(Part 3) Reddit mentions: The best computer internal components

I don't see any comments so I'll offer my advice. Take it with a grain of salt, as I'm always browsing r/buildapcsales and definitely more of a price/performance builder.

First of all, an $800 build with a 5700 and an SFF case and PSU is unlikely. Here's my recommendations

A Ryzen 5 3600 is like double the price of a 2600 for only 15% more speed. A 2600 is already a really solid CPU for gaming. Unless he's a hardcore gamer and streamer with a hardon for ultra settings games, I'd suggest the Ryzen 5 2600 or 2600x. On Black Friday, 2600 prices will probably drop to around $90 (they've been dropping to around $100 recently). Currently on Amazon for $118.

Really good choice in LPX RAM - that specific set actually dropped to $56 the other week and will be hopefully down again on BF.

A 5700 is fine in terms of price to performance, but if you really do want to get below your budget but still want really good performance, I'd suggest jumping on this deal asap: EVGA 1660ti for $255 on sale through Best Buy (originally $320), and you can use the first time shopping code (SHOPNEW19) for $20 off your first purchase using a google account/credit card combination you haven't used before. That effectively makes the 1660ti a $230 deal, and the 5700 (usually blowers are on sale for at best $280) performs only 30% better, sure, but you're going for a budget build, and a 1660ti can already handle anything for 1080p gaming. Even if 5700 prices drop lower on Black Friday, chances are the 1660ti will still end up being on sale for a better price/performance deal. Also should be noted that 5700's that do drop below $280 are usually blowers, and these can be very, very loud. Ultimately, check out userbenchmark, sort GPUs by value, and compare to figure out what's the best fit for you.

Not a bad SSD/HDD combination, but keep your eye out on Black Friday. Chances are that 1 TB SSDs will drop below $80.

With regards to PSU, EVGA is generally a cheaper line with still very good quality SFX PSUs. Their customer support is a lot better in my experience, but others may disagree. This 450W PSU was on sale for $69 the other day. Idk if it's your first time building, but do keep in mind to not vastly overestimate the wattage PSU you need. So many people buy 650W PSUs when they really only need to use 380W, which should only warrant buying a 450 or 550W PSU. I'd recommend this wattage calculator.

Finally, if you're really trying to do a budget build, keep an eye out on r/buildapcsales. Check early and check often. There was a sale today for a super high-end 1 TB m.2 NVME SSD that was $80, but it was sold out on Amazon in under an hour. Often times, the best deals will be sold out by the time they make it to hot. r/buildapcsales and r/sffpc are the only two subreddits I ever sort by new on lol. Again, I'm not sure how experienced you are with PC building, but make sure you're buying components of the specs that you want. There are times where I've gotten over-excited and seen a $48 RAM deal, but it turned out to be only 3000 mhz instead of 3200. Then again there have also been times where I've seen RAM prices and been like "wow, that's not even that good a deal," and then realized it was $100 for 32 GB and not 16 GB.

Afterword: Keep in mind that it's probably best to wait until Black Friday if you really want to play it safe price-wise. Don't buy everything from the same place at once if you want to save money. Buy from the credible sellers with the best prices at the best times. I've been exclusively buying from links off of r/buildapcsales and ended up with a $900 SFF build capable of all the gaming I'll need to do in college. And that's after spending $220 on a sexy SM550 case.

Our mutual friend asked me to help you out. Sorry its kinda long but hope it helps.

General Thoughts about building your own computer:
IMO buying computer hardware is all about future proofing. If your not a hardcore enthusiast you want to buy what you are not going to need to upgrade for a long long time. For example my friend JUST upgraded his gtx8800+ to the new 780. His 8800 lasted him like 10 years. However, doing this usually means purchasing the top of the line hardware at the time which ofc is not always possible to do this with your budget. IMO If you are going to spend the money, spend a little more so that you are super happy and wont have any regrets. This is why if your budget doesnt fit a lot of people upgrade piece by piece. usually the video card is the last bit to be upgraded because they are the largest cost white being the quickest to go out of date. For example the same friend who recently upgraded to a 780 upgraded his case, cpu, motherboard, and ram 2 years ago to a decent i52500k & held off upgrading the video card till now. Also it is worth mentioning that the reason he opted for the 780 over anything else is because not only is it (arguably) the best video card it has improvements over the last generation chips. for example the 770 is just a beefier 680. The 780 runs the gk110 chip and also has larger bandwith etcetc (these things have been discussed to death on countless forums and i am just stating my opinion on it). I think that the 780 provides better future proofing and value retention.

Build Recommendations:
Now that my own general mindset has been given here are some recommendations to your build.

1. Instead of the 670 get a 770 for only a little more $ (link below)
   
   
2. You will need a larger watt power supply! i also recommend future proofing yourself with this. I personally purchased a 1200 watt corsair 4 years ago and it has lasted me through 2 builds and will last me quite a few more. Computer Cases follow this principle as well - they will last you numerous builds so get one that can scale with you. But i would recommend at least a 700w power supply. I believe the 670 requires around a 600w anyways. and you always want to have more than less.
   
   
3. Please also do not get home premium get at least Pro. Also you can probably download a cracked version of ultimate for free and can save some money this way. (cough ask someone for a copy cough).
   
   
4. A common thing first time builders forget is also a cpu heatsink. Do not use the stock one that comes with your cpu. i would recommend the Corsair h60 an all in one easy watercooling solution which i myself use. Easily allows you to overclock without all the hard work and money for conventional watercooling - and not a whole lot more expensive than the better aircooling solutions that i would recommend you get (2nd link below. its newer version than the one i have)
   
   
5. Last and least important. I would recommend getting a larger SSD. It is a pain in the ass not having enough storage for typical daily use, but maybe thats just me because i set all my default download locations to the desktop and i often find myself running out of space on my 256gb ssd. You can double the capacity of the crucial m4 for only another $20. Remember that windows will be about 30gb. and your ssd will only really be 59 gb.
   
   Company Opinions
   I hate Newegg and have had nothing but crappy experiences with them. I only purchase from them if absolutely necessary and cross my fingers. I almost buy exclusively from Amazon now as i have amazon prime and amazons customer service is unparalleled. I also usually get bad cases of buyer remorse and amazons no quibbles 30 day return with no restocking fee is awesome. + free shipping with prime.
   
   As for choice of mouse and keyboard im a razer fan =P.
   
   Final Remark:
   This is probably going to have you go over budget. I would recommend doing a piece by piece upgrade as you get the funds instead of compromising. At the end of the day do what you personally will be happy with and that wont give you regrets. A good friend of mine thinks way different from me about choosing of hardware and that is why i want to give you background on my thinking. If you have any questions feel free =].
   
   http://www.amazon.com/EVGA-GeForce-SuperClocked-Graphics-02G-P4-2774-KR/dp/B00CZIQXBA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1373609361&sr=8-1&keywords=evga+770+acx
   
   http://www.amazon.com/Corsair-Hydro-Performance-Liquid-Cooler/dp/B00A0HZMGA/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1373610614&sr=1-1&keywords=corsair+h60

>-Previous threads here-
>
>
>Objective:
>Going back to the original - The $500 build from /u/JDM_WAAAT. Since then, many of those parts prices have drastically increased in price or are unavailable. So new objective, build it better, for less! And oh man did we ever.
>
>
>Rules for buying used server-grade parts on eBay:
>
>1. Buy from highly-rated, reputable sellers
>2. When "Or best offer" is available, use it. Sellers will likely discount parts, often up to 30%.
>3. Shop around. There are many resellers selling the same exact parts on eBay, find the one with the best price.
>4. Scrutinize the details of the auction. For example, make sure CPU stepping / revision is correct to what you need. Make sure components are listed as functioning and not "for parts only".
>5. Do not, under any circumstances buy QA/QC/QS/ES labled CPUs. Only buy official used / refurbished Intel Xeon CPUs. Chips with this label are not guaranteed to work, and might break functionality with something as simple as a BIOS update.
>6. Check sources other than Ebay. /r/buildapcsales can be a huge help with this. Amazon or Newegg often have huge sales on some of the new parts. Shop around people!
>
>Build
>
>http://i.imgur.com/X1NzK7Z.png
>
>http://i.imgur.com/r2d3lQp.png
>
>http://i.imgur.com/AHQJmto.png
>
>Type|Item|Price (eBay) | OBO? | OBO price
>:----|:----|:----|:---- |:----
>CPU | 2x Intel Xeon E5-2650 2.00GHz, 8 core 16 thread | Incl w/ MOBO | |
>Motherboard | Supermicro X9DRi-LN4F+ Dual Socket | $281.98 | YES | $260
>RAM | 16GB (4X4GB) DDR3 ECC REG x 2 | $29.89 ea | YES | $25.00 ea
>CPU Cooler | 2x Arctic Freezer i11 CO | $19.22 ea | |
>PSU | EVGA 450W BT | $24.99 | |
>EPS Splitter | 8 Pin to Dual 8 Pin EPS Splitter | $6.00 | |
>24 Pin Extention | 12" 24 Pin Power Extention | $9.99 | |
>Case | Phanteks Enthoo Pro | $79.99 | $15 MIR | $64.99
>Thermal Compound | Gelid GC Extreme | $12.99 | |
>Other | Tax, shipping, fees | $3.60 | |
>Total | | $517.76 | after OBO | $471
>Optional Extras | Sata cable 6 pack | $7.49 | |
>Optional Extras | Sata power splitter | $6.27| |
>
>---
>
>About this build:
>
>There you have it. If you recall, the original $500 build actually used this same CPU. BUT ONLY 1!. Here, we used 2, gave it more RAM, and all for over $50 less!
>
> General: I recently completed almost this exact build, same mobo, case, etc. Just ended up with different RAM config, and used dual E5-2630L CPU's that i got for a steal. This build will be using two Intel Xeon processors on Intel Socket 2011 motherboard with Quad-Channel DDR3-ECC RDIMM memory. It does not include specifications for SSD or HDD.
> CPU: The Intel Xeon E5-2650 is a high power, 8 core, 16 thread CPU that came out Q1 2012. 2.0Ghz clock, 2.8 Ghz turbo. It has a counterpart, the E5-2600L series who are also 8 cores, but low power. If you don't need quite as much Passmark power, these are also a power saving option at a slightly lower price point. MSRP when it was released was around $1100.00 USD Each. Plex Transcoder has true multi-threaded support and will take advantage of all 32 threads. So while this CPU might not be clocked as fast as what most of you are used to, the sheer amount of cores/threads will more than make up for it. Dual E5-2650's will score 15000 on passmark. Another thing to consider is that since the CPU is so cheap, you won't have to worry about it when it comes time to upgrade in the future. You can replace it with any V1 or V2 E5-2600 series cpu's. Dual E5-2660 V2, 10 core 20 thread, 2.20GHz base / 3.00 Ghz turbo in the future for about +4000 extra passmark score.
> Motherboard: Supermicro X9DRi-LN4F (Link to Supermicro Product Spec Page) This motherboard has dual 2011 sockets with a whopping 24 DIMM slots. With this build we'll be using only 8 of those available DIMMS, so there's a possible future upgrade. 6 SATA ports are standard, along with 2 SAS ports, for a total of 14 available SATA connections. Quad Gigabit NIC is also standard, plus IPMI.
> RAM: Here, we're using 8x4GB DDR3 ECC REG for quad channel support, and a total of 32GB of available memory. 32GB is a good value here. Another 2 sets would fill all 24 slots, for a total of 96GB.
> CPU Cooler: There's not much to say here. It's compatible, it's quiet, and it works. We won't be overclocking, so there's not much to worry about so long as it works. Also designed for continuous operations.
> PSU: It's cheap, powerful enough, and works. Not much more to say.
> Case: This case has full SSI-EEB+ (E-ATX with specialized mounting) support. Supports 6 3.5" hard drives two 2.5" SSDs, and two 5.25" bays natively. It's an all-around wonderful case, and it's really well-constructed (I have one, it's great). Also, one of the few cases that actually will fit this massive MOBO. In the front is a MASSIVE 200mm intake fan. Didn't even know they made them that big.
> Splitter/Extension These are necessary with the parts listed above to work. The power supply listed only has 1 8 Pin EPS connection for the CPU. Since we have 2, need a splitter. If you use a different PSU, check on the # of EPS connections. If it has 2, this part is not necessary. This board BARELY fits in the case. I know, I have both! Here's some pictures to show. Because of this, wiring the power can be a bit tricky, and to get it done in a clean way, need the 12" extension.
> Thermal Paste This is the best non-liquid metal thermal compound out there, hands down.
>
>Cautionary notes, other details
>
>1. Server equipment is stripped down to the bare minimum for compatibility and reliability. Because of this, features you are used to having might be missing - for example, some server motherboards don't have onboard audio. Also, most will use VGA onboard.
>2. Use a SSD for your host OS. This is likely where your Plex metadata will live, so if you're going to generate thumbnails and you have a sizeable library, make sure to get an appropriate size. I have about 20TB of media with thumbnails turned on, and 500GB is starting to feel tight. About 250GB is a good start for most people.
>3. Familiarize yourself with the BIOS options. Some may be different than consumer models. Make sure Hyper-threading is turned on in the BIOS. When in doubt, clear the CMOS / reset to default. You should verify that all 24-threads are showing in your host OS.
>4. Almost any OS will work. Includes ESXI, unRAID, FreeNAS, Linux, and Windows of course.
>5. Evaluate your RAID options. This motherboard has capabilities for onboard RAID, but that isn't for everyone.
>
>Upgrades, other parts
>
>1. Cheap storage in the form of $33 refurbished 2TB Hitachi Ultrastar hard drives. These are Enterprise level drives, great for use with RAID arrays.
>2. Sell the pair of E5-2650's & get Dual E5-2660 V2, 10 core 20 thread, 2.20GHz base / 3.00 Ghz turbo for 19,000 Passmark score. At time of posting these were $249.99 OBO w/ free shipping, extremely great value currently. If you're more concerned about power consumption, consider a pair of E5-2650L's for $41.50 each OBO at the time of this post, for a sweet ~14k passmark at only 70w TDP each.
>3. MORE RAM!
>4. Liquid cooling - If you plan on upgrading to V2's this is a good idea. Can get Corsair H55's for $60 each.
>5. DO IT ALL! If you want more power right now, sell the CPU's that come with the mobo for ~80 and grab a pair of E5-2660's for $240. Triple the RAM for an extra $100. Liquid cool the PSU's for an added $80. Finally, upgrade to a 550w semi modular 80+ gold psu for an extra ~$30 (one's on sale @ Newegg for $55 after MIR currently). Grand Total: around $840.
>
>FAQ
>
> Q: Aren't used parts unreliable?*

It depends on what you are interested in creating for what kit you want to purchase. There are a few brands out there that will sell their own branded Arduino boards, but they are all Arduino chips. I have seen the Arduino kits (arduino.cc), Osepp (osepp.com), Sparkfun (sparkfun.com), and more. There a plenty on the market, but I like these three for very well thought out kits with included demo projects with pre-written code, so you can have something up and running in 10 minutes. Then you can look at the demo code and see how it works to create or modify it to suit your purposes.

I initially purchased the Osepp 201 kit (http://osepp.com/products/kits/) at Frys for about $100. The 201 kit has an array of sensors with 16x2 lcd, and servo/stepper motors that you may not even use. So they also have the 101 kit for around $50 (Prices: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=osepp%20kit). They are all based around the newer Arduino Uno R3+, a very good board. All of their kits come with a book that shows you how to hook everything up for their demo projects with pictures and text to allow for easy understanding of what is happening on the hardware and software side.

The official arduino Starter Kit is a little north of the budget at $100 (http://arduino.cc/en/Main/ArduinoStarterKit , http://www.amazon.com/Arduino-Starter-Official-170-page-Projects/dp/B009UKZV0A/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1404592939&sr=8-1&keywords=arduino+starter+kit), but it includes quite a bit for the price. I have not used it, so I can't accurately comment on it, but if it is the official Kit, I bet they thought it out.

Sparkfun has less realized kits, in comparison to the two above (https://www.sparkfun.com/categories/157), but I use them more for purchasing the components for my projects. They have an arsenal of cool stuff to tack on to your projects.

If you have something in mind, it will always be cheaper to just purchase the components. There was a good post about a year ago on /r/arduino about starter kits (http://www.reddit.com/r/arduino/comments/19uc34/which_starter_kit_is_worth_the_money/), and the first comment by /u/kraegar posted a diy starter kit (https://sites.google.com/site/kraegar/arduino/getting-started-kit) that list a bunch of good components to have with links to amazon and prices.

I also can't leave without mentioning the arLCD ($90, https://www.sparkfun.com/products/11925) if you get into it in the future. It is a 3.5" color touchscreen with a mounted Arduino Uno R3 on the back (included). They can make any project have that flair with an easy way to make a really nice touch interface.

I am currently using an arLCD with some sensors to create an automated bottle reject for a production line. The company selling us a reject station quoted us around $50-60K for some cool looking "vision system". I am wraping up this project with a total around $200, and that's without the extra three 0's. Then I'm off to automate 7 other stations of the production line, and network them to a display on a TV with current productivity readouts. It really is amazing what these little things can do.

If you are capable of theorizing a system with these components, the Arduino platform is the perfect medium to let your imagination run wild (then show it off for the wow factor). There are plenty of inconveniences around me I look at now that I think, I could change that for $70 and about 8 hours. Want to build a self-locking/unlocking door with knock/book switch/network unlock? You can. A laser trip wire with output to an alarm (emailable/textable/audible/visual)? You can. How about an alarm clock that can be configured to turn on your computer/TV/Xbox/shower(harder...)/coffee maker? Yup. Program it to give you a nice slap if you hit snooze one to many times. Pranks? Easy.

If you have a Fry's Electronics or Microcenter near you, they carry lots of kits and components now, so you can go and see what you are getting yourself into. I highly recommend getting yourself into this, as the reward factor when you complete a project if the best (Walk by - See that? Ya, I made... everything). It will also build hardware and coding skills if you are going into the tech industry. Plus, you will have tangible items to show an interviewer your capabilities if you are looking for an internship or job in the field.

Also, sorry for the wall of text and run-on sentences. I may have celebrated our belief of freedom a bit too much. If you need me, I'll be in my dark corner all day. :(

Your google-fu is weak;
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00D3IKKVA/ref=asc_df_B00D3IKKVA18250740?smid=A5Y5ZDGV1AKXL&tag=pricerunner-ce-3p-21&linkCode=df0&creative=22242&creativeASIN=B00D3IKKVA&ascsubtag=uk,27816,SEO,35,google;f0120409ba673673d3b6c8cdf09c7ccf

For reference, I paid 115$ for mine, and at 79 pounds the conversion rate is equal to about 133$.

You said you were planning on overclocking in another reply of yours, if that's the case I recommend the i5 4670k (Pretty sure you said you added it to your parts list in the other reply). If that's the case, I would recommend either the NZXT Kraken X40; http://www.amazon.co.uk/NZXT-Technologies-Premium-Performance-RL-KRX40-01/dp/B00ANJRTYS (98£) if you want to use a closed loop CPU cooler (you'll need a case that has 140mm fan mounts for the X40, but other CLC's use 120mm fans which makes them quite a bit louder, so it's a fair trade-off)

Or, the Noctua NH-D14; http://www.amazon.co.uk/NH-D14-Processor-LGA1366-LGA1156-LGA1155/dp/B002VKVZ1A (66£) if you want to go the air-cooling route. The NH-D14 comes with two 140mm fans and has mounts for 120mm and 140mm fans should you decide to change them out; personally, I wouldn't recommend doing that, since the two fans that come with it are some of the best 140mm PWM fans on the market, and because they too will be quieter in operation than their 120mm alternatives.

In reality, an NH-D14 will be fine for overclocking. It may max out at 95c in synthetic benchmarks, but in reality, you could game in the high 70's/low 80's, depending on ambient temperature, at 4.2-4.4Ghz, depending on how your chip performs. As long as the core voltage isn't over 1.25, you'll be fine. If you want something with a little bit better temperatures, or with more headroom to overclock, the NZXT Kraken X40 is the way to go.

It all depends on how much you want to spend, but the cheapest overclocking setup I could recommend to you, with the Asrock H87 Fatal1ty motherboard, i5-4670k, and NH-D14, buying all of these components off of Amazon, (Link for the i5 4670k; http://www.amazon.co.uk/Intel-Graphics-BX80646I74770-Generation-Technology/dp/B00CO8TBOW (167£) would be an extra 125£ cost for your budget, bringing your total to 685£. Not to mention you'd need a higher-wattage PSU, something in the 700-750 watt range, like the Seasonic X-750 Fully Modular PSU; http://www.amazon.co.uk/Seasonic-X-750-module-ATX12V-Supply/dp/B002VAFDQS/ref=sr_1_1?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1397013585&sr=1-1&keywords=SeaSonic+SS-750KM3 (140£)

So, to build an overclocking system, with solid, name brand, quality components all the way around, it'd cost you 230£ extra, bringing your total cost to 790£, or 1325$ american. And that's if you get the NH-D14. With the NZXT Kraken X40, with another fan on it along with the fan it comes with, would be 840£, or 1400$ american. Without the extra fan it'd be 820£; 1375$

And with the PCI wireless card it'd be 855£; add a blu-ray combo drive and a 770 instead of a 760, and it's 950£

Or, you could just get the i5 4670, the fastest locked quad-core i5 at 3.4Ghz, for 158£, which with the PCI adapter would bring your build total to 595£, or just under one thousand dollars american. With the Blu-ray drive also it'd run you about 645£, bringing your grand total to 1080$ american.

The reason I spent the last two hours reading reviews, looking up links, and sorting through statistics, is because I wanted to show that overclocking is not cheap. You'd be paying another 320$ american, or 192£, for another 10-20% performance. I'm not saying don't do it, I'm just trying to illustrate the true cost associated with it. Not to mention that for the NH-D14 or the NZXT x40, you'd need to move up to a full-size case, which would add further to the cost. My point is, that if you're new to this and just want a capable gaming machine for 1080p, you'd be much better off just getting the 4670, wireless card, and blu-ray combo drive; http://www.amazon.co.uk/Asus-BC-12D2HT-Blu-ray-Combo-Drive/dp/B00F0SQL6O/ref=sr_1_6?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1397014362&sr=1-6 (50£).

If this is something that really interests you, that you know you're going to invest a lot of hours in and not get bored of, then go ahead and pull the trigger on the overclocking build. If you do, it'd be worth it to save up enough to get a 770 instead of a 760, since it's about 10-20% ahead of the 760, performance wise. Your total cost would be 950-1000£.

tl;dr If you want a nice rig, use the i5 4670, get the wireless card and blu-ray combo drive, and have fun. If you want to turn this into a hobby, and you're willing to spend time (and a whole lot more money) on it, then get the 4670k, AsRock Fatal1ty H87, NH-D14, Seasonic X-750, and 770. And the wireless card and Blu-ray combo drive.

I hope I've fully illustrated the pros and cons of overclocking. It's not for everyone, and to be totally honest it can be the motherfucking-est pain in the ass at times (from mounting big-ass heavy heatsinks and spending hours researching technical details, and ultimately developing a huge knowledge and understanding of the subject that you can't talk about with anyone besides people on the internet) but in all honesty, I love it. You might too. I just wanted to be totally honest and up-front about the extra cost and difficulties, because it's totally fine if it's not something you'd want to get into.

Looks alright. I wouldn't reccomend Ryzen chips. I would probably get something more like an i7 6700k or the 6700 (which is around $20 cheaper if you can't justify the price) for gaming. If you end up choosing an Intel CPU you'll have to choose a different Mobo as well but there are lots of good ones.

I'd reccomend getting an entry level 144Hz Screen. If you can stretch to something like this I would seriously reccomend it, though it's not going to hurt you if you don't. I think it was Jake from LG Evil that made T500 early in the game on a Mac Book running OW in wine.

I personally don't like any gaming Headsets other than the HyperX Clouds. There is a huge quality difference between them and any other "gaming" headsets I have used.

As far as mice and keyboards, I would probably just buy a nice cheap Keyboard to begin with because there are no benefits really to having a good keyboard if you're on a budget. A mouse is kinda personal, I use a Steel Series Rival 100 but am a palm style user and am completely arm aim. It's a good cheap mouse but you may want something else if your grip style is different. My brother plays claw and doesn't mind it though.

Parts and gear you should prioritise for Overwatch are: Good GPU. 6GB 1060s are plenty for overwatch unless you want to be running the game at consistently over 240FPS (here's Taimou's settings btw. These will help with you configuring your settings for Overwatch). A fast CPU (Overwatch can be very CPU dependant). SSDs are kinda nice and fairly cheap. If you have a SSD btw you're at a direct benefit to most other players because you load in matches faster and can therefore instalock first, if that's your thing. :P Monitors are the most important peripheral by far in my opinion, followed closely by mice. If you're not getting a 144Hz screen now, you'll want one eventually (you won't need one but you'll want one). The only other peripheral that is important for Overwatch specifically is a mouse. This is one of those what suits your style things and there's no real correct answer but for First Person Shooters you usually want a nice light fast mouse. Ideally with 2 buttons on the side of the mouse for binding melee and voice. Just don't get a Razer and you'll be fine.

I'd probably ask on /r/buildapc as well because they'll probably give you better advice than this sub will. Best of luck dude with your transition to PC. Hope this helps.

Edit: oh and Mousepad! In the beginning I'd reccomend a nice control style mouse pad for getting used to using a mouse for aiming. I can't reccomend you any though because I have always used the mats that come in WoW TCG boxes since a family member has heaps of them and I've never used any other control style mats. The bigger the better.

Here's my advice, as a recent grad who was first exposed to arduino in school two years ago.

Get a starter kit that has a nice amount of sensors, jumpers, resistors. Nothing worse than seeing a project online and realizing you'd have to make a trip to radio shack just for some 30 cent resistor.

Amazon - $125

Sparkfun - $60

Jameco - $99

These are all a little pricey, but if you have a decent amount of confidence that you'll stick with things, I think this is a good way to get started. You could get one of the cheaper starter kits, but pushing a button to light an LED is only impressive for like a second. After that you're going to want to start moving and sensing things and it's nice to already have that at your fingertips.

