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[SugarDave]

I've got a few questions before I get close to finalizing my first ever build. GPU and monitor are missing for the moment.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor (£163.00 @ Aria PC)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (£22.49 @ Ebuyer)
Motherboard: Asus Z97-PRO(Wi-Fi ac) ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£146.06 @ More Computers)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£59.98 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£83.99 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Toshiba 3TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£69.59 @ Aria PC)
Case: Fractal Design Define R4 (Black Pearl) ATX Mid Tower Case (£66.80 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: EVGA 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (£80.90 @ Amazon UK)
Optical Drive: Samsung SH-224DB/BEBE DVD/CD Writer (£11.05 @ CCL Computers)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit) (£79.85 @ Amazon UK)
Mouse: SteelSeries Rival Wired Optical Mouse (£39.99 @ Ebuyer)
Headphones: Sennheiser HD 558 Headphones (£117.19 @ Scan.co.uk)
Other: Coolermaster QuickFire Ultimate Mechanical Gaming Keyboard - Cherry MX Brown (£78.48)
Other: FiiO Andes E07K USB DAC Portable Headphone Amplifier (3.5 mm Jack, Black) (£69.90)
Other: SteelSeries QcK Gaming Mouse Pad (Black) (£7.99)
Other: Official Xbox 360 Common Controller for Windows - Black (PC) (£19.99)
Other: Kinobo USB 2.0 Desk Microphone (£10.41)
Total: £1127.66
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-08-10 17:11 BST+0100

- Does an i7 offer that much of an advantage over an i5 (this build will be primarily used for lots of gaming and general browsing)? I haven't set myself a budget and I'm currently in a position where I can afford to be a bit ridiculous with how I splash the cash, so if games are on their way to making real use of hyperthreading and other i7 features then I don't mind spending that bit extra.

- Is there a particular overclock limit I should be setting with that CPU cooler, or should it be fine for just about anything? Would there be any substantial benefit to adding a second fan?

- 8GB RAM is completely sufficient for gaming for the time being, correct?

- Does anyone have any comments to make about the PSU I've chosen? It has some great reviews but I figured I'd ask as obviously that isn't something I want to skimp on.

- I'm looking at picking up a 120/144hz monitor. The BenQ XL2411Z is recommended in the OP and the price is great but I've heard the UK model doesn't come with the V2 firmware required to take advantage of reducing motion blur. Does anyone have any experience with this who could offer some advice. Failing that, which high refresh rate monitors are considered best in general?

- Finally, I know this isn't strictly PC related, but should I even bother going with the FiiO E07K DAC? I've had it recommended to me by people who know their audio, but I'm no audiophile myself and I wouldn't know if it's even a necessary buy to be able to take advantage of the Sennheiser's I've picked.

Sorry for the bombardment of questions, no worries if you guys can't answer them all. Thanks.

 

[Brutalx2]

Guys i want your opinion on this:
CPU: Intel Core i5-4590 3.3 GHz 3.7Ghz Turbo LGA1150 Tray
CPU Cooler: Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro Rev 2
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H97-HD3
Memory: Hynix Original 8GB DDR3 1600
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 7200.14 1TB SATA3
Storage: Samsung SSD 840 EVO 120GB SATA3 2.5 inch
Video Card: MSI Radeon R9 280X GAMING 3GB GDDR5
Case: Nanoxia Deep silence 2 + FSP 750W Raider

This is basically for games like WOW, Lineage 2 etc'
What do you guys think ?

 

[IceIpor]

What do people think about hybrid hard drives? Are they worth getting? I saw a seagate 4TB SSHD and was thinking of getting it for my new PC. Worth it or just stick with a normal hard drive for my big storage needs?

I see only 3 reasons to buy one.
1. Only if the cost is cheaper than a separate HDD and SSD
2. You're out of SATA connections and can only fit one more drive.
3. You have a laptop/small case that will only fit one drive.

