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[kharma45]

Cable management could be better.

Dat 7970 is HUGE!



Fractal Design R4

Holy Medusa

 

[opticalmace]

Making a new post out of this for visibility.

Anyone have a feeling about mid-tower vs full-tower? I have an Antec 900, and with 2 SSDs, 2 HDDs, and a AMD 6950, there's very little room to work. Routing cables is a huge PITA (non-modular) and yeah. Want something new.

Is the 900 crappy for spacing because of the case itself, or because it's a mid-tower? Should I just get a full tower? I have lots of room at my desk.

Thanks pc-gaf!

 

[Addnan]

Making a new post out of this for visibility.

Anyone have a feeling about mid-tower vs full-tower? I have an Antec 900, and with 2 SSDs, 2 HDDs, and a AMD 6950, there's very little room to work. Routing cables is a huge PITA (non-modular) and yeah. Want something new.

Is the 900 crappy for spacing because of the case itself, or because it's a mid-tower? Should I just get a full tower? I have lots of room at my desk.

Thanks pc-gaf!

Just the case.

New Mid towers are great to work in and make look clean. Define R4/ Arc Midi R2 are great mid towers. Same goes for CM 690 II < Getting old now, but I still like to throw it in since I have it

Random google image. R4

 

[BY2K]

Holy Medusa

Is that a joke about the cables?

 

[SlickMoney]

Making a new post out of this for visibility.

Anyone have a feeling about mid-tower vs full-tower? I have an Antec 900, and with 2 SSDs, 2 HDDs, and a AMD 6950, there's very little room to work. Routing cables is a huge PITA (non-modular) and yeah. Want something new.

Is the 900 crappy for spacing because of the case itself, or because it's a mid-tower? Should I just get a full tower? I have lots of room at my desk.

Thanks pc-gaf!

After building dozens of mid towers, I went with a full tower for my most recent gaming rig. Never again will I use a smaller case. The room to work in that thing was absolutely glorious. Cable management, fitting the largest GPU, CPU coolers...none of the trimming,squeezing,shifting that old builds sometimes required.

If you've got the room, I would recommend a full tower for sure. Tons of enthusiast mid towers help with some of the issues you run into for a build, but I enjoyed the hell out of building this new machine.

(HAF X for those interested in the case I chose)

 

[kharma45]

Is that a joke about the cables?

Yes.

 

[crap monkey]

I hope this isn't a dumb question but would it be smart to wait until the next gen consoles are out to get a new graphics card? My current set-up is:

AMD Phenom II X4
HD Radeon 5770
12 GB ram

My card is starting to show its age and I have the money to upgrade between 200-350 dollars. Am I making a mistake by getting one now? I want to be able to run future games for the next 3 years around max settings and I'm not sure if I should wait until the next round of GPUs come out and completely eclipse the consoles. If i do get one now i'm thinking either a GTX 660 TI or a 760. Thoughts?

 

[kharma45]

I hope this isn't a dumb question but would it be smart to wait until the next gen consoles are out to get a new graphics card? My current set-up is:

AMD Phenom II X4
HD Radeon 5770
12 GB ram

My card is starting to show its age and I have the money to upgrade between 200-350 dollars. Am I making a mistake by getting one now? I want to be able to run future games for the next 3 years around max settings and I'm not sure if I should wait until the next round of GPUs come out and completely eclipse the consoles. If i do get one now i'm thinking either a GTX 660 TI or a 760. Thoughts?

Avoid the 660 Ti. Your best bet in that price range is a 280X or a 7970 if you can find one at a reasonable price.

Also overclock your CPU if you haven't already.

 

[Hente]

I like front intake / side intake / rear exhaust. What case do you have? Does it have a side fan mount? A bottom intake will take in a lot of dust if it's not filtered, but it's generally better to have more intakes than exhausts (positive pressure).
1080p will look bad on a 1440p screen. Better play at natives res and lower the settings.

I have an NZXT Source 210 with a side window, so a side fan isn't an option. ;_;
Alright, thanks for the heads up.

 

[diaspora]

Avoid the 660 Ti. Your best bet in that price range is a 280X or a 7970 if you can find one at a reasonable price.

