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LilJoka · Mar 30, 2015

Quotient said:
I'm looking at building a gaming PC that i would have plugged into the TV/Home-theater mostly. So i'm looking at small ITX cases that would fit a fullsize PSU and Graphics card (R9, GTX 970 etc).

Right now, i'm considering the Cool Master Elite 130 & Thermaltake Core X1. I did consider the Thermaltake Core V1, but it doesn't support cards up to 285mm (11.2&#8243 in length.

Does anyone have any hands-on experience with either case, or perhaps other suggestion?

Fractal Design Node 304 is better than both. Have an i7 3770 and GTX 970 in mine. The PSU does have a length limit, I think it's 150mm. Although I removed the PSU bracket from the case to fit my slightly older and larger 160mm PSU in.

Quotient · Mar 30, 2015

LilJoka said:
Fractal Design Node 304 is better than both. Have an i7 3770 and GTX 970 in mine. The PSU does have a length limit, I think it's 150mm. Although I removed the PSU bracket from the case to fit my slightly older and larger 160mm PSU in.

Curious, what makes it better than either of the 2 i listed?

Reckoner · Mar 30, 2015

LilJoka said:
Fractal Design Node 304 is better than both. Have an i7 3770 and GTX 970 in mine. The PSU does have a length limit, I think it's 150mm. Although I removed the PSU bracket from the case to fit my slightly older and larger 160mm PSU in.

I had to trade an EVGA Supernova for a Cooler Master 750v to fit on the case. Other than that, it's pretty good.

Devildoll · Mar 30, 2015

oneida said:
Is there a way to determine what my existing PSU is without opening the case?

If you have a prebuilt, googling the model name/number will hopefully land you on a manufacturer webpage with full specs.

If it is a custom computer, receipt or webshop order history.
You cant identify the psu using software as you can with cpus and gpus unfortunately.

Quotient · Mar 30, 2015

LilJoka said:
Fractal Design Node 304 is better than both. Have an i7 3770 and GTX 970 in mine. The PSU does have a length limit, I think it's 150mm. Although I removed the PSU bracket from the case to fit my slightly older and larger 160mm PSU in.

Reckoner said:
I had to trade an EVGA Supernova for a Cooler Master 750v to fit on the case. Other than that, it's pretty good.

I just had a look at some reviews online and it looks really tight inside the case with the PSU right up against the motherboard.

Do either of you have a watercooler for your CPU? Where did you put the radiator?

EDIT: I just noticed that the PSU is installed sideways. Interesting.

Fattony12000 · Mar 30, 2015

Currently eyeing this up. Will probably wait for the GTX 980 Ti + new i7 Extreme, though.

Crucial MX200 250 GB x2 = £95.63
ASRock Fatal1ty X99M KILLER = £185.72
Intel i7-5820K Extreme Hex Core = £299.26
BitFenix Prodigy M MATX Cube Case = £64.50
Palit Nvidia GeForce GTX 980 Jetstream = £399.90
Ballistix Sport BLS2C8G4D240FSA 16GB kit DDR4 = £146.83
Corsair Professional Series AX 760 Watt 80 PLUS Platinum = £133.85

£1,421.32

Assuming I can get a GTX 980 Ti into a MATX case!

kennah · Mar 30, 2015

Quotient said:
I just had a look at some reviews online and it looks really tight inside the case with the PSU right up against the motherboard.

Do either of you have a watercooler based fan for your CPU? Where did you put the radiator?

EDIT: I just noticed that the PSU is installed sideways. Interesting.

Radiator would replace the exhaust fan. Same as most cases. You would be limited to a 120mm or 140mm. A 240 wouldn't fit.

mkenyon · Mar 30, 2015

Quotient said:
I just had a look at some reviews online and it looks really tight inside the case with the PSU right up against the motherboard.

Do either of you have a watercooler for your CPU? Where did you put the radiator?

EDIT: I just noticed that the PSU is installed sideways. Interesting.

Yeah, you need to go with a shorter PSU. Cooler Master VS-M series and Silverstone Striders are both the correct length to where they don't interfere with anything in the case.

Fattony12000 said:
Currently eyeing this up. Will probably wait for the GTX 980 Ti + new i7 Extreme, though.

£1,421.32

Assuming I can get a GTX 980 Ti into a MATX case!

I wouldn't hold my breath on Broadwell-E chips. If there's any improvement, it'll likely be to the tune of about 3%. Unless you mean the 8 core $1000 part by "i7 Extreme".

I also like the Gigabyte mATX board more than that ASRock one.

LilJoka · Mar 30, 2015

Quotient said:
I just had a look at some reviews online and it looks really tight inside the case with the PSU right up against the motherboard.

