Support NeoGAF

[Smokey]

Just got a pop up saying new Nvidia driver is available : 280.26

Seems like it's mainly a update targeted at 3D Vision:

New in Release 280.26

NVIDIA SLI

Enables SLI technology on SLI-certified motherboards with AMD chipsets: 990FX, 990X, and 970.
NVIDIA 3D Vision

With Release 280 drivers, the 3D Vision Controller driver is now included with all GPU driver installations. Users are no longer required to install a separate 3D Vision Controller driver or CD driver. This driver includes the 280.19 3D Vision Controller driver. For more information, please view this knowledgebase article for more information.

Adds support for viewing 3DVisionLive.com and YouTube 3D with NVIDIA SLI PCs. Please view this knowledgebase article for more information on 3D Vision Window Mode.

Adds support for Window mode for 3D Vision Video Player. This requires v1.7.2 or higher of the player.

Adds support for new 3D Vision monitors: ViewSonic V3D245

Adds support for new 3D Vision projectors: Acer X1111, BenQ W710ST, and NEC NP-
V300W

Added the following 3D Vision game profiles:
Alice Madness Returns
Back to the Future (Episodes 1-5)
Call of Juarez: The Cartel
Chuang Shi Xi You (创世西&#28216
Dao Jian 2 刀剑2
The Darkness 2
Dead Island
Deep Black
Dou Zhan Shen 斗战神
Dragon Ball Online
Dungeons and Dragons: Online
Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1
L.A. Noire
League of Legends 英雄联盟
LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean
Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar
The Lord of the Rings: War in the North
Mars
Might & Magic Heroes VI
Mount & Blade: Warband
Mount & Blade: With Fire and Blade
PROUN
RAGE
Red Orchestra 2: Heroes of Stalingrad
Rise of the Immortals
Rusty Hearts
Serious Sam 3: BFE
Virtua Tennis 4
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine

Update the following 3D Vision game profiles
Crysis 2 – rating changed to Excellent. NVIDIA recommends using the v1.9 game patch.
Deep Black – rating change to 3D Vision Ready
Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition – convergence changes and rating changed to 3D Vision Ready

Guess I'll go ahead and upgrade anyway since I'm running the 280 beta drivers from BF3 alpha.

 

[The Bookerman]

Have you installed a bunch of junk that loads during startup? Type MSconfig into the start menu search bar. Go to "Start up". If there is anything there that you don't need to start with windows, disable it.

You may considering using sleep mode instead of turning the computer off as well. That would save a lot of time.




I'm......I'm just....

I knew the issue was that you hadn't plugged the damn thing in lol. I knew it, deep down inside.

it's just not the actual opening of windows. it's at the bios. Seems to me that it takes a little longer everytime it goes through the marvell controller checkup.(looks for the drives).

are Marvell controllers reliable?

 

[LordCanti]

it's just not the actual opening of windows. it's at the bios. Seems to me that it takes a little longer everytime it goes through the marvell controller checkup.(looks for the drives).

are Marvell controllers reliable?

I would use the Intel controllers first, but there shouldn't be any issues. You could try a search of your motherboard, with something along the lines of "Marvell controller problem" and see if anything comes up.

Just got a pop up saying new Nvidia driver is available : 280.26

Seems like it's mainly a update targeted at 3D Vision:



Guess I'll go ahead and upgrade anyway since I'm running the 280 beta drivers from BF3 alpha.

Jump on that grenade so we don't have to! Make sure to let us know is there are any issues. I think I'm going to keep the beta drivers for now (since I haven't had any problems, and the updates seem to be for 3D mainly)

 

[Flying_Phoenix]

I know I might get annoying for beating a dead horse but I did look for reviews prior to buying the Agility 3.

I remember using this tool.

 

[MarzipaNMOS]

hey guys, im looking to build a small, powerful mini ITX system for school/work/emulation/programming. my basic requirements are:

i5 2500k (I want to be able to OC)
nVidia card (i'm thinking 460? idk what the current best mid-high end cards are) - has to be nVidia due to GPGPU programming in CUDA

Mainly my concern is the mobo. since there doesn't seem to be p67 mobos how can I OC the i5 on a mini itx form factor? and is the 2500k easy to OC on air? I'm not looking for huge +1ghz gains, just something modest to boost the performance of mainly PS2/GC emulation

thanks!

