• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

"I need a New PC!" 2012 Thread. 22nm+28nm, Tri-Gate, and reading the OP. [Part 1]

Status
Not open for further replies.

Nilaul

Member
Guys I might be looking for a new 11 inch laptop, but I want it to be powerfull.

Which is the most powerfull one avaible? And which one do you reccomend?
 

sk3tch

Member
Speaking of thermal paste, what's the top-dog stuff right now? As in the best, don't need the top 100.

I usually see the Arctic Cooling MX-4 paste in the top 5 if not the top 3. It's readily available and a good price. I just finished a tube and bought another. Too many PC re-configurations. :)

I believe there's a graph in the last 1-2 pages that shows the best.
 
Diablo III is coming and I have little choice but to acquire a new machine if I want to play.

A couple of years ago I purchased this laptop cheaply with the intent it would serve as a web machine. Over those years (I haven't had a desktop in a decade) I've noticed the shortcomings. While I like what it does and next time will buy a more capable one, I'm really not interested in purchasing another laptop at this time since I can still use this one effectively for anything but games. But I'd like to actually play some stuff in my Steam library (Witcher etc) nothing amazing, but I'd like things to look good. I asked my computer savvy pal and this is what we came up with roughly:

i5 2500k intel (229 @ NewEgg, is this Amazon @ 209 the same unit? (http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004EBUXI0/?tag=neogaf0e-20) I could save quite a bit by going down to I3, but would I want to do that?
8GB Corsair RAM (approx 50 USD)
HDD - Hopefully a 500 GB SATA I have at home. If not, I'll get something or other.
Mobo - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128545 189 (I know least about mobos, so is there potential for savings here or should I pick this up?)
CD/DVD - Maybe some ASUS burner? Haven't decided. I don't think they're ultra expensive so not even really calculating it, might even have one. Any suggestions for a good DVD burner?
PSU - Corsair 750 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139006 ( I probably wouldn't get one like this, but a friend is selling me his old one for 60 flat, good? )
Case - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129042 (Cheap and effective? )
GPU - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130683 (Here's where I think I can save the most money. I was told this is a tight card, but maybe a little too tight? 280 is high for the 2GB, high as in relative to what I want to spend. 1GB is 230. What could I exchange this with reasonably? Or thoughts on this card? he recommended it to me for future upgrade I could purchase a second card for "SLI"
Mouse - Using old one, will figure out keyboard.
Monitor - same for now.
Network card - probably need a wireless PCI, but cheap so not really calculating it.

Anything amiss, suggestions, etc?
 

Yoshichan

And they made him a Lord of Cinder. Not for virtue, but for might. Such is a lord, I suppose. But here I ask. Do we have a sodding chance?
So I'm playing SC2 and WoW and here's my GPU temperature... is this normal? It's barely "spiking" at all and it's worrying me that my GPU is dying :(

fKSDO.png
 

Thermite

Member
Hey PC-GAF, couple of questions.

1) For the Hyper 212 EVO, does it make a noticeable difference on temperatures using a push/pull fan system?
2) I've heard that for overclocking, it's best to keep the CPU temperature at around 60 degrees. Does that mean 60 even, or is it fine as long as it's below 70?
 

MrBig

Member
Network card - probably need a wireless PCI, but cheap so not really calculating it.

Anything amiss, suggestions, etc?

Someone here snagged the same GPU you had recommended to you for around ~$220 recently. They'll be clearing stock on the mid range 500 cards soon to make room for the 600 series. Search on Slickdeals to find the best prices.

Go for the Asus Z77-V mobo and you'll get wireless built in, along with some other bells and whistles you can read up on.

For a case at that price point, the HAF 912 seems to be the most liked.
 

abasm

Member
Most of my parts came in today, and while I was thumbing through the motherboard manual, I had a few questions:

- I have three hard-drives. A 64 GB SSD, a new 500 GB HDD, and an old (6 years, off and on) 500 GB hard drive. I wanted to use the old drive as a backup for the new drive, in case of some sort of hardware failure, and was wondering if I should use a RAID 1 array, a Master+Recovery setup, or something else entirely.

