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[knitoe]

I have it so it goes to sleep after ten minutes.



I'm not overclocking it. Yes, I"m letting the computer go into sleep\hibernation mode after leaving it idle, but no overclocking at all on my end. I don't even know how to do that.

I still have Prime95 running, and here are the current readings:

Temps seem fine. I am leaning toward Internal CPU PLL enable + sleep/hibernate issue. Go into MB bios and Advance Mode. Going from memory, Internal CPU PLL should be under "AI Tweak". Disable it, reboot into Windows and let it sleep. Then, try to wake it up.

And, with 2500K, you really should be overclocking it to 4.4-4.5GHz. There are plenty of guides around showing how. Most will have you enabling Internal CPU PLL, but you can disable for 4.5GHz and below.

 

[TaKeRx]

Thanks a lot for the info mkenyon!

OK so I'm torn between these 2 GPUs. The inner nerd in me wants to get the GTX690 badly, but is it a smart move?

 

[Coldsnap]

First things first, please tell me it's not USB.

Make sure the device is selected? Onboard sound drivers installed? Other devices disabled?

Also, so you know, the color relates to how the key switches work. Click the link for awesome GIFs.

Headset came with no drivers and none to be downloaded from the website.

 

[knitoe]

Thanks a lot for the info mkenyon!

OK so I'm torn between these 2 GPUs. The inner nerd in me wants to get the GTX690 badly, but is it a smart move?

Shouldn't you go with SLI 680 or a 690 setup? Since you are going top end, Nvidia cards are faster than AMD.

 

[BolognaSoup]

People have been getting them in the US since February. Sellers Like AccesoriesWhole and BigClothCraft are real retailers in Korea, the monitors are just being purchased from their online store on ebay. Failure rates and defect potential are just as common as with any other domesticate brand. Just know that you are not buying a Dell or an Apple.

Thanks for the info. I'm back into looking to building a pc after the dissapointment of no new iMacs at wwdc today.

 

[_Isaac]

Temps seem fine. I am leaning toward Internal CPU PLL enable + sleep/hibernate issue. Go into MB bios and Advance Mode. Going from memory, Internal CPU PLL should be under "AI Tweak". Disable it, reboot into Windows and let it sleep. Then, try to wake it up.

And, with 2500K, you really should be overclocking it to 4.4-4.5GHz. There are plenty of guides around showing how. Most will have you enabling Internal CPU PLL, but you can disable for 4.5GHz and below.

I think I'm going to let it sleep again. If it turns off again, then it most likely means you're right about the problem. Btw here are the readings during Far Cry 2 on Ultra High settings.

Oh and by the way, what are the benefits of overclocking?

 

[clav]

Oh and by the way, what are the benefits of overclocking?

Making the most out of your money for performance boost.

 

[watership]

PC gaf! Anyone got suggestions for 343's David Ellis? He build a monster and she's not coming to life.

@DavidEllis
Operation doorstop: day 2. Still no signs of life.

https://twitter.com/#!/DavidEllis

 

[Shambles]

PC gaf! Anyone got suggestions for 343's David Ellis? He build a monster and she's not coming to life.

https://twitter.com/#!/DavidEllis

I would suggest he come here and look for help.

Edit: Geez look at his Twitter, what a self-absorbed whiner.

I'm slowly collecting parts. This PC will exist eventually.

I've found 256GB to really be the best starting point for the size of an SSD. While I do have to keep somewhat of an eye on it, I generally have everything I use on the SSD and everything else on HDD. I don't regret bumping up to 256GB at all.

 

[Witchfinder General]

800D is pretty weak on air cooling. I'd look at a different case if I were you. CM 690II, Fractal Arc Midi, or even the Lian Li PC-80 if you want a monolithic aluminum tower.

Hmmm... In that case the Lian does look really good. Is it easy to put parts in it for a first time PC builder?

 

[Fantastical]

I'm basically doing the cheapest version of the "Excellent" build in the OP. First time I've ever built a PC. I'm going to be doing more research over the next day to have things hopefully ready for a build next week, but is there anything I should know initially about this build?

