Support NeoGAF

[mkenyon]

Zero gaming? If so, sounds good.

 

[cartoon_soldier]

Not a good time to get a 2GB GPU imo, especially since you're going over $1500 too. With a worse case I managed to put the following PC:



if you want my opinion it will be better if you downgraded to 8 GB Ram and got a 3770K insted, CPU is way more important. Of course you can always pay $70-$100 for the 16GB if money is not an issue.



Edit: You should probably get a better PSU too.

Is the 2GB thing for gaming support or are the 2GB cards not good?

Thanks, I will get 8GB and a better CPU.

 

[BlueMagic]

Zero gaming? If so, sounds good.

Not zero gaming. I do want to play games (however I probably am not going to get a lot of AAA games, mostly indie games now), but I was not really worried about that since I felt the 965 was already good enough on that front and this is supposed to be better (also I do plan on making games but my previous setup was also good on that side, since they are of course not heavy games). I am planning on getting a better graphics card some months from now to get a better experience, so while it's not definitely a priority, it's something I'll be doing.

 

[mkenyon]

Yeah, it'll be fine in most stuff. There's a number of games/engines out there that really need a 4.0+ GHz processor to get into the sub 16.7ms frametime area. This is why we push the K models and a Z77 chipset so much.

But, it'll be a totally great processor even at stock speeds.

 

[Argonis]

Hey everyone,

I'm looking to upgrade my current rig. Hoping to just get a new Mobo and CPU. I want to play Metro 2033: Last Light on max settings.

My current specs are:

Radeon HD 5970
AMD Phenom II Black Edition
8 GB DDR3-1600 RAM
Antec 750 Watt PSU

I was looking to upgrade to a an intel (i7 possibly) CPU and a compatible Mobo.

Questions:

Is my graphics card still powerful enough to run Metro max settings or do I need to look at upgrading that too?

Do yall have an recommendations for a combo Mobo/CPU? Budget is $500.

Thanks for any help.

 

[kharma45]

Built a new HTPC this weekend. AMD A8 5600K, some high clocking Samsung ram (running at 2133 right now), on the ASRock FM2 ITX board. Put it in a Prodigy with an H55, two Spectre Pro fans. This allowed me to OC it to 4.2GHz while keeping things cool.

Built a new HTPC this weekend. AMD A8 5600K.

AMD A8 5600K.

AMD

I never thought I'd see the day

Is the 2GB thing for gaming support or are the 2GB cards not good?

Thanks, I will get 8GB and a better CPU.

2GB is fine at present for gaming, but a 3GB/4GB GPU if you can afford it I feel wouldn't be a bad investment.

Hey everyone,

I'm looking to upgrade my current rig. Hoping to just get a new Mobo and CPU. I want to play Metro 2033: Last Light on max settings.

My current specs are:

Radeon HD 5970
AMD Phenom II Black Edition
8 GB DDR3-1600 RAM
Antec 750 Watt PSU

I was looking to upgrade to a an intel (i7 possibly) CPU and a compatible Mobo.

Questions:

Is my graphics card still powerful enough to run Metro max settings or do I need to look at upgrading that too?

Do yall have an recommendations for a combo Mobo/CPU? Budget is $500.

Thanks for any help.

It'll be hard to tell until the game launches, the last one was a total pig to run so I'd be afraid to speculate.

 

[A good poster]

Hey everyone,

I'm looking to upgrade my current rig. Hoping to just get a new Mobo and CPU. I want to play Metro 2033: Last Light on max settings.

My current specs are:

Radeon HD 5970
AMD Phenom II Black Edition
8 GB DDR3-1600 RAM
Antec 750 Watt PSU

I was looking to upgrade to a an intel (i7 possibly) CPU and a compatible Mobo.

Questions:

Is my graphics card still powerful enough to run Metro max settings or do I need to look at upgrading that too?

Do yall have an recommendations for a combo Mobo/CPU? Budget is $500.

Thanks for any help.

i5 3570k + Asrock z77 Extreme4

 

[mkenyon]

I never thought I'd see the day

Before my 2500K, every single computer I owned had an AMD processor.

Crosshair IV mobo with an AMD PII X4 975, two 5870s

 

[kharma45]

Before my 2500K, every single computer I owned had an AMD processor.

