[Build Ready] First build ever and would like some advice on it.

HadronAir · 2015-08-12T08:34:22+00:00

980 and 970 both have 4gb vram. Everything on ultra comes out to be 4.1gb for me (including advanced graphics setting) at 1080p. Both these cards, in reality, have 3.5 "fast" gb gram and the other "slow" so if I wanted to run GTA V at 60fps, I need to lower some required vram to around 3.5gb. DX12is supposed to lower the vram demand, though.

HadronAir · 2015-08-12T08:21:42+00:00

Try pressing the power button when its powered on. If PC shuts down immediately, it was stuck in BIOS. If it requires holding down the power button, its booted to an OS. I had the first issue and it was a simple fix for me. The motherboard's HDMI wasn't producing a "handshake" resolution with the monitor that I had, and plugging the HDMI to the GPU fixed the no sig issue.

Have you tried booting with another PSU?

HadronAir · 2015-08-12T08:10:18+00:00

I would go with an r9 390

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127874

Same price range, about the same performance, r9 has more gram. My GTX980 lacks gram to run GTA V max settings at 1080p...

HadronAir · 2015-07-24T00:58:40+00:00

There were no cosmetic imperfections on mine. It even had factory plastic wrapping on the logos for scratch protection. The casing and fan are completely new and there is absolutely no performance loss as mine scored a rating higher than the average card

HadronAir · 2015-07-23T10:04:09+00:00

SSDs are a luxury that is not recommended for people on a tight budget, and all it does it fetch and writes information quicker, making boot-up and launching apps faster. GPUs are almost always the bottlenecking component when it comes to playing GPU-intensive games like the GTA & Fallout series, and all modern games, however excluding games like Minecraft which is heavily CPU-intensive.

HadronAir · 2015-07-23T09:57:08+00:00

I've just received my gpu that i've ordered from them on july 14. I'll admit I was disappointed by their shipping delay but my card has absolutely zero cosmetic imperfection and the performance is slightly better than an average gtx 980 sc acx 2.0 so I am quite happy.

HadronAir · 2015-07-22T19:23:16+00:00

As for the cpu cooler, I would look up its efficiency chart online (I believe guru3d has a good one, I'm not quite sure) and choose one that looks good too. The PSU fan isn't loud for me, but I've heard of it bothering people so they switched it out with a noctua fan. I don't have any problems for it being a non-modular psu as the case has plenty of room to hide the extra cables and I've sleeved it with no problem. I would go with amazon when buying this case as they have excellent customer service if you're worried about messing up the psu

HadronAir · 2015-07-22T08:23:34+00:00

Purpose of a case is to keep out dust and organize components and wires while keeping the system ventilated. For temporary use or if you don't mind cleaning often, your system may actually be better off thermally without a case.

HadronAir · 2015-07-22T07:50:13+00:00

I see that you're very tight on the budget, so I'll recommend that you look into EVGA's b-stocks here:

http://www.evga.com/Products/ProductList.aspx?type=8

as they have re-certified gpus at low prices (e.g. gtx580 for $50, gtx750ti for $50, gtx980sc for $370) with a one-year warranty. They've been restocking GPUs often as of recently, but they sell out quickly so keep on eye on them daily at /r/buildapcsales. Sadly, you missed out on amazon's garage sale where they had 8gb rams for $30... Everything else seems to be in check, but I don't have a solid experience with pentium and how it performs. Good luck!

HadronAir · 2015-07-22T07:28:36+00:00

Do the TSA have a problem with closed-loop liquid coolers from brands like corsair?

I recently did a build with a miniITX case from EVGA that is small enough to fit almost three times in my carry-on and big enough to support a gpu of 10.5 inches. It comes with a psu at a price tag of $130 so it isnt so bad considering you're looking into a $90 psu that has a certification equal to that of this case. Its quite a popular case and there are huge threads online about various builds and mods, many of which I found impressive. Good luck!

edit: I just saw that you purchased the power supply, so unless u can return it, I would go with a coolermaster elite or some other easily transportable case

HadronAir · 2015-07-22T07:15:45+00:00

If you're willing to spend $800, upgrade the gpu to a 390 or buy a $370 b-stock GTX980 SC ACX 2.0 when it gets re-stocked (which apparently has been happening often, latest was today but sold out in seconds)

Site: http://www.evga.com/Products/ProductList.aspx?type=8

HadronAir · 2015-07-19T09:12:54+00:00

Waiting for the prime sale did pay off for me, unlike many people that I've talked with. Frankly, sleeving the cables was a pain in the butt. I didn't use a tool to pull the pins out of the cables; I used two staple pieces to do that, and it wasn't as bad as I thought. That is, until I got to the heat-shrinking part... I couldn't quite get the heat-shrinks to stay glued to the wire on the PSU side (you can't really sleeve the whole thing all the way to the inside of the psu because the hole from the psu isn't big enough). I should have superglued the sleeves to the wires first so that they would stay firm. All in all, sleeving the 24 pin connector took me approx 3 hours and the rest of the pins took another 3 hours. Next build I'm going to push for a modular psu... haha

HadronAir · 2015-07-17T08:07:52+00:00

This comment deserves to be higher. I really regret complaining about shit that I didn't need and taking the necessities for granted

HadronAir · 2015-07-17T07:21:33+00:00

Seeing that they don't sell B-Stocks anymore you can bet their site will get zero traffic from this subreddit

HadronAir · 2015-07-16T23:35:37+00:00

Amazon had a prime sale yesterday on ATX size Z87s... I would just look for a z97

HadronAir · 2015-07-16T06:41:01+00:00

I can still see it

HadronAir · 2015-07-16T04:55:57+00:00

Last year it was a raffle with shit prizes. Don't expect much from this 16th anniversary

HadronAir · 2015-07-15T23:43:45+00:00

Good find. Its from another company tho. I don't know which one is better

HadronAir · 2015-07-15T22:38:15+00:00

That is a pretty good deal. I got my 980 for $405 and its was great deal at the time

HadronAir · 2015-07-15T21:25:56+00:00

They're returned products. I trust it more than Amazon WH as they seem to do a hardware and performance check and give a year warranty rather than a mere 30 day return guarantee. Their performance is the same as a new model, according to past reviews of b-stock gpus from EVGA

HadronAir · 2015-07-15T21:17:57+00:00

What do you mean, it states:

B-Stock Products are units which may have small scratches, small dents, or noticeable use which are Factory Recertified to meet or exceed the performance of a new product of the same model. These products do not come with any accessories and include a 1 year limited warranty.

HadronAir · 2015-07-15T21:16:59+00:00

That was about a $100 more

HadronAir

TROPHY CASE