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What makes the Z170-PRO Gaming a premium board over the Z170-A? On the comparison chart it seems like it has less features and different sound. Z170-PRO is only $5 more so if it is better I may want to buy that.
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"I Need a New PC!" 2015 Part 1. Read the OP and RISE ABOVE FORGED PRECISION SCIENCE
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What makes the Z170-PRO Gaming a premium board over the Z170-A? On the comparison chart it seems like it has less features and different sound. Z170-PRO is only $5 more so if it is better I may want to buy that.
The Windows keys will work in the UK, no problem there
Regarding the 970, I can only give you anecdotal evidence. We get a lot of MSI RMAs for their graphics cards, much more than ASUS and EVGA (although we don't sell much EVGA in the first place), with only Gigabyte being slightly above average. Don't take it as gospel however, there are a lot of people out there with perfectly functioning MSI cards and no doubt faulty ASUS ones. Just from what I hear from our Tech dept is all.
I don't believe Amazon are taking part in the NVIDIA promotion - it doesn't seem to appear anywhere on their website. If you find somewhere else selling it for a couple of quid more that are part of the promotion it might be best to purchase it from there.
If you're planning on a G-Sync capable display next year (and are serious about it) then buying a 1440p monitor now is a bit of a waste of money. A 24" 1080p one would be a better choice for now - unfortunately I'm really not an expert on monitors - it's kind of a personal thing, so I'd recommend heading checking them out first if you can.
Thanks for your help! I'm going to go for the MSI because I think I can get it for £260 with a company that's doing the MGS5 promotion. The cheapest Asus card is £270 that's part of the promotion.
Yeah, I think I'll go with the 1080p screen for now. I'll look around for a decent one.
Is there anything else I need to get before I make my order? I don't need a wifi chip or anything like that, right?
I'll be stripping my old computer for the mouse/keyboard/speakers for now before I have enough money to buy gaming upgrades.
I'll be using one of my PS4 controllers. Are they compatible with Windows 10?
Thanks again
Is this the same MSI GTX 970 you're talking about? It's slightly cheaper than the one at scan.
Yeah, the delivery is £12 :/
I'll get the one from scans. Time to become a forum member lol.
Any recommendations for a good 24" 1080p monitor whilst I have your attention?
Thanks for your help! I'm going to go for the MSI because I think I can get it for £260 with a company that's doing the MGS5 promotion. The cheapest Asus card is £270 that's part of the promotion.
Yeah, I think I'll go with the 1080p screen for now. I'll look around for a decent one.
Is there anything else I need to get before I make my order? I don't need a wifi chip or anything like that, right?
I'll be stripping my old computer for the mouse/keyboard/speakers for now before I have enough money to buy gaming upgrades.
I'll be using one of my PS4 controllers. Are they compatible with Windows 10?
Thanks again
Is this the same MSI GTX 970 you're talking about? It's slightly cheaper than the one at scan.
You only need wifi if you'll be using wifi. DS4 doesn't quite work perfectly on Windows 10 because the way Windows 10 deals with "exclusive mode" for the DS4 drivers has been changed, or something like that. Certain games will still work just fine with the DS4, but the DS4's option to be hidden doesn't work so some games will detect double input and essentially be uncontrollable or very difficult to play. It's unknown if the author of DS4Windows can fix it.
Honestly? I'm not totally sure. There's not a lot of information available on these motherboards yet. The Z170-Pro Gaming appears to be more or less on the same level of the Z170-A but just has gamer-oriented aesthetics, a better audio chipset (enhanced version of ALC1150 vs entry level ALC892), and certain other features that are harder to quantify.
For example, the product page for the Z170-Pro Gaming mentions enhanced ESD protection for the I/O panel while the Z170-A doesn't mention anything at all about that. And apparently the Z170-Pro Gaming is supposed to have some features (BIOS menu design and layout? Software utilities? not sure what exactly) trickled down from their higher end Republic of Gamers line of motherboards as well.