- Is there some way to re-purpose the stock cooler that came with my i5? I don't want to throw it out if I can make it useful somehow.
 

t-ramp

Member
Most of my parts came in today, and while I was thumbing through the motherboard manual, I had a few questions:

- I have three hard-drives. A 64 GB SSD, a new 500 GB HDD, and an old (6 years, off and on) 500 GB hard drive. I wanted to use the old drive as a backup for the new drive, in case of some sort of hardware failure, and was wondering if I should use a RAID 1 array, a Master+Recovery setup, or something else entirely.
I've always heard that RAID 1 is not a substitute for a true backup (would it even work correctly with such mismatched drives?), so I'd just figure out a way to schedule an automatic backup. I don't have any recommendations for that, though, since I've always backed up stuff manually.
 

Yoshichan

And they made him a Lord of Cinder. Not for virtue, but for might. Such is a lord, I suppose. But here I ask. Do we have a sodding chance?
So I'm playing SC2 and WoW and here's my GPU temperature... is this normal? It's barely "spiking" at all and it's worrying me that my GPU is dying :(

fKSDO.png

Now I'm really getting worried :(

UXV8x.png


^It's not even moving at all now :_: (green one)
 
So I just received an older tower that I'm going to use for the time being and upgrade over time. The system currently has Windows XP, but I intend to get Windows 7 as soon as possible. Is Newegg the cheapest place to get it? I see they have it for $99 while Microsoft themselves sell it for $199. Does anyone besides Microsoft sell it as a download? And does anyone else sell it for $99? Like any brick and mortar chains? Thanks!
 
I have the same card and use MSI Afterburner to monitor.

Install the software so we can compare our hardware with each other!

Damn that sounded wrong.
 

Saerk

Member
What do you guys recommend for a mic/headset? I'm considering a surround sound pair. I have a 360 as well, so if there is one compatible with both that would be great.

Also what video card is recommended at about $250? 7850?
 

Yoshichan

And they made him a Lord of Cinder. Not for virtue, but for might. Such is a lord, I suppose. But here I ask. Do we have a sodding chance?
I have the same card and use MSI Afterburner to monitor.

Install the software so we can compare our hardware with each other!

Damn that sounded wrong.
Will do it tomorrow :3 Check this thread out tomorrow!
 

Varna

Member
Anyone have an experience with keeping their PSU outside of their case? Any long term things I should be worried about other then dust?

Recently upgraded the stock cooling on my two 580GTXs with the Accelero Xtreme PLUS II. Did wonders for the noise, but the cards were literally stacked on top of each other since my PSU blocked the very last PCI-E slot. I got a lot of wonderful advice in this thread about better and more creative fan placement that did drop my temps by a fair bit... but still, playing graphic intensive games for extended periods of time still made my temps hit close to 80.

So I decided to move the PSU outside of the case... what a difference! Dropped my temps on GPU 1 by 20c.
 
My CPU Usage is around 35-50% for some reason. I checked the bios settings and reset it to default.

I have no idea what's wrong with my PC now. I'll try to restart the motherboard bios... after I finish downloading Diablo.

EDIT: so the temperature is actually normal until I boot windows, then CPU usage goes all crazy and temperatures go up.

So this is going to sound weird and dumb, BUT how up to date is your itunes install? That is if you have itunes.

My girlfriends laptop was having a problem where the fan was kicking in constantly, and while trying to animate on it, the CPU would have to down throttle big time. Checking it out her temps were through the fucking rough, and it seemed that her CPU usage never dropped below 35%. In looking through the process' that were running on her machine there was a weird one that I hunted down and found out was part of itunes. It was some process for syncing phones and ipods/pads to your PC.

Digging through Apples forum this turned out to be a problem for a bunch of people, and the most recent update of itunes at the time fixed it. Once we updated her itunes her laptops temps have returned to normal and everything is running as it should be.

It may sound weird but could be worth a try.




*EDIT*

Nevermind I missed your post that the motherboard swap fixed it.
 

Paprikka

Member
So I just received an older tower that I'm going to use for the time being and upgrade over time. The system currently has Windows XP, but I intend to get Windows 7 as soon as possible. Is Newegg the cheapest place to get it? I see they have it for $99 while Microsoft themselves sell it for $199. Does anyone besides Microsoft sell it as a download? And does anyone else sell it for $99? Like any brick and mortar chains? Thanks!

Do you happen to be going to college right now? I was able to get a free digital copy of Windows 7 a bit back through my school store, and it also had a physical version at an extreme discount. I think most schools have software deals like this so it's worth a look or finding a friend enrolled that wouldn't use their copy.
 
