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[mkenyon]

Ah, I should have specified: full ATX motherboard.

I may just have to go with the APEVIA case I linked. Too bad it looks so horrid. Something like the Fractal Node 605 would be ideal. Just too damn tall. >_<

Embrace enthusiast insanity. The price of a new motherboard is trivial in terms of a swank setup. I thought you had a Ph.D in being a baller yet here I am teaching you.

What is hands down the best, most silent, black colored 120mm case fan? Bitfenix pro? Corsair (the ones with the little red ring look nice)?

Or should I stick with Noctua and not worry about aesthetics?

Max acceptable noise? Money no object? Restricted or unrestricted?

 

[Jawmuncher]

Baseline of your computer should consist of:

16GB of this RAM - $90
i7 3770K - $330
AMD videocard 7870/7950/7970 (they work way better in Vegas for rendering) - $250-400
CoolerMaster Hyper 212 (if the case allows for it) or CoolerMaster Gemini II (lower profile)
ASRock Z77 Pro4-M - $110
Seasonic M12II 620W PSU - $90
Optical drive of your choice

The case is a tricky choice. If you go down to an ITX form factor, you get a lot more options in terms of cases as it's a really small motherboard. However, the price goes up to $150 for the motherboard. HTPC cases (the horizontal ones) are generally more expensive than standard cases. What you can do is just get a standard case and put it on its side. If that doesn't sound appealing, then you're looking at $100-150 for a case. If you allow for a bit more wiggle room on case design, there's a number of options out there. Take a gander at:

Silverstone PS07, TJ08, Lian Li PC-A04, PC-V351, Fractal Arc Mini, Define Mini. If this isn't happening for a few months, then maybe this will be out, which should come in around $100.

The reason why I put the 3770K in there is that it is a lot better at rendering video than the 3570K. If shaving off time here and there for rendering isn't worth $100 for you, then you can drop it down to the 3570K.

HDDs is the other touchy part, as prices are still stupidly high. Do you currently have a storage system on your network, or will you be looking to use this PC to store most of your videos?

I'll be using the PC itself for a lot of files, however I was planning on adding a storage system so that I don't have files just wasting space. Hmm while I would like a HTPC case, I might just go with a regular tower. So that way my components and everything else can be easier managed in the future. Would that affect anything to what you listed for me (Which sounds excellent by the way) especially when it comes to perhaps upgrading later on?

 

[Baller. PhD]

Embrace enthusiast insanity. The price of a new motherboard is trivial in terms of a swank setup. I thought you had a Ph.D in being a baller yet here I am teaching you.

The problem is that I have this P8P67 Pro with a broken GPU bracket (doesn't lock). Of course I know that a GPU won't fall out of it, but my eBay/craigslist prospects are crap. I'm trying to keep this system relatively cheap too, otherwise I'll just keep gaming in bootcamp.

This German case would be perfect for my needs: http://www.ms-tech.de/eng/index.php/product/detail/pdcid/66/pdid/168#

If only it was available in the US.

 

[evil solrac v3.0]

The problem is that I have this P8P67 Pro with a broken GPU bracket (doesn't lock). Of course I know that a GPU won't fall out of it, but my eBay/craigslist prospects are crap. I'm trying to keep this system relatively cheap too, otherwise I'll just keep gaming in bootcamp.

This German case would be perfect for my needs: http://www.ms-tech.de/eng/index.php/product/detail/pdcid/66/pdid/168#

If only it was available in the US.

dude, you have to be baller and order from there then. it's a beautiful HTPC style case and room for cooling.

 

[Baller. PhD]

dude, you have to be baller and order from there then. it's a beautiful HTPC style case and room for cooling.

I'm looking in to it, lol.

 

[cametall]

Max acceptable noise? Money no object? Restricted or unrestricted?

No louder than the high static pressure Noctuas for radiators, preferably not more than $25, unrestricted.

