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[Azulsky]

If you want a premium case, Corsair has abandoned a lot of what made them great (build quality) to gain additional features. Phanteks Enthoo Primo is the current king of non-specialized cases (Case Labs, Little Devil, premium Lian Li) right now. Heck, even a lot of the NZXT stuff is nicer.

I think they do a lot of great stuff, I especially like the 350D and Air 540. But the 750D and 900D are really large and cheap.

My main desire to move up from the Air 540 is that I need more 3.5" disk space, which leaves me hunting for full towers, also the horizontal desk space turned out to me more of a premium than i thought.

Currently digging through Caselabs options, they seem to have a big following on overclock 3d

 

[Objectively Bad Opinion]

Words can't describe my disappointment when I first saw the 760T and realized it's a 180 dollar plastic case.

180 dollars. What is Corsair thinking.

 

[aka_bueno]

Quick question, before selling off my MBPr, I tried creating a USB Install Disk of Win8.1 inside of my Win7 partition. For whatever reason, the tool wasn't finding my external USB HDD after several formats or anything else I tried. So I couldn't create the USB Disk.

So...I created the USB Win8.1 Install Disk using OSX's Bootcamp tool. Worked perfectly.

Will that work to install a fresh copy of Windows 8.1 on a brand new PC build? Or does the OSX Bootcamp tool create a special install disk only for Bootcamping on a Mac?

 

[mkenyon]

My main desire to move up from the Air 540 is that I need more 3.5" disk space, which leaves me hunting for full towers, also the horizontal desk space turned out to me more of a premium than i thought.

Currently digging through Caselabs options, they seem to have a big following on overclock 3d

You should check out some of Lian Li's full tower offerings. CaseLabs is very much oriented towards watercooling. That being said, if you don't mind the $ premium, then they are pretty f'n amazing. I love my SM5, and plan on ordering an S5 as well.

But the Lian Li PC-A75/A76-WX, for example, is around $200 It's full aluminum, and can house just about any motherboard out there, any GPU setup, with something like 8+ 3.5" bay devices.

The Fractal Arc XL and Define XL R2 also come to mind.

Words can't describe my disappointment when I first saw the 760T and realized it's a 180 dollar plastic case.

180 dollars. What is Corsair thinking.

Yeah, I thought that was a $100 case. Seems like the closest competitor to it would be something like the NZXT H440.

 

[Azulsky]

You should check out some of Lian Li's full tower offerings. CaseLabs is very much oriented towards watercooling. That being said, if you don't mind the $ premium, then they are pretty f'n amazing. I love my SM5, and plan on ordering an S5 as well.

But the Lian Li PC-A75/A76-WX, for example, is around $200 It's full aluminum, and can house just about any motherboard out there, any GPU setup, with something like 8+ 3.5" bay devices.

The Fractal Arc XL and Define XL R2 also come to mind.

Yeah, I thought that was a $100 case. Seems like the closest competitor to it would be something like the NZXT H440.

Ill have to look at Lian Li

All of the Fractals I have mounted stuff in are out of spec. Either they drill the mobo tray too far forward or something but i always have to figure out some hack to make the video card bracket attach to the case, and it rear IO ports dont mate up with the cutout panel for the same reason.

 

[mkenyon]

Craaaazy. I've probably done 20+ builds in them, never had that issue. I have heard some things here and there that go along with what you're saying.

Dat China manufacturing.....

It's a big part of the reason why I like Little Devil, CaseLabs, and Lian Li. They all have in-house manufacturing that helps keep the design->finished product one smooth thing.

Same goes for EK for their watercooling gear.

*edit*

Now that I think about it, I think InWin does in-house manufacturing. I should give some of their stuff a shot one of these days.

 

[molnizzle]

Quick question, before selling off my MBPr, I tried creating a USB Install Disk of Win8.1 inside of my Win7 partition. For whatever reason, the tool wasn't finding my external USB HDD after several formats or anything else I tried. So I couldn't create the USB Disk.

So...I created the USB Win8.1 Install Disk using OSX's Bootcamp tool. Worked perfectly.

Will that work to install a fresh copy of Windows 8.1 on a brand new PC build? Or does the OSX Bootcamp tool create a special install disk only for Bootcamping on a Mac?

Pretty sure it's just for Mac. I wouldn't even try it, honestly. Apple includes the drivers and shit for your hardware in those boot camp install partitions.

