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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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Pickles Spill

Member
I have a question for some of you seasoned builders. How on earth are you not in extreme pain when trying to take out power cables from the PSU? Once you plug them in, they click with the clip and they're impossible to take out. So if some cords get tangled, it's agony trying to rearrange them. It was also really hard to put the 290x into the PCIE slot. It doesn't seem to click. Neither did the RAM in it's respective slot. Everything had a hard time clicking.
It's finally working now, though.
 
jfoul

jfoul

Member
I finally completed the build I started in early November of last year. I bought the CASE/CPU/MB/MEM around the same time. I used an older Antec 750W PSU, 150GB HDD, and a Geforce GTS 450 until I found deals on replacements. My brother ended up giving me his SSD because he went with Samsung after I had to RMA the SanDisk twice. A couple weeks ago I had a Gigabyte R9 290X OC from Amazon for $330, but it didn't have a U.S serial number. I ended up returning it, and buying the GTX 780 from a GAF member for a pretty awesome price. I would have liked to keep the 290X for that price, but the GTX 780 ended up a better solution for my setup. The Windforce cooler definitely keeps the GPU core temp down, but it pumps a lot of heat into the case. The GTX 780 keeps my case temp lower, and it's quieter at high/max load.

Eventually I'll add a 3TB HDD, switch to a fully modular psu, and I might switch the case out for a Carbide Series Air 240.




Total: $819.43
 
K

kami_sama

Member
metalshade said:
Thanks for the info guys, really appreciated.
After a couple of days of messing around and getting no results, I have tried simply uninstalling all amd drivers, driver sweeping, then reinstalling the old 13.12 drivers, and we shall wait and see how it goes.

In the event this doesnt fix it, I may well look into jumping to Nvidia immediately, So....as of right now, what cards do Nvidia offer that equal or better my AMD 7950, for a budget of about £325, or $560?

Edit: Having read the last few pages, it seems AMD is still ahead of Nvidia in terms of price/performance, and if I want to change cards, I would need a higher budget for the same performance right now. Damn. Ah well, lets just hope I have fixed the issue this time around.
Click to expand...
I have the exact same problem with my 7950. It only happens when I play videos from vimeo, however. The card works flawlessly in every other task.
 
S

SuperÑ

OptionN, ShiftN
Guys, i have to replace my SSD and the only option y have is the Kingston SSDNow V300 240Gb for the same price as the MX100 (but it is unavailable in my area).

Would you still recommend the Kingston one?
 
S

Sourtreats

Member
So I've just ordered a new Macbook. Please don't hurt me Gaf, I still have my gaming desktop for my gaming needs. But I hope asking here will be fine.

It comes with 256gb SSD but I can see myself filling that quite quickly with the post production software I use at University. I spotted these on the web a while ago and wondered how good they were compared to the prices. I also found another site as well offering a similar product. Or is there another solution to increasing the storage capacity of my new MB?
 
T

The_Poet

Banned
Sourtreats said:
So I've just ordered a new Macbook. Please don't hurt me Gaf, I still have my gaming desktop for my gaming needs. But I hope asking here will be fine.

It comes with 256gb SSD but I can see myself filling that quite quickly with the post production software I use at University. I spotted these on the web a while ago and wondered how good they were compared to the prices. I also found another site as well offering a similar product. Or is there another solution to increasing the storage capacity of my new MB?
Click to expand...

Just get an external USB HDD, cheap and huge.
 
Dries

Dries

Member
So guys, I want to clean all the dust from my case. Also, I really want to do it well. Anyone care to hand out some pointers? Some things I'm wondering:

- which areas should I give extra attention?

- is it nessecary to remove CPU/mobo to clean these as well?

- Can I remove the cooling ribs and clean these seperately?

- My case has dust filters. I assume these should be cleaned too?

- I've noticed that the most dust is in my (built-in) fans. What is the best way to clean these?

My case is a Cooler Master CM 690 II Advanced btw.
 
