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[EternalGamer]

I'm downloading the demo on Space Marine now and would like to buy it, but I'm a bit worried as to how my E6420 @ 2.13 GHZ and my 768 MB GTX 460 will handle it now I have a 1080p monitor.

Is there a certain resolution I shouldn't go over with a 768 MB card? I do overclock the processor to 2.8 GHz in the winter, but it's too hot to do that in the summer.

Ive been playing it 1080p on a 460 on my Plasma TV all day with all settings on max and it brely ever even dips.

And this PC onyl has an AMD FX6200 in it.

Tis game is feaking awesome by the way, especially with a 360 comtroller de to the melee combat.

 

[Ceebs]

Picked up all my parts at MicroCenter today except PSU and case. Going to order the Seasonic M12II online.

I need to find a case now. So many friggin choices! I'm afraid the Corsair 600t might be a bit bigger than I want. I felt like the Coolermasters were butt ugly.

Microcenter caries the Fractal Arc Midi. It's on sale there at the moment as well. I walked out with mine for 105 after tax last night. It is as nice as the people hear say

 

[Deleted member 22576]

*whistles* inspiring rig, nick. Great cabling job, been looking into ridiculous over the top cable sleeving myself.
In other news I ordered my case today so the journey has officially begun.

 

[Kabuto]

Which monitor should I get? I'm thinking of getting the Acer America G235, but are there better options?

 

[ghostmind]

After about a month with my new build, I have to give my highest recommendations for the EVGA GTX 670 FTW card. The thing chews up all my games without a sweat, and no matter what I throw at it, I never hear the fan spin up. I'm going to pick up another one for SLI before the end of the year, which should set me up for the foreseeable future.

 

[Ceebs]

Which monitor should I get? I'm thinking of getting the Acer America G235, but are there better options?

If you can afford one, the Korean 27" IPS monitors are amazing. More pleased with mine than the rest of my new rig combined.

 

[Smash88]

Which monitor should I get? I'm thinking of getting the Acer America G235, but are there better options?

Best monitor on the market IMO.

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?c=us&l=en&cs=19&sku=320-8277&baynote_bnrank=1&baynote_irrank=0&~ck=baynoteSearch

 

[Kabuto]

If you can afford one, the Korean 27" IPS monitors are amazing. More pleased with mine than the rest of my new rig combined.

Best monitor on the market IMO.

http://accessories.us.dell.com/sna/productdetail.aspx?c=us&l=en&cs=19&sku=320-8277&baynote_bnrank=1&baynote_irrank=0&~ck=baynoteSearch

thanks for the quick responses guys! Those look great, but they look a little out of my price range haha. Can you guys recommend me a monitor <$400 with HDMI?

EDIT: I spoke too soon. Ceebs are you talking about this monitor? http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003UT2C4U/?tag=neogaf0e-20 If you are I might bite on it.

 

[Liquid_Bike]

Do you think if you build a high end PC now (i5/Ivy Bridge/$500 GPU) it will still be relevant when the 720/PS4 come out? I know the new consoles won't be that powerful but there is going to large jump in the baseline for PC specs to meet the new wave of upcoming console ports and I worry that current PCs won't be able to handle it what with the poor optimization that we all to oftens see for PC ports. Thoughts?

 

[Ceebs]

thanks for the quick responses guys! Those look great, but they look a little out of my price range haha. Can you guys recommend me a monitor <$400 with HDMI?

EDIT: I spoke too soon. Ceebs are you talking about this monitor? http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003UT2C4U/?tag=neogaf0e-20 If you are I might bite on it.

Nah, these here (no HDMI though):

http://www.ebay.com/itm/CROSSOVER-27Q-LED-High-Resolutio-n-2560x1440-QHD-DVI-D-Dual-S-IPS-27-Monitor-/110867210291?pt=Computer_Monitors&hash=item19d0336033

 

[ink4n3]

Hey guys, I just got back from travel and all my new pc parts were waiting for me so I decided to jump into my build. I am following the new egg YouTube video and just got the external build completed. I fired it up and I'm getting a cpu fan error. I'm running a hyper 212 evo cooler and the fan is spinning. Is there something I could have missed or it just that it isn't recognizing my cooler?