Otherwise performance is the same... The only benefit is having two drives in one enclosure.

 

[Atlas157]

Is a 650w good enough to overclock a 4690k and a R9 280x?

I'm not planning to crossfire.

 

[kharma45]

Is a 650w good enough to overclock a 4690k and a R9 280x?

I'm not planning to crossfire.

Easily.

 

[Darklord]

I see only 3 reasons to buy one.
1. Only if the cost is cheaper than a separate HDD and SSD
2. You're out of SATA connections and can only fit one more drive.
3. You have a laptop/small case that will only fit one drive.

Otherwise performance is the same... The only benefit is having two drives in one enclosure.

Performance is the same? I thought they were faster but not as fast as an SSD? I was going to get an SSD for windows and have this as my main storage. They're pretty much the same price as the regular SATA hard drive I was looking at.

 

[Atlas157]

Easily.

Thanks!

 

[kabel]

Guys i want your opinion on this:
CPU: Intel Core i5-4590 3.3 GHz 3.7Ghz Turbo LGA1150 Tray
CPU Cooler: Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro Rev 2
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H97-HD3
Memory: Hynix Original 8GB DDR3 1600
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 7200.14 1TB SATA3
Storage: Samsung SSD 840 EVO 120GB SATA3 2.5 inch
Video Card: MSI Radeon R9 280X GAMING 3GB GDDR5
Case: Nanoxia Deep silence 2 + FSP 750W Raider

This is basically for games like WOW, Lineage 2 etc'
What do you guys think ?

Never buy Tray! Always Boxed CPU.

And for the SSD: Crucial MX100 256GB

You spend a few bucks more but you'll be glad.
I have only a 120GB SSD for the System and it is pretty quickly full(even if I install all the games & software on D

Edit:
Oh and I always wondered why most of you choose some weird PSU for a new PC.
Never saw someone taking a be quiet! PSU. It's like they don't even exist outside of Germany.

 

[kharma45]

Edit:
Oh and I always wondered why most of you choose some weird PSU for a new PC.
Never saw someone taking a be quiet! PSU. It's like they don't even exist outside of Germany.

They're sold in the UK, I have one and I've recommended them in this thread. They've a very limited presence in the US.

 

[JaseC]

No point, physx is being run on dedicated hardware, you'll have more overhead running it seperatly probably. Plus the extra noise and power consumption.

Noise and power consumption isn't an issue. My Eleven Hundred isn't exactly the best at dampening noise, however I use headphones pretty much exclusively, and as far as power is concerned I have a Seasonic XP-1000, which I imagine would be up to the task.

Yes and it's not worth it. I have a gtx 750ti boost I used as a physx card with my gtx 780ti. The only game it helped was ass creed 4. Everywhere else not so much

Well, I'd be fine with only sporadic cases of a performance increase (something is better than nothing and all that), however...

Saw a video for this once with Batman Arkham Origins. Ran worse with the dedicated old physx card.

...if the person was indeed running the PhysX card in a 4x slot, then that's unfortunate but not unexpected.

Thanks for the responses.

 

[LilJoka]

Noise and power consumption isn't an issue. My Eleven Hundred isn't exactly the best at dampening noise, however I use headphones pretty much exclusively, and as far as power is concerned I have a Seasonic XP-1000, which I imagine would be up to the task.

Well, I'd be fine with only sporadic cases of a performance increase (something is better than nothing and all that), however...

...if the person was indeed running the PhysX card in a 4x slot, then that's unfortunate but not unexpected.

Thanks for the responses.

A 4x slot has enough bandwidth to play games with a small drop in fps let alone physx calculations, so it really is a big waste, more-so when paired with the latest GPUs.

 

[Nostremitus]

Mine is a single core CPU, pretty low end & been using it for a few years.
So a Phenom II X6 1045T 6 core will be no good then?

