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KSP1 Computer Building/Buying Megathread


Leonov

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Question. There are many different versions of the GTX 1060, like you would expect, gigabyte, MSI, ASUS....But does the card size matter? Some of the cards are long with dual fans, and then there's a "Mini 1060" that's only the length of one fan. Would that card underperform compared to the full size models? 

Reference links:

Small cards: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814487260&ignorebbr=1
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814487261&ignorebbr=1
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814500402&ignorebbr=1

Larger cards: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127965&ignorebbr=1
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127964&ignorebbr=1

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Smaller coolers are either louder or less powerfull than big ones. This could result in reduced performance when the chip hits its temperature limit, but right now there are not many tests of custom deisgns of the 1060, so better wait for those. It would be stupid to buy blind, also dont forget that the RX 480 custom designs are incoming, too...

Edit: Of course the low power usage of the 1060 means it doesnt require something stupid like tripple fans to be cooled silently.

Edited by Elthy
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5 hours ago, Endersmens said:

Question. There are many different versions of the GTX 1060, like you would expect, gigabyte, MSI, ASUS....But does the card size matter? Some of the cards are long with dual fans, and then there's a "Mini 1060" that's only the length of one fan. Would that card underperform compared to the full size models? 

Reference links:

Small cards: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814487260&ignorebbr=1
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814487261&ignorebbr=1
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814500402&ignorebbr=1

Larger cards: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127965&ignorebbr=1
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127964&ignorebbr=1

A large card should thermal throttle less. Anything with dual or triple fans, but preferably dual fans(triple gets a bit loud) should work well. A Mini 1060 likely will throttle more, overclock worse, and have a lower factory overclock.

Edit: The 1060 Armor you showed has better multi monitor support than MSI's non-Armor edition, extra power delivery(8 vs 6 pin), and more DP 1.4 ports.

Edited by Alphasus
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Tripple fans isnt allways a solution for a silent GPU as ASUS just proved with the RX480 Strix. They managed to have only 3 heatpipes directly touch the chip, also the temperature target for the GPU was set to only 65°C, which is way lower than it has to be. At least its easily adjustable with the Wattman tool, when set to 80°C (still nowhere near dangerous levels) the card becomes silent. What made ASUS think 65°C is a good idea?

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42 minutes ago, Elthy said:

Tripple fans isnt allways a solution for a silent GPU as ASUS just proved with the RX480 Strix. They managed to have only 3 heatpipes directly touch the chip, also the temperature target for the GPU was set to only 65°C, which is way lower than it has to be. At least its easily adjustable with the Wattman tool, when set to 80°C (still nowhere near dangerous levels) the card becomes silent. What made ASUS think 65°C is a good idea?

I said that triple does get a bit loud. 65 C is pretty reasonable, but a card(well cooled) should throttle in the 70s. So if the card ramps up fans to stop throttling, that makes sense. 80 C is pretty warm for a video card too, and many are only rated to about 75 C for prolonged use.

Edited by Alphasus
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On 20/07/2016 at 7:16 PM, VaPaL said:

The PSU I've choosen is a Corsair CS550M, it's a little over the 400W that I will need (calculated using some only tools) and the 500W recomended by EVGA, but it leaves some room for future improvement. The MoBo is a ASUS Z170-P, ASUS says it has overvoltage protection, but I don't know how much this changes anything.

I do not think the rated power changes much when it comes to hardware. A UPS needs to supply the actually consumed power for a little while and not much more.

Edited by Camacha
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@Camacha But shouldn't I choose one based on the maximum power input? I mean, for safety reason in case my power runs at when I gaming so I have enough time to safely shut down the PC.

Also, in terms of hardware, how bad is to run out of power? Cause I don't know if I'll have money for a UPS right now, maybe in some months :( 

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14 hours ago, VaPaL said:

@Camacha But shouldn't I choose one based on the maximum power input?

If your system is never, ever going to draw a certain amount of power from the socket, it is no use having an UPS that will provide that power. You could run Furmark combined with something like LinX and measure power consumption. You can be pretty sure you will never go much higher than that.

