#1469
Specs? Or is this going to be a completely new build?
Actually with 1200$ it should be possible to not dip below 144.
Already got a 144Hz monitor? If yes which one, if no the usual questions:
Lightboost yes/no?
FreeSync yes/no?

EDIT: I wouldn't follow #1471's advice since he recommends garbage tier SSDs apparently and doesn't know how to use pcpartpicker.

#1470
Here's the list:
http://www.instar-informatika.hr/intel-core-i5-6500-32ghz6mblga-1151-best-buy/int%2Dsl%2Di5%2D6500/product/
https://www.links.hr/en/maticna-ploca-asrock-h170m-pro4s-intel-h170-ddr4-zvuk-g-lan-sata3-usb-3-0-dvi-hdmi-matx-s-1151-050300052
2 of these https://www.links.hr/en/memorija-pc-17000-4-gb-kingston-kvr21n15s8-4-ddr4-2133mhz-051200030
https://www.links.hr/en/ssd-250-0-gb-samsung-850-evo-basic-mz-75e250b-sata-3-2-5-540-520-mb-s-051400325
http://www.instar-informatika.hr/corsair-psu-550w-cx-m-series/COR%2DCP%2D9020102%2DEU/product/
https://www.links.hr/en/kuciste-coolermaster-force-500-for-500-kkn1-midi-usb-3-0-crno-bez-ps-052607162

Should be <5000 total, but it's without the RX 470 since none are listed yet. You could in theory afford an RX 480 but I think it would be overkill so that money is better used for a 144Hz monitor some time in the future.

Monitor for later once you've saved up a bit again:
http://www.instar-informatika.hr/monitor-aoc-led-24-g2460fq-gaming-vga-dvi-hdmi-dp-zvucnici-144h/aoc%2Dg2460fq/product/

... Paging Dr. Setsul?

Not being very knowledgeable as far as all of this goes, looking for some suggestions.

Budget top end - $1200 (including monitor)

I'm not looking to run anything higher than 1080p for the forseeable future, so there's a lot of leeway in the graphics department. What I know I'll be after is 1 SSD for the OS, and 2 HDDs (one or both 2TB), as well as an optical drive. I'll also be using it for some amount of audio production/editing more than likely.

As for the monitor, I'm open to suggestions. A few years ago I'd be dead set on 144hz, but I don't do much gaming these days.

If I've left any essential information out, cuss me out.

Any pointers majorly appreciated.

#1473
Overclocking yes/no? My guess is no.

Any rough guess what the most demanding game would be you'd expect to play? 60 fps maxed out settings on 1080p shouldn't be a problem with this budget.
I'm a bit confused about the HDDs. Why 2? Why one or both 2TB? Why not just one 3 or 4TB HDD?
Not sure if you need an i7 for the audio production/editing.

At that budget I'd say the choice is between 144Hz and IPS. I mean 1440p is also an option or any combination of the 3 but that'll be a bit more expensive.
24" or 27" or even bigger?

Top of my head, not sure how it will run on release but I will be losing days of my life to Mass Effect 4.

Overclocking isn't a requirement now, but I may be tempted to. Wishy washy as heck, but for the forseeable future no intent to.

The HDDs are only broken into two because I'm a neurotic little shit when it comes to my organizational systems. Multiple may effect write speeds as well as budget?

Leaning towards IPS given my lack of high intensity games. Could always pick up a 144hz later and shift the IPS into the place of the current planned side monitor (functional, free, but old)

Not sure on the i7 either, since it's not video editing or anything. Really brief googling might indicate it may make a noticeable difference?

#1475
i5 it is.
The 100$ premium isn't for it for maybe being tempted to overclock in a few years.

2 HDDs will be more expensive and consume more power (no one cares about those 5W). Write speed obviously higher though.
On the note of multiple HDDs: Do you have Backups?

I had forgotten about backups, would obviously be a good idea. Have nothing to backup onto for the moment.

24" should be quite sufficient.

New build, and I don't already have a 144Hz monitor. I am thinking Freesync = yes, but I have been under the impression that the Nvidia GPUs give better $/frame in DX11, which is where I will be doing all of my gaming.

