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"I need a New PC!" 2013 Part 1. Haswell, Crysis 3, and secret fairy sauce. Read da OP

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Hawk269

Hawk269

Member
PSA...

Newegg has Samsung Pro SSD's on sale right now. I only looked at the 512gb version and it is on sale for $469.99 vs. the normal price they have it at 519.99. Pretty good deal. I did notice the other memory sizes on sale as well, but did not click on them to see what the savings are.
 
B

brentech

Member
lmpaler said:
Looking like a 4.5 stable OC. Posting on my phone now and letting the test run.

Any way to get higher on air? Once I hit 4.6 it won't boot lol. :-(

I've tweaked with the voltage so I'm happy with a stable 4.5, but if there is room for more I'm down.

Go big or go home.
Click to expand...
You doing a fixed or offset voltage for the OC?
 
Hawk269

Hawk269

Member
knitoe said:
Single GPU vs dual GPU. More GPU setup can cause micro stuttering and need driver updates for better performance with new games. Plus, the Titan has 6GB VRAM which will come into play when more games, probably when next gen consoles are out, use >2GB found in the 690.
Click to expand...

You can also come across some games that just work well with SLI. I really never had an issue with micro stuttering and had SLI systems since my 460 in SLI. But some games do have issues. Since I re-did my system and went to only having SSD's, I was re-downloading some of my older Steam games and games like Shift 2 has issues with SLI. By and large though, I still prefer SLI and recommend it for it's overall ability to add a lot of horsepower to your system.
 
S

Smushroomed

Banned
I want to buy another 670, but I'd have to get a new case

I was wondering if anyone knows if my i5 760 is a bottle neck at this point

I don't want to upgrade gfx cards if my cpu is holding me back

I pretty much play all the big latest releases
 
I

Infinite Justice

Member
lmpaler said:
Holy shit. Finally get my new rig up and running and I am sitting here trying to figure out what to play first lol
Click to expand...

Yep.

Same thing happened to me when i recently got my rig up, only for it to be slightly hampered due to my download speed and game sizes while getting them from Steam.

Went for the lowest sizes that could give a nice impression though (eg Trine was a great pick)
 
D

demented

Member
My next big upgrade, after buying new components next week hopefully(god damn you bank give process faster), will be a 120hz monitor and I plan on getting this around christmas (long way to go I know) and I was just wondering can I use it as my main monitor for gaming etc and my current 24" monitor together with it and use that one for browser, chatting etc while playing? Or well I know I can but I'm wondering if I'll suffer much performance loss because of it? What would you guys recommend? I don't really want to run games on both, or well have them merged and at high resolution, just use is as separate screen for simple things?

I have a good old benq 24", 1920*1200, been using it for ps3/360 too, served me well but wouldn't mind a change. Still no dead pixels after almost 5 years and hope it remains that way *knock on wood*


P.S. Still debating if I should pony up 50-100$ more for 7970 considering I don't really plan on upgrading before 2016 at least. (except add another card if they fix cfx).
 
LiquidMetal14

LiquidMetal14

hide your water-based mammals
New filters in. Temps are up since there is less air coming in. Any tips? My CPU gets up to 63C now when it may have hit 60. GPU is 75 now and before it was around 71.

I suppose this is only the expected since there is filters in most of the possible intake areas.
 
V

Varna

Member
lmpaler said:
Holy shit. Finally get my new rig up and running and I am sitting here trying to figure out what to play first lol
Click to expand...

Crysis of of course. I always like going back to that one. Oh yeah, remember when I could barely run you at 30 FPS at 1280x1024?
 
B

brentech

Member
Varna said:
Crysis of of course. I always like going back to that one. Oh yeah, remember when I could barely run you at 30 FPS at 1280x1024?
Click to expand...
Are the Crysis games actually fun?

I started playing the Witcher 2, haven't played the first one, but either way I'm having a hard time getting into it. Only like 20 min anyways.
 
G

Giggzy

Member
Not sure if this is the correct thread for this question but here I go.

I need a comfortable, yet affordable computer chair. I've been using a $30 chair from Walmart and it is the most uncomfortable thing ever. My ass can no longer put up with it. It completely hampers my gaming experience.

Any recommendations?
 
J

jns

Member
Finally pulled the trigger on my last upgrade for a while after reading (and asking a few questions)

iWcsjoQzujXyl.png


I have a 1440p IPS monitor and great kb/m so I'm looking for this to last me a good while. I was only looking at getting a single 680, but looking at benchmarks in high res, it seemed I was going to need two to play at a decent frame rate.

