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"I Need a New PC!" 2014 Part 1. 1080p and 60FPS is so last-gen and your 2500K is fine

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Thanks. I always have my sensitivity way lower than most people, so I'm assuming if this is the case, a 5000 DPI mouse should be more than enough?

Hard to imagine it could not be enough for me. Actually until you asked the question I had it set on 800, now I am trying things out and am at 1100.
 
Dumb question:

My new GTX 780 has two power connections on it, 8-pin and 6-pin.

My PSU comes with cables that connect to it and then split off into two PCI 6+2 connectors.

So... can I just use one cable from the PSU and use both ends of the split on the card or do I need to connect two cables to PSU and have one of them power the 8-pin and another power the 6-pin?
 

Aesius

Member
Just breathed new life into my laptop from January 2011.

Installed a 120 GB SSD, 2 GB RAM (to go from 2 GB to 4 GB), and swapped the CPU from a P6200 to an i5 540m.

So. Much. Faster.

Working on a laptop is really easy, provided everything is accessible under the back panel. I also wish all laptops had removable CPUs.
 

xBladeM6x

Member
Just got my Corsair K70 Cherry MX Blue (Black Finish w/ Red LED's). First time with Blue Switches, and I'm loving it so far. At first I was concerned about the tactile bump being an annoyance when gaming, but so far it's nice. (I came from a K70 Cherry MX Red, which is also awesome)




Love the audible clickyness of the Blues. :3
 
Should be anytime now.

EVGA Geforce GTX 780 6gb is supposed to be mid-late April and the Geforce GTX 780 ti 6gb mid-late may. We should be also see the 28nm GTX 800 series in June at Computex.

Cool thanks, regarding the bold; we won't see those this year will we? I need a GPU upgrade before the DK2 hits in July ... and honestly want to "space" out my spending a bit so I want to pick up a card in the next couple weeks.
 
Dumb question:

My new GTX 780 has two power connections on it, 8-pin and 6-pin.

My PSU comes with cables that connect to it and then split off into two PCI 6+2 connectors.

So... can I just use one cable from the PSU and use both ends of the split on the card or do I need to connect two cables to PSU and have one of them power the 8-pin and another power the 6-pin?

Yeah, you can just use both ends of the split.
 

jfoul

Member

molnizzle

Member
I've now rolled back to Windows 7 and am mostly happy, except now my bluetooth keyboard won't pair. It's discovered, but the pairing process always fails. It worked fine in 8.1.

God damn I hate this shit.
 

Water

Member
Cool thanks, regarding the bold; we won't see those this year will we?
Sure we will. Midrange 28nm cards could show up at any point, even in the summer. What's expected to be pushed back to next year is anything on 20nm process tech, including the next high end.
 
Sure we will. Midrange 28nm cards could show up at any point, even in the summer. What's expected to be pushed back to next year is anything on 20nm process tech, including the next high end.

Do we have a price estimation on any of the them? That 290 a couple posts up for $331 looks like a steal. (EDIT: Boo, email won't work for the 10%)
 

jfoul

Member
Do we have a price estimation on any of the them? That 290 a couple posts up for $331 looks like a steal. (EDIT: Boo, email won't work for the 10%)

I'm kind of worried about pricing of the new series, but I think the current lines are going to be price competitive very soon. The deal I posted above has me doubting my decision to wait. We should also see a decent amount of EVGA Geforce GTX 780 3GB show up HERE soon once people trade up to the 6GB.
 
I'm kind of worried about pricing of the new series, but I think the current lines are going to be price competitive very soon. The deal I posted above has me doubting my decision to wait. We should also see a decent amount of EVGA Geforce GTX 780 3GB show up HERE soon once people trade up to the 6GB.

Interesting, didn't know about that part of the EVGA site. I'll have to keep an eye out and just wait it out. I have until July but I'd LOVE to get a new card and have it up and running and do some testing before DK2.
 

