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[Loxley]

So I just ordered a new monitor, namely this - an Asus 24-Inch Full-HD LED Monitor. I'm on a bit of a budget so I could go too crazy with the $200+ displays, so the price and specs of this thing seemed perfect. Plus all the reviews are pretty damn positive.

My current monitor - a 22-inch 1680x1050 Acer LCD - is what I've been using for the last four years. It has served me very well, but its colors are starting to get a little weird, and since I now work off a laptop that runs at 1920x1080, using an external monitor that has a lower resolution has been less than ideal, figured it was time to retire the ol' gal.

 

[Dark Octave]

Just bought all my parts for my 1st build, I am so excited, but also nervous as hell I'm going to fuck something up. Hopefully Gaf won't be too annoyed with the questions once I start building on Tuesday. I can't wait to play battlefield on a 64 players server!! Went with a Dell Ultra-sharp 27" display (didn't want to take the chance with Korean monitors). I expect the there will be a huge difference between that and my current measly 19" Sony viao. I can't wait!! Just want to say thanks to PC Gaf for helping through the first step of selecting parts. Wish me luck on building!

It's been a while but it's not hard. It's like putting together Legos. The hardest part is mounting the cpu and the wiring from what I remember.

 

[Salsa]

got the cheap Turtle Beach, nothing special, nice for the money. Bass is actually better than the Gamecom 367s I believe.

 

[Monarch]

Damn it's impossible to find any Asus 670 DC2 in stock here in France
I don't wanna wait 2-4 weeks just with my 2500K's IGP ... :'(

 

[RibbedHero]

Damn it's impossible to find any Asus 670 DC2 in stock here in France
I don't wanna wait 2-4 weeks just with my 2500K's IGP ... :'(

Get a different 670? I don't see why you're so set on the DCII.

 

[Albino_Samurai]

Just a reminder for folks who are to eager to get building instead of reading the manual or Qualified Vendor Lists....

MAKE SURE YOUR MOTHERBOARD IS PREPARED TO/CAN HANDLE YOUR NEW PROCESSOR!!

Found out my new ASUS P8P67 EVO wasn't ready to handle the i5 3570K just yet and had to have it's BIOS flashed with the help of other components at a local computershop before i could proceed building/upgrading my DAW System.
I didn't know that perticulair i5 was a 22Nm processor!!
In the end, the only parts left from the old build are a ENERMAX 850 PSU and the ThermalTake - "Shark" casing.
Windows 7 Pro has saved me a lot of headaches and money!!
Much, much better than XP......

 

[Previous]

I'd say go for the 'best value' $700 rig mentioned in the op,though including the os would stretch that budget a bit

Thanks, I didn't realize how little more the best value build would cost.
here's an updated list:

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/dPnR

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($189.99 @ Microcenter)
Motherboard: Biostar TZ77B ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($99.98 @ Outlet PC)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($54.03 @ Amazon)
Storage: Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($74.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: XFX Radeon HD 6870 1GB Video Card ($144.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Cooler Master 500W ATX12V Power Supply ($34.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($19.98 @ Outlet PC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (64-bit) ($88.73 @ Amazon)
Total: $707.68

That price is not including a case. and Depending on what my friend says he may want to add an CM 212+ and a cheap-ish wifi card.
thoughts?

 

[Monarch]

Get a different 670? I don't see why you're so set on the DCII.

Well it's reviewed very well, it's quiet and runs cool.
I could take a Gigabyte Windforce 3X but I, for one, just can't stand the blue PCB. What other choices do I have ? Reference design for the 670 sucks big time too.

 

[Jburton]

Well it's reviewed very well, it's quiet and runs cool.
I could take a Gigabyte Windforce 3X but I, for one, just can't stand the blue PCB. What other choices do I have ? Reference design for the 670 sucks big time too.

It really doesn't, look at the benchmarks ...... most of the non reference cards are only single digits cooler than the reference under load or idle, the same as the noise .... Only a very slight difference.

 

[abunai]

Well it's reviewed very well, it's quiet and runs cool.
I could take a Gigabyte Windforce 3X but I, for one, just can't stand the blue PCB. What other choices do I have ? Reference design for the 670 sucks big time too.

MSI power edition is basically identical to the ASUS in noise/performance, but has no backplate. Black-ish PCB though.

 

[MrBig]

Well it's reviewed very well, it's quiet and runs cool.
I could take a Gigabyte Windforce 3X but I, for one, just can't stand the blue PCB. What other choices do I have ? Reference design for the 670 sucks big time too.