I wouldn't buy a 1045T. If you choose to buy an AMD CPU instead of buying an Intel CPU and mobo, make sure it's unlocked (All FX chips are unlocked, not all phenoms are) and get a CM 212 EVO so you can cool the overclock. You'll want to overclock as best you can to try to make up for the low IPC.

AFAIK, the FX 6300 is the "sweetspot" for AMD gaming.

Anything lower is too weak, and the 8 core chips consume too much energy and require much better cooling and stronger PSUs for a good overclock. This increases the overall cost into the "might as well buy Intel and new mobo to get better performance anyway" territory.

That said, you should totally save up and buy Intel, even if you start with a $60 dual core Pentium anniversary with a Z97 mobo and overclock it (it's a dual core that performs better than AMD's hex core chips on most games when overclocked.). That way you can save up and buy an i5 or i7 later when most games really start needing more threads.

Someone, please correct me if I'm mistaken.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

Heres Paul. He was my best friend as I built my rig a few weeks ago (first time builder, also. From scratch that is). Also, don't apply the thermal paste like he did. I like Paul, but he be crazy sometimes.

Paul has some nice sideburns.

 

[JaseC]

A 4x slot has enough bandwidth to play games with a small drop in fps let alone physx calculations, so it really is a big waste, more-so when paired with the latest GPUs.

Well, I wouldn't be wasting anything -- I've been running two 670s for about 18 months now and the generic one being out of warranty notably decreases its resale value, so I figured I'd put it to some use if 4x is sufficient.

 

[kennah]

Jace needs the extra gpu power to render his game list.

 

[Ether_Snake]

So I reinstalled Avira, and now it requires some sort of online account, and your settings are edited online? What the heck is this crap?:|

 

[michaelius]

I wouldn't buy a 1045T. If you choose to buy an AMD CPU instead of buying an Intel CPU and mobo, make sure it's unlocked (All FX chips are unlocked, not all phenoms are) and get a CM 212 EVO so you can cool the overclock. You'll want to overclock as best you can to try to make up for the low IPC.

Phenom II is so old it remembers times when fsb overclocking was standard and unlocked multi was considered just a cool bonus.

But it wasn't so easy so probably should be avoided by people who don't remember those times.

 

[DSN2K]

picked up Sony KDL32W706BSU for my PC and PS4, have to say i'm kind of blown away by the picture quality for a TV. It has a built in graphics mode what surpasses my Benq and ASUS PC LCD's @1080p over DVI. Hard to show in pictures but here are a few. Really good size at 32in, its big but not over top to the point where 1080p looks gash. PS4 also looks fantastic.

 

[Addnan]

picked up Sony KDL32W706BSU for my PC and PS4, have to say i'm kind of blown away by the picture quality for a TV. It has a built in graphics mode what surpasses my Benq and ASUS PC LCD's @1080p over DVI. Hard to show in pictures but here are a few. Really good size at 32in, its big but not over top to the point where 1080p looks gash. PS4 also looks fantastic.

I bought the exact same TV just couple of weeks ago. Use it for PC and PS4 as well. Love it. Though I can not get it to downsample further than 2560x1440 which saddens me a little.

 

[Nostremitus]

Phenom II is so old it remembers times when fsb overclocking was standard and unlocked multi was considered just a cool bonus.

But it wasn't so easy so probably should be avoided by people who don't remember those times.

Yeah, I didn't have much luck OCing mine, I got it almost stable at 3.2, but since that's the turbo boost frequency anyway I just set everything back to stock.

 

[RazorbackDB]

Mine is a single core CPU, pretty low end & been using it for a few years.
So a Phenom II X6 1045T 6 core will be no good then?

I wouldn't buy a 1045T. If you choose to buy an AMD CPU instead of buying an Intel CPU and mobo, make sure it's unlocked (All FX chips are unlocked, not all phenoms are) and get a CM 212 EVO so you can cool the overclock. You'll want to overclock as best you can to try to make up for the low IPC.

