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"I Need a New PC!" 2014 Part 2. Read OP, your 2500K will run Witcher 3. MX100s! 970!

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O

opticalmace

Member
catapult37 said:
Agh!! My second 6950 was going bad, so I went to remove it to try a fix. I forgot that the stupid PCI-e slot has that little release clip. :-(

I pulled, and it didn't just break the clip. It took half the PCI-e slot with it. Am I just SOL here until I get another motherboard? At least the PC still boots with the first GPU.
Click to expand...

I have no experience with this but it seems like the issue is making sure there's no short or anything on the exposed connections. If you could do that I imagine it would be okay, but I would personally lean towards using this as an excuse to upgrade just to be safe.

What are your system specs?
 
R

ricki42

Member
opticalmace said:
I had been using 4.5GHz at 1.335V in Windows for the last couple weeks with occasional p95 runs and it seemed okay. I didn't test it overnight admittedly. Anyway, after finding it was unstable in Linux I reverted to a stable 4.3GHz setup I have been using for the last year or so. It seemed to be okay there, as I just now ran mprime for a while, using lm-sensors to monitor the temps and vcore--they were about what I'd expect--and there are no problems so far. I am using Ubuntu 13.10 by the way. Maybe it is just more sensitive than windows to instabilities somehow?

I'm not sure what pstate is, but I do have speedstep enabled (unless I'm confusing terminology). In Windows it drops to 1.6GHz/1V on idle, but in Linux it goes to 1.6GHz/0.74V on idle. I'm not sure why they're different. I'm using a vcore offset of -0.03V. (edit: now it's at 1V on idle in Linux. I don't understand cpus.)
Click to expand...

intel_pstate is a power scaling driver, I think it doesn't work with Ubuntu pre-14.04. In many other distros it's part of the kernel by default. If you can upgrade to 14.04, you can follow these instructions to set up thermald and enable intel_pstate.
You can check your current CPU governor with
Code: 
cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_governor
The 'ondemand' governor shouldn't be used with newer Intel CPUs. You could try setting it to performance to test if that is stable. If you use intel_pstate, the only available governors are 'powersave' and 'performance', with 'performance' running all cores at maximum frequency all the time. I have not had issues running 'powersave'.
 
C

catapult37

Member
opticalmace said:
I have no experience with this but it seems like the issue is making sure there's no short or anything on the exposed connections. If you could do that I imagine it would be okay, but I would personally lean towards using this as an excuse to upgrade just to be safe.

What are your system specs?
Click to expand...

Sigh.

It's an LGA1155 socket mobo. I have a 2500K. I suppose I could go to Haswell, but then I'd need a new CPU. I've got 2x 6950s in crossfire, or I did until a half hour ago. 4GB RAM, kinda low there. 256GB SSD.

My only planned upgrade this year was going to switch to a single-card Nvidia solution. So I might be okay, as long as the broken board doesn't damage other things.

The PCI-e slot is totally unsalvageable, I take it? Looks like a clean break, but I don't imagine there's any way to fix it.
 
L

LilJoka

Member
RedlineRonin said:
Thanks so much for taking the time to make all those recommendations. I actually really like that Fractal 605 case. Newegg says that it'll fit an 11" card with both HDD cages out and I think the 980's are 10.5", so that works. I'll figure out another way to mount the SSD.

Is there a reason you didn't select a water cooled solution for CPU cooling? I understood it was almost necessary if you OC'd, but I'm not certain.

Is 850W enough power if I do decide to go SLI in the future?

The three mobo's you recommended are all mini/micro. Do I lose anything stepping down from full size ATX to those options?

Thanks so much!
Click to expand...

With the Node 605 build you can get a full ATX board if you wish. Going to mATX you lose some PCI lanes and usually fewer SATA ports than ATX boards. That board still has 6 SATA ports though. Also with the smaller boards you tend to need more expensive ones to get similar overclocks as the larger boards. So a $100 ATX board may overclock better than a $120 mATX board. But we are talking at the extreme end of CPU overclocking. Generally they will all get similar results.

The mITX boards only have 1 PCIE port, so no room to SLI. Also they usually have 4 SATA ports and onboard WiFi.

I recommend going for the 970's though, since the 980 is nearly twice the price for about 10% improvement, very bad value for money.

