First time buyer; can I get some advice?Post Date: 2014-11-01 |
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Apollyna 
Newbie 
Joined: 01 Nov 2014 Online Status: Offline Posts: 3 |
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 Topic: First time buyer; can I get some advice?Posted: 01 Nov 2014 at 9:54pm |
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Hi! I'm hoping you fine people can help me out with this config. I've never shopped for my own computer before, so forgive me if I seem to be misunderstanding how things work. Please, feel free to enlighten me as you see fit!
Relevant Info: Budget: $1200 Potential Build: 1074812Concerns: My room can get pretty warm. Should I be concerned about using stock fans on this system? Thank you guys so much for taking a look! Edit: Plain text specs! Chassis Model: Special Deal Hot Seller - Cooler Master K380 Exterior Finish: - Standard Factory Finish Trim Accents: - Standard Factory Finish Processor: AMD FX-6350 (6 Core) (3.9GHz) (6 MB Cache) Motherboard: A-Series APU Compatible - ASUS A58M-K (AMD A58 Chipset) (MATX) System Memory: 8GB DDR3 1600MHz Digital Storm Certified Performance Series (Highly Recommended) (Hand Tested) Power Supply: 600W Corsair CX600 Expansion Bay: - No Thanks Optical Drive: DVD-R/RW/CD-R/RW (DVD Writer 24x / CD-Writer 48x) Storage Set 1: 1x SSD (120GB Samsung 840 EVO) Storage Set 2: 1x Storage (1TB Seagate) Storage Set 3: - No Thanks RAID Config: - No Thanks RAID Card: - No Thanks Internet Access: Wireless PCI-E ASUS PCE-N53 (Dual Band Performance) (Supports 802.11n/g/b) Graphics Card(s): 1x NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB (Includes PhysX) Sound Card: Integrated Motherboard Audio HPC Processor: - No Thanks Extreme Cooling: Standard Factory Heat-sink and Fan H20 Tube Color:- Not Applicable, I do not have a FrostChill or Sub-Zero LCS Cooling System Selected Chassis Fans: Standard Factory Chassis Fans Internal Lighting: - No Thanks Airflow Control: - No Thanks Chassis Mods: - No Thanks Noise Reduction: - No Thanks LaserMark: - No Thanks Boost Processor: Standard Intel Turbo Boost 2.0 Automatic Overclocking Boost Graphics Card(s): - No Thanks, Please do not overclock my video card(s) Boost Memory: - No Thanks, Please do not overclock my memory Boost OS: - No Thanks, Please do not tweak the services on the operating system Windows OS: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (64-Bit Edition) Recovery Tools: Windows Recovery Toolkit (Bundled with Windows CD) Virus Protection: FREE: McAfee AntiVirus Plus (1 Year Service Activation Card) (Not Pre-installed) ($35 Value) Office: - No Thanks Game: - No Thanks Display: - No Thanks Surge Shield: - No Thanks Speakers: - No Thanks Keyboard: - No Thanks Mouse: - No Thanks Portable Gaming: - No Thanks Branded Gear: - No Thanks Priority Build: - No Thanks, Ship Within 10-15 Business Days After Order Is Successfully Processed Warranty: Life-time Expert Care with 3 Year Limited Warranty (3 Year Labor & 1 Year Part Replacement) Edited by Apollyna - 01 Nov 2014 at 9:56pm |
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Meller
DS Veteran 
Joined: 20 Feb 2013 Online Status: Offline Posts: 1627 |
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Posted: 01 Nov 2014 at 10:12pm |
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I mean, you're picked a system that is eh, but you're wanting to play at a pretty low (nearly outdated resolution). Your pricing budget is just at the spot where it's just short of some really nice mid level systems.
The Virtue Lvl 1 is $1363 which would be pretty good. Vanq lvl 4 for $1399 would be beastly for you. It's almost my biggest recommendation here (assuming you already have a monitor and keyboard. Your current build leaves very little room for upgrading in the future. That GTX 750 ti is ok. But it own't lost forever. It's a first gen maxwell. Skyrim can get pretty intensive depending what mods you run and how many of them you run. Which is why the GTX 750 worries me. I'd say if you want to use a last gen card, at least upgrade to say a GTX 770. Even a GTX 760 is horrible. Perhaps that should be best choice if you don't want to spend a lot more. Things I personally usually advise against: Don't use stock CPU coolers. Outside of that, technically yes everything will work. But that motherboard is very limited. And your GPU is kind of weak. I would look at possibly getting a different mobo, at least a GTX 760 or 770, and getting some type of aftermarket cooler over the stock. It's tough on a budget, I know. |
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Custom PC
Ryzen 9 5950X Gigabyte X570 Aorus Xtreme 128GB DDR4 3600mhz EVGA RTX 3090 FTW3 Ultra Gaming Samsung 980 Pro 512GB m.2 Samsung 960 PRO 2TB m.2 x2 |
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Apollyna
Newbie
Joined: 01 Nov 2014 Online Status: Offline Posts: 3 |
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Posted: 01 Nov 2014 at 10:47pm |
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Thanks for all the info! This is exactly the kind of advice I was looking for.
