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[adamantypants]

I have this case and the NH-D14 fits in there fine. We had a bit of a heat wave a few weeks back here in Australia and the cooler did a great job. I can't hear it at all when idling and when it gets loud it's still a lot quieter than the old stock cooler I had.

Do you have the stock fans on? If so are you using an adapter on it? Only thing that bums me out is no PWM

That's a very solid cooler, what are your load temps looking like on that cooler? 80F+ ambient is just another 5-10C which is fine.

Are you overclocked? What voltage and CPU

Yeah I love the performance of it. It's just that with no adapter on it it gets a bit whiny. Even under load at 4.1ghz overclock on my 4670k, an hour on Prime95 made it peak at 65°C. It's not the performance I'm worried about its the sound of the 92mm fans at full speed.

 

[finalflame]

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2RyYV

This is what I currently have picked out. Any feedback before I pull the trigger would be appreciated!

 

[kharma45]

http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2RyYV

This is what I currently have picked out. Any feedback before I pull the trigger would be appreciated!

The H100 fits but you have to remove the 5.25″ drive cage just in case you're not aware.

2x4GB RAM is better but the performance difference isn't really that major.

PSU wise the HX750 is better value at $90 after rebate http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139010

It's not Seasonic internals but it's still good quality. Overspecced for what it is.

 

[- J - D -]

The warranty carries over on used parts. It's based on serial #, and for almost all of the AIBs out there, is 3 years from date of purchase as new.

Ah I see. That's good. It's actually pretty good timing to ask about used parts, because I've been wanting to do a 2x SLI configuration and a buddy of mine is offering to sell me his card for pretty cheap because he needs the cash quick. I'm thinking of doing that, but the card I have is an EVGA while his is a Gigabyte.

There aren't any problems with combining cards in SLI from different brands/manufacturers, right? They're both the same gpu and vram size. It's just that the cooling solutions are different. One is custom, the other is reference. It'd look weird in my case, but I'm not picky about aesthetics.

 

[kharma45]

No it doesn't matter if you mix and match brands. Put the reference one on top so the other card isn't dumping head on to it.

 

[- J - D -]

No it doesn't matter if you mix and match brands. Put the reference one on top so the other card isn't dumping head on to it.

I was just wondering about how the heat distribution would work with one reference, one custom. Great, thanks.

 

[Pachimari]

Probably a dumb question but should I buy the power cable separately or is that included with the power supply?

 

[kennah]

Typically included with power supply.

 

[mr stroke]

buy 2x780 Ti's get a free NVIDIA Shield

http://www.newegg.com/Store/Promoti...a&cm_sp=&AID=10440897&PID=3891137&SID=rewrite

 

[OriginofHysteria]

buy 2x780 Ti's get a free NVIDIA Shield

http://www.newegg.com/Store/Promoti...a&cm_sp=&AID=10440897&PID=3891137&SID=rewrite

Not bad if you wanna spend $1,500

 

[Hazaro]

Do you have the stock fans on? If so are you using an adapter on it? Only thing that bums me out is no PWM

Yeah I love the performance of it. It's just that with no adapter on it it gets a bit whiny. Even under load at 4.1ghz overclock on my 4670k, an hour on Prime95 made it peak at 65°C. It's not the performance I'm worried about its the sound of the 92mm fans at full speed.

TBH I'd just use the adapters or fan control (BIOS) on your motherboard if possible. Those are really nice fans, you shouldn't hit artificial load on normal usage.

Otherwise if you are insistent on buying something get a 212 and set the fan to something acceptable.

Evo 212, these are the temps I'm getting with it right now at the speed you want.

Prime95

What voltage is that? Seems a tad high. Might just be unlucky IHS though

Probably a dumb question but should I buy the power cable separately or is that included with the power supply?

Included with every one but some Antec EarthWatts units IIRC

 

[- J - D -]

Not bad if you wanna spend $1,500

You can sell the Shield and get like $200+ back, so it's more like $1300.

 

[neurosisxeno]

GPU: Nvidia GTX 770 4GB. Is there any difference between the Gigabyte card and the EVGA card. Saw the EVGA was an extra 30 bucks more or so.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125462

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130948

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/foru...ews/62594-galaxy-gtx-770-gc-4gb-review-5.html

You'd still be paying a $60 premium for ~1 fps in best case scenario, and a 1-2 fps lost in other scenarios. If a GPU is originally launched as 2GB, stick to 2GB iterations, as adding extra VRAM that wasn't designed to be there is a mixed bag. I have never really seen a card when they tacked more VRAM on for a new SKU yield notable performance gains. Save the money and get either the Windforce 3X or ACX 2GB version.

