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[hooijdonk17]

The Sapphire R7 260X 2GB ($103 after rebate) will give you a decent boost. Those framerates are at 1080p, so assume slightly better performance for 900p. For the R7 260X in general, a 450 watt power supply is recommended.

Thank you kindly. Alright, so I've finally bought and accumulated all parts necessery for my biannual system upgrade; After a lot of bargain and second hand hunting, what I've put together is below - please let me know if anything you see here is alarmingly in need of upgrades to not bottleneck my system Thanks

CPU: AMD FX-6100
CPU Cooler: Xigmatek Apache-III * (Cheap but should do the job without OC?)
Motherboard: MSI M5A97 R2.0
Memory: 2x4GB GSkill Value PC10600 *
Storage: Hitachi 3TB DT01ACA300
Video Card: Gigabyte R7 260X OC
Case: Zalman Z3-PLUS(WH)
PSU: High Power 500W Eco *

*Was not upgraded

It's the best I could do with the budget, hope I didn't screw up

 

[shindoku21]

Are speed differences between cheaper SSDs and nicer SSDs (Samsung EVO 840, Crucial MX100, etc) noticeable? Generally, it looks like there's a $20-$30 difference between them but I'm wondering if it's worth that extra cash. I know bigger SSDs are faster, however I'm aiming for a 256GB one.

 

[gdt]

You're talking about the graphics card, right?




There's not much you really need to do. Windows 7 and 8 will automatically detect that it's a SSD and enable stuff like TRIM and disable defragging.

In the BIOS do you have SATA controller mode set to AHCI?

I figured that out thanks. But now I see the PSU has only 2 sata cables, but each has multiple sata connectors running through it, can I use more than 1 connector on each cable?

 

[Upinsmoke]

Just a quick question. I replaced my Intel stock cooler a few weeks back with an artic freezer 13, anything is better than a stock cooler right?
Anyhow things were fine until I got a bsod the other day, so I went to check the temps using speedfan and HW Monitor and they seemed a little high especially at idle, there fluctuating some 15-20 degrees (30 low to 50 high) for no reason. Going into the bios on boot the cpu temp is 45 degrees. Seems a little high and Windows isn't booting very fast either considering I have an SSD.

Any ideas?

Plus when I run prime95 now the temps are running into the late 80`s sometimes 90, that's way to high whereas before the bsod it was 70 odd.
Cpu is 3570k and z77 d3h mobo..

 

[OFFIS]

I figured that out thanks. But now I see the PSU has only 2 sata cables, but each has multiple sata connectors running through it, can I use more than 1 connector on each cable?

Yes, they are on same cable to reduce cable clutter.

 

[Hazaro]

Just a quick question. I replaced my Intel stock cooler a few weeks back with an artic freezer 13, anything is better than a stock cooler right?
Anyhow things were fine until I got a bsod the other day, so I went to check the temps using speedfan and HW Monitor and they seemed a little high especially at idle, there fluctuating some 15-20 degrees (30 low to 50 high) for no reason. Going into the bios on boot the cpu temp is 45 degrees. Seems a little high and Windows isn't booting very fast either considering I have an SSD.

Any ideas?

Plus when I run prime95 now the temps are running into the late 80`s sometimes 90, that's way to high whereas before the bsod it was 70 odd.
Cpu is 3570k and z77 d3h mobo..

Dont use speedfan
Temp fluc is fine
Test load not idle to be under 70C

 

[Upinsmoke]

I only used speedfan to make sure it wasn't an error with HW monitor and vice versa, but they gave the same readings anyway.

 

[BreezyLimbo]

There's not much you really need to do. Windows 7 and 8 will automatically detect that it's a SSD and enable stuff like TRIM and disable defragging.

In the BIOS do you have SATA controller mode set to AHCI?

I'd have to check if it's set to AHCI. My SSD works and everything. So no defragging necessary?

