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[JB1981]

So I just bought this Asus panel

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005BZNDS0/?tag=neogaf0e-20

It's decent enough and was not expensive but the off-angle viewing is awful. Like I literally have to be right on top of the display to get a sweet spot. I guess this an IPS panel? I'm not too familiar with the various LCD monitors available. I also own an Imac and I find that viewing angles on that display much better. Are Imac panels TN ??? Maybe I should return this one and get a TN panel. The viewing angles, even sitting right in front of the screen, drop off significantly

edit: seems I have the panel technologies completely backwards.

 

[Irobot82]

How do you get the category labels on the Start screen?

Hold down control and scoll out with your mouse wheel, it zooms way out. Then I believe you right click on a row and you can label it. I think that's it. I'm not at home right now so I can't say for certain.

Windows 8 actually looks alright. Maybe I should've gone with it rather than windows 7... Hmm.

I love it. I don't understand all the hate or all the attachment to the start button. Here I make custom tiles using Obly Tile (search gaf for the windows 8 tile thread). I can organize all my games. So now I have everything I need in one screen. E-mail, tweets, netflix, my woot watcher, news threads, stock quotes, etc. The live tiles are fantastic, information is constantly changing and right where I can see it.

Is W8 viable right now from a gaming/drivers/performance perspective?

Yeah, it pretty much works exactly like W7. I will say though I have some issues with UE3 games that use PhysX. Mirror's Edge, BulletStorm, and Batman:AC are all having graphical glitches for me right now. I'm not sure if it is W8 related, AMD driver related or what but it's pretty annoying. Other than that yeah, everything works perfect.

 

[MedIC86]

Is it safe to assume that the next batch of geforce cards (7xx series) are slower then the gtx titan? (maybe not the 790)

 

[ThoseDeafMutes]

Is it safe to assume that the next batch of geforce cards (7xx series) are slower then the gtx titan? (maybe not the 790)

The 780 being faster than the Titan would probably cause me to die from shock.

 

[Bruticis]

Is it safe to assume that the next batch of geforce cards (7xx series) are slower then the gtx titan? (maybe not the 790)

I don't think Nvidia would do that just because of the rage that would cause Titan owners. I expect other features instead of just raw power (like continued improved power consumption, more OCing, and perhaps some new buzz word tech like TXAA and adaptive vsync in the past).

 

[PoweredBySoy]

Windows 8 actually looks alright. Maybe I should've gone with it rather than windows 7... Hmm.

If you're on a tablet, sure.

 

[Adam Blue]

Hold down control and scoll out with your mouse wheel, it zooms way out. Then I believe you right click on a row and you can label it. I think that's it. I'm not at home right now so I can't say for certain.



I love it. I don't understand all the hate or all the attachment to the start button. Here I make custom tiles using Obly Tile (search gaf for the windows 8 tile thread). I can organize all my games. So now I have everything I need in one screen. E-mail, tweets, netflix, my woot watcher, news threads, stock quotes, etc. The live tiles are fantastic, information is constantly changing and right where I can see it.



Yeah, it pretty much works exactly like W7. I will say though I have some issues with UE3 games that use PhysX. Mirror's Edge, BulletStorm, and Batman:AC are all having graphical glitches for me right now. I'm not sure if it is W8 related, AMD driver related or what but it's pretty annoying. Other than that yeah, everything works perfect.

Agree on all accounts. It's just so much faster and I do less BS-ing around to get to what I want. Also, the additional FPS is games doesn't hurt!

 

[garath]

I love it. I don't understand all the hate or all the attachment to the start button. Here I make custom tiles using Obly Tile (search gaf for the windows 8 tile thread). I can organize all my games. So now I have everything I need in one screen. E-mail, tweets, netflix, my woot watcher, news threads, stock quotes, etc. The live tiles are fantastic, information is constantly changing and right where I can see it.

Truthfully I'd probably like Win8. I don't even use the start bar in Win7 unless I'm trying to get to control panel. I make desktop icons for all the games and programs I play and organize them on my desktop based on what I'm currently playing.

 

[Dave_6]

Alright I rechecked the front panel connections and they're correct. Turned it back on and the power LED came on for a few seconds then went off but I'm still getting the 62 debug code. Time to do some Googling I guess...

 

[bro1]

You're running 8xMSAA and Extreme Tessellation at an unspecified res with unspecified supporting settings. I'd hazard a guess at that being the 'problem'

ok. I'll figure it out. I'm at 1080P and the highest settings.

