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[zeroeffect]

Would you be able to run 2 overclocked GTX 980s on a Corsair HXi 750?

And on that Samsung 840 EVO bug you guys were talking about...is that all Samsung drives or just ones with specific firmware? Is it really bad? Now you guys got me all nervous and thinking about switching over to MX100.

 

[Owwari]

No, No. It's never a bother. We love helping. Where are your parents going? Maybe we can steer them to a Microcenter to buy something...?

Yeah, I would say that graphics card is at the top of the list to be replaced.

From a quick glance at Google, it seems that you could overclock that CPU pretty easily and pretty well. Do you have it OCed now, and what cooling do you have? Throw in a fairly inexpensive CPU cooler...?

Throw in an SSD for your OS and your current games you are playing.

Like this maybe:

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/XCMfVn
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/XCMfVn/by_merchant/

CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($34.99 @ Amazon)
Storage: Crucial MX100 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($112.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Asus GeForce GTX 970 4GB STRIX Video Card ($349.99 @ Amazon)
Total: $497.97
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-10-03 16:52 EDT-0400

Holy llamas and alpacas, that GPU is beast, isn't it for gaming at 1080p? Haha just wondering.

I could save up some money and get some extra peripherals like a mechanical keyboard and a new mouse. But if the GPU is the deal here, then there's no problem, I'm up for it.

 

[Arken2121]

You've tried:

Reformat
Different cable
Different NIC
Eliminating router as a variable

Only thing it could be after all of that is the actual cable modem or the ISP itself.

Hey dude! Long time man. I've done a format, just tried a different NIC plus the addtional one I have on my mobo(it has 2). even connected directly to my modem. Also tried different ethernet cables. I event replaced the modem last week.

 

[zeroeffect]

Just read about that Samsung Evo bug...read/write. Sounds pretty bad. Hopefully the firmware later this month will fix it. I think I'll slide the EVO out of my build until I know everything is okay.

 

[Mohasus]

How does the h100i/corsair link work?

Can I remove the program and the USB cable after setting the LED color and fan curve that I want? Also, even though my LED color is set to white (255,255,255), it still looks blueish.

edit: changed it to a light green and fans to balanced mode, seems like the settings are kept even after uninstalling everything.

 

[mkenyon]

Hey dude! Long time man. I've done a format, just tried a different NIC plus the addtional one I have on my mobo(it has 2). even connected directly to my modem. Also tried different ethernet cables. I event replaced the modem last week.

Seems like it *has* to be the ISP and/or their equipment. Drivers all up to snuff? No weird firewall things? Networking is a bit beyond my level of knowledge, and the way I'd go about figuring out what's up is exactly what you have done. I'll shoot it by some network guru friends, see if they have any idea.

And yeah, been a while. I went crazy into Archeage this past week. Game is famazing.

 

[Arken2121]

Seems like it *has* to be the ISP and/or their equipment. Drivers all up to snuff? No weird firewall things? Networking is a bit beyond my level of knowledge, and the way I'd go about figuring out what's up is exactly what you have done. I'll shoot it by some network guru friends, see if they have any idea.

And yeah, been a while. I went crazy into Archeage this past week. Game is famazing.

Send me your steam. We'll catch up

 

[LilJoka]

So that's all I have to do? Wow, that certainly saves me some money! I have a wired mouse and could just tether the computer to my phone as I patch the kext files.

Thanks for all your help! I'll be sure to message you if anything else comes up.

Actually, is the upgrade process the same as on a Mac through the App Store? Or is it much more in-depth like with Windows installations?

Upgrading Osx is exactly like a real mac through App Store. After updating you require to patch AppleHDA (for Audio) and Power Management again as these Kexts get overwritten in the process.
Any kexts that are custom stay in their place so don't ever need reinstalling.

 

[LilJoka]

Hey guys, just reposting this. I had a 2 techs come by within a week to confirm that my signal was perfect and yet i'm still having upload issues. I just tried a different ethernet card with the same problem. Anyone else have any idea what it could be?

Your Router page should have a ADSL Statistics page with SNR (signal to noise ratio) up/down, post the stats if you can find them.

