My last build was 10 years ago. What's changed?

[gozulin]

EDITED.

In 2005, i built a system with a 7800 gpu sporting 256MB of GDDR3. Today, i'm looking to build a new gaming rig. I've kept up with CPUs/GPUs/SSDs/RAM but little else.

My budget is 2K for a tower

Inside is Fury X or 980ti GPU, 1TB m.2 SSD, i7 skylake and I dunno about the rest of the components,

For instance I don't know much about today's cases, motherboards, PSUs, Case fans, CPU/GPU cooling solutions, etc, etc.

So, what else do you think I should know about this modern world before I build my new (VR/classic) game rig?

 

[thehotsung8701A]

in 2005, i built a system with a 7800 gpu sporting 256MB of GDDR3. Today, i'm looking to build a new gaming rig. I've kept up with GPUs but little else. Here is what I (think I) know:

asus has good mobos with great onboard audio, corsair/crucial have good, reliable ram, Skylake is coming out in 2 months. Freesync monitors are $150+ cheaper than g-sync and DDR4 sucks . Used to be Antec made good silent cases.

So, what else do you think I should know about this modern world before I build my new (VR/classic) game rig?

I build mine 7 years ago and a lot has change mate. Though I'm back up to date with everything thanks to Youtube and will build a top of the line rig soon once the new AMD Fury X drop.

 

[Charlie98]

Much of it has to do with your budget and what you plan to do with it (i.e. gaming... but what games?)

It would help to answer these questions... and we can help you pick some good hardware.

 

[gozulin]

Much of it has to do with your budget and what you plan to do with it (i.e. gaming... but what games?)

It would help to answer these questions... and we can help you pick some good hardware.

My budget is 2K for a tower. Fury X or 980ti GPU, 1TB m.2 SSD, i7 skylake and I dunno about the rest.

So, what HAS changed in the last 10 years? Couple posters said a lot has, but what? You can't think of anything?

 

[Ken g6]

2005? That's before Core 2!

So, all CPUs have at least two cores now. All good gaming CPUs have at least 4, and come from Intel. Hyper-threading, from the Pentium 4, died, then rose from the dead. For 2 cores, HT makes it a decent gaming CPU. (That's called an "i3" on the desktop - ignore laptop naming conventions.) For 4 cores, it's debatable (and frequently debated) whether HT is worth the price. i5 doesn't have HT, i7 does. "Xeon"s, the Intel professional brand of CPU, vary, usually use the same sockets as the other chips, and are occasionally a better value.

Oh, and AMD used to make quite decent CPUs for gaming. But in 2011 they made a pretty bad new chip design, and they've only made incremental improvements since. They might come out with a new design next year, but I'd ignore their CPUs until then.

Overclocking is both easier than ever and harder than ever. It's harder than ever because Intel locked down their clocks, so you can only overclock chips they allow it on ("K" and "X" models) on chipsets they allow it on ("Z" and "X" models). But on those models you have access to a full range of clock multipliers. So with the permitted hardware overclocking is relatively easy. Oh, there's also the Pentium Anniversary Edition, and some lower-end boards that can overclock, but neither is good for a high-end gaming rig.

Intel currently has two socket sizes at any one time. They're both Land Grid Arrays, so CPUs don't have pins that can get bent; but motherboards do. The LGA1xxx sockets are for the "average" user. 1150 is the current socket, 1155 was the last one, and 1151 will be coming out in August. The LGA2xxx sockets are for people who want to pay a premium for more than 4 cores. You don't get higher clock speeds; just more cores, and those cores are often last-generation.

 

[melloyellow]

IDE and pci are obsolete. Optical drives are optional now. 2.5in SSDs are common and 3.5in HDs are often moved to NAS. So computers without 3.5in and 5.25in drives end up being much smaller and you are seeing more SSF systems, though full size atx towers still exist.

Those are the biggest changes i noticed. Cpu/gpu/mobo/ram all still plug into each other same as 10 years ago. Not much changed there, imo. Cpus are still either 2 or 4 cores. 4 cores recommended for gaming now. APUs didn't really take off, so build CPU + GPU same as before.

 

[gozulin]

[...]
Overclocking is both easier than ever and harder than ever. It's harder than ever because Intel locked down their clocks, so you can only overclock chips they allow it on ("K" and "X" models) on chipsets they allow it on ("Z" and "X" models). But on those models you have access to a full range of clock multipliers. So with the permitted hardware overclocking is relatively easy. Oh, there's also the Pentium Anniversary Edition, and some lower-end boards that can overclock, but neither is good for a high-end gaming rig.

