-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
"I Need a New PC!" 2015 Part 1. Read the OP and RISE ABOVE FORGED PRECISION SCIENCE
- Thread starter Hazaro
- Start date
- Status
Like I said, that would probably be the worst bottleneck I have on the PC, heh. Oh, it turns out my PSU is actually a 750W. I guess I was thinking of my old PC. Thanks for all the info and opinions, guys. This is something I really needed a second opinion on.
Not really, no. I'd be surprised if any did, but maybe there's a budget model or 2 that do.
haven't seen (or noticed) one in years
edit: you could do dvi->vga->svideo i suppose
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant
CPU: Intel Core i7-5820K 3.3GHz 6-Core Processor ($445.34 @ TigerDirect Canada)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H110i GT 113.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($129.99 @ Amazon Canada)
Motherboard: MSI X99S SLI Plus ATX LGA2011-3 Motherboard ($260.98 @ Amazon Canada)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws 4 series 16GB (4 x 4GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($295.98 @ NCIX)
Storage: Crucial MX100 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($127.98 @ DirectCanada)
Storage: Toshiba Product Series
T01ACA 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($89.99 @ NCIX) Video Card: XFX Radeon R9 290X 4GB Double Dissipation Video Card ($369.99 @ NCIX)
Case: Corsair 450D ATX Mid Tower Case ($129.99 @ NCIX)
Power Supply: EVGA 850W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($99.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Total: $1950.23
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-02-13 00:14 EST-0500
A $2000 CDN build would normally have something like twin graphics cards, but I'm assuming by the way you mentioned powerful desktop and multimedia that you meant video editing and the like, then X99 high end parts should be considered. This build will conceivably last you years and years, and has the room to accommodate a second graphics card for better framerate or higher than 1080p/1440p gaming for a future upgrade.
Now, the only issue is that NCIX doesn't have the lowest prices. You can see in the smaller screenshot or by going to the parts build list and clicking on "price breakdown by merchant" that going with NCIX for everything will cost about $150 more than if you were to buy the parts elsewhere. It's $2100 at NCIX but about $1950 elsewhere (both before taxes).
NCIX does offer pricematching and you should take advantage of that if you can. See if they can give you a matching price or (rarely) a discount off competitor's prices. That will help you get closer to the $2000 limit.
That said, where are you in Canada? Memory Express might be another retailer to consider, unless you have reasons that you need to stick with NCIX for. Also, when do you plan to buy the parts? AMD is set to release their R9 3xx series graphics cards soon (maybe in the next month or two), it may be worth waiting for.
I need some help. My brother's Win 8 computer boots up to a black screen with him able to move the cursor. He's able to get into the task manager but he has no idea why the screen is black. We decided that he should just reformat his computer and he wants to go back to 7. I gave him a usb drive with 7 on it, but when he tried to boot from it it boots 8. He set it as the priority drive in the bios/uefi, set it to legacy and disabled the ssd and hdd from booting and it give him "reboot or select proper boot device". Anyone know what he needs to do to get the usb to boot? He tried it out on his laptop and it works perfectly so it isn't the drive.
Open up the case and disconnect the existing hard drive, then it definitely won't interfere. See if you can mess around with UEFI settings to boot from the USB drive instead, you can also install Windows 7 without Legacy mode and with UEFI on, as long as Secureboot is off, if I'm reading this correctly. Once you are able to boot from the USB drive, let the Windows installer load, then reconnect the hard drive before you continue with the installer.
For best compatibility, boot from a USB 2.0 port on the back panel of the PC.
nightmare-slain
Banned
i can't seem to decide on a PSU. it's actually driving me mad!
the best one i can seem to find is an EVGA Supernova 750W G2 for £88. but i just cant fit that into my budget. the other one i've been looking at is the EVGA Supernova 650W G1 but apparently that isn't that great as it's an older model/worse build quality. the only other one i can find is the CS650M but again...it seems you either get a good one or one that craps out on you. the reviews are all over the place.
build is:
i5-4590
8gb 1600mhz
1tb 7200rpm
r9 290
the best one i can seem to find is an EVGA Supernova 750W G2 for £88. but i just cant fit that into my budget. the other one i've been looking at is the EVGA Supernova 650W G1 but apparently that isn't that great as it's an older model/worse build quality. the only other one i can find is the CS650M but again...it seems you either get a good one or one that craps out on you. the reviews are all over the place.
build is:
i5-4590
8gb 1600mhz
1tb 7200rpm
r9 290
Seasonic G550 or G650.
