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

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Actually, it looks like Newegg doesn't let you stack a combo deal on top of a promo deal. Bummer. I'll probably just go with the combo deal, it's more money off than just the promo.
 
TheExodu5 said:
The AX750 definitely has long enough cables for the 8 pin to reach.

My AX850 didn't have a long enough cable, I had to buy an extension cable to keep it behind the motherboard.

Gaming4Lyfe said:
Get a pre=built gaming PC from New Egg. Building your own is a hassle and so many things can go wrong

LOLOL
 
SenseiJinx said:
Speaking of good deals, Newegg has the i5 2500k for $205 for the weekend. There's an insane amount of combo deals for that processor as well, if you choose "View more combos" -- motherboards, power supplies, RAM, etc. I'm probably going to go with one of the combos that gives me $20 off with a mobo -- for a total of about $35 off between the two! Awesome! Glad I waited a bit.

EDIT: Thinking about pairing the i5 2500k with this mobo:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130583

Can anybody think of a reason not to go for that one? And any ideas why it's more expensive than this one?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130571

What about this one? Does Biostar make decent motherboards?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813138298
Biostar used to be pretty suspect IIRC, not sure if they are better now or not. Can't say I've ever seen them recommended or used in this thread.

As for those MSI boards, the more expensive one has more PCIe x16 slots. The cheaper one only has one, which is probably fine since you're most likely only ever going to use a single GPU.

asking a question: basically when i was fitting the hyper 12 plus i did the noobie mistake of fitting it the wrong way (pointing up to the case/down to gpu) because it was the first time putting a computer together. anyway, i don't think its actually affecting my computer but its bothering me because it's not 'right'. will i be able to move it around in the case or will i have to take the whole thing out?
It does screw up your airflow, especially if it's blowing the air down. You would be okay if it's blowing up
because explosions are good right?
but temps could drop a degree or two if you fixed it.
 
Chinner said:
asking a question: basically when i was fitting the hyper 12 plus i did the noobie mistake of fitting it the wrong way (pointing up to the case/down to gpu) because it was the first time putting a computer together. anyway, i don't think its actually affecting my computer but its bothering me because it's not 'right'. will i be able to move it around in the case or will i have to take the whole thing out?
Your case might have a cutout on the back allowing you to do it without taking out the motherboard, otherwise you'll have to take almost everything apart.
 
Chinner said:
asking a question: basically when i was fitting the hyper 12 plus i did the noobie mistake of fitting it the wrong way (pointing up to the case/down to gpu) because it was the first time putting a computer together. anyway, i don't think its actually affecting my computer but its bothering me because it's not 'right'. will i be able to move it around in the case or will i have to take the whole thing out?
That orientation does make your CPU run slightly hotter. You can change the orientation, but you will have to clean and re-apply the thermal paste.
 
darkpaladinmfc said:
Your case might have a cutout on the back allowing you to do it without taking out the motherboard, otherwise you'll have to take almost everything apart.
you talking about the backplate? i dont need to touch that do i? from what i remember the screw in from the top not from the bottom
 
Chinner said:
asking a question: basically when i was fitting the hyper 12 plus i did the noobie mistake of fitting it the wrong way (pointing up to the case/down to gpu) because it was the first time putting a computer together. anyway, i don't think its actually affecting my computer but its bothering me because it's not 'right'. will i be able to move it around in the case or will i have to take the whole thing out?

Does your case have a hole cut out for the retention bracket? If so, no, you don't need to remove the motherboard. If it doesn't, you would.

Edit: Beaten, lol.

Chinner said:
you talking about the backplate? i dont need to touch that do i? from what i remember the screw in from the top not from the bottom

I'm trying to imagine this in my head; Wouldn't the backplate need to swivel along with the heatsink? If the holes line up after you turn the heatsink, I guess it wouldn't.
 
chaosblade said:
Biostar used to be pretty suspect IIRC, not sure if they are better now or not. Can't say I've ever seen them recommended or used in this thread.

As for those MSI boards, the more expensive one has more PCIe x16 slots. The cheaper one only has one, which is probably fine since you're most likely only ever going to use a single GPU.

