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"I need a new PC!" 2010 Edition

brain_stew said:
You know I always wondered about the popularity of this thread. I mean this one is at nearly half a million views and we're only just over half way through the year.

Try typing "i need a new PC" (quotations marks not needed) into Google and see what the second result is. :D

I guess people like the advice in this thread. If you're listening online retailers, I could do with a job! :lol

LOL...Well you and a few others deserve some "consultant" fee earnings or something. Many of us would of eathier wasted money, time, got a shitty rig or all three without some of the advice and help from some of the fine folks here.
 
Dynamic3 said:
I just noticed that EVGA now has a non-EE 460 1GB on newegg, what does the EE designate? Is this the improved less noisy card?

Stew, you mentioned getting a Sata6 board if you are going to use an SSD, but doesn't the SSD need to be Sata6 compatible as well? I only found two SSDs on newegg that were Sata6 compatible.

EE stands for external exhaust. Basically, the hot air is blow out through the vents of the card. The non-ee ones are where the fan is in the middle of the card. The ones with EE (which is most of them) have the fan on the right side, not the center.
 
Well my pc is freezing. It's to the point know that I can't even log in. It would work in safe mode and also when I uninstalled the nvidia display drivers. So I saved all the files I needed and reinstalled windows. Then I reinstalled the nvidia drivers again and I'm getting the same problem. I'm starting to come to the conclusion that my gtx 460 started failing. Should I try anything before I return it?

Edit: I just removed and reinstalled the drivers and I logged in without the pc freezing but I suspect it will freeze at any moment.
 
Hawk269 said:
EE stands for external exhaust. Basically, the hot air is blow out through the vents of the card. The non-ee ones are where the fan is in the middle of the card. The ones with EE (which is most of them) have the fan on the right side, not the center.

Which is better?
 
brain_stew said:
You know I always wondered about the popularity of this thread. I mean this one is at nearly half a million views and we're only just over half way through the year.

Try typing "i need a new PC" (quotations marks not needed) into Google and see what the second result is. :D

I guess people like the advice in this thread. If you're listening online retailers, I could do with a job! :lol
You can get a UK gig (are you even in the UK?) and I can get a US. :lol
iNvidious01 said:
could somebody suggest the cheapest i7 build for video editing. all i need is a powerful CPU, lots of RAM and 4-5 HDD drive slots. don't do PC gaming so would settle for any GPU good enough to edit video, don't need an OS, or a monitor, or any peripherals. price isn't an issue, but i think £1000 should suffice ($1553)
http://i.imgur.com/A55hA.jpg

Swap in:
i5 is comparable at video editing. Will be bit cheaper as well.
i7 doesn't benefit that much.

If you go i5 you can just piece this together, get 8GB of RAM (1333 is fine, save you $18), toss in a few more TB drives (or 1.5TB/2TB for value).

If you still want i7 get a i7-930 + GA-X58A-UD3R.

As for video a budget card will cost 40-50 and a decent one will run $80-$90.
A $80-100 card will net you a GTS 250 / 4850 / 4870 and that is fine for a lot of games, and if supported can help in CS5 or whatever can use that.
rac said:
Well my pc is freezing. It's to the point know that I can't even log in. It would work in safe mode and also when I uninstalled the nvidia display drivers. So I saved all the files I needed and reinstalled windows. Then I reinstalled the nvidia drivers again and I'm getting the same problem. I'm starting to come to the conclusion that my gtx 460 started failing. Should I try anything before I return it?

Edit: I just removed and reinstalled the drivers and I logged in without the pc freezing but I suspect it will freeze at any moment.
Run ORTHOS, Memtest 86+ (from CD), OCCT/FURMARK, and a HDD diagnostic (from your vendor) and check the SMART.

Any more info you have is good.
Dynamic3 said:
Which is better?
The EE runs your card 3C cooler, but makes your case 3C hotter. I'd get a normal one.
MikeE21286 said:
Strongly considering this monitor.

Asus VG236H

Anyone have any thoughts? It's a bit pricey, but it does come with the 3D glasses.
Do you have the GPU horsepower to run 3D? It will halve your FPS.
Also the 1080p 3D screens recently hit the market and I'd wait a bit longer until the prices and tech becomes more mature.
 
