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[appaws]

PC-GAF, I need some help.

I have no desire, zero desire, like negative desire, to build my own PC. Despite being a mid-40s homeowner, handyman is not in my resume. I feel pretty strongly that 1, I would fuck it up and 2, I would hate every second of having to do it.

So, I need some advice on where to head with that info.

Here's the deal. I have a laptop. It's an ASUS N53S:
- i7-2670, 2.2 GHz
- GeForce GT 630M 2GB
- 6 GB of memory

It's about two years old. I like it quite a bit, but with a Nexus 7 for mobility, the laptop basically sits in one room. I treat it like a desktop.

It plays a decent number of games, though we're starting to see some come out (Shadow of Mordor, for instance) where the old girl doesn't meet minimum specs.


So, I've begun to wonder whether I should just pony up for a desktop. Given Christmas is approaching, I've considered starting by putting a monitor on my wish list, which could temporarily be attached to the laptop.

I've been looking at this one.

At some point I would then need to go with the full kit and kaboodle and buy a desktop. Something capable of playing games but preferably in the $600-$700 range.

The prebuilt PC thing is tough to get into at lower price ranges. Of course we could help you do up an awesome gaming build for $700 bucks. But the good system building places concentrate on higher-end stuff usually.

I really wish I could get you to invest the couple of hours it would take to do it yourself. You could do so much better than the prebuilts in your price range, and have an easy upgrade path. It is so easy to do these days, as easy as putting together some legos...Also there are gaffers who would even come over to help you out if you lived near them....I have seen it happen in this thread. I would come help you build it if you are near Louisville.

I just looked at the lower-end stuff on ibuypower for a minute and I almost gagged. They just do it wrong it seems to me, using really low end GPUs in builds. Not to mention the heinous cases they sell.

 

[CMojicaAce]

What game? If it's AC Unity, it's tied to uplay. So don't worry about it being locked to a computer.

All keys are for uPlay, ubisoft's client, something like steam. You can install it everywhere you want, no problem.

Going for Far Cry 4. Thanks for the replies!

 

[Grums]

Need some help.

Just tried to play Mordor on my new PC. I have a Zotac amp GTX 670. As soon as I get to the menu screen of the game, the fan starts going 100% on the card, and the temp goes to 90. Also the fan sounds very loud and there is a clicking sound as if the fan is hitting off something. Any idea what the problem is? Should I contact Zotac as its under warranty.

 

[Inkwell]

I posted earlier today about getting a new video card, but that was from my phone. I feel like I can give a bit more info to hopefully get some help in choosing a new card. Here's my system specs:

i5 750 (slight OC, pretty much stock)
4 GB ram
GTX 460 (pretty much dead, using my old 8800 GT)

Here is my dilemma: I may never build or buy a gaming PC ever again. I'm having some nasty carpal tunnel like issues that no one can seem to diagnose properly. Might be carpal tunnel or a symptom of something worse. I can't really play any kb/m games and always need to use a controller. My play time has been extensively cut. I don't want to invest in an expensive computer that I won't use enough. Might even want to spend that money on medical bills.

So, let me get to my point. No matter what I'm buying a new video card. In case I never upgrade the rest of my pc, I don't want to get a card that is bottle-necked by my system. At the same time, I really really want to get a powerful card that's somewhat future proof. I've decided on 2 cards:

GTX 760 (not sure if I should get 2 or 4 GB)
GTX 970

I am open to other suggestions. I'm not sure if it's better to go cheaper for now (around $200), or getting something better ($300-$400) and taking a bit of a chance.

 

[appaws]

I posted earlier today about getting a new video card, but that was from my phone. I feel like I can give a bit more info to hopefully get some help in choosing a new card. Here's my system specs:

i5 750 (slight OC, pretty much stock)
4 GB ram
GTX 460 (pretty much dead, using my old 8800 GT)

Here is my dilemma: I may never build or buy a gaming PC ever again. I'm having some nasty carpal tunnel like issues that no one can seem to diagnose properly. Might be carpal tunnel or a symptom of something worse. I can't really play any kb/m games and always need to use a controller. My play time has been extensively cut. I don't want to invest in an expensive computer that I won't use enough. Might even want to spend that money on medical bills.