LilJoka

Member
Dumb question:

My new GTX 780 has two power connections on it, 8-pin and 6-pin.

My PSU comes with cables that connect to it and then split off into two PCI 6+2 connectors.

So... can I just use one cable from the PSU and use both ends of the split on the card or do I need to connect two cables to PSU and have one of them power the 8-pin and another power the 6-pin?

Yes
 

Ark

Member
Is it worth spending £40 on a cable bundle just so my cables match the red + black MSI theme my build has going on? I've gotta buy an 8-pin CPU extender anyway so I can run it round the back of the mobo.

Is there a particular brand on fan that is better than any other? Going to buy a fan to put in the top of my Fractal Design R4.

Also tempted to buy an LED strip. God dammit, I just want my first build to look pretty.
 

LilJoka

Member
Is it worth spending £40 on a cable bundle just so my cables match the red + black MSI theme my build has going on? I've gotta buy an 8-pin CPU extender anyway so I can run it round the back of the mobo.

Is there a particular brand on fan that is better than any other? Going to buy a fan to put in the top of my Fractal Design R4.

Also tempted to buy an LED strip. God dammit, I just want my first build to look pretty.

iId rather spend all that on a better GPU/SSD.
 
What are the thoughts on SSD size and drive layout? Is it good enough to get the OS onto an SSD while putting games on a larger spinner or is it preferable to get the games on there to? I'm using SteamMover to test this out but I'm struggling to get my OS and current games to under 200GB so I can use a 240GB M500 and have some breathing room. Seems like these newer games are soaking up the disk space too. Titanfall is 50GB, Watch Dogs is 20 and so on.
 

LilJoka

Member
What are the thoughts on SSD size and drive layout? Is it good enough to get the OS onto an SSD while putting games on a larger spinner or is it preferable to get the games on there to? I'm using SteamMover to test this out but I'm struggling to get my OS and current games to under 200GB so I can use a 240GB M500 and have some breathing room. Seems like these newer games are soaking up the disk space too. Titanfall is 50GB, Watch Dogs is 20 and so on.

I believe steam allows more than 1 directory for your library (may only be beta feature). This way you can have your most used games on the SSD and rest on the HDD. There is no fps gain by having games on a SSD, it just reduces load times.
 
Hey guys, hope you can help me out a bit here.

I'm thinking it's time to upgrade my beloved PC. Thing is, I'm the furthest thing from being a hardware guy- I had my PC built and downloaded Steam, and that's it.

So what I have is:

Windows 7 64, Intel Core TM i5CPU, 750 @2.67ghz 2.66GHz

8 gigs of ram

Video card is

AMD Radeon HD5700

So, if I was gonna spend say $ 100- $300 to upgrade, what would be the most efficient way to do so?

Thanks!
 

kennah

Member
Just breathed new life into my laptop from January 2011.

Installed a 120 GB SSD, 2 GB RAM (to go from 2 GB to 4 GB), and swapped the CPU from a P6200 to an i5 540m.

So. Much. Faster.

Working on a laptop is really easy, provided everything is accessible under the back panel. I also wish all laptops had removable CPUs.

Nice! You did it! Guess it's my turn now :p
 

Water

Member
Do we have a price estimation on any of the them? That 290 a couple posts up for $331 looks like a steal. (EDIT: Boo, email won't work for the 10%)
There isn't even any info of what is to be released and when. Price is always the last piece of info to come out, usually around when the cards are officially shown, and can drop at the last minute if the competition happens to launch something good enough. If you want a card now, get a card now. If you get a good deal on a current card at the $300 level, even if new similar-level cards were to be announced and launch immediately next week (very unlikely...), there's no way you'd miss out on more than $100 worth of performance.
 
I own a 780 3gb. Is it worth stepping up to the 780 6gb?

Note: I have the gpu installed in a Node 304. So I don't really have any plans to SLI.
 