 

[Smokey]

KIll A Watt numbers are in. 4930k, 3 Titan Blacks, Heaven Benchmark:

Stock voltage,100% power, 83c limit, Adaptive Power NVCP = <960w
+5 voltage, 106%, 90c limit, Max Power NVCP = <985w

No crashes.

Not once did the system draw over 1000w.

 

[Booshka]

KIll A Watt numbers are in. 4930k, 3 Titan Blacks, Heaven Benchmark:

Stock voltage,100% power, 83c limit = <960w
+5 voltage, 106%, 90c limit = <985w

No crashes.

Not once did the system draw over 1000w.

So then your 1300W PSU is not the problem then? Wonder how they will respond.

 

[HT UK]

Just bought the build I was posting about before. Thankyou to everyone who helped!

It should be noted that I changed the motherboard from an ASUS Z97-A to the Gigabyte GA-Z97X-Gaming 7 purely because it worked out cheaper due to a bundle on Overclockers. Let me know if I made a mistake there.

PCPartPicker part list

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor (Purchased For £239.99)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (Purchased For £24.80)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97X-GAMING 7 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (Purchased For £108.00)
Memory: Kingston Fury Black Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory (Purchased For £114.78)
Storage: Crucial MX100 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (Purchased For £74.98)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (Purchased For £39.99)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (Purchased For £0.00)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 4GB WINDFORCE Video Card (2-Way SLI) (Purchased For £299.99)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 4GB WINDFORCE Video Card (2-Way SLI) (Purchased For £299.99)
Case: Phanteks Enthoo Pro ATX Full Tower Case (Purchased For £88.33)
Power Supply: EVGA 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (Purchased For £85.86)
Optical Drive: Sony 5280S-CB-PLUS DVD/CD Writer (Purchased For £0.00)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit) (Purchased For £39.99)
Total: £1416.70

 

[mkenyon]

KIll A Watt numbers are in. 4930k, 3 Titan Blacks, Heaven Benchmark:

Stock voltage,100% power, 83c limit = <960w
+5 voltage, 106%, 90c limit = <985w

No crashes.

Not once did the system draw over 1000w.

Knew it.

For shits and giggles, try running P95 and Furmark at the same time.

 

[gofreak]

Just realised it's now possible to do decent full-screen game streaming from a cloud machine using Steam in-home streaming and a VPN. So if you have a crappy machine (like me), you can rent a rig from Amazon (currently for about 10 cents an hour for a 4GB VRAM Kepler machine) and get some good gaming time in. Spent a happy couple of hours playing Elite Dangerous this way (1080p/30 'balanced' streaming with input latency <10ms as reported by Steam's stats). YMMV, though - I'm near a Amazon data center in Dublin so that might be helping.

A nice stop gap while I try to figure out my own build!

(Obviously not every game will play well over a remote connection...Skyrim and Elite were fine. Quake Live, not so much. Curious to try slightly slower paced FPS games though.)

 

[Addnan]

960W draw on 3 Titan blacks and Ivy-E seems way too low no?

 

[Smokey]

3DMark --

+5 voltage, 106%, 90c limit, Max Power NVCP = <1037w

Did cross 1000w mark here during the GPU tests

 

[kiyomi]

Just bought the build I was posting about before. Thankyou to everyone who helped!

It should be noted that I changed the motherboard from an ASUS Z97-A to the Gigabyte GA-Z97X-Gaming 7 purely because it worked out cheaper due to a bundle on Overclockers. Let me know if I made a mistake there.

PCPartPicker part list

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor (Purchased For £239.99)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (Purchased For £24.80)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97X-GAMING 7 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (Purchased For £108.00)
Memory: Kingston Fury Black Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory (Purchased For £114.78)
Storage: Crucial MX100 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (Purchased For £74.98)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (Purchased For £39.99)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (Purchased For £0.00)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 4GB WINDFORCE Video Card (2-Way SLI) (Purchased For £299.99)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 4GB WINDFORCE Video Card (2-Way SLI) (Purchased For £299.99)
Case: Phanteks Enthoo Pro ATX Full Tower Case (Purchased For £88.33)
Power Supply: EVGA 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (Purchased For £85.86)
Optical Drive: Sony 5280S-CB-PLUS DVD/CD Writer (Purchased For £0.00)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8.1 (OEM) (64-bit) (Purchased For £39.99)
Total: £1416.70

Love it. Where'd you get Windows 8.1 for £40 btw?

