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Mad Cow's Build a Killer Gaming Rig on a Budget Thread (4 Viewers)

Dragons said:
Sarnoff said:
Corporation said:
Sarnoff said:
:blackdot:

I've built my own PC once before, but this summer, I'm thinking I need to tackle a virtual pinball machine.
Click to expand...
I just read this, did you get this knocked out?
Click to expand...
Yeah, works great. Got an insane deal on an old widebody pinball machine from '79 ("Paragon") that had been gutted for parts on the inside. So the guy gave me the cabinet, with the legs, lockdown bar, backbox, coin door, and the glass top for next to nothing. I cannibalized my 46" TV in the living room for the playfield (gave me an excuse to upgrade to a 50") and bought two refurb monitors off Woot & Newegg.

Inside I put an old power supply, a quad-core i5, GTX660 graphics card, MSI Z77A-G45 "Gaming" motherboard, 250GB solid-state drive, and 8GB RAM. One intake fan where the pinball speaker used to be under the machine, and 3 exhaust fans in the back.

Drilled holes for the control buttons and wired up the I-PAC keyboard encoder, which connects to the motherboard via USB. I have a 8-ft USB extension cord in there as well so I can add new tables by downloading them to my main computer, then putting them on a thumbdrive. The computer lives near the back of the cabinet so the extension cord allows me to just open the coin door at the front to get to the USB connection. I did not need a CD/DVD-ROM drive, except I did have to briefly borrow an external drive just long enough to install the OS. I had an old Wireless Keyboard USB Receiver that matches the one on my main PC, so I just walk over with the same keyboard whenever I need to.

I also put in a 75ft Ethernet cable so I can remote-access the PC if need be, but I'm trying to keep it off the internet if at all possible. Just don't want any bloatware or anything getting involved. Turned off the firewall and almost all the Windows Services I could so it stays screaming fast.

It only ever really runs two programs, Visual Pinball does all the rendering of the machines and Hyperpin is the snazzy frontend to navigate between tables.

The two refurb monitors I used standard wallmounts to get them positioned as the backbox displays. One emulates the translite, the other the dot-matrix graphics. I got away with just using one video card to drive the playfield and am running the two display monitors off the mobo's VGA & HDMI outs. The dot-matrix display is a small monitor set to just 16bit color, so it doesn't take any real power to run.

I ended up just using the TV speakers for audio. I snipped the wires and extended them so they ran back into the backbox. The TV had to be taken apart to just the display screen itself, outside of the plastic case, to fit inside the cabinet.

Took about 4 weekends. Right now it's got 70 tables. The hardest part, really, is once you get it about halfway there, and are testing things out, it's just so addictive to play that you don't want to stop to finish working on the detail parts. The thing was in pieces for over a week, just the main playfield and the flipper buttons were working, but I was just having so much fun I didn't want to stop playing.
Click to expand...
Awesome! :thumbup:

How much did it cost you (including factoring in something for the re-purposed TVs)?
Click to expand...
I'm probably into it about $1500, if you add in the cost of the 50" TV I bought to replace the 46" that got used for the playfield. Considering that my favorite individual game costs about $6K used, it was an OK deal. Definitely saved a ton by finding the old pinball machine to use for the cabinet instead of having to build one from a kit or fabricate one out of plywood.

 
So I'm sure I could investigate, but I'm wondering if there are any reliable ways to set up a dual boot system. I love my setup, but my wife and kids just hammer it with crap, making it run slow. I've used kvm for separate systems before, but a kvm for 3 lcds that I have going on is stupid expensive. I'd like to add an ssd and another big drive and be able to have my own private system within a system.

 
Sarnoff said:
Dragons said:
Sarnoff said:
Corporation said:
Sarnoff said:
:blackdot:

I've built my own PC once before, but this summer, I'm thinking I need to tackle a virtual pinball machine.
Click to expand...
I just read this, did you get this knocked out?
Click to expand...
Yeah, works great. Got an insane deal on an old widebody pinball machine from '79 ("Paragon") that had been gutted for parts on the inside. So the guy gave me the cabinet, with the legs, lockdown bar, backbox, coin door, and the glass top for next to nothing. I cannibalized my 46" TV in the living room for the playfield (gave me an excuse to upgrade to a 50") and bought two refurb monitors off Woot & Newegg.

