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

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n0n44m said:
better performance, no electrical conductivity, needs no time to settle and so on

Looks like it has ever so slightly worse performance in this great review.

It does, like you said, have no electrical conductivity and no curing time though, which is something to consider.
 
Anyone know why a PC could take two boots to actually load up Windows? Whenever I press the power button I see the motherboard screen, black screen with I guess computer parts?, then it says loading operating system, and then it goes to a screen where I can choose Repair Windows or Start Windows. Repair does nothing and if I click start Windows it reboots again and works.
 
SalomonA said:
My PC specs atm:
4gb of DDR3 ram, 1333.
Amd Phenom II 965 @ 3,4
Sapphire Radeon 5850 1gb default clock
1tb HDD 7400rmp + 250gb 5400rpm
Asus M4A87TD EVO

Skyrim is 2 months from now (and BF3 is just about one month!!), should I do an upgrade? If so, what should I upgrade? Graphics card? What's the possibilities?

Thanks.
I think your CPU is going to hold you back more than the GPU. An old dual core CPU is going to be eaten alive by BF3.
 
SalomonA said:
My PC specs atm:
4gb of DDR3 ram, 1333.
Amd Phenom II 965 @ 3,4
Sapphire Radeon 5850 1gb default clock
1tb HDD 7400rmp + 250gb 5400rpm
Asus M4A87TD EVO

Skyrim is 2 months from now (and BF3 is just about one month!!), should I do an upgrade? If so, what should I upgrade? Graphics card? What's the possibilities?

Thanks.

My specs are identical except I am sporting a 4890, so I will be buying a 6950 or 6970 for Skyrim, BF3 and so forth.

What is this I read about certain 6950 2GB being unlockable to 6970 features? And I think I will wait on a new card until the last possible minute. Prices drop as the fall gets going.
 
Has anyone managed to mount a Noctua fan with the rubber plugs or should I just give up? Think I'm more likely to pull the skin off my fingers than those plugs through the fan holes.

Also I'm terrible with decisions. I've placed two fans front, one rear and one top. I've got one fan left. What should I do with it?

Fractal R3. There's one more top mount, one side and one bottom.
Bottom has a dust filter but it'd be kind of really inconvenient to remove and clean it. So I think I'll ignore that.
Side intake would make it noisier I assume. But I'm also assuming it'd be the best placement for cooling the insides.
 
gibon3z said:
Couldn't help it being video cardless made me do a dumb thing.
I went out and bought a GTX 580 today for 350 bucks :/

I should have just waited on my 6950 that is currently being RMAed.
Unless you've got a 2560x1400/1600 or run a dual monitor gaming thing, a 580 is overkill for the price
 
I just upgraded from a Radeon 5770 to a GTX 570. I had been using Radeon Pro so I figured I should get nHancer so I did but it doesn't start. I then checked out the nvidia control panel and it looks like it can do everything nHancer does anyway. So is it really worth trying to figure out whats wrong with nHancer or should I just stick to the nvidia control panel?
 
gibon3z said:
Couldn't help it being video cardless made me do a dumb thing.
I went out and bought a GTX 580 today for 350 bucks :/

I should have just waited on my 6950 that is currently being RMAed.

Did you get the Zotac as well? ~350 for a gtx580 was too tempting to pass up from microcenter, guess I'll be futureproofed for a while lol
 
n0n44m said:
that's not a great review

this is :)
Damn. I was looking at all the retailers to find the lowest price when I saw one of them say that it's not compatible with HDT (heatpipe direct touch) coolers. I understand why, but I am disappoint.
 
razgriz417 said:
Did you get the Zotac as well? ~350 for a gtx580 was too tempting to pass up from microcenter, guess I'll be futureproofed for a while lol

That's exactly what happened to me. I wasn't even really in the market for a new video card, but then an opportunity came along to get a $330 GTX 580 a few months ago, and I couldn't pass it up.

I don't regret it, even if I may need to upgrade my CPU/Mobo for BF3 (I'm still on an old C2D E8500 @ 4ghz).
 
Mr_eX said:
I just upgraded from a Radeon 5770 to a GTX 570. I had been using Radeon Pro so I figured I should get nHancer so I did but it doesn't start. I then checked out the nvidia control panel and it looks like it can do everything nHancer does anyway. So is it really worth trying to figure out whats wrong with nHancer or should I just stick to the nvidia control panel?

Use Nvidia Inspector, nHancer doesn't work anymore with the latest drivers.
 
LordCanti said:
That's exactly what happened to me. I wasn't even really in the market for a new video card, but then an opportunity came along to get a $330 GTX 580 a few months ago, and I couldn't pass it up.