Do either of you have a watercooler for your CPU? Where did you put the radiator?

EDIT: I just noticed that the PSU is installed sideways. Interesting.

No watercooling since I want a totally silent rig. Photos of my rig on page 150 of this thread.
I run all fans at 7v fixed speed including cpu fan. GPU has fans off below 60c. Rig os overclocked as far as I can go, 4.2Ghz 1.05v on cpu and 1500/8000mhz on the 970. Loudest part is the Gpu whilst gaming but that's only audible if game audio is muted.

Ideal PSU is Seasonic G550 Semi Modular or the Coolernaster V550S. I have a Seasonic M12II 620W in mine.

If you want a corsair h60 type cpu cooler mount it as exhaust. Air is better for this pc though. I have a Venomous X and Yate Loon fan in mine.

The thermaltake is so large it defeats the purpose of ITX. The CM is hampered as you can't fit a tower heatsink, but I guess that's not a con if you want a radiator as intake. But that will start to hinder your Gpu temps and potential overclock. The CM is also full of plastic, whereas the Node has an aluminium face and looks more premium in a home theatre setup.

RGM79 · Mar 31, 2015

Quotient said:
I'm looking at building a gaming PC that i would have plugged into the TV/Home-theater mostly. So i'm looking at small ITX cases that would fit a fullsize PSU and Graphics card (R9, GTX 970 etc).

Right now, i'm considering the Cool Master Elite 130 & Thermaltake Core X1. I did consider the Thermaltake Core V1, but it doesn't support cards up to 285mm (11.2&#8243 in length.

Does anyone have any hands-on experience with either case, or perhaps other suggestion?

Consider some of Silverstone's HTPC cases, which come in larger and smaller varieties. They're typically short and wide but easier to build in, and some even support ATX motherboards and full length graphics cards. Generally the design of their cases would fit in TV cabinets or under TV stands with other A/V equipment like stereo and receiver boxes.

LilJoka · Mar 31, 2015

RGM79 said:
Consider some of Silverstone's HTPC cases, which come in larger and smaller varieties. They're typically short and wide, but some even support ATX motherboards and full length graphics cards and would fit in TV cabinets or under TV stands with other A/V equipment like stereo and receiver boxes.

Node 804 would come in as another option there too.

Quotient · Mar 31, 2015

LilJoka said:
No watercooling since I want a totally silent rig. Photos of my rig on page 150 of this thread.
I run all fans at 7v fixed speed including cpu fan. GPU has fans off below 60c. Rig os overclocked as far as I can go, 4.2Ghz 1.05v on cpu and 1500/8000mhz on the 970. Loudest part is the Gpu whilst gaming but that's only audible if game audio is muted.

Ideal PSU is Seasonic G550 Semi Modular or the Coolernaster V550S. I have a Seasonic M12II 620W in mine.

If you want a corsair h60 type cpu cooler mount it as exhaust. Air is better for this pc though. I have a Venomous X and Yate Loon fan in mine.

The thermaltake is so large it defeats the purpose of ITX. The CM is hampered as you can't fit a tower heatsink, but I guess that's not a con if you want a radiator as intake. But that will start to hinder your Gpu temps and potential overclock. The CM is also full of plastic, whereas the Node has an aluminium face and looks more premium in a home theatre setup.

Thanks for the detailed response. I had a look at your pictures, the space between the graphics card and PSU looks very limited, adding an additional component that requires access to the PSU would require removing the GPU.

LilJoka · Mar 31, 2015

Quotient said:
Thanks for the detailed response. I had a look at your pictures, the space between the graphics card and PSU looks very limited, adding an additional component that requires access to the PSU would require removing the GPU.

Yeah it would, it's only 2 screws though..
You could only be adding a HDD/SSD really, you could lay a spare SATA power if need be, but a single SATA power usually has 3/4 plugs atleast. Harder part would be the SATA cable from the board which would need the GPU removing to plug in easily. But again you could lay a spare one and tuck behind the PSU intake. Its not everyday you would be doing such things though.

Also remember my PSU is longer than recommended.

Reckoner · Mar 31, 2015

Quotient said:
I just had a look at some reviews online and it looks really tight inside the case with the PSU right up against the motherboard.

Do either of you have a watercooler for your CPU? Where did you put the radiator?

EDIT: I just noticed that the PSU is installed sideways. Interesting.

I just use the 212 Evo

Dead · Mar 31, 2015

Was about to spend money on a new controller for my new rig as it seems I lost my old one.

Turns out you can use the Nvidia Shield controller as a PC controller, and it works amazingly well.

