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Old 11-24-2016, 11:41 PM   #201
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Looks like NCIX is having a bit of a sale on ASUS GPUs. GTX 1060 6GB and AMD RX 480 8GB are both about $80 off after mail-in rebate. What is everyone's opinion on the 480 vs. 1060? I was originally leaning towards the 1060 but the lack of SLI support is making me lean more towards the 480 because it has Crossfire. Both cards are the same price.

http://www.ncix.com/detail/asus-gefo...4&promoid=1714
http://www.ncix.com/detail/asus-rade...4&promoid=2235
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Old 11-25-2016, 11:08 AM   #202
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Well I'm an idiot. Should've bought that 480 last night as it jumped back up again.
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Old 11-27-2016, 03:28 AM   #203
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Sweet! Turns out NCIX left the 480 in my cart at the original price, and it comes with a free copy of Civ 6, which was one of the main reasons I wanted to build this PC. After the rebate and everything the total will be $342.74. I can definitely live with that.
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Old 11-29-2016, 07:11 PM   #204
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I could use some tips in terms of upgrading my computer. Its 4 years old, and I'd probably keep the case, the power supply, the SSD and the hard drive, but replace the video card, mobo, processor and ram.

Existing configuration is Intel Core i7 920 @2.67 ghz, 660Ti, 6MB Ram @ 7927 mb/s.

I'm thinking I'll get the 1070 video card. What should I pair that with? And is my existing ram fast enough or should I buy new ram also?

Any help would be appreciated.

Edit:

So I've come up with this:

ASUS I7-6500K processor
ASUS Z170-A motherboard
ASUS ROG STRIX GTX1070
Ram (brand undecided, 2x8GB)

Are those good parts to put together? Anything out of whack in terms of matching speeds or quality? Do downgrades or upgrades make sense?

Last edited by Kjesse; 11-29-2016 at 07:36 PM.
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Old 11-30-2016, 01:53 PM   #205
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Do you mean an Intel i5 processor? I don't think they make an i7-6500K...they have a i7-6700K or an i5-6600K. Either would be good though I think the cheaper one, the i5, is probably the one you should stick with.

I was actually going to buy the Asus Z170-A but went with the MSI because it came with Total War: Warhammer. The Asus seems to be a very popular board.

It seems like all of those parts are fine. You may want to ensure you get fast RAM. Maybe something along the lines of 2133+ MHz. There's 3200MHz available but that might be excessive. I've got that speed but I don't know if it makes a huge difference compared to RAM that's slightly slower.
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Old 11-30-2016, 02:11 PM   #206
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Finally pulled the trigger on the Gigabyte GTX 1080 with the Black Friday sale at MemEx, first top-of-the-line video card I've ever owned. I'm selling my EVGA GTX 970 if anyone is interested

http://forum.calgarypuck.com/showthread.php?t=158454
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Old 11-30-2016, 02:42 PM   #207
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Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda View Post
Finally pulled the trigger on the Gigabyte GTX 1080 with the Black Friday sale at MemEx, first top-of-the-line video card I've ever owned. I'm selling my EVGA GTX 970 if anyone is interested

http://forum.calgarypuck.com/showthread.php?t=158454
Ugh, I told myself I really need to stop trying to upgrade my current computer, but you make this so difficult not to! So tempting....
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Old 12-01-2016, 06:50 AM   #208
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My kid's computer is struggling with lag invMinecraft unless every detail is turned off in Optifine. Currently just have the integrated Intel with about 128megs of ram allocated to it. Any recommendations for something under $200 to get a smooth framerate for using Minecraft and possibly screen capture software for Youtubing?
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Old 12-01-2016, 09:21 AM   #209
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My kid's computer is struggling with lag invMinecraft unless every detail is turned off in Optifine. Currently just have the integrated Intel with about 128megs of ram allocated to it. Any recommendations for something under $200 to get a smooth framerate for using Minecraft and possibly screen capture software for Youtubing?
See if Hemi will sell you his 970.

970 is a nice card, should be good for several years of service in your kids computer.

