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(Help) My First Upgrades For My First PC...


H37

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So... in about a month I will have my first salaried job with a generous weekly paycheck and I would like to make a considerable upgrade to my gaming PC! But first I need some input from you guys... So I'm just gonna share the upgrades that I was considering, and let you guys nudge me in the right direction. As far as budget goes, I have next to no debt and minimal living expenses which means, I should be able to swing $700-900 for this initial upgrade... (Not including a seperate budget for upgrading my monitor) That being said I'd still like the most bang for my buck. Any help you guys can give me would be much appreciated!

 

Also... (as mentioned above) I plan on upgrading my monitor... But I have some pretty in depth questions regarding:

- AMD's Project "Free Sync" vs Nvidia's "G-Sync"...

- Various desktop resolutions...

- Multi-monitor setups...

- Connection types...

- And anything else I can think of...

 

Which is why I plan on posting all that in a seperate thread and I'll add/edit the link HERE, once it is posted... Thanks!

 

Firstly, I suppose I should go over my current build:

--------------------

-Mobo: GA-Z79X LGA 1150

-CPU: i5-4670K @ 3.4GHz

-GPU: R9 280x Overclocked Edition

-RAM: G.SKILL 16GB DDR3 1600

-SSD: OCZ 240GB

-HDD: Seagate 500GB (I simply pulled it out of an old laptop for a temporary storage solution.)

-PSU: Corsair CX 750w

-CD/DVD: Asus 24X DVD Burner

-Wireless: Asus PCE-N15 Adapter

-Soundcard: Asus Xonar DX 7.1 Channel

--------------------

 

And that is basically what I'm working with at the moment.

So... I suppose I will just post the upgrades I'm currently considering based on there priority.

 

--------------------

1. SSD: OCZ 240GB and Dual SSD Mounting Kit

(To match my existing SSD, so I can run them in a RAID-0 configuration for booting my OS and gaming.)

 

2. Heatsink: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO

(So I can finally OC... Also some new thermal paste and I'll of course need some thermal material remover.)

 

3. GPU: R9 280x Overclocked Edition

(Yes, I plan on getting a second R9 280x to run in Crossfire so I can hit my FPS goals while gaming in 1080p or higher.)

 

4. HDD: 2TB Seagate Barracuda 7200RPM

(This will replace my 500GB laptop HDD for storing various media, some lesser played games, etc...)

 

5. Fans: 2x COUGAR Vortex Case Fans

(A nice match for my COUGAR Volant case... and should provide adequate cooling.)

 

6. Disc Drive: Pioneer 16x Blu-Ray Disk Burner

(My main goal is to shoot for a Blu-Ray burner that is silent/read and quiet-ish/write... Any reccomendations?)

--------------------

 

This list so far puts me at about $700 which is well within my current budget... If you could just let me know what you guys think.

1. Are my priorities in the right place?

2. Are there any upgrades I overlooked that didnt make the list?

3. And/or are there any alternative brands/models/etc.. For any of the products on this list that I should consider?

 

I would like to sincerely thank you guys for any input I recieve on the subject... The forums here have been an invaluable resource for advice so far... As a matter of fact I owe my current build to user dragonsdontfly... Thanks buddy for helping me build my first rig. Anyways thats all I've got at the moment. -H37

Edited by H37

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Ok SSD in raid is not as good as it sounds,

 

you can get a 500GB crucial mx100 for like 200$ is a better option. 

 

also, if this is for video games, go with AMD and save some cash my friend

then use that extra cash on a korean monitor off ebay

 

Dont buy the sound card, first use the onboard audio and see if you like it

play around with the oem sound application, dolby or whatever and it may have some good equalizer mixing

the biggest improvement to sound would be a nice set of headphones like AD900X

 

i would not get an overclocked GPU, either 270 or 280 might be more efficient 

Edited by potatochobit

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"Dont buy the sound card, first use the onboard audio and see if you like it

play around with the oem sound application, dolby or whatever and it may have some good equalizer mixing

the biggest improvement to sound would be a nice set of headphones like AD900X"

Yea I already made the sound card mistake... I SHOULD have invested the money elsewhere but I was an idiot at the time. See that first list is my current build... The second list is upgrades I am looking to make.

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Ok SSD in raid is not as good as it sounds

 

Hmmm... THIS article on tomshardware says otherwise (as far as read/write speeds go) unless I am not understanding you correctly.

