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[VGChampion]

You can get 2x560ti for about 460$ US; getting about 50 fps in Heaven at extreme settings
versus
460$ US for one 580 and getting about 40 fps, but have the potential to down the line (when prices drop) pick up another 580 in SLI and get potentially up to 80 fps.

How long that wait will be before they drop I cannot say though.

Sweet, thanks. I'm leaning towards the 560ti's for now. Any preference manufacturer wise? I was kind of thinking this one.

Good call. I copied the wrong model. The guy never responded, so no telling what he decided on doing.


From the OP:
Intro to dual cards: SLI & Crossfire
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=26715356&postcount=10527

Yeah, I saw that but I wasn't sure because that's really the only place I've seen on here, Reddit, and... sigh, YouTube users that was against SLI.

 

[Corky]

Sweet, thanks. I'm leaning towards the 560ti's for now. Any preference manufacturer wise? I was kind of thinking this one.
.

I own two of those, and for what it's worth I love em to death. My experiences have been nothing other than amazing 95% of the time ( literally, out of the 100 games I've played on my steam list or something, I can count on one hand the games that gave me issues specifically tied to SLI )

edit : I've clocked them to "570 speeds" and yet my temps don't exceed 69~ and 75~ on the cards.

 

[scogoth]

Sweet, thanks. I'm leaning towards the 560ti's for now. Any preference manufacturer wise? I was kind of thinking this one.



Yeah, I saw that but I wasn't sure because that's really the only place I've seen on here, Reddit, and... sigh, YouTube users that was against SLI.

The real issue with SLI is this and incompatibility. I personally use SLI but I have 3D vision which really needs the horsepower and don't mind dealing with driver/profile issues.

 

[Corky]

The real issue with SLI is this ...

Interesting article

I must be quite fortunate since I've yet to be bothered by this, and I do not mean that in a snarky way I am genuinely glad since it seems to be an issue for many.

fakeedit :

Well, maybe that's because I've only tried SLI and never CF, and looking at this graph I can clearly understand. Looking at single vs SLI gpu the fluctuations are practically the same, heck the single gpu solution has higher spikes. Whereas the amd cards tell another story.

 

[mkenyon]

Yeah, I saw that but I wasn't sure because that's really the only place I've seen on here, Reddit, and... sigh, YouTube users that was against SLI.

You certain you read that closely? I just bought a second 460 for one of my secondary gaming rigs, and have dual 5870s on my main rig. I'm not against SLI/X-Fire, I just think it has certain applications, and people end up getting caught up in hype of benchmarks that they'll never use (2500x1600 testing), and see better gains than what are actually there. Then, if you step outside of AAA territory, you have to pray there are profiles for the game you want to play, and if there aren't, you end up losing a good portion of your $ spent by disabling the second card.

If you, like me, enjoy tinkering with drivers and settings, and scouring the internet for updates that you need, by all means go balls deep. Otherwise stick to a 580. That tiny % gain you get with dual 560s will only matter in a tiny handful of games which you aren't already getting 60 fps in.

The real issue with SLI is this and incompatibility. I personally use SLI but I have 3D vision which really needs the horsepower and don't mind dealing with driver/profile issues.

Yep, this is exactly it.

 

[Sourtreats]

Arrived this morning.

Built. I'm missing a DVD drive at the moment because I need to order a Sata Drive.

The only problem I'm having is my machine isn't recognising my 560 GTX-Ti. It has 2 PCI-E power slots on it, do I need to attach 1 or 2 power cables to it?

Sorry for terrible phone pictures and the wiring is a lot neater since I took it.

 

[LordCanti]

Arrived this morning.


Built. I'm missing a DVD drive at the moment because I need to order a Sata Drive.

The only problem I'm having is my machine isn't recognising my 560 GTX-Ti. It has 2 PCI-E power slots on it, do I need to attach 1 or 2 power cables to it?

Sorry for terrible phone pictures and the wiring is a lot neater since I took it.

Make sure it's properly seated. You do need both power cables plugged into it.

 

[mkenyon]

The only problem I'm having is my machine isn't recognising my 560 GTX-Ti. It has 2 PCI-E power slots on it, do I need to attach 1 or 2 power cables to it?

