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[Melhisedek]

lol. Smokey and I are just fucking with each other. I didn't cancel the 850 Pro.

Like I said earlier, if something can justify it's price, I will think about it. If not, whatever. I'm not nearly rich enough to buy shit for the hell of it just to show off. There's some crazy PC builds over at OCN, and I'm not about to get into a rat race to try and compete with everyone.

Still, dem speeds tho

What hdd gets such speeds

 

[knitoe]

What hdd gets such speeds

Samsung SM951 SSD M.2 form factor.

 

[mrklaw]

Alright, I've decided to go with the X99 platform. Figure it will be marginally slower than Skylake in some games, but will demolish it in any game or application that supports proper multi threading.

Now, which motherboard to get?

I was pretty set on getting an ASUS, but I've heard reports that they have issues where they will fry your cpu by randomly setting it to 1.8V upon reboot.

Don't need built in wifi. Just good looks and solid overclocking performance & stability. USB 3.1 and Type-C support would be a plus.

that faster DDR4 ram support on skylake looks pretty interesting though? And how many games are likely to use more than 8 threads efficiently?

 

[Qvoth]

i've been asking around friends, do i need a 650 minimum power supply if i have msi gtx 970, i5 4690 and gigabyte h97m-d3h mobo? planning to get an ssd and 1 tb hdd as well

 

[Arex]

Thinking of getting additional 140mm case fan for my pc.. Right now I'm just using the fractal fans that came with the R5.

So Noctua NF-A14 is the better one out there right?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835608044

And how does the industrial PPC version compare? I prefer the color more haha
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835608047

 

[DPB]

i've been asking around friends, do i need a 650 minimum power supply if i have msi gtx 970, i5 4690 and gigabyte h97m-d3h mobo? planning to get an ssd and 1 tb hdd as well

650W is more than enough, you could get by even with a good 450W power supply for those components. But 650W would leave you more room to upgrade in the future, since no single card needs more than that.

 

[Rolfgang]

i've been asking around friends, do i need a 650 minimum power supply if i have msi gtx 970, i5 4690 and gigabyte h97m-d3h mobo? planning to get an ssd and 1 tb hdd as well

A 500w would also suffice, but I always recommend to keep some breathing room, since you never know when you want to upgrade.

No really, you don't, before you know it you want a 980 Ti!

 

[b0bbyJ03]

Hopefully this is the place to ask; I finally did an upgrade to windows 10 and then followed it up with a clean install. After logging in I decided it was time to go and download all the drivers and I noticed that my Nvidia drivers where already installed. It must have happened during the initial installation, I'm assuming that Windows went out and found the drivers for my hardware. My question is, does it download all the drivers and are they the proper ones or should I go and download my own. I haven't installed my chipset/LAN drivers manually. can I assume that Windows got the best ones for me?

 

[DOWN]

Okay so I don't want a PC but I just want to say kudos to everyone who contributes here because I do think this is one of the cooler maintained threads on GAF and is quite impressive

 

[LilJoka]

Hopefully this is the place to ask; I finally did an upgrade to windows 10 and then followed it up with a clean install. After logging in I decided it was time to go and download all the drivers and I noticed that my Nvidia drivers where already installed. It must have happened during the initial installation, I'm assuming that Windows went out and found the drivers for my hardware. My question is, does it download all the drivers and are they the proper ones or should I go and download my own. I haven't installed my chipset/LAN drivers manually. can I assume that Windows got the best ones for me?

They should be fine, but if your motherboard website has posted win 10 chipset and Intel management engine drivers, I would install those over the top of the current ones. LAN shouldn't be needed, but again just check driver versions and work out of newer ones exist. If you have an Intel LAN adaptor then the Intel site always has the latest driver.

 

[Felix Lighter]

I turned off automatic downloading of drivers from Windows Update. For most hardware it's not something I'm too concerned about but for Graphics Card drivers, I want to be fully aware and in control.