AFAIK, the FX 6300 is the "sweetspot" for AMD gaming.

Anything lower is too weak, and the 8 core chips consume too much energy and require much better cooling and stronger PSUs for a good overclock. This increases the overall cost into the "might as well buy Intel and new mobo to get better performance anyway" territory.

That said, you should totally save up and buy Intel, even if you start with a $60 dual core Pentium anniversary with a Z97 mobo and overclock it (it's a dual core that performs better than AMD's hex core chips on most games when overclocked.). That way you can save up and buy an i5 or i7 later when most games really start needing more threads.

Someone, please correct me if I'm mistaken.



Paul has some nice sideburns.

I have an FX 6300 with a 260x and i'm most of the time limited by the gpu more than the cpu, I have it overclocked to 4.2 but that's just with stock cooler and a cheap motherboard. You could go with Intel but the FX 6300 is not a bad option in my opinion. I was really surprised how well BF4 runs using the Origin free week.

 

[smuf]

I put together a new pc a couple of weeks ago and so far it's been very unstable. I.E. frequent game and software crashes. Windows doesn't lock up completely - I can still get back to the desktop most of the time but I can't end the locked up process with task manager, so I end up needing to reset anyways.

Things I've tried so far:

• Malware Malbytes found nothing
• Memtest86 passed
• CPU/GPU temps are good
• Updated all drivers
• Turned off unnecessary startup processes
• Updated UEFI

My specs are:
8GB PC1600 DDR3 RAM
GTX 780
ASRock Z97 Extreme 3
Intel i5 4690k
Crucial MX100 SSD

Everything is running at stock speeds.

This behavior has been there right from the start too, with just a clean install of Windows 8 and a bunch of games.

I don't know what to try next short of re-installing the OS which I'm really dreading.

 

[knitoe]

I put together a new pc a couple of weeks ago and so far it's been very unstable. I.E. frequent game and software crashes. Windows doesn't lock up completely - I can still get back to the desktop most of the time but I can't end the locked up process with task manager, so I end up needing to reset anyways.

Things I've tried so far:

• Malware Malbytes found nothing
• Memtest86 passed
• CPU/GPU temps are good
• Updated all drivers
• Turned off unnecessary startup processes
• Updated UEFI

My specs are:
8GB PC1600 DDR3 RAM
GTX 780
ASRock Z97 Extreme 3
Intel i5 4690k
Crucial MX100 SSD

Everything is running at stock speeds.

This behavior has been there right from the start too, with just a clean install of Windows 8 and a bunch of games.

I don't know what to try next short of re-installing the OS which I'm really dreading.

Anything overclocked? If yes, run it at default speed. Even, for example, if the video is factory OC, downclock it to normal default.

 

[smuf]

Anything overclocked? If yes, run it at default speed. Even, for example, if the video is factory OC, downclock it to normal default.

That's with everything at stock speed and GPU downclocked.

 

[Laurentius]

Hey folks! My machine is about 3 years old now, and am looking towards building a new one.

• Budget: $1000 - $1300 - USA
• Main Use: Light Gaming - 2, Gaming -5, Emulation (PS2/Wii) - 3, Video Editing - 1, Streaming games in HD -1, 3D/Model work (and what program) - 1, General Usage (Word, Web, 1080p playback) - 4 (along with needing to run a bunch of VMs on it for work).
• Monitor Resolution: 1440p.
• List SPECIFIC games or applications that you MUST be able to run well: 60FPS where possible. Would like to be able to downsample a few games (Dark Souls 1/2 in particular.) Would like to run TW3 well when it comes out (not that anybody really knows what that will require yet.) Generally I don't care about highest settings on everything if i can get 60FPS at 1440p.
• Looking to reuse any parts?: Probably just a 2TB storage drive. Rest is going to be sold to my family.
• When will you build?: End of the month.
• Will you be overclocking?: A bit

Here's what I'm looking at currently:

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212
MB: Gigabyte GA-Z97X-UD3H ATX LGA1150
RAM: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory
Storage: Crucial MX100 256GB and Sandisk 64GB. Reusing 2TB HDD.
GPU: MSI Radeon R9 290 4GB TWIN FROZR
Case: Phanteks Enthoo Pro
PSU: Corsair RM 750W 80+
OS: Free through Dreamspark + Linux

Comes to about $1300 so far.

