Support NeoGAF

[Mareg]

I'm trying to debate if I should try and install an obviously used Mobo that Newegg had the nerve to send me.

The Mobo came in a clean box but it wasn't sealed. Also, in the box was only the motherboard and the plastic bag with the manual and the back panel. The board was directly sitting on the cardboard box without a protective floor to protect its back. Also, the plastic bag wasn't sealed and there were trace of tear. I checked the board toroughly and could not see any trace of dammage to the board or the socket.

Should I try to build my system or straight out call Newegg on their poor business ?

 

[MMBosstones86]

I'm trying to debate if I should try and install an obviously used Mobo that Newegg had the nerve to send me.

The Mobo came in a clean box but it wasn't sealed. Also, in the box was only the motherboard and the plastic bag with the manual and the back panel. The board was directly sitting on the cardboard box without a protective floor to protect its back. Also, the plastic bag wasn't sealed and there were trace of tear. I checked the board toroughly and could not see any trace of dammage to the board or the socket.

Should I try to build my system or straight out call Newegg on their poor business ?

i'd try and give it back. transported w/o an ESD bag? that just sounds like bad news.

 

[Mareg]

i'd try and give it back. transported w/o an ESD bag? that just sounds like bad news.

No there was an ESD bag. It showed trace of tear and it was unsealed. Meaning the tip of the bag wasn't folded behind the board and sealed with a cicle scellent like I'm used to. Also, I'm used to see a gray protective material at the bottom of a mobo box to protect the underneat of the board. It wasn't there in that case.

 

[MMBosstones86]

No there was an ESD bag. It showed trace of tear and it was unsealed. Meaning the tip of the bag wasn't folded behind the board and sealed with a cicle scellent like I'm used to. Also, I'm used to see a gray protective material at the bottom of a mobo box to protect the underneat of the board. It wasn't there in that case.

oh missed that. sounds like an error on there part...if it was my system, i'd try and get a sealed from them. Maybe someone with a little more experience can chime in. Only ordered/built 1 system!

 

[Akkad]

I'm trying to debate if I should try and install an obviously used Mobo that Newegg had the nerve to send me.

The Mobo came in a clean box but it wasn't sealed. Also, in the box was only the motherboard and the plastic bag with the manual and the back panel. The board was directly sitting on the cardboard box without a protective floor to protect its back. Also, the plastic bag wasn't sealed and there were trace of tear. I checked the board toroughly and could not see any trace of dammage to the board or the socket.

Should I try to build my system or straight out call Newegg on their poor business ?

Don't even think about it, just send it back. Also, you might have bought a refurbished MB by mistake, check the product page just in case.

 

[Mareg]

Don't even think about it, just send it back. Also, you might have bought a refurbished MB by mistake, check the product page just in case.

Thanks, I think I'll return it. Will they charge postal fees ?
And I'm pretty sure it was new.
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130646

 

[Akkad]

Thanks, I think I'll return it. Will they charge postal fees ?
And I'm pretty sure it was new.
http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130646

Not sure if they charge you for shipping.

 

[mkenyon]

If they sent you an open box item, they sure as hell better not charge you for return shipping. They should be sending you a new one without even waiting for the return. That's totally unacceptable, IMO.

 

[Noaloha]

MKenyon, quick question to raise an issue I mentioned a while back about the Asus 7970 DCUII.

That voltage locking thing that you might recall me grumbling about -- have you played with adjusting your card yet and, if so, did you find you could you fiddle with the voltage ?

And secondary to that, since I believe it's relevant to whether a card's voltage is hard-coded, two questions about your 7970 model: do you have the regular DCUII or is it the TOP edition, and is there only one square cutout in the backplate (revision 1) or is there also a long rectangular cutout for the vrms on the backplate (revision 2)?

For reference,

rev.1 non-TOP

rev.2 (non-TOP? these might be TOP only)

 

[mkenyon]

Mine is indeed voltage locked, and it is the non TOP as pictured above with the single cutout. Pic of mine:

I've read in a few places that you can replace the BIOS to be able to unlock the voltage, but didn't have time to do some further research. As this is for my (secondary) silent pc that is running 24/7 to record gameplay, encode videos, serve up the RAID0 array for media editing, among other things, voltage tweaking is pretty low on my priority list.

