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[Xdrive05]

Upgrade to an 1155 i7 or wait on Haswell / new socket mobo?


Running an i5 and a z77 at the moment, being CPU limited in Arma 3 is not acceptable.

Do you have a Micro Center within driving distance?

I'll be flipping my 3570k for a 3770k with $30-ish difference because of their $229 pricing on the 3770k. Haswell will almost certainly not improve significantly on Ivy Bridge, as all indicators are pointing toward a focus on lower TDP rather than pushing the performance angle. But it probably will be a little bit faster, like the Ivy was to the Sandy.

 

[Jburton]

Which i5? Are you overclocked?

2500k @ 4.4.

 

[longdi]

2500k @ 4.4.

might as well wait for haswell or ivy bridge-e 6/8 cores in Q4...doubt HT will help too much.
2 more cores and larger cache however it did help in planetside2 minimum fps compare to what my other gamer friends quad core rigs did. i mean i was running 60fps for more than 99% of the time and i was wondering why the complaints about poor cpu coding..lol.

 

[Mr. Wonderful]

So pretty sweet. I have my full iTunes library on my MacBook with an SSD installed, and iTunes with no music in it on my PC, which has a wired connection and SSD, for as relevant as that is.

But I'm able to stream my music from my laptop iTunes library to my PC iTunes library with absolutely no lag, and with a responsiveness that honestly feels faster than locally-attached mechanical storage.

Thanks, SSDs!

 

[dancrane212]

Just put in the MSI Radeon HD 7770 to replace my wonky SAPPHIRE 100283L Radeon HD 5770 but I'm getting these light wavy, flicking horizontal lines when I play any 3D game (happens in Crysis but not Skulls of the Shogun).

I've replaced all the drivers from my old card but still no change. Any ideas? Hazaro mentioned my power supply wasn't really up to snuff. Could that be the issue? I've got my finger on the trigger for a BP550 but I still have to make sure it's got the right ports for my setup and that it'll fit.

Patriot Extreme Performance 4GB (2 x 2GB)
GIGABYTE GA-MA74GM-S2
COOLER MASTER Elite 460 RS-460-PSAR-I3
AMD Phenom II X4 960T

 

[red731]

Where are you buying from? That 620w is plenty of headroom for overclocking.

I am buying from Czech stores - czc or alza.

Pay more for a good PSU. You might want to go CF/SLI later on. I don't know why people always try to save money here. First, a good PSU can be reuse for many new builds. You can't say that for any other component. The added cost comes out to be little overtime. Secondly, PSU are most efficient and last longer running ~50% load. After 7+ years and many CF/SLI builds, my 1000W PSU is still going strong.

He should still get a better in case he wants to CF/SLI later on. PSU are really the on component that can be "future proof".

Okay, I will look for something like 700W+. Seasonic or alikes. Thank you.

 

[lmpaler]

I realise that intel are investing in the gpu to make laptops etc good enough for gaming without needing a discrete GPU, and lack of competition means no need for more than 4-6 cores on the CPU, but would it kill them to have some variety? Those of us that use a separate GPU in our PCs are just wasting the IGP. Intel could have a gamer sku that cuts out the GPU and sells for less as a result, or allows them to give us 6-8 core CPUs at a premium price.

I have been saying this for YEARS about both Intel and AMD. I get they want a mainstream market, and that we could be considered a niche, but I completely agree that they could make a gamer SKU and it would sell like hotcakes and the PC gaming world would be happy.

I have said the same thing about Windows making a gamer version of it's OS.

 

[kennah]

... What do you think the -E stands for in Sandy Bridge-E and Ivy Bridge-E?

Spoiler

Enthusiast

 

[lmpaler]

... What do you think the -E stands for in Sandy Bridge-E and Ivy Bridge-E?

Spoiler

Enthusiast

Lol. Okay, maybe something more affordable perhaps?

 

[longdi]

Lol. Okay, maybe something more affordable perhaps?

look at the bright side, intel could have jacked up the prices of 3930k but in the end they chose to put it in the "affordable" enthu $500 range.....their motherboard chipset however is getting bad. it seems they are selling the chipsets incomplete, the p67 bullshit, the lack of sata6/usb3 ports, the x79 jacked up prices, reduced features, and the latest news is haswell z87 chipsets have usb3.0 sleep problem.

