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

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darkblade77 said:
Thanks a lot. It's a Silverstone GD05, and the header looks like it's replaceable... but maybe only with another stock PCB, since Silverstone doesn't appear to sell anything like that by itself. Plus the case only has a single, 5.25" bay, so if I'm going to put a fan controller in it over an optical drive I'd at least like some USB 3.0 ports in the front.

Silverstone just solved my problem. Front panel port replacement for the FT02, RV02, SG07, PS02, PS04, GD05(my case), and SG05 that's USB 3.0.

Maximus Gene-Z is $17 under the stock price at Newegg and the i5 2500k is $210 at Tigerdirect(200 if you did their preferred customer signup for the $10 off coupon), so I'll be pulling the trigger on those today. Finally reaching the end of this build.
 
Kalnos said:
EDIT: nvm, your issue sounds like a RAM one maybe.

Well, here's my motherboard's manual for reference: http://www.biostar.com.tw/app/en/mb/introduction.php?S_ID=546

tz68a.png


I have 2x2GB 1333 GHz memory sticks installed in the two red slots. Is this the correct way?
 
Another case question (sorry guys, you just keep showing me things that look pretty cool :) ). While it is a little more expensive than the Zalman Z9 Plus I had chosen, I do like the CoolerMaster 690 II Advanced. I'm buying an i5 2500K with the H60, a GTX 570, 8 gigs of RAM (Kingston HyperX), and a 750w psu from Cyberpower (I chose to have them build it for me) and I am planning on overclocking some (I hear 4.0 ghz is easliy achieved). Would the default fans in the 690 be sufficient?
 
Received the Club3D Theatron DD soundcard from n0n44m today!

It's pretty damn awesome and does Dolby Digital Live well.
Played some Wings of Prey and Medal of Honour.

Thanks n0n44m!
 
MrOogieBoogie said:
Well, here's my motherboard's manual for reference: http://www.biostar.com.tw/app/en/mb/introduction.php?S_ID=546

http://motherboardnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/tz68a.png[IMG]

I have 2x2GB 1333 GHz memory sticks installed in the two red slots. Is this the correct way?[/QUOTE]
One, or even both, of the sticks might be faulty. You should try booting with just one and see if it works then. If not, try booting with only the other stick. If you still get the BSOD, then either both sticks are faulty, or it's something else that is the cause.
 
datamage said:
So screw it, decided to go with the following:

KSTLB.jpg



Overclocking this sucker along with my 2600k soon, should be fun.

I was rhinking of this, but I decided to go instead for the MSI Twin Frozr III 580 since it had a higher clockspeed than the Matrix.
 
Soi-Fong said:
I was rhinking of this, but I decided to go instead for the MSI Twin Frozr III 580 since it had a higher clockspeed than the Matrix.

In hindsight, I probably should've gone with the Twin Frozr as well, but I figure since I'll be oc'ing, I don't really care what the default clockspeeds are at. From what I've gathered, they can both get to 1GHz on air, though I'll probably be a bit more conservative. Don't want to raise the load temps that much.
 
datamage said:
In hindsight, I probably should've gone with the Twin Frozr as well, but I figure since I'll be oc'ing, I don't really care what the default clockspeeds are at. From what I've gathered, they can both get to 1GHz on air, though I'll probably be a bit more conservative. Don't want to raise the load temps that much.
Just tried OC'ing two of these cards for a friend. Both models would be maxing out around 95-98C in furmark at stock oc settings. We couldn't increase the voltage even the slightest before they would shut off due to going above 105C. They were both purchased at Fry's though, so maybe that had something to do with it.
 
mkenyon said:
Just tried OC'ing two of these cards for a friend. Both models would be maxing out around 95-98C in furmark at stock oc settings. We couldn't increase the voltage even the slightest before they would shut off due to going above 105C. They were both purchased at Fry's though, so maybe that had something to do with it.

Yeah, that's definitely not normal. My buddy's DCUII runs at like 60C, and is super quiet.

There is one review on NewEgg where the user had the same issue:

Pros: ....None....

Cons: Cooler is 3 slots big and temps reached 100 degrees out of the box....Fail....

Caused frequent game crashes at stock (out of box) speeds....Fail.....

