Need a seal of approval on this $1500-1600 new build

Darlok9 · Jan 18, 2015

Hi guys.. I am putting together this rig this week and would like a final stamp of approval from the Pros (you) and any advice on improvements or adjustments to make it better. My budget is $1500-1600 and the PC will mostly be used for video games (Mmos) such as World of Warcraft etc (not very demanding ones) I live close by a Microcenter but buying items from them is usually not the best idea due to tax issues.. I prefer to get items from Newegg as there is no tax or S&H costs and items arrive in NYC from their NJ warehouse within the following day, so yeah :0 Anyway please let me know if the Asus Pro Mobo+Cpu combo from Microcenter for $450 is a good deal. I can either go that route or pick the MSI Gaming 5 Motherboard with the same Cpu combo deal for $390, which is $60 less. Not sure if that would be a good idea.. Btw I'm NOT planning on overclocking... Also will the PSU be sufficient? Let me know what u guys think.. Thanks

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($300.00) bundled with MOBO (tax included)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($28.75 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Asus Z97-PRO(Wi-Fi ac) ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($185.00) bundled with CPU (tax included)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LP 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($159.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Samsung 850 Pro Series 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($162.00 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital BLACK SERIES 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($73.98 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 970 4GB Video Card ($399.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Fractal Design Define R5 ATX Mid Tower Case ($114.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: SeaSonic 660W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($127.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($18.75 @ OutletPC)
Total: $1571.44
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-01-18 02:04 EST-0500

Skylarz · Jan 18, 2015

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($317.75 @ OutletPC)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($28.75 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: MSI Z97-GAMING 5 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($72.25)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($64.98 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 850 Pro Series 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($162.00 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($49.88 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 4GB WINDFORCE Video Card ($359.99 @ Amazon)
Case: NZXT Phantom (Black) ATX Full Tower Case ($104.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: SeaSonic 620W 80+ Bronze Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($54.99 @ Amazon)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24F1ST DVD/CD Writer ($14.98 @ OutletPC)
Wireless Network Adapter: Asus PCE-AC68 802.11a/b/g/n/ac PCI-Express x1 Wi-Fi Adapter ($96.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $1327.55
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-01-18 02:29 EST-0500

If you need me to explain any of these choices u can ask

Darlok9 · Jan 19, 2015

Hey man.. Ty for the suggestions.... I did a little reading and took some of your suggestions to heart. I can't get that PSU for $55 .. It restocks in 2 weeks and i can't wait that long so I bought a Golden Series Seasonic from newegg yesterday for $80. After my purchase they hiked it up to $114. Weird? LOL @ newegg though.

Anyway here is my rig now

Here are my new componenets.. Some I purchased yesterday

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor ($305.00) w tax
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: MSI Z97 PC MATE ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($55.00 bundled with CPU from Microcenter)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory (Purchased For $123.00)
Storage: Samsung 850 Pro Series 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($169.99 @ B&H)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 970 4GB Video Card (Purchased For $399.00)
Case: Fractal Design Define R5 ATX Mid Tower Case ($119.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: SeaSonic 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (Purchased For $80.00)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($19.99 @ Micro Center)
Case Fan: Noctua NF-A14 FLX 68.0 CFM 140mm Fan (Purchased For $25.00)
Total: $1327.96
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-01-19 18:05 EST-0500

I just came back from Microcenter.. I basically got rid of the Hard disk.. I will reuse my old Seagate 1TB which I never used. I downgraded the PSU to Gold from Platinum..I also bought an extra Noctua 140mm fan as a 2nd intake for the Front of the Case. Not sure if I should purchase more Noctua fans or maybe focus on another brand that can do the job just as well as Noctua for half the price.. I don't know why i got that expensive fan as I wont be overclocking but oh well ;\ The Case comes with only 2 fans and I read somewhere that I need an extra for optimal balance in airflow inside the case.

