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[Truant]

I've had my 920 OC'd to 3,6ghz for almost a year now, but I had to reset my CMOS because of a problem with the system date.

Anyway, the settings are now reverted to the default 2,67 ghz and I can't make the chip overclock again. I do the standard increase in ratio and BCLK, but when I go to the advanced tab on my bios to see the speed, it's still at the default settings. They almost seem "greyed out". Now, I know these settings are supposed to update as you overclock - without saving the settings via F10.

If I try to save, I get an "overclock failed" when I reboot. Most likely this is because there's a mismatch of settings somewhere. The AI Tweaker (OC) page in the bios is telling me one thing, but the CPU overview is telling me something else.

I tried flashing to the latest version of the bios, no help. I'm on an ASUS P6T Deluxe V2 mobo.

Help!

 

[DagsJT]

Just wanted to clarify with you guys:

Are those free copies of Far Cry 3, Hitman Asbolution, and Sleeping Dogs with the purchase of a Radeon 7950 truly and legitimately free with the $300 purchase, or does this combo merely qualify me for a discount? I'm uncertain because there's this separate $170 price tag page for those games. Is that page merely for those solely interested in the games and not the card?

Seems crazy that you're able to save $170 on new games by buying this card...

The deal seems too good to be true!

All free, I just got them with my 7950.

 

[HarryDemeanor]

Just wanted to clarify with you guys:

Are those free copies of Far Cry 3, Hitman Asbolution, and Sleeping Dogs with the purchase of a Radeon 7950 truly and legitimately free with the $300 purchase, or does this combo merely qualify me for a discount? I'm uncertain because there's this separate $170 price tag page for those games. Is that page merely for those solely interested in the games and not the card?

Seems crazy that you're able to save $170 on new games by buying this card...

The deal seems too good to be true!

They're free.

 

[MichaelEM3]

That's crazy!

Hitman Absolution and Sleeping Dogs are redeemable on Steam, correct? Pretty sure they're Steamworks titles. Is it true that Far Cry 3 is only redeemable on the Ubisoft store, though?

 

[kharma45]

That's crazy!

Hitman Absolution and Sleeping Dogs are redeemable on Steam, correct? Pretty sure they're Steamworks titles. Is it true that Far Cry 3 is only redeemable on the Ubisoft store, though?

Correct.

To hazaro, fatty, HarryDemeanor, mkenyon, kharma45, DagsJT, garath, and everyone here at PC GAF...THANKS A LOT!

You guys are the best.

Always happy to help.

 

[Mulligan]

So i just went ahead and purchased the HD 7970 IceQ x GHz Edition 3072mb for £300.

This should handle anything i throw at it with 60fps at 1920x1200 resolution, right?

 

[HarryDemeanor]

That's crazy!

Hitman Absolution and Sleeping Dogs are redeemable on Steam, correct? Pretty sure they're Steamworks titles. Is it true that Far Cry 3 is only redeemable on the Ubisoft store, though?

Those two should be redeemable on Steam but I'm not too sure. I don't know about Far Cry. I still haven't received my card yet. =/

 

[MichaelEM3]

Correct.

Darn. Minor bummer there regarding Far Cry 3 then.

Ah, well. Still so worth it.

 

[kharma45]

So i just went ahead and purchased the HD 7970 IceQ x GHz Edition 3072mb for £300.

This should handle anything i throw at it with 60fps at 1920x1200 resolution, right?

Going by BF3 you'll be sweet

 

[th3dude]

Any good deals on GTX 570s right now? Looking to help my brother finish his build for Christmas and this seems to be the best bang for the buck card out there right now (in the 150-250 range). Also open to any suggestions!

 

[Lkr]

this is my brother's current case:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811166004

the temps are decent, but it is loud. he doesn't mind the noise however. is a haf912 a good upgrade? are there any case fans to add?

next off, i bought myself an antec three hundred pretty cheap. there are four 120mm slots i believe that come without a fan. if i buy four 120mms to fill in, would it be worth the money? is this fan fine? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103060

 

[Seance]

Any good deals on GTX 570s right now? Looking to help my brother finish his build for Christmas and this seems to be the best bang for the buck card out there right now (in the 150-250 range). Also open to any suggestions!