KJ869

Member
Manage to get my new build up and running last night. Only problems is Gigabyte 770 windforce has 1 very loud fan, sounds like the bearing is pretty busted. Also if you ever need to install Asus PCE-53 wlan card, you first need to install drivers or it will BSOD, took some time to figure out what was BSODing middle of windows installationg and corrupting the install
.
 
There isn't even any info of what is to be released and when. Price is always the last piece of info to come out, usually around when the cards are officially shown, and can drop at the last minute if the competition happens to launch something good enough. If you want a card now, get a card now. If you get a good deal on a current card at the $300 level, even if new similar-level cards were to be announced and launch immediately next week (very unlikely...), there's no way you'd miss out on more than $100 worth of performance.

Yeah, think I'll just hop on a great sale if I see one. My email wasn't valid for the 10% on the other one. R9 290 or a 780 will probably be my sweet spot for $400-450. I know it's only $50 but man ... $500-550 video card just really makes me cringe!
 
Just quoting for the new page...

Hey guys, hope you can help me out a bit here.

I'm thinking it's time to upgrade my beloved PC. Thing is, I'm the furthest thing from being a hardware guy- I had my PC built and downloaded Steam, and that's it.

So what I have is:

Windows 7 64, Intel Core TM i5CPU, 750 @2.67ghz 2.66GHz

8 gigs of ram

Video card is

AMD Radeon HD5700

So, if I was gonna spend say $ 100- $300 to upgrade, what would be the most efficient way to do so?

Thanks!
 
Just quoting for the new page...
If you want to see the biggest performance gains in gaming, I would spend your budget entirely on a new graphics card, basically the fastest one you can afford. A GTX 770 would be ideal, not sure if you can find those for $300, I'm in the UK.

Don't take my word for it though! Hopefully others will offer some opinions too.
 
Hey guys, hope you can help me out a bit here.

I'm thinking it's time to upgrade my beloved PC. Thing is, I'm the furthest thing from being a hardware guy- I had my PC built and downloaded Steam, and that's it.

So what I have is:

Windows 7 64, Intel Core TM i5CPU, 750 @2.67ghz 2.66GHz

8 gigs of ram

Video card is

AMD Radeon HD5700

So, if I was gonna spend say $ 100- $300 to upgrade, what would be the most efficient way to do so?

Thanks!

Spend it all on a GPU, that's the best thing to do.

8 gigs of RAM is still enough for almost all current games, and I'm sure 16 won't be a "must-have" for the next 2, maybe 3 years.

But you'll most likely need a new PSU too with a stronger GPU, depending on which one you have currently.

If you have another 100-200 bucks, go for a SSD too. That'll boost loadng time into galaxy haha

Best thing would be to post all of your components
 

Aesius

Member
Has anyone ever actually fried a motherboard/other computer component with static?

I've never done it, although I once shocked my computer while unplugging a USB drive and caused it to reboot.

In fact, I've had old spare parts just laying around for weeks with no protective covers, only to work fine when I eventually plugged them into a motherboard/power supply.
 
I have a slight issue with my GTX 760 sending audio over HDMI to my monitor. If the volume is set a bit low, the sound starts to cut out, and only comes back when something loud happens, and if it quieten downs again, drops out. I have to raise the volume quite high to be able to hear all sounds at all times. Is this an NVidia thing, or most likely my monitor ?
 

LilJoka

Member
Has anyone ever actually fried a motherboard/other computer component with static?

I've never done it, although I once shocked my computer while unplugging a USB drive and caused it to reboot.

In fact, I've had old spare parts just laying around for weeks with no protective covers, only to work fine when I eventually plugged them into a motherboard/power supply.

Nope, when i worked at intel we treated CPUs and motherboards like bricks. Nothing ever broke. Seriously we treated hardware like crap and never had issues.

Though static charge can cause a long term effect its hard to quantify.
 