So yeah like I said, it seems to be a bit more "premium", but there's a lack of information (unless you count marketing spin) to actually explain or prove it. Their comparison tool doesn't mention power phases or anything specific (they almost never do) so that's unknown for now as well.
Edit: According to this review by Hexus, the Z170-Pro Gaming has 10 power phases. TechARX's unboxing of the Z170-A claims it has "10-phase all Digital VRM". I assume the Z170-Pro Gaming is also digital.
Yeah, I'll definitely be using wifi as the router will be downstairs and my PC will be upstairs.
So DS4 will probably never work properly on PC? That sucks massively. I love it as a controller. Much better than Xbox's offerings for me. This could be a deal breaker
Got no monitor knowledge =/
Scan delivery is next day, awesome service from DPD. Best 20 forum posts I ever made because combine that with today only deals and you save a lot over time.
Hey guys. Quick question. My old PC that I've had since 2010 doesn't boot anymore. Might by the CMOS battery or something. Anyway, I don't want to bother with it since I built my new PC a week or two ago. However, it had a 640GB WD Blue 7200rpm HDD that a.) I want to use as a second hard drive, and b.) I want to retrieve data from, because I have a lot of old files.
Can I install that hard drive on my new computer (it was the only hard drive in my last PC, if that's pertinent info) and have the files remain on there, or does it have to be formatted when I install it? If it can be done, how do I go about it? I'm assuming I just power off the PC, install it like my first one, and boot it up? Will it automatically be seen as a secondary drive or something?
Can I install that hard drive on my new computer (it was the only hard drive in my last PC, if that's pertinent info) and have the files remain on there, or does it have to be formatted when I install it? If it can be done, how do I go about it? I'm assuming I just power off the PC, install it like my first one, and boot it up? Will it automatically be seen as a secondary drive or something?
Connect it to your new PC, make sure the boot order is correct in BIOS. Access HDD as normal from My Computer. Yes it'll be seen as a secondary drive automatically like a USB drive is in Windows.
AkelisRain
Member
I have a buddy who is willing to sell me his old Titan for $250. Should I buy it or got for something in the 900 series? I am currently using a 6870.
Fantastic. Thank you!
Thanks, unfortunately since the 980 TI is selling for about $1000 in Canada right now, that's not really a viable option for me. Does the 970 perform well enough to run something like The Witcher 3 at Ultra 1080/60?
CreepingFear
Member
Damn! For my last computer, I lived in Illinois before they collected taxes for online purchases. Now, I live in California. My new computer is going to add about $150 in taxes. I really hope I can get a 6700k/Z170 Deluxe combo from Micro Center.
Edit: I might as well buy the Define R5 from Micro Center as well given the $14 shipping charge. There is gas money factoring in driving to Micro Center, but at least I would have it instantly and not have to worry about it getting damaged in shipping or stolen/lost.
Edit: I might as well buy the Define R5 from Micro Center as well given the $14 shipping charge. There is gas money factoring in driving to Micro Center, but at least I would have it instantly and not have to worry about it getting damaged in shipping or stolen/lost.
Yeah, I'll definitely be using wifi as the router will be downstairs and my PC will be upstairs.
So DS4 will probably never work properly on PC? That sucks massively. I love it as a controller. Much better than Xbox's offerings for me. This could be a deal breaker
What router do you have? We can recommend you a decent wifi adaptor card.
As for the DS4.. well, it's hard to say. Maybe someone will be able to come up with a solution (the batch file that was described in the link I posted did not work for me) but we can't say for sure the DS4 is no longer an option. For now, it's just not usable.
The GTX Titan is roughly on par with a GTX 970, and either card will be a strong upgrade from your old 6870. Here's how your 6870 compares to the Titan, and here's how the 6870 compares to the GTX 970. I dunno how much used GTX 970s go for in your area, but assuming USD, new ones are at around $300 after rebate at the lowest.
Eurogamer did an article on that, and they quite liked the GTX 970 for ultra settings with Hairworks disabled for near 60FPS at 1080p. Lowering the settings slightly should work quite well.