I have a question.. I have a Lian Li V1000+ Case.. It's very old case but I bought it for like $290 back in the day... Very solid case and is all aluminum.. I also have a Corsair 620HX Modular PSU which has been running my rig (which i wanna get rid of) for quite some time now. Should I maybe, reuse the case and the PSU to save $210? Also the guy at Microcenter told me he can get me an EVGA 970 GTX 4GB or a Asus Strig 970 GTX 4GB for $340-350 if I ship back the MSI Gold Edition 970 i bought from Newegg yesterday for $400. Should I jump on that deal to shave off $60? I'm not really sure what I should do. Close to $300 savings and money in my pocket is always good, but I'm not sure it warrants the sacrifice I will be making on these components.. Any thoughts advice? Can I maybe downgrade the SSD to a lesser expensive one or will that be too trivial? I kinda like the 10 year warranty with the 850 PRO.. but was just wondering...

Also I was thinking of getting a 27 Inch Monitor.. My price range is $400-600 as I'm using a 21' crappy DELL.. The microcenter rep told me to wait for cheaper G-sync Monitors unless i wanna blow $800 on the ASUS ROG SWIFT, and I dont/wont... Was he right? Should I maybe just upgrade the 21 to a 27 1080p for like $200 while I wait on the new 1440 G-synch ones to come out at a more affordable price? I don't care much for 4k monitors... I kinda want a 1440 but a 1080 to get me by for a few months for sub $200 would suffice I guess. Any recommendations on that idea? Thanks again

Any advice will be appreciated.!!

g-unit1111 · Jan 19, 2015

I just came back from Microcenter.. I basically got rid of the Hard disk.. I will reuse my old Seagate 1TB which I never used. I downgraded the PSU to Gold from Platinum..I also bought an extra Noctua 140mm fan as a 2nd intake for the Front of the Case. Not sure if I should purchase more Noctua fans or maybe focus on another brand that can do the job just as well as Noctua for half the price.. I don't know why i got that expensive fan as I wont be overclocking but oh well ;\ The Case comes with only 2 fans and I read somewhere that I need an extra for optimal balance in airflow inside the case.

Actually Platinum PSUs are considered an upgrade from Golds. The Seasonic PSUs are excellent, I have the EVGA G2 and that's also a good choice for PSU. There's also a new P5 line that is designed to compete with the Seasonic, although EVGA uses the much better Super Flower platform and all of their high end supplies are fully modular. As far as the case fans go the Noctua fans are good, these are the fans I use and they are very well built and quiet: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835553015

I have a question.. I have a Lian Li V1000+ Case.. It's very old case but I bought it for like $290 back in the day... Very solid case and is all aluminum.. I also have a Corsair 620HX Modular PSU which has been running my rig (which i wanna get rid of) for quite some time now. Should I maybe, reuse the case and the PSU to save $210? Also the guy at Microcenter told me he can get me an EVGA 970 GTX 4GB or a Asus Strig 970 GTX 4GB for $340-350 if I ship back the MSI Gold Edition 970 i bought from Newegg yesterday for $400. Should I jump on that deal to shave off $60? I'm not really sure what I should do. Close to $300 savings and money in my pocket is always good, but I'm not sure it warrants the sacrifice I will be making on these components.. Any thoughts advice? Can I maybe downgrade the SSD to a lesser expensive one or will that be too trivial? I kinda like the 10 year warranty with the 850 PRO.. but was just wondering...

You can definitely reuse the case. I would not use such an old power supply mainly due to voltage regulation concerns that I would have regarding the PSU. You could downgrade the SSD but I wouldn't get anything other than Samsung - there's a few manufacturers out there like Plextor, Intel, and Crucial, but the Samsung drives get the best scores on read - write tests more than anything else. Warranties that last that long are kind of pointless for a product less than $200 - chances are about 95% good that you won't have that drive by the end of the 10 year lifespan.

Also I was thinking of getting a 27 Inch Monitor.. My price range is $400-600 as I'm using a 21' crappy DELL.. The microcenter rep told me to wait for cheaper G-sync Monitors unless i wanna blow $800 on the ASUS ROG SWIFT, and I dont/wont... Was he right? Should I maybe just upgrade the 21 to a 27 1080p for like $200 while I wait on the new 1440 G-synch ones to come out at a more affordable price? I don't care much for 4k monitors... I kinda want a 1440 but a 1080 to get me by for a few months for sub $200 would suffice I guess. Any recommendations on that idea? Thanks again

Yeah monitors that expensive are kind of ridiculous, and 4K can be a tricky beast to get going and work properly. I think 1440P is a good tradeoff if you want something much higher than 1080P.