 

[Hazaro]

You may remember me asking about which PC parts to get about a month ago. You may not. It doesn't matter. What does matter is that I was banned for a month and during that month I received all of my PC parts and was finally able to build. Here's the deal.

WD 1 TB 7200RPM HDD
ASRock P67 Extreme 4 Motherboard
G Skill 4gb DDR3 RAM
ASUS 24x CD/DVD Burner
Intel i5-2500k Sandy Bridge
Corsair Enthusiast 750w
Cooler Master CM690 II case
MSI Twin Frozr II GTX560 ti
Cooler master hyper 212 plus

Thanks again, you guys are the shit!

Awesome. Being in the SATA 6gbps ports doesn't hurt anything.
Glad you took the time to come back and repost the build!

 

[Anth0ny]

Sup guys,

Complete noob here. I'm looking to upgrade my 10 year old computer, which means replacing everything but my monitor, keyboard and mouse. I have a budget of $600, and that build in the OP looks great.

Only problem is, I need to drop $90 on Windows 7 Home Edition and $50 on NCIX building the thing for me. So my real budget is about $450 ;_ ;

The only request I have it to be able to run games on Dolphin (specifically Wind Waker). Now I'm almost certain that a ~$450 budget won't allow me to do that. So my question is: can you help me find a build for ~$450 that I can easily upgrade in a few months (a better CPU? GPU? What's compatible with what?) to run Dolphin?

I'm from Toronto, Canada if that matters...

Thanks in advance!!!

 

[Smokey]

Jump on that grenade so we don't have to! Make sure to let us know is there are any issues. I think I'm going to keep the beta drivers for now (since I haven't had any problems, and the updates seem to be for 3D mainly)

lol

the drivers just finished downloading and I thought about that. Maybe I'll save them for a couple of days after others have installed them

 

[tiff]

I'm......I'm just....

I knew the issue was that you hadn't plugged the damn thing in lol. I knew it, deep down inside.

Eek! I-I thought I did, at least!

 

[Septimius]

I'm really considering taking this SSD back.


Posted Speeds.

Actual Speeds.

Can I call Newegg and convince them to give me a refund?

I decided to test my Corsair Force Series 3 60GB SSD. I was pretty happy with my read speed, but.. I don't even want to discuss the write speed. Advertised as 550/515MB.

And 444MB is over 3Gb/s, so it is SATA3.

EDIT: BTW, are you using AHCI mode?

EDEDIT: I am already exhanging this disk for a 120GB version, so maybe that will behave differently - a 3dguru review of the product shows read/write speeds at what they're supposed to be at. Does anoyne have any suggestion to why I might be lacking all that write speed?

 

[Hazaro]

Sup guys,

Complete noob here. I'm looking to upgrade my 10 year old computer, which means replacing everything but my monitor, keyboard and mouse. I have a budget of $600, and that build in the OP looks great.

Only problem is, I need to drop $90 on Windows 7 Home Edition and $50 on NCIX building the thing for me. So my real budget is about $450 ;_ ;

The only request I have it to be able to run games on Dolphin (specifically Wind Waker). Now I'm almost certain that a ~$450 budget won't allow me to do that. So my question is: can you help me find a build for ~$450 that I can easily upgrade in a few months (a better CPU? GPU? What's compatible with what?) to run Dolphin?

I'm from Toronto, Canada if that matters...

Thanks in advance!!!

In the OP there are two budget substitutions.
If you go lower than what is listed you really are making some sacrifices.
You can get a Win 7 key for $30 if you are a student, or know someone who can do that for you.

The 2100 runs Dolphin decently well, but in reality you want a P67 motherboard (+$40) and a 2500K (+$100). Reason is because 3.7 over 3.1Ghz stock speed and you can OC to 4.3Ghz.