 

[RGM79]

Thank you kindly. Alright, so I've finally bought and accumulated all parts necessery for my biannual system upgrade; After a lot of bargain and second hand hunting, what I've put together is below - please let me know if anything you see here is alarmingly in need of upgrades to not bottleneck my system Thanks

CPU: AMD FX-6100
CPU Cooler: Xigmatek Apache-III * (Cheap but should do the job without OC?)
Motherboard: MSI M5A97 R2.0
Memory: 2x4GB GSkill Value PC10600 *
Storage: Hitachi 3TB DT01ACA300
Video Card: Gigabyte R7 260X OC
Case: Zalman Z3-PLUS(WH)
PSU: High Power 500W Eco *

*Was not upgraded

It's the best I could do with the budget, hope I didn't screw up

Just wondering how much you paid and what you had before?

Are speed differences between cheaper SSDs and nicer SSDs (Samsung EVO 840, Crucial MX100, etc) noticeable? Generally, it looks like there's a $20-$30 difference between them but I'm wondering if it's worth that extra cash. I know bigger SSDs are faster, however I'm aiming for a 256GB one.

Not really, the differences are probably on the order of just a few seconds or even just fractions of a second. There are certain brand and model SSDs we recommend (usually either Samsung 850 Evo or Crucial MX/BX, or for the really low budget builds the Kingston V300), it's usually more for quality than anything else, nearly any SSD is a very large improvement over a hard drive.

I figured that out thanks. But now I see the PSU has only 2 sata cables, but each has multiple sata connectors running through it, can I use more than 1 connector on each cable?

Yes, storage and optical drives don't use very much power, you can connect multiple drives on a single cable.

Just a quick question. I replaced my Intel stock cooler a few weeks back with an artic freezer 13, anything is better than a stock cooler right?
Anyhow things were fine until I got a bsod the other day, so I went to check the temps using speedfan and HW Monitor and they seemed a little high especially at idle, there fluctuating some 15-20 degrees (30 low to 50 high) for no reason. Going into the bios on boot the cpu temp is 45 degrees. Seems a little high and Windows isn't booting very fast either considering I have an SSD.

Any ideas?

Plus when I run prime95 now the temps are running into the late 80`s sometimes 90, that's way to high whereas before the bsod it was 70 odd.
Cpu is 3570k and z77 d3h mobo..

I'd say 50 degrees on idle may mean you improperly installed the CPU cooler, not even the Intel stock cooler is that bad unless the case is an unventilated hotbox. Take it apart, double check that thermal paste was applied properly, and re-tighten down everything. Good mounting pressure is needed to ensure adequate contact with the cooler, it'll be no good if it's loose somewhere.

I'd have to check if it's set to AHCI. My SSD works and everything. So no defragging necessary?

Your SSD will work without AHCI set, it just won't be at its best, as AHCI includes some enhancements. You probably have to reinstall Windows if it's not set to AHCI and you are going to change it to AHCI mode.

No, defragging just wears down your SSD. Defragging is useful for hard drives that need to spin around to read information saved on the platter but scattered around, not for SSDs that access all of its storage space equally as fast.

 

[Coulomb_Barrier]

I recently upgraded from a 970 to a 980. once i got the card i installed it and there was a driver update via Geforce Experience. Everything works but i noticed i get stuttering regularly on games that should be running super smooth. I was playing Bioshock infinite and Batman Arkham Origins and even tho they run at 60 fps for the most part i get a lot of random stuttering. I'm thinking about reinstalling the drivers but I was wondering if there is anything else I should be considering. Any advise would be appreciated. Thanks.

Try enabling Vsync.

 

[gdt]

Okay got everything in and it power up fine.

But:

Since I only had two sata cables i held off on the optical drive so I can't install windows right now. I'll probably switch the sata cable to the optical drive until I get a new cable in the morning.

And I'm getting a "Reboot and select proper boot device" message when I turn it on. Is that because I have no os?

 

[Upinsmoke]

I'd say 50 degrees on idle may mean you improperly installed the CPU cooler, not even the Intel stock cooler is that bad unless the case is an unventilated hotbox. Take it apart, double check that thermal paste was applied properly, and re-tighten down everything. Good mounting pressure is needed to ensure adequate contact with the cooler, it'll be no good if it's loose somewhere.

