PC Hardware | video settings | benchmarksPC

[BrandonW77]

Bying a computer today I would go for a custom one and build it myself. The lowest GFX card I would buy today would be a GTX970 or a R9-290. Both need a 500w-650 psu. It's really simple.

If I was not able to build my own I would by a system from Puget, Main gear.
A slightly modified build from this example would be a good computer:

http://www.maingear.com/boutique/pc/configurePrd.asp?idproduct=1993

Just add a better gfx card.

I'm really not interested in doing that, thanks though.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboBundleDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.1874276

One stop shopping. Add $100 for your choice of OS, maybe $20 for a keyboard and mouse if you need one.
If you watch all the videos of how to put it together twice it will take you 2 hrs to put it together yourself.

This gives you everything you get in the pre-fabs, but with a good 850W power supply and lots of room in the case.
Room to grow. To be able to upgrade video card, adding a sound card to run simvibe, this will keep you from having to replace your box in order to upgrade it.

To each their own though.

I've attempted just swapping out simple parts before and killed perfectly good computers in the process, so I'm not interested in assembling one myself. Nor am I interested in have multiple warranties from multiple manufactures to chase down if something goes wrong, nor hassling with all the different drivers for said parts.

EDIT: That one from newegg has the same 760 GPU? What's the difference other than the power supply? If the ones I listed won't play the game then this one won't either.

I find it hard to believe that a company is selling gaming computers that aren't capable of playing computer games, but that seems to be the case. I guess I'm stuck with craptastic GT6.


Thanks.

 

[CC570]

I'm really not interested in doing that, thanks though.




I've attempted just swapping out simple parts before and killed perfectly good computers in the process, so I'm not interested in assembling one myself. Nor am I interested in have multiple warranties from multiple manufactures to chase down if something goes wrong, nor hassling with all the different drivers for said parts.

EDIT: That one from newegg has the same 760 GPU? What's the difference other than the power supply? If the ones I listed won't play the game then this one won't either.

I find it hard to believe that a company is selling gaming computers that aren't capable of playing computer games, but that seems to be the case. I guess I'm stuck with craptastic GT6.


Thanks.

The computers you listed are fine and will work aces to play these games. The power supplies on the models from Fry's are really inadequate to support the hardware in the boxes and could become an issue if you are pushing the cpu and gpu hard at the same time. And you should be. If possible get a machine with a full size case, if for nothing else you'll get more efficient cooling. If possible get a machine without any preloaded software.
Again good luck.

 

[chromatic9]

That newegg combo doesn't come with Windows, and pretty sure it won't come assembled, its just a combo deal. I doubt the guy wants to install Windows and build a pc. The 850W PSU is overkill, so is the price at $160. CPU at $340 is very high too. The combo deal on saves $50 on parts you shouldn't be buying.

A GTX 760 will run on a 300W PSU, the card uses 150W max and the CPU is around 100W. It may not be of good quality and could limit upgrading but its going to work. I must note these prebuild and combos posted are poor value.

I'm really not interested in doing that, thanks though.
I've attempted just swapping out simple parts before and killed perfectly good computers in the process, so I'm not interested in assembling one myself. Nor am I interested in have multiple warranties from multiple manufactures to chase down if something goes wrong, nor hassling with all the different drivers for said parts.
EDIT: That one from newegg has the same 760 GPU? What's the difference other than the power supply? If the ones I listed won't play the game then this one won't either.
I find it hard to believe that a company is selling gaming computers that aren't capable of playing computer games, but that seems to be the case. I guess I'm stuck with craptastic GT6.
Thanks.

if you go to cyberpowerpc's own website you can configure your own pc, they build it and give you 3 year warranty and tech support.

this come to $1100 and comes with a GTX 970 and Windows 8.1. Power supply is very good quality, not some cheap generic one. GTX 970 is 80-100% better than a 760, in other words pretty much double the performance

please do not buy those poor prebuilds for $1100-1300

 

[BrandonW77]

That newegg combo doesn't come with Windows, and pretty sure it won't come assembled, its just a combo deal. I doubt the guy wants to install Windows and build a pc. The 850W PSU is overkill, so is the price at $160. CPU at $340 is very high too. The combo deal on saves $50 on parts you shouldn't be buying.

