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

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HelloMeow

Member
Then at $400 it is really close between the 770 and the 7970. Really nothing between the two. Comes to to personal preference and what you can find on a better deal

Yeah. I just bought a 770 and that's mainly because of the Shadowplay feature that's about to be released.

Otherwise it would have been more difficult to choose between the two.
 

Socreges

Banned
So I just read this in the Gaming Laptop thread:
I feel this is an important question to ask, because with the gaming laptop you usually get roughly 1/3 of the GPU power you'd receive if the same amount of money was spent on a gaming tuned desktop. EDIT: Allow me to explain how I reached that figure. Mobile GPUs are simply much more expensive than their desktop relatives. An aftermarket Clevo GTX 680M is currently $750, while its analogue, the GTX 670, can be found for as low as $350 (as of 12/31/12, and I didn't shop around too extensively). So you can build a desktop with SLI GTX 670 for the price of the single 680M equipped laptop. This example is not quite the "1/3" figure I calculated, but also factor in that the GTX 680M also cost around $900, originally.

Let that sink in a bit. If you're going to be spending the majority of your time at home anyway, tethered and sitting at a desk, the desktop setup is the much stronger and more economical choice.
Not surprising, but it definitely encouraged me to look into building a desktop PC instead (and then getting a light/cheap/efficient laptop soon after).

So I'll be returning once I've read more of the OP and actually understand what I'm getting myself into. For now I'm just overwhelmed by choice and a lot of expert/niche knowledge. Gotta study.
 

mkenyon

Banned
Sleeve them yourself!
I already killed two 24 Pin cables. The Seasonic ones with the double wires are baffling to me.

I'm not sure if I shared here, but my 760i blew so hard it sounded like a gun shot. Sparks, lots of smoke, and even threw the breaker. This is while I was filling my loop.

So, got rid of that D5, put in a new D5 with a stand-in AX660. All is well, up and running for 36 hours. Get to the LAN, and start the OC process. Put 1.35V to the chip, 37 multi, 125 strap.

Constant boot loops, with smoke then pouring out of my CPU socket area. Dead PC.

It looked so fucking good. I didn't even get a picture of it.

Needless to say, now have PSU PTSD.
 

SpyGuy239

Member
Alright guys, so this is the Rig I'll be building for my friend. It will be used for gaming for the next 3-4-5 years? [and for some work as well but that's no problem]

I've built over 4 rigs myself so I'm not completely cluless but it's my first time I'm building AND can post on GAF so would love to see your opinions and thoughts!

This it the RIG:

Intel Core i5 4670K + Gigabyte Z87-D3HP
G.Skill RIPJAWS-X 1600Mhz 8GB (4GBx2) CL9
Gigabyte GTX 770 4GB DDR5
Samsung 840 PRO 128GB SSD
Western Digital 1TB Blue 64MB SATA3
Seasonic M12II Modular 650W
SAMSUNG 24X DVD-RW SATA Box
NZXT 210 USB3.0 ATX Case Black
x2 Case Fans + 2.5" to 3.5" SSD HDD Converter

This would be bought from SE-Asia so in USD cost would be roughly USD$ 1500 (yeah no newegg or amazon here ): )

Debating the 770 or a 760 2GB. Nvidia only, so no AMD options. Not sure how long the 760 will last vs the 770. Main use will be The Old Republic, Battlefield 4, Crysis 3, whatever future games there may be (HOPEFULLY GTA V ON PC =D)
Any thoughts on the choice of GFX to go for?

I'm still fishing for a few more opinions before I pull the trigger. Thanks GAF!
 

Addnan

Member
I'm still fishing for a few more opinions before I pull the trigger. Thanks GAF!

Looks fine if you want to go with Haswell.

As for graphics you can't go wrong with either, the 760 is a mid range card with great performance. The 770 is considered more high end and will perform for longer, but the price difference is quite big. You will have to see if the performance to price is worth it for you. I have the 770 and love it.
 

kharma45

Member
I've let some FX4300 love go through, but you really need to stop this kind of Tom Foolery.

