Is this a good gaming rig?

[PZ]

Found this on Newegg - I've not looked at hardware in a long time

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883229624

[Stiku]

CPU : newest of the newest High end one, best of the four-core generation. Also its an I7, so HT will speedup the image handling and video encoding processes.
GPU : the second runner, the best being GTX980 (max 10fps difference in certain tests).
RAM : Nice amount but the speed isn't that great, but intel CPU's aren't known to be memory speed freaks.
HDD : It has a 250gb SSD, so thats a plus, though no information about the make of it.

I read the C-Q/A side, that the CPU is watercooled so that's a big plus, and its quiet under load. It also the power supply is a Corsair, which is reliable and doesnt have that much of ripple in the lines.

only thing that I would like to know, what mainboard does it have, I only found that its an Asus board but nothing on the model.

[PZ]

Thanks for the information, Stiku  :-X +1

Although I formerly knew most of what I needed to know regarding computer specifications, I must admit that I know very little these days.

[nexor]

It looks like a very good machine PZ, I tried to find what MB is in it but no luck anywhere, like Stiku says, it is an Asus board

[Art Blade]

cool price, too :-X

[mandru]

If you've got the headroom on the power supply you can SLI link two additional GTX980s for an insane amount of GPU ability.  >:D

[PZ]

If you've got the headroom on the power supply you can SLI link two additional GTX980s for an insane amount of GPU ability.  >:D

Good to know - thanks for that tidbit - forgot all about having two cards - would that require a bigger power supply?  I think it is a 600 watt unit that is in that rig

It looks like a very good machine PZ, I tried to find what MB is in it but no luck anywhere, like Stiku says, it is an Asus board

Is an Asus board a bad thing?

[Binnatics]

I'd say Asus is good. Looking at the specs I'd say it is a quite acceptable mobo with the newest specs, but it doesn't seem to be prepared for additional "big-time" SLI configurations. It only offers a single PCI-E 3.0 slot. Which should not be a problem, I'm personally not too fond of SLI, since many games appear to not properly make use of two GPU's. I think it's better to have a single high end GPU, than two for the same price.
Looking at the picture with the box, there's a drivers disc that reads MSI. Which is also a reliable and good mobo-manufacturer. I have an MSI myself. I'd indeed check the type of mobo to be sure.

All together I'd say it's a very nice gaming rig; capable and reliable, and future proof for at least a couple of years. Compared to the rest of the machines offered by that webshop I think this is probably a good deal :) :-X
And that GTX970 with 4g on board, should offer really great visuals ^-^

[PZ]

Thanks for the info, Binn  :-X

Do you guys have recommendation for a different rig?  Not that I'm really going to get one, but I might ask Santa for one for Christmas 

[nexor]

Asus are good boards, don't know about the latest ones but the older boards didn't run too well with a Intel cpu.
I'm also concerned that it's an entry level board they have in it, they give all the specs of the other components but the mainboard's, and that makes it suspect. Manufacturers/suppliers are notorious for doing that.   :-\\

[Art Blade]

PZ, it's made to w@&k with that configuration. As long as you don't upgrade that rig (ahem, see your current rig.. unlikely) it is just fine as is.

[Binnatics]

I think AB is right. But nevertheless I'd like to know what's under the hood. If you buy a car that looks great and powerful, you want to know what engine is working there for you. I'd say the mobo is the most important thing, it's both the fundamental and infrastructure of the thing.

The problem I'm facing giving you proper advice is that I don't know much about the prices in the US. I tried to compare the rig with the rest this company has to offer, and that makes me say it's a good offer. But I don't know what other shops there are. Usually I build my rig out of components, since it's usually cheaper. But I think you are not really the builder type of guy. So you'd rely on other people's builds. Check some more comparable shops before sending Santa over to that certain shop ;)

[Art Blade]

I think you are not really the builder type of guy

Wrong.  :-D

[Binnatics]

Well, then forget about Santa and do your searches, put the stuff together and enjoy the best potential of nowadays hardware!!!

