys value market. It's an amazing SSD and you won't notice much of a difference compared to the more expensive options out there. 240GB is a good chunk, but you'll lose about 30GB because of the OS & formatting.
  Watch the "SSD vs HDD" video to learn more about the difference between an SSD & HDD!
  
  The HDD is just a standard 2TB HDD, which should give you plenty of storage for a start. If you later need more, you can always buy more HDDs and install them. The motherboard supports up to 4 more HDDs.
  Note: you want to connect the SSD with SATA3 (6Gbps) ports on the motherboard, not the SATA2 (3Gbps) ports. The HDDs can be connected in the SATA2 no problem, since HDDs don't reach the maximum speed that SATA2 is capable off.
  
  

  Video Card:
  

• Review (video)
  

• Review (written)
  

  
  

  Now this is a beast of a card. It really is, it's about.. price to performance. The GTX1080 is the big brother, which costs almost 40% more, yet only provides about 18.2% on avarage extra performance based on 7 games @ 1440p in DX11, DX12 & OpenGL.
  

  The custom cooler from Zotac also helps to cool the GPU even better.
  

  
  

  
  

  Game @ 1440p (ultra settings)|API|FPS GTX1080| FPS GTX1070|% Difference
  

  ----|:----|:----|:----|:----
  Rise of the Tomb Raider | DX12 | 90 | 71 | 21.1
  Hitman (2016) | DX12 | 81 | 65 | 19.7
  Doom (2016) | OpenGL | 112 | 91 | 18.7
  Far Cry Primal | DX11 | 80 | 65 | 18.7
  Fallout 4 | DX11 | 103 | 85 | 17.4
  GTA5 | DX11 | 114 | 101 | 11.4
  The Witcher 3 | DX11 | 82 | 65 | 20.7
  Average | | 94.6 | 77.6 | 18.2
  
  Source
  
  ##Case:
  

• Review
  This is again a part where it really got a great value / performance aspect to it. It's under $40 and comes with sound dampening foam to reduce the noise, 1x120mm silent fan & enough room for all your parts. It's even a little bit tiny. But SilverStone also provide you with an awesome manual to help you build the PC.
  You should have no problem at all to build the PC inside this case if you follow the video guides & the manual.
  
  
  

  Power Supply:
  

• 5 year warranty, 80+ gold, semi-modular, 550W PSU from Rosewill made by SuperFlower.
  That last part is important! "SuperFlower" is the OEM of this PSU and they're together with SeaSonic, Delta & a few others that you rarely see the top of the line in terms of quality. Now yes, even those OEMs have bad PSUs, but this one is absolutely not one of them. Of course there are better PSUs, but then you do start to pay a lot more as well.
  In terms of value, this PSU is probably the best you can get right now. Especially considering that the case is rather small, you'll love the modular part of it. Meaning that you only need to plug in the cables that you need & nothing else extra.
  
  

  Monitor:
  

• Review
  While not a very scientific review. It does tell you what I also believe is the key point of this monitor, value. At this price, it's a no brainer. While still a fair amount of money for a monitor, I am certain that you will feel that this is absolutely worth it.
  It is a 2560x1440p, 60Hz, IPS display. I highly recommend you to watch the videos above that I marked as ← Important! The panel types & resolution are the most important ones. I still find 60Hz, 1440p absolutely amazing for gaming almost all games. The ONLY key game where a 144Hz, 1080p monitor would be the better choice for would be CS:GO. A game that you did list, so.. I leave it up to you to decide, if CS:GO is really an important game to you, then sure get this 1080p, 144Hz, TN monitor. It's the same price, so you lose resolution, viewing angles & color reproduction for the gain of a higher refresh rate and "smoother" gameplay. Which only really is "useful" in CS:GO.
  If you don't play on a high level and are more a casual gamer, I would highly recommend the 1440p monitor. I can provide you with a visual representation of the difference between 1080p & 1440p. Click!
  The pink monitor is my 1080p & the baby blue is my 1440p monitor. I've opened up a text file twice and they're the exact same size. I've only moved them to roughly the same location on the monitor. To show you the difference of real estate / workspace that 1440p gives you.
  
  

  Keyboard:
  

• Cheap one, because I did not have the budget left and it's an easy thing to upgrade down the road. But this keyboard does have some alright reviews and it got a couple of different LED colors in it.
  
  

  Headphones:
  

• Review
  
• Review
  Yes I give you 2 reviews, just in case you aren't sold after the first video. This headset is actually amazingly good considering the price. I went for the black & white version, which is the only change that's made with the "Pro" version, which is black & red. If you like that color, go ahead and get that one instead.
  
  I don't recommend the "II" version because all you get is a "3D" virtual surround card. Which.. in my opinion does not really make a difference.
  I can give you surround sound with ANY cheap headset or even earbuds that you have.. right now! It works a bit better with a headset/headphones then earbuds, but both options work. Just make sure that you have your sound setup set in stereo. headphones or 2.0 speaker mode. Then listen to this with your eyes closed!
  
  
  

  Hope you like it and If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask.

CPU

Mother Board

GPU

8GB of RAM

1TB HDD for way more storage space then a console. You could drop the storage space to match a console and save a bit of money, but we won't do that.

PSU Cheaper/lower wattage for this build is possible, but it's better not to skimp

Disk drives are dying out and everything is going digital. Even consoles are showing massive growth in direct game purchases and downloads from PSN/XBL. But here it is if you want one.

Here's a few cases 1 2 3 4. Pick your case based on style, USB ports, whatever. All of those are 30 dollars or less and are mATX, meaning smaller form factor.

So now peripherals. Need a monitor? No you don't, plug it in to your TV. HDMI just like a console and consoles don't come with displays. You might have a monitor already.
Controller/input devices? PCs can use the old controllers you have laying around. Here's a keyboard and mouse recommendation anyway if you want one or don't already own them since most people own a computer for stuff outside gaming. That costs around half the price of an OEM console controller and KB+M is a more accurate input method. Controllers are a comfort thing and are best suited for driving games, but point and click with a high DPI sensor is much more intuitive and accurate than a controller with bad input filtering and clunky auto aim. Microsoft tried cross platform and keyboard and mouse destroyed gamepad/controller players. The only real cross platform right now is Rocket League because controllers are the better input method for driving so it's equal footing. But if you're playing Rocket League on PC, you load in faster. You'll be sitting on an empty field while you wait for other players to connect before the countdown and stuff starts, kinda neat. Also, that one I recommended has a button to change DPI/sensitivity on the fly, no need to bother with settings menus. Seamlessly go from sniping to roaming to driving. The keyboard is back lit and has a few color options.

Operating system? GNU/Linux is free and is getting more and more gaming support every day. It's not as hard as people make it out to be. Get a basic/user friendly distro like Ubuntu and all you really have to do is install. If you're a masochist, a developer, or a masochistic developer get a tougher distro like Gentoo. Funny thing as well, games with Linux support run better on Linux since it's such a great operating system on the software level. SteamOS is also free. Want Windows? Download the OS and put it on a disk or flash drive, install it on the new computer and enter the product key. Where do you get a product key? Don't buy it from a big box retail store for 100 bucks or likely more, you're getting gypped. You can buy 100% legit product keys online. r/microsoftsoftwareswap sells them for 20-25$ and the keys are straight from Microsoft

Also, all of those listings are from Amazon and are Amazon Prime eligible (for the other guy that replied to you that wants to complain about rebates/shipping/living next to a MicroCenter). You can find a lot of those parts cheaper and/or with free shipping. I recommend NewEgg. So you can do even better than the price I'm about to give you (which also means you can get better hardware for better performance):

Here's the itemized list with the prices: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/QBVRNG

$448.51 total for a PC that is massively better than current gen consoles. Drop the unnecessary DVD drive and the keyboard+mouse combo and the PC itself comes in at $402.93.

So... brand new parts from a large online retailer with a great support system. You can get even better deals on the parts if you checked other great online retailers like NewEgg. Ten years ago consoles absolutely made sense, but now leaps in hardware design have made better hardware cheaper and the tables have turned.

Does that "come close without cheating"?

Here's a few more kickers now that we have the hard price set:

AMD and Nvidia are about to launch a new line of GPUs, meaning current prices will drop (better performance at lower cost on that build I just gave you) and AMD is specifically focusing on lower/mid range market with higher performance and efficiency. It's going to be great for mainstream gaming rigs.

PC gaming is usually cheaper over time because Intel/Nvida/AMD don't charge development fees (they can't), neither can EVGA/ASUS or whoever makes the parts, neither can Microsoft. Steam takes a cut, but so do stores like GameStop. Stuff like that is why Steam can have massive sales consoles can only dream of and the developers can still profit from a sale. The only reason PC games are 60 dollars like their console equivalents is because it's the standard and they can "get away with it" (especially if you're Microsoft trying to expand Windows 10 and not alienate XBox), but they can make the same or more per sale at a lower cost.

PCs also have the largest game library of any platform and the massive free to play library that comes with it as well. And it's really free, not 'pay 50 a year for a subscription and get to play a game for a month' free

PC is, in theory, forever backwards compatible. Want to play CoD4? Don't shell out the money for Infinite Warfare, just install CoD4 and play on the servers PC still hosts. Games that came out upwards of 10 years ago can still be installed and run with no issue.

You don't have to double spend. No buying a console and a computer for work/school. Put your 300 dollar home computer and 400 dollar console prices together and you made a huge leap in budget to built a killer PC. You also get a much more versatile platform capable of running much more stuff and you get so much more control over your experience.

Testing new things, I need your help.

> /r/theydidthemath has a neat 'points' system that I feel would be super awesome to have in our Daily Simple Questions thread. If you ask a question, and someone answers it correctly, reply with a thank you, but include this checkmark: ✓ ( or if you cannot enter Unicode, use !check instead )

> This will score the user whose comment you replied to a 'point'. I don't know what these points will be used for or if this feature will be a permanent thing. This is where you come in. If there's a good response and it works like I want it to, this could be a great way to incentivize people helping.

Now, get out there and help some people!

-\/u\/eegras

----

In case you missed it, click here for yesterday's Daily Simple Questions thread. There may be some questions still unanswered! Below are a selection of questions with no replies. See if you can help them out.

If you don't want to see this comment click the little [-] to the left of my username to collapse this comment.

----

> I have a 1TB HDD for mass storage (and 128gb for OS), being the PC enthusiast that I am, I want to run on SSD only storage from this point on.
> I want to get a 500GB SSD (750 EVO) this month, and the coming few months 1 SSD of 500Gigs at a time.
>
> Is this a smart idea or am I better off saving money for 1 big 1TB or 2TB SSD?
>
> In the netherlands, the 750 EVO 500GB is around 120 euros

/r/pcmasterrace/comments/52wajw/daily_simple_questions_thread_sep_15_2016/d7p6jnr

----

> I've just installed Windows 10. What are some things that I should remove? I found this thread but it's like a year old so I don't know if the same things still apply https://www.reddit.com/r/pcmasterrace/comments/3f10k0/things_to_removedisable_in_windows_10/

/r/pcmasterrace/comments/52wajw/daily_simple_questions_thread_sep_15_2016/d7p5ss4

----

> hello
> i've got a problem with my pc but i'm not sure what it is
> my setup is
> 970 gtx
> i5 4590
> 2x8gb ram
> b85 mb
> anyway, its nothing unusual
> When i play overwatch on high settings my pc turns off after really short duration of playing. I don't get any fps drops or any weird things going. Same happend in word of tanks beta hd.
> Ive got OCZ 600W stealth stream 2 PSU, the power seems to be enough but as far as i looked for answers everyone says its psu. When i did a stress test in furmark it didn't turn off, my psu is a bit older then rest of my pc.
> Is there a way to check if its psu or any other component failing?

/r/pcmasterrace/comments/52wajw/daily_simple_questions_thread_sep_15_2016/d7p5iyg

----

> Are there any really clear UV reactive dyes I could use for my system? I just have clear distilled water in my loop but I'd love for it to also be UV reactive without making it also colored.

/r/pcmasterrace/comments/52wajw/daily_simple_questions_thread_sep_15_2016/d7opu5s

----

> What's an, or some, ideal rectangular tables for this space right here: http://i.imgur.com/y6KBwP1.jpg
> As you can see it's a pretty garbage table and I'm willing to get rid of it as quick as possible, as well as organize the things on the table.

/r/pcmasterrace/comments/52wajw/daily_simple_questions_thread_sep_15_2016/d7oni4l

----

> Anyone know if the AM1M-A board supports hot-swapping?
>
> Also - how do you set a particular drive to be marked as external? is it done by the bios or os?
> Thanks

/r/pcmasterrace/comments/52wajw/daily_simple_questions_thread_sep_15_2016/d7ojsn9

----

> Sata power cable on this CX 500 is too fat to be able to plug into the SSD, any recommendations on extensions?

/r/pcmasterrace/comments/52wajw/daily_simple_questions_thread_sep_15_2016/d7oe85n

----

> Good place for buying custom sized mousepads?

/r/pcmasterrace/comments/52wajw/daily_simple_questions_thread_sep_15_2016/d7odl76

----

> Where is AMD Catalyst Control Center saved by default? I want to overclock my monitor and can't figure it out.
>
> Edit. Advanced settings through AMD Preferences.

/r/pcmasterrace/comments/52wajw/daily_simple_questions_thread_sep_15_2016/d7oc2w8

----

> EA is asking me to verify my game (BF4) but when i bought it didnt come with a verification code since i bought via origin store, is this normal?

/r/pcmasterrace/comments/52wajw/daily_simple_questions_thread_sep_15_2016/d7o8bmp

----

> so I own the Cooler Master HAF 912 ATX Mid Tower Case and I really want my setup to start going a color theme or something like that do I need to buy a new case with a window. Im kinda wanting to go black and red a little because of my brand new HyperX Cloud 2s any one have suggestions? Is there anything I can do to my current setup to make it start following a theme? here is my current build PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant
>
> Type|Item|Price
> :----|:----|:----
> CPU | Intel Core i3-6100 3.7GHz Dual-Core Processor | $110.99 @ SuperBiiz
> Motherboard | MSI H110M Pro-VD Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard | $55.99 @ SuperBiiz
> Memory | Crucial 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2133 Memory | $35.98 @ Newegg
> Storage | Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive | $45.89 @ OutletPC
> Video Card | EVGA GeForce GTX 960 4GB SuperSC ACX 2.0+ Video Card | $220.00
> Case | Cooler Master HAF 912 ATX Mid Tower Case | $54.99 @ Newegg
> Power Supply | EVGA 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply | $43.49 @ SuperBiiz
> Operating System | Microsoft Windows 10 Pro OEM 64-bit | $0.00
> Monitor | Samsung 2333T 23.0" Monitor | $100.00
> Keyboard | Razer BlackWidow Chroma Wired Gaming Keyboard | $145.28 @ B&H
> Headphones | Kingston HyperX Cloud II 7.1 Channel Headset | $91.99 @ Newegg
> Other| Tax| $60.00
> Other| Dell Premium 6-Button USB Laser Scroll Mouse J660D| $0.00
> | Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts |
> | Total (before mail-in rebates) | $979.60
> | Mail-in rebates | -$15.00
> | Total | $964.60
> | Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-09-15 14:53 EDT-0400 |

/r/pcmasterrace/comments/52wajw/daily_simple_questions_thread_sep_15_2016/d7o6g5c

----

> http://pcpartpicker.com/list/46wfyf
> Will these parts fit in the case? It's a Mini ITX build.

/r/pcmasterrace/comments/52wajw/daily_simple_questions_thread_sep_15_2016/d7o5liu

----

> Is it better to use a fan splitter cable like this https://www.amazon.com/SilverStone-Technology-Sleeved-Splitter-CPF01/dp/B00B46XKKQ that connect directly to the board or get direct PSU fan cables/passthroughs like this https://www.amazon.com/Alpha-Omega-148-0027-Adapter/dp/B000BSJGL0/ref=pd_sim_23_3?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=BVYPBTJHZB4KKFH4C2HJ to add more fans than there are mobo fan headers? (Note: I'm not sure if either brand is reliable and will do research on what company makes the best of those cables)
>
> Also, why are LED fans cheaper than non LED fans?

/r/pcmasterrace/comments/52wajw/daily_simple_questions_thread_sep_15_2016/d7o5aw2

----

> I'm using my mouse with a bungee cord (for cable management) and the mouse cable is developing a small kink. Any tips for straightening these out?

/r/pcmasterrace/comments/52wajw/daily_simple_questions_thread_sep_15_2016/d7o4ngp

----

> I am using an NZXT Grid V2 fan controller, does anyone know if I have to actually be running CAM in order for my fan profiles to be active?
>
> And does anyone have any recommendations for a monitor mount/stand for a 27 and 24 inch pair of monitors?

/r/pcmasterrace/comments/52wajw/daily_simple_questions_thread_sep_152016/d7o0x4k

----

User | Points
-----|-------
Trazac | 14
Flying_Spaghetti\ | 7
thatgermanperson | 6
rehpotsirhc123 | 6
Xolandi | 3
TehThyz | 3
saldytuwas | 2
ImpatientPedant | 2
ITXorBust | 2
Buxton_Water | 2
iiNt3rV3nTiiOnZ7 | 2
Sayakai | 2
Rivin2e | 2




----

I am a bot - This action was done automatically. Please direct any questions or concerns ( or bug reports ) to \/u\/eegras - About /u/PCMRBot

Nope, just run this script from the arch wiki:

!/bin/bash

shopt -s nullglob<br />
for g in /sys/kernel/iommu_groups/*; do<br />
    echo &quot;IOMMU Group ${g##*/}:&quot;<br />
    for d in $g/devices/*; do<br />
        echo -e &quot;\t$(lspci -nns ${d##*/})&quot;<br />
    done;<br />
done;<br />

My output is below. What you are looking out for is mainly to find at least one USB controller that is in its own group. For my VM I pass the amd usb 3.0 controller(group 20). I then could use the onboard asmedia usb 3.1 controller for my host, but instead I just use a pci express card for that. I use this https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00FPIMJEW/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 since it is very stable. The asmedia controller isn't the most stable thing in the world.

​

IOMMU Group 0:
00:01.0 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 17h (Models 00h-1fh) PCIe Dummy Host Bridge [1022:1452]
IOMMU Group 1:
00:01.1 PCI bridge [0604]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 17h (Models 00h-0fh) PCIe GPP Bridge [1022:1453]
IOMMU Group 10:
00:08.0 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 17h (Models 00h-1fh) PCIe Dummy Host Bridge [1022:1452]
IOMMU Group 11:
00:08.1 PCI bridge [0604]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 17h (Models 00h-0fh) Internal PCIe GPP Bridge 0 to Bus B [1022:1454]
IOMMU Group 12:
00:14.0 SMBus [0c05]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH SMBus Controller [1022:790b] (rev 59)
00:14.3 ISA bridge [0601]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH LPC Bridge [1022:790e] (rev 51)
IOMMU Group 13:
00:18.0 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 17h (Models 00h-0fh) Data Fabric: Device 18h; Function 0 [1022:1460]
00:18.1 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 17h (Models 00h-0fh) Data Fabric: Device 18h; Function 1 [1022:1461]
00:18.2 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 17h (Models 00h-0fh) Data Fabric: Device 18h; Function 2 [1022:1462]
00:18.3 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 17h (Models 00h-0fh) Data Fabric: Device 18h; Function 3 [1022:1463]
00:18.4 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 17h (Models 00h-0fh) Data Fabric: Device 18h; Function 4 [1022:1464]
00:18.5 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 17h (Models 00h-0fh) Data Fabric: Device 18h; Function 5 [1022:1465]
00:18.6 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 17h (Models 00h-0fh) Data Fabric: Device 18h; Function 6 [1022:1466]
00:18.7 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 17h (Models 00h-0fh) Data Fabric: Device 18h; Function 7 [1022:1467]
IOMMU Group 14:
01:00.0 Non-Volatile memory controller [0108]: Phison Electronics Corporation E12 NVMe Controller [1987:5012] (rev 01)
IOMMU Group 15:
03:00.0 USB controller [0c03]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Device [1022:43d0] (rev 01)
03:00.1 SATA controller [0106]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] 400 Series Chipset SATA Controller [1022:43c8] (rev 01)
03:00.2 PCI bridge [0604]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] 400 Series Chipset PCIe Bridge [1022:43c6] (rev 01)
16:00.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] 400 Series Chipset PCIe Port [1022:43c7] (rev 01)
16:01.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] 400 Series Chipset PCIe Port [1022:43c7] (rev 01)
16:02.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] 400 Series Chipset PCIe Port [1022:43c7] (rev 01)
16:03.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] 400 Series Chipset PCIe Port [1022:43c7] (rev 01)
16:04.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] 400 Series Chipset PCIe Port [1022:43c7] (rev 01)
16:08.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] 400 Series Chipset PCIe Port [1022:43c7] (rev 01)
1b:00.0 USB controller [0c03]: Fresco Logic FL1100 USB 3.0 Host Controller [1b73:1100] (rev 10)
1c:00.0 USB controller [0c03]: ASMedia Technology Inc. ASM1142 USB 3.1 Host Controller [1b21:1242]
IOMMU Group 16:
1d:00.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: NVIDIA Corporation GP104 [GeForce GTX 1070] [10de:1b81] (rev a1)
1d:00.1 Audio device [0403]: NVIDIA Corporation GP104 High Definition Audio Controller [10de:10f0] (rev a1)
IOMMU Group 17:
1e:00.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: NVIDIA Corporation GP106 [GeForce GTX 1060 3GB] [10de:1c02] (rev a1)
1e:00.1 Audio device [0403]: NVIDIA Corporation GP106 High Definition Audio Controller [10de:10f1] (rev a1)
IOMMU Group 18:
1f:00.0 Non-Essential Instrumentation [1300]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Zeppelin/Raven/Raven2 PCIe Dummy Function [1022:145a]
IOMMU Group 19:
1f:00.2 Encryption controller [1080]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 17h (Models 00h-0fh) Platform Security Processor [1022:1456]
IOMMU Group 2:
00:01.3 PCI bridge [0604]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 17h (Models 00h-0fh) PCIe GPP Bridge [1022:1453]
IOMMU Group 20:
1f:00.3 USB controller [0c03]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 17h (Models 00h-0fh) USB 3.0 Host Controller [1022:145c]
IOMMU Group 21:
20:00.0 Non-Essential Instrumentation [1300]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Zeppelin/Renoir PCIe Dummy Function [1022:1455]
IOMMU Group 22:
20:00.2 SATA controller [0106]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH SATA Controller [AHCI mode] [1022:7901] (rev 51)
IOMMU Group 23:
20:00.3 Audio device [0403]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 17h (Models 00h-0fh) HD Audio Controller [1022:1457]
IOMMU Group 3:
00:02.0 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 17h (Models 00h-1fh) PCIe Dummy Host Bridge [1022:1452]
IOMMU Group 4:
00:03.0 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 17h (Models 00h-1fh) PCIe Dummy Host Bridge [1022:1452]
IOMMU Group 5:
00:03.1 PCI bridge [0604]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 17h (Models 00h-0fh) PCIe GPP Bridge [1022:1453]
IOMMU Group 6:
00:03.2 PCI bridge [0604]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 17h (Models 00h-0fh) PCIe GPP Bridge [1022:1453]
IOMMU Group 7:
00:04.0 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 17h (Models 00h-1fh) PCIe Dummy Host Bridge [1022:1452]
IOMMU Group 8:
00:07.0 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 17h (Models 00h-1fh) PCIe Dummy Host Bridge [1022:1452]
IOMMU Group 9:
00:07.1 PCI bridge [0604]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Family 17h (Models 00h-0fh) Internal PCIe GPP Bridge 0 to Bus B [1022:1454]

That's good the motherboard ports still work. There's a couple things you can get for more. There's just a simple external usb hub, an internal 3.5" sata hub, or an internal pcie hub ( if you're case/motherboard will support either of those).

That cpu is definitely no slouch, I don't think it needs an upgrade.

The 750 ti is a little under-powered nowadays, but it should still run those games somewhat ok. If you wanted to upgrade it I'd say an rx 470 would be a great idea. If you check r/buildapcsales you can find them for about $140 sometimes. Need to make sure your power supply and case will fit it though. Do you know what the power supply is? The case is probably fine as long as it's not one of those tiny ones.

A second monitor (or just nicer, what's the one you have?) could certainly be nice for just everyday use / multitasking. It wouldn't really make gaming a ton better unless you got a high end one like 144hz or even 1440p (which you would also need a better video card for). An i5 3470 + rx 470 should play pretty much any current game on med-high settings at 1080p 60fps.

If you don't already have an SSD I'd say that should definetly be part of the upgrade. It's one of the best things you can do to make a computer feel faster/snappier. It won't improve gaming fps. But putting the OS and most used programs/games will make the whole system feel super quick.

$800-1000 could definitely build a pretty beast rig. But imo it's not really worth it for your needs. Some good upgrades would be best I think.

The rift is a very good deal right now, coming in at $200 cheaper for the controller+headset it's hard not to recommend that route until HTC drops their price a bit, but I will give you my observations.

If you have space I recommend the Vive as tracking can get wonky on the Rift in a large space(bigger than 4m diag), and having a large space for VR actually makes VR much more gratifying in my opinion. The Vive is also a bit better for people willing to tinker and upgrade as it is a little more open and available for those sort of things(see tpcast, delux audio strap, aGlass). Initial setup on the Vive is also a bit easier since the two trackers only need power cabled to it, while the rifts cameras require usb cords(no power) running all the way to the computer.

The Rift is definitely more ergonomic, and it breathes better causing less heat and sweating. It's possibly the more cost effective purchase at $200 cheaper, and it has more of that polished just works kind of look and feel to everything. I like to compare it to an Apple vs Android sort of thing, while SteamVR is a little more robust(android), Oculus home feels a bit cleaner and more polished(iOS). Then again, you can always just use SteamVR on the rift natively if you want since it supports both headsets, Oculus home only works with the rift. As far as the just works part, The nice thing with the rift is you just put it on pick up the controllers and you are in, it even has voice commands that work very well to launch the game. There is no on/off button on anything, it all just works and starts automatically when you put it on as long as your computer is on, don't even have to start up oculus home. The Vive has a similar autostart feature, but it is a bit more clunky, requires steam to be running, doesn't always work in my experience, and requires holding a power button on the headset to initialize followed by the power buttons on both controllers.

If you go with the Rift I highly recommend buying a third camera as this will allow tracking basically on par with the Vive outside of large areas and also has the added benefit of having a bit better occlusion resistance than the Vive which is limited to 2. Also be aware of the USB requirements for the rift. You are going to want at least 3 free usb 3.0 ports and one usb 2.0 port. If your pc does not have this, I recommend adding this..

https://smile.amazon.com/Inateck-Express-Connector-Controller-Internal/dp/B00FPIMJEW/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1494008967&sr=8-4&keywords=pci+usb+3.0

Honestly, even if it does I still recommend one of these as splitting up the usb 3.0 connections between your motherboard and this card helps prevent strain on bandwidth which can lead to tracking issues, and if your pc is capable running everything through usb 3.0 instead of one on 2.0 helps tracking as well.

