The Gaming Den

All right, I'll just go with good ol' fan cooling. 200 bucks for a liquid cooler? Sheesh, I'll just keep my room cool and avoid OCing. I hear you guys on the RAM. I've seen a lot of builds being content with just 8 GB of RAM, even the ones in the 500-1000 range. Okay, you've convinced me, I'm getting an SSD for my boot drive. I still don't agree with you about the BluRay player, though. I don't see any circumstance in which I'd use it, especially since I own a PS3. I also agree with you guys about the storage device. This bad boy is 7200 RPM, 128MB Cache, and 5 TB and is around $150. I don't even use a 10th of that right now on my computer, but that would take care of memory problems for the rest of the generation.

How big is the difference in performance between the 970 and 960, practically speaking? I know the 970 gives 2GB more, but it also costs $150 more. I'm not experienced with super whiz-bang gaming, I just want something good enough for XBox emulation (once that catches up in about a year) and the Oculus Rift when that gets fully released. If it's that big of a deal I'm willing to sink down the money, though.

To satisfy my inner child, I'm thinking of going with this case: this case and this LED Controller. Yes, I know that those things aren't important, but I don't give a shit. Pappy Lago likes his shinies.

Yes, a full blown water cooling solution with dedicated parts can and will run you above 250 bucks for a good setup . . AIO is usually at about 80 to 120 bucks, but usually only worth it for smaller cases where you don't have much room for a massive heatsink on the cpu . .

RAM is cheap and will probably only get cheaper. especially if you buy DDR3 seing how DDR4 is out now. And RAM is easy to get more of later on, if you actually DO need more as well.

If you get an SSD for the system drive, and the HDD is not for installing software on but a simple data grave, then you don't really need 7200 rpm either. for simple storage of files of all kinds, 5200 or something along those lines is just fine. The main advantage of using an SSD for the OS is this: you can tell windumb to power down the HDD after a few minutes of no access attempt to the HDD. this will make your computer SO much more quiet . . well, not really that much more quiet, but the vibrations go to very nice levels. The faster boot/shutdown is a nice to have as well ^^

Yeah, if you don't plan on actually watching BluRay on the computer and use your PS3 for that, you can skimp on that. I don't own a single console, so i kind of have to do everything via computer, therefore for me a BluRay Drive is an absolute must have. Going for the Writer was only because i had the money. Haven't burned a single Blu Ray with it yet ^^

If you don't want to play the latest and greatest games in all their glory at max settings anyway . . go for the 960. It's enough.
If you don't mind it and both board and PSU can handle it, you can always get a 2nd 960 some time later on for SLI for more power. But for SLI you usually want more VRAM so there's that . . And the 970 has double the RAM of the 960. 4 instead of just 2 gigs. 2 Gigs MAY with modern titles become the bottleneck actually . .

There's worse things for cases.
That one is a very good case, but it's too much of a plastic bomber for my tastes, i went with an NZXT H630 instead.
No window, simple matte black, silenced.

I paid like, $80-120 for my water-cooling unit when my fan died. Isn't amazing, but it works.

I just want something good enough for XBox emulation (once that catches up in about a year) and the Oculus Rift when that gets fully released. If it's that big of a deal I'm willing to sink down the money, though.

960 will be plenty. Here's a thread on reddit from a year ago about how you can run DevKit2 with a 770: http://www.reddit.com/r/oculus/comments ... s_for_dk2/

Stahlseele wrote:Your cabling sucks as much as mine, and i have a case with space for hidden cabling XD ^^

Yeah, my case has a space like that too, but it doesn't help if your cables are too damned short.

They make extension cords, you know.

Lago PARANOIA wrote:To satisfy my inner child, I'm thinking of going with this case: this case and this LED Controller. Yes, I know that those things aren't important, but I don't give a shit. Pappy Lago likes his shinies.

I am almost certain that you can find a different box that doesn't pointlessly fill two cubic feet with space for fifteen extraneous HDDs/optical drives and still looks like a power ranger.


EDIT: CASECHAT: It's too bad you can't get one of these motherfuckers like I did.

Looking like a power ranger is important, trust me. Though, you're right; with an optical drive + SSD + HD + PS + LED Controller I don't need all of that crap. If you can find a smaller box of comparable space-age coolness, I'm game.

@Eikre
That is such a cool looking case . .
But the internal construction is off putting to me at best <.<

@Lago PARANOIA
Well
http://www.nzxt.com/product/detail/146- ... tower.html
That is basically that only in smaller right? O.o

Not bad. And it's at a decent price-point, too.

Also, next week there will be an GTX960 with 4Gigs of VRAM made by Inno3D.
So if you have not bought one yet and can wait a bit, you might want to look into that.
And that one could probably have the 4Gigs with full speed, notr just 3.5Gigs as the 970 is a cut down GM204 Chip and the 960 is a GM206 Chip.
The 204 is, i think, the GTX7xx generation while the GM206 is the GTX9xx Generation.
If i understood that correctly at least.

Do you have a link, Stahlseele? I went through the google and even through NVIDIA's official website and all I see news for is for the 2GB GTX960. They allude to releasing one in March, sure, but nothing about 4GB for it.

