Yeah that's about right. What size are the 4k and 1440p monitors? I think if you can drive the 1440 monitor to 100hz+ then it makes sense otherwise 4k at 60hz or less makes sense. Nvidia G Sync gives you a decent advantage though (if you normally run v-sync) because it's effectively v-sync without a performance hit.

2/12/2016 12:57:37 PM

i have a 32" 4k and a 27" 1440 that's the center of a 3 panel array (2x24's and 27). the 4k is my work screen in my office but considering going to the same setup at home, but i'm not sure i could drive decent framerates cost effectively to justify it

2/13/2016 1:33:33 PM

Finally got everything put together from the parts I bought in November (I've been busy) and then I remembered my Win 8 Pro is an upgrade version. I no longer have the Vista media/key that I updated from on the previous machine. Fuck.

Anyone have an old copy of Vista or Win7 retail with a clean key that I could buy off you? That would allow me to install my "Upgrade" 8 Pro and then upgrade again to 10, which is my intention.

2/15/2016 4:18:37 AM

you just need any sort of windows bits on the disk. download a win7 trial iso from MS, install and then install 8 over it

2/15/2016 11:22:56 AM

You can install from an upgrade disk on a blank drive.

2/15/2016 1:25:46 PM

It let me install on the blank drive but it won't activate. I can try the trial idea...

2/16/2016 12:18:44 PM

Just ordered a DAS Keyboard 4 Professional (brown cherry switches). Very excited. First mechanical keyboard (well since like the 90's).

2/19/2016 11:51:16 AM

Wow I totally forgot windows 8 existed

2/19/2016 2:38:20 PM

8.1 was an improvement in many ways over 7. Windows 10 is a huge improvement over both though. Other than dpi scaling still not working.

2/19/2016 3:34:10 PM

^^^ I just can't bring myself to spend $100+ on a keyboard.

2/19/2016 3:47:22 PM

I've never either (although spent more than that on a mouse) but my logitech K800 starting malfunctioning and my friends who have mechanicals rave about them. You can certainly get a mechanical for less than $100 but I had some Amazon credit and so it ended up only being $90 on my part.

The main problem is wanting one at work now as I type way more during the day at work...

2/19/2016 3:53:06 PM

Other than being "clicky" and not as mushy, is there really a difference? Granted, I don't have any experience with one other than about 10 seconds with a demo model at Best Buy, but I just don't understand the mechanical keyboard craze.

2/19/2016 4:27:21 PM

I was going to explain it myself but this guy does a good job of it:

http://www.polygon.com/2015/2/23/7372837/mechanical-keyboards

Quote :

"I fall in the "love them" camp. I credit my good taste not just with having grown up with typewriters, but because of my first experience with a computer keyboard. It came from Atari's odious pack-in controllers included with the 2600 cartridge Programming. The twin rectangular paddles slipped together to form a square keyboard made up of a number of bubbles imprinted with letters. To type you had to carefully depress a bubble, applying just enough pressure to type one letter and not multiples of that letter. When personal computers came out, many of them included mechanical keyboards — that is, keyboards that used a switch to convert the tap of a keystroke into a letter on a screen. King among these boards was IBM's fabled Model M. But as personal computers evolved, the keyboards used with them devolved. This was likely driven by the desire to reduce costs on a peripheral. A number of de-innovations stripped keyboards of their mechanical nature by the 1990s. The '90s saw the rise of a variety of slimmer, lighter, cheaper keyboards, including the membrane keyboard, scissor-switch and dome-switch keyboards, and capacitive keyboards, all of which gradually, quietly supplanted the mechanical keyboard for most inattentive users. I used these sub-nominal keyboards for many of my early years as a personal computer user. Once I shifted from the TRS-80 and its built-in keyboard to the early IBM PCs to the sort of PC that required either a new purchase or an included, often cheap keyboard, I unknowingly switched away from mechanical. But recently I had a moment of clarity. I mentioned to a friend that I was going through two or three keyboards a year, the keys having been pounded into submission and no longer working. My friend asked about mechanical keyboards. After a bit of research I realized that I had somehow shifted from the keyboards I loved to keyboards that I not only hated, but also the keyboards that couldn't stand up to my typing. For those of you who find yourselves in the same camp as me, but perhaps without that clarity, here is a rundown of some of the available mechanical keyboards out there. This is by no means meant to be a full representation of mechanical keyboards, nor even of the companies that produce them. Think of this as an entry into the world of mechanical keyboards. I've provided a bit of information about each, including the sorts of switches they use, how much they cost and what they feel like, having used each for a few weeks to a month. There are also videos in each entry showing me using them so you can see how they operate, and also, more importantly, hear the sound. While the feel of a mechanical keyboard is important, you new initiates may be surprised to find that the sound of a key being depressed, from a deep clack to a high-pitched ping, is what really wins over fans of a particular model or switch."