• Corsair RGB memory, white, 16 GB
  
• Corsair RGB LL120 fans, white, 3 pack
  
• Corsair RGB LL120, white, for CPU cooler
  
• White CPU cooler
  
• In Win 301 in white
  
• 1 TB NVMe SSD
  

• 80+ Gold power supply
  

  
  

  > ##I want some nice RGB fans and the RGB ram to hopefully have a build with a white case and pink lights
  

  
  

  If you want addressable RGB, the best software and the biggest selection of products is from Corsair. This build has Corsair products: case fans, replacement heat sink fan, system memory.
  

  
  

  > ##Corsair 650W RM 80+ Gold Fully Modular ATX Power Supply
  

  
  

  I depart from meta with my choice of power supplies. That is a good supply, and you should feel free to purchase. I would get a cheaper and lower-capacity power supply.
  

  
  

  Now 500 Watts is a mainstream size. Corsair has seen their average capacity sold drop by 150 Watts. There is no longer a need to over provision power supplies, other then fan-stop features. Power supply efficiency is now a plateau, rather than a bell. (This is all from the Guru.)
  

  
  

  
  

  JohnnyGuru now works for Corsair. He has been interviewed recently by PCWorld WRT Power: JonnyGuru debunks old power supply myths | Ask a PC expert
  

  
  

  The Guru has said the same things as Linus Tech Tips and GamersNexus:
  

  
  

  >...it became more blatantly apparent when our massively overkill set up of a high-end enthusiast 6850K and Dual GTX 1080s drew just over a third of the Wattage [430 Watts], while under heavy load, of a standard flagship power supply at 1200 Watts, WTS...
  

  
  

  Linus Tech Tips: Why High Wattage Power Supplies Are Stupid
  

  
  

  >We started working on this revisit last week, using a soon-to-be-released Bronze 450W PSU as a baseline, seeing as we’ve recently advocated for more 400-450W PSUs in PC builds. We'll be able to share more about this PSU (and its creator and name) soon.
  

  
  

  Gamers Nexus: How Many Watts You Need for Mid-Range Gaming PCs (2017)
  

  
  

  While this last Gamers Nexus video is from 2017, in the recent PCWorld interview with Johnny Guru we are told that power usage has dropped in recent years.
  

  
  

  > ##Deepcool Captain 240 PRO CPU Liquid Cooler
  

  
  

  I cut this out because it would not have the Corsair RGB fans. It would come with non-matching Deepcool fans that could not be in the same software. These would have to be tossed, wasting money.
  

  
  

  I also think that water cooling is not worth the money. It cools about the same, when comparing top-quality contenders. CLC/AIO coolers only lasts a few years, if used 24/7 (see the Hardware Unboxed video).
  

  
  

  
  

  Linus Tech Tips: Why you shouldn't water cool your PC
  

  
  

  Hardware Unboxed: AIOs that run 24/7 die young
  

  
  

  Jay-Z's Two Cents: Custom Waterloop vs Noctua Air Cooling
  

  
  

  > ##I want to be able to use VR
  

  
  

  Then add a USB card, this one from StarTech is a favorite with VR people: https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B00HJZEA2S/
  

  
  

  If you want to use VR, you might need a fancy PCIe card with 4 USB controllers. That way all your trackers get their own path back to PCIe.
  

  
  

  > ##Seagate 2TB Barracuda 3.5" 7200RPM
  

  
  

  With a larger SSD, you do not need the noise of 7200 rpm. Your main games are going to be on the SSD, while the mechanical storage will be media and backup. I have switched to a 2.5" hybrid drive to save noise.
  

  
  

  PCPartPicker Part List
  

  
  

  Type|Item|Price
  

  ----|:----|:----
  CPU | *AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor | $194.00 @ Amazon
  CPU Cooler | Deepcool GAMMAXX 400 White 74.34 CFM CPU Cooler | $31.99 @ SuperBiiz
  Motherboard | *MSI B450M PRO-VDH MAX Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard | $83.98 @ Newegg
  Memory | *Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory | $92.99 @ Amazon
  Storage | *Samsung 970 Evo 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive | $149.99 @ Newegg
  Storage | *Seagate FireCuda 2 TB 2.5" 5400RPM Hybrid Internal Hard Drive | $89.99 @ Adorama
  Video Card | *MSI GeForce GTX 1660 Super 6 GB VENTUS XS OC Video Card | $249.99 @ Newegg
  Case | In Win 301 MicroATX Mini Tower Case | $86.98 @ SuperBiiz
  Power Supply | *EVGA GD (2019) 500 W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply | $55.98 @ Newegg
  Case Fan | Corsair LL120 RGB White with Lighting Node PRO 63 CFM 120 mm Fans | $119.99 @ Amazon
  Case Fan | Corsair LL120 RGB 63 CFM 120 mm Fan | $35.99 @ Amazon
  | Total | $1191.87
  | | *Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria |
  
  
  MSI MAX motherboards have the needed BIOS installed that PCPartPicker warns you about needing.
  
  In Win makes the 301 better, down to the quality of the glass, paint, and steel. While most cases are made of 0.4-0.8 mm steel, they often use 0.6-1.2 mm steel. It helps hold in noise and makes the edges less sharp. They make the 301 in black and in white, this list has white
  
  This is my favorite non-SFF case: IN WIN 301 Tempered Glass Mini Tower Case Review
  
  >The In Win 301 is a mini tower case [...] How good is it? Dollar for dollar it could be the best affordable case on the market right now.
  
  As the case comes with zero fans, I included 3 RGB LED fans. This case is meant to have two exhaust in the front, one exhaust in the back, and have passive intake via the filtered bottom. Some reviewers did not know how to set up the fans, and tried to make the front an intake.
  
  This case has a lot of nice details: captive thumbscrews, remove-to-install fan bracket, anti-vibration 3.5" mechanical disk sled (just one). You can see the stealthy graphics card anti-sag bracket in this BPS Customs video about this case: In Win 301 - Micro ATX Tempered Glass Style

Hey! It looks like you've got a pretty solid build started here! I just want to point out a few things to make your life just a little bit easier.

1. The motherboard you have will NOT work with the CPU that you've chosen. You picked a Z170A board, which works with the 6th and 7th generation (if BIOS is flashed) of Intel CPU's, and you're buying an 8th generation. So I would recommend this board or this one instead. Either will work, it just depends on how much money you want to spend.
   
2. Don't buy the power supply you've picked. It puts out way more wattage than you'll use, so I would recommend saving some money and maybe picking up this one. As a bonus it has an RGB fan, so that's kinda cool. It's also fully modular, meaning that you only need to plug the cables into the PSU that you need instead of having extras to hide in your case.
   
3. I'd also save some money on your RAM. This set is cheaper, faster, and only requires that you use two of your RAM slots instead of all four. More upgradeability in the future!
   
4. Think about if you really need 2TB of storage right now. The 1TB SSD you have picked out is going to be great, and if you're new to PC gaming it's going to have plenty of space for awhile. You can always pick up a new HDD (like the Seagate one you have in your cart) later down the road.
   
5. With the money that you've saved, I think that you could upgrade your graphics card from your 1060 (a GREAT option, don't get me wrong) to a 1070 like this one. (EVGA is a great company in my opinion, and I love their graphics cards.) It's a great contender for both 1440p and 1080p gaming!
   
6. Others have said to get a cheaper air cooler instead of opting for the water cooler that you've picked. If you decide to go that route (completely fine) I would maybe go with something like this if you want something extra beefy to keep your CPU cool, or this less beefy one. Either way, 8th generation CPUs run hot, so the water cooler you have would work great.
   
   So there ya go! I hope that you enjoy your new build, it's going to be amazing! If you PM me I'll add you on Steam and we can play some games together when your build is all set!

This is on BIOS version 1201 (AGESA 1.0.0.3ABBA). Kernel is not patched for ACS. IOMMU group separation could use some work. I've worked around this by adding a Fresco Logic PCI-E USB card to my setup; used it previously for VR and now it's working great as dedicated USB ports for a VM. I have WiFi disabled, not sure where it goes. I've also got an NVMe drive (group 21) and GTX 1080 (group 25) passed through with zero problems.

IOMMU Group 0:
00:01.0 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Starship/Matisse PCIe Dummy Host Bridge [1022:1482]
IOMMU Group 1:
00:01.1 PCI bridge [0604]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Starship/Matisse GPP Bridge [1022:1483]
IOMMU Group 10:
00:14.0 SMBus [0c05]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH SMBus Controller [1022:790b] (rev 61)
00:14.3 ISA bridge [0601]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH LPC Bridge [1022:790e] (rev 51)
IOMMU Group 11:
00:18.0 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Matisse Device 24: Function 0 [1022:1440]
00:18.1 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Matisse Device 24: Function 1 [1022:1441]
00:18.2 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Matisse Device 24: Function 2 [1022:1442]
00:18.3 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Matisse Device 24: Function 3 [1022:1443]
00:18.4 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Matisse Device 24: Function 4 [1022:1444]
00:18.5 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Matisse Device 24: Function 5 [1022:1445]
00:18.6 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Matisse Device 24: Function 6 [1022:1446]
00:18.7 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Matisse Device 24: Function 7 [1022:1447]
IOMMU Group 12:
01:00.0 Non-Volatile memory controller [0108]: Samsung Electronics Co Ltd NVMe SSD Controller SM951/PM951 [144d:a802] (rev 01)
IOMMU Group 13:
02:00.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Device [1022:57ad]
IOMMU Group 14:
03:01.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Device [1022:57a3]
IOMMU Group 15:
03:02.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Device [1022:57a3]
IOMMU Group 16:
03:03.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Device [1022:57a3]
IOMMU Group 17:
03:05.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Device [1022:57a3]
IOMMU Group 18:
03:08.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Device [1022:57a4]
08:00.0 Non-Essential Instrumentation [1300]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Starship/Matisse Reserved SPP [1022:1485]
08:00.1 USB controller [0c03]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Matisse USB 3.0 Host Controller [1022:149c]
08:00.3 USB controller [0c03]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Matisse USB 3.0 Host Controller [1022:149c]
IOMMU Group 19:
03:09.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Device [1022:57a4]
09:00.0 SATA controller [0106]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH SATA Controller [AHCI mode] [1022:7901] (rev 51)
IOMMU Group 2:
00:01.2 PCI bridge [0604]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Starship/Matisse GPP Bridge [1022:1483]
IOMMU Group 20:
03:0a.0 PCI bridge [0604]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Device [1022:57a4]
0a:00.0 SATA controller [0106]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH SATA Controller [AHCI mode] [1022:7901] (rev 51)
IOMMU Group 21:
04:00.0 Non-Volatile memory controller [0108]: Samsung Electronics Co Ltd NVMe SSD Controller SM981/PM981/PM983 [144d:a808]
IOMMU Group 22:
05:00.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Baffin [Radeon RX 460/560D / Pro 450/455/460/555/555X/560/560X] [1002:67ef] (rev cf)
05:00.1 Audio device [0403]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD/ATI] Baffin HDMI/DP Audio [Radeon RX 550 640SP / RX 560/560X] [1002:aae0]
IOMMU Group 23:
06:00.0 USB controller [0c03]: Fresco Logic FL1100 USB 3.0 Host Controller [1b73:1100] (rev 10)
IOMMU Group 24:
07:00.0 Ethernet controller [0200]: Realtek Semiconductor Co., Ltd. RTL8111/8168/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller [10ec:8168] (rev 26)
IOMMU Group 25:
0b:00.0 VGA compatible controller [0300]: NVIDIA Corporation GP104 [GeForce GTX 1080] [10de:1b80] (rev a1)
0b:00.1 Audio device [0403]: NVIDIA Corporation GP104 High Definition Audio Controller [10de:10f0] (rev a1)
IOMMU Group 3:
00:02.0 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Starship/Matisse PCIe Dummy Host Bridge [1022:1482]
IOMMU Group 4:
00:03.0 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Starship/Matisse PCIe Dummy Host Bridge [1022:1482]
IOMMU Group 5:
00:03.1 PCI bridge [0604]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Starship/Matisse GPP Bridge [1022:1483]
IOMMU Group 6:
00:04.0 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Starship/Matisse PCIe Dummy Host Bridge [1022:1482]
IOMMU Group 7:
00:05.0 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Starship/Matisse PCIe Dummy Host Bridge [1022:1482]
IOMMU Group 8:
00:07.0 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Starship/Matisse PCIe Dummy Host Bridge [1022:1482]
00:07.1 PCI bridge [0604]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Starship/Matisse Internal PCIe GPP Bridge 0 to bus[E:B] [1022:1484]
0c:00.0 Non-Essential Instrumentation [1300]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Starship/Matisse PCIe Dummy Function [1022:148a]
IOMMU Group 9:
00:08.0 Host bridge [0600]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Starship/Matisse PCIe Dummy Host Bridge [1022:1482]
00:08.1 PCI bridge [0604]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Starship/Matisse Internal PCIe GPP Bridge 0 to bus[E:B] [1022:1484]
00:08.2 PCI bridge [0604]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Starship/Matisse Internal PCIe GPP Bridge 0 to bus[E:B] [1022:1484]
00:08.3 PCI bridge [0604]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Starship/Matisse Internal PCIe GPP Bridge 0 to bus[E:B] [1022:1484]
0d:00.0 Non-Essential Instrumentation [1300]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Starship/Matisse Reserved SPP [1022:1485]
0d:00.1 Encryption controller [1080]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Starship/Matisse Cryptographic Coprocessor PSPCPP [1022:1486]
0d:00.3 USB controller [0c03]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Matisse USB 3.0 Host Controller [1022:149c]
0d:00.4 Audio device [0403]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] Starship/Matisse HD Audio Controller [1022:1487]
0e:00.0 SATA controller [0106]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH SATA Controller [AHCI mode] [1022:7901] (rev 51)
0f:00.0 SATA controller [0106]: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. [AMD] FCH SATA Controller [AHCI mode] [1022:7901] (rev 51)

If you're definitely planning an upgrade to a GTX 10 series card and a Zen CPU, I would say 100% go for it. Just be aware you're getting subpar performance and any issues you have are almost certainly due to your system and not the Vive. The Vive itself has rock solid tracking and is amazingly fun. You've tried it now so I'm sure you know, but there's just no explaining what being in true Roomscale is quite like. It's almost like being teleported directly into the game. The controllers are exactly where they feel like they are, and Roomscale VR convinces your brain what you're seeing is real. There are plenty of videos of people leaning on VR tables and falling right over :). That kind of thing is totally understandable once you've tried real Roomscale VR and you understand how you have to fight your brain because you know it's just a screen attached to your face, but your brain is telling you it's all real and all right there. For an example, walking through things just feels completely wrong. You know it's a game. You know that table isn't real, but you naturally avoid walking into/through it even though you KNOW for a fact that you can.

It's just the kind of thing you have to see for yourself, and not the kind of thing watching a Let's Play or hearing about can truly demonstrate/explain.

One thing to keep in mind is a lot of PCs don't have good USB controllers. They'll work for most things, but fall short with the Vive. Mine for example has issues with pairing the controllers. Most of the time, my controllers will only pair if they are physically connected over USB to my PC. A ton of people had issues with getting SteamVR to detect the headset, getting the headset or controllers to track, using the front camera, or getting the controllers to pair. The absolute fix for this seems to be getting the Inateck PCI Express USB Controller. This is the one Valve used internally for testing and it is endorsed by Valve for the Vive. I picked one up but haven't tested it out yet, but I'm 99% sure this will fix my controller pairing issue because my controllers pair correctly (wirelessly, automatically when turned on) on my brother's PC but not mine (not always anyway - they pair correctly about 30% of the time, I assume this depends on my USB bandwidth and what else is currently active on the same controller). It's only $20 on Amazon so if you're planning on getting the Vive I would grab one of these too to eliminate any issues you might otherwise have with your USB controller, even the latest and greatest motherboards often have subpar USB controllers because they're "good enough" for your average USB devices.

So yeah, TL;DR: I would totally get it if you definitely are getting an upgraded PC. Even if you can only play some of the games out right now I'm sure you'll have tons of fun - I know I did.

Edit:

• Link to SteamVR Troubleshooting Article where Valve endorses the Inateck 2-Port USB3.0 PCI-Express Card, it's found under Headset > New USB PCI-Express Card.
  
  
• Link to Inateck 2-Port USB3.0 PCI-Express Card on Amazon, it is currently $18.99. Also link to the 5 port version that I picked up and I'm hoping works just as well :).
  
  
• Link to another post where I gave some tips for new Vive users, this is in no way an exhaustive list of tips for new users, but you'll probably learn something useful :).
  
  Edit: I said a Zan CPU... Zan > Zen.

Just my opinion, I am no expert, but these seem like the best choices as they are popular, and consideration how much work it would take to design them.
Also check the most popular on Amazon, Newegg and PC part picker.

CPUs from one socket look almost the same right?
So a LGA 1151 and AM3+ CPUs.

For RAM, classic PCB with black chips, maybe another one with a very simple heatspreader in different colors, as it would take quite a lot of work to create realistic heatspreaders for little benefit IMO.

Any HDD, they all look similar.

For SSDs, Samsung are the most popular and very simple to do.

Three most popular CPU coolers prolly are CRYORIG H7, Hyper 212 EVO, and Corsair H100i, maybe with addition of a single fan AIO like Corsair H55.

GPUs are tougher:

• definitely MSI twin frozr, they use them for most cards
  
• ASUS new strix
  
• Gigabyte G1 Gaming as for 1070 and 1080 and Windforce for smaller cards
  
• EVGA hates you, it seems like they have a different design for every card, but the most popular for enthusiasts could be ACX 3.0 used with 1070 and 1080
  
  Motherboards and cases: the hardest parts to pick, almost every one part is completely different from the other.
  Just go by the most popular.
  
  Anything I forgot?

I would definitely avoid that hub. With 7 external ports the internal design will be two USB host controllers daisy chained together so 4 of those ports will at a minimum have to go through 3 host controllers to send data back to the PC. Very risky and prone to issues which will be explained below.

Apologies for the wall of text but it is all quite important to explain why USB hubs are not the best idea for a number of reasons. Only go the hub route if you have no other choice like you have a laptop and a PCI card if not an option. If you have a desktop and free PCI slots then grab one of the PCI cards listed at the end of this post.

USB 3.0 Hubs

The main concern with hubs is that there is an additional USB controller in the chain and if one of those controllers is not compatible then you might have tracking issues. The issue with compatibility is VR needs low latency and high bandwidth which is required for good tracking.

So you have something like this using a hub.

PC -> PCI Bus -> USB Controller -> Hub -> USB Controller -> Sensor.

I put together this image on the weekend to explain it to someone else - https://imgur.com/jI6Istl

If anything in that chain is sub standard you have issues. If you have good USB Controllers in that chain you wont see issues. Just remember a quality hub is only as good as the USB port on your PC you plug it into.

It is also recommended to get a powered USB hub if you have to go the hub route. People sometimes encounter not just a bandwidth/latency bottleneck but a power bottleneck. Importantly some PC USB ports can't push out enough power to power all the devices plugged into the hub. Get a powered hub to avoid this possibility.

Below are two brands Anker and Amazon Basics which are the hubs I commonly see people say have worked for the Rift. The 7 port one will have daisy chained USB controllers internally but people have recommended it so they must be good quality.

https://www.amazon.com/AmazonBasics-Port-2-5A-power-adapter/dp/B00DQFGH80

or

https://www.amazon.com/Anker-Aluminum-Portable-Adapter-Devices/dp/B00PBZX0OM


PCI Cards

Here are the cards that Oculus have recommended (I have personally tested the top two cards) .The blog posts at the end of this post might clear up why hubs are hit and miss for some people due to data/latency bottlenecks that might occur.

StarTek 2 port card (1 ASMedia controller) – Cheaper StarTek option that could be used for 2 sensors or a sensor and headset.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B013HT6K3Q

Supported Inatek 4 port card (1 Fresco controller) – Don't get the 5 or 7 port card as the design is not really suited for Rift sensors as it has daisy chained controllers in the design.

https://www.amazon.com/Inateck-Superspeed-Ports-PCI-Expansion/dp/B00B6ZCNGM

Use the Inatek for your two front facing cameras and nothing else. Plug your third or fourth USB 2.0 camera and Rift HMD into your motherboard.

Supported StarTek 4 port card (2 Controllers) – Optional middle tier PCI card solution which can run all four sensors or 3 sensors and HMD. Equivalent to two Inatek cards.

https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00HJZE9VK

Supported StarTek 4 port card (4 Controllers) – Optional top of the range PCI card solution which can run all four sensors or 3 sensors and HMD. Equivalent to four Inatek cards.

https://www.amazon.com/Express-SuperSpeed-Adapter-Dedicated-Channels/dp/B00HJZEA2S

Both 4 port StarTek cards are pricey and a bit more than is actually required. You could achieve the same thing with 2x four port Inatek cards.

More reading for why USB controllers are important and how you should connect sensors

Oculus put together some blog posts last year explaining best practices. Parts 2 and 3 of Oculus tracking posts explain the USB subsystems and how to get the best config.

• Part 1: https://www.oculus.com/blog/oculus-roomscale-tips-for-setting-up-a-killer-vr-room/
  
• Part 2: https://www.oculus.com/blog/oculus-roomscale-balancing-bandwidth-on-usb/
  
• Part 3: https://www.oculus.com/blog/oculus-roomscale-identifying-host-controllers/
  
• Part 4: https://www.oculus.com/blog/oculus-roomscale-extra-equipment/
  
  Finally here is my setup and the placement of USB devices amongst all the USB controllers. https://imgur.com/a/fqgRP5p

Hi there!

It'd be super cool if we could get a PCPartPicker on this, so I went ahead and made one for you based on what parts you listed :)

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Type|Item|Price

----|:----|:----
CPU | Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor | $329.88 @ OutletPC
CPU Cooler | Swiftech H220-X 55.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler |-
Motherboard | MSI Z170A XPOWER GAMING TITANIUM EDITION ATX LGA1151 Motherboard | $269.00 @ SuperBiiz
Memory | Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory | $82.99 @ Newegg
Storage | Samsung 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive | $164.99 @ Jet
Storage | Western Digital BLACK SERIES 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive | $118.88 @ OutletPC
Video Card | EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 8GB Superclocked Gaming ACX 3.0 Video Card | $629.98 @ B&H
Power Supply | Thermaltake 1050W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply | $144.99 @ SuperBiiz
| Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts |
| Total | $1740.71
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-12-05 23:03 EST-0500 |

My thoughts, first off, what are you planning to do with this? I'll tell you off the bat that the PSU is waaaaay overkill for what you're doing. You could probably go for a PSU at the 650W level and meet all of your requirements. If you're overclocking everything, maybe go tops 750W. EVGA makes good PSU's, here's one as an example! Amazon EVGA SuperNOVA 650 G2

Also, based on your usage, I'd guess that the i7 might be overkill, and you could probably get away with an i5-6600k, but it depends again on your usage (although, in MOST cases, this will be a sufficient CPU)

Also, liquid cooling solution? Any reason for that over the typical air-based cooler? It won't necessarily be any quieter than some air-based options available, and the one you've got is a bit... on the robust side. It's a really good one from what I've been made to believe, but I'm not 100% sure it's necessary (unless you really, really want to go the liquid cooling option, then it's probably close to being the best one you can buy).

HDD wise, technically black performs better than the blues, but you might be able to find a more affordable blue option as an example, and pay half the price. And in terms of performing better, in most cases, depending on your use, you will probably not even notice the difference.

SSD is solid, I love the EVOs.

What are you thinking for a case? Didn't see it listed, unless I just looked over it.

Let us know! Hopefully I've been of some help!

spain, huh?? amazon.es will be your best bet, trust me (I'm also from spain, and the best prices I've seen here are amazon's)

Also, that build is good, very good for a mid-term gaming PC, as long as you are sure you want to stick with intel. I mean, you have pretty good AMD CPU's out there, better than that intel and for less money, say, THIS is one of the best (affordable) CPU's out there... and is cheaper than the intel. sure there are better CPU's but cost at least twice!! (I'm thinking of unlocked i7's, which are the only that can offer 8 threads... ) 4 threads are good for right now, but may be not enough in a FEW years (I'm used to plan ahead and make my rigs useful for at least 4 years... last one lasted like 7 years with minor (GPU) upgrades.)

GPU-wise, the 270X is only like 10€ more, and could be worth it. just take a look at videocardbenchmark.net and compare the performance of both of them. (note: they also have CPU data, so take a look at it!! )

also, you need to think about the HDD. you'll want a big and fast one, probably a 2Tb WD caviar blue would be good enough (I'm using the caviar green and while EVERYBODY will tell you is slow as hell, since it's not even a 7200rpm drive... it works good enough for me). I don't recommend reusing an old HDD, for two reasons:

one, HDD's life is "limited", I wouldn't trust a drive for more tan, say, a few years (5 or so). I myself use them for way longer, but my old seagates are in a raid 1 (mirror). else I wouldn't be trusting them, and they would be gathering dust.

and two, HDD's are cheap enough... and for a gaming PC you'll wat a big one (at least 1 Tb, trust me, it seems much but it will get filled sooner than you think) WD caviar blue 1 Tb even a raid 0 of those would be good (note I can't find the 2 Tb caviar blue right now, not sure why.... a green could do, or else, a raid 0 of blues would be even faster.) Also, a system SSD would be nice, but not essential.

Yeah it'll definitely fit. Video cards are getting pretty heavy these days, but most of the weight is help by the two screws on the back of your case. With some cards, due to the way the weight is balanced on them, they can sometimes sag. Generally speaking, if there is any sag at all it is very minimal and will not affect the card in any way besides how it looks. Even so, it's not a bad idea to do something to correct the sag if you start to notice any. Every now and then a post will pop up in /r/PCMasterRace about someone fixing it in a unique way, but just putting anything beneath the far end of the card will keep it from sagging.

You could get a specialized tool, like this, or like this if it does start to sag. Alternatively, you could do something like what this guy, you could ziptie it, or you could use legos.

Anyway. Chances are you won't have to deal with any sag, but if you do there are some solutions for you.


Okay, so for your brother, you can probably do it and everything will be just fine, but there are a few issues. First of all, when you're looking at whether or not a PSU will be good enough, you want to look at the average output instead of the max, just so be sure that you aren't pushing it too hard. The PSU is the heart of your system. If it fails...well...other things will likely fail too and you'll be in a bit of trouble. The 960 draws aboout 100W at full load, and I doubt the i3 draws much either, but I can't know for certain without knowing its model number.

It would be nice to know specifics about the 350W PSU...does it even have the 6 pin connector for a video card? If not, do not use the molex to 6 pin adapter that is sometimes included. It's a great way to start a fire and/or kill components.

400W minimum is recommended for the 960, just so that you're sure to not blow anything up. If you've got the cash to spare, I would highly recommend upgrading your PSU, this one will ensure that nothing bad happens. If you can't afford the upgrade or anything, go ahead and put it in there and see how it runs, just make sure you don't do any overclocking at all. Like I said, everything will probably work, but it's always better for thing to be certain than it is for them to be probable.

Sorry if my replies seem somewhat less coherent, got my wisdom teeth out a few hours ago and I'm a tad bit loopy.

>I know this setup is not the best out there, but I'm sure it's alright for my every day needs. I'm not looking to play games like R6S/Battlefield and stuff like that, I just like playing games like CSGO/Minecraft/GarrysMod which I'm sure they will run alright with the 1050 Ti. (which suit perfectly the price range I'm looking for)

You actually could play BF1 on medium settings, 50fps just fine.

