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[Osiris]

Nah, it was the same size actually. The good bend on the chrome plated pipe was with the same benders, so it was just technique.

Pretty good work!

And yeah, practice runs were a smart move

 

[kennah]

"I need a new PC" thread ot3 - Hot Pipe Talk in here.

 

[Osiris]

We should change the subject, about that Zalman Reserator... oh man.

Fanless... silent right?

No, I swear the pump was louder than the air cooler it replaced, and worse, it was outside the bloody case (at the bottom of the reservoir to be exact).

It also gurgled like a fishtank.

The wife made me lose it pretty quick, and I can't blame her

 

[Mr. Wonderful]

There is no point in getting a 4GB 770. It is not made to run with this amount of memory therefore it barely gives any performance benefit even in triple monitor setups.

http://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/Video-Card-Performance-2GB-vs-4GB-Memory-154/

Also, even if you are getting a 4GB model, Gigabyte is a better brand and I believe cheaper. Phantom takes 3 slots, you should keep that in mind if your brother is interested in ever going SLI.

Another option is to get 780 which should be as close to future proof as you need to get. It should be 150-200$ more than Phatom 4GB Edition.

Actually, we have no idea either way, at the moment, and won't know until we start seeing next generation/cross-generation games hitting this fall that are designed without the 256MB VRAM limitation of the PS360 in mind.

 

[Mad Max]

We should change the subject, about that Zalman Reserator... oh man.

Fanless... silent right?

No, I swear the pump was louder than the air cooler it replaced, and worse, it was outside the bloody case (at the bottom of the reservoir to be exact).

It also gurgled like a fishtank.

The wife made me lose it pretty quick, and I can't blame her

Those earlier WC pumps were all made for aquaria. So yeah they were pretty much the opposite of silent . I used to run a cheapass custom loop on my P4 2.8Ghz and 9800Pro that had one of those hydor pumps. That thing would make my entire case resonate like crazy when it was on, and it didn't even turn off with the PC as it operated on AC voltage only.

 

[Osiris]

Actually, we have no idea either way, at the moment, and won't know until we start seeing next generation/cross-generation games hitting this fall that are designed without the 256MB VRAM limitation of the PS360 in mind.

I think he may be talking about the fact that it's 4GB on a 256bit bus (rather than the 384bit of the 780's), there's no point having VRAM you can't make effective use of because you're bandwidth starved.

 

[Coldsnap]

GAF I want to upgrade to an SSD. I have a windows 7 Professional Upgrade - 64 bit product key in my email from when I bought it way back. Will this be enough to allow me to do a new install? Want to do a new install because I'm buying a new motherboard.

 

[KScorp]

I think he may be talking about the fact that it's 4GB on a 256bit bus (rather than the 384bit of the 780's), there's no point having VRAM you can't make effective use of because you're bandwidth starved.

You should still be able to stick a lot of high res textures or models in there anyway. You don't have to copy all the data every frame.

The only possible problem (that I can see) would be that the 770 will struggle rendering 4GB of "stuff", which sounds incorrect, but frankly I have no idea.

 

[mkenyon]

GAF I want to upgrade to an SSD. I have a windows 7 Professional Upgrade - 64 bit product key in my email from when I bought it way back. Will this be enough to allow me to do a new install? Want to do a new install because I'm buying a new motherboard.

Yes.

 

[RoKKeR]

Just tried doing a "clean install" of the 320.18 drivers and the stuttering in BF3 persists.

I really don't know what the issues is, especially considering other 770 users are not having the stuttering I am. VERY frustrating.

 

[mkenyon]

Do you mean you hit the checkbox that says 'clean install'?

 

[RoKKeR]

Do you mean you hit the checkbox that says 'clean install'?

Yes.

 

[Eaten By A Grue]

Just tried doing a "clean install" of the 320.18 drivers and the stuttering in BF3 persists.

I really don't know what the issues is, especially considering other 770 users are not having the stuttering I am. VERY frustrating.