 

[Irobot82]

Truthfully I'd probably like Win8. I don't even use the start bar in Win7 unless I'm trying to get to control panel. I make desktop icons for all the games and programs I play and organize them on my desktop based on what I'm currently playing.

You sound like the pefect candidate then. The way that UI works it really lends itself to organizing things for instant access. Also the search function is much improved and file explorer has some cool new features.

Alright I rechecked the front panel connections and they're correct. Turned it back on and the power LED came on for a few seconds then went off but I'm still getting the 62 debug code. Time to do some Googling I guess...

Did you try connecting it to a monitor/TV using a DVI or AVG cable? Also if you are using a SB or IB CPU try using your onboard connector first. Sometimes these things are weird. Try updating your BIOS as well.

 

[brentech]

Hrm, after running my 3570k for a month at 4.5Ghz with no cpu related errors in the event viewer or any BSOD at all....getting some since last night after bringing BIOS to default settings to run a test and then putting it back on my overclock profile.
System hasn't crashed or anything, but errors being logged in event viewer.

Kind of baffling.
Reading up on the error, even though I'm using the exact settings I had from before, it might be related to low voltage so I increased my offset from +.005 to +.010 and am going to let tests run for the day.

Was getting the following error:

A corrected hardware error has occurred.

Reported by component: Processor Core
Error Source: Corrected Machine Check
Error Type: Internal parity error
Processor ID: 2

The details view of this entry contains further information.

So weird to see that after so long, but we'll see if this change fixes it.

 

[Dave_6]

Did you try connecting it to a monitor/TV using a DVI or AVG cable? Also if you are using a SB or IB CPU try using your onboard connector first. Sometimes these things are weird. Try updating your BIOS as well.

No just HDMI only to my Pioneer plasma. I haven't even been able to get to the BIOS yet.

 

[Damian.]

Is it safe to assume that the next batch of geforce cards (7xx series) are slower then the gtx titan? (maybe not the 790)

Not going to happen. Nvidia is pricing up the market with the Titan. Hopefully AMD makes sure that this bites them in the ass.

 

[mastershake]

Hrm, after running my 3570k for a month at 4.5Ghz with no cpu related errors in the event viewer or any BSOD at all....getting some since last night after bringing BIOS to default settings to run a test and then putting it back on my overclock profile.
System hasn't crashed or anything, but errors being logged in event viewer.

Kind of baffling.
Reading up on the error, even though I'm using the exact settings I had from before, it might be related to low voltage so I increased my offset from +.005 to +.010 and am going to let tests run for the day.

Was getting the following error:


So weird to see that after so long, but we'll see if this change fixes it.

shit!

I hope I didn't create too much work for you by asking you to bench your rig without an O/C

 

[Smokey]

Thanks for the info!

I think I'll just upgrade in the fall then plan my next big upgrade around maxwell/whatever nextgen stuff AMD is working on.

Shake I see you
Not even in the game for a month already got that bug

 

[brentech]

shit!

I hope I didn't create too much work for you by asking you to bench your rig without an O/C

Eh, hopefully it won't be any more work than I've done. I'm letting OCCT run with AVX linpack to make sure it pushes the system.
Will let it run to tomorrow morning and check the event logger through the day to make sure no cpu errors show up.

So weird, doesn't make any sense, at least to me. Hopefully this has it fixed.

 

[cpp_is_king]

Gonna bump this for a new day in case anyone has any ideas

Based on the advice earlier in the thread I disabled C3 and C6 power states, and adjusted my DRAM timings and voltages based on the manufacturer spec. This allowed me to boot with my RAM at 2400MHz, and also fixed one other minor annoyance, which is that previously my mouse / keyboard were unable to wake my computer from sleep, I had to use the power button.

It didn't fix two different issues though, which are still outstanding:

1) often when resuming from sleep, my mouse and/or keyboard don't work, and I have to unplug them and plug them back in (sometimes a few times) before they receive power and start working.

Actually, I've seen that problem even when booting the system. Like I'll boot and go into the BIOS and my mouse doesn't work, and I have to unplug it and plug it back in.

2) It takes quite a while to resume from sleep. Like from the time the power light on my case goes from flashing to solid, it's a solid 90s - 2 minutes before the computer is back on.

Neither of these problems started until I installed the GTX 680 -- when I was using the HD 7970 I never had either of these issues.

Note that these problems also happen with factory BIOS settings, so it doesn't seem related to the OC per se. One thing I didn't change were the C1E and C7 power states. Any chance that would have an effect on this? Or what else might cause it? I just hope the motherboard or something isn't damaged.

