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"I need a New PC!" 2012 Thread. Ivy, SSDs, and reading the OP. [Part 2]

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T

teh_pwn

"Saturated fat causes heart disease as much as Brawndo is what plants crave."
BolognaSoup said:
I just did a system restore to Christmas Eve and so far so good. Now I guess I gotta figure out which drivers are bad. I haven't installed any new hardware recently. I updated my motherboard a few days ago though because of some other intermittent crashes I was having. Is this just the life of being a Windows user? I've been a Mac user for the last 30 years until I built this system in the summer.
Click to expand...

No, this is not typical.

I've seen PCs on Windows 8 RTM bluescreen due to bad drivers with really old displays. But not with a modern PC.

Do you have any devices connected that are much older or newer than your version of Windows?

If not, try booting on memtest to sanity check RAM, then Prime95 with error checking to verify your CPU. Bad RAM can cause inconsistent errors depending on when an app or OS loads into a bad sector.
 
M

mr2xxx

Banned
Whooter said:
This will sound like a dumb question, but you're hooking a power cable up to it, too, right? I'm not asking because that's ever happened to me or anything.

I'm just saying... :-/
Click to expand...

Yeah there is power, i tried different power cables, different sata slots and cables and i'm still having issues.

Hard drives are in AHCI mode, should I change that?
 
LiquidMetal14

LiquidMetal14

hide your water-based mammals
DrForester said:
Curse you FedEx...

Everything is here, except my case, and now it won't be delivered until Wendsday.
Click to expand...

I hate that feeling bro lol

I remember when I first got this build together I had everything but the CPU heatsink. It was like waiting for the power cord for your new next gen console since it shipped separate (hypothetically). I will be getting the MB, CPU, RAM, PSU, and case in early February so I want most of my important parts to get here first.
 
G

Greg

Member
DrForester said:
Curse you FedEx...

Everything is here, except my case, and now it won't be delivered until Wendsday.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I'm in a similar situation. Fry's cancelled an order too late in the day for me to order from Newegg and have it shipped that same day... now I'll have everything but the motherboard until Thursday.
 
T

teh_pwn

"Saturated fat causes heart disease as much as Brawndo is what plants crave."
"I need a New PC!" 2013 Thread of "Can It Play Crysis 3?"
 
S

sorijealut

Member
In the end, I jumped on the Sapphire 7950 at $280 + $20 rebate, with the Never Settle bundle.

I know this is a dumb question, but how do I redeem the game codes from Newegg?
Also, how do I go about selling them?
 
N

NoRéN

Member
sorijealut said:
In the end, I jumped on the Sapphire 7950 at $280 + $20 rebate, with the Never Settle bundle.

I know this is a dumb question, but how do I redeem the game codes from Newegg?
Also, how do I go about selling them?
Click to expand...

The game codes should be on physical cards included in the package.

As for selling them, try the Buy/Sell thread. Just PM the buyer the code and any appropriate links or instructions listed on the card.
 
I

iavi

Member
sorijealut said:
In the end, I jumped on the Sapphire 7950 at $280 + $20 rebate, with the Never Settle bundle.

I know this is a dumb question, but how do I redeem the game codes from Newegg?
Also, how do I go about selling them?
Click to expand...

I was wondering about this too. I got the same exact card, partner. Newegg lists it as an item in the cart, so I had a feeling it'd be in the box when it arrived...which is taking forever thanks to the holidays lol
 
S

StayUp

Member
Guys my 60GB SSD is like 95% full so it's time to upgrade, I'm thinking 250GB. What would you guys recommend? There's so many options.
 
J

Jburton

Banned
Well I have installed an aftermarket cooler on my reference 670 and the idle temps have dropped to 22 - 25c and under load never creep above 45 - 50c (50 c when benchmarking through uniengine)

It's totally quiet (the cooler is set to 50 % speed) and I have a ton of thermal headroom for OC'ing.


Thing is I can not set the clock overset to 100 MHz or more or I get black screen and the card resets itself.


Any ideas?
 
GHG

GHG

Member
So the new computer is fully up and running. I'd like to say thanks to everyone who gave me advice here as it helped quite a lot.

Some quick pics I took (excuse the shoddy cable management, this is to be sorted!):

20130101_135025ytjaf.jpg


20130101_134739nhj90.jpg


20130101_1348132hkxy.jpg


Full specs:

Case: CoolerMaster XB
PSU: Antec 750W semi-modular
CPU: i5 3570k OC'd to 4.6 Ghz
Cooler: Alpenföhn K2 Mount Doom (Yes, its HUGE)
Mobo: Gigabyte G1 Sniper M3 M-ATX
RAM: 16GB TeamGroup ddr3 (2x 8GB)
GPU's: 2X 3GB EVGA 660 GTX SC edition

All hooked up to my 1080p HDTV.

