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[opticalmace]

Nope. As far as I know there aren't 1080p G-sync monitors, but I missed the first batch, so I might be wrong in that aspect. But surely no 1080p IPS.

There are actually quite a few 1080p g-sync monitors, but none of them are IPS.

Ok so...maybe dumb question since I'm just starting to get into this. I have a MacBook Pro in the house so I can get Final Cut.

So if I have footage of X game that I've captured on my PC...is it as simple as putting that on a portable HDD? What's the most efficient workflow if I bring the Mac into the picture ?

I don't really know anything about it, but if you have your PC and mac networked through gigabit ethernet I guess you could just transfer it to the mac and then edit it/upload it there?

 

[Gritesh]

Question


I've been using a 32" Samsung 1080p TV as my monitor for the last two years

Is it worth it to move over to a 27" 1440p IPS panel with 144hz and free sync? Would I really notice a difference?
I don't like the idea of giving up my real estate on a 32" but if the picture improvements and experience is worth it I'd make the jump

 

[RGM79]

My MSI 7850 is dying and i'm looking at the R9 380 as a stop gap solution until Pascal hit next year. What do you guys think? I will build a new rig next year when Pascal/ 2nd gen HBM stuff fronm AMD hit so 200-250$ is my budget for a new GPU.

The R9 380 is a moderate step up from the 7850, as far as I know the 380 will be a rebadged R9 285 and the R9 270X was a rebadged 7850 OC.

Hmm, if you're looking to save money, you could pick up a used graphics card. Maybe another 7850 or R9 270X?

Otherwise if you're looking for the best possible performance for your money, you can get an R9 290 for around $250 or less but only after rebate. Apparently, the R9 390 and 390X will be rebadged, slightly updated, and faster running 290 and 290X models.

What's the best good ram at decent value but not being too cheap I can get here? For gaming at the highish end. Basically what's the best bang for my buck without missing out too much?

I want 16gb 2x8gb sticks, Intel Core i5-4690K with a z97 Matx LGA1150 Motherboard.

This kit of 2x8GB Kingston 1866MHz RAM for £75 should work fine. It's slightly faster than 1333/1600MHz without costing too much. The cheapest 1600MHz kit is £74, so I'd go for the 1866MHz kit.

Stuck on what to do with the motherboard for a 4690K. I've narrowed it down to either a Gigabyte Z97X-UD5H or an Asus Maximus VII Ranger for about the same price (Giga for 110 & Asus for 120 [cashback deals]). The UD5H has better (more) I/O options and looks really good in benchmarks, but I read that it's got issues with its interface and aggressive auto-overclocking by default. The VII Ranger seems pretty decent and has a really nice UEFI from the looks of it and more usable for someone new to this like myself. Everything points in favor of the Asus motherboard as a good all-round choice, but I keep getting the nagging feeling that the UD5H is much better value for the money as it's the cheaper one too.

Anyone got suggestions or have experiences with either motherboard?

Gigabyte's interface is OK, it's not awful and unusable, just not as well laid out and easy to use, I guess. Generally speaking, those auto-overclocking features (across all brands and models) should be avoided, and if you are overclocking, you should be reading a guide and manually inputting the settings yourself. I'd also go for the Gigabyte UD5H, but if it's only a $10 difference then the Asus isn't a bad deal either.

 

[Gritesh]

My MSI 7850 is dying and i'm looking at the R9 380 as a stop gap solution until Pascal hit next year. What do you guys think? I will build a new rig next year when Pascal/ 2nd gen HBM stuff fronm AMD hit so 200-250$ is my budget for a new GPU.

If your looking for a stop gap I'll sell you my hd7950 card for 100 bucks next week

 

[RGM79]

I currently use a 1080p Dual-Monitor setup (this to be exact: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824236337), I believe with DVI/HDMI.

I'm replacing my GTX 580 with GTX 980 Ti, and I'm planning on replacing 1 monitor with XB270HU or appending it and having 3 monitors. Most likely the former for now since I don't have desk space.

Question: I will be using the XB270HU as my gaming monitor, and the other 1-2 1080p monitors for browsing/work/etc. By connecting them all together either dual or triple, does it diminish my performance in any way when playing games on the XB270HU @ 144Hz and 1440p?

No. If the monitor won't be displaying the game, then it won't really factor into performance. The two secondary monitors are going to be displaying a mostly static picture when you're playing games on the XB270HU anyway, right? There would probably only be a negligible performance hit even if you had video and a browser displayed on the other monitors.

 

[kennah]

Ok so...maybe dumb question since I'm just starting to get into this. I have a MacBook Pro in the house so I can get Final Cut.

