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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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Manp

Manp

Member
Hesemonni said:
Fast decisions need to be made regarding the GPU of my upcoming comp. I'm about the press the order button but I'm undecided on GPU.

Asus GTX 570 DCII, Asus Radeon 6950 DCII OR should I wait for Radeon 7950.

Otherwise it's pretty regular build : i5 2500k + Asrock Z68 Gen3 + 2x4 Gb Corsair 1600 DDR + Samsung Spinpoint F3 1 TB + Super Flower 550W Golden Green Pro PSU. I'm also ordering Dell Ultrasharp U2412M 24" TFT since my old Viewsonic 19" CRT is starting to show its age :p
Click to expand...

i'd get a 570 but something like the MSI twin frzr iii or whatever is called. i really can't see the point in a 3 slot cooler.

:)
 
T

TheExodu5

Banned
6950 is the best value. GTX 570 will give you NVidia Inspector and possibly stabler drivers, if that matters to you. 7950 is in a different price range and comes out later.

Each choice has its pros and cons. No one can say which is the best for you.
 
S

Smokey

Member
JJBro One said:
I have 580 sli, overclocked my 2500k to 4.5ghz, 8gb of ram, and I STILL get dips in framerate on Battlefield 3. Sometimes (especially on the B2K maps) I'll dip into the 40s! I have the latest drivers and everything, I don't expect to dip below 60 for one second. Anybody know whats going on? I'm playing everything maxed out at 1920X1080.
Click to expand...

We essentially have the same setup. While my frames don't really dip into the 40s, they do bounce around alot, and I notice the GPU utilization of my 580s bounces from the 70%-90% range. Happens mostly on B2K maps, not really an issue on vanilla BF3. I have chalked this up to optimization issues. I'm still above 60fps but the dips do get annoying. Or the stutter because the GPU utilization decided it wanted to take a nose dive at the wrong time.
 
S

ScRYeD

Member
JJBro One said:
I have 580 sli, overclocked my 2500k to 4.5ghz, 8gb of ram, and I STILL get dips in framerate on Battlefield 3. Sometimes (especially on the B2K maps) I'll dip into the 40s! I have the latest drivers and everything, I don't expect to dip below 60 for one second. Anybody know whats going on? I'm playing everything maxed out at 1920X1080.
Click to expand...

pretty much have the same setup as you and I never go below 75fps, I get between 75 and 110fps though. My 580's are running at 855/1710 though.
 
C

cpp_is_king

Member
What are some good online custom PC builders that are reliable, great customer service, good support / repair, and reasonably priced?

- Falcon NW is not an option due to price.
- Dell is not an option due to the limited customizability of computers (requires monitor, don't get OS install CD, lots of stupid software that I don't want, etc), and the fact that I don't really like their support.
- Building myself is not an option even though i know how and can do it easily

How is iBuyPower? Any good? I'm not looking for something super high end, just kinda mid range like $1k - $1.5k, but without all the stupid bullshit pre-installed and that I'm not gonna have to jump through hoops to get repairs / replacements done if one of the parts stops working.
 
M

mkenyon

Banned
cpp_is_king said:
What are some good online custom PC builders that are reliable, great customer service, good support / repair, and reasonably priced?

- Falcon NW is not an option due to price.
- Dell is not an option due to the limited customizability of computers (requires monitor, don't get OS install CD, lots of stupid software that I don't want, etc), and the fact that I don't really like their support.
- Building myself is not an option even though i know how and can do it easily

How is iBuyPower? Any good? I'm not looking for something super high end, just kinda mid range like $1k - $1.5k, but without all the stupid bullshit pre-installed and that I'm not gonna have to jump through hoops to get repairs / replacements done if one of the parts stops working.
Click to expand...
Doesn't really exist with the criteria you're asking for. Maingear and Origin are generally well respected, but again, are pretty pricey.

Do you have any local computer stores? They can often do this sort of thing, might want to get a quote. If your reservation is being scared of the complexity of building it yourself, it really is a piece of cake.
 
C

cpp_is_king

Member
mkenyon said:
Doesn't really exist with the criteria you're asking for. Maingear and Origin are generally well respected, but again, are pretty pricey.

Do you have any local computer stores? They can often do this sort of thing, might want to get a quote. If your reservation is being scared of the complexity of building it yourself, it really is a piece of cake.
Click to expand...