850W is enough for this type of rig, Seasonic are also one of the top PSU manufacturers.

In the Node 605 you could probably fit a all in one water cooler, youll have to see what other people have done with their builds. Its not essential because for any really overclocking on Haswell you need to delid the CPU. Since the CPUs use thermal paste between the CPU die and CPU heatspreader, the increase in cooling capacity has barely any effect since you are limited at a prior heat transfer. This means there is no point splashing out cash for premium coolers like the good ol days.

You can install the SSD anywhere you want, Id double side tape it to the top of the PSU. And for the HDD i would suspension mount it on the right hand side of the case using bungee cords.
 
O

opticalmace

Member
ricki42 said:
intel_pstate is a power scaling driver, I think it doesn't work with Ubuntu pre-14.04. In many other distros it's part of the kernel by default. If you can upgrade to 14.04, you can follow these instructions to set up thermald and enable intel_pstate.
You can check your current CPU governor with
Code: 
cat /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu0/cpufreq/scaling_governor
The 'ondemand' governor shouldn't be used with newer Intel CPUs. You could try setting it to performance to test if that is stable. If you use intel_pstate, the only available governors are 'powersave' and 'performance', with 'performance' running all cores at maximum frequency all the time. I have not had issues running 'powersave'.
Click to expand...

Thank you for the help. I will upgrade to 14.04 tonight and see how things go.

catapult37 said:
Sigh.

It's an LGA1155 socket mobo. I have a 2500K. I suppose I could go to Haswell, but then I'd need a new CPU. I've got 2x 6950s in crossfire, or I did until a half hour ago. 4GB RAM, kinda low there. 256GB SSD.

My only planned upgrade this year was going to switch to a single-card Nvidia solution. So I might be okay, as long as the broken board doesn't damage other things.

The PCI-e slot is totally unsalvageable, I take it? Looks like a clean break, but I don't imagine there's any way to fix it.
Click to expand...
This is just my speculation. BTW your pictures don't seem to be loading for me anymore. Spend some time googling, it looks like quite a few people have done what you did. The only thing that can go wrong I think is if there is a short circuit across the exposed connections. If you can isolate them I don't think you would have an issue. I don't think you can fix that particular PCI-e slot.

Is the second 6950 broken? You mentioned it was going bad.

You know, I bet you could find a new motherboard for pretty cheap now. Like $50, $100?
 
V

Vulcano's assistant

Banned
Acrylic7 said:
Ok so I wont be going to class again, I'm pretty much dropping out. But I still want to pursue my dreams. Now that I will have a lot more time on my hands I can definitely get some work done properly.

Of course I need a PC for Gaming but mostly 3D rendering software like Maya, video editing software, Photoshop, UDK ect. I'm not PC tech savvy enough to pick out PC parts correctly on my own so I was hoping that some of you could help me build a PC that could accomplish these tasks for around $800-ish.
Click to expand...

Are you making renders for architecture or other things that are too detailed to be real time, or are you going to be making games? Because if it is the first case, then most 3d rendering software use CPU as the renderer by default, and the GPU rendering is something you have to purchase with a third party plugin. In this case I would not go with a high end GPU. If you are making games using Unity, Unreal, and what not, then I would recommend a great GPU though.

anyway. There is a format in the OP when asking for a built. Follow that and post again so the people that know more than I do can give you a starting point.
 
C

catapult37

Member
opticalmace said:
Is the second 6950 broken? You mentioned it was going bad.

You know, I bet you could find a new motherboard for pretty cheap now. Like $50, $100?
Click to expand...

Pictures are fixed now. I broke the slot completely in half! :-( The stuff I found on google was only people breaking the clip. I'm special that way.

The second 6950 was definitely off. It was spiking temps way high, throwing up all kinds of artifacts, etc. I'll probably still try to fix it (maybe just reseating the heatsink, there's that crazy oven trick, i don't know).

You're probably right that I could get a new MB for cheap. I just hate to buy LG1155 in 2014, but I don't want to also buy a new CPU. I wouldn't mind having a mobo that will do SLI; mine was only CF.

Well, maybe this just accelerates the new build... my wallet is not really ready though :-/
 
L

LilJoka

Member
catapult37 said:
Pictures are fixed now. I broke the slot completely in half! :-( The stuff I found on google was only people breaking the clip. I'm special that way.

