My Noob Questions Thread.

Ginger Maestro

Ginger Maestro

Ginger Maestro

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I hope this is ok to put in this part of the forum.

Basically I'm going to be building a PC that I can use for high spec gaming all the latest games and future games(ARMA 3/ BF4/ WATCHDOGS etc) and watching/streaming movies in Blue Ray HD, I suppose an all around entertainment system.

I'm not looking for anybody to spec me a build, just more information to help me learn what it is I need to know to build a PC for my requirements. I have not set a budget for myself at this time.

I will add questions as and when they come to me whilst doing my research, but here's my first one.

Question,

What is the current state of play with the latest PC Games and Gamers, are people sat in front of their TV's playing Battlefield 4 and the likes in 3D, as in with a 3D TV,3D Graphics AND 3D Glasses. Is that what the Kool Kids are doing, or is it still your traditional HD Monitor and no 3D Graphics/Glasses?

Is the short to medium future of gaming planned to be all 3D so I should build my sytem with this in mind?
 
I think standard monitor is what most are doing right now, just simpler and probably cheaper

I don't think 3D will kick off massively too soon either, more likely 4K in the distant future and 1440p is pretty much where it is at right now, so if you have the budget go 1440p
 
Shivy011 said:
I think standard monitor is what most are doing right now, just simpler and probably cheaper

I don't think 3D will kick off massively too soon either, more likely 4K in the distant future and 1440p is pretty much where it is at right now, so if you have the budget go 1440p
Click to expand...

Thank you,

When you're talking about 4k and 1440p, you're talking about a Monitor/Screen right?

If I'm correct in my thinking, I would need to source a monitor that is capable of projecting 4k/1440p?

Do I need special cables from my system to monitor for this?

Is there anything in my rig that effects the ability to view in 4k/1440p?

ie, a special graphics card, or do I just need one that is compatible?
 
Ginger Maestro said:
Thank you,

When you're talking about 4k and 1440p, you're talking about a Monitor/Screen right?

If I'm correct in my thinking, I would need to source a monitor that is capable of projecting 4k/1440p?

Do I need special cables from my system to monitor for this?

Is there anything in my rig that effects the ability to view in 4k/1440p?

ie, a special graphics card, or do I just need one that is compatible?
Click to expand...

Well 1440p is quite hard to run, yes I mean the monitor (instead of 1080p resolution, 1440p which is a bit higher)

What are your current system specs?
 
So what would I need to run in 1440p?

To be honest pal, I don't have the foggiest idea what my current specs are, I've never even built a PC Before and the only game I'm currently playing on this PC is the Football Manager series, which runs nothing at all like a dream.

I've always been a console gamer, but I'm looking to move to PC Gaming as soon as possible.
 
To run 1440p you'd need quite a decent, mid-high end system

Can you download CPU-Z and show us a screenshot of the tabs? Or somehow find out the specs?
 
Well, I'm not building a lower end budget machine. I'm probably going to build an i7 4790k, and a Z97 board, if that's any help.

I can do yes, but Im binning this machine when I have built my new one anyhow
 
Ginger Maestro said:
Well, I'm not building a lower end budget machine. I'm probably going to build an i7 4790k, and a Z97 board, if that's any help.

I can do yes, but Im binning this machine when I have built my new one anyhow
Click to expand...

Ah okay, I see. So if you have something like a GTX 970/980/R9 290 these will not struggle at 1440p, so 1440p is ideally the way to go. Judging by the fact that you will be able to get a 4790k, I assume you'll be able to get a decent graphics card and they will drive 1440p at high settings no problems :)
 
Would a i5 4690k struggle?

If something was to struggle, what would struggle exactly? Not have enough power, not big enough to send the required data to the screen?

Sorry for the Noob questions.
 
Ginger Maestro said:
Would a i5 4690k struggle?

If something was to struggle, what would struggle exactly? Not have enough power, not big enough to send the required data to the screen?

Sorry for the Noob questions.
Click to expand...

No problem :)

An i5 4690k would also run fine, it's mostly about the graphics card not the CPU for driving high resolutions. If you got something like an R9 280 graphics card, that would struggle at 1440p resolution (i.e. not have enough power. A graphics card needs to have a lot of grunt/power to drive higher resolutions like 1440p, which only higher end graphics cards have like the GTX 970.)
 