Intel currently has two socket sizes at any one time. They're both Land Grid Arrays, so CPUs don't have pins that can get bent; but motherboards do. The LGA1xxx sockets are for the "average" user. 1150 is the current socket, 1155 was the last one, and 1151 will be coming out in August. The LGA2xxx sockets are for people who want to pay a premium for more than 4 cores. You don't get higher clock speeds; just more cores, and those cores are often last-generation.

I knew the rest (I work in IT and I upgrade laptops frequently, just no PC building) but the last two paragraphs are useful info!

So Overclocking has been neutered eh? I remember Intel wanting to charge a premium to people for the "privilege" of being allowed to overclock. It wasn't very popular back then, but I guess Intel won that one . How much extra do they charge for the K models, vs the regular ones? Are the K models binned for quality or is it a pure money grab?

And they went 1155 -> 1150 -> 1151 ?

What up with that? Do they just do it to troll people from the future who try to figure this stuff out? Srsly...

what's the diff between K and X models?

No cursing in the technical forums please.

mfenn
General Hardware Moderator

 

[Ken g6]

How much extra do they charge for the K models, vs the regular ones?

Not much beyond the high-end models. But quite a bit more than the low-end models. Here's a list of i5s. And there are no overclockable i3s.

Are the K models binned for quality or is it a pure money grab?

Hard to tell since you can't overclock the non-K models. ^_^ The i7 K model is binned for quality - its base clock is 4GHz. But all i7s are more expensive than all i5s.

And they went 1155 -> 1150 -> 1151 ?

Pin counts. Technically they went 775 -> 1156 -> 1155 -> 1150 -> 1151.

 

[Kadarin]

It's been a while for me too, the last system I built had an Athlon XP. I've been all Mac for many years now, but I'm considering a gaming PC based on the Intel 5930K, Asus X99 Deluxe, 980Ti combo. I'm older now, so I care about the PC being super quiet, so case design and whether or not to go with water cooling have become real things to consider.

And, of course, the decision of whether to go 4K or 3440x1440p (I love the idea of the curved ultra wide displays, so will likely go that route once I get a chance to look at one in person.)

 

[Oyeve]

Im still rocking a s775 system. Started it in 2007. When GTAV hit I realized it wasnt gonna fly so I swapped the 3870 video card for an R290, swapped the e8600 cpu for a q9500 and got rid of all my spining drives and replaced them with 3tb SSD drives. I also bumped it to 8GB DDR2. I can play GTAV with all settings on high/ultra at 1920x1080 and it plays smooth. Of course, I think the SSDs and R290 made all the difference in the world. I didnt want to shell out too much and rebuild my massive tower.

 

[maddogchen]

what i remember when I last built my computer was that the motherboard has become so much more complicated. The bios has changed. And my motherboard came with lights and reset buttons to help me overclock my cpu. I could try to see by the lights that turn on which portion of the startup it failed at. And memory, I had to do more research into finding the right kind of memory stick to buy, right speed and voltage.

 

[JimKiler]

EDITED.

In 2005, i built a system with a 7800 gpu sporting 256MB of GDDR3. Today, i'm looking to build a new gaming rig. I've kept up with CPUs/GPUs/SSDs/RAM but little else.

My budget is 2K for a tower

Inside is Fury X or 980ti GPU, 1TB m.2 SSD, i7 skylake and I dunno about the rest of the components,

For instance I don't know much about today's cases, motherboards, PSUs, Case fans, CPU/GPU cooling solutions, etc, etc.

So, what else do you think I should know about this modern world before I build my new (VR/classic) game rig?

Since 2005 you don't need to spend $2K to get a solid performing CPU and GPU rig but you still can if you want to.

For PSU's go to wikipedia and look up 80 plus certified and decide how energy efficient you want your next PSU to be. I would say Gold or Platinum is what you want since Platinum is coming out soon.

 

[magomago]

Since 2005 you don't need to spend $2K to get a solid performing CPU and GPU rig but you still can if you want to.

For PSU's go to wikipedia and look up 80 plus certified and decide how energy efficient you want your next PSU to be. I would say Gold or Platinum is what you want since Platinum is coming out soon.

true dat - pc prices have dropped since then. Setting them up is also easier -people may complain about new mobo items, but unless you need to reset your bios you'll never touch jumpers again.

As a gamer, you could probably get what you want easily within a 1000 to 1300 dollar profile, unless you plan to get fancy monitors or something.

Spend the most money on a videocard - that still holds true.


Personally I like to get a step just below the top tier - you typically are within 90% of top tier performance, but for a substantially cheaper rate. AMD or nVidia is good for this - I have always had nvidia just b/c they had the best deals every time I made a purchase, but I swear AMD's colors look nicer and their blacks blacker (lol please don't start a flame war on this - the point was the illustrate that unlike CPUs, the GPU field is a relatively even playing field)

 

[BonzaiDuck]

EDITED.