Sorry for terrible phone pictures and the wiring is a lot neater since I took it.

You need to plug power into every open spot on it.

 

[blahblah...blah]

I know this is blasphemy, BLASPHEMY, but do any UK GAFers know where to find the best pre-build for gaming for, let's say, around £700 without a monitor.

The only caveat (which is going to make me seem even more blasphemous, as it revolves around Apple) is that the tower should, ideally, have a Mini Display Port in it (I want to connect it to my Apple Cinema Display / brother's iMac. Has anyone had experience of doing this, and if so did it work well?

Much appreciated guys, I owe you big time.

 

[Sourtreats]

Make sure it's properly seated. You do need both power cables plugged into it.

It's all in place correctly with both cables plugged in, when I try to install the drivers off the disc it tells me it cannot find the correct hardware.

I've just downloaded the newest drivers of Nvidia's website and seems to be installing correctly. Pretty annoying the drives on the CD don't work...

 

[TheExodu5]

Interesting article

I must be quite fortunate since I've yet to be bothered by this, and I do not mean that in a snarky way I am genuinely glad since it seems to be an issue for many.

fakeedit :

Well, maybe that's because I've only tried SLI and never CF, and looking at this graph I can clearly understand. Looking at single vs SLI gpu the fluctuations are practically the same, heck the single gpu solution has higher spikes. Whereas the amd cards tell another story.

While NVidia does seem to be much better about it according to that article, you still need to judge on a game-by-game basis. Red Orchestra 2, for example, runs perfectly with SLI. No visible stuttering, and even without vsync the tearing seems perfectly comparable to a single card solution. Rift, on the other hand, had terrible microstuttering. My 45fps felt like it was closer to 25fps. I went to a friend's place and commented on how much smoother the game felt on his single GTX 275 (compared to my 2x GTX 570).

There's also another thing to remember: if you can keep the minimum framerate above 60fps and have vsync on, microstuttering is a non-issue.

 

[th3dude]

It's all in place correctly with both cables plugged in, when I try to install the drivers off the disc it tells me it cannot find the correct hardware.

I've just downloaded the newest drivers of Nvidia's website and seems to be installing correctly. Pretty annoying the drives on the CD don't work...

Download the latest drivers from Nvidia instead.

Edit: You beat me to it.

 

[VibratingDonkey]

It's terrifying hitting the go button and watching all that money disappear.
Decided to get a 570 instead of a 580, so at least I'll have some left.

 

[squicken]

I can't believe the 128GB M4 is that cheap. We are getting really close to $1/GB on SSDs. It's such a worthwhile upgrade for any PC. Unless you are on a super tight budget, it's such a good value play.

 

[Corky]

While NVidia does seem to be much better about it according to that article, you still need to judge on a game-by-game basis. Red Orchestra 2, for example, runs perfectly with SLI. No visible stuttering, and even without vsync the tearing seems perfectly comparable to a single card solution. Rift, on the other hand, had terrible microstuttering. My 45fps felt like it was closer to 25fps. I went to a friend's place and commented on how much smoother the game felt on his single GTX 275 (compared to my 2x GTX 570).

No doubt, everything should be on a game to game basis, and that goes for everything SLI, stuttering, scaling, compatibility, performance.

There's also another thing to remember: if you can keep the minimum framerate above 60fps and have vsync on, microstuttering is a non-issue.

So I guess this is one reason why I've never encountered it then.

 

[TheExodu5]

So I guess this is one reason why I've never encountered it then.

If you were to look at the graph above, basically what happens is that the big jaggy line gets cut off at 60fps anyways, and becomes perfectly straight. When using vsync, frames are either double or tripple buffered, which allows for some inconsistency in the amount of time it takes to render a frame.

 

[ConstructMe]

I know this is blasphemy, BLASPHEMY, but do any UK GAFers know where to find the best pre-build for gaming for, let's say, around £700 without a monitor.

The only caveat (which is going to make me seem even more blasphemous, as it revolves around Apple) is that the tower should, ideally, have a Mini Display Port in it (I want to connect it to my Apple Cinema Display / brother's iMac. Has anyone had experience of doing this, and if so did it work well?

