forging a pc

[slack]

i have never done dual gpu's and i have not regretted it thus far

most of the games i play are pretty mediocre when it comes to sysreqs

[rtil]

Pretty much got everything together.

How many of you use dual gpus? Is it really worth it?

as a rule of thumb i always tell people to avoid doing sli/crossfire, for two reasons. first off, if you have a healthy budget for a card, just get a really high-end card, because if you end up doing dual of a lower tier card, you're going to be disappointed, which gets to my second reason. most games are not/poorly optimized for sli/crossfire. on average you'd see maybe a 5-10% increase in performance in a game with no optimization. however if the game is properly optimized i've seen benchmarks go up to the 90% tier - although i think it's more realistic to expect around 50% because for optimization this is the average. and while 90%+ is impressive, you can't expect it all the time, and it's still not the power of two full cards. dual can never be just like having twice the power. so really, having dual cards is more like having a full card and then a slightly gimped 2nd one depending on whatever is running, but you're paying the same for both.. so in my opinion it's a waste of money.

[cipher]

Pretty much got everything together.

How many of you use dual gpus? Is it really worth it?

as a rule of thumb i always tell people to avoid doing sli/crossfire, for two reasons. first off, if you have a healthy budget for a card, just get a really high-end card, because if you end up doing dual of a lower tier card, you're going to be disappointed, which gets to my second reason. most games are not/poorly optimized for sli/crossfire. on average you'd see maybe a 5-10% increase in performance in a game with no optimization. however if the game is properly optimized i've seen benchmarks go up to the 90% tier - although i think it's more realistic to expect around 50% because for optimization this is the average. and while 90%+ is impressive, you can't expect it all the time, and it's still not the power of two full cards. dual can never be just like having twice the power. so really, having dual cards is more like having a full card and then a slightly gimped 2nd one depending on whatever is running, but you're paying the same for both.. so in my opinion it's a waste of money.

Yeah I was reading up on it and kind of came to a similar conclusion. I won't bother with it

[bd648]

I do run two gpus. My only reason for this is that i have multiple monitors and a spare gpu. There is no real benefit for it. My secondary gpu is a Nvidia 8400GS. It's like 20 bucks online and it does a swell job running my other screens. That's the only real reason i can think of for getting one. If you want multiple monitors either get a cheap gpu or use the integrated graphics on your cpu (i suggest getting a gpu if you want to do that.)

[rtil]

I do run two gpus. My only reason for this is that i have multiple monitors and a spare gpu. There is no real benefit for it. My secondary gpu is a Nvidia 8400GS. It's like 20 bucks online and it does a swell job running my other screens. That's the only real reason i can think of for getting one. If you want multiple monitors either get a cheap gpu or use the integrated graphics on your cpu (i suggest getting a gpu if you want to do that.)

you don't need multiple gfx cards to run multiple monitors on modern cards

my 660ti for example has 4 ports for monitors - 1 HDMI, 1 DisplayPort (mac bullshit) and 2 DVI

[bd648]

I do run two gpus. My only reason for this is that i have multiple monitors and a spare gpu. There is no real benefit for it. My secondary gpu is a Nvidia 8400GS. It's like 20 bucks online and it does a swell job running my other screens. That's the only real reason i can think of for getting one. If you want multiple monitors either get a cheap gpu or use the integrated graphics on your cpu (i suggest getting a gpu if you want to do that.)

you don't need multiple gfx cards to run multiple monitors on modern cards

my 660ti for example has 4 ports for monitors - 1 HDMI, 1 DisplayPort (mac bullshit) and 2 DVI

that's true but the other monitors only have vga. I've got a 660ti as well. (yes my non-main monitors are kinda old but they still work well enough so i dont want to spend money on others..)

[rtil]

you can just use a vga>dvi adapter, then.

[slack]

implying there is a dvi-d to vga adapter

edit: ok apparently there is but fuck, completely destroys the point of DVI-D

[rtil]

implying there is a dvi-d to vga adapter

edit: ok apparently there is but fuck, completely destroys the point of DVI-D

yes it does, but sometimes there's need for it. i actually have a couple and they've come in handy at times

[cipher]

yeah I'll be running dual monitors, but I'll be investing in a nice card regardless so I doubt it'll be much of an issue.

[SrsSam77]

hey cipher if you're running two monitors, doing rendering and game stuff, and considering dual gpu; perhaps look into the AMD 295x2 vesuvius, it's a water cooled dual-gpu card that came in at 1500 dollars but is now sitting at 730-640$ thanks to a need of competition for nvidia. Mad performance (beats out the 3000$ nvidia dual titan card) with a reasonable tdp and great thermal management.