The reason I'm thinking about a 256GB SSD and a 64GB one is that I need to be able to run Win7 and Ubuntu. Every time I've dual booted in the past it's been a nightmare. (After I had to reformat my laptop the last time Windows decided it wanted to nuke the MBR, I decided never again.) I think it would be much easier to stick Windows on the 256GB and Linux on the 64GB. I should be able to format my 2TB HDD as NTFS and read from it w/both Windows and Linux. I'll stick games on the SSD and the Linux SSD shouldn't need very much space.

Any other thoughts on the build? I might rethink the GPU.

 

[Seanspeed]

Hey folks! My machine is about 3 years old now, and am looking towards building a new one.

• Budget: $1000 - $1300 - USA
• Main Use: Light Gaming - 2, Gaming -5, Emulation (PS2/Wii) - 3, Video Editing - 1, Streaming games in HD -1, 3D/Model work (and what program) - 1, General Usage (Word, Web, 1080p playback) - 4 (along with needing to run a bunch of VMs on it for work).
• Monitor Resolution: 1440p.
• List SPECIFIC games or applications that you MUST be able to run well: 60FPS where possible. Would like to be able to downsample a few games (Dark Souls 1/2 in particular.) Would like to run TW3 well when it comes out (not that anybody really knows what that will require yet.) Generally I don't care about highest settings on everything if i can get 60FPS at 1440p.
• Looking to reuse any parts?: Probably just a 2TB storage drive. Rest is going to be sold to my family.
• When will you build?: End of the month.
• Will you be overclocking?: A bit

Here's what I'm looking at currently:

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212
MB: Gigabyte GA-Z97X-UD3H ATX LGA1150
RAM: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory
Storage: Crucial MX100 256GB and Sandisk 64GB. Reusing 2TB HDD.
GPU: MSI Radeon R9 290 4GB TWIN FROZR
Case: Phanteks Enthoo Pro
PSU: Corsair RM 750W 80+
OS: Free through Dreamspark + Linux

Comes to about $1300 so far.

The reason I'm thinking about a 256GB SSD and a 64GB one is that I need to be able to run Win7 and Ubuntu. Every time I've dual booted in the past it's been a nightmare. (After I had to reformat my laptop the last time Windows decided it wanted to nuke the MBR, I decided never again.) I think it would be much easier to stick Windows on the 256GB and Linux on the 64GB. I should be able to format my 2TB HDD as NTFS and read from it w/both Windows and Linux. I'll stick games on the SSD and the Linux SSD shouldn't need very much space.

Any other thoughts on the build? I might rethink the GPU.

Get low profile RAM.

 

[Addnan]

Drop down to a 650W to save some money. 750W is always a weird amount. Probably not enough to get 290s and CPU overclocked yet way overkill for a single card.

Get low profile RAM.

The Ripjaw are low enough, the fins are nothing like the Corsair ones.

 

[Laurentius]

Get low profile RAM.

The Ripjaw are low enough, the fins are nothing like the Corsair ones.

Hm...Addnan, would you say it would still be worth it to spend a bit more on these Corsair LP sticks?

Drop down to a 650W to save some money. 750W is always a weird amount. Probably not enough to get 290s and CPU overclocked yet way overkill for a single card.

Thanks. I might do some basic overclocking, but don't plan on running 2 cards...would a 650W be able to overclock a 290 and CPU without too much trouble?

 

[JaseC]

Jace needs the extra gpu power to render his game list.