A lot of people think that a 500 watt PSU means that the computer consumes 500 watt all the time, but a computer only takes what it actually uses. You might know this, but just to be sure.

Quote

Also, in terms of hardware, how bad is to run out of power? Cause I don't know if I'll have money for a UPS right now, maybe in some months :( 

It is not too bad. The biggest issue is data. If you are writing something to your HDD, the file can get corrupted if power gets cut. If the MBR is being written to, the whole file system can be damaged or lost. Unfortunately, SSDs are a little more sensitive to power outages and can get permanently damaged by them. The chances are not too big, but it is a lottery. Having an SSD with power protection (like the Crucial MX200 series) mitigates this risk. Mind you, you can still lose data, but at least the chance of your SSD going corrupt or getting damaged is reduced quiet a bit.

Of course, anyone should assume any hard drive can fail at any time and act accordingly. Having proper backups is the only way of securing your data.

Edited by Camacha
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Hi folks!

Im trying to build a friend a PC as a gift. Someone else last year bought him a motherboard, has nothing but that. Trying to keep a good balance of performance/budget.

Here is what I have so far.

http://pcpartpicker.com/list/8LnsZ8

Im stuck with the motherboard as the starting point. Thoughts on this build?

Also, I might buy a new GPU for myself, and give my old GTX 760 to this build, instead of the one in the list. But Im not sure how the GTX 760 would do in the new configuration. Thoughts on that?

 

Thanks everyone :)

Edited by Rassa Farlander
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8 hours ago, Rassa Farlander said:

Hi folks!

Im trying to build a friend a PC as a gift. Someone else last year bought him a motherboard, has nothing but that. Trying to keep a good balance of performance/budget.

Here is what I have so far.

http://pcpartpicker.com/list/8LnsZ8

Im stuck with the motherboard as the starting point. Thoughts on this build?

Also, I might buy a new GPU for myself, and give my old GTX 760 to this build, instead of the one in the list. But Im not sure how the GTX 760 would do in the new configuration. Thoughts on that?

 

Thanks everyone :)

http://pcpartpicker.com/list/QWKJ8K

If you really need a liquid cooler, get one. I kept it out because 880Ks don't run that hot. The PSU was also swapped for a higher efficiency and quality PSU at a closer wattage to what you need. The 960 is a cheaper card now than the R9 380, which is its AMD counterpart in performance. I also left you with a very nice air cooler that is quieter(according to benchmarks by third parties), and should let the CPU run cooler than on water. With money saved, the SSD size increased. From personal experience, a 120GB SSD isn't really enough. Maybe 2 games and the OS and thats it. 250GB gives you more options. See if your friend will like the case, as it comes really close to the price of the Define S windowed, which has better cable management features, and in my opinion looks better. And then further, do you need a DVD drive? If so, the Define S won't work, but a Define R5 Windowed would. They both come with great large fan mounts, and should be pretty quiet. Define R5s also muffle internal noise, making them extremely quiet. If you don't need a DVD drive, also look at the NZXT H440 and S340.

A 760 is rather close to a 960, maybe a 10-20% difference in performance. The 760 is growing a bit long in the tooth, though, so if you replace it, get the more expensive 1060.

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The R 380 isnt ony faster than the 960, but also comes with twice the VRAM and is thus way more future proof. No idea why you would choose a 960 or even a 760 over it. Also i think a 65$ CPU cooler is a big overkill for such a 80$ CPU. A EKL Brocken 2 or a Thermalright Macho would still enable quiet overclocking while costing ahlf of that. The 550W PSU is also totaly overkill, but the price is decent for a 80+Gold one. Maybe you can save like 10$ here by going with only 450W (still way more than you will ever need).