He more addresses the evolution of keyboards. From a usability perspective it's just night and day. The experience is much better. You type faster, easier, and the have more fun doing it. It takes less to activate a key and you can control/mod the switches to your liking.

--Also I don't think it's a craze per say. It's more like: keyboards used to be great, now they suck so people are starting to realize old school keyboards are better.

[Edited on February 19, 2016 at 4:59 PM. Reason : s]

2/19/2016 4:51:14 PM

I just bought my first mechanical keyboard. The Corsair Strafe RGB when it went on sale a few months back.

It's actually the first keyboard I ever bought, up until now I had been using a Dell keyboard that came with my computer for a good 10 years. There wasn't anything wrong with it but I wanted a keyboard with backlit keys.

I'm coming to the end of my adjustment period. At first it was hard to get used to, the keys have hair triggers so I'd get a lot of inadvertent keystrokes because of my sloppy typing. Now I can type just as fast on my new keyboard as I could on my older keyboard.

The RGB ended up being overkill. Nice in theory but I would have settled with a cheaper keyboard with just a red backlight.

2/19/2016 5:57:03 PM

^^ That's pretty circular. He's basically saying that mechanical keyboard are awesome because they're awesome.

I get that they're more robustly built; not that I've ever had a keyboard of any description wear out on me. Further, the only bad typing experience I ever have in on laptop keyboards where the key travel is really short and there isn't much resistance.

2/19/2016 6:58:04 PM

Yeah I guess at it's simplest the switches have much less resistance compared to membrane or other newer technologies so it's easier to type on them. So not only are you able to type faster but your fingers don't wear out as fast.

2/19/2016 7:21:01 PM

the grosser my original g15 gets, the harder replacements get to find.

2/19/2016 10:50:05 PM

Do you mean replacement parts for the G15 or just G15s in general? Maybe you could upgrade to a mechanical gaming keyboard? Get rid of that cheap membrane based keyboard.

2/21/2016 2:00:47 PM

it will be a cold day in hell before I get a loud keyboard. I take great pains to make my computer silent.

2/21/2016 2:03:50 PM

Haha in this case silent=cheap. You can get quieter mechanical keyboads (like ones with a Cherry MX Brown switch). Razer also sells their "stealth" mechanical keyboard which is pretty quiet.

2/21/2016 2:19:47 PM

Gaming build, please critque

Quote :

""

http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=21860634

2/22/2016 12:53:31 PM

So first off for a gaming build you're going to get a much bigger performance increase by putting money into a better video card. A 750 ti 2GB isn't going to perform that well. You should instead get a i5-4690k and save $100 to put into a better video card. A 4GB 960 for ~$209 will perform better and vram won't be a limiting factor.

Spending $1,424 on a gaming PC and only getting a $150 video card isn't a great plan. If you can budget $330-350 for a video card that would be even better (like for a Nvidia 970 or AMD 390).

Check these out:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/best-pc-builds,4390.html

Even the $1,250 builds have 970's. One even has a R9 390x.

2/22/2016 1:19:45 PM

^ was my first thought as well

2/22/2016 2:08:47 PM

finally got all my parts bought. only took the better part of 4 months

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/NdFQTW

[Edited on February 22, 2016 at 2:18 PM. Reason : now to see if i can put it together before april]

2/22/2016 2:12:00 PM

^^^ thanks

2/22/2016 5:36:19 PM

I'd go for this before I bought a bunch of parts
http://slickdeals.net/f/8518237-hp-desktop-intel-core-i7-6700-12gb-ddr4-2tb-hdd-gtx-970-wireless-ac-win-7-pro-890-free-shipping?v=1&src=SiteSearch

Specs:

HP ENVY 750se Desktop PC
Intel Core i7-6700 CPU (Quad-core 3.4GHz, 6th Gen, Skylake)
12GB DDR4-2133 (1x8GB+1x4GB) RAM Memory
2TB 7200 RPM SATA 6G Hard Drive
DVD Burner
Media Card Reader
4GB Nvidia GeForce GTX 970 [DL DVI-I, HDMI, DP, DP, DP]
HP Wireless 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac 1x1 with Bluetooth M.2 Adapter
500W Power supply
Windows 7 Professional 64
Keyboard + Mouse

for $900

[Edited on February 22, 2016 at 7:44 PM. Reason : .]

2/22/2016 7:42:25 PM

That's a good deal...aside from not being the 'K' version of the i-7.

2/22/2016 8:12:36 PM

that's available for $100 more

2/22/2016 10:16:09 PM

why would you get a K on an HP, you're not going to be overclocking on that

2/22/2016 11:04:50 PM

higher base clock

2/23/2016 9:38:54 AM

nvm - but yeah I'm always for picking out my own motherboard. Never had good luck with OEM stuff. They always pick the cheapest stuff that fits exactly the specs.

