Published on February 11, 2015 By Island Dog In Personal Computing

You might have seen me mention it before, but my current main/gaming PC is around 7 years old.  I really can’t complain though, because it has lasted and really hasn’t caused any problems until now.  I built it then for around $600 or so, and it is the main PC I work with and play games on.  The past couple of months it has been difficult to start and keep running efficiently, so it’s time to start looking at a new build.

In a previous post I mentioned I was looking at a Mini-ITX system with a Corsair Carbide case, but after reading about many of the issues people were having with fitting a GeForce GTX 970 in them, I decided to find something different.  Yes, it could be done, but I don’t to worry about the hassles with it.

After more research and watching YouTube videos on it, I decided and purchased a NZXT S340 mid-tower case.  It has lots of room, great cable management, simple design, and really doesn’t take up that much room.

Photo Dec 21, 3 43 07 PM


Now for the rest of build:

The basic estimate for all this is around $1000.  I don’t think it’s too extravagant or expensive for what I’m going for.  The most expensive part is the video card, and while I could have gone cheaper I see no reason to as this is my main PC and what I will be gaming on for a while.

Right now I only have the case, so next is planning on how to acquire everything else and get it put together.

 

Update: Build is done!

I started the build on Friday night and spent several hours putting it together.  Just took my time to make sure everything was right, and it came together fine.

Spent the rest of the weekend getting Windows setup and getting the most important apps installed and data moved over to the new PC. 

Photo Feb 06, 9 35 22 PM

Photo Feb 06, 10 21 24 PM

Photo Feb 11, 1 50 54 PM


Comments (Page 4)
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on Feb 03, 2015



Quoting starkers,




Quoting Jafo,



Remember my golden rule....when first you power up close your eyes and put your fingers in your ears.



So what do you use to push the power button with your fingers in your ears? 

I suppose a big toe would suffice.



Unlike you I have more than one finger on each hand....

Oh i have ALL my fingers... AND thumbs.... but I'm thinking if I have a finger of each hand in each ear, then it brings my head ever-so close to that 'potential' explosion if I use a spare finger to press the button.... hence the big toe idea.... provides a bit of distance and could prevent 'potential' concussion.

The better idea is a set of industrial strength ear muffs and a long, long broomstick mounted on a mechanical device that allows you to press the button from the next room.... and if at first you don't hear a big bang [because of the ear muffs], you sniff to smell smoke..  If all's clear you go back into the room and start loading the OS, etc.

However, I don't know that ID will need to take such precautions.  He built his last rig and it lasted 7 years... so he must be doing something right.

Nah, the only person who puts his fingers in his ears is a novice or first time builder... or somebody who isn't entirely confident in his PC building ability.

on Feb 03, 2015

fooshniken

 Very Nice affordable machine. I don't want t o put a damper on the build but you might consider another video card. Some interesting reading.

http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/198214-198214

http://www.myce.com/news/nvidia-geforce-gtx-970-has-serious-performance-decreasing-memory-bug-74543/

 

https://forums.geforce.com/default/topic/806672/gtx-970-vram-rops-and-l2cache/

That's interesting regarding the GTX970.  When I begin to build my next machine I'll have to keep this in mind, given I had considered a 970 as a graphics solution.

on Feb 03, 2015

I haven't heard of anyone having actual issues because of it (self included), just in synthetic vram benchmarks. Still, nVidia should not be advertising it as a 4GB card when the upper 512MB runs barely faster than system memory. They should have advertised it appropriately (3.5GB with 512MB of supercache!) or just disabled it entirely.

Annoyingly, they are only offering refunds (and a promise of drivers that handle the design better), which puts folks without a video card for whatever time and means buying a more expensive model (or AMD) to get what is actually advertised. They should be comping folks with a retroactive discount for this fiasco.

on Feb 03, 2015

Kinda glad I went for the 980 ...

on Feb 03, 2015

 Another update ;

http://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/anton-shilov/nvidia-we-will-not-boost-geforce-gtx-970-performance-with-drivers/

 I don't think anyone knows how they are going to correct this fiasco.

on Feb 03, 2015

The 970 is still a fantastic card for the price and should hold up for a a few years at the least.  Most people wouldn't have even realized or noticed the memory issue.  Not saying what they did is right, but it's a non-issue for me.

Otherwise, some other notes on my build:

I was going to get at least a 2TB hard drive, but Best Buy had a faster 1TB on sale for $39, and that was too good to pass up.  I'd rather have a faster drive than settle for a slower one with a bit more capacity.

I also found a 256GB SSD on sale for about $90 which was also a great price, and makes my above point even more.

Switched from a small water cooler to a fan cooler. Not overclocking and don't intend to.  Could have gotten away with stock cooler, but a $30 investment is a good fan cooler is a smart move I think.

Some of these changes allowed me to save a nice bit of money without giving up any performance.

 

 

on Feb 11, 2015

Updated with build pics.

on Feb 11, 2015

Island Dog

Updated with build pics.

Yeah, very nice... very nice indeed.  I have to say, that is a very nice looking case, too... compact yet roomy through a great design.

So with that case and those components you should have a great PC experience for years to come.  Congrats.

on Feb 11, 2015

Nice cable management.

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