Hmm... so I was having problems accessing one of my hard drives, and hoping that it was just a cable problem, I checked them. Well, that fixed that problem alright... but one of the SATA connectors came off of my motherboard. That's not good, when I use all four... :p

So basically, my options are either to take the motherboard out of the computer case -- and would be a complete pain and I do think it'll require that to get that thing back on -- or buy a PCI card with SATA ports on it. Hmm, I'm not sure which to do... but if I did do the latter, what one should I get? I see lots of them online.
 

Hawk269

Member
This is an expensive hobby, especially if you don't do some research first.

As im putting together my x79 build I have been running into alot of issues, some of which I think could have easily been avoided, others just some bad advice and finally, doing even more research into what I needed. It started out with re-using my SSD and since the system would not let me format it because I had Windows on it, I was advised that when I go to install Windows when the new rig is ready to have Windows reformat the SSD and be good to go...well that did not turn out to be accurate and/or it did not work because i was plagued with issues with windows.

Long story short...plugged in older, formatted hdd, installed windows, installed Samsung SSD software, reformatted SSD using SSD software, removed old HDD with windows, plugged in SSD into PC, reinstalled windows and now everything is fine..or I thought...

I have 2 1 TB HDD's, one of which has Windows on it as stated for reasons above..the other is completely clean and working fine in the new rig. However, the one that has Windows on it, Windows see's the HDD, but shows it only has 100mb of storage when it is a 1 TB drive. Formatting it under Windows does nothing. Reseated the cables and same result, C drive is the SSD, D Drive is the Optical Disk, E drive is the weird HDD that shows only 100mb available and F Drive is the other HDD showing the full 990 or so Gigs free. Not sure what is causing that...tried the different sata ports and no matter what it still reports the samething.

Then onto fan's and fan controllers. First mistake was not researching the channel wattage for the fan controller. Got a nice fan controller, but it only does 20w per channel and even though my fans are rated up to 2000rpm (Noiseblockers), they only go up to 1800 or so, mainly in the 1750 range. So, I get a better one that does 30w per channel and boom, I am getting the full spead of the fans.

For fans and the Corsair H100, again a little more research on my part would of been good. WHile the device is great, the fan noise at high speed is extremly loud...of course "after" I get the H100 I look into it and one the most common things is to replace the stock fans with better, quieter and at times faster fans.

So..my x79 project has been taking alot longer than planned. While the rig is up and running, it is not finished as I am awaiting a few more fans. Orginally I bought 3 noiseblockers for 2 intake and 1 internal to pull air onto the GPU's...but then moved 2 of the noiseblockers onto the H100...so now I ordered 2 more noiseblockers. It was also suggested to have better/more control over the fans on the H100 was to put them on the fan controller as well, so I ordered a Y Adapter so 2 fans will plug into one port which will work since I have had it confirmed by 2 folks on another forum.

Morale of the story is...do alot of research...While this is my second complete build for my own use, it is alot more customized than my previous one where stock fans did not get replaced. Learned alot in the process though and still think building yourself is the best way to go.
 

Hazaro

relies on auto-aim
Hmm... so I was having problems accessing one of my hard drives, and hoping that it was just a cable problem, I checked them. Well, that fixed that problem alright... but one of the SATA connectors came off of my motherboard. That's not good, when I use all four... :p

So basically, my options are either to take the motherboard out of the computer case -- and would be a complete pain and I do think it'll require that to get that thing back on -- or buy a PCI card with SATA ports on it. Hmm, I'm not sure which to do... but if I did do the latter, what one should I get? I see lots of them online.
Any PCI-E SATA card should do fine. Longer it has been out with more reviews the better.
 

theRizzle

Member
Hey PC-GAF, couple of questions.

1) For the Hyper 212 EVO, does it make a noticeable difference on temperatures using a push/pull fan system?


I have been reading about mounting a Hyper 212 with Corsair Vengeance RAM (clearance issues), and a lot of people are saying just switch the fan to the other side to pull instead of push because the difference is negligible.

Because of that, I have seen a lot of posts about the Hyper 212 and from what I have read, it seems like it really doesn't make that much of a difference.

