[Sethos]

212 Evo question... Am I supposed to be able to slightly shift the heat sink position. The screws feel tight enough but the heat sink can shift to the touch.

Yeah that's normal.

[Takuya]

Does anyone know a good (non-fully-custom) solution to having something like the Scythe Kama Bay Cooler? http://www.scythe-usa.com/product/ac...00_detail.html
Looking for a solution to mount on the front of my case to provide some more air cooling (I will funnel the air downwards towards my graphics cards).



Right now it's discontinued, so it's rare to even impossible to find anywhere. I've got a Corsair 800D case, so I wouldn't want anything that has a huge logo on the front or anything excessive such as the SilverStone CFP51-B, which has a shield in front that will ruin the whole 'clean' look of my case.

[faceless007]

212 Evo question... Am I supposed to be able to slightly shift the heat sink position. The screws feel tight enough but the heat sink can shift to the touch.

I asked the same question a few days ago, it makes me uneasy that the heatsink can still rotate a couple degrees around the circular peg. But apparently it's OK, except for ceramic-based pastes.

[Mr. Hyde]

Hay guys, should my 510-20 watt PSU be okay to fun my MSI 560ti, ancient Q6600 CPU, 4gigs of shitty ram and one HDD? I've got people calling me idiots from both sides. Some are saying that I should definitely get at least a 600watt PSU, but others are saying that the rest of my machine is shit enough that I don't really need to upgrade. Honestly, I'd rather spend the money I'm gonna spend on a PSU on a HDD, or a cooling system.

Ancient. :( I have a Q6600 CPU, too. It's running at 3.11ghz and still serves its purpose, but it makes me sad when I try to play Dolphin in all of its glory. PCSX's svn builds work wonders on a lot of my older games, though. I have a 520W HX Corsair Modular PSU and 4 gigs of ADATA DDR2 RAM. I was thinking of getting a 560 ti or something to hold me off but I am not sure how much improvements it would give me in games such as Diablo 3.

[Fordzilla]

EDIT: NVM I should have googled first.

[Dirtdog07]

I was wondering if you guys can have a look at my numbers? First attempt at overclocking. I just started at 4.0 and ran Prime95 for over an hour

1. I put in 1.12v in the BIOS and was wondering why it comes up 1.144v-1.152v in CPU-Z?
2. Is it ok if the CoreSpeed fluctuates between 3.999 and 4.000?
3. Is the CoreTemp VID number at 1.3361v's good?

Thanks

[hyduK]

Any decent guides for OCing IB + Z77 board?

[Doc Holliday]

Ahh I see, seems like weird design choice for the heatsink to move like that.

One more question, I've noticed the CPU clock frequency fluctuates from 1888mhz all the way to 3989 mhz. Is this some sort of power saving tech in newer cpus?

[Sethos]

Ahh I see, seems like weird design choice for the heatsink to move like that. One more question, I've noticed the CPU clock frequency fluctuates from 1888mhz all the way to 3989 mhz. Is this some sort of power saving tech in newer cpus?

That's Speedstep

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SpeedStep

[Doc Holliday]

That's Speedstep http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SpeedStep

Thanks! Intel really added a bunch oh shit to their CPUs since Nehalem :)

[teh_pwn]

I was wondering if you guys can have a look at my numbers? First attempt at overclocking. I just started at 4.0 and ran Prime95 for over an hour 1. I put in 1.12v in the BIOS and was wondering why it comes up 1.144v-1.152v in CPU-Z? 2. Is it ok if the CoreSpeed fluctuates between 3.999 and 4.000? 3. Is the CoreTemp VID number at 1.3361v's good? Thanks

Not sure of CPU-Z and Coretemp are looking at the same core.

But overall the temps look good. See if you can get to 4.5 GHz with temps not exceeding 75C. May have to increase voltage to 1.35V. By 1.35V I mean overall. I don't mean changing 1.12 to 1.35V, your motherboard may be doing something on load to get 1.12->1.3361V.

Google your motherboard and overclocking and you'll probably find a forum that goes over it step by step.

When you run prime 95 at higher speeds, be ready to stop it. Make sure "thermal throttling" or whatever it's called in BIOS is enabled so that the CPU protects itself from too high temps.

[JB1981]

So this is the latest build I came up with on Newegg. I want to keep it between $800-$900
- What do you guys think of it? What kind of performance can I expect from it for games like Crysis, Crysis 2, BF3, Witcher 2. I'm talking high settings 1080p. I can't seem to find a much better way to bring down price and keep quality parts. You're talking 1k when it's all said and done for a good rig. At least this is what I have found spending many hours on Newegg today. I guess I could drop the CPU to another i5 .. but the rest of my parts are honestly not that expensive when you compare them to what else is out there. I went "cheap" on the GPU too.

