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[adamantypants]

So on power supplies, it seems that 850w is the sweet spot for a dual card setup and 650w is the same for a single GPU. What would be the pros to going with a 750 over a 650 for a single GPU then? Any at all?

I'd actually consider getting a 750 over a 650 a con. PSUs reach peak efficiency under certain load. But then again, most PCs aren't going to be under load 24/7 so this point is kinda moot anyway. I personally suggest using the saved money from getting a 750w to a higher efficiency 650w.

Has anyone here ever modded a game system to be a PC case?

Not sure if anyone here has done a mod, but they happen all the time. Just search google _____ console + pc mod.

 

[Tablo]

I've definitely handled it a couple of times at Frys/Best Buy, and have come close to buying it. It's a tad too heavy for my liking, but that comfort and grip is fucking amazing.

I think I will definitely be trying out the G402 when it comes out.

Nice
Too heavy even without any weights in? Mine's empty btw, tried putting weights but then it has too much friction which was odd...

 

[Hazaro]

I'd actually consider getting a 750 over a 650 a con. PSUs reach peak efficiency under certain load. But then again, most PCs aren't going to be under load 24/7 so this point is kinda moot anyway. I personally suggest using the saved money from getting a 750w to a higher efficiency 650w.



Not sure if anyone here has done a mod, but they happen all the time. Just search google _____ console + pc mod.

Saving are so extremely minor at most loads and very minor under heavy load and with most 650/750 cost differences at $10 or $20 might as well go with the 750W imo accounting for it lasting a good 5 years+ with degradation.

 

[Seanspeed]

A 2GB GPU is a dead end...

You really should be looking for a 4GB card now...stuff like GTA V & Witcher 3 will almost certainly need it.

*Need* is a strong word here.

I'd guess that the difference between having a 2GB and a 4GB GTX770 will amount to a few minor setting differences at most.

 

[Xando]

Depends on what types of games you play and if you're only running a single monitor versus a multimonitor setup. Generally speaking 2GB will be fine for most games as only a select few games will use more than that at 1080p. Heavily modded Skyrim is one example of a game that will use a lot of video memory, and I think games like Metro LL and Crysis can too.

If the cost isn't much more it'd be better to get the 4GB because more VRAM can only be a good thing and more games in the future will use more of it.

Im asking because i have a GTX 680 2gb and i wonder if a 2GB VRAM card can run games like Witcher 3 at High/Ultra without too many frame dips.
Is a Upgrade from a GTX 680 2GB to 4GB justified?

 

[Kezen]

Im asking because i have a GTX 680 2gb and i wonder if a 2GB VRAM card can run games like Witcher 3 at High/Ultra without too many frame dips.
Is a Upgrade from a GTX 680 2GB to 4GB justified?

We don't know anything about The Witcher 3's streaming system.

 

[riflen]

Im asking because i have a GTX 680 2gb and i wonder if a 2GB VRAM card can run games like Witcher 3 at High/Ultra without too many frame dips.
Is a Upgrade from a GTX 680 2GB to 4GB justified?

The game is unreleased, how do you expect anyone to answer this? Buying a 4GB 680 in 2H 2014 is not a wise move, especially if you already have a 2GB 680. The GPU is 2 1/2 years old at this point and is due to be directly replaced in about 6 weeks.

 

[Mozendo]

Is a Upgrade from a GTX 680 2GB to 4GB justified?

Pretty sure the 680 can't use 4GB fully.

 

[michaelius]

A 2GB GPU is a dead end...

You really should be looking for a 4GB card now...stuff like GTA V & Witcher 3 will almost certainly need it.

That's questionable in case of gtx 770.

No game that gtx 770 can keep at stable 60+ fps needs 4GB of Vram.

 

[Kezen]

Pretty sure the 680 can't use 4GB fully.

Why couldn't it ? Because of its 256 bus ?

 

[Mozendo]

Why couldn't it ? Because of its 256 bus ?

Yeah.
Can it actually use 4GB?

 

[Xando]

Yeah.
Can it actually use 4GB?

