"I need a New PC!" 2011 Thread of reading the OP. Seriously. [Part 2]

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RS4- said:
Any reason why you didn't want an air cooler instead, especially since the h100 is $30-40 more than the best air heatsinks?
Click to expand...

Noise and better overclocking potential.

I was not a fan of the H50 and H70 at all, since they didn't really seem to offer better performance than the best air coolers...but with a 240mm rad? It's certainly seemingly like a viable option for those who want better cooling. Not much review material to go on though, so it's hard to tell.

I'd like to see it stacked up with dB matched fans against a DH-14 or Silver Arrow to see how much better it is.
 
TheExodu5 said:
Noise and better overclocking potential.

I was not a fan of the H50 and H70 at all, since they didn't really seem to offer better performance than the best air coolers...but with a 240mm rad? It's certainly seemingly like a viable option for those who want better cooling. Not much review material to go on though, so it's hard to tell.

I'd like to see it stacked up with dB matched fans against a DH-14 or Silver Arrow to see how much better it is.
Click to expand...

Yeah I'm waiting for more reviews that compare it to other air cooling solutions and whether or not the extra $40 or so is worth the extra 2 degrees.

edit - was looking at both D14 and H100 results on Hard; looks like an 8 degrees difference but fan speeds/noise should probably be taken into account as well.
 
drkOne said:
Does any 6950 beat the Gigabyte 560Ti SOC?
I have a slim interest for 3D, but mostly looking for a capable GPU for the right price at the moment.

Also, is Fractal Design R3 still the go to case in the $100 range?
Click to expand...

A average 6950 at factory clock is still slightly more powerful than the factory overclocked Gigabyte 560 Ti. 6950 is a good card to overclock so you'll see significantly more performance if you do your own overclock.
 
TheExodu5 said:
Noise and better overclocking potential.

I was not a fan of the H50 and H70 at all, since they didn't really seem to offer better performance than the best air coolers...but with a 240mm rad? It's certainly seemingly like a viable option for those who want better cooling. Not much review material to go on though, so it's hard to tell.

I'd like to see it stacked up with dB matched fans against a DH-14 or Silver Arrow to see how much better it is.
Click to expand...

I like the idea of a dual 120 rad a lot better as well compared to the h50/70 (which were gimmicky at best imho)

but I was looking at the specs and well .... they consider 1300 rpm low noise, 2000 rpm balanced and 2500 rpm high performance. For crying out loud thats gonna make a lot of noise lol

for comparison, my Mugen 2 runs full speed at 1300 rpm, and goes as low as 450 (pwm controlled)
 
Yeah, 1300RPM is loud. 800RPM is my threshold on noise for a 120mm fan.

With a rad, there's a minimum fan speed you need to be able to efficiently push air through the dense grill, however...not sure how low you could go.

And yeah, loooooved the Mugen. It was the most painful install I've ever done in my PC, but man did it ever run quiet. I was able to cool my Q8300 OC'ed to 3.0GHz at 450RPM, while keeping the temps below 55C. Ridiculous cooler.
 
TheExodu5 said:
Yeah, 1300RPM is loud. 800RPM is my threshold on noise for a 120mm fan.

With a rad, there's a minimum fan speed you need to be able to efficiently push air through the dense grill, however...not sure how low you could go.

And yeah, loooooved the Mugen. It was the most painful install I've ever done in my PC, but man did it ever run quiet. I was able to cool my Q8300 OC'ed to 3.0GHz at 450RPM, while keeping the temps below 55C. Ridiculous cooler.
Click to expand...

It's about the radiators fin density. Most companies producing radiators have multiple series, each designed to optimally cool at a different amount of rpm (aka noise). High RPM fans on a low fin density radiator would have little extra effect, whereas low RPM fans on a high density radiator can even result in downright catastrophic temperatures lol

so I can understand why corsair uses a high density radiator (which requires high speed fans) on the H50/70 single fan models, as that has a rather small surface area

but they should have been able to use more quiet fans with a different radiator design for something as mass produced as the H100 imho ? I'm interested to see how it will perform with fans at say 800 rpm ? (a push-pull setup can also help a lot when using low rpm fans on high-density radiators though)
 
i'm trying to figure out whats wrong with my wireless. it's fine until i open a game on steam and then the connection goes to shit - this doesn't actually mean playing the game, just being on the menu - and it's annoying. i managed to improve it so that it's not disconnecting completely by updating the gpu drivers, but online gaming is virtually impossible.

halp?
 