Now I just have to wait till Tuesday to pick it all up. I guess I can spend the weekend getting my shit in order.
 
A

AstroLad

Hail to the KING baby
Varna said:
First game is excellent. Very underrated. I always get a little annoyed when someone calls it a "tech demo." Clear sign of someone who has never actually played it.
Click to expand...

Loooved Crysis 1
except for the space level
. Played it on a pretty maxed-out rig at the time but would be even more amazing now.
 
C

Ce-Lin

Member
guys, is adaptive vsync (half display rate) in a 60 Hz display the best option to lock a game to 30 fps? I suffer a bit from motion sickness and playing at 30 fps somehow allows me longer play sessions. I noticed loading times are a tad longer with adaptive vsync on, is there a better alternative out there?
 
K

knitoe

Member
jns said:
Finally pulled the trigger on my last upgrade for a while after reading (and asking a few questions)

iWcsjoQzujXyl.png


I have a 1440p IPS monitor and great kb/m so I'm looking for this to last me a good while. I was only looking at getting a single 680, but looking at benchmarks in high res, it seemed I was going to need two to play at a decent frame rate.

Now I just have to wait till Tuesday to pick it all up. I guess I can spend the weekend getting my shit in order.
Click to expand...

I would recommend getting a 4GB video card, especially for that resolution. Also, get a Samsung 840 Pro / 830 or Crucial M4 SSD instead.
 
H

hockeypuck

Member
Finally got around to installing a CM 212 Evo cooler with a nice 10 deg C drop on my cores. Thank you PC-GAF.

General question on enabling frame-limiter in games. I play on a 60Hz 1080p TV so I enabled the 60 fps limit in the option menu thinking any additional fps is a waste. Are there any graphical disadvantages to this? For example, I think I'm noticing more distant pop-in but that could be my own confirmation bias.
 
J

jns

Member
knitoe said:
I would recommend getting a 4GB video card, especially for that resolution. Also, get a Samsung 840 Pro / 830 or Crucial M4 SSD instead.
Click to expand...

2 x 4GB 680 would cost an extra $400 bucks. All the benchmarks I checked were using 2 x 2GB cards like the ones I ordered.

Any reason for the change in SSD? It will only have my OS and MS office on it.
 
K

knitoe

Member
jns said:
2 x 4GB 680 would cost an extra $400 bucks. All the benchmarks I checked were using 2 x 2GB cards like the ones I ordered.

Any reason for the change in SSD? It will only have my OS and MS office on it.
Click to expand...

Some games are already using more than 2GB VRAM. With nextgen consoles coming soon, expect many more to do so.

The Samsung and Crucial SSDs are much more reliable than the ones using the Sandforce controller.
 
S

Smokey

Member
Bioshock Infinite uses more than 2GB and that's at 1080p and Ultra settings.

I wouldn't buy a card with less than 3GB VRAM
 
J

jns

Member
knitoe said:
Some games are already using more than 2GB VRAM. With nextgen consoles coming soon, expect many more to do so.

The Samsung and Crucial SSDs are much more reliable than the ones using the Sandforce controller.
Click to expand...

So 1 x 4GB 680 is better than 2 x 2GB SLI? All benchmarks I saw said running 2x 2GB 680 would be great at my res (not sure if you noticed I ordered 2 gfx cards).

Thanks for the info on the SSD, just changed my order :)
 
K

knitoe

Member
jns said:
So 1 x 4GB 680 is better than 2 x 2GB SLI? All benchmarks I saw said running 2x 2GB 680 would be great at my res (not sure if you noticed I ordered 2 gfx cards).

Thanks for the info on the SSD, just changed my order :)
Click to expand...

For games that use <2GB VRAM, the 2X2GB SLI would be much better. If a game uses >2GB VRAM, you are going to have to lower settings to fit under the 2GB VRAM limit or face stuttering because data needs to constantly load. At 1440p, you are going to have to make that choice often with games using more now and coming.
 
M

mkenyon

Banned
I've yet to see benchmarks support this theory for NVIDIA cards.

All the data I've seen says they perform pretty much the same.

I'm not saying it isn't true, I'd just like to see something concrete to supplant the partially convincing information I have seen that indicates it is not true.
 