 

[Iacobellis]

Upgrading Osx is exactly like a real mac through App Store. After updating you require to patch AppleHDA (for Audio) and Power Management again as these Kexts get overwritten in the process.
Any kexts that are custom stay in their place so don't ever need reinstalling.

Really? I wish I had gone the Hackintosh route much earlier rather than getting an rMBP a couple years ago.

I remember back in the early days of OS X Intel builds (2006-2008) it seemed like such a hassle to get up and running. I guess it has definitely changed for the better nowadays.

Oh, and does the USB SuperDrive require any drivers outside of what OS X offers? I imagine setting the system to something like an older system identifier would cause it not to work because OS X would assume the machine already has an internal drive.

 

[Smokey]

Knew it.

For shits and giggles, try running P95 and Furmark at the same time.

Tried it. Furmark would barely run because the CPU was pegged at 100% in P95. Was getting 0-11% usage on GPUs.

Also when I run Furmark, the GPUs won't boost. They stay at the core clock or lower. I went to Heaven immediately afterwards and they boosted to 1137mhz like normal. In Furmark it maxed out at 1035w, but again the GPUs weren't boosting.

edit: oh Nvidia "feature" to keep your GPU from dying heh

 

[LilJoka]

Really? I wish I had gone the Hackintosh route much earlier rather than getting an rMBP a couple years ago.

I remember back in the early days of OS X Intel builds (2006-2008) it seemed like such a hassle to get up and running. I guess it has definitely changed for the better nowadays.

Oh, and does the USB SuperDrive require any drivers outside of what OS X offers? I imagine setting the system to something like an older system identifier would cause it not to work because OS X would assume the machine already has an internal drive.

All the OSX machines come with exactly the same catalogue of drivers, so as soon as you plug the USB SuperDrive in, it should work just like a real Mac.

You can buy a SuperDrive today and attach it to a Mac Pro bin, so I see no reason why it won't work.

 

[robertlebrone]

Hey, guys. I'm going all out next year on a from scratch PC build I'm in the planning stages of and right now I'm eyeing a 3-way SLI config. However, I'm not sure what PC case(s) would fit all 3 cards and give me room for the rest of my components.

Any suggestions?

 

[LilJoka]

KIll A Watt numbers are in. 4930k, 3 Titan Blacks, Heaven Benchmark:

Stock voltage,100% power, 83c limit, Adaptive Power NVCP = <960w
+5 voltage, 106%, 90c limit, Max Power NVCP = <985w

No crashes.

Not once did the system draw over 1000w.

Remember the PSU has an efficiency factor, so in theory it always draws more than the PSU is delivering. Seems like PSU is not your issue at all.

I remember seeing your post on your issue some time back, but do you mind just summarising the issue and things you've tried? Might have some insight on it.

 

[tarheel91]

Was able to test it outside the case. Still nothing. RMA time.

 

[Smokey]

Hey, guys. I'm going all out next year on a from scratch PC build I'm in the planning stages of and right now I'm eyeing a 3-way SLI config. However, I'm not sure what PC case(s) would fit all 3 cards and give me room for the rest of my components.

Any suggestions?

Mine fits 3. It is the Corsair Air 540:

It is a very room case. I also have a H100i in push/pull. There is plenty of room in the back for cables. Only thing is the heat from having 3 cards together. It is an issue. These cards throttle at 82c and you'll get there with quickness with a 3 way setup. You can follow my troubles and decide if you want to jump in or not . Really I'd recommend getting a 2 way setup unless 3 just something personal that you want to do.

Remember the PSU has an efficiency factor, so in theory it always draws more than the PSU is delivering. Seems like PSU is not your issue at all.

I remember seeing your post on your issue some time back, but do you mind just summarising the issue and things you've tried? Might have some insight on it.