The Vanquish looks pretty nice, I might stretch a few dollars here and there and go for that, then! Is this one considered more upgradeable? Would DS put in a wireless card if I asked? Who might I talk to about that? I don't think I see a "change button" anywhere, though, so if I just picked one up at a store, would any old wireless card work? Hmm... scratch that, I could probably just cannibalize the one in my current computer, haha. Since 1600x900 is almost outdated, would the Vanquish still perform well if I got a new monitor down the line? What might my "max rez" be in this case? You've been so helpful already, I really appreciate it! As an afterthought, I bet listing my right-this-moment specs would give you a laugh and explain why I thought my first config there was a monster - AMD Athlon II X2 240, 2.8GHz VisionTek Radeon HD 5450 3GB system ram That'll play Skyrim on low/medium with a dozen texture mods and a ton of content mods at about... 15ps. :P Edited by Apollyna - 01 Nov 2014 at 10:51pm |
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Snaike
Moderator Group 
Just a dude trying to keep the spam away 
Joined: 23 Jan 2014 Online Status: Offline Posts: 9462 |
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Posted: 02 Nov 2014 at 12:46am |
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From experience.. I have the Vanquish II Level 4 and have played a ton of Skyrim with 100+ mods. Will it hold 60fps? Most of the time... but always over 45. The GTX770 is a very good card in the line I have and the new Vanquish, iirc, comes with the 970.
As far as a wireless card in the Vanquish, no. There is no changing because the models are prebuilt. However, a lot of us have purchased USB Wifi adaptors. The NetGear 300 & 600 series works for us. Use one of the slots in the back and just forget about it. I have the NetGear 300 (due to the lower ISP speeds) installed on the other side of the house and have no issues other than a random drop every once in a while when I'm on a streaming binge.
The 970GTX in the Vanquish will most likely handle newer rez monitors. I'm not too sure about the 4k monitors... but then again, if you had a 4k monitor you would spend more for it than the computer.
Goodluck!
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Meller
DS Veteran
Joined: 20 Feb 2013 Online Status: Offline Posts: 1627 |
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Posted: 02 Nov 2014 at 1:37am |
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Snaike is right. The Vanq 4 is your best bet for your since you have a tight budget. But it really offers the best of everything you could want for a mid level build. The best i5 on the market (which is absolutely excellent for gaming), you get your SSD and your 1TB HDD for data storage. It offers room to add in another card later on when you save up room... and the best part about the GTX 970 is, it uses such little power, you can throw another one in there without worry about upgrading your PSU.
As for a wireless card, You can either buy a wireless USB adapter like Snaike said. Or you can buy a PCI Wireless card and install it yourself. It's literally a plug it in, insert dvd to install drivers and done type of thing. They are typically better than a USB adapter. The benefit to a USB adapter is... it's a usb adapter. No opening your case. DS won't be able to for you. The beautiful of the Vanq line of PC's is they are already pre-built sitting on a shelf ready for you. DS will simply pull it off the shelf, test it to ensure it still works like the dream it is and ships it out. Unlike the customer PCs which can take between 2 weeks to a month to be built, tested, and shipped. Your Vanq's are usually shipped within a few days. That GTX 970 will play Skyrim and keep you at 60 FPS most of the time. You'll rarely dip below. And that GTX 970 will also let you play up to 1440p resolution (higher than 1080p) without too much of an issue. So you basically have plenty of head room to get more monitors or higher res monitors, etc.. Sorry for all the run on sentences and rambling. It's 3:40 am here and I'm tired. |
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Custom PC
Ryzen 9 5950X Gigabyte X570 Aorus Xtreme 128GB DDR4 3600mhz EVGA RTX 3090 FTW3 Ultra Gaming Samsung 980 Pro 512GB m.2 Samsung 960 PRO 2TB m.2 x2 |
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Snaike
Moderator Group
Just a dude trying to keep the spam away
Joined: 23 Jan 2014 Online Status: Offline Posts: 9462 |
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Posted: 02 Nov 2014 at 3:08am |
No sympathy from those of us who work nightshifts (graves).
 (Ps, thanks for the notes on the wireless cards. My Vanquish II with the 770 only has one PCI slot left and it's too close to the GPU for me to stick a card in with this mobo. That's why I choose the USB adaptor to keep the air flowing.
Shouldn't be as big of a problem with the newer Vanquish models.)
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Apollyna
Newbie
Joined: 01 Nov 2014 Online Status: Offline Posts: 3 |
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Posted: 02 Nov 2014 at 9:10am |
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Awesome! Thank you guys so much, sounds like just what I'm looking for!
Now the agonizing wait til it gets here... |
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