In 2005, i built a system with a 7800 gpu sporting 256MB of GDDR3. Today, i'm looking to build a new gaming rig. I've kept up with CPUs/GPUs/SSDs/RAM but little else.

My budget is 2K for a tower

Inside is Fury X or 980ti GPU, 1TB m.2 SSD, i7 skylake and I dunno about the rest of the components,

For instance I don't know much about today's cases, motherboards, PSUs, Case fans, CPU/GPU cooling solutions, etc, etc.

So, what else do you think I should know about this modern world before I build my new (VR/classic) game rig?

You got some very good answers from our colleagues here.

I can't help but wonder about your "usage profile," or even such things as "what do you do for a living." I was immersed in this technology from 1982 forward, and it's unpleasant for me to think about the cumulative dollars spent -- especially when I made money with my computers. I ate, drank, slept and waked computers until I retired in 1999, and even with that, it's consuming the same time with less intensity since then.

More and more, I watch my money. I have a "preferred account" with a reseller, and except for nickel-and-dime items ( a cable here, a cooling fan there . . ) I gave myself an annual budget and something like a 2, 4 and 6-year plan. I otherwise buy parts in $500 increments, with a 12-month grace period and no payments or interest on each such purchase. I track the purchases online and in Quicken. Instead of waiting until the 12th month to pay off, I follow a schedule to erase the liability before the last purchase grace-period has expired.

They're right about the K processors, and if you're not consumed with focusing on saving chump change, you might want to weigh the pros and cons.

The newer processors are made with smaller and smaller die-size specs -- down from 32nm with Nehalem (2009 or 2010) to 22nm with Ivy Bridge and Haswell. Next year's processors will mean another die shrink.

Thus the voltage requirements have dropped, but since the size of the die has shrunk, removing heat from the processor is still an issue. So the cooling strategy today involves a discussion (see Cases and Cooling) of heatpipe "air" coolers versus water-cooling, and custom-water-cooling versus AiO water coolers.

Suddenly, even mid-tower cases seem to provide more space than needed for storage components, but there is an issue about fitting AiO coolers or custom-water parts to a rig.

First and foremost, pick a good power supply. I think someone mentioned that already. Seasonic is a good choice.

What I'd like to say is "Take your time." I can just imagine that the upgrade gap you hope to bridge could be a temptation to be too much in a hurry.

 

[mfenn]

Pin counts. Technically they went 775 -> 1156 -> 1155 -> 1150 -> 1151.

And the 115x models did change just to keep people from plugging the same CPU into the wrong board. However, it's not as sinister as one might think. Even though the total numbers of pins are the same, the actual uses for those pins is different, for example supply voltages change wildly.

 

[bononos]

EDITED.
In 2005, i built a system with a 7800 gpu sporting 256MB of GDDR3. Today, i'm looking to build a new gaming rig. I've kept up with CPUs/GPUs/SSDs/RAM but little else.

My budget is 2K for a tower

Inside is Fury X or 980ti GPU, 1TB m.2 SSD, i7 skylake and I dunno about the rest of the components,
.....

Whats changed? Intel cpus are on top now. Cases are getting smaller, m-atx motherboards are getting more popular. Check out Fractal design's R3/R4 cases.

 

[z1ggy]

Let's not forget HMB2 in upcoming Pascal GPU's

I haven't built in 5 years myself, and I'll probably be building around cyber Monday of this year. I'll end up with a Skylake system, but probably get the 980Ti and wait to see how the 2016 line of cards stack up to see if I'll sell and upgrade.

 

[philipma1957]

Whats changed? Intel cpus are on top now. Cases are getting smaller, m-atx motherboards are getting more popular. Check out Fractal design's R3/R4 cases.

at the op

1) fractal r3/r4/ cases are rock solid.
2) seasonic,evga,corsair,antec all good psus.
3) an asus maximus gene VIII is a good matx mother board. will come out in the early fall
4) 2 sticks of 8gb ram many will say 2 sticks of 4gb ram is enough

5) note on the 1tb m2 sata ssd the maximus gene boards have a spot for it but 1tb m2 sata ssd's are not common

6) video cards r9 280x and r9 290 are decent and may be good enough.


I want to edit this for psu's


this is too small but I just purchased one it is nice


http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009X8E9D4?

they have a 650watt model which may work for you.

very goo d price for it 119.99

it is semi modular it has the 24 pin cable and the 8 pin cpu cable attached

my 450 watter has been good.

A question what will be your monitor?

I just got this one yesterday


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...bbr=1&cm_re=lg_monitor-_-24-025-189-_-Product

I post my thoughts on it after I set it up today.

 

[Kadarin]

I decided to start my build today, based on Asus X99 Deluxe and 5930K, using closed loop watercooling and a Fractal Design R5 case. I haven't bought the GPU yet, but it will probably be a variation of the 980Ti.