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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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K

Katyusha

Member
DoctorWho said:
I'm thinking of upgrading my NVIDIA GTX 460 768mb card. I can still play a lot of games on high but I'm starting to notice some chug and it has been frustrating not being able to take advantage of the ultra settings in some games.

Processor is an i5-2500k 3.30 ghz if that matters at all.

Anything good for $300 or under?
Click to expand...

7870 XT or 7950
 
T

Terbinator

Member
DoctorWho said:
I'm thinking of upgrading my NVIDIA GTX 460 768mb card. I can still play a lot of games on high but I'm starting to notice some chug and it has been frustrating not being able to take advantage of the ultra settings in some games.

Processor is an i5-2500k 3.30 ghz if that matters at all.

Anything good for $300 or under?
Click to expand...

Can't you get a 7970 for that?

I know here (UK) 7950s go for £220 or so and include 6 games - 7970s come it at around £300.

Edit: Are Nvidia's prices a lot cheaper/more competitive in the US? I see a lot of suggestions/purchases of the 670/680s but they're not priced competitively at all over here. You'd be mad to go for a 2GB 680 @ around £350 here when a 7970 is £300 and 670 4GBs are about £380-400. From the 660Ti down things are a lot tighter here but in all out cost AMD still appear to be the better option.
 
M

MMBosstones86

Member
new case (Lian Li 7HX) came yesterday. Pretty happy so far, seems like pretty solid build quality and bigger then the CM430elite i'm using now.

How are the stock fans that come with it? I have 3 Cougar Vortex fans in my current. Worth switching out or changing the stock fan setup?
 
The Elite

The Elite

BOSS
Terbinator said:
Can't you get a 7970 for that?

I know here (UK) 7950s go for £220 or so and include 6 games - 7970s come it at around £300.

Edit: Are Nvidia's prices a lot cheaper/more competitive in the US? I see a lot of suggestions/purchases of the 670/680s but they're not priced competitively at all over here. You'd be mad to go for a 2GB 680 @ around £350 here when a 7970 is £300 and 670 4GBs are about £380-400. From the 660Ti down things are a lot tighter here but in all out cost AMD still appear to be the better option.
Click to expand...

I'm in Canada, for the same price as the 7950 I'm seeing NVIDIA cards with 2gbs of GDDR5 ram. I guess I will be making the switch to Radeon card.
 
C

cpp_is_king

Member
DoctorWho said:
I'm in Canada, for the same price as the 7950 I'm seeing NVIDIA cards with 2gbs of GDDR5 ram. I guess I will be making the switch to Radeon card.
Click to expand...

FWIW I just sold my Radeon after owning it for 2 weeks and got nVidia instead. The reasons being that the nVidia cards are faster, have better tweaking options, and enable LightBoost on supported monitors.
 
Xdrive05

Xdrive05

Member
Most 7950's (certainly the unlocked ones) will hit a 40% + overclock, which at that speed trades blows with an overclocked 680, depending on the game.

Of course the 660ti/670 cards will overclock too, but the 7950 is generally thought to be pushed higher on average. It has much higher memory bandwidth.
 
T

Ty4on

Member
Terbinator said:
I meant 03 yeah.

Do you have a picture of where you cut out?

I have a TJ08-E atm but i want to downsize just that bit more.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't do it. Getting a 7870/680 (half an inch shorter) without modding is hard enough and with an SFX PSU it will be a lot noisier when idling. I'd much rather look at an SG07/08 where 12 inch cards fit, the PSU is a decent full sized one and you can still fit a beefy top down CPU cooler. It even comes with a dust filter for your blower GPU.

Here's a crappy Vita vid of how much noise it makes. It's not making my ears hurt, but it is annoying none the less. GPU and CPU (H60) fans should be running at their lowerst, but even with only the H60 pump running it sounds identical.
 
M

MMBosstones86

Member
mkenyon said:
The stock fans are decent, but those Cougar Vortex fans are some of the best out there. Definitely worth a swap.
Click to expand...

Good to hear. I'll have to poke around and see how many 12cm's I can fit in there, fairly certain I can't replace the 14cm's on the front with anything right now.

Thanks for the quick response
 
S

Sorral

Member
HoosTrax said:
As someone who trails their pinky on their desk and sometimes uses that finger for leverage to push the mouse, I think that groove on the right side of the mouse would drive me nuts. I've handled it in Microcenter as well. It's a shame, because I'm always on the lookout for a gaming grade small mouse. My personal favorite so far is a gripless Logitech G9 and G9x (owned both, upgrade to a G9x after accidentially killing the G9). The Razer Orochi turned out to be a disappointment.
Click to expand...