Maybe reinstall BF3? Also I wonder if the game is doing HDD I/O and that is your bottleneck? Are you using a SSD or do you need to defrag a standard HDD if that is what you are using? I am pretty sure the game loads into memory though...

Also run Windows task manger and make sure something is not hogging the resources in the background.

 

[RoKKeR]

Maybe reinstall BF3? Also I wonder if the game is doing HDD I/O and that is your bottleneck? Are you using a SSD or do you need to defrag a standard HDD if that is what you are using? I am pretty sure the game loads into memory though...

Also run Windows task manger and make sure something is not hogging the resources in the background.

Re-installing isn't a bad idea, I'll give that a try. A lot of the stuff you said went right over my head, though haha. I have an HDD, no idea what defraging is and whatnot.

EDIT: I'll try MoH: Warfighter as well since they use the same engine.

 

[Eaten By A Grue]

Re-installing isn't a bad idea, I'll give that a try. A lot of the stuff you said went right over my head, though haha. I have an HDD, no idea what defraging is and whatnot.

EDIT: I'll try MoH: Warfighter as well since they use the same engine.

If you have a non-solid state HDD then you should run a Windows program called defrag. There should be instructions online that can walk you through it. It will organize the data on your HDD efficiently and probably worth a try.

 

[RoKKeR]

If you have a non-solid state HDD then you should run a Windows program called defrag. There should be instructions online that can walk you through it. It will organize the data on your HDD efficiently and probably worth a try.

Hm, alright. I'll think about that. How reliable is it? Sounds easily...fishy.

Just ran Warfighter, perfect performance. Buttery smooth 60fps, all settings maxed, etc. I'm going to give re-installing BF3 a try because the more I look at it, that is the one game that stands out as having issues. Everything else right now is running great.

 

[Leeroy605]

Gaf, some help please.

Switched on my computer today and everything was fine. Left it on as I went out for a few hours came back and it had switched itself off. So I press the power switch and the case fans and light start up for a split second before everything powers down again. Once this occurs pressing the power button again gets no response, nothing, nada, zip. No lights or fans start up. Only way to get that split second power up is to flip the switch on the psu itself off then on again.

I've taken apart the computer, cleaned everything as I thought it may have been down to heat, no luck. Are we looking at a dead power supply here? The motherboard lights up when the psu switch is on which means its getting some power I guess?

Computer specs:
Asus P8P67 LE
I5 2500k (oc to 4.2, air cooled)
Corsair cx600 power supply
670 gtx
8gb ram

Thanks for any replies!

 

[kharma45]

Could well be that CX unit, they're not great. Try the paperclip test on it.

 

[Ashes]

Check the atx plug. I was using 8pin on a 4pin, and picked the wrong 4pin at first. Also check ram.

edit: Wait what? op recommended me a cx430m!!

 

[mkenyon]

There's nothing really great in the budget range for PSUs. It's the best of what's out there in that price range.

 

[Ashes]

I figured. My computer was crashing a bit in the last couple of days, and I figured I'd swap out the psu. Seems to have stopped crashing, but the cpu fan's gone into overdrive. So loud. over 5000rpm for sure.

Plus looks like win8 is fucking up. Can't access power savings menu...
And I was just about to order myself a motherboard/cpu/ram in the next couple of days.

 

[kharma45]

The only thing good is the Antec VP 450 and it's a fair bit more.

UK wise we're lucky enough, that 450w XFX is one of the cheapest around. £35 or so.

 

[Ashes]

The only thing good is the Antec VP 450 and it's a fair bit more.

UK wise we're lucky enough, that 450w XFX is one of the cheapest around. £35 or so.

Wish I'd known that before ordering the cx.

I got mine for £35. And two day free delivery with the amazon locker thing. It was a 24hour locker too, which was a bonus.

 

[kharma45]

Wish I'd known that before ordering the cx.

I got mine for £35. And two day free delivery with the amazon locker thing. It was a 24hour locker too, which was a bonus.