LiquidMetal14

LiquidMetal14

hide your water-based mammals
Smokey said:
Bioshock Infinite uses more than 2GB and that's at 1080p and Ultra settings.

I wouldn't buy a card with less than 3GB VRAM
Click to expand...

I think that explains the odd stutters I get from time to time. Nothing consistent as the game mostly runs at around 130~fps on SLI 670's at maxed 1080p.

This is why I am looking at dual GPU's with at least 4GB of video memory for my next upgrade once I offload these 670's.
 
J

jns

Member
knitoe said:
For games that use <2GB VRAM @ 1440p, the 2X2GB SLI would be much better. If a game uses >2GB VRAM, you are going to have to lower settings to fit under the 2GB VRAM limit or face stuttering from data constantly need to load.
Click to expand...

Oh man. I had no idea it would only use 2 GB of vram. I thought with SLI I would be able to use the vram on both cards (giving me 4 gb).

I will have to do some more checking I guess.
 
S

Smokey

Member
LiquidMetal14 said:
I think that explains the odd stutters I get from time to time. Nothing consistent as the game mostly runs at around 130~fps on SLI 670's at maxed 1080p.

This is why I am looking at dual GPU's with at least 4GB of video memory for my next upgrade once I offload these 670's.
Click to expand...

I played Infinite at 4k yesterday (3840x2400), Ultra everything, and my VRAM usage was at 3.7GB.

Highest I've ever seen for a game
 
K

knitoe

Member
jns said:
Oh man. I had no idea it would only use 2 GB of vram. I thought with SLI I would be able to use the vram on both cards (giving me 4 gb).

I will have to do some more checking I guess.
Click to expand...

Yeah. With SLI / CF, VRAM available is always equal to the smallest card. Never combine.
 
LiquidMetal14

LiquidMetal14

hide your water-based mammals
jns said:
Oh man. I had no idea it would only use 2 GB of vram. I thought with SLI I would be able to use the vram on both cards (giving me 4 gb).

I will have to do some more checking I guess.
Click to expand...

SLI is just mirroring but does scale up to 100% if everything falls into place. That means good drivers and support.

It's still nice to have a good VRAM overhead so Titans, while overpriced to hell, are a good investment. Well, they would be a good investment if not for being 1k.

In this economy, you're better off buying some land and trying to be safe incase times get tough :p

But time will tell since next year we will have a new line of GPU's that may not be Titan level but may be close and not cost 1k. Maybe 1k for 2 good GPU's with 4GB of VRAM. That's what I'm going to shoot for.

Smokey said:
I played Infinite at 4k yesterday (3840x2400), Ultra everything, and my VRAM usage was at 3.7GB.

Highest I've ever seen for a game
Click to expand...

Crazy stuff. Luckily you have Titans.

Yours is a more extreme case as you have either multi monitors or are downsampling. It's still something which is happening right now so having that 6GB VRAM is absolutely going to pay off once we get into next gen and games will easily pass 2GB of VRAM usage or just scale back on consoles and then be fully unleashed for the enthusiast PC crowd. Kind of like it is now :p
 
S

Smokey

Member
LiquidMetal14 said:
Crazy stuff. Luckily you have Titans.

Yours is a more extreme case as you have either multi monitors or are downsampling. It's still something which is happening right now so having that 6GB VRAM is absolutely going to pay off once we get into next gen and games will easily pass 2GB of VRAM usage or just scale back on consoles and then be fully unleashed for the enthusiast PC crowd. Kind of like it is now :p
Click to expand...

Definitely an extreme case, but like you said it shows how high it can get with a current gen game. And like I mentioned, it goes over 2GB even at 1080p. Imagine next-gen. Minimum 3GB cards if you're buying now.

jns said:
Ok; I looked at 2 x 4GB 680s and at @ 600 each I assume it would be just better to get a 690 or a titan?
Click to expand...

690 = SLI, 2GB of VRAM
680(4GB) = SLI 4GB of VRAM
Titan = single most powerful GPU, 6GB VRAM

You will have no problems with the Titan. Single GPU and all that. The other two options are more powerful, but come with the usual SLI quirks.

1. Titan
2. 680 4GB SLI

I wouldn't consider the 690. That 2GB of VRAM holds it back
 
S

Smokey

Member
Sucks that Nvidia gimped the 690 with that VRAM. I absolutely love the engineering and craftsmanship of the 690 and Titan. If the 690 had 4GB, it would be nearly perfect.
 
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