Go for the HD7850/7870

 

[TerminalDogma]

Hey Gaf, I'm thinking of building my first PC over winter break. I do most of my gaming on my 360, but I'm still prone to go crazy on a steam sale now and then, the most recent PC games I've played being Diablo 3 and Guild Wars 2. I don't want to spend any more then $600 maximum. Would I be able to salvage anything from my current PC?

Motherboard: Gigabyte P55A-UD3

Processor: Intel Core i5 750

Graphics Card: ATI Radeon HD 5700

4 GB Ram


or should I just go on and buy all new parts at this point? I'm also contemplating getting an Alienware X51 since I'm not so confident on my PC building skills.

 

[kharma45]

Any good deals on GTX 570s right now? Looking to help my brother finish his build for Christmas and this seems to be the best bang for the buck card out there right now (in the 150-250 range). Also open to any suggestions!

Get a 7850 instead, 7870 might even come within top end of budget.

 

[LightofRohan]

My computer is connected to my TV right now! It's not the smooth/flawless experience that it's made out to be, but it's neat. It still feels weird playing PC games on my TV though and it doesn't feel dramatically different (outside framerate and a bit better AA). AC2 at 60fps and Vsync is awesome compared to the PS3 version.

 

[Tenck]

My computer is connected to my TV right now! It's not the smooth/flawless experience that it's made out to be, but it's neat.

Can you elaborate?

 

[OatmealMu]

I just received my Intel Core i3-3220 and was going to use the stock fan and heatsink. On a chance, I looked at the box of my old Hyper 212 Plus and noticed it supports the Core i3. On the other hand, it only mentions support for LGA 1155. Can I use my Hyper 212 Plus with the new processor and mobo?

 

[DTKT]

I just received my Intel Core i3-3220 and was going to use the stock fan and heatsink. On a chance, I looked at the box of my old Hyper 212 Plus and noticed it supports the Core i3. On the other hand, it only mentions support for LGA 1155. Can I use my Hyper 212 Plus with the new processor and mobo?

Isn't the i3-3220 a 1155 socket? My Hyper 212 + has no issues with a i5-750 which is a 1156 socket.

 

[OatmealMu]

Isn't the i3-3220 a 1155 socket? My Hyper 212 + has no issues with a i5-750 which is a 1156 socket.

Oops, I made a type. I meant the box only mentions support for LGA1156. On the plus side, it looks like 1156 and 1155 share the same holes for mounts. This is the first time I can use my old cooler on a new CPU, so I'm a bit nervous...

 

[Infinite Justice]

Oops, I made a type. I meant the box only mentions support for LGA1156. On the plus side, it looks like 1156 and 1155 share the same holes for mounts. This is the first time I can use my old cooler on a new CPU, so I'm a bit nervous...

i can confirm it works since they are essentially the same.

 

[Ceebs]

Ugh. So my 670 RMA listed as complete early last week but never shipped back so I called up Asus.

3 week wait for a replacement 670 as it is apparently a highly returned card (so heads up to anyone still considering a DC2 version).

Gonna call back to their other customer support number and try and see what I can get done. Would asking for a 680 be out of line if it will take them almost a month to send a 670 back to me?

(also I just now got an RMA number from Seasonic after a week of phone calls and like 6 emails)

 

[DTKT]

Ugh. So my 670 RMA listed as complete early last week but never shipped back so I called up Asus.

3 week wait for a replacement 670 as it is apparently a highly returned card (so heads up to anyone still considering a DC2 version).

Gonna call back to their other customer support number and try and see what I can get done. Would asking for a 680 be out of line if it will take them almost a month to send a 670 back to me?

(also I just now got an RMA number from Seasonic after a week of phone calls and like 6 emails)

Did you buy that 670 when it just came out? They had dozens of defective cards and it seemed like a pretty widespread issue.

 

[th3dude]

Get a 7850 instead, 7870 might even come within top end of budget.

