Support NeoGAF

[Shanlei91]

My PC makes crazy whine noises every once in a while and I discovered this happens when the cable going from my video card to the power supply touches any other cable in the computer.

That said, would using a zip tie to hold it in place be an okay and safe method to resolve it?

 

[mkenyon]

My PC makes crazy whine noises every once in a while and I discovered this happens when the cable going from my video card to the power supply touches any other cable in the computer.

That said, would using a zip tie to hold it in place be an okay and safe method to resolve it?

yup

 

[opticalmace]

Come on folks, any suggestions for 1080p gaming monitor?

I run dual monitors. My old one only accepts DVI. Can I mix an HDMI monitor (Monitor one, a new monitor) with my old monitor (DVI)? My video card has plenty of outputs, but I don't know if it will push mixed cables like that. (Radeon 270X 2GB). I game on a single monitor and I work using two.

Check the OP for suggestions?

You should be able to use both DVI and HDMI simultaneously, check your gpu's manual to be 100% sure.

 

[Chocobro]

I personally love GSYNC and 144hz. One of the best innovations in PC gaming IMO. It means you will always be getting the best that your GPU has to offer. The smoothness is amazing and allows you to turn up the settings way more than usual and still keep that high fps feel. In less intensive games, the 144hz will allow more responsive control and better animations. I'd recommended checking it out if you can.

I gotcha. It does sound great. I assume with a GTX 970, it would be better to go with a 1080p 144Hz G-Sync vs trying to go for 1440p? I know the Acer XB270HU is highly recommended here IIRC, but I would imagine I need a GTX 980 Ti or SLI setup to get the most out of it.

Money isn't exactly an issue, I just don't want to spend more money than I need to. For the price of a Acer XB270HU, I can get a GTX 970 and the Acer XB240H with some money leftover. If I get the Acer XB270HU, I'll still need to get a GPU so that's about another $340 or $650+ depending if the GTX 970 can do fine at 1440p for games.

EDIT: What about the ASUS ROG Swift? Looks pretty similar to the Acer XB270HU in terms of specs, unless I'm seeing wrong.

 

[opticalmace]

I gotcha. It does sound great. I assume with a GTX 970, it would be better to go with a 1080p 144Hz G-Sync vs trying to go for 1440p? I know the Acer XB270HU is highly recommended here IIRC, but I would imagine I need a GTX 980 Ti or SLI setup to get the most out of it.

Money isn't exactly an issue, I just don't want to spend more money than I need to. For the price of a Acer XB270HU, I can get a GTX 970 and the Acer XB240H with some money leftover. If I get the Acer XB270HU, I'll still need to get a GPU so that's about another $340 or $650+ depending if the GTX 970 can do fine at 1440p for games.

I don't play maybe super modern games, the closest is probably Project Cars, but I'm very happy with my 970 and XB270HU. Wasn't planning on buying the latter but got it at a good price refurb'd. I'm not an "ultra or bust" type of gamer, so the combination is working great for me.

 

[Enduin]

Run 3 intake 2 exhaust. Run the intake slightly faster to counteract pressure loss from filters/rad and keep overall positive air pressure (more intake than exhaust) to reduce dust accumulation. I never run bottom fans since dust gathers on the floor and filters arent perfect, so its just no point. Run a top exhaust, you dont need filtered exhausts. The only downside with top exhaust is that dust can settle on the top exterior of the case.

So H100i fitted to front as intake, another 120mm fan above it. One top fan, one rear fan. The H100i will be very restrictive on flow, so the extra intake should counter. Run the fans slightly faster than the exhausts to increase pressure a bit more. Could forgo the top fan, probably wont ave much impact on temps.

Dont think adding fans and things will reduce temps, get a proper airflow, not shove it with fans. The proper movement of air is the most important, after you achieve that, youll find out adding fans is just a waste, will add noise and have no effect on temps.

Thanks. I think I'm gonna ditch the water cooling cause I don't think it will reach the front panel, and if it does it will just barely. So instead I'll probably go with the Noctua NH-D14 which is a good deal cheaper and just as good going by reviews. So I'll have 3 intake on the front panel then exhaust #1 on the back panel and exhaust #2 on the furthest back top panel.

 

[Evo X]

I gotcha. It does sound great. I assume with a GTX 970, it would be better to go with a 1080p 144Hz G-Sync vs trying to go for 1440p? I know the Acer XB270HU is highly recommended here IIRC, but I would imagine I need a GTX 980 Ti or SLI setup to get the most out of it.