Hey, you could've experienced the joys of Maplin to get the XFX http://www.maplin.co.uk/450w-xfx-pr...echnology-587552?c=AffilWin127079&t=216430611

 

[Celcius]

If you've got a tube of thermal paste about a year old, is it still as good as new or should you just order a new tube?
Why don't all Titans/780's come with high-flow brackets by default? Do they make the back restrictive because they're scared someone will try to stick a pencil in or something?
Any idea when/if Titans will be consistently in stock on a regular basis?

 

[kharma45]

Maybe we could get Hazaro to add that to the OP, for UK buyers get that XFX unit as it's pretty much the cheapest good thing around.

 

[Ashes]

Screw maplin. I recall a bad refund a few years back.

Do you have any recommendations on motherboard/cpu/ram for about £150 or thereabouts?

I was thinking of doing an upgrade this year so might as well get the first part of that done now.

 

[Leeroy605]

Right guys, checked my atx connection, did the paper clip test and the psu fan spins for half a second then dies. So I guess it's that then? Can anyone recommend a cheap but good psu I can buy to use whilst I rma my corsair one? Is that xfx one enough to power my system? I'm from the uk so could run to maplins in the morning to get one. Thank you for your help btw.

 

[kharma45]

Screw maplin. I recall a bad refund a few years back.

Do you have any recommendations on motherboard/cpu/ram for about £150 or thereabouts?

I was thinking of doing an upgrade this year so might as well get the first part of that done now.

All of it for that price?

Right guys, checked my atx connection, did the paper clip test and the psu fan spins for half a second then dies. So I guess it's that then? Can anyone recommend a cheap but good psu I can buy to use whilst I rma my corsair one? Is that xfx one enough to power my system? I'm from the uk so could run to maplins in the morning to get one. Thank you for your help btw.

Yep the PSU is dead if that is the case. What is your system?

 

[Ashes]

All of it for that price?

Yep.

 

[Leeroy605]

All of it for that price?



Yep the PSU is dead if that is the case. What is your system?

Bugger, thought as much! Thanks for the help pc gaf system is:

Asus p8p67 le
I5 2500k
Msi 670 gtx
8gb corsair ram
Asus xonar essence stx sound card
1.5 tb hdd and one ocz vertex 3 ssd
DVD rw drive

What's the minimum power ill need?

 

[kharma45]

Yep.

You're going to be hard pushed then for anything more than an FM2 Athlon. You'd be talking something like this

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

Motherboard: ASRock FM2A75M-DGS Micro ATX FM2 Motherboard (£44.50 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Patriot Viper 3 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£48.96 @ Dabs)
Other: AMD Athlon X4 760k Black Edition Quad Processor (Socket FM2, 3.8GHz, 4MB, 100W, AD760kWOHLBOX, Richland, Turbo Core 3.0 Technology, Virtualization Technology) (£63.96)
Total: £157.42
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-06-22 01:01 BST+0100)

There is the 750K too, it's a bit cheaper but clocked lower. Could also drop the RAM to 4GB.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: AMD Athlon II X4 750K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor (£57.89 @ Aria PC)
Motherboard: ASRock FM2A75M-DGS Micro ATX FM2 Motherboard (£44.50 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: Patriot Viper 3 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£48.96 @ Dabs)
Other: AMD Athlon X4 760k Black Edition Quad Processor (Socket FM2, 3.8GHz, 4MB, 100W, AD760kWOHLBOX, Richland, Turbo Core 3.0 Technology, Virtualization Technology) (£63.96)
Total: £215.31
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-06-22 01:03 BST+0100)

You need a GPU for these too as they don't have one built in.

Bugger, thought as much! Thanks for the help pc gaf system is:

Asus p8p67 le
I5 2500k
Msi 670 gtx
8gb corsair ram
Asus xonar essence stx sound card
1.5 tb hdd and one ocz vertex 3 ssd
DVD rw drive

What's the minimum power ill need?