So if I have footage of X game that I've captured on my PC...is it as simple as putting that on a portable HDD? What's the most efficient workflow if I bring the Mac into the picture ?

Don't bother buying final cut at this point. It also has a trial. But rendering 1440p on your macbook is going to be way slower than your desktop.

If you want I could talk you through some different work flows/help figure out what it is you're trying to do and how to do it.

 

[Smokey]

Don't bother buying final cut at this point. It also has a trial. But rendering 1440p on your macbook is going to be way slower than your desktop.

If you want I could talk you through some different work flows/help figure out what it is you're trying to do and how to do it.

That's also why the Mac didn't cross my mind at first. My 4930k can be of good use here. I'm not tying to do anything too advanced to start out. From a gaming perspective just want to upload 1440/4k Voss to my channel for now. I've tried some trials of different products and haven't found one I particularly like at the moment.

From there move into editing. My wife uses the mac book pro for her YouTube channel, but I think we could speed things up by using my machine.

 

[kennah]

That's also why the Mac didn't cross my mind at first. My 4930k can be of good use here. I'm not tying to do anything too advanced to start out. From a gaming perspective just want to upload 1440/4k Voss to my channel for now. I've tried some trials of different products and haven't found one I particularly like at the moment.

From there move into editing. My wife uses the mac book pro for her YouTube channel, but I think we could speed things up by using my machine.

What does she use for her YouTube channel? Not to sound all broken recordy, but Premiere might work out for you guys, it allows two 'seats' to the subscription, so you could install it on both. I'll look up some basic tutorials for you.

https://creative.adobe.com/plans

Premiere is $20/month. Personally I find a gig or two pays for the whole year. There is a 30 day trial for you to check it out. Even comes with cloud storage that could be used for automatically synching project files (start a project on the MacBook, render it on the Desktop - the Mac and PC versions are fully compatible, that was my workflow for a while)

Even has YouTube presets for exporting the video in the format that YouTube wants.

EDIT: Older version of the software, but this covers the basics pretty good.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVR8S1-a6Ak

 

[sammyCYBORG]

"Winter is coming, brah!"

I have honestly no idea. When I had those effects, my graphics card was overclocked too high, but that's not the case with yours.

Guess I'll ride it out and hope it was a glitch in the Matrix...

 

[DrForester]

So my build is a few months old, and I am having a continuous problem.

My computer will occasionally freeze. Not crash. It will just stop for 30sec-1min. Then resume like nothing happened. I have been unable to find a consistent program cause. Here are some factors.

I have a dual monitor set up. Sometimes it happens when I'm playing a game on one screen, sometimes not. Sometimes it happens meet moments after windows loads. Sometimes it happens several times a day, or not at all.

I know it's not the video cards or the Power Supply (had the problem before I got them).

I have not used a temp. gauge to see if the CPU is overheating, however I have a water cooler for the CPU with lights on it that go red if it's really hot, and it stays green.

I had Task Manager opened last time, and CPU usage dropped to zero during the freeze, there was no abnormal spike beforehand.

And ideas PC-GAF? Or a monitoring program that might be able to give me more info to nail down the problem.



Other Specs:
CPU: i5 4690k
MB: Gigabyte Ga-Z97X-Gaming7
RAM: 16GB DDR3-1777
PSU: 850w
Video Card: Nvidia 970 x2.

 

[Arex]

Greetings PCGaf!

I'm looking to finally move on to PC from my aging MSI GT683 laptop, as I'm finding it increasingly difficult to run multiple 3D softwares and opening big photoshop files at the same time.

Besides that, I wanna be able to run Witcher 3 and the upcoming games comfortably. My laptop can't even run Witcher 2 opening section without lagging haha

This will be my first build, and my IT friend will be going with me when the time comes to get it, but I want to hear what you guys think. I've done some read about the parts but I haven't really been following PC news so

Anyway budget is around 2500+ sgd, can be more (about 1800 usd, price is a bit inflated here)
Main Use is for 3D work, zbrush, keyshot, photoshop, rendering, and also gaming
Monitor Resolution: 1080p or 1440p probably, haven't really thought about it + my cintiq companion.

What I currently have in my build list (got the prices from local shop pricelist, so it's probably gonna be cheaper)
CPU : Intel i7 4790K (price with motherboard)
Motherboard :
MSI Z97A-Gaming 7 ($816), or
GigaByte Z97X-GAMING 7 ($757)
RAM : G.SKILL RIPJAWS-X 1866MHZ ( 8GBx2pcs ) CL9 ($230)
GPU :
MSI GTX 970 4GB Gaming O.C ($579), or
GigaByte GTX970 4GB G1 ($625)
SSD : SAMSUNG EVO 850 250GB SSD ($179)
HDD : TOSHIBA 2TB 7200RPM ($97)
Power Supply : CORSAIR CX 750W 80+ BRONZE ($129)
Case : FRACTAL DESIGN DEFINE R5 Black w/ window ($169)
Cooler : CORSAIR H100i GTX ($179)
OS Windows 7/8

And the cooler, my current plan is to put the cooler on the roof, take out the middle HDD rack and maybe get an extra fan to put in the front bay, so something like this:

Current list will cost me around 2.5k sgd, excluding the monitor.