Money isn't exactly an issue, I just don't want to spend more money than I need to. For the price of a Acer XB270HU, I can get a GTX 970 and the Acer XB240H with some money leftover. If I get the Acer XB270HU, I'll still need to get a GPU so that's about another $340 or $650+ depending if the GTX 970 can do fine at 1440p for games.

EDIT: What about the ASUS ROG Swift? Looks pretty similar to the Acer XB270HU in terms of specs, unless I'm seeing wrong.

I've owned the ASUS ROG Swift since it first launched and love it. Best monitor I've ever had. Still has the fastest response time out of anything out there I think.

It's gotten cheaper recently. It cost me over $800 when I got it, but it looks like it's in the mid 600s now.

A monitor is a long term investment, so I think you should go with something better now instead of getting something not as good and being disappointed. A good monitor will last you many years through multiple graphics cards generations. 1440P is also a good resolution for the moment. It's not super taxing to run like 4K, but is noticeably sharper than 1080P.

Don't get an SLI 970 setup. A 980Ti is a much better option for the same price. No multi gpu headaches and almost twice the VRAM.

But if you can't afford that, a single 970 should be able to run most games at high settings 1440P, especially with GSYNC smoothing things out for you. You could swap that for a Pascal card next year if it doesn't hold up.

 

[mkenyon]

RoG Swift owner here too. It's great, and I'd probably still buy it over the Acer for a few reasons, mostly because my main game type is fast paced competitive stuff.

The Acer is a better monitor on all accounts though. IPS vs TN, and the discussion can mostly just end there.

 

[KScorp]

I had bad luck with my RoG swifts. My first one didn't even last a year, and my second one has a nice bright red pixel away from the edge.

When they work they're amazing, though.

 

[Oogedei]

Hey GAF, I'm buying a new PC and need a decent mainboard. I'm going to buy an i7 6700k (my current CPU is an old AMD 1055T so I will benefit from Skylake). I got a 980ti, a good 550w PSU so overclocking is definitely something I will go for. The thing is that there are no decent reviews for 1151 Mainboards and my mainboard knowledge is a bit rusted. I don't want to spend too much but it shouldn't be low quality.

I'm currently aiming for an Asus Z170 pro gaming or a MSI 170A krait gaming. Got any suggestions?

 

[Confrontation]

At any rate, I really recommend against the 960 2GB. Buying a 2GB video card in 2015 is asking for a bottleneck in 2016 or even this fall. A 4GB 960 or 4GB Radeon 380 should be minimums if you want longevity. But a Radeon 290 or a GTX 970 are much better - often SLI 960s are lucky to even match them.

Truth be told, I tend to recommend against these mid-tier cards if users plan to upgrade every generation or even every other. Here's why (partially stolen from anandtech).

The move from GTX 660 to 760 added just 26% in performance
The move from GTX 760 to 960 added a measly 14% in performance
http://www.computerbase.de/2015-03/geforce-gtx-460-560-660-760-960-vergleich/2/

Compare this to spending more for a Radeon 290 (€300).

That means going from GTX660 to 960 added just 44% more performance but the difference between 960 OC and R9 290 OC is 47%.

What that means is if one buys a €200-€250 960, you are going to have to buy yet another €150-€200 card next generation just to get to where an after-market 290 is today. That means it's going to cost between €350-€450 (minus any resale value of GTX960) just to get to R9 290's (€300 right now) level of performance some time in the future but it also means getting way less performance from now until that next gen card. For that reason, 380/960 -- neither of them makes sense at current prices if someone thinks about the total cost of ownership long-term and that the are foregoing a lot of performance all that time for what a €50-$100 savings?

So that shows why the 960 and 380 are not good choices if you plan to upgrade every gen or two. But think about if you plan to keep it in the long haul, wouldn't you want a card that's 45%+ faster to make that long haul easier? 290, 290X, 390, 970 are all very similar tier of performance so it applies to all of these (right now 290 appears cheapest for your country though).

I went with the 970 as well. It just seems like a great card and seems to be good value for money. Also half the price of the 980ti in the UK which makes it a no brainer if you're trying to get within your budget.

You're going to be perfectly fine with the 960 at 1080p.

That 2GB vram though...ew. We want developers to use more textures in their games.

Screw it, I'm gonna go for it. Thanks for the replies fellas.

 

[RGM79]

Well yeah I preordered from ME as well since I didn't get charged or anything.