Between that, PC gamestream, Grid, etc, the Shield stuff has been an amazing.

Quotient · Mar 31, 2015

Reckoner said:
I just use the 212 Evo

Is it as effective as a watercooler solution?

IMACOMPUTA · Mar 31, 2015

Quotient said:
Curious, what makes it better than either of the 2 i listed?

Rosewill legacy w1 is a really awesome case. It"ll fit anything, the build quality is great, and it looks awesome. Check it out!

I have an h80i on the top too.

Edit: currently $69.99 on newegg http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=11-147-221

Quotient · Mar 31, 2015

Radiator question: Should you always mount your radiator at the front so that you are drawing cold outside air over the radiator fins, or does it really not matter where it is mounted in the case?

RGM79 · Mar 31, 2015

Quotient said:
Is it as effective as a watercooler solution?

It depends on what water cooler you compare it with. Still, water coolers rarely come as cheap and offer performance worth the extra money, as the $30 Hyper 212 Evo is typically good enough to overclock midrange (<100W TDP) processors to a moderately high result (up to 4.5GHz).

Quotient said:
Radiator question: Should you always mount your radiator at the front so that you are drawing cold outside air over the radiator fins, or does it really not matter where it is mounted in the case?

That is up to you. If you are concerned with keeping CPU temperatures low above all else, then mount the radiator in a spot to pull in fresh air. If you aren't as concerned, then it's fine to mount it as exhaust instead. Using the radiator as exhaust will not negatively impact the CPU more than a few degrees. You should take into account what case you have (available mounting points) and the airflow setup you want (positive or negative pressure).

Quotient · Mar 31, 2015

RGM79 said:
It depends on what water cooler you compare it with. Still, water coolers rarely come as cheap and offer performance worth the extra money, as the $30 Hyper 212 Evo is typically good enough to overclock midrange (<100W TDP) processors to a moderately high result (up to 4.5GHz).

That is up to you. If you are concerned with keeping CPU temperatures low above all else, then mount the radiator in a spot to pull in fresh air. If you aren't as concerned, then it's fine to mount it as exhaust instead. Using the radiator as exhaust will not negatively impact the CPU more than a few degrees. You should take into account what case you have (available mounting points) and the airflow setup you want (positive or negative pressure).

I would assume a watercooler setup would be substantially quieter than an air-cooled approach. I would prefer to have a setup that is on the quieter side.

kennah · Mar 31, 2015

Quotient said:
I would assume a watercooler setup would be substantially quieter than an air-cooled approach. I would prefer to have a setup that is on the quieter side.

Cheap water coolers are louder than equivalent priced air coolers.

Quotient · Mar 31, 2015

kennah said:
Cheap water coolers are louder than equivalent priced air coolers.

How does the Seidon 120V compare to an air-cooler in the same price range?

RGM79 · Mar 31, 2015

Quotient said:
I would assume a watercooler setup would be substantially quieter than an air-cooled approach. I would prefer to have a setup that is on the quieter side.

Again, that will depend on what coolers you're looking at, and what your budget is. Warning, large image incoming courtesy of Xbit Labs:

Testing results can vary by method and by the reviewer. Felt like I needed to say that because results aren't always set in stone and immutable.

At the higher end, air coolers are actually usually the best performers with low noise. There are a few water coolers like the expensive Swiftech H220-X (used to be $130 but now $191 because of what I assume are problems with suppliers) that are excellent performers and can be fairly quiet, but for most of the parts list that I do recommend, I either end up recommending the Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo ($29) for unbeatable price-to-performance or the Phanteks PH-TC14PE ($60~70) for excellent cooling with fairly low noise levels that easily beats something more expensive like a Corsair H105. Whenever the Noctua NH-D14 ($75) or NH-D15 ($90) drop in price that's also nice as well, they come with low noise fan speed adaptors which keep noise down without sacrificing much performance.

Quotient said:
How does the Seidon 120V compare to an air-cooler in the same price range?

PCPer did a review of the Cooler Master Seidon 120V against the Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo, and results are nearly identical, with a slight edge towards the 212 Evo for temperature testing (~2 degrees cooler) and a quieter test result (2~5 decibels quieter).

However, going by Frostytech's testing results, they say the 120V is 2-3 degrees cooler than the 212 Evo. Noise testing results are fairly similar to PCPer's findings, though. I guess it comes down to differences in testing and airflow.

When you consider that the 212 Evo is only $29 while the 120V is $50, it's clear that the 120V isn't really worth the extra money, even if it may perform better by 2 degrees (potentially $10 per degree better or worse). If you're going to go for water cooling, it should either be because it better fits the PC case you're using or because you're spending so much on a water cooler that it can outperform air coolers in some way (NZXT Kraken X61, Swiftech H220-X/H240-X, Corsair H110i GT?).

