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[Tallshortman]

Doing a quick PC health check as we prepare to go into the game-heavy holiday season. Here are the key stats on my current rig, built about a year ago:

Intel Core i5-760 2.8ghz
ASUS Radeon HD 5870 1gb GPU
4gb RAM (soon to be upgraded to 8gb)

Is this going to hold me in good stead for a while or should I be looking to upgrade anything other than the RAM? Generally I prefer to play games at a pretty high native rez (2560x1440) as I have my PC hooked up to my 27" iMac display.

You're fine, little point in upgrading GPU right now since 5870s are still capable and next gen GPUs are relatively around the corner.

 

[JWong]

I don't think I'm ready for BF3. ;_;

 

[iSurvivedTheOutage]

Ok so my computer froze today and gave me that looping half second of sound. I read up and I understand that this could most likely be a memory issue. My board is a Maximus 4 Gene and my ram is G. Skill ripjaws. The RAM is CAS latency 9, and the timing is 9-9-9-24. 1.5 volts. The ram is compatible because it even says its designed for p67/z68 platforms here. Thing is, when I check my BIOS and memtweakit, it says that the timing is 9-9-9-28. When I tried to change it from 28 to 24, it froze up. Any help PC gaf?

Edit: wowwwwwwwwwwww just check my user manual and my RAM isnt even on my qualified vendors list. The 2x4 gig version of my ram is on there but not the 2x2 gigs. Even though G.Skill AND Newegg says it is compatible with z68 motherboards...wowwwww..

 

[Soi-Fong]

I don't think I'm ready for BF3. ;_;

You'll be fine as long as you're not using ultra settings.

 

[·feist·]

hey guys, guess what? i no longer need a new pc! it took me over three hours but i finally got it working (posting from it right now)! thanks to everyone who helped me; it would have been difficult without you guys.

the only thing that doesn't work are my two front panel usb 3.0 ports. i will have to figure out why...

http://i.imgur.com/JbxFv.jpg

Make sure it's enabled in BIOS/UEFI, and everything is up to date.

What case is that? I can tell it's a Corsair but what model?

400R.

 

[iSurvivedTheOutage]

apparently my motherboard is overvolting my ram as well...

dropped DRAM down to 1.5v...failed to boot. LED indicated DRAM was the problem. Cleared CMOS and tried to boot again. This time my mobo set the voltage to 1.515 and my PC booted faster than ever. Hmmm I wonder why my mobo defaulted to 1.660 volts before, instead of something around 1.5..

 

[Smokey]

Thanks for all the info. Read all the reviews/benchmarks, thought about it long and hard and went with the 1.5gig Asus DCII. The $30 rebate basically knocks off the tax so it was about $500 even.

For my 1080p 2x AA tv-out gaming needs it should be good enough for a while And I should at least be able to get a stable 30fps in most games for a long time.

Good choice.

I gave you some info as I own both. Since you already made the purchase I feel comfortable in saying in your situation you made the right decision

 

[Hawk269]

Well semantically speaking if 2 580s give you lets say "only" 55~fps on the settings we're talking about, then technically one would need 3 580s . But still, semantics.

But yeah, I agree, honestly I'd be surprised if you didn't get 60 fps minimum with sli 580s. Or so I hope.

Well I have 2x1.5gig 580's and that was $1000.00 alone in GPU's, so I hope that 2x580's can do BattleField 3 at sustained 60fps with everything turned up. Games like Witcher 2 which use the "Uber Mode" are specialty modes that the dev made, so I can understand in uber mode in witcher 2 which I can get around 52-55fps, but my cards are at 98-99% usage.

So as long as BF3 does not have some obscure rendering mode like TW2 does, I would think that 2 580's should be able to handle 1080p, 60fps, 8xaa etc...at least I hope. I mean yeah, I would love to go 3-Way SLI...but another 500.00 in GPU's is not what I had planned when I built my rig.

 

[Smokey]

I don't think I'm ready for BF3. ;_;

You'll be fine dude. You won't be able to run it with great FPS on Ultra settings, but you'll still be able to play the game!

Well I have 2x1.5gig 580's and that was $1000.00 alone in GPU's, so I hope that 2x580's can do BattleField 3 at sustained 60fps with everything turned up. Games like Witcher 2 which use the "Uber Mode" are specialty modes that the dev made, so I can understand in uber mode in witcher 2 which I can get around 52-55fps, but my cards are at 98-99% usage.