Lower CPU speed always uses less vcore.
Use offset and find the lowest vcore. Vcore is the main voltage that also defines how quick the chip degrades and how hot it'll run, that's why nobody uses AUTO.
Prime95 pushes the chip harder so vcore will be a little above gaming. It's due to load line calibration setting. Ideally the setting should be on medium in bios.
Did you have drives plugged into the two SATA 3.0 ports before? Do you have the same problem if you plug them into a SATA 2.0 port? I know you'll get reduced speed, but it's better than it not working if it does change anything.
How about BIOS settings? What do you have SATA control mode set to? It should be on AHCI for best performance. Perhaps try resetting or updating BIOS.
Do you have any preferred retailers to order from? What's your budget? I can recommend the following models:
EVGA 600B 600 watts bronze rated and non modular for £50 - The cheapest power supply I'd go for. Decent for the price and nothing bad to complain about according to this review by TechPowerUp.
Antec TruePower Classic 650 watts gold rated and non modular for £60 - No specific review for this model, but Jonny Guru reviewed the 750 watt model and it was excellent. The entire line of Truepower Classic models are made by Seasonic, one of the best power supply manufacturers there are.
If you're interested in modular cabling at the £60 range, there's these three models which all are about the same and should perform equally well. The only difference would be which retailer you find is easier or better to order from.
XFX 650 watts bronze rated and semi-modular - Hardware Secrets gave it a gold review award.
Antec High Current Gamer 620 watts bronze rated and semi-modular - Hardware Secrets' review called it outstanding, also gave it a gold award.
Seasonic M12II Evo 620 watts bronze rated and fully modular - Bit-Tech's quick review says that this model is a very good performer but the fan gets awfully loud when stressed.
Lockjaw333
Member
Ok gotcha.
With Auto and speedstep enabled though, the vcore is reduced when idle and voltage is applied dynamically it seems depending on how much processing power is needed. So is auto with lower voltages and then spikes to slightly higher better than applying a constant voltage that is lower than the max from auto? It seems like with speedstep applying that constant higher voltage is unnecessary.
I need to explore offset more. That seems like the better method actually, but as I understand it the offset affects both load and idle voltage, so I'd have to make sure it doesn't under-volt at idle right?
Thanks for continuing to answer my questions, I'm definitely learning which is a good thing.
Yes Auto is better than fixed in some ways since the vcore scales with load, but offset allows the same with the added benefit of specifying the maximum vcore.
Generally offset can be harder to stabilise and require more vcore than fixed. Hence why Auto is using 1.35v for 4.4Ghz and 4.5Ghz was practically stable at a fixed 1.35v. It's quite likely that 4.4Ghz fixed vcore would need less than 1.35v, but offset may need more than this amount.
You just have to try it and see what works best for your chip.
On offset, as the vcore scales you can find some speeds that not enough vcore is supplied. This is the hardest to test and generally the only way to test is normal use. Prime95 only tests maximum speed with maximum allowed vcore, just 1 of many states. So the less than average chips won't like offset vcore, or require much more than fixed vcore.
Lockjaw333
Member
This makes sense, it does seem like from what I've read that its much hard to dial in an overclock with offset than just manually setting vcore.
So is a constant 1.35v safe for the chip?. When people say it "reduces the life of the chip", what does that really mean? 2 years off of a 10 year life span?
Reason I ask is I am building a MAME cabinet and want to be able to run emulators for PS2, Dreamcast etc. and I will be running the cabinet with a CRT TV. How will it look running through dvi->vga->svideo?
Yeah it's not going to have a huge impact at all, especially with temps only hitting 60c.