Thanks for the reply mate. Like I said idle temps were 30 before the bsod and after I got the cooler. Since the bsod they've been 50. I'll go in and double check the mounting etc.

 

[gdt]

Okay got everything in and it power up fine.

But:

Since I only had two sata cables i held off on the optical drive so I can't install windows right now. I'll probably switch the sata cable to the optical drive until I get a new cable in the morning.

And I'm getting a "Reboot and select proper boot device" message when I turn it on. Is that because I have no os?

Switching out the sata cable seems to have fixed it, no hdd right now (only the ssd) but I'll get an extra one tomorrow. Fuck I'm tired!

Edit:I'm hooked up to the mobo's HDMI port right now, I guess when windows is up and running I can install my gpu.

 

[Dr.Acula]

I'd have to check if it's set to AHCI. My SSD works and everything. So no defragging necessary?

Defragging an SSD is contraindicated.

 

[gdt]

So I can see from the top mobo has a solid red light...is that bad? -_-


System has shut off twice now -_-

Edit: seems like it puts out the red light on purpose. Then why is it shutting down when installing?

 

[hooijdonk17]

Just wondering how much you paid and what you had before?

Athlon II X4 640 -> AMD FX-6100 (For $60 second hand, moved the previous CPU to my HTPC which can now play most games on 720p with its Radeon 6570)
MSI 760GBP21 -> ASUS M5A97 R2.0 (For $60 second hand, I'll probably sell off my old mainboard for half of that so it was a good bargain - I now have a mainboard that can handle better AM3+ CPUs down the line..)
WD Blue 1Gb -> Hitachi 3TB DT01ACA300 (For $120 new, I'll sell off my WD Blue for half of that, hopefully)
Noname shit case -> Zalman Z3-PLUS(WH) (For $55 new, no salvage value here)
Sapphire Radeon 7770 GHz -> Gigabyte Radeon R7 260X OC (For $125 new, hope to reclaim about half of that by selling off the 7770)

Did I do good?

 

[ScepticMatt]

My SSD works and everything. So no defragging necessary?

Useless at best, hurtful at worst.

 

[Chinbo37]

Your points are taken, but there's a few problems.

First, I don't really need a laptop for general things, which is why I haven't had one for all of my college career (and this has never hurt me in the slightest). I don't even really want one, so I'm reluctant to begin with. The issue now is that I'm facing the possibility of classes involving rather advanced software and the school is being shitty about providing lab computers and properly distributing software (then again, most people have laptops, so it's rather justified). I'm talking about stuff including Unreal Engine 4, which I think requires some level of power.

To be honest, it's hard for me to accept buying a laptop for something like 500 dollars, when that's 500 dollars I could spend on a powerful PC/Monitor or even contribute to an Oculus Rift fund. I could get a cheaper laptop, but that doesn't really do what I want, since I wouldn't bother with a laptop otherwise. I realize there's some awkwardness in combining the two though. (On the other hand, weight isn't a big deal to me, I could heft that shit no problem. Power is less of an issue on a college campus, where I will make most of its use.)

The response here has been strongly against the laptop, maybe reasonably so, but it's weird that it's so well received elsewhere, like in the user reviews. I suppose the problem is with the very concept of a gaming laptop (and this one was touted as "the first true gaming laptop" by one review I saw, given its power), not so much this particular one? And, just how bad is the price? How low would it need to be?

How about a more portable case for a desktop? I been loosely browsing this topic and some places around the net, but I couldn't find anything that says "GTX 980" in something that would be relatively easy to carry into school once every two or three days. That would be nice, because I could have a gsync monitor at home.


BTW, is the verdict out whether the 980 will be able to support all the soon to be announced DX 12 features? I recall reading some speculation that it may not.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834152586


This gaming laptop here is 700, highly rated, and will have enough power to run the programs your school might require. Again that leaves plenty to build a good desktop.

 

[gdt]

I left my new pc running in the bios for a long time.

But now I try to install again and the fans kick up so we'll see what happens. It was a little warm in here so I turned opened the windows. Hopefully that was it.