 

[mkenyon]

The bearings/motors on the fans for the EVGA unit are much higher quality, but that shouldn't really be a concern if you're planning on keeping them for 3 years. After that, perhaps.

 

[Alex]

Question: I have a PC I'm considering putting a new 770 in

I have this PSU:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...-cables-_-na-_-na&Item=N82E16817339024&cm_sp=

It's about three years old, it's been pretty nice so far, but between the lack of a rating and offbrand nature and age, I'm wondering if it will be enough to power a rig with an overclocked 3570k and a 770?

 

[Hazaro]

Question: I have a PC I'm considering putting a new 770 in

I have this PSU:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...-cables-_-na-_-na&Item=N82E16817339024&cm_sp=

It's about three years old, it's been pretty nice so far, but between the lack of a rating and offbrand nature and age, I'm wondering if it will be enough to power a rig with an overclocked 3570k and a 770?

hec: ehhhhhhh
40C rated is a big plus
it says it has good 12V amp delivery
it says it's 80% (but not verified)

I'd.... kinda steer to a new one but that's a lot of extra cost for something that's probably okayyyyyyyy. That's hard. Powerwise if it delivers that much you'll be absolutely fine.

hec does weird stuff with each SKU. I dunno.

 

[DarkFlow]

So I can run a stable 4.5 OC on a 4670K at 1.27 Volts. That's about Avg right?

 

[Hazaro]

So I can run a stable 4.5 OC on a 4670K at 1.26 Volts. That's about Avg right?

Better than avg. 4.4 and 4.5 can be bigger hurdles.

 

[Alex]

hec: ehhhhhhh
40C rated is a big plus
it says it has good 12V amp delivery
it says it's 80% (but not verified)

I'd.... kinda steer to a new one but that's a lot of extra cost for something that's probably okayyyyyyyy. That's hard. Powerwise if it delivers that much you'll be absolutely fine.

hec does weird stuff with each SKU. I dunno.

The box says 76%, which contradicts the listing new egg has.

 

[neurosisxeno]

The box says 76%, which contradicts the listing new egg has.

I would say that PSU is probably on its way out in the coming year or so (assuming daily use). It wouldn't be a bad idea to cover all bases and get a higher quality unit.

 

[AJLma]

I just got my XFX R9 290 Double Dissipation in and did about an hour or so of benchmarking to test temps and performance. Since these cards are popping up lately at the high $400's and low $500's they're probably the best deal on an aftermarket R9 290 right now, but there seems to be a lot of disdain for XFX for their past Double Dissipation products. The biggest complaints being high VRM temperatures.

I've run Unigine Heaven, 3DMark 11, the StarSwarm Stress Test and played about 45 minutes of Battlefield 4 at 2560x1440 Ultra to get an idea of the noise levels and temps with the DD cooler and I've gotta say so far it's amazing at cooling the R9 290.

VRM temps haven't passed 81C and Core temps haven't passed 75C.

The best thing about this card is it's QUIET, I mean damn near inaudible above the sound of my Cooler Master 212 and my 3 system fans. At one point during Heaven Benchmark I noticed the fans were spinning at 73% and at no point did I ever hear them increase in volume. I'm very impressed, my Vapor-X 7970 was a vacuum cleaner in comparison and it got even hotter, with the core maxing at around 80-82C under a similar load.

Gonna play some Metro:LL for a final test and then do some overclocking to see how well it fairs then. If anyone seems interested I'll report back.

 

[Horsemama1956]

So I can run a stable 4.5 OC on a 4670K at 1.27 Volts. That's about Avg right?

Mine needs 1.26 for 4.5Ghz with the uncore at 4.2Ghz. Seems completely unnecessary though, so I run it at 4.3 with 1.2 vcore and run the uncore 1:1.

 

[mr stroke]

PC GAF, how hard is it to swap out my motherboard?
(I have always had a friend help or bought pre built and swapped in my own GPU's)

I want to swap out my old Sandy Bridge Mobo for a new SLI Haswell mobo+i54670k. While keeping all the same parts except for the CPU,SSD, and new GPU's.

Is it as simple as unplugging/unscrewing everything then re plugging it back in and re installing windows?

 

[Alex]

holy shit thats the first psu I ever bought, still works, just need to regrease the fan. it squeaks haha, loved the leds in it!