You're probably right, but I ended up going with the more expensive MSI...with the CPU combo it was really only $110, and has a $20 rebate, so I figured it was worth a bit more cash to give me the option for multiple GPU's in the future, if I ever want to. (Although I know it's not a great option, and most people here wouldn't recommend it.)

Going to take a look at those NZXT cases on sale now, to see if any fits my fancy. That's all I have left to order is a case now (and I'm likely going with a Hyper 212+).
 
The Teachinator said:
Huh? It's pretty easy and you can get higher quality parts for less.

both of your viewpoints are correct. some would rather just buy an already assembled PC, while others enjoy the task of DIY. whatever floats your boat!
 
Wondering if I should go ahead and order a Silver Arrow. Dunno what the chances of it going up in price are. Or whether or not something better will come along before Ivy Bridge releases (seems entirely possible, but it would still be a great cooler).

Edit: Also, what are some of the best 140mm fans? Will want some that fit in 120mm slots, but if there are 140mm mounted ones that are better those are fine to recommend too.

Edit2: Looks like the Thermalright TY-140s that come with the Silver Arrow are actually some of the best, and fit in 120 slots. Shame they are so ugly, but I can put up with that.
 
LordCanti said:
No problem. Your build looks great! If the 8-pin CPU cable wouldn't reach behind the mobo, you can always buy something like this (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0036ORCJY/?tag=neogaf0e-20)

Though I can understand not wanting to spend an additional $8 on a cable right after building a computer. I think it took me...mmm....two months or so, to finally get tired of the cable being draped across my video card, lol.

Does the PSU have a vent down there? If not, you may want to flip it around so that the fan is facing up. Should help it's longevity, and your case temps (one more fan exhausting air).

Everything else seems to be in proper order though. Congrats.

Thanks!

Glad to know im not the only person who had to drape the 8 pin power connector lol. Yeah Ill probably wait on the extension for at least a month. I think Im going to give the UPS guy a break for now lol. Yeah the case has a Vent down there for sucking in cool air. Has a filter too so thats a plus!
 
I just installed the ASUS Xonar DG sound card that I got yesterday and my god, my ears :O. I wasn't too sure if I would notice a difference from onboard sound but like hell I don't, sounds amazing. I'm just rocking some plain 2.1 logitech speakers and the clarity of music is sweet. I haven't tried it with gaming headphones which is supposedly where the card really shines, but if it's anything like I noticed with my music I'm expecting my mind to be blown. For $30 it was a great pickup.

Only downside is that I'm running out of slots and SLI will be impossible in it's current configuration. Really wishing that I would've went for the ASUS WS Revolution mobo now.
 
Hello PC-Gaf!

I need some advice --
I have a limited opportunity to buy a brand new Visiontek 2GB 6950 that is flashable to a 6970 for $270.

I'm only really buying it for Battlefield 3 and don't really need it until then, as I have a 5850 right now and that handles pretty much all of my needs.

Is there anything coming out that i should wait for (i have until October) or should I jump on this deal?
 
rodrigoviola said:
It's alive! I can't believe how well it manages to run games at 1920x1080p@60FPS, this is my first gaming rig ever and coming from a PS3 this is MADNESS.

Thanks again!
http://i.imgur.com/sLrnU.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/NSp09.jpg

Congrats, it's a great feeling. When you start gaming on your PC and go back to consoles you'll start noticing all types of little shit that you didn't before.


IMACOMPUTA said:
Hello PC-Gaf!

I need some advice --
I have a limited opportunity to buy a brand new Visiontek 2GB 6950 that is flashable to a 6970 for $270.

I'm only really buying it for Battlefield 3 and don't really need it until then, as I have a 5850 right now and that handles pretty much all of my needs.

Is there anything coming out that i should wait for (i have until October) or should I jump on this deal?

Supposedly AMD's new 7000 series is supposed to launch towards the end of this year, but that will be after BF3 comes out. That card would be a great upgrade though especially since you can flash it to a 6970.
 