MSI Twin Frozr and the Zotac Amp

 

[ClovingWestbrook]

Well, not sure if I should ask this here or what, but eh, what the hell.

My monitor is more than 5 years old but does the trick. I have a brand new PC that is a few months old including the GTX 680. Temps are always fine, but recently the screen will go black all of a sudden, though I can still hear what is taking place, be it a game or movie. Today, the entire screen went haywire, everything was jumbled. I turned the monitor off and back on and everything was back to normal.

I don't have another monitor to connect to in order to see if its the monitor of the computer but I am wondering with what I described, do the symptoms fit a monitor issue or graphics card issue?

For new page

 

[MrBig]

For new page

Try a different cable

 

[Monarch]

The MSI Twin Frozr/Power Edition and the Zotac AMP aren't available in my country for the moment.
About the reference design, do you guys think they'd OC as much as the non-reference ones ? I'm talking about VRM phases, stability, durability of the components, etc...

 

[Smokey]

I have updated all of my drivers since my reformat...but one thing that is bugging the hell out of me is Device Manager showing "Unknown Device" under "Other Devices".

Driving me crazy I have no idea what it's referring to.

 

[imotep]

Hey guys, so right now I have a XFX 6950 and was thinking about upgrading it. The two cards I was looking at were the XFX 7970 3gb black edition and the EVGA 670. Any thoughts or experience on either of the cards? Right now I am leaning towards the 7970.

 

[knitoe]

I have updated all of my drivers since my reformat...but one thing that is bugging the hell out of me is Device Manager showing "Unknown Device" under "Other Devices".

Driving me crazy I have no idea what it's referring to.

Most likely, you are missing a driver. Go to the MB manufacturer's website download section and find out which one.

 

[Ostinatto]

im looking for 120hz monitors in my country, only found two monitors

Viewsonic LED 24" V3D245 $560 us

and

Samsung LED 23" S23A700D $391 us


any thoughts gaf?
thanks again

 

[Struct09]

I recently upgraded from an ATI 5850 HD to an Nvidia GTX 570. Some games are running great with the new card (Diablo III, Driver SF) but some that ran fine before seem to chug along and dip below 30 fps at times (Batman AC, Quantum Conundrum). Processor is an i5 Ivy Bridge.

Is there some kind of driver cleanup I should do since I went from ATI to Nvidia? I have the latest Nvidia drivers otherwise.

I figured out how to fix this. I installed Driver Fusion and removed all ATI entries on my machine, rebooted, and all was good. Wanted to update in case anyone else runs into this issue!

 

[Isomac]

I have updated all of my drivers since my reformat...but one thing that is bugging the hell out of me is Device Manager showing "Unknown Device" under "Other Devices".

Driving me crazy I have no idea what it's referring to.

Have you tried searching with hardware id? That might give you some idea what driver you are missing.

 

[n0n44m]

I have updated all of my drivers since my reformat...but one thing that is bugging the hell out of me is Device Manager showing "Unknown Device" under "Other Devices".

Driving me crazy I have no idea what it's referring to.

did you install the Intel Management Engine Interface drivers (or whatever they're called)

you can also sort device manager by connection so you can see to what port/bus the unknown device is connected and work your way from there

 

[Smokey]

Yeah I installed IME.

I will try your guys' suggestions thanks

 

[RedSwirl]

So I just found out about the existence of power line network adapters. Are they any good? Reliable? Anything I should know? What's the right price for one?

 

[knitoe]

So I just found out about the existence of power line network adapters. Are they any good? Reliable? Anything I should know? What's the right price for one?

No. I am using a Linksys E4200 router, but since I game wireless, I thought powerline would provide less latency. So, I bought a on sale Netgear 200mbs powerline kit. Latency was only ~1ms better which is almost nothing, but my speed was half as fast. Also, even in a newly built home, there seems to be interference through the powerline.

Unless wireless doesn't work in your environment, I would recommend just getting a good N router and adapter(s).

 

[Grokbu]

So I decided to install an AC Twin Turbo II on my XFX HD6950 2GB dual fan today, and I just recently finished applying the heatsinks and am waiting for the thermal paste/glue to cure. As this is my first time installing an aftermarket VGA cooler, I thought I'd take some pics and ask if there are any heatsinks that I forgot to apply?

 

[Leckan]

How big is the performance difference between 1980x1200 with 4MSAA vs 2560x1440p without AA since I've heard you don't really need it at that res?