Darlok9 · Jan 19, 2015

Oh hey G-unit... Yeah... Someone suggested i downgrade to a Bronze Seasonic that was listed for $55 on Amazon but Amazon didn't have them in stock until until 2 weeks from now and I can't wait that long... So instead of the the Bronze I stepped it up a little and went with the Gold X Series for $80 which came out $57 cheaper from the Platinum. The $55 Bronze Certified PSU was a good deal but with tax and S&H it was $65. So jumping from a $65 Bronze to $80 Gold Full Modular one seemed like it made alot of sense. The Platinum Series wasn't kinda worth it as I wouldn't be overclocking anyway.

As for the Case... I was kinda hoping on reusing the case along with the PSU>. but since you made a good point about the PSu I will just sell my old rig to my brother for pennies on the dollar. The case is awesome but 1 flaw in it is no cable management due to it being an old case.

The monitors is the only thing I have an issue with right now.. It is my primary concern at the moment because my DELL 21 inch is horrible. Either I get a 27' 1080p Panel now in the 200-$300 range to get me by until the new 1440p Gsynch models come out within the few months for $400-500 OR I just wait. I'm not sure what to do. Is shelling out $300 for a 1080p Panel which i will eventually upgrade within a few months to 1440p 27 inch Gsynch monitor worth it? I don't know.. What do u think?

Also.. I have 4 cougars in my Old rig now.. They're awesome.. I replaced the Case fans of my Case about 4 years ago and these suckers work great.

g-unit1111 · Jan 19, 2015

Darlok9 :

No that's not a good suggestion - if anyone suggests that you downgrade the quality of your PSU to save a few bucks, they don't know what they are talking about. That's not the area where you want to save money. You can find fairly good quality PSUs around the $100 mark: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817438018

I have that same supply and it's great. I don't know why you wouldn't overclock - most motherboards these days like the one I have will practically do it for you. I have my 4690K running at 4.00GHz and temps hover around the 39'C - 43'C mark on idle.

As for the Case... I was kinda hoping on reusing the case along with the PSU>. but since you made a good point about the PSu I will just sell my old rig to my brother for pennies on the dollar. The case is awesome but 1 flaw in it is no cable management due to it being an old case.

Yeah you definitely want cable management in a modern rig. Having a full modular PSU is also a plus.

The monitors is the only thing I have an issue with right now.. It is my primary concern at the moment because my DELL 21 inch is horrible. Either I get a 27' 1080p Panel now in the 200-$300 range to get me by until the new 1440p Gsynch models come out within the few months for $400-500 OR I just wait. I'm not sure what to do. Is shelling out $300 for a 1080p Panel which i will eventually upgrade within a few months to 1440p 27 inch Gsynch monitor worth it? I don't know.. What do u think?

I actually don't really think that's a good idea. Because in the long run you're essentially blowing $300 on a monitor only to use it as a place holder for something better. You can definitely get some good monitors above 1080P around the $400 range provided you don't buy one of those aftermarket displays that are commonly sold on eBay. Those are decent panels but it's a gamble since the manufacturer buys the panels that were rejected from Apple displays and those aren't covered under warranty in a new box. I personally would not buy the same part twice or take a risk with aftermarket monitors - it's a gamble and you're better off buying the part once.

Darlok9 · Jan 21, 2015

Heya... Okay.. Got all the parts already... Total with taxes and S&H for everything came out to be $1381... Getting a $30 mail in discounts so $1350 for my rig.

As for the monitor!! I saw a side to side comparison of an $279 Asus 1080 display next to a Dell U27UH1 , 1440p one @ Microcenter.. and OMFG!! the Asus blew that $650 Dell out of the water!!! I thought Dell was the top dog in the LED Dept, but boy was I in for a surprise.. That 1080p Asus was SIMPLY amazeballs! Can't say much about benchmark tests since the 2 monitors were just shuffling throughScenic backgrounds but the Asus was a clear winner, by a longshot.. I actually almost bought it too... Wish they had the pb287 1440 Asus demo'd.

mdocod · Jan 21, 2015

I think the original build looked great but I probably would have opted for anything other than the 212EVO simply because it doesn't "fit" with the rest of the build in terms of quality. The 212EVO is just a mainstream thing everyone throws in every budget rig, very boring. I would have graced that wonderful looking selection of parts with a Noctua, Phanteks, or Thermalright HSF.