Word of advice on tutorials. If you're anything like me, the internet can be your best friend and worst enemy. There are so many tutorials for stuff like arduino with varying levels of quality. It can be super distracting to look through a long tutorial and then see 100 other things you might want to do. At this point, that's bad because you're just chasing after a cool project, not actually learning. I'd encourage you to commit to buying a book, plugging away through every single tutorial in it, and then looking online. You'll start to see quicker which projects you actually want to dive into when you know a bit more about the process.

That first kit from Amazon comes with a book that I'm sure is great. Here's the one we went through at school: Programming Arduino - $12

That said, I'd very strongly encourage you to do it. Save up some money, get one of those kits, and start learning! It's incredible rewarding, and after even a few months you'll have projects lying around that will impress pretty much anyone who doesn't know what arduino is. I really wish I had started at your age. Good luck!

I bought an i3x at the beginning of June. Some thoughts are below. The tl;dr: Not the prettiest parts, and a subpar hotend, but I wanted an aluminum frame (humidity in my state is horrid) and knew I was buying a long-term project anyways. Overall, I'm happy with my purchase. Feel free to PM me if you have specific questions or whatever.

• They had some minor supply chain issues that delayed the shipping of my printer by a week or so, since their source for fasteners was backordered. Mine were drop-shipped, and got to me a few days after the rest of the parts. They also had to send me a few printed parts that got left out of the kit, but since it was just the brackets that attach the bed to the Y-rails, I was able to improvise temporarily with some bits from home depot so it didn't set me back at all.
  
  
• As mentioned, I mainly went with them over some of the other budget i3 options because my budget was limited and I wanted an aluminum frame. Having built the printer now, I'd feel comfortable with an acrylic frame, although I'm glad I didn't go with wood for my region.
  
  
• Expect to be buying a long-term project. While it's pretty dependable so far, I've got a handful of improvements I'm working on (listing those below), and would really like to upgrade to another hotend in the near future. I was expecting this, and it's why I bought a reprap kit instead of a commercial printer - It lets me make incremental upgrades along the way and experiment with it instead of trying to find the perfect printer out of the box now.
  
  
• Printed parts aren't the prettiest: most holes needed drilling with the proper drill bit, some minor sanding. Only really frustrating bit were the parts that hold the belt on the X or Y carriage, which required a lot of sanding to get the belts to fit (and I didn't want to risk a higher power tool, since too much room would be bad). Nothing has broken in about a month of use, with about 2kg of filament used.
  
  
• All the metal parts and fasteners are sufficient - galvanized steel for the threaded rod isn't the prettiest, but is perfectly functional for a frame. Fasteners are all quality and nothing has stripped or misbehaved.
  
  
• The hotend is the one thing you'll see consistent complaints about - I don't think anyone really likes it. I got the 1.75mm / .5mm version. It works ok (as mentioned above), but has a tendency to ooze from the joint between the brass and the PEEK, and last time I had it apart the PTFE tube inside had started to mushroom slightly - I'd save the $50 on the printer price and go ahead and buy another compatible hotend if I were you. The slot on the extruder is a standard size, so installing another hotend shouldn't be hard at all. I decided to go with their hotend since I didn't know anything about the standards involved, and was concerned I'd end up with a hotend that wouldn't quite fit, without a working printer to make a replacement mount - which was a somewhat unfounded concern. Go ahead and buy a JHead or e3d, it'll be worth the effort, and the cost isn't much different.
  
  
• Print Quality is pretty good - some ooze as mentioned, but I think at least some of that can be blamed on my retraction settings (still working on ironing out those..). I had access to a non-functional 3d printer at my office (early mendel variant) that I am currently working on rehabilitating, and the print quality on my printer is better than my coworkers were ever able to get out of the office printer. There's room for improvement, but mainly in aesthetics and how much cleanup is required - mechanically they're perfectly sound.
  
  
• Electronics are a bit of a mixed bag - the RAMPS board is nice (glad I went with a RAMPS board instead of one of the other single-board solutions), but the stepsticks are of questionable quality (PCB material is oddly rounded on the edges like it was snapped by hand, and the trimpots don't behave like they're described on the wiki articles about the pololu-style drivers). I also suspect that the 'Arduino' is a Chinese knockoff instead of a real Arduino, but it looks and functions just fine. The heated bed supplied works great, kinda wish they included a Power Supply (I sourced mine here.
  
  
  Things I want to improve include:
  
  
• Endstops: i3x uses little clips that friction-fit on the smooth rods, but they're a bit too loose for my tastes, and aren't very easy to adjust small amounts. I'm planning on trying this out for my z-axis at least, which will hopefully solve that problem.
  
  
• Extruder/x-carriage: The slot that the hotend mounts in is covered by the large gear on the extruder, so I have to unmount that gear to remove the hotend. I had some crappy filament snap off just out of reach (testing some of the old PLA stockpile that was purchased with the work printer a few years back), and had to remove the hotend to get it out - since that gear attaches to a locknut, it's a massive pain to remove. Looking at alternative x-carriages, but should be solvable since everything is standard sizes.
  
  
• I'm gathering materials to rework the wiring harness. Some of the wires are slightly shorter than I'd like, the thermistor wires are too short to bundle up with the extruder motor wires running over the top of the frame, and I really don't like the crimp connectors that they sent along for the motor wires - they're functional, but I've never had much luck with crimp connectors holding long-term, and they don't look good.

Graphics Card
It looks like you want to play at 1080p resolution(which is great btw) @60fps or higher. You also seem like you might want to try VR later. Your best options for a graphics card is the 1070 or a 1060. The 1060 is a cheaper option with VERY good performance. Depending on the model you get, you can achieve close performance to a 1070 for under $300.
CPU
To be completely honest with you, an i7-6700k sounds nice and all, but in terms of gaming, its not all that. You want to do streaming and stuff right? Well an i5 6600K would do fine for streaming most games. It really just depends if you're willing to cut cost by looking at performance efficiency. If you don't mind then by all means go with the i7, its a great cpu of course.

Motherboard
*I'm not really sure, if you're getting a k-cpu then you should probably get a z170 board. If you care for aesthetics, I suggest this https://www.amazon.com/Gigabyte-LGA1151-Intel-Motherboards-GA-Z170X-Gaming/dp/B012N6E996/ref=sr_1_2?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1482194155&sr=1-2&keywords=z170+motherboard, and https://www.amazon.com/MSI-Performance-Z170A-Motherboard-3X/dp/B01CX4VJP0/ref=sr_1_6?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1482194948&sr=1-6&keywords=z170+motherboard. I'm not an expert on motherboards but a good msi z170 that looks this nice can't be bad.

You should know that if you decide to go 1440p, you're only gonna be getting 60hz unless you want to spend $500< on a higher refresh rate monitor.

Here's a Gold-Certified 650W thats only about $5 more than the one you have listed. https://www.amazon.com/EVGA-SuperNOVA-Modular-Warranty-120-G1-0650-XR/dp/B00K85X2AW/ref=sr_1_2?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1482195157&sr=1-2&keywords=gold+certified+power+supply.

If you decide to go with an i5 and 1060 instead, then you end up saving a couple hundred which you can use for things like a better case or custom sleeves for aesthetics. If you keep that monitor, then I recommend keeping the i7 and getting a 1060 instead.https://www.amazon.com/Gigabyte-GeForce-Gaming-GV-N1060G1GAMING-6GD-Graphics/dp/B01IEA1IMQ/ref=sr_1_8?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1482195400&sr=1-8&keywords=gtx%2B1060&th=1

All and all its a pretty good build and I wish you the best of luck

I'll see your wall of text and raise you a wall of text ;)

1) 1xSensor in USB 2.0, 1-3xSensor in USB 3.0:

> This seem to to be a general official statement that you can follow, but isn't it just a safe rule of thumb to use different USB channel/devices and not risk putting everything on a single USB channel (All 3.0).

Yep the rule of thumb is to try to keep Rift devices to different USB host controllers to reduce bandwidth/latency throughput issues.

See Part 2 and Part 3 of Oculus blog posts on Roomscale.

My layout here. Note I try to keep to no more than two Rift devices per controller where possible - https://imgur.com/a/fqgRP5p

2) USB failure, Disconnects/Reconnects

It could be a number of issues like

1. bandwidth overload
   
2. driver crashes
   
3. too high power draw from all devices on that host controllers power rail
   
   My money is on 3 most of the time. The intermittent nature of it might be related to once the power regulators heat up they might not be able to push out the required power so crap out and reboot the controller. In reality though it could be one or more of any of the above.
   
   3) QUESTION - Onboard Motherboard USB 3.0 Expansion or USB PCI-E Card?
   
   As for the X99 chipset and AsMedia controller. I'd love to see some circuit layouts of these (Maybe I'll do some digging after this mega post). The general rule of thumb I've seen is most USB host controllers are capable of handling 4 USB ports. They can be daisy chained together which is why some cards and hubs offer 7 USB ports. See this image and look at the two host controller configs on the right. Note how each offer 4 comm channels but the second host controller uses one of the base host controllers comms lines giving a total of 7 ports.
   
   Like this external hub - https://www.amazon.com/Anker-Aluminum-Portable-Adapter-Devices/dp/B00PBZX0OM
   
   or like this PCI card (don't get for Rift) - https://www.amazon.com/Inateck-Superspeed-Ports-PCI-Expansion/dp/B00FPIMICA
   
   7 ports is a sure sign of daisy chained host controllers. While not a deal breaker the Rift sensor comms are HUNGRY. If any of the host controllers in a chain are sub standard with latency or bandwidth your tracking will suffer. Not to mention that base controller will be possiblyhandling comms from 7 USB devices. That is a bottle neck in the making.
   
   Which bring me back to the X99 chipset (6 ports) and AsMedia controller (10 ports) chipsets. I wonder if they offer all those ports direct to PC or if they chain through other controllers???
   
   6 ports doesn't really fit with the mutiples of 4 per sub controller.
   
   10 ports for the Asmedia does though. 1 root controller with 2 USB ports + 2 comms channels daisy chained to two controllers which each offer 4 ports. 2 + 4 + 4 = 10 ports. That could be the layout on silicon for that Asmedia chipset.
   
   See wiki for PCI cards that are supported by Oculus. The 4 port Inatek card for $23 is a great quick fix for most people.
   
   
   4) QUESTION - USB Power management:
   
   > Have anyone experimented with having ALL Sensors and maybe also Headset in the same USB HUB that you can just turn ON when you need it?
   
   Yep I've heard people doing exactly this. Below are two brands Anker and Amazon Basics which are the hubs redittors say have worked for the Rift in the past.
   
   https://www.amazon.com/AmazonBasics-Port-2-5A-power-adapter/dp/B00DQFGH80
   
   or
   
   https://www.amazon.com/Anker-Aluminum-Portable-Adapter-Devices/dp/B00PBZX0OM
   
   Noting that last hub obviously has daisy chained controllers inside but I've not heard too many complaints. If you could identify which ports are connected to the root controller use those.
   
   5) OCULUS - Why are we struggling with these problems?:
   
   > Wish Oculus would sell an inexpensive USB Hub or Expansion card that would solve all our problems and allow us to power everything off when we don't use it.
   
   They have made recommendations in Part 4 of the blog posts on roomsccale suggesting a few cards which are proven to work for low latency and high bandwidth.
   
   It wasn't until VR came along that the requirement for 2-4 high bandwidth low latency devices were expected. MB designers never really catered for it apart from high end video editting people maybe. However in the age of VR we need this... at least for the Rift with it's current tracking tech.
   
   > Frankly it's a waste of power, hardware lifespan and the camera security makes me uneasy!
   
   They are not overly power hungry. ~250ma
   
   Security sure it is a concern but it would be pretty noticeable if Oculus/Facebook/Hackers started using these things for sending data back. It would be spotted pretty quickly with suspect bandwidth usage and pretty basic traffic analysis. See a few previous concerns from users
   
   

• https://www.reddit.com/r/oculus/comments/9abyzm/can_anyone_explain_why_oculus_is_collecting_so/
  
• https://www.reddit.com/r/oculus/comments/9h6qw0/why_does_the_oculus_vr_runtime_service_use_an/
  
• https://www.reddit.com/r/oculus/comments/94hjoy/whats_the_video_encoding_thing_from_oculus_server/
  
  Simple solution though is to get a quality hub like you mentioned before and just unplug it. Make sure the hub is plugged into a good port on your PC that can handle the high bandwidth.
  
  or get some rifle scope covers for the sensors.
  
  or just turn off your PC when you want some guaranteed privacy.
  
  Finally a lot of this info (not all) is in the wiki too btw : https://www.reddit.com/r/oculus/wiki/new_rift_guide#wiki_usb_hubs
  
  
  Edit: OK I had a look at the X99 chipset and it supposedly offers 14 USB ports.
  
  You can get a combination of 14 USB ports by daisy chaining 4x four port USB host controllers together kinda like the image shown previously. That could be the layout on silicon??? A chip designer who knows the layout of the X99 would obviously have a better idea on this. Do host controller designs that offer more than 4 comms channels exist or are they just linking known 4 comms designs together???

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Type|Item|Price

----|:----|:----
CPU | AMD - Ryzen 7 1700X 3.4GHz 8-Core Processor | $337.89 @ OutletPC
CPU Cooler | Cooler Master - Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler | $19.99 @ Newegg
Motherboard | MSI - B350 TOMAHAWK ATX AM4 Motherboard | $93.98 @ Newegg
Memory | Corsair - Vengeance LPX 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-3200 Memory | $94.99 @ Newegg
Storage | Samsung - 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive | $104.64 @ OutletPC
Storage | Western Digital - Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive | $46.88 @ OutletPC
Video Card | EVGA - GeForce GTX 1060 6GB 6GB SSC GAMING Video Card | $279.99 @ SuperBiiz
Case | NZXT - S340 (White) ATX Mid Tower Case | $64.99 @ Newegg
Power Supply | SeaSonic - S12G 550W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply | $56.89 @ Newegg
Monitor | HP - 22cwa 21.5" 1920x1080 60Hz Monitor | $89.99 @ Amazon
Keyboard | Cooler Master - Devastator II Wired Gaming Keyboard w/Optical Mouse | $25.49 @ OutletPC
| Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts |
| Total (before mail-in rebates) | $1260.72
| Mail-in rebates | -$45.00
| Total | $1215.72
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-08-05 12:05 EDT-0400 |

This is my PC with only a few differences. Works perfectly for photoshop/adobe/FL studios (which I use daily) and games like a champ.

CPU: Works absolutely great for multimedia tasks, allowing me to swiftly do most tasks I throw at it. Games great maxing out my monitor (only 60hz, though.)

CPU Cooler: Hyper 212 EVO is a great cooler which I started with, I have no upgrades to a Noctua.

Motherboard: Perfect piece of kit, allows for high speed RAM.

RAM: 16GB of DDR4 3200hz RAM allows for fast use for rendering games. Especially open world games.

Storage: 250GB of quality SSD storage, samsung are the best make for SSDs imo and I use this drive. Yes it's a bit more expensive, but you're paying for quality. I also have the WD blue which is perfect.

GPU: I bought the 1070 when it was around $300, if you're buying in a month 1070's could be going for around $300. And would highly suggest that card over the 1060 6GB as it is still inflated.

Case: Just the one I use, it's great.

PSU: 550W will be fine for a PC of this kind.

Monitor: 60hz IPS display. I suggest looking for deals on monitors. $200 monitors go on sale all the time, often 50% off.

Keyboard/Mouse: Quality cheap piece of equipment.

Here's a $1000 build:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Type|Item|Price

----|:----|:----
CPU | AMD - Ryzen 5 1600 3.2GHz 6-Core Processor | $197.88 @ OutletPC
CPU Cooler | Cooler Master - Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler | $19.99 @ Newegg
Motherboard | MSI - B350 TOMAHAWK ATX AM4 Motherboard | $93.98 @ Newegg
Memory | Corsair - Vengeance LPX 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-3200 Memory | $94.99 @ Newegg
Storage | Western Digital - Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive | $46.88 @ OutletPC
Video Card | EVGA - GeForce GTX 1060 6GB 6GB SSC GAMING Video Card | $279.99 @ SuperBiiz
Case | NZXT - S340 (White) ATX Mid Tower Case | $64.99 @ Newegg
Power Supply | SeaSonic - S12G 550W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply | $56.89 @ Newegg
Monitor | HP - 22cwa 21.5" 1920x1080 60Hz Monitor | $89.99 @ Amazon
Keyboard | Cooler Master - Devastator II Wired Gaming Keyboard w/Optical Mouse | $25.49 @ OutletPC
| Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts |
| Total (before mail-in rebates) | $1016.07
| Mail-in rebates | -$45.00
| Total | $971.07
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-08-05 12:15 EDT-0400 |

CPU: Is now the R1600, 6 cores will still be great at Photoshop, and same with gaming. Just the R1700X is a lot better for multitasking.

Storage: Dropped the SSD.

With a better monitor?

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Type|Item|Price

----|:----|:----
CPU | AMD - Ryzen 5 1600 3.2GHz 6-Core Processor | $197.88 @ OutletPC
CPU Cooler | Cooler Master - Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler | $19.99 @ Newegg
Motherboard | MSI - B350 TOMAHAWK ATX AM4 Motherboard | $93.98 @ Newegg
Memory | Corsair - Vengeance LPX 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-3200 Memory | $94.99 @ Newegg
Storage | Western Digital - Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive | $46.88 @ OutletPC
Video Card | EVGA - GeForce GTX 1060 6GB 6GB SSC GAMING Video Card | $279.99 @ SuperBiiz
Case | NZXT - S340 (White) ATX Mid Tower Case | $64.99 @ Newegg
Power Supply | SeaSonic - S12G 550W 80+ Gold Certified ATX Power Supply | $56.89 @ Newegg
Monitor | Acer - H257HU SMIDPX 25.0" 2560x1440 60Hz Monitor | $336.99 @ Amazon
Keyboard | Cooler Master - Devastator II Wired Gaming Keyboard w/Optical Mouse | $25.49 @ OutletPC
| Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts |
| Total (before mail-in rebates) | $1263.07
| Mail-in rebates | -$45.00
| Total | $1218.07
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-08-05 12:17 EDT-0400 |

Monitor: 1440p 60hz will make games look great. With deals, you should be able to find 120hz monitor for this price/cheaper.

REMEMBER TO LOOK FOR DEALS! This is how to get a great PC for your budget.

Got any ideas for budget? Also, what software will you be using and what bitrate, resolution and general quality settings are you planning on encoding at? Is it also a necessity for 32GB of RAM? You would probably be able to save a good chunk of money to put towards other parts if you went with 16 or perhaps 24.

---

I'm not sure on the display outputs of the GTX 480, however running 3 monitors off of that and one off your onboard graphics chip you should be good to go (aslong as the connections aren't VGA, as corpnewt mentioned; it's quite hit-and-miss). For onboard graphics I'd recommend a motherboard with a HD530 chip, they're pretty well supported and off the top of my head require 2 bootflags to get working.

---

In terms of motherboards it's not particularly my forte, so I may be wrong on some of these things. I think it's generally accepted that Gigabyte motherboards are the best for hackintoshing and are all round great boards, so I'd definitely recommend one. As I said you'd probably want a board with a HD530 chip, or another chip with similar support. Assuming you want 32 gig of RAM you're gonna need support for that, and if you go for 16 for now you still might want to go for a board that supports 32 incase you decide to upgrade in the future or if 16 is not enough. I'd also recommend the 115x chipset as imo is going to give you the most choices on CPU with the best compatibility. After some talks with /u/CorpNewt he suggested this Gigabyte board. It's got enough PCI-E slots, supported onboard graphics (HD530), support for 64gb of RAM, ThunderBolt and good hackintosh support which should check all the boxes.

---

CPU? 6700k; 4 cores, 8 threads, 4.0Ghz clock speed, it's overclockability gives you some headroom if you ever need a bump in performance, the most powerful CPU you can get on Skylake currently (yes the enthusiast CPU's are round the corner but they are silly money and this should be plenty of power), great longevity, and most of all have good OSX support.

---

The CPU can be found here. You're gonna want a cooler such as a Hyper 212 Evo or a Corsair H55 AIO (I can vouch for this cooler, have one myself and it's great). If you plan on overclocking or want to just in case, you should probably look at something a bit beefier like a Corsair H100i AIO.

The mobo can be found here.

---

Feel free to fire away with any questions you have.

I reaally didn't expect this to blow up while I was asleep. I appreciate everyone with the same sentiments. Alright. I've read your comments. I'm going to address all the common stuff.

If anyone cares about my pc specs and the game settings I used I'll list them at the bottom of this comment <3

​

1. "WTF just get better wifi?? You don't have fiber dude? what are you ? Poor?"
   
   I actually lol'd at these. I have the best wifi where I live at 70mbps download. It's pretty damn expensive, but I use my computer a lot. Homework, games, youtube, etc., so ultimately it's super worth it. I have spectrum and I live on the west coast. This means that the game is constantly at 80 ping. No, I don't use an ethernet cord. Mainly because I haven't found the time to route it through my house, and honestly I'm not really focused on that right now. My wifi works perfectly fine with everything else. But I mean yeah I guess you guys are right, I should just move to a different state./s
   
   ​
   
   
2. "Uhh, your pc has nothing to do with your wifi smh idiot lol"
   
   That's the joke homie.
   
   What I'm referring to is the fact that after working $8/hr at a fast-food restaurant as a high school student and building a $1000+ computer solely for this game, shit like this still happens. Why does it happen? Because of bluehole's shitty servers and net-code. Something that is completely out of my control.
   
   ​
   
   
3. "people still play this game?? ? Go play something else"
   
   I enjoy this game. It's brought many good memories, and it keeps on bringin' 'em. I'm aware of all the downfalls it has. Trust me I'm more than 120% aware. Just because it's not your style, or it's hard, or the randomness gets to you, it doesn't mean it can't be fun for other people. I've got tired of this fucking game too. Many times lol. It's still enjoyable to me however, so I'll still play it.
   
   My specs & game settings:
   
   I used this gaming laptop up until roughly 800 hours.
   
   CPU: Intel i7-8700 - Link (out of stock as of October/6/19)
   
   RAM: Corsair Vengeance 16GB (2x8) DDR4 3000 - Link
   
   GPU: MSI Geforce 1660ti - Link
   
   Motherboard: MSI Z-370 Pro - Link
   
   Monitor: MSI Optix MAG 24" 144hz 1ms - Link
   
   Power Supply: EVGA Supernova 650w 80+ Gold - Link
   
   Storage: ADATA 2TB SSD Link
   
   Fan and cooler are pretty easy to find.
   
   - Graphic settings

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.

Hello,

I am just beginning to get into robotics but I am a bit confused as where to start. I am 25 years old and I have a degree in Marketing and Data Analytics. I have no background in computer science; however, I have begun to self teach Python and I am finding it very interesting. The language seems to be coming to me a bit natural as well. After weeks of researching, I have come to find out that to build robots, it might be easier for a beginner to learn Arduino first and then get into Raspberry Pi (please correct me if I am mistaken). I have a few questions:

1. Would it be beneficial to start out with a robotics kit? If so, which one would be most helpful? I have noticed that quite a lot of the kits are catered towards younger kids.
   
   
2. Would it be beneficial to get an Arduino Starter kit instead to learn all the basics beforehand? Would anyone recommend me buying “Arduino Starter Kit” by Arduino (link below). Though there are numerous Arduino kits listed on Amazon, I am not entirely sure if this is the right one or rather more useful one to purchase.
   
   Link: https://www.amazon.com/Arduino-Starter-Kit-English-Official/dp/B009UKZV0A/ref=sxin_2_ac_d_pm?keywords=arduino+kit&pd_rd_i=B009UKZV0A&pd_rd_r=9e598ad7-4080-4b23-b252-6efd4676fefe&pd_rd_w=ipetL&pd_rd_wg=durVx&pf_rd_p=64aaff2e-3b89-4fee-a107-2469ecbc5733&pf_rd_r=BTX5Q96NT2QPSCJ4FQBW&qid=1562463627&s=gateway
   
   
   
3. Rather than buying any kits, would it be beneficial to buy “Robot Building For Beginners” book by David Cook? I read a few pages and the book did seem quite comprehensive regarding the basics of a robot building.
   
   Link: https://www.amazon.com/Robot-Building-Beginners-Technology-Action/dp/1430227486/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=robotics+book&qid=1562463842&s=gateway&sr=8-3
   
   My goal is to learn robotics from inside and out. I do not wish to simply follow a given template or copy/paste a given code. I would like to learn how the code operates internally and how everything is processed. I also do not wish to spend hundreds of dollars since I would like to start on smaller scale and comprehend all the basics first and then start doing larger projects.
   
   If anyone could please guide me where to essentially start with robotics, I would greatly appreciate it!! 

Have an upvote, some people don't know and that's fine. So I'll explain.

Gigabyte 980 Ti = GPU(grapics card), it handles the graphics of the game, OP was asking how much vram or memory his graphics card needs.


i7 6700k # 4.0ghz CPU(Central Processing Unit) It does what it sounds like, processes all computations for your computer other than gpu. The 4.6ghz means he overclocked it making it go faster.


With that being said, the CPU he used is the latest generation CPU, not necessarily the most expensive or fastest, but pretty close. His GPU is a tier below the best you can get in terms of gaming GPU's for now(close to every year something better and faster gets released). So in short, he's got close to the best you can get for gaming and in all probably cost close to or over $2000. It's what we call and Enthusiast build, it's better then probably 80%(I'm guessing) of what other PC gamers are using.


He mentions he is getting an average of 30FPS which means 30 frames per second. This is what most gamers consider the bare minimum of frames to play games enjoyably without stutter or the picture freezing. Ideally gamers prefer 60FPS or higher, but as this game(with his mod and ULTRA settings) demands quite a bit out of the hardware(GPU, CPU ect) it is unable to achieve that and plays at a playable 30Fps.

TL;DR: He's got close to the best hardware you can get.

>Just looking for suggestions on what type of CPU and GPU I should be looking towards and I can figure out the rest.

In terms of the CPU, you have a couple options.
If you want the best gaming performance, you'll want the i7 7700k and a Z270 motherboard and a cooler. This specific combo comes to about $620~ +tax & shipping.

On the other hand, if you'd like to save some money, you can choose the Ryzen 1600 (or Ryzen 1700) and pair it with a B350 motherboard. The combo is a mere $380~ +tax (or $450 with the 1700). Also, pair a couple sticks of high speed RAM with Ryzen (3000 - 3200MHz) and you'll see significant performance gains in your games.