So I picked up an i5 2500k and an ASRock p67 Exteme 4. I guess to power save, it defaults at idle to 1.6 Ghz. Problem is, as I was UnRARing files for the new install, they were really slow. I looked at CPU-Z, and I noticed that the core clock wasn't going up. Now it does go up to 3.3 when I run OCCT.

What's the best way to ensure a better minimum clock? Manually set in UEFI, run the Turbo function in UEFI, or use the ASRock Tuner program? My cooling setup is pretty competent. I may mess around and try and get to like 4.0 later on. Right now I just want the damn thing off 1.6

edit: for controller emulation I used to use Pinnacle. It's been awhile. Most games support the 360 controller these days.
 
squicken said:
What's the best way to ensure a better minimum clock? Manually set in UEFI, run the Turbo function in UEFI, or use the ASRock Tuner program? My cooling setup is pretty competent. I may mess around and try and get to like 4.0 later on. Right now I just want the damn thing off 1.6

I always recommend manual overclocking, don't use any profiles or auto settings as some motherboards tend to up the voltage even when not required making the CPU run hotter. Leave speedstep on and then just up the multiplier / BCLK to reach 2-300 MHz increase and then test it, then increase by 2-300 again and test etc. until you reach your target.
 
Sethos said:
I always recommend manual overclocking, don't use any profiles or auto settings as some motherboards tend to up the voltage even when not required making the CPU run hotter. Leave speedstep on and then just up the multiplier / BCLK to reach 2-300 MHz increase and then test it, then increase by 2-300 again and test etc. until you reach your target.

I thought I had read somewhere to leave BCLK alone, and do everything with the mulitplier?
 
My father decided to upgrade his computer, and after picking the old PC to the bones for parts, I came across a pair of identical 320gb 7200RPM SATA drives (Seagate numbers, from before their QC problems). I'm thinking about RAID'ing them together as non-OS drives, but I'm not quite up to date on RAID.

Is this an easy thing to do? Someone told me I can just RAID them in Windows, which is a fairly painless process, but I seem to remember having to enable RAID in the bios back in the day.

If I build a new computer for BF3, these two drives RAID'd would make a nice substitute for the SSD I refuse to spend money on.
 
squicken said:
I thought I had read somewhere to leave BCLK alone, and do everything with the mulitplier?

Yes, do the multiplier. BCLK also increases memory clock which in turns means you might also have to increase QPI voltage etc. etc.

Multiplier first.
 
Gaming4Lyfe said:
Get a pre=built gaming PC from New Egg. Building your own is a hassle and so many things can go wrong

I've just built my own for the first time with no assistance, and the only difficulties I had with any part of it were down to the terrible manual of my PSU (almost worse than useless) and a the CPU heatsink's fan not initially starting due to one of the heatsink's wires being in the way. If it weren't for the issues thrown up by that, I could have done it in my sleep. And if I can do it, almost anyone can (with a bit of patience and preparation).

And I'm now running Crysis maxed out on something I built myself, which makes the satisfaction of using a PC that much better.
 
Bumped up the multiplier on my i7 2600k to and Prime'd it, 60-63 average on 4.5GHz, not too shabby I'd say. Think that's my sweet spot for temperatures.
 
Something is going on with my machine. For about 30 minutes now. First games wouldn't load. I'd press play and it go to a black screen and I would have to ESC or go to task manager where it would say "Not responding".

Upon restart it stays on the ASUS screen for much longer than it used to. Ok...I load up and try my games and they seem to launch now but there is an audible noise coming from my computer upon startup of the games. Like a whine. Is this the PSU? Portal 2 is especially bad with this.

I also notice that whenever I restart that "stop" noise in Windows comes up and a error box is displayed but the machine continues shutting down so I can't see wtf it is.

Has this happened to anybody? Crysis 2 seems to be the one that does it the most. I just went through my list of Steam games though and Just Cause 2 did it and some others. WTF.
 
Sethos said:
Bumped up the multiplier on my i7 2600k to and Prime'd it, 60-63 average on 4.5GHz, not too shabby I'd say. Think that's my sweet spot for temperatures.
What voltage are you sitting at?
 
