After much deliberation and finding ways to save $10 here and there, new HTPC is on the way. I considered putting the 1070 into my desktop PC and my current 680 into the HTPC. The problem is that my 680 has 1x HDMI and 1x Display Port. The 1070 has 2x HDMI and 2x Display Port. My monitors take Display Port, but my TV is HDMI only. I need those two HDMI ports on the HTPC so I can duplicate the screen and stream it out.
Why not just get an hdmi splitter?
I have one. It is definitely not broken because if I connect it to two displays, it works. But for some reason if I send one of the outputs to the LiveWedge, it's all messed up. The LiveWedge isn't broken because I can connect other HDMI sources to any of its inputs, and they all work fine. Also, if I directly connect from any computer's HDMI output without going through the splitter, it works fine.
I guess I can try it again just in case.
Actually never mind. I just looked up the specs for my 680. Want to know something really interesting? This video card from 2012 that is way slower than the 1070 is drastically less power efficient. The 450W power supply in that HTPC case won't be able to power the 680, but can power the 1070 no problem.
I'm hoping in a year or two, when this desktop is 5-6 years old, I'll be able to just upgrade the GPU to get 2-3 more years out of it instead of upgrading the whole thing. Looks like that will be possible. 1180 or 1280 here I come.
Since the subject is on Video cards: I'm building a new PC myself and I have to decide between a GTX 970 and a GTX 1070. The 1070 costs about $150 more, how much "future proofing" will the 1070 have?
The rest of the specs so far are i5-6600 Skylake, 16 GB RAM, with a 500GB SSD.
Since the subject is on Video cards: I'm building a new PC myself and I have to decide between a GTX 970 and a GTX 1070. The 1070 costs about $150 more, how much "future proofing" will the 1070 have?
The rest of the specs so far are i5-6600 Skylake, 16 GB RAM, with a 500GB SSD.
The 1070 is WAY better than the 970. It's even better than a 980. A 980 is like, 70% as powerful as a 1070. A 1080 is almost twice as powerful as a 980. Still, a 970 could be fast enough for your purposes. I'm still rocking every game quite nicely with a 680.
As for the other parts, I just got my HTPC components, and bought almost the same exact thing. i5, 16GB, 500GBSSD. However, I chose the 6500 instead of 6600. There are three i5s worth considering. They are all basically the same except for clock speed.
i5-6600K is meant for overclocking, doesn't come with a cooler. It's 3.5Ghz and costs $230.
The i5-6600 is the same as the 6600K only the clock is locked. It's only five dollars cheaper than the 6600K, but is 3.3Ghz. That's .2 Ghz slower for a savings of just $5. Why not pay $5 more to get the K if you need the speed that badly?
The i5-6500 is a savings of $20-$30 vs the 6600s, which is a meal at a nice restaurant. It's only 3.2Ghz. Only .1 Ghz slower than the 6600. If you don't need every ounce of speed that badly, why not save the $30 and get the 6500?
I don't understand why the 6600 exists with these price points so close together. Newegg seems to agree. All the chips have 5 golden eggs. However, the 6500 has 128 reviews, the 6600K has 284 reviews, and the 6600 has just 51 reviews. Seems like not many people see a reason to buy the 6600 at those price points.
Also, if you really need the speed, i7 chips are less than $100 more than the i5 line.
Since the subject is on Video cards: I'm building a new PC myself and I have to decide between a GTX 970 and a GTX 1070. The 1070 costs about $150 more, how much "future proofing" will the 1070 have?
The rest of the specs so far are i5-6600 Skylake, 16 GB RAM, with a 500GB SSD.
The 1070 is WAY better than the 970. It's even better than a 980. A 980 is like, 70% as powerful as a 1070. A 1080 is almost twice as powerful as a 980. Still, a 970 could be fast enough for your purposes. I'm still rocking every game quite nicely with a 680.
As for the other parts, I just got my HTPC components, and bought almost the same exact thing. i5, 16GB, 500GBSSD. However, I chose the 6500 instead of 6600. There are three i5s worth considering. They are all basically the same except for clock speed.
i5-6600K is meant for overclocking, doesn't come with a cooler. It's 3.5Ghz and costs $230.
Also, if you really need the speed, i7 chips are less than $100 more than the i5 line.
I misspoke, it's a 6600K chip. This going to be my primary gaming rig, if I have an extra $100 to throw around I'll throw it into the video card.
Since the subject is on Video cards: I'm building a new PC myself and I have to decide between a GTX 970 and a GTX 1070. The 1070 costs about $150 more, how much "future proofing" will the 1070 have?
The rest of the specs so far are i5-6600 Skylake, 16 GB RAM, with a 500GB SSD.
The 1070 is WAY better than the 970. It's even better than a 980. A 980 is like, 70% as powerful as a 1070. A 1080 is almost twice as powerful as a 980. Still, a 970 could be fast enough for your purposes. I'm still rocking every game quite nicely with a 680.