Cleaned out PC, reseated with ICD7 (my load temps were a bit high), cleaned out GPU, vacuumed a bit, mostly cleaned fans (Ran out of compressed air, resorted to tissues).

Specs:
E7200 (2.53Ghz) @ 3.8Ghz
THERMALRIGHT ULTRA EXTREME 120
PNY XLR8 GTX 260 (196 core)
4GB Corsair XMS DDR2 @ 800 5-5-5-18 (lax timings for overall stability)
Asus P5B
Corsair HX520 Modular 520W
WD6400AAKS + 320GB WD + 250GB Samsung backup
AV-710 Soundcard (Now with SpaceDolphins and FREE! WINCINEMA)
2x Samsung SH-203 DVD Burners

Pieced it together and slowly upgraded it since over 3 years ago. The only parts I use from the original build are my motherboard and power supply.

<Text>
<Related Picture>

No Flash.
5qOA9.jpg


With Flash. :(
jYQ9t.jpg


120x38mm 0.30A Delta Fans. Keep it cool. You can also see my solder + tape job on the 3 pin extension.
jUrNc.jpg


Dustornado.
lRgqC.jpg


CPU (Not sanded! Unlike my old CPU) TIM is ICD7 which I highly recommend.
qP7sV.jpg


TRUE 120 (Either I sanded the bottom, or the guy I bought it off did)
sZqOa.jpg


Frontview: RocketFish (Lian-Li offbrand)
PdEGR.jpg


Huzzah! (Not really, my CPU temps went up 1C after.) I hope the ICD7 spreads out or something. I didn't tighten it as much as I had 95 PSI on my CPU previously and I felt that was overkill when most people and HS installations have 40-55 PSI.

Apparently the TRUE doesn't care if it has 1.5 years of dust caked on it. In fact it cools better that way. :lol
On the plus side GPU temps dropped 6C.
MpyFj.jpg
 
finally got settled in my new apartment with my new rig hooked up to the net!

there was website that compiled all the programs (adobe, quicktime, etc) you need to install on a new pc that people posted in this thread, but i can't find the post :( anyone know what i'm talking about
 
That looks like a lot of TIM, Hazaro. I've always used AS5, but ICD7 is one of the TIMs that I've considered giving a shot at some point.


Prezhulio said:
finally got settled in my new apartment with my new rig hooked up to the net!

there was website that compiled all the programs (adobe, quicktime, etc) you need to install on a new pc that people posted in this thread, but i can't find the post :( anyone know what i'm talking about
http://ninite.com/
 
·feist· said:
That looks like a lot of TIM, Hazaro. I've always used AS5, but ICD7 is one of the TIMs that I've considered giving a shot at some point.
Non-conductive, non-capacative, no burn in time, 99.7% diamond (The tube is measured in carats), can also be used as a metal polish, team does cooling testing. 3C cooler than AS5 on average.

More TIM is usually not very impactful, better to use more than less. This go around I did use less, not going to bother checking the spread until I upgrade my computer since remounting a TRUE 120 and 38mm fans is a real pain.
-COOLIO- said:
it's reassuring that one of our top pc advisors is frugal enough to maintain a pc for 3+ years though.
If I had a quad I would be set for 4+ at least!
The build is actually 3 years and 4 months old now, I'll probably run it at least another 3-6.

I could still sell my E7200 and drop in a Q6600/Q9500 if I wanted a cheap upgrade.
For now a 3.8Ghz dual still does pretty darn well. I could 4.1+ if I was feeling frisky but the volts I need are a bit higher than I'd like.

I actually booted up at 1.46V (instead of 1.32V) when I auto loaded my profile so if I don't mind running at 85C load I have a lot of headroom :lol
 
Dynamic3 said:
Which is better?

I would say that logic says that external exhaust would be better since it is blowing hot air out of your case instead of the hot air being blown from the GPU into the case. Not sure if EE is louder due to this, but I have EE and it is fine.
 
I don't know much about computers but I just had my brother build me one...total cost $1150. Pretty awesome. Civ V here I come(in a month). Is there some shortcut on my computer to list my specs? Just got windows 7 64bit...and have no idea how to find it...not that I knew how before. :lol
 
Hazaro said:
Non-conductive, non-capacative, no burn in time, 99.7% diamond (The tube is measured in carats), can also be used as a metal polish, team does cooling testing. 3C cooler than AS5 on average.

