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[thespot84]

Any recomendations on good quiet cases? I have been concidering Corsair Obsidian 550D

I'm running the 550. It's really nice. Super roomy. the aluminum on the front is sleek and cable management is easy. The front USB ports hvae been giving me issues but that may be my mobo. It's quiet too.

I haven't measured against an R4, but looking back on it I'd go with the R4 if it were just a tad smaller. Otherwise great case.

Welp. Algae. fml



At least it wasn't plasticizer!
And screw feser's additive.

Are those blocks made by hand?

 

[knitoe]

Anybody have any experience with the Qnix Evolution II 1440P monitor? I just got it and I have some backlight bleeding that is driving me nuts.

That's the risk, pixel issues, excessive bleeding and etc., you get for buying a Korean monitor for cheap. Luck of the draw. I had a Crossover that was almost perfect until the backlight died after 8 months. Shipping back to Korean for warranty was $270. I say fuck that and went with Dell 1440p instead for peace of mind.

 

[HardRojo]

Opinions may vary, but me personally, WD has NEVER let me down and my Samsung SSD is flawless. The few Seagates I owned were good for awhile then just went to shit.

Good to know, so barring HDD problems do you think the specs I posted above are good enough for running the games I mentioned?

 

[impact]

What are good alternatives? WD, Samsung or Toshiba maybe?
Do those specs sound fine? I don't want my boss to call me during weekends saying his kid had trouble with some stuff, I just want to be done with it heh.

WD is really good and easy to install

 

[LordAlu]

Hey everyone, I asked about a laptop a couple of days ago but it looks like I'll end up getting a PC for my boss' kid, do these specs sound good for a PC that needs to run games like League of Legends, CoD, Battlefield and Minecraft decently?

APU: AMD A10-7700k Kaveri
MB: ASUS A88XM-A
GRAPHICS CARD: AMD R7 260x
RAM: 8GB DDR3 1600Mhz
HDD: SEAGATE 1TB

If there's something that could be changed for a similar price (I'm in Peru so prices are a bit different from US but not by a large margin) please let me know.

Drop the A10-7770k and motherboard and pick up the i3 & a suitable board - it will outperform the A10 quite handily. Hopefully it will actually be cheaper too, the i3-4330 is a good $20/£15 cheaper in the US/UK for example.

 

[sgjackson]

I'm actually curious as to why one shouldn't pick Seagate?

I actually think I made a mistake buying a Seagate 3TB HDD because it is VERY loud, even in my silent Fractal Design Define R4 case.

This certainly doesn't hurt.

 

[HardRojo]

Drop the A10-7770k and motherboard and pick up the i3 & a suitable board - it will outperform the A10 quite handily. Hopefully it will actually be cheaper too, the i3-4330 is a good $20/£15 cheaper in the US/UK for example.

Wow, i3-4330 seems like a bigger improvement when paired with the card I was planning to get, I might suggest that one.

 

[lmpaler]

Good to know, so barring HDD problems do you think the specs I posted above are good enough for running the games I mentioned?

LoL and Minecraft can be run on damn near anything so yes, BF and COD with lower res and detail sure. I'm not too seasoned in the new AMD lineup so I cannot give you a solid answer on those. I am sure another GAF member will chime in on that

 

[LilJoka]

Heres my new rig

Lian Li PC-V354B
Asus Rampage Gene IV mATX
i7 3960X @ 4.8Ghz 1.37v
Samsung 4x4GB Green "wonder ram" @ 1866Mhz CL10
Asus 5870 1GB
Crucial M4 128GB
WD 3TB Green 5400RPM, Hitachi 2TB, Seagate 2TB 7200RPM
Corsair H80i idle 25c, load 70c
Corsair TX650M
Some Atheros Wireless N PCI card for emergencies

 

[mkenyon]

Are those blocks made by hand?

They're machined by EK. www.ekwb.com

Heres my new rig

Lian Li PC-V354B

I've always loved that case! Glad you have some of that wonder RAM too. I remember buying like $200+ worth when it was on sale for $30 a stick way back when, insane how much prices have changed.