#1477
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor ($215.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-B150M-D3H Micro ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($81.88 @ OutletPC)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws 4 series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($61.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($89.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 3TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($85.00 @ Adorama)
Video Card: PowerColor Radeon RX 480 8GB Red Devil Video Card ($300.00)
Case: Cooler Master N200 MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($36.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Corsair RMx 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($16.88 @ OutletPC)
External Storage: Seagate Expansion 3TB External Hard Drive ($94.99 @ B&H)
Total: $1053.69
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-08-08 12:42 EDT-0400
GPU either that one or the MSI Gaming X. Haven't read too many reviews yet so there might be other good options too. Just don't get the reference card.

PSU is a bit overkill so here's a cheaper one in case you can't find the monitors I suggested further down cheap enough to fit the budget.
http://pcpartpicker.com/product/zNK7YJ/evga-power-supply-100b10500kr
GPU is sort of a maximum price though, it should be cheaper than that (MSRP is 269$).

If you're fine with 23.5" then you can get IPS and FreeSync at the same time.
Samsung S24F350FHU or S24F356FHU would be 2 options.
The LG 23MP68VQ-P and 24MP68VQ-P don't seem to be available widely yet. The Samsung should be better anyway.

There are also the Samsung C24F390FHU and C24F396FHU which are very similar but VA panels and curved. Not sure if you want that.

pcpartpicker doesn't list any of them though so you'll have to search for the best price yourself.

EDIT:
#1478
Might do a build later today.
I'm guessing Lightboost no?

About perf/$:
1. For how long will most of your gaming be on DX11? Think about it. Anything reasonably competitive from AMD in DX11 will win easily in DX12 and Vulkan.
2. How much is FreeSync/G-Sync worth to you? G-Sync will cost you an extra 100$ so your perf/$ goes out of the window.
3. No. Remember the 390 vs the 970? The 390 had better perf/$.
Now take a guess what's happening with the 480 and 1060 or even better the 470.

https://tpucdn.com/reviews/ASUS/RX_470_STRIX_OC/images/perfdollar_1920_1080.png

Keep in mind that's with Hitman on DX11 (because DX12 runs so much better on AMD) and Tomb Raider on DX12 because it runs worse on all cards. Don't ask.
Also the 480 was benchmarked with the 16.7.2 driver. With 16.8.1 it should be another 3% faster.

Lightboost doesn't really matter to me.

1. I'm not going to Win 10 right away and I'll mostly be playing OW and older/indie titles that don't support DX12. I'm not sure I'll see the benefits of DX12 for awhile based on what I'll be playing.
2. Tearing bothers me. I've been under the impression that I could use Free/Gsync to compensate for a lower-powered GPU that wouldn't be able to hit a solid 144 fps all the time. I guess the question is whether I'd be better served by getting a higher-powered GPU (1070 or so) and not having an adaptive sync tech, or a lower-powered GPU and spending the money I save on the GPU on the Free/Gsync monitor instead.

#1480
1. Good. DX12 and Win10 can go die in a fire. VULKAN HYPE!
2. Yeah here's the thing. Why not have the cake and eat it too?
No guarentee I'm getting the model numbers right since I'm doing this from the top of my head.
There was the AOC G2460PQU. Then they refreshed it as G2460PF. Literally identical (red lower bezel), same price but now with FreeSync. Lower manufacturing cost offset the minimal cost of Adaptive Sync. Then there's the G2460PG. Literally identical (and I mean literally) except for a green bezel instead of the red one and G-Sync instead of FreeSync.
Oh and it's more than 100$ more expensive.

See my point? All other things equal G-Sync will cost you 100$ more (which coincidentally is the price nVidia is asking for the G-Sync chip). So if you want G-Sync or FreeSync there is no way in hell nVidia is going to have better perf/$. Seriously, AMD will never price a GPU of the same speed 100$ above nVidia. No one would buy that.

But it gets better/worse: Things won't be equal. The G-Sync chip also does ULMB/Lightboost. You don't want that but you'd have to pay for it anyway.

That makes sense. I think based on what you're telling me, an AMD/Freesync combo would be the way to go. The other reservation I've had about Gsync is that in addition to the obvious cost premium, I have a nagging feeling that it will become irrelevant in the coming years as Freesync is adopted into the Displayport spec and will become increasingly prevalent.