Also overclock your CPU if you haven't already.

I had the exact same setup, and this is exactly what I did albeit with a 7970. That GPU destroys whats in the nextgen systems, so you should be good.

 

[Anton668]

I have an NZXT Source 210 with a side window, so a side fan isn't an option. ;_;

do you not know anyone with a drill? its always an option!

 

[Chris R]

Is there a preferred 802.11n mPCI-e kit I need to be looking for? Moved into a new apartment with some dudes, router is no longer wireable (well... I might just staple it above a few doors...) so I need to take my desktop wireless.

Mobo - http://www.asus.com/ROG_ROG/MAXIMUS_V_GENE/

I guess I could get a PCI-e card but by going mPCI-e I keep my SLI options open down the road.

 

[kharma45]

Is there a preferred 802.11n mPCI-e kit I need to be looking for? Moved into a new apartment with some dudes, router is no longer wireable (well... I might just staple it above a few doors...) so I need to take my desktop wireless.

Mobo - http://www.asus.com/ROG_ROG/MAXIMUS_V_GENE/

I guess I could get a PCI-e card but by going mPCI-e I keep my SLI options open down the road.

Looked into Homeplugs?

 

[Chris R]

Looked into Homeplugs?

I'd rather have 802.11n than that. No idea how well the 4 plex is wired.

 

[DSN2K]

I hope this isn't a dumb question but would it be smart to wait until the next gen consoles are out to get a new graphics card? My current set-up is:

AMD Phenom II X4
HD Radeon 5770
12 GB ram

My card is starting to show its age and I have the money to upgrade between 200-350 dollars. Am I making a mistake by getting one now? I want to be able to run future games for the next 3 years around max settings and I'm not sure if I should wait until the next round of GPUs come out and completely eclipse the consoles. If i do get one now i'm thinking either a GTX 660 TI or a 760. Thoughts?

you wont be able to max games with phenom II x4 in a year tops, you cant already with BF4. I'm in same boat with 7950....BF4 was on high-ultra @ 30fps tops

 

[Felix Lighter]

For the love of all things holy, please Microcenter, have one of your amazing in store CPU deals.

 

[crap monkey]

Avoid the 660 Ti. Your best bet in that price range is a 280X or a 7970 if you can find one at a reasonable price.

Also overclock your CPU if you haven't already.

R9 280s seem to perform better than 7970s, why are the 7970s more expensive?

 

[Jibbajabbawockky]

I hope this isn't a dumb question but would it be smart to wait until the next gen consoles are out to get a new graphics card? My current set-up is:

AMD Phenom II X4
HD Radeon 5770
12 GB ram

My card is starting to show its age and I have the money to upgrade between 200-350 dollars. Am I making a mistake by getting one now? I want to be able to run future games for the next 3 years around max settings and I'm not sure if I should wait until the next round of GPUs come out and completely eclipse the consoles. If i do get one now i'm thinking either a GTX 660 TI or a 760. Thoughts?

For what it's worth, I had a very very similar setup up until recently- a Phenom II X3 720, with the fourth core unlocked (basically making it an X4), with a 5770 and 8GB of RAM.

A couple months ago I replaced my 5770 with a EVGA 760 GTX and that was a fantastic upgrade for most of the games I was playing. Then Rome 2 and the BF4 Beta seemed to hit my CPU hard. A week or so ago, I replaced my X3 720 with an i5 4670k and now my system is running a game like Rome 2 without any issues.

You can probably find better value than a 760 on the AMD side of things, but when I was upgrading, one factor that made me go with the 760 over something like the 7950 was card size. A lot of the 7950's were more than 10.5 inches long and I think would have been a close fit in my Storm Scout case.

But I've been very happy with my 760, coming from a 5770.

 

[crap monkey]

For what it's worth, I had a very very similar setup up until recently- a Phenom II X3 720, with the fourth core unlocked (basically making it an X4), with a 5770 and 8GB of RAM.

