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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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I

Iacobellis

Junior Member
mkenyon said:
It just seems odd to have a megahalems with push/pull fans, a non K processor, and a reference video card. The difference in price is worth it if you can swing the Gigabyte, ASUS DCII, or MSI Twin Frozr. I mean, if you need to save money, drop the megahalems and go with one of those three videocards.

Probably none really. I can't tell a difference between a Force 3, Force GT, Samsung 830, or a Crucial M4 in RAID0.

I've been using two Corsair SSDs for quite a while yet without any issues. Their firmware support/updates are really timely, and they seem to have a good rep. That being said, I'd only ever recommend Samsung 830s in an enterprise setting.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the quick answer. I guess it's also a plus that the Corsair would match the Black/Red color scheme I'm going for.
 
M

mkenyon

Banned
I've certainly made a lot of concessions to get colors to match myself.

The Force GT is an excellent SSD, one of the three automatic suggestions (with 830 and M4) that I give.
 
I

Iacobellis

Junior Member
mkenyon said:
I've certainly made a lot of concessions to get colors to match myself.

The Force GT is an excellent SSD, one of the three automatic suggestions (with 830 and M4) that I give.
Click to expand...

I've been a victim of this, as well. Had to choose a more expensive motherboard and graphics card just to accomodate my visual tastes. Sigh.
 
K

kharma45

Member
Note for anyone getting the new AMD 12.8 WHQL drivers, you still need to install 12.7 CAP 3 as it's not included with it for some crazy reason.
 
M

mkenyon

Banned
Iacobellis said:
Oh, God, custom power cables. The red looks so enticing, yet I can't see myself spend over $60 for a cable.
Click to expand...
It's not just a single cable, but a whole set for the PSU.

To give you an idea, before corsair did this, it would cost about $500-800 to have someone custom sleeve them. Or, about 48 hours of labor.
 
S

Shin Johnpv

Member
server.jpg


I know it's not the regular type of builds that we see here, but I thought I would share it anyway. So I went ahead and built my own NAS. I decided to not go with a prebuilt NAS cause non of them offered all the options I wanted. Plus for how much they cost I was impressed with how much storage they offered. What I wanted was something with a ton of storage. It needed a ton of space to hold my girlfriend and mines Animation files/Demo Reel files, her photos and videos she takes, music, our movie files etc etc. Plus I wanted some redundancy, I had a hard drive die not to long ago and unfortunately I didn't have some stuff backed up. I was luckily able to rebuild with out too much effort the important stuff, but it made me crave redundancy. So along with that I wanted a RAID 1 (mirrors one drive to the other) for onsite backup of the really important stuff. With out further wait here is the list of parts.


PSU Seasonic SS-460FL 460W Fanless 80Plus Gold
Motherboard/CPU/GPU ASUS E35M1-M PRO (1.6 dual core AMD E-350)
CASE Fractal Design Define R3
RAM G.Skill Ripjaw sieres 1066 DDR3 8GB (2x4)
OS Drive OCZ Agility 3 180GB SATA III
Hardware RAID card Areca ARC-1223-8I 8 port SAS/SATA Raid card
RAID 1 drives Seagate Barracuda 7200 RPM 3TB (x2)
RAID 6 drives Western Digital Red NAS Drive 3TB (x6)

Just got the WD Reds in today, so the RAID 6 is building now. Holy shit is it going fast, only looking to be taking about 5 hours for it. Which is about how long the Barracuda's took to build just their RAID 1.
 
M

mkenyon

Banned
How are you liking the RAID card? Right now I'm looking to purchase one myself as I've maxed out my current card's ability. That's quite the array you've got going there, so it must be fairly capable.
 
T

thezerofire

Banned
so newegg doesn't seem to stock gtx460's anymore, at least not the 1GB ones. Is there another card to get at that price or do I just buy a more expensive one? They don't have the Samsung F3 500GB drive anymore either

Also, does anyone know a good sound card for music production or is the Xonar one good enough?
 
