Dr_Boris_Goltz
Banned
What's the difference between the Biostar Z87W and the Biostar Z87X anyway?
-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
"I Need a New PC!" 2014 Part 1. 1080p and 60FPS is so last-gen and your 2500K is fine
- Thread starter Hazaro
- Start date
- Status
CPU matters a lot in those games so i cant recommend anything bar Intel.
I'm thinking about getting the 265 myself. Haven't decided yet. Also, it's unknown when exactly it will release or how much it will actually cost. It's $150 MSRP but it might be pretty tough to get your hands on one at that price anytime soon, seeing as how cryptocurrency mining is driving up most AMD video card prices (as well as helping to keep Nvidia card prices rather stagnant).
Bboy AJ
My dog was murdered by a 3.5mm audio port and I will not rest until the standard is dead
Whenever you have these questions, look at the manufacturer's site. They usually have nice tables explaining the differences. Helped me a ton when completing my build.
Dr_Boris_Goltz
Banned
I seriously see no difference other than some virtual surround nonsense that I always hate.
So I'm confused as to why Haz would have the X in his "Excellent" build, and the W in his "Good" build.
Same here. Also, I found it helpful to check out unboxing videos on YouTube (there shouldn't be any shortage of them, especially when searching for a fairly common mobo), because sometimes those tables will just say "SATA Cables included" or whatever. If you watch the unboxing, you'll be able to tell the exact number of cables included, whether they are normal or right-angle connecters, etc. I'd recommend narrowing down your choices to just two or three mobos and then checking out these kinds of videos only if you have some intent to actually purchase. Otherwise you'll be watching a 5-15 minute video for every single model you're thinking about.
EDIT:
See above. I couldn't tell the difference between the ASUS Z87-a, ASUS Z87-Pro, etc until I watched a 15 minute video from Newegg where they had some ASUS rep on there pointing out specific differences. Sometimes they're really small and you just have to decide whether these minor, yet specific differences are important to you.
The best way I can describe it is a high pitched humming, sort of similar to an old tv.
Thanks for the info.
Uninstalled the amd drivers. Deleted folders. Installed the Nvidia drivers and that included Geforce Experience. Is that similar to radeon pro? I saw it mention things about optimizing games. What does Nvidia Inspector do?
GeForce Experience can tweak games automatically for the "best settings for your system", although to be honest it's not very good at that - it's usually better to tweak them yourself. Nvidia Inspector allows you to create profiles for your games where you can override or edit just about any graphical setting, including applying effects that you normally couldn't change. For example you can use it to force a game to use a particular anti-aliasing method that it normally wouldn't use.NoRéN;102125510 said:
Any other reason to keep GeForce Experience then? Driver Updates?
Ahh, so Inspector serves the purpose Radeon Pro did? I used that to fix issues like stuttering in FIFA13. Nice! I'll go ahead and get that.
TekGryphon
Banned
The OP makes no mention of it, but Anandtech really has a hard-on for 1866+ RAM.
http://anandtech.com/show/7364/memory-scaling-on-haswell
Apparently anything under 1866 is crap, but anything over that hits a massive diminishing return wall. So it looks like 1866 is the sweet spot.
http://anandtech.com/show/7364/memory-scaling-on-haswell
Apparently anything under 1866 is crap, but anything over that hits a massive diminishing return wall. So it looks like 1866 is the sweet spot.
Sorry to treat the thread like a troubleshoot forum, but I figure I'd start here before venturing to other boards.
Has anyone ever had a DVI port seem to just die out of nowhere? I run two monitors and while watching a video one of the displays shut off as if it were unplugged and Windows played the disconnected sound, even though all connections where fine.
I've trouble shot and found that both monitors work with the other port, so it's not an issue with the cables or monitors. Also, nVidia control panel registers both monitors as being connected and still treats it as though the screen is extended, but the one monitor has no video. Oddly, it thinks its connected through VGA to the blank monitor, even though there's no VGA ports on the card and I'm using a DVI cable.
I haven't made any cable changes since setting up the two monitors, and already rebooted and updated drivers. Any other ideas, guys?
Has anyone ever had a DVI port seem to just die out of nowhere? I run two monitors and while watching a video one of the displays shut off as if it were unplugged and Windows played the disconnected sound, even though all connections where fine.