AMD's Ryzen is definitely the best value on the market right now, with that being said the 7700k is the undisputed winner when it comes to gaming performance. When it comes to a graphics card, you'll want to pick up a 1080ti (wait until you can get one of these for $900 or less, check r/bapcsalescanada several times daily and you can snag a good deal) if you want to game in 4k. However, if you'll just be playing games @ 1080p in your VR headset you can probably safely pick up the cheaper 1080 or 1070 cards.

For your 4K monitor there are a lot of options and it really depends what is on sale when you buy. The LG 27UD58-B is well regarded and a great value currently.

Sorry in advance if this is a bit of a spammy post, it's been growing in each topic I put it in as I assemble more and more info for people.

I've posted about this in a couple different threads so I'll just copypasta some of it here.
The cost for my setup, not including the drives (of which I had quite a few laying around from other builds) and an unRAID Pro License, was about $800 all together.

(UPDATE 11/27/17 - Prices have fluctuated a bit higher since it seems that these setups are in somewhat high demand right now. That may or may not be due to me posting this info in several places for people, but hopefully my attempts to help people aren't pricing this setup out of their reach)

It can do pretty much everything except maybe Live TV PVR, but that's only because of a limitation in the Plex unRAID Docker itself. So if you plan on running Plex in the Docker that's gonna be the case no matter what you end up running it on hardware wise.

I have about 40 friends around the globe who regularly access my server and the only real bottleneck I've encountered is my upload speed when too many streams are pushing out at once.

__

You can make a good unRAID rig for FAR cheaper if you simply use older server components, for example:

SuperMicro X8DT3-LN4F Motherboard ($89.99) ($115.99 - as of 11/27/17)

2x Intel Xeon X5650 LGA1366 CPU's ($43.48 each) ($40.00 each - as of 11/27/17)

EVGA SuperNOVA 650 Watt 80 Plus Gold Modular ATX Power Supply ($79.99) ($93.57 - as of 11/27/17)

Some DDR3 ECC Server RAM, Usually pretty cheap ($24.00) ($30.00 - as of 11/27/17)

Then you just need any EATX capatible case, any two LGA1366 coolers, and any drives you want. All together your probably looking at no more than $600-700 for a system that will likely preform the same if not better than the setup you posted but will have 12-Cores (24 Hyper-threaded) @ 2.66Ghz


I should point out that I ALREADY have this style of setup working with unRAID, so this is not theory but a proven concept. I found as many of the original sources that I used as I could, but I made this a while ago so not all were current. Either way tho, the price for doing this kind of setup only tends to go DOWN over time, so it will only get easier to put together. Heck I've seen some sales of the X8DT3-LN4F Motherboard that come with RAM & CPU's already, so you might be able to pick up a complete setup for about the same cost as getting it piece by piece.

__

The only thing I would really add to the above is that the SAS module on the above motherboard actually has issues with operating Drives larger than 2TB, so If you want to add more than the 6 SATA 3TB+ drives that the Mobo nativly supports, your gonna need a PCIe SATA expansion card, such as This One that I ended up using.

I also have had some boot issues with the SAS function enabled in general, so if you do end up going with the above board I would just leave it disabled.

Also I would highly recommend watching most of Space Invader One's unRAID tutorial videos. Especially the ones about Docker CPU pinning and optimization plugins.

__

On my current setup I am running:

Dockers --
Plex, PlexPy (Plex Statistics and Notifications, I'm using it to run a Discord Bot that announces when new things are added on the server to friends), Omni (Plex Request System), Radarr, Sonarr, Jackett (Lets Radarr & Sonarr search private & public torrent trackers automatically), Deluge (Bittorrent Client), OpenVPN (For secure remote access over VPN) & Krusader (File Manager, Booted on Demand)

VMs --
Windows 8.1 VM (As a VNC GUI remote interface and to run ExtractNow to automatically deal with rared or zipped media torrents) & Windows 10 VM (Passing through a GTX970 and being used as a Steam In-Home streaming Client. Hooked directly up to a 4K TV so I can stream games from my main High End Gaming Rig to my TV. Booted on Demand)

Plugins --
A Bunch from the Community Applications Suite (Auto Turbo Write Mode, Auto Update Applications, Backup/Restore Appdata, Cleanup Appdata, Config Editor), Several Dynamix Plugins (Cache Directories, File Integrity, SSD TRIM, System Information, System Statistics), Fix Common Problems, Nerd Tools, Tips and Tweaks, Unassigned Devices, unBALANCE, User Scripts

Drives --
Nine 3TB HDDs (1 For Parity & 8 For Storage), One 120GB SSD (Cache)

__

Looks like you can get a refurbished X8DT3-F for about $120. The only real difference between the X8DT3-F and X8DT3-LN4F is if they have 2 or 4 Gigabit Ethernet Ports.

I actually have all 4 of mine connected to a high speed switch then into my router as a load balanced bond (effectively getting 4xGigabit speeds, at least within my LAN, which IS useful when streaming 4K games from my gaming PC to the server's client VM) but for most setups both boards are effectively equivalent.

A lot of mid-sized towers (and specially designed compact ATX towers) support both, so I guess a large portion of it is user preference. Take for example the following compact designed case designed to fit full ATX boards:

Amazon Link

I can't really attest to the quality of this case, but just as an example, as long as you find a tower with supporting ATX board sizes, it'll work (also good to consider the size of your CPU cooler, that's why they can't get too small - in the example of this case, your current fan wouldn't get the clearance it needs, but you could go with an alternative like...

Amazon Link)

Although that might be more than you want to spend, so just check the CPU cooler clearance required in the case you get, and it should be fine!

As for the CPU, if hyperthreading isn't a big deal to you, it's totally fine - that's one of the core differences between this one and say... the i7-6700k. If you want a higher clock speed out of the box too without having to OC, that's one thing to consider. But if those aren't that important to you, I'd say your choice is a sound one (many, many people will argue for the merit of hyperthreading these days though - and I can't say they're incorrect in their reasoning). However, if you're comparing dollar-to-dollar value, invest that extra savings into your GPU.

And finally, onto your GPU, pretty solid choice. Especially if you're not considering options like the 1070 or 1080. I lean more towards GTX cards, but that's entirely my biased choice, and so I won't influence you that way. There's a number of arguments that go both ways, so I'd say for sanity sake (you could literally dig for hours on the comparisons), that you'd be safe going either route (and if DX12 is the big factor for you, AMD seems to be doing better in some games, not as good in others, and around the same in even other games, so there seems to be a LOT of variability in regards to this factor - AMD seems to be excelling better on more recent games, but it's hard to say if that will remain the trend or if it will shift).

Again, hope this was helpful :)

> I felt more comfortable going the Intel route and would like to continue that way to have a similar architecture everywhere even if I am open to listening. I am not anti-AMD or whatever.

That's a fine decision, but if you want to save a bit more money, it's probably cheaper to go AMD and get equal/better performance. Most software development tools are multithreaded and will benefit from more cores and threads. AMD CPUs are very similar to Intel CPUs, and the only difference is slightly slower single core clocks and much much slower AVX512. If you know you need AVX512, stay with Intel.

For example:

• Ryzen 7 2700 is a 8 core/16 thread CPU with 3.2 GHz base and 4.1 GHz boost for $297
  
  
• Ryzen 5 2600 is a 6 core/12 thread CPU with 3.4 GHz base and 3.9 GHz boost for $213
  
  These will offer better performance in any program that takes advantage of all 6 cores/12 threads compared to the 9600k, and is much cheaper. Intel really shines with Gaming builds that want high single core clocks, but from what I see, you're not doing any gaming. Definitely worth taking a look at if you want to save some money.
  
  What are your specific reasons for being more comfortable going with Intel?

The approach I'm taking on my Pi 3-based "field computer" project is to use a buck converter to supply constant 5V to a 20000mah battery pack, in turn being fed by a cheapo 12V 30A switching PSU. That battery pack can pump out more than enough current for my purposes, but for higher amperage loads you could simply inject USB power directly from the buck converter rails.

Total cost of approximately $30 is competitive with a quality 5V 10A AC adapter. The benefit with this setup over an adapter is that by skipping the PSU stage and feeding straight off the buck converter, I can run off of essentially any common DC source, including car and motorcycle batteries. Of course, if the input voltage isn't 12V, you'll have to dial it in with the buck converter, but that's a small price for the ability to tap into all those 18V power tool batteries and even 36V golf carts & wheelchairs.

Note that there are a BUNCH of those "DROK" brand converters on Amazon. Some are boost only, some buck only, others have both stages on the same board for greatly increased flexibility at the cost of some conversion efficiency. Watch the voltage and amperage specs, assume that any stated thresholds are optimistic, and plan to do thermal testing and add additional cooling if needed for your application. If you can find them, and they are getting hard to find, the MingHe D3806 is pretty much the best, and is actually the one I'm using.

Note also to take care with wire resistance! Most especially, be mindful not to end up with a design that's got all 6 amps flowing over some generic USB cable with 28 gauge 5v strands.

>like the way higher initial costs for a somewhat useable gaming

What do you consider usable? Because it doesn't actually take much to hit 30fps at 1080p which is what most console games run at. It is expensive to run the latest games at the highest possible settings at high resolutions but if your target is just a "console like experience" it is not true that a PC is more expensive they are very comparable in fact.

Here let me build you a PC

Graphics Card (280 after rebate)

Ram (50)

Motherboard (60 after rebate)

CPU (160)

HDD (48)

Mouse + Keyboard (15 after rebate and discount code)

Case (30 after rebate and discount code)

PSU (20)

Total Price - $623 compare that to the price of an XBOX ONE X (399 489 on sale). For $224 134 more you get a gaming pc that can play any game released in 2018 on ultra high and get 60+fps at 1080p which is more than a console can claim, and that is not even including the fact that you now have a good PC and PCs do a fuckload more than just play videogames.


Now take out $200 (buy an older GPU/CPU) and you can build a PC that matches the capabilities of a console. Playing games on medium/high (which is what consoles run) at 1080p and 30fps.

Also that PC has room for improvement throughout the years of ownership. It can use an SSD and another 8 gig stick of ram and more HDD storage. Possibly even aftermarket fans to put on the CPU to overclock it.

The ONLY advantage that consoles have over PC is exclusive titles that never get released outside of that particular console. And even that eventually becomes false because it is only a matter of time until every console can be emulated on PC.

Edit: Also you can add $60 to the price of the Xbox because if you want to play multiplayer you need xbox live. So really its $160 more. This also doesn't include the fact that no storefront can even come close to matching the sales during steam summer sales. Let's be super conservative and say you save $30 a year on steam sales for games that you wanted to buy, so that puts us down to $130 more than an Xbox One X while having higher graphical capabilities and also having the benefit of being a PC and not just a console that plays games/streams netflix.

You should switch the 1070Ti for a Vega 64 that is going for $400 now. Then buy a monitor with the same specs as yours except add FreeSync. With the money you save, you can buy a 1TB ADATA XPG 8200, That is 3x the speed of an 860evo.

https://www.rakuten.com/shop/adata/product/ASX8200NP-960GT-C/ - $157.00 w/code CYBER20.

This is a way better SSD. Secondly, I'd get this monitor: https://m.newegg.com/products/0JC-0081-00016?ignorebbr=true&nm_mc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-Mobile&cm_mmc=KNC-GoogleAdwords-Mobile-_-pla-_-Gaming+Monitors-_-0JC-0081-00016&gclsrc=aw.ds&gclid=CjwKCAiA0O7fBRASEiwAYI9QArke4IV60srQdwSQext8pHe-xCFr1FEmt9RtQKenrCscC52QtJxlIhoCS-sQAvD_BwE
You'll save ~230$ or so with FreeSync. You'll save another $70 with this Vega 64: https://m.newegg.com/products/N82E16814202326
You also get 3 FREE games worth $150.
With all this money saved, drop the wifi adapter for another $60 saved. Then pick up a Ryzen 2700x. https://www.amazon.com/AMD-Ryzen-Processor-Wraith-Cooler/dp/B07B428M7F/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1543247961&sr=8-1-spons&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=ryzen+2700x&psc=1
This deal is only 65$ more. Then pick up a X470 motherboard: https://www.amazon.com/TUF-X470-Plus-Gaming-Ryzen-Motherboard/dp/B07C5YR3KS/ref=mp_s_a_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1543248089&sr=8-5&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=x470+motherboard+wifi&dpPl=1&dpID=51F37Nfqa0L&ref=plSrch
This is a great motherboard with WiFi. You can find a different one either wifi, and probably get a better deal. This will run you 130$, so around $60 more. Your PSU is meh. This one is the same price and is AMAZING. https://www.amazon.com/EVGA-Supernova-Modular-Warranty-220-G3-0650-Y1/dp/B01LYGFRL6/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1543248296&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=evga+supernova+650
Great deal for $5 less. You save around $250 for a much better build overall.

I have the same 13” mid 2012 MBP and am running 16gb of RAM w/ a 1TB SSD. I also have the same version of Ableton as you. The official specs from Apple list 8gb RAM as the max but it can for sure support 16gb. Based on the specs you provided I’d guess you have the i5 version which comes stock with 4gb of RAM and the 500gb HDD. Your model will support 16gb and you’ll see a significant boost in performance, with Ableton and the computer in general, if you add 16gb and an SSD. If you leave the standard 500gb HDD, I'd assume you'd only see a moderate boost in performance since that's really the big driver of slow performance. I can't speak to the performance of Omnisphere as I don't have a working copy but I do know it made a significant boost for pretty much everything in Ableton and otherwise.

​

My recommendation would be to add 16gb of RAM plus an SSD. They are both relatively straight forward processes as well (links below), just need the right tools and to take your time. Watch YouTube tutorials. Attaching links to the items I have in mine. I'd recommend getting the Crucial RAM and Samsung SSD (which is what I have and has a higher performance rating), but the Crucial SSD will be adequate as well.

​

Let me know if you have other questions on it.

​

INSTRUCTIONS

HDD Swap - https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/MacBook+Pro+13-Inch+Unibody+Mid+2012+Hard+Drive+Replacement/10378

RAM Swap - https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/MacBook+Pro+13-Inch+Unibody+Mid+2012+RAM+Replacement/10374

​

PRODUCTS

Crucial SSD - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0784SLQM6/

Samsung SSD - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0781Z7Y3S/

RAM - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008LTBJFW/

Tool Kit - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01IVKPTP6/

For programming, what kind of programming is he into? Here are some cool programming books and things:

• Automate the Boring Stuff with Python This book has a lot of beginner projects that are actually useful.
  
  
• Arduino A little microprocessor that he can use to make cool projects. I'm a software engineer and I had fun playing aroung with this. Plus, you can use it for actual useful things (I'm planning on making an automatic plant waterer, but you can look online for all the awesome stuff people have made).
  
  
• Raspberry Pi Similar to the arduino but it's a full computer. For more software-heavy projects than the arduino. I'd probably recommend starting with the arduino.
  
  
• Great book about how code and computers actually work that's geared towards the "intelligent layperson" link.
  
  
• If he's already programming and wants to create games I can recommend this one.. Not good for beginners though.
  
  
• If you want to give him a well written tome about game programming here it is. Again, not really for beginners but really good for someone wanting to learn about game programming

Total: $1,401

$380 Monitor 27GL83A-B https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07YGZL8XF

$490 GPU EVGA 2070 Super 8 GB https://www.microcenter.com/product/609535/evga-geforce-rtx-2070-super-black-gaming-overclocked-dual-fan-8gb-gddr6-pcie-30-video-card

$199 CPU 3600x https://www.microcenter.com/product/608319/amd-ryzen-5-3600x-38ghz-6-core-am4-boxed-processor-with-wraith-spire-cooler

$115 Mobo MSI B450 MAX Tomohawk ATX https://www.amazon.com/MSI-Arsenal-Crossfire-Motherboard-Tomahawk/dp/B07WF6ZQST

$70 RAM Crucial Ballistix Sport LT 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory https://www.amazon.com/Ballistix-Single-PC4-24000-288-Pin-Memory/dp/B07M9HZFP2/

$72 Case NZXT H510 https://www.microcenter.com/product/606972/nzxt-h510-tempered-glass-atx-mid-tower-computer-case---black-white

$75 PSU EVGA GQ https://www.amazon.com/dp/B017HA3SQ8

EDIT: I have the following 1TB SSD but it's unopened and within the return window if there's advice on another SSD or NVMe: https://www.microcenter.com/product/502942/samsung-860-evo-1tb-ssd-3-bit-mlc-v-nand-sata-iii-6gb-s-25-internal-solid-state-drive

Notes:

GPU - I was also considering the 5700XT which gets pretty cheap at Micro Center. I feel like the 2070 Super is worth the upgrade, but I'd like some input here.

Mobo - I was also looking at the Asrock B450 which is $65 cheaper at Micro Center when combined with the CPU. I was reading that you need a 2nd Gen Ryzen to flash the BIOS though? Also that it's not as good for overclocking.

Windows - Is this guide for free windows legit? https://www.windowscentral.com/you-do-not-need-activate-windows-10

Cooling - Are there any cooling concerns with this build? Aftermarket coolers I should buy or fans I should add to the case?

General advice - I've built a PC in the past but just kind of plugging everything in and hoping it worked. Any guides that you could give me would be appreciated. Voltages to check, how to overclock the CPU, overclocking the RAM, any fine tuning for the GPU, testing to make sure the IPS monitor doesn't have backlight bleeding, I've never used a modular power supply before, etc.

> I am not sure about the motherboard, b150m seems to be fine though, cheap, I don't need overclocking, are there similar but better ones?

B150M is perfect for something like this. I prefer the one in my build below for its M.2 slot without being more expensive.

> Is the PSU Overkill?

600W is more than needed, but a bigger problem is that 76€ is way too expensive for that psu. It is solid, not great, and for that price you already get great psus.

> Is there any Case out there, without optical drives or cages and low cost?

You can look at the Kolink Satellite, if your gpu fits in there. Otherwise I'd suggest simply getting a cheaper normal case.

pc-kombo shared list

Type|Item|Price

----|:----|:----
CPU | Intel Core i3-6100 | EUR 109,00 @ Mindfactory
Motherboard | GIGABYTE B150M-DS3H | EUR 77,57 @ Amazon.de
Memory | Crucial CT8G4DFD8213 (8 GB) | EUR 26,36 @ Amazon.de
Case | Cooler Master N300 | EUR 45,80 @ Amazon.de
Power Supply | Seasonic G550 (550 W) | EUR 87,00 @ Amazon.de
| Total | €353.72
| Generated by pc-kombo 21.06.2016 |

Note that the 550W psu is only for the GTX 580. The GTX 970 uses less energy and would also work perfectly fine with a 450W psu, like this superflow which is 20€ cheaper. If the GTX 580 will run in there only for a short time period, then the 450W psu will handle that as well without a problem and you can get it instead.

Not stock, no. Am using:

• Noctua NH-D14
  https://www.amazon.com/Noctua-NH-D14-Heatpipe-Radiator-Bearing/dp/B002VKVZ1A
  
• Phobya HeGrease
  https://www.amazon.com/Phobya-31094-HeGrease-Extreme-1-0g/dp/B008EDXAH0/
  
  My case is a Corsaier Carbide 500R, which is nice and roomy for what I have in there, has great cable management so it's pretty clean looking inside. Also has 6x 120mm fans running in silent mode (thanks random black friday sales!) and a big side-mounted one that's 200mm.
  
  It's probably total overkill, but between that and good dust management, and every couple years do a disassemble + reassemble for maintenance, it's performed really well for the 6 or 7 years I've had it.
  
  Arctic Silver 5 is still pretty good, and my CPU fan is totally overkill. Only reason I have it is that it wouldn't fit in a friend's micro ATX case, and so I swapped out my (sadly, discontinued) EVGA M02 fan - which was fairly similar to a Hyper 212 Evo.
  
   
  
  I was able to get my 3570k "stable" at 4.6 ghz, but the additional voltage required in order to not crash was just stupid and instead of running at around 70C during Prime95, it was running at 96C. Still, 4.52 ghz on a 3570k on air cooling is pretty respectable.
  
  Good luck!

So, presumably, you're going to want different sections to have lights which operate independently from each other. Lights in this "room" lights in another "room" lights somewhere else yet. And also, presumably, you don't want it to be "all on" or "all off," but different sections that turn on when players are there, leaving the other sections off.

All sections will require power in order to operate, but it won't be necessary to run power cables willy nilly all over the board for this. Instead, you can run two lines - one positive, and one negative - back to your power source. It's similar to a breadboard in that you have power lines running the full length so you can tap power wherever you need it. I personally would run something like 14AWG wire to a series of screw down terminals, which will be where you connect any "room" circuits up.

I personally would change your design to use LEDs instead of incandescent bulbs. The incandescent bulbs will require a much higher voltage, which will require more expensive reed switches, and will also pose more hazard to work with and for the players. It definitely can be done safely at 120V, but it will be less work for better results (that will also last longer) if you switch. Using say, 12V DC for power, you can leave your power rails exposed if you want and it won't be a risk even if someone is touching them.

Here is a hastily drawn wiring schematic for you, which shows one light that would be activated by standing upon 6 different tiles. The black and red lines up top are your power rails. On one end, each of those is connected to a + (red) and - (black) on a power source. I would recommend something like this or even like this depending upon what your actual power requirements end up being. My overwhelming suspicion is your entire board, even if every fixture was lighted, would still be consuming less than 24W (if you go LED!). The cluster of 6 of the same item to the left are a bank of switches. Power is drawn off the + rail, and if any one switch is closed, power will continue to flow to the LED (purple), which is attached to the - rail to close the circuit. This can be scaled up or down almost infinitely - more LEDs on from one switch or switch bank - no problem - more or less switches - no problem. You can make as many of these set ups as you want, and attach them to the same rails - no problem!

To be honest, reading your post it sounds like still have some work to go to reach even a fundamental understanding of electrical circuitry. That's of course ok and not intended as a diss. This is partially why I recommend switching to a lower voltage of DC power (although it is what I would do personally as well), but also I would recommend you continue working on the fundamentals - it will make designing your project a lot easier. Here's a kinda whack video for kids but it's the most digestible one I was able to find in quickly searching. I also found this really cool lab software which will allow you to create simulations of the concepts you've learned about. If you need help or have specific questions, feel free to ask. Also, if you've got a design of your board laid out in a grid and you know where you want lights, switches, etc, I can help you turn that into a wiring diagram.

> Currently this has only 4GB RAM, was thinking about upgrading this as well but thought the SSD may give it more of a kick.

First off, I think you should do both SSD and RAM upgrade. It is true that the SSD will be the bigger speed bump of the two, but if the machine has too few RAM, it will start caching to the SSD in its quest for more memory, and this will slow down the Mac mini. More physical RAM removes this bottleneck. You can easily do both RAM and SSD upgrades for well below $200.

As for the RAM:

The Mac mini 2012 supports up to 16 GB RAM (2 x 8 GB RAM modules). It has two RAM slots, meaning two RAM modules in total will fit in.

The Mac mini 2012 needs RAM that matches the following specification:

PC3-12800 1600Mhz DDR3, 204-pin

Here are some examples of RAM modules which should work:

• https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-memory-upgrade-1600MHz-Macbook/dp/B00BP6S33E/
  
• https://www.amazon.com/CORSAIR-Vengeance-204-Pin-SO-DIMM-CMSX16GX3M2A1600C10/dp/B0076W9Q5A/
  
• https://www.amazon.com/Crucial-PC3-12800-SODIMM-204-Pin-Memory/dp/B008LTBJFW/
  
  8 GB is still workable, but I definitely recommend a 16 GB RAM upgrade, at least if you intend to use the machine for the next few years. 16 GB RAM will circumvent memory bottlenecks.
  
  As for the SSD:
  
  The Mac mini supports every SSD that meets the following criteria:
  
  
• 2.5" form factor
  
• SATA3-compatible
  
  Here are some examples of SSDs that should work:
  
  
• https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-500GB-Internal-MZ-76E500B-AM/dp/B0781Z7Y3S
  
• https://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-500GB-Ultra-NAND-SATA/dp/B072R78B6Q
  
• https://www.amazon.com/Blue-NAND-500GB-SSD-WDS500G2B0A/dp/B073SBZ8YH
  
  I encourage you to use the SSD as the internal drive. It's the most bullet-proof option, and circumvents problems commonly associated with booting from an external drive. All can go well, but the SSD as internal boot drive is your safest bet by far. I'd recommend that you use the HDD which is currently inside of your Mac mini as an external drive, actually.
  
  > Will I need to install macOS, and if so will I need the install disc or is it possible to make a boot disc from the current setup?
  
  You need to install macOS on the SSD if you want to make it your boot drive, no matter if externally or internally. This can be achieved either by creating a macOS 10.14 USB installer:
  
  
• https://www.macworld.com/article/3284378/how-to-create-a-bootable-macos-mojave-installer-drive.html
  
  (You can also buy such a macOS 10.14 USB installer from eBay.)
  
  The other method is to use Internet Recovery:
  
  
• https://wccftech.com/clean-install-macos-mojave-ota/

thats a pretty badass bday present!

i have a genuine question tho, and not necessarily aimed at OP. Why do i see so many builds using the ryzen APU with a graphics card as well? is there a benefit to it? i understand builds that start with it and add a gpu later, but if you're buying it all at once would it not be better to grab a 2600 instead? (or a 1600 if its the R3 apu)

questions aside. congrats! im sure he'll remember building it fondly for the rest of his life.

​

edit: fair points all around! so if its the 2200 it makes perfect sense for best performance at price point. however if its a 2400 then you might as well have gotten a 2600 especially with them being 149 at walmart and amazon right now = https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07B41WS48/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_yW0yCbK60C89B

The stuttering, not sure if it's fixed or not. Blacklight retribution stuttered like crazy, dx11 fixed stutter but broke the game(google search confirmed dx11 is broke for that game), jumped in planetside 2 later and seemed to not stutter and looked smoother, but could just be random luck and will be back next time I play :/ As far as Ryzen, was looking at it but kinda questioning it though. The leaked benchmarks look to be between the i7 6800k and i7 6900k, but for gaming looked to fall between the i5 6500 and the i5 6600(the difference was only a couple percent between both the i5's and the Ryzen). Also seems all the Ryzen versions are overclockable, as long as you have one of the boards they allow you to overclock on(which was like 3).The price is unknown at this point, so who knows if the Ryzen or an i5 would be better for the price, and for all we know the benchmarks might look good but then the Ryzen could just fall on it's face when thrown in with different systems once released.

