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[mkenyon]

I've bought displays from Craigslist and from GAF BST.

I'd recommend buying new. Craigslist can be great and I've never gotten burned and found some great deals but you just never know and I still accept the fact that anything I buy could work for a week and die and there's nothing I can do.

While partially true, something like the VG248QE has a 3 year warranty based on serial number, so ASUS would fix it if something went wrong.

 

[Smokey]

WTS - Samsung U28D590D 4K Monitor

$450

US48, PayPal pls, thnks

GAF Positive Feedback : Buy (2), Sell (6), Previous (4)

.

 

[Celcius]

^^Decided to go the high refresh rate route?

 

[Smokey]

^^Decided to go the high refresh rate route?

Already have a ROG Swift that I've been using since release.

 

[finalflame]

It has begun, GAF. It's almost like torture having to wait for the rest of the components to arrive a day apart, but the rest will be here tomorrow and it'll finally come together.

 

[KePoW]

hi GAF team, I just put together a new PC recently based on some info from this thread -- tons of great help here!

i5-4690k
Gelid Tranquillo cooler
ASUS Sabertooth Z97 Mark 2
16gb DDR3-1600
GTX 980
Define R5 case

Everything running rock solid so far (couple weeks).

Now I am requesting some help into overclocking! I have absolutely no idea how to do this, so I apologize. I looked at the BIOS (Advanced mode) and there are literally like 50+ things just in the CPU Tweaking sections. Looks extremely complicated, I'm not sure how someone is supposed to know every single setting?? lol

I'm just looking for a basic moderate OC, nothing hardcore stressing. Can someone give me step-by-step instructions for something safe? Would 3.5 to 4.0 be really safe?

The BIOS is completely foreign to me, so if you say "raise the multiplier" then I still have no idea what to do or which setting haha. Here's a couple pictures so hopefully yall can tell what BIOS I have:

 

[NoRéN]

.

Dammit, Smokey. Why you gotta tempt?

Then again, I'm on a 970 and doubt I could fully utilize that monitor.

 

[Jeff Stephen]

So I finally picked up an SSD, browsed through the guide and there seems to be conflicting reports from tweak guides online. So without going into any registry edits or deleting crucial window files, what are the most crucial tweaks to apply for an SSD?

 

[Smokey]

Dammit, Smokey. Why you gotta tempt?

Then again, I'm on a 970 and doubt I could fully utilize that monitor.

You could totally fully utilize this monitor!

 

[finalflame]

You could totally fully utilize this monitor!

 

[FreddieQuell]

Something I've been wondering lately. My PSU (xfx xtr 550) came with a single 8 pin to dual 8 pin (8 and 6+2) pcie power cable. I'm using this to power my 970. Is there any reason that finding a separate pcie cable would be beneficial to me, especially since I'm trying to overclock now?

If so, does anyone know where I might find one? I was looking the other day, but without any luck.

 

[finalflame]

Something I've been wondering lately. My PSU (xfx xtr 550) came with a single 8 pin to dual 8 pin (8 and 6+2) pcie power cable. I'm using this to power my 970. Is there any reason that finding a separate pcie cable would be beneficial to me, especially since I'm trying to overclock now?

If so, does anyone know where I might find one? I was looking the other day, but without any luck.

Nah, you should be fine. I used that exact cable with that exact PSU (XTR550) to overclock my 780 Ti (much higher power draw than the 970) to 1300mhz core/7000mhz VRAM on watercooling and overvolted. Not a single problem. What's important is that the XTR550 has a great 12v rail and can keep up with the demand for your card, which it most definitely can (unless you have an array of 20 HDDs you're not telling us about).

 

[FreddieQuell]

Nah, you should be fine. I used that exact cable with that exact PSU (XTR550) to overclock my 780 Ti (much higher power draw than the 970) to 1300mhz core/7000mhz VRAM on watercooling and overvolted. Not a single problem. What's important is that the XTR550 has a great 12v rail and can keep up with the demand for your card, which it most definitely can (unless you have an array of 20 HDDs you're not telling us about).

Cool, good to know. My build is pretty basic so everything sounds like it should be good. This was just something that has been in the back of my mind bugging me since I put the PC together.

 

[Mohasus]

The BIOS is completely foreign to me, so if you say "raise the multiplier" then I still have no idea what to do or which setting haha. Here's a couple pictures so hopefully yall can tell what BIOS I have:

You probably have to change the CPU Core Ratio from Auto to something else. It will show 35, change it to 40.

