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KoolKaboom

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  1. I just looked into it, I had no idea this was problem. It appears that MSI has updated the bios, and many are saying that the boards now support Haswell refresh. I guess the problem was at launch before the bios update. Thanks for the heads up though, that would have been bad if the system couldn't even boot lol.
  2. Unless I'm missing something, the budget says $305 in the OP. I'll update it if that's wrong though.
  3. Well, this is different... PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant CPU: Intel Core i3-4160 3.6GHz Dual-Core Processor ($99.99 @ Micro Center) Motherboard: MSI H81M-P33 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($41.98 @ Newegg) Memory: A-Data XPG V1.0 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($29.99 @ Newegg) Video Card: PowerColor Radeon R9 270 2GB TurboDuo Video Card ($131.99 @ NCIX US) Total: $303.95 Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-02-23 20:53 EST-0500 Explanation: This didn't look too bad from the surface, just upgrade the cpu, add some ram, and spend the rest on the GPU. Your storage situation, while not the most conventional, definitely gets the job done pretty well. There is not enough in the budget to upgrade monitors or peripherals (and its not required) so I'm leaving those alone. It's the mobo replacement that was the biggest hiccup though, as now the budget for a gpu dropped significantly. CPU: I was (and still sort of am) torn between the i3-4160 and the FX 6300. The 6300 has better overall performance and more cores for multitasking (and is unlocked, although I would recommend OC'ing in your current situation), while the 4160 is more efficient and has better single core performance. I decided to go with the 4160, as it will do better with many emulators and other tasks that are heavily based on single core performance (you said it was for older games, so a dual core shouldn't be an issue), and with only 4 gb of ram, multitasking to the point where you need a 6 core isn't realistic. Mobo: Just chose the cheapest one from a good brand, which is MSI in this case. I would normally try to get room for 4 slots of RAM, but it doesn't seem like that would be necessary in this case. it does not support xfire, but I would not recommend it with this card, but rather just a straight upgrade. RAM: 2 gb is not enough. I went with a 1 x 4 kit as it leaves room to upgrade and because its cheaper. GPU: I was tempted by the gtx 660 for $12 cheaper, as the 270 edges it out in most games and I had some money left in the budget. It was a cool idea to do an upgrade path build challenge for your own rig, although I am a bit concerned that you plan on actually building it, as you told us that you need to replace the mobo. As you probably know and have seen from the LTT vid that partially inspired this post, you are much better off going to places like ebay, craigslist, r/hardwareswap for much cheaper prices on better parts, so I would definitely recommend against actually following the winning build.
  4. I somewhat feel the same way. Sometimes in the contests (I looked back at some of the previous ones) there are two or more states of mind on how to do the builds. For an example, in a workstation build, it could be whether to use Nvidia vs AMD, as they both have their pros and cons. When somebody submits a build, they obviously think that it is the best one possible for what they are trying to accomplish. In the last build-off, for example, I went for performance and reliability first, spending only what was left over on peripherals. It seemed to me that most people did the same, which led to me not voting. But if somebody had a different mind set, such as putting more of an emphasis on comfortable peripherals and ease of use and sacrificing a bit of performance, and had executed it well, they would have earned my vote. I don't think voting for others should be required. While I don't like how only 3 people voted, I understand why it happened, as I was one of the non-voters. In my defense, I believed mine was the best built and there wasn't anything that offered anything different, but instead just less powerful systems trying to accomplish the same goal, which I guess makes me sound like an asshole, but it's the truth. There wasn't much diversity in the contest which led the contest to being more determined by benchmarks rather than actual use. This is why I'm looking forward to the next competition (the Hackintosh 2.0), as there are so many different options on where to spend the money, and it will lead to more diversity in the build. I believe this will lead to more votes (but I may be wrong and we may all just be a group of selfish assholes lol). After all, this is a competition, and some people will not vote for what is best for the competition, but only for what is best for themselves. Requiring voting may lead to some seriously messed up results. TL:DR The builds need to be a bit more diverse for more voting to occur, as everyone builds what they believe is best. There needs to be more options in the build, to make people realize that there are other ways to build it that could be better, such as different allocations of budget, instead of having it come down to who system has the better specs and does the best in benchmarks.
