#1
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Would this be a good desktop?
I'm planning to build a desktop PC very soon, and was wondering what other people would think about it.
Comments? This PC will probably be used as more of a mid-range gaming PC that also happens to be good at things that a desktop PC does, anyway. The power supply may or may not be iffy, depending on who you ask, so...yeah, that's the thing. Outside of the power supply, I think everything else should work like a charm From my personal experience, even older 7200 RPM SATA2 HDDs make 5400RPM laptop HDDs look like snails, let alone a modern 2TB WD Black, so I guess I don't have to get an SSD just to make sure that the system isn't a turtle. The warranty helps a lot, too. The Core i5 would be more than fast enough in almost everything. Even though it's not the top-of-the-line consumer CPU you can get, or even the latest (Broadwell and Skylake are now out now), to me, I value getting more for the budget I pay for. Also, I don't intend to overclock, either, so I think I'll use the stock fans. Unlike laptops, it should be able to keep it cool enough, no? (I'd only be concerned if it keeps hitting 90 degrees Celsius under normal load.) The graphics card would go really well with the CPU, too, and it'd be overkill if I went with something better than a GTX 960 for my purposes - after all, 1080p gaming should be like chump change to this video card. I think I really like what's featured in this case if what I'm seeing on the Internet is true... it has modern sensibilities, but is still relatively affordable. The motherboard is excellent for what it is, and it doesn't have anything that I don't need. Well, except for that M.2 slot, but I consider it a bonus. That slot seems obligatory in any halfway-decent H97 or Z97 motherboard, anyway. A single stick of 8 GB DDR3-1600 RAM should work, especially when you're not using the integrated graphics for playing video games - not that you'd want to if you're using a separate video card anyway. Either way, a single, denser module is quite a bit cheaper than two lesser modules, so yeah. (Man, am I glad that things like PCPartPicker exists now.) (Fun fact: all the parts I've listed are things that are easily obtainable for me.) |
#3
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Mmm hmm.
I'm thinking of using the money that would be spent towards an SSD to a better PSU, though. 80+ Gold sure sounds tasty. Or full modularity with even the required cables for the motherboard and the CPU. Or longer warranty terms. The power supply is a very important part in any system, anyway. |
#4
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If power surges are common in your area, I definitely suggest investing in a motherboard that has proper surge protection. Check for "solid" capacitors on the board. Your board has mostly solid ones, but there are a few in the corner that are not. Frankly, I don't know enough about them to tell you what those ones are for.
As for power supplies, I suggest reading more than just the basic reviews about them. Various sites run full benchmarks to make sure they don't die prematurely and don't lie about their stated specs and efficiency. |
#5
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There's no power surges, but there are relatively frequent blackouts. I don't mind losing some work every time that happens, anyway, since I tend to save really often when I'm working on something.
I think the thing about power supplies is that it does feel weird to know that PSU fanboyism exists in the first place. Sometimes I do wonder if there's anything going on, something like a vocal minority, but it sure seems like quite a bunch of Internet PC enthusiasts don't like Corsair very much - unlike "proper" PSU review sites that tend to think they are at least above average to perfect. Hmm... Me? I'm not sure if I follow. When you're popular, sooner or later the amount of duds are going to catch up. And the Corsairs are definitely no gutless wonders that explode and take out other components as a general case. Last edited by Twiggy; August 6, 2015 at 07:16:22 PM. |
#6
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I was actually about to mention PC elitists and fanboys about certain things in my previous posts. Some circles are obsessed with Intel + NVidia and will laugh at anyone who attempts to buy AMD stuff, while there are others where they trade in their old GPUs the moment the new one hits the market just to get 3 fps more in Skyrim on max settings.
Then there are the people who run actual benchmarks on things, who tend to be quite reliable...then there are the people who follow those benchmarks exactly without taking heed to the specific setup the benchmarkers are using. |
#7
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Quote:
Though I don't get the point of going beyond four cores at this point of time yet. AMD's own discrete graphics chips are definitely not worth recommending at this time, though. Sure, you might be paying a slight premium for the equivalent GeForce, but in return, you get better CPU utilization, better frame times, a more mature set of supported technologies, more timely driver updates, lower power supply requirements, less power usage, and less heat thrown off - or less beefy coolers, if that's what you swing on. What's not to like? Personally, though, I'll stick to the i5-4460. Even though the X4 860K is good enough, it's unfortunately unavailable where I live right now, so that's out of the cards. The A8-7600 isn't exactly a good deal for someone that plans to get a GTX 960 anyway, either, and the i5-4460 should make CPU bottlenecks less likely an issue, whether single-threaded or multi-threaded. That, and I like making sure that the graphics card isn't cheaper than the processor. It's kind of a tell-tale sign that you're going to be not getting enough graphics card. I think I'll probably get the Corsair VS550, CXM600, or the RM550. Preferably the RM550, for obvious reasons. 80+ Gold, 5-year warranty, full modularity, and all that Corsair RM "issues" are the very definition of "overblown" - that HardOCP review? They're running it out of spec with no airflow - you'd expect a normal case to have some airflow anyway. A saner review on more reputable PSU review sites give it glowing praise mostly. And pretty much the entire Corsair line is decent at minimum, and perfect at best (but I bet nobody wants to spend half a rig for an AX1500i, no?), with no gutless wonders to find. I'm just keeping in mind that the Internet "enthusiast" community might be more like... a "fanboy" community. That, and my other options are Cooler Master and Thermaltake. Not sure if I want. Yes, I know, the more important thing is the OEMs behind them, but think about it - OEMs can produce anything requested, and they're usually as good as the company wants them to be. The same OEM can produce anything from exploders to something that does a clean sheet with perfect scores... and anything in between. I also don't get all the love for Seasonic, either. Their power supplies are top-notch, I'll admit, but that shouldn't preclude others from getting other PSUs that are at least decent. It's not like anything not Seasonic will always explode... That's what I don't get about PSU fanboyism. Last edited by Twiggy; August 7, 2015 at 02:45:20 AM. |
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