 

[sgjackson]

All of the Fractals I have mounted stuff in are out of spec.

Now that you mention it, that would explain why it was a pain in the fucking ass to put an optical drive into my Arc Midi R2.

 

[Sky Chief]

Craaaazy. I've probably done 20+ builds in them, never had that issue. I have heard some things here and there that go along with what you're saying.

Dat China manufacturing.....

It's a big part of the reason why I like Little Devil, CaseLabs, and Lian Li. They all have in-house manufacturing that helps keep the design->finished product one smooth thing.

Same goes for EK for their watercooling gear.

*edit*

Now that I think about it, I think InWin does in-house manufacturing. I should give some of their stuff a shot one of these days.

Can you please post some pictures of your PCs?

 

[mylasthope]

Hey guys,

Hoping someone can answer this for me. I'm looking over the manual for my motherboard (Gigabyte GA-Z87N-Wifi) and it turns out that it only has one sys_fan header. The case I bought (BitFenix Prodigy) comes with 2 fans, and I was planning on buying another 230mm fan (BItFenix Spectre Pro, $20.72) to place in the front. Do I even need to get a big fan for the front or will the 2 included fans be enough? How do I go about plugging all 3 fans in? Do I have to buy a splitter to get all 3 fans to plug into the mobo?

 

[mkenyon]

Can you please post some pictures of your PCs?

This are most of my personal ones since 2010 or so? Maybe 2009?

Most of the stuff before it was before I became a hardware enthusiast. Meaning, before I graduated college and got a job

Hey guys,

Hoping someone can answer this for me. I'm looking over the manual for my motherboard (Gigabyte GA-Z87N-Wifi) and it turns out that it only has one sys_fan header. The case I bought (BitFenix Prodigy) comes with 2 fans, and I was planning on buying another 230mm fan (BItFenix Spectre Pro, $20.72) to place in the front. Do I even need to get a big fan for the front or will the 2 included fans be enough? How do I go about plugging all 3 fans in? Do I have to buy a splitter to get all 3 fans to plug into the mobo?

Almost all fans come with Molex power adapters. If not, then that's what you'd want to look at.

 

[mylasthope]

This are most of my personal ones since 2010 or so? Maybe 2009?

Most of the stuff before it was before I became a hardware enthusiast. Meaning, before I graduated college and got a job

Almost all fans come with Molex power adapters. If not, then that's what you'd want to look at.

Thank you. Checking to see if my case includes them now.

 

[TheD]

This are most of my personal ones since 2010 or so? Maybe 2009?

Arrival Mk III is one nice looking system.

 

[Sky Chief]

This are most of my personal ones since 2010 or so? Maybe 2009?

Most of the stuff before it was before I became a hardware enthusiast. Meaning, before I graduated college and got a job

Wow, those are awesome!

 

[Arkanius]

Got my first BSOD with the new 14.4 drivers for AMD cards.
And here I thought they were stable enough to go WHQL. 5 months since the last stable driver!

 

[kennah]

Almost bought a Fractal Node today.

Almost.

 

[maneil99]

would an overclocked phenom (to 4ghz) be able to keep up better on battlefield 4 versus stock speed of 3.5?

Of course, a 3.6 is better then a 3.5 ect

 

[Objectively Bad Opinion]

Got my first BSOD with the new 14.4 drivers for AMD cards.
And here I thought they were stable enough to go WHQL. 5 months since the last stable driver!

No BSODs here so far.

Out of curiosity, what triggered that BSOD for you?

 

[Erebus]

I'm talking about using D3DOverrider to force VSync + triple buffering.

I haven't tried it on Windows 8 myself but I remember it not working on Win7 after installing a DX11 update via Windows Update. It baffled me for days how D3DOverrider stopped working all of a sudden until I figured it out.

I have a phenom II X6 1090T BE and an old but very servicable little soldier GTX 460.

Im wondering if its a logical upgrade to go with 750 ti ? I dont want top of the line GPU for a while as i dont really have time to game with school, and with the next gen of GPUs, i just want a stop gap 1080p graphic cards that will have ok performances for a while? My 460 cant even handle the star citizen hangar, i dont expect the 750 will run that game full speed but, maybe i can run the dogfight module? (haha?).

750 ti too weak?

I have a GTX 460 1GB and considered upgrading to a 750Ti but after a little research and looking at some benchmarks, I decided it isn't worth it. You're looking at minuscule FPS gains on most occasions. Save money to get a better card or try to find a cheap second-hand GTX 460 for SLI.

