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"I Need a New PC!" 2015 Part 1. Read the OP and RISE ABOVE FORGED PRECISION SCIENCE

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Quoting my post from yesterday - thanks to all who replied. Thought I'd give an update.

Regards problem no.1, I actually thankfully got it sorted. I was able to download a 64-bit version of windows on my laptop and get it installed. So that's a big relief. Turned out that you can do it from a 32-bit machine, the option was right there when I was creating bootable media. I honestly don't know why MS support told me otherwise, they haven't a clue it seems.

However, I still have problem number 2. Now, to update - the HDD actually consistently shows up in BIOS now. Every time I've booted the PC (which is a lot) over the past two days, the HDD is visible in BIOS (I check each time). But, it's still not there in windows.

It's visible in device manager, under "other devices". But I can't seem to get windows to recognise it as a hard drive. It won't show up in the 'diskpart' program as a disk I can create and assign a volume on. I don't know what to do. Is it a physically faulty hard drive?

You will need to activate it using the Disk Management tool of windows first.
 
You will need to activate it using the Disk Management tool of windows first.

Can you please tell me how to go about that? Thanks!

Edit - it's not showing up in disk management. Only the SSD and the 4TB HDD are there.

But, it's there in device manager. It's even listed as WDC WD3003FZEX-00Z4SAO under the sub-heading "other devices". It's got a little question mark next to it, and when I click 'properties', it says "this device is working properly". I can't figure it out. Do you think it's a faulty drive (as in , physically faulty)? Or is this a software thing that can be fixed?
 
Can you please tell me how to go about that? Thanks!

Edit - it's not showing up in disk management. Only the SSD and the 4TB HDD are there.

But, it's there in device manager. It's even listed as WDC WD3003FZEX-00Z4SAO under the sub-heading "other devices". It's got a little question mark next to it, and when I click 'properties', it says "this device is working properly". I can't figure it out. Do you think it's a faulty drive (as in , physically faulty)? Or is this a software thing that can be fixed?
Just to double check here. In Disk Management, it won't be shown in the orange area but in the green area instead. It should be shown as unallocated or something. I know some people often missed this first time they do this.

But if you can't see it there then I am stumped, sorry.

captureruupd.png
 

cbox

Member
What is your temp? Too high temp can cause such issues as well.
What I would do is open the up the case, dust it out then boot it up and use DDU to remove the driver, then download the latest one and install. See if it get fixed.

This card 290x is a good one for 390 CAD or this 290 for 360 CAD.

Well my card is definitely dead, damn you Asus :( Outside of the warranty period also. I don't think it overheats because I blasted the fan right on it and it did nothing. Screen turns grey after a random amount of time. I tried running it after being off for one day and it grey screen/artifacted as soon as i loaded up unreal editor or any game. Then later that night I had it running for probably an hour before it grey-screened again.

I do alot of blender cycles rendering and 3d modelling so I'm thinking i'll try Nvidia for my first time ever (cuda cores are awesome for rendering). I'm trying to decide between the aftermarket ones, thoughts? I saw the r290x but the 970 Strix is only 30 bucks more. I'm weary about buying another Asus card, though my 6870 is the first asus device I've had fail , every other product from them has been rock solid. Which would be a good choice from the aftermarket 970's?

Mind you, I don't bother overclocking and silence is key for me, so the Strix no fan mode seems nice.

Cheers!
 
Well my card is definitely dead, damn you Asus :( Outside of the warranty period also. I don't think it overheats because I blasted the fan right on it and it did nothing. Screen turns grey after a random amount of time. I tried running it after being off for one day and it grey screen/artifacted as soon as i loaded up unreal editor or any game. Then later that night I had it running for probably an hour before it grey-screened again.

I do alot of blender cycles rendering and 3d modelling so I'm thinking i'll try Nvidia for my first time ever (cuda cores are awesome for rendering). I'm trying to decide between the aftermarket ones, thoughts? I saw the r290x but the 970 Strix is only 30 bucks more. I'm weary about buying another Asus card, though my 6870 is the first asus device I've had fail , every other product from them has been rock solid. Which would be a good choice from the aftermarket 970's?