 

[Rufus]

So I decided to install an AC Twin Turbo II on my XFX HD6950 2GB dual fan today, and I just recently finished applying the heatsinks and am waiting for the thermal paste/glue to cure. As this is my first time installing an aftermarket VGA cooler, I thought I'd take some pics and ask if there are any heatsinks that I forgot to apply?

Looks good. Enjoy the silence.

Did you test fit the cooler to see if the heat spreaders on the RAM across the top would get in the way? They did for me when I installed mine on my 4890. I had to shift one out of the way slightly to make it fit.

 

[Hazaro]

Nah the op is correct. Both are budget boards, just the lk has a lil more features for like 10 dollars more.

The LK for whatever reason is only available in some territories. It's a way better board.

How big is the performance difference between 1980x1200 with 4MSAA vs 2560x1440p without AA since I've heard you don't really need it at that res?

MSAA is pretty minimal so I'd guess a pretty big difference.

So I decided to install an AC Twin Turbo II on my XFX HD6950 2GB dual fan today, and I just recently finished applying the heatsinks and am waiting for the thermal paste/glue to cure. As this is my first time installing an aftermarket VGA cooler, I thought I'd take some pics and ask if there are any heatsinks that I forgot to apply?

Looks good to me.

The MSI Twin Frozr/Power Edition and the Zotac AMP aren't available in my country for the moment.
About the reference design, do you guys think they'd OC as much as the non-reference ones ? I'm talking about VRM phases, stability, durability of the components, etc...

How about an ASUS?
Non-ref should have some nice bonuses, but ref should be more than fine. The biggest thing imo is a custom cooler.

Thanks, I didn't realize how little more the best value build would cost.
here's an updated list:

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/dPnR

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($189.99 @ Microcenter)
Motherboard: Biostar TZ77B ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($99.98 @ Outlet PC)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($54.03 @ Amazon)
Storage: Samsung Spinpoint F3 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($74.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: XFX Radeon HD 6870 1GB Video Card ($144.99 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: Cooler Master 500W ATX12V Power Supply ($34.99 @ Newegg)
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer ($19.98 @ Outlet PC)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 (64-bit) ($88.73 @ Amazon)
Total: $707.68

That price is not including a case. and Depending on what my friend says he may want to add an CM 212+ and a cheap-ish wifi card.
thoughts?

If it's in the OP it's a good buy for the price.
Get the VP450 PSU instead. It's better. The CM 500w is more like a 380w unit, so is the VP450 but it's bit more honest.

Just a reminder for folks who are to eager to get building instead of reading the manual or Qualified Vendor Lists....

MAKE SURE YOUR MOTHERBOARD IS PREPARED TO/CAN HANDLE YOUR NEW PROCESSOR!!

Found out my new ASUS P8P67 EVO wasn't ready to handle the i5 3570K just yet and had to have it's BIOS flashed with the help of other components at a local computershop before i could proceed building/upgrading my DAW System.
I didn't know that perticulair i5 was a 22Nm processor!!
In the end, the only parts left from the old build are a ENERMAX 850 PSU and the ThermalTake - "Shark" casing.
Windows 7 Pro has saved me a lot of headaches and money!!
Much, much better than XP......

Yeah I was thinking about which placed to edit this into the OP chart and build list, but if they end up buying one of the $400 systems they will use a previous gen CPU first so it should be a non issue if you follow the sheet.
The price difference for older and newer boards is so low that buyers should just be looking at Z77 boards now.

 

[Grokbu]

Looks good to me.

Looks good. Enjoy the silence.

Did you test fit the cooler to see if the heat spreaders on the RAM across the top would get in the way? They did for me when I installed mine on my 4890. I had to shift one out of the way slightly to make it fit.

Thanks!

As for the bolded, no I haven't actually. I haven't read about anyone having that issue with this card and cooler, so I never thought about it occuring. The black heatsinks were there from the get go on this card, and they are actually shorter than the ones included with the Twin Turbo II, so I doubt that they should cause any issues either. I do believe that I've read about your issue when researching this cooler though.

I'm gonna keep this in mind when I attach the cooler later.

 

[Rufus]

As for the bolded, no I haven't actually. I haven't read about anyone having that issue with this card and cooler, so I never thought about it occuring. The black heatsinks were there from the get go on this card, and they are actually shorter than the ones included with the Twin Turbo II, so I doubt that they should cause any issues either. I do believe that I've read about your issue when researching this cooler though.

I'm gonna keep this in mind when I attach the cooler later.