If people aren't aware how to do that:

• Search for advanced system settings in the control panel
• Go to the Hardware tab
  
  
• Click the Device Installation Settings
  
  
• Choose the options to not update drivers automatically from Windows Update.

 

[LilJoka]

So, I just built myself my first computer(here is a link if you must know the specs) and was delighted to see that I didn't fuck it up so bad that it actually turns on and everything. However, now I need to install my OS and I'm having problems. I picked up a windows 10 64 bit home version disc, but when I try to install windows(apparently i need to do this before updating drivers and what not) and boot from the dvd drive, all I get is the windows symbol on the screen for like a minute or two and it restarts, eventually just showing the windows symbol again. Only way to stop it seems to be opening the bios menu... which doesn't really help.

Am I missing a step here? Or did fuck up something else? Any ideas?

That's quite odd, first thing I would do is go into the BIOS, go to the boot menu. If you have an Asus board (maybe similar for others) it'll list the boot devices at the bottom and you can pick one to boot into from there. It should show your DVD drive twice, one entry will start with UEFI, the other will just have the DVD drive model without prefix. Try boot each one too see if the problem is the UEFI version or normal BIOS version.

If you don't see entries like that, go to the Boot section in BIOS, find a menu relating to UEFI bootup and disable it. That will force BIOS booting of the DVD.

If that fails, I'd wager a problem with RAM possibly, so try 1 stick of ram in different slots.

 

[b0bbyJ03]

They should be fine, but if your motherboard website has posted win 10 chipset and Intel management engine drivers, I would install those over the top of the current ones. LAN shouldn't be needed, but again just check driver versions and work out of newer ones exist. If you have an Intel LAN adaptor then the Intel site always has the latest driver.

Thanks! I'll make sure I do. As of right now the mobo site only has 8.1 drivers.

 

[Smokey]

Do decent wireless PC speakers exist?

I use my headsets for gaming, but looking to reduce wires in a few areas.

 

[tarheel91]

Do decent wireless PC speakers exist?

I use my headsets for gaming, but looking to reduce wires in a few areas.

What sort of price range are we talking here, Smokey? Decent is a very relative word.

 

[derder]

My Corsair 650D is too loud.

1. Should I invest in a case this year if USB 3.1 ports are almost here? I'm assuming that front panel ports will be replaced with USB 3.1/USB3.0.

2. I'm looking for optimal airflow. Is this configuration the best?

3. Is there something I can do to reduce the fan noise? Should I replace them with Noctua NF-12s?

 

[LilJoka]

My Corsair 650D is too loud.

1. Should I invest in a case this year if USB 3.1 ports are almost here? I'm assuming that front panel ports will be replaced with USB 3.1/USB3.0.

2. I'm looking for optimal airflow. Is this configuration the best?


3. Is there something I can do to reduce the fan noise? Should I replace them with Noctua NF-12s?

Are you running fans off the 3 pin fan headers on the motherboard?
Have you used motherboard software to then control the fan speeds to their lowest speeds?

 

[xptoxyz]

Which drivers do you install nowadays for your MB nowadays?

Have an ASUS motherboard, was thinking of installing chipset/audio/lan/sata (have dedicated GFX hence skipping VGA). For the win10 drivers the ones under chipset the higher numbered version seems to be older, but is marked WHQL. I'm assuming they're the driver for the same thing...

 

[Xplatformer]

Ohhh I forgot about star citizen.
I can finally try it.

On topic: how noisy is that blower cooler? Never seen that one before

Sorry for the late response.

Maybe it's because I'm gaming at 900p, but this card is VERY quiet. I'm talking at least as quiet as my brand new PS4 was when I first bought it. My system noise when I'm not gaming is no louder with this card than it was when I was using just using my 4690k to drive the graphics.

When I play Shadows of Mordor (averaging over 100fps) it's still as quiet as my PS4 was.

I think with blower cards, overall "system" noise and overall "system" temperatures should be considered. This card runs hotter than an open air 970, but the other components in my sff case aren't having to deal with that extra heat as much.

