Next build

[yaiie]

Hello everyone,

I've been piecing together my next build. My last rig was really good to me I haven't kept up with the newer tech. My last pc was a I5 3570k with 8gb ram and an EVGA SC 780.

I was getting less then stellar performance on the one game that mattered (SWTOR.) Everything else it owned... With ease! Strange : /

Initially I had a OC 7970... After installing my 780 (per benchmarks) my performance went up about 30%!!! I was excited. I log into SWTOR, hop into a raid... To my dismay my FPS was exactly the same! 16 man raid... In the heat of battle fps = low 20's. (At best.)

This time around i'm going with the I7. For the GPU I was thinking R9 290x. From what i've read (stock) it out performs the 780 and it's 200 bucks less! The price for the 290x is killer... Especially since it was around 600 bucks nearly a year ago.

I'm going to double the ram to 16...

750 PSU... Should that be enough head way? The 290x is a power hog? How can you determine the amount of juice you need to run your pc? Would it be looking up the max wattage / draw for each of your components?


Thank you!

 

[EarthDog]

Id rather have a 970/980 but the price on the 290x you can't beat. 290x just uses double the power of a 970.

That psu is the best for the money so you are set there.

If you are mildly overclocking, there is no need for a $100 air cooler (there are better that cost less too). Grab a 212 evo for mild overclocks to the low to mid 4ghz range.

8gb ram is fine for gaming...I'd rather go 8gb and 970/980 than 16gb and 290x personally.

 

[yaiie]

I'm just curious why the 970 over the 290x?

The performance seems neck and neck?

Since the 290x is a bit older wouldnt the drivers be more refined?

Thank you!

 

[EarthDog]

I just said why...half the power use and heat to dissipate. I also find nvidia's driver's to generally be better. But either is an acceptable choice.

 

[bob4933]

290x and 970 are around the same cost anyway, so you should definitely get the 970 honestly.

And with that rig, even with a 290x, youd be fine with a 500w psu. But as ED mentioned, the supernovas are extremely well regarded and made. With a 970 you probably only need 300w or somewhere around there.


That said, you can certainly get 16gb for less than 140, the prices vacillate too much to suggest a single kit in particular, but they come closer to 120$ frequently. You can step down the motherboard quite a bit honestly, save yourself 50$ there. An Nh-D14 outperforms the v8 and is cheaper too, theres another 15-20$. Drop down to a seasonic m12ii or s12ii (whether or not you care about modular or not) theres another 30-50$. Take some of that savings, get a larger SSD (you can get double the storage for not a whole lot more money anyway); grab some high quality fans and a fan controller, and pocket the rest.

FWIW, the seasonic m12/s12 has a 9.7 on jonnyguru. You really don't need the supernova for that rig. 620 watts is enough to sli 3 970's with that CPU.