 

[lmpaler]

Heres my new rig

Lian Li PC-V354B
Asus Rampage Gene IV mATX
i7 3960X @ 4.8Ghz 1.37v
Samsung 4x4GB Green "wonder ram" @ 1866Mhz CL10
Asus 5870 1GB
Crucial M4 128GB
WD 3TB Green 5400RPM, Hitachi 2TB, Seagate 2TB 7200RPM
Corsair H80i idle 25c, load 70c
Corsair TX650M
Some Atheros Wireless N PCI card for emergencies

My golem hands could not put that together properly lol. Kudos sir and nice rig. Let us know how you like it after some use!

 

[bro1]

Try looking at something other than a black screen?

ha! True dat

 

[LilJoka]

My golem hands could not put that together properly lol. Kudos sir and nice rig. Let us know how you like it after some use!

Lol it's the most difficult case I've ever built in, but so worth it coming from my old HAF 922. Usually I can build within 30minutes, this took me 3-4 hours! Looks so good, disabled the LED fans and might disable the HDD led, but need to remove 8 screws to take the side panel off. This case makes you want to build it to perfection so you never want to open it again.

Cinebench score is 1240 =P

 

[scogoth]

Are those blocks made by hand?

They are CNC milled. If you are referring the uneven cuts I believe they do that on purpose. The random widths I think allow better heat conduction. Maybe those are done be hand and the rest is milled.

The only thing that isn't gunked up is the gold top of the block. So here's a top gear top tip, if you are going to build a water loop forget copper and nickel, get everything plated in gold!

 

[mkenyon]

The only thing that isn't gunked up is the gold top of the block. So here's a top gear top tip, if you are going to build a water loop forget copper and nickel, get everything plated in gold!

Need to plate my copper pipes I guess.

 

[Pjsprojects]

Ok. I will do my PC part picker later but I am thinking of buying a bundle or prebuilt PC with an 8350 for around £300. An i5 doesn't seem worth the additional expense. The bundle I am thinking of will have about 8gb of ram and I can get a 500 watt Psu for £10 and a gtx 660 for £130. U

£130 AMD 8350
£40 mobo
£50 ram 8gb
Case and 500w PSU £40
Hdd £40 500gb- 1tb
Gpu £130 2gb gtx 660

I wanna buy it around next week. Any recommendations for what I should get?

If future multiplat games get based on eight core design because of the new consoles then that cpu could be a nice option.
PSU = crap. Get a decent branded one with a bit more head room.

 

[king grimlock]

how much will a beefy machine(780 ti or non ti sli) affect the power bill?

 

[mkenyon]

Corsair cases are 10% off: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...-IGNEFL032114-_-EMC-032114-Index-_-E0F-_-Case

Promo code: EMCPGHW32

Tons of CPU coolers are 20% off, including Noctua and Coolermaster stuff.

Promo code: EMCPGHW27

 

[Oxn]

I wanna build the quietest, yet powerful PC.

Please help me pick the quietest parts.

 

[exmachina64]

I wanna build the quietest, yet powerful PC.

Please help me pick the quietest parts.

What's your budget?

 

[Oxn]

What's your budget?

None really

But the only thing that really affects noise is fans, case, heatsink/watercoolers, and PSU right?

 

[Tablo]

None really

But the only thing that really affects noise is fans, case, heatsink/watercoolers, and PSU right?

Define "none really" lol

 

[Oxn]

Define "none really" lol

Goes as high as you want, if the items i listed are the only items that affects noise levels.

 

[scogoth]

Goes as high as you want, if the items i listed are the only items that affects noise levels.

Passive radiator

 

[Bleepey]

If you're into emulation(specifically Dolphin and PCSX2), get yourself an i5. Trust me, I've got an 8320 and it's balls for that. It uses more power so you'll be spending more on electricity. Listen to the enthusiasts here, as they tend to be objective(mostly, anyway).