Same reaction as brentech. Love the CM Storm mouse. The groove actually feels great to hold. I thought it would be weird, but it just feels very natural now.

I can see how it is a turn off though. I know I was until I decided to just get it.
 
B

BrassMonkey1010

Member
Yay! I have $1450 to spend on a new PC build. Already purchased a case (Fractal r4) a couple months ago, now its time to fill it up. PC will be used for gaming / editing / recording game footage and streaming, so I am looking for an i7 build. Here is what I put together so far. Please let me know if I should switch anything out that would be better / a better value.

CPU:
i7 3770K $329

MOBO: Not sure what to go with here

RAM: 16 GB Corsair Vengeance LP $119

GPU: SAPPHIRE 100351SR Radeon HD 7970 $399 <--does it matter what brand I go?

HDD: 2 1TB Western Digital WD Blue $150

SSD:128 GB SAMSUNG 840 Pro $150

OS: Windows 7 OEM $99

Optical Drive: ASUS DVD Drive $20

Power Supply: ? Not sure what I need

Total right now is $1268, and I still need a Motherboard and Power Supply. Any Ideas what to pick up?
 
M

mkenyon

Banned
ASRock Extreme 4 or ASUS P8Z77V-LK, Seasonic M12II 620W. Get a Hyper 212 cooler too. Drop the DVD drive if you are a bit over budget.

*edit*

Also, once you have a bit more to spend, grab an Avermedia Live HD Gamer. That will dramatically improve your performance while recording/streaming.

*edit 2*

Also, if this is for competitive gaming, it might be worth swapping a less expensive video card to work in the capture card. Something like the 7950 or 7870XT if you use Vegas, or the 660Ti if you use Premiere.
 
K

knitoe

Member
Soka said:
Why is my Windows folder 27.3 GB? Is W7 with SP1 really that big now? Seems insane to me.
Click to expand...

What version of Windows 7? On fresh install of Ulitmate version, I remember it being around 25GB.

Edit: I was talking about the whole drive. Yeah, something wrong if it's just your Windows folder.
 
C

Ce-Lin

Member
Stubo said:
Benchmarks are the true measure of hardware, the amount of RAM a card has doesn't tell the full story of what the components can achieve.

There are many sites out there which provide these, but GAF's preferred frame time measure is worth pursuing for its superior accuracy. Nvidia GTX 660Ti vs AMD Radeon HD7950 comparison here
Click to expand...

so based on this a 660 Ti is a better purchase than a 7950 ? I mean if you decide to go SLI / CrossFire... I got a 7950 Boost and was ready to purchase another one but that article turned me completely off... : (
 
K

knitoe

Member
Ce-Lin said:
so based on this a 660 Ti is a better purchase than a 7950 ? I mean if you decide to go SLI / CrossFire... I got a 7950 Boost and was ready to purchase another one but that article turned me completely off... : (
Click to expand...

Supposedly, AMD are coming out with new drives that help. Also, enabling vsync seems to fix the problem. You can wait and see if AMD comes through with the new drivers.
 
I

Infinite Justice

Member
Ce-Lin said:
so based on this a 660 Ti is a better purchase than a 7950 ? I mean if you decide to go SLI / CrossFire... I got a 7950 Boost and was ready to purchase another one but that article turned me completely off... : (
Click to expand...

In regards to multi-card systems (SLI/CrossFire) stay away from AMD at the moment due to CF issues. They claim a new driver will be released to alleviate these issues in July or so but we'll have to see
 
R

RumblingRosco

Member
mkenyon said:
That definitely seems too large. Something funky going on there.
Click to expand...

Yeah... has been steadily creeping up for a while.

knitoe said:
What version of Windows 7? On fresh install of Ulitmate version, I remember it being around 25GB.

Edit: I was talking about the whole drive. Yeah, something wrong if it's just your Windows folder.
Click to expand...

5xVog69.png


Just checked it again using WinDirStat.

kitch9 said:
System restore? Big Hibernate file? Page File?

Run disk cleanup, with system files checked. Should clear a few gig.
Click to expand...

Disabled hibernate/system restore/page file a while back and they are still disabled. Already ran disk cleanup; it is at 27.3 GB after doing that. Even with system files cleaned up. Also removed any "shadow copies" or system restore points just to be safe. Totally confused. This is with Windows 7 Professional w/ SP1.
 
T

Terbinator

Member
Ce-Lin said:
so based on this a 660 Ti is a better purchase than a 7950 ? I mean if you decide to go SLI / CrossFire... I got a 7950 Boost and was ready to purchase another one but that article turned me completely off... : (
Click to expand...

From the article:
The Radeon HD 7950 3GB (with Boost) is faster than the GeForce GTX 660 Ti in basically all six of our games tested today...

