As others have said, almost machine will do. however seeing as a desktop PC usually becomes more than just a programming machine, and is often used for general content consumption as well as gaming. I tried to build a fairly decent machine while putting emphasis on sound. So it should be fairly quiet along with being fairly powerful.

CPU: Pretty much anything will do, I'd go for the i5-4570 or the i5-4670k, depending on if you're interested in overclocking. The price/performance ratio is pretty good, and if you want any better you're gonna have to go for the i7-4770 or something like that.

Heatsink: The stock is fine for general purpose stuff, but if you want something better and are willing to invest. Noctua NH-D14 is an excellent heatsink that keeps everything cool and is very quiet as well.

Case: The Fractal Design Define R4 is a great and a common choice, another alternative with similar features is the NZXT H440. They are both great in terms of looks and performance, and are both very quiet as well. They both have some included case fans and filters.

Fans/Filters: Additional case fans provide additional cooling and help in keeping the system fairly quiet. Noctua NF-P12 is a great all around case fan and again, very quiet. In general I'd recommend keeping your rig on a desk or something so that it doesn't colelct as much dust. But you almost always want some dust filters. Pretty much any filters will do but you generally want magnetic filters. Magnetic filters require no tools and attach on pretty much any case. They're easy to take off for cleaning and keep the innards of your rig clean. DEMCI makes some excellent magnetic filters if you need a place to start looking.

Motherboard: ASUS has excellent fan control software on their boards and almost any higher end ASUS board is gonna be great. Personally I'd recommend Asus Z97-Pro which is one of the best mobos I know and has everything you could ever want.

PSU: I almost always recommend Corsair for power supplies, their RM Series PSU's are fantastic and with a zero RPM fan mode are very quiet under normal load. the 550 watt PSU should be enough, maybe even the 450 one.

GPU: You don't need much if it's a pure programming rig, but in general the programming rig becomes "the everyday driver" so it's used for most things including gaming if your brother is into that. If you just want something to plug a monitor into the XFX R7-250A is a good passively cooled card that'll do that. For more performance I'd go for the ASUS GTX 970 StrIx. The GTX 970 provides excellent performance and ASUS' cooler makes it very quiet even under load

RAM: Pretty much anything will do. For a desktop PC that's used for general purpose stuff, I'd say at least 8GB, you can go for more too.

HDD: For general purpose get an SSD. It's much faster and makes less noise thanks no moving parts. Samsung 840 EVO is a good option, and the 250GB drive isn't that xpensive. For mass storage the 2TB Seagate Barracude is a great an affordable option. With a good case that has rubber standings for the HD it shouldn't make much noise either.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Now the peripherals are where you can make programming a lot easier and more comfortable.

Keyboard: A good mechanical keyboard is going to make typing a lot faster and more comfortable. They are a bit loud, but some people like the noise. Now there are three main switch types you'll find:

Blue switches: These have an actuation point, basically you can feel a "click" when the button activates and you hear it as well. These are the loudest switches around.

Brown switches: Almost exactly like blues except a bit quieter

Red switches: These are linear switches, they have no real "point" of actuation that you can feel and rather go linearly all the way to the bottom.

There are other switch types as well, clears, blacks, greens, and some more. They mainly differ in the amount of force required to press the button. Black switches for example are extremely heavy to press. For more info you can head out to /r/MechanicalKeyboards another good things about mechanical switches is that they're very very durable.

Another option would be to go for ergonomic keyboards like the Microsoft Sculpt. Keyboards are a lot about personal preference so ask your brother before getting one.

Another thing would be two monitors. As others have said a dual monitor setup is great for programming and good for general purpose as well. Dell Ultrasharp mmonitors provide pretty much everything you could want. There are a lot of Ultrasharp models but the one I linked is great for it's price. It's 1920x1200 so it offers a bit more than your standard full HD monitor, IPS panel, has a vesa mount and the regular stand has all ergonomic adjustments you could want. most important being pivot, basically the ability to turn your monitor sideways to gain more vertical space which is great for coding.

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With the monitors the whole thing is gonna run you for about 1900$

With some changes you can cut out a 1000$ from the pricetag http://pcpartpicker.com/p/yLjnNG

And if you ditch the 2TB Hard drive you're looking at about 825$ for the whole setup.

None of the stuff I listed above is really required at all, you could get him a 3 year old machine fro 300$ and it'd be fine for regular coding and nonsense like that. But if he wants to do something else on the machine as well, then he might need some more horsepower.

Another option for a dedicated programming machine is a good ultrabook. Like say, Thinkpad x240, slap an i5 there, 8GB of ram and a 256/512 GB SSD, use a HDMI cable to connect it to a larger external monitor and you're golden. Or the Thinkpad X1 carbon, with 8GB of RAM and a good sized SSD. The advantage is that the laptop is much more portable, but on the other hand lacks the raw horsepower of a desktop.

CPU

Mother Board

GPU

8GB of RAM

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Does that "come close without cheating"?

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

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

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

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

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

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

Also, I like your build, but I have a few suggestions

​

CPU - AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz 6-Core Processor

Nice. While the 3700x is clearly better for video editing, better in this case only means that it saves you time. And while time is nice, I think it'd be better to use that $140 towards a second monitor.

​

CPU Cooler - ARCTIC Freezer 34 eSports DUO CPU Cooler

I feel like you would be better off either buying a better cooler or just sticking with the stock cooler, because I don't think this one will let you oc much more than the Wraith.

​

Motherboard - MSI MPG X570 GAMING PRO CARBON WIFI

I don't think your use-case justifies an X570 board, I'd recommend the Aorus Pro with WiFi or the Aorus Elite without WiFi, and I would again say to use the extra $100+ towards that second monitor.

​

Memory - Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory

Nice. 3600 would be better, but if you can't find a 3600 set for a reasonable price, then you can try to manually oc this 3200 set to 3600.

​

Storage - Crucial MX500 500 GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive

This is really important and confused me when M.2 drives first came out. Some SSDs have different physical Form Factors and electrical Interfaces.

Two common Form Factors are 2.5 inch and M.2 - Again, these are just physical, not too much of a difference here other than size.

Two common Interfaces are SATA III and PCIe - This is the important part, because SATA III has a maximum theoretical throughput of 600 MB/s, while PCIe Gen 3 4x has a maximum theoretical throughput of about 4000 MB/s

In this case, the Crucial MX500 is an SSD that uses the M.2 Form Factor and SATA III Interface. If you check it's rated read/write speeds, it's about 560/510 MB/s respectively, which would make sense given that it's SATA III.

But this doesn't mean that all NVMe PCIe SSDs can achieve read and write speeds of 4000 MB/s. This just means that if you see an M.2 SATA SSD, you know that it's not gonna be faster than 600 MB/s, but an M.2 PCIe SSD can be faster than 600 MB/s.

Maybe I went on for too long, anyway, my SSD suggestions would be:

Samsung 970 Evo 1TB for $169.99, my personal preference, nice brand, nice speeds (3500MB/s read, 2500MB/s write), nice warranty (5 years)

Sabrent Rocket 1TB for 109.98, I haven't personally used it, not familiar with the brand but this specific product of theirs has a lot of positive reviews, similar speeds (3450MB/s read, 3000MB/s write), ok warranty (1 year?... some people question this)

Intel 660p 1TB for 89.99, I haven't personally used it, nice brand, nice speeds (1800MB/s read, 1800MB/s write), nice warranty (5 years)

​

Video Card - MSI GeForce RTX 2070 8 GB Video Card

Strictly gaming performance wise, the 5700 XT is better than the 2070. On top of that, it's around $30 cheaper.

General performance is tough to compare. And on top of that, they each have their own individual benefits in different video editing programs.

If video editing is mostly just a side thing, then the 5700 XT looks like the card for you. But if you are serious about video editing, then you're gonna have to do some research on which GPU is best for you.

​

Power Supply - EVGA SuperNOVA G3 650 W 80+ Gold Fully Modular

Nice, but it seams a little overpriced. The Corsair RM650x is also 80+ Gold and fully modular, but $20 cheaper.

​

Monitor - I'm tired, so I'm going to bed, but I personally use 2 monitors:

27" 4k 60Hz for content consumption

24" 1080p 144Hz VA for that juicy smooth gaming

I wish I got a 27" 1080p so they'd match in size but the increased pixel density of the 24" is probably better anyway.

​

Good luck with whatever you decide to build :D

Looks like a really good build. I will put part links in the end of the post. Here's some tips to save a bit of money if you're open to it:

1. Power supply: 550 watts is a great amount for this system. You could save some money by passing on the 80+ gold rating (although it's great to have a super efficient power supply, you don't need 80+ gold) and get a power supply that has an 80+ bronze efficiency rating. A power supply being fully modular isn't a must either, for me at least. A good semi-modular pick would be the Rosewill Hive 550, I have it and it has has sleeved black cables for about $55. If you want to save more money on the PSU, though, the EVGA basic 550W unit has all black cables and goes for around $43. Otherwise, the 600B from EVGA is a great 600W unit for around $50. Changing your power supply with these options might save you around $30-$40.
   
2. RAM: there are 16GB kits out there that are cheaper than the ones you selected, some are even in red to match your color scheme. I know there is a kit from Corsair that goes for around $80, so that might save you $20-$30 there. Otherwise, if you can't afford 16GB at the beginning of the build, 8GB will suffice until you upgrade. Just make sure if you get 8GB, get a single stick so you can throw another one in later. 8GB instead of 16 GB may save you $30-$40.
   
3. CPU cooler: The i5 6500 comes with its own stock cooler, so you can save around $25 by not paying for a CPU cooler right away. Otherwise, the 212 Evo is a superb cooler and also comes in a red LED fan version for a few bucks more :D
   
4. GPU: The GTX 1060 is a great option for a video card, but the RX 480 from AMD might be able to save you a few bucks right now and down the road. When you look to purchase another monitor, options with FreeSync (AMD adaptive sync) are normally cheaper than monitors with G-Sync (Nvidia adaptive sync). Adaptive sync monitors will make your gameplay smoother. Also, if you get a motherboard that supports crossfire, you can throw another RX 480 in your rig in the future. I will recommend you a motherboard for this at the end, and it won't cost you much more than your current one. An RX 480 8GB starts at around $230. Also, RX 480's are said to be better in DX12, another "future proofer".
   
5. Motherboard (minor): H110 is a budget chipset, and a Micro ATX one will save you a bit of money. BUT, if you want another RX 480, you'll need a motherboard with 2 PCIe slots to house them. An ATX motherboard will fill your case better, not look as awkward as a mATX one, and will let you put another RX 480 card in your rig in the future. A good ATX motherboard that would work for this build would be the Asus B150-PLUS for $95. This may be a bit expensive, but you could spend your saved money on this part. I highly suggest you exercise this option.
   
6. Storage: if 250GB is enough for you, then you could save some money by not getting a Samsung SSD. An SSD comparable to this would be the Crucial MX300 275GB for around $80. Also, the SanDisk z400s is $75 and is 256GB. If you want more storage, though, I would recommend a 120GB SSD like the PNY CS1311 for $40 and a 1TB hard drive like the WD Blue for $50.
   
   TL;DR: cut back on PSU efficiency ratings, look for different 16GB or even 8GB RAM kits, ditch CPU cooler (or keep if you want), get an RX 480 for saving money on future monitors, you can also put another RX 480 in your build in the future with a different motherboard; an ATX motherboard would fill your case and add capability for a second RX 480, a non-Samsung SSD could save you some money, while for $100, you can get an SSD and a 1TB hard drive.
   
   Links:
   EVGA 550W "basic" http://amzn.to/2gbEbeQ
   Rosewill Hive-550 http://amzn.to/2gbBtGe
   EVGA 600B http://amzn.to/2gtvZcH
   Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO LED http://amzn.to/2fJ7mHM
   RX 480 http://amzn.to/2gbIUgI (choose which one you like)
   Asus B150-PLUS http://amzn.to/2eVnuqj
   Crucial MX 300 275GB http://amzn.to/2fidOoq
   SanDisk Z400S 256GB http://amzn.to/2fifFtk
   WD Blue 1TB http://amzn.to/2fJcPhK
   
   I hope my advice helped you and that this didn't overwhelm you. If you save enough money, you could throw in a red LED PWM fan, which adjusts its speed based on your computer's needs. I had a lot of fun making this, thanks for posting, and happy gaming :D
   
   
   

CPU: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07STGGQ18/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1

The Ryzen 5 3600 is all you really need. I doesn't require any overclocking to be a powerful and capable CPU. The stock cooler will work fine with this processor. It'll handle moderate workstation and 1080p-2160p gaming just fine.

GPU: https://www.newegg.com/asrock-radeon-rx-5700-xt-rx-5700-xt-challenger-d-8g-oc/p/N82E16814930020?Description=5700&cm_re=5700-_-14-930-020-_-Product

Damn, the RX 5700 from Pulse was in stock yesterday and it's now already out of stock. The ASRock Challenger D model is the best I could think of now, as the Mech OC is the basically the same as the Ventus OC, which also runs pretty hot. If you want to wait for a better model, you can, but no guarantees that it'll be in stock soon. If you want slightly better thermals over better performance, this 2060 Super can also be considered: https://www.amazon.com/MSI-Gaming-RTX-2060-Super/dp/B07V1Q4L2Z/ref=sr_1_11?keywords=2060+super&qid=1568248713&sr=8-11.

RAM: https://www.newegg.com/team-16gb-288-pin-ddr4-sdram/p/N82E16820331285?Item=N82E16820331285

The T-Force Delta is actually one of the better under $80 16GB kits out there. It features good RGB as well as a decent build quality. It's definitely worth a try as many people seem to like it.

SSD: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07LGF54XR/ref=ox_sc_act_title_2?smid=A29Y8OP2GPR7PE&psc=1

The Sabrent Rocket seems to be one of the SSD market leaders in price to performance. This is probably the best performing SSDs you'll find that is under the $120 price tag. I think 1TB is enough for games and a good number of files, but you can always add a Seagate 2TB Hard Drive for more storage.

MOBO: https://www.newegg.com/p/N82E16813144262?Item=N82E16813144262

This is a very decent X570 motherboard at an awesome price. It has many 5 star reviews on many different retailer websites. This motherboard also supports OC, PCIe 4.0, and Mystic Light RGB Sync. Overall, just another great motherboard from MSI. Works with the 3600 out of the box.

PSU: https://www.newegg.com/evga-600-bq-110-bq-0600-k1-600w/p/N82E16817438100?Item=N82E16817438100

This power supply should be enough, as the power draw of the GPU+CPU are around 300 watts combined. This leaves a comfortable 300W for other components and possible overclocking. This is also semi-modular and 80+ bronze rated, which will have decent cable management and power efficiency. There is also a $15 rebate on this product, as well as a 3 year warranty.

CASE: https://www.newegg.com/black-phanteks-eclipse-p300-atx-mid-tower/p/N82E16811854068?Item=N82E16811854068

The Phanteks P300 is probably one of the best $60 PC case out there, tied with the View 31, in my opinion. It has a lot of room to build in (supports some E-ATX boards) as well as above-average airflow. Overall, it is one of my top picks in lower-mid-range cases.

FANS: https://www.newegg.com/corsair-co-9050082-ww-case-fan/p/N82E16835181157?Item=N82E16835181157

The Phanteks P300 doesn't include a lot of fans, and you'll need some fans to improve the airflow due to possibly having a warm GPU. The AF120s should get the job done at a good price.

Monitor Recommendation: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07GD7H18F/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1

Take a look at this monitor. It features FreeSync, a Curved Display, and a 144Hz Refresh Rate. This monitor will be able to take advantage of your PC's power (not like one of my friend, who has a 60hz monitor paired with an RTX 2070), while not using a lot of your budget. The C24G1 is built with a VA panel, which allows it to have better color contrast than TN panels, while not sacrificing response times. As a bonus, AOC also has a 3-Year "No Dead Pixels" warranty in case of a defect.

Everything should total up to around $1275 before all taxes and promotions. This build includes a mixture of components from Amazon and Newegg's website. If you already have a G-Sync monitor, then spend $90 extra and get a RTX 2070 Super from Amazon to take full advantage of that.

[bear in mind, this is long winded mostly cuz i'm trying to explain the reasoning for what i'm suggesting rather than just throwing parts at you]

well for that much you're not gonna get a whole lot of power, /r/buildapc (also useful as a source to help with costing the build) has a handful of useful tools (in the form of links on the sidebar) for determining what parts match what other components (though most components have universal designs and so all fit the same slots).

that said, the cpu should be the first thing you decide on (also the one thing you should not skimp on), then the motherboard with the same socket as the motherboard in the desired size. it will have a specified label you can type in, ie mine is an lga1150 cpu and the motherboard is the same, but the actual cpu itself is an i5 quad core thingy which shares that lga specification with a handful of other grades of cpu. it also is a bit biased to say but i would suggest going intel over amd, if only because the pins will be on the motherboard instead of the cpu and since the cpu is decidedly far more expensive than any motherboard you would get for it, it's better to have the easily bent pins on the motherboard in case something goes wrong. the aforementioned cpu has yet to be forced to meet the needs of the two gpu i have so something below i5 will probably work for your intents. (you'll also want to get cooling for it eventually, the stock fans work but are pretty bad)

once you decide on the cpu, you need to decide what size tower you want (there's a few, though micro atx and atx are the two i'm familiar with. this will define what size motherboard you would get. depending on how you want to go with the computer in the future, you may want smaller or larger. if you would eventually put more money into the computer to boost its power via SLI or crossfire (meaning, running two of the same graphics cards at the same time with a wire "bridge" between them), then atx would be a solid choice. i would not suggest going that route if you can help it as cooling the top gpu can be a bit of a pain (though they sell hybrid gpu which have liquid cooling pre-installed that mitigates that issue) along with multiple games not supporting that functionality and not using it anyway (overwatch is one that does support it, for whatever that's worth) however, the power you can get out of them is better for the price and doesn't require a huge immediate investment (ie, can buy the second card later, doubling your power). however, if you don't mind upgrading and replacing the gpu as needed, then micro atx is fine, too. (bear in mind, you can do sli in micro atx but they will be seriously cramped and you won't have any room for any other pci slotted device like an audio processing unit or a wireless card). my personal recommendation would be to go for the atx size and try sli/crossfire out once you could afford the second graphics card.

once you've got the size of the computer, go find a motherboard which can socket the cpu you chose (amazon/newegg are good choices for shopping for these, new or used, btw) and then a tower/case of the appropriate size (if you're interested in liquid cooling, look for towers with grates on the top and sides. corsair does a pretty good set of these but they're also kindof expensive. easy as pie to work on, though). after that, go find some ram (i would suggest 8gb at least) which match or are lower than the motherboard's specifications (ddr3 is pretty common atm, but ddr4 is better if you can afford it. ddr3 is probably best to go for for price and availability.)

gpu! the funny little powerhouses that make graphics run really well. you don't strictly speaking need one to run a game, but i would highly encourage one (even if it's a basic little bitch like this $20 one as onboard graphics of most motherboards are only good enough to run basically low res video. these are the filling to the sandwich and can be added and removed with relative ease (also one of the components with universal specs so any graphics card will fit in any motherboard, more or less). both the cpu and the gpu are going to be where you're spending most of your money along with your monitor and operating system coming in close behind. that said, with the 10 series of nvidia graphics cards being released recently, you can probably get a used 960 pretty cheap (for the record, i can run overwatch with two 960 ftw's at 135~fps solid on high settings at 1920x1080 so one would get you a solid 60fps on most games at decent levels of prettyness. you could get 700 and 800 series cheaper but will not last as long or be as effective. a 1050/1040 might be a better option but you'd have to get use one of those tools from /r/buildapc to compare effectiveness and price cuz there's way too many for me to spew all the data here)

last but not least, the power supply unit! (aka psu) once you have all other components selected, you need to go find out the wattage ratings for all the components and add them up. that will determine the amount of wattage your psu should be, choosing a psu with more wattage than is required as having too little can cause problems (750w should probably be fine unless you go for much heavier stuff). you also need to make sure it's the right size for the tower and has all the plugs you need (modular are good as they have a lot of everything and can add/remove cables fairly freely).

once you have those picked out, there are gallons of peripherals you can choose from (ie, monitor, keyboard, mouse, headsets/speakers, etc. i personally like my keyboard to light up/glow cuz i work in the dark more often than not.) as well, you will need a hard drive or two and an operating system cd and key (windows 7 is probably best for price and usage for gaming. definitely do not get windows 8 it was made with tablets in mind and is total crap, windows 10 isn't a bad choice if you can get it cheap. maybe student versions? idk.) hard drives are fairly cheap and easy to upgrade and install (nother one of the universals). i would suggest a 1TB HDD as that is a large amount of space and fairly cheap (that one's $50) considering they go up to 6tb now. another option if you are willing to shell out for it is to get an SSD to load the os from (makes your computer start up stupid fast) and have an extra hdd for larger files like movies music and games. the only problem with this is that most things want to use C: for downloading and storing files so if the ssd isn't big enough you can run out of space pretty damn quick. that said, i'm using a 128gb ssd and only just recently started running out of room. 256gb would probably be better for longer term and for storing maybe one or two games on it for fast loading or maybe just using that if you're not a game hoarder like i am (i like having all my steam games installed for nostalgia purposes).

also as a sortof rant/general rule i would suggest avoiding asus if you can, not cuz their stuff is crap but because their rma department is crap. i've sent things to them which were horrifically broken or otherwise obviously damaged that they sent back to me unchanged. on the flip side, they sent back a new motherboard when i sent it in the second time after i said i would prefer they do that, so they've got that going for them.

with all of that said, there are likely pre-designed pcs for that range somewhere but i could not immediately find them on /r/buildapc so i'm not sure where to find them. if you'd prefer that, i can go find it. i just think of it as more fun to do the aforementioned abomination of planning and minmaxing. in all cases, building the pc yourself will be cheaper than buying one from a store or a laptop.

Hi!

Firstly, i'm a Hadron Air owner, and I have to say you will love the case. It's gorgeous, small, (relatively) easy to build in and the PSU is good quality. The only thing is basically no cable management options, but you can cable tie them up at the top/bottom not too badly.

Info about case

The slot loading bay is only compatible with some specific drive models, so I'd download a copy of a manual and check that you choose one that will fit for sure. Also, are you SURE you need one? I thought I would with my first build but I've literally never used it, installing windows/linux is easier with a USB drive anyway.

It's a perfectly reasonable time to pull the trigger. There's no confirmed impending releases so far that will make a huge difference to anything in a standard build. The rumoured gtx 960 is most likely coming out in the next few months, and would probably cost about $30-50 more than your current selection. It will be very power efficient and will fit nicely in the case (which can fit up to a reference titan, very impressed), so you COULD wait and see if it was announced soon, but I wouldn't really bother unless you want to stretch the budget or play AAA titles at 60fps on max, the 750ti is perfectly capable of playing at 40-50 on max or 60 on med/high on most games

As for the laptop drive, you could buy a cheap drive cage adaptor

If your laptop drive is big enough, I would recommend scrapping the WD drive and buying a 120gb SSD for your OS and most used programs. I consider a SSD essential for a modern build to make the PC seem as smooth and responsive as possible, and always recommend them in any build over about a $500 budget

As always, please feel free to PM me any questions or just reply to this comment

Not weird at all--I'll provide Amazon links for your convenience!

The ASUS Zenbook UX305 has an MSRP of $700, but the potential issue is that it's not an i5. The Core M in this is about as powerful as an i3, but that should be sufficient for many uses in combination with the 256 GB SSD and the 8 GB of RAM. [Also, it's currently selling for $850 on Amazon. A $150 markup? Eff that--for that price, get the faster computer listed below]

The Zenbook UX303 has an updated version with a 5th-gen i5 for $850. The claimed battery life is 8 hours, and it'll be fast, thin, and portable. It should be a good option for you, unless you're into hardcore gaming or something. But a $700 Yoga probably wouldn't be any better at that...

If you want to try Lenovo again, the Ideapad Flex 14 is a good option at $800. It bends 270 degrees, rather than 360, but it comes with an i5, 8 GB of RAM, an SSD, and an HD screen. This should be a good option, and Lenovo generally scores well for reliability--not sure what happened on your Yoga.

Another 360-degree hinge option is the ASUS Transformer Book Flip. For $750, you get the Yoga's flexibility, as well as a 5th-gen i5, 8 GB of RAM, a 1 TB hard drive, and a 1080p screen. (Note that the i7 option has a lower-res screen, however). I have an ASUS Flip (a cheaper i3 version), and I can tell you from experience that it's pretty well-built, with aluminum surfaces except the plastic on the bottom panel, and it has a sturdy hinge. The trackpad is just OK, and the laptop picks up fingerprints like nobody's business--but everything else on this machine is nice. I can recommend it with confidence!

If you're looking to spend even less, the Toshiba Satellite L55-B5276 is going for around $560 on Amazon, and it comes with a 4th-gen i5 (the Broadwell processors are just coming out, so there's not a ton of variety). The Satellite also has 8 GB of RAM and a 1 TB hard drive, and the screen is the standard resolution of 1366 x 768--nothing special, but good enough. With the extra credit you have, you can buy a 256 GB SSD like this Crucial MX100, clone the old hard drive to your new SSD and install it yourself, and this will improve both responsiveness and battery life. That's probably the best deal you can get for the money, but I understand not wanting to mess around with the cloning process.

Good luck to you!

Just upgrade your storage.

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Internal Drive

I'm assuming you have a 2013 model, but on any version of the PS4, replacing the internal drive is easy. It really only gets a little complicated if you want to back up your data beforehand, which you'll need to do if you want to keep your saved screenshots and video clips (though game save data and system settings will be backed up to the cloud if you have PS+, but make sure they're uploaded first). Keep in mind though that if you are thinking about re-downloading everything instead of backing up-- accepting the lost of your screenshots and video clips in the process-- this also means re-downloading all of your games.

__

The choice of what kind of drive you upgrade to is up to you.

• If you want to considerably reduce your load times across the board, you could opt for a 1TB SSD. Sounds expensive, but SSDs have had a drastic decrease in cost over the years, so a fast, 1TB drive to cut down your load times isn't unreasonable.
  
• Whether you want to get the most affordable upgrade possible or if you prioritize storage size and cost over speed, a standard HDD will do the job. NOTE: The drive options in the HDD links go past 2TB, but those larger drives are 15mm drives instead of 9mm. Long story short, nothing past 2TB will fit in a PS4 without modifications.
  
• For a mix of speed and storage space / budget, you could pick up the in-between option, a hybrid drive. There's a bit of nuance to these drives, but if you're looking for the best of both worlds with a single drive, a hybrid drive does offer increased performance without sacrificing storage space.
  
  _
  
  To change out your PS4's internal drive (after backing up), turn off your PS4 and change out the drives. You'll have to get the PS4 update software from here, but, do not download it from the blue button, that's a different file than what you need. Scroll down to this part of the page and click on "Perform a new installation of the system software." Read through the instructions there, and you'll download the system software from the link under step 2. Then, turn your PS4 on in Safe Mode and install the system software.
  
  There, your system's drive is upgraded and installed, now you just restore from your PS+ cloud save or your physical drive backup.
  
  _
  
  External Drive
  
  If you don't want to deal with all of the work of changing out your internal drive, or maybe you want to run a dual-drive system, you can use an external drive.
  
  A good USB 3.0 drive makes a great option for bulk storage. This way you won't be limited by what can fit in your system, but more importantly, you'll have the option to separate slower bulk storage from a faster internal drive.
  