Do you have any links or reviews which say the i5 is miles better.

 

[Oxn]

Passive radiator

Gotta say no to that. Not because of price but cleanliness and looks matter just as much as the noise level.

 

[TC McQueen]

I wanna build the quietest, yet powerful PC.

Please help me pick the quietest parts.

Cougar CF-T12SB4 fans are pretty quiet and you can buy them in a nifty four-pack box with all the accessories you need. CoolerMaster's 200mm fan is also pretty quiet, but with fans, you need to make sure that you cable manage really well, or else you get quite a bit of noise.

 

[LilJoka]

I wanna build the quietest, yet powerful PC.

Please help me pick the quietest parts.

If you don't want SLI, something like I built on this very page could work. Just put in a GTX 780ti. For me the next step is quiet powerful and small, hence mATX.

 

[Objectively Bad Opinion]

LoL and Minecraft can be run on damn near anything so yes, BF and COD with lower res and detail sure. I'm not too seasoned in the new AMD lineup so I cannot give you a solid answer on those. I am sure another GAF member will chime in on that

If you get an i3 and an Nvidia card, you will not hit 60fps in BF. It's literally impossible, you can turn the settings down and render at 16x9 and you will not hit 60fps

I've tried. Literally impossible, like... literally. Best you can hope for is 40 FPS in multiplayer matches. I can't really quote a number because the frame rate has more drops than a dubstep song.

The game is comically CPU bound in DX.

With Mantle, the 260X should be fine at 1080p low/med. Barring no bugs... no matter what CPU he gets.

 

[mkenyon]

I wanna build the quietest, yet powerful PC.

Please help me pick the quietest parts.

Sensible list:

Fractal Define Mini
Gigabyte Z87MX-D3H, ASUS Maximus VI Gene, Gigabyte Sniper M5, MSI Z87M Gaming
4670k/4770k
Coolermaster Hyper 212 or anything you can change fans on
Seasonic 520W Fanless PSU (or a Corsair RM650)
Gigabyte 780 Ti
SSD - no HDDs

Replace all fans with these. One rear exhaust, one top exhaust, two front intake. One on the CPU heatsink as well.

Less Sensible List:

The loudest thing on a PC is always going to be the GPU. With something like this, the computer never gets any louder than idle noise.

GAF's own n0n44m did a build log on Overclock.net, and this is probably the most quiet you could get a PC while still having it look nice and perform really well:

http://www.overclock.net/t/1275034/build-log-monolith-silence-performance-fractal-define-xl-finished

Connects it to this radiator:

 

[Oxn]

Sensible list:

Fractal Define Mini
Gigabyte Z87MX-D3H, ASUS Maximus VI Gene, Gigabyte Sniper M5, MSI Z87M Gaming
4670k/4770k
Coolermaster Hyper 212 or anything you can change fans on
Seasonic 520W Fanless PSU (or a Corsair RM650)
Gigabyte 780 Ti
SSD - no HDDs

Replace all fans with these. One rear exhaust, one top exhaust, two front intake. One on the CPU heatsink as well.

Less Sensible List:



The loudest thing on a PC is always going to be the GPU. With something like this, the computer never gets any louder than idle noise.

GAF's own n0n44m did a build log on Overclock.net, and this is probably the most quiet you could get a PC while still having it look nice and perform really well:

http://www.overclock.net/t/1275034/build-log-monolith-silence-performance-fractal-define-xl-finished



Connects it to this radiator:

Great I like your sensible list. I think its my CPU fan that makes the most noise.

 

[plasmawave]

Read OP
Fill out sheet

Will do!

 

[Azzurri]

Not just about performance though anymore. Shadowplay and G-Sync are really neat and genuinely useful.

Yea, that's why I like nVidia.

 

[Firebrand]

Experimenting with builds on a limited budget. Which one would you guys think is the better idea, for the same amount of money:

i5 4670K 3.4 ghz -> i7 4770 3.4 ghz (no K!)
-or-
760 2GB -> 770 2GB?