Diablos · Mar 31, 2015

SRG01 said:
I'm a little late on this -- was out for coffee -- but that benchmark chart is super misleading. Most of the cards there are 2GB cards, and it's conspicuously missing the 770 4GB.

I mean, yes there will be a performance bump from 2GB to 4GB but it'll still lag behind cards with higher bandwidths.

On the other hand, the surprising thing about that chart is that it's beating the 280X. I think I saw benches on another site that showed the opposite. Might've been the 290X though, not entirely sure.

No worries. I am so conflicted. No doubt the 128-bit memory bus will bottleneck the card later on too -- so perhaps the 4GB model makes little to no sense for the long term?
Although the memory is crazy fast... and the core clock speed isn't bad either.

Maybe I should keep waiting... I don't know what other GPU in the $180-250 price range would be worth waiting for, though.

Hazaro · Mar 31, 2015

Quotient said:
How does the Seidon 120V compare to an air-cooler in the same price range?

Bad, just go air.
Pretty much everyone should go air for noise, safety, reliability, etc. unless they like the looks, will swap out some components, or are aiming for very high OCs.
IMO

Dunk#7 · Mar 31, 2015

I have not built a PC since 2005, but after using this thread and user reviews I was able to put something together. It probably won't be used for gaming, but maybe a little amateur video editing. I always trying to get quality parts with plenty of expansion opportunity. May add a GPU down the road.

Thoughts? Seem like a reasonable build? I'd like to think I am getting the best bang for my buck factoring in longevity of its use.

Parts List:

Phanteks Enthoo Luxe Series PH-ES614L_BK Black Aluminum / Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case
GIGABYTE GA-Z97X-UD5H LGA 1150 Intel Z97 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
Antec TruePower Classic series TP-750C 750W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI CrossFire Certified 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Power Supply
Intel Core i5-4690K Devil's Canyon Quad-Core 3.5GHz LGA 1150 BX80646I54690K Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 4600
G.SKILL Sniper Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1866 (PC3 14900) Desktop Memory Model F3-14900CL9D-8GBSR
Seagate Barracuda ST1000DM003 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive Bare Drive
ASUS DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS Black SATA 24X DVD Burner - Bulk - OEM
Microsoft Windows 7 Professional SP1 64-bit
Arctic Silver 5 High-Density Polysynthetic Silver Thermal Compound AS5-3.5G
Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO - CPU Cooler with 120 mm PWM Fan

**Sorry for the wall of text. Copying and pasting from mobile.

Hazaro · Mar 31, 2015

Dunk#7 said:
I have not built a PC since 2005, but after using this thread and user reviews I was able to put something together. It probably won't be used for gaming, but maybe a little amateur video editing. I always trying to get quality parts with plenty of expansion opportunity. May add a GPU down the road.

Thoughts? Seem like a reasonable build? I'd like to think I am getting the best bang for my buck factoring in longevity of its use.

Parts List:

Phanteks Enthoo Luxe Series PH-ES614L_BK Black Aluminum / Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case
GIGABYTE GA-Z97X-UD5H LGA 1150 Intel Z97 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
Antec TruePower Classic series TP-750C 750W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI CrossFire Certified 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Power Supply
Intel Core i5-4690K Devil's Canyon Quad-Core 3.5GHz LGA 1150 BX80646I54690K Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 4600
G.SKILL Sniper Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1866 (PC3 14900) Desktop Memory Model F3-14900CL9D-8GBSR
Seagate Barracuda ST1000DM003 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive Bare Drive
ASUS DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS Black SATA 24X DVD Burner - Bulk - OEM
Microsoft Windows 7 Professional SP1 64-bit
Arctic Silver 5 High-Density Polysynthetic Silver Thermal Compound AS5-3.5G
Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO - CPU Cooler with 120 mm PWM Fan

**Sorry for the wall of text. Copying and pasting from mobile.

Personally I avoid Seagate drives FWIW, though the WD Blue 1TB aren't that much better.
PSU is super overkill, look at ones in OP
Instead of AS5 get Noctua NH-1 / PK1 / PK3 / TX-4. I think those are all good.
Unless you need something the UD5 offers, get the SLI model in the OP.

Use above savings of ~$100 to get an i7 4790K.

