What time is it? It's time to Build a PC with our Blueprints! This month, we've built three rigs at three approximate price points: Budget, Baseline, and Performance. Budget gives you an economical workhorse, Baseline gets you a powerful system for gaming and content creation at 1080p, and Performance beefs everything up across the board.
Prices listed here reflect print time and may not match the ones you find elsewhere online. In addition, Newegg has jumped on board to offer packaged deals for each of the builds below in an attempt to offer a better overall value. To see these bundle prices, click the "Buy-or-get-more-info-at-Newegg" button at the bottom of each build. Feedback is welcome. Tell us what you think!
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We're sticking with AMD's hex-core FX-6300 CPU, since it offers a good balance of price and performance, though Intel's 4th generation Core i3 chip is a fine alternative for tasks that aren't multi-threaded. We've changed the motherboard, RAM, and power supply to address price fluctuations. The GeForce GTX 750 Ti replaces AMD's Radeon HD 7790 because the latter is discontinued. AMD's alternatives, such as the Radeon R7 265, have had some unstable pricing and availability. The GTX 750 Ti is based on Nvidia's new "Maxwell" architecture, so it requires less than half the power of a comparable AMD card—it doesn't even use a PCI Express power cable. This EVGA version has high stock clock speeds and a swanky ACX-inspired cooler.
This tier is where we loosen the purse strings and crank up performance. We've changed the PSU from a Thermaltake Smart-M to reflect some price fluctuations. This XFX unit is also made by SeaSonic, which has a good rep and makes units for Corsair and Antec. The GeForce GTX 760 is still king at this price point, and the EVGA ACX model has upgraded clock speeds and cooling. We've changed the RAM from Kingston HyperX Black because the G.Skill Ares were cheaper at press time. We've changed the SSD from a Crucial M500 to a Samsung 840 EVO to take advantage of the latter's higher performance, caching, and slick "Magician" software. The motherboard is once again the Gigabyte Sniper Z87, because it has high-quality integrated sound for the price.
This tier is optimized for a rig that will eventually have multiple GPUs, so while the previous build's LGA 1150 motherboard has the slots, you need an LGA 2011 setup to avoid SLI bottlenecks. To that end, we're running a high-octane PSU with six six-pin PCIe cables, so it supports up to three GPUs. The Corsair HX850 it replaces is a decent unit, but its price shot back up recently.
We considered the Corsair 750D case, but the design of the Phantom 530's top allows it to fit a wider variety of radiators, its drive trays feel more durable, and its larger fans allow for quieter operation. Corsair has some new cases coming out soon though, so we'll certainly revisit this.
We confirmed in this month's Build It that the Asus X79 Deluxe can handle three GPUs with ease. It works best with four or eight sticks of RAM, and these G.Skill Ripjaws were moderately priced. The Kraken X60 cooler is powerful yet quiet, and the LG WH14NS40 lets us burn and play Blu-rays.
As an alternative way to traditional remote controls in the living room, Logitech has unveiled its new Logitech Illuminated Living-Room Keyboard K830. The wireless K830 keyboard is expected to enhance the PC-to-TV entertainment experience for users.
With a receiver that provides 2.4GHz long-range wireless connectivity, the K830 will have a range of up to 33 feet and is suitable for HTPCs. Backlit keys are a key feature of the device that brightens and dims based on the amount of light in the user's living room. When typing, the keys will automatically light up and, when the user stops typing, turn off after five seconds to conserve power.
In eliminating the need for a mouse, the K830 comes with a touchpad that will allow users to quickly navigate and select what they want for their HTPC. For those dreading the thought of constantly replacing the batteries, the K830 is also rechargeable. However, no information has been provided as to how long the battery will last.
The Logitech Illuminated Living-Room Keyboard K830 will be available in the U.S. and Europe sometime in April for $99.99.
Do you know what's better than 80 Plus Bronze? 80 Plus Silver! And you can probably guess what's better than that -- 80 Plus Gold. But did you know there's another tier? Even better than 80 Plus Gold certification is 80 Plus Platinum, which is what's bestowed upon today's top deal, a Seasonic SS-760XP2 760W Power Supply for $100 with free shipping (normally $155 - use coupon code: [EXLEMC2254]; additional $20 mail-in-rebate). As if you needed any more incentive to pick up a name brand, 80 Plus Platinum PSU for a Benny (or less after MIR), this thing is also fully modular. The only other way you're getting a deal this good is when things fall off a truck!