A couple months ago I replaced my 5770 with a EVGA 760 GTX and that was a fantastic upgrade for most of the games I was playing. Then Rome 2 and the BF4 Beta seemed to hit my CPU hard. A week or so ago, I replaced my X3 720 with an i5 4670k and now my system is running a game like Rome 2 without any issues.

You can probably find better value than a 760 on the AMD side of things, but when I was upgrading, one factor that made me go with the 760 over something like the 7950 was card size. A lot of the 7950's were more than 10.5 inches long and I think would have been a close fit in my Storm Scout case.

But I've been very happy with my 760, coming from a 5770.

Case space is definitely a concern, how can I make sure I don't buy a card that's too big for my case?

 

[Jzero]

I still can't decide what GPU i want and can afford. I only have $300 including tax. Maybe i'll wait until black friday.

 

[DTKT]

I'm starting a build for a friend of mine with 650$ or so budget. Should I really wait for Black Friday? I was looking at the "Standard" build as a rough guide line.

 

[IMACOMPUTA]

I'm crossposting from the 290x thread, but wondered if anyone has info for me before I decide my GPU future:

I'm looking for raw performance and don't mind crossfire. I'm running 2x6950s right now and did some mental gymnastics to convince myself I can afford a 290x.
For $580~ should I get 2x7970s (280x)?

I've been kinda bummed about single card benchmarks. I guess I was expecting too much out of a single card.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

I've been told that 2x6950s is about equivalent to 1x7970.

So going 2x7970s should be twice the performance of my 6950s, while 1 290x is only about 50&#8453; better.
Am I way off base here?

 

[Reckoner]

It arrives!

One thing: if you have your PC in your bedroom you will want to turn off the power LED light. I just did that myself.

 

[Hente]

do you not know anyone with a drill? its always an option!

Modding my case scares me man.

 

[No Love]

JESUS! I'm on Digital Storm's website and they are pretty misleading on their prices.

Take the 960GB SS by Crucial. It's listed at $617 on their website which is already a $70 mark up. It's actually $767. They are misleading on their prices. You have to add $150 for all their drive options to get what you're really paying for it.

You have to be out of your damn mind or just rich to buy prebuilt PCs from these sites.

By the way, I just come on these sites from time to time to see how much they are marking up their services compared to just doing it yourself.

Digital Storm is a complete piece of shit company. AVOID, AVOID, AVOID.

They are run by a disgusting family of pigs who violate CA state law and don't allow their workers to eat meat in their facilities because of their religion. Plus all of their PC's are built in a warehouse sweatshop where the idea is to pump out as many as possible.

Total shit.

 

[opticalmace]

I'm crossposting from the 290x thread, but wondered if anyone has info for me before I decide my GPU future:

I'm looking for raw performance and don't mind crossfire. I'm running 2x6950s right now and did some mental gymnastics to convince myself I can afford a 290x.
For $580~ should I get 2x7970s (280x)?

I've been kinda bummed about single card benchmarks. I guess I was expecting too much out of a single card.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

I've been told that 2x6950s is about equivalent to 1x7970.

So going 2x7970s should be twice the performance of my 6950s, while 1 290x is only about 50&#8453; better.
Am I way off base here?

What resolution are you using?

 

[Hazaro]

Modding my case scares me man.

See: http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/2012/02/10/the-big-cooling-investigation/5

Just stick a 120mm on top.

 

[IMACOMPUTA]

What resolution are you using?

1440p

 

[JoseJX]

This is driving me nuts, so any help would be really appreciated!

It's an HTPC build that reboots when there's a lot of disk I/O. I've seen it randomly reboot a few other times too, but this seems to be the major culprit. It's pretty stable otherwise. I can compile the whole system from scratch, but when it starts copying large amounts of data, it just crashes and burns.