So, let me get to my point. No matter what I'm buying a new video card. In case I never upgrade the rest of my pc, I don't want to get a card that is bottle-necked by my system. At the same time, I really really want to get a powerful card that's somewhat future proof. I've decided on 2 cards:

GTX 760 (not sure if I should get 2 or 4 GB)
GTX 970

I am open to other suggestions. I'm not sure if it's better to go cheaper for now (around $200), or getting something better ($300-$400) and taking a bit of a chance.

Sorry to hear about your medical/money troubles. You should get the 970 for sure over the 760 if you can afford to. There is no such thing as future proof....but the 970 is a much more powerful card than that 760.

That said, there is nothing wrong with a 760 for 1080p gaming if that is all you can afford to get. That or something like an R9 280 would be a nice upgrade to that old 400 series card.

Also, there is no hard and fast rule I can give you about "bottlenecking." That is a very game specific thing.

 

[Celcius]

I've disabled the default extensions in chrome (I haven't installed any others) and I'm still getting page redirects. These free antivirus programs such as avast! don't seem to be detecting anything. Is re-installing windows my only remaining option to get rid of it?

 

[Inkwell]

Sorry to hear about your medical/money troubles. You should get the 970 for sure over the 760 if you can afford to. There is no such thing as future proof....but the 970 is a much more powerful card than that 760.

That said, there is nothing wrong with a 760 for 1080p gaming if that is all you can afford to get. That or something like an R9 280 would be a nice upgrade to that old 400 series card.

Also, there is no hard and fast rule I can give you about "bottlenecking." That is a very game specific thing.

When I posted earlier garath recommended a R9 290. The problem is I have no clue about anything when it comes to ATI. I think it's been over 10 years since I owned an ATI card. Actually I think I got a 9600 when it came with the HL2 voucher. I would still be open to it, but would be more comfortable with nvidia.

Part of the reason I was thinking of getting a 760 was because I game at 1080p. I might just say screw it and get the 970. I'm a very indecisive person though, so I'll think about it for a few days.

 

[The Interrobanger]

Just bought this, gonna pop a GTX 750 Ti in it after Christmas. Did I do OK GAF?

Intel Core i5-4590 Haswell Quad-Core 3.3GHz LGA 11
$209.99

ASRock H97M-ITX/ac LGA 1150 Intel H97 HDMI SATA 6G
$124.99

Crucial MX100 CT256MX100SSD1 2.5" 256GB SATA III M
$116.99

Team Elite 8GB 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 1
$79.99

BitFenix Prodigy Midnight Black Steel / Plastic Mi
$69.99

Antec VP-450 450W ATX 12V v2.3 Power Supply - Inte
$39.99

Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO - CPU Cooler with 120
$34.99

Subtotal: $676.93

 

[The Abominable Snowman]

Any opinions yet on whether we should wait on the upcoming AMD Carizzo APUs for low power HTPC/gaming rigs? I'm excited about it chiefly because it seems to finally give the i5 some competition and it'd be perfect for a small yet capable HTPC box. It even uses the same slot at the A10 7850K from what I gather.

Sucks AMD has been radio silent about it otherwise. Possible delay until march hurts also...

 

[Garteal]

Intel has changed up their plans and will be launching unlocked Broadwell chips a bit earlier alongside Skylake-S chips.

Source: Intel Technology Conference 2014

 

[GavinUK86]

On a pretty non-existent budget so what do you think would be the cheapest upgrade from a GTX 660? After a quick look around a 760 seems the next step up but I'm not sure if it's a big enough leap to really notice any difference.

 

[jfoul]

Reference Nvidia Geforce GTX 970?

 

[Martal]

Guys, whats the final word on SSDs and defragging and page files? There is so much contradicting information im really confused.

Im on Windows 8, I just managed to disable defragging or whatever Win8 calls it now and also disabled my paging file. Am I good to go?

 

[kencey]

Guys,
I'm thinking on upgrading my cpu + motherboard to i5 4690k + GA-Z97X-SLI, and this is what i currently have:
Cpu: I5 760 @ 3.8
MB: P7P55D-Pro
Mem.: 8gb 1800mhz
Gpu: R9 280x

Should i expect a reasonable performance improvement on cpu-bound games? (i have a feeling AC:unity will be cpu-bound when you get to the main town with the lots of npc's on the screen.)
or should i wait and upgrade it later, maybe wait for ddr4?

thank you.

