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

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T

taybul

Member
Sup GAF, so I'm in the market for a new GPU and I've sort of lost sense of what's good since I haven't done serious PC gaming in a while. I currently have a Radeon HD 5850 and I want to pick up something that will not only play current games well (Bioshock, FC3, Metro:LL, etc) but will also be more than adequate for upcoming games like Witcher 3 and GTAV.

Right now I'm setting my sights on the HD 7950. Now what I meant earlier by losing sense is I'm not sure how futureproof current GPUs are nowadays since a new one seems to come out every week. Is the power of these new cards exceeding the needs of the games that are currently out?

I don't necessarily have a restricted budget for this but I'm not going to shill out $1k for a Titan or get 2 cards and go Crossfire/SLI. Any advice? I'd like to stay under $350 if possible.

Other specs: i5-2500k@3.6GHz, 128GB SSD, 8GB RAM.
 
D

diaspora

Member
Jeb said:
Are you sure?
The reason I want an I7 is because next gen consoles are goin 8 core, and I hear the CPU could last you a lot longer than other stuff such as the GPU, if I go in next gen and games start demanding I make a quick change in CPU, it would suck.
What do you think? are my fears justified or not?
But I see the need for an SDD, fast OS would be great.
Click to expand...

Most quad desktop CPUs blow the PS4/xbone CPU out of the water, and I'm not just referring to modern Intels too...
 
R

Rich!

Member
Well, after four years my trusty phenom 955 has died.

I've ordered an i7 core and motherboard. I also have a massive coolmaster fan - is it worth installing that, or would the stock fan be adequate?
 
A

Addnan

Member
taybul said:
Sup GAF, so I'm in the market for a new GPU and I've sort of lost sense of what's good since I haven't done serious PC gaming in a while. I currently have a Radeon HD 5850 and I want to pick up something that will not only play current games well (Bioshock, FC3, Metro:LL, etc) but will also be more than adequate for upcoming games like Witcher 3 and GTAV.

Right now I'm setting my sights on the HD 7950. Now what I meant earlier by losing sense is I'm not sure how futureproof current GPUs are nowadays since a new one seems to come out every week. Is the power of these new cards exceeding the needs of the games that are currently out?

I don't necessarily have a restricted budget for this but I'm not going to shill out $1k for a Titan or get 2 cards and go Crossfire/SLI. Any advice? I'd like to stay under $350 if possible.

Other specs: i5-2500k@3.6GHz, 128GB SSD, 8GB RAM.
Click to expand...
The best bang for you buck currently is the GTX760. It will play most games well and should be decent for any games that have already been announced. I would choose that over the 7950. Performance of the two are really close.

If you can push your budget a little higher then the 7970Ghz or 770 will keep you going for a while.

You should also get that CPU above 4GHz. Should do it with ease assuming you have an aftermarket cooler.
 
F

Frostburn

Member
Prozel said:
Nice. What's your setup?
Click to expand...

Corsair 650D Case
i5-2500k @ 4.5Ghz cooled by a NH-D14
ASUS P8Z68-V PRO/GEN3
EVGA GTX 770 SC w/ ACX Cooling
SoundBlaster Titanium HD PCI-E soundcard
Corsair Vengeance 8GB low profile DDR3
Corsair HX Pro Series 750W PSU
Samsung 830 128GB SSD x2
Western Digital 2TB 7200RPM HDD
Lamptron FC5 v2 Fan controller
Dell U2410f 24" LCD
Corsair K90 Keyboard
SteelSeries Sensei Raw
Sennheiser PC 360 Headset
SteelSeries 4HD Mousepad

Everything is Black, Silver and Blue (I have sleeved cables inside the PC)

For my next build I want to keep things mATX or mITX in size but I want it to be just as powerful, probably do a closed loop CPU water cooler as well to show off more of the motherboard.
 
J

Jeb

Member
Wow!
Thanks for the replies guys!
I'm leaning towards I5 now, with SDD 128GB with a 1TB HDD.
Gonna go 16GB ram too because up till now, I had enough for slow ass computers.
GTX 770 4GB for the graphcis cards.
Should I go with 600-650w PSU with that?
Is there anything I missed?

Probably a motherboard, I think it was called an Z87 if I go for the Haswell I5's right?
As for the motherboards, is there any special type or will any of this kind do?
 
L

Lethal

Neo Member
Dark FaZe said:
Is it the 24 inch? How do you like it? Thinking about getting one tomorrow.
Click to expand...

