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

Status
Not open for further replies.
Anyhoo, had a little guy show up on my doorstep the other day. Not sure what my game plan is for him just yet...

14536161498_bf014daf65_b.jpg

I love that case. Exceptionally hard to build in and make it look neat but there is so much you can do in such a compact form.

Tip: you can feed the USB3 header through the backside and bring it up underneath the the motherboard and curl it around if the header is on the right side of the motherboard.

Here's a build a did with that case. (Unfortunately it was built for someone else so I did't have time to take anything other then a crappy iPhone photo after I delivered it)


And one without the heatsink

 
Just to update about my friend's i7-4790K from a few pages back... the heatsink is definitely mounted correctly. Everything is stock.

Here's a video of him running Prime95:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBeSkbxyAmw

It clocks up to 4.2GHz (turbo boost?), the cores reach 100 degrees in a matter of seconds, and then it appears to throttle itself all the way to about 3.9GHz, at which point the temps begin to stabilise (but are still uncomfortably hot).

Now if it can't even maintain the stock 4.0GHz under load without throttling down, surely that points to a poor or faulty CPU, right?
 
Would need more information on the heatsink mount.

I'd pull it off, clean off the TIM, reapply TIM, and remount.

Also, get an aftermarket heatsink.
 
Would need more information on the heatsink mount.

I'd pull it off, clean off the TIM, reapply TIM, and remount.

Also, get an aftermarket heatsink.
Well I installed it initially, he has since checked it too, and it was fine. Would a remounting really have a drastic effects on the temps? I believe ideally it wouldn't go above about 80 degrees while it stays at 4.2GHz for an extended test... that's a huge change in cooling from what is surely going to be a marginal change in mounting at best?

I realise he should get a better cooler, but isn't the stock cooler supposed to be good enough to prevent it from throttling down after a few moments under load?
 
In line with this hot 4790k, what motherboard are you using?

After my experience this afternoon, I think it behooves everyone to go into their BIOS and play around with their CPU Vcore settings - EVEN IF YOU'RE RUNNING STOCK.

I'm on a Gigabyte UD5H. With Auto everything on I'd see Vcore at 1.2-something while running AIDA64 stability test and core temps of 75c under the AIDA64 load.

If I changed the BIOS vcore settings to manual I could dial it down but I couldn't get the CPU to idle to a lower clock other than 4.4GHz when actually running.

What I did was I went into the BIOS and set "Normal" mode on CPU Vcore and then started dialing in NEGATIVE offsets. This let the CPU throttle down and drop its clock speed and REALLY drop the Vcore when need but still effected a change in the highest Vcore provided to the CPU from the Auto settings.

By putting in a -0.065V offset I lost no clock speed boost and under AIDA64 stability test I never throttled the core but more importantly my temps dropped by . . . 10c-15c.

One thing to note, the first time you return to the BIOS to try another offset voltage the Vcore displayed may have changed from last time you were in there . . . I ignored this and left it alone as it didn't seem to indicate what the machine was actually doing while monitoring it under the stability test. In my case, the first time I returned to the BIOS the Vcore had changed from 1.215V to 1.100V. If this had ACTUALLY been the vcore default then my offset would mean I'd be at about 1.040V, but this wasn't the case. Just an FYI.

In any event, I don't know if this is just Gigabyte being weird or if this is applicable to other motherboards, so I thought I'd bring it up. I'm just wondering if auto settings in current BIOS builds are completely pumping too high a Vcore by default for the stock clocks of the Haswell refresh (at the very least on the 4790k).
 
Yep, boot into BIOS. Update in BIOS with the aforementioned EZ Flash utility.

Holy fuck, even after updating the BIOS my system still freezes upon waking up from sleep. I've checked everything. All drivers are up to date, memory is okay, and BIOS is updated. What else could it be?

Someone suggested that I need a new PSU. Mine is a 500W. I just don't know.
 
I love that case. Exceptionally hard to build in and make it look neat but there is so much you can do in such a compact form.

Tip: you can feed the USB3 header through the backside and bring it up underneath the the motherboard and curl it around if the header is on the right side of the motherboard.

Here's a build a did with that case. (Unfortunately it was built for someone else so I did't have time to take anything other then a crappy iPhone photo after I delivered it)



And one without the heatsink

I really like the look of the EVGA cooler in this case. Having the braided cables is a definite plus as well. My oh my.
 