I've trouble shot and found that both monitors work with the other port, so it's not an issue with the cables or monitors. Also, nVidia control panel registers both monitors as being connected and still treats it as though the screen is extended, but the one monitor has no video. Oddly, it thinks its connected through VGA to the blank monitor, even though there's no VGA ports on the card and I'm using a DVI cable.
I haven't made any cable changes since setting up the two monitors, and already rebooted and updated drivers. Any other ideas, guys?
That sounds like coil whine.
That's for iGPU. Look at the dedicated GPU benches and there's near zero difference, even at the super low res that should highlight any differences.
Have any extra cables to try out?
It doesn't say that anything below is crap. It says that there is a traceable bump in performance when you go with the 1866 over 1333.
I don't think it changes what we recommend here at all. The long standing policy is to get the cheapest 1600 or up ram you can find.
Unless you're using an integrated gpu as your primary there isn't much difference.
Interesting article though.
First link on google. Just wanted to make sure. thank you!
Ooo this is interesting. Looking forward to more choice here in the UK.
CrAzY FiNgErS
Member
Here are a few pics of the building process with the final result at the end.
I will post more pics when I get this bad boy in my entertainment center.
For my first build in over a decade I hit very few snags getting this thing up and running. One of the biggest hurdles for me was wire management. The flat flex cables helped a lot though. One thing I worry about is my Seidon water block placement. As you can see in one of the pics it's sitting on top of some capacitors. Though I can't tell if they are touching the copper bottom of the water block. So far this hasn't given me any trouble as my system is running like a champ.
Another problem I ran into was breaking the clip that holds one of the side panels in place. I removed it without an issue by taking a flat head screw driver and popping the clip out. The problem I encountered was when I went to put it back on it wasn't aligned properly, so I yanked it out again thinking it wasn't in all the way. That's when the clip broke.
Thankfully the Silverstone rep gave me info for their parts department and I will be ordering a new side panel soon enough.
I want to personally thank Hazaro and mkenyon for maintaining their build guides and for having a thread like this on GAF. I used to come in here and dream about building a gaming PC, something I haven't done in about 14 years. This year, early on, I decided to jump back into PC building/gaming in a big way. Needless to say, I am very pleased with my build. As always it's a work in progress, as I am going to add a slimline blu ray and an ssd to my build at some point this year.
Edit-I am a newb with posting images thanks for the help guys.
You should put those pictures in quotes.
Quote them bad boys, my eyeballs will thank you.
Do you have a 120hz monitor?
MidgarBlowedUp
Member
IMO the 750ti doesn't have the raw performance or bandwidth of the 265. I know it seems to do well in current benchmarks, but if given the choice I would take the 265. Just my opinion though, many others on here would know better than me though.
I don't think so. You should be able to get plenty of bandwidth for 1080p with a single link.
If I'm wrong though, please burn me at the stake.
SkyTurnsRed
Banned
Hi PC GAF,
My computer, frankly, is outdated as hell. Specs:
i5-650 3.20 ghz
8 GB Ram
1 GB GTX 560TI
It has dawned on me that it is probably time to upgrade once I tried to run Thief on low settings and achieved a nice average framerate of 20.
It's not necessary for me to run everything at Ultra settings, but I'd like to run them at a respectable 1080p/60fps for a large majority of what's out there at good settings. I also don't want to spend a billion dollars to get there. What can you guys recommend me?
My computer, frankly, is outdated as hell. Specs:
i5-650 3.20 ghz
8 GB Ram
1 GB GTX 560TI
It has dawned on me that it is probably time to upgrade once I tried to run Thief on low settings and achieved a nice average framerate of 20.
It's not necessary for me to run everything at Ultra settings, but I'd like to run them at a respectable 1080p/60fps for a large majority of what's out there at good settings. I also don't want to spend a billion dollars to get there. What can you guys recommend me?
60Hz.
Bauer Action Hour
Member
sounds like interference, is your power supply grounded? try turning up your speakers and see if the hum is always there, and just gets louder when the CPU is under load
Single link DVI is enough up to 1920x1200 @ 60Hz, so you're good. 1080p @ 120Hz would have needed dual link.
For integrated graphics faster memory helps a lot.
For dedicated gaming graphics, not really.
Glad to hear it, you really put together something that should last quite a long time.