Now, the question is, when the hell are we getting the CPU?

I was told around the 27th of this month. Where are you, if you don't mind me asking? I'm in Vancouver, I ordered from the Richmond location.

 

[Shining Sunshine]

I was told around the 27th of this month. Where are you, if you don't mind me asking? I'm in Vancouver, I ordered from the Richmond location.

Same area.

NCIX listed a ridiculous date of October 2nd, and I told them straight up that I couldn't wait that long and would buy it somewhere else if it popped up. Hopefully stores get it this month because I bought everything but mobo and CPU.

 

[SneakyStephan]

Which cpu do you guys think this die is from?
Any comments on the size of it?

No reverse image search cheating

 

[Enduin]

I just realized everything in my PCPartPicker list is through Amazon. I didn't realize they were so competitive with PC parts. I bought nearly everything through NewEgg back in '09. Even on things they are 5-10 bucks more on it still comes out to be cheaper since they offer free shipping, but that doesn't matter since I have Prime so almost all of it is Prime eligible to boot.

Which cpu do you guys think this die is from?
Any comments on the size of it?

No reverse image search cheating

Skylake? No idea on which one so I'll just guess it's the 6700k.

 

[harz-marz]

Amazed at how great Portal 2 looks at 1440P...

What other old(ish) games look great at this resolution?

 

[CreepingFear]

You can slide the fan upward as long as there's room in your case.

Thanks. I do that already with my current rig and my Corsair A70. The fan is slightly elevated above the memory. Hopefully, I can do the same for the D15

 

[RGM79]

Same area.

NCIX listed a ridiculous date of October 2nd, and I told them straight up that I couldn't wait that long and would buy it somewhere else if it popped up. Hopefully stores get it this month because I bought everything but mobo and CPU.

Heh, me too. The only things I haven't ordered are the RAM and motherboard.. which I guess I should do soon if I want to have them already delivered before the processor becomes available.

 

[LilJoka]

Thanks. I think I'm gonna ditch the water cooling cause I don't think it will reach the front panel, and if it does it will just barely. So instead I'll probably go with the Noctua NH-D14 which is a good deal cheaper and just as good going by reviews. So I'll have 3 intake on the front panel then exhaust #1 on the back panel and exhaust #2 on the furthest back top panel.

Thats fine, but 2 intake and 1 exhaust should be enough really. Try it out.

Which cpu do you guys think this die is from?
Any comments on the size of it?

No reverse image search cheating

Hasnt got FIVR, so skylake i assume. How come?

 

[Oogedei]

Heh, me too. The only things I haven't ordered are the RAM and motherboard.. which I guess I should do soon if I want to have them already delivered before the processor becomes available.

Do you already know which Motherboard you're going to get?

 

[CidHighwind89]

Has anyone ordered a PC monitor from the Amazon warehouse deals part of Amazon? I am seeing some Asus Rog Swifts there that are very tempting to pick up compared to the price of the Acer xb270hu. Not sure if anyone has any horror stories or has had good luck buying a monitor from there.

 

[RGM79]

Do you already know which Motherboard you're going to get?

Asus Z170-Pro Gaming. From an economical standpoint it's likely more than I'll actually need from a motherboard, but I'm splurging a bit for myself.

 

[Wowfunhappy]

Has anyone ordered a PC monitor from the Amazon warehouse deals part of Amazon? I am seeing some Asus Rog Swifts there that are very tempting to pick up compared to the price of the Acer xb270hu. Not sure if anyone has any horror stories or has had good luck buying a monitor from there.

Never bought a monitor, but generally speaking everything I've ever gotten from Amazon Warehouse Deals has been great.

 

[Soakedjunk]

Never bought a monitor, but generally speaking everything I've ever gotten from Amazon Warehouse Deals has been great.

I've had the same experience. I haven't ordered a monitor from Amazon Warehouse, but everything I have bought has been great. No bad experiences.

 

[Vuze]

I wonder, will we see some price cuts/deals for DDR3 RAM in the near future (I'm located in Germany so no US-deal goodness applies)? I doubt it but I've never witnessed a "RAM generation change" so... no idea. Looking to buy a 16GB dual channel set, I think 1600MHz should be enough?

To follow up on my crash issues, underclocking the 970 didn't help but rolling back the driverl to the pre-Windows 10 version did. No more OpenCL crashes when using the card in Sony Vegas and rarely any crashes in the games I tested. Seems Nvidia dun goofed eh

 

[RGM79]

I wonder, will we see some price cuts/deals for DDR3 RAM in the near future (I'm located in Germany so no US-deal goodness applies)? I doubt it but I've never witnessed a "RAM generation change" so... no idea. Looking to buy a 16GB dual channel set, I think 1600MHz should be enough?