 

[snack]

Need help! I moved my computer downstairs and and now my SSD takes forever to boot. And I can't see my second HDD on my computer. Opened up the case, didn't see any cables misplaced. Anyone know what's wrong? I'm talking legit 2good minutes to boot now as opposed to 25 seconds. It hangs on my boot screen for a while but it'll eventually boot into windows. I'm confused...

edit: I removed the power from my HDD and now it's booting into windows fast like usual via SDD. Is my HDD fried? Can't seem to get it working again.

 

[Noaloha]

Cheers. Same card as mine then, non-TOP revision 1.

Bugger, I was hoping you'd have the same card *but* you'd have an example where the voltage was tweakable, ha. Oh well, more reason for me to expect the worst once I'm able to finally to power this thing up.

I don't foresee it being a huge issue for me I guess -- I don't have fancy-pants hi-res multiple monitor set-up and the card will likely be a monster at stock -- but it's still a little dismaying. First big spend I ever make on an actual powerhouse GPU and, out of all the cards I could have picked across the price-range, I (likely) got the precise model which won't allow me to press buttons and change sliders. I was super-close to getting the TOP edition even (which I don't think has the hardcoded vbios restriction) but I was following the oft-mentioned advice of "don't waste money on factory-clocked cards!"


Live and learn!

 

[mkenyon]

I'll PM you if I find a reliable BIOS replacement that allows voltage tweaking.

@snack
Check BIOS if it can see the HDD.

*edit*
Seems like this allows voltage modification:

http://www.techpowerup.com/vgabios/113309/Asus.HD7970.3072.120104.html

Forum where I found it: http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showthread.php?t=168143

*edit* This too: http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18362066

*edit 3* This is looking like the best option: http://hardforum.com/showpost.php?p=1038867368&postcount=817

 

[Noaloha]

Thanks man. Funny story, I have that exact Techpowerup bios page and the [H]ardforums topic saved in a bookmarks folder already, entitled 'vgu fix??'. About a month ago I was relentlessly trawling google searches looking for answers. Definitely things I intended to tinker with once the machine's built. Another option you might want to take a look at, though this one's way more peculiar, is this thread on Overclock.net. Someone's DCUII suddenly stopped being voltage-locked after he switched between the two internal VBIOSes. The guy who did it seems to agree that it has no business having any impact on the lock but he says it did anyway. (The terms being used in that thread are mostly way beyond me at this point so I couldn't get too excited about it.)

 

[PenguinPoacher]

Hey I had a question and was wondering if anyone might know the answer. I got a GTX 570 probably 10 months ago and it worked fine up until lately, whenever I watch videos or play games I get random colors when there is movement in the game or movie like green and rainbowish colors. I have tried uninstalling the driver and reinstalling and it does not fix the issue. I am using driver 301.42 if that helps. Thanks.

 

[mkenyon]

Temps during gameplay?

 

[PenguinPoacher]

Hey I had a question and was wondering if anyone might know the answer. I got a GTX 570 probably 10 months ago and it worked fine up until lately, whenever I watch videos or play games I get random colors when there is movement in the game or movie like green and rainbowish colors. I have tried uninstalling the driver and reinstalling and it does not fix the issue. I am using driver 301.42 if that helps. Thanks.

Nevermind, I switched monitors with my rommate for a second and it appears to be my monitor.

 

[cametall]

I have a 520w Seasonic PSU I bought recently (31 days ago) from Newegg. Would this be enough if I upgraded from my GTX 460 to a 660ti?

For reference only my CPU is OC'd, i5 3570K at 4.2ghz if that helps.

 

[Salaadin]

Asked this in the other thread but figured more people would see it here:

Ive been thinking about getting a new GPU for a few months now and actually wanted to try out Nvidia after using AMD for 3 years. The 660ti looks very nice but would it be a decent enough upgrade from my current HD6870?

 

[mkenyon]

I have a 520w Seasonic PSU I bought recently (31 days ago) from Newegg. Would this be enough if I upgraded from my GTX 460 to a 660ti?

For reference only my CPU is OC'd, i5 3570K at 4.2ghz if that helps.

