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[Divius]

Alright PC-GAF. I have no knowledge of PC hardware and basically ask around what I should buy when it's time to upgrade. While I'm not really looking to upgrade my PC in the near future, I would like an opinion.

Basic Desktop Questions:
Your Current Specs: AMD Phenom II X4 3,2 GHz / Club3D HD5770 / RAM: Corsair XMS3 6GB
Amount to spent / location: As little as possible / not in the US
Main Use: Gaming
Monitor Resolution: 1920x1200
Games to play: BF3/Crysis2 etc
Are reusing any parts?: Whatever doesn't have to be upgraded
When will you build?: End of the year, maybe.
Will you be overclocking?: Nope?

What part(s) would I need to upgrade in order to play, let's say, Battlefield 3/Crysis 2 on high settings and a solid framerate? Since gaming is just a hobby and I don't have to play on very high / 60 FPS I'm looking to do this as cheap as possible.

 

[Violater]

I know! Its so awesome having it all here on the table and picking it up from the store, great feeling.

Really like the case too, got a Black Pearl wonder what itll look like out of the box.

That TP-Link Usb wifi is awesome.

 

[Aegus]

Found out why my GPUs were overheating. My 850w PSU is underpowered for my setup. Running with two cards causes them to both hit near 100C temps at 100% fan speed while running the single GPU on the same game and section causes normal GPU temps and fan speeds.

 

[Movement]

fuck yeah! Gonna eat some, think it through and maybe go build ;p wish me luck. First time for me.

Good luck my man, pressing power for the first time is a terrifying yet amazing experience.

 

[Arnie]

Anyone?

Guys PC has been working fine but it was idle on the desktop and I left for about 25 minutes, came back and the monitor just says no signal. The machine is on, and I've tried restarting it but it still says no signal. I swapped the HDMI cable for another one and I tried connecting things via VGA but it still says no signal.

Anyone know what might be the problem.

 

[Velion]

Anyone?

Try reseating your gpu, and check power connectors.

 

[Arnie]

Try reseating your gpu, and check power connectors.

Will do, cheers.

 

[knitoe]

Found out why my GPUs were overheating. My 850w PSU is underpowered for my setup. Running with two cards causes them to both hit near 100C temps at 100% fan speed while running the single GPU on the same game and section causes normal GPU temps and fan speeds.

Running two cards would definitely be hotter than running just one, more so if cards are close together, and due to cooler design, the hot air is being blow around inside the case instead of out to the back. The PSU shouldn't be the issue, but I usually recommend 1000W or above for SLI or CF. Don't want to stress out the PSU, even remotely.

 

[popsicle_sundays]

Finally took the plunge GAF, spent a total of $598 and I couldn't be happier. I'm running The Witcher 2 in 1080p on Ultra at 50-60 fps, it's incredible.

The final product:

Spec are:

AMD Phenom 2 x4 945 Quad Core with L3 cache
4 gigs DDR 3 ram
1TB HDD
HD 6870 (This card barely fit, holy shit lol)

Being my first ever built computer I was super excited to get it running right away without any issues. Things run great, card is cooled nicely (only runs around 60ish under load) and it seems to run whatever I throw at it.

 

[Azwethinkweiz]

Anyone?

I have a similar problem. On my older PC, it'll boot up and I can see everything fine, but when it gets to the windows login screen, it goes blank and I get "no signal." Has anyone seen something similar to this? I've tried multiple displays and outputs. It's always the same, I can see the post and windows loading screen, then "no signal" when it gets to the login screen.

 

[blanky]

I have a red light on. Is that because I have an SSD and dvdwriter? I mean it booted good so thats fucking awesome! Thank you all for helping me.

 

[Violater]

Will do, cheers.

Try checking your power management settings, I remember having a similar problem and my USB keyboard would not wake up the pc. Had to change some settings in my cmos (I think that's what it's called.

 

[knitoe]

I have a similar problem. On my older PC, it'll boot up and I can see everything fine, but when it gets to the windows login screen, it goes blank and I get "no signal." Has anyone seen something similar to this? I've tried multiple displays and outputs. It's always the same, I can see the post and windows loading screen, then "no signal" when it gets to the login screen.

Could be the refresh rate is too high for the monitor. Also, could be a driver problem? Can you get into safe mode?

 

[Aegus]

Running two cards would definitely be hotter than running just one, more so if cards are close together, and due to cooler design, the hot air is being blow around inside the case instead of out to the back. The PSU shouldn't be the issue, but I usually recommend 1000W or above for SLI or CF. Don't want to stress out the PSU, even remotely.

