Buying a new desktop + laptop.

I went with 7 on my new computer as well. I'll probably do the 10 upgrade if it's free and desktop friendly.
 
Exactly, Toff. I'd do an upgrade, too, if it's desktop-friendly. I can't get with that Windows 8 interface. I am too used to a normal desktop to mess with it now.
 
We'll all probably move to win 10 since it's free upgrade in the first year so picking win 7 or 8 today on a new machine is pretty irrelevant thing, take whichever.
 
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I've said it before and I'll say it again: I used to be in the "more bang for your buck" AMD camp, but AMD processors suck ass when it comes to single threaded processes. The vast majority of games are precisely that and if you get a game that is more cpu-bound than it is GPU, you will likely come to regret your penny-pinching.
 
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Drithius, can you give me a link or something to a discussion, article, review - anything that supports your claim? It's not that I don't believe you, but I'd like to read something about what you say in order to get a firmer grasp on things. I know next to nothing about the technical side of CPUs, GPUs, etc. I thought the AMD sounds very nice for the price, but if the Intel is better for gaming, video encoding and the like, I will probably rethink my plans and go for a similarly-priced Intel CPU.

So, any other info you can give me to help my decision would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
 
I saw you selected a 970, be aware that these cards are gimped and only have 3.5 Gb of the memory available on the full speed, the last 0.5 Gb of memory shares the L2 cache controller (instead of having 2) and is therefore marginally faster than DDR3 system memory. It might not be a problem, but I'd thought you should be aware of this "limitation".
 
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basharran, Thanks for the heads-up, but the 970 is currently the best card I can afford. Unless you suggest going with AMD? I currently use an AMD Radeon 7970m in my laptop and I actually love it. It plays most games on 'Ultra' settings, as well as staying cool, even under maximum load. But yeah, the 970 is the best one I can really afford!

Is this build a bit better for gaming, video making and video encoding?

Computer Case : Thermaltake Chaser A21 Mid Tower ATX
Power Supply Upgrade : 550W Heavy Duty TOUGH Series SATA Power Supply
Motherboard : Asus H81M Series Intel H81/ DDR3/ SATA3&USB3.0/ A&GbE/ MicroATX
DDR3 Memory : 8GB (2X4GB) DDR3-1866 PC3-14900
Processor : Intel Core i5 4670 3.4GHz Quad Core 6MB
CPU Cooling Fan : Original Factory Cooling Fan and Heatsink
SSD : Kingston SSD 120 GB SATA3 Solid State Drive
Hard Drive : 1TB Seagate 7200RPM SATA-3 UDMA 300 32MB Cache
Video Card : nVidia GeForce GTX 970 4GB GDDR5 2DVI/HDMI/DisplayPort PCI-Express
Sound Card : 8-Channel Digital Sound Card (onboard)
Network Card : 10/100/1000 Gigabit Network Card (onboard)
Operating System : MS Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit DVD
Warranty : Assembled and tested, 3 years parts and 3 Year labor warranty
 
basharran, Thanks for the heads-up, but the 970 is currently the best card I can afford. Unless you suggest going with AMD? I currently use an AMD Radeon 7970m in my laptop and I actually love it. It plays most games on 'Ultra' settings, as well as staying cool, even under maximum load. But yeah, the 970 is the best one I can really afford!

Is this build a bit better for gaming, video making and video encoding?

Computer Case : Thermaltake Chaser A21 Mid Tower ATX
Power Supply Upgrade : 550W Heavy Duty TOUGH Series SATA Power Supply
Motherboard : Asus H81M Series Intel H81/ DDR3/ SATA3&USB3.0/ A&GbE/ MicroATX
DDR3 Memory : 8GB (2X4GB) DDR3-1866 PC3-14900
Processor : Intel Core i5 4670 3.4GHz Quad Core 6MB
CPU Cooling Fan : Original Factory Cooling Fan and Heatsink
SSD : Kingston SSD 120 GB SATA3 Solid State Drive
Hard Drive : 1TB Seagate 7200RPM SATA-3 UDMA 300 32MB Cache
Video Card : nVidia GeForce GTX 970 4GB GDDR5 2DVI/HDMI/DisplayPort PCI-Express
Sound Card : 8-Channel Digital Sound Card (onboard)
Network Card : 10/100/1000 Gigabit Network Card (onboard)
Operating System : MS Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit DVD
Warranty : Assembled and tested, 3 years parts and 3 Year labor warranty

I don't see any issues with it, can you estimate what the memory requirements are from the video making/encoding and if it's wise to get 16 Gb instead of 8? The 970 is a very good card and if you stay below the 3.5 Gb threshold you should have an absolute beast of a card. AMD has nothing better to offer at this time (with similar stats and energy consumption).

