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

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darkblade77 said:
Just reposting this because I'm interested in the answers, especially the one about the Maximus IV.

I finally settled on the Silverstone GD05B case for sure; pulled the trigger to keep myself from looking back. I still kinda want the Define Mini, but finding out it's bigger than my current old XION ATX case killed the magic for me. In the end I'm still looking for something that's relatively SFF, and the Grandia works for that very well.
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You'll need adapters for all your molex, but wattage wise you are very close.
You could do well to lower the CPU voltage to try and save some power, but it should be fine.
ColonelColon said:
Yeah, I think my hard drive might be damaged too, but I haven't been able to confirm it. I've actually tried all of the things you suggested. Hitachi's Drive Fitness Test doesn't find any errors on my HDD. :/
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Hmm. I'd suggest cloning it to another drive regardless and see what happens. That fixed my problem and I didn't have anything noticeably apparent either.
VibratingDonkey said:
Worth it to upgrade?
Corsair Force 3 90GB - 1299:- or
Crucial m4 128GB - 1749:-

BenQ 24" LCD G2420HD - 1295:- or
Dell UltraSharp U2311H - 2019:-

And what are some cheap, uncrappy 2.0 speakers? Getting tired of the flaky 3.5mm jack on my Creative SBS260.
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Well I guess it's up to your budget with such big differences in price.

SSD I'd say not really, monitor not really a good value proposition either.
Speakers I don't know.
Gav47 said:
What do you think Hazaro? All the stores you have listed for Europe are from the UK. This store the located in Germany and delivers across Europe. Just another option.
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I added it :)
 
chaosblade said:
Use the budget build Hazaro put together. Swap out the CPU and motherboard for AMD parts, and cut the GPU. If you want a dedicated GPU, there's really no reason to go with those CPUs at all.
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Thanks, yeah. There's no need for a dedicated GPU. I'll try and check if those parts are available here. Is an Asrock motherboard good enough these days?
 
Teetris said:
Thanks, yeah. There's no need for a dedicated GPU. I'll try and check if those parts are available here. Is an Asrock motherboard good enough these days?
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Wouldn't be my first choice, but they should be alright. Especially for a budget build like this.

Edit: And yeah, Ultrasharps are nice. I have a U2211H and it blows away every other monitor I've ever used. Don't know about it being slower, the only fast game where it would make a difference for me is Audiosurf on Elite difficulties and I don't notice any latency.
 
Hi everyone,

I am having a weird sound issue with my PC. When I play games, the audio will be just fine...to a point. After some time, it starts to get crackly and distorted. This has happened with WoW, Starcraft II, Half Life 2, and just today, Borderlands.

Today, I booted up Borderlands, and everything was fine. Then, I changed the graphics settings to max, and almost immediately, I started getting the distortion effects.

I googled around, and some sites say that a significant heat buildup can cause distortion like this. This makes sense, but I am using an external sound card, plugged in by a USB. I would think that this would eliminate the issue, but I guess I was wrong. Drivers are updated and all that. If I shut down the computer for a few minutes, and then restart, everything is back to normal, which supports the heat theory I guess.

Is there any other way around this? I am using a 460 GTX, so I would think that I should be able to play Starcraft II, etc at Max with no issues.

My external sound card is a Sound Blaster X-Fi Surround 5.1 Pro.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Edit: Oh, and this issue carries over if I plug in my Turtle Beach headset, so it does not seem to be an issue with my regular speakers.
 
I've been checking SSD's but there seems to be a lot of problems with many of them and prices seem to be a little expensive for the upper tier. How much space should I be looking for? I only plan to have Windows 7, world of warcraft and cs source on it since I will be buying a 1TB drive for media files.

Which SSD can I buy that will give the least problems?
 
So I plan to make a monster rig early next year - self-bought components, etc. I'm playing Deus Ex HR all the time, and I was looking at some crazy Eyefinity videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vE9h2z3oSxM

Can anyone describe to me how do you feel playing games like that? Do you see the borders of each monitor? Do I need to get AMD card? What monitors will work (I assume it's best to just buy the same monitor 3 times)? Do I need AMD card for that, or does Nvidia have something similar?
 
Castor Krieg said:
So I plan to make a monster rig early next year - self-bought components, etc. I'm playing Deus Ex HR all the time, and I was looking at some crazy Eyefinity videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vE9h2z3oSxM

Can anyone describe to me how do you feel playing games like that? Do you see the borders of each monitor? Do I need to get AMD card? What monitors will work (I assume it's best to just buy the same monitor 3 times)? Do I need AMD card for that, or does Nvidia have something similar?
Click to expand...