The second 6950 was definitely off. It was spiking temps way high, throwing up all kinds of artifacts, etc. I'll probably still try to fix it (maybe just reseating the heatsink, there's that crazy oven trick, i don't know).

You're probably right that I could get a new MB for cheap. I just hate to buy LG1155 in 2014, but I don't want to also buy a new CPU. I wouldn't mind having a mobo that will do SLI; mine was only CF.

Well, maybe this just accelerates the new build... my wallet is not really ready though :-/
Click to expand...

For that thing to come off its mighty impressive. All the pins came off with the plastic meaning that port is no longer fit for use.

Its also likely that the pins had become defective, and that could explain the issues you experienced with the GPU too.

So need a new board and then test the old GPU again.

vocab said:
Is a 4790k always supposed to sit at 4.0-4.2 ghz with power saving options?
Click to expand...

Should downclock to like 800Mhz
 
T

TGMIII

Member
Building a PC for a friend and just running this by to see if anyone has any slight changes they would make:

CPU: i5-4690K
RAM: G.Skill 8GB DDR3 PC3-14900
Heatsink: CM Hyper 212 EVO
Motherboard: ASRock Z97 PRO4
GPU: R9 280
PSU: Seasonic M12-II EVO 520W
HDD: WD10EZEX
Case: Corsair 200R

Budget is £650 and all of that is clocking in at around £629. Mostly looking for some feedback on GPU vendors and any other suggestions in parts that might need to be made. Also wondering if there will be enough clearance on the RAM for the 212 EVO to fit. Appreciate any feedback.
 
C

catapult37

Member
LilJoka said:
Its also likely that the pins had become defective, and that could explain the issues you experienced with the GPU too.
Click to expand...

Interesting. Like I said, the board still works, so maybe I'll swap in the 2nd GPU just to see if it was the slot after all.

I'll feel better if it turns out I snapped an already-broken PCIe slot :)
 
K

Kezen

Banned
awwyeahgurrl said:
Building a PC for a friend and just running this by to see if anyone has any slight changes they would make:

CPU: i5-4690K
RAM: G.Skill 8GB DDR3 PC3-14900
Heatsink: CM Hyper 212 EVO
Motherboard: ASRock Z97 PRO4
GPU: R9 280
PSU: Seasonic M12-II EVO 520W
HDD: WD10EZEX
Case: Corsair 200R

Budget is £650 and all of that is clocking in at around £629. Mostly looking for some feedback on GPU vendors and any other suggestions in parts that might need to be made. Also wondering if there will be enough clearance on the RAM for the 212 EVO to fit. Appreciate any feedback.
Click to expand...

I could be wrong but isn't a single 12v rail a safer option than 2 ?
 
R

Reven

Member
Hey everyone I have a question about power supplies and motherboards. I have finally got all my parts today. The motherboard is a MSI Z97 Mpower and the PSU is a Corsair HX650. The board has 4 power plugs on it, a 24 pin, a 8 pin, a 4 pin and a 6 pin for giving extra power to the PCI slots. The PSU only has a 24 pin atx and a 8 pin EPS 12V. I haven't hooked everything up yet. Will this PSU work with my motherboard or do I need a more powerful one?
 
L

LilJoka

Member
Reven said:
Hey everyone I have a question about power supplies and motherboards. I have finally got all my parts today. The motherboard is a MSI Z97 Mpower and the PSU is a Corsair HX650. The board has 4 power plugs on it, a 24 pin, a 8 pin, a 4 pin and a 6 pin for giving extra power to the PCI slots. The PSU only has a 24 pin atx and a 8 pin EPS 12V. I haven't hooked everything up yet. Will this PSU work with my motherboard or do I need a more powerful one?
Click to expand...

Its extra power, so yes it works with just using the 8pin and 24pin ATX power cables.
 
T

TGMIII

Member
Kezen said:
Or maybe it's me who's uninformed. I've always heard one single strong rail is better but I have no empirical evidence to back that up.
EDIT : Apparently it does not matter much as you say :
http://www.antec.com/PSU/Myth2.php
Click to expand...

LilJoka said:
Doesnt matter so much anymore, youve got a top manufacturer and a well reviewed PSU so no need to worry.
Click to expand...

Yeah that's what I assumed. Just trying to find a vendor for the R9 280 now.
 