Constant is fine at 1.35v. Try offset and see how it goes though.
nightmare-slain
Banned
is it easy to install windows from usb? any good guides showing me how to do this? currently im gonna buy a dvd drive and use the disc copy to install it but would prefer to not have to buy a dvd drive and just do it all from usb.
also how do i actually buy a copy if i'm installing from usb...can i just buy a physical copy and type in the product key that's on that?
thanks
also how do i actually buy a copy if i'm installing from usb...can i just buy a physical copy and type in the product key that's on that?
thanks
Dunno if you guys can help my friend out a bit. A couple of years back he bought a new computer, we put it together ourself.
Anyway back then it was a middle in the road performance computer with focus on good performance without paying an arm for it. So now he's telling me that he cannot have a stream running in the background (not streaming himself) and play league of legends without lag. He have been told it's due to the CPU which is a AMD FX-8350 8-Core Processor 4.0GHz Socket.
His gpu is Radeon HD 7850 2GB GDDR5 and have 8gb ram.
Is there Any truth behind the cpu being the bottleneck or could it be something else?
Anyway back then it was a middle in the road performance computer with focus on good performance without paying an arm for it. So now he's telling me that he cannot have a stream running in the background (not streaming himself) and play league of legends without lag. He have been told it's due to the CPU which is a AMD FX-8350 8-Core Processor 4.0GHz Socket.
His gpu is Radeon HD 7850 2GB GDDR5 and have 8gb ram.
Is there Any truth behind the cpu being the bottleneck or could it be something else?
I just did this a few days ago. Downloaded the win8.1 pro ISO, then downloaded microsoft's tool to convert that to a USB. Don't remember the name of it, but a quick Google can help ya. The tool is for windows 7, but works for 8 also.
When you boot up, you may have to enter your BIOS settings and change the boot order, so the PC will try to boot from the USB instead of your hard drive.
You'll need a PC running at least win7 for this. It's possible to do on a Mac, but a bit more hassle.
That new Monoprice 2560x1600 overclockable monitor is 16:10.
http://www.monoprice.com/Product?c_id=113&cp_id=11307&cs_id=1130703&p_id=11996&seq=1&format=2
Lockjaw333
Member
A 290x is slightly better than a 290, so it depends on what price you can get each for I would think. I've seen the 290 for about $250-$270, whereas the 290x can be had for around $300.
I would guess the performance difference is 5%, 10% worst case in certain games. The 290 is an awesome value right now.
theSlacker
Member
porkchopexpress
Member
Newegg has a 290x that's $280 after incentives. $329 - $20 gift card - $30 rebate.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127773
PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant
CPU: Intel Core i7-5820K 3.3GHz 6-Core Processor ($445.34 @ TigerDirect Canada)
CPU Cooler: Corsair H110i GT 113.0 CFM Liquid CPU Cooler ($129.99 @ Amazon Canada)
Motherboard: MSI X99S SLI Plus ATX LGA2011-3 Motherboard ($260.98 @ Amazon Canada)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws 4 series 16GB (4 x 4GB) DDR4-2400 Memory ($295.98 @ NCIX)
Storage: Crucial MX100 256GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($127.98 @ DirectCanada)
Storage: Toshiba Product Series
Video Card: XFX Radeon R9 290X 4GB Double Dissipation Video Card ($369.99 @ NCIX)
Case: Corsair 450D ATX Mid Tower Case ($129.99 @ NCIX)
Power Supply: EVGA 850W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($99.99 @ Newegg Canada)
Total: $1950.23
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-02-13 00:14 EST-0500
A $2000 CDN build would normally have something like twin graphics cards, but I'm assuming by the way you mentioned powerful desktop and multimedia that you meant video editing and the like, then X99 high end parts should be considered. This build will conceivably last you years and years, and has the room to accommodate a second graphics card for better framerate or higher than 1080p/1440p gaming for a future upgrade.
Now, the only issue is that NCIX doesn't have the lowest prices. You can see in the smaller screenshot or by going to the parts build list and clicking on "price breakdown by merchant" that going with NCIX for everything will cost about $150 more than if you were to buy the parts elsewhere. It's $2100 at NCIX but about $1950 elsewhere (both before taxes).