I've built plenty of computers before, I agree it's not really that complex. I've just grown impatient of "fucking with it", and especially I've grown to hate fucking with it when something goes wrong or starts acting funky. I want to just send it away and have it come back fixed. Again, I can do all these things, I just really dont' want to anymore. And I also don't want to have to pay for it when something goes wrong. I'll pay for a support contract up front and then they can just fix it for free when something messes up.

No experience with iBUYPOWER? I saw some people talking about it somewhere else and didn't see anything negative about it, so it looked pretty good so far from what I can tell, but I'd trust gaffers more :)
 
N

NH Apache

Banned
So...Just put my order in. I ordered everything from Newegg and should be here around Friday. I'm building 4 exactly the same, but they came to about $930 a piece. The memory I got with the cpu for a bundle of 239, so that seemed like a pretty good deal.

(2) Western Digital Caviar Blue WD10EALX 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive ($129.99 ea)

(1) MSI Z68A-G43 (G3) LGA 1155 Intel Z68 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard ($117.99 ea)

(1) Intel Core i5-2500 Sandy Bridge 3.3GHz (3.7GHz Turbo Boost) LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor Intel HD Graphics 2000 ...($209.99 ea)

(1) CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model CML8GX3M2A1600C9B ($49.99 ea)

(1) HIS H687FN1GD Radeon HD 6870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card ($169.99 ea)

(1) COOLER MASTER Hyper 212 Plus RR-B10-212P-G1 "Heatpipe Direct Contact" Long Life Sleeve 120mm CPU Cooler Compatible Intel ...($29.99 ea)

(1) LITE-ON DVD Burner - Bulk Black SATA Model iHAS124-04 - OEM ($17.99 ea)

(1) XFX Core Edition PRO550W (P1-550S-XXB9) 550W ATX12V 2.2 & ESP12V 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified ...($69.99 ea)

(1) Rosewill CHALLENGER-U3 Black Gaming ATX Mid Tower Computer Case ,comes with Three Fans-1x Front Blue LED 120mm Fan, 1x Top ... ($50.00)
Click to expand...

I'm excited to get the builds going! Thanks for the help everyone and I'll keep the thread updated on the actual build.

Edit: Fuck me, just noticed I ordered the 2500 instead of the 2500k. SHIT!
 
H

Hx2600

Neo Member
How long does it usually take for custom PCB's to hit the market? I've been looking to upgrade my aging 5850 to a 7970, and newegg has the Gigabyte one in stock now. If its not that much longer of a wait id rather hold off for a custom 7970.
 
M

mkenyon

Banned
Hx2600 said:
How long does it usually take for custom PCB's to hit the market? I've been looking to upgrade my aging 5850 to a 7970, and newegg has the Gigabyte one in stock now. If its not that much longer of a wait id rather hold off for a custom 7970.
Click to expand...
Depends, but Sapphire has some stuff down the pipeline that should be hitting in a matter of weeks.
 
S

sk3tch

Member
Hx2600 said:
How long does it usually take for custom PCB's to hit the market? I've been looking to upgrade my aging 5850 to a 7970, and newegg has the Gigabyte one in stock now. If its not that much longer of a wait id rather hold off for a custom 7970.
Click to expand...

Custom stuff is nice but if you need it now, don't worry about it. I've had a 580 "normal" and a 580 DirectCUII and yes, the DirectCUII was definitely better but not necessarily worth waiting for or even paying the extra coin for. I had a better OC experience with the "normal" card. It's really luck of the draw (but yes, the cooler helps). I mean, don't get me wrong...custom coolers are sweet. But so is playing games now. :)

If you really want custom, wait for the 7970 DirectCUII from ASUS. It's in the 79xx thread, here.
 
Infinity

Infinity

Member
awwyeahgurrl said:
You say nearly....

Pretty much I'll be using it as my main monitor but I'll be playing fighting games on it too so it really does need to be as near lag free as possible. I guess I'll look around and see if there's any lag/ghosting tests out there again. Thanks for the input.

EDIT: actually now that I look I can't seem to find the VW246H in the UK either without paying a ton. I see the VE242H and VW248H listed on amazon UK though. Apparently the VW248H has bad ghosting issues.
Click to expand...