  If you included the above external drive with, say, a 500GB or a 1TB SSD, you can have your OS, capture data, and frequently played / bigger games on a faster drive, giving your better load times across the board, whilst still having a secondary bulk drive for your game collection. This is personally what I'd recommend.
  
  But again, if you're just looking for an easy way to increase you system's storage capacity without dealing with hard drive swapping or OS installation, you could just get a large-capacity external drive.
  
  __
  
  The Point is
  
  Instead of getting rid of games and getting new ones, just increase the amount of space you can use to store them.

Very light issues this time, and it mostly revolves around value.

-CPU: I rarely recommend X SKUs for Ryzen, largely because you can overclock the non-X to the same clocks in almost any circumstance. But, if you don't want to mess with clocks, it's a good enough CPU for what it is. Since your initial post, though, 3rd-gen Ryzen (aka Zen 2) CPUs have come out and the 3600 has emerged as one of the best value gaming CPUs. If you could spare another $25, that'd be a much better option. Otherwise, I'd step down to the 2600. Keep in mind that you might have to request a boot kit from AMD to use 3rd-gen Ryzen with B450 boards.
-CPU Cooler: The Wraith cooler in box is actually just fine and if you want to save $40 you can drop the cooler entirely, but having seen the Deepcool Gammax GT BK in person I have to say it's a downright gorgeous cooler if you're into the RGB craze. It's about on par with the often-recommended Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO, with roughly the same design, just prettier RGB lights vs, for example, the Hyper 212 Black RGB.
-Motherboard: Your case can support full-ATX, and the full-ATX version of the motherboard you picked is $10 cheaper after rebate. The Pro4 has some of the better VRMs for B450, making for some decent overclocks, but the king of B450 boards is still the MSI B450 Tomahawk.
-RAM: No complaints here. You could step down to a brand like XPG to get RGB cheaper, but Corsair RGB is typically less fuss.
-Storage: The drive you've picked is a SATA M.2, and is honestly a great drive that I'd recommend. Still, considering you can step up to PCIe for $5 cheaper, that's probably what I'd suggest. Given how much I've hocked this drive lately I feel like people are wondering if I'm paid off by Sabrent, but it's just a really good value, using a top-tier controller with top-tier flash from Toshiba. Just remember to register it so you can get a five-year warranty, it's three years otherwise.
-GPU: I just about had a heart attack, thinking that AMD GPU prices had gone up again, but it turns out this one is just overpriced. The best RX 580 on the market is $220 right now, but I'd actually probably suggest going for Nvidia with a GTX 1660 or even 1660 Ti, both much better graphics cards for the money these days.
-Case: The airflow on this one is kind of meh thanks to the glass front panel, making air have to turn to get in, but it's a great looking case. Honestly, for the parts you have it's probably fine. Just keep in mind that it only comes with a single fan at the back, you'll want to buy some more for at least the front for some air intake.
-PSU: The trade war is unfortunately hitting power supplies hard, so just about any suggestions I could give for this are pricey. Still, at the price you're buying this, it looks like the EVGA G1+ is a better deal at $80 with no rebate for a fully modular PSU on a slightly better FSP platform vs. the CX550M's Great Wall platform. It's also 650W vs 550W.

Putting all of this together makes for a build that's barely more expensive, about $7 more at time of writing. (Note the incompatibility warning - as I mentioned, third gen Ryzen might need a boot kit from AMD so you can update the BIOS.)

yeah definitely! tons of online videos. i wouldn't consider myself an expert in computer knowledge, but i've built a couple of basic rigs and done work on my macbook. hardest part about replacing the hard drive is making sure you either

a.) have the necessary files to complete a full reinstall or


b.) can work a program like disk utility or carbon copy cloner to make an exact clone of your HDD (this is super simple either way)



I put a kingston SSDnow v300 120gb in my early 2011 macbook pro. it has a 2.7 i7, 16gb of ram (another easy and huge upgrade, technically overkill but i do graphic design and photography for a living) my mbp is great now.

I've read some trouble about the negotiated link speed on older gen MacBooks getting locked at 1.5gb/s instead of the 3 gb/s SATA II standard. This isn't really a problem, you can fix it i believe with a firmware patch, basically it means instead of getting ~200-210mb/s read and write, you'll get more like 128 mb/s and 170 mb/s ish. still A LOT faster than your standard hard drive. boot up time is dramatically reduced, and opening programs becomes a split second ordeal.


Here is the SSD i just installed | $69.99 (very good price for decent 120gb drive)

here is the connector to mount the SSD outside of the macbook to format it and clone your HDD to it. technically this isn't necessary, but its 8 bucks that might save you from pulling the computer apart again when you can't boot from the SSD.

-----------------------------------------------

Here's a good video that shows how straightforward replacing the HDD is in the older macbooks


Helpful video on how to clone an HDD with Carbon Copy Cloner


Great comparison on how drastically this improves your machine

Here's a few useful links:

Crucial.com | Sells RAM and SSD's, high quality and Mac compatible. Another alternative if you want to explore options


Carbon Copy Cloner download site. I used this to copy my HDD, had no issues

Samsun 840 EVO 120gb | Good price for a great SSD

OCZ Vertex 460 | Another great SSD

I'd recommend doing a RAM upgrade if you only have 1gb, that wouldn't run you much either. SSD is more bang-for-your-buck than RAM upgrade is IMO. Hope this helps! Feel free to pm me with any more questions!

CPU - This is a perfectly fine CPU for gaming and there isn't any reason to change it.

Motherboard - This is a solid board, and it's a plus that it's a Gigabyte board. Make sure to keep in mind that this board doesn't support SLI, so if you ever plan on getting a second GPU you should go a different route.

Memory - You should seriously just get the cheapest RAM you can find since you can't utilize XMP. RAM is the only computer components that is actually created equal, other than manufacturers with high failure rates.

SSD - Don't get that SSD. It's faster than any HDD out there, but at the same time slow for an SSD. I know it's tempting to cheap out on a few parts like the SSD, but it's certainly worth it to spend a bit more. I'd recommend this SSD.

HDD - Do you really need 2TB of storage? I don't hear many bad things about Hitachi, but I still think you'd be better off with a Western Digital HDD. If you really do need/want the 2TB hard drive, it looks like it's quite a nice deal for that price and I wish you luck with it.

GPU - You're gaming at 1080p60 and expecting "high settings". This card is overkill. Do yourself a favor and get an RX 480 or a GTX 1060. On the other hand, if you don't plan to upgrade for 4-5 years, the GTX 1070 is perfectly fine. As far as aftermarket cards go: For AMD, I'd recommend PowerColor/XFX and for NVIDIA I'd recommend EVGA.

Case - Solid case, but I think you could stand to spend a bit more for a Fractal Design Define R5 if you decide to buy a less expensive GPU. I'd recommend it anyways, but the less you spend the better, I assume.

PSU - At this point, I recommend no PSU other than this one. The PSU is a very important PC part that you shouldn't cheap out on, and this PSU in particular is one of the best.

I bought my laptop from Amazon. Was a little worried about it being damaged during shipping but I was confident that Amazon would make things right if that happened. I bought directly from Amazon, rather than from a 3rd party seller (make sure it says "Ships from and sold by Amazon.com" under the Buy button.) Unfortunately for me, when I bought it, it was $1,199 but fortunately for you, it is now $1,088. I'm honestly very surprised they lowered the price like that, considering it was already a steal at $1200 (IMO.) Oh, and for the record, I had no issues with damages during shipping. The laptop was in a box which was in a box which was in another box and there was plenty of protective elements within those boxes.

I have not had too many issues with my thermals, although this is my first gaming laptop so I don't have much to compare it to. I did a lot of reading before buying though so from what I have seen, I think it does a good job of keeping the components cool, even under heavy loads. The highest I have seen it go is around 85°C but once it gets over 80°, I usually either turn the fans up higher and/or get out my cooling pad (I bought this one from Amazon and have been pleased with it.) However, the fans can get really loud, so I use a headset when I have to turn the fans up. In general, the fans are not too loud, though (once again, just my opinion.) I will often play shows on Netflix or Hulu and can hear everything through the laptop speakers with no issues. I do carry around a portable bluetooth speaker for louder environments but when I'm just sitting at home, it is not needed.

I do remember reading that the older models of the Helios 300 (the ones with red accents and backlighting) had a lot of thermal issues and most people who either reviewed both or just owned both said that this model was significantly better in that regard. One thing that I have thought about doing is changing the thermal paste because that would apparently really help the older models but I have not seen any reports of anyone trying it with the 2019 model. I might just give it a shot because it seems like a very cheap and relatively easy way to shave a couple degrees off the temps. I'll have to look into that some more.

I actually have heard of that good xbox gamepass deal but I had no idea that it had PC games. As someone who has pretty much only gamed on PlayStation (at least since the early 2000's), I often forget that Xbox is owned by Microsoft so it makes sense they would have PC games. I will definitely be signing up for that after I finish writing this comment. Thank you so much for clueing me in.

One other thing, you will probably want to quickly buy another m.2 SSD because the one that comes with the laptop is fairly small. Just be careful about the one you buy because they are not all compatible, apparently. I am pretty sure that Acer has a list out there somewhere (though I don't think the list is all inclusive) but I bought this Sabrent 1TB drive based on what another reddit user recommended and have been very happy with it. It was extremely easy to install as well. I haven't gotten around to buying an 2.5" drive yet but I'll probably pick up a very large HDD around Christmas time. Or I might go for the SSD, maybe sacrificing a little bit of storage. I'll have to check prices at the time and think on that some more.

And no problem. I love talking about this laptop and I also enjoying helping people out so no worries. If you think of anything else you want to ask, I'll be here. If not, enjoy your new laptop!

Working with large data sets would certainly be more CPU intensive. And the games you are looking to play are not incredibly demanding, but if you're looking to keep the machine for 4 years, its probably worth getting high end specs just to ensure it stays modern for years.


If you're looking for a bit more power, it may be worth pushing your budget up a bit to get the Acer Predator Helios 300 for $1050. It is more powerful than your other options with a GTX 1060 dedicated graphics card. It also has a Quad core i7, 16gb of ram and a 256gb SSD. There is another storage slot inside to add a 1TB HDD which I think would be an excellent choice if you need more storage. It has a 1080p IPS display as well, and is known to have pretty good cooling.

If you want a bit better build quality, maybe look into the Eluktronics N850 for $950 which comes with a Quad Core i7-7700HQ and a GTX 1050Ti. It also has 8gb of ram and a 128gb SSD. There is another storage slot to add a SATA Hard drive, and a ram slot to upgrade the ram in the future if you would like. It's known for it's well built chassis and excellent cooling.

You can buy a 1TB 2.5'' SATA HDD for just under $50, or a 2TB SATA SSHD for $85. SSHD's have similar speeds to HDD's but have no moving parts. Make sure to buy a 2.5'' SATA drive for a laptop.

If you're looking for more suggestions or are interested in getting a better idea of options on the market, I suggest taking a look at my Laptop Suggestion Guide. Best of luck!

Some Background for My Opinion:

I do both physical and digital. I probably have about 90 physical games and about 40 digital games (not including PSN and PS2/PSOne Classics). As others have said, physical games are often cheaper, given that you can buy them at used game stores, pawn shops, amazon, ebay, etc. Most of my physical games have been purchased between $4 and $10, with certain collections from around $15 to $20. Digital games, while normally very expensive, can be much cheaper during sales. I've had my PS3 since early 2014, and I've had many instances where I bought a game pretty cheap physically only to have it go on sale digitally few weeks later for even cheaper. And sometimes I even kick myself for buying a game digitally too early because it ends up on sale for even cheaper six months later. Some deals are downright ridiculous. I bought the Mass Effect Trilogy for $5. I recently saw the entire Modern Warfare trilogy, with the initial dlc's for all three games, for $15. This is especially cheap given that one of those dlc's is $15. It's not uncommon to have sales where game of the year bundles (game + dlc's) cost as much, if not less, than the dlc's, themselves. The current Mid Year Sale, ending tomorrow morning, offers many great examples of amazing deals. If I didn't already own many of those classic Sony games, I'd be all over it.

Overall, I'd say that I mostly buy the cheapest format that I can, with a preference towards physical copies when prices are similar. This preference has nothing to do with re-selling games (I'm somewhat of a collector), nor does it have to do with a desire to lend/give them away (I don't have many PS3-playing friends). My preference towards physical games comes from the fact that it is easier and more enjoyable to look at and select a physical game from a collection than to select a digital game from the hard drive. In all honesty, I almost always check my physical library before checking my digital one. That is one less-discussed draw-back of digital games: less visibility.

As far as storage goes, I picked up this [1 TB Seagate Hybrid Drive] (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00B99JUBQ/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1). I only had a 160 gb drive initially, so I was running out of space just from game installs/patches. A larger drive allowed me to not only download relevant patches and dlc but to more seriously purchase digital games, as well. For $75, it was a very worthwhile investment, especially given that the PS3 will very likely be my last console.


Physical vs Digital?

I'd say that it has more to do with what you are looking to get out of the PS3.

-Do you really like the feeling of looking at, selecting, and handling physical games?

-Do you like going to game stores and/or pawn shops?

-Would you like to lend games to friends and family?

-Do you appreciate the ability to return games that you don't like?

-Are you looking to eventually sell the console and the games?

If some or all of these are true, then physical games might be good for you.

____

-Do you want to be able to quickly and easily access your games from the couch?

-Do you want to be able to use the games in the event of a hard-drive failure?

-Do you have good internet access?

-Do you think you'd enjoy checking out the weekly deals on the Playstation Store?

-Are you willing to (potentially) invest in a larger hard drive?

-Do you not care about selling games (especially given low re-sale value)?

-Are you interested in keeping the console for the foreseeable future or even for as long as you can?

If some or all of these are true, then digital games might be the way to go.

__

Overall, maintaining an all-digital or all-physical library would likely end up being more expensive than a mix of the two. It's probably only really advisable if you prefer to not use a disc drive (with a strong preferences towards digital) or if you are an avid collector (with a strong preference for physical).

I've had this board for a couple weeks, so I'll give you a quick review if you're interested.

Some context : I got this board initially because I'm obsessed with smaller form-factor builds, didn't need WiFi, and completely understood Biostar's reputation among enthusiasts, but I didn't want to wait for ASRock, MSI, or the other brands. As much I would have liked a board that had a stronger looking VRM and such, I really didn't want to wait around for the expected release date of those boards only to find they're not coming for another month or something.

Here is my build : R7 1700, 32GB (16x2) Ballistix RAM, 1 M.2 SSD, 4x sata SSDs, GTX 1070, and a 600w PSU. ( <- links if you're interested in specifics)


Anyways, onto the board. Initial impressions were pretty good. Nothing looked cheap except the IO plate which is just a sheet of metal, but that doesn't bother me. What DID bother me was the audio jacks were blocked on the IO plate, so you have to remove bits to make it fit. Getting the prongs to line up properly was a bit of a hassle, too, but not the worst experience I've had with an IO shield.

Everything on the board looked pretty sound. It came with 4x sata cables, and that's about it. Setup couldn't have been easier. I plugged everything in and it booted up with no issues. This board (for me) does however have anywhere from a 5-10 second black screen before reaching the bios every single time. Not really sure what that's about. Also, with raid enabled, the bios will flash for a moment, show the raid console deal, then go back to the bios before booting completely.

I used a Samsung 960 EVO (250GB) M.2 on the back, and it immediately recognized it without any driver fuss. Has been working exceptionally. I have a raid 0 set up in the bios for my 4 other drives hooked into the sata ports. I had no fuss getting an image from my graphics card on the initial boot. Everything just worked.

The bios. It's not exactly sparse considering it's a cheap board, and it's a Biostar, but it's very vague about what everything does. Setting some things up was a bit of a hassle because the lack of documentation and the unhelpful descriptions on the right-hand side. Getting it into raid mode was easy, but fan control is still a bit of a mystery to me, and the overclocking didn't make much sense until I did some research.

The fan control doesn't make much sense in the bios. First off, the fans default to having PWM control off, so both headers will be running at 100% on first boot (which I'm actually glad they do). Manual control doesn't make a whole lot of sense. It gives you a min and max C for different fan speeds, but setting the fan speeds is a bit different. There is a lower percentage (?) speed, and... "speed sensitivity"? I don't know what it means, but manual mode hasn't yielded any results that I could make sense of. I've only messed with it a couple times, but I really don't know what I'm doing in that regard. If anyone has any experience with that, I'd love to hear from you.

Overclocking was a mystery to me for a while. There is no core multiplier settings on the first screen for OC tweaking, and the voltages work with an offset instead of a set value. Eventually I figured out the only real option is to set a P-state overclock (which I like, personally). The catch is, when you enable the P-state overclock, the only value you can change is the core multiplier. If you change the set voltage, it will default to what I assume is a lower P-state. When trying to set my own voltage, it wouldn't run any higher than 2.7GHz. After setting the core clock, you have to back out of the P-state settings and add voltage via the +vcore voltage offset instead. Another note, the P-state overclock is only for P0, I believe.

RAM overclocking seems fine. I haven't touched it hardly at all, but my 2400GHz RAM went up to 2667GHz without any extra voltage. The bios allows you to set timings, and the voltage offset for the RAM and SOC.

Windows setup was a little bit of a mess at first. After the fresh install, it kept crashing after 5-10~ minutes of use, and the only thing that fixed it was eventually making it long enough to install Windows updates (had to do error correction along the way because of a couple failed installs... slow internet is to blame). I think that is more of a Ryzen and Windows thing than it is the board's fault.

I've been running it at ~3.9 @ 1.38V on my 1700 for a couple weeks now. Trying to push it any further past 3.9 just isn't working for me. Not sure if that is a power limit of the 4-pin, or maybe the power delivery just isn't up to it? Maybe my CPU just doesn't like it? Either way, I'm quite happy even reaching 3.9 on my chip, and I'm even more impressed that the board has kept up with it so far.

Hmm... basic stuff. No WiFi, ethernet hasn't given me any issues, IO could maybe use an extra USB port here or there, but it's been enough for me. I'm very glad to see USB-C on there, but I haven't used it just yet. I haven't used the sound card at all. If that is a big factor for you, I can't really say how good it is. I have a DAC/AMP, and my phones definitely cannot be appropriately driven by the built in, so I can't say whether or not it's decent. If you want, I can borrow some other headphones from someone and try it out, but otherwise, not sure what else to say. I'm pretty happy with this little guy. Impressed, even.

If you have any questions, let me know!

EDIT : Added links to parts. Also here is my CPU-Z validation.

Edit: prebuilt included at bottom of post.

If your issue with building a pc is taking time to select parts, you can have the friendly people at r/buildapcforme put together a list of parts for you, and then you'd only have to visit their neatly organized set of links and put the items in your cart (usually just on amazon.com and newegg.com, occasionally ebay.com as well).

As for prebuilts, just look for something cheap. Basically anything nowadays can run the games you've listed.

If you want to go for dirt cheap, and don't mind ordering parts, you can build a computer with the ryzen 3200g APU (no dedicated GPU), 8 GB of RAM, and a b450 motherboard for... cheap. Just off the top of my head... $100 for the CPU (Actually APU), 8 GB RAM, currently $30ish, though usually around $50 (and the prices are in flux right now), Almost $100 for a motherboard with wifi, though this can be $50 if you plug it into your home router with an ethernet cable. Add a $50 case, a more than adequate, good quality $50 PSU, as well as a small-ish SSD (the linked one is a 512 GB priced at $70) and you've got yourself a completed build. Note that you'll need a desk, chair, monitor, speakers/headset, keyboard, and mouse to use this as well, and a pci-e wireless adapter if you want wifi (assuming you didn't spring for the motherboard that has built in wifi.)

Edit: Ran that through a calculator. Assuming that RAM ends up costing you $50 instead of $30, and you spring for the motherboard with WIFI, your computer will cost $350 $420. A monitor, keyboard, and mouse will jack the price up another $150ish, since most decent 1080p monitors are $100 new. You'll also need speakers, or a headset. I've edited my list above to add this, but didn't factor in price. You're most likely looking at an additional $200 for perhipials, including moniotor, if you go the cheap route; this also assumes that you have a desk (any kind that will fit a monitor, keyboard, and mouse up top, in addition to your computer tower below, will suffice) and a chair to sit in.

If you want to go the laptop route, used gaming laptops with a 960m or similar dedicated GPU usually go for about $500-$600 on Ebay. Feel free to shop around; I recommend looking specifically for a model that has support for an M.2 SSD, as you can rock a small (200-512 GB range) m.2 SSD in addition to a large (but cheap) 1 or 2 TB laptop (2.5 inch) HDD. Install the OS to the SSD, and enjoy fast as hell computer speeds; install games to the HDD and enjoy vast amounts of storage for super cheap. (This can also be done for your desktop, but most laptops only support 1 SATA storage device.)

And, hey would you look at that. I forgot to include a storage device in your system build! I'll add it in and adjust the price accordingly (probably up $50, for a total of $400.)

For comparison, I found this prebuilt computer It's got a better GPU, but the CPU is a generation behind what I've listed. It even seems to come with a keyboard and mouse. All in all, a better gaming machine, but with a price tag to reflect it; It was at $580 when I posted the link. Which honestly isn't all that bad. At all.

You know what. Screw the rest of my post. Buy that prebuilt and you're all set. Well, except for the monitor. And maybe Wifi? And speakers. But still, it's a good price. Note: There's a $530 option, the GPU is a massive downgrade and it's not worth saving $50 to get it instead of the $580 computer. Although, truthfully, both will serve your needs just fine.

(Sorry for formatting I’m on mobile)

I don’t know anything about intel so I’ll leave the cpu to someone else but here are some other parts that leave a decent budget for the cpu. Btw I just assumed that this is USD.

Cpu: byo

motherboard: (you can’t choose a motherboard without knowing the cpu sorry) make sure that you cpu is compatible AND works well with you motherboard aswell a quick google will solve that issue

Ram: https://www.amazon.com/G-Skill-Ripjaws-288-Pin-Desktop-F4-2400C15D-16GVR/dp/B013J7T5K6/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?keywords=gskill+ripjaws+16gb+ddr4&qid=1562735181&s=gateway&sr=8-2

GPU: https://www.amazon.com/GIGABYTE-GeForce-Windforce-DisplayPort-Gv-N166TWF2OC-6GD/dp/B07NJQLQWP/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?keywords=1660&qid=1562735531&s=gateway&sr=8-2

Psu: you’ll have to do some wattage calculations inputting your pc parts into this website https://seasonic.com/wattage-calculator# (tip: just ignore the sliders on the wattage calculator they will automatically adjust to the parts you choose) also regarding the wattage calculator get a power supply 50 watts or more over what it says and btw I would reccomend Corsair power supplies.

Case: choose whatever case you like best but make sure that it can fit your motherboard and other parts (e.g. a regular atx motherboard isn’t gonna fit into micro or atx mini itx case) it’s pretty easy to check just read the product descriptions for what size the motherboard is and what motherboard sizes the case supports.

Ignore sound cards unless you plan to use this pc for music production and ignore wifi cards unless you play games on wifi which I highly advise against.

Cpu cooler: unless you plan to overclock then the stock cooler is ugly but fine.

Storage: 120gb ssd (for operating system, google, game launchers, and fav games) https://www.amazon.com/Kingston-120GB-Solid-SA400S37-120G/dp/B01N6JQS8C/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?keywords=kingston+120gb+ssd&qid=1562736265&s=gateway&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&sr=8-1

Storage 2: well you’ll have to decide on the amount for storage u need as there are different models from 1tb to 10tb again only get what u need. but for you price I reccomend: https://www.amazon.com/Digital-Deskptop-1Terabyte-5400-7200RPM-Applications/dp/B06XR3LT6W/ref=mp_s_a_1_4?keywords=wd+blue+1tb&qid=1562736437&s=gateway&sr=8-4

Case fans: depending on the case you buy it may come with fans or not. Sometimes the seller say the case includes fans and they only include 1 or 2 I would reccommend 3 fans at least (2 at front 1 at the back) Corsair, NZXT, noctua, cooler master and thermaltake make good fans.

Note: idk if intel cpu’s Comes with thermal paste with it (wether it’s pre-applied like Ryzen or in a tube) but make sure you have thermal paste on hand

Sorry I couldn’t help with cpu and motherboard but I hope this helps good luck :)

Sure, here's a super cheap SSD of equivalent capacity:

SanDisk SSD PLUS 240GB Internal SSD - SATA III 6 Gb/s, 2.5"/7mm - SDSSDA-240G-G26

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01F9G43WU/

If you want to get a different SSD, just make sure it's a 2.5in SATA. I like SanDisk, Samsung and Intel brand SSD's.

Here's a 4gb Stick that should be compatible (don't hold me to that, and make sure you can return it if it isn't):

Lenovo 55Y3711 RAM Module - 4 GB - DDR3 SDRAM - 1333MHz DDR3-1333/PC3-10600 - ECC - 204-pin SoDIMM

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003BC5ZBI/

That will get you up to 8GB or 6GB, depending on if it comes with 1 4gb or 2 2gb sticks. Either will be better than 4.

And here's some generic info and resources I like to give new Linux users:

The biggest change from the Windows world will be the different interfaces to choose from. While they're one of the best features of Linux, the number of choices and strong opinions on the matter can be overwhelming to new users. And everyone in the community is certain that theirs is the best. Don't stress out about picking the "right" one. You can always change it later (especially if you choose something Ubuntu based). Pick one that has a large user base, good community, and excellent documentation.

Linux comes in many different flavors, or "Distributions". Often shortened to "Distros". The most obvious difference between Distros is the interface (or "Desktop Environment" or "DE"). It's not the only thing that sets them apart, but it's the most noticeable.

I would recommend Ubuntu or any one of it's variants. The best variants (in my opinion) are Linux mint and Linux Lite. Linux Lite having the most "Windows like" interface. Linux Lite also has additional tools to install common programs that Windows users are accustomed to. Ones that don't come with other Distros by default.

Until recently Ubuntu used an interface called "Unity". As of the last couple of releases, they have switched to Gnome. However, they've made gnome look a lot like Unity, so you should be able to follow instructions you find on the internet without too much trouble.

Gnome has a ton of customizations available via the "Gnome extensions" website. If you're willing to relearn how to interact with your computer's interface, it's a good fit for someone who wants customization.

Here's a good article with the basics of getting up and running with Ubuntu.

https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/migrating-from-windows-7-to-ubuntu/

Here's Ubuntu's website for downloading and documentation:

https://www.ubuntu.com/desktop

The official "Getting starting" guide:

https://tutorials.ubuntu.com/tutorial/try-ubuntu-before-you-install#0

Here's the list of official Ubuntu Distributions:

https://www.ubuntu.com/download/flavours

Here's a great article explaining the difference between the official Ubuntu Distribution (written by an awesome Redditor Killyourfm):

"Forbes: Linux For Beginners: Understanding The Many Versions Of Ubuntu":
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonevangelho/2018/11/28/linux-for-beginners-understanding-the-many-versions-of-ubuntu/

Here's the official install guide:

https://tutorials.ubuntu.com/tutorial/tutorial-install-ubuntu-desktop#0

An install guide for Dual Booting:

http://linuxiumcomau.blogspot.com/2018/04/installing-ubuntu-along-side-windows-ie.html?m=1

And here's Linux Lite's official page:

https://www.linuxliteos.com

Gnome extensions:

https://extensions.gnome.org

There are some laptops out there for sure that have SSDs soldered in (usually chromebooks and newer macbooks), but if it has a traditional HDD you should be able to replace it with an SSD by opening the case and unplugging the old one. Laptops can have both SSDs and HDDs if they have enough room inside but I don't think it's very common, I know some newer gaming laptops have both so you get the speed of the SSD for the OS and games but still have plenty of storage on the HDD and in some cases people replace the optical drive with a secondary SSD/HDD. You're running McAfee on the computer that's slow? That could definitely be the problem there. I don't know how well it actually detects viruses but as far as performance goes it's a dealbreaker for me. I just helped a buddy take that off of his brand new Dell all-in-one because it was borderline unusable out of the box and basically all I did was uninstall McAfee. There are honestly better options out the available for free like BitDefender or even Windows Defender is pretty good. Here's a guide I like to look at that compares different AV like that.

https://www.tomsguide.com/us/best-free-antivirus,review-6003.html

BitDefender Free is what I use personally. Malwarebytes is pretty great as well, it helped me save my buddy a few hundred dollars and a few days of time that Best Buy wanted to scam him out of. Here's a decent SSD for the price, not the best and not the most storage but for $30 you can't beat it.

https://www.amazon.com/Kingston-240GB-Solid-SA400S37-240G/dp/B01N5IB20Q/ref=sr_1_2?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1549160964&sr=1-2&keywords=kingston+ssd

You could always get a bigger one or better brand too just depending on how much you want to spend.