It's amazing. I came from a VH236H and it's like night and day. Using Strobelight does affect the colour temperature a bit, but it's worth it. If you don't need or care about Lightboost, the monitor is still excellent. Colours are vivid, response is quick. I also quite like the stand but wish I could lock it. Sometimes I mean to tilt it but accidentally adjust the height. Minor complaint, I know.
 
M

Mad Max

Member
The new samsung 840EVO seems to be getting glowing reviews across the board, seems like a solid improvement over the 840 on every level at the same price level.
 
A

Addnan

Member
Jeb said:
Wow!
Thanks for the replies guys!
I'm leaning towards I5 now, with SDD 128GB with a 1TB HDD.
Gonna go 16GB ram too because up till now, I had enough for slow ass computers.
GTX 770 4GB for the graphcis cards.
Should I go with 600-650w PSU with that?
Is there anything I missed?

Probably a motherboard, I think it was called an Z87 if I go for the Haswell I5's right?
As for the motherboards, is there any special type or will any of this kind do?
Click to expand...

If you are going with Haswell, get an MSI G45 Gaming motherboard Z87. As for power supply stick with Seasonic, XFX, bequiet if they are available where you are. 550W from a good PSU will be enough, eg Seasonic G series. 600W will be perfectly fine too!

You really don't need 16GB for gaming. Only some software will come close to utilising that stuff and its not games!
 
W

Windam

Scaley member
Well, I installed a new CPU and now the monitor won't display anything.Turns on then goes straight into "Power saving mode". Any ideas? :/

EDIT: Nevermind, just had to reseat the CPU.
 
J

Jeb

Member
Addnan said:
If you are going with Haswell, get an MSI G45 Gaming motherboard Z87. As for power supply stick with Seasonic, XFX, bequiet if they are available where you are. 550W from a good PSU will be enough, eg Seasonic G series. 600W will be perfectly fine too!

You really don't need 16GB for gaming. Only some software will come close to utilising that stuff and its not games!
Click to expand...

That part is not even game related, its just a way to ensure I don't half to suffer through another slow computer, they have given me a ton of frustration in the past.
Which reminds me, I'm thinking of getting windows 8 as an OS, I know, I know...its quite unpopular, however I recently heard it does not have the age long boot up time 7 has, that's megaton news to me.
But since its being hated left and right I want to know the lowdown before doing anything.
 
M

mkenyon

Banned
Prozel said:
Cool. I'm going for something similar in terms of performance. Aiming for the EVGA so far. Thanks.
Click to expand...
I think that's the card to go for. The fans on the ACX are a very quality piece of kit.
Moral Panic said:
How can I tell if my CPU is bottlenecking me? I have a i5 750 overclocked to 3.1Ghz and a GTX 770 4GB. When I'm playing games Afterburner overlay says GPU% isn't 100%, so I'm thinking I should OC to 4Ghz, but it's summer so I'd prefer not to if it isn't a major bottleneck.
Click to expand...
Unfortunately, it's not that simple.

CPU and GPU bottlenecks aren't a binary thing and can exist on all parts at once. It's not an issue of a CPU really holding a GPU back. This is inductive reasoning based on anecdotal evidence that people bought into a while back and it just kind of stuck.

Performance is dictated by the engine and how it interacts with your specific system. In particular, you are going to be bottlenecked heavily by your CPU in Blizzard games, Source games, UE3 games, and most multiplayer games. Far Cry 3 too.
 
A

Addnan

Member
Jeb said:
That part is not even game related, its just a way to ensure I don't half to suffer through another slow computer, they have given me a ton of frustration in the past.
Which reminds me, I'm thinking of getting windows 8 as an OS, I know, I know...its quite unpopular, however I recently heard it does not have the age long boot up time 7 has, that's megaton news to me.
But since its being hated left and right I want to know the lowdown before doing anything.
Click to expand...

There are a few of us here that use it and really there isn't too many problems once you can look past the stupid new UI. You can install an add-on to boot to desktop. Start up is incredibly fast.
 
W

Windam

Scaley member
New CPU idle temps are way too high. It's idling around 50 degrees. The old CPU (the 955) would idle at around 40. I'm using an Arctic Cooler Freezer 13 and Arctic Cooling MX-4.
 
H

HelloMeow

Member
I just finished my build. There is one problem though.

The PSU's cables are really stiff. I'm afraid that I might damage them when I try to squeeze them in their right positions.
 
D

diaspora

Member
Okay. So. My current RAM setup is one 2GB stick in DIMM1 slot (closest to the CPU), and the second 2GB stick in DIMM3. The reason for this is that my PC doesn't recognize memory in the DIMM2 slot. Yet Speccy can see all 4 with 2 occupied. Anyone know what this is about?
 
