The Ultimate Gaming Rig: R9 290/X

The ultimate gaming rig is right. This build has been long awaited, mainly because it has taken so long for custom coolers to come out for the R9 290 and 290X. But, now that my favourite one is out, I think I should go ahead and config this rig for you guys. It is not a super budget conscious rig. This is for people who want to max out their games from the get go and just kill games like Battlefield 4, Crysis 3, and any other hard to max game. Let's get started.

CPU: Intel i5 3570k
We're gonna go Intel for this rig, mainly because the i5 in this case is the smart factor. You could get an FX-8350 for cheaper, but there aren't many games that utilize 8 physical cores yet. The Intel will allow you to push the system to the limits and kill any games that come into it's path. But, it's not the main component of this build.

GPU: Asus DirectCUII R9 290
So the R9 290X was spouted as the Titan killer, which it was... until the GTX 780Ti came out and killed everything. But, this is still a great card if you love AMD and want to utilize their future software components such as TrueAudio and Mantle API. I think that if the 50% boost that AMD is saying they'll get is true, this card will crush the 780Ti in any game that uses Mantle. Also, if you're into Cryptocurrency mining, there is really no better option than an aftermarket cooler on a 290X. If you have Amazon Prime, you get $100 off the 290.

Mobo: ASRock Extreme Z77 Extreme3
We'll go with a Z77 mobo for this build in case you want to overclock it. I do recommend a different CPU cooler though, cause the stock Intel cooler will not cut the slack. But, this Mobo also comes with a lot of features. It supports SLI/Crossfire, has two PCI-E 3.0 slots and one PCI-E 2.0 so you may get triple SLI if you wanted, though I would never recommend that. This is a great mobo, especially for $100.

RAM: Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB
So we'll go with single channel Ballistix RAM. You know how much I love this RAM if you just read my other builds. We'll go with a single channel for now because this board has the ability to upgrade it to 32GB if you wanted, so I'm saving you money by getting you a single channel, believe it or not.

HDD: Western Digital RE3 1TB
1TB hard drive. Plenty for our games. Just go crazy.

PSU: Corsair CSM 750 80+ Gold
So we'll go with an 80+ Gold semi-modular power supply for this rig. This will save you a buttload on electricity, even more so since we're using lower power components, except the GPU. The semi-modular PSU will also allow us to easily manage our cables, even in a large case, since we only use what we need. I like Corsair PSUs, so they're highly recommended.

Case: Fractal Design Define R4

Fractal makes good cases. No two ways about it. The Define R4 is used by a lot of people, and I can see why. It's got a lot of space, it's clean looking, and it's got nice air flow. As always, get a case you like, but if you have no idea where to start, this is a nice position to start. (Promo code EMCPWHB37)

PCPP Cost: $1210.87

This is a really nice build, and if you have the money, I recommend it. But I think you should go with a 290 in the DirectCUII, because when overclocked, the 290 beats the 290X overclocked. And that's without non-reference cooler. So if you can find one, get a 290 for less than the 290X.

Happy gaming.

$600 Build (Give or Take)

Alright everyone, today we're gonna do a $600-650 rig, give or take a few bucks here or there. This rig will give you amazing bang for your buck and really push the envelope when it comes to gaming. Also, if you're a budget conscious video encoder or something like that, this may also be a good option if you don't have a lot of money, cause it's a hecta-core, high speed machine. Let's get started.

CPU: AMD FX-6300
Now we're using a six core CPU for this rig because it gives us as much power we really need for gaming. AMD's eight core processors are great, but you won't need an eight core for gaming in a long time. Also, this CPU is $110 on Newegg, which is a steal.

Mobo: MSI 970A-G43
Here we have a really nice ATX mobo from MSI. The 970A-G43 comes with all the bells and whistles you would need, and even comes with Crossfire support, so if you want to, you can drop another GPU into the machine and get a nice boost in performance.

Graphics Card: XFX R9 270
While I don't really like or love XFX cards, mainly because they can get pretty loud, this card is at a really good price for our budget, and it was one of two that were available, haha. If you can find an Asus or MSI card for the same price or cheaper, I recommend it, but this will do just as good at stock, since it's all the same chipset.