> I remember buying snow leopard, but I think it needed a different software ?

No, you don't need different software, Snow Leopard is fine. However, you can update the iMac 2008 to OS X 10.11 El Capitan via the Mac App Store. You need to use this link if you want to upgrade it to OS X 10.11 El Capitan:

• https://itunes.apple.com/app/os-x-el-capitan/id1147835434?ls=1&mt=12
  
  What can you do to breath new life into it?
  
  -----
  
  Next to installing the most recent macOS version it can run, as described above, you can also add more RAM to it and replace the internal HDD with an SSD!
  
  The RAM upgrade is very easy to do. The iMac 2008 supports up to 6 GB RAM (1 x 4 GB RAM module, 1 x 2 GB RAM module). It has two RAM slots, meaning two RAM modules in total will fit in. A higher total amount than 6 GB RAM won't work due to a limitation in the logic board.
  
  The iMac 2008 needs RAM that matches the following specification:
  
  PC2-6400 DDR2 800 MHz, 200-pin
  
  Here are some examples of RAM modules that should work flawlessly in the machine:
  
  
• https://www.amazon.com/Memory-MacBook-PC2-6400-800MHz-MemoryMasters/dp/B07NBV4MVN/
  
• https://www.amazon.com/OWC-PC2-6400-800MHz-SO-DIMM-Upgrade/dp/B00KHZEKS6/
  
• https://www.amazon.com/2048MB-Samsung-Original-PC2-6400-SO-DIMM/dp/B0026SD96G/
  
• https://www.amazon.com/Memory-SO-DIMM-PC2-6400S-800MHz-HMP351S6AFR8C-S6/dp/B004RKX5T2/
  
  You can mix different RAM brands without any problem, just make sure that the RAM you buy remains within the specification outlined above.
  
  You may find information online which states that your iMac 2008 supposedly only supports 4 GB RAM (2 x 4 GB RAM modules), but this is outdated information! Back in 2008, 4 GB RAM modules were not commonly available, so Apple could only test with 2 x 2 GB RAM = 4 GB RAM. However, when 4 GB RAM modules became commonly available, users found out that the iMac 2008 can actually recognize and utilize up to 6 GB RAM, so I recommend that you add 6 GB RAM. I recommend that you update to OS X 10.11 El Capitan before you do the RAM upgrade, the reason being that the iMac will run the latest firmware available for it to rule out any possible issues related to an outdated OS.
  
  Before doing the RAM upgrade, check which RAM modules are already in there via the Apple menu at the top left corner of the screen -> "About This Mac" -> "Memory". If a 2 GB RAM module is already in there, you only need to buy 1 x 4 GB RAM module for the upgrade.
  
  This video shows the RAM upgrade procedure (again, extremely easy to do):
  
  
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBVUp62p2QA
  
  -----
  
  As for the SSD:
  
  The SSD upgrade would give the machine an even greater speed boost (though you should do both the SSD & RAM upgrade, if you can), but is also far more complicated than the RAM upgrade. An SSD improves performance dramatically: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9PngoDlD28
  
  Getting an SSD in there requires a partial disassembly of the device, which you should only do personally if you are very much technically inclined, otherwise let someone else do it for you.
  
  You need an SSD that matches the following criteria:
  
  
• 2.5" form factor
  
• SATA3-compatible
  
  Here are some examples of SSDs which should work fine:
  
  
• https://www.amazon.com/Blue-NAND-500GB-SSD-WDS500G2B0A/dp/B073SBZ8YH/
  
• https://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-SSD-PLUS-Internal-SDSSDA-1T00-G26/dp/B07D998212/
  
• https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-250GB-2-5-Inch-Internal-MZ-76E250E/dp/B0793FNNP6/
  
• https://www.amazon.com/Crucial-MX500-250GB-NAND-Internal/dp/B0781VSXBP/
  
  The SSDs have a physical size of 2.5", yet the HDD that is currently in your iMac is 3.5" in size. You will need an adapter like this one to make the SSD fit in:
  
  
• https://www.amazon.com/NewerTech-AdaptaDrive-Drive-Converter-Bracket/dp/B005PZDVF6/
  
  This video shows the SSD upgrade procedure:
  
  
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qriduyHGBG8
  
  Again, I recommend that you let someone else do the SSD upgrade for you if you think that you won't be able to perform the upgrade yourself. It's worth it, though, as it's the single greatest update you can add to the machine.

The most important thing for Minecraft is probably the CPU, 2nd is graphics card, and third is disk read/write speeds. (If you are playing online internet speed would probably be third and disk speed fourth.)


Best Value CPU choices:

CPU NAME CPU Power Price

 1. Intel Pentium G620       42.4     $70<br />
 2. Intel Pentium G840       46.4     $83<br />
 3. Intel Pentium G850       48.2     $88<br />
 4. Intel Core i3 2100       50.9    $123<br />

All of these CPUs should be sufficient for playing Minecraft.


--------------------

Motherboard:

$55 - ASRock H61M

It doesn't have all the greatest features, but it has what you need, it's a good price, and a good brand.


--------------------

RAM choices:

• 4GB 1333MHz PNY - $25
  
• 8GB 1333MHz - $41
  
  RAM is cheap now days. You should get at least 4GB.
  
  
  --------------------
  
  Power Supply:
  
  350 Watt Seasonic - $43
  
  SeaSonic is a good quality brand. I have purchased three of this same model. It's great for budget builds.
  
  
  --------------------
  
  Hard drive options:
  
  
• Crucial M4 64GB solid-state drive - $88
  
• Seagate Barracuda 7.2k RPM 1TB hard drive - $100
  
  There was a natural disaster a few months ago that hit a lot of hard drive manufacturers. There aren't a lot of cheap options. The Crucial M4 is a very reliable and pretty fast SSD. The Seagate Barracuda is fast for a traditional hard drive at 7.2k RPM. With the usual Samsung Spinpoint hard drives hard to come by, this hard drive may be the next best thing.
  
  I have purchased one of the 64GB Crucial M4 drives and two of the 1TB SeaGate Barracudas myself.
  
  --------------------
  
  Video card choices:
  
  
• Gigabyte Radeon HD 6450 - $40
  
  This is the cheapest you will want to go. It is better than integrated graphics. It has VGA, DVI, and HDMI outputs for whatever your monitor requires.
  
  
• EVGA Nvidia GeForce GT 430 - $57
  
  The second cheapest video card you should consider. It also has VGA, DVI, and HDMI.
  
  
• Sapphire Radeon 6570 2GB - $65
  
  This is a respectable graphics card. It has VGA, DVI, and HDMI.
  
  
  --------------------
  
  Case:
  
  NZXT Gamma - $40
  
  This is the best case you are getting for only $40.
  
  
  --------------------
  
  Totals:
  
  With all the cheapest options, you are looking at spending at least $361 for a new computer. If you pick all the most expensive options, you are looking at spending $467.
  
  All prices include any shipping. None of these items include any rebates that have to be filled out. All prices straight up.
  
  I'm pretty great at all this, but my weakest area is video cards. If you want to your sister a computer, pick out what you want from here and post your build on /r/buildapc to get the opinions of lots of other builders.

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

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

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

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

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

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

If it's content creation you want to do (ala running GTA V on good settings while recording it with minimal performance impact), then you should probably choose a core i7 over an i5. I run an i5 4670k with crossfired R9 290x's and video recording can still impact performance .

This is not so much the case when I record with AMD Raptr's in built GVR function as that's GPU based. Nvidia graphics cards also ship with software with its own GPU based recorder which means that will probably perform similarly, if not better - bypassing your need for an i7,but when I use a dedicated video recorder the frame rate impact is noticeable, even if it isn't a great impact in most games. CPU intense games will suffer more in this scenario.

But if you have dedicated recording software that you want to use then it's the CPU you're gonna want to pay a little attention to. Further to this, video editting/creation software will also benefit a lot from the i7. A hyperthreaded i7 will have 4 physical cores, but 8 virtual cores. Means better multi tasking, and more efficient content creation (and better quality recording).

It's not impossible to do any of this on an i5, an i5 on its own is more than just fine for gaming (and having whatever websites running in the background) but when it comes to content creation an i7 really pays dividends. I suppose if money really is a constraint at the moment then you could skip on getting an i7 for now and see how your i5 treats you, as I said it should still work reasonably.

As suggested earlier, the GTX 970 is a great shout. Excellent price:performance ratio, right now. Low power consumption, eats through most games on ultra settings (as long as it isn't at 4K resolution).

You definitely need new sorage, I'd suggest getting a small solid state drive (SSD) , perhaps 256 GB as they're priced rather reasonably now. Crucial sells them on amazon for about £76. This should be for your Operating System(OS) and to install GTA V onto. This will allow your game and OS to run at their fastest capability. I would avoid Kingston SSD's.

And in addition to this, it's definitely worth finding a larger Hard drive (HDD) for storing all your other data and stuff on (like videos, photos, music, games you're not playing at the moment). decent 1TB ones can go for around £40 these days. It is possible to hold off on this, and just get the SSD first and add the HDD later when you have more money - but SSD's are the way PC's are going now because their lightning speed and low power consumption are transformative to the PC experience (and should also improve content creation speeds to an extent).

your RAM should be fine, though going up to 16GB should help with video editors and stuff, though I dont think it's the most alarming thing that needs to be upgraded. It should play GTA V fine. Power supply seems fine, too.

Yeah sure, the Samsung ones are really great. Price wise they go for more than a hard drive but are definitely worth it. This one here is going for around £88 new for 250GB ($130) but will be cheaper if you are buying in a already built PC.

The sales pitch is that SSDs are around 10x faster than regular hard drives. The reason this is useful is because DayZ has a lot of landscape and objects that are read directly off your drive every time they come into view. The faster the drive, the faster your game. It will also increase your FPS by a healthy amount. My game looks fantastic after upgrading and I was even able to run the game in full 1080 HD which was uncomfortable before (the FPS was too low for me to enjoy it).

Also DayZ is currently really processor heavy and doesn't necessarily rely on a graphics card as much as other games. This may change in the future however. I would suggest getting an Intel processor definitely with at least 3.0Ghz power or more if possible.

Since this is a laptop you are buying, I would suggest looking for one with an Intel processor (i5 if you can) with an SSD and a graphics card if you want. The Intel chip has an inbuilt graphics card which will run the game fine if you have an SSD but the game may rely on a graphics card more in the future so getting one could be a good idea in the long run.

This may cost slightly more but will run the game 10x better than the laptop you posted and you will be so much happier I promise. The Intel chip will also help you do everything else you need to do on the PC brilliantly and will last you a long time. Hope I've helped and see you Chernarus!

> IDK why it's cheaper.It even has decent reviews so I wouldn't think it's bad RAM.

Alright I think I'll go with that RAM then. The mobo seems to support it, with 1600 being the maximum.

>Don't where you heard that my fellow redditor but I myself had a Seagate Barracuda HDD for 5 months now and it is still working so I wouldn't think it's crap.

Hmm I just read it around on reddit and /g/ that Seagate was a bit iffy, as well as on the amazon pages. The Seagate one is less popular and has worst reviews than the WD one, so I'm not too sure.

> Crossfire support and 4 RAM slots.Plain and simple.

Right so this mobo only has two slots. So it can only fit a 2x4GB in there? Bit of a stupid question but a 2x4gb does covers two slots, right? Would you say this motherboard is better? Or should I perhaps get a 1x8gb ram? And I'm not exactly sure what crossfire is, but I've looked it up and apparently it's to do with having more GPUs I believe? If so, I'm not sure I will have more than one, as it seems more expensive and I'm not sure the case will be big enough. It's a possibility though.


>It's okay but I recommend going with my build instead as it has free shipping on all parts while also having a better mobo.

Right yeah. The mobo definitely is better, but I'm not sure if it's worth nearly £30 more. I might consider the other motherboard though, as a potential upgrade for RAM seems like a good idea. You changed the GPU to a different vendor, but Novatech does delivery for free as well I believe. And I forgot to change the case to the same vendor as yours, as yours did have the free delivery.

The PSU is (mostly) fine, the extra 4 pins on that motherboard are for LN2 cooling so no worries.

Longevity should be a non issue.

Though i would not get that 1TB NVME ssd, its overpriced and 1TB will be eaten alive by any games so you may want.

SSD's only make game loading faster, they do not give you more FPS

​

Here: I made some modifications to your build

​

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/KfP3FG

​

This shifts the budget to a better power supply while shifting to a smaller capacity SATA SSD yes but NVME really isnt worth the price premium IMHO and i will be honest I think 1TB SSD's are still a bit too pricey.

NVME is only better for fast data transfer and or if you are going to make this into a media content creation PC but otherwise I would skip it.

Its still better to pair a traditional SSD with a HDD for mass storage, SSD's are great boot drives yes and having them is a great boon indeed.

But as having games on them..... eh its nice to have but not needed.

I mean if you still want a NVME 1TB ssd well there are cheaper options such as this:

https://www.amazon.com/Crucial-1TB-NAND-NVMe-PCIe/dp/B07J2Q4SWZ/ref=asc_df_B07J2Q4SWZ/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=309818716690&hvpos=1o2&hvnetw=g&hvrand=973939605986231758&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=&hvtargid=pla-561975664289&th=1

​

Far cheaper and will work fairly well

​

There is also this:

​

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07LGF54XR/ref=sspa_dk_detail_3?pd_rd_i=B07LGF54XR&pd_rd_w=USMgC&pf_rd_p=45a72588-80f7-4414-9851-786f6c16d42b&pd_rd_wg=vMwi3&pf_rd_r=DWSWZ79J2EJQKBNYFEEM&pd_rd_r=9e0fcf13-b324-4fa1-b2e2-6159eaf90cfa&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUFTU1JLTTdaVFNVTkUmZW5jcnlwdGVkSWQ9QTJTWjdYWlY4MEZPQzMmZW5jcnlwdGVkQWRJZD1BMTAwNDE4M0ZLMEZJMFZSOTdIMyZ3aWRnZXROYW1lPXNwX2RldGFpbCZhY3Rpb249Y2xpY2tSZWRpcmVjdCZkb05vdExvZ0NsaWNrPXRydWU&th=1

​

I hear good things about the sabrant rocket, a fairly affordable NVME SSD.

Sabrent isnt like samsung (they are a bit of a off brand) but its not a bad deal there :D

https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-960-EVO-Internal-MZ-V6E500BW/dp/B01LYFKX41?th=1
Check out the read/write comparison of this to the traditional SSD. This is one of the big reasons that MOBO I suggested is amazing. But you can definitely wait for this.

I know it's super hard to wait, but if you're planning to buy more ram in 2 weeks, then I would save the money and just get 16gb in 2 weeks and hold off on this build.

But to answer your question, 1 stick will work just fine in the mean time. Don't waste the money on a 2x4gb setup, 16gb is pretty much the sweet spot for gaming right now. 32 is unnecessary and overkill for gaming.

However, you've got a real nice pc build planned out! Congrats

Another word of advice, most pc enthusiasts will tell you to clean the thermal paste off the cooler and reapply before mating it with the CPU but if yours is anything like mine was, it came from the factory perfect. Plus it hasn't had enough shelf life to affect the paste on the cooler itself. Leave it and save yourself a step. I just booted my pc after getting off work, my CPU idles at 31 degrees Celsius with the Wraith cooler and factory applied paste.

Sorry it has taken me so long to get back to you, but I had classes at school all day. Here is a build for you in all Euros.

CPU: $218

MOBO: $119

RAM: $92

SSD: $70

HDD: $40

GPU: $480

OS: $23

Case: $117

PSU: $104

CD Drive: $21

TOTAL: $1284

I realize that this is over your initial budget, but you mentioned that you could add an extra $100. Now for the explanations:

• I did not change your CPU, but instead just found an actual link.
  
  
• You do not need to buy thermal paste, as your CPU comes with a stock heatsink, which has thermal paste pre-applied.
  
  
• I changed your motherboard to a compatible one, and then changed it again (when making the list in euros) for price reasons. Also keep in mind that Z series motherboards (as in Z97) are meant for overclocking. This is a method of getting better performance from your CPU. However, it requires specialized parts, like a Z series motherboard, and an unlocked CPU (shown with a K as in 6600K). These parts are more expensive. Because of that, I recommend you don’t overclock, which means you do not need the fancy, Z series motherboard. Instead I went with a H170.
  
  
• Because I went with a different motherboard, different RAM was needed.
  
  
• You chose a GTX 970 GPU. I switched it to a 1070. The reason for this is that it is a newer card with better performance. The 9 or 10 in the front shows which series the card is in, and the 70 shows which version of that series it belongs to, with a higher number meaning better performance. So therefore, a 1080 is better than a 1070 or 1060, and a 1070 is better than a 970 or 870.
  
  
• You chose a Fractal Design R4 for your case. This case is the older version. I upgraded it to the R5.
  
  
• Lets talk PSU’s. These can be very confusing. Obviously, you need to pick one that can supply enough watts to power your PC. You did that just fine. However, there are other things to consider. When it comes to PSU’s, not all watts are created equal. Two PSU’s may provide the same amount of power, however be very different in price. The cause of this comes down to the build quality of each. This affects 4 (main) things, noise, reliability, modularity, and efficiency. Hopefully the first 2 are self-explanatory. If a PSU is fully modular, that means that all of the internal cables that attach to your motherboard or GPU or hard drives or whatever can be completely removed from the PSU itself. This is very useful as it allows you to manage them much better. Efficiency means that less of the power you draw from the wall is being lost as heat. This not only reduces your electricity bill, but also means that your PSU will be cooler, creating less heat for your CPU and GPU. Efficacy is rated using the 80+ scale, which you can see here. Because of these 4 factors, I went with a higher-quality PSU.
  
  Hope all of this helps! If you have questions, related or not, feel free to message me!
  

You don't really need that aftermarket cpu heatsink, as well as the thermal spread; the stock cooler will do just fine if you don't want to go crazy on overclocking. You could drop the SSD if cost is seriously an issue, or go with this

I've remade the build a little here Add another 4gb stick when you get more money, be sure to get the exact one, otherwise weird things can happen. Also, try to find some way to get Windows for free (will not mention how). Maybe use the code of another computer you have (idk why, but works with Windows 7). Otherwise you need to go with Linux, as it's free.

If you really need to save money that badly, seriously look out for deals here and there, you could save like 50-100 dollars down the road. If you're not satisfied with the performance of a 750ti (I've heard these things can handle skyrim maxed at 60fps, for example) then save up some more money for that 270 you wanted. That SSD I mentioned earlier will also cost you a couple weeks (depending on how you get money) of saving up.

Your other option is going FM2. Probably an A10 since it's the most powerful. You could always bring it down a notch with this one and save maybe $100 but you wanted to play BF4 medium soo... Also that psu is garbage, don't trust it for upgrades down the line, if you ever want to upgrade, buy a case you like, and a power supply that will allow that (450-550 should be good).

Note: I don't know the exact performance capabilities of this hardware as I have not personally built these machines, but I'm confident that you will be quite happy with the results you will gain.

EDIT: I live in Canada so you may have to pay only $6 for those systems.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Type|Item|Price

----|:----|:----
CPU | AMD - Ryzen 7 1700 3GHz 8-Core Processor | $279.49 @ Amazon
CPU Cooler | Corsair - H110i 113.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler | $109.99 @ Amazon
Thermal Compound | Arctic Silver - 5 High-Density Polysynthetic Silver 3.5g Thermal Paste | $7.25 @ Amazon
Motherboard | MSI - X370 GAMING PLUS ATX AM4 Motherboard | $116.16 @ Amazon
Memory | G.Skill - Trident Z RGB 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3200 Memory | $238.50 @ Amazon
Storage | Samsung - 850 EVO-Series 1TB 2.5" Solid State Drive | $349.99
Storage | Samsung - 960 EVO 1TB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive | $445.41 @ Amazon
Case | Corsair - Crystal 460X RGB ATX Mid Tower Case | $131.99
Power Supply | EVGA - SuperNOVA G3 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply | $119.99 @ Amazon
Case Fan | Corsair - SP120 RGB High Performance 52.0 CFM 120mm Fan | $19.98 @ Amazon
| Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts |
| Total | $1818.75
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-03-24 12:03 EDT-0400 |

PCpartpicker didn't find all the amazon links.

Case Amazon link: https://www.amazon.com/Corsair-Crystal-Tempered-Glass-Compact/dp/B01LA2LB7W/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1521906800&sr=8-2&keywords=460x%2Bcorsair&th=1

SSD Amazon link: https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Inch-Internal-MZ-76E1T0B-AM/dp/B078DPCY3T/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1521906876&sr=8-1&keywords=860+evo+1tb

With some pretty easy overclocking, messing around with XMP settings in BIOS and voltage, you can very easily push the CPU to 3.8 Ghz, People claim to push it to 4.0 Ghz though say it seemed to be a little unstable.

If you haven't cleaned out your PSU, you should. If it's younger than 5 years it's definitely still good. 100$ saved.

Windows can be obtained for free, only disadvantage is a small Windows 10 watermark on the lower right corner, and some of the OS customization settings are locked. It doesn't bother me, and it certainly doesn't convince me to spend 100$ for customization.

M.2 nvme SSDs are many times faster than a SATA SSD, for a boot drive you won't see a huge difference in boot time, but file transfer and such it definitely shines.

The extra fan is for an exhaust for the back of the case. You'll need a fan hub Here: https://www.amazon.com/SilverStone-System-Cables-Black-CPF04/dp/B00VNW556I/ref=sr_1_3?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1521908068&sr=1-3&keywords=fan+hub Forgot about it :/

Ive built with this case before, and it comes with a nice SSD mounting array behind the motherboard, a kinda annoying but spacious PSU basement and great air flow. tempered glass oooo

Buy zip ties. like 50. Zip ties are your friend and so is your fully modular PSU

If you want help with your CPU overclocking, you can pm me, or look up a guide on overclockers forum. Really helpful people over there.

I made it all Amazon, because of prime, which is can save you a lot of shipping. With the cheaper vendors, its cheaper for the part, but the shipping would put you over budget.

https://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-500GB-Ultra-NAND-SATA/dp/B072R78B6Q/ref=sxin_4_ac_d_pm?keywords=sandisk+ssd&pd_rd_i=B072R78B6Q&pd_rd_r=6e48913a-82f5-47ee-a878-bba6330f0011&pd_rd_w=ouwib&pd_rd_wg=eDL6g&pf_rd_p=64aaff2e-3b89-4fee-a107-2469ecbc5733&pf_rd_r=9ZFFWMG7WH4XJZZRQ87D&qid=1563622854&s=gateway my ssd. Marginally (almost certainly not noticeably) faster speeds, but it's a trusted brand.

https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-500GB-Internal-MZ-76E500B-AM/dp/B0781Z7Y3S/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=870+evo&qid=1563623512&s=gateway&sr=8-1 Arguably the best SATA SSD you can buy, and is very reasonably priced. Well trusted, better technology than off-brand gives better random seek times etc. Definitely worth having. Maybe 10% faster in general than yours or mine

https://www.amazon.com/XPG-SX8200-Gen3x4-3000MB-ASX8200PNP-1TT-C/dp/B07K1J3C23/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=adata+nvme&qid=1563623699&s=gateway&sr=8-1 The best bang for your buck if you're taking the next step up into the NVME world MAKE SURE YOUR BOARD HAS THE SLOT FOR IT. roughly 7 times the speeds of the first two ssd mentioned. Significantly higher price per gig

https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-970-EVO-Plus-MZ-V7S1T0B/dp/B07MFZY2F2/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=970+evo+pro+plus&qid=1563624021&s=gateway&sr=8-1 The flagship. Everybody seems to need one. Marginally better than the previous mention in reality. YOU WILL NOT NOTICE A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE TWO UNLESS YOU ARE SPECIFICALLY TESTING THEM.

I have posted there, but thank you for answering so many questions.

> If you haven't already started setting things up, you'll likely want to replace those Seagate Cheetahs with 2.5" WD Red drives. They are extremely reliable and not known to fail like the Cheetahs (and really any high speed SAS drives) are.

I installed Win10 last night just to tinker with it, but right now I am planning on spending $96 on 3 of these 240GB SSDs and using them as a primary Raid 5 array. I have a couple 6TB WD Red drives and I think the smart move is to buy another one and set up an additional Raid 5 array for my file and media storage. I'm currently only using ~2TB for personal files/videos/photos and ~4TB for Movies/TV Shows, so I think 3 6TB in drives in Raid 5 should last me for now.

> If you create a new virtual disk, ALL DATA ON THE DRIVES WILL BE LOST. it creates a clean slate when you do this.

So I guess the only way to ensure no data loss is to back all of my stuff up across different PCs in the house, make the new VD, and transfer it all back over. Got it.

> If you want to quiet the system down, you'll need to enable manual fan control through iDRAC IPMI commands. I wouldn't recommend this unless you are comfortable with lowering the life expectancy of the hardware. Keep in mind that your X5690s are high-TDP processors and need a lot of cooling to keep them from melting

Would this be an option: Remove the plastic ducting that houses the two jet engines and replace the current CPU heatsinks with something like this. Would those be sufficient cooling for the CPUs? Seeing as how I'll be going from mechanical drives to 3, I imagine I can space them intelligently to maximize airflow and replace the rear turbofans with two standard quiet case fans. Thoughts?

> Additional advice: keep your second power supply plugged in, and replace your RAID battery to ensure that the cache works properly.

The guy I got it from has two more power supplies he's giving me on Tuesday for it. Currently one of them has a yellow light and the front panel shows an error to check PS1.

> That's all I can say. I recommend using CentOS/RHEL 7 or 8, or Ubuntu 18.04 on the system for optimal compatibility. Drivers are difficult on newer versions of Windows, specifically graphics drivers are quite the pain.

I run CentOS on my webserver and I believe we run CentOS on our Axure servers for my business (not my area of expertise), so I'm familiar enough with it to do things. But, because I'm using this internally I am more comfortable running Windows on it as that's where my experience with Plex, Minecraft, networking, etc. is.

I'm not an SA though, so while I understand that Windows Server is meant for server environments, I don't know what benefit Windows Server would have over Windows 10 for this application. Thoughts?

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

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

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

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

G4560 for $82.96

Gigabyte GA-H110M-S2PV for $69.99

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

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

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

Rosewill Dual Fans MicroATX Mini Tower Computer Case for $34.99

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

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

Logitech Desktop MK120 for $29.87

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

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

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

Now I think I've successfully proved that you

1, have no idea what you're talking about

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

haha, Well I love your honest opinion about the shit you care about.