Haha nvm on that Corsair Raptor. ETA ship time is 1-2 months. I bought one anyway because that's cheap and I don't need a new mouse right now. I just want to try it out and see if it's any good.
 
No, it is x86. It just takes more time to do it on CPUs with Nvidia's Phsyx libraries (which may or may not be as fast as they can be).

Its using x87 code afaik. This then has to go through an interpreter for the CPU to understand. Otherwise performance would be decent.
 
Holy fuck, even after updating the BIOS my system still freezes upon waking up from sleep. I've checked everything. All drivers are up to date, memory is okay, and BIOS is updated. What else could it be?

Someone suggested that I need a new PSU. Mine is a 500W. I just don't know.

What PSU exactly?

There are no unknown devices in device manager? There are no devices with an exclamation mark?

If not, then try this. Go into BIOS and disable Intel Speedstep and all C States.
 
In line with this hot 4790k, what motherboard are you using?

After my experience this afternoon, I think it behooves everyone to go into their BIOS and play around with their CPU Vcore settings - EVEN IF YOU'RE RUNNING STOCK.

I'm on a Gigabyte UD5H. With Auto everything on I'd see Vcore at 1.2-something while running AIDA64 stability test and core temps of 75c under the AIDA64 load.

If I changed the BIOS vcore settings to manual I could dial it down but I couldn't get the CPU to idle to a lower clock other than 4.4GHz when actually running.

What I did was I went into the BIOS and set "Normal" mode on CPU Vcore and then started dialing in NEGATIVE offsets. This let the CPU throttle down and drop its clock speed and REALLY drop the Vcore when need but still effected a change in the highest Vcore provided to the CPU from the Auto settings.

By putting in a -0.065V offset I lost no clock speed boost and under AIDA64 stability test I never throttled the core but more importantly my temps dropped by . . . 10c-15c.

One thing to note, the first time you return to the BIOS to try another offset voltage the Vcore displayed may have changed from last time you were in there . . . I ignored this and left it alone as it didn't seem to indicate what the machine was actually doing while monitoring it under the stability test. In my case, the first time I returned to the BIOS the Vcore had changed from 1.215V to 1.100V. If this had ACTUALLY been the vcore default then my offset would mean I'd be at about 1.040V, but this wasn't the case. Just an FYI.

In any event, I don't know if this is just Gigabyte being weird or if this is applicable to other motherboards, so I thought I'd bring it up. I'm just wondering if auto settings in current BIOS builds are completely pumping too high a Vcore by default for the stock clocks of the Haswell refresh (at the very least on the 4790k).

The Vcore is actually not being decided by the board but by the CPU. The CPU has a dynamic VID which provides information on the Vcore required for each multiplier. Very odd that such a high Vcore was determined however. How low does the idle Vcore drop?

What speed did the CPU run when running Aida64 at stock bios settings?
 
How low does the idle Vcore drop?

Just sitting on the desktop I can see as low 0.078V - usually it's more like 0.1V or 0.3V while moving the mouse or something. However this is how it's always behaved, the offset just limits the maximum vcore, not the minimum.

What speed did the CPU run when running Aida64 at stock bios settings?

A boost with all four cores at 4.4GHz - which, to my knowledge, is not really how boost is supposed to work (I thought you only got full advertised boost on 1 or 2 cores), but maybe Gigabyte has done something odd in their BIOS.

I get the same boost behavior with the new lower vcore since I never actually manually changed my multipliers.
 
What PSU exactly?

There are no unknown devices in device manager? There are no devices with an exclamation mark?

If not, then try this. Go into BIOS and disable Intel Speedstep and all C States.

The PSU is a Cooler Master RS-500-PCAR-A3.

None. All devices and drivers are A-OK.
 
yup. i'm buying it used hta'ts why. the guy has a 9600gt in it, but i figure i can put the r7 260 in it to give it some more oomp.

the cpu is an intel e7500. power is 450W
 
Waiting for my oculus rift DK2, I'm consindering upgrading my gpu.
I've got my eyes set on the amd R9 290, is the Sapphire Radeon R9 290 Vapor X OC 4 Go a good choice?
And more importantly, will my psu, a Seasonic M12II 620W, be able to handle it? (i5 4670K non OC)
 
I'm going to cross post this here. I also posted this in the HardOCP forum, but figured some people could enlighten me on it here too:

In any case I am thoroughly confused by how my 4790k is behaving on this motherboard on two fronts. First, the vcore, and second the clock boost, so I'm wondering if anyone can enlighten me. Let's be clear though, my cpu isn't misbehaving or unstable, I just don't "get" what's going on based on what the actual BIOS settings are telling me.