Comcast becomes the second company to take home multiple "Golden Poo" awards
If you were pulling for Electronic Arts to take home Consumerist's "Worst Company in America" award for three years running, you'll be disappointed to find out that the publisher didn't even make it past the first round. Instead, Comcast went the distance, edging out Monstanto in votes to claim Consumerist's title of 2014's Worst Company in America, as voted by readers.
Comcast took 51.5 percent of the votes in the final round, versus Monstanto's 48.5 percent. Narrow as it was, the displeasure among consumers with Comcast was just a little stronger. By taking home the title, Comcast becomes only the second company to claim mutiple Golden Poo awards, EA being the other.
"Comcast's road to the Poo started out without a speedbump, as the company powered through the first three rounds without ever giving up more than 30 percent of the vote. And with two-time reigning champ EA eliminated in Round One by Comcast's merger partner Time Warner Cable, followed by three-time consecutive runner-up Bank of America's surprise defeat at the hands of Walmart, Comcast seemed destined for the Final Death Match," Consumerist stated in a blog post announcing the 'winner,' if you will.
The ISP was nearly thwarted by SeaWorld, a first-time contender that rode negative publicity from its Blackfish documentary into contention.
Each year Consumerist lets its readers vote on which company they feel is the worst in America. It's a tournament style bracket similar to college basketball's March Madness, in which it's 'win' or go home each round. Comcast, Monsanto, SeaWorld, and Walmart made it to the Final Four this year.
Website owners far and wide scramble to fix a major vulnerability
This has been one of the busier weeks in recent history for IT workers and web admins. Earlier this week, researchers discovered a major flaw in OpenSSL, an open source encryption technology that's utilized by an estimated two-third of the world's websites. They're calling it "Heartbleed." By exploiting the bug, cybercriminals can comb through a server's memory and pluck sensitive user data, including usernames, passwords, credit card numbers, and more.
Hackers can also exploit the vulnerability to eavesdrop on communications, steal data directly from the services and users, and impersonate services and users, according to Heartbleed.com, a special website built by Finnish security firm Codenomicon. The website is intended to answer questions about the vulnerability.
The good news here is that an updated version of OpenSSL plugs up the security hole. However, not all websites know about the patch, nor are some of them informed about Heartbleed.
"You are likely to be affected either directly or indirectly. OpenSSL is the most popular open source cryptographic library and TLS (transport layer security) implementation used to encrypt traffic on the Internet. Your popular social site, your company's site, commerce site, hobby site, site you install software from or even sites run by your government might be using vulnerable OpenSSL," Heartbleed.com explains.
Changing your passwords is recommended, though not until any website you log into confirms that it's fixed the issue. While bigger sites are likely aware of the issue, smaller hobby sites that you visit might not be, so you might even want to reach out to them. It's also a good idea of keep a close eye on your financial statements in the immediate future, if you're not doing so already.
It seems like every PC hardware company on the planet has its own solid state drive (SSD) series -- except for AMD, that is. Rumor has it that's about to change. Word on the web is that AMD is working with Toshiba on a line of AMD brand SSDs. It's not uncommon to outsource such things, and as the rumor goes, Toshiba's building the drive based on the exact specifications AMD came up with.
The rumor originates at Fudzilla, which claims it "stumbled upon" the news and that AMD will soon make an announcement. It's not known where Fudzilla is getting its information from, though there's plenty of speculation to go around.
"AMD's decision to enter the SSD space is all about bundles," Fudzilla says. "The announcement is expected very soon, as well as the official pricing and specification, but we are expecting to see 120GB to 240GB drives."
Toshiba recently acquired all of OCZ's storage assets, which puts the company in good position to serve a company like AMD, if in fact this rumor turns out to be true. We're speculating here, but we can envision Toshiba pairing its 19nm MLC (multi-level cell) NAND flash memory chips with an Indilinx Barefoot controller.
If AMD goes this route, it would open up some interesting bundle opportunities. AMD already offers a line of branded RAM, and of course the company is known for its processors and graphics cards.