Just tried Tomb Raider benchmark. Maxed out at 1034w. Averaged 178fps at 1440p Ultimate

I have not experienced any crashes which is really weird. The only thing I changed was my SLI bridge from the EVGA Pro to the Nvidia branded bridge.

My issue was that I kept getting hard crashes/lockups when gaming or running Heaven benchmarks. I sent in the card I thought was problematic and received a 'new' one last week. While it was away I did not have any issues with 2 way SLI. Soon as I put the 3rd in I experienced freezing again. I have called EVGA and they thought it was my power draw touching the limits of the 1300w G2 PSU. I was thinking it was a PSU or motherboard issue, but I got a Kill A Watt today and from the wattage we can see that it's not close to approaching my 1300w limit. Oddly enough since I bought a 3 way SLI bridge that is Nvidia branded and sold on their site....I haven't had any crashes. I'm not sure if this is coincidence or what....

 

[LilJoka]

Just tried Tomb Raider benchmark. Maxed out at 1034w. Averaged 178fps at 1440p Ultimate

I have not experienced any crashes which is really weird. The only thing I changed was my SLI bridge from the EVGA Pro to the Nvidia branded bridge.

My issue was that I kept getting hard crashes/lockups when gaming or running Heaven benchmarks. I sent in the card I thought was problematic and received a 'new' one last week. While it was away I did not have any issues with 2 way SLI. Soon as I put the 3rd in I experienced freezing again. I have called EVGA and they thought it was my power draw touching the limits of the 1300w G2 PSU. I was thinking it was a PSU or motherboard issue, but I got a Kill A Watt today and from the wattage we can see that it's not close to approaching my 1300w limit. Oddly enough since I bought a 3 way SLI bridge that is Nvidia branded and sold on their site....I haven't had any crashes. I'm not sure if this is coincidence or what....

I would say plug in the old bridge but considering it could actually damage the card, don't bother and enjoy it if it works. Run heaven on loop for a while to test them.

I assume you've played with driver versions?

 

[Iacobellis]

All the OSX machines come with exactly the same catalogue of drivers, so as soon as you plug the USB SuperDrive in, it should work just like a real Mac.

You can buy a SuperDrive today and attach it to a Mac Pro bin, so I see no reason why it won't work.

That's what I figured. But I knew that on machines that included a drive, such as the cMBP or older iMacs, the SuperDrive wouldn't immediately work as it would on newer machines.

 

[robertlebrone]

Great! Thanks for the response.

 

[Smokey]

I would say plug in the old bridge but considering it could actually damage the card, don't bother and enjoy it if it works. Run heaven on loop for a while to test them.

I assume you've played with driver versions?

Before sending in the card for RMA I tried multiple driver sets using DDU to uninstall. Right now I'm on the latest.

I'll just leave Heaven on as you mentioned and see what happens...

 

[LilJoka]

That's what I figured. But I knew that on machines that included a drive, such as the cMBP or older iMacs, the SuperDrive wouldn't immediately work as it would on newer machines.

That is very weird from apple, but I think your right, they couldn't be bothered to QA models with built in optical drives so it doesn't work by default.

There is a solution here in Update 2 section that will work with using the Clover Bootloader on Yosemite as it emulates the NVRAM Parameters.
http://www.hardturm.ch/luz/2011/10/how-to-make-the-macbook-air-superdrive-work-with-any-mac/

 

[Iacobellis]

That is very weird from apple, but I think your right, they couldn't be bothered to QA models with built in optical drives so it doesn't work by default.

There is a solution here in Update 2 section that will work with using the Clover Bootloader on Yosemite as it emulates the NVRAM Parameters.
http://www.hardturm.ch/luz/2011/10/how-to-make-the-macbook-air-superdrive-work-with-any-mac/

Yep, that's what I was referring to. Speaking of Clover, which bootloader would you recommend? Preferably one that is simple but offers the most options.

 

[LilJoka]

Yep, that's what I was referring to. Speaking of Clover, which bootloader would you recommend? Preferably one that is simple but offers the most options.

Chameleon and Clover are the main options, Clover is using UEFI whereas Chameleon is using Legacy.

