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

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kennah

Member
I read this and I was like "ooo, that'd be a good game to give my new GTX TITAN a workout with" but then I looked at the price and was like NOPE.
You can find it pretty cheap in a lot of places. Was given away with amd cards for a while.
 

snack

Member
Hey guys! Just got a 3570k paired with hyper212 heatsink and a p8z77vlk mobo. Was thinking of over clocking it. Any tips?
 

Danj

Member
You can find it pretty cheap in a lot of places. Was given away with amd cards for a while.

Yeah I was quite disappointed that I didn't get any bundled stuff with my GPU... I mean geez, I'm spending north of £800 on a graphics card, you'd think they could throw in a few freebies.
 

kharma45

Member
Yeah I was quite disappointed that I didn't get any bundled stuff with my GPU... I mean geez, I'm spending north of £800 on a graphics card, you'd think they could throw in a few freebies.

I'd argue if you can afford £800 on the GPU alone the prices of games at £30 or whatever isn't going to be Mich of an issue.
 
I'm officially a part of the 1440p 120hz club now. My new monitor is glorious.

27 or 24 inches?

I'm hesitant on getting one. I can't imagine how my aiming and gameplay could be any smoother with running everything at 60 at 1080 and owning a Steelseries Sensei mouse.

At the same time though my rig is killing games and shouldn't I get a display that can take advantage of the frames I'm getting?

decisions..
 

Danj

Member
I'd argue if you can afford £800 on the GPU alone the prices of games at £30 or whatever isn't going to be Mich of an issue.

Well there is that, I suppose.

Anyway, serious question now: the hole in the back of the Node 304 where the fan controller switch goes looks like it's about the right size for a Kensington lock, does anyone know if I could use it for that? I took the fan controller out because I'm using the motherboard and ASUS' Fan Xpert 2 to control the chassis fans.

EDIT: looks like it will work, awesome.
 
27 or 24 inches?

I'm hesitant on getting one. I can't imagine how my aiming and gameplay could be any smoother with running everything at 60 at 1080 and owning a Steelseries Sensei mouse.

At the same time though my rig is killing games and shouldn't I get a display that can take advantage of the frames I'm getting?

decisions..

27". I had a shitty 1080p Acer. I didn't realize how washed out the colors were on that monitor till I got this new one.

I am tempted to sell my gtx680 and get something newer now. Just so I can play everything on high/ultra and still have high fps. Or maybe another 680 for a SLI setup.
 
PCPartPicker part list: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/1mhzU
Price breakdown by merchant: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/1mhzU/by_merchant/
Benchmarks: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/1mhzU/benchmarks/

CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor (£81.59 @ Aria PC)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (£22.85 @ CCL Computers)
Motherboard: Asus M5A99X EVO R2.0 ATX AM3+ Motherboard (£103.29 @ Amazon UK)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1333 Memory (£53.99 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Black 500GB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£54.96 @ CCL Computers)
Wireless Network Adapter: TP-Link TL-WN781ND 802.11b/g/n PCI Wi-Fi Adapter (£7.98 @ Ebuyer)
Case: BitFenix Shinobi ATX Mid Tower Case (£49.90 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £374.56
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2013-07-30 14:45 BST+0100)

I'm spending more than I originally budgeted. I already got a GTX 660 TI and a 530W PSU.

Is there any way to make this a whole lot cheaper? I'm willing to get a cheaper motherboard if possible and/or other stuff.
 

Sethos

Banned
I need to ask something that might sound completely stupid. I was talking to a friend about 30" 60Hz versus 24" 120hz. We basically arrived at the question which is more performance intensive?


1920x1080 = 2073600 Pixels

2560x1600 = 4096000 Pixels

So that is to all intends and purposes twice the amount pixels.

Now in 1080p you'd just be rendering these pixels twice as fast meaning every game you could run at 60FPS in x1600 you could also run at 120FPS in x1080.

Is that too simplified and there's more behind the performance ( Bar frametimes ) or?
 

RSTEIN

Comics, serious business!
Hey guys! Just got a 3570k paired with hyper212 heatsink and a p8z77vlk mobo. Was thinking of over clocking it. Any tips?

I have the same set up as you. I'm overclocking right now at 4.5ghz.