It's not the FX 4300 that I think is worth a look though, it's the FX 6300.

The thing about objective tests is that we don't need an opinion on interpreting results, they speak for themselves.

The 8350 performs on par with Intel processors released FOUR years ago. Not Sandy, but Lynnfield/Clarkdale. I've heard the arguments, "well what about when it's overclocked, etc etc".

The following benchmarks are performed at stock speeds. That means the 8350 has a 600MHz advantage over the Sandy/Ivy/Haswell i5/i7s.

Overclocked, you can get a 20-35% linear bump with the Intel processors. With Vishera, it's more like 10-25%. Now, where things really start to go wonky, is that Vishera will be using 225-275W when overclocked, and also requires a decent motherboard. So you end up spending a bit more with 8 phase power compared to 4 or 6 that you can use with Intel. Then you also need to wave goodbye to inexpensive power supplies, because that BP550 sure as hell isn't cutting it.

Even with a Titan under full load it should still be able to cope fine at 550w.

Test-FX-6350-FX-4350-Power.png

You also need to add a much more powerful cooler than the CM Hyper 212+, because handling a 225-275W TDP is a lot to ask out of our resident favorite.

TDP on the 6300 is the same as the i5 750, 95w. If a 212 can cool an i5 750 it has no problem with a 95w FX CPU. For the 83xx series they don't turn into 225-275W TDP CPUs when overclocked. They're still just 125w TDP and a 212 is still fine for them.

So now we have these hidden costs that creep up, in addition to the fact that the processors themselves perform like shit on a stick when it comes to gaming. At least in comparison to Intel processors.

This isn't IMO. This is empirical.

Kharma, even though we're just some people on a video game forum that has a thread about buying PC parts, there's a lot of people on GAF that will follow your advice. I'm not kidding when I say this thread gets more hits and offers more direct advice than a lot of official hardware review sites. You're offering bad advice when you've been shown that this is bad advice. It's like temporary amnesia or something.

Whilst I appreciate the Tech Report stuff you posted on games from 2011 with more modern games the 6350 I'd generally argue is a decent buy over an i3 3220. It is a 0.4 GHz increase on the 6300, easily an achievable overclock without very much hassle. Look at the stuff put out by TR for it. And whilst yes it is empirical evidence as you say it's validity can be questioned as no one else is doing CPU frame ratings. I believe TR's to be correct but that cannot be proved until it is peer reviewed by other sites.


I'm not saying that AMD is the stuff to go for. I think that against the i3 going in to the future the 6350 could well be a decent buy. As for the 8320 you quoted me on, it's usually around $70 cheaper than a 3570K and for what it offers it is not a bad CPU by any means if you can't afford to go for an i5. So yeah it's only really the 6300 I would argue should be considered, and again it'll be contextual. Big into SC2? Then go for Intel all the way even for the i3.

I fully get on here a lot of people are going to listen to our advice, but I'm not exactly going out there telling everyone not to buy Intel and go AMD instead, it's very rare that I'd suggest anything other than an Intel build in reality.
 

kennah

Member
I already killed two 24 Pin cables. The Seasonic ones with the double wires are baffling to me.

I'm not sure if I shared here, but my 760i blew so hard it sounded like a gun shot. Sparks, lots of smoke, and even threw the breaker. This is while I was filling my loop.

So, got rid of that D5, put in a new D5 with a stand-in AX660. All is well, up and running for 36 hours. Get to the LAN, and start the OC process. Put 1.35V to the chip, 37 multi, 125 strap.

Constant boot loops, with smoke then pouring out of my CPU socket area. Dead PC.

It looked so fucking good. I didn't even get a picture of it.

Needless to say, now have PSU PTSD.

Saw the mention in your ocn thread. Such sad news :( how much is dead?
 

kharma45

Member
I'm still fishing for a few more opinions before I pull the trigger. Thanks GAF!