So my question is, is this an okay or an overkill? I'm not sure if the liquid cooling is too much or if I should just get the cheaper Hyper212X fan. I think the fan is noisier than the ones on the H100i? Is 750W gonna be enough?
And I'm still choosing between these motherboards and 970 GPUs. I've done some readings, but maybe you guys have better or different suggestions?

Sorry for the long message haha

 

[Hazaro]

Guess I'll ride it out and hope it was a glitch in the Matrix...

Probably a loose connection. Reseat GPU, replug power connections (gpu, mobo), plug in and out the HDMI cable again and blow out the ports.

So my build is a few months old, and I am having a continuous problem.

My computer will occasionally freeze. Not crash. It will just stop for 30sec-1min. Then resume like nothing happened. I have been unable to find a consistent program cause. Here are some factors.

I have a dual monitor set up. Sometimes it happens when I'm playing a game on one screen, sometimes not. Sometimes it happens meet moments after windows loads. Sometimes it happens several times a day, or not at all.

I know it's not the video cards or the Power Supply (had the problem before I got them).

I have not used a temp. gauge to see if the CPU is overheating, however I have a water cooler for the CPU with lights on it that go red if it's really hot, and it stays green.

I had Task Manager opened last time, and CPU usage dropped to zero during the freeze, there was no abnormal spike beforehand.

And ideas PC-GAF? Or a monitoring program that might be able to give me more info to nail down the problem.



Other Specs:
CPU: i5 4690k
MB: Gigabyte Ga-Z97X-Gaming7
RAM: 16GB DDR3-1777
PSU: 850w
Video Card: Nvidia 970 x2.

Give memtest a run first for 15 minutes, then an HDD utility from your manufacturer (Like Seagate Discwizard for your brand).
Could try updating your mobo BIOS, resetting to defaults, and setting your RAM to correct voltage and a step down in speed (1600 Mhz)

Greetings PCGaf!

I'm looking to finally move on to PC from my aging MSI GT683 laptop, as I'm finding it increasingly difficult to run multiple 3D softwares and opening big photoshop files at the same time.

Besides that, I wanna be able to run Witcher 3 and the upcoming games comfortably. My laptop can't even run Witcher 2 opening section without lagging haha

This will be my first build, and my IT friend will be going with me when the time comes to get it, but I want to hear what you guys think. I've done some read about the parts but I haven't really been following PC news so

Anyway budget is around 2500+ sgd, can be more (about 1800 usd, price is a bit inflated here)
Main Use is for 3D work, zbrush, keyshot, photoshop, rendering, and also gaming
Monitor Resolution: 1080p or 1440p probably, haven't really thought about it + my cintiq companion.

What I currently have in my build list (got the prices from local shop pricelist, so it's probably gonna be cheaper)
CPU : Intel i7 4790K (price with motherboard)
Motherboard :
MSI Z97A-Gaming 7 ($816), or
GigaByte Z97X-GAMING 7 ($757)
RAM : G.SKILL RIPJAWS-X 1866MHZ ( 8GBx2pcs ) CL9 ($230)
GPU :
MSI GTX 970 4GB Gaming O.C ($579), or
GigaByte GTX970 4GB G1 ($625)
SSD : SAMSUNG EVO 850 250GB SSD ($179)
HDD : TOSHIBA 2TB 7200RPM ($97)
Power Supply : CORSAIR CX 750W 80+ BRONZE ($129)
Case : FRACTAL DESIGN DEFINE R5 Black w/ window ($169)
Cooler : CORSAIR H100i GTX ($179)
OS Windows 7/8

And the cooler, my current plan is to put the cooler on the roof, take out the middle HDD rack and maybe get an extra fan to put in the front bay, so something like this:

Current list will cost me around 2.5k sgd, excluding the monitor.

So my question is, is this an okay or an overkill? I'm not sure if the liquid cooling is too much or if I should just get the cheaper Hyper212X fan. I think the fan is noisier than the ones on the H100i? Is 750W gonna be enough?
And I'm still choosing between these motherboards and 970 GPUs. I've done some readings, but maybe you guys have better or different suggestions?