So I'd sub in this mobo: MSI P67S-C43, and try to save up a touch more. GPU can be a 768MB GTX 460.
Honestly, if money is really that tight you should scout out deals (on like slickdeals.com) and put it together yourself.
Or buy some parts used if you are comfortable with that. (CPU, PSU, RAM being good parts for that)

 

[Tashi]

That's a pretty slick looking case. How do you like it? I like the design better than the HAF's, and it's actually in stock, unlike the Lian Li Lancool I was looking at. How's the airflow? Would you recommend installing another fan or two in that case (possibly a side fan)?

Nice looking build, by the way.

Thanks. I adore the case. I had plenty of room to install everything. I love the way it looks too. It runs damn cool and damn quiet. I wouldn't recommend adding another case fan. I'm not saying don't do it, I just don't find it necessary.

Hazaro, my HDD and DVD weren't being found in BiOs in the SATA3 slots. That's why I changed it and now it works great.

 

[Hazaro]

Thanks. I adore the case. I had plenty of room to install everything. I love the way it looks too. It runs damn cool and damn quiet. I wouldn't recommend adding another case fan. I'm not saying don't do it, I just don't find it necessary.

Hazaro, my HDD and DVD weren't being found in BiOs in the SATA3 slots. That's why I changed it and now it works great.

Ah. I ran my DVD and HDD on my sata6 and didn't have a problem.

 

[Big Papa Husker]

My friend wanted me to ask GAF what you guys think he should do...

Long story short. I built a PC a few years back with an E8400 C2D, 4 GB DDR2, 8800GTS 512MB (G92), 800w Antec PSU.

Last year the PSU blew out randomly, and I replaced it with a Corsair 620w PSU.

I have the E8400 (stock 3.0) running at 3.6 GHz.

Here is the advice I kindly request.

1. I can get a Q6600 for free, is it worth replacing the E8400 @ 3.6 GHz and putting in the Q6600 (stock 2.4) but clock it @ 3.0 GHz. Is this worthwhile?

2. I'm going to sell my EVGA 8800 GTS (G92) card and buy something new. Is it worth looking into something like the GTX 560 TI/ATI HD 6870? Will the E8400/Q6600 hold be back significantly or just a little bit?

3. Since I only have a 620w PSU, I was hoping not to replace that since it would add more $$$ when I'm trying to be frugal. With the E8400/Q6600, 2x7200 HDD's, 3 case fans, 2x2 GB DDR2 setup, would trying to Crossfire two lesser ATI cards be more worthwhile than a single better card/would my PSU handle two decent cards in a Crossfire?

Thank you for your time.

Long story short, I'm trying to find the best band-aid solution for my LGA775 motherboard that supports only Crossfire (not SLI).

In a few years I plan to build a new one again from the ground up, but that's neither here nor there.

Thanks guys! (and gals!)

I also have a similar build, but have a E8600, 8GB ram, 4870x2 and an 800w PSU. Would it be worth it to upgrade the CPU or upgrade to a better gfx card? I'm leaning towards the CPU just because the 4870x2 still runs things fairly well. With that said, what is the best quad core CPU that I can use in my LGA775 mobo?

 

[knitoe]

I decided to test my Corsair Force Series 3 60GB SSD. I was pretty happy with my read speed, but.. I don't even want to discuss the write speed. Advertised as 550/515MB.



And 444MB is over 3Gb/s, so it is SATA3.

EDIT: BTW, are you using AHCI mode?

EDEDIT: I am already exhanging this disk for a 120GB version, so maybe that will behave differently - a 3dguru review of the product shows read/write speeds at what they're supposed to be at. Does anoyne have any suggestion to why I might be lacking all that write speed?

Once again, you need to bench with ATTO Disk to get the advertise speed.

The Corsair Force series has async NAND vs Force GT with sync NAND. The later is much faster. Also, SSD are access in parallel. Thus, more NAND chips (larger storage) the faster.

 

[Septimius]

Once again, you need to bench with ATTO Disk to get the advertise speed.

The Corsair Force series has async NAND vs Force GT with sync NAND. The later is much faster. Also, SSD are access in parallel. Thus, more NAND chips (larger storage) the faster.

I browsed around on the internet and found this answer there, too - so my bad for not seeing it here. I did, and it was a whole different story.