 

[RadioactiveLobster]

Anyone here have a 2 way EVGA SLI Bridge (This one)??

How easy is it to cover/mod out the EVGA Illuminated Logo? I want a better SLI bridge (have a flexible one from ASUS right now, came with my X99-Deluxe) and this is the ONLY one I can find that has the proper spacing (60mm, dual GPU with single slot in the middle)

Nvidia, for reasons no one can actually think of, don't have a 2 way bridge with single slot spacing. I wish they did as I like the look of theirs more.

 

[knitoe]

Anyone here have a 2 way EVGA SLI Bridge (This one)??

How easy is it to cover/mod out the EVGA Illuminated Logo? I want a better SLI bridge (have a flexible one from ASUS right now, came with my X99-Deluxe) and this is the ONLY one I can find that has the proper spacing (60mm, dual GPU with single slot in the middle)

Nvidia, for reasons no one can actually think of, don't have a 2 way bridge with single slot spacing. I wish they did as I like the look of theirs more.

I have the EVGA bridge. It's very dim and you won't notice it unless it's a totally dark case / room. Not sure why you need to cover it or disable the lighting.

Also, I bought the Nvidia bridge not realizing it's 1 spot too long. Waste of $40.

 

[KePoW]

You probably have to change the CPU Core Ratio from Auto to something else. It will show 35, change it to 40.

ok cool I'll look into that

I wonder how many of all those other settings in the CPU Tweaking menus you have to change??

 

[RadioactiveLobster]

I have the EVGA bridge. It's very dim and you won't notice it unless it's a totally dark case / room. Not sure why you need to cover it or disable the lighting.

Also, I bought the Nvidia bridge not realizing it's 1 spot too long. Waste of $40.

Mainly for coordination, I have Gigabyte 980's. The only EVGA product in my system is the Power Supply.

I want something that looks better through the window of the case than the rather shitty one that came with the mobo and I don't want an illuminated EVGA logo when I don't have any EVGA GPU's.

And it can be very dark in my room

 

[Glass Shark]

I am so relieved.

The upgrade from my i3-3220 to an i5-3570K was a huge success. I wasn't sure I would get much of an fps bump, but I saw big improvements in all the games I want to play. I think I'm even going to hold off overclocking it for now because the performance is so solid.

For the curious, here are my performance gains after the upgrade (all tests run using the same settings pre-i5 and post-i5):

Another odd anecdotal thing... I almost always play games with Vsync on. I have it off for benchmarking, obviously, and I am noticing way less screen tearing after upgrading the CPU. I have no idea why that would be.

Thanks for your help in making this happen, everyone! Now I don't have to rush to get a second card for SLI...

 

[The Llama]

ok cool I'll look into that

I wonder how many of all those other settings in the CPU Tweaking menus you have to change??

For basic overclocking, all you really need to change is the multiplier and the VCore. Obviously you should do some research on your specific mobo because it might have some tricks that can help, but in general those are the 2 key ones.

I am so relieved.

The upgrade from my i3-3220 to an i5-3570K was a huge success. I wasn't sure I would get much of an fps bump, but I saw big improvements in all the games I want to play. I think I'm even going to hold off overclocking it for now because the performance is so solid.

For the curious, here are my performance gains after the upgrade (all tests run using the same settings pre-i5 and post-i5):

Thanks for your help in making this happen, everyone! Now I don't have to rush to get a second card for SLI...

That's awesome, and thanks for making that chart!

 

[KePoW]

For basic overclocking, all you really need to change is the multiplier and the VCore. Obviously you should do some research on your specific mobo because it might have some tricks that can help, but in general those are the 2 key ones.

ok thx pal!

 

[finalflame]

I am so relieved.

The upgrade from my i3-3220 to an i5-3570K was a huge success. I wasn't sure I would get much of an fps bump, but I saw big improvements in all the games I want to play. I think I'm even going to hold off overclocking it for now because the performance is so solid.

For the curious, here are my performance gains after the upgrade (all tests run using the same settings pre-i5 and post-i5):

Thanks for your help in making this happen, everyone! Now I don't have to rush to get a second card for SLI...

Awesome results, glad the new CPU solved your problem! Enjoy your awesome FPS.

 

[knitoe]

Mainly for coordination, I have Gigabyte 980's. The only EVGA product in my system is the Power Supply.

I want something that looks better through the window of the case than the rather shitty one that came with the mobo and I don't want an illuminated EVGA logo when I don't have any EVGA GPU's.