Much appreciated guys, I owe you big time.

Build your own, dont be a pussy.

 

[Smokey]

I can't believe the 128GB M4 is that cheap. We are getting really close to $1/GB on SSDs. It's such a worthwhile upgrade for any PC. Unless you are on a super tight budget, it's such a good value play.

?? that cheap where?

 

[Soi-Fong]

?? that cheap where?

Newegg's shell shocker deal for today.

 

[childplease]

ok.

Did the following on my failure to post pc.

Removed the video card.

Removed the battery on the mobo.

Waited 5 seconds

Reinserted the battery

Turned it on and bingo it works now.

So is it safe to assume it was a faulty Video card ?

I did get the overclocking error screen when I booted it.

 

[blahblah...blah]

Build your own, dont be a pussy.

I know a lot of people really enjoy it, but other would genuinely prefer to spend a bit of extra money and avoid it. That doesn't make me unworthy of your help - considering people in here are experts in assembling computers, they can probably also say what the best pre-builds are in terms of value for money. I would really appreciate any help I can get.

 

[mkenyon]

I know a lot of people really enjoy it, but other would genuinely prefer to spend a bit of extra money and avoid it. That doesn't make me unworthy of your help - considering people in here are experts in assembling computers, they can probably also say what the best pre-builds are in terms of value for money. I would really appreciate any help I can get.

The latter doesn't necessarily follow. Look up builds around your price point, post them here, then we'll be able to tell you which of the computers you are looking at are a good deal. Most people who build never browse pre-builts, so they might not be able to point you in the right direction.

 

[squicken]

I know a lot of people really enjoy it, but other would genuinely prefer to spend a bit of extra money and avoid it. That doesn't make me unworthy of your help - considering people in here are experts in assembling computers, they can probably also say what the best pre-builds are in terms of value for money. I would really appreciate any help I can get.

I know that EVGA has a model of its GTX 570 that has DisplayPort. But that's a discrete card. It's going to be tough to find what you are looking for, w/o just shopping around.

And you are really going to get gouged on any video card upgrade. I can tell you that here in the US, you can go to Microcenter and pick out your parts. You can pay them ~$100 to put it together, and another ~$100 to provide full warranty on parts and labor.

So I think your best bet might be trying to find a local store who can provide a similar service, instead of trying to find a custom build online.

 

[Psychotext]

So... new PC complete, but I'm really, really not happy with the quality of the onboard sound. Can anyone suggest a good solution? Don't mind too much if it's expensive as long as it works well.

Anyone? I heard the Asus cards are good... but there's so many of them.

 

[mkenyon]

Anyone? I heard the Asus cards are good... but there's so many of them.

Yeah, both DG and DX are good. Go with the Essence if you're a hardcore audiophile.

 

[childplease]

Ok just put the pc to sleep. It shut down fine. Woke it up from sleep and no video on monitor. I am using the onboard video on the z68 chipset btw.

Forced it to shutdown, rebooted fine.

Hmmm what do you guys think ?

Faulty video card ? should I try reinserting the video card and seeing it it fails to boot again or could this potentially cause damage ?

 

[mkenyon]

Ok just put the pc to sleep. It shut down fine. Woke it up from sleep and no video on monitor. I am using the onboard video on the z68 chipset btw.

Forced it to shutdown, rebooted fine.

Hmmm what do you guys think ?

Faulty video card ? should I try reinserting the video card and seeing it it fails to boot again or could this potentially cause damage ?

Hibernate is the jenkiest system tool ever. I swear I've never had a rig that's done it properly. So, I dont know what to tell you.

 

[Chris R]

Do we have a consensus pick as to best mid tower case around 80-120 that has USB 3.0 support (either with cables or with the "standard" header)? Not building a new computer for some time, but I'm trying to quiet my current machine down. Thing is way too noisy, mostly due to the old ass case it is in.

 

[Corky]

Gaf!

Asus xonar DX

+

Senn HD 555


What's the best thing to put between them? eg headphone amps etc. It feels like I gotta turn up the volume quite high in order to even hear a thing.