Have a look at this thread for your questions:
http://www.overclock.net/t/1199135/hyper-212-testing-push-vs-pull-vs-push-pull-also-horizontal-vs-vertical-positioning
 

LordAlu

Member
I have 2 1 TB HDD's, one of which has Windows on it as stated for reasons above..the other is completely clean and working fine in the new rig. However, the one that has Windows on it, Windows see's the HDD, but shows it only has 100mb of storage when it is a 1 TB drive. Formatting it under Windows does nothing. Reseated the cables and same result, C drive is the SSD, D Drive is the Optical Disk, E drive is the weird HDD that shows only 100mb available and F Drive is the other HDD showing the full 990 or so Gigs free. Not sure what is causing that...tried the different sata ports and no matter what it still reports the samething.
Click the start menu, then right-click "Computer" and choose "Manage". On the screen that comes up, in the left column click on "Disk Management" (it's under the "Storage" menu). It should come up with a screen that looks similar to this (click & hold to embiggen):
Can you post a screen of yours? It sounds like it can't see a partition of the disk, and this will show your partitions. If it is that we can advise you on how to fix it :)
 
Do you happen to be going to college right now? I was able to get a free digital copy of Windows 7 a bit back through my school store, and it also had a physical version at an extreme discount. I think most schools have software deals like this so it's worth a look or finding a friend enrolled that wouldn't use their copy.

Unfortunately, I do not. Just looking for the cheapest and quickest way to get W7.
 

1-D_FTW

Member
Got mine at Microcenter the other day for $107. If you have one of those near you go there. I got the parts for my recent build around $200 cheaper by buying there.

The standard price for Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit is 99.99 at Newegg (free shipping). It's been cheaper before, but that's pretty much the ceiling for what he needs to pay.

That's the OEM version, but if he ever needs to reset the license for a new build, it's really easy to do with the automated system.
 

ParityBit

Member
Thanks guys for all the help with building my rig. The parts are on the way!

Now I just need the CPU and GPU to show up in stores (and decide on a Monitor)

Do we know when we may be seeing IB available for purchase at Newegg/Amazon? I know a rumored announcement is on Monday 4/23, but is that also the first point we can purchase? I am guessing we will need to be near a machine if we want to get one when the release happens.

One thing that sucks about getting all the pieces now is I have to stare at the boxes while I work on my current Core 2 Duo.
 

sk3tch

Member
This is an expensive hobby, especially if you don't do some research first.

Sorry to hear about the problems. If it makes you feel any better, due to some unforeseen issues, I spent over $1k more than planned. Although, part of it is my fault due to not wanting to part with my beloved MSI Big Bang XPower II mobo.

As for your H100 - let me know what fans you end up with as a replacement and if you see an improvement in cooling. I couldn't care less about noise...but if it improves cooling 2C or more I'd be down to invest in some better fans!
 

Sendou

Member
I have some disturbingly low fps with my new rig.

Specs are:
EVGA GTX 680 2GB (with 301.10 drivers)
Intel Core i5 2500k 3.3GHZ
Asus P8Z68-V LX Motherboard
Corsair 2x4gb DDR3 1333MHz
Super Flower Golden Green Modular 600W

I did some testing and with Just Cause 2 everything maxed out but AA=8x and AF=16x I got an average of 27.2 fps with built-in benchmark.

Heaven 3.0:
ipsJZDqzqnyjs.png


I played the opening sequence on Skyrim with everything maxed out and I don't think I never exceeded 40 fps mark.

So is there anything I could try? These numbers cannot be normal, right?
 

sk3tch

Member
I have some disturbingly low fps with my new rig.

Specs are:
EVGA GTX 680 2GB (with 301.10 drivers)
Intel Core i5 2500k 3.3GHZ
Asus P8Z68-V LX Motherboard
Corsair 2x4gb DDR3 1333MHz
Super Flower Golden Green Modular 600W

I did some testing and with Just Cause 2 everything maxed out but AA=8x and AF=16x I got an average of 27.2 fps with built-in benchmark.

Heaven 3.0:
http://i.minus.com/ipsJZDqzqnyjs.png

I played the opening sequence on Skyrim with everything maxed out and I don't think I never exceeded 40 fps mark.

So is there anything I could try? These numbers cannot be normal, right?

I can't speak to Just Cause 2 (ages since I've played that one or had it installed) but those Unigine Heaven results look accurate. You have a GTX 680 - it's the best single card right now...but it doesn't mean you can max out crazy synthetic benches. They're designed to scale all the way to quad-SLI/CrossFireX/etc.

