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

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SYNTAX182

Member
A NAS/Fileserver is the most reliable as it allows for redundancy. Lets say you have 4 HDD's in RAID5. One drive can fail, then you can just replace it and the RAID will rebuild the file structure as if nothing were ever lost. RAID 1 takes two HDDs and mirrors them.

QNAP, Synology, and Western Digital Sentinel are great picks there if you need dead reliability.

If you're looking for just some media storage that you are hoping won't fail, WD Caviar Black is a good way to go. If you need it to not fail, you should have two in RAID1 at the very least.


Perfect. Thank you!
 

mkenyon

Banned
Referring to the bolded, and with regards to the voltage-locked Asus DCU 7970s, has it been possible to get the stock 925MHz up to / above the 1GHz without the overvolting option?
Oh yes. I haven't heard of one that wasn't able to hit 1125MHz/1575Mhz (core/mem) on stock volts.

*edit*
DCII is locked volts? I hadn't heard that before. Just got mine in the mail this morning.
 

Salsa

Member
7xx could be a year. Could be 8 months, or even 6. I'd guess closer to the 8-12 month range.

yeah, but what I mean is that the you're like "ohhhh might as well wait for 8xx, that's 10 months away" etc :b

there's no going back once you get into the upgrading game
 

Noaloha

Member
Oh yes. I haven't heard of one that wasn't able to hit 1125MHz/1575Mhz (core/mem) on stock volts.

*edit*
DCII is locked volts? I hadn't heard that before. Just got mine in the mail this morning.

Sweet. I won't know if I've picked up the voltage-locked revision until next month when I can actually begin using it. It's the only buy that I've been having wobbles on, and it's been playing on my mind that the restriction might have somewhat neutered the card (in terms of general £-to-oomph potential across other card options). I'll be perfectly happy if I'm able to bump it up to those numbers on stock volts though.

EDIT: oh bugger, ha.

It's a thing, but it's patchy, as in 'some are, some aren't'. Only some revisions of the card. It's definitely confirmed on at least one large factory run though. Google 'voltage locked 7970' and then start clicking.
 

Manp

Member
so GAF, i have an HTPC now
and Binary Domain also
!

4qwmg.jpg


L7piG.jpg


MMqXm.jpg


config:
AMD A8-3870
Asrock A75M-ITX
Kingstone 8GB DDR3 1600
Samsung 830 64 GB
Antec ISK300-150
Win7 64

next step will be to add a bluray burner, a dual tuner TV card and a 500/750GB hdd.

:)
 

Artchur

Member
So, just to be clear.. the general method for making blazing fast PC's now is to use a SSD for OS and programs, then large HDD for media storage etc?

Just curious as I am planning my new PC upgrade now.

Also, dual monitors worthwhile for those that have them? I've only ever had this 19" widescreen solo monitor so I think the extra real-estate could be fun.

PS - Whats with the dropbox obsession everyone has? Is it that useful?
 

mkenyon

Banned
so GAF, i have an HTPC now

config:
AMD A8-3870
Asrock A75M-ITX
Kingstone 8GB DDR3 1600
Samsung 830 64 GB
Antec ISK300-150
Win7 64

next step will be to add a bluray burner, a dual tuner TV card and a 500/750GB hdd.

:)
God damn, that is fantastic. Great part choices, AMD Fusion is so perfectly suited for that.

Careful on adding too many devices. With just the proc alone, you're at 100W. Make sure you vet the power consumption of each thing you add. You don't want to be continuously drawing 90-100% of that PSU, it'll cause a premature death.
So, just to be clear.. the general method for making blazing fast PC's now is to use a SSD for OS and programs, then large HDD for media storage etc?

Just curious as I am planning my new PC upgrade now.

Also, dual monitors worthwhile for those that have them? I've only ever had this 19" widescreen solo monitor so I think the extra real-estate could be fun.

PS - Whats with the dropbox obsession everyone has? Is it that useful?
1) Yep.
2) I can't do without them, but it's totally a convenience. There's no gaming benefit, but I love being able to have HWMonitor, Mumble, and Chrome open on my second monitor while gaming. Doing big research projects or referencing things is a lot easier too.
3) It's cloud based storage, and it is indeed awesome.
 