>For the CPU I went from the 1400 to the 1500x (wanted the 1600x but it was a bit off price), so yeah

That'll work fine.

>My memory card is missing so I really need your help to choose one (8GB RAM preferred)

What you mean is "RAM," or "DDR4," or "memory sticks." A memory card is something that you put in your camera or phone to hold pictures.

Any 288pin DDR4 sticks should work. Make sure you get 2 4GB sticks and not 1 8GB stick. 2 sticks run in "dual channel mode" which means they move data twice as fast. (But 4 sticks don't move data 4 times as fast, so don't worry about getting 4 sticks). Also, your motherboard can only fit 2 sticks.

>I'm not completely sure what "bays" mean when choosing a case for your build, but I've chosen the one selected on the list randomly (I've also seen some people get the case for free, any idea how? / is my current one compatible?)

A "bay" is a slot that holds a component, you shouldnt need to worry since any case has enough to hold a couple HDDs.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drive_bay

Summary: a 5.25" bay holds DVD drives( among other things); a 3.5" bay holds full size hard drives (among other things); A 2.5" bay holds a laptop sized disk drive. Most SSDs, are 2.5". However, you can put a 2.5" drive, in a 3.5" bay.

>- In PCPartPicker I can see an option to buy the operation system? I've seen many builds that do not come with that listed, but do I need to buy it? (my cousin has a pen drive that does install Windows 10, he used it on his Razer laptop, but should be compatible in general).

You need to ask him about that. But it's probably just the installation media. Which means that it installs windows onto any (compatible) PC. However, you still need to activate it. (Otherwise windows will yell at you and be a pain to use). His laptop came with a license so he didn't need to buy one.

You can see if your university (if you go to school) has free/discounted windows licenses, many do. Otherwise, you will have to buy it.

>- I've also seen the wired and wireless adapater option to buy, I really don't know if this is stupid but do I need to add it to the cart too? (My PC will most likely be at my room, and my router/modem is not even near so ethernet cabling is not an option for me, going straight to wireless)

You will need a wireless card to use wifi. Some Motherboards have it built in, but yours doesn't. Here's an example.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0079XWMEI/ref=mp_s_a_1_4/131-2308338-9019942?ie=UTF8&qid=1502032137&sr=8-4&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=wireless+card&dpPl=1&dpID=41rS1aE2IAL&ref=plSrch

>- What about the sound card?

Don't need one

>Thanks, and have a great day.

You too. Let me know if you need any clarification.

Hello all. I've been using a pair of DT990 250ohms for a few months now. I've also been considering picking up an amp as it would seem the general consensus is that you need something to drive them.

However, I've come across some conflicting opinions from the various forums and posts that I've read and would appreciate some opinions of those more knowledgeable than myself before I spend any money.

Firstly I'm running the headset straight out of my motherboard. The motherboard in question is an EVGA Z270 Classified K which comes with the Creative Core3d solution. Out of a forum post by an EVGA dev I learned the technical specifications are as follows however much of it goes over my head and I would appreciate if someone translated it for me.

DAC: CA0132
AMP: MAX97220B
SNR: 109dB with RL=600Ω, 112.5dB with RL=1KΩ
Supports up to 192kHz Playback and Record
Dolby Live and DTS Connect Not Supported

Here is a link to the particular amp specifications

https://www.maximintegrated.com/en/products/analog/audio/MAX97220B.html

This is the same amp that is present in the Creative Sound Blaster Z based off of the information present on the linked Amazon page below. Many state that the the Sound Blaster Z is capable of driving 600ohm headphones and can drive the 990s with just fine.

https://www.amazon.com/Blaster-Performance-Headphone-Forming-Microphone/dp/B009ISU33E/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8

The "Best Solution" post within the following forum link below claims that the Sound Blaster Z can drive the DT990s decently, to maybe 80% of their potential.It also claims that they are notoriously hard to drive. I would like to know if these are relatively agreeable statements.

http://www.tomsguide.com/answers/id-2545260/amp-beyerdynamic-990.html

On the other side of the spectrum however I've seen it said various times that even the best motherboard sound doesn't even compare to a $30 discreet sound card. I don't know if this is hyperbole or if that claim is no longer true relative to motherboards today. What is your opinion on this?

My concern is value. Ideally I would like to have my 990s not be crippled. On the other hand purchasing an amp and dac would be dependent on how much they are being crippled as I don't know if I could be bothered for 10%

So my real question is is my motherboard proving adequate? I have a hard time answering this myself because of the conflicting opinions and my nigh complete lack of expertise within this field.

Would I to purchase a amp would I need to also purchase a dac to compliment it?

My primary considerations along the purchase route would be Magni 3/Modi 2 combo. Alternatively if it would be a better value and able to power the headphones 100% a Fulla 2.

My usage is generally gaming. When I'm not gaming I'm listening to Spotify Premium. Additionally, as further information I do not have an issue with my headset being too quiet while playing games or listening to music. I can very easily have it way too loud. I understand that amps/dacs do further things than just provide more power to the device (at least I think) and that they provide better audio in general by some other form of magic.

However this leads to another question from me.

Would a $2000 amp beat a $300 amp in audio quality if the $300 amp could provide ample enough power to the device? Why?

Assuming you are talking about R-Pi, v3b.

All 32 bit and lower works flawlessly. This includes but is not limited to Genisis, GB, GBC, GBA, NES, SNES, PSX.

N64 is the most commonly discussed as it has a large library of great games that are also often 4x multiplayer. Most games work very well (e.g. Mario Kart), while some do not (in particular 007 Goldeneye).

Hardware:

• Raspberry Pi 3 - $36
  
• Samsung EVO 32GB Class 10 Micro SDHC - $11
  
• CanaKit 5V 2.5A Raspberry Pi 3 Power Supply - $10
  
• Addicore Raspberry Pi Heatsink Set - $5
  
• AmazonBasics High-Speed HDMI Cable - 3 Feet - $5
  
• Official Raspberry Pi 3 Case - $8
  
  
  Total cost so far, $75. You can get a less expensive case that also comes with the heat sinks bringing your cost down to ~$65.
  
  Cheap right? Well, the one thing that is going to cost you the most in any of these builds is the controllers.
  
  I like:
  
  
• 8BITDO NES30 Pro Wireless Bluetooth Controller - $49 (x4).
  
  When I first bought them, they were $36 each, and I love them. They work really well via the Pi's built in Bluetooth.
  
  Another great option that works really well are the XBOX-360 controllers. Wired ones run you $27 each brand new, and wireless are $34/each, plus one adapter for the set.
  
  
  In other words, four good controllers are going to run you $100-$200. Which is the bulk of most builds. In a childs-only build, I am considering either wired XBOX-360 controllers because of their awesome cord break-away feature, or going even less expensive with the $12 SNES clones, though that eliminates the ability to play N64 and PSX.

I just spent a full hour writing about this but it got deleted by my mistake :-:
I recommend these parts

https://www.amazon.com/GIGABYTE-LGA1151-Intel-Motherboard-GA-H110M/dp/B0165YUDTM/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1491086662&sr=1-1&keywords=h110m
https://www.amazon.com/Intel-Skylake-Desktop-Processor-BX80662I56500/dp/B010T6CWI2/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1491088199&sr=1-1&keywords=i5+6500
https://www.amazon.com/EVGA-GeForce-Support-Graphics-03G-P4-6160-KR/dp/B01KUADE3O/ref=sr_1_2?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1491087663&sr=1-2&keywords=1060&th=1
https://www.amazon.com/Corsair-Vengeance-2400MHz-Memory-Black/dp/B01ARHBBPS/ref=sr_1_3?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1491086759&sr=1-3&keywords=8gb+ddr4
https://www.amazon.com/EVGA-WHITE-Power-Supply-100-W1-0500-KR/dp/B00H33SFJU


The CPU is good enough for the game you will be playing, the motherboard is good enough and more expensive ones sell you feature you don't need. The RAM will do you fine and is enough for any game you want and the GPU will be perfect for 1080p with 3GB of VRAM. For storage, go with a cheap 500GB HDD but I would certainly recommend an SSD for the future. The power supply will do you fine no matter what anyone else says, trust me (powers my R9 280X which is a LOT more power hungry).
I would recommend looking round Ebay, Facebook selling sites etc etc for any used components or 'starting points' with Ebay being the best bet in my opinion due to the massive amounts of sellers. If you see a 6600 or a 6600k for the same or less than on Amazon, snag it up and make sure to have a CPU cooler with it (stock will do you again, I have experience with 6600/6500 running on stock coolers and it's perfectly fine)

Sorry if the response looks rushed, I had a better one but I clicked something and it deleted :'(
Would love to hear about how the build goes, may your frames be high and temperatures at a low enough level!

EDIT BEFORE POSTING : 'Bomba' recommended an 8GB RX 470 - that's pointless for 1080p in my opinion and having a Pentium Dual core isn't something anyone would crave. I also have bad experience with Corsair PSUs but I haven't tried the 450W.

Are you gonna liquid cool? I ask because that case is generally for liquid cooling. The airflow of that case it not that great. Here's another option, a lot better suited for air cooling: HAF X.

For CPU cooler, here's a pretty good one, the Hyper 212 Plus. It's not much more than the one you listed and it's regularly considered one of the best air coolers, especially for the price. If you can, try to pick up a 2nd 120 mm fan and do push/pull with it.

Also if you are doing serious heavy duty video editing, I'm always a proponent of getting as much RAM as you can. May want to think about getting the 16 gb kit.

Besides that it looks pretty good. Some might say it'd be better (and cheaper) to get 2 Samsung F3 1 tb drives and run it in RAID. Also there's people out there who might have some issue with the 590 card (either say it's overkill, or better to get two 580s) but I don't have a particularly strong stance on either position so I'll leave that to them.

Just a sidenote though, if you can afford to add it to your system, I'd highly recommend getting a SSD as a boot drive/program drive. It was the most noticeable change I ever got from a single component upgrade. I'd recommend at least a 128 gb if you're gonna put all your programs + windows on it. You could probably get away with 64 gb but you'd always have to be super frugal about space. My personal recommendation is the Crucial M4. Just make sure you update the firmware to revision 9 before you start installing anything on it (google it, it's super easy to do).

EDIT: Also was looking at your motherboard. From everything I could see, this Gigabyte board seems to be pretty much the same features wise and cheaper to boot.

It's a good version of the RX570 at a decent price. You can get it a little cheaper (£122) here, but some people have had dodgy dealings with Laptops Direct.

There's another option here for a Gigabyte card with 8GB memory for the same price (£130) but comes with 8GB VRAM instead of 4. It should be a better performing card in VRAM hungry games.

The Sapphire card you posted (your link doesn't work, but I assume you mean this one) is definitely a good quality card. The Gigabyte one is a bit less so (some people hate Gigabyte cards).

Realistically it's about value. You want the best value for your money. It may help to know your budget, what games you want to play and at what settings as well as what the other components of your system are/will be to make a firm recommendation.

If you can find another £30, you can get some 8GB RX580's like this one. On the other hand, if you just want to play Hearthstone, League of Legends and Minecraft, you may be able to save money buy not getting a graphics card and going with an AMD APU like the 3400G.

Just a few suggestions here:

• HD 6950 2 GB for roughly the same price, which you can unlock to a HD 6970 relatively easily.
  
  
• You're probably better off just getting 2 of these, as it'll perform roughly as well as the Western Digital Caviar Black for a lower price, and the Seagate you chose is really mediocre. Also, you could even try to get an SSD and a relatively slow 2 TB HDD for storage. I don't know much about SSDs though, so I won't make any uninformed suggestions.
  
  
• That memory is extremely overpriced, and the differences between 1333, 1600, and 1866 (crazy..) are more or less negligible. Here's 4 GB of DDR3 1600 RAM for a good price.
  
  
• 850 watts is overkill unless you plan on Crossfiring two of the HD 6950s. If you're just gonna use one (which will perform admirably at 1920x1080), you're better off with a cheaper power supply >500 watts. This is a good power supply at a decent price after rebate.
  
  
• Here's a cheaper ~~23" monitor ~~better 23" monitor which should be just fine.
  
  
• Here's a cheaper wired mouse with very good ratings.
  
  
• Here's the same HAF 922 case, for cheaper and with free shipping. The only difference is that the case fan LED is red instead of blue.
  
  
• You really only need the six-core Phenom II if you mess around with multi-threaded applications a lot, and you would be better off going with a Core i5 or i7 in that situation anyway. That said, the Phenom II x6 is still a great CPU. If you feel like downgrading just a tad bit, a Phenom II x4 955 is still an amazing CPU, which can be overclocked easily to 3.7 GHz or higher. A recommended heatsink would be the Cooler Master Hyper 212+, which will guarantee low temperatures.
  
  EDIT: There's currently a pretty decent 5% off, with a $10 gift card deal, for the Phenom II x4 1090T.

Yes I have, I have the comment history to prove it. All I have to do is scroll down a lot. And you lost, bad. You kept trying, I kept debunking every thing you said. It got to the point where you were repeating points I had already proved false.

>I'm not here saying console is superior. But PC isnt superior either. It's all subjective idiot.

That's ironic, calling me an idiot immediately after writing a dumb ass comment. I found a $320 ps4 slim bundled with spider man for $320, and a 40 inch TV with speakers here to go with it. A total of $479.94. That plus $60-$120 a year (if you bought the ps4 slim on release that's $180-$360 extra onto the total, so 659.94-839.94 total). For that you get a device that cannot be upgraded, has a cpu from 2008, can play games at 1080p 30fps medium low settings, no graphics options, only one input device option, the option to pay money or play offline, is very limited in uses, and only 1800 ish games available 74 ish being exclusive.

Now, let's see what kind of PC we can get for $659.94, shall we? Theres a free version of windows 10 that just puts a water mark on windows products. A little annoying, but not as annoying as all the ads in sonys paid online service.

G4560 for $82.96

Gigabyte GA-H110M-S2PV for $69.99

V-Color Skywalker Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4 2666MHz for $64.99

WD Blue 1TB PC Hard Drive - 7200 RPM for $43.81

XFX Radeon RX 580 GTS XXX Edition 1386MHz OC+, 8GB GDDR5 for $184.99

Rosewill Dual Fans MicroATX Mini Tower Computer Case for $34.99

Thermaltake Smart 500W 80+ White Certified PSU for $39.99

The PC itself is $521.72 and runs circles around the ps4 slim and the ps4 pro. It is more than capable of 1080p ultra settings at 70-80fps on most AAA games. Now for the kbm and monitor.

Logitech Desktop MK120 for $29.87

Sceptre E225W-19203R 22" Ultra Thin 75Hz 1080p LED Monitor for $79.84. Its smaller but you're going to be way closer so it wont matter.

For $28.51 less, you get a PC that runs circles around the ps4 and ps4 pro, is upgradable, can be a work station, is capable of a lot more, is cheaper in the long run, has hundreds of thousands of games available on it, objectively has more high quality exclusives, has a player base 12 times the size, free online play, an entirely free game every week from epic games store (no subscription needed), and much more options.

And since you always like to say "b-b-but can it p-play d-dvds?". I first would like to mention that pcs have the option to download the movies, netflix and other streaming services exist, and if you actually do want to play movies via disk, you can spend the $28 you save on a $20 DVD drive if you want. It's an optional accessory.

Now I think I've successfully proved that you

1, have no idea what you're talking about

And 2, are wrong about it being subjective. Yes, preferring a console is perfectly fine. But objectively a PC is better in almost every way.

Have you considered buying a good pair of headphones and buying a separate microphone like one from ModMic? I'm using a pair of Beyerdynamic DT770 Pro 250 OHMS along with a ModMic and I love it! There were things I was not hearing before in games, movies, and music. I since moved on to a Blue Yeti microphone but the ModMic served me well. Once you have a great pair of headphones, I always recommend getting a good souncard to go a long. Normally, I don't recommend soundcards unless you have a good pair of headphones. I'm currently using the Creative Soundblaster Z and I have to say that I'm impressed with the quality of sound that they've been able to pull off from this soundcard. I'd say that the Soundblaster Z is more of a mid-range soundcard. If you want the best in terms or soundcards then a Soundblaster Zxr or a Asus Xonar Essence STX will be a better choice. I hope this helps!

Reviews on that first linked Silverstone seem to suggest that it'll control PWM on all fans, but use the tach from only one fan, so it's a good fit for multiple same fans. It'll also run 3 pin (non PWM) fans at 100%, so that's a big caveat.

If you're looking to jump from 1 PWM-controlled fan to 2 same model PWM-controlled fans on one fan header, you might just wanna get a simple splitter.

If you want a fan controller that supports PWM and 3 pin fans via voltage control you'd be better off looking for a controller that uses that method - NZXT Sentry lineup does that, takes up a front drive bay, but it's similar to that Silverstone, only difference is the knobs up front and the ability to control both 4 pin (PWM) and 3 pin via voltage control.

FWIW I use a Sentry Mix and I love it. I don't use fans with LEDs and it might cause flickering as it's voltage control, but I never checked. 6 banks for the Sentry Mix 2 - you can use splitters for even more fan control - hook up like fans (bottom intake with splitter to bank 1, radiator intake/push fans to bank 5, radiator pull/exhaust fans to bank 6, case back fan to 4, etc, then just jog dials if needed).

But that 1-to-2 splitter hooked up to 2 SP120 PWM in one header should be enough for now... And then you can choose to get a fan controller later, and keep that splitter to run 2 fans off of one bank.

I can't comment on your specific motherboard but know that most consumer boards won't have more than 2 USB headers. See, the header is the hardware part that let's the USB ports communicate data to the CPU and because most people aren't populating all their USB ports, manufacters don't typically include more than a few.

Now, each header or channel has a maximum throughput of 6gb/s. In practice this is lower close to 5gb/s meaning a typical real world cap of about 500mb/s of data access. Why are these numbers wacky like this, I don't know. But in an ideal setup you want to see hd read speeds around 100mb/s and up. Hence the "4 per header" rule. So as is, I'd expect you to be able to connect 8 to 12 drives to that particular board before you start seeing bottlenecking. This is incredibly lame but luckily the is a solution. One of these https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B00HJZEA2S/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1522184600&sr=8-2&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=startech+usb+3.0 that, is a pcie card that occupies a x4 or larger slot giving you an additional 4 USB headers. So that card, or something like it that has DEDICATED controllers/headers will give you the ability to connect 4 drives per controller. Just be wary if you buy something cheaper because it probably doesn't have multiple controllers/headers.

So let's say for example you bought the card I recommend and your motherboard has 3 controllers/headers. That let's you connect up to 28 drives. At that point you're read speeds will suffer simply due to processing power, but that's okay because upgrading GPUs and switching to jminer or compiling creep to run GPU tasks will probably put you back to good. Probably. I can't confirm because I haven't tested jminer yet and compiling creep isn't something I'm versed well enough to do.

Cryptoguru pools are great from what I understand, but realistically and pool listed here https://www.ecomine.earth/burstpools/ that is supporting Dymaxion is worth checking out. Just pick one that looks like it'll line up with your intentions and how much weight you're willing to put towards luck forging blocks. I picked a 0/100 pool because I didn't see myself going above 150ish TB and that's what I personally think the low cutoff is currently to mine at like a 50/50 pool and not feel like I'm missing out on getting paid. Your mileage will vary.

Finally turboplotter. So I didn't start plotting with it, started with xplotter in qbundle, but it is what I finished with. Once you have your account numeric ID entered it's pretty mindless until it's done. It should generate the first set of plots without any additional input but once that drive is done, you point turboplotter at the plot with the highest nonce count and tell it to start on the next drive. This way you avoid potentially overlapping plots, hurting your mining performance.

I'm completely new to this (basically have zero experience in the audio world) but I'm looking at getting a dedicated sound card. My use case is pretty much purely gaming, but I also listen to music a lot, just not hardcore like a lot of you folks do. I'm also a VR enthusiast and would be using this heavily for VR games. My setup would consist of 2.0 speakers, IEM's, and whatever sound card I get. What's important to me, in no particular order, is audio quality, immersiveness, surround sound, positional audio, ease of use/lack of hassle, build quality, and proper EMI shielding/lack of signal noise. The quality of audio through IEM's is more important than the quality of audio through the 2.0 speakers, since I wear IEM's while in VR. I'm not considering a DAC/amp at all, so please don't suggest that. My budget is $100 or less.

Here's what I've found so far, again in no particular order:

ASUS Xonar DSX

Creative Sound Blaster Z

Creative Sound Blaster Audigy RX 7.1

ASUS Strix SOAR

ASUS Xonar DGX

Out of these options, which do you think is best for my use case? Are there any better options in this price range I haven't considered yet? Will this even be a noticeable improvement over onboard audio? (Z270 motherboard)

Also, kinda unrelated but also kinda related: If I'm not horribly confused (which I am), the 2.0 speakers would require a left audio input and a right input, like this. However, I've noticed that none of these sound cards have left audio out/right audio out ports. Just front, rear, center, and woofer. (Plus a few more, like line in/mic in, but never left/right audio out.) So, uh... Where would I plug my speakers in? >.>

Also also, a lot of these sound cards advertise support for surround sound. Do I HAVE to have a 5.1/7.1 system in order to use surround sound, or would I be able to get surround sound with 2.0 speakers? Ditto for headphones - if I was using IEMs, would I be able to get surround sound? Or would it be the same as using onboard audio in that regard/make no difference because it's still only two speakers (one in each ear)?

Some suggestions for keyboard/mice:

Lenovo N5902. Goes on sale regularly.

Logitech K400

Generic keyboard/touchpad remote. There are many slight variants on this.

I've found that due to the size/shape/content of my living room, a wireless receiver plugged into my HTPC doesn't work 100% reliably. I've connected a USB extension cable to the back of my HTPC and run it behind things and under my couch to give me the best reception. Generally you can go up to 15 feet; any longer than that and you need a powered extension.

If you have a Logitech Harmony remote, I highly recommend the OVU4003/00 (RC6) USB IR reciever. Once set up with Windows and the Harmony remote, it works with XBMC/Kodi out of the box. This receiver was branded as HP/Dell/Gateway/Philips and probably many more. A Flirc is another option but it is ugly (IMO) and more expensive.

Regarding hardware, if you aren't gaming you don't need a lot. When using older gear the most important thing is video hardware acceleration. For Intel machines, you need something with at least GMA 4500 (Q45 chipset) graphics or later, and for AMD you need something with at least a 760G chipset. This hardware dates back to 2008/2009. Dedicated graphics cards should be at least a Radeon HD 2600 or a GeForce 8500. These cards date back to 2006/2007. CPUs are a grey area, but any mainstream dual core CPU (Athlon X2, Core 2 Duo) from 2007+ should be able to handle most everything. My first HTPC had an AMD Athlon X2 5000+ and it's still working just fine with W7 and Kodi.

If you want to game (and don't want to use a device like the DOKO), you'll need to find a quiet case that supports full length video cards. There are a bunch available, and I'm not sure if this has changed in the last 2-3 years, but the vast majority of HTPC cases large enough to support full size gear and M-ATX motherboards are simply too long to fit in a standard A/V rack or TV stand. The only exceptions I am aware of are the Silverstone GD05 and GD04. I'd be willing to bet that Silverstone has some other cases that will work also.

Additionally, you'll want to find a PSU, case fans and CPU cooler that are quiet and efficient. The best resource for this is http://www.silentpcreview.com/.

Lastly, if your A/V receiver has only S/PDIF audio inputs (no HDMI) and you want to play games in 5.1 surround sound, you're going to need to find either a sound card or motherboard with an S/PDIF output that supports DTS-Connect and/or Dolby Digital Live. Motherboards stopped coming with this around 2008 (AFAIK) and the cheapest option to get it in an add-on card is the Sound Blaster Z.

Depending on what you mean by 'media' that 2500K is pretty overkill. You can get nearly identical gaming performance from the significantly less expensive i3-2100.

I wouldn't call that Zalman cooler superfluous, but I wouldn't pick it over the favored 212+ unless you have solid evidence showing how quiet it is. You should see what sites like SilentPCreview and Guru3D consider the leaders in quiet cooling at the moment.

You can definitely save a good deal of money with any one of these ASRock micro ATX motherboards. That Asus is enormously more expensive than you need.

The GTX 560TI is a good choice. You should consider this MSI twin frozr 6950 2GB card for only ten bucks more. It is the more powerful card in nearly every case. MSI also makes some of the coolest cards around, which is of primary importance for a microATX build like this one.

You probably don't need all 16 GB of that RAM. You should stick with this set instead.

You also won't need that 650W power supply. With a single mid-range GPU, at most you'll need is 500W. I would recommend finding a well reviewed, modular unit around 500W instead.

Tons of threads like this, so take some time to browse this sub. Also a lot of good info in this sub's wiki In either case here's my quick and dirty off the top of my head in no particular order/level of detail, also some things are just my subjective opinion:

• Take the time to get the HMD situated comfortably on your head. Shouldn't be pressed against your face so hard that it leaves an impression. Back part should be cupping lower back part of your head.
  
• Configure your IPD as best you can.
  
• If you start to feel motion sick or have a headache / eye strain DON'T push through it. Stop and take as long a break as necessary to get back to normal. You may have to start your VR journey in smaller doses until you (hopefully) build up a tolerance.
  
• Since you've never experienced it, don't be put off by the resolution of the Rift. Things like the screendoor effect and god rays you start to lose awareness of the more you use it (especially if you really get immersed in a game).
  
• You'll have 2 sensors with your current bundle. I don't know the size of your room but I would suggest placing them in opposite corners (diagonally) of your playspace. Preferably high up and angled down towards you. Read Oculus blog on the matter
  
• Tied to the above, some people do just fine with 2 sensors (what you'll have out of the box) for 360/roomscale tracking. I went this route for some time and felt it was just fine (not perfect though). Try it out and if you feel you need more stable tracking, look into buying a 3rd sensor.
  
• Hopefully you have no USB bandwidth issues, but if you do, take the time to read through the Oculus blog 1 and Oculus blog 2 posts on the matter. I am one of the unfortunate folks who had USB bandwidth issues on mutiple motherboards and this was, to me, the shittiest aspect of the Rift experience. Once I worked through it (read, bought this card) I was good.
  
• You've got several free games alongside the ones you mentioned. Take the time to experience them all. In addition I recommend Super Hot, Budget Cuts demo (Steam), Rec Room (social/multiplayer).
  
  Everyone's experience varies. If its smooth sailing for you then awesome. If you run into problems, don't stress and take the time to search on this sub for answers. VR is amazing, hope you enjoy it.

Noooo.... Don't just ignore my build.

Listen,

first things first.

The 1700 is, in my opinion, a better value for performance than the 2700/X as it is $100 cheaper.

Second, the cooler may be adequate but if your spending 1000 or so on a PC your gonna need another solution as the 1700 and 2700 tend to get hot and why not go for liquid cooling for only 50 bucks right.

And now for the ram... Alright, alright, maybe a little overkill but you still need at least 32gb for streaming TRUST ME. The background processing will thank me later.

Here is an updated parts list. I will explain my changes in another comment below. I truly believe this is your best bet. I do want to say if you're not really committed to going with the last generation like 1700 i get it. I will put another list including a b450 Moab and a ryzen 7 2700 after this one.