Well, recently I got a new job and since I've been out of PC gaming for about four years, so I've decided to treat myself to a new gaming PC. Since I've been out of the PC gaming world for a bit I've got no idea what kind of system I need. The games that I MUST play are:

- Crysis
- The Witcher 2

Both of these games I want to run on maximum settings with full AA and all that kind of stuff and have a more than decent framerate. How much would a system like this cost me? And what kind of setup should I be wanting to get?
 
TheStevo said:
Hey guys, I'm looking for a new case--can any of you guys recommend me a good $<100 mid-tower case?

This baby! http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811108395&Tpk=buc%20case

I bought it with my new PC build a couple months ago and I really like it. It's got plenty of room inside, plus it's very easy to mount drives etc. Also, I've been using the stock fans and it's kept fairly cool overall for me.

myphoto-1.jpeg
 
Izayoi said:
What voltage are you sitting at?

Not sure, can't remember what the stock setting are, haven't touched the voltage.

CPU-Z says 1.328 during load and 1.024 during idle ( Speedstepped )
 
Continuing from my issue a few posts up it has to be something with Steam? I even rolled back to the Nvidia 275 drivers and it still did it. I have Bad Company 2 as a shortcut in Steam. When I click that it goes black and sits there until I press ESC or task manager. When I go to my Direct2Drive folder on my HDD and click BC2 it launches. I let it go through a cinematic, exited, went to Steam to launch and nothing.
 
Smokey said:
Continuing from my issue a few posts up it has to be something with Steam? I even rolled back to the Nvidia 275 drivers and it still did it. I have Bad Company 2 as a shortcut in Steam. When I click that it goes black and sits there until I press ESC or task manager. When I go to my Direct2Drive folder on my HDD and click BC2 it launches. I let it go through a cinematic, exited, went to Steam to launch and nothing.

Can happen quite often with steam games, did you verify the integrity of the cache through steam? Whenever you have missing / corrupt files which can happen quite often, games eithe refuse to start or do weird things and still never start.
 
Sethos said:
Can happen quite often with steam games, did you verify the integrity of the cache through steam? Whenever you have missing / corrupt files which can happen quite often, games eithe refuse to start or do weird things and still never start.

No I haven't? How do I do this? And I have to do this for every Steam game I own? I just went down the list and tried 3-4 games and they are all doing this...
 
Sethos said:
Bumped up the multiplier on my i7 2600k to and Prime'd it, 60-63 average on 4.5GHz, not too shabby I'd say. Think that's my sweet spot for temperatures.

That's exactly the temps I am getting on my 2500k when I run a prime 95 stress test.

cpuz however does not appear to display the correct voltage wish there was a way to find out the voltage without having to go into the bios.
 
Smokey said:
No I haven't? How do I do this? And I have to do this for every Steam game I own? I just went down the list and tried 3-4 games and they are all doing this...

Right click on a game, properties, "Local files" tab and then "Verify integrity of game cache ...", it'll check for consistency and download any missing / broken files.


gibon3z said:
That's exactly the temps I am getting on my 2500k when I run a prime 95 stress test.

Sweet, although I'm not sure whether the i7 2600k should be running hotter or about the same as the i5s?
 
Sethos said:
Bumped up the multiplier on my i7 2600k to and Prime'd it, 60-63 average on 4.5GHz, not too shabby I'd say. Think that's my sweet spot for temperatures.

You know...with a little more voltage, you could probably hit 5ghz @70c in Prime95...

Just saying....

If you're feeling lucky.
 
Sethos said:
Right click on a game, properties, "Local files" tab and then "Verify integrity of game cache ...", it'll check for consistency and download any missing / broken files.

Great. It's giving me Steam error - Please exit any running tools or games before verifying cache.

I don't have any games or tools running--this is off of a restart...
 
LordCanti said:
You know...with a little more voltage, you could probably hit 5ghz @70c in Prime95...

Just saying....

If you're feeling lucky.

Haha, tempting but 4.5 is plenty I'd say. The GTX 580 would probably bottleneck long before the CPU does at this point.
 
Smokey said:
Great. It's giving me Steam error - Please exit any running tools or games before verifying cache.