There isn't much left to say here but to reiterate what I have written on the last two articles: AMD presently has the better hardware (just in terms of raw performance) when looking at single GPU options.
Click to expand...
 
C

Ce-Lin

Member
Terbinator said:
From the article:
Click to expand...

single GPU no doubt, but I got my 7950 with crossfire in mind, the only reason I didn't buy a pair of them the very same day was my PSU acting weird, now that I got a new PSU I read that article and damn... I am almost tempted to go for a pair of 660 Ti 3GB, the 192 bit bus does not seem to hold back SLI performance as much as I thought, plus PhysX (I know, gimmick) and CUDA for my Sony Vegas needs.... decisions... I love my 7950 too much, with my 3570K I almost don't feel the need to go crossfire as long as I keep gaming at 1080p.
 
S

scogoth

Member
Soka said:
Yeah... has been steadily creeping up for a while.



5xVog69.png


Just checked it again using WinDirStat.



Disabled hibernate/system restore/page file a while back and they are still disabled. Already ran disk cleanup; it is at 27.3 GB after doing that. Even with system files cleaned up. Also removed any "shadow copies" or system restore points just to be safe. Totally confused. This is with Windows 7 Professional w/ SP1.
Click to expand...

Patches/Updates? Expand the windows folder more so we can see whats in it
 
V

Vinegar Joe

Member
RavenHawk said:
The bottom line is that Afterburner may not play well with your card. I know you mentioned that you had GPU-Z so let's go a different direction. This may take a bit of time on your part, but at least you should be able to see some results, or at least determine if your card is faulty.

  1. Open up GPU-Z and then download and run Sapphire's Trixx software and make sure that you hit reset then apply so that you are at stock settings. See if you get a core voltage reading (will be in overclocking section). Trixx should report the "stock" voltage that your card is designed for, not what it is currently idling at (GPU-Z will show that figure).
  2. Leave Trixx and GPU-Z open and run the same benchmark. See if GPU-Z is showing any variation on the core clock speed or if it is a constant 925. If it shows spikes between the two speeds, assuming it functions like other cards I have seen, then we know it is "boosting".
  3. Regardless of what the results were for the above steps, since you said your clock "boosts" to 975, increase the core speed (leave the memory alone for now) to 975 then scroll down and put the Board Power Limiter to +20% (should be all the way to the right). This is the value that you will need to overclock your card. Without it, it will just throttle between stock (925) and your overclock setting (assuming your card is "boosting" like it should.
  4. Run the benchmark again (yeah, I know), and check GPU-Z to see if the core ran a steady 975. If it did, then we know that your card is capable of overclocking, and you can continue to adjust the core until you either reach your limit, are content, or the card is getting too hot. If the speed still shows 925, then you may have a dud of a card, and need to start troubleshooting.

    *NOTE* The Tahiti 7870s tend to run hot, so keep an eye on your temps when overclocking.

Let me know the results from above, and then we can (hopefully) work on your overclock some more.
Click to expand...

That's cracked it. Can't thank you enough, some stellar advice right there.

In fact I'd recommend 7870XT owners follow the above steps, because there is some down right funky shit going on with this card. Using default settings it mostly sticks to around 501Mhz, very occasionally reaching 925. Upping the power by +20% and the Mhz by a measly 5 resulted in a 5-10 fps boost, and GPU-Z now shows the correct 925/980Mhz fluctuation.

Simply put, the card does not function correctly at default settings. This card might be the exception, but it's worth checking if you own one.

I'm running it at 1165Mhz at the moment and the temps seem OK, no artifacting so far.

Thanks again for the help, would be banging my head against the desk now if it weren't for you.
 
M

Mad Max

Member
I've been planning an upgrade to haswell for a while now, but I've finally caved in and already want to order a new case and custom WC parts, since I can just keep them when I get a new mobo and cpu anyway. This is what I currently plan to get:

2zwFSZN.png
Click to expand...

Anything I'm missing/should change? I was kind of in doubt about the pump, I know this one will suffice for this loop, but there is also weaker version (Laing DDC-1), and I wonder if I could just get that one instead? Or are there other differences?
Btw I'll be adding a full cover block to the loop whenever I get another gpu, because I'll probably replace my hd7950 within a year or so.
 
M

mkenyon

Banned
Mad Max said:
I've been planning an upgrade to haswell for a while now, but I've finally caved in and already want to order a new case and custom WC parts, since I can just keep them when I get a new mobo and cpu anyway. This is what I currently plan to get:



Anything I'm missing/should change? I was kind of in doubt about the pump, I know this one will suffice for this loop, but there is also weaker version (Laing DDC-1), and I wonder if I could just get that one instead? Or are there other differences?
Btw I'll be adding a full cover block to the loop whenever I get another gpu, because I'll probably replace my hd7950 within a year or so.
Click to expand...
You should get a D5 pump and the D5 X-Res. They're a lot more reliable, and much much quieter.