Well they're both MSI 560 TI Hawks so they have custom coolers on their. Plenty of space in the case as far as I can see (Define R3).

 

[Kyoufu]

Just upgraded my RAM from 4GB to 8GB. Feels good man.

 

[Arnie]

Try checking your power management settings, I remember having a similar problem and my USB keyboard would not wake up the pc. Had to change some settings in my cmos (I think that's what it's called.

I can't see anything on the monitor so I can't even get to that stage. Waiting for my brother to get home from work before I do anything because it's his computer really.

 

[Yoritomo]

Well they're both MSI 560 TI Hawks so they have custom coolers on their. Plenty of space in the case as far as I can see (Define R3).

You need a case that can push a lot of air into the case itself, and to exhaust that air. The Define R3 is not such a case, it's mean to be silent, not to have good airflow. You need to open up the fan mount in the side panel and stick a fan there, and probably some additional fans to exhaust at the top.

This is compounded by the fact that the ti hawks primarily exhaust into the CPU case.

Yeah I double checked. In stock config the Define R3 has only 1 120 mm intake fan at the front and 1 exhaust fan at the back. That is not close to enough for an SLI setup with cards that also exhaust to the interior of the case, slap more fans on it.

 

[blanky]

Please help I dont know what it means. Everything boots good, no problems it seems, yet the boot_device_led is red. Is that fine or is something wrong? The SSD and drive were recognized.

 

[clav]

I have a problem.

Lately my system has been random blue screening. Rarely, usually after long sittings, say ~6 hours. The event viewer seems to indicate the problem is event ID 41, or Kernal-Power. Something suss on the power front then.

The culprit might be overclocking, as I've been tinkering with the voltage to lower temps of my CPU. However, as it stands, the amount of voltage my CPU gets should be way more than enough to cover my OC. I always make sure to stress test each OC, and even with the CPU under 100% load and power maxed out the system does not blue screen.

The crash occurs completely out of the blue. No stressful software running. I'll be sitting here, as per usual, browsing the web, maybe have some music playing in the background, Steam idling, and bam. Blue screen crash coming at you like a wet flannel.

Any idea where I could start looking for the culprit? Faulty PSU?

Event 41 means that the computer blue screened and restarted for no specific reason.

I was dealing with this sometime ago.

For me, a wireless card was causing the issue as somehow it occurred with every computer installed.

If it happens without overclocking, then it's something else. Check your peripherals and PCI cards.

 

[Yoritomo]

Please help I dont know what it means. Everything boots good, no problems it seems, yet the boot_device_led is red. Is that fine or is something wrong? The SSD and drive were recognized.

What does it say in your motherboard manual?

 

[knitoe]

Well they're both MSI 560 TI Hawks so they have custom coolers on their. Plenty of space in the case as far as I can see (Define R3).

After thinking of replacing my CF 6970 with custom coolers to be more quiet, found out custom coolers only really good for single cards setup. Most of them are 3 slots which leaves no separate room for SLI/CF. Makes the card on top extremely hot. Add that both cards now blow air inside the case, overall temps are going to increase big time.

 

[sinxtanx]

Hi PC-GAF!
My old computer is starting to crap out on me, and the disc drive won't recognize discs anymore, so I can't reinstall W7 anymore.
So I'm buying a new computer! Yay progress!

My Current Specs:
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ 2.3GHz
RAM: 2GB DDR2
Motherboard: MSI K9N6SGM-V
GPU: GeForce 8500GT

Budget: 7000-9000 SEK ($1000-1400) - Sweden

Main Use: Gaming, Emulation (Wii), Firefox w/ 50+ tabs

Monitor Resolution: 1080p, unlikely to upgrade any time soon

Games I MUST be able to play: Xenoblade Chronicles, Zelda: SS (in Dolphin), Bioshock Infinite, Audiosurf

Am I reusing any parts?: Nope. My old computer is still usable, and will continue to service as a media center or something.

When will I build?: As soon as possible, I'd say. I will NOT build this computer myself though. I hardly trust myself to get a sandwich right, let alone build a computer. I will order it ready-made or get some friend who's handier than me to build it for me.

Will you be overclocking?: I won't. If I can find someone willing to do it for me, maybe.

Other things: I don't need a humongous hard drive, since I already have an external 2TB drive. Anything between 500-700GB is fine (and cheaper ). I definitely want 8GB RAM (or more) though. Law of software bloat means I'll use it sooner or later anyway. And I'm probably getting W7 Pro 64-bit. Any SSD is likely overdoing it for my needs (?).

Any help is greatly appreciated!

EDIT: I'm kinda concerned about reliability. Long story short, anything computer-related has a tendency to crap out on me for no reason. I really want this to last me a good while.