 

[mkenyon]

Hmmm... In that case the Lian does look really good. Is it easy to put parts in it for a first time PC builder?

Yep, probably their easiest to work in. I normally wouldn't suggest it since people spending that kind of money on a case generally want to use the H100. Since you have a Noctua, it's really a perfect choice. All that unimpeded airflow directly to your components = cool and quiet computer.

Headset came with no drivers and none to be downloaded from the website.

USB or analog? Analog doesn't need drivers, I'm referring to your onboard chipset. You do the other stuff though? Does it show up in Recording Devices? (right click sound icon in system tray, click recording devices).

Thanks a lot for the info mkenyon!

OK so I'm torn between these 2 GPUs. The inner nerd in me wants to get the GTX690 badly, but is it a smart move?

What resolution?

Either way, with a $2K budget, it probably won't fit. Once you have the $200 PSU and $300 CPU, you're only $500 away and still need RAM, a good case, SSD/HDDs, fans, motherboard, etc.

I'd suggest going with a 670, 7970, or 680. There isn't a significant difference in performance between the 7970 and 680. 7970s are really conservatively clocked, and you can get a 15% increase in performance without increasing voltage.

I gotta say though, I'm quite enjoying my GTX690 (self gratifying pic)

Sometimes it's totally useless in the overhead department, and I feel guilty. They're really really hard to find, and usually sell out in 3-5 minutes once stock comes back in though.

 

[Takuya]

800D is pretty weak on air cooling. I'd look at a different case if I were you. CM 690II, Fractal Arc Midi, or even the Lian Li PC-80 if you want a monolithic aluminum tower. Is there a certain aesthetic you were trying to capture?

It's actually not all that bad. I've only got my CPU under a Corsair H100 water block. My 2 680GTXs run on air only. CPU varies between 25-50*C and GPUs between 30-60*C.

 

[Hazaro]

I'm basically doing the cheapest version of the "Excellent" build in the OP. First time I've ever built a PC. I'm going to be doing more research over the next day to have things hopefully ready for a build next week, but is there anything I should know initially about this build?

Not really. I try to make it as value focused on gaming and easy to approach as possible.

 

[Fantastical]

Not really. I try to make it as value focused on gaming and easy to approach as possible.

Alright, thanks. Awesome guide by the way. I've been eyeing this thread for about a month now. E3 was the trigger I needed to say "yep, let's do this".

 

[mkenyon]

It's actually not all that bad. I've only got my CPU under a Corsair H100 water block. My 2 680GTXs run on air only. CPU varies between 25-50*C and GPUs between 30-60*C.

If you had a classic aluminum/copper heatsink, it'd be a different story. Your CPU heat in watts is essentially dissipated outside of the case, and is unaffected by the videocards. They're also unaffected by the CPU heat.

Either way, it's a case that is designed from top to bottom for watercooling. Cases that are $60-100 outperform it handily on air cooling. I get that it has that certain extra something, which I totally endorse, I just think there are other cases that also have that while being a better performer. The PC-80 is a prime example of what I'm talking about.

800D is getting a bit long in the tooth, word is there is a 2.0 in the works.

 

[Witchfinder General]

Yep, probably their easiest to work in. I normally wouldn't suggest it since people spending that kind of money on a case generally want to use the H100. Since you have a Noctua, it's really a perfect choice. All that unimpeded airflow directly to your components = cool and quiet computer.

Sweet, I've swapped out the Corsair for the Lian. How are my keyboard and mouse choices? From what I've seen they're a pretty good choice for wireless use. Also, I want to use a 360 controller for some games but do I have to buy a PC specific one or can I use one of the many I have for my 360?

 

[mkenyon]

Sweet, I've swapped out the Corsair for the Lian. How are my keyboard and mouse choices? From what I've seen they're a pretty good choice for wireless use. Also, I want to use a 360 controller for some games but do I have to buy a PC specific one or can I use one of the many I have for my 360?

Can't say for certain on the wireless stuff. I've written it off entirely so haven't done much research.