Chinner said:
i'm trying to figure out whats wrong with my wireless. it's fine until i open a game on steam and then the connection goes to shit - this doesn't actually mean playing the game, just being on the menu - and it's annoying. i managed to improve it so that it's not disconnecting completely by updating the gpu drivers, but online gaming is virtually impossible.

halp?
Click to expand...

only in Steam games? :p

you said it doesn't disconnecting after updating GPU drivers ... so you suspect it's because of the GPU?

this all sounds a bit weird :)

I would download some program like InSSIDer and start that up, then load a game in Windowed mode and see what happens with the signal strength to nearby Access Points

I've only used wireless on phones and laptops, but I can't see how games could physically affect a wireless signal (aka I think it is a software/driver issue?)

also can you tell us the brand/type of wireless card/stick you use?
 
n0n44m said:
only in Steam games? :p

you said it doesn't disconnecting after updating GPU drivers ... so you suspect it's because of the GPU?

this all sounds a bit weird :)

I would download some program like InSSIDer and start that up, then load a game in Windowed mode and see what happens with the signal strength to nearby Access Points

I've only used wireless on phones and laptops, but I can't see how games could physically affect a wireless signal (aka I think it is a software/driver issue?)

also can you tell us the brand/type of wireless card/stick you use?
Click to expand...
i was just following the advice of my friend. might have been a flux, but when entering a game the internet would disconnect completly. after the GPU update, it doesn't disconnect but it's basically useless.

apart from gaming its fine.

stick I'm using:
http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/...rking/wirelesspcicards/novatech/nov-npci.html

i'll see what happens with InSSIDer!

edit: InSSIDer makes my internet go slow?

second edit: for what its worth, my wifi signal up here is 2 bars/27%. but i don't see how that would explain the sudden drop in quality as soon as i open a game.

third edit for home run: could it be a port problem?
 
Salacious Crumb said:
I think I'm going to buy myself one of these:

http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=207_314&products_id=17525

First time I've ever bought an after market graphics card cooler. It seems like a lot of money, but the stock 6970 cooler is driving me crazy. Anyone have any experience with that cooler, if so how quiet is it?
Click to expand...

I've never tried it, but from all accounts, it sounds like a great cooler. In general, aftermarket coolers will give you far quieter performance than virtually any stock cooler, especially on idle, where stock usually doesn't even compete. It's the most powerful air cooler on the market that I've heard of, so it should give you a lot of room to overclock your card, and you probably won't be running it at its max RPM, as it has a very high cooling capacity. And what's nice about it is that (I'm pretty sure) you can plug the fans into your GPU fan outlet and let your card control the fan speed. Note that the GPU will end up taking up around 3 slots, but that's par for the course for aftermarket coolers. Also, if your card already has a voltage modulator heatsink, I probably wouldn't replace it with the kit that comes with this cooler without doing research on whether it's worthwhile or not first.
 
hi guys,

quick question,

I just noticed that my old rig has a 750 Watt Lian Li Maxima Force which has overall very good reviews.

Instead of buying a new PSU I was thinking of using this one to power my rig.
The only thing that is holding me back is that it's 2 years old. Is that a problem?

And since my old rig is going to my dad, what PSU should I replace it with?

old rig:

Intel Core 2 Duo E8500
Asus GTX 275
Asus motherboard
4 gigs of ram.

Since my dad isnt gonna game or overclock, can I use a modest one?
 
so when i'm going back to playing vampire masquerade bloodlines, which settings should i adjust in CCC?

AF to 16x, AA to 8x. i'm guessing super-sampling, adaptive, multi, adapative don't have that big of a difference (all types of AA modes). i do know super sample is the best i think.

should I turn tesselation on? i usually have it off, i looked it up and it seems like an okay feature i guess. there is an AMD optimized option, and you can set it up all the way to 64x. i don't even know if it works in old games.

thanks for the advice ! :)
 
Hey, guys. I'm looking to get a new video card to replace my old 4850. I'm using a 22" monitor running at 1680:1050 and I plan to do a lot of gaming and work in Maya, UDK, Zbrush, and Photoshop.

My budget is about $300 and I have a bunch of credit on Amazon so I'll be buying it there.

I'm thinking of going with this Radeon HD 6950 2GB - http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0057PW7A4/?tag=neogaf0e-20

What do you guys think? Got any other suggestions?
 
garath said:
GPU temps sound great. CPU temps sound pretty representative of the stock cooler. Maybe a bit high but the ambient temp in your case might be high if the airflow is poor.

My non-overclocked i5 2500k with the Hyper 212 cooler idles around 40 and averages 52 under load. I am using a Corsair Obsidian 650D case though. even in my warm room ambient is around 33-34.