Haha, that and the one game I'm actually going to finish this year.

 

[Addnan]

Hm...Addnan, would you say it would still be worth it to spend a bit more on these Corsair LP sticks?



Thanks. I might do some basic overclocking, but don't plan on running 2 cards...would a 650W be able to overclock a 290 and CPU without too much trouble?

Not really, unless you prefer to looks of the Corsair sticks.

A 650W will run a single 290 + CPU overclocked easily. Assume you are USA, Newegg have a great deal on a 650W Seasonic after rebate. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...7151118&cm_re=seasonic-_-17-151-118-_-Product Better than the RM series.

 

[Laurentius]

Not really, unless you prefer to looks of the Corsair sticks.

A 650W will run a single 290 + CPU overclocked easily. Assume you are USA, Newegg have a great deal on a 650W Seasonic after rebate. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...7151118&cm_re=seasonic-_-17-151-118-_-Product Better than the RM series.

Cool, thanks.

 

[Laurentius]

Thinking of switching out the video card for the Sapphire Vapor-X R9 290, since NewEgg has a good deal on it. From what I've read it's one of the best R9 290 cards.

 

[The Llama]

Thinking of switching out the video card for the Sapphire Vapor-X R9 290, since NewEgg has a good deal on it. From what I've read it's one of the best R9 290 cards.

It is, but unless you're really interested in getting the best overclock you can out of it, I think you're wasting ~$70 and should just get a cheaper one. At least IMO.

 

[Laurentius]

It is, but unless you're really interested in getting the best overclock you can out of it, I think you're wasting ~$70 and should just get a cheaper one. At least IMO.

Fair enough, any particular model you would recommend?

 

[WarpathDC]

Thank you PCGaf for all of your advice, I have my new rig up and running as of about an hour ago! Two questions (hopefully the last for a while). First is I have a 256gb SSD and a TB HDD. I have way more than 256gb of games on my PC. How should I manage that storage?

Second, is the best method of transferring files from old PC to new ethernet or USB 3.0?

Thanks Again

 

[Chizzanger]

Thank you PCGaf for all of your advice, I have my new rig up and running as of about an hour ago! Two questions (hopefully the last for a while). First is I have a 256gb SSD and a TB HDD. I have way more than 256gb of games on my PC. How should I manage that storage?

Second, is the best method of transferring files from old PC to new ethernet or USB 3.0?

Thanks Again

Install your games on your TB HDD, and move games over to your SSD if you want using "steam mover" or "steam tool." Moving games around is pretty easy on Origin too from what I remember.

I've got some of my more played games on my SSD like dota2 and bf4, but everything else is on my HDD.

 

[Chavelo]

So, I'm seeing the WD10EZEX from WD (1TB, Blue) is the HDD of choice on the OP. Any current favorites for HDD storage (mostly to install games) that have a good price:storage ration? Also seeing a lot of Toshiba drives around in the last few posts, are those good for just general media storage?

Also, off-topic, but fuck me for not taking care of my downloads/media, just putting crap around. Spent most of the day deleting and moving shit that I don't even use.

 

[maneil99]

Has anybody here experimented with running a dedicated PhysX card in a 4x PCI-E slot? I intend to move up from two 670s to two 870s (or perhaps 880s if the price is right) and am toying with the idea of keeping my generic 670 for PhysX purposes, but I'm wondering if a 4x slot will be too constrictive for this to be a worthwhile endeavour.

