Building a gaming PC

[Aaden]

Thank you very much for your insight . The BenQ GL2460HM max refresh rate is 60hz, if I'm not wrong, and it fits my budget well, while for the LG I have to strain a bit, but I can compensate if it's worth the $40 difference. So I don't think that buying a TN with higher refresh rate is an option, as far as my options goes..

I can't comment on any specific models, I'm afraid. I know the principles, but don't follow the market very closely because I'm not planning to buy a new display and manufacturers seem to replace their models every few months - not worth bothering with it all the time.

Generally I'd say go for the LG if you can afford it. That's assuming its panel is fast enough to handle games (and at 5ms gray-to-gray switching time it should be, I guess). If they're both running at 60 Hz, there's no advantage to the TN display except the (slightly) lower price.

Bear in mind, though, that I don't know these specific displays or how these manufacturers as a whole perform at the moment, so I'm making a few assumptions based on general tendencies. No guarantees.

 

[dixxn]

I can't comment on any specific models, I'm afraid. I know the principles, but don't follow the market very closely because I'm not planning to buy a new display and manufacturers seem to replace their models every few months - not worth bothering with it all the time.

Generally I'd say go for the LG if you can afford it. That's assuming its panel is fast enough to handle games (and at 5ms gray-to-gray switching time it should be, I guess). If they're both running at 60 Hz, there's no advantage to the TN display except the (slightly) lower price.

Bear in mind, though, that I don't know these specific displays or how these manufacturers as a whole perform at the moment, so I'm making a few assumptions based on general tendencies. No guarantees.

That's totally okay, you've been really helpful. So far I think I'm gonna go with the LG, still plenty of time to consider though, while I try to sell my old monitor. Thank you very much once again for your help

 

[volsung]

So I read that the new Intel line (skylake) will "come out" soon, August 5th or so. Does that mean there will be regular i7's and i5's commercially available soon? Will these be a better purchase than, say, an i7 4790k?

 

[Waldlaeufer]

So I read that the new Intel line (skylake) will "come out" soon, August 5th or so. Does that mean there will be regular i7's and i5's commercially available soon? Will these be a better purchase than, say, an i7 4790k?

It will all come down to how Intel will set the price. Skylake should bring performance boost mostly in threaded applications, the benchmarks here differ though, from couple of % to tens of %, nothing official yet anyway. Anyway, anyone with 2500k upwards is still fine in 2015.

 

[Gilrond-i-Virdan]

So I read that the new Intel line (skylake) will "come out" soon, August 5th or so. Does that mean there will be regular i7's and i5's commercially available soon? Will these be a better purchase than, say, an i7 4790k?

New Intel chips (10nm ones) were pushed off in the unknown future. If you have anything around Haswell - I'd say don't bother upgrading until the 10nm chip will come out.

 

[FANTADEFENDER]

So I read that the new Intel line (skylake) will "come out" soon, August 5th or so. Does that mean there will be regular i7's and i5's commercially available soon? Will these be a better purchase than, say, an i7 4790k?

Depends on the price. Considering that DX12 is (theoretically) able to use both the iGPU and a dedicated GPU to render a frame I'd take the new Skylake because of its better iGPU which results in a higher framerate in games. No idea about Frametimes though.

 

[Gilrond-i-Virdan]

Yeah, Iris Pro is probably the only major plus there.

 

[FANTADEFENDER]

Yeah, Iris Pro is probably the only major plus there.

I was actually surprised how well that thing performs for an iGPU. It can run Crysis 1 on Medium settings in FullHD at roughly 30FPS.

 

[Gilrond-i-Virdan]

@Noobie117: It is quite good indeed. It should be useful also for virtual machines even if you have a separate GPU installed. For example with this: https://events.linuxfoundation.org/...VMGT-a Full GPU Virtualization Solution_1.pdf

 

[Waldlaeufer]

I was actually surprised how well that thing performs for an iGPU. It can run Crysis 1 on Medium settings in FullHD at roughly 30FPS.

Well, IF DX12 can use both GPU and iGPU (and if Iris Pro is indeed such a little beastie), then indeed Pascal/Skylake rig would be something awesome (for DX12 games that is)...

 

[Gilrond-i-Virdan]

@Waldlaeufer: I doubt it would add a lot to the beasts of GPUs which standalone cards already are. May be Vulkan / DX12 can offload physics computation there, who knows. We'll have to wait and see how such combinations will be used.

 

[Waldlaeufer]

I doubt it would add a lot to the beasts of GPUs which standalone cards already are. May be Vulkan / DX12 can offload physics computation there, who knows.

You are right, of course, I guess I kinda exaggerated with that "awesome" word... but it might add a couple of fps compared to non-Skylake rigs. And if that affects min fps, then that is what makes the difference in gaming.

 

[volsung]

Maybe I should have mentioned I was asking because I'll need a whole new computer by October, since I'm moving and will only bring my GTX 970. I could wait a bit if whatever is coming is in stores no later than November, and if it's good enough.

Otherwise I'll go for the workhorse, 4790k and Z97 motherboard.

 

[M4xw0lf]

I'm highly sceptical about the idea of seeing GPUs from two different vendors working together; let alone in split-frame rendering.

 

[Gilrond-i-Virdan]

@M4xw0lf: If they'll conform to common interfaces, I don't see why not. You can offload physics computation to one, and graphics to another for example.

 

[Waldlaeufer]

Well, the modern interfaces better bring some kind of this added value, because so far it seems (from the purely gaming perspective) like the upgrade is worth only for Nehalem-based rigs and to some very limited extent to those on Sandy Bridge (like if they want to upgrade after those 4 years, which is not yet necessary, especially if they got stable OC on a K CPU, there are still virtually no CPU bottlenecks there). If you are on anything newer than Sandy Bridge (this conditionally included) and you have money to burn, get some serious GPU upgrade and wait it out till Cannonlake.

Of course if you are building a new rig then it makes sense to go for Skylake as you get modern chipset capabilities (NVMe SSDs being probably the best incentive for new builders and we just don't know if DX12/Vulkan would be able to somehow take advantage of Skylake IGP and if that would make a practical difference in gaming). Of course it also depends on the prices in your region, you may be well off by going for Z97 and Haswell/Devil's Canyon rig that will last you good just as much as Skylake rig would.

 

[Gilrond-i-Virdan]

How can one check that memory is functioning in dual channel mode? I mean on Linux specifically.

UPDATE: some suggest, that Interleaved Data Depth set to 2 provided by dmidecode should indicate dual channel. But for me the value is "Unknown".

 

[volsung]

How does the Asus Z97-Pro (gamer?) compare to the Z97-a?

Obviously one has legacy PCI and the other doesn't, but comes with arguably better sound.

Also how does the sound in the Pro compare to my current Audigy 2 ZS (Platinum Pro)?

 

[GuyNwah]

Pro has more bells and whistles like dual NICs. Get it only if the considerable extra expense pays off in useful features. Neither will equal the sound of the standalone Audigy 2 ZS. Consider the Z97 WS if you must have everything onboard.

Z97-A is one of the best bargains in the motherboard business.

 

[volsung]

I was confused, apparently there is an in between board called Z97-Pro Gamer, different from the former Z97-Pro. The Pro Gamer has ALC 1150 with something called "Supreme FX". Guess I'll just bring the Audigy along, since the Pro Gamer has legacy PCI like the Z97-A.

Breaking news (for me):
Apparently Skylakes are coming out along with Z170 motherboards. Should I buy Skylake instead? I will be purchasing some time during October. The Z170-A seems to have one PCI too