> Alternatively you could pick up a new mobo and an Intel i3

I'm thinking of just doing this after what you said, getting a new motherboard and an i3, though not sure which version to get. Looked around and kinda settled on the i3 6100 for $117 on amazon, take it this would be okay? As far as motherboards, looks like im probably going to need to buy new ram which is another $50-60 as looks like the i3 only supports DDR4(though I found DDR3 mobo that supports the 1151 socket). Looking at this Gigabyte board and this DDR4 ram which are hopefully okay.

> As a side-note, additional RAM wont make your system faster unless you're constantly running out of RAM either by browsing the net with a ridiculous number of tabs open, or audio/video editing

Yeah kinda figured, just was thinking of upgrading the ram because in planetside 2 my ram usage goes up to 88%(that's without ultra textures, that says uses more ram. Got similar usage when on all low even). Guess im basically running out of ram though. Game itself is eating up almost 6gb of ram(as my system idles around 1.80-2.30gb, not sure why it jumps around so much from start up to start up though)

Also thank you for your help so far, think this is probably the most help i've gotten so far

• 750 Watt Power Supply. $89.98
  
  
• Generic Corsair Case. $64.99 You can shop around for something better looking for a little more money.
  
  
• DDR4 3200 RAM (2*4GB Sticks) for $147.99 and DDR4 3200 RAM (1*8GB Stick) for $160.32. You can also drop to 3000MHz and save like $5-10 but not worth it in my opinion.
  
  
• GTX 1060 3GB for $304.99 or GTX 1060 6GB for $389.99.
  
  
• i7 8700k for $449.99 or i7 7700k for $422.96. 8700k is 8th gen and 7700k is 7th gen. You can drop to any processor around an i7 7700 (No "k") without seeing issues I'd assume. WoW is a processor heavy game though. Still my i7 8700k only ever reaches maybe 30% useage that I see.
  
  
• Heat Sink + Fan. Cooler Master is good. $34.99
  
  
• i7 8700 will require a 300 Series Motherboard like ASUS ROG for $141.50 or ASUS Prime for $84.99. The 7700s will take a 200 series motherboard like this one for $129.61 or this one for 149.99. Basically just make sure it has all the hook-ups you need (sound and USBs and shit) with the proper chip set and supports DDR4 RAM with minimum 1 PCI Express slot for your GPU.
  
  
• Samsung 860 Evo 500GB SSD for $179.94 or the 250GB for $109.94. Any decent SSD will do. Make sure it has enough room for your OS and the game(s) you play. You can use any regular HD to store other stuff on. Samsung is a good brand for them.
  
  When trying to decide on what power your PC needs a good website to use is http://gpu.userbenchmark.com/ - it'll give you a general idea since I get confused with all the "i7/i5/i3 XXXX gen X" nonsense too.
  
  That'll build you a tower. Then you just need external components. Monitor, keyboard, mouse, headset, chair, desk, etc. Depending on what you have available and stuff it can vary so I'll let you price out that stuff.
  
  $1,358 pre-taxes if you go with i7 8700k, and GTX 1060 3 GB. For the tower. Taxes in, plus all the other components you're still looking at pushing close to $2000. That's CND I think. If you do a little shopping around you might get a decent deal on a few items and look into different price points between AMD and Intel if you choose their Board/Chip/GPU combos.

Appreciate it, I'll just keep replying here if that's cool. Don't mind either way about PM but I do find lurkers might appreciate some of the advice. I'm set on the 2600, and its now 185 on Amazon so that helps. I'm pretty set on the tomahawk Mobo too which I think is lowest if you have prime.

I would like to see pics of the case, I hate the one I have its so dull and bulky but not also huge fan of the "I'M A GAMER" cases, which seem overpriced regardless. One you have is nice.

I might upgrade to a 1070 in a year+, from what I can tell that still pairs nicely with a 2600 but wanted to check. and lastly I do have 16 Gb of Ram but would consider getting some that works best with the Mobo and amd, did you already have Ram or did you buy to compliment the board.

edit: also would love a quite setup, my computer makes a decent amount of noise and I use it as part of the entertainment system.

You're getting a lot of lego Mindstorms EV3 recommendations.

I have a little experience I could offer.

I did the NASA Community College Aerospace Scholars program and during my on-site experience we had a competition using the EV3. Basically designing Mars Rover and collecting 'rock' samples.

I was impressed by how much you could potentially do with the kit and the coding is very simple, I thought about purchasing one for myself, but after speaking to a NASA JPL intern here on reddit, they strongly advised getting an Arduino kit instead.

Basically their advice was that most people who are into robotics, have some programming skills and such will outgrow the Mindstorm kit pretty quickly and will want to move on to more complex projects.

Really depends on your own experience in programming, but Arduino is easy to learn.

[Amazon sells a Arduino kit https://www.amazon.com/Arduino-Starter-Kit-English-Official/dp/B009UKZV0A that comes with several projects you can easily do, and if you really want to get building [Texas Instruments has a long series you can follow. https://training.ti.com/ti-rslk-module-1-lecture-video-running-code-launchpad-using-ccs?cu=1135347 that uses Arduino like devices.

Mindstorms is fun, but really expensive.

Hope that helps!

lets start by downsizing everything on your list meaning it will be hot and loud, ok first we need a smaller power supply our primary contenders are compressed and squashed to be honest they barely have enough juice to run the system, moving on definitely need a smaller mobo, here is one of the best Mini ITX boards, now thats out of the way you can't really have air cooling in that small space best option would be the compact Corsair H60(i would also rig one for the gpu to save space and hassle and get lower temps but thats optional)could go for the H80i if it fits or take off a fans and replace it with one noctua, a few side notes you can probobly fit 1 3.5 HDD in there but i would recomend going SSD especialy in that case. you can keep the ram but the CPU is a bit overkill yeah its fast but you don't need that much in games (as long as it doesn't bottleneck) and its not that good even for rendering it doesn't even have Hyper-Threading you could save a few bucks and go with the locked version of it or the Intel Core i3-4160 if you really want to save some cash go with the Intel Pentium Processor G3258 and overclock it you will lose like 10 frames though and of course use the small form factor version of the video card you want, now this might not be needed but a 16X PCIe riser cable might come in handy if its too cramped. i know you said you want to make it bigger but you want the smallest parts possible because even one thing can stretch the project allot

EDIT:could possibly fit a larger but better PSU

This build looks good. I built myself a similar rig last year, and it performs well. I basically agree with everything /u/MrTesla said, mutatis mutandis.

• If you want to perform GPU computing just make sure this GPU is CUDA-enabled.
  
  
• I'd get a 1 TB solid state; they are only ~$250 if you went with Crucial instead of Samsung.
  
  
• I have that same CPU cooler. It looks awesome in pictures, when it's by itself, but in retrospect I wish I would have went with something much smaller and simpler. The problem is that it's a brick, and will stick out directly normal from your CPU, and takes up a ton of space. Let me take a picture of mine... here ya go. It makes cable management and everything else happening around your mobo more difficult. If you go with something like this Corsair Hydro, you get the same copper plate with liquid cooling, but move the fan element out of center of the tower, to a location where it should be. I'd highly consider this since you are only going with a mid, and not full tower.
  
  
• I like the modular PSU, but I'd almost want to beef that up a little, to like 800W.
  
  
• CPU looks good. For $50 more you get a decent benchmark bump for the 3.6 i7-6850K. Then again, you might have already said that, a few times.
  
  Overall though, pretty solid build. MATLAB is just an excuse to build this right? No shame in that. When it comes time to actually use MATLAB for analyses I would highly recommend converting whatever you can to MEX files. Like MrTesla mentioned, MATLAB is not the fastest tool available, and may not be the right tool if you're concerned about how long it will take to process your data. Optimizing the lang/software/code used to process your data will result in speed-ups orders of magnitude greater than simply running the same code on a more powerful machine. I experienced this first-hand; I was simulating particle diffusion on ruffled membranes in matlab using standard functions. To run one simulation (~20k steps for 1k particles) it would take about 10 minutes. I went out and build a new rig, and it went down to ~6 min. I converted some of my functions to MEX/C and it dropped to about 45 seconds.

Hey p_orsk,

So glad to hear that we have another HomeLabber in our midst. I just thought I would take a minute and share with you my current build that has suited me very well. It is completely silent and power efficient, while still powerful enough to do what you want plus more. My build was also built to be small profile so this build is built around a Micro-ITX case. This build cost me $500 in the US in 2017, don't quite know what the price would be now.

• CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 1600 Processor with Wraith Spire Cooler
  
• Motherboard: ASUS PRIME A320M-K AMD Ryzen AM4 DDR4 HDMI VGA M.2 USB 3.1 Micro-ATX Motherboard
  
• PSU: EVGA 430 W1, 80+ WHITE 430W
  
• RAM: HyperX FURY Black 16GB Kit (2x8GB) 2133MHz DDR4
  
  As I said, this build should be completely silent. I went into the BIOS settings and turned it on Power-Saver mode for good measure, which makes things run a bit warmer, but keeps fan speeds down.
  
  I didn't list storage here, as it sounds like you got that covered. This motherboard also supports M.2 if you want to add that later.
  
  If I can make one suggestion, I would highly recommend getting into Virtualization. My poison of choice is Proxmox. I could really get into this, but it really helps when you are trying to expand.
  
  If you have any other questions, feel free to comment on this post, or shoot me a DM. I would be happy to help!
  
  [EDIT] This is just my experience. You will get 110 different answers from 100 different people in this world. You kinda just have to tinker to get what works for you.

You and I have a lot in common OP as a 23 year old male software engineer who enjoys video games and fantasy type stuff. I just moved out of my parent's house this past March and like another commenter said, you will get hammered with expenses you might not have thought of. I had to go out and get all sorts of kitchen cookware and dishes and linens etc. So depending on your timetable I would HIGHLY recommend either asking for that stuff now or for gift cards to places you can get that stuff at. I'm asking this Christmas for kitchen stuff because i still haven't got around to getting everything I need.

Do you drink beer? What about pint glasses with Game of Thrones or World of Warcraft logos? Hell, check out other things on thinkgeek.com, there is a load of stuff on there that is pretty neat.

You mentioned you like DIY projects but are limited on this? Do you mean in terms of space and tools? What about things like Arduino or Raspberry Pi kits that don't take up tons of room or extra tools? You can develop some pretty cool DIY applications with those.

Does your girlfriend play video games? Recently my girlfriend has gotten into games more so I am always on the lookout for games we can play together, especially couch co-op type games. Or maybe check out some board games, there are some pretty cool RPG type games you can get into that you both can play together. Or maybe movies or TV shows you can watch together.

Do you sit at a desk at your job? You could always ask for little things to put on your desk or in your office/cubicle, whether it be small posters or a unique stress ball or something. Last year my girlfriend got my a little Hobbit lego set I have set up on my desk along with a football shaped stress ball. Maybe something like that depending on your work/job situation?

I am still trying to think of more stuff but hopefully this helps, let me know!

Should have kept Mojave on it. Mojave is OS just before Catalina got released a few days ago...but Nvm. As a rule of thumb, I don't install the latest & greatest OS immediately. I like to wait & watch. I like to give it 6 months before I install the OS on my laptop.

Yes, if you run El Capitan, your mbp will feel super fast with an SSD & more RAM (way faster than it will on Catalina). But don't run El Capitan on it...simple basic apps like Chrome or Firefox would stop supporting such an old OS pretty soon.

That's about it. You're good to go.

And if you're in the US here's an amazon link to buying more RAM. I'd go for 16gb of ram. Ideally you only really need 10gb or 12gb of ram max. But since you either get to pick from 8gb or 16gb. i'd go for 16gb if it fits your budget.

https://www.amazon.com/Crucial-PC3-12800-SODIMM-204-Pin-Memory/dp/B008LTBJFW/ref=sr_1_5?crid=1ZJ4WAV9I0SG0&keywords=16gb+ram+macbook+pro+mid+2012&qid=1570867864&sprefix=16gb+ram+mac%2Caps%2C374&sr=8-5



in the future when apple officially stops supporting this macbook. You can still "unofficially" support the macbook by downloading a patcher that dosdude1 creates at: http://dosdude1.com/software.html

I think he has step by step instructions on youtube at his channel.

Here it is with better formatting, for all the other peeps :)

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Type|Item|Price

----|:----|:----
CPU | Intel Pentium G4400 3.3GHz Dual-Core Processor | $57.33 @ OutletPC
Motherboard | MSI B150M Pro-VD Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard | $49.89 @ OutletPC
Memory | Crucial 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR4-2133 Memory | $26.90 @ Amazon
Storage | Sandisk SSD PLUS 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive | $54.00 @ Amazon
Storage | Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive | $47.78 @ NCIX US
Case | DIYPC P48-W ATX Mid Tower Case | $31.97 @ Newegg
Power Supply | Thermaltake TR2 500W ATX Power Supply | $42.79 @ Amazon
Operating System | Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit | $88.58 @ OutletPC
Wireless Network Adapter | TP-Link TL-WDN4800 PCI-Express x1 802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi Adapter | $34.98 @ Amazon
| Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts |
| Total (before mail-in rebates) | $454.22
| Mail-in rebates | -$20.00
| Total | $434.22
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-04-15 19:35 EDT-0400 |

Btw are you not going with G4560 because the newer gen mobo's are expensive? If budget is not that much an issue get the newer G4560 and the B250M mobo for like $20-30 more :)


PSU: Can someone confirm if this is a viable option for OP, if it is go for it instead.

SSD is a really nice touch kudos on that.

For case, I would recommend this instead and buy the PSU from amazon as well with code EARTH10 that way you will get an instant $10 off.

P.S. here is what I build for around the same price :)

Edit: Get CPU, ram, SSD and HDD from jet.com with TRIPLE15 or SPRING15 for discounts :)

CPU:https://www.amazon.com/AMD-Processor-Wraith-Stealth-Cooler/dp/B07B41WS48/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=ryzen+5&qid=1574377106&sr=8-1

GPU: https://www.newegg.com/xfx-radeon-rx-570-rx-570p427d6/p/N82E16814150795?Item=N82E16814150795&Tpk=14-150-795&cm_sp=2019-_-BlackFriday-_-Eflyer-_-14-150-795

RAM: https://www.newegg.com/team-16gb-288-pin-ddr4-sdram/p/N82E16820331360?Item=20-331-360&Tpk=20-331-360&cm_sp=2019-_-BlackFriday-_-Eflyer-_-20-331-360

SSD: https://www.newegg.com/hp-ex900-500gb/p/N82E16820326251?Item=20-326-251&Tpk=20-326-251&cm_sp=2019-_-BlackFriday-_-Eflyer-_-20-326-251

MOBO: https://www.newegg.com/p/N82E16813157868?Item=13-157-868&Tpk=13-157-868&cm_sp=2019-_-BlackFriday-_-Eflyer-_-13-157-868

PSU: https://www.newegg.com/corsair-cx-series-cx650-650w/p/N82E16817139200?Item=17-139-200&Tpk=17-139-200&cm_sp=2019-_-BlackFriday-_-Eflyer-_-17-139-200

CASE: https://www.amazon.com/Cooler-Master-MasterBox-Customize-Transparent/dp/B071GYMHKL/ref=sr_1_8?keywords=matx+case&qid=1574377312&sr=8-8

This builds totals up to approximately $475 before taxes and rebates. This will handle a moderate amount of AutoCAD, coding, virtualization, and rendering. The system runs on a six-core processor with SMT. The build also comes with an appropriate mid-tier GPU. It meets the 4GB VRAM requirement for the AutoCAD application as well as DX11 and DX12 support. Also, a 500GB HP NVMe SSD was also included for quick boot, load, save, and transfer times while only costing $45. The motherboard is also a great B450 motherboard, with space for possible overclocking or boosting. 16GB of RAM clocked at 3000MHz is also included for a better AutoCAD experience. The CX650W is a reputable power supply from Corsair. It is not modular, but its quality is above average for this price point. Finally, to seal everything off, the Masterbox Lite 3.1 was chosen for the case. This case has decent aesthetics and efficient airflow for a sub-$50 mATX case. Do note that this takes advantage of the Newegg Black Friday sales, so prices may change. If you need a new build list close to the date of purchase, one can be provided.

Laptop Option: https://www.newegg.com/black-msi-gl-series-gl65-9sc-004-gaming-entertainment/p/N82E16834155299?Item=34-155-299&Tpk=34-155-299&cm_sp=2019-_-BlackFriday-_-Eflyer-_-34-155-299

This is $100 over budget per unit, however, it gives the systems more portability. The MSI Laptop will not have the same degree of performance as the tower systems, but will still meet or exceed requirements for AutoCAD and other cyber and design related tasks.

This HP Prebuilt is the best I can come up with near $500/unit.

https://www.amazon.com/HP-Pavilion-Desktop-5-580-1TB/dp/B07JJ1ZFKH/ref=sr_1_6?keywords=hp+pavilion+desktop+rx&qid=1574378943&s=electronics&sr=1-6

This is similar to the DIY build, just 8GB instead of 16GB of RAM. (You can easily find an extra 8GB stick for like $30.)

Hope everything goes well.

1. Yes, but actually no. The ROG X470-F doesn't support USB BIos Flashback, which would allow you to update your BIOS to the current Ryzen 3000 series BIOS. You can also upgrade the BIOS through a retailer such as Frys or the Microcenter and they will update it at little cost. This list here will show you the motherboards compatible with USB Bios Flashback if that isn't an option. X570 boards are also an option but start at $169.99.
   
   https://www.reddit.com/r/Amd/comments/bvfo57/list_of_b350_b450_x370_and_x470_motherboards_with/
   
   
2. Yes. When benchmarked against a 100$ AIO 360mm cooler, it yields 4.125GHz vs 4.2Ghz. A totally overlooked part of AMDs value proposition.
   
   
3. Yes, its a very well built PSU, but there are alternatives for cheaper: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LYGFRL6/?tag=pcpapi-20 Own this unit myself, and is silent, and steady 12V rails for OC.
   
   
4. Look at youtube tutorials. Even though it may sound dumb, those really help if you get stuck on something, but manuals are 10000% useful.
   
   
5. Yes, and the boards I recommended (Get a higher quality B450 board if you want to stick with it for a long time) will be able to upgrade through the next generation Ryzen as Ryzen's next-gen CPU's will be compatible on your mobo.
   
   
6. No, it's a very balanced build in fact.
   
   
7. Yes, but the Focus G is Arcylic and doesn't have the best build quality compared to other cases for a bit more.
   
   Here are two I enjoy recommending: https://pcpartpicker.com/product/qZjJ7P/corsair-carbide-spec-06-atx-mid-tower-case-cc-9011145-ww
   
   https://pcpartpicker.com/product/zHndnQ/phanteks-eclipse-p350x-blackwhite-atx-mid-tower-case-ph-ec350ptg_dbw
   
   
8. Nothing I didn't mention above :)
   
   Hope you have a wonderful night!

Yes
XFX's powersupplies, as those are made in the same factories as Seasonic.



Seasonic arguably makes the best powersupply units in the world, I have nothing but praise for their units.
I've worked a lot of times with the G -Series 550watt and that would be perfect for you. It's quite a bit more expensive than your current PSU, I'm always a big advocate to spending a good chunk on a PSU as it's a really important component.

this XFX TS shares tons of components with the Seasonic units.

EVGA's Supernova G2 550watt also gets a lot of praise.

I'd go with one of those models. Buy good PSU now and have nothing to worry about for years to come :)

1. CPU - Ryzen 7 2700X
   
2. Cooler - Included with cpu, pretty good ,can manage a small overclock as well(so I have read)
   
3. GPU - If possible, tell your friend to get this gpu- Evga rtx 2070 utlra
   
4. Motherboard - MSI B450 pro ac
   
5. RAM - I have two options here which I will choose depending on budget
   
   

• G.Skill 16GB DDR F4-3200C16D-16GVKB (11.2k)
  
• 16gb is the sweet spot according to me.
  
  

1. SSD - ADATA XPG SX8200 Pro 256GB PCIe M.2 2280 3D NAND Solid State Driv
   
2. HDD - WD Blue 1 TB (3k)
   
3. PSU - If possible ,tell your friend to get you this psu-Evga g3 650w gold fully modular psu
   
4. Cabinet - Antec P7 (~4k)
   
   Total:-105247
   
   I listed the evga gpu and psu to tell your friend to bring from the usa as the company offers global warranty.
   
   Hope I wrote nothing wrong,lol!Can somebody please crosscheck the post?
   
   ​
   
   Congratulations to OP on their first pc build!

I don't know about you, but I prefer just cheap monitors as it doesn't make any difference to me. This is an acer 1080P monitor for $116. As far as graphics card, maybe a 970. Actually cheaper than a 780 and 770 currently from what I can see. Here's one for $370. Don't forget you need windows and a psu, and maybe a DVD drive

You could save money and get a cheaper Cooler master hyper 212 evo or Arctic freezer i30.

Probably a cheaper case. Maybe a Rosewill Challenger U3 or a Cooler Master elite 430 or Cooler Master HAF 912

And maybe a better CPU with the money you save on those things. AMD has pretty good performance to price ratio. FX- 8350 is a lot better and only like $10 more. And is 8 core if that means anything. You can check at http://pcpartpicker.com/ to find compatibility. Most likely with the AMD processor you would need a different mobo

I'm trying to save up for this processor. I stream on Twitch and should have gone with this one initially, but didn't. I might just buy it at PAX East, which I already have to save up for anyway, since newegg gives out pretty great deals at PAX. But, until then, save I shall!

I love the idea of this contest. It's really neat to see what expensive item everyone wishes for.

Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis When I was dead broke, man I couldn't picture this

You can get a B150 for $42 on Newegg at the moment delivery included in the price, which is a slightly better mobo than a H110 - it's apparently an $85 value (Amazon also charge $85 for it)... $25 off if you buy before Friday, plus a $20 mail in rebate. That's a really good deal.
https://pcpartpicker.com/product/8RkwrH/msi-motherboard-b150mbazooka

H110/B150s are about $10 less than 250s, but are also on sale like this more frequently. You can also find some second hand for about $30-35

https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B0165YUDTM/ref=sr_1_1_olp?ie=UTF8&qid=1493242822&sr=8-1&keywords=h110

http://www.ebay.com/sch/Motherboards/1244/i.html?_from=R40&_mPrRngCbx=1&_udlo=&_udhi=45&_nkw=h110&rt=nc&LH_BIN=1

Basically as best I know with these, they do not work with a G4560 off the bat, but if you put the 6500 in it when you first run the system you can do a quick bios update that enables Kaby Lake support, then take out the 6500 and replace it with the 4560 which will work perfectly fine.

As is there is $25 left in the budget, so if you get one of these for $40 that's $45 left in the budget. If he thinks he can sell the 750 TI let's say for $85 then he has $130, so getting the RAM for $30-35 should mean the 470 wouldn't cost a cent. It's a little bit of work granted, but would be a hell of an upgrade to get essentially for free.

This will help a bit

Also, make sure to use Intel Burn Test, Aida64, Prime95. I use all of these while I was OC'ing, you should stress test with each program for around 1-2 hours and do around a hundred runs of IBT. Do not run these programs at the same time! Make sure you have a good cooler! I'd recommend:

Air cooler - CM Hyper 212 Evo I have this one, amazing bang for your buck.

Noctua NH-D15

AIO Water coolers - NZXT Kraken X61

Corsair H100i

I'd recommend getting a temperature app like Real temp, but it has been known to be a bit wrong (check your motherboard for temps and the idle temperature will be different) As a safety precaution I always made sure my CPU's temp stayed under 80°C (give myself a good 10°C) Anyway, try and run your chip on a 1.25V at 46X multiplier and if it boots to windows you've got a average chip, if it keeps BSODing drop the multiplier/raise the voltage or do both, then just fine tune it.

It took me a good 7 hours to do my first OC (i5 4670K 4.5GHz @ 1.232V) it's not been optimised yet, anyway good luck and have fun overclocking!

Having just an ssd isnt a problem if you have an external hdd. If all your playing is LOL trust me your build will get the results you want. You just need to change your mobo to something basic since you wont be overclocking. something like the Gigabyte GA-H110M-A Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard works fine and should shave a few bucks off your build. You would be better off getting 2x4gb ram instead of 1x8gb. gives a bit of a preformance boost but then again ram is cheap so you could always buy another 8gb stick later (you wont need 16gb of ram for LOL but maybe if you decided to play something else in the future it could be nice). No real need for an optical drive these days but by all means buy it if you feel you need it.


Heres a link to amazon but feel free to shop around

https://www.amazon.com/Gigabyte-LGA1151-Intel-Motherboard-GA-H110M-/dp/B0165YUDTM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1466724470&sr=8-1&keywords=Gigabyte+GA-H110M-A+Micro+ATX+LGA1151+Motherboard


ohh and here is some gameplay of league at max settings 1080p with your cpu gpu combo. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNnv3aNHqkM
you can even play at 4k but then again those arent cheap.

TD;LR
buy this Gigabyte GA-H110M-A Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard
and enjoy 200fps at max if your monitor can handle it.

~mumrax15

Not sure where you are getting your information from, but that is the whole point of the X series SKUs. They are binned higher and feature XFR for auto-overclocking. The non-X SKUs are still unlocked multipliers but do NOT have the Extended Frequency Range auto-overclocking feature that the X SKUs DO.

Here's a few sources, including a couple that were in attendance at today's event.

https://www.kitguru.net/components/cpu/luke-hill/kitguru-amd-event-ryzen-7-cpus-set-to-hit-intel-pricing-hard/

"That ‘X’ prefix denotes support for eXtended Frequency Range (XFR) which allows a number of the CPU’s cores to operate at up to 1 multiplier bin higher if thermal and power threshold budgets are not saturated"

"Ryzen 7 1700 – 8 cores, 16 threads, 3.0GHz base speed, 3.7GHz boost speed, no XFR support, 65W TDP, $329 USD, £319.99 OCUK price."