You'll notice immediately if something's wrong, because you won't be able to make perfect contact. Since the dimensions of our cards are different and you most likely have a more recent version of the cooler you probably won't have any problems though. Thought I'd mention it anyway, since the manual failed to inform me about that when I installed mine back when.

 

[mrklaw]

I find it odd that enthusiast motherboards still have problems with coolers covering ram and cramped space for SLI cards etc. these guys know the sort of kit that some people will want to install, why not lay them out differently?

 

[Varna]

So I'm thinking of investing in a 690GTX. Right now my 580s are running at x8 since I only have a single x16 slot. Would the 690GTX run at x8 or x16?

Also, and this is slightly off topic.

What would be the best place to sell modified GPUs? Normally I would just sell them on Amazon, but they are both equipped with accelero xtreme iii coolers. I would still include the original part of course.

 

[Grokbu]

You'll notice immediately if something's wrong, because you won't be able to make perfect contact. Since the dimensions of our cards are different and you most likely have a more recent version of the cooler you probably won't have any problems though. Thought I'd mention it anyway, since the manual failed to inform me about that when I installed mine back when.

Ah, I see. Your heads-up is very much appreciated. It's good to know what might be the issue in case that would happen.

 

[Pappasman]

So I've decided on building a pc for the first time and this is what I'm thinking about:

I'm thinking about getting an SSD for the os as well. Am I correct in assuming that this should be good enough for Dolphin/PCSX2?

 

[Hazaro]

Added two articles:
Case Fan Temps and Positioning - The Big Air Cooling Investigation (Bit-Tech)
60 Fans Tested - The Ultimate Cooling Fan Grouptest 2012 Review (Vortez)

So I'm thinking of investing in a 690GTX. Right now my 580s are running at x8 since I only have a single x16 slot. Would the 690GTX run at x8 or x16?

Also, and this is slightly off topic.

What would be the best place to sell modified GPUs? Normally I would just sell them on Amazon, but they are both equipped with accelero xtreme iii coolers. I would still include the original part of course.

Anandtech, [H], overclock.net, GAF

x8 will impact your frames by 0-3%, it's not a big deal.

So I've decided on building a pc for the first time and this is what I'm thinking about:

I'm thinking about getting an SSD for the os as well. Am I correct in assuming that this should be good enough for Dolphin/PCSX2?

Fine for emulation. If you are only doing gaming a 3570K is the same performance but cheaper.

Make sure you get 2x4GB or 4x4GB of 1.5V RAM.

Also recommend the eVGA FTW 670 or the Gigabyte, ASUS, or MSI custom coolers.

 

[Akkad]

Are those power supply calculators online accurate? I have a 650w unit right now that I'm trying to upgrade to 750w and wanted to know if it was worth it. I was gonna get a new PSU anyway and wanted to know if I should stick to 650w.

I have 2 SSDs and a HDD, i5-750, 8 gigs of ram, 4X120 fans, GTX460 (will upgrade to 660ti), and a DVD drive.

I guess what I'm wondering is that if I upgrade the CPU and only have one GPU (no SLI or Crossfire) will I need more power?

 

[CatPee]

Are those power supply calculators online accurate? I have a 650w unit right now that I'm trying to upgrade to 750w and wanted to know if it was worth it. I was gonna get a new PSU anyway and wanted to know if I should stick to 650w.

I have 2 SSDs and a HDD, i5-750, 8 gigs of ram, 4X120 fans, GTX460 (will upgrade to 660ti), and a DVD drive.

I guess what I'm wondering is that if I upgrade the CPU and only have one GPU (no SLI or Crossfire) will I need more power?

Nope, you're fine. Everything's becoming much more energy-efficient nowadays.

 

[kharma45]

Are those power supply calculators online accurate? I have a 650w unit right now that I'm trying to upgrade to 750w and wanted to know if it was worth it. I was gonna get a new PSU anyway and wanted to know if I should stick to 650w.

I have 2 SSDs and a HDD, i5-750, 8 gigs of ram, 4X120 fans, GTX460 (will upgrade to 660ti), and a DVD drive.

I guess what I'm wondering is that if I upgrade the CPU and only have one GPU (no SLI or Crossfire) will I need more power?

650w will be fine, the 660 will use less power than the 460 and the new CPU will use less than the old i5.

 

[Akkad]

Thanks guys you saved me some money.

 

[Blackface]

I'd be careful with that. I haven't been keeping up with it after I bought my crossover, but the 120hz korean monitors are still 60hz panels that you can overclock to 120hz, which can kill monitors over time. Dig around on 120hz.net, that is where they moved to after some dumb ebay linking dispute at OCN. They were getting the 2B Catleap PCB (which allowed for OCing to 120hz) manufactured for them and selling at an inflated price for it.