 

[Frankfurter]

I left my new pc running in the bios for a long time.

But now I try to install again and the fans kick up so we'll see what happens. It was a little warm in here so I turned opened the windows. Hopefully that was it.

You might just wanna check the usual suspects like cables, temperatures (idle temperatures in BIOS are okay-ish to check if you have mounted the cooler properly) and you might also try a CMOS clear + fail save load just to make sure.
A little warm in your room can't possibly cause these kinds of problems, unless it was like 120F hot.

 

[RGM79]

Okay got everything in and it power up fine.

But:

Since I only had two sata cables i held off on the optical drive so I can't install windows right now. I'll probably switch the sata cable to the optical drive until I get a new cable in the morning.

And I'm getting a "Reboot and select proper boot device" message when I turn it on. Is that because I have no os?

Yeah, the computer did not find an OS to boot from. Why don't you just disconnect the hard drive and connect only the optical drive and SSD and install Windows first?

So I can see from the top mobo has a solid red light...is that bad? -_-


System has shut off twice now -_-

Edit: seems like it puts out the red light on purpose. Then why is it shutting down when installing?

Where is the red LED? I can't find any mention of the LED in the manual for the motherboard I recommended you. What are you installing? Do you have the CPU fan plugged in? The heatsink isn't loose, is it? It should be very tightly secured.

I left my new pc running in the bios for a long time.

But now I try to install again and the fans kick up so we'll see what happens. It was a little warm in here so I turned opened the windows. Hopefully that was it.

The BIOS should list system temperatures.

Athlon II X4 640 -> AMD FX-6100 (For $60 second hand, moved the previous CPU to my HTPC which can now play most games on 720p with its Radeon 6570)
MSI 760GBP21 -> ASUS M5A97 R2.0 (For $60 second hand, I'll probably sell off my old mainboard for half of that so it was a good bargain - I now have a mainboard that can handle better AM3+ CPUs down the line..)
WD Blue 1Gb -> Hitachi 3TB DT01ACA300 (For $120 new, I'll sell off my WD Blue for half of that, hopefully)
Noname shit case -> Zalman Z3-PLUS(WH) (For $55 new, no salvage value here)
Sapphire Radeon 7770 GHz -> Gigabyte Radeon R7 260X OC (For $125 new, hope to reclaim about half of that by selling off the 7770)

Did I do good?

US prices? You didn't say where you were buying the parts.

Case is fine, but I would have gotten a cheaper case and spent a bit more on the motherboard and CPU. $125 new for the R7 260X is overpriced. So was $120 for the 3TB hard drive. Wait, are these Australian prices?

Unfortunately, there will be no more AM3+ processors. They stopped developing new CPUs for AM3+ around 1~2 years ago.

 

[Sikamikanico]

Okay, so I took the plunge and got everything I need for a new PC, including an extra monitor so I can have a triple display. I've only got a smallish corner desk at the mo, can anyone recommend a decent bracket/stand for 3 x ilyama 24" LED monitors in landscape? The choices on Amazon are somewhat lacking in detail, and I don't want to get the wrong thing!

Edit: this was the closest thing I could find that said it'd do the job.

Can anyone answer this?

 

[hooijdonk17]

US prices? You didn't say where you were buying the parts.

Case is fine, but I would have gotten a cheaper case and spent a bit more on the motherboard and CPU. $125 new for the R7 260X is overpriced. So was $120 for the 3TB hard drive. Wait, are these Australian prices?

Unfortunately, there will be no more AM3+ processors. They stopped developing new CPUs for AM3+ around 1~2 years ago.

Eastern Europe prices, so everything has around 20% extra tax premium over US prices most of the time. I realize no new AM3+ will be out, but at least I can upgrade to a 8350 or something once I can grab one on a bargain?

 

[RGM79]

Eastern Europe prices, so everything has around 20% extra tax premium over US prices most of the time. I realize no new AM3+ will be out, but at least I can upgrade to a 8350 or something once I can grab one on a bargain?