It's been an amazing little PSU for 30 dollars, I just wonder if its limiting me in some ways. Probably just paranoia or annoyance with the silicon lottery, though.

 

[adamantypants]

TBH I'd just use the adapters or fan control (BIOS) on your motherboard if possible. Those are really nice fans, you shouldn't hit artificial load on normal usage.

Otherwise if you are insistent on buying something get a 212 and set the fan to something acceptable.

Yeah I think you're right. TBH I'm just buying things for the sake of buying things. I'm running Prime95 right now with the lowest speed adapters right now to see what kind of temps I'll be hitting. It's in the push/pull configuration and cooling pretty damn well and quietly to boot. In the 20 or so minutes it's been running (blend tests, 4 threads) it's barely cracking 60C.

Thanks for curbing my buying habits lol

PC GAF, how hard is it to swap out my motherboard?
(I have always had a friend help or bought pre built and swapped in my own GPU's)

I want to swap out my old Sandy Bridge Mobo for a new SLI Haswell mobo+i54670k. While keeping all the same parts except for the CPU,SSD, and new GPU's.

Is it as simple as unplugging/unscrewing everything then re plugging it back in and re installing windows?

Yep. I would personally plug in new CPU with cooler, RAM, and GPU and boot up before throwing it all in the case just to make sure everything plays nice. If you get to POST then you should be good to go. Just reinstall Windows. Obviously make sure all the components you wish to reuse are compatible with your new mobo.

Also, why wouldn't you use the same SSD?

 

[Alexalder]

How should i build a living-room pc? Basic browsing and media playback, smallest case possible. Also smaller budget possible

 

[Sykotik]

Looks like my mobo fried. Does anyone have any suggestions on a new board for a decent price? I'd rather not spend more than $100, preferably less. I'm also thinking of using this opportunity to get an SSD.

i7 2600k LGA1155
4x4gb DDR3 1333mhz
a single 7970
HAF case (I think the front usb ports caused the short)

 

[Dawg]

I know there are screens (Asus) in the OP but what screen would you guys recommend for under $200 if:

a) gaming is its primary use
b) no speakers required
c) fast response rate is important

If possible, one without any trace-free setting. Do they even make screens without it these days? I feel like that option always gives me headaches and even anxiety because most of them have overshoot issues. And the blurring is often worse.

My brother has a screen without it and, even with a 5ms response rate, it looks and feels better.

 

[mr stroke]

Yeah I think you're right. TBH I'm just buying things for the sake of buying things. I'm running Prime95 right now with the lowest speed adapters right now to see what kind of temps I'll be hitting. It's in the push/pull configuration and cooling pretty damn well and quietly to boot. In the 20 or so minutes it's been running (blend tests, 4 threads) it's barely cracking 60C.

Thanks for curbing my buying habits lol



Yep. I would personally plug in new CPU with cooler, RAM, and GPU and boot up before throwing it all in the case just to make sure everything plays nice. If you get to POST then you should be good to go. Just reinstall Windows. Obviously make sure all the components you wish to reuse are compatible with your new mobo.

Also, why wouldn't you use the same SSD?

are you suggesting I get all new RAM? I currently have 8gb Corsair DDR3 1600 RAM which I am assuming would work fine with a MSI Haswell Z87 Mobo?


and as far as the SSD-its a tiny 120gb SSD. Want to move up to a 960gb SSD.

 

[kennah]

are you suggesting I get all new RAM? I currently have 8gb Corsair DDR3 1600 RAM which I am assuming would work fine with a MSI Haswell Z87 Mobo?


and as far as the SSD-its a tiny 120gb SSD. Want to move up to a 960gb SSD.

He's saying assemble everything outside of the case first to make sure it all works.

 

[Hazaro]

Looks like my mobo fried. Does anyone have any suggestions on a new board for a decent price? I'd rather not spend more than $100, preferably less. I'm also thinking of using this opportunity to get an SSD.

i7 2600k LGA1155
4x4gb DDR3 1333mhz
a single 7970
HAF case (I think the front usb ports caused the short)

Biostar Z77A

I know there are screens (Asus) in the OP but what screen would you guys recommend for under $200 if:

a) gaming is its primary use
b) no speakers required
c) fast response rate is important

If possible, one without any trace-free setting. Do they even make screens without it these days? I feel like that option always gives me headaches and even anxiety because most of them have overshoot issues. And the blurring is often worse.