Anways, you don't need anything too ridiculous to max out your budget. The MSI GT60 Dominator-424 would do great for you.

Also, it would be a good idea to get a Samsung 840 Evo and slap that in there as your boot drive. It's pretty easy as it comes with drive cloning software so you don't even have to reinstall your OS or anything.

It'll also play your games at high to ultra settings, even with WoW addons whic you should have if you're trying to play competitively. Also it will be well capable of playing with high settings even with the new character models being introduced in WoD.

Have you checked Amazon? They usually have these SSDs along the same price tag. I’ve seen them 85-100$ USD. There’s a Western Digital version of that SSD for about 88$ USD. There’s also a Crucial version of that SSD for about 88$ USD on Amazon. Not sure if it’s more expensive in AUS on Amazon. Hope I helped.

Edit: I’ll link you the items I’m talking about

This is the WD model
WD Blue 3D NAND 500GB PC SSD - SATA III 6 Gb/s 2.5"/7mm Solid State Drive - WDS500G2B0A https://www.amazon.com/dp/B073SBZ8YH/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_I9xPBb4VDW1BD

I personally own the WD one and it’s been pretty good so far.

Crucial MX500 500GB 3D NAND SATA 2.5 Inch Internal SSD - CT500MX500SSD1(Z) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0784SLQM6/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_N.xPBb0HSAM8T

My friend owns the Crucial model and has told me good things about it.

Here is the Samsung model you’re looking for
Samsung 860 Evo 500GB 2.5 inch SATA III Internal SSD (MZ-76E500B/AM) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0781Z7Y3S/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_AbyPBbF2HH21P

The WD and Crucial models read and write faster than the Samsung model according to the info on Amazon. And they’re cheaper. WD also has a M.2 2280 version of the SSD which is easier to install IMO and it’s the same price.

Change the SSD. The Crucial MX100 is cheaper and better.

http://www.amazon.com/Crucial-MX100-adapter-Internal-CT256MX100SSD1/dp/B00KFAGCWK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1411622882&sr=8-1&keywords=crucial+mx100+256gb

You could also get a Corsair CX600M for $20 cheaper and it'd be way more than enough to run the system. Or, an EVGA Supernova 750G2 for $15 cheaper.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139048&cm_re=cx600m-_-17-139-048-_-Product

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817438028

For the price I'd say the EVGA looks the best.

The case looks good. Another alternative if you want a lot more cooling is the Rosewill Blackhawk, but it looks more flashy and perhaps less refined.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147107

As for the keyboard, honestly I'd not even think about going with such a basic keyboard unless it was for a very budget build. You'll be better served by getting something like the CM Storm Devastator Mouse/Keyboard combo. The keyboard is available either Red or Blue backlit and is pretty good for typing because it has well-spaced keys and good key travel. The mouse has buttons for adjusting DPI on the fly and side buttons you can use while gaming. Even if you already have a better mouse, it'd work great as a backup.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00LZVP71A/ref=gno_cart_title_0?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

The rest looks solid. Good luck!

Ok thanks man you’ve been a really great help, really appreciate it. Just one more question (sorry!); The Acronis information on the SanDisk website says: “you will need at least one WD branded or SanDisk branded HDD or SSD as source drive or destination drive for this program to perform cloning.”

My HDD is a bog-standard Seagate ST1000DM003 which isn’t a WD or SanDisk branded source drive. Is it necessary to have a WD or a SanDISK HDD/source drive, or is it just the SSD which needs to be SanDisk branded?

I get that SanDisk is a WD brand, so you’d expect it to work, however about 3 or 4 reviews on Amazon claim that the Acronis cloning software doesn’t work, and required them to pay $30 for the full Acronis version, rather than the WD Edition. Maybe it will be best to go for the intel SSD or even another brand.

1 TB Western Digital $58

1 TB Seagate $53

2 TB Seagate $83.50

3 TB Seagate $102.80

Any of those would be good choices. Like others mentioned, WD Blues only go up to 1 TB. WD blacks are pretty much over priced, so Seagate is the better choice above 1 TB. The Seagate 1TB drive actually performs a little better than the WD 1 TB. As for WD being more reliable than Seagate, I don't really know if that's true or not.

Things to consider: Cache size, RPM and platter density. Seems like 64MB cache, 7200 RPM and 1 TB platter size is the best bang for the buck right now. All those drives above share those specs.

I've done all these updates/upgrades to my x250.

External batteries and chargers can be found on Amazon easily. For whatever reason the internal ones are all third party. I've use a third party internal battery and it worked fine, but degraded quickly (I'm actually looking to replace it again now). On the charger I like to get a longer cable for the wall to brick part. It's a standard cable you can get for a $8 and I highly recommend it. Link for the longer cable: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01JBDY3GS

For a 16GB memory module, I used the "Mem Store" one from eBay and it works fine. Some places have reported certain memory modules don't work. That one does. It's about ~$80 right now. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Single-16GB-SODIMM-1x16GB-PC3L-12800-Memory-Thinkpad-X250-5TH-GEN-I3-I5-I7-ONLY/191609325156

Laptopscreens.com has a FHD LCD panel that works good. You can also find that seller on eBay. You don't need anything special to do the swap, although a few guitar picks helps to start the bezel. Just be patient when removing the screen bezel so you don't break it. This is the one I got: https://www.ebay.com/itm/New-LCD-Screen-for-Lenovo-Thinkpad-X240-X250-00HM745-LP125WF2-SP-B2-IPS-FHD/282811633253

The SSD is pretty straight forward, just get a sata one in your desired capacity and swap it. I personally went for a WD Blue 500GB and it's been great. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B073SBZ8YH

I agree with /u/xcyu SSD and FHD screen will be the most noticeable upgrades.

Here is the post for archival purposes:

Author: nynjawitay

Content:

>Hey everybody! I've been a part of the Bitcoin community since 2011. I write this in the hopes that people see there are actual people supporting Bitcoin Cash. I believe cryptocurrency is the greatest invention since the Internet. I believe that a well designed cryptocurrency can give us the ability to send money (be it pennies or millions of dollars) nearly instantly with a fee of a cents or sometimes even free. I believe cryptocurrency can also do way more than this, but this is the most important first step to me; if it can't do this, I don't think it can do other things very well. I hope Bitcoin Cash can be this cryptocurrency.

>Because of the whole blocksize debate and fee market madness, I ignored Bitcoin for a while and looked at other cryptocurrencies. Now that Bitcoin Cash has forked and continues to survive, I want to help it.

>I hear constant FUD about how initial sync times are destroying Bitcoin's decentralization. The common response is that most people don't need to run fully validating nodes; they are fine with SPV nodes since if they aren't mining they can't meaningfully contribute to consensus anyway. I agree with this.

>I recently read https://medium.com/@peter_r/on-the-emerging-consensus-regarding-bitcoins-block-size-limit-insights-from-my-visit-with-2348878a16d8 where Peter relays the message from BitPay and Coinbase that "we need more genetic diversity in nodes that are ready and willing to accept larger blocks."

>Well I'm a professional programmer and I have a powerful home server with plenty of room. Since I want Bitcoin Cash to succeed, I figured I should setup a node that people can actually get some use from. I bought https://smile.amazon.com/Samsung-960-EVO-Internal-MZ-V6E250BW/dp/B01LYFKX41/ and my goodness it made initial sync times with txindex=1 go WAY faster than last I did this. I started yesterday evening and Bitcoin Classic is already at block 457,235 and electrumx (which I started an hour or two later) is at 394,602. Once It's synced, I'll update this post with the DNS information although it looks like electrumx has proper peer-discovery built-in.

>I'm especially happy with host fast this sync is going considering that the system is also loaded with an archival parity node, monero node, and zcash node. It's also serving Whonix and Tails torrents. If anyone has any suggestions for other applications I could run to help the community, I'm all ears.

No worries. That doesn't really help but if you could show me where you found it I might be able to dig deeper.

For clarity, a PCI Express (or PCIe) slot is where expansion cards like your graphic card go. They are very fast when it comes to transferring data. A PCIe slot has "lanes" of data it can transfer. An x1 slot has one "lane". An x16 slot as 16 "lanes". Each lane can transfer 8Gb/s, if I remember correctly. That's some background info.

Now let's talk drive types. You've got Hard Disk Drives or HDDs, which come in different capacities and physical sizes. The two common sizes these days are 2.5" (usually found in notebook computers) and 3.5" (usually found in desktop computers). Larger physical size does not necessarily equate to larger capacity. Capacity is usually expressed in gigabytes (GB) or terabytes (TB). An HDD is one of the slowest forms of media commonly used today, but it's cheaper per GB/TB than solid state drives. (SSDs.) HDDs today use the SATA "bus", which is a specific way to transfer data. Your PCIe slots are another way to transfer data, but we'll come back to that.

Then you've got SSDs. The most common size still being produced is 2.5". These are much faster than HDDs. SATA SSDs are roughly 5 times faster than HDDs for reading and writing data. This means faster boot times for your system, faster game loads, and faster file copies.

A few years ago, M.2 SSDs came out. M.2 is not necessarily faster than 2.5" SSDs. This depends on which bus they use. If they use the SATA bus, they're around the same speed as 2.5" drives. That said, they're far smaller and use less power, so they're better for laptops and, frankly, everything else except for speed. That said, we also have M.2 NVMe drives. NVMe is a special type of memory (like your computer's RAM) that doesn't wipe itself each time you reboot your computer, which means it can be used for storage. Also like your RAM, it's very fast - about 4 times faster than a SATA SSD, which is about 5 times faster than an HDD. That means an M.2 NVMe SSD is roughly 20 times faster than an HDD.

Because of this faster speed, the SATA bus just isn't fast enough, so they use the same bus as your PCIe slots. They can use 4 lanes of the PCIe bus. They can be plugged into an M.2 slot if your motherboard supports them, but you can also buy an inexpensive PCIe card (which will fit into a PCIe slot, if you have one available) if your motherboard does not have an M.2 slot. Here's an example of a cheap card that I've found to work well. You mount the M.2 SSD to the card, then install the card in a PCIe slot. That said, if the only PCIe slot you have available is x1, it's kind of pointless to do so. Remember how I said it is roughly 4 times faster than a SATA SSD? And remember how I said it uses 4 PCIe lanes? Well, if you only use 1 PCIe lane, you're not going to see those same performance gains. At that point, you're better off using a SATA SSD. They do make them in the M.2 size/format. The Samsung 850 Evo is an example of a decent one. (Note: the 850 Evo is also made in the 2.5" size/format, so be cautious which one you buy if you go that direction. Also, note that many PCIe cards (and M.2 slots on motherboards, for that matter) only support NVMe/PCIe M.2 SSDs OR SATA M.2 SSDs but not both. The PCIe card I linked above will only work with NVMe/PCIe SSDs, for example. Therefore, the Samsung 850 Evo I just linked wouldn't be compatible with it.

I hope that helps to clarify. Feel free to respond with more info or questions if you have them.

ABSOLUTELY.

The fact that it can even be done with stock parts (although granted it won't be aesthetically pleasing given the case restrictions), drives the point home, but that also limits profitability by the manufacturers, and like i said also makes them ugly, so it makes sense that companies like Valve are designing integrated-system boxes that can run smaller and trim the fat, thus making room for profit.

The other major sticking point is Windows, which is precisely why we have steamOS. I hope it catches on. Windows is a great general purpose OS, don't get me wrong, but it eats resources that could be used in gaming, and also would devourer $100 of your build unless you uh, have connections.

That being said, allow me to demonstrate:

PC Case & PSU: $50

CPU: i3-4150: $120

MOBO: MSI H81M-E33: $50

4GB Ram: Crucial: $36

WD Blue 1TB HDD: $60

MSI GT 640: $84

Grand total: $400

I'd bet that total it would smoke a ps4 or an xbone, too.

Edit: I can't math, I'm $16 over with the GT650. So here's a GT640 that makes it work. Still beats a console.

Edit 2: regarding lifespan, that's a silly restriction. First, I've gone through FOUR xboxes in 8 years. The last one has only lasted becuase i mainly switched to a PS3 in the last few (edit 3: Three PS3s, but IIRC only one was due to death, the first got sold). Having said that, I have every confidence the build above will last 8 years, provided it doesn't die in the first 3 months. PCs are like that. Either they croak right away because you did something wrong like not provide enough airflow or have a bad part, or they last forever, like the dell desktop I have sitting in my office with a Core 2 Duo from 2007, or the studio-pc my old band used to record our album that I'm SURE the singer never updated, and is running a Pentium 4 and Windows XP (he's of the if it ain't broke variety).

Besides, what someone else down the line said, if you're going to compare apples to apples, add xbox live/psn sub fees for 8 years in, that automatically adds another ~$400 to the cost of the machine. That's a HELL of a lot of headroom for upgrades. And this isn't even taking into account the general cheapness of games on PC vs. consoles. Games usually start $10 cheaper on PC and will tend to drop immediately after launch - if you can wait a day or a week, you can usually get most games for $35 or less, so figure an average of $25/game savings, lets say 4 games a year (hah), and we're talking ANOTHER $800 saved over the lifespan you are suggesting.

TLDR: PC is cheaper, but requires more commitment (duh). There is something to be said about the console's ease-of-use where even my 3-year-old son can figure out how to turn on the PS3 and watch a cartoon on Amazon or play Pacman, or turn on the Wii U and play NSMB or Pikmin 3.

120 gb is just fine, some people even go with just 60, but then the price per gig goes down.

Mobo is definitely overkill. I saw the same LTT video, and I don't know why some gamers spend so much money. The one linked below should be just as good for your needs, and it will overclock just fine.
http://www.amazon.com/MSI-DDR3-2600-Motherboards-GAMING/dp/B00K23BZVI/ref=sr_1_24?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1422652674&sr=1-24&keywords=asus+z-97+atx

You can save a little bit on the memory. This kit is actually faster and cheaper, although the speed won't really be noticeable.
http://www.amazon.com/Kingston-HyperX-FURY-1866MHz-DDR3/dp/B00J8E92I0/ref=sr_1_8?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1422652821&sr=1-8&keywords=ram+8gb&pebp=1422652833471&peasin=B00J8E92I0

There are a lot of good ssds, here's a decent cheap one. If you get a different one, just make sure the brand is good.
http://www.amazon.com/Kingston-Digital-2-5-Inch-SV300S37A-120G/dp/B00A1ZTZOG/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1422652921&sr=1-1&keywords=120+gb+ssd

I'm not sure why the gpu is showing for $414, you can get the same one for a lot less.
http://www.amazon.com/Gigabyte-GeForce-Overclocked-GDDR5-Graphics/dp/B00NH5T1UA/ref=sr_1_5?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1422653064&sr=1-5&keywords=970&pebp=1422653075005&peasin=B00NH5T1UA

Your power supply is more than you need since the 970 is so efficient. A lot of people like to buy more than they need though just so they have the ability to expand later. Up to you. Even the 500 watt linked below is more than you need, you could most likely do ok on 400 watts.
http://www.amazon.com/EVGA-80PLUS-Bronze-Certified-100-B1-0500-KR/dp/B00DGHKK7M/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1422653183&sr=8-4&keywords=500+watt+power+supply&pebp=1422653196399&peasin=B00DGHKK7M

Have fun on your build!

Let me know if you have any questions.

I don't know much about the XFX TS line of PSU's, apparently some people have problems with it being DOA or dying within a couple of weeks, but some say it's great. YMMV.

The r7 260x is good for what your friend will need it. It will do fine with LoL on high or ultra, but then again, many cards can do this, even after the recent visual updates. But at $100, it beats many options (750ti for example, even though the 750ti uses almost 50% of the power that the r7 260x uses).

Also, if your friend is a student or part of a schooling/university program or part of a work program that allows discounted/free OS, look into it. Often times universities (such as mine) will include an OS key in your "technology payment". I got a 64x Win 8.1 key for free because of this. And if you're able to get the free OS, you can either choose to save $90 off the total, or use the extra $90 to upgrade parts or add a 256gb SSD

If you live in the states, you can just get this for $48 and change. WD, 7200rpm, and cheaper than either of your two options.

If you can't get that drive, then...always go for the higher RPM when dealing with mechanical drives for the most part. Any WD "Blue" that's not 7200rpm is really their old Green line, and they were really terrible in quality, which was unusual for WD.

Usually, WD does beat out Seagate in terms of quality but mostly when you start looking at thousands of drives at a time (How many premature failures per thousand units...etc). WD's Blues (the real blues, 7200rpm ones) are pretty decent, with their Blacks and enterprise HGST being among the best.

However for the average user, you're ok going with either. I'm going to hope you're using an SSD and only need the platter drive for storing large files and backups, so either would be ok. My own personal bias has me erring on the side of caution with WD > Seagate, but honestly the Seagate you listed would be much better than the WD "Fake Blue" 5400rpm since it's their bottom barrel line.

This is an Amazon.ca Featured Deal and is set to expire at 3:00 am (presumably March 21). Act fast! Best Buy Canada and Futureshop will price match this deal, bringing the price down to around $97

An excellent price on a 2TB external drive that can be easily removed from the casing and installed in a PS4. I picked one of these up a couple of weeks ago and did exactly that and it fits and works perfectly.

To remove the drive, carefully pry the metal top cover from the bottom plastic case. This can be done by hand or using a small screwdriver. Once the case is open, remove the drive and unplug from the USB interface board. Then just follow the Sony instructions for replacing the drive. Be sure to backup your game save data first so that it can be restored to the new drive afterwards.

The drive fits perfectly in the PS4 and meets the specs that Sony specifies for the console. If you're looking for extra storage in your PS4, this is a great way to expand at a reasonable price.

As an added bonus, you can install your old PS4 500GB drive in the case and use that as an external USB drive afterwards.

Edit: Our American friends can get the same drive from Amazon.com for $89 which is a pretty good deal.

Audio Interface: Roland Quad-Capture

Headphones: Beyerdynamic DT 770

CPU: Ryzen 5 1600

GPU: NVidia GTX 1050

HDD: Seagate BarraCuda 2 TB

SSD: Samsung 850 EVO 250 GB

RAM: Corsair Vengeance LPX 2x8 GB

Here's why I chose these components.

Audio Interface: All of Roland's products that I used were well-built, aesthetic and most of all sounding great!

Headphones: I've been using these exact headphones for about 5 years and they are very comfortable, robust and precise in sound.

CPU: The new Ryzen CPUs are in my opinion perfect for music production. They have a nice price-performance ratio and give you 6 cores and 12 threads which can beneficial when using at least 12 tracks (which I assume you will).

GPU: The NVidia GPU is capable of handling most games that are not too graphically intense. You can also pick an equivalent AMD GPU, I have always been with NVidia so that's what I chose.

HDD: The Seagate BarraCuda hard drives are cheap but they work perfectly and 2 TB should be enough to handle all the programs and sample libraries.

SSD: To be honest, I just heard great things of these SSDs. I am sure you can also pick a different brand but I wouldn't risk that with the SSD. 250 GB should be enough for your OS and DAW.

RAM: 16 GB is more than enough and the clock speed of that RAM is pretty high.

Of course you also need other stuff like a PC case, power supply, monitor etc. but I figured I would let you choose these components since they are mostly personal preference. However, I would advise against very cheap power supplies. You don't want them to blow up the whole computer.

Samsung SSD warranty has been shit for years.

If anyone's looking for SSD makers with good service, I'd recommend WD. I've done several WD HDD RMAs painlessly and successfully. They're located in the GTA area so you don't have to pay too much for shipping. The turn around time were around 3-5 business days each time.

WD sells NVMe m.2 SSDs as well as SATA in 2.5 form factor and m.2. They are priced better than the Samsungs as well. I don't know too much about long term quality, but so far the reviews for these units are quite good. I personally run a WD Blue m.2 SSD as my game drive/storage. And clarify that I'm not a shill, I use a Samsung EVO 960 512GB as my main boot drive. I'm very happy with my Samsung EVO as well as my WD. I just don't like Samsung's warranty service.

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/

I would put a GTX 1050 ti in there to get the most out of your A10 CPU. The integrated graphics can run WoW but it's not ideal. GTX 1050 ti is really ideal here, going much higher and you're looking at noticing the limitations of your CPU too often. Your A10 is fine for it's price, but it's not really in the same class with GTX 1060 and higher, those are best paired with a Haswell or Skylake quad. A balanced system will run consistently, whereas an unbalanced system will run very well in some titles and comparatively not very well in others.

SSD would definitely be the second best upgrade, check out Crucial's new MX300 for really good price per gig and a good solid product with acceptable speeds. If you get a 1050 ti and a 525gb MX300 you're looking at like $260 ish to make that thing scream.

https://www.amazon.com/Crucial-MX300-525GB-Internal-Solid/dp/B01IAGSD68/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1480483313&sr=8-1&keywords=525gb+mx300

https://www.amazon.com/ZOTAC-DisplayPort-Dual-Link-Graphics-ZT-P10510A-10L/dp/B01MCU1ERO/ref=sr_1_2?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1480483341&sr=1-2&keywords=gtx+1050+ti

pc-kombo shared list

Type|Item|Price

----|:----|:----
CPU | Intel Core i5-6600 | EUR 216,00 @ Mindfactory
Motherboard | Asrock H170 PRO4S | EUR 98,90 @ Amazon.de
Memory | Crucial DDR4 2400 (2x8) (16 GB) | EUR 80,68 @ Amazon.de
Storage | WD10EZEX Blue (1 TB) | EUR 48,69 @ Amazon.de
SSD | SanDisk Ultra II 240 (256 GB) | EUR 74,74 @ Amazon.de
Video Card | Radeon R9 390 | EUR 309,00 @ Mindfactory
Case | Nanoxia Deep Silence 3 | EUR 74,99 @ Amazon.de
Power Supply | Antec Edge 550 (550 W) | EUR 106,89 @ Amazon.de
| Total | €1017.88
| Generated by pc-kombo 17.03.2016 |

You can save by getting a locked i5. It is only a bit slower, but a lot cheaper, as one saves on the cpu, the cooler and the mainboard
For 1GB drives the WD blue is nicer, it is quieter and reliable. For bigger drives the Seagates get attractive as they are cheaper
You absolutely want an SSD. It makes the difference between a PC feeling new, and the PC feeling and sounding like coming from the 90s
The R9 390 has 8GB Vram and is the better pick over the GTX 970. It's also cheaper
Cheaper case, isolated and good (but cases are subjective picks, you might prefer yours)
Better psu

There is some money left in the budget you signaled with your first build. The data treatment, can you describe that closer? Is that something that would profit from an i7? You'd have the money left for it, but the price increase is normally not worth it as games don't profit much.

Thank you for your help, kind stranger !

• I don't get what water cooling is, is it really better? Do I need to do anything with the fan, like fill it with wter, or do i just plug it in and voila?
  
  
• I'll really wait for the graphics card because i want to go all in later when i'll have enough money. I'm really used to playing games with a bad computer (GTAV all low in 800x600 on a 2017 dell XPS 13 for example, Intel integrated graphics and an I5 2.5GHz) and i'll probably stick to some csgo, gmod terraria and other smaller games haha.
  
  
• The cpu fan is a cooler master, looks a like it might be this one : https://www.amazon.com/Cooler-Master-7H51C-Processor-Socket/dp/B000I223LO
  
  
• The other fan I have is this one : https://www.amazon.com/PV902512L-DC12V-0-16A-3-WIRE-92x25mm/dp/B00B877C50
  
  
• Do you recommend anything for cooling? Since I don't have good fans, do I need to buy more. Even in the optic of buying a new graphics card (Probably the 11GB titan), and one that can still cool down the 78xx? Water cooling is cool to if you think it's better
  
  
• What do you think of this SSD? It's better looking and cheaper where I live : https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-500GB-Internal-MZ-76E500B-AM/dp/B0781Z7Y3S/ref=sr_1_3?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1523216119&sr=1-3
  
  
• What's the difference between micro ATX and ATX? I'd prefer a "bigger" motherboard if it means better aeration, but i'm no expert. Plus, if my tower is big why not put a bigger motherboard in it? And will this one be able to support a better graphics card later? And i think it's a yes otherwise you wouldn't suggest this one but is it compatible with the I7?
  
• Edit : what do you think of the Asus PRIME Z370-P? : www.amazon.com/Z370-P-LGA1151-Motherboard-Generation-Processors/dp/B075RJHLBK/
  
  

• For the case, i can't find the one you're suggesting under 150€ ~ 180$ so what do you think of the Corsair Carbide 400C/270R/275R ?
  

  
  

  Anyway, thank you really much for your help, I know i ask a lot of questions but isn't this why this subreddit is made for? :)
  

  
  

  edit : this
  

  PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant
  

  
  

  Type|Item|Price
  

  ----|:----|:----
  CPU | Intel - Core i7-8700K 3.7GHz 6-Core Processor | $410.00
  CPU Cooler | Corsair - H100i v2 70.7 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler | $129.00
  Motherboard | Gigabyte - H370M D3H Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard | $129.00
  Memory | G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2800 Memory | $224.00
  Storage | Samsung - 850 EVO-Series 500GB 2.5" Solid State Drive | $150.00
  Storage | Crucial - MX300 525GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive | $0.00
  Case | Corsair - Carbide Series 275R (Black w/Tempered Glass) ATX Mid Tower Case | $104.00
  Power Supply | FSP Group - 650W 80+ Silver Certified ATX Power Supply | Purchased For $0.00
  Operating System | Microsoft - Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit | Purchased For $0.00
  | Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts |
  | Total | $1146.00
  | Generated by PCPartPicker 2018-04-08 16:05 EDT-0400 |

8gb of ram should be fine, but If you might decide to play some other games as well I would get 16gb, but definitely get at least ddr4-3000 ram. I’d get a 240gb ssd like this one just to be on the safe side. Idk much about wow but if it’s a 15 yr old game like you said the 570 should be fine for 1080p 144fps. The 2200g should be ok if you want to just play wow, but it doesn’t have hyper threading and has only 4 cores. If you can spare the money, get a 2400g (it has hyper threading)

• Get an SSD, ASAP. Single best upgrade you can make to ANY PC - 250GB Samsung 840 Evo is $75 on Amazon, the 850 Evo is $90. If you want 500GB, you'll pay about $150 for the 850 EVO, 840 EVO doesn't have the 500GB available (Amazon shows it at $272 for a 500GB?! I think it's no longer produced)
  
  
• Max out your RAM. Your MoBo can support 32GB of RAM -- 16GB should do you plenty of good. $67 on NewEgg
  
  
• So far that's only $142 of your $350. That leaves you with $208 for a nice GPU. I have a GeForce GTX 750Ti that does great, and I'm not a gamer at all, so I really only bought it in case I decide to game later on (Dark Souls 3 will apparently run perfectly on my machine, which makes me very happy). You can get a GTX 950 or 960 under that price limit, both are mid to high tier graphics cards (980 is the highest in the series, atm [correct me if I'm wrong I don't know shit about gaming GPU's])
  
  
• If you don't want to spend $200 on a GPU, or if you can up your budget to $400, you can get both a really nice GPU and a better motherboard that supports DDR4 RAM, which of course increases the cost of the RAM, but it's all about future proofing.
  
  TL;DR: For the amount of your budget, buy the SSD and RAM I recommended. Either spend $200 on a GPU or spend $150 on a mid-tier GPU, up your budget to $400 and get a better MoBo for future upgrades. Good luck!
  