Thanks for the info! I bit the bullet and ordered one. The free copy of MGSV (saving me $80) and the fact that my friend is going to buy my old 770 makes this a pretty cheap purchase all things considered.
Shining Sunshine
Banned
Is 770 really that dfifferent from 970?
My router is just the standard one given out by Sky (UK TV/broadband provider). Nothing special about it.
Man, the DS4 not working is a massive problem. Does the Xbox One controller have official support by Microsoft I assume?
If that's their fibre router (SR102), the wifi is gimped to hell, will only pull about 25mbps from a few feet, then drops very fast. Modern way of load balancing their network....
Only wired X1 controllers are supported. The wireless dongle should come out with Oculis Rift as that is the only time we have heard of it.
I run overclocked at 1500/3900, allows me to run Witcher 3 1080p60 with a mix of Ultra/High and shadows on medium with Hairworks enabled. A lot of Witcher 3 ultra settings have no visible impact.
Disabling Hairworks can free up to 30% GPU utilisation.
Wowfunhappy
Member
Hey guys, what are some really CPU light games I can play to show off my new GTX 970? It's currently paired with a horribly old Q9550 (at a stock 2.83 Ghz clockspeed).
Hi guys, I think it's time to finally go ahead with my new build but there are some things I'm not 100% on.
Goal, budget, etc.:
I want a fast, hassle-free, quiet machine with a single GPU, 1 SSD and at most two 3.5" drives. Its most perf-intensive use will be high FPS gaming. I'm not a frequent upgrader. I'll either build from scratch myself or have a domestic shop do it to my specs. Budget is not tight, and I'll happily spend on a nice case & quietness, but not on bragging rights or marginal performance gains. My last builder ( http://www.jimms.fi ) was competent but prices are not great. If I end up building myself I may as well order parts from vendors in Germany (eg. http://www.mindfactory.de ) as from Finland. I'm not afraid of building otherwise, but I think it'd be a huge hassle if some component was dead on arrival, since I don't have an existing modern PC to swap parts with and troubleshoot.
Pretty sure I want:
Gigabyte G1 980 Ti
Crucial BX100 1TB
80% sure (CPU + mobo):
Common sense is telling me 6700K + ASUS Z170 Pro Gaming.
Going with 5820K / X99 would seem to end up costing maybe 150 euros more total, which is not much on an already expensive system. But I'm not sure performance would actually even improve, the CPU would have to be OC'd much farther from stock than the 6700K, and I'd lose the iGPU troubleshooting/etc. flexibility. I would like to have wifi on the mobo but it doesn't seem to be available at reasonable cost on Z170.
Need input (RAM):
I know 8GB would suffice right now in pure gaming, but I want 16GB to be covered for the system's lifetime and for software dev work. Does 2x8GB / 4x4GB matter? What kind of performance specs (MHz/CL) would be the sweet value spot? If I've read the benchmarks right, going with the cheapest 2133MHz stuff kinda means giving up the small advantage Skylake has over Haswell?
Need input (case, CPU air cooler):
Silverstone Fortress FT05: I really like this one due to external characteristics (size, ergonomics and looks). It sounds atypically hard to build in, which gives me pause if I end up doing the build myself. I know a short PSU (eg. EVGA Supernova 650 GS) is basically required. Would appreciate CPU cooler reqs. It appears eg. NH-D15 very barely fits. I wouldn't mind getting away with paying half that for 90% the perf, but again if the extra cost actually buys a decent amount of quiet and ease of use, I can spare it.
Goal, budget, etc.:
I want a fast, hassle-free, quiet machine with a single GPU, 1 SSD and at most two 3.5" drives. Its most perf-intensive use will be high FPS gaming. I'm not a frequent upgrader. I'll either build from scratch myself or have a domestic shop do it to my specs. Budget is not tight, and I'll happily spend on a nice case & quietness, but not on bragging rights or marginal performance gains. My last builder ( http://www.jimms.fi ) was competent but prices are not great. If I end up building myself I may as well order parts from vendors in Germany (eg. http://www.mindfactory.de ) as from Finland. I'm not afraid of building otherwise, but I think it'd be a huge hassle if some component was dead on arrival, since I don't have an existing modern PC to swap parts with and troubleshoot.