 

[Kabuto]

Nah, these here (no HDMI though):

http://www.ebay.com/itm/CROSSOVER-27Q-LED-High-Resolutio-n-2560x1440-QHD-DVI-D-Dual-S-IPS-27-Monitor-/110867210291?pt=Computer_Monitors&hash=item19d0336033

oh alright. I think I'm gonna stick with my Acer tho haha. I have one more question. do I really need to get an anti static wristband? it sounds like I would only use that one time.

 

[Ceebs]

oh alright. I think I'm gonna stick with my Acer tho haha. I have one more question. do I really need to get an anti static wristband? it sounds like I would only use that one time.

I never use one. Touch the metal of your case from time to time and you are fine.

 

[MrBig]

Nah, these here (no HDMI though):

http://www.ebay.com/itm/CROSSOVER-27Q-LED-High-Resolutio-n-2560x1440-QHD-DVI-D-Dual-S-IPS-27-Monitor-/110867210291?pt=Computer_Monitors&hash=item19d0336033

AW sells on Amazon now, btw.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/browse.html?ie=UTF8&marketplaceID=ATVPDKIKX0DER&me=A25ZZK6MBWKPB1

Hey guys, I just got back from travel and all my new pc parts were waiting for me so I decided to jump into my build. I am following the new egg YouTube video and just got the external build completed. I fired it up and I'm getting a cpu fan error. I'm running a hyper 212 evo cooler and the fan is spinning. Is there something I could have missed or it just that it isn't recognizing my cooler?

It's likely because it's running at a low RPM. Go into the bios fan section and decrease the lower limit.

 

[BolognaSoup]

Microcenter caries the Fractal Arc Midi. It's on sale there at the moment as well. I walked out with mine for 105 after tax last night. It is as nice as the people hear say

I saw that and liked it but it doesn't fit the Asus P8Z77-V does it?

 

[Ceebs]

I saw that and liked it but it doesn't fit the Asus P8Z77-V does it?

I put the P8Z77-V LK in it last night.

 

[Smokey]

So you mean it's like a normal videocard. Does it really matter? Using chrome, and my 690 is inaudible even at head level 3 feet from my ear.
.

it's not about noise. There is a 20c difference in heat between using one browser and another..

 

[BolognaSoup]

I put the P8Z77-V LK in it last night.

Well then the dude at MicroCenter needs a stern talking to. He told me it doesn't fit!

I have the P8Z77-V Pro. Should it matter?

 

[Noaloha]

Well then the dude at MicroCenter needs a stern talking to. He told me it doesn't fit!

I have the P8Z77-V Pro. Should it matter?

Could there have been a misunderstanding between you both, with him referring to the Arc Mini rather than the Arc Midi?

 

[BolognaSoup]

That was probably it.

 

[Triz]

Thanks to this thread, I've done a little bit of mix and matching and have come up with a build. Can anyone double check this and let me know if everything looks good, or have any suggestions?


Processor: Intel Core i5-3570K Ivy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo) LGA 1155 77W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD
Motherboard: MSI Z77A-G43 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard with UEFI BIOS
Memory: CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory
Graphics: XFX HD-687A-ZHFC Radeon HD 6870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card
Power Supply: Antec BP550 Plus 550W Continuous Power ATX12V V2.2 80 PLUS Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply
Storage: Samsung by Seagate Spinpoint F3 HD502HJ/ST500DM005 500GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5"
Optical Drive: ASUS 24X DVD Burner - Bulk 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 12X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM
Case: COOLER MASTER RC-692-KKN2 CM690 II Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

This is the build I pretty much built today just went with a different case. Chose the cooler master haf for about $60. You will be happy with it. Only difference is I put a ssd in and my bots are about 11 seconds.

 

[K' Dash]

So, I wanted to post the OC values of my 7850 so you can tell me if I'm doing something wrong and ask a few questions, please bear my noobness:

Using Sapphire Trixx

GPU Clock: 1025
Memory Clock: 1250
Board Power Li: 0 (have not idea what this is, watched a few videos but they're old and this option doesn't show)
Voltage: 1075 (Stock, didn't want to play with that, yet...)

I did a stress test with Furmark, the Benchmark 1080 with 8xMSAA (1 minute) and it went up to 66C, didn't see anything wrong, what should I expect to wrong by the way?, don't know if this is the apropiate test, input on this would be appreciated.

Do i need to reset OC numbers when I'm not playing or is the card safe?, knowing that is almost no use for it apart from gaming.