My brother has a screen without it and, even with a 5ms response rate, it looks and feels better.

Not sure about the trace free stuff, but the monitors in the OP (should, I'm not an expert, be pretty alright for gaming)

How should i build a living-room pc? Basic browsing and media playback, smallest case possible. Also smaller budget possible

Buy a NUC PC

 

[adamantypants]

are you suggesting I get all new RAM? I currently have 8gb Corsair DDR3 1600 RAM which I am assuming would work fine with a MSI Haswell Z87 Mobo?

No not at all! That was just a case of misunderstanding/grammar. I meant plug in all those components before actually setting it in the case. Nothings worse than properly setting up everything and trying to boot but discovering something doesn't work.

and as far as the SSD-its a tiny 120gb SSD. Want to move up to a 960gb SSD.

Also, if your pockets are deep enough, by all means 960gb. But I would suggest just getting a storage drive and installing OS and games you frequently play on it. Personally, I just move games that I'm not currently playing onto my HDD, and the ones that I do play on the SSD. SteamTool is perfect for that. Keeping your 120 and getting another HDD for storage would save you a minimum of $400 if you're okay with a 1TB drive.

 

[neurosisxeno]

I know there are screens (Asus) in the OP but what screen would you guys recommend for under $200 if:

a) gaming is its primary use
b) no speakers required
c) fast response rate is important

If possible, one without any trace-free setting. Do they even make screens without it these days? I feel like that option always gives me headaches and even anxiety because most of them have overshoot issues. And the blurring is often worse.

My brother has a screen without it and, even with a 5ms response rate, it looks and feels better.

Response Time isn't the only metric that matters, an older 5ms TN Panel from the mid 2000's will look substantially worse than even a 8-10ms modern TN Panel. What it boils down to is do you want the best image quality or the best (subjective) performance?

Affordable IPS: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824160169

Gets solid reviews and would be excellent for watching movies and pretty good for gaming. Response time is a little higher than TN Panels but shouldn't be terrible.

High Performance TN Panel: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236305

Should be great for gaming, has a very low response time and all reviews say ghosting is minimal (compared to 2ms monitors).

 

[GHG]

A small update on the GPU usage and frames....

It seems like changing some things in nvidia Inspector helped a ton. Changing some of the SLI options to draw on 2 GPU's instead of 4 made a tremendous difference.

Was that the only thing you changed or where there some other settings you fiddled with.

Just wondering because if there is a way for me to sneak some more performance out of my SLI setup in the interim before I upgrade I'll take it!

 

[LiquidMetal14]

Was that the only thing you changed or where there some other settings you fiddled with.

Just wondering because if there is a way for me to sneak some more performance out of my SLI setup in the interim before I upgrade I'll take it!

In the BF4 inspector profile...

Note the 2 predefined GPU's to use are set to TWO.

 

[Aesthet1c]

All my parts came today, and I got my build completed! Just want to say thanks to kharma, Hazaro, and the rest of PC GAF for all your help. This was probably the easiest build I have ever done. Everything worked perfectly on my first shot. I haven't overclocked yet, but I plan to once I get all my drivers up to date.

Oh and the Corsair 200R is an awesome budget case. This thing is such a huge leap from my 12 year old $200 case.

Here's some pics of the build.

 

[Hawk269]

Having some issues with my gaming rig. I was gone for about 3 weeks for my honeymoon and when I returned me and my wife ended up moving into a different place. Today, I went to hook up my rig and it will not turn on. There is power going to the motherboard as things are lit up on it, but pressing the power button does nothing. I checked connections from the power supply and also the cables going from the on/off switch to the motherboard and still a no go.

What else can I check?

 

[-COOLIO-]

nice rig, sir

 

[Aesthet1c]

nice rig, sir

Thanks!

 

[Hazaro]

Having some issues with my gaming rig. I was gone for about 3 weeks for my honeymoon and when I returned me and my wife ended up moving into a different place. Today, I went to hook up my rig and it will not turn on. There is power going to the motherboard as things are lit up on it, but pressing the power button does nothing. I checked connections from the power supply and also the cables going from the on/off switch to the motherboard and still a no go.

What else can I check?

Power off. Plug and replug everything you can see on both ends.

All my parts came today, and I got my build completed! Just want to say thanks to kharma, Hazaro, and the rest of PC GAF for all your help. This was probably the easiest build I have ever done. Everything worked perfectly on my first shot. I haven't overclocked yet, but I plan to once I get all my drivers up to date.

