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[Rufus]

My hyper 212+ is blocking my first and second slots on the MSI 790FX-GD70 mobo. If I install my new ram on slots three and four, does that take away the dual-channel capabilities?

Not to be an ass, but first order of business is always to RTFM. That being said...
If 1+2 are used for dual channel, it stands to reason that 3+4 are as well. Looking at the manual (aren't I nice?) doesn't specifically confirm this, however. It only mentions/shows two options for dual channel, 1+2 and 1+2+3+4 but not 3+4 specifically. It also says slot 1 needs to be used first so it boots...? Meaning it may not boot if there's no RAM in slot 1, even if there is in 3+4, I guess? My suggestion: try it. If it boots, check CPU-Z if they work in dual channel.

 

[tch]

Hi. I'm looking to get a wireless card for my pc. If anyone could recommend some I'd appreciate it.

 

[I should be doing hw]

Does anyone have a Antec P183-V3 here? How would you rate it? I can't decide between that and a Fractal R3. Is there any news of an R4 coming out in the near future or should I not hold my breath?

 

[wowzors]

Picked up:
Gigabyte GA-Z68XP-UD3
Intel i5 2500k
CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600

425 out the door, with 30 dollars of mail in rebates, not too shabby.

 

[chaosblade]

guys?

Don't bother, the two cards are more or less equal. The 250 actually beats the 450 in some games.

460 would be a decent upgrade, just make sure you don't get a gimped SE model. 6850 is similar, from AMD.

 

[luffeN]

Nowadays, unless you have an extremely good set of headphones/speakers, the onboard sound that comes with most motherboards is really quite ample to handle the job. You'd be doing a huge disservice to get a separate sound card but pair it up with logitech speakers, for example.

IF I buy a soundcard I will also buy good headphones. I will try the onboard sound of the new motherboard first and then see if I still need more volume. Don't want the windows sound cranked up to 100 to start hearing something in Winamp xD

 

[Bradach]

After a good lurk on this thread I put together my own PC last month!  It's a respectable;
 AMD Black Edition - Processor - 1 x AMD Phenom II X4 955 / 3.2 Ghz 
Corsair XMS3 - Memory - 8 GB DDR3
MSI N560GTX-Ti Hawk - Graphics adapter - GF GTX 1GB
Samsung SpinPoint F3 Desktop Class HD103SJ (1 TB)
MSI 870A-G54 - Motherboard - ATX

I have to say I'm loving PC gaming, (Crysis 2 and the Witcher 2 mostly).  I'd been away from PC gaming for the past 5/6 years so I'd forgotten how much a difference good frame rates and high textures could make.  Fiddling with the settings on a new game is like a mini game in itself!


It feels like a went ahead and started the next gen without the big 3's permission

 

[RS4-]

Hazaro, you could add this to the OP if you'd like: http://www.tweakguides.com/

Pretty convenient guide for tweaks people can do for games to get the most out of them without too many consequences. Most if not all the games listed are FPS though lol

 

[Althane]

I'm building a computer with a budget of about $1-$1,500, but starting from absolute scratch (only thing I have is a mouse). I know enough about computers to be able to choose most everything else easily, but Motherboards are killing me. I've got two I'm looking at:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16813131641

And

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131730

the difference in price isn't a major concern, but I don't know which one is better. I'm going to have one graphics card, and I shouldn't need more than 8 GB of ram. What do you guys think?

 

[n0n44m]

x58 = 1366 socket = older i7 cpu's = only interesting for very expensive 6 core cpus

so the P8Z68-V PRO then I guess (you do want a Sandy Bridge cpu right? RIGHT?)

 

[Hazaro]

Pick the 1155 motherboard since that is the correct socket.

 

[Althane]

Okay, going with the P8Z68-PRO. I've got the Intel i7-2600 3.4 GHz Sandy Bridges to go along with it! (Not gonna get the unlocked multiplier though, I'm not interested in overclocking)

 

[knitoe]

Okay, going with the P8Z68-PRO. I've got the Intel i7-2600 3.4 GHz Sandy Bridges to go along with it! (Not gonna get the unlocked multiplier though, I'm not interested in overclocking)

For $15 more with 2600K, you can easily overclock to 4.4-4.5 GHz. A 1GHz plus increase in speed is huge. Some games already take advantage of the overclock speeds. Even if you don't want to right now, having the ability to do so in future is a no brainer decision.