I like what I'm seeing with those cards. I'm more of an nvidia guy but my brother is building an AMD system.

Think the 7870 is worth the price difference over 7850?

 

[Ceebs]

Did you buy that 670 when it just came out? They had dozens of defective cards and it seemed like a pretty widespread issue.

Yeah, I got it just as it started to be in stock for more than 2 minutes at a time.

It did last me until now though.

 

[jsrv]

Finally got around to build and boot up my replacement PC (3570k, GTX670, 16GB DDR3, SSD, Win8), which replaced an e5200 with an ATI 4830.

Wow

 

[Lkr]

working on my brother's rig.
case - haf912 : $60
cpu - i5 3570k : $150
video card - hd 7850 twin frozr : $205 AR
budget is around $600
up to $405 and needs a mobo. reusing ram, hard drives(although possibly buying an SSD if there is still left over money) and a psu. i'm not sure which mobo from the OP to get. i don't think he needs anything crazy good or anything.

 

[LightofRohan]

Can you elaborate?

Ah sorry, more referring to Big Picture Mode, the actual hooking up my comp to TV was quite simple and problem free (outside of lugging my giant desktop across the room). And about Big Picture Mode, I'm sure it is possible, but I haven't been able to solely use my controller w/ it comfortably and it has crashed a bunch. There are too many popups that require a mouse and I've been going through this damn thing where a lot of the games I click in my library say, "You have to convert my game content" and then once it does that (~15 mins) I have to "install extra data" or something. So I just wanted to try out Max Payne 3 on my big-screen and it took a hour to do so... I mean it's not a huge problem, but this isn't the "console killer" app yet.

Also I feel a lot of games are monitor dependent, because the scaling feels off on my big screen 6 feet away.

 

[JustProgress]

Is there an easy way to wipe a HDD and start fresh? Talking Windows activation, etc. too

 

[Spiegel13]

Maybe this is a dumb question, but I'm about to make an upgrade and I'm thinking of buying 2x8GB vengeance RAM instead of 4x4GB of the same RAM. Is there any difference? Like the 2x8GB set being slower or something?

 

[evil solrac v3.0]

My 660ti is out for delivery today It's been awhile since I bought PC parts from newegg. Forgot how fast they were.

This will be a 100% improvement from my 460. Can't wait to plug it in and fire up some games.

Finally completes the i5 Sandy Bridge system I built last year. The 460 was just a $100 refurb stop gap upgrade from the 260.

Now I'm set for awhile. Maybe a new monitor or SSD drive next year but that'll be it.

your next card will eb a GTX 860 going by your pattern.

Any recommendations for an HDMI cable? I was checking Monoprice but they charge $5 shipping for a $3 cable (to Canada).

buy a few more things so it feels worth it I guess. it's all the same.

Just about everything is ready to go. I look forward to the upcoming four hours of swearing, regret and eventual happiness when the thing can stay on for more than five minutes without catching on fire.

Wish me luck

good luck! is this your first? you'll feel like a proud papa trading pictures with the other PC dads/moms.

Just wanted to clarify with you guys:

Are those free copies of Far Cry 3, Hitman Asbolution, and Sleeping Dogs with the purchase of a Radeon 7950 truly and legitimately free with the $300 purchase, or does this combo merely qualify me for a discount? I'm uncertain because there's this separate $170 price tag page for those games. Is that page merely for those solely interested in the games and not the card?

Seems crazy that you're able to save $170 on new games by buying this card...

The deal seems too good to be true!

welcome to PC gaming, here's 3 free games.

 

[Felix Lighter]

Just wanted to clarify with you guys:

Are those free copies of Far Cry 3, Hitman Asbolution, and Sleeping Dogs with the purchase of a Radeon 7950 truly and legitimately free with the $300 purchase, or does this combo merely qualify me for a discount? I'm uncertain because there's this separate $170 price tag page for those games. Is that page merely for those solely interested in the games and not the card?

Seems crazy that you're able to save $170 on new games by buying this card...

The deal seems too good to be true!

Just wait until the Steam winter sale and you'll see what $170 worth of games really looks like.