 

[blanky]

What does it say in your motherboard manual?

Cant find much in there, its a P8P67 PRO

 

[Darkone]

Ok this is the spec i think of getting:
CPU: Intel Corce i5 2500 - 3.3Ghz
Motherboard: Gigabyte- Z68X-UD3H-B3
Memory: x2 2Gb Kingstone Value Total 4Gb Ram
Video Card: GTX560 Ti

I am keeping my old Power supply to save cost, i dont remember if its 500W or 600W, should i consider upgrading it also?

Main USE: Games, 1080p movies.

 

[clav]

Cant find much in there, its a P8P67 PRO

The red light seems to point one piece of hardware is bad.

Some have said it's the hard drive. Others said it's the wireless card.

Also, you did remember to use the standoffs right for the motherboard?

If that all fails, then you'll need to RMA the motherboard.

 

[Yoritomo]

Cant find much in there, its a P8P67 PRO

This is the first result in google. For this guy it was a short in the case.

http://www.overclock.net/intel-motherboards/981234-asus-p8p67-boot_device_led-solid-red-3.html

 

[clav]

This is the first result in google. For this guy it was a short in the case.

http://www.overclock.net/intel-motherboards/981234-asus-p8p67-boot_device_led-solid-red-3.html

If you read the whole thing, it was his hard drive.

 

[Aegus]

You need a case that can push a lot of air into the case itself, and to exhaust that air. The Define R3 is not such a case, it's mean to be silent, not to have good airflow. You need to open up the fan mount in the side panel and stick a fan there, and probably some additional fans to exhaust at the top.

This is compounded by the fact that the ti hawks primarily exhaust into the CPU case.

Yeah I double checked. In stock config the Define R3 has only 1 120 mm intake fan at the front and 1 exhaust fan at the back. That is not close to enough for an SLI setup with cards that also exhaust to the interior of the case, slap more fans on it.

Ok. Will buy some 140mm fans tomorrow then.

 

[Red Blaster]

You need a case that can push a lot of air into the case itself, and to exhaust that air. The Define R3 is not such a case, it's mean to be silent, not to have good airflow. You need to open up the fan mount in the side panel and stick a fan there, and probably some additional fans to exhaust at the top.

This is compounded by the fact that the ti hawks primarily exhaust into the CPU case.

Yeah I double checked. In stock config the Define R3 has only 1 120 mm intake fan at the front and 1 exhaust fan at the back. That is not close to enough for an SLI setup with cards that also exhaust to the interior of the case, slap more fans on it.

Should I need to do the same housing a single 570 GTX (Twin Frozr III) in the R3?

 

[blanky]

I figured it out, it was the boot order. It didnt want the dvd first. Now windows is installed. What do I do first? Drivers and software from motherboard? Then go online and get intel drivers?

 

[Velion]

I figured it out, it was the boot order. It didnt want the dvd first. Now windows is installed. What do I do first? Drivers and software from motherboard? Then go online and get intel drivers?

I usually install drivers from install dvd with motherboard then update em from website, then software, etc.

 

[Hazaro]

Thanks for the input everyone. That really cut it down. So what's the verdict on sound cards? I would like good sound but it's not a huge priority. I will mainly be using a headset.

Use the onboard. If you don't like it, buy a soundcard. It's pretty good now.

What would be the best time to fit the monstrous Noctua CPU cooler? Before I put the motherboard in the R3 or when its in the case? I dont know how easily i can get to the fan connectors, as well as placing the motherboard with the cooler on. Probably best to do it when its in right?

Usually mount before putting the mobo in. I wouldn't want to install that thing sideways.

Yeah, about six months ago I was rocking a Q9550 at just over stock and an 8800GTX. New heatsink and GTX580 later and I'm plowing through everything at 3.6GHz. My wallet is begging me not to jump to Sandy Bridge...

Q6600 to 3.0Ghz + a 560Ti should be pretty good for most.

I have a problem.

Lately my system has been random blue screening. Rarely, usually after long sittings, say ~6 hours. The event viewer seems to indicate the problem is event ID 41, or Kernal-Power. Something suss on the power front then.

The culprit might be overclocking, as I've been tinkering with the voltage to lower temps of my CPU. However, as it stands, the amount of voltage my CPU gets should be way more than enough to cover my OC. I always make sure to stress test each OC, and even with the CPU under 100% load and power maxed out the system does not blue screen.

The crash occurs completely out of the blue. No stressful software running. I'll be sitting here, as per usual, browsing the web, maybe have some music playing in the background, Steam idling, and bam. Blue screen crash coming at you like a wet flannel.

