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"I need a New PC!" 2013 Part 2. Haswell = #IntelnoTIM, but free online. READ THE OP.

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Fantastapotamus

Wrong about commas, wrong about everything
I'm assuming this is in response to the Watch_Dogs specs? You're probably fine with what you have. Especially if you're willing to research how to get it to a 4ghz overclock. That i7 is still competitive for gaming.

Hehe, yeah that was part of it. Thanks a bunch!
 

ultimatt

Neo Member
The current series of AMD processors are about on par with the first generation of Intel Core processors, but that's not even clock for clock. Very specifically, if you compared the 4.0GHz 8350 to the 2.9GHz 875K, they trade blows.

skyrim-99th.gif


arkham-99th.gif


crysis-99th.gif


(to get a familiar FPS number in these charts, divide 1000 by the frame time number, i.e. 1000/16.7 = 60FPS)

The i7 920 is pretty much on par with the 875K, so you can use your imagination as to what happens when you OC the 920/875K to 3.5-4.0GHz.

Now keep in mind, this performance comparison I'm making is between an AMD processor launched this year and an Intel processor released FIVE YEARS AGO.

I had a 920 in my system from launch day up until about 3 months ago (saved my pennies and got a 3930K and RIVE), and it always served me well. I think it's getting to that point where it's worth it to look at an upgrade to get the other features, like PCI-E 3.0, USB 3.0, SATA 6GB, and the rest.

But, if you are looking to upgrade your system for games in the coming years, there is absolutely zero reason to even think about AMD as an option. It's worse in power consumption, it's worse for overclocking, the IPC is laughable. You end up spending the "savings" compared to a 2500K/3570K/4670K on a better cooler and PSU to handle it.

If you wanted something like a server to transcode media for PLEX, or focused on photoshop, or do a lot of video encoding rather than gaming, the AMD options do start to look a bit better. But when you are talking about a $150-250 processor for gaming, Intel is the only option that makes sense.

Maybe look at getting a used 2500K/3570K if you really need to save that extra bit.
 
I was not anticipating that CPU recommendation for Watch Dogs. I'm not terribly interested in the game specifically and my machine should run it fine but I'm about to recommend a i5 3570K , which I was hoping would last my friend a long time. I plan to overclock it but, man, the CPU was the last of my worries, at least I thought.
 

Reckoner

Member
they're all similar-ish. UD3 is the lowest end one.



Not in games it doesn't. It will in a very small number of take but Intel smashes it everywhere else. Those 9000 series CPUs are just clock speed dick waving and nothing more.

none of those are available at nearby stores. guess I'll just have to wait until next week :(
 

ekim

Member
Not really, no.
Console ports might better optimized for AMD CPUs, but as for raw power, Intel still beats AMD by a pretty big margin. Go Intel, srsly. AMD GPUs are perfectly fine.

This would be how I'd do it. (Alternate.de)
The ability to overclock the CPU does wonders for a build's longevity.
Also, you get free games with the GPU and free games are always nice.

Und hallo! So von KrautGAFer zu KrautGAFer...

Danke. This should fit my budget. I think about it. Maybe it's safe to wait for Valves reference design for the Steam Box? Hm...
 

maneil99

Member
So I had my 3570k @4.6ghz/1.154v ( Really good chip ) D14 Cooler. Bumped it to 1.174v/4.7GHz. Wondering if its worth pushing to 4.8ghz. Right now weather is cool but I prefer my in game temps to be under 65c. Its like 8c Amb right now, in the summer it gets to 30~. The hassle of running prime and testing stuff
 

Croc

Banned
Okay I'm in the process of assembling my first PC right now. Installing the cooler right now and I have a quick question. Is cleaning the CPU off with rubbing alcohol before applying thermal paste very necessary? I would but just realized I don't have any and am just super impatient right now cause I want to get this thing up and running.

If it'll make a big difference or is important I'll just run out and get some.
 

Jzero

Member
Okay I'm in the process of assembling my first PC right now. Installing the cooler right now and I have a quick question. Is cleaning the CPU off with rubbing alcohol before applying thermal paste very necessary? I would but just realized I don't have any and am just super impatient right now cause I want to get this thing up and running.

If it'll make a big difference or is important I'll just run out and get some.