I've done a few tests/benchmarks with it over the last few days and I'm really pleased with the performence. Huge step up from my Phenom 965 and GTX 480 (oh the noise that thing made...). This setup is so much quieter and cooler than my previous. My CPU is sitting around 28 degrees idle and the highest I've seen under load while gaiming is 56 degrees. This cooler is amazing and the amount of air in the XB case is really helping. The GPU's are hitting max 60 degrees and the fans never get higher than 40%. So all in all this is looking to be a cool and quiet setup while offering blistering performance.

The GPU's have laughed at everything I've thrown at them. They are just powering through everything. High IQ settings, downsampling, nothing is making them sweat. I will post some benchmarks later but this is a quick one just to give you an idea of how they are performing:

http://www.3dmark.com/3dmv/4493801

I've had no microstutter issues or driver issues so far with anything I've tried. Its all been smooth as butter. I guess SLI has come a long way compared to complaints people were having a few years back. For the £360 I've sent on the GPU's, I've got 3GB of VRAM and performence that more than beats any single card setup that I could have got for the same money. I think I may be ready for Crysis 3!

Benchmarks to follow later today.
 
C

CyanideFuse

Member
@Jburton

What cooling have you added to your 670? Was it easy to install?

I have managed to overclock my reference by 143MHz which takes it, including boost, to 1254MHz without any issues. The heat is my problem in that it goes over 70 degrees under load and throttles itself a little.
 
J

Jburton

Banned
CyanideFuse said:
@Jburton

What cooling have you added to your 670? Was it easy to install?

I have managed to overclock my reference by 143MHz which takes it, including boost, to 1254MHz without any issues. The heat is my problem in that it goes over 70 degrees under load and throttles itself a little.
Click to expand...

Arctic Accelero Mono Plus is the cooler, cost about £30 and took 15 mins to install (excluding removing the old reference cooler and cleaning the old thermal paste from the chip).

Really easy and worth it, very quiet and the cooling is fantastic.

BF3 at 1080p, 4xMSAA, Ultra settings, 16xAF and HBAO runs at an almost solid 60fps and never breaches the 50c mark.


Original cooler was unbelievably loud and the temps would hit around 70 - 72c.


Have been running msi kumbustor now for almost an hour with an oc that brings the boost clock up to 1215 and it is running fine.

Will let this complete the hour and then run uniengine again to see if it fails ...... it's possibly just a poor overclocker.
 
C

CyanideFuse

Member
Jburton said:
Arctic Accelero Mono Plus is the cooler, cost about £30 and took 15 mins to install (excluding removing the old reference cooler and cleaning the old thermal paste from the chip).

Really easy and worth it, very quiet and the cooling is fantastic.

BF3 at 1080p, 4xMSAA, Ultra settings, 16xAF and HBAO runs at an almost solid 60fps and never breaches the 50c mark.


Original cooler was unbelievably loud and the temps would hit around 70 - 72c.


Have been running msi kumbustor now for almost an hour with an oc that brings the boost clock up to 1215 and it is running fine.

Will let this complete the hour and then run uniengine again to see if it fails ...... it's possibly just a poor overclocker.
Click to expand...

Thanks for this. I have been researching a few different cooling methods but didn't see this one. Where did you buy it to?

What memory speed have you added to your card? I can add 450MHz on the offset (using EVGA Precision X).
 
A

ashbash159

Member
Crap. I think my PSU has stopped working. I try to power the PC on and the PSU fan just barely moves and then doesn't spin at all.

Is there any way to be certain it is the PSU that has failed and not the motherboard and CPU?

My motherboard and CPU are only about two weeks old and have been working fine.

It must be my PSU as I installed a new 670 GPU yesterday for the first time. I worked great all of yesterday, but today, as soon as I exited a shack in Far Cry 3 my computer turned off and no longer turns on.

My PSU is over 2 and a half years old but is only 550W, which I thought was enough for a 670, HDD, wireless card and of course the motherboard and CPU.

Could someone recommend me a PSU to pick up tomorrow in a PC World or Maplin (UK)?
 
K

kharma45

Member
ashbash159 said:
Crap. I think my PSU has stopped working. I try to power the PC on and the PSU fan just barely moves and then doesn't spin at all.

Is there any way to be certain it is the PSU that has failed and not the motherboard and CPU?

My motherboard and CPU are only about two weeks old and have been working fine.

It must be my PSU as I installed a new 670 GPU yesterday for the first time. I worked great all of yesterday, but today, as soon as I exited a shack in Far Cry 3 my computer turned off and no longer turns on.

My PSU is over 2 and a half years old but is only 550W, which I thought was enough for a 670, HDD, wireless card and of course the motherboard and CPU.