  5. I'm new to this, so tell me if I'm breaking any rules and I'll update it. PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant CPU: Intel Core i5-4590 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor ($159.99 @ Micro Center) Motherboard: ASRock H97M-ITX/AC Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard ($79.99 @ Micro Center) Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($59.99 @ Newegg) Storage: Crucial MX100 128GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($62.99 @ Amazon) Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($43.79 @ OutletPC) Video Card: XFX Radeon R9 290 4GB Double Dissipation Video Card ($242.98 @ Newegg) Case: Antec ISK600 Mini ITX Tower Case ($29.99 @ NCIX US) Power Supply: EVGA 500W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($29.99 @ Newegg) Keyboard: Logitech Corded Keyboard K280e Wired Standard Keyboard ($14.99 @ NCIX US) Mouse: Logitech M510 Wireless Laser Mouse ($24.99 @ Amazon) Total: $749.69 Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-02-11 20:09 EST-0500 Explanation: I'm assuming this is built for a girl, from the title, but I guess I could be wrong... CPU: Went Intel because I planned on having a dedicated gpu, and the i5-4590 is such a good deal at $160. Mobo: Went itx, as most of my female friends aren't looking for a large rig to put on display, but instead something small to tuck away. H97 because the CPU can't overclock. Most important feature is the ac wireless connectivity. Having this built in is useful, and I have never met a girl with her router anywhere near her desk. RAM: Just the cheapest 8 gig kit I could find, just happened to match the Mobo. Storage: SSD + HDD combo is basically required if the budget can afford it. Makes everything so much better. I know there are cheaper SSD's but Crucial builds fast and reliable stuff and there is no need in cheaping out on your personal data (especially when it's someone else's data). GPU: 290 is now the best thing for your money. Yes, it will get a bit toasty in an mitx chasis, but there is no better value. Spent the extra $3 on the XFX instead of the MSI solely because I had extra budget and it color matched better. Case: I personally love the look of this case. It's clean and small, with nice brushed aluminum. And yes, the PSU does fit with the GPU, I checked. PSU: EVGA makes good stuff. While this is not their best, for a non overclocked build it will do just fine for $30. Keyboard: Every single time a girl uses either my or my friends mechanical keyboard, they say that they would rather use their laptop's keyboard. So chicklet keyboard it is. I've never used a bad logitech product, so this will definitely not cause any problems. Mouse: M510. I love this mouse. Used it for ~3 years before upgrading to the G602. It's wireless, with insane battery life (I literally change the batteries once in the time that I used it), no tracking issues, feels great in the hand, has a satisfying click... I can't rave enough about how good this mouse is, especially for being only $25. Best budget mouse IMHO. This is a bit beastly for a "light gaming" rig, it's amazing how far $750 goes...
  6. In need of a GPU, and a 980 is much better than I can afford. If the performance of the 970 AMP corresponds to the performance of the 980 you are give away, then it's one beast of a card!
  7. I don't think the drive is dead or failing. I've had few problems like this leading up to the current situation, and it usually recovers. My mobo and gpu dont seem to be having any problems, I just played some csgo just fine
  8. For the last 7 months, I've been running a 120gb 840 evo and a 500gb 7200rpm seagate barracuda (both on sata 2) in my laptop. The laptop came with the barracuda and I added the ssd after about 2 years of use. Everything has been going pretty well with them, but recently booting my system became very difficult. Yesterday, things escalated, and the only way I was able to start my system was to remove the hdd. I don't believe the problem is physical, as my laptop is more of a desktop replacement (Alienware m14x r1). The problem occured after I tried to launch BF3 and Origin froze. I restarted my system, and windows wouldn't launch. I uninstalled my hdd as a desperation move and tried again, which ended up working. I've tried to restart using the hdd multiple times, all of which failed. Is there anything I can do to save my hdd? It has nothing extremely important on it, just about 300gb of games, music, and movies, but it would help if I didn't have to re install everything. If any more information is needed, I'll be happy to give it.
  9. I love the inclusion of the micro sd card slot, the lack of one is the only reason I didn't get an m7 last year.
  10. Thanks! Exactly what I was looking for, I don't know how I missed it... It looks like a painting them wouldn't be overly difficult with a lot of care, but it won't be as easy as a pc case by a long shot.
  11. I've painted many things, but only few plastic. They turned out pretty nice, but I'm definitely going to do some practicing before doing the headphones.
  12. Yeah, that's my biggest fear if I try it. Yeah, I've seen a lot of the cable mods, and may consider doing one if I buy them, but I'm not sure If I would be able to paint them from the pictures in the cable threads.
  13. I'm a audio noob, and I'm looking to pick up some new headphones soon. ATH-M50's look like the top choice for my budget, but I don't love the look of them, but they seem like they could look really good with a new paint job. Does anyone know how easy they are to paint/take apart, or if painting headphones in general is a good idea?
  14. I just did a clean install of win7 on my new boot drive, and I figure I should get some antivirus. What's the best free program, as many websites have many different answers?
  15. That's my plan with most of the stuff, the only problem is that I have about 250gb of games on steam that a would prefer to not have to re-download if possible. If anyone has a solution, feel free to share. Thanks to everyone who helped today, I wish you all a merry Christmas and a happy new year!
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