I don't regret it, even if I may need to upgrade my CPU/Mobo for BF3 (I'm still on an old C2D E8500 @ 4ghz).

Yea I'm in the same boat, all this for BF3, just did the birthday trick to get $15 off from Origin. My current rig is a C2D e8400 @ 3ghz and a sapphire toxic 5850. Really didnt need to upgrade but after buying the card, the urge to build a new rig is rising...damn this thread and its amazing deals lol

O and if anyone missed it, the 20% coupons from microcenter expire today. Thanks again abuC

abuC said:
20% off memory, cases, video cards, power supplies at microcenter http://www.overclock.net/online-deals/1113075-micro-center-20-off-various-pc.html
 
Angelus Errare said:
You need to format it to NTFS before you can partition it. Windows doesn't even see the HDD at all =P

Can't partition something Windows can't see.

No. You initialize the disk as either MBR or GPT first, then create partition(s), then format the partition(s).
 
razgriz417 said:
Yea I'm in the same boat, all this for BF3, just did the birthday trick to get $15 off from Origin. My current rig is a C2D e8400 @ 3ghz and a sapphire toxic 5850. Really didnt need to upgrade but after buying the card, the urge to build a new rig is rising...damn this thread and its amazing deals lol

O and if anyone missed it, the 20% coupons from microcenter expire today. Thanks again abuC

That E8400 should be able to hit 4ghz without issue if you know what you're doing. Should provide better FPS in a lot of games (except the ones that absolutely need four cores).
 
LordCanti said:
That E8400 should be able to hit 4ghz without issue if you know what you're doing. Should provide better FPS in a lot of games (except the ones that absolutely need four cores).

Yea I've never OC my cpu before, really wouldn't know what to do tbh lol. Maybe worth a read though. I currently have the eVGA 750i ftw and a Zalman CNPS9500, wonder if they'd be able to handle it
 
Looking to upgrade my GPU before BF3 and Skyrim hits but I'm dawdling over whether or not to go single or dual 6970's. Currently have a Phenom Quad BE @3.2GHZ and as far as gaming requirements go upgrading the CPU further at this point would yield only a marginal change but my 4890 is starting to show it's age.

My question is this though single or dual? (power not an issue) and what are people's experience with this line in crossfire?
 
Desaan said:
Looking to upgrade my GPU before BF3 and Skyrim hits but I'm dawdling over whether or not to go single or dual 6970's. Currently have a Phenom Quad BE @3.2GHZ and as far as gaming requirements go upgrading the CPU further at this point would yield only a marginal change but my 4890 is starting to show it's age.

My question is this though single or dual? (power not an issue) and what are people's experience with this line in crossfire?
Single card for less headaches from crossfire/sli.
 
Velion said:
Single card for less headaches from crossfire/sli.

Yeah I would avoid crossfire, especially on cards that aren't top top of the line.

It may seem good, because average fps is higher, but its more like a fluctuation of 40 fps then 80 fps then back to 40 and so on. That is not the same as constant 60 fps.
 
I wanna upgrade my PC for BF3. I was planning on only buying a new video card. You guys think the GTX 560 Ti will last me a good 3 years? Also I'm still on a Q6600, will it bottleneck the video card?
 
Deadly said:
I wanna upgrade my PC for BF3. I was planning on only buying a new video card. You guys think the GTX 560 Ti will last me a good 3 years? Also I'm still on a Q6600, will it bottleneck the video card?
Overclock that CPU to at least 3GHz and you should be fine in most games. It will most likely be a bottleneck in some games though.
 
On a side note... when did Logitech start selling the G35 headsets for so cheap? Are they gonna bring out a new model or something? Everyone from brick and mortar like Best Buy to online like Amazon has the headset for like $70-$85 depending upon where you buy it. Makes me wonder if Logitech is gearing up for a new model or something, and stores are trying to get rid of stock. Considering the headset use to be like $120 that's a pretty decent deal.
 
Any opinions on the ASUS P8Z68-V vs ASUS P8Z68-V PRO? Other than the smaller number of SATA ports and Firewire, they seem nearly identical for a $40 price difference. The P8Z68 is about as stretched as I'd be able to go because I'm still picking up RAM and a HDD so I'm just curious.. reviews seem to be positive for both too. Also any idea if the ASUS P8Z68-V will sit well with a 212+ and not block any of the DIMM slots? I'd hate to end up only being limited to 2 sticks lol. The builds in the OP are great btw.
 
Conceptor said:
Also any idea if the ASUS P8Z68-V will sit well with a 212+ and not block any of the DIMM slots? I'd hate to end up only being limited to 2 sticks lol. The builds in the OP are great btw,
I'm using a Thermaltake Frio and it blocks one of the slots. Might be worth comparing sizes.