Could someone recommend me a PSU to pick up tomorrow in a PC World or Maplin (UK)?
Click to expand...

Where abouts do you live in the UK? Budget? What PSU do you have atm?
 
A

ashbash159

Member
South East Essex. Up to £100, probably a lot less. I don't really know anything about PSUs. Win Power SL-8550EPS.

Edit: Wow I didn't realise my PSU was so cheap at under £20. I got it build in with a "barebones bundle" PC.
 
K

kharma45

Member
ashbash159 said:
South East Essex. Up to £100, probably less. Win Power SL-8550EPS.
Click to expand...

You're lucky that PSU didn't take out your system, it's to be blunt a cheapy piece of crap that was quite risky to power something like a 670 on. A PSU is something you should never skimp on.

Was hoping you'd be living close to say Overclockers or Novatech as they'd be able to offer much better stuff than somewhere like PC World or Maplin. On the topic of what Maplin and PC World offer what they have in their stores looks like total shit, you'd be better off waiting a few days for a delivery from an online store than buy another crap PSU out of their stores and have it shit itself again on you.
 
A

ashbash159

Member
kharma45 said:
You're lucky that PSU didn't take out your system, it's to be blunt a cheapy piece of crap that was quite risky to power something like a 670 on.

Was hoping you'd be living close to say Overclockers or Novatech as they'd be able to offer much better stuff than somewhere like PC World or Maplin. On the topic of what Maplin and PC World offer what they have in their stores looks like total shit, you'd be better off waiting a few days for a delivery from an online store than buy another crap PSU out of their stores and have it shit itself again on you.
Click to expand...

Thanks for all the advice.

Yeah I paid no attention to what PSU I had, just what wattage it was.

What PSU do you recommend I order?
 
Korranator

Korranator

Member
Just curious, I still have an old Intel Wolfdale 3.0 overclocked to 4.2 which has been stable for years. Would I really see much performance difference in gaming with newer line of i5s?
 
K

kharma45

Member
ashbash159 said:
Thanks for all the advice.

Yeah I paid no attention to what PSU I had, just what wattage it was.

What PSU do you recommend I order?
Click to expand...

Sorry if I sounded like a bit of a dick in the last post but it is something you do need to buy a quality brand for, a bad one could literally fry your whole machine. If you're willing to spend up to £100 then there is some good stuff but I'll give you a few examples at different price levels.

At £50 there is the XFX ProSeries 550W Core Edition .

At £70 there is the 550W Antec BP550Plus Basiq Power Supply. There is also the Seasonic G series 550w '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply at this price too.

Very top end would then be the Seasonic X-Series 650w '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply at £93, with Scan offering the 750w at £115. XFX ProSeries 750W PSU - XXX Edition Semi-Modular 80 Plus Silver for £95 or for a pound more there is the 850 version of it.

The two star buys for me are unquestionably the Seasonic G550 from Scan at £70 or the X650 from Scan at £93, just depends on what you want to spend in the end.
 
T

teh_pwn

"Saturated fat causes heart disease as much as Brawndo is what plants crave."
DrForester said:
Hazaro said he's going to be busy and might not have a new thread up for a few weeks.
Click to expand...

And that should be fine. We're going to be using 2012 hardware for a few more months.

Haswell and Sea Islands are likely Q2-Q3.
 
M

mkenyon

Banned
x3r0123 said:
isnt it about time we move the thread to 2013 version?
Click to expand...
Yeah, but between Haz and myself, we have some full plates right now. I'm working on getting my website moving, and he's busy being an esports pillar. Big Firefall tourney going on right now, and he's casting most (all?) of it.

We update the hardware regularly, or, when it needs to be updated. No big changes planned at all other than expansion of some of the sections that are fairly barebones right now, like the accessories.
ashbash159 said:
Thanks for all the advice.

Yeah I paid no attention to what PSU I had, just what wattage it was.

What PSU do you recommend I order?
Click to expand...
Kharma's adivce +1.
Korranator said:
Just curious, I still have an old Intel Wolfdale 3.0 overclocked to 4.2 which has been stable for years. Would I really see much performance difference in gaming with newer line of i5s?
Click to expand...
Most definitely.

In the two static charts here, your processor would line up with the AMD stuff.
 
A

ashbash159

Member
kharma45 said:
Sorry if I sounded like a bit of a dick in the last post but it is something you do need to buy a quality brand for, a bad one could literally fry your whole machine. If you're willing to spend up to £100 then there is some good stuff but I'll give you a few examples at different price levels.

At £50 there is the XFX ProSeries 550W Core Edition .

At £70 there is the 550W Antec BP550Plus Basiq Power Supply. There is also the Seasonic G series 550w '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply at this price too.