 

[yatesl]

Hey GAF. Graphics card issue.

I was just on my phone, and had the PC going in the background. Just a flash video, nothing intensive - although maybe related to my previous CPU issue with Outlook, but I doubt it. Anyway, after a few hours I quit it, and noticed everything was going slow. Cursor-freezing slow. Anyway, hit a black screen, lost signal, turned it off. Whenever I turned it back on, the splash screen was stretched, and I'd get a black screen after the Windows bootup.

Rebooted in to Safe Mode, uninstalled nvidia drivers. For a few minutes I logged in to Windows (at 800x600), but as soon as something loaded (possibly new drivers?) it hit a black screen. Back in safe mode, uninstalled (using driver sweeper), Reinstalled them. Still, black screen after boot up.

That was with a DVI cable. I'm currently connected with a HDMI, and it's working fine. I've had issues in the past (on a previous Windows installation) where upgrading a graphics driver would just turn off the PC.


Any idea what's going on? It's almost 2am here so I'm just using a HDMI cable, but could my graphics card's DVI port be bad? Would that cause it? I mean, I can see the splash screen (albeit stretched/cropped off screen), but pressing F9 gives me a black screen, so does booting in to Windows.

24 hours before Dark Souls 2 is out, too...

Gigabyte 770 2GB, drivers 337.50
i5-4670k (overclocked to 4.2)
Windows 8.1

 

[Josman]

Crucial M500 250Gb vs Samsung Evo 840 250Gb?

I know somebody asked already but what exactly is the difference? I just can't decide, the Crucial is $35 less right now, that is a big difference, I'll use it as a single drive and mainly gaming.

 

[molnizzle]

Almost bought a Fractal Node today.

Almost.

I just built my comfy couch PC in a Node 304 last week.

Best case ever.

 

[-TRN-]

I'd check the current fan curve. Something was installed wonky that made them spin higher.

Oh come on now, it's not that hard. First I've heard of this though.

1) Yes

2) Yes, your proc is going to be holding you back in a lot of games.

Looks good, but I'd recommend one of the other cases in the OP instead of the Antec One.

Tks for the reply man! Actually I checked all my wires and one was geeeently touching the videocard, once I put it aside the fan imediatelly slowed down .

 

[Teddified]

Alright looking at getting these parts sometime next month just wondering if anyone has any input. Like something cheaper that would be better, or a part that's not good on the list. I'm basically looking for 1080p and 60fps, so my main concern is choosing between a 760 and 770.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor ($179.99 @ Micro Center)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($29.99 @ Micro Center)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z87-HD3 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($109.99 @ Micro Center)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 770 2GB Superclocked ACX Video Card ($346.99 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: SeaSonic 650W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($99.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $766.95
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-04-22 23:20 EDT-0400)

I already have 16GB of ram, Hard Drives, and a Case.

Anyone?

 

[kennah]

OOPS

my 2 year old was helping me put the SSD in my MacBook Pro and she yanked on the wifi cable and mangled it.

At least the computer is faster now...

 

[RedSwirl]

Is there a way to get Afterburner to display CPU usage in OSD? I heard about a plugin but do you still have to install that? And does it consume more resources?

 

[sal0713]

So recently i got a GTX 750ti was working great then i started having some issues so i decided to return it and save some extra money to maybe get a gtx 760. I was wondering is there an amd card stronger than the gtx 760 for about the same price? GTX 760 SC goes for 249.99 .

 

[Skel1ingt0n]

The Sensei Raw or standard Sensei is what you want. The M65 is definitely intended for palm grip. I'd suggest the Rival, but that too is best with a palm grip.

Possibly that new Logitech mouse might be good too, the G502 Proteus.

I've always loved Logitech mice - I don't have the technical fortitude to explain why, but I've always found the tracking on Razer and other branded mice to be too "loose." I just never got the accuracy and pinpoint quick accuracy I do with Logitech. I always felt a bit floaty using anything else.

But I got the Sensei about nine months ago because of your recommendation, and I really like it. It tracks great, and it's right up there with Logitech. However, I've never truly loved the feel of the device. I hadn't heard of that new G502 Proteus... it interest me a lot. Is it a safe bet I'd like it?

 

[appaws]

Anyone?

That looks good to me. You already have an SSD...? If not it is a must have.