 

[TerryLee81]

Well I got it together but not all is well:


I did a test boot last night before putting everything in the case and all seemed ok (got a display on my TV at least). Got it all buttoned up and hooked it back up and now I'm getting no display at all and the debug LED on the mobo says 62 and I don't see that in the manual.

I think I have the H60 fan on backwards as it felt like it was pulling air into the case.

Not sure how it is on this specific board, but on a lot of boards the corresponding RAM slots are not next to each other. Check your manual, otherwise your ram won't run in dual channel mode.

But this has nothing to do with the error you are getting.

Did you connect the cable of the H80i to the connector on the board labeled "CPU FAN"?

 

[Irobot82]

Gonna bump this for a new day in case anyone has any ideas

A page or two ago I posted the way I manually remove my AMD drivers. Maybe there is a conflict since you switched cards. I would go do those steps to ensure you AMD drivers are completely gone. Then uninstall the NV drivers. Then reboot, re-install the NV drivers and see if that helps.

 

[mkenyon]

No just HDMI only to my Pioneer plasma. I haven't even been able to get to the BIOS yet.

Pull out your video card and try to boot using the onboard video. You might need to update BIOS.

Go down to post 34ish:

http://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?topic=162014.0

 

[bro1]

Hrm, after running my 3570k for a month at 4.5Ghz with no cpu related errors in the event viewer or any BSOD at all....getting some since last night after bringing BIOS to default settings to run a test and then putting it back on my overclock profile.
System hasn't crashed or anything, but errors being logged in event viewer.

Kind of baffling.
Reading up on the error, even though I'm using the exact settings I had from before, it might be related to low voltage so I increased my offset from +.005 to +.010 and am going to let tests run for the day.

Was getting the following error:


So weird to see that after so long, but we'll see if this change fixes it.

Where do you view these errors?

Ok, went into Event View in Computer Management and I have 42 errors since I reformatted yesterday. I have no hard locks or any problems at all.

 

[Dave_6]

Not sure how it is on this specific board, but on a lot of boards the corresponding RAM slots are not next to each other. Check your manual, otherwise your ram won't run in dual channel mode.

But this has nothing to do with the error you are getting.

Did you connect the cable of the H80i to the connector on the board labeled "CPU FAN"?

Yes the RAM slots on this board are right next to each other. I'm 99% sure I've got the H60 itself plugged into the CPU fan connection but I will recheck it tonight.

Pull out your video card and try to boot using the onboard video. You might need to update BIOS.

Go down to post 34ish:

http://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?topic=162014.0

Will try that tonight too. What's odd is it went to post Monday night when I did a test with the main components out of the case.

 

[mkenyon]

Yes the RAM slots on this board are right next to each other. I'm 99% sure I've got the H60 itself plugged into the CPU fan connection but I will recheck it tonight.

No, they are like normal boards. You will want dimm A1 and A2.

Make sure the h60 pump power is plugged in as well.

 

[jut420]

Hey everybody! This is my first time posting in this thread but I've been reading for the past week or so, trying to learn as much as I can. I've never built a computer from the ground up, let alone even put one together so any suggestions anyone has would be greatly appreciated. If you guys have any cost-cutting suggestions for my build or if I'm missing something just let me know. I'm actually a little above where I was planning but it's not a big deal. The main things I wanted to use this computer for was making/producing music and playing games. For the music making part I was wondering if anyone has any suggestions for sound cards? I searched online and saw the omega recommended which is why I have it picked, but I just picked it because it was highly rated. Or if I should hold off buying til I learn more, I can do that too, I don't have music making software yet, I mainly want to start gaming . One thing I should note is I have one of those Sony Playstation 3D displays and that's what I'll be using as a monitor so if my graphics card is too much or something like that please let me know, because I think the most it can display is 1080p at 60FPS, maybe 120FPS I'm not really sure. But anyway, here's my build:

CPU: AMD Athlon II X4 640 3.0GHz Quad-Core Processor $74.23
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler $29.99
Motherboard: MSI 970A-G46 ATX AM3+ Motherboard $79.99
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory $64.99
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive $86.49
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 660 2GB Video Card $197.55 plus free metro last light
Sound Card: HT Omega eClaro 24-bit 192 KHz Sound Card $159.99
Case: Cooler Master HAF 912 ATX Mid Tower Case $55.99
Power Supply: Corsair Professional 750W 80 PLUS Silver Certified ATX12V / EPS12V $119.99
Optical Drive: LG UH12NS29 Blu-Ray Reader, DVD/CD Writer $49.98