Also, here is the link to a capture card. LINK

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Type|Item|Price

----|:----|:----
CPU | AMD - Ryzen 7 1700X 3.4GHz 8-Core Processor | $189.89 @ OutletPC
CPU Cooler | Cooler Master - MasterLiquid Lite 240 66.7 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler | $54.99 @ Newegg
Thermal Compound | ARCTIC - MX4 4g Thermal Paste | $3.99 @ SuperBiiz
Motherboard | ASRock - Fatal1ty AB350 Gaming K4 ATX AM4 Motherboard | $90.88 @ OutletPC
Memory | G.Skill - Trident Z RGB 32GB (2 x 16GB) DDR4-3000 Memory | $275.98 @ Newegg
Storage | Western Digital - Blue 500GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive | $84.82 @ OutletPC
Storage | Seagate - Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive | $58.89 @ OutletPC
Video Card | NVIDIA - GeForce GTX 1080 Ti 11GB Founders Edition Video Card | Purchased For $699.00
Case | NZXT - H500 (Black/Blue) ATX Mid Tower Case | $76.99 @ Amazon
Power Supply | EVGA - SuperNOVA G3 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply | $74.20 @ Amazon
Wireless Network Adapter | Asus - PCE-AC51 PCI-Express x1 802.11a/b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi Adapter | $29.99 @ Amazon
Case Fan | Cougar - CF-D12HB-B 64.4 CFM 120mm Fan | $15.38 @ OutletPC
Case Fan | Cougar - CF-D12HB-B 64.4 CFM 120mm Fan | $15.38 @ OutletPC
| Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts |
| Total | $1670.38
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-10-31 18:51 EDT-0400 |

Motherboard: That will work just fine. I believe the quote you listed is telling you to buy an add-on card which connects to your motherboard through a PCI slot and gives you extra USB ports like this. That mothboard has 4 USB 2.0 ports and 2 USB 3.0 ports and your case has two front panel USB ports. This brigns your total USB ports up to 8. If you need more than 8 then you can buy an add-on card or back plate that attaches to the USB connections on the motherboard. The latter looks like this. The black thing obviously goes to the motherboard.

CPU: Depending on how much video editing you do you might be able to drop down to the 2500K. The 2600K will be better for video editing, but if you really need to save money and don't edit enough to justify the price increase then you can get the 2500K.

GPU: The 570 is pretty good and you would want to get an EVGA card because they have a lifetime warranty. You can also get the 6950 which is slightly worse (maybe 10% less FPS) but costs about $80 less.

Hard drive: Switch to the Samsung Spinpoint F3. It's cheaper, faster (the 6 Gb/s on the WD is crap, HDD can't even get up to 3 Gb/s), and more reliable. If you have extra money then get an SSD. One of the best upgrades you can give your computer. They are crazy fast

Everything else looks good. Make sure to get an aftermarket CPU cooler if you overclock. The Cooler Master Hyper 212+ is great.

So you have four corners on the recessed ceiling (higher up), and four corners on the lower ceiling. I would almost prefer to put the cameras in the corners of the lower ceiling, because it would give a more straight-on view of the player/controllers. Each camera has a narrower viewing cone at extreme close proximity. The further from the main playspace they are, the more that cone has a chance to "spread out" and cover the actual playspace. In this case, you would draw your playspace with at least (2 ft) or (0.6 m) distance from each of the four walls, so people don't bash their knuckles at the borders.

However, you might not want your cameras to be further than (12 ft) or (3.6 m) apart from each other (for best tracking quality). I don't have a big enough room to run into this limit, so you may be fine with further spaced out cameras. If the lower ceiling corners are further apart than (12 ft) or (3.6 m), then you may want to put them in the recessed ceiling anyways. You can always ignore the Oculus Rift setup's warnings about camera spacing, by the way. In fact, with larger playspaces, the Oculus setup wizard will always complain. Don't worry about it.

Also, you might want to consider using this USB card. It can handle the throughput of all four cameras in USB 3.0 mode, if desired. You can downgrade any camera to USB 2.0 by simply running a USB 2.0 cable to that camera instead of 3.0. A passive USB 2.0 cable is fine for short runs, but consider an active USB 2.0 cable (like the one that comes in the box of an extra Rift camera) for longer runs. You should put your Rift headset in one of the motherboard's USB 3.0 ports (USB 2.0 might actually be fine), and then put all four cameras (you might only need three cameras) in the USB extension card.

You can search this subreddit for discussions on whether you want/need to have the cameras/headset on 3.0 or 2.0. I prefer to run everything at USB 3.0, but it may not be necessary.

For USB 3.0 cable runs that are less than 10 feet (say, those corners nearest to your computer tower), use these passive USB 3.0 cables. You're also going to want a passive USB 3.0 extension for your Rift headset.

For USB 3.0 cable runs that are more than 10 feet away, you should use an active USB 3.0 cable. This is necessary for cameras that are further away from your tower. Note that the cable I linked has an optional barrel port for a 12V power supply. You only need to power these cables if you're daisy-chaining two or more of them in a row (for runs longer than (33 ft) or (10 m)).

These CAT6 round cable clips should work well for cable routing, especially for the slightly thicker active USB 3.0 cables. These general-purpose adhesive cable clips work fine for runs of the thinner, passive USB cables, but you may have issues with the adhesive depending on your wall.

You'll want this HDMI extension cable for your Rift headset, to make use of the extra space. I've had a good experience with bunching the HDMI and USB Rift headset extensions together by using these lightweight Velcro ties. I have about a (10 ft) or (3 m) square playspace, so you may encounter different problems than me if your playspace is larger. I only have three cameras, and it works fine. Good luck in your setup, I'm sure whatever you do will work great!

With the chassis you chose, and the socket, these coolers will work (I have the same case and similar socket): https://www.newegg.com/p/N82E16835608042

Technically, the 120mm version of that cooler will fit, but only if you get lucky. The top of the 120mm cooler has heat pipes that have been crimped off and sealed. If one of those heat pipe crimps is too high, you wont be able to close the lid on the chassis (speaking from experience).

Don't skimp on power, it is the lifeblood of the system. Get something like this instead: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00IKDETOW The link you provided for the Xeons is for the RAM, so I don't know how much power consumption you will have, or how many drives you wish to spin up. The 750w power supply will be sufficient, and give you some headroom in case you want to fill all 15 drives bays, 2x HBA cards, and a 10g NIC later down the road. .

Word of warning on the case; it's awesome for the price, but has ZERO cable management. It will be tough to have a neat build. Also, the weight of the case by itself, is enough to bend/bow the long side of the case. Always properly support the case when you pick it up. Aaaaaaaaannd, the fans are absolute trash.

Budget wise, if you have too choose, spend more on the power supply than the coolers.

Good luck!

Sure bud, here is the cooler and here is the fan I put on the rad, completely optional but I'm certain makes a big difference in noise, as Noctuas are top end.

Also, here is the video tutorial for installation, an easy installation that takes a little over an hour if you have the right tools, but is pretty simple. Here is the tool set I used, and it gave me any size or fit that I needed to do this easily, plus is great if you ever do any computer customizing in general and need a nice set.

If you have any more questions feel free to ask.

No worries.

I would recommend checking out this video and seeing if you think it makes a difference to you first: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JnpLUlD20z8 ... I use an Astro Mixamp for my console gaming and wanted to try out a soundcard for my first pc build so I got this one: http://www.amazon.com/Blaster-Performance-Headphone-Forming-Microphone/dp/B009ISU33E/ref=sr_1_13?ie=UTF8&qid=1415131668&sr=8-13&keywords=asus+xonar ... Got it for $70 on sale, btw. With that said, I personally enjoy having the soundcard. I like having 3d sound emulation from my stereo headsets and personally I can hear a difference between the different technologies. I like the THX (same as SBX I believe) for it's overall accuracy and immersion. With that said, the soundcard is also useful for playing around with equalizer settings, using a voice changer in game (just for fun) and for managing multiple audio sources on one pc: for example, I have my headphones plugged into the card as well as my 2.1 speakers and can choose which one I want outputting sound at any given moment. Additionally the soundcard has an on board amp which helps if you have hard to drive headphones. I wouldn't say it's absolutely necessary to get a soundcard as you could download and try out the razer sound software for free, but if you have the available funds and perhaps a Frys around you (or another retailer that has a great return policy on open products) I'd say give it a try. So in summary it's up to you and your budget but I'm enjoying mine.

On a side note, if you don't already have headphones/headset, check this out: http://www.amazon.com/HyperX-Cloud-Gaming-Headset-KHX-H3CL/dp/B00JJNQG98/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1415132242&sr=8-1&keywords=cloud+hyper

has favorable reviews and this is the cheapest I've seen it yet. Also, if you'd really like to delve into sound and gaming, check out this post: http://www.head-fi.org/t/534479/mad-lust-envys-headphone-gaming-guide-update-10-15-2014-beyerdynamic-t51i-added

let me know if you have any other questions.

Cheers.

What kind of computer are you using to record your gameplay with?

For audio, a cheap dynamic mic would be a great way to go. It might not sound great initially, but a lot of those problems can be solved easily with software--Audacity is free and easy to use, and makes our recordings sound much better despite the mic's problems. You'll also need an XLR cable to go with it--preferably XLR male to female, but you can also find an XLR to USB one if you want to connect it directly to your PC. Otherwise, you'll need an audio interface to go with it. As for mic stands, I've honestly never had a problem with this one. It's not as easy to maneuver as the 100 dollar one, but it should serve your needs as a beginer.

If you're recording multiple people, you could get the Blue Yeti--a lot of people swear by it--but it's also a lot more expensive and it picks up everything if you're not careful. A lot of people think that the Yeti is cruise control for great audio, but it really doesn't do much more than a cheap mic can. I would just recommend having an audio interface that connects at least two microphones and then buying another dynamic mic instead.

As for recording your Switch, the standard is the Elgato. I'm currently using the HD60 model, which is nice, but it has some latency issues (meaning you'll need to manually sync your audio with your video). The HD60s has no latency problems, but it's a bit more expensive.

For the performance you want, that's honestly overkill. If your son wants an explanation, please tell him that the games that he plays (Minecraft, League of Legends, Neopets, World of Warcraft) are not that graphics intensive and do not require such a highly-priced PC. Even if you did play graphics-intensive games, you can get the performance you're looking for, for much, much less.

You could put together a killer computer for about $800 or even less.

For starters, you do not need an i7. An i5, or even an i3 will do just fine for those games. Also, you do not need that CPU cooler and just use the stock one since it doesn't seem like you're planning to overclock the CPU.

32 GB of RAM is overkill for any game, regardless of what you're playing. You can get by with just 8GB of RAM, or 16GB just to be safe.

Also, you should probably wait for the GTX 1080 to drop if you're really set on getting it. It's currently way over MSRP due to the lack of stock. If you want to cut the costs a bit, and you want to future-proof the PC, you should try something like the GTX 970 or the new RX 480 after the price drops, and it will play those games perfectly fine.

As for the PSU, it looks like it costs a bit much, but it's good nonetheless. If you don't want to change that, it looks just fine to me.

The motherboard looks pretty good for the price, and the SSD and HDD are just fine as well.

Hope that helps!

EDIT: Sorry for editing the post so much, I realized that I left out a lot that I should've said.

tl;dr: is the premium price of the GTX 1060 6gb worth it over the GTX 1060 3gb?

edited for clarity

i built a pc last march on a z170 motherboard and an i5 6600k, but i recycled my video card from my previous build. it is a 2gb radeon 7870 that i bought back in april of 2013, so... pretty ready for an upgrade? the primary reason that i'm looking to upgrade is that i'm finally pulling the trigger in water cooling and i want a card that i can find a water block for. EKWB offered one for my current card but they no longer do.

i think i have decided on the GTX 1060 either in the 3gb version (currently $200) or the 6gb version (currently $260). I'd like to keep it under $250 but if i'm really going to see a big enough performance benefit with 6gb over 3gb i'll adjust the 'budget' upwards by $10.

these days i am primarily concerned with pushing multiple monitors, and i play both WoW and FFXIV. the card is still doing me pretty good, so if there's a good reason to hold off for awhile, i could just shelf the idea.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Type|Item|Price

----|:----|:----
CPU | Intel Core i5-7600K 3.8GHz Quad-Core Processor | $239.99 @ Amazon
CPU Cooler | CRYORIG H7 49.0 CFM CPU Cooler | $34.99 @ Amazon
Motherboard | MSI Z270 SLI PLUS ATX LGA1151 Motherboard | $129.99 @ Amazon
Memory | Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory | $112.99 @ Newegg
Storage | Sandisk SSD PLUS 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive | $74.99 @ Best Buy
Storage | Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive | $49.99 @ Amazon
Video Card | Asus Radeon RX 480 8GB ROG STRIX Video Card | $259.99 @ Amazon
Case | NZXT S340 - Designed by Razer ATX Mid Tower Case | $94.99 @ Amazon
Power Supply | EVGA SuperNOVA NEX 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply | $79.99 @ Amazon
Operating System | Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit | $92.99 @ Best Buy
Monitor | LG 29UM67 29.0" 2560x1080 60Hz Monitor | $269.50 @ Amazon
| Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts |
| Total | $1440.40
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-02-21 15:10 EST-0500 |

If you want to try 21:9 ultrawide, this should be a good place to start.
I included a CPU/MOBO/Cooler that can handle modest overclocking, incase you want to jump into it. There's a good guide on /r/overclocking and many youtube videos out there to get you started.
I went with a RX480 because the monitor supports Freesync. This an AMD only technology and would make this setup truly worth it.
Now if you didn't want a 21:9 ultrawide, you could swap that out for a GTX 1070 and a 144Hz 24" 1080p Monitor. Though I will note, that this monitor is also freesync and would benefit from an AMD GPU. That being said, the RX480 has a hard time reaching 144 FPS in most newer games.
* A note -- The 21:9 Monitor I included has support for 75Hz Freesync over Display Port, despite the product page on some sites listing it only at 60Hz.

Hello audiophiles!

Long post, so here's a TL;DR: What soundcard, DAC or AMP do I need that greatly enhances my virtual surround experience in Sennheiser Game One headset?

After a long research on gaming headsets, I went ahead and purchased Sennheiser Game One headset. I know I could have gone different routes but that one was the best I could have done with my budget. Going separate headphones and mic was a bit too expensive since I wanted claritiy in mic also (which would require investing in a good mic). This Sennie was kinda was the bang for my buck.

When I plugged the headset to my motherboard, the sound was a bit low (at which point I thought maybe I need an AMP). However some tweaking in Windows 10 (such tweaking being turning on "Loudness Equalization" in "Enhancements" tab in playback device settings) made the sound too high and introduced a background hiss (permanent noise). Fiddling around the equalizer did help a little bit but the sound felt super artificial and bloated, also considering the fact that I am not the best person to understand what each equalizer column actually does. The end result is drowned out footsteps which is totally undesirable.

Other than this, I noticed almost no difference to my directional audio (i.e. where the footsteps or gunshots are coming from) compared to my old Steelseries not-so-very-good headset. I feel like there absolutely needs to be some sort of hardware that does this virtual surround processing. I tried the software route first; dolby atmos, Windows sonic for headphones etc, did not change things one bit. I think those things are nothing but fancy gimmicks. Feel free to correct me here.

Today I plugged the headsets to my iPhone 7 via 3.5mm adapter and boy the sound was awesome. Which leads me to think that my on-board motherboard audio (RealTek) is not that great. I feel like I need a sound card, a DAC or an Amp of some sorts.

Which brings me to my question and TL;DR: What soundcard, DAC or AMP do I need that greatly enhances my virtual surround experience in Sennheiser Game One headset? Now that I have made the investment, I can save up for something and get it if will enhance my experience.

I have found Sennheiser GSX 1000 and Creative SoundBlaster Z which may quench my thirst. Anyone had any experiences with these?

I appreciate any input from you knowledgeable audio people.

Thanks!!

I know you say the cords bother you, but hear me out.

I have a Sound Blaster Z, which comes with a mic that sits on top of my monitor. I never notice it, and I don't see any wires. I use the Sound Blaster Z to power my Sennheiser 598 headphones.

My setup is expensive, but it is also amazing. There are cheaper alternatives. The Sennheiser 558 headphones are 100 dollars, though you'd still need a small mic like the one that comes with the Sound Blaster Z.

Sennheiser does make headsets. This one is (if i recall correctly) the 558 headphones with a mic attached for you.

If that is also too expensive I can leave you with this advice. Get yourself a pair of open headphones and a mic like the one that comes with the Sound Blaster Z. Open headphones are better for gaming than closed headphones / noise canceling headphones. Open headsets have a much larger "Sound Stage" compared to closed. The "Sound Stage" is how big the area appears to be that the sounds are coming from. Open headsets with large sound stages allow you to better pin-point where a sound is coming from. This allows you to much more easily tell that the footsteps you hear you coming from your 5 o'clock and that player is 20 yards away, for example.

The only time a headset is better closed than open is if you live in a very loud house/apartment, you live in a college dorm and don't want your roommate to hear your games/music, or you plan to use the headset in public at a library or on a bus. If you are buying strictly for gaming, open is the way to go.

Most headsets you can buy at retail shops are closed. This is a trend that started maybe 5-6 years ago when eSports were getting bigger. The pros play in tournaments with closed headsets because they need to block out the sound of the crowd. People want the same gear their favorite pro uses, so suddenly open headsets disappeared from retail shops.

The three Sennheiser products I linked are all open headsets.

-1070/7700 is a great combo. I went for the 7600k and wish I spent the $100 or so more on the 7700. You'll be able to play 90% of everything at max settings and push 100+ FPS. The z270 series mobo's are sweet. You may need to do xmp to get the RAM to work @2400.

-I don't know if it's available by you but this motherboard comes with a free wifi/bluetooth card.

-I was looking at the Noctua fan, decided against it as it looked like a pain in the ass to install. Cryorig H7 is straight forward and relatively quiet (once I adjusted fan curves)

-Consider upgrading the PSU to a gold version. EVGA makes some very nice units like this which is modular, so cables are easier to work with.

Other than that, everything is solid; I'd maybe upgrade the SSD to an M.2 NVME for faster boot speeds, etc, but that's just me.

Check out https://pcpartpicker.com/ It's a great utility to let you know if everything is compatible, while also showing links for pricing.

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PCPartPicker Part List

Type|Item|Price

----|:----|:----
CPU | AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor | €214.94 @ PC Componentes
Thermal Compound | ARCTIC MX-4 2019 Edition 4 g Thermal Paste | €6.44 @ Amazon Espana
Motherboard | MSI B450 GAMING PRO CARBON AC ATX AM4 Motherboard | €145.15 @ PC Componentes
Memory | Crucial Ballistix Elite 8 GB (1 x 8 GB) DDR4-3600 Memory | €101.87 @ Amazon Espana
Storage | Sabrent Rocket 1 TB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive | €119.99 @ Amazon Espana
Video Card | Sapphire Radeon RX 5700 8 GB PULSE Video Card | €379.89 @ Amazon Espana
Power Supply | Corsair TXM Gold 550 W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply | €74.90 @ Amazon Espana
| Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts |
| Total | €1043.18
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-11-07 18:35 CET+0100 |

cpu: ryzen 5 3600, best price for performance gaming cpu

cpu cooler: stock cooler is just fine here (no reason to upgrade due to case used so noise shouldn't be a problem)

thermal paste: recommended for all ryzen 3000 series builds, requires removing the stock thermal paste from the cooler

memory: ddr4 3600mhz 16Gb 16 latency, about as good as it gets, anything better is a lot more expensive, ryzen 3000 series benefits from fast memory in gaming

storage: a better than mid-range m.2 1tb ssd, doesn't slow down when over 1/2 full

motherboard: I went with msi b450 gaming pro carbon a premium b450 full atx motherboard that has 8.1 audio, wifi, bluetooth, usb-c, and gigabit lan included. Is fully upgradeable to 3950x. Note: You might have to flash the bios to be ryzen 3000 compatible. This motherboard can be flashed without a cpu. By and large though because of the massive sell rate of AMD products in the last few months this is most likely not necessary (they are being sold with the bios updated now). This is a premium part choice, lower budget considerations are available, but with less features. This is a great motherboard.

videocard: the Amd rx 5700, a 1440p capable video card, can do 4k upscale with a 4k monitor in gaming, can be overclocked to 5700xt performance, here is a video series with the 5700. Although Red Dead Redemption 2 is an extremely demanding game (and poorly optimized currently) this gpu and cpu combo should produce 60+ frames at near ultra settings in 1440p. 1080p is probably your current monitor configuration though, and it should max ultra playable at that resolution.

power supply: a gold rated (very power efficient), 550 watts(plenty of watts), semi-modular (some cables detach for easy building), five year warranty

fine to reuse the case: if you want some nice quality additional case fans, here is a suggestion for a 5 pack.

If you have a full version of windows you can use it on the new motherboard. If not I suggest a new oem windows 10 pro disk with code for about 30 euros. This will be a one computer license that will be bound to the motherboard.

Earlier this year I helped someone with a Spanish build, and did a side by side assembly next to PCComponentes. The cost and build quality was the same. So if you want to have it assembled through PCComponentes then the price will be about the same +30 euros for the assembly. If you need help with PCComponentes let me know and I'll do a build through them.

Let me know if you have any questions!

> Some of the studies are looking at reaching trajectories

As in, the trajectory of a hand reaching for something? Is this at normal, everyday speed, or are you looking for something like a boxer to give it their best shot & swing as fast as they can? Because that's one niche use case where Lighthouse outperforms Constellation - super fast movement tracking.

Given the camera nature of the Rift's Constellation tracking system (720p 60 Hz global shutter cameras with IR filters), super fast movements can cause tracking errors as the movement becomes too fast for the sampling rate to keep up. In this, Lighthouse has a better capacity for these fast movements as the total sampling rate of the sweeping lasers exceeds the sampling rate of Constellation's cameras, and in Lighthouse the controllers & the headsets are the receivers; they aren't outputting signals mid-movement like Constellation (where there are IR LEDs scattered across the tracked objects) so there's no equivalent to the IR LEDs output getting smeared across a single sample frame of the camera.

That said, we're talking fast here, this guy isn't having any issues landing his hits accurately, nor is this guy. However there was a thing about a climbing game a long time ago where the dev ran into issues with Rift because the whole game was about holding your hands up high & bringing them down with as much force as you could muster, which could send people off in the wrong direction as the Constellation tracking had a hiccup from the super fast motion.

On the other hand, speaking purely technically, hard-measurably, but not humanly observable, movements in anything but these super-speeds will likely be more accurate on Rift, compared to both Lighthouse 1.0 & 2.0, given the purely stationary nature of the external side of the tracking system. In a lab setting, you can tailor the camera setup to the needs of the test as well. If you were measuring smaller ranges of movement & had the 2 sensors that come in the box placed a meter apart & a meter from the test subject, the accuracy & low jitter..y..ness? would likely far exceed anything you could achieve with Lighthouse. Add a third sensor to that and have them in a triangle some ~1,5m away from the test subject, you'd probably be hard pressed to measure any statistically significant deviations in tracking at all. Add a fourth sensor, buy a high-performance USB expansion card, set them up surrounding the test subject in decently close proximity, and you honestly might not even need that Optotrak. Set a 4 sensor config up with them in a half circle in front of the test subject, and, well.. That'd be an interesting benchmark of the tracking system, and I suspect you'd be pleasantly surprised.

A while back someone wrote a piece of software to measure tracking deviations/jitter. They made it for Vive users as jitter was a bit of an issue for them back then, but they posted it on r/oculus to get comparative data. Figured you might find the numbers interesting, even if there are a ton of variables unaccounted for between all different user setups: https://www.reddit.com/r/oculus/comments/4nezq5/looking_for_someone_to_run_the_vive_jitter_test

It can be another model, there's nothing inherently wrong with mixing and matching brands and models as long as they're of a size configuration that your computer supports. I think most people generally like to keep their fans consistent, but that's mostly an aesthetic thing. If you want to stick with the same fan model that came with the case, the fan that comes mountaed on the front of the Meshify C is this one: http://www.fractal-design.com/home/product/casefans/dynamic-series/dynamic-x2-gp-12. The case can support up to 3 120mm front fans, so you could add two more on the front with little difficulty.

One point to consider if you're thinking of adding a bunch of fans is that past a certain point your mobo may not have enough sys_fan connectors to support all of them. This is easily fixed, though, by getting either a fan controller or however many fan splitter cables you may need to get easy inputs for all of your fans (I used https://www.amazon.com/SilverStone-Technology-Sleeved-Splitter-CPF01/dp/B00B46XKKQ on one of my builds and it worked well enough).

It is not a case of how many USB 3 ports you have, but what the USB bandwidth load is: https://www.oculus.com/blog/oculus-roomscale-balancing-bandwidth-on-usb/

You can use a USB 2 for one of the cameras in smaller tracked volumes, but you really need USB 3 for everything for around 9+sq m.

Three cameras will do OK with less than 9sq m but 4 is an advantage when approaching the limits of what volume the Rift can reliably track. From my personal testing around 17.5sq m seems to be about the Rift limit, in ideal circumstances, personally I think reliable stable performance is a good bit below that.

There are some great VR HOTAS experiences, like Elite Dangerous, so if you find you need it then an additional USB card is well worth the investment, just go with something like this, which is known to work: https://www.amazon.com/Express-SuperSpeed-Adapter-Dedicated-Channels/dp/B00HJZEA2S/

I ended up getting the Hyper 212 Plus because I read some reviews that said it was quieter than the Evo. I've never had an Evo, so I have no basis of comparison, but I just installed the Plus last night, and it was definitely quieter all day today than the stock cooler I took out of there.

On a separate but related note - I have a quad monitor setup, with 2 GPUs, 3770k, and WD Black, so my office gets pretty hot. The old fan I was using to cool the room was too loud for me to keep it on when having meetings on Skype. So I ordered a Vornado 660. On the lowest setting, it keeps me nice and cool, and is damn near silent, even from up close. So quiet in fact, that after I bought it, that's when I decided to replace the stock CPU cooler, as that was then the loudest thing in the room. So, I definitely recommend that Vornado - worth every penny.

AMD 2700 vs 2600 - more cores

Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo vs Stock HSF - Can overclock 2700 to 2700x levels with ease

MSI vs Gigabyte motherboard - Gigabyte is a failing company, I would be surprised if they still exist without being bought out 2 years from now. MSI quality is vastly superior to Gigabyte. Mobo also has wireless built in

G. Skill vs Team - name brand vs new brand

1TB EX920 SSD vs 512GB SATA SSD + 2TB HDD - EX920 is 5-10 times faster vs the Devo + the HDD you selected is from a 3rd party seller on Amazon selling used drives as new. Wait and get a good 4TB or bigger. A cheap route is to "shuck" a western digital external drive. You can get an 8TB for around $120 that way.

Cases - Just chose something that would fit an ATX motherboard since your choice was mATX only

PSU - Better deal, similar quality

Monitor - Better deal + LG is a better brand for QC

Keyboard - Better deal, both Cherry MX Brown

Mouse - G602 is the best budget wireless gaming mouse, period

You WILL need case fans. This is kind of a hidden expense with building a PC.

Cheap options:

5 Pack of good fans

Fan Hub

I tried using an older Pi to host my pi-hole and compared it to a newer 3b+ and found no real difference in DNS lookups, but updates and the web interface were a lot slower and some things would run out of memory on the really old Pi. Ordered a second 3b+ and replaced the old Pi.