R

riflen

Member
Dries said:
So guys, I want to clean all the dust from my case. Also, I really want to do it well. Anyone care to hand out some pointers? Some things I'm wondering:

- which areas should I give extra attention?

- is it nessecary to remove CPU/mobo to clean these as well?

- Can I remove the cooling ribs and clean these seperately?

- My case has dust filters. I assume these should be cleaned too?

- I've noticed that the most dust is in my (built-in) fans. What is the best way to clean these?

My case is a Cooler Master CM 690 II Advanced btw.
Click to expand...

You can spend as much or as little time cleaning as you like. Remove filters if you want to make cleaning them easier. The thread usually recommends this product:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001J4ZOAW/?tag=neogaf0e-20

To clean fans, make sure you tie them first with string or twist ties. Revolving fans manually can damage them. Removing the motherboard to clean is probably OCD territory.
 
Dries

Dries

Member
riflen said:
You can spend as much or as little time cleaning as you like. Remove filters if you want to make cleaning them easier. The thread usually recommends this product:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001J4ZOAW/?tag=neogaf0e-20

To clean fans, make sure you tie them first with string or twist ties. Revolving fans manually can damage them. Removing the motherboard to clean is probably OCD territory.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the tip concerning the fans. I've never done this, hopefully I didn't cause any major harm.

The reason I'm asking about my mobo is because my cooling ribs are in the way of properly cleaning my top exhaust fan (it's full of dust). So can I just remove my cooling ribs?
 
C

Chozolore

Member
I just use the hoover nozzle, carefully.

Anyone here use a TrackIR, I'm curious? is it worth the cost? I'd be using it for flight sims.
 
S

shandy706

Member
I just stopped by to say I have a PC gaming problem.

I am a liar.

I've said in other threads that I was not going to upgrade from my GTX 660 Ti until the 800 series hit.

I ordered a GTX 780 yesterday :)
:(
 
D

Diablos

Member
I took my GPU out of the case, examined it, completely dusted it out -- it is still hitting 90C, the fan keeps kicking in to get it back to the 80's but then it crawls right back up again. Idles at about 57C. This is concerning to me because when I got it last year it would idle at 37-40C and hit 72C or so at the highest. Also the max temp for a GTX 660 is 97C. It's getting dangerously close. This is my GPU.

Why would it be failing? I got rid of all the dust. The heatsink looks fine as far as I can tell. It is humid outside, yes, but I have central air running.

I can load Afterburner but it's constantly whirring to satisfy my extremely simple fan speed settings which is unusual. Both fans seem to be fully operational. I have no idea why it is getting so hot.
 
T

teiresias

Member
Ugh, I swear, this is the hardest motherboard decisions EVER!! I've had a mediocre experience with my current Gigabyte, but everyone else seems to like them nowadays (mine is an old P55 motherboard that always had issues having drives in AHCI mode - have to run in IDE mode - and frequently "loses" all of the harddrives attached to the SATA ports).

ASUS motherboards seem well spoken for - and my ASUS 680 has been good after RMAing my 670 without issues - but they have a reputation for horrible support if you DO need a motherboard RMA.

I owned an Asrock board waaaaay back, but would rather stick to tier-1 manufacturers this time around.

Maybe an MSI Mpower series board, but all of MSI's "gaming" boards have killer NICs . . . bleh!

Ugghhh.
 
T

The Llama

Member
Dries said:
So guys, I want to clean all the dust from my case. Also, I really want to do it well. Anyone care to hand out some pointers? Some things I'm wondering:

- which areas should I give extra attention?

- is it nessecary to remove CPU/mobo to clean these as well?

- Can I remove the cooling ribs and clean these seperately?

- My case has dust filters. I assume these should be cleaned too?

- I've noticed that the most dust is in my (built-in) fans. What is the best way to clean these?

My case is a Cooler Master CM 690 II Advanced btw.
Click to expand...