 

[Kezen]

Guys,
I'm thinking on upgrading my cpu + motherboard to i5 4690k + GA-Z97X-SLI, and this is what i currently have:
Cpu: I5 760 @ 3.8
MB: P7P55D-Pro
Mem.: 8gb 1800mhz
Gpu: R9 280x

Should i expect a reasonable performance improvement on cpu-bound games? (i have a feeling AC:unity will be cpu-bound when you get to the main town with the lots of npc's on the screen.)
or should i wait and upgrade it later, maybe wait for ddr4?

thank you.

If I were you I would opt for an I7.

 

[LilJoka]

Guys, whats the final word on SSDs and defragging and page files? There is so much contradicting information im really confused.

Im on Windows 8, I just managed to disable defragging or whatever Win8 calls it now and also disabled my paging file. Am I good to go?

Shouldn't need to disable defragging in windows 7 and above if you installed fresh to an SSD. It will continue to defeat HDDs and not SSDs.
Page file can be moved to the HDD if you want but it's not a big deal. Only real reason to move it is to maximise free space.

Really though, if you do a fresh install to an SSD, windows makes all the required optimisations automatically, everything else is just for preference.

 

[jrush64]

Ok, so I bought a motherboard speaker. I get no beeps when I connect it to the motherboard. I guess that means the motherboard has a problem?

I'm in Nigeria right now and I'm gonna be here for a couple of months. so I can't just order a motherboard from Amazon.

These are the only mATX motherboards I could find. I checked and they are compatible with my CPU and GTX 970.

-Gigabyte GA-B85M-D3H Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard
-Asus B85M-E/CSM Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard

These are my original specs.

-Seagate Barracuda 2 TB HDD SATA 6 Gb/s NCQ 64MB Cache 3.5-Inch Internal Bare Drive ST2000DM001

-Intel Core i5-4690K Processor 3.5 GHz LGA 1150 BX80646I54690K

-BitFenix No Power Supply MicroATX Tower Case BFC-PRM-300-WWXKW-RP (Bitfenix Prodigy M)

-Corsair CX Series 600 Watt ATX/EPS Modular 80 PLUS Bronze ATX12V/EPS12V 552 Power Supply CX600M

-Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO - CPU Cooler with 120mm PWM Fan (RR-212E-20PK-R2)

-Kingston HyperX FURY 16GB Kit (2x8GB) 1600MHz DDR3 CL10 DIMM - Blue

Which do you guys think is the better pick for a motherboard?

 

[Nachtmaer]

PC-GAF, I need some help.

I have no desire, zero desire, like negative desire, to build my own PC. Despite being a mid-40s homeowner, handyman is not in my resume. I feel pretty strongly that 1, I would fuck it up and 2, I would hate every second of having to do it.

So, I need some advice on where to head with that info.

Here's the deal. I have a laptop. It's an ASUS N53S:
- i7-2670, 2.2 GHz
- GeForce GT 630M 2GB
- 6 GB of memory

It's about two years old. I like it quite a bit, but with a Nexus 7 for mobility, the laptop basically sits in one room. I treat it like a desktop.

It plays a decent number of games, though we're starting to see some come out (Shadow of Mordor, for instance) where the old girl doesn't meet minimum specs.


So, I've begun to wonder whether I should just pony up for a desktop. Given Christmas is approaching, I've considered starting by putting a monitor on my wish list, which could temporarily be attached to the laptop.

I've been looking at this one.

At some point I would then need to go with the full kit and kaboodle and buy a desktop. Something capable of playing games but preferably in the $600-$700 range.

I don't know if it's available for you, but plenty of shops offer doing the assembly with the parts you picked for a fee. This way you won't have to deal with the headaches while having the same freedom as people who put their own desktop together. I'm always a bit skeptical about the motherboards and power supplies prebuilts use. It also most likely ends up being cheaper than buying some prebuilt that comes with the typical GAMER LED EDITION tax.

 

[JavaMind]

Bought MSI Gaming r9 290 for $249 i hope i don't regret :/

 

[kencey]

If I were you I would opt for an I7.

Why i7 ? For gaming makes not much difference, but do you mean for future-proof?