 

[Facism]

quick questions for PC gaf:

I need a new monitor and by extension a new GPU. I've got £150 to spend on each. Would prefer Nvidia over ATI at this time but i'm willing for pointers so i can do some further research.

For reference, i'm currently on a ASUS 1440x900 VGA panel with a GTX 260.

 

[mrklaw]

Anyone have experience with the Lenovo y500? I am thinking of picking it up vs a 15" Macbook pro as I need to leave the desktop behind when I move to Tokyo in a few months. Mostly will be for video editing but some Steam gaming would be a plus.

Seems like it has gotten very good reviews and is a nice looking laptop.

It seems similar to the y580 which I have, and its a great laptop. Build quality isn't up there with MacBook pros, but they have good trackpads, keyboards and screens (if you get a 1080p one). Get a quad core if you can.

And the new optibay lets you add storage or an extra battery or even another GPU for SLI

 

[kharma45]

Yeah. That's brilliant. Save some money to spend more later on. The guy is already spending close to $1000, $50 more is going to break the bank. Did you miss the part about most efficient and last longer keeping PSU around 50% under load?

Doesn't make sense to me, but hah, do whatever they want.

And that set up won't be going past 50% load of what that PSU can offer.

Save money now, no point spending twice as much (going by those two sites) for something that he might not even do.

 

[mrklaw]

quick questions for PC gaf:

I need a new monitor and my extension a new GPU. I've got £150 to spend on each. Would prefer Nvidia over ATI at this time but i'm willing for pointers so i can do some further research.

For reference, i'm currently on a ASUS 1440x900 VGA panel with a GTX 260.

GTX660 sounds like an obvious choice.

 

[Facism]

GTX660 sounds like an obvious choice.

I see. I'm seeing a few wildly differing prices for that card. Is there a specific model or make you could recommend?

[edit] further digging shows the card to be massively out of my £150 range unless i'm willing to go with no-name retailers via google shopping.

 

[kharma45]

quick questions for PC gaf:

I need a new monitor and my extension a new GPU. I've got £150 to spend on each. Would prefer Nvidia over ATI at this time but i'm willing for pointers so i can do some further research.

For reference, i'm currently on a ASUS 1440x900 VGA panel with a GTX 260.

GTX660 sounds like an obvious choice.

You won't get a 660 for that price (they're around £170), best you'll do is a 7850 for £150 range, although you could get a monitor like this for £120 from Amazon http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B008F7GW2K/ and that leaves you £180 for the GPU so you could get something like the 7870 XT http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00AX2ONI0/ although Amazon isn't part of the Never Settle Reloaded bundle whereas somewhere like Overclockers is https://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-312-SP

 

[Facism]

thanks.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0074H1SBM/ as a monitor? What do you reckon?

I'm also open (prefer) 16:10 options when it comes to monitors.

while i'm asking, i need a new cooler for my Phenom II x4. The old one isn't working out anymore.

 

[Koroviev]

Liking the CM Rapid with blues so far, especially the tenkeyless form factor, but I have plans for this thing.

1. Swap out all of the stock keys for custom caps. I think I am going to pursue an otaku layout, but I haven't decided on a color. I'd pick gray keys, but the base is gray....

2. Install o-ring switch dampeners. The clicking is great, but the bottoming-out noise is harsh and metallic.

3. Possibly remove the logos from between the escape key and F1 and just above the arrow keys. I saw that one guy had wet-sanded the body to address that. I don't mind attending the Univeristy of Youtube to learn how to do that, but I'm wondering if there isn't a way that doesn't involve modifying the finish of the entire board.

 

[teh_pwn]

It was a good jump but I wouldn't call it massive across the board

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/Product/191?vs=288

There's a 2x difference in current passmark benchmarks. Is that benchmark using newer instruction sets or is it not a good overall comparison?

http://www.cpubenchmark.net/high_end_cpus.html

Maybe some of the gain with Sandy was artificial for me because I started overclocking. Getting to 4.5 GHz may have been part of what I saw.