Manp

Member
God damn, that is fantastic. Great part choices, AMD Fusion is so perfectly suited for that.

Careful on adding too many devices. With just the proc alone, you're at 100W. Make sure you vet the power consumption of each thing you add. You don't want to be continuously drawing 90-100% of that PSU, it'll cause a premature death.

PSU is probably next in line to get replaced. atm i'm not sure if i'll be going for a pico or just mod in a 250-300W 1U PSU (already eyed some that would fit), we'll see.

i'm quite happy with it right now. still a lot to do on the sw side, probably going to do it next week since i won't have to go to work.
had to mod the ODD&HDD tray a bit to make the big shuriken 2 fit in there. nothing a good ol' Dremel couldn''t handle :D

:)
 

Whooter

Member
I just noticed the Define R3 and R4 are for sale at Newegg for the same price, $109.99. Is the R4 preferred over the R3? Or vice versa?
 

Corky

Nine out of ten orphans can't tell the difference.
hmm I really want the MSI 670 but it's out of stock and 15% more expensive than the gigabyte 670...

Any input?
 

mkenyon

Banned
I would feel uncomfortable buying a 2GB card with a 1440p monitor. Seems like a bad idea.
pfft my 670 is faster
It'll also choke and die playing Skyrim with high res texture pack at 1440p.

Plus, we all know you are paid by the manufacturers to receive their crazy LN2 Binned cards that achieve impossible clocks so you get more of them to sell. Or something. Cause, yeah.
 

Hazaro

relies on auto-aim
I would feel uncomfortable buying a 2GB card with a 1440p monitor. Seems like a bad idea.

It'll also choke and die playing Skyrim with high res texture pack at 1440p.

Plus, we all know you are paid by the manufacturers to receive their crazy LN2 Binned cards that achieve impossible clocks so you get more of them to sell. Or something. Cause, yeah.
It's ok Dennis plays games at like 12fps, he doesn't mind.

And Intel gives me their bum CPUs :( Can you imagine how much more I would shill if my CPUs were good clockers? Sheeeeit
 

mrklaw

MrArseFace
So what's a good hard drive setup for storing important files? And what drives are the most reliable. I'm looking for 1TB or 500GB
for such a small amount of storage you could get something like the western digital studio II. Two drives in a single enclosure that you can set up as raid 1 for redundancy. So eg if it's a 2TB drive it has 2x1TB drives and the OS will see it as a 1TB drive. Anything you write to it will be duplicated on both drives. If one drive fails you can swap it out for a new one.

When I went larger than 1-2TB I went for an unRaid server
 

Corky

Nine out of ten orphans can't tell the difference.

I'm really leaning towards the green team though... I've grown too accustomed to nvidia drivers and fiddling with them.

Not much to separate them. The Gigabyte is the quieter one too.

Get whichever is cheaper.

I see... I'm a sucker for twin frozr ;(

pfft my 670 is faster

Big call outs.

I would feel uncomfortable buying a 2GB card with a 1440p monitor. Seems like a bad idea.

It'll also choke and die playing Skyrim with high res texture pack at 1440p.

I've managed with 1 gb at 1440p thus far and I can count on one hand where I've been vram bottlenecked... also I would never do something as silly as playing skyrim to begin with :I
 
I would feel uncomfortable buying a 2GB card with a 1440p monitor. Seems like a bad idea.

It'll also choke and die playing Skyrim with high res texture pack at 1440p.

Plus, we all know you are paid by the manufacturers to receive their crazy LN2 Binned cards that achieve impossible clocks so you get more of them to sell. Or something. Cause, yeah.

I was wondering about something, if you use the downscaling method (1440p downscaled to 1080p), does it still use more VRAM than 1080p native?
 

Corky

Nine out of ten orphans can't tell the difference.
I was wondering about something, if you use the downscaling method (1440p downscaled to 1080p), does it still use more VRAM than 1080p native?