Sorry for the long message haha

Mobo is overkill only need a 'basic' Z97. The GB-SLi I have in the OP is good value.
PSU if you have a comparable Seasonic or XFX Unit I'd get that over the CX model, dunno what your options are. 550W is all you need for that setup.
CPU Cooler is supreme overkill unless you want it for looks, CPU runs super cool so just get a 212 or whatever.

 

[DrForester]

Give memtest a run first for 15 minutes, then an HDD utility from your manufacturer (Like Seagate Discwizard for your brand).
Could try updating your mobo BIOS, resetting to defaults, and setting your RAM to correct voltage and a step down in speed (1600 Mhz)

Did a Bios Update, didn't help. Now that you mention it, I did also try a MB default reset the other day and I went almost three days without the issue repeating.

Will give the other suggestions a try.

 

[ACE 1991]

I recently bought a VESA wall mount (this one: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000ID7QNI/?tag=neogaf0e-20) for my 23 inch monitor. I will be moving into a new apartment that is a lot smaller, so I figured this would be a good way to save space since I can't use the huge desk that I use in the apartment I live in now. What tools do I need to ensure that I get a nice mount? power drill and a level? Also, is it necessary to put the mount on a stud? The monitor I have weights less than 10 pounds.

 

[kennah]

I recently bought a VESA wall mount (this one: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000ID7QNI/?tag=neogaf0e-20) for my 23 inch monitor. I will be moving into a new apartment that is a lot smaller, so I figured this would be a good way to save space since I can't use the huge desk that I use in the apartment I live in now. What tools do I need to ensure that I get a nice mount? power drill and a level? Also, is it necessary to put the mount on a stud? The monitor I have weights less than 10 pounds.

It will definitely be necessary to put it on a stud.

 

[adamantypants]

Question


I've been using a 32" Samsung 1080p TV as my monitor for the last two years

Is it worth it to move over to a 27" 1440p IPS panel with 144hz and free sync? Would I really notice a difference?
I don't like the idea of giving up my real estate on a 32" but if the picture improvements and experience is worth it I'd make the jump

Yep. You'll notice across the board. Also moving from 32" 1080p to 27" 1440p sounds like a downgrade in real estate when in reality you're getting more real estate due to resolution. Using a PC on a 32" monitor at 1080p sounds like pixel hell up close. How far away do you sit from the TV?

 

[Arex]

Mobo is overkill only need a 'basic' Z97. The GB-SLi I have in the OP is good value.
PSU if you have a comparable Seasonic or XFX Unit I'd get that over the CX model, dunno what your options are. 550W is all you need for that setup.
CPU Cooler is supreme overkill unless you want it for looks, CPU runs super cool so just get a 212 or whatever.

I see! I suppose the gaming suffix are not really much of difference?
For PSU, something like Seasonic M12II or Seasonic G? Or are the high end ones better? I'm still open for any options. I'm just assuming 550W isn't gonna be enough in case I suddenly want to make an SLI setup or get a more powerful GPU in the future.
Cooler wise, are fans going to be noisier compared to liquid cooling under load? what about the performance? Because I'm also going to use it for 3D rendering too

 

[Gritesh]

Yep. You'll notice across the board. Also moving from 32" 1080p to 27" 1440p sounds like a downgrade in real estate when in reality you're getting more real estate due to resolution. Using a PC on a 32" monitor at 1080p sounds like pixel hell up close. How far away do you sit from the TV?

Standard distance of maybe 3 feet.

Its all I've been using for a very long time.
I picked this tv up on the cheap as a bridge between 1080p and 4k thinking in two years time the technology would have grown to the point of affordable means of running 4k games on 30"+ displays.

That's not really happening as soon as I thought and now I'm sitting here debating going 1440p but I don't want to spend 1k on a monitor to break 30 inches

 

[GRaider81]

Yep. You'll notice across the board. Also moving from 32" 1080p to 27" 1440p sounds like a downgrade in real estate when in reality you're getting more real estate due to resolution. Using a PC on a 32" monitor at 1080p sounds like pixel hell up close. How far away do you sit from the TV?

I'm planning to ue a 1080p TV as a monitor. Is "pixel hell" not a bit of an exaggeration?

 

[xplicitone]

No. If the monitor won't be displaying the game, then it won't really factor into performance. The two secondary monitors are going to be displaying a mostly static picture when you're playing games on the XB270HU anyway, right? There would probably only be a negligible performance hit even if you had video and a browser displayed on the other monitors.

Ok that sounds good, thanks!!

