"I Need a New PC!" 2014 Part 2. Read OP, your 2500K will run Witcher 3. MX100s! 970!
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Yeah, but if one is getting a proc now, no sense in planning to "future proof" for a 6% bump in performance with possible worse overclocking.
phxxBullet
Banned
An the award once again goes to the dumbest computer builder. Why is it that I always forget to plug in the CPU Power..
Thanks alot man!
I already started to be mad, but once again it was just a tiny mistake.
I'm thinking I might turn that case into a streaming rig and go with Z97 and 4970k (although the o/cing seems less than desirable...) I just get that itch of testing out the newest of the new 
Looks like evga has a really nice Z97 micro itx board as well. I will need to check around a bit.
Looks like evga has a really nice Z97 micro itx board as well. I will need to check around a bit.Ok GAF need some advice on some key decisions I intend to make in the next few days. I'll start with what I'm currently running;
8350FX
R9 280X
now recently I've noticed my energy bills have been getting massively High, so Im currently on a bit of a phase of trying to ramp down my energy use altogether. Now I know my PC is a massive hog, 8350 alone is hot, power hungry CPU with moderate performance. Intel have i3's what use half the power and give better performance with 2 Cores and 4 threads.
Now I'm considering making the jump over to Intel. I'll definitely be getting a Z97 board but I will likely go with an i3 at first and then look to upgrade that next year because I feel an i3 is enough to push what I want to play at 1080p. All I'm playing currently is BF4, Divinity, and Civilization. I will get the new Civ as well so that's another game I'll be looking to play. I know that will support mantle so the 280x will work well with it.
So which I3 should I be looking at ? Now I already own a H80i so cooling will be very good as well so a light overclock will be welcome but I would not want to reach the power usage of AM3+ boards.
Im betting I can get at least £100 for 8350 on ebay and at least £25 for the board
8350FX
R9 280X
now recently I've noticed my energy bills have been getting massively High, so Im currently on a bit of a phase of trying to ramp down my energy use altogether. Now I know my PC is a massive hog, 8350 alone is hot, power hungry CPU with moderate performance. Intel have i3's what use half the power and give better performance with 2 Cores and 4 threads.
Now I'm considering making the jump over to Intel. I'll definitely be getting a Z97 board but I will likely go with an i3 at first and then look to upgrade that next year because I feel an i3 is enough to push what I want to play at 1080p. All I'm playing currently is BF4, Divinity, and Civilization. I will get the new Civ as well so that's another game I'll be looking to play. I know that will support mantle so the 280x will work well with it.
So which I3 should I be looking at ? Now I already own a H80i so cooling will be very good as well so a light overclock will be welcome but I would not want to reach the power usage of AM3+ boards.
Im betting I can get at least £100 for 8350 on ebay and at least £25 for the board
CurlySaysX
Banned
I bought an m60 corsair mouse when it first released and the scroll wheel has developed a fault where it will scroll in the opposite direction to where i'm scrolling (less than 2 years old?), they may have upgraded the wheel on the m65 though, and when it worked it was the best scroll wheel I had ever used. The buttons were also far too easy to press. I like to rest my fingers on the clickers and I was constantly activating the right mouse button.
I also got the k90 and that has been very good, the only thing i can fault the keyboard with is that the lock key notification lights don't work correctly on linux - it works flawlessly on windows.
Bucket-o-roadkill
Member
Just some follow up on this (if anyone is interested). I contacted them again today and they are not able to send me a v2 firmware monitor, it appears the product serial numbers arent actually always 100% proof that the unit is a v2. I'm still waiting for confirmation that they are even going to EVER be able to get hold of a v2 to send me. Can't believe I've wasted a whole week on this. I'm now having to wait until Monday to ensure my previous order is received (So I can be refunded). Total and utter confusion. If you're in the UK I'd be VERY careful if you're thinking of ordering a XL2411Z. Benq seem to be trying their hardest to be as unhelpful and awkward as possible with this situation.
Let's slow your roll for a second. At max load your computer is gonna be around 500W (probably less but that's okay). Let's say you game on it for 3 hours a day and you draw all of those 500W during that time (unlikely). Average cost of electricity in the US is 10cents/kWhr. If you gamed for 3 hours a day for 30 days that's going to cost you a whopping $4.50 dollars a month. Do you really spend 90 hours a week playing games that require the full performance of your computer? No. Games don't even typically draw max power. But that's fine. This is a worse case scenario sort of thing. However, you don't get all that energy consumption back from switching CPUs. Going from an 8350 to a Haswell i3 might save you 100W. That's now a whopping 90 cents you'd save a month at 90 gaming hours a month.