Inside I put an old power supply, a quad-core i5, GTX660 graphics card, MSI Z77A-G45 "Gaming" motherboard, 250GB solid-state drive, and 8GB RAM. One intake fan where the pinball speaker used to be under the machine, and 3 exhaust fans in the back.

Drilled holes for the control buttons and wired up the I-PAC keyboard encoder, which connects to the motherboard via USB. I have a 8-ft USB extension cord in there as well so I can add new tables by downloading them to my main computer, then putting them on a thumbdrive. The computer lives near the back of the cabinet so the extension cord allows me to just open the coin door at the front to get to the USB connection. I did not need a CD/DVD-ROM drive, except I did have to briefly borrow an external drive just long enough to install the OS. I had an old Wireless Keyboard USB Receiver that matches the one on my main PC, so I just walk over with the same keyboard whenever I need to.

I also put in a 75ft Ethernet cable so I can remote-access the PC if need be, but I'm trying to keep it off the internet if at all possible. Just don't want any bloatware or anything getting involved. Turned off the firewall and almost all the Windows Services I could so it stays screaming fast.

It only ever really runs two programs, Visual Pinball does all the rendering of the machines and Hyperpin is the snazzy frontend to navigate between tables.

The two refurb monitors I used standard wallmounts to get them positioned as the backbox displays. One emulates the translite, the other the dot-matrix graphics. I got away with just using one video card to drive the playfield and am running the two display monitors off the mobo's VGA & HDMI outs. The dot-matrix display is a small monitor set to just 16bit color, so it doesn't take any real power to run.

I ended up just using the TV speakers for audio. I snipped the wires and extended them so they ran back into the backbox. The TV had to be taken apart to just the display screen itself, outside of the plastic case, to fit inside the cabinet.

Took about 4 weekends. Right now it's got 70 tables. The hardest part, really, is once you get it about halfway there, and are testing things out, it's just so addictive to play that you don't want to stop to finish working on the detail parts. The thing was in pieces for over a week, just the main playfield and the flipper buttons were working, but I was just having so much fun I didn't want to stop playing.
Click to expand...
Awesome! :thumbup: How much did it cost you (including factoring in something for the re-purposed TVs)?
Click to expand...
I'm probably into it about $1500, if you add in the cost of the 50" TV I bought to replace the 46" that got used for the playfield. Considering that my favorite individual game costs about $6K used, it was an OK deal. Definitely saved a ton by finding the old pinball machine to use for the cabinet instead of having to build one from a kit or fabricate one out of plywood.
Click to expand...
Post a pic or video if you get a chance. A few years ago I built a MAME arcade, it was one of the most rewarding projects I've ever done (I'm not very handy).

Very cool :thumbup:

 
Mad Cow said:
So I'm sure I could investigate, but I'm wondering if there are any reliable ways to set up a dual boot system. I love my setup, but my wife and kids just hammer it with crap, making it run slow. I've used kvm for separate systems before, but a kvm for 3 lcds that I have going on is stupid expensive. I'd like to add an ssd and another big drive and be able to have my own private system within a system.
Click to expand...
There definitely is. Lots of people dual boot. Mostly Linux and Windows, but you can do 2 different Windows installations too.

I haven't actually done 2 Windows installations so I can't offer a ton of advice other than to say it is possible.

 
PlasmaDogPlasma said:
Mad Cow said:
So I'm sure I could investigate, but I'm wondering if there are any reliable ways to set up a dual boot system. I love my setup, but my wife and kids just hammer it with crap, making it run slow. I've used kvm for separate systems before, but a kvm for 3 lcds that I have going on is stupid expensive. I'd like to add an ssd and another big drive and be able to have my own private system within a system.
Click to expand...
There definitely is. Lots of people dual boot. Mostly Linux and Windows, but you can do 2 different Windows installations too.