Plus...this is the least expensive 970 you can get. Well, it was. After rebate the 970 cost me $318 + tax.

 

[Chocobro]

The Gigabyte G1 is great. Fast, cool, and quite because of that 3 fan design.

You will have no problems playing games at high settings 1080P.

Thanks Evo X. Looks like I'll be ordering it tonight.

------------
I have a second question, would it be worth getting the Acer XB240H or Acer XB740H (G-Sync, 144Hz, 1080p) if I'm aiming to play games at 1080p 60fps? Do I have to play games at 144fps or what? I've been using a 60Hz monitor for several years so I don't know much about 120/144Hz monitors and how to get the most out of them. Any information would be helpful.

 

[derder]

Are you running fans off the 3 pin fan headers on the motherboard?
Have you used motherboard software to then control the fan speeds to their lowest speeds?

The CPU fan is fine.

My main issue is with SLI and the GPU fans when it gets to 100% load. I was hoping to improve airflow before replacing the cards.

 

[Smokey]

What sort of price range are we talking here, Smokey? Decent is a very relative word.

i dunno. completely out of my element in this segment!

 

[LilJoka]

Which drivers do you install nowadays for your MB nowadays?

Have an ASUS motherboard, was thinking of installing chipset/audio/lan/sata (have dedicated GFX hence skipping VGA). For the win10 drivers the ones under chipset the higher numbered version seems to be older, but is marked WHQL. I'm assuming they're the driver for the same thing...

You don't need SATA, the MSAHCI driver actually performs fine, sometimes better than intels. But you will need 3rd party SATA like Marvell drivers of your board has them.
Same with Audio if it's Realtek, unless you really want Realtek UI (bloatware).

Only one you've missed is Intel management engine.

 

[LilJoka]

The CPU fan is fine.

My main issue is with SLI and the GPU fans when it gets to 100% load. I was hoping to improve airflow before replacing the cards.

There's no real solution here. If you want to test how improved airflow will impact the GPU temps, run all case fans full speed, even try leaving the case side panel off. You'll have to monitor the fan speeds to compare since you can't use noise as a judgement now. I predict merely a few *c difference.
Solution is sell GPUs and buy a single GPU.

 

[Confrontation]

So after relentless searching, reading and asking questions, I've decided on this Skylake build:

PCPartPicker part list

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor
CPU Cooler: Scythe Mugen 4 79.0 CFM CPU Cooler
Motherboard: Asus Z170-P ATX LGA1151 Motherboard
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-3200 Memory
Storage: Crucial BX100 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 960 2GB Video Card
Case: Fractal Design Define R5 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12II 520W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply

Couple thoughts:

-My budget was €1000 and this is right around it.

-I will be gaming on it quite a bit, but I don't really care for 4k, 120fps, dual monitors and all that. I'm fine with 1080p/ 30 to 60fps and high (not ultra) settings. So I went with the 960 2GB. Should be alright?

-Went with the 3,2 GHz Memory to because I've read and seen here that it needs to be at 3 or higher.

-Don't mind paying a bit of extra for a case that looks really sleek and classy.

Any opinions?

 

[JoeyJungle]

What's the best way to track sales for PC hardware? So far I've subscribed to the newegg newsletter and I check /r/buildapcsales every now and then, and look at pricezombie.com to see whether a sale is very good or not. Am I missing anything?

Also, I'm thinking of building a PC with skylake, but I'd also probably want to upgrade to a Pascal GPU when they come out. Is there any word on when mobos with NVLink will be coming out? I'd hate to buy a new mobo now and then another one in ~6 months.

 

[opticalmace]

So after relentless searching, reading and asking questions, I've decided on this Skylake build:

PCPartPicker part list

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor
CPU Cooler: Scythe Mugen 4 79.0 CFM CPU Cooler
Motherboard: Asus Z170-P ATX LGA1151 Motherboard
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-3200 Memory
Storage: Crucial BX100 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 960 2GB Video Card
Case: Fractal Design Define R5 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12II 520W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply

Couple thoughts:

-My budget was €1000 and this is right around it.