RAM: GeIL Evo Veloce 8GB
We're gonna go with some nice GeIL Evo RAM for this rig. It's not too fast, so it won't significantly boost speeds in video encoding or anything, but it'd good enough for gaming. Also, it's really cheap, so you could easily upgrade to 16GB if you want after a month or so.

HDD: WD RE3 1TB HDD
We'll go with a 1TB Western Digital again. I was thinking of going SSD, but it wouldn't really fit amazingly well into our budget. But, this WD will do the job, and you will have plenty of storage for games and anything else your sick, weird mind might like.

PSU: CX500M
I have this Power supply. I love this power supply. Even with the standard cable kit, it's a lot less cables than a non-modular power supply. Use the cables you need, skip the ones you don't. That simple. I highly recommend it, especially with this case.

Case: DIYPC Solar-M1-G
Now, why do I recommend that PSU with this case? Because this case is huge! Well, apparently. It looks big. But this case will allow you to really stretch and hide the cables, making management better and increasing your airflow, and who doesn't like a cooler case?

Total Price (PCPP): $612.76 http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2G2xJ

This is a great mid-range budget build, and the power you'll get from it will do the job in nearly every game. It covers all the recommended settings for Battlefield 4, so you'll be playing on high at 1080p with great framerates. This is a good gamer sweet spot, so if you want a nice rig, build this.

Happy gaming.

Game recommendation: Nidhogg
This is a really fun little side-scroller sword fighting game. It's pretty much a gauntlet of enemies as you try to make it to the end of the level, but if you die, you just take over the body of the enemy that killed you and go the opposite way. It's really fun, and it's only $15. Go try it.

Kill Your Console - $350-400 Gaming Rig

Hey guys, it's time for a new round of gaming PC builds. Today, we're gonna go for low-budget, entry level builders; people who don't want to play the latest games at the highest settings or who can't immediately build their dream rig.

Now, I'm gonna say this, cause a lot of people seem to think that PC gaming can't be better than consoles at this price. Well, here's the thing: Even if you can't max out the games at this price range, you have more variety, more versatility, and better functionality than a console gives you. The Xbox One and PS4 have about 40 or so games between them, probably less. The PC has over 2500 available on Steam and many other places, plus the myriad of free to play games online.

So, how about we get going with this build, shall we?

CPU: AMD A10-5800k
This is an APU, a CPU and GPU on the same chip. This saves us money because we aren't going to need to buy a graphics card and a separate CPU. Now, this won't play all the games at 1080p, but I will say that coupled with fast RAM, this will play a lot of fun, awesome looking games at good graphics at 1080p. It will even play Battlefield 3 at 1080p on low settings, or medium settings if you lower the resolution and fool around. Might even play Battlefield 4.

Motherboard: ASRock FM2A75 Pro4-M
That's a mouthful. This Mobo is pretty much a great motherboard for this rig. Not only does it allow RAM speeds up to 2400MHz, but it also is a micro-ATX motherboard with Crossfire support. That's really awesome, because it gives us a lot of space. I may even put this Mobo into a rig later. (Use PCPartPicker link)

RAM: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB @ 2400MHz
This is where the GPU on the APU will get all it's power from. Fast RAM means that the GPU can process things faster, so having this RAM will greatly increase framerates, especially at resolutions like 720p and 1080p. Again, you might not be able to make the game shine, but it will be great for in between upgrades.

HDD: Western Digital RE3 1TB
I have no idea what the RE3 stands for, but it's a 1TB drive for less than $60. That's great value, so get it.

PSU: Corsair CX500M
This PSU is really good for the money. Not only does it give ample space for future upgrades, but it is also semi-modular, which means we only use the cables we want. If you wanted to, you could even get a short cable kit to cut down more on cables, depending on your case. Also, I have one.

Case: Rosewill Ranger-M
As I said before, cases are very subjective, but I chose this case to showcase what I usually look for. You may like something else, but I like the front fan with the rear fan and all that for really good air flow. It doesn't have front USB3, but you can always change it if you want. Contact me if you want a different case, or go ask the people at the TekSyndicate forum, and they'll definitely give some input (expect many Fractal cases).