EDIT: It is at the same time good to hear that the other test is more descriptive of normal use. Seen how read is the important thing, I am happy to see that it works well.

 

[Dennis]

Ordered the components for my new rig today. Now to wait for my stuff to arrive.

Also, I am absolutely dreading how much shit I have transfer and reinstall......

 

[Hazaro]

4870x2 is still pretty beefy
Upgrading to a 3.2Ghz Q6600 should be good for both of you.

I don't like the idea of xfire two cards just so it can fit on an older system.
While the 620W is a fantastic unit I wouldn't push two 6950's or 560 Ti's on it.

Ordered the components for my new rig today. Now to wait for my stuff to arrive.

Also, I am absolutely dreading how much shit I have transfer and reinstall......

Did you really cave in and buy two 590's or something?

I mean the new cards aren't THAT far away.

 

[Tashi]

Ordered the components for my new rig today. Now to wait for my stuff to arrive.

Also, I am absolutely dreading how much shit I have transfer and reinstall......

I felt like it was a great opportunity for me to clean it up and get rid of all the BS on my old PC.

 

[Ludovician]

So I am actually looking towards a Gigabyte GTX 570 SOC, in contrast to yesterday's outlook of a 560 Ti HAWK. I found the Gigabyte was better at the same price, but then I saw that there was quite a huge performance leap with the 570, and the SOC (Super OverClocked) is not far away in price, and it would cost me the same to get a good cooler if I wanted to OC it myself. Even saw some V-mods that allowed for even higher clock-speeds.

I am still really torn if this is the time to get a card. Feels odd to get such "old" tech.

 

[LordCanti]

4870x2 is still pretty beefy
Upgrading to a 3.2Ghz Q6600 should be good for both of you.

I don't like the idea of xfire two cards just so it can fit on an older system.
While the 620W is a fantastic unit I wouldn't push two 6950's or 560 Ti's on it.

Did you really cave in and buy two 590's or something?

I mean the new cards aren't THAT far away.

Would the Q6600 really be a good upgrade? The E8600 should be able to do 4ghz, and it is faster clock for clock than a Q6600 (or at least I would assume it is). I'm also in possession of a Q6600, but I wasn't going to bother replacing my E8500 @ 4ghz, because I didn't think it would be worth the hassle.

I realize that in some games, the extra two cores may make a difference, but that extra .8ghz might mean more in a lot of games.

That was my thought process anyway. If it is definitely a good upgrade to make, I'll do it tomorrow.

 

[Dennis]

Did you really cave in and buy two 590's or something?

I mean the new cards aren't THAT far away.

2 x GTX 580 3GB

And actually the next Nvidia won't be out until some time 2012 which is too long to wait.

I will probably skip Kepler and go with Maxwell for my next rig in 2014.

I felt like it was a great opportunity for me to clean it up and get rid of all the BS on my old PC.

It is but there is still so much I need on the new PC.

 

[KoruptData]

Well, thanks PC GAF for helping this noob that bought a HP and helping me upgrade it with a new PSU and video card.

i7 2600
Radeon 6850
8 GB RAM

Here is my wife enjoying The Witcher 2. (High settings - 40 - 60 FPS)

 

[iSurvivedTheOutage]

2 x GTX 580 3GB

And actually the next Nvidia won't be out until some time 2012 which is too long to wait.

I will probably skip Kepler and go with Maxwell for my next rig in 2014.



It is but there is still so much I need on the new PC.

Same here.

 

[drakesfortune]

I'd really appreciate it if one of gurus here would take a look at my proposed build to see if I have any issues with this build. This is only my second PC build, so I'm a novice still. I mostly took the $1000 build and swapped out a few things with cheaper things. Here's what I've got going on (all from newegg):

Case and Power Supply (comes as bundle) - $169.98

Rosewill Xtreme Series RX750-S-B 750W Continuous @40°C ,80 PLUS Certified, ATX12V v2.2 & EPS12V v2.91, SLI Ready CrossFire ...
Item #: N82E16817182067


Rosewill BLACKHAWK Gaming ATX Mid Tower Computer Case, come with Five Fans, window side panel, top HDD dock
Item #: N82E16811147107