 

[Althane]

Which games are those? That's a pretty significant overclock, is that still going to be feasible with an air cooled system?

 

[knitoe]

Which games are those? That's a pretty significant overclock, is that still going to be feasible with an air cooled system?

The Witcher 2 is a big one. A ~$30 Cooler Master 212+ air cooler, what I am using, easy handle those speeds.

 

[teh_pwn]

Which games are those? That's a pretty significant overclock, is that still going to be feasible with an air cooled system?

Yes, with the Cooler Master 212 heatsink. I've seen it run cooler OCed with this than at stock frequencies with stock heatsink. It's a really good heatsink.

Just use prime95 and core temp to ensure it doesn't go above 75 load (conservative, I've seen stock go above this).

Though OCing to 4.5 GHz probably would require 1600 MHz RAM, and you have to add the cost of the heatsink. So it isn't just $15, but it's a big gain in performance. And it's not really 1 GHz. It's 700 MHz-1.1 GHz, depending on how much turbo boosting there is.

 

[teh_pwn]

My hyper 212+ is blocking my first and second slots on the MSI 790FX-GD70 mobo. If I install my new ram on slots three and four, does that take away the dual-channel capabilities?

Move the heatsink fan to the other side. You'll need to unscrew it so you can reverse the fan so it keeps pushing air out of the case.

 

[Althane]

The Witcher 2 is a big one. A ~$30 Cooler Master 212+ air cooler, what I am using, easy handle those speeds.

That sounds like a good argument to me, I'll go ahead with the 2600k.

 

[knitoe]

Though OCing to 4.5 GHz probably would require 1600 MHz RAM, and you have to add the cost of the heatsink. So it isn't just $15, but it's a big gain in performance. And it's not really 1 GHz. It's 700 MHz-1.1 GHz, depending on how much turbo boosting there is.

On Sandy bridge, you don't need higher ram speed to overclock since the BLK can only stably run 100-103. The sweet spot, performance / price, is 1600mhz, but there's no issue running 1333mhz ram.

And, with regular turbo, it's only fastest 1 core = 3.8GHz, 2 core = 3.7 GHz, 3 core = 3.6 GHz and 4 core = 3.5GHz. So, if you overclock 4 core = 4.5GHz, that's 1GHz over the normal turbo mode.

 

[wandering goat]

Does anyone have a Antec P183-V3 here? How would you rate it? I can't decide between that and a Fractal R3. Is there any news of an R4 coming out in the near future or should I not hold my breath?

I have that, and I like it well enough for a quiet system. However, I'd recommend the R3 in almost every case unless you want to put more money into the P183, or unless you have a fan controller with knobs (the R3's door lies pretty flat against the expansion bays, while the Antec's doesn't). The P183 is very solidly built, and I've heard that it cancels out noise a bit better than an R3, all things being equal (as it should, the thing is heavy as hell, good for dampening vibrations I'm sure, but it strains your back moving it around). The front USB3 support is nice too, though the cord is meant to go around back and plug into a USB 3 port, not a motherboard connector. However, I would think that the R3's ports / power buttons are more easily accessible than the P183s, being on top (though the P183 can easily be turned on with the door closed by poking your finger through one of the front fan holes).

The P183 does have some other flaws / extra work you have to do. The case has some cable management options, like routing things around the back and such, but it's more limited than modern cases in this respect and things can get tight unless you can do it pretty neatly. The R3 is much more modular, having the removable covers for the top and side fan slots, whereas P183 you would have to cover the top slot yourself. Speaking of slots, the R3 can also support much more fan configurations, having side, two top, and a bottom fan openings, if you decide you need more cooling. The R3 also supports two front fans blowing into the main chamber, while P183 has just one, and the Fractal allows the PSU to pull air directly from beneath the case (not a big deal, as the P183's separate PSU chamber will accomplish similar enough cooling). The default R3 fans I also hear are better than the P183's. The P183 also has two extra 5.25" bays, if that's important to you.