Antec Three Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case $54.99

Seagate Barracuda ST1000DM003 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive
$99.99

SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 6870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card (100314-3L )$169.99

CORSAIR Builder Series CX430 V2 (CMPSU-430CXV2) 430W ATX12V v2.3 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply $44.99

CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) $48.99

BIOSTAR TZ77B LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard with UEFI BIOS $99.99

Intel Core i5-2500 Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 2000 ... $209.99

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-bit $99.99

COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 EVO RR-212E-20PK-R2 Continuous Direct Contact 120mm Sleeve CPU Cooler Compatible with latest Intel 2011/1366/1155 and AMD FM1/AM3+ $29.99

Total = $936.00 (this is without an optical drive)

[mkenyon]

Heads up to folks looking for a full tower air cooled case.

PC-90 is on sale for $120 and free shipping. The case is stupid good for that price. Half tempted to pick one up for a modding project.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811112338





Those are side mounted HDD bays with near silent operation. There's literally nothing in front of airflow straight to your parts.

[piratepwnsninja]

4850 is a little better than the 9800GT. The 7570 is an OEM only card. Who knows. I'd place money on it being last.

Thanks.

Also, how much better is the 560ti than the 4850?

[I H8 Memes]

Thanks. Also, how much better is the 560ti than the 4850?

Quite a bit better as I just made that switch. With the 4850 almost all low settings on BF3 and still only averaging about 25 fps. Now with the 560ti maxed out averaging between 50 and 60 fps. These results are on a 1440x900 monitor.

[Hieberrr]

Hey guys, I was just looking at the pre-created builds in the OP and was wondering how hard it would be for a newb to put the parts together.

I am looking at the sub-$1000 middle-tier machine and was wondering if it would be capable of running Dolphin (Wii emulator) at near to full speed or if it is capable of running, say, Battle Field on max at 720p?

The last computer I bought was a Dell XPS 420 and that was 5 years ago. Upgrading is impossible due to proprietary stuff, but I can probably salvage the HDD and Optical drive.

[Hazaro]

So this is the latest build I came up with on Newegg. I want to keep it between $800-$900 - What do you guys think of it? What kind of performance can I expect from it for games like Crysis, Crysis 2, BF3, Witcher 2. I'm talking high settings 1080p. I can't seem to find a much better way to bring down price and keep quality parts. You're talking 1k when it's all said and done for a good rig. At least this is what I have found spending many hours on Newegg today. I guess I could drop the CPU to another i5 .. but the rest of my parts are honestly not that expensive when you compare them to what else is out there. I went "cheap" on the GPU too. Total = $936.00 (this is without an optical drive)

VP450 for PSU.
2500K for CPU.

Hey guys, I was just looking at the pre-created builds in the OP and was wondering how hard it would be for a newb to put the parts together. I am looking at the sub-$1000 middle-tier machine and was wondering if it would be capable of running Dolphin (Wii emulator) at near to full speed or if it is capable of running, say, Battle Field on max at 720p? The last computer I bought was a Dell XPS 420 and that was 5 years ago. Upgrading is impossible due to proprietary stuff, but I can probably salvage the HDD and Optical drive.

'Max' is relative, but it will do very well yes. Dolphin so problem, even less so if you overclock.

[Smokey]

So this is the latest build I came up with on Newegg. I want to keep it between $800-$900 - What do you guys think of it? What kind of performance can I expect from it for games like Crysis, Crysis 2, BF3, Witcher 2. I'm talking high settings 1080p. I can't seem to find a much better way to bring down price and keep quality parts. You're talking 1k when it's all said and done for a good rig. At least this is what I have found spending many hours on Newegg today. I guess I could drop the CPU to another i5 .. but the rest of my parts are honestly not that expensive when you compare them to what else is out there. I went "cheap" on the GPU too. Antec Three Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case $54.99 Seagate Barracuda ST1000DM003 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive $99.99 SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 6870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card (100314-3L )$169.99 CORSAIR Builder Series CX430 V2 (CMPSU-430CXV2) 430W ATX12V v2.3 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply $44.99 CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) $48.99 BIOSTAR TZ77B LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard with UEFI BIOS $99.99 Intel Core i5-2500 Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 2000 ... $209.99 Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-bit $99.99 COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 EVO RR-212E-20PK-R2 Continuous Direct Contact 120mm Sleeve CPU Cooler Compatible with latest Intel 2011/1366/1155 and AMD FM1/AM3+ $29.99 Total = $936.00 (this is without an optical drive)

If you're not getting the 2500k to me you could just drop down to the i5 2400. It's a few bucks cheaper. GPU wise you can expect between 30-50 fps @ 1080p with some of the games you mentioned. I'm assuming by "high" settings you don't mean "max".