TL;DR Your time is worth too much to worry about saving 90 cents a month.
Edit: Before anyone tries to play the A/C angle: A/C units are around 80% efficient, meaning you're going to spend another $1.13 getting rid of that heat in the summer. In the winter you're using that heat to heat your room.
http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2012/11/06/amd-fx-8350-review/7
364W for full system (with 690) overclocked during Prime95.
The point remains that saving even 100-200W will make only a miniscule change to your electricity bill. Getting rid of your computer entirely will save you no more than 5-10 bucks a month. It's gonna cost him $75-100 to upgrade. At 0.90+1.13=$2.03/month, you're looking at over 3 years to break even. Double that for 200W and you're still waiting over a year and half just to recoup your sidegrade costs.
DSN2K: Only way you're going to save real money on your electric bill is to either better insulate your house or get a more efficient A/C system. Neither of these things are cheap unfortunately.
Hopefully I don't have that issue with the M65, but I did switch the keyboard from Red Cherry MX to the Blue cherry MX. I really don't know what the difference is between the two, but the blue was $20 cheaper along with a coupon so I got it for under $100.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...air_vengeance_keyboard-_-23-816-010-_-Product
Radeon 280 is your best bet at that price. Or an nVidia 760, but they're more like ~$230.
To add to some of the advice given:
Are you overclocking your CPU? If not, why not try undervolting it to save some electricity if you're that concerned about it? Undervolting is safer than overclocking as well, if you're afraid to do it.
Bucket-o-roadkill
Member
There are apparently 3 ways to update the firmware:
Buy some kit to update it yourself which isn't as cheap as you may think,
Use some complicated (to me) Linux method
Or send it to Benq and PAY for the shipping (!)
I have no experience of Linux and have no intention of paying out any more over this. Whether it be for some kit which will literally be used once and never again or for the shipment of this monitor to Benq just so they can fix the bugs that should have been sorted out before release. The quality control appears to be absolutely frightening and Benqs attitude regarding this entire situation is appauling.
I'm guessing it's more of a big deal here in the UK than overseas, I'm surprised there aren't more people moaning about it. Apparently CCL is getting phone calls by the day about this issue. Nevertheless, I have no sympathy for them as I was lied to before I even ordered this monitor by a staff member who swore all their stock were v2s. I appreciate everyone makes mistakes but this could have been totally avoided by just fessing up and telling me the truth that they weren't sure, or by doing something utterly unheard of like, you know, checking the fucking stock first. I'm really pissed off about it as I could have probably found a v2 from somewhere else and had the monitor by now.
Protagonist Jake
Member
Howdy ho Gaf, Ive got a simple question for ya.
Ive got 200$-250$, and need a new GPU. Whats the best one I could get with that budget and where?
Go.
Ive got 200$-250$, and need a new GPU. Whats the best one I could get with that budget and where?
Go.
ipukespiders
Member
With my shiny gtx770 (2 GB) is there any settings I should automatically be setting via nvidia drivers right off the bat? CPU is a 4690k.
I play on a tv, so I'm limited to 60fps.
My max res is 1920x1080
I hate tearing - is adaptive vsync the best choice?
I don't really care for anti aliasing, or to be specific, I found the implementation for RAGE (in game setting) to be rather blurry. I'm sure other games have done it better.
I play on a tv, so I'm limited to 60fps.
My max res is 1920x1080
I hate tearing - is adaptive vsync the best choice?
I don't really care for anti aliasing, or to be specific, I found the implementation for RAGE (in game setting) to be rather blurry. I'm sure other games have done it better.
The Lamonster
Member
OK, I'm at my wit's end with this.
Set up powerline network adapters. 30mbps internet service.
Powerline to laptop = 29.8mbps
Exact same powerline unit to desktop PC = 2.5mbps
WHAT IS HAPPENING
Set up powerline network adapters. 30mbps internet service.
Powerline to laptop = 29.8mbps
Exact same powerline unit to desktop PC = 2.5mbps
WHAT IS HAPPENING
Same outlet?
The Lamonster
Member
Same everything. Plug cord into laptop and its full speed. Plug it into my PC and it's slow as shit.
I have been troubleshooting this for hours and I think at this point I'd rather just return them and run a 100ft ethernet cable through my walls. UGH.
anyone have any ideas?
I've been reading up about cases and feel like I'm starting to go a little crazy. I've narrowed it down (if you can call it that) to the following: CoolerMaster N400/N600, Corsair 200R/300R, and NZXT Phantom 240. Can anyone that's worked with one or more of these tell me what you like/don't like about them and which you'd go with?