Is the MSI G45 Gaming available with you? How is it's pricing relative to the Gigabyte? I wouldn't bother with the 840 Pro, go for a higher capacity 840 250GB instead. GPU wise it's a hard call, I'm a tight git and would side with the 760 as I think the 7970 edges it up against the 770 ever so slightly. Still, you'll be more than pleased with either card.
 
I'm new to this thread. I've been thinking about building my own machine for a while but money's been a little tight. Well, my co-worker currently has this machine for sale:


8 GB RAM
AMD Athlon II x4 640 CPU
500 GB HD (7200 RPM)
GeForce 8800 GT (512 MB)

He's asking $250, but I might can get him down to $200. Is it worth that much and is it upgradable? Could I use some of these parts, upgrade others and be good for a while? I'm not look for high performance. Just enough to play most, if not all games, at reasonable settings.

EDIT: I don't know the motherboard. I'll ask tomorrow.
Check motherboard model and if its upgradeable. Judging by the specs I think it cant be taken for more than 8Gb of RAM. Only good things that you can recycle are the cpu and hdd. That gpu and vram is bad. Memory ram is enough for games.

My advise, check each of those components online and how much they cost used or new and judge for yourself
 

SpyGuy239

Member
Is the MSI G45 Gaming available with you? How is it's pricing relative to the Gigabyte? I wouldn't bother with the 840 Pro, go for a higher capacity 840 250GB instead. GPU wise it's a hard call, I'm a tight git and would side with the 760 as I think the 7970 edges it up against the 770 ever so slightly. Still, you'll be more than pleased with either card.

yeap the MSI is available to me as well with negligible price difference. ANy reason you recommed that over the GB one?

Personally I use gigabyte cause I like the tech inside Ultradurable 5 and all that crap, and ever since iI switched to LGA775 5 years ago, it's been great board after great board. Hence my bias!

**EDIT: just looked at the website for the MSI board. SWEET PIECE OF KIT. great features. I think I might make the switch for the first time in 5 years.

I'm worried about the non pro, because I have read about the less than stellar read and write performance and the possibility of 3-4 year lifespan with light work thanks to TLC NAND. I currently use the pro, one for my laptop one for my desktop and they are solid SSDs. I would love to save on the non-pro, but I think the risk might be more than I'll be willing to take.

Let me know what you think. Thanks mate!
 

TheD

The Detective
mkenyon,
I remember sometime ago you talking about the i7 3820 and overclocking of it, well it turns out that I am kind of thinking I might want to go from a 2500K and Asrock P67 to a i7 3820.
But I need a good motherboard that supports VT-D, has good BLCK overclocking and does not have a shitty Marvell SATA controller (because they are defective and fuck up when VT-D is on) or at least one that can be turned off.

Thinking of maybe the MSI x79 GD45.
 

x3sphere

Member
So i've been having an issue for a while now and I *think* I might have found the culprit.

After I use chrome for a long while, suddenly when I open anything in a new tab, it takes AGES for it to appear, it just keeps loading and loading and loading

I figured it was chrome being awful, and after restarting it would fix itself

now I tried Photoshop and when Chrome is getting like that; it's the same thing with Photoshop. Ages to load.

Here's the thing: both are part of the few software I have installed on my SSD, other than the OS.

It's a Corsair Force Series 3, 120GB. On the 6gb port.

any ideas on any steps I should take? it sucks cause I cant really recreate it for testing purposes, It happens randomly after a while of using the PC.

Do you have a good amount of free space left on the SSD? My Intel X25-M used to get rather sluggish with less than a few GB on the drive. Barring that, might want to try updating firmware on it if possible.

There was a recall of that particular SSD too: http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/08/corsair-recalls-its-120gb-force-3-ssd-due-to-stability-issues/
 

Socreges

Banned
Read through that April 2013 guide and I understand much, much more now. Awesome OP, Btw. Read it all, though a lot is still out of my element.