Oh, you should have said what country you were from so we could (at least try to) get you accurate prices. Sorry for assuming you were asking for US suggestions. Availability, pricing, and other things usually mean that asking for recommendations in equivalent US price often doesn't work out.

 

[hooijdonk17]

Oh, you should have said what country you were from so we could (at least try to) get you accurate prices. Availability, pricing, and other things usually mean that asking for recommendations in equivalent US price often doesn't work out.

Maybe next time, the goodwill you have is amazing though and I thank you for it! I'm fairly happy with what I got, my only hesitation was the 6100 CPU which is nothing amazing from an X4 640 but it was a dual purpose upgrade so I can't complain too much about it - will be replaced by a 8350 later on. Otherwise, I think this could last me another 2 years or so, at least with a GPU upgrade in a year or so.

Thanks to everyone who helped.

 

[gdt]

You might just wanna check the usual suspects like cables, temperatures (idle temperatures in BIOS are okay-ish to check if you have mounted the cooler properly) and you might also try a CMOS clear + fail save load just to make sure.
A little warm in your room can't possibly cause these kinds of problems, unless it was like 120F hot.

Yeah, the computer did not find an OS to boot from. Why don't you just disconnect the hard drive and connect only the optical drive and SSD and install Windows first?



Where is the red LED? I can't find any mention of the LED in the manual for the motherboard I recommended you. What are you installing? Do you have the CPU fan plugged in? The heatsink isn't loose, is it? It should be very tightly secured.



The BIOS should list system temperatures.



US prices? You didn't say where you were buying the parts.

Case is fine, but I would have gotten a cheaper case and spent a bit more on the motherboard and CPU. $125 new for the R7 260X is overpriced. So was $120 for the 3TB hard drive. Wait, are these Australian prices?

Unfortunately, there will be no more AM3+ processors. They stopped developing new CPUs for AM3+ around 1~2 years ago.

It's like the whole mobo is kinda lit.

It's up and working now. But I can't get the graphics card to work. Gonna leave that for later.

 

[RGM79]

Maybe next time, the goodwill you have is amazing though and I thank you for it! I'm fairly happy with what I got, my only hesitation was the 6100 CPU which is nothing amazing from an X4 640 but it was a dual purpose upgrade so I can't complain too much about it - will be replaced by a 8350 later on. Otherwise, I think this could last me another 2 years or so, at least with a GPU upgrade in a year or so.

Thanks to everyone who helped.

Well, you seem to have things figured out. Good luck, then.

Can anyone answer this?

I'm not very knowledgeable about monitors, sorry. It looks like it'll work as your monitors have VESA mounting holes, I just don't know of any alternative suggestions for similar mounts.

It's like the whole mobo is kinda lit.

It's up and working now. But I can't get the graphics card to work. Gonna leave that for later.

Is it a LED line? Hardware version 1.1 of that motherboard has a light up feature to show audio chipset separation, but from the product page it does not appear to be red.

 

[gdt]

It's like the whole mobo is kinda lit.

It's up and working now. But I can't get the graphics card to work. Gonna leave that for later.

Can't find the gpu and the install disc won't do anything (package failed or something). Gonna have to check that after a nap.

 

[Drama Zed Nod]

What power supply do you have? If you suspect the different GTX 780 Ti might be causing issues because they are different speeds, have you tried setting them to the same clock and memory speed?

I have a Corsair AX 860i. I thought that would have been sufficient? I only have two drives (one SSD and one Mechanical) and that's it really. I also have an H100i watercooler (not sure if i mentioned that).

I haven't changed the clock speeds of either card. I thought they would just operate in unison bound by the speed of the slowest card?

I will try and OC the slower card by the 40mhz to make it the same.

Do the graphs indicate that there is throttling due to the cards needing more power?

 

[gdt]

Can't find the gpu and the install disc won't do anything (package failed or something). Gonna have to check that after a nap.

