"I need a New PC!" 2012 Thread. 22nm+28nm, Tri-Gate, and reading the OP. [Part 1]

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chualie said:
just got a Crucial M4 but don't have a bracket. Is it okay to just duct tape it to the HDD bay or should I buy a bracket? Many thanks :)
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No moving parts - attach it anywhere if you're unconcerned with interior aesthetics, though I'd go with zipties instead of duct tape because they're easier to remove.
 
faceless007 said:
If you want to get 5.1 through optical you need a device that can decode Dolby Digital. I've never really heard of someone using the PC sound card to do that, it's more common to use a receiver, but I guess it would work, provided the sound card has an optical in and has an option to just decode it and pass it through to the speakers with no more processing. That card has Dolby Digital Live, which is what you would need. I don't know if it would definitely work in your use case, but in theory it would.
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Any idea how much a receiver would cost? Could I still use it with my old speakers?
 
hlhbk said:
Any idea how much a receiver would cost? Could I still use it with my old speakers?
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As long as the speakers weren't proprietary/came with their own specific receiver they should work with any receiver. You could spend anywhere from $100-$600 on a good receiver.
You can probably find a nice Onkyo for $200 used. I haven't bought one for a long long time so any advice I myself have would be quite outdated. Ask in the Headphone-gaf thread.
e: or here
 
So I was trying to find out what thermal compound everyone is using these days, and I came across this graph. I had a good laugh at the stuff at the bottom. Also pretty funny that Mayonnaise is as good as or better than some "legit" stuff.

compounds.jpg



Is there anything in particular I should be looking for/looking to avoid in the thermal compound I buy? Or should I just get the best performing one and leave it at that?
 
So, my plans for a new PC were dashed twice last year, and this year is still a struggle. Stuff is too damn expensive. Also I want something NEW not just "more of the same". This time I am looking at a triple monitor setup with SLI 680's.

Since the upfront cost of dual 680's and three monitors is a bit much, I am thinking of going for an upgrade path, with just a single card and using my current monitor, then picking up the second card and new monitors over the next few months afterwards.

My questions on this, aside from advice on parts selection, are as follows;

1. I've never done SLI. Will there be enough room on a motherboard for both a add-on sound card and wireless network adapter? (onboard sound is never good enough for me, and I have a nice HTS I am using on my current PC now)

2. How completely identical do the cards have to be in a SLI configuration? Manufacturers have a tendency to stop making the current models and start offering the same with with bumped up clock speeds or other minor changes. What are the odds of me getting screwed trying to buy another identical 680 6-months later?

3. How badly bottlnecked would dual 680's be by the i5 2600k/2550 processor, if at all? From the benchmarks I have seen the i7's don't offer a whole heck of a lot more performance per $ and I will be giving the i5 at least a mild overclock (it will be air cooled with a hyper212). Bumping up to the newer x-79 chipset adds a whole lot more dough to the final cost.

Sorry if these questions are buried in this thread somewhere, its a lot to read and time is limited. Any advice is appreciated.
 
theRizzle said:
So I was trying to find out what thermal compound everyone is using these days, and I came across this graph. I had a good laugh at the stuff at the bottom. Also pretty funny that Mayonnaise is as good as or better than some "legit" stuff.

compounds.jpg



Is there anything in particular I should be looking for/looking to avoid in the thermal compound I buy? Or should I just get the best performing one and leave it at that?
Click to expand...
Buy whatever non conductive non capacitive one you can that is the cheapest. MX4 is usually a good option.

I'm a fan of ICDC7 because it's made of DIAMONDS and also polishes stuff. Very thick paste though.
 
theRizzle said:
So I was trying to find out what thermal compound everyone is using these days, and I came across this graph. I had a good laugh at the stuff at the bottom. Also pretty funny that Mayonnaise is as good as or better than some "legit" stuff.

compounds.jpg



Is there anything in particular I should be looking for/looking to avoid in the thermal compound I buy? Or should I just get the best performing one and leave it at that?
Click to expand...
Non-conductive is a plus, since you don't have to worry if it gets on the PCB or whatnot. Other than that, I wouldn't worry about it too much. I've been using Arctic Cooling MX-4 the last few times, but used AS5 in the past. Some compounds (such as AS5) have a curing time before they reach their best performance, which is something to keep in mind.