I haven't actually done 2 Windows installations so I can't offer a ton of advice other than to say it is possible.
Click to expand...
I would just build them their own rig and make yours off-limits. I kind of do that already in a way -- my media server is my "junk drawer" PC and all my crap software goes on that (GPS, Harmony, Telephony, etc), leaving my gaming rig pristine.

An alternative to dual booting is also virtualization. I haven't done anything with that but a few of my colleagues use it all the time.

 
Zasada said:
PlasmaDogPlasma said:
Mad Cow said:
So I'm sure I could investigate, but I'm wondering if there are any reliable ways to set up a dual boot system. I love my setup, but my wife and kids just hammer it with crap, making it run slow. I've used kvm for separate systems before, but a kvm for 3 lcds that I have going on is stupid expensive. I'd like to add an ssd and another big drive and be able to have my own private system within a system.
Click to expand...
There definitely is. Lots of people dual boot. Mostly Linux and Windows, but you can do 2 different Windows installations too.

I haven't actually done 2 Windows installations so I can't offer a ton of advice other than to say it is possible.
Click to expand...
I would just build them their own rig and make yours off-limits. I kind of do that already in a way -- my media server is my "junk drawer" PC and all my crap software goes on that (GPS, Harmony, Telephony, etc), leaving my gaming rig pristine.

An alternative to dual booting is also virtualization. I haven't done anything with that but a few of my colleagues use it all the time.
Click to expand...
I use Microsoft's free Hyper-V Server Core. I've virtualized 4 of my servers (including my DC) and two desktops.

Hyper-V free is all command line, though, but for geeks like me that's not an issue.

 
Just built my third Lan Party box. I built one for myself, and almost immediately two of my friends decided they wanted one too. One of them went even higher-end than me (pretty much as powerful a video card you can hope to fit in this enclosure, due to the size and limitations of a SFF PSU):

[SIZE=medium]Component Vendor[/SIZE] [SIZE=medium]Part[/SIZE] [SIZE=medium]Cost[/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]CPU Micro Center[/SIZE] [SIZE=medium]Intel Core i5-4670K CPU[/SIZE] [SIZE=medium]214.49 [/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Mobo Micro Center[/SIZE] [SIZE=medium]Gigabyte GA-Z87N-WIFI 1150 MITX[/SIZE] [SIZE=medium]107.24 [/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]RAM Micro Center[/SIZE] [SIZE=medium]Crucial 16GB 2X8D3 1600 VLP SPORT[/SIZE][SIZE=medium] 120.65 [/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Case Newegg[/SIZE] [SIZE=medium]Silverstone SG05BB-LITE[/SIZE] [SIZE=medium]39.99 [/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]PSU Newegg[/SIZE] [SIZE=medium]Silverstone ST45SF 450W RT[/SIZE] [SIZE=medium]64.99 [/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Heatsink Newegg[/SIZE] [SIZE=medium]Silverstone NT06-PRO R[/SIZE] [SIZE=medium]58.00 [/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]SSD Newegg[/SIZE] [SIZE=medium]Samsung MZ-7TE250BW R 250GB[/SIZE] [SIZE=medium]169.99 [/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]HDD B&H Photo[/SIZE] [SIZE=medium]Hitachi HGST HGHDIS34 4TB[/SIZE] [SIZE=medium]151.99 [/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Vidcard Newegg[/SIZE] [SIZE=medium]XFX FX797ATDJC HD7970 3G R[/SIZE] [SIZE=medium]258.99 [/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]PCI-E Cables eBay[/SIZE] [SIZE=medium]Right-angle PCI-E Power Cables[/SIZE] [SIZE=medium]10.38 [/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Case Handles FrozenCPU[/SIZE] [SIZE=medium]GearGrip Micro LT Harness[/SIZE] [SIZE=medium]24.63 [/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]OS N/A[/SIZE] [SIZE=medium]Win7 Ultimate 64bit[/SIZE] [SIZE=medium]- [/SIZE]

[SIZE=medium]Total 1,221.33 [/SIZE]

It was tough finding a 7970 short enough to fit in the case. This XFX one was among the few (pic).