Crosshair IV mobo with an AMD PII X4 975, two 5870s

Tidy looking build that, hope it's still getting some good use

How are you finding the APU in general?

 

[mkenyon]

Those parts made their way to a friend who then went to his brother. I rarely sell my used stuff, so I just give it to friends mostly.

I'm really digging it. The HTPC is basically my wife's computer, and she's really happy with it. The Vertex 2 was horribly slow still in the old setup (Athlon X2 Regor), and it's a lot snappier now. Not having a GPU in there really helps clean up the whole build, and still getting great casual gaming performance out of it is really fricken nice. I'm half tempted to put the RAM and CPU under water to see how far I can push this.

I get the appeal of comfy couch gaming now. Before it never really made sense to me since I'm mostly a competitive gamer. But watching my wife playing Super Meat Boy and Bastion last night was a lot of fun (she's the platformer pro, I'm terrible at them), as was Trials Gold.

It's enough fun that I decided to take the 360 and Wii, as well as the host of games we had, to Gamestop for Steam Wallet money. Keeping the PS3 though.

 

[kennah]

I'm half tempted to put the RAM and CPU under water to see how far I can push this.

Do it.

 

[kharma45]

Those parts made their way to a friend who then went to his brother. I rarely sell my used stuff, so I just give it to friends mostly.

I'm really digging it. The HTPC is basically my wife's computer, and she's really happy with it. The Vertex 2 was horribly slow still in the old setup (Athlon X2 Regor), and it's a lot snappier now. Not having a GPU in there really helps clean up the whole build, and still getting great casual gaming performance out of it is really fricken nice. I'm half tempted to put the RAM and CPU under water to see how far I can push this.

I get the appeal of comfy couch gaming now. Before it never really made sense to me since I'm mostly a competitive gamer. But watching my wife playing Super Meat Boy and Bastion last night was a lot of fun (she's the platformer pro, I'm terrible at them), as was Trials Gold.

It's enough fun that I decided to take the 360 and Wii, as well as the host of games we had, to Gamestop for Steam Wallet money. Keeping the PS3 though.

Awesome stuff!

 

[BlueMagic]

Last little question (thanks a lot for all the help!):
If I can get a ASRock Z77 Pro3 instead of something like a ASUS P8B75-V for pretty much the same price, should I choose the former?

 

[mkenyon]

Yes.

 

[kharma45]

Last little question (thanks a lot for all the help!):
If I can get a ASRock Z77 Pro3 instead of something like a ASUS P8B75-V for pretty much the same price, should I choose the former?

Yes. Yes you should.

 

[Argonis]

It'll be hard to tell until the game launches, the last one was a total pig to run so I'd be afraid to speculate.

I believe my CPU is bottle necking my rig. I know it's the weakest link but not sure by how much. Metro 2032 ran great even with Directx 11 Tessellation and ADOF enabled (some studdering and slowdown in towns).

i5 3570k + Asrock z77 Extreme4

Thx. Will look into it.

 

[M3z_]

Obviously buy at your own risk but for people who think they might be interested in a 2560x1440p monitor this seller is currently selling some with a $50 discount.

$290 with Free Shipping

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Glossy-QNIX...676&pid=100033&prg=1011&rk=1&sd=261206658808&

It seems that this particular monitor is overclockable, but some members of OCN have had backlight bleeding with their monitors.

Their dead pixel policy is pretty good for the price, 5 dead pixels or less is about as good as any seller will guarantee that isn't specifically charging extra for pixel perfect.

 

[Mad Max]

Transferred to a new case over the weekend and installed my new WC stuff (shoutout to mkenyon for making some recommendations):

New Stuff :

CPU block: EKWB Supremacy Acetal
Rad: EKWB Coolstream XT360
Pump: Laing D5
Res: XSPC Acrylic Tank Reservoir for Laing D5
Fittings: Phobya 13mm ID Barbs + an alphacool T-piece and an angle adaptor
Tubing: Masterkleer 1/2" ID Tubing
Coolant: Distilled water and a Killcoil in the res
Case: Fractal Arc midi R2 (I drilled out the optical drive bays to make space for the rad)

Also got a CMstorm Quickfire pro (Cherry Reds) recently, since I was getting tired of my old KB, it's really nice.

