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Attention Mid-Range System Builders - Updated 08/01/2015

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mfenn said:
I'm not sure what a male in rebate is, sounds kinky though. A USB 3.0 HAF 922 at $60 after mail in rebate is not bad if you like the styling.
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You seem unsure about it if i'm not mistaken. Do you have any recommendations on a case or you just choose a cheap one?
 
mfenn said:
As for the mobo+PSU, that's absolutely a viable option, but the two changes definitely need to go together. 650W is not enough to comfortably run 7970 CFX. I didn't consider a Crossfire-capable build because I don't expect many people to "upgrade to CFX", especially not when talking about a high-end card that is going to be in limited supply.
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That's true enough and I don't criticize your choices at all if we're talking about a $950 AR rig.

I'd point out that even though 650W may be a bit borderline for 7970 crossfire, the mobo+PSU will both last across at least one GPU upgrade. That upgrade doesn't have to be another 7970, it could be two lower TDP next gen GPUs
 
lehtv said:
That's true enough and I don't criticize your choices at all if we're talking about a $950 AR rig.

I'd point out that even though 650W may be a bit borderline for 7970 crossfire, the mobo+PSU will both last across at least one GPU upgrade. That upgrade doesn't have to be another 7970, it could be two lower TDP next gen GPUs
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What is TDP in this context?
 
Thermal Design Power or "board power". Basically the maximum wattage the card is supposed to be able to draw. Actual power consumption is usually quite a bit less at stock. Overclocking can reach, in some cases even exceed the TDP. It's indicative of the power requirement differences between different GPUs.

E.g. 7970 TDP = 250W, actual power consumption about 190-200W, can reach 250W with OC'ing. Meanwhile, 7870 TDP = 170W, actual power consumption about 130-140W, can reach 170W with OC. A next gen card in the same performance bracket as 7970 should consume about as much power as a 7870.
 
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lehtv said:
That's true enough and I don't criticize your choices at all if we're talking about a $950 AR rig.

I'd point out that even though 650W may be a bit borderline for 7970 crossfire, the mobo+PSU will both last across at least one GPU upgrade. That upgrade doesn't have to be another 7970, it could be two lower TDP next gen GPUs
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No worries, always good to have somebody checking behind me.

tg2708 said:
You seem unsure about it if i'm not mistaken. Do you have any recommendations on a case or you just choose a cheap one?
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I just think it's ugly. I would personally go for a Corsair 200R or 300R.
 
New build posted, most of the combos expired, so that's a big shakeup. Also got in on that awesome Seasonic 750W deal even though 750W is way overkill for this machine.
 
New update, a MicroATX board makes its first appearance! It'll be a little small in the 300R, but this build doesn't need a full ATX board anyway.
 
New build, swapped out the case and PSU, as well as the RAM. I also posted some suggestions for upgrades to send the machine up to $1000. Of course, adding the HSF and overclocking from the start would also do it. I don't think that a GPU upgrade makes sense because the next logical step is a GTX 770, but IMHO it doesn't offer $100 more value.
 
dpodblood said:
The quality of Rosewill PSU's must have improved. I have never seen them recommended here before.
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Not all Rosewill PSUs are great, not by any stretch of the imagination. However, the Hive (Sirtec) and Capstone (Super Flower) series are make by respectable OEMs and are often on sale for good prices.
 
With the mass 7950 price hikes, this thread needs an update.

Edit: Nevermind. I don't even know
 
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New build, the combos are gone on the more inexpensive Z87 boards, but there is a nice combo on a higher end one.
 
The motherboard combo link says "Sorry, the combo deal is no longer available.". Tried to find it via the combo search, seems like it's gone for real.

4670K + MSI Z87-G43 Gaming $360
4670K + MSI Z87-G45 Gaming $370

The MSI boards actually have better sound and LAN than Gigabyte z87x-ud4h. G43 has 6 phases and no SLI, G45 has 8 phases and SLI for $10 more, UD4H has 12 phases and SLI.

Also... Kingston V300 120GB is just $80, I don't think a TLC based Samsung is 25% better than an MLC based Sandforce. Nice build as usual tho :thumbsup:
 
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lehtv said:
The motherboard combo link says "Sorry, the combo deal is no longer available.". Tried to find it via the combo search, seems like it's gone for real.

4670K + MSI Z87-G43 Gaming $360
4670K + MSI Z87-G45 Gaming $370

The MSI boards actually have better sound and LAN than Gigabyte z87x-ud4h. G43 has 6 phases and no SLI, G45 has 8 phases and SLI for $10 more, UD4H has 12 phases and SLI.

Also... Kingston V300 120GB is just $80, I don't think a TLC based Samsung is 25% better than an MLC based Sandforce. Nice build as usual tho :thumbsup:
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:thumbsup: Thanks for the mobo suggestions. It was on a 72 hour combo deal, problem was I didn't know when the 72 hours started. :awe:
 
If you do not plan on overclocking do you recommend alternate chip/board combos?

Thanks for keeping this thread up!
 
i5-4670K + Asrock Z87 Performance $320 -$20 gift card code (comes with 4670K)

Although there is no combo with this board for a non-K i54xxx, I think this combo is excellent if you're not planning to overclock. That's mainly because this board is the cheapest one with Realtek ALC1150 sound and Intel LAN.
 
Asrock is advertising the non-Z overclock feature which is a pretty nice feature but Intel doesn't like it. In July, Intel announced they will make chipsets other than Z87 completely locked with some microcode update. I haven't heard of it since, and I don't know exactly how they will deploy the update, but it sounds like overclocking will only be possible on Z87
 
lehtv said:
Asrock is advertising the non-Z overclock feature which is a pretty nice feature but Intel doesn't like it. In July, Intel announced they will make chipsets other than Z87 completely locked with some microcode update. I haven't heard of it since, and I don't know exactly how they will deploy the update, but it sounds like overclocking will only be possible on Z87
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Bummer. That would make a fatality board a big fat fail. Guess that's why they are bundling and selling off inventory.

What if you just don't update BIOS?
 
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