Things are really tight (pic) but I burned it in running Prime95 and FurMark simultaneously and it was stable. With a touch of undervolting, CPU temps stayed below 75C. Not desktop-standard but not too shabby considering the enclosure and low-profile heatsink. Power consumption when running both torture tests was right at 450W (measured from the wall) which isn't something I would design for. But FurMark is stupid with its power consumption, and when gaming (BF3, WoW, SC2) power consumption topped-out at a much more reasonable (and sustainable) 380W.

Photo with cat to give a feel for the size.

Got a Lan Party back home set for this weekend, so my ITX box is going to make its first trip. I also discovered that I can fit two of these bad boys in my (slightly oversized) rollaboard. /flex

 
Last edited by a moderator:
MaxThreshold said:
Zasada said:
PlasmaDogPlasma said:
Mad Cow said:
So I'm sure I could investigate, but I'm wondering if there are any reliable ways to set up a dual boot system. I love my setup, but my wife and kids just hammer it with crap, making it run slow. I've used kvm for separate systems before, but a kvm for 3 lcds that I have going on is stupid expensive. I'd like to add an ssd and another big drive and be able to have my own private system within a system.
Click to expand...
There definitely is. Lots of people dual boot. Mostly Linux and Windows, but you can do 2 different Windows installations too.

I haven't actually done 2 Windows installations so I can't offer a ton of advice other than to say it is possible.
Click to expand...
I would just build them their own rig and make yours off-limits. I kind of do that already in a way -- my media server is my "junk drawer" PC and all my crap software goes on that (GPS, Harmony, Telephony, etc), leaving my gaming rig pristine.

An alternative to dual booting is also virtualization. I haven't done anything with that but a few of my colleagues use it all the time.
Click to expand...
I use Microsoft's free Hyper-V Server Core. I've virtualized 4 of my servers (including my DC) and two desktops.

Hyper-V free is all command line, though, but for geeks like me that's not an issue.
Click to expand...
I just got a Haswell 13" Retina MacBook Pro. My first Apple device. :bag: But the screen is just so purty. And the battery life is so good that I don't have to lug a spare battery around like I did with my old ultraportable. Saves me a pound in my travel weight, which is a big deal to me.

Office for Mac really blows. Outlook isn't nearly as good as Office 2013 Outlook.

I installed VMware Fusion and set up a Win8.1 VM. Just getting a feel for how that works. When I'm assigning CPU cores to it, can I assign all four cores (2 physical + 2 hyperthreading), and then it will share with OSX, or will everything get all jumbled? I would love to spend much of my time in the Win8.1 VM, but I don't want to cripple it with fewer CPUs and RAM if I don't have to.

 
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How about now?

We need a new computer in the house (my kid wants to play Minecraft with some buddies) and I wouldn't mind making it a gaming machine with the possibility of making it an HTPC.

But sticking strictly with gaming, can you put something decent together in the $400-$500 range? What components would you recommend? Or is that budget too low for anything that could be considered decent?

 
Andy Dufresne said:
How about now?

We need a new computer in the house (my kid wants to play Minecraft with some buddies) and I wouldn't mind making it a gaming machine with the possibility of making it an HTPC.

But sticking strictly with gaming, can you put something decent together in the $400-$500 range? What components would you recommend? Or is that budget too low for anything that could be considered decent?
Click to expand...
Anyone?

 
Andy Dufresne said:
Andy Dufresne said:
How about now?

We need a new computer in the house (my kid wants to play Minecraft with some buddies) and I wouldn't mind making it a gaming machine with the possibility of making it an HTPC.

But sticking strictly with gaming, can you put something decent together in the $400-$500 range? What components would you recommend? Or is that budget too low for anything that could be considered decent?
Click to expand...
Anyone?
Click to expand...
Minecraft doesn't take much to run, but 500 is pretty low. Probably best off trying to find a low end PC for around 400 and then buying a cheap GPU. Building from scratch for a "decent" setup is probably going to be in the 750 range.