First, the Vcore, which I'm readily willing to admit I may be looking at wrong. I felt the default Vcore under "auto" settings was too high (sitting at 1.215V in the BIOS), so I first set it manually, but the CPU wouldn't idle at all when running, so then I decided to use voltage offset.

My first time into the BIOS the displayed voltage while in "Auto", which stayed the same when I went to "Normal" to utilize the offset, was 1.215V. I tried an initial -0.035V offset and it was fine. So I went back to the BIOS to increase the negative offset, however, the display Vcore had inexplicably changed to 1.100V, as shown here:

http://i.imgur.com/VEdcF99.png

The only way to get it to set back to 1.215V (besides doing it manually) was to set it to Auto again and reboot the PC. However, the minute I went back to offset adjustment, rebooted and re-entered the BIOS again it had changed back 1.100V again. However, it obviously is not ACTUALLY using a 1.100V core voltage as the pre-offset maximum as show by my HWInfo while running AIDA64 stability test:

http://i.imgur.com/xhX9WKy.jpg

I thought the reported 1.100V is the max vcore available with the offset limiting the max to actually be lower. However, as shown above, my vcore under load is 1.188V so it can't be offsetting from 1.100V. Is this just the BIOS just misreporting its actual setting?

Finally, the frequencies. I thought turbo boost only worked to its advertised frequency on 1 or 2 cores at most. This is what the BIOS ratio settings indicate as well while in Auto:

http://i.imgur.com/sUw2sjf.png

However, when under load, all four of my cores are going to 4.4GHZ (well, 4.389GHZ actually, but who's counting):

http://i.imgur.com/V9X4Rko.jpg

I would have thought that a 4-core boost would only get a 4.2GHz boost. In fact, I've only ever seen a 4-core boost or nothing, even if I start up only two threads in Prime95 all four cores boost to 4.4GHz.

Is this unusual behavior or am I just misinformed?

Anyway, just hoped someone could enlighten me on these things here. Coming from Lynnfield maybe there's some Haswell voodoo I simply am missing.
 
What PSU exactly?

There are no unknown devices in device manager? There are no devices with an exclamation mark?

If not, then try this. Go into BIOS and disable Intel Speedstep and all C States.

I disabled Speedstep and C State and it's still freezing upon waking up from sleep. I'm starting to get frustrated at my PC.
 
I recently bought a 5x1 HDMI hub, an audio splitter, and a 1x2 HDMI splitter so that I could connect all of my devices (PC + consoles) into one switchable hub, get video output on both my monitor and TV, while getting all sound through the PC speaker set-up.

Code:
Consoles -> HDMI switch -> Audio Splitter -> Line-In PC -> Line-Out PC -> Speakers
                                          \-> HDMI Splitter -> TV+Monitor
Thanks

Why don't you buy a second HDMI Splitter and put it between PC and HDMI Switch? (And perhaps a second switch, if you also want your consoles on your monitor/you Monitor has only one HDMI input)

Code:
PC -> HDMI Splitter \->                  -/->  HDMI switch -> Monitor 
Consoles -> HDMI switch -> HDMI Splitter / -> TV
                                     \-> Audio Splitter   -> Line-In PC -> Line-Out PC -> Speakers


On that note, when I tried something similar to you I occasionally got a greenish screen through one of the outputs of my splitter. Did you experience something like that so far?
 
Ok, did a bit of playing around tonight with my rig, and some benchmarking. For reference, this was my post from earlier:

After pulling my hair out dealing with performance issues running a 2x 7970 Ghz Crossfire in Skyrim, I decided to look at my motherboard manual on a whom and noticed my PCIe 3.0 slots are 16x or 8x/8x. As I did not initially intend to do a Crossfire setup (grabbed a second card on fire sale), I don't remember if I looked into this and checked if that could be a performance problem.