Asus seems to sell 4GB versions.
http://www.asus.com/de/Graphics_Cards/GTX680DC24GD5/

 

[Kiru]

None

unless that particular psu has a mode that turns the fan off at under 50% power

Yeah that's my reason for picking up a 750W Corsair RM series PSU. Only had to pay 5€ more but it has that Zero RPM fan mode under a certain load.

 

[Kezen]

Yeah.
Can it actually use 4GB?

I don't see the point of releasing 4GB variants otherwise. MSI, Gigabyte, ASUS sold 680s and sell 770s with 4GB.

So the onboard memory has to be fully accessible.

 

[SHADES]

I don't see the point of releasing 4GB variants otherwise. MSI, Gigabyte, ASUS sold 680s and sell 770s with 4GB.

So the onboard memory has to be fully accessible.

670 & 760 variants also. I'm pretty sure if these cards couldn't utilise the 4gbs they're sold with some tech reviewer somewhere would of made a pretty big stink about it by now.

Isn't it only an issue with dual cards like the 690 where some games don't utilise the 4gb?

 

[kiyomi]

Im asking because i have a GTX 680 2gb and i wonder if a 2GB VRAM card can run games like Witcher 3 at High/Ultra without too many frame dips.
Is a Upgrade from a GTX 680 2GB to 4GB justified?

Sorry if I'm missing something obvious here, but.. if you want to upgrade.. why wouldn't you go for a 780?

 

[Xando]

Sorry if I'm missing something obvious here, but.. if you want to upgrade.. why wouldn't you go for a 780?

I just wanted to know if its a big upgrade going from a 680 2GB to a 680 4GB.
Will probably wait for the new cards that are rumored to be announced soon.

 

[[Fugo]]

Ok, in the coming months (by the end of October tops) I'm getting a new computer.
I'm currently running an Athlon II X2 @3GHz, 4Gb Ram, Radeon HD6670 card, 19' 900p monitor.
Really, most anything would be a big leap at this point and as you can guess, but I'm planning to build a rig that will last me a lot of time.

My tentative build consists of
- i7 4790k
- some z97 chipset mobo
- 16gb ddr3 2133Mhz ram
- WD Green 4gb HD
- 250gb ssd

and this is more or less settled.
The issue comes with the video-card and monitor choice.
I don't care for 4k now, and I don't want multiple gpu rigs - that would go far over my budget anyways

I'm also a fighting game player so low input lag is a must for the monitor. I'll also be hooking consoles into that (xbox360, ps4 in the future)

running sub 17ms input lag as my search criteria, my first choice was to be the Asus MX279H
but then I stumbled into the BenQ XL2420TX. It's smaller and more expensive, but it's also 120hz and it comes with a pair of 3d goggles.


Regarding the video card, I was leaning towards the Radeon r9 290x 4gb. But again I'm reading that I wouldn't be able to use the BenQ goggles since they are Nvidia 3dvision and those work only with Nvidia cards. (correct me if I'm wrong on this please!)
I could get a Geforce 780ti instead, but that would be be really going overboard in budget compared to the Radeon/asus monitor combo.

So my question is really if going over the planned budget is really worth it.
I like 3d but I can live without it, it would be a nice bonus but to me it isn't worth the price difference alone. So I'm asking this, too:

- does 120hz also offer significant less strain to the eyes in all non gaming tasks? Keep in mind that 90% of my pc use time is NOT gaming, but a combination of internet browsing/writing/videos
- I know 120hz also means watching 24fps movies without the 3:2 frame pulldown, but since I never had the chance to try that I'm asking: is the difference that noticeable?
- could I honestly reach 120fps in most games @1080p? I can live with pulling back some AA to reach those fps. But certainly I won't go multi-gpu only for that.

Thanks everyone!


EDIT: what psu would be enough/safe? 600w? 700w?

 

[Nostremitus]

I just wanted to know if its a big upgrade going from a 680 2GB to a 680 4GB.
Will probably wait for the new cards that are rumored to be announced soon.