So whoever can help...

Your Current Specs: Crappy laptop
Budget: $800-$1200, Canada
Main Use: Heavy gaming
Monitor Resolution: New monitor (undecided). Would like to play at very high resolution on monitor, plus 1080p on HDTV.
List SPECIFIC games or applications that you MUST be able to run well: AAA games for foreseeable future. 30fps is acceptable
Looking to reuse any parts?: None
When will you build?: Whenever, but within 2 months
Will you be overclocking?: Maybe. Not sure what other parts/expenses are required in order to do so.

Right now I like Hazaro's 'Excellent' build, though maybe might get a higher end graphics card. I don't think i7 is necessary given the apparently small benefits over a powerful i5, but maybe it'll be necessary in a year's time?
 

kennah

Member
Where in Canada are you?

Yep the excellent build is great and would surely get you 30fps for a few years. Though if you would take 30 after getting used to 60 plus is another matter :)

Some parts are still a pain in the ass to find at a reasonable price here. But go with the excellent i5 with a 7704gig and you should be set
 
Question on fan orientation:

Going to set up my PC today and was just wondering on how I should set up my fans.
I have 2 stock bit fenix 120mm fans (apparently they're quiet but don't perform that great so I may replace them in the future and get more too), hyper212 evo cpu cooler 120mm fan and my gpu xfx7970 is open air.

So seeing that I've only got 2 case fans atm what's best?
Going by mkenyon's build guide which also features an open air gpu cooler, it may be best to make the stock fans (which are currently set up traditionally one front intake, one back exhaust) both intakes one at the front and back. Thing is I don't have enough fans to put an exhaust on top, would opening the top grill get rid of enough hot air?

Also read "all other things being equal, it’s better to get hot air out of your case than to pump cool air in, particularly when it comes to CPU cooling." so maybe it would not be wise.

Little bit lost at the moment. Considering just leaving it as is, set up 212evox pulling air to the back and then buying more case fans soon.
Note: my case doesn't have spots for side fans :(
 

Socreges

Banned
Where in Canada are you?

Yep the excellent build is great and would surely get you 30fps for a few years. Though if you would take 30 after getting used to 60 plus is another matter :)

Some parts are still a pain in the ass to find at a reasonable price here. But go with the excellent i5 with a 7704gig and you should be set
PC gaming in a nutshell, no? I don't think I'm willing to spend enough to theoretically future-proof my machine. Would I be able to upgrade one component in 2 year's time to keep up or would I need to probably plunk down another $1000 since everything has to be balanced?

And what's a 7704gig? Still weak on the terminology

Thx for the reply, kennah
 

mkenyon

Banned
Back on a Prodigy. 2500K, 7970 Lightning, and NuForce uDAC. Need to get the UP7 system up and running, because after using that SoundBlaster ZxR, it's hard to want to use anything else. Paired with the AKG Q701s, it really is a gamechanger for me. Seems like ITX will need to continue to be a LAN/secondary rig for the future. mATX for me.
I'm not saying that AMD is the stuff to go for. I think that against the i3 going in to the future the 6350 could well be a decent buy. As for the 8320 you quoted me on, it's usually around $70 cheaper than a 3570K and for what it offers it is not a bad CPU by any means if you can't afford to go for an i5. So yeah it's only really the 6300 I would argue should be considered, and again it'll be contextual. Big into SC2? Then go for Intel all the way even for the i3.

I fully get on here a lot of people are going to listen to our advice, but I'm not exactly going out there telling everyone not to buy Intel and go AMD instead, it's very rare that I'd suggest anything other than an Intel build in reality.
I think we're on the same page. Though, TDP might not mean what you think it means:

The thermal design power (TDP), sometimes called thermal design point, refers to the maximum amount of power the cooling system in a computer is required to dissipate

More power = more cooling. In fact, you can measure the cooling power any heatsink has most accurately in watts dissipated.

