2015-05-22, 04:24 PM
Zelkova Wrote:I swapped a few parts out for cheaper components/better parts for the price.
-Mobo
-CPU Fan
-HDD
-PSU
Overall I saved you about 40 bucks + you'll be getting better parts.
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/hZWYBm
I have the same monitors you are purchasing. I really like them for their super thin bezels.
I noticed you're going for the Gigabyte 970. I personally almost went Gigabyte but opted for MSI. I think it was a good choice.
Looks like the main change was to the motherboard? I'm assuming it will still support wireless without the need for a wireless adapter? How can you tell if a motherboard does or does not support wireless? Is there a port or something I should be looking for?
Dudewitbow Wrote:1. Branding. for MOST parts, branding should not be a thing. There are very few companies that at least at some point has NOT made a blunder at one point, and part choice should be dictated by price/perf/features. Generally companies with high tier brands tend to have the "brand tax" because they know for well that they can get away with it.
2. For the most part, if on a budget, you are doing the right choice by not going for the 980. Its still pretty ludicrous people are willing to buy non full chips(980 is GM204, and not GM200) for pretty much top tier pricing.
3. Motherboard is the most finicky thing to explain. but for the most part motherboards is about looking at features you need. One does not technically need a high end mobo unless they are looking for a specific feature as in stable overclocking(statistic to look for are motherboard power phases, generally displayed like "Power Phases: 4+1"). Other features would be like
THOUGH if you want to play the gamble game(its probably going to be in your favor since its newegg), Newegg has the Z87 Asus Maximus GENE VI m-atx for 156$ (-35 more if you actually DO rebates) as well as a free stick of 8gb ddr3 ram
What your gambling at is if the bios was not updated to accept devils canyon cpus, but most likely it will at this point in time on average, unless the board itself has been sitting on a shelf since its existance. Your gains is that its a top tier option for Asus boards at the cost that its a m-atx board(m-atx is shorter than standard Atx, for those who do not use all their PCI-E expansion slots(e.g m-atx supports up to 2 cards in xfire/sli, atx supports more). Since the ram is free, Cost goes significantly down. draw back is no built in wifi, so you would need to buy a seperate wifi dongle(which should easily be gotten since if you took this route, price dropped alot). I believe the board has a m.2 slot in the back so it can also use a m.2 wifi/bluetooth addon if pci-e/usb doesnt want to be used
4. Its hard for me to talk about monitors without going into it for a long time. so get what you can afford and want(refresh rate/viewing angle/color accuracy/input delay)
5. as for sound, do not aim for computer methods for sound if you want a really good one. Home audio equipment tend to give off better sound per dollar. requirement is just getting a DAC and a set of bookshelf speakers to go with it. (good DACs are cheaper than good computer Sound Cards)
on a side note, if you want to keep OS cost low Plug for MSSS
1. That and personal preference have been my assumption for the most part, but I figure it can't hurt to get some input on what people have had good experiences with. I'd rather buy something that I at least have some background on than some off-brand part that I know even less about.
2. The videos I watched comparing the 970 to the 980 were only showing a ~20 fps difference at the very most, which is why I opted for the 970. My main concern, though, is if I'll still be able to play newly released games in 3-4 years without running into performance issues.
3. I've seen people mention overclocking all over the place, and I've read a little bit about it, but I still don't entirely understand what it is. Is it even something I should consider? To me it seems like something that could easily be screwed up if not done properly, costing you even more money than you would've originally spent on a higher end model.
As for the reddit sub, I've seen that before, and would love to save money in that area if possible, but it seems a little fishy to me. Where do they get their keys, and how can they afford to sell them for so little? How can I be sure that the key is legitimate and not being reused?