Closing up shop in Costa Rica is Intel's latest attempt to cut costs
Intel, the world's largest supplier of semiconductors, is in the process of shutting down an assembly and test plant in Costa Rica as part of continued efforts to slash costs across the board. Closing the plant will result in around 1,500 layoffs, as well as take away one of Costa Rica's major exports. Intel issued a statement saying the closure is completely unrelated to the election of the new Costa Rica government.
"It's being closed and consolidated into our other operations throughout the world," Intel spokesman Chuck Mulloy said in a statement to Reuters.
Intel said it will still have more than 1,000 engineers, finance, and human resource employees in Costa Rica. The chip maker also plans to continue with some research and development projects in the area, which will entail the hiring of another 200 "high-value" positions.
This all falls in line with Intel's announcement in January that it was planning to reduce its workforce of around 107,000 employees by about 5 percent this year.
The answer is $34, which addresses the question of what price AMD's new socketed "Kabini" APUs will debut at. There's also the cost of the motherboard to factor in, so add another $25 to $35. As to when you'll be able to buy these new parts, AMD today announced the global availability of its AM1 platform featuring its quad-core and dual-core Sempron and Athlon APU lineup based on Kabini.
To quickly refresh what it is we're talking about about, AMD's AM1 platform consists of pairing a socketed Kabini APU with a socket FS1b motherboard sporting a pin-grid-array (PGA). What's unique about this platform is that it's AMD's first "system in a socket" offering -- essentially an SoC (System-on-Chip). Socketed Kabini parts sport two or four Jaguar CPU cores along with an integrated memory controller, Radeon graphics with Graphics Core Next (GCN) architecture, and all the supported I/O functions (two SATA 6Gbps, two USB 3.0, eight USB 2.0, DisplayPort, HDMI, and VGA). With all this residing on the APU, it allows motherboard makers to deliver cheap boards.
AMD is making available four APUs to kick off the platform. They include the following:
One point AMD is really trying to drive home is that consumers now have access to quad-core computing for under $40. AMD's also pitching its AM1 platform as a superior solution to Intel's Bay Trail with faster performance in everything from encryption and web surfing to playing games, and more.
Several motherboard makers have signed on to support AM1, including ASRock, Asus, Biostar, Gigabyte, MSI, and ECS. You should be able to find both boards and the above mentioned Athlon and Sempron parts today from Amazon, NCIX, Newegg, and TigerDirect.
I'd like you all to welcome your new character in The Elder Scrolls Online: Fa'saad! Get it? Fa'saad...like façade because he's a sneaky Nightblade ... oh nevermind.
The character you created for me is a male Khajiit Nightblade from the Ebonheart Pact. I will be playing him for the rest of the month from the perspective of a veteran MMO gamer who is excited to see what this year's triple-A MMO can bring to the table not only for MMO fans but for fans of the Elder Scrolls series. This week's article will be an introduction to the character and more polls for you to vote on to help this character progress in the early game.
Carbine is partnering with PC Gamer to give players a chance to build one of WildStar's weapons. Actually, let me back up. You're not really building a weapon as much as you're voting for one of four pre-existing Carbine designs.
The first is an Esper multitool, the second is some sort of toaster, the third one is a beer cannon, and the fourth one is a "mystical pointy uprooted tombstone with a handle," according to producer Stephan Frost. You can see all the choices in the video after the cut.
If you've got some money burning a hole in your pocket and a love for all things robot and cute, then Forwardfor's Inochi Project Kickstarter campaign would like to have a chat with you.
Launching today, the campaign seeks £30,000 (about $50,000 US) to help accelerate further development on the MMO. The game will allow players to create their own robot animals (ani-mechs), customize homes, participate in battle arenas, explore cities, and fight against the rust plague that is turning ani-mechs into rust-covered villains.
Stretch goals climb upward to £350,000 (about $586,000 US), but pledges begin at $1.60 US. If you want to play the beta, $16 is your buy-in. We've got the trailer after the cut!
If you've got questions about Guild Wars 2's April Feature Pack, ArenaNet has answers. In fact, it's already published a few of them via a livestream that happened yesterday and is now archived on YouTube for your viewing pleasure.
Associate game director John Corpening, gameplay programmer Ryan Diederich, and UI designer Kate Welch are your hosts, and they spend about 17 minutes powering through community-generated queries collected from forums and social media.
Pearl Abyss wowed us earlier this week with Black Desert's latest character creation video, and today the company drops another bomb via a new combat-focused demo reel for its action fantasy sandbox. The firm is currently gearing up for the game's second Korean closed beta test.