 

[mkenyon]

Corsair AF Quiet Edition or Noiseblocker PL-2

I'll be using the PC itself for a lot of files, however I was planning on adding a storage system so that I don't have files just wasting space. Hmm while I would like a HTPC case, I might just go with a regular tower. So that way my components and everything else can be easier managed in the future. Would that affect anything to what you listed for me (Which sounds excellent by the way) especially when it comes to perhaps upgrading later on?

I'll get to this tomorrow morning, but, do you want a compact case or a mid/full tower?

 

[Deleted member 22576]

I've been reading through Vega's super computer thread in bits and pieces all day today. So inspiring and hilariously ostentatious.

 

[Ty4on]

Thanks, will look into that. Should I be worried if I game the next few days? I've never used it for gaming yet.

Laptops will throttle the CPU or GPU if they get to hot (you can see this as a big dip in performance) and should that not help (if it's in a bag) it will shut down automatically. My trusty M1530 has kinda bad cooling stock and overheated all the time playing TF2, but it's still working. Many M1530s have died over the years becuase the Nvidia 8400m/8600m cards were faulty, but despite having hit 90C several times in its life mine has never had any issues.

Remember to clean the dust from the heatsink. If it's tough to reach just blow/suck air the opposite way.

 

[n0n44m]

Pair of 670s probably. I don't know what it is, but I'm smitten with the tiny PCB and block.

Or maybe a pair of 680 Lightnings. They'd be a lot easier to resell.

680 lightnings with those Aquacomputers blocks would be godlike ... too bad Nvidia seems to hate MSI for making them judging by the thread over at ocn

I'm really lucky for never having experienced capacitor squealing ... maybe it has to do with 220V over here?

I've been reading through Vega's super computer thread in bits and pieces all day today. So inspiring and hilariously ostentatious.

as much as I love those setups, unfortunately his topic made me realize that even if I had the (huge amount of) money I wouldn't build anything like that ... it takes endless hours of troubleshooting and multiple hardware revisions & driver hacks before having something remotely usable ... and even then it only works on a select few titles

I'm just hoping that we get good software support for the Oculus Rift now

Laptops will throttle the CPU or GPU if they get to hot (you can see this as a big dip in performance) and should that not help (if it's in a bag) it will shut down automatically. My trusty M1530 has kinda bad cooling stock and overheated all the time playing TF2, but it's still working. Many M1530s have died over the years becuase the Nvidia 8400m/8600m cards were faulty, but despite having hit 90C several times in its life mine has never had any issues.

Remember to clean the dust from the heatsink. If it's tough to reach just blow/suck air the opposite way.

first thing I did for my M1330 was remove the cooling pad thing on the GPU and replace it with a copper plate + real thermal paste. It was the only thing I had to game on while studying in the US for a semester, and without the mods it would even throttle after 5 minutes of Quake III ...

So yeah, if your laptop is already out of warranty I'd advise anyone to open it up, clean it out and replace the thermal paste for something that actually works there are plenty of guides online for any sort of laptop ... (assuming that access to the heatsink is as easy as with the Dell XPS models)

If you still have warranty just play it safe and make sure the laptop can get enough cool air through the vents (try propping it up) or buy one of those coolers

 

[Xdrive05]

I'm hoping to milk my Evga GTX 560ti 1GB SC until next gen, or until the 760ti comes out, whichever happens first. 1680x1050 monitor helps some.

3570k from NCIX arrives today. Asrock Z77 Extreme4, G.Skill Ares 1600MHz 8GB and Cooler Master Hyper 212+ have been waiting patiently for it. Should be able to build this weekend.

Big thanks to Gaf for dropping your knowledge bombs my way!

 

[ss_lemonade]

What are the dimensions of a 680 directcu ii? Is it as long as a 6970, just 3 slots thick? I'm going to try to score a deal with someone selling his 680 by swapping my 6970+cash for his gpu. I have a coolermaster 690 (the original one) and I just want to make sure that the thing will even fit lol

 

[FlyinJ]

I currently have:

i5 2.77 quad
4 gigs of RAM
6850 1 gig
Win7 64

I'm thinking of upgrading to a 660ti. This one in particular:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008S15XA0/?tag=neogaf0e-20

Will I notice a huge increase in performance, or is my system CPU limited at this point?