Darlok9 · Jan 21, 2015

mdocod I actually thought about the Noctua, but that was like $45 more and I dont really plan on overclocking so didn't see the need for it. I planned on getting the Noctua CPU cooler with the i7-5820k... The i7-5820k would've cost me $390 more with the ram/mobo equivalents... I heard the Evo is decent enough to keep a 4ghz quad pretty cool. I have the EVO here in a box.. I might return it? I dont know... I'll see how well it cools the CPU when i put the rig together tomorrow.. I've been using a Zalman 97000 CPS for the old PC i'm on and it's pretty nice if i must say so myself.. Lasted me for 8 yrs LOL and still no sign of ware & tare.

If i decide to change for the Noctua now.. I would probably need a slightly better MOBO and just overclock... Would be kinda waste of a CPU Cooler if i dont plan on OC'ing.. Also I think i would need to replace the Ram as there wouldn't be enough clearance for the Noctua.... I dont really want to do that though..... I'll take any other suggestions though... Thanks!

Darlok9 · Jan 21, 2015

Funny thing is.. I bought an extra $25 140 MM Noctua Fan from Newegg for the Case... Hmm.. u got me thinking now... How much could I OC this sucker with a better mobo and a Noctua Cpu cooler... and what temps should i be looking at without OC'ing at Idle/Load and with a mediocre OC? Pretty much, what is the temperature diff between an Oc'd and none Oc'd 4970k idling and under load?

mdocod · Jan 21, 2015

The cooling performance of the 212EVO is actually fantastic, you could overclock just fine on it.. My issue was more one of novelty than anything else.. a $30 mainstream (boring) cooler in such a nice build just seemed out of place.

Now that I review the thread.. I see that a few of those really nice components you had selected for the original build were abandoned (near $200 board, plat PSU etc)... never-mind

Darlok9 · Jan 21, 2015

yeah man.. LOL... I realized that the Quad Core i had listed before was only $100 cheaper than a HexaCore... So it was kinda pointless for me to go with QUAD and not Hexa... I opted out for the QUad and saved almost $400.. I might upgrade to a Hexa 2-3 yrs down the line. Dont think I need it yet. :0

Darlok9 · Jan 23, 2015

Okay i just built this sucker.. I'm having some issues.. :\

Hi guys.. I just put this rig together today... I have a problem which you may help me with.. I have a Windows XP CD and a Windows 64 7 PRO Retail "UPGRADE" Cd.. I first Install the XP then I upgrade with the Retail... However... I dont know why but I couldn't install the Windows XP CD in this new rig until I switched the Hard Drive Settings to IDE in the BIOS.. If i didn't do that It was giving me Blue screens.. Everything is recognized in the BIOS...

I installed Windows XP using the IDE Mode and am in the process of upgrading all the drivers now. However I noticed my keyboard and mouse sometimes loser power periodically between certain screens.. Doesn't happen all the time but sometimes.. Is that a driver issue? Like when I get a Windows Welcome screen and it prompts me to enter my password.. When i get that prompt.. I try to put in my password right away but the keyboard like loses power along with the mouse sometimes.. After 2 seconds it gets it back.. What component is that an issue with? Or is it because the drivers aren't updated? I am using a Microsoft Natural PRO keyboard (Very old keyboard) And I got the Razer Naga 2014 mouse.. (I didn't install the drivers for these devices yet... They are just running off windows drivers) But should I be getting a delay with or without drivers? Let me know thanks...