Any idea where I could start looking for the culprit? Faulty PSU?

Might be a driver issue. Usually it is display drivers that give problems.
Reinstall with Driver Sweeper and see if that helps.

Running Memtest overnight won't hurt either.

In addition it could be a voltage swing from idle to load causing it, but I'd check the first two first.

Found out why my GPUs were overheating. My 850w PSU is underpowered for my setup. Running with two cards causes them to both hit near 100C temps at 100% fan speed while running the single GPU on the same game and section causes normal GPU temps and fan speeds.

That doesn't sound right. More likely it is case airflow.
What cards/PSU/case do you have? 850W is enough for basically anything that is not dual GTX 580's. Unless it is a bad brand.

I figured it out, it was the boot order. It didnt want the dvd first. Now windows is installed. What do I do first? Drivers and software from motherboard? Then go online and get intel drivers?

Motherboard CD, get some AV protection on it. Win 7 should auto detect most of your stuff. Display drivers after that.

Anyone?

Do you have power settings to put the monitor, then PC to sleep? If you are on a P67 board you need to disable PLL overvoltage.

Hi PC-GAF!
My old computer is starting to crap out on me, and the disc drive won't recognize discs anymore, so I can't reinstall W7 anymore.
So I'm buying a new computer! Yay progress!

My Current Specs:
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ 2.3GHz
RAM: 2GB DDR2
Motherboard: MSI K9N6SGM-V
GPU: GeForce 8500GT

Budget: 7000-9000 SEK ($1000-1400) - Sweden

Main Use: Gaming, Emulation (Wii), Firefox w/ 50+ tabs

Monitor Resolution: 1080p, unlikely to upgrade any time soon

Games I MUST be able to play: Xenoblade Chronicles, Zelda: SS (in Dolphin), Bioshock Infinite, Audiosurf

Am I reusing any parts?: Nope. My old computer is still usable, and will continue to service as a media center or something.

When will I build?: As soon as possible, I'd say. I will NOT build this computer myself though. I hardly trust myself to get a sandwich right, let alone build a computer. I will order it ready-made or get some friend who's handier than me to build it for me.

Will you be overclocking?: I won't. If I can find someone willing to do it for me, maybe.

Other things: I don't need a humongous hard drive, since I already have an external 2TB drive. Anything between 500-700GB is fine (and cheaper ). I definitely want 8GB RAM (or more) though. Law of software bloat means I'll use it sooner or later anyway. And I'm probably getting W7 Pro 64-bit. Any SSD is likely overdoing it for my needs (?).

Any help is greatly appreciated!

EDIT: I'm kinda concerned about reliability. Long story short, anything computer-related has a tendency to crap out on me for no reason. I really want this to last me a good while.

OP build is great for this. Nab a 2x4GB 1.5V kit and you are good to go.
If you are more concerned about reliability you can get a Seasonic X (Or Corsair AX) series power supply in addition to a more expensive motherboard (more power regulators). They are not big factors, but those are two things you can do.

I'd still suggest a 1TB drive (Samsung or WD Black) just for speed.

 

[Azwethinkweiz]

Could be the refresh rate is too high for the monitor. Also, could be a driver problem? Can you get into safe mode?

I should have stated that it was working for quite a while. It has only stopped working recently.

 

[knitoe]

I should have stated that it was working for quite a while. It has only stopped working recently.

Can you load into Windows safe mode?

 

[blanky]

Thanks to all the people who helped me out with tips and advice. Especially TheExodus he really helped me but it all together and its working lovely. If only Steam wasnt being hammered so I could download games but still, this is awesome.

i5 2500K
Noctua D14
ASUS p8p67 pro
ASUS GTX 580 DCUII
Intel 320 300gb
Corsair XMS3 8gb
Corsair AX750

 

[GodfatherX]

So I've got everything except my gpu, having trouble deciding, looking to only spend about $150 so I've been looking at a evga 550ti, any other suggestions?

Rest of my components
Intel i7 2600k
Intel z68 mobo
8gb gskill rigjaw
500w cooler master extreme psu
1tb WD HDD

 

[Appleman]

Hahaha, I thought the cooler was a different, different Noctua one. God-freaking-damn that is massive, what are your idle temps like?

 

[Hazaro]

So I've got everything except my gpu, having trouble deciding, looking to only spend about $150 so I've been looking at a evga 550ti, any other suggestions?

Rest of my components
Intel i7 2600k
Intel z68 mobo
8gb gskill rigjaw
500w cooler master extreme psu
1tb WD HDD

460 1GB or 560Ti. 550ti is a terrible middle ground.