Could be that I'm much more MP game focused than big pretty graphic SP game focused. The Intel chips are such a noticeable improvement that it's so hard to recommend anything else.
 

kennah

Member
It's a 770 4 gig because I'm on my phone :)

No don't spend an extra thousand. You don't ever ever want to "future proof" your better bet is to always stay one step behind. Buy midrange parts and upgrade every year or two instead of buying high end once. There are lots of reasons to do this.

1 resale. If you frequently upgrade then you can sell your parts while they are still worth something. Spend $250 on a video card now and sell it for $125 in a year and buy another $250 card (that'll be as fast as the one that was $500).

2. . Lack of attachment. When you drop a buttload of money on something you aren't going to get rid of it easily. This will make you very unhappy when you HAVE to upgrade. Instead learn to treat these things as 'disposable' and go into it knowing that it will be replaced. And soon ;)

3. The ability to quickly change. You won't be tied to arcane features that are only available on your particular thing. See Thermal Armour.

4. Buy last year's top end for cheap. Your best bet is to find a used 2500k or 3570k on a good motherboard with a 670 or 680. These can all be had for much cheaper than their haswell and 700 series counterparts while being JUST AS FAST. Computing is at a weird spot right now where we have had three generations in a row that are essentially the same speed.

That all said. Spend the 900-1200 on the excellent build. It will likely keep you happy and with overclocking have the ability to grow with you for a couple years.
 

Salsa

Member
Do you have a good amount of free space left on the SSD? My Intel X25-M used to get rather sluggish with less than a few GB on the drive. Barring that, might want to try updating firmware on it if possible.

There was a recall of that particular SSD too: http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/08/corsair-recalls-its-120gb-force-3-ssd-due-to-stability-issues/

15 gigs of free space

mhh, according to that link the series with recalls is CSSD-F120GB3-BK

mine is CSSD-F120GB3A-BK

I assume im good then?
 

scogoth

Member
I already killed two 24 Pin cables. The Seasonic ones with the double wires are baffling to me.

Yeah I have the same ones, really annoying and had to get creative with the heatshrink on it. Not technically "individually" heatshrinked on one side.

I'm not sure if I shared here, but my 760i blew so hard it sounded like a gun shot. Sparks, lots of smoke, and even threw the breaker. This is while I was filling my loop.

So, got rid of that D5, put in a new D5 with a stand-in AX660. All is well, up and running for 36 hours. Get to the LAN, and start the OC process. Put 1.35V to the chip, 37 multi, 125 strap.

Constant boot loops, with smoke then pouring out of my CPU socket area. Dead PC.

It looked so fucking good. I didn't even get a picture of it.

Needless to say, now have PSU PTSD.

=(

Got a i7-930 and a P6X58D-Premium that needs a home if you can deal with blue in your build.
 
It's a 770 4 gig because I'm on my phone :)

No don't spend an extra thousand. You don't ever ever want to "future proof" your better bet is to always stay one step behind. Buy midrange parts and upgrade every year or two instead of buying high end once. There are lots of reasons to do this.

1 resale. If you frequently upgrade then you can sell your parts while they are still worth something. Spend $250 on a video card now and sell it for $125 in a year and buy another $250 card (that'll be as fast as the one that was $500).

2. . Lack of attachment. When you drop a buttload of money on something you aren't going to get rid of it easily. This will make you very unhappy when you HAVE to upgrade. Instead learn to treat these things as 'disposable' and go into it knowing that it will be replaced. And soon ;)

3. The ability to quickly change. You won't be tied to arcane features that are only available on your particular thing. See Thermal Armour.

4. Buy last year's top end for cheap. Your best bet is to find a used 2500k or 3570k on a good motherboard with a 670 or 680. These can all be had for much cheaper than their haswell and 700 series counterparts while being JUST AS FAST. Computing is at a weird spot right now where we have had three generations in a row that are essentially the same speed.