Power supply quality is critical, get a good one from Adafruit or Canakit.

A case is important to protect the Pi from damage, something simple is good enough, a dog-bone style works well and is a bit cooler if you have a safe place to mount the Pi, a more fully enclosed one is safer if the Pi is going to be banging around with a bunch of other stuff. Cooler really doesn't matter in a home install unless you are going to add something to your Pi that will cause it to run hot, fans, heatsinks and such really aren't needed.

SD cards are cheap, Samsung or Sandisk 32 GBs are excellent and you save pennies by going cheaper or smaller.

For Ethernet there is little difference in cables for the lengths you'll be using, and standard cable will work, get one a couple feet longer than the minimum and you'll have slack to work with.

So Pi, power supply, case, SD card and Ethernet cable will get you set up with a very nice Pi-hole.

EVGA Bronze 500W PSU. $56 as I type this. If you want cheaper, here's the same Bronze supply but with a 'fluid dynamic' fan bearing which probably is noisier. $46. Both of these supplies come with a 3 year warranty.


I hear only great things about EVGA's customer support. If you want to step up to their bulletproof line, the 550W G2 Supernova is a fantastic PSU but doesn't come in under your price range. I have the 850W G2 supply and I love it.

So I'd do two things right off. Install some temperature monitoring software like hwmonitor or openhardwaremonitor (both are free and lightweight). Start it up, check your temps, then yank the fan (you can just disconnect the wire from the motherboard while it's running, no harm). Then watch the temperatures, preferably while you do audio stuff on the computer. It's entirely possible that the very loud fan is doing less for the temps than you think. It's also possible that that's not the fan making the noise.

If it is that fan and disconnecting it makes an unacceptable difference in temperature, Noctura makes very quiet 120mm fans for not a lot of money. Other common culprits would be GPU fans (almost always loud, and unnecessary in audio workstations) and sometimes CPU fans. If you're overclocking and the cpu fan is loud, go back to a stock clock and see if the fan gets quieter.

There's a lot to say about keeping PCs quiet, but that'd at least be a start. I'd definitely start with just yanking that fan and see what happens, might be you can get some peace and quiet for free.

If you want a quick and more expensive solution, check out Fractal Design cases. They're nicely soundproof with quiet fans and can be had fairly cheaply on sale.

No, that PC is not enough to run Rust.
I see your budget appears to be very low, I'll give you a better suggestion.
At your price range, I'd suggest buying an older prebuilt, (sometimes colleges give their old PC's away for ridiculously cheap prices. You might be able to snag one there) but I'll give you a link to Amazon for one.
I would get this as it has an older I5, which even given its age, should do fine for Rust, and then upgrade it to suit your needs.
You also want 16GB of RAM if possible. The game has frequent stuttering on 8GB or even 12GB
This would probably be a good option, overclock it if possible
You're going to need a GPU. If you want to play it safe and go brand new. An RX 580 would be just fine for playing this game, hell you could probably do fine with a worse GPU. They regularly go on sale for under $200. $200 should be the absolute maximum you buy this card for.
If you have to go used, I'd suggest a GTX 770 if you want to save a bit of cash. The card should also be just fine for Rust, I'd try to snag anything used from the U.S to reduce the odds of being scammed (It's a huge business in cards made in the China area, unfortunately)
The last thing you will need is a new Power Supply, as the one that comes with the prebuilt sucks.

This Specific Power Supply should do you just fine. EVGA makes some of the best stuff out there when it comes to a power supply.

​


If you don't feel qualified to do any of the modifications to the PC required, just look up how to do it. There are plenty of great guides out there for that sort of thing. Shoot me a DM if you want to know anything else.

The power supply needs to be a micro USB one (sorry I forgot to mention that). So like a phone charger. I find my Samsung phone charger works fine - it is only something like 2.1A so occasionally I get slowdown (a little lightning symbol appears on the screen which means "Low voltage"), so ideally find a 5V micro USB charger at 2.5A for optimal performance. On the USA Amazon site, this one is good: https://www.amazon.com/CanaKit-Raspberry-Supply-Adapter-Charger/dp/B00MARDJZ4 But if you have a micro USB phone charger already, you could just try it and see if it works.

For the control pads, yeah if they work with a PC through USB then it should hopefully work on the Retropie as well. It's pretty much plug and play - when you put a new controller in, it asks you to press some keys and it is all set up automatically.

Don't know which websites in Canada would be good sorry. Where I am from I just went into a local electronics shop and got everything (Raspberry Pis are actually pretty common, you don't even have to go to a dedicated computer shop).

For 20$ you should get a cooler master hyper 212+, it has a bigger fan (120mm vs. 92) and will easily allow you to reach the max "on air" overclock of that chip. The stock heatsink will easily allow 3.4 GHZ, possibly more. throw in a coolermaster 4 pack of 120mm case fans, put one on the other side of the hyper 212+, and three in the case. all your cooling needs taken care of for 30$ shipped

for 30$ you might as well get 2x4GB ram. these ones are great

the case and psu are good quality, though you can get the antec bp550w, which is modular, for 10$ more.

170$ for that video card seems pretty standard, with 140$ being even better if you get the rebate to come through.

Reading reviews of that mobo, it seems that the compatible ram list is pretty small, and ram issues seem to happen a lot to that board. in the 100$ range there are several am3+ mobo's which would fit your needs. I suggest going with one that has 2 pci-e x16 slots and runs them at (x16, x8) in crossfire or sli. the one you currently have is x16,x4 which will give less performance if you sli/crossfire down the road. if you don't think you'll crossfire, don't worry about that.

• The H7 won't be enough to sustain heavy overclocking on a 7700k. Consider a $46 Scythe Fuma when it goes back in stock (or from eBay)? That thing outperforms almost every other boxed cooler on the market right now for a very good price.
  
  
• You'll need a bios update to use that motherboard with a Kaby Lake CPU. That's not an overclocking motherboard either, though it'll be perfectly adequate for casual overclocking. I'd probably be looking at an ASRock Z270 Extreme 4 or Gigabyte Aorus k5 or k7 for budget overclocking and aesthetics.
  
  
• The MSI Armor cards don't have backplates, so the back of the card (the part that you actually see most of the time) will just be a blank PCB. You might want to consider an EVGA FTW or ASUS Strix for a good-looking back. GPU's are a part you could probably save $50 or so on by using Jet.com instead of Amazon.
  
  
• Cases are very much down to aesthetics, but you can get very nice tempered glass cases for less than that Corsair thing. At your price point and with your aesthetics, I'd probably be looking at an Enthoo Evolv.
  
  
• That PSU isn't going to help you with overclocking. Get a G2/G3, RMx, Seasonic, etc. If you're serious about overclocking or longevity. This is a part you can potentially save ~$20 on with Newegg.
  
  
• You don't need a wifi card that nice. Most people don't even have home internet fast enough to fully use a card like that. If you really need wifi, it might be cheaper to just get a motherboard that has it out of the box.
  
  
• Those are static pressure fans, not designed for case airflow. If you want more case fans, consider a value pack of Arctic F12's. They're probably the most acoustically efficient unrestricted airflow fan at low speeds, which is what you want for case fans.
  

It's this. It was recommended on this page. I wanted to be absolutely certain I got flawless tracking, so opted for a dedicated USB 3.0 controller for each port, so there wasn't any chance of running into a bandwidth limitation. Also wanted all three of the sensors to be running at USB 3.0, whereas they recommend plugging one of the three into USB 2.0 otherwise (again, due to bandwidth limitations under one controller).

I don't doubt you could have a flawless experience without it, but I wanted to make damn well certain that it would be plug-and-play goodness from the start, given my history of building up expectations and ultimately being disappointed.

EDIT: Forgot to answer your last question. It was actually just the "First Contact" demo thing that you start out with the learn the controls. This the realism and accuracy of the controls, and interacting with the environment in such a natural manner was just amazing. I went and played through it again this evening. The other games I've tried (SuperHot and RoboRecall are really, really good as well, it's just that was the first one, and the environmental interaction is really cool).

Yeah definitely no bottlenecks to worry about! On the USB ports, I'm pretty confident in saying that if the Oculus utility isn't throwing errors at you then you're good there. It is pretty sensitive to incompatibilities.

At work but I think I remember my settings for comparison. Pretty sure I use hmd graphics settings on medium and supersampling at like 1.3 with antialiasing off. It runs buttery smooth with the rare graphical hitch here and there. Another trick worth looking into with the rift is that if you tweak the HUD colors to a primarily green scheme, you will get a slightly better effective resolution on the text due to the Samsung pentile displays used. It's not a lot, bit it's noticeable and worth the downsides of changing HUD colors.

Ref: R7 1800X; 16GB@3200; EVGA 1080ti SC2 at stock clocks.

Edit: also relavent, I do have all my rift USB plugs going through one of these.

Glad I helped.

Your temperatures seem to be completely safe. 71 degrees is absolutely fine for your components, and you shouldn't worry about it. You should only be concerned if temperatures start exceeding 75-80 degrees.

As /u/Dyzleksi suggested, you could move the PC out of the furniture if you have room. This most likely will make the PC slightly cooler, and therefore a little quieter. If you want to make a huge difference to noise and heat, there are many options for cheap but quality fans:

You should start with a CPU cooler like this. This is one of the most popular ones on the market, I have one myself and it is silent.

Any aftermarket case fans will typically do the job much more effectively and quietly. Noctua is a good choice, as is Corsair. If you aren't willing to spend that much, cheaper options will also be a large improvement.

Bear in mind that case fans greatly affect overall performance. How many case fans do you currently have? (These are the fans attached to the case itself, not to components.) Most cheaper cases come with only 1 fan on the front (intake). You should install at least 1 more on the rear or top of the case as exhaust, for a total of 1 intake and 1 exhaust fan.

Grounding should not affect the temperatures or cooling at all. It is a precaution you can take while handling the components to avoid damaging them with static electricity. Many people (myself included) do not bother with grounding and get on just fine. In future, though, you should tap a metal object such as the side panel of the PC before touching any hardware.

If you have any more questions, I'm always here to help.

Thermalright's TY-127s fill every checkmark on your list. Great fan by a great manufacturer. I think they are only available in Europe though.

Phantek also has some good black/white ones as well. Also could be worth checking out gentle typhoons though I think those are gray rather than white.

If you're want something a bit cheaper you can actually get a five pack black/white arctic f12s which are pwm. Amazing value here.. They are legit good fans.

The cooler you chose doesn't appear to be 1155 compatible; I'd recommend the other Cooler Master cooler.

$200 is a bit much for a system at this budget level. This is a much more reasonably priced SLI MB.

You can get a much faster Spinpoint F3 for the same price.

For that kind of money, you can get a much better case, like a Lian Li Lancool, Antec Dark Fleet DF-10 -- or use that money saved on the motherboard to bump up to a HAF 922, NZXT Whisper, a CM690 II Advanced, Thermaltake Armor, Dark Fleet FD-30, or a higher-grade Lian Li.

Corsair's CX series power supplies have a mixed reputation. For that price range, I'd recommend something like an XFX Core Edition. But we'd still have money left over after switching to that MSI board and getting a better case. So you can just get a nicer Corsair if you like, or take advantage of a July 4th sale and get this Antec HCG for $55 after a rebate and promo code EMCKCKJ43.

I also agree about bumping that video card up to a 560 Ti.

Really nice find! I'm assuming your computer is already bluetooth compatible?

If not, at least for me and others on the PSMoveService Google group, (Great place to ask questions and get help with troubleshooting) you have to have a bluetooth adapter to get the PSMove controllers to pair to your computer.

(I suggest this bluetooth adapter which is used by myself and others for the PSMove controllers)

(Don't forget that first time setup requires a micro USB cable for first time paring)

If so, just be aware that the Playstation Eye takes up a lot of USB bandwidth and you have to plan out where you plug in your devices very carefully for them to all track at the full 60fps.

I'd suggest downloading something like USBTreeView before starting as this will allow you to check your USB root hubs when plugging in your cameras and possibly bluetooth adapter.

Some things to keep in mind when setting this up are:

Try to isolate your cameras away from other high bandwidth devices on the same USB root hub, considering we're using an HMD with an IR camera that also takes up a lot of bandwidth so remember that too.

(This is what my USBTreeView looks like, make sure that your cameras are on USBs with the little H next to them meaning their high-speed.

("USB Composite Device - Camera" is the IR camera)

("ASUS USB-BT400" Is the bluetooth adapter)

"USB Composite Device - Audio, Camera" Is the Playstation Eye)

Most of the time the most cameras you'll be able to get away with are 2 cameras on one motherboard and the front panel USB connections included, unless you buy a PCI/PCI-E USB expansion card for more USBs and root hubs.

(PSMoveService reccomends the Inateck PCI-E to USB 3.0 5-Port

Most likely the controllers you bought were part of the older batches which were manufactured around 5-6 years ago when they first came out, so be sure to check the batteries and you can buy replacements here. (Although you have to open the controller up to access them)

Some of the newer controllers which were released with PSVR have their magnetometers disabled which are used for orientation in PSMoveService so be weary of that if their from the latest batch.

In conclusion, just follow videos like these (This and this) (You can just follow the PSMoveService portion of it) and for troubleshooting either resort to the comments of those videos, the offical Github documentation, post back here and I can try to help, or post in the Google group for help.

Aside from everything else good luck on setting it up and please excuse any grammatical errors you see in this post, it's over 3160 letters long.

Checkout:

• https://www.serverbuilds.net/
  
• /r/JDM_WAAAT
  
  The build above is more expensive than I would spend for a home media server, but everyone has a different budget. You might want to consider alternatives to some parts that are just as good, but cheaper. For example, do you really need those noctua 120mm fans? You can get a 5 pack of Arctic fans for $27 and do just as good a job cooling. There are other things you could do without or find cheaper alternatives for. Below are a couple of things that jumped out at me:
  
  I'm not sure about the 10 gb ethernet adapters. I get your desire to link your PC, but check to see what other bottlenecks you have and if the 10 gb adapters will do anything (e.g. hard drive / ssd read and write speeds).
  
  While we are talking storage, I always try to challenge peoples assumptions that they need RAID. RAID is not a backup solution. RAID is about up-time. RAID is not easy to expand. For media storage you might be better off using a pooling solution like mergerfs or stablebit drivepool.
  
  Is the ethernet cable going outside? If not, then you don't need the direct burial / waterproof cable.
  
  The netgear switch seems unnecessary if you only have two devices with 10gbe and you can connect them directly.
  
  The rosewill drive cages are nice, but if you don't need hot swap you can save ~$80 by switching to Norco 5 x 3.5" HDD Hard Drive Cage.

So two options:

1. Emulators. Personally, don't love them as they are not always they best and I enjoy the genuine feel of the game on the console. It's easy to get a PS2 to usb controller for the PC and Emulators do allow you to sometimes stream at a significantly better quality than directly though the console (HD Texture packs, Mods, etc.)
   
   
2. I would recommend this capture card: https://www.amazon.com/Elgato-Game-Capture-HD60-PlayStation/dp/B01DRWCOGA/ref=sr_1_3?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1543023009&sr=1-3&keywords=capture+card
   
   I personally use it myself and it's the simplest version of "plug-and-play" I've ever seen. Never had any problems, amazing customer support and just general reputability. The price can be a bit steep so if you're trying to save a bit more:
   https://www.amazon.com/AGPtEK-Capture-Video-Recorder-Support/dp/B01MYWBG1I/ref=sr_1_9?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1543023009&sr=1-9&keywords=capture+card
   
   It does it's job, is effective but some of the reviews maybe need your consideration.
   
   Hope this helps and best of luck with your PS2 games (MGS3 is God-tier IMO)!

You can save $5 by grabbing your mobo and OS together. Alternatively, buy it from Superbiiz along with your HDD and use the coupon code CHEERS to get $20 off the order.

Save yourself some more and grab the Hyper 212+ or Corsair A70. If you're buying your CPU from Newegg, grab the i5/A70 combo.

You can save yourself some money by grabbing a nice 8GB RAM kit and 6870 combo.

If you're dropping that much on a case, you might as well grab the nicer Antec P280.

Your PSU is overpriced. You can save money and get a better PSU with this FSP Aurum.

Lastly, if you really want to save some more, you can cut out the CD drive and install your OS with a flash drive.

Well i got a temporary built for you. Be warned it is slightly above 400 quids but you are into entry range high end PCs here (especially the processor) and will satisfy all your gaming needs while easily "stomping" both of the next-gen consoles.

Processor - AMD FX8320 Black Edition 8 Core

GPU - AMD HD7770 2GB

Mobo - Asus M5A97

PSU - Corsair CX750

RAM - Corsair 8GB 1600MHz DDR3 Vengeance Memory Kit

HDD - Get a local one for cheap (barely matters unless you want a SSD)

Blu-ray - That shit isn't cheap and i didn't plan on including it in my stupid estimate which i made. I don't even use a DVD writer for myself and i haven't ever felt the need for one.

Audio - Since you said you wanted excellent Audio quality, you should look up on the Asus XONAR cards and pick one according to your needs. If you just want good audio quality for some personal music and movies, you can pick up the basic Xonar cards. They all have excellent audio.

Cabinet - Can't say what you need there. Pick anything with a decent airflow and you are good to go. Else, you can do what i do and pick a cheap one while just keeping it open for the airflow. Unless you are for aesthetics, you can save a good amount of fortune here.

Bit dark of a photo but the red looks very nice as a theme. I too use an MSI 1070 and went with Fourth Level Manufacturing's brace on amazon - Atlas Graphics Card Brace Support - 19 bucks retail
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01DQK7DDW/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Looks like there out of stock at the moment but i got one for a discount recently and installed, as they didnt know if it would fit a 1070 as they said they couldnt get there hands on one themselves. It fits great, price is very good.. i'm only concerned if i can keep it in my case if i get a 2nd 1070 once the prices drops haha..

My own install can be seen @ http://imgur.com/tjilazh Thanks!

Just like everyone else is saying you should wait to see what 3rd gen Ryzen has to offer before making a purchasing decision on a new CPU. Rumor has it 3rd gen ryzen is going to get another core count increase and significant boost to clock speeds so its worth holding off til then. With regards to your GPU you mentioned its starting to give out on you? I assume its out of warrenty by now so that is why you are looking at getting a new GPU.

In the interest of value i would seriously avoid the RTX 2060. The GTX 1660ti is looking like a good value proposition currently and if i had to pick between the 1660ti or the 2060 i would go for the 1660ti. On the other hand you could consider getting an RX 580 8GB. This one on Amazon is only $189.99 and should perform a bit better compared to the RX 480. (assuming you were satisfied with the current performance of the 480) https://www.amazon.com/XFX-Radeon-1386MHz-Graphics-RX-580P8DFD6/dp/B06Y66K3XD/ref=sr_1_3?crid=385DKW1HZJU1A&keywords=rx+580+8gb&qid=1550951906&s=gateway&sprefix=rx+580%2Caps%2C307&sr=8-3

To be honest, I don't remember why exactly I bought this one, but at the time I remember seeing a few attractive qualities about it: the benchmarks showed 1060s are very capable at 1080p, the superclock makes this one a bit more performant, and so does the 6GB of VRAM but it also makes it a bit better for future-proofing, and it's made by EVGA, my go-to company for GPUs. Also, I think the non-superclocked has a worse cooling system. I can tell you going with the mini was definitely not because of the case (the full-sized SSC is 10$ more expensive, so maybe that's why). And the one I picked was (and still is) the most popular 1060 on Amazon. Also, the 1050 was not enough for my needs and the 1070 was too expensive.

Here are videos (1, 2) of people who installed a GTX 1070 inside their XPSes.

And here's one thread (because there's a couple) from the Dell forums where people talk about their upgrades.

But also, if you do buy a GPU, please get it from a place which has an easy returns policy, just in case there's an incompatiblity somewhere (I haven't heard of one, but you never know).

Your motherboard seems to have a wide variety of options as far as USB-ports go. See if you can spread your sensors and headset so that you don't have two sensors/headset on one channel. I advise you to put your headset in the USB 2.0 port. Your channels are as follows (based on your motherboard's website, which I found here):

• Intel® X99 chipset :
  4 x USB 3.1 Gen 1 port(s) (4 at mid-board)
  
• Intel® X99 chipset :
  6 x USB 2.0 port(s) (2 at back panel, black, 4 at mid-board)
  
• ASMedia® USB 3.1 controller :
  2 x USB 3.1 Gen 2 port(s) (2 at back panel, black, USB Type-CTM)
  
• ASMedia® USB 3.1 controller :
  2 x USB 3.1 Gen 2 port(s) (2 at back panel, red, Type-A)
  
• ASMedia® USB 3.0 controller :
  4 x USB 3.1 Gen 1 port(s) (4 at back panel, blue)
  
  Be aware that PCIe cards you've installed (if any) also affect these ports, disabling or sharing power. Follow my link to the website and look at the bottom for the explanation on which. If you haven't installed anything (besides the graphics card in the first slot), you don't need to worry about it.
  
  As for your express cards, you have:
  
  
• 4 x PCIe 3.0/2.0 x16 (x16, x16/x16, x16/x8/x8, x16/x8/x8/x8 or x8/x8/x8/x8 mode with 40-LANE CPU; x16, x8/x8 or x8/x8/x8 mode with 28-LANE CPU)
  
• 1 x PCIe 2.0 x4
  
• 1 x PCIe 2.0 x1
  
  Unless you've gone for a really expensive CPU, my assumption is that you have a 28-Lane CPU, not that it matters here. You have a x4 slot available (unless you've installed something yourself in that slot) for the best USB expansion card, and if you do buy one, my recommendation is this one. Install the windows 10 drivers (plug and play, basically), because the website's is not up to date. Works brilliantly, and each USB-port has its own full-powered channel. Put all Rift USBs in the card and never think about power-issues again. ;)
  
  If my explanation was a bit on the heavy side, don't worry. It's easier than it sounds. Briefly put, try splitting USB-devices so that they don't share power with others where possible (the list above has an explanation for where these ports are). If that's not good enough, buy a USB expansion card and put it in the x4 slot (shown in your manual as PCIEX4_1 on page 1-7. I looked).
  
  Disabling power-saving in Device Manager, like I mentioned in my earlier comment, might help with your current dis/connect-sound issues, as does driver-updates. I experienced the same.
  
  I wish you the best of luck and feel free to ask again if you have questions or need clarifications. There are people quite a bit more skilled than I here, though, who might be able to advise you further.
  

you've got a good start, there are a couple of easy upgrades you could make to optimize your build.

you can upgrade your hard drive to a samsung f3 1TB for $5, and you could upgrade your graphics card to a GTX 560 for $20. both of those upgrades are worth it, and neither costs alot.

if you're planning on overclocking your 2500K, i would definitely add a CPU cooler like the Coolermaster Hyper 212 Plus. even if you're not overclocking, it's a good upgrade to keep your system's temperature down.

Don't forget to get a optical drive, especially if you plan on installing your OS from a disc. this is a cheap read/write drive, however if you want to play blu-rays; you'll need something like this. but you won't be able to burn discs with that drive.

if you're looking to save some money, you won't need 8GB of RAM unless you plan on dealing with large/complex files. 4GB is plenty for gaming. if you're going to be doing heavy video/photo/vector/3D editing, then 8GB is worth it. However; RAM is cheap right now; 8GB is no longer unreasonable for average users.

If you want to connect to a wireless connection, you'll need an adapter

don't forget your peripherals! unless you already own them, you'll need a keyboard, mouse and monitor.

you'll also need an OS; newegg carries all versions of windows 7. they have a good deal on 64-bit home premium OEM. I don't recommend getting a 32-bit operating system, 64-bit systems can emulate a 32-bit OS to run any 32-bit applications you may need. it is possible to install apple software, but it is a legal gray area. consult /r/hackintosh for more information.

have fun building, let me know how it goes!

Good choice on the cpu. It is fantastic for gaming but you are paying for the K at the end.

You probably know already, but if you do not, intel's K series have an unlocked core multiplier meaning you can easily over clock them.

But in order to do so safely, you will need an aftermarket cooler. I suggest the CM-212 Plus. If you don't plan on the overclock, the locked core i5-2500 saves you a little bit.

I have that ram, and its great but if i did it again I would go with something like Crucial Ballistix which have better timings.

And finally, I would highly suggest the crucial m4 of Plextor m3 instead of the corsair.

EDIT: Here is my go-to $600USD list which might equate to around the price you are looking for.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

Type|Item|Price

----|:----|:----
CPU | Intel Core i3-2120 3.3GHz Dual-Core Processor | $116.99 @ SuperBiiz
Motherboard | ASRock Z77 Pro3 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard | $102.55 @ Newegg
Memory | Patriot Signature 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory | $41.99 @ Amazon
Hard Drive | Crucial M4 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk | $118.99 @ eCost
Video Card | XFX Radeon HD 6870 2GB Video Card | $179.99 @ Newegg
Case | Cooler Master HAF 912 ATX Mid Tower Case | $49.99 @ SuperBiiz
Power Supply | Antec 450W ATX12V Power Supply | $34.98 @ Amazon
| | Total
| Prices include shipping and discounts when available. | $645.48

From the looks of this thread things are figured out, but I thought i'd throw in my 2¢

You definitely need a PCI card. I have Oculus' recommended Inateck one - others have had success with this card which provides a controller for each port - useful if you want more than 2 sensors someday.

I run 2 sensors on the Inateck, and headset on Mobo.

USB bandwidth is a big deal for Oculus, so I don't recommend running more than the two sensors off the Inateck card.

A powered hub will not end up helping you here, as you'll be bottlenecking all of the information to a single port.

Something else that can be helpful - the vive breakout box is fully compatible with the rift. You need to buy your own power supply, male-male USB3.0 and HDMI cables - but it will make sure the headset gets consistent power from an external source. It's also nice so you don't rip your PC down/headset off tripping over a cable.

this only relates to general use and gaming for me because i dont know the kind of equipment people who create music or work with audio actually need.

my answer would be it depends on your situation and what you need from your sound card. i had a logitech z5500 system forever now i've switched to their newer z906 setup. both of these sound systems can accept dolby true surround and thats usually a crapshoot with onboard audio. if you have a more simple or non dolby based sound system you would probably be fine with on board audio. also if you use a headset for the most part, especially a USB headset, you will likely be fine with on board audio.

i bought a sound blaster z for my new build because i didnt want to fiddle with on board attempting to output dolby true surround and probably end up with upscaled stereo anyways, but more importantly i needed something with optical in and out so i can hook up my consoles to my PC line in and still hopefully get dolby surround from those. i will say the dolby integration with this sound card is better and easier to use than any on board audio i've had in the past, but these two things are specific requirements that you might not need.

i also wouldve been perfectly fine using on board audio and aux cables for everything but i'd be listening to simulated surround and my consoles would be stereo only, to me and with this system it made a difference to buy one.