Some OC values as a reference using Sapphire Trixx would be appreciated too.

Thanks in advance.

 

[mkenyon]

*whistles* inspiring rig, nick. Great cabling job, been looking into ridiculous over the top cable sleeving myself.
In other news I ordered my case today so the journey has officially begun.

End up going with the FT03 Mini?

Hey guys, I just got back from travel and all my new pc parts were waiting for me so I decided to jump into my build. I am following the new egg YouTube video and just got the external build completed. I fired it up and I'm getting a cpu fan error. I'm running a hyper 212 evo cooler and the fan is spinning. Is there something I could have missed or it just that it isn't recognizing my cooler?

Couple of options. 1) Ignore it, 2) Reduce the RPM level at which it reports that, 3) Turn off the error warning entirely. I usually just go with 3.

So, I wanted to post the OC values of my 7850 so you can tell me if I'm doing something wrong and ask a few questions, please bear my noobness:

Using Sapphire Trixx

GPU Clock: 1025
Memory Clock: 1250
Board Power Li: 0 (have not idea what this is, watched a few videos but they're old and this option doesn't show)
Voltage: 1075 (Stock, didn't want to play with that, yet...)

I did a stress test with Furmark, the Benchmark 1080 with 8xMSAA (1 minute) and it went up to 66C, didn't see anything wrong, what should I expect to wrong by the way?, don't know if this is the apropiate test, input on this would be appreciated.

Do i need to reset OC numbers when I'm not playing or is the card safe?, knowing that is almost no use for it apart from gaming.

Some OC values as a reference using Sapphire Trixx would be appreciated too.

Thanks in advance.

Each card is different, entirely depends on chip lottery for how well it overclocks. Search, '7850 review' in google, look at the overclocking section of the reviews. Also check the Race Your PC thread, there might be some 7850s in there. I personally use Uniengine Heaven benchmark for stress testing as you can leave it in a loop and then 3DMark11 to actually chart my gains. However, Furmark can be a handy tool if you just want to get a general idea of stability and then move over to 3DMark11 or Heaven for final benching to see the gains that you are getting.

It's worth it to push it to the limits to find out how far you can go with it. Keep upping the core clock until it crashes or artifacts. 66C in furmark is incredibly low, so it sounds like you have quite a bit of headroom in the cooling department. Furmark will stress your GPU far beyond levels it would in the most demanding of games, or even compared to other benches. I've seen a difference of 10-15 degrees compared to Heaven on loop in the past.

Also, set 'Board Power Li' to 20%, it'll prevent power chokes when it needs a bit more juice.

*edit*
It is important to be running benches when you're OCing too, otherwise you really have no idea of how much performance you're really gaining. The Race Your PC Thread plus 3DMark11 will help you chart it out. Gotta find your own subjective line of 'is this % increase worth the extra X dB in noise?'

*edit 2 - super tired, keep forgetting stuff*
When you start to get artifacts or crashing, up the voltage a bit until it's stable. Once stable, run Furmark/Heaven for a bit to see if the noise is too much. If not, repeat until you hit that level or if your card gets too toasty (Mid 80s is a good cut off point before it gets icky). If you're just benching to bench, which can be a really fun game for some people, then stick your fan at 100% and see how far you can go.

 

[ink4n3]

It's likely because it's running at a low RPM. Go into the bios fan section and decrease the lower limit.

End up going with the FT03 Mini?

Couple of options. 1) Ignore it, 2) Reduce the RPM level at which it reports that, 3) Turn off the error warning entirely. I usually just go with 3.

Thanks,
The alarm was set for 600 rpm. It was hovering around there so I just set the alarm for 400.

I've got everything hooked up besides 1 fan and the Dvd drive. I had a really old drive that didn't have a SATA port. I'm calling it a night and tackling setup tomorrow.

 

[K' Dash]

End up going with the FT03 Mini?

Couple of options. 1) Ignore it, 2) Reduce the RPM level at which it reports that, 3) Turn off the error warning entirely. I usually just go with 3.

Each card is different, entirely depends on chip lottery for how well it overclocks. Search, '7850 review' in google, look at the overclocking section of the reviews. Also check the Race Your PC thread, there might be some 7850s in there. I personally use Uniengine Heaven benchmark for stress testing as you can leave it in a loop and then 3DMark11 to actually chart my gains. However, Furmark can be a handy tool if you just want to get a general idea of stability and then move over to 3DMark11 or Heaven for final benching to see the gains that you are getting.