Any thoughts? Vanilla Skyrim has frame rate issues when I run the intro (using it as my unchanging benchmark of sorts), dropping to mid-40s approaching the city of Helgen. That seems completely crazy for two good cards combined with an overclocked i5 3570k @ 4.0Ghz.

Any other hardware or software issues to check? I'll be trying each card individually tonight.

So I took out the second card and ran a few benchmarks. Skyrim had an almost negligible difference (52 Crossfire, 50 Single Card). It's the same story for Sleeping Dogs (60 Crossfire, 59.9 Single Card) and Tomb Raider (50 Crossfire, 49.9 Single Card). SD at least got a boost in Max FPS, but average stayed the same.

However, running Unigine or 3D Mark showed there was a performance difference. 3D Mark (5888 Crossfire, 3613 Single Card) and Unigine Heaven (79.1 Avg/1992 Score Crossfire, 40.6 Avg/1022 Score Single Card) both show Crossfire is working as intended.

Maybe Crossfire just fucking blows for most games and I should jump ship to a single 8XX card this fall. God knows I'm mighty tempted to join Team Green.
 
Why don't you buy a second HDMI Splitter and put it between PC and HDMI Switch? (And perhaps a second switch, if you also want your consoles on your monitor/you Monitor has only one HDMI input)
My monitor has no HDMI in; I'm using an HDMI->DVI cord at the moment, but will be going to a DisplayPort, I think.

Code:
PC -> HDMI Splitter \->                  -/->  HDMI switch -> Monitor 
Consoles -> HDMI switch -> HDMI Splitter / -> TV
                                     \-> Audio Splitter   -> Line-In PC -> Line-Out PC -> Speakers


On that note, when I tried something similar to you I occasionally got a greenish screen through one of the outputs of my splitter. Did you experience something like that so far?
No, right now the main issue is that it detects my TV as the HDMI output destination but not my monitor, so it won't let me force 1920x1200 no matter what I do. I'm also having issues with the audio from the PC fading in and out, so I think having it coming directly out of the machine via line-out instead of routing it around would make it less of a headache.
 
Does anyone know how many fans are "essential" for the Define R4? I'd like to keep as much of the sound foam on as possible. Would two front intakes and a rear exhaust be just fine for airflow? or should I consider more?
 
Does anyone know how many fans are "essential" for the Define R4? I'd like to keep as much of the sound foam on as possible. Would two front intakes and a rear exhaust be just fine for airflow? or should I consider more?
This depends on what's in your system really, but generally speaking it should run cool with 3 fans in that configuration yes.
 
No, just use the Win 7 stuff. It has nothing to do with Windows and does not affect your install in any way.

Nope. Borderlands 2 is on UE3, which is extremely dependent on per-thread performance. If the CPU is bogged down with additional complex physics stuff, then the performance goes to crap.

Still a heavy operation as it's non x86 code.

Thanks for the answers, I learned something new today :)
 
Anyhoo, had a little guy show up on my doorstep the other day. Not sure what my game plan is for him just yet...

14536161498_bf014daf65_b.jpg
[/QUOTE]

What make is this case? I'm in the process of spec'cing a build and I've a BitFenix Colossus Mini chosen .. would this be around the same size?
 
GAFers Yatesl and Huckster have been helping me out with a build (that I've not pulled the trigger on yet) .. but I've changed a few things as the month has gone on ... (bit of OT has freed up a bit of extra funding - whoO!)

So can I ask, considering this will be my first build in around 10 years or more, am I setting myself up for a bit of a challenge with the MSI Z97I Mini motherboard or is it OK to work with?

Also, as a couch gamer, I was wondering whether would this GPU would handle gaming on a 4K TV at a somewhat OK Res. (If I manage to get one within the next 5 years)

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor (£229.14 @ Aria PC)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (£24.25 @ Scan.co.uk)
Motherboard: MSI Z97I Gaming AC Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard (£107.57 @ More Computers)
Memory: Crucial 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£58.69 @ More Computers)
Storage: Crucial MX100 512GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£148.43 @ More Computers)
Storage: Western Digital BLACK SERIES 3TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£128.95 @ CCL Computers)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 780 3GB WINDFORCE Video Card (£359.99 @ Aria PC)
Case: BitFenix Colossus Mini Mini ITX Tower Case (£61.19 @ Aria PC)
Power Supply: Corsair RM 750W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply (£83.99 @ Aria PC)
Optical Drive: LG UH12NS30 Blu-Ray Reader, DVD/CD Writer (£39.99 @ Ebuyer)
Total: £1242.19
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-07-24 08:38 BST+0100
 
Anyhoo, had a little guy show up on my doorstep the other day. Not sure what my game plan is for him just yet...