 

[AngmarsKing701]

I don't know if it's available for you, but plenty of shops offer doing the assembly with the parts you picked for a fee. This way you won't have to deal with the headaches while having the same freedom as people who put their own desktop together. I'm always a bit skeptical about the motherboards and power supplies prebuilts use. It also most likely ends up being cheaper than buying some prebuilt that comes with the typical GAMER LED EDITION tax.

Ok thanks. I'll look around my area. Also would give me the option of compiling it over time I guess.

 

[Naked Snake]

Guys, I need some guidance. I just bought the MSI Twin Frozr 970, it's my first GPU purchase in over a decade (I don't even remember the name of the last one I had), so I've been away from PC gaming for a long time.

What are the ideal steps to follow to install and test the card?

1. Uninstall existing Intel Graphics drivers
2. Install new drivers (from MSI or from NVIDIA?)
3. Install card
4. Download and run some benchmark/testing programs? Which one(s)?

Is this correct order? Did I miss anything?

I hope the jump from PS3 to this makes me go:

 

[XShadows69]

Friends new GTX970 is running hella slow on CS GO (30-40fps) and in general doesn't feel like its running as fast as it should be. Not getting 100% gpu usage either.

 

[Skel1ingt0n]

Friends new GTX970 is running hella slow on CS GO (30-40fps) and in general doesn't feel like its running as fast as it should be. Not getting 100% gpu usage either.

In Nvidia Control Panel, under global settings, under max power usage, have you changed it from "adaptive" to "max power."

That's helped me in the past.

 

[Skel1ingt0n]

Guys, I need some guidance. I just bought the MSI 970, it's my first GPU purchase in over a decade (I don't even remember the name of the last one I had), so I've been away from PC gaming for a long time.

What are the ideal steps to follow to install and test the card?

1. Uninstall existing Intel Graphics drivers
2. Install new drivers (from MSI or from NVIDIA?)
3. Install card
4. Download and run some benchmark/testing programs? Which one(s)?

Is this correct order? Did I miss anything?

Technically, yes, that covers all your steps.

But in the last five years, I've had no problem just turning computer off. Plugging card in. Turning computer on. Install new drivers. Done.

 

[Kezen]

Why i7 ? For gaming makes not much difference, but do you mean for future-proof?

It does make a difference for gaming, look up some benchmarks.
Well worth the price difference if you ask me.
http://www.computerbase.de/2014-05/benchmarks-watch-dogs-amd-nvidia-vergleich/

2. Install new drivers (from MSI or from NVIDIA?)
3. Install card
4. Download and run some benchmark/testing programs? Which one(s)?

Install your GPU before installing new drivers.

 

[Prophet Steve]

Guys, whats the final word on SSDs and defragging and page files? There is so much contradicting information im really confused.

Im on Windows 8, I just managed to disable defragging or whatever Win8 calls it now and also disabled my paging file. Am I good to go?

I think it doesn't defrag SSDs automatically, but yeah, as long as you are not defragging it it is fine.

Pagefile is what is used if your entire RAM is allocated I think. You can move it to a normal drive or disable it as you did. Personally I haven't gotten across any troubles, but I suppose there is always a chance. You can also just lower the amount if you think it takes too much space but that is the only reason that you would want to do something with it.

Was more useful when SSDs had less capacity.

But yeah, you are perfectly ready to go.

Why i7 ? For gaming makes not much difference, but do you mean for future-proof?

I am not sure either. Sure, it is better, but I don't see anything why you would specifically need an i7. Maybe because the recommendations for Assassins Creed are super high and it is possible it will run like crap.

 

[XShadows69]

In Nvidia Control Panel, under global settings, under max power usage, have you changed it from "adaptive" to "max power."

That's helped me in the past.

No luck. Every other game runs fine though - 60fps. You can notice the jump. It couldn't be a psu issue could it? He got a new xfx550w core psu, should be more than sufficient.

 

[axb2013]

Guys, I need some guidance. I just bought the MSI 970, it's my first GPU purchase in over a decade (I don't even remember the name of the last one I had), so I've been away from PC gaming for a long time.

What are the ideal steps to follow to install and test the card?

1. Uninstall existing Intel Graphics drivers
2. Install new drivers (from MSI or from NVIDIA?)
3. Install card
4. Download and run some benchmark/testing programs? Which one(s)?