NCIX does offer pricematching and you should take advantage of that if you can. See if they can give you a matching price or (rarely) a discount off competitor's prices. That will help you get closer to the $2000 limit.
That said, where are you in Canada? Memory Express might be another retailer to consider, unless you have reasons that you need to stick with NCIX for. Also, when do you plan to buy the parts? AMD is set to release their R9 3xx series graphics cards soon (maybe in the next month or two), it may be worth waiting for.
I'd go with either the Swiftech H220-X or H240-X over the Corsair unit. It has a better heatsink and is expandable if you want to watercool your GPU later (with a pump to actually do it).
http://www.ncix.com/detail/swiftech-h220-x-all-in-one-liquid-cooling-6b-93547.htm
http://www.ncix.com/detail/swiftech-h240-x-all-in-one-liquid-cooling-6d-102715.htm
I'd also go with the cheaper 2133 DDR4 set from Crucial. The performance hit is negligible.
http://www.ncix.com/detail/crucial-16gb-kit-4x4gb-ddr4-2133-b0-100645.htm
Grinchy
Banned
I got my 212 Evo installed! I kept reading posts from people saying it was a pain in the ass but it wasn't too bad. I guess that's mostly because I watched a youtube video before I started. The instructions that came with it definitely had me confused about which direction my retention plate had to go. I couldn't figure out why the little pin just wouldn't seem to line up.
It's in now though. I'm going to give it some time before I see how cool the CPU stays while I play FC4 maxed out. As long as the temps are better than before on the stock cooler, I'll be convinced that I put it in properly.
edit- I played FC4 for about an hour. With the stock heatsink, my CPU temp was hitting about 68C max. With the 212 Evo, the max is 48C. God damn! A 20C drop. It's almost time to start OCing this puppy.
It's in now though. I'm going to give it some time before I see how cool the CPU stays while I play FC4 maxed out. As long as the temps are better than before on the stock cooler, I'll be convinced that I put it in properly.
edit- I played FC4 for about an hour. With the stock heatsink, my CPU temp was hitting about 68C max. With the 212 Evo, the max is 48C. God damn! A 20C drop. It's almost time to start OCing this puppy.
My wi-fi signal quality is consistently at 3/5 bars and the speedtest download is 10Mb/s, whereas my school laptop's signal quality is consistently 4 or 5/5 and gets 40+Mb/s download speed.
Time for a PCI wireless card instead of whatever Dell put into this pre-built? My laptop definitely had a smoother online gaming experience than this things seems to have had so far.
Time for a PCI wireless card instead of whatever Dell put into this pre-built? My laptop definitely had a smoother online gaming experience than this things seems to have had so far.
As long as you have a Windows license, you can go to Microsoft's website to download the official Windows installer. Yes, you can buy a physical copy and just use the product key with a USB installer. Windows 8.1 licenses can also be bought from reddit's microsoftsoftwareswap for $20 or less. These are legitimate keys that are resold from educational programs like Technet or Dreamspark. However, you are dealing with a person instead of a retailer, and informal Windows keys sales are breaking some EULA to be clear, but it's not illegal. Once you have the key, you can get download Windows 8.1 through the official tool that will help you load it onto a USB drive.
What exactly is the problem? Is the game stuttering when he's trying to watch video and play the game at the same time? Or is the game running at a low framerate? How are system temperatures? His PC more than meets the recommended specs. I wouldn't want to recommend a $300 upgrade to Intel if other cheaper solutions would help.
There are other options to try first. He has the game running in fullscreen exclusive for best performance and not windowed or borderless fullscreen, right? Latest drivers installed? Maybe a reinstall of Windows is in order to refresh the system so it won't be as sluggish.
If CPU performance is just not enough, overclocking can help, if you and your friend will do that. A good CPU cooler is needed, and there are guides like this one.
I won't deny that the Swiftech coolers are better, but when ordered, those have a waiting time of 3-6 weeks. Other alternatives like the NZXT Kraken X61 are also not immediately available.
As for the RAM, Anandtech's benchmark of various DDR4 modules at different speeds has them suggesting to go with at least 2400MHz because it can influence the minimum performance of the system.