Not a big upgrade, no. It's lateral.

 

[LilJoka]

So on power supplies, it seems that 850w is the sweet spot for a dual card setup and 650w is the same for a single GPU. What would be the pros to going with a 750 over a 650 for a single GPU then? Any at all?

Id get a 650W (~50A 12v rail) if running something like this:
i7 3930k 4.5Ghz
GTX 780

550W (~40A 12v Rail) if:
i7 4790k 4.5Ghz
GTX 780

850W for the 4790k and SLI, 1000W for the 3930k and SLI.

3930k can draw around 250-300W overclocked.

The only pro of going overboard with wattage is that you stress the PSU less, and it will run cooler with lower fan profile. See techpowerup for a lot of PSU reviews with fan speeds and noise graphs.

 

[Kezen]

670 & 760 variants also. I'm pretty sure if these cards couldn't utilise the 4gbs they're sold with some tech reviewer somewhere would of made a pretty big stink about it by now.
Isn't it only an issue with dual cards like the 690 where some games don't utilise the 4gb?

A 690 has 2GB total, SLI mirrors VRAM it does not add it.

There are cases where a GPU is sold with more VRAM than what it can handle anyway, such as the 660 which exists in 3GB variant but it's useless.
http://www.evga.com/Products/Product.aspx?pn=03G-P4-2666-KR

 

[kiyomi]

I just wanted to know if its a big upgrade going from a 680 2GB to a 680 4GB.
Will probably wait for the new cards that are rumored to be announced soon.

It isn't. I still don't understand why you'd even consider it considering the 780 has been out for ages. But yeah wait for new cards.

]
Ok, in the coming months (by the end of October tops) I'm getting a new computer.
I'm currently running an Athlon II X2 @3GHz, 4Gb Ram, Radeon HD6670 card, 19' 900p monitor.
Really, most anything would be a big leap at this point and as you can guess, but I'm planning to build a rig that will last me a lot of time.

My tentative build consists of
- i7 4790k
- some z97 chipset mobo
- 16gb ddr3 2133Mhz ram
- WD Green 4gb HD
- 250gb ssd

I hope you're not paying extra $ for the 2133Mhz RAM, usually 1600/1866 is a bit cheaper and works absolutely fine.

 

[The Llama]

Yeah that's my reason for picking up a 750W Corsair RM series PSU. Only had to pay 5€ more but it has that Zero RPM fan mode under a certain load.

Thats the PSU I have, and I've never heard it make any noise (and when it does get to the point where the fan comes on, its still a lot quieter than my GPU fan and even my case fans).

 

[mkenyon]

This is beautiful. The monitor height looks higher than most how do you like that?

Modular industrial wire shelving. It's modular, with posts of different heights, shelves of different sizes, and even attachments for stuff like cupholders or headphone holders.

The best part is that the entire unit lends itself towards intelligent cable management. I have everything zip tied down where it needs to be.

Nice
Too heavy even without any weights in? Mine's empty btw, tried putting weights but then it has too much friction which was odd...

Yeah, bit too heavy still. I like lightweight mice.

Ok, in the coming months (by the end of October tops) I'm getting a new computer.

Dont worry about picking anything out until October. Could be some monitor and GPU changes/releases by then.

 

[IceIpor]

My trusty 6970 is going out on me. It would suddenly lose video and it became apparent when I would play games or HD video, it would lose video even faster.

I'm not looking for anything that much more powerful for a replacement, just a card that can replace it okay for real cheap for now, since I'm on quite a budget for now. I wasn't planning on buying a better more expensive card anytime soon as it handled my current gaming needs at 1080p pretty fine.

Would a 580GTX 1.5GB for $110 be a good replacement?

What brand is your card? Is it still under warranty? If you're lucky, you could just pay a reduced price to upgrade it.

So on power supplies, it seems that 850w is the sweet spot for a dual card setup and 650w is the same for a single GPU. What would be the pros to going with a 750 over a 650 for a single GPU then? Any at all?

As others have stated just slightly better efficiency and sometimes a sale will push a 750w to 650w or cheaper prices, so why not?