14536161498_bf014daf65_b.jpg

What make is this case? I'm in the process of spec'cing a build and I've a BitFenix Colossus Mini chosen .. would this be around the same size?[/QUOTE]

It's the EVGA Hadron Air (Have one and love it!)
 
Its using x87 code afaik. This then has to go through an interpreter for the CPU to understand. Otherwise performance would be decent.

No!

x87 is the standard floating point part of the x86 ISA, it is native code!
It has been superseded by the newer floating point SIMD ISAs (like SSE and newer) though, that newer versions of Physx makes use of.
 
I'm going to cross post this here. I also posted this in the HardOCP forum, but figured some people could enlighten me on it here too:

In any case I am thoroughly confused by how my 4790k is behaving on this motherboard on two fronts. First, the vcore, and second the clock boost, so I'm wondering if anyone can enlighten me. Let's be clear though, my cpu isn't misbehaving or unstable, I just don't "get" what's going on based on what the actual BIOS settings are telling me.

First, the Vcore, which I'm readily willing to admit I may be looking at wrong. I felt the default Vcore under "auto" settings was too high (sitting at 1.215V in the BIOS), so I first set it manually, but the CPU wouldn't idle at all when running, so then I decided to use voltage offset.

My first time into the BIOS the displayed voltage while in "Auto", which stayed the same when I went to "Normal" to utilize the offset, was 1.215V. I tried an initial -0.035V offset and it was fine. So I went back to the BIOS to increase the negative offset, however, the display Vcore had inexplicably changed to 1.100V, as shown here:

http://i.imgur.com/VEdcF99.png

The only way to get it to set back to 1.215V (besides doing it manually) was to set it to Auto again and reboot the PC. However, the minute I went back to offset adjustment, rebooted and re-entered the BIOS again it had changed back 1.100V again. However, it obviously is not ACTUALLY using a 1.100V core voltage as the pre-offset maximum as show by my HWInfo while running AIDA64 stability test:

http://i.imgur.com/xhX9WKy.jpg

I thought the reported 1.100V is the max vcore available with the offset limiting the max to actually be lower. However, as shown above, my vcore under load is 1.188V so it can't be offsetting from 1.100V. Is this just the BIOS just misreporting its actual setting?

Finally, the frequencies. I thought turbo boost only worked to its advertised frequency on 1 or 2 cores at most. This is what the BIOS ratio settings indicate as well while in Auto:

http://i.imgur.com/sUw2sjf.png

However, when under load, all four of my cores are going to 4.4GHZ (well, 4.389GHZ actually, but who's counting):

http://i.imgur.com/V9X4Rko.jpg

I would have thought that a 4-core boost would only get a 4.2GHz boost. In fact, I've only ever seen a 4-core boost or nothing, even if I start up only two threads in Prime95 all four cores boost to 4.4GHz.

Is this unusual behavior or am I just misinformed?

Anyway, just hoped someone could enlighten me on these things here. Coming from Lynnfield maybe there's some Haswell voodoo I simply am missing.

When i came from the first gen core to sandy bridge, i found that my Asus board automatically applied an Auto overclock so that all 4 cores Turbo's at the specified single core Turbo speed. This is exactly what your saying that your PC is doing, and due to that the board jacks up the Vcore. Looking at your manual, there is some CPU enhancement settings, try to set these to disabled because your PC isnt even following the Intel specification. Once the CPU is configured to work as spec, you should see the Vcore at normal levels without having to adjust it.

In your pics, try set K OC to Disabled.

As for the odd BIOS Vcore reading, its usually doing some odd CPU loads in the BIOS which can flick through different VIDs causing the BIOS to read differently. On my system i run a 4.8Ghz oc, but in BIOS with a +0.08v offset it reads 1.28v. But at load its 1.38v, so the BIOS reading is just the current reading of the Vcore being supplied, but this is an adaptive voltage so will always vary. You do not apply the offset to the vcore shown in BIOS. You apply the offset to the DVID which changes per multiplier.
 
