jeydax
Death and Taxes
- 1,395
- 870
$1k budget
From what I read clock speed is pretty important and multiple cores don't mean shit. I may use my existing i7-4770k / ASUS Z87-Pro / 16 GB ram and just update to the Haswell refresh on my gaming PC.
Desktop Computers
- Thread starter brekk
- Start date
From what I read clock speed is pretty important and multiple cores don't mean shit. I may use my existing i7-4770k / ASUS Z87-Pro / 16 GB ram and just update to the Haswell refresh on my gaming PC.
- 25,448
- 37,590
I use my i5 gaming computer to run cad all the time at home. I designed an entire IP substrate at home and at work for the new 16' Nissan Maxima. I dont use AutoCad but I do use Siemens NX (3D solid modeling, more suited for automotive work) and it runs just fine. I open up entire cockpit module assemblies. The only thing you really need is ram. I would recommend as much ram as you can afford.(16-32gig) It is a bit slower than at work (Compared to $4500 dual xeon workstations, yeah its going to be a bit slower) but not at all that much slower. Some of the more processor intensive tasks take a few seconds longer. Also what would help is a couple of SSDs to load stuff faster.
The workstations at work also use expensive ass Nvidia Quadro video cards, but you dont need them. All they are is more stable and use different driver architecture to keep shit as stable as possible. But at home I rarely run into issues of stability. Yeah it crashes rarely and more often than at work, but its nothing to warrant a $1000-$2000 video card.
Hi Guys,
Sorry to shit up the thread with a "please help me build a computer because I'm too stupid to figure out what's a good buy myself" post. I recently moved out west to the central valley of CA and it's hot. Like, 110 in may hot. I'm from IL, it's crazy. I've also been introduced to the lovely CA energy company PG&E and their KwH price that's around 600% higher then my energy rates back in the Mid-west.
I work from home in my office and typically run netflix/streams etc, in the background along with gaming in the evening. I'm using an older computer aprox~ 4 years that can still run most games fine (Diablo 3, Smite, Planetside 2), but it's more or less a space heater when turned on. Would upgrading to a new desktop with more efficient cooling/power consumption generate a noticeable energy savings each month? Is it possible to get a newer rig that will run cool enough that it won't heat the room up such that I'm spending additional money on extra cooling in the room? If so, any recommendations on brands/cases etc.? Is a gaming PC that runs current gen games (and hopefully a couple years from now) decently do-able in the $1,000 range, especially focusing on power consumption and cooling? With what the electric bill is monthly here, if I can save -at all- from the PC power usage, it will basically pay for itself.
Thanks for taking a look.
Sorry to shit up the thread with a "please help me build a computer because I'm too stupid to figure out what's a good buy myself" post. I recently moved out west to the central valley of CA and it's hot. Like, 110 in may hot. I'm from IL, it's crazy. I've also been introduced to the lovely CA energy company PG&E and their KwH price that's around 600% higher then my energy rates back in the Mid-west.
I work from home in my office and typically run netflix/streams etc, in the background along with gaming in the evening. I'm using an older computer aprox~ 4 years that can still run most games fine (Diablo 3, Smite, Planetside 2), but it's more or less a space heater when turned on. Would upgrading to a new desktop with more efficient cooling/power consumption generate a noticeable energy savings each month? Is it possible to get a newer rig that will run cool enough that it won't heat the room up such that I'm spending additional money on extra cooling in the room? If so, any recommendations on brands/cases etc.? Is a gaming PC that runs current gen games (and hopefully a couple years from now) decently do-able in the $1,000 range, especially focusing on power consumption and cooling? With what the electric bill is monthly here, if I can save -at all- from the PC power usage, it will basically pay for itself.
Thanks for taking a look.
Currently using a Radeon 6900 HD.
I did a bit of reading on the newer more efficient PSUs - I'm not sure how much that would really save, maybe 10-15% on consumption. After thinking on it a bit more, heat production would probably be my easiest route to savings. Venting out of the room/house isn't really an option, so my best best I'm guessing is newer, more efficient parts. Quantifying savings on that is difficult though, I'm not having much luck finding any information on actual heat and kwh savings on newer components. I would guess (though I could be wrong) that getting a better Video Card that doesn't need to draw as much power to run games/basic background netflix etc. which in turn might lower heat issues might go a long way?
Bottom line, I'm spending aprox~ $50/month powering the computer, and an unknown $$ amount cooling the room. If I can get to a ~$20 savings on a new computer that costs me around $1000 that will last 3-4 years, it's basically paying for itself.
Thanks for taking a look Joeboo!
Joeboo
Molten Core Raider
- 8,157
- 140
Alrighty, here are some general ideas
You're going to definitely save on power consumption going to a new intel CPU, each recent gen of Intel CPUs have become more and more power friendly. That being said, the CPU isn't going to be your main power drain, it's going to be your graphics card, so where you go with that is all the difference in the world.