 

[SHADES]

A 690 has 2GB total, SLI mirrors VRAM it does not add it.

There are cases where a GPU is sold with more VRAM than what it can handle anyway, such as the 660 which exists in 3GB variant but it's useless.
http://www.evga.com/Products/Product.aspx?pn=03G-P4-2666-KR

That's the point I was getting at http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B007ZO7T9E/

Just forgot to put " as advertised" at the end of my question (iPad doing this stupid space bar/delete thing ATM, think the digitiser has had its day.)

 

[fifasnipe2224]

SSD Gaf, whats a fast 500GB or 1TB SSD you would recommend?

Any thoughts on SRT with a SSD and a HDD? Or a hybrid?

 

[Momentary]

Did DDR4 get a stealth release? You can pick up 16gb for around 230 on Newegg. I definitely don't see any motherboards that support it though. Will prices sky rocket once boards are released that support it?

 

[UnObtainium17]

About to build a pc and currently have bought 0 parts as of yet... Should I buy this card or not? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202071 I can get it to $149.99 with a promo code. Refurb. Kinda tight on the budget and would spend $700 at most for a complete build. Or should I go R9 270? R9 280? I game on a 55' 1080p tv.

 

[The Llama]

About to build a pc and currently have bought 0 parts as of yet... Should I buy this card or not? http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202071 I can get it to $149.99 with a promo code. Refurb. Kinda tight on the budget and would spend $700 at most for a complete build. Or should I go R9 270? R9 280? I game on a 55' 1080p tv.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the 7950 is basically an R9 280, which cost like $200. So for $150 that seems like a good deal.

 

[kharma45]

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the 7950 is basically an R9 280, which cost like $200. So for $150 that seems like a good deal.

You're correct.

 

[yatesl]

GAF, how do we rate 21:9 monitors? I have a bonus coming up and I've had my Dell ST2420 monitor for over 4 years now, and I want to replace it.

My desk is about 23 and a half inches wide, so I can't have two monitors (which I'd love - and I've even looked at having a second, vertical one), so I'd either want to go 21:9, 1440p (or higher), or 120Hz or something.

Worth noting that I only have a GTX 770 2GB, so I won't be playing many games at 4k.

 

[paperspace]

i7 920
GTX 670 2GB
6GB

What would you say GAF. Worth upgrading within half a year? I've been contemplating it since the performance in Arma 3, DayZ etc. isn't really optimal, but I mean, it's still a very solid rig.

Would be nice to play games smoothly in higher resolutions, 3D and so on.

 

[Jordan]

I am putting a PC together for a friend and have a very small budget.

[Basic Desktop Questions]

• Your Current Specs: Nothing
• Budget: Max £600 - England
• Main Use: Want to play some games, and do some video editing (this is where I struggled)
• Monitor Resolution: 1080p
• List SPECIFIC games or applications that you MUST be able to run well: Is 30FPS acceptable? 60? 120? How important is PhysX / SuperSampling / CUDA to you?
• Looking to reuse any parts?: Nothing
• When will you build?: As soon as
• Will you be overclocking?: No

I have already put together something very quickly based off one of the builds on the first page which consists of:
Intel i3-4150 - £89.99
Asus H81M-K Intel H81 - £37.99
TeamGroup Elite Black (2x4GB) - £62.99
EVGA GTX 750Ti - £109.99
Crucial MX100 128GB - £52.99
Western Digital Blue 1TB - £41.98
Silverstone SST-PS08B - £26.99
EVGA 500W 80 plus Bronze PSU - £41.99
BenQ GL2250HM 21.5" - £95.99

Not sure on the quality of this for some video editing.

Has to be from Overclockers UK unfortunately.

 

[michaelius]

If you are going with i3 you can get H81 mobo

 

[garath]

i7 920
GTX 670 2GB
6GB

What would you say GAF. Worth upgrading within half a year? I've been contemplating it since the performance in Arma 3, DayZ etc. isn't really optimal, but I mean, it's still a very solid rig.