Don't buy dual mid range GPU's, buy a single high end one

 

[IceIpor]

Performance is the same? I thought they were faster but not as fast as an SSD? I was going to get an SSD for windows and have this as my main storage. They're pretty much the same price as the regular SATA hard drive I was looking at.

http://www.storagereview.com/seagate_desktop_sshd_review

The real problem for the hybrid concept in the desktop is that the space constraints that notebook users face just aren't there in the desktop space and neither are many of the compromises. Take a typical desktop user who wants a faster machine. Buying a sub $100 boot SSD and moving the current HDD to bulk storage will accelerate the system more than inserting a hybrid hard drive. Newer systems are also taking advantage of mSATA slots to tie in with the OS to accelerate hard drives. If we accept for a moment that some people may want a single drive to reduce complexity and management, then even in that case the cache is so small (0.4% in the 2TB model) that users will likely find aggregate performance to be closer to that of the base hard drive, outside of certain tasks like booting and other highly repetitive activities.

http://www.pcper.com/reviews/Storag...rid-Little-Cache/Conclusion-Pricing-and-Final

Seagate has pushed their hybrid tech much further with their line of Desktop SSHD's. These have good performance as an HDD, and cached data gets a nice performance boost, more closely matching the performance of an SSD. The original SSHD's were 2.5" units targeted at laptop upgrades, and for those applications, the 8GB cache was mostly sufficient. Seagate has unfortunately chosen to stick with the same cache size in these much larger desktop class capacities of up to 4TB. Such a small cache size becomes very limiting in heavier desktop usage, and we saw many scenarios where data frequently rolled out of the cache, limiting the time savings seen in actual use.

 

[REMAINSILLY]

Got a question about CPU temp spikes.

I got a new heatsink, applied it correctly, and it dropped my CPU temperatures significantly. But lately the temps spike for like, half a second. Right now my CPU is 39C, but it suddenly jumps to 50C, then back to 39-40C. I've just now noticed this; is it cause for concern?

 

[WarpathDC]

Install your games on your TB HDD, and move games over to your SSD if you want using "steam mover" or "steam tool." Moving games around is pretty easy on Origin too from what I remember.

I've got some of my more played games on my SSD like dota2 and bf4, but everything else is on my HDD.

Thanks, that is going to be tomorrow's project!

 

[Chris R]

So I'm not building a new system, but do I need a new GPU? System died mid game. Will not boot into regular mode (uninstalled ALL nVidia drivers and reinstalled and still won't boot to desktop)

System does boot to safe mode though :/

I'm getting a SHITLOAD of "The description for Event ID 3 from source NvStreamSvc cannot be found." errors in my event log...

I hope my GPU isn't dead Especially so close to the freaking 800 series launch... and the card is only two years old and I'm not one who runs their computer 24/7

edit: well I posted something on the nVidia support forums... Hope someone knows a solution... at least I think it might just be a driver issue, doesn't explain why shit died midgame instead of when a driver was installed.

 

[nick nacc]

I have to return my sapphire r9 290 tomorrow. Sucks. Worked fine for a couple of day and woke p this morning and I get no output signal for it. Tried everything. Re seated it. Changed ram. Doesn't show up in device manager. uninstalled all drivers. Re installed windows. The fans still spin on it. idk. Put a different video card in the same slot and that worked. So pretty sure it's the card. sucks man.

 

[LiquidMetal14]

You spend a few bucks more but you'll be glad.
I have only a 120GB SSD for the System and it is pretty quickly full(even if I install all the games & software on D

I got tired of cleaning the fridge out so earlier this year I got a nice 4TB HDD for around 80/new.

Now my current state is this

256 840 Pro, 4TB for games mainly, and a 1TB Samsung Spinpoint for most of my programs and media.

The 4TB HDD has afforded me all the space I want and even know what to do with right now. And yes, I'm pretty frugal with my SSD. It's only at 182GB because I've installed Minecraft mods for my son but otherwise, I've assigned all temp/temporary files to the F drive so the SSD doesn't get cluttered.

 

[JaseC]

Don't buy dual mid range GPU's, buy a single high end one

My 670s are only 2GB, which is already a bit of a problem, and none of the 8xx rumours have suggested anything about Nvidia offering a card above the 880 at launch.