#1482
More like as soon as Intel supports Adaptive Sync it'll be used in Notebooks to lower power draw, if it's used that widely the hardware becomes dirt cheap, every monitor will then have it since it's almost free and not having it would look bad. Suddenly nVidia will announce that Volta or whatever supports FreeSync. In a footnote they'll mention that Pascal, Maxwell and Kepler supported it all along and G-Sync was just a money grab. Or even better they still won't unlock it to force people to upgrade.

So yeah, there's a reason for that nagging feeling.

4 more questions I forgot to ask earlier:
1. Overclocking yes/no?
2. ODD yes/no?
3. Which settings do you want to run Overwatch at? In case you want to go above low. I'm assuming all other games you're going to play will be less demanding.
4. Monitor as well or outside of that budget?

Hey, I've been told that the GTX 1060 is a better card and it only exceeds my budget by a small amount so can I fit in the GTX 1060 in this build instead of the 470?

#1484
Yeah that's not how it works. You can't just set a budget and then ignore it.
If anything I'd get an RX 480 but I already told you that you don't need it.

You're on a budget. There will always be a faster card that's only "a bit" more expensive.
You'll get your 144fps with the 470 just fine. The more you spend on a GPU that you don't need the longer you have to save up to get a 144Hz monitor. I just don't see the point of getting maybe 190 instead of 160fps but being stuck with a 60Hz monitor because of it.

Fair enough.

Well, that's all the questions I'll need to be asking so thanks a lot for all the time you put into answering my questions and composing the build!

1. Yes
2. Not necessary, I have an external drive I can use when the rare need arises
3. 1080p, render scale 100%, model detail low to get rid of clutter, hopefully some AA. The rest is really whatever I can get away with. Right now I can barely manage an unstable 60fps with everything on lowest and render scale 70%. Smoothness matters more to me than graphics in MP games, but I would like to finally get some eye candy on my backlog of last-gen games (like Witcher 2).
4. $1200 including the monitor, but I'd be willing to stretch it some if necessary

#1487
Ok, how does this look?

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($219.99 @ Newegg)
CPU Cooler: Phanteks PH-TC14PE_BK 78.1 CFM CPU Cooler ($64.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: ASRock Z170 Pro4S ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($82.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4-2666 Memory ($62.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($89.39 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($46.88 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: PowerColor Radeon RX 480 8GB Red Devil Video Card ($300.00)
Case: Fractal Design Define S ATX Mid Tower Case ($69.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Rosewill 550W 80+ Platinum Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($54.99 @ Newegg)
Monitor: AOC G2460PF 24.0" 144Hz Monitor ($229.81 @ Amazon)
Total: $1207.01
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-08-09 07:04 EDT-0400

MSRP for the RX 480 Red Devil is 269$ so it should be easily within budget once it's back in stock somewhere.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131694

Hey Setsul, so I'm planning on buying a new PC along with a second screen (Asus PB278Q) and a TV (possibly 4K idk what requirements are needed for them) since I've moved and now have a lot more space for stuff in my room. Mostly play TF2 but would like decent graphics for Civ 6/whatever triple A interests me, don't have a specific budget other than hopefully under £1000-1200. I'm afraid I know relatively nothing about PCs or I would do it myself, thanks in advance.

edit: also I'm in Denmark now so I can't really use any UK-based sites, unless I visit during the holidays or something and pick them up then.

#1489
Where would you even get a PB278Q anymore?
Do you actually want a TV or just a 4K monitor?

Budget in € please, you're going to buy in €, right? £ is kill.

Overclocking yes/no?
120/144Hz yes/no?
G-Sync/FreeSync yes/no?
Lightboost yes/no?

Looks really good. Two last thoughts:

1. What PSU would you recommend if you shaved off $50 by dropping the HDD (I'm going to use my existing one)?
2. Any idea on the difference between the Red Devil & the MSI Gaming X?

Available on Amazon apparently. Could differ from it if it's not, just looking for a second higher-res 27inch to go with the 1st.
Well TV as in 40-inch, just to use as a screen that hooks up to my computer so I can watch shit in bed.

€1300 I guess. Not including the monitors.

Never done it so to avoid breaking stuff no.
Yes
Yes
Yes

#1491
1. The same. 80 Plus Platinum, regulation is <2%, ripple <25mV and so on. It's already overkill. I mean what do you want to improve on? Wattage? 550W is plenty for for a build that draws ~350W stock, maybe 450W overclocked.
There are some Gold units with better regulations, but they cost 20-30$ more. Not worth it for a sidegrade. There's the 650W P2 which is slightly better in all aspects but 100$ right now. Twice the price for minor improvements? Yeah, not happening either. Titanium? You're looking at 150$ for a Seasonic, 170$ for Super Flower (EVGA T2).