Matrix is wayyy slower then the two gtx 460's in sli I had before this....Fail....

Other Thoughts: Cost more then x2 Gigabyte GtX 560 Ti SOC's, and almost as much as a refrence 590 Gtx.

All this for a card that is unreliable, BOILING hot, and totally inefficient in every way. You'd be better off just buying 560 Ti's or wait until nvidia releases a card thats quick and doesn't have a fever upon arrival.

I wonder what was up. Broken pipes, fans, and/or missing thermal paste? Maybe even a broken temp sensor (less likely, I assume).
 
mkenyon said:
Just tried OC'ing two of these cards for a friend. Both models would be maxing out around 95-98C in furmark at stock oc settings. We couldn't increase the voltage even the slightest before they would shut off due to going above 105C. They were both purchased at Fry's though, so maybe that had something to do with it.

Yeah, like Exodu5 said, there had to have been something wrong with those cards. If I was getting those temps @ stock I'd definitely send them back.
 
Hm... don't know where to post this, but I figure it will most likely be read by someone who cares here.

Nvidia have confirmed that they are releasing an FPS Limiter in a future driver.

http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=201570&st=100

Post number 110.

I, for one, am pretty excited about this. Will be nice to be able to play crysis 2 (or hell bf3) at max with tessellation at 1080p with my 560ti at a smooth, constant 30fps. Should also reduce fan noise. :D
 
TommyT said:
whaaaa... the burden falls on the others to keep up while he's away!

Dang, people dropping like flies nowadays :(.

On a positive note, zooomg it's glorious :

img_01421tfbq.jpg


Horrible iphone pic aside, the screen is great, the lag wasn't as bad as I thought in SF compared to my u2311, but there's definitely a difference.

All I need now is SLI 670s...
 
Good stuff Corky!

Next step, upgrade the ol' MX518. ;) It's not bad, it's just the angle-snapping is annoying to live with once you graduate to a better mouse. I think my next mouse may be the Steelseries Xai.

What keyboard is that, btw? Looks sleek in the picture.
 
Kalnos said:
Christ Corky, that got there really fast! I remember you asking about it like 2 days ago.

The store actually sent me the screen within 24h of me clicking the order button, I love em ( shameless non affiliated plug for fellow swedes : inet.se ).


TheExodu5 said:
Good stuff Corky!

Next step, upgrade the ol' MX518. ;) It's not bad, it's just the angle-snapping is annoying to live with once you graduate to a better mouse. I think my next mouse may be the Steelseries Xai.

What keyboard is that, btw? Looks sleek in the picture.

I
Hate
My mouse :(

Why, whyyyy didn't I do enough research to know going from the G500 to the MX518 isn't wise. The keyboard is just a cheap sidewinder x4, but it's satisfactory.
 
Corky said:
I
Hate
My mouse :(

Why, whyyyy didn't I do enough research to know going from the G500 to the MX518 isn't wise. The keyboard is just a cheap sidewinder x4, but it's satisfactory.

I used to promote it on here, until I went back and tried it. You don't realize how bad the angle snapping is until you can properly compare. It's a damned shame. If it didn't have that issue, I would still totally recommend it. It has great tracking, and some of the best thumb buttons out there. It's really durable as well.

I'm currently using a Mamba, which has held up for a year and a half so far. The thumb button is loose, though, and it doesn't glide as nicely as the MX518. When it dies, I'll be moving on to this:

steelseries-xai.jpg


Been hearing good things about that one.
 
Does anyone have tips on how to run SolidWorks with GTX 580? I'm supposed to use it for college and someone said you could use a modified/Quadro/cuda driver on it. What would be the best way to go about it? I dont have the means right now to buy something dedicated to that.
 
I want to start building my pc right now but I was listening to rebel fm and Arthur gies said that new video cards are coming out in October and parts will be cheaper. Is he right? When exactly will new parts come out?
 
Corky said:
Dang, people dropping like flies nowadays :(.

On a positive note, zooomg it's glorious :

Horrible iphone pic aside, the screen is great, the lag wasn't as bad as I thought in SF compared to my u2311, but there's definitely a difference.

All I need now is SLI 670s...

Which monitor is that?
 