 
I'd have to look at this later. I'm at the airport waiting to pick up my daughters from their trip to Ohio. What do you have to use, or is it complete?

 
Mad Cow said:
I'd have to look at this later. I'm at the airport waiting to pick up my daughters from their trip to Ohio. What do you have to use, or is it complete?
Click to expand...
I got nothin'. A buddy said he'd give me a case and a power supply if I wanted to build something.

 
Andy Dufresne said:
Andy Dufresne said:
How about now?

We need a new computer in the house (my kid wants to play Minecraft with some buddies) and I wouldn't mind making it a gaming machine with the possibility of making it an HTPC.

But sticking strictly with gaming, can you put something decent together in the $400-$500 range? What components would you recommend? Or is that budget too low for anything that could be considered decent?
Click to expand...
Anyone?
Click to expand...
I think a gaming machine/HTPC might need a graphics card in the $150-200 range, maybe? That's a big chunk of the budget right there. Mobo might be $100, CPU is in the $200 range... gonna need RAM... not sure if the budget will get you there.

 
barebone kit including case and PS ~ $350 - $400 for a quad core chip and 4GB ram, GPU ~$150 for low end 2GB card with HD, Windows ~$100. This won't get you the best of what's available or a state of the art gaming rig, but will be more than enough for HTPC and most games out there other than some of the hardcore online games. check out some of the barebone deals on newegg to start, those are usually good quality stuff. frys weekly circulars have great bare bone kits also for cheap.

 
is this setup any good? i'm too lazy to actually build one myself...guy has it listed for 700...

-Asus VE278Q 27-Inch Full-HD LED Monitor with Integrated Speakers
-Corsair Vengeance Blue 8GB(2x4gb) DDR3 SDRAM Dual Channel Memory Kit
-OCZ Solid 3 SLD3-25SAT3-60G 2.5" 60GB SATA III MLC
-XFX HD-695X-CNDC Radeon HD 6950 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card
-COOLER MASTER HAF 922 ATX Mid Tower Computer Case with Side window
-AMD Phenom II X6 1100T Black Edition Thuban 3.3GHz, 3.7GHz Turbo Socket AM3 125W Desktop Processor
-LITE-ON DVD Burner - Bulk Black SATA Model iHAS124-04 - OEM
-Seagate Barracuda ST31000524AS 1TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive Bare Drive
-RAZER Arctosa Black USB Wired Standard Gaming Keyboard
-MSI 990FXA-GD80 AM3+ AMD 990FX SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard
-Rosewill Xtreme Series RX850-S-B 850W Continuous @40°C ,80 PLUS Certified, ATX12V v2.2 & EPS12V v2.91, SLI Ready CrossFire Ready

 
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or this for 500..

OS: Windows 8.1 Pro Professional 64-bit
Installed Memory (RAM): 8.00GB
Video Adapter: NVIDIA GeForce GT 430
Disk Drive: WDC WD2500BEVS-26UST0 ATA Device
Disk Drive: ST3160023AS ATA Device (160 GB, 7200 RPM, SATA)
Optical Drive: PHILIPS DVD+-RW DVD8701 ATA Device
CPUID CPU Name: AMD Phenom II X6 1055T Processor
Motherboard: ASUS M4N98TD EVO
Disk Drive: ST3160023AS ATA Device (160 GB, 7200 RPM, SATA)
Power Supply: Thermaltake TR2 TR-600 600W ATX12V v2.3 SLI CrossFire Power Supply
Cooling: Antec Kuhler H20 620
Case: RAIDMAX SMILODON Extreme Black ATX-612WEB 1.0mm SECC Steel ATX Mid Tower Foldout MB

Includes:
D-Link DWA-125 Wireless N 150 USB Adapter
Monitor: Compaq WF1907 Wide LCD Monitor (19.1")
Keyboard: Steelseries Apex [RAW] Gaming Keyboard / Steelseries (with orginal packaging)
Gaming mouse pad
All necessary wiring

 
Sorry out of town and now trying to catch up with everything.