Here's a benchmark comparison of a 1200$ 780ti SLI setup compared to the 730$ 295x2
http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/1187?vs=1073

[rtil]

stop trying to make duals happen amd shill, it's not going to happen

[SrsSam77]

It's not my fault AMD offers irresistible value and performance at a price the competition just can't beat ;^)

[slack]

[citation needed]

[Stu4U]

gonna resurrect this thread because i am going to be gathering parts for a new pc as i will not be bringing the one i'm currently using with me when i move to cali. and i too have absolutely no clue what i am doing as i have never opened or assembled a pc together before. so basically what i did was copy/paste some letsplayer's specs and replaced some of the parts that were far too pricey. i'm sure this is already a pretty expensive build but if any of you know there's something that can be replaced with something cheaper or would recommend a certain brand let me know.

anyway here's the list

CPU - i7 4790k $399.99
MOBO - ASUS Maximus Hero VII $208.99
RAM - 16GB Corsair Dominator Platinum (x2) $159.99
CPU Cooler - Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO $34.99
GPU - EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB ACX 2.0 $324.99
PSU - Corsair RM750 $119.99
SSD - Crucial MX100 256GB 2.5 $104.99
HD - Western Digital Blue WD10EZEX $49.99
Optical Drive - ASUS 24X DVD Burner $19.99
Case - Fractal Design Arc XL $139.99

with a grand total of 1563.90 ohooo boy

i also have some questions that may be irrelevant but what are the differences between

-liquid and air cooling
-AMD and intel
-having 2 or 4 sticks of RAM
-a 'gaming' pc and an 'artist's' pc

and the last thing is that are there any websites that will build and deliver the pc for you or do i just have to be a man and assemble it myself

[rtil]

gonna resurrect this thread because i am going to be gathering parts for a new pc as i will not be bringing the one i'm currently using with me when i move to cali. and i too have absolutely no clue what i am doing as i have never opened or assembled a pc together before. so basically what i did was copy/paste some letsplayer's specs and replaced some of the parts that were far too pricey. i'm sure this is already a pretty expensive build but if any of you know there's something that can be replaced with something cheaper or would recommend a certain brand let me know.

anyway here's the list

CPU - i7 4790k $399.99
MOBO - ASUS Maximus Hero VII $208.99
RAM - 16GB Corsair Dominator Platinum (x2) $159.99
CPU Cooler - Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO $34.99
GPU - EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB ACX 2.0 $324.99
PSU - Corsair RM750 $119.99
SSD - Crucial MX100 256GB 2.5 $104.99
HD - Western Digital Blue WD10EZEX $49.99
Optical Drive - ASUS 24X DVD Burner $19.99
Case - Fractal Design Arc XL $139.99

with a grand total of 1563.90 ohooo boy

the AMD R9 290X has comparable and possibly better performance than the GTX 970 and is slightly cheaper, but you may want to do your own research and see if it will suit your needs. i don't know what games you play or what you use your video card for, so it may not make any difference to you.

either way, the build is very future-proof. you probably wont' have to replace any parts for at least 4-5 years unless you're a very hardcore gaming enthusiast.

i also have some questions that may be irrelevant but what are the differences between

-liquid and air cooling

there are decent liquid cooling systems out there today it's a lot cheaper and quieter than they used to be. i have never installed one personally, though. fan noise never bothered me and fans are quiet enough that i don't really care. in the end, you'll probably be doing maintenance just as often on a liquid cooling system as you would with fans. fans are still cheaper, too. i don't feel strongly one way or the other, though. 5-10 years ago liquid cooling was a waste of time and money. now it's much better.

-AMD and intel

i think the only person here who has a strong opinion on that is @SrsSam77 . as someone who has owned AMD and Intel boards, processors and graphics cards in a number of different systems, both have great options on the market. AMD is generally cheaper and i think as a symptom of that their drivers and proprietary software have never really been that great, but it was never anything that caused me serious trouble. but you don't have to be loyal to a brand, because mixing AMD chipsets with Intel gpu and vice versa doesn't ever have impact on performance.

-having 2 or 4 sticks of RAM

best practice imo is to have the least amount of RAM possible spread out in case of failure. same logic applies to storage.

-a 'gaming' pc and an 'artist's' pc

a good gaming pc makes an even better artist pc. and the i7 will be great for rendering if you are into that kind of stuff

and the last thing is that are there any websites that will build and deliver the pc for you or do i just have to be a man and assemble it myself

i have no idea, but if you order through newegg almost everything will come together except the case i think.

assembling a pc is easier than you think

[cipher]

assembling a pc is easier than you think

Yeah I had no idea what I was doing either, but I got it all working. It's a good experience, I'd definitely try and put it together yourself.

[valiums]

Re-resurrecting to ask if anyone has any laptop recommendations?

[valiums]

Heck, if you have a drawing tablet recommendation, that would be swell, too.

[rtil]

i don't have much experience with screen tablets and laptops, i'm assuming you're looking for a tablet that has a screen? if so, most laptops today have touch/pen pressure sensitivity and some i've seen are pretty affordable with decent hardware. the screens are sometimes detachable which can be convenient as well. i usually see lots of them in places like best buy.

if you're just looking for any old tablet, while monoprice does have cheap tablets i've never heard good things about the drivers. you'd probably be better off spending a little more on a refurbished or new wacom intuos 4/5/pro series.