So as long as BF3 does not have some obscure rendering mode like TW2 does, I would think that 2 580's should be able to handle 1080p, 60fps, 8xaa etc...at least I hope. I mean yeah, I would love to go 3-Way SLI...but another 500.00 in GPU's is not what I had planned when I built my rig.

Can guarantee SLI 580s will run BF3 @ 60 fps on Ultra. Barring some broken SLI profile at launch or whatever.

 

[Hawk269]

You'll be fine dude. You won't be able to run it with great FPS on Ultra settings, but you'll still be able to play the game!




Can guarantee SLI 580s will run BF3 @ 60 fps on Ultra. Barring some broken SLI profile at launch or whatever.

I sure hope so. At times Nvidia has been slow at providing good drivers for newer games. For me, the big games for the rest of the year on PC are the following:

Skyrim
Star Wars: The Old Republic
Battlefield 3
Batman Arkym City

I pray to all that I can that we have good driver/sli profile for these games. Considering these are some of the biggest PC games in a while, I hope that the developers and Nvidia have profiles and drivers ready.

 

[Tea and Toast]

Firstly, I'd like to thank everyone who helped me with my build, fantastic! Secondly, I have this:

I don't know if this is good (It seems bad). What benefits will I see from overclocking and how hard is it.

 

[LordCanti]

Firstly, I'd like to thank everyone who helped me with my build, fantastic! Secondly, I have this:



I don't know if this is good (It seems bad). What benefits will I see from overclocking and how hard is it.

I have no idea if Uniengine is CPU heavy or not, but I get those scores @1080p with an older C2D E8500 (at 4ghz), and a GTX 580. You're getting them at a lesser resolution, with a card that isn't that much weaker.

Find the overclocking guide in the OP, and take that CPU closer to 4ghz (if you are on stock cooling) or 4.5 (if you've got a nice third party heatsink on it) and run it again.

 

[Tallshortman]

People need to stop freaking out over the graphics until we at least get beta. Even medium settings will look great and DICE or EA are not going to make their biggest game of the year difficult to run at a good looking setting at a good fps given that so many BF veterans probably don't have high end rigs.

 

[Chiggs]

People need to stop freaking out over the graphics until we at least get beta. Even medium settings will look great and DICE or EA are not going to make their biggest game of the year difficult to run given that so many BF veterans probably don't have high end rigs.

Seriously, at least wait for the demo to freak out.

 

[Zimbardo]

i hope SLI works good in BF3.

it can be great in the best cases ...so i'm hoping that BF3 is one of those times.

(running 2 highly clocked GTX460 1gig cards here
+ 8gig ram + i5 760 @ 3.8ghz)



SLI can be such a hit or miss tho ...i kinda concerns me. i'd hate to have to run the game on just 1 460.

i'm gunning for 60fps, 1080p and high details. 4x anti aliasing.

i think if SLI works good, i should be able to pull that off. maybe not Ultra settings ...but High (the next step down) should be doable.

no?

 

[MrOogieBoogie]

So guys, when is the best time to buy a new PC? Black Friday?

I ask because I want to build a new PC. Here are the only two components I currently have that I believe might be salvagable:

Western Digital Caviar Blue WD5000AAKS 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

CORSAIR CMPSU-400CX 400W ATX12V V2.2 80 PLUS Certified Compatible with Core i7 Power Supply

Everything else is garbage. I have no need for a new monitor, keyboard, speakers, or mouse.

So what do you say, GAF? I don't have much money to spend, so the more I can save the better.

My current build is:

AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core 5600+ @ 2.9 GHz
ATI HD Radeon 4670 1GB
4GB DDR2 667 RAM

The fucking Red Orchestra 2 beta is kicking my ass, for crying out loud. My PC was originally a Dell Inspiron 531, but I upgraded it as much as the shitty motherboard could handle. I have reached the limit, however.

 

[iSurvivedTheOutage]

So I just finished my first overclock on the i5 2500k. Got it to 4.4GHz on 1.3v. Temps in low 30s. Only seeing about a half a fps difference from the stock clock in Unigine. Whats going on with that? I went from 24 FPS in unigine to 24.5...Is that normal? should I boost the multiplier up to 4.6-4.7 and see what i get? Is my vCore at a good enough voltage?

 

[Laurentius]

So I just finished my first overclock on the i5 2500k. Got it to 4.4GHz on 1.3v. Temps in low 30s. Only seeing about a half a fps difference from the stock clock in Unigine. Whats going on with that? I went from 24 FPS in unigine to 24.5...Is that normal? should I boost the multiplier up to 4.6-4.7 and see what i get? Is my vCore at a good enough voltage?