Ashhong

Member
Have you ran Memtest to rule out the possibility of your memory being faulty? These errors are overwhelmingly related to just straight up faulty memory. It might be happening during Crysis/heavy Chrome usage because those things just happen to be very memory intensive.

Hmm I have not. I will look into that
 

RedSwirl

Junior Member
Yup, check the CPU Usage box.

wFdXkv2.jpg


Afterburner 3.00 beta 19.

What the hell? I'm still at 2.3.1. That can't be right.
 

Capell

Unconfirmed Member
I've posted a problem with my PC in here a few weeks ago and thought it was solved, but unfortunately I'm still having issues.

GAF I need your help.
My PC decides to randomly reboot while playing games. It's happened with several titles already, most recently while playing Castlevania LoS2 and Betrayer. First thing I looked up were the temperatures from CPU and GPU, but those numbers seem fine to me.

Temperatures while running Prime95/FurMark:

tempsnkaoo.png


So I suspected my PSU might be done for, which lead me to replace it for a new one. Unfortunately the problem still exists. Any ideas what might be the cause?

ASRock P67 Pro3
Intel Core i5 2400
GTX 660 TI
Seasonic G-650

Alright so running memtest properly this time still didn't reveal anything suspicious.



Yes, only games are affected.

Running BlueScreenView was actually helpful, because somehow I did receive dumps without ever seeing a BSOD. My monitor fades black a few seconds before the reboot, so I guess that's when the blue screen appears.

Anyway, here's what it says:

dmpoyjy6.png


So something is wrong with my Nvidia drivers? Should I just try reinstalling their drivers and see if it works?

So I've played a couple hours of Dark Souls II today and had 3 crashes. Only the first one spit out a BSOD dump:
dmp16d45.png


I completely reinstalled everything Nvidia related after the first crash but that didn't help.


Things I did back then:

- Stresstest on CPU/GPU with Prime95/FurMark, temperatures were alright
- Replaced PSU
- Memtest, no errors detected
- reinstalled Nvidia drivers

Unlike previous crashes my PC doesn't automatically reboot anymore, instead it just fades black and I have to manually reboot.

Any ideas what to try next?
 
Well GAF, this is me. Building tomorrow, or Saturday morning. First desktop PC since 2003.

The keyboard is a cheap Logitech one I got for £10, I am planning to get a Das v4 Professional in the Summer. My mouse is a Logitech G500, will probably upgrade to a G502 in the future. I also have a G35 headset.

jQEH9cudlUCDv.jpg
 

knitoe

Member
I've posted a problem with my PC in here a few weeks ago and thought it was solved, but unfortunately I'm still having issues.





So I've played a couple hours of Dark Souls II today and had 3 crashes. Only the first one spit out a BSOD dump:
dmp16d45.png


I completely reinstalled everything Nvidia related after the first crash but that didn't help.


Things I did back then:

- Stresstest on CPU/GPU with Prime95/FurMark, temperatures were alright
- Replaced PSU
- Memtest, no errors detected
- reinstalled Nvidia drivers

Unlike previous crashes my PC doesn't automatically reboot anymore, instead it just fades black and I have to manually reboot.

Any ideas what to try next?

If your video card is overclocked, manufacturer or manually, run it at the normal sock speed.
 

Capell

Unconfirmed Member
If your video card is overclocked, manufacturer or manually, run it at the normal sock speed.

My card is indeed factory overclocked. I never messed around with that stuff, should I only turn down the clock speed without touching the voltage? By what amount?

It's a Gigabyte GV-N66TWF2-2GD NVIDIA GTX 660 Ti.
 

knitoe

Member
My card is indeed factory overclocked. I never messed around with that stuff, should I only turn down the clock speed without touching the voltage? By what amount?

It's a Gigabyte GV-N66TWF2-2GD NVIDIA GTX 660 Ti.