 

[mkenyon]

Lol. Okay, maybe something more affordable perhaps?

3820 is $280-290 usually. That's pretty affordable.

look at the bright side, intel could have jacked up the prices of 3930k but in the end they chose to put it in the "affordable" enthu $500 range.....their motherboard chipset however is getting bad. it seems they are selling the chipsets incomplete, the p67 bullshit, the lack of sata6/usb3 ports, the x79 jacked up prices, reduced features, and the latest news is haswell z87 chipsets have usb3.0 sleep problem.

It costs a lot of money to add quad channel memory and 40 PCI-E lanes.

 

[CSampson]

Currently have a Asus m4a89gtd pro mobo and want to known if it is compatible with a i5 3570k CPU? Google isn't giving much.

 

[Mad Max]

Currently have a Asus m4a89gtd pro mobo and want to known if it is compatible with a i5 3570k CPU? Google isn't giving much.

http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/M4A89GTD_PROUSB3/

It's an AM3 mobo, so that's never going to work..

 

[CSampson]

http://www.asus.com/Motherboards/M4A89GTD_PROUSB3/

It's an AM3 mobo, so that's never going to work..

Yup figured as much just wasn't in front of components. Thanks.

 

[GuessWho]

So my old HDD died and thought it was time to upgrade to SSD.....H-O-L-Y S-H-I-T. I didn't know it was THAT much faster. My computer is now a speed demon. Seriously I never knew it could be that much better. It is single handedly the best upgrade anyone can make when upgrading a new computer component.
I have a Kingston v300 120gig ssd and an external 500gb.

 

[shinobi602]

Guys what's the cheapest video card I can get with 512mb-1gb ram? All I need it for are 3D applications in Photoshop.

 

[Koroviev]

Guys what's the cheapest video card I can get with 512mb-1gb ram? All I need it for are 3D applications in Photoshop.

If you're looking for something new (i.e., new in box), I have a 1GB 650ti for ~$125 shipped.

It's this card.

 

[mkenyon]

I realise that intel are investing in the gpu to make laptops etc good enough for gaming without needing a discrete GPU, and lack of competition means no need for more than 4-6 cores on the CPU, but would it kill them to have some variety? Those of us that use a separate GPU in our PCs are just wasting the IGP. Intel could have a gamer sku that cuts out the GPU and sells for less as a result, or allows them to give us 6-8 core CPUs at a premium price.

Just wanted to chime in on this.

There's no reason for a gamer to want anything more than a 2500K/3750K pretty much. There's no market of 'gamer' that wants a 6-8 core CPU for any real reason other than simply wanting a 6-8 core CPU.

As I said above, the 3820 is for the gamer that wants a bit more out of their platform. 40 PCI-E lanes rather than the fake 3-4 way SLI/X-Fire that we see with 1155.

The 3820 is priced lower than the 3770K/2600K, so it kind of is that part. Sure, the motherboards are more, but it's because there is way more on them.

You can't ask the consumer platform to offer enthusiast options (though it does with the 2550K) when enthusiast SKUs already exist on a different and equally modern socket.

 

[VE3TRO]

Anyone looking for a card I'm selling my Palit GTX 580 3Gb for £185 inc postage. (First class signed)

It's had about 5-6 months use. Rarely used it for much gaming. No box or papers just the card.

 

[Speedy Blue Dude]

1) BUY MORE RAM. 8gb is the absolute minimum for AE.

2) SSD's are something to be experienced. Definitely upgrade eventually.

3) Look at Nvida GPU's if you're using Creative Suite (better GPU acceleration on PC).

Alright, RAM is cheap anyways. I'll go for 16GBs.

2) Alright, I'll get a cheap 120GB SSD. Enough to install Windows, and enough to hold some video files and some games.

3) I'll go with the 670 then, because I am using Creative Suite.

Thanks for the advice man!

 

[knitoe]

So my old HDD died and thought it was time to upgrade to SSD.....H-O-L-Y S-H-I-T. I didn't know it was THAT much faster. My computer is now a speed demon. Seriously I never knew it could be that much better. It is single handedly the best upgrade anyone can make when upgrading a new computer component.
I have a Kingston v300 120gig ssd and an external 500gb.