From what I understand, if the overclock is stable, you shouldn't have to mess with the vcore anymore (and in fact shouldn't).

I had the same experience when overclocking my i5 2500k with Heaven Benchmark. It's pretty GPU dependent, I think, and CPU overclocks won't affect it much.

 

[LordCanti]

So I just finished my first overclock on the i5 2500k. Got it to 4.4GHz on 1.3v. Temps in low 30s. Only seeing about a half a fps difference from the stock clock in Unigine. Whats going on with that? I went from 24 FPS in unigine to 24.5...Is that normal? should I boost the multiplier up to 4.6-4.7 and see what i get? Is my vCore at a good enough voltage?

Run Prime95 for a few hours to check stability. If you feel like it, you can then try to go for more OC (4.4/4.5 is a good spot to stop on though, for 24/7 use).

 

[iSurvivedTheOutage]

From what I understand, if the overclock is stable, you shouldn't have to mess with the vcore anymore (and in fact shouldn't).

I had the same experience when overclocking my i5 2500k with Heaven Benchmark. It's pretty GPU dependent, I think, and CPU overclocks won't affect it much.

Ahh ok, thanks. I was flippin out over here. lol.

Run Prime95 for a few hours to check stability. If you feel like it, you can then try to go for more OC (4.4/4.5 is a good spot to stop on though, for 24/7 use).

Alright I will do that. Thx.

 

[Rezbit]

Okay so for anyone who read my post regarding the flickering in some games, I have an update...insofar as I have tried heaps of things and nothing has alleviated it. The 560 ti and 21.5" Asus monitor are not cooperating it seems. I see about 3 dull pulsing lines in most games (never on the desktop, can't see it on Portal or Dawn of War II - always noticeably in FC2, Metro, Batman).

So I tried the integrated graphics on the 2500k with the same monitor, and there was no flickering. Okay sweet I thought, must be the 560 ti. Then, just to make sure, I tried another monitor (old 15" LCD) with the 560 ti, and there was no flickering.

With the 560 ti + 21.5" ASUS, I have updated/downgraded drivers to no avail, forced vsync and triple buffering unsuccessfully (through nvidia control panel and D3DOverrider), tried turning off equipment around like modem and speakers, and still nothing. I will try to track down a new VGA cord, but otherwise I am stumped. Maybe it should be noted that these 3 pulsating lines get worse with vsync off, and instead it's heaps of lines scrolling up the screen.

Any ideas?

 

[Q8D3vil]

i decided to upgrade my old 3x2 ddr3 1333mhz rams into 3x4 ddr3 1666
is this good ?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820233146

 

[AkIRA_22]

Good call. Something like this? http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0036WTDHK/?tag=neogaf0e-20

She's a beauty

 

[Corky]

http://i56.tinypic.com/2bb0ah.jpg[/IMG

I don't think I'm ready for BF3. ;_;[/QUOTE]

heaven 2.5 is not indicative of how any game runs. I think a single gtx 580 ( keep in mind, fastest single gpu out there ) will get you something like 25-30 fps with those settings and bet your ass that card gives you more than that in your average game.

 

[CarbonatedFalcon]

I sure hope so. At times Nvidia has been slow at providing good drivers for newer games. For me, the big games for the rest of the year on PC are the following:

Skyrim
Star Wars: The Old Republic
Battlefield 3
Batman Arkym City

I pray to all that I can that we have good driver/sli profile for these games. Considering these are some of the biggest PC games in a while, I hope that the developers and Nvidia have profiles and drivers ready.

The way you made that list almost made me think Star Wars Battlefront 3 was coming out.

 

[Open Source]

Okay so for anyone who read my post regarding the flickering in some games, I have an update...insofar as I have tried heaps of things and nothing has alleviated it. The 560 ti and 21.5" Asus monitor are not cooperating it seems. I see about 3 dull pulsing lines in most games (never on the desktop, can't see it on Portal or Dawn of War II - always noticeably in FC2, Metro, Batman).

So I tried the integrated graphics on the 2500k with the same monitor, and there was no flickering. Okay sweet I thought, must be the 560 ti. Then, just to make sure, I tried another monitor (old 15" LCD) with the 560 ti, and there was no flickering.

With the 560 ti + 21.5" ASUS, I have updated/downgraded drivers to no avail, forced vsync and triple buffering unsuccessfully (through nvidia control panel and D3DOverrider), tried turning off equipment around like modem and speakers, and still nothing. I will try to track down a new VGA cord, but otherwise I am stumped. Maybe it should be noted that these 3 pulsating lines get worse with vsync off, and instead it's heaps of lines scrolling up the screen.