Might be overkill but if you don't want to buy your kid another video card in a year or two if he moves onto more demanding games the 970 could be a good card for your needs.
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Old 12-01-2016, 09:30 AM   #210
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I thought about it, but it looks spoken for when I checked the buy/sell.
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Old 12-01-2016, 02:23 PM   #211
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I thought Minecraft was more CPU intensive though as its coded in Java. What are the other specs?
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Old 12-01-2016, 02:39 PM   #212
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Minecraft is CPU intensive due to the nature of the game and possibly poor coding, Java can be just as fast as the alternatives.

It doesn't require a hefty video card, but onboard processor video might still be a bottleneck. Even upgrading from a 570 to a 770 saw a decent bump in performance on one of my computers (that had a i7 processor so probably wasn't CPU bottlenecked).

EDIT: There's a bunch of benchmarks here:

http://minecraft.gamepedia.com/Hardware_performance
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Old 12-01-2016, 08:42 PM   #213
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Yeah. That's why I am kind of conflicted about the video card. The game should work fine. My son's computer is an i5-2500 quad core, 4gb of ram, and a 256mb ssd. It (Minecraft) runs smoothly with optifine configured, but otherwise it is horrible. Sometimes though, just sometimes, runs perfectly without optifine - why? I allocated 256mb of ram to the video in bios.

As an aside, and I am not sure of the impact, his monitor only has a VGA input. Would that have an impact on the lag?
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Old 12-02-2016, 12:10 AM   #214
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The port itself wouldn't have an impact no.
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Old 12-27-2016, 11:13 AM   #215
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Well I am also looking to join the master race this year. Thanks to Psycnet for helping me out over PM and answering all of my dumb, noob questions. Anyways, this build is entirely meant for living room gaming and is going to be connected to my 50" plasma because I'm too cheap to go to 4K and I hate unnecessary upgrades. I also already have a 1 TB external HD, which is good because I was on a budget. Here's what my build looks like. Hoping to get some of the parts for Christmas and birthday in December and then get the build done before the holidays are over. I appreciate any input.

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($344.68 @ Vuugo)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($41.98 @ Newegg Canada)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z170X-Gaming 3 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($174.78 @ NCIX)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2133 Memory ($64.94 @ Newegg Canada)
Storage: A-Data Premier SP550 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($91.82 @ Newegg Canada)
Video Card: Zotac GeForce GTX 1060 6GB 6GB Mini Video Card ($352.80 @ shopRBC)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case ($72.80 @ Amazon Canada)
Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($57.18 @ NCIX)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit ($131.88 @ shopRBC)
Keyboard: Logitech K800 Wireless Slim Keyboard ($111.98 @ Newegg Canada)
Mouse: Logitech G700s Wireless Laser Mouse ($102.48 @ Vuugo)
Other: Microsoft Xbox 360 Wireless Controller for Windows & Xbox 360 Console
Other: PlayStation 4 Gold Wireless Stereo Headset - Gold Wireless Headset Edition ($128.49 @ Amazon Canada)

Total: $1675.81
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-11-11 21:56 EST-0500
Update on this. I was able to make some changes, do some deal-hunting, received the peripherals I wanted as Xmas/bday presents, etc., and I knocked the price down quite a bit and here's what I ended up with:

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor (Purchased For $284.99)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (Purchased For $39.99)
Motherboard: MSI Z170-A PRO ATX LGA1151 Motherboard (Purchased For $104.99)
Memory: G.Skill NT Series 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR4-2133 Memory (Purchased For $61.59)
Storage: Crucial MX300 275GB M.2-2280 Solid State Drive (Purchased For $94.99)
Video Card: Asus Radeon RX 480 8GB ROG STRIX Video Card (Purchased For $324.99)
Power Supply: Rosewill 650W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply (Purchased For $62.99)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Home OEM 64-bit (Purchased For $54.03)
Case: Azza Titan Gaming CSAZ-240 Case (Purchased For $49.99)

Subtotal: $1078.55
Taxes: $106.68
Shipping: $30.70
Total: $1215.93

Throw in the free copy of Civ VI that I got for purchasing the RX 480 and I think I did pretty well for a rookie. The rest of the parts should hopefully be here by the end of this week or beginning of next and then I can get started on building.
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Old 12-27-2016, 12:42 PM   #216
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Nice! You made out like a bandit on a lot of those prices.