Way more than enough. If you ever have questions, you can go to a review and look at the total system power draw.

Asked this in the other thread but figured more people would see it here:

Ive been thinking about getting a new GPU for a few months now and actually wanted to try out Nvidia after using AMD for 3 years. The 660ti looks very nice but would it be a decent enough upgrade from my current HD6870?

Will answer in both places

It's a really big jump, but if you were looking for something that is about double the performance, you'd want to look at the 680 or 7970.

 

[Salaadin]

Way more than enough. If you ever have questions, you can go to a review and look at the total system power draw.

Will answer in both places

It's a really big jump, but if you were looking for something that is about double the performance, you'd want to look at the 680 or 7970.

Thank you!

Have some thinking to do. Hmmm.

 

[Oxn]

Just installed my new Samsung 256GB SSD.

Its absolutely rediculous. Programs open in a flash, only the really heavy one may it take 1-2 seconds like sony vegas or lightroom.

I was however expecting a faster start up than it is. I didnt time it but its was about 20-30sec, with my previous HDD going 40+.

All in all, great purchase.

 

[2San]

Just installed my new Samsung 256GB SSD.

Its absolutely rediculous. Programs open in a flash, only the really heavy one may it take 1-2 seconds like sony vegas or lightroom.

I was however expecting a faster start up than it is. I didnt time it but its was about 20-30sec, with my previous HDD going 40+.

All in all, great purchase.

Did you clone your old hard drive to the SSD? I cloned mine and while fast it's nothing compared to my brothers fresh install(even now, it's been a few months since then). Windows 7 doesn't even complete that logo animation.

 

[Celcius]

Last night I was reading one of my old pc magazines from back in the day and there was an article where they complained about the Geforce 6800 Ultra requiring a "monstrous" 480 watt psu. I remember wanting that card back when the Doom 3 demo came out and it all almost seems like yesterday lol. Back when everyone was switching from agp tp pci-express and from PATA to SATA. Good times...

 

[Oxn]

Did you clone your old hard drive to the SSD? I cloned mine and while fast it's nothing compared to my brothers fresh install(even now, it's been a few months since then). Windows 7 doesn't even complete that logo animation.

fresh install.

it completes the logo.

running 8gig ram
i3570k on stock

 

[2San]

fresh install.

it completes the logo.

running 8gig ram
i3570k on stock

Checking the times at the moment. 20-30 seconds is decent actually, because I figure the whole mobo starting takes a significant chunk. He's running on 2500k and 8gig ram as well. The mobo he has is an ASrock z77 pro 3. I can't check his start speed atm. I'll check it tomorrow . I'm on 35 seconds.

 

[Oxn]

Checking the times at the moment. 20-30 seconds is decent actually, because I figure the whole mobo starting takes a significant chunk. He's running on 2500k and 8gig ram as well. The mobo he has is an ASrock z77 pro 3. I can't check his start speed atm. I'll check it tomorrow . I'm on 35 seconds.

Yup, the mobo takes up a good chunk of the time.

Im on a ASrock pro 4.

 

[2San]

Yup, the mobo takes up a good chunk of the time.

Im on a ASrock pro 4.

Small tip in advance don't use that Virtu MVP crap. :x

 

[seldead]

Australian prices put me in an interesting situation with the newly released 660ti. Right now I'm gaming with a 5850, 2500k 4.3ghz and 8 gigs ram at 1080p and am wondering if I should go for the galaxy 660ti or the 670 for $360 and $410 respectively. Baring in mind I like to keep cards for a while is making me lean towards for the 670 but I'm not sure if it's worthy of $50 more

660ti http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=193_1428&products_id=21247

670 http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=193_1387&products_id=21083

 

[Artchur]

Just blew some dust outa my old 9800 gt and my idle temp dropped from 77 to 55... hmm.. damn cats. No wonder it kept crapping out haha.

Anyway, gonna ask again cause in case anyone found some good deals. Looking for a good bang for your buck monitor for a dual monitor setup.. buying two and don't really want to break 400$ for both. Anyone got any good recs?