I had much better luck with entering a specific voltage number in BIOS vs. the offset approach. I never really understood offset. It just didn't seem intuitive to me. Entering in a specific voltage is very straightforward.

Here's how I did it. DISCLAIMER: I may have gone about it totally wrong. But it worked for me :)

1) Go to your BIOS. Raise the ratio under CPU Power Management. Start off small and work your way up. For example, start at 42 (i.e., 4.2ghz).
2) Next override the stock voltage with something quite high like 1.25 volts.
3) Set the load line calibration to high.
4) Save settings and reboot.
5) Download Prime95, CPU-Z and Hardware Monitor (links in OP).
6) Run Prime95 for 30 mins or so.
7) If everything seems stable (no workers stopped, no reboot, no blue screen, etc.) then restart and get back to BIOS.
8) Raise the multiplier to 4.4 ghz. Don't touch voltage or LLC.
9) Run Prime95 again, see if everything is OK.
10) Either everything is good or you're going to crash.
11) If you crash, go to BIOS and raise your voltage to 1.27 volts or thereabouts.
10) Run Prime95 again.
11) At 1.27 volts you should be good (every chip is different tho).
12) Raise to 4.5ghz.
13) Run Prime95 again.
14) If everything is good, keep lowering your voltage as low as you can until you run into stability issues.
15) When you think you've hit a good set up, run Prime95 for a while as a final check.
16) Go back to the voltage if you run into trouble.

From what I've read, there aren't really any performance gains beyond 4.5/4.6ghz. With my chip, I really had to push the voltage higher to hit 4.6ghz so I dialed it back.

Do not exceed 80 degrees or 1.3 volts.

Every chip is different, but you should have no problems running at 4.5 ghz with ~1.27 volts and ~75 degrees. Not sure what your case set up is like but you may want to invest in a couple more fans if you're running with just one intake and one exhaust.
 
27". I had a shitty 1080p Acer. I didn't realize how washed out the colors were on that monitor till I got this new one.

I am tempted to sell my gtx680 and get something newer now. Just so I can play everything on high/ultra and still have high fps. Or maybe another 680 for a SLI setup.

My 680 SLI hasn't been challenged by anything out in 1080p, but I can't vouch for consistent frames over 60 at 1440 for say Crysis 3 or Last Light. Have yet to try it.
 
Shit, now I know why people want to do console gaming only. I've been trouble-shooting my newly built PC trying to figure out exactly why it just won't consistently boot up for several hours now.

Once I finally built the PC, the first problem was that the 8-pin CPU power was not in the right slot. Easy mistake. My motherboard had 2x 8-pin slots and I put it in the farther one. It boots up to BIOS. Since my SSD drive isn't here yet, I just leave it alone for a few days.

Now that my SSD drive was here and installed, I run into the exact same problem of it not booting into BIOS. I decide let's remove the second 760 GPU I have to see if that will fix the problem. Which it does and it boots into BIOS.

So that worked, but then I needed to replug my DVD drive to install Windows 7, and just plugging that in doesn't even turn on my PC (which is odd since I have a Corsair HX750 which should be more than enough). I turned that off, and the PC turns back on and goes to BIOS. So I attempt to recreate the problem again, and seems to be fixed by changing the cable to the PSU. But then the problem is that the PC can on, but now it won't go into BIOS.

So essentially now I have is a very expensive paperweight. =( I don't really have a problem with building PCs, but I just can't figure out what's going on now.
 
My gut would say first thing to do is, have everything connected, remove the CMOS battery for a minute, put back I and turn on, see if anything starts up, be it fans and lights, and if anything appears on the monitor. Also make sure absolutely everything is securely connected.

Also take some photos of the innards just so we can get an idea of whats inside :)
 

Sothpaw

Member
Shit, now I know why people want to do console gaming only. I've been trouble-shooting my newly built PC trying to figure out exactly why it just won't consistently boot up for several hours now.

Once I finally built the PC, the first problem was that the 8-pin CPU power was not in the right slot. Easy mistake. My motherboard had 2x 8-pin slots and I put it in the farther one. It boots up to BIOS. Since my SSD drive isn't here yet, I just leave it alone for a few days.

Now that my SSD drive was here and installed, I run into the exact same problem of it not booting into BIOS. I decide let's remove the second 760 GPU I have to see if that will fix the problem. Which it does and it boots into BIOS.