TOTAL: $919.19

 

[kennah]

Hey everybody! This is my first time posting in this thread but I've been reading for the past week or so, trying to learn as much as I can. I've never built a computer from the ground up, let alone even put one together so any suggestions anyone has would be greatly appreciated. If you guys have any cost-cutting suggestions for my build or if I'm missing something just let me know. I'm actually a little above where I was planning but it's not a big deal. The main things I wanted to use this computer for was making/producing music and playing games. For the music making part I was wondering if anyone has any suggestions for sound cards? I searched online and saw the omega recommended which is why I have it picked, but I just picked it because it was highly rated. Or if I should hold off buying til I learn more, I can do that too, I don't have music making software yet, I mainly want to start gaming . One thing I should note is I have one of those Sony Playstation 3D displays and that's what I'll be using as a monitor so if my graphics card is too much or something like that please let me know, because I think the most it can display is 1080p at 60FPS, maybe 120FPS I'm not really sure. But anyway, here's my build:

CPU: AMD Athlon II X4 640 3.0GHz Quad-Core Processor $74.23
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler $29.99
Motherboard: MSI 970A-G46 ATX AM3+ Motherboard $79.99
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory $64.99
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive $86.49
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 660 2GB Video Card $197.55 plus free metro last light
Sound Card: HT Omega eClaro 24-bit 192 KHz Sound Card $159.99
Case: Cooler Master HAF 912 ATX Mid Tower Case $55.99
Power Supply: Corsair Professional 750W 80 PLUS Silver Certified ATX12V / EPS12V $119.99
Optical Drive: LG UH12NS29 Blu-Ray Reader, DVD/CD Writer $49.98

TOTAL: $919.19

That is a hell of a lot to spend on a sound card if you don't need it for audiophile purposes. The onboard sound is good enough for 99% of people/use. Use that money saved to go with an intel 3570K and Z77 motherboard. your powersupply is also a little bit of overkill unless you're planning on going SLI later. Read the OP and use those builds they are still current. And find the money for an SSD

 

[Dave_6]

No, they are like normal boards. You will want dimm A1 and A2.

Make sure the h60 pump power is plugged in as well.

Ah, well damn I screwed that up then. I swear they were 1/2/3/4 but after looking at a pic just now I definitely put them in the wrong slots. Hopefully that's the problem or at least the main part of it.

Pump is plugged in for sure but I don't recall it lighting up when I powered it on.

I know it's my first build but that is quite embarrassing knowing I messed up one of the easiest things to put in :/

 

[mkenyon]

Ah, well damn I screwed that up then. I swear they were 1/2/3/4 but after looking at a pic just now I definitely put them in the wrong slots. Hopefully that's the problem or at least the main part of it.

Pump is plugged in for sure but I don't recall it lighting up when I powered it on.

I don't think it lights up, so it sounds like all is well.

 

[AndyBNV]

mkenyon, welcome back to the land of the living. Having excluded CaseLabs on the grounds of insane EU shipping costs, are there any other cases I should be looking at before pulling the trigger on a 900D?

 

[jut420]

That is a hell of a lot to spend on a sound card if you don't need it for audiophile purposes. The onboard sound is good enough for 99% of people/use. Use that money saved to go with an intel 3570K and Z77 motherboard. your powersupply is also a little bit of overkill unless you're planning on going SLI later. Read the OP and use those builds they are still current. And find the money for an SSD

Thanks for the suggestions! I removed the sound card and lowered the power supply to 620W. I'm going to try to find another motherboard, no intel motherboards show when I have the compatibility filter on.

 

[mkenyon]

TY! Spending my evenings packing and my day working/F5ing GAF.

LD PC-V7 or Cosmos II.

http://www.aquatuning.de/index.php/cat/c1164_LD-Cooling.html

*edit*

Slovenia is where I'd move and retire if I didn't have to worry about money, so I kind of have a soft spot in my heart for Little Devil. The case is gorgeous, albeit spendy.

*edit 2*

I'd go 900D over the Cosmos II, to be clear. Just throwing it out as an option. I'd take the PC-V7 over the 900D though, as I find the 900D too large. With Titan having the relatively low TDP that it has, anything more than a 360/240 or 420/280 (you can also go 360/360 in the PC-V7) seems to be a bit overkill in the radiator department. The idea of getting a 900D for air cooling seems absolutely ridiculous too. Are you planning on putting those Titans under water?