It's worth it to push it to the limits to find out how far you can go with it. Keep upping the core clock until it crashes or artifacts. 66C in furmark is incredibly low, so it sounds like you have quite a bit of headroom in the cooling department. Furmark will stress your GPU far beyond levels it would in the most demanding of games, or even compared to other benches. I've seen a difference of 10-15 degrees compared to Heaven on loop in the past.

Also, set 'Board Power Li' to 20%, it'll prevent power chokes when it needs a bit more juice.

*edit*
It is important to be running benches when you're OCing too, otherwise you really have no idea of how much performance you're really gaining. The Race Your PC Thread plus 3DMark11 will help you chart it out. Gotta find your own subjective line of 'is this % increase worth the extra X dB in noise?'

*edit 2 - super tired, keep forgetting stuff*
When you start to get artifacts or crashing, up the voltage a bit until it's stable. Once stable, run Furmark/Heaven for a bit to see if the noise is too much. If not, repeat until you hit that level or if your card gets too toasty (Mid 80s is a good cut off point before it gets icky). If you're just benching to bench, which can be a really fun game for some people, then stick your fan at 100% and see how far you can go.

Thank you Kenyon, I just did Furmark Again with these settings:

GPU Clock: 1100
Memory Clock: 1300
Board Li: 20 (like you suggested)
Voltage: 1160

Didn't see anything wrong during the test, is the 1 minute benchmark test of Furmark enough to test stability? the temp went to 73C now.

Does it matter if I leave it OC'd forever?

 

[K' Dash]

I just played 30 min of Dead Space 2 on my new PC, I can't believe how beautiful it looks maxed out and @ >60fps, this investment was worth every penny, I'm so happy :'D

 

[Kalnos]

I just played 30 min of Dead Space 2 on my new PC, I can't believe how beautiful it looks maxed out and @ >60fps, this investment was worth every penny, I'm so happy :'D

Congrats! It's always a good feeling.

 

[Celcius]

Quick question for the old-school nvidia fans here:

I've got an EVGA GTX 280 and from what I can remember, they didn't make high-flow brackets back in those days. Couldn't I just use the high-flow bracket from a GTX 480/580 if I don't care about covering up the s-video port?
Otherwise, could I just buy a Single Slot GTX 580/570/480/470 Bracket: http://www.evga.com/products/moreInfo.asp?pn=M020-00-000161&family=Accessories - Hardware&sw=4

 

[saltinekracka]

This is the build I pretty much built today just went with a different case. Chose the cooler master haf for about $60. You will be happy with it. Only difference is I put a ssd in and my bots are about 11 seconds.

I was considering a small SSD to boot from. Still haven't decided yet.

 

[Prozel]

Looking at this thread inspired me a lot. I'm currently looking into transforming my own rack.

MSI P55-CD53 Intel P55 DDR3 socket 1156
Intel Core i7 860 2.80 GHz
1000GB Hard drive
LC-Power Hyperion 700W
Club 3D 7850
12GB RAM

As I understand i need a new motherboard to fit, like this (Danish site): http://www.pc-lager.dk/vare-oversigt.php?varenummer=06391&type=0

And of course, a micro-ATX.

I'm new at this so if there's any precautions to take please say so.

 

[Ceebs]

I think I am going to settle for a 4.2GHZ OC on this 3570K. The heat jumps 10 degrees to get to a stable 4.3. A stable overclock still in the 50's seems preferable. Especially since the room my PC is in tends to be hotter than the rest of the house.

 

[xero273]

I want to upgrade to SSD soon since it seems they are dropping in price, but I'm not sure what is good. Does Intel, Corsair, or Crucial sound alright? no bugs or anything?

 

[Shambles]

I think I am going to settle for a 4.2GHZ OC on this 3570K. The heat jumps 10 degrees to get to a stable 4.3. A stable overclock still in the 50's seems preferable. Especially since the room my PC is in tends to be hotter than the rest of the house.