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13 minutes ago, Elthy said:

The R 380 isnt ony faster than the 960, but also comes with twice the VRAM and is thus way more future proof. No idea why you would choose a 960 or even a 760 over it. Also i think a 65$ CPU cooler is a big overkill for such a 80$ CPU. A EKL Brocken 2 or a Thermalright Macho would still enable quiet overclocking while costing ahlf of that. The 550W PSU is also totaly overkill, but the price is decent for a 80+Gold one. Maybe you can save like 10$ here by going with only 450W (still way more than you will ever need).

He went with a $75 water cooler. I swapped it for something better. Also, 450W isn't more than he needs. Its about 50W more than peak, and PSU output degrades. The 380 was $210, and the 960 was $160. That gave money space for a case and a larger SSD.

http://wccftech.com/nvidia-evga-gtx-960-ssc-amd-xfx-r9-380-oc/

Edited by Alphasus
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@Rassa Farlander what does your friend do with his PC, and how much do you really want to spend? Because I'd say both your build and Camacha's Alphasus's are paying high money for low gaming performance. And if you truly do want to spend $1000 you should consider not using that old motherboard, and instead having a free choice of CPU and mobo.

Edited by cantab
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No idea where exactly he is buying (i understand this pcpartpicker is nit a shop, but a website to check for compability), but where i checked the 960/380 are about the same price (4Gb version, 2Gb is not recommended anymore)..

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16 minutes ago, cantab said:

@Rassa Farlander what does your friend do with his PC, and how much do you really want to spend? Because I'd say both your build and Camacha's are paying high money for low gaming performance. And if you truly do want to spend $1000 you should consider not using that old motherboard, and instead having a free choice of CPU and mobo.

I entirely agree, however the issue is that his friend already has the mobo. I'd personally do a 1060 build with H170 or H110 if that wasnt the case. His actual budget for non monitor, non OS is around $750 judging by his first build though.

You can't actually put a 6600k and 1060 together in his budget without killing the creature comforts on the build.

 

12 minutes ago, Elthy said:

No idea where exactly he is buying (i understand this pcpartpicker is nit a shop, but a website to check for compability), but where i checked the 960/380 are about the same price (4Gb version, 2Gb is not recommended anymore)..

2GB version isn't actually worse than the 4GB version... The card(both of them) aren't fast enough to actually need 4GB VRAM.

Edited by Alphasus
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VRAM isnt neccesarly bound to the chip performance. Better textures often take more VRAM without increasing the performance requirements. Also we will see (and are allready seeing) a steady increase in VRAM usage, 2Gb will definetly be to little in 2 years. If you are even recommending a bigger PSU than required due to lowering capacity (ive never heard of that being a problem btw), you should definetly choose 4Gb to be futureproof.

 

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5 minutes ago, Elthy said:

VRAM isnt neccesarly bound to the chip performance. Better textures often take more VRAM without increasing the performance requirements. Also we will see (and are allready seeing) a steady increase in VRAM usage, 2Gb will definetly be to little in 2 years. If you are even recommending a bigger PSU than required due to lowering capacity (ive never heard of that being a problem btw), you should definetly choose 4Gb to be futureproof.

 

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/290519-28-units-wear-time

PSU capacity^

The 960 is a dead, useless video card anyways. The 1060 is better, the 1050 will be better once released at the same price point. He could take a 380 but it cuts him off from the nice extras, like:

-bigger SSD

-quiet cooler

-quiet case

 

Edited by Alphasus
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I come to you guys again.

So, the 1060 is out of stock everywhere, as expected. But I cannot preorder it, I can only "Auto notify" which means I might miss it. However, for $10 cheaper I could preorder the rx 480 8GB. I've heard that all the rx 480-1060 comparisons were done on the 4GB model, would the 8GB be any better? Also, on this particular 480, in the specs it says it supports CUDA...Thought that was Nvidia only?