Is this correct order? Did I miss anything?

You don't have to uninstall the Intel driver. You can try Unigine or 3DMark. Or you can just try some prolonged gaming sessions to test the card. Maybe run FRAPS to monitor frame rate and compare to benchmark results on similar PC's. recommend Afterburner to monitor temps but of course you can use whatever you prefer.

This seems to be a myth.

Google search results on this explain why. And in fact if anything multi-rail 12v is slightly better/safer for higher wattage PSUs.

Why is it still purported here?

This was a whiIe ago but I think because a few multi rail PSU's got exposed on SLI/crossfire setups. I do agree, multi rail is better but on quality units.

I have a single rail Antec right now but I was fishing for a great deal on a PSU and eventually got it. I now have a multi rail beast in reserve, it's overkill for my current setup and just waiting for the next gaming PC I build. If you are still looking, don't be afraid of older units, a good PSU is very much future proof. I paid $60 for a Antec Signature 850W because it got discontinued. It's a 2008 model ($299 at launch) but I am absolutely confident in it. It delivers 65A combined, if you have 2 GPU's, each gpu gets a dedicated 12V 25A rail. There are many other quality bargains out there, I suggest looking up older quality PSU's on http://www.jonnyguru.com/index.php then bargain hunting those.

I saw someone post about having a bent pin. This is a good walkthrough how to fix it with a needle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsgodSeRdWA

I've disabled the default extensions in chrome (I haven't installed any others) and I'm still getting page redirects. These free antivirus programs such as avast! don't seem to be detecting anything. Is re-installing windows my only remaining option to get rid of it?

That's an extreme measure. Where are you getting redirected to? Maybe try uninstalling chrome first? Have a thorough look into chrome settings first. I had a similar issue with chrome reopening tabs, simple fix but buried deep.

 

[Jacksinthe]

Update:
Tried the switch from AHCI to IDE for my SSD and that didn't do anything but cause Windows not to boot. I also noticed my boot device order was whack. Fixed the boot order and set back to AHCI for my SSD. When booting, windows did a quick file system check and that was that.

No hanging or anything in the past 24 hours. Runs smooth, fast and I was able to work just fine.

It may have just been a fluke working with an older version of chop and Chrome being Chrome that caused the minor hiccups. I'm not too worried about it any longer. If a temp hang happens again I'll look into it further. Until then if the ship is smooth I'll just happily ride along

 

[Naked Snake]

You don't have to uninstall the Intel driver. You can try Unigine or 3DMark. Or you can just try some prolonged gaming sessions to test the card. Maybe run FRAPS to monitor frame rate and compare to benchmark results on similar PC's. recommend Afterburner to monitor temps but of course you can use whatever you prefer.


This was a whiIe ago but I think because a few multi rail PSU's got exposed on SLI/crossfire setups. I do agree, multi rail is better but on quality units.

I have a single rail Antec right now but I was fishing for a great deal on a PSU and eventually got it. I now have a multi rail beast in reserve, it's overkill for my current setup and just waiting for the next gaming PC I build. If you are still looking, don't be afraid of older units, a good PSU is very much future proof. I paid $60 for a Antec Signature 850W because it got discontinued. It's a 2008 model ($299 at launch) but I am absolutely confident in it. It delivers 65A combined, if you have 2 GPU's, each gpu gets a dedicated 12V 25A rail. There are many other quality bargains out there, I suggest looking up older quality PSU's on http://www.jonnyguru.com/index.php then bargain hunting those.

Thanks for the tips.

I still haven't bought a PSU (and I need a new case too), I would have picked them up today with the card but my friend told me he has extra cases and PSUs that he doesn't use that he can give me (guy works in 3D animation and basically has a rendering farm in his flat), so I thought I'll pay him a visit tonight before I buy anything, could save me a good amount of money if what he got works for me. He also got the exact type, speed and size RAM that I need to match the ones I have (and he doesn't use it), which I looked all over town for today with no luck. What an awesome friend!

Failing that, I have my eyes on this case: GIGABYTE GZ-G1 it's the lowest priced seemingly decent one I could find locally.

 

[XShadows69]

Any other ideas guys? He is running on a 1333*768 display so I thought a 970 would be giving him easily 60+fps on all games.