I don't see why if it's brand new. Coolers usually have pre-applied thermal paste.

Is now not a good time to build a PC? If so, how long should I wait?

It's "never a good time" to build a pc since new parts come out like every year.
 
Hi guys, I'm looking to do a new build in the next couple of months, I've already decided to go with Intel for the CPU, if the graphics I'm having trouble with.

I can't decide which to go with, a 7950 Boost or a 760. Both appear to be priced in the same range, with similar performance. I have a 460 at the mo which has served me well. The AMD has 3gb and the Nvidia card has 2gb.. I can get 5 free games with the Radeon and just one with the 760... I haven't had many problems with the Nvidia drivers, have the Catalyst drivers improved?
 
Is now not a good time to build a PC? If so, how long should I wait?

At the very least I would wait until next gen consoles drop so we can see the performance difference, and if you can wait even longer then December when Mantle comes out. Depending on certain factors it might turn out unfavourable to build till next nVidia/AMD refresh unfortunately. The fact is that we are in a state of flux and anything you get now could be superseded very quickly. That being said there are some pretty good deals for AMD gfx cards going on now.
 

VillageBC

Member
Can somebody recommand me a good processor?

I wanna upgrade from my Intel Core i7 920 to a ~4 GHZ (no overclocking, I'm too scared and stupid) processor. I could buy an AMD FX 8350 for ~170€ from Amazon in Austria so that's the plan right now if nobody here knows anything better/cheaper. If there is a comparable alternative from Intel I'd prefer that cause I made better experiences with Intel hardware but it's by no means a must.

I'm willing to spend a bit more if it makes a significant difference but anything above 200€ would really, really hurt my wallet.

I'm not convinced upgrading an i7-920 to anything is necessarily worthwhile outside of hardware failure. At least, looking at Anand Bench it appears perfectly capable.

However, it's still fun to upgrade stuff so don't let me stop you.
 

Dawg

Member
I ordered the MSI HD 7970 Twin FrozR for 191.66 and paid 25.97 pounds for postage through DHL

btw, is there a good alternative to the MSI z87 g45 in that price range? Asus or something like that that will work good with my gpu and has good oc software.

How's the noise on that card? It's a TF3, right?
 

Tablo

Member
Can somebody recommand me a good processor?

I wanna upgrade from my Intel Core i7 920 to a ~4 GHZ (no overclocking, I'm too scared and stupid) processor. I could buy an AMD FX 8350 for ~170€ from Amazon in Austria so that's the plan right now if nobody here knows anything better/cheaper. If there is a comparable alternative from Intel I'd prefer that cause I made better experiences with Intel hardware but it's by no means a must.

I'm willing to spend a bit more if it makes a significant difference but anything above 200€ would really, really hurt my wallet.

Moving to Haswell would be worth it, your minimum frames in CPU limited games would go up, heat output would go way down. Better motherboard features, more connectivity. I'm still on a i7 980X myself, and Haswell is a worthy upgrade, your CPU is fine though so maybe save up and upgrade next year to the refreshed Haswell line/Z97 motherboards.
 

Erebus

Member
So I had my 3570k @4.6ghz/1.154v ( Really good chip ) D14 Cooler. Bumped it to 1.174v/4.7GHz. Wondering if its worth pushing to 4.8ghz. Right now weather is cool but I prefer my in game temps to be under 65c. Its like 8c Amb right now, in the summer it gets to 30~. The hassle of running prime and testing stuff

Since I just upgraded to a 3570K, can you give me any specific tips on how to overclock it? Do you only need to tweak the voltage and the multiplier in general?
 

Croc

Banned
Okay, next question.

I got a Samsung 840 series 120 GB SDD, but there's no adaptor and in the case I got (a cheap one) there's not really any way to hold it secure in there.

Any immediate options?
 

Croc

Banned
Double sided tape

Uhh...can I just stick to the top of the HDD or is that a big no-no?

The area that holds HDDs in only supports it on the bottom by little nubs that stick out so there's not much to tape it to either since the SDD is too small for that, unless I just tape it to the HDD or the bottom of the case.
 

maneil99

Member
Since I just upgraded to a 3570K, can you give me any specific tips on how to overclock it? Do you only need to tweak the voltage and the multiplier in general?
Disable the C states aswell is generally a good idea, eventually switch from fixed vcore to offests aswell
 

Milamber

Member
I'm slowly getting my PC build together. Just got my first month of primary parts all together now...