Mother Board - $149.99

ASRock P67 EXTREME4 (B3) LGA 1155 Intel P67 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
Item #: N82E16813157229

Processor - $219.99

Intel Core i5-2500K Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80623I52500K
Item #: N82E16819115072

RAM - $48.99

Kingston HyperX 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model KHX1600C9D3X1K2/8GX
Item #: N82E16820104266


DVD Drive - $20.99

ASUS DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS Black SATA 24X DVD Burner - Bulk - OEM
Item #: N82E16827135204

Hard Drive - $79.99 (should I upgrade this or add that $104 Kingston SSD to this? This is the one thing I'm really uncertain about. Is it a pain in the ass to manage date with 2 HD's? Basically I would ONLY use the SSD for the OS...and maybe the current game I was playing?

SAMSUNG EcoGreen F4 HD204UI 2TB SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive
Item #: N82E16822152245

GPU - $369.99

GIGABYTE Super Overclock Series GV-N570SO-13I GeForce GTX 570 (Fermi) 1280MB 320-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready ...
Item #: N82E16814125382


Fan - $27.99

COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus RR-B10-212P-G1 "Heatpipe Direct Contact" Long Life Sleeve 120mm CPU Cooler Compatible Intel ...
Item #: N82E16835103065

Total: $1100

Plus I'm going to get to two ASUS VE248H 24" LED Monitors for $391.98 total.

Total price of build with monitors: $1491

Seem reasonable? Any places I can save, or where I should spend more? That case a decent case?

Thanks for any input you guys have. I mainly want to ensure I'm not ordering any incompatible parts, or making any big mistakes. Any place I should spend an extra $100 or so that would make a big difference in performance?

 

[Ellis Kim]

Well it certainly depends on what you're aiming for. For BF3 we simply don't know but indications are that it will be a CPU heavy game like BC2 and from alpha benchmarks (though with those you have to take with a grain of salt). Dual cores traditional lag behind quad cores for these games.

Right now, for most games the i3 2100 isn't a huge amount much slower than the 2500k but for future games if you want no CPU bottlenecking you'll likely want the 2500k since we're seeing more and more CPU intensive games.

I see.

Also, I'm interested in having a dual monitor setup, but I was wondering if there was something I should be looking for specifically outside of the $500 wishlist's setup.

 

[Smokey]

2 x GTX 580 3GB

And actually the next Nvidia won't be out until some time 2012 which is too long to wait.

I will probably skip Kepler and go with Maxwell for my next rig in 2014.



It is but there is still so much I need on the new PC.

What I'm thinking as well especially if I get another 580 for SLI.

 

[Ludovician]

GPU - $324.99

MSI N570GTX-M2D12D5 GeForce GTX 570 (Fermi) 1280MB 320-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Support Video Card
Item #: N82E16814127552

Any place I should spend an extra $100 or so that would make a big difference in performance?

I'd turn your attention to the Gigabyte GTX 570 SOC.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125382

As I've come to understood it, these cards are picked for being OC'able (as we know, some cards can be OC'ed from here to the moon, others have trouble with stock), which means they are likely to be able to go beyond the already overclocked speed it comes at. There's also talks of v-modding it for even better performance. This card does grant higher performance, and even higher if you OC yourself (see: http://www.vortez.net/articles_pages/gigabyte_gtx570_1280mb_soc_edition,1.html) - if that's worth an extra 45$ (it has an amazing cooler, too), is up to you! I'm eyeing this one.

 

[Citizen K]

I'm a bit confused about sandy bridge integrated gpu's. I will probably setup my new build with the igpu initially to make sure everything is ok and then add my graphics card. So I will install the igpu's vga driver from the asus cd. What happens when I install my actual graphics card? Do I need to disable the integrated one first in the bios? Remove the driver? Or simply plug in new card and install driver, but wont windows have 2 display drivers then? Maybe I'm over complicating it!

 

[LordCanti]

I'm a bit confused about sandy bridge integrated gpu's. I will probably setup my new build with the igpu initially to make sure everything is ok and then add my graphics card. So I will install the igpu's vga driver from the asus cd. What happens when I install my actual graphics card? Do I need to disable the integrated one first in the bios? Remove the driver? Or simply plug in new card and install driver, but wont windows have 2 display drivers then? Maybe I'm over complicating it!