That said, you could always use low profile RAM.
 
MrOogieBoogie said:
I only ask that you post pics of your build-in-progress.

I suck at pics and the my in-progress was MESSY to say the least. All said and done though, it all worked out. Everything fired up on first try and I was able to run through my Win7 install.

Since I'm a brute with no finesse, my gf did all the cable managementment for me. Major credit to her.

I'm very happy with this build. It all went very smooth and my system seems stable so far! I tried some brief OC'ing and could run the Windows performance index at 4.6ghz. This was with everything at auto and me just moving the multiplier

For those reading, I have a couple of questions.

What 2nd fan should I pick up for the 212+ for a push/pull config?
Should I convert the top fan on the Haf X to push air into the case or leave it as is (pumping air out)

besf2h.jpg


If you see anything glaring I did wrong here, please let me know!
 
RukusProvider said:
I suck at pics and the my in-progress was MESSY to say the least. All said and done though, it all worked out. Everything fired up on first try and I was able to run through my Win7 install.

Since I'm a brute with no finesse, my gf did all the cable managementment for me. Major credit to her.

I'm very happy with this build. It all went very smooth and my system seems stable so far! I tried some brief OC'ing and could run the Windows performance index at 4.6ghz. This was with everything at auto and me just moving the multiplier

For those reading, I have a couple of questions.

What 2nd fan should I pick up for the 212+ for a push/pull config?
Should I convert the top fan on the Haf X to push air into the case or leave it as is (pumping air out)

besf2h.jpg


If you see anything glaring I did wrong here, please let me know!
With that case you don't really need another fan for pull on the HSF.
Top exhaust is good
 
Hazaro said:
With that case you don't really need another fan for pull on the HSF.
Top exhaust is good

Cool. Thanks!

I'm doing some very basic oc'ing right now by just upping the multi and letting everything else be auto. I left the pc running prime 95 and it will continue to do so over night. Oc'd to 4.4ghz on the 2600k.

I did the same earlier for an hour and my temps on the cores maxed from 58-62c with a max vcore of 1.28. Is this safe?

If I am stable in the morning how should I go about manually upping the voltage and finding the wall?

If I can run 4.6 stable on air all day, I would be very happy and will stop there.
 
RukusProvider said:
Cool. Thanks!

I'm doing some very basic oc'ing right now by just upping the multi and letting everything else be auto. I left the pc running prime 95 and it will continue to do so over night. Oc'd to 4.4ghz on the 2600k.

I did the same earlier for an hour and my temps on the cores maxed from 58-62c with a max vcore of 1.28. Is this safe?

If I am stable in the morning how should I go about manually upping the voltage and finding the wall?

If I can run 4.6 stable on air all day, I would be very happy and will stop there.
It's my personal opinion to not go above 1.25V, or 1.30V if you feel frisky.
I ended up at 1.30V because my chip is not as good as many out there.

Under 60C load should be fine. Temps go up a lot with voltage, a little with speed.

Usually the scale looks something like:
1.25V - 4.3Ghz
1.28V - 4.4Ghz
1.30V - 4.5Ghz
1.35V - 4.6Ghz+
MrOogieBoogie said:
So GAF, what is the premiere PC benchmark program? Is it still 3DMark?
Vantage and Heaven I guess?
 
Anyone have an asus sandy bridge motherboard and have their bluetooth randomly stop working? It happened to me a couple of days ago and I can't fix it. I re-installed the driver, but when I try to add a device, it won't recognize anything. I used to have a bluetooth icon in my computer and also in the system tray, but they don't show up anymore. If i open the program from start menu, nothing happens.
 
Anyone else have a Z68 board? Is it common for the Asus logo to take 7-8secs to show up after turning the power on? I'm just used to my old Gigabyte mobo in 2009 I bought where it shows the logo instantly and does the HDD/ram checks afterwards.

Man I am now regretting I didn't get the 20% off videocards and PSU from microcenter. FUCK YOU AMD and your stupid delays!!!
 
b.mak said:
Anyone have an asus sandy bridge motherboard and have their bluetooth randomly stop working? It happened to me a couple of days ago and I can't fix it. I re-installed the driver, but when I try to add a device, it won't recognize anything. I used to have a bluetooth icon in my computer and also in the system tray, but they don't show up anymore. If i open the program from start menu, nothing happens.
Does it show up in Device Manager? I've had this before (not on Asus) and had to disable and re-enable Bluetooth in BIOS.
 
im trying to build a pc for heavy audio production/video editing (adobe after effects, etc./gaming.

this is what i have so far. going for the evga geforce 590 gtx (not listed).. no idea what ssd/hdd combo i should go for. Also what are your thoughts on the case I chose, and the rest of the parts? This is literally going to be my first DIY thing so any help would be awesome!