The hardware:
Haswell Pentium G3220
MSI H81M-E33 Mainboard (Updated to latest BIOS)
G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3-1333
Samsung 830 (re-used from a previous build)
Running Linux (Gentoo, I've tried kernels 3.8-3.12 with no difference)

When I'm playing back media and recording to disk at the same time (using MythTV), it reboots or locks up with garbage on the screen. Here's what I've tried, with no changes:

• Swap the power supplies: I've tried an Allied 275W and an Antec 430W supply, both known to work in other machines
• Adding a different video card and network card just in case those drivers were the problem (always an issue in Linux)
• Run Memtest86+ with multiple passes and no failures
• I've stressed the CPU (compiles, burncpu and other stuff) and that doesn't trigger it
• Swapped the ram in the slots and tried one stick at a time
• Reseating the cooler on the CPU and applying new thermal paste
• Running the board outside of the case, with no improvement
• I've reset the BIOS a few times, and turned off components I'm not using like the Intel sound, but still nothing
• Monitored the CPU/GPU temperatures, and saw nothing different between normal operation and when it locked up

Is there anything left to try before I give up and get a replacement board? I'm assuming that the mainboard would be the part to swap if that's the case. Unfortunately, I have no other socket 1150 boards to test this with. Thanks for your input!

 

[opticalmace]

This is driving me nuts, so any help would be really appreciated!

It's an HTPC build that reboots when there's a lot of disk I/O. I've seen it randomly reboot a few other times too, but this seems to be the major culprit. It's pretty stable otherwise. I can compile the whole system from scratch, but when it starts copying large amounts of data, it just crashes and burns.

The hardware:
Haswell Pentium G3220
MSI H81M-E33 Mainboard (Updated to latest BIOS)
G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB) DDR3-1333
Samsung 830 (re-used from a previous build)
Running Linux (Gentoo, I've tried kernels 3.8-3.12 with no difference)

When I'm playing back media and recording to disk at the same time (using MythTV), it reboots or locks up with garbage on the screen. Here's what I've tried, with no changes:

• Swap the power supplies: I've tried an Allied 275W and an Antec 430W supply, both known to work in other machines
• Adding a different video card and network card just in case those drivers were the problem (always an issue in Linux)
• Run Memtest86+ with multiple passes and no failures
• I've stressed the CPU (compiles, burncpu and other stuff) and that doesn't trigger it
• Swapped the ram in the slots and tried one stick at a time
• Reseating the cooler on the CPU and applying new thermal paste
• Running the board outside of the case, with no improvement
• I've reset the BIOS a few times, and turned off components I'm not using like the Intel sound, but still nothing

Is there anything left to try before I give up and get a replacement board? I'm assuming that the mainboard would be the part to swap if that's the case. Unfortunately, I have no other socket 1150 boards to test this with. Thanks for your input!

I would try it with a different HDD (or SSD). If it still crashes, and you're sure it's not a software problem, I would assume it's the mobo most likely. But maybe someone has other suggestions.

 

[jbpaz]

Can someone tell me why my MSI R7970 Twin Frozr III BE is running at 47c idle when I was always getting around ~36 before? Fans are on auto, checked to see if anything was running in the background, etc.

 

[Jzero]

Guys, do the R9 270x cards not come with free games?

Edit: guess not, i might as well get an old card.

 

[Mogwai]

Guys, do the R9 270x cards not come with free games?

Edit: guess not, i might as well get an old card.

None of the new AMD cards does. I guess they will start bundle up as we approach the holiday season.

 

[kharma45]

I still can't decide what GPU i want and can afford. I only have $300 including tax. Maybe i'll wait until black friday.

280X/7970 will be your best bet.

R9 280s seem to perform better than 7970s, why are the 7970s more expensive?

280X is a rebadged 7970 GHz edition, they perform the same when clocked the same.

7970 price rise though is in explicable. For a good while there we had 7970s at $280 (and less) with the free games, now we only have this one http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150665 and this one http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131468 and I wouldn't go anywhere near the XFX one

 

[Darklord]

I would like a future proof PC(well, a few years at least) but decided I'm just buying a pre-built one rather than a custom built one this time.

Would it be better buying this:
http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php...=25382&zenid=14ff30b7d08a181ebd238eb697f4cdef

Or spending an extra $250 for this?
http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php...=25221&zenid=14ff30b7d08a181ebd238eb697f4cdef

 

[kharma45]

I would like a future proof PC(well, a few years at least) but decided I'm just buying a pre-built one rather than a custom built one this time.