It seems to me that the 770 will offer an immediate performance boost, but I worry about a bit about how the CPU will hold up over time (with no upgrade path on chipset 8), whereas it's easier to swap in a new GPU down the line, perhaps with some more VRAM.

1600 is fine.

It doesn't matter beyond APUs.

Cheers, I'll grab somewhere around 1866 probably then.

 

[Tomat]

Need advice for myself and my brother!

I'm looking to upgrade to a GeForce GTX 760 2GB GPU from a GTX 460. Since I'm set on the card already, all I was wondering was if I should be worried about which brand I pick (EVGA, GIGABYTE, etc.).

---

As for my brother, he's looking to upgrade his CPU and his Motherboard.

Your Current Specs: AMD Phenom II X4 955 / 16GB DDR3 RAM / ASUSTeK Computer INC. M4A785TD-M EVO (AM3) / 2GB GDDR5 AMD Radeon R9 270X / Not sure what his exact PSU is, but it's either 600W or 650W
Budget: He would prefer to spend $300 at most, but is willing to bend a bit if necessary. Located in the US.
Main Use: General use and light gaming. He doesn't game too often, but he does like to play new PC games every now and then.
Monitor Resolution: 1920x1080. Won't be buying a new monitor.
List SPECIFIC games or applications that you MUST be able to run well: Hard to say for this part. Higher the better. Hope that's good enough. Not sure about specific games either. He recently bought Metal Gear Rising and Max Payne 3. Those are probably the most demanding games he has at the moment.
Looking to reuse any parts?: Only interested in upgrading Motherboard/CPU, reusing everything else.
When will you build?: Probably going to order tonight.
Will you be overclocking?: Maybe

He already has some fans installed in his current case, so I'm not really convinced he would need to worry about cooling, but you guys are the experts here. He wanted me to ask if you guys if he would have to worry about cooling. He's got two fans installed on the front of the case and another on the back.

 

[scogoth]

So word of caution to anyone think of using Coollaboratory Liquid Ultra. They claim you can remove it easily, I have found that only if it was recently applied... It dries up over time and the only way to get it off is to relap the IHS and heatsink.

 

[Smokey]

Welp. Algae. fml



At least it wasn't plasticizer!
And screw feser's additive.

ugh making my skin itch

 

[Anarki]

Thinking of upgrading my motherboard and cpu, was hoping for opinions and advice.

Current setup:

Intel DP55SB matx motherboard
Intel core i7 875k @ 4GHz (200x20)
Antec 620 cooler with two 120mm yate loons push/pull @ 2100rpm (audible hehe)
16GB Hyperx lovo @ 1600MHz 1.35V 9-9-9-27
Sapphire 7950 @ 1010/1400
Ocz 600W PSU
Sandisk 120GB SSD
Dell 3008wfp 2560x1600

I run most my games @ 1080p - running them at 1600p is too taxing

My motherboard has a strange layout, you can only fit a single slot card in the (sudo 16x sized 8x pci-e slot) when using a matx only case, which I am.

Its also a socket 1156 so I'm using the best CPU for that board already, it only has sata 2 ports and USB 2 ports so I'm held back by it.

What do you guys reckon? Upgrade board and CPU or hold out until DDR4 becomes commonplace on motherboards?

Thanks for reading my post

 

[scogoth]

ugh making my skin itch

I knew this going in, water cooling requires maintenance. Should flush the loop every 6 months and full clean every year. I've gone all the way this time because the algae got EVERYWHERE. Unfortunately that means the di noc came off my GPUs and I don't think I will put it back on. You couldn't see them anyway sandwiched together in SLI and face down.

 

[kennah]

Ugh, making me scared for my own half finished water cooling setup...

 

[scogoth]

Definitely not building water cooled next time. Going to build mineral oil submersed, hoping thats less maintenance.

 

[kennah]

Definitely not building water cooled next time. Going to build mineral oil submersed, hoping thats less maintenance.