Total price (PCPartPicker): $401.87 (after discounts and shipping)

Future GPU Upgrade: HIS IceQ2 R7 260X or HIS IceQ2 R9 270
You will probably want to upgrade your system in the future, and the best upgrade for this is a new graphics card. Well, I have two options for you. If you want a decent machine for your money, get the R7 260X. It's at a great price right now, and is definitely my contender for "Mantle Baby" when Mantle starts getting implemented into games. If you have about $60 more to spend, I recommend the R9 270. Not only is this card better than the R9 270X when overclocked, but even with its stock settings it is an amazing card. I highly recommend it. (buy them from Newegg. They're cheaper than Amazon.)


So your base build is great, and after a few months of getting used to PC gaming, plop in a graphics card and run with the big dogs. I think this is a great machine for anyone looking to get into PC gaming, so if you are wondering what to do next gen, this is definitely an option.

Happy gaming.

Game recommendation: Humble Bundle Bohemia Interactive
Not just one game, you get 8 amazing games and the mod of the century in this bundle. From the makers of ArmA, they've partnered with Humble Bundle to bring their most beloved games together for charity, and you name your own price. I can't say for all the games, but the ArmA series is great, as it DayZ, and $6 for the ArmA games is well worth the price of admission, and you may even find a game you like in the others, a hidden gem of sorts. So buy the bundle, support some charities, and have fun.

NewEgg Email Deals

It's been a while since I did some deal blogs, so I'm gonna give some good deals that are available over at Newegg. These range from components to barebone kits to everything that interests me or is a good deal.

AMD FX-8320 3.5GHz
So this Vishera CPU is at $140 after a promo code (EMCPWWD22). This is an amazing deal because it's an 8 core processor for less than $150. That's insane. Also, if you get good cooling, you can easily overclock it to 4.5 and get the equivalent to an 8350.

ASUS Radeon 7790 DirectCUII
This graphics card is amazing for the price. Just $100 after rebate. The 7790 has been rebranded to the R7 260x, which is my favourite mid-range graphics card. It's amazingly fast for the money, and can take on some heavy games. If you're building a budget rig, buy this card. Now.

ThermalTake SMART 750W PSU
The price of this PSU is nuts. After rebate, it's $60. For a 750W PSU, that's amazing. It isn't modular, so I don't recommend this unless you are really good with cable management, but I will recommend it if you need a Crossfire/SLI ready PSU. This will do the job, and it's 80+ Bronze.

MSI Z77A-G41
This is the cheapest Z77 Mobo, I think. If you're building an i5 or i7 system, you will definitely want this. $60 for an unlocked mobo? Perfection.

ASRock 970 Extreme3 R2.0
If you're building an AMD system, you can't go wrong with this. ASRock makes pretty okay stuff, but if you couple this Mobo with, say, an FX-8320, you'll do amazingly. Trust me.

AMD Trinity Barebones Kit
This is a really, really good deal. This Barebones gives you an A10-5800k, a Gigabyte A88X Mobo, 8GB of G.Skill RAM, a Powercolour Radeon 7870, a nice case, a good PSU, and 1TB of HDD space. All for the price of $600. Now, you could cut corners here or there, get a cheaper PSU, a 760k CPU, stuff like that, but this is a really good package for people who want to upgrade their system more down the line. I recommend it for any first time builders. Also, if you use the promo code EMCPWWD92, you'll get the mobo for even cheaper.

AMD A10-7850k and A10-7700k
If you're looking for the best possible APU system, these APUs are what you need. They will run games amazingly, and don't break the bank. If you want a low wattage, decent gaming comp, these are what you should buy. The 7850k can run Battlefield 4 at medium settings in 1080p. That's good. Also, use the promo code EMCPWWD222 and EMCPWWD223 on each APU respectively, and get $10 off.


These components will give you some awesome power, even if you're just upgrading an older system. I highly recommend them.

Happy gaming.

Titanfall 6v6: Why Is That a Problem?

People are really stupid when it comes to games. It was recently announced that Titanfall would only hold a maximum of twelve human players per match.

Apparently, the entire internet forgot about the videos that were shown of the game during E3. For one, the game is the prettiest freaking next-gen shooter I've seen (Watch Dogs and Witcher 3 are prettier). Another thing is that there are THIRTY-SIX other AI controlled enemies on the field. Oh, plus there's the possbility that almost all of those soldiers could call in giant, amazing looking mechs. There's a lot of stuff happening in a match.