You are correct when talking about the current 60hz panels being overclocked. However the ones being introduced soon, are Cinema panels, with fundmental changes to turn them 120hz.

Also, many TV's you buy, and monitors you buy, are overclocked by the manufacture to be 120hz.

 

[xJavonta]

I don't know if this is the right place to ask this but if I were to play a game in 1080p on a 1920x1200 monitor, would there be black bars on the top and bottom or would it stretch the game fullscreen?

 

[Varna]

Anandtech, [H], overclock.net, GAF

GAF has a sell/buy section?

 

[Infinite Justice]

GAF has a sell/buy section?

Yep

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=457688

 

[JDeluis]

A few questions.

1. Is the BIOSTAR TZ77B overkill for an i5-2400 if I don't plan to overclock? I was interested in the ASUS P8H61-M LE/CSM, but only two ram slots is a big negative. Maybe something in between these two boards?

2. I'm finally upgrading to Windows 7 from XP and seems authentication is more picky with hardware changes not just tied to the motherboard. Will I have trouble installing OEM copy on a different hard drive if I plan to upgrade my hard drive in the future? So OEM, Upgrade or Full windows 7? 32 or 64bit Windows 7?

 

[Jburton]

The MSI Twin Frozr/Power Edition and the Zotac AMP aren't available in my country for the moment.
About the reference design, do you guys think they'd OC as much as the non-reference ones ? I'm talking about VRM phases, stability, durability of the components, etc...

My MSI GTX 670 OC 2GB card is factory overclocked to 1058 (1124 boost), idles at between 29 - 32c (depending on ambient) and peaks at 70 - 72c playing BF3 MP 64 player server at ultra settings, 4x MSAA, 16x AF, SSAO 1080p vysnc (never drops below 60) with the fan at around 50% (still very quiet at this speed).

There is a little more headroom to overclock some more before having to run at a fan speed that is noticeable, but even at stock this things tears apart all games no problem.

 

[Grokbu]

Alright, Twin Turbo II install successfull. Thanks for the help guys.

 

[soulassssns]

I definitely need a NEW pc as well.

My current set up. (Weak Sauce 101)

Win 7 home 64 bit
Gigabyte M68MT-D3 Motherboard
AMD Athlon II X3 445 3.0 Ghz
4 Gb DDR3 ram
Nvidia Geforce GTX 460 1 Gb
Onboard sound (Nvidia)
500 Gb Maxtor HDD
Samsung Syncmaster 206BW Monitor (max resolution: 1680x1050)
Bose 2.0 speakers


I am very much in need of upgrading.


Without doing a complete new set up where should I start first?

 

[xJavonta]

So I've decided on building a pc for the first time and this is what I'm thinking about:

I'm thinking about getting an SSD for the os as well. Am I correct in assuming that this should be good enough for Dolphin/PCSX2?

My Core i3-2100 setup with 4GB of RAM and an ATi Radeon HD 5670 1GB runs PCSX2 and Dolphin flawlessly. You'll have no problems with that setup.

 

[Ceebs]

I don't know if this is the right place to ask this but if I were to play a game in 1080p on a 1920x1200 monitor, would there be black bars on the top and bottom or would it stretch the game fullscreen?

If there is not 1920X1200 option in the game (very rare) you could display it either way.

Video card drivers have options that let you define if you want your image stretched or aspect ratio maintained.

 

[Alessandro]

A few days ago I sought advices and now I finished building my new rig:

Total spent: ~820€

• CPU Intel Core i5-3570K €199,64
• RAM Corsair CML8GX3M2A1600C9 2x4GB €54,90
• MOBO Asus P8Z77-V LE €128,25
• GPU Sapphire HD7850 2GB €216,13
• PSU Antec VP 450W € 47,21
• CASE Cooler Master Elite 430 € 48,50
• SSD Samsung 830 128GB € 122,84

I'm very happy: I'm playing Battlefield 3 on MAX settings at 1440x900 at solid 60fps and the OS starts in 30 seconds or less.
Thanks everyone!

I have one last question: air from fans should be taken from outside and pumped into the case or the opposite is a better solution?
I have one fan in the front of the case (the one with the LED) that pumps air inside and one other cheap fan at the top of the case (the first hole in the third image) that sucks the heat from the CPU: what solution is better?

Should I move the LED fan to the side?