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I have to agree with Potato, ssd's in raid look great when benching but in real world apps you probably won't see a difference, except if it corrupts and then you lose all your data on both drives, even the article states this, you are better off going with one larger ssd. JMHO! :no:

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I have to agree with Potato, ssd's in raid look great when benching but in real world apps you probably won't see a difference, except if it corrupts and then you lose all your data on both drives, even the article states this, you are better off going with one larger ssd. JMHO! :no:

Thanks for clearing that up for me! :)

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SSD's in RAID 0 have not been a problem for me. My two main computers have had two SSD's in RAID 0 for well over 2 years with no problems. I do weekly automated backups on them to my server, so it's not an issue if they do happen to crap out for some reason. They also only house the OS and software, not any data like Pictures, Movies, Documents, Music, etc. Those go to a HDD array and also on my server for backups.

 

Point being, SSD's in RAID 0 are reliable. TRIM is now also supported, so there's no reason not to put SSD's in RAID, as long as you know what you're getting yourself into and being prepared for the eventual possibility of it crapping out.

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Looks fairly well assembled... I'd maybe go for a best single card you can afford, though the 280X shouldn't really have any issues at 1080P. My "280x" is doing just fine at "1200p". Maybe a 290X or 780Ti...of if you wanna save some but still have a decent amount more performance a 780 or 290 would be good too.

 

I agree with the others, just get a larger SSD if you're finding that you're running out of space. Raids are nicer on paper than real life benefits (unless you *needed* the sustained/sequential speed bumps).

 

For your storage drive, I dare raise you this 3TB for cheaper! http://www.frys.com/product/7725758

 

As for bluray burners for desktops....I haven't gone there yet, if I ever will. I got one for my laptop but only for the versatility and obviously that won't help ya with your question.

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Looks fairly well assembled... I'd maybe go for a best single card you can afford, though the 280X shouldn't really have any issues at 1080P. My "280x" is doing just fine at "1200p". Maybe a 290X or 780Ti...of if you wanna save some but still have a decent amount more performance a 780 or 290 would be good too.

 

I agree with the others, just get a larger SSD if you're finding that you're running out of space. Raids are nicer on paper than real life benefits (unless you *needed* the sustained/sequential speed bumps).

 

For your storage drive, I dare raise you this 3TB for cheaper! http://www.frys.com/product/7725758

 

As for bluray burners for desktops....I haven't gone there yet, if I ever will. I got one for my laptop but only for the versatility and obviously that won't help ya with your question.

So... After looking your post over I reassessed my budget and GPU situation...

 

I myself have always wanted a nvidia gpu (for the G-sync/TXAA/3D/Phys-X/GPU Boost support, GeForce Experience, etc...) but at the time I went with that 280x due to budget constraints. But ive decided I'll probly just sell my 280x used and possibly SLI two of these EVGA GTX 770's... I'm figuring two 4gb cards will support just about any single/multi monitor setup I choose to go with and will hold me over until my next GPU upgrade which is set for late 2016 when the 20nm cards are out.

 

I've also decided to go with a 500gb (840 EVO) SSD, as a second SSD for soley for games, while keeping my current OCZ 240GB SSD as my boot drive and for installing applications.

 

Anyways, this puts me at just under $1,200 but honestly with the money I'll be making pretty soon that is more than managable and wont affect my monitor budget (plus I have the option of getting a G-sync monitor!)... Besides I have a friend who will buy my 280x for about $200-220.

 

But my question is... I know you said just go with a single higher end card but if I SLI two of these 770's which combined cost $780... Wouldnt that be faster/stronger  than a single $800 GTX 780Ti or even a $1000 GTX TITAN BLACK? Thanks for the feedback so far!!!

Edited by H37

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I merely say single card because of less hassle and you'll have a further upgrade path should you need it.

 

As for a 512GB SSD and 240GB in complimentary tandem...it's a little silly to be honest. Do you really need 512GB of games installed all the time? I usually play 1 MAYBE 2 games at a time and I'm no where near full on my 240GB drive with many other applications installed. So I personally say just save the money and put it to a larger platter drive which can have the game INSTALLERS on tap to place them on your main SSD as you need to and uninstall the others you aren't playing at the time.

 

That extra money could be spent on getting the best graphics card you can or you could get a very good card that still has a good value to it (I've found 2nd or third best cards to fit this slot) like a 780 (not Ti) or 290 (non X)

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