Would it be better buying this:
http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php...=25382&zenid=14ff30b7d08a181ebd238eb697f4cdef

Or spending an extra $250 for this?
http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php...=25221&zenid=14ff30b7d08a181ebd238eb697f4cdef

I'd get the more expensive one.

 

[SneakyStephan]

I would like a future proof PC(well, a few years at least) but decided I'm just buying a pre-built one rather than a custom built one this time.

Would it be better buying this:
http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php...=25382&zenid=14ff30b7d08a181ebd238eb697f4cdef

Or spending an extra $250 for this?
http://www.pccasegear.com/index.php...=25221&zenid=14ff30b7d08a181ebd238eb697f4cdef

Both pcs are 500-600 dollars overpriced...

Ask your local pc shop to build your pc for you from parts, most shops do it for 30-70 dollar/euros, some do it for free if you buy all the parts there

Or you know, piss away 500 bucks, that's cool too.

 

[pa22word]

Probably a shot in the dark as I've been out of the mobo game for so long my ignorance is reaching critical mass, but is there any decent mobos out there atm that are LGA 1366 backwards compatible? PCIe 3.0 support would be preferable.

Reason I'm asking is because I'm looking at maybe getting a new GPU, but it's looking like I may need a new case, and if I'm going that far I'm thinking I might as well grab a PCIe 3.0 board while I'm at it. Thing is though I really *don't* wanna needlessly do an upgrade from my i7 960 atm so I could get a CPU to fit the new mobo, as with a decent OC the 960 still does in pretty much anything I throw at it anyways. Considering it looks to stay that way for a while if the new consoles are anything to go by...yeah...pref not get rid of the CPU if I don't have to.

 

[velociraptor]

I've been trying to download Windows 8.1 from Microsoft's shitty web installer for hours with no avail. Many others are having the same problem as me - cannot connect.

I'm getting a bit desperate here - am I allowed to torrent an ISO and use my legit product key? Will that work?

 

[SneakyStephan]

Ooh the 290x dropped from 570 euros to 480 today at my local pc shop (they didn't have stock yesterday so I guess that's why they price gouged)
Things worked out so well price wise with these things<.< now we just need the 290 to release and be 400 euros or less, then nvidia to drop the 780 to 400 euros to match it, then maxwell 880 can release at a reasonable price next year.

I've been trying to download Windows 8.1 from Microsoft's shitty web installer for hours with no avail. Many others are having the same problem as me - cannot connect.

I'm getting a bit desperate here - am I allowed to torrent an ISO and use my legit product key? Will that work?

Yes and yes

 

[Darklord]

Both pcs are 500-600 dollars overpriced...

Ask your local pc shop to build your pc for you from parts, most shops do it for 30-70 dollar/euros, some do it for free if you buy all the parts there

Or you know, piss away 500 bucks, that's cool too.

That's Australian prices. Shit costs a lot here. The card alone is $100 more than America. They only charge $50 to build and deliver it to you. That site is generally pretty cheap for here.

This is from another site: http://www.scorptec.com.au/system/162 Same price and it's only a 660 in it. They also charge an extra $50 for the same build time the other site does it.

 

[kharma45]

Probably a shot in the dark as I've been out of the mobo game for so long my ignorance is reaching critical mass, but is there any decent mobos out there atm that are LGA 1366 backwards compatible? PCIe 3.0 support would be preferable.

Reason I'm asking is because I'm looking at maybe getting a new GPU, but it's looking like I may need a new case, and if I'm going that far I'm thinking I might as well grab a PCIe 3.0 board while I'm at it. Thing is though I really *don't* wanna needlessly do an upgrade from my i7 960 atm so I could get a CPU to fit the new mobo, as with a decent OC the 960 still does in pretty much anything I throw at it anyways. Considering it looks to stay that way for a while if the new consoles are anything to go by...yeah...pref not get rid of the CPU if I don't have to.

There aren't. You'll not be limited by PCIe 2 btw, here's what SLI Titan's gains from PCIe 3

 

[SneakyStephan]

That's Australian prices. Shit costs a lot here. The card alone is $100 more than America. They only charge $99 to build and deliver it to you. That site is generally pretty cheap for here.