50 under load? You still have quite a bit of headroom. I can't speak to the temperature of your room but remember not to confuse temperature of a chip with heat. A small die with a high temperature can produce far less heat than a large die with a lower temperature. Temperature is just a measurement of how quickly heat can escape just as much as how much heat can be produced. With Ivy bridge the heat doesn't transfer as well as sandy bridge parts. It doesn't mean it's producing more heat (It's producing less actually), it just means the die is smaller and doesn't dissapate heat as well. I'd say go for 4.4-4.5 and then if you find that it definitely makes the room too warm than bump it down.

I want to upgrade to SSD soon since it seems they are dropping in price, but I'm not sure what is good. Does Intel, Corsair, or Crucial sound alright? no bugs or anything?

From what I've seen the crucial M4 seems to get the better deals more often. It's also one of the most reliable drives out there. Intel's prices are quite high compared to what other brands are going on sale for now.

 

[blackprophesy]

I was considering a small SSD to boot from. Still haven't decided yet.

I put my first SSD in my new PC and I'll never go back to HDD for the boot disk. The prices of SSDs have also dropped quite a bit recently.

 

[blackprophesy]

I want to upgrade to SSD soon since it seems they are dropping in price, but I'm not sure what is good. Does Intel, Corsair, or Crucial sound alright? no bugs or anything?

Crucial M4 or Samsung 830

 

[Aesius]

Quick question, lovely PC-GAF.

I currently have a Phenom II X2 550 (@ 3.4 ghz), an ATI 4850, and 4 GB RAM.

I'm not really at the point where I want to completely upgrade my system just yet, but now that I've hooked my PC up to my 46" 1080p TV, I'm starting to notice some stuttering and poor frame rates on newer games, even with AA off and shadows turned down.

Would a "band-aid" solution work - i.e., buying a 7850 2GB to hold me over until I decide to upgrade my CPU (will likely jump over to Intel), or would my current CPU bottleneck everything?

 

[Horsemama1956]

How much do you have? A Phenom II x4 would be fine at 1080p. You could easily sell that 4850 and x2 to pay for one and then get whatever GPU you can afford to go along with it.

 

[AwesomeSauce]

Quick question, lovely PC-GAF.

I currently have a Phenom II X2 550 (@ 3.4 ghz), an ATI 4850, and 4 GB RAM.

I'm not really at the point where I want to completely upgrade my system just yet, but now that I've hooked my PC up to my 46" 1080p TV, I'm starting to notice some stuttering and poor frame rates on newer games, even with AA off and shadows turned down.

Would a "band-aid" solution work - i.e., buying a 7850 2GB to hold me over until I decide to upgrade my CPU (will likely jump over to Intel), or would my current CPU bottleneck everything?

You can try unlocking the PII x2, and upgrade the gpu.

Once you aren't satisfied with the performance then start thinking about a new motherboard/CPU.

 

[TheExodu5]

Yep, overclocked Phenom X4 and 7850 would be a solid upgrade. Just the 7850 minus the CPU upgrade could help quite a bit, but it depends mostly on the game.

 

[Aesius]

Yep, overclocked Phenom X4 and 7850 would be a solid upgrade. Just the 7850 minus the CPU upgrade could help quite a bit, but it depends mostly on the game.

Thanks guys. I assume the advice is to still avoid all AMD FX chips, correct?

 

[RaginRoss]

Hey guys, looking for some heatsink related advice.

CPU - Intel Core i5-750 Quad Core 2.66GHz 8MB
Motherboard - Asus P7P55D-E,

Was cleaning my PC earlier today, and due to me being a clusmy bastard, I managed to break a couple of the little pegs that secure the heatsink to the motherboard. I've got it back in for now, but it's not being held quite as securely as it could be so i've got the case sitting sideways rather than upright (I'm monitoring the CPU temp closely just incase - that's fine for now, 34 Celsius)

So I'm looking to replace it with a new one, but not really sure what to get. I've done a bit of Googling and it seems like I can't just buy an exact replacement of this one from Intel(but I may be mistaken). There are loads of ones that claim to fit LGA 1156 socket CPU's, but I don't really know which brands to trust, or how to judge whether it is a good enough fan to adequately cool my CPU.

Any advice would be much appreciated!


(Also posted this in the TechSupportGAF thread - MrBig recommended the CM Hyper 212+ over there, but also said I should ask in here for other opinions if there's anything else you guys would recommend? Thanks!)

 

[kharma45]

Thank you Kenyon, I just did Furmark Again with these settings:

GPU Clock: 1100
Memory Clock: 1300
Board Li: 20 (like you suggested)
Voltage: 1160

Didn't see anything wrong during the test, is the 1 minute benchmark test of Furmark enough to test stability? the temp went to 73C now.