DurielBlack said:
So, my plans for a new PC were dashed twice last year, and this year is still a struggle. Stuff is too damn expensive. Also I want something NEW not just "more of the same". This time I am looking at a triple monitor setup with SLI 680's.

Since the upfront cost of dual 680's and three monitors is a bit much, I am thinking of going for an upgrade path, with just a single card and using my current monitor, then picking up the second card and new monitors over the next few months afterwards.

My questions on this, aside from advice on parts selection, are as follows;

1. I've never done SLI. Will there be enough room on a motherboard for both a add-on sound card and wireless network adapter? (onboard sound is never good enough for me, and I have a nice HTS I am using on my current PC now)

2. How completely identical do the cards have to be in a SLI configuration? Manufacturers have a tendency to stop making the current models and start offering the same with with bumped up clock speeds or other minor changes. What are the odds of me getting screwed trying to buy another identical 680 6-months later?

3. How badly bottlnecked would dual 680's be by the i5 2600k/2550 processor, if at all? From the benchmarks I have seen the i7's don't offer a whole heck of a lot more performance per $ and I will be giving the i5 at least a mild overclock (it will be air cooled with a hyper212). Bumping up to the newer x-79 chipset adds a whole lot more dough to the final cost.

Sorry if these questions are buried in this thread somewhere, its a lot to read and time is limited. Any advice is appreciated.
Click to expand...
1. Depends on the motherboard, I guess. It should be easy enough to take a quick look at the board and see if the slot arrangement works.
2. From what I remember Crossfire was more lenient with this, but I would think there is some freedom to use slightly different cards together.
3. I wouldn't worry about bottlenecking too much. Like you said, you'd just end up spending a lot more chasing higher performance.
 
t-ramp said:
1. Depends on the motherboard, I guess. It should be easy enough to take a quick look at the board and see if the slot arrangement works.
2. From what I remember Crossfire was more lenient with this, but I would think there is some freedom to use slightly different cards together.
3. I wouldn't worry about bottlenecking too much. Like you said, you'd just end up spending a lot more chasing higher performance.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I was considering THIS board, although I haven't done a large amount of research just yet. I still need to check out the one in the OP for the 1300$ build.
 
ParityBit said:
Are these the ones? http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007JNHXXI/?tag=neogaf0e-20

I can pick up two if they are for when I get the H100 in.
Click to expand...

Also, looking at other cases, the NZXT Phantom looks like a really well built case and at a good price. Anyone have experience with this one? I can not find anywhere about the USB on the top being 2.0 or 3.0. I saw one reference of it being "refreshed" and one of them being a 3.0.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003WE9WQO/?tag=neogaf0e-20
 
Hey guys, quick update from this post:

I'm going to ask to get both the CPU and mobo replaced. I can't deal with this anymore. =p I just tested IE for a few hours and it froze up.
Click to expand...

I got the CPU replaced and it didn't fix a thing. I just got the replacement mobo today and now I'm having CPU overheating problems (not drastically overheating but significant that it's slowing my PC). Not sure what to do. It hovers around 50C and when I play video it stutters. I cleaned off the thermal compound and reapplied it, but it hasn't changed a bit. I did a vertical line across the 2500k i5 processor, using the stock heatsink. When I installed the replacement mobo I immediately updated the bios.

I'm confused. I guess I'll let the PC rest a bit and turn it back on in a few. Should I reapply some thermal compound again? @_@

Edit: pc froze while playing video... This solved nothing and made my problem worse. Fudge!
 
ParityBit said:
Also, looking at other cases, the NZXT Phantom looks like a really well built case and at a good price. Anyone have experience with this one? I can not find anywhere about the USB on the top being 2.0 or 3.0. I saw one reference of it being "refreshed" and one of them being a 3.0.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003WE9WQO/?tag=neogaf0e-20
Click to expand...
I haven't used one, but I've heard a good deal of praise for it. NZXT definitely deserves credit for bringing great full-tower cases to the market at great prices with the Phantom and the Switch 810. I'm not sure whether the Phantom sports USB 3.0.