 

[knitoe]

So I've got everything except my gpu, having trouble deciding, looking to only spend about $150 so I've been looking at a evga 550ti, any other suggestions?

Rest of my components
Intel i7 2600k
Intel z68 mobo
8gb gskill rigjaw
500w cooler master extreme psu
1tb WD HDD

With everything high spec, you don't want to be held back by a weak GPU. I would go at least AMD 6950 or 560ti.

 

[blanky]

Hahaha, I thought the cooler was a different, different Noctua one. God-freaking-damn that is massive, what are your idle temps like?

I did a short bout of prime95 and realtemp told me that my idles were around 28/29 and my max is 48-49. Everything is stock right now.

 

[Appleman]

I did a short bout of prime95 and realtemp told me that my idles were around 28/29 and my max is 48-49. Everything is stock right now.

Haha, your load is like 5c higher than my idle temps. Granted, it's a different architecture and heavily overclocked.

Man do my GPU temps suck though, can anyone vouch for what GTX580 temps should be like? (EVGA so stock cooler)

 

[Yoritomo]

Should I need to do the same housing a single 570 GTX (Twin Frozr III) in the R3?

It's just a matter of balancing heat and noise. Try it without first, but be ready to buy a couple fans to keep your temps in a comfortable range.

 

[Smokey]

Haha, your load is like 5c higher than my idle temps. Granted, it's a different architecture and heavily overclocked.

Man do my GPU temps suck though, can anyone vouch for what GTX580 temps should be like? (EVGA so stock cooler)

70-80s

 

[Saren is Bad]

Haha, your load is like 5c higher than my idle temps. Granted, it's a different architecture and heavily overclocked.

Man do my GPU temps suck though, can anyone vouch for what GTX580 temps should be like? (EVGA so stock cooler)

Under load my SLI 580s get 65-70 degree each. So I'd assume a little (maybe alot?) lower than that. Depends on the case, I have a 600T with the mesh window on, with a custom fan profile that's pretty damn steep.

 

[Hazaro]

Promo codes: (Don't know if these are single use or what)

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EXTRA $15 OFF with promo code EMCKCKC26 (expires 07/13/2011)

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EXTRA $10 OFF with promo code EMCKCKC28 (expires 07/13/2011)

CORSAIR Enthusiast Series TX750 V2 750W High Performance Power Supply
$139.99 $109.99
EXTRA $10 OFF with promo code EMCKCKB33 (expires 07/14/2011)

 

[Appleman]

Under load my SLI 580s get 65-70 degree each. So I'd assume a little (maybe alot?) lower than that. Depends on the case, I have a 600T with the mesh window on, with a custom fan profile that's pretty damn steep.

I'm rocking a 600T with the mesh panel in now (no fans mounted on the panel). Stock fans, stock cooler on the GPU and no custom fan profile. My temps can be up to mid eighties (this is on the SC version, not that it matters that much).

With a custom fan profile, it can obviously be lower at the cost of noise (the tiny GPU fans are very whiny), but I guess I need to do some tweaking with that.

Also, with dual monitors (can't downclock) it idles at like 70c, which seems VERY high to me.

 

[ShyGuy0504]

Have a question. I just added a second monitor to system and my temps increased. I have 2 5850s in crossfire and the idle temp is right at 50 while it used to be about 38. Is this normal or should I be concerned?

 

[Hazaro]

Have a question. I just added a second monitor to system and my temps increased. I have 2 5850s in crossfire and the idle temp is right at 50 while it used to be about 38. Is this normal or should I be concerned?

Normal. Dual monitors cause 3D clocks to be used instead of 2D iirc. There can still be a low 3D clock setting though (I think).

I'm rocking a 600T with the mesh panel in now (no fans mounted on the panel). Stock fans, stock cooler on the GPU and no custom fan profile. My temps can be up to mid eighties (this is on the SC version, not that it matters that much).

With a custom fan profile, it can obviously be lower at the cost of noise (the tiny GPU fans are very whiny), but I guess I need to do some tweaking with that.

Also, with dual monitors (can't downclock) it idles at like 70c, which seems VERY high to me.

70C idle is a touch high. What does it top out at load? Also is your fan profile at something like 20/30/40/50/60% idle?

 

[Pranay]

Gaf need quick help

Will old CM 600w be able to handle 560 ti

if not any recommendations ?

 

[ShyGuy0504]

Normal. Dual monitors cause 3D clocks to be used instead of 2D iirc. There can still be a low 3D clock setting though (I think).

70C idle is a touch high. What does it top out at load? Also is your fan profile at something like 20/30/40/50/60% idle?

So this is a good temp? I shouldn't be worried about anything right? Plan to game but only on one monitor obviously.