Hazaro · Mar 31, 2015

MODMIC 4.0 IS ON SALE FOR NEXT 48 HOURS - $35 SHIPPED TO US
https://www.madorc.com/deals/antlion-modmic-4-a

You get a code from them you use on the modmic website. Absolutely great mic and best of the models. IF you don't know what it is, you attach it to your headphones and it has a magnetic clip you can use to take it on or off.
Disclaimer: I've tested the 2.0 2.3 3.0 and 4.0 from them and provided feedback.

RGM79 · Mar 31, 2015

Dunk#7 said:
I have not built a PC since 2005, but after using this thread and user reviews I was able to put something together. It probably won't be used for gaming, but maybe a little amateur video editing. I always trying to get quality parts with plenty of expansion opportunity. May add a GPU down the road.

Thoughts? Seem like a reasonable build? I'd like to think I am getting the best bang for my buck factoring in longevity of its use.

Parts List:

Phanteks Enthoo Luxe Series PH-ES614L_BK Black Aluminum / Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case
GIGABYTE GA-Z97X-UD5H LGA 1150 Intel Z97 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
Antec TruePower Classic series TP-750C 750W ATX12V / EPS12V SLI CrossFire Certified 80 PLUS GOLD Certified Power Supply
Intel Core i5-4690K Devil's Canyon Quad-Core 3.5GHz LGA 1150 BX80646I54690K Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 4600
G.SKILL Sniper Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1866 (PC3 14900) Desktop Memory Model F3-14900CL9D-8GBSR
Seagate Barracuda ST1000DM003 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive Bare Drive
ASUS DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS Black SATA 24X DVD Burner - Bulk - OEM
Microsoft Windows 7 Professional SP1 64-bit
Arctic Silver 5 High-Density Polysynthetic Silver Thermal Compound AS5-3.5G
Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO - CPU Cooler with 120 mm PWM Fan

**Sorry for the wall of text. Copying and pasting from mobile.

Going by your avatar, you're in west Virginia? If you can drive to the Fairfax Microcenter location to buy in-store, you could save a lot on the motherboard and CPU (essentially the motherboard costs only about $50).

What's your overall budget? Here's a price-to-performance-oriented parts list to start with that should compare favorably to the parts list you had in mind.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($199.99 @ Micro Center)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($28.98 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock Z97 PRO4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($49.99)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-2400 Memory ($109.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Crucial BX100 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($91.98 @ Newegg)
Storage: Toshiba Product Series

T01ACA 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($72.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: NZXT Source 210 Elite (White) ATX Mid Tower Case ($47.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Power Supply: EVGA 600B 600W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($39.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $641.90
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-03-31 00:37 EDT-0400

I'd say you probably don't even need thermal paste, it's only a difference of around 2 degrees or so if I remember correctly from that thermal paste roundup review. The case could change depending on what graphics card you may want to get.

You sure you need a DVD drive? Windows 7/8/8.1 can be officially installed via USB (guide slightly outdated).

Windows 7/8.1 licenses can be bought from reddit's microsoftsoftwareswap for $20 or less. These are most likely legitimate keys that are resold from educational programs like Technet or Dreamspark. However, you are dealing with a person instead of a retailer, and informal Windows keys sales are unapproved by Microsoft and probably breaking some licensing agreement to be clear, but it's not illegal. The risks involved are that the person could be selling you a fake or used key, or that Microsoft may deactivate your license and refuse to reactivate it, although it's somewhat unlikely, usually only if the seller and their list of sold keys was caught. We've had people here using those keys without issues for a long time and others who say Microsoft deactivated their key after several months.

Azure Dream · Mar 31, 2015

It's me again. I haven't had a lot of time to mess with my PC this month, but I've noticed something was up with the memory.

For reference, I was this person: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?p=145125064#post145125064 I ended up getting two of the G-Skill sticks to balance it out. I then ran into crashes and some memory errors, so I followed these instructions, and pulled all the sticks and tested them one-by-one to see which one was bad.

Except none of them were bad. I tested each stick several times over, and repeated the full process, and it never showed one as bad again. I think I may have had one initially seated incorrectly?

But I've done something else to mess it up. I tried to adjust things in the BIOS, as instructed, but was a bit over my head. Still, everything seemed to report fine. 24 GB of memory showed up everywhere. But I started running out of memory unexpectedly and unstably. There's no way it should be hitting the wall so fast, but it was acting that way, and worse than when I had just 8GB to work with. When I check the Task Manager when this starts happening, it's always at about 30%. Because of the way my MB is laid out, the Samsung 8GB come first. So as far as I can tell, when it's starting to try to use the G-Skill, it can't, and that's screwing it up.

