Kermit

Im guessing you have an apple developer's license and got the SDK? Or maybe just pirated it off the internet? None of my business lol. But what I can say is that it is work in progress, and even when it gets released on the 17th there will be bugs. They may have a large Dev team working on it, trying to find bugs, but when millions of people use it for a few days, more and more glitches will surface, and apple will release patches like iOS 8.0.1 or something like that. Just be patient and maybe contact the Apple customer service department via the internet... You never know - they might listen to you and fix it. 

P.S. I don't have iOS 8 yet so I wouldn't know about the issue your talking about.

http://www.bose.com/controller?url=/shop_online/headphones/noise_cancelling_headphones/quietcomfort_25/index.jsp

Really quality headphones with noise-canceling ability. Big ear-cups and extendable band, but for a sharp price. I have an earlier version but these are very nice.You can also get custom colors for an extra 100 USD... These might be worth going over your budget but thats up to you.

P.S. If gaming is something your looking for, these wouldn't be a good option and don't support 7.1 audio.

These have worked well for me and are fairly cheap - available at micro center.

Fan - http://www.microcenter.com/product/337464/Vortex_Plus_Universal_CPU_Cooler

Compound - http://www.microcenter.com/product/391684/PTI-G4512_Thermal_Conductive_Compound_4g

Nothing too fancy and it gets the job done.

He has the H61 chipset, so he can't really overclock it..

Im not really into over clocking CPUs... I'll use it stock speed at 3.4GHz

Thank you every body for your help - I'm settling for the Core i5 3570k for around 190 USD.

Definitely this.

My motherboard is LGA socket 1155. No-can-do unless I drop another $120 on a new mobo...

Looking at compatibility data for your motherboard, I believe that an i5-3570 is the best you can get (or i7-3770).

Okay, I can probably work with that. Seems like a good price for what it's offering - thanks!

EDIT: My mobo is an h61m-p31 LGA socket 1155

That means that the best biggest thing that could fit (not sexual I swear) would be an i7 3770k.

My GPU is an XFX Radeon HD 7770 Core Edition 1GB GDDR5

Soooooo.

After playing a few games on the PC I built (with budget in mind), I realized just how horrible a dual core G860 was at running core-intensive games. I figured that I could just sell the Pentium on eBay or something and get an i5 or i7. The only issue is pricing. I've been looking at the less expensive i5 and i7 processors (just kidding - all i7s are expensive), and was wondering how well they would run games. Any thought? Looking for an intel quad core in the $150 - $200 price range that can run CPU intensive games.

Thanks,

J.A.B.

PS - I get 15 frames on Arma. Thats a big problem. Quad core will improve that...right?

banned for posting twice in the thread.

The thing is, I would over clock it only if you want a ton of performance out of your machine. I haven't ever clocked my G860 because I've never found the need to. Until you start to step into CPU intensive games that require more than dual-core, I think your processor is a good choice. 

Try waiting for prices to drop or go on eBay? Maybe one of those bidding sites...lol

I have a Pentium G860 and I find it fine for gaming, except for games like Arma 2 and 3. Dual-core will probably get you decent performance for the games you want to play on your machine. 

btw - your "mini gaming rig" is probably going to be 5x faster than my gaming PC with 2010 parts -__-

A moment of silence for the fallen motherboard...

Thank you everybody! I'll most likely be getting an i5 quad core to start with and see how Arma runs from there. I've also decided to put the idea of graphics aside for a while while I worry about the CPU

Oh. We already solved this one. 

The only thing that the third prong does is 1) prevent electrical shock if handled the wrong way and 2) prevent the components from getting fried b/c of a power surge or transformer blowing up. Unless that prong wasn't working and there was a surge, then you have greater priorities on your hands.

Worry about your CPU 1st, that Pentium is definitely a no no for Arma 3.

I've been searching for a decent i5 quad core for less than $150 but I guess i'll have to wait for prices to drop. Do you think with the launch of the 5960x, older generation CPUs with drop in price? 

Arma III has PhysX so if you want to play the game the way it is meant to be played go Nvidia.

Also aren't 770s supposed to be coming into the $249 range as Nvidia is phasing out the GTX 760 as they want to make the 770 the card to have for mid to compete with the R9 285 and similar?  I am sure I saw this on LTT and elsewhere.

 

According to Newegg's product summary of the EVGA Geforce GTX 760, it supports multiple NVIDIA programs like Physx, GPU boost, adaptive vertical sync, and peripheral surround view.

honestly in my experience (Play Arma daily ) Arma is definitely more CPU dependent.

 

What are your specs?

Don't laugh too hard, but I have an Intel Pentium G860 Dual-Core with an H100i liquid coolant...

My build was supposed to be budget-minded and I spent less than expected, so things can change and I can replace old parts with new if need be.

I currently have an XFX HD 7770 1GB GDDR5 CORE Edition GPU. It runs most first person shooters on medium settings at 1080p, but problems start to surface when I programs like Arma 2 or 3. I've read that the 7770 gets a max of 23 frames on Arma 3 high settings, and has led me to start searching for a new card. I've had this one for a bit (about a year and a half) and just realized that I could have gotten a much better card for the same price. Since I got the card a while back, prices have dropped from when I bought it for around $150. Are there any GPUs that are optimized for games like Arma 3 (or similar open world games)? If so, please share... Thanks!

P.S. I've been looking at the EVGA GTX 760 SuperClocked edition (2GB GDDR5).... It's a decent price ($240) for its performance - any thoughts?

Thanks again,

J.A.B

This giveaway is a good reason for me to finally make a forum account Hello everybody!

Let the #hype begin!