And it can be very dark in my room

Your Windforce cards would be much brighter than the EVGA bridge. Guess, you could cover / hide the EVGA logo with tape or opening it up.

I am so relieved.

The upgrade from my i3-3220 to an i5-3570K was a huge success. I wasn't sure I would get much of an fps bump, but I saw big improvements in all the games I want to play. I think I'm even going to hold off overclocking it for now because the performance is so solid.

For the curious, here are my performance gains after the upgrade (all tests run using the same settings pre-i5 and post-i5):

Thanks for your help in making this happen, everyone! Now I don't have to rush to get a second card for SLI...

Don't hold off. Overclock and enjoy the extra speed today. As mention above, it's easy as changing 2 variables in the bios.

 

[RGM79]

So I finally picked up an SSD, browsed through the guide and there seems to be conflicting reports from tweak guides online. So without going into any registry edits or deleting crucial window files, what are the most crucial tweaks to apply for an SSD?

Set SATA mode to AHCI in the BIOS. Windows should be smart enough to detect that it's an SSD and enable TRIM and disable defragging, among other things.

If you really wanted to maximize SSD life, you could disable things like search indexing, hibernation, and move your user directory off the SSD, but modern SSDs are more than good for at least ten years of continuous service barring defects in the firmware or controller, wearing down a drive is no longer an issue.

 

[Celcius]

Questions about monitor overclocking:

I have an Asus VH236H monitor with my pc connected via single-link dvi and a ps3 connected via hdmi, I downloaded the ToastyX Pixel Clock Patcher and ran it, then used the nvidia control panel to setup a custom resolution of 1080p @ 68 hz (highest my old monitor could do with no issues).

1. I tried first overclocking it with my graphics card connected via hdmi and then with it connected via a single-link dvi cable but got the same result both times. For such a low overclock it's not worth investing in a dual-link dvi cable and trying for higher right?

2. Is there any drawback to running at 68hz or should I just leave it at 60hz? For example, watching 24 fps/30 fps / 60 fps youtube videos?

3. I ran the frame skipper blurbusters test, took pictures of the screen, and didn't notice any frame skipping. I also ran the ufo test fine. Am I stable or is it like overclocking a processor where I need to let it run overnight?

4. Since the monitor is overclocked using software and not hardware, that means when I use my ps3 connected via hdmi that it's not overclocked at that time correct?

 

[BigMastadon]

So my PC parts/build will be here by next Tuesday. I have a 970 card coming from a Gafer (sealed/brand new) and now I just need a monitor. I want to do a dual monitor setup and I need some guidance.

That's the desk I'm going to be working with. I don't have exact dimensions at the moment. I'm debating on if I should put a 27" in the center and a 24" on the left and keep the light on the right.. or if I should keep them both the same size.

I would prefer to pick up in person so the monitor's should come from a brick and mortar place. Best Buy/Wal-Mart etc.

My budget for both monitors (edited for you smokey ;p) would be $350-400. I have $200 cash from selling something and would like to only spend an additional $150-200 out of pocket if possible. If there is a model that raises on the stand then I can make the middle one the same height as the left so it doesn't look weird.

Opinions?

 

[OraleeWey]

Why would one want two video cards? Is that for two monitors or simply better graphics?

 

[Smokey]

That's the desk I'm going to be working with. I don't have exact dimensions at the moment. I'm debating on if I should put a 27" in the center and a 24" on the left and keep the light on the right.. or if I should keep them both the same size.

I would prefer to pick up in person so the monitor's should come from a brick and mortar place. Best Buy/Wal-Mart etc.

My budget for monitor(s) would be $350-400. I have $200 cash from selling something and would like to only spend an additional $150-200 out of pocket if possible. If there is a model that raises on the stand then I can make the middle one the same height as the left so it doesn't look weird.

Opinions?

$400ish monitor you say

WTS - Samsung U28D590D 4K Monitor

$450

US48, PayPal pls, thnks

GAF Positive Feedback : Buy (2), Sell (6), Previous (4)

 

[Glass Shark]

Don't hold off. Overclock and enjoy the extra speed today. As mention above, it's easy as changing 2 variables in the bios.

With my incessant need to tinker with things, "I'm going to hold off" translates to "I'll do it tomorrow night."

 

[BigMastadon]

$400ish monitor you say

$400 for both*

;p

 

[Gambit61]

ok thx pal!