JJBro One said:
I want to start building my pc right now but I was listening to rebel fm and Arthur gies said that new video cards are coming out in October and parts will be cheaper. Is he right? When exactly will new parts come out?
7 series is soon. Don't know when.
BD is soon. Don't know when.

Prices should be roughly similar as they are now, I can't see any large price drops coming down. Can't see any much larger gains in performance either.
When the 7 series ships out it's lower parts, then higher parts are released later.

If you buy now you'll be set, unless you are prone to buyer remose.
If you can wait, wait.
 
Hazaro said:
7 series is soon. Don't know when.
BD is soon. Don't know when.

Prices should be roughly similar as they are now, I can't see any large price drops coming down. Can't see any much larger gains in performance either.
When the 7 series ships out it's lower parts, then higher parts are released later.

If you buy now you'll be set, unless you are prone to buyer remose.
If you can wait, wait.
7 as in i7?
 
coopolon said:
Nice, congrats! How sensitive are you normally to input lag? And do you notice anything in FPS's?

I pride myself in being able to sense the roughly 1-2 frames amount of input lag in SF with my u2311 compared to my mates old crt, so I can definitely say I'm sensitive to that, however I have only tried starcraft2,deus ex hr, crysis 2 and civ 5 and even though none of these are twitch shooters per se but I do not feel any prevalent input lag at all. Other than that, only feel the lag in SF at the moment.
 
So I got my secondhand 6950 and got it unlocked and clocked to 6970 speeds etc etc.

However, I'm a little bit underwhelmed by it. I originally had a 5770, so the speed should really double going by benchmarks. Games like BC2 I have maxed at 1920x1080 (apart from HBAO and have MSAA at 4x). It runs pretty much 60fps constant, vsynced, but I notice dips down every now and then, was hoping I would never see a drop as before on my 5770, it was 50fps+ with the same settings (minus MSAA and shadows on medium).

Tried GTAIV (yea I know, not the best game to test) and it doesn't seem to be much better, obviously its very CPU dependent, so I should dismiss it really. I tried the new Hard Reset demo, again 60fps most of the time, but it dropped into the 40's and high 30's at times of heavy action.

Tried Assassins Creed Brotherhood and it was very poor. Even in the smaller starting town, the fps went down to the 30's with everything maxed. Not sure if its just a poorly coded game?

The game were I have really seen a difference is The Witcher 2. The frame rate increase is very noticeable with Ultra settings, bar Uber.

I'm thinking that its possibly my CPU holding the performance back. I use an Athlon II X4 640 overclocked at 3.6GHz (max it can go). I have been using MSI Afterburner, keeping an eye on the GPU usage and in games like GTA and BC2, the usage is around 50-60%, obviously they are both CPU heavy games. Trying DiRT3, the GPU usage is 99% and using the ingame benchmark with everything maxed and 4xMSAA, it averaged 60fps with the minimums in mid-high 50's. Looking at reviews of the 6950, this looks about right, so no issue there. (Vsynced again, I always keep it on in all games)

Ever since I started looking for a new GPU, the i5 2500k has always caught my eye with its crazy overclocking abilities and general great performance. But do you guys think that the CPU could be a bit of a bottleneck here?
 
So I finally got Windows 7 installed after about two months of tinkling around. It turns out the problem was the OCZ ram that I had installed. XP installed fine after doing the 34 minute freeze-up solution, but Vista and 7 would either freeze or go on a restart-loop. I switched out the OCZ ram for the crucial brand from my brother's computer and voila everything went smoothly. I decided to test the OCZ ram on my brother's computer and to no surprise while loading Windows 7 it froze. Now I have to go out and buy my brother new rams. I recommend staying away from OCZ.
 
Anyone have any specific recommendations for wireless adapters? I have been shopping around but haven't found one that I am confident would perform better than the $22 usb adapter I bought (which I am really unhappy with). Router is on first floor, I am in loft room on third floor, so I need some strength.

I want to be able to play TF2 again :(
 
TheExodu5 said:
I used to promote it on here, until I went back and tried it. You don't realize how bad the angle snapping is until you can properly compare. It's a damned shame. If it didn't have that issue, I would still totally recommend it. It has great tracking, and some of the best thumb buttons out there. It's really durable as well.