Edit: the standard CPU cooling from Intel is adequate but nothing more, spend a few dollars to get a decent other one.
 
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I don't see any issues with it, can you estimate what the memory requirements are from the video making/encoding and if it's wise to get 16 Gb instead of 8? The 970 is a very good card and if you stay below the 3.5 Gb threshold you should have an absolute beast of a card. AMD has nothing better to offer at this time (with similar stats and energy consumption).

I would love to get 16GB, but I'm at the max of my budget right now. I really can't go any higher!

The video-making/encoding will be 1080p video, using Nvidia Shadowplay (most likely), and encoding 1-hour videos. Currently, I've been doing this task with an Intel i7 3630qm 2.3ghz and Radeon 7970m GPU combo. It takes a little longer than I'd really like, as certain games actually take 2 hours to encode a video for! I'm hoping the new setup will be better for this process and make things smoother and more efficient.
 
Not familiar with Shadowplay, but a quick glance shows that it should be more than enough to do that due to the x264 options! I'd say go for it :)
 
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Thanks, basharran! I think I will go with the Intel build. Cheers! :party:
 
Well, my computer is finally built!!! :party: :celebrate: :D I should be getting it sometime next week! :)

Here is the build I ended up being able to afford.

Computer Case : Thermaltake V3 Black Edition Mid Tower Case
Power Supply Upgrade : 550W Heavy Duty TOUGH Series SATA Power Supply
Motherboard : Asus H81M Series Intel H81/ DDR3/ SATA3&USB3.0/ A&GbE/ MicroATX
DDR3 Memory : 16GB (2X8GB) DDR3-1333/1600 PC3-10666/12800
Processor : Intel Core i5 4670 3.4GHz Quad Core 6MB
CPU Cooling Fan : Cooler Master Hyper T2 CPU Fan For Intel & AMD Processors
SSD : Kingston SSD 240 GB SATA3 Solid State Drive
Hard Drive : 500GB Westen Digital 7200RPM SATA-3 16MB Cache
Video Card : nVidia GeForce GTX 970 4GB GDDR5 2DVI/HDMI/DisplayPort PCI-Express
DVD Recorder : 24X Samsung DVD+/-RW SATA
Sound Card : 8-Channel Digital Sound Card (onboard)
Network Card : 10/100/1000 Gigabit Network Card (onboard)
Operating System : MS Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit DVD
Warranty : Assembled and tested, 3 years parts and 3 Year labor warranty

Overall, it could be a bit better, but I'm happy with it! :) I was also able to use the few left over funds I had to buy some strategy guides and gifts for my parents.

Can't wait to get it!!! :idea:
 
Yay! Some good choices that I can stand behind. It will run things nicely without going overboard and spending a fortune . Personally a cheaper video card would also have been okay.

Totally unrelated. I have treated myself to a topping vx1. A cheap USB DAC + amp that hopefully will give me great sound, using HiFi speakers, in contrast to the onboard soundcard. Pretty excited.
 
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Congrats on your purchase!

I wanted to get a better soundcard, but I just couldn't afford it. Hopefully the onboard audio at least allows me to use music making programs.
 
Lol, it seems you have a free upgrade to your soundcard after all.

I was wondering if these days GPU encoding and recording slows down your PC. Otherwise you might consider a separate recording box if you make a lot of vids
 
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On my Alienware, encoding took up most of the CPU, but once in awhile I'd manage the CPU usage and play a game while a video encoded in the background.

FRAPS for PC recording hits the performance a bit, but now that I'm using an Nvidia card, I am using ShadowPlay to record the videos and there has been no performance hit at all.
 
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