Also, why does the description of that card say "SLI"? Is it two cards in one, or does that just indicate that it supports SLI?

 

[Salaadin]

Hoping someone can push me in the right direction with this. Ill keep the backstory as quick as possible:

-My brother in law bought a new graphics card and everything has been fine for 3 weeks. One of the reasons he got the new GPU is because his old GPU fan was very loud.
-After installation, his PC is quieter but not as quiet as it used to be when he built it so he decides to get a new CPU fan. He gets the Hyper 212+. He did not install it yet.
-That night, he turns on his PC and hears his hard drive clicking loudly. PC wont boot. He orders a new drive.
-He installs the brand new drive and his Hyper 212+. His PC starts up but it wont post and he gets no video display. I loan him my mobo speaker and it beeps at him, telling him that its a RAM issue. After removing 2 sticks of RAM, the PC starts working properly. It appears that 2 of the RAM slots on the actual mobo are bad.
-He buys and installs a new motherboard and case (Antec 300), installs everything into it, and the PC still wont fully boot. Initially, it would start up, case fans would blow, but he wouldnt get any video. After reseating everything, The PC would start up, shut off 2 seconds later, restart, shut off, etc.


Im going over there tonight to take a look myself but, in the meantime, I was hoping you guys could give me some ideas.

Some thoughts:
This is his mobo (ASUS M4N98TD EVO):
http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/AMD_AM3/M4N98TD_EVO/#CPUS
This is the CPU (AMD Phenom II X6 1055T):
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003FVNC0Q/?tag=neogaf0e-20

If you look at the mobos supported CPU list, the "AMD Phenom X6 1055T" is on there BUT the model number listed next to it is different. His model number is "HDT55TFBGRBOX" but the supported CPU is "HDT55TWFK6DGR". Would this make a difference?

Could this be a faulty RAM issue too? Im wondering if his the RAM he had in the older, faulty mobo RAM slots is damaged and his new mobo isnt liking it.

What about PSU problems? He says that his case fans turn on and Im pretty sure the Antec 300 fans use molex that plug right into the PSU (my Antec 900 does) so, if the PSu is dead, is it same to assume that these fans simply wont work?
In any case, Im bringing my PSU tester over to check it anyways.

 

[Fantomex]

I currently have:

i5 2.77 quad
4 gigs of RAM
6850 1 gig
Win7 64

I'm thinking of upgrading to a 660ti. This one in particular:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008S15XA0/?tag=neogaf0e-20

Will I notice a huge increase in performance, or is my system CPU limited at this point?

Also, why does the description of that card say "SLI"? Is it two cards in one, or does that just indicate that it supports SLI?

I did a ton of research on the 660 Ti, and hand down this is the best version. Also comes with borderlands 2.

MSI 660 Ti Power OC

 

[Logical Disconnect]

Posted this in the mech keyboard thread but didn't get a reply so maybe someone here has an idea. It's another weird question. I currently use a Ducky DK9008 mech keyboard, but obviously I have small hands so I find it difficult to stretch across keys a lot of the time. Does anyone know of mechanical keyboard with less spacing between the keys and/or smaller keys? They all look pretty much the same to me, even the physically smaller boards, which just seem to omit the numpad and F-keys.

If not, can someone recommend an alternative, high-quality non-mechanical keyboard that might have smaller keys and spacing? I was looking at the Sidewinder X4 but not sure how the size of that compares with the Ducky. I'd be happy with anything around the size and quality of my Lenovo W-series laptop keyboard if that helps.

Thanks.

 

[iNvid02]

i upgraded my dvd drive yesterday to a new asus blu ray writer, it took 10 minutes

yup

 

[DeadRockstar]

i upgraded my dvd drive yesterday to a new asus blu ray writer, it took 10 minutes

yup

I think part of the reason I built an HTPC was so I could have a blu ray drive but keep my main PC optical-less.

Sometimes I wish I didn't bother to examine my motivations for things.