So recently i got a GTX 750ti was working great then i started having some issues so i decided to return it and save some extra money to maybe get a gtx 760. I was wondering is there an amd card stronger than the gtx 760 for about the same price? GTX 760 SC goes for 249.99 .

I think at the 250 price range you can't go wrong with that 760.

 

[Prophet Steve]

Crucial M500 250Gb vs Samsung Evo 840 250Gb?

I know somebody asked already but what exactly is the difference? I just can't decide, the Crucial is $35 less right now, that is a big difference, I'll use it as a single drive and mainly gaming.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/crucial-m500-1tb-ssd,3551-14.html

Here is an article where you can see the differences, but be aware you might not even notice the speed differences.

 

[Objectively Bad Opinion]

That looks good to me. You already have an SSD...? If not it is a must have.



I think at the 250 price range you can't go wrong with that 760.

Yeah at 250 dollars it's pretty much the best thing for the money atm.

He can consider an R9 280 though, hangs around 280 dollars and comes with 3 free games.

Or a 280x, which is back down to ~300 dollars and comes with 3 games also, much faster too.

 

[Teddified]

That looks good to me. You already have an SSD...? If not it is a must have.

Yeah I'm planning to but I was gonna wait since that would be mostly what I could afford right now. Then upgrade in a month or 2 for the SSD.

 

[Baloonatic]

Hoping to get my new PC sorted out tomorrow but it's my first SLI rig. Anything I should know? Do games that support SLI utilise it automatically or do I have to manually activate it?

 

[Ashhong]

Yeah I'm planning to but I was gonna wait since that would be mostly what I could afford right now. Then upgrade in a month or 2 for the SSD.

The SSD is such a crucial part in a new computer build, I would honestly prioritize that over almost anything else. I put an SSD into my old aging dual core and it became another beast. Plus you wouldn't have to go through installs twice.

Edit: although there's nothing in ur list I would remove either. Hard choice.

 

[finalflame]

Yeah I'm planning to but I was gonna wait since that would be mostly what I could afford right now. Then upgrade in a month or 2 for the SSD.

Find a way to cut corners elsewhere and get at least a $100 128gb SSD to tide you over. Eat rice and beans for a month. I don't know.

It's an absolute must in any modern system and the far the biggest bottleneck to system responsiveness, which is a HUGE factor in your daily enjoyment/perception of speed when using any OS.

Seriously, SSD is like night and day. I made the switch about a year back, and definitely believe the hype. I recommend a 128gb 840 EVO or Crucial M500 (if the budget is tight).

Make it happen, trust me, you'll be happy you did!

 

[brain_stew]

I'm really mad that no one told me about D3DOverrider not working in Windows 8. Now I have to go through the OS install and setup process again. FML...

You can use RadeonPro to force triple buffering and yes, it works with Nvidia cards (well at least the triple buffering and SMAA parts do).

 

[mylasthope]

Hey guys,

Thoughts on secure erasing a SSD? Taking mine out of my ps4 and installing it in my new rig. Should I secure erase it first or just let Windows format it?

 

[finalflame]

Hey guys,

Thoughts on secure erasing a SSD? Taking mine out of my ps4 and installing it in my new rig. Should I secure erase it first or just let Windows format it?

No reason to secure erase it unless you just want to. Pop it in and run a bootable Windows 8 flash drive/cd/media, and it'll do all the work for you during setup. Just select the drive and have Windows Installer format it beforehand.

 

[Teddified]

The SSD is such a crucial part in a new computer build, I would honestly prioritize that over almost anything else. I put an SSD into my old aging dual core and it became another beast. Plus you wouldn't have to go through installs twice.

Edit: although there's nothing in ur list I would remove either. Hard choice.

Find a way to cut corners elsewhere and get at least a $100 128gb SSD to tide you over. Eat rice and beans for a month. I don't know.

Well I already have an OS installed currently on the drives I'll be bringing over, was mainly just going to bide my time with that. But I'll look into it I suppose.

Is EVO just the type to get or would others like PNY be ok?

 

[finalflame]

Well I already have an OS installed currently on the drives I'll be bringing over, was mainly just going to bide my time with that. But I'll look into it I suppose.

Is EVO just the type to get or would others like PNY be ok?

Sorry, should have expanded. Samsung 840 EVO is a brand/model of SSDs that provides great price/performance, but honestly, most modern SSDs that don't have horrible reviews are good. They differ in performance on synthetic benchmarks, but are virtually indistinguishable in everyday performance.