 

[SolarPowered]

Okay... I've put all the pieces in so far, but I did a little test before trying to load the PC with the 670 Windforce installed. It loaded up fine. The leds turned on, the CPU is on, the RAM is identified and the optical drive was active. The fans for just about everything spun like crazy. The Asus BIOS setup also showed up on my screen. When I installed the Windforce everything except the image seems to be working as usual. I tried HDMI using the motherboard's input as well and I got no image this time. Is there something missing here? I know the GPU is definitely on because the fans are spinning.

I have a follow up question related to the OS, but I'd like to take one thing at a time.

Edit: Video problem seemingly fixed.

good luck! is this your first? you'll feel like a proud papa trading pictures with the other PC dads/moms.

Yeah, but I have a feeling my pics are gonna lead to something out of a certain Seinfeld episode. The guts of this thing are a mess compared to the other rigs posted in here lol.

Just wait until the Steam winter sale and you'll see what $170 worth of games really looks like.

An entire console generation's worth of games.

 

[Mordeccai]

Waiting for my case is excruciating. Its unbelievable how much better Amazons shipping was than neweggs... my tracking for newegg hasn't updated for two days and its irritating me.

I was looking at the rest of my parts and noticed that my driver CD's state they work on XP/Vista/7 but no mention of 8. I'm guessing this really isn't a big deal if I got Windows 8? My mobo also states in the manual that the overclocking interface/bios is optimized for Windows 7 (Biostar TZ77B) I should still be able to use everything just fine installing Win8 right?

 

[scogoth]

What is this GAF!

http://www.cooledpc.com/build/237

8th! Are we really going to let mkenyon lose out to some kid from indonesia? Vote and represent PC-GAF!

 

[mkenyon]

Awww yisss. Just got our business license in the mail too. Am excite.

Test bench should be up and running within the month, lots of content to follow. Glad I have like two weeks off then. I think some of the benches and articles I have planned might take the entire time!

What is this GAF!

http://www.cooledpc.com/build/237

8th! Are we really going to let mkenyon lose out to some kid from indonesia? Vote and represent PC-GAF!

Haha, thanks.

Also, found out that voting is 40% of your final placement. 30% is by a group of three 'world class' modders, 30% is by an editor of a hardware website. I might be arrogant here, but I expect a 4-6th finish looking at that category.

 

[scogoth]

Awww yisss. Just got our business license in the mail too. Am excite.

Test bench should be up and running within the month, lots of content to follow. Glad I have like two weeks off then. I think some of the benches and articles I have planned might take the entire time!

Haha, thanks.

Also, found out that voting is 40% of your final placement. 30% is by a group of three 'world class' modders, 30% is by an editor of a hardware website. I might be arrogant here, but I expect a 4-6th finish looking at that category.

That would make more sense cause that one in first is pretty ugly. Maybe a zfzlab pc can place first next competition.

 

[GK86]

What is a good site to keep up on tech news(mobos, graphics cards, cpu, etc)?

 

[x3r0123]

got my U2312HM it's freaking sweet
not so great for gaming though

 

[SnakeswithLasers]

I asked Reddit for ~500 build using only Amazon and Newegg and was suggested this:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD Phenom II X4 965 Black 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($84.99 @ Newegg)
Motherboard: MSI 760GM-P21 (FX) Micro ATX AM3+ Motherboard ($60.26 @ Amazon)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (1 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($59.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: XFX Radeon HD 7850 2GB Video Card ($179.99 @ Newegg)
Case: NZXT Source 210 Elite (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($49.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 500W 80 PLUS Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($39.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $505.20
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2012-12-04 23:29 EST-0500)

Any suggestions on different parts? Does this look good?

Second, I share the TV with my partner, so I can't have a full time gaming center on the TV. What I'd LIKE to do is what I do now: Play on the TV when I can, then switch over to my laptop when she wants to watch something.

Is there any way to do this practically? Meaning: Is there some kind of "laptop" of sorts that is just a monitor/keyboard that I can plug my HDMI cable into? Maybe I could just get a monitor and set it on the coffee table or something. =/

 

[Exuro]

Is it normal to get 1 8gb stick of ram? I assume you would get more performance/bandwidth with two 4gb's.