  Edit -- I just saw you have an AMD CPU. I've heard that nVidia & Intel work better together, and AMD works best with the other cards. Adjust accordingly.

Alternative AMD build at the bottom of this post

--------

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Type|Item|Price

----|:----|:----
CPU | Intel - Core i5-7600K 3.8GHz Quad-Core Processor | $299.99 @ Amazon Canada
CPU Cooler | CRYORIG - H7 49.0 CFM CPU Cooler | $46.75 @ Amazon Canada
Motherboard | ASRock - Z270 Killer SLI/ac ATX LGA1151 Motherboard | $229.99 @ Newegg Canada
Memory | G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3200 Memory | $177.99 @ Memory Express
Storage | Samsung - 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive | $136.50 @ Amazon Canada
Storage | Seagate - BarraCuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive | $62.99 @ Amazon Canada
Video Card | MSI - Radeon RX 580 8GB ARMOR OC Video Card | $389.99 @ Memory Express
Case | NZXT - S340 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case | $99.99 @ Memory Express
Power Supply | EVGA - SuperNOVA NEX 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply | $114.99 @ Amazon Canada
Monitor | ViewSonic - XG2401 23.6" 1920x1080 144Hz Monitor | $329.99 @ Amazon Canada
Keyboard | Corsair - K55 RGB Wired Gaming Keyboard | $69.99 @ Amazon Canada
Mouse | Corsair - Harpoon RGB Wired Optical Mouse | $39.99 @ Amazon Canada
| Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts |
| Total | $1999.15
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-08-03 19:00 EDT-0400 |

Notes:

The original motherboard you selected doesn't support overclocking, I've replaced it with a motherboard that does. In addition, this board also has built-in WiFi which replaced the internal WiFi card you had on your list originally.
I removed Windows from your list of items, non-activated Windows runs nearly identically to activated Windows. You can read about that here. It seems like a good way to save some money until you have some more room to spend.
Picked a speedier kit of RAM for about $20 additional.
Added a 1TB Seagate HDD to your build since it's unlikely that a 250GB SSD will give you enough room for your games and video footage. The 2TB HDD is only +$30 additional for reference.
I hope you didn't want it to be $2000 after tax, because 120Hz monitors aren't exactly cheap. The one I included has FreeSync (only compatible with AMD GPU's), which reduces screen tearing at certain refresh rates. Here's another option (no FreeSync, slightly cheaper): BenQ ZOWIE 24" 1080p LED Full HD 144Hz.
I swapped the 1060 6GB for an RX 580. The performance on RX 580 is slightly better than the 1060 6GB in most test cases, and it supports FreeSync (the free version of NVIDIA's G-Sync).


------
With all that being said, I've also put together another build centered around AMD Ryzen 1600. This build doesn't cost as much, and will offer competitive performance to the i5 7600k you originally selected. More importantly, the motherboard supports future AMD Processors until the year 2020, which will make upgrading in the future easy and inexpensive (Intel is dropping support for LGA1151 after this generation).

Here is the AMD Ryzen 1600 build ($80 less).

I would personally recommend the AMD build, however, you can't go wrong with either.

>better quality video attracts more audience

I agree with this - that's why I recommend you save yourself some money and get a $1295 Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K with a $109.99 Samsung T5 portable SSD, a $6.99 cold shoe adapter, a $9.99 cold shoe mount for the SSD (seen here) and a $259 FeiyuTech G6 Plus gimbal.

This setup will cost you less than $1700 - hundreds of dollars less than the price of the Sony or the Panasonic.

And the BMPCC 4K's 12-bit internal RAW recording will give you better quality and a far wider color palette than either the 8-bit A7 III or the 10-bit GH5s.

Plus with the gimbal, you'll get smooth handheld 4K RAW video (the GH5s is unstabilized).

Here are a couple of promos shot with this camera:

• ​“Take Flight” - Blackmagic Pocket 4K by Yonder Blue Films (4K - "making of" behind-the-scenes here)
  
• Blenheim Forge | Blackmagic Pocket Cinema 4K Short by CVP (2160p)
  
  Here are a few sample videos shot at 4K in 12-bit losslessly compressed CinemaDNG RAW:
  
  
• Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K “Ohana” by Moai Films (4K)
  
• BMPCC4K Footage "Bubble Gum" filmed with Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K by Areia Creations (4K)
  
• ​BMPCC4K Footage “Dreamcatcher” filmed with Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K by Areaia Creations (4K)
  
• ​Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K : A Flower of Life by Sittipong Kong Tang (2160p - "making of" behind-the-scenes here)
  
• ​Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K ‘Mountain Bike’ by Joey Knox (4K)
  
• Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K ‘Nature’ by Mark Wyatt (4K - shot with Sigma 18-35mm and Rokinon 50mm Cine lenses)
  
  These were shot at 4K in 10-bit ProRes 4:2:2:
  
  
• ​“Sunset at Changi” (2018) x Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K by Clement You (4K)
  
• ​Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K ‘Balloons’ by Andreas Neumann (4K)
  
• Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K ‘Bugs’ by Peter Nearhos (4K)
  
• Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K ‘Models Walking in Daylight’ by John Brawley (4K)
  
• ​Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K ‘Models Walking at Night’ by John Brawley (4K)
  
• ​Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K ‘Models Close Up at Night’ by John Brawley (4K)
  
  In my view, the BMPCC is the best cinema/video centered camera you can buy in the sub-$2000 price range.
  
  If you decide to go with this camera, you might also want to subscribe over at r/bmpcc and r/blackmagicdesign - lots of knowledgeable folks there who can help you get the most out of the camera.
  
  I have one on pre-order and expect it in the next few days.
  
  Hope this is helpful and good luck with finding the right camera for your needs!
  
  ^(Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive a small affiliate commission. This costs you nothing extra. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I believe are a good value for readers. This disclosure is in accordance with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission’s) ^(16 CFR, Part 255)^(: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.)

I haven't had a problem like this. But I did have an issue with heavy teamfights that would make me crash (was able to get back into the game though.) So I decided to upgrade my PC. Was running a 7 year old GPU before and upgraded to 1660ti. Will sort me for the next 5-6 years just like the last.

But mainly and the thing that I believe will help you is getting an SSD. I installed the new SSD and did a fresh OS install on that(deleted OS off old HDD). Then just reinstalled Dota, steam and other main programs to run on the SSD. That way I had the speed and performance of the new SSD but still had all my files from my old HDD which is now my storage. I'd recommend the WD Blue 3D SSD( https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B073SBZ8YH/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_image_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 ). I went for 500GB but you can go for anything that you feel is enough for your OS and programs you want to run.

(I can't tell you how nice it is not crashing and also launching and being able to use my PC in 30 seconds compared to 15 minutes.)

Hope this helped man and wish you the best :)

​

Edit: link

It's a little over budget at $1000, but the Asus N550JV has an optical drive which can be removed and replaced with an SSD if you so choose. The other really nice features that the N550JV has is a beautiful IPS 1080p touchscreen and quad core i7 4700HQ processor that can help with your photography programs. IPS screens have excellent viewing angles and picture quality compared to more common TN screens; you will want this when working with photos. THe N550JV also has 8GB ram, GT 750M GPU and 1TB HDD running Windows 8.

For SSDs, we highly recommend you get a Samsung 840 Evo for a good mix of value, capacity and speed. Here's a video showing how to replace the optical drive with an SSD.

How soon do you plan on building this? If you can wait a couple months the NVIDIA GTX 880 will be out soon, and it's supposed to be around the price of the 770 when it came out (about $400, US). This is probably the worst time of the year to build a computer. Devil's Canyon and Z97 did just come out, but Intel is still do for X99 and Haswell-E, NVIDIA is releasing Maxwell, and AMD probably has some stuff being announced soon.

Otherwise it looks good, the only things I would change would be the power supply (for an EVGA SuperNOVA), the motherboard (to something from ASUS), I would maybe get a cheaper SSD as the 850 Pro series don't really offer much more for the premium. An 840 EVO or a Crucial MX100 of the same price would be the optimal as far as price/performance. I would also recommend against getting a 7.1 headset, I've tried them and they're terrible, as an alternative I'd get a cheap pair of studio headphones like the Audio-Technica ATH-M50 and a desktop microphone.

Edit 1: I would recommend getting a case with better airflow as well. Something like the Phanteks Enthoo Pro is a good value case with much better airflow, and has a nice aesthetic.

• 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.

I personally don't think an SSD is worth the extra money. it will be faster in terms of load times, but the difference is not that noticeable.

if you want a 2TB HDD, this one (ST2000LM015) is great and recommended. If you want slightly better speed for a good price, get this SSHD (ST2000LX001).

and if you really want to save money, then this one (STDR2000100) is pretty common. more work involved though, because you have to crack open the case. there is guide in the sidebar. one benefit is you can re-use the case for your old ps4 hdd.

I referenced US amazon because i don't know canada stuff, but you can just look up the model numbers for each.

It's just because you linked to your user saved list, the new link is fine.

The X570 pairs well with a high-performance NVMe drive. There is a decent selection of great drives right now. Since you mentioned budget I figured you'd want the best value in that segment. That would be the Sabrent Rocket, although there are other drives that share its hardware like the Silicon Power P34A80 or Addlink S70. The Rocket is the cheapest but you might trust one of the other two brands more (although I'd consider them all around the same quality). This assuming you're looking for 1TB.

It's possible to get the QLC-based Intel 660p or Crucial P1 for cheaper at 1TB and for most things they'll be just as fast. Their performance is not as consistent especially when fuller, however, due to the nature of QLC. They are an excellent value so you may want to consider that - Linus Tech Tips has a video on the 660p (the P1 has the same hardware, more or less). Alternatively there are SM2262/EN drives like the EX920 but this drive is aging a bit and at equal price I'd probably take one of the drives linked above. HP's support is suspect as well.

If you decide to go with the Rocket, be sure to check out Sabrent's site: they have a utility for formatting the drive if required (only needed if you are going to clone the OS to the new drive, and maybe not even then) and you have to register the drive to get the full five-year warranty.

It stands for solid-state drive. Instead of using magnetic disks that spin around, it uses flash memory which is a newer, faster technology (like a flash drive/thumb drive/SD card).

The disadvantage is that it's still much more expensive than a regular hard drive, although it has come down a lot lately. This is what I have. I did not upgrade the storage capacity of my console because I was using around half of it. I recommend checking this first in the settings under System.

If you need more space, a hybrid drive is something a lot of people do. These use a tradition disk drive but have a small amount of flash storage (usually 8GB) that holds the most frequently used data. This allows it to load all the data faster, including the stuff on the traditional disk. Here is a frequent choice for that. I've also seen a version I was considering that has 32GB of flash storage. I thought this would be better since Destiny is ~19GB. 32GB should be enough to store the system info for start up as well as all the regular Destiny files. Here is a link to that one. It falls right in the middle of these price points.

You can look up simple directions from Google pretty easily. You'll need a thumb drive to download the PS operating system to for install on the new drive. You'll also want to back up any game saves and other data from your original drive before you do the installation.

The speed jumps are not massive. You can look up some comparisons from a variety of sites and decide if this is for you. I played side-by-side with my brother over the weekend, and I could see the difference, but when your teammates all have to load the maps too, you're not really saving any time. It shaves off seconds. 15% maybe. So much of Destiny's loading time is network based that the benefits are smaller. Games like GTA with huge maps should benefit more.

Your budget is generous not "cheap" so with the goal of $1000 plex server here is what I would do...

EDIT: THIS WON'T TRANSCODE 4k... however thats ok because 4K transcoded are washed out... use high bitrate 1080P looks just as good if sitting 4' or further away.. if you want 4k for the HDR then use a player that can play 4k hdr(almost any tv does now.. i have a $600 65" TV that does it just fine)

​

• $110 a Node 804 Case(or really use any mATX case) https://www.amazon.com/Fractal-Design-Supply-MicroATX-FD-CA-NODE-804-BL/dp/B00K6OVG0I/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=Node+804&qid=1573235254&sr=8-1
  
• $48 - beQuiet 400Watt ATX PSU(even 400watts is twice what is needed mobo will use 100watts under load and hd use max 3atts each)
  
• $540 - 3x 12 TB HD Here: https://www.bestbuy.com/site/wd-easystore-12tb-external-usb-3-0-hard-drive-black/6364259.p?skuId=6364259&intl=nosplash <-- this is a 12tb WD Red drive just need to remove the shell.
  
• $32 - Kingston A400 256GB SSD for cache drive - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N5IB20Q/ref=twister_B07YTKD3J6?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
  
• $59 - unraid for up to 6 HD
  
• $45 - X9scm motherboard off ebay for $50 this looks good.. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Super-Micro-X9SCM-F-LGA-1155-Intel-C204-Micro-ATX-server-motherboard-with-i-o/352558745024?epid=127396627&hash=item52162385c0%3Ag%3AIfsAAOSw09xZ8mUk&LH_BIN=1
  
• $45 - intel Xeon E3-1230V2 (8,800 passmark) such as this... https://www.ebay.com/itm/Intel-Xeon-E3-1230V2-SR0P4-3-30GHz-4-Core-8MB-LGA-1155-Processor/133228992846?epid=28011033095&hash=item1f0511194e:g:Z4oAAOSwA5RdwFUZ <search ebay for "sr0p4" to find them
  
• $45 - 16GB of ECC Un -Buffered Ram: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Samsung-16GB-4x-4GB-PC3-10600E-ECC-Un-Buffered-DDR3-Server-Workstation-Mac-Pro/303346347609?epid=6016691535&hash=item46a0d9ee59%3Ag%3AuzUAAOSwmdxco3tX&LH_BIN=1
  
  Total of $924 for a system than can transcode 4x 1080P with ease and store 24TB of Parity protected Datam if you want 4k then just make sure your player can play it natively(which this system could with a video card in a VM)
  
  If you wanted rack mounted then this is a well priced case... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07957B2VF/ref=twister_B079C7QGNY?_encoding=UTF8&th=1
  
  If you want to be able to play from the Server then still use Unraid and make a VM with windows or a Linux plex OS and pass through a PCI-E Video card of some sort to the VM.
  
  Of course since its unraid you can now easily run the Plex Server, Sabnzbd, sonaar,radaar and all the other goodies you need to automate your system for the ultimate watching experience as unraid has a great docker experience.

I was planning to build a pc with a similar budget but ended up getting an older pc to upgrade from a relative.

Here's my partlist tho, it's about $800 without a monitor, keyboard and mouse, etc.

https://pcpartpicker.com/list/rBbtyf

According to benchmarks on youtube this kind of build should be able to run AAA games at 1080p, maxed, 60fps+.

I listed an SSD (like a hard drive but a lot faster) that has 250GB, but you could switch it out for (or just add) this 1TB hard drive that is pretty popular: https://www.amazon.com/Blue-Cache-Desktop-Drive-WD10EZEX/dp/B0088PUEPK

Alternatively you could a more expensive but better value HDD: https://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Desktop-3-5Inch-Internal-ST3000DM001/dp/B006KCX0UE

Feel free to ask any questions (I haven't actually built a pc yet, but I've been looking online about it for a several months now). Oh yeah, and a great place to pick your parts is pcpartpicker.com.

Edit: Oh, I also chose a mini tower mini-ATX motherboard and case, which is smaller but may be harder to work with and offers some expansion but not as much as a mid or full tower with ATX. PCpartpicker has a compatibility checker that only shows you compatible parts when picking them, so that should help if you wanted to change some parts in my list.

I know the Samsung EVO ssd's are widely recommended on this sub. I'm not sure why they are preferred, maybe someone else can chime in on that.

As for the GPU, you won't get more performance per dollar out of SLI. A single powerful card will almost always offer more value. However, one thing I've seen is that you can get an extra boost for free if you're upgrading your GPU by using your old GPU as a dedicated PhysX card. I was just reading an article on it here: http://volnapc.com/how-much-difference-does-a-dedicated-physx-card-make. The improvement is apparently quite substantial, though this will only benefit games that use PhysX.

I've heard that the GTX 770's are a great buy. I'm waiting for my 770 to be delivered tomorrow. I plan on using my old GTX 560 TI as a dedicated PhysX card to see if it has any benefit. I would avoid the AMD R9 cards as they're still inflated due to miners snatching them all up.

Everything else looks pretty solid.

Okay this may be an odd purchase but http://www.amazon.com/F555LA-AB31-15-6-inch-Full-HD-Laptop-Windows/dp/B011KFQASE/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1451694997&sr=1-1&refinements=p_n_operating_system_browse-bin%3A12035945011%2Cp_n_feature_three_browse-bin%3A9647486011

An Intel i3 is going to be suitable for photoshop and casual use, the Intel HD 5500 inside is pretty damned suitable for any casual gaming as well. It has 2 USB 3.0 ports, it DOES have a disk drive however I could not find any that didn't. It also has AC wireless and a 1080p display.

Now it comes with a 500GB 5200rpm, which ick. So you'd need to buy 2 things separately to get a better experience

Depending on what you want to spend 60/76$ You can get an SSHD 1tb or 500gb, if you don't know SSHD has the cheapness/storage power of a HDD with the performance benefits of an SSD, it's basically the bridge between 7200rpm and SSD

http://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Laptop-2-5-Inch-Internal-ST1000LM014/dp/B00B99JUBQ/ref=zg_bs_1254762011_7

Another addition is upgrading the 4GB of memory, this will enable better multi tasking and a bit snappier performance.
http://www.amazon.com/Crucial-PC3-12800-204-Pin-Notebook-CT102464BF160B/dp/B006YG8X9Y/ref=cm_cr_dp_asin_lnk

Combined total with the 1tb is $459 for a pretty decent system, it will require you to go through the effort of putting new parts in, but the end result should be great. I will say that you should look for a Youtube video of the hard drive replacement, as it seems memory is easy to install, but the HDD may require a few extra steps.

3- wd blues are great drives, and i've been running one solo for the past 2 years, but about to buy an ssd for my os and important programs. 1tb and 2tb. also note that the 1tb drive is 7200 rpm vs 5400 rpm in the 2tb, but since you aren't running the OS on that and just using it for storage, it's nothing to worry about.

4- stick everything in here. that's there recommended wattage psu to get, but its probably worth it just to get something 50 watts over that.

5- obviously, ethernet is the best choice, but if that's not available you can get something like this. one of my friends has powerline, and its really weird for him. some outlets he gets good speeds, and others are absolute trash. turning off and on the lights repeatedly causes a little lag while gaming, but overall he still likes it and uses it.

6- 27 inches is really huge, and you're not going to find a 1440p, 144hz, 27in, and gsync monitor for less than that.

There's a difference between yellow smart attributes (which means the attribute has errors but is not totally dead, just worn) and red smart attributes (the attribute has many errors and the drive is basically dead). Many SMART reading softwares won't even show yellow marks.

You seriously think you need to replace mechanical drives every year? Wow. Average drive life for one of those is roughly 3-5 years. And an ssd even longer.

Also, I'll say it again. 300dollardatarecovery.com

We use HDDScan in our shop to run sector by sector scans and run smart reports.

EDIT:

Also, you are spending way too much on those drives if that's where you are buying them from.

Same WD Black you linked: http://www.amazon.com/Western-Digital-Black-Notebook-WD5000BPKX/dp/B00DSUTWMQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1422507435&sr=8-1&keywords=WD5000BPKX&pebp=1422507422065&peasin=B00DSUTWMQ

Same Samsung EVO you linked: http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-250GB-2-5-Inch-Internal-MZ-7TE250BW/dp/B00E3W1726/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1422507502&sr=8-2&keywords=samsung+evo+840+250

Either way, 80 dollars is a lot of money just to gain some extra performance and longetivity that the kid is never going to notice anyway. It's still about half the cost for a 500GB mechanical (a very good mechanical at that) than a 250GB SSD with a serious performance issue unless you perform a firmware update on the drive.

Double EDIT: I just noticed that that is an Australian site. Disregard the amazon links. But my point still stands.

I don’t have an easy answer for you. I have been looking for an 8TB drive for some time now myself, and have spent far too much time comparing options. I would love to hear everyone’s opinion!

I also haven’t looked that much at encryption, hopefully someone here knows more about that part.

Seagate Expansion STEB8000100
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01HAPGEIE/ - $150
Lacie Porsche Design USB-C STFE8000401
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B075VP1PJX - $220
HDD (probably, based on forum reports): Seagate Archive HDD ST8000AS0002 (SMR)

Pros:

• Cheapest option
  Cons:
  
• Meh performance (SMR)
  
• 1-2 years warranty
  
• Meh reliability/workload (rated 180 TB/year)
  
  Seagate Game Drive Desktop 8TB STGG8000400 – ($240)
  https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07173WR4B - £165 (couldn’t find on Amazon.com)
  HDD (probably): Seagate Barracuda (non-pro) ST8000DM004 (SMR)
  
  Pros:
  
• OK drive (most agree that it’s better than the Archive)
  Cons:
  
• Meh performance (SMR)
  
• 1 year warranty
  
• Meh reliability/workload (rated 55 TB/year)
  
  Seagate Backup Plus Hub STEL8000100
  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01HD6ZLQ6 - $155
  Seagate Backup Plus Hub STEL8000200
  https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01IAD5ZC6 - £158
  
• Mostly reported as ST8000AS0002 inside, some reports of ST8000DM004 inside (see above).
  (see https://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/7875/seagate-backup-plus-hub-8tb-external-drive-review/index.html, https://www.reddit.com/r/DataHoarder/comments/7fbkh3/the_seagate_backup_plus_8tb_no_longer_have_the/)
  
  Internal 3.5” + USB Enclosure - $300
  HDD (e.g.): Seagate Barracuda Pro ST8000DM0004 (PMR Helium)
  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07211QYRC - $280
  or HGST Ultrastar He8 HUH728080ALE600 (PMR Helium)
  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00Q1IZJD8 - $240
  Enclosure (e.g.): Ugreen 3.5” Hard Drive Enclosure
  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B076WQHK2G - $20
  
  Pros:
  
• Highest performance (7200 rpm + PMR, not SMR)
  
• 5 year warranty on drive
  
• High reliability/workload drive (rated 300 TB/year)
  
• Flexible (You can use the drive internally, if you decide to do that)
  Cons:
  
• Most expensive option
  
• Possible compatibility issue depending on enclosure
  
  WD Easystore
  Also HDD lottery.
  (see https://www.reddit.com/r/DataHoarder/comments/7fx0i0/wd_easystore_8tb_compendium/)
  
  WD My Book
  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LQQHLGC - $170
  HDD: Lottery.
  Reports vary all over the place. Very old reports say HGST Enterprise Helium (Early 2016), Older reports (Mid 2016) say WD Red WD80EZZX (Good), newer reports (2017) say it’s a lower-performance white-label drive, some call it a WD Blue (?).
  (see https://www.pcper.com/reviews/Storage/HGST-Enterprise-He8-HDD-Found-Early-Retail-8TB-WD-My-Book, http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php/776633-8TB-WDBFJK0080HBK-NESN-vs-WDBBGB0080HBK-NESN, https://tinkertry.com/liberate-western-digital-8tb-from-external-drive-enclosure-to-save-big)
  Neutral:
  
• Performance?
  
• Reliability/workload?
  Pros:
  
• Cheap option
  
• 3 year warranty
  
• Most probably PMR, not SMR
  Cons:
  
• HDD lottery
  
  This was quickly put together. Comments and suggestions welcome! :-)

I'm not sure what system you're playing on, but I've seen both PS4 and Xbox One users who benefit greatly from a SSD. I haven't gotten the money to afford one yet, but they seem to make a very noticeable difference, typically cutting it down by more than half. This tends to be the next step and/or known solution, which I say because it seems you have already investigated if Internet was the possible culprit. I play D2 on a Xbox One myself, and the loading times definitely feel unbearably long, no matter the activity or destination. 3-5 + minutes. I guess it helps to use that time to grab water or browse my phone during, but they do get annoying, so I understand your frustrations.

I know, it's unfortunate that in order to have any hopes of lessening the duration of these load times, many have resorted to paying out of pocket just to solve this problem, but I'm afraid there's little Bungie can do about it. It's about hardware of the system itself, not so much the game or servers, or even some pesky bug. Destiny's growth and where it is now, means that there's far more the system needs to work on loading than there was before. In fact, I've noticed other users say they've had this problem with other games, as well. Yet, PC players are generally unaffected.

I can't provide much on external vs internal SSD, or if internal affects warranty (which I think I remember that being mentioned before on another thread), but the most common I've seen was by purchasing an external SSD (Amazon; Samsung ones work well or Amazon Basics), and putting Destiny on there. I advise to go for 500+ GB, not below it, and you'll also need an Enclosure.
With every thread I've read about this, loading times went from minutes to now only a few seconds-- every single penny gone into the purchase, absolutely worth it. I'll post a link I saved from users who bought this one and also recommended it, and if it can help give you an idea! 'Hope this is able to be of any assistance.

Samsung 860 EVO 500GB 2.5 Inch SATA III Internal SSD (MZ-76E500B/AM) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0781Z7Y3S/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_.Qw4BbX96E2J5

(It's internal, but I know there's an external version and there's a bundle that comes with the Enclosure. Either way, again, it may serve as an example to give some sort of idea.)

Edit to add: I've forgotten to bring up that with earlier and upgraded versions of a console, the less that players ran into this problem. But unless you were planning to, say, buy a Xbox One X (which I've seen some say that this was an improvement from the standard X1) or the newest PS4, this can be a far cheaper alternative and something you have more room to experiment with.

CPU - Ryzen 5 1600 ($194.99) 

Motherboard - MSI B350 PC MATE ATX AM4 ($88.99)

RAM - Corsair Vengeance LPX 8gb ($92.99)

Storage - Seagate Barracuda 3.5" 2tb ($59.99)

GPU - MSI GTX 1050 Ti ($224.99)

Power Supply - Corsair CXM 550w ($59.99)

OS - Windows 10 64bit ($99.99) 

Wifi - Asus PCE-AC55BT B1 ($34.99)

Card Reader - Rosewill RDCR-11004 ($25.99)

Case - Corsair 200R Mid Tower ($59.99)****


TOTAL: $942.90 (Before Taxes) 

****This case is a placeholder. It works in this build, but I left room for you to choose your own.

Make sure the case is a Mid Tower ATX case, and has at least one 5.25 optical drive bay. 

-------------------
SPECS----

CPU: Ryzen 5 - 1600 (3.2ghz 6 core) 

GPU: GTX 1050ti

RAM: 8gb DDR4

Usb2.0: 8

Usb3.0: 2

Usb3.1: 4

Card Readers: Yes

Disk Drive: No

Wifi: Yes

Bluetooth: Yes (4.0)

HDMI: Yes

Ethernet: Yes

------------------
LINKS----

CPU: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XNRQHG4/?tag=pcpapi-20


Motherboard: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XPM7FSR/?tag=pcpapi-20


RAM: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01ARHBBPS/?tag=pcpapi-20


Storage: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01IEKG402/ref=dp_ob_neva_mobile


GPU: https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814137055&ignorebbr=1&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-PCPartPicker,%20LLC-_-na-_-na-_-na&cm_sp=&AID=10446076&PID=3938566&SID=


PowerSupply: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01B72W0A2/?tag=pcpapi-20


OS: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ZSI7Y3U/?tag=pcpapi-20


Wifi: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0713RRZMB/?tag=pcpapi-20


Card Reader: https://www.amazon.com/Rosewill-2-Port-Internal-Connector-RDCR-11004/dp/B007YDJJFS


Case: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B009GXZ8MM/?tag=pcpapi-20

***Oh, and if you need help with how to do it this guy is pretty good.
https://youtu.be/IhX0fOUYd8Q

I see, thanks a lot for the great explanation :)

Out of interest, if I could spare the extra £80, which GPU would it be, and could it slot straight into this build without any other adjustments? And which PSU + mobo would you have recommended? If I manage to add to the budget I'd be interesting in stepping it up a little from the compromised options!