A GTX 760 will run on a 300W PSU, the card uses 150W max and the CPU is around 100W. It may not be of good quality and could limit upgrading but its going to work. I must note these prebuild and combos posted are poor value.


if you go to cyberpowerpc's own website you can configure your own pc, they build it and give you 3 year warranty and tech support.

this come to $1100 and comes with a GTX 970 and Windows 8.1. Power supply is very good quality, not some cheap generic one.

please do not buy those poor prebuilds for $1100-1300

I've seen that site, I just don't have full trust in it for some reason. And I'd still need another $200 to purchase an OS and have it installed (along with all the various drivers).

I think I've settled on this on. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...9375X1015946X04084e61d10a699949d8b8d0173c4317

 

[chromatic9]

I've seen that site, I just don't have full trust in it for some reason. And I'd still need another $200 to purchase an OS and have it installed (along with all the various drivers).

I think I've settled on this on. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883227576&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-na-_-na-_-na&cm_sp=&AID=10446076&PID=7103600&SID=skim39375X1015946X04084e61d10a699949d8b8d0173c4317

It comes with an OS, windows 8.1, you can select windows 7 if you want. Cyberpowerpc has been going for a long time.

Sorry I bothered, you don't seem to understand.

Anyway that latest one you link with the 770 is not bad (improvement on the others posted) but a 970 is still 50-60% better than a 770. the power supply is of average quality and has too much budget going to the i7 4790 but at least you have a powerful cpu I suppose.

ibuypower and cyberpower are similar, with cyberpower having better service and parts historically

 

[BrandonW77]

It comes with an OS, windows 8.1, you can select windows 7 if you want. Cyberpowerpc has been going for a long time.

Sorry I bothered, you don't seem to understand.

Anyway that latest one with the 770 is not bad but a 970 is still 50-60% better than a 770.

ibuypower and cyberpower are similar, with cyberpower having better service and parts historically

I don't understand, that's why I've come here for help. I tried asking for help other places too but the only responses I got was to build the biggest/baddest custom box with the 970. Similar responses here. But seeing as I only have 720p monitors I don't feel I need to go all out and build around the 970. The build I looked at on cyberpower did not have an OS, or at least not that I could see. I will give them another look. Thanks for your time.

 

[chromatic9]

I don't understand, that's why I've come here for help. I tried asking for help other places too but the only responses I got was to build the biggest/baddest custom box with the 970. Similar responses here. But seeing as I only have 720p monitors I don't feel I need to go all out and build around the 970. The build I looked at on cyberpower did not have an OS, or at least not that I could see. I will give them another look. Thanks for your time.

3x 720p screens is the same as 2x 1080p, 4 million pixels. A 970 or 290/290x is better equipped for multi monitors and new and future games. A 770 is not bad though, it will run 3 screens at certain settings. Just that you could do better. At least you won't be getting a 760 build.

Perhaps when you get used to your pc, you might swap in a new GPU when you need to. An i7 is pretty good for a while.

 

[BrandonW77]

3x 720p screens is the same as 2x 1080p, 4 million pixels. A 970 or 290/290x is better equipped for multi monitors and new and future games. A 770 is not bad though, it will run 3 screens at certain settings. Just that you could do better. At least you won't be getting a 760 build.

Perhaps when you get used to your pc, you might swap in a new GPU when you need to. An i7 is pretty good for a while.

On the CyberPower site, which "base" did you start with? I'm trying to put together a build on there but once I add the OS it's way over $1100.

Also, did you pick a single card motherboard or a double card?

 

[Wiz]

Have a look at this one - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883229626

 

[CC570]

3x 720p screens is the same as 2x 1080p, 4 million pixels.

2x1080p -4.2 million pixels >> 3x720p - 2.7 million pixels > 1x1080p -2.1 million pixels

 

[chromatic9]

On the CyberPower site, which "base" did you start with? I'm trying to put together a build on there but once I add the OS it's way over $1100.

Also, did you pick a single card motherboard or a double card?