Depending on how bad it is (and how much you care about getting it as close to 100% dust free as possible), you should definitely consider removing the GPU and the CPU HSF. You'd be surprised how much dust can get its way into the HSF...
 
K

kennah

Member
Sourtreats said:
So I've just ordered a new Macbook. Please don't hurt me Gaf, I still have my gaming desktop for my gaming needs. But I hope asking here will be fine.

It comes with 256gb SSD but I can see myself filling that quite quickly with the post production software I use at University. I spotted these on the web a while ago and wondered how good they were compared to the prices. I also found another site as well offering a similar product. Or is there another solution to increasing the storage capacity of my new MB?
Click to expand...
As mentioned - a small usb3 hard drive is all you need. Just plug it in when you need it.

And no one will hurt you. Most of us have a MacBook as our portable computer.
 
D

Diablos

Member
Also worth noting I have the fan running at 4100RPM, to keep it from going over 80C using Furmark (staying put at 77C). Aren't GPU fans notorious for being unreliable if they are running at high speeds for extended periods of time? This is all I can do for now until I get a case allowing for better airflow.

The second fan keeps kicking in @ 78C and shuts off again to keep it from going any higher. That can't be good.

Ugh, what happened to my GPU :(
 
R

riflen

Member
Diablos said:
I took my GPU out of the case, examined it, completely dusted it out -- it is still hitting 90C, the fan keeps kicking in to get it back to the 80's but then it crawls right back up again. Idles at about 57C. This is concerning to me because when I got it last year it would idle at 37-40C and hit 72C or so at the highest. Also the max temp for a GTX 660 is 97C. It's getting dangerously close. This is my GPU.

Why would it be failing? I got rid of all the dust. The heatsink looks fine as far as I can tell. It is humid outside, yes, but I have central air running.

I can load Afterburner but it's constantly whirring to satisfy my extremely simple fan speed settings which is unusual. Both fans seem to be fully operational. I have no idea why it is getting so hot.
Click to expand...

What's the ambient temperature in your room? Are you playing the same games as you were last year? Are you playing at a higher resolutions now?

The card was probably manufactured over 2 years ago and who knows how it was stored before it was sold to you. It's possible that the thermal paste and/or pads used to transfer heat from the GPU and VRMs to the cooler have degraded over time and are no longer doing their job well. It's pretty unusual though.

You could enquire with MSI about warranty replacement, or if the warranty has expired, it's probably possible to buy some cleaner and paste and re-apply it yourself.
 
Dries

Dries

Member
The Llama said:
Depending on how bad it is (and how much you care about getting it as close to 100% dust free as possible), you should definitely consider removing the GPU and the CPU HSF. You'd be surprised how much dust can get its way into the HSF...
Click to expand...

By HSF you mean heatsink fan I presume? I erroneously called my heat sink cooling ribs in my original post.
 
T

The Llama

Member
Dries said:
By HSF you mean heatsink fan I presume? I erroneously called my heat sink cooling ribs in my original post.
Click to expand...

Yeah, sorry. HSF just means heatsink and fan.

I actually just cleaned out my HSF from my old build to reuse in a new build and was amazed how much dust found its way into it. At the very least you should definitely take off the fans and spray some compressed air through it.
 
D

Diablos

Member
riflen said:
What's the ambient temperature in your room? Are you playing the same games as you were last year? Are you playing at a higher resolutions now?

The card was probably manufactured over 2 years ago and who knows how it was stored before it was sold to you. It's possible that the thermal paste and/or pads used to transfer heat from the GPU and VRMs to the cooler have degraded over time and are no longer doing their job well. It's pretty unusual though.

You could enquire with MSI about warranty replacement, or if the warranty has expired, it's probably possible to buy some cleaner and paste and re-apply it yourself.
Click to expand...
It's 73F in here right now.

Same kind of games, same resolutions. I bought it brand new last summer.
I hear MSI is extremely difficult to deal with.
 