 

[scogoth]

Is it normal to get 1 8gb stick of ram? I assume you would get more performance/bandwidth with two 4gb's.

Or just go for 2x 8GB sticks =)
Performance would be negligible for any normal usage.

I asked Reddit for ~500 build using only Amazon and Newegg and was suggested this:


Any suggestions on different parts? Does this look good?

Second, I share the TV with my partner, so I can't have a full time gaming center on the TV. What I'd LIKE to do is what I do now: Play on the TV when I can, then switch over to my laptop when she wants to watch something.

Is there any way to do this practically? Meaning: Is there some kind of "laptop" of sorts that is just a monitor/keyboard that I can plug my HDMI cable into? Maybe I could just get a monitor and set it on the coffee table or something. =/

I wouldn't go AMD for gaming especially such an old processor. Look at first build in OP and add in a 7850.

 

[Seance]

What is a good site to keep up on tech news(mobos, graphics cards, cpu, etc)?

http://www.tomshardware.com/

 

[Seance]

I asked Reddit for ~500 build using only Amazon and Newegg and was suggested this:


Any suggestions on different parts? Does this look good?

Second, I share the TV with my partner, so I can't have a full time gaming center on the TV. What I'd LIKE to do is what I do now: Play on the TV when I can, then switch over to my laptop when she wants to watch something.

Is there any way to do this practically? Meaning: Is there some kind of "laptop" of sorts that is just a monitor/keyboard that I can plug my HDMI cable into? Maybe I could just get a monitor and set it on the coffee table or something. =/

I'd suggest getting an intel CPU, i5 3570k. You will be over budget but that CPU will meet your gaming needs for years to come. Best value IMO.

 

[SnakeswithLasers]

I wouldn't go AMD for gaming especially such an old processor. Look at first build in OP and add in a 7850.

I'd suggest getting an intel CPU, i5 3570k. You will be over budget but that CPU will meet your gaming needs for years to come. Best value IMO.

Ok, I'll rethink processor. I don't think I'll be overclocking, so I might go with the i5 34xx mentioned in OP?

Any thoughts on the issue of TV to "non-TV" display?

 

[Zimbardo]

do you guys think that an i5 760 @ 3.8ghz would really hold back a GTX680 4GB card? (running games @ 1080p)

i'm thinking that it might hold it back a bit in some situations, but not so much that it'd be upsetting ...but i'm curious as to what you guys would think? thanks for any input.

 

[Big Chungus]

hmm for $350 i could upgrade my 2008 pc (motherboard, cpu and memory).

the only thing that is old would be my 6850.

worth it?

 

[Luthair]

I am looking for a new (as future-proof as possible) computer and I am looking at something like this:

Corsair Graphite Series 600T CC600TM Mid-Tower Gaming Case
GIGABYTE GA-X79-UP4 LGA 2011 Intel X79 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard
EVGA 04G-P4-3687-KR GeForce GTX 680 FTW+ w/Backplate 4GB 256-bit GDDR5
Intel Core i7-3930K Sandy Bridge-E 3.2GHz (3.8GHz Turbo) LGA 2011 130W Six-Core
SAMSUNG 840 Pro Series MZ-7PD256BW 2.5" 256GB SATA III MLC Internal Solid State Drive
CORSAIR Vengeance 32GB (8 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
CORSAIR Hydro Series H100i Water Cooler

I do a lot of video editing and gaming mostly. My PC is my everything, I watch my movies and TV on it too. Thoughts?

 

[scogoth]

Ok, I'll rethink processor. I don't think I'll be overclocking, so I might go with the i5 34xx mentioned in OP?

Any thoughts on the issue of TV to "non-TV" display?

You can easily do two monitors and just set them to mirror mode.

 

[NervousXtian]

Best monitor under $250?

 

[HarryDemeanor]

Ok, I'll rethink processor. I don't think I'll be overclocking, so I might go with the i5 34xx mentioned in OP?

The 3470 will be fine if you aren't overclocking.