• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

"I need a New PC!" 2013 Part 2. Haswell = #IntelnoTIM, but free online. READ THE OP.

Status
Not open for further replies.
K

kharma45

Member
tehbible said:
I would NOT recommend the H60 as it is known to run really loud and does not offer as good of performance as higher end air cooled heatsinks

Since it looks like you will be OC'ing, I would recommend you grab the Noctua NH-D14. Runs quiet and gives great results in terms of temps.

16GB ram? Max you need is 8GB. 16GB is complete overkill. Get 8GB of higher frequency like a 2133+ 8GB ram.
Click to expand...

Higher frequencies are a waste of money.

New H60 is a good improvement on the old one with a good fan, and an NH-D14 would be a tight squeeze if it even fits at all in that case.
 
A

Addnan

Member
H60 is fine for SFF builds, but inside the Elite you will need to removed the HDD bay in order to fit the radiator, so installing a mechanical drive becomes a bit of a hassle. SSDs are find since you can just have them stuck anywhere. The Node 304 would be a better choice, but then there is also the issue of the modular plugs not fitting with a graphics card installed. You will need to see if that actually fits.

^The Noctua would not fit inside the case. The PSU goes directly above the heatsink, leaves very little clearance.
 
D

DagsJT

Member
Looks like my motherboard that I bought in December has died, PC won't power on now. Tried the paperclip trick with my PSU and the PSU fan spins up fine so raised an RMA for the board.

Going to buy a new board whilst this gets sorted so can anyone recommend a good board that runs a 3570k CPU and supports SLI?
 
A

Addnan

Member
DagsJT said:
Looks like my motherboard that I bought in December has died, PC won't power on now. Tried the paperclip trick with my PSU and the PSU fan spins up fine so raised an RMA for the board.

Going to buy a new board whilst this gets sorted so can anyone recommend a good board that runs a 3570k CPU and supports SLI?
Click to expand...
Budget?
 
A

Argyle

Member
kharma45 said:
Drop the thermal paste.

No need for an i7 and 16GB of RAM unless you're doing lots of media work. Why a BR writer?
Click to expand...

tehbible said:
I would NOT recommend the H60 as it is known to run really loud and does not offer as good of performance as higher end air cooled heatsinks

Since it looks like you will be OC'ing, I would recommend you grab the Noctua NH-D14. Runs quiet and gives great results in terms of temps.

16GB ram? Max you need is 8GB. 16GB is complete overkill. Get 8GB of higher frequency like a 2133+ 8GB ram.
Click to expand...

You're right, I probably don't need the thermal paste, the H60 should have something pre-applied, right?

Probably no need for the BD writer either. I think I might still spring for a DVD writer with a BD reader though.

16GB RAM is because it may be useful to be able to get actual work done on this PC - I have 12GB in this laptop and it barely cuts it for the stuff I do... (I'm using 95% of my RAM at this very moment....) How much difference is 2133 going to make vs. 1866?

I don't think I can fit that air cooled heatsink in that case. I am pretty much done working with gigantic heavy air coolers and shoving one into a mini-ITX case seems like a bad idea.

Edit: confirmed, max clearance for the CPU heatsink in that case is 65mm, Noctua NH-D14 is 160mm tall...
 
K

kharma45

Member
Argyle said:
You're right, I probably don't need the thermal paste, the H60 should have something pre-applied, right?

Probably no need for the BD writer either. I think I might still spring for a DVD writer with a BD reader though.

16GB RAM is because it may be useful to be able to get actual work done on this PC - I have 12GB in this laptop and it barely cuts it for the stuff I do... (I'm using 95% of my RAM at this very moment....) How much difference is 2133 going to make vs. 1866?

I don't think I can fit that air cooled heatsink in that case. I am pretty much done working with gigantic heavy air coolers and shoving one into a mini-ITX case seems like a bad idea.
Click to expand...

H60 will come with paste.

Unless you're really planning to watch films don't waste your money on BR.