[PZ]

  :-X

I'm becoming a bit lazy as I age.  I really should look at individual components, but as AB suggests, it is unlikely that I will do any kind of upgrade until circumstance forces me to upgrade.  I might just get a new gaming rig if AC5 continues to please me the way it is, and of course, if Ubi gets the bugs worked out.

Thanks for all the info guys - it is really helpful

[Stiku]

Asus and MSI are both good companies, but MSI is smaller and is known to use cheaper components in power side.
On the otherhand Asus is known to "forget" some of the cooling stuff on the mainboard, mainly around the CPU VRM area which kills overclocking and may cause instability on a case that has a poor ventilation installed.

There is a reason to buy a pre-built computer, the warranty and support, you pay few bucks more but it comes to you as a "ready to go" which is nice.  8)
I cant even recall how many times I've heard the beeps from the internal speaker for "GFX missing" or memory errors, even once got a beep sequence that corresponded to a message that was "no cpu installed", though I had done it.

[PZ]

Indeed.  I built my last (current) gaming PC from components, and although it works fine, it doesn't have that "put together" feel.

[Binnatics]

...I cant even recall how many times I've heard the beeps from the internal speaker for "GFX missing" or memory errors, even once got a beep sequence that corresponded to a message that was "no cpu installed", though I had done it.

The first time I put together my own Rig (based on a Pentium 4 CPU) it also told me the CPU was erroneous or missing. Back then I did everything myself except mounting the CPU and cooler to the motherboard. I had been searching for hours to a possible solution, until I finally brought back Rig to the shop where I bought the stuff, feeling embarrassed that I had probably messed up the rest of the instalment. The guy from the store called me the next day telling me that indeed the CPU was broke, something that happens almost never, but had indeed happened to me; I bought a broken CPU. They gave me a replacement and from that moment on, the Rig functioned correctly.  ^-^

And once when I installed a new graphics card, my screen went dark. The only indication that the system was working were the bleeps and snorting of the DVD drive. Turned out that I had to manually change a jumper on the mobo, so that it would know the monitor was added to the graphics card

[PZ]

Just found this one - what do you guys think?  I'm thinking it is better than the one I originally posted because it has the 980

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883227591&cm_re=gaming-_-83-227-591-_-Product

[JRD]

Hell yeah!  ???

Not only you have the GTX980 4GB GPU and an i5 3,30GHz processor and 16GB DDR3 RAM memory but also 120GB SSD and 700W power supply which is what I was going to ask you about. This machine will suck electricity out of your outlets like a puppy sucking milk out of mummy tits!  ;D . This 700W supply should be enough to hold on to your energy intake.

Another important thing is the cooling system. Now I use normal regular cooler on my GPU and processor and I add a neat regular fan we keep in the living room for extra hot days right to the side of my PC case  :-D . You have a liquid cooling system there and it seems like one good setting.

[PZ]

Thanks, JRD for the confirmation.  It looked good to me because I wanted an SSD for the OS and perhaps to install the more demanding games, and then a regular HD for data storage.

I also liked the idea of water cooling, and especially what I read in the reviews, which indicated that it is quiet.

[Binnatics]

First, I think it's a very good rig. The name says it all ^-^

Water cooling must deliver very good cooling, which is always good.But I just read a review about water cooling that it is not very quiet compared to air cooling systems. Well, on load it won't bother, first of all because the difference to air cooling disappears, but second of all because you will have gaming audio that occupies your eardrums ^-^
But on idle it is quite noizy with its pumps running, compared to a good air cooling system.

Which doesn't mean that I would advice you to buy air cooling, but just to let you know. I think that my next future rig will also have some sort of water cooling in it. I like the concept, and it delivers great cooling power ;)

[PZ]

Thanks, Binn - although my current rig is 5-6 years old, it makes quite a bit of noise when I play games due to the fan noise - I was hoping that water cooling might tone down the noise a bit.

[Stiku]

First, I think it's a very good rig. The name says it all ^-^

Water cooling must deliver very good cooling, which is always good.But I just read a review about water cooling that it is not very quiet compared to air cooling systems. Well, on load it won't bother, first of all because the difference to air cooling disappears, but second of all because you will have gaming audio that occupies your eardrums ^-^
But on idle it is quite noizy with its pumps running, compared to a good air cooling system.