The gpu is still rendering the game at 1440p so it uses the same amount of vram as if the display/gpu wasn't downsampling the final image.

also... I caved and ordered the gigabyte 670.


It's fact.

You're always so fucking lucky with golden chips/cards :I... "ooh look at me and my 1.2v 5.0ghz SB"
 

Monarch

Banned
The gpu is still rendering the game at 1440p so it uses the same amount of vram as if the display/gpu wasn't downsampling the final image.

also... I caved and ordered the gigabyte 670.




You're always so fucking lucky with golden chips/cards :I... "ooh look at me and my 1.2v 5.0ghz SB"

Hopefully this isn't even remotely true, right :) ... ?

right :( ?
 

Hazaro

relies on auto-aim
The gpu is still rendering the game at 1440p so it uses the same amount of vram as if the display/gpu wasn't downsampling the final image.

also... I caved and ordered the gigabyte 670.

You're always so fucking lucky with golden chips/cards :I... "ooh look at me and my 1.2v 5.0ghz SB"
The GB is super nice, you won't regret it unless you hate the blue PCB.

My 2600K I bought used so I knew it did 4.3Ghz on 1.3V. I haven't pushed it farther yet.
 

Corky

Nine out of ten orphans can't tell the difference.
Then skip the 670 if you want to be irrational :p

Why you gotta break my heart.

The GB is super nice, you won't regret it unless you hate the blue PCB.

My 2600K I bought used so I knew it did 4.3Ghz on 1.3V. I haven't pushed it farther yet.

My case ain't seethrough, could be a pink pcb for I could care ;I

Lies... damn dirty lies.
 

MrBig

Member
The gpu is still rendering the game at 1440p so it uses the same amount of vram as if the display/gpu wasn't downsampling the final image.

also... I caved and ordered the gigabyte 670.

The 670 is a fantastic card, it's just that 2gb of vram is already somewhat limiting in some games at 1440p, so I can't say it's a safe bet for next gen.
 

mkenyon

Banned
The 670 is a fantastic card, it's just that 2gb of vram is already somewhat limiting in some games at 1440p, so I can't say it's a safe bet for next gen.
This.

It's not about what's out right now, but what might be coming out in the next couple of years. If you were at 1080P, would give you the thumbs up no question. But since you're at 1440p.....
 

Corky

Nine out of ten orphans can't tell the difference.
This.

It's not about what's out right now, but what might be coming out in the next couple of years. If you were at 1080P, would give you the thumbs up no question. But since you're at 1440p.....

Actually...I just downsample, I sold off my dell 2711 and am on a 1080 monitor, just that I run all my games at 1440 so I have the "luxury" of actually being able to run games at 1080 without it looking like shit like it does on an actual 2560x1440 monitor.
 

~Kinggi~

Banned
I think my 4870x2 is dying. Im not sure what to do about it. Every so often, maybe once a week, my system hard crashes showing hints of visual corruption. On a reboot from that the system starts up with some slight glitches in the windows loading screen and then halts again. 2nd bootup is usually fine. I have had the system crash when either playing a game or watching a flash video. One time when playing witcher 2 the display reset and i got an amd error saying the device driver failed but successfully recovered. Sometimes when the crash happens, i notice the red lights on my 4870x2 flash. I have read this could be a power related issue. I have a corsair 750tx which should be more than enough for a 4870x2. Its about 4 years old now.

Any ideas what could be going on? Nothing really out of the ordinary has happened to my machine when this started about a month ago. I have run memtest on my ram and have done prime95 on my cpu for a bit. No issues there. My 4870x2 temp is running around 42c at idle which is low.
 

~Kinggi~

Banned
Temps? Use HWMonitor to determine. Load is what matters. If you need a stress test, use 3DMark11 in performance mode.

When some of the crashes occurred watching flash video gpu use was liek 4% and only a degree of temp higher. Ive also done checks and under load it seems to be hitting 55-70 range which isnt bad.
 