As for the other parts, I just got my HTPC components, and bought almost the same exact thing. i5, 16GB, 500GBSSD. However, I chose the 6500 instead of 6600. There are three i5s worth considering. They are all basically the same except for clock speed.
i5-6600K is meant for overclocking, doesn't come with a cooler. It's 3.5Ghz and costs $230.
Also, if you really need the speed, i7 chips are less than $100 more than the i5 line.
I misspoke, it's a 6600K chip. This going to be my primary gaming rig, if I have an extra $100 to throw around I'll throw it into the video card.
Spending that extra $100 to get the i7 at 4Ghz might be worth it as well, since that will make computing really nice when you aren't gaming.
You could also just wait a few weeks, save another $100 and get the better video card AND CPU.
Since the subject is on Video cards: I'm building a new PC myself and I have to decide between a GTX 970 and a GTX 1070. The 1070 costs about $150 more, how much "future proofing" will the 1070 have?
The rest of the specs so far are i5-6600 Skylake, 16 GB RAM, with a 500GB SSD.
The 1070 is WAY better than the 970. It's even better than a 980. A 980 is like, 70% as powerful as a 1070. A 1080 is almost twice as powerful as a 980. Still, a 970 could be fast enough for your purposes. I'm still rocking every game quite nicely with a 680.
As for the other parts, I just got my HTPC components, and bought almost the same exact thing. i5, 16GB, 500GBSSD. However, I chose the 6500 instead of 6600. There are three i5s worth considering. They are all basically the same except for clock speed.
i5-6600K is meant for overclocking, doesn't come with a cooler. It's 3.5Ghz and costs $230.
Also, if you really need the speed, i7 chips are less than $100 more than the i5 line.
I misspoke, it's a 6600K chip. This going to be my primary gaming rig, if I have an extra $100 to throw around I'll throw it into the video card.
Spending that extra $100 to get the i7 at 4Ghz might be worth it as well, since that will make computing really nice when you aren't gaming.
You could also just wait a few weeks, save another $100 and get the better video card AND CPU.
I have an i7 laptop (with meh graphics), so I already have that angle covered. This is so I can play higher end games in 1080p without it looking like a slide show.
I'm not in a hurry so I can always wait for a price drop. I have pretty much everything else except CPU and Video card.
HTPC booted on the first attempt. Lighting fast. The only thing I can say is that building in such a tiny case is even more frustrating than you would expect. Getting really clean wiring is basically impossible without way too much work.
My last couple of PC redos, I was in a hurry (replacing a failing main rig and thus having time constraints in order to keep doing geekNights) and sort of threw them together.
This time, I'm in a position to buy the new parts, set up a temporary shop, and put maximum care, the likes of which I used to do in high school.
I can throw a PC together in under an hour from closed boxes to booted. But to do it right, like I used to, is an entire day's affair.
Comments
I guess I can try it again just in case.
Actually never mind. I just looked up the specs for my 680. Want to know something really interesting? This video card from 2012 that is way slower than the 1070 is drastically less power efficient. The 450W power supply in that HTPC case won't be able to power the 680, but can power the 1070 no problem.
I'm hoping in a year or two, when this desktop is 5-6 years old, I'll be able to just upgrade the GPU to get 2-3 more years out of it instead of upgrading the whole thing. Looks like that will be possible. 1180 or 1280 here I come.
The rest of the specs so far are i5-6600 Skylake, 16 GB RAM, with a 500GB SSD.
As for the other parts, I just got my HTPC components, and bought almost the same exact thing. i5, 16GB, 500GBSSD. However, I chose the 6500 instead of 6600. There are three i5s worth considering. They are all basically the same except for clock speed.
i5-6600K is meant for overclocking, doesn't come with a cooler. It's 3.5Ghz and costs $230.
The i5-6600 is the same as the 6600K only the clock is locked. It's only five dollars cheaper than the 6600K, but is 3.3Ghz. That's .2 Ghz slower for a savings of just $5. Why not pay $5 more to get the K if you need the speed that badly?
The i5-6500 is a savings of $20-$30 vs the 6600s, which is a meal at a nice restaurant. It's only 3.2Ghz. Only .1 Ghz slower than the 6600. If you don't need every ounce of speed that badly, why not save the $30 and get the 6500?
I don't understand why the 6600 exists with these price points so close together. Newegg seems to agree. All the chips have 5 golden eggs. However, the 6500 has 128 reviews, the 6600K has 284 reviews, and the 6600 has just 51 reviews. Seems like not many people see a reason to buy the 6600 at those price points.
Also, if you really need the speed, i7 chips are less than $100 more than the i5 line.
You could also just wait a few weeks, save another $100 and get the better video card AND CPU.
I'm not in a hurry so I can always wait for a price drop. I have pretty much everything else except CPU and Video card.
This time, I'm in a position to buy the new parts, set up a temporary shop, and put maximum care, the likes of which I used to do in high school.
I can throw a PC together in under an hour from closed boxes to booted. But to do it right, like I used to, is an entire day's affair.
My cables are going to be glorious.