Any ideas?

Did you use the same connector for both monitors?

 

[Rezbit]

Did you use the same connector for both monitors?

No, the older little 15" LCD had it's own cord attached to it with a vga plug at the end.

 

[Gvaz]

i decided to upgrade my old 3x2 ddr3 1333mhz rams into 3x4 ddr3 1666
is this good ?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820233146

You will see extremely minimal gains

 

[Sipowicz]

hello all. sorry to be a pain, but would anyone be able to answer these questions for me?

1. When's the best time to buy pre-buit PC's. i'd imagine it's the january sales but i'm not sure
2.are there any major developments on the horizon that it would be prudent to wait for? like the sandy bridge was
3. Will a 1080p monitor be ok to play games?

 

[Omiee]

How much % improvement will i see if i unlock my 6950's to 6970's and overclock them a bit

This is what im getting now, is this enough to play battlefield 3 at ultra?

 

[coopolon]

There's a great deal on the HP ZR24W 24 inch 1920x1200 S-IPS monitor over at MacMall right now. $250 after a $50 mail in rebate with free shipping. Here is a review.

I have actually been wanting an IPS panel for a long time but have been unwilling to buy one because of the price but this was just too cheap for me to pass on.

 

[Chinner]

heaven 2.5 is not indicative of how any game runs. I think a single gtx 580 ( keep in mind, fastest single gpu out there ) will get you something like 25-30 fps with those settings and bet your ass that card gives you more than that in your average game.

yeah word. dont panic seriously internet people.

 

[Hazaro]

hello all. sorry to be a pain, but would anyone be able to answer these questions for me?

1. When's the best time to buy pre-buit PC's. i'd imagine it's the january sales but i'm not sure
2.are there any major developments on the horizon that it would be prudent to wait for? like the sandy bridge was
3. Will a 1080p monitor be ok to play games?

1. I think it's back to school? Might be wrong.
2. New AMD CPUs this month. 3 months for AMD GPU, 6 for nVidia GPU
3. Yup

 

[BBQMan]

So I am about to do a new build as I do one every 3 years or so and my current one is getting dated.
I always go for the top of the range parts so the 2600K and the GTX 590 will stay just wanting opinions on the other parts and some good CPU coolers for smashing out the OC at low temps and if the board I am getting will work well with the OC.

 

[TheDude108]

Just got this of ebay for £170:

Seems like a reference design and its the 2Gb model, so hopefully a good chance of unlocking?

Hope I didn't over pay...

 

[th3dude]

So I am about to do a new build as I do one every 3 years or so and my current one is getting dated.
I always go for the top of the range parts so the 2600K and the GTX 590 will stay just wanting opinions on the other parts and some good CPU coolers for smashing out the OC at low temps and if the board I am getting will work well with the OC.

http://i.imgur.com/r6X8i.jpg[IMG][/QUOTE]

After about a week of usage, I'd definitely recommend the Corsair H60 water cooler for your CPU. Keeps my 2500k 25-35c idle and I haven't seen it hit the 50s yet under load (gaming only, no stresses yet). Haven't OC'd yet but that's coming.

 

[th3dude]

She's a beauty

Thanks, your input is much appreciated. Ordered yesterday. Prime shipping will have it here Wednesday with the holiday today.

 

[Hazaro]

Just got this of ebay for £170:

Seems like a reference design and its the 2Gb model, so hopefully a good chance of unlocking?

Hope I didn't over pay...

It has the AMD logo on it.
If the pic is right it should unlock.

So I am about to do a new build as I do one every 3 years or so and my current one is getting dated.
I always go for the top of the range parts so the 2600K and the GTX 590 will stay just wanting opinions on the other parts and some good CPU coolers for smashing out the OC at low temps and if the board I am getting will work well with the OC.

I can't really recommend a GTX 590. It's just too much heat into one card and I don't like. Some good parts otherwise.

If you get a single 580 / 6970 to tide you over for 3 months until AMD releases its new cards that would be a good option. Otherwise dual MSI/ASUS GTX 580 3GB would be my suggestion.

Personally am not a big fan of coolers that expensive, but maybe also look at the possibility of an H100?

 

[coopolon]

So I am about to do a new build as I do one every 3 years or so and my current one is getting dated.
I always go for the top of the range parts so the 2600K and the GTX 590 will stay just wanting opinions on the other parts and some good CPU coolers for smashing out the OC at low temps and if the board I am getting will work well with the OC.

