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[Flying Dice]

I used to have a laptop that ran hot like that. In addition to keeping it above the desk surface (it ran so fucking hot it came packaged with a foam stand to hold it with ~2 inches of space underneath and the fans unblocked), I also got a small ~6 inch desk fan, set that behind it (to blow both under it and perpendicular to the big fan on the side), and kept it blowing whenever I used it. Still got hot as shit. And that was just the model running hot naturally, if you're straining an old, weak system, you're going to run into bigger problems without adequate cooling, and it'll be more prone to overheating as opposed to just running hot.

But yeah. Elevate, get a small, strong fan to circulate air around it.

[chaotic skies]

This might be a lot to ask, and I have no problems if it is, but I would like some help building a gaming PC. The only limit I'm putting on it is a tentative $2000 budget on it. I'm alright if the cost overshoots, but I'd prefer it stay within that. Otherwise, I'm basically just trying to see what I need to do to run the HTC Vive. I'll put the minimum requirements in a spoiler. This also doesn't have to be anything in-stock now; again, I'm just trying to see how much money it'll take to do. Oh, and feel free to tell me to go away. I only ask because this is the computer advice thread

Spoiler: Vive Minimum Requirements (click to show/hide)

GPU: NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 970, AMD Radeon™ R9 290 equivalent or better
CPU: Intel® Core™ i5-4590/AMD FX™ 8350 equivalent or better
RAM: 4 GB or more
Video output: HDMI 1.4, DisplayPort 1.2 or newer
USB port: 1x USB 2.0 or better port
Operating system: Windows® 7 SP1, Windows® 8.1 or later, Windows® 10

[Aklyon]

Have you looked at the Logical Increments site yet?

[chaotic skies]

Actually, no. Gonna go do that right now

EDIT: This...this, ah...this should help. A lot. Thanks for pointing this out to me. Funnily enough, the extremist tier matches almost exactly with $2000. Plus the ~$1000 for other stuff, and I'm still hopelessly far from buying this stuff. Oh, well. I can dream

If anyone else wants to throw words or websites at me, feel free. I'll take anything you give me.

[Sonlirain]

You might want to wait a bit because AMD is slated to come out with a new architecture this year.
And said ZEN architecture 8 core CPU is supposedly twice as powerful as the FX8350 meaning buying anything before zen comes out might end with you banging your head against a wall cursing yourself for not waiting.

[Lord Shonus]

Funnily enough, the extremist tier matches almost exactly with $2000.

Going that high is a waste of money. After a certain point, you run hard into diminishing returns. For example, the i5-6600 (one step below the
"exceptional" tier there, which uses the -K model of the same chip designed for overclocking) is currently retailing for $229.99. The i7-5930K (extremist tier) is $579.99. For that extra $350, you get two more physical cores (largely useless, most games and other programs barely utilize 4 cores well), six fake cores added with hyperthreading (entirely useless), and .2 ghz higher clock speed.  Going with the better processor is only worthwhile if you want to do 4-videocard SLI, which is pointless and ludicrously expensive.

Putting this CPU into  this motherboard, with decent RAM will run you around $425. Add in one of the most powerful GPUs on the market (The GTX 1080, probably excessive) for $699 will bring you to $1125, and a nice case and power supply will take you right around the $1500 mark. The result will be a computer that can easily handle the Oculus rift, let alone the less-demanding HTC Vive.

Best of all is that all Skylake CPUs use the same socket - you can grab the i7 later and drop it right in, and if you want to preserve SLI capability for later you just need to spend an extra fifty bucks now to get an excessively good motherboard.

[chaotic skies]

-snip-

I was just commenting on the fact that it lines up almost perfectly. The more I look around, the more I'm seeing there are better ideas. Like what you said, that sounds right around perfect for what I want to do, and much more reasonable. I was thinking that anything above maybe the Exceptional tier was overkill, and even that seemed a bit much.

EDIT: Does this look alright? Should I change anything, or would this be fine as-is?

[Shadowlord]

It's fair to note that the 1080 blows away literally every other card in benchmarks.

Edit: Why did you add a separate network card? Does the vive connect through Ethernet?

[Sonlirain]

It's fair to note that the 1080 blows away literally every other card in benchmarks.

Edit: Why did you add a separate network card? Does the vive connect through Ethernet?

Yeah. AMD is supposedly getting ready with an answer near the end of this year but 10X0 series is pretty much a giant breakthrough in computing.

[crazysheep]

Yeah. AMD is supposedly getting ready with an answer near the end of this year but 10X0 series is pretty much a giant breakthrough in computing.

Apparently the Polaris-based RX-480 is on the way to rival the 1070

[Lord Shonus]

-snip-

I was just commenting on the fact that it lines up almost perfectly. The more I look around, the more I'm seeing there are better ideas. Like what you said, that sounds right around perfect for what I want to do, and much more reasonable. I was thinking that anything above maybe the Exceptional tier was overkill, and even that seemed a bit much.

EDIT: Does this look alright? Should I change anything, or would this be fine as-is?

I'd add an SSD, and consider bumping up the regular drive to 2 or 3 terabytes. Other than that it looks good.

[chaotic skies]

The network card was because I wasn't sure if the motherboard had one built in. Which, now that I think about it, is a dumb question.

The main reason I don't have an SSD is price. I thought about just getting a terabyte SSD and being done with it, but storage is a thing that I'm going to need a lot of. So I'll bump the size of the HDD and add a SSD.

EDIT:Updated with changes

[Thief^]

That's a damn good build.

As for the guy with the laptop trouble - seriously consider getting a new laptop, preferably one with a dedicated GPU. I just recently got a HP Pavilion 15-p038na, and it is spectacular. A laptop with a dedicated GPU for £215! I even managed to sell my old laptop for £80 (after postage and fees) despite it being a piece of shit.
(I may also have upgraded it with an SSD, Windows 10, Dual-band Wifi-AC card and more ram, but those were all either free or I had them already).

[Sonlirain]

Yeah. AMD is supposedly getting ready with an answer near the end of this year but 10X0 series is pretty much a giant breakthrough in computing.

Apparently the Polaris-based RX-480 is on the way to rival the 1070

Yeah they showcased it on a 1080p monitor while saying it's 1440p.
Chances are they quickly scuttled around looking for a quick answer and made a nitrogen cooled R9 390 that melted shortly after the presentation.
The problem with AMD is that they make things that are great in the midrange bracket (R9 380 trounced GTX 960) but never quite on top.
The new cards from Nvidia made the old top midrange now meaning AMD has to desperately look for answers now since they were about incremental upgrades to their existing architecture while Nvidia just rolled in with something completely new that pretty much trounced everything on the market. Even their own high end Titan X cards for almost half the price.

[Lord Shonus]

The network card was because I wasn't sure if the motherboard had one built in. Which, now that I think about it, is a dumb question.

The main reason I don't have an SSD is price. I thought about just getting a terabyte SSD and being done with it, but storage is a thing that I'm going to need a lot of. So I'll bump the size of the HDD and add a SSD.

EDIT:Updated with changes

Keep in mind that that's from several different online stores. You really want to get them all from the same place, as it not only makes shipping easier but saves you hassle if you need to RMA something. You might spend a little more on the parts themselves, but it is worth it, and if you're patient you've got a good chance of finding bundles that will drive the cost down. One thing to strongly consider is skipping the VR device for now - you'll still have a good system in the meantime, and be able to get it whenever you want, but there's a good chance of a price drop before too long OR improvements to the hardware that are worth waiting for.