Techreport, who was also in attendance at the event today and went home with review samples lists these specs as part of what was announced at the event.

https://techreport.com/news/31471/amd-eight-core-16-thread-chips-lead-the-ryzen-charge

Model | Cores | Threads | Base Clock | Boost Clock | XFR | TDP | Price
------|---|----|----|----|----|----|----
Ryzen 1800X | 8 | 16 | 3.6GHz | 4.0GHz | Yes | 95W | $499
Ryzen 1700X | 8 | 16 | 3.4GHz | 3.8GHz | Yes | 95W | $399
Ryzen 1700 | 8 | 16 | 3.0GHz | 3.7GHz | No | 65W | $329

"The X in the product name (in this and other models) denotes the presence of the XFR technology (eXtended Frequency Range), allowing you to reach even higher frequencies in the presence of adequate cooling. XFR is just one of the technologies SenseMI" -> translated from: https://www.tomshw.it/ryzen-7-1800x-1700x-e-1700-specifiche-e-prestazioni-83576 in regards to information released by AMD at today's event.

All of this is from those who attended and official AMD specs released today. There is no question about it, that is literally what the "X" in the SKU denotes. XFR. This is all just a matter of hours old information, not "last week". You mention you take what people who attended have to say as priority, which of course makes sense. Only problem is that it is the exact opposite of what you're saying.

Also, the pre-order listings on sites like Amazon make this clear. For instance,

1800X: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06W9JXK4G, clearly lists XFR on the product page

1700X: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06X3W9NGG, clearly lists XFR on the product page

1700: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06WP5YCX6, does not list XFR on the product page

On OCUK's product pages as well, XFR is listed as a spec on only the 1800X and 1700X product pages:

1800X: https://www.overclockers.co.uk/amd-ryzen-7-eight-core-1800x-4.00ghz-socket-am4-processor-retail-cp-39v-am.html

1700X: https://www.overclockers.co.uk/amd-ryzen-7-eight-core-1700x-3.80ghz-socket-am4-processor-retail-cp-39w-am.html

1700: https://www.overclockers.co.uk/amd-ryzen-7-eight-core-1700-3.70ghz-socket-am4-processor-retail-cp-39x-am.html

--> OCUK "'X' Version with automatic XFR overclocking"

OP and all affected by this: I also ran into this after the latest update. It clearly introduced some bugs. That said, here is everything I did, and I'm finally playing Beat Saber on my Rift with 0 (read again, 0) lag. (That said, there is certainly still a bug where if a box is hit the wrong direction, or with the wrong saber color, sometimes the controller does not vibrate)

I am listing below WHAT WORKED, and leaving out all the things I tried that didn't work..it's an exhausting list..cables, reseating the rift headset jack under the face mask..etc. This did not help me. Rift worked great in every other game.

• Purchased an external USB 3 card to give the Rift headset (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00FPIMICA/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02__o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1) I ordered the one with the two internal USB ports too. Note: USB add-in card is not needed if your system already has enough USB channels to give the Rift and each sensor its own channel. Google USB channels for instructions on finding this out. ((If you have your controllers vibrating very lightly and you are using good batteries, THIS. This is why. You need a USB channel with nothing else on it for the Rift Headset. The Rift Sensors should each be on their own channels for best performance too, but can share the USB channel with other devices too.))
  
• Turned off Night Light in Windows 10 Display settings. My problems manifested more at night and this, once known, was a very likely culprit
  
• Placed each Rift Sensor on its own USB channel. I also unplug the mouse/keyboard and other peripherals during VR, because I have a Steelseries LED mouse/kb and they bugger up the USB channel with all the lighting.
  
• Close out any unnecessary apps from the system tray.
  
• If you use a USB extension to get a Rift sensor further away, make sure it's an ACTIVE USB extender. Passive, or normal, ones degraded my signal. This, and the Win10 Night Light are the biggest reasons I was getting Beat Saber lag. I have an Active cable on order and went back to no extension/both sensors in front of me for the time being.
  
• Installed Oculus Tray Tool (https://www.reddit.com/r/oculus/comments/5okoju/oculus_tray_tool/) and set USB Standby to Disabled, among some other settings I can't recall. All the settings have to do with fine-tuning the VR experience, so poke around and see what works for you.
  
• ***Disclaimer***: Editing the registry is NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART*** I changed the priority of the GPU for games using this guide. I've had no problems at all, but the registry is risky to mess with and I am unsure what effect this had with Beat Saber. I'm listing it only because Beat Saber runs perfectly now.Skip to the "Make some changes in your registry" section: https://www.windowscentral.com/how-ensure-best-vr-performance-your-pc
  
  Doing all of this, the noteworthy ones being Windows 10 Night Light being turned off, the USB add-in card/dedicated channel for the Rift headset USB, and the Oculus Tray Tool, my Beat Saber now runs flawlessly!! I moved up from Hard to Expert (and even Expert with Fast Song turned on) overnight purely as a result of this game running like it should now. I can actually hit what I see, and the game registers it.
  
  ​
  
  Computer Setup:
  
  
• Oculus Rift with 2 sensors (3rd sensor with USB active repeater/extension cable in the mail)
  
• MSI MoBo with AMD RYZEN 7 1700X 8-Core 3.4 GHz
  
• 16gb DDR3 RAM
  
• MSI Gaming Z 2070 RTX GPU
  
• Samsung 1tb SSD running only Oculus Games
  
• SanDisk 128gb SSD for Windows 10 installation
  
• Liquid cooler for CPU
  
• 850w Power Supply
  
  My specs are overkill for VR and Rift (see: Robo Recall) worked fine with my MSI Nvidia 970 GPU too, but Beat Saber still lagged (after the latest update) until I made all the changes above. Beat Saber clearly has some bugs/compatibility problems to work out, and it seems the devs have more important things to do than fix these given how long it is between updates being released for PC. We're a forgotten lot. :( Perhaps the modding community will find a way to patch the game to actually fix these bugs.
  
  ​
  
  I do hope that my tips help even one person out there also experiencing this issue. This game is what VR was for! If anybody has more tips please please please share them! Everybody should be able to enjoy this game as it was supposed to be!
  
  ​
  
  edit: Corrected CPU specs in my Computer Setup

I posted below, but if you're looking for a solid switching power supply for ~$30, here you go: http://amzn.com/B00D7CWSCG <- I have specifically purchased this one from this vender several times to great success. There are a number of people in my go kit group that have tested these as well and they provide clean 12VDC.

• You'll have to wire up an electrical plug and 12V out.
  
• Always exercise caution when dealing with household current.
  
• Make sure you understand household wiring (black =hot, white = neutral, green/bare = ground).
  
• Don't trust the colors to be correct.
  
• Make sure the power supply is set to match your house (115 in US)
  
• Use a multimeter to check each wire before attaching to the power supply.
  
• Use a power strip to test plugging in, they have their own circuit breaker
  
• User a multimeter to check 12V is coming out.
  
• There is a screw you can turn to adjust output voltage. I suggest you keep it above 12V, but as low as will run your equipment. If you find equipment turning off on transmit, raise it up. The higher you raise it, the more the fan will run. I optimize for quiet because these run on my desk. If you don't mind the fan noise, set it at 13.8V.
  
  

Compatible? Yes. Recommended for an 8700k system? No.

The "Haswell" compatibility thing had to do with a change between 3rd gen and 4th gen processors and how 4th gen handled power in certain scenarios (the C7 sleep state, in particular). It's mainly to say that you shouldn't really use a PSU from earlier generations on a system 4th Gen or later (though, technically, there isn't anything that could stop you, as they have the same plugs and pinouts).

For an 8700k/1070 system, I would recommend nothing less than 600w Bronze rated, particularly if you want to overclock (which, with a k series processor, you likely do). Even then, while adequate, I would really recommend something 600w or more, and Gold rated.

The 80+ "Colour/Metal" rating on power supplies is in regards to efficiency, and with that, overall quality of the PSU (compared to other PSUs from that manufacturer). There's 80+ White, 80+ Bronze, 80+ Silver (which isn't common), 80+ Gold, 80+ Platinum and 80+ Titanium, going from lowest efficiency (and typically lowest component quality and warranty length) to highest efficiency. The one you linked is of the lowest efficiency rating

It's all about how much power a PSU draws from the wall in order to give you the power your computer needs. The extra power drawn is generally bled off as heat waste. So, the more efficient the PSU is rated, the less "extra" it needs to pull from the wall, and ultimately the less heat it generates in the process. So, while they cost more, the higher rated the PSU, the less it'll cost you on your power bill (compared to the same wattage at a lower efficiency rating), the less heat will radiate into the system, and the less the fan will need to run (which means less noise).

It can also affect overclocking, as the more efficient units will also typically supply a cleaner (more even, less spiky) power delivery to the components, which helps stability when pushing your speeds.

As a minimum I would recommend something like this EVGA or Corsair, and would personally choose something like these Gold rated EVGA or Corsair units.

I would also recommend looking up the PSUs on ca.pcpartpicker.com, as they will pull pricing from a number of different Canadian PC part retailers (including Amazon) and allow you to see the difference and pick the lowest option (though, they don't always factor in shipping costs, and it doesn't always immediately update if it's out of stock at a particular retailer).

MSI, Gigabyte, Asus all use superior parts in their gpus.

EVGA runs louder and hotter than these 3 but its customer support is GODLY. Brand loyalty actually matters then the customer support is this freaking good.

http://pcpartpicker.com/part/msi-video-card-gtx970gaming4g

This is my personal favorite.


http://pcpartpicker.com/part/asus-video-card-strixgtx970dc2oc4gd5

Is what i have. Overclocks a little less than the msi but it's still a beast.


http://www.amazon.com/Gigabyte-GeForce-Graphics-GV-N970G1-GAMING-4GD/dp/B00NH5T1MS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1417317698&sr=8-1&keywords=gigabyte+gtx+970

This is the gigabyte model. It's got a tri cooler design and it's suppose to be a beast when it comes to oc and cooling. 3 fans though means it's a little louder but that's it. oh yea. it's long. like super long.

Here's a Ryzen 5 2600 for just $150 w/ free shipping (and inc. stock cooler obv, even if the Stealth is nothing to write home about), which provides simlar perfomance (and superior IPC if you can believe it, with Zen+ edging out both Haswell-E & Broadwell-E) stock vs stock to an i7-6850K in both single & multi-threaded workloads (unless it's something extremely memory bound, that can properly take advantage of X99's quad-channel DDR4), but running cooler, quieter, more efficient, and for just 1/2 the price for a brand new chip that's on a current AND future-proof platform with great boards available for just $70ish.

AM4 has pretty much made every single pre-X299 Intel HEDT platform essentially obsolete for those that don't need it's expanded I/O & memory sub-systems (which Intel would still gimp to varying extents on all but the flagship SKU anyways), and for those people that's what AMD's X399/Threadripper platform is for (which beats X299/ Skylake-X|Cascade Lake-X across the board on both those fronts).

And if your workload priorities happen to lean towards the multi-threaded side, 1st Gen but 8c/16t R7 1700's (which will lose on ST, but dominate on MT vs an i7-6850K after both are reasonably overclocked) are a similar price new as the 2600, and w/ a bigger, better included cooler (Spire RGB vs Stealth).

Literally Intel's only remaining purchasing arguments are for those few who want the best single-threaded perfomance available, totally irregardless of cost/value (see the i9-9900K), and those unlucky few whose workload(s) leave them dependant on Thunderbolt support (which is exactly why freely licensable USB 3.1 Gen 2 [10Gb/s, aka 1.25GB/s, or equal BW to TB1] compatible devices should have been widely available like damn yesterday).

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07B41WS48/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_KoqXBbRAMD8E6

I would get [this water cooler instead of yours] (http://smile.amazon.com/Corsair-Hydro-Performance-Liquid-Cooler/dp/B00A0HZMGA/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1407431857&sr=1-1&keywords=liquid+cooler) it's cheaper and I believe it'll be better overall. If you want to save more money, AMD right now has a better price/performance ratio than Nvidia does at the moment, so I'd recommend a [R9 290] (http://smile.amazon.com/XFX-Double-947MHz-Graphics-R9290AEDFD/dp/B00HHIPM5Q/ref=sr_1_2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1407431962&sr=1-2&keywords=XFX+R9+290) or even a [R9 290x] (http://smile.amazon.com/XFX-Double-1000MHz-Graphics-R9290XEDFD/dp/B00HHIPN5A/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1407431986&sr=1-1&keywords=XFX+R9+290x). Unless you have a strong Nvidia preference I would go with AMD, better bang for your buck. I have the XFX R9 290 and it is an amazing card for the price. For your PSU go with a better brand like [this Corsair one] (http://smile.amazon.com/Corsair-Modular-Bronze-ATX12V-EPS12V/dp/B00ALK3KEM/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1407432062&sr=1-1&keywords=PSU) it's cheaper and has more power to offer. Otherwise it looks good.

GET THIS MOTHERBOARD INSTEAD AS IT HAS A WAY BETTER VRM THAT CAN HANDLE A 3950X OC https://www.amazon.com/Asus-Prime-X570-P-Ryzen-Motherboard/dp/B07SW925DR/ref=sr_1_1?crid=UOR2QTMTWTID&keywords=asus+x570p&qid=1572971920&sprefix=asus+x570+%2Caps%2C358&sr=8-1

OR THIS IF YOU NEED WIFI

https://www.amazon.com/ASUS-TUF-X570-Plus-Motherboard-Lighting/dp/B07SXF8GY3/ref=sr_1_2?crid=UOR2QTMTWTID&keywords=asus+x570p&qid=1572971920&sprefix=asus+x570+%2Caps%2C358&sr=8-2

RYZEN IS NOTORIOUS FOR HAVING ISSUES WITH CORSAIR RAM SO GET ONE OF THESE INSTEAD

https://www.amazon.com/G-Skill-Ripjaws-PC4-28800-CL16-19-19-39-F4-3600C16D-16GVKC/dp/B07X8DVDZZ/ref=sr_1_5?crid=2XCCYAGMPGNW6&keywords=ddr4+3600&qid=1572972012&sprefix=DDR4+3600%2Caps%2C381&sr=8-5

OR

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07WVT8SGF/ref=dp_cerb_2

SSD

https://www.amazon.com/Sabrent-Rocket-Internal-Performance-SB-ROCKET-1TB/dp/B07KGMBCKD/ref=sr_1_6?keywords=NVME%2BSSD&qid=1572972195&s=electronics&sr=1-6&th=1

THAT BEQUIET PSU IS WAY OVERPRICED GET THIS INSTEAD

https://www.amazon.com/EVGA-SuperNOVA-Modular-Warranty-220-G3-0650-Y1/dp/B01LYGFRL6/ref=sr_1_1?crid=FGOJGR74XJKV&keywords=evga+650w&qid=1572972243&sprefix=EVGA+6%2Caps%2C369&sr=8-1

GPU WISE WHY ARE YOU GETTING A 2060S, IF ITS FOR RTX THEN PLS DONT, MY 2080 SUCKS AT RTX.

https://www.amazon.com/Gigabyte-Graphics-256-Bit-Gv-R57XTGAMING-OC-8GD/dp/B07W95D5V3/ref=sr_1_5?crid=1FK3863HZDJT1&keywords=5700+xt&qid=1572972451&s=electronics&sprefix=57%2Celectronics%2C364&sr=1-5

GET THE 5700XT AS IT PERFORMS CLOSER TO THE 2070S FOR THE SAME PRICE (THIS ONE IS 10$ CHEAPER)

COOLER WISE,

IF YOU WANT AN AIO THIS ONE IS BETTER

https://www.amazon.com/EVGA-Liquid-Cooler-Cooling-400-HY-CL28-V1/dp/B01N16CAKN/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1OCFL4DYDBT86&keywords=evga+clc+280&qid=1572972539&sprefix=EVGA+CL%2Caps%2C345&sr=8-1

I'D PERSONALLY STICK WITH THE WRAITH PRIZM AS THERE IS NO NEED TO UPGGRADE UNLESS YOU WANT THAT SWEET 4.4GHZ OC. IF YOU WANT TO OC GET THE COOLER ABOVE

IF YOU WANT AN AIR COOLER, GET THIS

https://www.amazon.com/NOCTUA-NH-D15-chromax-Black-Dual-Tower-Cooler/dp/B07Y3CTQNT/ref=sr_1_3?crid=1QU9QXYJISXDX&keywords=noctua+nh-d15+ltt&qid=1572972675&sprefix=noctua+nh-d15+L%2Caps%2C338&sr=8-3

IF YOU LIVE NEAR A MICROCENTER YOU CAN GET WAY BETTER DEALS THERE.

As a fellow Mac user, who also has a prusa mendel; I would highly recommend you use OctoPrint + a Raspberry Pi 3. This may not be a just starting out configuration but it makes life a lot easier in controlling the printer.

I use Slic3r for Mac configured to talk to the OctoPrint server through an API call, and I can send gcode to my printer across the network from the Slic3r application. With the RPi camera installed I can keep an eye on my prints without having to be in the same room.

Also you may be happier with:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00D7CWSCG/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ME5YAPK/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

This PSU is a bit cheaper than your standard ATX PSU, it may be a good choice if you're looking to try this hobby out as cheaply as possible. It is a more difficult way of going because you will need to print something like:

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:199089

To keep live 120VAC from being exposed on your bench.

Path of least resistance to getting started:

Slic3r > Repetier Host or PronterFace or Cura > Printer

The best way I've found (easiest):

Slic3r > OctoPrint

Seeing as I have the same printer and host OS configuration, feel free to DM me and I'll answer any questions you may have.

Best I can recommend is the EVGA 650 SuperNOVA G3 here. However, it is $100 right now which is a bit expensive for it. I only like fully modular power supplys and love the eco switch on the G3, however, if you want a lower cost go for the superNOVA NEX here. Good luck!

edit: Please note the NEX does not have a eco switch, which keeps the fan not running in low power idle situations. The G3 has it. I recommend 650 for future upgrades.

edit 2: That moment I notice you're Aussie

Parts

Note: This is if you don't want to buy kits.

For beginners the Arduino Uno is recommended. It comes with most starter kits.

Along with the Uno a breadboard (this one comes with jumpers) is also needed for almost all projects.

You can buy separate components, such as sensors and acutators (motors, servos, etc.) to your liking.

**

Kits

The top two kits I would recommend are:

Official Arduino Starter Kit ($110)

SparkFun Inventors Kit ($95)


I personally have the Official Arduino Starter Kit and I love it, I picked this over the SparkFun Inventors Kit becasuse of the projects book, I have friends who have the SparkFun Inventors Kit and they love it too.

Other Kits:

SainSmart Starter Kit ($55)


Vilros Starter Kit


If want to buy your Arduino separately you can buy a kit without the Arduino board, the Arduino Sidekick Basic Kit looks fantastic.
**

Resources

Arduino Site

For more information on products go to the link above.

Hey, not really sure why nobody else chimed in about this but I'm hoping I'm not too late on this suggestion. If you're getting a 2600 and looking to overclock at all (which is highly recommended), you'll want a motherboard with LLC available in the bios. That ASRock motherboard does not, to my knowledge.

This motherboard does, and has better VRMs. The trade-off would be that MSI doesn't have voltage offset available in their bios, but that's only relevant for Ryzen x series chips. So, for example, if you were buying a 2600x, I'd be more inclined to recommend your currently selected ASRock mobo over the one I linked.

This is without getting into any of the other feature differences between the boards, as the bios options / overclocking potential is a pretty notable divide between the two for your cpu.

Edit: Oh also, there have been some really good PSU deals over the last few days where I wouldn't recommend paying ~$80 for a 550w G2. While 550w is plenty for your build and more isn't necessary by any means, I'd recommend this as you'll be saving ~$20.

Remember: Always be cautious when using payment methods other than PayPal Goods and Services.

Always have a seller/buyer comment on your thread, this is so you know that they haven't been banned.


Title: [US] [H] GTX 1080 FTW GPU [W] PayPal or any other currency

Username: /u/luminative1

Original Post:

I have a bunch of BINB EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 FTW GAMING ACX 3.0, 8GB GDDR5X, RGB LED, 10CM FAN, 10 Power Phases, Double BIOS, DX12 OSD Support (PXOC) Graphics Card 08G-P4-6286-KR on me.

The amazon link;

https://www.amazon.com/EVGA-GeForce-Support-Graphics-08G-P4-6286-KR/dp/B01GAI64GO/ref=sr_1_7?rps=1&ie=UTF8&qid=1536071658&sr=8-7&keywords=1080ti&refinements=p_85%3A2470955011

For $450 each. I have about 5-7 of them.

Paypal accepted. Delivery time would be a week, since I have many more things and would have to look around!

I also have the 8th gen intel cpu, corsair rams ddr4s, amd ryzen as well. Bought off an entire lot just for the gaming community! :)

​

Guys this is BRAND NEW IN BOX things!

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

Holy balls, this giveaway is amazing. Congrats on the profit, OP! I'll be entering for a [GTX 1080] (https://www.amazon.com/EVGA-GeForce-Support-Graphics-08G-P4-6286-KR/dp/B01GAI64GO/ref=sr_1_2?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1478058678&sr=1-2&keywords=gtx%2B1080&th=1) although I do wonder if I'll be fine pairing it with my i5-6500. I'll probably have to upgrade my 1080p monitor to preferably 1440p one if I win but that's for later and chances are slim. Getting ahead of myself already lol. Ah well, if anything, I'm entering for the thrill of it! Thanks OP!

The below may be some of the reasons as to why it is heating so much.

The heat given off from the CPU and GPU can be accumulating inside the case more than it can clear up and causing the GPU to heat up more than usual. (Also, GPU generates more heat than CPU)

If you had a bigger case, may help or if you get a liquidcooling for the CPU or the GPU or even both if you can get it fit.

GPU Bracket for Cooler: GPU BRACKET

CPU and GPU Liquid Cooling you can use: This should work for your CPU - Might be a tight fit for your case but you can figure it out

This should work with the GPU Bracket Link i put up on top

The GPU Liquid Cooling may fit if you put the fan and heatsink to the front of the tower where the fan is.


Using this, you can do more research if using any of the above would work and fit your case. If you get a Full Tower, it will definitely work if you find the right one.


Also, if you're room is hot, that would increase heat generated from PC.

2200 build list
CPU- http://www.amazon.com/Intel-Boxed-I7-6700K-Processor-BX80662I76700K/dp/B012M8LXQW/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1458134248&sr=1-1&keywords=i7+6700k
Price- $410

\Motherboard- http://www.amazon.com/MAXIMUS-VIII-HERO-ALPHA-Motherboards/dp/B017RI8UYA/ref=sr_1_19?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1458134314&sr=1-19&keywords=lga+1151+motherboard
Price- $300

PSU- http://www.amazon.com/EVGA-SuperNOVA-Modular-Warranty-120-G1-0750-XR/dp/B00K85X2A2/ref=sr_1_4?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1458138651&sr=1-4&keywords=Psu&refinements=p_85%3A2470955011
Price- $90

GPU- http://www.amazon.com/EVGA-GeForce-Cooling-Graphics-06G-P4-1996-KR/dp/B00Z0UX8TA/ref=sr_1_5?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1458138400&sr=1-5&keywords=gtx+980+ti
Price- $700

250 GB SSD- http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-2-5-Inch-Internal-MZ-75E250B-AM/dp/B00OAJ412U/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1458138522&sr=1-1&keywords=SSd
Price- $90

500gb M.2 SSd- http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-850-EVO-3-5-Inch-MZ-N5E500BW/dp/B00TGIW1XG/ref=sr_1_5?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1458138908&sr=1-5&keywords=m.2+ssd
Price- $160

You can use either option they are both good but the M.2 is my recomendation

RAM- http://www.amazon.com/G-SKILL-TridentZ-PC4-24000-Platform-F4-3000C15D-16GTZ/dp/B017QI1V74/ref=sr_1_9?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1458138836&sr=1-9&keywords=ddr4+3000
Price- $120

CPU Cooler- http://www.amazon.com/Corsair-Hydro-Liquid-Cooler-CW-9060010-WW/dp/B009VV56TY/ref=sr_1_8?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1458138978&sr=1-8&keywords=cpu+cooler
Price- $110

3 TB HDD- http://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Desktop-3-5-Inch-Internal-ST1000DM003/dp/B005T3GRNW/ref=sr_1_2?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1458139072&sr=1-2&keywords=hdd
Price- $90

My favorite gaming keyboard but its up to you. It doesn’t have any fancy side buttons just a great feel and excellent build quality- http://www.amazon.com/Corsair-Vengeance-Mechanical-Gaming-Keyboard/dp/B00CD1FC6G
Price- $150

total $2130 without the case or windows or optical drive

let me know where it is you would like to go fro here? Is there anything you want to add or take out we can revise this build a couple of times

Just a note that the 1080 was released almost two years ago, they're not going to wait another year, especially with competition from AMD and miners slowing down their purchasing. I'd give it until July or so before buying a 1000 series card. You'll kick yourself if you buy a 1080 and the 2080 comes out at the same price point (or less!) with 20-30% more performance.

>and letting my Vive dust away

A 960 can pretty much play 90% of VR games. No, you won't get oversampling and other perks, but if you think that'll make VR games somehow more compelling for you, well, you might be in for an expensive surprise.

If you're itching for a transitional card to a 2080 due to the 960 being slow, the 1060 pricing is still good:

https://www.amazon.com/MSI-GAMING-GTX-1060-6G/dp/B01IEKYD5U

1060 avg g3d: 8920

960 avg g3d: 5805

Pretty big 65% upgrade here.

970 avg g3d: 8585

But its only about 5% faster than a 970. A used 970 would also make a nice transitional card assuming prices aren't insane in your local market.

Everything he said is spot on. I have 4 cheap Chinese printers and those are all the recommended upgrades regardless of the brand.

I recommend this power supply. It can provide 50% more power and has a cooling fan.

These mosfets have worked very well for me and lowered bed heating times significantly as well as make your printer a lot safer.

Personally I haven't had any issues with the bed connector, but maybe some epoxy or hot glue would keep the wires from moving around too much.

One of the best upgrades I did was to flash Marlin onto the board as the stock firmware is kind of crappy.
This also allows the use of a Inductive proximity sensor which makes leveling the bed significantly easier.

The bearings he recommended, the Drylin ones, will make the movements of your printer a little smoother and a lot quieter.

The belts stretch. The ones from China are rarely reinforced. I'm lazy so i just tighten them every so often. But it would be worthwhile to just start with the higher end reinforced belts.

That aside, once your printer is up and running and somewhat calibrated, head over to thingiverse and search for your printer. There are thousands of upgrades available.