I've just come to conclusion that my mobo somehow doesn't support sleep mode and I'll never put my PC to sleep ever again.

My work laptop would freeze waking up from sleep. It was incredibly frustrating as it seemed like mine was the only one despite everyone's model being exactly the same. I did tons of research, saw there were other Thinkpad models that did the exact same thing but no one could figure it out.

A couple years later, we all got a RAM upgrade. Brand new sticks. Henceforth I have been able to sleep the machine without issues.

Morale of the story, I'd look hardware now. But it'll be hard to guess what's causing the exact issue.
 
I couldnt resist anymore, i bought a gigabyte R9-280 OC 3GB windforce. 229$ on NCIX.com, with 20$ rebate and the 3 games for free flyer valued at 150$.

Kickass deal. I'll wait for a deal on 2x4GB DDR3 memory and i think i'll be set for a while. My CPU is a 1090T, with a bit of overclocking it should keep up i think.
 
Thanks! Must Investigate ...

Smaller than the colossus mini. It's pretty much the smallest "full feature" case you can get. Full feature meaning it supports 3.5in hard drives, optical drive and tower style heatsink (albeit there are only a few heatsinks that actually fit).

Lovely little case but is very tight to build in.
 
My 460gtx died this month and I'm looking to buy a 280 or 280x next month. CPU is a 2500k(able to run 4.5 stable), 8gb RAM and the power supply is fine.

2 questions,

I've googled a bit and got the rebrand thing with those 2 cards. But how much faster is the 280x really? From what I found it's 5-10% at max.

Which leads to my next question, right now those cards are at a stable price of 170€/240€ in Germany. Can I expect a price drop relatively soon? I'm currently ... "rocking" a old 8800 GTS 512 mb and finish some indie games. I would wait another month if their is going to a price drop.
 
Hey errybody, I am probably about to begin building my first custom-built PC. I am extremely ignorant of this stuff, and will be relying heavily on this thread to get the job done. Please help me!

•Budget: United States, very high. Up to $3,000 for everything (including monitor, peripherals) is not out of the question.
•Main Use: Gaming 5, General Use 5. That's pretty much it.
•Monitor Resolution: I'm thinking of going with a 1440p monitor.
•List SPECIFIC games or applications that you MUST be able to run well: The ability to play virtually any game at 1440p/60fps with maxed settings would be my gold standard. I'm having trouble coming up with specific games. Evolve, maybe? I don't know what these things are: PhysX / SuperSampling / CUDA.
•Looking to reuse any parts?: No.
•When will you build?: I am moving on September 5, and was hoping to have this thing build and working by then.
•Will you be overclocking?: Maybe, which apparently means yes.

I will probably be following the "Enthusiast - Nice Things" build guide pretty strictly.

One thing that I do not really understand, and that worries me, is cooling. I don't want my [whatever] to melt because I screwed up my heatsink/fan placement/however this works. Can someone explain it to me like I'm an idiot? Does whatever case I buy (the Define R4, maybe?) have the fans built in? Is that plus the CM Hyper 212 EVO Heatsink sufficient cooling, assuming I install the latter correctly?
 
Smaller than the colossus mini. It's pretty much the smallest "full feature" case you can get. Full feature meaning it supports 3.5in hard drives, optical drive and tower style heatsink (albeit there are only a few heatsinks that actually fit).

Lovely little case but is very tight to build in.

This is one of my favorite comparisons for the size of the case.

 
Hey errybody, I am probably about to begin building my first custom-built PC. I am extremely ignorant of this stuff, and will be relying heavily on this thread to get the job done. Please help me!

•Budget: United States, very high. Up to $3,000 for everything (including monitor, peripherals) is not out of the question.
•Main Use: Gaming 5, General Use 5. That's pretty much it.
•Monitor Resolution: I'm thinking of going with a 1440p monitor.
•List SPECIFIC games or applications that you MUST be able to run well: The ability to play virtually any game at 1440p/60fps with maxed settings would be my gold standard. I'm having trouble coming up with specific games. Evolve, maybe? I don't know what these things are: PhysX / SuperSampling / CUDA.
•Looking to reuse any parts?: No.
•When will you build?: I am moving on September 5, and was hoping to have this thing build and working by then.
•Will you be overclocking?: Maybe, which apparently means yes.