Also, I'm assuming the 256GB version of the SSD (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Crucial-CT256MX100SSD1-256GB-Includes-Spacer/dp/B00KFAGCWK/ref=lh_ni_t?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE) will work just as well in this build?

Sorry for the many questions, thanks again, I really appreciate the help here :)

I personally am majoring in CS also! I also would like a laptop that could handle light gaming but not a beast or heat-machine. I was trying to find that slim look with the good specs, and I ended up finding the Asus N550JK after about 3 weeks of constant searching. It will be coming in this Wednesday! Can't wait!

The only issue I saw with it is that it comes with a 1TB 5400 RPM HDD, which is a good size but far too slow. I ordered a samsung 500GB SSD and am going to swap it in as soon as I receive it!

Asus N550JK

Amazon Link

Samsung SSD

Also I purchased a bay ($10) to replace the DVD drive and now I can put in another hard drive bay, which I plan on sticking that 5400 RPM HDD in there until I save up some money for another SSD

Heres some specs on it

cpu runs at 2.4GHz-3.4GHz

Glossy Touch Screen

15.6" screen

Win 8.1

If you're not gaming on it, you should get around 5 hours on time on it (Big one for me!)

Not hot!! (Also a big one for me!)

Not noisy, even while running games and pushing the laptops limits

1080p


Audio is said to not be too great, but it comes with a little speaker which vastly improves the quality and plugs right into the laptop

Remember you can always buy the laptop now, and save money for a SSD and things later!

I also am putting another 8GB stick of ram into it (totaling 16gb)

Any questions, feel free to ask, I will be LOADED with info come the 30th when mine arrives. Can't wait!

Edit: Only issue is the laptop is about $100 out of your range, so if you would like to pull a tiny bit more cash out, it looks to be very promising!

Download Transistor because it's the best thing in the world.

Also I recommend upgrading your HDD to a 1TB SSD hybrid. I just did it myself and the space alone is worth it as 500GB on a next gen console is gonna go pretty fast.

Just a thought to do before you get too much saved on your HDD and have to find a way to transfer it over to a new one.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00B99JUBQ/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

That's the one I bought and it's pretty awesome!

Good luck on your PS4 fun :)

The only thing that stands out negatively is the SSD. There's no need for a 850 Pro version that costs twice as much as another manufacter 250 GB SSD and doesn't provide enough benefits. Get the 840 Evo if you want to stick with Samsung:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00E3W1726

If you want to spend around 200 $ get this Crucial 500 GB SSD:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00KFAGCUM

The most external 780Ti will blow hot air on the one closer to the CPU with that cooler. My advice is to buy this 780Ti to put near the CPU:

http://www.ncixus.com/products/?usaffiliateid=1000031504&sku=93804&vpn=GTX780TI-DC2OC-3GD5&manufacture=ASUS&promoid=1009

And a reference 780Ti to put closer to the PSU:

http://pcpartpicker.com/mr/newegg/zotac-video-card-zt7050210p

If you're wondering why I chose a reference card it's because they're the only cards (as far as I'm aware) that blow out air outside the case instead of a pull/push system like the custom versions. This means that the first card will pull air from the bottom and push it outside the case instead of blowing it on the other card pulling fans.

Also you have to keep in mind that there's a risk of bottlenecking the 2 780Tis with an i7 4790k. I know it sounds crazy but some games like Arma require a lot of CPU power and that i7 could bottleneck the 2 GPUs if you'll run them at 4k/triple monitor (which I hope you'll do with 2 780Tis). If you can, my advice is to wait until september when the new Enthusiast level CPUs will come out. The i7 5930k will be a 6 core/12 threads that has HUGE overclocking capability and will be sold for around 500$. The i7 5960x will be a 8 core/16 threads CPU that will ship for 1000$. Not only you'd get a better CPU that has better overclocking capatibility (the i7 Extreme series doesn't feature an integrated GPU), but you'll have a platform that will support the next 3-4 generations of CPUs, support for DDR4 RAM and Quad SLI. If you're building a future proof machine wait until september and get an enthusiast level MoBo + CPU and DDR4 RAM.

You need a case.

I just bought a Phantek, great for the price:
http://www.phanteks.com

In my case's case, it had one built in exhaust fan. I put two intake fans on the front of the case to create positive airflow. Basically, more cold in, pushes more hot out the back. Chances are you will need fans. The mm or size of the fan and its placement will depend on the case.

Having just purchased the AMD Ryzen5 1600, I would recommend it. I imagine the i7 is great, but I would still recommend going AMD at the moment.

People often talk about edging out percents of power and performance, when overall the increase is not worth the extra money.

When I look at the AMD Ryzen7 1700 I see several benefits over the CPU you picked:

-Cost. You save $25 on the actual CPU.
-Cost(again). The Ryzen comes with a Wraith Spire CPU Cooler.
-Coes. Four more cores.
-Overclocking. You can OC the AMD and get the same speed as the Intel.... with four more cores.

It looks like you're going for water-cooling, but I don't see why looking at the games you posted: it won't hurt!

A M.2 SSD by Samsung is $30 more, and faster:
https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-960-EVO-Internal-MZ-V6E250BW/dp/B01LYFKX41/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1497621489&sr=1-1&keywords=samsung+m.2

Your motherboard supports it, so I would recommend it!

CPU COOLER: You shouldn't need a radiator/liquid cooling.

STORAGE: I personally like redundancy over total size. If you don't mind moving away from WD there are some better priced [2TB 7200RPM Seagate drives]
(https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01IEKG402/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1). I use WD Reds for my server but plain Seagates should do just fine on a regular PC.

MEMORY: Definitely stick with the DDR4-3000. It's the sweet spot for performance.

MOBO and PSU: They both look good. Unless you were after a specific MOBO feature it should do fine.

MONITOR: Monitors are tricky to recommend. Some people like big, some like small. Some find 144Hz important while others don't.

CASE: I like the case, I almost went with it myself. Should meet your needs.

RAM, CPU, Case, Fan, PSU, Network adapter, Blue-ray compatible optical drive (with writing capacity), SSD (120GB), HDD (1TB), GTX 750 Ti

http://www.ebuyer.com/278634-corsair-500w-cx-v2-psu-cmpsu-500cxv2uk

http://www.ebuyer.com/409943-corsair-carbide-series-200r-compact-atx-case-black-cc-9011023-ww

www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B009XGZZ52/ref=nosim

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Crucial-BLS8G3D1609ES2LX0CEU-1600MHz-Ballistix-Single/dp/B00A14ZTWE/

http://www.ebuyer.com/291714-tp-link-450mbps-wireless-n-dual-band-pci-express-adapter-tl-wdn4800

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Intel-I5-3470-Processor-3-20GHZ-Socket/dp/B0083U94CO/

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/gigabyte-ga-z77-d3h-usb-30-intel-z77-s-1155-ddr3-sata-iii-6gb-s-sata-raid-pcie-30-d-sub-dvi-d-hdmi-a

http://www.ebuyer.com/630617-lg-uh12ns30-internal-12-x-blu-ray-read-16x-dvd-write-combo-uh12ns30

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00A1ZTZOG/r

http://www.ebuyer.com/321341-wd-1tb-green-desktop-drive-wd10ezrx

http://www.ebuyer.com/623633-palit-geforce-gtx-750ti-2gb-gddr5-oc-edition-vga-dual-dvi-mini-ne5x75ts1341-1073f

This wraps up to £666
I found these items pretty quickly and didn't bother price checking across different sites, I used HotUKDeals for some of them so these should be pretty decent.

3.2GHz 6MB processor, 120GB SSD, 1TB HDD, Blu-ray and CD reader and writer, 8GB RAM, GTX 750 Ti. You can probably upgrade that processor whilst staying under 700 but that's a perfectly reasonable processor. The memory is the same stick I have and it's perfectly fine (shot up in price though).

This build DOES NOT take in to account price for an OS or a screen. You didn't specify if you wanted them.

EDIT:
also, all of the sites I have listed are trustworthy sites and I have used all 3 of them in the past. If you want to compare prices two other sites I know are trustworthy are OverclockersUK and CCLonline.

Check the reviews and so on, but my recommendation would be to go with a non-x570 board if the money that would go to the x570 could be better spent.

You might look at https://www.amazon.com/Sabrent-Rocket-Internal-Performance-SB-ROCKET-1TB/dp/B07LGF54XR

but if ssd performance is a big concern for you I'd recommend thinking about the new pci express 4.0 ssd, and, something to note, reviewers have been getting pci express 4.0 ssd performance on non-x570 motherboards...

RAM... Hard to say, I'd recommend maybe two 16GB sticks of good, low latency samsung B-die (google bdie finder), or, if you want, four sticks. You might lose some frequency and latency, but you'd gain in banks and ranks which have a large effect on performance. Banks and ranks operate independently. The more banks and ranks you have, the more operations your RAM is performing in the background... Also you might want to think about ECC, but that's up to you.

I'll guess you use CUDA, so just do your research. Nvidia doesn't give out a lot of free lunches. Particularly if you want DPFP do your research.

https://www.jonnyguru.com/blog/2018/07/30/evga-supernova-750-g1-750w-power-supply/6/

https://www.jonnyguru.com/blog/2018/07/03/seasonic-prime-ultra-750-titanium-power-supply/6/

https://www.jonnyguru.com/blog/2018/05/08/corsair-rm750x-2018-750w-power-supply/6/

Get a well reviewed power supply. I guess the one you picked is probably pretty good.

The machine doesn't seem all that bad. Pretty old and some older/slower RAM, but really I think just throwing an SSD on there would make the best performance boost and is cheaper than building a whole new machine. Up to you, though.

Grab something like a 256GB SSD or something like this: http://smile.amazon.com/Samsung-250GB-2-5-Inch-Internal-MZ-7TE250BW/dp/B00E3W1726/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1417498227&sr=8-2&keywords=256GB+SSD

Install Windows 7/8.1 on it, tweak it some if you'd like to disable some services or whatever to save some RAM space, or add some faster/more RAM to the machine would be beneficial as well.

UPDATE: Over-night changes in pricing have ruined my carefully-picked PC parts, so I've downvoted this comment and made a new comment containing updated builds with proper pricing.

　

Here's an alternate set of builds (multiple because I don't know how picky you about about your $700 budget) that downgrades the CPU but squeezes in an SSD. Depending on the game, you may need to use GPU-accelerated video encoding (which is lower quality) in order to still have good gaming performance.

Note that, for the SSD, Amazon likes to default to a 3rd party seller that is actually more expensive, so make sure you click the link the "New (8) from $47.99" link to purchase from Amazon directly for a cheaper price.

Again, special mention that the RAM is known to work with the motherboard I chose.

　

$700 after rebate:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Type|Item|Price

----|:----|:----
CPU | AMD - Ryzen 5 1400 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor | $157.49 @ SuperBiiz
Motherboard | ASRock - AB350M Pro4 Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard | $77.98 @ Newegg
Memory | Crucial - Ballistix Sport LT 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2400 Memory | $64.00 @ Amazon
Storage | Kingston - A400 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive | $47.99 @ Amazon
Storage | Western Digital - Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive | $48.44 @ OutletPC
Video Card | EVGA - GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 4GB SC GAMING ACX 2.0 Video Card | $121.53 @ Amazon
Case | Zalman - ZM-T1 PLUS MicroATX Mini Tower Case | $28.99 @ SuperBiiz
Power Supply | Corsair - CXM 450W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply | $26.99 @ Newegg
Operating System | Microsoft - Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit | $89.89 @ OutletPC
Keyboard | Logitech - K120 Wired Standard Keyboard | $10.89 @ SuperBiiz
Mouse | Logitech - G302 Daedalus Prime Moba Wired Optical Mouse | $25.10 @ Amazon
| Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts |
| Total (before mail-in rebates) | $734.29
| Mail-in rebates | -$35.00
| Total | $699.29
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-06-21 03:19 EDT-0400 |

　

$700 without rebate but also without shipping:

Differences from first-listed build

Downgraded case

Downgraded power supply (it's non-modular)

Downgraded mouse

Different merchant for Windows 10 (they're cheaper when not considering the rebate)

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Type|Item|Price

----|:----|:----
CPU | AMD - Ryzen 5 1400 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor | $157.49 @ SuperBiiz
Motherboard | ASRock - AB350M Pro4 Micro ATX AM4 Motherboard | $82.98 @ Newegg
Memory | Crucial - Ballistix Sport LT 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2400 Memory | $64.00 @ Amazon
Storage | Kingston - A400 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive | $47.99 @ Amazon
Storage | Western Digital - Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive | $48.44 @ OutletPC
Video Card | EVGA - GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 4GB SC GAMING ACX 2.0 Video Card | $121.53 @ Amazon
Case | DIYPC - MA01-R MicroATX Mini Tower Case | $25.97 @ Newegg
Power Supply | EVGA - 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply | $36.99 @ SuperBiiz
Operating System | Microsoft - Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit | $92.99 @ Amazon
Keyboard | Logitech - K120 Wired Standard Keyboard | $10.89 @ SuperBiiz
Mouse | Redragon - Centrophorus M601 Wired Optical Mouse | $12.99 @ Amazon
| Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts |
| Total (before shipping) | $695.28
| Shipping | $6.98
| Total | $702.26
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2017-06-21 03:33 EDT-0400 |

　

$700 without rebate but with shipping:

Requires RAM that isn't confirmed to work with the motherboard which isn't something I'm comfortable suggesting when OP doesn't know what overclocking means

The second-listed build is only $2.26 above $700 when shipping is included

Therefore I will abstain from providing a true under-$700-after-all-costs-accounted-for build that includes an SSD.

SanDisk as a brand isn't bad, but COULD BE better. See if you can spring for a Samsung drive. It's not like it's C or D tier, but Sandisk isn't A tier that's for sure. The MSI board you've chosen is probably fine; but we've seen some issues with reliability over time - especially with the more budget-focused sub 100 dollar boards.

GPU is a bargain. Great cooling on it. Phanteks is kicking butt in the case market these days. Corsair always amazing -- BUT their TXM line is NOT high quality. It's built by a third party manufacturer last I checked.

See if you can spring for an EVGA G3. Worlds better quality.

Hey dude, Singaporean here as well! And For you I'll recommend getting a new case and Motherboard +CPU.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1W3wurvEJFEEZkES875Os6DHOT2RuYqFDGB9Bl1iH2ZA/edit?usp=sharing

here is a spreadsheet that I use for people I help to build PCs for, with prices for stuff from Sim Lim (because having local warranty is good). But yeah, this is just for reference. You can always try amazon esp to save abit on older Ryzens and RAM but RMA may be a bit of a pain just so that you are aware. But for cases, the techware Nexus is pretty solid choice and I think it's only $50 SGD.

https://www.tecware.co/nexus

​

IIRC it's the same case that Aftershock uses on their more budget lineup.

​

In any case, If I were you, I'll either wait for the Ryzen 3000 series if I want local warranty, or if I dont mind shipping from amazon and potentially having to deal with overseas RMA, wait for Ryzen 2000 sales on amazon after the 3000 series launches. Or get the 1600 from amazon now. since the prices of those have been crazy cheap these days and TBH it wont bottleneck your RX 580 anyways.

SSD wise, how big do you want it? a 500GB WD Blue 3D is like $100SGD now, so not too different from say a 500GB 860 evo once you add in the conversion rate + Import Tax+ Shipping. But if you wait for a sale on the 1TB 860Evo, those could be quite nice, since I've seen amazon sell those for 130USD during sales, which is quite cheap considering the lower performance 860QVO is like $200SGD right now from local distributors (and the failure rate on Samsung SSDs are so low that the RMA risks are minimal). as for the 860 evo, no reason to buy one of those in SG now since for almost the same price you can get the Adata XPG SX8200 Pro but with performance matching or surpassing in some areas, the much vaulted 970 Evo.

​

Edit: Just saw the WD Blue 3D 1TB for $115USD on amazon.https://www.amazon.com/Blue-NAND-1TB-SSD-WDS100T2B0A/dp/B073SBQMCX/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1LPKB9DX5EIHI&keywords=wd+blue+3d+1tb&qid=1557331485&s=gateway&sprefix=WD+Blue+3d+1tb%2Caps%2C354&sr=8-12

first of all you have a Z87 mobo, this is outdated and you will want a Z97 mobo. Are you intending to overclock? if so, a 4670k or 4690k is the default choice. great price/performance ratio and will last you at least 4-5 years before you need a new cpu, esspeically once OC'ed to the high 4ghz range.

Some other notes on your build below:

As for the ram, you are way over paying for it. it's your regular 1600 mhz cas 9 ram. that ram is run of the mill with a fancy name slapped on it. Get a 2x4gb kit from g. skill or something similar for $60-80 range.

case: case is completely subjective, but that's a fairly basic case for $100. I would recommend something like a source 210 windowed version for $40. In builds this, don't drop $100 on a case. That extra $60 can bump you up another GPU tier.

Case fans: Case fans are again, something completely based on opinion but i notice they are 140mm fans and im assuming you are using the two red ones to replace the case fans and the two bitfenix for rad fans? if so these need to all be 120mm fans (unless the case specifies it will work with 140). however, i would say only get 2 anyway and only replace the case fans as those are pretty expensive fans. This is an area to cut cost if you are on a buget.

CPU cooler: that CLC is a fine cooler, but if you are on a budget this is an area to cut cost as well. Something like a 212 evo will give you 90% just as good temps for $30 without the hassle of worrying about leaks or pump failures. If you are not overclocking absolutely do not waste $100 here. A non-overclocked cpu will do fine with the stock cooler.

Psu: fine psu, no tips

GPU: 760 is a fine gpu (i have one in my build right now) however if you save some money in other areas you could get a 770 or 280x or something for the same price.

SSD: m500 has been replaced by the mx100. Here it is at the same price however this one performs better and is newer


hope that points you in the right direction.

If not the 980, what 970 model would you recommend? I see the GTX 970 SC with Blower Cooling, but it's over 10 inches long, and I'm not sure if the performance from the GPU upgrade would outweigh the necessary removal of the front fan.

I also originally replaced the built-in HDD from my R2 with a 1.0 TB WD Blue HDD after the original Hard Drive failed, and it ended up significantly improving the performance of many of my games. (Particularly MGSV: Ground Zeroes)

Do you recommend the same procedure for my R3, giving I have the money to replace the 7200RPM 2TB HDD, or do you have a better recommendation?

EDIT: 7200RPM vs 5400RPM? What's the difference?

Link for WD HDD:
https://www.amazon.com/Blue-Cache-Desktop-Drive-WD10EZEX/dp/B0088PUEPK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1469396035&sr=8-1&keywords=1+Terabyte+WD+Blue

15.6" Suggestions| Lenovo U530 59428052| Lenovo U530 59428053| Lenovo Flex 2 15 ^Signature ^Edition | Dell Inspiron I7547-3020SLV | ASUS Transformer Book Flip TP500L | ASUS N550JK ^suggested ^by ^construktz
---|---|----|----|----|----|----
CPU| i7-4510U | i7-4510U | i7-4510U | i5-4210U| i5-4210U | i7-4700HQ
GPU| Intel 4400 | Nvidia GT 730M ^(can play most games on low settings) | Intel 4400| Intel 4400| Intel 4400 | Nvidia GTX 850M
Passmark CPU Mark | 3969 | 3969 | 3969 | 3422 | 3422 | 7906
storage | 500GB HDD + 8GB SSD | 500GB HDD + 8GB SSD| 500GB HDD + 8GB SSD | 1TB HDD| 1TB HDD | 1TB HDD
ram | 8GB| 8GB | 8GB| 6GB| 8GB | 8GB
battery | ^Can't ^find ^any ^review-based ^battery ^life, ^should ^be ^slightly ^more ^than ^the ^730M ^GPU ^version| 8hr | 4hr | 6hr customer claim | 4-5hr Amazon Customer Reviews | 3hr Amazon Customer Review
weight | 5.07lbs| 5.07lbs | 5.59lbs| 4.5lbs| 4.95lbs | 6lbs
screen | 1920x1080 touch| 1920x1080 touch | 1920x1080 IPS touch| 1920x1080 IPS touch | 1920x1080 touch | 1920x1080 IPS
price | 839| 899 | 699.99| 649.99 | 629.99 Amazon or 699.99 ^(Signature ^Edition) | 929

My suggestion would be the Dell Inspiron I7547-3020SLV. A 15.6" laptop at 649.99 that has an IPS display for great viewing angles and color. 4.5lbs and 6hr of battery life fit your needs.

If you'd like longer battery life and more portability:

13.3" Suggestions | MacBook Air 13.3 i5 2014 (Refurbished) | ASUS VivoBook Q301LA| ASUS TP300LA ^Signature ^Edition
---|---|----|----|----
CPU | i5-4260U | i5-4200U | i5-4210U
Passmark CPU Mark| 3640 | 3292| 3422
storage | 128GB SSD | 500GB HDD| 500GB HDD
ram | 4GB| 6GB | 8GB
battery | 12hr 20min | 5hr 38min| 6hr
weight | 2.96lbs | 3.8lbs| 3.92lbs
screen | 1440x900| 1366x768 touch| 1920x1080 IPS touch
price | 849.99 | 599.99| 699.99

"The reason is Apple has a really great refurbishment process and policy: Refurbs come with a new outer shell, new battery, and the same one-year warranty that new hardware comes with." And install Windows on it if you like (would probably shorten battery life but with 12h20m it can't be too bad). The 128GB SSD would hold a few programs and externals are down to 59.99 for 1TB and at 5.4oz/.34lb you could (gently) toss one into your laptop bag.

Microsoft Store Signature Edition means zero bloatware.

Each specification cites its source with a link (which will usually lead you to a review) unless that source is the product link (at the top of the chart).

This article was helpful Ultrabook Review: Best ultrabooks under $800 (or $1000) in 2014

A HDD can be the bottleneck of any computer. If you end up with a HDD laptop and find it to be slow, you may want to switch out the HDD for a SDD like this 256GB for $109 or 512GB for $189. Or get a hybrid hdd+sdd drive like this TOSHIBA MQ01ABD100H 1TB+8GB for $84.

edit: formatting

That's perfect really, if you wanted to save a bit of money you could also get the Dark rock 3 non pro, in the UK there's about a 30GBP difference, otherwise if you're happy with paying extra the PRO is fine, they're equelly as good.

The MSI board is good too because with that board you will be able to OC your ram quite easily to 3600MHz which is what I have done with my 3000 ram as well.

Your motherboard also has an M2 slot so I would suggest switching out the Corsair SSD for this https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-960-EVO-Internal-MZ-V6E250BW/dp/B01LYFKX41/ref=sr_1_4?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1493821134&sr=1-4&keywords=samsung+ssd

Samsung makes the best SSD's in the market and this one will be perfect for your system in terms of reliability and speed.

Get an SSD. That is going to improve performance so much. It's honestly the best bang for your buck upgrade. You can also always move the SSD to a new desktop or future laptop as well so it's not money wasted.

I have personally put SSDs in older laptops for my self and family and we've all been happy with the results. It makes the computer fast as far as load times and daily tasks go. It's not going to speed up heavy CPU intensive tasks. But if you watch videos, browse the internet, do simple things like that, it's night and day.

Samsung 860 EVO 1TB 2.5 Inch SATA III Internal SSD (MZ-76E1T0B/AM) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B078DPCY3T/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_6OKBCbY64VS6V

This is one I've bought 2 of so far. Great performance for the money and plenty of storage. Old spin type HDDs are such a huge bottle neck. Especially in laptops where they put slow spin HDDs to conserve battery usage.

Step 2 would be ram upgrade, but it's not going to be as dramatic as the SSD upgrade. If you have 4gb of ram just leave it be. If you find a good deal on a 4gb stick for like $20 or less on Facebook market or something like that I'd upgrade it. I wouldn't put a whole lot of money into the computer. The only reason I recommend the SSD is because traditional HDDs are such a huge bottleneck that once lifted , makes even an i3 shine. And like I mentioned earlier that SSD you can use in future computers.

The 1st thing I would do is upgrade the hard drive to a SSD. Since you want to keep all the current data that means cloning the HDD to the SSD.

Generally speaking, buying a Samsung 860 EVO is the best option for cloning because Samsung's proprietary cloning software can be described as "bulletproof". Samsung SSDs generally also have better performance than other SSDs, though you would not really know that unless you run benchmarks. Because of it's popularity and overall performance the Samsung 860 EVO tends to be more expensive than other 2.5" SSDs.

Below is a link to a 1TB Samsung 860 EVO for $140.

https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Inch-Internal-MZ-76E1T0B-AM/dp/B078DPCY3T/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=1tb+2.5%22+ssd&qid=1569532694&sr=8-3

Alternatively, you can buy the following 1TB WD Blue 2.5" SSD for $110 that "only" has very good to excellent performance. They do not have their own priority cloning software, I think they provide Acronis True Image which is very good 3rd party cloning software.

https://www.amazon.com/Blue-NAND-1TB-SSD-WDS100T2B0A/dp/B073SBQMCX/ref=sr_1_7?keywords=1tb+2.5%22+ssd&qid=1569533139&sr=8-7

You will need to purchase a USB to SATA cable for the cloning process like the one linked below. It allows you to attach a 2.5" drive to the laptop.

https://www.amazon.com/StarTech-com-SATA-USB-Cable-USB3S2SAT3CB/dp/B00HJZJI84/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=usb+to+sata+cable.&qid=1569533431&sr=8-3

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When it comes to RAM... 8GB should generally be enough for most people. The laptop has 4GB onboard (soldered) with a 4GB RAM stick in the only RAM slot it has. Because both RAM are of the same capacity, the RAM is operating in dual channel mode; otherwise known as "full speed". If it only had the 4GB of onboard RAM, then it would be operating in single channel mode; otherwise known as "half speed".

Installing an 8GB or 16GB stick of RAM will mean the RAM will be operating in asynchronous dual channel mode; in other words, faster than single channel mode, but slower than dual channel mode. For best gaming performance you want to keep the RAM as is since it is running in dual channel mode. However, if the game is being bottlenecked by not enough RAM installed where it has to constantly copy data between RAM and storage, then increasing the amount of RAM to 12GB or 20GB is a good idea.

You'll want something a little like this:



Lumiair's Streaming Build

| part | link | | price |
|:-|:-|:-|:-|
|cpu|Intel Core i5-4570 3.2GHz LGA 1150 84W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics BX80646I54570|amazon|$199.99|
|video card|PNY NVIDIA GeForce GTX 770 2GB GDDR5 2DVI/HDMI/DisplayPort PCI-Express Video Card (VCGGTX7702XPB)|amazon|$309.99|
|ram|G.SKILL NS Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-1600C11D-8GNS|newegg|$74.99|
|motherboard|MSI H81M-P33 LGA 1150 Intel H81 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Micro ATX Intel Motherboard|newegg|$48.99|
|power supply|EVGA 100-W1-500-KR 500W ATX12V / EPS12V 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC 3 Year Warranty Power Supply Intel 4th Gen CPU Ready|newegg|$49.99|
|case|NZXT Phantom 410 Mid Tower USB 3.0 Gaming Case - White|amazon|$116.68|
|hard drive|WD Blue 1 TB Desktop Hard Drive: 3.5 Inch, 7200 RPM, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64 MB Cache - WD10EZEX|amazon|$59.99|
|disc drive|Lite-On Super AllWrite 24X SATA DVD+/-RW Dual Layer Drive - Bulk - IHAS124-04 (Black)|amazon|$20.60|
|operating system|Windows 8.1 System Builder OEM DVD 64-Bit|amazon|$99.28|
|wifi|TP-LINK TL-WN881ND Wireless N300 PCI Express Adapter, 300Mbps, w/WPS Button, IEEE 802.1b/g/n, 64/128 bit WEP, WPA/WPA2|newegg|$18.99|
|||||
| |See current build price with shipping and tax| total | $999.49|
(Learn more and customize this build on KittenBoxes.com)

• Excellent processor. The games you're talking about strongly favor Intel, and this is close to the best CPU you can get for them.
  