Good luck!

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.

Asus Prime B450M-A/CSM AMD Ryzen... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07FKV5HWJ?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

AMD Ryzen 5 2600 Processor with... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07B41WS48?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 X... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07B4G525F?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

SanDisk SSD PLUS 1TB Internal SSD... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07D998212?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

That’s what we bought and he had a case already and I believe a 520Watt PSU

I also gave him my Asus RTX-2060 6gb. Any case or 2060 card will do the trick tho, that stuff is all about the same performance wise.

Works freaking great. I was very impressed with the performance. It ran almost as good as my 2060 did in my i5 9600k in games. I upgraded to a 2080 Super which is the only reason I gave up the 2060. And if I hadn’t got a 49 super ultra wide monitor I could have stuck with the 2060.

On a single screen it worked great

There is one problem I'm seeing, which is that your MOBO is for overclocking, but your CPU isnt, so I suggest that you get the i7-7700k (https://www.amazon.com/Intel-Desktop-Processor-i7-7700K-BX80677I77700K/dp/B01MXSI216/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1501567034&sr=1-1&keywords=i7+7700k) and put a nice cooler on there, like the NZXT Kraken if you like pretty lights and such, or any other AIO cooler probably. Also, the most recent system memory is DDR4 and DDR5 is only for GPU's right now (technically GDDR5 but who cares). Another concern is storage, you didn't mention that, and I'm not sure but that PSU might not have enough wattage, I'm not suure, correct me if I'm wrong. Also as a last note, it might be comfort more than anything at this point but it might be a good idea to get 8 more gigs of RAM, but Corsair has some of the best RAM modules.

I'm coming from a custom-built PC background and looking to make the new iMac with Retina 5K Display (Retina iMac) my first Apple computer. From my research on configuring 32GB memory to order vs upgrading myself, I could not find any evidence that the modules Apple uses are any better than available from third-parties.

• Apple has yet to post a support article with the Retina iMac's user-upgradable memory requirements. Below is last year's spec. Based on the Retina iMac being the same body as the Late 2013 27" iMac and the high-level RAM specification on the Tech Spec product page is the same for both models (DDR3 1600Mhz SO-DIMM, up to 32GB) people have assumed that the exact memory specification for the Retina iMac is unchanged since last year. http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5908
  
  
• From what I've read, you should only upgrade the memory in your MAC if the manual mentions it, so it will not void your warranty. Here's the iMac manual dated 2014, claiming memory is the only user-upgradable component on the Retina iMac. "Your iMac doesn’t have any user-serviceable parts, except for memory, which is user-replaceable in 27-inch models only." https://a248.e.akamai.net/7/248/51/20120908/manuals.info.apple.com/MANUALS/1000/MA1690/en_US/imac_late2014_ipig.pdf
  
  
• Recent model iMacs, MacBook Pros and Mac Minis all use the same DDR3 1600Mhz laptop-size memory, with only the max capacity varying.
  
  
• Since Apple started using Intel chips, the memory spec has become generic PC memory. In at least the last 3 model years, for example, no Mac uses error correction ECC memory except for the professionally-targeted Mac Pro. In consumer Macs, there is nothing about the memory Apple uses that's Mac-specific. The only difference is a third party manufacture like Crucial or OWC may have done additional testing to verify their memory works on a Mac. The extent of testing was probably to install the max amount of memory, see that the Mac boots up properly, no kernel-panics, and the correct amount memory and frequency is displayed in About this Mac.
  
  
• Below is a table of 8GB modules in 1, 2 or 4 module kits (8GB, 16GB, or 32GB) that I have researched that meet the Late 2013 27" memory specification AND with positive reviews (between Amazon, Newegg, Tigerdirect, and BHPhoto) AND are either verified as working on a Mac by the manufacturer OR where multiple reviewers have mentioned success with late model Macs:
  
  
  Product | Verification | Product Page | Buy
  ---|---|----|----
  OWC CL11 | By manufacture | OWC | OWC 4x8GB kit
  Crucial CL11 | By manufacture | Crucial | Amazon 2x8GB kit or [Newegg 2x8GB kit] (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820148609)
  Kingston CL11 | By manufacture | Kingston | [Amazon 1x8GB kit] (http://www.amazon.com/Kingston-1600MHz-PC3-12800-KTA-MB1600-8G/dp/B0089MTON0/ref=sr_1_4?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1413945462&sr=1-4&keywords=KTA-MB1600LK2%2F16G) or Amazon 2x8GB kit
  Kingston HyperX CL11 | By manufacture | Kingston | Amazon 2x8GB kit
  Corsair CL9 | By customers | [Corsair] (http://www.corsair.com/en-us/vengeance-16gb-high-performance-laptop-memory-upgrade-kit-cmsx16gx3m2b1600c9) | [Amazon 2x8GB kit] (http://www.amazon.com/Corsair-Vengeance-Performance-1600MHz-CMSX16GX3M2B1600C9/dp/B00EXPNG5Y)
  Corsair CL10 | By customers | [Corsair] (http://www.corsair.com/en-us/vengeance-16gb-high-performance-laptop-memory-upgrade-kit-cmsx16gx3m2a1600c10) | [Amazon 2x8GB kit] (http://www.amazon.com/Corsair-Vengeance-Laptop-Memory-CMSX16GX3M2A1600C10/dp/B0076W9Q5A)
  
  
• With the exception of the Corsair memory above, which are both verified to work only by customer reviews, the rest of the list have a CAS Latency (CL) value of 11. The lower the CL the better. This is where I am currently stuck in my research. Apple does not publish the latency numbers of their memory, nor have review sites like iFixIt included this information in their teardowns/reviews. Since the above products are similarly priced, except OWC which is way more, I am torn whether or not to take a chance on the higher performing Crucial CL9 or go the safe route with a manufacture verified product. And if I start considered non-manufacture verified products that still meet the spec, that would open up to many more possibilities I don't have time to list here.
  
  Thoughts on CL or which one of the above seems best?
  

>Had some offers but none went through so dropped down a bit

Likely because it's $118 on Amazon right now? Might take more to entice people to buy from an individual since Amazon has an excellent return policy and free shipping as most people have Prime. Good luck!

Here's what I would do: MSI Krait edition motherboard + Corsair Dominator Platinum Series RAM sticks. It is a better overclocking mobo and you get the style points for a black/white build. Also, the RAM is faster so you're a little bit more futureproofed. The Cryorig H7 is replacing the 212 in terms of the go-to air cooler, otherwise the Corsair water cooling kit is a great option as well (also fits color scheme). I'm personally recommending 240GB since I've filled up my 120GB with games and programs twice now before I had to do some cleaning. I also like this case better, plus you can remove drive bays to make room for larger GPUs, if you are still undecided about which one you want. I wouldn't worry about M.2, I got that SSD and never ended up using it. If you do end up building this, please do take pics :)

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Type|Item|Price

----|:----|:----
CPU | Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor | $345.99 @ 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
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
Video Card | Sapphire Radeon RX 480 8GB Video Card |-
Case | Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case | $54.99 @ Amazon
Power Supply | EVGA SuperNOVA G2 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply | $89.99 @ Amazon
| Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts |
| Total | ~$903.80
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-07-14 19:36 EDT-0400 |

Just bought a 4K TV, GTX 970 can't handle all games in 4K. Decided to return it for refund (is the deal still on the table?) and upgrade to a GTX 1080.

Anyway, when is the perfect time to return so that I can have money by Cyber Monday or Black Friday? Also, do I have to adjust my PC to a certain setting to use the integrated Intel graphic card?

Also, what is the difference between the gajillion types of GTX 1080s? eg this¹, this², and this³.

Finally, is Zotac good? Or is it better to spend a bit more for the more popular brands? Good?. What about this?

1. When's the best time to return so that I'd have the money by Cyber Monday?
   
2. How can I switch to Intel graphics so that I can use the PC without any graphic card?
   
3. What's the difference between the aforementioned types of GPUs?
   

4. Can you recommend Zotac?
   

   
   

   Edit: Here's my build. Is there any particular GPU you can recommend based on it? Any notes on the upgrade?
   

   
   

   PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant
   

   
   

   Type|Item|Price
   

   ----|:----|:----
   CPU | Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor | $235.89 @ OutletPC
   Motherboard | Asus Z97M-PLUS Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard |-
   Memory | Kingston HyperX Fury Black 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory | $32.98 @ Newegg
   Storage | Crucial M500 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive | $103.14 @ Amazon
   Storage | Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive | $67.99 @ SuperBiiz
   Video Card | EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB ACX 2.0 Video Card | $409.93 @ Amazon
   Power Supply | EVGA 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply | $43.33 @ OutletPC
   Optical Drive | Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer | $18.88 @ OutletPC
   Operating System | Microsoft Windows 8.1 32/64-bit | $104.88 @ OutletPC
   Wireless Network Adapter | Gigabyte GC-WB867D-I PCI-Express x1 802.11a/b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi Adapter | $29.89 @ OutletPC
   | Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts |
   | Total | $1046.91
   | Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-09-07 13:17 EDT-0400 |

This is excellent information, thank you. It's been a bit overwhelming looking at all the mods out there which are a "definitely do this before you print anything or you'll burn your house down" and "this helps but can probably wait for now".

I've already soldered the wires to the heated bed and started installing a mosfet for the bed as well. (Sounds like one isn't really needed for the hot end?)


Do I need something like the 500w ATX PSU, or can I get away with something like this (recommended by the Punished Props Anet safety upgrade page)

Can you tell me more about that fix for the heater block with kapton tape? I saw it recommended that I switch to one of these? (recommended by the letsprint3d.net Anet safety mods page)

Hey /u/MattLDesigns - Dude. I just wrote a long response to you in your other post...

It's not good Rediditiquette to start a NEW post on the SAME subject.

It's confusing for the people who are trying to help you, OK?

Glad you found it's the power supply. But did you find out WHY it blew? I'm a Electronics Tech. You found a symptom, not necessarily the cause.

These power supplies do, indeed sometimes just self combust. They don't use the highest grade parts in these machines :-(

But you need to take a good hard look at the wiring and get someone with electronics repair experience to check the bed heater board. If THAT board shorted out, it would take out the power supply like this.

You get a new one, carefully transfer the wires, put it together and POOF! ZZZxZZtt! Blown power supply again.

You would be less than happy I'm sure ...!

You said the voltage is 220 there. Did you make sure the switch on the side of the power supply was set to that?

Also, that means you're not in the US, so this link is of limited use, but I'm sure Amazon or Ebay can get you the same thing.

Replacement power supply: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00D7CWSCG

Let me know if you need any help, OK?

PuterPro

unless you're going for 144Hz, 2700x is better. sure you lose 5-10 fps, but when your average is 120, and you have a freesynz 75hz panel, it doesn't make a difference.

Lookit, this deal right here. 100 USD less than i5, let's say god B450 or X470 is 50 USD more, that still leaves you with 50 bucks to spend on gamepad, better screen or beer.

​

Don't get me wrong, 6 core i5's are AMAZING, but their price is shit right now. I mean 8400 (in my region) went from 200USD to 250USD (tax included) in less than a month, while 2600 is was 200 and still is 200USD, offers 2 times more threads, and platform itself has better upgrade path (AMD will do their Zen2 7nm for AM4 socket).

i5's are great, but you're being a fanboy right here.

It means you'll spend more money in the long run, but if you're planning on doing a full new system build in the near-ish future anyway, and if you can get a pair of them for $600, I'd say go for it. Honestly SLI 980Ti's aren't exactly weak either. They'll be about the same performance as a single 1080 so long as the game supports SLI.

Hold on I'm pretty sure 1080s are down to about $600 for an overclocked version. If they're the same price I would DEFINITELY go for a single 1080.

I would recommend this RAM.

The 1815+ can recognize the full amount and it can be useful in multiple transcoded streams.

I would get a router that supports the link agreggation capabilties of the 1815+

Don't forget an uninteruptable power supply.

For drives, I would probably go with HGSTs. This is of course based on backblaze's data, but it appears that some of the failure rates are changing, so you may want to look into that.

8 (plus one or two on hand for failures) is a huge chunk of change. I recommend watching hard drive prices on camel,camel,camel for price drops.

Welcome to the world of Synology. They are fucking awesome.

Here is a thing that a lot of people seem to be missing out. Your CPU doesn't support higher speed RAM sticks. It supports dual channel at 2667MHz MAX. So you need a CPU that can support higher speed, because AMD LOOOOOOOOOVES RAM. Your motherboard supports up to 3200 MHz OC. The second thing is that you need two exactly matching sticks in order to get the most of your dual channel.

So my suggestion if you are on a budget (because everything else you have seems good) is to do this:

1. Change your CPU to a Ryzen 5 2600 (or 2600X) - there are a lot of great deals right now ( https://www.amazon.com/AMD-Processor-Wraith-Stealth-Cooler/dp/B07B41WS48 ). This CPU supports up to 3000MHz dual channel RAM and has better processing power than the one you have.
   
2. Buy the exact same 8GB or 16GB RAM stick you already have - make sure they are exactly the same. Even though 32GB is going to be overkill at least you will get the most of your dual channel. IF you can't find anything then get a 2x8GB or 2x16GB kit @ 3000MHz.
   
3. Sell the CPU and the left-over ram stick to get some money back.
   
   N.B. Do not add the extra RAM into your matching kit on the board. You will jeopardise dual channel.
   
   Good luck and don't forget to update your drivers

I as well just bought this case this week. same sale . And for $40 off how can you say no. It has all features you'd ever want and more.

Plenty of room and looks great in your house. 3 WHITE LED's make everything look awesome. Keeps the temps nice. Even though it isn't very neccessary since i dropped about $70 on a Noctua NH - D14 It keeps my temps nice and low.

Great Buy +1

Thank you for replying. I think I will just return both my 1080s and get the Xp since it is the same price. Is the Titan Xp different than the other Titans? When I look at the prices on Amazon compared to the Nvidia link you graciously provided, the price difference the X (very expensive) and the Xp (cheaper) is astounding.

I am going to order the Xp now. Thank you for linking me to it. Is this CPU good enough for the Titan?: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MXSI216/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Here is my build list formated for reddit

Group | Name | Price | Quantity | Total | Link
--- | --- | --- | --- | --- | ---
Pc | (Everything Inside the case) | | | |
$1,601.62 | Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor | $347.00 | 1 | $347.00 | https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B012M8LXQW/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
| Cooler Master Hyper D92 54.8 CFM Rifle Bearing CPU Cooler | $44.80 | 1 | $44.80 | https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00NXLYE4G/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
| Gigabyte GA-Z170X-UD5 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard | $171.49 | 1 | $171.49 | https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B012N6EW6G/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1
| Corsair Vengeance LPX 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR4-2666 Memory | $129.99 | 1 | $129.99 | https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00OTJZTZE/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1
| Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive | $97.99 | 1 | $97.99 | https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00OAJ412U/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
| Hitachi HD​S723020BLA​642 | $58.00 | 3 | $174.00 | EBay
| EVGA GeForce GTX 1070 8GB FTW Gaming ACX 3.0 Video Card | $459.99 | 1 | $459.99 | https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01I60OGUK/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
| EVGA 850W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply | $90.39 | 1 | $90.39 | https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00KYK1CC6/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
| XFX AMD Radeon HD 5450 1GB | $29.99 | 2 | $59.98 | https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005IUW7YE/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
| PWM Female to 4 x PWM Male Computer Case Fan Splitter | $6.50 | 2 | $13.00 | https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DYQRFY6/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
| Sabrent 2.5" SSD & SATA Hard Drive to Desktop 3.5" | $12.99 | 1 | $12.99 | https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00UN550AC/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
| 80MM 5000RPM Fan | $0.00 | 2 | $0.00 |
| 92MM 5000RPM Fan | $0.00 | 4 | $0.00 |
Monitors | | | | |
$744.66 | Seiki Pro SM28UTR 28-Inch 4K UHD 3840x2160 | $195.69 | 1 | $195.69 | https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B013XWQF28/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1
| AOC e2460Sd 24-Inch Widescreen LED Monitor | $142.99 | 3 | $428.97 | https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00C99MUHQ/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
| Dell 17" 5:4 | $30.00 | 4 | $120.00 | EBay
Cables | | | | |
$137.77 | Cable Matters Gold Plated DisplayPort to DisplayPort Cable 10 Feet | $11.99 | 1 | $11.99 | https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005H3Q5E0/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
| Cable Matters Active DisplayPort to DVI Male to Female Adapter | $19.99 | 2 | $39.98 | https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00EDT01TO/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
| DVI Male to Female 90 Degree Adapter Connector | $4.43 | 3 | $13.29 | https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008X0ZJZ0/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
| 15ft 28AWG CL2 Dual Link DVI-D Cable - Black | $10.47 | 3 | $31.41 | https://www.monoprice.com/product?c_id=102&cp_id=10209&cs_id=1020902&p_id=2760&seq=1&format=2
| 15ft Super VGA M/M | $5.69 | 4 | $22.76 | https://www.monoprice.com/product?c_id=102&cp_id=10201&cs_id=1020101&p_id=3622&seq=1&format=2
| 15ft USB 2.0 A Male to A Female Extension | $1.87 | 5 | $9.35 | https://www.monoprice.com/product?c_id=103&cp_id=10303&cs_id=1030304&p_id=5435&seq=1&format=2
| 25ft hdmi cable | $8.99 | 1 | $8.99 | https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00SKVMHI4/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Desk Accesseries | | | | |
$263.49 | Perixx PX-5200 Cherry MX Blue | $72.91 | 1 | $72.91 | https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00NY45NCY/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
| Logitech C310 Webcam | $31.93 | 1 | $31.93 | https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003LVZO8S/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
| Lapel Mics | $6.50 | 1 | $6.50 | https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005DJOIHE/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o08_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1
| FingerPrint Reader | $12.58 | 1 | $12.58 | https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000HHHP7C/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
| Mouse Pad | $8.99 | 1 | $8.99 | https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00GB0IF50/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
| Headset Func HS260 | $79.99 | 1 | $79.99 | https://www.amazon.com/FUnc-FUNC-HS-260-1ST-fUnc-HS-260/dp/B00HH3H83U
| Altec ACS 54 - Speaker | $0.00 | 1 | $0.00 |
| Logitech G700S | $50.59 | 1 | $50.59 | https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BFOEY3Y/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Audio Accesseries | | | | |
$58.33 | BEHRINGER MICROAMP HA400 | $24.99 | 1 | $24.99 | https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000KIPT30/ref=od_aui_detailpages00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
| 5-Pack 6.35mm Male to 3.5mm Female Adapter | $7.99 | 1 | $7.99 | https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00XAQD4YA/ref=od_aui_detailpages00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
| 3.5mm Male to 2 x 3.5mm Female Splitter Cable | $3.99 | 1 | $3.99 | https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0081ZBNI4/ref=od_aui_detailpages00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
| Coupler 3.5 mm Female - 3.5 mm Female Stereo or Mono | $3.93 | 1 | $3.93 | https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000068O4N/ref=od_aui_detailpages00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
| 3 feet Slim 3.5mm Stereo Audio Cable - M/M | $2.71 | 2 | $5.42 | https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004G3UK5C/ref=od_aui_detailpages00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
| 3-Feet 3.5mm Stereo Male to Female Extension Cable, 5-Pack | $12.01 | 1 | $12.01 | https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00SWOJLSS/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Lighting | | | | |
$86.88 | Studio Designs Swing Arm Lamp Black | $24.75 | 2 | $49.50 | https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00I2S7MHQ/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
| Lutron TT-300NLH-BL Credenza Lamp Dimmer Black | $14.83 | 1 | $14.83 | https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00024BJZE/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
| Triple Outlet Swivel Adapter, White | $3.27 | 1 | $3.27 | https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000HJBENG/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s02?ie=UTF8&psc=1
| Daylight LED Light Bulb 15W | $9.64 | 2 | $19.28 | https://www.walmart.com/ip/Great-Value-GVRLA1850ND-Great-Value-LED-15W-A19-Light-Bulb/38596922
Cable Managment | | | | |
$18.81 | 100 Velcro Ties | $5.00 | 2 | $10.00 | https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001E1Y5O6/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
| 100 Releasable cable ties | $2.47 | 3 | $7.41 | https://www.monoprice.com/product?c_id=105&cp_id=10520&cs_id=1052012&p_id=5795&seq=1&format=2
| Cable Clip nais | $0.70 | 2 | $1.40 | https://www.monoprice.com/product?c_id=105&cp_id=10520&cs_id=1052006&p_id=5834&seq=1&format=2
Power | | | | |
$53.13 | Monster MP AV 750 Audio Video PowerCenter | $18.99 | 1 | $18.99 | https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004ETIKH8/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
| AmazonBasics 6-Outlet Surge Protector Power Strip 2-Pack | $12.99 | 1 | $12.99 | https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00TP1BWMK/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1
| 3 Outlet Single-Tap Wall Tap | $4.00 | 2 | $8.00 | https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007XQORTO/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
| 15ft 16AWG Power Cord Cable | $5.20 | 1 | $5.20 | https://www.monoprice.com/product?c_id=102&cp_id=10228&cs_id=1022801&p_id=5287&seq=1&format=2
| 10ft 18AWG Right Angle Power Cord Cabl | $2.65 | 3 | $7.95 | https://www.monoprice.com/product?c_id=102&cp_id=10228&cs_id=1022809&p_id=7677&seq=1&format=2
Network | | | | |
$33.98 | TP-LINK 8-Port Gigabit Desktop Switch | $22.99 | 1 | $22.99 | https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001EVGIYG/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
| 5-Pack, Cat6 Ethernet Patch Cable in Blue 3 Feet | $10.99 | 1 | $10.99 | https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00C2B81K6/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Monitor Mount | | | | |
$215.27 | Arm wall mount | $17.54 | 3 | $52.62 | https://www.monoprice.com/product?c_id=109&cp_id=10828&cs_id=1082821&p_id=12232&seq=1&format=2
| Top wall mount bracket | $4.80 | 4 | $19.20 | https://www.monoprice.com/product?c_id=109&cp_id=10828&cs_id=1082821&p_id=3005&seq=1&format=2
| Center Monitor Mount | $7.99 | 1 | $7.99 | https://www.monoprice.com/product?c_id=109&cp_id=10828&cs_id=1082821&p_id=4564&seq=1&format=2
| 2x8 | $7.47 | 3 | $22.41 | https://www.lowes.com/pd/Top-Choice-Common-2-in-x-8-in-x-10-ft-Actual-1-5-in-x-7-25-in-x-10-ft-Lumber/4082916
| 2x4 | 2.55 | 1 | $2.55 | https://www.lowes.com/pd/Common-2-in-x-4-in-x-8-ft-Actual-1-5-in-x-3-5-in-x-8-ft-Stud/1000074211
| 3" clamp | $5.98 | 6 | $35.88 | https://www.lowes.com/pd/IRWIN-QUICK-GRIP-3-in-Clamp/50214643
| 4" Hinge | $2.81 | 2 | $5.62 | https://www.lowes.com/pd/Gatehouse-4-in-H-Oil-Rubbed-Bronze-Interior-Exterior-Mortise-Door-Hinge/4772785
| Wood Screws | $9.00 | 1 | $9.00 | Lowes
| Assorted brackets/hardware | $25.00 | 1 | $25.00 | Lowes
| Case Rack Mount | $35.00 | 1 | $35.00 | EBay
Misc | | | | |
$35.97 | Steam Link | $19.99 | 1 | $19.99 | https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B016XBGWAQ/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
| Bluetooth Adapter | $7.99 | 1 | $7.99 | GRANDCOW Bluetooth 4.0 USB Adapter Dongle for Windows 10/ 8.1 / 8/ 7 / Vista / XP
| 19 Key Numeric Keypad | $7.99 | 1 | $7.99 | https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005DJSAAU/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Gigabyte GA-Z170-HD3

ATX, Z170 (which supports Intel K-series overclocking), and supports AMD Crossfire (which is AMD equivalent of SLI). It's $90 on Amazon.

B150M Mortar

Sub-$100, but MicroATX. It has Crossfire support, but it'll be a tight fit on MicroATX.

Also, as /u/Panayotes mentioned, ASRock motherboards are usually sub-$100 with features that over-$100 motherboards would have.
Just search for ASRock motherboards with LGA1151 socket and Crossfire compatibility in PCPartPicker.


To answer your question, no. The RX 480 is supposed to consume 150W of power, so two would take around 300. A 750W power supply would be needed for peace of mind with 2x RX 480s.

A 650W power supply could work, but I wouldn't recommend it. And, if you're even considering using 2x 480s, you may as well buy a GTX 1070. That would work much more comfortably at 650W.

Thank you for doing this. /u/chopdok recommended I keep the CPU and just upgrade the rest.

quoting this:

>?1) Get her a new GPU. GTX 1060 or RX 480, depending on whether you prefer AMD or nVidia.

>2) Get her an SSD. 240GB would be good.

>3) Might as well grab 8GB of DDR3 RAM while at it.

>4) Grab a CPU cooler while at it. Nothing fancy, Cooler Master TX3 would do just fine, I doubt she or you are into overclocking.

>4) Open up the rig, and before putting in the upgrades - clean everything(that is not being replaced) thoroughly.

>5) Do a clean install of Windows 10 OS on that new SSD.

>6) Run an anti-virus scan after everything is done.

Would you recommend this?

I found these parts for what he recommended

GPUS:

https://www.amazon.com/MSI-GAMING-GeForce-GTX-1060/dp/B01IEKYD5U/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1473727662&sr=1-1&keywords=gtx+1060

Or (I dont know what the difference in these 2 would be?)

https://www.amazon.com/EVGA-GeForce-Support-Graphics-06G-P4-6161-KR/dp/B01IPVSGEC/ref=sr_1_2?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1473727662&sr=1-2&keywords=gtx+1060

SSD:

https://www.amazon.com/Kingston-Digital-SSDNow-SUV400S37-240G/dp/B01FJ4UL2S/ref=sr_1_2?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1473727776&sr=1-2&keywords=SSD+240

Ram:

https://www.amazon.com/Kingston-HyperX-FURY-2x4GB-1600MHz/dp/B00J8E93G6/ref=sr_1_5?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1473727856&sr=1-5&keywords=8GB+of+DDR3

Cooling fan:

https://www.amazon.com/Hyper-TX3-Cooler-Direct-Contact/dp/B005HIRDUA/ref=sr_1_11?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1473727966&sr=1-11&keywords=CPU+cooler

Is this ok to do as it would cost less? Would this still provide good performance and a big upgrade on the current rig? Or would you recommend just upgrading fully?