Here's the 480 I'm talking about: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1262547-REG/asus_rx480_8g_radeon_rx_480_8gb.html/prm/alsVwDtl

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It doesnt support CUDA and never will. Afaik its nothing which could be done in software, you would need changes in the silicon to make AMD cards support CUDA. If you are thinking about buying a RX 480 consider a few things:

The stock cooler is quite loud and not that good at cooling, so i would avoid that.
Custom designs were revealed and even tested, but wont hit the market until august, so maybe a GTX 1060 is faster to get for you.
The 4GB and 8GB models currently available (reference design) are one and the same card, just with a different bios. Flashing the 8GB bios onto a 4GB card will completly unlock it.

So i would say you have a few options now:

1. Waiting for a 1060 that got good reviews. Since availability is low and reviews are rare this could take a while.
2. Waiting for a RX 480 that got good reviews. See above.
3. Make your own cheap and quiet RX 480, but this requires some tinkering:
You buy a reference design RX 480 4GB, flash a 8GB bios and install an aftermarket cooler. The german site PCGamesHardware had good results with the "Arctic Accelero Mono Plus" (link), which is about 30€. This would be the cheapest solution, but mind that the cooler wont turn off when idle.

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On 23/07/2016 at 1:54 PM, cantab said:

@Rassa Farlander what does your friend do with his PC, and how much do you really want to spend? Because I'd say both your build and Camacha's are paying high money for low gaming performance. And if you truly do want to spend $1000 you should consider not using that old motherboard, and instead having a free choice of CPU and mobo.

Hey man, mistakes can be made, but if you accuse me of proposing a build that is not up to snuff in the bang-for-buck department, you are stepping on my toes and honour as a computer guy. We are going to have a brawl :D

Tl;dr: you seem to have me confused with someone else :P

Above post is in jest, if anyone missed that.

 

6 hours ago, Elthy said:

You buy a reference design RX 480 4GB, flash a 8GB bios and install an aftermarket cooler. The german site PCGamesHardware had good results with the "Arctic Accelero Mono Plus" (link), which is about 30€. This would be the cheapest solution, but mind that the cooler wont turn off when idle.

Having a good and silent cooler that does not fluctuate its speed is to be preferred over a cooler that turns off when idle. It is the fluctuations that are far more noticeable than minimal (if any) background noise. Silent PC Review notes this frequently. Use a well known silent fan on that Accelero and you will not hear it even under full load.

It is pretty much what I did with my previous card and I absolutely loved it.

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I think I will go with this card: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1264797-REG/msi_geforce_gtx_1060_gaming.html

MSI GTX 1060 Gaming X. It's the fastest clocked card, and it's $349 at newegg and only $299 here. Plus I can actually preorder it and get my hands on it when it's back in stock. Thoughts? Should I go for a cheaper card, like the MSI armour? OR should I stick with this one for the boosted performance and preorderability?

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53 minutes ago, Endersmens said:

I think I will go with this card: http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1264797-REG/msi_geforce_gtx_1060_gaming.html

MSI GTX 1060 Gaming X. It's the fastest clocked card, and it's $349 at newegg and only $299 here. Plus I can actually preorder it and get my hands on it when it's back in stock. Thoughts? Should I go for a cheaper card, like the MSI armour? OR should I stick with this one for the boosted performance and preorderability?

The Gaming X has better monitor tech support, better overclock potential due to better binning, and the armor costs the same. It has DP 1.4, and more HDMI 2.0 ports if you every go multi monitor in addition to clock speed. Good choice. 

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1 minute ago, Alphasus said:

The Gaming X has better monitor tech support, better overclock potential due to better binning, and the armor costs the same. It has DP 1.4, and more HDMI 2.0 ports if you every go multi monitor in addition to clock speed. Good choice. 

Well the armour is cheaper at newegg, for $269, but there's no option to preorder from newegg.  I can't wait to finally get it all together. I'm only waiting on this card and a monitor. :D 

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2 minutes ago, Endersmens said:

Well the armour is cheaper at newegg, for $269, but there's no option to preorder from newegg.  I can't wait to finally get it all together. I'm only waiting on this card and a monitor. :D 

$30 is irrelevant for 4k support, a bit of performance, and multi-monitor. Have fun with that!

Edited by Alphasus
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