DNS problems? Old mobo with crummy internet port?
Powerline can be funny, but if it works it is fantastic.
I'm sure they are all fine, just use random.org or buy an Enthoo instead
The Lamonster
Member
Well, the MOBO is from 2006, so if it's that I guess I'm screwed...but when I wire this PC directly to the router I get full speed.
How could I troubleshoot DNS problems?
and yes, powerline is amazing when it works
Few pages back someone had the same issue. Full speed with laptop, awful speed on new desktop, solution was change Ethernet cable, give it a go.
It's about 11p in the UK which translates to around 18 US cents.
Man, another example of us Brits paying more than our American cousins.
Bah!
Woffls
Member
Ugggghhhhh I bought a Hydro H60 watercooling heatsink/fan thingy because Corsair's site says it's compatible with S 775... turns out there has been a revision and that the webpage has not been updated to show that it's the old revision. £60 wasted... unless I buy a new mobo, cpu and memory... :\ everything else is up to date so it's tempting.
What is the minimum spend likely to be for going X99 with just mobo, cpu and memory?
What is the minimum spend likely to be for going X99 with just mobo, cpu and memory?
Surely that's sufficient grounds for a full refund?
Yeah get a refund.
Woffls
Member
The Dabs page is accurate, but I got there from a redirect from the Corsair site, which is inaccurate and states 775 compatibility. I went to the H60 info page, clicked "find a retailer > dabs" and the page it took me to was for an incompatible version of the product.
I don't know who is at fault here, but I guess it's worth a few emails.
Assuming £, ouch. I'd be spending half that on Z97. I'm not at all bothered about having a really high spec machine, but DDR4 complicates things a bit. I'd like the components to hang on for at least five years.
Woffls
Member
Dislodged fan?
Yeah I'd already started an RMA for it, but the return delivery was a tenner so I'll try this way first. I imagine Dabs will accept a return and pay for the delivery, but if not I'm considering keeping it for my next upgrade, which might be sooner than I think if my system's recent behaviour is anything to go by - time to plug the buzzer in :\
Called Dabs and they're being nice and helpful about it, but they'll have to decide whose fault it is for the link being out of date. I can't see Corsair being too helpful...
[edit] Although having just tried to run Watch_Dogs on my current system, an upgrade might be in order anyway, which would mean keeping the cooler. Only got a Q6600 @ 2.4, and some DDR2 @ 0.8, but I was expecting it to be at least playable with a 750 Ti Sc.
It doesn't really matter, you shouldn't have any trouble getting a refund within 30days.
DDR4 really doesn't complicate anything, DDR3 provides enormous bandwidth which is hardly even used to it's full potential.
The Lamonster
Member
No dice. I just tried every ethernet cable I had and still getting 2.xmbps speed.
How can I check to see if it's the DNS or MOBO?
If you can ping the outside world via command prompt then it isn't a DNS problem.
It's possibly the LAN drivers, so uninstall and reinstall them.
Need some general upgrade advice. I have a 2500K, MSI Twin Frozr 460 Ti, and 4GB RAM (can't recall the speed right now). Other than an SSD, what would be the best bang-for-my-buck upgrade? I don't need anything super high-end because my mobo (Asus P8P67) probably wouldn't support it.
If I did choose to go the SSD route, what's a good deal? I think 256GB would be sufficient.
If I did choose to go the SSD route, what's a good deal? I think 256GB would be sufficient.
The Lamonster
Member
Looks like my network adapter driver version is from 2009, but when I click update it can't find any updates.
Looking around Intel's site but not sure which driver I need. Can someone do me a big favor and let me know what exactly I need?
edit: never mind, used the automatic detection...updating now...
Looks like my network adapter driver version is from 2009, but when I click update it can't find any updates.
Looking around Intel's site but not sure which driver I need. Can someone do me a big favor and let me know what exactly I need?
What your motherboard make/model? Assuming the NIC is on the motherboard and not a seperate card
The Lamonster
Member
Dell Inc. 0TP406 CPU
Man this network adapter update download is taking forever. 31.7MB lol
Your motherboard supports pretty much everything just fine. (Except socket 1150 cpu of course)
If your'e getting full speed from the motherboard ethernet when you connect it directly than I don't think it can be the LAN port or drivers...
See if you have the exact same results on both PCs using a different power outlet if you can. then try swapping the positions of the two adapters...
this one is a puzzler for sure.
The Lamonster
Member
Dang...I have already tried 3 outlets and swapped the two powerline adapters.
The confusing part is why would I get full speed when wired directly to the router and why does the laptop get full speed on the powerline but not the PC?
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