Check out this Prad link reviewing the VK246H, which is the EU version of the VW246H.

http://www.prad.de/en/monitore/review/2009/review-asus-vk246h-part12.html#Lag

It's a solid panel, especially for a TN. Good color reproduction, and this is one of the best for low input lag that I've seen in awhile -except for the Samsung XL2370, or of course, a CRT.

Edit: Have you searched for the VK246H?
 
H

Hazaro

relies on auto-aim
cpp_is_king said:
What are some good online custom PC builders that are reliable, great customer service, good support / repair, and reasonably priced?

- Falcon NW is not an option due to price.
- Dell is not an option due to the limited customizability of computers (requires monitor, don't get OS install CD, lots of stupid software that I don't want, etc), and the fact that I don't really like their support.
- Building myself is not an option even though i know how and can do it easily

How is iBuyPower? Any good? I'm not looking for something super high end, just kinda mid range like $1k - $1.5k, but without all the stupid bullshit pre-installed and that I'm not gonna have to jump through hoops to get repairs / replacements done if one of the parts stops working.
Click to expand...
I've heard some not so great things about iBuyPower in terms of their service. But my standards are probably higher. If I had to go with a vendor it would probably just be Dell or Maingear/FalconNW/Higher end vendor

As for being reliable, great customer service, good support / repair, and reasonably priced...
You don't get reasonably priced with the others to my knowledge.
Hx2600 said:
How long does it usually take for custom PCB's to hit the market? I've been looking to upgrade my aging 5850 to a 7970, and newegg has the Gigabyte one in stock now. If its not that much longer of a wait id rather hold off for a custom 7970.
Click to expand...
Customs aren't a big deal. You can get a nice dual fan or tri-slot cooler already.
 
G

Gav47

Member
Got my Crucial M4 128GB today

UEics.png


Fucking SATA2 :(
Its still a huge improvement over my old HDD but roll on Ivy Bridge.
 
B

border

Member
cpp_is_king said:
No experience with iBUYPOWER? I saw some people talking about it somewhere else and didn't see anything negative about it, so it looked pretty good so far from what I can tell, but I'd trust gaffers more :)
Click to expand...

No onsite service warranty. It's a total waste to buy from an OEM unless it comes with a decent warranty. With iBuyPower you must ship the entire box back to them and lose the use of your computer for days/weeks, if something is wrong with them.

I bought an iBuyPower machine back when they did have an onsite warranty. I came with a faulty internal LED, the temperature monitor was not hooked up, and the CD-ROM sometimes wouldn't read discs. None of this was a big deal because some dude came out to the dorm and fixed it all. If it had happened now though, I would have been furious at having to ship the entire system back just to get some non-essential parts fixed.

I would recommend shopping at the Dell Outlet for a barebones machine that you can upgrade yourself. They sell decent systems for $400-500, but you must check up frequently and often for their XPS systems (inventory is always changing). Just drop in a decent videocard and you're good to go -- you save money as if you built it, get the warranty as if you bought it.
 
J

j-wood

Member
Hey guys I need some advice.

I'm about to move into a new house and the room my is going to be my "man cave" (IE where my gaming rig is going) but the room doesn't have a cable jack. I don't have the option of installing a jack in that room at the moment so my only option is to go wireless.

At the moment, I have a Cisco Wireless G router but I do plan on upgrading an to N within the next few months. Internet provider will be Comcast.

What are some good wireless adapters for desktops? Should I go with the USB stick or a PCI card?

The only thing I've found on newegg that looks decent is this

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833704045

Am I in for a world of pain when I try to game going this route?
 
H

Hazaro

relies on auto-aim
OriginofHysteria said:
Monitoring MSI Afterburner whilst playing Skyrim and I noticed my max temp is 78 degrees C. Is that normal for a GPU?
Click to expand...
Yup
j-wood said:
Hey guys I need some advice.

I'm about to move into a new house and the room my is going to be my "man cave" (IE where my gaming rig is going) but the room doesn't have a cable jack. I don't have the option of installing a jack in that room at the moment so my only option is to go wireless.

At the moment, I have a Cisco Wireless G router but I do plan on upgrading an to N within the next few months. Internet provider will be Comcast.

What are some good wireless adapters for desktops? Should I go with the USB stick or a PCI card?