CPU: Intel Haswell i5-4670K (3.40 GHz)
MotherBoard: MSI Z87-G65 GAMING
Video Card: MSI N770 TF 2GD5/OC
RAM: GSkill RipJawsZ 8 GB DDR3
Case: Fractal Design core 3000

My CPU is temporarily on a stock cooler at the moment. Next month, I'll be getting a Corsair H100i watercooler, may be overkill, PSU and hard drive. I will be using the overclocking to bump it up to 4 Ghz.

I noticed that my motherboard comes with an mSATA III slot under the CPU. What are the advantages to this compared to normal SSD drives?
 

Hazaro

relies on auto-aim
Uhh...can I just stick to the top of the HDD or is that a big no-no?

The area that holds HDDs in only supports it on the bottom by little nubs that stick out so there's not much to tape it to either since the SDD is too small for that, unless I just tape it to the HDD or the bottom of the case.
Bottom of case is a fine choice.
On a HDD you are sticking two things that get warm together which isn't a good idea.
NoRéN;84443773 said:
Alright, ready to pull the trigger. Need an i5 for this motherboard.
ASUS P8H61-M LE/CSM

Any reason to get one over the other?
Intel Core i5-3470
Intel Core-i5 3350P

Also getting a monitor from the recommended list.
3470 has a higher turbo 3.6 to 3.3
I'm slowly getting my PC build together. Just got my first month of primary parts all together now...

CPU: Intel Haswell i5-4670K (3.40 GHz)
MotherBoard: MSI Z87-G65 GAMING
Video Card: MSI N770 TF 2GD5/OC
RAM: GSkill RipJawsZ 8 GB DDR3
Case: Fractal Design core 3000

My CPU is temporarily on a stock cooler at the moment. Next month, I'll be getting a Corsair H100i watercooler, may be overkill, PSU and hard drive. I will be using the overclocking to bump it up to 4 Ghz.

I noticed that my motherboard comes with an mSATA III slot under the CPU. What are the advantages to this compared to normal SSD drives?
H100 is overkill, if you are only looking at 4.0-4.3Ghz get a 212+. It'll do the same job due to CPU thermals and can be quieter if you adjust the fan profiles and fans.
 
Quick question regarding OCing RAM.

Is there any reason I would overclock my RAM from 1333 to 1600? If so, is there any considerations I should take other than possibly shortening the life of it?
 

M3z_

Member
Quick question regarding OCing RAM.

Is there any reason I would overclock my RAM from 1333 to 1600? If so, is there any considerations I should take other than possibly shortening the life of it?
Overclocking RAM for the most part is just an exercise in making your specs list look just that bit better, and that's about it.
 

Milamber

Member
H100 is overkill, if you are only looking at 4.0-4.3Ghz get a 212+. It'll do the same job due to CPU thermals and can be quieter if you adjust the fan profiles and fans.

Hmm... can I cheap out and stick with stock coolers on a 4.2 Ghz overclock for a while? Until next month at least? Or is that dangerous?
 

Addnan

Member
Hmm... can I cheap out and stick with stock coolers on a 4.2 Ghz overclock for a while? Until next month at least? Or is that dangerous?

4.2 might be a little hard to reach with stock cooler on Haswell. Will probably get too hot. The hyper 212 is only around $25 so it will be best to get it now then having to install it later. You can install it later if you want, but you probably won't be reaching 4.2 with stock.
 

Jzero

Member
So i'm an impatient S.O.B and ended up buying some Corsair Vengeance LP for $69 shipped. Why do i do this to myself ;_;
 

elelunicy

Member
The current series of AMD processors are about on par with the first generation of Intel Core processors, but that's not even clock for clock. Very specifically, if you compared the 4.0GHz 8350 to the 2.9GHz 875K, they trade blows.

skyrim-99th.gif


arkham-99th.gif


crysis-99th.gif

Try some newer games that are optimized for 8 cores.