Also, back to my issue at hand with the IDE/SATA modes.. How can i change the IDE hardisk to SATA.. When I go to bios and select ACHPI mode or something like that (which is the SATA mode i think).. It blue screens me... I can only do IDE mode otherwise it's BSOD... Is there a big difference between SATA and IDE? Let me know guys.. Thanks

Btw.. that Noctua fan kix ass, compared to the Stock Case fans.. I'm seriously thinking of exchanging the ram for Low Profile ram.. and even exchanging the heatsink for a Noctua.. + getting 2 Noctua fans for my Case... Not sure if i should do that... Thinking about it... Please let me know guys.. Thanks

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor (Purchased For $279.99)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (Purchased For $36.99)
Motherboard: MSI Z97 PC MATE ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (Purchased For $59.99)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory (Purchased For $123.00)
Storage: Samsung 850 Pro Series 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (Purchased For $164.99)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 970 4GB Video Card (Purchased For $400.00)
Case: Fractal Design Define R5 ATX Mid Tower Case (Purchased For $119.99)
Power Supply: SeaSonic 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (Purchased For $80.00)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer (Purchased For $19.99)
Case Fan: Noctua NF-A14 FLX 68.0 CFM 140mm Fan (Purchased For $25.00)
Total: $1309.94
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-01-23 10:03 EST-0500

mdocod · Jan 23, 2015

You would need to modify your XP installer to have AHCI support for this to work. windows doesn't seem to allow us to switch back and forth from AHCI to IDE modes after installation. If you want to run AHCI mode (yes, you want to run AHCI mode), you're probably going to need to start your installation procedure in AHCI mode. Do a Google search for "AHCI XP slipstream" and make a USB thumb drive installer.

It doesn't surprise me at all if you're having major hardware support issues and driver conflict trying to get XP on a machine this new.

Darlok9 · Jan 25, 2015

Hey guys back... I actually just used my Win 7 PRO Retail Upgrade disk as a clean install instead of an upgrade and it acted as a Full Retail Copy.. I read somewhere that Microsoft made some changes to the older OS.. So now i have a full running OS off an upgrade disk.

Btw.> i put the system together and Having some minor issues with it.. I shouldn't have listened to someone here and tried corners on the Motherboard.. The PcMate sux ballz.. The connectors on the back are flimsy and loose as hell.. I feel as if I move my case they'll fall out! Also it doesn't always power on my Keyboard and or Mouse at startup (rarely happens but i've had it happen several times especially while installing all the software.. I'm going to be replacing that MOBO with a $200 ASUS mobo (Hero VII)

I also, for some reason.. My Monitor loses screen picture.. I'm not sure what's at fault here.. The Video Card or not? Every so often (sometimes doesn't happen for a few hours) my screen goes black... Sometimes for 1 second, and at times for 20+ seconds... The power on the monitor doesn't go off.. because i see the LED light is on.. But it just goes blank and it's annoying! Also in games like World of Warcraft, sometimes i notice a blue line running across the screen.. (rarely see it) but sometimes it's there.. and i noticed yesterday in World of warcraft that a texture wasn't loading.. There should've been a GOLD coin texture in the game and it was just a black square box... Happened with several of the same textures. I'm not sure if it's my Video card or not... I have an Old DELL 23 Inch LCD Monitor.. So that could also be an issue... But my screen going black is annoying as hell...

Also sometimes when i type.. I notice a hugggggge delay in my typing... Like.. when i write on this forum and use the back arrow.. The cursor freezes and stops alottt!! Wtf is going on? let me know guys..

I will be doing minor changes while i still can .. I will be replacing the MOBO.. and preferrably the CPU Cooler (Although the Cooler is good) But i will be getting the NOCTUA seeing as it can clear my ram sticks.

Also a minor question... Should i upgrade my PSU to a Platinum Version? I have the GOLD and it seems to be good but I'm not certain it will be good enough for a light OC.. But i might try to oc in the near future.... Not sure yet... Let me know what u guys think.. Thanks

Darlok9 · Jan 25, 2015

Btw guys.. Just as a heads up.. I just ran 3D Mark on my PC (First time) And I'm getting lots of coil noise from the MSI GTX 970... My card sounds like a boiling kettle of water at the ICE STORM Scene.!... Anyway.. Going to RMA this thing.. Anyway.. please let me know about the PSU.. TY

*Side note update* OH!!! WTF?? I'm going to have to pay return S&H For an Rma? that's gonna be like $20 from NYC!! O JEEZUS!! Errr.. Guys.. What do u think? Should I return my the MSI 970 GTX to Newegg for a refund and just buy an Asus Strig or EVGA from Microcenter? It might save me S&H in the long run...The GPUS at Microcenter $50-60 cheaper than the Golden Edition and I live 10 mins away from a Microcenter... Any thoughts? I dont play the latest titles.. And just curious if the Golden edition warrants the premium as opposed to the other GTX Cards that Microcenter carries..