The 360 controller will straight work plug and play as long as you have the wired one. The wireless ones need a specific PC adapter.

*edit*

SHOOT meant the Lian Li PC-90 btw, not PC-80.

 

[knitoe]

Sweet, I've swapped out the Corsair for the Lian. How are my keyboard and mouse choices? From what I've seen they're a pretty good choice for wireless use. Also, I want to use a 360 controller for some games but do I have to buy a PC specific one or can I use one of the many I have for my 360?

Any Xbox 360 controller will work. For a wireless one, you also need a PC wireless adapter. I believe Microsoft stopped selling them seperately so either you try a Chinese knockoff or buy the official controller & PC adapter bundle.

 

[Hazaro]

Alright, thanks. Awesome guide by the way. I've been eyeing this thread for about a month now. E3 was the trigger I needed to say "yep, let's do this".

If you have any questions feel free to ask.

 

[Smokey]

Is this a good mobo for gaming, future SLI and lite OC? Asus P8Z68 DELUXE. I can get it for $100. I have a budget so I can't get the Asrock Z68 boards.

I'm thinking P8Z68 DELUXE+I5 2500k+GTX 460V2 +4~8GB ram. Ideas?

Ps: this doesn't have any bent pins! Thanx

I have the P8Z68 Deluxe, 2600k @ 4.6ghz, 16GB RAM @ 1600mhz, and used SLI for months. No problems since I got the board months ago. For $100 I would go for it.

Here's some measurements for anyone interested in the crossover (cm)

It's 5.5cm thick (at the mounting point, the main body is 3cm). 100mm vesa mounts.

The entire frame/bezel is steel. The exterior of the base is glossy plastic, the stand is steel.

And here are some examples of scaling. The movie is native 720p unscaled, and then scaled to fullscreen. BF3 at 720, 1080, and 1440. I did not white balance the camera, don't worry about the colors.

e: also, "star bursting", or chromatic aboration is very pronounced on this if you can see the reflection of a point light on the screen. I've never seen it like this on a glossy screen before. So, as always with glossy screens, be wary if you cannot control lighting conditions.

Good to see you're enjoying it, and got a good panel .

 

[Witchfinder General]

Can't say for certain on the wireless stuff. I've written it off entirely so haven't done much research.

The 360 controller will straight work plug and play as long as you have the wired one. The wireless ones need a specific PC adapter.

*edit*

SHOOT meant the Lian Li PC-90 btw, not PC-80.

There's quite a difference between the two models. The 80 seems to be superior unless I'm reading it wrong.

 

[Trojita]

Aren't those korean displays supposed to be like A- grade (from what they say) that didn't go in the displays they were originally meant for? Doesn't that usually happen if they have at least 1 or 2 broken or stuck pixels?

Which of them is the best right now?

 

[Ledsen]

Some of those numbers look close to the MINs. Disheartening. :/The numbers are value, then MIN then MAX.
]

Uhm, the MIN is actually just the mininum temp that component has been since you started monitoring. It has nothing to do with appropriate temperatures.

 

[hauton]

Current setup:

Case: Antec Three Hundred
Power Supply Unit: XFX 650W XXX Edition Single Rail Modular
Motherboard: Gigabyte P55A-UD3P LGA1156
Processor Intel Core i5 750 Quad Core Processor Lynnfield LGA1156 2.66GHZ 8MB
RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws F3-12800CL7D 2x2GB DDR3-1600
Graphics Card: Visiontek Radeon HD 5850 1GB GDDR5
Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar Black 640GB 7200RPM 32MB
SSD: Crucial M4 SSD Micron C400 128GB

I haven't touched this since I built it in early 2010 except for adding the SSD a few weeks ago. Are there any glaring points that I should consider upgrading? I'm antsy to do an overhaul but I don't think it's necessarily the best time right now.

 

[_woLf]

My girlfriend is in the market for a new laptop. She wants a good 14-ish inch laptop with no number pad, at least 6GB of RAM and a decent processor with at least 500GB of HDD space.