 

[HoosTrax]

The onboard sound is good enough for 99% of people/use.

It would almost scare me if that large of a percentage of people can't detect the interference from things like their USB devices leaking into the sound output, or just static/noise in general. The squealing noises I heard in my headphones every time I moved my mouse...ugh.

(those issues bugged me immensely in the interval between blowing up my X-Fi and getting my Xonar Essence)

 

[kennah]

It would almost scare me if that large of a percentage of people can't detect the interference from things like their USB devices leaking into the sound output, or just static/noise in general. The squealing noises I heard in my headphones every time I moved my mouse...ugh.

(those issues bugged me immensely in the interval between blowing up my X-Fi and getting my Xonar Essence)

Those same people would be using basic computer speakers or the headphones that came with their iPod and not good ones But unless you're going to be hooking it up to really great gear there is no point in getting a sound card.

 

[AndyBNV]

TY! Spending my evenings packing and my day working/F5ing GAF.

LD PC-V7 or Cosmos II.

http://www.aquatuning.de/index.php/cat/c1164_LD-Cooling.html

*edit*

Slovenia is where I'd move and retire if I didn't have to worry about money, so I kind of have a soft spot in my heart for Little Devil. The case is gorgeous, albeit spendy.

*edit 2*

I'd go 900D over the Cosmos II, to be clear. Just throwing it out as an option. I'd take the PC-V7 over the 900D though, as I find the 900D too large. With Titan having the relatively low TDP that it has, anything more than a 360/240 or 420/280 (you can also go 360/360 in the PC-V7) seems to be a bit overkill in the radiator department. The idea of getting a 900D for air cooling seems absolutely ridiculous too. Are you planning on putting those Titans under water?

Yea, looking to do 3x TITAN with watercooling, and hopefully have Haswell in there too, pending TIM info.

 

[mkenyon]

Yeah, 900D unless you want to go a bit crazy on prices. Then you could look at the LD PC-V8.

Aquacomputer also released a full Nickel block for the Titan. Looks insanely good:

 

[cpp_is_king]

A page or two ago I posted the way I manually remove my AMD drivers. Maybe there is a conflict since you switched cards. I would go do those steps to ensure you AMD drivers are completely gone. Then uninstall the NV drivers. Then reboot, re-install the NV drivers and see if that helps.

Well I don't think it's a driver issue due to the fact that it can happen even when the system is completely powered down and I'm just powering it on for the first time. Drivers shouldn't even be involved that early. Like I can power the system on and go into the BIOS and the mouse still isn't powered on. But again, only sometimes. Sometimes it's fine.

I feel like it's some kind of BIOS / power issue, especially since the problem involves not getting power to 1 or more USB devices, but I'm not sure why the presence of the nVidia card in my PCIe slot would cause this.

Tonight I'll try disabling C1E, C7, and SpeedStep and see if it makes a difference.

 

[HoosTrax]

What is connecting the Heatkillers in that picture ^?

 

[AndyBNV]

Yeah, 900D unless you want to go a bit crazy on prices. Then you could look at the LD PC-V8.

Aquacomputer also released a full Nickel block for the Titan. Looks insanely good:

I'm failing to see the advantage there? It looks 'nice' as far as cases go, but it also appears smaller than the 900D. How am I going to fit my next-gen 20 inch GTX whatevers in there?!

 

[brentech]

Where do you view these errors?

Ok, went into Event View in Computer Management and I have 42 errors since I reformatted yesterday. I have no hard locks or any problems at all.

Yea. Just type event viewer in the windows search.
This particular type of error is listed under the 'Custom Views'.

Then checking all your sections under the 'Windows Logs'. Such as Application and System. Those are where I look the most.
But the Custom Views will usually show you all the major stuff that you should look at for. Most are just warnings that don't mean much, but the error I got was also just under the warning label.


Anyways, so far so good 2 hours of stress test since increasing the offset voltage and the error/warning hasn't shown back up in the logs (and the system is no hotter). Definitely letting this run for 24+ hours.

 

[mkenyon]

I'm failing to see the advantage there? It looks 'nice' as far as cases go, but it also appears smaller than the 900D. How am I going to fit my next-gen 20 inch GTX whatevers in there?!

It's definitely bigger than the 900D. That is an SRX board in there, HPTX. Might make it look more crammed than it would otherwise. Here it is with a more standard build:

What is connecting the Heatkillers in that picture ^?

10mm copper pipes. I'll be using the same thing in my current project.