Try overclocking that 2500k. You should be able to get 4.5GHz easy which will help.

I'd worry more about playing games and how they seem to you. I would imagine at 1080p you can run anything you like at 60fps.
 

Sethos

Banned
Look at his settings. He has maxed them out versus the stock (i.e. when you first launch the program). That's why he's getting "disappointing" results. :)

Look at the settings they're using, the only difference is AF, which is probably the smallest performance hit and he's running 16:10 instead which shouldn't take away 1500+ points.

Their rules:

API = DirectX 11
Tessellation = Normal
Shaders = High
Anisotropy = 4x
Stereo 3D = disabled
Multi monitor = disabled
Anti-aliasing = 4x
Full screen = enabled (yes)
Resolution = 1680x1050 or 1920x1080
 

Sendou

Member
I'd worry more about playing games and how they seem to you. I would imagine at 1080p you can run anything you like at 60fps.

The think is I can't. Like I said even maxed out (@1920x1200) vanilla Skyrim won't go above 40fps. And with Just Cause 2 that is 3 years old game I get fps around 20-25 with everything maxed out.

I got 720 points @ 1920x1080 using their settings... It does seem low comparing when to those.
 

Gritesh

Member
So I caved last night and sold my 5850 and ended up pickin up a 7870, now I can play through the witcher 2 and metro 2033 finally. Can't wait for diablo 3 and the next Starcraft and crysis games amongst others.
 

sk3tch

Member
The think is I can't. Like I said even maxed out (@1920x1200) vanilla Skyrim won't go above 40fps. And with Just Cause 2 that is 3 years old game I get fps around 20-25 with everything maxed out.

I got 720 points @ 1920x1080 using their settings... It does seem low comparing when to those.

@Sethos - ahh...I just glanced at that and saw his other settings and it looked maxed to me. My bad.

Sendou, try getting some monitoring programs up. CPU-Z (see if your CPU is throttling), GPU-Z (check GPU info - like PCIe lane speed, etc.), EVGA PrecisionX (monitor temps of GPU, fans, and see if it's throttling), HWMonitor (overall system temp/voltage monitoring), etc.
 

1-D_FTW

Member
The think is I can't. Like I said even maxed out (@1920x1200) vanilla Skyrim won't go above 40fps. And with Just Cause 2 that is 3 years old game I get fps around 20-25 with everything maxed out.

I got 720 points @ 1920x1080 using their settings... It does seem low comparing when to those.

I really can't help you with Just Cause, but for some reason, with my old system, performance went into the crapper and I too was getting horrible numbers with the benchmark (despite it once running great on my GTX 460).

Then when I redid my system and did a fresh W7 install (and keeping my GTX 460), it's running great again. Benchmarks are better than ever on my new system.

Clearly the game is sensitive to something. And it can absolutely destroy performance. Not sure what it is though. I guess it's possibly driver related, but that's just a stab in the dark by me.
 

Smokey

Member
Just cause 2 can be weird. For shits I ran the benchmark the other day and for wherever reason it was not utilizing both of my gpus correctly. One would be at normal 90%+ range the other around 50% or so. Was pissing me off really. Left it alone as I didnt want to play the game , but that shit drives me crazy.

I don't think I can play a game without afterburner overlay. I have to always glance and see what is happening, can't help it!
 

t-ramp

Member
The think is I can't. Like I said even maxed out (@1920x1200) vanilla Skyrim won't go above 40fps. And with Just Cause 2 that is 3 years old game I get fps around 20-25 with everything maxed out.

I got 720 points @ 1920x1080 using their settings... It does seem low comparing when to those.
Maybe try reinstalling your video drivers?
 
Need some help with an SSD purchase. I want to get one for my laptop and I think I'll need around 200gb+.

I've got an X-25 M (G2) in my desktop and that's pretty rapid so ideally I guess I'll want something as quick or quicker if possible. Not sure how much of a difference there is between them, but I suppose ideally I want it to run cool with high energy efficiency too.

Thanks in advance.

What's your budget? A ~256GB SSD will be kind of expensive (~$300) but modern ones will blow the X-25M away.

That doesn't sound too bad. As long as I'm not paying megamoney for server level hardware.

It all moves too quick though, I have no idea what's good and what's not now.

Anyone? I've been reading and it seems that the Intel 520 and Samsung SSD830 might be amongst the best. Not sure if any others should be considered instead?
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom