New member with a first time building a gaming PC thread.

[Ibechief]

So I wanted to start out saying thanks in advance for all the help you guys provide here. Not all people are tech savvy, and it is nice to know that there are people out there to help.

Currently I am gaming on an old (3 years) college computer (HP Pavilion Elite HPE 400f). I got tired of slowly moving the settings sliders down each month and caved in, buying two upgrades.

I purchased a new Graphics Card (R9 270X) and a new Power Supply (Thermaltake Smart M M850W).

My system has been working pretty well but I've got a dedicated sum of money that can be used on some fundamental upgrades; and I think it might be time to just build a new rig. I am really trying to salvage as much as possible from my current rig.

I'm pretty sure that I could use some online videos to build the rig. I just have zero standing knowledge and familiarity on what components it needs.

Here are some hopefully helpful links.

Current Rig Specs
R9 270X Specs
Thermaltake Smart M850W Specs

Mostly I play games like WoW, Diablo 3, Starcraft 2, and Marvel Heroes with my wife and son. Not the most overly intensive games. But I prefer to play on max settings and to not have my CPU or peripherals go out of date in 3 months.

Any help provided would be greatly appreciated. My target is to find a way to utilize some of the existing hardware in my rig along with some newly purchased hardware to rebuild a relatively strong gaming computer.

Thanks!
Jon

 

[Ibechief]

Good card. I got a link up for the build I think would best suit your wants. I also included a second with an additional 270x for Xfire.
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/xQN3mG
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/YLncRB
Your PSU will handle both just fine. This build will be cool and quiet with years of great gaming. This is a silent case set up! And its beautiful.

Currently I have 4x 2gb cards of RAM. Will the new motherboard hold all 4, and is it better to just spend the 75$ for the new 1600 speed RAM that is only 2x 4 gbs? I just don't know if it would be better to limp by a little on the 2gb's waiting for the upgrade to 16gbs later when it is needed.

I just don't know enough about this stuff 🙁

Edit: Also how does this processor compare to Intel processors? I'm not familiar with AMD anymore.

 

[Gorgonzer]

If you have the extra in your budget for the 1600. I would go with that. Easier on the system to run 2 4g sticks than the 4 2g sticks. Also less hardware to go bad. New with the Ram added. With and without the xtra GPU
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/26FzFT
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/DkPjNG

 

[Gorgonzer]

Processing power is comparable. There are things that each do better than the other. For gaming the cost savings is in favor of the AMD. Games are much more GPU dependent than CPU. You can also over clock the AMD to 4.4+ if you like that kind of thing. The MB is well suited for overclocking. The CPU cooler is also good for that.

Just checked the system against Watch Dogs which is the newest big title out and you system will play it no problem with a score of 29 out of a possible 30. Blizzard titles will play great for years to come. Im a blizzard fanboy myself!

 

[Ibechief]

Processing power is comparable. There are things that each do better than the other. For gaming the cost savings is in favor of the AMD. Games are much more GPU dependent than CPU. You can also over clock the AMD to 4.4+ if you like that kind of thing. The MB is well suited for overclocking. The CPU cooler is also good for that.

Just checked the system against Watch Dogs which is the newest big title out and you system will play it no problem with a score of 29 out of a possible 30. Blizzard titles will play great for years to come. Im a blizzard fanboy myself!

I am talking to windows tech support about getting windows on my new build and they told me that I could use a bootdisk of my windows to avoid buying a new copy. Have you heard of this?

 

[Gorgonzer]

If you have a boot disk you may be able to. But HP does not send one usually. You would get charged from HP to get one.

 

[Ibechief]

If you have a boot disk you may be able to. But HP does not send one usually. You would get charged from HP to get one.

The support guy told me to go here. http://social.technet.microsoft.com/wiki/contents/articles/913.using-the-windows-7-usbdvd-download-tool.aspx

and just make my own. I'm not sure how any of this works. But If I can save on windows I can spring for the second GFX card.

 

[Ibechief]

Ok, I got the windows thing figured out. So how do I go about buying all this stuff?

 

[Gorgonzer]

Just click buy on the item from each vendor. If multiple items are from 1 vendor put all in the cart and checkout accordingly. Do that fir each vendor.