 

[AndyBNV]

It's definitely bigger than the 900D. That is an SRX board in there, HPTX. Might make it look more crammed than it would otherwise. Here it is with a more standard build:

Ah! All case makers should follow Linus' example and rate case sizes on the number of cats that can be placed inside.

 

[snack]

This is what my build looks like so far:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($226.99 @ Newegg Canada)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.99 @ NCIX)
Motherboard: Asus P8Z77-V LK ATX LGA1155 Motherboard ($124.50 @ Vuugo)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($57.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Case: Corsair Vengeance C70 (White) ATX Mid Tower Case ($114.99 @ Canada Computers)
Power Supply: SeaSonic 620W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V / EPS12V Power Supply ($93.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Total: $648.45
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-04-16 19:26 EDT-0400)

I'm contemplating the gpu card next. I think I may side with Nvidia this time around. I've owned ATI cards for as long as I can remember. Are there things that you guys recommend I change to my build thus far? Any suggestions are welcome. This build is not yet final!

 

[foodtaster]

What would you all recommend for the best video editing machine for <$700? Preferably in a mini-ITX case.

 

[mkenyon]

What would you all recommend for the best video editing machine for <$700? Preferably in a mini-ITX case.

Premiere or Vegas?

 

[n0n44m]

managed to order this baby for only €200 (€80 discount for some reason, which made it cheaper than the 850W!)

Seasonic internal design and great build quality ... now to wait for the weekend

 

[brentech]

Ah! All case makers should follow Linus' example and rate case sizes on the number of cats that can be placed inside.

Lol, I think I need to look this up.

 

[19Kilo]

Hi gaf, I'm looking to build a budget HTPC box as a secondary pc. Plenty of experience building, but haven't done anything in a couple years so I'm not 100% up on the latest gear.

Budget: ~$400 USD
Main Use: Light Gaming - 4, Emulation (PS2/Wii) - 3, HD Streaming - 5, General Usage (1080p playback) - 5.
Monitor Resolution: 55" 1080p 3D
List SPECIFIC games or applications that you MUST be able to run well: XBMC, Steam BPM
Looking to reuse any parts?: nope
When will you build?: within a month or two
Will you be overclocking?: No

Here's what I'm looking at so far: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/Ripg

CPU: AMD A10-5700 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($119.99 @ NCIX US)
Motherboard: ASRock FM2A75 Pro4-M Micro ATX FM2 Motherboard ($69.98 @ Outlet PC)
Memory: Kingston HyperX 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($46.50 @ Amazon)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($69.98 @ Outlet PC)
Case: Silverstone ML03B HTPC Case ($54.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: Corsair Builder 430W 80 PLUS Bronze Certified ATX12V Power Supply ($29.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $391.43

Mainly looking for decent XBMC/PLEX/etc. performance, 3D playback, HD audio bitstreaming. Also maybe some light (older) games, emulators (MAME, NES, etc.).

A10 APU looks to be a perfect fit for the price - 5700 model for the lower TDP, 1866 memory seems to be worth the little extra for better graphic performance. No need for SSD. Wanted a decent PSU in case I want to add a 6670 for dual graphics later on. Looking at the ML03 mainly because it will fit in my entertainment center and it's relatively cheap. Although it does stick me with only being able to use low profile cards if I want to add a discrete gpu later on...

Not sure whether I should also consider a mini-itx case and mobo? Maybe a CM 120 Elite? I don't have a lot of vertical clearance to work with so the Prodigy is definitely out.

Anyone else have a similar build? Thanks.

 

[Mr Swine]

Stupid questions need stupid answer guys

1. If I buy a GTX 670 for the Metro bundle, does the Asscred bundle type deal work also or is it 1 game per GPU?
2. Is worth buying a GTX 670 with 4GB of ram for future proofing and I'm not planning to upgrade the GPU for at least 2 years
3. Can I move my sound blaster Z PCI-E that is on the PCI-E 1x to the PCI-E 16x?

 

[foodtaster]

Premiere or Vegas?

Either is fine. I haven't actually learned how to video edit. Currently I photoedit using lightroom but I plan on learning how to video edit this summer.

 

[CaptainZombie]

I was wondering if anyone has bought the following case and if they have what their thoughts are on it.

I just this past weekend took my gaming/HTPC system and brought it into the living room. I hate having the case I currently having sit on the ground. I wanted to get this case to place it on my AV stand with all the rest of my components and seems to be a bit taller in height over my receiver.

COOLER MASTER HAF XB RC-902XB-KKN1 Black Steel body