Old Stuff:
Phenom X2 955BE @ 3.6 (low OC due to shitty mobo's ridiculous Vdroop)
Asus m4a87td evo
Asus HD7950TOP DirectCU2
12GB DDR3
Samsung 830 128GB

Had to go with 1/2" ID tubing in the end, because the store I ordered from didn't have 7/16" ID in stock and I didn't want to wait 2 weeks. However the fittings are somewhat oversized, so the fit is still quite tight.

I also had some minor leaks during the leaktest; I didn't tighten the fittings on the plexi enough because I was afraid of breaking it.. That was quickly fixed using a pair of pliers though.

Some pics (crappy cellphone quality, looks much nicer in person):

Temps are: 28C idle and 37C load (OCCT linpack).

I still need to get some new fans for on the radiator though, since I'm currently using a couple of old lian li case fans, which are not exactly optimal for this kind of thing. I was thinking of getting 3x corsair SP120 or maybe some Scythe Gentle Typhoons, but perhaps someone here has a better suggestion?

Anyway: Let the wait for Haswell begin..

 

[threetri333]

Should I wait next year for Broadwell, 20nm Maxwell GPU, DDR4 Memory? I already have a Quad Core Ivy Bridge Laptop with GT 650M GT.

 

[n0n44m]

put in my new PSU a be quiet! 1200W I got with a nice discount (Seasonic internal design!)

great build quality, but damn those cables are stiff ... together with the extra length compared to the Corsair HX650 that made for quite some stuffing in the bottom of the case, but it all fit together nicely in the end

did some comparisons between the new and old PSU

i7 2600K @ 4.8 , GTX 670 SLI , 2 HDD 2 SSD, DVD, watercooling stuff

Corsair HX650

off : 7,02W
idle : 128W
Unigine Valley : 560W

be quiet! Dark Power Pro P10 1200W

off : 13,75W
idle : 127W
Unigine Valley : 531W

 

[mkenyon]

There's a lot of performance out there that you could upgrade to. Laptop proc + GT650 would put your performance around the standard build in the OP, maybe a smidgen lower.

@n0n44m - looks good man

 

[kharma45]

Should I wait next year for Broadwell, 20nm Maxwell GPU, DDR4 Memory? I already have a Quad Core Ivy Bridge Laptop with GT 650M GT.

Broadwell ain't bringing DDR4, it's Skylake that will have that.

put in my new PSU a be quiet! 1200W I got with a nice discount (Seasonic internal design!)

great build quality, but damn those cables are stiff ... together with the extra length compared to the Corsair HX650 that made for quite some stuffing in the bottom of the case, but it all fit together nicely in the end

did some comparisons between the new and old PSU

i7 2600K @ 4.8 , GTX 670 SLI , 2 HDD 2 SSD, DVD, watercooling stuff

Corsair HX650

off : 7,02W
idle : 128W
Unigine Valley : 560W

be quiet! Dark Power Pro P10 1200W

off : 13,75W
idle : 127W
Unigine Valley : 531W

Wooanother be quiet! brother!

 

[Pavaloo]

You are going to have a real bad time trying to install os x on that unless you are a very experienced builder/tinkerer. In addition to what Hazaro said check out tonymacx86.org and look at the Guides and Golden Builds.

In particular you kinda want to go Gigabyte motherboards and either 6xxx series amd or nvidia for video card

Compact is stuff under mid-towers. I like the Shinobi and many love their R4's for mid towers. Below that designs get funny so it's a large matter of personal preference.

As for buying I'd check this out (since I researched a bit more): http://www.tonymacx86.com/344-building-customac-buyer-s-guide-april-2013.html

Looks like Gigabyte + nVidia is the way to go, although a very recent OSX update added support for 78xx / 79xx cards. I'm not sure how well that is working.

If you get an mATX motherboard you can use something like the Arc Mini which I also like. Cases like the SG09B and FT03B are also options.

Yeah I'm starting to wonder if I'm biting off more than I can chew. I've done stuff to my desktops before like replacing GPU's and installing RAM, but I'm pretty sure that's some pretty insignificant experience lol. I figured if I followed the Tested.com tutorial of building the tower, I could figure out how to do the installs of OSes from YouTube tutorials.

Maybe I should just go into NCIX and just tell the guys there what I want and see if they can put it together. lol

 

[kennah]

I'm happy to help. Have done it before. Go to tonymacx86.com and look at the buyers guide. He lists the hardware that 'just works' and has good installation guides. It is easier to do if you start from a base of compatible hardware. It is when you try to force it onto just anything that the problems come. Gigabyte motherboards and certain nvidia cards just work.