More TIM is usually not very impactful, better to use more than less. This go around I did use less, not going to bother checking the spread until I upgrade my computer since remounting a TRUE 120 and 38mm fans is a real pain.

If I had a quad I would be set for 4+ at least!
The build is actually 3 years and 4 months old now, I'll probably run it at least another 3-6.

I could still sell my E7200 and drop in a Q6600/Q9500 if I wanted a cheap upgrade.
For now a 3.8Ghz dual still does pretty darn well. I could 4.1+ if I was feeling frisky but the volts I need are a bit higher than I'd like.

I actually booted up at 1.46V (instead of 1.32V) when I auto loaded my profile so if I don't mind running at 85C load I have a lot of headroom :lol
For AS5 and Ceramique you only put just a dab of thermal paste because if the paste is too thick that actually is as bad as not using thermal paste at all. Is this not the case for ICD7 I've never heard of it.

Edit: I see ICD7 is applied thick.
http://www.innovationcooling.com/applicationinstructions.htm
http://forum.notebookreview.com/6614350-post623.html
 
vazel said:
For AS5 and Ceramique you only put just a dab of thermal paste because if the paste is too thick that actually is as bad as not using thermal paste at all. Is this not the case for ICD7 I've never heard of it.

Edit: I see ICD7 is applied thick.
http://www.innovationcooling.com/applicationinstructions.htm
http://forum.notebookreview.com/6614350-post623.html
I should have clarified that I meant a small difference.

Slathering it is obviously a very bad idea. Difference between a 3.5mm bead/ball and 5mm not so much.
 
Went to Microcenter to get the Cooleraster Hyper 212+

They didn't have it, so I got this instead.

http://www.scythe-usa.com/product/cpu/051/scmg2100-detail.html

The dude seemed knowledgeable and was confident that this is a much better cooler and it was more than worth the extra cash for it. Just want to double check before I go home (in LA on vacation) and find out I got rooked.

Also is the thermal paste it comes with good, or should I pick up better stuff? If so what is some good thermal paste?
 
WEGGLES said:
Went to Microcenter to get the Cooleraster Hyper 212+

They didn't have it, so I got this instead.

http://www.scythe-usa.com/product/cpu/051/scmg2100-detail.html

The dude seemed knowledgeable and was confident that this is a much better cooler and it was more than worth the extra cash for it. Just want to double check before I go home (in LA on vacation) and find out I got rooked.

Also is the thermal paste it comes with good, or should I pick up better stuff? If so what is some good thermal paste?
The Mugen II is indeed a good cooler. Included paste is fine.

The 212+ is recommended since it is cheap and performs 1-3C hotter than $50 heatsinks. Hope you got the mugen at a decent price anyway!
 
Hazaro said:
The Mugen II is indeed a good cooler. Included paste is fine.

The 212+ is recommended since it is cheap and performs 1-3C hotter than $50 heatsinks. Hope you got the mugen at a decent price anyway!
I think it came to $80 for TF2, 2 120mm fans and the cooler. Probably not the best deal, but not super worried about it. Better than paying shipping/waiting for it and so on. :lol

That said.

The cooler comes with one fan. AndI have 2 more.

Would I be better off putting the 2 on my case, for exhausting more hot air out the back? Or at the front to pull in more cool air?

Or put one on the case and 2 on the cooler?
 
WEGGLES said:
I think it came to $80 for TF2, 2 120mm fans and the cooler. Probably not the best deal, but not super worried about it. Better than paying shipping/waiting for it and so on. :lol

That said.

The cooler comes with one fan. AndI have 2 more.

Would I be better off putting the 2 on my case, for exhausting more hot air out the back? Or at the front to pull in more cool air?

Or put one on the case and 2 on the cooler?
Which case do you have and what components (CPU, GPU, number/location of HDDs)?
 
Hey Hazaro, I got that asus monitor with my new rig. IT'S FUCKING FANTASTIC, even for 2d stuff. The 3d stuff is just icing on the cake. However, I do have a pretty insane rig right now, so it's hard for me to say if it'd be good for you or not.
 