[JB1981]

VP450 for PSU. 2500K for CPU. 'Max' is relative, but it will do very well yes. Dolphin so problem, even less so if you overclock.

Thought I had that already in my build

[Smokey]

Thought I had that already in my build

What's wrong with using the Enchanced build in the OP? With that you could step up to the 7850 for $90 more and it would bring total to $800ish. And you'd get the 2500k.

Actually for $10 more you should probably go for the 2500k anyway. With that 212 evo you can get a 4.5ghz OC easy

[MrBig]

Thought I had that already in my build

The K versions of Intel's CPUs are unlocked for overclocking, non k models are not.

[Hazaro]

Thought I had that already in my build

Also forgot to mention buy some 2x4GB RAM for $30.
6870 can be had for $150 after rebate. Used 6950's can go for $180 used. I'd look for that.

[K' Dash]

Gentlemen, I just bought all my shit, thank you very much for all your help, the only item I have left to buy is the case, wich I'll buy when everything else arrive here, hopefuly on june 27th.



Just for reference, here in costa rica that machine would cost around $2000

[threetri333]

Gentlemen, I just bought all my shit, thank you very much for all your help, the only item I have left to buy is the case, wich I'll buy when everything else arrive here, hopefuly on june 27th. Just for reference, here in costa rica that machine would cost around $2000

I'm so jealous, they charge sales tax in CA, so I have to rely on Amazon.com.

[JB1981]

What's wrong with using the Enchanced build in the OP? With that you could step up to the 7850 for $90 more and it would bring total to $800ish. And you'd get the 2500k. Actually for $10 more you should probably go for the 2500k anyway. With that 212 evo you can get a 4.5ghz OC easy

These builds never include Windows .... seems like building a good PC costs you about 1k.

[georaldc]

What can I expect with a 6970 > 670 upgrade? Near 2x gains in tesselation heavy games? Or should I just skip the idea and play the waiting game?

Honestly, majority of the games I play still run pretty damn good maxed out at my monitor's res (1920x1080) so other than just wanting to get something new, I don't know if its worth it.

[RS4-]

What can I expect with a 6970 > 670 upgrade? Near 2x gains in tesselation heavy games? Or should I just skip the idea and play the waiting game? Honestly, majority of the games I play still run pretty damn good maxed out at my monitor's res (1920x1080) so other than just wanting to get something new, I don't know if its worth it.

I'm in the same boat and I figure that I'll wait until I find a good deal, even if it's second hand before I upgrade.

There isn't much in terms of upcoming games that I feel the need to upgrade.

[derder]

What can I expect with a 6970 > 670 upgrade? Near 2x gains in tesselation heavy games? Or should I just skip the idea and play the waiting game? Honestly, majority of the games I play still run pretty damn good maxed out at my monitor's res (1920x1080) so other than just wanting to get something new, I don't know if its worth it.

I've got a 6950 and am looking to go crossfire. There are a lot of cards for sale on ebay for $180

[K' Dash]

Guys I need help, it seems newegg is not accepting my Debit Card or PayPal account, I know it's risky but I need a reliable guy to buy the stuff for me with a US card.

All I can offer is the Dirt coupon thay're giving as a gift for buying the Video Card, as I'm spending all my money on this rig, I'd be sending the money via paypal gift, I'm desperate and frustrated :(

Edit: If no one can help me, wich is the next best site for buying all those parts, apart from amazon, I want them to send everithing in 1 shipping, if possible.

[I H8 Memes]

Guys I need help, it seems newegg is not accepting my Debit Card or PayPal account, I know it's risky but I need a reliable guy to buy the stuff for me with a US card. All I can offer is the Dirt coupon thay're giving as a gift for buying the Video Card, as I'm spending all my money on this rig, I'd be sending the money via paypal gift, I'm desperate and frustrated :( Edit: If no one can help me, wich is the next best site for buying all those parts, apart from amazon, I want them to send everithing in 1 shipping, if possible.

Where do you live?

[K' Dash]

I'm from Costa Rica, but I need to ship the parts to North Carolina, there's my courier company and they'll deliver the package to me.

[I H8 Memes]

You could try tigerdirect or the U.S. page for ncix. The shipping to the courier might be the problem though. You might even try calling newegg and seeing if you can get it set up so you can buy through them.