So that worked, but then I needed to replug my DVD drive to install Windows 7, and just plugging that in doesn't even turn on my PC (which is odd since I have a Corsair HX750 which should be more than enough). I turned that off, and the PC turns back on and goes to BIOS. So I attempt to recreate the problem again, and seems to be fixed by changing the cable to the PSU. But then the problem is that the PC can on, but now it won't go into BIOS.

So essentially now I have is a very expensive paperweight. =( I don't really have a problem with building PCs, but I just can't figure out what's going on now.

My motherboard came DOA on my new PC. I didn't want to fuck around so I took it to a computer repair shop and for $50 they diagnosed the problem and installed a new mobo for me. $50 worth far less than a few hours of my time so it was money well spent.

Now I have a machine that shits all over consoles and has better games.
 
Shit, now I know why people want to do console gaming only. I've been trouble-shooting my newly built PC trying to figure out exactly why it just won't consistently boot up for several hours now.

Once I finally built the PC, the first problem was that the 8-pin CPU power was not in the right slot. Easy mistake. My motherboard had 2x 8-pin slots and I put it in the farther one. It boots up to BIOS. Since my SSD drive isn't here yet, I just leave it alone for a few days.

Now that my SSD drive was here and installed, I run into the exact same problem of it not booting into BIOS. I decide let's remove the second 760 GPU I have to see if that will fix the problem. Which it does and it boots into BIOS.

So that worked, but then I needed to replug my DVD drive to install Windows 7, and just plugging that in doesn't even turn on my PC (which is odd since I have a Corsair HX750 which should be more than enough). I turned that off, and the PC turns back on and goes to BIOS. So I attempt to recreate the problem again, and seems to be fixed by changing the cable to the PSU. But then the problem is that the PC can on, but now it won't go into BIOS.

So essentially now I have is a very expensive paperweight. =( I don't really have a problem with building PCs, but I just can't figure out what's going on now.
check all your connections (power plugs, SATA connectors, memory in place, etc.).

edit: oh, and after checking that everything is firmly secured, do a complete wipe of the board. disconnect the power cord, remove the onboard battery, do a CLEAR CMOS (with jumpers on board), wait a couple of minutes and then put everything back and power it on.

what's your motherboard? is the BIOS up to date? my latest haswell build wouldn't boot (no screen but everything working and humming nicely) with the GPU installed. I was able to get to BIOS with GPU removed (using the iGPU) and I flashed the latest BIOS update and it solved the problem.
 

snack

Member
I have the same set up as you. I'm overclocking right now at 4.5ghz.

I had much better luck with entering a specific voltage number in BIOS vs. the offset approach. I never really understood offset. It just didn't seem intuitive to me. Entering in a specific voltage is very straightforward.

Here's how I did it. DISCLAIMER: I may have gone about it totally wrong. But it worked for me :)

1) Go to your BIOS. Raise the ratio under CPU Power Management. Start off small and work your way up. For example, start at 42 (i.e., 4.2ghz).
2) Next override the stock voltage with something quite high like 1.25 volts.
3) Set the load line calibration to high.
4) Save settings and reboot.
5) Download Prime95, CPU-Z and Hardware Monitor (links in OP).
6) Run Prime95 for 30 mins or so.
7) If everything seems stable (no workers stopped, no reboot, no blue screen, etc.) then restart and get back to BIOS.
8) Raise the multiplier to 4.4 ghz. Don't touch voltage or LLC.
9) Run Prime95 again, see if everything is OK.
10) Either everything is good or you're going to crash.
11) If you crash, go to BIOS and raise your voltage to 1.27 volts or thereabouts.
10) Run Prime95 again.
11) At 1.27 volts you should be good (every chip is different tho).
12) Raise to 4.5ghz.
13) Run Prime95 again.
14) If everything is good, keep lowering your voltage as low as you can until you run into stability issues.
15) When you think you've hit a good set up, run Prime95 for a while as a final check.
16) Go back to the voltage if you run into trouble.

From what I've read, there aren't really any performance gains beyond 4.5/4.6ghz. With my chip, I really had to push the voltage higher to hit 4.6ghz so I dialed it back.

Do not exceed 80 degrees or 1.3 volts.