Unless you have a specific reason for choosing the P183 (USB 3, front fan controller spacing, amount of 5.25" bays, or extra sturdiness / potential quietness), I would go with the R3, which is more modern and adaptable. I would recommend it wholeheartedly if it only had space in the front for knobbed fan controllers and an extra 5.25" bay or two. If you are interested in the P183, here / here is how I managed my cabling in it.

 

[Exuro]

Not sure where to put this but would anyone know why one of the channels on my Klipsch ProMedia 2.1 speakers would stop working? Woke up this morning and noticed no sound coming out of the channel and I don't know what could be the problem.

 

[Althane]

Final question, since everything else I should be able to work out for myself.

Does anyone have experience with a EVGA Geforce GTX 560? Or would there be a better video card you would suggest for around the same price range?

 

[Gvaz]

Final question, since everything else I should be able to work out for myself.

Does anyone have experience with a EVGA Geforce GTX 560? Or would there be a better video card you would suggest for around the same price range?

Depends on how much you want to spend and what card you already have.

 

[Velion]

Final question, since everything else I should be able to work out for myself.

Does anyone have experience with a EVGA Geforce GTX 560? Or would there be a better video card you would suggest for around the same price range?

Instead of getting that one I'd go with this one here. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127565 Better cooling and a little better OC for about the same price.

 

[Althane]

Depends on how much you want to spend and what card you already have.

Starting completely from scratch, and probably up to $300 on a graphics card.

 

[Gareth Bale]

Ok, I've ordered the following:

CPU: 3.3GHz Intel Core i5-2500K
Motherboard: Asus P8P67
Graphics Card: MSI N560GTX-Ti Twin Frozr II/OC
Case: Fractal Design Define R3
HDD: 1TB Samsung SpinPoint F3

Does this fit with the above: Samsung SH-S222AB 22x DVD±RW DL & RAM SATA Optical Drive

I just need memory (2x4GB) and a PSU (something reliable between 500-650W, and preferably a quiet one).

How does this look: G Skill 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 1333mhz Ripjaws Memory Kit CL9 (9-9-9-24) 1.5V

I have no idea about what's a good PSU for what I'm buying...

 

[Gvaz]

Starting completely from scratch, and probably up to $300 on a graphics card.

Get a 570 or the ATI equivalent then.

 

[Althane]

Get a 570 or the ATI equivalent then.

I think I'll spring for the 570 then, it's got impressive reviews.

So what I've got so far:

CPU: Intel i7-2600k Sandy Bridges 3.4 GHz Quad Core
MoBo: ASUS P8Z68-V PRO
GPU: EVEA 570
HDD: Western Digital 1 TB 7200 RPM

For a total of $941 so far.

So what's left is a wireless card, a PSU, RAM (6 GB), and a case, as far as I can tell. Sweet.

Edit: I should note that this is the first computer I've ever attempted to build myself, and my first time computer shopping in 5 years. Hence the many hopeless questions.

 

[Salsa]

alright shit's driving me crazy

any ideas for the high pitched noise? seems to be coming from the front of the PC, but i think its not the optical drive or the hard drives. The PSU makes this quiet noice even when the PC is off, but i dont think its that either.

Out of ideas here, tried sticking out everything and go one at a time to see what it could possibly be but no luck. Only alternative left is to change the generic case, but its gonna have to wait till the end of the month :/ so living with this annoying noise it is.. i guess.

Again, any ideas? could this possibly be normal and im just crazy? my father doesnt seem to hear it but the frequency is rather high so it could be due to his age i guess. Out of ideas, fuck.

 

[Ryan_]

is an XFX Core Edition 550 Watt sufficient for a GTX 570 ?

 

[tiff]

Building a new gaming PC pretty much from scratch but I really don't have an in-depth knowledge of computers so this is all very new to me. The $1000 build looks to be about my price range; is that a good foundation to build from or might there be better options for some parts that I might want to know about?