[K' Dash]

You could try tigerdirect or the U.S. page for ncix. The shipping to the courier might be the problem though. You might even try calling newegg and seeing if you can get it set up so you can buy through them.

I called and they said they cant authorize my card cause the shipping address does not match the country the card was emited :/

[what_rhythm]

Hey fellas. I am currently working on my first build.

Which GTX 560 ti 448 should I get? EVGA Classified Ultra or MSI Twin Frozr III? Or something else? My budget range is $250-300.

I'm leaning towards the EVGA Classified Ultra just because it looks badass and the all-black fits in perfectly with my color scheme.

I know about the 7850, but I prefer Nvidia as I am interested in getting into CUDA development.

[AkIRA_22]

Heads up to folks looking for a full tower air cooled case. PC-90 is on sale for $120 and free shipping. The case is stupid good for that price. Half tempted to pick one up for a modding project. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811112338 Those are side mounted HDD bays with near silent operation. There's literally nothing in front of airflow straight to your parts.

I don't know why people buy Lian Li. They look great from the outside, open them up? Spew town. it looks like the internals of a Cold War era Jet Fighter.

The idea of mounting the HDD on the mobo tray is a decent idea. There would need to be a lot of room for all the cables back there.

[Sethos]

I don't know why people buy Lian Li. They look great from the outside, open them up? Spew town. it looks like the internals of a Cold War era Jet Fighter.

Yeah, not feeling the Lian love either. I don't even like the looks in general, not even minimal stylish it just looks like industrial heaters.

[Ledsen]

Yeah that one doesn't look too hot. My white Define R3 on the other hand... mmmm...

[scogoth]

I don't know why people buy Lian Li. They look great from the outside, open them up? Spew town. it looks like the internals of a Cold War era Jet Fighter. The idea of mounting the HDD on the mobo tray is a decent idea. There would need to be a lot of room for all the cables back there.

Because the build quality is fantastic, their layouts are usually innovative and different and because aluminum is very easy to mod and paint for people who want to customize their case.

As for looks it is all preference. I love Lian Lis and think cases like the cosmos II and haf x are the ugliest things on this planet.

[hyduK]

So this is the latest build I came up with on Newegg. I want to keep it between $800-$900 - What do you guys think of it? What kind of performance can I expect from it for games like Crysis, Crysis 2, BF3, Witcher 2. I'm talking high settings 1080p. I can't seem to find a much better way to bring down price and keep quality parts. You're talking 1k when it's all said and done for a good rig. At least this is what I have found spending many hours on Newegg today. I guess I could drop the CPU to another i5 .. but the rest of my parts are honestly not that expensive when you compare them to what else is out there. I went "cheap" on the GPU too. Antec Three Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case $54.99 Seagate Barracuda ST1000DM003 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive $99.99 SAPPHIRE Radeon HD 6870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card (100314-3L )$169.99 CORSAIR Builder Series CX430 V2 (CMPSU-430CXV2) 430W ATX12V v2.3 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply $44.99 CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) $48.99 BIOSTAR TZ77B LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard with UEFI BIOS $99.99 Intel Core i5-2500 Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 2000 ... $209.99 Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 64-bit $99.99 COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 EVO RR-212E-20PK-R2 Continuous Direct Contact 120mm Sleeve CPU Cooler Compatible with latest Intel 2011/1366/1155 and AMD FM1/AM3+ $29.99 Total = $936.00 (this is without an optical drive)

You'll want to get the 2500k, looks like you have the locked version there, won't be able to OC....which would go a long way to pushing performance if you're budgeting. It's 15 bucks extra on newegg.

[Karmum]

Current Shellshocker deal at Newegg is OCZ Vertex 3 for $99.99 (with $10 MIR). So it's $109.99 at the moment.

[Takuya]

Current Shellshocker deal at Newegg is OCZ Vertex 3 for $99.99 (with $10 MIR). So it's $109.99 at the moment.

Crucial M4 128GB goingfor 99.99 at NCIX (no Mail in Rebates required)
http://ncix.ca/products/?sku=60445&promoid=1146

[zephervack]

Hi GAF, I need help with my current build.

I need a suggestion on a good motherboard for an Ivy Bridge processor, im tired of Asus P8P67 pro, it is by far the worst motherboard I have ever had, I has given me issues since day one, even after an RMA, yesterday after getting a new Ivy Bridge CPU, I needed to flash the BIOS of the P8P67 so that it takes the new CPU, everything went smoothly until it asked me to reset the computer, after resetting, the computer wont turn on anymore.