Mind you, I don't bother overclocking and silence is key for me, so the Strix no fan mode seems nice.

Cheers!

Well, you can't really go wrong with any 970 from ASUS, MSI, GIGABYTE, EVGA.
I have one from MSI, there is no fan mode under 60 degree too and it overclocks like a beast.

The reason I recommended you the 290 and 290x is because they are cheaper and especially with all the hassle about the 970 VRAM issue. If you don't have any issue with that then just pick one. Do not pick the EVGA v.1.0 though. Some issues with heating.
 
Just to double check here. In Disk Management, it won't be shown in the orange area but in the green area instead. It should be shown as unallocated or something. I know some people often missed this first time they do this.

But if you can't see it there then I am stumped, sorry.

Yeah, no it's actually not showing up in the green area for me. I think I'm going to have to get it replaced, the signs weren't good when it didn't show up in BIOS when I first booted the PC after assembling it. Hope the replacement process isn't a painful thing. Thanks for responding.
 
Yeah, no it's actually not showing up in the green area for me. I think I'm going to have to get it replaced, the signs weren't good when it didn't show up in BIOS when I first booted the PC after assembling it. Hope the replacement process isn't a painful thing. Thanks for responding.

Ah sorry I didn't read your previous post carefully and missed the part where it doesn't show in BIOS. It definitely sounds like it's faulty.
 

mkenyon

Banned
GAF, for those that know me, help me decide.

I click on cases on Newegg as I do a few times a week to see upcoming stuff and special deals.

I see that Lian Li is having a 30% off sale. So, I click, see if there's anything worth posting on GAF. Then I come across this.

This is, besides the color, pretty much my ideal case. Maybe a bit taller than I'd want, but other than that, super perfect. After working on the Air 540, I knew that every case I'd buy from then on out would need to be two chambers because of how amazingly easy it was to work on.


For further backstory, when I was first getting into the enthusiast side of building, I was obsessed with the Lian Li X900.


It once went on sale for almost half off, at $250. Back then, the most expensive case I had purchased was probably no more than $100. So I didn't bite. But it haunted me, and I actually ended up spending hours and hours trying to hunt one down, even looking for a used one. Never ended up getting it.

But now that I've probably gone through ~15-20 different cases and builds over the last 5ish years, $500 doesn't even strike me as all that much for a case. I mean, my CaseLabs SM5 was $600 with all the accessories.

I do feel like this could be my forever case. Supports pretty much anything I could ever want, all the way up to housing a streaming PC with gaming hardware in the same chassis.

Should I bite? Or do I just keep on keepin on, waiting for something else to really grab me? I suppose the only other case in that price range I've considered is the CaseLabs S5 w/ Pedestal.

 

DarthWoo

I'm glad Grandpa porked a Chinese Muslim
You can monitor your CPU and GPU temps to make sure they are within range while playing games. Personally, I use MSI Afterburner.

I tried out Afterburner on both my new system and my old system. It's really quite strange, in that my new system (i5-4460 + GTX 750Ti) idles at about 30 and peaked in the high 60s while I tried out BF3 in Ultra settings for about half an hour. Meanwhile, my old system (C2D E8400 + GTX 260) seems to remain at a constant 50 at idle (going predictably higher than the 750 at load). While I looked at the track of GPU temp for the 750 in BF3, it looked like it would probably have gradually continued climbing had I kept playing. How high is too high? Is the actual side panel of the tower getting warm just a factor of the proximity of the card due to the side as well as ventilation, and probably not so much to worry about?
 

mkenyon

Banned
I tried out Afterburner on both my new system and my old system. It's really quite strange, in that my new system (i5-4460 + GTX 750Ti) idles at about 30 and peaked in the high 60s while I tried out BF3 in Ultra settings for about half an hour. Meanwhile, my old system (C2D E8400 + GTX 260) seems to remain at a constant 50 at idle (going predictably higher than the 750 at load). While I looked at the track of GPU temp for the 750 in BF3, it looked like it would probably have gradually continued climbing had I kept playing. How high is too high? Is the actual side panel of the tower getting warm just a factor of the proximity of the card due to the side as well as ventilation, and probably not so much to worry about?
The 750 Ti consumes almost a third as much power as the GTX 260, and depending on the model you have, probably have wildly different cooling options. It's apples to oranges.