Wish someone would create a monitor that wide without the bezels obstructing the screen.
 
sestrugen said:
I've been checking SSD's but there seems to be a lot of problems with many of them and prices seem to be a little expensive for the upper tier. How much space should I be looking for? I only plan to have Windows 7, world of warcraft and cs source on it since I will be buying a 1TB drive for media files.

Which SSD can I buy that will give the least problems?
Click to expand...

Crucial M4. it does not have the problems of Sandforce 2200 drives (OCZ, Corsair, Kingstone, Patriot to name a few) and with the last firmware is almost as fast.

:)
 
gibon3z said:
Wish someone would create a monitor that wide without the bezels obstructing the screen.
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There is a company that makes these. I doubt you want to pay 10 grand for a two 20 inch monitors though.

sestrugen said:
I've been checking SSD's but there seems to be a lot of problems with many of them and prices seem to be a little expensive for the upper tier. How much space should I be looking for? I only plan to have Windows 7, world of warcraft and cs source on it since I will be buying a 1TB drive for media files.

Which SSD can I buy that will give the least problems?
Click to expand...
60GB or more should be fine for Windows and import software with known benefits. Maybe 128GB if you have a lot to put on it. Are you sure WoW and CS:S will see improvements? WoW in particular, I'm sure that game will take up a ton of space.

Can't recommend a specific SSD, don't know much about them, but you just missed a sale on M4s which are supposed to be pretty good.

Sourtreats said:
Sorry to quote myself, just need the advice.
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They are extremely close. Go with whatever you can get cheaper if you don't have a preference to AMD/NVidia. 560 Ti would be a nice step up if you can afford the difference.
 
chaosblade said:
There is a company that makes these. I doubt you want to pay 10 grand for a two 20 inch monitors though.
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God no.

I remember seeing these a few years ago I would jump on something like this in a heart beat if it were under 500.

alienware-arc-monitor.jpg


Curved_Display.jpg


This display is $6,500.
 
chaosblade said:
They are extremely close. Go with whatever you can get cheaper if you don't have a preference to AMD/NVidia. 560 Ti would be a nice step up if you can afford the difference.
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I was swinging more to the 560 Ti over the 6870.

I think I'm going to order those parts on Tuesday, I cannot wait to finally be able to play most of my Steam catalogue.
 
What's up! Finally built my new PC, and let me say, it's pretty awesome. I'll make this quick, save a future post, within the next few hours, with all of the details. Just one quick question, although in every program (like Recuva and CCleaner) and in BIOS and in Windows itself it lists 8GB for me, it's telling me I only have 3.17 GB of RAM usable? What's up with that? I'm starting to think one of the sticks is busted.
 
Even reading the OP and multiple sites like this video cards still confuse the crap out of me for the best bang. The last time I was into upgrading PC's was back when the Radeon 9600 and 9800 Pro / XT were kicking around. I remember it seemed like everyone wanted one back then but now there are so many options.

Plus, I'm still super overwhelmed as I've been Mac exclusive for the past 6 years without even touching a Windows box and I want to build one from scratch. Doesn't help that I don't even know how much I want to spend on one yet which seems to be my biggest problem. I know I don't want to go over $1,000 but I really don't know if I should be looking into a $600, 700, or 800 computer currently. I hear all this stuff about not worrying about buying for the future but I do want this to last for four to five years playing at relatively high settings (specifically Valve games).
 
Sourtreats said:
I was swinging more to the 560 Ti over the 6870.

I think I'm going to order those parts on Tuesday, I cannot wait to finally be able to play most of my Steam catalogue.
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560 Ti competes with the 6950, it's definitely a better choice if you pay the extra for it. 560 competes with the 6870.

NVidia was confusing with their card names, the 560 Ti and 560 are not the same card. They compete with different products at different price ranges.

VGChampion said:
Even reading the OP and multiple sites like this video cards still confuse the crap out of me for the best bang. The last time I was into upgrading PC's was back when the Radeon 9600 and 9800 Pro / XT were kicking around. I remember it seemed like everyone wanted one back then but now there are so many options.