·feist· said:
Which case do you have and what components (CPU, GPU, number/location of HDDs)?

Cooler Master CM 690 II basic case
XFX 5850, the egg cooler one, not reference cooler
intel i5 750

2HDDS at the front of the case, one at the top of the hard drive cages, one 2 spots down, spread out.
 
WEGGLES said:
Cooler Master CM 690 II basic case
XFX 5850, the egg cooler one, not reference cooler
intel i5 750

2HDDS at the front of the case, one at the top of the hard drive cages, one 2 spots down, spread out.
Have you considered placing your other drive in the second slot and removing the bottom of the HDD rack like this:
cm-690-ii-4_t.jpg


Depending on who you ask, your intake and exhaust are supposed to have similar CFM for balanced airflow in a standard layout. To get more air into your case, I'd recommend trying a set-up like this:

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=22922743&postcount=12999

The Mugen 2 has great cooling at the expense of space. One of the primary reasons that it performs so well is due to the massive surface area. If you aren't planning on over-clocking and don't see much high CPU load, going push/pull on it won't really do much for you (unless you want to run 2 slower, quieter fans).

I'd try using the two new fans as dual intakes, sticking with the Mugen's stock fan on the HSF, and placing the old 120mm intake into the top of the case. The lower fan location in the side panel is also worth a shot, but it'll make the panel rattle (possibly requiring rubber/silicone deadening) and may not net you any real drop in GPU temps.
 
WEGGLES said:
I'll do that, sounds good.

Just to double check: Old intake, at top/back.
2 new fans at front
scythe fan on the heat sink.

And if there aren't enough fan headers on my mobo it's fine to use the molex adapters?

Or will this have enough for all the fans?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128425
(I'm a couple thousand miles from my PC so I can't check) :lol
Yeah. I'm assuming you purchased some good fans, of course. The main thing is to experiment a little and see what you're happiest with as far as temps and noise.

In my own 690, I have the side panel openings and case floor sealed off (the open bottom area where you'd place a dual radiator or intake fan). It's to keep dust from being sucked in, and forcing the air to flow through the case before it escapes through any openings.

Molex is fine. I have a mobo/molex mix. If you wanted to stick with the board's fan headers alone, you'd need a Y-adapter like this:
C184-27391.jpg


Then it'd be best to use the same/similar fan with it, and not go for high power draw ones like some Delta units that might exceed your particular mobo's fan header power capabilities.
 
Oh excellent.

And defintely seems like there'll be a lot of tinkering on my hands when I get home. :D

...and people say consoles are simple like it's a good thing. :lol
 
Quick question about overclocking. Is it possible to have the card downclock itself when idle as it normally would with default settings?

I bumped up my HD5850 to 775/1125 and now while I'm idling my core clock is 400 and my memory clock is 1100 compared to 157/300 on default settings. It isn't terrible but I'd rather have the card running cooler when it has nothing to do.
 
Salaadin said:
Worked on my case a little today. Cut some holes next to the PSU and HDD cages and started running the wires behind the mobo. I cant help but feel that I couldve done a better job but Im a little unsure right now as to where to put all of the wires. SOme of them just arent long enough.


Before:
http://i38.tinypic.com/2yvudqp.jpg
After:
http://i33.tinypic.com/29prxog.jpg

The HD Audio cable will be tucked into the top of the case and Im going to try and tie the CPU FAN cable up there too and make it more out of the way. I still have a huge jumble of SATA and SATA power cables for all of my HDDs so I need to pull those through a little bit more and tie them off which should get it more out of the way.

The biggest change is the Scythe Mugen 2.

Temps:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v90/mgs2_solid_snake/temps.jpg

Previously, temps hung at 36-39C idle, 71-73C load. Now we have 25-29C idle, 45-48C load. Maybe theyll get better once the AS5 settles.

The rest of my night is going to be about further cleaning up the case some and tieing off the wires. I also heard theres issue with the Antec 900 side fan and the Mugen so I might have to monkey around there. Overall, Im pretty happy.