I wouldn't be worried though.
Click to expand...

thanks!

gonna get a new cooler case eventually, so if it isnt much of an issue i'll be fine with this temps in the mean time.
 
TheExodu5 said:
Yeah, 1300RPM is loud. 800RPM is my threshold on noise for a 120mm fan.

With a rad, there's a minimum fan speed you need to be able to efficiently push air through the dense grill, however...not sure how low you could go.

And yeah, loooooved the Mugen. It was the most painful install I've ever done in my PC, but man did it ever run quiet. I was able to cool my Q8300 OC'ed to 3.0GHz at 450RPM, while keeping the temps below 55C. Ridiculous cooler.
Click to expand...


ill have it tomorrow, ill post a quick review and some pics.
i always wanted to switch to water cooling, so i wanted to order the h70.
but when i saw the h100 was about to drop, i chose the hyper 212 so it could me off untill the h100 came out.


http://www.hardocp.com/article/2011/07/26/corsair_h100_extreme_perf_liquid_cpu_cooler_review/
 
got2bekidding said:
Ok, I have a question about the $600 build. The GTX 460 page says it requires 2 6pin PCI connectors but the power supply listed in the build only has one. Is that just a mistake or is one ok or is there some kind of adapter to make another 6pin PCI connector?

I ask b/c the power supply I'm looking at is the same way and I'd hate to snag it up and not be able to connect my vid card.
Click to expand...

Anyone? I'd like to order today and this is the only concern I have before placing it.
 
Ryan_ said:
hi guys,

quick question,

I just noticed that my old rig has a 750 Watt Lian Li Maxima Force which has overall very good reviews.

Instead of buying a new PSU I was thinking of using this one to power my rig.
The only thing that is holding me back is that it's 2 years old. Is that a problem?

And since my old rig is going to my dad, what PSU should I replace it with?

old rig:

Intel Core 2 Duo E8500
Asus GTX 275
Asus motherboard
4 gigs of ram.

Since my dad isnt gonna game or overclock, can I use a modest one?
Click to expand...

No you should be fine as long as it's a solid PSU, 2 years isn't that long for PSUs assuming yours is a quality one. 750W is plenty fine for a full upgrade.
 
Tallshortman said:
You can get a 6-pin to 4 pin/molex adapter at any computer retailer. Just purchase one from the online site you're buying the GPU from.
Click to expand...
Thank you very much for the quick reply. I wasn't sure if that was a viable solution or would cause an issue with the card. Great news! Thank you again.
 
Oni Link 666 said:
Hey, guys. I'm looking to get a new video card to replace my old 4850. I'm using a 22" monitor running at 1680:1050 and I plan to do a lot of gaming and work in Maya, UDK, Zbrush, and Photoshop.

My budget is about $300 and I have a bunch of credit on Amazon so I'll be buying it there.

I'm thinking of going with this Radeon HD 6950 2GB - http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0057PW7A4/?tag=neogaf0e-20

What do you guys think? Got any other suggestions?
Click to expand...
Not a very good value, it's just an OC'd version of a card you can get cheaper. Does look like it has a better cooler, but I wouldn't pay that much extra for it.

Better deal (Best one I see on Amazon so far):

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004SUO55Y/?tag=neogaf0e-20

Or you could get a 560 Ti. They have some better deals on those.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004KZHRAM/?tag=neogaf0e-20

$215 after rebate, unless prices dropped recently that's a pretty good deal in general.
 
xero273 said:
Yep, I see the adapter in the picture. The last picture has two of those adapters.
Click to expand...
Great news, I won't have to borrow his!

Thanks to everyone that helped me out and thanks to Hazaro for making the thread. Inspired me to build my own. Pretty excited for the parts to get here. :D
 
chaosblade said:
Not a very good value, it's just an OC'd version of a card you can get cheaper. Does look like it has a better cooler, but I wouldn't pay that much extra for it.

Better deal (Best one I see on Amazon so far):

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004SUO55Y/?tag=neogaf0e-20

Or you could get a 560 Ti. They have some better deals on those.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004KZHRAM/?tag=neogaf0e-20

$215 after rebate, unless prices dropped recently that's a pretty good deal in general.
Click to expand...

Is 2GB of RAM on a video card not that good or something? Why are you pointing me to 1GB cards? I figured 2GB would be great for PS and Zbrush.
 