To follow up on my crash issues, underclocking the 970 didn't help but rolling back the driverl to the pre-Windows 10 version did. No more OpenCL crashes when using the card in Sony Vegas and rarely any crashes in the games I tested. Seems Nvidia dun goofed eh

DDR3 seems to be at as low a price as it will be. Samsung's DRAM production will switch over from DDR3 to other types, so prices should in theory only go up from this point. They are the largest but not the only semiconductor manufacturer around.

 

[Enduin]

Thats fine, but 2 intake and 1 exhaust should be enough really. Try it out.

Definitely will try at least for a bit. My current rig runs pretty hot, or seems like it does, and my room always seems warm. Though I like it really cold so I'm biased. I was always worried it would overheat, especially with the dust. I have central air now though so that's not as big an issue anymore.

Proper airflow probably has far more importance though than anything. That's why I'm going with the Define S, bigger than what I probably need but I like the drive setup and lack of clutter. So hopefully if I do my cable management right it will be a really really clean setup.

 

[Shining Sunshine]

I wonder, will we see some price cuts/deals for DDR3 RAM in the near future (I'm located in Germany so no US-deal goodness applies)? I doubt it but I've never witnessed a "RAM generation change" so... no idea. Looking to buy a 16GB dual channel set, I think 1600MHz should be enough?

To follow up on my crash issues, underclocking the 970 didn't help but rolling back the driverl to the pre-Windows 10 version did. No more OpenCL crashes when using the card in Sony Vegas and rarely any crashes in the games I tested. Seems Nvidia dun goofed eh

DDR3 RAM prices will go up. It's what happened with all older tech because supply will go down as manufacturers move onto other memory types and demand will very specific to people who are looking to upgrade older computers.

 

[Chocobro]

I've owned the ASUS ROG Swift since it first launched and love it. Best monitor I've ever had. Still has the fastest response time out of anything out there I think.

It's gotten cheaper recently. It cost me over $800 when I got it, but it looks like it's in the mid 600s now.

A monitor is a long term investment, so I think you should go with something better now instead of getting something not as good and being disappointed. A good monitor will last you many years through multiple graphics cards generations. 1440P is also a good resolution for the moment. It's not super taxing to run like 4K, but is noticeably sharper than 1080P.

Don't get an SLI 970 setup. A 980Ti is a much better option for the same price. No multi gpu headaches and almost twice the VRAM.

But if you can't afford that, a single 970 should be able to run most games at high settings 1440P, especially with GSYNC smoothing things out for you. You could swap that for a Pascal card next year if it doesn't hold up.

RoG Swift owner here too. It's great, and I'd probably still buy it over the Acer for a few reasons, mostly because my main game type is fast paced competitive stuff.

The Acer is a better monitor on all accounts though. IPS vs TN, and the discussion can mostly just end there.

I had bad luck with my RoG swifts. My first one didn't even last a year, and my second one has a nice bright red pixel away from the edge.

When they work they're amazing, though.

Thanks for the responses guys (and opticalmace). Should I worry about quality control of the ROG Swift? Are the cases of problems small enough for me to not worry about it? I could buy a refurb one off Amazon for $600. Should I try my luck?

mkenyon, what are the other reasons? I would probably stay away from buying Acer products because I had one of their monitors and it died after a year or two. My brother has one of their laptops and the network card died after a year of having it sent to them to fix. Overall bad experience with Acer whereas my ASUS VH236H has been going strong for close to 5 years.

 

[Oogedei]

Asus Z170-Pro Gaming. From an economical standpoint it's likely more than I'll actually need from a motherboard, but I'm splurging a bit for myself.

Thanks!
Yeah, I'm thinking the same but you never know how those budget mainboards will perform.

 

[Arondight]

I kind of did a build on PCpartpicker and would appreciate recommendations and advice as I'm probably going to purchase some parts within a week.
http://nz.pcpartpicker.com/p/VCH7jX

CPU
Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor
CPU Cooler
Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler
Motherboard
Asus H97-PRO GAMER ATX LGA1150 Motherboard
Memory
Kingston HyperX Fury Black 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory
Storage
Samsung 850 EVO-Series 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive
Western Digital BLACK SERIES 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
Video Card
Asus GeForce GTX 970 4GB STRIX Video Card
Case
Fractal Design Define R5 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case
Power Supply
Cooler Master VS 550W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply
Wireless Network Adapter
TP-Link TL-WDN4800 802.11a/b/g/n PCI-Express x1 Wi-Fi Adapter

It's slightly more expensive than what I need and probably need to change out a few parts.Things like motherboard, wireless network adapter, HD, RAM I'm not quite sure about.