Plus, I'm still super overwhelmed as I've been Mac exclusive for the past 6 years without even touching a Windows box and I want to build one from scratch. Doesn't help that I don't even know how much I want to spend on one yet which seems to be my biggest problem. I know I don't want to go over $1,000 but I really don't know if I should be looking into a $600, 700, or 800 computer currently. I hear all this stuff about not worrying about buying for the future but I do want this to last for four to five years playing at relatively high settings (specifically Valve games).
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"Building for the future" in that regard typically means building with plans to upgrade that same PC sometime in the future when it starts showing signs of age. Tech advances so fast it only holds you back in the short term, or you spend a ton of extra money but end up with nothing to show for it. CPUs will need new motherboards with pretty much every new architecture refresh/launch, you get a new memory standard every so many years, video cards are rapidly getting more powerful so a card just a few years old can barely compete with lower-midrange cards today.

The good thing is that you can build a good PC for $800 or so that will last that long with minimal upgrades (probably just the GPU), as long as you make sure you get quality components that will last. Trying to spend less now but add more later will ultimately cost you more.

The best bang for buck video card is probably the 560 Ti right now, but it's not going to play GPU-heavy games at high settings and resolution three to four years from now.
 
Okay.

Overclocked my q9550 to 3.3 ghz
Have 8 GB of DDR2 RAM
Have a GTX 460 768 MB

If I sell the GTX 460 and buy either one GTX 580 or SLI'd GTX 560s, do you guys think I could maintain 60 FPS for BF3, @ 1920x1080 all settings high? Or should I just upgrade to a new MB and i7?

(I know we don't know minimum specs for BF3 yet, but a guesstimate?)
 
jaaz said:
Okay.

Overclocked my q9550 to 3.3 ghz
Have 8 GB of DDR2 RAM
Have a GTX 460 768 MB

If I sell the GTX 460 and buy either one GTX 580 or SLI'd GTX 560s, do you guys think I could maintain 60 FPS for BF3, @ 1920x1080 all settings high? Or should I just upgrade to a new MB and i7?

(I know we don't know minimum specs for BF3 yet, but a guesstimate?)
Click to expand...
That is still a solid CPU, I would guess that a GPU upgrade would benefit you more than a CPU upgrade, unless the game is poorly optimized like SC2 or GTA4.
 
VGChampion said:
Even reading the OP and multiple sites like this video cards still confuse the crap out of me for the best bang. The last time I was into upgrading PC's was back when the Radeon 9600 and 9800 Pro / XT were kicking around. I remember it seemed like everyone wanted one back then but now there are so many options.

Plus, I'm still super overwhelmed as I've been Mac exclusive for the past 6 years without even touching a Windows box and I want to build one from scratch. Doesn't help that I don't even know how much I want to spend on one yet which seems to be my biggest problem. I know I don't want to go over $1,000 but I really don't know if I should be looking into a $600, 700, or 800 computer currently. I hear all this stuff about not worrying about buying for the future but I do want this to last for four to five years playing at relatively high settings (specifically Valve games).
Click to expand...

4-5 years is a bit of a stretch for a gaming computer. I mean, the very first Core Duos were released 5 years ago. Nvidia was releasing 6000 series video cards and some early 7000 series, heh.
 
jaaz said:
(I know we don't know minimum specs for BF3 yet, but a guesstimate?)
Click to expand...

Here's my totally uneducated guesstimate with regards to high specs :

sandybridge + a 580 will hover around 40-50 fps in campaign with highest ( within reason, i.e no 32xaa or w/e) settings @1080p

Pretty much like crysis 2 v 1.9 + dx11 + high res pack
 
jaaz said:
Okay.

Overclocked my q9550 to 3.3 ghz
Have 8 GB of DDR2 RAM
Have a GTX 460 768 MB

If I sell the GTX 460 and buy either one GTX 580 or SLI'd GTX 560s, do you guys think I could maintain 60 FPS for BF3, @ 1920x1080 all settings high? Or should I just upgrade to a new MB and i7?

(I know we don't know minimum specs for BF3 yet, but a guesstimate?)
Click to expand...

Basic PC building rule. Don't build unless you notice real performance issues. Keep your rig, play BF3, and if you're still not happy then buy then. Either you see that your 460 works well enough for you, or by waiting until you need the upgrade prices have fallen and new better products could have possibly entered the market.
 
