[systematic]

http://m.flickr.com/#/photos/roqueimages/6892322759/

Your Crucial M4 SSD should ideally be connected to one of the white SATA3 ports (Intel). The Intel drivers and chipset are far more stable and slightly faster.

[DarkFlow]

Couple days ago people were asking about what motherboards will support Ivy Bridge. Anyway the asus board in the budget build, the h61 does support it.
http://event.asus.com/2011/mb/PCIe3_Ready/
Might be helpful for some.

[Hazaro]

Digitimes isn't rubbish right? I forget these things.

AMD to launch Radeon HD 7800 series GPUs in March; Nvidia to launch Kepler in April

Monica Chen, Taipei; Joseph Tsai, DIGITIMES [Thursday 16 February 2012] AMD is set to launch performance-level Radeon HD 7870 and 7850 GPUs in the first half of March, while Nvidia is set to launch 28nm Kepler in April, according to sources from graphics card makers. Although AMD is also set to launch its highest-end Radeon HD 7990 (New Zealand), there is still no firm launch schedule. Nvidia is expected to have at least eight models of graphics cards in April including GTX690, GTX660 and GTX640 with GK110, GK104 and GK106 cores. Since Intel will not introduce Ivy Bridge until after April, when PC replacement may start, Nvidia's trailing behind will not affect the company much and the two players should see their 28nm competition at the fiercest in April.

Couple days ago people were asking about what motherboards will support Ivy Bridge. Anyway the asus board in the budget build, the h61 does support it. http://event.asus.com/2011/mb/PCIe3_Ready/ Might be helpful for some.

So basically everything. Supporting Ivy should be standard for most as I would think.

[DagsJT]

Is it worth having a page file when I have 8GB of RAM and an SSD?

[1-D_FTW]

So basically everything. Supporting Ivy should be standard for most as I would think.

I wasn't really worried about that. My current motherboard had support for the next die process, but not out of the box. It needed a BIOS flash past a certain point build. I was worried about getting a motherboard that had an old BIOS and needed a Sandy Bridge seated in order to flash it to an Ivy Bridge compatible BIOS.

[zulfate]

i am not sure if this is exactly a pc problem but i connected my pc to my 5.1 stereo and then from my stereo to my tv through hdmi. now i get the display but no sound, when i check the sound settings i notice nvidia hdmi output (port 1) is "not connected" but it is. there is nothing i can do to change it either i tried updating my drivers but i am getting nothing.

also through that setup i cant to do 1920 x 1080 resolution i have to lower it to 1768 x992 to get it to fit, do you think this has to do with it being connect through my 5.1 stereo? thanks everyone i love you guys

edit: i dont know if this helps but awhile back my realtek audio stopped working and i cant get it to open or function. i have been using my asus xonar dg as my sound but it used to show my realtek stuff too

Edit 2: ok i got the resolution thing to work i guess the setting on the tv wasnt correct, now also i have had this pc through tv thing work before but all of a sudden it is showing not connected.

[MikeDub]

Not sure where to post this but figured you guys would know. How would I go about limiting bandwidth on my PC? I basically want to limit things like steam downloads so they don't crush my use of the web entirely.

[GoingGreen]

Not sure where to post this but figured you guys would know. How would I go about limiting bandwidth on my PC? I basically want to limit things like steam downloads so they don't crush my use of the web entirely.

I think you can do that on your router

[faceless007]

Since Intel will not introduce Ivy Bridge until after April, when PC replacement may start,

Wait, does this mean IB won't be available until May? Damn, I was really hoping to build in April. :/

[claviertekky]

Is it worth having a page file when I have 8GB of RAM and an SSD?

Always worth it to have a page file. You can try not having one, but if your computing experience BSODs all the time, you better turn it back on.

That's why having a big SSD is important.

Not sure where to post this but figured you guys would know. How would I go about limiting bandwidth on my PC? I basically want to limit things like steam downloads so they don't crush my use of the web entirely.

If your router supports Tomato, you can use QoS to control download and upload bandwidth. Most routers only control upload bandwidth.