Here's some shots from the BIOS (a few embedded, a few linked). If I need to take different shots, let me know, although I won't be able to take them until later on Wednesday. If you can spot what I've done wrong, that would be great. Here's the two memory types for reference, again: Samsung (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) and G.Skill 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3 PC3-14900 RipjawsX Series (10-11-10-30)

Fattony12000 · Mar 31, 2015

mkenyon said:
I wouldn't hold my breath on Broadwell-E chips. If there's any improvement, it'll likely be to the tune of about 3%. Unless you mean the 8 core $1000 part by "i7 Extreme".

I also like the Gigabyte mATX board more than that ASRock one.

I only need very mild gains in throughput over the 2014 version, I would like the clock to tip over the 3.3GHz that my 2500K from 2011 has! It's them sweet sweet cores n threads that I'm mainly interested in.

I just picked the cheapest MB and RAM I could see, I am more than amenable to getting something better when it comes to The Time. Thanks for the recommendation.

LilJoka · Mar 31, 2015

Azure Dream said:
It's me again. I haven't had a lot of time to mess with my PC this month, but I've noticed something was up with the memory.

For reference, I was this person: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?p=145125064#post145125064 I ended up getting two of the G-Skill sticks to balance it out. I then ran into crashes and some memory errors, so I followed these instructions, and pulled all the sticks and tested them one-by-one to see which one was bad.

Except none of them were bad. I tested each stick several times over, and repeated the full process, and it never showed one as bad again. I think I may have had one initially seated incorrectly?

But I've done something else to mess it up. I tried to adjust things in the BIOS, as instructed, but was a bit over my head. Still, everything seemed to report fine. 24 GB of memory showed up everywhere. But I started running out of memory unexpectedly and unstably. There's no way it should be hitting the wall so fast, but it was acting that way, and worse than when I had just 8GB to work with. When I check the Task Manager when this starts happening, it's always at about 30%. Because of the way my MB is laid out, the Samsung 8GB come first. So as far as I can tell, when it's starting to try to use the G-Skill, it can't, and that's screwing it up.

Here's some shots from the BIOS (a few embedded, a few linked). If I need to take different shots, let me know, although I won't be able to take them until later on Wednesday. If you can spot what I've done wrong, that would be great. Here's the two memory types for reference, again: Samsung (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) and G.Skill 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3 PC3-14900 RipjawsX Series (10-11-10-30)

Have you stress tested the cpu overclock? Why are you raising the bclk from 100mhz?

You also are using Auto Vcore for an overclock which is breaking rule number 1.

That's probably where the problem lies.
What is the DRAM Voltags set to? Try 1.55v.

Also don't know if you know it, but the samsung ram you've got is called wonder ram, some of the best ram ever made.

You should start by setting the Asus performance thing to Normal. That is what's jacking up settings on the cpu making things go bad!

LilJoka · Mar 31, 2015

Quotient said:
How does the Seidon 120V compare to an air-cooler in the same price range?

Here's it simply, air cooler has a single moving part, just a fan. You can run your cpu to 80c no problems just keep the fan speed low and it's silent.
With water, you try the same but you now have pump noise. Automatically it's louder but runs at 77*c, the gain is not worth it.

Now if you target 60c the watercooling would win as the fan noise would be above the pump noise but less than the air cooler. But that is a performance target not a silence target. Silent builds do whatever they can to not raise fan speeds above minimum.

RagingPhoenix · Mar 31, 2015

Looking to buy a mobo, rounded off these 3, help me pick the best one or suggest any other in same price range

Gigabyte GA-H97M-D3H Micro ATX LGA1150

Gigabyte G1.Sniper B5 ATX LGA1150

MSI Z97 PC MATE ATX LGA1150

To go along with i5-4690k & gtx970

Mohasus · Mar 31, 2015

LilJoka said:
Here's it simply, air cooler has a single moving part, just a fan. You can run your cpu to 80c no problems just keep the fan speed low and it's silent.
With water, you try the same but you now have pump noise. Automatically it's louder but runs at 77*c, the gain is not worth it.

Yup, I'm thinking about selling my h100i and buying a 212x because I don't OC.

Fracas · Mar 31, 2015

RagingPhoenix said:
Looking to buy a mobo, rounded off these 3, help me pick the best one or suggest any other in same price range

Gigabyte GA-H97M-D3H Micro ATX LGA1150

Gigabyte G1.Sniper B5 ATX LGA1150

MSI Z97 PC MATE ATX LGA1150

To go along with i5-4690k & gtx970

I use the Z97 PC Mate and it's great to me. Solid price and all the features I need. Though it doesn't support SLI, in case you were considering it.