I've always used Chameleon up till Yosemite, Clover is better in most ways from my experience but a little more tricky to get working. It can also be installed in it's own EFI partition rather than to the boot partition like Chameleon. I think id go with Clover for Yosemite. Clover is a lot smarter I find, it's got way more auto detection settings that just work compared to chameleon. It can also give you very detailed logs on the preboot and boot stages.

 

[Iacobellis]

Chameleon and Clover are the main options, Clover is using UEFI whereas Chameleon is using Legacy.

I've always used Chameleon up till Yosemite, Clover is better in most ways from my experience but a little more tricky to get working. It can also be installed in it's own EFI partition rather than to the boot partition like Chameleon. I think id go with Clover for Yosemite. Clover is a lot smarter I find, it's got way more auto detection settings that just work compared to chameleon. It can also give you very detailed logs on the preboot and boot stages.

Clover it is then! And if my App Store and iMessage don't work right away, which seem to be two apps that are a bit troublesome on Hackintoshes, is there an easy fix for them?

 

[Celcius]

Before sending in the card for RMA I tried multiple driver sets using DDU to uninstall. Right now I'm on the latest.

I'll just leave Heaven on as you mentioned and see what happens...

Seems like life is never easy for Smokey...

 

[EmptySpace]

Just because 1 game doesnt run as well as you expect it doesnt mean you are going to have the same perforrmance in every other game coming.

Have you seen the Alien Isolation benchmarks? 100fps+ for some configs.

Now is a great time to build a Z97 GTX 970 machine.

nah i can wait. i was actually planning to build an x99 gtx 970 or 980, but alas i don't think either of the maxwell cards are good enough so i'll just wait for pascal. the past few years of gpus aren't exactly that good in my eyes in terms of advancement. premium prices and incremental increase in performance. i look at the mobile space and intel is launching 10nm next year. i get that it's somewhat different (although i think they're very similar applications of nanotech), still i saw amd jack up prices because of bitcoin mining and nvidia basically charging premium prices knowing full well they'll release something way better in a couple of months. the fact that no one but nvidia knows the release calendar is such a turn off for me in the gpu market. i sincerely think they're milking their old tech r&d to its fullest even though they possess tech that's way better. i seriously didn't like that they held on to kepler for that long.

The 970 runs the game at more than 60fps on ultra with high textures. It's a killer card but as usual something better is always on the horizon.
http://www.pcgameshardware.de/Mittelerde-Mordors-Schatten-PC-258069/Specials/Test-Technik-1137829/

They are benchmarking actual gameplay apparently. As long as you have a decent CPU to feed it Mordor runs amazingly well, the PS4 is certainly not a 60fps average.

it's not that i care so much about performance, it's that if i want to spend at least $1000 on a pc, i at the very least should have excellent performance in all games. also, i'm pretty sure a 970 won't run witcher 3 in 60 fps so there's that. i can wait, and if i did i'd get way better perf on mordor than if i'll buy now. the only game i wanna play this year is nba 2k15 and even then i've grown to despise the franchise and the devs because they don't fix the issues.

 

[LilJoka]

Clover it is then! And if my App Store and iMessage don't work right away, which seem to be two apps that are a bit troublesome on Hackintoshes, is there an easy fix for them?

Yeah the iMessage stuff is usually an easy fix but not always a single solution. Sometimes adding and removing a credit card from iTunes does it. Sometimes changing mac serial number can fix it. Sometimes ringing apple and getting them to unlock it against your Apple ID without your serial number and some persuasion will do it. It's fixable just another thing that will need a little research.

AppStore will work out the box, it's iMessage and FaceTime that tend not to.

 

[Smokey]

Seems like life is never easy for Smokey...

These are the times that you learn so it's not ALL bad

 

[Hindl]

Hmm I have a dilemma. I was set on the 4790K/Z97 combo for my needs, which is mostly gaming, regular usage, and Oculus Rift Development. However, I loaded up Unreal 4 for some development and it has been destroying my puny laptop processor. That's expected, but I'm wondering if engine development and coding would fall under multimedia creation, and I should go with the 5820K/X99 combo, or my current build would be sufficient for this.