R

Rebel Leader

THE POWER OF BUTTERSCOTCH BOTTOMS
Hazaro said:
Check if your fan RPM or speed % in BIOS is set to like 500RPM and your FAN won't start that low RPM/voltage?
Click to expand...

riflen said:
It's also possible to control PWM fans through Windows using OpenHardwareMonitor.
Click to expand...

Shit I knew I forgot to check BIOS, I have the MB all packed and ready to ship back to amazon

I tired it again today and I noticed that my front fan turned a faint blue for a second. No fan movement just a faint blue and then nothing.

1 beep from the MB, all fans spinning. No other anomalies
 
D

Diablos

Member
N4FjFNM.jpg


6Aza3nc.jpg

This is the heatsink.

I do have some Arctic Silver 5 I could try to put on there... shouldn't be a problem disassembling.
 
R

riflen

Member
Rebel Leader said:
Shit I knew I forgot to check BIOS, I have the MB all packed and ready to ship back to amazon

I tired it again today and I noticed that my front fan turned a faint blue for a second. No fan movement just a faint blue and then nothing.
Click to expand...

Yes, as Hazaro says, some fans will not start up unless a certain amount of voltage is applied to them. Set the fan to max RPM in the BIOS to rule this possibility out.

Have you ruled out a faulty fan by connecting other fans to the header on the motherboard?
 
D

Diablos

Member
Demon Lizardman said:
So guys, do you agree that putting in the processor and the fan is the hardest part?
Click to expand...
Depends on the HSF design.
AMD stock fans in particular are the easiest thing in the world.
I remember the Socket A days -- I am amazed I never snapped the board apart due to the amount of force required to install the HSF.
The Intel push-pin design is really stupid, which is why you should almost always opt for an aftermarket cooler in such a case.
 
R

Rebel Leader

THE POWER OF BUTTERSCOTCH BOTTOMS
riflen said:
Yes, as Hazaro says, some fans will not start up unless a certain amount of voltage is applied to them. Set the fan to max RPM in the BIOS to rule this possibility out.

Have you ruled out a faulty fan by connecting other fans to the header on the motherboard?
Click to expand...

yes. No fan works in Sys_fan3.

I made sure by testing the fans in Sys_fan2. All worked. The LED fan worked, the back 120mm fan worked and the top fan worked.

--I think I have pics of it on my phone. Give me a minute
 
R

riflen

Member
Rebel Leader said:
yes. No fan works in Sys_fan3.

I made sure by testing the fans in Sys_fan2. All worked. The LED fan worked, the back 120mm fan worked and the top fan worked.

--I think I have pics of it on my phone. Give me a minute
Click to expand...

OK, well I can't think of anything further. A fault with the board seems likely. =(
 
R

Rebel Leader

THE POWER OF BUTTERSCOTCH BOTTOMS
riflen said:
OK, well I can't think of anything further. A fault with the board seems likely. =(
Click to expand...

and that's the only fault I see. I still got Select boot thing on screen

Getting a replacement MB. and if Sys_fan3 still does not work then I will go into bios.
 
R

riflen

Member
Diablos said:
...

I do have some Arctic Silver 5 I could try to put on there... shouldn't be a problem disassembling.
Click to expand...

Well, it looks like a simpler job than some. Just a few screws. Apologies if you're already aware, but be sure to clean the GPU and heat sink with a solution before you apply the new paste.
 
R

riflen

Member
Rebel Leader said:
what type of solution?
Click to expand...

Isopropyl alcohol will do it. Or, there are lots of cleaning solutions sold by all the same companies that sell the paste, Akasa, Arctic etc.

You can clean without a solution using cotton buds or a microfibre cloth, but it'll be tough to get all the paste off. Just don't use water.
 
W

Wildstar75

Member
My Oculus DK2 is coming soon. What should I build? My current PC is old now. Part of me wants to wait for X99 chipset in September. Waiting for an NVidia 8XX gpu might be too extreme though. It seems that for now dual GPU solutions are not good for VR. I wonder if that will last? Ideally the solution I build now can handle the 1440p 90hz Consumer model next year. Kind of thinking about building around a single 780Ti and leaving room for a second later if need be. Any suggestions? Also, my last build had terribly annoying coil whine. Is there anyway to not get that?
 