Pretty sure I want:
Gigabyte G1 980 Ti
Crucial BX100 1TB
80% sure (CPU + mobo):
Common sense is telling me 6700K + ASUS Z170 Pro Gaming.
Going with 5820K / X99 would seem to end up costing maybe 150 euros more total, which is not much on an already expensive system. But I'm not sure performance would actually even improve, the CPU would have to be OC'd much farther from stock than the 6700K, and I'd lose the iGPU troubleshooting/etc. flexibility. I would like to have wifi on the mobo but it doesn't seem to be available at reasonable cost on Z170.
Need input (RAM):
I know 8GB would suffice right now in pure gaming, but I want 16GB to be covered for the system's lifetime and for software dev work. Does 2x8GB / 4x4GB matter? What kind of performance specs (MHz/CL) would be the sweet value spot? If I've read the benchmarks right, going with the cheapest 2133MHz stuff kinda means giving up the small advantage Skylake has over Haswell?
Need input (case, CPU air cooler):
Silverstone Fortress FT05: I really like this one due to external characteristics (size, ergonomics and looks). It sounds atypically hard to build in, which gives me pause if I end up doing the build myself. I know a short PSU (eg. EVGA Supernova 650 GS) is basically required. Would appreciate CPU cooler reqs. It appears eg. NH-D15 very barely fits. I wouldn't mind getting away with paying half that for 90% the perf, but again if the extra cost actually buys a decent amount of quiet and ease of use, I can spare it.
Yeah it's the Sky Hub. I'm getting around 35mbps in the room the PC will be in. But that's probably because it's 1.24am and there's no one else awake in the house! Can you recommend me a decent router and the appropriate WIFI card for my PC?
Hmm, I've read up on the DS4 and there seems like there's a work around out at the moment. Not too happy with no reliable way to use the DS4 atm.
I'd think for most users' purposes the quality of most onboard audio is indistinguishable. The Pro Gaming's specs include a 300 ohm headphone amp - that is a clearly distinct feature from the Z170-A, and for me a good reason to spend 5-10e over the Z170-A.
I keep seeing people post "case is hard/er to build in", where does this idea arrive from? It's all the same! You only need a graphics cards width to install a GPU, you only need a HDD bays width to install a HDD, etc....
All mainstream cases are the same thing, if there's something different it's usually not going to take more than a few minutes to figure out.
mATX case can't be harder to build in if the board is mATX sized. Just as fitting an ATX board in an ATX case.
Just don't understand where this 'fear' comes from.
If you are looking to build a single GPU rig you really should look at ITX or mATX at least.
All mainstream cases are the same thing, if there's something different it's usually not going to take more than a few minutes to figure out.
mATX case can't be harder to build in if the board is mATX sized. Just as fitting an ATX board in an ATX case.
Just don't understand where this 'fear' comes from.
If you are looking to build a single GPU rig you really should look at ITX or mATX at least.
You can't replace the SR102 unless you look up the guide to use wireshark packet sniffing tool to extract the username and password from the router.
Then you could checkout Asus AC68U or Billion 8800 series routers. They must have VDSL2 built in if you want to replace the Sky hub.
Otherwise the Asus series (RT68U) seem to give the best wifi performance.
On the PC side the standard TP Link PCIE £15 wifi adaptor is fine. Wireless AC 5Ghz all round will be the best.
Do further tests when people are using the connection too, just to make sure. For me the range was awful outside of the room of the sky hub.
Ive also just jumped on the pc train and although I have a limited selection of "controller" games at the moment, the DS4 has worked perfectly.
Tried and tested on Metro, Mafia 2, ARK, Ethan Carter, South Park.
Granted they are older games (not sure if makes a difference)
If you really want a reliable device though then the only option is a 360 controller I guess.