Very top end would then be the Seasonic X-Series 650w '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply at £93, with Scan offering the 750w at £115. XFX ProSeries 750W PSU - XXX Edition Semi-Modular 80 Plus Silver for £95 or for a pound more there is the 850 version of it.

The two star buys for me are unquestionably the Seasonic G550 from Scan at £70 or the X650 from Scan at £93, just depends on what you want to spend in the end.
Click to expand...

Thanks!

Yeah you kinda needed to be a dick in order to make me understand that I had been very stupid. Like I said before, when I first build a PC in early 2010 I bought a barebones bundle, which was the motherboard, CPU, case and PSU. I paid no attention at all the what PSU it was... all I knew was that it was 550W and that was enough.

Also, I'm just wondering why it is worth spending more money for a PSU at the same wattage? I mean if that £50 PSU is good enough I may as well go for that rather than the more expensive ones that are still 550W. I'll probably get a 650W anyway just to be extra safe.
 
S

sorijealut

Member
Whooter said:
Oh sure, and I can't even get them to cough up the codes they owe me. :p
Click to expand...
:( Had a feeling these codes were rather slippery, according to reviews and such.
NoRéN;45945799 said:
The game codes should be on physical cards included in the package.

As for selling them, try the Buy/Sell thread. Just PM the buyer the code and any appropriate links or instructions listed on the card.
Click to expand...
So that's how it is... thanks so much!
Ah, you've reminded me to go to gaf for this trade, awesome.

Miizy F Baby said:
I was wondering about this too. I got the same exact card, partner. Newegg lists it as an item in the cart, so I had a feeling it'd be in the box when it arrived...which is taking forever thanks to the holidays lol
Click to expand...
HELLO friend! lol you've no idea how comforting this is.
Yeah, I should've known the code would be physical. My order is still "Packaging" when I placed it on the 29th ;_;
 
K

kharma45

Member
ashbash159 said:
Thanks!

Yeah you kinda needed to be a dick in order to make me understand that I had been very stupid. Like I said before, when I first build a PC in early 2010 I bought a barebones bundle, which was the motherboard, CPU, case and PSU. I paid no attention at all the what PSU it was... all I knew was that it was 550W and that was enough.

Also, I'm just wondering why it is worth spending more money for a PSU at the same wattage? I mean if that £50 PSU is good enough I may as well go for that rather than the more expensive ones that are still 550W. I'll probably get a 650W anyway just to be extra safe.
Click to expand...

It's easily done, I've made the same mistake in the past myself but thankfully I haven't been bitten in the arse yet by it.

The difference between the XFX at £50 and say the Seasonic X-650 at £93 is that the Seasonic is modular, offers 80+ Gold efficiency (the XFX is Bronze) and it has generally better components and cooling in it. The XFX is in no way a bad PSU (it is in fact my favourite budget one) but you get what you pay for, and with stuff like the Seasonic X-Series they're pretty much the best you can get.

Here's some reviews of the XFX Core, Seasonic G550 and the X650.

XFX Core Edition 550W review by Jonny Guru and by KitGuru.

For the Seasonic G Series 550w there is this one from TechPowerUp, this from Hardware Secrets and this from KitGuru.

Lastly for the Seasonic X-650 650W there is this from Jonny Guru, this from Hardware Secrets and this one from Silent PC Review.

Read through them all and see what suits you best.
 
A

ashbash159

Member
kharma45 said:
It's easily done, I've made the same mistake in the past myself but thankfully I haven't been bitten in the arse yet by it.

The difference between the XFX at £50 and say the Seasonic X-650 at £93 is that the Seasonic is modular, offers 80+ Gold efficiency (the XFX is Bronze) and it has generally better components and cooling in it. The XFX is in no way a bad PSU (it is in fact my favourite budget one) but you get what you pay for, and with stuff like the Seasonic X-Series they're pretty much the best you can get.

Here's some reviews of the XFX Core, Seasonic G550 and the X650.

XFX Core Edition 550W review by Jonny Guru and by KitGuru.

For the Seasonic G Series 550w there is this one from TechPowerUp, this from Hardware Secrets and this from KitGuru.

Lastly for the Seasonic X-650 650W there is this from Jonny Guru, this from Hardware Secrets and this one from Silent PC Review.

Read through them all and see what suits you best.
Click to expand...

Thanks so much for all the advice! I'll read through these reviews.
 
K

kharma45

Member
ashbash159 said:
Thanks so much for all the advice! I'll read through these reviews.
Click to expand...

No problem :) The XFX I've found is good value at 550w but when you try for a higher wattage one it runs into the branded Seasonic units (the XFX itself is, as you'll find out in the Jonny Guru review, a Seasonic) and they're better buys for their modularity and higher efficiency.

sorijealut said:
Excellent posts, Kharma. I bought the XFX 550 a few weeks ago.
Click to expand...

Thanks :)
 
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