MMO Culture reports that Pearl Abyss has tweaked combat to be "quicker, less stiff," and to have lower chain combo cooldown skill timers. Check out the new vid after the cut!
Is SOE's new game a zombie MMO? Does it feature Star Wars: Galaxies' mechanics? Are players going to complain about zombies being cliche and overused before logging in to their cliche and overused fantasy MMO of choice? These questions and more will hopefully be answered tonight at 8:00 p.m. EDT when the firm unveils H1Z1 on Game Talk Live.
CEO John Smedley teased the announcement on his Twitter feed last night, saying that the game is pretty far along. "You can play it yourself soon," he tweeted. "And by play I mean fully."
The game's website has also gone live, though it's currently a single image.
I'm actually really happy to see that Ultima Onlinemight be getting expansions once again because I love seeing classic MMOs bucking the trend of fading away and becoming irrelevant. Actually, I'd really like to witness many more games get expansions, since an expansion gets the excitement, attention, and community interest like a mini-launch. That's always good for the genre as a whole.
So what game deserves an expansion? What would you like to see in it? You get bonus points if you manage to go the entire comment without using the word "Cantha" in it!
Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Camelot Unchained's April producer's letter begins with an apology; the planned testing scheduled for the end of March was delayed because of goal pushbacks, writes producer Tyler Rockwell. But we're pretty sure you'll forgive the team as Rockwell has uploaded some new bits of concept art of the Giants of the Tuatha Dé Danann. The team is also teasing new and more functional forums as well as a new storefront, which will have "much-requested capabilities such as combining and upgrading pledges."
"We know we need to pick up the pace over the next 5 months in order to hit Alpha on time, and that is our intent," Rockwell vowed.
We've included the concept art after the break; just click the images to enlarge them.
You've seen the 37-minute video showing off ArcheAge housing (and if you haven't, you really should); now, you can get all that juicy information and more in one fact-filled feature guide. Trion has released a housing and farms guide as a companion to the livestream that aired last week. Want a concise listing of types of housing and a guide to building the place of your dreams? Check out this easy-to-reference piece that goes into construction, furnishings, and upkeep. Then be on the lookout for future feature guides following the Exploring ArcheAge livestream series.
If you don't have 37 minutes to watch the full original stream, check out the more concise version that hits the highlights below.
Massively: Even in the far distant future on alien worlds, we'll still need music. This is why it's great that Composer Steven Coltart is providing The Repopulation with an original soundtrack, because otherwise the silence would be too much to bear. So Steven, can you tell us a little about yourself?
Steven Coltart: I'm a full-time professional composer based in the UK and was commissioned to be lead composer on The Repopulation in 2013. Previous projects include Outer Empires, the first MMO of its kind created for iOS, which went on to sell over 200,000 copies and boasted the largest ever network of players online at that time. 2014 has seen me complete the soundtrack for a soon to be announced iOS game, and I'm currently putting the finishing touches to US-based sci-fi film Downward. I've worked incredibly hard to get to this point, but I'm lucky to have what I consider the best job in the world. Writing music for a living and getting to work with talented developers and producers, it doesn't get much better for me!
MMO vets might remember steampunk hybrid-MMO Argo Online from its 2011 debut on Alaplaya, but apparently it's now being run by Games-Masters.com on UserGames.com, complete with a refreshed testing period. In fact, the first round of beta testing is slated to begin April 10th, which gives interested parties a tiny window to sign up on the official site. According to the press release, beta participants will earn an exclusive bundle of launch items including a title and minipet.
The game still boasts steampunk-flavored wearables and mounts, 16 classes, guild housing, a castle war siege system, and a "unique optional third-person shooter mode, allowing for fast, fluid, dynamic combat with smart-casting skills." We've posted the trailer below.
The Secret World's Lead Content Designer Joel Bylos has just posted an explanation for last week's mankinigate episode. As we reported on April 4th, a mankini outfit for male characters was added to the game's cash shop as part of the April Fools' Day patch but was later removed from that shop and from those who had purchased it, with no reason given. Today, Bylos told forumgoers that the mankini wearables were always intended to be a limited-availability April Fools joke and that players were meant to keep them. But...