 

[mkenyon]

Australian prices put me in an interesting situation with the newly released 660ti. Right now I'm gaming with a 5850, 2500k 4.3ghz and 8 gigs ram at 1080p and am wondering if I should go for the galaxy 660ti or the 670 for $360 and $410 respectively. Baring in mind I like to keep cards for a while is making me lean towards for the 670 but I'm not sure if it's worthy of $50 more

660ti http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=193_1428&products_id=21247

670 http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=193_1387&products_id=21083

670 no question.

Just blew some dust outa my old 9800 gt and my idle temp dropped from 77 to 55... hmm.. damn cats. No wonder it kept crapping out haha.

Anyway, gonna ask again cause in case anyone found some good deals. Looking for a good bang for your buck monitor for a dual monitor setup.. buying two and don't really want to break 400$ for both. Anyone got any good recs?

ASUS's VG (I think?) series of TN panels is really well reviewed.

I think a better way to go though, is to get one really nice monitor like the S23A700D, and one that will be fine for general web browsing/usage.

 

[Varna]

EVGA 690 GTX arrives tomorrow. Can't wait. What are the best current drivers for the 6xx cards?

 

[mkenyon]

EVGA 690 GTX arrives tomorrow. Can't wait. What are the best current drivers for the 6xx cards?

Latest beta allows for some nice OC ability with it.

 

[·feist·]

Australian prices put me in an interesting situation with the newly released 660ti. Right now I'm gaming with a 5850, 2500k 4.3ghz and 8 gigs ram at 1080p and am wondering if I should go for the galaxy 660ti or the 670 for $360 and $410 respectively. Baring in mind I like to keep cards for a while is making me lean towards for the 670 but I'm not sure if it's worthy of $50 more

660ti http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=193_1428&products_id=21247

670 http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=193_1387&products_id=21083

Don't mind me, I'm just here to second the 670 recommendation. Particularly with the bold.

 

[zallaaa]

Quick question for someone more in the known than me
I got a pretty old PC (E6600, 6GB ram DDR2, Asus P5B-Deluxe, Geforce 9500 GT, Screen is 1920*1200) but I can still play games without big problems (I'm not very demanding and that's a big plus, but recent games are a no-go). Would a 660Ti make me able to play recent games (i.e. Battlefield 3) properly despite the relatively weak cpu?

 

[·feist·]

Quick question for someone more in the known than me
I got a pretty old PC (E6600, 6GB ram DDR2, Asus P5B-Deluxe, Geforce 9500 GT, Screen is 1920*1200) but I can still play games without big problems (I'm not very demanding and that's a big plus, but recent games are a no-go). Would a 660Ti make me able to play recent games (i.e. Battlefield 3) properly despite the relatively weak cpu?

Yes? Even max OC on that CPU would still severely bottleneck a GPU like that.

Do a ground up build when you can.

 

[Smokey]

I AM FREE FROM MY SHACKLES (BAN)

i missed yall

 

[zallaaa]

Yes? Even max OC on that CPU would still severely bottleneck a GPU like that.

Do a ground up build when you can.

That was my doubt too... now it's a certainty, thanks Whatever, time to save for a new build.

 

[neoanarch]

http://www.newegg.com/Special/ShellShocker.aspx?cm_sp=ShellShocker-_-20-148-544-_-08172012_1

36$ Crucial Ballistix 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600, slightly cheaper than amazon.


I asked a few days ago and didn't get a response. I'm about to purchase this.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813157309

My old board went out and hoping I can just replace it with this and reuse all my other components that should be working. Anyone have experience with these asrock ddr2/ddr3 boards?

Athlon ii x2 240
ddr2 800 ram 4gb
amd hd5700
400w psu

 

[Deleted member 22576]

This is it: proof that getting dual monitors is a grand idea.
http://en.spaceengine.org/

 

[Fjordson]

Trying to build a gaming PC is bumming me out big time. Just when I think I have a nice build within my budget I remember that I left something out. "Oh right...Windows 7". Mouse and keyboard wouldn't hurt either. And smaller gaming accessories like a 360 gamepad.

Feels bad man =[

 

[2San]

Yup, the mobo takes up a good chunk of the time.

Im on a ASrock pro 4.

My brothers PC clocks in at 21 seconds.

 

[Alexios]

Slight edit in my previous selection, how are these?