So i made an alternate pcpartpicker list for you that is more focused on intel. the 9600k is much better for gaming than 2700x, just keep that in mind (Despite it having less cores)

Here are my thoughts. Just know im a little biased towards intel over ryzen at this budget

would you consider a slightly faster processor. My build was the same except I got a 9700k with a noctua nh-d15

the 9700k will make your computer much more upgradeable in the future and you wont have to rebuild as often


Other notes: Powersupply is def too expensive

if you are student try and see if you can get student version of office. all you need is a .edu address

Big One: CHECK AMAZONWAREHOUSE for used monitors. A lot of times they run the used price -20% of base price of total monitor after you put it in shopping cart. i got ASUS ROG PG279Q for like 280 on there. the ASUS ROG PG279Q does not have that special deal right now but another 1440p 144hz+ monitor might.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B00N2L5CXO/ref=dp_olp_all_mbc?ie=UTF8&condition=all

for monitor you picked on amazon used deals (there is no special 20% off on that monitor right now)

Ram: Your RAM is massively overkill but it is a good choice for 2700x.. Only get that RAM if you get an AMD. I still would recommend 9700k or 9600k imo over that, but i am biased towards intel so keep that in mind. just remmeber you can save some money on ram if you get intel. Also, I only have 8 gb of ram and it works fine with my build and things i do (Gaming)

-That motherboard seems a bit pricey for ryzen, but I dont really know about ryzen boards. I just know that htey are generally cheaper than intel boards and that MB is running hte same price as my intel board

-don't get that cooler. just use stock cooler. I think someone else already said it but the stock cooler is fine with ryzen. only get a cooler for ryzen if you get a good one

Note: power supplies are really cheap on amazon warehouse right now

check out used version of this power supply
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00IKDETOW/ref=ox_sc_saved_title_3?smid=A2L77EE7U53NWQ&psc=1#

it is much higher quality and is same price as your power supply but is

Overall pick this build if you are primarily gaming imo

Hey, good build!

• It's possible that the price of cryptocurrencies change in a way that makes 1060's and RX cards lose demand, but honestly it's impossible to know with certainty.
  
• The 3GB performs very similarly to the 6GB 1060. On a tight budget I would definitely recommend the 3GB card or the 1050 ti that you have selected.
  

• There aren't really any changes you could make that would decrease the cost while also having minimal impact on speed (other than a smaller HDD)
  

  
  

  Here's your build but with a few changes:
  

  
  

  PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant
  

  
  

  Type|Item|Price
  

  ----|:----|:----
  CPU | AMD - Ryzen 5 1600 3.2GHz 6-Core Processor | $269.99 @ Amazon Canada
  Motherboard | ASRock - AB350M Pro4 Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard | $109.99 @ Newegg Canada
  Memory | G.Skill - Ripjaws 4 Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory | $159.99 @ Memory Express
  Storage | Kingston - A400 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive | $74.99 @ Memory Express
  Storage | Seagate - Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive | $79.99 @ Amazon Canada
  Video Card | Zotac - GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 4GB Mini Video Card | $169.99 @ Mike's
  Case | Corsair - 200R ATX Mid Tower Case | $64.99 @ Amazon Canada
  Power Supply | EVGA - 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply | $49.99 @ Amazon Canada (Not listed on PCPartPicker)
  | |
  | Total | $979.92
  | Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-08-02 22:09 EDT-0400 |
  
  

• Changed your motherboard to the B350 chipset. This will allow you to overclock your processor for greater performance. If you are really against overclocking, you can stick with the motherboard you had originally selected.
  
• Swapped out your RAM for a faster set, only adding $5 to the overall cost.

Hello again Oolon,

I managed to snag the monitor you suggested me for 600$ (150$ cheaper)! Glad I waited. Thank you again for the suggesting me this build! However, I wasn't able to catch any significant price drop for the Radeon RX 580. Do you believe it will become cheaper?

However, some other graphic cards such as the ASUS ROG Strix GeForce® GTX 1070 are having insane 75% price drops. Have you been following these? Is there a graphic card that had a huge price drop that I could fit in my build? I haven't purchased any part yet except the monitor, haha.

Cheers! - Zero

Edit: Hmm, I'm browsing through the GPUs. Could you please tell me the difference between the GPU you proposed
https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B06Y66K3XD/?tag=pcp0f-20
and this one?
https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B079NX4GCF/?tag=pcp0f-20

Thank you so much!

Edit #2: I ended up having a change of heart for the monitor. I chose to go for a more powerful and durable PC with a lower-quality monitor.

Sorry, I worded a lot of this wrongly for I was quite rushed. I also left out some info for fear of the text box disappearing when I left my tab since I'm using my mobile device atm since I'm away from my desktop.

The power supply is the EVGA 500 W1, 80+ WHITE 500W, which was one that EVGA reccomended after I used the tool they have for picking which one to use, but I'll also look into the one you selected since it seems to be decent.

When I said "plug into my Alienware," I meant the graphics card because, not lying, I used to plug my monitor into the Intel graphics card instead because I didn't understand that that HDMI port was the wrong one. This time, I meant that I don't know how my case works and whether the tower/case comes with a way to plug in a DisplayPort cord since I know that DVI-D and HDMI don't allow 144hz.

I'm strictly Nvidia, sorry, but I'm not into AMD. Also, I want to try out ShadowPlay (I currently use DxTory) and the GTX 555 sadly doesn't support that. I know AMD has amazing products, but I am the type of person that sticks with what they're used to unless something different is so much better that it would totally blow my mind (why I switched from iCancer to Android phones (the OnePlus 3T is such a phenomenal phone for such a low price, like woah)).

That whole optimization thing was something from a long time ago that I don't quite remember, but I think he said something along the lines of having to mess around with the processor or something to get the most out of the RAM I installed. Idk, I just know I took the old RAM sticks out and replaced them, turned my PC on, and it said I had 16 GB, so I was happy (although Chrome uses a good 30-50% depending on how many running tabs I have).

Also, I'm not 100% about the power supply I currently have. I just know the unit is probably about twice the size of an Xbox 360 power supply unit, if not 1.5x bigger.

Oh, and lastly, with the SSD partition or whatever it's called, I just know that it is the stock that it came with, so I think it's just an internal HDD. I would actually love to get an SSD for Windows and applications to work faster and speed up copying times, but I don't think I'll spend money on that yet. I'll probably upgrade that once I do a full upgrade to my PC, processor and everything. I'll probably do that in 3-5 years time or whenever 4K replaces 1080p in the gaming standard and 120 fps becomes the new basic benchmark for PC and even console gaming if the peasants decide to actually put effort into making their gaming experience more than just mediocre. Although mouse and keyboard will always beat controllers unless you're talking about Rocket League since that's a bit easier on controller.

So yeah, thanks for the extra help and listening to my elementary knowledge in the field of PC gaming rigs. Other than the AMD vs Nvidia change, do you think you can change anything from my change list that could potentially help my rig last for even more years to come?



Here are the links to the various upgrades I was looking at before making the original post:

GTX 1060 SC
https://www.amazon.com/EVGA-GeForce-Support-Graphics-06G-P4-6161-KR/dp/B01IPVSLTC?th=1&psc=1

Acer 144hz monitor w/ G-Sync
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00B2HH7G0

EVGA 500W Power Supply
https://www.amazon.com/EVGA-WHITE-Warranty-Supply-100-W1-0430-KR/dp/B00H33SFJU?th=1&psc=1

And yes, I'm not a true Redditor since I don't know how to do hyperlinking and other things to these links on mobile version or even desktop tbh. Sorry about the shitty links.

ahahahahaha !!

Joking aside though. Certainly when talking about Rift, its not necessarily the number of ports that is the most important consideration but the number of USB controllers. Doesn't matter of you have 6x USB 3.0 ports and 6x USB 2.0 ports if your motherboard has only 1x USB 3.0 controller and 1x USB 2.0 Controller.

My Thrustmaster 16000 FCS HOTAS takes 2x USB 2.0

My Logitech G920 Wheel and Pedals take 1x USB 2.0

My 4x Rift Sensors take 4x USB 3.0

My Corsair Void Wireless Headset takes 1x USB 2.0

My XBOX controller takes 1x USB 2.0

My Blue Snowball Mic takes 1x USB 2.0

My Keyboard and Mouse take 2x USB 2.0

My Flirc IR sensor for Harmony Ultimate One Remote takes 1x USB 2.0

Thats 13 !!

My Asus Z170-A mobo has 2x USB 2.0 ports, 2x USB 3.0 ports and 1x USB 3.1 port but only 1x USB 2.0 Controller, 1x USB 3.0 controller and 1x USB 3.1 controller.

Hence why I am also rocking a dedicated Startech 4x Controller 4x USB 3.0 Port PCIe card just for my 4x Rift Sensors and a random 3x USB 2.0 PCIe card dedicated to my HOTAS and Wheel/Pedal Set. Rift is on my Motherboards USB 3.1 port and the rest of the peripherals on the other motherboard ports.

I also have a front 3.25"/5.25" Bay box with Card Readers, USB 2.0, USB 3.0, HDMI and USB charging ports that are connected to the internal USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 Motherboard Headers. This was great for connecting the HOTAS and Wheel/Pedal set and the Rift to the PC at the front of the PC instead of blindly swapping them in and out around the back but has largely been rendered defunct now that I permanently ran some extension cables for the Rift and HOTAS/Wheel/Pedals from the back ports of the PC to elsewhere in the room. Still us the card readers and the USB charging ports for my eCig and Corsair Void Wireless Headset though.

imgur Album of PC Peripherals and Room

Actually yes, I did. My motherboard used the Realtek built-in sound or whatever it is, which was alright, but once I got the soundcard (I got this one on sale for like $75) the sound was much clearer, and insanely louder with better control over everything. You do need decent headphones, so like a $30 headset isn't going to be affected as much as something like the ATH M50x's I got a year or so ago (Also very good purchase). I used to listen to music at 75-95% usually which was pretty loud, and now the equivalent is around 25-30%, and its quality is enough to very noticeably tell the difference between stuff like spotify premium and YouTube audio.

The NUC is great and all, but I would seriously consider an 8 core FX box.

CPU: http://www.amazon.com/AMD-FD8320FRHKBOX-FX-8320-FX-Series-Edition/dp/B009O7YU56

Motherboard: http://www.amazon.com/ASUS-SABERTOOTH-990FX-R2-0-Motherboard/dp/B008YDJHWM/ref=sr_1_2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1426022098&sr=1-2&keywords=sabertooth+99fx+rev+2.0

Memory: http://www.amazon.com/Crucial-Ballistix-PC3-12800-BLS4KIT8G3D1609DS1S00-BLS4CP8G3D1609DS1S00/dp/B007HAXMGA/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1426022147&sr=1-1&keywords=32gb+ddr3

Awesome 6 port NIC: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Hotlava-Vesuvius-6-Port-Gig-Intel-Based-NIC-PCIe-6CGigNIC-6C11810A3-/191450536777?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2c93575b49

That's basically my whitebox. The Sabertooth Rev 2.0 supports IOMMU if you want to pass a PCIe device to a VM (like a video card and usb controller for a virtualized HTPC)

The six port NIC is awesome for adding routing or IP Storage to it.

I feed a SAS controller to my NAS VM and give it 3 NICS for iSCSI/NFS then I use 2 of the other NICS for my other VM traffic, and the last NIC I use for my router/firewall. The 8320 isn't as fast as the 8350 but I just wanted core count. If you're concerned about sound one of the Corsair water coolers (h55 quiet edition) is pretty damn nice.

This is my favorite set up to give friends. Looks good and mostly foolproof hardware wise!

Raspberry Pi 3 Model B

Rasptendo SNES Case (IMO, connect the power button as intended, but either solder the reset button as per the method mentioned in there or don't connect it at all. This way there's no way for the user to do a non-safe shutdown of the OS)

Dual fan heatsink

Bluetooth adapter (more reliable than built-in bluetooth, change /boot/config.txt to disable onboard Bluetooth)

PS3 SIXAXIS Controller (Dualshock 3's work too, but I like the legit OEM ones, and those are hard to find. The convincing bootlegs/fakes are usually impossible to tell apart from legit ones when ordering online. That's why I look for used SIXAXIS controllers - no bootlegs. Also, I use PS3 controllers because pairing can be done or re-done entirely by connecting up mini-USB cables. No menus necessary once you set it up the first time!)

Sandisk 64GB MicroSD

Canakit PSU

HDMI cable, Mini-USB cable.


-----

For a more serious, less user-friendly but more overclockable setup, ditch the case/heatsink above and go with these instead:

Some kind of heatsink, I'm using one from the Kintaro case but I suspect the cheap stick-on heatsinks are probably fine too

this open-air case (throw out the fan as it's way too loud... I'm sure other open-air cases will work but I like that this one has the 40mm setup for the below fan and the little grille to prevent curious fingers from getting in there at least)

this Noctua 40mm 5v fan (expensive, but quiet and provides solid cooling)

Phantom 410.. Probably the 240 I think? If so I had that case. Yeah with phantom that's the only way you only have one fan in front but the front fan doesn't do much other than cool the hard drive bays imo if you removed some of those bottom bays it'd let cool air go into the case more. H100i fan was loud af in my (410).

Yeah also change out corsair imo the stock are alright but!
https://www.amazon.com/Noctua-NF-F12-PWM-Cooling-Fan/dp/B00650P2ZC and the cables that come with it limit the rpm to 3 different levels depending on how loud you want them and these are for radiators because they push more air than the other and much more quiet. If you don't care about rgb you can replace all other with 140mm and 120mm quiet editions noctua. If you want rgb for the others I recommend thermaltake riing fans (quiet edition) actually doesn't matter because if I remember they are all 4 pin so you can adjust in bios


Or

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00KG8K5CY/ref=pd_aw_fbt_147_img_3?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=4WJBQAR06PMYQFMBRPGX

You could try these cables to the fans and they will lower the rpm depending on which one you use so it's not as loud. If it's the 410 there should be the fan controller on top if it's the 240

There are probably better solutions, but if you only have a single camera setup and want to stream to Facebook, I've used this USB adapter with great success.

All you have to do is plug in the HDMI cable into the converter, then plug the converter into a USB port on your Windows machine (...make sure it is USB 3). You'll have to use the software that it comes with, but it isn't bad. Takes a second to set it up and link to your Facebook account properly, but once you do, all your settings are saved for the future.

Well, $150 doesn't really lend itself well into getting you very far.

You could go the AMD route, and get yourself a FX-8350 for, well exactly $150. It's on sale right now, so that price might not last.

If you want to go the Intel route, things become a little more complicated. I'd recommend personally getting a Skylake CPU, as that allows you a great deal of upgradeability down the road. But, at $150 you can't really afford a Skylake i5, short of the i5-6400T, which while viable, I guess, isn't something I'd recommend. You'd want to enter Skylake in around atleast the 6500 or 6600k area.

The choice is yours, AMD is certainly a viable solution, and will continue to be. But going Intel will require you put down some more money. You'd also have to get DDR4 RAM, which honestly, these days isn't that expensive anymore.

EDIT: There is also the i3 route, which is once again, a viable solution. But for the purpose of gaming, and such I would recommend an i5.

Inateck (or anything else with a FrescoLogic 1100 chipset, but the Inateck is the most readily available) is the Oculus recommended PCIe card for adding USB 3 ports. You can buy them on amazon. They have a few different variants. Inateck also sell some cards using the NEC D720201 chipset. Don't get those. Any of their cards with model numbers beginning with KTU3FR are good. If you want the one with the most usb ports, you want the KTU3FR-502I or KTU3FR-502U. The 5O2I is 5 usb ports on the back with a usb header like on your motherboard to connect 2 more to a case. The 502U has 5 usb ports on the back and 2 usb ports on the inside which I guess you could route the cables out of your case if it has cable holes.

I know people have mentioned what extension cables they have used successfully on this reddit, but it doesn't look like it has been documented on this reddit's wiki. I think it has been mentioned it is pretty hit or miss even when you buy ones other people have used successfully.

Haven't had any issues with my China 5v 3A adapter -- but I'm not OC'd - try reverting back to standard clock and see if the bolt goes away - if it does you might need to get a larger/better power supply ( I've seen a few reports saying the Canakit supply doesn't actually provide 2.5A @ 5V )

For example this review on Amazon by Chris Satterleeon April 4, 2016 ( https://www.amazon.com/CanaKit-Raspberry-Supply-Adapter-Charger/dp/B00MARDJZ4 )

He does some Testing and includes a chart which shows it and says :

"
An interesting point is where the curves cross their rated current values. The Kootek 2.0A supply crosses 2.0A at about 4.6V (2.04.6 = 9.2W). The Canakit 2.5A supply crosses 2.5A at about 4.5V (2.54.5 = 11.25W). Both of these are well below 5V. Probably high enough that the RPi won't crash, but cutting it close.

Another interesting point is where the curves cross 5.0V. The Kootek 2.0A supply crosses 5.0V at about 0.8A (0.85.0 = 4.0W). The Canakit 2.5A supply crosses 5.0V at about 1.0A (1.05.0 = 5.0W).

People who are claiming that this supply doesn't deliver 2.5A are correct - if they are expecting it to deliver 2.5A at 5.0V. But what is important is whether the supply is sufficient for the RPi 3. All I can say for sure is that it does deliver proportionally more power than a 2.0A-rated power supply that has worked fine for me with the Gen 1 RPi B+. For that reason, I'm giving it four stars. "


So by the time it hits 2.5A the voltage has dropped to 4.5V which may be the reason the lightning bolt is showing if the case adds even a small amount more of drop by using the GPIO pins for the power in !

Okay, one thing at a time:

1 - Your motherboard seems to only have one fan port for case fans, and the one for your CPU cooler. You don't necessarily need to plug in both of your case fans, but if you want to, you'll need to grab a splitter cable to turn that one plug into 2, [like this one on amazon.] (http://www.amazon.com/Silverstone-Tek-Sleeved-Splitter-CPF01/dp/B00B46XKKQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1417755776&sr=8-1&keywords=fan+splitter) (Probably available more conveniently and cheaper at an electronics store, but I don't know what those stores are in the US [assuming you are] as I'm in the UK).

2 - Your motherboard's fan ports have 4 ports because they support PWM fans that can be speed controlled by software. Your fans don't have cables to support that, so they'll just run at 100% the whole time unless you remove them and replace the case fans with PWM case fans. Again, not a problem, won't harm them to run at 100% really, just might be a bit noisier than necessary. The plastic connector on the fans and the motherboard will likely only fit together one way around, if not, check the motherboard manual and that'll tell you which pin is the PWM pin, connect the cable so that that pin isn't connected to anything.

3 - Which audio cable? The one for the case audio ports? That should slide on as easily as the rest of the case cables for the power button etc, make sure you're putting it in the right place but it should go in fairly easily. Some parts do just take quite a push to get in at times.

4 - Your case might not have a firewire port, and nothing uses firewire these days anyway, you'll likely never use the port, don't worry about that.

5 - If the power cords melt, you've got bigger problems, things shouldn't get that hot in the case. Just tuck them out of the way somewhere, if you have cable management slots in the case on the less-open side, then pull them through there and just leave them out of the way.

That's actually a good RX570 and 8gb for that price i think it's a great deal comparing with the others i saw with a "RX 570" search, the one i don't really recommend is the Armor because of the cooler.

​

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=rx570&i=electronics&ref=nb_sb_noss_2

​

Depends on what you want to spend cause you can buy a 4gb one for 120-130, i think going with 8gb is a good option but depends on what you want to spend like for a bit more you can grab a RX580 8gb.

https://www.amazon.com/XFX-Radeon-1386MHz-Graphics-RX-580P8DFD6/dp/B06Y66K3XD/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=rx580&qid=1563706556&s=gateway&sr=8-2

​

What resolution you play and how many monitors do you have?

​

I have the Gigabyte Aorus RX580 8gb i play at 1080p and use two monitors a IPS@75hz and a TN@144.

​

PS: There are some rumors of new cards coming out for that price range probably the new Navi 5600 note sure if true or when they will come out.

Oh great, I can get away with a 620W PSU? That card looks like it will fit what I'm doing perfectly.


For the air cooler, will a $20 fan cause any noise?

Thanks for your suggestions!

edit: Would this fan do well?

That mobo seems great for the price, but there is one concern. According to this post, H110 mobos skimp out sound. I'm currently sporting a pair of Sennheiser M2s. Not amazing hi-fi, but I do enjoy quality in my listening experience. Would the H110 be just fine?

I'll probably stick with 1060, but your mention of single v dual fan cards really got to me. This single fan EVGA is $4 more than this dual fan Gigabyte. I'm assuming you'd choose the Gigabyte based on better cooling?

By the way, thanks for responding!

You can YouTube how to upgrade a pre-built one enough to play games at 60FPS a Medium graphics for fairly cheap. Maybe 500-600 dollars for everything (which isn't bad considering consoles sell for that at launch)

I am in the process of upgrading my Lenovo H50 (AMD) enough to play Siege at a decent pace. I bought my PC about 2 years ago so I already had the computer and just bought a new Motherboard and Processor for about $300 for both of those with 1 day shipping on each of them (I'm impatient) lol but really that isn't all too bad considering the set-up could last me the next 5-7 years and just would upgrade the processor again for another 200 and that's another 5-10 years. Look, just spend some time on YouTube, eBay, and Amazon and check out what you want to get from it and see what you can get done. You'd be amazed really. Good luck, bro.

Rule of thumb:

Any mother that has a Z like a Z97 is meant for overclocking whereas H series are just standard.

Like I said I built a pic last weekend with an i5 4690 and an ASRock H97 Pro4 and it went flawless so you wouldn't be disappointed there.

Edit: plus it would match your RAM.

Second edit: you might be pushing it with 450watt and a r9 380. If you can afford it, I can recommend the EVGA G2 series enough. Top tier in terms of quality and fully modular so cable management is a breeze. I would look for other builds and see if anyone has gone 450watt with that video cards.


Power supply recommendation:
EVGA 220-G2-0550-Y1 80 PLUS GOLD 550W ECO Mode Fully Modular NVIDIA SLI Ready and Crossfire Support Continuous Power Supply http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=17-438-053

Another edit:
Even better, the 750watt version of the G2 is the same price as the 550watt version on Amazon.

EVGA SuperNOVA 750 G2 80+ GOLD, 750W ECO Mode Fully Modular NVIDIA SLI and Crossfire Ready 10 Year Warranty Power Supply 220-G2-0750-XR https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IKDETOW/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awd_qsyHwb8X08VYH

I'll look around for prices on GTX 1060s, 580s and a possible 590. The benchmarks and such for the lower bracket GPUs here look fine to me, if I see a good deal on a 590 I'll get one of those. I don't really like to buy used PC parts, especially something as important as a GPU (unless it's super marked down lol)


Thank you very much, have a nice day!

Quick edit: For the RX 580, I should opt for the 8GB and not the 4 GB model correct? And is there any real difference between the MSI and EVGA stuff? When I search Amazon to buy a 1060, both brands for the same card come up. I'm looking at this one about $80 cheaper than a 1060 atm. Just hope they fit in my MicroATX case lol

1. Hey guys planning on upgrading my fans for my case, is this a good deal and/or reputable fans? Would like all noctuas but im just not rich enough sadly lol. my current cpu case is the nzxt source 530 also, been using for about 4 years and i clean it monthly but the ambient temps are starting to go up https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B00NTUJTAK/ref=ox_sc_saved_title_1?smid=A3DWYIK6Y9EEQB&psc=1
   
2. I'm thinking of parts for my next rig, currently waiting on zen 3, any good board recommendations? I've read that the bf450 tomahawk is good and the msi am4 carbon gaming mobo is good too, should I just wait in case new boards get launched? Trying to snag some deals
   
   ​

I agree that at least another fan would be worth it, but I might suggest these fans <ARCTIC F12 PWM PST - 120 mm PWM PST Case Fan - Five Pack | Cooler with Standard Case | PST-Port (PWM Sharing Technology) | Regulates RPM in sync https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00NTUJTAK/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_ud18BbKFFXBFA>. I haven't used them myself, but they are a great price and have good reviews both on Amazon and independent reviewers.

I have a heat issue. Build specs:

• MSI 970 GAMING ATX AMD Motherboard
  
• Corsair Vengeance Pro 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 2133 MHz
  
• EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB SC GAMING ACX 2.0
  
• AMD FD8350FRHKBOX FX-8350 Processor
  
• Corsair CS Series 750 Watt ATX CS750M
  
• Cooler Master Hyper T2
  
  Idle temperatures were 44° C with the stock cooler so I replaced it with the T2. The case purchased didn't allow a T4 to fit in it - it was about half an inch too high.
  
  With the T2 idle temperatures dropped to 26° C while the cores are running @ 1400 Mhz.
  
  No overclocking has been left in place; it was accidentally enabled for a short period. However, when my son starts playing games he finds himself at 76° C and the thermal protection kicks in, locking the box up.
  
  I made sure to remove the plastic on the bottom of the T2, where contact is made between the cooler pipes and the CPU. I made sure to evenly spread the thermal paste over the chip. I've ensured that the cooler is tightly clamped to the CPU.
  
  Now this board has an "OC Genie" and he did activate it, however, I uninstalled the software overclocker (MSI Command Center) and turned off the OC Genie in the BIOS. I reset the power supply levels to default, as well as anything else I could find in the BIOS. (I don't do overclocking at this point in my life. If I want a 5% boost in speed, I pay for it.)
  
  There are two fans on the case, one on the front and one on the back. The computer is currently in a corner area with little to no ventilation, so that's the next thing we're changing. However, I thought it might be useful to ask for advice from all of you.
  
  Any advice on what I can do to help cool this thing? I know AMDs tend to run much hotter than Intels, but this seems ridiculous. In general I see acceptable ranges of 20° C to 60° C. Would you guys agree that's an acceptable range?
  
  If necessary we can buy a new case and put the T4, or whatever recommended cooler is there, on the PC.
  
  Thanks.
  

you need to make sure you're looking at wireless cards, so you won't see those numbers. I'd look for something that at least supports wireless N. And the 5GHZ (dual band) if your router supports it. If it doesn't, there's no reason to spend extra.

Something like this would be a good place to start: http://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B0079XWMEI Feel free to look for something cheaper. I know I have had very good luck with my TP-Link adapters.

Something like a silent, windowed, white case at this budget with everything you need included is going to take too much of a bite to be worth it. I've included a white NZXT Source 210 Elite though. Hopefully it's close enough to what you're looking for.

This is very much video editing optimized. The 8-core FX-8320 just loves chewing through media tasks, and the Radeon HD7750 is extremely light on power, but gives you the advantage of the GCN architecture's powerful OpenCL acceleration. Will obliterate Minecraft as well.

The only thing missing there is speakers. Realistically if you're doing monitoring work for your videos, you'll be better off getting a set of decent headphones. The Superlux HD661 would be perfect for that, and will only run you $40.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

Type|Item|Price

----|:----|:----
CPU | AMD FX-8320 3.5GHz 8-Core Processor | $149.99 @ Microcenter
Motherboard | Asus M5A97 LE R2.0 ATX AM3+ Motherboard | Purchased For $39.99
Memory | Crucial Ballistix Tactical 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory | $47.99 @ Newegg
Memory | Crucial Ballistix Tactical 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory | $47.99 @ Newegg
Storage | Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive | $85.99 @ NCIX US
Video Card | PowerColor Radeon HD 7750 1GB Video Card | $62.48 @ NCIX US
Case | NZXT Source 210 Elite (White) ATX Mid Tower Case | $42.79 @ Amazon
Power Supply | Corsair Builder 430W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply | $19.99 @ Newegg
Optical Drive | LG GH24NS95 DVD/CD Writer | $15.98 @ Outlet PC
Operating System | Microsoft Windows 8 (OEM) (64-bit) | $88.98 @ Outlet PC
Monitor | Asus VS229H-P 21.5" Monitor | $126.00 @ Newegg
Keyboard | Lite-On SK-1788/BS Wired Standard Keyboard | $12.98 @ Newegg
Mouse | V7 M30P10-7N Wired Optical Mouse | $4.11 @ Amazon
| | Total
| Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available. | $795.26
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-06-26 21:15 EDT-0400 |

The Microcenter combo deal on the CPU/Motherboard is included. Also, since Amazon is offering the 8320 for $145 it can't hurt to ask if they'll price match, even if it's only $5.