W

Windam

Scaley member
mkenyon said:
What's the difference at load? There's too many variables with idle to properly judge the difference. Load it up and see where you are at.
Click to expand...

I loaded Windows and HWMonitor said I was idling around 60 degrees now. Seems to gradually be going up. I don't want to risk putting the CPU under load as I'm afraid it may get damaged. Could the temps be this high from applying too much MX-4 onto the CPU? I'll admit I'm new at putting thermal paste on, so I may have used too much.
 
D

diaspora

Member
Windam said:
I loaded Windows and HWMonitor said I was idling around 60 degrees now. Seems to gradually be going up. I don't want to risk putting the CPU under load as I'm afraid it may get damaged. Could the temps be this high from applying too much MX-4 onto the CPU? I'll admit I'm new at putting thermal paste on, so I may have used too much.
Click to expand...

This shouldn't be the case. My 965BE at 4GHz on a stock cooler ran at 35C idle...
 
A

Addnan

Member
Windam said:
I loaded Windows and HWMonitor said I was idling around 60 degrees now. Seems to gradually be going up. I don't want to risk putting the CPU under load as I'm afraid it may get damaged. Could the temps be this high from applying too much MX-4 onto the CPU? I'll admit I'm new at putting thermal paste on, so I may have used too much.
Click to expand...

How much did you put on? Only need a small rice sized bit in the middle
 
M

mkenyon

Banned
Windam said:
I loaded Windows and HWMonitor said I was idling around 60 degrees now. Seems to gradually be going up. I don't want to risk putting the CPU under load as I'm afraid it may get damaged. Could the temps be this high from applying too much MX-4 onto the CPU? I'll admit I'm new at putting thermal paste on, so I may have used too much.
Click to expand...
Too much TIM.

It is supposed to fill in gaps where metal on metal isn't possible.
 
W

Windam

Scaley member
mkenyon said:
Too much TIM.

It is supposed to fill in gaps where metal on metal isn't possible.
Click to expand...

TIM? (Sorry, no clue what it means.) And alright my temps are hovering around 46 degrees now, still a bit high, but better than the 60 HWMonitor was showing me before. Should I reapply the thermal paste then, as a small drop?
 
M

mkenyon

Banned
TIM = Thermal paste.

Clean off with 95%+ Isopropyl Alcohol. Reapply. Make sure when you tighten your heatsink that you do it like a car tire.

If screws are numbered:

1 2
3 4

then do 1, 4, 3, 2, 1, 4, 3, 2.
 
W

Windam

Scaley member
mkenyon said:
TIM = Thermal paste.

Clean off with 95%+ Isopropyl Alcohol. Reapply. Make sure when you tighten your heatsink that you do it like a car tire.

If screws are numbered:

1 2
3 4

then do 1, 4, 3, 2, 1, 4, 3, 2.
Click to expand...

Ah, thanks for clarifying that for me. Screws aren't numbered, and I have the Arctic Silver cleaning stuff (cleaner and purifier). Good enough, right? Thanks for the help.
 
K

kennah

Member
Windam said:
Ah, thanks for clarifying that for me. Screws aren't numbered, and I have the Arctic Silver cleaning stuff (cleaner and purifier). Good enough, right? Thanks for the help.
Click to expand...

He means follow the pattern he listed. Think "imagine if the screws were numbered as follows" and then screw in using that pattern. You'll get more even coverage of the paste once it is reapplied.
 
O

OldAsUrSock

Banned
Addnan said:
The best bang for you buck currently is the GTX760. It will play most games well and should be decent for any games that have already been announced. I would choose that over the 7950. Performance of the two are really close.

If you can push your budget a little higher then the 7970Ghz or 770 will keep you going for a while.

You should also get that CPU above 4GHz. Should do it with ease assuming you have an aftermarket cooler.
Click to expand...
7950 overclocks better.
 
F

Future PhaZe

Member
Lethal said:
It's amazing. I came from a VH236H and it's like night and day. Using Strobelight does affect the colour temperature a bit, but it's worth it. If you don't need or care about Lightboost, the monitor is still excellent. Colours are vivid, response is quick. I also quite like the stand but wish I could lock it. Sometimes I mean to tilt it but accidentally adjust the height. Minor complaint, I know.
Click to expand...

I have a VH236H too...was thinking about having it double as a second monitor as a workspace for non-gaming.

Very glad to hear you like it then.
 