I

IceIpor

Member
Kilrogg said:
Quick update in case you were wondering. As I said earlier, I used cmd diskpart to have my HDD detected. I suspect one other possible reason why it was not detected (besides not being formatted) is the default option in Windows where empty drives are hidden. Who thought that was a good idea, seriously.

You were right about the SSD too. All the computer needed was an up-to-date Windows. It's now booting very quickly.

In other words my new computer is now fully functional with no problems insight. Thanks GAF :D. If only I had decent cable management skills. Mkenyon's pics make me envious. Maybe I should cut some cable ties and rearrange stuff the way he did.
Click to expand...

Like someone said above, that's great to hear!
I'm glad all of your issues were sorted out.
 
S

Shin Johnpv

Member
mkenyon said:
How are you liking the RAID card? Right now I'm looking to purchase one myself as I've maxed out my current card's ability. That's quite the array you've got going there, so it must be fairly capable.
Click to expand...

So far so good. Though I'll admit till tonight I've only run a small raid 1 on it, which is nothing. I will say though I really like the interface. It gives you the option of handling everything in the bios, or doing it all through a web browser like interface inside the OS. One of the reasons I went with the one I did was cause it's a hardware raid.

Where I'll see the most benefit is with the raid 6, I've seen some really SLOW raid 6's with people who have software raid options. Even initializing the volume right now is going super fast, I know most people seem to go over night with any kind of raid 5 or 6 initialization, I'm just past 3 hours and am at about 54% done. Plus this card has 512 megs of ddr2 cache on it.

If you get that card, the what does it come with image is a lie. It shows it as only coming with SAS connectors, but it actually comes with the SAS - Sata breakout connector. I kind of wish I knew that before hand since I ordered them separately would have been nice to save that 20 bucks.

Any questions in particular for the card?
 
E

evil solrac v3.0

Member
Zombie James said:
Good enough for TTL, and no other reviews (that I know of) had issues with them. The only problem is these are extensions, so you won't get the completely braided look coming straight out of the power supply.
Click to expand...

these are extensions only? I use extensions and while they do look nice, it adds more bulk to the cabling which makes it harder (though certainly not impossible if you have a full size tower) to hide. the corsair path seems better but no multicolors. :(
 
M

MrBig

Member
evil solrac v3.0 said:
these are extensions only? I use extensions and while they do look nice, it adds more bulk to the cabling which makes it harder (though certainly not impossible if you have a full size tower) to hide. the corsair path seems better but no multicolors. :(
Click to expand...
You can always do it yourself.
 
I

Iacobellis

Junior Member
Infinite Justice said:
I'm kinda salty right now that my power supply doesn't match the color of the inside of my case tbh (bought the PSU before the case) :(
Click to expand...

Don't worry, the only red Corsair PSU I could get is 1200W, which is totally unnecessary to me. I went with an AX750, gold lettering to match the caps on the motherboard.
 
S

Salsa

Member
question: is there a viable solution for using 3 monitors with a gtx670? (2 outputs)

2 monitors right now and im plannin on getting a new one. If I find a way to use all 3 of them I would prefer not to sell one
 
A

abunai

Member
SalsaShark said:
question: is there a viable solution for using 3 monitors with a gtx670? (2 outputs)

2 monitors right now and im plannin on getting a new one. If I find a way to use all 3 of them I would prefer not to sell one
Click to expand...

Uhh, what do you mean by GTX 670 (2 Outputs)? Kepler has a new controller allowing for 4 screens to be used on a single card. DVI-D, DVI-I, HDMI and displayport. If your monitors only have DVI or something, you could always get a HDMI to DVI-D cable as they are the same signal.

Edit: oh, i just woke up and probably read your question wrong. I don't think there's a way of doing so without requiring additional hardware like dualhead2go devices from Matrox. Dual-link DVI-D can't send a signal to two individual devices, only a dual signal to the one. So you'd need three outputs for 3 monitors.
 