-I will be gaming on it quite a bit, but I don't really care for 4k, 120fps, dual monitors and all that. I'm fine with 1080p/ 30 to 60fps and high (not ultra) settings. So I went with the 960 2GB. Should be alright?

-Went with the 3,2 GHz Memory to because I've read and seen here that it needs to be at 3 or higher.

-Don't mind paying a bit of extra for a case that looks really sleek and classy.

Any opinions?

I would try to squeeze a 970 in there instead of a 960. Maybe go with a cheaper case, slower RAM, something like that. It'll have the biggest impact on your gaming performance. I'd make specific suggestions but I don't know anything about euro prices.

 

[RGM79]

My Corsair 650D is too loud.

1. Should I invest in a case this year if USB 3.1 ports are almost here? I'm assuming that front panel ports will be replaced with USB 3.1/USB3.0.

2. I'm looking for optimal airflow. Is this configuration the best?

3. Is there something I can do to reduce the fan noise? Should I replace them with Noctua NF-12s?

It'll be 2016 when we start seeing cases with frontal USB 3.1 ports. In the meantime, you'll have to use something like this front panel extension if you want easy to access USB 3.1.

Yes, that kind of airflow configuration is fine.

The CPU fan is fine.

My main issue is with SLI and the GPU fans when it gets to 100% load. I was hoping to improve airflow before replacing the cards.

How hot are they getting under load?

 

[derder]

It'll be 2016 when we start seeing cases with frontal USB 3.1 ports. In the meantime, you'll have to use something like this front panel extension if you want easy to access USB 3.1.

How hot are they getting under load?

Oh wow, I might get by with just a front panel extension for now. Thanks!

My build is currently parted out, but my 6950s were nearing 90c.

There's no real solution here. If you want to test how improved airflow will impact the GPU temps, run all case fans full speed, even try leaving the case side panel off. You'll have to monitor the fan speeds to compare since you can't use noise as a judgement now. I predict merely a few *c difference.
Solution is sell GPUs and buy a single GPU.

My plan was to go with 970s in my new build. Maybe I'll just go with a single 980 Ti.

 

[LilJoka]

Oh wow, I might get by with just a front panel extension for now. Thanks!

My build is currently parted out, but my 6950s were nearing 90c.




My plan was to go with 970s in my new build. Maybe I'll just go with a single 980 Ti.

980Ti is much better, your not going to want to SLI 970's with only 3.5GB VRAM. As you increase settings your going to hit the VRAM barrier before the GPU utilization caps out. 970 SLI is only good for high fps (120hz etc) running normal type settings (mix of medium/high/ultra).

 

[Confrontation]

I would try to squeeze a 970 in there instead of a 960. Maybe go with a cheaper case, slower RAM, something like that. It'll have the biggest impact on your gaming performance. I'd make specific suggestions but I don't know anything about euro prices.

Thanks for your reply. It's a pretty big jump going from 960 to 970 pricing wise, but maybe I should just go for it (and over my budget) and get that 970. So tempted.

 

[AcridMeat]

I'm looking to get a new card this year with Fallout 4, Battlefront & Just Cause 3 coming out as I'm still running with an ancient 560ti. Is the performance jump from a 960 to a 970 so insurmountable that I'd be stupid not to, despite the big price increase?

I'm looking at this MSI 960 GTX right now which is $185 before rebate with MGS5, which seems like an amazing deal to me. I'd love to get something under 200 bucks but if I'm convinced it's not worth it and I should wait for a sale on a 970 I'll do it.

edit:

wait and go for a 970

That's all I needed to hear, some reassurance. Cheers.

 

[Redx508]

I'm looking to get a new card this year with Fallout 4, Battlefront & Just Cause 3 coming out as I'm still running with an ancient 560ti. Is the performance jump from a 960 to a 970 so insurmountable that I'd be stupid not to, despite the big price increase?

