2014 Gaming Build - Critiques Welcome!

TheAngrySpy

TheAngrySpy

Well-Known Member
Hey folks,

http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/3nQj2

Check this out and let me know what you think. This is what I'm planning on building hopefully sometime this summer. Let me know if their is anything you'd do differently, etc. I'm using it for 1080p Streaming - Video Editing - Max Setting Gaming (Witcher 3, Witcher 2, Life is Feudal, Elder Scrolls Online, Darkfall Online, TF2, BF4, etc)
 
My only immediate reaction is to beware of Zotac and ASrock. Those are some funky budget level brands and personally I'd go with something more reputable... Gigabyte or Asus for mobo, and PNY/EVGA or so for video card.

ASRock is known for shoddy quality, and last time I was video card shopping Zotac wasn't exactly stellar - they might sell the same card but the reputable brands had them clocked much better.

Looks like budget isn't an issue but if you want to save some $$... that video card is overkill for everything you want to do.
 
I thoroughly enjoy Zotac, I've had a few video cards from them and I've loved them. I was thinking of downgrading to a 770 4GB, then getting another in SLI if I really need it in the future. Also AsRock is a well known brand, very good products.
 
Same with that 144Hz Monitor... If you are looking to save money, get another 60Hz monitor. Also unless you plan on putting anything more than just your OS on the SSD, I would drop it down to a 128GB SSD
 
I have a 3,000 budget so. Doesn't really matter. I've always wanted a 120hz + Monitor. I'm putting OS, main games / main programs on the SSD. Storing all my music, videos, etc on the 1TB.

I'm looking for future proof. Along with being able to easily handle anything I throw at it now, and down the road at max or near max settings for at least 3-4 years.
 
For $3000 it will last you well more than 3 or 4 years... My cousin has hardware from 5-6 years ago and it still runs things at max or near max settings. Personally I have never understood the fascination with 120+ Hz monitors or TVs but hey whatever floats your boat. And you could edit most anything with half of what you are getting. And the Streaming is mostly a factor on your internet connection
 
TheAngrySpy said:
I thoroughly enjoy Zotac, I've had a few video cards from them and I've loved them. I was thinking of downgrading to a 770 4GB, then getting another in SLI if I really need it in the future. Also AsRock is a well known brand, very good products.
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That's fine, each their own. Just letting you know they're budget level brands and you get an according product (i.e. fewer features and such).

English said:
For $3000 it will last you well more than 3 or 4 years... My cousin has hardware from 5-6 years ago and it still runs things at max or near max settings. Personally I have never understood the fascination with 120+ Hz monitors or TVs but hey whatever floats your boat. And you could edit most anything with half of what you are getting. And the Streaming is mostly a factor on your internet connection
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Hell, my current desktop was about 1.5K when new and that was 2007. Coming up on 7 years and while it's seen some improvements (more RAM, new video card) still pretty usable for everything I need it for.
 
I don't think you need a $750 graphics card. I have a 3GB AMD R9 280x and it costs $300. I can play every game at max settings with 3 monitors. Streaming is really based on your internet connection. Unless you plan on doing heavy video editing (almost at a production business level) I think you should cut back on the graphics.

I built my desktop when BF3 came out. The only thing I've upgraded since then was getting 8GB ram over 4GB and upgrading my graphics card.

And if I could recommend a headset, the Gamecom 780. It is 1/2 the price of the Corsair one and I've been using it also since BF3. It's an amazing headset, very sturdy.

http://www.amazon.ca/Plantronics-GameCom-Surround-Frustration-Packaging/dp/B007SYXGIY/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1396986978&sr=1-1&keywords=gamecom 780

Edit: Ok, I see yours is so expensive probably cuz it's wireless. But I saw many reviews on Newegg saying the Corsair is poorly built and breaks.
 
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At large-budget production level you still don't need a video card that massive. Nearly all rendering is done on the CPU and none of it in realtime anyway. It is an interesting trend that as soon as someone in a forum goes " I'm editing videos" everyone immediately goes "HURR HURR NEED MASSIVE VIDEO CARD". Probably a common misconception.

REALLY big budget companies (think pixar) have render farms. Prime example is monsters inc. -> they wrote their own bit of code to simulate the hair on the monsters on an individual-hair level...

Remember kids, video cards are good at drawing triangles. CPUs do math... and rendering video is math, not triangles (unless you're doing CGI). There are of course some changes with regards to processing things on the GPU with CUDA and VDPAU and whatnot, but the general concept is still pretty valid.
 
Of course,

Most likely going to downgrade to a 770 4GB. Can upgrade to SLI if needed in the future. I have fibre internet so no issue there. 120 HZ monitors are noticeably smoother when playing, most people don't get it until they try one. I had one before and never went back.

I'm a Corsair fanboy, I love their products. Very solid items, very well built. That headset my buddy has, I used it once and I loved it so much so I'd like to get one. I also like Wireless headsets, I tend to trip over the long cables lol.
 
Noticeably smoother if you can tell the difference in 10milliseconds... Oh well. A debate for another time. If you got the money, go for it.
 
English said:
Noticeably smoother if you can tell the difference in 10milliseconds... Oh well. A debate for another time. If you got the money, go for it.
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Frequency and period are inverses of each other (e.g. f = 1/T).

Ergo, 60 Hz = 1/60 = 0.0166 = 16.6 ms

120Hz = 1/120 = 0.00833 = 8.33 ms

So yeah.. about 8 ms.

Not saying it's total hogwash but a huge chunk of it is marketing hype and confirmation bias (you _want_ it to be smoother, so it looks smoother).

Here's a section from the wikipedia article on framerate, so you can draw your own conclusions...
wikipedia said:
The human eye and its brain interface, the human visual system, can process 10 to 12 separate images per second, perceiving them individually.[1] The threshold of human visual perception varies depending on what is being measured. When looking at a lighted display, people begin to notice a brief interruption of darkness if it is about 16 milliseconds or longer.[2] Observers can recall one specific image in an unbroken series of different images, each of which lasts as little as 13 milliseconds.[3] When given very short single-millisecond visual stimulus people report a duration of between 100 ms and 400 ms due to persistence of vision in the visual cortex. This may cause images perceived in this duration to appear as one stimulus, such as a 10 ms green flash of light immediately followed by a 10 ms red flash of light perceived as a single yellow flash of light.[4] Persistence of vision may also create an illusion of continuity, allowing a sequence of still images to give the impression of motion.
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Thus meaning that the monitor refreshes what should be displayed on the screen every .0166 seconds. Meaning for a 120Hz monitor a new frame is displayed every .00833 seconds. And if you can see the difference of 8ms, then hats off to ya.
 
English said:
Thus meaning that the monitor refreshes what should be displayed on the screen every .0166 seconds. Meaning for a 120Hz monitor a new frame is displayed every .00833 seconds. And if you can see the difference of 8ms, then hats off to ya.
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Technically it depends on _what_ you're looking at. There's a whole bunch of stuff that comes into play but suffice it to say that for the typical pictures on a computer screen where the next in the sequence has incremental changes from the last... you probably won't notice.

OTOH... if you like to stare at a monitor that only displays white but then occasionally flips back to black for 8 ms... 120Hz might be for you :D
 
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