[knitoe]

:D I told myself that I was leaving it open to the possibility of running dual 680's in the future but in reality, it was because the AX1200 went on sale at $230 while it was in my cart and it ended up being more of an impulse buy... ;)

You have a device using on the Marvel Sata3 controller (dark blue). Instead, connect it to the better Intel Sata3 controller (gray).

And, if you plan on running 2 or more cards, having a 1000W or more PSU is good safe plan. Unlik most, I always suggest people to stay around 50-60% of PSU max load that's when it's has the highest efficiency and low noise. Plus, overtime, PSU can degrade. What was 850W could be 800W and so on. Thus, if you can afford it, go for it.

[MikeDub]

I think you can do that on your router

If your router supports Tomato, you can use QoS to control download and upload bandwidth. Most routers only control upload bandwidth.

My router has no option to do so and doesn't support Tomato, I am trying out Netlimiter 3 at the moment and it does the job for now. Anyone know if there are better software solutions?

[zulfate]

i am not sure if this is exactly a pc problem but i connected my pc to my 5.1 stereo and then from my stereo to my tv through hdmi. now i get the display but no sound, when i check the sound settings i notice nvidia hdmi output (port 1) is "not connected" but it is. there is nothing i can do to change it either i tried updating my drivers but i am getting nothing. also through that setup i cant to do 1920 x 1080 resolution i have to lower it to 1768 x992 to get it to fit, do you think this has to do with it being connect through my 5.1 stereo? thanks everyone i love you guys edit: i dont know if this helps but awhile back my realtek audio stopped working and i cant get it to open or function. i have been using my asus xonar dg as my sound but it used to show my realtek stuff too Edit 2: ok i got the resolution thing to work i guess the setting on the tv wasnt correct, now also i have had this pc through tv thing work before but all of a sudden it is showing not connected.

ok well i fixed everything now, i deleted old video card drivers and applied the new one

though if anyone can help me with the realtek audio issues i will appreciate it

[mhayze]

Is it worth having a page file when I have 8GB of RAM and an SSD?

There is some debate on this subject, but almost every article I've read has the basic answer that yes, it increases performance in most cases. Still, keep an eye on free space. If you are dipping below 10GB free space, start recovering space (I use some tricks to move some of the unused Windows directory bloat for WINSXS and installer caches and stuff to another drive using symbolic links), delete my hibernate file and in the case of my first 60GB SSD, reduced the size of the swap file. Now that I have a larger SSD, it's hardly an issue.

[I H8 Memes]

Forget about it. HDD was dead too. Power supply killed everything but the power button on the case.

[Hazaro]

Forget about it. HDD was dead too. Power supply killed everything but the power button on the case.

What happened?
Parts?

[FourDoor]

Your Crucial M4 SSD should ideally be connected to one of the white SATA3 ports (Intel). The Intel drivers and chipset are far more stable and slightly faster.

Actually that was one of the first things I had to change when I booted her up for the first time. I opted to upgrade the firmware on the M4 first and the boot disk wouldn't recognize the drive under the Marvel ports so I switched it over to the Intel SATA3 ports and all is well now.

[FoxSpirit]

It's not the HDD which works fine, alas cables are either properly plugged in or it won't work at all. I am betting something weird with either CPU or RAM, will have to try and check, got the trial version of Sandra now. Other tips are welcome.

Okay, fixed it. Aparently Win7-64 didn't like the old bios all too much, 10 hour install. But it installed properly and during my frantic search for the error, the bios popped into my head. And lo and behold, the bios it was.
Things run smoothly now.

Lesson: if something is so very fishy with an older Mobo, try a bios update.

[I H8 Memes]

What happened? Parts?

Old PC died. I got a new power supply for it, still wouldn't boot. PS came on for about half second then turned off again. Nothing at all from the cpu or gpu fans. Replaced all the parts except the case and hdd, PS did the exact same thing and the new pc still wouldn't boot. Now I'm thinking I spent $588 on new parts when all I had was a doa PS. So I exchanged the PS and the new pc booted right up.

Put everything together with the new parts and the bios couldn't see the old hdd. I was wondering if maybe there was some setting in bios I wasn't aware of that I needed to change and came to ask GAF about it. But after replacing the hdd the new pc saw it with no problems. So I was right from the beginning that the old ps fried and took everything in the pc with it except the power button on the case. I was just unlucky to get a doa ps to test the old pc with.