The only thing I've found on newegg that looks decent is this

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833704045

Am I in for a world of pain when I try to game going this route?
Click to expand...
I'm inclined to think that PCI would always be better. I've tried some USB wireless and it has actually been ok, so maybe it's gotten a lot better.

Reviews seem ok, so why not.
 
K

kurtrussell

Banned
Heads up to any UK GAFfers needing a new hardrive.

Maplins have reduced their B Grade 2TB FreeAgent external drives to £71.99

http://www.maplin.co.uk/2tb-freeagent-goflex-desk-external-hard-drive-396166

Can be cracked open and used as an internal SATA too.

If you're worried about it being B-Grade, it usually just means damaged packaging, open boxes etc. It comes with a 12 month warranty, so I'd advise stress testing it for a few days after purchase and checking the SMART status to ensure it's okay :)

Anybody find any cheaper 2TB+ drives?
 
D

DrBaalzamon

Member
So I've been using a 6870 for a little while and playing a few games (mainly Crysis 2, from the $5 Amazon DD, Witcher and a few others) and although the performance is STELLAR I wouldnt mind a little more OOMF. Would a 560 TI cut the mustard or would I need to push to the 6950/560TI/448 core to really see a big difference? Im gaming at 1680x1050 but do plan on going up to a 1080p screen.

Whats the best move to future proof for that very near scenario? Thank you all!
 
C

Corky

Nine out of ten orphans can't tell the difference.
DrBaalzamon said:
So I've been using a 6870 for a little while and playing a few games (mainly Crysis 2, from the $5 Amazon DD, Witcher and a few others) and although the performance is STELLAR I wouldnt mind a little more OOMF. Would a 560 TI cut the mustard or would I need to push to the 6950/560TI/448 core to really see a big difference? Im gaming at 1680x1050 but do plan on going up to a 1080p screen.

Whats the best move to future proof for that very near scenario? Thank you all!
Click to expand...

I don't even think the difference in performance is more than 20% -ish between the 6870 and the others. I'd definitely wait, save the money and buy whatever mid-range card turns out to be the best bang for the buck card this generation. It shouldn't be many weeks now until we know what nvidia is going to bring to the table and I'm sure amd will launch their 78xx series soonish.
 
J

jcutner

Member
j-wood said:
Hey guys I need some advice.

I'm about to move into a new house and the room my is going to be my "man cave" (IE where my gaming rig is going) but the room doesn't have a cable jack. I don't have the option of installing a jack in that room at the moment so my only option is to go wireless.

At the moment, I have a Cisco Wireless G router but I do plan on upgrading an to N within the next few months. Internet provider will be Comcast.

What are some good wireless adapters for desktops? Should I go with the USB stick or a PCI card?

The only thing I've found on newegg that looks decent is this

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16833704045

Am I in for a world of pain when I try to game going this route?
Click to expand...

I have no idea why, but I've never had much luck with PCI wifi adapters, they've been slow and have had poor signal. So, I switched to a USB wifi adapter instead, D-Link Wireless N USB Adapter (DWA-160), and it's blazing fast and has a solid connection.

Why is a USB adapter, better than my PCI N adapter with 3 antenna's? I have no idea.
 
D

DrBaalzamon

Member
jcutner said:
I have no idea why, but I've never had much luck with PCI wifi adapters, they've been slow and have had poor signal. So, I switched to a USB wifi adapter instead, D-Link Wireless N USB Adapter (DWA-160), and it's blazing fast and has a solid connection.

Why is a USB adapter, better than my PCI N adapter with 3 antenna's? I have no idea.
Click to expand...

I agree with the USB adapter. I picked up an incredibly inexpensive $5 G rated one at Frys a few weeks ago and it works incredibly well. AND it was only $5!
 
C

Camwi

Member
Hey guys, I need some major help. I just built my new PC, which includes a 120GB SSD and a 2TB HDD. It initially ran just fine, but now a couple of days later, everything in Windows has slowed to a crawl, even just moving my mouse around, and I have no idea what has caused this. I know that's not a lot of information, but any help would be majorly appreciated.
 
longdi

longdi

Banned
DrBaalzamon said:
So I've been using a 6870 for a little while and playing a few games (mainly Crysis 2, from the $5 Amazon DD, Witcher and a few others) and although the performance is STELLAR I wouldnt mind a little more OOMF. Would a 560 TI cut the mustard or would I need to push to the 6950/560TI/448 core to really see a big difference? Im gaming at 1680x1050 but do plan on going up to a 1080p screen.