You are over complicating. There is absolutely no reason not to install the video card first. Disable the onboard video in the bios, and it will be fine.

 

[Flying_Phoenix]

Once again, you need to bench with ATTO Disk to get the advertise speed.

The Corsair Force series has async NAND vs Force GT with sync NAND. The later is much faster. Also, SSD are access in parallel. Thus, more NAND chips (larger storage) the faster.

My brain is so confused to whether or not I should be mad at my Agility 3 or not.

All I know is that its fast and I enjoy its performance.

 

[Septimius]

My brain is so confused to whether or not I should be mad at my Agility 3 or not.

All I know is that its fast and I enjoy its performance.

Well, they did advertise that it was ATTO, but then again, the Corsair seems to hold up better at larger reads, and considerably much so. I know I would be a bit upset and felt a bit fooled, but I don't know the price difference on those SSDs. I dunno how other SSDs fare in that test.

EDIT: 4K and other small sized read is really where SSDs excels, though, and really why we have them. Yours is doing great there, so it really is a judgement call.

 

[RS4-]

For those building in the next month or so and haven't decided on the case: Corsair 400R and 500R Won't be out until Sept-Oct lol :|

Here's a review for the 400R, they don't really get into details though: http://www.guru3d.com/article/corsair-carbide-400r-review/

 

[drakesfortune]

I'd turn your attention to the Gigabyte GTX 570 SOC.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125382

As I've come to understood it, these cards are picked for being OC'able (as we know, some cards can be OC'ed from here to the moon, others have trouble with stock), which means they are likely to be able to go beyond the already overclocked speed it comes at. There's also talks of v-modding it for even better performance. This card does grant higher performance, and even higher if you OC yourself (see: http://www.vortez.net/articles_pages/gigabyte_gtx570_1280mb_soc_edition,1.html) - if that's worth an extra 45$ (it has an amazing cooler, too), is up to you! I'm eyeing this one.

Wow, thank you! I'm going to do that. I'm not really one to overclock, but the fact that it comes overclocked makes it well worth it to me. That's awesome, thanks!

 

[LaneDS]

I've got two SATA 6Gb ports that are controlled by the on-board P67 controller and two controlled by a Marvell controller, and only one 6Gb HD presently. Should I use the Intel port?

 

[childplease]

I bought 2 hard drives for Raid 0 heard it improves performance.

Is there anything specific I must do when installing them to ensure raid 0 is enabled ? or only setting them up in the bios ?

 

[knitoe]

I've got two SATA 6Gb ports that are controlled by the on-board P67 controller and two controlled by a Marvell controller, and only one 6Gb HD presently. Should I use the Intel port?

Yes. The intel ports are much better. Also, if you are not using them, disable the marvel ports in the BIOS to startup faster.

I bought 2 hard drives for Raid 0 heard it improves performance.

Is there anything specific I must do when installing them to ensure raid 0 is enabled ? or only setting them up in the bios ?

Better to setup in the BIOS. You can also setup in Windows Disk Management.

 

[Ludovician]

Wow, thank you! I'm going to do that. I'm not really one to overclock, but the fact that it comes overclocked makes it well worth it to me. That's awesome, thanks!

If you look at that review I linked to, you can see that those guys were able to up the clock a whole lot, even without doing anything but installing the bundled OC software and cranking up the numbers. You can go really high if you do this simple v-mod: http://forums.guru3d.com/showthread.php?t=345714

the disclaimer is of course that v-modding is a bit more advanced, and risky (albeit a small one with such small v-mod).

With the first type of OC, it seems you can unlock another 5% fps increase. With the second, maybe 10%. Varies from resolution and settings, but it's food for thought! I normally crank out the OC'ing when I need some extra frames. We probably won't with this card for a while!

 

[LaneDS]

Yes. The intel ports are much better. Also, if you are not using them, disable the marvel ports in the BIOS to startup faster.

Better to setup in the BIOS. You can also setup in Windows Disk Management.

Cool, thank you. Super loopy from a long day at work but pushing slowly and carefully through this build. Starting to come together.