The sweet spot at the moment for a monitor is 1440p with G-Sync. (Nvidia GPU's only).
G-Sync allows the screen to be in sync with the graphics card refresh rate, meaning no frame tearing.

On the other 1080p side 120/144hz screens allow for smoother play, and up until now have been on a 1080p screen, the ROG swift came along and now we have a G-sync, 144hz & a 1440p screen, meaning the best of all worlds, however require some grunt and comes at a cost!

What do you estimate you would want to spend on a build?
 
Shivy011 said:
No problem :)

An i5 4690k would also run fine, it's mostly about the graphics card not the CPU for driving high resolutions. If you got something like an R9 280 graphics card, that would struggle at 1440p resolution (i.e. not have enough power. A graphics card needs to have a lot of grunt/power to drive higher resolutions like 1440p, which only higher end graphics cards have like the GTX 970.)
Click to expand...

And the more power it has, then the hotter the GPU becomes? Therefore needing a fan to cool it down?
 
Ginger Maestro said:
And the more power it has, then the hotter the GPU becomes? Therefore needing a fan to cool it down?
Click to expand...

By power I mean the processing power it has, not the electrical power it uses :)

Also, power and heat are not linear, for example the new GTX 970 and 980 are much more power efficient than the last generation of graphics cards, so use less electrical power and make less heat. Most graphics cards come with fans and coolers preinstalled, so don't worry about that too much :)
 
Ginger Maestro said:
And the more power it has, then the hotter the GPU becomes? Therefore needing a fan to cool it down?
Click to expand...

Not entirely, the harder you push the card the hotter it gets.
So if you overclock it like mad, then yes it will get hot quicker.

However cards are more efficient & power consuming then they used to be so heat isn't as bad and with most cases having good ventilation, never really an issue.

Shivy can guide the way, I need some food! :p
 
ThaReaperGuy said:
The sweet spot at the moment for a monitor is 1440p with G-Sync. (Nvidia GPU's only).
G-Sync allows the screen to be in sync with the graphics card refresh rate, meaning no frame tearing.

On the other 1080p side 120/144hz screens allow for smoother play, and up until now have been on a 1080p screen, the ROG swift came along and now we have a G-sync, 144hz & a 1440p screen, meaning the best of all worlds, however require some grunt and comes at a cost!

What do you estimate you would want to spend on a build?
Click to expand...

Thank you, I think I understand this now.

Just to clarify, 1440p is where it's at right now, and to run at 1440p I need a GPU with the grunt to drive a higher resolution monitor?

ie, R90 290, GTX970+
 
ThaReaperGuy said:
Not entirely, the harder you push the card the hotter it gets.
So if you overclock it like mad, then yes it will get hot quicker.

However cards are more efficient & power consuming then they used to be so heat isn't as bad and with most cases having good ventilation, never really an issue.

Shivy can guide the way, I need some food! :p
Click to expand...

Ginger Maestro said:
Thank you, I think I understand this now.

Just to clarify, 1440p is where it's at right now, and to run at 1440p I need a GPU with the grunt to drive a higher resolution monitor?

ie, R90 290, GTX970+
Click to expand...

I could do with some food as well :p

Yes, you hit the nail on the head :) For high end gaming, 1440p is the sweet spot
 
Shivy011 said:
By power I mean the processing power it has, not the electrical power it uses :)

Also, power and heat are not linear, for example the new GTX 970 and 980 are much more power efficient than the last generation of graphics cards, so use less electrical power and make less heat. Most graphics cards come with fans and coolers preinstalled, so don't worry about that too much :)
Click to expand...

Thanking you again,

What are the numbers I should use to measurements the processing power and power efficiency of a GPU?

Is it MHZ and MB
And Wattage for electrical power consumption?
 
Ginger Maestro said:
Thanking you again,

What are the numbers I should use to measurements the processing power and power efficiency of a GPU?

Is it MHZ and MB
And Wattage for electrical power consumption?
Click to expand...

Wattage (not TDP, but power consumption) for electrical. TDP is heat output, you get heat in watts and also electricity in watts :)

MHZ is the speed that the core runs at, nothing to do with electrical power consumed, however when you overclock the idea is you get the Mhz higher so data is processed more quickly therefore you net more frames per second. No real need to overclock though, at stock a GTX 970 and i5 4690k will fly all day

For GPU power, look at the amount of stream cores, CUDA cores etc, shaders amount etc
 
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