Karmum said:
What's up! Finally built my new PC, and let me say, it's pretty awesome. I'll make this quick, save a future post, within the next few hours, with all of the details. Just one quick question, although in every program (like Recuva and CCleaner) and in BIOS and in Windows itself it lists 8GB for me, it's telling me I only have 3.17 GB of RAM usable? What's up with that? I'm starting to think one of the sticks is busted.
Click to expand...

you didn't install a 32 bit Windows did you ? you'll need a 64 bit OS to take advantage of more than ~3.25 GB of RAM
 
n0n44m said:
you didn't install a 32 bit Windows did you ? you'll need a 64 bit OS to take advantage of more than ~3.25 GB of RAM
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I actually just realized it after I made that post and forgot to edit it. How embarrassing.
 
jaaz said:
Okay.

Overclocked my q9550 to 3.3 ghz
Have 8 GB of DDR2 RAM
Have a GTX 460 768 MB

If I sell the GTX 460 and buy either one GTX 580 or SLI'd GTX 560s, do you guys think I could maintain 60 FPS for BF3, @ 1920x1080 all settings high? Or should I just upgrade to a new MB and i7?

(I know we don't know minimum specs for BF3 yet, but a guesstimate?)
Click to expand...

like the other poster said, you're fine with your existing rig. I agree with you, I think selling that 460 and getting a single GTX 580 will be a massive improvement without your CPU bottlenecking. Q9950 @ 3.3ghz should be fine.

I do recall from Gamescom coverage that the PC's were utilizing SLI GTX 595 cards. They're not even out yet commercially... Then again the game hasn't been fully optimized yet.
 
tehbible said:
I do recall from Gamescom coverage that the PC's were utilizing SLI GTX 595 cards. They're not even out yet commercially... Then again the game hasn't been fully optimized yet.
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So the GTX595 cards were real? Very interesting if true.
 
Wazzim said:
So the GTX595 cards were real? Very interesting if true.
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yeah they were real according to the reports.

its not too far fetched as i do recall going to an AMD event on an aircraft carrier some years back and the PC's had HD 6850 cards in them, before they were released to the public. They were showing off early build of Crysis 2 at the time lol.
 
Hazaro said:
Well I guess it's up to your budget with such big differences in price.

SSD I'd say not really, monitor not really a good value proposition either.
Speakers I don't know.
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The SSD choice is primarily of the "better safe" concern, what with Sandforce drives having had issues. But while I can afford the upgrade, I think I can also be "better saving". Not both though, it seems.
chaosblade said:
And yeah, Ultrasharps are nice. I have a U2211H and it blows away every other monitor I've ever used. Don't know about it being slower, the only fast game where it would make a difference for me is Audiosurf on Elite difficulties and I don't notice any latency.
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MedIC86 said:
The DELL is really nice, got it a while back myself. its really good.

Also for speakers check out, Audioengine A2's.
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Yeah I think I'll go with the Dell. I'll be staring at the thing for quite a bit after all.

I think your definition of cheap is a little broader than mine. :)
Ah, at the price level I'm talking about (free-$30ish) I suppose it doesn't really matter. I'll just get whatever Creative model has replaced my current speakers. Ought to not sound worse at least.
 
Omiee said:
So what's gaf favorite cpu cooler for overclocking i5 2500k?

Noctua nh-d14, h60, or something else?
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Price isn't a concern? NH-D14 and Silver Arrow are the best air coolers. Silver Arrow generally edges out the D14 slightly and comes with better fans, but you can't go wrong with either.

H100 is a monster with good fans in performance mode, but that will cost you twice as much as even the best air coolers. Not sure how the H80 or other all-in-one liquid coolers compare.
 
chaosblade said:
Price isn't a concern? NH-D14 and Silver Arrow are the best air coolers. Silver Arrow generally edges out the D14 slightly and comes with better fans, but you can't go wrong with either.

H100 is a monster with good fans in performance mode, but that will cost you twice as much as even the best air coolers. Not sure how the H80 or other all-in-one liquid coolers compare.
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Im just wondering, the guy told me his budget is 85 euro.
Since building my rig iv been talking most of my friends into investing money into a gaming pc.

He wants to overclock his 2500k over 4,0 and wants it to be silent and cool.
 
Omiee said:
Im just wondering, the guy told me his budget is 85 euro.
Since building my rig iv been talking most of my friends into investing money into a gaming pc.