I assume this was prompted by my last post, since I don't see other recent posts touching on that subject?
It's rational to be wary of buying stuff that either doesn't fit together at all, or has bad usability because it fits together so awkwardly. In the FT05 I was asking about, if you didn't know to specifically pay attention to PSU length, you could easily buy one that completely prevents installing 3.5" drives in the case. Is it so farfetched that such a case would have more characteristics that limit component choice or make some choices considerably more convenient?
As for why people overemphasize ease of building for obviously "standard" cases that have no significant gotchas, maybe the blame falls on case reviewers for spending inordinate time and basing an inordinate portion on scoring on that subject vs. the aspects that actually matter.
Shining Sunshine
Banned
Well I have a 560ti lol, so never followed benches.
I'm going from 560ti to Tri-X Fury
Maybe things have changed with recent cases. They definitely seem a lot nicer. But back in the day cases weren't modular, as weren't power supplies, and they were sometimes tightly packed & poorly designed, little to no cable management. I worked in cases where doing certain things were literally impossible.
Yeah, it seems too much hassle to replace the router just yet. I'm mainly going to use the PC for single-player games but will upgrade components when necessary for competitive multiplayer.
Is that adaptor compatible with the motherboard I was suggested? Motherboard in question. I'm surprised that motherboards don't already come with wireless cards.
I think I'm going to stick with the DS4 and hope for the best. I really don't like the 360 controller!
Z170-PRO has 2 extra usb 3.0 ports on it, while the Z170-A has PCI slot on it.
those are the only features i spotted by just looking at the board by it self
A Link to the Past
Banned
So I'm looking for a solid gaming PC in between $700-750 or so without having to have it be built. Any recommendations?
Any future case for me has to be dual chamber design. Love the airflow and easy cable routing. I am using Corsair Vengeance LPX DDR4 2800mhz. And, yes, I plan on cloning my OS Raid 0 256GB Samsung 850 Pro SSDs to the Samsung 951 M.2 SSD. It should be faster, but I doubt I will notice the speed difference unless it's for benchmarking / testing.
Maiden Voyage
Gold™ Member
Check over the OP. It has budget builds. If you have specific questions, the OP has a recommended format to help everyone see what your goals and current hardware are.
A Link to the Past
Banned
Well, a specific question then - would you consider the differences between these two computers - a USD$670 and a USD$700 - big enough to justify buying the $700 PC?
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MCJQEL6/?tag=neogaf0e-20
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00WR28EDO/?tag=neogaf0e-20
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MCJQEL6/?tag=neogaf0e-20
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00WR28EDO/?tag=neogaf0e-20
Either of the following examples should be more than adequate for your needs.
http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/tp-link-wireless-network-card-tlwdn3800
http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/asus-wireless-network-card-pcen53
http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/tp-link-wireless-network-card-tlwdn4800
Yes, the XB1 controller should work just fine with Windows 10. The main reason why the DS4 doesn't work properly under Windows 10 is that the current solution for making it work is to emulate an Xbox 360 controller, which is a bit messy because Windows will see both the DS4 and the emulated Xbox controller, which is why there's an issue with doubled inputs. There's an option in the DS4Windows program to hide the DS4 so Windows will only see input from the emulated Xbox controller, but that isn't working properly under Windows 10.
Lucky for you, Techspot recently put up an article comparing ten years of Intel processor performance. They have a page of that devoted to games, and one of the processors they tested was the Q9650. They used a GTX 980 which is similar in performance to the GTX 970, so you should be able to more or less estimate how well games will run on your slightly lower end setup.
Same for me as well. I'm inclined to spend more on the Pro Gaming model. I'm currently using a Sennheiser PC333D headset which comes with a USB adaptor, but I'm wondering if plugging it directly into the sound chipset might not be easier. If nothing else, it will save me a USB port and having to run the software, but I guess I'll lose virtual surround sound (not that big a deal to me.)
opticalmace
Member
I have a Pro, which is very similar to the Luxe. I have zero complaints, easily the best case I've owned.