But, it would not continue climbing. The cooler on the card has a certain fan curve that keeps it at a certain max temperature for the most part.
 

KePoW

Banned
for gaming benchmark programs, what is more relevant/good nowdays?

How is 3DMark that's on Steam? Compared to Heaven? which engine is more similar to modern day games
 

LilJoka

Member
for gaming benchmark programs, what is more relevant/good nowdays?

How is 3DMark that's on Steam? Compared to Heaven? which engine is more similar to modern day games

Neither, none of them are similar to games. The only reason to use them is for consistency among many users as its free.

What are you trying to do?
 

Reckoner

Member
Just out of curiosity

Recently I saw a pic of a PC case that had slots for the HDD on the base and no trays for drives on the side, just fans. Do you guys know what case it is?
 

RGM79

Member
I don't know if this is the place to ask but here goes.
I'm looking to pick up a NAS, something along of this - Synology Diskstation DS415Play 4 Bay Desktop NAS Enclosure and was wondering is it will be best to go along with a couple of these - WD Red 3TB. Bad idea??

Synology is a good brand for NAS hardware as far as I know, but if you're looking for a home file server on a budget, it's cheaper to build your own NAS from consumer PC parts and it'll be more expandable in the future to add extra hard drives. Even Windows 8.1 works reasonably well for home server duties, although there are free solutions like FreeNAS.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Pentium G3240 3.1GHz Dual-Core Processor (£41.93 @ Ebuyer)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-H97N-WIFI Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard (£95.94 @ Aria PC)
Memory: G.Skill Value 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory (£73.01 @ Dabs)
Storage: Toshiba 3TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£72.97 @ CCL Computers)
Storage: Toshiba 3TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£72.97 @ CCL Computers)
Storage: Toshiba 3TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£72.97 @ CCL Computers)
Storage: Toshiba 3TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (£72.97 @ CCL Computers)
Case: Fractal Design Node 304 (White) Mini ITX Tower Case (£54.99 @ Amazon UK)
Power Supply: XFX 550W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply (£50.95 @ Amazon UK)
Total: £608.70
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-03-12 01:08 GMT+0000

Those parts are already overkill for a NAS, a weaker processor and less RAM would work fine and cost even less. The Toshiba drives are a cheaper choice, go with WD Reds if you want.

That said, it is easier to pick up a NAS device than to make one yourself, but if you don't mind some guided DIY work and spending a day or two and saving some money, it's an option.
 

KePoW

Banned
Neither, none of them are similar to games. The only reason to use them is for consistency among many users as its free.

What are you trying to do?

ah ok thx

just compare across different systems, but wanted to see if one was more relevant than the other
 

Devildoll

Member
ah ok thx

just compare across different systems, but wanted to see if one was more relevant than the other

The one that performs better in the benchmarks will most likely perform better overall.
If you're unsure you could just post the specs here and someone would probably be able to tell you which one is the best choice.
 

Jomjom

Banned
Kinda impulse bought a MSI z97 gaming 5 and i7-4790k bundle because of a slickdeal notification for $260. I already had a MSI z87-gd65 though.

Is that a good deal? I don't always trust people on SD. If it is and i should keep it, should i sell the z87 or z97?

Thanks in advance!
 

RGM79

Member
Kinda impulse bought a MSI z97 gaming 5 and i7-4790k bundle because of a slickdeal notification for $260. I already had a MSI z87-gd65 though.