He wants to overclock his 2500k over 4,0 and wants it to be silent and cool.
Click to expand...
Silver Arrow is supposed to be pretty quiet with it's included fans. At "just" 4GHz you could probably even turn the fan speed down and it would be near silent.
 
chaosblade said:
Silver Arrow is supposed to be pretty quiet with it's included fans. At "just" 4GHz you could probably even turn the fan speed down and it would be near silent.
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Are they more silent than the noctua's?
 
Omiee said:
Are they more silent than the noctua's?
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Yep, they are a few db more quiet. Only downside is that can be a bit tougher to install if you're working in a smaller/tighter case. I think it also has slightly less RAM clearance due to the slightly bigger fans.
 
Hey guys, I need some help. Im gonna be building a cheap Gaming PC for my basement and need some help.

Microcenter currently has a deal that gives you a free motherboard with a AMD CPU and they currently have a X4 840 on sale for $50 so I can get the cpu and a motherboard for $50, but I have one question. Which one of the motherboards should I take?

Here is the list:

http://www.microcenter.com/specials/promotions/AMDbundlePROMO.htmlhttp://www.microcenter.com/specials/promotions/AMDbundlePROMO.html

I can also pick up the motherboards that cost a little bit extra if it will make a great difference. Any advice will be appreciated
 
asdad123 said:
Hey guys, I need some help. Im gonna be building a cheap Gaming PC for my basement and need some help.

Microcenter currently has a deal that gives you a free motherboard with a AMD CPU and they currently have a X4 840 on sale for $50 so I can get the cpu and a motherboard for $50, but I have one question. Which one of the motherboards should I take?

Here is the list:

http://www.microcenter.com/specials/promotions/AMDbundlePROMO.htmlhttp://www.microcenter.com/specials/promotions/AMDbundlePROMO.html

I can also pick up the motherboards that cost a little bit extra if it will make a great difference. Any advice will be appreciated
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Probably clearancing out what they can because it's a dead socket.

A770E3 looks like the best free one as far as features go.

Omiee said:
Do they work with these

http://www.mycom.nl/Product/Componenten-Geheugen/Corsair-Vengeance-DDR3,16008GB-KIT/1160101

in a HAF 922, with a asus motherboard.

I thought reviewers said the noctua was better than the silver arrow?
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Depends on the reviewer. And oddly enough I've seen a few reviews of people who test the temps slightly better on the SA but still recommend the Noctua because they are so close and the Noctua is easier to install. They are within the margin of error with the stock fans, using the same fan on each just makes it even closer (which is what some reviews do).

Neither cooler is likely to fit with that RAM though. You would be better off with a Prolimatech Genesis or Archon (should fit in a 922). Maybe a Venomous X, not sure what it's RAM clearance is like.
 
chaosblade said:
Depends on the reviewer. And oddly enough I've seen a few reviews of people who test the temps slightly better on the SA but still recommend the Noctua because they are so close and the Noctua is easier to install. Also, the SA comes with better fans, so that's one reason it leads by a degree or two. With the same fans, the two coolers are practically the same.

Neither cooler is likely to fit with that RAM though. You would be better off with a Prolimatech Genesis or Archon (should fit in a 922). Maybe a Venomous X, not sure what it's RAM clearance is like.
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I guess ill have to recommend him the H80 with those silver arrow fans.
 
I have a deathadder and I finally realized I need a good mousepad. Which one should I buy? I want a medium sized one (aprox. 35 cm x 25 cm or, for US GAF, 13.77 inches x 9.84 inches). Is Razer Goliathus the best for the price I can buy? Thanks
 
·feist· said:
They have one on display in this video from Gamescom 2011.
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They did have that one, but they also had this:

v9LVO.jpg


One of the reps at the booth is a guy who I played some CoD competitively with awhile back. He told me that it's not official, but they're going for an $79.99 pricetag on it. Thing is solid, felt absolutely perfect for a gaming keyboard or for typing.

*edit*

Also came in 4th in the Warsow tourney *flex*, though I should have been third. Was single elimnation, and they f'd up the brackets, I got placed in an additional round right before the final four, lost to second place, which was my buddy I went with. He won an Atom ION board which he gave to me. Epic loot.
 
Spy said:
What does GAF think of this laptop?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834127492
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What do you need it for? You could get a desktop that would outperform that laptop (with monitor if necessary) and get a cheaper and more portable laptop for about the same price.

If you need it to be a laptop, then I can't help you much, not sure what they run. That seems kind of high though, but I guess laptops usually are.

I think there is a laptop thread that would be more suitable. Fake Edit after previewing: Yeah. http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=386622
 
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