Would be nice to play games smoothly in higher resolutions, 3D and so on.

That's still a pretty good rig. If it were me though, I'd probably upgrade March-ish. See the new round of procs and Nvidia's 800 series and go from there.

 

[kiyomi]

i7 920
GTX 670 2GB
6GB

What would you say GAF. Worth upgrading within half a year? I've been contemplating it since the performance in Arma 3, DayZ etc. isn't really optimal, but I mean, it's still a very solid rig.

Would be nice to play games smoothly in higher resolutions, 3D and so on.

Wait for 870/880 and maybe add more RAM.

 

[cripterion]

Weren't we all waiting for an Nvidia announcement at Gamescom?

 

[michaelius]

Weren't we all waiting for an Nvidia announcement at Gamescom?

No ?

Apart from portals hunting for clicks it never was likely they will show new gpus there.

 

[mkenyon]

GAF, how do we rate 21:9 monitors? I have a bonus coming up and I've had my Dell ST2420 monitor for over 4 years now, and I want to replace it.

My desk is about 23 and a half inches wide, so I can't have two monitors (which I'd love - and I've even looked at having a second, vertical one), so I'd either want to go 21:9, 1440p (or higher), or 120Hz or something.



Worth noting that I only have a GTX 770 2GB, so I won't be playing many games at 4k.

You could look into changing how your setup functions currently. Multi monitor stands would allow you to hinge the second monitor so the setup is like this:

Really rough idea, but I think you get the concept. You could even change the secondary monitor to be in portrait mode, which would also reduce the footprint.

I'm a big fan of 120Hz, so I will always advocate their use for PCs that are primarily designed for gaming.

i7 920
GTX 670 2GB
6GB

What would you say GAF. Worth upgrading within half a year? I've been contemplating it since the performance in Arma 3, DayZ etc. isn't really optimal, but I mean, it's still a very solid rig.

Would be nice to play games smoothly in higher resolutions, 3D and so on.

I disagree with folks above. Depending on budget, you might consider holding out for Haswell-E to see how it does (~$350 6 core proc, $220 DDR4 memory, $200 motherboard), but a 4790K would give you a night and day boost in the games that you're unhappy with right now.

The 670 is still good though.

 

[Woffls]

Did DDR4 get a stealth release? You can pick up 16gb for around 230 on Newegg. I definitely don't see any motherboards that support it though. Will prices sky rocket once boards are released that support it?

They've been popping up for a few weeks now. Best deal from what I've seen in the UK is 16GB for £180, which is actually surprisingly reasonable compared to 1600Mhz DDR3 @ ~£135.

No X99 motherboards available yet at all, though I doubt the memory will increase in price as soon as the boards are available. I'm guessing they're at launch msrp. Retailers could still pop the price up, but new platform or not, this is still a competitive market.

I'm holding out for X99 now, at least to see how the CPUs are priced. My PC is currently dead, but half the stuff in it is still decent, so at that point I'll decide between X99 and Z97.

Tangent: does anyone know if the 2013 Corsair H60 will be compatible with 2011-3? I know the socket is the same size, but for some reason I think I read that the bracket mounting holes were further apart.

 

[mkenyon]

If you have the Socket 2011 hardware from the H60, that is compatible with 2011-3. The consumer socket stuff is NOT compatible, mounting-wise.

Those four outermost holes in the metal portion are what the standoffs are screwed into. No backplate necessary.

 

[scogoth]

Could anyone help me with an issue I'm having?
I decided I want to play some games on my TV so I changed my PC input to DVI cable and used HDMI to my TV. The problem is when the HDMI is plugged in the DVI and HDMI inputs on the monitor go black. My TV has picture from my computer but my monitor doesn't show anything.

Go into nvidia/amd control panel and select activate all displays.

 

[Dunbar]

Just got done building my new PC and I think I might need to change some options to get better performance. I built a 4790k/GTX780/16GB/SSD and I've seen the following things so far:

- In Far Cry Blood Dragon, trying to run things on Ultra dips the framerate into the teens.