• Excellent graphics card. The 770 can hold its own at 1440p in most games, only struggling to put out 30FPS in the most demanding games. Just as importantly, it has Shadowplay, which, unlike AMD cards, will let you capture gameplay without a significant hit to performance.
  
• No-frills motherboard. You could spend about $100 more on this, and not see a single difference unless you're trying to overclock or use dual graphics cards. If you are, let me know!
  
• Case: This is totally aesthetic. The Phantom looks awesome, and costs about triple what it would if it were a boring black box. What kind of 'cool' are you looking for? I can try to dig up more modestly priced receptacles.
  
• RAM, PSU, HDD, optical drive, wifi: all bog standard. Fair prices for solid tech.
  
  You'll also want one of these if you're gonna use your Apple keyboard [bluetooth receivers]
  
  Any questions or feedback? Lemme know!

I'd recommend the Y50 HD Touch. It's a 1920x1080 monitor (there is another model for 4k but doesn't have touch) and would be great for what you need. It will blow rust and minecraft out of the water and does have a backlit keyboard. Using a Barnes and Nobles Gold account you can get it for 1200$. The battery isn't great but it's worth it because of how nicely it qualifies all your needs. The 1300$ model comes with 16gb of ram and the 1200$ model comes with 8gb. I'd recommend getting the 1300$ model with a Samsung 250GB SSD.

http://shop.lenovo.com/barnesnoblegold/us/en/laptops/lenovo/y-series/y50-touch/

http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Electronics-2-5-Inch-Internal-MZ-7TE250BW/dp/B00E3W1726/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1404838510&sr=1-1&keywords=Samsung+evo+ssd

http://shop.lenovo.com/barnesnoblegold/us/en/laptops/lenovo/y-series/y50-uhd/ (No touch but 4k and 512GB SSD)

However the downside to the Y50 is the screen. It has had some backlash because of the TN panel screen. If this is a deal breaker go for the N550JK if you want touch or the G550JK if you want a backlit keyboard. Definitely pair these with a nice SSD. These both have a nicer screen but a lower end GPU. However these systems will still run Minecraft and Rust easily. These both also have optical drives well the Y50 does not.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00KOUILK2/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?tag=linustechtips-20&ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00KOUILK2&linkCode=as2&linkId=UNU4AFU6LYLTU634

http://www.amazon.com/ASUS-N550JK-DS71T-15-6-Inch-Touchscreen-Laptop/dp/B00IAA5BSS/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1404838674&sr=1-1&keywords=N550Jk

Any 2.5" (laptop-sized) hard drive that is 9.5mm in height or smaller should work. I recommend the 2.5" Seagate FireCuda (which comes in 2TB size), since it will give your PS4 a minor speed boost in addition to a storage increase. The FireCuda is a "hybrid drive", which means it contains a combination of both a standard HDD and a small SSD. In simple terms a hybrid drive automatically loads frequently accessed files onto the SSD to improve speed. A hybrid drive would still be slower than a SSD only hard drive, but would be much more reasonably priced. I recommend googling "hybrid hard drive" if your interested in getting a better understanding of what it is.

https://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Firecuda-2-5-Inch-Internal-ST1000LX015/dp/B01M1NHCZT/

Also keep in mind that the upcoming 4.5 update is going to allow external HDD to be used as storage for your system. That would be another possibility in the near future to increase your storage, but since the update is currently in beta I would recommend waiting for the official release before making any purchases.

The process to replace the hard drive in a PS4 is very simple. I recommend following a detailed guide on youtube if you are in need of step-by-step instructions.

EDIT: Here's a link to an overview of the benefits and limitations of using a FireCuda with a PS4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hftHjOvcUtc

Hey man. Good on you for choosing the CIT Program, I'm in the Arch Technology program but here's what I can offer you in terms of advice for laptop purchases.

• Go for 16GB of RAM. Trust me, 8GB is the bare minimum these days and it never hurts to have extra RAM, especially if you're going to be running lots of apps or using Chrome(fuck).
  
• As for requiring Windows 10 or Mac OS, check with your program for that. Here in Arch they required us to have Windows to use programs like AutoCAD, which are generally tailored to the operating system.
  
  I have the Dell XPS 13 right now (XPS-9370) and have used it for nearly a full year. I can tell you that there's no issues with coil whine but Dell's customer service is admittedly frustrating (good thing is they're helpful when you finally get around to them).
  
  If you're looking at the Macbook, I'd recommend the Macbook Pro. In terms of weight, both Macbook Air and Macbook Pro have very little weight difference and I'm assuming you'll be running some relatively processor heavy programs, in which case the Macbook Pro would be your best bet.
  
  If you have money to splurge on a good computer, by all means go for it, but seriously avoid cheaper alternatives. They look good in face value now but they'll fuck you over in the long run. Investing a bit more in a good product lowers the possibility that you'll have to buy a new one in the future.
  
  Personally, I have a couple of tips:
  
  
• Get an External Hard Drive. Because you said earlier that splurging isn't too much of a problem, I'd assume that upgrading your storage won't be too much of an issue, but if it is, consider getting a hard drive. They're fantastic for keeping your information with you without having to overspend on upgrading your laptop's storage. I'm using this one right now.
  
• Get a wireless mouse. The trackpads on the Macbook and XPS are nice, but goddamn they're annoying when I want to get work done. A small wireless mouse like this one will make worlds of a difference when you're doing work.
  
• Invest in a laptop case. Seems like a pretty standard thing but I've seen a lot of people invest ~$2000-2500 on a computer and carry it around without a case. Treat that shit like your baby, cause it's expensive, and carrying it around in a bag with textbooks will wear it down. Using the Macbook Pro 13 as an example, consider something like this.
  
  ​
  
  That's all I have. If you have any other things or just general recommendations you need, don't be afraid to dm me!

Haha, I feel you-- I do miss the days when a console was a console and you didn't have to worry about customizing it to improve performance.

Here's the drive and the external enclosure I'm using, total $59.98:

Original link (see edit below; might not want to get this one): https://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-240GB-Solid-State-SDSSDA-240G-G26/dp/B01F9G43WU/ref=sr_1_6?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1537193290&sr=1-6&keywords=250gb+ssd

Better link (Samsung, $8 more): https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-250GB-Internal-MZ-76E250B-AM/dp/B07864WMK8/ref=sr_1_3?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1537193972&sr=1-3&keywords=250gb+ssd

https://www.amazon.com/UGREEN-External-Enclosure-Adapter-Housing/dp/B06XWRRMYX/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1537193304&sr=8-4&keywords=external+enclosure+2.5

There are better SSD drives that that one, but the PS4 OS is not optimized for SSD so other people's tests show the better drives aren't any faster than lower-end drives. If you're buying one for a PC, then you might want to spring for a Samsung or something, but it's not necessary on PS4.

Edit: Ah, wait, that's not the exact same drive I'm using. Mine is listed as 250GB. This one is listed as 240GB. I think the minimum PS4 can use externally is 250GB. I know there's funny business in hard drive capacities due to the next step of bytes being 1024, not an even 1000, but I don't know if it would make this 240GB not meet PS4's "250" requirement or not. Might want to go with something explicitly 250GB to be safe.

Edit 2: Wow, Amazon actually has the Samsung brand 250GB for only $57 on sale today. I added that link if anyone's interested.

I am not familiar with the Team Vulcan RAM listed, but I would suggest a CAS latency of 8 for DDR3-1600. I also would suggest scrapping the Hybrid drive for a SSD, such as the Samsung 840 EVO 250GB with a storage drive like Seagate Barracuda 1TB.

What kind of display are you using, what resolution do you plan on playing at? Are you determined to get the Windforce model? There are options just as good for $100 less, or in most cases a 970 is the better buy which could save you even more...

You definitely will not need a 750W PSU, a 500W will certainly suffice.

Ok couple things:

• Real good motherboard choice, Z370 is the way to go
  
• Cooler: I'm a shill but the Noctua NH D15 is champ, just gotta get over the fan colour. My hack is absolutely quiet
  
• Samsung Drive: Ditch it, firmware doesn't play nicely causing random stutters and delayed boot times(this is all NVMe Samsung drives, not just the 970 Evo Plus). Can get same performance from a Sabrent Rocket or for workhorse drive grab a WD SN750. Oh look at that, got you a 1TB drive for the price of a 512GB Samsung(Amazon)
  
• CPU is really tight, if possible try to go for an i5. You're right at the edge of getting out of the #LowlyQuadCoreLyfe (love you i7 6700k but christ I can't wait to upgrade). i5 9400f is a real good deal(wait a hot second, found the 9400F for $140 USD. I see no reason to grab the i3). Main issue with going for 9th gen is it will need a BIOS update so Z390 might be a better idea. Don't worry about no iGPU, setting the boardID to iMacPro1,1 will get better performance out of the RX 580 compared to the UHD630

Lets look at the Dell Optiplex GX280 Full Tower. According to CNet it came out June of 2004 so lets just pretend that was ten years ago instead of eleven. My parents bought a Dell Dimensions 8300 sometime around 2003 which had two SATA ports on the motherboard (The hard drive and CD drive were IDE) but since I never got it to work, I'll skip to the all SATA model. This is what I would do to determine the reasonable upgrade cost.

• The Intel Socket is LGA775 so I would need to determine the fastest processor for that socket. That being said, just because a processor fits on the motherboard does not mean that it will work.
  
  
• This computer has 4 DIMMS for RAM so I would want to max that out. Since all of the GX280s I have used were 32-bit systems (some pentium processors around this time were 64-bit but lets just assume that isn't the case), I would assume 4GiB is the max.
  
  
• A decent 256GiB SSD would probably do the job. If they need more storage, it can be added after the fact. I assume if they have been using a 10 year old computer and the thing probably came with a 150GiB drive they should be fine with the 256.
  
  
• Windows XP is end of life now so a Windows 7 license would be needed.
  
  
• Since drivers on Windows 7 for the GX280 are a bit hard to find, you may need to get an discrete graphics card if one is not in there already. I found unsigned Windows 7 video drivers once but they really didn't work all that well. I want to say if you need the serial port too, you might be out of luck unless you come up with a different solution.
  
  So here are all the cost estimates.
  
  
• $109.99(Free Shipping)Crucial MX100. I have had a lot of luck with Crucial products so this would be the one I would buy because of that.
  
  
• $24.60(Free Shipping)A-Tech 184Pin 400MHz PC3200 RAM (We're going to need two of these so I doubled the price). According to this forum and the specs sheet the max for the full tower is 4GB. Normally I go with brands I have heard of but I wasn't seeing good buying options for those so I went with A-Tech.
  
  
• $15.99(Free Shipping)SL7Z3. According to this forum post the fastest process is the Prescott P4 clocked at 3.8GHz. According to Intel's site it is 64-Bit compatible so that is something.
  
  
• $76.98(Free Shipping) Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit SP1. I was reading somewhere (I can't find the link now) that drivers are a mess and just because the processor supports 64-bit does not mean the entire system would. It might be safer to get the same thing but in 32-Bit
  
  
• $33.99(Amazon prime shipping) GeForce 8400 graphics card. Just in case you needed an graphics card if the drivers don't pan out.
  
  
• $34.99(Amazon Prime shipping) Antec 450 Watt Power Supply. This also may be strenuous. The graphics card says to have at least a 350 Watt power supply. Since the full tower 280 comes with a 305 Watt I would imagine it would be a good idea to up the supply a bit.
  
  Total Cost = 296.54 with all extra costs added. Someone not as throughout as myself can cut costs on a lot of the things on this list. I would show this breakdown to the customer and explain why it might be more cost efficient to purchase a new machine (or have me build them one) and we could go from there.

pentel's rsvp pens are my favorite and they come in a variety of colors. i find that the different colors help me retain information when note-taking/studying in general.

a phone charger for sure. amazonbasics has cables that work really well for the iphone! amazon has a six month warranty for their amazonbasics things (i think they still do?), so if your cable frays or breaks or whatever, you can just send amazon a message and they'll replace it for you. i think that's awesome since the worst part about having an iphone is how easy the charging cables can fall apart.

also, i think carrying around a mini stapler in your backpack is a great idea. they're handy and cute. bonus: you'll be class hero when a paper is due and everyone is scrambling for a stapler.

usb flash drives are nice and handy, but i'd recommend investing in a portable external harddrive as well. the 2tb ones run about $70-$90 and they're dooooope. you didn't say what you're studying, but i'm a student who works with digital media so i'm constantly transferring large files and an external drive has been of great use. i have this one.

This looks awesome, thank you so much.

I think I will go with this build, although I do have one question. How does Seagate compare in general with Western Digital? I've had some other brands die on me (Lacie), but WD has always been solid. Is your opinion of Seagate the same?

If WD is superior, what do you think of this model as a replacement? I understand it exceeds my budget slightly.

Thank you again!

Not exactly building a PC, but I am looking to upgrade my macbook pro 2011 hard drive. Trying to decide between this Seagate Solid State Hybrid drive at only 5400 RPM or a Western Digital 7400 RPM typical drive. The former has less RPM but more cache and the hybrid may help the performance, but the latter has a higher RPM.

I don't do too much intense computing but I do use my computer for HD video editing and it would be great if my computer could do this more smoothly. If you have another laptop hard drive you'd like to recommend that'd be great too. Thanks for your time.

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Title|Seductively revealing: 1600$ Gaming PC | Corsair Crystal 570X [R7 2700/RTX 2070] | Timelapse Build
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Description|I present to you my latest Build in the gorgeous Corsair Crystal 570X!⤶It's a Corsair themed RGB Build featuring a Ryzen 7 2700 @ 3.9GHz and a Zotac RTX 2070 AMP Edition @ 2040MHz. ⤶⤶DETAILS AND BENCHMARKS ON PCPARTPICKER: https://pcpartpicker.com/b/t9YTwP⤶⤶One of the fastest and most reliable ways to get Parts is with Amazon Prime! Get a 30 Day Free Trial now!:⤶ US: https://amzn.to/2TuQB44⤶ Germany: http://www.amazon.de/primegratistesten?tag=l2ptink3r-21⤶Need some simplistic and stylish basics? https://represent.com/store/l2ptink3r-apparel⤶⤶-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------⤶⤶Parts (Affiliate Links, you support me by buying over one of the Links!):⤶AMD Ryzen 7 2700: ⤶[DE: https://amzn.to/2RSusv4] [US:https://amzn.to/2DlmJ36] [UK: https://amzn.to/2I40qon]⤶⤶Corsair H60 (2018) 120mm Liquid Cooler: ⤶[DE: https://amzn.to/2BtoFXf] [US: https://amzn.to/2WV1HRS] [UK: https://amzn.to/2DlnsRS]⤶⤶Asus ROF STRIX B450-F: ⤶[DE: https://amzn.to/2DoLnjF] [US: https://amzn.to/2WV33vW] [UK: https://amzn.to/2BvQSNd] ⤶⤶Corsair Vengeance RGB Pro 16GB 3000MHz: ⤶[DE: https://amzn.to/2SlX0SC] [US: https://amzn.to/2WSbLv8] [UK: https://amzn.to/2SniFK5]⤶⤶Samsung 970 Evo 250 GB M.2-2280 SSD:⤶[DE: https://amzn.to/2tikZ64] [US: https://amzn.to/2GzWvgC]⤶⤶Seagate Barracuda 2 TB 3.5" 7200RPM: ⤶[DE: https://amzn.to/2BxwxXP] [US: https://amzn.to/2tj8YNL] [UK: https://amzn.to/2HZjPXs] ⤶⤶Zotac RTX 2070 AMP Edition: ⤶[DE: https://amzn.to/2GiaxUN] [US: https://amzn.to/2GziaFR] [UK: https://amzn.to/2THDuN4] ⤶⤶Corsair Crystal 570X RGB ATX Mid Tower:⤶[DE: https://amzn.to/2Srqajv] [US: https://amzn.to/2tgMSvw] [UK: https://amzn.to/2UUpQGH] ⤶⤶be quiet! Pure Power 10 CM 600W:⤶[DE: https://amzn.to/2HZmwbw] [US alternative: https://amzn.to/2tinbKQ] [UK: https://amzn.to/2UPdv6z]⤶⤶Corsair SP120 RGB: [DE: https://amzn.to/2RPlyOF] - [UK: https://amzn.to/2SpEBo6]⤶⤶-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------⤶You're interested in me building you a PC aswell and live in Germany? DM me, where ever you want! :D⤶IG: https://www.instagram.com/l2ptink3r/ ⤶Twitter: https://twitter.com/l2pTink3r_Jonny⤶⤶-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------⤶⤶MY RIG: ⤶YT: https://youtu.be/XN-H_yHpjwU⤶PCPP: https://pcpartpicker.com/b/7cYTwP⤶⤶MY SETUP:⤶ASUS PB277Q 1MS WQHD Monitor: ⤶https://amzn.to/2Bcvdc3 / https://amzn.to/2Lbd8zs / https://amzn.to/2Bt6ujH⤶Razer Tresher 7.1 Headset: ⤶https://amzn.to/2BbP9eT / https://amzn.to/2PzqtSE / https://amzn.to/2Rdhr2Y⤶Razer Leviathan Soundbar: ⤶https://amzn.to/2C7SXzH / https://amzn.to/2QN2tjH / https://amzn.to/2Bxn8yR⤶Razer Blackwidow Chroma X (I fucking adore this Keyboard, check it out!): ⤶https://amzn.to/2SGGyYX / https://amzn.to/2QsxWZo / https://amzn.to/2R9rUw5⤶Razer Taipan Mouse: ⤶https://amzn.to/2zW4uAt / https://amzn.to/2PzKMQe / https://amzn.to/2EEGjdZ⤶⤶-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------⤶1. Track: Bach: C Major Prelude⤶⤶2.Track: Sub Urban - Cradles [NCS Release]⤶Music provided by NoCopyrightSounds.⤶Watch: https://youtu.be/Hn4sfC2PbhI⤶Free Download / Stream: http://ncs.io/CradlesYO⤶⤶3.Track: Cartoon - Why we lose (feat. Coleman Trapp) [NCS Release]⤶Music provided by NoCopyrightSounds.⤶Watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyXmsVwZqX4⤶Free Download / Stream: http://ncs.io/whywelose

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^/u/SmallYTChannelBot ^made ^by ^/u/jwnskanzkwk. ^PM ^for ^bug ^reports. ^For ^more ^information, ^read ^the ^FAQ.

I recently bought one of these with this RAM and this hard drive to replace my virtualized pfSense install after I was away for two weeks and had ESXi issues that took my VPN offline. I know this sub isn't a fan of Realtek NICs, but what I was looking for was: a processor that supports AES-NI, fanless, compact, dual NICs, low power consumption, and decent price. This machine hit all of those, with the only drawback being non-Intel NICs. So far, I've had absolutely no issues with it. It's a little overkill if you just want basic routing, but I wanted to be able to run OpenVPN, Snort, pfBlockerNG, etc. and have a comfortable overhead for anything I wanted to try in the future.

For an access point, Ubiquiti UniFi UAP-AC-LITE or UAP-AC-PRO are pretty popular "prosumer" products. I'm sure someone can recommend some good switches, but I'm currently running a Netgear GS724T and it provides me with the features I need (VLAN, LAG/LACP) and I'm happy with it.

Finally, after all these reviews, i'm going to buy these pieces and build my masterpiece-wannabe.

I would like to thanks /u/Raffles7683 for his dedicated, nice and smart help ! Also, thanks to /u/DIK-FUK and /u/golli123.

That's it, the final configuration, which is 2€ cheaper than the first one. WHAT A SAVE. But it's all the way better. I finally picked a I7-6700k as a CPU since nobody seems to know at which point a I5-6600k will bottleneck the GTX 1080, even with a 4.5 Ghz overclock. The debate is running litteraly everywhere and no one has the same point of view. So... I guess i can throw 100€ by the window to be sure and to overlock a i7 to 4.4 Ghz.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Type|Item|Price

----|:----|:----
CPU |Intel Core i7-6700K | €325.79 - Amazon.it
CPU Cooler | Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler | €34.99 - Amazon.it
Motherboard | Asus Z170-P ATX LGA1151 Motherboard | €109.61 - Amazon.fr
Memory | Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-3000 Memory | €126.04 - Amazon.it
Storage | Sandisk SSD PLUS 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive | €74.00 - Amazon.es
Storage | Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive | €53.44 - Amazon.fr
Video Card | KFA2 GeForce GTX 1080 EXOC 8GB Video Card | €560.00 - French shop
Case | Fractal Design Define S ATX Mid Tower Case | €76.32 - Amazon.de
Power Supply | Corsair CSM 650W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply | €78.99 - Amazon.es
Wireless Network Adapter | Asus PCE-AC56 PCI-Express x1 802.11a/b/g/n/ac Wi-Fi Adapter | €48.00 - Amazon.de
Monitor | Acer XB271HU bmiprz 27.0" 2560x1440 165Hz Monitor | €699.90 - French shop
| Total | €2187.08



The CPU has been edited according to /u/Raffles7683's review and /u/DIK-FUK's build suggest. And updated, because no one knows what is a bottleneck, in real world.
The RAM / SSD has been edited according to /u/Raffles7683's review, again.
* The case has been edited according to /u/golli123's review


I will provide some news in the future with, probably, in build photos :)

You can save a fair amount on this SSD, the MX100, for $115. While the performance on that samsung is really impressive, I'm not sure it is worth it for the standard gamer.
The R9 280 will probably be the best option to squeeze into your budget.
In terms of RAM, all you need is the best deal you can find on 1600MHz CL9 running at 1.5 volts.
Not to sure on optical drives as I haven't used one in a while. Good luck though and enjoy the process.

What is the build's purpose? This is a pretty imbalanced gaming build but could be good for general use with some productivity and light gaming.

You're overspending on RAM, you're better off with a lower timings and lower speed sticks, for example this kit at 3200MHz CL16.

You should be going with an NVME drive at that price/GB, here is a great option by Sabrent.

For $84 you do have some other good cooler options, the Dark Rock Pro 4 and Noctua NH-D15S are other comparable options. The Noctua is the best for performance/noise by a small margin.

Also instead of spending $170 on an H500 and fans, just get the H510 Elite with the same fans and controller included, and you get a nicer glass front panel to show them off.

I would say this build is possible if you personally build it, since companies will charge you extra to build it for you. However, I would say it would be significantly more difficult to acquire if aiming to buy any extra parts (Mouse, Keyboard, Monitor etc.) since those could cost up 100 pounds ontop of the rig build.
Firstly, you mentioned the GPU, which is a mid-high range Card, so getting it at £90 is extremely good value since it currently goes for £150 on most internet sites. This would conflict with your aims though, since there are noticeable issues with AMD Cards on the Metro Last Light game and other games no specifically built for AMD. With your pricing range, I would suggest going for that GPU however, since running on high specs with another graphics card at that price would be out of the question.
When it comes to the CPU, AMD would be cheaper but the structure of an AMD processor often results in short lasting lives. Therefore I would reccomend going with an Intel Processor, purely because the structure and effectiveness of the processor would be much more efficient. At your pricing, you can go for an i5 running at 3-3.2ghz depending on how much you are willing to put towards it.
I would reccomend going for this CPU - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Intel-3-10GHz-Extended-Technology-Execute/dp/B00EF1G8XI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1397229748&sr=8-1&keywords=4th+Generation+Intel%C2%AE+Core%E2%84%A2+i5+4440+3.1GHz+Socket+LGA1150
Motherboards are all general, just make sure its compatible with all the equpiment you're purchasing and the pricing can be as low as possible really, as long as you aren't planning on upgrading.
I would reccomend going for the Motherboard - http://www.amazon.co.uk/H81M-PLUS-Motherboard-Socket-Intel-Express/dp/B00EIG2O2O/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1397229871&sr=8-1&keywords=ASUS+H81M-PLUS+Intel+H81+%28Socket+1150%29+Motherboard
Ram is standard, as you can get good quality ram at 1600mhz for roughly about 40-60 pounds at 8gb.
For the rig, I would suggest going for a coolermaster, as their cases have served me well in the past and generally have good air flow. Make sure its a mid tower, otherwise choose your pick! This could cost you £50.
Hard Drive - You haven't specified what kind of hard drive you want, but I would go for a 1TB if you choose this for gaming. You can get these for £50 too, so none too expensive
Suggested - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Seagate-Barracuda-7200-14-3-5-inch-Desktop/dp/B005T3GRNW/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1397230093&sr=8-3-fkmr0&keywords=Seagate+Barracuda+1TB+64MB+Cache+Hard+Drive+SATA+6GB%2Fs+8.5ms+7200rpm+-+OEM
These are the core components, and if you follow what I have suggested you can expect to be purchasing these at roughly £450, with £50 left over to spend on any extra's including optical drives, etc. This should serve you to be effective on most games to run at maximum graphical capability! Good luck

Hey guys, my friend brought a used Dell XPS 8700 computer for her side hustle as photographer/videographer. She has budget of about $500 for upgrade. She wants to run Adobe suites, Color grading apps and some simple animation (text and such) with After effects, MS office apps,web browser,chat app (Skype/Discord). Ultimately she wants to have 3 monitors so she can run multiple apps at the same time.

I have software background, don't know much about hardware but I am the only "computer guy" she knows.

Its windows 10 machine and has Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-4770 CPU @ 3.40GHz and other stock dell component.

I was thinking of suggesting upgrading these three

ASUS AC1200 Wireless Bluetooth 4.2 PCIe/Mpcie Adapter https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0713RRZMB/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_U_x_ykaIDb4ZDEE3W $34.99 (for faster Wi-Fi and Bluetooth because dell one is really bad)

Corsair Vengeance Pro 32GB (4x8GB) DDR3 1600 MHz https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00D6E5JMQ/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_U_x_JYaIDbJZCAVQP $139.99 (more ram for multiple apps, it only supports DDR3 ram)

Samsung 860 EVO 500GB 2.5 Inch SATA III Internal SSD https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0781Z7Y3S/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_U_x_nlaIDbJWFPEJK $79.99 (for boot and installing program only, format and use the existing HD for storage)

But I am struggling with which graphic card to suggest, it has dell power supply (I think 460 watts, might be wrong, don’t have PC with me so can’t tell), NVIDIA GeForce GT 635 card which supports 3 monitor but really struggles with everything else.

Here are 3 graphic card that it say it works with 450w and has good reviews, but I don't know which one to suggest.

Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1660 OC 6G Graphics Card, 2X Windforce Fans https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07P76G428/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_U_x_gnaIDbMGBH0AR $229.99

Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1660 Gaming OC 6G Graphics Card, 3X Windforce Fans https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07P689CXR/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_U_x_WnaIDbQQBPCR8 $239.99

MSI Gaming GeForce GTX 1660 Ti 192-bit HDMI/DP 6GB GDRR6 HDCP Support DirectX https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07N824KNV/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_U_x_toaIDbNAYN7PV $279.99

Which graphic card do you think will work best? Do you guys have any other suggestion? Do you see a bottle neck or compatibility issues? Do you think that the best use of her money? It’s my first time messing with hardware and it is someone else money so I am really nervous. Thank you in advance for your help.