I just installed a Master Liquid Pro and it was very quiet, so apparently there a big difference between that and the Lite version. Are you talking about fan noise or pump noise? If it's pump noise, you'll have to replace it, but if you're talking about fan noise, just replace the fan. You can get a great, pressure optimized fan like the Noctua NF-F12 PWM for $20.

There's a few things, first of all Intel K series cpu's don't come with a cooler in the box, so you will need one. A good (but pricey) cpu cooler is the Noctua NH-D15. If you would like something more affordable the Cryorig H7 will work, although the temps will be higher than the former.

Yes, all desktop ram will fit into all desktop motherboards (sodimm or laptop ram will not).

The hard drive you selected doesen't have great reviews, for $8 more you can get a [WD Blue](https://www.amazon.com/Blue-Cache-Desktop-Drive-WD10EZEX/dp/B0088PUEPK

/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1537074431&sr=1-1&keywords=western+digital+-+caviar+blue+1tb+3.5%22+7200rpm+internal+hard+drive) or a Seagate Barracudda, both more reputable.

The cases you linked are good for their price, but you will most likely need 1-2 more case fans as they only come with 1. If you would like some cheap fans these will do, but they wont be as good as something like the Noctua NF-F12

Dont worry about asking questions! It's what we are here for :) I'm sure I missed something, so if you have any other questions make sure to ask!

Edit 1: Do you already have windows? If not make sure to but it, as you wont have an Operation System without it (Unless you want to run linux).

Thank you so much for the response and info!

I saw this review on Amazon. What do you think?

That person also links to the following products. How essential/necessary do you think they would be to the node-804? I've read some other review that don't highlight suggestions as the review above does. What are your thoughts?

• SilverStone Technology 3.5-Inch to 2 X 2.5-Inch Internal Hard Drive HDD / SSD Bay Converter, Silver (SDP08)''
  
  
• Monoprice 108794 24-Inch 4-Pin Molex Male to 4 15-Pin SATA II Female Power Cable Net Jacket
  
  
• StarTech.com 4x SATA Power Splitter Adapter Cable (PYO4SATA)
  
  
• SilverStone Technology All Black Sleeved 1-to-2 Sleeved PWM Fan Splitter Cable (CPF01)
  
  Unfortunately I'm in a strange situation where I don't have as much time as I'd like to review/research for the absolute best route to go -- and I'm in need of making a decision very soon.
  
  I'm totally cool with building, although I must say that I'm not as experienced as I would like -- however, I will have time on my hands to learn what is needed to build the setup I decide to purchase.
  
  Any and all info/feedback is most welcome! Thanks!

I prefer Sound Blaster Z/ZxR's surround to Dolby. Dolby tends to sound like a tin can where the Z/ZxR sounds more natural in a gaming situation. Altho since I've gotten better gear and developed a more sensitive ear I might just look into some type of crossover system that basically combines the Left and Right channels by a small percent to remove the hard left/right panning when gaming. That is basically all Dolby Headphone and Sound Blaster Surround does is just combine the two channels and throw the effects in a way that sounds more spacious.


If you're going with such a nice pair of cans like the K702's I'd go this route:

Sound Blaster Z

Schiit Modi Optical

Shiit Magni


You're going to spend $200 on the ZxR why not just get the Z a amp/dac that will last you for decades. A Schiit stack looks amazing, sounds amazing, is made in the US and has a 5 year warranty + 15 day satisfaction. The Modi Optical isn't in stock but I asked their CS the other day and they are shipped some to Amazon so they should be in stock very soon.


Your setup will look like this with the Z and Schiit amp/dac:



Sound Blaster Z > Optical cable > Modi > RCA's > Magni > Headphones.


If you go that route you get all of the benefits of the Z sound card (surround, EQ, etc) but get to bypass their lower quality amp/dac and use your own which will last much longer and sound much better.

Last week I was advised to take the plunge and upgrade from my GTX 660 to a 1070. Well, I am ordering today and was wondering if it matters which version I get with the below three or if I should just grab the most inexpensive.

EVGA GeForce GTX 1070 SC GAMING ACX 3.0 Black Edition, 8GB GDDR5, LED, DX12 OSD Support (PXOC) 08G-P4-5173-KR (SC BLACK) - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01KVZBNY0

ASUS GeForce GTX 1070 O8GB Dual-fan OC Edition 4K/VR Ready Dual HDMI DP 1.4 Gaming Graphics Card (DUAL-GTX1070-O8G) - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01JHQSZ40

EVGA GeForce GTX 1070 GAMING, 8GB GDDR5, DX12 OSD Support (PXOC) Graphics Card 08G-P4-5170-KR (BLOWER Version) - https://www.amazon.com/EVGA-GeForce-Founders-Graphics-08G-P4-6170-KR/dp/B01LZ5J28B


Or a different version I am missing while researching. :P I currently play on a 21:9 ultrawide with a second 24in 1080p to view my stream/netflix/etc. Not sure if that matters. Have not really done a new build in 5-6 years. :)


Last question, semi-related. With one of these cards am I able to run the HDMI to the 4k TV I have on the wall and play my Steam games okay on it? Will the 4k scale down to 1080 or will me card try to run the games in 4k and overheat. Completely new to 4k also (and wouldn't be using it all the time, just wondering if that is an option since I already have a PS4 in same room with the 4k TV).


As always, thanks in advance! :)

I have 4 sensors, each mounted on top of 7'6" DIY stands made out of cheap 5'9" Ikea floor lamps..2 lamps per stand, each in it's own corner. The 8' long stock cables of the sensors only have a few inches worth left over when mounted on the stands, so extensions are a must no matter where you position them. I use the 'Monoprice 15-Feet USB 3.0 Extension Cables' from Amazon, with the sensor in the far corner needing 2 cables to reach the stand. This gives me a 10'x10' area, with an actual playspace of 7'x7'. I also shelled out for a Startech 4 port USB3.0 PCI card recommended on the Oculus blog. The sensors on USB3.0 use a lot of power, so you'll need to connect either a SATA power adapter or a molex power adapter to the PCI card...if you go that route. I haven't had any issues whatsoever, completely glitch free. I used the Sensor Bounds app in Oculus to make sure the sensor beams covered my play area high enough, as well as covering the corners closest to the stands. The beams aren't 90 degrees, so the higher the top of the beam, the less the corner gets covered by the lower part of the beam. It takes a few minutes, but it helps to completely cover the entire play area.

​

Btw...the best part of my DIY stands...they only take up 10" squared. Tripods are at least 2' squared. I considered microphone stands, but they only extend 5' or so. Nowhere near tall enough.

​

https://www.amazon.com/Monoprice-15-Feet-Female-Active-Extension/dp/B00AA0U08M

https://www.amazon.com/StarTech-com-Express-SuperSpeed-Dedicated-Channels/dp/B00HJZEA2S

https://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/60416176/

https://www.amazon.com/CM01-Camera-Digital-Recorder-Adapter/dp/B001GWCC4I

I'm looking to replace my PSU but have it ready for a i7/high end mobo within the year. I definitely don't need anything more than 750/850 as I intend on going with one GPU probably about a 970.

I haven't much experience with Seasonic, and my last PSU is a Antec which has held up remarkably well.

Money isn't really a big deal as I want to make sure I have a solid PSU. What would you recommend EVGA or Seasonic. I'm looking at the G2 which is around 99$ on Amazon. Any recommendations?

Is this the model you have? http://www.amazon.com/EVGA-SuperNOVA-Crossfire-Warranty-220-G2-0750-XR/dp/B00IKDETOW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1457031186&sr=8-1&keywords=G2+750W

I'd personally pay 10 dollars more and get the SuperNOVA 750 G2, but only because I've made good experiences with it. The GS should be an excellent choice too, and the price is also good. The G2 series is based on the Super Flower Leadex platform, while the GS series is based on a Sea Sonic platform. Both are well-known for their reliability.

Seems like you're missing some RAM - your computer wont work without it. Get the cheapest 2x4gb (8gb total) that you can find. 1600 mt/s is good enough for gaming, and anything over 8gb is overkill for games. I'd recommend Crucial Ballistix 2x4gb kit - Amazon link. It'll run you about $60.

I'd recommend a better video card - 1gb isn't quite enough for some of the higher end games out there these days. Check out this msi radeon 7870 on newegg - you'll get 2 free games (you can pick which 2) with it as well because of AMD's new never settle promotion (see game titles here). This card is only about $50 more than your current one, and it'll give you twice as much video ram (2gb).

Those 2 changes will put you in the $750 range. If you wanna spend closer to $800, I'd recommend a processor upgrade. Check out the AMD 8320 - Amazon link. For another $25 bucks you'll get an 8 core processor, instead of 6 (same mobo will work as well). It's a smaller priced upgrade than an SSD. You'll notice the performance increase when doing heavy multitasking, which at college is likely to happen (office docs open, gaming, browsers open, etc)

A good point. If I were buying a PCIe USB card I'd probably get the 4 port Startech.

https://www.amazon.de/STARTECH-COM-SuperSpeed-Express-Schnittstellenkarte-Kan%C3%A4len/dp/B00HJZEA2S/ref=sr_1_sc_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1527086391&sr=8-1-spell&keywords=startec+usb

There are cheaper options but the difference isn't that much in the grand scheme of things and I'd rather have the best solution

Independent channels per port so no bandwidth sharing, and supplemental power.

My mobo has 3 independent USB controllers already so it's non issue for me fortunately

I fixed a majority of my issues by installing one of these into a PCIE x16 slot, and plugging all three of my sensors, as well as the rift itself, into it. It's a bit pricey, but it did the trick beautifully.

Still get the sensor jump when turning around. I haven't noticed any significant change to my guardian location or my height, but those still may decide to plague me.

Previously everything was plugged into my motherboard (all 3.0) and worked, more or less, perfectly until the patch. Don't know why it worked before when, honestly, I should have been taxing my USB controller, or why the patch broke it, but the above card has made things great.

Depends on what you want to do in the future. For your current build, you could use any 500 watt bronze rated power supply with good reviews.

But if you want to future proof your system (maybe you want to run some 290's in CROSSFIRE later on), I recommend an ~800 watt gold rated PSU.

Generally, the higher wattage you need, the higher rating your PSU should be (bronze, gold, platinum, etc)

Here are some examples of good ones

500 watt bronze:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00ALK3HF4/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?qid=1414173887&sr=8-2&pi=SX200_QL40

750 watt gold (recommended for systems with nvidia SLI setups)

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00IKDETOW/ref=mp_s_a_1_7?qid=1414173817&sr=8-7&pi=AC_SX110_SY165_QL70


860 watt platinum (for ppl who want to run 2 power hungry cards like the 290x) - I bought this one.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00A0HZMKG/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1414174127&sr=8-1&pi=SX200_QL40

Remember that your PSU is an investment. Play your cards right, and it will be good for 10 years or more. Get something modular in the 500-750 watt range that's modular, with good reviews.

First off, I'd like to confirm that this is your motherboard.

http://www.gigabyte.us/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4305#ov

If it is, you can see from the page there that the socket is AM3+, so you'll want to find a processor that fits this socket. If you look at pcpartpicker, you can easily find processors that fit these specification.

http://pcpartpicker.com/parts/cpu/#k=4

(hopefully that link works, it should processors that fit the AM3+ socket type, make sure that is checked on the right side of the screen)

Ok, so here comes the recommendation. I highly recommend the 8350, as it is one of the processors that rivals intel's chips most commonly used for gaming. You shouldn't have any problems playing any games on it, as your GPU will most likely be the bottleneck.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B009O7YUF6/?tag=pcpapi-20


I'm also inclined to ask the wattage on your power supply, and who the manufacturer is. You wouldn't want to put a more intensive processor and risk everything because of a power supply that isn't adequate. You should be fine, seeing as you currently have a 660 installed, but please do a check to make sure you'll be ok installing a new CPU. I would recommend any power supply made by a well-known manufacturer, above 450-500 watts.

Generally, PCI-E is much faster of an interface. However, Wifi speeds don't go nearly as fast as even the maximum speed of USB 2.0. So, speed-wise, it doesn't matter.

The USB one will be good for futureproofing your computer in case you later get a router with AC and 5GHz support. It's also nice in that you'll be able to preposition it to different USB slots for better signal.

For PCI-E, I would recommend this TP-Link one instead of the Rosewill:
https://www.amazon.com/TP-Link-Wireless-PCI-Express-Adapter-TL-WN881ND/dp/B0079XWMEI/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1483091328&sr=1-1&keywords=wireless+network+card&refinements=p_n_feature_keywords_three_browse-bin%3A6011949011%2Cp_36%3A700-2500
It's from (in my opinion) a more reputable company; it seems like it's a current model from their website; and it's a buck cheaper and will probably ship faster. Otherwise pretty much the same as the Rosewill.

There is a third alternative I found:
https://www.amazon.com/TP-Link-N300-Wireless-Adapter-TL-WN822N/dp/B00416Q5KI/ref=sr_1_3?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1483092749&sr=1-3&keywords=wireless+network+usb&refinements=p_36%3A1253503011%2Cp_72%3A1248879011%2Cp_89%3ATP-Link
This would be especially great for if you know you get a bad signal between your router and computer. You can connect it via USB and then stick the device up high somewhere for maximum signal. If you have a place to put the device and don't currently have or have plans to get an AC or 5GHz router, this is what I would get.

Multiple upgrades. Motherboard. You may not see much a performance increase but it will allow vastly more upgrades. I recommend the b450 gaming plus max (which is atx so make sure it fits). Dont know if you have an ssd or not, but if you thats a cheap upgrade that makes a huge difference. Your cpu is ok as it is, so unless you have a huge budget, id leave it. Your gpu NEEDS an upgrade. For 150gbp or 256cad you can get an Rx 580 (8gb) which is really nice, but on a lower budget you can get a gtx 1050ti (4gb). Dont know much about your ram but i'd upgrade to 16gb ddr4-3000 but make sure its compatible with your mobo + cpu

I setup and produced a setup similar to this. Here's what I used on a budget to get pretty fantastic quality IMO.

Two Sony A6000 ~$600 each

Roland V-1HD video swithcher ~$974

Elgato HD60s capture card ~$160

That's ~$2,600 but you'll still need a decently spec'd laptop, camera mounts, cables, etc.

Here's a link to the podcast so you can see the quality.

I also used a Atomos Ninja Flame and a Teradek Vidiu Pro, but those are unnecesasry for the end goal. The Ninja Flame is great for back up recording and real time color-correction, but also is an extra $700 or so...

Good luck!

Should be fine, but if you're concerned or want better aesthetics, something like this will be cleaner than using an ad-hoc solution like a figurine or the like:
https://www.amazon.com/Graphics-Support-Holder-custom-Gaming/dp/B01DQK7DDW/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1474731756&sr=8-2

+1 for PCI

I game and have never had problems connecting unless it was ISP side (boo comcast). I also stream Netflix and Amazon without any signal issues.

I use [this PCI-E adapter] (http://www.amazon.com/TP-LINK-TL-WN881ND-Wireless-Express-Low-profile/dp/B0079XWMEI/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1405104552&sr=8-2&keywords=tp-link+pci+wifi) with good results. They also make regular [PCI] (http://www.amazon.com/TP-LINK-TL-WN751ND-Wireless-Adapter-Low-profile/dp/B005FUGPP4/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1405104552&sr=8-4&keywords=tp-link+pci+wifi) depending on what you have available. I'm sure the Rosewill one is quite good too.

I also picked up something similar to [this] (http://www.amazon.com/TP-LINK-TL-ANT2405C-Desktop-Omni-directional-Antenna/dp/B001VEAI74/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&qid=1405104686&sr=8-11&keywords=tp-link+antenna) to help with my signal, since my room is quite far from my router. It will give you some flexibility on your antenna placement, and gave me a huge boost in signal.

For your purposes either would probably work but I prefer having the cleaner look of a PCI card and I'm under the assumption that there is better power/bandwith going through PCI. If you do go with USB, I suggest something like [this] (http://www.amazon.com/TP-LINK-TL-WN722N-Wireless-Adapter-External/dp/B002SZEOLG/ref=sr_1_14?ie=UTF8&qid=1405104921&sr=8-14&keywords=usb+wifi) where you can add on an optional antenna if you have signal issues.

I want to get a 1060 6gb, which of these 3 do you think I should get? I don't really care what it looks like, an am a complete nab when it comes to the differences. Running one 1080 monitor. I want to spend around 260. I currently have x2 EVGA 570s, so it'll be a huge upgrade. Thanks in advance reddit. Feel free to suggest something else, too.

1. EVGA SC single fan - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01IPVSLTC/ref=ask_ql_qh_dp_hza?th=1
   
2. Gigabyte G1 dual fan
   https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01IEA1IMQ/ref=psdc_284822_t2_B01IPVSLTC?th=1
   
3. ASUS OC dual fan
   https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01JHQT1SE/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

Thanks for the detailed reply! Full disclosure, I bent a capacitor while I was pulling the motherboard out to clean it out properly (having done this 6-8 times previously with no issues). Replaced it, took it to a computer tech to see if they could fix it, no joy. Have had no issues with it before then.

​

Crazy how a $20 CPU can outperform a ~$350 10 year old CPU.

​

Being in Australia some of the parts are different/higher costs, some questions.

CPU: Will the X650 suffice? $17, passmark 7388? Cheapest x5670 I can find is $36.

Drive bay converter: Is this the same/similar (they only have 1 available atm)? If I can't get that one, is something like this ok?

Fans: Should I be looking at the F series in the ARCTIC fans? Work out at about $11/fan. Is there a good balance in number of fans for cooling/quietness?

CPU Cooler: CM 212 Hyper Black edition is currently $136 on Amazon AU. Is this just the RGB version (it's available more readily in Aus) and is this the older version ($16 cheaper). Is there something I should specifically be looking for to get a quiet cooler or is it just down to reviews/experience?

GPU: So I just need this for a display out, not needed to help with transcoding? Something like this 8400GS would work, 256mb? I assume used is not an issue.

​

I might have backed myself into a corner with Xpenology as my drives are currently setup in using SHR configuration, so the only way to access them (as far as I know) is through another Synology device, or using Xpenology?

​

Thanks again! You've been more than helpful! Sorry for all the extra questions.

I'd replace the fans though. Corsair stock fans generally aren't bad, but the H55 is old and low. I have these SP 120mm fans in push/pull. I control it with software, but they are on a graphics card anyway so they only really ever stay on low. I also have 4 of these on my H100i GTX and I've never had my CPU go over 40 degrees, but I'm not sure if that's the fans or the rad.

If you're not bothered about having 2 fans or what they look like (since it's in a HTPC case) then check out the Noctua NF-F12. They have some fans in grey or black/brown, but you won't see this in that case. It's a really good fan.

It's worth pointing out that I don't know how easy it would be to route the pipes from a closed loop cooler in that case. I don't have it physically, so I wouldn't want you to purchase something you can't use. Also if you want some 80mm fans, I can recommend these, I've got them in my microATX machine and they're pretty solid.

Hey fuzeebear,

First off thank you so much for replying! I've looked at different audio interfaces, and I prefer the mixing boards. Originally I was going to get a Scarlett 2i2, which seems to be pretty standard for people who make Youtube videos. However, my goal is to get my EQ and compression set so that I don't have to do it in post. That is why I was looking at the Mackie ProFX8 because it has inserts and AUX so that I could experiment around with different setups.

I think there was a miscommunication, probably stemming from me trying to type this on my phone. Anyways, my question is: Is it better to use the USB output or to go through an internal sound card. The sound card I have on my mother board I linked. I would be looking at about $100 for an internal sound card such as the ASUS Xonar DX or Sound Blaster Z. Is it worth it to get a dedicated sound card or just use the one on my mother board? Obviously I will spending more on the rest of my setup.

The Akai EIE Pro looks more promising. I'm not sure the Komplete Audio 6 fits with the setup that I am trying to accomplish because I would have to do my EQ and compression in post.

What I am looking at right now is my mic going into the Mackie ProFx8 with a compressor in the Insert. Then either a USB to my computer or directly into an internal sound card. will this work?

your motherboard would allow sli, but i dont know if your psu could handle it.

your case isnt the problem with your temps, its your cooler.

if youre going to spend that much on a cooler, buy this: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835608018

its basically the best on the market.

but you could get by on a lot less if you wanted to.

something like this: http://www.amazon.com/Cooler-Master-Hyper-Sleeve-RR-B10-212P-G1/dp/B002G1YPH0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1303803446&sr=8-1

would be a lot better than stock but for less money than the noctua.

theres obviously a ton of options in between there as well.

I have a 4-port PCIe card with 4 dedicated 5Gbps channels specifically because I was previously using the recommended Inatek card and it was an utter nightmare.

Everything but the headset itself is plugged into the card, as I've found that's the best possible configuration. It's still finicky, but much, much better than it was. (I was in BSOD hell /w the Inatek card) I'm convinced that there is no truly "perfect and stable" way to set up 3+ sensors, (from the perspective of the Oculus setup tool, that is) though, as I have tried many configurations and they're all a little wacky during setup even though they work well during gameplay.

It doesn't seem to be an issue with USB, it's just that the three cameras have trouble seeing my Touch controller for the entire duration of the trigger-hold simultaneously. It's extremely annoying, but it seems pretty clear that it's just a flaw in the setup process because the whole system works like a dream once I get it configured.

I'm open to suggestions if it means not having to hold my touch controller behind my head like an dumbass 20 times in a row every time I want to adjust my sensor positions though.

Yes your processor is still very good to this day,

https://www.amazon.com/XFX-Radeon-1386MHz-Graphics-RX-580P8DFD6/dp/B06Y66K3XD?ref_=ast_sto_dp

or

https://www.amazon.com/GIGABYTE-GeForce-Windforce-Graphics-Gv-N1650WF2OC-4GD/dp/B07QF6NH2S/ref=sr_1_9?keywords=gtx+1050ti&qid=1568521867&s=electronics&sr=1-9

these two i'd say are pretty good for the money and if that's still too much or if you have more to spend let me know and i'll try to help you some more (:

1. How important is RAM compatability with motherboard? I have always figured a lot of it is plug and play, but I was going through the online support manual for my MSI Z97 PC Mate to see what kind of memory I should be getting. The Kingston HyperX Genesis model that I was interested in isn't specifically listed as compatible with the motherboard; the MoBo supports a different kind of HyperX memory, but not the cheaper blue one that I wanted.
   
   Should I risk trying to make the 2 work, or just go with another memory module ($2 difference, ADATA instead of Kingston, not blue, from Newegg not Amazon)? I am leaning towards the latter: better safe than sorry.
   
   
2. How to determine compatabilty between this PCI-e WiFi card and PC? MoBo comes with PCI-e 1x adapter, case has 7 expansion slots (GPU takes 2). Anything else to take into consideration? Should I go ahead and pull the trigger on the WiFi card?

it depends on the model of i3 and the model of i5

in general, an i5 will be better than an i3, but if you're comparing an i5-2400 to an i3-6300, the i3 will be better.

a lot of stats involving pc parts are misleading if considered by themselves. for example, the AMD fx-4300 is 3.8ghz but the i5 6300 is only 3.2ghz. so the fx 4300 should be better, right? absolutely not.

to find which models are better than others, 3rd party benchmarks help a lot(just google i3-xxxx vs i5-xxxx or whatever), especially for AMD vs Intel comparisons.

Two choices for fan types, blower style like this:


https://www.amazon.com/EVGA-GeForce-Founders-Graphics-08G-P4-6180-KR/dp/B01FWI6F08



and double/triple fan designs like this:


https://www.amazon.com/EVGA-GeForce-GAMING-Support-08G-P4-5173-KR/dp/B01KVZBNY0/ref=pd_lpo_vtph_147_bs_t_1?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=RGJTQJW5GJ7CARMZ911Q



Blower style is "reference" / factory, they run hotter and louder compared to their open air / "aftermarket" (the double fan) design. The aftermarkets are made by Add In Board partners like EVGA, MSI, etc.



OC is just the clock speed that the card is promised to hit. It's the same for CPUs, no one knows how far a component can go. There's also thermals to consider, but generally, all components can OC a little.



Other considerations would be fan bearings / warranty / return process / customer support / build quality. EVGA and Sapphire are the best.


And cost :D

Unfortunately the NIC card you picked is quite old. Just looking at its specs, it is only an "N" wireless card that only supports 2.4ghz WiFi, which means limited performance on channels that can be quite crowded. But even then, it should not be so painfully slow as to not be useable at all in most cases.

However, looking at the reviews on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/TP-Link-TL-WN881ND-Wireless-network-Adapter/dp/B0079XWMEI

the very first question asks if they are ever going to release a Windows 10 driver for this card, and the answer seems to be NO. It's just one bit of proof on a review comment, but it fits your problem and makes sense.

Question:

Any one knows a windows 10 fix? I am getting better signal and stability on my phone and laptop. :(

Answer:

I opened a support ticket with TP-Link and their response was that they would not support this card on Windows 10. They said they will not be providing a driver and that I could use Qualcomm's Atheros driver, but that was not working. So the solution to this problem is to buy a supported WiFi adapter. I had the same problem with an Nvidia graphics adapter where the only solution was to buy and install an ATI=based card. see less 
By Riggsveda on October 3, 2016



I'd Google your card's model number and "Windows 10 driver" to get more confirmation, but it looks like that card is too old and not supported on W10.

Look for a new card that has "AC" and 5ghz support, it'll make a big difference. Be sure it has W10 drivers before buying, of course ;-)

Wow thanks a lot! But I didnt express myself right, what I ment is that the GPU is included im my budget. So the price for the CPU is a little high for me. I was having my eye on this one:

https://www.amazon.com/Intel-Skylake-Desktop-Processor-BX80662I56500/dp/B010T6CWI2

Think this one will do as well...? That would be more or less my price range

I really like all the other parts you picked for me. So with just a cheaper cpu, like the intel i5, would the motherboard you picked be compatible with it? Or do you have a better suggestion?

Thanks a lot buddy!

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Type|Item|Price

----|:----|:----
CPU | Intel Core i7-6700 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor | $297.99 @ Amazon
CPU Cooler | CRYORIG H7 49.0 CFM CPU Cooler | $34.99 @ Amazon
Motherboard | MSI Z170A KRAIT GAMING 3X ATX LGA1151 Motherboard | $149.99 @ Amazon
GPU | Evga GeForce 980 Ti | $419.99 @ Amazon
Memory | Corsair Dominator Platinum Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4 DRAM 3200MHz | $109.99 @ Amazon
Storage | Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive | $49.99 @ Amazon
SSD | Kingston SV300S37A/240G | $67.86 @ Amazon
Case | Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case | $54.99 @ Amazon
Power Supply | EVGA SuperNOVA G2 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply | $94.74 @ Amazon
Monitor | ASUS 23" 1920x1080 2ms | $128.99 @ Amazon
Windows | Windows 7 Professional | $88.97 @ Amazon
Optical Drive | LG Optical Drive | $13.99 @ Amazon
| Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts |
| Total | ~$1512.57
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-07-24 17:28 EDT-0400 |
Just a tad over budget but you can easily bring it down to $1400 if you feel like it by going with an i5 for $200. And I have the optical drive needed to install windows, etc. With this GPU you should be more than good for now and the near future. glhf!