I'm wondering whats the best brand GPU for 970s. Currently have ASUS selected.
Is there much differences between Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO and Cooler Master Hyper 212X or the plus version.

Most of all, is the parts going to fit really well in the case. Even if I say in future upgrade to a bigger GPU etc?

 

[A Link to the Past]

All right, so I'm on the final phase of buying a computer: the keyboard. So here's the thing - I've had nothing but keyboards of late that have this annoying thing where if I hold down a certain combination of keys, none of the keys will function. This proves to be a huge pain in the ass for gaming, because quick switching between arrow keys isn't easy with it. The Binding of Isaac for instance is really tough to aim. Can anyone who understands this problem be able to recommend a keyboard that definitely 100% doesn't have this problem?

Wifi isn't covered unless you switch to a motherboard that has wifi built in or add a wifi adaptor to your parts list.

I don't recommend the Corsair H55 as it's not very good, especially for $60. The Cooler Master 212 Evo is cheaper and more effective. However, since it won't fit in that case and you're not overclocking anyway, you could just skip getting an aftermarket cooler altogether and just use the bundled stock cooler.

Case fan isn't absolutely required either, none of your parts will be running that hot. You can assemble the system as is, and then if it turns out to run too warm for your taste, then add a fan. Adding a fan afterward is quite easy.

All right, thanks. I got frustrated with stuff so I decided to buy the parts without checking here. Is it a big deal that I went with the H55, or will I just have to settle for not-as-good quality?

 

[Oogedei]

All right, so I'm on the final phase of buying a computer: the keyboard. So here's the thing - I've had nothing but keyboards of late that have this annoying thing where if I hold down a certain combination of keys, none of the keys will function. This proves to be a huge pain in the ass for gaming, because quick switching between arrow keys isn't easy with it. The Binding of Isaac for instance is really tough to aim. Can anyone who understands this problem be able to recommend a keyboard that definitely 100% doesn't have this problem?



All right, thanks. I got frustrated with stuff so I decided to buy the parts without checking here. Is it a big deal that I went with the H55, or will I just have to settle for not-as-good quality?

What's your budget? Also do you use mechanical keyboards?

 

[InsaneLuchador]

PC Gaf, after ditching my gaming rig for a Macbook Air five years ago, I'm ready to put together my first build in quite some time. I can figure out what I want from here or PCPartpicker, but wanted to ask for thoughts on whether I should hold off a bit for a Skylake build. My budget is $900 US for hardware, so it wouldn't be bleeding edge anyway and I was hoping to have it up and running for MGSV.
Is it safe to order or would there be a huge benefit in waiting? Could always play MGSV on my Xbox One if it would be smarter to wait.

 

[Evo X]

Thanks for the responses guys (and opticalmace). Should I worry about quality control of the ROG Swift? Are the cases of problems small enough for me to not worry about it? I could buy a refurb one off Amazon for $600. Should I try my luck?

I haven't had a single issue with mine. Some people were having problems around launch time, but you have to keep in mind that it was the world's first 2560x1440 144hz GSYNC display. They've tightened quality control on later revisions since then.

Don't take a chance with refurbished on something this expensive. Spend the extra $70 and get a new one from Newegg. Refurbished only has 90 day warranty, whereas buying it new gets you ASUS Rapid Replacement for 3 years. Meaning if anything goes wrong, they will ship you a new one before you have to ship yours to them.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236405

All right, so I'm on the final phase of buying a computer: the keyboard. So here's the thing - I've had nothing but keyboards of late that have this annoying thing where if I hold down a certain combination of keys, none of the keys will function. This proves to be a huge pain in the ass for gaming, because quick switching between arrow keys isn't easy with it. The Binding of Isaac for instance is really tough to aim. Can anyone who understands this problem be able to recommend a keyboard that definitely 100% doesn't have this problem?

Corsair K70 Vengeance. I guarantee it will be the best keyboard you've ever used.

 

[Hazaro]

2015 PC Thread - Part 2
2015 PC Thread - Part 2
2015 PC Thread - Part 2