Also, I suppose I might as well mention what I'm running at the moment. A week or two ago my pump died, so I sold off my GTX 480 and my XSPC radiator and have said goodbye to watercooling. For whatever reason I ordered a 550 Ti, a decision I almost immediately regretted. In any event, here's what makes up my PC:

Processor: AMD Phenom II X4 945
- Cooling: Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-880GMA-USB3
Memory: G.Skill DDR3 1600 4GB (2x 4GB)
Video Card: EVGA 550 Ti 1GB
Solid State Drive: Intel X-25V 40GB
Hard Drive: Hitachi Deskstar 7K3000 1.5TB
Power Supply: Antec EarthWatts Green 380W
Blu-ray Drive: Samsung Combo Drive
Case: Dell Dimension 3000 (Search "Forever Young" on Overclock.net for more info)

All in all a nice little PC. I haven't really got anything set up software-wise, since I just rotated the Intel SSD back into operation. I'm kind of curious to see what my opinion of the 550 Ti is, considering I had a 5770 a while back that I wasn't impressed with for some reason. ...and then I broke it.

I also toyed around with a i5-2300 configuration involving a mini-ITX Asus board that I bought cheap as an open box item from Newegg late last year. I heartily endorse small PCs and wish I hadn't sold that motherboard and CPU, despite never actually getting a proper mini-ITX case for it.

Also, if anyone is interested in a used Seasonic X-750, shoot me a PM.
 
Would it be worth switching the Cooler Master 212+ for the Noctua NH-D14 on a HAF 912 build if price isn't a huge concern? After working out the price with better thermal paste for the 212 I can get the Noctua for £20 more and figure if it's a much better cooler it would be worth it.

Also the 7850 I order on free shipping 10 minutes before 6pm last night just arrived and I've suddenly become far too excited over the prospect of building my own PC, with any luck I might actually be able to get my build done before I'm back at work next week.
 
scogoth said:
HDMI 1.4 = 30fps 3D mode. This is basically a small TV, it would be terrible for gaming.

There are some 120hz IPS monitors on the horizon but they will be very pricey.
Click to expand...
Also that monitor is passive so you'll only get 1920x540 resolution in 3D.
 
shindoku21 said:
Hey guys, quick update from this post:



I got the CPU replaced and it didn't fix a thing. I just got the replacement mobo today and now I'm having CPU overheating problems (not drastically overheating but significant that it's slowing my PC). Not sure what to do. It hovers around 50C and when I play video it stutters. I cleaned off the thermal compound and reapplied it, but it hasn't changed a bit. I did a vertical line across the 2500k i5 processor, using the stock heatsink. When I installed the replacement mobo I immediately updated the bios.

I'm confused. I guess I'll let the PC rest a bit and turn it back on in a few. Should I reapply some thermal compound again? @_@

Edit: pc froze while playing video... This solved nothing and made my problem worse. Fudge!
Click to expand...
My CPU Usage is around 35-50% for some reason. I checked the bios settings and reset it to default.

I have no idea what's wrong with my PC now. I'll try to restart the motherboard bios... after I finish downloading Diablo.

EDIT: so the temperature is actually normal until I boot windows, then CPU usage goes all crazy and temperatures go up.
 
vazel said:
Also that monitor is passive so you'll only get 1920x540 resolution in 3D.
Click to expand...

And so it begins. Viewsonic has discontinued 120hz models in favor of passive. I wonder if this is the start from Asus.

The good news, I guess, is that they're charging such an outrageous premium on 120hz models, somebody is going to want to stay in that market to continue reaping the profits.
 
Need some help with an SSD purchase. I want to get one for my laptop and I think I'll need around 200gb+.

I've got an X-25 M (G2) in my desktop and that's pretty rapid so ideally I guess I'll want something as quick or quicker if possible. Not sure how much of a difference there is between them, but I suppose ideally I want it to run cool with high energy efficiency too.