Is that a good deal? I don't always trust people on SD. If it is and i should keep it, should i sell the z87 or z97?

Thanks in advance!
That's such an absurdly low price... brand new?

What processor do you already have? Doesn't seem like that big of a difference between the two motherboards, at least going by the specs.. replacing just the processor would be easier.

You'd probably get more money selling the brand new Z97 motherboard.
 

The Llama

Member
That's such an absurdly low price... brand new?

What processor do you already have? Doesn't seem like that big of a difference between the two motherboards, at least going by the specs.. replacing just the processor would be easier.

You'd probably get more money selling the brand new Z97 motherboard.

http://slickdeals.net/f/7720487-mic...with-purchase-of-i5-4690k-or-i7-4790k-b-m?v=1

Apparently its a free MSI Gaming 5 mobo (which I have, actually, and like a lot) with the purchase of a 4690k or 4790k.
 

The Llama

Member
Sigh.. prices like that make me depressed, I'll never see a deal like that in Canada. Makes me wonder if I should buy most of the parts from the US for my replacement PC next year.

༼ つ ◕_◕ ༽つMOVE TO AMERICA༼ つ ◕_◕ ༽つ

Yeah I don't know what to tell you lol
 

finalflame

Member
Sigh.. prices like that make me depressed, I'll never see a deal like that in Canada. Makes me wonder if I should buy most of the parts from the US for my replacement PC next year.

It's ok, neither will most Americans. Microcenters are only in a few select U.S. cities and most people don't have access to them. This is a killer deal even by U.S. standards; I just got a Z97S Krait SLi and i5-4690K fpr $300 and I thought that was a steal.
 

Jomjom

Banned
That's such an absurdly low price... brand new?

What processor do you already have? Doesn't seem like that big of a difference between the two motherboards, at least going by the specs.. replacing just the processor would be easier.

You'd probably get more money selling the brand new Z97 motherboard.

Yeah it was all brand new. Microcenter deal this week (and a coupon and rebate on top of that) but apparently the employee said the ad was printed wrong which ended up giving away the z97 for free.

I dont actually have a PC at the moment but ive been slowly gathering parts. So my z87 has been sitting there in its box for months now cause I picked that up when it was on sale for about $20. So the choice for me is whether to build it with the z87 or 97 mobo.

Thanks for the advice I guess i will try to sell the z97 since there isn't a big difference like you recommended. Cost is really important to me which is why I've been gathering parts for almost a year now.
 

RGM79

Member
Yeah it was all brand new. Microcenter deal this week (and a coupon and rebate on top of that) but apparently the employee said the ad was printed wrong which ended up giving away the z97 for free.

I dont actually have a PC at the moment but ive been slowly gathering parts. So my z87 has been sitting there in its box for months now cause I picked that up when it was on sale for about $20. So the choice for me is whether to build it with the z87 or 97 mobo.

Thanks for the advice I guess i will try to sell the z97 since there isn't a big difference like you recommended. Cost is really important to me which is why I've been gathering parts for almost a year now.

Oh, I thought you were already using your Z87 motherboard. If it's still new in box, sell the Z87 motherboard instead? MSI motherboard warranty is only valid for 24 months after manufacture/purchase date, your Z87 motherboard has probably already lost half of the warranty time on it.

That's why it's not recommended to buy parts over such a long time period - new parts come out, and the parts you already bought aren't doing anything except having their warranty period run out.

Although I guess it wasn't all that bad to buy a Z87 motherboard for just $20..
 

Nekrono

Member
I've encountered the weirdest problem in my time with PC's guys, maybe GAF can shed some light on this issue.