Dipswitch

Member
I think my 4870x2 is dying. Im not sure what to do about it. Every so often, maybe once a week, my system hard crashes showing hints of visual corruption. On a reboot from that the system starts up with some slight glitches in the windows loading screen and then halts again. 2nd bootup is usually fine. I have had the system crash when either playing a game or watching a flash video. One time when playing witcher 2 the display reset and i got an amd error saying the device driver failed but successfully recovered. Sometimes when the crash happens, i notice the red lights on my 4870x2 flash. I have read this could be a power related issue. I have a corsair 750tx which should be more than enough for a 4870x2. Its about 4 years old now.

Any ideas what could be going on? Nothing really out of the ordinary has happened to my machine when this started about a month ago. I have run memtest on my ram and have done prime95 on my cpu for a bit. No issues there. My 4870x2 temp is running around 42c at idle which is low.

No idea if it's in anyway related, but about a year ago my 4870 based rig started crashing and then eventually refusing to post. I also noticed the flashing lights on the 4870, but couldn't make sense of any pattern.

After removing all of the pc's components one by one and still being unable to post, I fixed it temporarily by resetting the bios via the MB jumper. The same problem happened a day later and was resolved the same way. I eventually figured out that the bios backup battery had run out of juice and the bios settings were getting screwed up. I replaced it and haven't had a problem since.

First time I've ever touched any MB bios battery to resolve an issue and would never have connected the solution to the issue I was seeing.
 

mkenyon

Banned
Troubleshooting (If one does not work, move on to next one)

1) Make sure your case is nice and clean, including the PSU.
2) Clean the videocard.
3) Reinstall drivers. Windows Add/Remove Catalyst, delete everything in C:\AMD -> restart into safe mode and run CCleaner/DriverSweeper to clean everything else up -> restart, download latest, and install.
4) Pull off heatsink and reseat, using new thermal paste.
5) Reformat.
6) Try different videocard.
7) Try different PSU.

*edit*
Above sounds interesting as well. I'd put that as 5), moving the rest down.
 

~Kinggi~

Banned
No idea if it's in anyway related, but about a year ago my 4870 based rig started crashing and then eventually refusing to post. I also noticed the flashing lights on the 4870, but couldn't make sense of any pattern.

After removing all of the pc's components one by one and still being unable to post, I fixed it temporarily by resetting the bios via the MB jumper. The same problem happened a day later and was resolved the same way. I eventually figured out that the bios backup battery had run out of juice and the bios settings were getting screwed up. I replaced it and haven't had a problem since.

First time I've ever touched any MB bios battery to resolve an issue and wouldn't never have connected the solution to the issue I was seeing.

I doubt it would be a bios issue. I have my cpu OC'd and so every time the pc starts up it shows what speed im running. If my bios was losing the battery i imagine my OC settings would keep getting lost. Plus the issue seems tied to doing something that causes load on my gpu.

I just cant figure out how to test if its a power supply issue or a video card issue. People have said this could happen if the card isnt getting enough power. I dont OC my gpu so i dont know. I dont want to invest money on one or the other if i dont know. I also dont have spares laying around.

Troubleshooting (If one does not work, move on to next one)

1) Make sure your case is nice and clean, including the PSU.
2) Clean the videocard.
3) Reinstall drivers. Windows Add/Remove Catalyst, delete everything in C:\AMD -> restart into safe mode and run CCleaner/DriverSweeper to clean everything else up -> restart, download latest, and install.
4) Pull off heatsink and reseat, using new thermal paste.
5) Reformat.
6) Try different videocard.
7) Try different PSU.

*edit*
Above sounds interesting as well. I'd put that as 5), moving the rest down.

I pretty much have everything on that list covered except for the driver/reformat thing. Driver might be an issue, but ive never had it hard lock my system with visual corruption like this.
 

mxgt

Banned
I would feel uncomfortable buying a 2GB card with a 1440p monitor. Seems like a bad idea.

It'll also choke and die playing Skyrim with high res texture pack at 1440p.

Plus, we all know you are paid by the manufacturers to receive their crazy LN2 Binned cards that achieve impossible clocks so you get more of them to sell. Or something. Cause, yeah.

eh, I have SLI 670's (I know it doesn't double the vram) and have yet to find a game that has faltered on me at 1440
 

~Kinggi~

Banned
And just in case i do have a major issue and cant ask this question again since my pc doesnt have a motherboard with video, what are some cards that are cheap (100$ area) that would be considered better across all benchmarks than a 4870x2? The card still performs amazingly well for a lot of games so i dont want to grab a 1gb card and realize the x2 actually outperformed it.