That all said. Spend the 900-1200 on the excellent build. It will likely keep you happy and with overclocking have the ability to grow with you for a couple years.

Stop making sense! :)

In other news, my Case Labs S3 has arrived.
It is godly. That is all.
 
Gaf I've run into an issue that I need advice with.

I'm getting freezing in games all of a sudden. I tried GTAIV(steam) earlier and that is when I noticed it first. I had adjusted some setting in Inspector for the game and undid them but it didn't help.

Then I tried The Saboteur(origin) a few moments ago and got the same kind of lockup (three times in a row). In both cases (GTA and The Saboteur), strangely, it happens right as I'm about to collide with something in the environment (be it a car or pedestrian) but not necessarily the first time.

I recently updated my video drivers so I tried rolling them back for The Saboteur but it didn't help.

The audio keeps playing normally and undistorted but the game freezes. I cannot cancel the process in any way from the task manager. I can't even force a shut down/restart. I have to manually shut off the computer or log off.

GTX 670 overclocked/i7-3770k @4.8

I had some freezing issues a few weeks ago with Serious Sam 3 but played through Episodes From Liberty City without much issue. Maybe my graphics card overclock is unstable?

EDIT: Also if I log off to regain control I am unable to shut down/restart the computer normally. When I try to do so it gets stuck at "shutting down....". If I shut it off manually, turn it back on, then shutdown it shuts down properly.
 

biritaz

Neo Member
Hey guys this is my first post here, so, if anyone can help me i'll be very thankful.
With my specs, what i have to upgrade to play games like BF4 in Ultra Quality at 40~60fps?

Your Current Specs: i5 2500k / 8GB DDR3 Corsair Vengeance / Gigabyte GA-Z68XP-UD3 / EVGA GTX 560ti / Akasa 550w / Akasa Cavalry / Intel SSD 520 Series 240GB
Budget: $500~$700- USA
Main Use: Gaming
Monitor Resolution: 1080p
List SPECIFIC games that you MUST be able to run well: Battlefield 4 in Ultra Quality @ 40~60 fps

Srry for my bad english, greetings from Brazil.
 

MedIC86

Member
Hey guys this is my first post here, so, if anyone can help me i'll be very thankful.
With my specs, what i have to upgrade to play games like BF4 in Ultra Quality at 40~60fps?

Your Current Specs: i5 2500k / 8GB DDR3 Corsair Vengeance / Gigabyte GA-Z68XP-UD3 / EVGA GTX 560ti / Akasa 550w / Akasa Cavalry / Intel SSD 520 Series 240GB
Budget: $500~$700- USA
Main Use: Gaming
Monitor Resolution: 1080p
List SPECIFIC games that you MUST be able to run well: Battlefield 4 in Ultra Quality @ 40~60 fps

Srry for my bad english, greetings from Brazil.

It has been said before, but as long as the system requirements for battlefield 4 arent in the open we cant say for sure. Im positive your cpu and ram are still good enough. I would buy a gpu when the game comes out. I believe AMD will do a bundle with BF4 and a card, so might wait for that.
 

Socreges

Banned
It's a 770 4 gig because I'm on my phone :)

No don't spend an extra thousand. You don't ever ever want to "future proof" your better bet is to always stay one step behind. Buy midrange parts and upgrade every year or two instead of buying high end once. There are lots of reasons to do this.

1 resale. If you frequently upgrade then you can sell your parts while they are still worth something. Spend $250 on a video card now and sell it for $125 in a year and buy another $250 card (that'll be as fast as the one that was $500).

2. . Lack of attachment. When you drop a buttload of money on something you aren't going to get rid of it easily. This will make you very unhappy when you HAVE to upgrade. Instead learn to treat these things as 'disposable' and go into it knowing that it will be replaced. And soon ;)

3. The ability to quickly change. You won't be tied to arcane features that are only available on your particular thing. See Thermal Armour.