I am actually to a point where I am thinking of building a monster rig with an ASUS ROG Mobo, a Titan or R 290 GPU, etc. Screw budget. :bag:

 
Mad Cow...do you build rigs for sale?

Seems like you could turn a decent profit while providing quality rigs...even if you did here for just fbg's members.

I know I'd be interested.

I'm just too damned lazy to get into this stuff anymore...guess I'm getting old...but I'd like a nice set up that I wouldn't have to worry about for a while in regards to having to upgrade but if I did, just plug and play the upgrade when it happens.

 
About 5 months ago the wife and I bought a new machine from Costco. 12 gigs ram, 1T of memory, etc.

The other day I purchase Assassins Creed 4: Black Flag. It runs, and the graphics are very good. However, it is extremely choppy/lagging.

What would fix this? A more powerful graphics card I can install myself?

 
tdoss said:
Mad Cow...do you build rigs for sale?

Seems like you could turn a decent profit while providing quality rigs...even if you did here for just fbg's members.

I know I'd be interested.

I'm just too damned lazy to get into this stuff anymore...guess I'm getting old...but I'd like a nice set up that I wouldn't have to worry about for a while in regards to having to upgrade but if I did, just plug and play the upgrade when it happens.
Click to expand...
I have been an active free consultant for years for friends and fbgs on building their own but do not build for profit. Don't have the time or desire for it. My optometry office keeps me more than busy enough. I'd be happy to steer you to a prebuilt system if you give me a budget, however.

 
Hastur said:
About 5 months ago the wife and I bought a new machine from Costco. 12 gigs ram, 1T of memory, etc.

The other day I purchase Assassins Creed 4: Black Flag. It runs, and the graphics are very good. However, it is extremely choppy/lagging.

What would fix this? A more powerful graphics card I can install myself?
Click to expand...
What are the full specs? Cpu, gpu, etc.

 
Mad Cow said:
tdoss said:
Mad Cow...do you build rigs for sale?

Seems like you could turn a decent profit while providing quality rigs...even if you did here for just fbg's members.

I know I'd be interested.

I'm just too damned lazy to get into this stuff anymore...guess I'm getting old...but I'd like a nice set up that I wouldn't have to worry about for a while in regards to having to upgrade but if I did, just plug and play the upgrade when it happens.
Click to expand...
I have been an active free consultant for years for friends and fbgs on building their own but do not build for profit. Don't have the time or desire for it. My optometry office keeps me more than busy enough. I'd be happy to steer you to a prebuilt system if you give me a budget, however.
Click to expand...
Thanks brotha...I'll PM you when I figure out how much I want to spend and what it is I'd like it to accomplish.

 
Mad Cow said:
Hastur said:
About 5 months ago the wife and I bought a new machine from Costco. 12 gigs ram, 1T of memory, etc.

The other day I purchase Assassins Creed 4: Black Flag. It runs, and the graphics are very good. However, it is extremely choppy/lagging.

What would fix this? A more powerful graphics card I can install myself?
Click to expand...
What are the full specs? Cpu, gpu, etc.
Click to expand...
Running Win8. 64-bit Operating System, x64-based processor

Intel Core i5-333OS CPU @2.70GHz

Intel® HD Graphics

 
Hastur said:
Mad Cow said:
Hastur said:
About 5 months ago the wife and I bought a new machine from Costco. 12 gigs ram, 1T of memory, etc.

The other day I purchase Assassins Creed 4: Black Flag. It runs, and the graphics are very good. However, it is extremely choppy/lagging.

What would fix this? A more powerful graphics card I can install myself?
Click to expand...
What are the full specs? Cpu, gpu, etc.
Click to expand...
Running Win8. 64-bit Operating System, x64-based processor

Intel Core i5-333OS CPU @2.70GHz

Intel® HD Graphics
Click to expand...
Also bought Diablo III, and that runs fine.

 
Hastur said:
Hastur said:
Mad Cow said:
Hastur said:
About 5 months ago the wife and I bought a new machine from Costco. 12 gigs ram, 1T of memory, etc.