There's one thing you could do. Slight mobo upgrade and the 650W version of the PSU. Now you could add a second RX 480 some time down the road.
http://pcpartpicker.com/list/DR8YgL
I'll be honest though: Since normal Crossfire does nothing for the actual latency this would only be worth it with DX12/Vulkan. So probably not worth it for you.

2. They perform almost exactly the same. Noise, power consumption, fps. The PCB stays a bit cooler on the Red Devil though and it overclocks slightly higher (5-25MHz). I think the triple fan cooler is the reason for both. Also I like triple fan coolers. So that's why I picked the Red Devil, but the Gaming X is definitely my second choice out of all other aftermarket 480s.

#1492
When something is so outdated that it becomes hard to find it's probably not worth buying anymore. I mean it has neither 120/144Hz nor G-Sync/FreeSync nor Lightboost. And you said you want those.

Definitely 27" or is bigger or smaller fine or even preferred?
Higher res as in 1440p? Or even higher if possible?
4K for the 40"? Approximately 40" or exactly 40"?

The 3 things you said yes to all must haves or just "I'll take it if it's available"? And only for the 2nd/new main monitor or for the "TV" as well?
I mean 120/144Hz won't do anything for the "TV" and Lightboost is coupled to that. But FreeSync? I'm not sure if you've ever seen a 24fps movie on a 60Hz screen. It's awful. I usually just set my "movie monitors" to 47 or 72Hz so it's all in sync again and my main monitor to 120 instead of 144Hz so it works with both 24, 30 and 60fps. But why do it manually if you could have the monitor automatically adapt to whatever you need right now, be it 24, 30 or 60fps. So yeah I'd definitely recommend FreeSync for the "TV".

Definetely 27", already have a 27" 144hz that I'm very happy with and I'd prefer not to have odd sized monitors.
Yeah, that's what I meant.
4K preferred. 40" or above.

I'll take it if available tbh. I said yes with the 2nd monitor in mind since I doubt most of that would do much for the TV screen.

I'll take your word for it, but quick question on it since I'm not 100% on how it all works. If the main monitor is running at 144hz for games, and the TV runs at 47/72hz to not make movies look awful, why does the main monitor need to be at 120hz? And by automatically adapt does that mean it changes the hz of the screen from either 120 or 144 or from 47 to 72. I would look it up myself but I don't know what I'd be looking for. Sorry for the questions I'm pretty clueless : (

#1494
The 120Hz on the main monitor is just my setup so I can watch 30/60fps youtube videos on it.

FreeSync actually changes it to exactly what you need. So 24 fps -> 24Hz. It's mostly meant for games so it's nice to have for your main monitor as well. E.g. when your fps drop to 55 from 60 instead of stuttering or tearing it just changes to 55Hz.

I'll do a partlist tomorrow.
Rough budget for the monitors?

€350ish on the 2nd monitor, don't really know what to expect from the 4K screen so let's say €500?
Thanks for doing this, very kind of you.

#1496
Ok there will be no FreeSync for the 40" monitor and it'll probably end up being an actual TV. Most TVs don't support FreeSync yet and monitors that size are too expensive.

I also forgot to ask about IPS.

I'm assuming 27" >=1440p is fixed.
That leaves us with:
1. 120/144Hz.
2. Lightboost (most of them will be 120/144Hz)
3. G-Sync/FreeSync
4. IPS

Combination of 1 and 2 should be easy, the other ones not so much. You will not be able to get all at 350€.
Try to rank them.

In that case I'll just drop the TV and stick to 2 monitors, since at this point it makes the most sense.
For the 2nd monitor I don't need 120/144hz. IPS would be nice, since that improves the display afaik (though I don't know since I'm not familiar with it, as with most of this). Also with the TV screen out of the picture I could probably pay more than €350 if there's nothing under that.

#1498
Not sure if you skipped some words.
What I meant is that there are
-few 40" monitors.
-very few FreeSync TVs yet

And that a 40" TV will generally be cheaper.
Getting a 40" 4K screen <500€ isn't a problem.