 

[Celcius]

edit: nvm

 

[Zombie James]

Did the Bitfenix Shinobi get discontinued or something? My order got held back by several weeks because there weren't any available so I had to cancel it Showing 5-8 weeks on NCIX.

 

[mkenyon]

I know BitFenix's weak point is their supply side. It's feast or famine.

 

[Varna]

Got my Corsair H100 today. Thing took 10 minutes to install. Easiest CPU cooler install EVER. Working great too. Shaved off about 15c which is pretty damn good for a 4.8GHZ OC. It's not really any quieter then my Hyper 212+, but I suppose better fans would remedy that.

Is there any way to control the cooler with software? Quiet surprised it didn't come with such a tool. Opening up the case each time is pretty annoying. Or would I be better off not even connecting the fans to the cooler and just using my own fan controller?

 

[mkenyon]

Is there any way to control the cooler with software? Quiet surprised it didn't come with such a tool. Opening up the case each time is pretty annoying. Or would I be better off not even connecting the fans to the cooler and just using my own fan controller?

Yup. Or just get good fans that you can run at 100% always.

 

[Varna]

Yup. Or just get good fans that you can run at 100% always.

Suggestions?

Another question. Intake or Exhaust? I have them on intake currently since I figure the radiator needs to keep cool. But I don't like the idea of pushing hot air into the case.

 

[Zombie James]

I know BitFenix's weak point is their supply side. It's feast or famine.

And now it says 1-2 days :/ Fuck it, I'll just wait and see what goes on sale tomorrow.

 

[mkenyon]

Suggestions?

Another question. Intake or Exhaust? I have them on intake currently since I figure the radiator needs to keep cool. But I don't like the idea of pushing hot air into the case.

What's the rest of the case situation? Intake is generally the better way to go. Scythe GT's, Corsair SP Quiet Edition, Noiseblockers, BitFenix Spectre Pros, Noctua NF-F12s are all very quiet.

 

[ledman]

Can a Antec HCG520 handle two GTX 670 FTW?

 

[CatPee]

Can a Antec HCG520 handle two GTX 670 FTW?

Nope. You're gonna need a minimum of 650W, 700 to be on the safer side.

 

[Varna]

What's the rest of the case situation? Intake is generally the better way to go. Scythe GT's, Corsair SP Quiet Edition, Noiseblockers, BitFenix Spectre Pros, Noctua NF-F12s are all very quiet.

Using the Corsair 500R
Three front intake fans (one resting on top of the HDD funneling air directly onto GPU)
Two side 140mm in-take fans
One back exhaust 120mm fan

And now the two top 120mm fans as intake as well... seems a bit one sided. Held up pretty well today however. Fairly hot day. 83c running burn test with my CPU overclocked at 4.8GHZ (I normally keep it at 4.7GHZ).

 

[Zombie James]

nvm

 

[mkenyon]

Using the Corsair 500R
Three front intake fans (one resting on top of the HDD funneling air directly onto GPU)
Two side 140mm in-take fans
One back exhaust 120mm fan

And now the two top 120mm fans as intake as well... seems a bit one sided. Held up pretty well today however. Fairly hot day. 83c running burn test with my CPU overclocked at 4.8GHZ (I normally keep it at 4.7GHZ).

Don't bother with burn test, just use Prime on Small FFT to judge max temps.

That's a lot of fans though. I'd put the H100 in the top compartment with the fans pushing as exhaust. Never have your rad fans in just pull. Or, just drop the side intake ones.

 

[Azriell]

Long story short, I'm new to building PCs, but am dangerously close to resolving to build my next machine instead of just buying one outright. I'm going through the OP, picking out components and trying to work out cost, and I have a question regarding gpus.

The website I've used in the past is passmark (admittedly, I'm nto sure if it's a good source or not. It's just the one I found a few years ago). That site has the GTX 660 Ti (a card recommended in the OP) ranked as the 14th best card. It has the GTX 570 listed at the 7th best card, which happens to be $50 cheaper as well.

So why should I choose the 660 Ti over the 570 (which I assume to be the correct course of action, given the OP)? I'm sure there's plenty I'm overlooking here, and am hoping to better understand this before I begin investing.