The other day I purchase Assassins Creed 4: Black Flag. It runs, and the graphics are very good. However, it is extremely choppy/lagging.

What would fix this? A more powerful graphics card I can install myself?
Click to expand...
What are the full specs? Cpu, gpu, etc.
Click to expand...
Running Win8. 64-bit Operating System, x64-based processorIntel Core i5-333OS CPU @2.70GHz

Intel® HD Graphics
Click to expand...
Also bought Diablo III, and that runs fine.
Click to expand...
You need a dedicated gpu. That integrated crap is crap for games.
 
Mad Cow said:
Hastur said:
Hastur said:
Mad Cow said:
Hastur said:
About 5 months ago the wife and I bought a new machine from Costco. 12 gigs ram, 1T of memory, etc.

The other day I purchase Assassins Creed 4: Black Flag. It runs, and the graphics are very good. However, it is extremely choppy/lagging.

What would fix this? A more powerful graphics card I can install myself?
Click to expand...
What are the full specs? Cpu, gpu, etc.
Click to expand...
Running Win8. 64-bit Operating System, x64-based processorIntel Core i5-333OS CPU @2.70GHz

Intel® HD Graphics
Click to expand...
Also bought Diablo III, and that runs fine.
Click to expand...
You need a dedicated gpu. That integrated crap is crap for games.
Click to expand...
Are you able to shut off the onboard graphics and install a dedicated? Or is that not even worth it and you have to get a new mobo?

 
tdoss said:
Mad Cow said:
Hastur said:
Hastur said:
Mad Cow said:
Hastur said:
About 5 months ago the wife and I bought a new machine from Costco. 12 gigs ram, 1T of memory, etc.

The other day I purchase Assassins Creed 4: Black Flag. It runs, and the graphics are very good. However, it is extremely choppy/lagging.

What would fix this? A more powerful graphics card I can install myself?
Click to expand...
What are the full specs? Cpu, gpu, etc.
Click to expand...
Running Win8. 64-bit Operating System, x64-based processorIntel Core i5-333OS CPU @2.70GHz

Intel® HD Graphics
Click to expand...
Also bought Diablo III, and that runs fine.
Click to expand...
You need a dedicated gpu. That integrated crap is crap for games.
Click to expand...
Are you able to shut off the onboard graphics and install a dedicated? Or is that not even worth it and you have to get a new mobo?
Click to expand...
Absolutely. Now you might need a new psu depending on the one you have now as well.

 
I would think that now would be a good time to hold off building or buying a new high end rig. DDR4 should be coming up pretty quickly and I would think you'd want to wait until it does to either get the new tech, or to get a decent discount on the DDR3 based architectures.

I'm pretty much in holding myself. I think the new tech should be in right around the time this new gen of games that were designed around the new consoles start to drop in price.

 
The Tick said:
I would think that now would be a good time to hold off building or buying a new high end rig. DDR4 should be coming up pretty quickly and I would think you'd want to wait until it does to either get the new tech, or to get a decent discount on the DDR3 based architectures.

I'm pretty much in holding myself. I think the new tech should be in right around the time this new gen of games that were designed around the new consoles start to drop in price.
Click to expand...
The new RAM tech is available and the effects are in place. DDR3 is super cheap, 4 is a little out of reach for all but the eye docs among us. But you may be correct in holding. New video cards are on the horizon with added focus on oculus impact. New cards always affect the price if the last high end cards.

 
Some new GPU news on the horizon, but nothing out of this world. My home system is still very nice, but just itching to do something.

THIS MONSTER just dropped $500 in price, and is now the cost of those 2 cards by itself, let alone the liquid cooling. :nerd:

 
My sons system finally died (he was still rocking the 8800 GT) so it may be time for me to upgrade and pass mine down. He still has a lot of useable parts (DDR 3 and SSD), so hook me up with some good value CPU mobo psu and gpu.

 
So yeah, I might just have to pony up for a pair of the 970's in SLi. That is damn impressive performance for the $$ spent. Example of it outperforming setups almost double the cost.