Also, may I remind everyone that the max enemies you can get on the average military shooter is between 18 and 24. Battlefield 4 gets 64 players, but the maps in it get massive. Like, huge. Titanfall is supposed to be a smaller shooter, similar to CoD or Killzone. CoD's most popular game mode, Team Deathmatch, only allows *gasp* 6 vs 6!

Also, anyone remember how many players are in Gears of War's multiplayer? Well, let me remind you that it started out as 4 on 4, and then moved to 5 on 5 in the sequels, and they're some of the best multiplayer games today. Halo as well has 4 on 4, 6 on 6, or 8 on 8, depending on the size of the map and the game mode.

So people bitching about Titanfall being 6 humans against 6 humans with 18 AI on each team, you're stupid. Like, really stupid. You don't even realize why you're mad. Is it cause it's just the same as what you been getting for years? Okay, so you want change? Okay, how about a 128 on 128 game? Oh, that was made? Yea, it was wasn't it. Didn't do too well, did it? The servers were shut down too, huh?

The gaming community seriously doesn't even know what it wants. Like, at all. They want change, but not for it to be different. Man. Make up your minds!

Happy gaming.

It Came! Asus R9 270 Overview

The box of greatness!

It is here! After an intense three days of waiting, the best budget graphics card finally arrived at my doorstep. This card looks awesome, and I can't wait to test it out when I get a more powerful PSU.

Dose heatpipes

The card is the Direct CUII card from ASUS. This means that there are two heatpipes going from the GPU away and under the heatsink and fans, allowing for better cooling from the card. This means that the card is quieter as well, because the fans don't need to run as hard to keep the card cool under load.

Dose brackets (Pardon the booze. I should clean up.)

Being a dual bracket card, it's quite wide, but still small when you look at some of the competition. Also, the size of the card adds strength, so it won't flex or anything as much when installing, which is always a good thing.

Dat PCB

The specs of the card are such: 950MHz on the base Core clock with 975MHz boost clock, 2GB GDDR5 Memory, 5600MHz Memory clock (1400MHz effective). The card is overclocked by Asus themselves, which may or may not be good, but Asus does know what they are doing with their products. I'll probably benchmark this with both a reference clock speed, the Asus overclock, and an overclock to the best I can get. The card takes 1 6-pin PCIe connector with a TDP of 150W. It is also a PCI-e 3.0 card, so it is compatible with every motherboard for the foreseeable future.

Dose fans

This card being part of AMD's new R series means that it will be able to use Mantle when it is released for Battlefield 4 and Thief. This will push the card's effectiveness into overdrive, and really get the most out of the card. I can't wait to get the card installed and tell you guys how it works.

Happy gaming.

Ars Technica - Are You Insane?

So Ars Technica had an article talking about what companies may be on the edge of relevance in 2014. They have Radioshack, Blackberry, Zynga, and two others. Those three have been on the edge of relevance for the last 2 years, but the more interesting one of the other two is AMD (the other one was HTC). Now, they do say that AMD scored big by getting their processors in all three next-gen consoles, they go on to say that AMD is going to be overpowered by Intel and ARM processors. I say nay.

AMD is soon going to be who anyone making a computer on a budget goes to, especially for gaming. In 2014, this month as a matter of fact, AMD is releasing a new line of APUs. By the end of the year, anyone with a laptop that isn't a Mac will have an AMD APU in their computer. Why? Well, because the APUs are getting more powerful every year. And the next line of APUs will allow people to perform amazingly without breaking the bank.

A quad-core processor from AMD costs less than a dual core processor from Intel. That's just... true! And with APUs becoming the mainstream soon, AMD already has a large backing for them. AMD's numbers, despite what Ars Technica thinks, are constantly rising. And they will continue to make profit as they release better products. Ars Technica says their share dropped to a 16% in the PC space. I'm calling bullshit on that, because most people are turning to tablets, which many people are counting as PCs/laptop replacements. So yea, their percentage dropped now that tablets are in the mix, but take tablets ou and it's still a small gap between Intel and AMD.