 

[Gorgonzer]

Just click buy on the item from each vendor. If multiple items are from 1 vendor put all in the cart and checkout accordingly. Do that fir each vendor.

 

[Ibechief]

Just click buy on the item from each vendor. If multiple items are from 1 vendor put all in the cart and checkout accordingly. Do that fir each vendor.

I was afraid of that. Do I need to get anything else? I'm not sure if there is anything required to assemble the components once they arrive? Thermal grease, wires or harness, maybe a case of beer?

Edit: what about a wired network adapter? Is it built in?

 

[Gorgonzer]

The wireless adapter from the old pc will work fine. Everything you need will come in the boxes. Watch a video or two on each of the components to farmiliaize yourself with them. Msg me if you get hung up on assembly day!

 

[Ibechief]

The wireless adapter from the old pc will work fine. Everything you need will come in the boxes. Watch a video or two on each of the components to farmiliaize yourself with them. Msg me if you get hung up on assembly day!

Thanks I bought everything on the list, the extra gfx card for Crossfire, and a second set of 2x 4gb ram chips!

I can't wait!

 

[Gorgonzer]

Good to hear. Like I said, everything you need should be in the packaging. Ground yourself on something metal before you go handling the MB, GPU, etc. Let us know how it goes!

 

[Ibechief]

So, I just got my motherboard in and found some things that are really confusing. I got this motherboard based on recomendations that it would be a good buy and that it would work with my 2x R9 270x Gfx cards. Apperantly though this motherboard only has a x16 and a x4 slot for PCIe.

From what I can tell this will provide horrible crossfire results. Am I misinterpreting what I am reading or do I have a motherboard issue?

 

[Gorgonzer]

So, I just got my motherboard in and found some things that are really confusing. I got this motherboard based on recomendations that it would be a good buy and that it would work with my 2x R9 270x Gfx cards. Apperantly though this motherboard only has a x16 and a x4 slot for PCIe.

From what I can tell this will provide horrible crossfire results. Am I misinterpreting what I am reading or do I have a motherboard issue?

In crossfire they will run out of the 16x side and you will get the benefit of the second card. If you were to only install1 in the 4x slot it would not perform at the 16x speed. Hope this helps.

 

[Ibechief]

In crossfire they will run out of the 16x side and you will get the benefit of the second card. If you were to only install1 in the 4x slot it would not perform at the 16x speed. Hope this helps.

I'm not sure I understand what that means? I put one card in the 16x slot and where do I put the other? The remaining options are all lower bandwidth?

 

[Gorgonzer]

In crossfire they will run out of the 16x side and you will get the benefit of the second card. If you were to only install1 in the 4x slot it would not perform at the 16x speed. Hope this helps.

I'm not sure I understand what that means? I put one card in the 16x slot and where do I put the other? The remaining options are all lower bandwidth?

The slot with the 4x will be a bit slower on the clock but not by much. You wont notice any difference in performance. Sorry for not bringing that to your attention before.

 

[Ibechief]

Most crossfire "nightmare" stories involve some sort of stutter. I just thought that having two different speeds would be prime suspect for future stutter issues.

 

[Gorgonzer]

After a bit of digging. I have found that a MB with 16x and 4x slots are comparable in speed to a MB with 2 16x slots due to the fact that the duel 16x slots share the lane making them in essence run at 8x. The difference in FPS on games is 4-9 fps depending on the game. The price difference to go up to a MB with 2 16x slots actually running 8x in crossfire is 50-80$. Sorry if I miss led you in anyway.

 

[Gorgonzer]

Most crossfire "nightmare" stories involve some sort of stutter. I just thought that having two different speeds would be prime suspect for future stutter issues.

Alot of the stutter issues are due to crappy PSU's not delivering constant power.

 

[Ibechief]

Most crossfire "nightmare" stories involve some sort of stutter. I just thought that having two different speeds would be prime suspect for future stutter issues.

Alot of the stutter issues are due to crappy PSU's not delivering constant power.

Haha! Now you have me scared about my power supply! It is only 80 Bronze... So much information to assimilate and it seems like I only learn enough to be confused!

Thanks for the insight!

 

[Gorgonzer]

Most crossfire "nightmare" stories involve some sort of stutter. I just thought that having two different speeds would be prime suspect for future stutter issues.