I found this one on BestBuy.com: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Sony---...Id=5690479&id=1218682372526&fb_source=message

and built this one on HP's website: http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/s...ation.do?destination=review&config_id=7246493

Was hoping someone had any suggestions.

 

[knitoe]

Aren't those korean displays supposed to be like A- grade (from what they say) that didn't go in the displays they were originally meant for? Doesn't that usually happen if they have at least 1 or 2 broken or stuck pixels?

Which of them is the best right now?

Yes, they are rejected panels that didn't meet A+ standard due to stuck/dead pixels, dust, light bleeding and/or so on. Most people, ~90%, are just fine. In my case, with my Crossover 27Q, there's a tiny ink or dust mark at the very bottom edge of the screen. Well worth the $650 savings vs getting A+ rating from Apple, Dell or etc. If you are worry about stuck/dead pixels, the Korean ebay sellers also offer "Perfect Picture" panels for a higher price.

There are not best. The different brand all uses the same rejected LG panels. It just depends build quality with the look, stand, multi input scaler (increase lag) and so on. Personally, I went with Crossover 27Q, because to me, it looks the best, seems higher quality due to the metal encasing, best stand and DVI-D input only = no scaler. As to who to buy from, most recommend ebay seller Accessorieswhole.

 

[Doc Holliday]

Why didnt gaf tell me how unbelievably fantastic 120hz monitors are? Holy shit I just picked up a BenQ 2420t and holy shit! I feel like I'm back on CRTs! Its like my desktop has that 60fps feel lol

 

[Hazaro]

Current setup:

Case: Antec Three Hundred
Power Supply Unit: XFX 650W XXX Edition Single Rail Modular
Motherboard: Gigabyte P55A-UD3P LGA1156
Processor Intel Core i5 750 Quad Core Processor Lynnfield LGA1156 2.66GHZ 8MB
RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws F3-12800CL7D 2x2GB DDR3-1600
Graphics Card: Visiontek Radeon HD 5850 1GB GDDR5
Hard Drive: Western Digital Caviar Black 640GB 7200RPM 32MB
SSD: Crucial M4 SSD Micron C400 128GB

I haven't touched this since I built it in early 2010 except for adding the SSD a few weeks ago. Are there any glaring points that I should consider upgrading? I'm antsy to do an overhaul but I don't think it's necessarily the best time right now.

Just a GPU upgrade and an overclock if you haven't done that. New CPUs are not much faster.

My girlfriend is in the market for a new laptop. She wants a good 14-ish inch laptop with no number pad, at least 6GB of RAM and a decent processor with at least 500GB of HDD space.

I found this one on BestBuy.com: http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Sony---...Id=5690479&id=1218682372526&fb_source=message

and built this one on HP's website: http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/s...ation.do?destination=review&config_id=7246493

Was hoping someone had any suggestions.

Laptop thread and fillout in the OP

Why didnt gaf tell me how unbelievably fantastic 120hz monitors are? Holy shit I just picked up a BenQ 2420t and holy shit! I feel like I'm back on CRTs! Its like my desktop has that 60fps feel lol

mkenyon does

 

[Witchfinder General]

Hazaro, what do you think of my parts list for my PC build on the previous page?

 

[n0n44m]

Why didnt gaf tell me how unbelievably fantastic 120hz monitors are? Holy shit I just picked up a BenQ 2420t and holy shit! I feel like I'm back on CRTs! Its like my desktop has that 60fps feel lol

XL2420T high five!

my desktop & gaming settings

Picture Mode: Standard
Gamma: 4
Brightness: 36
Contrast: 50
Colour Temperature: User Mode
RGB: 96, 97, 100

with +5 digital vibrance in the Nvidia control panel

for competitive games I use the BF3 profile from BenQ's site http://gaming.benq.com/downloads/

 

[Flame Lord]

Do I just format my hard drive if I want to uninstall an operating system?

 

[Lulubop]

Aren't those korean displays supposed to be like A- grade (from what they say) that didn't go in the displays they were originally meant for? Doesn't that usually happen if they have at least 1 or 2 broken or stuck pixels?