I clicked on CyberPower i5 Z97 and chose the i5 4690k.

For an extra $12 you select the asrock extreme3 which suppprts two video cards, the pro4 doesn't support SLI. Are you saying you're going to add a second GPU one day? You best pick a suitable power supply if so.

 

[BrandonW77]

Have a look at this one - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883229626

That's perfect. One question, it only lists 1 VGA, 1 HDMI and 1 DVI output, so would it still be able to do triple monitors? My screens have HDMI and VGA inputs but I had planned on getting dvi-to-hdmi adapters and just running everything through hdmi.

I clicked on CyberPower i5 Z97 and chose the i5 4690k.

For an extra $12 you select the asrock extreme3 which suppprts two video cards, the pro4 doesn't support SLI. Are you saying you're going to add a second GPU one day? You best pick a suitable power supply if so.

It was recommended to me that for only $12 more it's a good idea to go ahead and get a motherboard that's capable of SLI now, even if I don't necessarily plan on ever adding another GPU. And yes, I know I need a bigger power supply if I ever decided to do that, but that's easy enough to add at a later date. One 970 should do me though, correct?

 

[chromatic9]

2x1080p -4.2 million pixels >> 3x720p - 2.7 million pixels > 1x1080p -2.1 million pixels

Yes I mean 3-4 million. 1x 1080p monitor is 2 million. Point was 3x 720p screens is still quite a lot to render.

 

[chromatic9]

That's perfect. One question, it only lists 1 VGA, 1 HDMI and 1 DVI output, so would it still be able to do triple monitors? My screens have HDMI and VGA inputs but I had planned on getting dvi-to-hdmi adapters and just running everything through hdmi.



It was recommended to me that for only $12 more it's a good idea to go ahead and get a motherboard that's capable of SLI now, even if I don't necessarily plan on ever adding another GPU. And yes, I know I need a bigger power supply if I ever decided to do that, but that's easy enough to add at a later date. One 970 should do me though, correct?

The ports listed are the motherboard, the 970 has two dvi, 1 hdmi, 1 display port.
The mobo does video output if no gpu is installed, there's a small gpu in most intel cpus. handy if your GPU is faulty.

The newegg cyberpower 970 build doesn't support 2 graphic cards by the way, other than that its pretty good setup.

Also changing a power supply is pretty much building a PC, everything connects to it and is probably what most struggle with. So we go from you not wanting to touch a pc to changing a power supply in a few posts.

970 or 290 is the best you can buy for this sort of money and can drive multi screen setup with good settings

 

[Wiz]

I still think you could do a little better by using the configurator on Cyberpowers website that Chromatic posted, but if you're looking for easy, the one I posted should be pretty good. It doesn't have the i7 like the others you posted, but the i5-4690K should handle any game you throw at it.

The only thing I don't see is what motherboard it has, so not sure if it's SLI capable or not.

 

[BrandonW77]

The ports listed are the motherboard, the 970 has two dvi, 1 hdmi, 1 display port.
The mobo does video output if no gpu is installed, there's a small gpu in most intel cpus. handy if your GPU is faulty.

The newegg cyberpower 970 build doesn't support 2 graphic cards by the way, other than that its pretty good setup.

Also changing a power supply is pretty much building a PC, everything connects to it and is probably what most struggle with. So we go from you not wanting to touch a pc to changing a power supply in a few posts.

970 or 290 is the best you can buy for this sort of money and can drive multi screen setup with good settings

I didn't realize the power supply was that difficult to change. I've changed them before and it was fairly easy, but that was on a basic computer. I don't think I need to worry about running two GPU's if I can get a box that already has a 970 in it.

Sorry, I'm learning this as I go and I'm learning that gaming PC's are a completely different creatures than the office PC's I'm used to.

 

[chromatic9]

I still think you could do a little better by using the configurator on Cyberpowers website that Chromatic posted, but if you're looking for easy, the one I posted should be pretty good. It doesn't have the i7 like the others you posted, but the i5-4690K should handle any game you throw at it.

The only thing I don't see is what motherboard it has, so not sure if it's SLI capable or not.

It's not SLI, only has 1 pcie 16x. Hence why its better to go to the site like you say.

Good find by you though, much better than others posted so far. It's my suggested build to an extent but in one click.

 

[chromatic9]

I didn't realize the power supply was that difficult to change. I've changed them before and it was fairly easy, but that was on a basic computer. I don't think I need to worry about running two GPU's if I can get a box that already has a 970 in it.

Sorry, I'm learning this as I go and I'm learning that gaming PC's are a completely different creatures than the office PC's I'm used to.

You may well be able to do it then and even build your own but you may need to familiarize yourself better and build your next one. PC are easier to build now than before, that's why people suggest to build your own but I can understand someone who wants the warranty and to never touch a PC or has no time to build one.

 

[Wiz]

It's not SLI, only has 1 pcie 16x.

Ah yes indeed. I didn't catch that while looking at the specs.

Your call BrandonW77 I think the one I posted would work pretty good for you, but the configurator could net you something better for around the same price and be a little more future proof.

No matter what I think you'll be happier in the long run that you bought something with the 970 instead of any of the 700 series posted so far.

 

[BrandonW77]

I just ordered the one from newegg with the 970. Thanks for your help guys, this has been a brain busting roller coaster but with your help I feel confident I've got the machine I wanted.

Stay tuned for questions on setting it up, though I'll post those in the appropriate thread.

 

[chromatic9]

Awesome. Hope it works out well for you.

 

[m00ndancer]

deleted

 

[20832]

Definitely saw a very good performance increase with my recently installed 660. Usually I was around 30fps on Medium - High settings with my old 6850, but now I'm looking at closer to 50 - 60fps on High - Ultra Settings with the 660. Of course when playing on Lake Louise, I'm closer to 30 - 40fps, which is still perfectly playable without stuttering. Yaaaay

 

[BrandonW77]

Do I need any special hardware/software to get the triple screens working or will the nVidia driver have everything I need to get the 970 working on all three displays?

 

[BrandonW77]

Well, I received the PC but at first there was no picture. Then there was a picture but it would eventually lock up and the picture would freeze or go out. Spoke with tech support a few times (they were helpful and easy to understand) and they think the video card is bad so it's getting shipped to the doctor today. A few times I was able to get a car on track in iRacing and it was great (driving around by myself). But once I'd leave the track and try to select a new car/track everything would lock up again. Got several warnings that the video card driver had crashed/recovered, tried reinstalling the driver but it made no difference. For the few minutes it would run it ran great, when I left the fps uncapped it was approaching 300fps on one screen. Probably gonna be a couple weeks before I get it back, hopefully they can get it sorted.

 

[Johnnypenso]

Well, I received the PC but at first there was no picture. Then there was a picture but it would eventually lock up and the picture would freeze or go out. Spoke with tech support a few times (they were helpful and easy to understand) and they think the video card is bad so it's getting shipped to the doctor today. A few times I was able to get a car on track in iRacing and it was great (driving around by myself). But once I'd leave the track and try to select a new car/track everything would lock up again. Got several warnings that the video card driver had crashed/recovered, tried reinstalling the driver but it made no difference. For the few minutes it would run it ran great, when I left the fps uncapped it was approaching 300fps on one screen. Probably gonna be a couple weeks before I get it back, hopefully they can get it sorted.

300 fps!!! Sorry to hear about your PC. I'm about to set mine up..hopefully I have better luck

 

[Cote Dazur]

Sending you luck.

 

[BrandonW77]

Yeah, it was quite a letdown. But tech support has been great so far, hopefully it's just a faulty video card and when they slap a new one in it will be good as new. It will be a while before I know, which sucks because now I've had a taste of the golden fruit and I want MOAR!!!!!

 

[chromatic9]

I share your disappointment. Should be worth the wait. I'll send a prayer to the PC Gods.

I've not had any faults with PCs except for things like a mouse going faulty and Logitech replaced it no problem.

 

[BrandonW77]

Yeah, it sucks. This is exactly why I wanted to buy from a brick/mortar store. Now my PC is on its way to California and who knows when I'll get it back. Oh well.