Oni Link 666 said:
Is 2GB of RAM on a video card not that good or something? Why are you pointing me to 1GB cards? I figured 2GB would be great for PS and Zbrush.
Click to expand...
Do those programs really take advantage of VRAM? Genuine question, I thought they relied on system RAM but maybe I'm mistaken. If so, then the 2GB card might be worth it.

The two cards are very similar in performance though, and at your resolution the extra VRAM isn't necessary for gaming. So it will come down to whether or not it makes a difference for your other software.

Edit
Found this one:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0055Y66A4/?tag=neogaf0e-20

$5 less and it's 2GB. Not a bad cooler on it either. 560 Ti is still a better value if you don't need the extra GB of VRAM.

Amazon really needs more detailed sorting options for different types of products, that would make it so much easier to look for things like this.
 
chaosblade said:
Do those programs really take advantage of VRAM? Genuine question, I thought they relied on system RAM but maybe I'm mistaken. If so, then the 2GB card might be worth it.

The two cards are very similar in performance though, and at your resolution the extra VRAM isn't necessary for gaming. So it will come down to whether or not it makes a difference for your other software.

Edit
Found this one:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0055Y66A4/?tag=neogaf0e-20

$5 less and it's 2GB. Not a bad cooler on it either. 560 Ti is still a better value if you don't need the extra GB of VRAM.

Amazon really needs more detailed sorting options for different types of products, that would make it so much easier to look for things like this.
Click to expand...

You know, I'm not sure if lots of VRAM is what I really need. Skimming some 3D forums, it seems like the processing the video card is doing is probably more important. 1 GB might be enough, but I'd feel a lot better just going for 2 GB. I will be running both Maya and PS a lot of times too.
 
Tallshortman said:
No you should be fine as long as it's a solid PSU, 2 years isn't that long for PSUs assuming yours is a quality one. 750W is plenty fine for a full upgrade.
Click to expand...

Thanks alot of for the help!

Then one question remains and that is what to buy for my old rig.

Core 2 Duo E8500, GTX 275, Asus Mobo

Extreme calculator shows 393Watt, if my dad isnt gonna game and just surf the net, can I make due with a 450?
 
Oni Link 666 said:
Is 2GB of RAM on a video card not that good or something? Why are you pointing me to 1GB cards? I figured 2GB would be great for PS and Zbrush.
Click to expand...

I don't use PS or Zbrush but the VRAM is rarely bottlednecking during games so I won't comment whether the 2GB will help in those other programs. The 2GG you chose if fine but I would say buy a cheaper model on newegg, Amazon prices are usually a bit higher.

I would personally recommend this card:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102945

since I usually prefer Sapphire models for reliability and noise level. However if you want factory overclock XFX and MSI usually have pretty decent models.
 
Ryan_ said:
Thanks alot of for the help!

Then one question remains and that is what to buy for my old rig.

Core 2 Duo E8500, GTX 275, Asus Mobo

Extreme calculator shows 393Watt, if my dad isnt gonna game and just surf the net, can I make due with a 450?
Click to expand...

Yeah 450w is fine. The corsair in the OP is a good buy at 430w. Reliable and relatively cheap.
 
garath said:
Well most of the 560 Ti cards I see on newegg right now are ~$230 before rebate. After rebate you are looking at a little over $200 on most of them. It's probably the best bang for your buck right now.
Click to expand...
I was thinking this, but I could go with the 550 for now and sometime next year upgrade and sell my current card. save myself $100 now, sell old card for $60 bucks next year and hope that or better card is under $200? is this logical or dumb?
 
installed a new mobo yesterday and everytime i disconnect my game controller
i get a blue screen of death.

here's the crash report:

Problem signature:
Problem Event Name: BlueScreen
OS Version: 6.1.7601.2.1.0.768.3
Locale ID: 1033
Additional information about the problem: BCCode: 1000007e
BCP1: FFFFFFFFC0000005
BCP2: FFFFF88000F0356E
BCP3: FFFFF8800335B748
BCP4: FFFFF8800335AFA0
OS Version: 6_1_7601
Service Pack: 1_0
Product: 768_1
Files that help describe the problem: C:\Windows\Minidump\072911-24710-01.dmp
C:\Users\Owner\AppData\Local\Temp\WER-36785-0.sysdata.xml
Click to expand...
help?
 
viakado said:
installed a new mobo yesterday and everytime i disconnect my game controller
i get a blue screen of death.

here's the crash report:


help?
Click to expand...

Are you using the same Windows install as when you had the old motherboard?

Did you install all the motherboard drivers that came on the disc?
 
viakado said:
yes same windows install.
and whoops no i didn't install driver. just updated bios

good shit. thx a bunch
Click to expand...

