gaming computer

[wolfsSpirit]

Until now extremely satisfied with it:
Only annoyance is i can put max 32GB on board , wich i forgot to check since i wanted to use ramdrive , oh well..

CPU - i7 4770k Haswell s1150
Cooling - Corsair Hydro H80i
Motherboard- MSI Z87-GD65 Gaming
Memory - Corsair Vengeance 1866-16GB
Case - Corsair Carbide 400R
PSU - Corsair CS750M modular
GPU - MSI Radeon R9 270X Gaming,4GB

SSD - 160Gb INTEL SSDSA2M160G2GC
HD - 2TB WD WD20EARX-00ZUDB0
Conrad USB3.0 Ide&Sata converter (connect and use any HD/DVD/SSD extern without rebooting) beats buying extern more expensive drives lol

Looking for a good HD-TV to replace my old samsung 1680x1050 monitor still
Need to add 16 Gig more memory for ramdrive
Nee too add a soundcard , the onboard Sound blaster cinema is terrible
Need to replace the SSD as this is a 300 one and not a 600 , the SSD is the bottleneck right now in my system.
Looking at Msata 1tb drive since i have 1 Msata onboard connector

[Jonj1611]

Out of interest what do you plan to use the ramdrive for? In this instance if your using it from ram you know anything stored in it will be deleted as soon as the pc is turned off?

[kalniel]

I wouldn't go for that PSU - it's not a great one and the wattage is way more than you need. Better to go for a higher quality one with a more realistic wattage for your requirements - Seasonic gold or XFX pro 450W etc. for example.

Likewise you could save some money on the GPU by getting the 2GB version - 4GB is of no benefit for gaming.

Soundcard wise, it depends what your speaker system/headphones are. If you've got an amp with a good DAC then it's less important, just pick one with the right dolby coding for the number of channels via DTS etc. If using headphones then pick one with a good amplifier (or use an external amp). I'm a fan of the Asus Xonar range, the budget ones punch above their weight while the premium ones have great amps for headphones.

You say you're limited by the 3gbps SSD? What application is it limiting you in? For gaming I wouldn't have thought it would be, nor can I see how a RAMDRIVE would do much.

[wolfsSpirit]

Actualy it's not wasted , in the ramdrive program i use ( and is delivered for free by MSI with the mainboard) it autobacks up on a time i set(or not at all if i wish to) , also writes the ram to disk when rebooting or shutting down.
so incase of a power faillure or reboot i start where i left off.
Also it's 100 times faster as SSD and i will using it for programs(or games) that need a lot reading and writing , since i do not use my SSD for gaming , it has my OS on it.
Also i can switch between ramdrives , ramdrives are stored like an (DVD)ISO , so i can make unlimited copies and load those i want to use at that moment.

[kalniel]

Also it's 100 times faster as SSD and i will using it for programs(or games) that need a lot reading and writing , since i do not use my SSD for gaming , it has my OS on it.

Well the point is that if an SSD is already fast enough that the bottleneck is no longer IO then increasing the IO further won't have any significant effect. Games already hardly benefit from an SSD, so using a RAMDisk won't be of any benefit.

Any program that intensively read/writes should be buffering via RAM already, so taking a chunk of available RAM and using it as a RAMdisk doesn't gain you anything.

[wolfsSpirit]

Well the system is already build 2 months ago, only the wishes below of my post i am still looking into.
First of all the 2gb version of the videocard was not available and came out months after the 4gb version( i see in my country most still do not sell the 2gb version)
2nd i do use the vram , for instance skyrim has use for higher vram when you modding and using extreme high textures , it means more loading in vram and less problems , this was throughly tested and so has advantages , next 4gb cost only like 15-20 bucks more , so why would i not buy it .
The PSU is meant to be a little more for future expansions , calculating what my system right now would use if pushed to the max , i should need at least 600W anyway.
The soundcard giving me headaches , i remember the AWE 32 long ago , was the best card ever , after that i never seen any card with good sound quality.. so i am not sure what to buy for both music and gaming .. maybe i should indeed focus first on a good 5.1 speaker set and later for a card

I didnt mean i my system gets throttled because of the 3gb SSD , but tests revealed that at the moment it's the slowest piece in my system and should be upgraded later.. not in a hurry with it as it works good , but it's an older SSD and those have a limited life expectancy , unlike the newer SSD's
For gaming i use the 2TB Western digital drive , i am thinking add a sata drive for gaming later ,but it's not realy a must , games aren't slow at all , not with loading either

[wolfsSpirit]