So I can't sleep till I fix this. Card fans go on and it's connected fine as far as I can tell. I'm afraid it's doa

 

[hooijdonk17]

So I can't sleep till I fix this. Card fans go on and it's connected fine as far as I can tell. I'm afraid it's doa

Some dummy questions:

1. Does your mainboard have IGP, and have you changed default VGA from IGP to PCI-E?
2. Does your GPU require external power, and have you plugged that in?
3. Are you using any kind of convertor (DVI to VGA or whatever) between the VGA and monitor?
4. Does the system POST, i.e. you get the BEEP and it starts looking for a boot partition?

 

[gdt]

So I can't sleep till I fix this. Card fans go on and it's connected fine as far as I can tell. I'm afraid it's doa

Got it! Was using the same cable to power both slots on the gpu. Used a different cable and it's all good now.

 

[hooijdonk17]

Got it! Was using the same cable to power both slots on the gpu. Used a different cable and it's all good now.

You won't get enough juice from a single 75W rail, yes. Glad you worked it out, now go to sleep

 

[riflen]

PC Bros,

I've been doing all sorts of shit to try and figure out why FC4 keeps freezing.

Now it very well could be that the game is just a buggy mess but i've noticed some freezing in other games, just not to the same extent.

I ran Precission X while FC4 was playing and as you can see in the GPU usage part of the graph, there are huge spikes where the GPUs stop responding.....

Is the game outright hanging, or just frequently stuttering/pausing?

Nvidia say different GPU clock speeds should not be a problem for SLI. I would look elsewhere for an issue. If we rule out other things then you can try under-clocking the EVGA to match the Palit, but I don't have first hand experience of mixing vendors myself, so that may be unnecessary/inadvisable. Perhaps someone else can help there.

The Precision X graphs only tell us part of the story; that the GPUs' usage is dropping at pretty regular intervals. This could be because the GPUs are not being fed enough data by the CPU. I have Far Cry 4 and 2 x 780 Ti, so I have some experience here.

In SLI, the game hits the CPU and system memory hard. It likes system RAM to be as fast as possible and the faster the CPU the better. Even after all the patches to the game, I was getting frequent pauses. I was getting hitches where GPU usage would stall because CPU was not delivering data fast enough. I had to replace my system RAM with faster DIMMs to resolve the problem. Your CPU is certainly sufficient, what speed is your system RAM? 1333Mhz was problematic, but 1866Mhz or greater really made a huge difference. I also suggest trying the following things one at a time.

-Run the game and use GPUz to check that the GPUs are in the correct PCI-E transfer mode (PCI-E 2.0 16x, or PCI-E 3.0 8x is good enough).

-Look for other software you're running that could be pulling CPU time away from the game.

-Run UPlay in offline mode to see if there's any improvement.

-Adjust Maximum Pre-Rendered Frames in Nvidia Control Panel profile for the game. Setting between 1 and 4 can make a big difference in some systems.

-Set Power Management Mode to "Prefer Maximum Performance" for the game in Nvidia Control Panel.

-If the game is hanging up completely, look at your CPU over-clock. It's not unheard of for certain software to expose an instability when all other applications you use do not. I had this problem with Far Cry 3 and a CPU over-clock. Record the over-clock settings and try to run the game with stock CPU clock.

-Far Cry 4 has a bug where it will peg a single CPU core to near 100%. As far as I know this is still present, but doesn't cause a problem for every system. The balance the usage, run the game, load up your save, then change the CPU affinity for the FC4.exe. It's enough to uncheck a single core, click OK, then immediately change affinity again and re-enable all cores. Right-click on the FC4.exe process in Task Manager to access affinity settings.

 

[b0uncyfr0]

Any chance the upcoming AMD cards will be 5Gb vram?

 

[riflen]

Any chance the upcoming AMD cards will be 5Gb vram?

Most of the "upcoming AMD cards" are going to be the current cards with new names. There is probably only one new GPU being released in the near future and all indications are that it will feature 4GB of SDRAM on a 4096-bit HBM bus.

 

[b0bbyJ03]

Is it better to use in-game Vsync, Nvidia Control Panel Vsync, a frame limiter, or does it vary on a case by case basis? Been messing with game settings to try and get the best performance.