If you're using lots of RAM on your laptop that's fair enough for whatever your use of the machine is. There is no appreciable difference in RAM speeds, even 1333 is perfectly fine.

Look into the Node 304, not much more expensive really and a nicer case.
 
A

Argyle

Member
kharma45 said:
H60 will come with paste.

Unless you're really planning to watch films don't waste your money on BR.

If you're using lots of RAM on your laptop that's fair enough for whatever your use of the machine is. There is no appreciable difference in RAM speeds, even 1333 is perfectly fine.

Look into the Node 304, not much more expensive really and a nicer case.
Click to expand...

I considered the Node 304, but the lack of an optical drive bay, while not a deal breaker, was a negative for me. The deal breaker I think for me is the fact that my Seasonic power supply will either not or barely fit into that case (it is a 160mm long modular PSU - their site warns that modular PSUs must typically be less than 160mm long) which means I would probably have to buy another PSU to use that case. (Also, when it is on sale it's about the same price as the Cooler Master, but when it's not it's closer to $90.)

Edit:

Addnan said:
H60 is fine for SFF builds, but inside the Elite you will need to removed the HDD bay in order to fit the radiator, so installing a mechanical drive becomes a bit of a hassle. SSDs are find since you can just have them stuck anywhere. The Node 304 would be a better choice, but then there is also the issue of the modular plugs not fitting with a graphics card installed. You will need to see if that actually fits.

^The Noctua would not fit inside the case. The PSU goes directly above the heatsink, leaves very little clearance.
Click to expand...

Just wanted to acknowledge and thank you for your advice, hard to follow the thread when the CSS keeps breaking :p

I think that echoes my concern about the PSU not fitting in the Node 304. I looked at the other cases recommended in the OP - initially I had passed on the CM120 and the Silverstone FT03 since it looked like those had cooling issues, and the recommended builds didn't seem like high end stuff was a good idea in that case. The CM130 seems to be a new model that addresses some of those problems, is that right? The Node 304 was the second one I looked at seriously, but reading about the PSU clearance made me reconsider. I looked at the Bitfenix but it's quite a bit taller than the other cases, and I really liked the Lian Li but it's quite expensive compared to the CM130, and it also looked like it would be a really tight fit based on posts on other forums that I found...

If there are other mini-ITX cases worth recommending, let me know! I'm willing to spend more on something better, if it seems like it is worth it.
 
A

Addnan

Member
NinjaCatfish said:
What are the problems with the Z77? I have one, and haven't noticed anything, but I just might not have tried to use whatever feature is broken.
Click to expand...

They used cheaper parts than they said they were and it had some issues reporting voltages correctly at higher voltages. Nothing to be worried about if you already have it, but it's not being recommended anymore.
 
Jzero

Jzero

Member
What's a good and ~$50 power supply that i can use for my mini ITX build? I don't want to spend too much but damn most of the reviews i've seen for a lot of power supplies say that they got a couple DOAs.
 
T

tehbible

Member
kharma45 said:
Higher frequencies are a waste of money.
Click to expand...

Uh, no it is not. Also, you can grab 2133+ RAM for $50 nowadays

I seriously would not recommend the H60. It's an entry level water cooler that runs loud, has thermal issues, and does not perform as well as it should for a water cooled heatsink. sure it looks clean, but in terms of performance it's nowhere near as good (in terms of lowered temps) as air cooled solutions.
 
A

Addnan

Member
Jzero said:
What's a good and inexpensive power supply that i can use for my mini ITX build? I don't want to spend too much but damn most of the reviews i've seen for a lot of power supplies say that they got a couple DOAs.
Click to expand...

Assuming your ITX takes normal PSU then the Antec BP550 is the go to budget PSU. Seasonic M12ii 620W is $79.99 at Newegg right now. Seems like a decent deal
 
K

kharma45

Member
tehbible said:
Uh, no it is not. Also, you can grab 2133+ RAM for $50 nowadays
Click to expand...

Care to post some benches where it actually makes a difference? The only thing that benefits from higher RAM speeds is an APU.