Thoughts?

Shameless bump. For rift/unreal development 4790K or 5820k and associated mobo?

 

[Iacobellis]

Yeah the iMessage stuff is usually an easy fix but not always a single solution. Sometimes adding and removing a credit card from iTunes does it. Sometimes changing mac serial number can fix it. Sometimes ringing apple and getting them to unlock it against your Apple ID without your serial number and some persuasion will do it. It's fixable just another thing that will need a little research.

AppStore will work out the box, it's iMessage and FaceTime that tend not to.

Got it. FaceTime I can live without, but no iMessage would be a struggle, especially with the new SMS features in 10.10.

 

[McBryBry]

I need some help with RAM, my dudes. I don't know what to go with. I want 16GB, but I have no idea what brand or type under the brand to buy. I understand that with some coolers, you need low profile. I have a Dark Rock 3, dunno if that would bother it. I want it as cheap as I can get it, but I don't want to skimp out either. Any recommendations?

 

[ricki42]

It definatly takes a little while to get all the kinks sorted.
Things to fix are usually, Audio, Blutooth/Wifi, LAN, 3rd Party SATA, Power Management.
But all of this usually requires replacement Kext files (drivers) to be copied over the originals or just added to the system.

Out of curiosity, how well does hackintosh handle sensors for CPU voltage and fan speeds and things like that? I don't know which Super I/O chips Apple uses, but how are the others handled? How fast is the community usually if a manufacturer changes something?

 

[BrokenEchelon]

Edit: Nvm, figured everything out.

 

[bbd23]

so my friends brother needs a PC for $700

he needs to run programs like protools and he wants to play a lot of CSGO

fresh build. any ideas about the components?

 

[ricki42]

I took it out but it's certainly possible to do while in (I probably should have just done it that way tbh) but you'd have to plug in the CPU fans before installing the heatsink... it's huge! no room to get your hands in to plug them in after it's installed.

So I got the Noctua and installed it yesterday. I installed it with the motherboard in the case, was actually easier to install the back plate with the case holding the motherboard upright. Connecting the cable after installation was not a problem, though I noticed afterwards I could have made it even easier by plugging in the y splitter first.
I had to move the fan above the RAM up a bit (about 5mm) though, but no big deal.

Temperatures are a lot lower, 10-15C at least, very nice! I'm currently running at 4.6GHz and 1.22V Vcore. It's been running mprime for 50min and barely gone above 65C. Before, I had a hard time running 4.3GHz without going over 80C. I'm impressed!

 

[Durante]

What voltage are you seeing at 4Ghz out of curiosity?

I just checked, and under load it sits at exactly 1.2V

 

[appaws]

so my friends brother needs a PC for $700

he needs to run programs like protools and he wants to play a lot of CSGO

fresh build. any ideas about the components?

Start off in the OP, the advice there (and in the rest of this thread) is geared toward gaming.

I have no idea what the demands of protools are as far as CPU/cores, etc.

If I had $700 to spend on a gaming machine I would go for a Pentium Anniversary and a Z97 board:

PCPartPicker part list: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/bCHfVn
Price breakdown by merchant: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/bCHfVn/by_merchant/

CPU: Intel Pentium G3258 3.2GHz Dual-Core Processor ($59.49 @ Amazon)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($28.98 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock Z97 PRO4 ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($99.99 @ Newegg)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LP 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($96.99 @ Newegg)
Video Card: Gigabyte Radeon R9 290 4GB WINDFORCE Video Card ($299.99 @ Amazon)
Case: NZXT S340 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case ($69.98 @ Amazon)
Power Supply: EVGA SuperNOVA NEX 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($49.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $705.41
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-10-03 22:18 EDT-0400

It would be easy to drop a Devil's Canyon i7 in there later if your friend gets some more money.

Now if Protools is a big multi-threaded thing....then this could be a really bad build....then you need to cut back on the GPU and go for a quad-core CPU.