Kazdane · Mar 31, 2015

Looking at graphic cards, I'm pretty much decided to go for an R9 290 (I'm upgrading from a GTX 660), but I'm undecided. I only play at 1080p and have no intention to upgrade to a higher resolution in the foreseeable future.

The issue is, my PSU is an Antec Truepower 650W TP-650, which delivers 50A in the +12v rail lines for PCI (25A on the 8pin and another 25 on the 6-pin iirc), but the recommended wattage for the 290 is apparently 750W.

Anyone has this card running with a similar PSU? (the particular R9 290 model I'm looking at is the Asus Radeon R9 290 DirectCU II OC 4GB GDDR5).

Otherwise I'd have to settle with a 4GB GTX 960, but as far as I know it'd be vastly inferior.

Thoughts?

RGM79 · Mar 31, 2015

Alex Riveiro said:
Looking at graphic cards, I'm pretty much decided to go for an R9 290 (I'm upgrading from a GTX 660), but I'm undecided. I only play at 1080p and have no intention to upgrade to a higher resolution in the foreseeable future.

The issue is, my PSU is an Antec Truepower 650W TP-650, which delivers 50A in the +12v rail lines for PCI (25A on the 8pin and another 25 on the 6-pin iirc), but the recommended wattage for the 290 is apparently 750W.

Anyone has this card running with a similar PSU? (the particular R9 290 model I'm looking at is the Asus Radeon R9 290 DirectCU II OC 4GB GDDR5).

Otherwise I'd have to settle with a 4GB GTX 960, but as far as I know it'd be vastly inferior.

Thoughts?

Wattage requirements for the R9 290 as described by manufacturers are always overblown. That specific Asus R9 290 you're looking at will draw around 265 watts at peak according to Guru3D's power consumption testing and HardOCP reported in their review that the entire test PC with the R9 290 at maximum load only drew 385 watts. You'd only see higher wattage consumption if you were also doing heavy overclocking, and I'd say your 650 watt power supply will still handle it.

Anecdotally, a friend of mine has the Antec Earthwatts 650 watt model and a Gigabyte R9 290, and he has no PSU problems.

RagingPhoenix said:
Looking to buy a mobo, rounded off these 3, help me pick the best one or suggest any other in same price range

Gigabyte GA-H97M-D3H Micro ATX LGA1150

Gigabyte G1.Sniper B5 ATX LGA1150

MSI Z97 PC MATE ATX LGA1150

To go along with i5-4690k & gtx970

I would recommend the Z97 model over the H97 and B85 chipsets. When it comes to overclocking, you may be more limited with the latter two even if they allowed overclocking, in terms of BIOS options and not just power phase.

If you don't mind me asking, what country are you in and what is your budget? The Gigabyte G1 Sniper B85 model doesn't appear to be available from US retailers anymore.

demented waffle · Mar 31, 2015

RGM79 said:
Wattage requirements for the R9 290 as described by manufacturers are always overblown. That specific Asus R9 290 you're looking at will draw around 265 watts at peak according to Guru3D's power consumption testing and HardOCP reported in their review that the entire test PC with the R9 290 at maximum load only drew 385 watts. You'd only see higher wattage consumption if you were also doing heavy overclocking, and I'd say your 650 watt power supply will still handle it.

Anecdotally, a friend of mine has the Antec Earthwatts 650 watt model and a Gigabyte R9 290, and he has no PSU problems.

Ya, I have the same model PSU. My I7 haswell @4ghz and 290x hasn't pulled over 430 watts from the wall yet, according to my Belkin. And that was a combined test on Firestrike.

Kazdane · Mar 31, 2015

RGM79 said:
Wattage requirements for the R9 290 as described by manufacturers are always overblown. That specific Asus R9 290 you're looking at will draw around 265 watts at peak according to Guru3D's power consumption testing and HardOCP reported in their review that the entire test PC with the R9 290 at maximum load only drew 385 watts. You'd only see higher wattage consumption if you were also doing heavy overclocking, and I'd say your 650 watt power supply will still handle it.

Anecdotally, a friend of mine has the Antec Earthwatts 650 watt model and a Gigabyte R9 290, and he has no PSU problems.

boogyman said:
Ya, I have the same model PSU. My I7 haswell @4ghz and 290x hasn't pulled over 430 watts from the wall yet, according to my Belkin. And that was a combined test on Firestrike.

Thanks both

It looks like my case is settled then. I'd already figured that the PSU requirement was overblown, but I wanted to check first to be extra sure.

Looks like it'll be my first AMD card after a really long time!

DrBaalzamon · Mar 31, 2015

Are you guys putting two fans on your EVO coolers or just the one stock one? Im considering replacing the fan that comes with it, and my rear exhaust fan - thoughts? For better quality than the ones that come with it.