Which of them is the best right now?

Accessorieswhole Perfect Pixel are A+ panels going by the items description.

 

[Hazaro]

Hazaro, what do you think of my parts list for my PC build on the previous page?

I'd get one of the 'Enthusiast' boards or any of the slightly more expensive models.

Drop a 670 and run a single one for a little bit and see if it's enough power.

 

[Negaiido]

I'm really thinking about upgrading my (not so old) setup but I don't know if it's really worth it atm. After playing some games I just saw the performance dropping a bit which made me anxious.
I've got the money so that's not the problem, just not sure if I get a big boost.

Current specs:

Case: Cooler Master HAF 912 Plus
Power Supply Unit: XFX Pro 550W
Motherboard: Asrock H61iCAFE
Processor; Intel i5 2400
RAM: Corsair Vengeance CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9 8GB
Graphics Card: MSI R6950 Twin Frozr III Power Edition/OC
HDD: I've got 4 TB so don't need an upgrade of this
SSD: Crucial M4 SSD 64 GB

In the past I didn't see a need to overclock so I didn't buy anything that was easily overclockable but now I do want to do that. I'd like to change my current spec to a high end computer but is it really worth the money.

 

[Hazaro]

I'm really thinking about upgrading my (not so old) setup but I don't know if it's really worth it atm. After playing some games I just saw the performance dropping a bit which made me anxious.
I've got the money so that's not the problem, just not sure if I get a big boost.

Current specs:

Case: Cooler Master HAF 912 Plus
Power Supply Unit: XFX Pro 550W
Motherboard: Asrock H61iCAFE
Processor; Intel i5 2400
RAM: Corsair Vengeance CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9 8GB
Graphics Card: MSI R6950 Twin Frozr III Power Edition/OC
HDD: I've got 4 TB so don't need an upgrade of this
SSD: Crucial M4 SSD 64 GB

In the past I didn't see a need to overclock so I didn't buy anything that was easily overclockable but now I do want to do that. I'd like to change my current spec to a high end computer but is it really worth the money.

Motherboard to Z77 board to allow overclocking.
CPU to 2500K/3570K for overclocking.
GPU to GTX 670, then overclock it.

You'd see (off the top of my head) 40% gains?

 

[Witchfinder General]

I'd get one of the 'Enthusiast' boards or any of the slightly more expensive models.

Drop a 670 and run a single one for a little bit and see if it's enough power.

Which board would you suggest?

 

[Negaiido]

Motherboard to Z77 board to allow overclocking.
CPU to 2500K/3570K for overclocking.
GPU to GTX 670, then overclock it.

You'd see (off the top of my head) 40% gains?

40% seems allright I guess.
Wouldn't SLI/CF be a bigger gain in performance? I know it has disadvantages as well but those ones can be solved with extra cooling

 

[Ceebs]

40% seems allright I guess.
Wouldn't SLI/CF be a bigger gain in performance? I know it has disadvantages as well but those ones can be solved with extra cooling

You still deal with microstutter and profile management. Unless you absolutely need more power than a 670 or 680 can give you I would try to avoid multiple GPUs.

 

[Negaiido]

You still deal with microstutter and profile management. Unless you absolutely need more power than a 670 or 680 can give you I would try to avoid multiple GPUs.

I guess I will go for single GPU, I did hear that triple SLI does solve the microstutter.

 

[asdad123]

I dont know if it would be alright to cross-post this, but I think it would get more exposure in here.

Im looking to sell the Gaming PC that I bought from KMD a little over a month ago. North NJ/NY preferred.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=38656017&postcount=5205

 

[Negaiido]

I've been thinking about getting these parts for my upgrade. Could someone please tell me if I should change something to this new setup.

Case: Corsair Carbide 500R Black
-reason: My current case was quite small with my 6950 and the cable management is quite difficult

Cooling: Corsair Hydro Series H100

Graphics Card: Asus GTX680-2GD5

Processor: Intel Core i5 3570K Boxed

PSU: Corsair Enthusiast TX550M
- reason: My current PSU is non-modular and it was a nightmare to build

SSD: Samsung 830 series 256GB
- reason: Current SSD is 64 GB which is a bit small, I play MMO's so a little bigger is always better. Might take a 128 instead because 256GB is quite expensive.