Whats the best move to future proof for that very near scenario? Thank you all!
Click to expand...

upgrade your cpu if you running something that is less than a quad core at 3.6ghz?
 
D

DrBaalzamon

Member
longdi said:
upgrade your cpu if you running something that is less than a quad core at 3.6ghz?
Click to expand...

Oh I have a quad Phenom II OC'd to 3.7hz. Its not super high end but it should be fine for what Im doing. I also only have 4gigs of ram, maybe double it to 8 based on how inexpensive it is. But I MAY pick up a 560TI because it probably fits a 1080p panel better!
 
longdi

longdi

Banned
DrBaalzamon said:
So I've been using a 6870 for a little while and playing a few games (mainly Crysis 2, from the $5 Amazon DD, Witcher and a few others) and although the performance is STELLAR I wouldnt mind a little more OOMF. Would a 560 TI cut the mustard or would I need to push to the 6950/560TI/448 core to really see a big difference? Im gaming at 1680x1050 but do plan on going up to a 1080p screen.

Whats the best move to future proof for that very near scenario? Thank you all!
Click to expand...

DrBaalzamon said:
Oh I have a quad Phenom II OC'd to 3.7hz. Its not super high end but it should be fine for what Im doing. I also only have 4gigs of ram, maybe double it to 8 based on how inexpensive it is. But I MAY pick up a 560TI because it probably fits a 1080p panel better!
Click to expand...

phenom 2 is good but an i5 2500 at 4.5ghz will bring up your fps to new heights but the new i5 3500 is coming in 3 months time. 560ti is ok too, it overclocks better than 6870 but the new cards are showing within these 2 months, lol so many considerations...or just get some more ram if your hands are itchy..they are still cheap presently..and overclock your 6870
 
M

mkenyon

Banned
Smokey said:
I'm looking for a new computer desk. Haven't done so in a while, anybody know where to start?
Click to expand...
Lots of people suggest the IKEA Galant.

I'm a firm believer in big heavy wood desk + wire rack. This allows you to place the monitors at the perfect height, and fairly close to you. They're basically above where my hands are when typing on the keyboard. Can also zip-tie some lights to the bottom of the rack, and get nice illumination with zero glare in a dark room. Older pic of my setup:

U6DXVl.jpg


DrBaalzamon said:
Oh I have a quad Phenom II OC'd to 3.7hz. Its not super high end but it should be fine for what Im doing. I also only have 4gigs of ram, maybe double it to 8 based on how inexpensive it is. But I MAY pick up a 560TI because it probably fits a 1080p panel better!
Click to expand...
That's a ridiculous amount of money to spend on a tiny performance increase. I'd really really suggest not doing that.
 
C

Cheeto

Member
So I guess my i5 750 is not enough to stream and play games... No matter what I do I cannot get my games to run smoothly when I'm streaming. When do the next generations of processors come out, or should I just go for a sandy bridge i7 now?
 
T

Tashi

343i Lead Esports Producer
How do you hide all the wires Scogoth? Is that some feature built into the desk? I have so many wires running behind my desk, it looks like shit. lol
 
S

scogoth

Member
Cheeto said:
So I guess my i5 750 is not enough to stream and play games... No matter what I do I cannot get my games to run smoothly when I'm streaming. When do the next generations of processors come out, or should I just go for a sandy bridge i7 now?
Click to expand...

Which games/streaming software? Are you using a scratch disk or SSD?


Tashi0106 said:
How do you hide all the wires Scogoth? Is that some feature built into the desk? I have so many wires running behind my desk, it looks like shit. lol
Click to expand...

Its a feature of the desk, there's just a cable trough at the back. Depending on your desk you can buy one and bolt it the back. Also cable ties and Velcro strips are your friend. My power strip stuck to the back of the desk with velcro pads.

EDIT Pics of wires, the previous shot was to cleverly hide them

http://img.skitch.com/20120124-r499tsxn7nfy88bcwextqj73fw.jpg
http://img.skitch.com/20120124-mcuskytd6jdd9anxca34gte6qc.jpg
 
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