Also if you can find 8GB of RAM for that price please go ahead and post it. There is one set at around $60 but there is no stock.
 
A

Argyle

Member
tehbible said:
Uh, no it is not. Also, you can grab 2133+ RAM for $50 nowadays

I seriously would not recommend the H60. It's an entry level water cooler that runs loud, has thermal issues, and does not perform as well as it should for a water cooled heatsink. sure it looks clean, but in terms of performance it's nowhere near as good (in terms of lowered temps) as air cooled solutions.
Click to expand...

Do you have a suggestion for something better that will fit in a mini-ITX case? In particular the case I am looking at only has 65mm clearance, max.
 
Jzero

Jzero

Member
Any of you have experience with Thermaltake power supplies? I kind of want this one but damn those reviews.

FML buying power supplies is the worst part of PC building.

I think i'll just get the Corsair CX 500 that i looked at first.
 
A

Addnan

Member
Argyle said:
Do you have a suggestion for something better that will fit in a mini-ITX case? In particular the case I am looking at only has 65mm clearance, max.
Click to expand...

OP suggests GeminII SF524 with that case. He also says not to cram such high end parts into that case too though.
 
Anton668

Anton668

Member
Jzero said:
I think i'll just get the Corsair CX 500 that i looked at first.
Click to expand...

while I do have one of those. you can do MUCH better.

what are your power requirements?

ETA: power supplies really arent one of those things where you go "must be below X amount". because if you need a certain wattage, and then cheap out on it because you refuse to go past your preconceived budget... you end up with shit that takes down your system with it...
 
S

Serandur

Member
I was in the market for a new GPU (well, actually a whole new PC build) sometime by next summer and I had a question regarding Maxwell. I've been hearing a bit frequently, lately, rumors that it won't be produced on a 20nm process. How likely is this to be true and if it is the case, what kind of performance improvements could we reasonably expect? What about price drops on older GPUs?
 
K

kharma45

Member
Serandur said:
I was in the market for a new GPU (well, actually a whole new PC build) sometime by next summer and I had a question regarding Maxwell. I've been hearing a bit frequently, lately, rumors that it won't be produced on a 20nm process. How likely is this to be true and if it is the case, what kind of performance improvements could we reasonably expect? What about price drops on older GPUs?
Click to expand...

Extremely likely. Production won't be ready in time for Nvidia to go 20nm by the time Maxwell launches, it'll be 28nm.
 
O

OminoMichelin

Member
So I got a monitor from my father's office, since hes replacing his macmini with his repaired iMac G5 (I have no clue why). I was pretty happy about it until I saw that it only had 1 VGA port...it's most likely a SD monitor yeah? I couldn't check the resolution in the short time I had to play with it.
 
S

schandmann

Member
Addnan said:
OP suggests GeminII SF524 with that case. He also says not to cram such high end parts into that case too though.
Click to expand...
The GeminII SF524 is too high and won't fit. What fits is the GeminII m4, but good luck overclocking a 4770K with one of those.
Addnan is right. I'm kind of on a crusade against the Elite 120 in this thread and while the Elite 130 may be better ventilated, the limited space for CPU coolers still don't make it a good case for high-end builds.
Consider moving up to mATX for your build. Something like the Silverstone PS07 or TJ-08E would be a good fit. They're still small!
 
K

kharma45

Member
OminoMichelin said:
So I got a monitor from my father's office, since hes replacing his macmini with his repaired iMac G5 (I have no clue why). I was pretty happy about it until I saw that it only had 1 VGA port...it's most likely a SD monitor yeah? I couldn't check the resolution in the short time I had to play with it.
Click to expand...

It'll be an HD resolution.
 
A

Addnan

Member
OminoMichelin said:
So I could just get an adapter VGA->hdmi? or will it be fine if I just plug it in the mobo? I might get one anyway just so I can plug my WiiU there, since my main TV is in a place where I can't get any wi-fi.
Click to expand...
You can get a DVI>HDMI adapter, plug it into your graphics card. Some cards still come with that adapter, mainly EVGA if I recall correctly. They are really cheap though.
 