 

[Tallshortman]

Well, thanks PC GAF for helping this noob that bought a HP and helping me upgrade it with a new PSU and video card.

i7 2600
Radeon 6850
8 GB RAM

Here is my wife enjoying The Witcher 2. (High settings - 40 - 60 FPS)

Is she playing the Witcher 2 with a pad? Blasphemous

 

[KoruptData]

Is she playing the Witcher 2 with a pad? Blasphemous

Yeah, she loves her rpgs and wanted to play The Witcher 2. She plays the 360 all the time so I just got a wired 360 controller.

 

[chaosblade]

Case and Power Supply (comes as bundle) - $169.98

Rosewill Xtreme Series RX750-S-B 750W Continuous @40°C ,80 PLUS Certified, ATX12V v2.2 & EPS12V v2.91, SLI Ready CrossFire ...
Item #: N82E16817182067


Rosewill BLACKHAWK Gaming ATX Mid Tower Computer Case, come with Five Fans, window side panel, top HDD dock
Item #: N82E16811147107

Off to work, but I wouldn't recommend spending $170 on Rosewill. That's a real waste, you can get something from a better manufacturer for the same price or less. A 500W Corsair PSU and one of the $80-$100 cases in the OP would be a much better option.

 

[drakesfortune]

Off to work, but I wouldn't recommend spending $170 on Rosewill. That's a real waste, you can get something from a better manufacturer for the same price or less. A 500W Corsair PSU and one of the $80-$100 cases in the OP would be a much better option.

I'm really struggling with the case to be honest. Anyone have any from the OP that they really like? I'd like to be in the $100 range on that.

How about this PSU, would this be better than the Roswell?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139028

 

[LaneDS]

Hm, so after spending quite a while building my machine, I was finally ready to power it up.

Powered it up, lights turned on, and after only two or three seconds it powers itself off. No beeps, just powers down quickly.

Any suggestions what I might have done wrong?

ASUS P67 Deluxe
i5 2500k
8 GB (2x4GB) G. Skill DDR3 1600
Corsair 650W PSU (TX, Enthusiast)
PNY GTX 560ti
Crucial M4 SSD (only drive in presently, never been used or initialized)

Aside from whatever is happening, I was really impressed with the case (Corsair 600T) which made the build quite a bit easier.

Edit: I should point out it displayed something on the monitor briefly about the GTX 560ti, just the typical startup screen.

Second edit: Tried it a few more times and noticed all the case fans are spinning. The CPU's heatsink is cool to the touch. I don't feel much/any airflow coming out of the PSU from the bottom of the case where the fan is.

The machine managed to stay on for about a minute after POSTing. From the main screen (was hanging at press F1 to enter setup... didn't have a keyboard plugged in at the time) I could see that it detected the CPU at the right clock speed and it also was recognizing all 8GB of power.

PSU is brand new but... bad PSU? I'll recheck all the cable connections tomorrow but I felt like I was very careful throughout.

 

[fatguy2012]

Hey PC-GAF, a friend of mine is looking to build a mid-range PC for himself and asked me for my thoughts on his selection. I thought what he had looked decent, but I'm no expert and decided that it'd be best to consult you all for your opinions.

http://secure.newegg.com/WishList/PublicWishDetail.aspx?WishListNumber=16737352

He hasn't decided yet on a GPU, but he's looking at either the GTX 460 or the 6850.

I'm not sure if he's going to be into overclocking, but I'll assume that he isn't. He's not looking to play games at the highest resolutions or max settings, either. I think he'll be happy to play the few, older games that he does at mid settings anyway.

 

[knitoe]

Hm, so after spending quite a while building my machine, I was finally ready to power it up.

Powered it up, lights turned on, and after only two or three seconds it powers itself off. No beeps, just powers down quickly.

Any suggestions what I might have done wrong?

ASUS P67 Deluxe
i5 2500k
8 GB (2x4GB) G. Skill DDR3 1600
Corsair 650W PSU (TX, Enthusiast)
PNY GTX 560ti
Crucial M4 SSD (only drive in presently, never been used or initialized)

Aside from whatever is happening, I was really impressed with the case (Corsair 600T) which made the build quite a bit easier.