As far as already having an OS installed, I am fairly confident Windows will take a shit if you move to all new hardware with an existing installation, so I'd look into backing up your CD key (Magic Jelly Bean is a great program that can do this) and doing a fresh install once you have your new rig setup.

A PNY SSD could be fine if you are seeing one of those for cheap. Post a link in the thread before buying it so I/others can vet it, some SSDs do truly perform poorly, but those usually have terrible reviews that are immediately noticeable.

 

[riflen]

Is there a way to get Afterburner to display CPU usage in OSD? I heard about a plugin but do you still have to install that? And does it consume more resources?

I use HWinfo and Afterburner together. HWinfo can connect to the RivaTuner Stats Server that Afterburner uses to display the overlay. Just set up HWinfo to display CPU info.

 

[Mohasus]

Is there a way to get Afterburner to display CPU usage in OSD? I heard about a plugin but do you still have to install that? And does it consume more resources?

Yup, check the CPU Usage box.

Afterburner 3.00 beta 19.

 

[Arkanius]

No BSODs here so far.

Out of curiosity, what triggered that BSOD for you?

A youtube video using Firefox and Flash. Other than that, it has been pretty stable

 

[Ashhong]

Ok guys, the memory issue returned this time while playing Crysis. I think it may be a problem with Chrome or something, because Chrome crashed at the same time as the error. I have about..30 tabs open lol but it's no more than what I had in Windows 7 with 8gb of ram with no issues

I might have taken the screenshot too late though, because Chrome is gone and the numbers don't seem too high like they were last time

I wasn't even playing Crysis yet, only loading the campaign (in Windowed mode because something is wrong and I can't even play it in fullscreen...)

 

[finalflame]

Ok guys, the memory issue returned this time while playing Crysis. I think it may be a problem with Chrome or something, because Chrome crashed at the same time as the error. I have about..30 tabs open lol but it's no more than what I had in Windows 7 with 8gb of ram with no issues

I might have taken the screenshot too late though, because Chrome is gone and the numbers don't seem too high like they were last time



I wasn't even playing Crysis yet, only loading the campaign (in Windowed mode because something is wrong and I can't even play it in fullscreen...)

Have you ran Memtest to rule out the possibility of your memory being faulty? These errors are overwhelmingly related to just straight up faulty memory. It might be happening during Crysis/heavy Chrome usage because those things just happen to be very memory intensive.

 

[xBladeM6x]

I have a DPI question with Mice. What is the most "default" number I should be using for DPI on these resolutions specifically for FPS? (Sorry if this question doesn't make sense, new to the whole DPI thing) I'm asking because I've heard that anything over 2400 is just overkill and you can get mice with 8000 DPI just for the sake of it.

- 1920x1080 (One Sceen)
- 5670x1080 (Three Screens)

 

[Prophet Steve]

I have a DPI question with Mice. What is the most "default" number I should be using for DPI on these resolutions specifically for FPS? (Sorry if this question doesn't make sense, new to the whole DPI thing) I'm asking because I've heard that anything over 2400 is just overkill and you can get mice with 8000 DPI just for the sake of it.

- 1920x1080 (One Sceen)
- 5670x1080 (Three Screens)

Apparently I use 1000 DPI on my 1080P screen (well, I have two, but I only use one for gaming). It is mostly preference though, I know that there are people who use a sensitivity way higher than mine.

 

[xBladeM6x]

Apparently I use 1000 DPI on my 1080P screen (well, I have two, but I only use one for gaming). It is mostly preference though, I know that there are people who use a sensitivity way higher than mine.

Thanks. I always have my sensitivity way lower than most people, so I'm assuming if this is the case, a 5000 DPI mouse should be more than enough?

 

[teiresias]

I have a DPI question with Mice. What is the most "default" number I should be using for DPI on these resolutions specifically for FPS? (Sorry if this question doesn't make sense, new to the whole DPI thing) I'm asking because I've heard that anything over 2400 is just overkill and you can get mice with 8000 DPI just for the sake of it.

- 1920x1080 (One Sceen)
- 5670x1080 (Three Screens)

Like Prophet said, mainly preference and in some cases use cases. You can also use the setting the compensate for having physically less room on a desk to move a mouse.

 

[Objectively Bad Opinion]

I use 3600 personally. Sometimes I turn the in game sensitivity down though.