Funcom management feels strongly that the Mankini outfit goes against what The Secret World intellectual property (IP) is all about and they did not want this item to stay in the game permanently. We all agree on the fact that The Secret World should be the best urban contemporary horror MMO out there, and they want to make sure that everything we bring into the game stays true to the setting and the atmosphere we have created - however it is safe to say that there is sometimes disagreement on nuance. For that reason, Management made the decision to pull it from the game entirely.
While he disagrees with purging the gear from those who bought it, he stresses that it was "pulled due to concerns over the integrity of the IP, not because of the gender or skimpiness of the outfit." The female wetsuit has also been removed from the store but will remain wearable by those who purchased it.
[With thanks to tipster Snurx! We've included Bylos' entire post after the cut.]
It's hard to believe that it's almost been a year already since EVE Online's 8th Council of Stellar Management was voted into office to provide feedback and ideas between players and developers, but that's the cold, hard fact. Another such fact is that the ballots are now open for CSM9.
As with last year, players will vote for not just one nominee but 14 candidates ranked in order of personal preference. CCP has improved the voting interface this time around and said that it will be talking more about the vital role that the CSM plays in the game's development during the voting process.
Carbine has just released WildStar's UI 2.0 patch notes, and while most relate to bug fixes and modest game enhancements, there are some real gems casually included in the list. Like these two:
Added new character hair options in Character Creation. Character Creation now offers various body types for all races and genders.
Oh, you care more about gameplay than about customization? Fine, fine: The patch notes have that too. All the classes got a hefty balance pass with plenty of bug fixes to boot. So did tradeskills. And the UI. And pretty much everything else. "Promise me no one's going to freak out about balance changes until you've had a chance to play with the new patch. Deal? Deal," the game's Community Lead David Bass implored on Twitter.
A fourth and final part of ArcheAge'slore series that's been posted today gives an epilogue of the backstory while providing the launching pad for players' future journeys.
The story concerns a battle between 12 heroes and Kyrios, the god of death. The battle results in several companions dead, an entire continent wiped out, and a mixed, perhaps non-existent victory. "The future is uncertain," the lore series proclaims. "While others linger in the legends, in blissful memories where time can stand still, I like to imagine new heroes will be born. Heroes who will rewrite our mistakes, find those we left behind, and steer us to a brighter age."
Bree and Justin are not in a joking mood this week. They are certainly not fooling around on this podcast. Their pants are not on fire and they are most certainly not liars. It's an entire podcast delivered with a straight face and a clean-cut attitude. Also, they talk about mankinis.
Get all of our opinions and analysis on the most important stories of the past week right here on Massively Speaking, the industry's leading MMO podcast. And if you have a comment, question, or topic for the podcasters, send an email to podcast@massively.com. We may just read your email on the air!
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While Ubisoft isn't being more specific as to a launch date, it did say that The Crew will be available on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC when it arrives in fall 2014. The studio also put out two pre-order editions for the console versions: the Limited Edition and the more packed Muscle Edition. The latter can only be pre-ordered at Gamestop.
In the ultimate showdown between hulking metal death machines, World of Tanks has crowned one victorous team that emerged triumphant over the battlefield.
Wargaming announced today that team Na'Vi won the world championship in the grand finals of its e-sports league. The new champions will take home $110,000 in prize money, with the runner-ups Virtus.Pro and The RED Rush: Unity receiving $100,000 and $40,000, respectively.
The Wargaming.net League World Championship took place in Warsaw, Poland, as 14 teams battled over three days for the top spot. According to the studio, "millions" tuned in to watch the grand finals on Twitch.
As of last week, ArenaNet has revealed all of the major features Guild Wars 2 players can expect to see in April 15th's highly anticipated feature pack. When I say "highly anticipated," I mean that a large part of the playerbase is collectively vibrating and may soon gain enough momentum to will April 15th into arriving immediately. If they don't manage it, at least we've only got a week to wait.
Until then, we've got plenty of GW2 discussion to tide us over. Most of the feature pack announcements have been well-received, and there's a lot to look forward to, but I still have a few minor nits to pick. Blame it on nits being easier to find when everyone's head is 200% bigger.
Comcast becomes the second company to take home multiple "Golden Poo" awards
Website owners far and wide scramble to fix a major vulnerability
AMD may soon have its own line of SSDs
Closing up shop in Costa Rica is Intel's latest attempt to cut costs
Socketed APUs have arrived
Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's 