Every chip is different, but you should have no problems running at 4.5 ghz with ~1.27 volts and ~75 degrees. Not sure what your case set up is like but you may want to invest in a couple more fans if you're running with just one intake and one exhaust.

Thank you!
 
Can anyone point me to a concise guide or article about essential things to do for an SSD in Windows 7? Planning on using it as my boot drive and I'm baffled by people talking about disabling sleep or hibernation or whatever. Build has 16GB RAM, FYI.

Im getting antsy just waiting for my 840 pro to arrive.
 

brentech

Member

Zaph

Member
Can anyone point me to a concise guide or article about essential things to do for an SSD in Windows 7? Planning on using it as my boot drive and I'm baffled by people talking about disabling sleep or hibernation or whatever. Build has 16GB RAM, FYI.

Im getting antsy just waiting for my 840 pro to arrive.
840 Pro comes with software called Samsung Magician. It includes a list of options for SSD optimisation. If you can't be bothered to check them manually, it also has Maximum Performace/Reliability/Capacity presets.

3FkL6P1.png
 
My motherboard came DOA on my new PC. I didn't want to fuck around so I took it to a computer repair shop and for $50 they diagnosed the problem and installed a new mobo for me. $50 worth far less than a few hours of my time so it was money well spent.

Now I have a machine that shits all over consoles and has better games.

I might just do that. I'm just hesitent of computer shops since the last one that built my old PC, the temps were through the roof causing the fans to run at max 24/7 (and made me decide to build my own just so I can properly apply the TIM and mount the heatsink).

In my younger days though, I would probably troubleshoot it longer to find the exact cause, but I just don't have time anymore.

check all your connections (power plugs, SATA connectors, memory in place, etc.).

edit: oh, and after checking that everything is firmly secured, do a complete wipe of the board. disconnect the power cord, remove the onboard battery, do a CLEAR CMOS (with jumpers on board), wait a couple of minutes and then put everything back and power it on.

what's your motherboard? is the BIOS up to date? my latest haswell build wouldn't boot (no screen but everything working and humming nicely) with the GPU installed. I was able to get to BIOS with GPU removed (using the iGPU) and I flashed the latest BIOS update and it solved the problem.

PC Specs:
Motherboard: MSI Z87 MPower
CPU: i7-4770K Haswell
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D14
GPU: GTX 760 x2 SLI
RAM: Corsair Vengeance DDR3 8GB
PSU: Corsair HX750
HDD: 480GB Muschkin Chronos Deluxe SSD, 2TB Seagate Barracuda

Might check that out if the BIOS is up to date. It does seem like something's up with those 760s. Since it boots with the integrated GPU.
 
Memtest is telling me my memory is fine. That's good, but I still am not sure why I'm having these random system lock ups. All other hardware has been good that I've tested. I will try updating my mobo chipset drivers next.
 

mkenyon

Banned
I need to ask something that might sound completely stupid. I was talking to a friend about 30" 60Hz versus 24" 120hz. We basically arrived at the question which is more performance intensive?


1920x1080 = 2073600 Pixels

2560x1600 = 4096000 Pixels

So that is to all intends and purposes twice the amount pixels.

Now in 1080p you'd just be rendering these pixels twice as fast meaning every game you could run at 60FPS in x1600 you could also run at 120FPS in x1080.

Is that too simplified and there's more behind the performance ( Bar frametimes ) or?
Pushing more pixels per frame is harder on the GPU.

Also, 60hz 1600p is for people who are bad at games. :p
 

mkenyon

Banned
meet me out back
I would, but with your low refresh rate, I wouldn't feel that kind of handicap would make it very fair.

Also, I don't *really* think that. I'd say more simply, 60hz/1440p/1600p is for people who play a ton of SP games and love IQ. 120Hz is for people who play MP games and love IQ.

Maybe someday soon we can have the best of both worlds.
 

kennah

Member
Also, I don't *really* think that. I'd say more simply, 60hz/1440p/1600p is for people who play a ton of SP games and love IQ. 120Hz is for people who play MP games and love IQ
Your old 670 is pushing games at 1366x768 on a tv.

Where is your god now
 

Durante

Member
I need to ask something that might sound completely stupid. I was talking to a friend about 30" 60Hz versus 24" 120hz. We basically arrived at the question which is more performance intensive?