Here you go
http://www.inno3d.com/news_detail.php?refid=255

Okay, so after dicking around with your suggestions and my own searches, here's what I think that I'm going to go with:
http://pcpartpicker.com/p/tmdzsY

My only trepidation is the sound of the fan. 36db seems like it could get annoying pretty fast, but I imagine that's for people who run their shit on at full blast.

Oh, yeah, the other thing: where the hell can I buy that Inno3D GeForce GTX 960 at 4GB that Stahlseele just posted? It came out a few days ago, but I can't find where to purchase it. Not on PCPartPicker, not on the Nvidia website.

36db?!?
Man fuck that Noise o.O
I'd replae these fans with either noctua or or something else that you can get at around 10db, as long as they still have a good enough ammount of m³ air moved per hour . .

Also:
I don't think anybody has the car for sale as of yet, i can't find one either.
notice how i said you might want to go for this if you can wait a bit?

Well, it's not 36db. It's 9-36db. I'm just wondering how much do coolers sit at the bottom of the range. Like, what's the median amount of noise?

If you can point me to an air or liquid cooler that's compatible with that case -- and I'm not budging on the case -- that's quieter and isn't more than 60 USD I'm game, though.

EDIT: Should I buy extension SATA cables ahead of time, do you think? 'Your wires look messy' 'lol I know but I couldn't get them to fit through the back' is a conversation I hear like all of the fucking time.

So. This series of graphics cards. The Zotac GeForce GTX 970 4GB Video Card

I've been trying to do a bit of research on this part and other parts in its family... and... it turns out that the GTX 9** series has a problem with Coil Whine

This is a pretty huge disappointment. Can anyone recommend a graphic card series without this problem?

that was one of the reasons why i went for a case without window. i can't be arsed to do propper cabling anymore and like this nobody can see it ^^
What do you mean with SATA Extionsion cables? Usually the SATA-Data-Cable is not the problem, because the distance from the motherboard to whatever you are connection isn't that big . . the power cables are usually the point where you want to try and simply pull, despite knowing that you could ruin hundreds of dollars worth of hardware by doing that . .

As for the 9xx series . .
Do remember, that there is no real 9xx series.
The 980 and 960 use a different chip from the 970 series, which basically uses the same chip the 7xx series used already.
Coin whine is . . eh, usually only a problem if you can manage to game in a very quiet environment.
Which usually lasts untill the active cooling tries to dissipate the heat generated while gaming anyway . . and it's purely bad luck to get one with that and do you know wether or not you would actually notice that noise?

I want to run shit through the back of the case. Like in these two pictures That's one of the reasons why I liked the space-age case I put in that part-picker list, because there's space between the outside side panel and the inside back panel to run wires. However, I'm also worried that the cables to my BD player (yes, I broke down and selected one, shut up ), SSD and HD are not going to be long enough to be able to be weaved that way without an extension cable for SATAIII and whatever the HD uses. I may still get an LED controller to make my computer look like a lightswitch rave party, but the case I picked out already has a blue LED in it so it probably won't be necessary. I've never built a computer before, s'why I thought I'd ask you guys.

Also, WRT coil whine... this sure as hell doesn't sound quiet and ignorable to me. I know it's on a testbench and not inside an actual case, but still, fuck.

EDIT: I found a motherboard that did everything that was suggested in the partpicker link EXCEPT for SLI support. And here it is. Obviously, I am not going to buy a new video card right away since I doubt that one that matches the chipset I plan to use for the video card I do want to use is going to be available anytime soon. However, I am wondering if it's a good deal for me to just hang onto it so that like from 18-24 months from now I could just buy two new video cards and use that shit. Or would I just be better off grabbing a new motherboard at that time, too?

motherboards usually do not age as much as gpu/cpu . .
but 24 months is still 2 years, and in 2 years, much can happen.
see USB 3.1 right now.

as i said, the sata data cable from board to drive will probably not be the problem as much as the power cables will be i think. you can get 1m long sata cables i think, and i don't know about sata extension cords . . never seen one before O.o

as for the whine . . yes, that is worse than i had thought it would be . .

All rightee then. I'm going with http://pcpartpicker.com/p/H3rhxr tomorrow evening unless someone stops me or suggests something different. In 18-24 months I'll just grab a new motherboard with SLI and another 4GB video card (or two new ones if they're cheaper, are substantially more powerful, and/or I'm dissatisfied with the GTX970) if I need to. And I'll just take a risk with the coil whine.

sounds like a plan.
any reason for the wifi card?

And i just now found orderable GTX960 with 4 gigs of VRAM.
If i did not have this kinda newish and expensive 780TI, i might have gone for that my self <.<

Oh? Show me, Stahlsteele. I might end up returning my GTX970 video card.

Appearantly not in the US of A yet.
Over here i can find several o.O

You might need a bigger power-supply for the second videocard, too, and might want to go with something higher rated if you're valuable parts (the video cards) on it. That's a might, though. You might squeak by with the 600w Bronze...I personally wouldn't bother trying when 35$ more can get you the EVGA 750W Gold or the Corsair RM750 Gold.

Otherwise looks great.