 

[Clydefrog]

To anyone here who may have ordered a Corsair Carbide 400R case: has it arrived or even shipped yet? Mine hasn’t even shipped yet and I ordered it on Amazon on August 3. It seems to be in stock now @ Newegg; I have received zero word on a possible ship date via Amazon. Should I cancel my order with Amazon and go with Newegg? The wait has been unbearable!

 

[mkenyon]

Gaf!

http://i.imgur.com/Qu9bM.jpg Asus xonar DX

+

http://i.imgur.com/cKS1P.jpg Senn HD 555


What's the best thing to put between them? eg headphone amps etc. It feels like I gotta turn up the volume quite high in order to even hear a thing.

Do you have the floppy 4 pin power connecter plugged into the DX?

The DX has an amplifier, and mine puts out sound louder than I can bear.

 

[Chris R]

Also make sure to mod your 555s (well if you want better sound to come out of them). Really easy to do and I noticed an improvement. Only took 10 mins too.

 

[Psychotext]

Yeah, both DG and DX are good. Go with the Essence if you're a hardcore audiophile.

Thanks, I'll have a look.

 

[mkenyon]

You didn't plug in the power, did you?

 

[LordCanti]

Gaf!
What's the best thing to put between them? eg headphone amps etc. It feels like I gotta turn up the volume quite high in order to even hear a thing.

Something is screwy with your sound card (maybe the power isn't in like mkenyon suggested). The 555's are very low impedence, and run fine out of something like an iPod. Your soundcard should have no trouble.

 

[Corky]

Do you have the floppy 4 pin power connecter plugged into the DX?

The DX has an amplifier, and mine puts out sound louder than I can bear.

Hmm, what happens if I don't have the 4 pin connector plugged in ? I mean I am getting sound and it can get quite loud but I have to go past 50-60 % on the volume dial.

Also make sure to mod your 555s (well if you want better sound to come out of them). Really easy to do and I noticed an improvement. Only took 10 mins too.

Yeah I have

Something is screwy with your sound card (maybe the power isn't in like mkenyon suggested). The 555's are very low impedence, and run fine out of something like an iPod. Your soundcard should have no trouble.

Again I have sound, and I can increase the volume until my ears hurt but I have to go far on the meter before things get actually loud.

 

[luffeN]

So then it is the 4 pin thing?

 

[Corky]

So then it is the 4 pin thing?

Nope just checked, it's plugged in. Maybe it's just me

Will it even work if the power isn't plugged in ?

 

[Dennis]

SSDs are the most important development in PC tech in recent years.

Holy shit, I can't believe how fast Windows and Photoshop boots up! Excite!

 

[luffeN]

Nope just checked, it's plugged in. Maybe it's just me

Will it even work if the power isn't plugged in ?

The following may seem stupid, but when I got my creative mp3 player the sound was also pretty low. I googled and there is a law or whatever which prevents those players from going really loud. Changed region from Europe to US in the firmware and it's pretty loud now. Maybe same thing with the driver? But if you are from the US then everything I just said is crap xD I am tired.

I've got all of my stuff apart from the memory and processor which arrives tomorrow. I'm an excited child so obviously I want to put what I have got together immediately.... Is it going to be a pain in the bottom to install the processor and heat sink with the motherboard already in the case? Should I just wait?

If your case has a "backdoor" for easy cooler removing then no. But just wait till everything is delivered and then start to build. And if your heat sink is a really big one then put that in at the very end.

 

[Tea and Toast]

I've got all of my stuff apart from the memory and processor which arrives tomorrow. I'm an excited child so obviously I want to put what I have got together immediately.... Is it going to be a pain in the bottom to install the processor and heat sink with the motherboard already in the case? Should I just wait?

 

[mkenyon]

Nope just checked, it's plugged in. Maybe it's just me

Will it even work if the power isn't plugged in ?

Yeah, it works, but it's super quiet. I know this because I *may* have done that on my most recent re-build. You're not really going to gain anything volume wise by another amplifier though. Maybe a slider somewhere else is jacked.

SSDs are the most important development in PC tech in recent years.

Holy shit, I can't believe how fast Windows and Photoshop boots up! Excite!

