Help with $1.3k gaming rig

[chikinwings]

Wa the laptop i don't know liao. It's rather old, I guess its N.

 

[MoneyFace =p]

Damn..I learn a lot from you. But still very curious. More questions here:

1. Why WD Blue 1TB when I can get Seagate 1TB for cheaper?

2. Why out of all the other brands for PSU, like let's say the Seasonic and the Coolermaster for example, you picked the Superflower? From the price list, Seasonic and Coolermaster's 520w and 550w is like cheaper.

3. As for the case, would the Corsair Carbide 200R be of a better choice? I heard it's bigger and has more space for future upgrades. Why instead of the 200R you recommend the 100R?

4. I am most confuse by the WIFI thingy. Why out of so many wifi thingy, you picked that? From the PC Themes price list, the wifi thingys range from like $29 to $469. Why couldn't i just get the cheapest wifi thingy? Does it make a difference?

5. Would the i5-4460 be of a better choice than the i5-6500? I am mentioning the i5-6500 because that time I went to SLS and the sales guy recommended that to me to pair with a GTX 970. Why did he recommend that but you recommend this? Does it make a big difference in the fps of the games?

6. Why out of all the motherboard, you picked that?

7. Why out of all the rams, you picked that?

Sorry if i ask a lot of question bro, but I am the kind of person who like to know reasoning behind stuff so I can be more informed before making decisions. By doing this I can also help those who might encounter the same problems and will get to find the readied answers here instead of being clueless and starting another thread.

Thanks bro, hope I don't take much of your time. You are awesome.

1. WD Blue is clearly more reliable than Seagate. I strongly believe in spending slightly more to protect my precious data. You also wouldn't want your precious memories at risk of losing right?

2. This Superflower is of higher energy efficiency, while providing full modular cables and using better internal components than that of Seasonic and Cooler Master budget series PSUs of same price range. Both Superflower and Seasonic manufacture their own PSUs, backed with super hihh reliability, while Cooler Master budget series is made by other OEM with less credibility.

3. Bigger is not always better. 100R already offers whatever you'll need in a chassis. Futureproof is pointless. Chances are you'll never upgrade, install bigger parts. Just ask yourself have you ever did that on your previous PC?

4. WiFi adapters come in different wireless standard, different number of spatial streams/antenna, range and performance. Hence, prices will be different. The one recommended is one of the top bestseller on Amazon and its performance and reliability can be vouched. This one is usually sold at about $150, at $85 after discount is a steal. You will need routers that support 3x3 MU-MIMO (3 antenna) to tap the full potential of the WiFi adapter. Of course, if your distance and direction between router and PC is not favourable, then homeplugs will be a better alternative. I am using the best Sineoji PL1800EP homeplugs at the moment. Best if your home is built within the past 8 years by HDB and comes with in built LAN around your unit.

5. While Skylake Core i5-6500 is the true successor to Haswell Core i5-4460, price remains high for Skylake and it does not perform any (if noticeably) better. So why waste money on that especially when budget is not loose here? Yes it is already 3yo and still using DDR3. You may feel unpleasant to go with 'old' and obsolete tech, but high chances are you are not going to 'upgrade' your processor and RAM within the next 2 years (while LGA1151 lives on) either.

6. Mainly for its 5 years warranty and also build quality. I won't mind ASRock H81M-HDS R2.0 either. I went for the Trooper since you have some cash left and it will also be better for WiFi card to locate away from graphics card with more slots as choices.

7. No apparent benefits from going with higher speed with those flashy heatsink. Unless you are looking at themed build, there is no reason to pay so much extra for something you can't feel.Divert those cash to something more useful, like graphics card and SSD upgrade.

I know, i always know. Many a time buyers look into upgradability of their PC as they want to ensure new future parts are still compatible and can make their unit strong and powerful down the years whenever they wish to do the upgrade. So people tend to think of getting CPU on new socket, latest new RAM with sure compatibility on future platforms, more RAM slots, PCIe expansion slots for upgradability, etc.. Yes, very forward thinking...

Yet, in the end, most ended up lazy to install and change out old for new parts. And they mostly don't require any additional new parts either. These additional features end up totally unused. So why waste money?

Just ask yourself, did you fully utilise all the potential and features of your current desktop PC motherboard?