0nIkCAb.jpg

battlefield4-beta-7.jpg
 
Danke. This should fit my budget. I think about it. Maybe it's safe to wait for Valves reference design for the Steam Box? Hm...
A general rule of thumb is that a DIY PC will always be more powerful than a prebuilt machine at the same price point.
Take into account that you'll be able to install SteamOS on any PC and the Steambox doesn't have much more going for it... I'd say build your own whenever you want to. Those AMD GPUs won't get much cheaper anyway.
 
So I decided to finally OC my i7 920 and last night I was able to get it to from stock to 3.2ghz.

I ran prime95 for about 8 hours and the high temp was 74 degrees. Is that okay? I would like to OC it some more but my RAM is only at 1066. I do have sticks in there that are 1333 and I'm hoping to get new ones to add to that if it'll help me OC better.

I have the cooler master 212 plus. Not sure if it's EVO or not, but is that suitable for OC?

I want to get a new card, hopefully a 2gb gtx 770 and would like to know what would be the best clock for me to take advantage of this. I read somewhere that 3.5ghz should be enough for a 770.

Any help would be great!!
 
If anyone was considering getting an Accelero cooler for their GPU its well worth it.
cooler.jpg


My crossfire 7850s were hitting 80 degrees load and sounded like jet engines with the reference cooler.

in.jpg


Went from 55 idle 80 load at stock clocks to 36 idle 60 load with 1175 core 6000 mem at 1210Mv.

Even at load they are as quiet as my system fans, very impressed.
 

Pjsprojects

Member
Just upgraded from a Palit GTX460 1gb to a Palit oc 3gb GTX580 and when i went to test it with a game (last light) the system shuts off right after i hear the fans spin up. Am i right in thinking my 475w power supply is not enough? This is a HP server with a standard eec supply that was fine on the single fan 460.

Do i need a 600w power supply or even more than that?
 

Addnan

Member
Just upgraded from a Palit GTX460 1gb to a Palit oc 3gb GTX580 and when i went to test it with a game (last light) the system shuts off right after i hear the fans spin up. Am i right in thinking my 475w power supply is not enough? This is a HP server with a standard eec supply that was fine on the single fan 460.

Do i need a 600w power supply or even more than that?

It would require a really good one, plus an 8pin and a 6pin PCI-E cable which I can't imagine many stock PSU to come with.
 

Pjsprojects

Member
Looks like Palit made a 3GB version, it would be pretty hard to get hold of now though I would think.

Yep i searched a lot for a 3gig.

I am finding 42amp at 12v hard to find as most power supply units are 32-38amps even at 800w.

Do i have to be spot on with this or is the watts more important? i have a convert cable that goes from six pin to eight pin so no problem with that one.
 
Hey guys, I am considering upgrading my computer but I'm not sure if now is a good time or not. Starting to think it might be time to at least upgrade my CPU/GPU. I assume I would need to upgrade my motherboard as well? I have heard rumors from some friends that there might be price drops on graphics cards in November, not sure if anyone knows though?

I currently have (built in June 2010 except I have upgraded the memory and bought the 2 TB HDD):

CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition Deneb 3.4GHz Socket AM3 140W Quad-Core Processor
16 GB of RAM: 2x CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600
Motherboard: GIGABYTE GA-890FXA-UD5 AM3 AMD 890FX SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard
GPU: SAPPHIRE 100281-3SR Radeon HD 5870 (Cypress XT) 1GB 256-bit DDR5 PCI Express 2.0
PSU : CORSAIR HX Series HX750 750W
Case: Antec Three Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
HDD: Western Digital WD Black WD6401AALS 640GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5 and Western Digital WD Green WD20EZRX 2TB IntelliPower 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5

Do you guys think it would be worth upgrading now or should I wait till early next year or some other time? Price won't be a big issue whenever I do upgrade, I want a machine that will last at least a few years haha. I mainly use my PC for gaming and general use. Some games I currently play or am going to be getting are BF4, Titanfall, Payday 2, Borderlands 2, etc. I'm open to overclocking but I have no experience with it at all.

If I were to upgrade right now, I think I would go with GTX 770 4 GB (unless the 780 would be worth upgrading to instead... Titan is outside of my price range though). For a processor I am fine with any of the i7's listed in the build guide, just not really sure what one would be best for gaming. Thoughts?
 
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