For reference I have a:
Asus P8P67 Mobo
8GB Corsair Vengeance RAM
i5 2500k @4.2GHz
Sapphire HD7970 @Stock

Last Friday night I was playing BF4 online and everything was fine, shut down the computer, next day I turn it on and have no video output, checked the cables and restarted the PC... still no video, I tried with 2 different monitors one with DVI the other with HDMI and still nothing. Thought the graphics card went dead on me, tried it in a different computer and it worked flawlessly, thought maybe CPU/Mobo so I brought an older card (Radeon HD3850) and I get vide output, everything works fine so I'm guessing RAM/CPU/Mobo/HDD is ok... must be PSU, probably went defective and is not powering up the 7970 properly. I borrowed a very decent 600w Corsair PSU and still no video output, tried with the HD3850 and get video and the PC to boot up normally.

Going insane at this point, everything is ok, so as a last resort I tried on the other PCI-E port on the mobo with the 7970 and get video... the fuck? The PCI-E works with the 3850 but not the 7970??? Any of you had this problem before or know what could be happening here?

Right now connectedt the 7970 to the other slot and set the slot to high performance (4x) in the bios, anyone knows if performance will be affected since it's not running at 16x? Do I need to get a new mobo or can I run with this setup until it makes more sense to upgrade both CPU and Mobo, right now the 2500k is doing just fine.
 

RGM79

Member
I've encountered the weirdest problem in my time with PC's guys, maybe GAF can shed some light on this issue.

For reference I have a:
Asus P8P67 Mobo
8GB Corsair Vengeance RAM
i5 2500k @4.2GHz
Sapphire HD7970 @Stock

Last Friday night I was playing BF4 online and everything was fine, shut down the computer, next day I turn it on and have no video output, checked the cables and restarted the PC... still no video, I tried with 2 different monitors one with DVI the other with HDMI and still nothing. Thought the graphics card went dead on me, tried it in a different computer and it worked flawlessly, thought maybe CPU/Mobo so I brought an older card (Radeon HD3850) and I get vide output, everything works fine so I'm guessing RAM/CPU/Mobo/HDD is ok... must be PSU, probably went defective and is not powering up the 7970 properly. I borrowed a very decent 600w Corsair PSU and still no video output, tried with the HD3850 and get video and the PC to boot up normally.

Going insane at this point, everything is ok, so as a last resort I tried on the other PCI-E port on the mobo with the 7970 and get video... the fuck? The PCI-E works with the 3850 but not the 7970??? Any of you had this problem before or know what could be happening here?

Right now connectedt the 7970 to the other slot and set the slot to high performance (4x) in the bios, anyone knows if performance will be affected since it's not running at 16x? Do I need to get a new mobo or can I run with this setup until it makes more sense to upgrade both CPU and Mobo, right now the 2500k is doing just fine.

Looking at this article, PCI-E 2.0 x4 is equivalent to PCI-E 3.0 x2, both are rated at 2GB/s. Depends on the game, but the 7970 will generally be somewhat bottlenecked at that bandwidth.

You have the option of buying a replacement motherboard, but spending close to $100 for a new socket 1155 motherboard seems like a waste, seeing as it's already a few generations behind. This year around September or so, a new socket is expected to be released that will eventually replace the current socket 1150. Maybe a used motherboard will do if you can find one for a low price and it has no defects.

If you do want to buy a new or used socket 1150 motherboard, please avoid ASRock Z77 models as they have faulty voltage readings.

Personally, I'd wait it out for the new Intel processors and motherboards before upgrading, it's about half a year or a bit longer until Skylake is supposed to be released.
 

baphomet

Member
So my laptop doesn't want to capture at 1080p/60fps all of a sudden so I'm looking to build a PC. Its mainly going to be used for capturing and editing, but I would also like to play some games on it.

Your Current Specs: Laptop with 650m, i7 2.4(?), 8GB

Budget: $8-900 US (preferably closer to $800)

Main Use:
Light Gaming - 4?
Gaming - 4
Emulation - 0
Video Editing - 5
Streaming games in HD - 5
3D/Model work (and what program) - 0
General Usage (Word, Web, 1080p playback) 5
Capturing at 1080p/60 - 10

Monitor Resolution - 1080p upgrading doubtful

List SPECIFIC games or applications - I need to be able to use an X-Capture 1 for capturing. I believe it requires Intel USB 3.0 or Rensas USB 3.0 chipsets. Also needs to run Sony Vegas Pro

Looking to reuse any parts?: No

When will you build?: Beginning immediately over the next 2 weeks

Will you be overclocking?: No


The main use will be capturing via X-Capture 1 and video editing. I will probably play a decent amount of games on there as well.


