First build-$900 budget-almost complete

[Ratt]

Yea man. I did the "paperclip test", which basically just jumps power to the fan, and if the fan doesn't turn on it's shot. It failed that test, and as new PSU did fix it.

I could smell it failing about 30 minutes before it died

Happened to me with a Corsair CX550M. Then a Corsair RM650. Turns out two separate things happened. First, the power in my house was having brown-outs, which killed the first one. Second, the brown outs fried one of my sticks of RAM which killed the second one.

Ended up getting an EVGA SuperNOVA G2 650 watt PSU, and an APC Battery Backup with Automatic Voltage Regulator, and it hasn't happened again since. I'd recommend the investment in a Battery Backup similar to the one I got if you have any sort of power issues at your house, at all.

[FunFordCobra]

I also had a corsair 1200gold fail in 2 yrs. Gave me overclocking failures and blue screens. I also swapped to an evga. The 1300 bronze and all has been good.

[bcoop]

Bcoops story is very similar if I recall.

Not even close. That's not the only dumbassery you've posted on here over the years, either.

[Nash B.]

A+++++, would read again.

[Tx Redneck]

I'll add my $.02 to the psu thing, I've never had an Antec psu fail on me. Ive recommended them for years and have gotten flack for it. The deal is, you hav to research the model number of the psu you're looking into as every brand is made by a handful of makers and there are a few that are exemplary, hence why I suggest certain ones.

[Gasser64]

If you're pushing to a 1080p monitor for gaming, that build will be more than enough.

I really want that case, and I'm close to getting it.

The only thing stopping me is how lazy I am, and not wanting to move everything from one case to another.

Its a popular case right now. And I know that same laziness.

[Ratt]

I'll add my $.02 to the psu thing, I've never had an Antec psu fail on me. Ive recommended them for years and have gotten flack for it. The deal is, you hav to research the model number of the psu you're looking into as every brand is made by a handful of makers and there are a few that are exemplary, hence why I suggest certain ones.

I second every point you made. All manufacturers, including Antec, have good and bad power supplies. The underlying manufacturer is where you get the differences in price and feature-set. Pretty much all PSUs are re-branded from the original manufacturer. I went with the EVGA SuperNOVA G2 650W because of the reputation, reviews, and the underlying manufacturer: Super Flower. They make high quality PSUs, and EVGA just re-branded a 650W and sold it as their own.

The other primary manufacturer from the EVGA PSU lineup is Seasonic. Seasonic makes great high-end PSUs, mediocre mid-line PSUs, and shitty low-end PSUs, all of which have a range of wattage values, and a lot of companies re-brand and re-box them as something they aren't.

If you ever want to read good, in-depth reviews, this site is widely regarded as one of the best, most reliable, most accurate consumer computer parts review sites out there, today: http://www.jonnyguru.com/

[jdgregory84]

Random, but this being over a year old really makes me hate how quickly tech evolves from a money stand-point. For $900, you could build a pc WAY more powerful than this for $900. Maybe a tad bit more. 1080's can be had in the lower $400's. Then obviously the rest of the build.

[Ratt]

Random, but this being over a year old really makes me hate how quickly tech evolves from a money stand-point. For $900, you could build a pc WAY more powerful than this for $900. Maybe a tad bit more. 1080's can be had in the lower $400's. Then obviously the rest of the build.

At least now-a-days you can plan on it being on about a 1 year turn-around. between 5 and 10 years ago, they just released shit rapid-fire. Sometimes within 3 to 6 months apart.

[jdgregory84]

At least now-a-days you can plan on it being on about a 1 year turn-around. between 5 and 10 years ago, they just released shit rapid-fire. Sometimes within 3 to 6 months apart.

My impatience had me get a 950 like a few months before the rx 480 and gtx 1060's became readily available. Oh well I guess. Good thing I'm only gaming in 1080p.

[GhostTX]

Random, but this being over a year old really makes me hate how quickly tech evolves from a money stand-point. For $900, you could build a pc WAY more powerful than this for $900. Maybe a tad bit more. 1080's can be had in the lower $400's. Then obviously the rest of the build.

With computers, you HAVE to bite the bullet and just do it, or you'll never build. Something better is always a couple of months away.

[HarrisonTX]

Random, but this being over a year old really makes me hate how quickly tech evolves from a money stand-point. For $900, you could build a pc WAY more powerful than this for $900. Maybe a tad bit more. 1080's can be had in the lower $400's. Then obviously the rest of the build.

What has come out that's WAY better? Processors? More affordable graphics cards?

Is there one thing I could upgrade and see a significant improvement?

[Gasser64]

He's right, but if you wanted to be on top for a couple years you could do it with processors. Same with video cards really, but with a processor you have less upgradeability these days due to their decision to make so many new sockets. I remember the days of socket 775 when it had a dozen processor generations that would fit one socket. Then again who knows if the board was slowing it down...

Anyway they don't appear to actually do anything worth noting, with processors except for about every 2 years. And even then, you see what...a 15% gain over the last model? 20%? Not worth busting out another $500 for the latest and greatest processor. So if you hop on a particular model when it first comes out, you can be satisfied that you'll have done the best you could for quite some time.

As for video cards, the slot stays the same for so long that you can just get what you can afford and not care about what it will be like when its time to upgrade.

[Tx Redneck]

Intel has socket hopped for the last decade, that's part of what's kept the AMD loyalists, loyal. You *could* upgrade the cpu for several years on the same mobo.

[Tx Redneck]

What has come out that's WAY better? Processors? More affordable graphics cards?

Is there one thing I could upgrade and see a significant improvement?

There's nothing *way* better, but Microcenter is offering the 770k at a lower price than has been offered, ever.

Having the higher clocks and IPC can help with framerates, but if you're not 4k gaming, it's a zero sum gain for you.