I

Ironmask

Member
First of all, thanks pc gaf for letting me create an awesome PC that served (and is still serving ) me well after 3 years of heavy use at a ridiculous price.

Now i'm in the situation where i need to gradually upgrade everything for the next generation of gaming and i decided to start with a new GPU.

My current specs:
Motherboard - Gigabyte GA-MA770-UD3
CPU - AMD Phenom II X2 550 B.E.
RAM - 6 gb ddr2 (i dont remember anything else right now)
GPU - ATI Radeon hd 4890 - 1gb ed.
Power Supply - Antec 750W

so i'm asking you to help me find the latest GPU in the market, compatible with my current pc and absolutely QUIETER than the 4890 (quietness > power) beccause meanwhile i got married and my 2yrs old daughter need silence while she sleeps.

thanks guys, you don't even know how you helped me in the past and let me play awesome games at my favourite gaming platform!
 
N

Noaloha

Member
mkenyon said:
gWF0Al.jpg
Click to expand...

Ooh, pretty. Components-wise, that's really similar to my 80% finished machine so it's nice to see how a build for it 'should' look. Sadly I don't have any sleeving or such and ended up making do with a shitload of black insulation tape to neaten things like the multi-coloured 24-pin socket on the MB and suchlike. Up close it looks really ghetto, haha. Looks okay (ie. doesn't stand out) when taken as a whole unit though.

Were/are you okay with the 7970 being a massive heavy thing so much that you left it attached via just the bracket and pci-e slot? The card weighs like a kilogram and, when installed, I was terrified it must be putting untoward torque strain on the motherboard and/or itself. I ended up squeezing in a vertical strut (read: the tube of a felt-pen) at the front corner of the card to take the load.
 
J

JordanKZ

Member
My current PC is now just under three years old.

Current specs:
CPU: Intel Core i5 750 @ 2.8ghz
RAM: 12GB DDR3
GPU: Radeon HD 5850
HDD: 1x 250GB SSD, 1x 3TB HDD

I was looking into buying a new motherboard, CPU and GPU... But that'll cost me around £600. Do you think my CPU can hold out another year or so? I was looking into buying either a GeForce GTX 670 or a Radeon HD 7970. Thoughts?
 
K

kharma45

Member
JordanKZ said:
My current PC is now just under three years old.

Current specs:
CPU: Intel Core i5 920 @ 2.8ghz)
RAM: 12GB DDR3
GPU: Radeon HD 5850
HDD: 1x 250GB SSD, 1x 3TB HDD

I was looking into buying a new motherboard, CPU and GPU... But that'll cost me around £600. Do you think my CPU can hold out another year or so? I was looking into buying either a GeForce GTX 670 or a Radeon HD 7970. Thoughts?
Click to expand...

I'll presume that's an i7 not an i5 going by the number, if so it can, get a good custom cooler on it and overclock it, you'll be able to get 4GHz from it easily enough.
 
J

JordanKZ

Member
kharma45 said:
I'll presume that's an i7 not an i5 going by the number, if so it can, get a good custom cooler on it and overclock it, you'll be able to get 4GHz from it easily enough.
Click to expand...

Whoops. Yeah, I meant i5 750, not an i7 920 :)

Overclocking it does sound like a good idea though. Hm.
 
K

kharma45

Member
JordanKZ said:
Whoops. Yeah, I meant i5 750, not an i7 920 :)

Overclocking it does sound like a good idea though. Hm.
Click to expand...

Oh well even still you'll get a good overclock out of it too, was only able to get mine up to 3.8GHz but many have got 4GHz :) worth investing a few quid to get an easy performance boost.
 
M

MMBosstones86

Member
M

mkenyon

Banned
JordanKZ said:
My current PC is now just under three years old.

