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How much vram do I need?

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September 27, 2014 7:38:48 AM

This is the set up I'm going to buy (I'm on a strict budget)
http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/3WBKnQ

In the future I want to be able to have dual monitors. I will only ever be gaming on one at a time, I want to play games like battlefiled 3/4, dayz, minecraft and call of duty at ultra settings 1080p.

For example, when I'm gaming on one monitors (let's just say bf4) I will have the other monitor with the game map showing.

On the gtx 770 it has 2gb vram, for the 2 monitors, will this mean I have fps drops?
someone please explain

More about : vram

a b C Monitor
September 27, 2014 8:25:05 AM

2GB VRAM is very tight for dual monitors. Heck, on some games (looking at you Watch Dogs) 2GB single monitor is tight.

Also, I'd go with a different motherboard for that build, one with a Z97 chipset. Otherwise you can't overclock, making that 4690K pointless. You'll also need a cooler for overclocking.

For the GPU you have a couple of options. You can go AMD and get a 3GB R9 280X, though 3GB is still a little tight for dual monitors. You can also get a 4GB GTX 760. You'll lose some overall performance but you'll have enough VRAM.
The third option is to keep saving for a while and get a GTX 970. Better performance, more VRAM, and a very good price for what you get.

EDIT: Here's an example using the GTX 760 4GB. I changed the case to keep you in budget, while retaining proper support for the GPU length-wise:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor (£171.54 @ Aria PC)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (£24.96 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: MSI Z97 PC MATE ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£61.08 @ Ebuyer)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory (£60.77 @ Ebuyer)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£35.94 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 760 4GB Superclocked ACX Video Card (£208.33 @ Scan.co.uk)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case (£44.75 @ Aria PC)
Power Supply: XFX 650W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply (£61.98 @ Scan.co.uk)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer (£10.98 @ CCL Computers)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) (£69.65 @ CCL Computers)
Monitor: Asus VE247H 23.6" Monitor (£119.99 @ Aria PC)
Total: £869.97
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-09-27 16:33 BST+0100
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September 27, 2014 10:47:23 AM

Vexillarius said:
2GB VRAM is very tight for dual monitors. Heck, on some games (looking at you Watch Dogs) 2GB single monitor is tight.

Also, I'd go with a different motherboard for that build, one with a Z97 chipset. Otherwise you can't overclock, making that 4690K pointless. You'll also need a cooler for overclocking.

For the GPU you have a couple of options. You can go AMD and get a 3GB R9 280X, though 3GB is still a little tight for dual monitors. You can also get a 4GB GTX 760. You'll lose some overall performance but you'll have enough VRAM.
The third option is to keep saving for a while and get a GTX 970. Better performance, more VRAM, and a very good price for what you get.

EDIT: Here's an example using the GTX 760 4GB. I changed the case to keep you in budget, while retaining proper support for the GPU length-wise:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor (£171.54 @ Aria PC)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (£24.96 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: MSI Z97 PC MATE ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£61.08 @ Ebuyer)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory (£60.77 @ Ebuyer)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£35.94 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 760 4GB Superclocked ACX Video Card (£208.33 @ Scan.co.uk)
Case: Corsair 200R ATX Mid Tower Case (£44.75 @ Aria PC)
Power Supply: XFX 650W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply (£61.98 @ Scan.co.uk)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer (£10.98 @ CCL Computers)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) (£69.65 @ CCL Computers)
Monitor: Asus VE247H 23.6" Monitor (£119.99 @ Aria PC)
Total: £869.97
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-09-27 16:33 BST+0100


What are the actually benefits of overclocking? and is it worth it for the money. For overclocking i'll need a non "k" intel cpu, an aftermarket cooler and a good motherboard, is it really worth it paying the extra money when I could put that towards a better gpu?

look at these two builds and decide which is better for price/performance

http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/zrwdMp

or there

http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/7rtzpg


http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/zP4vsY


http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/NpZvsY

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a b C Monitor
September 27, 2014 11:40:04 AM

You need a CPU that is a K-series to overclock. AMD's FX series is also overclockable.
Benefits are increased performance in CPU-intensive tasks. It's also quite fun once you get the hang of it.
It also allows you to squeeze more life out of the CPU when it gets close to being outdated.