Yeah I'd go with an Intel build at this price point as well. An i5-2400 at stock speeds still pretty handily beats even a 980, and I'm not sure you'd be able to close the gap by overclocking it a little more.

If you could fit a 2500k there wouldn't even be any contest, Intel would be the better cpu for sure.

Your questions:

• Should be enough to run BF3 on high and Skyrim on probably high/ultra
  
• I'm going to change this to a 2500k and a mobo that can overclock it
  
• 620w is definitely enough
  
• As long as you're willing to deal with having to ship it over internationally I don't think there's much of a problem; the most problem-prone parts would probably be.. the mobo or power supply? I don't really know tbh, the only one I would've worried about is the hard drive, but you only have an SSD in the build. I can't say if your case or monitor will come out in one piece though.
  

• I'll edit some changes in and I'll see what you think
  

  
  

  Edit: Here you go, a much much stronger cpu for only about $10 more.
  

  
  

  Part list permalink / Part price breakdown by merchant
  

  
  

  Type|Item|Price
  

  ----|:----|:----
  CPU | Intel Core i5-2500K 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor | $179.99 @ Microcenter
  Motherboard | ASRock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard | $122.86 @ Newegg
  Memory | Corsair 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1333 Memory | $33.22 @ Amazon
  Hard Drive | Crucial M4 64GB 2.5" Solid State Disk | $105.00 @ B&H
  Video Card | HIS Radeon HD 6870 1GB Video Card | $139.99 @ Newegg
  Case | Cooler Master HAF 912 ATX Mid Tower Case | $49.88 @ Amazon
  Power Supply | Silverstone 600W ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply | $68.98 @ NCIX US
  Optical Drive | Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer | $19.99 @ Newegg
  Monitor | Acer S231HLbid 23.0" Monitor | $154.99 @ Amazon
  Operating System | Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (64-bit) | $99.99 @ Newegg
  | | Total
  | Prices include shipping and discounts when available. | $974.89
  | Generated 2011-12-26 23:14 EST-0500 |
  
  Add in a cheap $20 cooler like this one: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B002G1YPH0/?tag=pcpapi-20
  
  And for about $30 more, you get way more performance out of your build.

Not necessarily. I've had some big cards before, but there are good compact single fan cards. Consider your needs, look at the card's measurements, check PCPartPicker compatibility, or ask around. I got a Corsair Carbide 400R a few years ago, thinking I might try SLI. I never did and no longer plan to, and while it's a great case, I now wish I picked something a bit smaller. YMMV, though!

Sorry for the late reply but you can get a RX 580 for $10 more than the RX 570 you linked get that instead it's from Sapphire they make the best AMD cards it's on Newegg instead of Amazon so I will also link a card from Amazon but I would go with the card from Newegg they are both 8gb so they will be way better that the 1050 ti hope this helps.

Sapphire RX 580 8gb-Newegg

XFX RX580 8gb-Amazon

you're spending too much on a CPU considering you only have a 1060

I would say downgrade the CPU to an i5-6600 ($220), i5-6500 ($200), or an i5-6400 ($180). (Dont get anything with a K, K means it's ready to be overclocked. You will need to have a Z170 motherboard to overclock intel cpus) and either upgrade something else or pocket the extra money

• I would personally get an i5-6400 for this build but I can see you value a good cpu so feel free to get the i5-6500
  
  
• you'll save about $100-150 and see basically no change. You will also need a lot more than $122 for a keyboard, mouse AND monitor so I would use that extra 100 for those things.
  
  Also you really don't need a 650W power supply. I would get something like the EVGA 500 B1, 80+ BRONZE 500W to save another $40 for your monitor and peripherals.

Thanks - Ill definitely go with PCIe now.

As much as I like Asus - I was thinking of going with one of these two -

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0079XWMEI/?tag=pcpapi-20

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006WWMZSK/?tag=pcpapi-20

They seem to get better reviews and are cheaper.
Also, This question may get a little technical- but certain standards such as 802.11a/b/g/n offer different speed rates. Since N is capable of 300mbs, isnt that a little overkill - considering my internet provider will give me something around 50mbps? I dunno just hoping your a comp whiz that knows everything - thanks for the advice!

Most of the computer noise comes from what is called the CPU "heatsink" - a small fan on top of the very small processor. It is usually a VERY good idea to replace the heatsink for various reasons, but also decreases sound issues (as the fans are better, larger, better designed structure, etc.) Heatsinks depend on some part on what type of CPU/Processor you have. This is the one I have: CPU Heatsink for AMD edit: it should be noted that the linked heatsink is compatible with a large array of CPUs, just check if yours is there! =)

Sound can also be caused by your case (vents, insulation, set up, rattling, etc.), the amount and size of the fans (larger fans are quieter - less rotations, or whatever).

Also, when installing heatsinks - or anything else - just save yourself the trouble and google an installation video on youtube.

TL;DR: Currently have i3-6100. Looking at i5-6500 and i5-7500. Would like an upgrade recommendation so I can run games like Tarkov and PubG.

I'm very sad to say, I built this rig in late 2016, and I still feel like I don't know what the hell I'm doing. I got by with a lot of help from redditors and Youtube videos so I have no idea what's good and what isn't.

Currently, I have an i3-6100. I skimped on some parts due to being on a budget. In addition to upgrading my RAM by 8GB (Currently have 8GB) I'm hoping to upgrade my CPU. I also have an EVGA GTX 950 in there.

If it matters This is my motherboard

So what I'm looking for is an LGA 1151 slot, right?

Here is the first option

Here is the second option

What confuses me, is the second one is one generation newer than the first one, right? Why are they the same price? I'm also told if I go above a certain gen I'd have to upgrade my BIOS? I'd like to avoid that if possible. I've also read that in reality, an i5 is plenty sufficient for games, and i7 isn't worth the extra money unless you're video editing/rendering, etc. Lastly, the stock cooler that comes with the cpu should suffice, yes? I don't care about overclocking.

I'm looking to smoothly run Tarkov, Hunt Showdown, PubG, things like that. I don't care about 4k or 1440p or anything really. Ideally I'd like to at least keep it to 60fps though. Smooth gameplay is primarily what I'm after.

I'm also open to AMD and such if there's a comparable option that's more cost-effective, the intel i-series was just a bit easier for me to tell the difference between the different tiers (3, 5, 7)

I know it's a bit verbose, so thank you for reading.

Your issues is most likely not related to the cable but a USB chipset/bandwidth/power output issue. You can solve your issue by buying either of these two add-on cards: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01AVSN2YG/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00FPIMJEW/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

These help because a lot of MB manufacturers skimp on the components used for the USB ports. They do not reliably deliver consistent power to all ports when multiple ports are being used and the chipsets used often can only support 1 or 2 at the full bandwidth of the USB spec. Adding these add-on cards solve the power issue and the issue of overloading the chipset because they have their own chipset on the card and they are powered directly by the power supply.

If you have open PCI-express 4x or greater slots open then I would recommend getting 2 of the ORICO cards.

Hey it's Toby from tEdits, the site you're using! :P

Anyway that build is a few months old now, I've been meaning to update it and I will do soon, but it adds up to £497 right now.

You can save about £10 on the motherboard by getting the MSI 970-G43, it's pretty much the same as the ASUS M5A97 R2.0, just cheaper with a few more USB 2.0 ports.

Also if you've got about £20 extra to spend you should go for the FX-8320, it's an 8-core CPU which will give you better performance in CPU intensive games, such as Metro Last Light or Far Cry 3, and in multi-threaded applications like Photoshop or Premier.

I hope this helps! :)

Many recomend the ASUS Xonar cards, but I had too much problems with drivers for other ASUS products to even consider them anymore. I'm using Creative Labs ZXR and Im very satisfied with it. As far as I can tell they are equally good. If you are on a budget chose Sound Blaster Z or ASUS Xonar DGX. Sound cards below these perform as well as the built in solutions of the high end motherboards.

Also dont forget that for good sound quality beside a soundcard you need an equally good headphone.

Is it better to use a fan splitter cable like this https://www.amazon.com/SilverStone-Technology-Sleeved-Splitter-CPF01/dp/B00B46XKKQ that connect directly to the board or get direct PSU fan cables/passthroughs like this https://www.amazon.com/Alpha-Omega-148-0027-Adapter/dp/B000BSJGL0/ref=pd_sim_23_3?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=BVYPBTJHZB4KKFH4C2HJ to add more fans than there are mobo fan headers? (Note: I'm not sure if either brand is reliable and will do research on what company makes the best of those cables)

Also, why are LED fans cheaper than non LED fans?

Here you go:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Type|Item|Price

----|:----|:----
CPU | AMD - Ryzen 5 1500X 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor | $176.99 @ SuperBiiz
Motherboard | ASRock - AB350 Pro4 ATX AM4 Motherboard | $83.98 @ Newegg
Memory | G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2800 Memory | $65.99 @ Newegg
Storage | ADATA - Premier Pro SP600 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive | $84.99 @ Amazon
Video Card | EVGA - GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 4GB ACX 2.0 Video Card | $144.99 @ SuperBiiz
Case | Deepcool - DUKASE WHV2 ATX Mid Tower Case | $34.99 @ Newegg
Power Supply | Corsair - CXM 450W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply | $26.99 @ Newegg
Optical Drive | Asus - DRW-24F1ST DVD/CD Writer | $17.84 @ OutletPC
Operating System | Microsoft - Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit | $89.89 @ OutletPC
Keyboard | Redragon - K551 Wired Gaming Keyboard | $39.99 @ Amazon
Keyboard | EagleTec - KG010 Wired Gaming Keyboard | $39.99 @ Amazon
| Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts |
| Total (before mail-in rebates) | $866.63
| Mail-in rebates | -$60.00
| Total | $806.63
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-07-13 03:09 EDT-0400 |

I'd probably spend the extra $49 to up the RAM to 16GB (faster ones too).

https://pcpartpicker.com/product/T9Gj4D/gskill-memory-f43200c16d16gvk

Solid mid-range gaming build with a Ryzen quad-core (4 cores, 8 threads), decent motherboard with a lot of features for the price, 8GB of RAM, 256GB SSD (I did not include a 1TB HDD, but budget another $40 or so if you need extra storage), GTX 1050 Ti 4GB will easily max out the games on your list, modular power supply, and a nice Deepcool case.

Also, thinking about the case I would probably recommend getting two 120mm fans to mount in front (the Deepcase Dukase v2 only has one rear exhaust fan), and perhaps two 120mm on top. This Arctic F12 PWM pack would be perfect.

https://www.amazon.com/F12-PWM-PST-Value-pack/dp/B00NTUJTAK

Edit- made a change to the keyboard so it would match your mouse color scheme (black/blue).

Definitely been there.

Alternatively, you can go for a refurb 3770 with an RX 580.
The CPU has 90 day warranty fulfilled by Amazon, and is actually a great deal. Double check the 3770 is compatible with your mobo though.

Other than that, eBay is your friend if you trust strangers.

OK. first thing is you dont need to buy anything except some adapter cables (3.5mm stereo to RCA). your Pioneer receiver has a 6ch ANALOG input. using the analog output of the sound card in 5.1 mode you can achieve excatly the same thing as HDMI, except with an analog connection instead of HDMI.

secondly, if you WANT to use digital, the Xonar STX is WAY overkill.

what you want is a sound card that can take LPCM and encode it into a Dolby Digital or DTS so that it can fit in the bandwidth of an optical cable.

the STX can do that, but the real reason it costs so much is because of its DAC and analog output stage, neither of which you would be using.

DSX has DTS support:

http://www.amazon.com/Xonar-DSX-Engine-Playback-Support/dp/B007TMZ1MY

the Creative Sound Blaster Z does both Dolby Digital and DTS:

http://www.amazon.com/Creative-Blaster-Beamforming-Microphone-SB1500/dp/B009ISU33E/

just note that analog might sound better because there with digital optical you are limited to a 1.5mbps bitrate, where as with analog or HDMI you are not.

a decent quality analog card should sound equally as good as HDMI.

The various names:

Founders Edition is nvidia's name for the reference edition of the current generation. It's carried by a lot of manufacturers, features a blower-style cooler, and no aftermarket overclocking. It's generally not recommended.

All others are brand-specific aftermarket cards, with custom cooler and frequently factory overclocking applied. Some of them may also have a custom circuit board layout. They'll all be in the same "region" of power, as the overclock won't be that massive, but they may run cooler, or allow more power draw for overclocking. You'll need to read the individual reviews - if you care. The differences are relatively small, the base chip is still definitly the deciding factor.

Upgrades:

RAM shouldn't be necessary for now. 8GB is still fine for gaming - 16GB can sometimes help, but it's not necessary, and I wouldn't invest in more DDR3 at this point.

A new power supply depends mostly on what you have right now. If it's some el cheapo model that you've used for years, I'd replace it - they don't get better over time. If it's something solid, it's fine to keep it, the wattage is definitly sufficient.

As for the GPU, if you're going for 144Hz in newer games than skyrim/cs:go as well, the GTX 1070 is worth a look, starting at $340 - though I'd spend a bit more on the sc black in that case. If you're not going for anything heavier, the RX 580 will be plenty.

If you're going for high framerate, also take another look at your cooler. You may be able to squeeze a bit more out of the CPU via overclocking, and at high framerates, the CPU is often the limiting factor.

Makes perfect sense.
Thanks a lot.

If i were to rotate the cpu cooler, would i have to reapply thermal paste, or should it still be good? (built on friday).

Also would this fan work?
https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B00650P2ZC/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=A1Z5H6ZGWCMTNX&psc=1
Or
https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B01LHYI374/?tag=pcp0f-20&th=1

I may start off by only buying one then a second one at a later time. If i do that, would you recommend me placing it at the top red arrow or the bottom red arrow.

Thanks a lot friedmn!

For the love of god, don't SLI on a CX model PSU, or any of the virtually identical VS/CS models either.

Either just get a good unit and use one GPU, or get a better unit simply put.

This unit is essentially the best in terms of price-performance (or quality for that matter), has 4x PCI connectors (they're 8 pins, but the final 2 split off if necessary), and it's a superb quality unit so you can be near certain that it won't explode under heavy load, unlike the CX line.

If you're going with a single GPU,

I was actually going to link you in my previous comment but since we have different cases im not too sure if the bracket support im using will be compatible with your case because of the small clearance it has between the GPU and the power supply housing. This is the one i use https://www.amazon.com/dp/B079HSVSLR/ref=sspa_dk_detail_0?psc=1&pd_rd_i=B079HSVSLR&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_p=f52e26da-1287-4616-824b-efc564ff75a4&pf_rd_r=NBMZ5NCAG055C0TXE1CA&pd_rd_wg=wSvEM&pf_rd_s=desktop-dp-sims&pf_rd_t=40701&pd_rd_w=7mVSg&pf_rd_i=desktop-dp-sims&pd_rd_r=18c244cc-d637-11e8-a8d6-f512c823c951 Maybe you could use it.

​

No worries though i found you this one that might be better for your build. https://www.amazon.com/Graphics-Support-Holder-Gaming-Bitcoin/dp/B01DQK7DDW I do highly recommend it. Your GPU is the most expensive part of your computer and you dont want its connectors to snap off from the back of the case or the motherboard.

​

Hope that helps. Feel free to ask anything else.

> We cant tell you how well a certain computer does on a certain game, honestly.

Ah, alright. And my budget would probably be $750 tops. Not including monitor, keyboard, windows, etc. Just the tower and everything inside.

Here's what I've been looking into so far:

• Processor - AMD FX-8320 - $150
  
  
• GPU - Gigabyte R9 270 GDDR5-2GB - $200... I've also been looking into Radeon HD 7950 ~$230
  
  
• Motherboard - ASUS M5A97 LE R2.0 AM3+ AMD 970 + SB950 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 - $84
  
  
• RAM - 8gb - $55
  
  
• Storage - 1TB - $60
  
  
• Case - Here - $50
  
  
• Power - Here - $60
  
  Let me know if I forgot something. Also, if something isn't compatible or I did something stupid, let me know that as well, please. Suggestions/improvements are very much welcome.

Urgh that post was a mess lol, here is a cleaned up version

http://www.amazon.com/Noctua-NF-F12-PWM-Cooling-Fan/dp/B00650P2ZC

2 of them in the front

http://www.amazon.com/Setting-Anti-Stall-Bearing-NF-S12A-FLX/dp/B00BEZKX8Y/ref=sr_1_2?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1451758087&sr=1-2&keywords=Noctua+NF-S12A

1 of them in the back.

You may need to plug one of the NF F12s into the CPU fan header, but only do that if the bios has user fan control or else it will speed up and slow down thinking it's attached to the CPU cooler.

If it doesn't, just plug it into the 3 pin on the motherboard. If they are too loud, use the low noise adapters that come with them. The S12A won't be loud, but on max speed the NF F12s could be a little loud, not that bad but they are pretty fast on max speed as they are aimed for use on radiators normally, but they are great in restricted openings too and their performance to noise ratio is excellent.

/u/JelloSlapper - it depends on your budget, but I recommend an [$89.99CDN Riiai YK930 two input HDMI capture card] (https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B01MYTG65P/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&linkCode=ll1&tag=hybrcamerevo-20) instead of the [$219.95CDN single input Elgato HD60 S] (https://www.amazon.ca/Elgato-Game-Capture-HD60-technology/dp/B01DRWCOGA//ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&linkCode=ll1&tag=hybrcamerevo-20) or a really [expensive $1165CDN quad capture card] (https://www.amazon.ca/Magewell-XI-400-DE-HDMI-ProCapture-Quad-HDMI/dp/B0178DV064//ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&linkCode=ll1&tag=hybrcamerevo-20).

With the YK930, you can get the HDMI output from both your X70 and your GH5 into the computer.

From there, you can mix the two cameras with vMix, as suggested by /u/frozen_flame77.

Hope this is helpful and good luck with setting up your stream!

I guess if the motherboard doesn't work well with the processor/RAM, I'd have to say that I'm not set on that particular MOBO. Is it a solid gaming motherboard?

If I stick with that motherboard, what would be a better processor/RAM pairing? I'd like at least 16GB of memory to start with.

Assuming I save money, what would a better GPU be?

Edit: would this processor work? How about this RAM?

Going to incorporate some of your suggestions into the original post table. Hopefully to develop this.

would it be wise to take advantage of This deal on a 8320? obviously i'd need to change my motherboard. I know amd gets a lot of flak but for $99 it seems pretty good considering there arent many i5 processors on sale. I'd be changing the case to a thermaltake core v21

Edit: So like This (but it seems too cheap)

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Type|Item|Price

----|:----|:----
CPU | AMD FX-8320 3.5GHz 8-Core Processor | $99.99 @ Amazon
Motherboard | ASRock 970M PRO3 Micro ATX AM3+/AM3 Motherboard | $36.99 @ Newegg
Memory | G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory | $29.99 @ Newegg
Storage | Sandisk SSD PLUS 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive | $59.99 @ B&H
Storage | Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive | $39.10 @ SuperBiiz
Video Card | PowerColor Radeon R9 380 4GB PCS+ Video Card | $159.99 @ Newegg
Case | Thermaltake Core V21 MicroATX Mini Tower Case | $39.99 @ Newegg
Power Supply | EVGA 600B 600W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply | $34.99 @ NCIX US
| Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts |
| Total (before mail-in rebates) | $591.03
| Mail-in rebates | -$90.00
| Total | $501.03
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-12-01 00:18 EST-0500 |

I had endless problems with USB. Problem is it's different for everyone, many are fine with just their Motherboard's.


What I can tell you, if you want to run extension cables, the money no object solution (the only thing that go everything working acceptably for me) is the following:


Startech PEXUSB3S44V

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00HJZEA2S


Also, found many of the recommended cables hit and miss but Ugreen's have been excellent. Always use the shortest you can.


For 2m I have these on one sensor and one on the Rift itself:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00P0ES0YE


I also have 1m and 3m version on my other two sensors.


To go with the 2m extension to the Rift (only if needed obvious) I used (again Ugreen):

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00A30FLE2


Best of luck. Look forward to seeing you in there

Good luck. You're gonna need a mess of adapters to accomplish that.

What you're going to need to ultimately do is get PS4 audio sent as an input into your PC and connect your headphones directly to your PC so you can hear both at the same time.

So firstly you're gonna need to make sure you have an Audio IN port on your PC. Next is transferring the Audio over to your PC. The easiest way to do this is pick yourself up a sound card with optical input. Something like this could work.

https://www.amazon.com/Blaster-Performance-Headphone-Forming-Microphone/dp/B009ISU33E/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1511642837&sr=1-1&refinements=p_n_feature_keywords_browse-bin%3A4091980011%2C2889460011

Then you could run the optical cable from the PS4 to the Optical IN on the card and have it do live playback.

The second cheaper option would be to get one of these devices.

https://www.amazon.com/PROZOR-Digital-Converter-Toslink-Adapter/dp/B00KNNSKV0/ref=sr_1_3?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1511642983&sr=1-3&keywords=optical+to+3.5mm

Then run a 3.5mm into your PC. It likely won't sound as good but in theory it should work.

You would of course need to make sure you 3.5mm MIC/AUX Input on your PC.

https://www.amazon.com/UGREEN-External-Converter-Adapter-Desktops/dp/B06XP5R449/ref=sr_1_3?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1511643145&sr=1-3&keywords=usb+3.5mm+aux+input

Something like this could work on your PC if you didn't have a 3.5mm aux input.

Obviously you'd need the 3.5mm cable like this.

https://www.amazon.com/FosPower-Stereo-Auxiliary-iPhone-Samsung/dp/B00LBJ77ZK/ref=sr_1_3?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1511643286&sr=1-3&keywords=3.5mm+audio+cable+25ft

And you'd need an optical cable that would plug into the adapter.

https://www.amazon.com/AmazonBasics-Digital-Optical-Audio-Toslink/dp/B00NH11H38/ref=sr_1_3?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1511643360&sr=1-3&keywords=Optical+cable

I wouldn't recommend getting an SSD at your price-point. Lower capacity SSD's have a tendency to be more unreliable than larger ones, and if you want to buy a good machine that does everything well and can play games at decent FPS you'll want to save that money on other things. Look at this build:

Part list permalink / Part price breakdown by merchant

Type|Item|Price

----|:----|:----
CPU | AMD Athlon II X4 640 3.0GHz Quad-Core Processor | $99.99 @ Amazon
Motherboard | ASRock M3A770DE ATX AM3 Motherboard | $59.99 @ Amazon
Memory | Crucial 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3-1333 Memory | $39.99 @ Amazon
Hard Drive | Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive | $64.99 @ Newegg
Video Card | Sapphire Radeon HD 5670 1GB Video Card | $54.99 @ Newegg
Case | Xigmatek Asgard II Black ATX Mid Tower Case | $29.99 @ Newegg
Power Supply | Antec 430W ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply | $44.99 @ Newegg
|| Total
| (Prices include shipping and discounts when available.) | $394.93


It has everything you need, and it plays most modern games at good FPS with lowered settings. You could even overclock it with great results, but for that you'd have to spend another 30$ on a good cooler like the Hyper 212+.

Not knowing anything about your setup I'm going to guess it's a USB bandwidth issue, not power. Not all motherboards are created equal in that some will include more USB controllers (different than ports) than others. The controller can be "split" with a hub, but based on the number of devices across that controller they must all share bandwidth. My first recommendation is to try switching the devices to different USB ports to see if you can get them all happy at once. Don't try to run them all off the same hub because that guarantees the same controller.

Edit: assuming this is your issue and you're on a desktop with a free pci slot:
https://www.amazon.com/StarTech-com-Express-SuperSpeed-Dedicated-Channels/dp/B00HJZEA2S/ref=asc_df_B00HJZEA2S/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=309776868400&hvpos=1o4&hvnetw=g&hvrand=10427848564261723381&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9058138&hvtargid=pla-441634214285&psc=1

Is going to be your "end all" solution. Each of the 4 ports has its own usb controller so even a device which uses the whole bandwidth will stay happy plugged in there. I've done a lot of fighting with Oculus Rift and Kinect2.0 which are bandwidth-hungry devices (most HD cameras/capcards over usb are) and this card laughs at usb problems.

you know so far its been great i guess, the improvement on arma 3 is through the roof but the improvement in fps in planetside isnt as high as i thought it might be, but i did some research and i feel that fps issues are just something that will forever plague a game with a possible 400 man battle going on, even with an intel cpu, i doubt theyre doing much better than 25-30 fps in huge battles. my new cpu has gotten down to 20 and below in massive battles but mostly its doing great and hitting my gpu (radeon 7770) alot at about 50-60. looking back i dont regret it, because i did it myself, and it was rather simple to swap just the cpu, where as a whole motherboard would be quite extensive i imagine and would probably need some help, and hopefully it would all be compatible. i doubled my score on 3dmark 11 to 6352 for cpu score, now i feel i need to upgrade my gpu :p,

also the 8350 just dropped 15 bucks to $179

Is it a matter of not having enough USB ports, or not having the right ones?

I'll probably end up getting both in time.. but from what I've heard/read I think the rift will suit me better for the time being :)

Edit: either way, what can I do about this USB situation lol. I thought the USB ports were a part of the motherboard.. does this mean that needs to be upgraded? Oculus recommend getting this

> Can I get any decent upgrade for such a small budget?

Yes, you can get the RX 580 8GB card, which is an optimal choice for 1080p gaming. Averaging at least 60 FPS on high to ultra settings in practically any game out there today, should not be an issue for it. Refer to the link below. You can also search eBay for used GPU's as well, many of which can be found for a good price.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06Y66K3XD/?tag=pcpapi-20

Also, I would try to find a CPU upgrade for your board. Maybe a Xeon CPU would be an option assuming it relatively cheap and compatible with your board. You will also want to overclock as well to get the best performance possible out of it. Refer to the link below for 1366 Xeon's that might be an option for you.

https://ark.intel.com/search?q=x56

I don't want to hijack your thread, but if someone can offer some input on my situation as well, that would be awesome. Was just thinking of making a similar thread but I hate spamming D: Hope you don't mind if I post in here to get some possible advice?

My CPU cannot handle me running multiple instances of OBS. I need one instance for game footage/sound only, another instance of OBS or just my webcam software to record my face, then another instance of OBS to slap the game footage and webcam together. I want to do it all separately so when I edit for YouTube it looks 1000% better than if I just use the recording from Twitch with everything smooshed together.

Any thoughts on what CPU would be good that I can get for around $150, $200 at most. I was suggested this CPU by a buddy and this motherboard. Anyone think they will be good enough?

OBS went crazy when I had two instances open, one of my webcam, the other of game footage. I was just PREVIEWING it and it was like WOAH THERE STAHP and lagged like crazy. Couldn't even imagine how it would have reacted had I actually hit the record button D: