KSP1 Computer Building/Buying Megathread

[cantab]

If I remember rightly British magazine Custom PC rate the Silverstone AR03 highly, http://www.silverstonetek.com/product.php?pid=422 .

The motherboard has an ethernet port on it, so unless you have a special requirement you aren't going to need a separate wired network card. If you will be connecting your PC to your network by wifi you may want a wireless network card, or you could use a usb wireless adapter.

[Nuke]

that cooler is a beast. id be worried about it putting unnecessary mechanical stress on my mobo.

[Elthy]

You need realy extreme loads on a mainboard to damage it, a simple cooler with less than 2kg (never saw one with that much, maybe the never released Alpenföhn Everest would be that heavy) wont break it with a proper backplate.

[swiftgates24]

I accidentally added the NIC the first time, thought you had one in the original build. You don't need a NIC if you're connecting the PC to a router.

As for the cooler, like I said before, it is unnecessary since you're not overclocking. You can still have one, and it will keep your cpu cooler and increase its max life by a little, but it's not really worth it. The stock one is fine, like cantab said. If you REALLY want a better cpu cooler, the Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO is a great cheap one (I use it myself), albeit a bit large.

Since you're spending a bit of extra cash, I'd reccomend spending $30 extra on the CPU and getting a 4690. It's currently the best i5 for gaming, and the newest. (I was going to use it in my build, but I got an opportunity to get a 4790k instead, though I'm sure the difference isn't much).

Edited October 12, 2014 by swiftgates24

[Camacha]

You need realy extreme loads on a mainboard to damage it, a simple cooler with less than 2kg (never saw one with that much, maybe the never released Alpenföhn Everest would be that heavy) wont break it with a proper backplate.

I have seen people test how far they needed to go to break motherboards and believe me, those things do not break easily. So unless you are going to drive down bumpy roads all day long with the biggest cooler you can find, I would not worry about it.

As for the cooler, like I said before, it is unnecessary since you're not overclocking. You can still have one, and it will keep your cpu cooler and increase its max life by a little, but it's not really worth it.

Unless you want to keep the noise down. That, for me, is the main reason to buy a good cooler.

[Elthy]

If you buy a cooler dont forget to check if it will colide with those (totaly useless) RAM radiators...

[Camacha]

If you buy a cooler dont forget to check if it will colide with those (totaly useless) RAM radiators...

The easy solution it to leave those useless heat sinks where they belong - not in your computer.

[swiftgates24]

If you buy a cooler dont forget to check if it will colide with those (totaly useless) RAM radiators...

I didn't know those were supposed to do anything

[ajshell1]

My dad, who has been noticed my plan to build a gaming desktop, recently said:

"I would suggest that you try to build a computer through a place like this. It will be built for you and probably be cheaper for the same components.

http://www.ibuypower.com/Store/Columbus-Intel-i5-Special"

Do you think that this is a good website, or should I stick to pcpartpicker?

[cantab]

I can't speak for that site specifically, but certainly I wouldn't discount the option of buying. Plenty of sites will give you a good amount of flexibility, and it saves you time and risk (of breaking parts). You'll probably pay more but often not a lot more.

[Red Iron Crown]

My dad, who has been noticed my plan to build a gaming desktop, recently said:

"I would suggest that you try to build a computer through a place like this. It will be built for you and probably be cheaper for the same components.

http://www.ibuypower.com/Store/Columbus-Intel-i5-Special"

Do you think that this is a good website, or should I stick to pcpartpicker?

Come up with your configuration and see which way is cheaper. You should allow a bit of cost for ibuypower to assemble the machine and install the OS. How much of a value that is depends on if you have PC building experience and the amount of free time you have.

[Elthy]

I wasnt able to find a finaly price on this page...

But when they dont name the brand of the standart PSU i would strongly suggest that you dont buy it. Thats suspicious!

[ajshell1]

I just totaled up the price of the desktop at that site I mentioned earlier.

Let's just say that I am no longer considering it.

Instead, I'd like some more advice about my custom build.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/zczpVn

The absolute maximum I'm willing to spend is $1500. I'd prefer to spend less than $1400.

Questions:

The motherboard that is currently in this list was recommended to me when I wasn't considering overclocking. I've since decided that I want to have the ability to overclock, even though I don't plan on overclocking. I also want to have the ability to upgrade to 16GB of RAM. I don't plan on using SLI. Can you recommend a motherboard for me?

Did I pick a good SSD? If I didn't, can you recommend a 256GB SSD for less than $150? I'm also considering this and this

I've already decided on a GTX 970 4GB. However, I've seen different versions that are either cheaper or more expensive than the one I am planning to get. Would choosing a cheaper GTX 970 4GB make much difference in the long run?

I'm looking for a higher quality tower. Preferably something bigger. I'm planning for the future with this build, and I don't want to be stuck with a case that is too small.

A friend told me that I should get a gold PSU with at least 700W. Is this good advice, or overkill? If this isn't overkill, did I make a good choice in choosing a PSU?

Am I missing anything else?

Thanks again, everybody.

EDIT: Vorago from the pcpartpicker forums read a copy of this post that I posted there, and suggested this

I've decided to go with the SSD and case he picked out.

Edited October 14, 2014 by ajshell1

[Drunken Hobo]

This isn't actually about building a PC, but this seems as good a place as any to ask. I have been on the hunt for a new computer for a while now and have come across this: http://www.medion.com/gb/shop/multimedia-pcs-medion-akoya-pc-p5261-e-310019239.html

Is it just me, or is that a ridiculously good price for a PC of that spec? An i5 processor, 8 GB of RAM & a GTX750 for under £450. Looking at custom PC sites or individual parts and the whole package would cost you almost £600. Can anybody see any major catch there that I'm missing, or is it genuinely a good deal?

I'm not interested in a monster machine, just something that'll play games smoothly on decent graphics settings & will do me for a few years. My current machine is also a Medion, but it's coming up for it's 8th birthday and is getting a bit senile...

[swiftgates24]

That pc seems good enough. It will get you decent fps in most games on normal. It is probably cheap because it offers 0 room for expansion, or you probably just found a good deal

[briansun1]

I just totaled up the price of the desktop at that site I mentioned earlier.

Let's just say that I am no longer considering it.

Instead, I'd like some more advice about my custom build.

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/zczpVn

The absolute maximum I'm willing to spend is $1500. I'd prefer to spend less than $1400.

Questions:

The motherboard that is currently in this list was recommended to me when I wasn't considering overclocking. I've since decided that I want to have the ability to overclock, even though I don't plan on overclocking. I also want to have the ability to upgrade to 16GB of RAM. I don't plan on using SLI. Can you recommend a motherboard for me?

Did I pick a good SSD? If I didn't, can you recommend a 256GB SSD for less than $150? I'm also considering this and this

I've already decided on a GTX 970 4GB. However, I've seen different versions that are either cheaper or more expensive than the one I am planning to get. Would choosing a cheaper GTX 970 4GB make much difference in the long run?

I'm looking for a higher quality tower. Preferably something bigger. I'm planning for the future with this build, and I don't want to be stuck with a case that is too small.

A friend told me that I should get a gold PSU with at least 700W. Is this good advice, or overkill? If this isn't overkill, did I make a good choice in choosing a PSU?

Am I missing anything else?

Thanks again, everybody.

EDIT: Vorago from the pcpartpicker forums read a copy of this post that I posted there, and suggested this

I've decided to go with the SSD and case he picked out.

With the GTX 970 a 700W PSU is very overkill.

[cantab]

Is it just me, or is that a ridiculously good price for a PC of that spec? An i5 processor, 8 GB of RAM & a GTX750 for under £450. Looking at custom PC sites or individual parts and the whole package would cost you almost £600. Can anybody see any major catch there that I'm missing, or is it genuinely a good deal?

It does look good value. Medion are a cheap brand and they'll have cut some corners; I'd expect a motherboard with no fancy features and few expansion slots, value memory, the stock CPU cooler, a no-name PSU, and a cheap and plasticky case. (Which still looks dead cool though.) And I suppose the graphics card is only the regular 750 not the Ti version. None of those things are dealbreakers though, and I'd still expect it to be a decent system.

[swiftgates24]

EDIT: Vorago from the pcpartpicker forums read a copy of this post that I posted there, and suggested this

I've decided to go with the SSD and case he picked out.

You can't overclock with that. You need a Z97 board for oc'ing, H97 is unable to do it. The ASRock Z97 Anniversary costs about 20$ more.

[Drunken Hobo]

That pc seems good enough. It will get you decent fps in most games on normal. It is probably cheap because it offers 0 room for expansion, or you probably just found a good deal

It does look good value. Medion are a cheap brand and they'll have cut some corners; I'd expect a motherboard with no fancy features and few expansion slots, value memory, the stock CPU cooler, a no-name PSU, and a cheap and plasticky case. (Which still looks dead cool though.) And I suppose the graphics card is only the regular 750 not the Ti version. None of those things are dealbreakers though, and I'd still expect it to be a decent system.

Cheers for the reassurance guys. Was wondering if there was something frightening that I'd missed, but it seems to be simply a good value no-frills PC.

Have had a relatively good experience with Medion. Did have to send back my PC in its first year due to some sort of failure, but they fixed it under warranty. My mum's old PC was a Medion as is her current one. Graphics cards & PSUs failed around the 6-7 year mark on two of them, but considering I'll be in my frigging 30s by then (as a 24-year-old that is a truly terrifying thought) I'll let my future self worry about that...

[Camacha]

Medions tend to be pretty decent. The standard limitations of pre-built systems apply, so few extras outside the big poster items, limiting the options to expand later. Contrary to most pre-built 'gaming' systems, it seems fairly balanced. It has a relatively good video card for such a system and not a crazy unnecessary i7 or a billion gigs or RAM just to look good in the ad.

[Elthy]

I dont think that a GT 750 would be a good idea. The card is good for now but to weak for a PC you want to use for several years, especialy since you dont know how you can upgrade the system...

[Red Iron Crown]

I dont think that a GT 750 would be a good idea. The card is good for now but to weak for a PC you want to use for several years, especialy since you dont know how you can upgrade the system...

Tough to get a better video card at that price point.

[cantab]

It's one of the bigger compromises, but for a £450 pre-built PC it's way better for gaming than most systems at that price.

And the GPU is the one part you can be near-certain is upgradable.

[Drunken Hobo]

Yeah, I managed to "upgrade" my old burnt out graphics card on my current Medion PC. A 512 MB GeForce 210... still, better than Intel HD graphics.

I have been looking for a new PC for a while (pretty much since KSP 0.17) but what I want is usually around £550, and if I want to stay under my £500 budget I'd have to settle for an i3 or a poor graphics card. This has both an i5 & a decent graphics card, even if it's not the Ti version.

[Nuke]

i spent the last two days putting my new rig together. it took a day just to sync up all my drives. heres the slide show in completely random order because lazy.

the clearances on this thing were tighter than i anticipated. there was a good 2 inches above the cpu cooler. the ram is so close that im pretty much stuck with the stock cooler. the mini pcie wifi board is also kind in the way, so no aftermarket cooler. but its ok because its running really cool during some of the more graphically intense games i have and nothing gets above 56c. the video card was also much better than anticipated. also i like how xmp actually works now, i was able to get my ram timings up to spec without a lot of hassle. last time i went with performance ram i spent 2 days messing around with timings and running memtest86+. the system is much quieter than my previous build, the one big fan approach seems to work really well.

i think the only thing i would have done differently is gone with a modular power supply. there are a lot of unused cables in the case, and most of them block a lot of airflow. in previous builds where i had done modular power supplies i had noticed that i used almost every cable and so got practically no benefit from the modular design. in this build nothing ended up needing power. i think the power supply is only hooked up to the 24 pin connector, the 4 pin connector and the 2 ssds. the video card didnt even have a power connector, which says a lot for its low power design. had i used a modular supply i might have gotten away only connecting one sata connector bus. im half tempted to take my wire cutters and heat shrink and give the psu a hair cut (i have crimping tools and soldering skills if i ever wanted to connect more stuff to it).

im pretty happy with my build so far. i havent had time to check out ksp 0.25 yet, but i have nothing to do tomorrow and the download just completed. too tired now and its 3am. i need to do a battery of benchmarks too, but i think i will dedicate tomorrow to playing a few games.