Does it matter if I leave it OC'd forever?

You can push it further than that, you should be able to get the GPU up to 1200MHz and the memory a bit higher too, around 1400 or so (mine is at 1450).

Every card is different but I've that on 1.175v. Glad you're happy with the card considering I was one of the ones who suggested it

Hey guys, looking for some heatsink related advice.

CPU - Intel Core i5-750 Quad Core 2.66GHz 8MB
Motherboard - Asus P7P55D-E,

Was cleaning my PC earlier today, and due to me being a clusmy bastard, I managed to break a couple of the little pegs that secure the heatsink to the motherboard. I've got it back in for now, but it's not being held quite as securely as it could be so i've got the case sitting sideways rather than upright (I'm monitoring the CPU temp closely just incase - that's fine for now, 34 Celsius)

So I'm looking to replace it with a new one, but not really sure what to get. I've done a bit of Googling and it seems like I can't just buy an exact replacement of this one from Intel(but I may be mistaken). There are loads of ones that claim to fit LGA 1156 socket CPU's, but I don't really know which brands to trust, or how to judge whether it is a good enough fan to adequately cool my CPU.

Any advice would be much appreciated!


(Also posted this in the TechSupportGAF thread - MrBig recommended the CM Hyper 212+ over there, but also said I should ask in here for other opinions if there's anything else you guys would recommend? Thanks!)

I've a Noctua NH-U9B SE2 on mine and found it a worthwhile investment, got a nice OC on my i5 750 and it's sitting at 3.8GHz.

Not the prettiest looking coolers mind the Noctua's.

 

[laika09]

Hi PC-Gaf. I have kind of an (I imagine) uncommon question.

I'm currently pricing out parts for my next PC, to replace my valiantly aging E8400/8800GTS from 2008.

So, I happen to have a beautiful Apple Thunderbolt Display (27" 2560x1440 IPS) that I'm using with my Mac laptop right now. It would of course be a waste not to try to get it to work with my new PC, so that's where I am right now: looking at Thunderbolt motherboards. From what I can tell, if I want to use an Intel chip (I do) then these are my only options:

Intel DZ77RE-75K ~$300
Asus P8Z77-V Pro/Thunderbolt ~$270
Asus P8Z77-V Premium ~$450
and the MSI DZ77RE-75K which is impossible to find anywhere.

Supposedly (via Anandtech) the technology is such that any of them will work with a Thunderbolt display right out of the box. (I don't care so much about the Ethernet, FW800, and USB adapters on the display, just the picture and sound.) From what I understand, it's simply a matter of plugging the monitor into the integrated Thunderbolt slot, running the discrete card headless, and the Virtu software that's packaged with the motherboard will copy the framebuffer from the discrete card to the integrated one (just like magic) to give me hardware accelerated video out. There's apparently a 2-5% performance hit (unconfirmed), but that's obviously still a great trade-off to be able to use this display.

For the rest of my build I'm looking at a i5-3570k, 7870, Crucial M4 and Obsidian 550D case. So (longshot) has anyone here tried this and have any relevant advice? (Comments from the peanut gallery on why I spent $1k on a non-interoperable display also welcome.)

 

[kharma45]

Hi PC-Gaf. I have kind of an (I imagine) uncommon question.

I'm currently pricing out parts for my next PC, to replace my valiantly aging E8400/8800GTS from 2008.

So, I happen to have a beautiful Apple Thunderbolt Display (27" 2560x1440 IPS) that I'm using with my Mac laptop right now. It would of course be a waste not to try to get it to work with my new PC, so that's where I am right now: looking at Thunderbolt motherboards. From what I can tell, if I want to use an Intel chip (I do) then these are my only options:

Intel DZ77RE-75K ~$300
Asus P8Z77-V Pro/Thunderbolt ~$270
Asus P8Z77-V Premium ~$450
and the MSI DZ77RE-75K which is impossible to find anywhere.

Supposedly (via Anandtech) the technology is such that any of them will work with a Thunderbolt display right out of the box. (I don't care so much about the Ethernet, FW800, and USB adapters on the display, just the picture and sound.) From what I understand, it's simply a matter of plugging the monitor into the integrated Thunderbolt slot, running the discrete card headless, and the Virtu software that's packaged with the motherboard will copy the framebuffer from the discrete card to the integrated one (just like magic) to give me hardware accelerated video out. There's apparently a 2-5% performance hit (unconfirmed), but that's obviously still a great trade-off to be able to use this display.