As far as my case goes I just want a cheap, black box. No corny windows or lights.

I only need the actual PC components. I already have the KB+m and monitor I will be using.

I was thinking an i5 with a 970 and 16gb ram. I'd like the option to possibly go sli in the future if it doesn't add too much to the price point.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!
 

mrklaw

MrArseFace
As well as my main gaming PC, I have a 2011 Mac mini under my TV for plex server and client duties (although these days it's only server as xbox one or chromecast plex clients are more convenient)

Anyway, I keep wondering whether I should replace it with something like an Intel NUC that I can hide away in a cupboard. But do any of hem have proper CPUs? Got an email about an ASUS Vivo, and they have i5-4210U (like many entry level laptops these days). That seems barely more powerful than the lowly dual core i5-2415M in my Mac mini.

Are there any ultra SFF boxes that have decent CPUs for transcoding and will still run quiet?
 

RGM79

Member
So my laptop doesn't want to capture at 1080p/60fps all of a sudden so I'm looking to build a PC. Its mainly going to be used for capturing and editing, but I would also like to play some games on it.

Your Current Specs: Laptop with 650m, i7 2.4(?), 8GB

Budget: $8-900 US (preferably closer to $800)

Main Use:
Light Gaming - 4?
Gaming - 4
Emulation - 0
Video Editing - 5
Streaming games in HD - 5
3D/Model work (and what program) - 0
General Usage (Word, Web, 1080p playback) 5
Capturing at 1080p/60 - 10

Monitor Resolution - 1080p upgrading doubtful

List SPECIFIC games or applications - I need to be able to use an X-Capture 1 for capturing. I believe it requires Intel USB 3.0 or Rensas USB 3.0 chipsets. Also needs to run Sony Vegas Pro

Looking to reuse any parts?: No

When will you build?: Beginning immediately over the next 2 weeks

Will you be overclocking?: No


The main use will be capturing via X-Capture 1 and video editing. I will probably play a decent amount of games on there as well.


As far as my case goes I just want a cheap, black box. No corny windows or lights.

I only need the actual PC components. I already have the KB+m and monitor I will be using.

I was thinking an i5 with a 970 and 16gb ram. I'd like the option to possibly go sli in the future if it doesn't add too much to the price point.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!
I assume you already have the capture device and it isn't part of the cost of the PC?

An i5 processor with 16GB and GTX 970 is doable for about $830. That said, are you aware of the GTX 970's memory issues and AMD's price cuts on the R9 290/290X? They provide better value and similar performance compared to the GTX 970, although the GTX 970 is more efficient and has slight performance advantages.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4590 3.3GHz Quad-Core Processor ($187.56 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: ASRock H97M Anniversary Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($68.98 @ OutletPC)
Memory: PNY XLR8 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($108.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($44.99 @ Best Buy)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 970 4GB Twin Frozr V Video Card ($329.99 @ Newegg)
Case: Silverstone PS08B (Black) MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($36.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: XFX 650W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($53.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $831.48
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-03-12 05:28 EDT-0400

I think the following build for about $55 more is much better, it'll last longer before you need an upgrade. You say you don't want to overclock, but it's fairly easy and adds a few more years of usable life to your PC before it needs to be upgraded or replaced. Running multiple graphics cards requires a overclockable Z97 motherboard, anyway.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($222.75 @ OutletPC)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($28.98 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Asus Z97-E ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($109.61 @ NCIX US)
Memory: G.Skill Ares Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory ($109.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($44.99 @ Best Buy)
Video Card: Asus Radeon R9 290 4GB DirectCU II Video Card ($259.99 @ NCIX US)
Case: Cooler Master N400 ATX Mid Tower Case ($39.99 @ Micro Center)
Power Supply: EVGA 850W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($69.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $886.29
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-03-12 05:40 EDT-0400

That comes with a overclockable processor, a better heatsink, a motherboard capable of SLI and crossfire, faster memory, and a much stronger power supply.