Alot of the stutter issues are due to crappy PSU's not delivering constant power.

Haha! Now you have me scared about my power supply! It is only 80 Bronze... So much information to assimilate and it seems like I only learn enough to be confused!

Thanks for the insight!

No worries, we checked your PSU at the start. Its a good quality PSU with a single 70A rail. You'll be fine. Alot of the problems with cheap PSU's are that they use cheap caps and several small rails like 4x20A rails that dont allow all the power to be available to all components. So if the GPU's are calling for 25A each in your case, the rails dont have the capacity to give the power they need resulting in screen tear. Your PSU has all the power on the same rail so as power demand rises, the single rail can give it.

 

[Ibechief]

No worries, we checked your PSU at the start. Its a good quality PSU with a single 70A rail. You'll be fine. Alot of the problems with cheap PSU's are that they use cheap caps and several small rails like 4x20A rails that dont allow all the power to be available to all components. So if the GPU's are calling for 25A each in your case, the rails dont have the capacity to give the power they need resulting in screen tear. Your PSU has all the power on the same rail so as power demand rises, the single rail can give it.

That is good to hear. I have been on the phone with Newegg trying to get an RMA for my case. The left door had a nice sized chunk of missing paint in one corner. Probably a manufacturing defect. While I'm at it I think I'll order two more of those big 140mm fans. I love this case, very clean looking. Still waiting on the SSD and the Cooler for my CPU.

By the way Where does the cooler mount? To the processor directly or to the heat sink on the processor? Also where do I mount the fan/radiator combo? To the case or do I substitute a fan for the combo and mount it that way?

 

[Gorgonzer]

No worries, we checked your PSU at the start. Its a good quality PSU with a single 70A rail. You'll be fine. Alot of the problems with cheap PSU's are that they use cheap caps and several small rails like 4x20A rails that dont allow all the power to be available to all components. So if the GPU's are calling for 25A each in your case, the rails dont have the capacity to give the power they need resulting in screen tear. Your PSU has all the power on the same rail so as power demand rises, the single rail can give it.

That is good to hear. I have been on the phone with Newegg trying to get an RMA for my case. The left door had a nice sized chunk of missing paint in one corner. Probably a manufacturing defect. While I'm at it I think I'll order two more of those big 140mm fans. I love this case, very clean looking. Still waiting on the SSD and the Cooler for my CPU.

By the way Where does the cooler mount? To the processor directly or to the heat sink on the processor? Also where do I mount the fan/radiator combo? To the case or do I substitute a fan for the combo and mount it that way?

You got the H60 right? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBoCzJrxtBM Install video from Corsair
You got the 2 extra fans with your original order right? So you should have 4 total 140mm fans. 2 for the top exhaust, and 2 in the front intake. There is one installed on the back. Remove it and put it in front. Put the 2 new ones in the top. That should be all the fans you need. The cpu fan/radiator will go on the back where the factory one was. Just watch the video.
You don't use the cooler that came with your cpu. The waterblock will mount to the MB over your processor.

 

[Ibechief]

You got the H60 right? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBoCzJrxtBM Install video from Corsair
You got the 2 extra fans with your original order right? So you should have 4 total 140mm fans. 2 for the top exhaust, and 2 in the front intake. There is one installed on the back. Remove it and put it in front. Put the 2 new ones in the top. That should be all the fans you need. The cpu fan/radiator will go on the back where the factory one was. Just watch the video.
You don't use the cooler that came with your cpu. The waterblock will mount to the MB over your processor.

Wow. I did not realize how large that cooler and radiator is! That video explained everything pretty well for me. As for the extra fans. The case you picked out for me has 7 fan locations.

1 side fan.
2 top fans.
2 front fans.
1 bottom fan.
1 rear fan.

If 1 of them is used by the CPU water cooler that leaves 6 more spots. It comes with 2, and I originally bought 2 more with all the other hardware. Because I'll have to wait 3 days for another case to be sent I figured I would have them throw 2 more fans into the box and ship them as well.

From what I could tell the fans are whisper quiet, but have lower than average static pressures. So the more the better for cooling two GfX cards. The real question for me is how do I configure the direction of flow for these fans?