However, overclocking is by no means required. A regular i5-4690 will do perfectly fine for gaming. On a budget like this putting the money towards a better GPU instead may very well be worth it, especially if you need that extra VRAM.

If you don't care for overclocking I'd go with the first build, with a few changes so the CPU and motherboard are a good match:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor (£158.00 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: ASRock Fatal1ty H97 Killer ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£55.99 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory (£60.77 @ Ebuyer)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£37.97 @ CCL Computers)
Video Card: Zotac GeForce GTX 970 4GB Video Card (£259.16 @ Scan.co.uk)
Case: NZXT Phantom 410 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case (£65.99 @ Novatech)
Power Supply: XFX 650W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply (£61.98 @ Scan.co.uk)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer (£10.98 @ CCL Computers)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) (£69.65 @ CCL Computers)
Monitor: Asus VE247H 23.6" Monitor (£119.99 @ Aria PC)
Total: £900.48
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-09-27 19:31 BST+0100

For some reason the price for the motherboard didn't register in the build you posted, that's why it's a little more expensive.

An aftermarket cooler is never a bad idea by the way, the stock coolers are usually sufficient, but not by a large margin and they tend to be a little loud. It's not required if you're not overclocking though, so don't worry about it if you can't afford to add one.

All in all, this is a very good gaming build that should be able to handle dual monitors without a problem.
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September 27, 2014 12:08:21 PM

Vexillarius said:
You need a CPU that is a K-series to overclock. AMD's FX series is also overclockable.
Benefits are increased performance in CPU-intensive tasks. It's also quite fun once you get the hang of it.
It also allows you to squeeze more life out of the CPU when it gets close to being outdated.

However, overclocking is by no means required. A regular i5-4690 will do perfectly fine for gaming. On a budget like this putting the money towards a better GPU instead may very well be worth it, especially if you need that extra VRAM.

If you don't care for overclocking I'd go with the first build, with a few changes so the CPU and motherboard are a good match:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor (£158.00 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: ASRock Fatal1ty H97 Killer ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£55.99 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory (£60.77 @ Ebuyer)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£37.97 @ CCL Computers)
Video Card: Zotac GeForce GTX 970 4GB Video Card (£259.16 @ Scan.co.uk)
Case: NZXT Phantom 410 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case (£65.99 @ Novatech)
Power Supply: XFX 650W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply (£61.98 @ Scan.co.uk)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer (£10.98 @ CCL Computers)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) (£69.65 @ CCL Computers)
Monitor: Asus VE247H 23.6" Monitor (£119.99 @ Aria PC)
Total: £900.48
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-09-27 19:31 BST+0100

For some reason the price for the motherboard didn't register in the build you posted, that's why it's a little more expensive.

An aftermarket cooler is never a bad idea by the way, the stock coolers are usually sufficient, but not by a large margin and they tend to be a little loud. It's not required if you're not overclocking though, so don't worry about it if you can't afford to add one.

All in all, this is a very good gaming build that should be able to handle dual monitors without a problem.


There's also this one I made, This is a much cooler version and It will allow me to overclock in the futre

http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/PwZNsY
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a b C Monitor
September 27, 2014 12:24:23 PM

The board has a B85 chipset though, which doesn't go well with Haswell-R CPUs and it actually doesn't give you any overclocking. You need both a K-series CPU and a motherboard with a Z-series chipset, Z97 in particular for Haswell-R.

You'd also be back to 2GB VRAM.