I will probably be following the "Enthusiast - Nice Things" build guide pretty strictly.

One thing that I do not really understand, and that worries me, is cooling. I don't want my [whatever] to melt because I screwed up my heatsink/fan placement/however this works. Can someone explain it to me like I'm an idiot? Does whatever case I buy (the Define R4, maybe?) have the fans built in? Is that plus the CM Hyper 212 EVO Heatsink sufficient cooling, assuming I install the latter correctly?

Yes the CM 212 is a good heatsink, sufficient for a decent OC. As far as an idiots guide to installation, I suggest watching videos of it a few times before you do it.

As for cooling on GPUs...the ones you see suggested in this thread all have very good coolers on them.
 
My 460gtx died this month and I'm looking to buy a 280 or 280x next month. CPU is a 2500k(able to run 4.5 stable), 8gb RAM and the power supply is fine.

2 questions,

I've googled a bit and got the rebrand thing with those 2 cards. But how much faster is the 280x really? From what I found it's 5-10% at max.

Which leads to my next question, right now those cards are at a stable price of 170€/240€ in Germany. Can I expect a price drop relatively soon? I'm currently ... "rocking" a old 8800 GTS 512 mb and finish some indie games. I would wait another month if their is going to a price drop.
I like to use gh.de for this sort of thing. Here are two charts for Sapphire's Dual-X models:
280 http://geizhals.de/?phist=1079879
280X http://geizhals.de/?phist=1012405

I don't expect them to go much lower than this in the near future. Pro tip: Don't look at the site again once you've pulled the trigger.
 
Hey errybody, I am probably about to begin building my first custom-built PC. I am extremely ignorant of this stuff, and will be relying heavily on this thread to get the job done. Please help me!

•Budget: United States, very high. Up to $3,000 for everything (including monitor, peripherals) is not out of the question.
•Main Use: Gaming 5, General Use 5. That's pretty much it.
•Monitor Resolution: I'm thinking of going with a 1440p monitor.
•List SPECIFIC games or applications that you MUST be able to run well: The ability to play virtually any game at 1440p/60fps with maxed settings would be my gold standard. I'm having trouble coming up with specific games. Evolve, maybe? I don't know what these things are: PhysX / SuperSampling / CUDA.
•Looking to reuse any parts?: No.
•When will you build?: I am moving on September 5, and was hoping to have this thing build and working by then.
•Will you be overclocking?: Maybe, which apparently means yes.

I will probably be following the "Enthusiast - Nice Things" build guide pretty strictly.

One thing that I do not really understand, and that worries me, is cooling. I don't want my [whatever] to melt because I screwed up my heatsink/fan placement/however this works. Can someone explain it to me like I'm an idiot? Does whatever case I buy (the Define R4, maybe?) have the fans built in? Is that plus the CM Hyper 212 EVO Heatsink sufficient cooling, assuming I install the latter correctly?

Ill leave the config to someone from your country, but as for the cooling, the cases usually come with fans, check the manufactureres site for the specific quantity and sizes for each case.
No you wont fry the CPU even if you forgot the heatsink, but its not advised of course lol. You will know if the heatsink is on right because you should be able to pick the board up by the heatsink itself without it moving at all. Then in BIOS you can also check the CPU temperature to see if its reasonable without installing Windows. And of course in Windows you can se HWMonitor or similar program to check the CPU temperatures.

Hyper 212 is ok for a medium overclock, anything past 4.4Ghz will probably need beefier cooling like the Noctua D14/15 or some sort of water cooling kit. I can recommend the EK Kits or XSPC Kits for starters. Although on Haswell the gains in cooling are extremely diminishing die to the thermal paste between the die and CPU heatspreader. For Ivy Bridge E or Sandy Bridge E it will be a lot better though. So depends on which platform you pick too.
 
Hi everyone, I'm looking to buy a SSD. I want a 128GB drive, and I have two choices from a retailer that is very close to my house. I would like to know which would you recommend me.
Option 1: SanDisk Ultra Plus 128GB (€59.69)
Option 2: Samsung 840 EVO 120GB (€68.95)

Thank you!
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top Bottom