Thanks alot btw guys

Darlok9 · Jan 25, 2015

btw.. an update... Someone suggest most if not all cards will whine running 3D benchmark because there's no FPS limit. I read up on it and did some digging.. Set my MSI Afterburner settings with RIva Tuner Server software to 200 limit on my screen and alll the coil whine noise went away. NO more coil whine noise.. Now I just have to figure out what the cause of my monitor flickering is.

What should I do btw.. Do really all cards suffer from coil whine running 3D benchmarks? Please let me know guys... Thanks

mdocod · Jan 25, 2015

Mate series motherboards are indeed MSI's "junk" line of stuff. Probably some of the worst built motherboards out there. I'm fairly confident they are derived from their OEM division. Start by replacing that and lets see if that clears up any of your other glitches.

How many times have you sat down at a cheap emachine and thought to yourself; "man this thing is a glitchy nightmare that doesn't perform right..." ----garbage quality motherboards have a lot to do with that.

You can overclock all you want with an i7-4790K+GTX970 on a nice 650W PSU like that without a problem. I see no reason to upgrade. The efficiency rating is just one piece of a larger puzzle there. While upgrading efficiency does buy the PSU more thermal headroom (all other things being equal), you already have about 200W worth of headroom beyond the peak power dissipation of your machine with the i7 overclocked, so I don't really see the point.

Newegg should cover shipping if you're exchanging a defective product within the allowed return/exchange period. Get your motherboard swapped out, do a fresh install, etc. If you're still having video glitches, exchange the card as defective and hopefully you'll solve your coil wine at the same time. Then if you're still not happy with the new card, return it and pay the shipping/restock whatever and try a different brand.

Darlok9 · Jan 25, 2015

Yeah bro... Thanks for the quick reply... I spoke with Neweggs Live Chat and at first they tried to give me the run around.. I felt as if I was hustling with these guys to get a Refund for a Video Card that I had in my possession for 3 days... I never once in 16 yrs ever since I had a Credit Card had to return anything back and ask for a REFUND from any company. Not even from newegg!.. I always felt bad for doing that... Verrrry verrry rarely did I exchange/replace an item in my entire life! But yeah.. After a little chat The Online Newegg rep told me he'll talk to his supervisor and see what he can do.. He said he'll email me today with the answer. I can always dispute the claim with my CC (First Dispute I would be filing in my life) I have excellent credit btw with 3 cards in 10-20k+ spending limit rage... but annnnyway... that's a lot of babble..

Thanks for the heads up.. I actually am thinking now... I am thinking since i will be upgrading to such a nice board... If i should also get 2 more Noctua fans to replace the Fractal Stocks.. and Get a Nh-d14 Noctua cooler to replace the Evo 212 and just do a minor OC... I dont really need the CPU power since i only play World of Warcraft and Secondlife but it would be a nice feature to have, in case I might try to do it in the near future.... Not sure what to do.. I should've actually never tried to cut a lil corners to save a few dollars.. I kinda knew a good system would run me around 1500-1600 which is why my title in original post said $1500-1600 build.. I brought it down to $1370 whereas I should've went with my original build. I will try to correct that mistake before it's too late... The Noctua is a large friggin cooler though..

I'm thinking of just returning this MSI to Newegg and buying an equivalent from the Microcenter.. I live like 10 mins away from Microcenter.. Maybe take my chances with the Coil whine issue and the monitor blackouts with them (if they do happen). I am reading that TONS of people are having problems with this Coil Whine issue... But yeah.. I hope its' the video card that's causing the black out screens for me. Yesterday i was on the phone with my friend and my screen blacked out for 20 seconds a few times!!! I was like WTF? And when running a few benchmarks today it kept blacking out at times (and no, not during cut scenes) since i reran the benchmarks a few times to see if the cut scenes were normal. What do u think man? Specifically about the Evo vs noctua ?

*on a side note* I just found out i signed up for New Egg's Premier membership 2 weeks ago so return shipping is covered for free. It would seem that the time factor would be my only issue with Newegg now if I want a replacement and not a Refund.

mdocod · Jan 25, 2015

To be honest, I don't think you'll notice a huge difference in cooling at the CPU between the EVO and a big noctua on a 22nm 1150 socket intel chip. Maybe a few degrees, maybe enough for a 100mhz difference in overclocking at best.