The absolute cheapest Z97 board you can get is the MSI Z97 PC Mate. That would give you this:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor (£171.54 @ Aria PC)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (£24.96 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: MSI Z97 PC MATE ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£61.08 @ Ebuyer)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory (£60.77 @ Ebuyer)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£37.97 @ CCL Computers)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 770 2GB WINDFORCE Video Card (£219.89 @ Scan.co.uk)
Case: Corsair 300R ATX Mid Tower Case (£51.97 @ Scan.co.uk)
Power Supply: XFX 650W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply (£61.98 @ Scan.co.uk)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer (£10.98 @ CCL Computers)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) (£69.65 @ CCL Computers)
Monitor: Asus VE247H 23.6" Monitor (£119.99 @ Aria PC)
Total: £890.78
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-09-27 20:23 BST+0100

Personally, I'd prefer the build in my previous post, with the GTX 970. The GPU downgrade just to enable overclocking is quite severe.
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September 27, 2014 1:08:25 PM

Vexillarius said:
The board has a B85 chipset though, which doesn't go well with Haswell-R CPUs and it actually doesn't give you any overclocking. You need both a K-series CPU and a motherboard with a Z-series chipset, Z97 in particular for Haswell-R.

You'd also be back to 2GB VRAM.

The absolute cheapest Z97 board you can get is the MSI Z97 PC Mate. That would give you this:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor (£171.54 @ Aria PC)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (£24.96 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: MSI Z97 PC MATE ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£61.08 @ Ebuyer)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory (£60.77 @ Ebuyer)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£37.97 @ CCL Computers)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 770 2GB WINDFORCE Video Card (£219.89 @ Scan.co.uk)
Case: Corsair 300R ATX Mid Tower Case (£51.97 @ Scan.co.uk)
Power Supply: XFX 650W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply (£61.98 @ Scan.co.uk)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer (£10.98 @ CCL Computers)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) (£69.65 @ CCL Computers)
Monitor: Asus VE247H 23.6" Monitor (£119.99 @ Aria PC)
Total: £890.78
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-09-27 20:23 BST+0100

Personally, I'd prefer the build in my previous post, with the GTX 970. The GPU downgrade just to enable overclocking is quite severe.


I just had a "fuck it" moment http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/Tctzpg I'm gonna do both, what mobo do u recommend for overclocking? (nothing too expensive)
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a b C Monitor
September 27, 2014 1:26:33 PM

It depends on what you want to spend on it.

On an unlimited budget I'd recommend the Asus Maximus VII series, if you don't want to spend a cent more than you have to I'd recommend the MSI Z97 PC Mate (£61). In between would be the Asus Z97-A (£106) which I'd highly recommend, the Gigabyte GA-Z97X-SLI (£88) and the Gigabyte GA-Z97X-Gaming 3 (£94). The ASRock Z97 Pro3 also looks good at £70, but I don't know much about it.

You'll also have to add that cooler for overclocking, the CM Hyper 212 Evo will allow for light to mild overclocking for only £25. It's unbeatable in it's price range.

You'd end up with something like this:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor (£171.54 @ Aria PC)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (£24.96 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97X-Gaming 3 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£93.56 @ Scan.co.uk)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory (£60.77 @ Ebuyer)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£37.97 @ CCL Computers)
Video Card: Zotac GeForce GTX 970 4GB Video Card (£259.16 @ Scan.co.uk)
Case: Corsair 300R ATX Mid Tower Case (£51.97 @ Scan.co.uk)
Power Supply: XFX 650W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply (£61.98 @ Scan.co.uk)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer (£10.98 @ CCL Computers)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) (£69.65 @ CCL Computers)
Monitor: Asus VE247H 23.6" Monitor (£119.99 @ Aria PC)
Total: £962.53
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-09-27 21:25 BST+0100
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September 27, 2014 1:41:13 PM

Vexillarius said:
It depends on what you want to spend on it.

On an unlimited budget I'd recommend the Asus Maximus VII series, if you don't want to spend a cent more than you have to I'd recommend the MSI Z97 PC Mate (£61). In between would be the Asus Z97-A (£106) which I'd highly recommend, the Gigabyte GA-Z97X-SLI (£88) and the Gigabyte GA-Z97X-Gaming 3 (£94). The ASRock Z97 Pro3 also looks good at £70, but I don't know much about it.

You'll also have to add that cooler for overclocking, the CM Hyper 212 Evo will allow for light to mild overclocking for only £25. It's unbeatable in it's price range.