Made me purchase a Steelseries Xai to (maybe) replace my MX518. Its predecessor was my first ever laser mouse that I used for many years until it broke, so I've pretty much always used the MX518 design.

Will be back to complain if the Xai isn't absolutely awesome.
 
Kyaw said:
Received the Club3D Theatron DD soundcard from n0n44m today!

It's pretty damn awesome and does Dolby Digital Live well.
Played some Wings of Prey and Medal of Honour.

Thanks n0n44m!

good to hear man ! glad my packaging was sufficient for the usual postal abuse :p


TheDude108 said:
So I got my secondhand 6950 and got it unlocked and clocked to 6970 speeds etc etc.

However, I'm a little bit underwhelmed by it. I originally had a 5770, so the speed should really double going by benchmarks. Games like BC2 I have maxed at 1920x1080 (apart from HBAO and have MSAA at 4x). It runs pretty much 60fps constant, vsynced, but I notice dips down every now and then, was hoping I would never see a drop as before on my 5770, it was 50fps+ with the same settings (minus MSAA and shadows on medium).

Tried GTAIV (yea I know, not the best game to test) and it doesn't seem to be much better, obviously its very CPU dependent, so I should dismiss it really. I tried the new Hard Reset demo, again 60fps most of the time, but it dropped into the 40's and high 30's at times of heavy action.

Tried Assassins Creed Brotherhood and it was very poor. Even in the smaller starting town, the fps went down to the 30's with everything maxed. Not sure if its just a poorly coded game?

The game were I have really seen a difference is The Witcher 2. The frame rate increase is very noticeable with Ultra settings, bar Uber.

I'm thinking that its possibly my CPU holding the performance back. I use an Athlon II X4 640 overclocked at 3.6GHz (max it can go). I have been using MSI Afterburner, keeping an eye on the GPU usage and in games like GTA and BC2, the usage is around 50-60%, obviously they are both CPU heavy games. Trying DiRT3, the GPU usage is 99% and using the ingame benchmark with everything maxed and 4xMSAA, it averaged 60fps with the minimums in mid-high 50's. Looking at reviews of the 6950, this looks about right, so no issue there. (Vsynced again, I always keep it on in all games)

Ever since I started looking for a new GPU, the i5 2500k has always caught my eye with its crazy overclocking abilities and general great performance. But do you guys think that the CPU could be a bit of a bottleneck here?


going from an Athlon II X4 @ 3.6ish to a 4.8 ghz i7 2600K made a massive difference with my Nvidia GTX480 ... GPU usage is always at 99% now (except the new Red Orchestra 2 beta for beta reasons) and there are no frame drops whatsoever

I don't think the cpu is a bottleneck, I KNOW the cpu is a bottleneck :p
Sandy Bridge murders any AMD currently out there, and the Athlon II is lacking L3 cache as well compared to the Phenom II which handicaps it further. Still a great cpu considering it was only €90, but a bottleneck for a 6970 class card.


Corky said:
I pride myself in being able to sense the roughly 1-2 frames amount of input lag in SF with my u2311 compared to my mates old crt, so I can definitely say I'm sensitive to that, however I have only tried starcraft2,deus ex hr, crysis 2 and civ 5 and even though none of these are twitch shooters per se but I do not feel any prevalent input lag at all. Other than that, only feel the lag in SF at the moment.

how's the fps with 560ti SLI ? :p
 
n0n44m said:
how's the fps with 560ti SLI ? :p

deus ex HR, sc2 I still get 60fps @ 2560x1440 AND 2x sgssaa/2xmsaa for DX and 2xmsaa for sc2. Just tried just cause 2 aswell and even there the fps is 60fps but my gpus are reaching their thresholds. As of yet crysis 2 with dx11 + high res + yaddayadda is the only thing that has decreased quite heavily in the performance department, at 1920x1080 I was averaging 55 ish fps with everything on, but now it's more like 30-35 but I was expecting that from the get go.
 
I have a question PC-gaf. When I'm browsing the web and scrolling down my screen gets brighter and when I scroll up the screen gets darker. Why is that?
 