Keep us updated! I was trying to figure out the best settings for my 4690k yesterday but didn't get a stable OC. Gonna give it another shot this weekend.

 

[KePoW]

Keep us updated! I was trying to figure out the best settings for my 4690k yesterday but didn't get a stable OC. Gonna give it another shot this weekend.

how high did you try for when it was unstable?

will report back!

 

[Damerman]

Need quick help... Im moving my brothers boot hard drive from an amd asus mobo to a intel asrock mobo... Is it as simple as swapping the hardrives and the deleting and instaling respective drivers or is it more complicated?

 

[RGM79]

Need quick help... Im moving my brothers boot hard drive from an amd asus mobo to a intel asrock mobo... Is it as simple as swapping the hardrives and the deleting and instaling respective drivers or is it more complicated?

More likely than not, a reinstallation of Windows is needed. Perhaps you can try uninstalling as many hardware drivers as you can before moving the drive over? Not sure if that'd work.

Why would one want two video cards? Is that for two monitors or simply better graphics?

Most graphics cards nowadays will handle two or three monitors by itself, no need for two. Crossfire and SLI multiple GPU setups are for better performance to handle higher graphics settings, higher resolutions, and higher framerates

 

[nightmare-slain]

Hey so I last night rewired my case fans and seem to have a low rpm now.

Case: Nzxt h230
Fans: 3x 120mm NZXT (3pin)
Mobo: h97m-d3h
PSU: evga supernova 750w g2
CPU: i5-4590
GPU: MSI r9 290 4GB
Ram: 8GB 1600Mhz

I initially had the exhaust and bottom front intake wired to PSU via molex and the top front intake plugged into sysfan3 on the mobo. I'm pretty sure I remember seeing the rpm at 1200rpm or somewhere about that. My CPU was idling at about just over 30 Celsius (stock cooler)

Now I have the rear exhaust plugged directly into sysfan1, and the two front intakes connected via an adapter into sysfan3. No molex cable as it was taking up a bit of room under of my HDD in the cage.

Now when I look at fan speed in BIOS,speedfan it says I only have 600-700rpm on fan 1 + 3 (2 fans connected). My CPU was idling at about 35 celcisus. I played a round of bf3 multiplayer at 1080p 60fps ultra and MSI after burner reported GPU about 60-70 celcius and about same for CPu. If my memory is correct.

My mobo has 4 pins for fans. The adapter connects to all 4 pins but the actual fan cables only have 3 pins. Does this mean they can't be controlled and therefore should run at Max? Why am I only getting low rpm then?? Do I need to go into BIOS and increase voltage to them or something?

Thanks!!

EDIT* SOLVED. all i had to do was change the settings in bios to run them at full speed. all fans spinning above 1000rpm. simple fix!

 

[OraleeWey]

More likely than not, a reinstallation of Windows is needed. Perhaps you can try uninstalling as many hardware drivers as you can before moving the drive over? Not sure if that'd work.



Most graphics cards nowadays will handle two or three monitors by itself, no need for two. Crossfire and SLI multiple GPU setups are for better performance to handle higher graphics settings, higher resolutions, and higher framerates

Thanks!

 

[mkenyon]

Of course. I always knew that mkenyon was right, so decided to go with the RoG Swift, and I'm so happy to be back on the 120/144Hz bandwagon with all the best PC Gamers.

Awwwwww thanks!

 

[KePoW]

For monitoring temps, is CoreTemp or RealTemp fine? I don't really want to install one of those big package suites

 

[knitoe]

For monitoring temps, is CoreTemp or RealTemp fine? I don't really want to install one of those big package suites

HWinfo

http://www.hwinfo.com/download.php

 

[NEO0MJ]

Gonna bump my question for the new page.

Oh yeah, can a 650W Gigabyte Green Power Supply handle this build? I shamefully didn't do enough research on it before buying it and just trusted the store owner on that.

Chassis: Corsair Graphite Series 380T
Motherboard: MSI Z97I GAMING ACK
CPU: Intel i7 4970
GPU: Gigabyte Nvidia GTX 970 4GB
Ram: G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 16GB
Storage: Crucial SSD 128 GB and WD Black 2TB

 

[Mohasus]

ok cool I'll look into that

I wonder how many of all those other settings in the CPU Tweaking menus you have to change??

It isn't a big overclock, so just this would be fine. I'd recommend going 1 step at a time (try 36, then 37, 38...).

For example, my 3570k (3.4Ghz) OCs easily until 4.3Ghz, after that I need to add more voltage.