- In Wasteland 2, the opening video stutters and I get a lot of hitching overall.

- In Saints Row 4, trying to run things on high settings kills the framerate dead.

If this is normal performance, I guess that's fine, but I thought I'd be able to get better from a new PC.

Any suggestions on things I could look for or stuff I need to change (crossposted this from the TechSupport thread cause I'm not sure which one was better to ask in)?

 

[The Llama]

Just got done building my new PC and I think I might need to change some options to get better performance. I built a 4970k/GTX780/16GB/SSD and I've seen the following things so far:

- In Far Cry Blood Dragon, trying to run things on Ultra dips the framerate into the teens.

- In Wasteland 2, the opening video stutters and I get a lot of hitching overall.

- In Saints Row 4, trying to run things on high settings kills the framerate dead.

If this is normal performance, I guess that's fine, but I thought I'd be able to get better from a new PC.

Any suggestions on things I could look for or stuff I need to change (crossposted this from the TechSupport thread cause I'm not sure which one was better to ask in)?

Haven't played any of those games on PC so maybe they're horrible optimized, but that doesn't sound right. You installed the newest GPU drivers right? And you have all the power connections, er, connected (like to the GPU and mobo)? Have you checked your BIOS settings to make sure everything is normal?

Also, you mean you got a 4790k, right?

 

[Dunbar]

Yep, newest everything. Just built the PC so I have the brand newest drivers from Nvidia's site. I'm 99.99% sure everything is plugged in power-wise to the GPU but I can always check I guess.

edit: Weirdly, the GeForce Experience thing says I'm using a driver updated 7/29/14 but Device Manager says it was last updated 7/2/14. Not sure if that could be causing an issue.

 

[appaws]

Just got done building my new PC and I think I might need to change some options to get better performance. I built a 4790k/GTX780/16GB/SSD and I've seen the following things so far:

- In Far Cry Blood Dragon, trying to run things on Ultra dips the framerate into the teens.

- In Wasteland 2, the opening video stutters and I get a lot of hitching overall.

- In Saints Row 4, trying to run things on high settings kills the framerate dead.

If this is normal performance, I guess that's fine, but I thought I'd be able to get better from a new PC.

Any suggestions on things I could look for or stuff I need to change (crossposted this from the TechSupport thread cause I'm not sure which one was better to ask in)?

That's no way normal performance. I am playing Saints Row IV right now with a 3570k/7950 pretty much maxed and it is smooth as silk.

Blood Dragon can be a little wonky....but no way should it drop into teens.

You have a much more powerful setup than mine....your system should have no problem with those....Do you have up to date drivers? Do you have any overclocks on, or are you at stock...? What resolution are you running at?

You have the display plugged into the graphics card, right? I had a friend who built a PC who was getting terrible results and it turned out he was running everything off of the integrated graphics...!

 

[Dunbar]

I mentioned a possibly weird thing with the drivers above, but I'm running them basically current. No overclocking. 1920x1200.

 

[appaws]

I mentioned a possibly weird thing with the drivers above, but I'm running them basically current. No overclocking. 1920x1200.

You have the display plugged into the graphics card, right? I had a friend who built a PC who was getting terrible results and it turned out he was running everything off of the integrated graphics...!

 

[Ray Wonder]

Just got done building my new PC and I think I might need to change some options to get better performance. I built a 4790k/GTX780/16GB/SSD and I've seen the following things so far:

- In Far Cry Blood Dragon, trying to run things on Ultra dips the framerate into the teens.

- In Wasteland 2, the opening video stutters and I get a lot of hitching overall.

- In Saints Row 4, trying to run things on high settings kills the framerate dead.

If this is normal performance, I guess that's fine, but I thought I'd be able to get better from a new PC.

Any suggestions on things I could look for or stuff I need to change (crossposted this from the TechSupport thread cause I'm not sure which one was better to ask in)?

When I had my GTX 550 before my new pc it ran saint's row great. That's not a very demanding game. Something is wrong.

I just realized i have no input on how to help.