 

[Gandie]

Just ordered a 750ti. Thanks for the help, should be good for another year or two. Then it's rebuilding time. I'm actually looking forward to that, I had a ton of fun when I originally built my system.

 

[garath]

I put together a new pc a couple of weeks ago and so far it's been very unstable. I.E. frequent game and software crashes. Windows doesn't lock up completely - I can still get back to the desktop most of the time but I can't end the locked up process with task manager, so I end up needing to reset anyways.

Things I've tried so far:

• Malware Malbytes found nothing
• Memtest86 passed
• CPU/GPU temps are good
• Updated all drivers
• Turned off unnecessary startup processes
• Updated UEFI

My specs are:
8GB PC1600 DDR3 RAM
GTX 780
ASRock Z97 Extreme 3
Intel i5 4690k
Crucial MX100 SSD

Everything is running at stock speeds.

This behavior has been there right from the start too, with just a clean install of Windows 8 and a bunch of games.

I don't know what to try next short of re-installing the OS which I'm really dreading.

Might be faulty hardware if it's been there from the start. I would have recommended updating all drivers but you've already done that.

Could try pulling one of the sticks of RAM or try different slots on the board. If it's faulty hardware, my first thought would be RAM (despite the memtest), second would be the mobo.

 

[ThoughtsOfSpeaking]

Apart from the creative Sound blaster Z do any of you have any recommendations for a good dedicated sound card? Ideally it should have a built in amp for headphones and be really good for bassy music.

I'm looking to spend at most £40-45

 

[IceIpor]

I put together a new pc a couple of weeks ago and so far it's been very unstable. I.E. frequent game and software crashes. Windows doesn't lock up completely - I can still get back to the desktop most of the time but I can't end the locked up process with task manager, so I end up needing to reset anyways.

Things I've tried so far:

• Malware Malbytes found nothing
• Memtest86 passed
• CPU/GPU temps are good
• Updated all drivers
• Turned off unnecessary startup processes
• Updated UEFI

My specs are:
8GB PC1600 DDR3 RAM
GTX 780
ASRock Z97 Extreme 3
Intel i5 4690k
Crucial MX100 SSD

Everything is running at stock speeds.

This behavior has been there right from the start too, with just a clean install of Windows 8 and a bunch of games.

I don't know what to try next short of re-installing the OS which I'm really dreading.

What's your PSU?

 

[LilJoka]

I put together a new pc a couple of weeks ago and so far it's been very unstable. I.E. frequent game and software crashes. Windows doesn't lock up completely - I can still get back to the desktop most of the time but I can't end the locked up process with task manager, so I end up needing to reset anyways.

Things I've tried so far:

• Malware Malbytes found nothing
• Memtest86 passed
• CPU/GPU temps are good
• Updated all drivers
• Turned off unnecessary startup processes
• Updated UEFI

My specs are:
8GB PC1600 DDR3 RAM
GTX 780
ASRock Z97 Extreme 3
Intel i5 4690k
Crucial MX100 SSD

Everything is running at stock speeds.

This behavior has been there right from the start too, with just a clean install of Windows 8 and a bunch of games.

I don't know what to try next short of re-installing the OS which I'm really dreading.

Can you give us a list of Motherboard software installed, as well as all the drivers you have installed?
In Device Manager are any devices left with an exclamation mark?
Do you get any BSODs?

May just be more Win 8 crap.

 

[LilJoka]

Apart from the creative Sound blaster Z do any of you have any recommendations for a good dedicated sound card? Ideally it should have a built in amp for headphones and be really good for bassy music.

I'm looking to spend at most £40-45

What headphones are you using? For some years now, onboard audio is actually pretty decent, and only a sound card is needed with very high end cans or mics. Which motherboard have you got, and do you nitice any problems with onboard?
Sound cards aren't designed to give more bass, and aren't really tuned to any kind of music, as that would be implying built in EQ'ing, when the whole point of a sound card is a flat as possible response (from which you can EQ if thats your thing).