Then definitely go with AMD if you're on such a budget. Something like this would be awesome for a budget build, and even go for that based on upcoming deals.

Note that you're not limited to Amazon as a vendor or those exact CPU's. That's just to give you an idea.

I am pretty new to this and only starting researching and learning under 2 months ago. That's my build so far and I probably spent around your budget if you exclude that GPU not accounting for Windows and monitor. This subreddit has been awesome for me finding deals. My build isn't done and things marked purchased with price are stuff I found through here while the rest is to be determined.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Type|Item|Price

----|:----|:----
CPU | AMD - Ryzen 5 2600 3.4GHz 6-Core Processor | Purchased For $204.87
Motherboard | Gigabyte - B450 AORUS PRO WIFI (rev. 1.0) ATX AM4 Motherboard | $139.99 @ Amazon Canada
Memory | Corsair - Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory | Purchased For $177.74
Storage | Kingston - A400 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive | $33.75 @ Vuugo
Storage | Crucial - MX500 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive | Purchased For $111.87
Storage | Seagate - Barracuda 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive | Purchased For $0.00
Storage | Seagate - Barracuda 750GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive | Purchased For $0.00
Video Card | Sapphire - Radeon RX 580 8GB NITRO+ Video Card | Purchased For $365.64
Case | Phanteks - ECLIPSE P400S ATX Mid Tower Case | Purchased For $96.04
Power Supply | SeaSonic - 520W 80+ Bronze Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply | Purchased For $61.82
Operating System | Microsoft - Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit | $119.50 @ Vuugo
Monitor | BenQ - GW2270 21.5" 1920x1080 60Hz Monitor | $109.99 @ Amazon Canada
| Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts |
| Total | $1421.21
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-10-30 23:41 EDT-0400 |

If you are regularly using Photoshop and Lightroom adding memory will definitely help. The SSD will help speed up opening programs/boot times/saving files/etc. The additional RAM will allow you to work on larger image files in PS and LR without slowing down. You can adjust the amount of RAM they use but honestly the more you can allocate the merrier.

I have my 2009 MBP setup in a similar fashion. 120GB SSD in main slot and 500GB 7200RPM HDD in an optical disc adapter. Basically anything I'm working on I move to the SSD and archive on the HDD when finished. I backup both via a USB HDD on my AirPort Extreme.

For $200 you can definitely do a decent upgrade.

SSD
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00OAJ412U/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1458022514&sr=8-1&pi=SX200_QL40&keywords=250gb+ssd&dpPl=1&dpID=319X5owiyFL&ref=plSrch

RAM
http://www.amazon.com/Crucial-DDR3L-1600-SODIMM-Memory-CT2K8G3S160BM/dp/B008LTBJFW

Optical adapter for mine was ~$10 and required electrical tape to hold in place. Probably a little more expensive/better option. lol.

honestly monitor just get BenQ XL2720Z 27 inch is all u need more than that is just too fucking big, its the best out there right now for a good price, I just got it like 2 weeks ago and its fucking epic also i7 6700K is one of the best processors out there, and maybe a NVIDIA GTX 10 series and u r ready to go fam

I got pretty lucky with no backlight bleed and minimal IPS glow. TBH right now everything I read before I bought it the Acer predator series and the Asus series g-sync monitors are pretty equivocal in terms of performance and quality so I would just base your decision between the two brands off of the stand/design you like better.

Yeah with a 60" desk you should be fine (even more-so if you mount the monitor with the VESA mount and get rid of the huge stand).

Other than that the rest of your build looks good. The PSU could be downgraded to save some money but I'm a pretty firm believer in investing in a good quality PSU that will last you several builds which yours is - on the wattage side I also wouldn't want to go lower than 650 with a 1080TI because then you'd have little headroom if you want to overclock etc.

I would get a different CPU cooler though. Something like:

https://www.amazon.de/dp/B002VKVZ1A?psc=1

Slightly more expensive but much better performance (best for an aircooler). And since your case doesn't have a glass side panel the ugly noctua colors won't show =P

Are you aiming for a specific budget? Under $500?

You should really consider getting an SSD. You can get 500 GB SDDs under $150 now. 3x as much as the 1TB HDD you have listed, but its worth it.

This Corsair liquid CPU cooler is only $10 more than that bulky heat sink.

That CPU has some bang for the buck, but will be better suited for programs that are optimized for multi-core CPUs. Anything that relies on single core performance would benefit from a better CPU.

For $40 for 8GB of RAM, I'd double it, but that's just my opinion.

I decided to try building an entry PC based on the sales on this site, this is what i have so far.

This ebay coupon still works for me – $20 off $75 ebay purchase

Part|Choice|Store|Cost|Thread

--|:--|:--|--:|:--
CPU|I3-6100.|Ebay|$156-$36=$120|Thread
Mobo|Gigabyte GA-H110M-A|Amazon|$65-$10= $55|Thread
Ram|8GB DDR4 2400Hz|Amazon|$75-$25= $60|None.
GPU|GTX 1050Ti|Ebay.|$215-$45=$170|Thread
Case|Bitfenix Comrade Black Window ATX Mid|NCIX|$104-$69= $35|None
PSU|Corsair Builder Series Modular CX550M|Canada Computers|$90-$15-$20MIR= $55|Thread
Drive|250GB 850 evo SSD|Newegg.ca|$190-$80=$110|None
Total| | |$505-$20MIR=$485|


I used the GTX 1050Ti because people at this pricerange (Like myself) just want good cheap 1080p@60hz performance, without worrying too much about stats, or $/FPS ratios. I did see a couple other options though, either up or down ~$50 will both get you great cards for the money, letting you fiddle with the build to match your budget.

Part|Choice|Store|Cost|Thread

--|:--|:--|--:|:--
GPU|Zotac GTX 1050 Mini|The Source|$150-$25Coupon=$125|Thread
GPU|Asus Strix RX 470|Canada Computers|$275-$15-$30MIR=$230|Thread


For people who don’t have a PC already, or even just want to upgrade

Part|Choice|Store|Cost|Thread

--|:--|:--|--:|:--
Monitor|Samsung 22” FHD TN | Visions.ca|$180-$81=$99|Thread
OS|Windows 10 free trial|Microsoft.com|$0|None|
HDD|Seagate Baricuda 7200RPM|NCIX|$150-$50=$100|Thread

I used the free trial for about 6 months while saving up after buying my PC, everything works fine as long as you’re ok with not being able customize, and having a watermark in the bottom right. Unless they patched it, you can even change the wallpaper through the browser.

Before worrying about all that, I would try a pci-e usb 3.0 expansion card if you're having issues with the USB3 built in hardware on your motherboard. IMHO the FX-8300 would be fine still as long as you're doing your encoding via a capture card, or via something like NVENC. I don't know that I would trust it with software encoding while gaming. Benchmark-wise, multi-core on the FX-8300 is pretty similar to an i5 4570, which is still pretty capable for the most part.

Something like this may work as long as you have an empty pci-e slot. https://www.amazon.com/Inateck-Superspeed-Ports-PCI-Expansion/dp/B00FPIMICA/

Caveats: 1) No real hardware upgrade, which can be both a good and bad thing. 2) System still not technically supported by Elgato.

Other notes: The latest "high-end" AMD CPUs to use DDR3 were the FX series I believe, and I currently use an FX-8300 in my home fileserver, and an i5 4590 in my gaming PC. The latest generation of Intel that used DDR3 was the 5th gen (i3,i5,i7 5xxx), which are fairly rare in desktop form, the latest generation mainstream was the 4th gen, which is really very similar to the 8-core FX series performance-wise, with the i5/i7 of that generation having the slight (in the case of i5) to slightly greater (in the case of i7) edge over the FX 8-cores.

Realistically you're probably looking into new ram/cpu/motherboard if you chose to upgrade to get any reasonable performance boost, everything else would likely be compatible, as expansion cards like graphics cards, other things like power supplies and hard drives and dvd drives, haven't really changed in regards to how they connect to the motherboard.

Yikes my dude. You did exactly what I told you not to do. Go back and reread my post. It says everything I would respond to this with.

But you say you pissed people off? I don't know that others are pissed, or at least I am not, I would say it's more of just like, "smh this guy doesn't want to listen to the truth." It's your gpu. Trust me. Or don't trust me, trust someone else in this thread. Not that guy who says to get VanillaFix tho, that doesn't fix the main problem.

I will say it one final time:
It. Is. Your. Lack. Of. Dedicated. GPU.

You do realize that vanilla minecraft uses openGL too, like it's not just mods that use it.

If you want anecdotal evidence then I will give you some. In a new world, max settings(with render distance 16), on minecraft version 1.12, pure vanilla, I get around 150-200fps depending on how fast I fly through the world loading chunks, but if I stand still I get from 200-500fps. Those are the numbers that you should be looking for from vanilla if you want to get runnable ftb packs with large amounts of mods

Now on enigmatica 2, I have to download that, because I still haven't gotten around to doing that for playing it in the first place lol

but before even getting the results from that I can again tell you that it is your gpu. I have a worse and older cpu, but I have an actual dedicated gpu

If you're responding, use something about java code, java optimization, java garbage collection, opengl rendering systems, or another graphics library that you think minecraft uses in your response. If you include none of that I am assuming that either you didn't read all my post just now, or that you don't know enough about those topics to comment. If the later is the case, then you should trust the opinion of those who do know enough about those topics to comment. I happen to know enough about those topics to comment, so trust what I am saying, it's your gpu. Get one.

I've got three suggestions for you:
1080ti: https://www.amazon.com/Nvidia-GEFORCE-GTX-1080-Ti/dp/B06XH5ZCLP
1060 6gb: https://www.amazon.com/MSI-GAMING-GTX-1060-6G/dp/B01IEKYD5U
and the 1050ti 4gb dual fan: https://www.amazon.com/EVGA-GeForce-Support-Graphics-02G-P4-6150-KR/dp/B01M5BQRIO?th=1

three difference price ranges. 230, 330, and 1200

If you want my real opinion, get this one: https://www.amazon.com/ZOTAC-GeForce-256-bit-Graphics-Backplate/dp/B07GG9L5X1

it's comparable to the 1080ti. Or if you want something a little cheaper but better than the 1060 get a 1070

Sorry it took so long!

Plan 1 - a new laptop and a refurbished one: If you want to get the 13 year old something nicer, go for the ThinkPad T450 (NOT T450s) directly from Lenovo's site.

http://shop.lenovo.com/us/en/laptops/thinkpad/t-series/t450/

I'd configure it with i5-5200U, 8 GB RAM, 180 GB SSD (deselect the NGFF), 1080p nontouch display. I'd buy this today, 6 December, as you get significant ($300 ish) savings. It should cost $1020 or so when configured.

Then, for your 6 year old, buy this ThinkPad X201 with Core i5-520M, 4GB RAM, 128GB SSD for $220:

http://arrowdirect.com/lenovo-thinkpad-x201-2-4ghz-intel-core-i5-gen1-128-ssdgb-4096gb.html

Total: $1253.70 plus tax

Plan 2 - Refurbished monsters: I like this plan a little more, but you have to do a bit of work yourself. Buy two of these ThinkPad T430s laptops with i5-3320M, 4GB RAM, 128GB SSD from Arrow Direct:

http://arrowdirect.com/lenovo-t430s-2-60ghz-intel-core-i5-gen3-128-ssdgb-4096mb.html

Then, some upgrades. Buy two of these Crucial BX100 250GB SSDs from Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Crucial-BX100-250GB-Internal-Solid/dp/B00RQA6TEI

(I know that the laptops come with SSDs, but they will be crusty old slow 2011 SSDs). Please don't buy the newer BX200 as they are made cheaply and they are twice as slow.

Also, buy two of these 16 GB RAM kits from here:

http://www.amazon.com/Crucial-DDR3L-1600-PC3-12800-CT2K8G3S160BM-CT2C8G3S160BM/dp/B008LTBJFW/

These will take some time to put together, but they will give you two 3.9 LB monsters.

Total: $990.28 plus tax plus twenty minutes of your time

Plan 3 - The HP route: Buy two of these HP EliteBook 9480M laptops with i5-4310U, 4GB RAM, 180GB SSD from Arrow Direct:

http://arrowdirect.com/hp-compaq-elitebook-folio-9480m-2-00ghz-intel-core-i5-gen4-180-ssdgb-4096mb-5.html

Then buy the same 16GB RAM kits from Amazon. You don't need to replace the SSDs as they are from 2013-2014 and are just as fast as today's SSDs.

Total: $1002.68 plus tax plus ten minutes of your time

Of these three plans, I like Plan 2 the best as long as you have the time (and judging from the fact that you use Gentoo, you should).

Why don't you get a 1440p display, cheaper sata ssd, cheaper cpu and mobo (ryzen 2, since you'd be playing on a higher res than 1080p ryzen 2 won't bottleneck and you won't need an aftermarket cooler) and you can step down to a 600/650w psu

you'll save: $176.88 on the cpu and cpu cooler (you'll also save some on the mobo). you'll save around $30 depending on the sata ssd you get (possibly more). save more than $30 and get this psu. So a total of around $295

you can get an Acer G247HYU for $230, you can find better deals on 1440p monitors tho

You'll get an overall better experience for slightly less money

I have this Asus: http://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CXIY468

and a corresponding i3 CPU.

The noise comes from the GPU fan and the CPU fan. You can make the CPU totally silent with this water block: http://smile.amazon.com/Corsair-Series-Performance-Liquid-Cooler/dp/B00A0HZMGA or choose a traditional CPU fan rated for decent noise levels.

The GPU fan is relatively quiet, it does spin up when you're pushing it, but at idle it's pretty much inaudible.

The CoolerMaster110 has a large 120mm fan on the intake which I don't hear often. And of course, the last fan you have to worry about is the power supply; if you're using a modern PSU from a reputable manufacturer shouldn't be a problem, most reviews take noise into account so finding a quiet one is relatively easy.

You could also spend more on things like a fanless power supply: http://1www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151099 but I've not needed to go that far.

It's much quieter than an XBox 360, but I don't have a frame of reference for comparisons to an XBone or PS3/4.

Power Supply

Graphics Card

Ram

CPU

Comes out to about $405. To be honest I’d recommend a new build completely. That case doesn’t have very good airflow, and I’m guessing HP has a pretty cheap motherboard in it too. But obviously you’re just trying to upgrade on a budget so this should be good. You could opt out of getting the CPU if you wanted to save some money if you wanted.

Hey here is the build of my upgraded PC. I have move from the Dell XPS 15 Laptop to a custom built PC. Please check out the video and let me know what you think. I have given the list of parts I used for the build down bellow. I have also provided links to where I bought the items.
Thank you for watching. Please like and subscribe for more videos.
Parts:
Graphics Card
ASUS GeForce DUAL-GTX1060--O6G 6 GB Graphics Card - Silver
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01IPFN7UQ/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Processor
AMD Ryzen 7 1700 65 W 8/16 Core 3.7 GHz 4 MB CPU - Black
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B06WP5YCX6/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Motherboard
Asus ROG STRIX B350-F Socket AM4 AMD B350
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B072C6VPZJ/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Ram
Corsair CMR16GX4M2C3000C15 Vengeance RGB 16 GB
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B06XRFNWHK/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

SSD
WD Black WDS512G1X0C 512 GB PCIe High-Performance NVMe SSD Solid State Drive
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01MR4VOBZ/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Power Supply
Corsair TX-M Series 650 Watt 80 Plus Gold Certified PSU
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B06WVWXPVZ/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Optical Drive
G GH24NSD1 Internal DVD Burner https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00A6S6VKE/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Case
Game Max Titan PC Gaming Case with 2 x RGB Front Fan, 1 x Rear Fan and Remote Control - Black https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0713M89C2/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Monitor
Dell SE2416H - LED monitor - Full HD (1080p) - 24" - with 3-Years Advance Exchange Service
https://www.pcworldbusiness.co.uk/catalogue/item/P231551P?awc=2371_1537287498_94d051edd1a62c40b61c45d59240c0fa&utm_source=PCPartPicker&utm_medium=Affiliate&utm_campaign=Affiliate

WIFI
Wireless USB WiFi Adapter AC 600Mbps Dual Band 2.4G/150Mbps + 5.8G/433Mbps with High-gain Antenna
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B072FJS5MT/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Windows
Windows 10 home & professional both 32 64 Bit Bootable recovery usb flash drive stick
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Windows-professional-Bootable-recovery-flash/dp/B07D2YMJVB/ref=sr_1_13?ie=UTF8&qid=1537287616&sr=8-13&keywords=windows+10

I'd say it all depends on your budget and how much extra work you're willing to do. Air coolers require a lot less maintenance and have fewer points of failure, so can be seen as a bit safer. The Dark Rock 4 is a good one, although if you're up in that price range I'd recommend anything from Noctua. Their stuff is bulletproof, the build quality is incredible. The NH-D14 is available for the same price as the Dark Rock 4 (the NH-D15 replaced it at a slightly higher cost, I'd go for that if you want the best of the best) and I think would be your best bet for air cooling.

However if you're really going after overclocking it as far as possible and you want to have more headroom, then out of what you recommended I'd say to go for the H115i if you're good with paying for it.

Just finished assembling my first build with the help of a friend and my MB is giving me some beep codes that don't seem to correspond to any that are listed on the website (for some reason, the manual doesn't have them listed).

Whenever I turn the computer on, it will proceed to emitt 5 LONG beeps then shut off and boot up again just to beep 5 more times. I am 99% sure it is long beeps because they last just over a second or so each. There is just no way those are short beeps. I have already tried booting without ram and with only 1 of the 2 sticks of ram each. I made sure they were seated properly also. I am just completely out of ideas and the internet seems to have no help.

Here are some of my specs:
MB: https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128843

CPU: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MZZJ1P0/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

RAM: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B013H7Q86C/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Video Card: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01IPVSGEC/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

PSU: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00K85X2AW/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

As everyone else is saying, PLEASE optimize your CPU before anything else. Everything else on your rig is overkilling your Processor while this game is CPU dependent itself. As rekklessisme said, I have almost the identical setup as him and I can say he's telling the truth. This Is one of the best processors i've had by far.

Reply back if you need further help, i'd be happy to assist.

I found similar item(s) posted recently:

Item | Price | When | Vendor

-|:-:|:-:|-:
EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 the one with the blower -|$589.99|5 days ago|amazon
EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 FTW GAMING ACX 3.0, 8GB GDDR5X, RGB LED -|$680|3 days ago|amazon
EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 FTW GAMING -|$679.99|2 days ago|com/EVGA-GeForce-Support-Graphics-08G-P4-6286-KR/dp/B01GAI64GO/
EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 FTW GAMING, 08G-P4-6288-KR, 8GB GDDR5X, HYBRID & RGB LED -|$669.99|today|evga
EVGA GeForce GTX 1080 FTW GAMING-|$629|today|evga

I'm a bot! Please send all bugs/suggestions in a private message to me

Everyone recommending a Ryzen 5 1600 here is crazy. I'm assuming you'll be mainly gaming (no video rendering or editing) and the Ryzen 5 1600 would bottlenec the 1080ti for sure and probably the 1080 also. hat's espcially true for 60fps. My recommendation is a 7700k, or a 7600k if you can't afford the full i7. The 7700k is the decidedly best gaming cpu (and all that anyone pretty much ever needs unless you do professional stuff like 3D modeling) so that would be your best choice.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Intel-i7-7700K-QuadCore-Cache-Processor/dp/B01MXSI216/ref=sr_1_1?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1501964013&sr=1-1&keywords=7700k

https://www.amazon.co.uk/ASUS-1151-PRIME-Z270-Motherboard/dp/B01N1UVO5Y/ref=sr_1_1?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1501964041&sr=1-1&keywords=asus+z270-a

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.

If it's useful, I too just got started, and built a similar drone. When it came to charging, I had to read a ton of stuff. Here's what I did (all non-referral Amazon links. you may find cheaper on banggood if you want to wait forever):

ISDT Charger

12v Power Supply

Balance Charger

To connect these up, it may be useful to have some extra XT60 plugs since the power supply won't have XT60, and neither does the balance charger.

With these optional parts, I was able to make a nice looking (and more safe) charger from the power supply, along with a 3d print available here


Voltmeter

Power plug

I found this to be a pretty fun project, and wasn't as expensive as some options I saw on HobbyKing or everywhere else. To be fair, it wasn't the cheapest option either.

Well price is one of them. Better cooling, however, I personally would save money and put $30 more into your graphics card. That is why I'm suggesting you go with this or some other varient.

https://www.amazon.com/Corsair-Hydro-Performance-Liquid-Cooler/dp/B00A0HZMGA/ref=zg_bs_3015422011_2?
_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=DGSWWNZFJVGEVV31DRF6

That I believe is one of the best 1070's. And it looks great !!! So basically that Asus 1070 comes overclocked already when you open it out of the box. And I believe you could overclock it yourself even more than the stock overclock.

I recently built a new computer with an i7 2600K and the Corsair H80 cooler. I had the cooler for all of a day before the fan control went out. I actually found this out because the fans got REALLY loud. I decided to crack the case to try turning the speed down. At the time I had the computer OC'd to 4.5GHz and was running @ 65C when using torture test in Prime95.

I was very happy with the cooling but could not stand the sound. I built my system around being ultra-quite but powerful and this was a deal breaker. I RMA'd the cooler and after a lot of research decided on the [Noctura NH-D14](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002VKVZ1A. /ref=oh_o00_s00_i00_details). I installed it and under the same benchmark conditions as the H80 I'm at +/- 1C the same temperature and it's VERY QUITE. Surprisingly so for something with a 140mm and 120mm fan on it.

It's roughly the same price as the H80 so if your fan replacement options don't work out I highly suggest the Noctua.

i was having a similar issue but if i were you i would think about just getting this http://www.amazon.co.uk/Inateck-Superspeed-Ports-PCI-E-Expansion/dp/B00FPIMICA/ reason being at least you know you are sorted day one.. nobody wants to get their rift open it up have problems and have to wait another 6 to 10 days for some other delivery and you could just leave these 4 ports just for your rift and have many more usb ports for future use... besides the price is worth insuring you wont be screwed when the guy delivers your rift some morning.. good luck and happy rifting pal :)

>Isn’t that how warranties usually work?

Pretty much, it seems that everything I buy dies right after the warranty period or lasts forever.

I have found a ddr3 compatible motherboard that's in stock, but in Europe (free shipping though):

• https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIAD7H5EX1318
  
  If you want to future-proof your system, you should get DDR4 and a board that supports it like this one (it's even on sale for $45) (Name is GIGABYTE GA-H110M-A):
  
  
• https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16813128873
  
  
• https://www.amazon.com/GIGABYTE-GA-H110M-LGA1151-Intel-Motherboard/dp/B0165YUDTM
  
  And you need ram, so here's a single(you have the ability to add another in the future) 8GB stick from Crucial:
  
  
• https://www.amazon.com/Ballistix-Single-PC4-21300-288-Pin-Memory/dp/B01N5P755B
  
  You could easily sell the ddr3 ram you already have on ebay for $30-$40 if you wanted to recoup the cost of the new stuff.
  
  If you ever plan on getting an overclockable processor, you will need a z170 board to take advantage of it.

He said he used the PcGamer High end build guide with some changes. He swapped the 1080 to a 1070, the SSD's to a 1TB SSD, he changed the case to a MasterCase Maker 5 Mid-Tower and ordered everything form Amazon

So overall I'm guessing this is his build;

• CPU: Intel Core i7-6700K - $350
  
• GPU: GeForce GTX 1070 - $450
  
• Motherboard: Asus ROG Maximus VIII Hero - $215
  
• Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws 4 Series 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 - $145
  
• SSD: 1TB Samsung 850 Evo 2.5-inch SATA - $317
  
• CPU Cooler: Corsair Hydro Series H100i v2 240mm AIO - $97
  
• Optical: LG UH12NS30 - $52
  
• PSU: EVGA SuperNOVA 850 G2 80 Plus GOLD - $141
  
• Case: MasterCase Maker 5 Mid-Tower Case - $178
  
  Coming to a grand total of 1945$ add shipping to that and you're looking at pretty close to 2 grand.
  
  This build is fucking retarded though.
  
  First of all, you can actually buy a a goddamn prebuilt with almost the same specs for about 400$ cheaper. That HP is just the first one I found, there are dozens of other prebuilts ranging from about 400-100$ cheaper with no real performance loss.
  
  Yeah it's a prebuilt and has bloatware and all that shit, but in terms of performance it's actually pretty much equal to the authors build.
  
  Second, you could just go for a more reasonable part list.
  
  Swap the 6700k to an i5 6500 with the stock cooler and you'll cut 250$ from the price.
  
  Even an i5-6600k with a hyper 212 evo would cost you about 260$, saving almost 200$
  
  Swap the ridiculous motherboard to something decent for about 100-150$ and you're saving another 100$ right there.
  
  32 gigs of RAM is overkill, you could easily go for 16GB DDR4 2400, and save another 70$
  
  Dump the optical drive, who the hell watches BD movies on a PC anyways? If you really need a DVD drive they're like 20$
  
  Swap the ridiculously high end case to something like Fractal Design R5 and save another 50$. R5 is still an excellent and fairly high end case, you could easily go for a 50-80$ mid-tower and save 100$.
  
  I would also swap the 1TB SSD to a 256gb SSD and a 2TB mechanical drive which would be about 160-200$ saving him another 100$. but I can at least understand that someone wants the simplicity of just having a single drive.
  
  With a few simple changes he could save about 450-650$ without losing any performance whatsoever in gaming, and that's without hunting for cheaper prices from somewhere that's not Amazon.
  
  He said he paid about 100$ extra to buy everything from Amazon, so with an updated parts list and using PCpartpicker the price drops down to 1171$ so about 770$ cheaper than the authors build and with no real performance loss.

Here is a list of things that people will always need, I understand you can't stock everything as overhead is an issue with retail, and storage as well, but most of these are small enough that they can occupy the shelf space you currently have. As for the larger things, like the 2020 extrusions, you could sell them in common lengths of 500mm and 1000mm and let the customer cut them down to the size they need, or just don't carry these at all. It's not a niche item, but for a retail store like you it would be hard to store and maintain, but man, would it be nice to be able to get those locally if i needed a piece for a project instead of having to wait on mail order.