1920x1080 = 2073600 Pixels

2560x1600 = 4096000 Pixels

So that is to all intends and purposes twice the amount pixels.

Now in 1080p you'd just be rendering these pixels twice as fast meaning every game you could run at 60FPS in x1600 you could also run at 120FPS in x1080.

Is that too simplified and there's more behind the performance ( Bar frametimes ) or?
Rendering at 2x the resolution is generally less performance intensive than rendering at twice the FPS.

Two main reasons:
- The former only affects the GPU, while the latter also needs the rest of the system to keep up.
- The higher the resolution, the better many performance-enhancing features of the GPU (texture caches, hierarchical Z buffering, ...) work.
 

AznMan37

Neo Member
Hey guys,

I bought a new motherboard and cpu but I want to use my old hard drive so I don't have to redownload all of my games. I know that you should do a clean install with Windows on new hardware. The way I have my hard drive setup currently is with two partitions. I have Windows 7 installed on the C drive and all my programs installed on the D drive. Would I be able to do a system backup of Windows onto the D drive then do use that to recover after reinstalling Windows on the new hardware?

Also, if the above is possible would I be able to restore from that Windows 7 backup onto a Windows 8 os? I'm able to to get Windows 8 Pro from my school for free and I might as well use it.
 

mkenyon

Banned
Rendering at 2x the resolution is generally less performance intensive than rendering at twice the FPS.

Two main reasons:
- The former only affects the GPU, while the latter also needs the rest of the system to keep up.
- The higher the resolution, the better many performance-enhancing features of the GPU (texture caches, hierarchical Z buffering, ...) work.
Wouldn't this be card dependent?

As in, a 560Ti could push a lot of UE3 games to 8.3ms frame times with a high clocked i5. That same card would struggle hard at 1600p due to the low memory and memory bandwidth.
 

Anth0ny

Member
Quick question,

Looking for a new mouse and I've heard Steelseries is pretty good. Got my hand on it at a local computer shop and it looked and felt good.

Which one is a better deal: the laser or RAW model? Any help would be appreciated!
 

mkenyon

Banned
Sensei Raw is the best value. You'd only want to go up to the standard Sensei if you want a tad more customization available to you in how your sensor responds, as well as multiple profiles.

The differences aren't quite enough to be worth it, IMO.
 
Hey guys,

I bought a new motherboard and cpu but I want to use my old hard drive so I don't have to redownload all of my games. I know that you should do a clean install with Windows on new hardware. The way I have my hard drive setup currently is with two partitions. I have Windows 7 installed on the C drive and all my programs installed on the D drive. Would I be able to do a system backup of Windows onto the D drive then do use that to recover after reinstalling Windows on the new hardware?

Also, if the above is possible would I be able to restore from that Windows 7 backup onto a Windows 8 os? I'm able to to get Windows 8 Pro from my school for free and I might as well use it.
oh man...just don't do it.
do a fresh install, and use something like Steam Mover or Steam Tool to move your games if necessary.
 

Seanspeed

Banned
Ok, finally started my PC building process with this purchase! What a deal.

Also bought:

Hyper EVO 212
MSI Z77A G45 mobo
Corsair Vengeance 2x4GB 1600 RAM
Samsung 840 120GB SSD

Wasnt gonna do SSD but I've got hold of a monitor and some stuff that freed up the budget a bit. Now I just need:

3570k
PSU
Source 210 Elite case
Windows 7

Sweet. This is gonna be much more powerful than my initial build idea without hardly spending much extra.
 

mkenyon

Banned
Sean, you are in the UK right?

Just curious, as I have a few cases laying around that people haven't taken from me. If you're in the US and I am mistaken, then I have a C70 that's pretty much brand spanking new.
 

kharma45

Member
Ok, finally started my PC building process with this purchase! What a deal.

Also bought:

Hyper EVO 212
MSI Z77A G45 mobo
Corsair Vengeance 2x4GB 1600 RAM
Samsung 840 120GB SSD

Wasnt gonna do SSD but I've got hold of a monitor and some stuff that freed up the budget a bit. Now I just need:

3570k
PSU
Source 210 Elite case
Windows 7

Sweet. This is gonna be much more powerful than my initial build idea without hardly spending much extra.

Nice one. Be wary of Overclockers, they can be arsey at times with some people.
 
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