Edit: I should point out it displayed something on the monitor briefly about the GTX 560ti, just the typical startup screen.

Second edit: Tried it a few more times and noticed all the case fans are spinning. The CPU's heatsink is cool to the touch. I don't feel much/any airflow coming out of the PSU from the bottom of the case where the fan is.

The machine managed to stay on for about a minute after POSTing. From the main screen (was hanging at press F1 to enter setup... didn't have a keyboard plugged in at the time) I could see that it detected the CPU at the right clock speed and it also was recognizing all 8GB of power.

PSU is brand new but... bad PSU? I'll recheck all the cable connections tomorrow but I felt like I was very careful throughout.

Plug in a keyboard. Check and see if MB & CPU power cables are plugged in. Also, make sure the ram sticks are down all the way. Try clearing the CMOS.

Afterward, if it still doesn't boot up normally, take the MB out of the case. Try starting up with only the PSU, MB, CPU, CPU fan and 1 stick of ram. If no fan action, one of the parts is probably bad, most likely MB then PSU. If you get action, put in back into the case and retest. If it continues to work, add parts one at a time and retest.

 

[The Teachinator]

Hm, so after spending quite a while building my machine, I was finally ready to power it up.

Powered it up, lights turned on, and after only two or three seconds it powers itself off. No beeps, just powers down quickly.

Any suggestions what I might have done wrong?

ASUS P67 Deluxe
i5 2500k
8 GB (2x4GB) G. Skill DDR3 1600
Corsair 650W PSU (TX, Enthusiast)
PNY GTX 560ti
Crucial M4 SSD (only drive in presently, never been used or initialized)

Aside from whatever is happening, I was really impressed with the case (Corsair 600T) which made the build quite a bit easier.

Edit: I should point out it displayed something on the monitor briefly about the GTX 560ti, just the typical startup screen.

Second edit: Tried it a few more times and noticed all the case fans are spinning. The CPU's heatsink is cool to the touch. I don't feel much/any airflow coming out of the PSU from the bottom of the case where the fan is.

The machine managed to stay on for about a minute after POSTing. From the main screen (was hanging at press F1 to enter setup... didn't have a keyboard plugged in at the time) I could see that it detected the CPU at the right clock speed and it also was recognizing all 8GB of power.

PSU is brand new but... bad PSU? I'll recheck all the cable connections tomorrow but I felt like I was very careful throughout.

Missed connection or a short between the mobo and case? Did you install the little risers that came with the mobo?

 

[Deputy Moonman]

Thanks. I adore the case. I had plenty of room to install everything. I love the way it looks too. It runs damn cool and damn quiet. I wouldn't recommend adding another case fan. I'm not saying don't do it, I just don't find it necessary.

Hazaro, my HDD and DVD weren't being found in BiOs in the SATA3 slots. That's why I changed it and now it works great.

That's awesome, Tashi. It looks great. If I had the money, I could easily see myself building computers as a hobby. I would really like to try out all the cases in the OP just to get a feel for them all. Alas, I don't have cash flowing out of my ears.

 

[Angelus Errare]

Well, thanks PC GAF for helping this noob that bought a HP and helping me upgrade it with a new PSU and video card.

i7 2600
Radeon 6850
8 GB RAM

Here is my wife enjoying The Witcher 2. (High settings - 40 - 60 FPS)

Not to be rude, but for a split second I thought your wife was playing naked.

 

[LaneDS]

Plug in a keyboard. Check and see if MB & CPU power cables are plugged in. Also, make sure the ram sticks are down all the way. Try clearing the CMOS.

Afterward, if it still doesn't boot up normally, take the MB out of the case. Try starting up with only the PSU, MB, CPU, CPU fan and 1 stick of ram. If no fan action, one of the parts is probably bad, most likely MB then PSU. If you get action, put in back into the case and retest. If it continues to work, add parts one at a time and retest.

Missed connection or a short between the mobo and case? Did you install the little risers that came with the mobo?

Thank you both. I'll try running through those steps tomorrow after work and double check everything. Brain is probably too fried to continue working on this now, but I did at least make sure risers were in place.