Gigabyte Z77M-D3H (s 1155 , Z77 , DDR3 , HDMI) 105,01 €
Intel Core i5 3570K (s 1155 , 3.4 GHz , 6 MB) 219,00 €
Corsair Cerulean Blue Vengeance 4GB DDR3-1600 Dimm 29,90 €
MSI R7850 Twin Frozr 2GD5/OC (PCI Express x 16 3.0, 2 GB, GDDR5) 271,01 €

Unless this GPU is better, it seems to be clocked a bit higher in core and a ton higher in the video ram. But maybe the Twin Frozr can be easily overclocked to match? That would be nice as I'd then buy it all from the same store here.

GIGABYTE ATI RADEON HD 7850 (2GB, DDR5, 256BIT) 272,37 €

And how is that motherboard? I'm only seeing it has reduced overclocking capabilities but it's okay, I think?

I was also told that AMD has announced (or already done elsewhere?) discounts for the 7850 and whatever other range so hopefully I can get the cards ~20~40 cheaper than that soon here too and not halve the ram like I've done above for now. I may also change to the next motherboard in line, Gigabyte Z77-DS3H (s 1155, Z77, DDR3) 113,00 €

Also, again, I'm keeping my current SEAGATE BARRACUDA HDDs, LG DVDRW, LEXA NZXT Blackline Red Edition case and CoolerMaster Real Power M700 PSU, it should all be compatible without issues, right? I forgot if someone already told me.

 

[Oxn]

My brothers PC clocks in at 21 seconds.

Ok i did a time test on mine, and its actually 35seconds, like yours.

Would OCing my proc make it faster?

 

[2San]

Ok i did a time test on mine, and its actually 35seconds, like yours.

Would OCing my proc make it faster?

I have no idea tbh. My brothers PC is over clocked to 4,2GHz using the presets in the BIOS. Maybe it's because of running programs from other harddrives?

Do you have the drive set to AHCI mode(not sure if this is faster then Raid 0) and have you set the mobo to recognize it as SSD(all done in the BIOS)? Maybe installing that samsung magician thing will help it has an option the tune the Windows setting to optimally work with a SSD.

I have the 128GB one and my brother has the 64GB. We both have the Samsung 830.

 

[Smokey]

I'm getting this error:

when benchmarking in Heaven...anybody know what this means or why it's happening?

 

[Oxn]

I have no idea tbh. My brothers PC is over clocked to 4,2GHz using the presets in the BIOS. Maybe it's because of running programs from other harddrives?

Do you have the drive set to AHCI mode(not sure if this is faster then Raid 0) and have you set the mobo to recognize it as SSD(all done in the BIOS)? Maybe installing that samsung magician thing will help it has an option the tune the Windows setting to optimally work with a SSD.

I have the 128GB one and my brother has the 64GB. We both have the Samsung 830.

Ill give those suggestions a try.

didnt install the magician yet.

 

[LiquidMetal14]

I have an OCZ 600w PSU. Currently running a 4.8ghz 2500k and a 6970. I get random stop 0x124 errors. Not sure if that's the proper way to describe it but is my issue a lack of voltage to my OC or what?

I came in to ask if the PSU is more than enough for a 680 or equivalent GPU as well.

 

[mkenyon]

I AM FREE FROM MY SHACKLES (BAN)

i missed yall

You missed a good thread on 1440p vs 120hz. I was looking for your input, makes sense now. Welcome back!

Trying to build a gaming PC is bumming me out big time. Just when I think I have a nice build within my budget I remember that I left something out. "Oh right...Windows 7". Mouse and keyboard wouldn't hurt either. And smaller gaming accessories like a 360 gamepad.

Feels bad man =[

Treat yourself! Just rationalize it with all the awesome productive things you can do with a PC.

My brothers PC clocks in at 21 seconds.

Disable every device and controller in BIOS that you aren't using. Its taking its time by starting up all sorts of stuff you aren't using.

I'm getting this error:

when benchmarking in Heaven...anybody know what this means or why it's happening?

Try an uninstall/reinstal on heaven?

 

[Sullichin]

Not sure if this is the right thread for this-


Is there a good plugin for scrolling inactive windows in Windows 7? I'm very used to being able to do this on my Mac and it's quite annoying.