LilJoka · Mar 31, 2015

DrBaalzamon said:
Are you guys putting two fans on your EVO coolers or just the one stock one? Im considering replacing the fan that comes with it, and my rear exhaust fan - thoughts? For better quality than the ones that come with it.

Only reason to sway the Hyper 212 fan is for noise purposes. You are going to gain minimal differences in temperatures. This is general rule much holds for any fan you are thinking of replacing.

RGM79 · Mar 31, 2015

DrBaalzamon said:
Are you guys putting two fans on your EVO coolers or just the one stock one? Im considering replacing the fan that comes with it, and my rear exhaust fan - thoughts? For better quality than the ones that come with it.

I have an i7 875K overclocked to 4.0GHz with a 212 Evo with two CM blademaster fans, never get above 65~70 degrees. According to this list on the Overclock.net Hyper 212 Plus/Evo owner's club, the majority of them are using either Cooler Master, Corsair, or Cougar fans.

ZetaEpyon · Mar 31, 2015

Hazaro said:
MODMIC 4.0 IS ON SALE FOR NEXT 48 HOURS - $35 SHIPPED TO US
https://www.madorc.com/deals/antlion-modmic-4-a

You get a code from them you use on the modmic website. Absolutely great mic and best of the models. IF you don't know what it is, you attach it to your headphones and it has a magnetic clip you can use to take it on or off.
Disclaimer: I've tested the 2.0 2.3 3.0 and 4.0 from them and provided feedback.

Thanks, have been meaning to order one of these for a while to pair with my AKG K7XX. Nothing like a good deal to motivate you to quit procrastinating.

Have a Nice Day · Mar 31, 2015

Hazaro said:
MODMIC 4.0 IS ON SALE FOR NEXT 48 HOURS - $35 SHIPPED TO US
https://www.madorc.com/deals/antlion-modmic-4-a

You get a code from them you use on the modmic website. Absolutely great mic and best of the models. IF you don't know what it is, you attach it to your headphones and it has a magnetic clip you can use to take it on or off.
Disclaimer: I've tested the 2.0 2.3 3.0 and 4.0 from them and provided feedback.

I bought one less than a week ago, shit.

SRG01 · Mar 31, 2015

So... I'm getting pretty impatient at Amazon, since the 4790s was backordered. It's been two weeks now, so should I just keep waiting for the CPU to come in? Or should I just abandon my original plans and splurge for the 4790k?

Diablos said:
No worries. I am so conflicted. No doubt the 128-bit memory bus will bottleneck the card later on too -- so perhaps the 4GB model makes little to no sense for the long term?
Although the memory is crazy fast... and the core clock speed isn't bad either.

Maybe I should keep waiting... I don't know what other GPU in the $180-250 price range would be worth waiting for, though.

There may be a 960Ti down the road, but I wouldn't hold my breath...

Rentahamster · Mar 31, 2015

Quick question; can't google at the moment.

Are there any 3.5 hard drive to 5.25 bay converters that also serve as a heatsink for the HDD?

Or in otherwords, 3.5 HDD heatsinks that can be mounted in the 5.25" bay?

RGM79 · Mar 31, 2015

Rentahamster said:
Quick question; can't google at the moment.

Are there any 3.5 hard drive to 5.25 bay converters that also serve as a heatsink for the HDD?

Or in otherwords, 3.5 HDD heatsinks that can be mounted in the 5.25" bay?

Hard drives rarely get that hot that they need a dedicated fan, but yeah, 5.25" to 3.5" drive bay adaptors with fans exist. Depending on the size, expect to pay around $20 or more, though. There's also this fan device that consists of fans in an aluminum shroud that attaches to the top of a hard drive to cool it down, but again, I don't really think active hard drive cooling is needed.

mm04 · Mar 31, 2015

When the heck is the IPS G-Sync Acer Predator coming out? I'm holding out on getting a second monitor in hopes of nabbing one of these, assuming it's within my price threshold.

Chris R · Apr 1, 2015

Hazaro said:
MODMIC 4.0 IS ON SALE FOR NEXT 48 HOURS - $35 SHIPPED TO US
https://www.madorc.com/deals/antlion-modmic-4-a

You get a code from them you use on the modmic website. Absolutely great mic and best of the models. IF you don't know what it is, you attach it to your headphones and it has a magnetic clip you can use to take it on or off.
Disclaimer: I've tested the 2.0 2.3 3.0 and 4.0 from them and provided feedback.

Wait, is this a sale for a code or for the product? Do I get a code mailed to me and then use that to get a free mic? Somewhat confused, but interested.

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