Just out of curiosity, if you invested that much in a PC 3 years ago it must still be a pretty formidable machine. What do you do with the old ones after you build a new one?

 

[Giriath_89]

So I am about to do a new build as I do one every 3 years or so and my current one is getting dated.
I always go for the top of the range parts so the 2600K and the GTX 590 will stay just wanting opinions on the other parts and some good CPU coolers for smashing out the OC at low temps and if the board I am getting will work well with the OC.

The Noctua NH-D14 is very nice if you don't want to go for water cooling. It's very big, but it will fit in your case.

 

[ACE 1991]

I'm getting around 81-83 max temperature when under full load on my 6950 1gb. Is this about right? Should it be lower?

 

[chepu]

Whats all this Freaking out about BF3 Bringing High End Rigs down to their knees? Do we have recommended/minimum hardware requirements?

if someones knows something about BF3 Requirements, id like to know how will my Rig perform

i7-860 @ 2.8Ghz
4Gb Ram
GTX 570

I play at 1440x900 By the way!

 

[TheDude108]

Whats all this Freaking out about BF3 Bringing High End Rigs down to their knees? Do we have recommended/minimum hardware requirements?

if someones knows something about BF3 Requirements, id like to know how will my Rig perform

i7-860 @ 2.8Ghz
4Gb Ram
GTX 570

I play at 1440x900 By the way!

Should be fine at that resolution with high settings. Not going by anything, just assumptions!

 

[Domcorleone]

What is the best 580 card ight now? Im speaking in terms of reliability and performance. I was going to get a evga card, but I'm hearing about msi and ASus as the best. Any reason why? Any help would be appreciated.

 

[MedIC86]

I'm getting around 81-83 max temperature when under full load on my 6950 1gb. Is this about right? Should it be lower?

Its ok, vga cards can get quiet hot before they die. But if i were you i would get an aftermarket cooling. more quiet + less heat.

What is the best 580 card ight now? Im speaking in terms of reliability and performance. I was going to get a evga card, but I'm hearing about msi and ASus as the best. Any reason why? Any help would be appreciated.

I believe its still the MSI lightning 580, insane card basicly. it has 2 seperate bios for normal and LN2, NEC Proadlizers, F*CKING 12 power phases. its just glorious

 

[MrKnives]

What is the best 580 card ight now? Im speaking in terms of reliability and performance. I was going to get a evga card, but I'm hearing about msi and ASus as the best. Any reason why? Any help would be appreciated.

Probably the Asus Direct CU II.

+Not too loud
+Great quality
+Superb cooling

-Takes three slots

Edit: This is from stock cards.

 

[MedIC86]

I always go for the top of the range parts so the 2600K and the GTX 590 will stay
]

Why dont get a ASUS Mars II GTX590 then ?

 

[Giriath_89]

I believe its still the MSI lightning 580, insane card basicly. it has 2 seperate bios for normal and LN2, NEC Proadlizers, F*CKING 12 power phases. its just glorious

Hmm. I was going to buy an Asus CU II, but I assume the MSI Lightning is damn capable of getting 900MHz and keeping cool too? It looks quite thinner, so I'll probably be able to go SLI with another one in the future if I really want to (I really hope I won't want to).

Probably the Asus Direct CU II.

+Not too loud
+Great quality
+Superb cooling

-Takes three slots

Then again, I'll probably stick the Asus, since it can do the same job, is cheaper, and I'd really rather buy a single GPU from the 600 series after they've been around a while than get another 580 for SLI.

 

[MedIC86]

Hmm. I was going to buy an Asus CU II, but I assume the MSI Lightning is damn capable of getting 900MHz

900 mhz? i've seen people getting 950 mhz stable easy on the Lightning (and there was still headroom for more) if you want to OC the lightning is a no brainer.

 

[childplease]

Just got this of ebay for £170:

Seems like a reference design and its the 2Gb model, so hopefully a good chance of unlocking?

Hope I didn't over pay...

Yup that looks like reference it should unlock.

Look for a dual bios switch it would come in handy just incase you mess up the flash to 6970.

I'm getting around 81-83 max temperature when under full load on my 6950 1gb. Is this about right? Should it be lower?

I was getting 83-86 max under load but what is more important is what is your idle temperature ?

My 6950 twin Frozr II was getting 55 idle 87c max while playing metro 2033.

Needless to say my card died last week and is currently on the way to Msi for RMA.