Oh and the Corsair 200R is an awesome budget case. This thing is such a huge leap from my 12 year old $200 case.

Here's some pics of the build.

Looks pretty nice!

 

[Mineshaft_Gap]

Building my first PC... this is what I'm looking at. Used part of the template in the OP. Skimmed on the SSD and aftermarket cooling and SFX card since those seem like easy add ons at a later date.

Items Ordered Price
1 of: EVGA GeForce GTX760 SuperClocked w/EVGA ACX Cooler 2GB GDDR5 256bit, Dual-Link DVI-I, DVI-D, HDMI,DP, SLI Ready Graphics Card (02G-P4-2765-KR) Graphic
Condition: New
Sold by: Amazon.com LLC
$259.99
1 of: Windows 8.1 System Builder OEM DVD 64-Bit
Condition: New
Sold by: Amazon.com LLC
$96.88
1 of: WD Blue 1 TB Desktop Hard Drive: 3.5 Inch, 7200 RPM, SATA 6 Gb/s, 64 MB Cache - WD10EZEX
Condition: New
Sold by: Amazon.com LLC
$59.99
1 of: AMD Quad Core A10-Series APU for Desktops A10-6800K with Radeon HD 8670D (AD680KWOHLBOX)
Condition: New
Sold by: Amazon.com LLC
$139.99
1 of: ASUS M5A99FX PRO R2.0 AM3+ AMD 990FX SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard
Condition: New
Sold by: Amazon.com LLC
$136.98
1 of: Corsair CX750 Builder Series ATX 80 PLUS Bronze Certified Power Supply
Condition: New
Sold by: Amazon.com LLC
$87.24
1 of: Corsair Carbide Series 200R Compact ATX Case CC-9011023-WW
Condition: New
Sold by: Amazon.com LLC
$59.99
1 of: Corsair Vengeance Blue 8 GB (2X4 GB) PC3-12800 1600mHz DDR3 240-Pin SDRAM Dual Channel Memory Kit CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9B
Condition: New
Sold by: Amazon.com LLC
$89.99
1 of: Asus 24x DVD-RW Serial-ATA Internal OEM Optical Drive DRW-24B1ST (Black)
Condition: New
Sold by: LLYtech (seller profile)
$23.26
1 of: Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound 3.5 Grams
Condition: New
Sold by: BestSource OfficeSupplies (seller profile)
$7.55

Decided to go with AMD instead of Intel for price reasons. Did I do good? Is the CPU still pretty competent? I want a gaming PC that will last me. I decided to go with this as opposed to investing in a current gen console.

 

[Hazaro]

Drop the AMD CPU, grab an i5 (K if possible) and Z87 (Biostar $99) board from the OP.
Get a BP550 PSU instead. (-$20)
No need for AS5 paste (that stuff is outdated anyway) get some NT-H1 if you need some for reapplication.
Get a copy of Win7 or 8 from /r/softwareswap if you are hitting a budget.

Looks good otherwise.

 

[neurosisxeno]

Never get an APU with a discrete GPU. It doesn't make sense. If you're going to go AMD switch to an FX-43xx or FX-63xx.

 

[HiResDes]

AMD 8350 is on sale for $100 at Microcenter!

 

[neurosisxeno]

AMD 8350 is on sale for $100 at Microcenter!

I believe that deal is in-store only and might require you to buy a motherboard through them.

 

[BeekleMatter]

I'm going from a 7850 to a 770 in this build... should I upgrade the PSU?

http://pcpartpicker.com/user/beeklematter/saved/1dG9

I've got a couple stock NZXT case fans as well in there. Cutting it damn close XD

 

[mkenyon]

Never get an APU with a discrete GPU. It doesn't make sense. If you're going to go AMD switch to an FX-43xx or FX-63xx.

There's no reason for a gaming PC to buy an AMD processor as it is, unless you're talking about a $400 HTPC/indie/low-requirement build in which case you would use an APU.

If you need to save money compared to the 4670K, buy a lower i5 or an i3.

 

[Mineshaft_Gap]

Is buying software off Reddit reliable...? How can these people sell the stuff so cheaply.

 

[Mineshaft_Gap]

Alright you guys. i5 it is! Really need to cut elsewhere that won't matter so much! Going out on a limb to trust /r/softwareswap

 

[C.Dark.DN]

How often do SSD's go on sale? That 90$ 250GB Evo was killer and ended too soon. 2 days before my refund check, psh.