Current specs:
CPU: Intel Core i5 750 @ 2.8ghz
RAM: 12GB DDR3
GPU: Radeon HD 5850
HDD: 1x 250GB SSD, 1x 3TB HDD

I was looking into buying a new motherboard, CPU and GPU... But that'll cost me around £600. Do you think my CPU can hold out another year or so? I was looking into buying either a GeForce GTX 670 or a Radeon HD 7970. Thoughts?
Click to expand...
CPU will definitely hold out another year with a solid OC on it. Get a really nice cooler like the CM TPC 812, Megahalems, NZXT Havik 140, or Noctua NH-D14. That should carry you to the 3.5-4.0 range.

I think the 7970 vs 670 is a clear nod to the 7970, with the over clocking range on the Gigabyte windforce being a wild card.
Toodles said:
Ooh, pretty. Components-wise, that's really similar to my 80% finished machine so it's nice to see how a build for it 'should' look. Sadly I don't have any sleeving or such and ended up making do with a shitload of black insulation tape to neaten things like the multi-coloured 24-pin socket on the MB and suchlike. Up close it looks really ghetto, haha. Looks okay (ie. doesn't stand out) when taken as a whole unit though.

Were/are you okay with the 7970 being a massive heavy thing so much that you left it attached via just the bracket and pci-e slot? The card weighs like a kilogram and, when installed, I was terrified it must be putting untoward torque strain on the motherboard and/or itself. I ended up squeezing in a vertical strut (read: the tube of a felt-pen) at the front corner of the card to take the load.
Click to expand...
Thanks!

Between the backplate and screwing it in to the expansion slots, its pretty sturdy. Definitely bends quite a bit less than some of the earlier DCIIs, and weighs half as much as the copper water block on my 690.
Ironmask said:
First of all, thanks pc gaf for letting me create an awesome PC that served (and is still serving ) me well after 3 years of heavy use at a ridiculous price.

Now i'm in the situation where i need to gradually upgrade everything for the next generation of gaming and i decided to start with a new GPU.

My current specs:
Motherboard - Gigabyte GA-MA770-UD3
CPU - AMD Phenom II X2 550 B.E.
RAM - 6 gb ddr2 (i dont remember anything else right now)
GPU - ATI Radeon hd 4890 - 1gb ed.
Power Supply - Antec 750W

so i'm asking you to help me find the latest GPU in the market, compatible with my current pc and absolutely QUIETER than the 4890 (quietness > power) beccause meanwhile i got married and my 2yrs old daughter need silence while she sleeps.

thanks guys, you don't even know how you helped me in the past and let me play awesome games at my favourite gaming platform!
Click to expand...
Gigabyte Windforce 670 is pretty much the quietest high end card out there. I think the Palit/Gainward three fan cooler is up there with it too.
 
D

Dance Inferno

Unconfirmed Member
So if I'm planning to build a PC in the next month or so, should I get the GTX 660 TI or the GTX 670? Looks like the 660 is comparable in performance for $100 cheaper?
 
I

Iacobellis

Junior Member
ilnadmy said:
So if I'm planning to build a PC in the next month or so, should I get the GTX 660 TI or the GTX 670? Looks like the 660 is comparable in performance for $100 cheaper?
Click to expand...

Depends solely on your use. I was going to get a GTX 670 SC+, but figured I can save around $100 and get the 660 Ti SC instead.
 
1

1-D_FTW

Member
I haven't been paying attention to the quality issues on the new Nvidia cards. Is the Asus all right? Was leaning towards MSI Twin Frozr, but Amazon has a better price on the Asus "enhanced" 660ti (299.99 with no rebates... MSRP 329.99).
 
M

mkenyon

Banned
I'd hold off on the 660Ti until there are some with the better coolers. The thing is designed to run blazing hot right now and has almost zero OC ability because of it.

*edit* Never mind! Non reference day 1!

Windforce still #1, DCII and Twin Frozr are both great too.

*edit 2*
It's actually a toss up between Windforce, MSI Power Edition, and Palit/Gainward Jetstream. 39dB at load!!!
 