Now to overclock this thing :D

Did you get an increase in NB temps after installing the new cooler? I also have a gigabyte mobo (GA770TA-UD3) and a scythe mugen ii and my NB temps hover around 80 Celsius. According to gigabyte and other owners of this board, this temp is nothing out of the ordinary. However, I never installed the default cooler and I wonder whether airflow of the original cooler would have kept the NB temp lower.
 
toasty_T said:
Quick question about overclocking. Is it possible to have the card downclock itself when idle as it normally would with default settings?

I bumped up my HD5850 to 775/1125 and now while I'm idling my core clock is 400 and my memory clock is 1100 compared to 157/300 on default settings. It isn't terrible but I'd rather have the card running cooler when it has nothing to do.
Rivatuner is a good program to use, you can set it up to at either certain times, temps or powers you can change clock and fan settings on the fly, for your gpu that is.

I run my 260 OC'd with 75% fan (default is 30% or so) and it keeps it at 60ish, works a treat.

Only downside is rivatuner needs to boot at windows start or you need to at least enable the rivatuner program at least once every time you reboot so it can setup the settings, if you want to have some profile settings for dropping OC rates at a high temp you need to keep rivatuner on in the system tray, it's a small program so it's not eating tons of ram if you do.
 
Anyone know if there's a significant CPU update coming in the next 6-12 months or so?

I'm looking at building a new PC finally (still running my 3-4 year old C2D with a GTX260 upgrade), but I'm not in any particular rush.

If an I7 build now will be good for 2+ years, I'll probably hop onboard soon, but if there's a major update coming soon, I'll just wait.
 
Victrix said:
Anyone know if there's a significant CPU update coming in the next 6-12 months or so?

I'm looking at building a new PC finally (still running my 3-4 year old C2D with a GTX260 upgrade), but I'm not in any particular rush.

If an I7 build now will be good for 2+ years, I'll probably hop onboard soon, but if there's a major update coming soon, I'll just wait.
Bulldozer and sandy Bridge are coming out with a new socket for sandy bridge. I'd wait for them to come out as they should be quite a bit faster than their current offerings.
 
Hazaro said:
Do you have the GPU horsepower to run 3D? It will halve your FPS.
Also the 1080p 3D screens recently hit the market and I'd wait a bit longer until the prices and tech becomes more mature.

My computer is basically...

Q6600 (stock)
4GB DDR2
GTX 460

I think I'm right near the threshold of being able to play 3D stuff at good visual quality and good frames (?)

Also, what about 1920x1080 for this setup?
 
Mr Nightman said:
should a side panel case fan be intake or exhaust?
Intake.
MikeE21286 said:
My computer is basically...

Q6600 (stock)
4GB DDR2
GTX 460

I think I'm right near the threshold of being able to play 3D stuff at good visual quality and good frames (?)

Also, what about 1920x1080 for this setup?
That CPU is heavily bottlenecking you. OC it to at least 3GHZ if you want playable framerates in 3D.
 
Tensai said:
Bulldozer and sandy Bridge are coming out with a new socket for sandy bridge. I'd wait for them to come out as they should be quite a bit faster than their current offerings.

Bulldozer won't be available in the next 6 months and only the mainstream Sandy Bridge chips (which are limited to quad cores) will be released in that timeframe, not the high end models.
 
MikeE21286 said:
My computer is basically...

Q6600 (stock)
4GB DDR2
GTX 460

I think I'm right near the threshold of being able to play 3D stuff at good visual quality and good frames (?)

Also, what about 1920x1080 for this setup?

Probably going to need a second 460 for a decent S3D experience.


Tensai said:
That CPU is heavily bottlenecking you. OC it to at least 3GHZ if you want playable framerates in 3D.

It won't bottleneck a single GTX 460 in S3D mode (since the GPU load is so damn high and the CPU load doesn't change). Though yes, its seriously due an overclock all the same.
 
brain_stew said:
Bulldozer won't be available in the next 6 months and only the mainstream Sandy Bridge chips (which are limited to quad cores) will be released in that timeframe, not the high end models.
He said 6-12 months.
 
Tensai said:
He said 6-12 months.