 

[Drama Zed Nod]

Is the game outright hanging, or just frequently stuttering/pausing?

snip

/QUOTE]

Amazing post, thanks so much for all that info.

The game pauses for about one second but sometimes it manifests as a stutter.

Im assuming thats to do with the time that it take the GPU to recover from the drop.

I have 16gb 2400mhz Corsair Vengeance Pro DDR3 RAM. Hopefully that would be more than good enough?

Some answers about the things ive tried and to your questions:

-Run the game and use GPUz to check that the GPUs are in the correct PCI-E transfer mode (PCI-E 2.0 16x, or PCI-E 3.0 8x is good enough).

Could you explain a little more on what part of GPUz i shoud look at when the game is running? I have GPUz but i haven't used it that much.



-Look for other software you're running that could be pulling CPU time away from the game.

I've tried killing every conceivable thing before running the game (and also making sure my second screen is off, that didn't make any difference i'm afraid)



-Run UPlay in offline mode to see if there's any improvement.

This also didn't make any difference


-Adjust Maximum Pre-Rendered Frames in Nvidia Control Panel profile for the game. Setting between 1 and 4 can make a big difference in some systems.

I followed a tutorial and change from 0 - 1, which didnt work but ill try some other values to 4 and see if that helps.


-Set Power Management Mode to "Prefer Maximum Performance" for the game in Nvidia Control Panel.

Did this too in the tutorial but didnt seem to have any affect.


-If the game is hanging up completely, look at your CPU over-clock. It's not unheard of for certain software to expose an instability when all other applications you use do not. I had this problem with Far Cry 3 and a CPU over-clock. Record the over-clock settings and try to run the game with stock CPU clock.

Ahh ok, ill try and run it at stock. This could be an issue.


-Far Cry 4 has a bug where it will peg a single CPU core to near 100%. As far as I know this is still present, but doesn't cause a problem for every system. The balance the usage, run the game, load up your save, then change the CPU affinity for the FC4.exe. It's enough to uncheck a single core, click OK, then immediately change affinity again and re-enable all cores. Right-click on the FC4.exe process in Task Manager to access affinity settings.

wow, never seen this before. I'll give this a go.


Thanks so much for all these answers. There is always so much more to lear when it comes to PC gaming. I really appreciate the amazing PC GAF community. You guys are the best

 

[DragonSworne]

So I'm building two new PCs (one for me and one for my wife). I've buying a DDR4 motherboard (ASUS X99-A) and I'm struggling between a 960 vs 970. Going with two 980 is too expensive but I feel like going with two 970s are not worth it when I'm most likely going to upgrade the graphic cards next year.

Should I just go with the two 960s and wait a year for better options? Or is there a better option than going with either the 960 or 970?

 

[JCH!]

Hey guys,

I'm building a new PC at the moment and as I'm not an expert (first build) I have a few questions:

How important is CAS Latency when choosing which RAM stick to buy? Does it make a difference? Should prioritize low CL over speed, or the other way around?

What tools will I need to actually assemble the thing?

Thanks in advance

 

[riflen]

Thanks so much for all these answers. There is always so much more to lear when it comes to PC gaming. I really appreciate the amazing PC GAF community. You guys are the best

Welcome. I'm still stumped tbh. It's probably not your CPU over-clock. A problem there would more likely cause the game to crash outright, which is what I meant by hang.
System RAM is obviously more than fine too. Perhaps disable hyper-threading on the CPU if you have it enabled? Some games do not do well with it enabled and I have an i5 so any problem there wouldn't affect my system.
Later I'll be able to post the Far Cry 4 settings I use. The game runs perfectly for me now so perhaps it's simply that some game settings are too taxing.

 

[Sikamikanico]

So, have now picked up the following build (I'm pretty damn excited!)