Anandtech said:
The Swiftech and NZXT coolers may or may not be better than the H110i GT pending decent reviews, all the ones I've seen so far compare the H110i GT to a NH-D15 and not other 280mm radiators. I previously thought the H110i GT was just going to be the H110 radiator paired with the USB enabled pump block from the H100i, but apparently while the older H110 was made by Asetek, this newer H110i GT is made by Coolit. Spending $30 more on a slightly better cooler by a few degrees won't actually change framerate performance (unless shooting for a very high overclock), while getting the $300 2400MHz RAM instead of the $270 2133MHz RAM can actually boost minimum performance in a few areas including game framerate.
It'd be best to know some details. What speed is your internet connection, and what router do you have? What wireless card/chipset does your desktop and your laptop have? Some schools I've been to definitely have a much faster internet connection than any residential connection. It's just best to find out where the bottleneck actually is and what you actually need to replace, it could be your router or the wireless card.
I could possibly get an Asus GTX 980 for $420 in Craigslist. It's brand new still in wrapper with the Amazon invoice, but the seller can't return it due to it being over the return policy.
I was going to wait to see what the 300 series offered from AMD but this is tempting me.
I was going to wait to see what the 300 series offered from AMD but this is tempting me.
Well, it's wireless at a university, so I couldn't really say much about the router. I've seen my laptop get up to 80 Mb/s download before, but I don't know the full speed. The laptop is from 2011 and has some Intel 1000 BGN thingy, whereas the desktop is from last year and has Dell Wireless-1705.
Dunno if it matters, but the speed in the "wireless connections" page is always 65 Mb/s, while it goes up to 130 Mb/s on the laptop.
Are both the laptop and desktop connecting to university wifi? In that case you could see better network connection with a better wifi adaptor.
From what I can find, the Dell wireless 1705 chipset would be slower. According to this site, it's based on the Qualcomm/Atheros AR9565 which is limited to 1x1 antenna and 150Mb/s maximum.
On the other hand, if your laptop has the Intel Wifi Link 1000 B/G/N, then according to this product spec sheet, it can do 2 antennas and a maximum of 300Mb/s.
How much do you want to spend on a wifi adaptor? My go-to model for recommendations is this Gigabyte PCI-E wifi adaptor for $33 from Newegg (Superbiiz charges shipping and it's out of stock from them anyway). It should better support higher speeds as it also does 2x2 antenna. It also has a longer antenna on a wire that means you can place it higher in a better spot for better reception instead of it having a small stick antenna.
TC McQueen
Member
Sometimes you can get a pack of 3-4 fans super cheap on Newegg. I think I paid $20 tops for a 3 pack of Cougar fans.
Check out Rosewill (Hyperborea I think?), ArcticCooling F12s,and Cougar Vortex. They should all be around $7-10 for 120mm fans. Yate Loons are always a great value.
Hey guy, this is a bit off-topic but I don't believe there's another thread on Gaf for non-gaming computers.
Friend is looking for a cheap laptop for browsing the internet for her mom.
Posted this on Reddit for her as well, has a bit more info.
http://www.reddit.com/r/SuggestALaptop/comments/2vu7kq/general_purpose_mom_laptop/
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated, thank you.
Friend is looking for a cheap laptop for browsing the internet for her mom.
Posted this on Reddit for her as well, has a bit more info.
http://www.reddit.com/r/SuggestALaptop/comments/2vu7kq/general_purpose_mom_laptop/
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated, thank you.
Not to brush you off or anything, but we're mostly about desktops, gaming and non-gaming. There is a thread for laptop suggestions here.
Thanks, I'll post it there.
Grinchy
Banned
Thanks, I had my eye on some of those actually. I might grab some 140mm ones.
I did find a cheap 4-pack of fans on amazon for like $13, but they were sleeve bearing. I don't know that much about fans but I'm under the impression that those are bad.
Unfortunately, this sounds exactly like the issue that afflicted early P67 motherboards. I sort of doubt it's still under warranty, but if it is, then maybe you could see about getting a replacement.
Otherwise, you'd have to see about getting a used socket 1155 motherboard or maybe upgrade to a new motherboard and CPU. A PCI-E SATA controller is also an option, but not the best method.