Yep. Just even having the OS on a SSD makes any computer run faster and much more responsive. Anyone not using one don't know what they are missing out. It is a must for any new builds.

 

[OriginofHysteria]

so i just took a trip to microcenter and purchased the fractal design r4 (yay). I also purchased two noctua 140mm case fans for the top. So I'm wondering, should the front and rear be intakes and the top exhaust? Or should i just leave the rear as an exhaust

 

[Koroviev]

so i just took a trip to microcenter and purchased the fractal design r4 (yay). I also purchased two noctua 140mm case fans for the top. So I'm wondering, should the front and rear be intakes and the top exhaust? Or should i just leave the rear as an exhaust

Rear is exhaust.

 

[OriginofHysteria]

Rear is exhaust.

So use the top and rear as exhausts and the front as intake?

 

[DeathIsTheEnd]

Does any know if I cease to use a device which I currently have a Windows 7 reinstall disk for, whether I can effectively transfer the licence to install it on a new PC or not?

 

[Painraze]

So how do you guys deal with an SSD (in terms of space)? I'm thinking Windows / Steam / Steam games on the SSD with everythingelse installed on a secondary harddrive. Is that how you are all generally doing it?

 

[scogoth]

So use the top and rear as exhausts and the front as intake?

yes

 

[kennah]

So how do you guys deal with an SSD (in terms of space)? I'm thinking Windows / Steam / Steam games on the SSD with everythingelse installed on a secondary harddrive. Is that how you are all generally doing it?

Steam Mover is your best friend.

 

[mkenyon]

So use the top and rear as exhausts and the front as intake?

Put the Noctuas in the front and put the two stock fans as exhaust in the rear and rear top.

 

[Facism]

Steam Mover is your best friend.

Steam has the option of installing on other drives now, doesn't it?

 

[kennah]

Yes. But Steam Mover lets you store games on a slow drive when you aren't playing them then transfer them to the ssd when you are. Shuffling back and forth as you see fit. Steam Client doesn't do this. Yet.

 

[Koroviev]

Keyboard-philia is a disease

 

[CSampson]

Hi guys.

Installed a new mobo and cpu (ASUS P8Z77-V LK w/ i5 3570k). All went fine. However, I did a windows index rating and it spit out a 5.9 for Disk Transfer Rate. Now I run Windows 7 off an SSD and I remember on my old mobo and cpu it was spitting out a 7.x. So I double checked my SATA plugs and this mobo had 2x 6gb/s transfer and 4 3.0gb/s. Both hard drives are plugged into the 6gb/s (the 2nd hdd is a 1tb WD just for storage). I checked my BIOS and I have AHCI config enabled, which I believe was the setting on the previous set up I had (and it was connected to a 6gb/s plug too).

Everything seems faster but the index number makes me feel I'm wasting potential. Anyone have any tips on what to check?

EDIT: Seems like you need 20% free space when you do the test otherwise speed takes a hit. Mine's pretty full but fuck it it seems to be working great.

 

[Facism]

Yes. But Steam Mover lets you store games on a slow drive when you aren't playing them then transfer them to the ssd when you are. Shuffling back and forth as you see fit. Steam Client doesn't do this. Yet.

i see. lovely.

 

[outsidah]

So my brand new 7950 keeps getting stuck every other time the monitor goes to sleep.

Would you all recommend the 660Ti or jump to a 670? Is the extra money worth it?

 

[knitoe]

Hi guys.

Installed a new mobo and cpu (ASUS P8Z77-V LK w/ i5 3570k). All went fine. However, I did a windows index rating and it spit out a 5.9 for Disk Transfer Rate. Now I run Windows 7 off an SSD and I remember on my old mobo and cpu it was spitting out a 7.x. So I double checked my SATA plugs and this mobo had 2x 6gb/s transfer and 4 3.0gb/s. Both hard drives are plugged into the 6gb/s (the 2nd hdd is a 1tb WD just for storage). I checked my BIOS and I have AHCI config enabled, which I believe was the setting on the previous set up I had (and it was connected to a 6gb/s plug too).