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thanks!
 
aeiko said:
im trying to build a pc for heavy audio production/video editing (adobe after effects, etc./gaming.

this is what i have so far. going for the evga geforce 590 gtx (not listed).. no idea what ssd/hdd combo i should go for. Also what are your thoughts on the case I chose, and the rest of the parts? This is literally going to be my first DIY thing so any help would be awesome!

fffffffffffft.png


thanks!
1) Get 1.5V RAM in a 2 or 4 stick configuration that is non-ECC. These are desktop boards, not server boards. 1866Mhz would be nice for you. Set this manually in the BIOS. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231460
2) I'd much rather get two GTX 580's for noise and resale ability. It will also be faster.
The MSI 2 slot GTX 580's are nice (The non $600 one is fine). If possible try the rig out on a single GTX 580 and decide if you need the extra power. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127567
3) A better motherboard would be good since you are spending so much on other components. The $180 Gigabyte/ASUS Pro Z68 board, or the GD65 MSI, or anything highly rated above that are all solid. The ASUS Deluxe listed in the OP list @ $250 is pretty good. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131753
4) SSD and HDD are in the info image as well. Samsung F4 + Crucial M4. In your line of work you should have a mirror and backup images regardless.
 
Hazaro said:
4) SSD and HDD are in the info image as well. Samsung F4 + Crucial M4. In your line of work you should have a mirror and backup images regardless.

Again, what do you think of the Corsair Force GT SSD Hazaro?
 
So can we also discuss software in this topic? Sorry if not.

In the past I have always used the shareware program Sub2Divx to combine my .avi's and subtitles (.srt's) into a Divx file. This Divx had the subtitles hardcoded and I could just stream it like that. Recently, I've switched to Windows 7 64 bit and Sub2Divx only supports 32 bit OS'. What other software do GAFfers use to hardcode their subs into their .avi's?

Or if someone could tell how to stream .srt's with Windows Media Center (to Xbox), but I'm guessing that's a lot of hassle. And yes, I have tried TVersity.
 
Dries said:
So can we also discuss software in this topic? Sorry if not.

In the past I have always used the shareware program Sub2Divx to combine my .avi's and subtitles (.srt's) into a Divx file. This Divx had the subtitles hardcoded and I could just stream it like that. Recently, I've switched to Windows 7 64 bit and Sub2Divx only supports 32 bit OS'. What other software do GAFfers use to hardcode their subs into their .avi's?

Or if someone could tell how to stream .srt's with Windows Media Center (to Xbox), but I'm guessing that's a lot of hassle. And yes, I have tried TVersity.

I haven't messed with DIVX for years (not since x264/h264 and xvid) but I think handbrake should be able to do what you are after. It's free, so give it a try.

Nevermind, it only seems to output MKV and MP4. Can you stream either of those formats? I know a lot of people do transcoding from their computers so that they can just keep their media in the superior h.264 (or x.264, etc). Not sure which program they use.
 
LordCanti said:
I haven't messed with DIVX for years (not since x264/h264 and xvid) but I think handbrake should be able to do what you are after. It's free, so give it a try.

Nevermind, it only seems to output MKV and MP4. Can you stream either of those formats? I know a lot of people do transcoding from their computers so that they can just keep their media in the superior h.264 (or x.264, etc). Not sure which program they use.

Don't know if I can stream those formats. Only one way to find out! Thanks, I'll check it out.
 
So I have an Antec Three Hundred case that is about 3 years old now. I noticed recently that the top case fan (140mm, came with the case) is not spinning anymore. I added a new HDD earlier today and took the opportunity to mess around with the fan for a bit and didn't see any obvious problems. It's on the same power cord (4 pin molex) as the rear 120mm fan which spins just fine. It comes with a little controller that lets you set it to low, medium, high. It was set to high, but I messed around with it trying the different settings and none of it got it spinning.

It does occasionally spin for a few rotations, then stops. I'm planning on replacing it with this hoping that the fan is just dead and there's not some other more serious problem present. My CPU and GPU temps aren't very high, but figure it's not a bad idea to have good cooling (plus hopefully I'll be able to turn down the rear fan which is kind of loud.)

Any problems? I mean, it's only a $9 replacement, so even if it doesn't fix the problem I'm not really out of much money.
 
coopolon said:
Any problems? I mean, it's only a $9 replacement, so even if it doesn't fix the problem I'm not really out of much money.

either the fan is broken, the controller is broken or there's a wire lose somewhere.

getting a new fan is the easiest solution, if you're good with a soldering iron you'd probably have fixed it by now right ;)
 
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