I couldn't agree more. After my first, I went out and bought 3 more for the rest of my rigs.

 

[Freyjadour]

Newegg's shell shocker deal for today.

Goooodddd damnit, I just bought the 64 M4 last week.

 

[Corky]

The following may seem stupid, but when I got my creative mp3 player the sound was also pretty low. I googled and there is a law or whatever which prevents those players from going really loud. Changed region from Europe to US in the firmware and it's pretty loud now. Maybe same thing with the driver? But if you are from the US then everything I just said is crap xD I am tired.
.

First time I've heard of this, and I am in Europe actually.

Yeah, it works, but it's super quiet. I know this because I *may* have done that on my most recent re-build. You're not really going to gain anything volume wise by another amplifier though. Maybe a slider somewhere else is jacked.

Well I would definitely say that it's not at all superquiet. It is definitely loud when I crank up the volume, it's just that I was under the impression that even at low volumes it would be relatively high. Regardless, are you all saying that somekind of headphone amp wouldn't be of any use?

 

[·feist·]

Goooodddd damnit, I just bought the 64 M4 last week.

The 128GB Crucial M4 was actually an additional $10 cheaper last week at Buy.com:
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=30460040&postcount=10801

I haven't really been keeping track of SSD news in a while. I just saw this pop up on slickdeals. Good deal?

Crucial M4 CT128M4SSD2 M4 2.5" 128GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive $159.95

Unfortunately, it's a wrap. You can possibly try getting your money back, if you won't be charged shipping, or a re-stocking fee from the retailer.

I've got all of my stuff apart from the memory and processor which arrives tomorrow. I'm an excited child so obviously I want to put what I have got together immediately.... Is it going to be a pain in the bottom to install the processor and heat sink with the motherboard already in the case? Should I just wait?

Depends on which HSF it is. The processor is a cakewalk. Since Intel uses LGA on their desktops, it's very difficult to screw up your CPU. Even with large motherboard cutouts, I almost always instal my air coolers outside of the case.

 

[VGChampion]

Part list permalink / Part price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-2500K 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor ($214.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z68XP-UD3 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($152.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: Crucial 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1333 Memory ($54.99 @ Newegg)
Hard Drive: Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($57.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Hard Drive: Crucial M4 128GB 2.5" Solid State Disk ($193.77 @ Amazon)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 580 1.5GB Video Card ($467.55 @ Newegg)
Case: Lian-Li PC-K58 ATX Mid Tower Case ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Thermaltake 750W ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($71.98 @ Newegg)
Total: $1274.24
(Prices include shipping and discounts when available.)

Well, here's my latest build. I got scared away with the SLI but I'm still not sure if I should go with the GTX 580 as it's pretty expensive. And the first time I build it I'm going to send it to my little brother and he probably isn't really in to fiddling with tech stuff if that changes anything around. Whoops, forgot to mention I'm still open with the 560 ti's in SLI which even though it may be more power than I need, it's a better price to power ratio.

 

[childplease]

Has anyone here ever rma'ed a video card before ?

Not sure if I should just Place the card in a small box full of bubble wrap or send the card back in its original box free of accessories.

 

[TheExodu5]

SSDs are the most important development in PC tech in recent years.

Holy shit, I can't believe how fast Windows and Photoshop boots up! Excite!

Yep. Couldn't live without em.

 

[wandering goat]

First time I've heard of this, and I am in Europe actually.




Well I would definitely say that it's not at all superquiet. It is definitely loud when I crank up the volume, it's just that I was under the impression that even at low volumes it would be relatively high. Regardless, are you all saying that somekind of headphone amp wouldn't be of any use?

If the DX is like the STX, then you have to enable headphone mode in the Xonar Audio Center for the amp to turn on. You should actually be able to hear the amp switch itself on, a kind of metallic click sound, which would happen around the time that Windows boots up if it's configured to headphone mode. Check to see if that's happening.

[edit] Oops, my bad, it seems that it's the DG that has the headphone amp, not the DX. I guess all that doesn't apply then. You can check the control center though to see if the volume is turned up in the mixer section.

 

[Cystm]

LIANLI PC-90

Damn!