D

Diablos

Member
riflen said:
Well, it looks like a simpler job than some. Just a few screws. Apologies if you're already aware, but be sure to clean the GPU and heat sink with a solution before you apply the new paste.
Click to expand...
Rubbing alcohol, yeah.

I was just posting pics to see if anyone else has the card. A lot of times pictures can be deceiving.
 
R

Rebel Leader

THE POWER OF BUTTERSCOTCH BOTTOMS
riflen said:
Isopropyl alcohol will do it. Or, there are lots of cleaning solutions sold by all the same companies that sell the paste, Akasa, Arctic etc.

You can clean without a solution using cotton buds or a microfibre cloth, but it'll be tough to get all the paste off. Just don't use water.
Click to expand...

I have 70% Isopropyl in my houe, will that do? or should I go higher?
 
R

riflen

Member
Wildstar75 said:
My Oculus DK2 is coming soon. What should I build? My current PC is old now. Part of me wants to wait for X99 chipset in September. Waiting for an NVidia 8XX gpu might be too extreme though. It seems that for now dual GPU solutions are not good for VR. I wonder if that will last? Ideally the solution I build now can handle the 1440p 90hz Consumer model next year. Kind of thinking about building around a single 780Ti and leaving room for a second later if need be. Any suggestions? Also, my last build had terribly annoying coil whine. Is there anyway to not get that?
Click to expand...

I don't think there's any such thing as too extreme a GPU for VR and it's strongly rumoured that we'll have new GPUs at the tail end of this year from both AMD and NVIDIA. There's zero guarantee that multi-GPUs will ever be a good thing for Oculus Rift.

No-one knows what the CV1 specs will be, it's all just conjecture at this point. It's up to you if you want to take a chance on a GPU now. There's nothing stopping you selling a GPU on once something better arrives.

Just like normal games, the power needed will vary from game to game, so there's no point in even asking what GPU is safe for VR. Spend what you can afford, upgrade when it's not enough.

The X99 platform will be very expensive compared to the Z/H97. I'm considering it myself as an upgrade from Ivy 3570K (and I'm early in the queue for DK2), but it's probably not good value for money if you're just playing games. The CPU prices alone will probably be 3.3Ghz/6c/$300 3.5Ghz/6c/$500 3Ghz/8c/$1000. DDR4 RAM will probably be around $350 for 16GB and the motherboards, who knows? $300+?
 
E

enfieldvball

Member
So guys, thinking about upgrading my PC pretty soon, I've always gone AMD/ATI but i'm thinking of making the switch to Intel/ATI, I want to be able to run Dolphin and most current gen games @ 1080p

My current rig is OK-ish but I'm pretty sure my CPU is bottlenecking pretty badly, here are my specs:

Rosewill Blackbone Black Steel / Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
AMD Athlon II X4 630 Propus Quad-Core 2.8GHz
ASUS M4A88T-V EVO/USB3 AM3 AMD 880G
G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600
PowerColor PCS+ AX7870 2GBD5-2DHPPV3E Radeon HD 7870 MYST. Edition (Tahiti LE) 2GB 256-Bit GDDR5
ASUS M4A88T-V EVO/USB3 AM3 AMD 880G
Ultra LSP550 550-Watt Power Supply

I was thinking of just getting a new mobo and some i5, keeping my eyes out for a 4670k, the 4690k seems to expensive ATM, do you guys think I'm good with my current GPU? I just bought it last year, will it do ok if I ever plan on getting a 2560x1440p monitor?

I'll probably get a new case and PSU if needed, I'll keep my memory, HDD, and SSD
 
L

Lumine

Member
So I still haven't ordered. Here is my old post with the unchanged order. The MSI GTX770 is out of stock and seems to be for a while longer. So I decided to go bigger and I'm getting the MSI N780 TF 3GD5/OC instead!
So quick question: does this require a stronger PSU than what I was going with before? The SeaSonic M12II EVO 620 Bronze that is. Thanks in advance!