I don't have any games or tools running--this is off of a restart...

You could try doing it in Windows safe mode. Worth a shot anyway, to make sure no part of steam is loading with Windows.
 
LordCanti said:
You could try doing it in Windows safe mode. Worth a shot anyway, to make sure no part of steam is loading with Windows.

I'm wondering if it's the Asus Xonar sound card that I installed. I just took it out and re-enabled onboard audio. Updated to the latest 280 nvidia graphic drivers and tried to launch Crysis 2 and it worked. Went to Portal 2 to launch and they whine that I was referring to is gone.

I'm going to keep messing around but could a sound card do some shit like that?
 
Hey PC Gaf, its my brothers birthday coming up (27th of august) and hes looking to build a gaming pc.

Basic Desktop Questions:
Your Current Specs: 2 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo/ 4 GB DDR2 SDRAM/ Apple - Logicboard?/ ATI,RadeonHD2400
Budget: £700ish / UK
Main Use: Gaming.
Monitor Resolution: 1680x1050
List SPECIFIC games that you MUST be able to play: BF3 (decent graphics not ultra.) / Witcher 2 / Diablo 3 / MW3 / Guild Wars 2 / Skyrim.
Are reusing any parts?: No.
When will you build?: Soonish around 2-3 weeks.
Will you be overclocking?: No.
 
Help GAF! I put some new thermal paste on my i5 pea sized (like i did when I put my cm 212). Tried starting my computer. It flickers for a split second and turns off. I can't get it to go again unless I unplug and replug and wait a few seconds. Same result. Any ideas?!
 
The_Inquisitor said:
Help GAF! I put some new thermal paste on my i5 pea sized (like i did when I put my cm 212). Tried starting my computer. It flickers for a split second and turns off. I can't get it to go again unless I unplug and replug and wait a few seconds. Same result. Any ideas?!

Sounds like a short?
 
Smokey said:
I'm wondering if it's the Asus Xonar sound card that I installed. I just took it out and re-enabled onboard audio. Updated to the latest 280 nvidia graphic drivers and tried to launch Crysis 2 and it worked. Went to Portal 2 to launch and they whine that I was referring to is gone.

I'm going to keep messing around but could a sound card do some shit like that?

If it's defective? Sure it could. Anything with capacitors can have capacitor whine. My logitech mouse (MX518) has a really high pitched whine if you get your ear close enough to the thing. Audio drivers have been the bane of the master race for decades anyway.


The_Inquisitor said:
Help GAF! I put some new thermal paste on my i5 pea sized (like i did when I put my cm 212). Tried starting my computer. It flickers for a split second and turns off. I can't get it to go again unless I unplug and replug and wait a few seconds. Same result. Any ideas?!

I'm confused. Did you install a different heat sink? If so, why? As long as the cooler is seated, it is unlikely that it is the cause of a problem like that.

Did you change anything else? Did you have to take the mobo out to install the new cooler (or to reapply thermal paste - whatever you were doing)? If so, did you get it installed back onto the standoffs properly?
 
Septimius said:
Like any other HDD! Are you installing your OS on it? Remember to set AHCI mode in BIOS before you do so - the rest of the tweaks you can read about after the installation from OP.
Whoops. Installed the OS before reading this post. Guess I might have to reformat again I guess.

RS4- said:
Install the Intel SSD Toolbox; but for the most part the Intel drives are already configured and everything.

But other things like moving your internet cache to a different location, just read OP and google.
Okay I did this and the Toolbox seems to think everything is okay but it wants me to turn off Superfetch. Is this generally recommended with SSDs or no?

Also what is the benefit of moving your internet cache to another location? Is it just to save or room or is there a performance related reason? I usually have my cache emptied when I close the browser so I'm not sure if this is really applicable to me or not.
 
abuC said:
I'm looking at the Silverstone tj07 and Corsair 800D anyone have either?
The TJ07 is one of the best cases, looks fantastic and can do both air and WC just fine, easy to mod too if you wanted to take it apart. Too bad the interior isn't painted out of the box.

If I could, I'd switch my ft02 for the tj07.
 
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