 

[Seventy_X_Seven]

Ok, forgive me because I'm going to sound like a total noob. I hope this is the right place to be asking this as well.

Basically I'm looking to switch from consoles to PC. Been a console gamer since I got into gaming when PS1 came out but now I'm trying to look past all the (mostly false) stereotypes I have in my head of PC gaming to get the benefits of it. But where to start? I imagine it'll take a bit more effort than say switching from 360 to PS3. I look at the OP and it has a never ending series of links regarding various parts for a PC and it gets me a bit giddy. I would just like a non-expensive route to get into current state PC gaming (Nintendo is launching Wii U for $300 and that will be able to play future games for years to come, so shouldn't that be the ball park of what to expect for a PC?) and something that isn't too complicated. Perhaps one of you can point me in the right direction to get started? I tried looking around myself but the prices on these things can get crazy really fast and I'm not sure what is good enough and what's unnecessary top-notch overkill stuff.

 

[Jzero]

Ok, forgive me because I'm going to sound like a total noob. I hope this is the right place to be asking this as well.

Basically I'm looking to switch from consoles to PC. Been a console gamer since I got into gaming when PS1 came out but now I'm trying to look past all the (mostly false) stereotypes I have in my head of PC gaming to get the benefits of it. But where to start? I imagine it'll take a bit more effort than say switching from 360 to PS3. I look at the OP and it has a never ending series of links regarding various parts for a PC and it gets me a bit giddy. I would just like a non-expensive route to get into current state PC gaming (Nintendo is launching Wii U for $300 and that will be able to play future games for years to come, so shouldn't that be the ball park of what to expect for a PC?) and something that isn't too complicated. Perhaps one of you can point me in the right direction to get started? I tried looking around myself but the prices on these things can get crazy really fast and I'm not sure what is good enough and what's unnecessary top-notch overkill stuff.

You won't be able to build a good computer with just $300, that's for sure. I guess you can build yourself a decent gaming computer for $700 but if that's too expensive then you should stick to consoles. I think the best thing for you would be to buy a pre-built gaming computer from Newegg or something.

 

[Seventy_X_Seven]

You won't be able to build a good computer with just $300, that's for sure. I guess you can build yourself a decent gaming computer for $700 but if that's too expensive then you should stick to consoles.

$700 is not bad, but is that just going to get me decent? And what do you mean by decent?

How much would you say it'd cost to build something that can run all the current and upcoming games just at minimum-recommended settings (don't need to max out everything)?

 

[Jzero]

$700 is not bad, but is that just going to get me decent? And what do you mean by decent?

How much would you say it'd cost to build something that can run all the current and upcoming games just at minimum-recommended settings (don't need to max out everything)?

Well it depends, what's the most you're willing to spend?

You could cut down the cost by not getting a dvd burner or a cheaper case,etc.

These builds in the OP are pretty good.
http://bit.ly/Q4_2012_Haz

 

[YianGaruga]

$700 is not bad, but is that just going to get me decent? And what do you mean by decent?

How much would you say it'd cost to build something that can run all the current and upcoming games just at minimum-recommended settings (don't need to max out everything)?

With $700-$800 (without monitor) you'll be able to build a PC that can almost max out all current games on a resolution of 1920x1080, if you sacrifice a little of AA and AO.

I don't think it's worth it to build a PC that runs stuff at minimum settings. Those vary a lot which means you could play some games and not others, and also you'd miss out on everything that makes PC gaming so much better than console.

 

[MagicWithEarvin]

Got this in recently:

Not sure if I'll keep it since I want the 670. I slept on the $360 Gigabyte deal with Borderlands 2. Blah.

 

[flyinpiranha]

So, just to double check my triple check, everything I got here is going to play nice together correct?

G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
Intel Core i5-3570K
ASRock Z77 Pro4 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
Crucial 128 GB m4 2.5-Inch Solid State Drive SATA 6Gb/s CT128M4SSD2

EDIT: I have 2 HDD's that I'll use for data, 1.0 and 1.5 TB. I also already have an HD 6870.