Oh and I also decided to go with the 4690K, the Cooler Master 212 Evo and dabble in OCing after all. :)

edit: I couldn't wait any longer. I ordered everything. :D
Please let me know if my PSU is now inadquate though! I could still change the order before it's too late!
 
N

Nostremitus

Member
enfieldvball said:
So guys, thinking about upgrading my PC pretty soon, I've always gone AMD/ATI but i'm thinking of making the switch to Intel/ATI, I want to be able to run Dolphin and most current gen games @ 1080p

My current rig is OK-ish but I'm pretty sure my CPU is bottlenecking pretty badly, here are my specs:

Rosewill Blackbone Black Steel / Plastic ATX Mid Tower Computer Case
AMD Athlon II X4 630 Propus Quad-Core 2.8GHz
ASUS M4A88T-V EVO/USB3 AM3 AMD 880G
G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600
PowerColor PCS+ AX7870 2GBD5-2DHPPV3E Radeon HD 7870 MYST. Edition (Tahiti LE) 2GB 256-Bit GDDR5
ASUS M4A88T-V EVO/USB3 AM3 AMD 880G
Ultra LSP550 550-Watt Power Supply

I was thinking of just getting a new mobo and some i5, keeping my eyes out for a 4670k, the 4690k seems to expensive ATM, do you guys think I'm good with my current GPU? I just bought it last year, will it do ok if I ever plan on getting a 2560x1440p monitor?

I'll probably get a new case and PSU if needed, I'll keep my memory, HDD, and SSD
Click to expand...

Yeah, last night i upgraded to an R9 270 OC paired with my trusty old Phenom II X6 1045T. I started a couple of Dolphin games it it seems to run fine, but i'm sure my CPU's limitations will become an issue once I really start playing.



I have been having a problem though.

I uninstalled my Catalyst, deleted the Catalyst install folder, and went into device manager and removed the graphics card driver.

I rebooted, and installed 14.4 from the AMD website.

Every game I've tried to play has frozen once I've started playing.

Unigen Valley glitched out, then froze.

On KPS I managed to launch into space, but the game froze on reentry.

Battlefield 3 wouldn't get passed the loading screen.

Mass Effect 2 glitched all to hell and froze.

When I get home I'll try to reseat the card, but does this sound like I may have gotten a lemon?
 
P

Pachimari

Member
riflen said:
Firstly, the Acer S240HL is a 1920x1080 panel. Your surround resolution for 3 panels in landscape will be 5760x1080. Your GPU supports up to 7600x1600 in surround mode, so this should be fine. Any of the ports can be used for surround.

Do you have surround set in Windows? Have you only tried Assetto Corsa? You could just be dealing with a bug in that one game. Make sure the Nvidia Control Panel 3d profile for the game has Multiple Display Performance Mode set.
Click to expand...

Yes, I think I meant that I were downsampling from 3200x??? to 1080.

I have tried Nvidia Surround but it doesn't seem to affect any games. I could only play Battlefield 3 by stretching in Windowed mode. =/

How do I do the bolded? Is it in Nvidia Control Panel?
 
R

riflen

Member
Madridista said:
Yes, I think I meant that I were downsampling from 3200x??? to 1080.

I have tried Nvidia Surround but it doesn't seem to affect any games. I could only play Battlefield 3 by stretching in Windowed mode. =/

How do I do the bolded? Is it in Nvidia Control Panel?
Click to expand...

Yes, look at 3D settings in NVCP.
I wouldn't downsample until you have things running correctly at native resolution. NVIDIA state the surround limit for a single 780 is 7600x1600. I've no idea if that's an output limit, or if downsampling is also limited in surround mode.

It sounds like the games need some configuring. I'd like to help more, but I've no personal experience of surround gaming. I'm sure someone here can give you some pointers.
 
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