Everything seems faster but the index number makes me feel I'm wasting potential. Anyone have any tips on what to check?

EDIT: Seems like you need 20% free space when you do the test otherwise speed takes a hit. Mine's pretty full but fuck it it seems to be working great.

You should leave around 20% free on the SSD so they have space to do their trash routine and maintain their speed.

 

[commissar]

Couple of questions about ramdisks if anyone knows:

Is it actually of benefit considering I have an SSD? I know it would help minimise writes...

Using Adobe CS, is there an appreciable benefit to setting one up as a scratchdisk or would I be better off just using the full 16GB RAM? It's some occasional video encoding, mostly Photoshop stuff.

Considering the above, what's a recommended size? 8/8? 10/6?

Thanks :]

 

[friday]

So I need to figure out my plan for future upgrades. I built my current computer on a very tight budget in Sept. 2011 and already I am starting to have big performance issues with games like Planetside 2.

My current specs are as follows:

AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black edition
ASUS M5A97 EVO AM3+
8 gig of DDR3 ram
Nvidia gtx 560 1Gig

In the original build plan I went for the AM3+ socket thinking that while the next generation of AMD chips would not be the best thing on earth, they would at least keep up with Intel in terms of gaming performance. Well given what I have read about Zambezi it seems that this is not the case and I should have went with a low end sandy bridge chip at the time of my build. Now I am in the position where I need to start thinking about upgrades and it seems like the best path is the restart with an intel build.

I know my GPU is also on the weak side these days but I feel like the Phenom is just going to hold me back, even with a more powerful GPU. What do you guys think? Is it in my best interest to concentrate on switching to Intel or will I see good results following an AMD upgrade path?

 

[Alexios]

Corsair Carbide 400R 99,80 €
Gigabyte Z77-D3H 114,49 €
Intel Core i7 3770K 309,90 €
Gigabyte HD7970 OC 395,00 €
Corsair Vengeance 1600 2x8GB 99,80 €

LG 22EA53VQ 138,57 € (this is the cheapest of this range I could find that still seems to offer HDMI)

LOGITECH Z323 2.1 42,41 €

CoolerMaster HTK-002-U1-GP 2,08 €

Total: 1202,05 €

Thoughts anyone? 9 day countdown!

Edited for changes.

I'm specifically curious about the mobo, monitor and case (I was checking out the HAF 912 Plus and others before).

 

[mkenyon]

Thoughts anyone? 9 day countdown. I've already changed mind and lean towards the HAF 912 Plus since editing that xD

I have a few fans in this case that might still be good (one is cracked for sure though) to add on it.

I'm also curious about that monitor. I'm seeing many references to 22EA53VQ which is a monitor listed without HDMI and barely find anything about the -P variant I saw for sale but it does exist on the Japanese (maybe) LG site and does list HDMI like the store so yeah, I hope I'm not gonna get burnt, lol, I've no idea where our stores buy their stock from.

The OP has the best cases and monitors for the money.

So I need to figure out my plan for future upgrades. I built my current computer on a very tight budget in Sept. 2011 and already I am starting to have big performance issues with games like Planetside 2.

My current specs are as follows:

AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black edition
ASUS M5A97 EVO AM3+
8 gig of DDR3 ram
Nvidia gtx 560 1Gig

In the original build plan I went for the AM3+ socket thinking that while the next generation of AMD chips would not be the best thing on earth, they would at least keep up with Intel in terms of gaming performance. Well given what I have read about Zambezi it seems that this is not the case and I should have went with a low end sandy bridge chip at the time of my build. Now I am in the position where I need to start thinking about upgrades and it seems like the best path is the restart with an intel build.

I know my GPU is also on the weak side these days but I feel like the Phenom is just going to hold me back, even with a more powerful GPU. What do you guys think? Is it in my best interest to concentrate on switching to Intel or will I see good results following an AMD upgrade path?

Upgrade the GPU first, then start saving for Haswell.

 

[friday]

I also have this strange issue that started late last year. My CPU is at stock speeds but my system frequently warms me of high cpu temps (65+) while gaming. The CPU fan is also ultra loud. I think I need to upgrade my cooler, which would also open up the possibility of CPU overclocking.