I get a red VGA LED light and I cant do anything, I already tried removing Ram, re seating the video card, clearing CMOS, using the Bios flash restore CD, nothing, im done with this POS motherboard.

I need an Ivy Bridge motherboard, NOT FROM ASUS, that has dual bios, overclock support and clear CMOS button/switch for a 3570k. Hopefully bellow $200.

Thanks!

[Takuya]

Hi GAF, I need help with my current build. I need a suggestion on a good motherboard for an Ivy Bridge processor, im tired of Asus P8P67 pro, it is by far the worst motherboard I have ever had, I has given me issues since day one, even after an RMA, yesterday after getting a new Ivy Bridge CPU, I needed to flash the BIOS of the P8P67 so that it takes the new CPU, everything went smoothly until it asked me to reset the computer, after resetting, the computer wont turn on anymore. I get a red VGA LED light and I cant do anything, I already tried removing Ram, re seating the video card, clearing CMOS, using the Bios flash restore CD, nothing, im done with this POS motherboard. I need an Ivy Bridge motherboard, NOT FROM ASUS, that has dual bios, overclock support and clear CMOS button/switch for a 3570k. Hopefully bellow $200. Thanks!

You need to use a Z77 Motherboard for Ivy Bridge. Maybe the P8Z77 GEN3-V Pro?

[zephervack]

You need to use a Z77 Motherboard for Ivy Bridge. Maybe the P8Z77 GEN3-V Pro?

Thanks for the suggestion but im done with Asus, I forgot to mention that I flashed the BIOS of the p8p67 with a Sandy Bridge 2600k, I just cant use the mobo anymore because it bricked itself.

[Khar]

Does anyone know a good (non-fully-custom) solution to having something like the Scythe Kama Bay Cooler? http://www.scythe-usa.com/product/ac...00_detail.html Looking for a solution to mount on the front of my case to provide some more air cooling (I will funnel the air downwards towards my graphics cards). Right now it's discontinued, so it's rare to even impossible to find anywhere. I've got a Corsair 800D case, so I wouldn't want anything that has a huge logo on the front or anything excessive such as the SilverStone CFP51-B, which has a shield in front that will ruin the whole 'clean' look of my case.

There's hardly any 5 1/4" to 120mm adapters available now. It's not just the Scythe Kama unfortunately.

One you could look at is the Mountain Mods 120mm adapter.



You could then use something like this grill or Mountain Mods' grill either underneath the hole or over it.



or

[Takuya]

There's hardly any 5 1/4" to 120mm adapters available now. It's not just the Scythe Kama unfortunately. One you could look at is the Mountain Mods 120mm adapter. You could then use something like this grill or Mountain Mods' grill either underneath the hole or over it. or

Cool, I didn't specifically need a 120mm compatible bay, just something similar.

Thanks, I'll check it out.

[TheExodu5]

While I do love my new Lian-Li V700, I will say Lian-Lis are not for everyone. They are beautiful on the outside, but sacrifices are often made to achieve their form factors.

I'd me much more likely to recommend something like the Corsair 550D to someone wanting a professional looking case with great features.

[1-D_FTW]

You need to use a Z77 Motherboard for Ivy Bridge. Maybe the P8Z77 GEN3-V Pro?

No you don't. You need a 1155 socket motherboard that can be flashed with added suport. Most (all?) of them can. His just bricked itself.

Thanks for the suggestion but im done with Asus, I forgot to mention that I flashed the BIOS of the p8p67 with a Sandy Bridge 2600k, I just cant use the mobo anymore because it bricked itself.

I purposely avoided Asus because I do feel they're living on their reputation from a decade ago (when they and Abit reigned supreme) and are over-priced and over-rated. I recently went Asrock and am very satisfied. It seems like they're every bit as good, but without the awful Asus service that is confirmed as worst in the business.

[zephervack]

No you don't. You need a 1155 socket motherboard that can be flashed with added suport. Most (all?) of them can. His just bricked itself. I purposely avoided Asus because I do feel they're living on their reputation from a decade ago (when they and Abit reigned supreme) and are over-priced and over-rated. I recently went Asrock and am very satisfied. It seems like they're every bit as good, but without the awful Asus service that is confirmed as worst in the business.

Thanks, I will be looking at the Asrock Mobos then, yeah the p8p67 is my last Asus motherboards, i had countless issues with it.

[Whooter]

Crucial M4 128GB goingfor 99.99 at NCIX (no Mail in Rebates required) http://ncix.ca/products/?sku=60445&promoid=1146

Nice, if you're in Canada. :) The USD price is $139.99