 

[LilJoka]

Any other ideas guys? He is running on a 1333*768 display so I thought a 970 would be giving him easily 60+fps on all games.

He should be getting over 100fps maybe even 200fps.

I would download GPUz, run that and go to the sensors page. Tick the checkbox to monitor in the back ground.

Now open CS and play for a few minutes. Go back to GPUz and check the core and memory click speeds. They should be running in the 1200mhz range for core and 1500mhz for memory. Check the temperature, shouldn't go over 70c.

Make sure vsync is disabled in game.

 

[Inkwell]

So I was just about to buy a GTX 970 when I started reading about bad coil whine. Anyone have experience with this? I always play games with headphones so I doubt I would notice it much but it still makes me a little nervous. I was going to get the EVGA superclocked 970, but now I'm wondering if I should choose a different manufacturer.

 

[Naked Snake]

So I was just about to buy a GTX 970 when I started reading about bad coil whine. Anyone have experience with this? I always play games with headphones so I doubt I would notice it much but it still makes me a little nervous. I was going to get the EVGA superclocked 970, but now I'm wondering if I should choose a different manufacturer.

It's seems like a lottery thing with all brands from what I gathered. No way to minimize the chances of getting a whiner by choosing one brand over another I'm afraid. Just gotta pick one and hope you don't get a loud one.

 

[Sickbean]

So I was just about to buy a GTX 970 when I started reading about bad coil whine. Anyone have experience with this? I always play games with headphones so I doubt I would notice it much but it still makes me a little nervous. I was going to get the EVGA superclocked 970, but now I'm wondering if I should choose a different manufacturer.

I think like in every case like this things are extremely exaggerated.

FWIW I've got an EVGA 970 FTW and it has no coil whine whatsoever.

 

[garath]

So I was just about to buy a GTX 970 when I started reading about bad coil whine. Anyone have experience with this? I always play games with headphones so I doubt I would notice it much but it still makes me a little nervous. I was going to get the EVGA superclocked 970, but now I'm wondering if I should choose a different manufacturer.

IMO. They all have it whether or not you hear it. You get one that bothers you the least.

I thought my evga FTW was buzz free until I loaded bf4. Who knows what future games will hold. It is worlds better than my Asus that would buzz on most games.

 

[shintoki]

Building my new PC now and ran into the problem of it not booting up. Spent most of the night trying to figure out what's not working and I'm thinking its the motherboard.

Problem: The PC has power, it's just not turning on. The Motherboard does light up.

I have a
ASUS Z97
650Watt Power Supply
Geforce 560TI
16gigs of Ram
I7 4970k Processor

Everything is showing up as compatible.

The only thing I'm unsure about is the Casing. It is the Cool Master's
http://www.aztekcomputers.com/RC692AKKN5-COOLER-MASTER-3283004.html

It was purchased back in 2011 when DOTA 2 came out.
The Power supply and Graphics card are both hold overs too from my previous PC.

Any ideas other than a short circuited mother board.

 

[Sykotik]

Any ideas other than a short circuited mother board.

Try unplugging anything that is interfacing with the case, such as front-side USB, audio jacks, etc. from the motherboard.

On my Coolermaster HAF 920, the USB 2.0 on the case was causing the PC to not boot.

 

[Inkwell]

It's seems like a lottery thing with all brands from what I gathered. No way to minimize the chances of getting a whiner by choosing one brand over another I'm afraid. Just gotta pick one and hope you don't get a loud one.

I think like in every case like this things are extremely exaggerated.

FWIW I've got an EVGA 970 FTW and it has no coil whine whatsoever.

IMO. They all have it whether or not you hear it. You get one that bothers you the least.

I thought my evga FTW was buzz free until I loaded bf4. Who knows what future games will hold. It is worlds better than my Asus that would buzz on most games.

I guess I'll just stick with EVGA then. By the way, is it worth getting the FTW version of the SC one? Are they more stable or run a bit cooler? I thought I remember reading that SC versions tend to be cards that weren't stable at higher clock speeds?

 

[Aesius]

I'm thinking about selling my gaming PC (minus the brand new SSD) and starting over with a new build from scratch.

How much do you guys think I could get out of this?