I'm looking at this MSI 960 GTX right now which is $185 before rebate with MGS5, which seems like an amazing deal to me. I'd love to get something under 200 bucks but if I'm convinced it's not worth it and I should wait for a sale on a 970 I'll do it.

wait and go for a 970

 

[Green Card]

NewEgg says the i5-6600k comes out 8/14 but I just got a tracking number. Have they already started shipping them out? I was going to cancel it too and reorder with a 980 ti or fury x since I was going to get a 10% off student code.

 

[Skii]

Thanks for your reply. It's a pretty big jump going from 960 to 970 pricing wise, but maybe I should just go for it (and over my budget) and get that 970. So tempted.

I'm looking to get a new card this year with Fallout 4, Battlefront & Just Cause 3 coming out as I'm still running with an ancient 560ti. Is the performance jump from a 960 to a 970 so insurmountable that I'd be stupid not to, despite the big price increase?

I'm looking at this MSI 960 GTX right now which is $185 before rebate with MGS5, which seems like an amazing deal to me. I'd love to get something under 200 bucks but if I'm convinced it's not worth it and I should wait for a sale on a 970 I'll do it.

edit:That's all I needed to hear, some reassurance. Cheers.

I went with the 970 as well. It just seems like a great card and seems to be good value for money. Also half the price of the 980ti in the UK which makes it a no brainer if you're trying to get within your budget.

 

[aett]

I currently have a 1 TB hard drive and a 120 GB SSD and I'm in the market for additional SSD space. I'd rather just add another SSD instead of replacing my current one, but my question is: would that be too much for my power supply?

My power supply is 550W - here's the specific model.

 

[Evo X]

that faster DDR4 ram support on skylake looks pretty interesting though? And how many games are likely to use more than 8 threads efficiently?

The faster ram on Skylake merely brings the processor up from disappointing to in line with where it should be. At higher memory speeds, the differences become miniscule.

I have a feeling that we will be seeing more multi core aware games in the next few years. BF4 already scales really well with 6 and 8 core CPUs.

This is sort of the same dilemma a lot of people faced back in 2007, where a 3.0Ghz Core2Duo was being recommended over the 2.4Ghz Core2Quad. In the end, I was very happy I went with the Q6600. You can always overclock to make up the difference, but you can't add additional cores.

Besides, both Skylake and Haswell-E are so powerful anyway that the advantage that Skylake has in games becomes irrelevant really. If a game get s 135fps with Skylake, it will gets like 132fps on Haswell-E. Unnoticeable, especially with GSYNC.

But in every other task that is thread aware or while multitasking, the Haswell-E can be 50-100% faster.

Do decent wireless PC speakers exist?

I use my headsets for gaming, but looking to reduce wires in a few areas.

Of course wireless speakers can't hope to match proper wired bookshelf speakers, but they are getting better these days. Look for speakers that support Bluetooth aptX, which is a better form of compression.

It's going to cost you though. A decent wireless speaker like the Harman Infinity One costs ~$300. You can also check out the Bowers & Wilkens T7 in that price range.

Thanks Evo X. Looks like I'll be ordering it tonight.

------------
I have a second question, would it be worth getting the Acer XB240H or Acer XB740H (G-Sync, 144Hz, 1080p) if I'm aiming to play games at 1080p 60fps? Do I have to play games at 144fps or what? I've been using a 60Hz monitor for several years so I don't know much about 120/144Hz monitors and how to get the most out of them. Any information would be helpful.

I personally love GSYNC and 144hz. One of the best innovations in PC gaming IMO. It means you will always be getting the best that your GPU has to offer. The smoothness is amazing and allows you to turn up the settings way more than usual and still keep that high fps feel. In less intensive games, the 144hz will allow more responsive control and better animations. I'd recommended checking it out if you can.

I currently have a 1 TB hard drive and a 120 GB SSD and I'm in the market for additional SSD space. I'd rather just add another SSD instead of replacing my current one, but my question is: would that be too much for my power supply?