Im not big on pc hardware which is why im asking this question. I generally only know about the stuff during the times im looking to buy a pc.
 

LEGGZZZZ

Member
Question PC Gaf,

I tried google, but still was a little lost. How do you install a ssd as the primary drive (for the os, a few games, etc) and install a secondary hdd for everything else (music, videos, etc). Is there a easy step by step way to do so? So far I've read that you install the ssd first with the OS, then plug up the HDD second and reformat it? does it sound on track or wrong? Just trying to prepare myself for tomorrow, thanks!
 

mkenyon

Banned
And just in case i do have a major issue and cant ask this question again since my pc doesnt have a motherboard with video, what are some cards that are cheap (100$ area) that would be considered better across all benchmarks than a 4870x2? The card still performs amazingly well for a lot of games so i dont want to grab a 1gb card and realize the x2 actually outperformed it.

Im not big on pc hardware which is why im asking this question. I generally only know about the stuff during the times im looking to buy a pc.
There aren't any really. If it does end up being borked, PM me. We'll get you sorted out.
 

mkenyon

Banned
Check it.

You'd want a 460 or 6870 at the least, both of which go a bit above $100.

Question PC Gaf,

I tried google, but still was a little lost. How do you install a ssd as the primary drive (for the os, a few games, etc) and install a secondary hdd for everything else (music, videos, etc). Is there a easy step by step way to do so? So far I've read that you install the ssd first with the OS, then plug up the HDD second and reformat it? does it sound on track or wrong? Just trying to prepare myself for tomorrow, thanks!
That's right on. Install OS on the SSD. Go into Storage/Drive Manager and then add your unformatted HDD as a new volume.
Would these parts be good if I were to build a PC that ran games at 60 FPS at lower settings?

Intel Core i3-2100
]8 GB of RAM
ATI Radeon HD 6850
Some games you won't be able to hit 60FPS with that CPU, which is a fault of the games more than anything. Starcraft 2 and some UE3 titles would be the big culprits.

*edit*
But yeah, with lower settings you should be able to hit 60FPS in most games.
 

I_D

Member
Can anybody comment on Windows 7's compatibility with old games? I'm preparing to build a console-ish computer to run emulators and old PC games, but I'm worried about Win7.

Games specifically include things like MDK, Morrowind, System Shock, No One Lives Forever, GTA games, and other various pre-Half Life 2 games.

Am I being old-fashioned, or is building a cheap WinXP system actually a good idea for older games?
The hardware I'm looking at (i3, 550TI, 2x1gb RAM) would work under XP's memory constraints, is cheap as hell, would rock all my old games (I'm coming from 800x600 on low settings, at the moment), and can run just about any modern game I care about other than BF3 (which I've played to death anyway).

Thoughts?
 

kharma45

Member
Can anybody comment on Windows 7's compatibility with old games? I'm preparing to build a console-ish computer to run emulators and old PC games, but I'm worried about Win7.

Games specifically include things like MDK, Morrowind, System Shock, No One Lives Forever, GTA games, and other various pre-Half Life 2 games.

Am I being old-fashioned, or is building a cheap WinXP system actually a good idea for older games?
The hardware I'm looking at (i3, 550TI, 2x1gb RAM) would work under XP's memory constraints, is cheap as hell, would rock all my old games (I'm coming from 800x600 on low settings, at the moment), and can run just about any modern game I care about other than BF3 (which I've played to death anyway).

Thoughts?

Whilst it doesn't answer your main question the 6850 is a better card than the 550Ti for the same money, and I'd probably try to go for 4GB RAM if you can as a minimum.
 

cackhyena

Member
Don't suppose anyone would know just how close to the same my onboard graphics would be on my i5 3570k to my hd 4870? Also, is there a good site for buying selling used GPUs that anyone could point me towards?
 
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