 

[Smokey]

What does she use for her YouTube channel? Not to sound all broken recordy, but Premiere might work out for you guys, it allows two 'seats' to the subscription, so you could install it on both. I'll look up some basic tutorials for you.

https://creative.adobe.com/plans

Premiere is $20/month. Personally I find a gig or two pays for the whole year. There is a 30 day trial for you to check it out. Even comes with cloud storage that could be used for automatically synching project files (start a project on the MacBook, render it on the Desktop - the Mac and PC versions are fully compatible, that was my workflow for a while)

Even has YouTube presets for exporting the video in the format that YouTube wants.

EDIT: Older version of the software, but this covers the basics pretty good.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVR8S1-a6Ak

Much appreciated. I'll look into it.

 

[Hazaro]

I see! I suppose the gaming suffix are not really much of difference?
For PSU, something like Seasonic M12II or Seasonic G? Or are the high end ones better? I'm still open for any options. I'm just assuming 550W isn't gonna be enough in case I suddenly want to make an SLI setup or get a more powerful GPU in the future.
Cooler wise, are fans going to be noisier compared to liquid cooling under load? what about the performance? Because I'm also going to use it for 3D rendering too

0% performance difference with cheaper motherboard.
Either of those Seasonic units are fine. If you are considering a dual GPU setup down the line you can get a 750W watt, but not the CX or CXM model PSU (lowest tier). Most 750W Gold units are fine. Again, I don't know which brands and models you have available to you.
Cooler wise it's a non issue for noise in both cases. No performance difference except say a 4.3Ghz vs 4.5Ghz overclock (Maybe, my difference on my system was 0.1Ghz and that's maxing out). Regular use doesn't matter, it's wasted money for looks. Your CPU is never going to get hot.

I'm planning to ue a 1080p TV as a monitor. Is "pixel hell" not a bit of an exaggeration?

Depends how close you sit to your monitor.

 

[StarlordDial]

Hmmm anyone have any opinions regarding ordering parts from amazon comapred to newegg ? I plan to buy all my parts from newegg (Hawaii) but dunno if which one's better ?

 

[Hazaro]

Hmmm anyone have any opinions regarding ordering parts from amazon comapred to newegg ? I plan to buy all my parts from newegg (Hawaii) but dunno if which one's better ?

Amazon for the Cont 48. Dunno about Hawaii.

 

[Skittles]

Are 1tb ssds safe enough to get now? Want to upgrade from my 128gb one because it is dreadfully small for games nowadays. Looking at the samsung 850

 

[Arex]

0% performance difference with cheaper motherboard.
Either of those Seasonic units are fine. If you are considering a dual GPU setup down the line you can get a 750W watt, but not the CX or CXM model PSU (lowest tier). Most 750W Gold units are fine. Again, I don't know which brands and models you have available to you.
Cooler wise it's a non issue for noise in both cases. No performance difference except say a 4.3Ghz vs 4.5Ghz overclock (Maybe, my difference on my system was 0.1Ghz and that's maxing out). Regular use doesn't matter, it's wasted money for looks. Your CPU is never going to get hot.

I see, thanks for the insight, the 4790 don't get hot easily do they!
How's your opinion on the GPUs? Between MSI and Gigabyte, I'm leaning towards MSI's, but the Gigabyte has more fans, and thus, runs cooler? it's just I'm staying in the hot summer Singapore, so I'm more wary about the heat haha

Anyway, I'm gonna change the list to Hyper 212 and M12II 750w, probably get additional intake fan in front, and keep the top of the case closed off.
There isn't a GB z97 SLi on the list I have, but I'll go and read about them some more. Maybe more questions in near future

 

[shindoku21]

So my build is a few months old, and I am having a continuous problem.

My computer will occasionally freeze. Not crash. It will just stop for 30sec-1min. Then resume like nothing happened. I have been unable to find a consistent program cause. Here are some factors.

I have a dual monitor set up. Sometimes it happens when I'm playing a game on one screen, sometimes not. Sometimes it happens meet moments after windows loads. Sometimes it happens several times a day, or not at all.

I know it's not the video cards or the Power Supply (had the problem before I got them).

I have not used a temp. gauge to see if the CPU is overheating, however I have a water cooler for the CPU with lights on it that go red if it's really hot, and it stays green.

I had Task Manager opened last time, and CPU usage dropped to zero during the freeze, there was no abnormal spike beforehand.

And ideas PC-GAF? Or a monitoring program that might be able to give me more info to nail down the problem.



Other Specs:
CPU: i5 4690k
MB: Gigabyte Ga-Z97X-Gaming7
RAM: 16GB DDR3-1777
PSU: 850w
Video Card: Nvidia 970 x2.

I had a similar problem when I first built my PC 4 years ago. It ended up being a network card. It was a long process cuz I suspected the CPU and mobo, so I had to RMA them.