This is from another site: http://www.scorptec.com.au/system/162 Same price and it's only a 660 in it.

ahhhh
my bad I didn't notice

 

[Seanspeed]

Need a mic for BF4.

Any recommendations? Nothing too fancy needed. Looking at this one:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B000GCFN72/

 

[Anton668]

For the love of all things holy, please Microcenter, have one of your amazing in store CPU deals.

still showing sale price for me on those intels.....

 

[Dahaka]

i2500k
Asus P8P67 Deluxe
16GB DDR3-1333
Gigabyte GTX 670
BQ DarkPower Pro P10 650W

What do you guys think for a 2014 VGA upgrade? Base system not good enough aka CPU limits? (yes, I can invest more in to AA/AF in that case but how critical could it possibly be)

Anyone familiar with getting that 2500k to safer 4Ghz+ levels?

 

[schandmann]

My flatmate's motherboard (MSI P55M-GD45) is dying and he wants to upgrade to a new (used) motherboard and CPU. He's on an i5 750 right now.

I recommended a 2500K as they are pretty affordable right now on ebay (Around 120€ shipped, sometimes even less) and a decent MSI/Gigabyte/Asus Z68/Z77 board, but I'm not sure.
With the new consoles and all that system requirement panic, would it be wise for him to stretch up to i7? His budget is around 200€ (factor in 25€ for a CM 212 Evo), but if it's worth it, he'd (reluctantly) spend around 250 and include a used 2600K, which are 160-170€ shipped. He wants the system to last a while.

Also, what about PCI Express 2.0? Could that become an obstacle in a few years?

 

[IMACOMPUTA]

For the new page

I'm crossposting from the 290x thread, but wondered if anyone has info for me before I decide my GPU future:

I'm looking for raw performance and don't mind crossfire. I'm running 2x6950s right now and did some mental gymnastics to convince myself I can afford a 290x.
For $580~ should I get 2x7970s (280x)?

I've been kinda bummed about single card benchmarks. I guess I was expecting too much out of a single card.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

I've been told that 2x6950s is about equivalent to 1x7970.

So going 2x7970s should be twice the performance of my 6950s, while 1 290x is only about 50&#8453; better.
Am I way off base here?

at 1440p

 

[Felix Lighter]

still showing sale price for me on those intels.....

For now! I think I have to wait until Tuesday to order if my coworker is going to pick it up on Thursday. Their new catalog shows a $60 increase in price on the i7 3770, which is what I was hoping to snag.

 

[kharma45]

For the new page

Crossfire 280X will be more potent when it works. I would generally say go for the 290X but since it's only the reference one available I am more hesitant.

My flatmate's motherboard (MSI P55M-GD45) is dying and he wants to upgrade to a new (used) motherboard and CPU. He's on an i5 750 right now.

I recommended a 2500K as they are pretty affordable right now on ebay (Around 120€ shipped, sometimes even less) and a decent MSI/Gigabyte/Asus Z68/Z77 board, but I'm not sure.
With the new consoles and all that system requirement panic, would it be wise for him to stretch up to i7? His budget is around 200€ (factor in 25€ for a CM 212 Evo), but if it's worth it, he'd (reluctantly) spend around 250 and include a used 2600K, which are 160-170€ shipped. He wants the system to last a while.

Also, what about PCI Express 2.0? Could that become an obstacle in a few years?

2.0 I doubt will be an obstacle, see my post a few above.

If you can get the i5 750 sold you could use the money from it to grab a 2600K, still a great CPU that but so is the 2500K.

i2500k
Asus P8P67 Deluxe
16GB DDR3-1333
Gigabyte GTX 670
BQ DarkPower Pro P10 650W

What do you guys think for a 2014 VGA upgrade? Base system not good enough aka CPU limits? (yes, I can invest more in to AA/AF in that case but how critical could it possibly be)

Anyone familiar with getting that 2500k to safer 4Ghz+ levels?

2500K to 4GHz+ is easy, at worst you'll get 4.2GHz.

I'd not upgrade anything on that until 20nm comes at the end of 2014 if you're just gaming at 1080p.