 

[chikinwings]

brother moneyface, you got the best answers man..Thanks for taking your time to teach a noobie like me and explaining all the stuff to me. I understand your meaning now..It's not about going with what's popular but actually going with what's logical/rational.. But of course as a noob, the things we hear about are all the popular stuff, because the unorthodox methods are harder to find on the internet. That's why this forum is very useful. Thanks man! Currently, I don't have a desktop. Never had one. So this is my virgin experience. Hopefully it treats me well. Thanks for imparting your knowledge!

 

[MoneyFace =p]

Do compare between the two at ASUS website.. so you can choose wisely what features is needed for your use.

Looking at the Trooper B85 specs, it does not have HDMI port at the rear.
So connection to Monitor by meants of DVI or VGA. Just FYI

Actually all the chipset motherboards can have various combination of graphics ports...

TS also not gonna use those motherboard graphics ports (but ports on the discrete graphics card) so they don't really matter...

 

[MoneyFace =p]

The main differences between H81 and B85 are PCIe 2.0 vs 3.0 support from CPU on die PCIe controller on first PCIe x16 motherboard slot, 4 vs 6 SATA ports in total, 2 vs 4 USB 3.0 ports.

http://static5.photo.sina.com.cn/middle/001gJ3wNgy6E6E9OlPS64&690


B85 may be a 'business-oriented' chipset targeted at SMBs, they do not perform differently from the rest. Intel always love to entice mainstream consumers at choosing their higher end (and pricier) Hx7 & Zx7 (chipset aimed at home consumers) motherboards, yet knowing most of these people do not necessarily need the extra USB 3.0 ports offered and they also can't maximise them concurrently.

In short, they want to milk more money out of your pocket with the 'consumer-oriented' marketed products without any actual real benefits.

 

[MoneyFace =p]

I will take ASRock H81M-HDS R2.0 over ASUS H81M-K anytime since the latter doesn't comes with front USB 3.0 header. This means you won't be able to use your PC chassis front panel USB 3.0 ports (unless if chassis comes with USB 2.0 converter, but still pointless for your chassis).

TS, sometimes cannot just take the cheapest among all. Have to look at the losses against the amount you save.

 

[chikinwings]

Moneyface, am I able to private message you? Have quite some enquiries to ask you.

 

[MoneyFace =p]

Just ask here bah...

 

[chikinwings]

So you would still recommend the B85 Trooper right? It's compatible with the Corsair 100R?
I assume that what you're trying to explain is that the Mobo's USB 3.0 slots in these two Mobos are located in different areas and only the B85 Trooper would be compatible with my casing. Whereas the H81 wouldn't be? Wow I thought the locations for the slots in Mobo will work for all casing le.. Thanks for telling me this!

 

[MoneyFace =p]

So you would still recommend the B85 Trooper right? It's compatible with the Corsair 100R?
I assume that what you're trying to explain is that the Mobo's USB 3.0 slots in these two Mobos are located in different areas and only the B85 Trooper would be compatible with my casing. Whereas the H81 wouldn't be? Wow I thought the locations for the slots in Mobo will work for all casing le.. Thanks for telling me this!

No that was not what i meant.

ASUS H81M-K motherboard doesn't even have any USB 3.0 header for connection to the physical port on PC chassis. Both ASRock H81M-HDS R2.0 and ASUS Trooper B85 have it.

 

[chikinwings]

So if someone were to buy a H81, it won't work with their casing too?

So for the i5-4460, you only have this two recommendation right? The B85 Trooper and the Asrock H81m-HDS. Cause there are some other mobos from diff manufacturers like gigabyte, msi and etc.
Why would these two stand out from the rest?

 

[MoneyFace =p]

So if someone were to buy a H81, it won't work with their casing too?

So for the i5-4460, you only have this two recommendation right? The B85 Trooper and the Asrock H81m-HDS. Cause there are some other mobos from diff manufacturers like gigabyte, msi and etc.
Why would these two stand out from the rest?

Not all H81 motherboards come with this USB 3.0 header. Mainly because H81 chipset natively only comes with 2 USB 3.0 ports. Hence, many H81 boards implement their chipset supported USB 3.0 on its rear.

Only certain H81 motherboards like ASRock H81M-HDS R2.0, ASUS H81M-D PLUS, MSI H81M-E35 implement additional 3rd-party USB 3.0 controller over provided PCIe lane offered by chipset to provide additional USB 3.0 ports (either on motherboard rear and/or USB 3.0 header for chassis front panel). Therefore, for H81 boards i only recommend those with USB 3.0 header.