 

[kidko]

Hmmm anyone have any opinions regarding ordering parts from amazon comapred to newegg ? I plan to buy all my parts from newegg (Hawaii) but dunno if which one's better ?

I prefer Amazon if the price is the same for their effortless returns.

So my build is a few months old, and I am having a continuous problem.

My computer will occasionally freeze. Not crash. It will just stop for 30sec-1min. Then resume like nothing happened. I have been unable to find a consistent program cause. Here are some factors.

I have a dual monitor set up. Sometimes it happens when I'm playing a game on one screen, sometimes not. Sometimes it happens meet moments after windows loads. Sometimes it happens several times a day, or not at all.

I know it's not the video cards or the Power Supply (had the problem before I got them).

I have not used a temp. gauge to see if the CPU is overheating, however I have a water cooler for the CPU with lights on it that go red if it's really hot, and it stays green.

I had Task Manager opened last time, and CPU usage dropped to zero during the freeze, there was no abnormal spike beforehand.

And ideas PC-GAF? Or a monitoring program that might be able to give me more info to nail down the problem.



Other Specs:
CPU: i5 4690k
MB: Gigabyte Ga-Z97X-Gaming7
RAM: 16GB DDR3-1777
PSU: 850w
Video Card: Nvidia 970 x2.

I do audio work for a living and have used this tool in the past to optimize my machine and it could possibly help you troubleshoot something like this. It has a great page explaining how to use it: DPC Latency Checker

 

[MattyG]

So last year, my PC would buzz when I played taxing games (like Crysis). I couldn't tell what it was, but I just assumed it was my GPU. Nothing bad ever happened, and it only happened with certain games.

I just replaced my GPU last week and played a few games with no noise. Today, I played Far Cry 4 at ultra and it started again. I'm starting to think it's my stock Intel CPU cooler.

Anyone else ever heard this in their PC? I'm guessing it's not anything to worry about, since I've used my PC for 18+ months with no issues, but I'm just curious.

 

[Wowfunhappy]

So, I know the rule of thumb with building computers is, "there's always going to be something better just around the corner, so don't try to wait."

However, in this case, is it actually worth waiting for Skylake? It seems like the most recent "go-to" Intel processors for gaming haven't been updated in quite a while, and it sounds like Skylake will be out in a few months.

 

[vinnay]

So last year, my PC would buzz when I played taxing games (like Crysis). I couldn't tell what it was, but I just assumed it was my GPU. Nothing bad ever happened, and it only happened with certain games.

I just replaced my GPU last week and played a few games with no noise. Today, I played Far Cry 4 at ultra and it started again. I'm starting to think it's my stock Intel CPU cooler.

Anyone else ever heard this in their PC? I'm guessing it's not anything to worry about, since I've used my PC for 18+ months with no issues, but I'm just curious.

coil whine from PSU maybe? I had buzzing with my new build so I swapped out the power supply and video card (both were buzzing) and now its gone.

 

[Felix Lighter]

I just installed 2 Gigabyte G1 Gaming 980 tis in my PC. I now feel comfortable moving to 1440p.

 

[OrangeYouGlad]

I need to replace my ancient 570HD. My NVIDIA drivers have started to crash when playing Minecraft and googling the issue seems to point to it having something to do with the video card running out of memory.

Either way, need some suggestions for a budget-ish (~$250-300 CAD) card for 1080p gaming.

 

[RGM79]

So I know the rule of thumb with building computers is, "there's always going to be something better just around the corner, so don't try to wait."

However, in this case, is it actually worth waiting for Skylake? It seems like the most recent "go-to" Intel processors for gaming haven't been updated in quite a while, and it sounds like Skylake will be out in a few months.

In terms of performance, Skylake doesn't seem to be that much of an improvement. You'll still be safe to buy a Z97 PC now for gaming, and it'll work just fine for the next couple of years. However, Skylake marks the start of a new hardware platform cycle. Skylake will be coming on the new Z170 motherboard platform and that means a new CPU socket, DDR4 RAM support, and other things. It will not be compatible with the existing crop of Z97 platform stuff.

Besides coming with new features, part of the benefit of waiting for Skylake is that it's a bit more future-looking than buying into Z97 parts now. With the next PC you might build, you may be able to reuse the CPU, motherboard, and RAM down the line because it'll be compatible with whatever new CPU/motherboard/RAM will be out in a few years time.

 

[MattyG]

coil whine from PSU maybe? I had buzzing with my new build so I swapped out the power supply and video card (both were buzzing) and now its gone.