[Edited on February 23, 2016 at 10:31 AM. Reason : s]

2/23/2016 10:29:34 AM

I think my graphics card is dying. Anyone know when the new cards come out this year? I don't want to buy a card that's old in a couple months.

I have an AMD 7800 2gb that's a few years old. What's a decent modern upgrade that won't break the bank?

[Edited on April 29, 2016 at 9:20 PM. Reason : ]

4/29/2016 9:16:18 PM

Depends what you mean by break the bank but the Nvidia 960 4GB is a great card for the money:

http://www.amazon.com/EVGA-Installed-Backplate-Graphics-04G-P4-3966-KR/dp/B00UOYQ5LA

4/29/2016 11:54:46 PM

I'm actually considering going real cheap, with like a GTX 950 I can get for $140, until I'm ready for an entirely new build.

Hopefully this can keep my games running for a couple of years until I build something that's totally VR ready.

[Edited on April 30, 2016 at 8:36 AM. Reason : ]

4/30/2016 8:23:10 AM

A 960 w/ 4GB of vram for only $70 more is going to give you quite a boost compared to a 950 with only 2GB of vram. I only game at 1080p and almost every one of my games easily surpasses 2GB of vram. Makes sense especially if you want it to last a couple more years.

4/30/2016 4:13:47 PM

FYI - NVIDIA released Pascal last night. The 1080 and 1070. The 1080 is reported to be faster that 2 980ti's and the 1070 is faster than a Titan X. The 1080 is $599 and the 1070 Is $379. The 1080 goes on sale May 27th. If the performance data is true, this thing if freakin' awesome!

5/7/2016 3:25:23 PM

Quote :

"The 1080 is reported to be faster that 2 980ti's and the 1070 is faster than a Titan X."

No the report says it's faster than 2 980's not two 980ti's. If I remember correctly my oc'd 980ti was faster than two base 980's in some benchmark tests. Wonder when the 1080ti will come out...

5/7/2016 5:57:34 PM

Welp, I'm glad I got the cheap card last week

5/8/2016 2:00:58 PM

yea, my bad on that... I'm holding out for a non "founders edition" card. The reference design is said to have inadequate cooling. It should be a step up from my 690 though. I'm just hoping the 2600k won't be to much of a bottleneck. Anyone doing the Orderof10 challenge by NVIDIA?

5/19/2016 1:55:21 PM

Should be an upgrade from the 690?! The 980 ti is a huge upgrade from the 690. The 1080 could be like three times faster than a 690. That's a super old card.

5/19/2016 2:41:07 PM

Actually, the 690 performs between a 970 and a 980. Just because its super old doesn't mean its not a beast. I game at 1440p and it still kicks ass. The VRAM is what holds it back from turning up settings at high resolution. So upgrading to the 900 series didn't make much sense. There are plenty of benchmarks out there to back up my statements.

5/19/2016 4:21:02 PM

Yeah I understand that but initial reports are saying the 1080p is faster than two 980's so of course the 1080 will be a step up from the 690 is it's between a 970 and 980 but yes I see your point about not feeling the need to upgrade to the 9xx series.

5/19/2016 4:37:45 PM

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/amds-199-radeon-rx-480-graphics-card-is-vr-ready/1100-6440366/

hard to beat that price

6/1/2016 10:02:53 PM

Finally ordered my new case last night hoping it will spur me to start putting together my new system. Any suggestions on SSD drives or brands? What kinda size should I realistically be looking for using strictly as an OS and programs/games install. I have plenty of storage drives for all my media.

6/2/2016 8:30:32 AM

256GB minimum. go bigger if you're willing to pay

[Edited on June 2, 2016 at 8:35 AM. Reason : get samsung]

6/2/2016 8:34:58 AM

Yeah I was thinking in the 500 GB area should be fine but was mostly wondering if I should just consider going to 1 TB or not but figured that could be overkill.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820147373

Was looking at this one

[Edited on June 2, 2016 at 9:16 AM. Reason : .]

6/2/2016 8:59:49 AM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139138&cm_re=corsair_rmi-_-17-139-138-_-Product

Looking at this PS currently. Any concerns I should have? I have a 1000W in my current build but seems like they have reduced power consumption a lot recently so trying to drop down a little.

Probably gonna look into getting the new Nvidia 1070 card although the fact most of the games I play are Blizzard games thats probably overkill and may consider a cheaper option. Mostly considering it for future abilities as I am looking for this one to last me a good 3-5 years at least.

6/2/2016 10:27:16 AM

for any modern machine with a single CPU and single GPU, 650 is more than enough, even using AMD stuff. I have the 650 or 750 version of that and love that the fan turns off. I don't hear it

6/2/2016 12:14:32 PM

I want to future proof it some and I also usually run about 6 hard drives at least along with a bluray drive hence why I wanna make sure I have too much rather than save like 20 bucks now and not have enough later

6/2/2016 1:01:04 PM

I just bought a Samsung 850. Its dope.

6/2/2016 2:02:33 PM