Case:CORSAIR CARBIDE SERIES™ AIR 540 GAMING CASE
Processor (CPU):[/BIntel® Core™i7 Six Core Processor i7-5820K (3.3GHz) 15MB Cache
Motherboard:ASUS® X99-S: ATX, HSW-E CPU, USB 3.0, SATA 6 GB/s
Memory (RAM):16GB KINGSTON HYPER-X PREDATOR QUAD-DDR4 3000MHz X.M.P (4 x 4GB)
Graphics Card:4GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 970 x 2 (SLI)
1st Hard Disk:250GB Samsung 850 EVO SSD, SATA 6Gb/s (upto 540MB/sR | 520MB/sW)
2nd Hard Disk:2TB 3.5" SEAGATE SSHD, SATA 6Gb/s 7200 RPM (64MB + 8GB SSD CACHE)
Monitors:3 x IIYAMA E2481HS 24" LED WIDESCREEN, D-Sub, DVI-D, HDMI 1920x1080

Anyone got any experience overclocking the GTX970 - is it worth it? Is overclocking in general worth doing? I have no idea what I'm doing in that regard.

I only have 750W PSU, so I'm worried overclocking it will outstrip my powersupply.

Also, found this monitor stand on amazon - any ideas if it's a viable stand for 3 x 24" monitors in landscape?

 

[ScepticMatt]

Any chance the upcoming AMD cards will be 5Gb vram?

I doubt they will have 5GB, or 6GB for that matter.
But I see a good chance that a Hawaii refresh has a 8GB option, just like the 290x does now.

How important is CAS Latency when choosing which RAM stick to buy? Does it make a difference? Should prioritize low CL over speed, or the other way around?

For games it doesn't matter much either way, unless you have an integrated GPU that relies on it for VRAM.
Otherwise higher speeds slightly reduce loading stutter in open world type games (i.e. minimum fps). But best to go cheap and spend the money elsewhere.

http://www.hardwareluxx.de/index.ph...zen-beim-arbeitsspeicher-bringen.html?start=6

http://www.anandtech.com/show/7364/memory-scaling-on-haswell/7

 

[H4r4kiri]

Most of the "upcoming AMD cards" are going to be the current cards with new names. There is probably only one new GPU being released in the near future and all indications are that it will feature 4GB of SDRAM on a 4096-bit HBM bus.

So you think I should buy now ? I can get the Asus OC 290 für 214 € right now. With 2 1/2 year warranty and from a trusted shop that gives 1 year warranty.

Good deal ?

EDIT: It is a resend product, that is cleaned, tested and wrapped up again. It says it is like new

 

[mm04]

Waiting for my GPU and hard drive to show up today and then it's building time. I accidentally ordered 2 512gb SSDs thanks to my credit card thinking it was fraud when I made a ton of purchases for this build last weekend. I thought about returning one for a few seconds before just deciding that you can never have too much SSD storage.

 

[Gumbie]

So I'm building two new PCs (one for me and one for my wife). I've buying a DDR4 motherboard (ASUS X99-A) and I'm struggling between a 960 vs 970. Going with two 980 is too expensive but I feel like going with two 970s are not worth it when I'm most likely going to upgrade the graphic cards next year.

Should I just go with the two 960s and wait a year for better options? Or is there a better option than going with either the 960 or 970?

Two 970s.

 

[PepsimanVsJoe]

Planning on upgrading sometime this year.
This is what I have currently (originally purchased 2012)

Videocard - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150561
Motherboard - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157296
RAM - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233144
Processor - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115091
Power supply - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005ILWYT6/?tag=neogaf0e-20

Looking at getting a 970. But I get the feeling that I should upgrade everything else as well.
Is that necessary? If so then what should I prioritize?

Also should I invest in any cooling hardware? I have zero plans for overclocking.

 

[i3allistic]

Is there a wireless network card GAF recommend? or i can buy any cheap one? ...just bought my first house and i want to keep it clean as possible ....thanks

 

[TC McQueen]

Is there a wireless network card GAF recommend? or i can buy any cheap one? ...just bought my first house and i want to keep it clean as possible ....thanks

This is the best, but it's out of stock.

The next best one is the TP-WDN4800.

 

[mkenyon]

Is there a wireless network card GAF recommend? or i can buy any cheap one? ...just bought my first house and i want to keep it clean as possible ....thanks

Look into some powerline adapters.