AMD isn't going anywhere as long as they keep doing what they're doing. They've got money coming in constantly from the next-gen consoles and their new line of GPUs, and their APUs are about to make a huge dent in nVidia and Intel. You can quote me on this too, but I think AMD may actually end up being in the lead by 2016. Custom computer builders are seeing the benefits of 8 physical cores now, and AMD holds that entire section to itself if you want affordability. AMD will be the face of gaming in 2014, and the face of computers by 2016.

But that's just my opinion.

Battlefield 4: A Fun Game, Despite the Bugs

Sitting in a hiding spot as I watch the flag change from American Red, White, and Blue to Chinese Red and Yellow, I see a tank moving down the hill. I spot it and wait for it to turn away, allowing me to launch an RPG right into the back of it. Suddenly, I see a friendly tank and two more engineers come storming down from Charlie and attack the tank with amazing fashion.

This is what DICE calls an “Only in Battlefield” moment and it’s true. I play a lot of shooters, and I really can’t think of any other game that has the best pacing for a game of this scale. Arma doesn’t come close because it’s too big and Halo has large maps, but not nearly as large or versatile. Nearly everything epic in scope that happens in Battlefield 4 could only really come from Battlefield 4.

But I think that maybe its downfall. Where Battlefield does everything right in great scope, it becomes certain that the bigger the game, the bigger the fall. And when a game is reviewed two months after a buggy, rough release, it’s hard to really enjoy it to the most.  Battlefield 4 is a great game… when it works.

So far, for me, it’s been good. But every so often, I get a map glitch, or a netcode screw up. The biggest thing for me was the inability to get into a game other than Team Deathmatch for 3 days. But maybe it’s the console and not the game itself. But there are problem across all systems. It sucks a lot, and takes away from the game, but it is inexcusable. Let’s just hope they don’t do the same thing next game (or with Battlefront!).

How to piss off a gamer 101

But enough doom and gloom and about the bad things. Let’s talk about the game. It is great fun. When you shoot something, you feel it. When you take an objective, you feel amazing. When you defend an objective, you feel unstoppable. Everything that happens in game is really fun. I’ve had the pleasure to play this on all major platforms (360/PS3, PS4, Xbox One, PC), and they are all just as fun as the other. The graphics look rougher on the 8 year old consoles of course, but the game is playable, and still does look good, just as good as Battlefield 3. And that’s good for the consoles. On the PC and next gen, the game looks amazingly good. It’s pretty. Really pretty. This game was brought to the pretty store, bought everything, and then went to the gorgeous shop and bought everything there. It looks amazing, and it adds to the game in this case.

But as I said earlier, the gameplay defines Battlefield. Large, open maps transition to confined spaces in an instant. Chaos and disorder is how every game starts out and the winner comes from who can rally their side to make the enemy more disordered. Constantly changing your objectives helps capture them quickly, and having everyone play their role properly will make you win. This is what makes Battlefield different.

Only in Battlefield

Balancing of the game is pretty good, too. I haven't really found a gun that is completely better than every other gun in the game, even with the myriad of attachments for each. The game seems to have been balanced decently from the start, which is definitely something good despite a rocky start.

Also, there’s a campaign that actually gives you stuff when you beat it! I know right? Incentive, thy name is Battlefield. The campaign is the typical “American’s gotta save the world” type story, but you actually seem like the soldiers do care about each other, despite the terribly corny dialogue. It was a decent campaign, though not as fun as Call of Duty Ghosts was. I will say that I will probably play the campaign again, because upon beating each of the three endings, you get different weapons for multiplayer, hence the incentive. I think it could have been better, but Battlefield has always just been a multiplayer centric game, as it is today.

To sum up, Battlefield 4 is a fun, immersive game that plays well. However, after 2 months of release, there are still many glitches, bugs, network code problems, and other issues. But, the game is in a playable state as of now, and will continue to get better as DICE works diligently on it. The game should be played on a next gen console or a PC that can play it on Medium settings at 1080p, but if you can only get the 360/PS3 version, I still recommend it.

The game gets an 8/10 on older hardware, but an 8.8/10 on anything that runs it on medium or better settings at 720p or higher.

360/PS3: 8/10

PC/PS4/One: 8.8/10

Happy gaming.