You'd get away with that 450w XFX, the 550w is another tenner but you'd end up with a better unit than that Corsair http://www.maplin.co.uk/550w-xfx-pro-series-atx-psu-with-easyrail-technology-587550

 

[Leeroy605]

Ok great, my mission for tomorrow is to sniff out a new psu in my area. Thanks for the help!

 

[kharma45]

Just had a look on Guru3D for their power consumption figures, you'll defs be grand with that 450w if you just want something temporary (although as I said I wouldn't be surprised if you just kept using it)

Power Consumption

Let's have a look at how much power draw we measure with this graphics card installed.

The methodology: We have a device constantly monitoring the power draw from the PC. We simply stress the GPU, not the processor. The before and after wattage will tell us roughly how much power a graphics card is consuming under load.

Note: We decided to move away from Furmark in early 2011 and are now using a game like application which stresses the GPU 100% yet is much more representable of power consumption and heat levels coming from the GPU. We however are not disclosing which application that is as we do not want AMD/ATI/NVIDIA to "optimize & monitor" our stress test whatsoever, for our objective reasons of course.

Our test system is based on a power hungry Core i7 965 / X58 system. This setup is overclocked to 3.75 GHz. Next to that we have energy saving functions disabled for this motherboard and processor (to ensure consistent benchmark results). On average we are using roughly 50 to 100 Watts more than a standard PC due to higher CPU clock settings, water-cooling, additional cold cathode lights etc.

We'll be calculating the GPU power consumption here, not the total PC power consumption.

Measured power consumption

System in IDLE = 147 W
System Wattage with GPU in FULL Stress = 294 W
Difference (GPU load) = 147 W
Add average IDLE wattage ~10 W
Subjective obtained GPU power consumption = ~ 157 Watts

Mind you that the system wattage is measured at the wall socket side and there are other variables like PSU power efficiency. So this is a calculated value, albeit a very good one.

http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/kfa2_geforce_gtx_670_ex_oc_review,7.html

 

[Ashes]

You're going to be hard pushed then for anything more than an FM2 Athlon.

oh... I thought I could get a intel i3 for the time being and upgrade later... Probably means I have to push up my budget a fair bit.

 

[kharma45]

oh... I thought I could get a intel i3 for the time being and upgrade later... Probably means I have to push up my budget a fair bit.

You're talking £90 for an i3 3220, unless you look on eBay or somewhere.

 

[Flaxh]

Looks good, need an SSD!

Yeah, I'm gonna start saving for one now. Meanwhile they probably get cheaper and I buy a good one.

Yup, very similar.

Post pics when you're done building it.

Is ASUS VG23AH the best 1080P monitor for the price? I want a new 1080p monitor for gaming/hobby photography and I want it to be 1080p/60hz.

I'm trying to decide between that Asus and the MX239H. I've read some bad things about the VG23AH so I'll probably buy the MX.

I'll try to find more reviews of both and I'll let you know the pros and cons of each.

 

[Ashes]

You're talking £90 for an i3 3220, unless you look on eBay or somewhere.

Yeah. Just saw on amazon.

so about £200 - gpu, I'll use my crappy one now and get 7850 next month...

edit: Recommendations?

 

[Crimsonclaw111]

Awww man, card I wanted is gone:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...02024&Tpk=radeon hd 7870 xt&IsVirtualParent=1

Ah well, better things will be cheaper later. Still.

 

[RoKKeR]

Alright, I've checked a shit ton of games and can confirm that my stuttering issue with my GTX 770 is confined to Battlefield only. Bioshock Infinite, Spec Ops: The Line, The Witcher 2, Medal of Honor: Warfighter, Bad Company 2, Syndicate, Metro: Last Light, etc., ALL of these are running butter smooth, 60fps, no hooks, stutters, or anything of the like.

Battlefield 3 is the only one still giving me trouble. I'm currently doing a "repair install" on Origin, whatever that means, but I plan to reinstall the game. If my problem persists then, well, we'll go on from there. But for the time being it's good to know that it seems like only BF3 is hurting.