Old pc

Phenom II 920 @ 2.8ghz
4850

New PC

Intel i5 2500k
560ti

I had to go a little cheap on the videocard to make sure i got the 2500k.


Just in case it hasn't been mentioned on the last couple of pages, i5 2500k's are $200 right now on ncix.com

Edit: Here's a link to their US page.
http://us.ncix.com/products/?sku=579...l&promoid=1315

[PGamer]

Does anyone in here have any experience with HDDErase?

I'm following this guide: http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/fo...o-use-HDDErase but when I get to this screen:

I don't get have the P0 P1 etc. list or anything else beneath it for me. It's just all blank.

Does anyone know why that is?

[DyTonic]

Need to tweak my build idk what I can do.

Current

CPU: Amd 2 x4 940 black
PSU: 750w Rosewill
GPU: Evga GTX 260 core 216
Mobo: Asus m478 pro
Ram: OCZ 4gb ram

-----maybe just a graphics card update and 4 more gbs of ram? I never overclocked before so I don't wanna mess something up.

[1-D_FTW]

Need to tweak my build idk what I can do. Current 1. asus m4a78pro mobo 2. 4gb ram 3. nvidia 260 core 216 4.phenom ii x4 940 black -----maybe just a graphics card update and 4 more gbs of ram? I never overclocked before so I don't wanna mess something up.

If it's just for gaming, don't waste your money on RAM. 4GB is plenty for any game out there. And quantity doesn't improve things. You either have enough or you don't (and then things go downhill bad).

[DyTonic]

If it's just for gaming, don't waste your money on RAM. 4GB is plenty for any game out there. And quantity doesn't improve things. You either have enough or you don't (and then things go downhill bad).

I fixed my post, yea idk just wondering what I can do to maintain it. Everything is smooth and this was made in 09.

[kitch9]

Is it worth having a page file when I have 8GB of RAM and an SSD?

Yes, very much so.

Contrary to popular belief, the page file should be on the ssd too.

[I H8 Memes]

Anybody else ever have trouble getting Realtek Audio Manager to recognize headphones plugged into the rear panel? This has happened to me with every build going back to the days of the Pentium II. There is obviously something wrong with me and not the software.

I can get it to recognize the 2 jacks on the front panel, which isn't plugged in : / My last pc it never saw any headphones that i plugged in as actual headphones, only saw them as speakers.

[Iadien]

Anybody else ever have trouble getting Realtek Audio Manager to recognize headphones plugged into the rear panel? This has happened to me with every build going back to the days of the Pentium II. There is obviously something wrong with me and not the software. I can get it to recognize the 2 jacks on the front panel, which isn't plugged in : / My last pc it never saw any headphones that i plugged in as actual headphones, only saw them as speakers.

I believe you can fix this in the realtek hd audio manager. I'm not sure exactly, but I remember having to play with different settings in the "device advanced settings".

[I H8 Memes]

Messing around with Advanced Settings and Connector Settings is how I got it to see the front panel. Any other way and nothing shows up at all.

Here is the problem. The best I can get it to do is show the front panel jack. The back panel jacks are always greyed out.

[Iadien]

Have you checked your sound settings under control panel? checked disabled devices etc. try right clicking on devices to use as default communication, also.

[iNvid02]

just ordered a 27" 120hz monitor =O

after experiencing 120fps gaming at a friend's it was too much, i thought
i could carry on with my 30" dell until the tech finally allows 120hz IPS
but i caved.

cant wait, will post some impressions after i get it

[CharmingCharlie]

My beloved Q6600 based PC bit the ghost today after nearly 6 years of service. So right now I am soldiering on with my "backup" Core2Duo with 8800gts. I am pretty sure the hard discs are good in the old Q6600 and the GTX260 is still working fine.