 

[comu]

Hi, ever since I built my PC (9-10 days ago), I've been geting these things on my screen.

It pops up mostly on twitter, but I've also noticed it on other pages too.

I've only noticed it on firefox IIRC.

Not sure exactly why it's happening, but one possible reason I can think of:
When I was installing the graphics card, one of the thumb screws that holds it up at the back didn't fully tighten so the card isn't correctly lined up, but not by a significant amount. I have plenty more thumb screws that came with the case.

Any ideas?

Everything else has been running perfectly.

Thanks

 

[Infinite Justice]

Hi, ever since I built my PC (9-10 days ago), I've been geting these things on my screen.

It pops up mostly on twitter, but I've also noticed it on other pages too.

I've only noticed it on firefox IIRC.

Not sure exactly why it's happening, but one possible reason I can think of:
When I was installing the graphics card, one of the thumb screws that holds it up at the back didn't fully tighten so the card isn't correctly lined up, but not by a significant amount. I have plenty more thumb screws that came with the case.

Any ideas?

Everything else has been running perfectly.

Thanks

Yea the first thing I would try is to unseat then reseat the graphics card in the slot, then go from there (may card is on the fritz, driver issues, etc).

i'm confident you will get other suggestions soon enough

 

[comu]

How do I update the graphics driver?

I've installed the latest version of AMD Catalyst from here:

http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/windows/Pages/radeonaiw_vista64.aspx#1

 

[Infinite Justice]

How do I update the graphics driver?

I've installed the latest version of AMD Catalyst from here:

http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/windows/Pages/radeonaiw_vista64.aspx#1

If you went there you should be good on that front.

 

[esai]

So im thinking of getting the Creative ZX now and a pair of headphone later. I was also thinking about maybe getting some A40s w/ the mixamp. Would there be a big benefit to getting the A40s and mixamp once i have my soundcard or should i just find a good pair of headphones?

 

[mkenyon]

So im thinking of getting the Creative ZX now and a pair of headphone later. I was also thinking about maybe getting some A40s w/ the mixamp. Would there be a big benefit to getting the A40s and mixamp once i have my soundcard or should i just find a good pair of headphones?

The latter. The mixamp would bypass your soundcard.

Steelseries Flux and AD700 is where I'd start. The prior if you need a headset, the latter if you want a really nice pair of headphones. From there, you pretty much jump up to the Sennheiser PC-350s. If you like the idea of the AD700's, check out the ModMic.

 

[esai]

The latter. The mixamp would bypass your soundcard.

Steelseries Flux and AD700 is where I'd start. The prior if you need a headset, the latter if you want a really nice pair of headphones. From there, you pretty much jump up to the Sennheiser PC-350s. If you like the idea of the AD700's, check out the ModMic.

thanks for the advice. think ill get the AD700s then.

 

[Pavaloo]

I'm happy to help. Have done it before. Go to tonymacx86.com and look at the buyers guide. He lists the hardware that 'just works' and has good installation guides. It is easier to do if you start from a base of compatible hardware. It is when you try to force it onto just anything that the problems come. Gigabyte motherboards and certain nvidia cards just work.

Thanks a lot! I really appreciate it. I just got back from NCIX and ordered my parts. I discussed with the guy there what I wanted and whatnot and he told me this motherboard would work out: ASUS P8Z77-V Lk ATX LGA1155 Z77 DDR3 3PCI-E16 2PCI-E1 3PCI SATA3 SLI DVI HDMI DP USB3.0 Motherboard

Then otherwise the guy knew as much as I did, and referred to the same hackintosh tutorials you were showing me lol. So I decided I'll build it myself following these two tutorials: tower & OS install. I'm wondering if the BIOS screen will show similarly on the asus board though.

Read up on the AMD card though, and apparently the 7950 should work out of the box, so that's great. AH! really excited for this thing. I ended up picking a shitty case though, so I gotta look for something better. I wonder if this would all fit in an Arc Mini case or something similar, but my motherboard isn't an mATX board :/

Right now my specs are:
intel i7 3770k CPU
Asus p8Z77-V Lk ATX Motherboard
WD Cavalier black 1TB HDD
Samsung 840 pro 128gb SSD
Kingston HyperX Blu Black series 16gb RAM
Asus Xonar DX 7.1 Sound Card
Cooler Master Hyper 212 Evo Cooling System
Corsair HX650 ATX Power Supply
Gigabyte Radeon HD 7950 GPU.