Going from an older i5 2500k processor to a newer i5 4670k dropped max power consumption by only about 10-20 watts, which is still nice that you're actually seeing a decrease in power consumption corresponding with an increase in computing power. But you really aren't going to gain a ton of power savings with a new processor(the old ones really didnt use that much power, compared to overall system consumption), unless you have an original high-end i7 or something that really chews up a lot of juice(like an i7 970 or something)
The video card will be where the biggest variance happens
I assume you probably have something like an AMD 6950? Thats about a 4 year old card, and there wasn't a 6900 model card(they were 6950s, 6970s, and 6990s in the 6900-series)
At max power(gaming) a 6950 requires 200W, a 6970 requires 250W and the monster 6990 requires 375W.
For new cards, you will want to go Nvidia, as Nvidia cards are very power-friendly compared to comparable AMD cards. Neither really has an edge over the other in overall performance, but Nvidia definitely has the edge in cooling and power consumption.
A slight upgrade to your existing 6950 would be an Nvidia 750Ti(it's actually comparable to the 6970 card), its a cheap, mid to low range card nowadays(costs about $150) but only uses 60W at max power. So thats either a 140W gain for slightly better performance over your 6950, or a 190W gain over equivalent performance to a 6970
Now all of that sounds great, but a 750Ti isn't a card that you're going to be happy with for several years. Its decent now, its probably a little better than what you currently have, it'll run new games at 1080p resolution on medium/high settings, but its going to really lag behind within a year or so, you'll be wanting to upgrade it fairly soon if you go that route.
If you want a video card that is going to last you minimum a year with good performance(high/ultra in new games at 1080p) and even longer if you're ok with medium/hgh settings, you're probably looking at something like the Nvidia 770. Now that's a great card, a HUGE upgrade over what you have currently(look at it compared to a 6970 here:AnandTech | Bench - GPU14), but it also maxes out at about 230W of power, so its right in-between a 6950 and 6970 in wattage. So at this point, the small gains you would make with a new processor are given back with the video card. But you're talking a 2-3x performance gain for basically no more wattage. Thats pretty nice.
Now, all of that being said, you could build a new PC, it's going to have a better processor, much better video card, but probably not really use less power(but it shouldnt use more), but you might see some nice gains in heat output though. The newer Intel processors can run really cool even on stock cooling, and even better with not much more than a $20 aftermarket heat sink upgrade. Newer Nvidia video cards are probably also going to have better heat dissipation than your old AMD card(I honestly like the Nvidia stock blower fans, but there's a lot of third party 2-fan cooling systems that work well too, every card is a little different), so while you aren't really saving any direct money due to lesser wattage, the damn computer probably won't heat up your room as bad as the old one did, saving on some AC costs there.
Hope that helps with some ideas for getting started.
You're going to definitely save on power consumption going to a new intel CPU, each recent gen of Intel CPUs have become more and more power friendly. That being said, the CPU isn't going to be your main power drain, it's going to be your graphics card, so where you go with that is all the difference in the world.
Going from an older i5 2500k processor to a newer i5 4670k dropped max power consumption by only about 10-20 watts, which is still nice that you're actually seeing a decrease in power consumption corresponding with an increase in computing power. But you really aren't going to gain a ton of power savings with a new processor(the old ones really didnt use that much power, compared to overall system consumption), unless you have an original high-end i7 or something that really chews up a lot of juice(like an i7 970 or something)
The video card will be where the biggest variance happens
I assume you probably have something like an AMD 6950? Thats about a 4 year old card, and there wasn't a 6900 model card(they were 6950s, 6970s, and 6990s in the 6900-series)
At max power(gaming) a 6950 requires 200W, a 6970 requires 250W and the monster 6990 requires 375W.
For new cards, you will want to go Nvidia, as Nvidia cards are very power-friendly compared to comparable AMD cards. Neither really has an edge over the other in overall performance, but Nvidia definitely has the edge in cooling and power consumption.
A slight upgrade to your existing 6950 would be an Nvidia 750Ti(it's actually comparable to the 6970 card), its a cheap, mid to low range card nowadays(costs about $150) but only uses 60W at max power. So thats either a 140W gain for slightly better performance over your 6950, or a 190W gain over equivalent performance to a 6970
Now all of that sounds great, but a 750Ti isn't a card that you're going to be happy with for several years. Its decent now, its probably a little better than what you currently have, it'll run new games at 1080p resolution on medium/high settings, but its going to really lag behind within a year or so, you'll be wanting to upgrade it fairly soon if you go that route.
If you want a video card that is going to last you minimum a year with good performance(high/ultra in new games at 1080p) and even longer if you're ok with medium/hgh settings, you're probably looking at something like the Nvidia 770. Now that's a great card, a HUGE upgrade over what you have currently(look at it compared to a 6970 here:AnandTech | Bench - GPU14), but it also maxes out at about 230W of power, so its right in-between a 6950 and 6970 in wattage. So at this point, the small gains you would make with a new processor are given back with the video card. But you're talking a 2-3x performance gain for basically no more wattage. Thats pretty nice.