My power supply is 550W - here's the specific model.

You'll be fine. SSDs barely use any power.

 

[Starbuck2907]

I need a 1080p gaming monitor.

Hopefully 24 inches, and less than 5ms response time.

Any suggestions? I'm trying to keep it less than $200. Hopefully between $150 and $180.

I'm cool with 60hz.

I'm mainly looking at Asus because I've had a good history with them.

I am open to brands besides Asus, but they have 3 year warranties. Also, my current Asus has been rocking for about 10 years, and my "new" LG blew out after 18 months.

Come on folks, any suggestions for 1080p gaming monitor?

I run dual monitors. My old one only accepts DVI. Can I mix an HDMI monitor (Monitor one, a new monitor) with my old monitor (DVI)? My video card has plenty of outputs, but I don't know if it will push mixed cables like that. (Radeon 270X 2GB). I game on a single monitor and I work using two.

 

[CidHighwind89]

Need some opinions on gaming monitors from fellow gaffers to help me decide what I should get for my upgraded rig. I just bought a gtx 980 ti and would love to make the jump to 1440p and 144hz. I could really care less about IPS vs TN even though I already have a Dell IPS 27". Is g-sync something I should go for with a graphics card as good as mine or would I not see any difference compared to a monitor that doesn't have g-sync. The $150 dollar premium for g-sync has me asking this question. What upgrades do you think I would notice the most going from a 1080p 60hz monitor? Trying to figure out what makes sense for my machine as well.

 

[Shining Sunshine]

Yeah, that's BS. I ordered from Memory Express. Directcanada used to list the 6700K at around $460-ish but jumped up to $488, for reasons I don't know.

Well yeah I preordered from ME as well since I didn't get charged or anything.

Now, the question is, when the hell are we getting the CPU?

 

[Enduin]

Hmm I'm not sure a watercooler will work with the build I'm planning, glad I'm thinking about this now rather than buying and learning it when I try to build. I want to get the Fractal Define S and put the radiator on the front panel and keep the top closed off to reduce dust accumulation which I've had issues with, since the Define S has filters on the front panel and bottom panels only. Top is not filtered and neither is the rear fan. But now I'm fairly sure the pipes on the cooler, Corsair Hydro Series H100i GTX, will reach that far and I don't really see any others that do either. And I'm definitely not venturing into custom cooling right now.

So I guess my best option is to just go with a fan and pop one or two more 120/140mm fans on the front panel and create a shit ton of positive air pressure out the rear fan. Something like this? Probably makes more sense this way using a normal CPU air cooler as I won't have hot air passing over the whole rig from the front radiator to the rear fan...

Thoughts?

 

[Crisium]

Thanks for your reply. It's a pretty big jump going from 960 to 970 pricing wise, but maybe I should just go for it (and over my budget) and get that 970. So tempted.

At any rate, I really recommend against the 960 2GB. Buying a 2GB video card in 2015 is asking for a bottleneck in 2016 or even this fall. A 4GB 960 or 4GB Radeon 380 should be minimums if you want longevity. But a Radeon 290 or a GTX 970 are much better - often SLI 960s are lucky to even match them.

Truth be told, I tend to recommend against these mid-tier cards if users plan to upgrade every generation or even every other. Here's why (partially stolen from anandtech).

The move from GTX 660 to 760 added just 26% in performance
The move from GTX 760 to 960 added a measly 14% in performance
http://www.computerbase.de/2015-03/geforce-gtx-460-560-660-760-960-vergleich/2/

Compare this to spending more for a Radeon 290 (€300).

That means going from GTX660 to 960 added just 44% more performance but the difference between 960 OC and R9 290 OC is 47%.

What that means is if one buys a €200-€250 960, you are going to have to buy yet another €150-€200 card next generation just to get to where an after-market 290 is today. That means it's going to cost between €350-€450 (minus any resale value of GTX960) just to get to R9 290's (€300 right now) level of performance some time in the future but it also means getting way less performance from now until that next gen card. For that reason, 380/960 -- neither of them makes sense at current prices if someone thinks about the total cost of ownership long-term and that the are foregoing a lot of performance all that time for what a €50-$100 savings?