 

[Marc]

Hey guys, after trying an oculus demo recently I am interested in potentially getting back into having a 'good' PC but am very rusty and out of date on where things are. Although with my budget as it is, I am happy to 'get by' for now and buy a better graphics card down the line when the new generation has bedded in a bit. So lowering cost is the ideal path with enough of a foundation to upgrade in a year or so. Hopefully read the thread correctly and giving sufficient info.

Budget: £600-800 + UK
Main Use: Rate 1-5. 5 being Highest: Light Gaming - 4, Gaming - 4, Emulation (PS2/Wii) - 1, Video Editing - 1, Streaming games in HD - 3, 3D/Model work (and what program) - 4, General Usage (Word, Web, 1080p playback) - 5
Monitor Resolution: 1080p - Buying new monitors yeah, vertical dual display.
List SPECIFIC games or applications that you MUST be able to run well: Oculus based games/demos on the DK2 is most of what I care about in terms of games, otherwise I am more of a console gamer.
Looking to reuse any parts?: I'll be moving harddrives over.
When will you build?: Before christmas
Will you be overclocking?: No

I have a white theme so limited in cases and I also want a small case profile (for moving, ease of use etc., desk size limit of 26cm) which limits things even further. With that in mind, this is what I have come up with from the PC parts picker:

PCPartPicker part list: http://uk.pcpartpicker.com/p/x3pjvK

CPU: Intel Core i5-3570 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor (£150.79 @ Aria PC)
CPU Cooler: SilenX EFZ-92HA2 54.0 CFM Fluid Dynamic Bearing CPU Cooler (£13.26 @ Amazon UK)
Motherboard: ASRock H61MV-ITX Mini ITX LGA1155 Motherboard (£38.68 @ CCL Computers)
Memory: Kingston Beast 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-2400 Memory (£137.09 @ CCL Computers)
Storage: Seagate 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Hybrid Internal Hard Drive (£53.94 @ Aria PC)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 3TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£71.94 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GT 740 4GB Superclocked Video Card (£78.48 @ Amazon UK)
Case: BitFenix Prodigy (White) Mini ITX Tower Case (£64.99 @ Aria PC)
Power Supply: EVGA 430W 80+ Certified ATX Power Supply (£30.49 @ CCL Computers)
Total: £639.66


Thanks for any advice, fairly happy with that although the case is a tight squeeze. And for some reason they stuck all the power and such on the side so may have to work around that, maybe a power control screen to go into the CD drive bay? It would be light so can easily drag it out but things like usb's would be a pain. Obviously the video card isn't but for similar memory and newer cards, its a bit too much for me right now.

 

[fluffydelusions]

So I got the Noctua and installed it yesterday. I installed it with the motherboard in the case, was actually easier to install the back plate with the case holding the motherboard upright. Connecting the cable after installation was not a problem, though I noticed afterwards I could have made it even easier by plugging in the y splitter first.
I had to move the fan above the RAM up a bit (about 5mm) though, but no big deal.

Temperatures are a lot lower, 10-15C at least, very nice! I'm currently running at 4.6GHz and 1.22V Vcore. It's been running mprime for 50min and barely gone above 65C. Before, I had a hard time running 4.3GHz without going over 80C. I'm impressed!

Yep That Noctua Is Very nice

 

[Raspada]

Made some changes. 550W PSU is more than enough. H100i is overkill on the consumer socket processors. H60 plenty for a realistic 4.2-4.6 overclock. This made room in the budget to go to 16GB of RAM while still saving money.

Thanks for the advice and the motherboard suggestion! I actually accidentally chose the pro edition of Windows 8.1, so it makes it even cheaper!

 

[Felix Lighter]

I just checked, and under load it sits at exactly 1.2V

Thanks. I'm sitting at 1.25v for 4.1Ghz. It's not quite as high as I'd hoped but 4.1Ghz shouldn't hold me back for awhile.



Also for anyone, Shadow Play, is there anything to worry about having its temporary data constantly stored on an SSD?

 

[xBladeM6x]

After monitoring my RAM usage over the last week or so, I've noticed that even when I have 10+ tabs with a movie in the background on one monitor, while playing a AAA game at Ultra on PC like BF4 or Mordor on the other monitor, my RAM usage never goes above 7-8 GB. Truly, my 16 is more overkill than I thought initially.