Basically IPS = better colours.

Also I didn't mean there's no 27" 1440p monitor <350€.
There are plenty, even with IPS. Or with FreeSync. Just not both.
144Hz + FreeSync would cost you 450€. Add IPS and we're at 600€. That's why I told you to prioritize.

What I'm trying to say is 27" 1440p IPS <350€ is no problem at all.
1440p IPS and FreeSync (60Hz, not 144Hz) I couldn't find, but there's a 4K IPS with FreeSync for 450€.

To summarize the options:
1. 27" 1440p IPS <350€ and a 40" 4K TV <500€, neither with FreeSync.
2. 27" 4K IPS with FreeSync for ~450€ and a 4K TV for <400€.
Or just one of them obviously. But that's what you could get if you max out the budget that you gave me for both monitors.

I haven't looked up Danish prices yet, it would be best if you could find (a) shop(s) that you'll be buying from or a price comparision site. I'll use German prices to get a rough estimate. If those turn out to be significantly cheaper than the Danish ones you could always just have it shipped from Germany. Praise the EU I guess.

CPU: i5-6600 ~215€
Mobo: ASRock B150M Pro4S or Gigabyte GA-B150M-D3H whichever is cheaper. 60-70€
RAM: 2x 8GB 2133 or 2400MHz, CL15 or lower. ~60€
SSD: Samsung 850 Evo 250GB ~90€
HDD: Seagate Barracuda / Desktop HDD or Toshiba P300 / DT01ACA (64MB cache version) 1TB ~ 50€
GPU: RX 480 either Powercolor Red Devil or MSI Gaming X ~300€
Case: Cooler Master N200 ~45€
PSU: Corsair CX450M ~50€

total: ~880€

Went with 16GB RAM even if you probably won't need it any time soon. even with those 30€ extra we're still far below the budget.
Obviously lots of upgrades would be possible. Bigger SSD/HDD if you think you'd need it.
Or a better GPU. I mean 60fps on 1440p shouldn't be a problem but if you decide to go with the 4K 27" monitor it's probably not going to cut it.

making a new pc using some of the parts i currently have

the things I currently have are;
Case: BitFenix Shinobi
CPU: Intel I7 4770K
RAM: some single 8gb stick
GPU: Msi 770 twin frozr
PSU: Corsair RM650
Motherboard: ASRock Z87 Extreme 3
SSD: Samsung Evo 120gb
HDD: Caviar Green 2tb

notes;

• in au
  
• going to get it built and idk where would build it (suggestions helpful)
  
• need a quiet case with good ventilation and a good cooling for everything else without having to water cool (my room gets a lot of sun and heats up)
  
• planning to keep my current GPU in my pc as well as the new one so I'm not sure what this effects
  
• budget is roughly $1500 aud but it can go up or down if theres a good enough reason, dont mind saving money
  
• need 16gb of ram
  

main things I'm looking for are cpu cooler, case, mobo and ram.
hmu on steam if you need to

#1500

Hello, I'm not Setsul but I pretend to know a bit about computers every now and then.

- Do you really need an i7?
- Why do you have a K CPU but no cooler? If you don't want to overclock, go for a non-K CPU, otherwise I'd suggest a Noctua NH-D14.
- Why a single stick of ram?
- Tbh I was never a fan of SLI when there are better single card solutions out there. Plus it would also allow you to get a cheaper Motherboard and PSU.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($332.00 @ Centre Com)
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D14 65.0 CFM CPU Cooler ($99.00 @ Newegg Australia)
Motherboard: ASRock Z170 Pro4 ATX LGA1151 Motherboard ($169.00 @ CPL Online)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws V Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($55.00 @ PCCaseGear)
Storage: Samsung 850 EVO-Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($119.00 @ Umart)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($97.00 @ PLE Computers)
Video Card: MSI Radeon RX 480 8GB Video Card ($439.00 @ CPL Online)
Case: BitFenix Shinobi ATX Mid Tower Case ($89.00 @ CPL Online)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA G2 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply
Total: $1399.00
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2016-08-11 19:10 AEST+1000

I included a 250GB SSD, since the 128GB variant is only 20$ cheaper. You should be able to get this PSU for 100$(I hope), if not try to go with a GS 550.

P.S.: I have no idea about aussie prices so if there's a cheaper alternative for a certain part feel free to call me out on it.