I have been using ramdisks since 1986 and have always found good use for it and been happy with it.
I agree in new computers they may be of less use as speeds increased a lot.
But i guess it's just me , i just want to use one , if even for temp folders for websites and stuff to lessen the writing to my SSD.
I still don't feel comfy with the newer SSD's and their life expectancy that are considerably less as an old HD.
I have always been messing with any possabilities on computers since my 1st build long ago and love it , so even if noone sees the advantage on anything i do to my computer .. i do and find it fun to do so

[kalniel]

Well the system is already build 2 months ago, only the wishes below of my post i am still looking into.
First of all the 2gb version of the videocard was not available and came out months after the 4gb version( i see in my country most still do not sell the 2gb version)
2nd i do use the vram , for instance skyrim has use for higher vram when you modding and using extreme high textures , it means more loading in vram and less problems , this was throughly tested and so has advantages , next 4gb cost only like 15-20 bucks more , so why would i not buy it .
The PSU is meant to be a little more for future expansions , calculating what my system right now would use if pushed to the max , i should need at least 600W anyway.
The soundcard giving me headaches , i remember the AWE 32 long ago , was the best card ever , after that i never seen any card with good sound quality.. so i am not sure what to buy for both music and gaming .. maybe i should indeed focus first on a good 5.1 speaker set and later for a card

I didnt mean i my system gets throttled because of the 3gb SSD , but tests revealed that at the moment it's the slowest piece in my system and should be upgraded later.. not in a hurry with it as it works good , but it's an older SSD and those have a limited life expectancy , unlike the newer SSD's
For gaming i use the 2TB Western digital drive , i am thinking add a sata drive for gaming later ,but it's not realy a must , games aren't slow at all , not with loading either

Ah apologies, thought you were asking us to review the build.

Your calculation of what power your system needs is well out - how did you get to that figure? (Please don't say an online PSU calculator!). Future expansions are fair enough if you're talking upgrading to three GPUs or so

For music and gaming the Asus cards are great - alternatively think about upgrading your GPU to one of the AMD ones with realAudio - it's about the first hardware accelerated sound we'll have had for years. Otherwise it's mostly software for games and there's not a huge difference between cards other than how good their drivers are.

You'll always have something on your system that's the slowest! What tests did you do and are they relevant to how you use your computer? It's easy to go down the route of benchmark chasing, but luckily here at Hexus we're good at looking at real world benefits

[wolfsSpirit]

Actualy on different reviews for R9 270x cards .. wich seems to drain 300-350W on full .. well that's what i found , so i figured a 750W would do the job easely and i could add a 2nd one later without having to worry about getting a new PSU (again).
Actualy it's not realy fair about the SSD being the slowest ,because it's still very fast, but it does score low in my system compared to the other hardware , ofc i been checking around on tomshardware andtech and other sites.
I got this SSD for free from a friend who bought as bigger one.

I do would love some tips on the wishlist . like the HD-TV , because it's extremely difficult to find any info on PC's connected to TV's online.
And if Msata is better as Sata

[kompukare]

Actualy on different reviews for R9 270x cards .. wich seems to drain 300-350W on full .. well that's what i found , so i figured a 750W would do the job easely and i could add a 2nd one later without having to worry about getting a new PSU (again).

300W-350W at the wall (so for a 80% efficient PSU that's 240W-280W), for the whole system. And seeing how a lot of sites like test with a top of the range CPU that could be LGA2011 which can easily draw twice as much as LGA1150 (125W CPU plus the LGA2011 boards tend to consume more: VRMs generate their heat from somewhere.

R9-270X is a 135W card maybe a bit more for the 4GB version.

[wolfsSpirit]

So i overpowered my system .. oh well.. but still rather too much as too few power eh
And actualy i decided to get a sligthly stronger PSU beause of my old build (q6600 cpu 2.4ghz, core2quad mainboard and a heavely OC'd hd3850 AGP , that kept rebooting due to PSU not enough power and that was a 400W psu
I decided to be sure and take a 750 above a 5-600W.
those tech sites should realy be realistic then instead of having those rediculous reviews on poweruse that most people i guess never get to use in real life.

[kalniel]

those tech sites should realy be realistic then instead of having those rediculous reviews on poweruse that most people i guess never get to use in real life.

Anandtech whole system gaming peak: 276W
http://www.anandtech.com/show/7503/t...at-asus-his/16

Hexus whole system gaming peak: 183W
http://hexus.net/tech/reviews/graphi...-260x/?page=11

Tomshardware card only gaming : 124W
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/radeon...-32796-18.html

I think 'those tech sites' are being pretty fair - which ridiculous ones have you seen?