I would possibly suggest you could save some money on the power supply there... something like 600w is more than enough for this build, and even if you want gold certified its still going to save you at least £40.

Personally I really like the Bitfenix Prodigy as a Mini ITX case, but that is more down to your personal preference.

Final suggestion, perhaps pick up a cheap SSD such as this http://www.amazon.co.uk/Kingston-Technology-120GB-Solid-2-5-inch/dp/B00A1ZTZOG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1417700201&sr=8-1&keywords=120gb+ssd to put your base programs on and vastly improve the speed.

Best of luck, feel free to ask me for any other advice!

4tb is probably way too much but 2tb can easily handle 30+ games

If anyone is looking to upgrade, I'd recommend the best value for money upgrade which is Seagate's FireCuda 2TB SSHD that was released just a few months ago. Not only you get a huge storage boost, you also get better loading times. I swear my Witcher 3 loads now take 20-30 seconds less

UK link I got it for £99, it is now being sold for £120 the price fluctuates according to orders I think

US link cheaper than in the UK

There's a couple kinds of SSD: 2.5" drives connected though SATA, PCIE based SSDs and then the dedicated slot M.2 and U.2.

SATA SSD speeds are limited by the SATA port itself but the drives are still much faster than spinning HDDs and are easy to install since they're compatible with any build.

PCIE based SSDs as I understand it were useful before M.2 and U.2 slots were as popular as they are now because you could still install them in any computer with a PCIE slot open. But they take up a lot of space and have basically been replaced by the M.2 standard.

M.2 use dedicated PCIE lanes and have a dedicated spot on the motherboard.

So when looking at SSDs you're basically considering m.2 or SATA.

You're budget, storage needs, transfer speed preferences, and motherboard are going to guide you one way or another.

This LinusTechTips video explains it pretty well.

Here's a build. One thing you really need to look for is that your motherboard supports x8 dual channel PCI-e slots because that's the standard for crossfire. Don't buy a cheaper MoBo if it doesn't have that because in that case you might as well not crossfire.

I've added one that will work well in crossfire. I downgraded the PSU to save cash but the first you picked is great. 750W should be enough for crossfire. And really, you can look at the 840 EVO SSDs for a better value/performance. Just $10 more and you get much better performance than the 840s. Though I do have the 840 250 GB and it's great. It's not on PCPartPicker from what I see:

http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Electronics-2-5-Inch-Internal-MZ-7TE250BW/dp/B00E3W1726/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1377307697&sr=1-1&keywords=Samsung+840+evo

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

Type|Item|Price

----|:----|:----
CPU | Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor | $229.99 @ Newegg
CPU Cooler | Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler | $29.99 @ Microcenter
Motherboard | ASRock Z87 Extreme3 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard | $129.99 @ Newegg
Memory | Corsair Vengeance LP 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory | $49.99 @ Newegg
Storage | Samsung 840 Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Disk | $176.98 @ Newegg
Storage | Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive | $59.98 @ Outlet PC
Video Card | MSI Radeon HD 7970 3GB Video Card (2-Way CrossFire) | $299.99 @ Newegg
Video Card | MSI Radeon HD 7970 3GB Video Card (2-Way CrossFire) | $299.99 @ Newegg
Case | Antec Three Hundred Two ATX Mid Tower Case | $57.99 @ Microcenter
Power Supply | XFX ProSeries 750W 80 PLUS Gold Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply | $109.99 @ Newegg
Operating System | Microsoft Windows 8 (OEM) (64-bit) | $85.99 @ NCIX US
| | Total
| Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available. | $1517.87
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-08-23 21:35 EDT-0400 |

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Type|Item|Price

----|:----|:----
CPU | Intel Core i7-6700K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor | $280.00
CPU Cooler | CRYORIG H7 49.0 CFM CPU Cooler | $34.88 @ OutletPC
Motherboard | Gigabyte GA-Z170MX-Gaming 5 Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard | $115.00
Memory | Corsair Vengeance LPX 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2666 Memory | $94.89 @ OutletPC
Storage | Sandisk SSD PLUS 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive | $68.88 @ Jet
Storage | Toshiba P300 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive | $63.00
Video Card | Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1070 8GB Windforce OC Video Card | $389.38 @ Amazon
Case | NZXT H440 (Matte Black/Red) ATX Mid Tower Case | $95.99 @ NCIX US
Power Supply | EVGA SuperNOVA GS 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply | $79.99 @ B&H
Monitor | Asus VG248QE 24.0" 1920x1080 144Hz Monitor | $269.99 @ SuperBiiz
Other| iKBC F108| $129.99
Other| CableMod® WideBeam™ Foam Adhesive LED Strip 30cm - RED| $18.99
| Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts |
| Total | $1640.98
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-12-17 04:37 EST-0500 |

So uh.. Yeah. I'm a noob. Kind of did some changes.. Changed the monitor to a 144Hz for that juicy CS:GO gameplay, got a far more aesthetically pleasing case, which also comes with 4 fans, as opposed to 2. They don't have the fancy lighting though, so I added a good red LED strip. As for the peripherals, I only need a keyboard, and my good friends over at /r/MechanicalKeyboards hooked me up with one of the best currently available on the market! Again, sorry for all the fuss, I don't mean to say you did a bad job recommending just idk I really care about looks and it drives me crazy if things don't look right to me.

Only compatibility issue that was given was this:

"The NZXT H440 (Matte Black/Red) ATX Mid Tower Case supports video cards up to 406mm long, but video cards over 294mm may block drive bays. Since the Gigabyte GeForce GTX 1070 8GB Windforce OC Video Card is 298mm long, some drive bays may not be usable."

From this I gather that I just barely won't be able to use one of the drive bays, which shouldn't be a problem at all.

Sorry again! And thanks again! Uggh

Edit: These are all of the right parts, correct? Just want to make sure because it's 6 am and I haven't gone to sleep yet.
CPU
CPU Cooler
Motherboard
Memory
HD
SSD
GPU
Case
Power Supply
Monitor
Keyboard
Lighting

I narrowed it down to three sites to make it easier to order, plus I have Amazon Prime and NewEgg Premium, which makes it easier with those sites!

For both the PS4 regular and PS4 Pro SSHD and SSD drives are currently not worth the premium price really. There are some major improvements in load times for an SSD, but only for Pro mode games. Maybe the drives will become a better value as the Pro mode library increases.

This is a really good deal on a hybrid, but you can get one of the most recommended PS4 drives for $80 right now. There's even a great guide for doing it yourself from /r/PS4.

EDIT: After a discussion with /u/PureNintendoHype it was pointed that there are indeed very noticeable benefits for an SSD in Pro mode games. Maybe as the library for Pro support gets bigger the upgrade will be a better investment. I'm just not sold on the premium price and small storage space tradeoffs yet.

PCPartPicker Part List

Type|Item|Price

----|:----|:----
CPU | Intel - Core i5-9600K 3.7 GHz 6-Core Processor | $259.89 @ OutletPC
CPU Cooler | Scythe - Mugen 5 Rev. B 51.17 CFM CPU Cooler | $54.89 @ OutletPC
Motherboard | *ASRock - Z390 Pro4 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard | $99.89 @ OutletPC
Memory | G.Skill - Ripjaws V Series 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory | $85.98 @ Newegg
Storage | ADATA - Ultimate SU800 1 TB 2.5" Solid State Drive | $94.99 @ Amazon
Storage | *Hitachi - Ultrastar 7K3000 3 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive | $52.33 @ Amazon
Video Card | EVGA - GeForce RTX 2070 8 GB Black Video Card | $479.99 @ B&H
Case | NZXT - H500i ATX Mid Tower Case | $99.99 @ Amazon
Power Supply | SeaSonic - FOCUS Plus Gold 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply | $89.99 @ SuperBiiz
| Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts |
| Total (before mail-in rebates) | $1352.94
| Mail-in rebates | -$35.00
| Total | $1317.94
| *Lowest price parts chosen from parametric criteria |
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-05-18 17:48 EDT-0400 |

Stuck with Intel because that was your initial choice, didn't want to jump straight into a different platform on you.

Far better performance for your dollar. You will not notice a difference in gaming performance between the 9600k and 9700k because they got rid of the hyperthreading advantage on i7 CPUs. Now the only difference is 6 vs 8 core which again will do nothing in games.

I have this cooler on my 9600k @ 5ghz/1.35v and it keeps it around 55-60c in games. Other options are the scythe ninja 5, dark rock 4, dark rock pro 4. The corsair h100i is a massive waste of money.

Switched ram to 16gb because 32gb will do literally nothing for you if you're gaming and doing office work.

Swapped to a different 1tb SSD with the same performance without the samsung upcharge. If you wanted to get a much faster drive for the same price as the 860 evo check out this and this, but a sata SSD is more than enough. The su800 is a great drive.

2070 with the leftover budget because it is a massive upgrade from the 1660ti. However if you're only gaming at 1080p just stick with a 2060 and save some money.

Swapped to a better PSU, and 750w was overkill. This and the rm650x(2018) are both top tier options.

The mobo is fine but now you have money for a slightly nicer one if you need any extra features or want to go for bigger overclocks.

So this won't meet all of your requirements; but if Cheap is #1; then it might be a workable solution.

​

The HP Microserver is about the size of a toaster, standing up on it's end - so it's space efficient & uses AMD's Mobile processors for reduced power requriements: Pairing that with a couple of half height INTEL nics and a cheap SSD, I had PFsense up and running in under an hour. My internet speeds are about the same as what you quoted above. As far as build time, it took me longer to open up the microserver than it did to install the software; and then learning PFSense has been an adventure; but it sounds like you're already familiar with that. The microserver has an onboard NIC, if you add the two Intel half-heights you can support a local network +DMZ in whatever flavor you want. Sounds like you might need those to be SFPs - but if you can reuse the ones from your old Firewall it might be a workable solution.

​

For the parts below your looking at about $130.00 - maybe less if you have an old SSD laying around? or opt to use an older hard drive?

​

This is what I bought:

​

https://www.ebay.com/itm/HP-ProLiant-MicroServer-Turion-II-Neo-N40L-1-5ghz-4gb-RAM-4x-Trays-Sound/293026779637?hash=item4439c1d1f5:g:9nUAAOSwTO9aN~VZ:sc:FedExHomeDelivery!70448!US!-1

​

https://www.ebay.com/itm/LOT-OF-2-INTEL-EXPI9400PTBLK-PRO-1000-SERVER-ADAPTER-Half-Height-Bracket/372650340117?hash=item56c3b0ef15:g:EDMAAOSw6~VZxC15:sc:USPSFirstClass!70448!US!-1

​

https://www.amazon.com/Kingston-240GB-Solid-SA400S37-240G/dp/B01N5IB20Q/ref=sxin_2_ac_d_pm?keywords=ssd&pd_rd_i=B01N5IB20Q&pd_rd_r=21440a5c-1495-4f5d-ac1e-e1a1cd70cba5&pd_rd_w=GCh7t&pd_rd_wg=iTFs8&pf_rd_p=5cc8abfe-8f78-4f34-b19f-d09d6ea0dca4&pf_rd_r=82JE7208JTNJ1DN96224&qid=1557770695&s=gateway

I'd also have to recommend the Samsung 840 Evo. I got a 250gb one for around $110 on sale back in march, and it's amazing.

They're still around $120 but it's totally worth it. I'd also recommend this size in particular. 120 is too small and the others are too expensive.

Transferring Windows over was a huge pain, but once it was done and I restarted, it was totally worth it. If you do a clean install it's way quicker. Seeing your pc boot to an instantly usable desktop in less than 10 seconds is totally worth it. Also putting steam on it was awesome.

I've been able to quit a cs:go competitive match, restart my computer, open steam, and rejoin the game well within the 3 minute window before you get penalized for leaving.

tl:dr get one

The stock Ryzen cooler is surprisingly competent so I'd drop the third party one.

The motherboard is pricey but I assume you want something from it. Otherwise the MSI B450 that was suggested in another comment is a solid option for a lot less money.

Do you need the black series 1TB? The WD Blue EZEX 1TB spins at the same rotation rate and is pretty much neck-and-neck in performance but costs far less.

Not a bad price on the PSU if you actually plan on doing the rebate. If not, drop that down to a 550 or 650 and you'll be fine.

Use the savings above to switch to an RX580 or a GTX 1660 or stronger if you want to splurge a bit. Just keep in mind that going too much further than that will not have as much of an effect while you're using a 1080p 60hz screen, as the two options I posted will cap the framerate easily on max settings. If you plan on picking up a new screen with higher refresh rates or resolution in the near future then disregard.

First off, thank you a ton. I asked a friend of mine to look at the build (sorry, but I like to check things :P, I'm paranoid), and he said it looks great. I was curious though if you had the time to verify a few things for me. I couldn't find a few of the things you had suggested so I checked on some other things... Could you verify that they are just as usable for me please?

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000GQMHBI/ref=ox_sc_act_title_5?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A34FFV8YYDM571

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0064GOQ86/ref=ox_sc_act_title_6?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DHW4HXY/ref=ox_sc_act_title_7?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0088PUEPK/ref=ox_sc_act_title_8?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0055QYKQO/ref=ox_sc_act_title_9?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A1XBPHGHAXLHDG

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005O65JXI/ref=ox_sc_act_title_10?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004QBUL1C/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0033Z2BAQ/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A30YNTVQ04HG16

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003HE260I/ref=ox_sc_act_title_4?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

And sorry for the late reply. I've been trying to ensure that I have the money together so that I can actually pay for it without running into issues haha.

Firstly, Welcome to the PlayStation community!
---

---

Let me answer Your questions.

1. You should buy a bigger HDD, because most of the new games are over 40GB, the bigger HDD You get, the longer it lasts.
   
   

• Also, consider buying a hybrid drive (like this one) it isn't that pricey, but they are faster than normal 7200rpm HDDs.
  
• SSDs are better in speed, that's true, but the 1-2TB versions are very pricey at the moment.
  
• Get a Seagate Expansion STBX2000401 - 2TB HDD if You want to save some money.
  
  
  ---
  
  

2. You can find HDD speed comparisons here and here.
   
   ---
   
   
3. You can make backups of Your save-games to a USB drive read more about this here.
   
   ---
   
   
4. Sadly, I don't know anything about the Voucher code.
   
   ---
   
   I hope that I've answered Your questions.
   
   If You have any more question, feel free to contact me.
   
   Have a nice day!

This is a nice looking build. It will definitely outperform the PS4 and Xbox 1. [Here is a side by side comparison with a gtx 760 build, the ps4 and the xbox 1] (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4z4igRnlLQ#t=130).

Looking at GPU benchmarks for the 760 will give you a good idea of what framerates to expect. [Tom's Hardware] (http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gtx-760-review-gk104,3542.html) has a great review with some benchmarks. It looks like you should be able to max out pretty much every game at 1080p and 60 fps except for the most demanding games out right now like Crysis 3 which are still playable. Turning down the settings a little on Crysis 3 gets it to over 40 fps, which is more than playable.

The only change I would suggest is adding a SSD if you can afford it. The [Samsung EVO 120GB] (http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Electronics-EVO-Series-2-5-Inch-MZ-7TE250BW/dp/B00E3W1726) is on sale right now and is a great drive for the price. However, don't get it if it means that you need to downgrade your CPU or GPU.

Also, make sure you have a 1080p monitor. This the 760 will blow any game out of the water at less than 1080p, so there is no point in getting this card over the cheaper 750 ti. If you don't already have a 1080p monitor and don't want to get one, I would suggest you save money and downgrade to the 750 ti.

Hi,

[$787] https://www.amazon.com/HP-Pavilion-Desktop-Computer-790-0020/dp/B07BV43DTM/ref=sr_1_9?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1539740895&sr=1-9&keywords=gaming+pc&refinements=p_n_feature_seven_browse-bin%3A3012497011%2Cp_n_graphics_type_browse-bin%3A14292273011%2Cp_36%3A2421883011 - Found this one, it has a 256 gb ssd only as the storage but along with [https://www.amazon.com/Blue-Cache-Desktop-Drive-WD10EZEX/dp/B0088PUEPK] it's relatively complete. With the 1tb hdd it is unfortunately $20 over budget.

That's honestly one of the best I can find, I found a couple with AMD CPUs and honestly they can't compare to the 8th gen i5 at all. Couldn't find any GTX 1060 6gbs versions either. Honestly, just wait for black friday.

Good luck

Great motherboard for your build ! Best in class for the b450 platform IMO.

Few suggestions:

Cheaper yet more than decent keyboard

Take a safer/better SSD from a reputable brand: At least a DRAMless drive like a Crucial BX500 or a Kingston A400.

Here is a better, safer PSU for long term: the EVGA Supernova G2 550W

The stock Ryzen 2600 cooler is more than fine unless you plan on overclocking your stuff. You could save a little bit there instead of getting a single-fan AIO solution.

For the RAM, I can't really speak as I've never looking into 2x4Gb kits. Somebody else could review that.

I'm need more storage space after building my pc. I have:

http://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Desktop-3-5-Inch-Internal-ST1000DX001/dp/B00EIQTOFY/ref=sr_1_2?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1456897118&sr=1-2&keywords=sshd

and it's been working great on boot up. However, I feel like my games are taking while to launch but its manageable. But anyways i'm running low on storage and I'm looking for 1tb hard drive (ssd's are to expensive for me at the moment) My question is should I get the same SSHD as above or

http://www.amazon.com/Blue-Desktop-Hard-Disk-Drive/dp/B0088PUEPK/ref=sr_1_1?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1456897277&sr=1-1&keywords=wd+caviar+blue

WD blue seems to get a lot of praise but idk if it is better than the sshd?

Thanks for the help

Germany is pretty expensive for computers.

Amazon UK and Amazon DE have free shipping to germany on some hardware over £25 / EUR25. Just tick the "free super saver delivery" box.

Completed PCs will usually be pretty expensive. I have just started my own company for that, but I'm not completely done setting up shipping arrangements yet, and since I'm situated in Denmark, shipping to Germany is not yet an option.

You could try using Amazon UK and Amazon DE to get a cheap:

Corsair CX or XFX PSU

B75 (Intel) motherboard or FM2 (AMD) motherboard in Micro ATX size. Get from Asus, MSI, AsRock or Gigabyte (the 4 best brands).

Cheap Pentium 2020 (or higher) CPU (Intel) or an Athlon II 760K from Amazon UK (AMD).

Cheap 4GB DDR3 240-pin RAM module. If you have a motherboard with 4 RAM slots, you can also get 2x2GB (which is often cheaper).

Cheap ATX or mATX case (at least the same size as your motherboard) with at least 1 case fan. Something like this: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sharkoon-VS3-V-Chrome-Optical-Drives/dp/B00B1MU6YQ/ref=sr_1_41?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1377069838&sr=1-41

or the USB2 version:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sharkoon-VS3-S-Chrome-Optical-Drives/dp/B00B1MU7WW/ref=sr_1_39?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1377069838&sr=1-39

Or this:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/HEC-Compucase-Cougar-Spike-Micro/dp/B00BP6NHRQ/ref=sr_1_55?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1377069969&sr=1-55

Or perhaps:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Xigmatek-CCC-AE45TS-U01-Asgard-III-Chassis/dp/B004IKDYBU/ref=sr_1_66?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1377069969&sr=1-66

_

Then add a cheap HD7770 (or HD7750 with GDDR5 memory) graphics card:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sapphire-HD7750-Retail-PCI-E-Graphics/dp/B00761YFPW/ref=sr_1_1?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1377070099&sr=1-1&keywords=HD7750

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Gigabyte-7770-Graphics-GDDR5-PCI-E/dp/B008FPJ8DC/ref=sr_1_9?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1377070170&sr=1-9&keywords=HD7770

_

Go with this 1TB WD Blue HDD:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Western-Digital-internal-Hard-Drive/dp/B0088PUEPK/ref=sr_1_1?s=computers&ie=UTF8&qid=1377070264&sr=1-1&keywords=1tb+wd+blue

I'm not sure how cheap this is, but it doesn't get much cheaper in Europe, unfortunately. Remember to add OS if you haven't got Windows.

Good. Hard drive expansion is easier then. Buy a hard drive 2TB - 6TB depending on what you can afford. I like Western Digital but Seagate are fine too. Also make sure it comes with a SATA cable or buy one when you buy the drive.

Read the reviews on amazon to get the best idea of what to buy.

• Seagate
  
• WD Black
  
• WD Green This is what I use.
  
  Install the drive. Here is a link if you need it.
  
  Move steam games folder to the other drive. Here is an explanation.
  
  Good luck.
  

Glad that the update is coming tomorrow. Still no folders option, but looking forward to these features:


Suspend/Resume:
>Info: Supported by nearly all of your PS4 games, you can jump in and out of your games with just the press of the PS button. Quickly switch from Rest Mode to powered-up so you can pick up where you left off.

 
Back-up and restore HDD to USB
>Info: Back-up and restore your hard disc drive data associated with users on your PS4, including settings, saved data, screenshots and video clips as well as games, patches and download data, to and from an external USB drive.

Good that I waited with updating my HDD, with our slow network connection it would have taken ages to re-download all my games.
 
For those upgrading their PS4: (NOT up-to-date with the new backup feature)

• A guide by IGN + Which HDD to buy
  
• PS4 upgrade- Beginning-to-end-guide with an external HDD - created by /u/mbrellisford
  
• PS4 System software download page
   
  
  Edit: I will upgrade my PS4 with the Seagate Backup Plus Slim 2TB tomorrow. I could do a how-to guide if there is interest in it.
  Edit2: A how-to guide is in the making and should be published on 27 March.

Alrighty buckle your seatbelts cause here we go!

Base Computer from Ebay:Dell Optiplex 3010 MT i5-3470 3.2GHz 8GB RAM 500GB HD Win 7 Pro ($159.99)
-https://www.ebay.com/itm/Dell-Optiplex-3010-MT-i5-3470-3-2GHz-8GB-RAM-500GB-HD-Win-7-Pro-Good-Condition/232611818778?hash=item3628bead1a:g:a5MAAOSwdjdaRR4L#viTabs_0

Graphics Card: MSI GAMING GeForce GTX 1050($144.88)
-https://www.outletpc.com/qc6530-msi-gaming-geforce-gtx-1050-gb-gddr5-directx-12-g.html?utm_source=qc6530-msi-gaming-geforce-gtx-1050-gb-gddr5-directx-12-g&utm_medium=shopping%2Bengine&utm_campaign=pcpartpicker&utm_content=MSI%2B-%2BzOOS

Monitor: AOC I2267FW 22-Inch Class IPS ($89.98)
-https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CLZ047Q/?tag=pcpapi-20

Keyboard and Mouse: These are up to you as they lean heavily towards personal preference!

Total = $393.86

With the left over money buy yourself a nice mouse and keyboard.

Other optional purchases:

HDD Upgrade: WD Blue 1TB ($49)

• https://www.amazon.com/Blue-Cache-Desktop-Drive-WD10EZEX/dp/B0088PUEPK/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1518130607&sr=1-1&keywords=Harddrive
  
  Power Supply Upgrade(Power supply that comes with the prebuilt is usually 265-285W which is not to par with the rated 300W for the gtx 1050, that being said i ran one for 2 years on a 265W with no problem as the system will usually not draw more than 180W): Rosewill RD400S, 80 PLUS Certified 400 W Power Supply
  -https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182074&cm_re=powersupply-_-17-182-074-_-Product
  
  SO, in short, this PC is a mix of used and new parts. In this pc market its one of the best ways to tackle getting into PC gaming. In terms of specs this computer will most likely outperform any build from scratch pc at the same price range as you're saving money on components such as RAM and an operating system. This computer will play max setting at 60 FPS for all the games you mentioned above, it can also play games such as GTA 5, Fallout 4, and PUBG at decent settings.
  
  I hope this helped if you have any questions feel free to reach out.

1)not difficult at all
2) http://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Backup-Portable-External-STDR2000100/dp/B00FRHTSK4/ref=cm_cd_ql_qh_dp_t
best drive for the PS4 right now in terms of largest amount of memory.
3) after the install of the ps4 firmware, you have about 1768 GB'S left. usually a game is anywhere from 20-50 GB's so you're looking at being able to hold 50+ FULL games. (just an estimate). Indie games however are much smaller so you can also throw in a lot more of those while not worrying about space.
4)No. Sony encourages you to upgrade your Hard drive if your heart desires. It does not cancel your warranty.
5)If you have PS plus you can transfer all your saved game data to the cloud, otherwise you can save all your saved data to a usb external hard drive and then transfer it back once you have your new hard drive in.

im going to buy the 2 TB hard drive i just linked you to. It's price is great and im looking forward to putting my ps4 hard drive into my ps3 so i can finally download some more free ps plus games.

I would spend less on the PSU. Yuo could dip down a bit on the motherboard side and still get quality, but not a lot. Jump down on the PSU and 2TB to 1TB and you can almost afford a 250GB SSD http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00E3W1726/

Save 5 bucks on ram http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008XQEQT4/
Save 35 on motherboard http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157460
Save 25 on PSU http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139050

That's 75 bucks, more than enough to cover the 250GB SSD. If you really like the mobo you have (I don't blame you), you can save almost 30 if you step down to the 1TB model of that HDD.

I don't know if this is necessarily a "Simple Question," but I'm always nervous to make posts, so hopefully this doesn't cross the rules, if so I'm sorry. Also if I need to add more info, please let me know, I'm new to this.

I think I want to upgrade my CPU and GPU.

My current setup:

GPU: XFX PCI-Express Video Card R7-360P-2SF5

CPU: AMD Athlon X4 860K Black Edition CPU Quad Core FM2+ 3700Mhz 95W 4MB AD860KXBJABOX

I don't know if the rest of the stuff matters but here it is:

Case+PSU: ROSEWILL Micro ATX Mini Tower Computer Case with PSU, Steel Computer Case + 400w Power Supply, Front I/O: 2x USB 2.0 and Audio In/Out And 90mm Rear Case Fan (R363-M)

HDD: WD Blue 1TB Desktop Hard Disk Drive - 7200 RPM SATA 6Gb/s 64MB Cache 3.5 Inch - WD10EZEX

Motherboard: Gigabyte AMD FM2+ A68H SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 mATX ATX DDR3 2133 NA Motherboards GA-F2A68HM-H
Ram: Ballistix Sport 8GB Single DDR3 1600 MT/s (PC3-12800) UDIMM 240-Pin Memory - BLS8G3D1609DS1S00

And I do want to say, that currently, it works great already. I just can hardly run the new Injustice 2 Beta, and a few other games, and now that I have the money, I'm looking to upgrade. I've been looking for hours, and I just want to make certain that these parts will work still, and that they are significantly worth it.

These are the parts I'm looking into:

GPU: EVGA GeForce GTX 1050 GAMING, 2GB GDDR5, DX12 OSD Support (PXOC) Graphics Card 02G-P4-6150-KR

CPU:

Either:

AMD Ryzen 3 1200 Desktop Processor with Wraith Stealth Cooler (YD1200BBAEBOX)

or

AMD Ryzen 5 1400 Processor with Wraith Stealth Cooler (YD1400BBAEBOX)

So please, help me out, let me know if you need more info. Either CPU is in my price range, but I don't know if the 5 is worth the extra money compared to the 3. I believe everything will work with my computer. I think I want the 5, just sorta want confirmation, y'know.