A

Argyle

Member
Addnan said:
OP suggests GeminII SF524 with that case. He also says not to cram such high end parts into that case too though.
Click to expand...

But it looks like CM120 != CM130? The 130 seems to have better support for liquid coolers (also Cooler Master claims you can run a Titan in there...not that I was planning to do that...I'll probably see if anyone else has had success with high end video cards in that case)

Anyone here tried the CM130 out in a SFF build with crazy parts? :)

schandmann said:
The GeminII SF524 is too high and won't fit. What fits is the GeminII m4, but good luck overclocking a 4770K with one of those.
Addnan is right. I'm kind of on a crusade against the Elite 120 in this thread and while the Elite 130 may be better ventilated, the limited space for CPU coolers still don't make it a good case for high-end builds.
Consider moving up to mATX for your build. Something like the Silverstone PS07 or TJ-08E would be a good fit. They're still small!
Click to expand...

Noted. Form factor is important to me (this is going in the living room and you know how it is...wife acceptance factor)...ideally I would just buy an Alienware X51 but I thought I would look into building my own...

My workstation has a Corsair H100i in it and I've used similar liquid cooling systems to good effect in the past (replaced a really horrible air cooler, something big, heavy, spiky, and nearly impossible to install with an Antec liquid cooling unit a few years ago) so I'm not against using the H60 if I will get decent results in the CM130 (that is, not expecting to hit 5Ghz or anything, a modest overclock is fine by me given the form factor).

Edit: I think those two cases are too big for me :(
 
Jzero

Jzero

Member
Argyle said:
But it looks like CM120 != CM130? The 130 seems to have better support for liquid coolers (also Cooler Master claims you can run a Titan in there...not that I was planning to do that...I'll probably see if anyone else has had success with high end video cards in that case)

Anyone here tried the CM130 out in a SFF build with crazy parts? :)
Click to expand...

I have the Elite 130 myself but i haven't put my parts in there yet. It definitely looks roomy enough for a titan though.
 
A

Argyle

Member
Jzero said:
I have the Elite 130 myself but i haven't put my parts in there yet. It definitely looks roomy enough for a titan though.
Click to expand...

What are you planning to put in there?

I'm definitely still in the planning phase, so let me know how it goes for you :)
 
I

illustri0us

Banned
hi guys, 1st post in here - damn near 100% pc noob, console gamer looking to switch over

this is what i have got at the moment, purchased for non gaming stuff but recently decided that i want a gaming pc, wondering how i can convert my set up to play battlefield 4 and upcoming titles nicely

Dell Vostro 270MT Desktop (i5)

PROCESSOR: 3rd Generation Intel® Core™ i5-3470 processor (6M Cache, 3.20GHz)
OPERATING SYSTEM: Windows 8 Pro 64bit, ENG, FR, DUT, ITL, PL
SECURITY SOFTWARE: McAfee® SecurityCenter, 12-Months Subscription
MEMORY: 6GB (1X2GB/1X4GB) 1600 MHz DDR3 Non-ECC
HARD DRIVE: 1TB 3.5inch Serial ATA III (7.200 Rpm) Hard Drive
GRAPHICS CARD: Intel® HD Integrated Graphics
OPTICAL DRIVE: 16X DVD+/-RW Drive
MEDIA CARD READER: 19-in-1 Media Card Reader
SOUND SOFTWARE: Integrated 5.1 High Definition Audio
WIRELESS NETWORKING: Dell Wireless DW1506 Card

other bits of info:

Spare caddy for an extra Hard Drive
3 PCI card slots
1 blue sata and 3 normal sata ports
Spare caddy for another DVD drive or Blu-Ray drive



the problem i have is that its a mini tower and space is tight apparently, i read that someone has fit a 560gtx ti into it (It has a 9" PCB and the fan overhangs that so the total length is 10")... and someone else states the 5770 is 220mm and fits. i will be upgrading early next yr so hopefully amd will have something for me by then or in the pipeline... maybe wait for 20nm?

there is a pic that shows the offending mobo connector that gets in the way of longer gpu cards here (click through pics)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883155565


in the meantime, should i upgrade my ram? if so, by how much and what type?

will buying a ssd be a good choice too?

there is no optical output for audio, just standard analogue jacks. how can i incorporate this and is it really needed with the new sound stuff amd are doing in their upcoming cards?

the psu is only 300watts, will need an upgrade. which type and size?