1

1-D_FTW

Member
mkenyon said:
I'd hold off on the 660Ti until there are some with the better coolers. The thing is designed to run blazing hot right now and has almost zero OC ability because of it.

*edit* Never mind! Non reference day 1!

Windforce still #1, DCII and Twin Frozr are both great too.
Click to expand...

Placed the order on that Asus. Doesn't look much different than the Frozr, and unless I'm being flat out lied to by the review I found, it seems a touch cooler, quieter than the MSI (although there's a huge variable in that and I'll settle for equal or close either way).

EDIT: Nevermind. The Asus is the DCII.
 
1

1-D_FTW

Member
mkenyon said:
Remember, dB scales are algorithmic and not linear. A 10dB difference means twice as loud.
Click to expand...

With all those edits, is the DCII an acceptable option? The turbulance from my case fans is louder than my idle GPU anyways. And I game with headphones. Can't imagine it's much of an issue.
 
D

Dance Inferno

Unconfirmed Member
mkenyon said:
I'd hold off on the 660Ti until there are some with the better coolers. The thing is designed to run blazing hot right now and has almost zero OC ability because of it.

*edit* Never mind! Non reference day 1!

Windforce still #1, DCII and Twin Frozr are both great too.

*edit 2*
It's actually a toss up between Windforce, MSI Power Edition, and Palit/Gainward Jetstream. 39dB at load!!!
Click to expand...

Well I've got a few weeks until I actually settle down and start putting together my PC (I'm moving apartments) so I imagine at that point the 660Ti will be more appealing? Keep in mind I have zero experience with PC building, I haven't gamed on PC in almost 10 years.
 
M

mkenyon

Banned
Having trouble finding a good comparison on noise with the DCII. Only one I found didn't have any other cards in the review. Its important as each test is going to give different results based on the case used, room, ambient noise, etc.

*edit

Really, the kind of performance we're getting with cards today is pretty ridiculous, it's almost hard to make a bad decision. You can pretty much throw a dart at your price target. The only part that takes some research is getting a card with a good cooler or finding something that OC's well.
 
1

1-D_FTW

Member
mkenyon said:
Having trouble finding a good comparison on noise with the DCII. Only one I found didn't have any other cards in the review. Its important as each test is going to give different results based on the case used, room, ambient noise, etc.
Click to expand...

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ASUS/GeForce_GTX_660_Ti_Direct_Cu_II/27.html

Yeah. This is the one I've looked at, but it's not comparing against any comparable models. Like I said though, from a physical design POV, it really doesn't seem a whole lot different from the Twin Frozr. So I'm sure I'll be fine with it.
 
M

mkenyon

Banned
Probably. FWIW, my 7970 DCII is almost inaudible at load in my Define R4.

We are getting to the point with reduced power consumption and air cooling tech where the silent part of water cooling is almost pointless unless you are talking about multi-card setups.
 
M

mkenyon

Banned
kharma45 said:
What 660? MSI one looked good from the cheap ones.

And yeah that cooler would be fine, even cheaper ones should be fine like the Cooler Master Hyper 412S or 212.
Click to expand...
1156 ran a bit hotter than SB/IB, and doesn't have the same multiplier wall like either of them do, so it's a bit more important for max overclock to have a really nice cooler.
abunai said:
Welp, 120hz is the best thing I've ever seen. I think I'm done buying new computer parts for now. Finally.
Click to expand...
P'much. Glad to have you in Next Gen Now (TM).
 
D

demosthenes

Member
SSD question GAF. I read the OP and it gives good information for what seems like once you have the SSD in hand. What's the best way to go about purchasing one?

I ask b/c i saw this on slickdeals:
http://www.buy.com/prod/330-series-240gb-ssd-reseller/234637484.html?ww=&&

All I know are the read and write speeds and these look ok from what I've been told/seen and newegg only has 1 review.

What else do you look for when you're purchasing a SSD besides read/write? What do you stay away from?
 
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