4. Buy last year's top end for cheap. Your best bet is to find a used 2500k or 3570k on a good motherboard with a 670 or 680. These can all be had for much cheaper than their haswell and 700 series counterparts while being JUST AS FAST. Computing is at a weird spot right now where we have had three generations in a row that are essentially the same speed.

That all said. Spend the 900-1200 on the excellent build. It will likely keep you happy and with overclocking have the ability to grow with you for a couple years.
Awesome, lots I wouldn't have thought of...

You mention buying a used 3570k ("on a good motherboard with a 670 or 680" -- why not a 770, which you suggested before?). Where can I find something like that?

Btw, I checked the prices for the 'Excellent' parts (3570k + 770 4gb) at NCIX/Amazon/MemoryExpress/Newegg and Newegg ended up with the best bundled price at about $1400 after shipping and taxes. More than I expected, but not necessarily more than I'm willing to pay. Any suggestions on bringing the price down at this point?
 

Addnan

Member
Hey guys this is my first post here, so, if anyone can help me i'll be very thankful.
With my specs, what i have to upgrade to play games like BF4 in Ultra Quality at 40~60fps?

Your Current Specs: i5 2500k / 8GB DDR3 Corsair Vengeance / Gigabyte GA-Z68XP-UD3 / EVGA GTX 560ti / Akasa 550w / Akasa Cavalry / Intel SSD 520 Series 240GB
Budget: $500~$700- USA
Main Use: Gaming
Monitor Resolution: 1080p
List SPECIFIC games that you MUST be able to run well: Battlefield 4 in Ultra Quality @ 40~60 fps

Srry for my bad english, greetings from Brazil.
We don't really know what sort of system will be needed to max out BF4 yet since its not out yet. The only thing I would upgrade from your existing PC is the graphics card. Overclock your processor and for that kind of budget you will be able to get a big graphics card, GTX 780. I am not sure about that power supply. Can you give a link to it. There are quite a few 550W from that brand
 

biritaz

Neo Member
It has been said before, but as long as the system requirements for battlefield 4 arent in the open we cant say for sure. Im positive your cpu and ram are still good enough. I would buy a gpu when the game comes out. I believe AMD will do a bundle with BF4 and a card, so might wait for that.
Thanks for u reply! I'm gonna wait for this bundle.
 
Fixed my problem but figure it is worth a PSA for those who don't know.

MotionJoy (Dualshock 3 Driver/manager for PC) recognizes the official Xbox 360 pad and will cause games to freeze.

Uninstall motionjoy as outlined here and install Microsofts official 360 controller drivers. Googling brought me here where I found someone in the same situation.

I thought it was funny that when I hooked up my 360 controller the lights on the front kept flashing continuously. Didn't think it could cause problems like this though.Now it displays player 1 LED only and isn't crashing my games.

Should have remembered that with PCs new hardware, even just a USB controller, can cause as much havoc as any software/os side issue.
 

kharma45

Member
yeap the MSI is available to me as well with negligible price difference. ANy reason you recommed that over the GB one?

Personally I use gigabyte cause I like the tech inside Ultradurable 5 and all that crap, and ever since iI switched to LGA775 5 years ago, it's been great board after great board. Hence my bias!

**EDIT: just looked at the website for the MSI board. SWEET PIECE OF KIT. great features. I think I might make the switch for the first time in 5 years.

I'm worried about the non pro, because I have read about the less than stellar read and write performance and the possibility of 3-4 year lifespan with light work thanks to TLC NAND. I currently use the pro, one for my laptop one for my desktop and they are solid SSDs. I would love to save on the non-pro, but I think the risk might be more than I'll be willing to take.

Let me know what you think. Thanks mate!

You'll not go wrong with either board, but the MSI looks better (subjective obv) and has more power phases for OCing. Big comparison of all the Z87 boards here, I'll link as it is huge

http://i5.minus.com/id5ca5kg34Ey1.png

Life span isn't an issue for the 250GB non-Pro http://uk.hardware.info/reviews/417...-with-final-conclusion-final-update-20-6-2013

It's imo fast enough in the real world but it's your call!
 