It isn't. A friend did it (though years ago). The parts never got clean again. Totally ruins any resale value.

I'd be tempted to just stay air, but my case isn't called the Compact Woosh.

 

[mkenyon]

ugh making my skin itch

There's been some pretty neat advancements in the last year or so in terms of reducing maintenance. It's a big part of the reason why I went for copper pipes.

I knew this going in, water cooling requires maintenance. Should flush the loop every 6 months and full clean every year. I've gone all the way this time because the algae got EVERYWHERE. Unfortunately that means the di noc came off my GPUs and I don't think I will put it back on. You couldn't see them anyway sandwiched together in SLI and face down.

Distilled + biocide + EK ZMT or copper pipe, once a year at most.

 

[Objectively Bad Opinion]

How about closed loop? I've seen some pretty impressive results with the NZXT video card bracket. Or just zip ties.

Having a radiator for every CPU and GPU will probably restrict case options though.

 

[plasmawave]

Your Current Specs: CPU: AMD PH II x2 545 / RAM: 4GB / Motherboard: Asus M4A78 PLUS / GPU: Radeon HD 4890 / PSU: OCZ 550W / Case: Standard ATX / 600GB (Hard Drive)
Budget: Canada, $1500.
Main Use: 5. Gaming, photoshop, video editing, 3D modeling and animation.
Monitor Resolution: 1920 x 1080. No plans to upgrade.
List SPECIFIC games or applications that you MUST be able to run well: 60 fps or higher is ideal. Don't have any particular game that needs to run good. CUDA, yes.
Looking to reuse any parts?: No.
When will you build?: Sometime in April.
Will you be overclocking?: No.

Had to re-pick my parts because I unknowingly did it in USD currency... lol
Anyways, here's the new list. Any suggestions?

CPU: Intel Core i7-4770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor
CPU cooler: Xigmatek GAIA SD1283 56.3 CFM CPU Cooler
MOBO: Biostar Hi-Fi Z87W ATX LGA1150 Motherboard
RAM: G.Skill Ripjaws Z Series 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory
SSD: Samsung 840 EVO 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk
HDD: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
GPU: Asus GeForce GTX 760 2GB Video Card
Case: Cooler Master HAF 912 ATX Mid Tower Case
PSU: Antec Basiq Plus 550W 80+ Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer

TOTAL: $1466.84

http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/3eaBL

 

[hipbabboom]

So anyone planning on doing a build when DDR4 and the 8 core Intel launches? I started saving for it three months ago. I still want to wait till the Nvidia makes good on the ~1TB/s bandwidth 3D GDDR memory <3

 

[Hazaro]

Need advice for myself and my brother!

I'm looking to upgrade to a GeForce GTX 760 2GB GPU from a GTX 460. Since I'm set on the card already, all I was wondering was if I should be worried about which brand I pick (EVGA, GIGABYTE, etc.).
---
As for my brother, he's looking to upgrade his CPU and his Motherboard.

Your Current Specs: AMD Phenom II X4 955 / 16GB DDR3 RAM / ASUSTeK Computer INC. M4A785TD-M EVO (AM3) / 2GB GDDR5 AMD Radeon R9 270X / Not sure what his exact PSU is, but it's either 600W or 650W
Budget: He would prefer to spend $300 at most, but is willing to bend a bit if necessary. Located in the US.
Main Use: General use and light gaming. He doesn't game too often, but he does like to play new PC games every now and then.
Monitor Resolution: 1920x1080. Won't be buying a new monitor.
List SPECIFIC games or applications that you MUST be able to run well: Hard to say for this part. Higher the better. Hope that's good enough. Not sure about specific games either. He recently bought Metal Gear Rising and Max Payne 3. Those are probably the most demanding games he has at the moment.
Looking to reuse any parts?: Only interested in upgrading Motherboard/CPU, reusing everything else.
When will you build?: Probably going to order tonight.
Will you be overclocking?: Maybe

He already has some fans installed in his current case, so I'm not really convinced he would need to worry about cooling, but you guys are the experts here. He wanted me to ask if you guys if he would have to worry about cooling. He's got two fans installed on the front of the case and another on the back.