Thanks in advance.
 
shinobi602 said:
So can anyone recommend me the cheapest Nvidia card possible that can play most games today at high settings, 60fps, 1920x1080?
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Probably a used 460 1GB. Otherwise the 560 is a bit better, but more expensive of course. The 470 also falls around the 560's performance if you can find a deal on one.

Psychotext said:
Need some help with an SSD purchase. I want to get one for my laptop and I think I'll need around 200gb+.

I've got an X-25 M (G2) in my desktop and that's pretty rapid so ideally I guess I'll want something as quick or quicker if possible. Not sure how much of a difference there is between them, but I suppose ideally I want it to run cool with high energy efficiency too.

Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
What's your budget? A ~256GB SSD will be kind of expensive (~$300) but modern ones will blow the X-25M away.
 
t-ramp said:
Probably a used 460 1GB. Otherwise the 560 is a bit better, but more expensive of course. The 470 also falls around the 560's performance if you can find a deal on one.
Click to expand...

I was planning on a 560 Ti 2GB for $214.99

But looking at some charts on Tom's Hardware, it averages around 45-50fps on a lot of newer games at highest settings, and that's at 1650x1080. Doesn't look like it can cut it.
 
shinobi602 said:
I was planning on a 560 Ti 2GB for $214.99

But looking at some charts on Tom's Hardware, it averages around 45-50fps on a lot of newer games at highest settings, and that's at 1650x1080. Doesn't look like it can cut it.
Click to expand...

So you want a card that can MAX with all games at 1080P. That's a different story. They're right about a GTX 460 fitting the original criteria, though. A huge majority can be played at 1080P/60fps/max. Another nice chunk can get 1080P/60fps if you're willing to turn down a superficial setting here or there. Of course, the BF3 and Witcher 2's of the world will need much more serious compromises.

The 1GB GTX 460 that was going around for 99 dollars was a great deal. Obviously the more you're willing to spend, the more you can fit under the first two categories. But I'm pretty sure a GTX 680 isn't getting you 1080P/60fps with Witcher 2 maxed. So it's about perspective. The more you spend, the slighter better your performance curve expands.
 
1-D_FTW said:
So you want a card that can MAX with all games at 1080P. That's a different story. They're right about a GTX 460 fitting the original criteria, though. A huge majority can be played at 1080P/60fps/max. Another nice chunk can get 1080P/60fps if you're willing to turn down a superficial setting here or there. Of course, the BF3 and Witcher 2's of the world will need much more serious compromises.

The 1GB GTX 460 that was going around for 99 dollars was a great deal. Obviously the more you're willing to spend, the more you can fit under the first two categories. But I'm pretty sure a GTX 680 isn't getting you 1080P/60fps with Witcher 2 maxed. So it's about perspective. The more you spend, the slighter better your performance curve expands.
Click to expand...

Alright.

Not necessarily max, but able to play games like the Witcher 2 at high settings, with some settings toned down, and games a couple years older at highest maybe, at 60fps.

You think a 560Ti 2GB can pull that off? I have a Phenom II X4 965 (3.4Ghz) and 8GB ram.
 
Spirit of Jazz said:
Would it be worth switching the Cooler Master 212+ for the Noctua NH-D14 on a HAF 912 build if price isn't a huge concern? After working out the price with better thermal paste for the 212 I can get the Noctua for £20 more and figure if it's a much better cooler it would be worth it.
Click to expand...

Any advice on this as I just got my discount code?
 
Finally, after a month of waiting and fighting with my own impatience, 4GB cards ordered and arrived!

Also the first part(s) to arrive of my upcoming build. My 30" will finally be done justice.

LOrvi.png


FgU9S.png
 
t-ramp said:
What's your budget? A ~256GB SSD will be kind of expensive (~$300) but modern ones will blow the X-25M away.
Click to expand...
That doesn't sound too bad. As long as I'm not paying megamoney for server level hardware.

It all moves too quick though, I have no idea what's good and what's not now.
 
I believe my video card is too shitty to do my project of attempting to beat all the ps1 games in NA. Audio and Stuttering galore, which one should I be looking for.

edit : im using a hauppage hd pvr btw
 
Parts ordered:

Corsair Carbide 500r (white)
ASUS P8Z77-V Pro
Noctura NH-D14
Seasonic Platinum 850W
G.Skill Ripjaws DDR3-1600

Waiting on the processor.

Everything else I own.
Will also get a ~60GB SSD down the line and enable SRT.

Upgrading from an i3-530/MicroATX case that was a compromise all around when I put it together two years ago.
 
So I've just ordered a Fractal Design Define R3 for more space, less noise and more fans.

I have a question, though. If I were to extra fans for the case, other than being the right size, would I need to buy any extra cables to get them to work etc? I've never played around with fans and just used the ones that came with the case. Cheers!
 
Foliorum Viridum said:
So I've just ordered a Fractal Design Define R3 for more space, less noise and more fans.

I have a question, though. If I were to extra fans for the case, other than being the right size, would I need to buy any extra cables to get them to work etc? I've never played around with fans and just used the ones that came with the case. Cheers!
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If you buy extra fans they will either plug into the power supply's molex connectors or a 3-pin motherboard port. You might need a splitter if you don't have enough ports or an extension cable perhaps, but other than that it's not complicated. Does the Fractal have a built-in fan controller?
 
Just FYI. I picked up an Asus P8Z77-V and am using is my server with the 2600k from microcenter.

All pin fan headers on the mobo are 4 pin fan headers. There are 5 headers on the motherboard.
 
Yoritomo said:
Just FYI. I picked up an Asus P8Z77-V and am using is my server with the 2600k from microcenter.

All pin fan headers on the mobo are 4 pin fan headers. There are 5 headers on the motherboard.
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Nice. I should have said 3/4-pin since they are basically interchangeable. The Gigabyte I'm using now only has 2 fan headers, which is a bit annoying.
 
shindoku21 said:
My CPU Usage is around 35-50% for some reason. I checked the bios settings and reset it to default.

I have no idea what's wrong with my PC now. I'll try to restart the motherboard bios... after I finish downloading Diablo.

EDIT: so the temperature is actually normal until I boot windows, then CPU usage goes all crazy and temperatures go up.
Click to expand...

I switched the replacement motherboard with the original and everything is fine now. Guess they sent me a bad motherboard. -_-
 
ParityBit said:
Here is a cool rundown of fans.

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/331629-28-cooling-roundup-2012


I am working through finding fans for my case and came across it. Not that it helped yet! Stupid indecision.
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That awesome and all, but just go buy some damn fans. I mean, you aren't really going to be disappointed if they are rated well.
AwesomeSauce said:
heads up!

Mwave has those 1.5g tubes of MX-2 for 1$ and free shipping.

Even with my unopened 4g tube, I ordered 3 of these just in case.

http://www.mwave.com/mwave/SKUSearc...rctic Cooling MX-2 Thermal Compound - 1.5Gram
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MX-2 is good stuff. I get $0.50 shipping, is there a code?
ParityBit said:
So the case I am looking at (the Phantom) has 7 fan slots. Is it worth (loud) to order a fan for each slot?
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You shouldn't need to fill all your slots for fans. Depending on your setup and ambient temps + whatever Climate Control your house has you can get away with 3 or 4. Shouldn't be a need for 7 unless your PC is dumping heat like crazy.
 
Hazaro said:
MX-2 is good stuff. I get $0.50 shipping, is there a code?
Click to expand...

I checked about 2 minutes after it was posted and it was OOS.

Maybe they realized they were losing money on the process and pulled it to fix the shipping. 1.49 is still a great deal. If you want, I'd suggest buying before it's unavailable again.
 
1-D_FTW said:
I checked about 2 minutes after it was posted and it was OOS.

Maybe they realized they were losing money on the process and pulled it to fix the shipping. 1.49 is still a great deal. If you want, I'd suggest buying before it's unavailable again.
Click to expand...
I grabbed 2 or 3 from the last time they did it, so I'm good.
 
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