Socreges

Banned
What are the differences between the ASUS P8Z77-V LK and the MSI Z77 MPower? I would just go with the P8Z77 since it's significantly cheaper and I don't expect much difference, but the Z77 MPower is on sale at NCIX.ca so I'm considering it.

I'm really only beginning to understand the subtleties of motherboards.

Newegg.com comparison of specs -- I see some differences, but I'm not sure what's important and what isn't.
 

biritaz

Neo Member
We don't really know what sort of system will be needed to max out BF4 yet since its not out yet. The only thing I would upgrade from your existing PC is the graphics card. Overclock your processor and for that kind of budget you will be able to get a big graphics card, GTX 780. I am not sure about that power supply. Can you give a link to it. There are quite a few 550W from that brand
My bad, it's 500w, and the model is: AK-P050FG7. I bought this ps a long time ago.
So, im gonna wait for a 760ti or something...
 

SiRatul

Member
I have a z87 plus with a 4770k coming to me in the next days and was wondering if anyone here with a compatible asus z87 motherboard tried out the 4-way optimization thing?
It seems to be an interesting and fast way to fine tune the pc and overclock the cpu. I know that automatic overclocking is mostly frowned upon but this one seems to be doing a decent job as far as the videos on youtube indicate.
 
I'm still fishing for a few more opinions before I pull the trigger. Thanks GAF!

FWIW I just got done playing through Tomb Raider with nearly everything on Ultra (no TressFX) on an 3770k and 660 2GB and was averaging 45-60 fps in the benchmark.

So I would have to think a 760 would be a great buy to keep costs lower.

Also thanks again to everyone here for the help with my rig. It is still running awesome and I couldn't be happier with it.
 

kennah

Member
Awesome, lots I wouldn't have thought of...

You mention buying a used 3570k ("on a good motherboard with a 670 or 680" -- why not a 770, which you suggested before?). Where can I find something like that?

Btw, I checked the prices for the 'Excellent' parts (3570k + 770 4gb) at NCIX/Amazon/MemoryExpress/Newegg and Newegg ended up with the best bundled price at about $1400 after shipping and taxes. More than I expected, but not necessarily more than I'm willing to pay. Any suggestions on bringing the price down at this point?

Lots of places to buy used gear. This thread, the buy sell trade thread, overclock.net classifieds, kijiji.ca, et cetera.

Canada sucks for prices. We don't have microcenter deals that easily chop $100 or more off the price of mobo and cpu.

The reason I suggest a used 670 or 680 is that if you can find a good deal they are amazing price to performance. A 760 is basically a slower 670 and a 770 is a slightly faster 680. Their bioses are compatible! (With a little work).

I'll put together a build for you later today to try and bring that down a little.
 

Karmum

Banned
So I have all my computer parts from my Antec Three Hundred into a Fractal R4. It may have took like eight hours last night, between frantically thinking I didn't actually mount the motherboard right to it actually being I forgot to plug in one little small thing (and not the power switch).

Holy shit, I can't even hear it at all and it's right below me. I think I'd have to turn up my fans to max or something on my 460s to hear this.
 

Sora2k7

Member
I have a z87 plus with a 4770k coming to me in the next days and was wondering if anyone here with a compatible asus z87 motherboard tried out the 4-way optimization thing?
It seems to be an interesting and fast way to fine tune the pc and overclock the cpu. I know that automatic overclocking is mostly frowned upon but this one seems to be doing a decent job as far as the videos on youtube indicate.

I have a z87 pro and used the 4-way optimization it OC my CPU to 4.6 but after using prime95 for less than an hour my pc crashed. so I decreased it to around 4.2 but after restarting my Pc it went back to 4.6. so I suggest you don't.
 
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