You could always choose the parts and get the PC assembled for you from a retailer like NCIXUS. How about a build like this?
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant
CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($184.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: MSI B85M-E45 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($58.88 @ NCIX US)
Memory: Corsair XMS3 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($49.99 @ NCIX US)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($49.99 @ NCIX US)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 960 4GB SuperSC ACX 2.0+ Video Card ($229.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Fractal Design Core 1000 USB 3.0 MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($22.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: EVGA 750W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($49.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $646.82
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-08-09 22:34 EDT-0400
$700 before rebates. $650 after rebates. Factor in the cost of the $50 assembly fee from NCIXUS, and it should cost about the upper limit of your budget. It'll sure beat the crap out of the other two PCs from Amazon, if nothing else. The i5 processor will be able to top the AMD FX-770K easily, and the GTX 960 will beat the R9 360 senseless.
The cheaper one has an "R9 255" graphics card that according to TechPowerUp is only recommended for light gaming at 1280x720. In other words, it's a very weak graphics card. The more expensive one has a R9 360 graphics card which is actually somewhat decent for medium settings at somewhat higher resolutions. The R9 360 is a rebadge of the R9 260 graphics card which is a rebadged AMD 7790 graphics card, so you can expect slightly higher performance than what's listed here for the AMD 7790.
The PC333D headphones are normal 32ohm and designed to run off any headphone jack. Extra amp capacity should be irrelevant for them. Headphones like my 250ohm Beyers are not - if the source has insufficient power, even turning the source volume to 100% will have the headphones sounding quiet and muffled, so they don't actually work properly without an amp.
So that's a clear cut difference; it's much harder to say if the Pro Gaming offers better audio quality than the Z170-A, and if so, what caliber of headphones are necessary to hear the difference. As I said, modern audio sources should mostly sound indistinguishable. When they don't, they pretty much are faulty (static noise and other artifacts leaking into the audio circuitry, etc.) or purposely altering the sound (virtual surround, etc.). Even cheap onboard sound should be excellent.
Maiden Voyage
Gold™ Member
Definitely go with this over the Amazon ones. If you are willing to buy from multiple vendors and put it together yourself, you may be able to save some extra money as well. If you have an existing hard drive or any other hardware, you can always use those as well and spend more on a better gpu or ssd.
A Link to the Past
Banned
Thanks for all of the advice. I think I'll go for the NCIXUS parts (apparently I get a free copy of MGSV too? *shrug lol*). I'd build it myself or have a friend build it, but I have too great of anxiety to do it myself and I don't want to have an awkward situation with a friend if it doesn't go well
Yeah, that would be a great upgrade and will work perfectly with your CPU.
Any DDR4 ram recommendations to pair with the 5960X?
Stuff like the Corsair Dominator Platinum worth the extra money or should I just get a G Skill kit for half the price?
Not sure whether to get 16GB or 32GB for future proofing. Heard X99 doesn't like mixing and matching memory, so it's better to start off with as much as you will ever need for the life of the build.
Should be the last thing I need. Decided on an Enthoo Luxe for the case, Samsung 850 Pro 1TB SSD, ASUS X99-A 3.1 for mobo, and NZXT Kraken X61 for AIO cooler. Current Seasonic PSU and Titan X will be moving over.
Stuff like the Corsair Dominator Platinum worth the extra money or should I just get a G Skill kit for half the price?
Not sure whether to get 16GB or 32GB for future proofing. Heard X99 doesn't like mixing and matching memory, so it's better to start off with as much as you will ever need for the life of the build.
Should be the last thing I need. Decided on an Enthoo Luxe for the case, Samsung 850 Pro 1TB SSD, ASUS X99-A 3.1 for mobo, and NZXT Kraken X61 for AIO cooler. Current Seasonic PSU and Titan X will be moving over.
A Link to the Past
Banned
If I were to get the PC built, would I have to foot the bill for an OS?
opticalmace
Member
If it were my money I would get 32GB of DDR4 3000 from G.Skill.
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