 

[BigMastadon]

Gonna bump my question for the new page.

Should be good. Looks similar to my build that I just pieced out and partspicker estimated about 400w or so.

 

[RGM79]

Gonna bump my question for the new page.

Easily, according to this wattage calculator. You have enough headroom to overclock with a quality 650 watt power supply, not so sure about the Gigabyte model, though.

 

[NEO0MJ]

Should be good. Looks similar to my build that I just pieced out and partspicker estimated about 400w or so.

Easily, according to this wattage calculator. You have enough headroom to overclock with a quality 650 watt power supply, not so sure about the Gigabyte model, though.

Thanks. And yeah, the Gigabyte model might not be perfect but we didn't have many options and my friend wasn't as willing to look in every store to see what they have. Plus, we look to most Gigabyte products as top tier stuff.

 

[KePoW]

HWinfo

http://www.hwinfo.com/download.php

kool thx

It isn't a big overclock, so just this would be fine. I'd recommend going 1 step at a time (try 36, then 37, 38...).

For example, my 3570k (3.4Ghz) OCs easily until 4.3Ghz, after that I need to add more voltage.

Ok great, will report back tomorrow!

 

[Daffy Duck]

So is this a fairly OK spec PC?

It's only really going to be used for working (web design, and photoshop work making visuals) and the odd game (Cities Skyline and older games).

Might also try BF4/CoD/CS.

 

[NEO0MJ]

So is this a fairly OK spec PC?

This looks great.

 

[lordfuzzybutt]

So is this a fairly OK spec PC?

It's only really going to be used for working (web design, and photoshop work making visuals) and the odd game (Cities Skyline and older games).

Might also try BF4/CoD/CS.

I see some possible changes.

1. Will you overclock? Regarding your work and game, I think you should, in that case pick a CPU cooler, the 212 evo will be fine. But if you won't, the non K 4690 is like 10£ cheaper.

2. the 280x has better perf and more vram than the 960.

3. the xfx psu is made by seasonic, very good. A little bit cheaper but a bit lower in power, 550 vs 600. But your setup won't need more than that unless you want to OC.

4. the ram i picked are cheaper, and same speed.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor (£181.00 @ Amazon UK)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (£25.34 @ Scan.co.uk)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97X-SLI ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£89.99 @ Novatech)
Memory: Kingston Fury Red Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory (£99.95 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 2TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£56.34 @ Aria PC)
Video Card: MSI Radeon R9 280X 3GB TWIN FROZR Video Card (£175.54 @ Scan.co.uk)
Case: Corsair 300R ATX Mid Tower Case (£58.79 @ Aria PC)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£48.98 @ Novatech)
Monitor: Asus VX228H 60Hz 21.5" Monitor (£115.99 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £851.92
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-03-10 09:25 GMT+0000

 

[kiyomi]

It's only really going to be used for working (web design, and photoshop work making visuals) and the odd game (Cities Skyline and older games).

Might also try BF4/CoD/CS.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor (£181.00 @ Amazon UK)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (£25.34 @ Scan.co.uk)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97M-D3H Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (£82.76 @ Scan.co.uk)
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LP 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£99.81 @ Amazon UK)
Storage: Crucial BX100 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (£49.60 @ CCL Computers)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£42.97 @ CCL Computers)
Video Card: MSI Radeon R9 280X 3GB TWIN FROZR Video Card (£175.54 @ Scan.co.uk)
Case: Cooler Master N200 MicroATX Mid Tower Case (£32.86 @ CCL Computers)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£48.98 @ Novatech)
Monitor: Dell P2314H 60Hz 23.0" Monitor (£130.00 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £868.86
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-03-10 09:41 GMT+0000

-CPU cooler for overclocking (since you're looking at parts for OC'ing, I'm assuming you want to).
-You don't need full ATX. Cheaper motherboard, cheaper case.
-Cheaper RAM.
-Added an SSD, do you really need 2TB HDD? You can always add another one down the line.
-Better GPU, the 960 is not really all that.
-Don't really need 600W for that build, 500-550W will do fine.
-If you're doing photoshop/colour work you need a good monitor. The Dell IPS panels are gorgeous.

 

[Daffy Duck]

Cool, thanks for that guys.

I would probably OC the CPU as it seems to do it so well, it would seem silly not to.

With regards everything else, yeah that seems to make sense, reason I went with just a normal HDD is I have no experience of SSD, and I didn't know the difference between micro atx boards.