If you are using barbs, you will want to use tubing that is slightly smaller diameter than the fittings. With 1/2" barbs, you would want to use 7/16"x5/8" tubing.

The 360 rad is definitely more than plenty for your CPU, and could handle a 7950 as well.

*edit*

Also, if you want to have a drain, what I suggest is drilling a small hole in the bottom of your case and run the T fitting to a fill port. It becomes as simple as unscrewing the fill port on the bottom of your case and the fill port on the top of your reservoir.
 
B

brentech

Member
I haven't pinned it down as the source for sure, but I think the fan that came with the 212 Evo is making a slight rattle.
thinking about making the shift to all corsair hydraulic bearing fans in the system.
 
R

RavenHawk

Member
Vinegar Joe said:
That's cracked it. Can't thank you enough, some stellar advice right there.

In fact I'd recommend 7870XT owners follow the above steps, because there is some down right funky shit going on with this card. Using default settings it mostly sticks to around 501Mhz, very occasionally reaching 925. Upping the power by +20% and the Mhz by a measly 5 resulted in a 5-10 fps boost, and GPU-Z now shows the correct 925/980Mhz fluctuation.

Simply put, the card does not function correctly at default settings. This card might be the exception, but it's worth checking if you own one.

I'm running it at 1165Mhz at the moment and the temps seem OK, no artifacting so far.

Thanks again for the help, would be banging my head against the desk now if it weren't for you.
Click to expand...

Glad you were able to get it working. I just recently purchased a 7950 with boost to replace my trusty 460 GTX, and did a alot of reading and testing before I figured out the quirks of the card.

You may still find that you have to play with the overclock at times, as I found I can run mine all day at 1175/1600 at stock voltage without a problem, but as soon as I would play Sleeping Dogs, I had to drop the core down to 1125, or I would get artifacts.

Overclocked, these cards can be monsters.
 
V

Vinegar Joe

Member
RavenHawk said:
Glad you were able to get it working. I just recently purchased a 7950 with boost to replace my trusty 460 GTX, and did a alot of reading and testing before I figured out the quirks of the card.

You may still find that you have to play with the overclock at times, as I found I can run mine all day at 1175/1600 at stock voltage without a problem, but as soon as I would play Sleeping Dogs, I had to drop the core down to 1125, or I would get artifacts.

Overclocked, these cards can be monsters.
Click to expand...

Yeah, from what I can gather the 7870 XT is a fairly new card which doesn't help when you're trying to read up on it. Lots of misinformation and unresolved threads, so I was glad to get some help here.

Really pleased with the results so far though, it seems like it should overclock pretty well even if I have to mess around with it a bit more.

Hopefully it was worth the £25 premium over the standard 7870, but then again I've no frame of reference.
 
B

Burgess_101

Member
Vinegar Joe said:
Yeah, from what I can gather the 7870 XT is a fairly new card which doesn't help when you're trying to read up on it. Lots of misinformation and unresolved threads, so I was glad to get some help here.

Really pleased with the results so far though, it seems like it should overclock pretty well even if I have to mess around with it a bit more.

Hopefully it was worth the £25 premium over the standard 7870, but then again I've no frame of reference.
Click to expand...

The XT seems like a real bargain. I would say the extra £25 is worth it.
 
I

Istaerion

Member
I'm unaware if this is frowned upon or not, but I can't seem to find any issue when looking up past attempts by other users.

Considering such, please do let me know if my post needs to be edited or what-have-you.

Istaerion said:
Payment is to be handled either through Amazon Payments or PayPal.

Should the latter be chosen, please cover the transaction fee or utilize the gift option.

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SteelSeries Flux Black Headset ($40 Shipped)

Product Information

Like New Condition - Original Packaging Included

&#9644;&#9644;&#9644;&#9644;&#9644;&#9644;&#9644;&#9644;&#9644;&#9644;&#9644;&#9644;&#9644;&#9644;&#9644;&#9644;&#9644;&#9644;&#9644;&#9644;&#9644;&#9644;&#9644;&#9644;

USPS Priority Mail will be used for all deliveries within the United States.

Tracking and delivery confirmation is included, but insurance comes at an extra cost and will only be applied upon buyer's request and coverage.

Be aware that I will not be held responsible for any damaged, lost and/or stolen mail resulting from postal transit.

Should you have any questions or purchase claims, please feel free to contact me through a PM.
Click to expand...

EDIT: Item has been sold!
 
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