M

MizzouRah

Member
Just replaced an ancient Zalman CNPS9500A 2 Ball CPU cooler with the Cooler Master 212 Evo. Night and day difference with sounds levels and temperatures. I think the thermal paste must have dried up on the old cooler/ dust wrecked havoc.

I am running an i7 920 overclocked to 3.8ghz. Where I was getting 80-90c in Prime 95, I'm now getting low 60s.
 
appaws

appaws

Banned
awwyeahgurrl said:
Building a PC for a friend and just running this by to see if anyone has any slight changes they would make:

CPU: i5-4690K
RAM: G.Skill 8GB DDR3 PC3-14900
Heatsink: CM Hyper 212 EVO
Motherboard: ASRock Z97 PRO4
GPU: R9 280
PSU: Seasonic M12-II EVO 520W
HDD: WD10EZEX
Case: Corsair 200R

Budget is £650 and all of that is clocking in at around £629. Mostly looking for some feedback on GPU vendors and any other suggestions in parts that might need to be made. Also wondering if there will be enough clearance on the RAM for the 212 EVO to fit. Appreciate any feedback.
Click to expand...

awwyeahgurrl said:
I was under the impression that 1 rail v 2 rail ultimately doesn't matter that much. Maybe I'm misinformed?
Click to expand...

awwyeahgurrl said:
Yeah that's what I assumed. Just trying to find a vendor for the R9 280 now.
Click to expand...

I've heard lately that the 1 rail vs. 2 rail thing was a myth. That is a good PSU you picked.

As for RAM, just get low-profile RAM so they don't interfere with the heatsink. If you want to stick with G. Skill choose their "Ares" series.

Any of the first-tier GPU vendors are good. Asus, Gigabyte, EVGA, MSI, Sapphire.

Is your friend sold on the 200R? I think it is a pretty lackluster, outdated case. How about the NZXT S340 instead...? An overall better, more flexible design, IMO.
 
Z

zero shift

Banned
opticalmace said:
10000 in graphics or overall?

edit: saw this post of yours. Your graphics score looks fine. The reason why you're getting 'only 10k' is because of your cpu.
Click to expand...

I guess. I ran it more few times to stress test my overlcok. It ranges from 9000 to 10000.

Seems like very minimal approvement. Though Heaven had some improvement.

I just expected more from a GPU overclock, similar to my CPU overclock.

Maybe it's also because I am using a PCI Express x16 2.0 rather than 3.0?
 
K

Krauser Kat

Member
is the cooling on this card adequate. r9 290 asus
$_57.JPG
Click to expand...
http://www.ebay.com/itm/ASUS-R9-290...016?pt=PCC_Video_TV_Cards&hash=item43d32ffba0
 
T

TGMIII

Member
appaws said:
Is your friend sold on the 200R? I think it is a pretty lackluster, outdated case. How about the NZXT S340 instead...? An overall better, more flexible design, IMO.
Click to expand...

It was mainly just due to trying to get the shipping done with amazon prime but the case is out of stock now so I might end up going with the NZXT S340 in the end, although it is a little ugly. Thanks to anyone who gave suggestions/help.
 
O

opticalmace

Member
zero shift said:
I guess. I ran it more few times to stress test my overlcok. It ranges from 9000 to 10000.

Seems like very minimal approvement. Though Heaven had some improvement.

I just expected more from a GPU overclock, similar to my CPU overclock.

Maybe it's also because I am using a PCI Express x16 2.0 rather than 3.0?
Click to expand...

9000 in graphics score or overall score? The distinction is important. Can you post a couple images from say regular clocks and when you have it overclocked? 2.0 vs 3.0 doesn't matter at all.
 
S

Sr Kitsune

Member
K

kaskade

Member
Any ideas on black friday stuff for GPUs? I think I settled on the r9 280 since I want to keep it topped out at $200. But if I can get the card for less that'll be great.
 
L

LilJoka

Member
zero shift said:
I guess. I ran it more few times to stress test my overlcok. It ranges from 9000 to 10000.

Seems like very minimal approvement. Though Heaven had some improvement.

I just expected more from a GPU overclock, similar to my CPU overclock.

Maybe it's also because I am using a PCI Express x16 2.0 rather than 3.0?
Click to expand...

Its normal.
Youll see a big difference in games, but barely no difference in Valley or Heaven. Same on my system.
Try the Tomb Raider benchmark.
 