 
So I'm still futzing with this setup. I have a power supply, HD, and a copy of Windows 8.1, and the case.

It's currently "running" (meaning not running/stuff crashes all the time) an AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core Processor 4000+. Whatever that means.

And the video card is an NVIDIA GeForce 6100 nForce 405.

In other words, it's one step from the garbage but for the new HD and power supply.

Set me up with a cheap MOBO + Processor combo. You know, for the Minecraft thing to run.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Andy Dufresne said:
So I'm still futzing with this setup. I have a power supply, HD, and a copy of Windows 8.1, and the case.

Set me up with a cheap MOBO + Processor combo.
Click to expand...
What PSU do you have? What do you want it for? Any gaming?

More than mobo and CPU, we need RAM, SSD/HDD, GPU, etc.

 
Mad Cow said:
Andy Dufresne said:
So I'm still futzing with this setup. I have a power supply, HD, and a copy of Windows 8.1, and the case.

Set me up with a cheap MOBO + Processor combo.
Click to expand...
What PSU do you have? What do you want it for? Any gaming?

More than mobo and CPU, we need RAM, SSD/HDD, GPU, etc.
Click to expand...
I have a Corsair 600w PSU. 1TB HDD.

Light gaming with the ability to upgrade later.

Keep it simple. You're already talking over my head. I don't need this thing to morph into Skynet/Colossus some day. This doesn't have to be a "killer" setup.

I'm already taking into account that I'll need something around 8gb of RAM.

If I can be told what a good mobo/cpu combo would be, I'm pretty sure I can take it from there.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Andy Dufresne said:
Mad Cow said:
Andy Dufresne said:
So I'm still futzing with this setup. I have a power supply, HD, and a copy of Windows 8.1, and the case.

Set me up with a cheap MOBO + Processor combo.
Click to expand...
What PSU do you have? What do you want it for? Any gaming?

More than mobo and CPU, we need RAM, SSD/HDD, GPU, etc.
Click to expand...
I have a Corsair 600w PSU. 1TB HDD.

Light gaming with the ability to upgrade later.

Keep it simple. You're already talking over my head. I don't need this thing to morph into Skynet/Colossus some day. This doesn't have to be a "killer" setup.

I'm already taking into account that I'll need something around 8gb of RAM.

If I can be told what a good mobo/cpu combo would be, I'm pretty sure I can take it from there.
Click to expand...
The video card, however, is critical here in terms of gaming and budget.

 
Mad Cow said:
Andy Dufresne said:
Mad Cow said:
Andy Dufresne said:
So I'm still futzing with this setup. I have a power supply, HD, and a copy of Windows 8.1, and the case.

Set me up with a cheap MOBO + Processor combo.
Click to expand...
What PSU do you have? What do you want it for? Any gaming?

More than mobo and CPU, we need RAM, SSD/HDD, GPU, etc.
Click to expand...
I have a Corsair 600w PSU. 1TB HDD.

Light gaming with the ability to upgrade later.

Keep it simple. You're already talking over my head. I don't need this thing to morph into Skynet/Colossus some day. This doesn't have to be a "killer" setup.

I'm already taking into account that I'll need something around 8gb of RAM.

If I can be told what a good mobo/cpu combo would be, I'm pretty sure I can take it from there.
Click to expand...
The video card, however, is critical here in terms of gaming and budget.
Click to expand...
I know. I'll deal with that later. That's the "ability to upgrade" part.

I know it's hard not to go into "expert beast" mode, GB. ;)

 
Here's what I'm getting at.

I'm pretty sure if I get an EVGA Z87 Stinger and pair it with an i3-4160 with 8gb of RAM that I'll be able to do just about anything (well, except for the pro gamer type stuff) in terms of video.

But for the casual, extra PC that is only going to run Minecraft and some Steam deal games, is that overkill?

 
I would say if you want any gaming, including Minecraft, you need a video card there, sport. :) I can choose the lowest possible one for it, if you want.

 
I am going to just throw out a mobo, CPU and GPU. Give a holler for whatever else you need in terms of HDD, etc.

 
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