I'd never heard of PSU coil whine, but I just looked up a video of it and it doesn't sound like that. This is a continuous "buzz". Deeper sounding than coil whine, and more consistent throughout when I'm playing games. If I alt+tab or close the game, it stops immediately. It's hard to identify exactly where the noise is coming from, but it's closer to the top of the mobo (CPU area) than the PSU area. Thats why I'm figuring it's the cooler, because it happens when you would expect the cooler to kick into top speed and it sounds like a noise you may get from a fan moving really fast.

Again, I'm not too concerned because I was told last year to not worry about it and nothing bad has happened since.

 

[Crisium]

I need to replace my ancient 570HD. My NVIDIA drivers have started to crash when playing Minecraft and googling the issue seems to point to it having something to do with the video card running out of memory.

Either way, need some suggestions for a budget-ish (~$250-300 CAD) card for 1080p gaming.

570HD? GTX 570?

What are your current PC specs?

If you're willing to break that limit, a Radeon 290 is fastest.

http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/parts/video-card/#c=152&sort=a8&page=1

If you're not, then a Radeon 280X is the fastest in your budget:

http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/parts/video-card/#c=148&sort=a8&page=1

Alternatively there's the GTX 960. Slightly slower than the 280X on average. It's biggest problem is only 2GB, and the 4GB versions approach the 290 price too much. Of course, the 960 sips power, if you are willing to sacrifice frames for watts then it's acceptable compared to the pricier 280X:

http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/parts/video-card/#c=208&sort=a8&page=1

And there's the Radeon 280. Equal performance to the 960, but 3GB so it may age better. 960 still uses way less power though:

http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/parts/video-card/#c=167&sort=a8&page=1

Seems to be all the choices for you.

 

[Wowfunhappy]

Besides coming with new features, part of the benefit of waiting for Skylake is that it's a bit more future-looking than buying into Z97 parts now. With the next PC you might build, you may be able to reuse the CPU, motherboard, and RAM down the line because it'll be compatible with whatever new CPU/motherboard/RAM will be out in a few years time.

This is the main thing I'm worried about. I'd like to be able to continue upgrading components moving forward.

Edit: I guess the real question is, how long do CPU sockets generally last anyway?

Presumably, if I buy an i5-4690K now, and want to upgrade it in five years, I'll almost certainly need a new motherboard.
If I wait ~4 months, buy a Skylake CPU, and want to upgrade in five years, will I still need a new motherboard anyway?

 

[RGM79]

This is the main thing I'm worried about. I'd like to be able to continue upgrading components moving forward.

Edit: I guess the real question is, how long do CPU sockets generally last anyway?

Presumably, if I buy an i5-4690K now, and want to upgrade it in five years, I'll almost certainly need a new motherboard.
If I wait ~4 months, buy a Skylake CPU, and want to upgrade in five years, will I still need a new motherboard anyway?

Concerning upgrades for Intel's consumer product line.. it's somewhat viable for 5 years. Socket 1156 came out in September 2009, socket 1155 on January 2011, and socket 1150 (current generation) on June 2013. Each CPU socket lasts around two years or so, and receives a few generations of compatible processors, so five years down the road, we're probably already looking at whatever the successor to Skylake's successor is. There is the possibility that you could buy a cheaper or used processor upgrade in five years, though. The current socket 1155 platform is just over 4 years old and it is still possible to buy an i5 3570K or i7 3770K which are the best possible processors for that platform, both new and used.

Depending on how much you intend to spend, maybe Intel's enthusiast product line is better for you. They offer somewhat higher potential performance that could see you through 5 years more easily before upgrading, maybe. Some people are still using Intel's old enthusiast i7 9XX-based systems and/or are looking to replace them. Those things are around ~7 years old now.

Edit: yes, even if you get a Skylake system, in five years you will need to either buy a new motherboard to match with the new CPU, or you can look for whatever the latest and greatest compatible CPU is. We don't know how performance will change in 5 years time, we have no idea of knowing whether overclocking a Skylake processor will be enough to match whatever latest processors there are in 2020.

With a Skylake build, going forward at least you can reuse the DDR4 RAM if nothing else. At worst you'll need to buy a new motherboard to go along with a new CPU if you can't find a compatible new/used CPU to upgrade to.

 

[opticalmace]

Does it make sense to buy a GTX 970 right now? It would cost me about $430 CAD (+- maybe $10). If I bought it immediately I guess I could get Batman with it, though I assume there will be other game promotions later in the year.

Current system:
2500k at 4.3Ghz, Radeon 6950 2GB, 1920x1200 display.

I want to go g-sync in the future, something like the Acer XB270HU (2560x1440) but I can't afford it right now. I only pause because it's been 9 months since the 970 came out, and I don't know if I should hold out just a bit longer and hope maybe they refresh it a bit... or maybe the CAD gets better. The 3.5GB memory thing doesn't bother me too much.