Which doesn't mean that I would advice you to buy air cooling, but just to let you know. I think that my next future rig will also have some sort of water cooling in it. I like the concept, and it delivers great cooling power ;)

Depends on the watercooling type, these new types that are sealed in the factory are little nosier and performance is lower, due to the fact that they have a smaller size pumps(impellars, bearings and DC engines) and smaller diameter hoses. My own rig has a proper 800l/h EK-DCP 4.0 12V pump that runs around 8.5V at 1200rpm and it doesnt make a sound, also my rig has 2x EK Coolstream RAD 360 XTX's that have 6 fans running around 600rpm, this rig is cooler and more quiet even in idle state than normal aircooling, even in benchmark the CPU wont go over 70°c despite being overclocked to 4.7ghz and GPU over 46°c at 1100/1350. So it just depends on what you are ready to spend on.

Just found this one - what do you guys think?  I'm thinking it is better than the one I originally posted because it has the 980

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883227591&cm_re=gaming-_-83-227-591-_-Product

Okay lets break this down :

• Intel I7-5820K : First, its max boost speed is at 3.6ghz, its has 6 cores and 12 threads(HT enabled), this packs enough punch to you to play games without bottlenecking it. It also has unlocked core ratio, so overclocking it is easy as pressing + sing on UEFI BIOS.
• Nvidia GTX980 : Well, best that money can buy at this moment, low power consumption, quiet compared to other high end cards as its runs cool due to the low power consumption. Also a refrence model, so meets the quality standards set by nVidia.
• 16 gb of DDR4 at 2133 : (Not 100% of the link thats its the right one, but its an estimated guess from the pictures provided) not much to say, this is almost the BEST that you can buy now.
• 120gb SSD and 1TB HDD : WD drive, efficiency blue drive,  and APOTOP SSD, I've never heard of this APOTOP, nor can I find the right SSD as they dont even have listed 120gb models, only 128gb models, but they all use Sandforce controllers(rather old ones I must say) and have MLC memory chips, it would be either S3A,S3B or S3C.
• PSU : Well, there isnt anything about this one, no brand or TWR(True wattage rating), so it might be good and might not be good, also you cant be certain what's the efficiency of the unit.
• Mainboard : Im actually suprised, this one is really a good board, huge overclocking abilities, ok sound card, enough space for expansion if needed, X99 chipset(Only problem with this is the SATA controller and RAID mode with SSD, as the newest driver broke the TRIM fucntion)
• The liquid cooling is a big if, it actually doesn't say what its cooling, CPU(+GPU(+RAM(+CHIPSET)))

Conclusion : all in all, this pack has enough punch to play now and few years without problems or hickups(as long as you stay away from nVidia's card killing driver releases  >:D )

Spoiler

Details from the neweggs questions asked by customers section(Richard G asked)
Full details:
16 GB RAM = CRUCIAL DDR4 2133MHz RAM
X99 Motherboard = MSI X99 SLI PLUS
WiFi Card = iBUYPOWER customized WiFi module
120 GB SSD = APOTOP 120GB SSD
Graphics card = MSI GTX 980 4GB
1 TB HD = Western digital 1TB 7200 RPM Blue drive
Liquid Cooling = iBUYPOWER customized liquid cooling
Case = NZXT Source 220 Gaming Chassis

[mandru]

It looks like a darn good system though I'm always leery of letting water anywhere near electronics.  That's probably one of my unconfronted prejudices.  ;)

My previous rig was a component by component custom build direct from iBuypower and I loved it.  The dot com for iBuypower has some remarkable pre-configured systems and every one of them are completely customizable.  Come to think of it my current rig is still using the six year old workhorse 850 watt Thermaltake power supply from that old system and it's never missed a beat in all that time.

I also suspect that shipping through Newegg will probably save you a significant amount over the huge ding my wallet took paying the manufacturer's shipping rates.