So that shows why the 960 and 380 are not good choices if you plan to upgrade every gen or two. But think about if you plan to keep it in the long haul, wouldn't you want a card that's 45%+ faster to make that long haul easier? 290, 290X, 390, 970 are all very similar tier of performance so it applies to all of these (right now 290 appears cheapest for your country though).

 

[Evo X]

Need some opinions on gaming monitors from fellow gaffers to help me decide what I should get for my upgraded rig. I just bought a gtx 980 ti and would love to make the jump to 1440p and 144hz. I could really care less about IPS vs TN even though I already have a Dell IPS 27". Is g-sync something I should go for with a graphics card as good as mine or would I not see any difference compared to a monitor that doesn't have g-sync. The $150 dollar premium for g-sync has me asking this question. What upgrades do you think I would notice the most going from a 1080p 60hz monitor? Trying to figure out what makes sense for my machine as well.

Yes, gsync is worth it at 1440P with a 980Ti. I have a Titan X, and love my ROG Swift. Getting rid of stutter and screen tearing is worth it. Trust me.

Also, don't forget that you can down sample from 4K as well, and gsync will make 45fps feel perfectly fine.

 

[tarheel91]

i dunno. completely out of my element in this segment!

I don't really do wireless, but I've heard these are solid for the money: Polk Audio AM6510-A

You can really go as high end as you want. I just listened to a pair of speakers last week that retailed for $9K that had bluetooth/WiFi support. They were phenomenal, but also $9K. I'd warn you that whereas headphones are pretty easy to set up, speakers can be pretty dependent on room geometry/orientation even for smaller desktop speakers.

 

[CidHighwind89]

Yes, gsync is worth it at 1440P with a 980Ti. I have a Titan X, and love my ROG Swift. Getting rid of stutter and screen tearing is worth it. Trust me.

Also, don't forget that you can down sample from 4K as well, and gsync will make 45fps feel perfectly fine.

That's true I didn't think about DSR. That makes sense as well.

 

[Vuze]

Need some opinions on gaming monitors from fellow gaffers to help me decide what I should get for my upgraded rig. I just bought a gtx 980 ti and would love to make the jump to 1440p and 144hz. I could really care less about IPS vs TN even though I already have a Dell IPS 27". Is g-sync something I should go for with a graphics card as good as mine or would I not see any difference compared to a monitor that doesn't have g-sync. The $150 dollar premium for g-sync has me asking this question. What upgrades do you think I would notice the most going from a 1080p 60hz monitor? Trying to figure out what makes sense for my machine as well.

Certainly. imo nobody who is primarily gaming on PC and is looking for a new monitor should skip FreeSync or Gsync (unless it's out of budget). As Evo said, you can crank your settings up further without noticable loss of smoothness. Anything 40fps+ feels totally smooth to me with Gsync, not sure why this is such a sweetspot in particular but a lot of people share this sentiment. As for specific models, the Acer X34 (August, 1300$, 21:9 3440x1440 100Hz) and Asus P279Q (IPS 1440p 144hz 4ms + HDMI, same panel as the XB270HU but slightly different Gsync module, September?) are around the corner, both very attractive. If you need one now, Acer XB270HU (IPS 1440p 144hz 4ms) is the best you'll get, the Asus P278Q (TN 1440p 144hz 1ms 3DVision) might be the cheapest though.

btw I hate how Acer totally messed up the X34 appearance by putting this red, disgusting Gam0rzZZ logo on the bezel -_-

 

[xptoxyz]

You don't need SATA, the MSAHCI driver actually performs fine, sometimes better than intels. But you will need 3rd party SATA like Marvell drivers of your board has them.
Same with Audio if it's Realtek, unless you really want Realtek UI (bloatware).