Defective SSD is possible, but very unlikely. Check the smart data with just the SSD plugged in? I don't know why it'd be having issues in a SATA 3.0 port, though.
It depends more on the intended purpose more than anything else, they're not necessarily bad. If you mind some reading, you can see the differences here.
http://www.gamersnexus.net/guides/779-computer-case-fan-bearing-differences
Generally you don't need to worry about the type of fan as much as the actual performance. Fans will rarely ever wear out before you replace the PC.
Pretty damn rare.
IIRC the SATA 3 should be fine. I kept my P67 because I didnt want to be bothered and got a free PCIE SATA card.
Run drive health bench on it (Samsung has it) or do an RMA. Can try reinstalling again too.
Can we talk speakers?
I'm looking for a good 2.1 set (I don't have the room for anything else really). I currently own Logitech Z623's, however going through two sets in three years makes me weary of buying them again.
I'm looking at the Klipsch Pro Media 2.1 for 178 CAD, which seems to have favorable reviews. Any other suggestions?
I'm looking for a good 2.1 set (I don't have the room for anything else really). I currently own Logitech Z623's, however going through two sets in three years makes me weary of buying them again.
I'm looking at the Klipsch Pro Media 2.1 for 178 CAD, which seems to have favorable reviews. Any other suggestions?
LiquidMetal14
hide your water-based mammals
Really impressed with the sleeving on the custom cables.
Rig powered on. Windows installed in about 4 minutes on the M.2 drive. Havent tinkered with anything in bios yet.
CPU temps are 27C at idle even with the quiet mode on the H110iGT. Very impressed. Tiny Tom Logan was pretty impressed by the cooler and I see why. This is easily the best AIO I've ever had and get big recommendations from me. System is actually really quiet compared to my x79 rig. None of the fans are on full blast and the whole rig runs cooler on this x99 PC.
nightmare-slain
Banned
thanks! just one more thing....does it matter if i use the OEM version or the FULL version? will either product key still work? the OEM version is about £7 cheaper than the full version. either way it doesn't really matter but i'm just trying to save as much as possible.
IIRC it shouldn't make a difference, but what and where exactly are you looking at? As long as the product key is valid, the Microsoft tool will download the ISO for you.
It's hard to go wrong, although the top end MSI Gaming 4G and Gigabyte Windforce models are quite good. EVGA should also be a top contender. Depends where you're buying, selection and prices vary, especially outside of North America.
If even BIOS detection doesn't work properly, I don't think there's much you can do or that you need to do anything in Ubuntu. Here's a method of checking SSD status in Ubuntu.
Are you going to get a new or used replacement socket 1155 motherboard, or upgrade to a new motherboard and processor entirely?
I do not recommend that you buy ASRock Z77 motherboards. There is a problem with them, they do not properly read core voltage.
Appaws helpfully pointed this out when I once recommended an ASRock Z77 model to another poster. He himself has experienced the problem, as have others. All ASRock Z77 model motherboards seem to be affected by it.
Where are you looking for replacement motherboards? PCPartPicker has a list, but after checking the reviews it seems that the cheapest one that isn't riddled with consistent 1 and 2 star reviews indicating dead motherboards on arrival is the Biostar Hi-Fi Z77X 5.x which costs a bit over $150 USD.
Hey so i'm moving to a mini-itx build and im debating between two motherboard models.
The Gigabyte GA-Z97N-Gaming 5
and the
MSI Z97I GAMING ACK
The MSI is newer (being released around last december) and has M.2 support.
But the Gigabyte is apparently faster? (according to Bit-Tech) and has better audio.
I don't know which one to go for and they're both similar price (though the gigabyte is slightly more expensive)
Anyone got any advice which one to go for?
Also is M.2 worth having?
The Gigabyte GA-Z97N-Gaming 5
and the
MSI Z97I GAMING ACK
The MSI is newer (being released around last december) and has M.2 support.
But the Gigabyte is apparently faster? (according to Bit-Tech) and has better audio.
I don't know which one to go for and they're both similar price (though the gigabyte is slightly more expensive)
Anyone got any advice which one to go for?
Also is M.2 worth having?
- Status