Whatever brand is cheap and has 2 or 3 fans on it. ASUS/GB/EVGA/MSI
3570K and a Z87 Biostar board or other $100 Z87 board.

So word of caution to anyone think of using Coollaboratory Liquid Ultra. They claim you can remove it easily, I have found that only if it was recently applied... It dries up over time and the only way to get it off is to relap the IHS and heatsink.

Everything I read on forums stated that shit doesn't come off at all and basically cements itself and erodes and the only real use is for the Die -> HS after a delid.

Your Current Specs: CPU: AMD PH II x2 545 / RAM: 4GB / Motherboard: Asus M4A78 PLUS / GPU: Radeon HD 4890 / PSU: OCZ 550W / Case: Standard ATX / 600GB (Hard Drive)
Budget: Canada, $1500.
Main Use: 5. Gaming, photoshop, video editing, 3D modeling and animation.
Monitor Resolution: 1920 x 1080. No plans to upgrade.
List SPECIFIC games or applications that you MUST be able to run well: 60 fps or higher is ideal. Don't have any particular game that needs to run good. CUDA, yes.
Looking to reuse any parts?: No.
When will you build?: Sometime in April.
Will you be overclocking?: No.

Had to re-pick my parts because I unknowingly did it in USD currency... lol
Anyways, here's the new list. Any suggestions?

CPU: Intel Core i7-4770K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor
CPU cooler: Xigmatek GAIA SD1283 56.3 CFM CPU Cooler
MOBO: Biostar Hi-Fi Z87W ATX LGA1150 Motherboard
RAM: G.Skill Ripjaws Z Series 32GB (4 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory
SSD: Samsung 840 EVO 120GB 2.5" Solid State Disk
HDD: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive
GPU: Asus GeForce GTX 760 2GB Video Card
Case: Cooler Master HAF 912 ATX Mid Tower Case
PSU: Antec Basiq Plus 550W 80+ Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply
Optical Drive: Asus DRW-24B1ST/BLK/B/AS DVD/CD Writer

TOTAL: $1466.84

http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/3eaBL

Looks good. Bump to 240GB SSD if you can.

So anyone planning on doing a build when DDR4 and the 8 core Intel launches? I started saving for it three months ago. I still want to wait till the Nvidia makes good on the ~1TB/s bandwidth 3D GDDR memory <3

Oh boy I can't wait for RAM performance that gives me 0.5% more FPS and a 5%-10% CPU bump again.

 

[plasmawave]

Thanks Hazaro!

 

[Drkirby]

I'm considering making a cheap PC for my little brother with a mix of older and cheap parts in about a month once I get my old SSD RMAed.

I was thinking of getting this MB:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128564

And put it in this Case/Power Supply Combo:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811121121

I have this CPU to put into it (Phenom 2 955):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103808

This Graphics Card (GTX 460):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814162058

And this Ram Kit (2x2GB):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231277

This would all work together, right, or is there something I am overlooking?

 

[quantumnerd]

I'm considering making a cheap PC for my little brother with a mix of older and cheap parts in about a month once I get my old SSD RMAed.

I was thinking of getting this MB:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128564

And put it in this Case/Power Supply Combo:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811121121

I have this CPU to put into it (Phenom 2 955):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103808

This Graphics Card (GTX 460):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814162058

And this Ram Kit (2x2GB):
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231277

This would all work together, right, or is there something I am overlooking?

One piece of advice on that build: I never trust no-name PSUs. if you're going to buy a no-name case, get a cheaper no-name case, and then buy a cheap Antec PSU to put in it, like this one, except maybe with a bit more power since you're putting a GTX 460 in it. The thing about no-name PSUs is that they don't perform up to their rated spec, especially as they get hot or age.