I

Inkvoterad

Member
So i'm looking for a new GPU, and i'm leaning towards this one. I myself know quite a little about PC hardware, but some friends says that this one is pretty damn good for the price.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00NNXVPS2/?tag=neogaf0e-20

I wanna try to keep myself around the 300-400$ pricerange, but still not entirely sure.

Anyone here that might have any suggestions? Or should i just go with this?
 
G

garath

Member
Be sure to post any great SSD black Friday deals. I think its finally time to grab a 256 drive for OS and a few games. Ill get a larger one later.
 
L

LilJoka

Member
Inkvoterad said:
So i'm looking for a new GPU, and i'm leaning towards this one. I myself know quite a little about PC hardware, but some friends says that this one is pretty damn good for the price.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00NNXVPS2/?tag=neogaf0e-20

I wanna try to keep myself around the 300-400$ pricerange, but still not entirely sure.

Anyone here that might have any suggestions? Or should i just go with this?
Click to expand...

Why in the world would you buy a Zotac instead of this
http://www.amazon.com/Gigabyte-GeForce-Graphics-GV-N970G1-GAMING-4GD/dp/B00NH5T1MS/ref=sr_1_4?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1417041474&sr=1-4&keywords=GTX+970
 
G

Ganzlinger

Member
Guys, I'm noob at PC, but with these specs:

GTX 670
i7-2600 CPU @ 3.40GHz 3.40 GHz
RAM: 8,00 GB

Is it possible to play Dragon Age Inquisition on Ultra, despite FPS and stuff?

And I know the minimum recommended to play AC Unity is a GTX 680, but do you guys think it can handle it?
 
G

garath

Member
Ganzlinger said:
Guys, I'm noob at PC, but with these specs:

GTX 670
i7-2600 CPU @ 3.40GHz 3.40 GHz
RAM: 8,00 GB

Is it possible to play Dragon Age Inquisition on Ultra, despite FPS and stuff?

And I know the minimum recommended to play AC Unity is a GTX 680, but do you guys think it can handle it?
Click to expand...

No, not for the whole thing. At best you'll probably be in the 30fps range with some dips into the single digit (Redcliffe is kinda nuts).

But you can compromise pretty well and turn down some settings and still have it look great and perform well. Not a HUGE difference between ultra and a mix of high/ultra.
 
K

Kezen

Banned
Ganzlinger said:
Guys, I'm noob at PC, but with these specs:

GTX 670
i7-2600 CPU @ 3.40GHz 3.40 GHz
RAM: 8,00 GB

Is it possible to play Dragon Age Inquisition on Ultra, despite FPS and stuff?

And I know the minimum recommended to play AC Unity is a GTX 680, but do you guys think it can handle it?
Click to expand...

Not ultra for Dragon Age but high/30fps should be achievable.
Regarding Unity yes it will run but you will have to play with very low res textures. Not worth it.
You can see the difference in texture quality here :
http://www.geforce.com/whats-new/guides/assassins-creed-unity-graphics-and-performance-guide
Texture quality is really good at ultra high, less so on high and frankly dismal on low.
 
G

Ganzlinger

Member
garath said:
No, not for the whole thing. At best you'll probably be in the 30fps range with some dips into the single digit (Redcliffe is kinda nuts).

But you can compromise pretty well and turn down some settings and still have it look great and perform well. Not a HUGE difference between ultra and a mix of high/ultra.
Click to expand...

Kezen said:
Not ultra for Dragon Age but high/30fps should be achievable.
Regarding Unity yes it will run but you will have to play with very low res textures. Not worth it.
You can see the difference in texture quality here :
http://www.geforce.com/whats-new/guides/assassins-creed-unity-graphics-and-performance-guide
Texture quality is really good at ultra high, less so on high and frankly dismal on low.
Click to expand...

Thanks, guys!
 
T

The Shogun

Banned
Pepiope said:
I need to OC too. Have the 4790k with a beast heatsink and it's still sitting at 4.0GHz
Click to expand...

Yeah I tried pushing to 4.7 and could boot to desktop but when I loaded games my PC would crash. Checked heat and that wasn't the issue. I think if I would mess with the voltage more I could have gotten 4.7ghz but it would be a lot of effort and I felt fine with 4.6 ghz.
 
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