Mobo: Gigabyte GA-Z77X-D3H

 

[sikkinixx]

mATX and mITX aren't the same thing right?

I'm quite taken by this case but I don't think it has the right layout

 

[Witchfinder General]

Ok, I've made a few changes (in bold) and I think this is my final set-up. I'll be ordering it tomorrow.

Intel Core i5 3570K

Gigabyte G1-Sniper3 Motherboard

Palit GeForce GTX 670 2GB Jetstream

Noctua NH-D14 CPU Cooler

Crucial M4 SSD 512GB

Silverstone Strider Plus 750W ST75F-P

Pioneer DVR-219L DVDRW OEM

CoolerMaster Cosmos II Ultra Tower

G.Skill Ares F3-1600C10D-16GAO 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit with SP1 OEM

Logitech K800 Wireless Illuminated Keyboard

Logitech G700 Wireless Gaming Mouse

Total: $2862 AUD

Going by the advice here I've decided to go with one gfx card and hope that the above set-up should allow me to play everything at ultra settings, 1080p at 60fps for a decent while.

 

[knitoe]

Ok, I've made a few changes (in bold) and I think this is my final set-up. I'll be ordering it tomorrow.



Going by the advice here I've decided to go with one gfx card and hope that the above set-up should allow me to play everything at ultra settings, 1080p at 60fps for a decent while.

For a gaming PC, your graphic setup is the most important item. Do you plan to upgrade the graphic card later on? If yes, one GPU is fine. If no, SLI is the way to go. With running multi GPU, at worst, you can disable them, run only 1 card, if it gives you trouble.

 

[Shambles]

mATX and mITX aren't the same thing right?

I'm quite taken by this case but I don't think it has the right layout

.

 

[toastyToast]

Ok, I've made a few changes (in bold) and I think this is my final set-up. I'll be ordering it tomorrow.



Going by the advice here I've decided to go with one gfx card and hope that the above set-up should allow me to play everything at ultra settings, 1080p at 60fps for a decent while.

I think you're over reaching with the motherboard, could probably grab 2 for that price. What draws you to the Sniper3 over say, the regular one?

Also, unless your taste dictates you could probably save some money by going with a cheaper case. Things cheaper than the Cosmos II are still considered on the premium end btw

If you tone down those two you could probably afford to get a 680

 

[RedSwirl]

It's all in the link. If you want to get an idea, Q66 performance is roughly equal to a Phenom II X4. With that in mind, those benchmarks should give you an idea of what kind of performance loss you're getting in CPU bound games.

Like I said, what I'm seeing is not a really huge difference in the games at that link that I own (Skyrim, JC2, Metro) - only a bout 15fps on average. Not quite enough to justify a new system with the same graphics card. Is the Q6600 really going to fall out of relevancy within the next year? And how much is my mere 3GB of RAM holding me back right now?

 

[Yoshiya]

Ok, I've made a few changes (in bold) and I think this is my final set-up. I'll be ordering it tomorrow.



Going by the advice here I've decided to go with one gfx card and hope that the above set-up should allow me to play everything at ultra settings, 1080p at 60fps for a decent while.

So you're buying a case that can hold up to 20 3.5" drives into which you will place a single 2.5". Yes that makes sense.

 

[Doc Holliday]

XL2420T high five!

my desktop & gaming settings

Picture Mode: Standard
Gamma: 4
Brightness: 36
Contrast: 50
Colour Temperature: User Mode
RGB: 96, 97, 100

with +5 digital vibrance in the Nvidia control panel

for competitive games I use the BF3 profile from BenQ's site http://gaming.benq.com/downloads/

Thanks! I'll try these settings out. Probably my only issue so far are the out of the box settings. I felt like my eyes were going to melt. Well i also have dead pixel :/ not going to bother returning it, not worth the hassle.