They could very well be further out than that (slated for H2 2011) and certainly a lot further out than 6 months at the very least. Waiting 12 months for faster CPUs when even a $100 CPU will remove the CPU bottleneck in most rigs/games, just seems kinda pointless to me.
 
brain_stew said:
They could very well be further out than that (slated for H2 2011) and certainly a lot further out than 6 months at the very least. Waiting 12 months for faster CPUs when even a $100 CPU will remove the CPU bottleneck in most rigs/games, just seems kinda pointless to me.
SB's highend will be here in around 8 months time and will OC much better and be at least ~30% faster clock for clock and since they're clocked higher from stock a comparable SB cpu should be around 50% faster than a nehalem, that combined with the fact that they'll come in 6 and 8 core variants in what should be a better price than the 980x and having motherboards which will actually be supported in the future means that you should wait if you can. Even the first wave of socket 1155 CPUs out this year which are replacing socket 1156 should be noticeably faster than anything out now even if they do only come in dual and quad core variants.
 
Overclocked a little bit and want to know if these temps are ok for how little I did so far:

29x9afd.jpg


Its prime stable. Im going to run memtest 86+ and OCCT yet to be sure.
 
Building my first rig, and I need some help. I'm basically copying toms hardware's $550 comp from June. I just want to be sure everything is compatible and/if there's better hardware to put in it.

Specs:
AMD Athlon II X3 440 Rana 3.0GHz Socket AM3
ASUS M4A77TD AM3 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard
XFX HD-577A-ZNFC Radeon HD 5770 (Juniper XT) 1GB
Cooler Master 500W PS
COOLER MASTER Elite 330 Case
2 gigs of DDR3 RAM (I can always upgrade)

This plus a hard drive and optical drive costs about $530. I have little expendable income, so I'm not looking to spend more $600. The less I spend on the rig, the more I have to buy a decent monitor.
 
The Big Rig said:
Building my first rig, and I need some help. I'm basically copying toms hardware's $550 comp from June. I just want to be sure everything is compatible and/if there's better hardware to put in it.

Specs:
AMD Athlon II X3 440 Rana 3.0GHz Socket AM3
ASUS M4A77TD AM3 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard
XFX HD-577A-ZNFC Radeon HD 5770 (Juniper XT) 1GB
Cooler Master 500W PS
COOLER MASTER Elite 330 Case
2 gigs of DDR3 RAM (I can always upgrade)

This plus a hard drive and optical drive costs about $530. I have little expendable income, so I'm not looking to spend more $600. The less I spend on the rig, the more I have to buy a decent monitor.
See if you can get a bit extra for a Phenom II 955 which recently had a price drop and a GTX 460 will be a massive upgrade over that 5770.
 
The Big Rig said:
Building my first rig, and I need some help. I'm basically copying toms hardware's $550 comp from June. I just want to be sure everything is compatible and/if there's better hardware to put in it.

Specs:
AMD Athlon II X3 440 Rana 3.0GHz Socket AM3
ASUS M4A77TD AM3 AMD 770 ATX AMD Motherboard
XFX HD-577A-ZNFC Radeon HD 5770 (Juniper XT) 1GB
Cooler Master 500W PS
COOLER MASTER Elite 330 Case
2 gigs of DDR3 RAM (I can always upgrade)

This plus a hard drive and optical drive costs about $530. I have little expendable income, so I'm not looking to spend more $600. The less I spend on the rig, the more I have to buy a decent monitor.

Get a quad and 2GB really doesn't cut it these days. You want a 870 board, not a 770 board.
 
brain_stew said:
Get a quad and 2GB really doesn't cut it these days. You want a 870 board, not a 770 board.
Since he's on a budget he'd be better off spending the money on the CPU and GPU, there isn't a big enough difference between them unless you're going to use an SSD which he isn't.
 
brain_stew said:
There's no real difference in price though, no good reason to risk Bulldozer compatibility when you don't have to. He can just get this for $70:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130290&cm_re=am3-_-13-130-290-_-Product
Haven't got a clue about the price difference, obviously if it's only £10 then he might as well. Then again you can get some really cheap and decent 770 boards which most 870 boards would struggle to match price wise.
 
Tensai said:
Haven't got a clue about the price difference, obviously if it's only £10 then he might as well. Then again you can get some really cheap and decent 770 boards which most 870 boards would struggle to match price wise.

There isn't any, the Asus board he chose is actually more expensive and only has one full size PCIe slot.
 
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