Definitely a driver issue. I've only tried to keep an existing Windows install when I replace a mobo once. It didn't turn out too well. Driver conflicts all over the place.

I'd really recommend a fresh windows install.

But at the least install all the mobo drivers and see how it goes.
 
garath said:
Definitely a driver issue. I've only tried to keep an existing Windows install when I replace a mobo once. It didn't turn out too well. Driver conflicts all over the place.

I'd really recommend a fresh windows install.

But at the least install all the mobo drivers and see how it goes.
Click to expand...
yeah it was driver issues, i had to install from the mobo cd.
all fine now. thanks again!
 
statham said:
I was thinking this, but I could go with the 550 for now and sometime next year upgrade and sell my current card. save myself $100 now, sell old card for $60 bucks next year and hope that or better card is under $200? is this logical or dumb?
Click to expand...

550 is not a good value buy in of in itself. There are better cards at that price point though I'd personally advise you get a high mid-end card now or just avoid upgrading until the 7xxx series comes out.
 
So I'm trying to talk my console friend into buying a PC, mainly for Battlefield 3. After a few months of poking and constantly asking, he's slowly warming up to it as I mentioned the price-points where you can get a decent computer these days. Although, he is asking me for specifications on machines etc. and I'm a bit rusty as I never really follow hardware evolution except when it's time for upgrading my own computer.

Currently I'm looking at an i5 2500 ( Possibly k, except he won't have the faintest clue on how to overclock ), 4GB of RAM ( Unspecified at the moment ), GPU I'm thinking GTX 560 TI or 570 and that's basically where I'm a bit torn as AMD cards are a nice price point but as a long time AMD / ATI users and recently returning to the Nvidia flocks, I feel there are too many issues with AMD cards in many games, the 59Hz issue being one of them, don't want to put him through all that. The rest is basically up to him, HDDs etc.

Would the above sound like a fair rig for BF3 and for a first-time gaming PC users or is AMD processors a viable performance alternative? I no nothing about them except their price usually equals the performance.
 
Tallshortman said:
A average 6950 at factory clock is still slightly more powerful than the factory overclocked Gigabyte 560 Ti. 6950 is a good card to overclock so you'll see significantly more performance if you do your own overclock.
Click to expand...

Okey now you're giving me doubts again.
I was going for the GTX 560 Ti HAwk from MSI but I jut saw the HD 6950 1 Gb for 30 euro's less...
 
LabouredSubterfuge said:
Can someone give me tips on how to make running my PC through my LCD TV look better? It looks a little off, a little blurred.
Click to expand...
What kind of TV is it? If it's LG, you could try a non-LG tv cause they suck...


Ryan_ said:
Okey now you're giving me doubts again.
I was going for the GTX 560 Ti HAwk from MSI but I jut saw the HD 6950 1 Gb for 30 euro's less...
Click to expand...

To be honest, it's worth getting the 2 GB upgrade for the 6950. With game's like RAGE and Battlefield 3 coming out, the memory is actually going to get used. I hear people are already hitting almost if not over a gig memory usage on BF3, and with RAGE using megatextures I would bet the benefit of the extra gig would be worth it. Just my opinion though.
 
Ulchie said:
What kind of TV is it? If it's LG, you could try a non-LG tv cause they suck...




To be honest, it's worth getting the 2 GB upgrade for the 6950. With game's like RAGE and Battlefield 3 coming out, the memory is actually going to get used. I hear people are already hitting almost if not over a gig memory usage on BF3, and with RAGE using megatextures I would bet the benefit of the extra gig would be worth it. Just my opinion though.
Click to expand...

hm but that would make it 20 euros more expensive. tbh I always thought that the extra mem was only used by people who did video editing but I can believe that BF3 is gonna use that extra mem yea.

The choice just becomes more difficult :)
 
Need a little help!!

Okay, so at 1080p resolution the display is way over the edges of the screen. So I'm missing a whole lot of the picture round the edges. I'm using a 1080p Sharp LCD TV. I can't find any options for overscan on my TV at all and I've never had this problem with anything else before.

At the moment I'm having to use the resize function to make it a weird custom resolution just to fit everything on the screen and it's not very satisfactory at all. My GPU is the GTX 580.
 
got the new fan, annoying fan noise went away

HOWEVER

now the pc is doing this annoying high pitching noise (barely audible but one of those at a frequency that just fucks with your balls). UNGGHGHH
 
I'm in the market for a new set of gaming headphones.

What would be a great recommendation? Looking to spend $100-150.
 
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