You'd end up with something like this:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor (£171.54 @ Aria PC)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (£24.96 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97X-Gaming 3 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£93.56 @ Scan.co.uk)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory (£60.77 @ Ebuyer)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£37.97 @ CCL Computers)
Video Card: Zotac GeForce GTX 970 4GB Video Card (£259.16 @ Scan.co.uk)
Case: Corsair 300R ATX Mid Tower Case (£51.97 @ Scan.co.uk)
Power Supply: XFX 650W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply (£61.98 @ Scan.co.uk)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer (£10.98 @ CCL Computers)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (OEM) (64-bit) (£69.65 @ CCL Computers)
Monitor: Asus VE247H 23.6" Monitor (£119.99 @ Aria PC)
Total: £962.53
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-09-27 21:25 BST+0100


I'll add a h80i or something nearer the time, also, will the 650w be ok for overclocking? (also, another monitor) I want to try get to like 4.5ghz or something...also, is there any other ways to get Windows 7.. if you know what I mean
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a b C Monitor
September 27, 2014 2:24:19 PM

650w will be plenty. Monitors typically have their own power source so that doesn't add to the load on the PSU.

It's impossible to say how high of an overclock you'll be able to get, it depends on the individual chip. Some 4690K can go way higher than other 4690K. It's luck based. 4.5GHz is a reasonable goal though.

I'm not going to discuss 'other ways to get Windows winkwink nudgenudge', it's against forum rules.
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September 27, 2014 2:51:44 PM

Vexillarius said:
650w will be plenty. Monitors typically have their own power source so that doesn't add to the load on the PSU.

It's impossible to say how high of an overclock you'll be able to get, it depends on the individual chip. Some 4690K can go way higher than other 4690K. It's luck based. 4.5GHz is a reasonable goal though.

I'm not going to discuss 'other ways to get Windows winkwink nudgenudge', it's against forum rules.


awh I see ;)  haha, do you think this motherboard - http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/msi-motherboard-z87g45g...
would be alright? it supports sli thats one of the main reasons I picked it, and im not sure about the difference between the z87 and the z97
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a b C Monitor
September 27, 2014 3:09:28 PM

Z87 is the chipset for regular Haswell CPUs (4670, 4770, 4670K, 4770K, etc.) while Z97 is for Haswell-R (4690, 4790, 4690K, 4790K, etc.). Haswell-R will work on Z87 boards, but it'll require a BIOS update, which you usually can't do with an unsupported CPU. The board may ship with the right BIOS version, or it may not, in which case you'll have bought an £80 paperweight unless you happen to have a regular Haswell CPU laying around.

I strongly recommend going with a Z97 board. In fact, the Z97 version of the board you picked is only a couple pounds more expensive: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/msi-motherboard-z97g45g...
I've never owned this board, but it seems like a good board. 8-phase power which is good for overclocking, beefy heatsinks, a good audio chip, plenty of features. It also looks really good!
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September 27, 2014 3:33:26 PM

Vexillarius said:
Z87 is the chipset for regular Haswell CPUs (4670, 4770, 4670K, 4770K, etc.) while Z97 is for Haswell-R (4690, 4790, 4690K, 4790K, etc.). Haswell-R will work on Z87 boards, but it'll require a BIOS update, which you usually can't do with an unsupported CPU. The board may ship with the right BIOS version, or it may not, in which case you'll have bought an £80 paperweight unless you happen to have a regular Haswell CPU laying around.

I strongly recommend going with a Z97 board. In fact, the Z97 version of the board you picked is only a couple pounds more expensive: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/part/msi-motherboard-z97g45g...
I've never owned this board, but it seems like a good board. 8-phase power which is good for overclocking, beefy heatsinks, a good audio chip, plenty of features. It also looks really good!


right, finally I have got a build that I will do hah, http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/7GyYf7

I will buy and build this in a few weeks time ( as my house is getting an extension right now )
Once it's all done, later down the line I'm going to add another monitor and a cpu cooler (probably h80i)
then a samgsung evo 250gb ssd for games and I will put windows on there also
a windowed side panel for my case


all these "add ons" will be added now-and-then, when I have the money basically hah
and im just getting a cheap keyboard and mouse right now as I'm going to get a razer blackwidow ultimate for christmas and a razer deathadder
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a b C Monitor
September 27, 2014 4:31:32 PM

Sounds great, good luck! :) 
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!