 

[mkenyon]

I'm wondering if the BIOS screen will show similarly on the asus board though.

It will not. The ASUS and Gigabyte UEFI (correct term for modern BIOS) are pretty different.

 

[Pavaloo]

It will not. The ASUS and Gigabyte UEFI (correct term for modern BIOS) are pretty different.

Ah, I see thanks! Just looked it up and my UEFI should look like this.

 

[kennah]

Ah, I see thanks! Just looked it up and my UEFI should look like this.

Don't use the Asus boards. They're a huge pain in the ass. If you want to Hackintosh use a Gigabyte board - period. I fought with my P8Z77-I for hours before giving up. All of the rest of the exact same equipment worked flawlessly with an OLDER Gigabyte board. I don't know what kinda voodoo there is, but they just work.

 

[Pavaloo]

Don't use the Asus boards. They're a huge pain in the ass. If you want to Hackintosh use a Gigabyte board - period. I fought with my P8Z77-I for hours before giving up. All of the rest of the exact same equipment worked flawlessly with an OLDER Gigabyte board. I don't know what kinda voodoo there is, but they just work.

Oh wow yikes, thanks for the tip! Swapping it for this board now: Gigabyte Z77X-UD5H ATX LGA1155 Z77DDR3 3PCI-E16 3PCI-E1 HDMI CrossFireX/SLI SATA3 USB3.0 Motherboard

 

[kennah]

That'll do you just fine. I'd also recommend against the 7950, but there is probably a way to make it work. Feel free to PM me anytime when you're setting stuff up, I'm more than happy to help resolve issues, been through a lot of them myself

http://www.macbreaker.com/2013/03/radeon-7000-hackintosh.html - potential issues you'll run into with a 7000 series ati card. (As the 7000 series isn't reaaallly natively supported, though you might be lucky when installing 10.8.3)

 

[Pavaloo]

Thanks so much! I'll be building on Wednesday presumably, so if I need any help I'll be sure to PM

Yeah that was the page I was reading as well, hopefully it works out, but I have a radeon 5770 card lying around that I might be able to use while I figure out kinks.

 

[kennah]

Really the easiest for figuring stuff out is the hd4000 built into your chip. Lots of support for that card it is built into every current mac

What shitty case did you pick?

 

[brentech]

Have only been playing BF3 really son far since I built my PC. Found out Enix had some good sales on games like the new hitman, sleeping dogs, and a Frew others I picked up. Excited to give more games a shot.

 

[Pavaloo]

Oh wow if it's built in then that's great, I had no idea lol.

Hahaha I picked the shitty Bitfenix Merc, but I just got off the phone and swapped it for the Bitfenix Ghost. The merc was so dull in person, it really weighed on my brain lol. Looking forward to the supposed quiet case, all my computers have always been so loud

 

[kennah]

Good choice. I almost got a Ghost before settling in on my current case. A friend might get me to build a computer in one so looking forward to that

 

[Pavaloo]

What case did you end up settling on for yourself?

 

[kennah]

Http://www.craftograph.com/compactsplash

Expensive mistakes were made lol

 

[Pavaloo]

Whoa, that's pretty cool! Looks very tiny lol

 

[kennah]

Whoa, that's pretty cool! Looks very tiny lol

Yeah one of the smallest cases I've ever seen. Mine is number 17 of 50, blue, and should ship tomorrow!

 

[RPGCrazied]

I'll still use my Phenom II X6 for awhile longer, but the video card has to get replaced soon. Its a 5770 HD from ATI. What is the best option, under $100 if possible?

 

[mkenyon]

I'll still use my Phenom II X6 for awhile longer, but the video card has to get replaced soon. Its a 5770 HD from ATI. What is the best option, under $100 if possible?

Something used. Seriously. Cards below $150 are all such horrible performers with the worst performance:$.

 

[kennah]

Basically anything for around $100 wouldn't be much of an improvement over your 5770

 

[Pandemic]

Is their anything I should be worried about with temperatures, speed, etc?

I'm getting another in-take fan later this week which should put my worries aside that it'll overheat.