So all I basically need is a new motherboard, CPU and some RAM. I have a budget of about £300 (and that is stretching it). So with that in mind I was thinking of these parts :-

• Intel Sandybridge i5-2500K Unlocked Core i5 Quad-Core Processor (3.30GHz, 6MB Cache, Socket 1155)
• Gigabyte XKT-1155 Z68AP-D3 Motherboard (Rev 1.0)
• Corsair CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9 8GB 1600MHz CL9 DDR3 Vengeance Memory Two Module Kit

Anyone have any comments on the motherboard ? or any better alternatives ? I can't really go over £100 for a motherboard and the Gigabyte one I listed can be picked up for about £79.

[I H8 Memes]

Have you checked your sound settings under control panel? checked disabled devices etc. try right clicking on devices to use as default communication, also.

I've tried everything. Checked settings in bios as well. This is really frustrating to have this one problem keeping me from enjoying some games and testing the temps on the new hardware. I'm sure I will figure it out eventually but right now I'm frustrated to be running into this problem with my 3rd new pc in a row.

Anyone have any comments on the motherboard ? or any better alternatives ? I can't really go over £100 for a motherboard and the Gigabyte one I listed can be picked up for about £79.

What is that in real money? :D

Not sure about the prices over there, but everyone seems to love the ASRock, and to a lesser extent the Asus, LGA 1155 gen3 boards. Remember though you are going to want to get an aftermarket cooler as the one that comes with the cpu is junk. It works but you wont want to OC with it. Of course you can always run at stock speeds for now and replace the cooler later to OC.

[Iadien]

I've tried everything. Checked settings in bios as well. This is really frustrating to have this one problem keeping me from enjoying some games and testing the temps on the new hardware. I'm sure I will figure it out eventually but right now I'm frustrated to be running into this problem with my 3rd new pc in a row.

There has to be something simple you are not trying. I was able to do it just fine, I think I had to change one of the following settings to get it to work:

[I H8 Memes]

Here is the speaker conifg page where i cant access any of the back panel options.



Here are both option tabs



If I untick "disable front panel jack" everything in the first pic will disappear



Manage audio devices.



Notice in this one that headphones show up under front panel 3.5 mm jack




All of this without my front panel jacks connected to the motherboard. That's the only thing all of these pc builds have in common is that I never connect the front panel jacks.

[McHuj]

Got a quick monitor question. Has anyone heard if (even rumors) any company will be putting out a ~24" monitor that's got 2560x1440 resolution? I really want a high res high dpi monitor and I think a 27" one maybe too big.

[Hazaro]

Does anyone in here have any experience with HDDErase? I'm following this guide: http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/fo...o-use-HDDErase but when I get to this screen: I don't get have the P0 P1 etc. list or anything else beneath it for me. It's just all blank. Does anyone know why that is?

Try an older version. I had to try this for an older Intel drive X-18M and I need 3.2 or 3.6 or 3.8 or something.
That said I got further but it still didn't do anything, but that should get you past that screen at least.

[Smokey]

just ordered a 27" 120hz monitor =O after experiencing 120fps gaming at a friend's it was too much, i thought i could carry on with my 30" dell until the tech finally allows 120hz IPS but i caved. cant wait, will post some impressions after i get it

acer or asus? or something else?

[herod]

Any reason why 2550K aren't in the recommended build? My preferred supplier is currently listing them at slightly cheaper than the 2500K...

edit: it doesn't have a functional GPU.

[Pachterballs]

I want to get a SSD for my new build. so inherent to this new system; is a itunes...

But the thing is; anyone else has experience with itunes on a new PC (and the music etc); I don't want the damn thing wiping out my ipad/iphones etc like it has in the past because its a new install/pc. How do you work around it?

probably not the right thread for this but thought I'd post here.

[iNvid02]

acer or asus? or something else?

i got it this morning, samsung s27a950d. moving from 30" to 27" isnt that much
of a difference, i reckon i'll adjust to it fine pretty soon.

just finished calibrating/setup it and im happy with the results, looks great and packs
a lot more punch than the dell ips, i'll have to get used to the poorer viewing angles
though which i took for granted with the dell.

just played fifa 12 @ 120fps and its awesome, at 1080p the 580s dont even sweat for that
game. a few games like crysis 2 or skyrim cant get a solid 120fps (i like everything maxed
out) but im easily getting 80-120fps and its silky smooth, you can easily see a difference.