And now I can praise how fucking awesome the 770 is. What a beast. Cuts through everything I threw at it. Need to start upping the resolution to put those 4GB of VRAM to work.

 

[Mr. Hyde]

Yeah, I'm gonna start saving for one now. Meanwhile they probably get cheaper and I buy a good one.



Post pics when you're done building it.



I'm trying to decide between that Asus and the MX239H. I've read some bad things about the VG23AH so I'll probably buy the MX.

I'll try to find more reviews of both and I'll let you know the pros and cons of each.

The mx does seem really nice. Please do let me know the pros and cons.

 

[1cmanny1]

Instead of getting a new console, I am considering upgrading my PC instead.


Those new Nvidea cards are far too expensive, I can't really justify spending that for one graphics card (regardless how much I want to ). At the moment I have a NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 1GB GDDR5, do any of you have a recommendation for a relatively good value card upgrade?

Or shouldn't I bother?

 

[Mr. Wonderful]

Alright, I've checked a shit ton of games and can confirm that my stuttering issue with my GTX 770 is confined to Battlefield only. Bioshock Infinite, Spec Ops: The Line, The Witcher 2, Medal of Honor: Warfighter, Bad Company 2, Syndicate, Metro: Last Light, etc., ALL of these are running butter smooth, 60fps, no hooks, stutters, or anything of the like.

Battlefield 3 is the only one still giving me trouble. I'm currently doing a "repair install" on Origin, whatever that means, but I plan to reinstall the game. If my problem persists then, well, we'll go on from there. But for the time being it's good to know that it seems like only BF3 is hurting.

And now I can praise how fucking awesome the 770 is. What a beast. Cuts through everything I threw at it. Need to start upping the resolution to put those 4GB of VRAM to work.

Since upgrading to my 770 4GB last night and the 320.18 driver, Bioshock Infinite has been slightly buggy to at one time graphically glitchy as hell for me.

Yesterday, I played a couple of hours and I just noticed pop-in was a little worse and an overlay in the Escape menu wasn't taking up the whole screen.

Today I was playing and the floors and walls started to disappear, and enemies appeared as these giant balls of silver and red spikes. Things were absolutely fucked until I restarted the game.

I think something's just up with the 320.18 driver. Maybe Nvidia hasn't released an official driver for the 770 yet or something, maybe the 320.18 driver just sucks, or maybe it's my card or my install.

 

[kennah]

Instead of getting a new console, I am considering upgrading my PC instead.


Those new Nvidea cards are far too expensive, I can't really justify spending that for one graphics card (regardless how much I want to ). At the moment I have a NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 1GB GDDR5, do any of you have a recommendation for a relatively good value card upgrade?

Or shouldn't I bother?

Tell us how much you want to spend

 

[Ashes]

What's the best budget motherboard for intel cpu under £50?

 

[PlayALLtheGames]

I don't need a new PC quite yet, but I did add another Corsair Force GT SSD for a nice RAID setup. I started with a 180gb and was constantly out of space with only a few games installed. Added a 240gb so now I'm at 335gb. Performance is amazing, as always.

Antec Skeleton case
Nvidia GTX 590
2600k
G Skill 8GBs DDR2133

Next big update I'm planning on replacing pretty much everything except the case, and adding watercooling and 30" monitor. Probably do that right around BF4.

 

[mr2xxx]

What's the best budget motherboard for intel cpu under £50?

Which Intel CPU?

 

[Roland1979]

oops wrong thread lol.

 

[Double D]

I want that Antec case ^^^. Is it practical or does it just look pretty?

 

[PlayALLtheGames]

I want that Antec case ^^^. Is it practical or does it just look pretty?

It's brilliant. Tons of breathing room, the whole thing pulls out from the arching frame so you have plenty of space to work, plenty of space to add stuff, and it's easy to clean and transport. Very quiet if you put the fan on top on low and actually I don't think faster than that is ever needed.

Also sits right on your desk so easy to get to.

If anything it's more practical than a full tower.