The big "bottleneck" in cooling these tiny CPU's is right there from the CPU to the cooler... A D14 on top of a 32nm piledriver can keep the chip in check at near 300W power levels. On Haswell, the thermal density is greater, enormous HSF's just don't scale as well here... 22nm quads start hitting the upper limit of practical overclocking ~130-160W on any sort of mainstream liquid sink-to-ambient cooling.

The reason to use a noctua in favor of a 212EVO is built quality, reliability, and noise, not so much temps. I'd probably go with the NH-U12P SE2 in this application unless you want to eek out every last drop of possible overclock on traditional cooling options.

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Regarding the coil wine on the GTX 900 series... I think both nvidia and the vendors building these GPUs are to blame here. Nvidia's reference design for a GTX970 calls for a 145W maximum design power limit. However, unlike Kepler generation GPUs, where the reference design power limit was very near the maximum limit allowed, Maxwell generation has come with a lot of "freedom" for vendors to run cards at much higher than reference design power levels. Unfortunately, I suspect a lot of these vendors simply ran with near-reference design voltage regulation and are just over-driving the stink out of it in order to be as competitive as possible with each-other, at the risk of coil wine, among other nasty side effects that will likely begin to show as these cards age...

The fact that you're having loud noise from your non-reference MSI card, is bothersome, and suggests to me perhaps a defective card. (all your other problems with the video point to a defective card also).

Darlok9 · Jan 26, 2015

Okay.. popped in the new MOBO (Asus Rog VII Maximus Hero.. and OMGAWD... 10x better.. My idle temps opposed to the MATE have went down by 5' My PC idled at 38-39 with the MSI MATE.. This one idles at 33. The overall quality/weight of the board surpasses that of the PC MATE.... It's got 9 Motherboard screws opposed to 5 from the PC Mate (my Fractal R5 Define uses 1) The IO Shield has foam padded cushions ffs lol... I'm happy with it overall for now... The hero is not Flimsy at all... Components clicked in nice and firm.. Didn't have to worry about it breaking/cracking in half every time I plugged in any type of connector like I did with the Pc Mate.

Tried installing Windows 7 again and it didn't register... Was giving me some weird errors.. I called Microsoft for a live activation and these Indian tech support guys wanted $80 from me for a 1 time help to activate my windows copy.. I told them I had a copy already I just dont get AHCI support..Extortion!! Dont think they knew what I was talking about.. I said forget about it.. Mind u i was on the pone with them for over 30 mins, them reassuring me i have nothing to worry about. I then did a quick search and activated my Win 7 Upgrade edition to full retail using the Automated Phone system... Have a genuine copy of Windows and overall happy i wasn't scammed by Microsoft outsourced tech support.

This card is awesome.. I'm just updating everyting to see how well it fares against that POS PC Mate

Thanks btw guys for being active participants on my thread and helping me out.. I might not say THank u to you personally by mentioning your name in my replies but I really appreciate the support ALOT.. I really mean it.. TY.. I've been outta the loop when it comes to components for quite a bit and needed kinda a crash course to catch up! Ty again.. You're all great :0

Darlok9 · Jan 31, 2015

BUILT the beast finally! Had major issues with the 970 GTX.... TY Microcenter for the fast exchanges/replacements!. 3 970 GTX. 1: MSI Golden Edition, 2: Asus Strix, and 3: G1 Gaming Gigabyte, all had coil issues at all 3D benchmarks. I just threw in the towel and got a 960 GTX and a 27 Asus LED panel. Those 2 things were almost identical in price as a single 970 GTX with replacement policy from Microcenter... But yeah.. I opted out and got the MSI 960 GTX Gaming 2GB of Ram and a Nice Asus Mx278 LED panel as a temporary fill in until better GPUS and 120 mhz Gsync monitors hit the market. No coil whine on the 960 Gaming GTX... Imagine that? It's an okay card.. Does what I need it to do... Not as great as the 970 but good enough.. Thanks guys for all your help!

Need a seal of approval on this $1500-1600 new build

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