 

[Dina]

Does this fit with the above: Samsung SH-S222AB 22x DVD±RW DL & RAM SATA Optical Drive

It does. It's not a slimcase (and even that fits since the R3 has options for those drives with mounting brackets).

 

[wandering goat]

alright shit's driving me crazy

any ideas for the high pitched noise? seems to be coming from the front of the PC, but i think its not the optical drive or the hard drives. The PSU makes this quiet noice even when the PC is off, but i dont think its that either.

Out of ideas here, tried sticking out everything and go one at a time to see what it could possibly be but no luck. Only alternative left is to change the generic case, but its gonna have to wait till the end of the month :/ so living with this annoying noise it is.. i guess.

Again, any ideas? could this possibly be normal and im just crazy? my father doesnt seem to hear it but the frequency is rather high so it could be due to his age i guess. Out of ideas, fuck.

You've tried stopping all of the fans, either by controller / motherboard or manually putting something in their way? Very hard to isolate noise otherwise, even if it sounds like it's coming from some place specific. Besides that, some components may just emit a high pitched sound, like the PSU, motherboard, or GPU, because of coil whine or otherwise. Also, if you have any power saving modes activated for your CPU in the BIOS, you could try turning them off for a bit and see if it goes away. And I'm assuming you've checked that it's not your monitor. Unplug it if necessary, LCDs can often make a high pitched noise, especially when their brightness is reduced, sometimes even when turned off but still plugged in.

 

[Salsa]

You've tried stopping all of the fans, either by controller / motherboard or manually putting something in their way? Very hard to isolate noise otherwise, even if it sounds like it's coming from some place specific. Besides that, some components may just emit a high pitched sound, like the PSU, motherboard, or GPU, because of coil whine or otherwise. Also, if you have any power saving modes activated for your CPU in the BIOS, you could try turning them off for a bit and see if it goes away. And I'm assuming you've checked that it's not your monitor. Unplug it if necessary, LCDs can often make a high pitched noise, especially when their brightness is reduced, sometimes even when turned off but still plugged in.

yup, pretty much checked all of these things. Its really weird cause like i said i can pretty much nail it to the front of the PC, that's definetly where its coming from. Im under the impression (could be wrong) that the actual spot where i hear it most is where there's.. nothing. Just metal from the case. A bit above the hard drives. I gather that it could be some metal vibrating and generating the noise, but ive tried pushing it a bit, tightening the screws etc, and nada.

Could also be that this shit is just normal coming from some component, and im supposed to have a bigger and quieter case. i5 2500k+gtx560ti dont really belong in an old generic case, so who knows. Need to get another one asap though, and pray to god that it fixes it.

There was also kind of a lighting storm the other day and the PC shut off and on again at one time, but that couldnt be it could it? performance is alright in every aspect, just the noise.

 

[Gareth Bale]

It does. It's not a slimcase (and even that fits since the R3 has options for those drives with mounting brackets).

Cheers mate. I went with:

PSU: Corsair TX 750W V2 PSU - 80plus Bronze Certified (so I'm set for future upgrading)
Memory: G Skill 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 1333mhz Ripjaws Memory Kit CL9 (9-9-9-24) 1.5V
Optical: Samsung SH-S222AB 22x DVD±RW DL & RAM SATA Optical Drive

to add to:

CPU: 3.3GHz Intel Core i5-2500K
Motherboard: Asus P8P67
Graphics Card: MSI N560GTX-Ti Twin Frozr II/OC
Case: Fractal Design Define R3
HDD: 1TB Samsung SpinPoint F3

£680 in total. If my research serves me right this should all fit together... right?

 

[Dina]

It does. You can swap 1600mhz ram for 1333mhz ones tho. I think bit-tech calculated that 1600mhz is the sweetspot for Sandy Bridge cpu's bang-for-buck wise.

 

[Gvaz]

I think I'll spring for the 570 then, it's got impressive reviews.