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

other posts by people upgrading this pc:

I now have my Vostro 270 upgraded with a 500W PSU, 8GB RAM and a Palit GTX660 GFX card (this card is 7.5in long - 8in is the max as I mentioned in an earlier post), so far the machine is running well, temps are ok for a small case and fans are not too noisy. The machine so far has been rock solid even Windows 8 is proving to be ok so for the moment I will hold off downgrading to Win 7 and give it a chance.

Just a note for anyone installing a PCI-E GFX card, you may need to disable Secure Boot otherwise the machine will not see your GFX card and you will not get a display from the PCI-E card, only from the onboard VGA, this is because secure boot disables any device that it does not recognize or does not have an UEFI compatible ROM.

To disable secure boot I did the following (I am not recommending you do this, but I did it to get my PCI-E card working, don't PM me if something goes wrong :) )

Press F12 repeatedly on startup
Choose 'Change Boot Mode Setting'
Choose 'UEFI Boot Mode: Secure boot: OFF'

This will disable secure boot and set the boot mode to 'UEFI with Legacy OPROM; Secure boot: OFF' this should allow the PCI-E card to work.

NOTE: DO NOT CHOOSE 'Legacy Boot Mode, Secure Boot Off' as this will stop Windows 8 from booting, if this happens don't worry just go back to the menu and choose the UEFI Boot option

Incase anyone is interested in the performance on the Vostro 270 with the GTX660, I have run a 3DMark (2013) Basic Edition benchmark and here are the best results from 2 runs;

Ice Storm : 132052
Cloud Gate : 13444
Fire Strike : 4085

See full results here;

http://www.3dmark.com/3dm/675977
http://www.3dmark.com/3dm/676030

Seems to be about normal for this CPU/GPU combo as it's not overclocked at all.

I had two 4GB PC3-12800 modules already in another PC so I used these in the Vostro, they are Hyundai but the original Dell memory was Kingston and Hynix so it looks like any PC3-12800 will work though. There is no setting in the BIOS to disable the onboard graphics it does this automatically when it detects a card in the PCI-E slot.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I received mine yesterday and it worked well out of the box. I was planning to use it as a second gaming machine so I have added some new bits. When I opened it up it was very neat and tidy and looked well put together.

I have added an SSD, a new power supply and a Geforce GTX 560 Ti. The 560 Ti fits in with not much room to spare, but it does fit. The new power supply has lots more cables than the original so I have had to cable tie them and tuck them under the optical drive. The SSD I had was an old OCZ that was 3½ inches, so that fitted in the spare hard drive bay nicely.

I have also reinstalled Windows 8 and all is looking good at the moment. So far I am very impressed for the money.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

My GTX 460 is 210 mm and fits. I guess it depends on the shape of the card. Mine is rounded towards the end so it easily avoids the cable on the mobo.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

With regards to the graphics cards. I managed to fit the below card in:

http://www.asus.com/Graphics_Cards/ENGTX560_Ti_DCII_TOP2DI1GD5/

It has a 9" PCB and the fan overhangs that so the total length is 10"


^^^^^^^ reply:

How did you manage to fit that in, I thought the capacitor on the motherboard, would be in your way for such a big dual slot card, ( as in takes up the space of two back plates).
And does it need extra power from the PSU, as there isnt one spare.
I was going to install a new GFX card next week, an amd hd7750 like this one: http://www.ebuyer.com/483275-his-7750-icooler-2gb-ddr3-pci-e-dvi-hdmi-vga-h775fs2g which is shorter and thinner and is powered by the PCI-E slot.