I still have my AMD-bias so I can't make any commentary regarding the 480, but the Z170-A is really easy to overclock with. Hell, it has a 10%/15% physical overclock switch (much like 90s era clock multipliers) on the board itself, so as long as you have XMP enabled RAM (you do!) you can just flick that thing to 15% and enjoy not having to tweak your voltages/timings/multipliers etc. but still get use out of that "k".

[Insert segueway here]

I bit the bullet because I've been mad about the 1080 not pushing enough pixels for certain games at 4K lately, so I ordered another one from Amazon yesterday. Should be here Friday, and I have one of the fancy shmancy MSI HB 2-way SLI connectors coming, which is nice because they are hard to find. Probs won't be here til mid January though so I'll have to use a ribbon connector for the time being.

Also, I have 2x EVGA PowerLink PSU "cleaners" available. I bought them from the US (they don't sell them in Canada yet) on Black Friday for 1/2 price + full shipping (so, ~$45 US), but it turns out I have the only 1080 model that can't use them without heavy modding and reversed electrical polarity (the plugs are flipped). They fit all 1080 and 1070 models that aren't the MSI Gaming series (black/red) from what I can tell. I'd like to get close to what I paid back, but I'll sell them individually for $30 each or $50 for both.
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Old 12-27-2016, 01:48 PM   #217
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Pulled the trigger on my new build.

Did the H440 Case matte black windowed case

with an internal LED light setup that has software to adjust the colouring. I would have went with the physical controls but the case I went with has no ODD bays. Easy trade off for me to make.

This case has built in sound dampening on all panels except the window pane of course. I prob spent 2 or 3 days looking at just cases, just because I was so overwhelmed with the incredible volume of choice.


I spent a little extra on a PS that won't actually need a fan at most uses, and when it does need to go up the dB should remain around 14-18 dB which is whisper quiet.

ROG MAXIMUS VIII asus motherboard


The benefits of this board are the amazing sound card onboard, and, the ease of overclocking. There's prob a very minor bump to actual performance but it exists and this board was on sale. First premium board I've ever splurged on.

i7 6700k CPU

Was between this and the i5 6600k. In the end I didn't want to have to upgrade again in 3 years, maybe 5 or so. I feel like this will do that for me.

16 Gigs of Gskill tridentz ram @3200

I spent a bit of time researching this too, as I had no idea about memory really. The consensus from online seemed to be
that this series of ram was superiour to the one I was considering, corsais dominator platinum.

I almost went with a different brand which has LED's on them but decided that function came first.

asus nvidia 1060 6 GB ram overclocked


Keeping it ASUS... reliable and this card is exactly what I want. I wasn't going to spend 600 or so on a card for 4k gaming I don't do. This was the logical choice.

SSD drive will be the Samsung 850 EVO. Reviews have been just glowing about this drive, and the 250 gig space gives me a little extra space I didn't have on my previous 180.

Backup drive will be a WD 3 TB Blue drive.

I'm very pleased with this build, just grinning ear to ear until I pick it up. The only part that I feel like I cheaped out on was the 1060, but I only game on my tv so 1080p gaming just doesn't need the 1070 or 1080.

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Old 12-28-2016, 08:18 PM   #218
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wtf is a PSU cleaner?

Sounds like hocus pocus.
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Old 12-28-2016, 10:36 PM   #219
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wtf is a PSU cleaner?

Sounds like hocus pocus.
Not sure where that term came from. But it's just an L-shaped adapter to clean up the cables.
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Old 12-29-2016, 08:04 AM   #220
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Yeah they're more visual cable management items, but they also claim to stabilize PSU output by adding more caps to your electrical chain, but if you have a decent PSU to begin with then it's like, whatever.
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