As well as my main gaming PC, I have a 2011 Mac mini under my TV for plex server and client duties (although these days it's only server as xbox one or chromecast plex clients are more convenient)

Anyway, I keep wondering whether I should replace it with something like an Intel NUC that I can hide away in a cupboard. But do any of hem have proper CPUs? Got an email about an ASUS Vivo, and they have i5-4210U (like many entry level laptops these days). That seems barely more powerful than the lowly dual core i5-2415M in my Mac mini.

Are there any ultra SFF boxes that have decent CPUs for transcoding and will still run quiet?

Nothing specific that I know of, but Skylake low power parts are on the way this year, maybe there will be something interesting there.
 

kennah

Member
As well as my main gaming PC, I have a 2011 Mac mini under my TV for plex server and client duties (although these days it's only server as xbox one or chromecast plex clients are more convenient)

Anyway, I keep wondering whether I should replace it with something like an Intel NUC that I can hide away in a cupboard. But do any of hem have proper CPUs? Got an email about an ASUS Vivo, and they have i5-4210U (like many entry level laptops these days). That seems barely more powerful than the lowly dual core i5-2415M in my Mac mini.

Are there any ultra SFF boxes that have decent CPUs for transcoding and will still run quiet?
You won't find anything better than what you hf have.
 

LilJoka

Member
ah ok thx

just compare across different systems, but wanted to see if one was more relevant than the other

Yeah it's not quite so simple but in this case I would go for 3DMark that's on steam.

But generally it's better to just benchmark a game which has an in built benchmark mode, like Grid or Tomb Raider.
 
Just out of curiosity

Recently I saw a pic of a PC case that had slots for the HDD on the base and no trays for drives on the side, just fans. Do you guys know what case it is?

Corsair Air 540. Case has two sides, SSD cages are on the other side of the mobo. It's a great case, I have one :)
 

lem0n

Member
Getting some parts in. I want to thank everyone here for assisting me, especially RGM79, for tweaking my parts list to get the perfect bits. I'm so excited for everything to get here!!! This is my very first build, I hope I don't screw it up haha

GPU was just on the bag for a sec to take a picture:

11054345_101528012973ebq76.jpg


And some more stuff :D

10363915_101528012974ofrqv.jpg
 

kiyomi

Member
Looks dope, that excitement when you get your parts in is one of the best moments in putting together a PC.

Enjoy it and take your time building it, don't rush it. Be sure to ask questions if you need help. Hope it goes well. ~^_^
 

lem0n

Member
Looks dope, that excitement when you get your parts in is one of the best moments in putting together a PC.

Enjoy it and take your time building it, don't rush it. Be sure to ask questions if you need help. Hope it goes well. ~^_^

I appreciate the kind words! It was definitely awesome. I was outside washing my cars when both the USPS and UPS guys showed up at almost the same time. They both had stuff for me lol. I walked inside with a pile of heavy boxes :D

I will take my time, and make sure it's perfect before booting... I will probably be in here if I can't figure something out too, I'm sure that will be the case since I've never put a computer together before!
 

Grinchy

Banned
I appreciate the kind words! It was definitely awesome. I was outside washing my cars when both the USPS and UPS guys showed up at almost the same time. They both had stuff for me lol. I walked inside with a pile of heavy boxes :D

I will take my time, and make sure it's perfect before booting... I will probably be in here if I can't figure something out too, I'm sure that will be the case since I've never put a computer together before!

Don't be too careful when installing that CPU cooler. I was too gentle the first time I installed the backplate and it was a problem.
 