So what I've got so far:

CPU: Intel i7-2600k Sandy Bridges 3.4 GHz Quad Core
MoBo: ASUS P8Z68-V PRO
GPU: EVEA 570
HDD: Western Digital 1 TB 7200 RPM

For a total of $941 so far.

So what's left is a wireless card, a PSU, RAM (6 GB), and a case, as far as I can tell. Sweet.

Edit: I should note that this is the first computer I've ever attempted to build myself, and my first time computer shopping in 5 years. Hence the many hopeless questions.

IMO you should go for the I5-2500k instead, you won't see huge improvements right now with the i7 since most games don't support Hyperthreading. It's fine if you want to do lots of video editing and the like however. That should save you $100 right there.

 

[Gareth Bale]

It does. You can swap 1600mhz ram for 1333mhz ones tho. I think bit-tech calculated that 1600mhz is the sweetspot for Sandy Bridge cpu's bang-for-buck wise.

Is this the article?

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/memory/2011/01/11/the-best-memory-for-sandy-bridge/12

They say for gaming it's the equivalent of 1-3 fps. And I wasn't planning on upgrading any time soon so it makes sense to go for 1600mhz when it's only £8 more. Plus, it's easy to change your order on ebuyer.

 

[Dina]

Is this the article?

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/memory/2011/01/11/the-best-memory-for-sandy-bridge/12

They say for gaming it's the equivalent of 1-3 fps. And I wasn't planning on upgrading any time soon so it makes sense to go for 1600mhz when it's only more. Plus, it's easy to change your order on ebuyer.

That's the one. It's a margical upgrade, but it also is a margical cost increase.

 

[evil solrac v3.0]

guys I need help, recently bought A ASUS P8P67 WS Revolution motherboard, OCZ Vertex 3 120gb SSD and teo Samsung spinpoint F3 1TB HDDs. I was planning to use the SSD as a boot drive, the Samsung spinpoints in RAID for games, and use two other hard drives from my old PC as a storage for movies/music, etc.

the mobo has 4 SATA6gb ports and 4 SATA3gb ports. I placed the SSD and dvd drive on the first two SATA6 ports and the four other hard drives in the SATA3 ports.

but none of the hard drives are being seen or detected in BIOS or windows. only the SSd and dvd drives. any clues? my girlfriend said she claimed she saw a brief spark of smoke and I did smell something but only very briefly, but I'm not sure. I tried different ports as well and cables and still no luck.

 

[buhdeh]

Your Current Specs: Laptop (garbage)
Budget: ~$400-450, Canada
Main Use: Light Gaming
Monitor Resolution: 1440x900 (may be going to 1920x1080 in future)
List SPECIFIC games that you MUST be able to play: TF2, HoN, SC2 now; DOTA2, Diablo 3 future (I assume these will have similar requirements to SC2)
Are reusing any parts?: No
When will you build?: 1-2 months
Will you be overclocking?: No

Explanation: Ok, I read the OP but I'm trying to build something for even less than the $600 computer. I'm running a 19" monitor (1440x900) and really only want to build it for playing TF2, HoN/Dota2, and probably Diablo 3 (which I assume will probably have sys. reqs. close to SC2). Want everything to run maxed out at 1440x900. Probably won't need too much power for that. Would also like to have USB 3.0 and wondering whether 3gb/s vs 6gb/s support makes much of a difference.

Going by the OP, I guess I'm looking to start with the i3 2100. The case I've been looking at is the Antec 300. Everything else I'm not too sure about but I'm guessing I probably won't need a GTX 460 for my uses. Any suggestions on a full build?

 

[Tallshortman]

I think I'll spring for the 570 then, it's got impressive reviews.

So what I've got so far:

CPU: Intel i7-2600k Sandy Bridges 3.4 GHz Quad Core
MoBo: ASUS P8Z68-V PRO
GPU: EVEA 570
HDD: Western Digital 1 TB 7200 RPM

For a total of $941 so far.

So what's left is a wireless card, a PSU, RAM (6 GB), and a case, as far as I can tell. Sweet.

Edit: I should note that this is the first computer I've ever attempted to build myself, and my first time computer shopping in 5 years. Hence the many hopeless questions.