Antec Sonata II case
500W Thermaltake PSU
AMD Phenom II X4 965 CPU (with 212 Plus cooler)
AMD 7850 2 GB GPU
4 GB RAM
1 500 GB IDE HD
1 640 GB IDE HD
2 DVD-RW drives

Would I be better off parting it out instead?

 

[The Llama]

I'm thinking about selling my gaming PC (minus the brand new SSD) and starting over with a new build from scratch.

How much do you guys think I could get out of this?

Antec Sonata II case
500W Thermaltake PSU
AMD Phenom II X4 965 CPU (with 212 Plus cooler)
AMD 7850 2 GB GPU
4 GB RAM
1 500 GB IDE HD
1 640 GB IDE HD
2 DVD-RW drives

Would I be better off parting it out instead?

Probably not much either way, to be honest.

 

[BrokenFiction]

Hopefully I can get a bit of advice. Just got a new Sapphire Dual-X R9 280 3GB card and I've played basically 2 games since I've gotten it - Alien: Isolation and Wasteland 2.

Both of them have caused the fans on the video card to run very loud. Alien I can kind of understand, but I didn't think W2 would be that big of a deal. Googling hasn't helped me that much, but I can't think that the fans need to sound like a jet engine all the time.

Am I wrong? Or am I doing something wrong?

 

[Garteal]

Got the exact same card and it's only loud when the fans are at 80% or so.

Right-click your desktop and click on AMD CCC.
In the Control Center go to Performance -> AMD OverDrive.
Check what your fanspeed there is when it seems loud.

You can also set up a fan profile with MSI Afterburner (which I'd recommend anyway as the default profile sucks).

 

[Booshka]

Is this worth getting? I was holding out for a Critical or Samsung SSD, but this seems like a really good deal so long as it is a good drive.

 

[Kezen]

Is this worth getting? I was holding out for a Critical or Samsung SSD, but this seems like a really good deal so long as it is a good drive.

Intel SSDs are excellent, go for it.

 

[LilJoka]

I just flashed my GTX 970 for higher power limits =P

 

[orochi91]

Thanx for all the help. I connected the PC without the RAM but I heard no beeps. The Video still didnt come on.

Even tried with my video card but no luck.

The fans all started working along with the light on the pc case.

I don't know what to do anymore.

No beeps whatsoever?

I'm convinced that's a motherboard issue.

I had the exact same thing happen to me a few years back, and it turned out I somehow shorted/fried my MOBO.

Happened when I tried installing a new 1TB HDD.

Update:
Tried the switch from AHCI to IDE for my SSD and that didn't do anything but cause Windows not to boot. I also noticed my boot device order was whack. Fixed the boot order and set back to AHCI for my SSD. When booting, windows did a quick file system check and that was that.

No hanging or anything in the past 24 hours. Runs smooth, fast and I was able to work just fine.

Excellent.

It's usually always the oddest things that may prevent a system from running as it should.

 

[IAmRandom31]

Hopefully I can get a bit of advice. Just got a new Sapphire Dual-X R9 280 3GB card and I've played basically 2 games since I've gotten it - Alien: Isolation and Wasteland 2.

Both of them have caused the fans on the video card to run very loud. Alien I can kind of understand, but I didn't think W2 would be that big of a deal. Googling hasn't helped me that much, but I can't think that the fans need to sound like a jet engine all the time.

Am I wrong? Or am I doing something wrong?

You'd have to look at the temperature on the GPU itself.

If the Temps are shooting up, then the fans will react to the change. If the temps are low yet the speed is going up anyway. May want to try to create a scale in MSI or something that controls the temps. And also make sure the card is secure inside the case. If it is loose the vibration caused by the fans spinning could be causing it to be louder. Listen and try and tell if the sound is coming from the case or the actual fans.

The jet engine mention makes it sound like its just normal fan stuff. Fans are loud when they get to 75% speeds. Some louder then others.

 

[orochi91]

I'm thinking about selling my gaming PC (minus the brand new SSD) and starting over with a new build from scratch.

How much do you guys think I could get out of this?

Antec Sonata II case
500W Thermaltake PSU
AMD Phenom II X4 965 CPU (with 212 Plus cooler)
AMD 7850 2 GB GPU
4 GB RAM
1 500 GB IDE HD
1 640 GB IDE HD
2 DVD-RW drives

Would I be better off parting it out instead?

You can get a solid $200 for that setup.

Sell it online.