TechPowerUp $800 Build Guide

[badtaylorx]

that kind of scratch would net you a reeeeal nice used rig!!!

 

[Casecutter]

Insightful analysis, and I agree on all counts. For the record, the 970 in question is Asus Strix 970, which is indeed fairly power-hungry. I don't know the quality of the electrical network here (it's an old building) but it could be definitely a factor too.

In any case, I also used to be one of those guys who would run the numbers and cut it close when it came to picking a PSU but not anymore. There are factors that are hard to account for and it's better to pay a little extra and have more headroom than end up with your PC resetting in the middle of a game.

The Strix isn't the worst, thought you may want to figure out all the "loads" on that particular wall circuit and see if any kick on (the microwave). Find that circuit break and turn it off then try all larger appliance's all over the house. I have a circuit that has sockets in the dining room and for the washer/dryer in the garage. Lot's of older building are notorious for spreading outlet in various room in an over lapping fashion.

You might also grab a Kill-a-Watt, while it doesn't record wall voltage can display real-time during the load. You can check the quality of
your power by monitoring Voltage, Line Frequency, and Power Factor. Normal US household should see 118 to 123 volts normally, if you see 115V or below it would be smart to have that investigated.
http://www.p3international.com/brochures/p4460.pdf
http://www.p3international.com/manuals/p4460_manual.pdf

 

[HD64G]

Why? So you can have a considerably slower build? The i3-4160 will in most cases turn the FX every which way but loose and then have a cigarette afterward.

W10 and DX12 will change that Intel big-core advantage sir. And whoever builds new PC needs to be looking at least 3 years ahead. 6 cores in DX12 will win the 4 for sure. And 280 will be more than enough for 1080P also because of CGN and DX12. Again.

 

[btarunr]

This week's guide tomorrow (Saturday/29th), because that's when Intel is expected to launch cheaper Skylake Core i5 chips. If they don't launch it, I'll do a $2800 4K Battlestation.

 

[64K]

For $2,800 you should be able to get a kick-ass rig. You can keep spending more and more but get only a small amount more performance. (I'm looking at you PC Gamer site with your 4 X Titans Pixel Collider a couple of years ago).