 

[mkenyon]

$700 is not bad, but is that just going to get me decent? And what do you mean by decent?

How much would you say it'd cost to build something that can run all the current and upcoming games just at minimum-recommended settings (don't need to max out everything)?

The standard and enhanced builds will do a great job. The enhanced has a better foundation for incremental upgrades. The 'budget' way of staying on top of sys requirements is basically buying a new video card every 2 years/generations. Thats if you want to always maintain high performance. There are loads of people still using parts from 5+ years ago.

So, just to double check my triple check, everything I got here is going to play nice together correct?

G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
Intel Core i5-3570K
ASRock Z77 Pro4 LGA 1155 Intel Z77 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
Crucial 128 GB m4 2.5-Inch Solid State Drive SATA 6Gb/s CT128M4SSD2

EDIT: I have 2 HDD's that I'll use for data, 1.0 and 1.5 TB. I also already have an HD 6870.

Looks good.

 

[Ledsen]

So I just realized that Intel Burn Test is beyond ridiculous. During IBT my CPU goes up to ~80 degrees. If I keep HWMonitor running for days while I play games such as Dead Space 2 and Sleeping Dogs, my max temp is ~60 degrees... so don't pay any attention to IBT temps, they're insane.

 

[cametall]

So I just realized that Intel Burn Test is beyond ridiculous. During IBT my CPU goes up to ~80 degrees. If I keep HWMonitor running for days while I play games such as Dead Space 2 and Sleeping Dogs, my max temp is ~60 degrees... so don't pay any attention to IBT temps, they're insane.

Just stick with Prime95.

 

[cametall]

Got this in recently:

Not sure if I'll keep it since I want the 670. I slept on the $360 Gigabyte deal with Borderlands 2. Blah.

I recently got this card too. It overclocks like a beast with some voltage tweaking. At 1.1v I can clock up to 1100mhz.

Agh, double post .. forgot about my Prime95 one.

Apologies

 

[longdi]

So I just realized that Intel Burn Test is beyond ridiculous. During IBT my CPU goes up to ~80 degrees. If I keep HWMonitor running for days while I play games such as Dead Space 2 and Sleeping Dogs, my max temp is ~60 degrees... so don't pay any attention to IBT temps, they're insane.

are you using win7 sp1? it has a avx code update which makes IBT runs more hotter than P95. most games just run your cpu 60 degrees but if you use more threaded program like video encoder, temps can run up to ~70

 

[Jo-El]

It's out of stock right now, but Newegg has a really good deal on a 7870(with Sleeping Dogs).

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121624

It's back in stock if anyone is interested.

 

[Noaloha]

Case fan! 180mm! Side panel! Intake! Quiet!

 

[mkenyon]

are you using win7 sp1? it has a avx code update which makes IBT runs more hotter than P95. most games just run your cpu 60 degrees but if you use more threaded program like video encoder, temps can run up to ~70

This is why Prime 95 on small FFT (blend if you are OCing RAM) is the way to go.

IBT is like Furmark. So synthetic that it doesn't matter.

 

[Salaadin]

After helping my brother in law yesterday, we got his PC working again. Not sure what it was but we cleaned a re-seated everything. It works now.

One quick question: I have a PSU tester and used it on his last night. It gave off an alarm stating a high reading on the 5V rail. The tester is set to alarm if it goes over 5.3 and his was reporting 5.4. Is this something to be concerned about? I dont know how much a difference that .1 makes or if any small fluctuations like that are normal.

 

[Celcius]

Case fan! 180mm! Side panel! Intake! Quiet!

Silverstone AP181 or AP182 are excellent fans.

 

[Bread]

So my computer doesn't have an HDMI port, and my monitor doesn't have a DVI port, so I need to upgrade my computer. I have a Intel Core Duo E7200 2.53 ghz, 4.1 gigs of ram, GEForce 9600 GT. Do I need to upgrade my video card to one with an HDMI port? If so, what's the best card I can get that will work with the computer? I don't know details of the power supply, so if that's necessary to decide, could someone show me how to find that out?