Only one you've missed is Intel management engine.

Well the board lists Intel AHCI for SATA, does that mean I can forego as you said? Had I a Marvell controller it would be better than the MS one?

As for realtek yeah I'd assume everything would work fine, just different controls.

My main question remains the 2 different chipset drivers listed now...

 

[Xplatformer]

So after relentless searching, reading and asking questions, I've decided on this Skylake build:

PCPartPicker part list

CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor
CPU Cooler: Scythe Mugen 4 79.0 CFM CPU Cooler
Motherboard: Asus Z170-P ATX LGA1151 Motherboard
Memory: Corsair Vengeance LPX 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR4-3200 Memory
Storage: Crucial BX100 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 960 2GB Video Card
Case: Fractal Design Define R5 (Black) ATX Mid Tower Case
Power Supply: SeaSonic S12II 520W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply

Couple thoughts:

-My budget was €1000 and this is right around it.

-I will be gaming on it quite a bit, but I don't really care for 4k, 120fps, dual monitors and all that. I'm fine with 1080p/ 30 to 60fps and high (not ultra) settings. So I went with the 960 2GB. Should be alright?

-Went with the 3,2 GHz Memory to because I've read and seen here that it needs to be at 3 or higher.

-Don't mind paying a bit of extra for a case that looks really sleek and classy.

Any opinions?

You're going to be perfectly fine with the 960 at 1080p.

That 2GB vram though...ew. We want developers to use more textures in their games.

 

[LilJoka]

Well the board lists Intel AHCI for SATA, does that mean I can forego as you said? Had I a Marvell controller it would be better than the MS one?

As for realtek yeah I'd assume everything would work fine, just different controls.

My main question remains the 2 different chipset drivers listed now...

Any SATA controller that is not Intel will not be part of the chipset and usually is worse performing. They have their own microcontroller on the board.

Yes you have only Intel SATA ports in that case, so no need to install the Intel SATA driver (usually called IRST).

Yep for Realtek it functions the same, just that you use Windows sound control panel rather than Realtek one. I think there is some extra thing with headphone/rear output switching with driver, but thats all i noticed, otherwise no point.

Chipset, just install latest that the motherboard site suggests. It really doesnt matter if you are 1 version older or whatever here.

 

[LilJoka]

Hmm I'm not sure a watercooler will work with the build I'm planning, glad I'm thinking about this now rather than buying and learning it when I try to build. I want to get the Fractal Define S and put the radiator on the front panel and keep the top closed off to reduce dust accumulation which I've had issues with, since the Define S has filters on the front panel and bottom panels only. Top is not filtered and neither is the rear fan. But now I'm fairly sure the pipes on the cooler, Corsair Hydro Series H100i GTX, will reach that far and I don't really see any others that do either. And I'm definitely not venturing into custom cooling right now.

So I guess my best option is to just go with a fan and pop one or two more 120/140mm fans on the front panel and create a shit ton of positive air pressure out the rear fan. Something like this? Probably makes more sense this way using a normal CPU air cooler as I won't have hot air passing over the whole rig from the front radiator to the rear fan...

Thoughts?

Run 3 intake 2 exhaust. Run the intake slightly faster to counteract pressure loss from filters/rad and keep overall positive air pressure (more intake than exhaust) to reduce dust accumulation. I never run bottom fans since dust gathers on the floor and filters arent perfect, so its just no point. Run a top exhaust, you dont need filtered exhausts. The only downside with top exhaust is that dust can settle on the top exterior of the case.

So H100i fitted to front as intake, another 120mm fan above it. One top fan, one rear fan. The H100i will be very restrictive on flow, so the extra intake should counter. Run the fans slightly faster than the exhausts to increase pressure a bit more. Could forgo the top fan, probably wont ave much impact on temps.

Dont think adding fans and things will reduce temps, get a proper airflow, not shove it with fans. The proper movement of air is the most important, after you achieve that, youll find out adding fans is just a waste, will add noise and have no effect on temps.