W

Windam

Scaley member
Thanks for all the help, guys! CPU is now idling at 35 degrees, which is even cooler than the 955 BE I had before.
 
M

mkenyon

Banned
kharma45 said:
Damn, those fucking 840 Evo's really are the dogs balls for the price. Samsung have absolutely nailed it.
Click to expand...
IMO, it's all about what's on sale at any given moment. MSRP is basically a starting point for SSDs. They're all crazy fast, and the good ones are all reliable enough. Given that, it's about being patient and waiting for one of those to be at a ridiculous discount.
 
W

Windam

Scaley member
One last thing, I'm thinking of reinstalling W7 on my SSD. Is there any way to run my old installed programs on my HDD with the fresh W7 install, or will I have to reinstall everything again? I'm pretty sure the CPU is idling too high even with an aftermarket heatsink, but oh well. I can't figure out how some people get 30's on stock fans while idling. :/
 
H

Hazaro

relies on auto-aim
C00kie M0nster said:
Is there a release date for these? I was just about to buy a PRO but now I might wait.
Click to expand...
The Samsung SSD 840 Evo will begin availability in major global markets in August.
Click to expand...
Only major factor is how different is it in real world use to someone and what the markup over the regular 840 is. Well, and if the SLC cache has any problems over time.

Might just keep the 250GB 840, and slot in the 840 PRO EVO.
 
M

mkenyon

Banned
C00kie M0nster said:
Is there a release date for these? I was just about to buy a PRO but now I might wait.
Click to expand...
I'm not kidding when I say I can't tell a difference in speed between RAID0 M4s, an 840 500GB, Mushkin Chronos, and an 830.

The only slight difference is boot time really. Just nab a reliable SSD on sale, don't worry about specs.
 
C

C00kie M0nster

Member
Hazaro said:
Only major factor is how different is it in real world use to someone and what the markup over the regular 840 is. Well, and if the SLC cache has any problems over time.

Might just keep the 250GB 840, and slot in the 840 PRO EVO.
Click to expand...

The jump over 840 PRO doesn't seem too big for reading purposes only. I might just get that instead.

Just need something to throw Win7 on anyways.
 
J

Just_myles

Member
Hey PCGaf I have a question about soundcards. Is it necessary with modern motherboards to still buy a soundcard? I'm no audiophile so it's not on my high priorities list. Do I really need one?
 
H

HelloMeow

Member
Thanks to everyone who helped me the past few weeks. My pc is up and running.

Also, now I know how crappy my old laptop's audio was. My motherboards on board audio is so much better.
 
C

Coldsnap

Member
Took me awhile but finally put the finishing touches on my build this afternoon. Thanks for answering some of my questions while doing the build. It started as me wanting to finally OC my i5 2500k and ended in a complete rebuild, only the i5 2500k remains now. Really happy with how this turned out, powerful and somehow quieter than my R3 build that had a GTX 560 in it.

i5 2500k
Corsair H100i
Asus Maximus Gene V
Asus GTX 780
Corsair 780i Power Supply
Corsair Vengence
Corsair 350D Case
Tons of Corsair fans

WP_20130725_011_zps3f7cd126.jpg

WP_20130725_013_zps389f379d.jpg
 
I

I-hate-u

Member
I-hate-u said:
Yes. Specifically this model: http://www.cyberpowerpc.com/system/Gamer_Xtreme_3000/

Unfortunately the doesn't show my customized options but just here are my revised specs:

CPU: Intel® Core™ i5-4670K 3.40 GHz 6MB Intel Smart Cache LGA1150 (All Venom OC Certified) [-104]
HDD: 2TB (2TBx1) SATA-III 6.0Gb/s 64MB Cache 7200RPM HDD (Single Drive)
MEMORY: 8GB (4GBx2) DDR3/1600MHz Dual Channel Memory [-59] (G.SKILL Ripjaws X [+16])
MOTHERBOARD: [CrossFireX/SLI] MSI Z87-G45 Gaming Intel Z87 Chipset DDR3 ATX Mainboard w/ Military Class 4, OC Genie II, 7.1 Sound Blaster Cinema Audio, Killer E2205 GbLAN, 3 Gen3 PCIe x16 & 4 PCIe x1 (Extreme OC Certified) [+100]
SOUND: HIGH DEFINITION ON-BOARD 7.1 AUDIO
VIDEO: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760 4GB 16X PCIe 3.0 Video Card [+182] (Major Brand Powered by NVIDIA)

My biggest worry is compatibility. I really hope all components work together.
Click to expand...

Anyone? Are these components right for each other?
 
T

tarheel91

Member
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