Just a reminder - i5 4570 is at $159.99 at microcenter
SkyTurnsRed
Banned
If I'm not going to be upgrading until the end of March, can I wait on this? Or is this that good of a deal?
rakkadakka
Member
Sold my HIS 7950 2gb for $300 to a litecoin miner..bought it in Oct for like 200 after rebate.
Gonna turn it into a 770 GTX for around $320.
Not too shabby.
Gonna turn it into a 770 GTX for around $320.
Not too shabby.
It's not mind-blowing. No reason to rush out and get it if you were planning on waiting. 4670K is only $20 more at MicroCenter. It's doubtful those prices will drop before you build, though. So start thinking about what CPU/mobo you're gonna go with. I'm not 100% sure of the inventory history (as it differs with every location), but it's no guarantee that they'll always be there. And since they're already so heavily discounted, I'm almost certain that you won't be seeing better prices before you build in late March. Personally, I'm building in the middle of March and I just got my CPU/mobo combo from MicroCenter today because they've got the ASUS Z87-A motherboard on sale for $85 after the bundle discount.
appaws
Banned
I didn't think Thief was going to be all that taxing, I would have expected a little better than that at low settings...? Have you updated drivers, etc...?
The main question is how much you want to spend...? The i5 650 is getting a little old and I don't think you can do anything with that socket 1156. Someone else here might know about the OC potential of that part. I think its time to plan to upgrade there.
My gut reaction is to say go with the best GPU you can in your budget, and start planning on a new MOBO and CPU when you are able. Sorry if that is sort of "stock" advice at this point....but it seems that current games are just much more GPU-bound than anything else. A nice 760 will set you back like 250 bucks U.S.
If you got 5 hundy to spend then you could easily grab both a 760 and a pretty decent cpu and Mobo.
Dr_Boris_Goltz
Banned
Hey quick question... I'm building my computer, and Corsair says to mount the H60 fan as an intake... So I'm taking in air from the back of my case.
So should I then switch the front fans to outs?
So should I then switch the front fans to outs?
SkyTurnsRed
Banned
Oh, wow, 500. Okay. I actually budgeted 600 thinking that would put me in the low tier. Nice. So you're saying get the GPU soon, and then get a new MOBO and CPU in like two or three months?
Intel Core i5-4670 3.4GHz Quad-Core
ASRock Z87 Pro4 ATX LGA1150
G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1333
Kingston HyperX 3K 120GB 2.5" SSD
ASUS GeForce GTX 760 2GB
NZXT Source 210 Elite (White) ATX Mid Tower
EVGA 650W ATX12V / EPS12V
Microsoft Windows 8.1 Pro (64-bit)
Spent $684.
ASRock Z87 Pro4 ATX LGA1150
G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1333
Kingston HyperX 3K 120GB 2.5" SSD
ASUS GeForce GTX 760 2GB
NZXT Source 210 Elite (White) ATX Mid Tower
EVGA 650W ATX12V / EPS12V
Microsoft Windows 8.1 Pro (64-bit)
Spent $684.
OFFIS
Member
Sounds like a deal, it's good as gtx760 which sells for 250$ and should run games well enough.
SkyTurnsRed
Banned
If I go with the GTX 670, what brand should I get? ASUS?
Just buy a 760. Asus, Gigabyte, EVGA, MSI are all good
Dr_Boris_Goltz
Banned
I ended up top mounting the H60 as an intake and using a rear exhaust, which from my understanding creates a positive pressure.
appaws
Banned
If you really look around and do a microcenter deal or whatever you could hit 5 hundy I am pretty sure, maybe 550.
Figure 250 bucks for a 760
230 for a 4670k
130-150 for a Mobo
OK, OK....maybe 600 is more realistic if we are talking about an i5 4670k and a decent Z87 Mobo. Especially since you should grab a CPU cooler as well, like a CM 212. And that is a lot better than low tier, it's like mid-high tier. At 1080p is gonna be pretty kick ass. You could go lower with an i3 or a non-k i5 part....but if you can scrounge up 6 hundy then you should go for the 4670k.
Almost always the GPU is most important for gaming these days. So if you are really price constrained, for for the GPU first and start socking away for the CPU in a few months. I think for 99% of people looking to upgrade for gaming purposes this would be the case. Although that 560ti was a pretty good card if I remember. I had a 560ti 448 and it did me pretty well.
However, your CPU is dual-core and on the 1156, which is pretty much dead. It released Q1 of 2010, so you are pretty much ready to upgrade asap.
- Status