Yes. Leave the voltage and lower the core & memory to a normal GTX 660 Ti stock speeds.
 

appaws

Banned
Is it worth spending £40 on a cable bundle just so my cables match the red + black MSI theme my build has going on? I've gotta buy an 8-pin CPU extender anyway so I can run it round the back of the mobo.

Is there a particular brand on fan that is better than any other? Going to buy a fan to put in the top of my Fractal Design R4.

Also tempted to buy an LED strip. God dammit, I just want my first build to look pretty.

I understand, believe me. Looks are important, that's why we all buy these cases with big windows in them. 40 pounds sounds like a lot for cables though....but I guess I am not in tune with prices in Europe, with Vats, etc. that we don't have here. I know that there is a bitfenix alchemy kit for $29.99 US that comes with 24pin/8pin/and 2 6-pin extenders and it comes in lots of colors. Here is a review video I found:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnhITLUKdck

Yes, some fans are better than others...and it also depends on what balance you are looking for between noise and performance. I prioritize quiet in my build, because I have my case right here on the desk next to me. Look around the net. Places like Martins liquid lab and PC Perspective have done big roundups comparing fans...

http://martinsliquidlab.org/category/fans/
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/coolers/display/120mm-fan-roundup-3.html

I also highly recommend using a fan controller to get those RPMs down. A lot of people run all their fans at 100% all the time, and it really does little for cooling, but makes a lot of racket.
 
Hello PC-GAF :)

I'm finalizing the configuration for my NAS server and I would like to check here if I didn't do any big mistake (I don't plan to use Raid or the zfs filesystem - I just want a networked machine dedicated to storage, not a securized back-up solution)

CPU: Intel Celeron G1820 2.7GHz
Mobo: ASUS H87I-PLUS C2
RAM: 4GB, probably noname
Case: Node 304
OS: FreeNas
PSU: a 360W 80PLUS Gold
HD: a 3To Western Green, to begin with

My biggest problem was to find a mini-ITX motherboard which come with 6 SATA ports and a CPU with a low power consumption (I'm a little lost between the different Intel Atom models).

Is it looking good ?
 

Ashhong

Member
Is it worth spending £40 on a cable bundle just so my cables match the red + black MSI theme my build has going on? I've gotta buy an 8-pin CPU extender anyway so I can run it round the back of the mobo.

Is there a particular brand on fan that is better than any other? Going to buy a fan to put in the top of my Fractal Design R4.

Also tempted to buy an LED strip. God dammit, I just want my first build to look pretty.

I've done a fair amount of reading on fans and I have decided on the phanteks 140mm for my R4. Read greats things on it and the price is good.

People say that you should have positive air pressure, so I'm putting the r4 fan from the back in the front and adding the Phantek to the back
 

Groof

Junior Member
I've been holding out a bit since last I came in here, but with my PC taking over 10 minutes for a full boot, I felt I can't hold out any longer and hop on the SSD train come pay day.

So my question is, is the Crucial M500 120GB still worth it?
And how is the PNY XLR8 120GB SSD? They're both currently the exact same price (649 SEK/~£58) so I could go for whichever.

Thanks!

Edit: I might stretch for a Samsung 840 EVO 120GB if it provides a better experience to the other two. But if it's negligible I'll stick to the lower priced ones.
 

Sylvatica

Member
So I'm about to buy these components:

CPU
: Intel Core i5 4670K 4x 3.40GHz So.1150 BOX (€ 193,83)
Motherboard: ASRock Z87E-ITX Intel Z87 So.1150 Dual (€ 114,85)
Video Card: 2048MB MSI GeForce GTX 760 Twin Frozr (€ 206,64)
Power Supply: 430 Watt Corsair CX Series Non-Modular 80+ Bronze (€ 37,89)
RAM: 8GB Kingston HyperX blu. DDR3-1600 DIMM (€ 59,83)
SSD: 120GB Crucial M500 2.5" (6.4cm) SATA (€ 55,52)
Case: BitFenix Prodigy

= 736,82€

Do you think it's alright? Should I change something?
 
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