Do you do multi-threading heavy programs? If not I'd say save yourself some money and drop down to the i5 2500k.

 

[Herpes Reasons]

Anyone have the noctua NH-D14?
my budget is around $100 for the best cpu cooler at that price range.

case: cooler master centurion 5 with push/pull config. 2 120mm fans.
mb: p8p67-m pro
cpu: i7 2600k
gpu: gtx 260

 

[Chris R]

Been trying to use my pc with hdmi but it is causing all kinds of issues. Press power, system boots, I see the welcome screen in windows and then blank screen. Forced reboot into safemode and a restart makes everything work, but it would be great if everything worked the first time. 4870 over the DVI -> HDMI adapter the card came with.

 

[The Teachinator]

Been trying to use my pc with hdmi but it is causing all kinds of issues. Press power, system boots, I see the welcome screen in windows and then blank screen. Forced reboot into safemode and a restart makes everything work, but it would be great if everything worked the first time. 4870 over the DVI -> HDMI adapter the card came with.

DVI to HDMI doesn't always play nice to some TVs. Have you made sure you're running at native resolution?

 

[wandering goat]

Anyone have the noctua NH-D14?
my budget is around $100 for the best cpu cooler at that price range.

case: cooler master centurion 5 with push/pull config. 2 120mm fans.
mb: p8p67-m pro
cpu: i7 2600k
gpu: gtx 260

Lots of people have it, including me, and I think it's still one of the best air coolers if you're going for silence. Just note that it's not PWM, so you'll need a fan controller or motherboard chassis controls to lower the fan speeds, unless you're OK with the provided adaptors that set both fans at 900 rpm, which should easily provide enough cooling in most cases. Another one that's often recommended is the Thermalright Silver Arrow. That one uses PWM, but (an incredibly stupid decision on their part IMO) doesn't have a splitter cable, and not many boards have two PWM connectors. If you're not going for silence or truly extreme overclocks, both may be overkill though, especially if you have a case with great airflow.

 

[Herpes Reasons]

Lots of people have it, including me, and I think it's still one of the best air coolers if you're going for silence. Just note that it's not PWM, so you'll need a fan controller or motherboard chassis controls to lower the fan speeds, unless you're OK with the provided adaptors that set both fans at 900 rpm, which should easily provide enough cooling in most cases. Another one that's often recommended is the Thermalright Silver Arrow. That one uses PWM, but (an incredible stupid decision on their part IMO), doesn't have a splitter cable, and not many boards have two PWM connectors. If you're not going for silence or truly extreme overclocks, both may be overkill though.

i plan on O'Cking my i7 to 4.0+ghz.
i have an p8p67-m pro mobo.
i can controller the rpms via bios?

 

[RS4-]

i plan on O'Cking my i7 to 4.0+ghz.
i have an p8p67-m pro mobo.
i can controller the rpms via bios?

You probably won't have to bother with a fan controller on the D14; stock fan speeds will do great for you.

 

[Herpes Reasons]

cool, thank you.

 

[wandering goat]

i plan on O'Cking my i7 to 4.0+ghz.
i have an p8p67-m pro mobo.
i can controller the rpms via bios?

Depends on your motherboard. Mine (an 1156 socket Asus) has settings that allow you to control PWM fans based on a custom fan profile. The chassis can be controlled via the mobo, but with very very little control (intended more case fans, I think), so I use the program SpeedFan to control anything I have plugged into them manually, whose automatic fan speed settings I find not nearly as responsive as using the programs bundled with the mobo. You'd have to look into whatever motherboard you're getting for details, but I think you'll probably have to ask people for advice as I find mobo manuals are usually not at all detailed about fan control possibilities.

This is all more for silence though. As mentioned, even using the low noise adaptors of the D14 to lower RPM, they should easily be able to cool an overclocked CPU. My chip (i5-760) I think runs hot compared to others, and is overclocked from 2.8 to 4 GHz, in a case with low airflow, and runs within its recommended temps with the Noctua's fans at 750 rpm.