Corky said:
deus ex HR, sc2 I still get 60fps @ 2560x1440 AND 2x sgssaa/2xmsaa for DX and 2xmsaa for sc2. Just tried just cause 2 aswell and even there the fps is 60fps but my gpus are reaching their thresholds. As of yet crysis 2 with dx11 + high res + yaddayadda is the only thing that has decreased quite heavily in the performance department, at 1920x1080 I was averaging 55 ish fps with everything on, but now it's more like 30-35 but I was expecting that from the get go.


So does the extra resolution really make it look that much better than 1080p? Or is there an increase in graphic fidelity albeit a small one?
 
Smokey said:
So does the extra resolution really make it look that much better than 1080p? Or is there an increase in graphic fidelity albeit a small one?

Here's the thing, in some games the result is not good to be perfectly frank.

Two examples :

1) Street fighter, I don't know why but somehow I remember the game looking better 1080p on my old screen. Now it looks slightly blurry.

2) Darksiders, yeah it doesn't even support the resolution. Playing 1920x1080 on 2560x1440 is very reminiscent of playing 1280x720 on 1920x1080, which is pretty baaad.


But in games like Civ 5, Sc2 and C2 the results have been amazing and quite a leap in visual fidelity. For example, I love the details on the rifle here, certain details pop out more now in this game.
 
CrocMother said:
Anyone have any specific recommendations for wireless adapters? I have been shopping around but haven't found one that I am confident would perform better than the $22 usb adapter I bought (which I am really unhappy with). Router is on first floor, I am in loft room on third floor, so I need some strength.

I want to be able to play TF2 again :(

I don't. However, I was in much the same situation and really frustrated by the wireless adapters I tried and then I had the idea to just try using one of my old routers as a wireless bridge. It's very easy to do if you have DD-WRT installed and it actually performs far better than the wireless adapters I tried. Obviously there are probably wireless adapters out there that would far out preform it, but if you have any old routers laying around (even old g ones) it might be worth a try to save you some money/annoyance at buying wireless adapters only to have to return them after realizing they suck.
 
Corky said:
1) Street fighter, I don't know why but somehow I remember the game looking better 1080p on my old screen. Now it looks slightly blurry.

IIRC, Street Figher doesn't actually render any higher than 1080p. It upscales beyond that. It's pretty dumb.
 
TheExodu5 said:
IIRC, Street Figher doesn't actually render any higher than 1080p. It upscales beyond that. It's pretty dumb.

boom, there we go I knew I could trust my eyes. So both games I thought looked bad were in reality being upscaled and stretched out. Had no idea that this was an existing issue in 3d games, I mean I can understand UI elements and 2D games not supporting very high resolutions but come on man, come on...
 
Ok, so I go to hook up my 3-slot 580 that just baaaaaarely fits in my case width-wise (very lucky there) and WTF it needs TWO 8-pin pci-e power connectors. When I built my rig 2 years ago I bought the biggest meanest 800w power adapter and it only came with two SIX PIN pci-e power connectors which is what my 9800gtx+ took.

Fuuuuck. I was not planning on taking my entire pc apart and having to rebuild it just to upgrade from one single slot card to another. Now I need to go to the pc store, buy some bigger power adapter and change out the connections to everything. Booooo

Cannot believe how fast things become outdated in the PC world.
 
Bebpo said:
Ok, so I go to hook up my 3-slot 580 that just baaaaaarely fits in my case width-wise (very lucky there) and WTF it needs TWO 8-pin pci-e power connectors. When I built my rig 2 years ago I bought the biggest meanest 800w power adapter and it only came with two SIX PIN pci-e power connectors which is what my 9800gtx+ took.

Fuuuuck. I was not planning on taking my entire pc apart and having to rebuild it just to upgrade from one single slot card to another. Now I need to go to the pc store, buy some bigger power adapter and change out the connections to everything. Booooo

Cannot believe how fast things become outdated in the PC world.
Last I heard, you can just use an adapter to get to 8 pins, but what do I know, I could be way off base.
 
There's an adapter that came with it to change my two six pins into one eight pin but then I'm missing the other 8 pin and out of power connectors :(
 
get a second one like that, or one of the adapters that use twin molex connectors

if you've got a decent PSU using a (decent) adapter shouldn't be an issue =]
 
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