^^^^^^ no reply back
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
Jzero

Jzero

Member
Argyle said:
What are you planning to put in there?

I'm definitely still in the planning phase, so let me know how it goes for you :)
Click to expand...

I'm going to put:

* Cooler Master Seidon 120M (1 fan)
* Gigabyte GA-Z77N-WIFI
* XFX 550W PRO550W Core Edition
* My current HD 7750 (still waiting to upgrade)
* Crucial M500 120GB SSD
* Intel Core i5-3570K
* HyperX 8GB 1600MHz DDR3
* WD Blue 1 TB

I still need money for the CPU so that's why i haven't finished it. # Minimum wage problems
 
A

Addnan

Member
@illustri0us

You will probably need a new PSU, but it seems any ATX PSU should fit there. Can you check exactly how much wattage your PSU is. The problem is as you pointed out the space. The issue here is most mid to high end cards are are over 8inches. Your best bet if you upgrade right now is the GTX670 mini. There could be more small cards next year, but right now there is no way to know. Your RAM is fine, no need for more.
 
Anton668

Anton668

Member
illustri0us said:
in the meantime, should i upgrade my ram? if so, by how much and what type?

will buying a ssd be a good choice too?

there is no optical output for audio, just standard analogue jacks. how can i incorporate this and is it really needed with the new sound stuff amd are doing in their upcoming cards?

the psu is only 300watts, will need an upgrade. which type and size?
Click to expand...

first off, thought about just buying a new case and transferring the guts over?

6Gb ram "should" be fine

SSD is ALWAYS a good choice! ;)

AMD cards will have there own audio out I believe

PSU- first, yes, it's too low wattage. second, it's most likely shit. kill it with fire!
 
R

runnin_blue

Banned
Hey guys, built my new pc and everything was going great but after installing nvidia drivers it started taking really long to load during windows bootup, like 3 minutes, even though it's on an SSD. I actually thought it was freezing.

I can't work out what the problem is. System is:

Intel BX80646I54670 Core i5-4670 3.4GHz 6MB LGA1150 Haswell Boxed CPU

Gigabyte Z87X-UD3H Intel Z87 S1150/4xDDR3/6xPCI-E/ SATA3/USB3.0/HDMI/DVI-D/DP/GBLAN/RAID/ATX MB

G.Skill Ripjaws-X 8G Kit(4Gx2) DDR3 2133 F3-17000CL11D- 8GBXL

Sandisk Ultra Plus SSD SDSSDHP-256G-Q25 256G SAT A3 SSD

WD 3.5" Black 1TB WD1002FAEX SATA3 7200rpm HDD

Gigabyte N770OC-4GD 4G GTX 770 PCI-E VGA Card


P.S. Don't laugh, I'm pretty new to this, but when my friend was in the bios, I noticed the clock in there was 2 hours behind, so he changed it to the real time and the problem started about the same time. Any chance that could have effected it?
 
S

schandmann

Member
Argyle said:
But it looks like CM120 != CM130? The 130 seems to have better support for liquid coolers (also Cooler Master claims you can run a Titan in there...not that I was planning to do that...I'll probably see if anyone else has had success with high end video cards in that case
Click to expand...
Oh, alright, I didn't know they improved on that. Thought it was just the mesh front and some minor changes.

Go ahead then, should work out fine.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

"I Need a New PC!" 2024. 240 Hz OLEDs, PCI-Gen5, Path Tracing & Ray Reconstruction.
8 9 10 11 12
555
31K
GHG replied
PC build, is it worth it for 1080p gaming going forward?
Social Hardware Platform 2
62
4K
Rossco EZ replied
At what point will you give up pc builds? A Cloud gaming discussion
2 3
138
6K
Sleepwalker replied
  • Locked
YouTube is slowing down your PC if you have AdBlock installed by making your CPU sweat
44
8K
IAmRei replied
The Mac vs PC War is back on (sprawling newsletter article by Tom Warren about Windows & Arm)
2 3
142
7K
GHG replied
Top Bottom