Devildoll

Member
Any info on when the mid-low tier R9 300 series cards will be released? I'm really interested in what the 360 and 370 will be like.

Some leaks/rumors just surfaced regarding the 370 actually.

Contrary to previous rumors, 370 seems to be a brand new design, and not a refresh.
It might get released in April apparently, otherwise it has been assumed that the 300 series will launch during computex in june.

-source
 
Despite being a computer geek for as long as I can remember, last night was the first time I overclocked a CPU.

I am currently looking up water cooling and gigantic fans.

Is this how addiction starts?
 

mkenyon

Banned
Despite being a computer geek for as long as I can remember, last night was the first time I overclocked a CPU.

I am currently looking up water cooling and gigantic fans.

Is this how addiction starts?
Man, I didnt realize I could get all this performance extra out of my system. Overclocking is great!

becomes

Hunh, these temps aren't quite acceptable. Better turn up them fans to get better airflow.

becomes

Wow everything is pretty loud now. I wonder about aftermarket coolers...

becomes

Putting everything under water seems like a good way to go, at least I can carry forward the core parts to any system. Big initial investment for a long term payoff.

becomes

Though I love my system, it just looks so typical.

becomes


Welcome, friend.
 

finalflame

Member
Since we're posting parts:

B91eB2Z.jpg


While getting parts is awesome, having some parts but not others is the worst. Alas the PC is built but my watercooling stuff won't be here until next week, so it using the stock intel HSF.
 

riflen

Member
Despite being a computer geek for as long as I can remember, last night was the first time I overclocked a CPU.

I am currently looking up water cooling and gigantic fans.

Is this how addiction starts?

One of us, one of us, one of us...
 

Upinsmoke

Member
So I've just sent the minimum requirements for the rainbow six closed beta is a 670. I have a 660ti oc which probably matches a reference 670 anyway. However it'd obvious my card isn't gonna cut it much longer. So I can either wait to build a new pc, new processor, mobo, psu etc or I can just get a new graphics card to tide me over the next couple of years. The question is do my other parts cut it and if they do what card am I best going for. I have:

550W corsair psu
Z77 D3h mobo (no sli, only x fire)
3570k @4ghz

Other parts are irrelevant I reckon. So what would the people on GAF pair with that? I was thinking an nvidia card simply because it draws less power and my psu is on 550

Thanks in advance!!
 
I'm still ironing out the kinks in my new PC. My motherboard is the MSI Z97 Mini ITX (http://uk.msi.com/product/mb/Z97I-GAMING-AC.html#hero-overview), and my current issue is that only the left channel of audio is output by the line-out on the onboard soundcard. I've tested it with a couple of headphones and with my speakers and it's the same on each.

It's not a dealbreaker really, as the GPU can output audio through HDMI to my monitor, which itself has a line-out for the speakers. But that's kind of a workaround, and having spent €140 on this motherboard, finding problems with it right away is quite annoying. Anyone have this motherboard? Or have an experience like this? Is it a busted jack on the line-out? Is it a software thing that could be fixed?

Also, one other thing. I use WiFi to connect to my router - and while I always have full signal strength displayed by Windows, much of the time the internet won't connect. Web pages don't load in IE or Chrome. Steam won't connect and tells me I'm offline. Etc. Etc. Etc. This is with the router properly working. My iPad is having no problems with it. Is this a problem with the WiFi chip on the motherboard (if so, why is the connection at full strength)? Or is it a software thing with Windows (and if so, how do I fix it)?
 
Thanks to whoever pointed out the issue with underreported voltage on the ASRock Z77 boards. It didn't turn out to be a problem... yet. I was able to get my i5-3570K from the stock 3.4GHz to 4.4GHz with only a +0.005 base and +0.004 turbo voltage increase. My CPU temperature is the current bottleneck, and the 212 EVO isn't cutting it for pushing the overclock further.

Until I can afford a better cooling solution, it's time to tackle overclocking the 970...
 
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