16:9 also takes out the black bars on video which makes a big difference.

im really liking it so far, not interested in playing in 3d though, this one doesn't actually
support nvidia's 3d vision, it has some tridef 3d because samsung opted for different tech
apparently. not an issue for me but if you do want to play in 3d make sure you check
out which monitors nvidia supports, they mostly consist of acer, asus and benq.

this is the review that made me get it
its not perfect by any means, but i measured up the pros and cons against my 30" dell,
plus seeing 120fps in action made quite a difference too, so i just went for it.

i got the 580 SLIs because of 1600p res, but at 1080p they just obliterate everything, and with 3GB VRAM its just overkill.
the next gpu's with 2gb memory might actually be a better option than what i have now, god damn it

[LordAlu]

I've been looking for a good long time for a solid gaming keyboard to replace my Logitech G15 that is backlit and looks good too, and I think I may have just found it in the Corsair Vengeance K90.



Anyone had a chance to use or try one? Mechanical keys for the main keyboard sound good, I like the volume rocker and various backlight settings, and 54 macro keys is more than enough. Plus it looks excellent.

[celcius]

^I was actually just looking at the k60 and k90 yesterday. I wasn't able to press the keys or touch it, but after looking it over, I didn't like the brushed silver look in-person. However, I have heard good things about their performance.

[awwyeahgurrl]

I would just get a razer blackwiddow unless you plan to use all of those macro keys, it's cheaper and uses mechanical keys (blue switches).

Here's a question for those of you who stream consoles/PC games. I'm planning on building a compact streaming PC for tournaments/home use, anyone have something like this they use at the moment that they can recommend/give suggestions on.

[Hazaro]

I would just get a razer blackwiddow unless you plan to use all of those macro keys, it's cheaper and uses mechanical keys (blue switches). Here's a question for those of you who stream consoles/PC games. I'm planning on building a compact streaming PC for tournaments/home use, anyone have something like this they use at the moment that they can recommend/give suggestions on.

http://8wayrun.com/threads/critical-...m-part-1.9350/
http://8wayrun.com/threads/critical-...m-part-2.9416/
http://8wayrun.com/threads/critical-...m-part-3.9490/

I can't help you on mATX system that has fullcard and small form factor. I know they make them, just don't know the name.

[awwyeahgurrl]

http://8wayrun.com/threads/critical-...m-part-1.9350/ http://8wayrun.com/threads/critical-...m-part-2.9416/ http://8wayrun.com/threads/critical-...m-part-3.9490/ I can't help you on mATX system that has fullcard and small form factor. I know they make them, just don't know the name.

Yeah I've been looking at the 8WayRun guide. I have a 2500K system at the moment but it's in a coolermaster HAF X and it's a pain in the ass to carry it around. Thanks though.

[scitek]

What's a good wireless keyboard/mouse to buy?

[DarkFlow]

Damn you Amazon! I ordered all my parts Thursday night 2 day prime shipping. Everything but the mother board shows up today. That won't come till tomorrow, how very annoying.

[DarkFlow]

Any reason why 2550K aren't in the recommended build? My preferred supplier is currently listing them at slightly cheaper than the 2500K... edit: it doesn't have a functional GPU.

That sounds like a better deal then. Most people at least in this thread are using there own GPU cards anyway.

[I H8 Memes]

That sounds like a better deal then. Most people at least in this thread are using there own GPU cards anyway.

I think they are binned 2500k's that they disabled the gpu on. Doesn't mean they aren't any good but it probably means you cant count on them to have the same headroom to OC as a 2500k would.

[IamMikeside]

I think they are binned 2500k's that they disabled the gpu on. Doesn't mean they aren't any good but it probably means you cant count on them to have the same headroom to OC as a 2500k would.

I got a 2550k and have overclocked to 4.6GHz pretty happily

No real reason to get it over the 2500k, but no reason not to either :)

[scogoth]

I got a 2550k and have overclocked to 4.6GHz pretty happily No real reason to get it over the 2500k, but no reason not to either :)

There is if you have Z68, same price cept you get Quick Sync for video encoding.