• PSU 12v/24v
  
• Fans 30mm/40mm in 12v/24v
  
• PEI 200mm, 250mm, 300mm for Deltas and 300x300 for Cartesian, CoreXY.
  
• E3D Hotends
  
  • v6
    
  • Volcano
    
  • Titan Aero
    
  • Nozzle Variety Pack
    
  • Thermistors
    
  • Pro Socks
    
  • Heater Cartridges
    
  • Volcano Nozzles
    
  • Heat Breaks
    
• Boro Glass
  
• Spatulas similar to this style
  
• Plastic Razor Blades
  
• Capricorn PTFE Tubing 1.75/3mm variants
  
• Screws, Cap head, M3, M4, M5 etc.
  
• 2020 Extrusion, 2040 Extrusion etc
  
  this is just a basic list, others have listed other things as well, Steppers, Belts, Pulleys, Bearings etc. If you want 3d printing as a reason for other people to go to your store, these items will satisfy the need. Just keep prices fair, I have no issue paying a bit more compared to amazon to get it today.
  

Why does ChooseMyPC from the sidebar recommend the Gigabyte GA-H110M-A Micro ATX LGA1151 MOBO all the way up to a $2,100 build? Is the mother board really so irrelevant that its worth it to put a $50 MOBO in a $1000+ computer?

I am trying to figure out my first build for a photo/video editing powerful enough for some casual gaming as well. I just want to make sure I have enough space to plug in extra stuff like an internal card reader, plenty of USBs etc.

Thanks!

Edit: my budget is about $1000

I'm a bit of a stickler for aesthetics too. Interestingly enough (though I forgot to mention) I want to do a black/blue setup as well. I'm tempted to do a case with a window so I can showcase some blue LEDs and try to find a cheap liquid cooling solution. I was looking at some of Corsair's but I'm not sure if the quiet model will fit my cooling needs.

I actually have some brand new Audio Technica ATH-M50s that I really like, and they're low resistance so they sound pretty damn good even without a headphone amp. Although incidentally the Scarlett Focusrite does have a built-in headphone amp so that'll get me started on that end. They're closed headphones though so if I'm in the market for opens I'll definitely keep your suggestion in mind!

Well, technically it's a $1056 build and you get some money back after mailing it in and waiting months :S So it's not exactly a fair competition - if my system is allowed the same rule (spending 1060$ upfront) then it beats yours:

|Part type|Name|URL|Price|
|:-|:-|:-|:-|
|motherboard|ASRock B450 Pro4|https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16813157841|88.15|
|processor|AMD Ryzen 5 2600|https://www.amazon.com/-/dp/B07B41WS48/?tag=envybits-20|164.99|
|memory|Team Vulcan 32GB 3000MHz CL16|https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16820313886|159.99|
|video_card|Gigabyte GeForce RTX 2070 Windforce 8GB|https://www.amazon.com/-/dp/B07JBTS8HR/?tag=envybits-20|479.99|
|drive|ADATA XPG SX8200 480GB M.2-2280 SSD|https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIADF17442135|84.99|
|power_supply|EVGA SuperNOVA G3 550W 80+ Gold|https://www.amazon.com/-/dp/B01LWTS2UL/?tag=envybits-20|79.99|
|total|-|-|1058.10|

I mean sure - you would still need to get a case but you could pick that up and decrease amount of RAM to 16GB. But you do get a better SSD and a PSU in this variant.

​

I am not saying this system is perfect or whatever mind you. Just that while it does have hiccups it can build fairly good systems too if you check through other options you are given by it upfront so calling it "random parts" is kinda uncalled for.

Given the fact that you use your PC for many purposes, AMD Ryzen's multitasking capacbilities might come in handy.

This is especially true since it seems from your post that you'll be running Plex in the background while doing something else. Being able to have a few cores dedicated to it while not affecting your workload would surely be beneficial.

If you're willing to wait one week, Ryzen 2 should be out by then. Otherwise, I'd look into the R7 1700. FYI, its price went down to 300$ the other day.

If you want to go intel, I'd go 8700K. Given your workloads, you'll benefit from having more cores/threads.

Not a bad deal. The Ryzen R5-2600 paired with a cheap B450 is probably a smarter way to go. The 2600 is on par gaming wise to the 9400f (especially overclocked) and quite a bit further ahead in in productivity. Also, you'll have an easy upgrade path to Zen 2/3 if/when needed where the 9400f is in a dying socket leaving you in a weird position of having to buy expensive second hand I7's for an upgrade. The Ryzen's extra 6 threads already help now with productivity and will likely help more in gaming long term.

Only $25.00 more..

$184.99 at Amazon.ca

https://www.amazon.ca/AMD-YD2600BBAFBOX-Processeur-RYZEN5-Socket/dp/B07B41WS48

H100i should be good, but you need to make sure you can fit it on your case.

http://www.amazon.de/gp/help/customer/display.html/?nodeId=505554

http://www.amazon.de/Noctua-NH-D14-LGA1366-LGA1156-LGA1155/dp/B002VKVZ1A

Amazon germany will deliver to Belgium for free for orders of 30 euros.

Keep in mind that what you have is essentially a piledriver based CPU that has been overclocked to insane speeds and as such it will consume lots of power and release lots of heat. Generally the CPU throttles at 60-65 degrees and seeing as you are already hitting those and more I would be worried.

Try to do some management to improve airflow as well. At full load that GPU + CPU will be like an ezbake oven in your case.

I mean you have to shop around and see what kind of deal you can get on the different parts. Newegg has deals all the time, amazon may have a cheaper price as well. For instance this board was on sale for $35 a few weeks ago and can support 3 gpus. You would need gpu risers if you have more than one gpu on the board.

Google search around for hashrates of the differ gpus. I know the gtx 1070 are currently one of the best to mine with. The radeon rx 580 are also good as well. The gtx 1060, 1070 and 1080 or the amd rx 470, rx 480, rx 570 or rx 580 are good to mine with. The hardest part is finding them in stock.

Bruh cheapest 1080 in the US is $470 that too on Amazon without sale, going by the ₹65 for a dollar gives about 42% markup, the model you mentioned is about $510 which is about 32% markup. Also 43k is the absolute lowest the price goes here whereas they have sales dropping the prices very low.

Also Ryzen currently is at 25%-35%markup depending on the model(lowest was 1700x at 24%).
The Titan Xp is at about 67% markup (didn't check the year so correct me if I'm wrong)
And also the cheapest 1080 is the mini one, which has clock speed a few mghz higher than fe so if I want something better like more cooling or higher clock speeds and not just the bare minimum I have to shill out 60k to 70k for the Asus ones or even the fe whereas the same card is sold around $550 at newegg which comes with forhonor or ghost recall wildlands free (both worth $60) so while that guy was wrong about the 100% markup you were also being disingenuous with that 43k figure and 18% markup .

Edit - source for prices

[cheapest 1080] (https://m.newegg.com/products/N82E16814126110R)

[1080 mini @$530 with free AAA game] (https://m.newegg.com/products/N82E16814500414)

Ryzen 1700

ryzen 1700x

[1080 founders edition US with free game] (https://m.newegg.com/products/N82E16814487243) vs [1080 FE in your link] (https://www.mdcomputers.in/index.php?route=product/product&path=86&product_id=4594)

Just for the lulz [evga gtx Titan Z india] ( https://www.amazon.in/dp/B00JZ4SN4C/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_JDq.yb95M47JH
) vs [evga gtx Titan Z US] (https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00KU2CVJ6/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1492977634&sr=8-2&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=Evga+gtx+Titan+z&dpPl=1&dpID=51d8u7bQA8L&ref=plSrch)

Edit 2- in the link you provided the 1080 mini is out of stock so the next cheapest one is 44.5k one which is currently at newegg for $470 giving a 47% markup.

The Nvidia Geforce GTX 900 series are the best choices right now. Galax GTX 970 and Gigabyte GTX 970 G1 are the best choises, or if you like the looks of the reference card you can get it from Best Buy if you live in USA, or from here.

What kind of games are you planning to play? A 1060 will be an improvement over the 750 no matter what, but for CPU intensive games like GTA/Witcher you are going to be pretty severely bottlenecked by that CPU.

Anyway, if you decide to buy one I'd definitely recommend the SC model instead - same price, same dimensions but much better cooling. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01KU2CIIY/ref=psdc_284822_t2_B01MF7EQJZ?th=1

I'll leave the PSU recommendations for the US folks.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Type|Item|Price

----|:----|:----
CPU | Intel Pentium G4620 3.7GHz Dual-Core Processor | $92.88 @ OutletPC
Motherboard | ASRock B250M Pro4 Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard | $71.98 @ Newegg
Memory | Patriot Viper 4 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2400 Memory | $56.69 @ Amazon
Storage | PNY CS1311 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive | $49.99 @ Amazon
Storage | Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive | $49.89 @ OutletPC
Video Card | MSI GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 4GB Video Card | $139.99 @ Jet
Case | Deepcool DUKASE V2 ATX Mid Tower Case | $54.99 @ Amazon
Power Supply | EVGA 450W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply | $33.49 @ OutletPC
Operating System | Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit | $88.58 @ OutletPC
Wireless Network Adapter | Gigabyte GC-WB867D-I PCI-Express x1 802.11a/b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi Adapter | $29.99 @ SuperBiiz
Monitor | Asus VH238H 23.0" 1920x1080 Monitor | $100.94 @ Amazon
Keyboard | Logitech K120 Wired Standard Keyboard | $9.99 @ SuperBiiz
Mouse | Gigabyte GM-M6800 Wired Optical Mouse | $14.88 @ OutletPC
| Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts |
| Total (before mail-in rebates) | $814.28
| Mail-in rebates | -$20.00
| Total | $794.28
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-04-04 23:49 EDT-0400 |

- Thermal paste comes pre-applied to the cooler, so you don't need any.

- The G4560 is back ordered everywhere. You can wait and hope you get one within a reasonable time frame or you can just get the G4620 right now.

- Cheaper motherboard.

- Faster RAM since your motherboard supports up to DDR4 2400.

- Downsized the SSD. 120 GB is enough for your most frequently played games and the extra savings goes toward a better graphics card.

- The 1050 Ti is a sizable performance boost and will last you a bit longer due to the 4 GB of VRAM.

- Nicer case. This isn't necessary, but it's not that much more money to get a mid tower with a side window that will look nicer and be easier to build in.

- Cheaper PSU. I would actually recommend getting this PSU as it's just a newer version of the one I put in the build and the price is an absolute steal. I didn't include it in the build because it's not in PCPartpicker's database yet.

Well, what are you working with? I mean what is the model of the computer you have now? Swaps into another case with a new PSU aren't always hard. Sometimes you can get a non standard board in an SFF, other times you can get a nice gem in the rough. The Dell Inspiron 660s comes to mind as an SFF type computer with lots of potential. I've done swaps on HP Media Center PC's as well. Gimme a better idea of what you have and let's weigh some options. If you'd like suggestions for a completely new system that won't break the bank, here's this one:

Phreakwar PC Parts List

Type|Item|Price

----|:----|:----
CPU | AMD Ryzen 5 2600 3.4 GHz 6-Core Processor | $117.68 @ Amazon
Motherboard | Gigabyte B450M DS3H Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard | $72.98 @ Amazon
Memory | Team T-FORCE VULCAN Z 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory | $59.99 @ Newegg
Storage | ADATA XPG SX6000 Pro 256 GB M.2-2280 NVME Solid State Drive | $39.99 @ Amazon
Video Card | MSI GeForce GTX 1660 6 GB VENTUS XS OC Video Card | $198.99 @ B&H
Case | Cougar MX330-G ATX Mid Tower Case | $46.98 @ Newegg
Power Supply | Raidmax Scorpio 535 W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-modular ATX Power Supply | $49.99 @ Amazon
| Total | $586.60
| Generated by Phreakwar PC Custom Builds |

Galax is safe but you can get an RGB EVGA FTW Gaming 1080 for only 20 more dollars on Amazon.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01GAI64GO/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_Swm-ybZVVRHSR

Rest of the build looks great.

SolidWorks, correct me if I'm wrong, is fairly CPU heavy I believe, so you'll want a powerful CPU -- the i7-6700K is the best in the enthusiast grade stuff. [This build combines it with an R9 380 graphics card, and a high-quality PSU] (https://www.theaipc.com/result/c1468166669266). I'd modify the build slightly -- swap out the ASUS motherboard for the cheaper Micro ATX gigabyte board https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0165YUDTM, which will fit with the case.

Then, if you want more disk space, that gives you room to upgrade to the 480GB SSD if you wish. Windows is $85 on Amazon currently, so this build would put you around $1025. A solid build that will edit very well and handle most games on medium to high at 1080p. If you want more gaming pop, consider the RX 480 when it's back in stock.

It was what really started the popularization of VR that we're witnessing now and got myself and many others excited about it. I was already set on getting the CV1 long before the Vive was even announced.

While I'm not overjoyed with some of the business decisions and politics of the company, I've been very satisfied with the product itself. My only significant issue with the Rift that is not something other headsets would also have is that the cloth gets pretty dirty and is more difficult to keep clean than plain plastic.

Some of the concerns others have mentioned are barely issues at all or very easily fixed- the USB number of USB ports needed is fixed with a cheap pci-e usb card, the nose gap can be fixed with some additional foam if it is even an issue at all(it doesn't exist for me). Hoping CV2 has wireless sensors though, that would be neat.

You did a good job. That will work. If you can afford it, add a low capacity SSD to install your OS on, and put everything else on that 1TB HDD. If there's anything I could change, I find MSI to be among the most reputable for most hardware, especially GPU. MSI 1060. That being said, the PNY has solid reviews. The thing to worry about here is longevity. I don't have bad experiences with PNY products, but own few.

I am also wary of ASRock products, particularly mobos. They have been hit and miss from what I have seen, but honestly there is nothing notable I can reference it's not a particularly bad choice. This will be a great build for what you need. Good work.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B079JSKCW3/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B075SBFGRB/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00VB3Y89E/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07BP7RQTT/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B013JPLOQQ/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DJ6A88G/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01LYGFRL6/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06XSMTN31/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0759FTRZL/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01ARGXM0Q/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Total as of right now for available purchase is around $800 with out taxes! I spent $742! I just put things i want into my cart on amazon and when the price drops i buy! I do shop around other websites and amazon still was the better choice and with free non-prime shipping! who cares if it comes two days later than normal. shoot ive had things come after two days with the free shipping.

IKR!?! I got a Samsung 850 EVO 120GB for $50 the other day on Ebay, an RGB/Mechanical Keyboard for $9, I'm eyeing this BUDGET EVGA MODULAR PSU:: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06ZY55HPT/ref=twister_B01G69E69E?th=1

Which is at $50 OR the non modular version for $27 (which I have seen dip to as low as 22) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N9X3F8F/ref=twister_B01G69E69E?th=1

For the case I think I'm gonna go with the P400S, black/white. However not sure if I can get this on sale anytime soon. Phanteks/Bitfenix showcased some pretty dope RGB/TempGlass budget cases @ Computex but they won't be out until Q3.

RAM - well u know, buy whats cheapest

GPU - Aorus RX 570 is the best price/performance for 1080p. but fuck those miners, hope the sweet sweet 4XX sales return but for the 5XX series.

CPU - G4560 or a cheap i5-K processor (Skylake).

Ughh still so much time to wait :/

I've done a tiny tiny bit in C++, but I'm reasonable at basic electronics. If I got like the Arduino Uno Starter Kit would that have enough components to do something fairly similar? I also watched your custom slider video, if I took the components from The Crawler and re did it to work on a slider could I end up with a slider that could do cinematic pan and tilts, but slow enough for timelapse? And using a different program this could then be used at normal speed as well, as you did? Sorry for the barrage, I know relatively little about this, but if I can make something that does both then that'd be pretty ideal.

>I currently have the Intel Core i7 950 3.07GHz (Bloomfield) (https://www.amazon.com/Intel-i7-950-Socket-LGA1366-Processor/dp/B002A6G3V2)

I did bit of digging and it seems that you're right, even though Lightroom is capable of using multiple cores, it seems that it's not quite optimized properly.
I also have to do video editing, but not as much as stills.

This i7-6700 (https://www.amazon.com/Intel-Unlocked-Skylake-Processor-BX80662I76700K/dp/B012M8LXQW) looks like the best option at the moment. An overclocking mobo seems appealing as well, but I would need to upgrade my cooling system as well.

Dude, any chance you could order this card?

It is from Mexican amazon, for some reason the ones in amazon us are more expensive. (first time this ever happened).

I actually bought a ryzen 5 1600 and that card yesterday. The 3gb 1060 should be only about 5% less powerful than the 6gb version in 1080p graphics.

It is more expensive than the 2400g but you would get a much better machine IMHO.


 

Also, like the others said... you do need a cpu to be able to update the firmware to support the 2400g.


You could also try buying an already built pc. PC vendors aren't allowed to mark up their graphics cards so if you buy an already built machine it could be way less expensive than building one yourself.

Edit:

Just tried ordering the 1060 I linked with a US address and it wasn't possible. :(

You could try it out anyway, or maybe use a courier service.

My first thought would be to get these:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01MG9KYCD?psc=1&ref=yo_pop_mb_pd_title

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00DTOAWZ2?psc=1&ref=yo_pop_mb_pd_title

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00XFSNKXS?psc=1&ref=yo_pop_mb_pd_title

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00D7CWSCG?psc=1&ref=yo_pop_mb_pd_title

You’ll get 10 DMX channels of RGB control that can support 10ft of LED strip each. Put a few inches of LED in each lantern then connect to the next, so you’d be able to link together about 15-20 lanterns or more on a single channel. Won’t be “individually” controllable, but you’ll have control over the groups of lights that are connected. Do this for each of the 10 channels and you could easily fill a room.

Super interested to hear everyone else’s approach for this

my computer is currently dying (i think) but it's ok i was planning on updating the cup and stuff but if anyone has some advice i'd appreciate it, currently going to go from a phenom II to an i7 and upgrading my tiny ssd to a 500gb because i'm pretty sure half of my issues are coming from low disk space.

but yeah advice and stuff is welcome as i struggle to find stuff to delete from my computer ;=;

Agree. For budget gaming builds it is better to go with a cheaper processor and better graphics card. A 1060 is going to be a huge difference in comparison to a 1050 Ti which, at least IMO, is shit. GPU prices are high at the moment, and the new Ryzen processors are great deals and are enabling people to get away with spending less on CPUs to compensate.

[EDIT] There are better deals available on a 1060 3GB though. Like here and here and others available on PCPartPicker. There's also a bunch on Jet which usually has a promo code for 15% off for new users which would put the price around $180 $190-200 (max discount is apparently $20).

Also someone downvoted me for providing cheaper options? Seriously?

I've had really great experiences with Amazon Warehouse Used- Like New products, also I believe they have a 1-month no questions asked return/warranty program.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B01GAI64GO/ref=sr_1_1_olp?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1498464130&sr=1-1&keywords=gtx+1080

I included this one even though it's not EVGA or Asus because it's new and very competitively priced when taking into account the recent rise in GPU prices. IMO taking a few hours to paint over the yellow plastic to save $100-200 is a worthy investment. Hope this helps

https://www.amazon.com/ZOTAC-ZT-P10800C-10P-IceStorm-Wraparound-Ultra-wide/dp/B01GCAVRSU/ref=sr_1_4?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1498464130&sr=1-4&keywords=gtx+1080

Luckily it's never been easier to start learning electronics. I know you want hands-on experience but you gotta learn some theory first - I'd recommend a book like Practical Electronics for Inventors to learn the basics (some people swear by The Art of Electronics but it is not a beginners book, rather more of a intermediate-advanced reference). Then something like the Arduino Starter Pack that will start you on the path to building circuits!

Along the way, watching electronics tutorials and teardowns on youtube, and taking apart stuff to see how it works would also really help.

EVGA puts out some great quality ones for really cheap. Here is a great example, if youre not overclocking, bronze are really gonna be the best ones you'll need. Just make sure double check your wattage lines up (you can check that on PCPP)

Just saying, if your looking to sli your rig id recommend the 970's. They have better performance and they are often cheaper that the 780's. I have two 970's in my machine and I can play 4k games on great settings with high fps...

This is the best 970 out there now: http://www.amazon.com/Gigabyte-GeForce-Gaming-GDDR5-Graphics/dp/B00NH5T1MS/ref=sr_1_2?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1426037007&sr=1-2&keywords=gtx+970

I'm trying to decide between these three video cards.

1. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01IEKYD5U/ref=psdc_284822_t2_B071V2N2S6
   
   
2. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071V2N2S6/?tag=pcpapi-20&th=1
   
   
3. https://pcpartpicker.com/product/7RKhP6/gigabyte-geforce-gtx-1060-6gb-windforce-oc-6g-video-card-gv-n1060wf2oc-6gd
   
   These are ones that I'm most likely to buy but would like to get another input as to which would be best to get? Thanks in advance!

good way to save money if you won't be overclocking and want the best stock chip, anyone who isn't aware though, the 1700 is the same chip/silicon as the 1800x , if you get lucky on the silicon you could overclock a 1700 to the same 4.0 Ghz that the others can hit and save money. ( some chips have gone higher, but most cant go beyond 4.0 )

https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B06WP5YCX6/?tag=pcp0f-20
$414 dollars plus taxes

You can easily google a guide to overclock ryzen or get help in reddit

Thanks for the thoughts!

I figure $20 on fans isn't making or breaking the budget regardless, and if I have one or 2 left over as spare parts it's not the end of the world.

Do you think it makes sense to go down to an H170 chipset for the motherboard? Maybe something like this (~$120)

PSU selection has given me the biggest headache as I really don't know what to look for beyond a high enough wattage to support the needs of the machine and an efficiency rating. Detailed guides I've read have thrown me for a bit of a loop. Anything in particular to look for? Does this seem reasonable? Is it more a brand trust thing between SeaSonic and EVGA?

• An SSD would be nice, but I'd look at it as your first upgrade. Alternatively grab a 240/256GB SSD and then grab an HDD when you need to extra space. I'm currently only running a 256GB SSD and while it's pretty full (~80%), I still have 5 games installed on it.
  
  
• A quality 550w PSU is enough for most single cards builds. Next gen cards are more likely to consume less power, not more. There are good 650w options for about the same price though. A 650w GQ would be a good option...
  
  http://www.amazon.com/EVGA-Modular-Crossfire-Warranty-210-GQ-0650-V1/dp/B017HA3SQ8

Consider getting a 1060 instead of a 1050 ti. It is better to upgrade your gpu more than your cpu for gaming as the gpu does most of the work.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01KU2CIIY/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1502923908&sr=8-3&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&keywords=1060&dpPl=1&dpID=51iuKmXAjbL&ref=plSrch&th=1&psc=1

I would get this gpu, a ryzen 3 1200 or a r5 1400 if you can afford it (that would be best), 8 GB (2666mhz or faster) of ram and a b350 motherboard for the best gaming performance

I know you said €500 but maybe you can afford this? https://es.pcpartpicker.com/list/LTxNCy this will be great upgrade maybe you can sell your old parts to help afford the new ones?

How in the world do you all pick a graphics card? I'm going to be purchasing a 1080 I decided, so that part is out of the way. But there are so many different versions from so many vendors. I think I'm pretty set on this one. I've had success with EVGA in the past. There is a similar ASUS STRIX one out there that is also getting good reviews.

So what ultimately leads to your decision making? Is it brand loyalty and some other small features you prefer?

I have a 970 I was supposed to return (Used it a month and then the 10 series came out, amazon authorized the full refund but I never sent it =[ ) that I would probably be willing to part with for a good deal if you're not on the far side of the moon, shipping wise.

It's literally in the original packaging and IIRC should even still have all the original DVI/HDMI/DP plugs that they ship new cards with.

Power supply was 50% off on amazon, perfectly suitable for my needs, already purchased as it was a 3 day sale.

I tried to sell Dad on one 8Gb stick, but he knows my gaming rig has 16Gb and he wants to be cool like me so we splurged for the rest. If my budget was tighter, that would be the 1st thing to go, but we have room to play since we saved alot by not needing an SSD or Case.

Edit: I just realized that the linked Power Supply was actually not the one I purchased, mine has sleeved black cables and is the 450 BT Model which for some reason doesnt show up on PC partpicker.

Why do you have one of the best overclockable cpus of the last 5 years on a locked motherboard!? kidding Makes me want to cry lol

Have you ran the Rift compatibility tool? I'm not concerned with your cpu or gpu at this point, but whether or not your usb 3.0 ports are compatible with the Rift. Also, your motherboard only has two usb 3.0 ports, which is fine for now, but if you want to get Touch down the road, you'll need a third port. Fortunately, an incompatible usb 3.0 controller and/or insufficient ports can be remedied with a usb expansion card that plugs into a pci-e slot.

So with that out of the way, if you want to overclock, unfortunately, there aren't any 1155 mobos still in production that are any good(overclockable + having enough usb 3 ports), and this leaves you with two options:

Go on ebay and search for "1155 motherboard"'s and look for a used one that allows overclocking and has enough usb 3.0 ports(and are hopefully compatible), or keep your current mobo and just get the usb expansion card to add the ports, if you need them.

It'll be a bummer to have to leave your 2600k on its leash, but the latter option is the easiest/cheaper route to take, and, personally, I don't think tracking down a mobo is worth the hassle. As much as I like overclocking, the benefit it brings to gaming is pretty minor.

As far as your GPU goes, I have a GTX 780(2 in SLI, but SLI means moot to VR currently :( ) and am waiting for Nvidia to release their pascal line of cards, which should be revealed in April and released sometime towards the beginning of June. I'm not saying drop $700+ on a new card, but the release of pascal should drop the prices of the 980's for you during the following weeks, so wait until that time, if you can.

So to summarize and add a bit more:

Keep your current mobo, buy an expansion card should your USB 3 controller be incompatible and/or you want to purchase Touch down the road. Your stock 2600k should be okay. Don't buy a GPU now, wait for Nvidia to release their new line of cards and purchase a 980 when the price drops. Once you've done this and you find your CPU isn't cutting it, THEN track down a mobo, buy a cooler(like something from the Corsair Hydro series, they're around $100 and the 1155 brackets are compatible with Skylake should you decide to upgrade later), and overclock it.