For the rest of my build I'm looking at a i5-3570k, 7870, Crucial M4 and Obsidian 550D case. So (longshot) has anyone here tried this and have any relevant advice? (Comments from the peanut gallery on why I spent $1k on a non-interoperable display also welcome.)

I wouldn't bother with the 7870, the price difference over the 7850 isn't worth it, you'd be better off spending bit more either on a 670 or a 79xx card, or just getting a 7850 and OCing it.

 

[laika09]

I wouldn't bother with the 7870, the price difference over the 7850 isn't worth it, you'd be better off spending bit more either on a 670 or a 79xx card, or just getting a 7850 and OCing it.

Thanks. I thought the 670 was a little overkill when I first looked at it, but if $70 means I go another 6 months before feeling like I need an upgrade, I suppose that'd be worth it.

e: I assume a quality 620W power supply is sufficient to drive a single 670? No interest in ever messing with SLI.

 

[Hanzou]

Thanks. I thought the 670 was a little overkill when I first looked at it, but if $70 means I go another 6 months before feeling like I need an upgrade, I suppose that'd be worth it.

e: I assume a quality 620W power supply is sufficient to drive a single 670? No interest in ever messing with SLI.

620w is more than enough. You can even get away with a 550w if needed, probably a 500w at the minimum.

 

[kharma45]

Thanks. I thought the 670 was a little overkill when I first looked at it, but if $70 means I go another 6 months before feeling like I need an upgrade, I suppose that'd be worth it.

e: I assume a quality 620W power supply is sufficient to drive a single 670? No interest in ever messing with SLI.

Yeah 620w is more than enough, and the 670 for only another $70 is well, well worth it IMO.

 

[hypernima]

What should one expect from Newegg's 4th of July sale?

 

[Pie Lord]

I'm currently toying with the idea of building a new gaming PC and wanted some thoughts on the best way forward.

My current system is running with an Intel Q9300 quad-core processor @ 2.5GHz, 8GB DDR2 ram and an ATI 6850HD with 1GB memory. It gets the job done, but it's starting to show its age. If I were to build a new PC in the next couple of months, I'd probably just keep my 6850 and my current HDD for the time being and put most of my focus on good processor and motherboard. The key thing I'm looking for, is a CPU that will last me a good thee to four years before I have to replace it. I know the i5 2500k is something of a go to processor at the moment, but I'm some what concerned about what the lifespan on it would be. Aside from that, I'm looking at going with 8GB DDR3 and a 600w power supply for future GPU upgrades. Since I'm not sure on a CPU yet, I've not really looked at motherboards. For just the case, board, ram, power supply and CPU I'm looking at a budget of around $500 to $600, though I might be convinced to go up to $700.

So what are people's thoughts? Will the i5 give me the life-cycle I'm looking for or should I go higher? Would I be better off waiting to build a new system until sometime later this year or early next?

 

[Hyphen]

Hi guys.

Ok, I currently have a 10 year old PC that's been showing its age for a while now. Only notable parts are an AMD Athlon 64 Processor (3400+), 1GB of RAM and an NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT graphics card.

With my new PC, I'm not building it myself, simply choosing the parts for a company to make for me. I don't intend to do any kind of overclocking. I'm looking to play games, and do graphics and video editing. Would appreciate any feedback on the below...

Motherboard: Asus P8Z77-V
CPU Processor: Intel i7 3770K
CPU Cooler: Xigmatek Loki SD-S963
RAM: 16GB DDR3 1333mhz (2x 8GB)
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670 2GB
Sound: Asus Xonar DGX 5.1 PCI-E
Storage 1: Corsair 120GB Force3 SSD S-ATAIII 6.0Gb/s
Storage 2: 2TB S-ATAIII 6.0Gb/s
Optical Drive: 22x DVD±RW DL S-ATA
Power Supply: Corsair HX 850W Modular
Case: Corsair Obsidian 650D

I'm thinking (based on what I've read in posts above) that my power supply could be overkill!? No idea about the sound card, but the only other options are 'Creative' brands, who I've been told to stay away from.