 

[D4Danger]

And the cooler, my current plan is to put the cooler on the roof, take out the middle HDD rack and maybe get an extra fan to put in the front bay, so something like this:

I don't know if you care about noise but removing the top of the R5 basically undoes all the soundproofing benefits..

 

[GamerKingFaiz]

Random question is there any game out there that supports the trigger rumble motors on the Xbox One controller on the PC?

 

[Kadey]

I'm setting aside $3k for a computer build during the fall. Going with the single best GPU at that time. Will there be anything new?

 

[kennah]

I'm setting aside $3k for a computer build during the fall. Going with the single best GPU at that time. Will there be anything new?

*shrug* maybe but probably not

 

[ClayKavalier]

How realistic is it to make a powerful gaming PC that's also quiet. Toying around with the idea of building a gaming rig at the end of the summer (alternative is buy an Xbox One instead and hold out on building a PC until the tail end of this console generation) and one thing that kind of worries me is how big and loud many gaming PCs seem.

Is the Fractal R4 OK for a PC with a 980 Ti and i5? Or is the airflow not good enough? Are there any smaller cases that are quiet? I've watched a few videos of people recommending stuff like the full size HAF cases and they're just ridiculously huge. I know I'm not going to get something the size of a console but I'd like to get as small and quiet as possible.

 

[Rolfgang]

I'm setting aside $3k for a computer build during the fall. Going with the single best GPU at that time. Will there be anything new?

Probably not. I think your choice will be the 980 Ti or the Fury X.

 

[King Gilga]

This kit of 2x8GB Kingston 1866MHz RAM for £75 should work fine. It's slightly faster than 1333/1600MHz without costing too much. The cheapest 1600MHz kit is £74, so I'd go for the 1866MHz kit.

Thanks!

How does the hyper x beast compare to the fury? It's only like 2 pound more on amazon.

And dayum, the fury looks so much better in person than on the promo pics.

 

[Snakethesniper]

Can you guys suggest me a good thermal paste for the CPU?

 

[Ally1987]

Is one 980 Ti enough for a 1080p-monitor with 144hz and g-sync? Or should be good with a one regular 980?

 

[The_Poet]

How realistic is it to make a powerful gaming PC that's also quiet. Toying around with the idea of building a gaming rig at the end of the summer (alternative is buy an Xbox One instead and hold out on building a PC until the tail end of this console generation) and one thing that kind of worries me is how big and loud many gaming PCs seem.

Is the Fractal R4 OK for a PC with a 980 Ti and i5? Or is the airflow not good enough? Are there any smaller cases that are quiet? I've watched a few videos of people recommending stuff like the full size HAF cases and they're just ridiculously huge. I know I'm not going to get something the size of a console but I'd like to get as small and quiet as possible.

Liquid cooling will be the quietest, but air cooled builds these days can be very quiet.

Lookup case reviews, they often test for decibel levels.

 

[RGM79]

Thanks!

How does the hyper x beast compare to the fury? It's only like 2 pound more on amazon.

And dayum, the fury looks so much better in person than on the promo pics.

No idea. The Hyper X Beast also comes in a variety of speeds and latencies, you'll have to link us to it so we can see what model you're talking about. It's also kinda tall, it may interfere with your CPU cooler. What cooler do you have?

Can you guys suggest me a good thermal paste for the CPU?

Country? Noctua NT-H1 usually comes well recommended, depending on what's available for you something else might be preferable for cost, though.

How realistic is it to make a powerful gaming PC that's also quiet. Toying around with the idea of building a gaming rig at the end of the summer (alternative is buy an Xbox One instead and hold out on building a PC until the tail end of this console generation) and one thing that kind of worries me is how big and loud many gaming PCs seem.

Is the Fractal R4 OK for a PC with a 980 Ti and i5? Or is the airflow not good enough? Are there any smaller cases that are quiet? I've watched a few videos of people recommending stuff like the full size HAF cases and they're just ridiculously huge. I know I'm not going to get something the size of a console but I'd like to get as small and quiet as possible.

It's possible, but component choice will be very important. Low noise choices for CPU cooler, fan models, power supply, graphics card, and cases exist. The Fractal line of Define cases are nice, but whether they are "OK" depends on how you want them set up, as covering all of the case's vents, only using the minimum fan speeds for airflow, and keeping components at low noise levels can limit the PC's upper end of performance (e.g., don't expect to be able to overclock to a very high level due to heat and the fact that fans will need to spin faster and louder to dissipate and move away heat and warm air, etc).

As for smaller sound-dampening cases, there are a couple of mATX designs to look at, like the Nanoxia Deep Silence 4, Fractal Define Mini, Cooler Master Silencio 352, etc.