The reason we bang on about overspec'd PSUs is that you decrease efficiency by buying a much more powerful PSU than you need, so increase wasted electricity, heat etc.

But as you now say, it's already bought, so don't worry about it

[wolfsSpirit]

yeah i wont be replacing it , i bought a 500W that had a shortage on connections , so i had to buy a modular one.. and i ain't gonna realy buy a 3th one just because my PSU is overpowered haha
Anyhow thanks for all the replies , i realy appreciate it.

You know 20 years ago building computers was easy.. you only had so much choice and a lot less confusement , next to that internet barely existed.
Today it's a jungle out there.. everyone making their own piece of hard and software , at times it's realy confusing to find what you want and even tho i build already for a long time , i get sometimes crazy about the many differences of hardware that is offered.

[kalniel]

Ok so lets look at what you're asking for help with

1) A monitor/TV
2) More RAM
3) Sound card
4) Bigger SSD

1) What are your requirements for this? Is it a large monitor for photoshop etc. work, or a TV for use with consoles that you also want to use for the PC? In general I'd stick to monitors for PC gaming, but if you're designing a living room-based system it's a little different.

2) If you need the ram (you don't IMHO) then just get more of the same if you're happy with what you've got already. You don't specify what density you have so I can't tell if you have free slots or not.

3) As mentioned before, you need to think about what's producing the sound as well. The Xonar DSX is a great value card for most uses.

4) Bigger SSD - more capacity makes sense, then you can use it for games as well as OS etc. Crucial 550 would be my top choice, something like:
http://www.ebuyer.com/629712-crucial...ct1024m550ssd1

I wouldn't waste the money on mSATA unless you literally had no more sata ports left, but even then I'd get an expansion card rather.

[MrJim]

Looking for a good HD-TV to replace my old samsung 1680x1050 monitor still
Need to add 16 Gig more memory for ramdrive
Nee too add a soundcard , the onboard Sound blaster cinema is terrible
Need to replace the SSD as this is a 300 one and not a 600 , the SSD is the bottleneck right now in my system.
Looking at Msata 1tb drive since i have 1 Msata onboard connector

Do you use your PC in your living room or at a desk? TVs don't tend to make good monitors, unless you're wanting to use it in a living room (as a gaming system or HTPC, for example). If you're definitely after a TV, I'd take a look at some of the recent Samsung models - I have a 40" 1080p set I bought a couple of years ago, & the black level & colour accuracy is excellent.

I'm not certain that the extra 16Gb of RAM is really going to be useful in your system over & above an SSD, but that's for you to decide

Is the audio from the on-board Soundblaster system really that bad? What are you listening to it with? I know a lot of software that comes with audio cards can add certain 'effects' by default - have you tried turning all of those off? If you're set on adding another sound card, I'd recommend the Asus ones, as they have a good reputation, & seem to suffer fewer driver issues than Creative sound cards.

Which SSD do you have at the moment? Although a SATA 3 SSD will be faster on paper, in actual use I'd be surprised if most people would notice the difference between a SATA2 & a SATA3 drive. You still get the responsiveness from a SATA 2 SSD, which is the main advantage, for me at least. How full is your current SSD? If you're after a 1Tb MSATA SSD, I think you're options are limited to the Crucial M500 or Samsung 940 EVO, at the moment - you'll also pay a bit more than an equivalent 2.5" version, however.

[wolfsSpirit]

I am looking at at least an 35 inch , the reason for this is my eyes realy got bad last couple of years due to age.. not playing , so now i am wearing glasses and sitting too close to the screen already (i'm talking 20-30 inch of my 20 inch monitor) , so i want sometihng that i can place away a couple of feet so i won't be sitting too close to it anymore and still will be able to see it all.

It will be used for gaming & browsing and watching video from my pc , basicaly for everything , and there comes the problem... not ever HD TV is right for gaming and if they are they may not be good for browsing due to font problem on large screens.
i expect no problems with watching videos.
Wich is why i wonder if anyone has experience with it.

i have 2x8 gb .. 4 slots.. so no problem adding 2x8 more , i realy didnt have questions about that

i will look into the sound and soundproblems i have with this new board and decide to first replace my 5.1 speaker system , then i can always replace the soundcard when needed.

ok no worried about the Msata then.. i have 8 sata connections on board from wich 2x6gb , so unless an Msata has some very good advantages , i guess it may not be a good idea to place one.
Also i have never used crucial parts , i will have to look into reader reviews and experiences , i am a bit old school - bad experiences = never buy again , i swear by western digital for instance , but they don't make SSD as far as i know lol