Now, all of that being said, you could build a new PC, it's going to have a better processor, much better video card, but probably not really use less power(but it shouldnt use more), but you might see some nice gains in heat output though. The newer Intel processors can run really cool even on stock cooling, and even better with not much more than a $20 aftermarket heat sink upgrade. Newer Nvidia video cards are probably also going to have better heat dissipation than your old AMD card(I honestly like the Nvidia stock blower fans, but there's a lot of third party 2-fan cooling systems that work well too, every card is a little different), so while you aren't really saving any direct money due to lesser wattage, the damn computer probably won't heat up your room as bad as the old one did, saving on some AC costs there.
Hope that helps with some ideas for getting started.
Zodiac
Lord Nagafen Raider
- 1,200
- 14
What are you paying per kWh? Even if you were running a monster PC that pulled 350 watts average for 24 hours a day you would have to pay ~20 cents per kWh to add $50 to your electric bill. Is it really that high in cali? Seems crazy, I think I pay something like 7 cents per kWh. Have you actually metered your PC's power draw?
Best option (if you don't need an upgrade for other reasons), turn off your PC when not using it and look for a new electric company.
Best option (if you don't need an upgrade for other reasons), turn off your PC when not using it and look for a new electric company.
Hey Zodiac,
Ca where I'm at has a publicly owned power company that is basically the only option. They have tiered plans, for us, anything over 200 kwh is .34c. It's pretty absurd.
Ca where I'm at has a publicly owned power company that is basically the only option. They have tiered plans, for us, anything over 200 kwh is .34c. It's pretty absurd.
Zodiac
Lord Nagafen Raider
- 1,200
- 14
Jesus, I didn't know that - you guys are getting fucked. But yeah, as joeboo says, at idle you will not really see that much power savings overall. You might see 15% power saving a full load though.
Made me want to go look mine up, I was a bit off. It's 8.5? when using less than 1000 kWh and 12.1? over 1000 kWh. At your prices everyone would go broke in the south from all the AC we run.
Made me want to go look mine up, I was a bit off. It's 8.5? when using less than 1000 kWh and 12.1? over 1000 kWh. At your prices everyone would go broke in the south from all the AC we run.
Lithose
Buzzfeed Editor
- 25,946
- 113,035
Holy fuck balls; even hippy save the environment Solar/Wind only plans here don't go over .20.
So I plan to buy an Uninterrupted Power-supply along with the other computer parts to protect my investment this time around. Don't really feel like spending this much just to have it all go up in smoke with one lightning strike again. Any recommendations? I was kinda looking at this one:
CyberPower Intelligent LCD Series CP1500AVRLCD GreenPower UPS - Newegg.com
But I honestly haven't looked around that much yet.
CyberPower Intelligent LCD Series CP1500AVRLCD GreenPower UPS - Newegg.com
But I honestly haven't looked around that much yet.
Gator
Molten Core Raider
- 993
- 811
Thats the same one I've been looking at for my entertainment center. But I don't know much about them. You may get a better deal from amazon though, thats where I first saw it with excellent reviewsAmazon.com: CyberPower CP1500AVRLCD Intelligent LCD UPS 1500VA 900W AVR Mini-Tower: Electronics
Intrinsic
Person of Whiteness
- 14,422
- 12,048
I've been using that model or similar for about 4 years probably and it has been great. I had one that went kaput about a year in to using it and CyberPower replaced it with a newer model no questions asked.
Joeboo
Molten Core Raider
- 8,157
- 140
Yep, I've had this CyberPower UPS for about a year and a half and it works like a champ:
CyberPower Intelligent LCD Series GreenPower UPS CP1000AVRLCD UPS - Newegg.com
I have an older house and a LOT of electronics on a not big enough amperage electrical service(we only have 100 amp service, upgrading to 200amp is on the "to do" list sometime in the next coupley years), so I fairly often get electrical flickers and crap when something big like the AC or furnace kicks on. The thing has saved a ton of wear and tear on my PC, keeping it up 100% of the time. And while 600W may not sound like a ton, its enough to keep my PC with dual/SLI video cards as well as 2 28" monitors powered for what it estimates to be about 10-12 minutes if the power goes out. Thats plenty of time to get everything shut down properly.
CyberPower Intelligent LCD Series GreenPower UPS CP1000AVRLCD UPS - Newegg.com
I have an older house and a LOT of electronics on a not big enough amperage electrical service(we only have 100 amp service, upgrading to 200amp is on the "to do" list sometime in the next coupley years), so I fairly often get electrical flickers and crap when something big like the AC or furnace kicks on. The thing has saved a ton of wear and tear on my PC, keeping it up 100% of the time. And while 600W may not sound like a ton, its enough to keep my PC with dual/SLI video cards as well as 2 28" monitors powered for what it estimates to be about 10-12 minutes if the power goes out. Thats plenty of time to get everything shut down properly.